Hope they're not near any dry straw or hay.
David,They need to have some close because burning straw is where the sparks come from at a spark show!Neat picture Dean,I have seen lots of spark shows but two stacks!! Was it two engines pulling on two pony brakes at the same time?? Another great place to see a spark show is Buckly,Mi the 3'rd weekend in Augest! More model TT's running in one show than proably anywhere in the country? Neat pictures!! Thank you!! Bud.
So a "spark show" is the steam engine equivalent of laying down "donughts"?
Dean In was there on Friday and Saturday nights to see the spark shows. It was a real crowd pleaser. Bud there was some straw there on the ground but it was not used for the spark show. They shoveled saw dust into the fireboxes. This part of the showgrounds where the spark show was held was near the road around the grounds and the sparks were being carried toward the houses across the road. I guess it didn't bother anything, I never heard of an incident.
They actually had four engined going at once! They had a Baker, a Woods Bros., a Reeves and another one I can't recall going at once. The big Reeves really belched the sparks out.
It's a good time in Mt. Pleasant.
Herb
We had two Fairbanks Morse Diesel engines on the Milwaukee that would pull the hill and looked like that. People would stop and watch as we waddled by.
One summer the fire department just followed us up the hill dousing fires.
The exhaust manifold would get red hot and we had a brakeman that made his own frozen TV dinners. He would place them on the manifolds when we left the yard and by the time we topped the hill at the Sears store, he had a warm lunch.
Joe R.
Don't have exact counts on things that were at Mt Pleasant but it was huge this year. There were over 130 antique cars including a special display of "fin" cars; over 700 antique tractors; 130 steam engines; somewhere around 800 stationary gas engines. Ad the two steam powered trains, activities in the town that is set up which includes shoot outs at the saloon, bank roberies, train robberies, plus the threashing and corn shelling going on during the days, coupled with the excellent weather it was a marvelous event. On three of the days, before the daily parade, the tare down model T was assembled and driven off the track. Usually ran around 13 minutes. That is one of my cars that is on loan to them.
Forgot about the electric trollies that ran plus the steam powered marry go round plus many other things to numerous to mention.
Hope to be able to go again next year.
Herb,How did they mannage to pull 4 engines at once?? Any spark show i have ever seen they pull the engine hard with a pony brake? When they come out would someone post a flyer for next years show?? Do they have a website?? Bud.
Joe Rudzik - I sent you a PM after reading your above post of today, but I don't think it went. If you didn't receive the "private message" let me know your email address when you get a chance please. Thanks,.....harold (another ol' MILW guy)
Bud
Are you going to the OCF? You have been kind of quiet on the web lately. jon crane
Bud I'm sorry I wanted to say how they worked the engines but didn't. They had each one of the engines belted up to a Baker fan to give them a load.
Their website could be found by searching: Midwest Old Threshers or Mt Pleasant Iowa
Herb
Here you go I found a site
http://www.oldthreshers.org/
I also want to say in the top picture of the spark show you can see a lighted building, that is the dance pavillion where they have square dancing. I didn't see them Square Dancing this year but they did it the last two times I was there.
Herb
There's the 2009 35th annual "James Valley Threshing and Two-Cylinder Club Threshing Show" on Sept. 11-13 at Andover, South Dakota (just East of Aberdeen). This is a great show with steam engines, antique tractors. stationery gas engines (featured this year), car show,and many demonstrations. This includes the "World's Largest Steam Powing Exhibition", threshing, tractor pulls and all else in great facility. It also features a "Steam Spark Show" at dusk on Saturday 9/12.
This event is well worth attending. I'll be there!!
Gerald Cornelius
Watertown, South Dakota
Jon,Yes and we hope to see you!! Sorry to admit but i have not been that quiet and proably have spread to much of my brand of schizen?? spelling at your owne risk.Thanks Herb!!! I wondered how they did it and what a show!! I added their site to my favorites and maby next year??Bud.
That looks like a great show. I hope to get up there some time. Here are some pictures of our local show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkViyc5WvgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3gThiMaSaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gozyF4ET5U
Harold,
I tried to send you an answer, but your antispam bounces the letter back.
I was an engineer on the Milwaukee RR out of Kansas City, Missouri and ran to Ottumwa, Iowa.
Joe R.
I love these things. I watched all three youtubes.
Some observations: in the first one, the young fellow handling the bale of straw certainly hasn't done it much. He carried it like it was a box instead of by the wires. Also like the green & yellow Farmall F-20. The young guy driving the JD A needs to throttle it down a little when he's backing up. You'll lunge backward and into the clutch lever lungeing you more. Later, the Ford 6000 Standard was a gasser. Interesting, most were diesels. It's been a while since the JD95 combine has seen any grain - rusty head.
Maybe some day I'll get caught up with all my "projects" and have time to go to some of these events. Heck, the one in Portland Indiana was just a couple of weeks ago and I didn't want to take the time to go. It's only 35 miles away for me.
Joe - I received your email just fine. Thanks for the response. Only thing I forgot to say in the "PM" that I sent you was that at Galewood Yard in Chicago, the MILW had a couple switch engines that (after they had been idling all night) they'd smoke much worse than a lot of steam engines I've seen, especially when the hogger first cracked the throttle. Wish I could remember the mfgr of those old engines, but they were either Fairbanks Morse, Baldwin or Alco. It was heavy, bluish smoke that really "stunk". At least the old coal-burning steam engines had a nice smell to them! Thanks for the response Joe,.......harold
Joe - Forgot to say that my wife fixed it so our spam blocker won't block you anymore; thanks again,.......harold
Fred,
People can actually catch up on their projects?
I'm so far behind I can see my own behind and the wife just stapled another 20 feet to her present honeydo.
Joe R.
Thanks Harold,
I'll write some more.
Joe R.