[Steam-engine] RE: Steaming tobacco beds?

[Best, Dianne]

I grew up in tobacco country in southern Ontario and I got my first
traction engine in the late 1960's because it had been preserved
(somewhat) for steaming tobacco kilns and greenhouses. I bought a brand
new oil-fired steam unit and traded the farmer "even up" (plus some
alcoholic beverages!) for a 1915 Waterloo 15 HP two-speed ploughing
engine. Last I heard, that was the lasts steam engine to be discovered
still on the farm in that part of the country.

The funny thing about that engine is that others knew of its existence
but couldn't find it. One fellow I know HAD found it but couldn't get
past the sharecropper to talk to the owner. He was the one who told me
about the engine but it had been so long that he couldn't remember
exactly where it was - just the general area.

I spent many weekend doing a systematic search of the back roads in that
general area and, after a couple of months, I was whistling down the
road, scanning farmyards and bush when I thought I caught something out
of the corner of my eye. It is a good thing no one was behind me because
I am sure I left skid marks on the highway! I backed up and, sure
enough, I could see about the top 4" of a smokestack sticking up above
one of the outbuildings in a farmyard.

I pulled into the yard to where I could see what was under the
smokestack and sure enough it was a traction engine. The sharecropper
came out to "greet" me and was quite unpleasant but did tell me who the
owner of the farm was. The owner lived in a nearby town so I went
straight over to see the owner.

The owner was quite elderly and frail and said that he was getting too
weak to run the Waterloo for steaming anymore so I offered to trade him
a brand new oil/electric steamer for "that old piece of iron". He
agreed. The next day I delivered his steamer to the farm and signed over
the bill of sale to the owner. The following weekend the Waterloo was on
a trailer and headed for my place! :-)

The hardest part of the whole thing was keeping my mouth SHUT between
the time I discovered the engine and when the sale had been concluded.

(Postscript: I sold the Waterloo years later because I was moving to the
city and getting married. I should have kept the engine because the
husband didn't last! I hope my 1911 15 HP Waterloo 2-speed has a nice
home where she is appreciated.)

Dianne