Parker Steam Engines

[Richard Flanders]

I went to a gathering like that in New Zealand many years ago. They mount pcs of loader tire rubber between the steel cleats and drive those coal fired beasts 100mi down the highway to these gatherings. There was something like 26 of them there + a lot of smaller stationary engines, all running. They had a couple running threshers with guys filling and stitching bags. Very fun to see.

Here's a couple of pics to get your blood flowing Edgar. These are engines that were used for power generation at the mine I work at, before the hydro power plant was put in in 1934. I think the smaller FM engine may have been used to power a dredge but was switched to power generation when the dredge was converted to electric. The bigger engine is an FMorse also and is the largest old diesel I've ever seen anywhere in Alaska. I can only imagine that it was originally designed to power a ship. Note that they have the exhaust vented underground; it goes into a water muffler system somehow I think. Note also that for some reason the heads are off both engines, which has left the blocks broken due to freezing. Pity. Someone cut all the copper windings from both these units also but left it laying around. There's hundreds of pounds of it laying around the engines and buildings.