George Hoffman brought a 1911 Rumely back to life
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A history buff from Surrey, British Columbia needed help from other parts of Western Canada and the United States to bring an antique tractor back to life.
It took George Hoffman 22 years, but he finally rebuilt a 24-foot, 1911 Rumely steam tractor from scratch.
Hoffman, now 80, fired it up last week before an inspector arrived, making it the only working Rumely in canada.
A Rumely tractor
“We had just enough steam up to run it back and forth on the driveway, just to prove it would move,” he told Vancouver 24 hrs.
The tractor weighs approximately 40,000 pounds and can generate 36 horsepower; it was manufactured for export to Alberta so homesteaders could plow their fields.
Hoffman told Vancouver 24 hrs he found two wheels for the tractor near the Trans-Canada Highway in 1992 and bought them to use as lawn ornaments.
He found the tractor in a sawmill near Prince George in 1998 and dug up a back wheel, steering wheel and steering gear; it had originally been put there in 1944.
His search for the remaining parts would take him as far as Saskatchewan and North Dakota but he couldn’t find any blueprints or assembly instructions.
Friends and steam engine experts advised him on how to properly build the tractor, and Hoffman has an escape plan should things go awry.
“In an emergency, you just put out the fire and run for the hills.”