Tell us something we don’t know.

[CH4Ohio]

That's the first time I ever heard of a door to door spider monkey salesman.

I remember Mel Tillis on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show. (Country music singer that stuttered real badly.) He told Johnny he sold Bibles door-to-door to work his way through school and was very successful at it.

His pitch was, "Wwwwwwwwould yyyyyyyou lllllllllike to bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbuy a Bible? Or wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwould you like me to rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrread it to you?"

 

[MossRoad]

I think since the gyro can't be running 24x7, having a depot where you could rest a full passenger train was difficult.
And the inevitable engine failure and the train keels over might be another reason.

Reading more on it last night, he said even if the engine died, the gyros would spin at great enough speed to keep it upright for half an hour. Still, imaging being out somewhere, track buckles, tree falls, etc... and you have to stop; whatever, make up a scenario. Eventually you're going to have to stop the engine for some reason.

Maybe it had kickstands for such an occasion?

 

[WinterDeere]

Maybe it had kickstands for such an occasion?

That's what I'd always assumed. If those gyro's have enough inertia to spin 30 minutes after an engine failure, that's plenty of times for the engineer to hop out and put down the kick stands or landing gear.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[SouthernSky]

That's what I'd always assumed. If those gyro's have enough inertia to spin 30 minutes after an engine failure, that's plenty of times for the engineer to hop out and put down the kick stands or landing gear.

He might not have had to hop out. Could be something inside that lowered stabilizers.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Changing the subject if anyone is near Bishopville SC you have to visit Pearl Fryar's topiary on his 3 acres. Years ago we got a private tour since no other visitors. Nurseries would give him dying or dead plants, he'd bring them home bringing them to life.
What's amazing is he's self taught doing the impossible. Years ago when he bought his home neighbors were very upset saying "there goes the neighborhood"...but he turned it into a showplace.
One amazing story he told was a tour bus stopped one day from Canada full of retirees. They asked what he wished he had and he said a hydraulic lift...it was so dangerous climbing ladders with a chainsaw but lift was too expensive. The visitors all chipped in and bought one!

 

[BravoXray]

Since we here in the US have an eclipse coming in April that will be seen by millions of people, here is a bit of eclipse trivia.
The eclipse with the longest period of totality in recent history was on June 20, 1955, visible in the southern hemisphere, and lasted for 7 minutes and 8 seconds in Sri Lanka.
There will be longer lasting eclipses in the future, but none of us will be around to see them.
Another bit of trivia is that eventually it the distant future, as the Moon continues to move away from the Earth in it's orbit, there will no longer be any total eclipses as the Moon's disk will be too small to completely cover the Sun.

 

[Pixguy]

Changing the subject if anyone is near Bishopville SC you have to visit Pearl Fryar's topiary on his 3 acres. Years ago we got a private tour since no other visitors. Nurseries would give him dying or dead plants, he'd bring them home bringing them to life.
What's amazing is he's self taught doing the impossible. Years ago when he bought his home neighbors were very upset saying "there goes the neighborhood"...but he turned it into a showplace.
One amazing story he told was a tour bus stopped one day from Canada full of retirees. They asked what he wished he had and he said a hydraulic lift...it was so dangerous climbing ladders with a chainsaw but lift was too expensive. The visitors all chipped in and bought one!View attachment 857394View attachment 857395View attachment 857396

We actually did stop there and admired his amazing work.

 

[MossRoad]

Changing the subject if anyone is near Bishopville SC you have to visit Pearl Fryar's topiary on his 3 acres. Years ago we got a private tour since no other visitors. Nurseries would give him dying or dead plants, he'd bring them home bringing them to life.
What's amazing is he's self taught doing the impossible. Years ago when he bought his home neighbors were very upset saying "there goes the neighborhood"...but he turned it into a showplace.
One amazing story he told was a tour bus stopped one day from Canada full of retirees. They asked what he wished he had and he said a hydraulic lift...it was so dangerous climbing ladders with a chainsaw but lift was too expensive. The visitors all chipped in and bought one!View attachment 857394View attachment 857395View attachment 857396

I saw a news clip about him years ago on TV somewhere. Outstanding work.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

We actually did stop there and admired his amazing work.
View attachment 857427View attachment 857424

? Pictures you posted are from...where?
His topiary is at his home in a subdivision.