CaptainCrutch

She’s all back together and running, and the pump isn’t seized so we’ll be looking at testing that soon. Had to do some fab work for a new copper fuel line, so now there’s only a coolant leak which looks like it can be fixed with some flex tape. The old fuel line we found all kinked up and leaky, not really surprising but unfortunate none the less. We’re hoping to have it out in the road Wednesday. All of this is iffy at best but things are looking up again, until the next problem.

To me it looks like a ‘29 American LaFrance. If you look at pictures they look incredibly similar. I tried looking at all the characteristics of what you’ve got there and it seems to line up with a LaFrance. Maybe like someone else said, it’s a Mack with LaFrance parts on it but I think it’s just a LaFrnace with newer wheels.

I wonder when they put the soft top on it. I also wonder how it became the color it is now. Very interesting rig to say the least.

It’s pretty sad that France respects our Veterans more than we do sometimes.

Isn’t it odd that career politicians have a salary of about $300,000 yet their NET worth is in the millions and billions. I wonder where all that extra money comes from. 🤔

That CF Tiller was really nice. Still wish we could’ve brought the L.

Some other engines that the company is searching for mostly so they can have as many of their old engines as possible for future musters. If you spot them or know their owner let me know so I could provide the company with information in the future if they don’t mind. I’ve got leads on some of them and others the company does know where they are, but it’s just nice to have possibilities. In fact one of the engines pictured was at the most recent muster in just not sure which of the seagrave pumpers it was. Another one is still green and white and somewhere in Maryland to my knowledge. We’re also still searching for the sister to our CF which was a 1972 CF that went to California and disappeared. Most of the others can be tracked down but ironically only the sisters to my engines seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Well I figured I’d get on here and give an update as to what’s going on with the L. The update is essentially there is no update. We tried buying a new fuel pump but it goes on a different type of the 707 so it was backwards and the arm that hits the crankshaft wasn’t long enough. We threw the old one back in and sure enough it leaked, so we sent it out to be rebuilt. We got it back about a week and a half ago, so we threw it in and after hours of trying it kept fighting us to get on the crankshaft. So we stopped and had a break and before you knew it we’re on a plane to Florida. We wanted to take it to the Chesapeake Antique Fire Apparatus Association annual muster but it’s still missing a fender and a functioning fuel system, not to mention the fact we got back home at 4:00AM this morning so just the CF went. We were in a little parade getting there. I have a couple more recent pictures of the two. We’re hoping to be at Pump Primers with the two but it doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. Only time will tell. If anyone has any tips on how to get the fuel pump back in the right spot in such a fashion that it doesn’t require throwing tools across the garage in anger because it’s come off it’s place again, that would be phenomenal. Once that’s done we’ll be checking the pump to make sure that still moves because a restoration TV show has us paranoid after their having to completely disassemble a pump for a restoration due to it rusting in place. It’s be nice to have it pumping at Pump Primers but at this point just having it there is the stretch goal.

Many railroads have been known to haul these to other locations by truck. A lowboy with some rails and oversized load permits should get the job done. You just two or to take two trips otherwise the tender stays there.

Why do all the best trucks have to be either over seas in Australia or on the other side of the country in California. Just about anywhere else and I’d roadkill these trucks on out of Commiefornia back somewhere else. I guess there’s always tomorrow, I’m just worried about some of these other trucks suffering the fate of Independent’s old 54 sedan cab L which ended up with a scrap dealer.

The link doesn’t work for me.

I often go to the Strasburg Railroad in PA and take pictures of their engines. I’m hoping to get down there when 611 is around and get a look at that beauty. Here’s some of those pictures.

If it ran and it wasn’t in Cali I’d probably consider Roadkilling it back to the east, I love the old L cab Bs. Also it’s definitely a B-73 especially since they came with Cummins like this one has. I wonder what they really want for it considering it’s got a cost of 0 listed, which if it were true would make this an even sweeter deal.

I was out by the steam shop over the summer and caught a glimpse of them moving 3985’s tender around the yard, I thought they were just moving it but that’s what they used, that way they could save time on the restoration. 4014’s real tender is right outside the steam shop with 4014 still written on it. It’s great to see it back on the rails, I had planned to go out and see it running but stuff got in the way. Only UP could do a huge restoration like this, and considering it was still in a bunch of pieces a few months ago shows how truly amazing it is that it’s back on the rails. Can’t wait until 3985 gets Becks on the rails and we can see a huge triple header. They also sometimes use these engines to help out diesels in a pinch, and both Big Boy and Challenger are both well suited for that. I love preserving the history of steam that built this country. Have some picture I took while I was out there. 3985’s tender I mentioned which is now being pulled by 4014 The engine I have photos of is 4004, another big boy, which is a static display in the park by the steam shop. Even saw this Mack being used as a billboard in South Dakota along the way there.

CFs and F models also have the same doors to my knowledge.

I’m somewhat surprised that old B-75 is still hauling like that, I understand why though, a surprising amount of Bs are still hauling things around because if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

This guy was talking on the internet recently about how one can scale things down and one of the examples he had of something me scaled down was this beauty. Figured you all would enjoy it. Mack R Fire Tanker out of Summerville, PA. “Tanker 7, a 1990 Mack/Ward 79, has 1500 GPM Hale Pump and 2000 gallons of water. It also has 1200 feet of 5" hose, and a remote controlled newton quick-dump. It can be used as a tanker or a supply engine.” Looks to still be on frontline duty.

There’s a company building a new T1 because all the originals were scrapped. Right now their working on the boiler if I remember correctly. A fitting time for this to come up for sale.

Long story short the L runs again but the fender had to be removed so we could actually get to what we needed to. It’s looking like another year before all the kids see it. We’ll see how progress is in a few months and see if she’ll be at any shows this year or hold off again. We don’t want to risk damaging anything so it’ll go when it’s ready.

Looks like it says both LHSW and LH2D. Nice truck either way, and a 3 stick trans. Awesome find.

I wonder what it’d take to get it running again. Not too bad of a price if it doesn’t require too much to put it back on the road.

In my CF the handles are faced down and they have the same doors as the Rs and Superliners.