Memories

Our week of volunteering at Collier Memorial State Park last week is now only memories, but what good memories they are.  One of the most memorable to me was watching and listening to this Cat D7 start up.  I remember as a kid being entirely enthralled with the process.  There are no electric starters to get these beasts going. Instead a small 2 cylinder gas starter engine mounted next to the big diesel engine is fired up by means of a hand crank, or in this case a spring starter.  It sputters to life and runs erratically for a few minutes. Once warmed-up sufficiently it is run wide open, screaming for all it’s worth at a high pitch, to produce as much power as possible to turn over the big diesel engine.  It’s a procedure that never seems to go smoothly; almost always the little engine dies several times. But eventually the big diesel engine slowly bellows to life adding its base tones to the cacophony of mechanical music. Ah, excitement and success in the air so strong you can taste it.