The "Made in America." thread in General Discussion has been locked. Thanks very much Brian, I was getting tired of seeing that thing hanging around the top of the forum.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
SD70M-2Dude Sounds like you are in one of the better ones and Schlimm is right, there is a big difference between assisted living and a nursing home. On CNoR/GTP, the 2 ran parallel to each other (sometimes within a stone's throw or even arm's length!) from Entwistle, AB to Red Pass Jct, BC, a distance of over 200 miles. Those are the current CN names for those locations, but I believe they may have changed over the years. I regularly work along the exact stretch you mentioned, the issue was that the GTP had built along the south shore of Brule Lake in what's now Jasper National Park, while CNoR took the unfavourable north shore and had to build a tunnel (still a 25 MPH speed restriction) and multiple long fills across lakes. When the 2 were merged into CN, the decision was made to mostly keep the GTP line and scrap the CNoR, as GTP had built to a higher standard. But the south shore of this lake is made of sand dunes, and CN had no end of trouble with the grade shifting. So after a while they conceded the fight and rebuilt the CNoR line, which remains the current mainline. A spur remained to serve the Pocahontas Coal Mine, but it has long since been abandoned and the Yellowhead Highway has been built over much of the old grade. I also suppose I should apologize for hijacking this thread, who knew a new avatar would lead to this.
Sounds like you are in one of the better ones and Schlimm is right, there is a big difference between assisted living and a nursing home.
On CNoR/GTP, the 2 ran parallel to each other (sometimes within a stone's throw or even arm's length!) from Entwistle, AB to Red Pass Jct, BC, a distance of over 200 miles. Those are the current CN names for those locations, but I believe they may have changed over the years. I regularly work along the exact stretch you mentioned, the issue was that the GTP had built along the south shore of Brule Lake in what's now Jasper National Park, while CNoR took the unfavourable north shore and had to build a tunnel (still a 25 MPH speed restriction) and multiple long fills across lakes. When the 2 were merged into CN, the decision was made to mostly keep the GTP line and scrap the CNoR, as GTP had built to a higher standard. But the south shore of this lake is made of sand dunes, and CN had no end of trouble with the grade shifting. So after a while they conceded the fight and rebuilt the CNoR line, which remains the current mainline. A spur remained to serve the Pocahontas Coal Mine, but it has long since been abandoned and the Yellowhead Highway has been built over much of the old grade.
I also suppose I should apologize for hijacking this thread, who knew a new avatar would lead to this.
As to nursing homes and such, my first experience in visiting one (elsewhere) was that the staff were unable to keep it clean. My wife spent the last 3 1/2 months of her life in another skilled nursing facility here, and I was not annoyed by odors. My experiences (I was in this place a little over three years ago) with the skilled nursing floor here were very good; excellent staff who truly do there work properly (though I joked with the physical and occupational therapists, speaking of them as torturers, knowing that they truly help their patients--I have been greatly helped by them--and teased the nurses for being diligent in their care), and the staff on the lower floors fulfill their responsibilities. I definitely would recommend the facility to anyone who needs the care offered here.
Thanks, Schlimm, for the kind words.
Johnny
NorthWest No problem! Part of the fun with forums is that the threads get taken to the most interesting places. Heck, thread hijacking is the way we get most of our fun conversations out of the zkr threads...
No problem! Part of the fun with forums is that the threads get taken to the most interesting places.
Heck, thread hijacking is the way we get most of our fun conversations out of the zkr threads...
Point taken :).
DeggestyRight now, I'm in an assisted living facility, hoping I can get back home.
I hope you make a good recovery. Assisted living is generally more homey than nursing care facilities, having seen many professionally and visiting family members.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
SD70M-2Dude Thanks, I've always been more of a CNoR guy, even though all my runs are over ex-GTP lines. Our sole operating steam locomotive at the Alberta Railway Museum is ex-CNoR so that's probably why. I like your avatar too, always wanted to visit the WP&Y but haven't made it quite that far North or West yet. Last I checked zkr123's account hasn't been deleted yet, but he hasn't posted anything for a while. Hopefully if he returns he can make some intelligent contributions, not just a bunch more random questions. And good luck Deggesty, I remember visiting my Grandparents in a nursing home, and the smell of medicine/purell always made me stand on edge the second after walking in through the door. Hopefully yours is better, and best wishes for you to return home soon.
Thanks, I've always been more of a CNoR guy, even though all my runs are over ex-GTP lines. Our sole operating steam locomotive at the Alberta Railway Museum is ex-CNoR so that's probably why. I like your avatar too, always wanted to visit the WP&Y but haven't made it quite that far North or West yet.
Last I checked zkr123's account hasn't been deleted yet, but he hasn't posted anything for a while. Hopefully if he returns he can make some intelligent contributions, not just a bunch more random questions.
And good luck Deggesty, I remember visiting my Grandparents in a nursing home, and the smell of medicine/purell always made me stand on edge the second after walking in through the door. Hopefully yours is better, and best wishes for you to return home soon.
As to zkr123, I have had the impression that he is a young person who is interested in railroads--but but does not know enough to ask what might be called intelligent questions.
As to the CNO and GT, I find it interesting that there are long stretches with the tracks of the two roads close together. After the consoloidation, long stretches of one road or the other were abandoned--and there is one stretch that had the abandonment reversed; apparently it was determined that the route of the originally abandoned road was better than the route that was kept, and so the kept line was abandoned and the abandoned line was relaid.
Edited to correct a misspelled word.
I believe that the Laurier government tried to convince the GTR and CNoR to cooperate, but it was not to be. Apparently Mackenzie and Mann wanted to keep their independence, and Charles Melville Hays considered them mere promoters who were incapable of running a railroad!
Both were done in by WWI, not only because of their large debts but because the flood of European emmigrants suddenly dried up, and what had been an economic boom in Canada ground to a halt.
The Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk were heavily dependent on borrowed money to finance their construction and expansion. When the money sources dried up with the outbreak of the First World War, their collapse became almost inevitable.
SD70M-2Dude-thanks, The WP&YR is beautiful, and I hope to return there soon. It really would be interesting to see what would have happened if CNoR and GT would have planned their massive expansions properly (they probably would have ended up merged together, but as a private system.) If anything is to be learned about the GTP and NTR, it is that railroads built for political reasons didn't work even in the golden age of rail construction.
Balt, when posts are deleted, they still exist in a phantom post count for the thread, so the software creates a phantom last page. When you go to the first page and select the last page, it goes to the real last page and you can read and reply to the posts there.
Looks like the
Thread has gotten 'too political' and has gone into the 'locked unlocked' never-never land.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
In the basement? For a little over two years, I sat in my daughter's basement (actually in the step-father apartment in the house). Right now, I'm in an assisted living facility, hoping I can get back home.
Oh, I see. His wackiness can become wearisome.
BTW, I like the new avatar. I've always preferred the GT over the CNoR, but both were quite interesting roads.
I just found him annoying and immature, and from my point of view he was clogging up the forum with uneccesary questions which had already been answered in past threads.
Or maybe I was prejudiced against him because of his silly smiling little thing he calls an avatar...
SD70M-2DudeOr zkr123 more recently, though I'm not sure what that stands for. The best thing to do is just ignore his posts once you realize who he is, then it'll be like he's not even here. Oh, and report him to the moderators too.
Can you elaborate? All I know is that he seems to post some really wacky questions. But several of them have prompted long, very nice and interesting conversations, so I am fine with what he is doing. (See the ALP-44 thread for one example.)
Or zkr123 more recently, though I'm not sure what that stands for. The best thing to do is just ignore his posts once you realize who he is, then it'll be like he's not even here. Oh, and report him to the moderators too.
I am impressed at his dedication though, must have a lot of free time to fill while sitting in his mom's basement
Polish Falcon and Ohio River Troll were two more which I recall. Amazing that Garden Dance took him on a river cruise in Philly. Then again, Boylan was banned on another forum before this one.
Murphy Siding Honestly, the guy has been kicked off here 100+ times.
Honestly, the guy has been kicked off here 100+ times.
I can believe that! The first incarnation that I remember was Terminal Towers. (Hmm - "Speaking Clock" just showed up Jan 9)
Are you sure your mom isn't trolling the place? ()
Quite sure it isn't my mom - her screen names would have been Lake Shore Electric themed... I could see my maternal grnadfather doing a bit of trolling, though he would have had a lot more class...
erikem He came across as a pretty persistent troll, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he pops up again another a new name (sigh). Seems that there have been a lot of trolls over the years with Ohio themed screen names and similar M.O.s of posting some pretty -um- provocative thread subjects. His posting this morning went too far and I can fully understand why his posts have deleted. P.S. I'm not blaming Ohio - FWIW, my mom was from there.
He came across as a pretty persistent troll, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he pops up again another a new name (sigh). Seems that there have been a lot of trolls over the years with Ohio themed screen names and similar M.O.s of posting some pretty -um- provocative thread subjects. His posting this morning went too far and I can fully understand why his posts have deleted.
P.S. I'm not blaming Ohio - FWIW, my mom was from there.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Dakguy201 If in fact he was booted, I wonder if that also means his subscriber name is effectively locked. If it were. then it costs him the price of a new subscription to return. Do you think he is that dedicated to Trains posting?
If in fact he was booted, I wonder if that also means his subscriber name is effectively locked. If it were. then it costs him the price of a new subscription to return. Do you think he is that dedicated to Trains posting?
Jezz, and I wanted to see if anyone agreed with my "happy commuters" comment on the "Bar Car" thread!
Oh well, c'est la vie, c'est la guerre, or something.
BaltACDresponse....if you are going to lock a thread - LOCK IT, with an explanation of the reason it is locked.
Well I can tell you as a former moderator on another website. Explaining why a thread was locked seems to enrage some people more or they jump on the explanation in another unrelated thread and then you have a full blown back and forth of if it was OK to lock the thread with the readership second guessing the moderator. So in my view, thats why some moderators do not post an explanation.
ChessieCat123 - Not sure what his issue is but if he is going to post well into non-railroad and non-trains areas then he should get the boot.
I suspect it will take Kalmbach a while to clean up the mess left by Raymond, understandably. After all, he did post on many of the threads beyond the ones he started and the moderators have their main jobs to attend to.
Just called up the CP-NS merger thead and made a post to it. The return screen from making the post gave me the 'Sorry' screen. The menu shows my post as the last to the thread.
It appears that all of the threads ChessieCat123 posted are like that, and his posts have disappeared from other threads. Quirk of the deletion process?
There are a number of threads in this forum that are effectively locked by returning a
response....if you are going to lock a thread - LOCK IT, with an explanation of the reason it is locked.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.