Restored vintage steam-powered tractor showcased at club’s annual show

Jack McCarthy for Chronicle Media

Dave Stevens is perched atop a restored steam-power tractor built 101 years ago by the Illinois Thresh-ing Co. of Sycamore. (Photos by Jack McCarthy / Chronicle Media)

Unused for decades and with no practical agricultural use, a 24-foot-long steam-powered tractor found in a northern Wisconsin barn seemed destined for rust and ruin.

But members of the Northern Illinois Steam Power Club had different ideas and stepped in to save a piece of American industrial history.

The restored steam-power tractor gets in line for a parade at last week’s Steam Power Show at the Tay-lor Marshall Farm north of Sycamore.

A relic of a nearly-forgotten era, the 20 horsepower tractor built in Sycamore in 1916 by the Illinois Thresher Co. was purchased by the club in 2003 for a reported $20,000.

“This came out of northern Wisconsin and we don’t know the history of it,” said club member Mike Luse.

“(But) it was runnable because we fired it up for the first time when we got it,” said fellow member Dave Stevens. “But there were were a lot of issues.”

The tractor has since come full circle and has a permanent home at the Taylor

Tractors are noisy and this young man tries his best to muffle the sounds during a parade during last week’s Steam Power Show.

Marshall Farm north of Sycamore. It shared the spotlight last week with other vintage steam and antique farm farm equipment at the club’s 61st Steam Power Show.

Now fit and fully restored, the rehabilitation of what was dubbed “Miss Illinois” has been a club mission for the past decade-plus.

Since 2003, the club invested time, sweat equity and a reported $20,000 to repair and rehabilitate the tractor along with creating custom replacement parts help of a Naperville-based machine shop.

“Originally we took it in to have the crank shaft replaced because it was bent and from there (they) dis-covered other things wrong, so the engine got stripped down, everything got taken off the boiler,” Luse said. “Now it’s like brand new, actually better than new. … We improved it.”

With repairs no longer a worry, the club now concentrates on basic maintenance to preserve and pro-tect the tractor.

“Not a whole lot of maintenance, cleaning and at the end of the season getting water out of it and dry-ing,” Stevens said. “Water is the most important but also what’s it do to metal? It rusts it out. So we try not to let water sit in when we’re not using it.”

“Miss Illinois” now serves as a teaching tool for a younger generation and a symbol of an time when America industrialized on the strength of steam power, setting the stage for the country’s leap into sta-tus as a world economic and industrial power.

It also gets around during warmer months.

“We take it to parades, Swedish Days parade, Pumpkin Fest parade,” said Stevens. “We’ve had it at Sugar Grove’s Corn Boil two weeks ago. … We put it on a special trailer and a special truck. A three-miles per hour you don’t want to drive it.

The tractor features four steel wheels, a large black boiler and rear-mounted engine. It runs on wood or coal and, of course, includes a steam whistle.

“We use wood or coal,” Stevens said. “Coal gives us a hotter fire and it’s a little easier to control.”

The Illinois Thresher piece was said to be the 10th of only 63 built by the long-defunct Sycamore com-pany and among only three in Illinois said to still be operating.

Visitors are intrigued by the vehicle, which chugs and occasionally hisses when idle.

“They ask how does it run, if we could blow the whistle,” Luse said as a colleague pulled a chain to re-lease a shrill sound that echoed through the farm.

Last week’s annual event showcased vintage antique equipment as well as dozens of other smaller, vin-tage gas-powered tractors from the 1920-50s and featuring such familiar names as John Deere, Allis-Chalmers and International Harvester.

A steady stream of visitors looked over the equipment, on display under shade trees on a day featuring mostly sunny skies and pleasant breezes while a nearby exhibition areas showcased other steam pow-ered equipment, including a working sawmill.

Visitors also had a peek at the past via a series of detailed miniature structures of churches, houses, barns and even a one-room schoolhouse. The show also featured bluegrass music performances, a flea market and numerous food vendors.

–Savoring a piece of history    Restored Illinois-made vintage steam-powered tractor showcased at club’s annual show–