Bucket Trams

PC190010.JPG
Originally uploaded by Engineer Z.

It's been a while since I've posted... With the holidays and all, haven't had much of a chance.

Before I left work for the holidays, I visited one of our substations that serves a sand processing facility in rural central Ohio.   Sandstone is mined a couple of miles away and transported to the facility via a bucket tram.  I guess bucket trams were (are?) somewhat common in mining areas out west, but I had never seen such an operation before and found it pretty interesting.  Think of a ski lift, but instead of skiers, the tram moves buckets of sandstone.


Update: I have posted a short video on YouTube.

Norfolk Southern T&S work train comes through town

PC010010.JPG
Originally uploaded by Engineer Z.

This is my first attempt to blog via flickr. Let see how it goes...

Yesterday as I headed into work, a Norfolk Southern work train passed by the parking garage. It was carrying the equipment, tools, supplies, and camp cars for a "Tie and Surface" gang. The T&S gang replaces old, crumbling cross-ties with new ones while cleaning and retamping the ballast to provide a stable roadbed for trains to run on.

Interestingly, NS is apparently the last major railroad to house traveling crews in camp cars and the Teamsters aren't happy about it. They all looked to be pretty modern and in good condition, but then again, I'm not living out them either. A number of the cars had over-the-air television antennas, but surprisingly I didn't see any satellite dishes; perhaps those are small enough to take down when they move the cars.

Ode to a Radome

Today at work I received the following obituary and poem with accompanying photos:

Andrew Radome of Bloomville, OH died at his home (well, actually 1/2 mile downwind) last week in a windstorm. He died from a tragic fall from his lofty perch.  What caused his fall is unknown.  Some speculate a sniper assassinated him for his role in covering up spread spectrum data transfers to Bucyrus, Ohio.  Others think he suffered a stress fracture from a family member above him dropping something on his head.

Andrew was preceded in death by his cousin Harris Farinon of the same Bloomville address.  Andrew is survived by his twin brother of Bucyrus, whom he maintained nearly constant communication with.   He is also survived by four nephews in the Harris family and they still reside at the Bloomville estate serving the Megastar family.  There will be a potluck dinner following the landfill burial.  Please bring a microwave dish!

Here lies Andrew Radome,
- all broken and shattered.
He served us well,
- when it oft' mattered. 

Upon seeing the first photo I was inspired to write my poem:

Andrew dutifully served American Electric Power
Until he fell off his tower
All Morris' horses and all Morris' men
Couldn't put Andrew together again.


(I slightly rerranged/edited the orginal for blog posting... Credit to Phil for the original obit...)

KRZR, meet your great-grandpa

Last week I bought a new cellphone, a Motorola KRZR K1m from Verizon. It's my fifth cell phone; my first was a Motorola AC715 I bought in August of 1992. The AC715 was a later version of the original Motorola DynaTAC. It was a true Zack Morris phone, literally as big a brick. The KRZR set me back $200 after the $50 rebate. The AC715 cost me $220 after a $150 subsidy from Ameritech Mobile.  Pretty amazing how far we've come in 14 years.  The AC715 was 800 MHz analog only, had one ring tone, and no camera.   (The display was color, if you count the fact that the digits were red and it had a green blinking "in service" LED dot, yellow "ROAM" LED, and red "No Service" LED.) The KRZR has a 1.3 MP camera, shoots video, plays mp3s, and does all the standard stuff like 800/1900 MHz, text messaging, etc.  Plus it's sexy; I don't think you could ever say that about the AC715.

Infrastructure

Not to long ago I bought a book called Infrastructure: A Field Guide to the Industrial Landscape by Brian Hayes.  It's a really cool book covering all of the man-made "stuff" that makes modern living possible.  There are a large number of incredible photos with full explanation of things like elements of the electric grid, water towers, blast furnaces, telecommunications pedestals, and everything in between. The book does a wonderful job of explaining complex infrastructure to the layman, giving the reader a glimpse of the engineering feats that people take for granted everyday.

From my own "infrastructure" photo collection: here's a different view of a 138 kV transmission tower near Findlay, OH. If you look closely you can see the equipment monitoring the tension of the dead-end conductors on the left ("take off") side of the tower.

First Post!

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