In our February issue, we carried a request for help from a
French collector who owned a Moline Universal model D tractor. The
following response was submitted by Ralph Hendrickson of Box 55,
Nineveh, NY 13813.
I am happy to say that there is such a contraption in the
Southern Tier Antique Gas and Steam Association. The vintage is
1918 or 1919 and it is owned by Archie Hubbard of the Eastern
Fayette Guilford Museum of Guilford, New York.
Archie is an old time iron man and is a great fabricator of
parts. Everything in his museum runs. He is a stickler for accuracy
and has the manuals to go with most of his old iron, which are all
unusual pieces. His private museum of antique machinery is one of
the finest in New York State. It is a little over an hour’s
drive from the Baseball Hall of Fame & the Farmers Museum in
Cooperstown.
Kenneth Long of Big Rapids, Michigan, one of the iron nuts who
corresponded with me about one of my engines came to see me by way
of Cooperstown. I took him to see my friend Archie Hubbard who gave
him a personal tour of the museum. Ken’s wife took his picture
sitting on the seat of that Moline Plow contraption, just like a
little boy in seventh heaven. If he didn’t break the camera
I’m sure his wife got the picture of a fine piece of restored
machinery.
This winter Archie Hubbard has gone south for a while and will
be bringing back a narrow gauge steam passenger train which he
expects to have on line in two years. This piece of old iron needs
a lot of work.
Any time there are iron nuts in the area, look me up!
