other dog

That's about all I know, but it's true about the clean part. I worked at a place that made aluminum trailers, and one advantage was that the aluminum was new, but we still cleaned everything before welding. We used wire brushes with stainless steel bristles on them, and put the grinder to anything that was old or really dirty before welding. Best I remember we used argon gas, had Hobart welders. I worked there from '77 to '79, so it's been a while...

Happy birthday.

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They cut the steel beams to length down at Gerdau-Ameristeel in Petersburg.

Don't have much this week, but as usual others have posted outstanding pictures, like the kodiakatronomy of the week award winner Leversole. I did see some mountains in the sunlight and others in the shade as I started up Afton Mountain the other day... I saw a yellow boid. and a dove- Went to Metals USA in Ambridge, Pa. The P&S truck was broke down in the driveway- his airlines caught on the beams when he made the turn and broke them off. I went around him on the same side the service truck is sitting on-took this pic in the mirror. Still got their U model... Saw a groundhog in McKees Rocks- "No, wait, don't use that one- this is my best side"! Fine then... White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia- the Burns driver was right. Looks like a football practice facility all right. There's two complete fields there side by side, and another down below to the far left in the picture. Saw blades I took to Canton. Thank you Freightrain. Saw blades I brought back from Canton. Saw this in Charleston W.V. on the way back- haven't seen that name in years. Is this the original TIME-DC? Saw a chip truck too. He's fully loaded.

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Keep us posted, I hope Suzie is doing well. If y'all are planning on Winchester, i'll try to make that one. Might even see farmer and fix'em there.

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I took that picture at his house on rt. 45 near Farmville one day. I saw it sitting in the yard and turned around to go back and see it. Last time I talked to Gary. I think he said he wanted it because his Dad drove a similar one years ago. That might have been the one Gary actually drove to school sometimes. We went to school together, he was a year behind me. We ran double to California a couple of times before he was even old enough to run out of state. The company found out he wasn't old enough, and I quit and drove for H.H.Moore Jr. for the next 25 years. He could wheel, I can tell you that.

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Sukhvinder Singh Rai?..I'd guess he probably wasn't from around here,eh?

Never heard of it, i'll go with the Schlitz.

I liked the Oliver and Massey Ferguson's there with Detroit Diesels in them. I'd like to hear them in a field plowing. Kermit the truck salesman said there's one of every kind of tractor made there. I'm coming back down there sometime soon, might be when I take my vacation. I haven't decided whether to go to Winchester or Lincolnton,N.C. this year to take in a truck show.

Schlitz?..they still make that?..who knew!

It's a ground hog. Looks like he picked a ready-made hole to live in instead of digging his own. He was right beside the truck when I was tarping in Mckees Rocks, never did run away.

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Long Island, Va. or that other Long Island?

I would say so. The dolly was tracking to the right, and he should have seen that in the mirror when he made the turn and got straight, but it looked like he was pouring the coal to 'er. The escort should have seen it, but they got the left lane right away. The brake lights came on just before it hit. He might have cut to the left lane and missed it but it was probably too late by then, a sudden move like that could twist the beam too. Those girders can support a tremendous amount of weight- when they're sitting up like he was hauling it. If you layed them over on the side and tried to pick it up it would bend like a horse shoe.

see?!!

Here's a cab.

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I was pulling a bridge girder on a dolly once and when I went south on rt.29 in Lynchburg the dolly driver decided to take 501 north for reasons unknown. He got it off the road halfway into the grass but I stopped before any damage was done or he went too far. We had one dolly that the driver controlled from the cab, but I never pulled that one. Pulled this one a lot- it was made from a Mack truck chassis. This beam was 150' long, went to rt.840 around Nashville. Pretty easy trip though, the only time we had to use the dolly was from the Carolina Steel plant in Abingdon, Va. to I-81 and after we got to the jobsite. I hauled lots of shorter beams to much harder places to get to. I think we had 3 of these old dollies, the big remote controlled unit, and 2 smaller hydraulic ones. These were a real pain in the ass to use, we carried two big wooden blocks to pull the steer axle onto, then you had to chain the axle to the beam to keep it off the ground, then use two chains criss-crossed to get the dolly straight, and every time you had to "drop the dolly" you had to get the blocks out and pull onto them to unchain the axle, then unchain the criss-crossed chains, drive the dolly, then redo every thing. Pulling them wasn't so bad, but I hated driving them. The hydraulic ones were my favorite. They had two hydraulic cylinders that turned a bolster on a platform on a tandem axle. Had a gas motor to run the pump, and you just moved a lever back and forth to turn it. All the driver had to do was run back there, start the motor, jump on and steer. When you got around the curve, you just had to get the dolly back straight, cut the motor off, jump back in the truck, and you were off. I liked to run those. Here's the hydraulic dolly at Banker Steel in Lynchburg.

This one belonged to a good friend of mine that passed away several years ago. He drove for Abilene and this truck was in the Keystone Tractor Museum last time I was there.

This one used to be in Gladys, Va. but the last few times I passed by there it was nowhere to be seen.

Some more.