| Updated November 3rd, 2011 |
Until August 2010, Tom Street of Bend, Oregon, was owner of Tom's World of Wheels on the north end of 2nd Street in Bend, Oregon, where he sold Hot Wheels, NASCAR and other die-cast models as a sideline to his motorsport repair business. Tom has since retired and sold the business to his mechanic of five years Chris Sanden. Tom is now devoting more energy to Tom's World Racing - slot car raceway and die-cast sales - working from his new two-story shop at his home on Old Bend-Redmond Highway. For more information, call Tom at 541-382-6324 or email streetsofbend@bendbroadband.com.
Recently, Tom started a big project in his front yard on Old Bend-Redmond Highway north of Bend, Oregon. His goal is to rebuild an old Murray-Corliss steam engine that from 1949 until 1961 powered the Bridge Creek Sawmill four miles west of Mitchell, Oregon. Originally manufactured around 1910, the total weight of this behemoth when fully assembled will be around 60,000 pounds (30 tons). The 14-foot-diameter flywheel alone weighs in at 26,000 pounds (13 tons).
While a few nonfunctional or missing parts could be remanufactured locally, other parts had to be replaced with components from similar engines, so a second steam engine was purchased for parts and transported in pieces from Minnesota, where it once served as a power plant for a hospital, having been fitted with an armature and field for generating electricity.
Murray- Corliss received a patent for this single-piston steam engine in January 9th, 1906. Since then, such machines powered the Industrial Age, running thousands of factories and mills throughout the first half of the 20th Century.
Below are photos of "Engine #1" as of February 19th, 2010. As you look at these pictures, you begin to grasp (albeit with a little imagination) how it will all go together once fully assembled. Scroll down the page to watch the progress unfold. Tom estimates that the total cost of the project when completed (sometime in 2012) will be around $40,000. He is currently seeking grant money to help subsidize the restoration, with the idea of preserving a piece of Central Oregon's logging industry. The installation, once operational, could also provide Central Oregon with a compelling new roadside attraction. To see it in person, drive 2.6 miles up Old Bend-Redmond Highway north off US-20 between Bend and Tumalo, Oregon.
Above: the concrete pad in the foreground is where the boiler will
eventually go.
Above: A newly painted separator, also known as
a condenser, its job is to separate cooler water droplets from the hotter steam
and prevent them from getting into the drive cylinder. Once the condensed
water reaches a certain level in the tank, it is recycled back into the
boiler. Who says recycling is a new concept?
Below: On Saturday, May 8th, 2010, the
two halves were joined together to form the 14-foot-diameter 13 ton flywheel.
Also note
that the separator is now installed on the intake manifold.
When Tom said "You've got to get a
picture of the governor," I answered, "why would I want a picture of
Kulongowski?" No, not the governor of Oregon; he meant the one that goes on his steam
engine. See below.
April 2011: Valve wheel is now attached to condenser valve (below).
October 2011: Flywheel is now connected to piston rod
(below). 13 year old Colby Seymour provides a sense of scale.
From the other
side, the cap can now be seen installed over the support for the flywheel axle (below).
Colby again provides scale.
Pictured below are
components from "Engine #2", the 50-ton steam-driven power plant
transported on three separate flatbed trucks from Minnesota. The flywheel
for engine #2 is half as heavy as the one for engine #1 and will remain in two
6,500 pound halves to be used as decorative items on either side of Tom's
driveway. What is to be done with the remaining parts is yet to be
determined, but for now they rest in a friend's yard about a mile farther north.
Above: Two halves of the 6-1/2 ton flywheel that will eventually frame the
driveway
Above: The Westinghouse armature from engine #2.
Above and below: The Westinghouse field for engine #2,
as indicated by the name embossed on the field housing
Above: The armature, drive shaft, drive wheel and induction motor are
shown in this shot. The number written in chalk indicates the weight of
this section... 18,500 pounds.
Above: The ID plate on the induction motor provides a
lot of information:
Westinghouse Electric & Mfg. Co. Induction Motor Type CS Constant Speed
30 HP, 20 volts at 60 cycles, 1750 RPM at full load, and 70 amps per terminal.
Patent dates in small print at the bottom range from 1893 to 1914.
Above and below: Tom provides a concept of scale, a mere human amongst the massive
machinery.
Above: The assemblage of power plant parts spreads out over forty feet.
- - -
Tom's Other Toys:
Four-lane 1:32 scale slot car race track
"Forky" - Case Terra Lift M3 by ATC (American Tractor Corporation)
In the 1950s, Case purchased ATC in order to acquire their track fork lift
since Case had previously manufactured only wheeled fork lifts.
Leaky hydraulics aside, this well-used specimen
starts easily and runs smoothly even sixty years after manufacture.
Kids' train
"Panelope" (pronounced pan-EL-oh-pee) 1959 Chevrolet Apache 31 Panel Truck
"Bill" - 1959 Chevrolet Apache 32 Pickup
Another engine, this one gasoline-powered
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