How fast did farm engines travel along the road?
The speed varied with the make and model of engine, but most went no faster than two to two-and-a-half miles per hour. Certain engines had two speeds and could attain speeds of four miles per hour or faster.
Reinhard Scheidler, engine builder in Newark, Ohio, arranged a special engine to race at fairs. According to a newspaper report (not necessarily reliable), the engine reached fifteen miles per hour.
Two-speed 40-horsepower Avery engine (left)
(Floyd Clymer's Album of Historical Steam Traction Engines)
New York; Bonanza Books, 1949
Scheidler engine (right)
(Clymer's Album of Historical Steam Traction Engines)
