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Museum Discussion / Re: Sheepscot pictures for the away crowd.
« on: January 19, 2020, 10:04:48 PM »
Thanks, Phillip. Fascinating stuff. You answered the question I had, but perhaps failed to clearly articulate.
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317
Museum Discussion / Re: Sheepscot pictures for the away crowd.
« on: January 17, 2020, 12:59:01 PM »
Can someone set me straight on Number 6's number plate? I thought WW&F 9 was ex-SR&RL 6, but that smokebox plate says Sandy River RR.
318
Work and Events / Re: Maine Two-footer Winter Photo Specials 2020
« on: January 16, 2020, 12:43:55 PM »
My father always advised me to allow for two pairs of socks when sizing winter boots.
The charcoal gizmos are an interesting engineering problem. They have to last long but also be warm, which are directly competing constraints. I have a pair of wool socks with a "toe pocket" that will hold the hand-sized charcoal gizmos. Those work better, but they do need room to fit. Hence the over-sized boots.
The charcoal gizmos are an interesting engineering problem. They have to last long but also be warm, which are directly competing constraints. I have a pair of wool socks with a "toe pocket" that will hold the hand-sized charcoal gizmos. Those work better, but they do need room to fit. Hence the over-sized boots.
319
Two Footers outside of the US / Re: AMTP in Pithiviers, France
« on: January 15, 2020, 10:11:45 AM »
Fascinating about the "smokeless" coal! I bet someone here in the US could ship you an ISO container full of "smoky" coal for a modest fee. 
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Two Footers outside of the US / Re: AMTP in Pithiviers, France
« on: January 13, 2020, 09:54:45 PM »
I'd be less concerned about spills and more concerned about rapid volumetric expansion.
Propane fuel tanks are pressure vessels, which have to be inspected, tested, and re-certified every so often. 300psi is a reasonable upper working limit.
An LNG tank is a giant Thermos bottle. There is still some vapor pressure as it warms; I do not know if these systems are vented like liquid nitrogen systems are. Close cousin CNG again uses a pressure vessel, sometimes upwards of 4000 psi.
Propane fuel tanks are pressure vessels, which have to be inspected, tested, and re-certified every so often. 300psi is a reasonable upper working limit.
An LNG tank is a giant Thermos bottle. There is still some vapor pressure as it warms; I do not know if these systems are vented like liquid nitrogen systems are. Close cousin CNG again uses a pressure vessel, sometimes upwards of 4000 psi.
321
Work and Events / Re: Event Pavilion for Alna Center - Official Reassembly Thread
« on: January 09, 2020, 03:41:45 PM »Am wondering when your 3-axle road trailer will run, especially if more equipment is coming.Two weeks ago when I dropped by, it was still upside-down with the wheelsets off. I believe it is waiting for some paint:
If someone is looking for something to do, there is the bottom side of the big trailer to paint. Brendan is waiting to reassemble it after it gets done. But we will need it soon so if it is going to get done it should be soon. A quick scrape and paint would be better than nothing.and
The paint for the trailer is in the garage by the bench. There is a gallon of primer and two gallons of cat yellow.
322
Work and Events / Re: Event Pavilion for Alna Center - Official Reassembly Thread
« on: December 20, 2019, 09:20:36 AM »Solar power brings a whole new level of potential.
... there has to be a bank of batteries ... it does have potential.
"Solar power" ... "batteries" ... "potential" ... No one's gonna jump on that?
Tough crowd today.
323
Museum Discussion / Re: B&SR no. 8 arrives at Sheepscot
« on: December 18, 2019, 08:35:59 PM »
No, you are correct; that figure is for the engine only. A fully-loaded tender would add roughly half as much again.
324
Work and Events / Re: WW&F No. 52 - Official Work Thread
« on: December 02, 2019, 03:18:16 PM »Dynamat is a sound deadening product, often used in vehicles ...
I have this product in my car. Expectations have to be set properly when using this stuff. It's primarily intended to address sympathetic resonance, such as that arising from hollow body cavities and long, unsupported body panel spans, rather than primary resonance, i.e. the source of the sound. It accomplishes this primarily by just being heavy. Heavy objects have a lower resonant frequency and require more energy to resonate. For a given component, adding dynamat pushes either or both of these parameters outside the range of human detection.
You can pretty much tell if dynamat is going to help or not by just rapping on things with your knuckles. If you get a ping, twang, clang, boing, crash, or boom, slap some on. If you get a click or thud, skip it.
True sound deadening requires highly energy-absorbent materials, like carpet, dense foam, and fiberglass batting, along with complete mechanical isolation including air passageways. So that means no free hot air from the engine compartment in wintertime, or even really any ventilation of any kind.
325
Work and Events / Re: Coal/Ash Facility - Official Work Thread
« on: November 13, 2019, 10:01:00 AM »Big concrete blocks are generally made by a local ready mix supplier [aka concrete delivery truck], as the concrete in the blocks was [more or less] ordered and paid for by a delivery customer. Typically the delivery customer does not want the 'excess' concrete, and it can't stay on the truck for the next customer. So the ready-mix company unloads it into block molds, and then later sells those blocks. Since this is essentially 'reject' concrete, its paid for by someone other than the block customer, which is why the blocks are relatively cheap, given their size.
So the trick is to find "local" blocks at a nearby ready-mix location. My Craigslist example listing was just to show what can be available. Odds are there are also blocks available from a closer concrete company.
My grandfather taught me when pouring a pad, sidewalk, footers, whatever, to ALWAYS have block molds or paver molds on-site, ready for the extra mix. Tell the driver to spin the barrel until it rattles. Obviously we're talking less than a yard, hopefully less than 1/2 a yard, for a residential project, but that's good concrete, son! It's neat to think the ready-mix plant does essentially the same thing.
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Volunteers / Re: November 2019 Work Reports
« on: November 07, 2019, 10:11:51 AM »
Those large trees, man: they just don't grow 'em like they used to. 
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Work and Events / Re: Mountain Extension - Official Work Thread
« on: October 23, 2019, 09:01:06 AM »
Hear, hear on the maintenance. Maybe I'm a little weird that I find maintenance tasks (of all kinds) exciting. But I can see the Work Weekends settling into a "ping-pong" type of arrangement, where one of the two (say, SWW) is allocated exclusively to heavy maintenance, and the other is allocated for capital improvement-type projects. Or, each WW is split 50/50.
New track is deceiving because it's all brand-new and beautiful. But that only happens once. If the lifespan of a crosstie is 10 years (just guessing a number), then we need to replace 10% of the ties per year, every year, forever. Persistent slow orders are insidious.
New track is deceiving because it's all brand-new and beautiful. But that only happens once. If the lifespan of a crosstie is 10 years (just guessing a number), then we need to replace 10% of the ties per year, every year, forever. Persistent slow orders are insidious.
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General Discussion / Re: Another steam weekend
« on: October 16, 2019, 07:35:11 PM »
I live like 20 minutes from that lake. I wish I could have arranged to get down there. I have never seen a steamboat. But now that I know, I'll be prepared for next year.
329
Work and Events / Re: What If? Design Project: 1925-1940 2ft Diesel
« on: October 09, 2019, 12:27:49 PM »Weighs 90 tons, too.
Where'd you get that figure? Everything I can find shows 48,000 kg or 53 short tons. That's a little more than double the axle loading of #9, but not ridiculous, esp. considering the 65-lb rail currently employed. Also no hammer blow to contend with.
The most striking observation is the obtuseness of a relatively powerful diesel-electric drive system in such a slim gauge, and the resulting enormity of the trucks. The traction motors sticking out asymmetrically from under those huge, high-arched sideframes are a disgrace, visually.
The loading gauge is also rather large, as Bill noted.
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Volunteers / Re: TOM Telephone
« on: October 01, 2019, 09:03:36 AM »Reminds me of when I was a child and we were on a party line. Our ring was one long and two shorts. The younger generation won't have any idea what I'm talking about.
Some of us have an idea...My grandmother likes to reminisce about eavesdropping on the party line in her neighborhood...had to be very careful about the receiver "clicks".
My wife's family owns property on Loud's Island and there was a party line there before lightning destroyed it. There is still an old directory hanging in the living room, probably 20+ entries. Our house is 4 long.