Terry Harper

A bit off topic but a follow up from a previous post. News Center Maine aired the segment from their day of filming at the museum. Producer Don Carrigan and Photo Journalist Kirk Cratty did an excellent job and it was a lot of fun working with them. Excellent day!

Loring Air force Base (now closed) was nearby and quite a few former service men settled in the area.

Ok. That brings back some memories! I grew up living at the foot of a small mountain in northern Maine. My brother and I use climb-up the rock slide to the old ski jump (build by the CCC in the 1930's) and collect snakes. We also from time to time collected the occasional amphibian. We found that the Houlton Farms, aluminum milk box that resided at the top of the stairs leading up from the driveway was a practically perfect place to cache our finds. Unfortunately our long suffering milkman didn't see it that way. He simply never knew what to expect when he opened the box.

Bucyrus shovel working on road to Twin Lake Dam in Maine.

Lincoln, Maine, Circa 1930.

Which model TVR do you own? I lusted after a 2500M when I was much younger. Unfortunately it slipped away and I got distracted on other things.

Not a kit car. They were in production from 1964 until 1986 They sort of started the trend for hatch backs. A nice looking well respected car in their time. For awhile they also offered a coupe designed by David Ogle

There is a lot to like about a Scimitar - This one seems decent though the view under the hood isn't up to the rest of the car and personally I would prefer a manual but still nice.

Yes, very true. and the mean pressure at the cylinders can vary widely due to heat loss, design of the passages, valves, etc. Then there is the multiplication of torque through the gearing, final drive etc. and of course it's torque that is actually doing the work. Our two steam log haulers are rated at 90 hp which seems rather unimpressive for a 20 ton machine. However, the overall gear ratio is 5.92:1. By our calculations its putting out around 11,000 ft/lbs. of torque at the tracks. All good fun!

You sure did Bud, he posted in two places.

Ted, Please keep us posted on how things are going along. I have really enjoyed following your projects. Good luck with the business venture. I am sure you will do well! Best regards, Terry

REO truck

I can't remember if I posted this under prewar photos so forgive me if its a repeat. While not automotive related it is winter related! This set of photos were taken in March of 1928. (94 years ago this month) Edouard Lacroix's Madawaska Company purchased a 188,000 lb, former New York Central (ex-Lake Shore & Michigan Southern) 2-8-0 locomotive to be used on his Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad from a used equipment dealer in Bartavia, NY. Delivered by rail to Lac Frontier, Quebec it was disassembled and hauled overland 50 miles to Tramway which is located on the narrow strip of land separating Eagle Lake and Chamberlain Lake in the heart of Maine's Allagash Wilderness. The trip took 3 days. Remarkable, this locomotive and a smaller companion moved into the site in 1927 are still there. Back in the early 1990's I had the pleasure of leading the effort to stabilize these locomotives which included jacking them up out of the mud, which they had been sinking into since late 1933 when they were abandoned, and building new roadbed. There is no road access to the site so we had to commute to work every day by boat and all materials had to be brought in during the winter by snowmobile. In fact we hauled in 150 cubic yards of crushed stone using snowmobiles and five gallon plastic buckets. Our motivation was these photos and the realization that if they could do it back then with out heavy equipment we could do as well. And a couple non-prewar photos... That's a much younger me in the blue hard hat talking over the project with Dave Steves - one of the amazing volunteers who made the project happen

Saint-Quentin, New Brunswick, Canada.

Looking forward to following along with your progress. A refreshing addition to the restoration section.

Personally I would prefer an honest representation as this versus fancy, endless prose and slick photos being used to pass a polished pig as perfect. What the ad and photos tells me is its an older restoration, the engine isn't stuck and that it needs work and its displayed with warts and all - note the photos of the tires showing chunks missing (though plenty of life left) as opposed to not having a close-up - mind you a set of hard rubber tires for this beast will hit the bank account rather hard and have to be factored in to what one is willing to pay - far more so than the bent fins on the radiator. Its amazing how much abuse those old tube and fin radiators will take. We have one at the museum that has been abused by the fan far worse than that and it still keeps the beast cool. Plus, if you have lots of patience, they are not outside the realm of DIY restoration. Wonderful beast - hope it finds a good home.

I believe it means it turns over and isn't stuck. At the current bid its a heck of a deal!

For the front sprocket - Boston Gear offers Blockchain sprockets just match the size. You can get them with the hub blank. It simple, straightforward machining to have it board or broached for the shaft and the hub OD turned to match the appearance etc. of the original as close as possible. If you decide to convert to roller chain you can get a blank through the same source and have the hub machined as needed. For the rear sprocket - which presents a much more difficult challenge to preserve its appearance - one route would be to use the old sprocket as a pattern and have a blank cast. Then have new teeth cut. Ductile Iron would work well though grey would work too. (Cattail Foundry comes to mind) Again, this is presuming your converting to roller chain.

Sourcing parts for antique machinery can be very interesting. Back in 2014 we needed new drive chains for the 1907 Lombard steam log hauler which are an odd pitch. Replacing the sprockets was not an option. Amazingly, the original supplier, Jeffrey Chain Company of Columbus, OH. is still in business as Renold USA in Morristown, TN. and generously donated a set. It was Joseph Jeffery who patented the first industrial roller chain back in 1887. Might be worth contacting them.

I would start with Olsen Gasket https://www.olsonsgaskets.com/

Very nice Gary! Thank you for sharing. Its always interesting to see the impact people have had in development of the automotive industry.

I believe it’s an American made Saurer truck from about 1911 or 1912 made in Plainfield, NJ. The parent company was Swiss. EDIT: So this deserves a little bit more information. Saurer Motor Truck Company was founded in 1911 to manufacture trucks under the Saurer name. Saurer being Swiss that produced both trucks and cars. Interestingly Saurer Motor Truck Company merged with the Mack Brothers. American made Saurer trucks were produced until 1918 of course the company formed by the merger (International Truck Company) eventually became Mack trucks. As a note a Saurer was the first truck to complete a transcontinental trip in 1911. There is at least one book detailing this adventure: "A Grand Adventure: America's First Transcontinental Truck Run" Ron Colbert.

I agree with Dave, A bronze casting would be fairly simple and cheap. You can use your original for the pattern. Simply clean it up, remove the iron pipe and fill and fair in the pipe hole, bolt holes, pits and dimples with body filler. The casting would need to be thicker than the steel. I would build it up all over on the inside so your total thickness is minimum 1/8". (Any irregularities would not be visible) Add an extra 1/8" thickness to the flange to allow material removal for machining. Due to shrinkage (I usually use .18"/ft but it varies with the alloy so you will need to talk to your foundry person) the cover will be slightly smaller. However you could build out the flange a bit to compensate using thin wood strips etc. The Iron pipe could be replaced by brass or bronze and silver soldered. Other than a sightly thicker flange no one would be able to tell the difference and it would last a long, long, time.

If your ever out in this neck of the woods just let us know and we can make that happen! Terry