R 1, Box 296, Pendleton, IN 46064
Out for a Sunday morning drive, my wife, Kim, and I wandered
into Rushville, Indiana from our home near Pendleton. Having heard
of the steam and old engine show earlier, we thought we might take
this in.
There they were: the old tractors, the smells of coal burning
and sawdust at the sawmill, and the chug-snort-chug of those old
engines. Kim really loved it. She said, ‘Someday you can get
one of those hit and what-cha callits.’
About one month passed. Here we were, trudging through the mud
at Portland. But undiscouraged we were. We remembered the lure of
that old engine smell, the whirling of gears and the rattle of the
cranks. Kim said ‘We will start looking for a
miss-and-hit.’ I just grinned.
It’s been almost a month since we went to the auction. Sixty
engines. Surely one was for us, but which one? We watched and
listened. Then we bid. We bought it! It was an awful mess, but
complete. The old Fairbanks-Morse Z ‘headless’ started the
next day. Now I’ve got it so it will run real nice.
Kim sure is happy and I am a little bit myself.