Any railroad buffs or train-spotters here?

[230RN]

I've always thought that trains were pretty cool. Never got huge into them though. Back at the old home there was a track on the other side of our pasture and I would love waking up in the mornings before school and listening to the train. A few years ago I road a train all the way from Newton, KS to Chicago. Was pretty cool.

Hm.  That triggered another memory.  When the tracks ran back of our pasture, the week during a Burlington and Northern rail strike, I missed the regular rumble and horn blast at the crossing, but couldn't figure out the reason for my malaise until the strike was over.  Yeah, I know, there's an old joke about the factory whistle being broke, and when it didn't blow on schedule people would say, "What was that noise?!?!"  But it's true.

Terry, 230RN

[HankB]

Tangentially related, but in a book I read about Alaskan bush aviation, the author said plane engines sometimes had to be drained of oil. On extremely cold nights, the oil could freeze.

In WWII on the Eastern Front, the German troops had problems with thick oil in engines during the winter . . . their solution was to add some gasoline to the crankcase. The gasoline burned off as the oil warmed up, and there was no problem as long as the engine kept running, but once they stopped, they had to do the same again.

There were a few problems until they got the mix and the technique correct . . .

[Tallpine]

Tangentially related, but in a book I read about Alaskan bush aviation, the author said plane engines sometimes had to be drained of oil. On extremely cold nights, the oil could freeze.

I don't know that the oil could actually freeze, but it could get awful thick.

Besides, you could heat the oil in a kettle on a stove and then pour it back in the engine to sorta warm up the metal parts.

They also had cowling blankets to try to keep the engines warm.



Ever notice that almost everybody likes trains but hates the railroads     

[Boomhauer]

In WWII on the Eastern Front, the German troops had problems with thick oil in engines during the winter . . . their solution was to add some gasoline to the crankcase. The gasoline burned off as the oil warmed up, and there was no problem as long as the engine kept running, but once they stopped, they had to do the same again.

There were a few problems until they got the mix and the technique correct . . .

My '61 Cessna 182D has an oil dilution switch that dilutes the crankcase oil with a bit of fuel.

[Perd Hapley]

I don't know that the oil could actually freeze, but it could get awful thick.

I don't know, either. I believe the author said it could crack the engine.

[Gewehr98]

Yup.  N-Scale.

My 2-8-8-2 Pennsy Mallet pulling a long consist on a friend's layout:

[charby]

Some railroads (most obvious examples being the Central Pacific and Union Pacific) got substantial subsidies from the Feds.  Others such as the Great Northern were privately funded.  Then there were certain sweetheart deals such as leasing land from the government for a paltry sum and/or generous tax breaks.  Those might also be considered subsidies, depending on how far one stretches the definition.

Great Northern was given a crap load of land by the feds to sell to fund the building of the railroad.

[stevelyn]

Tangentially related, but in a book I read about Alaskan bush aviation, the author said plane engines sometimes had to be drained of oil. On extremely cold nights, the oil could freeze.

Still an issue, but nowdays they have electric heaters on the engines to keep them warm unless you are parked on a bush strip without access to electricity on the apron. Everyone has cowling blankets and wing covers too.

I remember a lot of oldtimers that homesteaded the interior telling me how they used to take a coffee can full of wood ashes dump some gas and oil in it, light it and shove it up under the oil pan of their trucks when it was -40F. When the fire burned out, you carried your battery out, put it in the truck, hooked it up and cranked the engine. Hopefully it would fire on the first couple of tries.

After you were done using the vehicle, you pulled the battery and set it next to the woodstove. Today we have electric block heaters, oil pan heat pads and battery blankets or heated plates. All our vehicles north of the range have electric cords hanging out of the grill. skAnchoragians for the most part rarely plug in.

[BobR]

I can remember growing up for a few years at Ft Greely, AK. even back then (late 50's) they had electrical plug ins for the cars in front of housing.

bob

[Tallpine]

Still an issue, but nowdays they have electric heaters on the engines to keep them warm unless you are parked on a bush strip without access to electricity on the apron. Everyone has cowling blankets and wing covers too.

I remember a lot of oldtimers that homesteaded the interior telling me how they used to take a coffee can full of wood ashes dump some gas and oil in it, light it and shove it up under the oil pan of their trucks when it was -40F. When the fire burned out, you carried your battery out, put it in the truck, hooked it up and cranked the engine. Hopefully it would fire on the first couple of tries.

After you were done using the vehicle, you pulled the battery and set it next to the woodstove. Today we have electric block heaters, oil pan heat pads and battery blankets or heated plates. All our vehicles north of the range have electric cords hanging out of the grill. skAnchoragians for the most part rarely plug in.

I must qualify as an oldtimer 

Back in Colorado (9500' ASL) we used to use a can of sawdust and diesel fuel under the oil pan of old trucks and tractors.

And I've done the battery next to the woodstove a few times, also.

Funny thing though was the people I worked for in the winter had several old GM trucks with straight sixes.  We never heated them and they virtually always started even at 40 below: groan - groan - groan - chug - chug - chug .... 

[Chuck Dye]

...groan - groan - groan - chug - chug - chug .... 

671 two stroke Jimmies are hard to beat.  But how long before they burned black instead of white?