Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum

We just spent two days at the Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum's fall festival. This is at the outdoor museum that we enjoyed so much two years ago. They have all types of machines here - tractors, steam engines, cars, threshers - almost everything. The beauty of this museum/club is that so many old machines are being saved from disintegration. People who care about them donate them to the museum, and other people fix them up. There has been a lot of work since the last time we were here but there are still lots of machines waiting to be restored. This old truck is still waiting but its day may be getting close; I heard a couple of guys talking about what it would take to fix it up. 

Individual buildings on the grounds house various crafts. This weekend several weavers working in the Weaver's Barn. One of them gave us a tour, explaining different types of weaving machines and weaving methods. All of the weaving here is done by hand, although they have a couple of looms that they say use  "computer logic". The pattern for those looms is created by "on-or-off" logic, which is, indeed, the basis for computer language. In this case the on-or-off decision is controlled by pegs on a track. The track needed a little extra weight to hold it steady, so they added some really old-school technology - a  wooden rolling pin.

The pegs on the track moves parts that hold the threads, to create a pattern like this.

The Blacksmith Barn was busy, too, with several smiths were working on decorative and/or functional creations. This time I noticed the big belts that run overhead, keeping the machines and bellows going. 

There is a small grist mill on site that grinds whole corn into flour. Randy bought some; I expect he will make something really good with it.

The festival is a family adventure so they have activities for children, like picking up (stabbing) potatoes with a stick, from the back of a moving tractor. That's something that city kids don't know anything about.

And the festival isn't just for tractors; a car club brought in some really beautiful cars. 

Some were lined up for display but several were being used to get around the grounds. People here are as likely to cruise around in a gangster-style car or cub tractor as a golf cart.  

Almost any old machine is welcome here - they even have a tank, on loan from the Marine Corps Mechanized Museum in Pendleton. One of the cool things about this tank is that it carries it's own spare parts. Hanging on the outside are tow bars, drive sprockets, tools, cables, even extra tread.

The big parade runs on Saturday and Sunday. And we found out where Elvis has been hiding - he's here, driving tractors!

At the start of the parade the tractors, cars and what-have-you all line up, then drive slowly (which is as fast as a few of these can go) past the bleachers. This is what it looks like, from the line:

The reason we know what it looks like from the line is that this year we were in the parade! Cousin Jack had two tractors there, so Randy drove his Farmall B.

My very favorite vehicle, the big 1914 steam roller, is still going strong. At one point they had it hooked up to a rock-crusher, turning rocks into pebbles.

They took the steam roller out on the road for everyday, and guess who got a ride? That blond in the back me!

One year ago: The Snack Shack