Keeing Antique Tractors Purring

Hometown Heroes, People
on January 13, 2002

Don Layton of Riverton, Wyo., believes vintage tractors and other old farm machines should be kept running, not sitting idle in museums.

The 76-year-old Layton, who moved to Riverton (pop. 9,310) at age 9, has a knack for keeping equipment purring and loves to tinker with machines of all kinds—especially antique tractors.

The former machinist was instrumental in getting a group of 25 fellow tractor and engine lovers to form the Wind River Flywheelers (the name refers to the big flywheels on old engines) in 1990. The group restores and preserves old machines, drives them in parades, and shows them at county fairs. They even use some to harvest crops. The Flywheelers, who held their seventh annual show at Shoshoni last fall, now number 150.

Displaying the machines in a museum might be easier than running them. At the annual show in Shoshoni, the belt slipped while the Flywheelers were demonstrating an old threshing machine.

“That’s just the way it goes more often than not, but that is the fun of restoring them and getting them to work,’’ Layton says. “It’s satisfying to see the old machine running again.’’

Besides machines breaking down during shows, another challenge can be finding parts. “A lot of these things you can find parts for from folks who have bought the old equipment and tore them apart for parts. You can also still get parts for tractor models as far back as the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s,’’ Layton says.

Layton’s passion for old machines and engines is evident at his home, a veritable museum of old equipment and gadgets. He worked as a machinist at a U.S. Steel mine for 18 years, later owned a gun shop, and has been making miniatures for about 20 years. He crafted a blacksmith drill and forge that is just 3 inches high.

“I show them at some of the antique and equipment shows and also demonstrate them at local historical society meetings,’’ Layton says of his miniatures.

The group’s pride and joy is a 1913 Case steam engine that Layton convinced the group to buy and restore. The engine, a beauty that runs with wood power, was originally brought to Casper, Wyo., by rail in 1913 or 1914. Cowboys drove it overland to a ranch near Buffalo, Wyo., where it remained for years.

“It’s a heavy piece, over 10 tons,” says Harvey Brannan of Lander, Wyo. Brannan, a Flywheeler, says he and Bob McLernan, also of Lander, are usually in charge of running the Case engine, which has appeared in parades in Lander, Riverton, and Thermopolis, as well as at the county fair in Basin.

“I am currently working on restoring a threshing machine I bought, and I also restored an AR John Deere Tractor,” Brannan says. The AR (Agricultural/Ranch) was larger than other models, weighing 5,400 pounds. Brannan’s 1949 AR was one of the first tractors with a padded seat.

His fascination with the past extends to other areas—he drives a horse-drawn hearse for cowboy-style funerals.

Ray Reed of Lander says the most beautiful thing he sees as a Flywheeler is the look of wonder on the faces of children when they first spy the old tractors and the steam engine. Reed helped build a train from 50-gallon barrels that children can ride.

Flywheelers Jim Farmer and Jim Holm of Thermopolis have taken their restoration efforts a little further by planting oats on some leased ground near their home and harvesting the crop with a horse-drawn grain binder they restored. Farmer bought and restored a threshing machine that he demonstrated the past two years at Shoshoni.

Brannan remembers working on threshing crews as a youngster. “It was a lot of work in the hot sun, but this threshing machine brings back some fine memories.”

Thanks to the Flywheelers, these pieces of history are alive and working, not gathering dust or rust.