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Ok, well if you're sick of the "Adventures of Brian and Tom" posts, it's time to step off the ride.
With that out of the way, my intrepid companion and I found ourselves involved in another mini-adventure this weekend. The topic this time? Abandoned, old, heavy equipment.
Acting on a tip from a friend of my dad's Tom and I were enroute to look at what I was led to believe was a real aluminum bodied Shelby Cobra sitting behind an old manufacturing building a couple towns away from me. That turned out to be a ratty old Triumph TR6 that was not even worthy of photos. I wasn't holding my breath.
On the cruise back to the house, on a different route (which coincidentally led past my favorite ice cream stand) Tom points and says, "Whazzat?" It was this monsterous old steam shovel looking thing. We didn't have time to look yesterday, but I promised we'd check it out this morning.
It was kind of blair witch as the machine was in some very tall grass and obviously was intended to be "closed to the public". There were scads of no tresspassing signs and it had plywood bolted over all the openings that were once glass. The drivers door was not locked shut so I climbed up there and wrested it open. I sent Tom in first...just kidding. I went in first with my flash light looking for homeless people. It was a trip. Walking back into the engine room and seeing all guts of this machine were pretty impressive. When the scene was "clear" I hoisted Tom up and he joined in the fun. I thought the police showed up at one point when I heard a car door close in the vacinity of where my truck was parked. I stuck my head out a bulkhead in the engine room and saw it was only someone stopping to check if they had a flat tire.
From some light research I've gleaned that this was/is a Northwest Mfg. Power Shovel circa the 1950's or so. It's got a massive Murphy Diesel engine for power and every function of the thing is mechanical. There are no hydraulics or any other type of system on board. About a dozen of levers surround the drivers seat. It's a marvel in my opinion. Everything I touched or pulled moved freely and the motor had the proper level of oil in it. It seemed as though it would need some juice and a little kick in the ass and it would be back working away. I'm amazed that it didn't get scraped when the metal prices spiked this year.
I'd guess 10,000 people passed by this thing today on their way to doing something so trivial with their lives they literally won't even remember it by Tuesday. I'm pretty sure that any kid looking out the window of a passing car would have the same reaction as Tom. I'm also pretty sure we're the only people who have climbed into this machine in a long ass time. I'm more than sure that indulging his curiousity (and giving me the prefect excuse to explore this thing) is something we'll both be able to laugh about years from now.
On to a poop ton of photos!
Intrepid companion, armed with a funny hat and his "Bob the Builder" (fully functional) flashlight.
The subject at hand
This plate was at least a 1/2 inch thick
Drivers seat after I wrenched the door open:
Headed in:
Engine room:
Big Murphy Diesel 6-cylinder:
Tom at the helm:
Levers that the driver would operate:
General mechanical stuff:
Huge ass rag joint:
Booms and bucket:
With that out of the way, my intrepid companion and I found ourselves involved in another mini-adventure this weekend. The topic this time? Abandoned, old, heavy equipment.
Acting on a tip from a friend of my dad's Tom and I were enroute to look at what I was led to believe was a real aluminum bodied Shelby Cobra sitting behind an old manufacturing building a couple towns away from me. That turned out to be a ratty old Triumph TR6 that was not even worthy of photos. I wasn't holding my breath.
On the cruise back to the house, on a different route (which coincidentally led past my favorite ice cream stand) Tom points and says, "Whazzat?" It was this monsterous old steam shovel looking thing. We didn't have time to look yesterday, but I promised we'd check it out this morning.
It was kind of blair witch as the machine was in some very tall grass and obviously was intended to be "closed to the public". There were scads of no tresspassing signs and it had plywood bolted over all the openings that were once glass. The drivers door was not locked shut so I climbed up there and wrested it open. I sent Tom in first...just kidding. I went in first with my flash light looking for homeless people. It was a trip. Walking back into the engine room and seeing all guts of this machine were pretty impressive. When the scene was "clear" I hoisted Tom up and he joined in the fun. I thought the police showed up at one point when I heard a car door close in the vacinity of where my truck was parked. I stuck my head out a bulkhead in the engine room and saw it was only someone stopping to check if they had a flat tire.
From some light research I've gleaned that this was/is a Northwest Mfg. Power Shovel circa the 1950's or so. It's got a massive Murphy Diesel engine for power and every function of the thing is mechanical. There are no hydraulics or any other type of system on board. About a dozen of levers surround the drivers seat. It's a marvel in my opinion. Everything I touched or pulled moved freely and the motor had the proper level of oil in it. It seemed as though it would need some juice and a little kick in the ass and it would be back working away. I'm amazed that it didn't get scraped when the metal prices spiked this year.
I'd guess 10,000 people passed by this thing today on their way to doing something so trivial with their lives they literally won't even remember it by Tuesday. I'm pretty sure that any kid looking out the window of a passing car would have the same reaction as Tom. I'm also pretty sure we're the only people who have climbed into this machine in a long ass time. I'm more than sure that indulging his curiousity (and giving me the prefect excuse to explore this thing) is something we'll both be able to laugh about years from now.
On to a poop ton of photos!
Intrepid companion, armed with a funny hat and his "Bob the Builder" (fully functional) flashlight.
The subject at hand
This plate was at least a 1/2 inch thick
Drivers seat after I wrenched the door open:
Headed in:
Engine room:
Big Murphy Diesel 6-cylinder:
Tom at the helm:
Levers that the driver would operate:
General mechanical stuff:
Huge ass rag joint:
Booms and bucket:
< smiley .
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