Bitter Creek & Western Weekend

So I went down to Arroyo Grande, home of the Bitter Creek & Western, the finest 7.5" gauge railroad in California, in my opinion. On Sunday April 20, there was a fundraiser for the San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum, so I decided to take my new locomotive there to run for the event.

All went well even though there were problems with the new propane burner. Sunday afternoon I wound up putting the coal grates in the #1 and throwing black diamonds with a tablespoon. Man! that was tough... but I got through it and the engine ran fine.

Here are some pictures from the weekend.

The Big Boy of Diesels

The Union Pacific Directors Special came up the coast route today with DDA40X #6936 in charge. This locomotive has the distinction of being the largest diesel ever built. Called a "Centennial" because the first batch of these locomotive were built in 1969, the 100th anniversary of the driving of the golden spike on the Transcontinental Railroad. #6936 is a little newer being built in 1971. It homebase is Cheyenne, Wyoming and is store with the UP steam locomotives and historic E-9 units.
The train came into Watsonville Junction about 4:45 PM and boy was it windy! Anyhow I took a short video of it and managed a single still picture of it as it passed by.



Here is the video...




Also this week I have finished work on my newest live steam locomotive. It now carries the Big Trees Flume & Lumber Company Logo.



Here is a closeup of the saddle tank with the logo...



I also finished up installing a new propane burner in the firebox. This one should really work better than the old.



I also added a spatula, hurricane lamp, and coffee pot for the engineer.


On Friday, we finally got my nephews car painted. This has been a two year restoration project that will hopefully be finished for his high school graduation this June. Gary, my painter did an excellent job and finished the buffing today. Man this car shines!

Booming...

Well April is here and lots of stuff going on. If you haven't read my post over on the Pacific Coast Railroad blog, go here to find out about my recent booming around various railroads. On Easter Sunday I fired on the old Heisler #2 at Roaring Camp. Man alive that loco is a beast. I have wrenched on her before with Tom Shreve, but never run. Four trips on that loco is brutal to say the least. Here is a picture of her shortly after being lettered for the Big Trees Flume & Lumber Company, a name that I use today to keep her memory alive.

My new locomotive is receiving the lettering I designed for the railroad of the same name.

Yes it is the route of the Badger!
Here is a picture of my sister Jannell, dad Marty, and myself taken in 1968 on our first trip behind the Heisler.

Who knew 40 years later I would actually fire the locomotive. Of all the geared steam locomotives ever built, the Heisler was designed by a mechanical engineer named Charles Heisler. The way these locomotives are put together just doesn't make practical sense. And since the oldest regularly operating one gets a workout whenever she runs, you can only imagine the work thats needed to keep it operable. It is just a pain in the you know what! Tom Shreve, Roaring Camp's head engineer and mechanic tells me the story of Charlie Heisler's purgatory and how he can't enter into the pearly gates until the last one dies. Well there are a few left running so Charlie may be there awhile. Here is a picture of Tom on the #2.

Thats all for now... no April Fools Jokes from me. I already got suckered today from Ed Kelley about the beast in question. He got me good. What goes around, comes around...

Back from a long trip...

Well my good friend Bryce and I went on a road trip to Phoenix to attend the Maricopa Live Steamers Spring Meet. There I picked up my latest acquisition, a beautiful 0-4-0T Porter Live Steam Locomotive. I purchased this engine from an estate sale for a very good price. It runs great and I will keep this one for awhile. The above photo shows Bryce and I on our way out of the yard headed for no-man's land where the agua is tainted and foam is the status quo. Thanks to Mojave Mike Massee for the photo.

Bryce has this awesome Prevost Bus conversion that is a dream to drive and relax in. So we took "Bertha" and towed "Max" the green S-10 behind so we would have transportation around town and something to haul the new locomotive back home in. Here I am driving the beast...



Another reason to take the trip to Phoenix is the world famous Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa. Home of the finest Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ with a sound like no other. Charley Balough is one of the best organists in this field of music. The organ just keeps getting bigger also. You can read about its history here.


Here is Lew Williams playing Chattanooga Choo-Choo


So Bryce and I got to Phoenix on Thursday and first thing we did was beat feet to hear the organ. We went again Friday, Saturday Night, and again on Sunday Night. Yeah I'm nuts, but being a musical person, I just can't seem to get enough of this instrument. Anyway the trip had to end and work called us both home. Due to a storm over the weekend we postponed leaving until early Monday morning. 14 hours later we were back!

Bio What?

For the month of March, I thought I would update everyone (the few of you that follow this mess-a -patamia blog site) on just what I am up to.
Having followed the Bio-diesel craze for the last couple years I have decided it is time to make my own. With many of the Santa Cruz people I live around doing this with success, and now having the mileage on their vehicles to warrant a try, I am diving in.
So here is what I am doing. I currently have 4 sources for Waste Vegetable Oil from either restaurants or schools and even the facility I manage. I need a few more so I can get my supply up to 30 gallons per week if possible. Anyhow the oil is collected using a 50 gallon transfer tank and hand pump that I mounted on a pallet and sits in the back of my 1 ton flatbed truck.
When I return to the shop, I pump the WVO out of the tank and into a clean 5 gallon bucket with a paint strainer to catch all the crumbs and dead french fries. I then pour the oil into my batch plant keeping track of how many gallons I put in.
The tank has a heater which I turn on to heat the oil to 130 degrees. I then circulate the oil using this old hot water recirculation pump I salvaged.

The oil is then pumped through two household type water filters. First one is a 25 micron and the second is a 20 micron. The helps remove any other sediment that could clog a fuel filter in a vehicle.

After letting the oil go through this filtration process overnight, I then turn off the pump and heater and let the oil assume room temperature. The next day, I remove any water that has settled on the bottom of the batch. Basically I pump out the water until I see good oil being careful to measure just how much I remove in gallons. Then it is time to do that magic I do. Following a recipe from post-WWll Germany, I mix in Kerosene, Unleaded Gas, Diesel Kleen (Walmart) and Heet (Kragen). Stir for 10-15 minutes and then turn the pump on and recirculate the mix for an hour. Then the fuel is ready to transfer from the batch plant to the pumping station.

The pumping station above is built from a 55 gallon poly drum that I mounted a diesel pump I got from Northern Tool. From the pump the fuel goes to another household water type filter that is a 5 micron and then into a Goldenrod Water-block Fuel Filter. From there it goes into the nozzle and into the vehicle. As you can see in the picture below, the fuel is clear and looks just like diesel.

So I have been running this fuel which is known as B-87 (87%WVO & 13% other petrochemicals) in my John Deere 950 and it works great. The engine is quieter and just as much power as before. Since my family is always taking trips to town for this and that and eating up fuel, I decided to look for a vehicle that runs on diesel that I could get for cheap and not worry if it craps out, kind of an experimental for this homemade brew. So I found this fine looking Mercedes 300D in Watsonville at a dealership. Got it for $800.00 and its great! Runs good, looks OK, interior is nice and has a good sound system in it.


So now when the kids want to go to Taco Bell, they take the "Benz" and as they are driving down the road, all I smell is French Fries cooking! So how much does it cost me to make you ask? Well I have an investment of the processing and pumping equipment. The oil I get for free. After adding the ingredients I figure it costs me .88 cents per gallon to make. Now what I smell is MONEY!

More Family History

This is a picture of my Great-great Grandfather Eitle's workshop in Kansas. Looks like some Tin Lizzies are getting repaired as I see a driveline and rear end on the ground, and another on the work bench. This picture is from circa 1915.

Hello all. Well we are in the midst of a big winter storm this weekend. Expecting up to 5" of rain and 75MPH winds. Oh well lets see what needs to be scanned. I came across this picture of my ancestors harvesting wheat in Kansas with their Case 30 Steam Tractor. John Eitle was my Great-great grandfather. My father's mothers, grandfather. That goes back some time ago. Not sure of the date, but here it is...