Some WTF pics.....

[alexcagle]

View attachment 891225

Yup, plenty of space

Commentator .......and he literally "STICKS" the landing........lol
That had to bruise that which should not be bruised.
He'll feel that the rest of his days.
I was 13yrs old and a while being swung excessively in a hammock, it ripped open and landed my left ribs on a big rock. I still feel it daily.

 

[ZeroJunk]

This is one of the few active spurs in Missoula Montana. Rare to see a train there for sure. It ends about a mile down the track at Pacific Steel.

I remember a few years back there were several spurs in Greensboro N.C that went pretty much down every street in a WWII vintage storage area and elsewhere. They had an old smoky engine that they would run down each one periodically because there was some agreement somewhere that the had to be used periodically or abandoned.

 

[stihlaficionado]

Commentator .......and he literally "STICKS" the landing........lol
That had to bruise that which should not be bruised.
He'll feel that the rest of his days.
I was 13yrs old and a while being swung excessively in a hammock, it ripped open and landed my left ribs on a big rock. I still feel it daily.

I "liked" your post notwithstanding your injury

 

[stihlaficionado]

 

[LogSawyer74]

Hope the proceeding helped provide a spark for humanity. There are too many good people in this world for it to go down the toilet. And the obligatory picture.
View attachment 891424

Awesome posts!! Lots of good and lots of good people in this world. Worth the effort to look around and find it.

 

[stihlaficionado]

 

[pdqdl]

IIANM tests were done by the NTSB amongst others. Can YOU prove they are better than good snow tires in all condition?

I'm not sure that they do in ALL conditions. I believe that the coefficient of friction for rubber on dry concrete is pretty high, and quite low on ice. Snow will fall in somewhere closer to ice than dry pavement, and rain will be closer to dry pavement. Carbide steel studs on concrete is rather high also, but not perhaps as high as rubber. Given that dragsters do everything possible to increase their traction, and none of them are using studded tires, I'm pretty sure that studded tires do NOT outperform plain rubber on dry pavement.

I could spend a lot of money and time setting up a real experiment and testing the tires. I think that is unnecessary, however. I am about the only person on the road in KC with studded tires, and I putter up hills in every single snow, passing 4wd suvs that are spinning out, struggling to get up the hill in the snow. The ONLY time that any other vehicle has moved in the snow better than my little front wheel drive VW is when the snow is deeper than 4". Then I start dragging frame in the snow, and things get worse.

I routinely run down the highways in freezing conditions, passing and still outstopping everyone on the road. When it gets slick enough that there are more people in the ditch than on the road, compacted snow or ice, I am a bit more cautious, but still have no problems navigating. Some of that will be my vast experience at driving in the frozen conditions, but a great deal of that is my reliance on the studded tires.

All I am offering at this time is anecdotal evidence. Maybe later for something better.

 

[GrizG]

I remember studded snow tires and they certainly do work on icy roads , don't remember the crushed walnut but that would make sense .
Don't know if the DOT allows them anymore , or if they even make them anymore

Studded one pair my my old boots just for icy conditions and believe me they work

I have IceBug boots that have car like studded bottoms. I can walk on wet ice with no problem. They are hell on floors though.

 

[1Alpha1]

Yes but the mileage on them sucked. New pair every year if one drove much.

Yup......the studs didn't last very long on bare roads. My brothers and I were responsible for putting the winter tires on and taking them back off when the snow disappeared. That could happen 3-4 times a winter. But.....it wasn't too very bad. We had a system in place and it went pretty fast.

 

[GrizG]

View attachment 891225

Yup, plenty of space

I worked with a guy who was an all around jock in college. He played football, basketball and was a pole vaulter. He was drafted by the Rams as a defensive back... Unfortunately track and field season continued on after he was drafted. During a pole vault the pole broke and speared him. His athletic career was over and a life time of self medication killed him at 62 or 63.

 

[GrizG]

Only improve traction on glare ice per tests.

It seems to me that Consumer Reports did studded tire tests in the '60s or '70s. Traction on ice, braking on ice, and cornering on ice were their strong points. That was around the time they started using salt on the roads around here (and the cars of the ''60s and 70s disintegrated!). I recall they used to use sand only when I was a kid. Then they mixed sand and salt and eventually went to salt only. There is a state DOT facility not far from me that had huge piles of road sand but by about '98 those piles were gone and a huge salt shed remained. Now they have the salt shed and a magnesium chloride tank for brining the roads.

 

[SS396driver]

It seems to me that Consumer Reports did studded tire tests in the '60s or '70s. Traction on ice, braking on ice, and cornering on ice were their strong points. That was around the time they started using salt on the roads around here (and the cars of the ''60s and 70s disintegrated!). I recall they used to use sand only when I was a kid. Then they mixed sand and salt and eventually went to salt only. There is a state DOT facility not far from me that had huge piles of road sand but by about '98 those piles were gone and a huge salt shed remained. Now they have the salt shed and a magnesium chloride tank for brining the roads.

NY DOT still uses sand mixed with salt here as does the county and local town . The state road 55 and 55a look like a dirt road by spring . They have to clean it usually around April with the brush on a tractor. They just push it to the road side.
My town garage lets residents take the sand /salt mix in 5 gallon pails . I usually fill 4 or 5 every few weeks for my driveway

 

[1Alpha1]

Here in AZ., they use crushed cinders on the roads when snow and ice are present.

 

[rlanicek]

View attachment 891270

It’s 100% virtue signaling. There is absolutely no reason to do this other than making some visual statement.

Uniformity. All of the band members are wearing masks. Those with wind instruments cut openings for their mouths. Do you not watch college football? All of the college bands did the same in 2020.

 

[OM617YOTA]

It seems to me that Consumer Reports did studded tire tests in the '60s or '70s. Traction on ice, braking on ice, and cornering on ice were their strong points. That was around the time they started using salt on the roads around here (and the cars of the ''60s and 70s disintegrated!). I recall they used to use sand only when I was a kid. Then they mixed sand and salt and eventually went to salt only. There is a state DOT facility not far from me that had huge piles of road sand but by about '98 those piles were gone and a huge salt shed remained. Now they have the salt shed and a magnesium chloride tank for brining the roads.

50 years of innovation into snow tires since then. While I'm sure the testing at the time was fine, I don't think it has any bearing on modern snow tires.

 

[GrizG]

NY DOT still uses sand mixed with salt here as does the county and local town . The state road 55 and 55a look like a dirt road by spring . They have to clean it usually around April with the brush on a tractor. They just push it to the road side.
My town garage lets residents take the sand /salt mix in 5 gallon pails . I usually fill 4 or 5 every few weeks for my driveway

Sounds like you're near Grahamsville... Yeah up in the mountainous areas near me some of the locales use a sand/salt mix. I think it's more about the money than it is about the function in those areas. I'm closer to the Hudson River and I cannot think of a single nearby town, city or state facility that still uses sand. Gotta get a bit west into the Catskills for that. I too remember the spring clean up of the sand. We literally had a small berm along the front of our property from the years of sand build up. I cleaned that up near the house but the other 300 feet or so of frontage was left alone. There is a significant pile to this day just south of the driveway.

 

[GrizG]

50 years of innovation into snow tires since then. While I'm sure the testing at the time was fine, I don't think it has any bearing on modern snow tires.

The discussion was more about studded snow tires than snow tires in general. And yes, modern snow and all-season tires are different animals than the snow tires of the 60s and 70s for sure! Between the salt and plowing expectations and practices of today, and all-season tires, I haven't bothered with snow tires per se in at least 20 years. If I were a bit west of here in the mountains I'd have studded snow tires and either all-wheel drive or 4-wheel drive. Between the hills and less aggressive snow removal they are justifiable. I recall one time 40+ years ago driving west on Rte 28 through the Catskills in a snow storm. When I hit the Delaware county line I discovered the road hadn't been plowed. Going over the west side of Highmount turned into a toboggan ride in my VW bug. This as the belly pan was sliding over the snow and the wheels were more like rudders than tires. Fortunately the road was empty and three lanes wide! It was a party weekend at my friend's college so nothing would deter us!

 

[pdqdl]

I have IceBug boots that have car like studded bottoms. I can walk on wet ice with no problem. They are hell on floors though. View attachment 891457

Removable crampons are a bit more practical, unless perhaps you are going jogging. They are quite a bit more practical to slide in a bag than a whole new set of shoes.

 

[GrizG]

I think body on frame construction won out in that period as road salt became the norm...

 

[sb47]

Uniformity. All of the band members are wearing masks. Those with wind instruments cut openings for their mouths. Do you not watch college football? All of the college bands did the same in 2020.

That's another down side to the brain washing. There forced to comply or not participate.