I don’t need to mention that he put on another type of sight
glass pronto.
There has been an awful lot of steam parts and repairs made in
this shop for commercial customers as well as the hobby boys, along
with the regular industrial customers.
I asked about the extra vertical engines he has left over; they
are for sale – cheap.
Address: Glenn R. Hamilton, 2913 Foltz Street, Indianapolis,
Indiana, 46241
(Following is a letter from Glenn Hamilton which I’m sure
you’ll find interesting.)
Enclosed is the story by Mr. Don Jackson as it appeared in Steam
Power, along with pictures of the interior of my shop, and
permission to re-print the article.
I fear Mr. Jackson left out quite a bit of this story. I will
try to fill in what he left out.
We were both members of Co. A-120, 42nd Division, U. S.
Operating Engineers, which hauled supplies to front lines. As time
went on, there were not enough engineers to go around, so they put
Don and I on the road. Needless to say, we got plenty of real good
thrills out of this, as the Jerry planes would watch for us and
machine-gun the track as we were hauling shells and supplies to the
front. We soon learned to set the air brakes and jump and run. What
I mean, we could out-run a buck deer! The real-estate we used for
coal made lots of smoke but not a whole lot of steam.
We got out of the army in 1919, went to work for Martin Perry
Company until 1931, at which time I started my own machine shop and
‘Jack’ started to work in my shop. Together we rebuilt many
steam engines and boilers, replacement boilers, Stanley and others.
We had a Stanley Steam car here and we were replacing the boiler in
1967-68. The weather was very cold. On New Year’s Day the
temperature was down to twenty below. I called Jack on the phone
and told him not to come to the shop, it was too cold. Jack wanted
to finish the Stanley, so he went out and tried to start his car.
It was too much for Jack, and he went back into his house and fell
down dead. That was the type of man Jack was. I feel that he gave
his life trying to help me with my machine work.
This winds up about all I can say about Jack. He loved to talk
steam and loved to tinker with my engine and boiler, never thinking
of himself. Anyone having trouble with an engine, all they had to
do was call Jack and he would be there, rain or shine.
I am now 74 years old, and had a stroke last winter. I feel that
I must quit. I would like to get in touch with machinists who would
like to take over my shop, nothing to buy, just go to work and give
me a little for use of the shop. The latchstring is out to anyone
who wants to call on us.
Signed: Glenn R. Hamilton, Phone 241-4723.
