Jeffrey's Trackside Diner for September 2021 - Featuring Stations & Depots

[York1]

With TF on vacation, I'm officially claiming the title of Post Hog until he gets back.

And top of the page, too!

It's almost 9:00 p.m., how about a dish of chocolate ice cream for everyone before I head to bed?

[SeeYou190]

John, Thanks for the ice cream.

BACHMANN E-Z RIDERS:

Has anyone used these? They look well made with ball bearing rollers on a bracket.

They are on sale at Walthers right now, and they look handy for test running steam locomotive chassis.

-Kevin

[gmpullman]

SeeYou190

Has anyone used these?

I have two sets. I love 'em. Just used them last night to diagnose a wobbly PRR T1.

IMG_6625 by Edmund, on Flickr

On sale for $66! I seem to recall I bought mine for about $45 per set but, well that was maybe five years ago, maybe longer?

https://yankeedabbler.com/42901-bachmann-ho-on30-e-z-riders-ball-bearing-rollers-scale-ho-part-160-42901/?sku=160-42901&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dPhnqlopDPcpGg23XWET6-IOiv3hbHtcGFsndJVfSskvehFkbB7MRYaAq-NEALw_wcB

Still, yes, they are well made and you can place them on powered track and they will conduct up through the bearings. Sometimes I use them on a short length of track with no power but apply DC straight to the motor.

https://www.micromark.com/HO-On30-Locomotive-Rollers-Assembled-Set-of-4?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dN-I9Zqro5wY4D9W1PXt86R1vUc2Y2hxUjMtBcO1eq2MPrFryEf5GoaAhPKEALw_wcB

[edit] I see these MicroMark ones are NOT the Bachmann ones. They do not look like they're as good.

Nothing better for diagnosing the odd noises or floppy running gear that needs attention. There's another "system" out there (Bachrus?) but I'm not sure of its availability. 

Neenah_WI_Soo by Edmund, on Flickr

Chicago Union Station:

To_Trains by Edmund, on Flickr

Good Luck, Ed

["JaBear"]

Gidday Chloe, it’s a wet cold miserable day here, so while I’ll forego on Johns generous offer of chocolate ice cream, could I please have a large mug of hot chocolate, instead.

 

Thanks for the kind remarks, regarding my holiday snaps.

 

Views of The Maniototo.

 

The Maniototo by Bear, on Flickr

The Maniototo 1 by Bear, on Flickr

 

Driving through The Maniototo, Wedderburn is now one of those places, that if you blinked, you’d miss it! That said, it's on the Central Otago Rail Trail, and still has the station and exterior of a fairly standard design “Goods Shed” for a rural area.

 

Wedderburn by Bear, on Flickr

 

Wedderburn Station, built in 1900, is the only remaining Vogel Period (1870-1900) Class 5 in original condition. Class 5 stations were the smallest standard design for staffed stations.

 

Wedderburn Station by Bear, on Flickr

 

And for something completely different, Little Blue Penguins. These ones, at the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch, are all rescue birds and for various reasons can no longer survive in the wild. While quite clumsy looking on land, in the water they are something else! I am sadly lacking the photographic skills to capture their underwater gracefulness. (They were Blurs!!)

 

Korora by Bear, on Flickr

 

And finally, the Bears attempt at an “Arty Shot”. Lake Wakatipu through a porthole in the fo’c’sle of the TSS Earnslaw.

 

porthole by Bear, on Flickr

 

Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them. Kia Kaha.

Cheers, the Bear.

[SeeYou190]

gmpullman

On sale for $66! I seem to recall I bought mine for about $45 per set but, well that was maybe five years ago, maybe longer?

Thanks for the information Ed.

For anyone who wants to complain about this website...

Go to Walthers right now. Their site is a complete disaster. It is slow and unstable. I had $350.00 in my cart, about 20 items. I went to check out, and it emptied my cart!

That was frustrating, but now it is taking so long to load pages, I am about to just give up.

JaBear

And for something completely different, Little Blue Penguins.

Bear: I love those little blue penguins... too cute!

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

The depot in Del Norte. This building is now being used as City Hall.

-Kevin

[SeeYou190]

SeeYou190

For anyone who wants to complain about this website... Go to Walthers right now. Their site is a complete disaster. It is slow and unstable. I had $350.00 in my cart, about 20 items. I went to check out, and it emptied my cart!

Well, I finally got my order to go through with Walthers.

That took over two hours... ridiculous.

Last time I placed a Walthers order, the two items on sale I really wanted were cancelled from the order. I hope that does not happen this time.

-Kevin

[BigDaddy]

Good morning to my fellow insomniacs.

I haven't had much luck using the forum starting the end of last week.  It took forever to post a reply or switch to another thread.  Long enough that I just lost interest.  Elsewhere on the Internet, my computer works fine.

My mother was a big canner and I was the beneficiary but I never helped or watched her can.  This weekend I canned my first tomatoes.  It took more tomatoes than I thought.  No wonder my former Italian American neighbor started with 3 bushel baskets to make tomato sauce for the rest of the year.

There were 12 years separating my father and his younger brother, with a sister in middle somewhere.  The brothers did not know each other well at all.  My sons were just under 2 years apart.

[NorthBrit]

Good morning Diners.  Janie.   I'll have Pancakes with Maple Syrup and some of that Chocolate Ice Cream that John has left, please.

Watching Mother.   I was not allowed in the kitchen to watch my grandmother cook  etc,  but she would let me help with the baking.   Pies and breadcakes.  

 

Carlisle Citadel Station

 

 

Thoughts & Peace to All who Require

 

David

 

[Water Level Route]

Good (?) Morning Diners.  Flo, a LARGE coffee in the biggest mug you have available.  Oh, and leave the pot.

Spent the last two days replacing a sliding patio door.  What a PITA.  Seems like they built the house around the old door, but I know that can't be.  The old door certainly wasn't 100+ years old!  They had even nailed drywall into the frame of the door! The way they sheathed the outer wall made the rough opening too small for the new door, so that took a bit of work to correct.  Throw in a bunch of flashing work that needed to be fabbed for the install, it was all I could do to get the door in by the end of the first day.  Spent yesterday re-doing all the outdoor trim and siding as due to design differences in the doors and how they had trimmed out the old one, nothing was a simple slap back into place affair.  Still have to finish the interior side, but at least I'm weather tight again.

Then, I spent until almost midnight at the ER with my oldest.  She had surgery at the end of July, and the doctors aren't sure if what we were there for last night is a new issue, or a lingering one from the surgery and apparently no real way to tell due to the nature of the issue.  At least she is okay for the time being.  Looking to hear from the surgeon for a follow-up today. Boy did that 5am alarm come early!

[NorthBrit]

Good afternoon Diners.  I'll join in with a large coffee.

Kielder Viaduct.  One for TF (possibly).

 

 Saughtree (pronounced Sootra)  Station now

 

David

[York1]

Good morning, everyone.

Aren't Kalmbach and Walther's both located in the Milwaukee area?  Maybe there's a connection that both are having internet issues at the same time.  I wonder if both use the same service provider?

I'm headed out to get the oil changed in my Durango.  It gets driven so little now that an oil change can last a long time.

More great photos from everyone.  Thanks!

How about more before and after station pictures.  The first photo is the old Burlington Station in Lincoln, Nebraska.  It's now a shopping and office building:

 

It was replaced by this Amtrak station.  Quite a difference.  Amtrak has one train, the California Zephyr, come through in the middle of the night:

 

Have a good day, everyone.

[SeeYou190]

NorthBrit

 I was not allowed in the kitchen to watch my grandmother cook  etc,  but she would let me help with the baking.   Pies and breadcakes.  

I have always been the cook in my family.

Cooking with the girls was always fun... and a big mess!

-Kevin

[NorthBrit]

SeeYou190

 

I have always been the cook in my family.

Cooking with the girls was always fun... and a big mess

-Kevin  

 

I do all the cooking in our house now.  I love it!

I show my granddaughters how to bake pies and jam tarts.  (That can get messy.)

 

  Tonites dinner.   Hunter's Chicken,  Potato Wedges and Roasted Vegetables

 

David

[SeeYou190]

DragonCon is over. My daughter had a great time, and said it was worth every penny.

She has retired the spear props. She sent me an email thanking me so much for helping her out. It made me feel like a heroic dad again... saving the day.

She left her hotel room in Atlanta and is on the flight back to California. I am sad that she was within 600 miles of me, and I did not get to see her.

She told me to make plans for GenCon 2022... she wants to be there with me, and she is wanting to pay for everything.

-Kevin

[BATMAN]

Good afternoon from the sunny West Coast.

I am back at the desk this morning still dealing with this Estate that won't go away. I knew it was going to be a long haul but I have had enough of it, thank you very much. 

I have been talking to a U.S. East Coast Bishop today on and off. He is not the first of the more senior church guys I have talked to regarding this Estate. They are never what I expect. I guess Hollywood has, as usual, had something to do with that. We have been getting along great and he surprised me with some off coloured humour I would not expect from a Bishop.

Kevin, while sitting here killing time I watched some YouTube videos of Dragon Con. It looked like a lot of fun. I bet you could spot your Daughter in some of them.

My kid was an extra in Legends Of Tomorrow, four episodes of Legion and an icebox mutant in Deadpool 2. He is listed on the Wiki sites for DC and Marvel. He was asked a couple of times to go to Comicons somewhere in costume for promotional purposes by the production company. He had more important things to do or he would have done it. The pay was not too bad and he would have had all his expenses paid as well. 

My Daughter has about 200,000 followers on Fan Fiction and has been approached to write an original concept story. Not sure where she is on that but it takes a back seat to University.

Ottermere lake was only accessible by train. We had our Summer place there and we loved it. Lots of stories to tell around the train(s) but here is the station for now.

Wife is still spending a lot of time with her mother at the hospital, I don't think she will be coming home as her decline is steady. I have lots to do to pick up the slack. My wife is turning 60 and any celebrations have been curtailed with the MIL in such a fragile state. My Daughter is hopping on the ferry Thursday night and will come home for three days to bake her a cake and we will try and do something that can be done on the fly to celebrate the big 60 if we can. 

I spent most of the day weeding yesterday. I love cutting the grass and can't stand anything to do with gardens. I weeded a strip 10' x 226'. It made my wife really happy when she pulled in, so it was worth the torture.

All the best to all.

 

 

 

 

[SeeYou190]

BATMAN

Kevin, while sitting here killing time I watched some YouTube videos of Dragon Con. It looked like a lot of fun. I bet you could spot your Daughter in some of them.

There were 40,000 people there, so probably not.

I have only spotted myself in one Cosplay convention video in costume, out of hundreds I have watched.

-Kevin

[BATMAN]

SeeYou190

I have only spotted myself in one Cosplay convention video in costume, out of hundreds I have watched.

Being so tall, would make it a little easier to spot you. I was keeping half an eye out for the Kevin-made spear prop for your daughter.

[SeeYou190]

Here is something every layout needs:

NINJA-CATS!

Sorry if someone shared this before. I just saw them for the first time.

-Kevin

[gmpullman]

This depot would be a jewel on any layout:

Laconia_1900_NH by Edmund, on Flickr

Circa 1900. Look at the neat New Haven box car in the distance. This is at a time when most roads were content with simple stenciling on their freight cars.

Laconia_1900_NH_crop-1 by Edmund, on Flickr

Fortunately this station hasn't succumbed to the wrecking ball!

Laconia_Depot by Edmund, on Flickr

I get a kick out of the term "unmarked police car". Gee, I'd never guess that was a vehicle of law enforcement. Heck, they even have a big arrow pointing right at it! "Sush, we're undercover"...

Mike, I hope your daughter is improving. 

My ninja cat!

Wilson_blog by Edmund, on Flickr

Regards, Ed

 

.

[SeeYou190]

gmpullman

My ninja cat!

That is an awesome cat.

We have had this cat in our house for about a month. Most certainly this cat is not a ninja!

She is my youngest daughter's cat. She was anticipating moving back to Orlando, and she had a courier bring the cat to us so she would not need to deal with her in a move.

Since then she has picked up another job, so she will be in LA for a few more months. I guess we have a cat now.

I have no notes on when or where I took this depot picture.

-Kevin

[NorthBrit]

Good morning Diners.   Tea and toast please, Flo.

Ninja Cats.   They look fantastic.  I shall have to get some.  They will make great little scenes.

 

Reading Station.

 

Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.

 

David

[richhotrain]

SeeYou190

John, Thanks for the ice cream.

BACHMANN E-Z RIDERS:

Has anyone used these? They look well made with ball bearing rollers on a bracket.

They are on sale at Walthers right now, and they look handy for test running steam locomotive chassis.

-Kevin

 

They are excellent, Kevin.  Get 'em.

Rich

[Water Level Route]

gmpullman

Mike, I hope your daughter is improving.

Thanks Ed.  She managed to make it through the first day of school yesterday, although felt terribly nauseous all day.  Has to be from the medicine they gave her.  She barely ate.  We have an appointment with the surgeon Tuesday afternoon.  I take it as a good thing that the doctor wants to see her herself, but the appointment is a week out as opposed to "get her here now".  

And when it rains, it pours.  Had grand plans of going to bed early last night to try to catch up on some sleep when we got a call my father-in-law was up at the ER.  He has been having some issues that the doctors can't figure out.  My wife was a wreck.  He's back home now, but doesn't sound like we are much closer to figuring out what's going on with him.  They say bad things come in threes.  Sure hope that doesn't hold true this time! 

Train stations:  Here is the station in Kalamazoo, MI.  I was born in Kalamazoo and most of my family is there so it's my other hometown.  This is a former Michigan Central station.  Still in use today.  Hopefully these pics work right.

Cheers guys!

["JaBear"]

SeeYou190

Bear: I love those little blue penguins... too cute!

They sure are, Kevin. We fluked arriving just before feeding time for the Little Blue Penguins, and a large group of young children on a tour of the Centre also came to watch. They were very well behaved, but were very excited to see the penguins getting their food. So was the Bear! (Her-in-Doors made sure that the Bear behaved!!)

 

Henry, “bottling” what you refer to as canning was a big thing when I was young.  I well remember Mum and Grandma bottling tomatoes, from my Grandmas glasshouse, and stone fruit from the Central Otago orchards, which we obtained, by the case load, direct from the orchards on the way home from our summer holidays in Queenstown. Unfortunately, most of those particular orchards were submerged by the creation of the Lake Dunstan with the building of the Clyde Dam.

 

Lake Dunstan by Bear, on Flickr 

 

I recollect that with the importation of cheap tinned fruit combined with the price increase in sugar made the home bottling of fruit uneconomic, though I gather it is making a bit of a comeback. If I have any surplus tomatoes, I put them through the blender, then freeze them in 1 US quart lots. Great basis for a tasty tomato soup during the winter months.

 

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.” -Brian O'Driscoll

 

Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them. Kia Kaha. Especially Mike and his family.

 

Cheers, the Bear.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good morning ....

 

Mike ..... Nice photos of Kalamazoo station. I lived in Kalamazoo in the 1960's. Here is a trackside view of the station with an early era Amtrak train. 

 

 

Here is Nashville, TN railroad station in 1952. 

 

Today, the station is a hotel. 

 

 

[York1]

Good morning, everyone.  It's a beautiful morning on the plains.  It was actually cool enough that I had to wear a jacket for the morning walk.

CN Charlie, I hope everything is OK with you.  I don't remember hearing from you for a while.  I hope you can check in.

Henry, my mother spent several days canning food each fall.  I hated it.  We were required to help her.  If you could eat it, she canned it.  The only thing she didn't can was meat.  She froze that.

Cleaning the corn outside was hot, itchy work.  Then working in the kitchen was like working in a sauna.  I could not wait each year until all the canning was finished, and all the jars were in the basement "fruit room".

Mike, prayers for your family.  I hope your daughter's condition improves quickly and she can enjoy school with the rest of the kids.

 

This old Rock Island station is in Fairbury, Nebraska.  It has a Rock Island museum, and also has model train layout.  It claims to be the largest Rock Island station still existing between Chicago and Denver.

 

 

["JaBear"]

US Flag by Bear, on Flickr

[CNCharlie]

Good Evening,

John, thanks for thinking of me. I have stopped in but not much to say lately.

I finally did a few house maintenance jobs that should have been done months ago but better late than never.

Weather has been nice with highs of mid 70s.

Not much RR activity but I did put the light mountain on a train of express reefers. That is my oldest loco that I bought in 2006 and I still like it, It is on its second decoder and I had to replace the driver pickups once but it runs well and looks good.  Well not as good as the brass locos.

Brit Dave, thanks for the Reading station post. I was there a couple of times back in '94 when we were visiting friends who live in a village near there.

Time for tea and tellie.

CN Charlie

 

[SeeYou190]

richhotrain

They are excellent, Kevin.  Get 'em.

Thanks Rich.

They are on the way. These should be a great addition to the workbench.

Depots always look good in green.

-Kevin

["JaBear"]

Gidday Chloe, a nice cuppa would go down well, please.

 

Back in 1982, in New Zealand, there were 22 sheep per person, it has now dropped to around 6 sheep per person, so it should be of no surprise, that there are statues commemorating the humble sheep dog.

 

Now, I’m not referring to the pedigree “English Sheepdog”. The New Zealand working sheep dog is a mongrel bitza, mainly of Border Collie decent but with some Australian Kelpie and or Blue Heeler and Goodness knows what else, thrown in! Sheep dogs are bred from top working dogs, my Grandfather, (a high country shepherd, 1923-40)  had “Bess” a small blue heading dog who was much sought after to breed from.

 

Queenstown Gardens.

Sheep dog by Bear, on Flickr

 

Collie Monument, Tepako.

Collie by Bear, on Flickr

 

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tepako.

The Church of the Good Shepherd by Bear, on Flickr

 

Lake Tepako.

Lake Tepako by Bear, on Flickr

 

High country shepherds owned their sheep dogs, and back in the day when rail was the main mode of transport, as seen at the Weka Pass Railways “Glenmark Station”, is a most important railway structure, the dog kennels.

Dog kennels by Bear, on Flickr

 

Glenmark Station is the former Mina Railway Station, built in 1910, and moved to and restored on its current site, in 1987.

Glenmark by Bear, on Flickr

Glenmark1 by Bear, on Flickr

 

Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them. Kia Kaha.

Cheers, the Bear.