Gordon Sullivan of Lynden, Washington, had a unique machine shop with line shafts and flat belts running everything. He had the option of running his shop on either steam or by an electric motor. Early Saturday morning, a fire quickly took it all away in a three alarm fire. Both his 1919 Stanley and his steam boat were parked in the adjacent shed and they perished too. Nothing is left but warped and twisted steel. They think that it was an electrical malfunction. A word to the wise, turn off as much power to your shop as you can before you leave it. Also just in, Howard Johnson of Lemont, Illinois just experienced a high wind storm. A 90 year old Oak tree fell across his shed that he stored his tow vehicle in. Fortunately, his Excursion was parked away from his storage shed at the time. Still it is another great loss.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/09/2012 06:07AM by SSsssteamer.

Sorry to hear of this terrible loss,,,
However ,,look carefully at the remains,,The most dammage will be from the charcoal fire AFTER the flames are at a minimum,,
The soda left behind will clean the castings,,,BUT damage badly any aluminum,,
Some things may be hardend by cold water,,some may be soft,,parts loosing their shape will be annoying,,If the axles are strait and the road springs still look like springs [ not sagged over the axle til toching the axle]] it could be worse,,
Emotionally the dammage is permanent,,,but the metal can be repaird,,,
,,,,,,,,,,TIME is the enemy,,!!!!,,,,
On an old time sawmill,,,,,straighten the shafting,,,pour the bearings,,get the engine piston loose,,and belt the lathe to the engine as best can,,oh yeh,,,expand the tubes again,,,I have heard of mills that ran after the 4th fire,,
Larry Packards mill survived 3 floods and a fire too,,Time is the enemy,,
Please,, now,, is the time to go over and have a pie and coffee and talk about anything but the loss,,,thats next week ,,,,maybee,,bring the pie,,,it will be rememberd,,
Hang in there,,,,,,so quiet here,,,Ben

Dear Ben, I went and looked at the remains of Gordon Sullivan's 1919 Stanley today. It was one hot fire. With the machine shop building on fire, once the kerosene fuel tank vaporized, the car got as hot as if it were in a blast furnace. All the aluminum, brass and some copper melted. The aluminum engine baffel plate was not to be seen. All that was left of all of the hand control handles were the steel valve stems and the copper lines that they once were attached to. The leaf springs don't hold up anything anymore. The car's twisted frame is sitting down on its axles. Not much of anything left. The grief of it is tough to imagine.

Check out the attached photo of Gordon's burned out Stanley. Ever seen any Stanley leaf springs so flattened out? The condensing car hand control valves along the heel kick board are totally gone except for both their copper lines to them and their steel stems. I would shudder to think of anything like that happening in our museum. It would probably take our home with it too. :(

The remains are listed on eBay - [cgi.ebay.com]

Hi Pat,,,Thanks for posting the pic,, Hows Gordon doing,, It would seem he has delt with the essential,,,keep or sell,,and how to handle that,, That alone is a major hurdle,,
Do you know if there was water in the boiler?? That could have kept the temp down
as long as the safety lifted,,Hmmm,,
Here's a good starter kit
Tell Gordon i said to eat lots of oatmeal and cream of wheat,,,,keeps the stomach acids down,,looks like speedy dri and tastes about the same,,haha,,
Hi Kelley,,,,Thanks for being on your toes,,,to post the e/b link for us to enjoy
and maybee learn from,,,uggh,,
All for now,,,Ben



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2012 10:41PM by Ben.

Dear Ben, Appears the boiler was dry. The brass fittings going into the boiler were melted off at the smoke bonnet as well as the blow down valve fittings were melted off too. I don't see how the wire wound boiler would still have tight piano wire. The real damage was to the engine. You see how hot the rear springs must have been? The engine was in the middle of the heat and I am sure there isn't a bearing or anythng in the bottom end of the engine that is still useable. The engine cylinder could still be good? You would have to see the heat damage to believe it. For years I have wondered about the three burned 1912 Stanley Mt. Wagons that were buried in the land fill at Sold Duc Hot Springs, WA after their big fire of 1916. I have always wanted to go there and dig them out of the ground. After seeing what happen to Gordon's Stanley, digging up the Mt. Wagons would most likely be a waste of time. It appears that Gordon is taking this fire quite hard. I would not expect anything different than that from anyone that has gone through what Gordon has just gone through. His vintage machine shop was like a national treasure. It was in his will that upon his passing, his vintage machine shop would bcome the property of the Whatcom County Museum. Mute point now.

The burned out Stanley plus parts brought $10,800. That is a very good deal for Gordon. Everything helps, especially after a fire like this one.

A video of Gordon Sullivan's work shop, steam boat and his Stanley taken about 4 weeks ago at his open house can be viewed at [www.youtube.com] The machne shop burnded to the ground with only a small part of the north end (left end) was left standing. The steam boat and Stanley were left parked inside the right end of the shop. Little of anything was left after the fire. Our Stanley Mt. Wagon attended. With the extra miles that we had driven by giving rides, we put on 96 steam miles that day.

Pat thanks for sharing.
What a loss. A life time of work.
This video will be a treasure for them a long time.
Rolly

Hi Pat,,,What a sad ending,,,,but do you think the camera had the sounds of these scenes on file ?? I want the Calliope sound,,haha,,,
Other people will not know of the disaster,,I wount comment,,but think I am not qualified,,
Is there any chance the Harp survived,,,a jewell in any collection,,
Details of the end are sad,,,BUT also may serve as a driving force to get us to act on our vulnerable sides,,
Just my thought for now,,,,Ben

Dear Ben, Only the south 3/4 of the machine shop building was completely destroyed by the fire. The harp and the theater organ were in Gordon and Beverly's home and they were safe. Their home only received cracked windows from the intense heat. The fire departments prevented any further damage. The Stanley and Gordon's steam boat were not insured and they were great losses. The rest of the historical items were insured but they are now forever lost.

Stanley chassis is up for bids again - [cgi.ebay.com]

Apparently the eBay bidder backed out on his purchase when he found out how much heat damage there was done to the Stanley chassis in the garage fire. It was twisted and warped from the high heat. I personally looked at the remains and there wasn't anything left to the back half of the car that was usable in any way, shape, or form. Under the hood, it had some salvage as is shown in the photos. Time will tell what parts can really be picked from the charred remains.

Pat having looked at all the photos I was trying to imagine what was salvageable.
The cylinder block maybe. I have all my cast iron casting stress relived anyway, the forged parts I’m not so sure about. The springs could be re heat treated, but by the time you cleaned them up and did that you could make new ones for the same cost. Bronze casting should be OK if they did not melt. Like the throttle, and some of the valves.
Over all it does not look cost effective, other then to document measurement and use parts for making patterns.

Rolly

This time the burn out Stanley went for only $7,260. Still a bit high for what was left. At least two bidders thought that it was worth the $7,260. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the salvage and just what they can still use from it. If handling and labor was not an issue, they could recycle that much salvage from it. :)