Rt 1, Box 1165 Rocky Mount, Virginia 24151
In 1941 my father and our neighbor, James Tignor, bought a
Fairbanks-Morse 12 HP for $175.00. This was to replace an upright
steam engine that Dad owned. I was four years old at the time and I
remember it sure made a lot more noise than the other one. I would
help carry water from the creek to a barrel that sat next to the
engine.
Every Saturday they would crank up the engine to grind feed.
Some neighbors would bring their corn on horse-drawn wagons to have
it ground. There was no money involved, just a percentage of the
feed for grinding. Sometimes the noise of the engine would scare
the horses and they would run off.
They used this engine until about 1949, and by then most people
had cars or trucks and electricity. They could grind their own feed
or take it to town to have it ground. The engine was not used any
more and in a few years the shed had fallen down on top of the
engine.
I joined the Air Force in 1955 and while I was home on leave, my
mother said I should fix the shed to protect the old engine,
because someday it would be worth lots of money. The last thing I
was interested in, at 19 years old, was that rusted old engine. So
I didn’t listen to Mom.
They sold the engine in 1956 for $175.00 I never thought much
about it until about eight years ago when I got the engine bug. I
asked Mom who they sold the engine to. She said, ‘John Rhines,
a junk yard owner, bought it.’ I went to see John and he said,
‘Yes, I remember the engine. I sold it a few weeks after buying
it to a man in Grundy, Virginia, about 80 miles away.’ He
couldn’t remember the man’s name but he owned a machine
shop and worked on mining equipment. That was 35 years ago, so I
didn’t have much hope of ever finding it let alone being able
to buy it. I never did get to Grundy to try to find it.
In 1988 Mr. Conners of Lexington, Virginia, about 200 miles from
Grundy, died. I live in Rocky Mount, Virginia, about sixty miles
from Lexington. I saw Mr. Conners’ son, Charlie, at the Denton,
North Carolina show and he said he probably would sell some of his
dad’s engines. On my way home from a show in Berryville,
Virginia I met Charlie at his dad’s place. He was showing me
the engines and some he wanted to sell and some he didn’t. I
said, ‘Charlie, what’s that big engine in the corner?’
He said, ‘It’s a 12 HP Fairbanks. We bought it in your neck
of the woods, Grundy, from a man who owned a machine shop and
worked on mining equipment.’ Cold chills ran over me and I told
Charlie that used to be my dad’s engine. He didn’t want to
sell it but said if he ever did, I would have first shot. I would
call or go see Charlie about every three months and he would say
the same thing: ‘If I sell it, it’s yours.’
Before leaving for Zolfo Springs I called Charlie and he wanted
to know if I was still interested in the three Witte engines he
had. He would make me a package deal. I bought three Wittes and one
Fairbanks-Morse 12 HP!
I brought it home and cleaned all the moving parts. Fixed a leak
in the gas tank. Then I took a belt and hooked it to my John Deere
B just to turn it over for a few minutes. I thought if I was going
to turn it over I might as well put some gas in it and hook up the
battery. About the third time it turned over and fired! Black smoke
rolled out of it and I thought it was running too fast so I shut it
off. I changed the governor springs and it ran perfect! You
can’t turn the flywheel slow enough that it won’t start. It
is the only engine I have that my wife can start.
I had a small leak in the water pump so I called Charlie to see
if the warranty was still good. He said he didn’t think so. I
packed the pump and the leak stopped. The only part missing is the
nameplate on the side that says Fairbanks-Morse, 12 HP. I would
like to find one.
When I called Mom and told her I had bought the engine she said
that if only I had listened to her I could have had it for nothing
in 1956.
The gist of this story is: ‘You should listen to your
mom.’