Event: Field Day of the Past, Rockville, VA

[whitis]

This weekend, if you live in or near Virginia and are interested in Old Iron, history, etc. there is a large once a year event taking place near Richmond.

Listed exhibits include Machine shop, Woodwright Shop, Blacksmith Shop (built 1850, moved 1994), Sawmill Complex, Portable Saw Mill (Powered by Frick steam engine, Diesel Engine building (Fairbanks-Morse Model 32 engine), Grocery, Ice House, Garage, Fire Tower, Petting Zoo, Corn Crib, Smoke House, Gold Mine Equipment, Homestead, Bridge, Windmill, educational building (including print shopand Farm Kitchen), Post Office, Canning Kitchen, Water towers, ,Sorgum Mill, Modern sawmill, Tactor Pull Track, Playground, Pullman Railroad Car, Souvenir Shop, Cook Shanty, Antique Tractors and engines, Arts and Crafts, etc.

"The Machine Shop is still a work in progress. Field Day of the Past has many machines located at various locations throughout the show grounds. Many of these will eventually be incorporated into the Machine Shop display." - I think that was written last year.

September 17, 18 & 19, 2010
8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily
Rockville, VA
http://www.fielddayofthepast.net/

No affiliation ... yet.

[hojpoj]

Duuuuuuude, I know where I'm gonna be on Sunday!

[Ram]

Went to Somerset in Orange county VA last weekend.

http://www.somersetsteamandgas.org/pasture_party.html

I thought it was a great show.

Always look forward to Rockville too.

[whitis]

There were two machine shops located at opposite ends of the exhibits building. At one end (starting at 0649) was the machines that had sat outside, though most had a roof over them now. At the other end were the machines which came from the Shortt Machine Shop.

Rust zone (Pictures 0649-0701):
Sidney Lathe
Cincinatti Horizontal Mill, patent date 1900
New Haven slotter with rotary table
New Haven planer
planer table/ways, one axis only, others missing, G.F. Brettell
Gould & Eberhardt drill press, 1891 patent date
Houston Stanwood & Gamble Steam Engine (nearby).
I was very close to the flywheel of this operating steam engine while taking some of the pics.

Some pics from the diesel engine building and sawmill

Shortt Machine Shop (pictures 0730-0786)
Hendey 18"x8' Lathe with Norton Gearbox patent 1892/1894, taper attachment
J. Steptoe Shaper
Another drill press
Another drill press
Another lathe resold by James McGraw
A wood lathe
American Toolworks Lathe, patent date 1903
Half as long as the building was wide, probably around 16' long
F.E. Reed Lathe
Toe Jack

The Shortt Machine Shop operated until about 15 years ago, meaning that the machines in that section were probably used for close to a century. I ran into another visitor there, Bob, who had used these machines in 1968 when he worked at Shortt. These machines were originally line shaft powered and were retrofitted to electric.

Photobucket likes to display the pictures in the opposite order that they were taken, so start at the end and work towards the beginning. The rusty shop first, some other stuff, then the Shortt Machine Shop.
http://s369.photobucket.com/albums/oo135/mwhitis/Field_Day_Of_The_Past_2010/

Then there are pics of other parts of the fair.

Video will take a while to upload. Not of the machine shops (since that was not in operation) but other stuff at the fair.

Here someone has a very similar model American Toolworks lathe, listed as 20x106, which they have spent about 8 years restoring.
http://www.aacncclub.com/stansprojectpage12.html

[whitis]

Went to Somerset in Orange county VA last weekend.

Sorry I missed that one, it is near where I live.

Field Day of the Past videos are up:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=87A8EA6744EE5D29