Abe Warner, Columbia, Pa. borough mechanic, shows off his
Buffalo-Springfield steam roller for the Columbia News
photographer. Photo appeared on News front page and is supplied
gratis by the newspaper.
Abe Warner was driving along between Hanover and Gettysburg,
Pa., 28 years ago when he saw a steam roller in solitary splendor
Bonneauville).
‘I had to cut a tree 6 inches in diameter to get it
out,’ he recalls. ‘I paid the owner $800 and was later
offered $3,000. We towed it behind a truck right through the main
square in York, Pa., to bring it to my home at Washington
Boro.’
The roller is a Buffalo Springfield, 1908, twin cylinder,
weighing 10 tons.
Abe made the front page of the Columbia (Pa.) News in June, when
he used his giant ‘toy’ to roll the parking lot of the
Susquehanna Fire Company. It took him about two hours to drive the
roller from Washington Boro to Columbiaa distance of a few
miles.
Abe was told the engine originally came from Potter County, Pa.
He put tubes in it, and fashioned a smokestack from a stainless
steel heater tank. He put tubes in it, and fashioned a smokestack
from a stainless steel heater tank. He keeps it outside in his
backyard. After he did the job for the fire volunteers at the
Susquehanna company, he got a request to put it on display at the
lot of the No. 1 Fire Company.
A member of Williams Grove, he had the roller there for a number
of years and attends the show annually.
Warner also has an old portable Farquhar, made in York, which he
keeps at Williams Grove. He is a Columbia borough mechanic.
His wife, Betty Jane, learned how to be an engine operator from
him and often shows her skill at Williams Grove.
