2008 Unaugural - 4 week warning!

TimC

On 2008-04-01, BT Humble (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> In short, the Unaugural is an annual gathering of aus.moto people in a
> paddock on my farmlet near Tarago, NSW. Weather permitting, we have a
> bonfire of sufficient size to provide a reasonable simulation of
> Armageddon.

I shall attend one of these years, but this year I have gone down to
Melbourne to make another last ditch attempt at finishing my thesis
(hence my reading USENET). To get here, I took the train down from
Cootamundra. They are doing trackwork. Tonnes and tonnes and
thousands of tonnes of wooden sleepers are lying discarded by the
track for hundreds of kilometres, waiting to be picked up by wood
recyclers, and/or massive bonfire builders.

Do your duty. That is all.

--
TimC
If my head were spinning at relativistic speeds,
it would appear to everyone else that my brane had slowed down.
-- Dan E. Macs on RHOD

Terryc

TimC wrote:

Don't worry, apparently the world will suffer nuclear war on Thursday,
so whats the point. Yer, I'm still studying for my exams on Friday.

> To get here, I took the train down from
> Cootamundra. They are doing trackwork. Tonnes and tonnes and
> thousands of tonnes of wooden sleepers are lying discarded by the
> track for hundreds of kilometres, waiting to be picked up by wood
> recyclers, and/or massive bonfire builders.

Sadly, it is probably all contracted out; aka will be collected,
processed and sold to landscapers and for awful firewood (last lot was
termite infested and fungi laden).

Did you happen to see what they replaced them with?

Moike

Terryc wrote:
> TimC wrote:
>
> Don't worry, apparently the world will suffer nuclear war on Thursday,
> so whats the point. Yer, I'm still studying for my exams on Friday.
>
>> To get here, I took the train down from
>> Cootamundra. They are doing trackwork. Tonnes and tonnes and
>> thousands of tonnes of wooden sleepers are lying discarded by the
>> track for hundreds of kilometres, waiting to be picked up by wood
>> recyclers, and/or massive bonfire builders.
>
> Sadly, it is probably all contracted out; aka will be collected,
> processed and sold to landscapers and for awful firewood (last lot was
> termite infested and fungi laden).
>
> Did you happen to see what they replaced them with?
Concrete.
Moike (drove past a lot of it on the way backfrom the zoo.)

TimC

On 2008-04-14, Terryc (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> TimC wrote:
>> To get here, I took the train down from
>> Cootamundra. They are doing trackwork. Tonnes and tonnes and
>> thousands of tonnes of wooden sleepers are lying discarded by the
>> track for hundreds of kilometres, waiting to be picked up by wood
>> recyclers, and/or massive bonfire builders.
>
> Sadly, it is probably all contracted out;

Doesn't mean you can't drop by in the dead of the night (or making it
as obvious as possible during the day), and take it first.

> aka will be collected,
> processed and sold to landscapers and for awful firewood (last lot was
> termite infested and fungi laden).

I just got off the phone with mum, and she said her firewood from the
local stuff burned quite hot, but with lots of ash.

> Did you happen to see what they replaced them with?

Concrete.

--
TimC
#define FUZZ 0.0001 /*author: Marc Goodman in ARK*/
float BogoSqrt(float in) { float out;
do { out=(rand()/(float)0x7fff)-0x8000;
} while((out*out)<in-FUZZ || (out*out)>in+FUZZ); return(out); }

Terryc

TimC wrote:

> Doesn't mean you can't drop by in the dead of the night (or making it
> as obvious as possible during the day), and take it first.

ROFLMPO. let me guess, you've never put a railway sleeper on your shoulder?

I was stupid enough to do it a few times when I purchased a four tonne
truck load, about 50, but I only carrried them along a level concrete
pathway from front to back yard, but that was only the light ones.


> I just got off the phone with mum, and she said her firewood from the
> local stuff burned quite hot, but with lots of ash.

Yes, they are exceedingly good. hot firewood and most loads have been
just that. Unfortunately, the last lot I purchased from statewide
sleepers wasn't. I think it had been bottom of their stash for a few
years and sunk into a depression, so when they relocated recently, they
became top of the pile and in my load. Didn't realise until after i got
them home. thankfully they go into the free "thanks for looking after
me" present we received.

So, if you split a block and the colour is dull, it will be fungi
infested. The termites are easier to spot.

>
>
>>Did you happen to see what they replaced them with?

> Concrete.

Bummer.
>

BT Humble

On Apr 14, 4:21 pm, TimC <tconn...@no.spam.accepted.here-
astro.swin.edu.au> wrote:
> On 2008-04-01,BTHumble (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> > In short, the Unaugural is an annual gathering of aus.moto people in a
> > paddock on my farmlet near Tarago, NSW. Weather permitting, we have a
> > bonfire of sufficient size to provide a reasonable simulation of
> > Armageddon.
>
> I shall attend one of these years, but this year I have gone down to
> Melbourne to make another last ditch attempt at finishing my thesis
> (hence my reading USENET). To get here, I took the train down from
> Cootamundra. They are doing trackwork. Tonnes and tonnes and
> thousands of tonnes of wooden sleepers are lying discarded by the
> track for hundreds of kilometres, waiting to be picked up by wood
> recyclers, and/or massive bonfire builders.
>
> Do your duty. That is all.

Heh! There's a few piles of them around Tarago too (they replaced all
the sleepers between the village and the Sydney-garbage-train
terminus).

I was under the impression that they put a lot of creosote on them?


BTH

Mr_Hankey@qnr.com.au

On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:33:38 +1000, TimC wrote:

>On 2008-04-14, Terryc (aka Bruce)
> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Well hello, rhodite.

--
Mr H (ex lawESS servant)

TimC

On 2008-04-14, Mr_Hankey@qnr.com.au (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
> On Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:33:38 +1000, TimC wrote:
>
>>On 2008-04-14, Terryc (aka Bruce)
>> was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
>
> Well hello, rhodite.

Oh wow! There are people still there too! Death of USENET and all
that.

--
TimC
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is.

Andrew McKenna

BT Humble wrote:
>
> Heh! There's a few piles of them around Tarago too (they replaced all
> the sleepers between the village and the Sydney-garbage-train
> terminus).
>
> I was under the impression that they put a lot of creosote on them?
>
>
> BTH
All railway sleepers are preservative treated with something, but if
they were made after 1970, chances are it would be
copper-chrome-arsenate (CCA). You don't want to be within 5 kilometres
of someone burning CCA treated timber.

Coal tar creosote is a probable human carcinogen (according to the EPA
in the United States) but burning creosote treated timber in a bike
rally bonfire ought to be safe enough, since the creosote will vaporise
in a hot fire and be blown away. Not so good for your neighbour's sheep
may be.

--
Regards

Andrew