Copar Panzer Model A

There are a lot of Copar Panzers still in existence. It's not unusual to see one or more examples at any show. By 1955 the factory was producing a Panzer every thirty minutes when it was running at full capacity. Nailing down hard facts about production of specific models is not always easy, however. In this post we’ll take a look at what might be one of the rarest of the rare.

The Panzer Tractor Owner’s Club’s website: www.panzertractors.com is the go-to source for information about all things Panzer since they probably have more original  documents in their collection than anybody. According to their posted history of the Model A, only about 350 were built in 1954 before production was moved to a new facility in Laurel, Md. Of that 350, they know of 50 tractors that have survived. 

James Clark was an engineer employed by Ahrendt Instrument Co. of College Park Maryland when he designed his first garden tractor, and approached his employers about building and marketing it. Ahrendt was one of the thousands of war time defense contractors who were looking for a transition to a civilian market and Clark’s tractor must have looked like a good option. 

The Panzers that were built in 1954 at the College Park Ahrendt factory were called Model A’s and were marked on the jack shaft casting with that designation and College Park cast into the iron part, as on this one. After the Laurel, Md. plant opened in January, 1955, Copar started calling them Model T 102 and the Model A was officially relegated to the dustbin of Panzer history. 

But wait, it's not that simple ( it never is ).  There might be some Laurel T 102s out there with the College Park jackshaft casting because of an existing stock of production and repair parts. If so, the casting could say College Park and the only way to know would be by checking the serial number against a reliable registry. 

With that in mind, I cranked up my computer and started looking for a serial number. On the casting along with “Model A” and “ College Park” cast into the metal is “ Serial Number” cast into the part. I ran the magnification slider up to about 75% and there it was, a blank space. It looked like at one time there had been a metal tag attached to the cast iron, but that had been a long time ago. Now there was only a rusty patch of iron. 

Soooo! All that and I can’t say for sure that this is one of the few, the proud Model A’s. Oh well, onto more definite material. Model A tractors were powered by an eight and one half horsepower model 23 Briggs and Stratton engines and came from the factory equipped with cast iron pulleys. The entire tractor was painted red. The yellow wheel accent was added after the move to Laurel, Md.  

Copar was sold to Virginia Metalcrafters located in Waynesboro, Va. in 1960 and tractors were then sold using the name Pennsylvania Lawn Products until the mid sixties, when a company called Jackson Manufacturing Co. bought them out. Production of Panzer tractors ended sometime in the early 1970’s. 

The Panzer shown in these photos was exhibited at the Steam Expo in Cumming, Ga. last November. No information about it was displayed. For information about the 2019 show visit: www.capa-ga.com .

Sources:

https://www.gasenginemagazine.com 

www.farmcollector.com  The Panzer Tractor Through the Years by Sam Moore, May 2013 

www.panzertractors.com 

Norfolk and Western 611

If you’ve ever taken a ride on a steam excursion train you know that rail fans will wait beside the tracks, sometimes for hours, just to watch a steam locomotive go by. A better way is to be at the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer when they’re having one of their “At the Throttle Steam” events, that way you can watch all day long if you want to. When I learned that the 611 was returning last September, I knew I had to be there.

Big, powerful and streamlined sleek, the N&W J Class 4-8-4’s were the crest of the last wave of the steam age. By 1941 when the first of the class was built, the technology had evolved to its highest stage of development and the craftsmen at N&W’s Roanoke, Va. Shops were among the best in the world. Norfolk and Western built 14 engines of the J Class to pull their crack passenger trains like the “Cavalier, the Tennessean, Pocahontas, and the Birmingham Special. 

At a time when most of the nation's railroads were eagerly embracing dieselization N&W chose to embark on a program to build state of the art steam locomotives at their Roanoke Shops. The first 5, numbered 600 to 604 rolled out the door between 1941 and 42. Six J-1 class engines, numbered 605 to 610 followed between 43 and 1944. The final three, 611 to 613 were built in 1950.

With a boiler operating at 300 psi to power cylinders with a bore of 27”  X stroke of 32”  that produced 80,000 # tractive effort, the J’s were the most powerful 4-8-4 engines ever built. They were designed to be capable of reaching 140 mph, that is if you could find a section of track that could accommodate a train at that speed. In actual service they did pull up to 15 passenger cars at speeds up to 110 mph.

The 611 rolled out the door at the Roanoke Shops on May 29, 1950 and onto N&W’s engine roster. It cost Norfolk and Western $251,544 to build the engine in house, which might have been a factor in the management’s decision process. The Roanoke Machine Works was founded in 1881 for the purpose of building and maintaining steam locomotives for the N&W and the Shenandoah Valley Railroad. The 60 acre facility  accommodated a foundry, machine shops, smith’s shops, erecting shops, a planing mill, lumber drying sheds, warehouses and a roundhouse. Everything necessary to maintain and build steam locomotives.

That the 611 was one of the last of the J class built, gave it an advantage as a survivor over engines with higher mileage and more hours in service. By 1958 N&W’s passenger service had completed the transition to diesel power and the remaining Js were transferred to freight service or sold as scrap. In 1959 it was chosen to pull the last of the steam railfan excursions that N&W would offer. Today it is the only surviving example of the J class engines and the star of the collection at the Virginia Museum of Transportation. 

This fall the 611 will travel north to the Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania for a series of events that will run from Sept. 27 to Oct. 27 2019. You can learn more about the planned activities by visiting: www.strasburgrailroad.com. 

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org 

www.vmt.org 

www.jstor.org 

www.americanrails.com