General News
26 September, 2023
A tip find fuels good engines
ENCOURAGEMENT from a friend to attend Wedderburn’s annual historical engine and machinery rally almost 30 years ago soon had John Little hooked. He went looking for his first old engine, found it at the Inglewood rubbish tip and quickly had it...
ENCOURAGEMENT from a friend to attend Wedderburn’s annual historical engine and machinery rally almost 30 years ago soon had John Little hooked.
He went looking for his first old engine, found it at the Inglewood rubbish tip and quickly had it again turning over the revs.
“I took it home, put in a new fuel line and started it,” said John after returning to Inglewood from this month’s Wedderburn rally.
He took a 1937 Ronaldson Tippett to Wedderburn this year, one of 10 he has collected since 1998 bearing the name of the famous Ballarat manufacturer that turned out thousands of small engines between 1905 and the early 1970s.
“They were pretty good engines ... another 52 companies bought Ronnies and put their name plate on them,” John said.
Last weekend, the small engine enthusiast was in Deniliquin for a rally and earlier in the year went to the national gathering in Mudgee.
And there are still a couple more rallies on his itinerary this year with the big Lake Goldsmith event, near Beaufort, in November bringing his touring to an end for 2023.
John said the small engines were well used on farms, running chaff cutters, water pumps and generating power for houses and even saw benches.
He is still restoring some of the 30 engines in his collection.