afternoon
Ns was clear after work.We have sunshine for now.Have 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").
Got a call from the auto shop this morning - the part isn't in. On to Thursday for that.
Almost sixty here right now, though. Can't complain about that. OTOH, the fuel oil tank got topped off. Maybe that'll be it for this year...
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...
evening
Ns sent a Carl special westbound after work.Mostly sand hoppers anda mid dpu unit.On Csx q 010 had problems with a traction motor fire today.the bad unit was set off in the Defiance yard.Took care of yardwork today.Guessers say more rain.Brother might be moving down rt 49 to a new place.Hope it works out.
Ns was clear after work.Went into town and ran errands.Glad tomorrow is Friday.Going to check on brother after work.
Took the truck to the shop this AM. They had a bear of a time getting the old parts off (front sway bar), but now the "klunk" is gone. The old girl doesn't owe me anything - 230,000 mostly north country miles...
Of course they had a 'bear of a time' getting the crusty, rusty old parts off. You live in New York.
Sway bar replacement on a Impala
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMh8VKfLH_Y
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACDOf course they had a 'bear of a time' getting the crusty, rusty old parts off. You live in New York.
Definitely a torch involved. All they replaced was the links, though, not the whole sway bar. Shop owner is a good friend of mine.
Ns was clear after work.Checked on brother.Ns sent 1 stack train west.Matt was able to watch q 352 near St.Joe.Going to go to Deshler tomorrow.Sunday for mothers day might need a boat.
Went to Deshler to do some clean up in the museum.Q 506 had some big panel track going north.Saw a few other surprises.Matt went with a friend over to Fostoria to help there as well.Busy day.Time to get cleaned up.
All eastern persons. Might want to keep your cars filled. Colonial pipeline ranson ware shutdown maybe 2 hours maybe 2 weeks ?
This potentially worse than the break in Alabama as both pipe lines not pumping. Alabama one was the smaller pipe in 2016(?)
Happy Mothers Day.Have been watching the railcam in Deshler.We have plenty of rain and even some snow.Calling for a frost advisory tonight.Getting word that a possible green BNSF(sd 70 mac) Mookie engine will be leading a coal train on Ns to go to Michigan.Somewhere she is smiling.Back to work tomorrow.
JoeKoh.Have been watching the railcam in Deshler.
We're getting rain tonight, then maybe a couple of dry days.
Saw my first hummingbird of the season on the new hummingbird feeder. I suspect there have been others, as the level of the nectar has been steadily dropping. Repurposed a "regular" bird feeder as an oriole feeders. Haven't seen any takers yet, but there are definitely orioles in the area, per reports from friends.
I've had a regular visitor in the form of a male cardinal. Normally the males and females are seen together in pairs. I suspect this is either a new bachelor looking for a mate, or an unlucky fellow who lost his mate.
I normally quit feeding the birds by now, but they've been most entertaining this spring.
Ns had some cars uptown after work.Got a little more rain today.Tell people that visit Deshler when we get a good rain the swamp wakes up.Got a surprise today.Our windows are going to be installed next week. Chores to do here.
Ns sent an eastbound Carl special after work.They also had more cars uptown.Came home and mowed the swamp.Tomorrow we go into town so Matt can mow.Getting stuff ready for the weekend.Going to be nice.
Ns sent a westbound autorack train after work.Matt and I went into town to take care of yardwork.Plenty of people in town asking hey while you are here.Area kids must be too busy doing other things.Just need to pack our bathroom stuff and we are set for the trip.The shenanigans begin tomorrow after work.
Evening!Joe has been kind of busy these past couple of days. I can attest to today; we spent many delightful hours together at what now passes for Pine Junction (Clark Road). We went to lunch at the Great Lakes Cafe in Gary (a long-time favorite of Pat's and mine), then back for more trains, and a good Mexican dinner at Mi Maria Bonita in Griffith, which has a small outdoor dining area at what has to be the busiest CN-CN diamond in the U.S.A. now, Durand notwithstanding. And we couldn't get out of town before two more CN freights went through!I had a rough day, though--balance problems, exacerbated by loose footing landed me on my back for a while...thanks to Muscular Matt, who got me upright again. Note to self: don't ever do this again without a cane--you're no match for those cobbles!So do as Joe says, not as I do...stay safe!
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)
Good Evening
Back at home.Had a fantastic time.Plenty of surprises at Pine Junction.Had the Southshore come and deliver to CN.The IHB came across NS to go to thier other yard.Plus all the variety of power that CN had.Then Csx and Ns sent trains as well.Have plenty of pictures to download.Was also able to spot another crossing and small industry yard for Carl.On the way home we stopped at North Judson and checked out their equipment.We also checked on my brother in Edgerton.Ns sent a Carl special east and west while we were there.Came home and took care of the swamp as well.Going to relax.Back to work Monday and Matt gets to come along.
Speaking of CN. On my way home last night got stopped by a Northbound which had a couple of two bay hoppers still in Boston & Maine paint. Pretty cool!
Ns has a bnsf powder river coal train waiting to go east at work.Ran errands after work.Csx was working in the Defiance yard.Matt said he saw a couple B&M hoppers while we were at Pine Jct.We also found some special Cn Boxcars that help keep up the air on longer trains.Plus professor Carl spotted some new cars for containers as well.You just never know what will roll by next.Tomorrow is meeting night in Deshler.Guessers say summer is coming for the weekend.
FD called out today for a low hanging wire. The location given was off by almost a half mile, but we found it and stayed until the utility folks could remedy the situation.
Word to the wise department - if you see someplace that has lots of flashing lights, people directing traffic, and traffic cones, please slow down. I stopped one van that wasn't slowing down and was greeted by "how slow do you want me to go?" I pointed out the wire hanging low across the road and he still couldn't see it at first. I asked if the van was going to clear it, and I guess at that point it clicked...
People who can't seem to slow down have probably never directed traffic at a scene before...
If they don't slow down, I stop them, then let them go...
tree68 FD called out today for a low hanging wire. The location given was off by almost a half mile, but we found it and stayed until the utility folks could remedy the situation. Word to the wise department - if you see someplace that has lots of flashing lights, people directing traffic, and traffic cones, please slow down. I stopped one van that wasn't slowing down and was greeted by "how slow do you want me to go?" I pointed out the wire hanging low across the road and he still couldn't see it at first. I asked if the van was going to clear it, and I guess at that point it clicked... People who can't seem to slow down have probably never directed traffic at a scene before... If they don't slow down, I stop them, then let them go...
Surveyors doing roadwork can sympathize with the firemen. (and then we just witnessed cable utility crews installing f/o/c that sagged almost two feet below the minimum clearance allowed by NESC - absolutely clueless).... Don't even start talking about the reckless buried utility installation contractors.
mudchickenDon't even start talking about the reckless buried utility installation contractors.
At least we don't have to worry about them hanging low or coming completely down...
One morning several years ago, an insulator on an electrical primary failed during a wind event. Because the wire was still supported by the adjoining poles, no one noticed - until the wind changed and blew the wire back in toward the pole. It contacted the messenger cable to which a fiber optic line was secured, turning the messenger into one long heating element, vaporizing the FO cable over about four spans of poles. One of the spans went over the road (state highway).
There were several drivers in the immediate vicinity - I'm sure some shorts had to be changed...
The burning insulation started grass fires - which we were a little leery of putting out for fear there were live wires in the mess. Turns out there weren't, but better safe than sorry.
For those who don't know, there are often upwards of 100 individual fibers in those cables. It wasn't long before one of the users of that cable came along, looking for why his customers were out of service. He found the reason right there.
Once the electric utility arrived and did their thing, we split, but the FO people were there long into the night, splicing in a new section of cable.
Splicing FO cable is an exacting process. I've seen it done first hand.
tree68Splicing FO cable is an exacting process. I've seen it done first hand.
Splicing any cable of consequence back together is an exacting process - be that cable fiber optics or hard wires. Exacting and tedious.
BaltACDSplicing any cable of consequence back together is an exacting process - be that cable fiber optics or hard wires. Exacting and tedious.
I've done wire, too.
Some years ago there were two fires in relatively short order in Milford, MI. First was a lumber yard (big shed - something over 100 feet long) that took out at least one 600 pair cable (I believe). General Telephone had splicers from all over Michigan to deal with it. Ironically, one of the pairs was the one that activated the village fire siren...
A few years later, the former lumber yard office burned, with the same result.
The thing to remember about those big copper phone cables is that there are only so many color combinations possible, so there are sub-bundles that use the same color codes. At one point, I supposedly knew the general order of things for such cables. Nowadays I have trouble remembering the order for a Cat5 cable...
Ns still has a coal train to go eastbound.Had a meeting in Deshler tonight.Clean up museum day is this Saturday.Mother nature isn't going to be nice with the tempratures.Saw a few csx trains as well.Tomorrow the contractors come and install new windows.Said the whole crew is coming so hopefully it might be a 1 day job.Matt and I have a few more things to move around in the morning.
Those B&M "hoppers" were actually small-cube covered hoppers...still in B&M blue, but relettered and renumbered for a different company.
I'm still mining the gems from the notes I took on Friday's expedition to Pine Junction and Griffith.
CShaveRRThose B&M "hoppers" were actually small-cube covered hoppers...still in B&M blue, but relettered and renumbered for a different company.
We used to have cuts of them that went by here on there way to a cement place a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure that they still had BM reporting marks.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.
zugmann CShaveRR Those B&M "hoppers" were actually small-cube covered hoppers...still in B&M blue, but relettered and renumbered for a different company. We used to have cuts of them that went by here on there way to a cement place a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure that they still had BM reporting marks.
CShaveRR Those B&M "hoppers" were actually small-cube covered hoppers...still in B&M blue, but relettered and renumbered for a different company.
The two I saw were still lettered for Boston & Maine. I didn't catch the reporting marks though.
mudchicken Don't even start talking about the reckless buried utility installation contractors.
Don't even start talking about the reckless buried utility installation contractors.
I remember a friend's comment when MCI was installing fiber along the Surf Line in the early 1990's: "MCI and Railroad safety should never be used in the same sentence". Then again, it's a bit disconcerning to see what kind of many storied buildings get approved in close proximity to airport boundaries - should own up to many flights in and out of Lindbergh Field...
ns had a couple cars uptown after work.Came home and the contractors were done with most of the outside.The front window got squared off okay.Friend Zach saw the Ns ocs go through Wauseon.After an errand I came home and did yardwork.Matt goes into town tomorrow for yardwork duties.Guessers still say warm for this weekend.
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