THE STEAM ENGINE COLLECTING OF GLEN J. BRUTUS
(Page 2 of 8)
January/February 2000
Dr. Robert T. Rhode
Glen hauling two Case engines from the Ozark Mountains to
Indiana. In front is a 36 HP No. 25453, in rear 40 HP No. 32463.
From September/October 1961 IMA.
RELATED CONTENT
Charlie Rouck, a third-generation boiler man in Sheldon,
Illinois, acquired from Lucken Steel a front tube sheet already
flanged and stamped out, and he installed new flues in the 1908
portable Case. Lucken had made boilerplate for certain Case
engines. Glen received a new ring and door for the portable from
the Case company in Racine.
Glen traded the refurbished portable to Al New of Pendleton,
Indiana, for a rare high-wheeler Canadian-special Reeves, serial
number 7904, built in 1916, and Al traded the Case to Keith Mauzy
of Middletown, Indiana. Al had purchased the high-wheeler from
Windy Stingle, who bought it from a family in Oxford, Indiana.
Referring to Pine Village history, Glen said, 'The last day
that engine ran was the day the elevator burned down in July of
1933. It had a six-bottom plow hooked to it.'
In a telephone interview on June 15, 1999, Lyle Hoff master of
Bucyrus, Ohio, said that the Reeves Company built thirty-eight of
the 16-horsepower high-wheeler engines and twelve of the
20-horsepower engines. At one time, Lyle knew the whereabouts of
several high-wheelers, whose owners touted their strength, but Lyle
said that only three exist today all of them 16s. Lyle mentioned
that, at some point in its early history, the Stingle high-wheeler
had become frozen to the ground. Under steam pressure, the engine
was jerked for half a day, until the wheels were free. As a result,
the wheels were sprung, one of them more than the other. Windy told
Lyle that some of the spokes were up to three inches longer than
the rest, to compensate for the distortion.
Glen arranged to buy the high-wheeler Reeves in Pine Village
before Al had time to haul it to Pendleton. Glen's photograph
of the Reeves engine appeared in the July/August 1964 issue of the
Album. It was only fitting that Glen own a Reeves, since
one of his fraternity brothers at Purdue University was a Reeves
son. Glen regretted that he 'never did talk about engines with
him. I wasn't interested at that time.'
The Snyder brothers of Goshen, Indiana, eventually acquired the
high-wheeler Reeves, and Earl Marhanka of Dowagiac, Michigan,
bought it. It was sold in 1973 for $5,000; a photograph of it
appeared in Jack Norbeck's Encyclopedia of American Steam
Traction Engines. Another photograph of it appeared on the
cover of the Album for November/December 1977; the engine
had been shown at Blooming Prairie, Minnesota. Clarence Black of
Free-port, Illinois, now owns the rare high wheeler Reeves.
From Renos Staley in Bowling Green, Indiana, Glen purchased an
80-horsepower Case traction engine, serial number in the 35000
range. It was missing its tag. The engine had been used in a
sawmill up until the last. Glen kept the 80 long enough to scare
himself with it. On the day of the mishap, he and some friends were
running the engine, when a hand hole gasket beneath the throat
sheet blew out. Misconstruing the accident as the first step toward
an explosion, Glen's helpers made themselves scarce, hiding
behind buildings. Some even scampered to their cars and took off at
high rates of speed. Glen was left to handle the problem on his
own. He damped the fire, bringing the situation under control, but
he never felt comfortable around the 80 again.
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