CAse Water Wagon
Steam engines need fuel and water, and lots of each. Case made a water wagon that pulled behind their steam engines.
Bruce Troutwine found an old Case Water Wagon behind the Orchard Homes Community Life Center in Missoula. He was able to get them to donate it to our Museum. It was in pretty tough shape, but well worth saving. The frame had been converted to a wagon and the tank was placed on top at some point in its life. Most of the wood frame was there, but way too old to ever be in working shape again. The tank was open to the weather for years and had dozens of pin holes that had rusted through.
We started with getting a truckload of Ash from Engels Coach Shop, Wheelwright, Blacksmith, Carriage Restorations. (41 years in the wagon and coach building business). They made the new axles and a few other tricky parts for us and did an excellent job. Then it was measure-measure- cut-fit-remeasure-cut-fit-glue and repeat many times. At that time, I didn’t have a shop and did most of the restoration outside when the weather was decent. It slowly came together and started to look like a wagon.
The tank was a different story. I asked Terry at Steel Smith in Missoula if he’d like to help and weld up all the pin holes. He and his crew did an excellent job and even painted it. Thanks to Terry and his crew, as well as Nation Coating that donated almost $700 in paint for the project.
After the tank was complete, we fitted to the frame. There was no water pump. Gil at Miracle of America Museum in Polson had an old pump he gave us. Andy Troutwine bored the cylinder and we made new leather diaphragms. We’re still missing an intake part, but other than that it’s ready to go.
Thanks to all that helped donate and retore this piece of history.
