chrishuck, 10 months ago

@rasterweb @jeramey Weirdly, I have designed equipment to clean those pipes in the type of boiler that mastodon is made out of. I wonder how many people would even know it’s made from boiler parts?

linux_mclinuxface, 10 months ago

@chrishuck @rasterweb @jeramey do you find it creepy?

For some reason I find the “innards” of boilers disconcerting. Like this image bothers me on a deep level:

rasterweb, 10 months ago

@linux_mclinuxface @chrishuck @jeramey That image is awesome! And I love the Mastodon. But I'm from the midwest and like industrial stuff (and industrial decay!)

chrishuck, 10 months ago

@linux_mclinuxface @rasterweb @jeramey I’ve never seen a locomotive exploded like that. I guess I never realized it was a shell-and-tube heat exchanger in there. I also design equipment to clean those types of heat exchangers, just not for locomotives. 😉

linux_mclinuxface, 10 months ago

@chrishuck @rasterweb @jeramey steam locomotive cleaning equipment is probably a pretty small market 🥴

smellsofbikes, 10 months ago

@chrishuck @linux_mclinuxface @rasterweb @jeramey iirc they had big boiler cleanout ports and someone would climb in there and push brushes through all those tubes as part of maintenance.

chrishuck, 10 months ago

@smellsofbikes @linux_mclinuxface @rasterweb @jeramey Those ports are only 12” x 16” and while people used to (maybe still do) climb in and run brushes through, we do it without entry and with 20,000 psi water jets

mcdanlj, 10 months ago

@chrishuck @linux_mclinuxface @rasterweb @jeramey You clearly didn't spend enough of your childhood at a train museum... 😁

The Depot in Duluth, MN was a favorite destination in my childhood:

https://www.experiencethedepot.org/

rasterweb, 10 months ago

@chrishuck @jeramey When I first saw it I thought it looked like a radiator of some kind, didn't immediately realize it was a boiler.

I'm hoping there's some plaque near it that tells the history.

chrishuck, 10 months ago

@rasterweb @jeramey It’s what is commonly called a package boiler and there are so many of them all over the country. Our company literally has crews cleaning some in the power plant at the University of Illinois right now.

poleguy, 10 months ago

@chrishuck @rasterweb @jeramey is that the boiler that powers the "cloud machine" on Champaign? And feeds the stream tunnels all through the campus that we used to sneak into at night?

chrishuck, 10 months ago

@poleguy @rasterweb @jeramey Perhaps? It’s the campus power plant in Champaign where we clean their boilers.

poleguy, 10 months ago

@chrishuck @rasterweb @jeramey Yup, sounds like it. I had a strong friend who would lift the conctete slabs aside so someone could go in and then put the slab back. Then the kid inside could open the hatch and we could wander through the tunnels. They were hot, fairly well lit, and you could unlatch a hatch and get out anywhere you wanted. Lots of fun writing on the walls. Very hot near the source.