Friday Night Steam

A nice little video of the 3985 - 'Hope you enjoy it!

Make sure you stop at the website below and take a look around - lots of good history and information there!

 http://www.up.com/aboutup/special_trains/steam/locomotives/3985.shtml

Challenger No. 3985

The History of the Challengers

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Union Pacific Challenger No. 3985 was designed by Union Pacific and built in 1943 by the American Locomotive Company. It is one of 105 Challengers built for Union Pacific between 1936 and 1943 and is the only operating engine of its class in the world today – the largest and most powerful operating steam locomotive.
No. 3985 last operated in "regular" train service in 1957. It was retired in 1962 and stored in the roundhouse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, until 1975 when it was placed on display near the Cheyenne depot. A group of Union Pacific employees volunteered their services to restore the locomotive to running condition in 1981.
The name Challenger was given to steam locomotives with a 4-6-6-4 wheel arrangement. This means that they have four wheels in the leading "pilot" truck, which helps guide the locomotive into curves; two sets of six "driving" wheels, and finally, four "trailing" wheels, which support the rear of the engine and its massive firebox. Each set of driving wheels has its own steam cylinder. In essence, the result is two engines under one boiler.
The frame of the locomotive is "articulated," or hinged, to allow it to go through curves. When watching the approaching locomotive go through a curve, you can see the boiler swing out left or right independently of the lower half of the engine, as the rear half of the locomotive remains in a straight direction until its wheels and frame are halfway through the curve.
The Challengers were designed for fast freight service, but occasionally pulled passenger trains. No. 3985 originally burned coal and pulled a tender with a 32-ton capacity. In 1990, it was converted to use No. 5 oil. The top speed of No. 3985 is about 70 miles an hour.
Prior to the Missouri River Eagle/Sedalia Sesquicentennial Special in 2010, No. 3985 had been shop-bound for routine maintenance since 2008. These videos show her first test runs after that down-time.

• Past the Cheyenne Depot (8/31/2010)
• No. 3985 shakes off the cobwebs.
• Heading to the Mainline (8/31/2010)
• No. 3985 is Alive!!! (8/30/2010)
• Steamed up and ready for a test-run tomorrow.
• Video Update on Status of No. 3985 (7/24/2010)
• Quick Recap With Ed Dickens, Manager Heritage Equipment & Facilities (Steam Engineer)

Vital Statistics
Tender Type:	14-wheeled
Water Capacity:	25,000 gallons
Fuel:	6,450 gallons No. 5 oil
Gauge of Track:	4 ft. 8-1/2 in.
Cylinder:	Diameter: 21 in. Stroke: 32 in.
Driving Wheel Diameter:	69 in.
Boiler:	Inside Diameter: 94-11/16 in. Pressure: 280 lbs.
Fire Box:	Length: 187-1/32 in. Width: 108-3/16 in.
Tubes:	2-1/4 in. Diameter: 45 x 20 ft. 0 in. 4 in. Diameter: 177
Wheel Base:	Driving: 12 ft. 2 in. & 12 ft. 2 in. Engine: 60 ft. 4-1/2 in. Engine & Tender: 121 ft.10-7/8 in.
Weight in Working Order, Pounds:	Leading: 102,300 Driving: 404,000 Trailing: 121,600 Engine: 627,900 Tender: 446,000
Evaporating Surfaces, Square Feet:	Tubes: 527 Flues: 3,687 Fire Box: 500 Circulators: 81 Total: 4,795
Superheating Surface, Square Feet:	2,162
Grate Area:	Removed, 1990
Maximum Tractive Power:	97,350 lbs.
Factor of Adhesion:	4.17

Today's funny :o)

(This one is for Irish)

Worse than two year olds!

It was pretty dark out when I finally put the gang in for the night - only a little bit of pink light was left in the sky.....

This is what I heard when they were all in:

Charlie likes to line his girls up on the roosting bar in a certain order. They were making so much racket that I opened the door and took pictures. They HATED the flash on the camera! And it really, really ticked Charlie off!

Laverne is next to the wall - That's HIS spot!

 

He bites their feet when he wants them to move - Lucy is the only one that bites him back.

Lucy doesn't want to be on the end and bites Laverne.

Lucy knocks Laverne off the roost bar.

Poor Laverne sleeps at the end tonight!

See how much fun chickens are? You should get a couple of  'em too!  :o)

Rainbow roses

Found this over at: http://www.amazingandweird.com/nature/the-rainbow-roses/

The Rainbow Roses,the multi-coloured natural roses

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The Rainbow roses were created by Dutch flower company owner Peter VanDe Werken,who produced them by developing a technique for injecting natural pigments into their stems while they are growing to create a striking multicolored petal effects. During his studies he specialized in biology, physics and chemistry. In 1993 Peter started in a private nursery in Nederhemert, a picturesque village in the river- area.

The dye are produced from natural plant extracts and absorbed by the flowers as they grow. A special process then controls how much color reaches each petal- with spectacular results.Rainbow roses are made by inserting dye into the stem of the roses. The dyes are produced from natural plant extracts. The dye is absorbed by the petals of the flower as they grow.

 There a special process then controls how much color reaches each petal. This process takes 12 and 24 hours, but how the different petal turn out different color is the secret of Peter Van Werken.

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And here is a commercial for them......

I wouldn't mind having a few of 'em!

Today's funny :o)

Beat 'ya to it, Charlie!

I woke up at 4 yesterday morning to watch the eclipse. It had rained pretty hard during the night so I wasn't sure if it would be clear enough to see anything. Bundled up -grabbed a mug of hot coffee and went outside. It was cold, windy and the deck was wet with puddles. Charlie heard me, crowed a few time and then went back to sleep! (Why doesn't he do that all the time?)

The night sky was amazing - no clouds and the moon was bright and crystal clear! Usually only on Winter nights does it look that way. If only ALL the leaves were off , I could have taken better pictures. These are three of the nicer ones taken right before the moon disappeared behind the trees.

Would be silly to go back to bed, so I waited for the sun to come up and it was worth the wait:

And yes, the gang got an early breakfast!

The Friesian

These magnificent horses are only two minutes down the road from our house! Every morning I can hear them whinny when they are let out for the day. I love to watch them run with their manes and tails sailing in the wind!

From: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Friesian horses

The breed was developed in the province of Friesland in the northern Netherlands, where there is evidence of thousands of years of horse populations, and this breed is said to have descended from the primitive forest horse.

Ancestors of the modern Friesians were used in medieval times to carry knights to battle. In the 12th and 13th centuries, some eastern horses of crusaders were mated with Friesian stock. During the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Netherlands were briefly linked with Spain, there was less demand for heavy war horses, as battle arms changed and became lighter. Andalusian horses were bred with Friesians, producing a lighter horse more suitable (in terms of less food intake and waste output) for work as urban carriage horses.

Historian Ann Hyland wrote of the Friesian breed:

    The Emperor Charles (reigned 1516 -56) continued Spanish expansion into the Netherlands, which had its Frisian warhorse, noted by Vegetius and used on the continent and in Britain in Roman times. Like the Andalusian, the Frisian bred true to type. Even with infusions of Spanish blood during the sixteenth century, it retained its indigenous characteristics, taking the best from both breeds. The Frisian is mentioned in 16th and 17th century works ... a courageous horse eminently suitable for war, lacking the volatility of some breeds or the phlegm of very heavy ones. Generally black, the Frisian was around 15hh with strong, cobby conformation, but with a deal more elegance and quality. The noted gait was a smooth trot coming from powerful quarters. Nowadays, though breed definition is retained, the size has markedly increased, as has that of most breeds due to improved rearing and dietary methods.
The breed was especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, when they were in demand not only as harness horses and for agricultural work, but also for the trotting races so popular then. The Friesian may have been used as foundation stock for such breeds as the Dole Gudbrandsdal, the Norfolk Trotter (ancestor of the Hackney), and the Morgan.] In the 1800s, the Friesian was bred to be lighter and faster for trotting, but this led to what some owners and breeders regarded as inferior stock, so a movement to return to pureblood stock took place at the end of the 19th century.

A Studbook Society was founded in 1879 by Frisian farmers and landowners who had gathered to found the Friesian Cattle Registry (FRS,] The Paardenstamboek ("Stud book") was published in 1880 and initially registered both Friesian horses and a group of heavy warmblood breeds, including East Friesians and Oldenburgers, collectively known as "Bovenlanders".] At the time, the Friesian horse was declining in numbers, and was being replaced by the more fashionable Bovenlanders, both directly, and by crossbreeding Bovenlander stallions on Friesian mares. This had already virtually exterminated the pure Friesian in significant parts of the province in 1879, which made the inclusion of Bovenlanders necessary. While the work of the registry produced a revival of the breed's popularity in the late 19th century, it also resulted in the sale and disappearance of many of the best stallions from the breeding area, and Friesian horse populations dwindled. By the early 20th century, the number of available breeding stallions was down to three. Therefore, in 1906, the two parts of the registry were joined, and the studbook was renamed the Friesch Paarden Stamboek (FPS) in 1907."Friesian horses are sometimes referred to as "Belgian Blacks"

In 1913, a society known as the Het Friesch Paard was founded, dedicated to the protection and promotion of the breed. By 1915, the group convinced FPS to split the registries back up into two groups. By 1943, the breeders of non-Friesian horses left the FPS completely to form an entirely separate registry, which later became the Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (Royal Warmblood Studbook of the Netherlands (KWPN).
Displacement by petroleum-powered farm equipment on dairy farms also was a threat to the survival of Friesian horse. The last draught function performed by Friesians on a significant scale was on farms that raised dairy cattle. World War II slowed down the process of displacement, allowing the breed's population and popularity to rebound. Important in the initial stage of the breed's rebound was the circus of the Strassburger family, who, having fled Nazi Germany for the Low Countries, discovered the show qualities of the breed and demonstrated its abilities outside of its local breeding area during and after the Nazi occupation.[citation needed]

Today, there are three modern bloodlines: Tetman 205, Age 168, and Ritske 202. Each of these sires traces his blood to Paulus 121, born in 1913 and entered into the Studbook in 1916. He, in turn, can be traced back three generations to the original 19th-century Studbook foundation sire, Nemo 51, born in 1885. All purebred Friesians trace back to these bloodlines.

Can you just imagine the thrill it must be to ride a horse like that?