Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston diesel

here's a diagram of the opposed piston engine showing how the pistons and crankshafts operate. one crank leads the other by about 9 degrees if i remember correctly. they come together in the center for compression, injection of fuel and firing. the ones i ran had 10 cylinders and 20 rods and pistons. they put out 2,000hp apiece and weighed about 18 tons. they were quite noisy but after awhile you got used to it and it was kinda strange when they were shut down and all was quiet except for various pumps and compressors in operation. the ship was diesel electric just like a modern locomotive. each engine turned a generator which in turn sent it's power to the main motors. these were large electric motors of 5,000hp apiece which actually turned the screws and moved the ship through the water. there were six of the diesel engines, two in each of three different engine rooms.

Fairbanks- Morse opposed piston diesels

since Sancho pictured a Fairbanks- Morse locomotive i thought i'd show a picture of the type of engine it uses. these engines are opposed piston, two stroke, supercharged diesels. i operated two such engines when in the USN years ago aboard the icebreaker USS ATKA. this picture is a picture of a Canadian Coast Guard ship's engine room with two of the engines. these engines were originally used in ships and later in locomotives after WW2. they are tough engines, we used to run ours for day after day in all kinds of weather with no breakdowns.

Trololo Kitty

For those who enjoyed Russian singer Eduard Khil and love cats.

One more Plymouth

This obviously well maintained example is still in service at a glass factory in Tulsa, Ok. This shot was taken 3/2/10. I like the "BEEF" tag on the front of it.

Size Reference

This is a neat shot that illustrates the small size of some of these "critters". This is a 25-ton Whitcomb (left) and an ex-U.S. Army Fairbanks-Morse H-12-44 on the right. Keep in mind also that compared to some of today's high-powered road engines, that FM H-12-44 isn't really what I'd call "big" either.

The little engine that could.....

Here is a little 7-ton Whitcomb on the Kauai Plantation Railroad in Lihue, Hawaii. It's a short tourist or "excursion" line that operates seven days a week.

another Whitcomb

this is a 50ton Whitcomb centercab.

#602

if we're gonna have Plymouths we might as well have some Whitcombs too. this is a Whitcomb centercab 65ton locomotive.

I got wood...

Carlos Alberto is a Portuguese carpenter ( Hello people in Portugal!) who makes all sorts of things out of wood. But not just things like cabinets or coffee tables. As you might have guessed, Carlos has created fully functional scooters and motorcycles made out of wood! Here you can see the SR250 motor in the beautifully carved frame, fenders, wheels, and so on.

And a Vespa

He is almost as good as Geppettos

I try to get to his web site but it is keep telling me that it is known as an attack site; may harm my computer, so I could not go there....

somewhere in Deutschland

here's a really neat picture of a German DKW RT175S complete with a handsome fellow and his beautemous companion. it's obvious she wouldn't be so friendly if he didn't own such a nice bike.

Stop

"Found on the corner of James and Bay Streets, Ottawa"

Picture by Lana Stewart

Worrying does not solve anything.

I worry a lot when I work on rusted bikes- put some penetrating oil on those parts and try to make the part loose by moving little by little. Or gently tap the part with a hammer. It is boring and time consuming to worry. One time I spent a week soaking the parts in the oil or carb cleaner and worried here and there. Some of them still did not get loose at all.

Even more Plymouth's

First up is a double-cab. It's a larger model than those previously posted. The next two show a 1920's model and it's chassis/drivetrain.

cabless Plymouth

sancho is right about Plymouths being used in mines and tight clearance places. here's an 8ton narrow gauge model for use in a mine. with all that smoke they don't need any ddt.

Oh yeah.......

Sancho sez..........

Who is this irresistable creature who has an insatiable love for the dead?

'Nother Plymouth

I like the little Plymouths as well. Here's one that is still in service in Ohio. At least it was in November 2009. It is owned by the grain elevator as lots of these were owned/operated by companies as opposed to being owned by a railroad. I'm surprised Mitchell has never heard of them. I always figured he would dig them because a lot of them look chopped. I think the idea was to get it into mines and/or factories with low clearance. Also in this pic is an abandoned electric commuter car.

TT'09 Cameron Donald Record lap

If your computation device is a nice and fast one, I recommend you to watch it in 1080HD

Pot holes

No one likes pot holes....If you are a motorcyclist, you know what you mean. It can be as bad as hitting a wall...Those holes needs to be fixed ASAP but takes time and money- maybe it requires many paper work or some bureaucratic bullshits to get to it.

Anyway, several students of the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy, have come up with a brilliant and reasonably easy idea. Their idea consists of having a base layer under the road surface that has a highly visible color. When a pothole appears, the bright color is visible, so that you can be at least warned and avoid it.
Some guys are being naysayers; their idea “doesn’t tackle the real issue of preventing potholes in the first place.”
It is better than nothing, isn't it? Or you can go for more tree-hugging style; planting a flower in a hole.

Via Kicking Tires

Rail Rail Rider

Rail rider - a motorized maintenance vehicle formerly used on railroads by track inspectors and work crews to move quickly to and from work sites

another Plymouth

this is a really good one in operable condition. little locomotives like this are known as "critters" in railroad world. there is one similar to this one at the Wichita Museum of Transportion. these are chain drive kinda like a motorcycle but the chains are of course much larger and there is one for each side. they can be diesel or gasoline. the one in Wichita is powered by a LeRoi gasoline engine.

25ton Plymouth

here is a picture for go away garage who had never seen a Plymouth industrial locomotive.

Say Hello to my little friend, MotherFudger!!

Kids always make me smile.

Angry Monkey

Dan Patterson a.k.a Supercrouton's "Angry Monkey"

via Triumph Bobber project

Training for WW2

a picture of German motorcycle troops charging through the mud in a war training exercise. my friend Andy and I used to do this on his Chinese Chiang Jiang. it was hard to get stuck since it had a driven sidecar wheel. I think we probably had more fun than these Germans since we got loaded first and we were not going to war to shoot and be shot .

Eastern Front WW2

a German unit of motorcycle riflemen on the Russian Front in early WW2.

BZzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Decapitator Eliminator

"Demonstrating a improvised device to stop decapitation from piano wire stretched across the road."

But I am sure that you get whacked on your face by the stick and possibly knocked off of the bike.

It is better than losing your head, though....






Via WW2 Talk

AT&SF FP45

here's a picture of the Wichita Great Plains Transportation Museum's other major locomotive. EMD FP45 cowl bodied passenger locomotive. 72' 4" long with a V/20 3600hp diesel engine these were very powerful for the day. none remain in service and the ones still in existence are all in museums somewhere. I believe there is one in California that is still operable. apparently the one in Wichita would still run if they could afford a starter for it. I've been in the engine room and a 20cyl diesel engine generator set is quite impressive.

Whisker Lickin'

AT&SF 3768

one of Wichita's great treasures Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe #3768. built by Baldwin in 1938 this is one of the 3765 class 4-8-4 "Northerns". they could be used for fast freight or passenger duties. with 80" drivers they made plenty of speed. can you imagine one of these locomotives and tender weighing almost 1,000,000 lbs. and 121 ft. long pulling a train at 80mph? a truly amazing and beautiful sight. it only costs $5.00 to see this one plus other locomotives, cabooses and cars and is well worth the price. if you haven't done it you ought to. the museum is on Douglas just across the street from the Union Station and is open every Saturday throughout the year.

Power Of PU$$Y

Colored Chain

A Japanese based company EK chain has released colored chains for public.

EK chain is known as Enuma chain in Japan and they have been selling chains to major companies like Kawasaki, Kubota, Mitsubishi for over half of a century.

The colors are powder-coated on championship winning chains, 3 different types available. The toughest one is able to handle up to 180hp and 10,560 lbs.

There are colored tires available but don't seem like really taking off; I have not seen one put on motorcycles on the road, yet... so I am not sure if this sells well but for custom bikes, those chains might be neat to accentuate or color coordinate with the bike you got.

I know little girls would love to play with them. There are tools like screw drivers, pliers, a hammer with flower design printed on them for those who wants everything pretty. If you want to be a dealer for those, you can visit this site
Pretty tools

Richards on a Bike

Hard to recognize him without a guitar, a lit cigarette and some kind of booze around him.

S.M.S. Scharnhorst

the German armored cruiser Scharnhorst at speed. she's moving right along as evidenced by the bow wave and the copious clouds of coal smoke. Scharnhorst and sister ship Gneisenau sank most of a British squadron in the Battle of Coronel off the coast of Chile November 1, 1914. on December 8, 1914 the British got their revenge by sinking Scharnhorst and Gneisenau at the Battle of the Falklands.

Wound Badge

I thought it would be cool to have those put on sides of German made motorcycles' tank if it has been laid down or wrecked. Then thought "Yeah that might offend someone, I guess..." You can't do anything without offending someone these days.

I told a little girl I have known since she was 2 years old that she has got temper so needed to watch it. She lost temper at me.

Maybe I just suck at getting along with females age over 9....

Italian armored cruiser Pisa

in honor of armored cruiser thursday we present the Italian vessel Pisa. armed with a main battery of 10" guns Pisa survived WW1 and was a unit of the Italian Fleet until the mid 1930's. her sister ship Amalfi was sunk in 1916 by the Austro-Hungarian submarine U-26. a third ship named Giorgios Averoff was sold to the Royal Hellenic Navy and still survives as a museum ship in Greece.

Mitch likes Dancing Girls

in the early mists of time

people then rode motorcycles much like this NSU towing a wheeled chair. the woman doesn't look too happy. maybe she wants to drive. i think this must be about 1903 or so. at that time NSU used Zedel engines from Switzerland.

Honda Streamliner

here's Allert Jacobs of the Netherlands with his home built 125cc Honda Streamliner. at 55mph it gets over 200mpg. i could live with that kind of fuel mileage very easily. maybe i should streamline my Cadillac.

just about the end

here's a picture of Bud Ekins shortly before he left this mortal coil. he died in October, 2007. one of Motorcycle World's all time greats.

Bud Ekins

we better have a picture of Bud also. here he is in 1957 aboard a Triumph. from the looks of the front wheel he's been doing some serious riding. my experience with Triumphs is that they are like the old Timex watches. Takes a Licking and keeps on Ticking! they do dribble a little oil from time to time though.

Steve McQueen

Today is Steve McQueen's 80's birthday. He was well-known for his love of automobiles, planes and motorcycles. His car/ bike collection was quite large but unlike other celebrity car/motorcycle collectors, he raced some himself.

He also did most of stunt driving in his movies. A lot of young kids scrapped their motorcycles trying to emulate the jump McQueen's character did in "The Great Escape", but the jump was done by his friend/ stunt man -Bud Ekins . The studio did not let McQueen do the jump.

McQueen's popularity is still strong, there are many many products that carries his name, such as Matisse "McQueen" desert racer, and Bell Steve McQueen replica Helmet. Maybe his estate or Chad is needing money...

He was inducted in AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.