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Kelly, any further thought about restoring the Reading Camelback?

awsome pics, more please!

Last comment from Kelly I saw was along the line of bring yourself and about 100,000 of your friends, which would raise the revenue and justify having another operating steamer on the roster.

Bob

Does the Cagney fall under FRA regs, state, something else or none?

Thanks in advance.

Bob Bunge

Its exempt. Only 24" and greater is subject to regulation by the FRA.

I visit & ride Strasburg regularly. 100,000 friends will be tough though!

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I was watching this when one of my 20-something old linux sysadmins (computer geeks) came into the office and started asking questions after watching for a minute. A couple of others wandered in and joined in. One commented if he had been born a hundred years ago, he could see himself doing that type of work - after noting the age of some of the shop workers in the video.

That caused me to ponder - these guys like to build, tear apart, fix and tweak things for peak performance, except they are in the world of bits, bytes, packets and abstract computer code. They have abilities to envision how a system or network will work, much like a machinist can envision what a finished part will look like.

I commented that sometimes when a steamer is rebuilt, it is possible see where a workman in the past had been in a hurry or the work environment of the day wasn't quite right. THAT sparked comparisons to how we will short cut something in the heat of "getting it fixed right now" with the intension of getting back to it later, but come 5+ years later it is still running that way.

Interesting how things change but stay the same.

Bob

This video was fascinating. I have an old video on the MILW 261 restoration. During part of it Gary Bensman (sp?) is describing the use of a "(insert brand name) flanging machine".

I'm guessing he was describing something different than the video. ;^)

Perhaps the gentlemen at Strasburg would like such a machine in their Easter baskets.

Thanks for the reminder of what it takes to bend steel.

Scott

Which one of those guys is McCabe?

He's in the office with Mrs. Miller, listening to Leonard Cohen songs........

dave

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Bob, funny you should mention this ... We had a computer science major working part-time in the shop some years back in between classes. We were teasing him that his schooling would be obsolete in about eighteen months, whereas, if he stayed working with us, he could work on technology that was so obsolete that the skills would always be in demand!

I have a friend who never learned anything other than one of the original programming languages - cobol - who may be starting a nice retirement at age 50 in a couple of years after a career that has taken him around the world fixing obsolete computer code that few others can fix. I say may because he hasn't decided if he wants to retire yet.

If I were him, I'd retire to Strasburg and learn another obsolete technology.

Bob