Happy Holidays!
I browse these forums as much as I can. The projects & knowledge available here is
Is amazing & gives me great inspiration.
My mother grew up on a farm in NW Pennsylvania. As a child, I loved wandering
Around the barns wondering what it was like when all the machinery was still there.
(Grandpa passed when i was very young & the machinery was sold.)
I remember my uncles bringing over a lttle IH tractor & hooking up the long canvas belt
to a saw to cut slab wood. To watch my uncles working & the sight of this giant "rubber band"
Turning a saw blade just amazed me & set the fire in me for all things mechanical.
A neighbor where I grew up (stu swaney) was an amazing man who I greatly admired.
He was the local "fix it" man in the neighborhood. He lived a couple houses down in the
basement. Below his workshop. Kind of unusual, right? Maybe. Did i mention he had an
Elevator he built to move up & down?
Stu helped out a fellow engine enthusiast, Ernie Testa. He had sort of a small "museum" of
engines he either hand built, or restored. One of his most interesting engines was his
"Cannonball", it was kind of a "road locomotive", the engine was under the boiler, maybe a
twin cylinder, fired on coal, he ran this engine in local parades.
Having all this enthusiasm rewarded me a liitle Wilesco stationary engine for my birthday.
not sure how old, maybe 10 or 11. Been hooked ever since...
I'm also known as ""pro-e-geek" on this forum. I couldn't
figure out how to log in from this "smart" phone, so i re-subscribed.
I work as a senior designer for a medical manufacturer. (We make guess what..STEAM sterilizerzs.)
Funny how things work out...
I started out as a tool & die maker running macbines & worked my way up. I don't have a lathe
or mill, but maybe after the holiday..
But, looking ahead, i've recreateda bunch of old blueprints of engines from old Popular Mechanics &
Rudy K's traction engine. If i can't make chips, at least i can make them work...
If anyone has any memories of Stu or Ernie, i would love to hear from you.
Thanks for letting me be a part of this.
John
I browse these forums as much as I can. The projects & knowledge available here is
Is amazing & gives me great inspiration.
My mother grew up on a farm in NW Pennsylvania. As a child, I loved wandering
Around the barns wondering what it was like when all the machinery was still there.
(Grandpa passed when i was very young & the machinery was sold.)
I remember my uncles bringing over a lttle IH tractor & hooking up the long canvas belt
to a saw to cut slab wood. To watch my uncles working & the sight of this giant "rubber band"
Turning a saw blade just amazed me & set the fire in me for all things mechanical.
A neighbor where I grew up (stu swaney) was an amazing man who I greatly admired.
He was the local "fix it" man in the neighborhood. He lived a couple houses down in the
basement. Below his workshop. Kind of unusual, right? Maybe. Did i mention he had an
Elevator he built to move up & down?
Stu helped out a fellow engine enthusiast, Ernie Testa. He had sort of a small "museum" of
engines he either hand built, or restored. One of his most interesting engines was his
"Cannonball", it was kind of a "road locomotive", the engine was under the boiler, maybe a
twin cylinder, fired on coal, he ran this engine in local parades.
Having all this enthusiasm rewarded me a liitle Wilesco stationary engine for my birthday.
not sure how old, maybe 10 or 11. Been hooked ever since...
I'm also known as ""pro-e-geek" on this forum. I couldn't
figure out how to log in from this "smart" phone, so i re-subscribed.
I work as a senior designer for a medical manufacturer. (We make guess what..STEAM sterilizerzs.)
Funny how things work out...
I started out as a tool & die maker running macbines & worked my way up. I don't have a lathe
or mill, but maybe after the holiday..
But, looking ahead, i've recreateda bunch of old blueprints of engines from old Popular Mechanics &
Rudy K's traction engine. If i can't make chips, at least i can make them work...
If anyone has any memories of Stu or Ernie, i would love to hear from you.
Thanks for letting me be a part of this.
John
