Sunday, April 26, 2009
The Trans-Siberian Railway.
It Is Electric!
I was riding back to the hotel in a taxis and saw a train on the railway. I had been told that the Trans Siberian Railroad went though Perm but I had not seen any evidence of where the tracks were. One of the Bridges across the Kama River is said to carry the train. While I had seen the tracks before, I never thought they were transcontinental because they were electric.
The taxis was taking the 'back way' that the taxis sometimes take. The "bus" never takes the back streets because they are too rough and unmaintained.
The windows of the taxis were quite dirty but I was so excited I took the pictures anyway.
As a comparison, I downloaded a photo (without permission) of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from the Internet so that my good readers could see the similarity of paint and colors to the one I saw. I Googled and found out that the electrical work for the railroad was completed in 2003. It is a totally electric train. The future of the United States is operating today.
The taxis was taking the 'back way' that the taxis sometimes take. The "bus" never takes the back streets because they are too rough and unmaintained.
The windows of the taxis were quite dirty but I was so excited I took the pictures anyway. 
As a comparison, I downloaded a photo (without permission) of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from the Internet so that my good readers could see the similarity of paint and colors to the one I saw. I Googled and found out that the electrical work for the railroad was completed in 2003. It is a totally electric train. The future of the United States is operating today.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Weekend Update From Perm
In the past few weeks the days have been getting longer and the weather warmer. This this week it started to snow again. Oh the joys of cold and snowy.
The bus in the snow getting ready to leave for the factory.
Who is that "Tourist" out taking people's picture? Doesn't he know its impolite?
Cars getting covered with snow.
Cars covered with snow. the people at the plant assure me Perm has seasons, and you can tell which one is summer because the days are longer.
The bus in the snow getting ready to leave for the factory.
Who is that "Tourist" out taking people's picture? Doesn't he know its impolite?
Cars getting covered with snow.
Cars covered with snow. the people at the plant assure me Perm has seasons, and you can tell which one is summer because the days are longer.Saturday, April 18, 2009
Driving the Bus
This week the weather warmed up for a couple of days, though now it is back in the 30's again. Here is a picture of the "bus" that takes us to work in the morning and brings us home at night. I have gotten to know the drivers in the last 11 weeks and this week one offered to let me drive the bus.
It has a six speed manual transmission and he thought that I would not be able to figure it out.
After some initial hesitation, while I figured out where all the controls were, I was off. By the time we reached the end of the factory driveway, the driver said, "No no, politzi" Meaning, I assume, that if I drove the bus out on the highway I would get arrested. I set the parking brake and we switched places. that was my excitement for the week.
It has a six speed manual transmission and he thought that I would not be able to figure it out. 
After some initial hesitation, while I figured out where all the controls were, I was off. By the time we reached the end of the factory driveway, the driver said, "No no, politzi" Meaning, I assume, that if I drove the bus out on the highway I would get arrested. I set the parking brake and we switched places. that was my excitement for the week.Sunday, April 12, 2009
Sunday Update
Today was a beautiful spring day in Perm. The sun was shining and weather was slightly above freezing. The sky was bright blue with only a hint of clouds. (most of those were the contrails from the MIGs at the airbase)
Driving down out of Perm toward the refinery.
Another view of the Refinery with the City Hot Water Pipes in the foreground.
Close-up of the pipes heading for the city.
Climbing the hill from the freeway on the way home from work. It is staying lighter longer every day. It is starting to get noticeable. I used to go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, now it is light when I go to work and light when i come home and I am NOT working less hours. 
My Friend Mike, with two SME's. (Subject Matter Experts)
Here I an with the same two SME's. Olga (my grandmother's name was Olga) is on my right and Yulia is on my left.
Here are two more of my friends (Victor is on the right) discussing the be best approach to a fixing a 'collision'.
Driving down out of Perm toward the refinery.
Another view of the Refinery with the City Hot Water Pipes in the foreground.
Close-up of the pipes heading for the city. Climbing the hill from the freeway on the way home from work. It is staying lighter longer every day. It is starting to get noticeable. I used to go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, now it is light when I go to work and light when i come home and I am NOT working less hours. 
My Friend Mike, with two SME's. (Subject Matter Experts)
Here I an with the same two SME's. Olga (my grandmother's name was Olga) is on my right and Yulia is on my left.
Here are two more of my friends (Victor is on the right) discussing the be best approach to a fixing a 'collision'. Saturday, April 11, 2009
One More Winter Storm.
The weather has been getting warmer. Some days it has gotten above freezing in the afternoons but we had a snow storm this week, just to show us that winter isn't over yet.. 
Ten minutes before this photo was taken there was no snow on the ground.
Traffic slowing to a standstill.
Ten minutes before this photo was taken there was no snow on the ground.
Traffic slowing to a standstill.Misfortune of the week.
Since my return to Perm, I have been using a new measuring device. I wish I could say I invented it but one of the Vendors was using them and it worked so well I searched the Internet and bought my own. It is a "Rhino Ruler" which is made out of fiberglass and reported to be indestructable. Well, I dropped mine and in the cold weather, the rivet broke and ended up with two pieces.
Picture of the original folding ruler, metric on one side and inches on the other. So much better than a tape measure.
Oh dear!!! I could cry.
I was able to remove the pin that is in the hinge pin and I removed the outer leaf to use that hinge pin to replace the hinge pin that broke in the middle.
Back together, just like new, but shorter. When I get home, I will e-mail the company and see if I can buy some rivets to put on the missing outer leaves. If I can't, it will be a good lathe project.
Picture of the original folding ruler, metric on one side and inches on the other. So much better than a tape measure.
Oh dear!!! I could cry.
I was able to remove the pin that is in the hinge pin and I removed the outer leaf to use that hinge pin to replace the hinge pin that broke in the middle.
Back together, just like new, but shorter. When I get home, I will e-mail the company and see if I can buy some rivets to put on the missing outer leaves. If I can't, it will be a good lathe project.
I found the hinge pin I broke on the ground. Now I have a model to make a new one.Sunday, April 05, 2009
Weekly Update from Perm
This week, I went out for pizza with some of the project people after work. 
The translators. 
Here I am sitting at the end of the table with Bruce (USA) and Mark (Australia).
From the translators, Jose' (Chile) Vataliy (Russia) and Jeromy (Great Britain).
My friend, Rajmond, and I went to a typical Russian Restaurant in the Shopping Center to see if the food was better than at the Company Canteen.
We had goulash, I hoped it tasted as I remember Great Grandma's. It came in its own pot.
It was good, but not what I wanted.
I saw this on a walk one night and decided it was the perfect gift. To properly duplicate a T-34 will require the addition of a couple of more sets of "road wheels"
Perfect color.
Electric just is just not acceptable. I have started searching on Craigslist for a 250cc or 350cc Honda motorcycle engine, though snowmobile engines have some attraction.
Side view. I am thinking about at least a 75 mm in the turret and on mine the turret will pivot, at least 60 degrees to give a better field of fire. I have pictures from the artillery museum, I can build one.
The translators. 
Here I am sitting at the end of the table with Bruce (USA) and Mark (Australia).
From the translators, Jose' (Chile) Vataliy (Russia) and Jeromy (Great Britain).My friend, Rajmond, and I went to a typical Russian Restaurant in the Shopping Center to see if the food was better than at the Company Canteen.
We had goulash, I hoped it tasted as I remember Great Grandma's. It came in its own pot.
It was good, but not what I wanted.I saw this on a walk one night and decided it was the perfect gift. To properly duplicate a T-34 will require the addition of a couple of more sets of "road wheels"
Perfect color.
Electric just is just not acceptable. I have started searching on Craigslist for a 250cc or 350cc Honda motorcycle engine, though snowmobile engines have some attraction.
Side view. I am thinking about at least a 75 mm in the turret and on mine the turret will pivot, at least 60 degrees to give a better field of fire. I have pictures from the artillery museum, I can build one. 