Home What´s New   Search this site   About this site   About R & T   Overview   History   Membership   The Whistle   Photo Albums   Reg. Events   Special   Articles   Visitors Info   2008 Schedule     Tractor Pulls   Regulations   Register form   Exhibitor Info   Gift Shop   Organization   Officers&Dir's   Committees   Volunteer Corner   What is it?   Contacting Us     October 2, 2000		Photo Album 2000 Steam School - May 20 - June 3, 2000   I attended the 2000 Rough and Tumble Steam School. You'll find photo albums of each of the three days of instruction linked here.   Butch Biesecker was our instructor and there were about 25 students. Click on the days below for a brief description of the day's activity and a link to our photo album for that day.   Day 1          Day 2          Day 3   Day 1 Photos We spent the morning of Day 1 in a "classroom" learning the basics of steam engines, with a lot of emphasis on the potential danger if one of these machines runs low on water. After lunch we met at the saw mill where a Frick was under roof for some instruction with an actual engine. Aided by operators of five steam traction engines, small groups of five then got hands on instruction and opportunities to drive an engine.   I was in a group of five under the care of Arvid J. Hamilton ("AJ") who was being helped by young Tyler. Arvid, who just turned 40, first came to R&T with his father at the age of 8. AJ is a fire fighter and farmer in Salem County, New Jersey. At the time of this class, he had only owned his 28,000 lb, 1926 two cylinder Frick for a few days. He was very helpful to all of us and gave us all opportunities to drive the Frick forward and back and answered all of our questions. AJ had completed the 1999 Steam School.   Day 2 Photos As on Day 1, it rained much of Day 2. Today we started each engine from scratch, drove it around, tried an obstacle course and/or the belt fan, and shut it down at the end of the day. This time we split into groups and started up the seven traction engines ourselves with the guidance of an instructor for each engine. A few went to the Little Toot railroad for instruction there. I went to the 1910 75HP Case owned by Rough and Tumble and operated by Jeff Doucette, our instructor. This engine was brought to the 1984 reunion by its then owner who donated the engine to Rough and Tumble in 1986. It is definitely one of the more temperamental engines at R&T.   We learned how to care for and feed our assigned engine. Basically, after checking all valves and the water level and cleaning the flues, we built a wood fire in the firebox, added coal later, and waited for enough steam to get under way. During the wait of over an hour, there is plenty of time to lubricate all of the various grease boxes and oiling devices on the engine. During this period Jeff explained the particular way the Case works in terms of the water injectors and the finicky reverse lever and throttle.   This Case weighs about 20,000 lbs (without water) and has a 34" diameter boiler and over 9 sq ft of grate area in the firebox. The cylinder is 11"x11" and exhausts to a pre-heater for incoming water. With 60 tubes in the flue, there will be a lot to clean on Day 3! "As new" maximum pressure was 140 lbs, but R&T's tractor is currently rated up to 127 lbs (per sq in). The traction wheels are 24" wide and 5'4" in diameter. Throw in the fact that it's pretty temperamental, and you have quite a beast.   Day 3 Photos Sunshine! We finally had a bright, sunny day. Our last class began with John Geib distributing color handouts showing both boiler operation and the injector. John then went over some of the special features of the Sawyer Massey and the Avery and reviewed the "Do's and Don'ts" before turning us loose on the available engines. I joined George Miller and Charlie Zuck on the 75HP 1910 Case. We cleaned the flue and firebox and lubricated everything before building our fire. John Geib came by every now and then to check on us and added a second whistle on one of his visits. Finally, we got under way and drove to the edge of the grounds and did a blow-down to blow out sediment from the mud ring.   While George and Charlie cruised around on the Case, I went with John and got a chance to drive the Avery. Like Arvid's 1926 Frick, the 1908 Avery has two cylinders, but unlike any other engines on the grounds, it has the boiler over the engine, instead of under. Together with the operator's cab, this makes for relatively poor visibility and a very hot "cockpit". The high boiler means the firebox door is about knee level and the damper (only one, at the rear) is also in the cab. The driver has to step over to the left side to see the road on that side. Unlike any of the other engines, the Avery has a worm-gear steering mechanism which is much easier to turn, but with even more turns lock-to-lock than the others. Steering is also made easier because there is less weight on the front wheels, which stick out in front of the boiler.   After I drove the Avery around a while and tried the "stop on the block" test, John belted the Avery to the Baker Fan and had some fun. John is really a railroad buff, and likes to get the Avery going full blast on the fan so that it sounds like a train locomotive at full throttle. As you'll see from the photos, there was a lot of other activity on Day 3. The Sawyer Massey ran the saw mill, Little Toot was in operation and Arvid milled a loose connecting rod bearing on his Frick. We ended the day receiving our certificates from Butch Biesecker and having a photo taken of the Class of 2000.
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