It came as a bit of a surprise recently when we were called to do some plumbing work on a few train cars. Interesting stuff, never worked on train cars before. It's like working on a long tube shaped house made of stainless steel. We have been there on and off for a few train car restorations, they call us for the addition of sinks and toilets, water lines, whatever they need to add to the train cars.
You can't just send anyone there, so it's myself and the boss, we handle the trains.
One guy is watching us work and asking some questions like he knows what we're doing and I don't know, he's running wires so an electrician couldn't possibly know anything about plumbing rules. We're a bit touchy about someone telling us how to do our jobs, but we dismissed it. Later on that day, we were finishing up and the guy is talking about how he goes all over the country doing these trains and he shows us his phone with pictures of a steam locomotive that he restored all of the steam lines. Gauges, valves, specialized tubing bends, it was very nice work and I told him that. I guess an electrician CAN know how to plumb. Alrighty then.
Now that we're all "buddy buddy", he says his truck, which I noticed in the parking area and was a rusty pile of shit, that it has nine hundred and sixty thousand miles on it. 960,000 miles!!! I say "Oh bullshit, lets go out there". Several guys follow us because they want to know if he's full of shit or not. I take a look at the thing and he pulls out the Columbus Ohio paper that just did an article on the truck! Holy shit, I have to take a closer look at this thing. 960K miles? On something American? It happens with over the road diesel lorrys all the time but an "F" series pickup truck? Nope- it was legitimate. Check it out:
He bought it brand new, 18 years ago. I asked him why he's kept it running, was it a personal challenge? Was it sentimental value? Why keep it going? He said that it was because he knew more about this engine than Ford does. He's a very intelligent guy and it's a good thing I wasn't into diesel engines or he would have unwittingly just created his new best friend, that's for sure. I listened to him talk for 20 minutes and I've learned a few things. I told him to be sure to share that knowledge because it's rare that one person has so much of it. Interesting how in only a few hours your opinion of someone can change so greatly. That dude is smart.
Speaking of smart- have a look at this dog:
No idea whom the bloke in the tub is.
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