Re: Pile Driver OB

John Cole Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tony, Roger Briggs gave me a tour of the
> rebuilding of OB when they had it all apart.
> After all of the moves and false starts they were
> finally getting serious about rebuilding it.
> Roger said when they started unbolting the steel
> braces, the whole thing almost fell apart. He
> said the "termites must have been holding hands"
> for it to arrive in one piece, (more or less).
>
> I recall John Engs saying one of the hammers
> weighing 1,200 lbs, I will check.

Update; John Engs said both hammers weigh 2,500lbs, one has a flat head, the other is rounded. John says they only drop the hammer about 6 inches each stroke as they run the risk of splintering the pile if they drop it much farther than that. He said that with the soft soil of Cumbres Pass they were going down about 5 to 6 inches with each blow, and at the Colorado RR Museum they drove a pile about 18 feet into the ground.