August 22, 1998
Dear sir or madam:

     I am writing this letter to you and to your organization to
see if you have any information on a steam-operated organ that was
in a motion picture called "The Mighty Steam Calliope". I saw this
film when I was living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada prior to
October 1988. It was in their public library collection. If you have
any information on this steam calliope, please send what you have
to the following mailing address: 2721 Ransford avenue, Apartment 10,
Pacific Grove, California, United States of America 93950-5133. If
you choose to respond by e-mail, please make sure that each
writen line is no more than 68 characters long, including spaces
between words. My e-mail address is: rail1@rocketmail.com
     Thank-you for your complete co-operation.  Please answer this
letter as promptly as possible.

                             Yours Truly,

                                John A. Slobodin

 [ Both Beatrice Robertson and I received copies of this message.
 [ As a person who's always interested in new calliope sightings,
 [ this one caught my interest.  I've search AltaVista and found
 [ 13 hits.  The most promising (for the U.S.) was:
 [
 [    http://canada-acsus.plattsburgh.edu/500/588.htm
 [
 [ Here's an excerpt from the page:
 [
 [                Canadian Film Distribution Center
 [                         1-800-388-6784
 [
 [                 The Mighty Steam Calliope
 [
 [
 [ Shelf # VHS: V-588, Shelf # 16mm: S-588
 [ 9 minutes, color, 1978
 [
 [
 [ One of the most unusual musical instruments around these days,
 [ "the mighty steam calliope" runs on steam produced by a ton of
 [ "gofer" wood and needs a team of eight horses to pull it. Owned
 [ by the Minnie Thomson Memorial Museum of Stratford, Ontario,
 [ and fired by Duncan MacDermid, the calliope is one of the last
 [ of its kind. Taking in its energetic performance is a great way
 [ to spend a summer afternoon.
 [
 [  ---
 [
 [ All the other "hits" were from the Canadian Film Board.  I would
 [ guess that the film is still available on video tape.  The film
 [ was made 20 years ago.  Does anyone know anything about the
 [ Minnie Thomson Memorial Museum of Stratford, Ontario ?    --Jody