Rt. 1, Box 209 Middlebourne, West Virginia 26149
Another gas engine show is in the ‘book.’ A dandy show
it was! We had another great turnout of engines of every
description; farm engines of all sorts were on hand, as well as a
good turnout of oilfield engines. A total of 508 engines, 50
models, and 40-plus related displays from 13 states and Canada were
represented.
One of several memorable activities was Dave Smith and Ron
Holms’ 22? Bessemer. They barely got it together in time for
the show. They pulled in from just down the road at Bens Run, West
Virginia, knowing they would surely garner some help if needed.
After they kicked ol’ Bessie for about two hours to no avail,
the help gathered in. John Roop of Walkersville, Maryland, stripped
the hot tube ignition system from his 25 HP Reid and in no time
ol’ Bessie was running! Well, after some time, John decided he
needed to run his Reid, so he reclaimed his ignition system from
two reluctant exhibitors. But they had scrutinized his ignition
system and went hunting some parts of their own. It wasn’t long
until the kicking of ol’ Bessie began again, and after a little
sweat on their brow she was running again much to the delight of
everybody present.
Speaking of John Roop, he became the official proprietor of the
Historic Little Sister Oil Well which he will run during the show.
The well is located just north of the park near the ferry landing.
Congratulations, John! He received the keys from Harry Homer.
Another feature at the show was Larry Thomas from Nashville,
Tennessee, with a load of farm engines that he had equipped with
ignition systems manufactured from car heater motors and such, and
they worked! One other thing he brought was a very large mag
charger. Larry spent much time at the show putting new life in
tired mags, free of charge. Thanks, Larry!
There is another guy I would like to mention that in the past
reports I gave him a hard time about tired jaws. Well, this year he
brought a very nice J.P.Berry 15HP, rare in this area. A very
friendly fellow to everybody I know, Cliff Atkinson, Valencia,
Pennsylvania.
Since the oil and gas show features oil field engines, I would
like to mention a few exhibitors: Shirley Giboney, 15 HP Reid, (on
gasoline) Tom Winland 12 HP Pattin, Ernest Sponagle 10 HP Bessemer,
Fred Anderson 20 HP J.C. Gary Arnold Abel pumping power, Bob Deist
4 HP Reid, Leroy Goodwin 20 HP Reid, Richard Scott 20 HP Pattin,
Harold Smith 20 HP Reid, Charley Snider 5 HP Bessemer, Miles Lamm
20 HP Pattin, Dale Burbridge 25 HP Pattin, Tom Cox 15 HP Reid, Rex
Cox 7 HP Kootz & Stroeman, Frank Homer 8 HP Bessemer halfbreed,
Scott & Charles Hirshey 15 HP Reid, Paul Fuchs 5 HP Bessemer,
and a few others I can’t think of.
With show season in full swing, don’t forget the Oil and Gas
Festival September 16,17,18,19, 1999.