Yesterday on my way home from our familie’s New Year’s celebration, driving up US HWY 65 in south-central Missouri I suddenly hit the breaks when my eye was caught my one of the most unique locomotive “models” I have ever seen. A couple mile southe of Fristoe, MO (about an hour north of Springfield) Someone had build in a pasture along this Ozarks highway a large steam engine out of hay bales. Large round bales made the drivers, boiler, and oil tender. Small round bales made the coasters and wheels under the tender as well as the smoke stack and domes. Square bales were stacked under the boiler to raise it up and made up the cab. The cab even had an open interrior with windows. This thing was huge, at least 12 feet tall at the cab and 75 feet long including tender–basicly life size. I managed to grab a couple of snapshots, but they are on film and havn’t been developed yet. When they are I’ll put them up for you to see. I’ll file this one under, “You just never can tell.”
Ron