Heath Thomas (at back) watches as Jake Hay inserts hot dogs into a cast iron attachment made specifically for cooking hot dogs with a steam engine. Thomas has owned the 1917 Emerson Brantingham 40-horse steam engine for the past two years. He purchased it in Pennsylvania. He hales from Lancaster, Ohio. Hay is from Circleville.Nate Seitz gets ready to lead the steam engine parade at the Miami Valley Steam Threshers Show in Plain City on July 14. He’s at the helm of a 1918 Baker engine owned by the Baughman family of Nelsonville, Ohio. Joining him aboard the engine are his son, Bryson Williams, and their friend, Emma Obert. Seitz, a Stoutsville, Ohio, resident brought his 1925 Buffalo Springfield steam roller to the show.Dale Kohler (in trailer) explains to Steve Hines of Oliver, Ohio, and Cody McDonald, of the Akron area how his 1906 Stirling water pumping engine works. The machinery sits inside the trailer, making water run through the fountain outside. Kohler said the machine was a luxury item back in the day, costing $125 in 1912. Through a combination of heated and cooled air, pistons, and pressure, the engine provided running water in and around houses and a way to pump water into storage tanks when windmills weren’t running.Casey Besecker makes adjustments to a coal-powered Baker engine that was made in Swanton, Ohio, in 1925. At the Miami Valley Steam Threshers Show, he had the engine hooked up to a Baker fan for demonstration purposes. Back in the day, the engine was used to run sawmills and thresh grain. The engine belongs to Besecker’s father, Kim, of Arcana, Ohio.Those who visit the Miami Valley Steam Threshers Show will see all sorts of engines–big to small, stationary to on-the-move. Here, Hope Wickersham of St. Paris, Ohio, rides a chore master that used to be used for gardening in the 1950s.
