Many years ago, not long after I got into the “Rusty Iron” hobby, I began to attend the annual show put on by the Northwest Pennsylvania Steam Engine & Old Equipment Association at their grounds in Portersville, Pa. I knew no one there, but there was one skinny guy who was always bustling around and [...]
If you told most Americans living today that at one time people had to actually wind their clocks and watches by hand, they’d probably raise an eyebrow in disbelief. Electric clocks and battery powered quartz watches are just about all that can be found today, as has been the case for decades. The comforting tick-tock [...]
The other day my friend, Ed Brenner, asked if I knew anything about a Nixon Co. from Alliance, Ohio. I confessed that I didn’t and Ed told me that he’d recently viewed a large collection of cast iron implement seats, among which was one with “Nixon & Co.” and “Alliance, Ohio,” cast into it. Not [...]
Start a tractor by firing a shotgun shell? You’ve got to be kidding! However, the post-World War II Field Marshall tractor used just such a method of starting. Marshall, Sons & Co., Ltd., ran the Brittania Iron Works at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, in northeastern England. The firm was founded in 1848 and soon began building threshing [...]
For many years I’ve planned to spend some time at the Massillon Museum and the Massillon Public Library to try to do a story on The Russell & Company. Well, I’ve procrastinated long enough that I don’t have to do that now, as Tom Downing has recently published A History of The Russell & Company [...]
In this day and age, many of the old established steam and tractor shows are struggling with declining attendance and, in some cases, the reluctance of members to pitch in and help with the many, many tasks that are necessary to put on a successful event. Of course, expenses keep rising too, especially insurance costs. [...]
This week I’m going to attempt to kill two birds with one bush – er, that’s not right – but you get the idea. I’ll identify an item that was in Hazard A Guess, and that has gone un-named for several weeks, as well as fill a Let’s Talk Rusty Iron column. Item Number 896, [...]
The Rusty Iron business is a little slow this week, so I’ll play Scott Shalaway and tell you a nature tale that I call (with apologies to Steven Spielberg), A Close Encounter of the Striped Kind. Nuisance For a couple of weeks, something has been digging up Nancy’s flower bulbs at the front of the [...]
I’ll continue the story of my Korean experience, and try to work in some references to Rusty Iron, although rust was just as thoroughly despised by the Army brass as dirt. I left for the Far East about the end of October, 1953, and had my very first airplane ride from Pittsburgh to Chicago, where [...]
Ten years ago Farm and Dairy published a couple of my columns about my experiences in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. I’d like to rerun them (slightly revised) in honor of the veterans of that struggle, as well as the veterans of all our wars and especially, the men and women serving in [...]
