So, this evening I returned, weary but happy, from the big steam fair in cookstown, Ontario.--And a very big steam fair it was. The weather Gods smiled on the event, and it was beautifull mid to high seventies all weekend, and wall to wall sun.
I arrived Saturday morning at about 9 o'clock, with all of my little engines, and found the area that had been set aside for me and a couple of other gentlemen who were exhibiting model steam and "Hit and Miss" gasoline engines. We were set up in a VERY large tent, and the Georgian Bay Steam Club had rented a large gasoline powered air compressor for us to run our engines with.
There were other "crafters" in the tent, spinning yarn, selling Honey Bee products, and steam train memorebilia, but as I said, it was a VERY large tent, so we weren't crowded at all.
I got the air compressor engine started, with some help from a couple of 80 year olds, (Damn, I didn't know there was an on/off switch on those things), and got the airline ran into the tent. All of my engines started up, and ran most admirably, untill about 3 in the afternoon, when one of the loctited connections on my "varying Load Machine" gave up the ghost, so it was dismounted from by display board and retired to my truck. Then this morning, shortly after I got there and started everything up for the days run, My Hit and Miss version of Chucks Horizontal sheared off that teensy-weensy 0-80 bolt that was the cam to operate the inlet valve, so it was "Hors De combat" for the rest of the day.
I had a lot of people stopping by to look at my display, and talk to me. I could tell that about 80 percent of the people had only the vaguest concept of what they were really looking at, but they were all delighted to see so many things going "Round and round and up and down" as the engines all ran.
The most popular thing was the "Slinky Machine"---everybody loved it. Most people "Didn't Get It" about the varying load device, so it wasn't a big loss when it expired.
The most asked question was "Why aren't you running the engines with a boiler???"---When I explained to them about the two million dollars insurance requirement to bring a steam boiler into a public place, they all agreed that running things off compressed air was probably a good idea.
The most amusing comment was from the fellow who was absolutely convinced that I was pumping natural gas into the engines via the airlines, and that somehow all those engines were running on natural gas, because "Everybody knows that compressed air won't burn!!!'
I arrived Saturday morning at about 9 o'clock, with all of my little engines, and found the area that had been set aside for me and a couple of other gentlemen who were exhibiting model steam and "Hit and Miss" gasoline engines. We were set up in a VERY large tent, and the Georgian Bay Steam Club had rented a large gasoline powered air compressor for us to run our engines with.
There were other "crafters" in the tent, spinning yarn, selling Honey Bee products, and steam train memorebilia, but as I said, it was a VERY large tent, so we weren't crowded at all.
I got the air compressor engine started, with some help from a couple of 80 year olds, (Damn, I didn't know there was an on/off switch on those things), and got the airline ran into the tent. All of my engines started up, and ran most admirably, untill about 3 in the afternoon, when one of the loctited connections on my "varying Load Machine" gave up the ghost, so it was dismounted from by display board and retired to my truck. Then this morning, shortly after I got there and started everything up for the days run, My Hit and Miss version of Chucks Horizontal sheared off that teensy-weensy 0-80 bolt that was the cam to operate the inlet valve, so it was "Hors De combat" for the rest of the day.
I had a lot of people stopping by to look at my display, and talk to me. I could tell that about 80 percent of the people had only the vaguest concept of what they were really looking at, but they were all delighted to see so many things going "Round and round and up and down" as the engines all ran.
The most popular thing was the "Slinky Machine"---everybody loved it. Most people "Didn't Get It" about the varying load device, so it wasn't a big loss when it expired.
The most asked question was "Why aren't you running the engines with a boiler???"---When I explained to them about the two million dollars insurance requirement to bring a steam boiler into a public place, they all agreed that running things off compressed air was probably a good idea.
The most amusing comment was from the fellow who was absolutely convinced that I was pumping natural gas into the engines via the airlines, and that somehow all those engines were running on natural gas, because "Everybody knows that compressed air won't burn!!!'
