Calliope on Anna Marie?

Jon,

The calliope on the ANNA MARIE was built by David Morecraft in the winter of 1984-85 at the Morecraft Manufacturing plant in Peru, IN. It was his first attempt to replicate the Thomas J Nichol style of calliope and a successful one at that! At the time he was toying with the idea of building calliopes part-time and formed the Indiana Steam Music and Manufacturing Company for this purpose. This instrument is serial number 32-001 if you look at the bottom of low "C" (or the big whistle on the left hand side from the keyboard for the novice). The other calliopes he has built follow this numeric pattern save for the Str. AMERICAN QUEEN which is 37-006.

Originally he and his late wife Linda mounted it in a authentic circus wagon with a wood-fired 15Hp steam boiler. Later he mounted the calliope on the back of a flat bed truck with a propane-fired boiler. In 1994 he sold it to Capt. Nelson Jones for use on the ANNA MARIE.

At Tall Stacks 1992 Capt. Jones borrowed one of Dave Morecraft's steam calliopes (the instrument currently on the Str. SUCCESS in Holland) for a deck barge with a boiler and some steam whistles. The ANNA MARIE (Named for his late Mother) idea came later and debuted at the Charleston Sternwheel Festival in Charleston WV. I was the calliope player for that event held on Labor Day weekend in 1994. This is when he bought the 30-note instrument from Dave and made the Steam Barge we all know and love.

It is a 30-note affair. The original plan was to expand it later to 32-notes. However the two whistles crafted for that purpose ended up on the Str. BELLE OF LOUISVILLE in 1988 and he never revisited the plan. This might have been my fault, as I worked so hard to get the 32-note set of whistles on the BELLE and the opportunity window was so small to get it done, there was no choice but to make the sale and "get er done".

The keyboard on the ANNA MARIE was original (Dave had it custom-built by Peterson Organ Supply) to the 30 note instrument until 2000 when I built a replacement keyboard out of a Moller pipe organ console I got from Miller Pipe Organ here in Louisville. The keyboard is not faring too well in the changable weather of the Ohio/Kanawha River valleys and there is a plan in the works to replace it, hopefully with a metal shank/plastic keyset from a Hammond Organ (I had wanted to do this in 2000 and couldn't find a donor Hammond).

~Travis~

Funny you should mention the Hammond keyboard, Travis. Dave is trying to part with a Hammond T-412 that was purchased in the 1970s. He can't find anyone to take it off his hands, because no one is willing to move the thing! We had someone give us a rough estimate of its market value and found that due to poor oiling and maintenance, it's probably only worth $100 or so. However, the keys are all intact, and I believe the contacts work flawlessly.

Thanks for the information on the calliope on the Anna Marie. My family and I visited the Anna Marie during Tall Stacks in 2003 to see the calliope and the large whistles. Does Larry Spreckelmeir still have a part in it? I believe he used to bring some of his whistles. I once bought a 1.5" whistle valve from him and my wife and I saw his impressive whistle collection.

I also tried to arrange a whistle blow on the Anna Marie for our steam whistle design group of about 350 members for Tall Stacks in 2006, but the powers that be seemed much more interested in promoting the musical performing groups than the sound of steam whistles.

If you see Larry, tell him I said hi. He should remember me from my six years as Publisher of Horn & Whistle magazine.

[QUOTE=Travis Vasconcelos;3286]Jon,

The calliope on the ANNA MARIE was built by David Morecraft in the winter of 1984-85 at the Morecraft Manufacturing plant in Peru, IN. It was his first attempt to replicate the Thomas J Nichol style of calliope and a successful one at that!