Gary Howe of Randolph, a mechanic by trade, waited 70 years to get this 1914 Lausen farm engine, and now proudly displays it alongside many other beauties on Antiques Hill at the Tunbridge Fair.
Two Howe farms stand side by side, like twins, just beyond a stately covered bridge off route 14 in Tunbridge.
Gary Howe, the son of Paul Howe, grew up in the farm on the right. His uncle Sylvester ran the companion farm just across the way.
As a young boy in the 1940s, Howe spent many happy hours in uncle Sylvester's barn watching the fly-wheel of the old Lausen "one lunger" engine turn as his uncle sharpened scythes,
"It has no serial numbers, but I date it to 1914," says Howe. "Both farms burned down in 1913; the barns were rebuilt a year later. The fire started with a spark thrown from an engine running the silo blower. The farm houses were replaced in 1915." (Herald / Bob Eddy)