09/27/26

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is a bit different, it's not a train.  😄  A few weeks ago,the steam roller that we own was a participant in "The Bigger Dig" which was a huge construction equipment show in Kansas just south of Concordia.  It is held every 5 years and our roller was making it's second appearance there but the first since we owned it.  The roller was built by the Iroquois Company somewhere between 1910 and 1915 and used by the Barber Asphalt Co to roll roads back in the day.  Barber developed asphalt and bought the Iroquois Co.  It is pictured here alongside the steam traction engines that were there for various displays like plowing.  We fire it on wood.

 

08/04/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image goes back to Mankato Kansas once again where we took our Iroquois Steam Roller.  In this image the hubster was rolling around the area where we were demonstrating how it worked.  It was built somewhere between 1910 and 1915 in Buffalo NY.  It is steered by turning that wheel on the side which moves the back wheel.

There is another short video of the roller located HERE.  It's a video of it participating in the parade on Saturday the 20th.

 

07/28/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Last weekend we took our Steam Roller to it's first show while we have owned it, in Mankato Kansas.  We took it through the parade on Saturday and Sunday and rolled it around both days so people could see how it works.  The gearing on it is very similar to a Shay type locomotive.  It seemed to be a big hit so it was a successful weekend.  It is an Iroquois Road Roller 5 Ton built somewhere between 1910 and 1915 in Buffalo NY that was being used in Iowa and has now made it's way to Kansas.  This image shows it as we were first steaming it up on Friday afternoon to do some practicing with it.

You can view a video of it in operation HERE if you like.

04/28/24

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  I usually share train photos but today I am sharing our roller.  We took it to the KESSA Steam School in Meriden Kansas.  It got it's boiler inspection there and students had an opportunity to operate it if they wanted with us.  It was a nice place to operate it as it has a large open field.  Steering of this steam roller is rather challenging.  I was finally getting the hang of it near the end of the afternoon.  We were burning wood in it this day, it has a very easy to fire boiler.  If you are interested, I have a video Here where you can see it in action.

6/11/23

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  A few weekends ago, I was out playing with our steam roller.  As we were cleaning it up it was putting on quite the steamy show.  The hose out the front was from the sump pump that was emptying the water tank and sending the water to my pond.   The steam roller as an Iroquois from around 1918 and is quite fun to run but hard to steer.  You have to turn a wheel and remember if forward is left or right.  😁  

6/5/22

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog.  I was out playing with our Iroquois steam roller last weekend ago for the second time.  Still need practice steering.  The wheel by the seat, you turn that to go right or left and it is backwards from what you would think it should be. This side shot shows the cylinders which are much like a Shay locomotive.

11/21/21

 It's Steamy Sunday here on the Blog!  Today's image is a bit different as I usually share a train.  The hubster and I recently got a new toy and we fired it up for the first time this past weekend.  It's an Iroquois Steam Roller and was built in approximately 1915.  It steamed up and worked better than we thought so we are letting some water out here in a bit of a blowdown which is why all the steam.  It was a cool day so it showed up well.