[alfa] Bored in Texas, very little Alfa content

[AlfaNeely@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 1/31/2004 11:43:08 PM Central Standard Time, 
owner-alfa-digest@domain.elided writes:
Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2004 18:22:49 -0500 (EST)
From: Richard Welty <rwelty@domain.elided>
Subject: Re: [alfa] Bored in Texas, very little Alfa content

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 17:15:18 -0600 Graham Davis <grahamldavis@domain.elided> 
wrote:
> Then get away from the 'evil eye' (TV) and find your way to the city's
> rail yards.  Look for the column to steam to direct you to the world's
> largest operating steam locomotive, the Union Pacific Railroad's No.
> 3985, 'The Challenger'.  It's only 122 ft. long and weighs about one
> million pounds so you should be able to spot it fairly easily. 

yes, not quite as big as the Big Boy (there is a non-operating Big
Boy at Steamtown in Scranton, PA. i'd love to see it run some day.)
--------------------------------

    I have visited the non running Big Boy in Green Bay Wisconsin and a 
second in a city park in either Laramie or Cheyenne Wyoming.  The Big Boy was built 
for the Union Pacific to pull Sherman Hill between Cheyenne and Laramie.  I 
understand Sherman Hill was one of the steepest portions of the Union Pacific 
rail line.
    So what city was the Challenger it?  I love to watch running locomotives. 
 The sight and sound of the power is outstanding.  The warehouse where I work 
on my Alfas is right next to a rail road.  I try to go count the number of 
locomotives on each train.  Of course, these are all diesel - electric, but the 
throb of the engines is so thrilling.
    Heck, I have even learned to like the smell and sound of my diesel 
motorhome / race support vehicle.

    I did pull the cylinder head off my SCCA ITB 84 Alfa spider race car 
yesterday.  The head gasket blew between 1 & 2 cylinders at the double points race 
at the end of last season.  It rather looked like a steam locomotive the last 
lap I made before retiring.  
    The metal of the head gasket surrounding the tops of the cylinder liners 
was sort of pooched out in both directions.  The aftermarket gasket has more 
metal on the bottom side than it has on the top side.  I have heard some 
aftermarket head gaskets may be a bit short on the filler material allowing the 
metal part to collapse more than it should, but that does not seem to be the case 
with this one.
    I will clean off the gasket material and check everything for flat this 
afternoon.  My head has already been milled 0.045 inches, which is the maximum 
SCCA allows.  But according to the CRH (Competition Reference Handbook) the 
Alfa head can be milled as much as 0.075 inches without problem.

Ciao,
Russ Neely
Oklahoma City
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