Antique tractors lined up Monday morning at the York County Fairgrounds for the next leg of the first-ever Tractor Relay Across Nebraska. The event started Saturday in Plattsmouth and ends Saturday in Lyman.
MELANIE WILKINSON/WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE
Published Tuesday June 5, 2012GRAND ISLAND — A parade of antique tractors celebrating Nebraska's agricultural legacy rolled into Grand Island Monday afternoon.
Nearly 40 antique tractors arrived in Grand Island from York as part of the Tractor Relay Across Nebraska. The event started in Plattsmouth and will end its nearly 500-mile journey at Lyman, which is near the Wyoming border, west of Scottsbluff.
Similar in concept to the old Pony Express, on each leg of the relay, members of various antique tractor clubs in Nebraska join the procession. Today about 9 a.m., more than 30 antique tractors will take off on the next leg of the relay in Kearney.
Along for the entire journey are Charlie and Diane Case of Ellston, Iowa. Charlie Case has been driving a 1962 310 John Deere tractor. He said the tractor he is driving has been in his family since the day his father bought it in 1962.
Case said they hope to get to the Wyoming border by Sunday afternoon.
Also participating in the relay from Grand Island to Kearney today is Skip Meyer of Worms, who is driving a 1968 Minneapolis-Moline G900.
Meyer said one of the reasons for doing the relay is, “We like to promote our tractors and our hobby.
“The car clubs have their car shows and this is a good chance to show off our collections and a chance for us to do something to promote that spirit of the Pony Express,” he said.
The route is divided into nine one-day segments. The Nebraska Antique Farming Association is sponsoring the event. Meyer said more than 180 tractors are expected to participate.
For Case, the relay is not only about promoting their hobby and agriculture's mechanized legacy, but also a chance to “meet a lot of nice people.”
“You get to like them all,” Case said. “They are all friends.”
Once in Grand Island, they gathered in the parking lot of Orscheln Farm and Home. There, new friendships were made as they discussed the relay and shared stories about the tractors they drive.
From Cortland, driving a 706 Farmall tractor, Donelle Moormeier and her husband, Ron, who is driving a 806 Farmall tractor, plan to make the entire journey — “If we don't break down,” she said.
These old tractors don't have air-conditioned cabs and have only the breeze of going 30 mph and an umbrella to protect the driver from the sun, with temperatures that could be in the 90s. For many of these antique tractor enthusiasts, that was how they farmed anyway, “back in the day.”
“It is not too bad,” Donelle Moormeier said. “You get a little sun.”
She said the 806 Farmall tractor her husband is driving was a Christmas gift from his dad in 1966.
“We farmed with this tractor up to three years ago,” she said. “We retired it then and now we drive it in the memory of his dad.”
Moormeier said it has been a wonderful experience so far.
“This has been really neat because you get to meet all the tractor clubs across Nebraska and you get to meet a lot of neat people,” she said. “It is all about the camaraderie and knowledge they have.”
And there are a lot of stories, some of which are true, she said with a wink and a laugh.
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Source: www.omaha.com
Antique Tool Talk: Invention of air brakes helped trains and us - Oroville Mercury-Register
In the 1860s trains were having many wrecks, and there were many reasons, but a major problem was the braking system did not work well. It was larger in size, but it really was the same brake design used on covered wagons.
In the train's cab was a lever, which when pulled pressed a wooden block against one of the drivers (power wheels). If the wood did not start to burn, it would slow a short train, going slow. It could cause the rear cars to derail, or be crushed into the back of the next car forward.
The only other choice was to reverse the engine. This damaged the drivers as they were now spinning the wrong way, and the size of the train could still result in the rear of the train jumping the track.
They tried adding the lever system to cars along the length of the train, but this required a "brakeman" to be at each lever. There was no system to tell the last brakeman what was going on up front. To work required them all to be applied at an even rate, meaning the system only added to the danger.
All of these troubles kept the trains short and speed slow, even when the locomotive design had made great improvements. If you look at early photos of trains, they will be only be about six to eight cars long.
Going down a grade the only thing that slowed the train was the engine. Keeping the wood brake pressed on the steel wheel would cause them
to overheat, and fail.Then Westinghouse invented the train air brake system. His brakes worked because of a valve which was operated at one location by the brakeman riding in the locomotive.
His first valve was invented in 1869, and it was better than anything before, but still had problems. The brakes on all cars could not be applied at one time. He made an improved, "automatic air brake" valve in 1872, then the "triple valve" in 1887.
Now, the system has much more details than I've shared here; the issue is space and I'm not sure I could explain the triple valve, and the air pumps, tanks, etc. It made all the brakes along the whole train be applied at the same time, with equal pressure. The rear cars were now under control, by one brake handle in the cab.
His invention allowed trains to now be longer, faster and safer. The larger locomotives added tons, that required this new brake system, and it worked. Soon there were trains a mile long that on level ground could be pulled at 55 mph. The number of engines could increase, and brake as one unit.
George was not finished with the air brake system. His next invention was the size of a wheel barrel, with an air tank, hand valve, and hose. Before the train departed one man could check the air brake system.
He hooked up to the train's air lines, and pulled the brake handle, and then could watch a pressure valve. If it held the pressure, it was safe to go.
Source: www.orovillemr.com
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