A few CVRR pictures and some other related pictures....2

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Somewhere along the line , I got the impression that when cars first appeared, the steering wheel was at the center, due, I suppose , to that being where the person directing the horse(s) sat with the reins in his hands for stagecoaches and carriages, etc. (?)

Some were and some were not; in some cases early on there was a tiller like on a boat instead of a wheel. Not sure when left side driver wheel was standardized in the US.

P.S. Isn't the seat for the farmer driving his tractor located at the middle of his driver's space ?

Not always. The original seat of my F-Cub was off-set to the right as were some other models.

[rogruth]

In my home town, the First Ward Fire Station had a huge fire truck that was built in the late 1910s that was right hand drive.
It was in regular use until the 1970s. No power anything on it. When it rolled down the street anything within @ 100 feet would shake.

[chuck]

Switch to left hand was with Henry Ford and the model T. He did that to make it easier for passengers to get in from the curb side. Early cars did have a "tiller" steering mechanism that was centered.

The decision to move the wheel to the left was in part based on the population being predominantly right handed. Horse drawn carts in North America were predominantly left hand "drive". The guy with the whip felt more comfortable being as close to the centerline as possible because he had a better view as oncoming carts would pass. He would sit on the left hand side of the and hold the reins and whip with his right hand. We tend to mount horses (and bicycles too) and walk them with the horse/bike to our right, aka we are on the left. Aircraft have the pilot position on the left. About the only major transportation element that has the "driver" on the right are the railroads? While our two track lines are configured the same as our highways, the guy (or gal) running the train sits on the right hand side. Probably because it's easier to communicate with the station personnel when the train goes through a station?

Back to the car in the photo. Do we have a date or rough location for the photo? Change over to left hand steering wheels was between 1910-1920. Model T was introduced in 1908. I don't thing its a Ford because Henry liked to put the Ford name across the radiator. It could be a Dodge or possibly an early Chevy.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Back to the car in the photo. Do we have a date or rough location for the photo?

No; neither.

[chuck]

Interesting fence. Horses way in the back ground?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Horses way in the back ground?

I'd be guessing to say what those shadows might be.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

[robert.]

I hope they left a way to retrieve the hay. Some photos leave more questions than answers.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I hope they left a way to retrieve the hay. Some photos leave more questions than answers.

I don't know if they are building or disassembling.

[robert.]

Never thought of it as a dissemble.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Never thought of it as a dissemble.

Well, there's too few men there to be a barn construction job, but it only takes 2-3 to take one down.

[chuck]

It may be both. The old barn may be coming down and a new one is being built as a replacement. The wood in the foreground is too long and new to have come off the old barn. Plus there are more guys in the background that are just blurs. They were moving too fast for the film to fully capture. Hope they do a better job on the foundations on the replacement. Also too many horses for just two guys.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Plus there are more guys in the background that are just blurs.

I'm not seeing them or the blurs,

Also too many horses for just two guys.

I watch Amish children using 3-5 horse hitches in the fields; 2 adult men can probably handle that many, too.

New lumber? Maybe? We used to salvage barns and old houses for the lumber; it was pretty good looking stuff since it was out of the weather.

But at the end of the day, I'm not 100% sure of which it is in the photo. Got one coming up that I think is completely wrongly labeled, but still very interesting subject matter.

[chuck]

Downloaded and started looking at the photo in zoom mode. There are some anomalies that are interesting. I'll post an annotated photo is I find anything worth while.

The odd thing to me right now is the horses are gathered around the two wagons munching on hay? Did they load the wagon with hay BEFORE they came to the site as a snack? If it is hay being taken from the old barn does it make sense to load it onto the wagons? Couldn't the horses jut eat the hay off the ground leaving the wagons empty for whatever they intend to haul away? That appears to be a pretty low spot in the photo's. Don't they usually build barns on higher ground for drainage?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Don't they usually build barns on higher ground for drainage?

They try for high ground, but bank barns are also built into the side of a hill so that the bottom floor may be 2/3 underground.