[Steam-engine] Wauseon - NTA

Ken Hough k4sb at niia.net
Wed Jun 29 19:51:27 PDT 2005


Hello Jeff
Sure wish I had met you at Wauseon. I was with the DUPLEX Truck that was 
tooling around. Next year? Glad you had a good time. It is certainly a 
great reunion.
Ken

I left from my house last Wednesday to go to the NTA
meet.  I tried to get a flight out of West Palm Beach,
but ended up going out of Orlando to meet my schedule.
 I find it humorous that the drive to Orlando was
longer than the flight.  The flight up required a
change of planes and we were grounded at take off due
to haze at Atlanta where I was to change planes.  When
we finally were aloud to depart and then land in
Atlanta, I had to run to the gate of the second flight
and was there just in time to get on second to last
before they closed the door.  Dad was to pick me up in
Pittsburgh at the airport, but called me and told me
to take the hotel bus..............that was pretty
funny, because he didn't show up and gave me the wrong
location to catch the bus, but I finally got there.

We left for the show the next morning about 5:00 am
and got there about 11:00 am.  The show was great and
I was surprised at how nice and courteous everyone
was.  The Huber display was a nice set up, and there
were a lot of steam engines.  We also walked through
the gas engine area and the flee market.  The flee
market was great because all of the engine people were
with their engines so we came out with a truck load of
stuff.  The funny part was that I bought a Huber jack
there for $20 and Dad wanted it.  I found him another
one for $100 and told him that he could buy that
one!!!  He did not, and I got the guy to $75 and he
still didn't want it.  I teased him the entire trip
that he could have the other jack and he did not find
humor in it.  I made it a point to even call other
engine friends and let them know of my nice new $20
jack and that dad could have one also if he would
reach for his wallet.  I did give him the jack when we
got home, so now he is happy, but I had to have fun
with it!!!

There was a nice large steam display of engine and
boiler pieces.  The prony breaks were a great show
also.  I took about 1,200 digital photos of most of
the show.  I wanted to go and see the stationary steam
engines, but soon realized that the NTA did not own
the property so there were no permanent displays like
that.  

I went up to a Port Huron on the baker fan and asked
the lady if she was Beth and boy did I get a look and
a few words!!!!  She then pointed out Beth's engine
and I never did find her until the last day of the
show for me.  I would find the truck or the engine
many times, but no Beth........it was rather funny.

My dad and I visited a few hours with our old friends
Jim and Marylin Malz.  They had their 25 hp Huber
traction engine there.  It was great to see them
there.  

I will say that I must eat crow here and point out
that I was truly shocked at how good of condition the
engines that were there from the Rynda sale were in. 
If an engine was left outside in WV where I grew up
for 40 years, it would have been in a lot worse shape.
 If something is out here in Florida for 40 years,
there is not much left of it if anything.  I looked
those engines over for quite some time and was just in
shock and amazed at how well they were preserved for
being outside.  The Russell was the real shock to me,
I could not believe that those water tanks were not
eaten up and full of holes.  As many of you know, I
was critical about the engines being outside for so
long, but I will retract my prior comments and eat
crow and say that I am truly amazed at the condition
of these engine for being outside for so many years. 
I am still glad that I did not go to the auction
though, because just like the NTA flee market, I just
can't seem to leave without buying something.  I even
bought a few items from my friend Ted's between the
airport and my house......must be a sickness!!!

All in all it was a great show to attend.  Dad told me
on the way there that this would be his last time
there due to the long drive and his age, but less than
a mile and five minutes from leaving the show grounds
to go home, he was asking me about how we would return
next year!!!  We met many nice people and were greeted
with open arms.  The show is nice because the tractors
and steam engines are out in the center of the track
and their camping rigs were off in a distant field. 
This made walking the show area much smaller than if
all that stuff was jammed in there like at the Florida
shows.  There were many engines that had nice paint
jobs, and I took lots of photos of them.  I also was
amazed at how almost every engine there including the
1/2 scales had gauges of that manufacture, that was a
great thing to see.    We had a great time, and hope
to attend next year. I might even consider an article
in Steam Traction if I can find the time. 

Also, we ate a restaurant next to the old drive in and
the owner was great.  He went to every table and told
jokes and was a real riot!!!  Dad told him a funny
joke and I wonder how many times he has told it since
we left.  If you make it there, that is a must attend
place also for the food was great and the guy was
really runny.

I arrived back in Florida yesterday morning at Orlando
International Airport in time to travel the short toll
road to Sanford, FL to have lunch with my good friend
and list member Ted Best.  It was wild to see that the
toll for that short distance was almost  as much as
the toll to travel most of the way across Ohio one
direction from Pittsburgh, PA.

I have had a lot of trouble at shows in the last few
years with trying to get through the gates with
engines and other things, but it was great to go to a
show and not have any problems.

Jeff Smith



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com 
_______________________________________________
Steam-engine mailing list
http://www.stationary-engine.com/mailman/listinfo/steam-engine
Ken Hough Photographic Repair Service
Specializing in the Complete restoration of
           Deardorff View Cameras 
                            Est 1982
     www.deardorffcameras.0catch.com
                      219 462 0281





More information about the AT mailing list