00:08 - Hi, I'm Carson and today PCN

00:10 - is at the 67th Annual Steam Show here in South Central PA.

00:14 - And as you can see, there are a ton of tractors here.

00:16 - There's John Deere, there's McCormick farm.

00:18 - Also there's Oliver's.

00:20 - So let's take a look around and see what they have to offer. I'm.

00:37 - I'm Jayce Toman,

00:38 - the assistant secretary of the Williams Grove Historical Steam Engine Association.

00:43 - The organization was formed in the spring of 1959.

00:46 - The land that we are currently, standing on was allowed to be used

00:50 - free of charge from 1959 until we purchased the land in 2006.

00:55 - We are 100% volunteer run nonprofit organization.

00:59 - All of our events and everything are put on all by volunteers.

01:04 - Steam traction engines were the first feature of our show.

01:07 - Steam traction engines were originally designed in 1858.

01:11 - They took a stationary engine that was originally pulled

01:14 - by horse teams and made them powered on their own.

01:18 - They were after that, made to be bigger and stronger so that they could

01:21 - pull, equipment through the fields to actually use them for farming.

01:25 - And they are the predecessors for current modern day tractors.

01:29 - I'm here with Tim.

01:29 - He's a member of the Williams Grove Historical Steam Engine Association.

01:33 - Could you tell us a little bit about what is a steam engine or a steam engine like?

01:37 - This type was, from 1913.

01:39 - It you heat water, boil water to make the steam.

01:44 - You can use some some steam engines.

01:46 - Used wood or straw or coal.

01:49 - This one is using coal, a soft coal.

01:51 - It boils the water, gets the steam, and it's stored in the steam.

01:56 - The barrel of the steam engine here.

01:59 - There's a throttle valve up top with a governor that has the.

02:03 - It's spinning around very slowly now.

02:05 - And you can throttle that to make, you know, a lot more steam in.

02:09 - There's a forward and reverse gear.

02:11 - And it's driven by you steer it by these chains.

02:15 - So it's very rudimentary in the, in the steering

02:18 - when you're driving it. And this is a twin cylinder

02:20 - some of the other ones are a single cylinder.

02:23 - What are steam engines used for.

02:25 - They were originally used for a lot of different purposes.

02:29 - Some were used stationary, like as, for a, a sawmill

02:34 - or a threshing machine, which we have here at the, at the grounds.

02:38 - And they also did field work.

02:41 - There were some that were steam rollers, did help with road construction.

02:46 - So they they were pretty much used that way up

02:49 - until, like, the 1920 ish.

02:52 - That was kind of the end.

02:53 - And then the, the regular gas tractors had come along,

02:56 - which, were a little more simple to use and operate.

03:00 - And before these, they were using mostly horses.

03:06 - And that's kind of the, progression there.

03:09 - Could you tell us a little bit about this steam engine in particular?

03:11 - How old is it?

03:12 - So like I said, this is a 1913 steam engine.

03:16 - It's, peerless is the name. It's a model.

03:19 - You one, two on the end of the cylinder heads.

03:22 - This was built in Waynesboro, PA at the Geyser Works.

03:27 - That plant, it actually burnt down.

03:29 - So there is. They lost a lot of records.

03:32 - So we, you know, you really can't pinpoint, like,

03:35 - when it was actually made.

03:36 - Although the owner of this engine, Neal, he,

03:39 - he did find some people that had some information about it.

03:43 - And I think it actually did go down to a sawmill in Maryland or Virginia.

03:48 - Tim, thank you so much for talking about the steam engine today.

03:50 - Well you're welcome.

03:51 - Thanks for the interest

03:52 - in keeping this, all the all of this history of agriculture.

03:56 - And that's what we try to do here.

03:58 - You know, I think one of the slogans at one point in time was, you know what?

04:00 - The Williams Grove Historical Steam Engine Association keeping steam alive.

04:05 - And that's that's the big thing here is just how things used to be done.

04:09 - And you know, where things came from basically.

04:12 - Well, let's go for some more of its history.

04:26 - I'm here with Scott.

04:27 - We're here in the gas engine section of the show.

04:29 - Could you tell us what is this?

04:31 - This is a hit and miss gas engine from 1914.

04:34 - What? What does that mean?

04:36 - It means that it'll fire once

04:40 - and then coast off the momentum of the flywheels.

04:44 - And then it'll fire again with the governor's calls for the air.

04:48 - And what were these used for?

04:49 - These were used for.

04:50 - For the farmers back in the day.

04:52 - Shelling corn, pumping water, whatever, made it a little easier for the farmer.

04:57 - So you can continue on with these other crops.

04:59 - How did you get interested in this?

05:01 - Through my father

05:03 - back in the 80s, 90s,

05:06 - my brother inherited these from him.

05:09 - And then I got a couple and then I started buying on my own.

05:12 - And do they come in different sizes?

05:15 - Different sizes, different shapes, different colors.

05:18 - Decorative ones that you will see are either green, red,

05:22 - maroon,

05:24 - a few colors in gray, but most of them are greens or red.

05:27 - Different shades of reds

05:29 - or different green shades depending on the manufacturer.

05:33 - Well, thanks for telling us about the gas license.

05:36 - Well.

05:45 - It would be.

05:49 - Great to be.

05:56 - I'm here with Chuck.

05:57 - He's here checking out the steam show this year.

05:59 - Why did you decide to come?

06:01 - I like I like looking at the steam engines

06:03 - and the antique tractors and the whole.

06:06 - The whole event's pretty.

06:07 - Pretty intricate. Intriguing.

06:10 - Is this your first time here?

06:11 - I've been here several years in a row now.

06:13 - Why do you keep coming back?

06:14 - Oh, it's.

06:15 - I grew up on a farm, and so I like tractors and and steam engines.

06:21 - What are you most looking forward to here?

06:24 - Just checking.

06:24 - Checking it out.

06:25 - I've got some friends coming over tonight after 5:00,

06:28 - so we're going to walk around as well and and look at things.

06:32 - Awesome. Hope you enjoy the rest of the show.

06:34 - No thank you.

06:35 - Carson. Not.

06:42 - The Williams Grove Railroad was formed in 1961

06:45 - with the purchase of steam locomotive number five.

06:48 - We have since found out of that is number 643.

06:51 - And next year, we will be celebrating the 125th birthday of the steam locomotive.

06:55 - All of the track

06:56 - that the train currently runs on was originally laid by volunteers.

07:00 - It is roughly a quarter mile track, and we are currently in the process

07:04 - of adding another 400ft.

07:05 - It has always been the dream of the association

07:07 - to extend the track to make it a complete loop.

07:10 - We are in the process of working on that, and we'll eventually be raising money

07:14 - because we're estimating that it'll roughly cost another two.

07:17 - And a half million dollars.

07:34 - To. A little more than two years ago,

07:47 - we started the process of attempting to move the carousel House.

07:51 - We announced to our membership of the 65th annual show.

07:54 - We are now during our 67th annual show, that we would be trying to raise $200,000

08:00 - to move the structure from the amusement park next door that closed back in 2005.

08:05 - We raised $130,000.

08:08 - Due to permitting, it took an extra year longer than we had expected, but

08:12 - we were able to move the carousel house May 30th and 31st of this year.

08:15 - It cost us over $70,000 just for the movers to come.

08:19 - Now, the rest of the money we are using to restore the structure

08:22 - so we can use it for our events, Wolf House

08:24 - and Building Movers came in and put four dollies underneath it.

08:28 - There were two large I-beams that went across.

08:30 - The structure is octagonal in shape, and so the beams where they had

08:35 - two at the widest parts that ran across with a, dolly on each corner.

08:40 - They had a, motorized unit that was attached to the side of the building.

08:45 - It started off, it was cleared out, but it has since grown up.

08:49 - Since May already.

08:51 - But you could see the exact path, down by our, behind our railroad tracks.

08:56 - But they, the first day they moved it, this was before our event started.

09:01 - They moved it across the marshy ground.

09:05 - It's a little wetter down where the park is.

09:06 - So they moved it across those grounds to get it to the base of a bridge.

09:10 - Then we had to build a temporary bridge to cross.

09:13 - Raceway of the Yellow Bridges Creek.

09:16 - So the first day of our event, the it came up across the creek

09:20 - and it actually went around all of the structures

09:22 - that we have on our ground, so we didn't have to move any buildings.

09:26 - The second it's stopped about halfway through the route, the first day,

09:30 - the second day, they brought it and came across the grounds,

09:33 - across this roadway right here where we stand.

09:37 - It was elevated for over a month.

09:40 - But while we put the concrete pilings underneath.

09:43 - So within 30 days of that, we poured the concrete.

09:46 - We lowered it down on to its permanent location.

09:48 - This carousel house has been on the media grounds for over 100 years.

09:53 - And the amusement park, with it being closed, nobody's allowed to go into it.

09:57 - But this was the structure in the best condition.

10:00 - So when it was donated to our organization free of charge,

10:03 - we thought we had to move in and make it a centerpiece of our grounds.

10:06 - Here.

10:10 - And. Thank

10:14 - you so much for joining us here at the Williams Road team.

10:17 - So I hope that you guys enjoyed.

10:19 - I'm off. To.