PHOTOS: The antique, horse-drawn steam engine inside the Yantic Fire Engine Co.'s headquarters bay can't match its modern counterparts when it comes to mobility or pure gallon-pumping power, but it sure does look pretty.
After a three-year repair and refurbishment process, the department’s 1891 Silsby Steam Engine is back home in all its nickel-plated glory, with fresh paint, newly upholstered seats and modern coils of hose.
And while the guts of the engine are archaic by today’s standards, its basic design is the same, Assistant Chief Paul O’Connell said this week. “Today’s $1 million trucks use diesel and combustion, while the Silsby used coal and steam to extract and discharge water to put out fires,” said O’Connell, the department’s historian. “It’s always been about putting wet stuff onto hot stuff.”