JOSHUA PERRY
“I’ve always had a fondness for old stuff. One day I poked my head into the steam shop and found the answer to my free time: a really old authentic narrow guage steam engine. It was time to get my hands dirty.” Joshua’s great grandad used to keep the ideling steam engines in the Pittsburg, Penn. yard ready to roll in the 1890s so steam is in Joshua’s blood. Joshua started small when he was a kid with running Lionel model railroad setups. When he was four years old he became facinated with the engineering capablities of lumber company “Shay” steam engines and how they were specifically designed for the rigors of hauling trees out of the forest. He recoginzed that, like his father, he had a knack for mechanics.
Currently, Joshua is a Senior Airman in the U.S. Air Force and the Air Force has recoginized his talents by assigning him to a “Expeditionary Mechanics” team. This assignment takes him overseas to solve problems. Joshua is building a personal library on engineering, steam, railroads and his other hobby; rebuilding old outboard motors that spent their lives in Mexico. In addition, Joshua is studing aeronautical engineering leading to a college degree.
We are lucky he poked his head into the shop that Saturday morning because he has proved that he learns fast and is willing to jump in on any problem popping up in the shop.
