Robert Pence

At the beginning of the 20th century, a lot of electric utility companies didn't have the capacity to provide commercial/industrial customers, and some of them didn't provide 24-hour service. The establishment may have had its own generating plant to provide electricity, not uncommon in that era, and may have had a steam-driven refrigeration compressor to maintain the cold storage. Those old industrial refrigeration systems usually used ammonia, and the compressors always leaked a little. I recall going with Dad to a local dairy when I was about twelve or thirteen, and walking with him as we followed one of the men into the compressor room. It hit me like tear gas; I almost went into respiratory arrest before I could get back outside. The guys who worked there seemed to pay no attention to it.

Wonderful pics! Were you challenged for taking photos in train stations? Happens all the time in the U.S., especially since 9/11.

Some neat buildings, but overall it looks like it needs an infusion of life. A whole courthouse in the style of the Deco tower could be great if well done, but putting that tower on the old courthouse was an architravesty. Likewise the windows. I think the original tower was lost to fire. That was the first bastardized Ohio courthouse I became aware of, but sadly it wasn't the last.

Great pics and memories! It would be hard not to enjoy Pittsburgh! You captured some superb people shots.

Definitely one of America's best cities, and it just keeps getting better.

Excellent photos! I visited Trolleyville years ago when they were still offering rides at their old site. Theirs is one of the best collections in the country, I think, and their restorations are really good. I'd love to see those operating in Cleveland. The idea of coal stoves in trolleys and interurbans scares me. I have mental images of them breaking loose in a wreck and rocketing the length of the car mowing down people before bursting open and setting the wreckage on fire.

There have been a couple occasions when those things (Ducks) sank. They go down like a rock if they take on water. In 1999 at Hot Springs, Arkansas, 13 people died when a driveshaft seal failed on one.

Interesting. Port Huron is another of the several midwestern cities who once had thriving farm machinery manufacturers. Port Huron steam traction engines were shipped all over the world, and used in activities ranging from farming to freight hauling to mining. Here's a 1962 photo of a Port Huron road locomotive built before 1920:

Looks like a fun time! Great photos! :clap:

Oliver Evans was something of a mechanical genius who worked in various fields. His concepts for grain milling carry over into facilities still being built today; early mills required the miller to lift and carry grain and flour from one operation to the next. Evans designed a multi-story building using bucket elevators, screw conveyors and gravity to move the material from one step of the process to the next in a continuous flow, so that the miller had only to weigh the grain, monitor the machinery, and control the water supply that drove the wheel. The 1817 mill at Spring Mill State Park in southern Indiana uses many of Evans' concepts, and the 1880 Mansfield Roller Mill in central Indiana incorporates them along with later developments like turbines instead of a water wheel, and steel roller mills instead of stones.

Good stuff! The Columbus CBD could use some more life, but overall the downtown area is pretty good. The nearby areas like German Village and the Brewery District are great at street level, and the Short North is lively in evenings. I enjoyed my visit there last year, and hope to go back soon.

Cute town, good work! And props for a rare sighting of one of the elusive Urbana Party Girls!

Good stuff! One of the Midwest's greatest-looking cities.

Global warming will likely have an adverse effect on availability of hydropower. Much of the water that powers large hydropower facilities comes from glaciers, and many of the world's major glacial ice fields are diminishing at an alarming rate. Even hydropower installations that don't depend on glacial meltwater could find themselves in trouble as precipitation patterns change and agricultural diversion increases. Too, oil supplies could be fall off at an accelerated pace both as direct and indirect results of resource wars. War always produces collateral damage to infrastructure, and religious militants who see oil and the conflicts over it as leading causes of the corruption of their cultures and intrusion by westerners could deliberately damage or destroy their own countries' production facilities in an effort to destabilize established local governments and seize power. It's not possible to sustain increasing population with increasing per-capita needs, wants and desires. Either population or standard of living has to decline, and its quite likely that a tipping point will abruptly cause both to begin to decrease and continue to fall at a catastrophic rate until something less than sustainable levels are reached.

Looks nice & tidy, and has a pretty good collection of 19th century buildings. I like the downtown street lights and those buildings that back up right against the river.

The Futurliner is one of twelve built by GM in 1953 that toured the country as part of GM's Parade of Progress, showcasing GM's contributions to modern living. It usually appeared at fairs and festivals in conjunction with a specially-designed futuristic exhibit tent. On site, the sides of the Futurliner opened up gull-wing style to expose a performance stage, with lighting and a sound system powered by a generator driven by the bus's 302 GMC gasoline engine. The one you photographed belongs to NATMUS, National Automobile and Truck Museum of the U.S., adjacent to the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana. It was a derelict hulk when they got it, and they farmed out the restoration to a group in Zeeland, Michigan, I think. I have "before" photos of it, but I can't find them right now and it's past my bedtime.

Natural Bridge brings back nice memories. I don't know if it's still the case, but the inn there used to be a popular place for Thanksgiving dinner, 25 years ago. I went there with Mom and Dad one year, and we stayed there for a couple of days. On Thanksgiving morning I went out and walked some of the trails and ended up on top of the natural bridge. The morning was light overcast with a lingering misty fog and everything was wet, making the colors saturated. It's a gorgeous place. That area has visible remnants of the narrow-gauge railroads that were all over the place during the logging years, including an old tunnel in the park.

Good stuff! I love the 2nd photo, all smooth and shiny. Makes me want to touch it.

Cute town and a good tour and writeup. I 'bout choked on my coffee when I saw the photo of the ATM! :laugh:

I had the impression that mini coopers require premium gasoline. Not sure about that, though.

Hesston Steam Museum 2007 Hesston Steam Museum is located north and east of Laporte, Indiana. All photos copyright © 2007 by Robert E Pence The museum features steam locomotives in four different gauges, a steam sawmill, a 92-ton steam crane, steam traction engines, and other vintage machines. The museum is open weekends and holidays between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and from Labor Day through October trains run on Sundays. These photos were taken June 3, 2007. The occasion was a family outing for my grandnephew, David, almost 3 years old, to ride some trains. He's a big-time fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, and can't get enough trains. "Serious" railfans hold "diasy-pickers" in contempt. Go ahead and sneer and get it over with. By the way, I don't pick them; I just take photos. The guest of honor The TV show didn't prepare David for just how big and noisy a real steam locomotive is, and his first ride was just a little scary. Next, he tried a smaller train: The 3-foot-gauge Shay locomotive built in 1929 by Lima Locomotive Works, heavily damaged in a 1985 arson fire that destroyed the engine house, recently has been restored to operation. The 7 1/2-inch-gauge trains turned out to be just right for him. One ride, and there was no such thing as "enough." Ready to go again with his dad. Summer storm moving in. New station under construction; first-class construction throughout! One more ride. The engineer put on some speed departing the station, hoping to make it back before the rain started. They didn't make it back in time; they're still out there, and the rain is starting in earnest. They finished the ride in a downpour. David was securely wrapped in a plastic poncho that kept him mostly dry, but his dad got soaked. Steam rises from the hot metal on the locomotive. The rain continued like this for about 20 minutes, and let up around 3 p.m. We headed home soon after; it was a fun day. Hesston photos from 1997 and 2001 are here.

Nice-looking town.

Yay Dayton! It was a good meet!

Good stuff!

Nice work, and some uncommon views.