Family steam engine

Some of my family gets together at the
home farm every Saturday morning for
coffee. I've posted before some history
and farming pictures from my Grandfather's
side of the family. This morning at the
farm I heard some of my Grandmother's side
I thought was interesting. My great-great-
grandfather, Alonzo Barnhart, bought this
steam engine brand new in 1923. It was
built in Greencastle, Pennsylvania and he
drove it home to Warfordsburg,
Pennsylvania. About 40 miles today by I70,
not sure how it would have been back then.
Some of my extended family still have the
steam whistle off of her.

Also was told the story that my great-
grandfather, (son-in-law of the guy with
the steam engine) had a threshing machine
and later had one of the first combines
around. He did custom work with it. He got
tired of guys not being ready when he got
to their farm so he started just emptying
the combine on a pile in the field so he
could keep moving. Word got around and he
soon stopped having to wait on wagons. Not
sure I would have done that but it made me
laugh looking back on it.

Ill try to attach pictures of the whistle
and steam engine.

Your whistle looks like a Buckeye.

Jump over to Smokstak.com. Post the picture of the engine there in the steam engine forum. It's probably still around. Any information you can dredge up about the engine.....engine number.....when it was sold.....name of the person who sold it....any other pictures.....will help to potentially surfacing and possibly visiting.

Based on the extra trimmings on that engine (cluster of whistles, turbo generator, locomotive bell), that engine survived into preservation some place.

Good luck !

They were talking about that this morning actually. The man that was there this morning knew a few of the next owners. He was talking with some of the others and I didn't get to hear everything. I'll have to get the details next Saturday. This picture was taken in the 70s at a show when they heard the engine was going to be there and went to visit it. The then owner worked for a railroad and had added the bell and light, and I assume the whistles.

The man this morning said he remembered when he was very young and the steam engine was sitting beside a shed at the farm. He said they weren't supposed to play on it, but did any way. Some time later someone was worried it was going to get scrapped so they got the whistle off it. I didn't hear the story of how and when it was sold though.

My brother in law had a Keck. When he died, we put his ashes up the smokestack Viking style.

What a beautiful machine!

So sad it must have been scrapped.

According to Jerry Lucabaugh on page 4 of a 2006 thread on Smokstak, Nellie Belle (a 50hp EB Peerless) survives and is located in Williamsport, PA

Somebody at the Rough & Tumble Engineers in Kinzers, PA. would know all about that engine today...
SmokStak