25246 County Road 95, Davis, California 95616
I had just gotten the old engine bug in about 1971 when I
remembered seeing an engine at my grandparents’ place in
Winnemucca, Nevada. I talked to my aunt who was still living at the
home place. She verified that indeed there was an engine there, and
that she would give it to me. My dad and I made the 300-mile trip
from Davis to Winnemucca to retrieve this treasure. The engine was
located in a long, narrow shed next to the hand-dug well. Water in
the well stood at about 10 feet below the surface. There was a
vertical centrifugal pump set about 16 feet deep in the well with
the shaft extending to the surface and a horizontal pulley on top.
Thus, the belt turned 90 degrees from the engine pulley when
driving the pump.
The engine turned out to be a 5 HP round-rod Galloway, serial
#7581, with a manufactured clutch pulley that was 10 inches in
diameter. This proved to be too small to run the pump pulley.
Granddad was an expert carpenter, so he laminated about eight
one-by-twelve-inch boards together around the original clutch then
trued them to round to make the required 24-inch pulley. While
loading the Galloway, we also threw on some other junk from the
shelves in the shed. An additional carburetor was used later on an
8 HP Monitor, and there was also a generator with green paint with
Galloway stenciled across the magnets in a way that looked like it
came from the factory with that color scheme. Everyone knows that
Galloways are red with yellow lettering and striping (uh-oh,
I’m getting ahead of my story). A well-worn parts manual and an
instruction book were found in Granddad’s papers. There was
also a letter written in 1921 from the William Galloway Company in
reply to an inquiry for oversized and wider piston rings. The
piston now in the engine is not worn very much so I suspect that
Granddad eventually ordered another piston and rings to replace the
worn one.
After getting the engine home, it seemed like it was time to see
if I could make it run. The engine was free and all the valves and
parts were free. I should dream up some horror story on all the
problems I had getting it up and running. To tell the truth,
though, I wiped sand out of all the pieces I could reach with a rag
(I didn’t own an air compressor at the time), oiled it up,
hooked up the battery, put gas in the tank, and turned the
flywheel. The second pull it fired and ran like a top. It was the
easiest engine I have ever started.
The 5 HP Galloway completely restored with the
correct yellow detail and striping.
The original clutch pulley was 10 inch diameter.
My grandfather laminated eight one-by-twelve inch boards together
around the original clutch then trued them to round to make the 24
inch desired pulley.
Maybe a little history of the engine might be in order. Granddad
ordered the engine new in 1908 from the factory in Waterloo, Iowa.
At that time, he was a cattle rancher in Paradise Valley north of
Winnemucca. The engine came on the train in late summer, crated for
shipment. They unloaded it on a wagon and hauled it the 30 miles to
the ranch to use for pumping water the next spring. It remained
crated that severe winter. By spring, most of the cattle he owned
had died in the cold. They lost the ranch and moved onto 20 acres
at the edge of Winnemucca. The engine went with them still packed
in the original crate. The family built a house and hand-dug a well
about 30 feet deep hitting an excellent strata that provided water
for the house and five to ten acres of garden for their use, which
included vegetables and alfalfa for the horse.
The generator mounted to operate on the edge of
the flywheel. It has not been repainted. Noted the pale GALLOWAY
printed across the dark green painted magnets.
It was my grandmother’s job to start the engine. She was a
very small woman, under five feet tall, and probably never weighed
over 100 pounds. My aunt and uncles used to say that the Galloway
would backfire once in a while and throw Grammy across the shed
which stimulated her temper. She then would attack the engine with
renewed determination and soon the engine was purring.
The engine was used to pump water until the 1940s. It sat idle
from then until I picked it up in 1971.
Well, on with my story. The next step in any restoration is to
clean and paint the prize. Much of the detailed art work was still
visible on the engine. These details were quite faded, but were
still traceable. The dark red was visible and all the art work,
lettering and striping were white. In those days, before Branch 13
EDGE&TA was formed, there wasn’t a wealth of knowledge
readily available from other members. Anyway, I painted the red and
started on the white lettering, striping, and art work. After I had
spent many hours painstakingly tracing, painting, touch up, and was
about three-quarters done, my brother-in-law dropped by. He watched
for a little while. Then he asked, ‘Isn’t the lettering
supposed to be yellow?’
I replied, ‘Of course not. The lettering was white on the
engine before I painted it.’ He then said, ‘Are you
sure?’ I replied quite hastily, ‘Of course, I’m
sure.’
Well, after he left I got to wondering–you know how your mind
wanders–and I decided to check further. After a couple of hours at
the University of California-Davis library, it became apparent that
the white lettering was faded yellow, and indeed my painstaking
lettering and striping was wrong. I was sick! Sometimes crow
doesn’t taste very good. On that discouraging note, and with
four children in school, church, 4-H, sports, and other activities,
plus my work to put bread on the table, the Galloway was parked for
about 20 years half-painted with the wrong color.
The final ending is that I recently repainted the red and then
applied the YELLOW to all the lettering and striping. There was a
slight water leak from a crack in the head that would start
dripping when the engine got hot. J. B. Weld to the rescue. That
material is wonderful to patch and fill areas. Later I saw a head
advertised in GEM. After a telephone call to Jim Windle in Virginia
and a discussion, we agreed on a price and he shipped it to me. I
then replaced the original cracked head with a like-new one. The
Lunkenheimer carburetor showed lots of wear around the valve. A
good friend, Carl Mehr, did an excellent job inserting a like-new
guide and valve. I also mounted the Galloway engine on four wheels
so that I can load and move it easily.
I dug out the generator and mounted it to run on the flywheel. I
now start the engine with a battery and switch to the generator.
The generator has not been repainted. It is still the faded green
with the very pale GALLOWAY stenciled across the magnets. It
appears to have been painted a bright green. Does anyone have an
original Galloway generator? I would appreciate any information on
the original color of the generator.
My granddad’s Galloway is now completely and accurately
refinished to its original condition. I have shown the Galloway at
several shows in northern California the last two years. It has
always drawn lots of attention. It was the featured engine on the
Branch 13 EDGE&TA show button at the Amador County Fair. I
currently have about 15 restored engines including an 8 HP Monitor,
a 16 HP Western and a 5 HP Fairbanks-Morse Standard.
Granddad’s Galloway was in a long narrow
shed in Winnemucca, Nevada. The pump and well was outside the far
end of the building.
Letter written by The William Galloway Company
in 1921 concerning a parts inquiry.
Notice from envelope with above letter.
