Doughty Valley Steam Days was the only local place to see a 110 HP Case Steam Traction Engine, but the engine is now moving to a private museum in Fredericksburg, Texas.
J.D. Miller spent 10 years repairing the antique engine with help from his grandsons Loyal and Brian Miller, and because of its size the engine is 13 feet tall and 12 feet long rarely took it to any shows.
Although it wasnt taken to shows, the engine has traveled plenty of miles. Miller bought the engine from the previous owner in Alberta, Canada, and had to haul it 2,500 miles to his New Bedford home. With the move to Texas which is a 1,530-mile trip the engine will have been hauled 4,030 miles in Millers care.
Miller has hauled the engine that far, but he said the machine has always been in good condition. Even when he bought the machine 17 years ago, he said the engine was in fair shape and drivable.
Once the engine was settled in Ohio, Miller took to taking the whole thing apart and repairing or replacing every piece part-by-part. We started over, he said. The basic boiler was taken care of really, really good. We stripped it down and checked everything. We did a fair amount on it to get it to where it is now.
Miller said the interest in the engine came from a long family history with steam. I like steam, he said, have for many years. Its something I enjoy doing and its been in our family for years.
Millers father owned a previous model of the same 110 HP Case engine.
Miller finally gave up the engine, despite all the care hes taken to restore it, because his age has made it difficult to keep up the work. I just cant do the kind of work on that big of a machine, he said. He also said finding pieces to fit such old machines the 110 Case is more than 100 years old is getting more and more difficult.
But Miller still has a few pieces he works on. He listed smaller engines and steam whistles as just a few of the pieces in his collection.
Since he had to give it up, Miller said he was happy it could go to a private museum.
