WELCOME
Jeffrey's Track Side Diner - APRIL, 2019
The Diner is being tied-down and restocked with delicious provisions as I type. While Chicago will be our base of operations we will visit many of the sights of this area that are rich in history.
From the the building of the early canals and railroads, the State of Illinois holds a treasure of fascinating stories and events. CHICAGO, the crossroads of railway commerce!
It's the place for you to go to relax and talk off topic about most anything - as long as you stay within the forum rules, which means certain hot button topics are excluded. Please refer to Steven Otte´s post on Forum Policies.
The staff - that´s Zoe, Chloe, Flo, Janie, and Brunhilda - is very friendly and will serve up plenty of virtual food with a smile. Just don´t forget to leave a generous tip!
At the beginning of each month, it is the time to pay our respect to friends no longer with us.
Barry Arnold aka BlownoutCylinderJerry Cox aka Cox47Wolfgang Dudler aka Westport TerminalBob Hartle aka cmrproductsEd MurphyBill NorthStein Rypern, Jr. aka SteinjrAndy SperandeoJeffrey "Running Bear" WimberleyAlan BTom MillsJames W. Rohde aka CapeJimMichael L. Myles aka Inch
"Gone, but never forgotten!"
April, 2019, finds the Diner in CHICAGO, Illinois
(the S is silent!)
Well, I had intended to put a performance of the Blues Brothers doing their hit "Sweet Home Chicago" but, unfortunately I couldn't quite find a G rated copy
If you spend any time "riding the rails" sooner or later you ARE going to wind up in Chicago, the HUB of the railroad network of North America.
Welcome Aboard!
Meanwhile, have a look around...
IMG_4352 by Edmund, on Flickr
IMG_4358 by Edmund, on Flickr
IMG_4368 by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
All right! Good morning in Chicago! I'm about 80 miles North, and I don't make it down here much, by design! I'm NOT a city boy.
Lots of cool stuff here, though. I have been to all the usual attractions.
THE best way for a country boy like me to get to the city, is the Amtrak Hiawatha Service, which I've done a few times.
A painless ride from Milwaukee, to Chicago, with chances to get on and off in between. When the wife and I come down here, we start at the station in Sturtevant, WI.
This view looks North, towards Milwaukee.
We have a few members in here from the area, also.
Thanks Ed!
Lots to see !
Mike.
My You Tube
Good Morning.
Just a coffee, black please.
Thanks for starting the Diner Ed. Judy has lots of pictures from our trips to Chicago. Maybe I can dig some out this week.
Looks like we'll be finishing coffee at the car dealer today. There's a recall on the passenger side airbag on my truck. I sure don't need that going off in Judy's face when it gets hot this summer.
TF
Good morning Diners,
Brunhilda, I'll have an extra large coffee with lots o' cream, please.
ive found a way to simulate neon signs. Just take a thin piece of nichrome wire, twist it to the verbiage you want to say, mount it to you model, plug it into a wall outlet, and viola! Neon! The wire wil glow a bright orange thus simulating neon.
April fools! Please, don't anyone actually try this, at the least you'll burn your layout if not your house down.
Hello to everyone, and I hope everyone is OK, safe, and warm.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Good morning ..... Coffee and a donut, please.
Ed .... Thanks for opening the April Diner. ... I like the photos you posted. ...
My family moved to Chicago area from Tennessee when I was a four year old kid in 1948. (I was born in Texas.) We lived along the CB&Q triple track mainline west of Chicago. I grew up there, and that is where I developed my interest in trains.
The video Ed posted brings back some memories. Chicago Union Station served CB&Q, PRR, MILW, and GM&O. I had numeorus trips into the city on CB&Q commuter trains. At first there were steam powered trains with old suburban coaches. I witnessed the old equipment being replaced with E-units hauling double decker Budd coaches. ... Family trips included several named passenger trains such as Broadway Limted, Super Chief, Capitol Limited, and City of Miami. I had several trips on the Twin City Zephyr. There were others. I road on interurban trains serving Chicago (CA&E, North Shore, and South Shore). Today, I certainly miss all of those trains. ...
CB&Q operated numerous steam-powered excursion trains in the late 1950's and early 1960's, and I rode on some of them. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of its Chicago suburban service, CB&Q operated a special train of Budd bi-levels hauled by 4-8-4 number 5632 painted gold.
I don't think we should limit our visit to Chicago, because there is a lot of railroading all over Illinois. For instance, several railroads enter the Gateway City of St. Louis by crossing over the Mississippi River from Illinois. (Where Ken lives) Also, there is a long histroy of hauling coal from the coal fields of Southern Illionis.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Morning all. The house move is coming along slowly here. After months of work, its 90% done. My Bedroom is done and I've been moving things up there as much as I can. i put down the peel and stick flooring down Last week and now the bed And my bookcases are in. All I need now are a fridge, stove and misc little stuff.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
Good morning all,
Been to Chicago a few times. Rode the train in from Naperville to Downtown. Went to the requisite museums etc. Like the town, don't want to live there.
Funny w*rk story. We have the ability to let folks remote into their desktop PC from Home etc. We had one person that it kept failing on, it would just not work when he was at home or in a remote location. we would test it here and it would work every time. He is in Florida this week and lo and behold it does not work. we walked down to his office and foudn he was shutting his PC off.... We got another ticket from another user today and i said "Are you shutting off your pc when you leave? " "yes" you can't remote back in if the PC is off....
I always enjoy reading the From the Editor article in MR magazine. Good ol Hal always has nice positive things to say. Just finished reading the May issue. A thumbs-up from one of your subscribers Hal
Good morning from a warm sunny West Coast.
The Female canine (the forum edits out the use of proper terminology) has finally got going on dropping her pups about an hour ago.
Chicago has always been fun when I have visited with my friends there. My old girlfriend lived a few blocks from Wrigley Field so went to some games on occasion. She is now a Doctor at the University of Chicago hospital and has a nice house North of the city, a husband and three kids all grown up. Time Flies. Lake Forest is where I stayed a lot as the people I am close to all live up there. Quite beautiful up there.
Ed, have you ever considered an electric fence around the outside of the chicken coup to keep the predators out? Our dogs have the run of about an acre that is all fenced. They rarely ever tried to dig out, however, soon after we fenced it all, we realized the Coyotes and other animals would dig under the fence to get in. So (over twenty years ago now) I bought a solar-powered electric fence. 10,000 volts, 600 ma, it does the trick, the dogs stay in and the threatening wildlife stays out. It will fence 35 miles of fence just from the one solar unit. I did not want to have to plug it in as that would have required some work, the solar unit is still going strong, it owes me nothing.
Well, I finally got the playhouse down and moved to the front to take to the transfer station.
From this.
To this.
FREE PLAYHOUSE! Some assembly required.
Well time to go load the truck.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
gmpullman. . .(the S is silent!). . .
As a kid living in St. Louis, I remember driving across the bridge to Illinois with my family, when my dad said, "Shhhh, guys! There's no noise in Illinois!"
Today I am back in the saddle with a new real job. The semi-retirement, helping the son with his company gig is over. I am back to being a software technical seller. I am really excited--great company, decent compensation package.
Richard
Puppy #2 has arrived. That's it, only two in the litter.
Being April 1, their names are temporarily Joker and April. 1 dog, 1 Bitc.....
The river taxis are also a great way to get around town. We picked one up when we came up to street level from Union Station, and went directly to Navy Pier, and then to the Shedd Aquarium.
It stops at a lot of places along the river. I think there are 3 river taxis companies, I forget which one we used?
UGH! It all fit in the truck. A lot of careful packing was involved.
Okay, so everybody take a guess as to how much it all weighs and when I get back from the transfer station I'll spring for a virtual West Coast "Surf & Turf" accompanied by a bottle of B.C.s finest wine or craft beer for the person that comes closest. I think the construction experts among us may have a slight advantage.
One more look.
There are LIONS in Chiacgo to...
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
OK, so it's everything I see in the picture of it still standing in the yard? Everything? walls, roof, deck, post, railings, slide or ramp, whichever, correct?
Plus it all fit in the back of your Ford,........soooooo.......I built an ice shack, about the same size.........I'll go an even 1000 lbs.
I'm gonna guess around 650-700 pounds... I'm sure that superduty handled it like it was nothing...
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Good evening ...
I'll have a Chicago style hot dof with a Coke, please.
Here ia another view of CB&Q 5632 in gold paint.
Below is CB&Q 4-6-4 Aeolus of the late 1930's.
Brent,
We call the female a gyp, and the male a dog---Have worked with, and raised Chessies for nearly 60 years.
herrinchoker
Well I always wanted to see U855 at the Chicago Museum of Industry, after I read the book about it's capture by Daniel Gallery. He thought outside the box and hatched a plan to capture when when the occasion arose.
Well...it has a diesel engine
Uboat 505
Uboats had two heads, toilets to you land lubbers. One was usually filled with food at the start of the voyage. One particular version of Uboats could only flush while at the surface. You can readily imagine several problems with that.
One Uboat actually sunk off the coast of Scotland because of a toilet flushed at depth.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Eveing Diners
Flo, give the gang and I a please. Leave a stein outside for Ulrich.
Did some post Ulrich was here in the dinner last month? Did he change icons again? Some how I missed it.
Henry how long should a mattress last, hum. There are a lot of variables. How often was the mattress rotated from head to foot? A person weight really comes in to play with durability. Mattress should be rotated head to foot 4 times a year minimum, more will help make it last longer.
Rule of thumb for a queen sizes.
$800 to $1100.00 Innerspring 6 to 8 years.
$1200 to $1800.00 Innerspring 7 to 10 years
$1900 to $2500.00 Innerspring 9 to 15 years.
Far as Chicago I do not have much use for the town. Hated the traffic and the black snow in the winter. Strange traffic signles for the turn lanes. Took my at the time Barb (yes, I know it was Barbie and Ken) for a business meeting / date. Drove up to the hotel parking valet in my new Cadillac Eldorado. He stood in front of the car and gave us 2 thumbs to get out! And I don't mean thumbs up, just get out!
Plus side? Pan pizza was good! Had a dinner in a Rotating Restaurant and it was the most expendive dinner for 2 I have ever paid for at $100.00 and remmeber this was around 1985 or so. Only time in my life I had Escargot and they tasted like Mushrooms?
Did get into U-505 so it was worth the trip for that a lone. Plus I had a few other first happen in Chicago traiffic that would get me banded for life if I posted details!
Hum, maybe I liked Chicago after all?
Ken
I hate Rust
Heartland Division CB&QHere ia another view of CB&Q 5632 in gold paint.
Wow Gary, now THAT is one huge brass locomotive! Another thread in here says brass prices are dropping, but still.....
I wonder if they had to remotor it, or put more pick-ups in the tender?
Ken, yes, Ulrich did post at the end of last months diner, only 3 or 4 days ago. I think Brent and I were the only ones to see it, as it quickly vanished.
I dunno? His he on probation? and time not up yet?
Big daddy, fix your link, you linked oak hill supply instead of U855
Good Evening, Welcome to April!
Chicago_Union by Edmund, on Flickr
I didn't see that Ulrich posted in the diner. I saw a post in a thread about "Trade-offs between scales" back on March 25 . I don't believe Ulrich was banned at all, he's just taking a break.
MR_post3-25 by Edmund, on Flickr
Enjoy the evening, everyone!
Ken ... You are correct. It is the U505 at the Chicago Museum of Science and industry. ... I visited that museum many times when I was a kid in the Chcago area. ... The Pioneer Zephyr was parked next to the U505 outside. To see the train, you had to tour the submarine.
moelarrycurly4 Big daddy, fix your link, you linked oak hill supply instead of U855
Done, thanks it was th 505, not the 585, the 1206 was the toilet malfunction
mbinsewi I dunno? His he on probation? and time not up yet? Mike.
Yes I do believe our good old German friend Ulrich has been in the Forum clink. I do believe he had figured out a way to still get in and post (God bless him) but was quickly erased.
One of his posts that was overlooked is on forum page 4 in the thread trade-offs between scales, page 2, Post 10. Dated March 25th 12:31 p.m. I'm sure that'll be erased tomorrow morning.
A very enjoyable look at the CTA, Then-and-Now:
Very clever editing work here
My last time in Chicago was just before Christmas, 1989. We rode the City of New Orleans to Union Station to catch the train west to Hastings, NE.
The station was being remodeled, and there was no heat. It was so cold that when we left, we could see they had fired up the gas burners along the tracks.
Not good memories of that trip. By the time we got to Nebraska, it was 35 below zero and all the bathrooms on the train didn't work.
Amtrak put us up in a Chicago hotel because we were late and missed the connection, so I was able to take the family to the museums during our layover.
Not sure why, but I've never had any real desire to visit Chicago again. Maybe now that I've retired, it's time to make a trip there again.
-- John
York1 John
I feel bad for Ulrich, on multiple levels: medical, social, economic and political. His ideas of what he can post, do not correspond to managements'. I won't comment on that again. I expect if were completely banned, he would have to change his handle to get back in.
At least he has a loving wife. I know people who are better off in the other ways, but have made bad choices in their married lives, sometimes multiple times, and have no one and others who have lost their spouse prematurely.
We can leave a 1/2 liter outside for him.
Ken thank for the mattress advice. I'll have to figure out how old it is, probably around 8.
BigDaddy I feel bad for Ulrich, on multiple levels: medical, social, economic and political. His ideas of what he can post, do not correspond to managements'. I won't comment on that again. I expect if were completely banned, he would have to change his handle to get back in. At least he has a loving wife. I know people who are better off in the other ways, but have made bad choices in their married lives, sometimes multiple times, and have no one and others who have lost their spouse prematurely. We can leave a 1/2 liter outside for him. Ken thank for the mattress advice. I'll have to figure out how old it is, probably around 8.
Henry ... Your thoughts about our good friend, Ulrich, match mine . I have communicated with Ulrich via this forum for a long time, and I consider him to be a very good person. I look forward to the day he returns here.
Meanwhile, Ken (another good person) thoughtfully leaves a beer for Ulrich outside on most days.