PINK, Okla. (AP)--Sometimes, old farm equipment lives out its antique years huddled near a fence in the corner of a pasture.

But a local man spends a significant chunk of each day preserving those pieces of farming past so others can learn the stories they have to tell.

John Fry and his wife, Dot, live near Pink on an acreage that is sprinkled with tractors, thrashers and other machinery, some nearly 85 years old. Many of them Fry has known most of his life: the tractor he grew up driving, the steam engine he helped keep running, the thrasher his grandfather used to harvest soybeans.

Fry's prized possession is a steam engine that his grandfather bought new in 1921 to pull a Wheat thrasher on the family farm in Ohio. The 10-ton giant still works, Fry even drives to northeastern Oklahoma to get loads of coal for the fire box. After adding water and starting a fire with the coal, the steam engine is as ready to go as if it had a full tank of gas.

Since age 5, Fry has had a hand in the upkeep of the steam engine. As a toddler, he was the only one small enough to fit into the fire box, so he was sent in with a whisk brush to clean it. In the early 1940s when he was a young teenager, he was the grease monkey, he said. At 4 a.m., every day, he'd ride his bicycle to the rig, get the fire going, the steam up and parts greased. Around 8 or 9 a.m., when the dew had worn off, the farmers arrived to start thrashing. In the evening, Fry would put a tarp over the machine and ride his bike back home.

"I'd be at it until 4 a.m. in the morning until 7 or 8 p.m. at night during thrashing season," he said.

Later, Fry drove the water truck for the steam engine. Depending on how hard the machine was being worked, it needed 400-500 gallons of water an hour, he said. About 125 pounds of steam pressure was required to keep it operating.

Among Fry's other collectibles are a 1920 Case Cross Motor tractor, so named because the engine sits crossways, he said. It's considered the second most collectible tractor, he said.

He also owns the thrasher that his grandfather bought new in 1933 and thrashed with until 1945. In 1934, the first soybean crop was grown in Ohio; Fry's grandfather farmed it for the owner and outfitted his thrasher with oak planks (replacing the parts with teeth) to thrash the first soybeans without cracking the beans.

Fry still owns the 1929 Case tractor that he grew up driving. It was purchased new because the year before, his father was pulling a hay baler when the tractor stalled on the railroad track. A train slammed into it and ruined it.

Many of the tractors in Fry's collection are started by hand-cranking. After two turns with the choke on, the tractor springs to life on the third crank with Fry's expertise. The tractors also have steel wheels with spiked lugs that help the tractor make its turns at the end of the rows.

Fry's land holds several other old tractors that he calls "organ donors"--old equipment that he picks for parts. He's also eager to help anyone who needs a unique part.

"I got a call from Canada for a belt pulley," he said. "If I have extra stuff, I like to help others. I've always got a restoration of one kind or another going."

Fry works all day in his shop, where he has a growing collection of old Case lawn tractors. After a career in the Air Force, and a second career as a social worker and drug and alcohol counselor, Fry said he's happy to spend his days puttering in his shop. He was a certified aircraft mechanic in the military, but modestly calls himself an amateur mechanic today.

"I read in a self-help book that anybody who's worked all his life needs a place to go in the morning," he said. "I decided I needed a place to go in the morning. I'm out here by 8 a.m. and go in at 5 p.m. in the afternoon. Since then, I don't know how I had time for a job."

Dot Fry has played a key role in their tractor hobby as well. She's been secretary for the Oklahoma Steam Thrashers group and has held positions with the Shawnee Tractor and Engine Club.

"It's been quite an experience," she said. "I didn't grow up on a farm. I didn't know what most of the equipment was, but it's been exciting to go to shows and talk to people who did know what it was."

Date: 7/19/05