Last two runs of the 2017 "Polar Express" last night. Ran with an abbreviated train (helped take several cars off earlier in the day) as this was an added day. Still a good crowd, from what I could see. I got to creep back to the station with the train (as engineer) while Santa made sure he visited with all the kids on board.
TGIO!
Snow in the air as I drove home, but the roads were good.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
JohKoeRan an errand with Stacey.She got her Christmas present a little early.
Also just got back from an EMS call. A new bundle of joy arrived a little early, too. Mother and baby doing fine. Dad had already delivered the youngster (a girl) by the time we arrived.
afternoon
Ns had a westbound stack train when I left work.Mamma's present was a new sled.Her department raised a bunch for the local food pantries.Tomorrow is Friday.
stay safe
Joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
Short work day for me today, only eight hours (no OT available). The weather has been rather mild for the last few days but it appears that we'll be getting a good cold snap beginning on Christmas Eve.
(When the CEO goes home, the rest of us go immediately afterwards. Overtime? - we just get cheaper after 8 hours.)
Waiting for Elvis to leave the building.
I've got half a crew today and we're overstaffed. Our customers are building contractors and most seemed to have opted for a 4 day weekend.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Anyone else notice that traditional Christmas songs in public have dropped out of sight? We don’t hear anything like Hark the herald angels sing, Silent Night, or even Jingle Bells. A couple weeks ago I was in the grocery store for about 45 minutes. I’d swear I head 4 different versions of Walking in a winter wonderland and Let it snow. Heck, I’m even starting to miss hearing Grandma got run over by a reindeer.
Picking up my last load in New Berlin, WI, before the break, slept at home last night and should be home again before 1300. The big snowstorm that was supposed to start yesterday fizzled out to a little drizzle and a light dusting of snow. Merry Christmas, everyone..........
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
Murphy SidingAnyone else notice that traditional Christmas songs in public have dropped out of sight?
Yeah. OTOH, I heard Snoop Dogg and Anna Kendrick's version of "Let It Snow" at a cafe the other day...
Murphy Siding Anyone else notice that traditional Christmas songs in public have dropped out of sight? We don’t hear anything like Hark the herald angels sing, Silent Night, or even Jingle Bells. A couple weeks ago I was in the grocery store for about 45 minutes. I’d swear I head 4 different versions of Walking in a winter wonderland and Let it snow. Heck, I’m even starting to miss hearing Grandma got run over by a reindeer.
Johnny
evening
Ns sent a westbound stack train when I left work. Guessers still calling for snow on Christmas Eve. As for Elvis heard him on 3 different stations singing "Blue Christmas."
joe
Good morning
We are under a winter weather advisory.Going to be a white Christmas here.Saw pictures from a friend in Toledo.Ns is leasing some BNSF "Mookie" power.Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.
It was -37 this morning here in Northern Saskatchewan warming up to -31..at those numbers it really does not matter if it's C of F ...it's just darn cold. Wind chills are -50 at times. Staying there next ten days.
It has snowed or flurries every single day since Halloween and the snow banks are so high on my driveway that it is impossible to see a car.
I'm staying indoors, venturing no where, and the turkey is in the oven.
Trying Firelocks Grandma's trick of putting bacon strips on the top of the turkey to aid in basting ...sounds like a great idea. 2 hours and 15 minutes now. By my calculations it should be a done deal by 6:40 Saskatchewan time.
+22 here this morning; we had some snow yesterday morning, but not enough to worry about in the valley. I missed the report of snowfall in the mountains yesterday evening becaus I was taken to a family gathering (15 of us there).and got back here in time for bed.
22 degrees this afternoon as the Bears beat Cleveland in the snow. Did last minute shopping. Roads slick. Grocery stores crowded. Merry Christmas to all and may your journies be safe and go well.
Electroliner 1935 22 degrees this afternoon as the Bears beat Cleveland in the snow. Did last minute shopping. Roads slick. Grocery stores crowded. Merry Christmas to all and may your journies be safe and go well.
No snow here today, but the weather folks are skipping right past inches and into feet for the lake effect areas for the next few days. Travel will be trying at best, and inadvisable in some cases...
It warmed up enough (currently +22F) today to take the dog for a walk to the store. Been a little nippy for the past few days...
Larry,
It may be headed your way soon. WE had five inches dumped on us this afternoon. I'm glad I Dont live in Grand rapids where they get the lake effects of Lake Mighigan.
Norm
Norm48327 Larry, It may be headed your way soon. WE had five inches dumped on us this afternoon. I'm glad I Dont live in Grand rapids where they get the lake effects of Lake Mighigan.
They're talking Monday - just in time to head home from Grandmother's house.
While Lake Michigan definitely has lake effect, westerly winds across Lakes Erie and Ontario are a real problem as that means maximum "fetch" as the cold air crosses the length of both lakes. Lake Ontario rarely freezes completely over, meaning the possibility of Lake Effect continues all through the winter.
A stiff northerly wind would mean heavier snows south of Lake Michigan. It's all about the "fetch."
I've seen a northwest wind carry an almost continuous band of lake effect off Lake Superior, then across Georgian Bay (Lake Huron), then over Lake Ontario and into New York.
Lake Ontario is still fairly high, thus lakeshore flooding is also in the forecast.
Our Church services were cancelled tonight.Heard a Csx train coming through town as we cleaned off the driveway.They were stopping them short of Garrett due to lack of crews.Will be going to G+G house tomorrow.Merry Christmas.
We are up in wesern Michigan (everywhere's the Land of No Trains when you're keeping an eye on the road!). Last night was a major lake-effect storm in the entire area (and along the entire route). Some areas of Indiana were expected to get eight or more inches of snow. Today's windy, and it'll be drifting...I hope the plows will be able to keep on top of it. We're back from church, and after brunch with my family (those who can travel), we'll be headed home. I'm more optimistic now tha I was this morning about conditions--we actually got a glimpse of the sun leaving church. Skies are supposed to clear off in Indiana by the time we get there (but it will still be windy). Our Christmas gatherings (last night and today) were marred by kids who had the flu, and two mothers who were dealing with brand-new baby boys (12/20 and 12/23). This was the "off" year anyway, so it wasn't all that bad ("off" meaning the alternate year, when our families are usually at their respective in-laws).I had a surprisingly good day in Grand Rapids on the 23rd. No trains running that I could find, but the cars that were sitting in the various places we could get close to were, as it turns out, totally amazing. I made nine entries on my notepad, and eight of them consisted of new series, new series to me, new reletterings, and old reletterings for which I could dig up new information. That was two days ago, and I'm still busy (the next sightings report will go to ten pages, I'm sure!).Things are smelling mighty good here, with the aroma of cinnamon and baking dough overowering the more natural evergreen smells. So, before the rest of the family arrives, a very
Merry Christmas!
to all of my Forum friends, and wishes for a joyous, peaceful, and healthy 2018.
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
Yes, Merry Christmas to all!
I did not get to church this morning, for my ride apparently forgot to pick me up (he has a house full of company). Some time this afternoon, I expect to go to my younger daughter's house to share CHristmas with her and her two daughters.
We had a light snowfall last night; not enough to bother traffic, and the sun is shining now.
Carl,
I don't think I can blame lake effect but we got seriously dumped on yesterday and again today. I ain't even thinking about going out in it, and it's going to get colder than h... tonight.
I just got home from supper at my younger daughter(Ginny)'s house--and came home with a copy of Steam's Finest Hour. When it was published, I felt that I could not afford to buy it--and now I have a copy.
Deggesty...and came home with a copy of Steam's Finest Hour.
Daughter informed me that a book I put on the Christmas wish list has been ordered, but is back ordered, so I'll see it when they get them printed. It's a fire service book - postcards - and I have an autographed copy of another book by that author, who was here for the SPAAMFAA convention last summer.
She said he's called her several times with updates. That's customer service!
-13 degrees this morning on the way to work. The calendar changed to winter last week and Mother Nature flipped a switch.
Afternoon
Wind chill advisories here.Watched the CSX local come into town.They were having switch problems at west Defiance.They backed the train from track 2 to track 1 westbound at FC.Then they continued on track 1 east to the yard.Saw a couple other frieghts.Q 200 was eastbound with one engine and a long train.Hope he makes it to Toledo.Matt and I are going to warm up.
Bright sun and cold at my house today with sixteen above the current measurement.
Meanwhile, just 20 or so miles south of me, the police are discussing closing the Interstate due to zero visibility. You can see where for yourself if you check the TYX weather radar.
http://www.northernchateau.com/northernchateau.htm
You can select any of the cams for yourself, and see where they are. May I suggest the Montague #2 cam...
Bright sun and +34 degrees here now. I am not sure if we had more snow last night or not. There is still snow, with some bare spots on the roof over the entrance (just below my window).
tree68You can select any of the cams for yourself, and see where they are. May I suggest the Montague #2 cam...
Larry, glad it is not like that here. Went to my WW meeting this morning and the roads are dry & white with salt residue and the temperature showing 0 degrees on the cars thermometer. Came out of the meeting and took a breath and my lungs told me they didn't want air that cold. I can't imagine what its like in Miningman's Saskatchewan at a -30 degrees and VIA's train having fuel issues. Thankful for furnaces that keep us warm.
Just wanted to stop by and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
I was up at my sisters place for Christmas dinner with her and her husband, and my two youngest nephews. I am getting old when the youngest two by quite a bit are in their first year of university and the last year of high school.
We had a white Christmas. It is now -8ºF with a windchill of -26ºF. The humidity is up over 75%, which has everyone I met in the last couple of days complaining.
Enjoy the rest of the Holiday Season!
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
For all our freezing Canadian friends. Happy boxing day !
blue streak 1 For all our freezing Canadian friends. Happy boxing day !
That cold air is making it across the border. Minus numbers (F) right through the weekend...
Called out this afternoon for a shed fire - it held the wood supply for an outdoor furnace/boiler. The shed was gone when I pulled in with the pumper, but the wood pile was burning just fine.... Temps were around +20F...
Seeing reports of snow accumulations in the 2-4" per hour range in the snow belt...
-4F this morning when I left for work (5 AM). Almost everybody waits until almost the last second before leaving the station house to board the train. Fortunately, my area got only 2-3 inches of powdery snow so far. Northwest Indiana and western Michigan are getting lake effect snow.
-21F.
Out for another fire call last night - problem with an outlet, but it took out all of the power for the house. At least we didn't have to flow any water.
Cold day today.Csx had trains parked here and there.Mow was out and about too.Saw local propane man make sure the switch heaters tanks were full too.Going to warm up.
My furnace required a call from the furnace guy today and my patio door is frozen tight as a bank vault.
It's colder in Saskatoon than at the poles and we are 10 deg C colder than yet here in town. It's colder in Alberta than it is on Mars.
Saskatoon is colder than both the north and south poles
Since the North Pole is in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, it’s a little tricky to get an accurate temperature reading. But the Norwegian Meteorological Institute tries their best, and their estimate for this week was that the top of the world was no colder than -23 C; six degrees warmer than Saskatoon’s Wednesday low of -29 C. Meanwhile, the South Pole — which is consistently the colder of the two poles — is -23 C.
Alberta’s warmest place was almost as cold as Mars
As Alberta was plunged into extreme cold warnings on Boxing Day, it was ironically the mountainous parts of the province that were its warmest. Banff and Jasper both escaped the “extreme cold” label by recording lows of only -19 C. This means that, for a few minutes, all of Alberta was about as cold as Mars’ Gale Crater, the home of the Curiosity rover. Mars is subject to pretty violent temperatures shifts, and Curiosity regularly encounters temperatures below -80 C. But this week, the highest temperature experienced by the rover were -23 C. A Calgary Boxing Day shopper, therefore, might have found themselves getting into a car that was literally colder than a Martian spacecraft.
Forecast for tonight's low for Encinitas will be +48F on the hilltops (300 to 400' msl) and maybe +40F in the inland valleys.
It's not too surprising that the South Pole is currently warmer than Saskatchewan. After all, it's the beginning of summer down there!
-30F at my home weather station (sensor about 20 feet up).
-28F at the fire station (possibly moderated slightly by heat loss from the building).
-25F on a remote thermometer closer to the ground here at the house.
Fortunately, winds are minimal, so wind chill isn't a factor.
Meanwhile, at a paper mill on the other side of the county, the drier section of the paper machine is on fire... That one was just called "under control," but they'll be there for a while yet.
Are you guys saying that the "Chatterbox" is appropriately named?
For the first time since Christmas afternoon, we have a temperature that requires two digits to convey. Fortunately, it's on the positive side.
We might have some special visitors tomorrow.
Matt and I went to the Ns side this morning.Heard on scanner that Csx was having signal problems.Saw some fast intermodals,a big frieght and the local going to deliver material for where I work.Forcasting record lows for all weekend.The locals have cancelled a new years eve party due to the predicted chills.Today the ND&W has been in Defiance for 5 years now.Wonder if we should take them some cake?
BOB WITHORNTree, I don't feel as cold now. We're at -15, a heat wave compared to you.
We peeked briefly at above zero temperatures today, but Watertown set a new record for itself last night at -32F.
Right now (9:30PM) I'm looking at -18F on the home weather station. Fortunately, there is no wind. We're supposed to be in the icebox for several days.
Took the grand-dog back to her owners today. Started out in bright sun with clear, dry roads. Soon enough, the lake effect was showing it's face, albeit not as hard as the last few days. Still, it was enough that I saw three traffic incidents, all in the same general area and all in the southbound lanes, one while southbound, and two on my way home. One was a Mustang whose driver probably discovered his horsepower was no match for his lack of traction...
The snowbanks throught the snowbelt were impressive...
While it will sound like a heat wave to Tree - its 12 here in MD and I am about to make like M.A.S.H. and bug out - Snowbirding to Florida, race car in tow!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
We're having a bit of a warmup, double digits on the positive side for daytime highs. Got about a half-inch of snow last night, more is predicted for this afternoon. The ride to and from work has been on time despite the weather.
Morning
Cleared off the snow this morning.Csx was moving.They had a set out of containers west of town.Train had a hot box last night.ND&W was busy moving cars too.Going to stay inside and keep warm.We have a crockpot of chili warming nicely.
Re: the special visitors I mentioned yesterday.This noon Pat and I had lunch with Chris ("CopCarSS") and his fiancee, Amanda, in Elmhurst. Then, while Pat and Amanda went to visit the Lizzadro Museum of Lapidary Art, Chris and I were kept busy by a steady stream of trains, both freight and commuter. I'm looking forward to seeing some of the pictures Chris comes up with; he seemed happy with what he was getting. Just as Pat and Amanda were returning from the museum, we were treated to a three-way: Outbound manifest on 2, outbound stack train on 3, and an inbound WPSX coal train on 1. We also had the excitement of a grade-crossing malfunction west of the station. I called it in to the railroad, and the next train through sounded his horn for the crossing.Amanda may not have known what she was getting into with train nuts (I'm sure Pat had some reassuring words for her). I think they enjoyed their visit here today.
Most locals around Georgia are not prepared for the temps into the teens that are coming for next 5 .- 7 days. Going to be a lot of frozen pipes calls the next few days as temps go just above freezing each day. Completed winter preps today but this appears to be coldest in several years.
Cleared off what mother nature sent us last night.Have chores to do here at home.Wind is going to pick up and blow this powder stuff around.As for winter it's a typical NW Ohio winter I grew up with.We have been spoiled for too long.
60 degrees yesterday and no snow in the flat half of Colorado. The mountains are starting to see snow, but they are way behind for the season. Ski resorts in serious trouble.
mudchickenThe mountains are starting to see snow, but they are way behind for the season.
Maybe Redfield can send some over...
All the way up to +4F this morning, we might even see +20F. A little light snow here, but more lake effect is expected, mostly to the south of me.
47 degrees here this morning--and not enough snow. I hope we will be able to take showers this coming summer.
It finally looks alot more like winter around here- picked up several inches of the white stuff yesterday. Had to get the snowblower out of the shed for the first time. Can't wait for the January thaw...
Took my grandson down by the UP transcon for about an hour yesterday during the storm, and caught one each EB and WB- or should I say they caught us (by surprise!), as they snuck up behind us while we were driving next to the tracks.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
2 degrees to start this last day of 2017.One more win and the old big 10 conference is perfect in it's bowl games.Don't know if church is cancelled yet or not.Wishing everyone the best and more trains in 2018.
A whopping -22F this morning.
It occurs to me that this is the type of weather we usually see in February... Clear and frigid.
The icebox continues. -34F this morning at dawn.
But life goes on.
Posted a warning about using portable heaters on the fire department's FB page. We've had two calls for overheated outlets in the past few days. People don't realize how much electricity those things draw and in an older house, the wiring may not be up to it.
I was surprised when fire department in Florida shared it. It's a little nippy down there, too, although I'm not sure they'd survive our current temps. It'd be serious for them, for sure.
I'm thinking about pulling out our space heater for this corner of our great room. The wiring should be good, we built the room four yrars ago. In the long run, we should probably have a storm door on the entrance which just happens to be right behind me here.Our local low this morning was -9. (Chicago, being closer to the Lake, won't show as being that cold.)Keeping me inside today will be a monumental documentation project, a bunch of hopper cars that are still around for their seventh operator. They began life in 1975 and 1976 on the Southern (900 cars), then went to the Tradewater Railway (430 cars). Some of those went to the Wheeling and Lake Erie (about 160 cars), and these and more TWRY cars went back to the Norfolk Southern, which had them rebuilt into high-side coke hoppers (200 cars total). From NS, all 200 of the cars went to The CIT Group (TCMX). A bunch of these went back to the Wheeling & Lake Erie, and now I'm looking at a griup of 84 cars that went to another TCMX series! I saw one of those cars on Christmas Day, and it's definitely playing the part of the Ghost of Christmas Past for me.
Got stuff put away today.Watching some football.Back to work tomorrow.We'll see about Matt and school.Guessers say more snow and warmer for next Sun/Monday.
Happy New Year to everyone and their families.
It has warmed up to positive temperature values here for the first time in over a week at 8ºF. The windchill is still -4º though.
I have had real trouble with the site in the last couple of days. I am now going to pass on a bit of information to freight car watchers like Carl that I tried to post when I saw it on the news last week.
The long process of merging the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan and Agrium Inc. will be effective Jan. 2. The new company will be called Nutrien. I have no information on the new logo or any changes in reporting marks. This won't affect any of the Canpotex hoppers.
Once again, Happy New Year everyone, if this post works.
Went to work this morning at Fremont. Temperature was -18 on the outskirts to -12 closer to downtown, according to bank displays. One manifest train, 12000 ft long, had air problems on the DP, enough that the first crew didn't leave North Platte. Instead of replacing the DP or shortening up the train, they let it out after (I guess) "fixing" it. The DP was a SD70ACe, their air compressors have a hard time keeping up in good weather, I can't imagine in sub zero weather. More problems enroute, so I heard. Second crew didn't look like it was going to make it in, so a third (dog catch) crew was called. The train ahead of it, a Z train, also had engine problems. Enough that it wasn't going to make it's scheduled long pool crew change and was going to the short pool instead. Another intermodal train sounded like it was having DP air problems too, but would make it without a dog catch. I was lucky, I got a coal train that went around all that mess and didn't have problems. Main cab heater even worked, sort of.
On the way, I saw a couple of places where new rail had been spliced in. In another place I saw a pull-apart waiting for attention. My neighbor is a signal maintainer and I heard his name mentioned, that he was coming out about 50 miles off his normal territory to help out. He got home just after I did and he said on his way out they had him stop at almost every control point to get switches to work right. He said today there were 7 broken rails between Missouri Valley and Nevada, IA. (The two repaired locations that I saw were west of Missouri Valley and aren't part of the 7. The pull-apart would be.) Yes sir, 2018 is off to a great start.
Jeff
Thank you for that information about the merger, Bruce! I usually see covered hoppers from one company or the other when I'm watching trains on either CN or CP, but rarely anywhere else. I'm not familiar with any cars that Agrium owns, just leased cars (but lots of them!). Conversely, it's been a long time since I've seen any Potash Corporation leased cars. Something's going to change with this merger, I expect--and this will help me make sense of what I see.
(duplicate reply deleted...sorry!)
-11 in Peru, Indiana, right now, have been fiddling with my heater controls in the semi for the last four hours to get it comfortable in here. Forecast is -19 for the low, the run to Lafayette tomorrow morning should be interesting........
Stay warm, my friends..........
All of -7.8F here at the homestead right now, which is an improvement over last night. It's supposed to be a little milder coming up, but we may see some weather from that system coming up the coast.
Oswego County is currently getting lake effect, upwards of a foot so far. Just a little light "dust" here right now.
We'll see what the winds do later this week. Could be interesting.
We're enduring that part of winter where it's -20 at night and we question our sanity about why we live here. Our only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr. But we know, in no time at all it will be +90 degrees and 90% humidity and we'll be questioning our sanity about why we live here. Out of curiosity, I checked the weather in the area where I was born, Chugiak, Alaska. It's currently about 45 degrees warmer there. I wish Canada would just send us cold, Canadian beer and not cold, Canadian air.
Coldest in three years here. Weather guessers blew it last as this morning already 5 degrees lower than forecast ( 14 F ) . When we saw the dew point at 5 F called it probably going to 11 F .Guessers be dammed. Moon looks even more beautiful in crisp cold.
Our worry is that last week of Jan - 1st Feb is usually coldest time around here.
Heard run on anti-freeze here. You in the north may have to put in concentrate to lower the -34 of 50 / 50 mixes. have fired up our block heaters for first time in couple years. Makes going out so much better especially mrs Streak.
Warm streak here - only down to -22F overnight.
Kinda looking forward to that winter storm that'll be making its way up the coast. Might bring some warmer weather with it.
Of course, we could be in Florida, which is seeing temperatures in the 30's, with wind chills into the 20's...
Murphy SidingOur only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr.
That would be Upper Freezistan, then?
Having grown up in Illinois, and then rescuing a lovely young lady from Wisconsin by marrying her, and then living in W. MI (Gr. Rapids) for 9 years of Lake Effect, I finally got smart, and 30 years ago moved us to Marietta, GA to escape all that. Or so I thought. An unexpected foot of snow 2 weeks ago, and this morning it was 12 degrees as I left for work. Feels like I never left the frozen north!
-ScottM
ChuckCobleigh Murphy Siding Our only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr. That would be Upper Freezistan, then?
Murphy Siding Our only consolation is knowing that the other, Northern Dakota is probably 20 degrees colder. Brrrr.
Canuckistan is the real Upper Freezistan!
Well, up to +21F - but the wind has arrived, with a 25 MPH gust just making its way through. So the wind chill is still in single digits or less
Neighboring emergency services are currently dealing with an ice fisherman somehow stranded on the ice. Can't work out all the details from what I'm hearing on the scanner, so I don't know the exact situation. Wind (this is on a bay off Lake Ontario) seems to be a factor.
While the ice should be fairly stable after our prolonged cold snap, the wind could be a destabilizing factor. A few years ago a couple of ice fisherman were stranded when the ice sheet they were on broke away from shore... The were saved. Their equipment wasn't, as there wasn't room in the airboat to carry them and their gear.
I'm sure you, being raised in Michigan you've heard many stories about fishermen getting stranded on both Saginaw Bay and Lake Saint Clair. Seems to be a common occurence on both ponds.
The ones that are amusing as long as no life is lost are those who drive their pickups to their preferred fishing hole, and soon realize they are not only stranded on an ice floe but their insurance will not cover their losses when their truck sinks simply because they did something stupid.
Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma.
Norm48327Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma.
Ah, yes, Lake St. Clair...
An uncle was a diver with the Oakland County Sheriff's dive team years ago. One recovery they did was a Corvair. All the occupants (four teens) got out just fine, but the ice turned into a bowl under the car, with the only way out being uphill, clearly a non-starter traction-wise. The car ended up on the bottom.
I remember seeing cars/trucks on the ice on Kent Lake, where they oftimes used a tractor to clear the ice for the skating rink at the marina. The vehicles were usually parked next to a shanty, dragged out onto the lake and left there for the season.
For a good number of years a car was placed on the ice of the St Lawrence River and a pool was run when it would go through. It was secured with chain/cable, so it could be recovered.
Today that would get you a daily fine for every day it was in the water.
Today's incident included not only the stranded ice fisherman, but his tent and snowmobile. The fisherman is now safely on-shore, but USCG expressed an interest regarding whether anything was left on the ice, so now they're working on bringing the rest of his stuff in.
tree68 Norm48327 Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma. Ah, yes, Lake St. Clair... An uncle was a diver with the Oakland County Sheriff's dive team years ago. One recovery they did was a Corvair. All the occupants (four teens) got out just fine, but the ice turned into a bowl under the car, with the only way out being uphill, clearly a non-starter traction-wise. The car ended up on the bottom. I remember seeing cars/trucks on the ice on Kent Lake, where they oftimes used a tractor to clear the ice for the skating rink at the marina. The vehicles were usually parked next to a shanty, dragged out onto the lake and left there for the season. For a good number of years a car was placed on the ice of the St Lawrence River and a pool was run when it would go through. It was secured with chain/cable, so it could be recovered. Today that would get you a daily fine for every day it was in the water. Today's incident included not only the stranded ice fisherman, but his tent and snowmobile. The fisherman is now safely on-shore, but USCG expressed an interest regarding whether anything was left on the ice, so now they're working on bringing the rest of his stuff in.
Norm48327 Only once did I take my GTO on the ice, and when I heard it cracking I made a beeline for terra firma.
When I was a kid and our family transferred to Garrett, IN from Baltimore. I remember we were driving down US 27 from the Indinana Turnpike and went past a lake that had a car in the middle of it with a sign on it to guess the date and time it would go through the ice. I don't know what the cost was to 'play'. Had never seen anything like it in Maryland.
Back to work.Work busy.Ns was clear when I left work.Matt was off from school today.Seems the ice has a problem coming off the backroads for the school buses.Going to get colder.Might need to borrow Mookies mittens soon.
For what its worth, it's warmer on Mars than many of our posters are experiencing.
As of writing, Weather.com lists the temperature as -2 degrees Fahrenheit with the wind chill making it feel like -18 degrees Fahrenheit outside the XRT studios in Chicao..
The latest readings from NASA’s Mars Rover Environmental Monitoring Station indicates the ground temperature on Mars at -6 degrees Celsius (21.2 degrees Fahrenheit) and the air temperature at -19 degrees Celsius (-2.2 degrees Fahrenheit).Yikes!
If you’re looking for a silver lining, just know it won’t get nearly as cold in Chicago as it can get on the Red Planet. According to NASA, the temperature on Mars can drop to as low as -225 degrees Fahrenheit.
However you measure it, it's COLD here.
JoeKohMight need to borrow Mookies mittens soon.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Welcome Back El Heffe Gato All hail the cat (chocolate paw prints and all)
I seriously doubt any more than 4 people even noticed. But thank you!
MookieI seriously doubt any more than 4 people even noticed.
We notice, but we're discreet about it...
We still put the car on the lake, but everything hazardous has been stripped out, and a long cable is run to shore. Lake isn't even four feet deep..........
Haven't shut off the truck since Sunday, and the way the forecast looks for where I'm going, might not shut it off until Friday night, when it gets plugged in at the drop yard..........
I got a bit of surpise when looking at weather forecasts at various places, my birth town of Tallahassee is forecast for a high of 41F tomorrow and 27F for tomorrow night, while Brian Head Resort's forecast is a high of 41F and a low of 29F. (BHR is about 8,000 or so feet above msl and ~15 miles NE of Cedar City UT).
OTOH, it was a nice 76F at work today.
Had enough? We have giga tons of cold in Canada all along your border.
Here you go....ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...and some more ...hoooweeee...plenty more to come.
Give us back the Stanley Cup or more to come!
Miningman Give us back the Stanley Cup or more to come!
You can have the Cup back. Hockey is about as boring as watching paint dry.
PS: Your Maple Syrup isn't as good as Vermont's either.
This space reserved for SpaceMouse's future presidential candidacy advertisements
There may be some concern about the electric grid. this prolonged cold could put a strain that will break some where ? Noted is that there is a small 20% spike in natural gas prices. Some one may get his coal wish ?
BTW for some reason cannot delete any mistakes on original posts. Have to post then use edit function .
GraniteRailroader You can have the Cup back. Hockey is about as boring as watching paint dry.
I would hardly call hockey boring. American football can be boring with about 10 seconds of action with 25+ seconds getting ready for the next play, even longer if one of the seven officials indicates an infraction.
Anyway, the Black Hawks will take home the Cup this year.
CSSHEGEWISCHAmerican football can be boring with about 10 seconds of action with 25+ seconds getting ready for the next play, even longer if one of the seven officials indicates an infraction.
Can't forget "television time-outs." Wait - that's basketball.
Don't watch a lot of football, but I do know that it seems like the last two minutes take a half hour of "real" time...
Baseball is another "slow" game, especially if the pitchers are sharp and hits are hard to come by.
I think I'd prefer a hockey game to soccer - especially the pro version of soccer. Lots of running around and kicking the ball, with the final score of 1-0 determined by a shootout.
All sports are boring when you don't understand the game and don't want to understand it.
BaltACD All sports are boring when you don't understand the game and don't want to understand it.
CSSHEGEWISCH---I've been a crazed Blackhawks fan since 1957-58 when Bobby Hull rubbed my head with his glove and said "Hey Kid"...back in the St. Catherine's Tee-Pees days. The Blackhawks have always been special and magical.
As for this year, hopefully they are playing "rope a dope" right now.
Then I found out how big a deal Chicago was to railroading. That completed the deal for me.
I am playing snowbird this year to get away from Winter Maryland weather. Seems as if it followed me to Northeast Florida. Right now it is 34 and raining - a little further North it is freezing rain and some snow. West of here they are reporting about 60 miles of I-10 have been closed account iced over bridges and the resulting accidents.
In fact since I got down here this past Friday the temperature has only been above the 40's for several hours on Sunday. Heading further South over the weekend to Homestead - forcasted for the 50's & 60's....time will tell.
It's 28 at the Crossroads of the West right now, with the sun showing itself from time to time.
Balt, are your sins finding you out and keeping you cold?
Growing up 50 miles south of Charlotte, we occasionally had freezing weather at night--and turned the water off and drained the pipes so they would not freeze. The worst weather was ice storms--keep your kerosene lamps handy.
BaltACDSeems as if it followed me to Northeast Florida
One of our local hams winters in Florida, but checks in to a morning net each day via the 'Net. Yep - it's cold there, and they certainly aren't used to it.
We actually stayed above zero last night, as did the wind chill. The lake effect machine set up long enough to dump a foot of new snow in the usual band. Got about 3-4" here at the house.
work still busy.Ns sent a short stack train east and had cars uptown when I left work.Heard some Csx while I was cleaning off our dusting.Matt was able to go back to school today.Chores to do.
Ns sent a westbound when I got off work.Chores to do.
Fun fact- you can write a post using the messages function in a reply box and get the use of spellcheck. Then, you can copy and paste that reply onto a thread and look smart...... Or, you can accidently hit the send button on the message page and send it to someone out of the blue and look like a total dummy. Don't ask how I know.
We braved single-digit temperatures to go west again today.
After shopping for a while this morning in St. Charles, we headed west, with Rochelle as our destination. We were going to do lunch there as well ("I'm thinking Arby's", Pat says.). Once we got on top of the Peck/Keslinger overpass (a road intersection on a bridge over the railroad--think the opposite of Deval!), I looked west and saw the headlight of an eastbound in the distance. We went toward it on Keslinger, ready to dive in at whatever street worked for checking it out. That turned out to be LaFox Road, where we were first out at the grade crossing for an estbound train of auto racks.In this train, there were two Auto-Max cars in the middle of more typical racks. Pat hadn't remembered seeing anything like this before (trust me...she has!), and she asked whether these cars were for "maximum security" of the autos thereon.She couldn't understand why I had a laughing fit then and there. These Auto-Max cars were, of course, the "Shackle" cars of the good old days, intended to transport political prisoners to a concentration camp at Beech Grove (all according to conspiracy theorists). We had nearly gotten to DeKalb when we met an eastbound manifest train. Since manifests are the trains I like best, I turned around and chased that guy back through Cortland before turning on a side road and letting it stop me at a grade crossing. There were two sightings that I noted--I could have gotten more if the train were moving more slowly. When the train cleared, we took the back roads into Cortland. Deciding that lunch in Rochelle was a pretty remote possibility, we opted instead for Sam's Restaurant in downtown Cortland. Chris "CopCarSS" May introduced us to this place many years ago...it's an unpretentious place, popular with the locals, and serves good food. We've been back a few times since Chris took us there. It's about a half block from the tracks, but one can see the trains.More fun: the waitress came up and said, "Hi, my name is Barbara, and I'll be your waitress today." So I said, "Hi! My name is Carl, and this is my wife Pat." I don't think she was expecting that. But she played right along--shook hands with both of us. And she didn't forget our names, thanking me by name when we paid the bill.This time we got through DeKalb and on to Rochelle. Rochelle, I'm sad to report, was a disappointment to me today...no trains while we were there, the gas we were planning to buy wasn't as cheap as we found on the way out there (usually we can save quite a bit by filling up there), and the cars in the yard were somewhat monotonous, with nothing new or worth parking the car for. There was a neat piece of on-track equipment at the diamonds (on UP), but we didn't investigate--it was still only about 1 above, according to a local time-and-temp. So back toward home we went.In downtown DeKalb we were stopped by a westbound intermodal train. DeKalb is a good-sized city, but the railroad has no speed restriction whatsoever through there, and this guy was going every bit as fast as the timetable and cold-temperature restrictions allowed.Leaving DeKalb, we caught up to another eastbound manifest (I don't know where he was when we were headed west...I should have seen him). So once again I went through Cortland and got past his head end before turning into a side road to check him out. This was a better train than the first for me. After he cleared the crossing, we found a road that paralleled the tracks much closer than the highway, which we took into Maple Park. Back on the highway (Illinois 38), we encountered two trains at Meredith (a short westbound with frac-sand cars, and a stationary eastbound with manifest on the hind end and stack cars on the point--at least I think that was only one train). Next was a westbound train of empty coal cars seen in the distance east of Elburn.We had some shopping to do in St. Charles again, and we got the relatively-inexpensive gas in Geneva. Then we went into West Chicago, and out on the road along the tracks. Right by the block signal I was able to pull off the road when we saw a westbound manifest. This train was the best of the three I'd seen on this trip...good variety, and long, with two DPUs in the middle. After that, I was ready to bring my findings home, and no more trains were encountered, despite our hugging the tracks pretty much all the way into Lombard.Happy New Year! Hope the other 99 percent of the year is as good to us as the culmination of the first 3.65 days!
Carl, you and Pat certainly had a lovely day.
Pat now fully understands "security," I am sure. Incidentally, I have not seen anything lately about the "FEMA" cars.
We are having mild winter weather, without much snow--and, all too often, smog in the city. At times, I wish I were still living at "the top of the Avenues" for where Katie and I were living is above the smog level (a little over a mile high).
When I'm working on our trains in Utica, hard by the CSX Chicago Line, I'm always a bit awed by the "moving walls" the AutoMax cars present if you're near the tracks as they pass. They are tall.
Beech Grove is only one of the many "camps" the REX84 conspiracy folks list. Supposedly there are two of them at a military installation near here, but in my travels around the installation (and I covered most of it at one time or another) I never saw anything close.
Probably my favorite video from that whole conspiracy theory was one of a fellow walking around a single head searchlight signal, explaining how it was hooked up to satellites to guide the trains with the shackle cars to the camps... It was so idiotic as to be hilarious. I called him on it in the comments on YouTube and the video soon disappeared...
Your friendly neighborhood CNW fan.
Carl, thanks for jogging my memories of my college days which included westbound freights behind SD45's crossing Lincoln Hwy/4th St at track speed and the last run of the "Kate Shelley" on April 30, 1971.
Ns had some cars uptown when I left work.Chores to do.Waiting for it to warm up.Maybe next week.
Balt you should drift over this way to Phx. AZ. 40 deg. in early morn. Then up to 88deg. by10am . nice sunny days in a row. Up in the mtns. where I am at 3:30mst. it is a balmy82deg. on the back porch. This is at 3800ft. elv. up I17 past Sunset Point.
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
Currently at Homestead, FL - it got upto 62 today, supposed to be 68 Saturday and middle 70's on Sunday. Then treking back to Jacksonville.
Geez that's really tough Balt. Just spent $130 bucks getting deep snow shovelled off my roof and garage roof and have 3 Mt. Everests on the ground corners now.
A pile of marking to do as well from the goslings. I think you should come up here and help out as you are advertising yourself as being bored. I'll let you take one of my classics out on the lake and go nuts to sweeten the pot.
The cold air (-3.5F) and and wind (7-15 MPH) are conspiring to drive me nuts.
The wind chill alarm on my home weather station is set for -15F. The variable winds mean that said wind chill is also variable, and is occasionally dropping below the trigger point, at which time I have to go silence the alarm. Again.
We're due to have this stuff for a while yet.
They are starting to push the drought panic button in Colorado. The molehills to the west of Denver are at only 25% of the average snow pack for this time of year. The grass is crunchy down here on the flats and range fires are getting to be a concern.
Took mamma and Matt and spent my gift card for a good lunch in Toledo.We followed the NYC back through to see if anything came by.Ns sent some frieghts and a stack train by.Also a very late lakeshore Amtrak came by as well.They have the new signal bridge up in Wauseon but the signals are still bagged.In Archbold they had a frieght in the siding with a cp leader.It had a former sd 80 mac as the 2nd unit and a rail train with frieght cars tacked on the back too.Going to get some snow tomorrow night.Then the guessers say 40's and rain on Thursday.Might need to build that ark yet.
Csx was jammed up a bit this morning.Trains had broken hoses and stuck brakes.Things got rolling again.Guessers say a mess will be here in the morning.
Messy start this morning.Matt was closed today.After work Ns sent a westbound stack train and the local was uptown switching.Mother nature is thawing us out for now.Chores and projects to do here at home.
We're getting a short break from the extreme temperatures. Yesterday got into the mid-30's and today should be more of the same. 40's and rain are predicted for Wednesday.
+42 here at 7:10 this morning.
Deggesty +42 here at 7:10 this morning.
Mookie Deggesty +42 here at 7:10 this morning. Ditto here - until Thursday and then high of 8+
Ditto here - until Thursday and then high of 8+
I don't remember the details at the moment, but our heat wave will wave good-by tomorrow.
What is more important as of the moment is that the Dawgs' seawall, after successfully resisting the Tide for sixty minutes, gave way to the Tide in the overtime period last night.
Murphy SidingAwe come on! +8 will seem awesome the next time it's -8..... or maybe it doesn't get that cold down there in Who-ville.
Who-ter....
Deggesty I don't remember the details at the moment, but our heat wave will wave good-by tomorrow. What is more important as of the moment is that the Dawgs' seawall, after successfully resisting the Tide for sixty minutes, gave way to the Tide in the overtime period last night.
CSSHEGEWISCHHow could yesterday's game be considered a college championship game when both schools were from the same conference? Wire-service polls are not a very good way to decide which four schools get into a championship playoff. It should be decided strictly on the field.
A la basketball? With a week between games, football season would last until June... Not that some people would complain about that.
tree68 CSSHEGEWISCH How could yesterday's game be considered a college championship game when both schools were from the same conference? Wire-service polls are not a very good way to decide which four schools get into a championship playoff. It should be decided strictly on the field. A la basketball? With a week between games, football season would last until June... Not that some people would complain about that.
CSSHEGEWISCH How could yesterday's game be considered a college championship game when both schools were from the same conference? Wire-service polls are not a very good way to decide which four schools get into a championship playoff. It should be decided strictly on the field.
Of course only one Division 1 team finished the season UNDEFEATED - Central Florida and they weren't deemed to have a sufficiently difficult schedule to warrant a position in the 'playoff'. They only beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl, the team that had provided the single loss both Georgia and Alabama took into the 'Championship Game.
BaltACD tree68 CSSHEGEWISCH How could yesterday's game be considered a college championship game when both schools were from the same conference? Wire-service polls are not a very good way to decide which four schools get into a championship playoff. It should be decided strictly on the field. A la basketball? With a week between games, football season would last until June... Not that some people would complain about that. Of course only one Division 1 team finished the season UNDEFEATED - Central Florida and they weren't deemed to have a sufficiently difficult schedule to warrant a position in the 'playoff'. They only beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl, the team that had provided the single loss both Georgia and Alabama took into the 'Championship Game.
DeggestyApparently, the bad word detector does not know that c-h-i-n-k spells a word meaning a small opening. I hope this gets by the guardian. BaltACD tree68 CSSHEGEWISCH How could yesterday's game be considered a college championship game when both schools were from the same conference? Wire-service polls are not a very good way to decide which four schools get into a championship playoff. It should be decided strictly on the field. A la basketball? With a week between games, football season would last until June... Not that some people would complain about that. Of course only one Division 1 team finished the season UNDEFEATED - Central Florida and they weren't deemed to have a sufficiently difficult schedule to warrant a position in the 'playoff'. They only beat Auburn in the Peach Bowl, the team that had provided the single loss both Georgia and Alabama took into the 'Championship Game. I wonder if the War Eagle boys failed to find a major *** in the Knights' armor because they had looked at the Knights' previous opponents and thought it would be easier than it turned out to be.
I wonder if the War Eagle boys failed to find a major *** in the Knights' armor because they had looked at the Knights' previous opponents and thought it would be easier than it turned out to be.
More snow melt today.Ns sent a westbound after work.Track Inspector was out and about too.Chores to do.
Just barely made it to freezing today, but we'll take it.
Within certain parameters, on any given day, any one team can beat another team.
Frozen pipes in the enginehouse.. big mess, so far no engines were seriously damaged by the cold.
xx
Randy StahlFrozen pipes in the enginehouse.. big mess, so far no engines were seriously damaged by the cold.
That's why there's an electric heater in one of our F units, and the other will be getting one. The long pipe run up to the cab for the old heater was the culprit.
We had a close call not long ago when one of the Hot Start units quit during the night. Fortunately, there was no damage.
Wish we had an engine house. There is one in the works, though...
Ns had a coal train to go east in the siding.They also sent another train eastbound as well.Had a bit of freezing drizzle this morning that caused quite a few fender benders.Matt was already at school and we were at work.Gussers say a storm is comg for us on friday/Saturday.Just depends where the storm track is.Chores to do here at home.
Major snowmelt day today.Ns replaced one coal train with another one today at work.Ran errands here in Defiance and Csx sent a westbound.Going to be interesting tomorrow.Were calling for a blizzard now ice,maybe something else.It's NW ohio.Just glad it's Friday.
JoeKohMajor snowmelt day today.
Same here - with a winter storm hard on it's tail and more single digit temperatures.
It was nice while it lasted...
Just had a knock at the door - a lovely young woman to whose home responded just before Christmas because she was having her baby at home, almost a month early. She brought some goodies, which will be shared at our banquet Saturday.
Apparently the "little peanut" is doing quite fine - very mellow little fellow.
Sundog today at sunset. That means brrrr cold!
tree68Just had a knock at the door - a lovely young woman to whose home responded just before Christmas because she was having her baby at home, almost a month early. She brought some goodies, which will be shared at our banquet Saturday.
there really are some nice people left in our world....
Joe,
Please keep all that inclement weather in "Buckeyeville". We Wolverines are sick of winter. LOL.
OTOH, I know we still are going to have more snow and cold coming our way, and Larry, being in an area that gets lake effect snow, isn't done shoveling yet.
I will come out of hibernation in late March.
Norm48327...and Larry, being in an area that gets lake effect snow, isn't done shoveling yet.
I suspect that this upcoming storm is a generalized event, so we'll all get the 1-2' they're forecasting...
The snowblower is running just fine.
More than you'd know from listening to the news. Glad every thing came out well. (Pun intended).
Our local weather liar is KELO TV. They also have a station 360 miles west of us in the Black Hills with coverage into Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and Nebraska. With straight faces they regularly say things like "Parts of KELO-land could get up to 8-10 inches of snow or more!!!!!" While technically true, it's still pretty cheesey.
Murphy Siding While technically true, it's still pretty cheesey.
Well, they do have (or at least used to have) some pretty good cheese in that area of SD, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Murphy SidingWith straight faces they regularly say things like "Parts of KELO-land could get up to 8-10 inches of snow or more!!!!!" While technically true, it's still pretty cheesey.
Look up Sonny Elliot - longtime TV weatherperson at WWJ in Detroit, and one of the first weathercasters in the nation (1947). One regular "feature" of his forcecasts (done on a chalkboard cutout of Michigan with a removable Keewenau Peninsula jutting out the top) was combining words, like, it was going to be clear and cool, or "CLOOL."
Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZD-gKG5-g8
The big, bad storm dumped a full half inch of snow on us. But.... and this is your big but.... some areas got 5/8" to 3/4"!!!, with some spots reporting drifts over 7/8" deep!!!
Murphy Siding The big, bad storm dumped a full half inch of snow on us. But.... and this is your big but.... some areas got 5/8" to 3/4"!!!, with some spots reporting drifts over 7/8" deep!!!
Oh, the humanity! I'm still making sure I've got plenty of gas for the snowblower...
Have a nice glaze of ice underneath under our 1/2 inch of snow.Mother nature is blowing it around pretty good.Ns had some empty cars uptown when I left work.Going to stay inside and keep warm.
After a high for the day of +60F about noon, the temperature is now (4PM) +34F and dropping like a rock toward a low toward zero tonight.
These sixty degree swings are murder - the other day we went from -30F to +30F in a day.
Made a trip to town - the frozen ground isn't soaking up the rain, resulting in streams running banks full and water over the road in some areas. Just south of me about 20 miles, the ice on a creek broke up and ended up in very large chunks over a state highway.
All of which means that like Joe, we'll end up with a layer of ice under that foot plus of snow they're forecasting...
Here's that creek:
A foreword for Norris: "Chicagoland" was coined by a local radio/television station a good 50-60 years ago. I think it rolled off a little easier than "WGN-land". Of course, I grew up where WOOD was a thing. It isn't any more...for some reason it's now "WOTV".Having said that, here's the Chicagoland aft-cast: We got up to 60 degrees yesterday. It was amazing...but I don't think it was a record. Actually, we got up (out of bed) to the 50s, in Michigan, and drove home in it--the kind of on-and-off rain/mist where one can't just set and forget the wipers. The river behind my sister's house got high enough to cause some flooding of the lowlands--in their yard it just filled the channel and boat landing a little deeper. We could literally watch the snow melt while eating breakfast.But while we drove home after lunch, the temperature dropped into the 40s--and by the time Pat got home from choir practice, it was below freezing. It never got out of the low 20s today, and we had a stiff wind the whole time. Fortunately for us Chicagolanders, the precipitation had gone east before it got too cold, so the icy conditions were due to moisture already on the road, and that was it. The garage door cracked like I'd never heard it do before when I opened it this morning, due to water having been driven into the hinged sections by the wind, then freezing there. Today brought us steady temperatures and a brutal wind.And now, after the aft-cast, a public service announcement: we love "Chicagoland". "The Chicagoland Area," not so much...it's redundant. So is "Greater Chocagoland". And "The Greater Chcagoland Area" (and we've actually heard this!) is probably the most redundant of redundancies! It's repetitive, too!
P.S. By WGN's old definition, we never left Chcagoland. Milwaukee, Rockford, Rochelle, Ottawa, Streator, Kankakee, Valparaiso, South Bend, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Muskegon...this gives us Chicagolanders a lot of stomping ground! I'd like to think we make the most of it!
For those of us old enough to have enjoyed listening to AM radio on the car radio at night, the reach of WGN and WLS was remarkable. Both were clear channel stations with 50,000 watts of power and could be picked up at night almost anywhere in the United States. I can remember listening to WLS in western Nebraska at one time and in Grand Portage, Minnesota while working the night shift at the port of entry.
CSSHEGEWISCHBoth were clear channel stations with 50,000 watts of power
My father was working as a reserve police officer one NYE and listened on the AM radio in the patrol car as the new year was rung in in several places.
WBZ in Boston, and CKLW in Windsor, ON, were also well-known clear channel stations.
As was WJR in Detroit.
And who can forget "clear channel 650, WSM in Nashville, Tennessee". Listened to the Grand Ole Opry one night while driving home with my son from his hockey game in Peoria.
Norm48327 As was WJR in Detroit.
Indeed. We listened to WJR all the time at our house - but it was local, so clear channel didn't make much difference...
Growing up 50 miles south of Charlotte, I would go to sleep at night listening to the broadcast from the ballroom in the Roosevelt Hotel from WWL in New Orleans (I had a pillow speaker)--and wake up in the morning hearing the station in Kannapolis (30 miles north of Charlotte).
Mookie,
I have Canadian friends living in both Alberta and Ontario. Altough I have suggested to them they keep those cold winds north of forty nine they have ignored my requests. In their efforts to keep reasonably warm they propell those cold winds across the American prairies.
Bundle up girl. The Canadian chill is hitting Michigan too.
I am ready for April.
Norm - I think April should come right after October.
April's not always a picnic either. Our wedding was on April 7th.s Some guests didn't make it on account of the blizzard.
Mooks: I thins I found the freezer door yesterday in Salina, KS ... Driving across I-70 from Denver, you go from dry roads and cold to four inches of blowing cold and stupid cold between Ellsworth and Salina. The highway suddenly was full of semis in the ditches.
Norm48327The Canadian chill is hitting Michigan too.
And now in northern New York, where we're enjoying beautiful clear skies and mega-radiational cooling. Currently (9:40PM) it's -7.3F.
About ten inches of snow overnight, which wouldn't be bad, but with the north wind, I get a pretty solid drift right in front of the garage door. I don't think the truck would push through it, either.
tree68 Here's that creek:
Electroliner 1935Larry, I presume the highway department plows eventually cleared the road. Did anyone hit that ice while driving? Coming upon that at night could be disasterous.
They used loaders.
Not sure what time it actually flooded. It's a state highway, but not a major thoroughfare.
But no, you wouldn't want to hit it...
Still snowing here in NW Ohio.After lunch Ns had a frieght go east with plenty of Green tractors in the mix.They had empty cars to pick uptown when I left work.Plows were working out on the roads too.Time for chores here at home.
Joe: Oh, Deere!I'm currently hoping to see my first 2018-built freight car. My target is some UCRY (Utah Central) stack cars that I know are being built. Earlier orders of these cars have come east under load on BNSF, so that's where I'm tending to go a little more frequently. (Oh, for the weather and the energy to bike the six or so miles over hill and over dale like I used to!)Passed my physical today, with slight anemia noted. Also, I seem to be settling--my height has dropped by a couple of inches. No corresponding drop in the weight...how long before I'm wider than I am tall? Tomorrow I visit the radiation oncologist for my semi-annual consultation. I already know that my PSA levels are still undetectable (my regular doctor mentioned that today).
CShaveRRI already know that my PSA levels are still undetectable (my regular doctor mentioned that today).
"Zero-point-zero" was not so good for John Blutarski, but in this context it is sparkling. Let's hope that it keeps down in that region.
It's so cold..... we're freezing our cabooses off! Proof- I haven't seen a caboose in like, forever.
Murphy the caboose for Csx to use around Defiance gets lonely in the yard quite a bit.I had to wait on the NS local uptown when I got off of work today.Matt was on time today.Chores to do.
Murphy Siding It's so cold..... we're freezing our cabooses off! Proof- I haven't seen a caboose in like, forever.
A local equipment rental outfit had on their marquee - "Every Train has a Caboose." I still haven't stopped in to correct them...
If you want cold, you could have joined me at the pump panel of our engine early this morning as we tried in vain to save a house built in 1850. A malfunction in a wood burning furnace following a power outage was the probably cause.
It was about 7 degrees. Freezing hoses and frozen ground were concerns.
Due to the numerous void spaces that the fire had no problem finding, we ended up bringing in a track hoe to tear the building down.
I'm tired, and will sleep well tonight, even after a four hour nap after we got everything back in service.
Spent the past two weekends racing, first in Homestead, FL and then in Sebring, FL. While the visible hurricane damage is not as severe as I had witnessed back in 2006 after the multiple hurricanes including Katrina had struck Southern Florida, what I witnessed this year was damage to the large advertising signs - mostly the type that have a aluminum light box to hold the lighting elements and a large plastic cover that displays the verbiage on both sides of the light box. Very few seem to have either survived and/or been repaired since the storms happening in the middle of August.
Locals may know where these businees are, however, outsiders have no idea unless you can see the name on the building.
Ns had a stack train in the siding when I left work.Also a sperry doddlebug looks like it didn't get very far today as well.I don't know if they tested our track into our warehouse or not.One of the bosses is a railfan too.It could come in out of the cold at least.Chores to do.
So Balt, how'd ya do?
BOB WITHORNSo Balt, how'd ya do?
3rd on Saturday, 4th on Sunday when the car broke - nothing big but caused me to stop on track. Sebring can break any car!
Homestead the prior weekend was a constant thrash! Changes I made didn't work and I had to go back to the original configuration - after I blew up two clutch belts and didn't set a qualifying time on Friday or Saturday and missed Saturday's race. Ran Sunday and got a 3rd.
(and then there is Cincinnati's WLW, "the blowtorch" - whose original broadcasting facility north of town was later the 'Voice of America" through the efforts of Powell Crosley.)
mudchicken(and then there is Cincinnati's WLW, "the blowtorch" - whose original broadcasting facility north of town was later the 'Voice of America" through the efforts of Powell Crosley.)
The Voice of America's transmitters were separate from the 700 kHz transmitter but it was on the same farm near Mason OH. The original WLW transmitter was a 500,000 Watt transmitter that had downspouts talking to people. Any joint of dissimilar metals nearby could act as a receiver. When the FCC put a 50,000 Watt limit on broadcasters, the original 50,000 Watt exciter of the final 500.000 Watt final stage became the transmitter. It feeds a 747 ft metal tower built in 1933. Later in the fifties, WLW put a newer higher fidelity transmitter in service. The WLW AM transmitter fed a single tall antenna.
See http://www.j-hawkins.com/wlw.shtml
The VOA had multiple antennas that are/were wires strung between muliple wood poles. They were spread over a mile square area. When I toured it back in the fifties, it was wierd to hear large transformers that were over 7 ft tall and about 15 ft square talking. See more at:
http://www.voamuseum.org/the-museum/what-to-see/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Found WLW's tower on Acme Mapper: 39°21′11″N 84°19′30″W
It is a beast!
A short distance west I find VOA MetroPark, which I presume is where the
VOA facilities were located.
Interesting stuff!
WLW 38 states and 2 planets.....
Mamma had a bad tire this morning.The plot thickens on Ns in Archbold.The sperry doddlebug is still near our warehouse.In the siding track is a stack train.The engines are separated.Don't know if the lead unit or 2nd unit has a problem.Have chores and errands and mammas tire to do so I'm taking Friday off.
Test Post: How long Till It Hits The Newswire Dept. - seems that the FCC is stupidly going to allow ground based transmitters (after killing this a few years back) on a frequency close enough to mess with the GPS L1-band (1575MHz) for Ligado (successors to LightSquared TelCom)...DOT is already yelling "foul!" along with just about every surveyor in the US. The new transmitters effectively jam GPS and by association, PTC. I bet the knucklehead Dems in the senate and congress, in their push to find out why PTC isn't already up and running 100%, have no idea this crap is going on (beyond all that cash to their re-election campaign keeps showing up under the table) How long till this hits the newswire?
The left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.
It's a problem those of us in the ham radio commuity know all too well. We don't "own" a lot of bandwidth, but there are plenty of folks who look at what we do have and see dollar signs.
Few realize that hams are (and have proven to be during recent events) the back-up when cell and other data networks go down. I can talk to a lot of people using a 12 volt battery powered radio and a portable antenna. I did that last fall during a contest from a location with zero commercial infrastructure. We can send data and pictures, too.
But we're just a bunch of geeks who are wasting bandwidth someone else could be making money on...
Ns was busy again by work today.An Ns eastbound was having a bad day.Stuck brakes on the 5th car from the rear of the train.Also the 2nd locomotive needed repair too.I saw the conductor and took him back to the head end of the train.Mamma's tire got replaced now maybe things can get back to normal.Chores to do.
Good for you, Joe. Even a short train - it would still be an uncomfortable walk, first out and then back. Wonder if there has ever been a BO like that on the 1st or 2nd car from the head end?
mudchicken - seems that the FCC is stupidly going to allow ground based transmitters (after killing this a few years back) on a frequency close enough to mess with the GPS L1-band (1575MHz) for Ligado (successors to LightSquared TelCom)
- seems that the FCC is stupidly going to allow ground based transmitters (after killing this a few years back) on a frequency close enough to mess with the GPS L1-band (1575MHz) for Ligado (successors to LightSquared TelCom)
Oh for Pete's sake....
{Censored} MBA and lawyer types who have no clue on how radio works and why the {Censored} bands adjacent to the GPS downlink bands were set aside for space comms ONLY.
On the other hand, maybe Lidado may opening themselves (and their customers) to being sued every time a GPS receiver glitches.
Grumble, grumble
Last night, one of the local guessers wore the white coat that his father (who worked for the same station) wore when he was going to predict snow. When I looked out the window this morning, I saw that it indeed snew (if the past tense of "throw" is "threw", why is the past tense of "snow" not "snew"?)
Johnny,
We are currently enjoying a reprieve from the cold, snowy, blowy ravan ravenges of winter weather. C'mon April. I hate to wish away a couple months of my life but I am tired of the cold. Perhaps I should drive to Florida to visit a high school friend of fifty years.
Deggesty(if the past tense of "throw" is "threw", why is the past tense of "snow" not "snew"?)
I'm nervous. Winter storm watch/warning for Nebraska - up through (threw) about 20 miles west of us. We should escape everything. What if they are right? Really gives me something to ponder....
Johnny: Past tense of snow is runoff.
Mooks: Willy knows not to miff da cat. He's making sure da white stuff tracks thru Ashland and points east. Otherwise the student body at Weatherliar U is shovelling out Lincoln.
Looking for 4"-8" of the overdue white stuff tonight.
Sir C: I get the very normal, every winter feeling that this will be us (4-8) in about Feb/Mar/& April....We are, as usual, a little slow here....
We're enjoying a bit of a thaw right now, but not with the flooding we got last time.
Won't be too bad for the drive to the train show tomorrow, and I need a couple of mild days so I can work in the garage on the toy chest/bookshelf daughter has ordered for granddaughter.
But I'm sure we'll see more of the white stuff...
Thanks, MC, for a good post-prandial laugh. I doubt I will ever forget the runoff in the early spring of 1984--people caught fish in at least one street downtown. Not only was there much heavier snowfall in December, spring came to the mountains earlier than usual.
Can you northerners please keep your weather up there? We had a little snow/sleet/rain early this week followed by a couple of mornings in the teens (Wed. & Thur). Most of the major bridges and many highways were closed. I've had my fill of the news on TV about the cold; nothing else has been going on anywhere else in the world. They had been telling us to stay off the roads, then they sent their camera vans out all over to show us the ice and snow on the roads. They also showed us demos on how to scrape ice off of windshields, how to let the water run to keep pipes from freezing, and later, how to boil water. The last is because with all the broken pipes, the pressure in many communities got low enough that there was concern about possible contamination.
We were OK here, but my concern now is that I may have lost my citrus trees. I have a navel orange and a satsuma tree which will tolerate temps into the mid-teens; for Wednesday morning they forecast a low of 20°F so I didn't worry about them, but in the morning my thermometer read 16°F, and it's next to the house, so open-air temperature is likely a couple of degrees colder. I don't know how well known satsumas are to the rest of the world, but they have been a local favorite for as long as I can remember. I think they are a type of mandarin, and they are like the shmoos of oranges--they are made for eating. The skin practically falls off, and the segments are like little bags of juice.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Paul of CovingtonCan you northerners please keep your weather up there?
We've been saying the same thing to our neighbors to the north, however "Alberta Clippers" are a way of life here in the winter.
There have been a few days when you would have preferred our weather to your own - it's been warmer here than in Central Florida.
Mookie Sir C: I get the very normal, every winter feeling that this will be us (4-8) in about Feb/Mar/& April....We are, as usual, a little slow here....
Foggy here in Nw Ohio.Under an advisory until tomorrow.The sperry bug made it out of our siding at work.Going to watch some more football.
Murphy SidingIt's OK that you're a little slow there. We still love you. The weather dorks are screaming "up to 12-18 inches of snow OR MORE! possible in parts of KELOland". At the same time, they're backpeddling and talking about how it might be closer to 2-4" based on some alternate weather models etc.
Kelo land? Is that a sister to kilo land? Bet they are looking at No Dak and just can't read....
MookieKelo land? Is that a sister to kilo land? Bet they are looking at No Dak and just can't read....
http://www.keloland.com/weather/home
We're clear up to 2 inches of snow already. Most of it suspiciously looking like it was sent from Nebraska.
Murphy SidingMost of it suspiciously looking like it was sent from Nebraska.
Mookie Murphy Siding Most of it suspiciously looking like it was sent from Nebraska.
Murphy Siding Most of it suspiciously looking like it was sent from Nebraska.
Murphy SidingWe're clear up to 2 inches of snow already.
I don't even bother to shovel that dusting...
Murphy SidingEach flake has a little, tiny label that says: "Made in Nebraska, the Corncobb State".
Ms. Mookie, those letter twisting words were in school , 3rd grade they were hard to remember which letter came first --- as i before e or e before i, there for I went out to recess .
Eight inches here yesterday...The locals were out dancing in the streets. The Californians, Texans, newly minted drivers and those too cheap to put sufficient tread on their tires were all in group therapy in the nearest ditch or trying to be one with a nearby tree.
Duncan loved it! Cold and snow don't phase a scottie.
I-70 from Denver to Kansas remains closed today.
I admit to being old [chronologically but not mentally] just yet. One of my aunts was a teacher who said "I before e except after c" was a concrete rule. High shcool proved her wrong.
Sir C - I told Houston Ed we were having a Blysard. Obviously you are, too!
Left the truck outside the garage this morning because I'd planned on working on a project inside the garage this afternoon.
Fortunately, I decided to put it in, only I wish I'd thought of that earlier, as it already had a coating of ice. Freezing rain is so much fun. I've got some salt down on the driveway, but putting down sand right now would be a waste of time as it would just get coated over...
Schools are closing, or curtailing after school activities.
I just hope all the drivers settle down - I really don't want to have to go out in this mess.
Norm48327 I admit to being old [chronologically but not mentally] just yet. One of my aunts was a teacher who said "I before e except after c" was a concrete rule. High shcool proved her wrong.
More snowmelt here in Nw Ohio.Ns has an eastbound in the siding.Also the local has plenty of cars to pick up in town.Chores to do.
Deggesty Norm48327 I admit to being old [chronologically but not mentally] just yet. One of my aunts was a teacher who said "I before e except after c" was a concrete rule. High shcool proved her wrong. when I was in grammar school (grammar was taught every year--even through high school), I learned "...except when sounded as 'a' as in neighbor and weigh." I recently noticed another exception--which I do not remember at the moment.
when I was in grammar school (grammar was taught every year--even through high school), I learned "...except when sounded as 'a' as in neighbor and weigh." I recently noticed another exception--which I do not remember at the moment.
I can think of a weird one....
erikemwhen I was in grammar school (grammar was taught every year--even through high school), I learned "...except when sounded as 'a' as in neighbor and weigh." I recently noticed another exception--which I do not remember at the moment.
The "I before E except after C" was indeed a "gotcha". Thanks to an aunt who was a teacher in the early nineteenth century it still haunts me some days.
Only English majors know reality, and then only if they are willing to go back and study the Old Oxford Dictionary and learn the origional meaning of a word. I'm sure some of them will soon be along to correct us.
Neice, neighbor, weigh, still sometimes boggle my mind. Some days it is tough getting one's poop in a scoop.
Homonyoms can also confuse. Which way was he weighed? Was his wait equal to his weight?
I'm sure you get the picture without my going into further explanation. Think other languages are complicated? A word in English can have several meanings depending on the context in which it is used.
Norm48327I'm sure you get the picture without my going into further explanation. Think other languages are complicated? A word in English can have several meanings depending on the context in which it is used.
And different pronounciations depending upon the context in which it is used.
Norm48327Neice
Moo
Balt,
Wanna hear pusedo English spoken; visit the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The natives of Ocracoke speak a versinon of Gullagh that is almost understandable to the tourists. Hearing them speak can be a trip. Been there and have tried to interpret some of their conversations, sometimes unsucessfully.
For the most part they appear to be cut off from the rest of society and the local spoken word seems to reflect that.
Been to Ocracoke several times and have learned how the natives talk. It is not all that different from the rest of the country but the locals are entitled to their quirks. My visits there found them to be a very interesting bunch of Americans to get to understand.
I have only flown there three times and wish to return to gobble down more of the seafood that they offer.
If you love seafood it will be well worthwhile to take a detour on your way south.
And this is the very basis of the malapropism. I once worked with someone who never used a nickle word if a twenty-five cent word would suffice - even if it wasn't really the word that fit the situation....
Compared to English spellings, Polish is easy. You just pronounce it the way it looks (every letter is sounded).
CSSHEGEWISCHCompared to English spellings, Polish is easy. You just pronounce it the way it looks (every letter is sounded).
The Polynesian languages are similar. That includes all of the vowels. Faafetai (Samoan - "thank you") is five syllables.
Of course, diphthongs are always fun.
Long ago I spent a year in the easternost part of Congo, where they spoke a simplified form of Swahili. No dipthongs. Strictly phonetic. Say every vowel (ex: "taa" = light, pronounced "tah-ah"). Say every consonant. Odd grammar, but very regular, so once you get the hang of it, most all the words work the same way.
Damp and windy here in Nw Ohio.Ns has an eastbound coal train in the siding.They also sent a big mixed frieght east after I got off work.Chores and such to do here.
CSSHEGEWISCH Compared to English spellings, Polish is easy. You just pronounce it the way it looks (every letter is sounded).
And Spanish. You can look at any word that you have never seen or heard before and know exactly how to pronounce it. The only exception is "X". It's usually the same as in English, but in "Mexico" and "Texas" it's pronounced like "H", and in Aztec and Mayan words it's pronounced "SH".
English is crazy. How do you pronounce "ough"?
Though. Through. Thought. Tough. Bough. Cough.
Concerning English, how would you pronouce "Taliaferro," as in the town in Northwest Georgia? I understand that the natives say, "Tolliver." And, I know of a personal name, "Prioleau"--which is pronounced "PRAYlow"--don't ask me to explain; I simply know the fact. I hope the family quit perpetuating the name; I knew of three men in the family with it; I saw two of them (cousins), and one of them was Prioleau, Junior.
Paul of Covington And Spanish.
You have to watch a few things - "J" and "LL", f'rinstance. For some reason, it took me a little while to figure out I was looking a signs on the highway for "La Hoya..." (La Jolla) And there's the "N" with the mark over it as "NY" in canyon. Cabrillo I learned early during my time on the left coast.
One such item in Samoan that give people the fits is the "G" in Pago Pago. The totally uninitiated pronounce it "Pay-go Pay-go." Folks somewhat familiar with the pronunciation will say "Pang-oh Pang-oh." In reality, it's more like "Pongo Pongo," except the G isn't as hard as in pang. It's hard to explain.
Back when I was much, much younger, I read something like that when a printing press being shipped to the place, someohow all of the type with the letter "g" was lost--so the printer could not spell the name fully.
tree68You have to watch a few things - "J" and "LL", f'rinstance. For some reason, it took me a little while to figure out I was looking a signs on the highway for "La Hoya..." (La Jolla) And there's the "N" with the mark over it as "NY" in canyon. Cabrillo I learned early during my time on the left coast.
Only a problem if you try to apply English rules to Spanish words. In the alphabet I was taught, "CH", "LL", "Ñ", and "RR" were separate individual letters with unique pronounciation. "CH" is same as English. "LL" is like "Y" in Latin America and like "LY" in Spain. "Ñ" is like "NY". "RR" is a drawn-out roll like a motorboat.
tree68 Cabrillo I learned early during my time on the left coast.
Cabrillo I learned early during my time on the left coast.
FWIW, Cabrillo was Portuguese and his name should really be pronounced cah-brill-o. The again, Poway is pronounced Pow-way, but should be pow-I and Otay is pronounced O-tie but should be pronounced O-tay - so sayteh the late, geat Bob Dale (long time San Diego TV personality). Bob also pointed out that Palomar Observatory is on Palomar Mountain, which SciAm and SciNews used to get right and Sky&Tel still does get right.
There's some confusion as to the origin of the name "La Jolla" which is both the name of the community in the City of San Diego and an indian reservation near Palomar Mountain.
rain/snow mix here in Nw Ohio.Ns had a stack train in the siding.They also had cars shuffled around uptown.Gave hugs today and will be giving more tomorrow.Chores to do.
Carl will like this. I spent the last two days in a safety class. Much of it was reviewing and discussing videos (including from forward facing cameras) and pictures of past incidents. Some happened on our railroads, some on others. One incident involved complacency while following another train in signalled territory. Signal indications were mentioned in the narration and/or narrative on the screen. Each time in this, and actually when mentioned in any of the incidents, in this class a flashing yellow aspect-proceed prepared to stop at the second signal, etc-they called it an Advanced Approach. I finally said it's Advance Approach, no "d" on the end. There's a lot of employees who do that. You would think (at least I do) that they would use the correct name in their presentations.
jeffhergert You would think (at least I do) that they would use the correct name in their presentations.
A presentation is the product of its author, of course.
Sometimes a word just sounds wrong to someone - they can't wrap their head around it. So perhaps "advance approach" just didn't ring true for someone, and "advanced approach" thus entered their vocabulary, and that of a lot of other people who learned from them.
Then, again, back when I was working, we were required to put our initials on our time cards for any time off we took - sick, vacation, etc. So, we would "initial" our time cards. I had one supervisor who never used a nickle word when a quarter word would do, and would pay you a visit to have you "initialize" your time card.
Anyone who's done any computer work knows that "initialize" means to return variables to their starting values. I didn't think the supervisor would appreciate it if I took an eraser to the card...
Both Jeff and Larry are correct, and I encountered both types in my career.My best personal story about this was a pastor we had who from time to time would refer to "imbondagement" (or maybe I was misunderstanding "embondagement"). Why not just "bondage"?So I went home and put an imbandagement on a paper cut I had acquired...But yes, "advanced approach" would get a grimace from me every time.
Often, what we hear at home when we are growing up takes precedence over what we are taught in school. I recall various schoolmates who, despite what our teachers repeatedly told us, still spoke in the way their parents had learned from their parents....
Ns had a MoW truck roll by.The local was also uptown when I left work.Came home to clean up and go give more hugs.Looked at Fc one the way home.Csx dropped some cars off to be scrapped.The ND&W has a few boxcars in the siding.They are probably waitng for CSX to pick up.Chores to do.
tree68 jeffhergert You would think (at least I do) that they would use the correct name in their presentations. A presentation is the product of its author, of course. Sometimes a word just sounds wrong to someone - they can't wrap their head around it. So perhaps "advance approach" just didn't ring true for someone, and "advanced approach" thus entered their vocabulary, and that of a lot of other people who learned from them. Then, again, back when I was working, we were required to put our initials on our time cards for any time off we took - sick, vacation, etc. So, we would "initial" our time cards. I had one supervisor who never used a nickle word when a quarter word would do, and would pay you a visit to have you "initialize" your time card. Anyone who's done any computer work knows that "initialize" means to return variables to their starting values. I didn't think the supervisor would appreciate it if I took an eraser to the card...
For several years now, I have gone back to the South at least once a year to talk with people who know how to talk. Going on six years ago, I was on the Skilled Nursing Floor here, and the speech therapist tried to correct my talking (The physical therapists and occupational therapists did get me back to being on my own.). About two years ago, she and I were talking, and I asked her if she gave up on me back then, and she said she had.
Accents can be a challenge. I have no real problem with various British and Commonwealth accents, caused by too much time handling a rugby ball; or with Polish accents, caused by growing up where I did.
Various American accents can be interesting, especially when you realize that both you and the person on the other end of the phone can barely understand the other person's accent.
CSSHEGEWISCHVarious American accents can be interesting, especially when you realize that both you and the person on the other end of the phone can barely understand the other person's accent.
I once saw a reply to someone who complained that us Yankees could only speak one language, while many Europeans were fluent in several: "I speak a pretty good New Yawk, my Texas isn't bad, and neither is my New England. I can get by in California, but the deep south bamboozles me..."
Or something to that effect.
Off to the big Amherst Railroad Show in Massachussetts. If you happen to be there, stop by the Adirondack booth in the Better Living building. I'll probably be in uniform. I'd say I'd be the tallest one there, but our volunteer coordinator is taller...
More snowmelt today.Ns sent a westbound stack train when I left work.Chores to do.
Had a nice chat with Randy Stahl at the big train show in Springfield this morning, thus meeting another denizen of the Forum.
Kalmbach has a booth, but no one from Trains is staffing it. I did stop by briefly.
tree68 Had a nice chat with Randy Stahl at the big train show in Springfield this morning, thus meeting another denizen of the Forum. Kalmbach has a booth, but no one from Trains is staffing it. I did stop by briefly.
Indeed , It was nice chatting with you and your crew, I may see you this summer. They are making me take my vacations...
More snowmelt today.Csx was running trains today.Back to work tomorrow.
Congratulations, Larry, on meeting Randy! I am officially jealous!(We are thinking about a mid-South tour sometime this year...not sure whom I could meet up with on this.)
Snow squalls here in Nw Ohio.Ns ran a westbound with mixed power and mixed frieght as well.The local was working uptown as well.Tonight going to local college.Seems they are going to open classes at Matt's school where he can get college credit.And it's free.I told Matt yes you may.Chores to do.
CShaveRR Congratulations, Larry, on meeting Randy! I am officially jealous!(We are thinking about a mid-South tour sometime this year...not sure whom I could meet up with on this.)
Back from the big show (finally). Stopped in at our yard, and then our office to say Hi, and bid our executive director fairwell, and ended up in a two hour meeting on communications issues. I am so ready for bed. I can't handle those long drives like I used to.
Ns had some cars from the local in the siding.Going to do chores.
Only got about 4" of snow, but I didn't feel like shovelling so I fired up the snowblower. Six passes up and down the driveway and I'm done. It was so fluffy I almost put the machine in "road gear..."
When the engine first fired up, something came flying out of the exhaust. On closer inspection, it was sunflower seeds.
Apparently, some varmint or bird wanted their own private stash. It's gone now.
It's not like I don't keep seed available all winter (upwards of 30 Lbs a week).
tree68sunflower seeds.
squirrel.
mookiemouse?
mudchickensquirrel.
Wrong cartoon.
More likely mouse than squirrel. Some seed gets spilled where I store it (in a metal trash can) on the back porch, and that wouldn't be a long haul.
The squirrels don't usually venture to the porch, generally going from the "woods" out back direct to the feeder.
OTOH, back when I stored the seed in a plastic trash can (in the same location), it got chewed into, and I don't think that was mice...
We may never know...
Most plastics found around the house are soft enough for any rodent to chew his way through. Mice are a possibility although I would think that squirrels or chipmunks are more likely.
tree68 When the engine first fired up, something came flying out of the exhaust. On closer inspection, it was sunflower seeds. Apparently, some varmint or bird wanted their own private stash.
Apparently, some varmint or bird wanted their own private stash.
Will you have sun flowers growing in the yard next summer ? Varmit probably was squirrels. Had to place all my "goodies" into metal trash cans plastic lined !
Made deliveries after work.Ns had the local working.Csx in Defiance sent an eastbound auto parts/auto rack train.Chores to do.
blue streak 1Will you have sun flowers growing in the yard next summer ?
They do sprout from time to time. If they're not in a bad spot, I'll let them go. Otherwise, they get mowed.
The bigger issue is the deepening mat of seeds and hulls under the feeders. The grass grows through it, making it hard to rake out...
Import a flock of quail--they are good at cleaning such spills up. I enjoyed watching the quail families at such groundskeeping work when I was independent.
Raccoons and squirrels known to eat holes in plastic garbage cans here. Understand the issue with spilled feeder volunteers in the yard come spring.
Boris? Is that you?
mudchickenBoris? Is that you?
Plotting beeg trouble for moose and squirrel, no doubt!
Ns had a lone boxcar uptown.Chores to do.Tomorrow is Friday.Also groundhog day.They don't show up around here unless they want lead for dinner.
Happy Saturday
Well not so much for CSX.Had a car with a bad coupler they had to deal with.Went to the store and helped get groceries.Projects to work on.Mother nature sending us some snow for tomorrow.
Started the day at "Super Science Saturday" at our local community college. Our amateur radio folks had a display that I helped out with. Left that to go dashing through the snow to daughter's house for granddaughters third birthday party. In the hour and a half the truck was parked at the college, it collected three inches of snow - which makes for pretty lousy visibility on the road.
But, about 20 miles south, I drove out of it and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. No snow at all on the way home.
Daughter found a toybox/bookcase on Pinterest, which Papa gladly built for granddaughter. Even embellished it with some fancy moulding!
Now I've got to put together two presentations for some upcoming fire training. No rest...
Just a passing observation from this Canucklehead in the Great white North:
The Pats are good at football!
Miningman Just a passing observation from this Canucklehead in the Great white North: The Pats are good at football!
I suspect the Pats may become to football what the Yankees are to baseball - "Who ya rootin' for?" "Whoever is playing against the Yankees..."
Snow and blowing here in Nw Ohio.Didn't see anyone in the ditches.Just before work NS sent an eastbound with a sd 70"Spartan cab" in the lead.More work tomorrow.
Snowing off and on here - currently "off." More coming soon by the looks of the radar.
Some areas have gotten a pretty good amount of the white stuff. NWS has asked for reports. Unfortunately, I haven't taken any measurements, so won't be sending in a report.
Walked to the store this morning to get the Sunday paper, after clearing the drive way. During the walk it was snowing the usual lake effect stuff - big, fluffy flakes. There was just enough wind that there was a snowball being created on the driveway, rolling along with the breeze. Kinda cool...
Tree - we had a whole lotta wind and just enough snow, I could have maybe found a marble or two on the driveway. That's about it. Just cold, cold, cold!
UP sent an 80-odd car 100% empty chassis on spine car train south on the Brooklyn Sub today. It felt kind of odd.
Ns had a frieght in the siding when I left work.Picked up some new wiper blades for the truck.Mother nature is sending more snow.How much depends on which station you listen to.Working on a plan for a friend at work.She is going to go work in the mailroom.Chores to do here.
Got home this morning about 3am. Cold, but no precipitation of any kind. Woke up about 11am with about 4 inches of snow on the ground and more falling. It's over with as I write this with a total around 6 inches. Now the sun's out.
Last night I came home on a 2 1/2 mile long manifest. Got out to the crew change and the inbound engineer said the second unit died coming into town, but he didn't know why. By the time I went back to see if I could restart it, it had dumped it's water. Luckily I had 5 engines on the head end, although two (a CSX and a CP) weren't usable. The last one in the consist was usable, a CSX unit. Of course, since the paperwork only had the first and second engine on line, the North Platte diesel ramp didn't bother to hook the MU cable between the rest of the units. At least the foriegn units have MU cables attached at both ends. The bad part is those cables are stiff enough in warm weather. When the temp is about 5 degrees (F) they are a real PITA. I had to have my conductor help with one (the CP) because the receptacle was up high and it was too much to hold the spring loaded cap open while trying to twist the frozen MU cable to line up with the receptacle.
The inbound told also told us how they went around another 2 1/2 mile manifest that was broke down at Grand Island. (I asked them if there were any cars left in the yard at North Platte.) They said it had 3 crossings blocked and I told them it had been there since 6am, it being 8pm when we changed out. It was having air problems and it looked like they were finally going to split the train into two sections. A little over half the train was scheduled to set out at Boone anyway. Whether they eventually did this I don't know.
jeffhergertLast night I came home on a 2 1/2 mile long manifest. Got out to the crew change and the inbound engineer said the second unit died coming into town, but he didn't know why. By the time I went back to see if I could restart it, it had dumped it's water. Luckily I had 5 engines on the head end, although two (a CSX and a CP) weren't usable. The last one in the consist was usable, a CSX unit. Of course, since the paperwork only had the first and second engine on line, the North Platte diesel ramp didn't bother to hook the MU cable between the rest of the units. At least the foriegn units have MU cables attached at both ends. The bad part is those cables are stiff enough in warm weather. When the temp is about 5 degrees (F) they are a real PITA. I had to have my conductor help with one (the CP) because the receptacle was up high and it was too much to hold the spring loaded cap open while trying to twist the frozen MU cable to line up with the receptacle.
And many railfans think all you Engineers have to do is sit in the warm cab and enjoy the ride. There are good days when every thing goes right but oh, those bad one's don't pay you enough. Trust you had good weather gear.
Electroliner 1935And many railfans think all you Engineers have to do is sit in the warm cab and enjoy the ride. There are good days when every thing goes right but oh, those bad one's don't pay you enough. Trust you had good weather gear.
The days when everything goes right are the rare exception in the real world of Class 1 railroading.
jeffhergertit was too much to hold the spring loaded cap open while trying to twist the frozen MU cable to line up with the receptacle.
You don't use your reverser for that? One of the first things old heads taught me.
My favorite are the old conrail engines with the MU under the anticlimber. Talk abotu a pain. Sometimes it's easier to hook them up/unhook them with the power uncoupled.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
I'll see your MU cable (yes, I have hooked them up) and raise you an HEP cable. Some slip right in, others need a mallet...
zugmann jeffhergert it was too much to hold the spring loaded cap open while trying to twist the frozen MU cable to line up with the receptacle. You don't use your reverser for that? One of the first things old heads taught me. My favorite are the old conrail engines with the MU under the anticlimber. Talk abotu a pain. Sometimes it's easier to hook them up/unhook them with the power uncoupled.
jeffhergert it was too much to hold the spring loaded cap open while trying to twist the frozen MU cable to line up with the receptacle.
No, no one's ever mentioned using the reverser for that here. We both actually couldn't get the CSX MU cable to go into the CP receptacle. Fortunately, the CP also had MU cables and we used theirs instead. It was nice that both CSX and CP had them chained to the ends of their locomotives. For us, it seems finding an MU cable when you need one is an adventure in itself. I do see plenty of them (usually figure they're bad order) laying here and there.
tree68 I'll see your MU cable (yes, I have hooked them up) and raise you an HEP cable. Some slip right in, others need a mallet...
DeggestyCroquet mallet?
Must be bedtime....
Mookie Deggesty Croquet mallet? Mallet Steam Engine... Must be bedtime....
Deggesty Croquet mallet?
Mallet Steam Engine...
MookieMallet Steam Engine...
Those plugs can be pretty stubborn, but I'm not sure we'd need to go that far...
A croquet mallet, on the other hand...
jeffhergertNo, no one's ever mentioned using the reverser for that here. We both actually couldn't get the CSX MU cable to go into the CP receptacle.
Need a metric MU cable. Or maybe EHH fired a few of the 27 pins?
But yeah, use the reverser to hold open the MU cover. Tool end of it where the hinge is. Holds it open perfectly.
Thank you all for helping me settle my breakfast.
Ns had a westbound frieght and cars to shuffle uptown when I left work.Another train(from yesterday?) was in the siding.More snow on the way.Had errands afetr work.A little grandma came out of the store and got into a truck bigger than mine.I said "well you're a grandma that won't get stuck in the snow." She said ,"you got that right".
chores to do.
Reindeer in your 'hood skeered? (and Granny has crosshairs on that windshield...)
RE: Light Rail; Heavy Rail ....Caption should be "Toy Train/REAL Train" ... you are at Military Junction, looking at the RTD Englewood Flyover (over BNSF and UP going south out of Denver). Nothing said about the monster errors by the toy train people that caused the bridge to be modified twice by the toy train people.
Has Denver figured out how to make grade crossing signals operate reliably? Other systems seem to be able to do it routinely. Why can't Denver. Hope the contract has penalties for whomever is responsible. Los Angeles seems to get it done.
Not yet - they are still dealing with reliability issues and now it's the State PUC, not the feds, that are having issues with the crossings. A hearing was to have happened Monday and I have not heard the outcome from that.
Denver RTD still has an institutional memory problem on top of the fact they think they can impose light rail FTA rules on a more rigid FRA controlled heavy rail operation. The results have been predictable. Having worked both places, I'd say LA got with the program a little quicker because they had to survive dealing with three Cls. 1's together constantly to get what they wanted in a bigger fishbowl with a larger fear of failure as incentive.
I also wonder if the differences in logic between ASCE and AREMA ways of doing things played into the troubles in Denver.
Electroliner 1935 Has Denver figured out how to make grade crossing signals operate reliably? Other systems seem to be able to do it routinely. Why can't Denver. Hope the contract has penalties for whomever is responsible. Los Angeles seems to get it done.
My ride to work today was delayed because Metra remembers how to serve its customers. The trip was running on the opposite track due to a freight train tying up the track just outside of Landers. This has happened in the past and is no big deal in and of itself since riders get enough advance notice to safely cross over to the other platform. However, at Ashburn, said freight train blocked passengers from crossing to the other platform. My train was held until the freight cleared the platform to allow passengers to cross over to board their train.
Wonder what EHH would have thought of this
Local was uptown when I left work.We are under a winter storm watch for Thursday night/into Friday.Weekend weather doesn't look too well either.Might just watch from home.
It continues to snow here, although it might let up soon. All the schools around here closed because of the forecast.
I'll headed out in an hour and a half to take another measurement of the snow.
Getting stuff ready for the training session I am cooridinating on Sunday. I'm also doing two of the presentations and have a bunch of handouts to prepare.
JoeKohMight just watch from home
-12F this morning, but it's sunny.
Lake effect snow in the forecast, but not until later this afternoon. Time for a trip to town.
BOB WITHORN I'm done. I want spring!!
I'm done. I want spring!!
63 degrees here and we're still looking for winter.
BOB WITHORNI'm done. I want spring!!
They're selling spring game football tix here in Nebraska. I am so excited about the new coaching change! We are going to kick some ball in the next few years! Go Huskers!
Wonder if they will play spring ball in snowdrifts....
tree68-12F this morning, but it's sunny.
That's gotta be downright painful. I don't know how Canadians survive.
Went with plan "D" for co worker. Weather a factor.Might get 1-100 inches of snow tomorrow.She is going to do mail starting on Monday.Ns had a westbound stack train,cars in the siding and the local was uptown too.Going to check the latest update for totals.
Paul of Covington-- "That's gotta be downright painful. I don't know how Canadians survive."
Curling, Timmies, Hockey, Poutine, Remote Start, Fireplaces, Honey Bunny to curl up with at home, Increase in "indoor activities" besides the Forum and Model Railroading
.....oh, and Snow Machine poker runs are da bomb!
Paul of CovingtonThat's gotta be downright painful. I don't know how Canadians survive.
Surely you jest! We have people around here who bide their time all summer so they can do outdoor sports during the winter!
Mookie They're selling spring game football tix here in Nebraska. I am so excited about the new coaching change! We are going to kick some ball in the next few years! Go Huskers! Wonder if they will play spring ball in snowdrifts....
If I was a Nebraska football coach, I'd be afraid of playing Iowa. Win or lose, Nebraska still seems to fire their coach after the game.
Jeff - we have a new AD and President along with Coach Frost. All are just what Nebraska has been looking for since Coach Osborne. Finally someone got it right. Give us a couple of years - maybe not even that long. I think sanity has finally returned to the state - and then look out Iowa!
They still have to deal with the tree-nuts and big snarling ground rhodents
Hoping to see the ferocious tree-sloths and tree-nuts encounter each other in March Madness....and the tree-nuts sent packing.
It's beginning to look like this may be a really long year. Just got off the phone with the seventh reported case of the locals screwing up and expropriating railroad R/W without the railroad's knowledge or consent. A certain Cls. 1 in Colorado is apparently now the owner of a three bedroom house at the end of an abandoned line they still own the underlying title to. In this case, a county GIS tech and assessor need a trip out behind the woodshed followed by a drive-by slapping of a title company and a real estate agent...
MiningmanCurling
It's -5ºF after the secomd of two blizzards this week.
As long time readers here know, I am a serious Curling fan who had to give up playing several seasons ago after a shoulder/upper arm injury sidelined me.
To add a little RR content. The first community investment almost all Canadian settlements in Western Canada made after their founding was a Curling Rink. These rinks needed Curling Stones, 16 per sheet. These were shipped out from Central Canadian dealers by train. The bean counters from the original western lines CPR, CNoR, and GTP loved this, because they were essentialy shipping rocks at Express rates!
Over 90% of all the Curling Stones ever made in the world continue to exist. As many of the original towns ceased to exist and the rinks abandoned, these same dealers that sold them originaly bought them back and resold them again. As curling became popular in the USA, many of these stones ended up in both large and small US city clubs. It can be both interesting and emotional to flip these stones over, and see the names of the original clubs from long gone Canadian settlements.
On a more personal note, my Dad claimed the most physical 20 minutes of work he ever did on the CPR was caused by Curling Stones. He was only two weeks on the job in June 1948, as a relief agent at either Olds or Innisfail, on the Calgary-Edmonton line, he couldn't remember which. Men with two weeks service didn't tell dispatchers that they were going to have to scrap a plan and reissue orders.
There were two passenger trains, one an all stops local that was about to stop at his station, a first class passenger train, a through freight, and a wayfreight, that were all set to pass each other at Dad's station and the siding north of his. What the Dispatcher didn't know, and Dad didn't know, and the crews of the first class passenger and the two freight trains didn't know, but the crew of the all stops local did know, was they were about to unload Curling Stones coming back from Calgary after being refurbished. Four sheets worth.
Curling stones weigh 44 pounds each and are shipped two at a time in wooden boxes called frames. The local Cruling Rink had four sheets, which meant there were 32 88+ lbs. boxes. The objective was to get these boxes off the train, and get the train out of town, so Dad could OS it before the Dispatcher called him to find out what the **** was going on. Dad, the baggageman, several of the trainmen, and the conductor assisted with the unloading, all the while dreading the Dispatchers phone starting to ring in the office. Dad called to OS the train before the Dispatcher called him. He said he fortunately never had another experince like it.
https://archive.org/stream/cihm_51462#page/n5/mode/2up
https://archive.org/stream/curlingincanada00kerruoft#page/n9/mode/2up
AgentKid Miningman Curling It's -5ºF after the secomd of two blizzards this week. As long time readers here know, I am a serious Curling fan who had to give up playing several seasons ago after a shoulder/upper arm injury sidelined me. To add a little RR content. The first community investment almost all Canadian settlements in Western Canada made after their founding was a Curling Rink. These rinks needed Curling Stones, 16 per sheet. These were shipped out from Central Canadian dealers by train. The bean counters from the original western lines CPR, CNoR, and GTP loved this, because they were essentialy shipping rocks at Express rates! Over 90% of all the Curling Stones ever made in the world continue to exist. As many of the original towns ceased to exist and the rinks abandoned, these same dealers that sold them originaly bought them back and resold them again. As curling became popular in the USA, many of these stones ended up in both large and small US city clubs. It can be both interesting and emotional to flip these stones over, and see the names of the original clubs from long gone Canadian settlements. On a more personal note, my Dad claimed the most physical 20 minutes of work he ever did on the CPR was caused by Curling Stones. He was only two weeks on the job in June 1948, as a relief agent at either Olds or Innisfail, on the Calgary-Edmonton line, he couldn't remember which. Men with two weeks service didn't tell dispatchers that they were going to have to scrap a plan and reissue orders. There were two passenger trains, one an all stops local that was about to stop at his station, a first class passenger train, a through freight, and a wayfreight, that were all set to pass each other at Dad's station and the siding north of his. What the Dispatcher didn't know, and Dad didn't know, and the crews of the first class passenger and the two freight trains didn't know, but the crew of the all stops local did know, was they were about to unload Curling Stones coming back from Calgary after being refurbished. Four sheets worth. Curling stones weigh 44 pounds each and are shipped two at a time in wooden boxes called frames. The local Cruling Rink had four sheets, which meant there were 32 88+ lbs. boxes. The objective was to get these boxes off the train, and get the train out of town, so Dad could OS it before the Dispatcher called him to find out what the **** was going on. Dad, the baggageman, several of the trainmen, and the conductor assisted with the unloading, all the while dreading the Dispatchers phone starting to ring in the office. Dad called to OS the train before the Dispatcher called him. He said he fortunately never had another experince like it. Bruce
Curling
In a similar vein, I worked the Midnight Operators position at Salem, IL. Salem was a regular passenger and mail stop for the Metropolitan Special (Trains 11 & 12). I would show up to work at 10:30 PM and immediately look in the freight room to see what Mail the Post Office had dropped off and then to read the tags and separate it to go East on #12 or West on #11. #12 was scheduled to arrive at approximately 11:40 PM. Normally there were only 15-20 sacks to sort and it was no big deal to get the baggage cart loaded and in position for #12's arrival.
However, there was some monthly hunting magazine that was published, printed and distributed through the Salem Post Office. When the magazine was distributed I would come in at 10:30 PM and find several hundred 'slugs' of the hunting magazine ready to be sorted (slugs are small postal bags that are used for printed materials and are supposed to be weight limited to 70 pounds). Needless to say, when it was hunting magazine night I had work my .ss off to get the slugs sorted and loaded on the baggage cart for #12 and then with the help of the Mail Clerks on #12's RPO get the slugs loaded on board for their further handling. More slugs went East on #12 than went West on #11. Nothing was finer than to sort slugs on a hot July night in Southern Illinois. Number 11 insured that there wasn't a 'early quit' as the train's scheduled arrival time was about 06:10 AM - and it was frequently a little late.
Well mother nature is done for now.2 more rounds to come.Matt was closed today.Going to see if we can get down to Lima tomorrow.Tomorrow night Iowa plays in Columbus.Free rail cam at Fostoria on you tube this weekend.
Wanswheel and Agent Kid--- Thanks for the Curling shout outs.
Curling and Mining go hand in hand, every single Mining community has a curling rink. Been at it since 1970, was skip or vice in great places such as the (old) Granite Club in Toronto and in Burlington, played in a hundred different rinks all over the land and in many Bonspiels. Up here where I am now, 5 years ago, we went undefeated, never lost a single game all season. Love getting into disputes over the rules and making a big fuss, so much fun. Get the icemaster out with the rule book and get the other team all discombobulated. Like using my old corn broom too, makes a mess and screws 'em up. Inevitably after a bad 'pik' the opposing teams rock will take a sudden 90deg turn and pffft.
Then they start hootin and hollerin that my broom is illegal, because these newer clowns have never seen a cornbroom, all they have are those new high tech gizmos. Then the rule book comes out and the rinkmaster rules in my favour....and tells 'em in no uncertain terms it's up to them to insure the sheet is cleaned by them when they are up. Works best if the guy has a thick Scottish accent and crazy thick eyebrows. Now I got 'em because they are off concentration and are mad at me. Another victory.
Course, it's a bit costly because the rules also state the winning team buys a round.
I'm a hard guy...."Hard!...Hard!..Haaaaaarrrrd! Haaaaaaaarrrrrrd!
Mookie Jeff - we have a new AD and President along with Coach Frost. All are just what Nebraska has been looking for since Coach Osborne. Finally someone got it right. Give us a couple of years - maybe not even that long. I think sanity has finally returned to the state - and then look out Iowa!
I just remember that game a few years ago where Iowa had a good lead. However, Iowa being Iowa and only able to play about half a game, let Nebraska come back and beat them. After the game Nebraska fired the coach, who had (IIRC) a so-so record. When someone asked why they were firing him after the come back against Iowa, the AD (or whomever) said, "Yeah, but we were playing Iowa." Along the lines that they should never have been down at any point in the game.
Now in Iowa in that same situation, the coach probably would've gotten a raise. Heck, even though he lost he probably got a raise. UofI foot ball coach=highest paid state employee.
jeffhergert Mookie Jeff - we have a new AD and President along with Coach Frost. All are just what Nebraska has been looking for since Coach Osborne. Finally someone got it right. Give us a couple of years - maybe not even that long. I think sanity has finally returned to the state - and then look out Iowa! I just remember that game a few years ago where Iowa had a good lead. However, Iowa being Iowa and only able to play about half a game, let Nebraska come back and beat them. After the game Nebraska fired the coach, who had (IIRC) a so-so record. When someone asked why they were firing him after the come back against Iowa, the AD (or whomever) said, "Yeah, but we were playing Iowa." Along the lines that they should never have been down at any point in the game. Now in Iowa in that same situation, the coach probably would've gotten a raise. Heck, even though he lost he probably got a raise. UofI foot ball coach=highest paid state employee. Jeff
If either was in the SEC they would be fired again! and again! and again!
I have very fond memories of OK vs NE (Switzer vs Osborne) That was a great football era. Would raise the interest of even the most disinterested observer. Maybe we can go back to that just a little with our new coach and his supporters. Beware Lincoln on game days!
So I ordered a box of coffee. But the UPS trailer was delayed so it got pushed back a day or two. Lousy trains - delaying my coffee.
Then I got to thinking of the infamous coffee thread we had. Even something as innocent as that was completely derailed (pardon the pun). I have to roll my eyes at this site from time to time. Then I thought some more - and I drink more coffee when I'm set up as an engineer than when I am on the ground slinging cars in the yard with a RCO box. Maybe because in the former I have a place to put the cup (usually)?
zugmann So I ordered a box of coffee. But the UPS trailer was delayed so it got pushed back a day or two. Lousy trains - delaying my coffee. Then I got to thinking of the infamous coffee thread we had. Even something as innocent as that was completely derailed (pardon the pun). I have to roll my eyes at this site from time to time. Then I thought some more - and I drink more coffee when I'm set up as an engineer than when I am on the ground slinging cars in the yard with a RCO box. Maybe because in the former I have a place to put the cup (usually)?
DeggestyOf course, it's a lot easier to drink coffee when the container is handy. But when you have to wait until the engine comes by....
And it's a remote engine. Those aren't exactly smooth. My coffee would be all over the back bulkhead.
zugmann Deggesty Of course, it's a lot easier to drink coffee when the container is handy. But when you have to wait until the engine comes by.... And it's a remote engine. Those aren't exactly smooth. My coffee would be all over the back bulkhead.
Deggesty Of course, it's a lot easier to drink coffee when the container is handy. But when you have to wait until the engine comes by....
DeggestyUse a sippy cup?Laugh
I'm sure some on here think I should use one regardless.
zugmann Deggesty Use a sippy cup?Laugh I'm sure some on here think I should use one regardless.
Deggesty Use a sippy cup?Laugh
I already have a hat.
zugmann I already have a hat.
East wind in force today.Mother Nature might be sending ice for tomorrow.Saw some good items on CSX and Ns today as well.Things to work on here at home.
Murphy SidingAll you need now is the T-shirt with an arrow that says "I'm with stupid".
Or this one.
zugmannMaybe because in the former I have a place to put the cup (usually)?
I still can't talk our mechanical folks into putting cupholders in the RS18u's and the Fs...
tree68I still can't talk our mechanical folks into putting cupholders in the RS18u's and the Fs...
We had an engineer that had a little tray that clamped to the top of the control stand of an EMD gp38. I've been getting a dash-9 lately, and those have cupholders.
The standard cabs - I usually just try to sit it in front of the gauges. It usually vibrates off a lot, or falls if a conductor attempts to weld cars together..
hopefully I'm not offending anyone with this post.
zugmann tree68 I still can't talk our mechanical folks into putting cupholders in the RS18u's and the Fs... We had an engineer that had a little tray that clamped to the top of the control stand of an EMD gp38. I've been getting a dash-9 lately, and those have cupholders. The standard cabs - I usually just try to sit it in front of the gauges. It usually vibrates off a lot, or falls if a conductor attempts to weld cars together.. hopefully I'm not offending anyone with this post.
tree68 I still can't talk our mechanical folks into putting cupholders in the RS18u's and the Fs...
Thought the car welder coupling's were a alarm clock for the engineer,
BaltACDThought the car welder coupling's were a alarm clock for the engineer,Wink
5 cars...4...3..far enough "wait...WHAT?!"
Into SoCal terrorizing Chuck's backyard. Promply hit In-N-Out upon arrival.
Having seen what a locomotive knuckle and pilot does to a hi-rail welders truck when the train got out of its limits, I'm getting concerned. BeltPacks have cup-holders? The old CTC dispatcher machines had the switches and lights mounted on vertical boards so the DS could not spill his/her coffee in there.
mudchickenPromply hit In-N-Out upon arrival.
Did you hear the collective gasp from both of us? I am so jealous I can't even write....
Hopefully, we can put you on #5 to Denver next year when In-N-Out opens their first restaurants in Colorado. They are building a commisary/distribution warehouse on the east side of Colorado Springs right now.
#5 will probably stop there each way and never get to their destination!
We used to have an engineer (rest his soul) who liked to "plant" his hitches. We now sometimes refer to such a coupling with his name...
Just completed our annual safety training refresher for the fire department. I set it up, so it's a bit trying. The weather held off, and all of the presenters showed up, so aside from being an exhausting project, it was good. Now I don't have to worry about it until this time next year.
I need a nap.
Mookie#5 will probably stop there each way and never get to their destination!
Naaah, Uber Eats and other locals will meet #5 with all the takeout orders made via the train's Internet connection. And it will be the best of both worlds.
I vote for adapting one of those curl-up baby-bottle warmers so it goes inside a comparatively deep Thinsulated cup holder that snaps onto the RCO, and then connects to get heater power from the battery.
And I think I have seen long insulated straws too, so you can get your Tina Turner coffee with both hands doing something useful. (Or otherwise when not on duty...)
mudchickenInto SoCal terrorizing Chuck's backyard.
You and the darned hummingbirds!
Chuck: he's the one that doesn't hum.....
Mookie Chuck: he's the one that doesn't hum.....
'Cause he knows the lyrics?
I'm not sure. I spend most of my time trying to decide what he is saying. You know, Cryptic Chicken...
Mookie I'm not sure. I spend most of my time trying to decide what he is saying. You know, Cryptic Chicken...
mudchicken Into SoCal terrorizing Chuck's backyard. Promply hit In-N-Out upon arrival.
If the BossHen is tagging along, you may want to consider taking her to Lorna's at 3945 Governor (southest corner of Governor and Genessee, north of CA-52 and east of I-5). Good Italian food at very reasonable prices - taken my wife there for many a date. Note: Lorna's is closed Monday.
Chuck do have cousins that live out that way.Uncle Hank and his family lived out there.As for me no surprise I haven't met a cookie I didn't like.Ns was busy today.Crews were getting ready to wire in the new signals along the NYC main.Chores to do here.
Ns sent a sand hopper train west when I got off of work.The bakers in California must be distant cousins from the Old Country.I have cousins in Ohio I haven't met yet.Did perk my curiosity like a chocolate cream mousse pie would Mookie.Chores to do here.
Ns had cars in the siding.Also sent a westbound after work today.Ran errands in town.Chores to do here at home.
Heard the southbound through train in town today, as well as the local coming out after the first had cleared where they had to go. Didn't get far enough over in time to see either one, but when I swung over that way discovered that McD's was going to miss the lunch rush. Seems someone called in a bomb threat (per local news).
At least it's a nice day - temps in the high thirties and mostly sunny during my shopping trip.
Headed back into town tonight for an amateur radio meeting.
Major snowmelt day today.Matt was delayed 2 hrs this morning.Ns had a westbound frieght in the siding after work.Chores to do.Tomorrow is 1/2 day Friday.
Feeling a little crazy today, but wow, what fun we had!This afternoon we dropped in at our church to deliver a sweater that Pat had made for herself, but was too large for her--but probably not for our pastor. He was delighted with the color and the fit, so it's his now.As we were talking with him and his secretary (she now wants one, too!), I heard a train horn surprisingly well. I walked out of the office to the nearest available window with a view. It was a lovely manifest freight, headed east. To go home (the original plan) we'd have to go west. But Pat, bless her heart, wasn't too far behind me and she knew immediately what was going to happen when I turned east. The train cleared Grace Street crossing before I got there, but my plan was to use the lowered gates to make my turn and go further east. We caught up to the cars in Villa Park, at which time we saw not one, but two westbound stack trains. Not good enough...we continued east to Elmhurst, where the train had just cleared West Road as we were within sight of it. I made another right and continued east, catching up to the cars again. We were able to get onto the street (Park) while the train was still there, running interference for us as we went as far east along the tracks as we could. By this time the train had stopped, probably to attend to a hand-throw switch in the yard. I turned around and headed back west, with Pat taking dictation for me as I made notes on the interesting equipment I saw. Since he was still stopped, I parked (legally) where I could and grabbed the pad and pen to go out for myself. I was taken slightly aback as the westbound scoot came in and blocked my view for a minute, but was able to stay there and get close-up information on some cars. I didn't know what was going to be on the train I saw when I left, but the trip netted me a few good sightings, including a new date for a series that had already been reported, a new series of 375 cars not yet reported in my circle of friends (built last September), and a few other sightings that warrant notes in my own files.As I said, it was a crazy idea to try and pull that one off, but the results were worth it...to me for the information gleaned and to Pat, who just loves it when I'm feeling the thrill of the chase. (There may have been times when her eyes were rolling faster than the train's wheels, but I did nothing illegal the entire trip, I promise!)This weekend I'll go with her on her chase...trying to find good colors for three new sweaters that she expects to need later this winter. I try to be as helpful as possibe on these trips (I am pretty good at matching or coordinating colors for her), and they usually can be accomplished with trips along the "scenic route" (known in other places as the UP West Line).
CShaveRRThis weekend I'll go with her on her chase...trying to find good colors for three new sweaters that she expects to need later this winter. I try to be as helpful as possibe on these trips (I am pretty good at matching or coordinating colors for her), and they usually can be accomplished with trips along the "scenic route"
Having a great mate is so rewarding. Love this Carl.
A bit chilly as the wind was blowing from the Northwest.Ns had cars in the siding and the local was uptown.Took a half day and mamma and I went out to Lunch.Ran errands in Defiance and saw 3 trains on CSX.Chores to do here.Tomorrow will go check up on brother.
Happy Presidents Day, including to the guy on Rushmore that wasn't a surveyor.
Seventy degrees here yesterday, snowing this morning.
mudchickenSeventy degrees here yesterday, snowing this morning.
Too much snow left here for seventy - like to keep the snowmelt down to a reasonable rate.
But it is going to rain, which may be just as bad.
We're getting a steady rain, with a current temperatire of 45, supposed to climb pretty much from here on until sometime tomorrow (close to 60 for the high). We have plenty of snow to lose, but the drains and gutters are ready for it.Tax day today (I think we're ready).
Happy to see moisture in any form. Red flag warnings are getting old along with the burned grass ashes floating through the air.
When I rose yesterday, the temperature was in the upper forties, with snow promised to begin about noon. I did not pay any attention to the weather until I went down for supper about 4:30, and saw it had begun to snow.
When I got up this morning, the temperaure was about 28--and it was snowing. It has stopped snowing now, the sun is shinign brightly, and the roof below my window is covered with snow--and the temperature is 27.
For Carl/Ed/Hegeswich and the others in the Chicago area, an IHB question:
Any idea when the IHB Whiting Branch was removed from service and abandoned from Burnham/129th Street up to Whiting/Indianapolis Avenue? (Big Giggle: The Indiana DOT and the STB identify the thing as abandoned, owner and date unknown) I'm guessing after some major brain damage that its after1983, but no date to confirm. Part of it is now Lake George Trail along Wolf Lake...
Plenty of rain here in Nw Ohio.The ditches are getting full.Ns had a westbound in the siding when I left work.My Dad should go to the window and collect.Just got word that his 21st great grandchild is due in May.(Matt is grandchild 17) Chores to do.
A whole lot of tree sex in NE Florida! A real orgy!
BaltACD A whole lot of tree sex in NE Florida! A real orgy!
Here, too. Temps have been in the low 80's. Everything's starting to turn yellow with pine pollen.
Yup, the pines here are kinda getting frisky...
23 17 46 11
According to the evening news, many people had either their ditch finders or othercar finders on today--after the first heavy snow of the winter.
Deggesty According to the evening news, many people had either their ditch finders or othercar finders on today--after the first heavy snow of the winter.
We're in for a thaw, which could be a bad thing for drivers when we do get another round of winter weather. It's like in the week there wasn't any snow they completely forgot how to drive in the stuff.
Fire in an empty warehouse near here tonight. Two firefighters injured when a wall collapsed. The injuries are not life threatening, fortunately.
tree68 Deggesty According to the evening news, many people had either their ditch finders or othercar finders on today--after the first heavy snow of the winter. We're in for a thaw, which could be a bad thing for drivers when we do get another round of winter weather. It's like in the week there wasn't any snow they completely forgot how to drive in the stuff. Fire in an empty warehouse near here tonight. Two firefighters injured when a wall collapsed. The injuries are not life threatening, fortunately.
The one thing that enables safe driving in snow and ice is space. Space between you and the other cars - space between the other cars.
In today's urban and suburban areas and on the Interstates - the one thing we don't have is space. Without space there isn't room to recover from a minor mistake before hitting someone or something. I don't think drivers are that much worse than they have ever been - there just isn't the room for them to recover from a mistake.
BaltACDThe one thing that enables safe driving in snow and ice is space. Space between you and the other cars - space between the other cars.
The usual problem around here isn't the buffer between vehicles - it's forgetting that the coefficient of friction has changed. Outside the city the majority of the incidents are single vehicles off the road.
mudchicken For Carl/Ed/Hegeswich and the others in the Chicago area, an IHB question: Any idea when the IHB Whiting Branch was removed from service and abandoned from Burnham/129th Street up to Whiting/Indianapolis Avenue? (Big Giggle: The Indiana DOT and the STB identify the thing as abandoned, owner and date unknown) I'm guessing after some major brain damage that its after1983, but no date to confirm. Part of it is now Lake George Trail along Wolf Lake...
+18 at 6:45 this morning,with plenty of snow on the ground (I have not yet heard how much fell overall). The sun is shining brightly now at 9:12.
tree68The usual problem around here isn't the buffer between vehicles - it's forgetting that the coefficient of friction has changed. Outside the city the majority of the incidents are single vehicles off the road.
To steal Ron White's answer, this time to, "What's the coefficient of friction?"
"There isn't one."
CSSH:
Thanks - just a little weird, in spite of all the digging, that nobody even seemed to notice where they were really supposed to. I know some of the surviving bridges up in there are corroded to death (as in you can see through rusted out flanges and webs), but the Lake County records are awful on how that area became a linear park.The Pennsy branch was explained there (died 1965), but not the IHB.
More snowmelt today.More rain in the forecast too.Don't have to get the boat out yet.Ns sent an eastbound stack train when I left work.Chores to do.
Ns had a westbound stack train and the local was uptown when I left work.Mother nature might send us some freezing rain tomorrow morning.Chores to do.
We, up north, seem to be in that 5th season - Summerfallwinterspring...
Extra points if you are old enough to know where I got the name.....
Over +60F here this morning. +36F here now. The snow's pretty much gone, though.
MookieWe, up north, seem to be in that 5th season - Summerfallwinterspring... Extra points if you are old enough to know where I got the name.....
No dilly-dallying around here, Princess, we remember. As clare as a bell. No bluster or buffalo.
It's Howdy Doody Time!
It was +12 here at 7:15 this morning; it'a +21 now, at 8:31 in the evening.
See! This forum isn't just a group of stuffy old men with bad ears and no memory.
Probably remember more details from that simple show than all the reruns of Star Wars....
Congrats Carl & Paul. There must be a little boy(s) in there somewhere...
The peanut gallery
Mookie There must be a little boy(s) in there somewhere...
Funny, but all my life I've had the feeling in the back of my mind that I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm now 77 and I still feel that way.
Paul of CovingtonFunny, but all my life I've had the feeling in the back of my mind that I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm now 77 and I still feel that way.
I always felt that way, too, Paul. I am 3 years behind you and I am still in a quandry. But will keep trying to decide.
I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, or whether I really wanted to grow up. So I’ve just focused on my life’s goal to be a millionaire by the time I’m 30.
MookieProbably remember more details from that simple show than all the reruns of Star Wars....
I remember being heartbroken when they announced they were going off the air.
Murphy SidingI’m 30.
And also when Mr. Rogers was no more -
Before Murphy gets his in here - I watched with my small daughter! My story and sticking to it!
Mookie Murphy Siding I’m 30. Check the harbor - I think that ship sailed already...
Murphy Siding I’m 30.
Check the harbor - I think that ship sailed already...
Mookie And also when Mr. Rogers was no more - Before Murphy gets his in here - I watched with my small daughter! My story and sticking to it!
Paul of Covington Funny, but all my life I've had the feeling in the back of my mind that I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm now 77 and I still feel that way.
As my wife tells me: "Give it up! Your not grown up! You're never going to grow up!"
And, frankly, she's right!
And Murph, I had 6/7 of that million before I was 30; I had all of the zeros.
ChuckCobleighAs my wife tells me: "Give it up! Your not grown up! You're never going to grow up!"
And as they say, growing old is mandatory. Growing up is not...
ChuckCobleigh Paul of Covington Funny, but all my life I've had the feeling in the back of my mind that I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm now 77 and I still feel that way. As my wife tells me: "Give it up! Your not grown up! You're never going to grow up!" And, frankly, she's right! And Murph, I had 6/7 of that million before I was 30; I had all of the zeros.
Mookie Paul of Covington Funny, but all my life I've had the feeling in the back of my mind that I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm now 77 and I still feel that way.
Paul of Covington
And I'm five years older than Paul and am happy with what I have done and experienced but still feel like a kid sometimes (when I'm not feeling old).
tree68And as they say, growing old is mandatory. Growing up is not...
I used to have this in my signaturte page:
Ns local was uptown when I left work.Got a call on the way home.Csx local couldn't get into Standley Elevator because of an engine with a bad traction motor.They couldn't get into GM because the yard track they use has a railgrinder parked on it.Maybe tomorrow.Have chores to do.
Can anyone tell me how to get to Sesame St.??
switch7frg Can anyone tell me how to get to Sesame St.??
Requires a subscription to HBO, I believe. Contact your cable provider for details.
You have to be an HBO subscriber to answer that now.
EDIT: Great! I spend two minutes looking for an appropriate emoticon and Zugs gets on ahead of me!
City of Columbus, Ga has had 5 consecutive days of record high temps. Has anyone ever heard that any city has had 5 consecutive record high days ?
blue streak 1Has anyone ever heard that any city has had 5 consecutive days ?
We just had five consecutive days here, and are about to start on another five...
Oh, wait, you were talking about record temperatures....
In New Orleans seven of the last eight days were record highs, and tomorrow might be another one.
Paul of Covington-- It was -43 here yesterday morning. Sounds like we need to send down some air conditioning and you send up some heat and we will all be happy and temperate!
A temperature pipeline! ...Northern Saskatchewan to New Orleans, one in each direction.
You inhaling or exhaling with that pipe? Does the DEA know about you folks?
MiningmanA temperature pipeline! ...Northern Saskatchewan to New Orleans, one in each direction.
Heresy! On a trains forum you're suggesting pipelines? Fill unit trains of reefers with cold air and send them down here. We'll fill them with warm air for the backhaul.
Yes yes of course. 150 car trains every hour both directions. 3,600 cars a day x2....7,200 cars a day. Landmark buisness! ...and all you have to do is open the doors and hatches. No unloading, nothing.
I suppose we could add some 'atmospherics' to make us all a bit happier and carefree but we don't want any trouble at the border.
ChuckCobleighEDIT: Great! I spend two minutes looking for an appropriate emoticon and Zugs gets on ahead of me!
Great minds and all that.
You spent TWO minutes looking for an emoticon. That's TWO minutes, ha..ha..ha... (Ok, it loses something when typed out).
zugmannYou spent TWO minutes looking for an emoticon. That's TWO minutes, ha..ha..ha... (Ok, it loses something when typed out).
Well, the one I used turned out to be under the bed hiding among the dust bunnies. Crafty little devils, those emoticons.
Miningman -43 here
-43 here
Send some of that to your curling team maybe they'll win the bronze. USA!
ChuckCobleighWell, the one I used turned out to be under the bed hiding among the dust bunnies. Crafty little devils, those emoticons.
That's OK, Pilgrim.
tree68That's OK, Pilgrim.
Thanks. Now you've made me want to pull out "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" for a good watching, though I'll have to wait for the Olympics to get done to get screen time.
ChuckCobleighNow you've made me want to pull out "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence"...
Actually, you've got to find "Scott Pilgrim vs the World..."
Whodathunk department:
I was watching the Deshler railcam a couple of nights ago when a train made the transfer from northbound to eastbound. On the train were a number of cars of steel - I beams, other shapes (it was dark).
Fast forward to this morning. I was enjoying breakfast with a group of amateur radio operators, including a fellow who works for a steel fabrication company. I asked if he was expecting some steel, and sure enough he was. Further discussion brought us to the conclusion that what I saw on the railcam was very likely the same steel he'll be seeing in a couple of days at his place of business...
Larry
CSX how tomorrow moves..
They were not moving very well around Lima last night.Got word that Ns would be working on putting up the new signals between Wauseon and Archbold tomorrow.Might go look after church.Friend in Cincinnati says the city has closed many flood gates around town.More rain for us here tonight.
Watched Ns as they took down the old "NYC" signals.They were going to work on milepost 327 but Mother Nature sent wind today.They were also fixing a broken rail in the crossing in Stryker as well.We then went down to CSX and found some trains too.Back to work tomorrow.
Work busy.Ns continues to crossover the old "NYC" signals along the line.They did the signal bridge at 327 today.Saw a westbound stack train after work.Cars are ready for the local to pick up as well.Chores to do.
Looks like you've had a couple of fairly dry days, there, Joe. Even the "lake" at the park in Deshler seems to be drying up.
Ns had trains both ways after work today.Did see an eastbound flatcar with 3 green tractors.Yes Larry it is drying up.Mother nature going to send us rain/snow tomorrow.Off to lenten service tonight.Matt and friends are serving tacos before church.
We're getting another soaking this morning. There was a chance of snow originally, but it looks like we'll stay on the wet, miserable side of this one. The wind out there will be brutal.And, like an idiot (which, by the way, I don't deny being), I'll be out in it, dressed to the nines (or however many inches of rain we get), watching trains in Elmhurst, most of the time safely in the station. I have a friend coming out, and it's hard to alter schedules.I'm hoping we can last until lunch.Last night was an eye-opening time for me. I figured out a way to get the former numbers from the C&NW car-card files (maintained by the C&NW Historical Society) that moves a lot more quickly than looking up each car one by one. Armed with this trick, I made a table of former P&LE numbers for one series of 90 hoppers acquired by C&NW in 1974, and--the real prize--one for 100 hoppers obtained from the B&O in 1973. And these cars were originally operated by the Norfolk & Western...some perhaps even by the Virginain Railway! Not only did I get the tables done (and confirm the N&W origin with a B&O historian through an exchange of emails), but I made the cross-referencing lists in my B&O and P&LE files.So I deserve this break today, to get out, and get away. Too bad about the weather...(Whom did I quote just now? )
CShaveRR(Whom did I quote just now? )
Some guy who recorded a song about "Brandy" just in time to have Looking Glass release their hit "Brandy" in 1972, thus requiring him to rerecord it as "Mandy" and release it a bit later?
Yep Mother Nature delivered.Rain/snow/yuk.Ns sent and eastbound when I left work.Had to run errands too.Some people found the ditchfinder buttons on thier vehicles.Matt has tomorrow off for a teacher in service.Maybe he'll have the house clean when we get home.
Looks like you're getting a little break, but there's more to come if the radar is any indication.
We may see 4-8" of the white stuff here, but with the temps, it's going to be wet and heavy.
ChuckCobleigh CShaveRR (Whom did I quote just now? ) Some guy who recorded a song about "Brandy" just in time to have Looking Glass release their hit "Brandy" in 1972, thus requiring him to rerecord it as "Mandy" and release it a bit later?
CShaveRR (Whom did I quote just now? )
CShaveRRTotally unfamiliar with that one.
Before his pop music career took off, Barry Manilow recorded a number of commercials singing, among others, the McDonalds jingle you quoted. On one of his tours, which made it to a Barry Manilow Live album, he does a medley of his commercial work, which was very impressive.
He's probably still collecting royalties from the State Farm jingle ("Like a good neighbor. . .").
Ns had a sand train go east with a Blue CN(IC),Ns and Regular CN.They also had a tanker train go west with a NS dash 9,BNSF Gevo and a warbonnet Dash 9 when I got off of work.Sunshine is nice.Going to run errands in town.Might see if csx sends anything by.
With the Michigan campus shootings being the lead news headlines, I'm wondering if the shortline people at Great Lakes Central (GLC / TSBY) had any instruction or police contact about moving trains up there?
Reports seem to vary between his being seen by someone on a train to his being seen on a train.
Newsworkers just "have to look good, don't have to be clear" DEPT.
(and there were earlier reports about shedding clothes on the R/W)
mudchicken Newsworkers just "have to look good, don't have to be clear" DEPT. (and there were earlier reports about shedding clothes on the R/W)
I've shedded clothing on the ROW from time to time...
Randy StahlI've shedded clothing on the ROW from time to time...
MookieI'm going to hope it was just your gloves...
I think every terminal has a story about the old switchman whose raingear was "boots and a smile".
Well Ns has a train with CSX power on the point sitting in the siding in Archbold.Crew said Elkhart didn't want them yet.Mr.Mudchicken saw a sign behind an old state(soon to be old city) highway garage.It was in the ROW of csx.It said begin billable maintenance.Wonder who is charging who?
Saturday, several big rigs were blown off the road between here and Wendover--and the snow came in Saturday night and Sunday morning.
We had no problems with the electrical supply during all of the bad weather--but the power went off here about ten this morning, and did not come back on until about three this afternoon.
Since there is a generator in the building, the elevators were usable, and there is at least one outlet in each room that is connected to the emergency power system. Some of the overhead lights are also connected to that system. We had pizzas for lunch since the kitchen had no power to cook.
Deggestyeelctrical
This sounds fishy to me. Did someone forget to feed the electric eels?
Work still busy.Ns was clear when I left work.Mother nature sending stuff for tomorrow.
Electroliner 1935 Deggesty eelctrical This sounds fishy to me. Did someone forget to feed the electric eels?
Deggesty eelctrical
And I thought I had gone over every line before I sent the message off to you.
Had a thunder storm go thru here hour back. Got up to keep border collie from barking at the thunder. Other wise he will go out to challenge the thunder. Absolutely nothing scares him !
Our spring February temperatures are now over with freezing weather ahead that will kill all our peach trees that have started blooming along with other plants.
blue streak 1 ...freezing weather ahead that will kill all our peach trees that have started blooming along with other plants.
I hope you mean kill the blossoms, not the whole trees. I've had a late freeze do that to my navel orange tree in the past. This year I was afraid the 14 degree freeze last month killed the whole tree, but a few tiny leaves are just starting to come out, so there's hope.
Had to wait on the NS local after work to come home.Errands are done.Chores to do.Snow from this morning is gone.More sprinkles to come.It's NW Ohio weather.
Ditto on the weather, Joe. White to concrete since morning. More tonite, then back to bland...
Hey, Joe - saw a post elsewhere that the "facilities" were gone at the Deshler park. Are they coming back? Might make a difference in my plans this coming summer.
The port a potty is getting replaced by a permanent bathroom.Have to decide the size and get things built.Will be having a meeting coming up soon.Stay tuned.
Snowsqualls on the way home.Ns had some empty cars for the local.Got to play move the office today.Three forklifts together put an office cube on a trailer and out the door she went.Chores to do here at home.
More snow squalls on the way home today.Saw a train each way on Ns after work.Saw 2 westbounds on CSX as I was running errands.Glad tomorrow is Friday.
Ns local was uptown.They also had a westbound autorack train in the siding.They were parked by our parking lot.Usually they wait uptown.Going to see if I can find some CSX tomorrow.Chores to do.
mudchickenIt's finally Friday - gone home to recover. I do not need many more weeks like this one.
Took brother out today.Saw Csx and NS.Csx decided to run a d 743 and Ns ran their L 75.Both work the steel plant in Leipsic.Also got to se a q 016 crawl through Deshler.Dispatcher wanted them to double check the train before it got to North Baltimore.Someone mentioned the new diamond to be installed in Deshler on April 1st.Sprung some clocks ahead already.One clock in the kitchen decided to jump back off the wall after I moved it ahead.Stacey wasn't too upset.Check your smoke detectors too tonight.
Saw CP on Ns this morning.Then after work Ns had a big train in the siding.It had to split a crossing in town.Another big freight passed it.They both had a bit of everything.Hope everyone sprung ahead ok.
We had a quiet weekend, in spite of a few targeted train-watching spots on our way to and from St. Louis. On the way down (Friday), we saw a CSX train in Highland, Illinois, east of the St. Louis metro area (nice quilt shop in town). The train was stopped, and was long enough to require cutting at two rural crossings east of town. I had to content myself with notes on only a couple of cars, as we couldn't get close to it on parallel roads. CSX seems to be mixing stack cars in with the manifest, at least on this train. There were also some loaded auto-frame flat cars, which I seldom see up this way.Saturday we served as judges for the Illinois state Odyssey of the Mind competition. We were roped into this because our daughter Ellen, who is a regional director for the Peoria area, needed to supply enough judges to the pool, so she could enter all of the teams that had been working on projects. Pat and I were judging a problem that involved tweaking a well-known story and adding humor, an argument, some character that didn't appear in the original, an eyewitness to the event (oh...and make it humorous). I was a harsher judge than my wife when it came to handing out points--we could give out up to 50, and my scores were usually around 28. Fortunately for the teams, our category was only one of serveral for which points were awarded. And Ellen's school did well--six teams, five trophies came home with them. (We were able to judge one team from their school, but not the ones in which we had grandchildren--they had different problems to solve, anyway.)Before we left the area, I caught one UP manifest train in the snow, at the top of the hill at Kirkwood. He was moving amazingly fast, given his length and the fact that he had only one unit at each end. The station at Kirkwood, now run by volunteers, has an ATCS screen in the window facing the tracks.On the way home, we got to check out another ATCS screen, the one for the UP at Rochelle. We didn't stay long, as nothing showed up behind the stack train we saw leaving town. There were a couple of trains in each direction while we were on the road, though. I came home to an email with a bunch of unusual freight cars from my pal in eastern Kentucky. He and his wife had been traveling, so these weren't what he was accustomed to seeing, either.
Spent the entire weekend (including Friday night) at a local outdoor show, trying to sell people on amateur radio. We had a surprising number of people who were - now to find out how many follow through.
Next weekend is our chicken barbeque, which will tie me up for most of that time.
(1) This chicken will stay out west next weekend, methinks.
(2) New Mexico caught fire Friday, fire got into Colorado today and will apparently get into the Oklahoma panhandle soon. BNSF is probably grateful, for once that Dalhart to Trinidad is now concrete ties. They have delayed a few trains in Amarillo headed to Denver until the 23000+ Acre smokeout & range fire moves more north of Clayton NM. We are now paying dearly for the dry winter out here. Johnny got a little moisture, but its not getting over the mountains. Smelling smoke here, but not sure who's smoke and ash we are getting. The long gone ATSF Colmor CutOff is in the middle of this thing.
(3) NCAA wouldn't force a march madness meeting between Cincy and Ohio State again. Drat.
(4) Another pedestrian/ train fail near Denver, this time on BNSF. ...and again near a signalled/gated crossing.
MC Ohio State isn't going to be long in the dance.Sister has tickets for the play in games in Dayton.Mother Nature is giving us snow/rain/snow/rain etc etc. Ns has some cars uptown but the main line was clear.Had a loaded coal train for Detroit Edison earlier in the siding.Chores to do.
Ns had an eastbound coal train in the siding when I left work.Snow squalls on the way home too.Chores to do.
We're under a winter storm warning. So far it's been snowing consistently but not heavily. I haven't bothered with the driveway yet.
It's a nor'easter, so the east coast will (again) bear the brunt of it all. Still, we're looking at 8-10", especially if the lake effect machine kicks in.
Don't envy you. Here in Downers Grove, this morning, I was on the way to the library and was a block away from the BNSF crossing with a Metra Scoot stopped at the station and a snow squal almost obscured the train from view. The snow covered the parkways and grass but quickly melted. Temps in low 30's. Now the sun is shining and another snow squal has started. It's almost SPRING.
Ns was clear when I left work.Extended forecast has rain/snow for the first day of spring next Tuesday.Chores to do.
GEESE! We've got hundreds, thousands of them flying north over us today! Lots of focks of blues, snows & honkers against a clear blue sky. This is definately a sign of good things coming our way.
You also got lotsa green tootsie rolls and are using an umbrella for something other than rain?
As my granfather once said after cleaning off his head, "I'm sure glad cows don't fly."
We've got enough local geese that stay home for the winter so it's hard for me to view them as a sign of spring. Seeing red-winged blackbirds on fence posts works better for me.
CSSHEGEWISCH We've got enough local geese that stay home for the winter so it's hard for me to view them as a sign of spring. Seeing red-winged blackbirds on fence posts works better for me.
Yeah - I start getting the red-winged blackbirds at my feeder. And they're here, picking through the snow for the sunflower seeds that end up on the ground.
"I told you we came back too early!"
Not as many geese hanging around this year, though. Not sure why. There have been a few flying over, but we haven't had many clear skies, so it's hard to tell.
We're in the "waiting for spring" season here. I've heard about people seeing robins, but haven't seen any myself yet. Haven't heard the geese overhead yet. But...We do have some crocuses poking up, and our neighbor has his snowdrops. And our local Dairy Queen has been open for a month. And today we're going down to the Flower Show at Navy Pier--by train (and bus), of course!
Well the team survived today.In other March Madness news local team gets to play on Saturday.It's the same day as a commentators daughters wedding.(oops)Ns was clear when I left work.Have report a pedestrian was killed on csx here in town this morning.Ran errands by the yard.The caboose was all alone.Waiting for delivery of girl scout cookies.Chores to do.
Better not be Girl Scout Cookies scattered down the R/W! Got so preoccupied with the Miami bridge oops / construction accident that I forgot about the Aesculus glabra 'nuts playing today. Hope I can listen on the radio to what happens with the fighting tree sloths tomorrow while I'm in southern Colorado. (suspect Electroliner will be watching from his neck of the woods)
mudchickenHope I can listen on the radio to what happens with the fighting tree sloths tomorrow while I'm in southern Colorado. (suspect Electroliner will be watching from his neck of the woods) Add Quote to
Yep, Loyola won in a very exciting ending. A three pointer with seconds to go and the win. WOW. Now to see how Cincinnatti and Xavier do tomorrow
Well, it is not just railroad matters that confuse reporters. This afternoon, a car hit a pole on 3300 South; the scene was on the two channels that I looked at. The first camera was a little way from the pole, and I saw immediately that it was a power pole--which the reporter called a "telephone pole." The rporter on the second channel gave the right description.
When I was growing up, the poles back of the hose carried both power and telephone lines--the same man owned both utilities.
Around here you're likely to find power, cable, telephone (copper), and fiber optics on the same pole. And it will be four different vendors. Maybe five, as we have companies in the area who provide fiber other than the phone or cable people.
During the ice storm, we were under orders not to cut the fiber lines, which I get, as fiber isn't easy to splice...
If we have an incident involving a pole, we usually just worry about the power and have dispatch contact the local utility. Everybody else can figure it out later. The power folks will usually at least make sure the other lines are out of trouble.
The power folks are usually easier to get on the scene than cable or phone.
What confuses the pole problem further is who owns the pole ? Around here it may be Ga power, EMC, ATT, and some cable company. Then who replaces it if it is broken ? Power company usually gets the job and bills the pole owner.
A common protocol is the higher the voltage the higher up on pole the wires are. So usually transmission lines, then feeders for service transformers, cable, and telephone, traffic signal control may be anywhere. Often takes over a year for complete replacement of dangling pole as each service closer to ground company has to wait for comapny above to move its wires to a new pole and saw the pole down further.
Of course RR and light rail CAT has to have all the services above the CAT..
Ns had some cars uptown when I left work.Ran errands in town.Chores and projects for this weekend.
Joe - hope you weren't planning on Pizza from Porky's in Deshler tonight - it appears they have/had a fire in the kitchen. Caught the fire department responding on the YouTube channel...
Well my friends were still able to have their keg and eggs yesterday in Deshler.Better weather today.Csx had to fix a switch problem at east Defiance.There is a G 784 waiting to go Marysville.Dispatcher was double checking the crew qualifacations.The Lackawana unit is trailing on a q 591.It is running through Garrett and eventually Avon yard.Going to a 30th class reunion meeting this afternoon.Weather not going to be very springlike this week.
Update..Pizza oven caught fire no one was hurt.Basketball brackets have teams with large numbers behind them left.Time for bed.
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