Item 1:

In Ohio, farmers have tremendous political clout. So much so that the State Commerce Dept. took steps last year to make sure the State Boiler Office kept their hands off steam tractors. This was to "clarify" a 1965 interpretation of the original boiler inspection law exempting agricultural boilers.
From Sat. Akron Beacon Journal:
"Late last year, Taft's Commerce Department lobbied state lawmakers to clarify the law to exempt steam boilers on tractors at fairs and other exhibits. The new law is scheduled to go into effect Sept. 18."

Item 2:

Steam Tractors are a pure hobby. Nobody uses them to plow fields. Nobody offers scheduled daily hayrides pulled by steam tractors. Boiler repair costs are the biggest expense in maintaining a steam tractor. On a working railroad, with track, coaches, shop, and running gear maintenance, boiler repair costs fall into the "Big Ticket" but not the "Biggest Ticket" expense. Railroads are businesses that produce revenue. Steam tractor owners do not get paid for showing their toys at the local fair.

Item 3:

If I showed up at a county fair with my 13 - 100 pound crates of TNT, vintage 1918, would I be allowed to display it and let kids play with the sweating sticks?

I could if I converted that energy and hid it in a tractor boiler, painted the wheels red and put whistle on it.

(This is based on the BTU equivalence of superheated boiler water to TNT, which for a 150 psi boiler is 3 pounds of boiler water has stored energy equivalent to 1 pound(stick) of TNT. Assuming 500 gallons of water in the boiler, it equates to a little over 1330 pounds of TNT.)

Item 4:

From the Akron Beacon Journal
"The largest steam tractor exhibition in North America is held every Labor Day in Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
Iowa does not require inspections or certification for the event, and annually attracts 200 to 300 antique tractors.

Expect the next launch to be in Iowa.


Latest update: Akron Beacon Journal

> Item 1:

> In Ohio, farmers have tremendous political
> clout. So much so that the State Commerce
> Dept. took steps last year to make sure the
> State Boiler Office kept their hands off
> steam tractors. This was to
> "clarify" a 1965 interpretation of
> the original boiler inspection law exempting
> agricultural boilers.
> From Sat. Akron Beacon Journal:
> "Late last year, Taft's Commerce
> Department lobbied state lawmakers to
> clarify the law to exempt steam boilers on
> tractors at fairs and other exhibits. The
> new law is scheduled to go into effect Sept.
> 18."

Since all indications are that the condition of the boiler wasnÂ’t a factor in the explosion (with the possible exception of the wrong type of fusible plug being installed), the status of inspections in Ohio isnÂ’t an issue. A brand new ASME boiler on its first fire up would have launched in the same spot under the same circumstances.

> Item 2:

> Steam Tractors are a pure hobby. Nobody uses
> them to plow fields. Nobody offers scheduled
> daily hayrides pulled by steam tractors.
> Boiler repair costs are the biggest expense
> in maintaining a steam tractor. On a working
> railroad, with track, coaches, shop, and
> running gear maintenance, boiler repair
> costs fall into the "Big Ticket"
> but not the "Biggest Ticket"
> expense. Railroads are businesses that
> produce revenue. Steam tractor owners do not
> get paid for showing their toys at the local
> fair.

There has been no indication that the condition of the boiler was a factor.

> Item 3:

> If I showed up at a county fair with my 13 -
> 100 pound crates of TNT, vintage 1918, would
> I be allowed to display it and let kids play
> with the sweating sticks?

> I could if I converted that energy and hid
> it in a tractor boiler, painted the wheels
> red and put whistle on it.

> (This is based on the BTU equivalence of
> superheated boiler water to TNT, which for a
> 150 psi boiler is 3 pounds of boiler water
> has stored energy equivalent to 1
> pound(stick) of TNT. Assuming 500 gallons of
> water in the boiler, it equates to a little
> over 1330 pounds of TNT.)

How about if I hid it in a Â’65 Mustang gas tank? WhatÂ’s the TNT equivalent of 20 gallons of gas?

> Item 4:

> From the Akron Beacon Journal
> "The largest steam tractor exhibition
> in North America is held every Labor Day in
> Mount Pleasant, Iowa.
> Iowa does not require inspections or
> certification for the event, and annually
> attracts 200 to 300 antique tractors.

> Expect the next launch to be in Iowa.

I would expect that the only tractor parts that will be flying around other shows this summer will be broken cylinder head studs, from all the hydraulic locked cylinders on top of overfilled boilers.

This has been a wake up call for the operators as much as the regulators. And while some operators are, shall we say, less than informed about the ways of steam, I doubt that many of them are suicidal. Everyone is going to think twice before firing up, at least for the next few weeks. Who knows, maybe some of that though will stick. There is no reason to panic at this time.

This is America. And every American has the right to blow himself up on his own property with his own boiler. But he doesn't have the right to take out 3 buddies with him, melt the skin off a dozen little kids, etc., etc.

>There is no reason to panic at this time.

This isn't panic, it is outrage. In July 1901, within 40 miles of Medina a steam thresher blew up severely injuring 4. Two days later in Clarksburg, Ohio another tractor blew up.
100 years ago in just July, seven people died in tractor explosions in this country. After 100 years we still haven't learned not to let incompetent people run boilers?

The index no. identifies the boiler explosions so far that year.

193-A threshing machine boiler exploded on July 10th at Muse's Fork, Westmoreland county, Va. Engineer T. O. Atwell and fireman Ryland Sanford were seriously injured. Some of the fragments of the boiler were thrown 300 yards.

199-On July 20th threshing machine boiler exploded on George McKinley's farm at Hunter, O. T.(Oklahoma Territory) We did not learn of any personal injuries.

205-The boiler of a threshing machine exploded on July 23rd on Clinton Boyd's farm, some three miles north of Ashland, Ohio. Jay Jackson, John Wertman, John Kissell and George Beymer were severely injured.

209-On July 24th a traction engine boiler exploded at Clarksburg, near Chillicothe, Ohio. Albert Johnson was badly scalded.

211-On July 26th a threshing machine boiler exploded at Anderson Valley, twenty miles southwest of Ukiah, Cal. William Rose was struck on the head by a heavy casting and instantly killed. David Leard was also injured so badly that he died a short time afterwards. Several others of the crew were injured to a lesser extent.

212-A threshing machine boiler exploded on July 27th at Seger, fifteen miles south of Weatherford, O. T. John W. Peters, Alfred White, and Caleb Jones were killed, and Dr. Jewett and Augustus Fergeson were fatally injured. Arnold Douglass and John S. Troughton, Jr. were also injured, although to a lesser extent.

213-Engineer Arthur Bigler was seriously scalded on July 27th by the explosion of a threshing machine boiler on Charles Chappelear's farm, seven miles southwest of Neoga, near Mattoon, Ill. Fire followed the explosion, and a great deal of property loss resulted.



Latest update: Akron Beacon Journal

why would anyone make such an irresponsible, cretinous statement such as "expect the next launch to be in Iowa"? According to all accounts, the madina boiler was in excellent condition until its operators let its water get low. How, Mr. Austin, could an inspection, even done by someone of your superior and devinely inspired insight and knowledge, have prevented this tragedy?

Mt. Pleasant remains a bastion of safe steam operation, experience, and lore. For some self appointed west coast boiler golden boy to insinuate that an organisation that was restoring,preserving,and safely operating steam technology while many of us were still a glint in the milkman's eye is an insult to the intellect.

I fear many who cry the loudest about tougher inspections and tighter controls may have a service they'd like to sell.

Remember, folks, had the madina boiler been brand new, ASME approved, low water would still have blown it up.

Now, Now, Nothing personal....Just probabilities. Out of 200 engines, there isn't a single hot-rodder among the bunch that likes to push the envelope just a little???
Over 50 years not a single member has ever dropped a fusible plug?
Indications are the fusible plug was either the wrong style or improperly installed. Both of which should have been caught by a proper inspection.


Latest update: Akron Beacon Journal

Old Threshers at Mt.Pleasant does its own inspections by men who are familiar with riveted locomotive boilers, unlike the majority of state inspectors today, most of whom just want to make sure that a package boiler is installed properly and stand amazed at "buttoned boilers."

No, there are no "Hot rodders",the club wouldn't stand for it, and to my knowledge, there haven't been very many dropped plugs.

And, nothing was personal, Matt. I still appreciate your assistance in helping rid us of one of the bigger scam artists in the boiler buisiness, You Know Who. By the way, whatever happened about the boilers they made with the dogleg stays?

> By the way,
> whatever happened about the boilers they
> made with the dogleg stays?

At last count 8 of the first 26 were de-certified into Boat Anchors. Present condition of the Queen of the Boat Anchor Fleet can be found at the following link.

PS. Even a brand new ASME boiler can blow up even WITH lots of water over the crown sheet. Buyer BEWARE!!!!!!!

Boat Anchors AWAY!!!!!!!

Have to agree with Matt on this one.

Traction engine owners, like many steam locomotive owners, tend to be rugged indivdualists, very few of whom are even moderately wealthy. In truth, many cannot really afford the hobby, but that doesn't keep them from pouring every available nickel into their machines. Trouble is, even that might not be enough to do it right.

Thus begins the search for ways to cut corners to save a buck here and there, which is then rationalized by statements such as "I've seen worse" or "It ran like that for 20 years, it'll run like that for 20 more" or my favorite, "Nobody is going to tell me what I can or can't do with MY boiler. It's mine, I bought it, I can do what I want with it." The former owner of the Gettysburg RR expressed those sentiments loudly and often prior to the incident there.

The traction guys focus what political clout they can muster on preventing any and all attempts at inspection or regulation.

There are a few traction engine clubs/associations around. Most are small and concentate on a particular geographic area or make of engine. Many don't cooperate with others; it's that rugged indivdualist thing again.
Rather than and together and come up with some standards that might benefit them all and help fend off more draconian regulations imposed by governments, they generally resist any attempts by anyone to do anything.

I agree with HRMO that Midwest Old Threshers has a commendable, laudable safety record. But then, so did Medina prior to this incident. Is there a lesson there?

The traction engine/thresher/hobby boiler thing actually involves very few total people and machines, especially compared with something as large as the Antique Auto Club of America or other advocacy groups. And, to the public and politicians, old cars are much easier to grasp and understand than old boilers.

On the railroad side, it's larger but like the traction guys it's still too fragmented; there are at least 5 different small RR associations out there, mostly all trying to do the same things. There is a lot of overlap in the memberships, which leads one to wonder why they don't band together into one larger, more powerful group and cut out a lot of the bureacracy and turf battles and focus more on the important issues. Yeah, yeah, I know....that would mean fewer conventions to go to each year.

I have a feeling that the price and availability of liability insurance for steam threshing bees and tractor shows after the Medina incident and the resulting suits and claims will have as much effect as more regulation. It's going to cost a LOT more now, if you can get it all.

Your unemotional reasoning is appreciated.

> 100 years ago in just July, seven people
> died in tractor explosions in this country.
> After 100 years we still haven't learned not
> to let incompetent people run boilers?

> The index no. identifies the boiler
> explosions so far that year.

Amazing! This is the first boiler explosion at a steam meet such as this in a hundred years, and you are screaming to get away from these deathtraps!

Steam meets have been part and parcal of county fairs for years. There are other meets that drawing similiar number of steam vehicles worldwide as the one mentioned previously, and this is the first documented case of a boiler explosion at such a meet since 1901.

If you want to make your case, then show me statistics for the last fifty years of boiler explosions that occurred in the hands of private collectors. But going back to 1901? Don't you think there were quite a few steam locomotives lost during that same timeframe for the same reason? And don't forget firetube boilers that were being used for stationary purposes as well -- I recall hearing about one that blew up in a school cafeteria, wiping out kids in half of the lunchroom.

In summary, you might as well drop fires worldwide if that is what you think. But please don't stop there... be sure you ban all organized sports events to prevent people being trampled; ground all aerobatic flight team to make sure no more planes crash into crowds; have all guns melted down; take away everyone's car keys; pull everyone's drain plug out of their boats so there are no more boating accidents; etc. etc. etc.

Surviving World Steam Locomotives
james1@pernet.net

What is the story behind these bad boilers?

> How about if I hid it in a Â’65 Mustang gas
> tank? WhatÂ’s the TNT equivalent of 20
> gallons of gas?

It is probably equal. However, the liquid in your gas tank, or even in the gas can in the trunk of that (hot) Mustang will not explode.

What WILL explode is the gasoline vapor coming from that can, and if I now recall correctly, just a teaspoon of fully vaporized gasoline in the volume of a trunk is equal to a single stick of dynamite.

The same is true for Mr. Austin's figure for the explosive capacity of a firetube boiler. If a vapor explosion was able to convert 100% of the liquid inside the boiler to vapor, then that 1918 Case would have indeed exploded with the force of 13 - 100 pound crates of TNT; in which case one would be left with a bunch of iron fragments and a crater lined with mangled car, tractor, building, and people parts where the fairground was. In addition, there would be no soot/water mixture to confuse as oil, since all of the liquid would have been converted to a gas.

Fortunately for everyone who survived, it was probably more like a stick or two, leaving us with FIVE now dead and nine still in the hospital. BTW, I have seen a photograph of Soviet steam locomotives that were sabatoged before the advancing German Army by placing a charge in the smokebox and behind the cylinder of each engine. The amount of disruption caused was about the same magnitude as this incident.

Really, I really don't want to sound combative or "emotional", but the two things that bother me about Mr. Austin's comments are reaching back to 1901 to insinuate that private steam owners today are a menance to the public, and quoting such impressive but unrealistic statistics about the stored capacity of steam boilers to explode. I do not know who Mr. Austin is, and I can tell from other material I have looked at on his website that he knows what he is talking about, but HE is the one that would appear is trying to drum up an emotional response, or call for massive regulations, rather than looking at this incident in perspective. He sounds like someone with an axe to grind (not that I don't), and not an unbaised observer.

If some increased regulation or training were to come out of this, I would not have a problem with it. What would bother me would be a knee-jerk reaction such as an outright ban or serious restriction on steam engine operation based strictly on one incident, or regulations that would place steam operation in the hands of a very wealthy few. I am glad that both the press and the regulators seem to be taking a reasonable approach to date, and we should all bear in mind the responsibility and potential to destroy that accompanies steam engine operation and ownership.

(And never store gasoline in your trunk.)

Surviving World Steam Locomotives
james1@pernet.net

> This isn't panic, it is outrage. In July
> 1901, within 40 miles of Medina a steam
> thresher blew up severely injuring 4. Two
> days later in Clarksburg, Ohio another
> tractor blew up.
> 100 years ago in just July, seven people
> died in tractor explosions in this country.
> After 100 years we still haven't learned not
> to let incompetent people run boilers?

No, and we probably never will. In any situation that isnÂ’t 100% idiot proof, some idiot will show up sooner or later to uncover the flaw. Technology is dangerous. Any technology. It doesnÂ’t matter if it is a steam boiler, an automobile, a solid rocket booster, an airliner, a nuclear power plant, or a nuclear submarine. If there is a way to kill somebody by accident with it, someone will do it.

About all we can do is to do our best to see that we don’t repeat our mistakes in the future. I was thrilled to see in the article you linked to that “Minnesota also requires steam tractor operators to enroll in a 25-hour course and then take a test to receive a license.” That is the most sensible thing that I have read during this whole sorry episode. A class to teach everyone involved to the same standard of what flies and what won’t with a riveted locomotive type boiler. What to look for, and what to watch out for. And maybe a video or two on life in a burn ward to make it sink in.

I think that a lot of people in the hobby would really benefit from such a system, as I believe that a lot of the bravado that is out there is just a testosterone fueled attempt to hide the fact that they donÂ’t really know what to look for, and donÂ’t know where to find out.

But some one will always buck common sense and do something self destructive, such is human nature.

P. S. Who cares how many boilers blew up in 1901? This thread isnÂ’t about history; itÂ’s about the future.

> Indications are the fusible plug was either
> the wrong style or improperly installed.
> Both of which should have been caught by a
> proper inspection.

I read an unsubstantiated report that the gentleman in question was “notorious” for running low water and had previously dropped several fusible plugs. Hypothetically speaking, such a person could have put the incorrect “flush” plug in intentionally because he was tired of replacing the standard type. Maybe the flush plug would be in the day that the inspector would show up and maybe not.

The house I live in had fuses. The little old lady I bought it from got tired of changing blown fuses, so she replaced the 15 amp fuses with 30 ampers. She didnÂ’t change the wires, just the fuses. She wasnÂ’t a bad person; she just didnÂ’t understand what the ramifications were. She was damn lucky that she didnÂ’t burn the house down. After I moved in I found one wire burned right in half.

Please refer to my previous post regarding “making things idiot proof” and “steam tractor operators to enroll in a 25-hour course”.

I feel that there should be some type of NATIONAL standards for inspecting and maintaining traction engine boilers as we have with steam locomotives.
These standards should be decided on by recognized experts in this field as it was for the railroads. The only remaining problem is education. As has been said before, a brand new boiler will blow up just as violently as an old one. Lets get away from the dome and gloom as we did with Gettysburg and fix things.