Cheers Tom
Another mild beer for me.
Yes, the Manchester building is impressive, no doubt about it – good that it survives although a shame that the sound of a steam loco getting into stride under that roof is no more. Mind you – the Midland Railway who constructed it built another train shed the same in London – their St Pancras station – which is still operational and being fitted out for the High Speed Line to Paris. The Midland Railway thought big I guess – why have one station like this when you can have two!
It has a very famous gothic style building at the front (actually a hotel originally) as described in the article link - not to be missed on any London visit.
Recent(ish) pic here
http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10448985&wwwflag=2&imagepos=7
Article here:
http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,797009,00.html
I think the negative of that Blue Pullman must have faded – as you say it's looking rather green!
This location is just across from the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry which incorporates the original Manchester Station from the Liverpool and Manchester Railway – the world’s first passenger Inter City Line of course.
Yeah – those named trains really conjure up the image, no doubt about it. Some still exist – although in reality little more than a footnote in the timetable.
I can see that compared with North America trains here offer a lot, but it is not all rosy – too many dirty trains, short units, overcrowded and cramped interiors, too many JOs being inconsiderate as passengers too. Still, we can be thankful for what we have. Now, Switzerland – that IS the place to ride trains!! Mind you there is something about taking a North American long distance service (Via or Amtrak) that is certainly unmatched in the experience, and gives you that true sense of distance.
I expect you have mulled over the contributor participation before – but seems strange people were on board in the way you describe, but fell by the wayside. I guess you will have spent time musing this since then and no need for me to get you to repeat all that.
DL
Until the next time!
Lars
Hi Tom an all.
To follow DL,s lead on Manchester brews I'll have a HOLT's bitter please RUTH, a good pint that was one of the cheapest to buy last time I had one, there is a Holt,s pub not far from Manchester Victoria station.
JAMES Good pic of #3713 it looks slightly European with the smoke deflectors, I think I would rather see #500 at 90 MPH thand be on it at that speed.
Those videos ARE scary, very lucky no one was hurt. I wonder if the semis insurers in the second film had to pay for all the demage to all the vehicles. IT is a good thing the police officer was there in the 3rd video.
ERIC When I go to Boston again I will have to take a trip out of the North station. we travelled from Providence to Boston South.
DOUG Really enjoyed the Toy Trains Magazine article. It is a good insight into model railway publishing at the time It was good to see a rival publisher wishing the best to a new magazine
On thing that struck me was, although that was the first issue of the magazine, how uncluttered the cover of the magazine was compared with the covers of the railroad magazines of today, on both sides of the Atlantic. I know it is slighly but it seems to getting worse lately, soon it won,t be possible to see a loco at all on the front of the mags for the writing.
Even though it is usually a normal car I bet it is still a great day put on the Chicago South Shore.
DL Good to see you back Seems you had a great time in Manchester, a great city and the Central Station is a really impressive building. and the Tram system in Manchester is very impressive. The last time is was at St Panreas station in London there was a great deal of construction work going on, I only hope the station is still as impressive when the work is finished.
On The Manchester Ship Canal they do trips from Pier Head Liverpool to Salford, Manchester run by Mersey Ferries.
http://www.merseyferries.co.uk/manchester-scc/index.aspx
These are a great trip. I did one a couple of years ago and although the industries and the use of the canal are only a shadow of former times it really is a wonderful experience, I think TOM and LARS would really enjoy it. There is even a swing bridge that carries a canal over the ship canal.
AH Beeston Creosote Works, Unfortunaltly I only knew of it in the back of the much loved Ian Allan Locoshed books in the Service Locomotives section which listed the often smaller locos in use by the various maintance departments. ( the Locoshed Book was published regularly in steam days and listed the locomotive depot each British Railway locomotive was allocated to).
Back to Beeston, it looks an interesting site as it also had a 3 Foot gauge 0-4-0 diesel locomotive with chain drive which was numbered ED10 and was built in 1958 by Ruston & Hornsby it weight was just over 8 Tons but I dont know its Horsepower. Also at the site was a standard gauge 25 Ton 88 HP 0-4-0 diesel loco built by John Fowler of Leedsin1936 it was LMS 2 and was later ED 1. I am hopefully getting my 1950s Railway Magazines arriving here soon so when they get here I will have a look to see if there is any mention of the Beeston Works.
As a footnote Creosote has been banned in England and they now sell a Creosote "substitute" which is no where near as good as the old stuff in my opinion.( shed and fence painting experience).
I will post Alans post soon.
Thanks for the list of Named Trains. I will do the ex LMS trains to Ireland on theme day if that is OK.I was looking into The Manxman and the only link was to a model train so has it is Modal Day I will post a link to it.
http://www.hattons.co.uk/ProductList/bargains2.asp?m=17&p=7&s=1
The loco is one of the unrebuilt Patriot class locos, none were saved for preservation, they were also known as "Baby Scots". On the lower half of the link is a picture of the Northumbrian set those Gresley cars look superb .
TOM Hope you have a great time at the Trainwreak Saloon.
Thanks for the link to the Halifax Disaster, in the midst of all the danger there was the heroism of the Dispatcher Vince Coleman who saved those two trains from the explosion with no regard for his own safety. Such deeds are very humbling indeed.
Great pictures of the Polar Express and the construction of track, as you say the Berkshire looks superb especially if the pic is enlarged.I know I am fortunate to see the Express actually running on the layout and the extra cars really do add to the train.
To show how little I know about model trains, what is the easiest way to stop the Irish Model set I have from marking the table or wooden floor as we are hoping to set it up round the tree this year..
When we were in Boston we visited a pub near the North Station called the Boston Beer Works,it was opposite a Green Line Subway station.
Well I had forgotten how good the Manchester beer is so I,ll have another please Ruth and a round please while I drool over that Northumbrian model set.
Pete.
G-day Tom and all present!
Leon, a quick coffee for me tonight. I've got to stay awake for a good portion of the night. Thanks
Sorry about the quick post. Work is calling, but I will get to the real posts tomorrow.
Just a couple pics of the locos I have.
How about a 2-8-8-2 Northern Pacific Yellowstone. Now this is one big steam engine. This is one of my models I have on display. I love this steamer. It is one good looking engine.
I realize that not everything I own is Milwaukee road. Northern Pacific is my second favorite railroad out there. Anyway, this is the only S6 the Northern Pacific owned. #750 was located in Duluth, Superior for all of it's life. It took a cold bath in Lake Superior once. (the real thing) It decided to roll away on it's own and ended up rolling right off the end of one of the many piers here in Duluth. It was recovered and did serve again for another 10 or so years.
Got to keep the model railroad spirit alive.
Happy railroading
James
Good morning Tom and friends! I’ll have 2 light breakfasts please. It’s been rainy and blowy for the last two days now, and a change in the weather will soon be here. Never did get the last of my outdoor lights up, but there’s a lot out there anyway. So, the theme is “boat trains” for this coming Tuesday. I’ll have to see what I can dig up. Surely enjoyed the CanAm room Polar express pix. I am very close to buying that set here myself, but won’t have a cool place to set it up like you do. Looking forward to seeing the prototype for “Our Place.” Do they have a picture on the wall of the model you built?Thanks for the Wikipedia Halifax explosion link and Machester information. DL, yep .. I type-up the articles you see here with my own two elbows, and use my feet to position the magazines and books in the scanner. It’s a time-consuming process, and the scanner has to be disinfected every time, but it’s worth the effort, I think. Great Manchester links and info by the way. Good to see manager Lars, and thanks for your words. Pete, I know what you mean about all the clutter on the front of Railroad magazines. When I’m in article “hunt mode”, I actually like to know the contents by glancing just at the cover. But you are right. The information clutters an otherwise awesome full-size color picture. Thanks for sharing your Manchester information and experiences yesterday. That’s exactly the kind of theme support Lars talks about. Nice model pix yesterday James, and I’ll bet Eric wishes he had his childhood O gauge back. Who wouldn’t? And now …. Here’s something I hope you find entertaining:
Matchbooks: Socializing in the Lounge Car by Ralph D. Pierce VR#14 1998
The movie theatre darkens. As the curtain rises, the feature film begins to flicker on the silver screen. The camera pans the lounge car of the Limited. May West enters, and moves through the car, slowly but deliberately making the statement she is so capable of making. She selects a sofa, specifically not hidden in the corner of the car. All eyes follow her as she rests on the overstuffed furniture.
A long slender cigarette holder dangles from her hand; she raises it toward her lips. As the Limited speeds through the countryside, the shadows and lights carry across her face. Two arms sheathed in pinstripe material enter the picture. A matchbook is opened and a small flame erupts when the stick is pulled across the striker. As the match torches the cigarette, a gentle puff of smoke emerges, and the lovely Miss West gently raises her eyebrows to acknowledge and reward the gentleman’s efforts. The camera fades and the audience has just participated in one of those stereotypical moments in motion picture history.
Without the lowly matchbook setting the mood, the movie scene would be seriously lacking in its vitality. Here we have learned that even the smallest item, used correctly and wisely, can and will show its necessary.
The matchbook has been with us from before the Civil War. Hundreds of small factories produced this inexpensive item until the industry was ravaged by the affects of the war. Peace brought the usual recovery of most businesses and manufacturing, but as an industry of many producers it did not survive. Many became few and technology prevailed, making the matchbook an inexpensively produced and mass distributed item.
Here enters the railroad, as we have stated before an industry well schooled in the art of using outside products to promote its services. The railroad’s passenger service consisted heavily of traveling businessmen. In the days gone by, a great percentage of them smoked, first mainly cigars, but as the 20th century progressed, the “modern” way was cigarettes. In the lounge car, a vehicle for socializing and conducting business, beverages, games, and camaraderie were the menu of the day. With the extended time spent in these endeavors, smoking was a major element in a lifestyle lasting well into the second half of the century. The railroad industry knew that contact with its commercial shippers enhanced the railroads’ chance at capturing additional business. Trinkets and promotional items were used readily by railroads, and matchbooks played a significant part in this end of business.
The lowly matchbook, often found in piles in kitchen drawers or office desks, was not normally, in the past, purchased by the consumers but was readily available for the taking. There never was a need to look very hard to find a pack; but how times have changed! Why it took civilization so long to discover that inhaling smoke could affect your health is one of the wonders of the world. The matchbook, in many sizes, many colors, many styles, and really almost any way one’s imagination could dream a pack up, was produced for a public that almost took the product for granted.
Like most items, associations are devoted to collecting matchbooks and match covers. Several appear on the Internet. These groups will help you preserve your covers, suggest where to look for supplies for your collection, and help with about any of your needs.
With single matchbooks, their care and presentation needs to be addressed. In the photo, the Milwaukee Road matchbooks are presented flat with the matches removed. True collectors will tell you that this is the only way to handle them. Removing the match sticks will virtually eliminate spoilage by chemical reaction of the match head with the cover. This also allows you to flatten the covers for ease of display and storage. It’s no longer necessary to handle rare covers with greasy fingers to see both sides.
The experts will tell you to carefully remove the staple (no staple pullers please) with a sharp, narrow-bladed knife. Once removed, discard the matches and lay the cover beneath a heavy book to straighten and flatten your gem. With the millions of matchbooks that have been created, the unusual ones will appear often. If you come across a packet with imprinting or artwork on the matches, then by all means keep the book intact. You will also find matchboxes, and these you need to decide case by case whether to flatten or keep as produced.
The railroads distributed countless numbers f matchbooks as individual packs and groups. Pictured is a box of matchbooks packaged to look like a boxcar. Frisco seemed to use these items very successfully, since they are even now relatively easy to come by. On the other hand, I recently came across a Soo Line boxcar of matchbooks which was retailing for more than $50. Union Pacific created a package of matchbooks in the basic shape of a Centennial diesel. As in any specialized hobby, items usually are not too expensive, but there are always gems which demand above-normal prices.
The Hiawatha match covers are colorful and historic. With only two covers you are introduced to steam on the Hiawatha, the early diesel age, and the wonderful beaver tail cars of the train. Here generally is a reasonably priced hobby for yourself or as a start with your children (with the matches removed). Great history of railroading is visible in an easily accessible, manageably, sized collection. Railroads graced the covers with logos, system maps, slogans, equipment, celebrations, events – you name it, and the railroads produced a matchbook about it.
Companies such as Brown & Bigelow and Universal Match Company created a treasure of matchbooks, preserving the history and story of many a railroad. Spend a few dollars and some time looking, and you can have a collection of artistic beauty which could stand in many an art museum.
Check out the kitchen cupboards and shop drawers, and while scouting out the paper shows remember the treasures that may be hiding just out of site.
Here are some matchbooks that you can find on sale on ebay right now!
The NW caboose contains four other smaller boxes
I like the Jersey Central chefs (match head for chef hats) the best!
G’day Gents! A wild ‘n wet Thursday here in mid-continent USA! Time to pour some freshly ground ‘n brewed coffee. Check out our pastries from the Mentor Village Bakery along with a selection from our Menu Board for a <light> or <traditional> breakfast!
Temps have dropped 35 degrees from the high of yesterday! Brrrrrr – raining like the Dickens with ice and snow on the way. “They” say before it’s over, we should expect up to 9 inches by the morning. Snow over ice, now that’s not a good combination. <ugh>
On to the acknowledgments:
DL at 10:39 AM yesterday: I see you stuck ‘round as well! Makes for 2-way conversations, eh Really liked that St. Pancras Station URL – quite a structure. Also, the article was a good read as well! Lotsacash put into that renovation, eh Can you imagine “staffs” of attendants scurrying hither ‘n yon with “chamber pots” I can’t! <grin>
Regardng the clientele (past ‘n present): Yes, I’ve mulled it over many times. However, doesn’t change the outcome. We still have occasions whereby a guy will drop a Post on us – make no mention of the works that appeared since his last – and then take off. Those are “one way” Posts and not at all what this bar encourages or expects from the guys who frequent it. It’s kinda like training puppies – some will, some won’t and others don’t.
Appreciate your patronage!
Lars at 4:49 PM yesterday: Thanx for stopping by, as it appeared we were going to have another one of those near-shut-outs during the day. No more regular business during late mornings or afternoons, so it seems.
Glad you enjoyed the Polar Express Pix. Constructing the shelf system was really a challenge as I had three areas where ‘sky hooks’ would’ve really helped! The system is quite simple, as you can see, and it “works”! No derailments, no problems. There’s also a rope-light system installed between the roadbed and “night sky” backdrop all around the rectangular run. It gives off a blue light which looks great as the train makes it’s way from one imaginary place to the next.
Concur with your comments regarding those Lionel locos of the past. As you know, I had the Pennsy S2 turbine, 6-8-6 and it was a heavy little machine. Been well chronicled on these Pages . . .
Pete at 5:04 PM yesterday: Nice to see ya again, Mate and as you know, we carry all major brands of brew from ‘round the globe – but NO micro-brews. Nope – far too expensive and extensive an inventory for our humble basement storage. Plus arranging for its delivery is a nightmare, in spite of the dependable air ship deliveries from the UK and the Continent. <grin>
Just heard that mid-Missouri is in for a hulluva winter storm, forecasts are worse than for here. So, ensure you have an adequate supply of the important things in life – beer – and batten down the hatches, here she comes! <oooooooooh>
Thanx for the URL on the Mersey Ferries. Appears to be something we’d enjoy experiencing should we realize our thoughts to visit the UK. Also liked the URL to the Hornby trains – great looking models, fer sure, fer sure!
Next time you’re in the Can-Am Trainroom, we’ll have to begin the training program to certify you as an Engineer for the Polar Express! Once you master that, we’ll move on to the S-Capades. Last will be the HO layout. Don’t worry, the beer fridge will remain stocked throughout!
Good thinking regarding the trains ‘round the tree. I suggest fashioning some roadbed for your track system. That will greatly reduce any adverse impact on your carpeting, for toy and model trains have been known to cause “grief” on carpets. Nothing fancy mind you. You can use Styrofoam to press the track into – put on a coat of grey paint before you do this, and the stuff really takes on the appearance of roadbed. Not something that costs a lot and easy to do. Check your local crafts stores (Michaels comes to mind) for sheets of it, and if that doesn’t work, your “big box” hardware chains will have insulated foam board – get the 1 inch or less. It will work just fine, but costs a tad more. Stay away from hobby shops – costs are exorbitant and they probably won’t have either!
Eric at 11:50 PM yesterday: Must be your lucky day, for I cannot find my TWEETER! Boris, where did you put it What’s that Whaddyamean Awk flew away with it!!
Hi Tom and everyone, a round for the house.
Holy smokes!
"Strike another match and start anew, and it's all over now Baby Blue"
http://www.old-dalby.com/images/Midland_Pullman_Wirksworth_line.jpg
Thurso, way up north
http://www.nigelburkin.co.uk/Railway_modelling/OMWB/OMWB2006/CRW_3585_JFR.jpg
Penzance, far from Thurso
http://www.cwinpenny.plus.com/royal_duchy/royal_duchy.htm
B&M encore
http://railroad.union.rpi.edu/images/troy/Troy-6th-by-Union-Ballard.jpg
Northern Pacific locomotive 4502 is James' steam engine, I think
http://muse.museum.montana.edu/rvndb/rvnjpeg_img_rec.php?objno=RVN10709
http://muse.museum.montana.edu/rvndb/rvnjpeg_img_rec.php?objno=RVN10706
Hurry up and light the Christmas tree
http://images.nypl.org/?id=723021F&t=w
Mike
Good Morning Barkeep and all Present; coffee, please, round for the house and $ for the jukebox.
Cloudy and warm in the coalfields today, but it is supposed to turn colder later this week. The entrail readers (weather folks) say we might get some snow, but they are not “sure.” Well, nothing’s sure in this world. Gas is $2.26/gal.
I have been reading through a monstrous load of posts and will confine comments, etc. to the more recent ones. These comments are in nor rank order; just as I jotted down some notes/
Barndad provides some fascinating material on matchbook covers. I have a few from the New Haven, C&O, B&O, and I do have a WM one with diesels (red white and black). The C&IM cover was an interesting one, as you usually don’t think of them being a freight hauler (other than coal).
The CSSB car shots brought back a lot of memories.
The picture of B&M 3713 is nice but it would be nicer in color. The lettering on the tender was silver with a red border. They were pretty.
Lars – We won’t even discuss the Giants. I think you know where I’m coming from with that.
Tom provided Canadian RR materials and some fine train room pictures (with new toys, yet!) Also like the Christmas train.
Rob – Thanks for Halifax tram material.
Eric provided some interesting comments
James – Thanks for sharing modeling pictures. Funny how a lot of the MILW followers I know also have an interest in NP. BTW, when I was at the WNY Train Show in Buffalo before Thanksgiving, one of the dealers had an American Flyer North Coast Limited set for sale. A pair of PAs and, IIRC 5-6 cars; all in two-tone green, I didn’t ask the price but I’m sure it was right up there.
Mike has provided a ton of links.
The B&M RDC in Troy was a keeper, not just for the trains but also for the vintage autos and some fine buildings. The RDC was the last remnant of B&M service to Troy.
Many of the B&M 4100s went to the B&O where they soldiered on for quite awhile.
The shot of B&M 41176 at North Station gives a good idea of what the place looked like back in the day. The old Manger Hotel is above the train and the station building itself is to the left. The old Boston Gahdin sat atop the station.
The shots at Melrose caused severe palpitations and flashbacks, if only because I had sort of forgotten how “rural” many of the Boston suburbs were back in the 50s; before they paved everything and put a Starbucks on every corner.
The Boston Engine Terminal shot in 1958 with the RDCs in the snow is as I remember it. The big structure in the background was the coal dock. It stayed around for a long time after steam was gone.
RDC 6108 is in the “as delivered” scheme with the Minute Man herald. The heralds were later changed to the more familiar linked B&M initials.
B&M 1566 gives the viewer a good idea of the geeps with all their “extras.” This is a passenger geep; the steam generator is visible atop the short hood. The box at the end of the long hood contains electrical gear for train lighting. The geeps ran all over the B&M is passenger and freight service; so they were truly dual purpose engines.
Barndad sent some BV&M material along as well.
The milk train with the RS# brought back some memories. Bellows Falls Creamery was, indeed, a busy place. B4 I forget, the Rutland carried lots of milk traffic as well back in the day; much of which went down to New York.
The shot of the B&M RS2 in 1952 had an inaccurate caption. The large building to the right is not the Prudential Center; it is the old John Hancock building which is still with us. The Pru Center did not appear until the early 1960s when they ripped up and paved most of the Boston and Albany facilities in Boston.
The Willows is still an active spot for trains. The shot of B&M 4207 has an inaccurate caption as its western terminal was Mechanicville, NY. The B&M and the D&H interchanged there. I had several friends who worked the towers in and around there. People commonly mistake the town name.
The shot at North Adams was made about 6 yrs before the wires came down.
The picture at South Ashburnham gives a good idea of the terrain west of Boston on the Fitchburg Division. I had a family ancestor who worked on the Fitchburg years ago – it’s a !@#$ in the winter.
Last but not least, Pete’s pix gave a pretty good idea of how things have changed around North Station. The Zagin Bridge ( part of the Big Dig) is in the foreground. The drawbridge with the big counterweights is the throat of North Station.
Anyway, it’s good to be back.
Work safe
Hello Tom
I’ll have a Robinson’s Bitter please.
Eric – you have missed some good railway terminals in London – although sadly the ones that are not listed for their architectural properties have often been messed up – with concrete rafts set above them for office or shopping developments which have destroyed their cathedral like qualities. Kings Cross, St Pancras, Paddington and Waterloo are all very impressive however, and Marylebone is rather nice (for trivia it features in the Beatles Film A Hard Days Night when they have to escape crowds of fans chasing them along the platform). – maybe this is film suggestion for the picture house some day Tom?
Pete – that Manchester ship canal tour sounds rather interesting.
The Manchester streetcar system is rather good – although I must say it compares unfavourably with the newer Nottingham one in a number of respects – the cars themselves are less stylishly designed, and in terms of stop information there is little to help you (eg at the stop I waited at there was no time count down to inform you how long to wait before the next car, nor no printed timetable on display) The ticket vending machines are confusing, and the cars do not have conductors on board – which is a nice touch here and helps re-assure travellers about personal safety etc as well as provide a ticket sales service). However, you have to credit Manchester with the work down to kick off a new streetcar revival when the system was opened some years back.
Beeston Creosote work – well you at least confirmed to me that it did indeed exist. Of course I then searched the web a bit more and found some info which I have pasted below. I have still not worked out exactly where the works site was. By the way – you are spot on about creosote – it does the job – I picked up some stocks of it before the ban came into force!!
This is an extract from an article I found – I reckon this was transcribed from a 1950s article:
“At Beeston, the L.M.S. had a Creosote Works and a narrow-gauge system for handling sleepers and chairs. The metre-gauge lines ran along the same track-bed as standard-gauge metals in places, both gauges using a common rail. A steam locomotive was used for narrow-gauge shunting.”
From this site – a good article if you are interested in the area, even if the website itself is not so well designed:
http://nottinghamrail.com/RCTStxt.htm
Also – looks like a bit of that loco you mentioned still exists!!! This is form an auction catalogue I found:
“Lot 223 Brass Locomotive worksplate "WG Bagnall Ltd Stafford England Engineers No. 1889" as carried by 0-4-0ST outside cylinder 3' gauge loco ex works May 1911 and delivered new to Judkins Ltd., Tuttle Hill Granite Quarries, Nuneaton as their No. 1. In mid-1956 it was transferred to M.E. Engineering, Cricklewood and then to Beeston Creosote Works as BR ED10. In October 1962 sold to R. Hilton for preservation, now in store in Cambridgeshire. Oval 6½" x 4¼", cleaned. £220”
Then I found this magazine cover – looks like they featured the site in this issue – I’ll have to look out for a back number – it probably had some photos:
“RAILWAY BYLINES Vol.10 Issue 9: August 2005”
Mike - nice UK pic links there - esp Penzance - that will interest Tom if he can make it there - to the LHS is the sea, and over the headland in the rear - well - it is next stop USA more or less! Thurso is as far north as British Steel rails will take you - from there it is boats to the Orkney Islands etc - the train journey up there is through some real wilderness country (nothing new for North Americans but it is rare here)
Vintage railway film screening this evening – will report back in due course, there will be some treats in store that is for sure, have to get there and back by train too (30 mins away, as you can imagine that is a real chore...)
I’m pretty hungry – what is on the menu today? – Now Nick's back I’m sure some feast will be on offer!
Best wishes to all - just read the recent posts and enjoyed them (good to see you 'miner).
PS – Pete some good pics of LMS ferries on the Science and Society Picture archive – I’ve been looking for some SR stuff for next Tuesday – can’t let our rebel friends down 2 weeks in a row!!
G'day Cap'n Tom and fellow travelers at the bar!
Ruth, rather emtpy place today and it is beginning to look like we're going to have to provide you with something to keep you awake! I can think of a few things, but then again . . . Ah, how about a JD on the rocks - make it a double.
Doesn't appear to be much going on aside from Doug's morning gala, a visit from CM3 followed by Tom's acknowledgments 'n a word or three from across the pond from DL and nothing since. Then again, that's NOT a bad start to the morning! Good show! It's the "thereafter" that presents a problem.
A cloudy day here on the "island" with some thunder boomers moving in for tomorrow. I see where St. Louis is getting hit with an ice storm right about now and that you're in for some heavy snow thereafter. Winter has arrived for you, which I suppose makes you and Juneau happy campers, huh
Been doing a bit of reading on high speed rail in New York state and there's some interesting proposals. Quebec province and NY state have discussed the feasibility of a high speed rail corridor between Montreal and New York City (2005). Although not much has been done with the idea, at least talks have taken place. This wouldn't be something that would operate on existing right of way, as I understand it, but rather on dedicated trackage. A good planning scheme.
Also, getting high speed rail to connect Toronto and Buffalo has also been discussed between the politicos in Ontario and New York as well. Again, a good start.
We're putting up the Christmas decorations, inside and out, and as the song goes, "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" Anyway, without the white stuff and temperatures in the 60's, well it hardly resembles the Christmas' I used to know! <grin> Global warming is real.
Couldn't agree with you more, CM3 I'm NOT Shane!, let's not go there insofar as the Jints are concerned. Good to see ya back and hope you resume your morning slot - you've been missed.
Really like the idea of visiting the Trainwreck Saloon that you have been mentioning. How many sites do you figure are fashioned after a real-live tavern and have a model to prove it We've got to be the ONLY one on Kalmbach for certain, and I'd guess not too many (if any) in the ether. Neat!
I really like the taverns from the past, the kinds of places where one could drop in for a few beers, have a sandwich, shoot the breeze, smoke 'em if you got 'em, and just enjoy a couple of hours with the boys. Yeah, I like that. Is the Trainwreck a local hangout do you think Do you have any pix of the place Do they rent rooms
Good to see Pete 'n Eric holding the fort in the late afternoon and evening hours. The dialogue is meaningful and definitely in keeping with the way the Proprietor had hoped things would flow. Only those who have frequented taverns truly understand what it's like to be amongst men in a man's enviornment! (Sorry, gals!)
I'm being beckoned (as in bellowed!) so it's time for me to drag my lethargic butt outside, head for home, climb up the ladder, and get those lights strung before it turns to darkness. <grin>
A round on me, Ruth and Boris - ring the bell!
P.S. Don't know what happened - but my version of the Fourms no longer has the option to color in certain things (blue, red, etc.) Totally different tool bar is showing. What in the world is going on
Hi Tom and all.
Has the forum posting changed again it seems different today.
Anyway RUTH I better have a Bathams XXX to combat the cold here.
Great evening last night and this morning at the bar. Great model JAMES of the Yellowstone and #750. Interesting story on #750 falling in the lake and the loco staying local to Deluth must have made it a favorite around there.
ERIC It seems as though it is as cold there as we have been although it is supposed to get a lot colder with a load of snow round here in the next couple of days BRRRRR. As DL says Marylebone station is worth a visit if in London. It was the last of the London terminal stations to be built, it opened in 1899 one of the last parts left of the Great Central London extension a grand station that today is as busy as it as ever been serving Chiltern Trains franchise although there was talk a few years ago of closing the station.
The smell of creosote always takes me back to my youth when it seems nearly every garden fence was treated with it.
DOUG Great idea on the Matchbooks. They were a good advertising tool for the railroads and with the attractive designs no wonder they are so collectable. The humble matchbook is staging a recovery today with the airlines banning lighters.
I bet you can type faster than me. I'm glad you liked the Manchester details I am doing the Nottingham trip by Alan later.
MIKE Thanks for the links. Those are fantastic pics of the Hall & Castle at Penzance, it is amazing how the Great Western locos always look better on their home territory.
It is long way from Thurso to Penzance for us Brits but nothing to the distances over here. I have read that if Britain was squashed up it would fit in an area the size of Pennsylvania. Good pic of the prototype of JAMES's model loco in service.
CM3 Great to have you back. Thanks for the Boston area info.Reading the post reminded me that how much milk and for that matter livestock traffic there was on the railways at one time. In Britain there was often a 6 Wheel milk tank car in fast passenger consists in old photos, and a cosiderable amount of cattle trains on certain lines. I bet the guard(conductor) in the caboose was not sad to see them go.
DL As you say the Manchester Tram system could be improved especially with a ticket inspector travelling on the tram instead of the spot checks, I have never been able to understand that. Still if the Manchester tram had not been the success it is it would have been so much harder, if not impossible for the other cities systems to get financial approval.
The Beeston mystery is deepening I have checked the Ian Allan and it is showing ED10 as a diesel, perhaps the steam loco mentioned in your post took over from the diesel or was used when the diesel needed repair, it will be very interesting to find out. I will see if Alan as that By-Line mag, when I post that great link to the industral lines around Nottingham to him.It is interesting to see how the collierys had links to the rival main lines in the area and the Stanton Works having 30 steam locos on its books.
As promised Alan's Nottingham trip
Please thank your mate from Nottingham,everything worked fine.
Last brew is the 22nd of Dec apparently., We got a kangaroo ticket which gives bus and tram in the city for £2.90 but you have to excess it on the bus as Kimberley is just outside.only a few more pennies. Found rainbow 1 easy enough( bus service)-every 10 minutes up to 6.30pm and got put off in Kimberley ok
I spotted the old Midland station now sadly derelict and the brewery is picture postcard, tower with flag on and trees all round it.Apparently there where originally two breweries but only Handy's survives entire and only a part of Hansons.They are each side of a small valley with the tiny Midland station in the bottom.
Found the Nelson and Railway pub which is superb with good beer and sensible pub food and tidy inside.Eventually moved on and took the old original road back to the village centre and as if by magic we came across the old Great Northern Rly station which looks as if it has only just been renovated- in fact it is for sale.There is even a set of crossing gates but I suspect they may have been put back as part of the project.
Next we came to the Cricketers and went in, bit more of a basic boozer but friendly and the beer excellent.Chap here told us all about the brewery and how they were all angry at closure although job loss is not massive ,about 40 he thought. He also told us the Midland station had been a social club but someone pinched all the slates off the roof one night a few years ago and it has just been left.
Tried the Gate pub [shut] and then the Lord Clyde pub which was young,busy, noisy and good beer.And that was time to leave Kimberley. PARADISE DISCOVERED TOO LATE!!! Then head back to the Victoria Centre (site of the old Nottingham Victoria station) for a quick look and found your mates pub 'The White Hart' at the back of the station-ok, but beer was a bit rough.I HAD FOUND THE NAME FROM THR BREWERY WEB SITE WHICH IS VERY GOOD.Then on to the Bell who said they had already had their LAST barrel of best bitter. We had to have 'trip'. And that was it- didnt have time for the old Shipstones brewery -just tram and home A great day out. Alan
TOM OH DEAR we wont be able to go to Manchester now on your trip to England after calling Holts
G-day Captain Tom and all present.
Well something is going on with the toolbar here. I can't get all the similies!
Anyway. leon could you get me a coffee along with the fish n'chips. Thanks.
Well I see there was a lot of activity while I was out. Some really good articles out there.
Eric- Glad you saw the speeder. I have had the honors to ride those things. They are a little bumpy on jointed rail and not to mention loud. There cool what ever the case. Also glad that you saw the video links. It gets a person to think. A 40 ton truck V.S. 18000 ton train.....hmm, thats a hard one. And the answer to your yellowstone question...I'm not sure. I don't know if anyone has taken the time to restore one and keep it in doors. That might take a little bit of searching and researching to find that answer.
Barndad- glad you liked the pixs. I like them myself The history on the toy train was fascinating. I didn't know they had issues coming out in the late 30s. Now that tells you how much people did like the hobby. Also your Match book history was also interesting. We have an exhibit at the LSRM here in Duluth that is dedicated to railroad china and in all of the cases there is a match book. I never knew how renouned they were. Very interesting, thanks.
Tom- Thanks for the info on the RDC. I didn't know that some were built just for that purpose. An RDC-5 I will have to remember. thanks.
You're right. The truck drivers were really stupid. When the narrator in the second clip said, "The crossing signal lights are really bright, but the driver of this truck is not." You know that something is going to go really wrong.. and it did.
Nice Polar express train. It's a really cool idea to have it go around the ceiling on the shelves. Our local Blackwoods has the same thing. They have a train going all around the inside of the restaurant. It's nice to sit there and the signals above you are lit for green and then the train gos by about a minute later. Then the signals go read. It's cool.
Can't wait for the Tuesday Boat trains. Should be a good day.
DL- We are starting to see some concrete ties on some of the coal railroads. Our coal trains are making over 18000 tons and the weight is almost to much for the coal trains. A few running here and there aren't bad but when the train is sitting still for long periods of time on wooden ties, it seems to wear them out faster. So now they have been upgrading to concrete. Not really fast but there getting there.
The article on Manchester station was most appreciated. that is one really big station. The only station I know that could compete against that would be Union station in Chicago, Illinios. I know there is another in New York but I can't remember what it's called. But thanks for the URL. It was great!
Pete- I will have to look up #500. I would have to see what it's like but, I have no doubt that it is a cool engine.
Mike- Once again, you bring in some really nice pics. The Z-4 locomotive is an older steam locomotive. That one, as said on the site, was built in 1923. That was about 14 to 16 years before the Z-5. The Z-5 steam engine, like the one I have, is what you should look for. The Z-4 is really nice but look at the Z-5. They were some of the most powerful steam engines built. The Mallet and Union Pacific Big boy were the other. BTW: your christmas tree is much bigger than mine. I think it stands 7 or so feet. I'm taking a guess that yours is about a 1000 feet higher than mine.
CM3- It's good to hear from you. I hear you ran into and American Flyer set!! I'm going to take a wing at it but I think those sets go for something like $1000+. I'm not completely sure. But like you said, it is high. Glad you came on.
Happy railroading!
G-day captain Tom and all present!
Pete- I must have missed you there. I'm glad you liked the little story. I'm sure you could look it up on the internet if you're interested in the whole story. thanks for the comments.
I found an article on the Union station in chicago.
Union Station is a Chicago train station that opened in 1925, replacing an earlier 1881 station, and is now the only intercity rail terminal in Chicago. Union Station was built on the west side of the Chicago river and stands between Adams street and Jackson street. It is, including approach and storage tracks, about nine and a half city blocks in size, and almost entirely beneath streets and skyscrapers. The Chicago nion Saion Comany, now a subsidiary of Amrak, owns the station.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Unionstation2.jpg
Pic of the outside of the station.
On April 7, 1874 the Pennsylvania company (the owner of the Pennsylvania railroad's "Lines West" territory), Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, Michigan Central Railroad, Chicago and Alton Railroad and Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway signed an agreement to build a union station on land owned by the Pennsylvania Company's Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway between Van Buren Street and Madison Street on the west side of the Chicago River.
The Michigan Central, which used the Illinois Central Railroad's Illinois Central Depot, would have switched to the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago Railway at Tolleston, Indiana. However, it quickly decided to keep using the Illinois Central Depot. The Chicago and North Western Railway also considered switching to the new station from its Wells Street Station, but instead built the Chicago and North Western Passenger Terminal in 1911. The other four companies went on to use the station when it opened in 1881.
The second Union Station was built by the Chicago Union Station Company, owned by all the companies that used the first station but the Chicago and Alton (which used the new one anyway). The architect was Daniel Burnham of Chicago, who died before its completion. The firm of Graham, Anderson, Probst and White completed the work to Burnham's designs. Work began in 1913 and the station opened on May 16, 1925, though some construction on viaducts carrying streets over the approach tracks went on into 1927. Construction was delayed by World War I, labor shortages and strikes. It is one of about a dozen monumental Beaux-Arts railroad stations that were among the most complicated architectural programs of the era called the "American Renaissance", combining traditional architecture with engineering technology, circulation patterning and urban planning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Union22.jpg
Pic inside the station
Upon its completion, Union Station was hailed as an outstanding achievement in railroad facility planning. Today, the monumental neoclassical station is the last remaining railroad terminal still used by intercity trains in Chicago. The station's ornate Beaux-Arts main waiting room, the "Great Hall", is one of the United States' great interior public spaces with its vaulted skylight, statuary, and connecting lobbies, staircases, and balconies. The Great Hall is over 34 meters high. Enormous wooden benches are arranged in the room for travellers to wait for connections.
During World War II, Union Station was at its busiest, handling as many as 300 trains and 100,000 passengers daily. In 1969, the concourse at Union Station was demolished so that two office buildings and a new, modernized concourse could be constructed. In 1992, Union Station was renovated by Lucien Lagrange Associates. Union Station currently serves all Amtrak intercity trains to Chicago, as well as Metra commuter rail lines - the North Central Service, Milwaukee District/North Line, Milwaukee District/West Line, BNSF Railway Line, Heritage Corridor and SouthWest Service. Union Station is as busy as ever: as of 2006, approximately 126,000 people use the station on a daily basis, including 6,000 Amtrak passengers.[1]
Unlike other major American intercity/commuter rail hubs, such as Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station in New York, and Union Station in Los Angeles, Union Station does not have any direct connection to local rapid transit service: the Chicago Transit Authority's El system does not stop at Union Station. However, Chicago's highly centralized urban form means that most commuters can walk to their final destinations.
Info from Wikipedia.
Happy Railroading! Enjoy!
Morning Tom Light Breakfast please.
Just to feedback, first of all to Eric – my guess was that the Nene Valley Railway would have the Swedish locos as they specialise in stuff from overseas – and indeed that proves to be the case when I checked their site.
http://www.nvr.org.uk/
Look under ‘stock lists’ and you will see a Swedish B 4-6-0 101 and a Swedish S Class 2-6-2 1178 (under overhaul). They have a quite a bit of Danish, German and Polish stock including carriages as you will see.
http://www.nvr.org.uk/stock/
Hope this helps. Peterborough is about 1 hour north of London towards the east of Central England. This is one of the places in the UK where they do working RPO / TPO mail demonstrations as they have the gear set up beside the line side.
Pete – Beeston works – I bet the auction catalogue that listed that number plate was simply wrong. Would be interesting to read that magazine article and learn more about this site. If you track down a copy all well and good. A long shot I know.
Interesting to read about Alan’s Kimberley mission. Your analysis on the breweries is correct – a real tragic situation is being played out and the powers that be just seem happy to put this down to ‘market forces’ whilst an important aspect of local heritage is destroyed. The job loses are not great because you don’t need an army to run a brewery, but the issues are wider ones of course – as you indicate.
Sorry The White Heart was a duff recommendation, not been in there for some time. It must have existed when Victoria was still a station. (for others of you following this contribution who want to get a handle on this – pictures of the old station are here – now all demolished and replaced with a shopping mall of no great architectural distinction).
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/n/nottingham_victoria/index.shtml
Hopefully the opportunity for Alan to examine the site of the Victoria Station made up for the poor quality beer!
I presume Mac Hawkins’ book ‘The Great central Then and Now’ needs no introduction as far as you are concerned?
Very sad to hear about the Midland Railway Station at Kimberley – on my last visit it was fully roofed, it was the Brewery Social Club so presume owned by the Brewery – now they have new owners I suspect no prospect of a repair the theft damage and the old station will just end up being demolished, unless the town council or whatever take it on – which is unlikely I would guess.
James – interesting info re -concrete ties – I expect those v heavy coal trains are capable of exerting the same high forces that fast passenger trains exert – if not more.
Regards
G’day Gents!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas! (so the song goes) It’s Friday, it’s December 1st and we’ve got our first snow of the season! Sad to report that it’s more ice than snow, probably wound up with about 6 inches total with an underlay of perhaps 3 inches of ice.
Time to pour some freshly ground ‘n brewed coffee. Check out our pastries from the Mentor Village Bakery along with a selection from our Menu Board for a <light> or <traditional> breakfast!
Petrol up at “Collusion Corner” seems to have leveled off at $2.10 (rounded) per gallon, but . . . . Skies are supposed to clear with some arctic cold hanging ‘round mid-continent USA through next week. Juneau loves it!
Yes, something has changed on the Forums insofar as formats and the like are concerned. Happened with no notice that I could find. Don’t know why, nor do I fully understand this new set up. Time will tell what impact all of this will have on ENCORE presentations and those submissions prepared under the “old” format. Oh well, my favorite word (again): CHANGE!
CM3 at 9:03 AM yesterday: Good to see you back in your morning slot! Things have been quite lonely without our West Virginia connection’s sage input, wit, witticisms, quarters for our Coal Scuttle and rounds for the house! <grin>
The Polar Express shelf system isn’t “new” – check the dates on the Pix. Just ran a spate of ‘em for Toy ‘n Model Trains Day!
Really some fine B&M material, covered many bases and found it all to my liking and interest!
I’m going to have to scroll back to that Melrose reference – must’ve missed it. As I’ve mentioned way back, I used to live there . . .
DL at 9:30 AM yesterday: Good to see ya and enjoyed your most interesting panoply of rail related info! Lots of material to digest and as always, most informative.
The majority of films that I select for the Mentor Village Emporium Theatre may actually be found in our home VHS/DVD library – most, not all. At first, I tried to focus just on rail-related flicks, but soon the well ran dry. Then on to sports, war, humor, etc. I draw the line when it comes to movies featuring “stars” such as Elvis, the Beatles, etc. Ain’t gonna happen. But, I do appreciate and welcome suggestions – just reserve the right to say “no thanx!” <grin>
Hope your meeting goes well, but more importantly, the rail roundtrip should be the highlight! <smile>
Lars at 3:31 PM yesterday: Thanx for holding down the PM time slot, things are really getting ridiculous between mid-morning and late-afternoon. Anyway, glad you took a break from the rigors of Christmas decorating to visit with us!
We have a mid-west compact of states that have aligned to look into high speed rail. Missouri has yet to officially join the group! Now that sez a lot, eh I know that Illinois was going great guns with their dedicated route from Chicago to St. Louis, but it has stalled, with no projected completion date known to me. I haven’t really explored the latest happenings since I dropped out of the focus group I belonged to some years ago. Not that I lost interest, but just got tired of the frustration – plus my head was beginning to hurt from having it banged against the wall so many times. Self-inflicted, of course! <groan>
The idea of the mid-west alignment was to connect the major metro areas with high speed rail, radiating out of Chicago. All sounds fine to me, makes sense and costs lots of bucks. The initiative all began pre-“911” and of course, we now have other priorities for the finite amount of taxpayer bucks available. At the time I was involved, there just wasn’t any serious effort undertaken by the Missouri legislature to move on a route between St. Louis and Kansas City. So, essentially, St. Louis would’ve been the last stop out of Chicago to the south. In a way it probably does make sense, as there just doesn’t seem to be a market for that type of travel for business purposes between the two largest cities in the “Show Me” state. We saw this loud ‘n clear when business class service was introduced on our state funded Amtrak trains between St. Louis and KCity.
Don’t know when the U.S. will “see the light” and get off the dime with all of this. Europe and Asia are leagues ahead (not that it is a race) with the use of rail, and you’d think we’d at least link the large metro areas (once again) with rapid, re
Good Morning Barkeep and All Present; Coffee, please; round for the house and $ for the jukebox. Gas prices went up 6 cents this a.m. Somebody probably sneezed somewhere. We are still on the warm side of the front 65 degrees here this a.m., but it’s gonna rock and roll later on today, according to the Oracle. NOTE: Thiis is an edited version of my original post as the forum magically deleted all paragraphs and changed the font size, all without my having to touch the keyboard. Methinks the Second Class boys may be up to something.
I have been hearing rumors about the Mentor Pro Musica’s upcoming Christmas concert. I am given to understand that their rehearsals and cast parties are really something. Your roving reporter will have to check this out.
DL provided some interesting comments and observations.
Lars – Boy, do we have a big game this weekend. I see where Brother Shockey is trying to stir things up. That’s all we’ll discuss, but you know where I’ll be on Sunday if our cable system decides to run something other than the Steelers.
I appreciated your comments re high speed corridors in New York.
For those not familiar with it, this idea appears about every five years; the only thing that changes is the locales. Montreal-New York might be possible, but it would take a lot of work. Anyway, pretty soon it will be impossible to get to and from Canada so the entire issue may become academic. I’ll stop here b4 Boris escorts me from the premises.
The Buffalo-Toronto idea is another one that appears every so often. What I would like to see is to put back the track that used to be on the NYC and operate faster service between New York and Buffalo with connections to other points. IIRC, the State of NY spent a bunch of $ to refurbish turbo trains which suddenly vanished after the money was spent. I know, CSX will say we can’t do it. Cripes, parts of the old Central are nothing more than parking spots for outlawed trains. Boris, put the baton down.
Pete – Thanks for all of the information and the travelogue from Nottingham.
James – Maybe we can have the Mentor Theatuh run the “Untouchables” again. The movie, not the TV show. Many of you, I am sure, remember the scenes inside CUS.
Last – coal trains are tough on track that is not maintained in first-rate condition. Former C&O main line through here has very heavy rail which contains an alloy to help retard wear and tear. The problem, dear Brutus, is in the ties and the ballast; especially if there is water involved.
BTW, branch line that runs by the house has 131 pound welded rail. IOW, they come to play.
As always, thanks to our ‘steamed proprietor for overseeing this operation. Before I forget, could you please drop me an e-mail offline? Got a question for you.
One last thing, the table with the different types of RDCS was a good one. The B&M called their cabless units, RDC9s.
G’day Again Gents!
Back again as threatened.
I do prepare these epistles in advance, so at times as you read thru my ramblings, the points of reference in time may actually have long passed by. For example, this morning’s scroll was begun last night, in order to get a leg up on it. Otherwise I’d be stitting at the keyboard for hours in the AM, which I really want to avoid. Okay – got it <grin>
The tool bar that is now appearing on the Forums is different. But take heart, Mates – just put your cursor (blinking thing) over each of the icons and check ‘em out. The features are still there, just takes a bit of adjustment to get where you used to be. Kalmabach is testing us, preparation for more CHANGES to come! <argggggggggh>
Now where was I Ah yes, acknowledgments:
DL at 5:58 AM today: Nice thing about being the barkeep is you get to eavesdrop on all of the conversations, thereby taking in some interesting ‘n educational stuff along the way. <grin>
I checked out those URLs provided for others and am finding that only the scale of demolishment of the rail system in the UK compared to what happened here is the issue. You’re a long way from losing it all – but the wholesale destruction of some grand structures, loss of right-of-way, demise of services (TPOs), and so forth is most disheartening to say the least. Much empathy from Moi! <groan>
So, how did your meeting go and more importantly the rail trip C’mon, Mate – can’t keep us in suspense ‘til Monday! <grin>
CM3 at 8:49 AM today: Yes, sneezing is definitely hazardous to the stability of petrol prices in the U.S. We heard it west of the Mississippi as well. <geesh>
Snow in West Virginia has always been one of those things that conjures up memories of many a road trip through the state en route Cincinnati or New York City back in the early 1960s. No interstates then – from New York City I’d take the NJ Turnpike to the PA Turnpike – exit at New Stanton, PA for highway 40 through WVA (Wheeling was the feature attraction) – pick up highway 22 for the trek to Cincy. Took about 13 ½ hours for the drive if I recall correctly. Far cry from today I’d guess. Anyway, when it snowed, it was beautiful to see, but oh so treacherous to navigate. Fun in the snow, yeah . . . .
We could really get into quite a discussion regarding high speed rail, the corridors, equipment and funding. And you know what It would all be good stuff, but alas – Congress should be doing this and more correctly, should’ve done it long ago. Where in &#%$ is the National Rail Transportation Plan included within a larger Transportation Plan taking us all far into this century No where – that’s where it is. All of the two-faced JOs calling themselves “leaders” can KMA in Macy’s window (34th street, preferred) when it comes to my opinion of the way they do business. Leaders, HA! None of ‘em could lead a starving rat to a mountain of cheese. Quote me anytime you wish!
Email sent as requested.
Never thought of it, BUT you may have come across something as the bunch from The Second Class Saloon have been stopping by lately, to take on the Track Gangs in our weekly pool-fests on Friday nite. Boris ‘n Leon have been doing double duty trying to keep the back room from being reduced to kindling. <groan> But, the beer is selling and so is the food. <KaChing – KaChing>
Didn’t know the “word” had leaked regarding the Christmas Concert over at the Emporium. The press release must’ve been released! <grin> Anyway, look for it on Sunday, December 10th. Should be quite the event. This is a black tie affair with reserved seating all under the auspices of TixRusuns – a subsidiary of the Mentor Village Second National Bank; Vito the Hit, CEO, President, Guy-what’s-in-charge, LSMFT, et cetera! We look forward to your coverage.
Thanx for the inclusion of the RDC9s from B&M days. Not many people know of ‘em, but those great Budd cars provided opportunity for innovativeness still being undertaken to this day by the owners.
Pint of Holts please. I'll have something from the evening menu too,
Yes, agree with you on the scale of the demolitions etc.
Interesting to read the comments about High Speed in USA from sevral regulars - I've often wondered about his as an outsider. My take from European experience is that our population density pushed our railroads along the route to passenger service at the expense of freight back in the 60s - so too much freight hogs the highways which is a major problem in the UK.
If you want true high speed you can't mix that with freight - got to be people only, this is what the French obviously understood in the 70s and planned for it. Freight has to stay on the trad ROW. UK went for compromise which was to try to get modest high speed - 125mph - on the existing right of way, but it does squeeze out freight or relegates it to night time (when engineers want maintenance possession). US roads make their money from freight so they are never going to want high speed passenger on their ROW - and they have no incentive to build dedicated high speed ROW and will oppose it on their metals I guess. This means someone else has to build the dedicated ROW - in advanced western economies that is not going to be the private sector as the reward will not justify the risk - there are better investments elsewhere - so the state has to pay the construction cost (like the Interstate programme I guess), then it can be handed over to private operators to run it - maybe even the freight orientated roads would / could do a good job if the dedicated ROW for high speed was provided for them. The state does not have the profit motive to incentivise them so it is a recipe for people talking about things and no action. For action it would need the incentive - for politicians that has to be votes (not profit), whether there are votes in high speed rail I don't know. We shall see in UK if the opening of the 1st high speed line to Paris creates a groundswell of opinion for more lines to the rest of England, Scotland and Wales. I hope it does of course.
Anyway - we've put that issue to rights (based on pretty limited knowledge of the actual circumstances in your country I admit, but that has never stopped a guy from solving the worlds problems when propping up a bar....<grin>).
So historic railway movie screenings - (by the way Tom, take your policy on films with crooners in them at the picture house - makes some sense!).
Well I took the train across to Newark (the real one) which is a 30 minute journey by diesel railcar. Just a two car train deals with the passenger flow here even at commuter time so this is a line in receipt of subsidy no doubt. Time for a pint and some food in a local pub.
The movies on show would have gone down well with regulars here.
First of all what seemed to me a pretty rare film of Buster Keeting's last film The Rail Rodder made in 1965 - in the style of the great silents it shows him crossing Canada on a petrol driven inspection cart. IMDB.com says:
"After reading an newspaper advertisement in the London Times about touring Canada, an elderly Englishman decides to do just that. Following his long walk across the Atlantic Ocean, Keaton travels along the Canadian National Railway tracks in a motorized cart, performing a few stunts reminiscent of those in his younger days."
This was all filmed on CN metals so you get some good background shots of CN locos and passenger cars appropriate to the mid 1960s in the background - sorry could not recognise them - maybe one ALCO and some long hooded stuff on freights. Never been a fan of slapstick but I enjoyed this.
The we were treated to some rare amateur film of high quality including a section on the Wisbeech and Upwell Tramway - a sort of rural light rail system which closed in 1966 - some good info here. Rob will be interested. Run by steam trams until 1952! I see it represented a model for one of the Thomas The Tank Engine characters!
This link is well worth a look
http://www.lner.info/article/wisbech/wisbech.shtml
The introduction explained that the 10 seconds of film screened were thought to be the only known movie film of the particular tram type concerned which did not serve for long on the line.
Then we had an excerpt from about 1910 of movie film of a London to Dover Boat train - this was pretty old film and quite remarkable in its quality.
Following on from this was some b&w amateur film of a GWR line in an unknown location in England showing track gangs relaying the line circa 1947 with a succession of express trains passing by in the same area as well (not when the line was being relayed). These were rare shots no doubt from collections that had turned up on the market in recent years - fascinating stuff.
Then we had more shipping with a professionally made British Transport Film featuring the railway ferry service between UK and the continent - focussing on the movement of cars, passengers and freight via various ferry routes run by British Railways. A superb film from about 1955.
After the interval we had another streetcar film The Grimsby and Immingham tramway - the only tramway run by British Railways this was film taken by the BBC Film Club in 1961 a year before the service closed. This tram service was built to take workers to the railway built docks at Immingham - since no housing was close by. Some pics here, again Rob will find this of interest no doubt
http://www.leytransport.i12.com/imtram.htm
Then we had some superb colour film taken for a children's series called Railway Roudabout from about 1960 - this showed branch line steam trains in Devon in about 1960 - all filmed in the most glorious English summer weather. Here is some info about the series I have located. This must have been quite rare at the time as I expect many UK households still had black and white TVs then (we did not get a colour TV in our family till about 1980!!)
"The Railway Roundabout programmes were made during one of the most historically interesting periods in the history of British Railways. The programmes began three years after the BR Modernisation Plan of 1955 was announced and they ended a year before the Beeching Report. Nowadays, the programmes have developed far beyond their original concept of being made for the enjoyment of young viewers and are now of national historical importance.
The programme came about quite by chance after Pat Whitehouse and John Adams met at the Talyllyn Railway and, as a result, made one or two films together. One day John and his wife were at a neighbour's house and happened to mention that he had some railway films. The neighbour was Dennis Morris, who was the head of BBC for the Midlands. "Just the thing for your children's programming", John said. The outcome was an invitation to meet the Head of Children's Programmes in the Midlands, Peggy Bacon, along with Patrick Whitehouse. In all they made 100 films and there were 52 programmes"
After this we had an impressionistic film made by BR for cinema release (as a sort of B Movie I expect) to launch the Inter City 125 train in 1976, complete with specially commissioned music - called ‘Overture 125'. Then we ended off with the official film made to mark the end of steam services on British Rail in 1968 - film of the 15 Guinea Special - Pete can you explain about the 15 Guinea special? Some classic pics here.
http://www.theviewfromthisside.co.uk/pagelas.html
Anyway - pretty darn good show I thought. If you can think of a better way to spend an evening I reckon it's not a description of something you can necessarily print here!!
G'day Cap'n Tom 'n fellow travelers at the bar!
Not one of the busiest of days, but then some rather interesting dialogue, which is what it's all about as far as I'm concerned! Ruth, I'll take a double hit of JD on the rocks and slide the snack tray down my way, wudja please
High-speed rail works. Just doesn't work well in America. Why Far too many fingers in the political pie, but that's the system, God bless it! <frown> Anyone who has lived in a major metro area and in particular a mega city like New York, LA or Chicago, surely knows the benefits of moving vast amounts of people using rapid, reliable and efficient means of transport. It really doesn't have to be steel wheels on steel tracks, but something - anything to reduce the amount of unnecessary and costly traffic on our highways and byways. Cars and buses sitting at idle at traffic lights, stop signs, traffic jams and the like do far more harm than good when it comes to the enviornment and the waste of precious resoucres. Ah, but we can afford it, huh Or can we
It has been said that "what comes around goes around," so perhaps it is only a matter of time. However, do we really have the time For anyone who has flown across an ocean to return to America and has witnessed the low overhanging cloud of smog or has returned from sea only to view the diminished horizon can attest to the harm done by the comustion engine. And that, gents is from someone who is an engineer - a below decks sailor if you will.
Speaking of which, I wonder why in the world happened to jlampke John Remember him He was our "resident sailor" who sails the Pacific with today's version of what I recall was MSTS. Anyway, seen him now 'n then on his thread about those 4-8-4's, but he no longer stops in. What happened, I wonder Nice guy, but suddenly got tired of us I guess. Too bad, guess he's now a permanent member of the Legion of the Lost.
CM3, you are a most intesting chap and one day perhaps we can meet up. I'd like to compare notes with you regarding the NYC, as in railroad. I don't have an extensive collection of anything meaningful when it comes to keepsakes and the like. But I do recall my trips aboard those magnificent trains. To this day wheneve I'm in GCT, it's awfully hard not to look for the trainboard listings to find when the 20th Century Ltd is departing and so forth. What a wonderful time in our railroading past. As with most of us on this thread, we were either too young, too poor or just not born yet to experience those magnicent passenger trains. The lightning bolt livery rules!
Noticed that the Milwaukee Road was featured on your other thread yesterday, but our youngster didn't pick up on it.
Really been enjoying Pete and DL's conversations lately. Hardly understand it all, almost like listening to two Brits engaged in whatever dialect they're into (Cockney, etc.) but it's fun, it's good chat and hope it continues on. Really like the Urls each provides and both are credits to the leagues of folks who enjoy the type of interaction going on in such a place as this. Sure would be nice to have DL at our Rendezvous along with those who have committed!
Expecting some strong thunder boomers this evening with temps remaining unseasonably mild. No snow, yet. I've seen gasoline at $2.60 and $2.54 in the last couple of days here on the "island." So you guys in the midwest are doing far better than we. Fortunately, the buggy remains in the detached garage for most of the time. Our trips are short and a tank of gas last for weeks and weeks.
I've checked out that "tool bar" that Kalmbach has dropped on us and as Tom has said, try it out. Still has the features, just a matter of figuring out how to use 'em.
One more Ruth, then I gotta skedaddle. Hope you all enjoy the weekend and are able to stop by for ENCORE Saturday and Sunday's pix day!
A round on me, Ruth if you will! Boris you beast of a Cyclops, ring the bell!
I'll try a Robinsons Old Tom on this cold Mid- Mo day please Ruth and a round, as I see we have reached 150,000 views at Our Place, a great mile stone, it think it shows that quite a lot of folks look through the widows of the bar, it would be nice if some would call in and have a beer with us.
Just been dumped off the site so starting again. We had quite a lot of snow here overnight, it was mainly ice pellets coming down at bed time, luckily it did not stick to the power lines, this morning there is over a foot of snow. TOM I said to the bride "I know some one who will be happy, JUNEAU" our pooch cant see over the path I have shovelled in the front. I was hoping to get to the bar early today but the bride found some indoor chores to do after the shovelling. Still shovelling snow is good for the soul, if not for the back.
Very interesting discussion on the High Speed lines with TOM,LARS ERIC, CM3 and DL. as already said frieght and high speed passenger don,t mix, although over here if the large container and the coal traffic keeps increasing, perhaps a high speed line for passenger and time important goods like mail and parcles may make sence if the price of gas increased a large amount, but as been said the cost of building such a line would be astronomical. As LARS says What comes around goes around, perhaps a breakthrough in clean electricity generation may spur things on. To think that there was a great system below the streets in Chicago that DOUG posted about for moving goods etc, now abandoned. Still it wasn,t that long ago that the modern Light Rail systems we have today were said to be too expensive.
JAMES Great post on the Chicago Union Station, every time I read about what Chicago as to offer, railway wise, makes me more determined to get there .I have got a pic of the inside of the Union Station in Kansas City, which is serving Amtrak again but only a handful of sevices.
ERIC I see DL has provided some great info on the Swedish locos on the NVR. I have found some info on a Ex War Department loco that worked in Sweden and is being overhauled at the present.
It is half way down the page on this link.
http://www.kwvr.co.uk/stockbook/index.htm
It as some interesting details of where she worked in Sweden. I had some rides behind her on the Keighley line when she was SJ 1931, a fine loco.
CM3 Looking forward to the concert description, I think the Second Class Saloon guys took the darts defeat badly.
DL Great photo of Nottingham Victoria unfortunatly I have never been there, we were hoping to get to Nottingham this October but were unable too, the bride could have gone round the shopping centre and I would have examined the railway interest. I believe the North tunnal portal is still visible. The loco in the photo, a Brush class 4 later 47 diesel is on the 1O42 train which was the York to Poole the last cross country train on the Great Central Main Line. The loco would work as far as Banbury where it was of taken over by a Bullied Light Pacific. The train would return north as train 1N83 if I recall right.Some times the train was hauled by a brand new class47, it seems like yesterday but it was 40 years ago.
The Mac Hawkings book is very good, but my favorite on the GC is Main Line Lament by Colin Walker, who I believe died recently,I think he lived in the Leicester area.
Glad you enjoyed Alans description.Another sad thing is the number of pubs, usually that have been part of the local community for along time, that are closing nowadays often to be turned in to houses.
That was a great film show thanks for the links although the Immingham one is" Temporary Unavailable". I will try again, we had a discussion a long while back on The Tramway at Our Place and as you say the line was of interest to ROB. I Indeed would have liked to see it in action on the film.
I can remember the Railway Roundabout films on the TV. I too thought they would have been filmed in black and white, it is great they were done in colour, considering how much interest there was in railways in those days there was very little on the TV. Iwas wondering when colour TVs did come in in the UK? We did not have one until late on, if I remember right the first ones wern,t very good. Still it was hard to watch snooker on the black and white set.
The 15 Guinea Special on August 11th 1968, my birthday by the way( a guinea was 21 shillings in the old British money, there was 20 shillings to the pound. I believe the guinea was a gold coin many years ago. It was often used on posh items on sale, as guineas was though to sound grander than pounds) This was a special train ran to mark the end of British Railways Steam Traction( to be strictly correct on the standard gauge as BR still owned and ran the Vale of Rheidol Narrow guage line in Wales as it did for quite a few years afterwards)
The train , reporting number 1T57, ran from Liverpool Lime Street throgh Manchester and over the Settle & Carlisle. The locos used were two of Staniers Black 5 4-6-0s double headed Nos 45110 & 44781 and the last Britannia Pacific no 70013 Oliver Cromwell, which was the last steam loco to be overhauled at Crewe Works. Those in the know waited after the special to see 70013 work light engine to her new home at Bressingham Gardens in Norfolk.45110 was also saved for preservation and can be found running on theSevern Valley Railway. 70013 is under overhaul at Loughborough for a return to the main line for the first time since 1968. 44781 was not so lucky.
I really did seriously think about going on it although at that time it was a great deal of money for a 17 year old when the cost of going to and staying in Liverpool had to be added as well. we thought that was IT for steam at the time not knowing that a return to steam on BR would take place with GWR 6000 King George V in October 1971 using preserved locomotives. There is still a healthy number of main line steam tours today.
One odd fact was although that was the last day of BR steam the Flying Scotsman still had a contract allowing it to run on BR metals. The loco was on a tour of N. America when the contract expired.
Thanks for the kind words TOM & LARS.
I am with you on Micro-brews or Shed Beers as one or two of my mates call it. Do the big brewers own any bars over here, in the UK&nb
Good morning Tom and friends! I'll have three light breakfasts! I'm starving! What a day we had yesterday with the snow storm. I completely shoveled about 6 or 8 inches of white stuff off my driveway from 5 to 6 am, wondering if I was just wasting my time. I was. Hours later, it was back to looking like I had done nothing at all, as our total snowfall hit 15 inches! High winds and continuous snowfall until 1 pm kept the kids shoveling for hours. Smart people stayed home from work, (I'm not a smart person) and every school closed. By 4:00 in the afternoon, most roads had been cleared, and traffic was light since so many stayed home. Not bad for 3 snowplows and 42,000 miles of state highways! Glad we didn't get the 3 " of ice that Tom got to see. Anyhow, got a busy morning here, with #2 son testing for a TaiSooDo belt, so I had better make a quick post here.
Really good micro-brew hotspot info from Pete yesterday. Seems like the kind of place a guy should be with his friends to wind down a busy day. James, seems to me there were model train magazines in the 1910's. I think I have one from 1917, but I'll have to look into it. I'm still not organized from my 2nd move in 6 months, and maybe I'll never be. Speaking of exotic train magazine material, I just scored some more from E-Bay that I'll be sharing here. Great posts on the Union station in Chicago. There are no longer any benches in the Grand Hall upstairs. I think it's because they frequently rent that room for parties and such. It was also a favorite place for homeless to snooze away their days when they weren't pan-handling the rush-hours. Unfortunately, when it comes to that sort of thing, the train stations, especially Olgilvie, is where you will find that kind of activity. As for the mention of Union not being directly connected to the elevated system, the same is true for Olgilvie, but the elevated tracks are only a few blocks away.
I just love to get credit for others peoples' posts, and it happened again! It was DL who provided the link for Eric on the NVR museum with the Swedish steamers, and not me. The high-speed discussions on this thread have been a treat, but as others have said, Lars included, we can forget seeing too much of that in this country, as freight pays the bills here. Someone sneezed here too, CM3. Gas cost me $2.25 yesterday. Bummer. Maybe the Christmas Concert at the Emporium will help me feel better.
My time is about up, so here's an ENCORE .. but you can bet I'll be working up some photos for tomorrow!
Railroads on Bank Notes by L. Miles Raisig Spet 1953 Railroad Magazine
In America today, it is often said and written that except for the fields of science and space travel there are no new frontiers, no new worlds to conquer. We beg to disagree, and freely offer to every collector of railroadiana and every student of railroad history, a virgin field, untapped, almost unknown, and bursting with collecting possibilities.
Few persons other than confirmed collectors of obsolete paper money, students of the graphic arts, and serious antique collectors, are aware that one of the cheapest, most fertile, and abundant sources of American history lies in the private bank notes issued within the United States between 1800 and 1865.
But what of railroads, locomotives, and trains? By the time our forebears became interested in the practicality and economy of the steam locomotive, bank note engraving was already a highly skilled, advanced, competitive business, employing some of the finest American engravers on wood, copper, stone and steel. The former colonies had fused into a raw, furiously growing democracy, feeling its new power and thrusting ever westward for new and richer opportunities.
Each new move, each new enterprise, required credit; new banking companies, with little specie but plenty of paper, mushroomed over night. The banks might be dangerously near insolvency, having their creditors and the future only on their manager's lie-ability, but their new paper was crisp and elegant and new, representing not only the best and latest in American life and living, but a bewildering array of portraits and events from Roman gods and senators to Napoleon, to American generals and presidents, and from Franklin experimenting with electricity to the Battle of New Orleans and beyond.
The railroad came to America; it stayed, grew, became many from one. Immediately its locomotives and trains appeared on the newer issues of private bank notes. The tremendous wave of new internal improvements - turnpikes, canals, and railroads - brought forth bank notes like snowflakes, and the rapid and inevitable American progress in locomotive building was quickly reproduced on the circulating currency. From about 1835, through hard times and good, through the War with Mexico and the War between the States, there was a continuous, thoroughly documented picture story of every major type and change in American locomotives and trains. The story ended only in 1866 when private bank notes were taxed out of existence.
In the year 1837, Michigan had just become a state. Its legislators believed completely in internal improvements, and with a collective eye to a large future profit, planned for three major railroads and two canals, within the state. With a population of 175,000, and with 68 mail routes, on 41 of which mail was collected and delivered once weekly. Michigan had 61 chartered banks and banking institutions.
The progeny of two of its banks may be seen in the accompanying photographs. It will be noted that the $1 note of the Tecumseh Bank is undated, unsigned, and unnumbered, and that the $2 note of the Bank of Washtenaw is undated. These two notes were never issued, and are in crisp, uncirculated condition, especially chosen for their sharp, clean engraving. Signed and dated notes of these designs were first issued about 1835.
The rain on the Washtenaw note is obviously a very early one, and appears to us today as little more than a team box on wheels dragging a carriage converted to rail travel. The locomotive is of the Planet type, originally imported from England, and showing refinements of construction over its predecessor type, the Rocket. In the four-wheeled Rocket, the larger front wheels had been the drivers, with power being transmitted through rods from outside cylinders. The Planet's drivers were placed in the rear, were larger than the front bearing wheels, and power was transmitted from inside cylinders by a cranked axle.
The locomotive which is shown on the central vignette of the $1 note of the Tecumseh Bank probably antedates the Planet type, although it appears to be much more advanced. The spark arrester must have been one of the very first in existence; the covered tender and the unusual cowcatcher identify the engine as being the John Bull or the John Bull type. It bears the honor of being the first locomotive used in the state of New Jersey, in spite of its British name and origin. The cowcatcher shown here is a very rare type, being supported upon the rails by two small wheels.
At this point a word of warning is necessary. To expect to find in bank note vignettes exact replicas or drawings of engineering accuracy of famous locomotives, is to be disappointed. There is only one locomotive known at this time to the author which can be po
A glorious winter’s day in late fall here in mid-continent USA! The winter wonderland of ice crystals set against the blue sky backdrop is most impressive. Pix taking morning ‘round here! Juneau, of course, is a handful as he simply wants to remain outdoors. Can’t blame him. Fortunately, our single digit temps never materialized and it’s only in the low 20s (F) at the moment. Should remain at or below freezing throughout the day; colder tomorrow.
A brief departure from my normal morning epistle – check these out from the frozen yard – what you’ll see is ice, not snow, would need some C4 to get through that stuff! <grin>
Be back later with some acknowledgments . . .
Ruth, set ‘em up if you please and Boris, ring the chimes!
Tom
Back with some acknowledgments . . . .
DL at 11:20 AM yesterday: In reference to the U.S. Interstate highway system, you may wish to peruse: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_highways
A simple search on “High speed rail” using any of the leading search engines (I prefer “dogpile.com” – as they use ALL the major indices for searches) will net a hodge-podge of efforts in varying stages of activity in the U.S. This is the major problem – no central effort and virtually nothing out of our self-engrossed representatives ‘n senators worried more about their next run for re-election than the needs of the country. Sorry – but that’s my view and I know it’s shared by many. If only we could really get these people to listen, eh Perhaps we should have a Parliament-Congress Nite here at the bar! Nah, would take far too much effort to sweep up and shovel out the enormous amount of BS left ‘round the floors! <grin>
Most interesting dialogue regarding your historic railway screenings. Now that’s something I would enjoy – but alas, I’d probably be unable to hold my tongue and find myself either “elected’ to some “volunteer” position, or banished to a far corner of the room about as welcome as a fart in church. <smile>
Loved that photo-spread in the “View From This Side” URL. Nicely done and very impressive equipment fer sure, fer sure! [utp]
Enjoy your weekend and it’s a shame we cannot connect over it, for your contributions to the small but interested clientele is always appreciated and looked forward to!
Lars at 3:46 PM yesterday: You ‘n I should form our own hi-speed rail compact and get these people off the dime. Perhaps we need to mobilize the “Our” Place Rangers, a special forces unit dedicated to the awakening of those who can make it happen, happen on the rails! There are times when the frustration level reaches that boiling over point in reference to the downward spiral of U.S. passenger rail (heavy ‘n light). Sure, many will come to the fore with “stats” to enforce their belief that light rail is the panacea, the way to go, and so forth. I’m not knocking it, but the costs are hardly in any semblance of fiscal responsibility. It is super expensive and the return for the buck just isn’t there as the subsidies must continue on an indefinite basis, otherwise the whole thing implodes. We have that very situation here in St. Louis with our MetroLink.
Through a series of Ppoor decision making, the transportation planning community (aka: The Scratch Our Backs Crowd and We May Scratch Yours! – SOBCWMCY) have squandered any hope for light-rail expansion to communities such as the one I reside in. Why Because ‘they’ are playing the political pandering game, it’s as simple as that. The MetroLink system is a fine example of what should be in terms of excellent design, wonderful equipment and so forth. But those pulling the strings border on either the inept or unable to accept reality syndrome. There’s a less-than-eight-mile expansion currently operational. The cost overruns were even more than predicted which puts the costs of it at something on the order of $75-85 million per mile. The “rub” is that instead of going in for federal funding, they opted to use the local sales tax revenues, for the next 20 years to pay for it – and they’ll still be in the red. Add to that an operating budget that is screaming for assistance, otherwise the trains will cease running. The governor of our state ordered an audit of the agency running the trains, but the agency decided to be less than cooperative, based on their contention that since they are a bi-state compact (Illinoisp-Missouri) they don’t have to comply! Lots of joy in the Gateway City over this; not!
Received your Email and responded. The ratings system isn’t going away nor are the JOs who are bent on discrediting Threads disappearing either. Only when something flares up will Kalmbach act – so the business of rewarding bad behavior continues with some sort of foolish belief that to clamp down on this stuff will hurt the sales of their magazines. Good Gawd Gertie! Believe that, and I’ve got a whole bunch of ‘sea stories’ to put in a binder and sell to ya!
Nope, don't have the foggiest what happened to jlample John. Quite frankly, we've had so many go "that way" - here for awhile, then gone-zo that it does more harm than good to think about it. Anway, he really never was a "regular," just a dependable "irregular." I'm sure he's quite involved with real life and dropping by this place has to be a rather low priority. However, it is a bit puzzling why he'd be at his Thread on the same Forum . . . hmmmm. NO, NO, NO - don't want to go there! <grin>
Had been wondering what the petrol prices are in Staten Island. Hard to believe given the proximity to the refineries over in New Jersey. Remember the “gas wars” of days gone by when you could get a gallon for 17 cents My 1953 Studebaker Champion could be driven for days on a couple of bucks of gas. Little did we know that the indulgence of those without foresight along with the apparent blinders that our Congressional leaders are issued upon being sworn in has contributed mightily to the dependence we find ourselves mired in.
Afternoon Ruth, and I'll take a hot buttered rum please. The change should more than enough to take care of a round, I would think. Tom, my ENCORE was from the roundhouse thread I started when Our Place closed There's only 4 pages of stuff over there. You remember our horse. His name is Apache. Mindy bought a new water-proof winter blanket for him that he'll be sporting tonight, as it's supposed to get really cold. He's got a pretty good coat these days, so he'd probably be fine without it. But like most horse-owners, we are guilty of pampering. Enjoyed your winter pix. and like the idea of OP currency, but I'll settle for some OP drink chips. Here's how our snow looks today:
ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on Page 118
Here’s another Fallen Flag for the gang from Classic American Railroads: Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific (The Rock Island) Headquarters: Chicago, IL Mileage in 1950: 7,579 Locomotives in 1963: Diesel – 539 Rolling stock in 1963: Freight cars – 26,690; Passenger cars – 646 Principal routes in 1950: Chicago-Omaha, NE Omaha-Colorado Springs & Denver, CO Davenport, IA-Tucumcari, NM Bureau Junction-Peoria, IL Minneapolis, MN-Kansas City, MO Manly-Burlington, IA Cedar Rapids (Vinton), IA-Sioux Falls, SD Keokuk, IA-Bear Lake, SD Tucumcari-Memphis, TN Herington, KS-Houston, TX Little Rock, AR-Eunice, LA Kansas City-St. Louis Passenger trains of note: Choctaw Rocket (Amarillo, TX-Memphis) Corn Belt Rocket (Chicago-Omaha) Des Moines Rocket (Chicago-Des Moines, IA) Golden State (Chicago-LA; joint ops w/SP) The Imperial (Chicago-LA) Kansas City Rocket (Minneapolis-Kansas City) Peoria Rockets (Chicago-Peoria) Texas Rocket (Ft. Worth-Houston; then Kansas City-Dallas) Twin Star Rocket (Minneapolis-Houston) Quad City Rocket (Chicago-Rock Island) Rocky Mountain Rocket (Chicago-Colorado Springs & Denver) Zephyr Rocket (Minneapolis-St. Louis; joint ops w/CB&Q) And a little something extra ....... (press R8 on the Juke!) ----------------------------------------------------------- Rock Island Line Lonnie Donegan The Chorus is the only part sung The rest is spoken Now, this here's the story about the Rock Island line Now, the Rock Island line is a railroad line And it runs down into New Orleasn And just outside of New Orleans is a big toll gate And all the trains that go through the toll gate Why, they gotta pay the man some money Less of course, they got certain things on board Then they okay, then they don't ever have to pay the man nothin' And right now, we see a train She's comin' on down the line And when she got up here to the toll gate The-a depot, he shout down to the driver He want to know what he got on board So he say a What you got on board there, boy And the driver, he sing right on back Down to the depot agent Tell him what he got on board The got a way of singing I got sheep, I got cows I got horses, I got pigs I got all livestock I got all livestock I got all livestock And the man say, well, he say Your alright there, boy You don't have to pay me nothin' Just get 'em on through So the train go through the toll gate And as it go through It got up a little bit of steam And a, a little bit of speed And when he sees me On the other side of the toll gate They, the driver shout back Down the line to the man 'Course you don't hear what he say now But home down the Rock Island line I fooled you, I fooled you I got pig iron, I got pig iron I got all pig iron He said, tell you where I'm goin', boy Goin' down the Rock Island line, yes, yes She's a mighty good road Oh well, the Rock Island line She's a mighty good road Rock Island line is the road to ride Ya, the Rock Island line Is a mighty good road And if you want to ride You gotta ride it Like you find it Get your ticket at the station On the Rock Island line Well, I may be right I may be wrong I know you're gonna miss me when I'm gone Ya,the Rock Island line She's a mighty good road Rock Island line is the road to ride Ya, the Rock Island line she's a mighty good road And if you want to ride You gotta ride it Like you find it Get your ticket at the station On the Rock Island line A B C, W X Y Z Cat's in the cupboard But he don't see me Now, the Rock Island line She's a mighty good road Rock Island line is the road to ride Ya, the Rock Island line She's a mighty good road And if you want to ride You gotta ride it Like you find it Get your ticket at the station On the Rock Island line Hallaluah, I'm safe from sin The good Lord's comin' For to see me again Keep it goin' And the Rock Island line She's a mighty good road Rock Island line is the road to ride Ya, the Rock Island line She's a mighty good road And if you want to ride You gotta ride it Like you find it Get your ticket at the station On the Rock Island line The Rock Island line She's a mighty good road Rock Island line is the road to ride Ya, the Rock Island line She's a mighty good road And if you want to ride You gotta ride it Like you find it Get your ticket at the station On the Rock Island line ------------------------------------------------------------ Enjoy! Tom
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