Farm Progress

My Favorite Tractor: James Rabas keeps this vintage machine active as a tribute to his dad.

Harlen Persinger

April 24, 2018

2 Min Read
SENTIMENTAL FAVORITE: James Rabas, Algoma, Wis., says his father bought this 1924 Model 2475 Minneapolis steam engine for $2,200 in 1927.

A rather unusual occurrence led James Rabas, Algoma, Wis., to favor a 1924 Model 2475 Minneapolis steam engine. The machines were manufactured in Hopkins, Minn., by the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Co. In 1924, the final unit, No. 8708, rolled off the assembly line. Fate intervened, and in June 1925, the office building was damaged by a tornado; then 18 months later, a fire gutted the company’s factory.

“While growing up, my father, Jim, always had his heart set on buying a machine to start a custom threshing business,” Rabas says. “He worked as a mechanic in the Upper Midwest and just happened to come upon this rig after it had broken through a wooden bridge that crossed the Devil’s River in Maribel [Wis]. Not wanting to deal with the cleanup process, the owner sold it to Dad, who was 18 at the time, for $2,200 on Oct. 27, 1927. He fought snow and had to use planks to remove the 16-ton machine, featuring a 30-inch flywheel, off the bridge.”

For the next 20 years, the engine threshed around the Stangelville area from dawn to dusk.

In 1939, blacktop surfaces gained popularity in rural communities. To travel on county roads, crews blocked the real wheels on the engine before they were converted to rubber three years later. Moving and steering the machine also became much easier as it was set on a 1924 fire truck chassis. Now it only takes 10 gallons of water to travel a mile and a face cord of wood to go 30 miles. Overall cruising speed is 19.5 to 35 mph.

In the late 1950s, Rabas and his father raced engines, now all set on tires, in steam rodeos that even included events at the Wisconsin State Fair.

“Between the ’40s and ’50s I helped move 20 barns, 10 houses, provided steam power at cheese factories and made appearances at many schools. I’m confident no other steam engine has been exhibited in more parades than this one,” Rabas says. “Today, I keep the machine, called Big Jim, active as a memory to my father who passed away in 1989. It was his experience as a self-taught mechanical engineer that helped him salvage the engine off the bridge and convert it into a faster-traveling unit. It’s obvious he never wavered in his passion for steam power.”

To have your favorite tractor featured, email or send a photo of yourself with your tractor, along with a 300- to 400-word write-up about the tractor, to: [email protected] or Wisconsin Agriculturist, P.O. Box 236, Brandon, WI 53919.

Persinger writes from Milwaukee, Wis.

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