For My Favorite Feather Duster!

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by skeets

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Ah Skeets! So nice to hear from you! Crusty old Skeets knows what a feather duster is? Must have seen one at Grandma's house! Can't imagine him using one.....[8)]

Wonder what they would say if I said I was going to chase the chicken with a rug beater? Can't you just imagine!

MLM

Please don't give Boss Hen any more ideas![:-^][:-^][:-^]

Sorry, old bean. I do have a tendancy to pile on. Besides, since we're discussing old things, here's an old saying, "Your name is mud." ;^)

A young rooster like you should be able to stay away from B.H. It's her driver you need to watch!

This dinosaur is NOT an old fossil yet. However I am rapidly approaching dirt.[8D][8D][8D]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Ah Skeets! So nice to hear from you! Crusty old Skeets knows what a feather duster is? Must have seen one at Grandma's house! Can't imagine him using one.....[8)]

Wonder what they would say if I said I was going to chase the chicken with a rug beater? Can't you just imagine!

MLM

Please don't give Boss Hen any more ideas![:-^][:-^][:-^]

Sorry, old bean. I do have a tendancy to pile on. Besides, since we're discussing old things, here's an old saying, "Your name is mud." ;^)

A young rooster like you should be able to stay away from B.H. It's her driver you need to watch!

[Mookie]

Gotta look for propane tanks - I don't remember seeing any out there, but sometimes I have trouble seeing big items (boxcars) right in front of me! (Remember, Driver can see those geese 5 miles away - but I can hear them!)

[CShaveRR]

Now we're getting somewhere! At least I know in which direction to speculate.

Would it be possible that the switch heaters (that's almost certainly what your boxes are involved with) use natural gas, and not propane? You haven't mentioned any nearby propane tanks, which is how such heaters normally get their fuel. The electrical connections would be for remote operation, which could be either manually actuated or done automatically with sensors telling the machine when it has snowed.

Yes, humans used to keep the switches clear, using stiff brooms that had an ice-scraper on the opposite end of the handle. As for keeping the snow melted around the switch-points, they used kerosene torches, similar in operation to the spherical-shaped things you'd see around road construction sites in the days before barricades with battery-powered flashers. The railroad version wasn't spherical--it was flatter and longer, and held more fuel.

[Mookie]

I am so excited! I went to the old watching hole and found.....a freight train with Wisconsin Central 7517 on point and Norfolk Southern 7127 following! The train stopped in front of us with tanker cars right there! I watched the cylinder close under the tank car when the air was set! (getting ready to move - did I say that right?) I was so pleased!

But the point of the visit was to get some figures and words of wisdom from the driver.

My little dwarf shacks are about 5 feet high - sit right on a small square, not on a high platform, have a top on them about 14 inches wide and 6 inches tall. They are made of galvenized steel, have a box on the back side about 12" x 12" and on that same side a box at the bottom with louvers and what looks to be a gas/propane hookup coming out and into the ground. Also some electrical connections. So looking at the switch heaters and trying to imagine snow - yeah maybe that is what they are.

So where do the fibre optics come in (they are still messing in the area and doing fibre optics), where does the propane/gas come from, and up to this time, how did they keep those switches moveable - with humans tending them?

I wanted to talk to one worker that was the closest, but he was up on the bridge of signals over all our tracks and looked very busy. Figured he wouldn't appreciate either yelling at me or coming down and finding out all I wanted was information! And driver was wanting to get home for supper!

So big muddy - does that all sound about right to you?

(And in my best southern Nebraska drawl) - And sugar, you need to come and visit my watch site and tell me what all the gadgets and gizmos are. There are just so many of them in that area and I am just so helpless to figure out what they all are!

[:X][:I]

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by skeets

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Ah Skeets! So nice to hear from you! Crusty old Skeets knows what a feather duster is? Must have seen one at Grandma's house! Can't imagine him using one.....[8)]

Wonder what they would say if I said I was going to chase the chicken with a rug beater? Can't you just imagine!

MLM

I found it much more efficient to simply scrape up the collected dust occasionally; a feather duster would just push it around. BTW, the next time you're snooping around my hacienda checking on my housekeeping habits, don't forget to say hello. 8^@

And you better chase the chicken with a rug beater; if you use a feather duster you may get confused.

Ah Skeets - you and I would get along just fine - we both come from the old school that says "Dust is a great furniture protector! Leave it on for maximum protection!"

Re: Chicken - he seems to always be just a fingernail out of reach! But, there's always next time!

MLM

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Ah Skeets! So nice to hear from you! Crusty old Skeets knows what a feather duster is? Must have seen one at Grandma's house! Can't imagine him using one.....[8)]

Wonder what they would say if I said I was going to chase the chicken with a rug beater? Can't you just imagine!

MLM

I found it much more efficient to simply scrape up the collected dust occasionally; a feather duster would just push it around. BTW, the next time you're snooping around my hacienda checking on my housekeeping habits, don't forget to say hello. 8^@

And you better chase the chicken with a rug beater; if you use a feather duster you may get confused.

[Mookie]

No - but that is nice looking. We don't have anything that nice looking here. Are you thinking yellow thingies? But I was right - they are yellow thingies!

I will get back to you tomorrow after my trip trackside tonite.

Maybe my missing dwarfs live in there in bad weather! I give up!

Aloof? Is that some kind of kitty dandruff?

Mook

[mudchicken]

Trackside lubricator?

http://www.rtands.com/feb01/lubrication.html

Or is el-gato mookster doing one of those kittycat mindgames things that aloof felines are known to do?

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Ah Skeets! So nice to hear from you! Crusty old Skeets knows what a feather duster is? Must have seen one at Grandma's house! Can't imagine him using one.....[8)]

Wonder what they would say if I said I was going to chase the chicken with a rug beater? Can't you just imagine!

MLM

Please don't give Boss Hen any more ideas![:-^][:-^][:-^]

[mudchicken]

Affirmative on the ductwork Carl. The ductwork runs through the crib and down the field sides of the rail to the blowwer nozzles. (sheet-metalworker's nightmare!)

[Mookie]

No - but keep trying! [:X]

Going to have driver take me past there and let me look at them again - will get you a detailed description and maybe some photos - but those won't get to you until about Xmas!

Think maybe something new that is just coming down the pike?

Mook

[CShaveRR]

I'm betting that way, too--we have similar stuff on some of our switches, without the intake "chimneys" on top. Is there ductwork of any sort between those and the switches themselves (as opposed to the switch stands or switch machines)?

P.S. One of our towers used to have a feather-duster; we found out that a brush for applying wallpaper past worked better (especially since the feather-duster started looking a little plucky).

[mudchicken]

Blower motor and air-intake housing on a switch heater?

http://www.railsco.com/Products/Switch_heaters/HAB/hot_air_blower.htm

[Mookie]

Ah Skeets! So nice to hear from you! Crusty old Skeets knows what a feather duster is? Must have seen one at Grandma's house! Can't imagine him using one.....[8)]

Wonder what they would say if I said I was going to chase the chicken with a rug beater? Can't you just imagine!

MLM

[Anonymous]

Feather duster. FEATHER DUSTER? Now, I know what a f.d. is, and you know what a f.d. is. What makes you think these young whipper-snappers on this forum know what a feather duster is? Or if they have ever seen one in the flesh, er, feather?

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by mudchicken

CTC Signal relay cases (pre- wired) with F/O/C connections for the interlocking plant most likely....

http://www.safetran.com/product/signal.asp Look at E-3-1 "Instrument Cases"

Those don't look exactly right - they are a little bigger than what we are looking at, but will go back this weekend and look some more. Driver said they are placed at the switches, but not sure he knows either. I know they are really close to the tracks and sit along with all sorts of other items that are already on the ground and being used.

You need to come to Lincoln, chicken! I have so many questions at my location and .....a nice warm place to sit and wait.......[C=:-)]

[mudchicken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Big Muddy, Fe Feathers, Dusty Feathers - depends on the weather - Mudchicken! The one I keep trying to coax into a nice warm oven for a rest and then dinner afterward!

Cat vs Chicken?

Moo

Banished to Syracuse in the Geat State of Kansas [ UniHead's Little Slice of Heaven[alien]....The local diner is the Dog House...No kiities seen there] for the next 48 hours.

Safe for a while.....

[mudchicken]

CTC Signal relay cases (pre- wired) with F/O/C connections for the interlocking plant most likely....

http://www.safetran.com/product/signal.asp Look at E-3-1 "Instrument Cases"

[rrnut282]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

Looks like all wires are underground - they did a lot of fiber optics in the area, so figure that must be why. We are getting quite a congolmeration of "items" next to all those tracks!

[Mookie]

Big Muddy, Fe Feathers, Dusty Feathers - depends on the weather - Mudchicken! The one I keep trying to coax into a nice warm oven for a rest and then dinner afterward!

Cat vs Chicken?

Moo

[Junctionfan]

Who is your favourite feather duster?

[Mookie]

QUOTE: Originally posted by macguy

Those are usually power boxes, are there any overhead wires going to them?

They are used for everything from grade crossings to signals to power switches to wayside detection systems.

That's my guess.

Looks like all wires are underground - they did a lot of fiber optics in the area, so figure that must be why. We are getting quite a congolmeration of "items" next to all those tracks!

[Anonymous]

Those are usually power boxes, are there any overhead wires going to them?

They are used for everything from grade crossings to signals to power switches to wayside detection systems.

That's my guess.

[Mookie]

Mudchicken (or anyone) - I am so lousy at descriptions, I hope you can figure this out.

MOW is installing what the driver calls narrow ATM machines beside our tracks where I observe the BNSF. They are shiny like aluminum - about the height of an ATM, but a square column in shape. They did some extensive track work in this area in spring and now these little "closets" are appearing along the tracks. Any thoughts on what they might be?

Your favorite pest!