"RoyJ" wrote in message
ink.net...
I think there must be some sort of error in the HP designation. All the
steam traction engines I've seen from the 1905 era are in the 10 to 20
hp range (belt hp) .

Jerry Foster wrote:
(Slightly OT, but contains a LOT of metal...)

The 115hp steam traction engine will be operating this (Labor Day)
weekend
at Ardenwood Park in Fremont. The engine was built in 1905 by the
Daniel
Best Co. of San Leandro, CA. A spectacularly impressive machine, it
stands
seventeen feet tall and weighs in at somewhere around 22 tons.

New, it hauled logs from the woods to the sawmill, pulling a string of
wagons carrying what, today, would be about four semi loads a trip.
This
weekend, it will be pulling an antique wagon, giving hayrides to kids of
all
ages.

Take a look at:
http://www.museumca.org/global/histo...s_tractor.html

The Ardenwood Railroad's steam locomotive will also be running.



I admit that, when I first saw the engine, I thought 115 hp sounded a bit on
the high side. But that was the rating it was given by the factory and one
of the crew that has been involved in its care for years, an engineer by
profession, did the calculations and concluded that, at a boiler pressure of
around 175 - 200 psi (which it carried when it was new), 115 hp was about
right.

Today, the century old boiler is licensed for 100 psi. It is still powerful
enough that whatever is hooked to it has a pronounced tendency to come along
with nary a "chug" from the engine to suggest it is starting to labor.

One thing that adds to the confusion is that this is a "road engine" as
opposed to the agricultural version which Best also built. The ag engine is
shorter for a sharper turning radius and had rear wheels that were three or
four times as wide (less soil compaction). Further, the vertical boiler,
hidden as it is by the 8 ft. diameter rear wheels and the 450 gallon water
tank in front is much larger than it, at first glance, appears. It is about
eleven feet tall, from the bottom of the grates to the base of the stack and
is nearly five feet in diameter. The grate area in the firebox is close to
15 sq. ft. The engine is two cylinder, double acting and displaces appx.
2000 cu. in. per revolution of the crankshaft.

(If anyone wants more accurate measurements, I'll take a tape measure to it
this weekend...)

This is not a small engine.

Jerry