The best!

I got to ride The Mighty 28, a steam tractor.  Standing on the hitch I can feel the rumble radiating up through my feet as steel wheels work against hard earth.  Heat rolls off the boiler just at arms reach.  The steam whistle calls out and the sound is accompanied by a fine mist against my face.  Ash drifts down and soot black coal dust lies in every nook and cranny.  What an amazing machine.

The Edin family owns this tractor and they brought it out into the campground for everyone to get a closer look. Thank you.  I hope that the Reunion organizers know just how wonderful ambassadors these folks are for all that is the Steam Thrashers Reunion.

We had watched the Mighty 28 at the Prony Brake testing its maximum horsepower. They recorded 132 hp on a machine rated for 110.  Not bad for a 100+ years old!

The sandbox.

From our high spot we look out across a rolling open field. Columns of steam and coal smoke rise from four steam shovels busy scooping, swiveling and dumping dirt from one pile to another.  They look like dragons building their nests and even seem to talk when the dump gates squeak as they swing on their hinges.  A bulldozer passes in front of us pulling an earth mover.  What they claim is the largest Dozer in the world, a Euclid TC-12 used on the Panama Canal, takes enormous bites of earth with every pass as he digs a huge pit  When he gets done digging he will fill it back in.  Aptly named the sandbox, this is the place where we get to see this great old equipment work like it did in years gone by.  The operators certainly seem to be enjoying the demonstrations; maybe even more than the spectators.

Spark show

Marion Steam Shovel

Superheated sawdust belched into the night sky from the belly of a steam engine under load, that’s what gives us a spark show. Steam shovels in the sandbox put on the first show.  They actually spin the entire shovel assembly to provide the work load.  That creates some weird shadows in addition to the spark shower.

Night 2 The Mighty 28 steam tractor on the Prony brake puts on a spectacular show.  With a toot, toot, signaling ready to load the engine; a belt begins to move and

The Mighty 28

the brake to apply load. Sparks spew 100 ft in the air.  There are miniature versions of these behemoth steam tractors here at the show.  One of them puts on a scaled version of the spark show too.