<div dir="ltr">Lou and all,<div><br></div><div>We need to write one more big chapter into today's record.</div><div><br></div><div>The short story is that the Columbia boiler is sufficient to operate seemingly any of the large engines short of the Hereshoff. We had the Fitchburg running for about 10 minutes, the Corliss for nearly 30 minutes, and the older Harris for 10 minutes all solely on the Columbia.</div><div><br></div><div>The longer story is that through the use of the air compressor we have made numerous discoveries, experiments and improvements. Experiments indicated to me, as you might expect, that the Corliss actually consumes less steam than the Fitchburg does. Tough to believe perhaps, but a direct demonstration of the increased efficiency. Late last year on the last day Davinder was visiting, we wanted to give him something more to see. Through much difficulty we managed to get steam over to the Fitchburg and it eventually ran, to some extent. Just before steam up we managed to locate and fix a major steam leak through the newer Harris's main valve. Sealing that leak made a big difference in boiler operation on Steam Up day. Several times I had to damper the boiler down and vent pressure outside via the turbine, rather than fighting to keep pressure up as I have in the last couple of years. We also used much less wood than we have in years past as well, some of which is of course because we operated it on oil for a couple of hours but proportionally it was a dramatic reduction. Anyhow, through various small improvements and discoveries it would seem the Columbia is much more capable than anyone would have assumed. I think it's good cause for a revised course of action on any future plans with the steam collection. Revising the steam piping arrangement would likely be a dramatic aid to actually running under this configuration. A main line that was properly drained and branches exiting the top rather than sides of the main would speed the supply of steam to all points versus the circuitous route the flow now takes. Anyhow, all things to keep in mind for the future and insight that certainly makes think about everything that may have been seen as a "norm" or limitation in the past. Somehow it does feel a bit like OZ!</div><div><br></div><div>Randy</div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr">On Thu, Oct 11, 2018 at 4:46 PM Louis Vertefeuille via Thursday <<a href="mailto:thursday@newsm.org">thursday@newsm.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><font color="black" size="2" face="arial">Good afternoon to the People of Oz,
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<div>There was a lot of activity this morning getting ready for the trip to Oz. First of all we finished the cleaning up after the BIG DAY. There were a few details that required finishing touches....trash that hadn't made it to the pick up point last week...wood blocks and boards that were used to prop up the Porta Johns and the grill...the steam bicycle and steam hoses were gathered and transported to the trailer..the wheel was repaired on the third wheelbarrow. The turbine was covered with a tarp and the water pump that was set up next to the Lookout boiler was winterized and put away for safe keeping. The Lookout boiler was cleaned of ashes and the mud ring was vacuumed out. The engines next to the boiler were blown out to get ready for winter. All the water and soda that was temporally stored in the church basement was moved and stored on the rack in the Mayes Building rest room.</div>
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<div><span style="font-size:10pt"> The Good Fairy visited the </span><span style="font-size:10pt">Massie</span><span style="font-size:10pt"> Station and left a working </span><span style="font-size:10pt">oscilloscope</span><span style="font-size:10pt"> on the workbench much to Colin's delight.</span></div>
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<div>The names of the new volunteers from last week which I missed are;</div>
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<div>Davinder Singh Matharu..as I mentioned last week he is visiting from the UK</div>
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<div>The other new volunteer was not present today so I couldn't get his info.</div>
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<div>Yet another new volunteer came in today..he is a ham radio guy and has a variety of other skills.</div>
<div>His name is Chris Prata and we welcome him to the Village on the Yellow Brick Road.</div>
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<div> A plan was devised to redo the paper product storage room to make it more presentable and organized. We hope the rearrangement will provide better use of our resources.</div>
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<div>The journey into the future starts with that first step along the Yellow Brick Road and I believe we have taken that step and we are on our way to bigger and better things that will take us to that fabled city of OZ.</div>
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<div>Best regards to all,.....the guy behind the curtain.</div>
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<div>LOU</div>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><font size="4">Randy Snow</font><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.snowfindings.com" target="_blank">Snow Findings Company</a><br></div><div><a href="http://www.lovements.com" target="_blank">Lovements.com</a><br></div><div><a href="http://www.newsm.org" target="_blank">New England Wireless and Steam Museum</a><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div>