Steam Powered Mega Plow

Big Bud's Grandpa?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bud_747#Engine

Anybody up for a tractor pull contest?

I enjoy going to antique farm threshree's. One thing I notice with these steam power,... it does take an engineer so to speak to keep them running at the top efficiency.

At one threshree, the threshree association asked if we'd bring our sawmill for a demonstration. After we worked out the insurance issues, we told them we could only do it for that year. We set up where belt drive system so the mill could be run by flat belt and a pulley on a tractor.

They had about nine (9) steam tractors there, each one want a try at the mill. As well as the early gas and diesel powered tractors.

One thing I noticed, on the mill, you had to run the blade at a constant speed. And a lot of the 'engineers' could not keep the speed constant. It is a skill to keep the governor tuned.

It was a great demonstration. The Threshree Association decided to buy their own sawmill, and its great to watch.

I was a little disappointed because the last couple of years, there was no steam power tractors going to these event.

I'll never forgot my junior high industrial arts teacher one asked what was the most powerful engine ever made. The response were alcohol fueled race car engines, jet engines, rocket engineers.

He said, it was the steam engines... because if the materials were strong enough they could create more horsepower (until they blew up) ... and as a 12 yo... it made sense...

Some people underestimate the power of steam.

Jay Leno has a steam powered car.A little slow to get up pressure,but runs good.

The main drawback is the weight and the danger of boiler explosion.

The land speed record for a steam powered locomotive is 125 mph.

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/62943-fastest-steam-locomotive

Steam is what made MT. St. Helens so explosive,more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

Most towns near a railroad track are spaced at 6 mile intervals,because that is how far a coal train could go before refilling with water.

People would come out and sell sandwiches to the passengers and crew,and soon, small towns built up around the tower and grew over time.Passengers figured out where the best food was,and those places flourished.

(Just a bit of railroad history,thrown in at no charge)

A little OT ,but the largest farm tractor now pulls a 48 row, (30 inch row)124 ft.wide planter.In Australia,I believe it is.

On your direction of fyi...

Because of the boilers (or the failures of to be exact), is the reason the American Society Of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) came to be...

Generally, a boiler failure is because someone screwed up (Medina a couple decades ago!) Hobby boilers (my son has a steam fire engine) have to have an inspection and hydrostatic test every 3 years (for him in OH and MI.) There is a roundhouse near me that rebuilds steam railroad locomotives; they use ultrasonic when checking the boiler metal thickness. That place is impressive!

Hence ASME, The main safety factor of ASME is ‘Traceability’. If an incident occurs, you can see:

• who was the welder on the weld, who did the design
• who signed-off,
• what material was used,
• who received the material,
• what were the material specs (heat sheet, et al),
• what mill the material came from.

to name a few…

Many years ago, I took a trip around Herman Park in Houston on a mini train. I thought the engine was a steam engine. But it was a gasoline engine disguised as a steam engine. That was about 60 years ago and I still haven't seen one of these min trains pulled by a real steam engine.

The steam-pulled mini trains are around. Hobbyists build models if nothing else. A DuckDuckGo search would likely find some. (I haven't tried.)

"Steam is what made MT. St. Helens so explosive, more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb."

I went to a show presented by an explosives expert once: fantastic fun. One of the demonstrations he did was to put about half a ml of water in a sealed ignition tube; put the tube in a bunsen flame then quickly surround the whole setup with a protective 1m³ box. The bang was incredible and the "box" fell apart. He then said that when Krakatoa erupted a cubic mile of sea water vaporised instantly.

Hello,

I thought the spacing of the towns pre-dated the trains. The pony expresses and here is Aus the stagecoaches needed to change horses every 6 to 7 miles, hence the small villages established and the railroads then typically followed the population.

Most steam locos here seem to go beyond three hours before needing watering.

I think you're right; it depends more on the stamina of horses than on the need for water in steam railroad locomotives. I thought the spacing sounded pretty close together for RR locomotives but didn't think any farther. I have seen the 5 miles or so in other places.

You need to re-check your history on that:

https://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/history/north-america/us/pony-express.

The trains(1830) were running long before the pony express,and the pony express(1860) only ran for about 18 months,and was only run from St Louis,Mo to Sacramento California

The horses were changed ever 10 to 15 miles,and the Pony express was not a nation-wide service through every small town in America,as the railroad eventually was.The towns followed the railroad,and were about every 6 miles due to the spacing of the water towers.

You are in a different country,your history is not the same.

Seems your sources prevail.

Though in Aus (yes, different country and different history) there are many towns at that typical 5-7 mile spacing that still don't have railroads, but were involved in the transport routes that developed.

The spacing of the water towers could vary depending on altitude (Lower boiling point at high altitude) and slope of the land,and the weight of the loads anticipated.

They usually designed for worst case scenarios.

If they only had condensate return systems the range could have been extended greatly.

Perhaps that is a comfortable 2 hour walk or ride for convenience.

Perhaps they started out much further,and someone saw an opportunity to intercept some traffic by putting in a pit-stop or watering hole at convenient locations to refresh the travelers,that eventually grew into towns.

Some things just appear to be natural,like quarts and liters,even though entirely different units of measure,yards and meters,etc are fairly close to each other.

Wonder why the railroads decided to make the water capacity of the trains as they did?

Wrong. The towns followed the railroads.

Here is a link to a restored steam locomotive in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX26XzZVQus

Magnificent! When I was a kid, I saw a small steam tractor about 4' high and 6' long pull a house down the street on logs. The wheel cogs made such a racket, the police came over from a town 5 miles away to see what the racket was all about.

We don't see many operational steam tractors anymore. Only at fairs. A lot of them have blown up.

I worked at CPC's corn processing plant in Argo, Illinois outside Chicago. I remember fondly the number of steam operated equipment. GO STEAM!

If you are in the Boston area, the Metropolitan Waterworks Museum is worth a visit. The old steam-powered pumps have been well preserved as a museum. Admission is free, I think.

https://waterworksmuseum.org/

Modern diesel comparison...

SE: Thanks for the memories: spinning wheels, echoing whistles, plenty of chuffing, etc. Many childhood memories before Diesels came along.

It sure does take you back, and quite enjoyable to watch for a while, very relaxing...the first mechanization where man learned to harness heat, and we are still doing it today...

Did those listening catch the place where the steam engine spun its wheels? I haven't heard that for 70 years or so.

China still makes and uses coal fired steam locomotives.

One was ordered from China built to American specs,but it sank in a typhoon at sea.

https://www.steamlocomotive.info/shownotes.cfm?Loco=908

And:

https://www.steamlocomotive.info/

An interesting but long read on steam locomotives shipped to us from China.