Iron Man Of The Month

The only things missing are the tall, flanged drive-wheels and the connecting-rods, the driving-rods, the exposed valve-gearing and crossheads in their guides. But even these latter are there, should the inquisitive railroad buff stoop to make a closer inspection and discover them all intact right beneath the boiler. Even some of the more ancient steam locomotives had their Stephenson Link Motion and Slide Valves and driving-rods similarly concealed between the drivers, rather than on the outside as became the practice later among locomotive builders.

The one big digression from railroad principle is that Roscoe Shiverdecker did have to install a steering wheel. For without rails to run on, and guide the flanged wheels, which Old No. 9 does not have, Engineer Shiverdecker does have to do the steering to keep the R. D. S. Special from winding up in a 'cornfield meet'.

It's not difficult to understand why Roscoe is always the center of all eyes whether he happens to be steaming tobacco beds or going from one job to the nextor when he's driving over a steam engine reunion grounds or coming down the main street of Broadway in Greenville as the main conversation piece in a civic or historical parade. With Shiverdecker at the throttle, and all the rest of his family either up in the cab, or helping to load coal and water into Old No. 9, it's often a problem to know which ones are related to the engineer and which are just hangers-on trying to snitch a free ride on the R. D. S. Special. Bui, when it comes to shoveling in the black diamonds, into the gaping firebox doorwe can almost bet it's Roscoe with a fresh cigar clamped between his 'store plates'.

Roscoe Shiverdecker's venture into building and running his own steam locomotive is only a 'Johnny-come-lately' idea, however. For him, the yanking of a steam throttle began at the early age of boyhood when he used to help his father, John Shiverdecker, run his old Aultman-Taylor Steam Engine.

'Threshing and steaming tobacco beds has been a tradition with our family,' recalls Roscoe. 'My Grandad, Dave Shiverdecker, started it, then my father, John carried it on, and steam got into my blood and never left it.'

Iron-Man Roscoe Shiverdecker is both engineer and fireman on the old R. D. S. Special No. 9. Roscoe is shoveling black diamonds into the gaping locomotive firebox, with a fresh cigar clamped between his 'store plates'. Courtesy of Joe Fahnestock, Union City, Indiana 47390.

'When Dad quit, he wanted to give me the old Aultman-Taylor,' says Roscoe. 'But I didn't want it then, so he sold it for junk and it was cut up.'

But Roscoe soon got the fever of steam in his blood once again.

'That old Aultman-Taylor was like new, and the thoughts of it being cut-up for junk got me so that I up and bought me a 20-horse Advance Rumely off of Grandpa Mattis. I had that engine about eight to ten years, steaming tobacco beds.' recalls Shiverdecker. 'Then I began buying and selling engines for a while.'