A few pictures of some minor changes (updated)

Over the weekend there was equipment in the city parking lot by the Hanley plaque. I was not sure what was going on here, but took a picture hoping that I would find out later.

This morning I returned and both the equipment and the flower boxes were gone. Something new is going to be built, and though I have heard it described, I cannot visualize it.

More important but less visible work was being done at the lift station next to Weston Cemetery. During the winter there was a lot of work being done behind the station on the buried pipes. I asked one of the workers what they were doing. He said that they were installing new pumps and controls.

The lift station, in case you were wondering, is part of the sewage system of Rensselaer. The pumps are what gets the water that goes down your drains to the sewage treatment plant. You may not want to think about it, but if this system ever fails, your life will suddenly become a lot more unpleasant.

Update: This morning (Wednesday) a truck delivered two pumps to the entrance of the cemetery. The truck was too large to get down the narrow road to the lift station, so the pumps had to be moved by their fork lift. (OK--what is the real name for this machine?)

They hauled it up over the hill and deposited it next to the first pump, which arrived before I did.

I asked one of the guys how they would get them into the building. He said that they could get them through the door using their blue lifter, but then the fun would start. They have to be lowered into of a pit, and that has to be done manually.

Update II: There are three pumps in the lift station. They will be replaced so that there is always at least one of them running. The building is designed to help move the pumps--there is a beam with a chain that is part of the structure. The old pumps had the motor on top of a long shaft that was connected to the actual pump, while the new ones have the pump and motor together. The new ones are designed to work even if submersed in water. Below is a picture of two of the new pumps and motors (one still has not been delivered) in the background and an old motor that has been removed. (When I called the orange thing a pump, I was corrected and told it was not the pump, but the motor.)