The summer show season will be just about over by the time you’re reading this. Chalk it up to too many irons in the fire and a general lack of time, but it’s frustrating to realize how many shows I missed this year.
One show I didn’t miss was the 30th anniversary Coolspring Summer Expo, this year celebrating flame ignition engines. I’d been beating the drums for this show for some time, encouraging readers to attend what seemed certain to be one of the most important engine gatherings not only of the year, but possibly the decade.
Now that the Expo has come and gone, I feel even stronger about that sentiment, as the event pulled together more than 60 flame ignition engines. Underscoring its importance, it also drew almost 100 foreign visitors to the Coolspring Power Museum in Coolspring, Pennsylvania. Add an estimated crowd of 4,000 enthusiastic engine fans and you had the makings of an extraordinary event. You can read all about it — and we have more photos on our website at Coolspring Power Museum Expo 2015.
As the season draws to a close, many of you will no doubt put your engines away for the winter. Before you do, I encourage you to take a look at your collection and think about sending along photos of your individual engines for us to share with readers of the magazine in our regular department A to Z Engines.
The idea behind A to Z Engines is simple, a place in the magazine where we can highlight your engines, in the process introducing the rest of the old iron crowd to engines they may not have seen or rarely see, giving them an opportunity to learn a little more about them.
The alphabetical order gives a hint of predictability, but there’s no set schedule on when A begins and Z ends. Don’t let that stop you from sending in photos and info on whatever engines you have whenever you want. Just because we’re on A at any particular moment doesn’t meant you can’t send us a Z engine. We’ll file what you send, and it’s a huge help to have your engine photos and information before we need them, waiting in line for the opportunity to be profiled.
For photos, regular digital cameras still do the best job, but cell phone cameras are getting better all the time, which makes taking photos even easier. Whichever you use, try and keep the sun to your back for better natural lighting, and make sure you send us the largest image file you can. You can email photos directly to me, or if you prefer you can mail them, either as hard copies or burned onto a CD disc.
And don’t forget to keep us abreast of any new engine projects or restorations you have in the works – I can guarantee you that everyone else is interested to see what you’re up to, and we’d love to share your hard work with the rest of the old iron crowd.
Richard Backus, Editor-in-Chief; Email: rbackus@gasenginemagazine.com