Allis-Chalmers W Speed Patrol

Allis-Chalmers was a company that strove to be all things to every market. In the early years of the 20th Century there were many more miles of washboard dirt roads than there were paved ones and consequently there were lots of potential customers who wanted to do something about the teeth rattling experience of motoring the nation's byways. There were already a number of companies with years of experience building road graders so A-C approached Ryan Manufacturing Company with a deal that apparently they couldn't refuse. This gave A-C an intro with a line of pull and motor graders in 1931.

The model W Speed Patrol was introduced in 1940 as a replacement for the WC Speed Maintainer. It was designed to meet the demands of a market that needed a light duty road grader at an affordable price. During a production run that lasted from 1940 to 1950 Allis manufactured 3751 units.

The Speed Patrol was basically a WC farm tractor that had been fitted with a 10 foot blade for road work. A simple machine, it lacked a hydraulics system with all blade adjustments being manual.

Built at the Allis-Chalmers works at LaPorte, Indiana and Springfield, Illinois it was powered by an A-C four cylinder 201 cubic inch gasoline engine that was rated at 32 horsepower at 1300 rpm. A four speed forward plus reverse transmission provided a range of forward speeds from 2.5 to 9.5 mph.

The WC farm version was in production from 1933 to 1948 and proved to be a  popular tractor selling 178,000 units. Designed as a row crop fitted with rubber tires a quoted price for a 1948 model was $825.

The WC was shipped to the University of Nebraska Lincoln for test number 304 in June of 1938. The gasoline version posted a maximum observed rating of 22.29 hp drawbar and 29.93 on the belt. You can  view and download a complete copy of this test report by visiting http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/tractormuseumlit

The Speed Patrol shown here was exhibited at the 2016 Richland Creek Antique Fall Festival in Saluda, SC. No information was displayed about this machine’s history or the owner's name.

Additional Resources:

The Earthmover Encyclopedia by Keith Haddock

www.tractordata.com

https://enwikipedia.org

www.geargenesbittractormuseum.com

Jaques Mighty Mite

The late 40’s and the 50’s were a time of unbridled optimism in America. The toxic Tube was still in it’s infancy and the day when it would poison the minds and destroy the health of millions lay far in the future. Much of Europe was in ruin of course and Russia and Eastern Europe had the added curse of Bolshevism to contend with but here in the USA it seemed that anything was possible, not even the sky was the limit.

Whoever wrote the ad copy for the Jaques Mighty Mite brochure was infected with some of that irrational exuberance. Beside farm cropping operations the ad claims the Mighty Mite excelled at: hauling crops and livestock to market, clearing brush and timberland, felling trees and cutting logs and cordwood, grading fire barriers, building and maintaining private roads, and leveling building sites to name but a few and all this from a  six horsepower motor. You can enjoy a Mighty Mite brochure and an ad that appeared in The Progressive Farmer by visiting www.oldirongardentractors.com .

In an article that was published by Farm Collector Magazine in June of 2001 Sam Moore writes that Graham-Paige Frazer Farm Equipment Co. designed the Frazer Model T garden tractor in 1948 and contracted with the Jaques Power Saw Co. of  Dennison Texas to build the Chassis which was shipped to York, Pa. where Frazer installed engines built by Bell Aircraft Co. and hoods that were made from leftover airplane parts. When Frazer was bought out in 1950, Jaques  continued to market the tractor as the Mighty Mite. This may or may not be the case but the dates don’t jibe with those given for the advertisements referenced above.

According to the Mighty Mite brochure the little strongman left the factory with an “ L-head air cooled 4 cycle engine that developed 6.1 hp at 2700 rpm and 6.5 hp at 3200 rpm from a single cylinder that had a bore of 3 1/16 “ and a stroke of 3 ¼ “ inches. Three forward speeds provided a range of 2 ½  to 10 mph plus a reverse.

Stopping short of claiming an evaluation at the Nebraska Tractor Test, the copy reads: “ The following are the drawbar pulls as computed by formulas approved by the University of Nebraska Farm Implement Experiment Station and in accordance with rules accepted by the Society of Automotive Engineers : 655 lbs draw bar pulls at 3000 rpm in low, 369 lbs draw bar pulls at 3000 rpm in second, 217 lbs draw bar pulls at 3000 rpm in high, 715 lbs draw bar pulls at 2200 rpm in low. “ Pretty slick , huh!

“Wherever versatile power is needed, hitch onto the Mighty Mite”. It appears that Jaques did provide a respectable number of accessories for use with their tractor. The brochure shows : a seed planter, mower, cultivator, disc harrow, turning plow and trailer, all presumably designed and built by Jaques expressly for the Mighty Mite.

The 1949 Mighty Mite shown here is owned by Bradley and Candy Richey and was on display at the 2017 Foothills Antique Power Association of NC show at the Hickory Fairgrounds on May 20th. It is just one of a number of interesting garden tractors in their collection so we’ll be looking at some of the others in future posts.

Cletrac's M 2 High Speed Tractor

Folks, this is the way to do it! More than just another interesting exhibit, Scott and Lisa Mattison’s  Cletrac M2 Military Tractor provided a history lesson for any visitor at the 2016 Richland Creek Antique Fall Festival who took the time to check it out. If you look behind the tractor’s  radiator guard in this photo you can see the easel supporting one of the best information displays I’ve seen at any show.

During World War Two the Cleveland Tractor Company and John Deere manufactured 8510 units for military service. Although it was tested for use as a tow vehicle for artillery, it was primarily used by the Army Air Corps as an aircraft tug and maintenance vehicle. Weighing around 14,000 pounds and supported by 14” wide rubber tracks it proved ideal for operating at forward air bases because it didn’t dig up the primitive runways found at those locations. It transported a maintenance crew of three men and was equipped with a 5 KW 110 VDC  generator that powered spotlights and was used for starting aircraft engines, a PTO driven air compressor capable of supplying 9cfm @ 2000 psi and a PTO driven 10,000 pound capacity winch enhanced its versatility.  A drawbar pull of 7000 pounds enabled it to tow ordinance and utility trailers anywhere the crawler could go.

Cletrac powered the M 2 with a Hercules WXLC 3 in line six cylinder engine displacing 404 cubic inches that produced 150 brake horsepower. Top speed was 22 mph burning fuel at a rate of 3 miles to the gallon from the 33 gal. tank, the maximum range was around 100 miles.

Steering was accomplished by means of a controlled differential with planetary gear sets that downshifted one track while power was still being applied to both tracks. This proved to be an advantage over locking one track to pivot around it since less damage was done to runway surfaces. The innovative rubber tracks also contributed in this regard.

The M 2 served in both the European and Pacific Theaters and soldered on in Korea and afterward. Most were eventually sold as surplus to buyers in the oil and logging industry.

Additional resources:

http://cletrac.org

www.skylighters.org

4th of July Steam Engine Parade

Tired of the same old every 4th of July? Can't bare the thought of choking down another ghastly hot dog or lighting another firecracker? Looking for a change of pace? Well how about a parade of vintage steam traction engines? That's about as different as it gets.

Way back in 1957 Glen "A.G." Thomas decided a steam engine parade would be a good way to celebrate the 4th and every year since then the Forsyth County Steam Association has carried on the tradition with a parade through the town square of Cumming, Georgia.

The parade begins at 10:00am at the intersection of Tribble Gap and Woodland Dr. , winds it's way through the town to Courthouse Square and ends at the fairgrounds around 12:00 noon.

You can find more information about this event by visiting www.cummingfair.net or www.cityofcumming.net . Meanwhile, here's a video clip of a 1902 Case engine at the Steam Expo last November.

Super W-30

Ok all you hawk-eyed experts out there, It’s pop quiz time at the Mule School. This will be a timed exam and you only have until the end of this post to answer the question but since there’s only one, that shouldn’t be a problem. This is not open book so no fair skipping ahead. Ready? You may begin now.

1. What is it that’s not exactly original equipment on this tractor?  

Hint: It’s not the tires.

International Harvester developed the W-30 in 1931 as an intended replacement for the 10-20, a more powerful 2 to 3 plow tractor but still smaller than the 15-30. Things didn’t work out exactly as planned however since the 10-20 remained quite popular among small farmers and both tractors were produced for a number of years. The W-30 was in production until 1939 with a total of 32,541 sold.

The W-30 was sent to the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where it was tested from July 26 to August 10, 1932 in Tractor Test No. 210 where it posted results of 19.69 hp on the drawbar and 31.31 hp on the belt. During the 43 hours of evaluation it was noted in the report that no repairs or adjustments were required. You can download the complete test results by visiting www.digitalcommons.unl.edu .

Powered by an International Harvester vertical four cylinder engine with a bore of 4.25” and a stroke of 5” displacing 284 cu inches of Kerosene vapors, the tractor’s 4820 pounds rolled along at 2.5 mph in low gear, 3.25 mph in medium and 3.75 mph in high. Reverse was 2.75mph.

International Harvester’s general catalog for 1935 listed as optional equipment: pneumatic tires, power takeoff, lighting equipment, specialty belt pulleys, a sliding drawbar and a spark arrester ( no doubt a good thing to have if you ran a threshing outfit ). The catalog also highlighted the “roomy driver’s compartment with protection from dust and dirt.”

The 1935 model shown here is owned by Pat Carpenter from Anderson, SC who brought it to the 2016 Dacusville Farm Show and  provides the following about his tractor. It was manufactured at the International Harvester factory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in January 1935 and shipped to the company sales office in Bismark, North Dakota where it was sold in the Summer of that year. It was used as a tillage tractor in the wheat fields until someone buggered up an engine rebuild after which it was parked for forty years. Pat bought it in 2010 and had it shipped to South Carolina. When he tore the engine down for his restoration he decided that what he had was beyond repair which brings us to the nut of this story.

Pat found himself looking at a pile of useless but expensive junk. What to do now? Rebuilt crate engines for 1935 W-30’s aren’t something you can pick up at your local parts house. Time for some creative mechanicing. “I repowered it with an engine from a Farmall M. The conversion works well, much to the surprise of many skeptics.”

Nebraska Test No. 327 rated the Farmall M at 30.62 HP drawbar and 34.82 HP belt power. With the transplanted M motor purring happily away in it’s new home, Pat decided he now had a new type of tractor hence the Super W-30 designation.

Additional Resources:

www.tractors.wikia.com

www.tractordata.com

Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors by C.H. Wendell

611 Fired Up

Steam locomotives come to life in a special way at night. They seem to be totally in their element surrounded by darkness. Rolling out of bed at 3:00 am will never make my short list of favorite things but I was glad we arrived at the North Carolina Transportation Museum at Spencer before sunrise. Six o’clock boarding of the Virginian was already underway but I had time to take a few photos before the 7:00 am departure for Lynchburg, Va.

This excursion had its beginning in 2013 when the Virginia Museum of Transportation formed the Fire Up 611 Committee to promote and oversee the restoration and return to the rails of their Norfolk and Western Class J locomotive also known as the Spirit of Roanoke. The 611’s participation in Norfolk and Southern Railroad’s 21st Century Steam project is just the latest chapter in the career of this historic engine.

The 611 is the only surviving example of the 14 Class J 4-8-4 locomotives that Norfolk and Western built at their Roanoke Va. East End Shops between 1941 and 1950. By the time it hit the rails in May of 1950, the switch to diesel engines by most American railroads was well underway. N & W continued steam operation into the late 50’s and the 611, because of a restoration after a derailment in 1956 was chosen to pull the final steam excursions in October of 1959.

The J class represented the pinnacle of steam locomotive development. Operating at 300 psi they produced 5,100 hp and developed 80,000 # of tractive effort. Norfolk and Western used them to power their crack passenger trains like the Cavalier, Powhatan Arrow and the Birmingham Special. They were capable of pulling fifteen passenger cars at 110 mph and averaged 15,000 miles of service per month.

After Norfolk and Western’s “Farewell to Steam” excursions ended, the 611 was eventually donated to the Roanoke Transportation Museum for use as a static display. 1981 saw another restoration for the 611 and it returned to the rails again to power Norfolk and Southern’s steam excursions for twelve years until the program ended in 1994. In 2014 the engine was sent to the NC Transportation Museum at Spencer for a year long overhaul in preparation for it’s current participation in the 21st Century Steam program.

Shortly after sunrise the engineer eased our train forward and we began rolling out of the Spencer Yards headed North.

We arrived in Lynchburg before noon for a three hour layover while the train was turned around and prepared for the return trip. Passengers were invited to take advantage of the free bus shuttle service running through downtown Lynchburg for some sightseeing before the 3:00pm departure.

This was a long train and Norfolk Southern provided a diesel assist just in case. I imagine that this was more for the peace of mind of corporate management than anything else since the crew informed us that the 611 had never needed any help.

Our stay in Lynchburg was a short one. Time to grab some lunch but not much else before we needed to be back on board for the return trip to Spencer. Along the way the rail system’s automatic fault detection system thought it saw something it didn’t like which triggered a mandatory stop while the crew inspected the entire length of the train. This put us behind schedule and it was well after dark when we arrived back at the NC. Transportation Museum. It had been a long day, but one I wouldn’t have wanted to miss.  

2017 marks the third season for 611 excursions and May 29 is the last scheduled trip for the 21st Century Steam program. The 611 will return home to the Virginia Museum of Transportation where fundraising efforts continue to build a permanent shelter to house the 611 and two additional steam locomotives. When will it return to the rails at the head of an excursion train? Only time will tell. Let’s hope the latest retirement will be a short one.

Sources:

www.fireup611.org

www.vmt.org

www.nctrans.org

www.nscorp.com

https://enwikipedia.org/wiki/21st_Century_Steam