Vintage Snowmasters ready to blow

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 24/11/2023 (718 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some people stare out the window when there’s snow on the ground and grumble. Not Harley Lumb. As soon as the flakes start to fly, he hopes for accumulating snow — and a lot of it.

That’s because Lumb has the machinery to cut through the drifts and throw the snow, in not one, but two vintage snowblowers that each are more than 60 years old.

“I have an orange 1956 Sicard Snowmaster Junior that came from the Russell airport, and a yellow 1957 Sicard Snowmaster Senior, which as far as I know was purchased by the Royal Canadian Air Force and spent a lot of its life at the Gimli airport blowing snow,” Lumb said.

Lumb bought the orange ’56 Junior in 2020, so he has enjoyed three winters throwing and blowing snow while behind the wheel, but this will be the first winter for the bigger of the two trucks — the ’57 Senior.

“I just think they’re really interesting trucks, especially the level of ruggedness they have for what they were built for,” Lumb said.

“In 1956, the orange Junior was worth approximately $20,000, so this was a major piece of equipment for a town or city. And the big yellow one was about $52,000 at the time. So, they don’t make things like this anymore, and to me — they’re pieces of history.”

Each truck is powered by two engines, one to drive the truck while the other runs the snowblower.

The ’56 Junior is a standard four-wheel drive with a Chrysler 265-cubic-inch flathead, industrial, six-cylinder gasoline engine up front, which also drives the hydraulics for lifting the snowblower and operates the barrel around the impeller and the chute.

In the back is an Allis Chalmers 426-cubic-inch turbo diesel.

Lumb added the factory chute, which extends about five feet, rotates in a full circle.

The truck engine on the Snowmaster Senior is an International Red Diamond 501-cubic-inch straight six-cylinder, which also operates the hydraulic pump for running the snowblower.

The rear engine on the Senior has a 12-cylinder Detroit two-stroke diesel, “so it has lots of power,” Lumb said.

“It also has an air compressor on it because this truck has air brakes, and it also has a neat feature — air assist power steering. So when you turn the steering wheel, it hisses back and forth with an air cylinder helping you steer it. I’ve never experienced that before until seeing this truck,” Lumb said.

Now 31 years old, Lumb’s experiences with large trucks go back more than 15 years to when he would help his dad at the family-owned gravel pit just west of Brandon.

“I really enjoyed pulling and working on engines and had my first truck when I was 12, so I learned how to drive the loader, and was behind the wheel of a semi at a very young age,” Lumb said.

“I have always just loved anything mechanical, and as a little kid I liked snowblowers — also, I love old stuff. So my love of mechanical things and snowblowers — it’s a match made in heaven,” Lumb said as he laughed.

Another match made in heaven is the one Lumb has with his wife Hope, who he met eight years ago.

“The first time I met him, he drove an old truck, so I knew he liked the old things. And I’ve always liked the older vintage stuff, too,” Hope said.

“When he showed me his whole collection, I just thought it was really neat. You don’t see too many young people who have that kind of interest wanting to restore the old things.”

The youngest addition to Hope and Harley’s life is their 16-month-old son, aptly named Axle.

“We’re looking forward to when our son is bigger and understanding how the trucks work, and having us pass along that kind of history, knowledge, family heirloom and tradition on to him,” Hope said.

“We’re hoping he’ll like them. And that’s why his name Axle, is unique.”

While Axle sat on Hope’s lap in the cab of the Snowmaster Senior, a neighbour pulled into their yard to talk about the two big trucks.“There are one, maybe two times in the winter when there’s enough snow to bring it out to put it to use, and the rest of the time you’re working on it, fixing it. So you live for that one snow day, and when it comes you say — it’s here!” Lumb said.

And until that snow day arrives, Lumb will continue with the tuneups and fixing “the small leaks and other things here and there.”

“Other than that, it’s just keeping on top of it and treating it with respect,” he said. “They’re slow machines, but they’re capable of doing the one thing they’re built to do. But I don’t abuse them. They’re in semi-retirement mode now.”

As he watched Hope and Axle walk back to their house, he said there was a time when he thought about selling the Snowmaster Junior.

“The Junior is in good shape,” he said. “The tires are all original, all the lights work, and I got it to tuned up to where it runs really good now. It’s stable versus the yellow Senior that needs a fair bit of work, but it is well worth it to get that one happy, too.

“So, there’s one for Axle to run and one for me to run — just give it a few years, and he’ll be driving that in no time, I’m sure.”

If you or someone you know would like to be featured in our Rides section, let us know. Send an email to mmcdougall@brandonsun.com.

» X: @enviromichele