Fairmont A6 heavy duty speeder was obtained by the museum in a trade from the Ashtabula antique engine society. The speeder was used on the Bessemer and Lake Erie railroad located in NE Ohio and North Western Pa. The speeder looks pretty rough. Its got a lot of suface rust and its been canabalized. I plan to change the gas, oil and antifreeze, replace the missing carburetor and brake parts and see if it runs. When the weather gets better I will wire brush and scrape the rust and paint it. I would like to paint it New York central Gray but the museum might want it BLE.

I have been charging the battery and starting the Whitcomb about once a month during the summer. The town of North East Penna. hosts a wine festival in September of each year. The train museum is on the bus tour for the festival and featured an all night photo shoot this year. I charged up the battery and topped off the radiator in preparation for a short run. Several museum members including Charlie helped me run the Whitcomb, Charlie's wife took the picture below.

I went up to the museum May 2 to do a few things on the engine. I wanted to adjust the clutch, the engine idle, check the oil, and charge the battery. I finished my chores and Steve was there so we started the engine. The air pressure was good at 70 pounds and amp meter showed a charge. The engine ran well and we didn't move it. I could not move the clutch adjustment I need special bar to fit the adjustment ring, a big spanner would be great.

I charged up the battery on the Whitcomb in January and February 2012. Most days it was pretty wet and cold. The crossing shanty is up in the air once again and Jan got some great pictures from up there. Jerry and Ray painted the Shawmut caboose.

Putting antifreeze in the radiator

September 26 was a beautiful day. My son Dave and our friend Jim had breakfast at Colt Station Pa and headed up to the museum to put antifreeze in the Whitcomb. I connected the battery and started the engine. I had put 5 gal of grease in the transmission the day before. That only brought the tranny fluid level to ‘low’. I still had a hard time getting the drive train to stop moving so that I could shift the transmission into gear. I finally got it in gear and backed up to remove the chocks. I had 110 lbs of air pressure, now more than I want, so I have to adjust it down. We set the switches and moved up to the water hose. I drained the radiator and each cylinder block and both water cooled manifolds. Then I put all the drain plugs back in. Jim and I mixed antifreeze and water 50/50 in 5 gal buckets. I handed them up to Dave who poured them in the radiator. We put in 24 gallons of mix and did not fill up the radiator but we felt that we were close. I went up to the hardware store and bought 2 more gal of antifreeze. We mixed that up and added it. We were still not full but decided to stop there. I started the engine and moved up to the GE 2501, then we parked the Whitcomb and went to lunch.
The Whitcomb engine has an oil leak due to a stripped threads on one of the bolts on an engine access cover. It needs more oil, gas, grease and antifreeze.

Some progress

Since July I had trouble getting the clutch on the train to disengage. When the clutch is disengaged the mechanism applies a brake to the drive shaft. I took the PTO brake out and bought a lining for it, I discovered that one of the valves in the train’s air compressor had become loose and was not working. Saturday I took the valves out of the spare air compressor at the museum. Charlie was there and helped me. Sunday morning I put the best valve in the Whitcomb’s air compressor and installed the relined PTO brake shoe. The new radiator has been holding water well. After lunch the engine started and we moved it back and forth on the track. Jim moved his speeder down past the freight house and Ray, Charlie and I took the Whitcomb down the track and across the diamond. The engine ran great running West but ran rough coming back. Monday I took a carburetor out and cleaned it.

2nd Annual LSRHS Tractor Show

I removed the valve cover on the Whitcomb's air compressor and found a damaged exhaust valve. This is why it is not making full pressure. There is a brake shoe on the PTO shaft to stop the drive shaft so that you can shift gears. I removed the brake shoe for relining. Ed and Jim from Conneaut Engine works brought a hit and miss engine to the tractor show.