Doug nailled it, Cold and snow on the way. More for Doug than us.
As for weird career paths,
Here is a snapshot of some of the things I have done with the help of many other fine workers over the years if you care to see. Copied from an old Resume.
I have many years of job experience at the Aurora Caterpillar plant. In that time I have been involved in many different types of jobs. For the bulk of my union time I worked as an assembly line runner, repairman, test cell operator, in major teardown, and excavators operations engineering group known as Hex in the vehicle planning engineering & the Build to plan group). My job in Hex was to work as a liaison between groups to improve machine build and quality level. I worked with all aspects of engineering, New Product Introduction planning, Price list planning, manufacturing, purchasing, NACD commercial group, Material handling excavators and Forest Products Group, as the interface between these groups. I got to know the key contact people to resolve problems that arise on the shop floor and I worked directly with dealer personal and others to implement product requests. I fully understood what was needed to satisfy the customer’s needs. Some examples were the redesign of the lines groups down the boom and sticks of the FMs, using a common boom structure for the Forestry linkages and the redesign of the B-N-T forestry hydraulic system. This took the need of six part numbers down to one. During these two redesigns I coordinated work assignments between RFA, a contract design group, Finning’s dealer engineering personal and Hex technical. I worked with Customizing to get the 345 Custom Forestry Shovel Logger and 322 Swamp logger projects down the assembly line and to the customers.
In late March of 2003 I changed jobs and started working with the Aurora Logistics group on many projects.
· Project manager to clear out old material from PL04 storage.
· Project manager to clear and close H-ST-24 storage area.
· Project manager to design and build 6 sigma RFGen set test project on 345B.
· Project manager to move out 385 excavator and install variant product excavators on line 2750.
· Project manager to design and install inside storage for all Hex cylinders.
· Project manager to design and implement Hex cylinder repack area and process.
I was recognized for Valuable Contribution in the 2003 Career Innovator Awards and given a certificate on 2-11-04 by Gerald Palmer, Aurora WLED Vice President, a first for a Union worker at Aurora.
In February of 2004 I started working in Management for Caterpillar Logistics Services’ ML&T group as a Logistics Coach working at Yorkville IL. Over five years I worked on many Planning projects as ML&T, now MLS had taken over the day to day operations of Aurora’s third party suppliers, X-PAC, Yorkville, NTP, Montgomery, and CVG in DeKalb. Some Project Planning examples from 5,000 foot.
· Develop layout and set up area at X-PAC for FM cab NPI build saving $27,000 over installing this work at NTP.
· Reduce TAC inventory by over 50% within two months of start up. By transferring excess material too building B hub B-ST 62.
· Set up building D as new material hub D-ST 11 when supplies were too great to be stored at building B. Working off plan project. Transfer M&E from 62 to D.
· Quote and set up PMs for all Cat crane asset at the third party suppliers.
· Quote and have gen set tester upgraded at X-PAC
· Set up the sale and removal of all Cat assets from NTP west for consolidation into NTP north.
· Work with the planning group to set up all of NTP west operations into NTP north including quoting a new crane system and having one NTP west crane moved to NTP north.
· Set up kiting area in building D for NTP main valve hoses and purchase and install racking in the area.
In July of 2005 I was promoted into the Project Planning Group and in addition to the above duties I created and ran the building D General Activities Project. I also created the Knell Road NTP building D move project that was the guide for the major moves of 2006. Some of my duties included.
· Building assets management for all third party suppliers.
· Building maintenance management for all third party suppliers.
· Coordinate all Aurora LLP Capital purchases and tracking.
· Coordinate all Aurora LLP Expense purchases and tracking. / ProCard
· Building D exit Project Planning and implementation.
· Knell Road Facility Systems Project Planning and implementation.
· Xpac and CVG quality root cause identification and resolution.
In January of 2007 I was promoted to Senior Planning Analyst for the Aurora LLP and implemented Caterpillar Production System at the 3PSs that support Aurora. I had two direct reports working in our group.
In April of 2007 I was given the responsibility for the start up of the Aurora Logistic Center warehouse. To insure it would transition material from the Knell Rd warehouse and not interrupt production at the Aurora plant or the third parties supporting Aurora. The transition was successful.
Sept. 07 I was given responsibility to oversee the NTP management of the ALC 291,000 sq. ft. warehouse.
1-1-08 I worked with the transition teams at CVG DeKalb, CAO Joliet, and Caterpillar Logistics MLS to move the wheel loader cab assembly from CVG to CAO.
I have also traveled to and been involved in the CSCL CLS project in Suzhou China
In January of 2009 I took an early retirement package offered by Caterpillar.
I also have a working base knowledge of Microsoft Office Systems.
In the eighties I was laid off twice From Caterpillar, the first time I worked for RPC INC of Plainfield IL. / Hayward CA. We built one of a kind Electron Beam Processors, a type of print curing machine. I assembled the reaction chambers for the Electron Beam machines from blue prints at Plainfield then went to Hayward CA to assemble them to the beam.
.
During my second Caterpillar layoff I became the Plant Manager with full responsibility for the Will-Dupage Service Company Plainfield Plant.
Will-Dupage is a farm service bulk fuel and agricultural chemical provider. Did all maintenance on the plants equipment to prepare for the spring season. This included small engines, pumps, trucks, lawn equipment, fertilizer spreaders and mixers. This type of business is very customer driven and in the peak spring season required directing 25 or more employees in three different counties at the same time.
During the Caterpillar / UAW labor dispute I worked repairing farm machinery then worked for Speicher & Gaylord’s in Plainfield, an auto and truck salvage yard.
In August of 1996 I started a heavy-duty truck salvage business with Bill Speicher and Russ Bennett called Speicher’s Truck Parts and worked there and at Cat at the same time. Due to an injury on Aug. 26th of 1996 I found it necessary to sell my share of the business in November of 1997.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Aloha. Super-cold today. It sure is interesting to hear about these 'maker' career paths. It's something I'm talking about with my son - who is interested in the CNC training.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Morning team!
Clear crisp and 30 this morning. Some areas in teens and 20's. My pumpkins are frosty. 49 high today. Hard freeze last night, kills the bugs.
Snowed to the south of here all the way to the coast. Still snowing in Corpus Christie this morning. Texas A&M (College Station) got 4-6 inches. Nothing here.
Ear Doc appt this morning. Check up on the ringing/balance issue.
Dennis - you are correct. The work is satisfying when you see the finished product from manual machining and tolerances of 0.001 or less.
DonB - glad you are being spared the fire/smoke.
Prayers for the fire victims.
Regards, Roy
Good evening all,
Quiet day at work. Very cold for walk today. Came home and did very little. Not much else going on. I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Good Evening,
Haven't seen or heard ANY mention of Pearl Harbor today, just a few flags at half mast, SAD.
Unfortunately, the fires are still raging. Most of you probably saw cars going down the freeway, and the flames coming down the mountainside towards it. That was on the 405 Freeway, through the Sepulveda Pass. Which is inside LA city limits a few miles north of LAX. The Getty museum is on the right side of the freeway from where the fires are burning. Now idea how this particular fire started but the film was don between 4:30 and 5:00am. A number of celebrities live in the are and were evacuated inlcuding Paris Hilton.
More fires have started today, to the east and also south of us. Literally we are surrounded by fires but they are a long ways away. I believe right now there are 7 or 8 fires going, from Fallbrook to the south, to Castaic (Magic Mountain area) to the north, and Carpenteria to the west. (Just south of Santa Barbara at the beach.) Hopefully, will see it start to improve come Monday or Tuesday.
We are SO fortunate where we live, winds only about 2o-25, not covered with smoke, and mostly blue skies.
Went to VA today for blood check, then back tomorrow for a "procedure" NOT looking forward too! They are trying to locate the cause for small amount of blood in urine. UGH!!!
Still doing wiring on the layout. At most significant locations putting a terminal strip with 12v, 5v, & 3.5v dc capability ON the table top. Terminal strip located inside buildings, etc.. Should make things very easy for putting in seasonal lighting effects, Miller Eng signs, LED's, etc.. Originally thought I would probably get away with one power supply as the source. But the lights have pulled the voltage down to 10.5v. So, I have added a 2nd one on the opposite side of the layout, resulting in the powere coming back up to 12v, yielding much brighter lights.
Hope everyone gets their Christmas layouts going, espically for the kids, guests, pets (incl cats), and neighbors.
Got to start thinking about Christmas shopping, maybe do more on-line this year.
Oh yeah, went to the movies last night, saw "Daddy's Home 2" and "Murder on the Orient Express", both of them were great! Thanks Mike if you wouldn't have commented on them probably wouldn't have made it.
Take care all and be safe!
Don
Evening all,
I feel better knowing I'm not the only Grinch this year
Machine work would have been a nice trade to enter back in the day. But like many of my failed starts at a career, it's probably best that I gravitated towards cars. Tried the carpentry schtick but my " measure with a micrometer, mark with a crayon, cut with a chainsaw " manner of working got me no where. Review the pics of my layout construction for proof of my skill.
Put in some time on the layout this afternoon. Finished relaying track and tweeking areas of uneveness so that the big iron traverses it smoothly. There was also time to lube a few engines, a job I have ignored for a while. With 2 of the larger rebuilds behind me I can now concentrate on catenary along with general maintanence. Looking forward to getting back at the scenery too.
Bruce
Kevin about 25 years ago I had a G-Scale train set around our tree. I had a long hair red Tabby that like to lay on top of the boxcar and would even stay there if I ran it. As long as I went slow with it. It was a sight to see.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Prayers for our left coast Friends. I doubt I'll have a train layout this year either. Under the tree isn't really a option as I'm hoping the tree survives Christmas as we have two kittens this year and there as wild as can be lol. We have a7' cat condo and they go up it in like a 1/2 a second. Zoom. So glad our ornements are plastic anyway. ( wal-Mart specials) bought them that way as we have always had cats. I think they would just bolw over any trains on the floor. Even something like my postwar 736. Not sure I want to get down on my hands and knees either to be honest.
Hope all are doing well
Hi All,
Just a quick drop in on my lunch break. Back down to "normal" temperatures. No more flip-flops!! :(
Brent/Bruce - Don't feel bad about the Christmas (can I still say Christmas??...) tree layout. I'm in the same boat. This may be the first year in a long time I haven't bothered to either. Can't seem to get into it this year.
Hope the gang in California is safe. I always wanted to be a firefighter, but life didn't take me down that road. These are days I wish I had gone through with it. I would be on the next flight to LAX to help out.
Have a good one.
Rob
A day of remembrance and reflection. Pearl Harbor.
Morning all!
39 right now and will not crack 45 today. Another front came through last night. Still predicting 60 by Sun.
Fife - drop both of them in the mail!
Brent - loop under the tree for the kids! Gotta do It!!!!!
Fife - regarding the 2-6-6-2 and how that might affect life at home.....
A few years back the Cabin Fever Auction guys had an antique 13" gauge operating RR steam crane in their Orange Hall booth on a trailer. I was really admiring the skill of the machinist who built it. It was for sale at $12,000 inc trailer. You may recall seeing it. I went by so many times the guy started pressing me to buy it, saying it needed a new home and someone with time and skills to restore it.....
I responded if I bought that I would have tons of time to work on it as my wife would leave me!
Aloha. 76 years ago today Chief! I hope everyone is safe from those scary fires -- I'll take today's 5 degrees (with the breeze) over that danger any day. . . Brent, I hope you are able to put something up temporarily for the tree and the kiddos. I like Fife's idea. Speaking of which, I need a more detailed update on the Fifedom's layout development.
Hope Dennis, Don, Doug and ray are OK. CA firs are a disaster.
Damp and chilly 43 degrees.
Guess news forgot Pearl Harbor. No mention on CBS and NBC.
Not much on agenda today.
Enjoy.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Mornin' FellasWell it appears the kids are 'devasted' that there won't be trains under the tree... so I'm now considering putting up a single loop... we'll see if time allows. I designed a new layout for under the tree a few years ago, thinking I may build that as my 'temporary' structure till we move, and then I can use that under the tree at the new house. It is 6.5 x 6.5 so I'm thinking 4 squares should make it easily portable.Fife - I was thinking 1x4 for the main base and 1x2 for the risers. The layout in the new house will be done pretty much the same as I had here. The 4x4 posts with mortises for the base really worked well.RT and Rich - yes modular. That is what I was shooting for with my existing layout, but as I built upward I forgot about the 'joints'... lolHope everyone is well.
https://brentsandsusanspicutures.shutterfly.com/
Mornin' boys. Sunny and 37 along the Patterson Creek cutoff. Made good progress in the train room yesterday. Hope to finish the benchwork for the "southern" loop today. But first, need to put the Christmas tree up.
Roy - Perhaps I should send this AF 303 to you, since you have all of that equipment on hand. Any interest on working on a 2-6-6-2...?
88 - You can always make a return loop with O-54, and plop it under the tree. Try lightweight materials, and nothing larger than a 2x3.
SPMan - Nothing tougher than tooth pain. Hang in there.
Very quiet day at work. Good weather to walk in at noon. Roy, sounds like you had an interesting career. I hope everyone has a good day.
Good afternoon all,
We have been spared from the fires so far. The foothills above me have already burned a while back so no new brush to burn. I went to see the specialist who does the root canals yesterday. He thinks he can save my tooth but no guarantee of how long it will last. Only other alternative is to pull it. I would do that if it were not an anchor tooth for a partial. Total estimate $2400 counting a crown at the end. He is also going to put a post in the tooth to strengthen it. He will do the work next Tuesday. I am taking antibiotics until then to kill the infection around the tooth.
Ray
SPMan
Quick Fly By
Fife - I admired and loved your layout, need to stop by when its done....
LionRoar88 - Think MODULAR, seems the way to go and add or subtract modules as time and space allows and makes for easier moving. Just a thought.
I've been on Twitter discussing tactics and such with a few firefighters and 1 is a Chief in SoCal, told us he'd be missing for a few ....WEEKS...no explaination was necessary....
K - glad the little one was AOK.
Once the re-fi gets done, it will be full steam ahead on the attic and the layout. I will imagine the energy savings alone will eventually pay for itself.
Back to work, another 2 hours....
I am the monster in your head...And I thought you'd learn by now, It seems you haven't yet.I am the venom in your skin --- Breaking Benjamin
Aloha. Sunny but very cold. I walked all over the place to different meetings - more than 10K steps before noon. Prayers for those affected by the fires. May they stay away! Good news about the options for Chris to live in Vegas, Don. Roy, it is cool to see all you have created in your career - and second career - and retirement career!
Dennis,
Cool! Machinist is something I considered as a profession and I took a year of formal machine shop training while at Texas A&M '70 - '74. I did end up with degrees in electrical engineering but with all the mechanical eng classes I was required to take I could have gotten an ME degree with an additional year (needed the labs and material science). I worked my latter years through A&M with a job at a research center. The A&M eng dept had a machine and wood shop in the basement and I made parts for research experiments (I.e. Special camera mount for a NASA C137 for A&M crop experiments/remote sensing).
My elec eng work specialized in microwave radio transmission and all of the equipment uses metal waveguide and structures. So this allowed me to stay close to the metal working.
I was fortunate that my first job at Rockwell International (work in microwave engineering) was in a facility with a huge machine shop. One could qualify to operate the machinery after hours (as long as that machinist trusted you to use his normally assigned machines - you had to have your own tools - one could not do something to cause a problem for normal production or you would be banned). After a couple of years the management put a SB 9" bench lathe and Bridgeport mill in the engineering lab.
After I left Rockwell in 1987 I went to a small aircraft business and again and the ability to design/fab some small custom parts. Only stayed there about a year. Went to another microwave radio company with some machines for prototyping, but at this point most businesses sub out their machine work, so l lost touch with the machines - particularly the move into CNC.
So at some point I decided to get back to some metal work and about 2000, Harbor Freight had a huge sale including their Chinese mini-lathe. About 2003 HF had a huge sale on the mini-mill. Found two companies that sell aftermarket parts to convert the metric lead screw machines to US inch standard. A couple of years ago I found a 1937 Atlas 10D (10" swing) lathe that I purchased, striped, and refurbished. Very non-OSHA with exposed belts! I am now in the process of rebuilding a Southbend 9A (9" swing with Quick change gearbox). I also have a SB 9B (Threading gear set).
I recently have been designing and making parts to "industrialize" pre-war std ga trains for a museum in NY. I can take a MTH/Lionel Tinplate proto-drive or BAL motor and equip it with miniature ball bearings, heavy-duty stainless steel drive gears, heavy-duty gearbox, replaceable stainless steel driver tires, and replaceable (with a 2-56 screw and custom shoulder bolt) rollers. I can make many of the parts, but when a rebuild of 20 locos came up, I contracted a local CNC machine shop to make the parts I designed.
Recently designed my own worm drive gearbox that fits in either a Std Ga loco or in certain O Ga locos. I just completed fitting the gearbox into a MTH/Lionel tinplate 261E and getting ready to torture test it. Banks got to see the gearbox when we were at York this past Oct.
So most of my work is focused on miniature stuff. It has been fun and educational. Plus it's in my blood!
So Dennis, what kind of work did you do as a machinist?
lion88roar I'm no where near done with the tear down. I estimate it will take about 40 hours to take down and store what I am keeping. Going to be a lot of trash. TheQ and kids want me to build a smaller layout to tide over till we move, but not sure I want to stick the $$$ into a temp layout. Maybe if I can design and build it in a way that would make transporting to the new house easier...
I'm no where near done with the tear down. I estimate it will take about 40 hours to take down and store what I am keeping. Going to be a lot of trash. TheQ and kids want me to build a smaller layout to tide over till we move, but not sure I want to stick the $$$ into a temp layout. Maybe if I can design and build it in a way that would make transporting to the new house easier...
Sounds like you need to do a modular to me lol.
Haven't thought much about a Christmas layout until now. Maybe getting the tree this weekend will spawn some enthusiasm. Having too many projects in progress is turning me into the Grinch.
This easterner is frequently green with envy over So Cal whether, especially now that aging bones really crave a hot, dry climate. Then I ponder the tinder box environment created after a growing surge and the envy vanishes. A sustained Santa Ana is like adding insult to injury for fire fighters....an almost impossible situation. Scary stuff! To all those fighting and fleeing, here's praying your losses are minimal.
Phish - Great guidance, thank you Sir. At the very least, I'd like to lock it in forward... Will try tackling the problem as time permits.
Roy - Either 1:1 or 1:48, it's always choo-choo-choo-choo....
Good Afternoon from overcast 42°F Southern Ohio,
It was 31° at 5 am when I was feeding the dogs. The forecasters are calling for an inch or two of snow Friday and Saturday. Our new house sits on a hill and the front yard has an awesome place to ride sleds. We have three new sleds we got last year and never had enough snow to use them.
I think I’m going to put the Polar Express around the tree tonight and have some Marx tin and a 666 waiting in wings.
Fife – sounds like the reverse unit is sticking, very common problem with AF. As you are looking at the front of the tender with the shell removed on the left side there is a tiny pawl that catches a toothed gear that rotates the drum inside the mechanism. If the drum does not rotate the direction will not change. On the back of the reverse unit there is a little tab that manually makes the coil go up and down and rotate the drum. Work the tab / lever and spray some electrical safe lube (5-56) and see if that frees it up. Less frequently the pawl gets bent and dose not let the drum rotate and rarely but I’ve seen it is the pawl wear an indent into the side frame that makes the pawl stick. If the coil is not picking up the core you may need to remove the core from the coil and clean it up, remove rust but more often gummed up grease. When all else fails, lock the drum with the lever under the tender and run on DC!
Lunch time over
May God bless
Jim
45 this morning and headed to 50/51. Freezing predicted Thurs night/Fri morning. Then back to 60's by Sun.
Made more progress on the garage/shop reorg. Son dropped by last night to help me lift the mini-mill off it's table/drawer unit and onto a furniture cart. Diassembled the Atlas 10" lathe so I can move it and it's bench. I am swapping the locations of the Atlas lathe and mini-mill/lathe. The mini-lathe and mini-mill will mount onto the heavy double plywood top I made for the 53" Craftsman tool box. This way i can roll the mini-lathe and mill around for rear access/cleaning and all their tooling are in the tool-box drawers directly below. They will also be higher up so I do not have to stoop over them when working. The two smaller toolboxes fit under the Atlas table and will hold all the Atlas tooling.
Dennis, Don, and Ray - wow. Glad none of you are in the path of this fires. News showed a clip of the horzontal sparks storm! Yes some appeared baseball sized! Stay inside if there is a lot of smoke out!
Fife - good to hear you are getting time on the layout!
Mike C - yes the MR was a particularly good issue this month. The new switching module project for 2018 looked great (and for once lots of pics) and the article about the T&P layout (but as usual, needed more pics and less verbiage) was really good.
88 - it has been good to hear from you. Good luck with the layout space with a house over it search.
Don B - apartments are not what they used to be. My son loves in a place that is amazing compared to what I did at that age. Underground garage, pools, theater room, concierge, outdoor gas grills, nice balconies, gated access...same for the daughter with exception of the concierge and theater room, but she has a garage!
Chief - food security? You securing your free lunches for 2018?
Kev - glad the little guy is OK!
Damp and chilly. Off to a Food Security meeting in Raleigh. Have a good one.
Good morning,
Clear but cold at 30, the winds have fallen off. Winter is sitting in for the long haul.
Got the little guy home safe and sound yesterday and as we waited for the daughter to get home I made a run to HD to get the stuff I needed to installed a push button for their garage door next to the entrance door. I don't know how they could live without one there? She was very happy when she saw it.
Got a new pair of shoes yesterday same as my 5 year old pair. No flip-flops here.
Dennis and Don, Hope you can stay out of that fires way. It looks bad.
88 - Woooooow! That was a lot of layout to dismantle, B. Good luck with the 1) sale, 2) search.
Only after viewing my sister's video, did I get nostalgic for the first time. Now it's full steam ahead on the new pike.
Mornin' FellasFife - thanks for that walk down memory lane! When we first met all you had up was the original Christmas layout, then the Cumberland section, and last I got to see you had just started the rotary coal tipple section, never got to see it in action.I started dismantleing the layout a few weeks ago, all engines and rolling stock are now in their bins. Some track is up and some scenery is gone. No trains this Christmas, too much work to bring them up and then take them down. Focusing on getting ready for the big move. Probably late 2018 or 2019.
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