Large Scale Central

Jim, the New Guy, Checking In to say "Hello" and tell some Stori

General Discussion
#61

Here are two more speeder videos for you…

Keep in mind that they have no springs in the suspension.

This was on a NARCOA (www.narcoa.org) excursion on the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad taken at about 45 mph.

This was our first run at speed, we had never gone above 10 mph before. It was scary at the beginning but as we gained confidence in the speeder we were able to keep up with the guy in front of us.

This was climbing up the Natanyahu River Gorge - You can see the rafters in the river on the left.

http://youtu.be/bHXphttKuXI

http://youtu.be/FbAvw7_Gpts

#62

Thanks, Jim. That gives me some ideas!

#63

There is one more major part to the story of my adventures at the SC RR Museum. The 1947, American, 25 ton, Locomotive Crane. Here is a photo of it at Anderson Quarry in the early 1960’s after the quarry had shut down.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/Timms1.jpg)

Everyone at the RR Museum “Knew” that this crane had been sold for scrap years ago and was long gone. One guy at the Museum, who turned out to be a consistent liar and story teller, told us that he had operated it when he was young (10) and his father worked at the quarry and that he had seen it cut up for scrap and hauled away with the rest of the old equipment. One Sunday, Larry and I decided to drive out to Anderson Quarry and “look around.” Remember that I wrote earlier that the Museum had lost the last 1/2 mile of track in a law suit in its early days. Some of it was still there and Larry and I walked from the quarry. east along the old track to explore.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/IMGP0175.jpg)

We walked up to the red highway crane that the land owner was using to lift the chunks of granite out of the piles on each side of the track so that they could be cut up into building block size and sold. By then, most of the old track had been covered over with dirt & stone so the trucks could drive in and out, but it was still there. As we approached the red crane we could see a green crane behind it. Things were tight and we had to climb over the outriggers of the red crane but we got past and there it was. Derailed on the left side and overgrown with weeds and saplings from sitting for several years.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/Imgp0172.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/Imgp0171.jpg)

#64

Monday morning I contacted the land (and crane) owner and got his permission to examine the crane thoroughly. He faxed me a permission slip to go in there because he had been having vandalism problems and the Sheriff was patrolling the area for him. On Wednesday, Larry and I examined it in detail and Larry said we could get it running again. On Saturday we drug the Museum’s Chief Mechanic to the site to check it out and a number of other Museum members went along.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/Imgp0151.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/Imgp0131.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/IMGP0137.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/IMGP0138.jpg)

Everyone climbed all over it and after an hour or two the Chief Mechanic pronounced it “damaged beyond repair” and one of the other guys said “you will never get it to the Museum anyway!” and they all left. Larry and I hung around for awhile talking and Larry (who is a highly skilled and experienced mechanic) convinced me we could get it running again. We decided to get two other guys at the Museum involved, Jack and Rodger, and we would see what we could do with it. So Monday morning I called the owner and talked with him about donating the crane to the Museum. He came up on Wednesday and he showed me around and explained his concerns about safety but in the end he agreed to donate it and we shook hand. We had a deal! The Museum owned the crane!

#65

I need to explain Museum and SC State Politics before I go any farther with this story.

The Museum was pretty much divided into two groups. The “In Crowd” was most of the original members who had been around for 20 years or more and all they really wanted to do was run the trains.

Larry and I were the leaders of the “Out Crowd” and we believed in preventative maintenance of the equipment and the track and preservation of what the Museum had, most of which was sitting around and rusting away.

I managed to get myself elected to the Museum’s Board of Trustees and worked with the current chairman to get a $250K grant for track renovation. The Museum’s trains were currently running out 3.5 miles and then they would back up to the station. At the 3.5 mile post, there was a long deep cut that was impassable. Beyond the cut Museum Volunteers had rebuilt the track to the 5.0 mile post. When the work in the cut was done, the trains started running out 5 miles and backing up. This gave a one hour ride which is the practical limit for kids with no rest rooms on the train.

The next year I took over as Chairman and got a few more $250K grants. However the grant rules had changed and the Museum had to come up with a 20% match. Either $50K cash or donations. Being a sneaky guy, I figured out how to use the original donation of the entire railroad as a donation that met the match requirements.

So all of a sudden money is pouring in and the track is being upgraded and the “In Crowd” was seeing their quiet little train ride operation threatened with all kinds of changes.

So I was ousted from the Board in the next election. I offered to continue to do grants for the new board but they declined and did them themselves. None of them were ever approved!

In SC, who got the grants was determined by the State District Road Commissioners appointed by the governor. They had a staff that reviewed the grant applications and made recommendations, but the Commissioners made the final decisions. I got three of them to the Museum for a deluxe tour and visited the rest. So the “Fix was in” for my grants. The new Board thought they were smarter than me but they really weren’t because they just mailed in the applications and never talked to the Commissioners.

#66

So Larry and I happily worked on the crane with the help off and on of a few good guys. The first thing we did was jack it up and re-rail it.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/IMGP1515.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/IMGP1514.jpg)

The crane had derailed on a curve by shoving the left rail out and the left wheels fell inside the rail. Once we had it jacked up we set gauge rods under it to pull the left rail back into place under the wheels. Here we are the day we finished and had it back on the rails.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/IMGP1536.jpg)

#67

One of the main issues we had to address was getting the crane to the Museum’s Live (rebuilt) Track. It weighed 108 tons!

It was located in the middle of the 1/2 mile of track that the Museum lost in the Law Suit. Moving it on the track would have required rebuilding or replacing the Mills Creek Viaduct. Plus the property owner, who was on our side, had a deed restriction on his land that he could never operate a railroad. Lots of guys in the Museum had all kinds of grand schemes to overcome this problem but if we did get it to the current “End of Track” we would still have 6.5 miles of track to rebuild before we could move it east.

I met with a professional heavy equipment and house mover and he said he could move for only $25K.

The “In Crowd” is still busily saying we can’t get it running or move it if we do.

#68

The crane has a 6 cylinder Caterpillar engine with a small two cylinder auxiliary engine bolted to it. The starter for the auxiliary engine didn’t work but we were able to find a shop that rebuilt it for us. You would start the auxiliary engine on gas and when it warmed up engage the main diesel engine which would turn over slowly and build up oil and fuel pressure. The coolant for the auxiliary engine was hooked into the coolant for the main engine so it warmed up the main engine as it ran. When everything was warm we would switch to another gear on the auxiliary engine which spun the main engine faster and if everything was right the main engine started. So after two years of work, we finally got it running.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/IMGP1639.jpg)

Here are two short videos. I am narrating and you can tell that I was excited! http://youtu.be/9ZXm3clm4XI http://youtu.be/vT4oWS9QfKU

#69

One thing I forgot to mention is that the controls are all air operated and the air compressor was in bad shape and could not generate enough pressure. Larry tried rebuilding it in place but that didn’t work.

So… At Rion yard was a bunch of old “Junk” equipment that “everyone said” we were going to rebuild one day or use for parts. Larry and I found an air compressor in one old engine and liberated it. It weighed 900 pounds and we lifted it up with a chain hoist and then used “Come-Alongs” to slide it over heavy boards out of the engine and into Larry’s truck. Larry took it home and rebuilt it completely.

He brought it out to the quarry and the two of us manhandled it over the red crane and into our crane and got it working.

ZOWIE! We had good air pressure but the system only worked with the engine running. there were leaks everywhere which we went after and fixed, one at a time.

#70

Then my phone rang one day and the guy who donated the crane to the Museum told me that “scrappers” had offered hime $5K for the crane and he needed the money. I talked him down to $3K. We raised the money from Museum members and he came up, we did the deal, and I had the Museum’s volunteer attorney present and we got a properly notarized and witnessed bill of sale.

#71

Another day my phone rang again and he said the crane was in the way of his operations and asked when we were gong to move it. I told him we could move it east on the old track to get it out of his way and he said that would be OK. So we inspected the track, put in a few gauge rods, and Larry fired it up and move it east to the east end of the track. A big day for us! The first time we moved it under its own power. You can tell Larry was pleased in the photo below.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v329/Trainman-2/SCRM/Moved-01.jpg)

#72

I’m really enjoying these stories - Thanks so much for posting them.

#73

Ditto…and welcome!

#74

What a labor of love!
You should publish this in a booklet.

#75

So, if the crane was donated to the museum, didn’t it become the property of the museum? Handshake deals still stand up in court.

#76
Jim M. said:
You would start the auxiliary engine on gas and when it warmed up engage the main diesel engine which would turn over slowly and build up oil and fuel pressure. The coolant for the auxiliary engine was hooked into the coolant for the main engine so it warmed up the main engine as it ran. When everything was warm we would switch to another gear on the auxiliary engine which spun the main engine faster and if everything was right the main engine started.

So after two years of work, we finally got it running.


It takes two years to start that thing? How many trips to the gas station with a 5 gal can is that? :lol: :stuck_out_tongue:

#77
Steve Featherkile said:
Jim M. said:
You would start the auxiliary engine on gas and when it warmed up engage the main diesel engine which would turn over slowly and build up oil and fuel pressure. The coolant for the auxiliary engine was hooked into the coolant for the main engine so it warmed up the main engine as it ran. When everything was warm we would switch to another gear on the auxiliary engine which spun the main engine faster and if everything was right the main engine started.

So after two years of work, we finally got it running.


It takes two years to start that thing? How many trips to the gas station with a 5 gal can is that? :lol: :stuck_out_tongue:

Remember, everything we took in we had to carry across two sets of out riggers from the red crane and all of the rocks. We took out 4 or 5 buckets full of mud dobber nests from everywhere inside the crane. The crane was also full of rats! We dropped two boxes of rat poison every time we visited and they were gone the next time we came back. The fuel system was rebuilt and new injectors were installed.

Cold in the winter, hot in the summer!

A lot of preparation including changing all of the oil in the engine and gear boxes and we drained, flushed, and refilled the radiator.

#78

Just pulling your chain, Jim. You’ll have to get used to that, here.

What I was trying to ask was, did it really take two years to warm up the diesel, using that aux engine?

#79

So one day the phone rings again and it is Jack with good news.

He got the money to move the crane, $25K donated by two highway bridge construction companies who agreed to split all of the costs.

The next day I called the mover and we set a date. He asked for 50% up front and Jack got that done.

Larry and I went to the quarry to check things out and lay out what we had to do. The move would be 6 weeks away.

It had been 5 or 6 weeks since we had been there and we were shocked when we arrived.

The land owner’s crews had been dropping chunks of rock onto the rails and they had pulled some up that were “in their way” and scrappers had torn out 600’ or track!

Damn!

The deal with the mover was that we had to move the crane from where it was about 1300’ west to a wide spot in the old roadbed where he could work on it. We had planned to move it on the old track using gauge rods and now half of the track was gone.

#80

And then what happened? :stuck_out_tongue: