"OUR" PLACE - SEE NEW THREAD!

[Fergmiester]

Good Morning Gents

Just passing though... Some lovely photos BTW!

Later

Fergie

[Anonymous]

Here's what I consider an oddity at the IRM:

Chicago & North Western 261709
Builder: Industrial Works
Year Built: 1929
Length: 74ft 6in
Width: 10ft 3in
Height: 19ft 3in
Weight: ??? lbs
Brakes: K2
Trucks: Arch Bar
Description: Pile Driver










[:I] Tommy O’Connor goes to confession and says, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned."
"What have you done, Tommy O’Connor?"
"I had sex with a girl."
"Who was it, Tommy?"
"I cannot tell you, Father. Please forgive me for my sin."
"Was it Mary Margaret Sullivan?"
"No, Father. Please forgive me for my sin, but I really cannot tell you who it was."
"Was it Catherine Mary McKenzie?"
"No, Father. Please forgive me."
"Well, then, it has to be Sarah Martha O’Keefe."
"No, Father. Please forgive me."
A minute later, Tommy walks out to the pews, where his friend Joseph is waiting.
"What did ya get?" asks Joseph.
"Five Hail Marys, four Our Fathers, and three good leads." [:I]

[Anonymous]

Here's the station pix I've been meaning to take!

Reconstructed Crystal Lake Station, Illinois










Pingree Road Station in Crystal Lake, Illinois




[:I] Mr. Smith goes to the doctor’s office to collect his wife’s test results.
The receptionist says “I'm sorry, sir, but there has been a bit of a mix-up and we have a problem. When we sent the samples from your wife to the lab, the samples from another Mrs. Smith were sent as well, and we are now uncertain which one is your wife’s. Frankly, that’s either bad or terrible. One Mrs. Smith has tested positive for Alzheimer disease and the other for AIDS. We can’t tell which is your wife.”
Mr. Smith says “That's terrible! Can we take the test over?”
“Normally, yes." Says the receptionist, "But you belong to an HMO, and they won’t pay for these expensive tests more than once. The doctor recommends that you drop your wife off in the middle of town. If she finds her way home, don’t sleep with her.” [:I]

[Anonymous]

Here's some tank car pix I took last week at IRM:

Great Northern 1390
Builder: American Car & Foundry
Year Built: 1956
Length: 51ft 8in
Width: 10ft 7in
Height: 15ft 1in
Weight: ??? lbs
Brakes: ABD
Trucks: American Steel Foundries R-C
Description: Welded Single Dome Tank Car / 19,548 gallon capacity



American Oil Company 9499
Builder: Pennsylvania Car Company
Year Built: 1912
Length: 34ft
Width: 8ft 6in
Height: 13ft 10in
Weight: 39500 lbs
Brakes: AB
Trucks: Vulcan
Description: Single Dome Tank Car / High-mounted running boards (Ex PASX 108)


General American Transportation 75470
Builder: General American Transportation
Year Built: 1960
Length: 37ft 8in
Width: 10ft 7in
Height: 14ft 6in
Weight: 53000 lbs
Brakes: AB
Trucks: Barber S2
Description: Tank Car / Industrial Molasses Company


U.S. Department of Defense 12661
Builder: General American Transportation
Year Built: 1952
Length: 40ft
Width: 9ft 8in
Height: 14ft 6in
Weight: 47400 lbs
Brakes: AB
Trucks: Barber S2A
Description: Tank Car (10000 gallon)


Cook Paint & Varnish Company 101
Builder: American Car & Foundry Company
Year Built: 1917
Length: 31ft 8in
Width: 9ft 9in
Height: 12ft 4in
Weight: 25200 lbs
Brakes: AB
Trucks: ???
Description: 2 Dome, 2 Compartment Tank Car


Sherwin Williams Paint 42
Builder: American Car & Foundry Company
Year Built: 1935
Length: 38ft 8in
Width: 9ft 5in
Height: 12ft 4in
Weight: 45900 lbs
Brakes: AB
Trucks: Bettendorf
Description: 3 Dome Tank Car (ex AC&F 42)


Union Tank Car Company 17222
Builder: United Transit Company
Year Built: 1937
Length: 35ft
Width: 9ft 1in
Height: 14ft
Weight: 45200 lbs
Brakes: AB
Trucks: United Transit Company
Description: Steel Tank Car


[:I] Four surgeons were taking a coffee break and were discussing their work.
The first said, “I think accountants are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is numbered.”
The second said, “I think librarians are the easiest to operate on. You open them up and everything inside is in alphabetical order.”
The third said, “I like to operate on electricians. You open them up and everything inside is color-coded.”
The fourth one said, “I like to operate on lawyers. They’re heartless, spineless, gutless, and their heads and their butts are interchangeable. [:I]

[:I] There is this magician on a cruise ship, and every night he performs a show. After a couple of nights, the captain's parrot, who is always in attendance, has caught on to many of the tricks. He then begins to heckle the magician during the show by yelling out what's really going on. "It's in his sleeve, it's under his hat, his assistant has it." Well one night during the show, the ship hits an iceberg, and the only two survivors are the magician and the parrot, and both of them end up on the same peice of drift wood. For days they do nothing but eye each other angrily without speaking. Until one day the parrot looks at the magician and says "Okay, I give... where's the boat?" [:I]

[Anonymous]

Here's some more old pix for ya'll:

Chalk up another victory for the old-fashioned steam locomotives! When the Pennsylvania decided it wanted a streamlined steam engine for fast passenger service, it did not build a new locomotive, but merely streamlined one of its Class K-4 Pacific types (No. 3768) whose design is now 22 years old. Scientifically planned after prolonged wind tunnel tests on models, the hood which hides the engine is undoubtedly the best example of motive power streamlining developed in this country so far. That it is also good-looking no one will deny. As the Pennsy itself tells us; “It is a striking illustration of the natural beauty of mechanical design that is functionally correct”


Saddle-Tank 0-4-0 engine used by Malagash Salt Co. at their mines in Nova Scotia. She was built by Davenport Locomotive Works, Davenport, Iowa.


One of the seven Campton style engines on the old Camden & Amboy. This old girl, No. 39, once averaged better than 75 miles an hour for 50 miles with a light train.


Here is the photo of the new “Mercury,” the world’s first streamlined steam engine that is lit up. Recently she was put into service on the New York Central between Cleveland, Oh., and Detroit, Mi. She speeds through the night on a mile-a-minute schedule (top speed, 85 m.p.h.), with her 79-inch drivers and connecting rods brightly illuminated, tooting a whistle of musical pitch. “Mercury” was designed to amaze and delight the countryside – modern advertising applied to the iron pike. She is helping to popularize the railroad. She is helping to bring back some of the business which road hogs grabbed by unfair competition.


Mule threw a switch. Engine 368, pulling a southbound Katy passenger train in 1912, hit a drove of mules about two miles south of McAlester, Okla. One animal was hurled against a switch-stand. This impact opened the switch and headed the train into a coal spur, killing a woman passenger.


[:I] I was in a department store the other day and I walked up to a young and lovely woman and said, "I've lost my wife in here somewhere. Can you talk to me a couple of minutes?"
The woman looks puzzled. "Why talk to me?", she asks.
" Because every time I talk to a woman with a body like yours, my wife appears out of nowhere." [:I]

[comechtech]

Hello, Tom and crew, Just a quick greeting to say that Jeri and I are finally moved and (almost) settled back into our place and are ready to start dropping back into the forum's "Duffy's Tavern". Sorry to hear about Ted's illness, hope all is progressing toward wellness, being 66, I can understand the worry. I have a lot of past pages to catch up on, since last June, so I am a little behind. But I will be reading them as fast as possible over the next few days. Will be back soon, say hi to all.

[Anonymous]

Good early morning everyone. You win Rob. There's obviously no way I can get my pix in ahead of yours if you plan to post so close to midnight! Great pix too, I might add. I happen to have a few prepared myself .... and the jokes should should put the groan-o-meter out of commision for a week!

Let's start with some movie pix I found in the lobby of the Mentor Theatre:

Whew …that’s cutting it too close! The old “lady on the tracks trick”!


As you’ve probably guessed, this wasn’t filmed in India. The engine is a dummy (pushed by a truck) built on the 20th Century-Fox lot for “Wee Willie Winkie.” However, a thousand feet of steel rails were laid for the engine to travel on.


The young doctor (John Howard), in a prop Pullman car, is on his way to become an intern in the big city when the Pullman porter and Conductor ask his help in a critical illness in the next car. From “Let Them Live”


A Burbank, Calif., version of an incident in a Vienna, Austria, train shed. It’s from “Confession”, a Warner Bros. picture.


Sound cameras and lights are so bulky that most car interiors are built in the studios. This scene from “Angel’s Holiday” gives you an idea of how wide a Pullman car would have to be if it were to accommodate such equipment comfortably.


The California sun isn’t always an asset. Sometimes, as in filming “Westbound Limited”, movie makers have to furni***heir own rain. Note the tall sprinklers, the man with the hose, the wind machine (at the left), the lightning machine (at the left – with pilot light burning)


The 20th Century-Fox people own a complete replica of a Pullman observation car, and this scene from “She Had to Eat” (with Arthur Treacher, Jack Haley, and Eugene Pallette) was taken on it, far from a real railroad track.


[:I] A Catholic man was struck by a bus on a busy street. He is near death lying on the sidewalk as a crowd gathers.
"A priest. Somebody get me a priest!" the man gasps. Minutes drag on and no one steps out of the crowd. A policeman checks the crowd and finally yells,
"A PRIEST, PLEASE! Isn't there a priest in this crowd to give this man his last rites?"
Finally, out of the crowd stepped a little old Jewish man of at least 80 years of age. "Mr. Policeman," says the man, "I'm not a priest, I'm not even a Christian but for 50 years now I'm living behind the Catholic Church on First Avenue, and every night I'm overhearing their services. I can recall a lot of it, and maybe I can be of some comfort to this poor man."
The policeman agreed, and cleared the crowd so the man can get through to where the injured man lay. The old Jewish man knelt down, leaned over the man and said in a solemn voice: "B-4 I-19 N-38 G-54 O-72" [:I]

[trolleyboy]

Okay one more set of work equipment photo's then I'm done for now.



Oshawa Railway Line car 45 built by the NS&T Ry in 1927. Our number one piece of overhead maintenance equipment,been used by us since it's arrival in 1957 !



45 being used as a beast of burden shoving LE&N locomotive 337 to it's "gate guardian position " at the museum's front enterance.



One of our diesel powered MOW pieces, former TH&B ballast regulater recieving a new coat of paint after it's most recent shopping ( a repair and replace of it's hydrolics )



Work motor W4,one of our true soldiers, this caaar helped build the museum's trackage from the early 60's. Car was home built by the Toronto Railway Company shops in 1904.



Subway grinding car RT-7 formerly Toronto Civic car 52 sister to our other Preston grinder. This car was built in 1915. We use it for our Halloween Spooktaculars.

enjoy Rob

[trolleyboy]

Okay back with the first of the pictures for this the 11th month birthday orf our beloved bar. I'm money for several rounds with Leon for the gang to use as I'm thinking that this Sunday;'s gonna be a bit on the busy side,I'm working so I'll miss some of the days events unhappily,I'm alos working Monday AM so I may miss alot of the birthday bash so please use the round money for our two birthday boyz [bday]Lars & Doug [bday]

First set of pictures for this week is work equipment !



Line truck M6 from the Lake Erie and Northern 1927 ford truck originally it was a Pepsi delivery truck



Rail Bonder M4 also of Lake Erie and Northern fame a 600v DC arc welder on wheels ,wouldn't Boris and Nick love to flambe things with it in the kitchen



Snow sweeper S-37 our snow beast with attitude. It's a 1927 Russell snowplow company built car,went through three streetrailway owners. Boston,then NYC Third Avenue system then to the TTC with it's 9 other sisters. Came to our museum in 1973 when it was retired, we still use it to sweep the line !



Our other snowbeast trackplow TP-11 built ny National Steelcar in 1944 currently this car is under major restoration at the museum.



W28 one of the museum's rail grinding cars . This was once passenger car 57 of the Toronto Civic Railways built by Preston Car and Coach Co in 1917,arrived at the museum in late 1977.

enjoy Rob

[trolleyboy]

Evening folks,Leon just my usual draft as well please.Speaking of confusion it seems that I had forgotten to log off yesterday, must by halftimers or something. [:O]

Nice to see the encores from Sir Doug, and I see that he broke the groan-a-meter again,and I was told that it was soild state technology as well [sign],Guess I can't trust those travelling salesmen from Farkas and sons's that drive thriouhg the mentor village on a weekly route.[sigh]

Tom [/b[ That was quite a list of chores you have laid out for yourself here at the bar[tup][tup][tup] a three thumb salute for all that you do here.It is muchly apreciated[:D]I'lkl have a few shots for our 11th month forum day / photo fun day tomorrow. [tup]

I hope that weather missed you, T watches are not something one relishes,thankfully the weather patterns where I am are such that they are a rarity,wondering do you have a separate shelter set up for yourself [?]

Lars Good to hear that you are to the clean up stage,normalcy whatever that is seems to be settling in to your homestead,hope to see you tomorrow as well. [tup]

Al Good to hear that you are on the road to wellness [tup] I think that Doug's fingers were burning up in his attempt tp hold up both his and your ends in the last couple of days.

[b] Dave Confusion aside, I'm glad to see you back semi regularly, hopefully more Uboat and other diesel info is on it's way from you.The first couple were definate keepers. [tup]


Rob

[pwolfe]

Hi Tom and all.

A pint of the usual LEON and a round for anyone calling in[tup].

Sorry its late but I just like to say many thanks for the Encores.
TOM for the Nickle Plate and the RDCs and DOUG for the Signalman and yes I do remember the great pictures with Tom in them.

Great to see LARS and DAVE in as well [tup].
Perhaps DAVE you could go into the GE vs EMD traction motor differences some time.

TOM May I add my appriciation to all the hard work you put in to make OUR PLACE the great success it is.
Well it looks as some of the bad weather forecast for our neck of the woods is comeing with a T Storm approching. I had better get off the puter PETE .

[siberianmo]

Evenin' Gents!

We're under a tornado watch here in mid-Continent USA - things are deteriorating all around us - but for now, still as a Church Mouse!<eeeeeeerie, but not the RR!>

I won't even get "into" the C-factor (Confusion!)[swg]

Thanx for the kind words, Gents! Every day 'round here is "Tom Day!"[tup] I began that "list" just as a case in point to "justify" delaying the Gazette! The more I put into it, obviously - the longer it got. Can't put this place on auto-pilot, takes someone at the helm (so to speak!). But a party is a party, and I'm "up" for that![swg]

Been an active Saturday and it's truly great to see the repetitive Posts from Dave - Doug and Lars![tup] Especially appreciate the supporting ENCOREs from Doug![tup]

I'm gonna sign off and probably stay that way 'til the AM .... so, the bar now goes to Leon the Night Man! Drinks on the house! Boris ring the bell!

Hope you all enjoyed the ENCOREs!!

We'll be in the basement .......[:O]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

[West Coast S]

Lovedomes...Sorry, that confusion again,different week, must maintain focus. On the positive side it is refreshing to know how interactive we are at "Our Place" Wish I could recall just what I was consuming when I thought you were Barndad, i'd bottle it and make a million easy!! Lovedomes, from this date forward you go unoticed no more!

Ok, we need a Tom day, we the patrons would handle the activity on said designated day and let Tom sit back with a cool one. Matter of fact Boris can be editorial content manager with Inspector Clueless our facts checker! Give the bar to Cindy and Nick will be in for sure! Barndad and Lovedomes could do a live Mentor Village orginal production for the benefit of Rob's involvement in interurban preservation and further the advancement of
"Our Place".

I could give a three hundred line disertation on the advatages of GE traction motors vrs. EMD designs to lull into a catatonic state those certain elements that always become too rowdy

I love it when a plan comes together!!!

Dave

[Anonymous]

Evenin' once again Tom and friends. I'll have yet another bottomless draught, and get my man Lars a drink for having his comments construed as coming from me! I'm so befuddled and cornfused most of the time, that I just "went with the flow", and responded! Seriously though, thanks for the compliments Lars, and you are so right about Tom's incredible efforts he puts into Our PLace.

Remember this ENCORE picture?


...or howabout this?


Yep ...the Captain gets around!

[:I] Due to inherit a fortune when his sickly, widower father died, Robert decided he needed a woman to enjoy it with. So he went to a singles bar and he searched until he spotted a woman whose beauty took his breath away.
"Right now, I'm just an ordinary man," he said to her, "but within a month or two, my father will pass and I'll inherit over 20 million dollars."
The woman went home with Robert.
Four days later she became his stepmother. [:I]

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 155

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #19

Here’s something to enjoy regarding the RDC’s from Budd from a 1954 advertisement found in my personal collection.

. . . . . RDC – Car with a Future for Canada’s Future . . . . .

The Canadian Pacific – world’s greatest travel system – has just bought four Budd stainless steel RDCs. (The letters RDC stand for Rail Diesel Car.)

The cars were bought because of their proved ability to reduce costs, improve service and attract traffic. But also with an eye to Canada’s growth, which presages an increase in the need for transportation as Canada’s vast mineral, oil and natural resources are developed.

Operating experiences with RDC usually reveals potentialities not originally envisioned. Nobody has yet found their limit, though RDC is now operating in a searching range of services in Australia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, as well as on our own country’s leading railroads. The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Detroit, Gary.

Automobile and Truck Bodies and Wheels. Railway Passenger Cars and Plows. Budd

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PIONEERS IN BETTER TRANSPORTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . .


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday

[LoveDomes]

Hey Tom!

Great steak - wife and I enjoyed it![tup] Can't beat the prices![swg]

Tom that's quite an impressive "list" of the things that you do around here. Hopefully the guys who take the time to read these posts will understand that it is all for us. Same for the stuff from our contributors - Al - Doug - Dave - Rob, etc. So, let me thank YOU for the hard work you do today and everyday to keep this thread up and running! A four-[tup]salute to you, Captain Tom![tup][tup][tup][tup] Additional salutes to the rest of the guys for supporting our leader and helping to make this place so special![tup][tup][tup]

Well, I'm gonna check out . . . been sitting around here for most of the day, but seems like I've gone a bit unnoticed. For example, I make comment about military awards in response to what Dave said and he thinks it was barndad Doug! Then Doug responds in kind, etc.[%-)][%-)][%-)]

Maybe you should give me whatever it is they've been drinking![swg]

Boris ring it up, man - drinks on Lars![tup]


Until the next time!

Lars

[Anonymous]

Hi again Tom and friends. I see another RDC article ..which is always a good thing! Sorry to hear about the foolishness with the military awards Dave. I can see why you and a lot of other people would be frustrated. I also don't want to forget to wish brother Al a speedy recovery. We've really missed all your contributions.

Tom, you forgot to mention that among your many duties, you also have to repair the "groan-o-meter" several times each day! Might I suggest that we purchase the industrial-size model as soon as funds are available?

Here's part III from the SIgnalman series ... and another groaner!

The Making of a Railroad Signalman by Ken Frazer – part III

As winter wore on, I was doing some writing of my own. We had reached Slateford Junction, the limit of our division. In addition to my craft, I learned survival tricks, such as putting a canvas wind shield around a relay box and sticking my test lamp inside my parka for warmth. You used a five-gallon can with holes punched in the bottom and a soft coal fire (with coal supplied by your friendly local drill engine) to warn your hands, since you couldn’t wear gloves when wiring signal apparatus. At other Locations you would try to find a gulley to get out of the wind, set fire to an old tire, and toast your lunchtime sandwich on a coiled piece of No. 6 wire, followed by Cookie’s hot thermos of coffee.

A signalman at Last! – As the warmer weather returned, I was officially promoted to signalman and was wiring relay boxes, signals, and switches on my own, with my own signalman’s leather tool bag, made rectangular by a homemade tin interior. Signal wiremen had unique hand tools, small screws, nails, tags, wire eyes, etc., which lent themselves to an ordinary interior. Linemen had mostly hammers and wrenches tossed into the same type of leather bag, but theirs was allowed to assume any comfortable shape.

All of the work we had been doing led up to a series of cutovers. In conjunction with the superintendent and dispatchers, the signal engineer, Jack Heisler; his assistant, Ken Atkinson; and signal supervisor Les Moore would place the new signal circuits into operation. Ken Atkinson was the key to the whole operation. Prior to the cutover he supervised the design work in the Hoboken design office and checked the drawings by tracing each circuit in orange crayon on the finished drawings. The field drawings were original design prints marked with new wiring in red and wiring to be removed in yellow. The signalman in the field followed a similar pattern, placing red tags on new wires and yellow tags on wires to be removed.

When the signal to begin the cutover was given, the signalman proceeded to cut all the yellow-tagged wires and connect all red-tagged wires. You would then stand by until everyone along the line had completed their changes, and then the checking by Ken Atkinson began. He would direct signalmen by telephone at each signal location to shunt tracks, turn a relay over, remove certain wires, and receive information of the results of these checks at the various locations. He systematically accounted for each circuit checked on his master set of drawings by again tracing every circuit with his ever-present orange crayon. These cutovers typically took all day and sometimes all night, if the cutover was a major one.

Moving On- My continuing employment with the Lackawanna was an odyssey of serious, responsible, and fulfilling work, in which I probably walked, at various times, the whole division from Hoboken to Slateford and worked in every cable manhole from Newark to South Orange. Two years in the Army were followed by attending Newark College of Engineering at night. During the Say, work was mostly on interlocking plants and short headway electrified commuter territory. His was capped by cutovers conducted by Assistant Signal Supervisor Harvey Hill and Foreman Canfield Bloom (Bloomy to all), who provided humor and compassion in addition to their signal knowledge. I obtained a BSEE degree, which brought promotions to the signal design office and to assistant electrical engineer. My years with the Lackawanna ended when a merger with the Erie would have required my moving to Cleveland. But the experience of being transformed from a kid out of high school to a SIGNALMAN was unforgettable.

[:I] There once was pirate captain who, whenever it looked like a battle would be imminent would change into a red shirt. After observing this behavior for a few months, one of the crew members asked him what it meant.
"It's in case I get shot. I don't want you crew members to see blood and freak out."
"That's very sensible, sir." At that moment, the crew member spotted eight hostile ships on the horizon. The captain all of a sudden looked very concerned.
"Get my brown pants." [:I]

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 154

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #18

Here’s something to enjoy regarding the RDC’s from Budd from a 1953 advertisement found in my personal collection.

40 RDC’S FOR THE PROGRESSIVE NEW HAVEN

If anybody should know how to carry passengers profitably it’s the New Haven. Nearly half its income is derived from this source in contrast with most railroads where freight is king.

This adds significance to the fact that the New Haven has become the largest purchaser of Budd RDC’s – stainless steel, self-propelled, rail diesel cars.

In the nearly three years RDC’s have been operating in this country and abroad they have compiled an impressive record. In performance, they have improved every schedule they were assigned to. In operation they have proved both reliable and economical – two RDC’s saved one railroad $600,000 in a year. In the comfortable, air-conditioned service they render, RDC’s have increased passenger patronage – one RDC, operating in a new service between Worcester and New London, picked up 944 passengers in its first week.

Both New England and the New Haven will benefit from expanded RDC operation.

. . . . . . . . . . The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Detroit, Gary. . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Budd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . PIONEERS IN BETTER TRANSPORTATION . . . . . . . . . .


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday

[West Coast S]

Howdy again Tom.

Barndad, it's much worse, we have file/information clerks that are earning qualifications and ribbons formally awarded to astronauts, air crews and similar ratings, that's todays military. We have our own procedure for awards and presentations, with the sole qualification to be a recieptent is if you kissed the right rear. Enough of the current state of the military, i'll reserve any further diatribe and rantings for the "the rats pa-toot room"

Ok gang since you loved the U boat feature, how about the ones that were used in passenger service? Details to come at a later date.

Dave

[Anonymous]

Afternoon Tom and gents! It's definitely time for another frosty bottomless draught. It was so warm today, we finally got to wa***he horse .... not that he needed it! Hard to believe that Tom put up another RDC post. You would think he liked the things, or something.

One day, we'll take that trip Lars, especially if you're buying the drinks! I'll be at next years rendvous no matter what, and you can have all the practice you want!

Here's part II of my ENCORE today:

The Making of a Railroad Signalman by Ken Frazer – part II

As we continued to work our way West past Oxford Furnace, Bridgeville, and Manunka Chunk (where the interlocking tower was removed), the camp cars were relocated to Portland, Pennsylvania. Portland was a good location for camp cars for a number of reasons. The siding was right in the middle of town, and the freight agent let us use the toilet in the freight house – as opposed to Washington, where facilities consisted of a “two-holer” about 100 feet from the camp cars, and which had the unique air flow characteristics whereby paper thrown from one hole would levitate out of the 2nd hole as it followed the mischievous air currents. The down side of Portland was demonstrated when several loaded cement cars got away from the nighttime Bangor Branch “cementer” and sent several freight cars on the siding next to the camp cars sailing over the bumping block and almost into Main Street.

Out of Portland we worked East to Manunka Chunk and West to Slateford Junction in the scenic Delaware Water Gap, where the newer New Jersey Cutoff joined back with the “old road” on which we were working. Manunka Chunk was notable for its curved tunnel, which prevented your seeing if anything was coming as you walked through. Another feature was the snake-infested brush over the top, through which we pulled line wire. There was also an iron grill covering a smoke hole on top, with a rusted ladder disappearing into the dark hole below. With removal of the tower on the West side of the tunnel, an electric lock protected the junction to which the Pennsylvania Railroad came in from Belvidere and ran a passenger train over the Lackawanna to Stroudsburg.

The shorter days brought colder and colder weather in Water Gap country, and the motorcar rides to and from work encouraged close huddling, as near as possible to the windscreen. At day’s end, covering the motorcar with its tarp and putting tools away was followed by the warmth of the camp cars. The combination mess and kitchen car was warmer, with its coal cook stove, than the bunk car. All of these cars were converted wood coaches. The shower, which held about five or six men, was also in the kitchen car, while the foreman had an area at the end of the bunk car with a bed and a small desk. The warmth and hot meal had been eagerly anticipated for several hours preceding quitting time.

My initiation to mainline commuter territory signal work took place while I was home for Christmas. A blizzard struck the Northeast the day after Christmas, and a call came to report for snow duty to Grove Street Tower at the East end of Bergen Tunnel. Here you learned the trick of survival in the dark out on the tracks in a blizzard during the rush, where train separation was just a few minutes apart. The four holes of the Bergen Tunnel spread out to about a dozen tracks over slips, frogs, and switches. The four tunnel tracks were reversible, and traffic could flow in either direction on any track. You had to watch for headlights and look in the opposite direction to see what signal was pulled up, thus determining what route over the interlocking a train would take. During rush hours, there would often be two headlights coming in opposite directions. The trick was to interpret this information quickly and, keeping your feet out of the switches, move through the blinding snow to a safe spot. My spot was usually hugging the mid-span leg of a signal bridge.

With no hours of Service rules in that era for signal personnel, I worked 32 straight hours keeping switches operable. All the while I had to dodge silent MU electrics fed by the overhead 3,000-volt d.c. catenary, as well as steam-powered Boontoon Branch trains. I learned to do a thorough job of digging out the snow to make sure there was drainage under the switch points before hitting them with oil torches; Otherwise, the melted snow would freeze the switch rods into a block of solid ice. An ironic twist of the blizzard was that with the Lackawanna running when no other surface transportation could, it had thousands of riders who rarely, if ever, took the train. That made it impossible for trainmen to get through the overflowing cars to collect tickets, causing discomfort to the regular passengers and giving the non-regulars a free ride.

One week later a monster ice storm struck the same area, and line wires snapped all along the line from the weight of the ice. The electric commuter trains experienced more problems in the ice storm than in the snow, as cantenaries and pantographs iced over in any period of inactivity. It was an interesting electrical show to see a four-car MU (two motors and two trailers) try to pick up an express car on a siding with iced-over catenary and rails. My assignment was to work with a maintainer through the Summit-Chatham-Madison area splicing fallen line wires, usually patching in pieces just to restore signal operation until linemen could get to it later and pull it up in place on the crossarms. The ice made a thick crust on the previous week’s snow, which was piled up in drifts, some of which were five feet or more deep. So at times you were crunching through ice-capped snow, then walking on stronger ice that would support you, then breaking through the ice crust and into snow up to your chin. It was a relief to get back to the Portland camp cars and ordinary rotten weather.

[:I] A guy was sitting quietly reading his paper when his wife walked up behind him and whacked him on the head with a frying pan.
“What the hell was that for?” he asked.
“That was for the piece of paper in your pants pocket with the name Mary Lou written on it,” she replied.
“But you don’t understand,” he pleaded. “Two weeks ago when I went to the races, Mary Lou was the name of one of the horses I bet on.”
“Oh honey, I’m sorry,” she said. “I should have known there was a good explanation.”
Three days later he was watching a ball game on TV when she walked up and hit him in the head again, this time with the iron skillet, which knocked him out cold. When he came to, he asked, “What was that for?” he begged.
“Your horse called!” [:I]

[siberianmo]

G'day!

Just a bit of activity here on Saturday from Doug - Dave 'n Lars! Apprecite the company and of course the business - ka ching, ka ching, say "Tilla the Hun 'n The Cashinator!"[swg]

Lars That unit we have has been working great for the 4 years it's been doing the job. Good luck with yours![tup] There was a time that I couldn't spend any more than a half hour down there before it "got to me." No more. Worth the bucks, fer sure, fer sure![tup]

Been workin' on some Pix for Sunday Photo Posting Day! and also trying to get a "leg up" on the next issue of the Gazette! Not sure that I'll put the paper out this month - runnin' way behind in all the "things" I've got to keep track of 'round here:

(1) Weekly RRs from Yesteryear
(2) Biweekly Canadian Rwys of the Past
(3) Biweekly Euro Rwys
(4) Nostalgia pieces
(5) Summaries
(6) Acknowledgments
(7) Pix for Sundays
(8) Special events
(9) Index update
(10) Monthly Canadian RR dates
(12) Monthly newspaper

It gets a bit "heavy" at times, so something may just have to slide a bit . . . .[sigh]

Okay, enjoy the day, Gents . . . more ENCORE! Saturday en route!

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

[LoveDomes]

G'day Captain Tom and Gents at the bar!

I see the AHs are at it again on "our" Forum with their JO surveys and nonsense type questions! I just HAD to respond to one - just got me POd![tdn]

Ok - got that off my chest. So how's the world treating ya[?] Fine stuff this day for ENCOREs and it's amazing to me how many pages have passed by since their first submission![wow]

Just took a bit of a break from working down in the basement - cleaning out the mold & mildew areas.<ugh> The installation of our whole house dehumidifier/air purifier should take place this coming week. Can't be soon enough. We are buying the same type unit you have, Tom so wish us luck! Apprecite the "tip!"[tup]

Visited your "other thread" and posted something you may get a kick out of! Might just make you want to board a train and go somewhere - anywhere![swg]

Doug Now you seem like the kinda guy I would enjoy taking a rail trip with. See, I'm not much on cameras, but sure do love the ride! You can take the "snaps," while I keep the brew coming. Deal[?][swg]

By the way, I received your emails, but didn't reply in kind, for by the time I checked the "in box," they were already a few days old. Thanks, though .... one of my bad habits is that I'm an infrequent email user and checkerererer, or something like that.[swg]

Jokes[?] Good Grief Charlie Brown, they are getting worserer and worserer![swg]

Dave Don't sweat the small stuff, Mate. Here's the "deal," recognition is like sex, it's a glorious thing, but then it's "what have you done for me lately[?]"[swg] Admittedly I only spent 4 years in the military, hardly a drop in the bucket compared to our Captain but one thing I do recall is that many times the guys with all the ribbons were really not the sailors we depended upon when the chips were down. I used to want to "heave" when the clerks and typists were recipients of ribbons and medals for essentially doing their 8 to 4 jobs. BS! Havne't a clue what it's like in today's Navy, but from some of the people I've seen, they have more ribbons on their chests at very young ages than people like Nimitiz and Halsey had at the end of their careers! Well maybe not, but it surely seems so. Don't know where I'm headed with this - so I'll quit![swg]

Those GE loco posts from the other day, in your "confused state," were pretty good run downs of the motive power of the day and times. Uboats were among my favorites too for freights![tup]

Okay Tom set 'em up on me and I'll just take a seat over there, listen to some tunes from Herr Wurlitzer and check out the ENCORES![tup]

Until the next time!

Lars

[West Coast S]

Morning Tom amd the gang.. #2 on the breakfest menu please. Tom what a crock I had to endure yesterday, we had our annual awards bash here on base, not one person from our department was acknowledged or nominated much less presented.

Glad all enjoyed the GE U33C review, I too think they were the last of what a GE should look like.

Tom, I do admit to being in a daze the last few weeks, too many hours on the job and distractions on the home front will do that to you.. Well i'm off to my retreat in the high country at end of shift today, providing I don't encounter conditions for a few days of R&R to return my old self, hopefully!!!

Meanwhile i'll just sit here and enjoy encore Saturday.

Dave

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted page 153

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #17

Here’s something to enjoy regarding the Budd RDC’s from a 1950 advertisement found in my personal collection.

RDC – All-purpose Railway Passenger Coach

RDC, introduced a year ago, is the new all-stainless steel, self-propelled Budd rail diesel car. It is good looking, quiet, smooth riding. It is comfortable, clean and air-conditioned.

The New York Central now has two Budd RDC’s operating express service between Springfield and Boston, and a third, providing local service between western Massachusetts and Albany.

Western Pacific has two RDC’s covering the 924 miles which separate Oakland and Salt Lake City.

Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines have just placed six RDC’s in operation between Camden, Ocean City, Wildwood and Cape May. They leave Camden as a six-car train and end up as two-car trains at each of the three Jersey cities.,

Chicago & North Western has three RDC’s in commuter service; the Baltimore & Ohio will soon haves two and New York, Susquehanna Western, four.

These varied uses to which RDC is being put cover almost every kind of service a railway passenger coach can render.

The general acceptance of the Budd all-stainless steel RDC suggests that the development of railway passenger coach equipment may be headed in a new direction.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Budd Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Philadelphia, Detroit, Gary. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Budd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday

[Anonymous]

Good morning again Tom and friends! Is it too early for a bottomless draught? Over here, the weather seemed better a little earlier. I think it's going to deteriorate into storms this afternoon. Y'all need to do your riding while it's still nice! Nice Nickel Plate Fallen Flag and RDC encores Capt.

I am more than ready for the Sunday photo pix tomorrow! My pix over at Walgreens are also ready and waiting on me too! For now, I'll leave the 1st article I ever wrote for Our Place (Part I) way back from page 168, and leave an even worse joke than before!

The following article is reprinted from Vintage Rails magazine 1999 March/April Issue.

The Making of a Railroad Signalman – By Ken Frazer

A railroad signalman’s job in the late 1940’s provided an opportunity to experience the end of the golden era of railroads. Steam power was still pounding the rails. Passenger service, while declining, was still viable, and master craftsmen were still available to pass on their skills to apprentices. I was one of those apprentices who had the good fortune to have caring “old hands” show a novice the way to perform his craft while surviving freezing temperatures, heat exhaustion, and the hazards of railroad work.

Railroading came to me naturally. At one time or another, two uncles, and aunt, two cousins, and my father knew a foreman in the Bridge and Building Department. I was able to get summer jobs when I was 14 and 15 years old, painting the fences between station platforms and working on the railroad’s New York Harbor piers.

The Initiation – After graduating from high school and not being able at the time to attend college, I entered the work world as a helper in the signal department on the Lackawanna Railroad. While having family working on the railroad was responsible for getting summer work and my signal helper’s job, at the same time it made the situation tougher, because I did not want to reflect badly on my family, and the foreman didn’t want to take it easy on me in front of the other men.

It was with this background that I reported to work at the signal construction camp cars in Hackettstown, New Jersey, to foreman Bill Brickman. He had a line crew, a wiring crew, and the subterranean excavation group (digging trenches and burying cable). Foreman Brickman felt that I was qualified for the latter group. It was in this group that I learned the Brickman rule; When digging trenches, you do not have one man pick and another shovel while the first rests. Each man in the trench picks and shovels - continuously.

As we worked our way West towards Washington, New Jersey, I learned how the line crew “grunt” ties material onto the lineman’s ground line so that it won’t fall off. I learned the soft, flat (non-tumbling) toss, chest high, to the lineman up on the pole.

About four to six men would take the end of a line wire to be pulled and head into brush-covered hills and gullies, wherever the line people went, and pulled 1,000 feet of the wire at a time. The line crew boss was Mike Schwartz. A slender, wiry man who was absolutely fearless on the pole. However, he had a thing about pulling the lines up really tight. As Fall approached, we had a cool night after a hot day, punctuated by his calls to “pull it up tighter, men.” The next morning we found some of the lines which had been up tight in the heat of the day snapped like high C on the piano during the cool of the night, causing crossarms to spring sideways. After that, the “pull it tighter” syndrome moderated.

The work of the signal changes associated with the installing APB (absolute and permissive block) single-tracking, replacing style B semaphores with style S, and replacing primary batteries with storage batteries continued on up to Washington, New Jersey, where the camp cars were located. Transportation of men and materials was by gang motorcar and by a ¼ ton pickup truck with benches in the truck bed under a canvas top. Today, canvas-topped truck to transport men is unthinkable, if not illegal, and Hi-Rails have replaced motorcars. But every day, 10 hours a day (in order to get home weekends and an early quit on Fridays for travel), “Cookie” would send us out after breakfast with our lunch bags to load either the truck (mostly line crew) or the gang car for the day’s work. Meals were like those in the Army; simple but nourishing, and some very tasty, especially after a day out on the tracks.

Graduation From Grunt – After my first six months, I began to get assigned to the wiremen. This was a wonderful new world for me. They wired the signals, switches, relay boxes, and other devices. While I would still work with the line crew or cable trench excavation sometimes, I spent an increasing amount of time with Joe Swetz and George Will, two excellent wiremen. Since my father was a telephone lineman/maintainer and radio ham, I had some knowledge of electrical circuits. With this knowledge, I would try to figure out how the signals worked from studying the signal circuit prints until I didn’t understand a symbol of how a device worked. Then Joe or George would explain.

As we worked our way West out of Washington towards the Delaware River, my usual duties were carrying their toolbags, putting eyes on wires, and skinning and potheading cables. I would also stand in back of the relay box and push wires through holes in the backboard identified by the wireman poking a straw through his side of the hole. They also let me wire battery boxes by myself. The fact that the fresh creosote in the new battery box wood, baking in the sun, burned your nostrils and wrists may have had something to do with this generous beneficence! With my rapid progress in learning to read the circuits, and just as certainly good recommendations from my wiremen “mentors”, I was promoted to assistant signalman.

I experienced the serious side of railroading one morning when we left Washington going West on our motorcar with two flatcars of cable reels, while a track gang car pulling two flats with rail left Portland, Pennsylvania, going East. We sighted each other in a curved cut, and with wet morning rails and pulling loaded flatcars, it was clear there was no way we were going to stop in time. Foreman Brickman yelled “Jump!” Our exit was followed by all 250 pounds of Brickman. We were still bouncing along the roadbed when the two gang cars met head-on in a cloud of dust and debris. My lunchbox was transformed into an accordion, but all of our men were OK except for bumps and bruises. Three of the track gang, older men who didn’t jump, had some more serious injuries, fortunately not life threatening. Brickman sent a man back East to flag No. 47, which was about 45 minutes behind us, and we all proceeded to clear the track of wreckage. When 47 arrived, the injured were loaded aboard, and we proceeded to push one of our flats back to Washington to lick our wounds and contemplate the inevitable investigation. It should be noted that in this era, motorcars were not given track warrants, orders, or other rights of track. The were given lineups, which together with the timetable provided information on trains. Other motorcar movements were not necessarily part of the lineup information.

[:I] Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex was staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. It was covered with names, and small American flags were mounted on either side of it. The seven year-old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside the boy, and said quietly, "Good morning, Alex."
"Good morning," replied the young man, still focused on the plaque.
"What is this?" Alex asked.
"Well, son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in the service." Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque. Little Alex's voice was trembling and barely audible when he asked,
"Which service, the 9:45 or the 11:15? [:I]

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 151

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #16

Here’s something to enjoy regarding the Budd RDC’s from a 1950 advertisement found in my personal collection.

. . . . . . . . . . Single Car “Limited” . . . . . . . . . .

Here is the new railroad car which is a train in itself – the self-propelled, diesel-powered, all-stainless steel RDC-1. The Budd Company created it to perform a service both to railroads and their patrons, by carrying more passengers on short or long hauls at lower operating cost.

The RDC-1 seats ninety in air-conditioned comfort. With power transmitted hydraulically, from an effortless start it picks up speed like a whippet and stops in a fantastically short space . . . with the easy softness of pushing your hand against a pillow.

Railroad men foresee a wide usefulness for this car. It may be operated as a single unit, or a number of cars can be coupled into a train, operated by one engineman.

Improvement in any field of endeavor begins with imagination. The RDC-1 is another example of Budd practice which is first to envision clearly the need and then bring to bear all the resources of inventive engineering. It follows the modern stainless steel streamliner, the all-steel automobile body, the tapered steel disc wheel and so many other products in which Budd has translated imagination into practical accomplishment. The Budd Company, Philadelphia, Detroit.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Budd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday

[siberianmo]

Good Morning!

I see only one visitor this fine day, barndad Doug![tup]

Now that's the kinda day I enjoy taking advantage of too. Been known for "spur of the moment" trips and if Iived closer to ChiTown, I'd be riding trains to "who knows where!"[swg] Looking forward to the Pix!

That joke as simply awful!<good grief!>[swg]

Looks like we're in for a rather pleasant morning here in mid-Continent USA, however, another front is en route with some severe weather in the forecast. Right now the sun's shining, birds chirping, temps on the rise, and spring is in the air. Ground is mighty wet, as we got another downpour during the wee hours, but much needed. Petrol last night was $2.18 (rounded) and seems to be leveling out. Yeah, right![tdn]

Gotta get movin' - I'll make another ENCORE! Saturday Post, then catch y'all around noon-ish.

G'day to all!

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

[siberianmo]

Hello cuizhenjia

Sorry, but you are on the wrong Thread and Forum for your question. Try the Model Railroading Forum.

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

[Anonymous]

SOS: [#welcome] Hello everybody! will like do me a favor, tell me which works of world produce the couplers for locomotive with UIC standard profile

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 154

Here’s another Fallen Flag for the gang from Classic American Railroads:

New York, Chicago & St. Louis – Nickel Plate Road (NKP)

Headquarters: Cleveland, OH

Mileage in 1950 2,192

Locomotives in 1950:

Steam: 392
Diesel: 117

Rolling stock in 1950:

Freight cars: 29,229
Passenger cars: 117

Principal routes in 1953 (after W&LE merger):

Chicago-Buffalo, NY via Fostoria & Lorain, OH
Toledo, OH-East St. Louis, IL
Toledo-Wheeling, WV & Steubenville, OH
Cleveland-Zanesville, OH
Sandusky, OH-East Peoria, IL via Lima, OH
Indianapolis-Michigan City, IN
Fort Wayne-Connersville & Rushville, IN
Norwalk-Huron, OH
Cleveland-Wellington, OH

Passenger trains of note:

Blue Arrow (Cleveland-St. Louis)
Blue Dart (St. Louis-Cleveland)
City of Chicago (Buffalo-Chicago)
City of Cleveland (Chicago-Buffalo)
Commercial Traveler (Toledo-St. Louis)
New Yorker (Chicago-Buffalo)
Nickel Plate Limited (Chicago-Buffalo)
Westerner (Buffalo-Chicago)


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday