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Sawyer-Massey:

A Sawyer-Massey Portable Steam Engine - Photographed September 18, 2009.

This Sawyer-Massey Portable Steam Engine was manufactured in 1914 and is on loan from the Summerland Museum. It was used to sterilize soil at the McLachlan Greenhouse in Summerland. This type of Portable Steam Engine had various other agricultural uses and was also used in sawmills to act as a donkey engine for the saws that were used to cut wood for homes, businesses and even rail ties.

The Kettle Valley Steam Railway showcases a unique part of the Okanagan's and British Columbia's history. Built during 1910- 1915, the KVR “Kootenay to Coast Connection” powered our pioneer fruit industry into world markets, transported our families on vacations and errands; created employment, hobos and stories that will be with us forever.

The Kettle Valley Steam Railway is run by a nonprofit society dedicated to preserving Okanagan & BC Railway Heritage. Donations and all proceeds from Ticket & Gift Shop sales make the operation of this historic attraction a reality. The train is boarded at the Prairie Valley Station on Bathville Road on the outskirts of Summerland.

The KVSR operates excursion trains over the only remaining section of the Kettle Valley Railway through beautiful vistas, orchards, vineyards, and over the 238' tall Trout Creek Trestle. Trains depart at 10:30 and 1:30 Sat-Mon during the spring and fall and Thurs-Mon through July and August. Check the schedule for special events such as the Great Train Robbery and the Christmas Express.

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Like many of Canada's implement manufacturers, Sawyer-Massey can trace it's foots to a blacksmith shop in the mid 1830s. By the mid-1880s the firm was building the LDS portable engine which was named after L.D. Sawyer. All engines built after 1910 had Sawyer-Massey in large letters forming a complete circle on the smoke box door.

The first portables and early traction engines were all of the return flue type. In the late 1880's a change was made to the open bottom, locomotive type boiler without a dome. Hundreds of little 13 HP simple, single cylinder, side mounted engines were built in the 1890s. Soon Sawyer-Massey was turning out 18, 20 and 22 HP for the eastern trade.

The western Canada market was not overlooked. A large warehouse was constructed in Regina, Saskatchewan, to supply the prairie needs and the demand for heavy plowing engines was met by designing a rear mounted engine which was built in both simple and tandem compound sizes up to 35 HP. Except for the re-arrangement of the gears and the omission of springs, both types of engines were practically the same.

Sawyer-Massey did not overlook the gasoline engine and, seemingly, worked backward at the idea by building the first gas tractors for the West in the 30-60 HP size, using the steam engine road wheels and gearing, and mounting a slow speed vertical four cylinder engine lengthwise on the frame and driving the belt wheel and traction with a bevel gear. Succeeding models were built in smaller sizes but retained the slow speed motor and the same general design.