Night Shift

bykfixer

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I got word last week that there's going to be a waterline operation at my work that involves turning off a rather large water main. Being a water main that feeds restaraunts, local factories and a substantial amount of homes it has to be done at night after most folks go to bed.

Boss asks if I'd volunteer. Well I'm helping a guy in his 70's who lives way out in the country so my first thought was it aint real cool to have homie driving back to work after dark and going back home at 3am. Sure I'll do it.

This morning it occured to me that being a flashaholic means while the waterline is off I get to play with flashlights. I also remembered most construction workers carry $5 junk that will grow dimmer as the night wears on.

So far the roster to carry is based on runtime since the area will be lit by diesel powered sunshine. Yet those light plants create lots of shadows. I have 2 headlamps ready, a Malkoff NLL clad 6P, a couple of long run Maglites, a Pelican 2360, Elzetta Bones, PK PR-1 and SureFire G2x Pro. Pocket carry is essential and wrist lanyards are a good idea. A good night to try out the updated 2D Maglite and ML25 with low settings too.

I may loan out an ML25, the PR-1 or the Pelican as I have spares. But the Elzetta, the 6P… no freakin' way.
 

bykfixer

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If all goes well tonight will be the only night for this operation.

Another night will involve shutting off the same main and connecting a new line installed beside the existing, only deeper to accomodate removing a hill of a country road. Cutting off the hill would make the old line too shallow.

We watch over roadway improvements in rural areas where progress means lots more traffic going to and from new schools, businesses and homes. This one is straightening out curves, flattening hills and generally makes it safer for John Q Suburbanite to check their emails while commuting.
 

Nitroz

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If all goes well tonight will be the only night for this operation.

Another night will involve shutting off the same main and connecting a new line installed beside the existing, only deeper to accomodate removing a hill of a country road. Cutting off the hill would make the old line too shallow.

We watch over roadway improvements in rural areas where progress means lots more traffic going to and from new schools, businesses and homes. This one is straightening out curves, flattening hills and generally makes it safer for John Q Suburbanite to check their emails while commuting.

This is so true nowadays.
 

bykfixer

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Bring on the night.
I forgot the Pelican 2360 but had the 360 lumen Coast HP7 in the truck. That and the 2D Mag in the package were lights I spoke of in some of my initial postings here at CPF. The Mag was used a few minutes and put back into an incan package way back in 015 and still goes where I go.

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The road that is being widened, flattened and straightened.
To the right that giant Tonka toy digs to find the water line while the one in the center moves diesel powered sunshine into position.


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Pre-assembled section of waterline built during the day.
A storm sewer pipe is to cross the road where the giant Tonka toy in the previous photo sits. It is designed to go through the waterline unless they lower a segment of said water main.


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The water main that is in the way of progress.
My role is to ensure the asbestos cement pipe is properly handled during demolition and disposal. I also write reports of who, what, when, where and why things take place and if things go wrong notify the proper officials.


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It's past 9pm so the water main is turned off and the crew waits for it to drain.
These folks began at 6am today and are now zooming from lil Ceasers pizza and lot of Mt Dew at 10:30pm.

The night is just getting started. If all goes well all I'll need is my double clutch headlamp to find the porta-john. If not, I'm ready to lend a hand. It's funny how life works. This young crew are the offspring of youngsters I worked with 25 years ago.
 
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Nitroz

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C0995-C70-042-D-48-A1-B720-8-DDBA5024-BF1.jpg

Bring on the night.



It's past 9pm so the water main is turned off and the crew waits for it to drain.
These folks began at 6am today and are now zooming from lil Ceasers pizza and lot of Mt Dew at 10:30pm.

The night is just getting started. If all goes well all I'll need is my double clutch headlamp to find the porta-john. If not, I'm ready to lend a hand. It's funny how life works. This young crew are the offspring of youngsters I worked with 25 years ago.

Very cool! I don't know if those youngsters appreciate your lights as much as we do. :)
 

bykfixer

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They use celphones these days. lol

Correction, I said 10:30 in my previous post but it was 9:30. :oops:

Edit: while waiting on the pipe to drain……

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Shows a shadow cast by the diesel powered sunshine.

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Not a problem when my PR-1 gets the call of duty.
 
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bykfixer

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Workers dressed in plastic bags
This stuff aint no joke. The unprotected fellow on the right was in charge. Young guy, full of vim and vigar but will someday be all stoved up like me and the County guy who shut off the water. By 4:30 am even the youngsters were whipped and woozy.

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Old pipe removed, new pipe set in place.
Time to fasten screws at each end. That takes some time as applying equal pressure in equal amounts around the pipe is critical for a good grip of new iron pipe to old, somewhat fragile asbestos cement pipe.
Note the shadow the worker is dealing with.


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A bit closer shows the worker dealing with a shadow.
A headlamp sure would have been handy.

I have watched over dozens of these things and this was by far the youngest and most eager crew I've over seen over the decades. However youth and inexperience costed a lot of time. Wisdom gained over the years would have ensured some basic tools like proprietary wrenches (ratcheting box ends etc) flashlights and patience would have made things go a lot smoother. Oh, that's easy for me to say now. They were not looking for a mentor, but did appreciate an inspector lighting up shadows with an Elzetta Bones from time to time.


Some beam pix while waiting for things to come together:

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Typical 2am rural setting


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Lovin that old school Maglite drill beam.
The new 2D has 193 lumens on high to provide a better spill than the previous but still has a Maglite pencil lead beam to drill through darkness.


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The 320 lumen SureFire G2x Pro beam aint bad at all.

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The Bones is a lot less harsh.
The workers had never seen a light that small and that bright that did not cause them to squint when I lit shadows for them. I seriously doubt I converted any of the celphone light users to better lighting tools. Especially if they knew how much a Bones costs. But they were glad for the assistance it provided them at times.


By 5am the water was back on as a rain shower began.

One more pic:

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My favorite flashlight ever……
 
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bykfixer

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What makes you say not a government worker Kitro? lol.

I'm a consultant brought in to watch over projects and act as a sorta translator between government agencies. The local agency is the one that hires the contractor to improve things. The state agency maintains the improvements when done. They reimburse the local agency half the cost when it is completed. They get improvements to state roads for half price yet demand 100 percent of the compliance with their specs. Often the local agency does not understand the rules required by the state so my company intercedes in the process to make sure the local gets reimbursed by the state with more efficiency.

I forgot to show life without and with a Streamlight Double Clutch at 2am in a rural setting.
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When walking around on uneven terrain it's pretty dark.


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A spot beam highlights details or lights distance better.



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I use flood the most for walking around.
It also greatly reduces blinding the folks around me when I forget to turn it off in the diesel powered sunshine scenarios.


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Twist left for flooder. Right for thrower.
It has the option of a usb rechargeable battery pack or 3aaa's. 125 or 30 lumens. And it's real easy to operate.
 

BluGrass

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2-C66-CDBC-57-AF-4-BFD-91-CC-A69-F31-D0-B41-C.jpg

Old pipe removed, new pipe set in place.
Time to fasten screws at each end. That takes some time as applying equal pressure in equal amounts around the pipe is critical for a good grip of new iron pipe to old, somewhat fragile asbestos cement pipe.
Note the shadow the worker is dealing with.




Am I correct that the blue fittings on the end are the adapter fittings for ductile to the asbestos piping?




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

bykfixer

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Correct Blu.

That is the weak link to the whole thing. First time I had ever seen that model. Real nice adpater if assembled properly. One end (at the top of the photo) went together in a few minutes. The one closest to the camera took a while due to a very slight misalignment between the ductile iron and asbestos pipe.

The workers were real tired by then. Working in the heat all day then well past midnight before they were trying to figure out the issue was. Stirred up some old ghosts of working a full from sunrise to……sunrise again. I had worked all day too but not in the heat. We were all whipped by 5am.

The insta-flood setting on the headlamp kept me from tripping over my own feet by 2am CG. Apparently that one is popular with mechanics but I find it very handy for home repairs, at work at night or just taking a stroll in the woods.
 

greenpondmike

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I like that maglite and the headlight the best. All of them were neat bykfixer. Cool beamshots--I like beamshots.
 
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KITROBASKIN

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Sir fixer:
I try to read everything you write down on CPF, and fondly remember your generosity. The question I posed succeeded in you making another interesting post!

You tell it like it is.
 

bykfixer

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There was a time not that long ago I would have had an incan minimag with 2 year old batteries in it. Funny how life works. Next time I'll carry a 300 lumen minimag.

In a couple of weeks there'll be a repeat of the operation. I'll still have the headlamps, Maglites, the Coast and Elzetta Bones as they ride in the truck. Another SureFire 6P will be used (w/M361W) a PKDL PL2, a SOG DE-05 and perhaps a classic S&R light from pre-Maglite days like a 5D 3rd gen Kel-Lite or a Malkoff'd 3D Maglite. Or the older fellow may say "screw day work I'll do the next one".
 
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