Collectors to Share Love of Old Machinery at Show July 11 in New Enterprise

Fred Mellott, of F.M. Mellott & Sons in New Enterprise, is excited to be introducing a new event in the Cove. On Saturday, July 11, the first Antique Truck & Construction Equipment Show will be held at the Southern Cove Power Reunion Show Grounds.

Antique trucks and construction equipment will be on display with live demonstrations and explanations of the equipment.

Antique crawlers, bulldozers, excavating equipment will be shown along with antique cars and trucks and hit-and-miss engines.

Mellott has been interested in old engines since he was just a small boy. Growing up on Hipples Cave Road in a new house his parents "did not like this stuff at all."

Charlie Smith lived next door and collected antique equipment. Smith's two sons were not really interested in their father's hobby but Mellott was. So Mellott spent lots of time with Smith fixing up lots of different things.

"On Sundays, we'd get our barn work done and we'd go to a tractor show here or there. We spent a lot of quality time together. He was a good inspiration to me in many ways. I have a lot of respect for somebody like that," Mellott said of Smith, who is 93 and lives in a retirement home.

Fred's son, Cy Mellott, along with several of his friends, including Jacob Becquet, enjoy spending Friday evenings in the garage for Friday Night Fun Night. They all gather at Mellott's garage to work on antique engines and fire them up every chance they get.

Cy has a group of friends in their early 20s who have interest in the old engines and are more than willing to help out when needed.

"It's a great bunch of boys. In this day and age it's great to see people who have interest in this. And they're just really, really nice guys," Mellott said.

Rock crusher

Part of Mellott's collection includes an antique Climax rock crusher from the early 1900s that was used to build many local township roads. It was purchased from an older man in eastern Pennsylvania whose family owned it for many years. It consists of a hopper with a jaw that barely moves. Rocks are placed in the hopper and the moving jaw slowly breaks the rocks.

"It's a real simple idea but it works very, very well," Mellott said.

A working International dump truck from 1920s sits inside a garage and started right up after a brief fiddling by Mellott. He said that "most everything" in and on the truck is original.

Mellott has several steam-powered engines and tractors that will be included in the show.

The boilers on the steam engines that are taken to shows and expos are inspected and certified every year by the state department of labor and industry department of boilers. Every five years, hydro testing is done, Mellott said.

Antique boilers that need to be replaced or fixed must be done through a boiler manufacturer. There are only three companies Mellott knows of that are federally certified and can complete his orders but have a wait-time of about 18 to 24 months.

Mellott explained that engines and equipment are transported by tractor-trailer to events.

Under the best conditions, a good fireman can have an engine "under steam" in about and hour and a half. The engine can run as long as the fire is tended and the steam is kept up, he said.

The Antique Truck & Construction Equipment Show will be held Saturday, July 11 at the Southern Cove Power Reunion Show Grounds, 145 Cave Road, New Enterprise. Many of Mellott's engines and equipment will be on display and demonstrated at the show.

For additional information, call Fred or Cy Mellott at (814) 766-2703 or (814 )660-3768.

Editor's Note: Videos of some of Mellott's equipment in action can be viewed on the Herald's website at http://www.mcheraldonline.com. Visit the site and search for "F.M. Mellott Antique Machines."

Walking to Waynesboro

Dutch Clouse from Potter Creek, who later in his life owned the Waterside Woolen Mill, told a story from his childhood that was shared by Fred Mellott as he heard it.

Back in the early 1900s, Dutch's father was a Frick steam engine dealer. His father would get an order for a Frick steam engine and send 12-year-old Dutch to Waynesboro, Pa., to get the ordered engine. Dutch would walk from Waterside to Waynesboro with payment and then drive the engine (slowly) back to Waterside.

On the way, Dutch would walk from farm to farm and help out in exchange for a meal and a place to sleep. After making the trip a few times, Dutch knew the farms where he could stop and be welcomed.

On the way back, driving the steam engine, Dutch would stop to gather sticks and wood to keep the fire going. He would get water from streams along the road to fill his water bunker enough to get to the next creek. In the early 1900s, it would take days to complete the round-trip walk and drive home, but young Dutch made the trip several times, by himself.

Saved from the Scrap Heap

Mellott told of a Peerless engine that he bought as a long-term project. He purchased it from a man in Somerset who bought it from someone else, who bought it from someone else and on down the line.

Soon after Mellott acquired the engine, a steam-engine buddy from Mount Union came to visit. When he saw the Peerless, he didn't say much but wrote down the serial number.

A few months later, the Mount Union man was back for another visit with a picture of the very same engine Mellott had just purchased. The picture was taken in Missouri by a man who saved it from a scrap metal war-drive during World War II. The man was interested in saving old steam engines even though the federal government was demanding that people give them up for their scrap metal.

Mellott's engine, along with about two dozen others, were hidden in the woods somewhere in Missouri to save them from the scrap heap and a photo was taken.

After the war, the man started to sell the engines, hoping that they would be restored. Mellott's engine was brought to this area.