Our Hometown
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July 26-28 at the Marion Town Park, the song Chitty Chitty Bang Bang came into my head as I listened to the motors at the Pioneer Gas Engine Association's meet. The events started Friday with initial tractor pulls. Wandering through the myriad of tractors brought back the countless hours I spent growing up on a farm in Williamson. The memory was again fresh - of the hypnotic putt-putt of the tractor, and bounce of the spring seat at the back of the planter. There I would get to daydreaming too much and almost fall off! Imagination ruled while spending hours steering a John Deere.
The Association had their stone crusher just cranking away, grinding its teeth on stones fed into the hopper and spitting out gravel. The tractor running the belt-driven machine seemed to put forth little effort. Once in awhile, a larger stone would get thrown in and then the tractor had to 'grunt' a bit.
Dan Dale, Camden, NY and the Associated Gas Engines had a 1922 Case, 50 h.p. steam tractor fired up and, every so often, you could hear the whistle toot when enough steam was built up. Thomas Strickland of Williamson had a 1930's John Deere D-44 tractor pulling a wagon with two miniature tractors and a belt-run buzz-saw. The miniatures were handmade by Strickland from what he terms 'scrap-crap,' including old fire extinguisher metal. John Cornell of Marion was working - or should I say playing - on engines from the collection of Fred Stubenrod from Palmyra. Fred had an old belt-driven wooden apple slicer running off one of his engines. Participants came from Phelps, Geneva, Dansville, Webster, Penn Yan, Middlesex, Canajoharie, Williamson and Marion to name but a few. The 'gaser' coming the furthest that I found was Mike Kempler of Gillett, PA, who brought his 1912 International Harvester. This screw-cooled machine had the amazing capability of four horse-power! Wherever you walked, there were people sharing memories. While waiting for the parade to start, you could wander through the flea market where they had everything from nuts and bolts to tractor steering wheels.
People gathered around Blacksmith Don Newcomb from Rochester as he demonstrated his age-old craft in the mid-day heat. The highlight of the day was the parade winding through downtown Marion from Buffalo Street to the park. The 1922 Case steam tractor, largest of the machines, led the way followed by all the tractors that could get started, or did not have the iron cleats that would tear up today's roads. The tractors were divided into groups by manufacturers: Ford, Massey-Ferguson, John Deere, Case, Oliver, Minneapolis-Moline, International, Farmall and more. The last in the parade and the smallest was a cute little old Bolen's garden tractor. Several of the tractors had families on board with son or daughter steering. I remember my first driving lesson at age 5. My brother decided it was time I learned so he said, 'Take over,' stepped to the back of the tractor, and away I went. I do not know now how I managed to miss the first row of apple trees, but I did. I only know that to this day, I still have to slouch down in the seat to reach the clutch and brake on the old John Deere. Seems to me I had the same problem with the 1938 Chrysler. Saturday's events continued with more tractor pull competition. The next event will be Pageant of Steam in Canandaigua on August 8-11.
Copyright
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2002 |
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Gas Engines in Marion
People of all ages peeked in, leaned over and bent under to get closer looks at gas engines and machines from history. It shows me that curiosity never fades. There were the 'hit & miss' engines with their distinct pops and skips. 