1881 Westinghouse Traction Engine - First Run in 20 Years 

Amazing! Knowing the stories behind these engines is just as important as preserving the engine itself. This engine is actually a traction engine, not a portable, it's just missing the steering parts. We are working on rebuilding this along with the missing gearing. We expect to have it fully functional this upcoming summer. I'd also like to say that I appreciate your videos! They are a great thing to sit back to and watch after a long day. They are relaxing and informative too.

David Richards my great grandfather was born in 1893 and he was a person who refused to use tractors till the day he died

They should do more research and find more of these even if there not running and in poor shape and if someone finds more of these that are a basket case they should grab them up instead of taking them to scrap and restore them to working condition and preserve american history museum peaces like this the way i believe and was raised that if something this old runs or not you should buy it and restore it and give it a good home and as long anything is taken care of properly it will last human kind to generations after generation of our selves and our kids and our kids kids grand great grand children

Grant W. Whitwam 9

Shame what it is nowadays. The only thing I've seen with his name on it is my crappy TV that I had to send back four times.

That's awesome! Do you mind if I ask what your grandfather's name is? Could probably find out a lot such as where that engine is now

His name is Marc Lamoreaux

The tractor does not currently drive itself. It is missing the gears that would do that. As part of the restoration, we are working on remaking those pieces so that it can drive again.

Hello Iron Clad, I'm glad you enjoyed my video. 1. This is definitely among the oldest operating steam tractors, and it is the oldest known (and operating too) Westinghouse traction engine. I'm not sure how exactly it ranks on the list but there are not many ahead of it. 2. This engine will definitely be out at our show at Alan's property in Ridgefield, Wa. However, it's unlikely that it will go to Powerland. Unfortunately, due to various circumstances this boiler would be rather difficult to get certified by the state and the owner does not believe it to be worth the effort to do so at this time. To be clear though to anyone reading this, we ARE NOT operating an unsafe boiler. We performed thorough tests and inspections on this boiler before we fired it up in order to make sure it was safe and it was kept at low pressures the whole time during operation. 3. Yes, Alan is in the video. You can see him mostly at 1:30 and 2:30. He is the one wearing the dark blue jacket. To my knowledge, Westinghouse never used anything but an upright boiler. It's also worth noting that these boilers are also water-tube type and not fire-tube type like most others. It made for a very versatile machine, that fired up quickly and easily maintained pressure. A pile of sticks literally made our boiler gain pressure when we fired it up. That's awesome that you work in the blacksmith shop, that's been one of my many side interests that I've never had the time for. You've probably seen me around at Brooks, I'm usually on one of the 12hp Russell steamers.

Well, boiler certifications are a good thing for public events...

Christopher Busch Yes they are. It acts as a good system to keep operators in check with their toys. It's also required by the state and our insurance plan in order to legally operate at a public event. Private like the case in the video doesn't matter.

I'll definitely look for you at next years Steam-Up. Last summer was a blast. I'm always sad when Steam-up ends. Humm, I'll look at my steam-up videos from last summer, I'll bet I've got a video of you on the tractor.

I'm behind the camera in most of my videos so good like recognizing my face in any of yours! I'll look forward to meeting you as well. Steam up is definitely one of my favorite times of the year as well. If all goes to plan for Brooks next year, you might find me hanging around the 1890 Advance from another one of my videos. You might also see a larger sibling of it there too if we manage to get it operational. There's way too many projects for our crew to work on right now... Six or so steam tractors, let alone the three Best tractors we're building from scratch as well as everything else. Wouldn't have it any other way though!

Thank you for the advice. Thankfully, we had already allowed things to heat up for the most part before we fully closed the drain cocks. The steam was coming out without much moisture aside from what condensed within the drains themselves. Besides, it was only being ran at about 40psi which is fairly wet for steam. Much anything else visible is due to an exhaust drain that we later found to be plugged.

Is there a drain for the valve-chest? It may be that your feed-line is filling with condensate before you open the regulator valve. It's worth lagging everything possible once you have fixed any leaks, it'll save you tons of fuel!

There is a drain for the valve chest and we used it but I was saying there was an issue with water condensing in the exhaust and pooling at the bottom of the pipe. There's a drain in it, but unbeknownst to us it had been plugged off by the previous owner. The feed did not have any water in it after we warmed everything up. We are looking into putting lagging back on the boiler like it originally came but we aren't too concerned. This project has many years ahead of it and there's no rush. Besides, we live in the NW where wood is plentiful and the boiler was literally fired up on a small pile of sticks and small chunks off wood. Gotta love water tube boilers.

It's up and running, that's the important thing :-) Good luck with it!

The boiler is 100% original and it takes a lot of effort to be able to run it. Our state, Washington, does have boiler inspections but it is only necessary for operating in public or at events. This engine was being run at a private gathering so it was not necessary. Even then though, we ourselves performed a series of checks and other inspections in order to make sure the boiler would be safe to operate to state standards. We made thickness readings of the shell and hydrotested the boiler to an appropriate pressure among other things. There is a lot of time, effort, and skill that goes into running an old boiler like this.

Mad Murdock thanks for reply! im sure its alot of time and effort to keep it running! who ever had it took good care of it . did u have to put new tubes in boiler at least?

Mad Murdock btw whats the psi u run at?

No problem Chad. The engine has been owned by hobbyists for most of its life and kept indoors so its only major issues are some missing parts. We fortunately did not have to replace the tubes but we are being mindful of their age. We did have to make some repairs to the plumbing but nothing too bad yet. The boiler originally ran at around 100psi when it was built. We hydrotested it to 100psi but we only steamed it up to a max of 70psi and usually stayed around 50psi. We may steam it up higher in the future after more repairs have been made and if we deem it safe.

Old is gold

Thank you for the suggestion, I've watched a number of his videos and he is very knowledgeable. However, we are fortunate enough to know a number of folks that are arguably the most knowledgeable about steam in this part of the country. In regards to the timing, we know how it needs to be done, we just were in a bit of a time crunch that day as well as the fact that the engine is old enough to not have any timing aids or witness marks. We also don't have the reversing linkage fully assembled yet so all of that culminated together to produce what you saw in the video. It was still pretty darn close though by the end of the day.

You sure did a fine guesstimation and now all you need is a fine tuning. GOOD job!

Lewie McNeely Thank you!

You're sure welcome!

1876?

The traction assembly was missing from this tractor when it came to the collection. Evidence shows it was most definitely a traction engine so we have been replicating the missing parts since this video was made. The corresponding pulley and other gearing as well as the steering is all included in what we've been recreating from original pictures and patent drawings from Westinghouse.

Gary Hayes It is from 1881 so it is among the very first steam powered tractors. At the time, it was only designed to pull a tender and a threshing machine or other implement. The "traction engine" classification simply means it is capable of moving under its own power.

So at one time it was a traction engine? I guess it's fair to still call it one. My apologies.

Darrell Grisham glad you like the video. I can't speak for others but I can promise this video is not lying. Nor is my video about the Holt 120 lying. This engine was stored in a barn for around 20 years missing several parts that kept it from running. The 120 sat rusting away in the brush in Alaska for approximately 80 years according to local accounts. I understand being skeptical of things on RU-vid but there is some truth out there.

ChloeAlexa Landry Hello. Could you please explain what you see in the video that makes you think we need more lessons? We do our best to keep things safe in our group and we are quite aware of the Ohio accident since we use it in our training classes. In regards to the video, the boiler had been cleaned and inspected as well as being UT thickness tested. We also performed a hydro test and ran the boiler at half of the test pressure which is well below what it could safely run. The operating group in the video was largely made up of our best and veteran operators that have safely ran steam equipment for most of their lives. I would appreciate clarification of why you think we were not safe. Thank you.

The fact you, [if you are the mustachioed one] seemed to not know what you were doing. when you were attempting to get it running you were turning the throttle while pulling the flywheel. With a gem like yours, and not run, for that length of time, and probably no history of what condition, or things that had been done to it, I would think of checking the condition of the piston as well as the valve, and it's proper timing. That is easy to do before firing it up and has saved many people, from damaging, or having problems, dealing with old steam engines. Not attempting to belittle you, just want to see the public safe around steam machinery. Have 68 years of running steam boilers, and have followed history of explosions, and their results.

As it so happens, I am not the mustached fellow, though I am jealous of it. Thankfully there is more background to what is going on than what I show in the video. Yes, we were pulling on the flywheel at the same time as opening the throttle but there's two reasons for that. One, engines with worn d-valves sometimes have issues with the valve not staying seated and rolling the engine over generally helps the valve seat and get going. Two, we had just finished completely rebuilding the valve gear from nothing. The valve gear was all missing from the variable gears on the crank, onward. You can see at 2:35 the vise grips we had to use to hold the valve gear in the "forward" position since we didn't have the lever linkage made yet. On top of completely remaking this, we had no witness marks for timing and no timing instructions due to how early this engine is. Therefore we had to go by intuition and trail-and-error. Part of this is cracking the throttle slightly and pulling the engine over slowly with the cylinder cocks open. You can then watch when steam is admitted to each end of the cylinder and adjust the timing until it is balanced and in the right direction. In regards to the condition of the piston and other components. Things had been checked over in the past couple years as the owner had time. Thank you for showing concern over our safety.