Box 562 Pidgeon Valley Rd, Randolph, NY 14772
My uncle and I, one fine summer day
Set out to hunt engines, in the hills of PA.
We looked in power houses, as we went along.
The engines was broken, or else they was gone.
All engine hunters know, how time will fly by.
We got so hungry, we thought we would die.
Over those back country roads, a pretty rough haul.
Your breakfast don’t last you no time at all.
I say to my uncle, ‘I have a lunch’.
The best thing to do is carry a lunch.
But just ’round the bend, to our surprise,
There was a restaurant, couldn’t believe our eyes.
We pulled up and parked, hurried right in.
It was a nice little place, all clean and neat.
So we ordered us a big lunch to eat.
There at a table, sat three men having lunch,
A jolly good gang, and a sociable bunch.
We asked if by chance anyone might know
If any engine’s for sale, we could fix up to go.
One man among them said ‘I know where they be.
When I have finished my lunch, just follow me.’
We went to Duke Center, and a feller named Bill
Had old gas engines all over the hill.
Power house to power house, he showed us them all.
The last one we looked at, it’s this or none at all.
The birds in the tree tops sat up there and sang
O’er the house where sat that Bovard and Seafang.
I made a deal with the owner, name of Bill.
Bought me that engine, right there on the hill.
With Dad and my uncle, to Duke Center we went.
On a mission of mercy, that’s where we was bent.
We jacked up that engine, ‘neath the flywheels put
planks
She took off through the woods, in dirt then she sank.
Bill with his dozer, put her there by the road.
No trouble at all, on a tilt bed to load.
The very next morning, about break of day.
With a tilt bed truck, we was on our way.
We soon had her loaded, had plenty of room.
Then with my engine, was back home by noon.
Many hours was spent to clean up and paint.
But I loved every minute, I had no complaint.
If you could have been to our last engine show.
See that big engine run, my pleasure you’d know.
The author of this poem is a member and past president of
the Chautauqua County Antique Equipment Association, Inc.
