We paid $5.00 each to get in and each got a commemorative pin and we literally walked in the gate and saw this 1910 Peerless wood fired steam tractor and I was in awe. The noises, hissing, steam whistle, the smell of wood smoke......I must have been dumbstrauck because the guy who owned this pulled up to us and asked us if we wanted to drive it. I mean this is literally right at the gate entrance and we hadnt been in the park for more than a minute.
Well I'm not going to turn that one down so away we went. It was relatively straight forward to drive but the steering was through a worm drive chain operation and took about five 360 degree turns to get the front wheels to move much.
25 hp and you could hear the water dripping out of some of the fittings onto the boiler and sizzling and while I was operating it a huge wicked looking fly wheel is spinning right next to your right arm. Holly sat to one side on a fender and took pictures....while I still have cracks in my face from grinning ear to ear.
The steamers were well represented
There were literally hundreds if not over a thousand different steam powered pieces of machinery
We saw a lot of Rumley Oil Pull tractors that have a vertical boiler and make a very peculiar sound when they are fired up...and they pop and spit a lot
Wouldnt you like to find something like this in an old barn?
These guys were grinding grain and a lot of the old steam equipment was really self propelled engines to power things like this.
While others were larger and had the huge belts to drive the threshers, winnowers, saw mills etc.
They have a permanent setup on 15 acres and put on a top notch show each year.
On site they also have an old wood fire steam generating plant donated from an old dairy.
And of course we had to get the whole low down and the enthusiasts running the equipment were happy to oblige
These little guys arent toys or miniatures, they were actually just small units to power equipment.
Everything old was represented and we were in heaven.
The thing about this place is that everything still works, much of the equipment is a hundred years old or close to it and they run from the late 1800s up to the mid 50s.
There were thousands of hir or miss engines powering grinders, water pumps, and just about anything else now powered by gas, diesel, or electric.
A classic restored Cub Cadet
I believe this is a Farm-All F-12 and it was, like many of the tractors completely restored and in full working order.
This collection of Farmalls represented most of the models and was all owned by the same guy. They were all in concourse restored condition and I'm thinking he let his hobby get away from him.
I have always had a penchant for Farmall Cubbs and someday will have one; these were show room pristine even though they were 50 something years old.
Not the kind of Jaguar some may lust for but I would take it. Sickle bar mower looked brand new too and it all worked.
Tons of tracted tractors like this old Oliver and Catepillar and CLETRAC were well represented as well.
This is a Toro tractor from 1942, I doubt the Toro in your garage will still be around in 70 some years.
This is an Allis Chalmers WC like we have except this one has what I think is a sugar cane picker. It was fitted with hydraulics to lift the arm and it was a maze of tubing and hoses but it must have worked at some point. We have NO plans on modifying our 1948 WC standard in this way!
This old Case steam tractor was powering a saw mill
Looks like a good way to lose a few fingers or an arm but it worked fine.
Look at the length of the belt from the side PTO pully.
And finally for this installment, these guys were prepping Sorghum cane for pressing. We have the side PTO pully on our AC-WC and the belts and are looking for a cane press ourselves.
It was just a great and fun day and I even found this original manual for our 1948 Allis Chalmers WC at the swap meet - karma
Without a doubt, this event is full of old yet fantastic pieces of machinery! Steamers and tractors were everywhere. It’s like wherever you go, you'll probably be seeing a machine around you. An old steel generating plant can also be found there. There’s really a lot to look forward to in this event!
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