what did you do today?

[slip knot]

After 3 nights of hard freezes we finally saw some decent weather today... Got up to the 50s, And things started leaking. My brother had a busted pipe in his yard that we fixed and the neighbor behind me had his house filter crack. Went by to look at it and its just the bowl thats cracked, should be able to get one tomorrow when the stores open.
 Hard to feel too sorry for either of them. Niether one took any freeze precautions. My brother didn't even drip that faucet and the nieghbor didn't even insulate the filter. All the insulation was still on the ground from where I fixed a leak there 2 years ago.
Left my cell on the kitchen table and went to feed cows.  peaceful 3 hours...

[goodfellow]

Last year we were fishing and boating on Christmas day. We grilled dinner on the deck. Temps were in the low 70s. This year we’ve had sub-freezing temps for four days in a row, and the heat pumps can’t handle single digit night time temps. Had to have the propane E-heat furnace on to make the house warm.


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[fatfillup]

Brutal cold here but no snow.  Really feel for those folks in Buffalo and around. 

We have no freeze issues but the boiler in our investment property is leaking through the outside water jacket.  Really odd.  Only leaks when it gets hot.  It will run for 3 minutes or so then start seeping out through the cast iron jacket.  Once the burner shuts off it quits leaking. 

No one is living there and I keep the house around 50 so it doesn't run that much.  Stop by in the morning and evening and vac up about a quart of water. 

My buddy is in HVAC and said that sometimes they will leak until they get good and hot then seal themselves but not the case here.
Unit is older but works so nice.  We have no intention of renting the house out and will sell it as soon as we find our retirement haven with a jumbo shop, hopefully this year.  I bought the property for the 4200 sq ft of buildings as I needed the storage space and the price was right.   

Will price a new boiler but am hesitant to do it as the house has no AC and whoever buys it may want to go a different route for heating and ac.  The house, while structurally sound and has gorgeous woodwork needs upgrading in many areas.

Once my guy looks at it, I will try some JB weld to seal the leak.  Temporary at best I know but may hold for a bit

[Rural53]

What I forgot to mention in yesterday's post was I has two wisdom teeth out on Wednesday, so I'm having to be careful with what I eat at the moment.

Today I headed home stopping at a couple of places. First stop was the Quan Am Buddhist Monastery.


They have a statue garden.


Next stop was Mercer Airfield. I haven't been here for about fifteen years when I went for a ride in the Pilatus Turbo Porter that they were using for sky diving, best $40 airplane ride ever.


Since then the airfield has been sold and some development has gone on.  The biggest addition is a WW2 hanger that has been relocated from the South Island.



The Sikorsky S-92 that Rocket Lab use to catch their rockets out of the air while they are descending on parachute.


A US registered  Aerospatiale AS 330 Puma set p for logging.


Talking of Rocket Lab, the white building at the far end of the runway is Rocket Lab's engine test facility.


The sky dive planes taxi across this bridge.


Mainline Steam Trusts unrestored engines on the siding near their new development at Mercer.

[slip knot]

Brutal cold here but no snow.  Really feel for those folks in Buffalo and around. 

We have no freeze issues but the boiler in our investment property is leaking through the outside water jacket.  Really odd.  Only leaks when it gets hot.  It will run for 3 minutes or so then start seeping out through the cast iron jacket.  Once the burner shuts off it quits leaking. 

No one is living there and I keep the house around 50 so it doesn't run that much.  Stop by in the morning and evening and vac up about a quart of water. 

My buddy is in HVAC and said that sometimes they will leak until they get good and hot then seal themselves but not the case here.
Unit is older but works so nice.  We have no intention of renting the house out and will sell it as soon as we find our retirement haven with a jumbo shop, hopefully this year.  I bought the property for the 4200 sq ft of buildings as I needed the storage space and the price was right.   

Will price a new boiler but am hesitant to do it as the house has no AC and whoever buys it may want to go a different route for heating and ac.  The house, while structurally sound and has gorgeous woodwork needs upgrading in many areas.

Once my guy looks at it, I will try some JB weld to seal the leak.  Temporary at best I know but may hold for a bit

[/quote

Maybe try some radiator stop leak in the feed water.

[fatfillup]

Maybe try some radiator stop leak in the feed water.

Thought about that but don't want to clog of the baseboard system. 

Not overly concerned, cause I think I can limp through this season since no one is living there and once it gets into the 40's during the day,it won't run much anyway

[oldnslo]

A new year, a new day, a new scorecard, a joyous celebration of finding the pest removal box-o-snapping toys, and a renewed effort to rid the back 40 (really just an acre) of unwanted hole diggers.


oldnslo 1, pesky no-good varmit gophers 0.

[john k]

Rural, that steam locomotive, the bigger one,  I saw a video of those being built in England..  Which I cant find.  Remember they were being sent to South Africa.  Wonder what they were required to haul in your country?   Recall they were the only locomotives bigger than the Union Pacifics Big Boys. 

[pep]

Speedway goodness arrived.

[jabberwoki]

Call me a tease.....sheesh.

[pep]

In the box is an axel, it is cut to size, and comes complete with a bearing pressed on & and a set of lug studs.

Frist picture set marking the length.

For the second set, the retainer holes are 3/8, I need 1/2. Cut the retainer off the axel mark up to make a new part, seen.

The 1/2 holes means this 9" is a truck housing. Speaking with SWM and telling them what I had, check the responce.

From techsuport,
 1 We do not have a retainer for this housing ...ok
 2 Followed with a common street rod fix, they had 2
 3 Wollow out the holes, egg shape ...........nope
 4 remove the 1/2 bolts on the end of the tube, ready replace with 3/8.....nope X 2

Not able to contain myself, I laught out loud. Telling him he had no business wearing a tech support hat. And his ideas were micky mouse at best.

thanks & no thanks, pathetic seems to fit.

Anyway there you are, highlighting the tagline "bolts right on", and what I call the industry inside joke.

Got love this stuff
 

[goodfellow]

Good work Pep -- you an obvious turd into a usable part. Gotta love some of these "so called" customer oriented business practices.
I miss the old speed shops where the staff really knew their stuff.

[Rural53]

Rural, that steam locomotive, the bigger one,  I saw a video of those being built in England..  Which I cant find.  Remember they were being sent to South Africa.  Wonder what they were required to haul in your country?   Recall they were the only locomotives bigger than the Union Pacifics Big Boys.

Yes, it is an ex-South African Beyer-Garratt GMAM class No. 4083, it is configured 4-8-2+2-8-4. One of the Mainline Steam Trust founders has a thing for South African locomotives, he owns several. After service for South African Railways until the late 1980s, became Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Company's R3. In 1997, after a rebuild it came to New Zealand for preservation with Mainline Steam using the power units off 4088 and was steamed here twice. However, the front power unit was found to be bent upon testing in New Zealand and a replacement power unit off the dismantled 4126 was shipped from Dunn's. Today is fitted with the front engine unit of no. 4126 and the rear of no. 4088.

Video of South African Railways GEA & GMAM Garretts

The other locomotive in my photos is an ex-South African Henschel & Son Class 25 4-8-4 of 1953, a condensing steam locomotive, ie it recovers its exhaust steam. This one was converted to Non-condensing specification in 1970.


Neither of these locomotives can run on New Zealand mainline as the loading gauge is narrower (9 ft 3 in) than South Africa (10 ft 0 in).

New Zealand did operate three Garratt 4-6-2+2-6-4 locomotives from 1928. They were an unusual six cylinder configuration with the third cylinder between the frame rails. They were not particular successful and were withdrawn from service in 1931.


They were dismantled and the engine units used to build six new 4-6-2 locomotives based on the A^B Class Pacific locomotive.


The largest steam locomotive operated in New Zealand was the 4-8-4 K Class and its variants.

[muddy]

Rural, that steam locomotive, the bigger one,  I saw a video of those being built in England..  Which I cant find.  Remember they were being sent to South Africa.  Wonder what they were required to haul in your country?   Recall they were the only locomotives bigger than the Union Pacifics Big Boys.

Yes, it is an ex-South African Beyer-Garratt GMAM class No. 4083, it is configured 4-8-2+2-8-4. One of the Mainline Steam Trust founders has a thing for South African locomotives, he owns several. After service for South African Railways until the late 1980s, became Randfontein Estates Gold Mining Company's R3. In 1997, after a rebuild it came to New Zealand for preservation with Mainline Steam using the power units off 4088 and was steamed here twice. However, the front power unit was found to be bent upon testing in New Zealand and a replacement power unit off the dismantled 4126 was shipped from Dunn's. Today is fitted with the front engine unit of no. 4126 and the rear of no. 4088.

Video of South African Railways GEA & GMAM Garretts

The other locomotive in my photos is an ex-South African Henschel & Son Class 25 4-8-4 of 1953, a condensing steam locomotive, ie it recovers its exhaust steam. This one was converted to Non-condensing specification in 1970.


Neither of these locomotives can run on New Zealand mainline as the loading gauge is narrower (9 ft 3 in) than South Africa (10 ft 0 in).

New Zealand did operate three Garratt 4-6-2+2-6-4 locomotives from 1928. They were an unusual six cylinder configuration with the third cylinder between the frame rails. They were not particular successful and were withdrawn from service in 1931.


They were dismantled and the engine units used to build six new 4-6-2 locomotives based on the A^B Class Pacific locomotive.


The largest steam locomotive operated in New Zealand was the 4-8-4 K Class and its variants.

As a rail fan (I wouldn't say nut I don't know as much as most out there) love seeing these old steamers.

Never heard of 4-8-2+2-8-4. Amazing machines. Thanks for sharing.

I may be biased but I still think American locomotives have better styling.

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[muddy]

Did emergency hip surgery on two patients tonight.  Surgical glue didn't work, so we had to use a coat hanger "pin" in the joint.  Patients are in full recovery.


Apparently flying Samuel Airlines through the staircase route is a dangerous thing











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