Iron Man Of The Month

The fever really hit Roscoe. He once owned five different engines at one time.

'I had an 18-horse Frick Engine which I took around to the shows, then sold to a guy in N. Carolina,' recollects Shiverdecker. 'Then I bought a little 12-horsepower Frick which I later sold to Percy Sherman (of Iron-Man Fame) at Palmyra, Michigan. After that I got me a 22-horse Keck Gonnerman Engine which I sold to a fellow in Cincinnati.

One of the real beauties that Roscoe Shiverdecker showed at the reunions was a half-size model Garr-Scott which he bought off of Harry Britton, that was made over an 18-horsepower double Garr-Scott Engine. This was the little 'eye-catcher' which sported the red scallop, like the fabled 'buggy with the fringe on top'. And Roscoe's boys used to put little ol' Garr-Scott through its paces at the sawmills and on the fan tests, just to show off at the various area reunions throughout Ohio and eastern Indiana.

'The 23-90 Baker that I got some time ago, I still have. It's like new and I use it to steam tobacco beds near home, because I can't drive it down the roads for a distance like the Old No. 9 Loco,' says Roscoe. And yet there was still another steam engine in the 'love affair' of Roscoe Shiverdecker and his beloved 'Iron Horses.'

'I got me a little half-size model of a Greyhound Engine. Its boiler was rolled in St. Marys, Ohio, but the engine was then built in Coldwater, Ohio,' muses Roscoe. 'That engine had the stamp of the Ohio State Boiler Board.' (I reminded Roscoe that it probably was the only engine that had ever generated steam in 'Coldwater'.)

'I tore that engine all down and rebuilt it,' says Roscoe. 'It had only three-quarter inch piping throughout and couldn't handle enough steam to give it the power it needed. So I replaced the smaller three-quarter piping with inch-and-a-quarter size, and I put on a heavier fly-wheel, rebuilt the clutch and governor.'

Although Roscoe Shiverdecker almost forgot to mention the small, quarter-size model of an Advance Engine, which he used to 'play with the did not forget to praise his entire family for all the help they give him at cleaning, repairing and painting his steam engines, including the old R. D. S. Special No. 9.

'My wife, Helen, helps to paint the engines, and my daughter, Sharon did the painting and lettering on my Baker,' says 'Shivvie', with a bit of pride in stride.

Now that son Gary is in the military service, next-in-line brother Bob, 17, has taken over with the helping of Iron Man Roscoe Shiverdecker in rebuilding his engines. And that leaves Steve, 11, and Johnny, 8, to hang around Dad's shop, so they can learn how to work on the engines. And, of course, help Dad show 'em off at the steam reunions.