Glimpses of Meridian, Mississippi |
SteamPart 1 |
The Soulé Live Steam FestivalNovember 3, 2007 and November 1, 2008(Steamfest 2009 here Steamfest 2010 here) The 2008 festival was much, much larger than previous years - both in the number of exhibits and exhibitors - and in the number of people attending the event. Most of the displays, etc. from last year were again here this year - plus many dozens of new displays. We have added more than 90 photos and a video from this year's event - they can be noted by the date on each. |
| In 2007 the main out door Live Steam display area contained a couple of large steam engines - and a few small engines - mostly static displays scattered about. |
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The above are from the Soulé Live Steam Festival Meridian, MS 2007 |
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2008, on the other hand - was a huge success - with a LOT to see and do!!!Soulé Live Steam Festival Meridian, MS 2008 |
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| 2008 - the main Live Steam display area had several dozen engines on display - most were fired and running. |
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| A Soulé Spee-D-Twin visiting it's birth place. |
| Soule Live Steam Festival Meridian, MS 2008 |
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| A large twin cylinder winch was among the interesting engines powered up and running. These were often used in logging and similar industries. |
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| A one-half scale model of a Case 65 Horsepower tractor powering a large saw. In this case - the wood being cut is then burned to produce more steam to cut more wood. The saw in action is in the latest video. |
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| One of the more unique steam engine on display was this steam powered fan. |
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| Along with the fan were another half-dozen small engines. |
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| Two more displays of running engines. |
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| A close-up of some of the engines. While it would be easy to assume these are toys or models - however - in many cases - these are real "working" engines - that is - they were designed and built to perform some task as a real work engine. The engine on the left is one such example. Made by C. Crestors & Company, Chicago - this engine was designed to power a large popcorn popper - the type that was often built on a large cart or even a truck so popcorn could be made "on the move". |
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| A better look at a C. Crestors & Co. Popcorn popper engine. |
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| Another unusual steam engine - this one a turbine - rated at 18 horsepower at 3530rpm. |
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| Yes, today (November 1, 2008) is also Railfest - but in this case - this model is a real live steam engine - and so on display here rather than at Union Station and the Rail Museum. The video shows it being stoked and running. |
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| The other side of this great model engine. |
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| And yes - this is another model - and yes - fully fired and running. The wheels are off the track just enough it doesn't try to run off the dead end. |
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| The "engineman" topping off the water in the boiler with a manual feed pump. |
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| Another "engineman" adding water to his boiler with a hand-operated feed pump. |
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| Here are two "powered" feed pumps - a small single cylinder pump on the left - and a larger Worthington Duplex twin cylinder pump on the right. As the engines use steam to operate - more water is needed to generate more steam. Because of the high pressure in the boiler - hand powered pumps are designed to pump a small amount of water at a high pressure - enough water to suffice for small engines. However - large engines use a lot of water - more than can be practically replaced by a hand-operated pump. That's where these power pumps are needed - they still use a relatively small displacement to build up a lot of pressure - but they can do so fast enough to keep up with the engine's needs. |
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| This Peerless engine might have been missed by some visitors - as it was out back behind the foundry and museum. It was supplying steam not only for itself - but for several engines in the museum as well. |
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| Speaking of the Museum - here is the entrance to the Live Steam Museum permanent display area. |
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| Portable skid mounted Engine - Soulé Live Steam Festival Meridian, MS 2007 |
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| One of the new additions at the 2008 Fest. |
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| Frick 4 1/2 X 7 Steam Engine Piston and Valve |
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| This Frick has been moved and mounted on a permanent display. |
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| If you can't quite read the sign - this is a real working steam engine - not a "toy" or miniature... Made by the C. Crestors Company in Chicago - it's the "power" for a popcorn wagon of the type that used to make and vend popcorn on the street and in larger stores in the early part of the 20th Century. |
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| Here we've placed a 1 foot ruler to give you a sense of it's size.
The picture behind the Cretors Steam Engine is "Uncle" Jimmy Short's popcorn / peanut wagon and comes from the Hammond Studio Photograph Collection. It shows the wagon sitting at the corner of 5th Street and 22nd Ave., next to the Marks-Rothenberg Department Store here in Meridian. |
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| New this year is this display of this 1905 Watts-Campbell Corliss steam engine. The valve system in a Corliss engine is quite complicated - however - engines so equipped are quite a bit more efficient than traditional "slide valve" engines. This engine can be seen operating in the new (2008) video. |
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| The Spee-D-Twin wan't the only engine Soulé made - here is one of the more rare Soulé Rotary engines. |
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| Here is an old photograph of a Soulé Rotary engine mounted on a locomotive tender - and powered by steam from the locomotive. |
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| This photograph shows the Soulé rotary engine in typical use - loading logs onto a railcar for tranport to a mill or such. |
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| Here is an example of a large speed governor. As the load increases on an engine - it tends to slow down. The flying weights at the top of the governor then "droop" a bit - causing the steam valve in the governor to open a bit more - sending more steam to the engine. As the engine attains the desired speed - the weights fly further out - closing down the steam valve slightly - limiting the engine's speed. |
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| Soulé Steam Feed works was a complete factory, having everything needed to produce a large number of products. The facility included a foundry, machine shop, printing shop, knitting, sewing and upholstery shop, everything needed to produce products from ashtrays to complete steam engines, manhole covers, street storm drain grates, furniture, and so on - including the operating and service manuals to go along with the products. Here is the last "Spee-D-Twin" steam engine made by Soulé in the 1980s. It's serial number of 4301 shows it's long heritage of manufacturing. In the next photos - the machine shop is shown. Notice the belts that transfer power from the overhead main power shaft - which in the early days was indeed steam driven (called steam feed). The video at the end of the photos shows the line in operation - with many of the tools actually in use power by the overhead line. These days the steam engine has been replaced by a (very large) electric motor - but Soulé's heritage of steam is celebrated in this working museum of manufacturing. |
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| As can be seen in comparing this 2008 picture with the 2007 picture above - many additions have been made to the machinery museum as well. |
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| The line shaft. Today - it's much more common for each piece of equipment to have it's own electric motor. However - years ago - electric motors were much more rare - and not efficient - so the line shaft was used to get power from the "prime mover" (steam engine or very large electric motor) to the equipment where it is needed. Some equipment here indeed have their own electric motor - but many still rely on getting their power from this overhead shaft. |
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| Here the a belt from the main line (the belt on the left) drives a three-speed "transmission". By shifting the belt from one size pulley to another (on the right) - the operating speed to the equipment (in this case a 36 inch lathe) can be varied. |
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| 36 inch lathe made by the F.R.K. LeBlond Mfg. Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. |
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| Here is the "other end" of the lathe - with it's massive tail stock. |
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| Another belt driven tool - a rather large bench grinder. |
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| A Grisholt Machinery Company vertical turret shaper - used to produce the cogs on a gear wheel - such as the one in the chuck. This machine is also seen turning in the new video. |
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| Large belt-driven drill press being demonstrated by one of the Students from Meridian Community College's Machine Tool Technology education program. It may seem "odd" that a technology student would want "hands on" experience with such old equipment - but the basics of design and manufacturing haven't changed. While Computer operated equipment may be the "current" technology, people on the floor overseeing the equipment must have the skills and knowledge to know if the equipment is performing up to the required specifications. Whether it's "hands-on" manufacturing - or overseeing the operation of Numerical Control Automated Equipment - the basic skills of reading blueprints, testing with precision measuring devices, etc. will be required for a long time. |
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| A medium sized lathe at work. Again- note the belt drive from the overhead line. |
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| The forge area of the machine shop. Here - Benny Crevitt is holding a work piece for an apprentice learning the trade (more in the video). Mr. Crevitt gave demonstrations of various blacksmithing skills all day during the fest. |
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| As noted - Soulé made - and maintained - a lot of equipment for their own manufacturing as well as others in the area. Here is a huge sewing machine - one that is specially built to "tuft" mattresses. |
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| Here is the typesetting area of the Soulé's print shop. |
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| Some of the printing presses... |
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| ...and bindery equipment. |
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| There were demonstrations of weaving and other crafts skills throughout the day. Spinning can be seen in the video. |
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| Here is an overall view of the foundry building. The massive overhead crane used to move both molten metal and finished products can be seen in the overhead. |
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| The control and monitoring area for the furnace. |
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| Various equipment used in casting - as well as a couple of photographs of casting in progress. |
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| The following are outdoor displays from 2007 that weren't at the 2008 fest... |
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| A Fairbanks Morse 2hp. 600rpm Gasoline / Kerosene engine from (approximately) 1924. These were commonly used to generate power in the days before rural electrification, as well as run pumps, saws, and other implements. |
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| Another view of the Fairbanks Morse engine - with an International behind it driving an air compressor. |
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Outdoor Display area #2 *** 2008 Live Steam Fest **** |
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| The right - various vendors and displays - ranging from Arrow Heads and such - to lip-smacking goodies to eat. To the left in the distance - a vintage vehicle display area - and to the immediate left - vintage internal combustion engines and Machinery |
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| Wow! |
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| What a treat! 1944 Willis Jeep - completely restored. |
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| Three vintage "hit and miss" engines. These were common in the early part of the last century - used much as shown here: On the left - a working Blacksmith shop. In the center - more machineshop type equipment. On the right - a grist mill. Note the power forge hammer (the tall machine). |
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| Driving both a bench grinder (on the other side of the partition) and a blower for a small forge - this engine is very busy. |
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| Moving around to the other side - the forge and the anvil are set up - ready to go to work. The blower would relieve the blacksmith from having to hand-pump air into the forge - making his task faster and easier. Once the item is hammered into shape - it can be ground and finished on the grinding wheels. |
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| Here the middle engine is belted to an air compressor. It can also drive the power forge hammer beside it. |
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| A closer look at the grain mill. |
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| A couple more early internal combustion engines. |
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| Display of blacksmith's goods... |
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Outdoor display area #3 - Tractors - *** 2008 Soulé Steam Live Steam Fest *** |
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| On the left - an Allis-Chalmers Model "G". These were made between 1948 and 1955 - and are one of the more "unique" tractors around. They produce around 6-7hp at the drawbar - and around 10hp at the belt takeoff. This tractor can be seen driving around in last year's steam video.
On the right - a Massey - Ferguson Model 150 Diesel. Made between 1964 and 1975 - the engine is rated at 45.5hp - with 33hp at the drawbar and 38hp at the PTO. We're not sure if the puppy underneath is the driver - or just the watch dog... |
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| A John Deere Model "A" in wonderful condition. Produced between 1934 and 1952 - there tractors produce 34hp at the drawbar and 38hp at the PTO. With over 300,000 being built during their production years - they were one of the most popular farm tractors of their era. Their distinctive sound has earned them the name "Poppin' Johnny". |
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| Farmall Model F30 built in 1937. Produced from 1931 - 1939 - this tractor is rated at 20hp at the drawbar - and 30hp at the PTO. This tractor is owned by W. F. Mayerhoff of Mayerhoffville (Meridian) Mississippi. |
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| Speaking of the Meyerhoffs - here they show off their restored Farmall F20. Built between 1932 and 1939 - this tractor is almost as powerful as the F30 - with a rated 20hp at the drawbar - and 26hp at the PTO. |
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| A Wood-Mizer portable lumber mill was displayed and demonstrated during the day. This single machine can quickly turn logs into finished boards. |
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| All pictures and video sequences in this section taken with either a Minolta DiMage Z1 or a Minolta DiMage Z5 |
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| Email: Randy and Sherry Guttery - Comcents.com |
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