Thursday, December 31, 2009
2009 e-Postal Archives
November e-Postal Results
November e-Postal Contest Hosted by Danno
October e-Postal Results
October e-Postal Contest Hosted by U.S. Citizen
September e-Postal Results
Mr. Completely's September e-Postal Contest Hosted by True Blue Sam
August e-Postal Results
August e-Postal Contest Hosted by Curtis Lowe
July e-Postal Results
Mr. Completely's July e-Postal Contest, hosted by Sailor Curt
June e-Postal Results
Mr.Completely's June e-Postal Match, hosted by Sebastian
May e-Postal Results
Mr. Completely's May e-Postal Match, hosted by Manfred
Mr. Completely's e-Postal Match (April Deadline: Midnight, May 4; Host: Jimmy B, The Conservative UAW Guy)Results Are Posted In The May2009 Archives!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
McCormick-Deering Engine
This little throttle governed engine is an education in motion. The advances in gas engines during the early Twentieth Century made the operation of farm engines progressively easier for farmers, and this engine has a few important improvements to note. It uses a sparkplug instead of an ignitor, which is a much simpler system to maintain. Most hit-and-miss gas engines had only a mixing valve, but this throttle governed engine has a real carburetor. If you examine the plumbing you will note that the carburetor does not use a float, but it has an overflow line that takes gasoline back to the fuel tank. The crankcase is enclosed, but you should note the grease cups which are visible. Type M's, which were introduced in 1917 had a dry crankcase, and the bearings were lubricated by grease cups. There are still plenty of exposed moving parts to oil, and I think the most interesting gizmo is the handle on the fuel pump, which can be used to push fuel to the carburetor when it is dry.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Not My Victrola
Just in case you will be partying on New Year's Eve, an easy Fox-Trot is in order to practice your dance floor coordination. "What Could Be Sweeter" is courtesy of YouTuber 240252.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Holiday Bonus Posting!
A banjo picker was at the party last Sunday, and unfortuantely, I missed most of his playing. I did manage to sit down and catch his last song before he put away his banjo.
Dahlgren's Got The Spirit!
We came home through the little town of Dahlgren Wednesday night and stopped to admire the old depot. Nice.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Apple Butter Party
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Weekend Steam
Southern Pacific 4449 just made a Holiday Express run in Portland, Oregon, and it is a beautiful sight to behold. Watch the joggers. A lady jogger makes a couple turnarounds to scope out the locomotive, but the guy in the green shirt doesn't break stride at all to admire the steamer. I have always heard that a man can't resist looking at a beautiful woman, or a locomotive. As a happily married man, I have learned to avert my eyes at the proper moment for other women, but never for a steam engine. I am wondering about that guy.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Crankin' It Up
This week we are highlighting another Puritone Christmas record, "Oh Holy Night" performed by Charles Hilton and the Harmony Quartet. Christmas is just one week away!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Some Good Advice Here...
This is a great old song by Eddie Cantor, one of the greatest entertainers ever; and he has sound advice for folks who would like to keep their lives in good order. This song has been one of my favorites for a very long time.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Not A Trace Is Left
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Studebaker Wagon
Monday, December 14, 2009
How Are Those Carbon Credits Working Out?
I hope that all of the True Blue readers have been keeping up with the saga of the man-caused global warming fraud that was recently exposed. The main stream news people have been going on as if nothing has changed, and some in our Congress want to go after the whistle blowers. I have been watching the global warming hysteria with interest since it began because it affects the forestry profession. Twenty years ago I heard a presenter tell us that in fifty years, we would be growing mesquite in Illinois. We are almost halfway there, and I haven't heard any rumors of mesquite creeping north. If you are not alarmed by what is going on , watch the video above. The man asking questions at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference is a reporter with credentials to be in this meeting. He is shut down, ultimately by an armed guard so as not to embarass a global warming proseletyzer from Stanford University. It appears that the UN intends to cram carbon regulation down our throats by whatever means is necessary to line the pockets of the world's tyrants.
You might lock away carbon if you bury wood deep underground. This tree which was recently exposed may have been buried hundreds or thousands of years ago. Spruce logs are sometimes unearthed in glacial lakebeds in southern Illinois, buried in glacial outwash ten thousand or more years ago. The carbon in those trees may still be locked up, but on a geological time scale, it is just an interesting footnote.
Eventually the carbon based molecules will be displaced, and the wood will either rot or be replaced by stone. The logs in this petrified forest were buried in sediments, then eventually uplifted and exposed by erosion in a desert totally alien to the environment they grew in; and all that climate change happened before we came along.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
ChicagoLand
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Weekend Steam
AndrzejMastalerz posted this interesting video. He did not provide much info, but I think it is safe to assume that these engines are on their way to a scrapper. The banging noise is not in time to the movement of the rods, so I think it is something hanging down and banging on the crossties.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Crankin' It Up
I tried to look up the date of "Oh Little Town of Bethelehem" on 78Discography, and the Puritone label is not listed. Because it is electrically recorded we know that it is no earlier than 1925. Straus & Schram was a Chicago based mail order store.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Close Shave
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Hard Part
Regular readers know that I love tipping over trees; that's the fun part. After you have a tree on the ground, the hard part begins. Before we had a hydraulic splitter I loaded some pretty hefty chunks in the trailer for splitting at the house. Now we can park the splitter right next to the tree and make little ones out of big ones pretty fast; that makes processing much more tolerable. The worst part of the chainsaw business to me is cleaning up the sticks. Out in the woods you can just leave them lay, but in the yard the tree top has to be worked down, loaded up, and hauled out. We try to delay jobs like this one until late fall when the grass has quit growing. If you do one of these in the summer you have to put on a big push to do the cleanup, then smooth out the holes before the grass gets away from you.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Tom Thumb
Way back when I was a teenager I saw an IHC Tom Thumb like this engine for sale... for the unattainable sum for me, of $35.00. I don't really know what collectors these days are paying for highly desirable engines like this one, but I do know that you would be hooted down if you offered only $1000. A Tom Thumb is still out of reach for me; some things never change.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Not My Victrola
We are really getting in a holiday mood at True Blue Sam. We looked up Christmas songs on YouTube and settled on a great Yogi Yorgesson Christmas song (posted by MickeyClark) that we know you will enjoy. If you want/need your very own Yogi CD to make it through the holidays, go to www.yogiyorgesson.com, and make the call. We bought the Yogi Yorgesson Christmas CD over the phone last year, and received great, speedy service from Mr. Howard; his phone number and e-mail address are on the Yogi website.
Easy Shopping
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Weekend Steam
ChessieStorm is a YouTuber I ran across while looking for good steam videos. He has posted over 500 videos, mostly short ones showing a variety of rolling stock on the move. These three videos are of Union Pacific locomotive 3985 going up the Big Sandy Valley in Eastern Kentucky in November, 1992, as it traveled to Elkhorn City to pull the Santa Train on the Clinchfield. ChessieStorm captured some good sound. Steam whistles do sound good in the mountains.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Crankin' It Up
Christmas is only three weeks away, so we are going to help you get in the mood with a wonderful slide whistle rendition of Jingle Bells by the Hoosier Hot Shots! According to 78 Discography, the Hot Shots recorded this lively number on Novermber 17, 1936. The aluminum Christmas tree is from around 1960; the Brunswick is from around 1920; my warped musical tastes come from the 1950's. Merry Christmas! Say it often!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Spread A Little Christmas Cheer!
November e-Postal Scores!
Abenaque Engine
This beautiful Abenaque engine was featured by Engineering Johnson in a post nearly three years ago. We videoed it last September so we could share the mechnical entertainment with you. This engine is fired by an ignitor rather than a spark plug, so there are several extra parts dancing around at the end of the camshaft and on the head.