Q, What has happened to the Harrison Jumbo steam engine purchased from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., several years ago by the Belleville Labor and Industry Museum? I have heard that this engine was severely damaged when it was dropped off a high trailer and the boiler was cracked.
-- K.B., of Belleville
A. For the past two years, the historic engine has been sitting in the city garage on South Sixth Street, waiting for repair plans to pick up steam. But the reason for those repairs is far less dramatic than the one you heard, says Michael Hutsch, the museum's secretary-treasurer.
According to Hutsch, the use of dissimilar metals in the boiler stays and the boiler itself has produced grooves in the boiler's iron sheet through a chemical process known as electrolysis. While the engine likely could be used safely, it no longer can maintain a steady pressure to do its work, Hutsch said. As a result the engine will have to undergo a major overhaul to replace the boiler sheet.
But repairs have been stalled over the fate of the city garage now that operations will be moved to the old Jack Schmitt car dealership. They couldn't afford to have the engine lying around in a zillion pieces if the city were going to raze the old garage.
Instead, Hutsch said, plans are for the engine to be refurbished in a new building that will be erected on the old Metro transit lot behind the museum. A grant has been obtained, and now the museum is working out the final details over construction with the city, Hutsch said.
For those unfamiliar, the engine was built by the Belleville-based Harrison Machine works, which built steam engines from 1848 until the early 1900s and shipped them to farmers all over the country. The engine in question was sold for $1,350 to an Indiana farmer in the summer of 1896.
It eventually wound up at the Henry Ford Museum in the 1930s and remained there until the local museum put in the high bid of $16,000 to buy it in August 2001. It was then restored to become the museum's signature piece.
Q. Is there still going to be a Popeye's in the old Dairy Queen on West Main in Belleville?
-- Steve and A.D., of Belleville
A. Yep, you'll be lovin' that chicken from Popeye's along about August. That's when the new restaurant will be opening at 4140 W. Main St., I'm told in an e-mail from Popeye's corporate headquarters.
Q. Every time I hear about Goodwill in St. Louis, it's always MERS Goodwill. What does MERS stand for?
-- C.L., of Fairview Heights
A. In 2001, Missouri Goodwill Industries merged with the Metropolitan Employment and Rehabilitation Services (MERS) to form MERS Missouri Goodwill Industries. Now, the organization serves 10,000 clients a year, including individuals with serious disabilities, the economically and culturally disadvantaged, former prisoners and the unemployed.
Q. What are Timothy and Sam Bottoms doing these days? I recall seeing them in "East of Eden," a miniseries with Jane Seymour.
-- N.M., of Freeburg
A. You have a good memory, considering that miniseries first aired in 1981.
Timothy, 56, is still one busy guy around Hollywood. You may have caught him starring with Lou Diamond Phillips in the recent TV Western "Lone Rider," but if you didn't, he has three movies in post-production: "Deadly Suspicion," "Parasomnia" and another remake of Jack London's "Call of the Wild." On the other hand, I can't find anything coming up for younger brother Sam.
In case you hadn't heard, the story is that Sam was discovered when he tagged along to watch Tim being filmed in "The Last Picture Show." Director Peter Bogdanovich decided to test him and wound up giving the then 15-year-old boy a part in the movie to start his career.
Send your questions to Roger Schlueter, Belleville News-Democrat, 120 S. Illinois St., P.O. Box 427, Belleville, IL 62222-0427 or rschlueter@bnd.com
