Western Minnesota Steam Thresher Reunion

Here are some pictures of some GREAT tractors at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher Reunion in Rollag, MN. The show is held every year on labor day weekend. It is a truly wonderful show & has a very fine collection of great old tractors & gas engines setup beautifully! Many of the gas engines are setup in the buildings year-round, & many are plumbed in with fuel, ignition (electric), & even air starting systems on the larger ones. The electricity & air is powered by a large engine so the whole setup is "self-sufficient". There are many buildings full of great old stuff. If you haven't been, make it a point to get there soon (especially in 2003 when they're featuring Rumely Tractors). You can view their web site BY CLICKING HERE. Some of the great attractions are shown below. Please take time to browse the pictures. Even though it rained 6 inches on us (seriously) there were a lot of diehard tractor fans checking out the stuff. Unfortunately the rain canceled the parade & plowing contest. Oh well, it does give me an excuse to go back!

Case 12-20

This was one of the little tractors at the show. This is a 12-20 crossmotor Case. Very nice restoration job. This one has a unique front end that helped keep the wheel out of the furrow while plowing. Very attractive little rig.
Case 20-40

This was another nice tractor at the show. This was running around the grounds quite a bit. The bulls gears looked to be very good & it ran very nice. This is a very classy tractor.
Case 30-60

This was probably the rarest tractor at the show. It was truly a work of art with it's beautiful restoration.
Case 40-72

This was another very odd tractor at the show. It is just like the 12-20 model, but it's about four times as big! Really impressive to see! An nice item from the Dennis Powers collection.
Hart-Parr 30-60

This was another big gas tractor on display. These were a very early tractor from around 1910.
Huber

This big Huber was just another one of the big praire tractors on display.
International Friction Drive Tractor

This is a friction drive (pulley on crankshaft drives tractor with friction) International tractor. These are a very interesting rig & this one was especially nice.
Mogul 30-60

This is another fine tractor from the International line. These are few & far between.
Mogul Jr. 25 HP

This is another piece of the early International line. The Titans & Moguls were the tradenames for the International tractor line of that era. There are only five of these left.
Otto Gas Engine

This was one of the big Otto engines in the Otto building. I've never seen so many Otto's in my life! The one building is full of them. One of the nicest displays at the show.
Otto 15 H.P.

These are couple pictures of Richard Birklid's 15 H.P. Otto Gas Engine. He had this engine running beautifully. We had a nice long talk with Richard & his son Gene when we ducked in the building to get out of the rain. Really a couple of nice guys & a nice engine.
Rumely Steam Engine

This was the mother of all the steam engines at the show. It really looked good & was impressive to stand beside. They had it on the prony brake to test the HP & I belive they got about 115 HP, but they didn't have her wide open!
Rumely 20-40

Here's a nice old 20-40. One of the medium size Oilpulls!
Rumely 30-60 'E'

Here's a couple pictures of a very nice 'E' Oilpull. If it hadn't rained it would have been neat to see her running around. One of the nicest tractors up there.
Rumely 30-60 'E'

Here's the other E on display at the show. This was also a very nice straight old rig.
Rumely 15-30 'F'

This old 'F' Rumely made a great display. With the single cylinder engine many collectors would argue that this was the neatest Rumely (& even overall tractor) ever built. Beside the 'F' is an Emerson Bratingham "BIG 4".
Rumely 30-60 'S'

This was another nice Rumely at the show. The man in the picture is the recent purchaser of the rig. Even in the rain, with a little cranking the old thing started up & ran pretty slick.
Snow Engine

This is one of Rollag's newest attractions. This engine was brought in from Pennsylvania in 1991. It used to pump natural gas from the oil fields in PA. It also compressed the gas for use as fuel. It was brought out to Rollag in seven semi loads. The specs on this engine are as follows:

140 Tons Total Weight

67 Feet Long

80-90 RPM

Flywheel weighs 12 tons & is 16 feet in diameter.

24"X48" Bore & Stroke

39,600 Cubic Inch Displacement

Two Cylinders With Ignition At Both Ends of The Stroke

Cement Base weighs over 237 Tons (475,000 lbs.)

A very impressive engine! Really makes one feel small! All work to set it up was donated by the club members. The total cost was $58,000. They put on a nice demonstration & informative speech on it. It is wonderfully setup.
Garr-Scott Tigerpull

This is a rare Garr-Scott Tigerpull gas tractor. Garr-Scott was bought out by Rumely.
Townsend

Even thought this looks like a steam engine, it is actually a gas tractor. They were built this way to get farmers used to using a gas tractor without the whole design change. They are a very hard to find machine.
Twin-City 40-65

This is the second largest tractor that Twin-City built. It is a huge machine. It's big brother is shown below.
Twin-City 60-90

This is the biggest Twin-City tractor ever built. It is a huge piece of equipment & you can see how so few survived the iron rushes.

These are just a few of the great displays at the Rollag show. If you haven't ever been or even if it's just been a while, make plans to go next labor day weekend.

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Contact us at:
Chris and Rod Epping
12015 734 Rd.
Funk, NE 68940
Ph: (308) 263-4371
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