[SEL] Miracle of the SEL List!

[Dave Rotigel]

Hi Rick,
         I will remember, to my dying day when we first met in Youngstown 
and saw the Tod. My reaction was, I'm sure, the same as the 16 year old 
girl on her wedding night in the year that the Tod was built--DAMN THAT 
THING SURE IS HUGE! The Tod was a good 200 yards away when we first saw it, 
and we all stopped dead in our tracks and just looked at her! What a sight! 
And what a crew we made! Can anyone else remember the day that it was -10 F 
in the building and we (dumb asses that we were) still tried to remove nuts 
and bolts? It was 5 minutes of work and 20 minutes in front of the kero 
torpedo space heater! One inch frost on the flywheel, and when you scraped 
that off it would reappear in about 15 minutes and you could not tell where 
it had been removed!
         I also remember you, Rick, hanging on the end of a 4' chain wrench 
(about 9' in the air) with an 11' cheater pipe attached to it--and the damn 
chain broke! That was in an attempt to remove the last 5" nut holding the 
flywheel together. It was only "the luck of the Irish" that caused you to 
miss stratteling that 4'X8' piece of upright 1/4" steel guard at the end of 
the flywheel! (Have you ever told your bride how close you came to becoming 
a soprano  that day?)
         Then there was the day we attempted to remove the last 11" nut 
from the con rod cap. Used the 10 ton Pettibone crane so we did--and broke 
the dam 3' wrench in the process! Your friend (damn, I can't remember his 
name) cut us a new 11" hex nut wrench out of 1" steel plate  (actually two 
1/2" pieces of steel plate welded together) that night and the next morning 
the Pettibone  loosened the nut with only a slight "tink." After that I 
removed the nut BY HAND--although I needed Arnie's help to carry the damn 
thing over to the nut pile after I had it off.
         And the stories I could relate about the comradery that developed 
as the project continued. Only one other time in my life can I recall such 
comradery! I thank you Rick for allowing me to be a small part of the TOD 
Project! I'll take my memories of that experience with me to my grave!
         Dave
PS, Thinking about my grave, when the hell do you think the Tod will be all 
back together and running on her own steam (or should I say "air?") I 
figure that I only have another 10 years, or so, so how about getting on 
the stick and making it happen before that?

At 08:47 AM 9/19/2006, you wrote:
>Ten years ago several members of this Stationary Engine List met in 
>Youngstown, Ohio to undertake the removal of a large stationary steam 
>engine.  Dave Rotigel, Arnie Fero, Matt Picaro, Craig Prucha, Bill 
>Pfeiffer, DJ Rotigel, Rick Monk and myself made up what we have called the 
>"Wrecking Crew".
>
>The engine that we successfully removed has sat in pieces until yesterday 
>when 250 tons of 93 year old iron was put back together in her new home.
>
>http://www.metalworking.com/dropbox/DSC09493.JPG
>
>More Photos here:
>
>http://community.webshots.com/album/554214728mqgcLZ
>
>The engine is a 34" x 68" x 60" cross compound rolling mill engine of 
>4,000 HP.  The crankshaft hasn't been set into the bearings yet and the 
>flywheel also is not together yet.
>
>Rick Rowlands
>Tod Engine Foundation