Re: Class 56 Enginedriver.

Skip Wrote:
=======================================================
> >
> > I am just remembering how dirty coal burners
> are,
> > and that was just from firing one up...
> >
>
> That sticky lube grease (in the mines it was
> called "Crater...") that we put on the Shay's
> gears has the amazing property of leaping up to 8
> or 10 feet and getting all over your clothes and
> skin. I have never figured out how it does that,
> but I bet most geared engine crews will back me up
> on this. Doesn't seem to make any difference how
> careful you are.

It's not just on Shay's either Skip. It was (and is) the wonderous stuff that lubricates the many gears on an antique merry-go-round. Having been working on these for some forty years now (still servicing one in Southern CA ) I can attest to the veracity of the stuff. Never comes out of clothes, and once it gets into you skin it can take up six months before signs of it disappear (that is if you don't touch one for that long). The stuff is like a magnet, the minute you step into the motor room it's on you. Of course you spend an inordinate amount of time cleaning this stuff up to placate the state inspectors.