Today for a change of pace we'll visit the steam power show and threshing bee in nearby Sycamore. I hadn't been there for a long time. Of course steam railroading is much better, but it's still very interesting to see the various steam-powered devices in action. And I have many more pictures if anybody's interested. A good time was had by both of us.
First, an actual steam shovel in operation:
And a steam roller:
A tandem-compound stationary engine:
And then there was the big parade, with twenty or thirty steam tractors, followed by many more internal combustion tractors and so on.
Several steam tractors are currently equipped with locomotive-type whistles, and I don't know if these could be original issue or not. This one even has a railroad-style headlight:
Hey, neat! That last one is an Avery, built in Peoria. Avery tractors were real "road locomotives" with a double under-mount engine design not terribly dissimilar from a steam locomotive.
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