BarstowRick's H&P Layout Restoration

BarstowRick Sep 15, 2020

  1. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    In '75 we converted a '67 Datsun PU to a motor from a fork lift. With it's controls and 8 24V batteries. It last almost 2 years. I've also had 2 electric bikes and help build 3 more. Now there all dangerous PAS.

    We got the the smoke here in east central Wisconsin this summer. It went on to the east coast.

    Rich
     
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  2. Massey

    Massey TrainBoard Member

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    I learned how to drive a manual in a 67 Datsun pickup. My buddy parked it on a hill and handed me the keys. Then told me to get us up the hill. Every time I would get us started he would make me stop and do it again. By the time we climbed the 1/2 mile hill I had the clutch mastered! Thank you for the good memories.
     
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  3. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    I learned sticks on the farm. Tractors first, then the trucks. The '60 Corvair had a automatic.
    I had an adapter to mount the fly wheel and clutch to the electric motor. We seldom took it out of 4th. The motor had reverse. I used it to haul around parts for the '65 VW Bug Drag Racer.
     
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  4. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    I'll bet a chunk of the life in that clutch was left on that hill! Sometimes the hard way is the best way to learn. Just jump in and do it. Having a friend along helps a lot when frustration creeps in.
     
  5. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    Ah, yes, I also learned shifting and clutching on my uncle's MF tractor while I brush-hogged his pasture on summer vacation at the farm. Then my grandfather taught me to drive his 67 F-100 4 speed. I think I was 12. That was the life. Driving down to the creek for a quick dip to cool off, then jump in the john boat to check the trotline. Always take a big knife in case it caught a snapping turtle! Their two next-door farms in the Ozarks of NW Arkansas were heaven on earth!
     
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  6. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    Learning to drive a stick is a novelty these days here in the good ole US of A. Learned back in the mid 80's in a 1984 International 28 ft box truck wit a DT466 and 5 speed. This is about as close a pic as I could find of it. Switching from that to a car with a tick was a breeze. Oh, and after maneuvering that truck around on deliveries for a few months, I got to where I could park a car almost anywhere with no problem

    boxtruck.JPG
     
  7. Doorgunnerjgs

    Doorgunnerjgs TrainBoard Member

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    I learned on a 1946 Willy's Jeep in our driveway about age 14. Could actually get it into 2nd gear! Our house lot was probably 125 ft deep in Chicago's south side!
     
  8. mtntrainman

    mtntrainman TrainBoard Supporter

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    1956 chevy 1/2 ton Navy surplus truck from the local church. '3 on the tree'. My dad bought it for $25.00 !!!
     
  9. sidney

    sidney TrainBoard Member

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    learned it a twin stick diesel truck at 12 years of age mastered it after a while , now i can drive anything with a steering wheel and a few things with out
     
  10. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Dad's was a '46 Dodge 1 ton with dualies. Uncles was a '41 Chevy. I got my drivers license at the age of 13. Drove the new '60 Corvair with Dad permission, on the road. Mom was not smiling when I parked beside the house. :)
     
  11. Massey

    Massey TrainBoard Member

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    The clutch didn’t suffer too bad… the battery did! But it didn’t take too long till I got up the hill.
     
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  12. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    The most fun was the John Deere A. ALL controls were hand. Steer, shift, brakes and clutch. To start you hand spun the fly wheel on the side.
    Then pull a plow with hand controls from the tractor. :confused::eek:
     
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  13. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    After reading about all the farm tractors and trucks you guys have talked about. Just to name a few I got to operate. The ones that stand out in my mind was Ford Tractors seemed to be number on in our area. Caterpillar or Case fell in behind. Farm All, Harvester, International, Kenworth, White and other trucks played a big part on the farms. Of course in the pick-ups Ford, Ram, and Chevy were the key competitors. Four wheel vehicles were starting to own the scene but not as popular up in Shaky Hollister Country.

    For the most part it was about having mechanics to service the vehicles and parts. Most important on everyone's top priority list was and still is Parts.

    Drove a Dodge/Ram, load of hay bales on a flat bed stake truck to a small ranch in Monterey and had a great time with the Farmers Daughter. She was a riot.

    And so it goes.

    John Deere although seemingly popular with Tyco and Athearn, toy train makers. Was never all that popular in our neck of the woods.

    Those were happier times. People were doing what they wanted to do. Other then taxes and rules of the road you could live your life the way you wanted to. There was no big brother always looking over your shoulder. I was the big brother.

    One of the reason I like my model railroad. I can escape back to those better times.
     
  14. freddy_fo

    freddy_fo TrainBoard Member

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    I learned the concepts of the clutch and shifting riding dirt bikes well before I was legal to drive a car. The transition when that time came for 4 wheels was pretty uneventful. First car was a well worn 74 mustang II with 4 speed that shook like hell > 30mph. Dual purposes as I also needed a project for auto shop. Wound up being the yoke and bushing where the driveshaft connected to the transmission. The yoke was wore so bad that the splines were showing through on one side of the sleeve that fit over the output shaft. I couldn't believe my luck that after the $40 in parts I had a great car albeit not the prettiest. Full circle and I've devolved back to beaters. Anyone want to see the duct tape fixes on my 06 civic?:D
     
  15. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    I must say that tractors are the most forgiving of poor clutch technique; just keep the front end on the ground (well, OK, not too far off the ground...), and you'll be fine. The whole machine is made for low speed torque.

    After mastering that, the F100 v8 w/4 speed (incl. granny) was a cinch. Several years later, the first automotive engine repair I ever did was putting a new water pump on that same truck, the day before we took it, with a cab-over camper, on a trip from Van Buren AR to Big Bend NP and back, in the summer of 1980 (which broke all kinds of heat & drought records). My dad was working overtime to get stuff done before his vacation started, so he talked me through the basics on the (land-line) phone before I got started. Looking back at it now, it was not a difficult job, but I was a bit intimidated at the start.

    I was proud that Dad thought I could do it unsupervised, given six of us were going to be stranded on the side of some road in OK or TX if I screwed it up. And there are some lonely highways out in the trans-Pecos region of TX!

    Let's just say Dad was not prone to praising his children... I was 5 years old before I knew my first name wasn't Dammit. I thought Andrew was my middle name.

    Actually, the engine did overheat on that trip, but it was because one of the front tires threw it's tread and tossed a rock up into the radiator. I was sweating bullets until we figured out cause of the problem. There was a lot of space to bury a body that would never be found out there... He and Mom could make another one that looked just like me.
     
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  16. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Hmm!! Interesting discussion. But I'm wandering - some what - as to what it has to do with model railroading. Hmm!! :p:ROFLMAO:
     
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  17. Doug Gosha

    Doug Gosha TrainBoard Member

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    I'll chime in. I learned stick in a '50 Ford pickup and I could have sworn it was a two foot throw from one gear to another. A truck driver once told me that if I could drive that truck, I could drive any semi.

    Train related? In Austin, there used to be about a 2 - 3 block section of Oakland Avenue we called "the underpasses" where Oakland dipped down under a couple of bridges, one of which carried the CGW railroad over Oakland Avenue north/south through town. That area was built in the 1930's during the Great Depression by the WPA and was a real pretty area.

    It had become run-down due to the city not keeping t up and, in a misguided move, the city demolished it in the early 2000's instead of restoring it. So there is now no dip down and go back up. I laughed when it took them twice as long as planned to tear it out because those arched bridges were solid reinforced concrete.

    So anyway, on the east end where you went back up, there was a set of stop lights and your vehicle was facing uphill when you were stopped at the lights. I used to have a recurring dream, before I had my license, that the truck would roll backward into the car behind me before I had a chance to release the clutch and step on the gas.

    It never happened, though. It wasn't as tough as I thought it would be.

    Doug
     
    Last edited: Sep 29, 2021
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  18. Massey

    Massey TrainBoard Member

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    Memories of times past can be inspiration for models of the future.
     
  19. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    Yes the gear shift in the '41 Chevy was quit long. Especially the double low. Which went under the dash. In double low and the throttle knob out a touch it moved slower than I could walk. Great for pickin rocks in the field. Driving the semi for the canning factory was a breeze! Mostly town and county roads.

    Yes I'm enjoying these off topics as well. Just getting cranky at 72. :rolleyes::LOL:
     
  20. DCESharkman

    DCESharkman TrainBoard Member

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    Late to the party, been away too long. I had a bit of a tougher learning experience. I grew up driving cars with automatic transmissions.
    When I graduated college and started getting a real salary, I got bold and I bought a 1983 Ford Mustang GT with a 4 speed transmission. Driving it home from the dealership, well I learned really fast about the clutch and the shifting. Well my baptism by fire wasn't too bad. After about a week I was doing pretty good. The idea was to get out of 1st gear as soon as possible. Life got a lot better a few years later when I ditched the SCROD 4 speed transmission and went to a Tremec 6 speed.
     
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