BigGRacing
Aka. Gary Russell
Found out that they have part of a turntable that came in with the steam engine as well, another story for you to link up to if you want on Facebook.
Running Bear's February 2023 Coffee Shop
- Thread starter Chrιstιaη
- Start date
- Status
NYC_George
Well-Known Member
The new toilet I bought for the bathroom uses almost no water and flushes extremely well. New technology I guess. It reminds me of a vacuum cleaner sound when it flushes.
On another note, unrelated to the new bathroom, yesterday the whole plumbing system in the house stop working. I started looking around and found that the discharge hose from the washing machine was clogged with lint. Not only that but the main 4 inch waste water pipe was also clogged. I poured some Flow Easy drain cleaner (sulfuric acid) down the main wastewater pipe, and it finally cleared it up after around 5 hours. It usually takes Flow Easy 20 minutes to clear things up. Tough getting through all that lint I guess. I'm going to have to build something to fix this problem. I'm thinking about a filtered catch box that the washing machine's discharge house dumps into before entering the septic system. I'm already working on it. I bought about 16 new cotton towels a few months back and I'm thinking that's where all the lint is coming from.
Swal
The ones I am referring to are insulated/isolated from the main frame/body. They came later in the production timeframe. They are easily identified by the gap inboard of the nose, which I believe is more heavily armored than the earlier ones without that gap and also another one on the lower sides of the cab which angles up from the nose and levels out about a foot from the bottom. This is one of the 2005 production 4300 series ACe's. Note there is no major joint line on the sides
And this next one is from the later 4400 series which distinctly shows the joints mentioned. BNSF no longer has any of the earlier model on it's roster. They could be still used in a mid consist position, but they would not use them where crews were. MRL frequently runs 4 and 5 unit helper sets over the 2 main passes, Bozeman and Mullan, which would allow the use of the 4300's in the center positions. This could happen during and for a while after the handover but as mentioned BNSF no longer has them, it's assumed they won't keep them long term. Here is 4408 showing this feature
This is also a good photo showing what is probably the only ACe's in the US with this other spotting feature. The 5 step corners. This order of 9 locos was "tacked on" to an order for the Mexican RRd's and Built in Mexico. I'll leave you to surmise as to why an extra step was added. Might be another reason why BNSF won't want them either. Crews might by now be used to running up and down the 4 step versions and trip if they were confronted with one of these in the mix.
Last edited:
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Is the Flow Easy drain cleaner safe to use on septic tanks and the helpful bacteria that they use to keep things flowing?
SD70MAC/ACe isolated cabs - Trains Magazine - Trains News Wire, Railroad News, Railroad Industry News, Web Cams, and Forms
Trains magazine offers railroad news, railroad industry insight, commentary on today's freight railroads, passenger service (Amtrak), locomotive technology, railroad preservation and history, railfan opportunities (tourist railroads, fan trips), and great railroad photography.
cs.trains.com
NYC_George
Well-Known Member
Willie It's sulfuric acid. Whether that's good for the septic system I don't know. My friend Ray the plumber told me it will do the job.
Swal
Vewy interwesting, I always thought it was a crash protection issue, apart from comfort but driving a massive tonnage train and crashing it into another one probably doesn't occupy the mind too much when you are. It's a bit of a mixed bag as to who has what and why. The 4 ACe's that MRL only relatively recently got from BHP Australia, joined the other 4300 series (4319-4319) and have a couple of differentiating spotting features. Double horns (forward and backward, one on each side) and horizontal louvres over the grilles on each side at the rear. They also came originally with a lowered radiator fan shroud to clear the loading facilities doorway. These were restored to original in the pre service entry. All seems very strange as to why they got them now. But MRL management are no strangers to peculiar decisions e.g. Why would you rebuild/recondition/repaint into the new logo, 2 SD45's (301 & 311) and then have them cut up on the premises shortly afterward and keep others not so done. A recent comment on FB from someone there at the time said you could eat your dinner off the engine block of one of them. Is running a company by a Board akin to doing it by a Committee?
Smudge617
Well-Known Member
Depending on the Sulphuric acid content, not good, highly corrosive and highly poisonous too.
I'm Ray, but not a plumber (well, not a registered one) and I can tell you sulfuric acid will do an excellent job of cleaning every last speck of badness from your septic system. Including that which makes it work. It looks like there was the start of an instruction to ingest it as well. That would surely make sure there was never a blocked bowel to be concerned about either. And the ingestee would never bother anyone again. Cleaned out from top to bottom. Blow through their mouth to try to revive them and they may even whistle.
chadbag
Well-Known Member
That was my thought.
kbkchooch
"retired" conductor
Good morning gang!
Happy Monday to one and all!
On septic issues, our neighborhood Plummer told me blockages you clear manually, not drain cleaner stuff. Keep the tank happy with Rid Ex. (Or other biological enzyme)
Worked on a Sylvan Firetruck kit while watching the NASCAR race yesterday. It was not lost on me that the Cottonelle car wiped up the competition!
Oh and it’s Presidents’ Day here. That means I go to work, SWMBO stays home. Dang gubmint worker!
BBL
Happy Monday to one and all!
On septic issues, our neighborhood Plummer told me blockages you clear manually, not drain cleaner stuff. Keep the tank happy with Rid Ex. (Or other biological enzyme)
Worked on a Sylvan Firetruck kit while watching the NASCAR race yesterday. It was not lost on me that the Cottonelle car wiped up the competition!
Oh and it’s Presidents’ Day here. That means I go to work, SWMBO stays home. Dang gubmint worker!
BBL
CambriaArea51
Well-Known Member
If your talking about low flow power assist, we have a few at work and are a pain. When they wear out you have to replace the whole insert. We have more plug ups due to not enough water to move the poo down the pipe.
Morning Race Fans and those cleaning pipes!
Nothing like watching a race for 480 miles and then seeing half the entrants demolished in 5 seconds!
It's 42 degrees going up to 66 with sunny! Weather says a cold front will bring snow levels down to 2000 feet next week - I'm at 1200, so looks like more cold weather is on the horizon and another monstrous fuel bill?
Can't remember - did I post this before?
GP-15 ... FORT SMITH, AR - likely 1978/79
Nothing like watching a race for 480 miles and then seeing half the entrants demolished in 5 seconds!
It's 42 degrees going up to 66 with sunny! Weather says a cold front will bring snow levels down to 2000 feet next week - I'm at 1200, so looks like more cold weather is on the horizon and another monstrous fuel bill?
Can't remember - did I post this before?
GP-15 ... FORT SMITH, AR - likely 1978/79
BigGRacing
Aka. Gary Russell
I thought the ending sucked, you didn't even see anyone cross the finish line.....not the way to win in my opinion. Finish the lap if its in the second lap of the OT.
ctclibby
Well-Known Member
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 59°, heading up to 80° this afternoon. Yep! Happy President's Day today. Tomorrow's high temperature is forecast to be 85° before dropping back to 80° on Wednesday with a chance of rain. For comparison, our average February high temperature is 68°-70°, and it usually doesn't go above 80° until late March.
Well, I got my onion plants planted yesterday, but I didn't purchase enough to fill the whole bed. I got 115-Yellow TX A&M 1015 (our version of Vidalia), 45-White Granex Sweet, and 78-Purple ones planted. The purple were rather small plants so there were more in the bundle. Unfortunately we don't use as many of them, and some sprout and have to be discarded around November. These are all known as "short day" onions, meaning that they are harvested in late May before the summer heat gets here. In normal years, the harvest can be stored in open bins in the normal daytime very warm temperatures until late-October or so. Since they are all biannuals, they sprout again when it gets cold, or if I bring them into the air conditioned house.
Those are my temporary "kneeling" boards on the left to avoid compressing the freshly tilled soil there. On the right is the row with radishes and carrots in it. The shredded grass clippings on top keep the soil from crusting over the seedlings.
Otherwise not much yesterday. I expected some aches today, but so far none. It looks like I caught an armadillo in the trap last night. One cannot just bait and set a trap for them, since they only eat what they themselves dig up. I simply set the unbaited trap about a month ago near an area that I had seen it a couple of times, in hope that it would aimlessly wander in. Well it finally did last night. For all intents and purposes, they are essentially nearly blind. Got to take it far away and release it in a few minutes. Their natural range can approach 5 miles and I don't want it returning.
Thanks for all of the comments and reactions regarding the fermentation tanks yesterday.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I started work on the cooling tower. Not really much to do there as it was almost all assembled when I got it. Just had to add the ladder and safety cage on one end.
I scratchbuilt some piping at the other end to carry cooling water to the building containing the distillation equipment, the process after the fermentation.
The Ethanol itself goes through the background structure.
Today I take a break and do something else while I contemplate the next step. Maybe I'll paint figures or run trains.
Gary - Looks like a derailment with that yellow car in yesterday's picture!
Tom O - The lack of kid's activities in Texas on Sunday mornings has to do with the heavy emphasis on Christian church services, which is quite prevalent here.
Sherrel - No Bulldogs on my layout either; out of my era and really pricey. The only models that I ever saw were brass and I could never talk Bobbye Hall down in price. They were $300 at the time, now used ones are well over $1500.
Hughie - The suggestion for the utility piping was appealing until you brought up the loading platforms as well! I also don't have styrene rod small enough, and the smallest that Evergreen offers is .020". I would need .012" to be realistic. I will still be thinking about it in the future.
Tom - Best wishes to your wife on her recovery.
Swal - I'll stick with Rid-Ex bi-monthly applications.
Tomorrow is officially Mardi Gras, even though the parades have been happening for two weeks now. Ash Wednesday follows.
Everybody have a wonderful day.
Well, I got my onion plants planted yesterday, but I didn't purchase enough to fill the whole bed. I got 115-Yellow TX A&M 1015 (our version of Vidalia), 45-White Granex Sweet, and 78-Purple ones planted. The purple were rather small plants so there were more in the bundle. Unfortunately we don't use as many of them, and some sprout and have to be discarded around November. These are all known as "short day" onions, meaning that they are harvested in late May before the summer heat gets here. In normal years, the harvest can be stored in open bins in the normal daytime very warm temperatures until late-October or so. Since they are all biannuals, they sprout again when it gets cold, or if I bring them into the air conditioned house.
Those are my temporary "kneeling" boards on the left to avoid compressing the freshly tilled soil there. On the right is the row with radishes and carrots in it. The shredded grass clippings on top keep the soil from crusting over the seedlings.
Otherwise not much yesterday. I expected some aches today, but so far none. It looks like I caught an armadillo in the trap last night. One cannot just bait and set a trap for them, since they only eat what they themselves dig up. I simply set the unbaited trap about a month ago near an area that I had seen it a couple of times, in hope that it would aimlessly wander in. Well it finally did last night. For all intents and purposes, they are essentially nearly blind. Got to take it far away and release it in a few minutes. Their natural range can approach 5 miles and I don't want it returning.
Thanks for all of the comments and reactions regarding the fermentation tanks yesterday.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I started work on the cooling tower. Not really much to do there as it was almost all assembled when I got it. Just had to add the ladder and safety cage on one end.
I scratchbuilt some piping at the other end to carry cooling water to the building containing the distillation equipment, the process after the fermentation.
The Ethanol itself goes through the background structure.
Today I take a break and do something else while I contemplate the next step. Maybe I'll paint figures or run trains.
Gary - Looks like a derailment with that yellow car in yesterday's picture!
Tom O - The lack of kid's activities in Texas on Sunday mornings has to do with the heavy emphasis on Christian church services, which is quite prevalent here.
Sherrel - No Bulldogs on my layout either; out of my era and really pricey. The only models that I ever saw were brass and I could never talk Bobbye Hall down in price. They were $300 at the time, now used ones are well over $1500.
Hughie - The suggestion for the utility piping was appealing until you brought up the loading platforms as well! I also don't have styrene rod small enough, and the smallest that Evergreen offers is .020". I would need .012" to be realistic. I will still be thinking about it in the future.
Tom - Best wishes to your wife on her recovery.
Swal - I'll stick with Rid-Ex bi-monthly applications.
Tomorrow is officially Mardi Gras, even though the parades have been happening for two weeks now. Ash Wednesday follows.
Everybody have a wonderful day.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Good morning to all the would be plumbers and interested readers on septic tanks and fields. At roughly 25 years of maintaining the Septic tank and field after the new of both were installed the installer told both Terry and I, yogurt. 1/2 gallon of yogurt every 3 months down the drain and all will “move” well. He was not a fan of “rid-it”.
Well the weather guys are pushing for up to 12” of white stuff this week on Tuesday, maybe Wednesday and even higher amounts north of us. Mikeinhubcity (Marshfield, Wi) shows 22” coming his way. I just hope it comes Thursday and cancels the theater show scheduled for that night. I have seen Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway, in Chicago and Wausau, Wi. I really don’t need to see it in Madison. We buy the season theatre package plus some others and JS Superstar was always part of the package in Chicago, Wausau and now Madison.
The hockey yesterday was ok. Grandson game 1 was 2-2 and he scored one. His afternoon game that we did not attend was 8-1 and his mom says she didn’t see his assist total but he had some but no goals. The new coach had everyone playing different positions and he played defense instead of center. The #6 UW Badger women were beating #1 Ohio State, 1-0 with 90 seconds left in the game. They took a penalty and all of a sudden in was a 1-3 final. The heart of the defending National Champs showing! So a split with the #1 team in the country this weekend. After seeing Ohio State play 4 times in person this year, I don’t think they will win the NCAA’s this year. They have better goal tending than the Badgers and the #3 Minnesota Gopher ladies but not a better offense. I have seen #2 Yale on TV and I doubt anyone outside of the WCHA conference the Badgers, Buckeyes and Gophers play in will win the NCAA’s.
Trains yesterday. Between the grandson’s early game and leaving for campus I sold some stuff. Had some visitors show and wipe me out. Sold 1 unit train of the 22 Atlas reefer cars with the ARMN/UP low positioned numbers on the car. They had all the wheels and truck frames weathered but the car bodies other then my tagging of tloc near the Genset was just a a coating of matte clear. Never fear I still have the other unit train ( high number positioning) of them that I have sort of been working on. Sold all but 1 Merchant Row kit and sold all my Paper Mill kits. I even sold the daughters 3D printed conveyor systems extras she did for me back before Covid. The only paper mill kit parts I have left is my jumbo box of leftover parts I have accumulated building the paper mill kits the last 20 years or so. I also sold 1 weathered gondola, 2 brown TBOX weathered boxcars, the 2 Atlas weathered Centerbeams, and 6 unweathered covered hoppers. One of the guys spotted my duplicates of the WC/Procor pulp cars next to the work bench. I chuckled at his offer as I paid more for them then he offered. Then he said per car! Sold the 6 duplicates of the 15 I had. Again trucks and wheels only weathered and the body with the initial clear coat. I was extremely happy and hey, almost 24 hours later still am. I CAN SHOP AGAIN. Today I will update the inventory. My LHS (4miles) is having his annual week long 30% off everything except Rapido and Genesis models. His inventory was way down 2 weeks ago but.
I would buy at least 1 Atlas Centerbeam, a couple Kaolin tank cars and another 2 acid tankers for the mill. He did have those the last time I was there. The inventory update will show me the car #s I have so I do not buy duplicates. I am happy not to have to change out the duplicate numbers on the pulp cars but it’s back to finding at least 6 of them.
Today, it is back weathering Smudge617’s covered hoppers. I hope to have those off to GB on Friday.
The new refrigerator the text says shall be delivered between 1 and 3:30 this afternoon. They sent a checklist of things to do before they arrive and it’s all checked off, we are ready.
enjoy the day
Well the weather guys are pushing for up to 12” of white stuff this week on Tuesday, maybe Wednesday and even higher amounts north of us. Mikeinhubcity (Marshfield, Wi) shows 22” coming his way. I just hope it comes Thursday and cancels the theater show scheduled for that night. I have seen Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway, in Chicago and Wausau, Wi. I really don’t need to see it in Madison. We buy the season theatre package plus some others and JS Superstar was always part of the package in Chicago, Wausau and now Madison.
The hockey yesterday was ok. Grandson game 1 was 2-2 and he scored one. His afternoon game that we did not attend was 8-1 and his mom says she didn’t see his assist total but he had some but no goals. The new coach had everyone playing different positions and he played defense instead of center. The #6 UW Badger women were beating #1 Ohio State, 1-0 with 90 seconds left in the game. They took a penalty and all of a sudden in was a 1-3 final. The heart of the defending National Champs showing! So a split with the #1 team in the country this weekend. After seeing Ohio State play 4 times in person this year, I don’t think they will win the NCAA’s this year. They have better goal tending than the Badgers and the #3 Minnesota Gopher ladies but not a better offense. I have seen #2 Yale on TV and I doubt anyone outside of the WCHA conference the Badgers, Buckeyes and Gophers play in will win the NCAA’s.
Trains yesterday. Between the grandson’s early game and leaving for campus I sold some stuff. Had some visitors show and wipe me out. Sold 1 unit train of the 22 Atlas reefer cars with the ARMN/UP low positioned numbers on the car. They had all the wheels and truck frames weathered but the car bodies other then my tagging of tloc near the Genset was just a a coating of matte clear. Never fear I still have the other unit train ( high number positioning) of them that I have sort of been working on. Sold all but 1 Merchant Row kit and sold all my Paper Mill kits. I even sold the daughters 3D printed conveyor systems extras she did for me back before Covid. The only paper mill kit parts I have left is my jumbo box of leftover parts I have accumulated building the paper mill kits the last 20 years or so. I also sold 1 weathered gondola, 2 brown TBOX weathered boxcars, the 2 Atlas weathered Centerbeams, and 6 unweathered covered hoppers. One of the guys spotted my duplicates of the WC/Procor pulp cars next to the work bench. I chuckled at his offer as I paid more for them then he offered. Then he said per car! Sold the 6 duplicates of the 15 I had. Again trucks and wheels only weathered and the body with the initial clear coat. I was extremely happy and hey, almost 24 hours later still am. I CAN SHOP AGAIN. Today I will update the inventory. My LHS (4miles) is having his annual week long 30% off everything except Rapido and Genesis models. His inventory was way down 2 weeks ago but.
I would buy at least 1 Atlas Centerbeam, a couple Kaolin tank cars and another 2 acid tankers for the mill. He did have those the last time I was there. The inventory update will show me the car #s I have so I do not buy duplicates. I am happy not to have to change out the duplicate numbers on the pulp cars but it’s back to finding at least 6 of them.
Today, it is back weathering Smudge617’s covered hoppers. I hope to have those off to GB on Friday.
The new refrigerator the text says shall be delivered between 1 and 3:30 this afternoon. They sent a checklist of things to do before they arrive and it’s all checked off, we are ready.
enjoy the day
Last edited:
NYC_George
Well-Known Member
Willie I guess I forgot about added Rid-Ex monthly. I had the guy come pump out the whole system. I asked him if it gets clogged again how much to clean it out. He said, $270.00. I don't think the Rid-Ex solves the lint problem. I should of took photos of just how much lint was blocking the washing machine discharge hose. That stuff clogs up your septic fields. I going to try and fix that problem today. I have an idea that may work.
Swal
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Swal - I only send sewage through the septic system. All graywater from washer, dishwasher, showers and sinks goes out a separate line to leach into the field north of the house. It's my field so there is nothing illicit about it. No regulations in my part of the county either. It's safe and the hay in that part of the field grows better. We use "safe" soaps. I do realize that not everyone has this opportunity, but it reduces maintenance on my septic system.
BigGRacing
Aka. Gary Russell
Wow, and we are expecting another snow storm up here....lol
- Status
