His work, military background and the steam engine he made in his spare time.
Edgar’s homemade steam engine
Before he became a familiar face at Roling’s, Edgar E. Linneman had spent two years flying single- and multi-engine aircraft during World War II. His July 1967 staff profile described four years of military service with the Western Flying Training Command and schooling at Hays State Teachers College and the Army Air Corps Mechanics School. He joined J. F. Roling & Son in September 1952 after five years of similar work in Glasgow.
Staff-profile source: Salisbury Press-Spectator, July 14, 1967, page 12, “Meet the Staff of J. F. Roling & Son.” View the original profile clipping (saved source screenshot).
Edgar Linneman’s spare-time project was small enough to measure in inches, but it could do real work. A September 1958 newspaper story described the model steam engine he built at the Roling Machine Shop: twenty-eight inches long, sixteen inches high and about 120 pounds. It took him roughly six hundred hours, and he made most of the parts himself.
Fueled with wood or coal, the little engine could pull Edgar along in a cart and run a miniature sawmill he had also built. He took it to steam-engine gatherings, including the meeting at Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The newspaper reported that a picture of his engine had appeared in the September issue of Popular Mechanics. He had received offers to buy it, but none had persuaded him to part with six hundred hours of his own work.
Nine years later, the shop’s seventy-fifth-anniversary invitation advertised a demonstration of Edgar’s miniature sawmill and steam engine.
Source: “Edgar Linneman’s Model Steam Engine Pictured In Magazine ‘Popular Mechanics,’” Salisbury Press-Spectator, September 19, 1958, page 1. Original newspaper page.
Tim remembers Edgar telling him firsthand that he built a complete, working steam engine on the shop’s lathe using excess materials, and that Joe had told him it was fine to work on it during his downtime. Tim recalls the engine being big enough for Edgar to ride behind in local parades and festivals and pull wagons. To Tim, it was an engineering marvel, made from the materials and tools around him.
Family recollection: Tim Roling, recalling his conversation with Edgar Linneman.