https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Z2M8jN1-c

Today I spent a few hours aboard NY Canal Corp's flagship, the Tug Urger, on a cruise from Fort Edward to Whitehall. She was built in 1901 (115 years old) as a steamboat and worked the Great Lakes towing fishnets etc. She was one of the most sea-worthy boats of that day, and was occasionally used as a rescue craft when other boats were going down in storms. After WW2, she was converted to diesel, with a 20 ton engine, producing 320 HP at 320 RPM. Urger is a bell boat, meaning the pilot yanks a bell cord that rings in the engine room and the Engineer starts/stops/adjusts the engine for him. Urger has no transmission, no gears and no neutral. When the engine is running, the boat is moving ... or trying very hard to drag the dock away. To go in reverse, the Engineer stops the engine, pulls a lever that moves the cam shaft and the engine starts up spinning in the other direction. After our cruise today, I got the Engineer to start up the engine and run it and then stop. And the result is this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Z2M8jN1-c The compressor and generator were left off so the sounds you hear are the engine only. It's rather quiet, you can talk in the engine room in a normal voice and be heard. I hope you enjoy it ... Fred

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Z2M8jN1-c

Thanks Fred. What a great old engine. Just a beautiful purr!! Rob > On Jun 15, 2016, at 7:43 PM, fred@tug44.org wrote: > > > Today I spent a few hours aboard NY Canal Corp's flagship, the Tug Urger, > on a cruise from Fort Edward to Whitehall. > > She was built in 1901 (115 years old) as a steamboat and worked the Great > Lakes towing fishnets etc. She was one of the most sea-worthy boats of > that day, and was occasionally used as a rescue craft when other boats were > going down in storms. > > After WW2, she was converted to diesel, with a 20 ton engine, producing > 320 HP at 320 RPM. > > Urger is a bell boat, meaning the pilot yanks a bell cord that rings in > the engine room and the Engineer starts/stops/adjusts the engine for him. > Urger has no transmission, no gears and no neutral. When the engine is > running, the boat is moving ... or trying very hard to drag the dock away. > To go in reverse, the Engineer stops the engine, pulls a lever that moves > the cam shaft and the engine starts up spinning in the other direction. > > After our cruise today, I got the Engineer to start up the engine and run > it and then stop. And the result is this video: > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4Z2M8jN1-c > > The compressor and generator were left off so the sounds you hear are the > engine only. It's rather quiet, you can talk in the engine room in a > normal voice and be heard. > > I hope you enjoy it ... > > Fred > > > > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/listinfo/great-loop_lists.trawlering.com > > To modify your Great-Loop subscription options (change email address, > unsubscribe, etc.) go to: http://lists.trawlering.com/mailman/options/great-loop_lists.trawlering.com Robert Hoffman bobhof@sbcglobal.net <mailto:bobhof@sbcglobal.net> cell 314-422-7274