SACA NW Chapter Officers:
President Myles Twete of 4936
SE Flavel Drive Portland, Oregon
97206 503-267-6465 (home
503-777-2110) email: mylest@teleport.com Secretary/Treasurer/Editor: Pat
Farrell, 6647 Bridgewater Lane, Sedro
Woolley, WA 98284
360-856-1294 e-mail <rp.farrell@verizon.net>
The NW Chapter of SACA newsletter
is sent out the first week of each season of the year. Cost of our hardcopy newsletter is $5 a
year. Cyberspace delivery is free
to NW region SACA members.
Our mission is to perpetuate the
use of the steam automobile and to share information pertaining to them.
Events:
September
11, 2004 Anacortes Antique Engine & Machinery Day, Anacortes,
Washington. Contact Frank Orr for more information at
steam.boat@verizon.net
September 17-18, 2004
Chicagoland Chapter Open SACA meet, Berrien Springs,
Michigan. Contact Bill Ryan for more info at 847-945-8088
September
19 - 24, 2004 Western National Steam car meet. Steaming to Steamboat
2004 Western Steam Car Tour
in Avon & Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Five days of relaxed touring in the
heart of the Rockies at the peak of Colorado's fall color season. The tour is open to all production
steam cars (models prior to 1930).
Enjoy five days of relaxed
touring in the heart of Colorado Ski Country at
the height of the fall color
season. The tour begins and ends
in Avon, five
miles west of Vail on Interstate
70. From Avon, we steam up to
Steamboat
Springs (85 miles) and spend
three nights there before returning to Avon.
Sunday: Avon: Registration and puttering around Avon
and the Vail Valley. Firing-Up Banquet.
Overnight in Avon.
Monday: Avon: Sightseeing tour of approximately 50
miles in the Eagle
Valley. Spend the night in Avon again.
Tuesday: Avon - Steamboat
Springs: Steam from Avon up to
Steamboat
Springs, about 85 miles. Overnight in Steamboat Springs, a
combination of
authentic western ranching town and
jet-set ski resort.
Wednesday: Steamboat
Springs: Tour the Elk River Valley
just outside
Steamboat Springs. Visit Steamboat Lake State Park and
enjoy a western dude ranch barbeque lunch. Approx. 80 miles.
Overnight in Steamboat again.
Thursday: Steamboat Springs: Explore the countryside between
Steamboat Springs and Craig, Colorado (about 40 miles west of Steamboat).
Third night in Steamboat Springs.
Friday: Steamboat Springs -
Avon: Return to Avon from
Steamboat Springs.
Blow down Banquet will be Friday
evening in Avon/Vail/Beaver Creek.
Spend the night in Avon before leaving for home Saturday morning.
For further information:
Rob Reilly
2360 Juniper Ct.
Golden, Colorado 80401
Phone: (303) 526-2641
Email: SteamTour@PeakConsultingServices.com
October 17- 23, 2003 Gateway to the Ozarks invitational Steam Car tour. Eureka,
Missouri. Contact Ann and Jack Doerr at
636-938-5844 or email them at jhdoerr@juno.com
January
22-28, 2006 Centennial of the 127.659 mph Stanley
land speed record of January 26, 1906
Ormond Beach,
Florida. Steam car tour and time trials.
Contact the Stanley Museum at 207-265-2729 for more information.
June Steaming
By Pat Farrell
Bill
Roberts of Bainbridge Island asked if I would like to go along to pick up his
recently restored 1914 Stanley model 607 touring from Hood, California. Liking adventures, I packed my knapsack
and we left his home at about 6:00 a.m.
on a Saturday morning.
By
7 p.m., we checked into a Best
Western in Sacramento and after a
quick dinner, we went walking Old Sacramento with its board walks and old store
fronts. Being aware of the pick
pockets in the area, we wisely hid our wallets in other places. By 10
p.m., we had seen most of the sights and then headed back to the
hotel. Being dog tired, Bill hired
a cab to take us back. I soon
noticed that the driver was going the wrong direction in an attempt to run up
our fare and I brought it to the driver's attention. He willingly turned around and headed to the hotel. When we arrived, the driver purposely
parked in the dark, away from the hotel's lights. His meter registered $8.80 and he said that $8.00 would be
good enough. From his roll of $20
bills, Bill handed him a twenty and the driver handed him back only $2.00
change. Bill asked for the other $10 and the driver proceeded to show us that
he only had one $10 bill and that was the one that Bill had handed him. Bill stood his ground and asked for the
drivers badge number and his supervisors phone number. With this, the driver came clean and
handed over the $10 bill.
Sunday
morning, we loaded up Bill's beautiful Stanley
at Mike and Sarah Simpson's.
Coming from a nice original car, it took five years for the restoration
of this fine Stanley to get to
where it is was now. Mike Simpson
had taken just about everything apart, then cleaned, repainted, polished, or
plated everything before reassembling.
The paint job had been farmed out, and Loren Burch had done the
upholstery. We finally
arrived home at noon on Monday. On September 2, we got around to
installing Bill's new burner into his model 607. We are looking forward to seeing this fine car on the road
soon.
June, 2004 22nd annual HCCA
Antique Tour, Port Alberni, Canada
With foul weather
and uncertainly of the water supply between Nanaimo
and Port Alberni, we decided to
trailer instead of drive our 1914 Stanley
to the June tour. Arriving at Port
Alberni, we were soon greeted by our fellow
Skagit/Snohomish HCCA members.
Charlie and Geri Riel with their 1914 Ford in tow, parked along side of
us. Scott and Nancy Taylor's 1911 Pierce Arrow
and Fred and Helen Gilchrist's 1911 Cadillac touring, having driven their
antique cars all of the way; came touring in from Sequim. Fred and Penny Cruger arrived towing
their 1912 Abbott Detroit as also did Bob and Loela Reeve who had trailered
their 1910 EMF touring from Sequim.
Dave and Elaine Ellis arrived late in the dark night, towing their 1914
Cadillac Touring. Cadillac owners,
Mike and Carolyn Martin were passengers with the Ellis's on the tour. The Port
Alberni tour had about 34 antique cars on the tour. Of
the older cars, Vern and Pat Wellburn with their 1899 Locomobile, maintained a
steady pace and were soon passed by Richard Roberts and Neal Brady-Browne in
their 1907 EX Stanley. Lynn Nash,
in his 1902 Nash easily kept ahead of Dave Proctor in his 1904 Rambler. Since I was tooting our whistle most of
the way to the coffee stop, Richard had used only about half the water as what
we did with our 1914 Stanley 606
roadster. "The steam used for
the whistle doesn't turn the wheel." At the coffee stop, we were given a complete
tour of the Mars water bomber maintenance facility located on a lake. The planes scoop up 7,000 gallons in
their tanks each fifteen minute round trip when they bomb the forest
fires. Friday's lunch found all of
the cars displayed at the Harbor Quay (the waterfront) while the Wellburns and
the Farrells ate lunch at Steamers Cafe'. The Friday evening's guest speaker
was the Mayor of Port Alberni.
Directly afterwards, Campbell River Mayor Lyn Nash gave the Port Alberni
Mayor a 1902 Rambler ride about town to show off the car. With flashing lights, a city policeman immediately
pulled them over. Asking them
where their safety equipment was, Lynn
quickly handed the policemen his fire extinguisher. The officer, thinking that Lynn
was being smart with him, then launched his full offensive about all vehicles
being required to have head lights, tail lights and etc. While Lynn
tried to explain that the old cars are exempt from the modern car equipment
requirements, the Port Alberni Mayor advised the officer that he was dealing
with the Mayor of Campbell River.
The officer responded with, "Whoopee"?! Lynn
then advised the officer that his passenger, who was hidden in the shadows of
the top, was the Mayor of Port Alberni.
Being surprised, the officer then politely said, "move along and
have a good day." The next
tour that we go on; I want my passenger to be the Mayor of the town that we are
in. Works good, doesn't it?
On a damp
Saturday morning, we layered our clothing to protect us from the cold and damp
elements. We toured out of town 30 miles to Winnie's Trout Farm and Coffee
Stop. Richard arrived with his EX
and he had just about run out of water. His piston rod stuffing box was leaking and it was
wasting his water. He had used
more water to get there than we did.
I was pretty proud that our 606 did better on water than the day
before. Our next stop was the 1926
McLean steam saw mill. We parked all of our cars there and then we took an hour
ride on a 2-8-2 1929 Baldwin
locomotive, which was pulling the Alberni Pacific Railway train into 1912 Port
Alberni Railway Station. After a
brief water stop, we returned to the steam saw mill for a salmon lunch which
was cooked over an open fire by the local Indians.
After Lunch, the
steam saw mill was steamed up and they sawed the round logs into flat 2" x
12" planks that were a special order for the rail road. The mill is all steam operated and is
powered by an 1890 Steam engine.
The only electrical things there were the light bulbs. The workers said that the circular
blades could easily handle old growth logs between six to eight feet in
diameter. Leaving under wet skies,
our Stanleys left a steam vapor
trail so thick that people following the steamers, had to use their
headlights. It was so wet and
slippery that if our brakes didn't slip, our tires did.
The evening's
dinner of pot roast was excellent.
Blaze Taylor presented the
people's choice award to Mayor Lynn Nash for his excellent running 1902
Rambler. The trouble truck driver
presented the trouble truck award to Vern Wellburn for his 1899 Locomobile's
misfortunate scorched boiler. Vern
only had to forget "only once" to check his boiler's water to get
this prestigious trophy.
In spite of the
rain, everyone, including Vern and Pat Wellburn, had fun!
We wish to give
our thanks to Blaze and Monica Taylor and to Vern and Pat Wellburn for their
hosting of this fine tour for us.
Flying to the Kingfield Auction
By Pat Farrell
I left 6:00
am Thursday July 8th, on United Airlines for the Stanley
Museum's auction in Kingfield,
Maine.
Arriving in Dulles/Wash D.C. airport at 1:45
pm, my 2:40 pm United
Airlines connector flight to Portland, Maine
had been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. There were 26 passengers for this flight that were now stuck
there in Washington DC.
The check in person finally pieced together accommodations for 10 of us to fly
into Boston on a 5:30
flight, then after a 3 ˝ hour lay over there, and then we could fly on to Portland,
Maine.
We arrived in Boston as a
team, and were to be laid over until 9:30 pm. The atmosphere was that we all were to
party and have steak dinners before our flight. I left the group, and with only seconds to spare, I
got a stand by flight out and arrived in Portland,
Maine a half hour later. Renting a Budget Car, I then drove in
the raining and dark night for the next three hours to Kingfield,
Maine.
Arriving
in Kingfield at 11 pm, the place was
dead quiet, with no lodging available.
I slept in the cold back seat of my rental car, but it was better than
sleeping on the cold wet ground, and I dreamed all that night of trying to
build a camp fire to warm my self by.
By 5 am I was too cold to sleep
any more so I took a drive and soon found a café to have a pan cake and sausage
breakfast at. Arriving back at the
Museum, the curator, Sue Davis, was firing up their 1909 Stanley
model R for a demonstration. At 6:30
am, I began previewing the approximately 350 auction items for the 1:00
pm auction. All of our
old steam car friends began arriving and by 7 am,
the place was full. I helped set
up the auction items for the sale outside under the big tent. The auctioneer
requested that I help him in the auction holding up parts but I declined as I
was going to be too busy bidding to help him. I bought the lower end of a 30 hp Stanley
engine along with many more needed parts. By 5 pm,
the auction was over, and I had bought $6,400 in parts. Looking for a shipper, I quickly
accepted Ron and Sue Hardwig's offer to haul my parts in September out to Colorado,
to the Western National Steam Car Tour.
There we will pick them up when we meet them again. The steering wheel
that I purchase, I will carry it on the airplane as carry on luggage. A wine and cracker social was put on at
the local hotel that evening for those attending the auction and/or the coming
week's Mt. Washington
steam car tour. I was on the road
to home by 6 pm and by 8
pm I had returned my car to the Budget rental agency. I missed the last flight out by 10
minutes. Looking for dinner that
evening was a bust, as everything closes at the airport at 7
pm. My next flight out
was now scheduled out at 6:30 am the
next morning. Facing the candy
vending machine and looking at my Milky Way candy bar lunch/dinner, I wondered
if this was going to be a weight loss trip. My hunger pains felt like it. At 8:15, I took
the time in the men's rest room to shave and clean my self up. This place was a ghost town. Only the janitor, a few other unlucky
souls and me, were left to wander the empty halls of the airport terminal. Spending my Friday night in the waiting
area, I dreamed of the smell of Merrily's home cooking and my soft bed at
home. I awoke at 1:45
am to call my sweet Merrily (It was 10:45
pm at home) and she was overjoyed to hear from me. Walking to the departure information
board, the security checked me out and found me to be secure. They told me to check on my flight no
earlier than 5:00 am. It was going to be a long night. Before returning to the waiting area, I
decided to change into fresh clothes and headed back to the men's restroom. Opening my suit case, I found my
shaving kit was gone. I looked at
the mirror's shelf above the sink, and it was still there, after having sat
there for the last 6 hours. Like I
said, this place was empty and quiet.
I set my alarm clock for 5 am
and slipped off into sleep, and soon I was awake and I was standing in line at
United Airlines looking for my 6:30 am
flight. They told me that it had
been cancelled and the next flight out would be in 5 hours. Hmm, I had recently heard this before
somewhere. He sent me to American
Airlines where they found me a flight out in three hours. Going through security, I was
congratulated on being randomly selected to participate in their special
screening process. They made it
sound as if I had won a new car!
After passing the baggage scanning test, and after patting me down, they
sat me down and inspected my shoes and they went on up from there. From undoing
my belt buckle, to turning my pockets inside out, all they found were two cents
that I had overlooked. Standing on
the foot prints printed on a rubber mat, they asked me to hold my arms out
"like an air plane's wings coming in for a landing". One fellow scanned my body with a
detector with another fellow interrogated me. He said' "I think I know you. Aren't you some one special?" I replied, "I hope so." After a short laugh, they sent me on my
way to my departure gate.
While
walking through the air port carrying my Stanley
steamer wheel, everyone gave me a second look. Often I could hear people whispering "Stanley
Steamer". I thought it
was curious of just how they knew that the steering wheel fit a Stanley
steamer. After an hour, I realized that they were reading the printing on my
tee shirt, "Stanley Steamer".
Duh?
Leaving
Portland, Maine,
we left for a 15 minute ride on a small jet that quickly climbed to 16,000 feet
and then immediately descended into Boston.
I only received the routine search this time. Soon I was aboard my American flight to Seattle,
where we were traveling at 34,000 feet of elevation and we were very fast too.
For after about five hours, I was already back in Seattle.
The
last time that I rode in an airplane was in 1998. Changes that I noticed were: If you had bought your tickets on line, you can now do your
check in for your boarding pass with only using your credit card. It is just
you and a machine that looks like a bank's cash advance machine. In some cases you can print your
boarding pass at home on your computer. You now present your boarding pass and
photo ID before entering the security screening. You now go through security
without any shoes on and every metal thing has been stripped from your
body. You are now called to board
by seating section rather than by seat (I.e. sections 1, 2 or 3). As you enter
the boarding gate, you feed your boarding pass into a data processing
machine. The cock pit's door is
now built like a bank vault's door with dead bolts and all is made of
metal. In picking up your car at
the airport, you can pay for your parking to a machine that charges your car
storage to your credit card.
My,
have times changed. It feels great
to be home again, even if I have to replace the well pump before our evening's
dinner. I eagerly went to bed
early and then got up late the next morning.
Brooks Steam Up SACANW Mini Tour, Saturday July 31.
Brooks,
Oregon is the location of their Machinery
and Transportation Museum
and every year their "steam up" event attracts tens of thousands of
people. July
31, 2004 found a couple of steam cars at the annual "Steam Up"
for the Mini Tour planned by Eric Gleason. Russ and Harry Hibler had their 1900
Locomobile under steam and it made a remarkable showing of reliability in its
travels at Brooks. Pat and Merrily
Farrell's 1914 Stanley Roadster, while touring the fair grounds, had a bit of a
pilot light problem. Later in the
afternoon, when the Stanley went on
the mini steam car tour, it performed excellent. The tour, led by Eric Gleason, traveled a total of about 30
miles, crossing a ferry a couple of times, visited a historic Church for a
photo shoot and traveled past many vineyards. Probably the most fun was driving out on a sand bar and
siphoning water out of the Willamette
River. Christopher Roberts attended the "Steam Up" with
steam whistles and a vertical steam engine that were well used all
day Saturday. Alex Beamer put
on a good dinner party for our SACANW members that evening where Alex showed us
his 1917 Stanley Mt. wagon and his newly acquired 1911 Stanley Model 63. His model 63 touring is presently
partially disassembled and is very complete. Alex is still in need of the correct wheels for his model
63. Eric Gleason was unable to
tour with us in his 1918 Stanley
touring this year because his new boiler had not yet arrived. We all wish to thank the Beamers for
their wonderful hospitality.
Clincher Tire Problems
An expensive lesson was learned
by Pat Farrell about clincher tires.
The HCCA Red Carpet Tour was coming on their annual tour to attend the
Farrell's museum. Pat noticed that
the rear tires on their 1909 model R were down to about 20 pounds and he aired
them up to about 55 pounds. He had
just walked away with his air hose in his hand when they both gave off a loud
report as in a two gun salute. Two
new tires were ripped from their rims and two tubes were ruined too. SACANW member Dave Proctor gave Pat the
clincher tire advice. When ever a
clincher tire is sitting with low air, before airing them up, jack them up off
the ground and inspect the clincher beads for still being properly engaged and
centered on the rim. Then proceed with your air hose to inflate the tires. The clincher experience was about a
$450 lesson for Pat.
Steam Throttle Repair
Pat Farrell's 1914 Stanley
throttle seat was leaking and it was very stiff to operate. Upon disassembly it
was found that the old throttle stem was tapered with wear and the stem was
rough on its stem packing. Found
also was that the valve seat had recessed into the throttle's body beyond use,
and there wasn't any seat left to lap into. After finding another throttle body that was in like new
condition, it now gave the throttle a perfect seal, and it didn't have that
sudden jerk that the old valve had as it was lifted off of its old recessed
seat. The valve's stem is also now
replaced with a hard chromed piston rod cut off of a gas operated hatch prop
from a new automobile. The hard
chromed rod measured 8 mm in diameter which was just a few thousands of an inch
larger than the 5/16" stem that the Stanley
throttle originally used. Now the
throttle not only seals tight, but it glides smoothly through its arc and the
steam pressure will close the valve when you let go of the throttle lever.
For Sale:
Hi Pat, I figured you or someone you know might be interested in
the following. I got a call from an older gentleman who has a Cretors Model D
popcorn engine with governor in addition to several 3.5" gauge live steam
locos for sale. It sounds like he is somewhat motivated to sell. (I didn't
discuss prices with him). Anyway, his name is WA Weber and his # is
330-527-4236. I have no connection, don't know him etc. He got my name from
someone who knows I collect model trains.
Best,
Jordan H. Levy
Assistant Vice President
Natexis Banques Populaires
Phone (212) 872-5042
Fax (212) 354-9106