August 21, 2017 at 7:04 p.m.
Ellerbeck salvaged engine
Ellerbeck salvaged engine
It was clear across the country. And it was a couple hundred feet underground.
But sometimes, it seems an engine and an engine collector are destined to come together.
“This just happened to me,” says Stan Ellerbeck of Excelsior Springs, Missouri. “It fell into my lap.”
The engine in question is a six-horsepower Type T Special model used to power a dynamo that produced 3,500 watts of electricity.
“It was a couple of hundred feet underground,” says Ellerbeck. “It supplied a string of lights so those guys could see down there.”
Running on natural gas, the 1911 engine was probably vented to the outside to protect the miners, though Ellerbeck isn’t sure.
He also doesn’t know what minerals were being mined at that site in California.
What he does know is that the engine was in terrible condition when he got his hands on it.Apparently it had been abandoned in place when another engine was installed. That may explain how it avoided being salvaged for scrap iron and copper in World War II.
“It was horrible,” Ellerbeck says of the engine.
Restoration took more than 2,600 man hours over more than two years. Ellerbeck, who has issues with his vision, acknowledges that others might have been able to restore the engine faster.
As usual with an engine in need of restoration, not everything was there.
“I searched high and low for them gauges,” he says.
Even getting the engine ready for the Tri-State show was a chore. He and his wife Diana began work in February to get the Ellerbeck pieces securely mounted on a trailer and ready to make the trip to the Jay County Fairgrounds.
The couple attended their first Tri-State Show in 1991.
“I’ve been in this same spot since ’04 or ’05,” says Ellerbeck.
The Fairbanks Morsewas acquired 17 years ago. It will be making its second appearance at Tri-State’s Show this year.
As to how a collector locates an engine clear across the country and underground, Ellerbeck knows the collector’s secret: “You listen to all the stories you hear,” he says. “Sometimes you get ’em and sometimes you don’t.”
But sometimes, it seems an engine and an engine collector are destined to come together.
“This just happened to me,” says Stan Ellerbeck of Excelsior Springs, Missouri. “It fell into my lap.”
The engine in question is a six-horsepower Type T Special model used to power a dynamo that produced 3,500 watts of electricity.
“It was a couple of hundred feet underground,” says Ellerbeck. “It supplied a string of lights so those guys could see down there.”
Running on natural gas, the 1911 engine was probably vented to the outside to protect the miners, though Ellerbeck isn’t sure.
He also doesn’t know what minerals were being mined at that site in California.
What he does know is that the engine was in terrible condition when he got his hands on it.
“It was horrible,” Ellerbeck says of the engine.
As usual with an engine in need of restoration, not everything was there.
“I searched high and low for them gauges,” he says.
Even getting the engine ready for the Tri-State show was a chore. He and his wife Diana began work in February to get the Ellerbeck pieces securely mounted on a trailer and ready to make the trip to the Jay County Fairgrounds.
The couple attended their first Tri-State Show in 1991.
“I’ve been in this same spot since ’04 or ’05,” says Ellerbeck.
The Fairbanks Morse
As to how a collector locates an engine clear across the country and underground, Ellerbeck knows the collector’s secret: “You listen to all the stories you hear,” he says. “Sometimes you get ’em and sometimes you don’t.”
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