a doodle that got a little out of hand
(more under the cut)
they make me so crazy
i read somewhere on here that fnc is like chip having a crush on an older sibling’s friend or something which i think rewired my neurons,,, like unrequited crush fish and chips is SO…….omg so smart
anyway that’s where this whole thing came from
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currently thinking about the universal adaptation of the little orb or pouch you put helpful bacteria in. animals, plants, lichens, bioluminescent deep sea fish…. who hasn’t discovered there are little guys everywhere willing to trade a good or service for protection and nutrients in a specialty grown body part???
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Fish in An Engine's Tank? It's More Likely Than You Think:
So, recently I wrote a story for my 'The World Famous Engine' fic (read here) which focused on the Flying Scotsman getting fish and weeds into his tanks, which clogged up his injector.
While on the surface, this sounds like a rehash of 'Thomas Goes Fishing' from Season 1, it's actually a rehash of a real-life event that happened to 60103 Flying Scotsman in 1958.
The story of the original incident goes as such: back in the late 1950s, the Flying Scotsman worked on the ex-GCR mainline through Leicester. On the way to London, the injectors failed one after the other, leading to pandemonium on the footplate as they were forced to basically drop the fire at speed and try desperately to get the injectors working again before their engine blew up with a full express. You can imagine their relief when the water started flowing again!
And despite all of this, they were only five minutes late to Marylebone!
The reason for this absolutely frantic and tense few minutes? Well, the outlet pipes from the tender to the injector were protected by wire mesh, which was absolutely clogged with algae and weeds! And then they managed to extract roughly three buckets worth of live fish - and not little minnows, I'm talking bream and rudd - from Flying Scotsman's tender!
And the cherry on top? The fireman, Ken Issett, recalls a lady who said to the crew: "Thank you for my safe journey."
Yeah, this actually happened. The world's most famous engine was very nearly destroyed by some weeds and fish.
But how did the fish get into Flying Scotsman's tender? The answer lies in where railways got their water supply from: anywhere and everywhere. Railways needed a lot of water in an era when pump infrastructure and feed-water was treated a lot less carefully. Furthermore, a lot of railways (in the UK at least) also owned canals, which they would simply take the water from and use. The water was moved to water towers via either gravity or pumps, and then stored before being loaded into the engine's tanks. And the pipes were big, to handle the amount of water required by steam railways.
Some firemen from the era recall using homemade rods to go fishing in tenders and water towers and catching fish! Others recalled the fact that they disliked going into the water tanks to clean and inspect unless they were ordered to. One account literally says:
'The bigger tanks were best, not the smaller side tanks. Better than the canal, though.’
Another said:
‘On Friday afternoons they had trouble finding cleaners because we were all up in the water tank with rafts!’
From this, I'm pretty sure we can all agree that Thomas getting a fish in his tank after having to use a bucket is surprising, not because there was a fish in his tank, but because it wasn't pumped in months ago! Apparently steam locomotives were just massive, unwilling fish tanks.
Considering this, it's a real wonder that there weren't more stories about fish causing an absolute menace on the railways!
For those who want to read the article this is based on, here is the hyperlink and the URL:
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🐠 Daily Fish Fact: 🐠
*bonus fact: I saw these big fishes while on vacation, at the Atlantis aquarium. I didn't comprehend their size until I saw them in person.*
The Atlantic Goliath Grouper has a longevity of 37 years and reaches first maturity after 6 years, which leads to an estimated generation length of 21.5 years. The species has been hypothesized to be hermaphrodites, but this has yet to be confirmed. Males become sexually mature at around 45in in length, and at ages 4–6. Females mature at around 49in.
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