Steam engine community turns out strong in Austin

AUSTIN — Steam engine hobbyists say the torch will need to be passed to keep the antique hobby alive.

At the Austin Threshermen’s Reunion & Stampede last month, about 30 volunteers ran demonstrations, such as by powering a sawmill and a farm plow with steam, and playing a game of tug-of-war with a steam-powered tractor. One hobbyist, Andy McMillan of Carman, said it’ll soon be up to a younger generation to get involved to keep the shows going.

“Its a dying hobby really,” he said. “A lot of these people I’ve known my whole life. Except there’s going to be a lot fewer cause people are getting older.”

Steam engine enthusiasts are used to seeing each other at events around the Prairies, even across the border into the United States, and running rigs together at various shows, he said. But as time passes, so grows the need for new interest and membership to continue the niche community.

“That’s why we’re trying to get the young guys involved. That’s why we got kids helping, you get them hooked,” he said, and gestured to youths involved in the sawmill at the Threshermen’s Reunion.

Museum-owned engines and privately-owned engines were used at the reunion to showcase the niche and promote it. McMillan said that he enjoys the volunteer work with steam engines, which have been his passion since childhood.

“People don’t know about this stuff. I was giving rides this morning, and people who come on, I let them steer (the tractor). And I tell them to ask me questions.”

John Warkentin, an 18-year-old from the Neepawa area, is one of the newer generation that has taken interest in steam engines.

Now having participated six years, he said he has worked hard to get into the community and stay — the community may welcome youth, but the youth have to “show their worth” to earn their keep in the long term, he said.

“I’ve pushed kind of hard to get into it. Because some groups don’t like a newcomer but if you can prove your worth they’ll keep you.”

He said he understands how it might be difficult to find youths that find the hobby fascinating. But the need for new blood is constantly discussed, he said.

“That’s talked about all time, it’s a big topic in the steam community,” Warkentin said. “I know most kids wouldn’t be interested in this. Some farm kids maybe. I’ve grown up with mechanical stuff like this and it’s natural so I like it. You can see the stuff turning, you can hear the steam hissing, you can tell it’s working.”

Warkentin knows half a dozen people near his age that are involved. He said that he works with people much older than himself in most cases when he is working with steam engines.

Warkentin started off by attending a short program called “steam school” offered by the Manitoba Agricultural Museum in Austin, and found that he liked the hobby. He has since been mentored on operation of steam engines from community members — and was part of the volunteering team at the 2026 Austin Threshermen’s Reunion & Stampede. Warkentin helped operate a steam-powered tractor that plowed a field, demonstrating how farmers used steam in times past.

He plans to get a steam tractor in the future if possible.

Warkentin’s younger brother, Jacob, 14, has also been involved, and helped run the steam-powered tractor at the event in Austin last month.

Mike Hawkins, a volunteer with steam engines at Manitoba Agricultural Museum, said that the Warkentin’s have been productive members in the steam community. He noted that John is recognized for his contributions.

Speaking about why it’s important to keep steam engines operational, Hawkins said the hobby is a form of education — and a way to understand human progress and history.

“How do you know where you are, unless you know where you came from?” he said. “I think it’s a way of giving back and preserving history.”

He volunteers to keep that message going, he said.

“The country was built on the backs of the people who lived like this.”

Hawkins is an engineer who operates a 1910-built Gar-Scott steam engine owned by the museum with the help of the Warkentin brothers and other volunteers. The tractor was operated by himself and the youth, along with another volunteer, at the Threshermen’s Reunion as one of three operational steam engines owned by the museum.

Ed Hachkowski, an Edmonton resident, drove to Austin in July to take in the sight of the running steam tractors. He feels the element of preserving and promoting history is a significant feature of the steam engine community.

“Oh yes that every important,” he said. “The kids these days have no idea what the pioneers went through. They can come and see the hardships that people went through.”

Hachkowski was one of a number of observers who watched from bleachers while Hawkin plowed a field in Austin using a steam-powered tractor.

The volunteer community on site also demonstrated how steam engines powered saws that cut logs down into boards and produced wooden shingles for rooftops.

Hachkowski, like many others in the community, said that his interest in steam engines grew from familial connections; the seed that was planted in his youth has grown to fascination today.

“I seen one sitting in the shed when I was about five or six years old. Now I’m 81 years old,” he said, and laughed. He said the tractors were the main reason he made the 12-hour drive.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com