Interesting (but sad) find in a steam engine burner

[Buckshot Bear]

This is one of the things I like about collecting steam engines. Nearly every Western country had at least one (most many more) makers of toy steam engines from starting around 1880 and through to the 1960's, there's few left now. Jensen in Jeannette, PA USA established in 1932 is still going strong. 

Boys played with steam engines and the demand for them was met by companies making them. Now they are 'barn finds' listed on eBay. I've collected them from all over the world and they usually come broken and missing parts and I have a lathe and milling machine and other metal working tools and fabricate the missing parts for my engines (and other folks engines).

 

Often found interesting things, but this one is the one that really touched my heart. This is an old Weeden made in in New Bedford, Massachusetts. I bought it off eBay over a decade ago. Inside the burner I found this hand written note -

 

 

 

I was really floored when I saw it and also a little emotional
reading it and thinking of the age of the boy and what he would
have been like on Christmas day receiving that and sadly he didn't
have a long life. And now his Christmas present from nearly 100
years ago is sitting in my steam room in Australia. Its truly a treasure
to find this.

 

It was only by absolute luck that I even took the little spirits burner apart and found this note.

 

A friend of mine who does family searches got onto the case and looked up the 1920 New York census and found that the person who signed the card was an Alfred Scerbo, born in 1919 and that they were Italian immigrants.

 

 

 

That little piece of paper & information really stimulate the imagination and heighten the unique-ness of the engine.
I can really see for me a young, fortunate kid; receiving the engine and that he and his father play/ operate it together on Christmas Morning. The tragedy of a young lad only turning 16 years of age before dying brings tragedy into the story.

 

When I bought the engine the surviving brother would have been heading on to 100 years old, I can only think that he kept the engine all those years after his young brothers passing and when he eventually passed all his estate was sold and the engine ended up on eBay.

 

This would have cost the father a fair bit of coin back in those days, especially for a newly immigrated family. 

 

 

Here's a video I made some years ago -

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

WOW!  Amazing find. Thank you for posting that. 

 

It was interesting that the not was inside the fuel reservoir rather than just in the firebox (is that the right term?).  Thanks to your curiosity both of those young men live again. 

[Stump Water]

Quite the story!   Thank you for sharing that.

[Buckshot Bear]

18 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

WOW!  Amazing find. Thank you for posting that. 

 

It was interesting that the not was inside the fuel reservoir rather than just in the firebox (is that the right term?).  Thanks to your curiosity both of those young men live again. 

 

It was really lucky that I ever saw the note Joe, I could have just put spirits (methylated spirits) in that burner. It was strange that I even opened it up (which wasn't all that easy) as soon as I read that hand written note I was floored.

I just took these photos to show the burner better  -

 

 

 

[Subdeacon Joe]

29 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:

It was really lucky that I ever saw the note Joe, I could have just put spirits (methylated spirits) in that burner.

 

Also lucky that nobody else had done so in all these years. 

[Buckshot Bear]

15 minutes ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

Also lucky that nobody else had done so in all these years. 

 

Yes.....truly was an amazing discovery. 

[pachaug kid]

Thanks for posting, it is a interesting piece of life in the early 1900's, how some articles made in the US in 1920's, as a toy and survive and end up across the world. Thanks to you and your friend.

[Buckshot Bear]

10 hours ago, pachaug kid said:

Thanks for posting, it is a interesting piece of life in the early 1900's, how some articles made in the US in 1920's, as a toy and survive and end up across the world. Thanks to you and your friend.

 

It truly was a an interesting find. I have it all documented in a folder so that it can be passed on with the engine.