SOOT IN THE FLUES
Past and Present:
November/December 2001
Anna Mae
Traction Engines and Threshing Machines
RELATED CONTENT
A Worthington Ingersol Rand cooler engine.''...
The Rollag Reunion had stack threshing''...
Several old steam threshing engines''...
Aultman-Taylor outfit''...
Aultman-Taylor outfit''...
Larry G. Creed, R.R. #13 Box 209, Brazil, IN 47834, writes:
'I would like to welcome Ogden Publications along with new
Iron Men Album staff into the steam hobby. Our new editor, Richard
Backus, is committed to keeping the Iron-Men Album a quality steam
publication. I know Richard will welcome any ideas, questions or
comments about the magazine. I believe this change will open new
doors to us as both readers and contributors.
'I have picked out some of my old steam photographs for you
to enjoy. Photograph #1 is of an older Reeves steam engine pulling
parade wagons. The engine is a double cylinder simple, which would
have built early last century. The early Reeves engines had a round
water tank located under the right rear wheel. The tank was
complete with a plumbed in funnel. The engine is jacketed and has a
flare stack instead of the later stacks, which were straight except
for the flared crown. I can easily picture Lyle Hoffmaster on the
front wagon of this picture, and you would have no trouble counting
all of his front teeth.
'Photograph #2 is a Kansas threshing crew enjoying some
liquid refreshment. The engine is a 24 or 28 HP Minneapolis. The
toolbox mounted on the right side of the engine located under the
stack must be every bit of three feet long. I guess big equipment
called for big tools. The wind feeders of the separator are folded
back in the transport position. The inscription on the picture
reads, 'Bergon & Ratzlaff crew.'
'Photograph #3 is also a Kansas threshing scene. Smoke and
dust obscures part of the picture. The man on the bundle wagon is
in the process of forking a bundle to throw into the feeder. Straw
can be seen blown out of the blower stack. The engine is a Huber
single-cylinder about 18 or 20 HP. The crossed braces at the front
of the canopy are a Huber feature.
'Photograph #4 is an Ohio threshing scene. The size of the
straw pile proves that some serious threshing was done in Ohio. The
threshing machine is an Avery. The steam engine is hooked to the
separator ready to move. The engine appears to be a Frick, judging
from the position of the engine on the rear of the boiler and the
flat spoke rear wheels.
'I was sad to learn of the passing of Howard Wade, who lived
in Whitewater, Wis. Howard was a true steam man who liked all steam
engines, but he was a dyed-in-the-wool Nichols-Shepard man. The
Wade brothers have many large Nichols-Shepard engines in their
collection, some being one-of-a-kind. Photograph #5 was taken in
Sept. 1966 and shows Howard and Harlan Wade in front of their
Nichols