Worked at St. Marys Kansas (collins station?)....power house job back in the 70s....
Kansas is a right to work state, so I had to work for bosses that used to be butchers, bakers and what not....they got the job through relatives there. The iron work was so miscalculated, misfit that most was welded in place...the major contractor just couldn't seem to understand the bolt holes were suppose to line up...brother. Don't know if anyone around the area remembers but someone got so fed up with the lack of safety they brought in a military tear gas bomb and set it off...the news showed all these school buses taking people to Topeka. The saftey guy there was an accountant that would put on his "doctors hat" when someone showed up like I did, with something in my eye. Add to this the innovative methods for construction...on boiler work a hydro is done on the tubes after welding. Makes sense because the whole thing is covered in insulation and alumium. Some genius decided to go ahead and start insulating without doing the hydro....had a piece of equipement that was supposed to find leaks through all the coverings...of course they didn't account for major leaks that happened during the hydro...all the insulation had to be torn off and replace due to all the leaks.
I remember reading a union mag one day in the trailer during lunch....had a couple of pictures of a construction site in texas...about a 10 acre site with apprx. 5 stories of red iron. One night the operator (non union) forgot to set the brake on the cab and the wind came up that night and swung the boom hard into the iron. The result was a total collapse of all the beautiful set steel. And that was the problem, to meet schedule the scab ironworkers were only putting a few bolts at a time at the connections..thus it wasn't stabilized correctly.
The bottom line is we all paid through higher utility costs and what not due to the completely nonprofession manner of non union construction.
The major contractor at the St. Mary power house was Daniels and the one in texas was brown and root.
Of course I'm sure there are really great non union workers out there.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1964 I-H 140 tractor with cultivators and sidedresser. Starts and runs good. Asking 2650. CALL RON AT 502-319-1952
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
