A weighty problem...

[Madman]

I just have to add that in my days of working construction, before plastic gained acceptance into the plumbing trade, plumbers would have their lead pots heating on the propane burner. Usually this was indoors, in areas with not much easy access to the outside world. They would bring in the lead ingots and put one into the pot on the fire. When the lead was in liquid form, they would ladle it out and pour it into the joints of cast iron sanitary (sewer if you will) pipe. Ah, the joys of smelling hot lead meeting Oakum in new pipe was something to behold.:'( The joys of smelling hot lead meeting Oakum in old pipe was something else to behold.:bleh:

I should have been a Plumber instead of a Carpenter. Then I would have had only three things to learn; Sh*t runs down hill, Payday is Friday, and don't bit your finger nails

 

[Tim Brien]

Dan,
downunder in the land of eternal sunshine, plumbers drive more expensive cars than carpenters. It seems that if it smells like s***, looks like s***, then it must be gold nuggets in those sewer pipes.

 

[trammayo]

Having handled lead flashing every day for many years, may I add that Barrier Cream is also useful for helping prevent absorbtion of lead through the skin. Also gloves are a must too.

Plumbers, who mainly did lead burning (for the likes of George Wimpey), confined in a site hut all day, used to drink a lot of milk (as did foundry workers) - supposedly to neutralise lead fumes condensing on the airways.

Equally, thoroughly washing one's hand before eating, spending a penny, etc. - and not forgetting the barrier cream before recommencing working with lead - can also be a positive step.

Long term, lead burning and smelting, is not good. Modelmaking with lead shouldn't be a problem (providing you are not making things 5/7) either if precautions are observed.

 

[tramcar trev]

All solved, sorted dun & dusted....
I did it my way….
The weights have been cast and one pair fitted to my Bondi tram. Hopefully this will allow it to “Shoot Thru”… There is a big weight advantage using lead; the cast iron weights came in at 114gms and the lead comes in at 260gms so that’s over twice as heavy…..

Time passes………

So having now given the Bondi Tram a run to Bondi via Watsons Bay and down thru the Glen (at 5:15 there is a Tram enjoying a flange squealing experience in “The Glen” but don’t feel guilty if you watch the entire clip) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0bKGLBv3tM The additional weight has made an astounding improvement I can now negotiate the points in top notch, no more do I have to crawl along in 1st notch….

The Watson’s Bay / Erskine St Whf tram will also be modified and the City Circle tram still despite an enormous amount of weight will need more to stop it slipping. It doesn’t like the 1:24 you know. The Steam Tram will have to be heavier if it is to pull 2 trailers still the boiler can be made from metal and that will add weight.

So buoyed with that success its time I was “moving forward”….

 

[GAP]

All the local oz church roofs are now minus the lead! nice one Trev.

Fair suck of the sav... You damned Poms took all the lead back from our "ancient churches" and made us use local copper8|...
Another nearly as efficient way to use lead is to use lead shot (or small sinkers) mixed with just enough resin to make it a sticky mass and then you can cast it into blocks or spread it where you want the weight...

As to the cautions re lead, yes I always melt it outdoors but handling it etc is not really a health hazard. There are TRILLIONS of Anglers over the world and none of them seem to get high lead concentrations in their blood but people who live in the vicinity of lead smelters do... I also use lead free solder for this reason....

Trev,

A good source of lead is Bunnings, forget about sinkers its an expensive way to buy lead and these days they don't contain much lead because of environmental concerns. Lead sheet lead can be disguised as flooring adding weight but no bulky weights to hide, all my cane wagons have a sheet lead floor to get the weight up and as it is low down the COG is kept low.
Finally weight and balance /moment theory does come in handy.

 

[tramcar trev]

Yes I've seen it in Bunnings in rolls and its expensive that way too.... I just used some sinkers I had around the place. It's Tin they put in sinkers to stop it "corroding" it also keeps the sinker shiny... I also can get it at the scrap metal yard in pipe and sheet form from demolitions.

 

[Eaglecliff]

There may not be many lead-poisoned anglers, but large numbers of birds are dying after ingesting lead shot discharged by wildfowlers, even though its use has been outlawed by the Huntin', Shootin' and Fishin authorities.

 

[tramcar trev]

So what do they use to shoot ducks with? I always used the rattrap baited with bread to catch ducks....

 

[Eaglecliff]

Steel is the alternative favoured by the enviro brigade but the shooters argue that steel shot tends to go straight through the bird. This doesn't necessarily ensure as clean a kill as lead which, being softer, deforms and dissipates its energy into the target... I only repeat what I heard on Countryfile or similar... and I don't know whether the Germans were using lead or steel bullets in 1914, but whichever it was it didn't do my Grandfather's shoulder any good.

 

[sparky230]

You can also have alloy shot and plastic shot, but before we go too off target i've cast replacement weights for stainz's I was missing weights for, made a Sand Mould and used Lead flashing off cuts I got from a roofer friend

 

[Madman]

All the local oz church roofs are now minus the lead! nice one Trev.

Fair suck of the sav... You damned Poms took all the lead back from our "ancient churches" and made us use local copper8|...
Another nearly as efficient way to use lead is to use lead shot (or small sinkers) mixed with just enough resin to make it a sticky mass and then you can cast it into blocks or spread it where you want the weight...

As to the cautions re lead, yes I always melt it outdoors but handling it etc is not really a health hazard. There are TRILLIONS of Anglers over the world and none of them seem to get high lead concentrations in their blood but people who live in the vicinity of lead smelters do... I also use lead free solder for this reason....

Trev,

A good source of lead is Bunnings, forget about sinkers its an expensive way to buy lead and these days they don't contain much lead because of environmental concerns. Lead sheet lead can be disguised as flooring adding weight but no bulky weights to hide, all my cane wagons have a sheet lead floor to get the weight up and as it is low down the COG is kept low.
Finally weight and balance /moment theory does come in handy.

I've done the very same thing with some of my rolling stock. The lead is simple to score to make it look like wood planks, then alittle paint makes it blend right in. Great minds think alike :thinking:

 

[Madman]

All solved, sorted dun & dusted....
I did it my way….
The weights have been cast and one pair fitted to my Bondi tram. Hopefully this will allow it to “Shoot Thru”… There is a big weight advantage using lead; the cast iron weights came in at 114gms and the lead comes in at 260gms so that’s over twice as heavy…..

Time passes………

So having now given the Bondi Tram a run to Bondi via Watsons Bay and down thru the Glen (at 5:15 there is a Tram enjoying a flange squealing experience in “The Glen” but don’t feel guilty if you watch the entire clip) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0bKGLBv3tM The additional weight has made an astounding improvement I can now negotiate the points in top notch, no more do I have to crawl along in 1st notch….

The Watson’s Bay / Erskine St Whf tram will also be modified and the City Circle tram still despite an enormous amount of weight will need more to stop it slipping. It doesn’t like the 1:24 you know. The Steam Tram will have to be heavier if it is to pull 2 trailers still the boiler can be made from metal and that will add weight.

So buoyed with that success its time I was “moving forward”….

"I did it my way…."

As did Frank Sinatra. And may I add that he was also a model railroader, with Lionel Trains.

 

[Eaglecliff]

Not sure about going off topic - Grandpa was a moulder by trade (either with the Midland Railway or one of Derby's many iron foundries) before becoming a professional soldier, and ended up building wagons for the LMS.

 

[Railfan]

Not sure about going off topic - Grandpa was a moulder by trade (either with the Midland Railway or one of Derby's many iron foundries) before becoming a professional soldier, and ended up building wagons for the LMS.

How cool is that! I bet he has great stories.

 

[spoz]

So having now given the Bondi Tram a run to Bondi via Watsons Bay and down thru the Glen (at 5:15 there is a Tram enjoying a flange squealing experience in “The Glen” but don’t feel guilty if you watch the entire clip) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0bKGLBv3tM The additional weight has made an astounding improvement I can now negotiate the points in top notch, no more do I have to crawl along in 1st notch….

The Watson’s Bay / Erskine St Whf tram will also be modified and the City Circle tram still despite an enormous amount of weight will need more to stop it slipping. It doesn’t like the 1:24 you know. The Steam Tram will have to be heavier if it is to pull 2 trailers still the boiler can be made from metal and that will add weight.

I always thought the Bondi Tram either went down Oxford Street or through Moore Park and then along Bondi Rd; was there actually one from Watto Bay? If so, must have had a 'ell of a job getting up past the Gap. All my tram experience was north of the Harbour as we lived in Epping with family in Milson's Point and Balmoral; have absolutely no memory of what went on in the eastern suburbs. Left Sydney in 59, by the time I got back in the mid 60s the trams had gone, more fool the pollies of that era.

 

[tramcar trev]

All solved, sorted dun & dusted....
I did it my way….
The weights have been cast and one pair fitted to my Bondi tram. Hopefully this will allow it to “Shoot Thru”… There is a big weight advantage using lead; the cast iron weights came in at 114gms and the lead comes in at 260gms so that’s over twice as heavy…..

Time passes………

So having now given the Bondi Tram a run to Bondi via Watsons Bay and down thru the Glen (at 5:15 there is a Tram enjoying a flange squealing experience in “The Glen” but don’t feel guilty if you watch the entire clip) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0bKGLBv3tM The additional weight has made an astounding improvement I can now negotiate the points in top notch, no more do I have to crawl along in 1st notch….

The Watson’s Bay / Erskine St Whf tram will also be modified and the City Circle tram still despite an enormous amount of weight will need more to stop it slipping. It doesn’t like the 1:24 you know. The Steam Tram will have to be heavier if it is to pull 2 trailers still the boiler can be made from metal and that will add weight.

So buoyed with that success its time I was “moving forward”….

"I did it my way…."

As did Frank Sinatra. And may I add that he was also a model railroader, with Lionel Trains.

If I was religious I'd say "praise the Lord' at least someone is reading between the lines....

 

[tramcar trev]

So having now given the Bondi Tram a run to Bondi via Watsons Bay and down thru the Glen (at 5:15 there is a Tram enjoying a flange squealing experience in “The Glen” but don’t feel guilty if you watch the entire clip) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0bKGLBv3tM The additional weight has made an astounding improvement I can now negotiate the points in top notch, no more do I have to crawl along in 1st notch….

The Watson’s Bay / Erskine St Whf tram will also be modified and the City Circle tram still despite an enormous amount of weight will need more to stop it slipping. It doesn’t like the 1:24 you know. The Steam Tram will have to be heavier if it is to pull 2 trailers still the boiler can be made from metal and that will add weight.

I always thought the Bondi Tram either went down Oxford Street or through Moore Park and then along Bondi Rd; was there actually one from Watto Bay? If so, must have had a 'ell of a job getting up past the Gap. All my tram experience was north of the Harbour as we lived in Epping with family in Milson's Point and Balmoral; have absolutely no memory of what went on in the eastern suburbs. Left Sydney in 59, by the time I got back in the mid 60s the trams had gone, more fool the pollies of that era.

There were 3 routes to Bondi all ending at North Bondi terminus. You can still follow the routes if you know where to look viz: http://www.bondivillage.com/tramrems.htm . The Watsons Bay run was I think the most spectacular of all Sydney routes, that's the one in the clip... originally started at Erskine St Wharf along William st to the X then via Old south Head Rd. Up Heartbreak Hill along past Macquarie Light then onto a single track to the right of the road and wound down thru cuttings to the terminus where the bus terminus is today.... I lived at Bondi and Coogee and I am strongly influenced by my recollections. I had an Aunt lived at Mosman, we used to catch the ferry to the wharf and then the tram up the hill, it was always a K or E class tram as the hill was so steep about 1:12 and the road was (and still is) only made for horse and cart. As my tramway is fictitious my trams can run some interesting routes.....

 

[Eaglecliff]

Not sure about going off topic - Grandpa was a moulder by trade (either with the Midland Railway or one of Derby's many iron foundries) before becoming a professional soldier, and ended up building wagons for the LMS.

How cool is that! I bet he has great stories.

Sadly he died in 1952. Like most soldiers who went through action, he never spoke about what he had seen, apart from one story about the death of the guy next to him in a firefight. I bitterly regret not having had the opportunity to ask him the sort of questions I could have, but I was only 7 at the time. The highlight of his railway career was losing the end of a finger on a wood machine.

 

[Madman]

Trev, I really do enjoy seeing pictures of your tramway. Keep up the good work.

 

[tramcar trev]

Not sure about going off topic - Grandpa was a moulder by trade (either with the Midland Railway or one of Derby's many iron foundries) before becoming a professional soldier, and ended up building wagons for the LMS.

How cool is that! I bet he has great stories.

Sadly he died in 1952. Like most soldiers who went through action, he never spoke about what he had seen, apart from one story about the death of the guy next to him in a firefight. I bitterly regret not having had the opportunity to ask him the sort of questions I could have, but I was only 7 at the time. The highlight of his railway career was losing the end of a finger on a wood machine.

But is it not immensely satisfying researching these people? I have had hours of enjoyment chasing my Grandfathers exploits, he was working a Gold Dredge on the Turon river at Sofala when WWI broke out and joined in the famous Cooeee march to Sydney to join up, then in WWI he turns up as a train driver in France, injured in the line of fire as it were by a French trainee, survives then returns to Sofala then turns up in Sydney working for Sydney Ferries ( we assumed he would have been an engineer as the ferries were steam) but when I dig into it he is actually "driving" the Sydney Ferries Steam Tram @ Parrammata, didnt like that and goes bush again to Wellington NSW where we find his occupation as "Dredge Master". Mum is born in Wellington and the gold runs out so off he goes to Siam working for Siam East Coast Tin, once again working as a Dredge Master, he then brings his family back to Randwick in Sydney, Mum grows up meets Dad at the Coogee surf club, eventually I pop into the world and meet my Grandfather who by that time is an "Inspector" for the NSW Railways and as a small child he takes me all over the place, usually in the cab of the locomotive, then Died of a heart attack on Xmas day 1958... Strange thing is that even today there are people related to him living in Wellington and Coogee who I only found through my research It was really spooky in Wellington when I made enquiries at the Museum re him and the curator told me there were quite a few McConnels in town and to call one which I did and she is in fact a sister in law of his, now in her 90's.... She had a framed wedding photo of them with my Granddad as his brothers best man at their wedding in 1923.
Yes its amazing stuff...