For those of you who have basements or cellars. this might be of
interest. Not far from here I had a friend who passed away and she had
a brick home with a full basement. when I first met her many years ago
my sons and I used to a couple of times during the summer get out a
ladder and pull her English ivy off the roof, gutters and down just a
bit. Her husband had planted this ivy back in the mid 60's and it
supposedly looked good but it was planted to keep the hot sun off the
bricks during the summer. Later in the 80's she found out from another
handyman that her front basement floor as well as her front basement
wall were cracking and he could see bits of roots. well it was the
English Ivy. she got a second opinion and that man said those roots
which were like finger size when planted were now in different places
bigger than a mans arm in thickness and were yes pressing and breaking
up the cinder block foundation and basement floor. oky now up to the
present. I recently found out that the new owners have tore down a big
well built concrete front porch and stairs. thinking that the porch was
pushing against the walls underneath. He cannot see the Ivy problem
because they were cut off below ground level many years ago and then
some sort of chemical was poured on the stumps. what I want to stress
or suggest is do not plant this ivy or something like it by your
house unless you have done other research . why you would ask? this new
owner is going to spend upwards of $20,000 to have one wall dug out and
replaced. all because of some english ivy which at the time cost less
than $15. just a fyi from Me ..Lee
--
By the middle 1880's, practically all the roads except those in
the South, were of the present standard gauge. The southern roads were
still five feet between rails.
It was decided to change the gauge of all southern roads to standard,
in one day. This remarkable piece of work was carried out on a Sunday in May
of 1886. For weeks beforehand, shops had been busy pressing wheels in on the
axles to the new and narrower gauge, to have a supply of rolling stock which
could run on the new track as soon as it was ready. Finally, on the day set,
great numbers of gangs of track layers went to work at dawn. Everywhere one
rail was loosened, moved in three and one-half inches, and spiked down in its
new position. By dark, trains from anywhere in the United States could operate
over the tracks in the South, and a free interchange of freight cars everywhere
was possible.
-- Robert Henry, "Trains", 1957
Come and chat with me at #quietzone on irc.newnet.net
