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150 Case Part 1: Realizing the Dream

Post author By koryanderson
Post date January 4, 2018
2 Comments on 150 Case Part 1: Realizing the Dream

I was just 10 years old when I first met George W. Hedtke of Davis Junction, IL. He arrived at our place in Andover, SD driving an old flat deck truck carrying the remains of the largest steam traction engine boiler I had ever seen.

He was staying with us for a couple days before taking the boiler to Rollag, MN for the CASE expo. My dad, Kevin and friend and mentor Jim Briden were spending a couple days doing an “organ transplant” as George called it on that large boiler. I remember asking George as a little boy why he brought just that boiler to a CASE expo, was that all he had? I soon found out that boiler was for the Titanic of Tractors, the 150 HP Case Road Locomotive then I agreed it justified the long trip.

one of the original 150 case steam engines

The boiler had the back end cut out of it when it was used as a water tank in New Mexico. So my dad and Jim cut the back end out of a bad 65 HP Case boiler from an engine I later restored when I was 18 and “transplanted” it into that 150 boiler. For a number of years later George would come to our place and I would ride up with him to the show in Rollag, MN and for those who had met Mr. Hedkte know that he was never short of good stories! The stories that intrigued me the most though were about that 150 Case and about the engines that were sent to Kansas pulling great loads. Of course they had their fair share of trouble, but that is to be expected when you are pioneering what has never been done before.

Ever since hearing the stories it became a dream of mine to one day re-create this iron giant. In high school I restored a 65 HP Case engine that really helped me understand the mechanics and how steam engines operated and how to work on them. Through the process my dad taught me a lot about rebuilding of parts and the process to put together a sound performing engine. I decided to go to NDSU and study Mechanical Engineering. The process of restoring the 65 Case had intrigued me on the mechanics and engineering side. I also really just wanted to go to work to learn from Jim Briden at Larson Welding & Machine in Fargo, ND. Jim had taught me a lot over the years and I had wanted to learn more about welding and machine work as I knew that would be a requirement to building the largest steam tractor from scratch.

I didn’t really like school, most of my notes from class comprised of designs of my dream shop that I wanted to have to build the 150 Case. In 2006, I started Anderson Industries from my garage where I started making foundry patterns for a local foundry 20 miles away. Initially it started with my own patterns for our steam projects, then grew to making steam and tractor parts for friends, to doing full time pattern work for Dakota Foundry customers.

The 150 project started rolling in 2006 when I made a trip out to Racine, Wisconsin to the Case archives. There I met Rich Tworek who along with some other great people from Case spent a lot of time and effort to preserve the history. He showed me where all the old drawings were stored and I paged through thousands of prints and got copies of the 150 Case drawings. It felt like at that point that we were half way done, that feeling soon wore off.

Once I got back I spent the next 2 years of nights and weekends creating 3D CAD models from the original drawings. In 2008, started making wood patterns beginning with the cylinder head. Over the next years we would make a few patterns when we had some extra time on a machine. It was a great challenge to build a business from start-up to fund the project and make progress on the engine all at the same time. So things didn’t move as quickly as I would have liked, but I am happy with where we the company and our team is today as a result of a dream to build a steam engine.

My dad was a great help to keep momentum going on the project when he purchased a new boiler for the 150 Case built by Jonas Stutzman in Middlefield, Ohio. Seeing and having the boiler sitting there gave me another shot in the arm to keep things rolling.

The next critical step in the project was in 2014 when the manager and a good friend of mine told me that they were selling the foundry that I had worked with over the last 8 years. That scared me half to death when I found out it was maybe getting sold to a company from Taiwan and then I would have no way to cast the parts to finish this steam engine. So in September that year I purchased the foundry and besides securing our chance to build the 150 it has been a great business. It really would not be possible to do this project without the incredible team of people we have in Dakota Foundry and Anderson Industries.

It was early in 2017 when I thought about all the great steam engine friends that are unfortunately no longer with us. It was then when I realized that this project is for them and all amazing friends in the steam engine hobby to appreciate. At that point I thought I have the rest of my life to work, we now have the team and resources to do this project so we need to get after it.

That spring I asked a very close friend of mine Gary Bradley in Sheridan, WY if he would be interested in helping build this engine. After a couple weeks working together in his immaculate machine shop we decided that if we are going to get this done by 2018 we had to do it out there. Sheridan is about 8 hours from my factories which is just far enough where I can go out for a week at a time and not have too many interruptions.

As I am writing this letter today, we have nearly all the castings finished and machined for the engine proper. We are just finishing machining the engine frame this week and Jim Briden has just finished machining the flywheel. It was fortunate that Jim could fit that 50” flywheel on this big lathe. Although when I stopped by one day he felt like he had a little more flywheel than he had lathe, but where there’s a will there’s a way and he got it all machined, broached, and balanced.

pouring the engine frame at Dakota Foundry

The boiler is in the welding shop at Gary Bradley’s, we have a pile of newly machined castings in the steam engine shed and I will be making a trip middle of January to bring out the engine frame, rear hubs for the wheels, and flywheel. The rear hubs I will machine and then bring back to rivet the wheels together at Jim Briden’s using the large squeezer he built. With the engine frame now complete we will be able to start assembling the engine together on a fixture our welding team in Webster built. The fixture will allow us to assemble the parts together as they would sit on the boiler, Babbitt all the bearings, line bore them, and then finish assembling the engine complete. Then we will like George said “transplant” that engine onto the new boiler, mark and drill the holes, and assemble it together.

There are about 250 unique part numbers to make and around 400 parts in total. None of them of course are very light. As of January I would say we are about 60% finished with building parts. The only real significant parts to cast yet are the differential ring gear, intermediate gear, bull gears, and front door. The debut of the 150 Case Road Locomotive will be September 7^th, 2018 at the James Valley Threshing Show in Andover, SD. We will have a special unveiling event and an incredible amount of fun, I hope to see you there!

150 Case Part 2: Building a Giant

Post author By koryanderson
Post date April 27, 2018

We have achieved some major milestones in the first four months of 2018 to keep on track for our debut deadline on September 7, 2018. We have cast a great majority of the parts at the foundry and I’ve been making runs every few weeks to Gary Bradley’s in Sheridan, WY to keep up with machining.

We finished machining the engine frame in Webster, SD which was a huge challenge due to the size of the casting (nearly 1,000 lbs.) and the extreme accuracy that we need to hold in the tolerances. Once we had the engine frame and bearing housings machined we installed them into the fixture that I had built to assemble the engine and pour the babbitt bearings. Gary was busy pouring the babbitt bearings while I continued to machine parts for the engine assembly. Once the bearings were all babbitted, we then line bored them all to size giving each of them a clearance of .006” for the 4-5/8” crank shaft.

We took great care in getting everything to line up perfect. The reason we had built a fixture for doing this was because on the original Road Locomotives they didn’t have the crank shaft and low speed shaft perfectly parallel which caused the babbitt to melt out due to the extreme force on the bearings. We then line bored the cross head slide in the engine frame using some jigs that we made to ensure it was perfectly perpendicular to the crank shaft and in line with the center of the shaft.

After the engine frame and all the bearings were line bored we were ready to assemble the engine. We assembled the crank shaft first with the eccentric strap, governor pulley, sliding power steering gear, and first low speed gear. Then we assembled the low speed shaft with the intermediate power steering gear and low speed reduction gears. After fabricating the clutch arm from steel and installing bronze bushings, we assembled the clutch mechanism and pressed on the crank shaft gear. Finally, we assembled the clutch arm onto the crank shaft completing the assembly of the main engine drive components.

Meanwhile in Fargo, ND at Larson Welding, Jim Briden and I had been planning for about 6 weeks how we would build the massive rear wheels. Each wheel is 8 feet in diameter and weighs over 3 ton. Jim had modified a hydraulic squeezer that we could use to punch the inside angle and channel irons in the wheels. Once I had all the steel parts fabricated and lugs, hubs, and bull gears machined – the real work began. We rounded up an incredible crew of friends who helped us over the course of a few weeks to assemble and build the rear wheels. We installed over 1,200 hot ¾” rivets!

Most of them we were able to squeeze with the large hydraulic squeezer I had designed and was welded together by Wimpy Anderson in Jim’s shop. Around 80 rivets had to be put in by hand with the air hammer when we got to riveting in the drag links because we didn’t have any more room to get the squeezer in. By the time we were done, we really had the building of wheels down to a science. We built each wheel in just under 3 days which was much less than we had planned. After the wheels are powder coated they will travel to Sheridan to join the rest of the engine coming together.

At the end of April we will have the rear wheels built and main engine components assembled onto the fixture. The next step will be to raise the engine assembly onto the boiler to drill and locate all the mounting brackets. We will then leave the engine on the boiler and begin assembling the intermediate gear, differential gear, and cannon bearings.

With only 3 months until our targeted test firing of the engine I better stop writing and get back to work! We are really looking forward to seeing everyone this fall at the James Valley Threshing show and a tremendous thanks to all the friends who have been helping us along the way.

150 Case Part 3: Coming Together

Post author By koryanderson
Post date June 30, 2018

1^st July 2018

We’ve been running the governors balls out the last two months continuing to design and cast parts, finish machining, painting and bringing it all together in the assembly process.

We powder coated the rear wheels at one of our equipment manufacturing facilities HORSCH LLC, in Mapleton, ND. The process starts with a full white out blast to bare metal with steel shot, then the powder is applied through an electrostatic process and finally they are cured in the large oven at 400ºF for 45 minutes.

In Wyoming, assembly of the engine onto the boiler began in early May. We picked the engine assembly off the fixture, raised it and placed it onto the boiler. Everything fit perfect as planned when we lowered the engine down onto the boiler wing sheet plates. After squaring and leveling the entire assembly to the boiler, Dad and Gary transfer drilled the holes from the engine wing sheets into the boiler and secured the assembly down. We then mounted the forward bracket that supports the front of the engine frame and cylinder secured by tapered boiler studs. It was a damn good feeling to have that engine secured and in place on top of the boiler after all.

In Manitoba, Trevor Guenter and his team were busy working on fabricating and riveting together the water tank and bunkers. Trevor volunteered to help build the tanks and bunkers in trade for 110 Case parts for his project and we very much appreciated the support. After riveting the bottom section of the water tank together, he had it lined and then assembled the top of the tank.

Trevor Guenter and his team building the water tank

The tank and bunker sections were painted prior to assembling to eliminate any rusting between the surfaces. Dad will be going in the first week of July to pick them up and finish the decals, striping and assemble the wood parts. By that time, we will be ready in Sheridan to install them on the engine.

After mounting the engine, we mounted the steering roller brackets and babbitted the roller in place. We machined the intermediate gear and fabricated the stub bracket which mounts it to the engine wing sheet. We fabricated and rolled the front wheel rims, Dad and Gary countersunk the holes after to secure the spoke heads. We machined the spokes for the front wheels on one of our CNC lathes in Webster, SD and now are ready to assemble together and powder coat.

We machined the crosshead and wrist pin, along with about a week of work turning $1,500 of bronze bearing stock into packing glands, nuts, stuffing boxes and connecting rod bearings. Fabricated the connecting rod from 2-1/2” thick plate steel and assembled it with the wedges and bearings.

The connecting rod bearings were finished after being assembled due to the fact that tightening up the wedge block put them out of round .005”. We now have a perfect fit on the wrist pin and crank pin.

Gary took on the task of putting together the levers (or leevers for our Canadian friends) and quadrant shelf. The arrangement of everything on the 150 Case is quite unique trying to pack everything over to the right operator’s side. You have the throttle quadrant bolted on top of the reverse quadrant then all that through the quadrant shelf which has to go all together at the same time as a support bearing on the left side underneath the quadrant shelf that holds the reverse shaft and arm that runs up to the reverse head. It was just one of those deals that what we thought would be a few hours took a few days, but that’s how it goes on projects like this. Gary gladly stuck in the fight with a smile and won.

The level of accuracy and tolerance that we’re building this engine with was not practical in a production setting and was not even achievable in the early 1900’s with the tools they had for measuring. It will be very interesting to see this engine perform when finished. We just hope that the “old boys” looking down on us would be proud!

machined crossheads and lever quandrants

We have about five weeks until the target date for first firing and testing. It will be a hard push and a lot of work but we have 24 hours in a day and perhaps we have to use most of them. Nevertheless, we will have the engine completed, tested and ready to break chains in September. We hope to see all of you there!

150 Case Part 4: The Road to Andover

Post author By koryanderson
Post date August 23, 2018

It has been a hard pull all summer working 7 days a week to get the 150 Case assembled and the final parts cast and machined.

I was blessed with a great team to help get the job done and a number of friends who came out to help as needed. We lit the first match on 8/18/18 and fired it for four days running, testing, and breaking in the engine and gearing.

Kory starting first fire in the 150 case

We belted to the Baker Fan on the small pulley to get the most load we could on it, even pulling the fan as fast as the 8” belt would hold we calculated over 100 HP and we still could not hear the engine exhaust.

Kory driving the engine the first time it was fired

The engine ran perfectly, we didn’t have trouble with any bearings heating and the valve setting was spot on. We drove around to break in the mesh on all the large open gear teeth, this will be the longest part of the break in process to get all the additional gears for the two speed wore in good.

Kory positioning the engine on the trailer

RDO Equipment offered to haul it home for us donating their time and equipment to support in the project, Mark Davidson who has hauled for John Deere for over 40 years showed up on 8/21/18 and since we got the engine loaded that evening while still under steam. The morning 8/22/18 the 150 Case headed down the road for the first time to make it home in Andover, SD ready to go to work!

Kory Anderson with Mark Davidson, who volunteered his time and costs to haul the 150 HP Case steam traction from Sheridan, WY to Andover, SD

It is still incomprehensible the size of this engine. After working on it everyday you become immersed in the size of it, once in a while I would have to go to Gary Bradley’s engine shed and stand beside the 110 Case (which seems small in comparison) to get back to real perspective.

ready for the road to Andover, SD – see you soon!

150 Case Part 5: The 150 Case Must Perform

Post author By koryanderson
Post date October 21, 2018

Tuesday 4 September – 3:00 pm

After previous issues with the intermediate gear seizing onto the steel hub and a failed plowing attempt with the 12 bottom plow only 3 days remained until show time. I knew we were out of time to find a solution in the field that would allow us to pull 24 bottoms. I had my mind set that the 150 Case had to perform and failure was not an option.

case 150 disassembled 3 days prior to debut

I called friend Mark Davidson who hauled the 150 Case from Sheridan home to Andover. I said, “Mark I’ve got trouble” he said he’d be there in 25 minutes. We loaded the 150 onto the lowboy and hauled it into Webster to the shop of RDO Equipment.

We got to Webster and pulled the engine into the shop by 4:30 pm. Mark said he’d help me that night tear it apart. Some of the mechanics gathered around many seeing a steam engine for the first time. I explained how I had a problem with the intermediate gear and there was no chance to pull 24 bottoms in less than 3 days the way it is. Jeff Kwasniewski asked if I was going to try to get the gear off tonight, I told him “Hell yeah, I have to machine it tomorrow and get it back together. It has to perform on Friday!”

pulling the intermediate gear off the stub shaft

Jeff said “let me punch out I’ll help you”! Within a few minutes there were a half a dozen new faces, guys I had never met who just finished an 8 hour day in the shop standing there by the engine ready to go to work!

By 9:00 pm that night we had the entire right side tore down, it took us nearly 2 hours to get the intermediate gear off the stub.

The issue was the ductile iron gear had too similar frictional wear properties to the 1045 steel shaft of the hub it ran on. So the ductile grabbed the steel of the shaft and was galling and pulling chunks up as well as cutting ridges which made it almost impossible to get the gear off. I told my new mechanic friends there was an internal snap ring in that gear. Which was almost the case with the galled rings that were cut in the shaft that prevented the gear from coming off.

Had we not gotten the gear to come off the stub, I knew the only option would have been to cut the large link that was holding the bracket and gear to the upper cannon bearing. Something I wanted to avoid at all costs, fortunately we got a transmission puller and enough port-a power, sled hammers, and a combination of turning, pulling, and swearing to get the gear off.

The next morning I called my friends Chad and Paul at P4 machining in Clark, SD. I asked them what they had in the large vertical lathe, they had a job running and asked what I was wondering for. I told them I have problems with the 150 and need a big lathe to turn the bracket down so I can bore and sleeve the gear. Chad said bring it down we’ll tear this job down and start on it right away.

In the meantime Pat the plant manager for our manufacturing plant in Webster set the gear up in the Haas mill to be bored while I ran to Clark with the stub. When I got back started boring the gear and machining the aluminum bronze bushing to press in the gear.

By 4:30 that day, Wednesday 5 September (48 hours until plowing with 24 bottoms) I had the gear and bushing machined, ran over to Mereen Johnson and pressed the bronze bushing into the gear. Bob Clark went to P4 and picked up the finish machined stub shaft.

I returned to RDO just in time to meet Colin and Jack Beamish at the approach who were on the way down from Manitoba for the show and I told Colin I might need some help so they came directly to Webster.

The new 150 Case pit crew team was just finishing up another day in the shop as I pulled in. I asked if they were ready to put it back together and they said we can’t take something apart and see it go back together!

Starting just after 5:00 pm we had the stub, intermediate gear, differential, clutch, flywheel, gear shields, wheel and lock nut back on by 6:30. Then we proceeded to install the extensions for the very first time. Everything fit well and we had the engine finished with extensions on by 8:00 pm.

Chad Hanson, Tim & Jeff Kwasniewski, Colin & Jack Beamish installing extension rims

Chad, Tim & Jeff from RDO after getting the extension rims installed

Thursday 6 September (24 hours until unveiling)

We fired up at RDO in Webster, made a few test runs around the parking lot. The first time I had ever been on a tractor and looked down at the cab of a combine! Test runs went well, we loaded shortly after 1:00 pm and beaded back to Andover for a successful test run with the 12 bottom plow! Test run with the 12 bottom went good and being out of time we will just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings…

Friday 7 September (Public Debut and first time pulling 24 bottoms)

crowd gathered in anticipation for the 24 bottom plowing

After the public debut as we were backing the engine up to the 24 bottom plow there was a loud clunk and clanging that came from the differential. It has spread apart due to the 1” key holding the left hand pinion on coming loose. The loose key allowed the differential to spread itself apart by pulling the countershaft through the cannon bearing. A simple fix, just bad timing! So after an hour with the loader and skid steer pushing the countershaft back through and then driving the key back in place we were ready to go. I hollered out to the crowd “are you ready yet” to which everyone roared “YES” and off we went.

The rest I guess is history…

The irony of the story is we had to have the Big Case in the John Deere shop to get it tuned up! I probably won’t hear the end of that!

The moral of the story is no matter what adversity or challenges present themselves you can never quit!

coming back on the first round pulling 24 bottoms

I am forever grateful for the team of RDO mechanics and all of the incredible friends who volunteered late nights and countless hours to make the 150 Case ready for a successful debut!

150 road locomotive and 24 John Deere plows

Thank you to all who helped make this dream come to life and for those who made the trip to be a part of this historic event! Stay tuned for Part 6: Dream to Steam and the people that made it happen.

Kory’s smile after a successful round pulling 24 bottoms

150 Case Part 6: The Dream2Steam Team

Post author By koryanderson
Post date December 31, 2018

This past year has truly been a blessing. Realizing a lifelong dream and bringing the 150 Case back to life after being lost in history was an incredible experience. There is something truly amazing and inspiring that has taken place during this project. Something that without it the 150 Case would still just be a dream.

This something started on March 31^st, 2017 which was the start of the actual build of the 150 Case. On an annual visit to my friend Gary Bradley’s in Sheridan, WY. I had packed a couple of castings we had made for the 150 along in the event we ran out of things Gary had to work on. That day would dramatically change both of our lives for the next 16 months.

After machining the couple castings I had along, Gary said “If you get more castings made come on out”. So I did two weeks later and about every couple weeks for the next year and a half.

first fire with Gary Bradley, Kevin Anderson, and Colin & Jack Beamish

By early 2017, I had already defined the end state in my mind that the 150 Case was going to be at Andover 2018. I just didn’t know how, where, or who it was going to take at the point to achieve it.

Gary has a first class shop for working on steam engines and I always enjoyed working with him on projects. His knowledge, attention to detail, wisdom through experience to take the time and do it right once, and besides that fun to be around inspired me to seek his support on this undertaking. Thankfully he complied without hesitation and the race against time was on.

one of my greatest mentors, Gary Bradley

What I like the most about working with Gary was his determination to drive forward. Whenever we ran into a challenge we found a way and forged through. When I told him we couldn’t swing the eccentric strap in his lathe, his response was “Then I’ll buy a bigger lathe!” His commitment, support, experience, knowledge, and grit made it possible to complete this project on time.

While machining and assembly was taking place in Wyoming, we had other significant feats to take on. This was the major riveting projects of building the rear wheels, extension rims, and the drawbar. Along with machining the 1400 lb. flywheel. I couldn’t think of a better person to lead this challenge than my lifelong friend and mentor Jim Briden.

Ever since I can remember I sat beside Jim on our 110 Case that he operated at our show. When I was just 8 years old, we were grading a new road with the 110 Case pulling an Adams leaning wheel grader. My dad and Danny Roen where running the grader and Jim was driving the 110, with me sitting alongside as usual. Jim had to jump off and look at something and he just slide me over in the driver’s seat with the instructions “push the lever ahead to go right and pull it back to go left” and that was the last I saw of him for a couple of passes grading the new road.

Kory presenting Jim Briden with his plaque of dedication

Jim always had an innate sense of knowing when I was ready to take the next leap, whether it was running steam engines, sawmills, or a turning lathe. He always inspired and pushed me to learn quickly and not let fear stand in the way. His mentoring and support gave me the skills needed to take on a project like this and the courage to do so.

Jim volunteered his shop and helped to assemble a great team to take on the large riveting projects. Our team for assembling and riveting the drawbar consisted of: Jim Briden, Kevin Anderson, Kelly Muhl, Lewie Larson, Wimpy Anderson, Alex Drechsel, Gary Muhl, Kenny Madenwald, and Michael Bradley. With this team we were able to build and rivet the complete drawbar together in just one day. It is hard to believe it was not even a year as I write this since we were at that point.

A couple months later in early April we built the rear wheels which was a massive undertaking due to the size, weight, and number of rivets it took to make each wheel. Thankfully Jim, Wimpy, and I had built a large rivet squeezer in advance to do most of the heavy riveting otherwise I think our list of friends might have been significantly shorter had we attempted to hammer in by hand 1,200 plus – ¾” rivets.

Kory, John Schrock, and Jim Briden inspecting after the first successful round of plowing

Our team that was assembled to build the wheels and extension rims resembled something like a well synchronized orchestra of bib overalls. Everything flowed smooth and steady, thousands of hot rivets passed around, gently placed in each hole, and squeezed in for life. This team comprised of Jim Briden, Kevin Anderson, Wimpy Anderson, Garrett Satterly, Mark Pederson, John Pfaff, Rich Kroll, Bob Voss, Bob Johnson, Mark Knox, Gary Muhl, Carl Zachmann, and the bulldog Brian Krog. Brian was underneath, inside, and everywhere you didn’t want to be bucking and squeezing rivets where the hot slag and sparks easily found their way down your bibs.

As we started assembly of the 150 Case in July out in Wyoming, my dad joined on many trips. He was the paint striping expert of which we were all glad to have and in charge of shiny objects whistle, injectors, gauge, etc. Jeff Detwiler flew up for a long weekend when we installed the rear wheels. Jack and Colin Beamish came down to help finish details and when we had the first fire up. We had friends of Gary’s from Wyoming that helped whenever we needed an extra hand anytime. Steve Patteson who also borrowed us his service truck with crane for installing the rear wheels, Craig Wolsky the local gunsmith and Fred Muller would come around to give a hand anytime we needed it and for moral support whether we needed it or not.

Dawson Matheson, Garrett Satterly, Bob Johnson, Brian Krog, John Larson, Trevor Guinter, Mark Davidson at the unveiling

Craig Schmit who would dive in and do all the things nobody really wanted to do. Joe Hanna who would come on Sundays his only day off work to give a hand. For a while that was the only way I ever knew what day it was when Joe showed up in the shop I knew it had to be Sunday. Mike and Joe Bradley both Gary’s boys were there anytime we needed heavy lifting. Mike did all the painting of the green parts and was locked in full time towards the end as we were assembling and September was growing near. Nate Barney powder coated all the red and black parts in Sheridan for us with perfect detail.

Kevin Anderson, Gary & Mike Bradley, Jeff Detwiler, and Kory Anderson

Trevor Guinter and his team in Manitoba Canada did an extraordinary job building the water tanks and bunkers. John Schrock found and donated all the springs required to assemble the engine. Clyde Hall had donated the remaining power steering castings he had that we could build the steering unit from. The Somerville family had a preheater and governor that was the same as used on the 150 Case. Del Campon, Bob Snaza, Paul Streff, and Chad Helkenn local machinists to Webster, SD all worked helped to machine the large engine frame and differential gear.

Jim Briden supervising as Brian Krog drops in the first bottom

Jonas Stutzman and his team had built the boiler for us in 2011 from the original boiler for #14666. That boiler is the only remaining original piece of a Road Locomotive was saved over the years by Carl Logan, Justin Hingtgen, George Hedke, and most recently Jim Briden, Kevin Anderson, Dennis Powers, Kee Groshong, and Mark Pederson. They have since generously given this original boiler to me to preserve and keep together with the now living engine. A duty I will uphold and am very grateful for this gift and for all of those who have preserved it over time.

The team at RDO Equipment who donated the time and truck to haul the 150 Case back home to Andover, SD from Sheridan, WY led and driven by Mark Davidson. Along with the group of mechanics that helped during the last minute crucible moment before the show.

We also couldn’t have done this project without my teams at Anderson Industries and Dakota Foundry. Besides making all the castings and many steel parts they took care of business allowing me to stay front sight focused on the 150 project.

the Dakota Foundry crew who made all the castings

I witnessed throughout this entire project something truly remarkable. So many incredible people who volunteered, offered, gave, and rallied together around a shared vision. The unrelenting support especially over the 16 month build was overwhelming. I cannot express enough my appreciation to all of you!

Finally, I want to thank my family for all of their support and especially my Dad and Mom (Kevin and Donna Anderson). Mom has always been my number one fan, believing in me through all the crazy challenges I’ve taken on and teaching me to lead a life of service to others. When I started on this project and at the same time was starting my business in my garage mom always invited me over for dinner knowing I was a little short time and money. Dad has always been a model setting the bar high for me to strive towards. Teaching me along the way and giving me opportunities to learn and grow. His passion for preserving history and steam engines has inspired me my whole life and drives me to continue on this legacy.

Kory with his mom, Donna Anderson, and dad, Kevin Anderson at the unveiling

Along with all of these incredible friends that physically helped build throughout the project there were so many more who supported with encouragement, inspiration, and in spirit. One of these was my dear friend the late Dennis Powers. I promised him that we would have whiskey on the 150 Case. Sadly, he left us before I could fulfill that promise so I have already confirmed with God that the gates of Heaven are large enough to get the 150 Case in. I’m guessing there would be a great line up of incredible steam men and women who would join us there.

To me this project is for all of our great steam friends past and present. For having the passion to preserve the equipment and the stories for generations to come. This engine has been brought back to life as a monument to stand for the legacy of all who have inspired this remarkable hobby we have. Thank you!