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otisdog

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Everything posted by otisdog

  1. No power cars back in the steam days. Steam was piped through the train to provide heat and hot water, and power was generated by the method TwiceHorn states above. Dynamo was belt driven off of the axle.
  2. Big Boy has two steam generators (dynamos), but they only supply enough power to cover the on board comms and the running / headlights. The power for the rest of the train comes from a power car, which is a converted baggage car with a diesel powered electric generator. There have been two different power cars used on this trip.
  3. Interesting that the engineer ignored the standard safety protocol at the beginning of MFEU93's "pulling away" video above. There is a 'blue flag' marker hanging on the window sill towards the front. The blue flag denotes that the engine is being attended to by various service people, and each of the service people hangs their personal service ID on the marker to show that they are working on the engine. As the individual completes his job, he removes his ID from the blue flag. Once there are no more ID's hanging on the blue flag, it is removed. Once it is removed, the train can begin its movement. But in this instance, the engineer removes the flag whilst there are at least two ID's visible on it. This is a serious protocol violation, and would at least result in a suspension in the "real" world of train employment. The steam program isn't supposed to be an exception.
  4. Nope. This BigBoy has only been running since around June. Prior to that they last ran in the late '50's. What you probably saw was UP 3985, a 4-6-6-4, which looks similar but has 2 less driving axles. Parts of 3985 were canniblized to make 4014 functional, including the tender. Rumor has it that 3985 will never run again.
  5. So....you do know that you can read twitter without being on twitter?
  6. You are correct - and I did get some bad info....from a forest service ranger, of all people.
  7. mmm......national forests not so. Need to stay in "official" campsites inside the forest, generally. Some exceptions exist. BLM land is a go, though. Only restriction on BLM land is how close you can camp to the water. Fire permits often necessary, also. Lots more BLM land than federal forests, but it is generally not as nice as the later.
  8. Well, he's into the rookies now. They're new at this.
  9. Throwing items at moving vehicles is illegal. I live on a cul-de-sac that has 7 houses on each side. People turn onto it, go to the end, and frustratedly whip a u-turn and fly back towards the outlet. I keep a soccer ball handy, and kick it into the street in front of the speeding vehicle. Two of the cars have left on flatbeds, after they had folded a front wheel under the car after skidding into and bouncing off of the curb. Bummer.
  10. Note: The above ramble was composed while watching the Dodgers whoop on the Nats whilst consuming suds and brown water.
  11. Yes, there's something magical about steam engines. Carson & Colorado #18* was sitting in the park just off of Hwy. 395 at Independence, California. I had driven past it hundreds of times as I drove up to the Sierras, to go skiing, fishing or biking in my stomping grounds. Every 5 years or so, another coat of paint was added. Then walls, of sorts, appeared around the loco, as well as a fund raising sign. Then it dissappeared. 3 to 4 years later it was steamed up. I was incredulous. Having no track to run it on, they hauled it up 395 to the Laws railroad museum, just out side of Bishop. They had a bit of track there, and they let it stretch it's legs, a bit. Back to Independence it went, to sit in it's metal shed. Then a coal fired loco of the Durango & Silverton sparked a fire in Colorado. Despite how much cash the local tourist railroad contributed to the local economy, there was rumblings of shutting the railroad down. The railroad committed to converting some of the coal burners to oil burners, which don't spew the cinders that are associated with the coal burners. C&C 18 was trucked to Colorado so the Durango & Silverton engineers could learn the ways of a oil burning locomotive. Spent the summer there, but it's back in Independence now. Never thought it would run again, much less on the D&S. Sorry for the OT. I'll probably head out to the desert, spend the night in Afton canyon, and watch Big Boy chug through the next day. * The Carson & Colorado was purchased by the Southern Pacific, and #18 is lettered for that railroad.
  12. Actually, the steam train engineer , who had remote control of the diesels, neglected to turn down the power on the diesels. Same guy will be running the Big Boy.
  13. Schiff doesn't know the whistleblowers ID. Whistleblower contacted Schiff staff who sent him to the State IG. But Kevin McCarthy is running around lying that Schiff & the WB concocted this whole thing. Which is possible, I guess, if you can ignore the 'transcript' that was released.
  14. Nor did they at Clevland 5 weeks ago...i declared it though. Got me a 'fragile' sticker.
  15. This is going to sound a bit elementary, but riding 17 mile drive on a bicycle is one of the nicest rides that I've been on. Stop at the Tap Room @ Pebble Beach to 'rehydrate'.
  16. Woke up in the middle of the night screaming...Wife -Ambulance? Me -Fuck yes! Rolled me into ER and was told that I got to go to the head of the line because of my mode of conveyance. Doctor said 'we got just the thing" and hooked me up to an IV. Pee'd into the screen and caught that fucker...miniscule! Doc was delighted we had the culprit. Turned out I was poping Ascerola like candy for the vitamin C. Doc said that stuff was pure calcium, and so was my stone. No more Ascerola, and no more stones, so far. Not a big water fan.
  17. Cincy's leading DB, who had 3 game winning interceptions last year, injured his knee this week and is out for the season. Old Grand-Dad 114 is in the starting lineup tonight.
  18. It's amazing what a different P.O.V. will do...was a great game to watch in Los Angeles.....
  19. Was in Ohio 2 weeks ago, and OWA was common...you could buy 2 bottles a day. Sister-in-law is wondering when I will get the 2 cases out of her garage....
  20. Missed the last bottle of Elmer T. Lee by a couple of minutes this morning at Total Wine....12 bottles in 90 minutes. Damn Stones concert last night definitely affected my productivity this morning...
  21. Yeah this is the time to be in Hermosa....even during 'normal' times, it's hard to ride the strand bike path with all the 'scenery' towards the ocean!
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