Friday, August 21, 2020

Weekend Steam: 1911 30-96 Nichols & Shepard

 Let's go to Reynold's Museum! "Lighting up Reynolds Museum's own mighty 1911 Nichols & Shepard 30-96 steam traction engine for the first time in the 2017 season. This massive behemoth is affectionately known as "Big Nick" and is one of the most powerful steam tractors operating in Canada today. With a full head of steam on this traction engine delivers a whopping 96 horsepower and roughly 1250ft/lbs of torque at the flywheel from it's two cylinder simple expansion engine, drawbar horsepower is rated at 30. The steam engine makes use of the famous Stephenson twin eccentric valve gear system to control engine direction and variable steam cutoff. This tractor is fitted with a solid drive pin to bypass the clutch under heavy load, locking the crankshaft directly to the output drive gears when heavy traction work is required such as plowing, this prevents clutch damage due to excessive slippage. A huge thanks must be extended to the Reynolds Alberta Museum for lending out their vintage machinery for our group to gain steam hours towards our heritage steam operators certificates."


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