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Is the forum dead?

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 6:13 PM
 chad thomas wrote:
 vsmith wrote:
 gabe wrote:
 vsmith wrote:
 chad thomas wrote:
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Now that's funny!!!!

 
Methinks this RR might also fit in a spare bedroom or basement. Wink [;)]Big Smile [:D]

My legal department is attempting to use the government's power of eminent domain to acquire the more spacious and dry attic.  However, my wife's legal department has since reminded me who truly has the right of way . . . . I think I would much rather deal with the STB any day.

Gabe

 
I've been having the same "legal access" troubles myself for awhile now ...

 

Hey, At least you guys have the real estate to get access to.......(apartment liveing sucks)

 
I thought thats what N gauge was invented for?

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 6:12 PM
 Limitedclear wrote:

Two words guys:

Steel Building

Mine works great. Away from the family, I can put two of my locomotives in it and my office has my law library, a cot and bathroom with a shower if I have "legal" issues at home...

LC

 

two more words
 
No Room....well, actually the new garage is supposed to be my place to go ape-Censored [censored] with my trains, but things always have a way of happening to my layout locations....

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by Limitedclear on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 5:38 PM

Two words guys:

Steel Building

Mine works great. Away from the family, I can put two of my locomotives in it and my office has my law library, a cot and bathroom with a shower if I have "legal" issues at home...

LC

 

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Posted by chad thomas on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 4:54 PM
 vsmith wrote:
 gabe wrote:
 vsmith wrote:
 chad thomas wrote:
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Now that's funny!!!!

 
Methinks this RR might also fit in a spare bedroom or basement. Wink [;)]Big Smile [:D]

My legal department is attempting to use the government's power of eminent domain to acquire the more spacious and dry attic.  However, my wife's legal department has since reminded me who truly has the right of way . . . . I think I would much rather deal with the STB any day.

Gabe

 
I've been having the same "legal access" troubles myself for awhile now ...

 

Hey, At least you guys have the real estate to get access to.......(apartment liveing sucks)

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 4:10 PM
 gabe wrote:
 vsmith wrote:
 chad thomas wrote:
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Now that's funny!!!!

 
Methinks this RR might also fit in a spare bedroom or basement. Wink [;)]Big Smile [:D]

My legal department is attempting to use the government's power of eminent domain to acquire the more spacious and dry attic.  However, my wife's legal department has since reminded me who truly has the right of way . . . . I think I would much rather deal with the STB any day.

Gabe

 
I've been having the same "legal access" troubles myself for awhile now ...

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by Mookie on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 2:03 PM
And a very smart lawyer you are!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by gabe on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 2:00 PM
 vsmith wrote:
 chad thomas wrote:
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Now that's funny!!!!

 
Methinks this RR might also fit in a spare bedroom or basement. Wink [;)]Big Smile [:D]

My legal department is attempting to use the government's power of eminent domain to acquire the more spacious and dry attic.  However, my wife's legal department has since reminded me who truly has the right of way . . . . I think I would much rather deal with the STB any day.

Gabe

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 12:41 PM
 chad thomas wrote:
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Now that's funny!!!!

 
Methinks this RR might also fit in a spare bedroom or basement. Wink [;)]Big Smile [:D]

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by MP173 on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 10:42 AM
Gabe:

Lets talk Illinois Central.

I will start a new thread.

ed


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Posted by chad thomas on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 9:54 AM
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Now that's funny!!!!

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Posted by gabe on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 9:13 AM

Real or older men?

Sorry, couldn't resist.  My Dad tells me much the same thing.  However, my first train memories were the orange and while Paducha rebuilds and the axing of the IC line through Mt. Olive, Illinois forever cemented those orange and white units for me.

Wabash/N&W/NS just were not the same for me.

Gabe

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Posted by Mookie on Tuesday, August 8, 2006 7:16 AM
 greyhounds wrote:

Real men buy black with green diamonds.

Not sure how that will look on my finger, but hey - anything with diamonds is appreciated!  Kisses [:X]

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by greyhounds on Monday, August 7, 2006 11:52 PM
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Real men buy black with green diamonds.

"By many measures, the U.S. freight rail system is the safest, most efficient and cost effective in the world." - Federal Railroad Administration, October, 2009. I'm just your average, everyday, uncivilized howling "anti-government" critic of mass government expenditures for "High Speed Rail" in the US. And I'm gosh darn proud of that.
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Posted by rrandb on Monday, August 7, 2006 11:32 PM
With the danger of responding to the original post and possibly incurring the rath of previous posters I personally have not posted since the change. What brought me to the forum in the first place was the superior quality of there news line as compared to carlstens site. I had very few posts for many years until I got in the middle of some afor mentioned flame wars. While receiving some good information the need to first put on knee high water proof boot, then hip waders and finally a full body dry suit made what knowledge gained seem hardly worth it. I will go to the kindergarten  shoving match site in the future for this sort of entertainment. When the lauguage and inuindo's are no longer appropriate for my 8 year old to read at a family web site I will have lost all interest. Karstens has allways produced publication you could be proud to share with your children or grandparents. The same can not be said of there forum. Some slugfests may be more appropriate for private chat rooms. While not dead it may have been mortally wounded. Time will tell. I am routing for it to survive but as of now the jury is still out. Good luck and as always ENJOY
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Posted by Poppa_Zit on Monday, August 7, 2006 5:42 PM
 TheAntiGates wrote:
 Poppa_Zit wrote:

I just like to see a level playing field, that's all.

 



I agree, the White Sox ARE playing like a bunch of girls


Laugh [(-D] Laugh [(-D] Laugh [(-D] Laugh [(-D]

Although one of the Thought Police here is sure to be quick to point out that the phrase "playing like girls" is not PC. Big Smile [:D]

I never was much of a Sox fan. My Dad was/is a huge Cubs fan and passed on the disease to his sprouts, but the Cubbies have disappointed me so many times over the years I've finally given up. So I just "root" -- meaning if they do well, fine, but if they don't I refuse to let it ruin my day.

 

"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. They are not entitled, however, to their own facts." No we can't. Charter Member J-CASS (Jaded Cynical Ascerbic Sarcastic Skeptics) Notary Sojac & Retired Foo Fighter "Where there's foo, there's fire."
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Posted by Limitedclear on Monday, August 7, 2006 5:41 PM
 gabe wrote:

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

Gabe -

Welcome to the short line business. I expect to see you at all the meetings. I need somebody good to spell me on the many legal committees too. We should talk about the many creative ways to run your business...

Having a great legal department counts for more than you think...

LC

 

 

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 7, 2006 5:40 PM
 Poppa_Zit wrote:

I just like to see a level playing field, that's all.

 



I agree, the White Sox ARE playing like a bunch of girls


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Posted by edblysard on Monday, August 7, 2006 5:24 PM

I wonder how that goes in Russian?Big Smile [:D]

 

Just occurred to me…if Mike knows who makes how many posting in what threads, on what subjects…then he would be keeping score, and tracking who post where…sounds like the real thread stalker has come out of the closet after all…

 TheAntiGates wrote:
 edblysard wrote:

Better yet, if the priest presents himself as a expert on astrophysics, then his background and education would matter, yes?…or do you routinely hand over a running reactor to someone who only tells you they know what to do in a  loss of coolant accident?

 



Not to mention the terror that would accompany turning over a reactor to an operator who's "solution"  for problem solving begins with a recital of   the lords prayer

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Posted by gabe on Monday, August 7, 2006 5:23 PM

Actually,

My railroad resume is pretty pathetic.  I own a railroad, and it routinely loses money.  I insist on buying orange and while Illinois Central units even though there is need for considerable track work and siding built for my customers, and the cost of roling stock keeps going through the roof.

It has one heck of a legal department though . . .

Gabe

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Posted by csxengineer98 on Monday, August 7, 2006 5:11 PM
After reading all 6 pages of this thread..i have to make a comment of my own....
insted of some of you people ingaging in a perverbial tool messering contest on to who is the most or least knowelagebe about what ever the hell you all are talking about... why dont you put that mental energy to some creative use and acutly come up with some topics that are worth disscusssing...

since somepoeple seem to dought  some of the railroaders that post on here actuly working for a railroad...well to clear the air on that with me....i am an engineer with csx transportation... i went to the csx training programe in at the phily community college in 1998 and complited the programe with passing grades and a job offer from csx.  i worked as at TT (trainman trainee) for 4 months..and then was marked up as a conductor with csx in the summer of 1998... i then was called to csx engin training school only a week later to start engin training when the csx engineers training school was in cumberland MD... i worked as an ET (engineer trainee) for 9 months befor becomeing a FRA certified locomotive engineer with csx in the early summer of 1999.. i have been FRA certifed ever since.  short of giving you my work location and emoplyee number (which no body will ever get from me on a message board) that is the best i can do..take it or leave it...

now that said... yes i think the forums are on the endangered list..nothing worth commenting on for a while now... and this thread in my book dosnt count as making the forum "active" it just more or less shows that some people have nothing better to do or come up with to contribute to it.
csx engineer


"I AM the higher source" Keep the wheels on steel
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 7, 2006 5:08 PM
 edblysard wrote:

Better yet, if the priest presents himself as a expert on astrophysics, then his background and education would matter, yes?…or do you routinely hand over a running reactor to someone who only tells you they know what to do in a  loss of coolant accident?

 



Not to mention the terror that would accompany turning over a reactor to an operator who's "solution"  for problem solving begins with a recital of   the lords prayer

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Posted by chad thomas on Monday, August 7, 2006 4:56 PM
 vsmith wrote:
 
Just another flamefest, got any hot dogs, someone hide the popcorn machine, Oh Chad?

Figgured were gunna need a few buckets for this thread.Big Smile [:D]

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Posted by vsmith on Monday, August 7, 2006 4:48 PM
 
Just another flamefest, got any hot dogs, someone hide the popcorn machine, Oh Chad?

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by doghouse on Monday, August 7, 2006 4:42 PM
 Pathfinder wrote:
 Randy Stahl wrote:

Great ... another thread gone to waste , yet another waste of time about forum members and personalitys,   not much useful info here for sure .



I'm new here, does this happen a lot?

Yes.       However, its nice to see people so passionate about something they enjoy.

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Posted by edblysard on Monday, August 7, 2006 4:26 PM

 MichaelSol wrote:
It's an internet phenomenon of the tyranny permitted by fake names brandishing fake credentials when they can't hold their own in a straightforward argument. It's the ad hominem attack allowed to a coward hiding behind a keyboard when he can't articulate an argument or express a reasonable thought. and can get away with anything in cyberspace, hiding behind his fake name.


Not a thing fake about my name, location, or the railroad I work for.

You met them on the playground. Now they have computers and some allege that they work for railroads although they could work anywhere ....

As I have mentioned, in my experience, "real" railroaders are of a different quality than the people who speak loudly to their own credentials here. I've never seen such a smug bunch of self-congratulatory people as this bunch. I am fortunate to have known and worked with the ones that I have -- maybe the quality is declining, who knows? I sure hope these guys aren't the standard.

Cant judge, you refuse to tell us what position you held, with what railroad.

In any case, judge them by their ideas, their arguments, and their ability to get through a post with their integrity intact. Doesn't happen often with these guys. I am sure knowledgeable people, railroader and non-railroader alike, will post less and less if the penalty is always a barrage of derogatory remarks from a small group of self-appointed  "railroaders" who believe it is their god-given right to troll from thread to thread, just to insult people: witness Blysard's comments above, and several other threads I neither posted to nor cared to read.

They disagree with some things people say. Most honest people are content to say they disagree. Not that bunch.

I think I am probably the only person here who actually stated I didn't know enough about Open Access to have much of an opinion either way on it. Check back if you're curious on Blysard's torrent of abuse to that thought, and his self-righteous and bizarre accusation that the State of Montana wasn't officially doing enough to help Hurricane Katrina victims, and how that was relevant to my "credibility" at the time. I mean, serious screw-loose stuff.

Where do you get this nonsense from?

You routinly twist what people write to fit your needs, sad.

Blysard's obsessed, but I never seem to see him actually argue a proposition, or present a cogent position on any of the few things I ever post about -- primarily Milwaukee, which I know something about, and BNSF, which I follow as an investor. Indeed, none of the gentlemen ever seem to know much at all about my relatively limited range of interests in railroading.

But, not knowing something doesn't seem to limit their seemingly endless diatribes -- this thread now standing for their proposition that unverifiable credentials offered under a fake name should be a substitute for knowing something about the topic at hand.

Again, where you get this stuff from?

Never said that at all, you twist what was said to present yourself as a aggreived party...instead of answering the question asked...LC is right, your table is pretty beat up looking.

Many wasted threads from this bunch. Tharmeni, you are absolutely correct, this has become an "ambush" internet forum for these guys. If there were a moratorium on negative postings, they wouldn't have anything to say.

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Posted by MichaelSol on Monday, August 7, 2006 4:14 PM
 nanaimo73 wrote:

 MichaelSol wrote:
  ...and BNSF, which I follow as an investor. 

Michael, do you own any BNSF stock currently ?


Currently? No. Nothing about the company per se, just coming to the end of a business cycle in the next few months and that's usually a good time to be light. Not to be taken as advice, and could be wrong.
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, August 7, 2006 4:00 PM
 Tharmeni wrote:

I think the forum is endangered -- and I believe it's because there are more negative posters out there who seem to lay in wait to "ambush" the topic of a poster.

If you doubt me, please read the thread "Another Very Late Amtrak Today" .  It's a legitimate topic, but poster Mr Runyon's only contribution was to criticize it.

When I called him on it, he took off after me.  Which I found sad, frankly.

If my son, a budding railfan, was to post "What's the difference between a GP-7 and a GP-9?", I suppose some would jump all over him for asking a stupid or basic question.  But we need all postings.  Even the basic ones. That's how we grow, folks.

How about a moratorium on negative postings?  That way, we would encourage others to join in without the danger of being cut apart.

 

 

 

Tharmani appears to be speaking out of both sides of his mouth.

Case in point:  Refer to how he jumped on a posted on 23 July at 4:31 AM:

"Re: RE: RE: Breaking, Breaking News about Amtrak Cuts on Monday July 3, 2006.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm really sick of this post.

Conrailman, if you are so fact-based, how did you post, way ,way back that these cuts were "coming on July 3" and then base it on an article you adamantly say was published on July 17th?  I'm really tired of this.  Others have said it before, but get the facts before you open your mouth."

Hmmmm....  I don't know about you guys, but it appears that  Tharmani was criticizing a fellow poster.

Just thought I'd point that out.

 

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Posted by vsmith on Monday, August 7, 2006 3:58 PM
6 going on 7 pages

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by Limitedclear on Monday, August 7, 2006 3:45 PM

 MP173 wrote:
Question:

What is the difference between a GP9 and GP7?

Some would answer 2 (9-7=2).  Others would say 250 horsepower.  Others would say that neither is a valid locomotive because __________(fill in the blank).   Others would say that neither filled it's potential as a locomotive because they were not used on Open Access lines.  Still others would simply say..."it doesnt matter because I enjoyed watching the train too much to care."

We are a nerdy group (self included).  But, we love trains....some of us more than people it seems (not me).

ed


Sadly, the difference nowadays is set by when Gillette got the steel. It is either a 3 or 4 blade device for scraping your face in the morning...

LC

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