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Weekly News March 7, 2005Description
History lesson, Clarence Marshall's first cars, 1904-1908: My father's first car was an Orient Buckboard, although it requires a stretch of the imagination to call it a car. It had no usual leaf springs, but relied on the flex of the floorboards to soften the ride. The Waltham Company, its manufacturer, introduced the Buckboard in 1902, and my father bought a used one, but he didn't like it. Steam was much better, so this little 2-passenger was converted to steam (as was Bill Rule's Packard 37 years later). The success of this venture was never discussed, but the chassis of this little "car" without any semblance of steering or power plant, was here until I scrapped it about 20 years ago. His second car was a2-cylinder Elmore, his third a 2-cylinder Winton, and his fourth a4-cylinder Winton of 1906, all used or "second-hand" cars. Photos exist of my father with some of his girl friends at Brandywine Battlefield Park (Chadds Ford) in this 1906 Winton, and the family, including my grandparents, made a 3-day round-trip to Gettysburg in it in 1907. My father always said this was a fine car, but from then on, it was all steam for the next 10 years (to be continued).
Butch has ordered me a new printer which should arrive this week. It is our hope that we can print our flyers, tickets, etc. right here, as we already have a nice paper cutter donated by Butch and Bill Schwoebel. The left front fender from the Model 87 has been straightened and repainted and is partially installed. Jim Personti has rebuilt the leaf springs from the main drive axles of Locomotive #402, and last Thursday he was well-satisfied with 5 out of the 8. He took 3 of them home to work some more on the tension. McMaster-Carr has a coil spring that may be right for the captain's-chair passenger cars. Jim also suggested how to repair the feed water heater on the Model 76. Emil and Butch worked again on re-soldering the seams of the water tank from the CX, and they are getting close to completion. Chuck continues to organize the shop, and his dedicated work is starting to show.
Anne Cleary held a Special Events Committee meeting at her house last Thursday, attended by 7 active volunteers. It was decided that the house at Auburn Heights would be open for tours on our "Steamin' Sundays" in May and October. Anne's committee is still working on different themes for our monthly openings. Butch has published a schedule of events for the coming season, as we know them at this time. I've been cleaning out boxes of paper and photos in the cellar, and I have more material for Butch and the Maute boys to add to our library in the Museum. The Wilmington Rotary Club plans a special event here on Saturday, June 25. We'll soon finalize plans for another special event in late May, but our first public opening, a "charter", is still for the Wilmington Friends School group on May 1.
