[QUOTE=c.captain;66078]Me, I’m a steam recip guy and if they still had them out there I might have become an engineer in the end. There’s something about all that machinery in motion like that this is a sight to witness. Of course, being an oiler and having to measure a con-rod bearing temp with the palm of your hand with the crank spinning is a bit hard to imagine.
I always wanted to do one of the underway days on one of the old Liberty ship museums just to experience that ballet of polished steel. Gonna have to do that one day.
Somwhere in my book collection, I have the original manual for a Liberty ship engine except I am afraid there is no troubleshooting section in it. On one of those monsters, if you can’t figure out what is wrong by just looking at it, then you have no business being there.
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I have never had the pleasure of operating a steam recip engine other than those that ran pumps. I have always stated that I felt that I was an engineer on a steam ship and a mechanic/caretaker on a diesel vessel. That said, most of my seatime was on diesel tugs/ships. I tend to place more value on my time onboard steam plants, though. Freaking things are alive.