Big Creek & Southern Railroad Steamup
Bill and I went out to Lee's Summit, outside of Kansas City, MO this past weekend to join in an invitation only steam train meet on the Big Creek & Southern Railroad. This was also the weekend of the annual fall meet at the Tennessee Mid-South Live Steamers, but I chose to go here instead. A bunch of us from St. Louis went to this private track; Corey A., Tim M. & son Zack, John T. also friends Allan W.
I brought the Crab out with it's newly improved riding car. For the past two weeks Bill and worked on it and not the Mikado. We added a simple 'plate' hand brake to slow us down, and I permanently mounted and plumbed the ice chest into a water tank, and I added a coupler on the back. We also modified the water pump assembly to replace the spring return mechanism with a more positive eccentric/cam design.
We had a great time, with good weather --it only rained at night after midnight and finished at dawn--running Thursday, Friday and Saturday, during the day and night!
My little locomotive was 'hot' for some 10-12 hours total, probably putting as many miles on it. We burned 35 lbs. of coal, the most I've ever used in a season, much less one weekend!
I played around with some night photography and with taking AEB (Auto-Exposure Bracketed) pictures which require HDR post-processing (High Dynamic Range). I will end up learning more about the mechanics of photography (ISO, shutter, Aprature) than I ever did with film. I'm glad I bought my Canon G10, many of these controls are more accessible than in my old pocket camera. But now I have to buy more software for my computer to post-process the images...
This weekend the property (and railroad) owner Pat McCarthy held a golden spike ceremony, when I finish that processing, I'll post the panoramic pictures.
Full photo gallery found here.
I brought the Crab out with it's newly improved riding car. For the past two weeks Bill and worked on it and not the Mikado. We added a simple 'plate' hand brake to slow us down, and I permanently mounted and plumbed the ice chest into a water tank, and I added a coupler on the back. We also modified the water pump assembly to replace the spring return mechanism with a more positive eccentric/cam design.
We had a great time, with good weather --it only rained at night after midnight and finished at dawn--running Thursday, Friday and Saturday, during the day and night!
My little locomotive was 'hot' for some 10-12 hours total, probably putting as many miles on it. We burned 35 lbs. of coal, the most I've ever used in a season, much less one weekend!
I played around with some night photography and with taking AEB (Auto-Exposure Bracketed) pictures which require HDR post-processing (High Dynamic Range). I will end up learning more about the mechanics of photography (ISO, shutter, Aprature) than I ever did with film. I'm glad I bought my Canon G10, many of these controls are more accessible than in my old pocket camera. But now I have to buy more software for my computer to post-process the images...
This weekend the property (and railroad) owner Pat McCarthy held a golden spike ceremony, when I finish that processing, I'll post the panoramic pictures.
Full photo gallery found here.
posted by Denis at
3:36 PM
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