Riding the Steam Traction Engines

Short video from my recent visit to the Berryville Steam show. Nice to see really young people involved with running and maintaining these old giants. No, the video is not in slow-motion. They are that slow.
Riding the steam engines

Most all of them were a leisurely walking pace.

I talked to one of the men who was very knowledgeable about these steam engines. I can't say I took a lot away from the conversation, because--as much as I wanted to understand how it all worked--it looked like a big mess of pipes and steam fittings, most of which appeared to be leaking very hot water.

Here are some things i remember:

The whole business can explode under certain conditions. It is not for lack of maintenance, usually--but because the water level was allowed to get too low, resulting in a "dry fire" situation. Then, if water is added when the boiler is super-heated, the relief valve can't act quickly enough to get rid of the sudden build-up of steam. Result: Explosion.

To reverse the tractor, the engine itself is reversed. How this is done will forever remain a mystery to me.

The operating pressure (monitored by a big pressure gauge), is usually between 75-100 psi.

There are different governors that act on different parts of the whole operation. Someone here probably knows what they do.

One of the big traction engines I rode had rubber attached to the steel wheels because they drove it from the next town over--about ten or fifteen miles. Rubber looked to come from treads from truck and tractor tires.

Red,I would like to have met you,maybe next year

(quoted from post at 08:00:16 08/10/18) Red,I would like to have met you,maybe next year

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Sounds good, will get in touch next year. Usually there for a few hours on Friday.