[SEL] Re: Unearthing a Horde of Engines

[Arnie Fero]

Hi Jim,

Your basic reasoning is sound; hence the use of the expression "barn
fresh" in some folk's engine ads.  Sadly, you're more likely to find old
agricultural impliments, dead tractors, and newer engines than old
engines.  I think one of the reasons for this was the intense scrap iron
drives that were conducted during WWII.  These same depression era folks
who never threw anything away, were also very patriotic and went into
their barns and outbuildings and dragged those old engines out for the
scrappie.  Somewhere I saw a WWII era photo of railroad cars full of scrap
iron and you could see spoked flywheels everywhere.  Tt was enough to
break your heart.  OTOH, we're still speaking English.  8-))

However, having said that, many rural areas of New England are still
treasure troves for old engines.  Charlie Bryant had a network of
"finders" who would locate engines in the backwoods of Maine and
elsewhere.  Charlie would make twice-yearly road trips from Missouri to
buy these engines.  Enough engines to make the trip worthwhile.

A good friend, Matt Picaro, used to drive the back roads as much as
possible "looking for flywheels" in the hedgerows.  He would also watch
for "Farm for Sale" signs.  He'd stop and ask if he could check out the
condition of the barn and outbuildings; but would actually be looking for
engines.  He would also look for fallen-down outbuildings as these were
often the pump houses over disused wells.  Find an engine AND a nice pump
to go with it.

Dave Rotigel got his first two engines via a want ad in the local weekly
rag.

Other good stratagies include putting an engine in the bed of your pickup
and parking on the street at the center of one of these small, rural
towns.  Get up in the bed and start working on the engine, running it from
time to time.  Lots of folks will stop to look and chat.  You'd be
surprised how often, someone will say "I've got one of these old things in
the barn, would you be interested?"

The other thing to do is to include a sign that sez something like "I buy
engines" to display with your engines at local shows.  The small local
shows, Ag fairs, etc. are the best for the engine hunter.  Lots of folks
attending are "tourists" not engine folks.  They will often tell you
that they know where an engine "just like that one there" is located.  It
doesn't matter if yours is common as mud or is ultra rare.  The tourist
sees spoked flywheels and a heavy chunk of iron and remembers seeing
something similar.  The "treasure" could end up being anything from a
stuck, stripped, broken, and worn out Fairbanks Morse to a rare engine in
mint condition.

The bottom line is that they are still out there in the wild and the hunt
can be as much fun as the find.

Go for it!!  And be sure to post the tales of the hunts and the finds.

Anyone else have any thoughts to share on how to find engines in the wild?

One of the wildest I ever heard of was a buddy of Craig Prucha who would
go up in an ultralight in the dead of winter flying over the woods looking
for oilfield engines and power houses.  He found quite a few that way.
Don't forget to visit those backwoods country bars and buy rounds of
drinks.  Those hunters may have seen flywheels while tracking deer.  8-))

See ya,  Arnie

Arnie Fero
Pittsburgh, PA
fero_ah at city-net.com

On Fri, 30 Dec 2005, James Moran wrote:

> This part of  upstate/western New York was once heavily committed to
> agriculture.  As time went by, the suburbs spread out from the  city and
> the farmers sold off their property, yet retained some small  portion of
> the land along with the house and barn/outbuildings.   This, of course,
> is hardly unique to my area.
>
> In proximity to my  house such situations abound.  As one drives down
> some particular  county road,  old, no longer used tractors sit inside
> of such out  structures.  They tend to be McCormicks, For 8n/850's
> etc., some  Olivers and Massey Ferguson, etc.   To my way of thinking,
> such arrangements would also yield some engines that have been
> relegated to a dark corner, abandoned years ago but never  discarded.
>
> The folks up this way were largely products of the  depression and the
> mindset was that nothing was ever too broken to  throw away.
> Of course, I could be very, very wrong.  The only  way to "go at it"
> (if anyone ever does so) would be to, more or less,  knock on doors and
> ask the right questions. Running ads in the penny  saver would not work.
> As I wrote, tractors and related  implements are all over the landscape.
> Does it follow the h-'n-m  would as well?