THE STEAM ENGINE COLLECTING OF GLEN J. BRUTUS
(Page 5 of 8)
January/February 2000
Dr. Robert T. Rhode
Glen had once traveled to David City, Nebraska, to see another
110-horsepower Case owned by Emil Kudlacek. Emil did not want to
sell. While they were visiting, Emil told Glen that Emil had owned
another 110 but decided that it could not be repaired and cut it up
for scrap. Today, such an engine might be restored, even at great
expense, but the decisions made today differ from those made in the
early years of collecting. Back then, when engines were relatively
cheap and more plentiful, even the collectors who loved steam
engines the most were sometimes persuaded to junk an engine needing
major repairs.
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Glen also journeyed as far as the Porcupine Provincial Forest in
Manitoba, Canada, in search of a 110 Case. The one there had a
butt-strap boiler but no cab or tenders.
While Glen drove many miles in search of Case engines, the
products of other companies, such as the high-wheeler Reeves, made
their way into Glen's mostly Case collection. The March/April
1953 issue of the Album reported that he sold a
15-horsepower Nagle stationary engine which he had acquired from
Purdue University and which had its original paint. From Purdue he
also acquired a Baker stationary engine with a uniflow cylinder;
the engine had been used in the engineering department to teach
students. In a telephone interview on June 15, 1999, Pete Burno
said that the Baker engine had a Prony brake permanently attached
to it. In that respect, it was similar to other stationary engines
built for university engineering departments.
Glen owned an 18-horsepower Avery under mounted traction engine,
serial number 4654. Justin Hingtgen had owned it first; Justin
bought it in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Glen paid $850 for the
Avery, including delivery to Glen's farm. The Avery needed
repairs. Charlie Rouck ended up staying at the farm for two weeks.
Rouck put in twelve or fifteen new stay bolts, repaired the
governor, fitted a new steam pipe to the engine, and installed a
new back axle all for $1,200. The restored Avery threshed at the
Farm Progress Show, and, according to the May/June 1963
Album, from September 14 to 16, 1962, it powered Otto
Klutzke's Prony brake during the Home Hospital Fair, a
fund-raising event held in Lafayette, Indiana, by the Illiana steam
club. Glen helped to lead the Illiana organization; on April 29,
1956, he was elected Secretary/Treasurer of the association (see
July/August 1956 Album). Today, Dennis Christiansen of
Peotone, Illinois, owns the Avery.
When more experienced members of the steam fraternity reminisce,
newer members occasionally call their anecdotes 'war
stories.' Glen, however, has plenty of authentic, hair-raising
war stories to tell. Captured by the Germans during the Battle of
the Bulge, Glen was being transported by boxcar from one
prisoner-of-war camp to another. It was Christmas Eve, 1944. RAF
pilots began to bomb the area. The German guards and the American
prisoners scattered. Suddenly, Glen heard the shriek of a missile
hurtling toward him. Instinctively, he hit the ground. Along with
the blast behind him came a concussion of the soil beneath his
stomach. When he regained his wind, he looked back. 'Thirteen
of my buddies were lying dead around the crater,' Glen said,
staring to one side, as though he could still see them.
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