Homebuilt Traction engine

Location: Cullman, AL

It's pretty clear what's happened here: An enterprising farmer, sometime around 1930-1950, has gotten ahold of a working boiler from a stationary or portable engine, and built his own chassis and cab for it. Unfortunately the drivetrain was removed so I couldn't document how it was motivated. The steering linkage was intact enough that I believe this was a functioning tractor. However the small rear wheels lead me to believe that the drivetrain was underbuilt (possibly using truck parts and not steam engine parts) and thus it was only used to pull small loads or to move the flatbelt power to where it was needed.

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