Second stop on our East Coast journey was recommended by Claude, Soulé Steam Museum, also called the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum. I think Claude knows me too well. Here was his recommendation:
Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum — right downtown, covering the industrial and manufacturing history of the state. Given your background in industrial machinery, Carl, this one might catch your eye.
(Everyone knows that Claude is an AI, right? And despite what my wife says, Claude is not my new best friend. But he was right on about this appealing to me.)
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- They made steam engines, not locomotives..
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- Controls for the furnace in the foundry.
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- Included this because I worked very briefly at Ideal Foundry in Newton Falls, Ohio.
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- The machine shop. I’ve spared you dozens of photos of the machines.
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- Before machines were powered by individual electric motors, I line shaft had belts to individual machines. This line shaft was steam powered, but water wheels and, later, large electric motors also powered them.
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- When I worked in engineering, this was our “Internet.”
Our arrival at the museum followed a visit to Dunk’s Auto Repair. Truck tire debris damaged the cover at the bottom of the engine compartment and ripped out a fog light of our 16-year-old minivan. The cover was dragging on the pavement. Fortunately, my The Travel Emergency Kit included duct tape to temporarily hold up the cover. It was just fiber. Siri located Dunk’s for us and provided directions. Dunk had it on the rack within minutes of our arrival. Declared the cover non-essential and removed it (Claude agreed) and temporarily reinstalled the fog light. He would not accept payment. If you’re in Meridian, Mississippi, Dunk’s should be your go-to repair shop.