WATERLOO - For the third straight year, vintage tractors from across the country are coming home to Waterloo.

The annual Two-Cylinder Tractor Expo begins Thursday at the National Cattle Congress. The NCC grounds sit near the site where many of the antique tractors were originally built by John Deere in Waterloo.

"Most of these tractors were built next door years ago," said Jim Koch, NCC facilities manager.

The two-cylinder engine tractors will be on display through Saturday at McElroy Auditorium, Estel Hall, and the Agriculture Building on the NCC grounds.

Admission is $5. All children 12 years old or younger are admitted free.

Jack Cherry, event organizer and editor of the Two Cylinder magazine, said Waterloo is fitting location for the expo because of John Deere and the city's connection to the antique tractors.

The Waterloo Boy, one of the first two-cylinder tractors, was manufactured in the 1910s in Waterloo by the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. John Deere bought the company in 1918. About 400 tractors will be on display.

"It's my wish that we would always come here," he added.

As a nod to Deere workers, Cherry, a retired John Deere employee, said all John Deere workers and retirees will be admitted to the expo for free.

Prior to the three-year run in Waterloo, the expo has been held in Amana and Peosta.

Don Hach of Dysart has attended all the expos. He brought two pieces of history with him to Waterloo from the Dubuque John Deere plant - the first two orange model MI John Deere tractors ever built.

Hach would like to see the expo stay in Waterloo.

"I'm prejudiced," he admitted. "It's close."

William Schulte, who has been driving two-cylinder tractors most of his life - first as farm machines, now as antiques - said he wouldn't mind having the expo in his hometown of Amana.

"It's nice to have them outside too," he said as he wiped rain water from the wheels of his model B John Deere tractor Tuesday morning.

In the end, where the event is held is only a secondary concern to some of those who attend.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Dave Coe of Nora Springs said as he set up his tractors Tuesday. "I never get tired of looking. It's a new adventure every time."

Doug Miller, general manager of the NCC, said the expo is always welcome back.

"We'd like to do it every year," he said. "It's good for us, it's good for the Cedar Valley."