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Loading up wood the morning of the event (around 8:15 am)
Getting ready to unload
Unloading
Jim, transporter extraordinaire
Sunny, getting ready to pilot the engine back down the narrow ramp; Zack, de-"schmützing".
Jim operates the winch as Sunny pilots Pappy down the ramp and Zack continues to de-schmütz .
Getting a head of steam up, and bleeding all the condensate out of auxillary lines
Sunny gives a safety briefing to the riders in the tender.
Sunny promises fame and fortune to the young riders as the reward for behaving and not getting crushed under the wheels or burnt by the engine.
Nick and his girly-sunglasses. :-)
Hurrying up and waiting. Since we were toward the end of the parade, we had a lot of waiting to do before we could actually start.
The parade organizers feathered another streets' worth of paraders between each of these classic cars, so we had a while to go still.
Another view of Pappy behind the cars.
Sunny boogies down to the rhythm of the enigne
Will and Laurel and the riders in the tender
Andrew and Sunny pose (for another camera) while we wait to go
Zack reading the (steam traction engine) bible as he waits to get his turn at the Port-O-Let. This was right after he said "Screw that long line- I need to find somewhere to go" (he didn't take my advice of going behind the jaguar in the nearest driveway.)
Andrew pilots Pappy for the first part of the parade
Nice shot of Andrew and Nick (sans girly glasses)
Kind of an ominous shot. You don't really see this in your rear-view mirror too often...
I think at this point in the game, we had moved about 200 feet...
Here is the money shot- the start of the parade. You can see the residual steam from blowing the whistle and a few hands still over ears.
Someone didn't tell the kid on the left that you have to cover your ears and not just pull on your ear-lobes to block the sound of the whistle out.
A proud (deaf?) dad beams as his son covers his ears. Also starring the no-armed boy and his trusty floating hand and paper bag
Even the older crowd was enthusiastic about getting us to blow the whistle. Here a couple give the universal "arm-pull" gesture .
If you listen through a water bottle, it sounds like the whistle is coming from underwater. These two demonstrate the correct technique for their state of the art hydrophones.
One of these girls was very distraught after hearing the whistle blow. I saw the emotional trauma, but didn't capture it on film. Well, at least after 40 years of therapy she has a chance at making a full recovery.
Shock and awe- a typical reaction to the whistle
Pappy pulls around the corner by the main announcement stand. At this point we were going downhill. Since Pappy has no brakes whatsoever of any kind, Zack, who took over from Andrew, basically had to put the engine in reverse and finesse the throttle ever so slightly in order to slow down.
What joy- What glee! Ruptured eardrums are fun, mommy!
You might have to zoom in on the original to see it on this one, but I love how the veteran is covering his dogs' ears and not his. Apparently the dog's ears are more sensitive to the whistle.
If you touch your elbows together, it helps to block out the sound better. Sometimes I honestly think taking pictures of the crowd is more interesting than taking pictures of the engine.
This boy was standing out in the middle of the street waving and was so cute, I had to snap this.
Getting ready to finish.
All done. Jim was waiting for us at the end and we wasted no time in getting Pappy back up on the trailer and prepped for transport. A couple people followed to the end of the parade to ask questions about the engine. Join us next year for more fun!