Jeff, thinking about your turkey hobo, I was wondering if future generations of birds might learn to ride northbound or southbound trains for their annual migration. They could save a lot of energy.
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"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
jeffhergertWhile it was passing, we saw on a single level stack car said turkey on top of the container along for the ride. Last seen, it was headed west.
Maybe the bird will post a YouTube video soon...provided it makes it through Thanksgiving!
evening
Ns had a westbound frieght in the siding.The also sent a westbound power move after work.Nice sunshine after this past weekend.Tomorrow guessers say mid 60's.Chores to do.
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").
Well, one less container to ride the rails - it's been duly planted at our fire training center. It'll hold the fuels for our burn facility (hay, some pallets).
In the spring we'll give it a coat of paint.
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...
Interesting day today, on what should have been a 30-minute (or less) blood draw.First of all, the railroad had had signal problems out west this morning, at a control point known as "Peck" (and identified as "near Geneva" on the advisories). This basically disrupted the rush-hour scoots, and caused freights to be held out of the way. All of the trains that went through Peck had to stop, have someone get down and inspect the switches, than reboard before they could go through there. The problem must have spread, as we saw signalmen at many grade crossings, up on some of the signal bridges etc. So, in mid-morning, around the time that the store Pat needed to visit in Wheaton was open, we set out (the original mission was a blood draw for me, which I usually have done in Glen Ellyn). An eastbound was crossing Elizabeth by us, and crossing over from Track 2 to Track 1 down at Grace. When that cleared and the northbound (we) could cross the tracks, I noticed a headlight down to the east. I had figured that the westbound whose headlight we saw was also on Track 2 would be coming west, as soon as the eastbound got out of its way at the crossovers at Grace. So, naturally, we turned right toward Grace instead of left toward Wheaton (our car seems to sense these things--who am I to object?). When we got to Grace and crossed the tracks again, I noted two things: the headlight for the westbound train was on Track 3, not 2; and Track 2 was occupied by the hind end of an eastbound freight train!So we went further east, noting that both trains were sitting there. I was hoping the guy on 2 would start up and block us somewhere, but he didn't. I also noticed that the guy on 3 was a long one, and had the crossing blacked at CP Plow (Addison Road, for those not in on the joke). So we went back west, through Lombard, where an eastbound scoot, close to on time, just after 10:00, was leaving Lombard--Track 1 was open for him to get through. As we got to Glen Ellyn, I noticed that the first distant signal for the control point "University" was clear, so we decided to go through to shop at Wheaton, rather than stop for my blood draw. That was a good move...the train that had been stopped at Grace came through soon after we'd parked. We did our shopping, then went to Glen Ellyn for my blood draw (the lab was decorated in a vampire motif...who'd-a thunk?). As we left the lab, we noted that it was getting toward lunchtime, so we decided to dine in Glen Ellyn. But as soon as we got in the car, we heard a horn! It wasn't scoot time. By the time we got to Pennsylvania Avenue out of the parking lot, the train--another manifest--was headed west. So we turned right, hoping to overtake the head end before Wheaton again. No chance--he was moving slightly faster than we could.At the next grade crossing I was able to get into position to cross behind it...but first, a stack train came through on Track 1, blocking my view of a few good cars. There was no way I was going to head further west, so we took Hill Street back to Prospect and downtown to park for lunch. We were at this spot while one scoot (westbound on 3), an auto-rack train (westbound on 3), a stack train (eastbound on 1), and another manifest (westbound on 2) all came through. More good stuff on a couple of these trains for my files.It was when we were headed home from lunch that I saw how nice the trees were looking along Crescent, so I asked Pat to take a video. Toward the end of the video, we noticed the westbound stack train (on Track 2, I think), and she got a quick grab of one of the pink "ONE" containers we're seeing more and more of.
Yes, that's a scenic road from Glen Ellyn to Lombard. Historically, it was built as the original right-of-way for the railroad? That was back when it was a single-track line, the first railroad west from Chicago, in 1849. By the 1870s, it had been expanded to two tracks and rebuilt on the straighter, higher alignment in use today.But yes, this is how we roll, why some trips take longer than we expect them to, and how I keep busy (two of the cars I saw today are nearly new, and I'll have to write another report before the end of the month to accommodate them). But yes, we enjoy ourselves and our trips. It wasn't always this way, and I'm grateful for how the gears have meshed over the decades and decades we've been together. <3
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)
80 degrees yesterday, less than 40 today and it's snowing. Fall in the Rockies.
(Weatherliar U. freshman class introduced to the weather machine with all those mysterious dials and gauges?)
And Carl: The bloodsuckers at the blood bank visit here tomorrow.
So, what flavor are you donating? Gator or Dew?
Ns must be doing it's precision railroading.Same train still in the siding at work.Does have an old WP boxcar next to a NDEM boxcar.The local was in town as well.Matt is off to his language arts festival tonight at school.Stacey says he looks pretty snazzy all dressed up.Going to do chores.
Ns train still there in the siding tonight.Heard a few reports.The ND&W derailed in Antwerp Ohio.Csx hit a tow truck near St.Joe Indiana(as the crew was moving a disabled car).Hulcher was called to Ns in New Haven.Work still busy.Computers aren't talking well to each other yet.Time for supper.
Train vs wrecker last night just over the state line from you, Joe. Wrecker lost, but apparently no one was hurt.
Trick or treating going slowly. Big rush for about five minutes, now it's quiet again...
Good thing I've got the fire meeting tomorrow night - I can unload it there.
Hey - Carl > Saw a bunch of new-looking 3 bay covered hoppers on the Deshler cam this morning. IARX, 54000 series. Came from the south, headed east.
Ditch filling rain falling in Nw ohio.Ns still has original train in the siding.Also an eastbound coal train on track 1.When I left work another eastbound frieght split both of them on track 2.Computers and engineers are still having problems talking to each other.They do not fully understand how us operators do things.Going to eat supper and get cleaned up.
Carl: I recently saw new PFPX 156715, 156718 and 156720. I found a STB filing for PFPX 156700-710, but not these cars.
CShaveRR So, what flavor are you donating? Gator or Dew?
Hi, Colin!It should be PFPX 156701-156710. Those were built in November 2017; they were joined by 156711-156730 this past February. These are high-capacity gons for woodchips or other commodities of similar density.This company (Calpac, L.L.C.) has also owned covered hopper cars (since 2001-2002) and large tank cars (since 2013). I haven't seen any of these cars for myself yet.
Thanks! Hope this helps with the file effort.
PFPX seems to own a lot of the very old and very, very battered chip gons as well.
Well Ns ran trains eastbound and westbound when I got off work today.The local just has some cars uptown.Tomorrow I'll work on the leaf collection out in the yard.
Went from 70s to a rainstorm rivalling a hurricane. Welcome to November.
good morning
Don't forget to "Fall back" on the clocks tonight.Also change those smoke detector batteries.Stuff inside to do then out to the yard.
Rain outside.Was a good day to clean up the yard yesterday.Went into town as well.Csx brought back a former NYC unit on s 370.It went west on q 389.Need to give hugs this week.
I saw that unit (F unit) go through Deshler on the cam there, but there was rain on the camera and it was impossible to pick out any details.
Spent my budget at the train show in Syracuse - nothing spectacular, though, other than a fire truck into which lights had been mounted.
Ns was clear when I left work.After work tomorrow need to vote and give hugs.Matt is off Thursday from school.His friends on the volleyball team are heading to Dayton for the state championships.Meanwhile on Friday 2 Mercer county schools need to play their playoff game in Sidney.(State football turf rules).Time for supper.
We're getting a soaking rain here tonight...might delay plans to rake/sweep leaves one of these days. Temperatures are supposed to drop tomorrow, and they're using the S word in the forecasts for later this week.Last weekend I saw a box car from the Huron Central Railway--HCRY. These are mostle former HS cars (same numbers), but began life as Railbox cars. I have nearly 300 of these to go through, one by one, to see where they came from.We had a scare concerning daughter Linda today. She suddenly lost most of her cognitive capabilities. Turned out to be an inflammation of her meninges--no now lesions, thankfully. A different steroid should solve that problem.
Voted first thing this morning (and first!) in no small part because I'm the guy who had to let the poll workers in to the polling place.
Bob - Should I invest in suture thread?
BOB WITHORNRecovering nicely from foot surgery last Friday the 2nd. Doing well enough I decided to move right into kidney stones, just in time for carpal tunnel surgery on the 19th. Other then that, it's just another boring day in Flint, Mi., the lead tainted water capital of North America.
tree68Voted first thing this morning (and first!) in no small part because I'm the guy who had to let the poll workers in to the polling place.
Just think - you could have started your own coup d'état by not unlocking that door.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
Voted - in and out in 10 minutes.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
zugmannJust think - you could have started your own coup d'état by not unlocking that door.
I checked in a lunch time to make sure they were OK, facility-wise, and they were fretting about the large numbers of voters so far - almost afraid they'd run out of ballots...
tree68 zugmann Just think - you could have started your own coup d'état by not unlocking that door. I checked in a lunch time to make sure they were OK, facility-wise, and they were fretting about the large numbers of voters so far - almost afraid they'd run out of ballots...
zugmann Just think - you could have started your own coup d'état by not unlocking that door.
There is no excuse for running out of ballots - the number of registered voters at a poling place is known - that number of ballots + a percentage for 'spoiled' ballots - wherein the voter marked one thing and realized it was in error and needed a fresh ballot to start all over again.
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