Paul of Covington There was a crossing near us that we could take going to Maplewood, MO (lots of good shops there "back in the day" ) MoPac would do switch moves often during the day and gates would be down. Dad would get irritated at the drivers going around them. When it was his turn to be first in line one time, a guy behind him kept honking Dad got out and went back to tell the guy "you can go around me and run the risk of getting killed but I am not moving." He pointed to the Frisco Yard a couple of blocks away and said "I work there and employees will get killed if they do something they should not so I know what a train can do if you are in the wrong place " He came back to the car and the guy stopped honking and never said a word. We waited maybe a total of 15-20 minutes and the switch move was done and the gates came up. A year later MoPac put an overpass there which is still there today, UP and Amtrak use it. SD70Dude You are happy to get stopped at crossings. I once got held up at a crossing for about half an hour. I waited and waited and finally gave up and crossed the tracks when nothing came by.
SD70Dude You are happy to get stopped at crossings.
You are happy to get stopped at crossings.
I once got held up at a crossing for about half an hour. I waited and waited and finally gave up and crossed the tracks when nothing came by.
My Dad used to do this, we would be coming from Maplewood, MO a suburb where MoPac ran and if we got close to crossing and gates started to go down, he would pull on side street that ran next to tracks and we would sit and watch the train. They were not as long in those days and by being on side street, we would not get in traffic mess when gates went up, we would just continue on the road to where it went under an overpass.
Slang term -- " The fibber" Who can list what it is first ?
54light15But no one except maybe ex-pat Brits would call vacuuming Hoovering.
Actually, I have heard it down here.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Overmod 54light15 Yep, everyone I know (myself included) here in Toronna calls electricity Hydro. Isn't the whole utility in Quebec called Hydro?
54light15 Yep, everyone I know (myself included) here in Toronna calls electricity Hydro.
Isn't the whole utility in Quebec called Hydro?
Also BC Hydro, Manitoba Hydro, and the aforementioned Ontario Hydro. Now that I think about it Alberta might be the only Province where most citizens don't call it a hydro bill.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
54light15Yep, everyone I know (myself included) here in Toronna calls electricity Hydro.
Well, that beats my pair of jacks.
Yep, everyone I know (myself included) here in Toronna calls electricity Hydro.
54light15Some words become generic, like Kleenex for tissue or positraction for limited-slip differential.
And speaking of Frigidaires: I'll see your minor poet, and raise you:
To JS/07 M 378(This Marble Monument Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to beOne against whom there was no official complaint,And all the reports on his conduct agreeThat, in the modern sense of an old-fashioned word, he was a saint,For in everything he did he served the Greater Community.
Except for the War till the day he retiredHe worked in a factory and never got fired,But satisfied his employers, Fudge Motors Inc.
Yet he wasn’t a scab or odd in his views,For his Union reports that he paid his dues,(Our report on his Union shows it was sound)And our Social Psychology workers foundThat he was popular with his mates and liked a drink.
The Press are convinced that he bought a paper every dayAnd that his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way.Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured,And his Health-card shows he was once in a hospital but left it cured.
Both Producers Research and High-Grade Living declareHe was fully sensible to the advantages of the Instalment PlanAnd had everything necessary to the Modern Man,A phonograph, a radio, a car and a frigidaire.
Our researchers into Public Opinion are contentThat he held the proper opinions for the time of year;When there was peace, he was for peace: when there was war, he went.He was married and added five children to the population,Which our Eugenist says was the right number for a parent of his generation.And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education.
Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd:Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard.
(Original was in Balt's Bando Blue, as seen here!)
In certain parts of Canada your electricity payment is called the "hydro bill".
Some words become generic, like Kleenex for tissue or Posi-Traction for limited-slip differential. In the U.K. vacuuming is called "Hoovering". Here in Canada if someone eats something quickly, a normal response from someone would be, "You sure Hoovered that up!" But no one except maybe ex-pat Brits would call vacuuming Hoovering.
And speaking of Frigidaires:
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/shel_silverstein/poems/14820
Paul Milenkovic Apple OS X 10.8! "Inside baseball." And they now call it MacOS.
Apple OS X 10.8!
"Inside baseball." And they now call it MacOS.
Espcially now that the major version number is now 11, presumably due to the merger of iOS compatibility for the ARM based machines.
Maybe Apple will start using famous RR place names for their next OS releases, Altamont would be close to home...
Flintlock76Any of you remember your parents calling the refrigerator an "icebox?"
What's unusual is people (many in the South) who call it a 'frigidaire'...
Any of you remember your parents calling the refrigerator an "icebox?"
If a railroader gets in trouble these days he still ends up "talking to the typewriter".
And somehow "when you hear the horn a' blowin' eight to the bar" is just not the same as the original... even if it makes more sense as a jazz-music metaphor...
Horn is not going to work in "Panama Limited" when the girl gets to the top of the stairs and turns back over her shoulder and the whistle evocatively speaks for her...
Shock ControlAnd cheers to you for being cool enough to remember Johnny Mercer!
I'd be a poor student of history, especially the 1940's, if I forgot Johnny Mercer. I've always felt to really understand an era you should have a familiarity with its music.
And Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Flintlock76 Johnny's beyond caring, he's dead! But if you're talking about the song "Blues In The Night" that one was written in 1941. The Steam Era was still very much alive! If Johnny said "whistle," he meant "whistle!"
But if you're talking about the song "Blues In The Night" that one was written in 1941. The Steam Era was still very much alive! If Johnny said "whistle," he meant "whistle!"
Correct sir!
And as you know, various railroad terms dating from the steam era have carried over to the contemporary era, even though they are not quite accurate, for example, "fireman."
Kind of like how the word "tape" is still used as a verb to record something, even though the format may be digital.
And cheers to you for being cool enough to remember Johnny Mercer!
Happy Holidays!
Shock Control Flintlock76 It's not a whistle. It's a HORN. H-O-R-N. Blasphemy! Tell that to Thee Great Johnny Mercer!
Flintlock76 It's not a whistle. It's a HORN. H-O-R-N. Blasphemy!
Tell that to Thee Great Johnny Mercer!
Johnny's beyond caring, he's dead!
I would, but if he doesn't know the difference already, it probably wouldn't do any good.
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Flintlock76It's not a whistle. It's a HORN. H-O-R-N. Blasphemy!
Back to "You might be a railfan if..."
You're putting trains under the Christmas tree and you absolutely refuse to mix eras with your motive power, that is, no GP20's or second or third generation diesels with classic steam, and your freights absolutely positively have cabooses!
[quote user="NKP guy"]
BaltACD My education from High School through college graduation as viewed by the schools nicknames - Railroaders....
The only high school that I've heard of that has "Railroaders" as its mascot is Collinwood High School in Cleveland...because of the New York Central's shops and yards just down the street. Are there others in the USA that have the same mascot name? For example, what's the mascot at Altoona High School? Or at Croton (or would that be Harmon?), NY? What about Roseville High School in California?
The former Renova, PA high school was long known as the "Railroaders" until it became part of a bigger one.
tree68One of our group, who had imbibed perhaps too much hard liquor the night before, swore that the rumbling over the bridge, the horn, and the squealing of the wheels sounded like it was coming right straight through his tent. We all had a good laugh.
Larry, my experience with train horns was on one of my early college co-op assignments. It was with the PRR with a signal and communications gang in Greenfield IN working on the pole line. They were in a camp train on a siding one track away from the St. Louis to Pittsburg main line. It had cab signals and heay 156lb rail and the passenger trains blew for the crossings in town as they roared through at 80+ mph. I rode the train from Cincy to Richmond and a Greyhound to Greenfield, got to the camp about 8 pm on Sunday night, met the gang and was assigned an upper bunk. Went to bed and about 2 am, the Metropolitan roared through town in run 8 laying on the horn sounding like it was coming down the aisle of the bunk car. I hit my head on the ceiling as I sat up. By the end of the second week, I could just roll over and think "there goes #27" But I loved the gang. Hard workers.
tafinorail You talk your Dad into setting up the tent only 75ft away from the CPR mainline. Late at night a long coal drag comes by blowing its crossing horn 300ft from your tent....and your Mom says "I thought you said "near" the tracks, NOT on it!!!"
You talk your Dad into setting up the tent only 75ft away from the CPR mainline. Late at night a long coal drag comes by blowing its crossing horn 300ft from your tent....and your Mom says "I thought you said "near" the tracks, NOT on it!!!"
For several years following the Ice Storm of '98, my department went back and forth with a Southern Tier department that sent three crews to help us out.
They came to our banquets and picnics, etc, we chiefly went to their field days.
A good time was had by all.
One year my department set up an encampment on their field day grounds. After the field day activities settled down, we settled in around a campfire for camaraderie and libations.
About 6 AM on Sunday morning a northbound came through town on the old Erie mainline. A trip by rail through Hancock, NY involves around a half dozen crossings and the old double track truss bridge over the Delaware River.
Of course, I was up and out of the tent in a flash to observe the admittedly slow speed action. And the engineer was being as courteous as possible with the horn.
Did I mention that the trip through Hancock also involves a pretty significant curve?
One of our group, who had imbibed perhaps too much hard liquor the night before, swore that the rumbling over the bridge, the horn, and the squealing of the wheels sounded like it was coming right straight through his tent.
We all had a good laugh.
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...
Paul MilenkovicAnd they now call it MacOS.
Overmod NKP Guy ... what's the mascot at Altoona High School? Apple OS X 10.8!
NKP Guy ... what's the mascot at Altoona High School?
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
NKP Guy... what's the mascot at Altoona High School?
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