"OUR" PLACE - SEE NEW THREAD!

[siberianmo]

Mornin' Gents!

Just a quickie from mid-Continent USA! Big doings goin' on 'round here.[swg]

Petrol is now at $2.40 (rounded) up at "Collusion Corner," and the rise was not a surprise. It'' go even higher - count on it.[tdn] Storm front came roarin' thru about midnight - blowin' up a gale force wind. No damages, thank heaven.

Received a "bunch" of E-mails and appreciate the comments. Rather than get "into" them here - let me just say, 'tis better to communicate directly with whomever it is one has a disagreement with than to use this bar 'n grill for gripes 'n complaints. Unfortunately, everyone doesn't seem to think it is important to provide an Email address in their Profile, sooooooooooo . . . . . .

Thanx for the B'day wishes for my bride! She's most surprised that anyone in cyber space would remember her, along with the Email best wishes too![tup][tup][tup] Nicely done, gents!

I enjoyed putting out that Toronto Union Station piece and apparently it was well received.[tup] Makes the effort worth the while, eh[?]

Rob 'n Doug at nite! Now there's a combo, fer sure, fer sure![swg] Always good stuff and enjoy the reading. Jesse James, eh[?] One of the things that kinda stuck wtih me when I moved to these parts was that it was really not that long ago in history when the James Gang was terrorizing the railroads and banks in Missouri, Kansas and other places. The wild west, fer sure, fer sure.

Thanx for the intersting link between rails and waterway transportation, Rob - good stuff![tup]

Appreciate the rounds (and quarters) guyz! Always helps to have more left in "Tilla 'n Cashinator" than when the day began![swg]

CM3 I doubt that the Spadina Terminal will make my list - however, feel free![swg]

Would love to see the Pix that accompany that list of B&O - C&O - WM motive power. Impressive . . . .

Later![tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]


THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[LoveDomes]

G'day Tom and fellow travelers at the bar!

Just a real short visit today - family is about to descend on us and then it will be "celebration time!"[swg] Thanks to all for the b'day greetings - seems like we've done this once B4, huh[?][swg]

Set 'em up on me, Tom and I'll start off with a JD straight up . . . .

Comments[?] Nah - I'll refrain. After all, what's the use, huh[?] I said what I said and it remains said! Can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen - didn't one of our former Prez people say that[?][?]

Actually I DO want to say this: I like the way our Proprietor has organized this Thread - that's part of why I'm here. I participate and try to contribute. Can't understand why anyone one frequent this bar for reasons other than to join in. I think the term "inclusive" fits quite well - although a bit on the "lib" side for my tastes![swg] Anyway, I kinda go with "consideration." If you give it - you get it![tup]

Love the CP going on over on your "other thread!"

Enjoyed the "reads" from Rob 'n Doug - especially got a kick out of the Jesse James story. All I could think about was that old Henry Fonda movie . . . .

As I mentioned earlier on, if you need some help with the "RR Book Relay" send it to me - even though I have it, I'll "autograph" the page and return it.

Ding-dong, goes the door bell - "I'll get it" bellows the wife - and let the party begin!<groan> I really don't care for these things . . . . I'm coming, I'm coming . . . .

Again, [bday] to the Mrs. and enjoy the dinner, etc![tup] Just think how close we came to being the April Fools![:O]


Until the next time!

Lars

[pwolfe]

Hi Tom and all.

A pint of Bathams and some fish and Chips if there is any leftover please[tup].

Glad you got through the high winds last night without any damage TOM. It got very windy here but the main storm skirted us, poor Sedalia MO had a tornado again but this time without the injuries as far as I know.

Many thanks Mike for the links to Rugby ND station [tup][tup][tup].It looks a delightful building with a great interior. To sell 5,300 tickets with a population of only 3,000 is a marvellous achievement. I do hope they are successful in keeping the Empire Builder continuing calling there.
The station's namesake in England is to go a complete re-building soon. The present station is the 3rd to serve the LMS lines in the town dating from 1886,
It is an island station with two main platforms with bays at both ends with the through and goods lines to the outside, the main platforms are 1,410 feet long There were a scissors switch half way down each platform controlled by small signal boxes and they could hold two trains at once.

ROB The EMD class 66s built for the UK have been, as far as I know, very successful.
The intial order for 250 for EWS, with the Winconsin Central connection,have been added too by other frieght operators and the total now running or on order has reached 397. Although one 66 was written off after the Heck accident.
There as been some of the type built for other European railways. some of the new locos for Holland have been assembled by ITS Rail at ST Catherines instead of at London Ontario.
The 66s got the nickname of Grey Squirrels by some railfans when they first arrived(although they were mainly red) an introduced animal killing off the local species.

DOUG Great piece on Jesse James. In St Joseph Missouri is the Jesse James Home Museum where he was shot . A railroad connection is that near the home is the Patee House Museum which houses an 1892 4-4-0 engine which was put back to its early apperance in the 30s to represent the Hannibal & St Joseph #35 with a replica of the railroad's first Railway Post Office.

[bday] LARS . Have a great day.

I'll have another Bathams and a round to celebrate. PETE.

[siberianmo]

G'day!

Nice to see ya Pete! You and Lars have been our only customers today! What a difference time can make, eh[?] Friday's used to be our busiest - been a long time. But then again, this is the "Feast or Famine Bar 'n Grill," one just never knows who or "what" will come through those doors - and when![swg]

Cheers to all - thanx for the rounds and we're getting ready to take Juneau for an early trek 'round the subdivision. Translated: he gets an early walk - then another upon our return home this evening - as the one coming up doesn't "count!" Get it[?] Dogs!!<grin>

Hey Lars! Just think of it this way - better to be thought about than forgotten, wouldn't you agree[?][swg] [bday] to you![tup]

Have a Nostalgia piece comin' up . . . .

Tom[4:-)] [oX)]

[siberianmo]

G’day All!

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #79

Here’s something to enjoy regarding the PULLMAN COMPANY in a 1942 advertisement from my private collection:

. . . . . . . . . .

Man deflates brother-in-law

1. Arriving home for family reunion at Christmas, he notes particularly smug look on brother-in-law’s face.

2. Brother-in-law immediately launches into bragfest on how he and family made trip home by Pullman.

3. Expounds at length on delicious steak dinner which he, wife, and Junior had immediately on boarding train.

4. Tells next how they left Junior tucked in bed and in care of Porter as they went back for evening in club car.

5. Paints glowing picture of refreshments in club car, and general refined air of people gathered there to enjoy pleasant evening.

6. Gets practically poetical telling how wonderful a sleep he had, claiming Pullman beds are best beds in entire world.

7. Winds up oration by explaining how rail and Pullman fare is less than 4 cents a mile – whereas it costs 5 cents a mile to run your own car.

8. After hearing out b-in-law to end, our hero says quietly, “I know! I came Pullman myself like I always do. Nice, isn’t it?”

For Comfort – For Safety – For Dependability – Go Pullman

You get there refreshed, readier for a good time. Try it next trip.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . GO PULLMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom [4:-)][oX)]

THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[Anonymous]

Good evening Tom and friends! I'll have a bottomless draught and glady purchase a round for the few visitors I see. Rob wrote a nice article on the BB&G, and Tom put up an interesting Pullman add. Glad to get your comments on the Jesse James post sir Peter, but now it's time to get back to my tunnel series ... so here goes!

Tunnels by Henry B. Comstock June 1947 Railroad Magazine

The same snow conditions which had plagued CPR’s Rogers Pass route came to grips with David Moffat’s uncompleted Denver & Salt Lake Railroad every winter. Storms of incredible fury lashed the horny shoulders of James and Arapahoe Peaks, beyond Newcomb, Colorado. There, lofty Rolling Pass, reached by an amazing succession of hairpin turns, a spiral curve and innumerable giant trestles, took the brunt of the blizzards, avalanches and frost heaves which are frozen hell on any man’s railroad. Coupled to that, a four percent grade make the whole route to the rich timber, coal and livestock area beyond, unfeasible for heavy traffic.

Surveys showed that a six-mile tunnel would eliminate the jug-neck. The city of Denver, which stood to be the principle beneficiary, went to bat for the project in the face of heavy opposition from less favored Colorado areas, particularly those cities located along the line of the Rio Grande, in the valley of the Arkansas River. Long litigation in the Colorado Supreme Court came to an abrupt end when high water swirled through the Royal Gorge in 1921, inundating Canyon City and Pueblo. Denver turned a deaf ear to cries for state assistance in the matter of flood control until its own newly doctored bill was given kindlier consideration. As passed, it provided funds for the “improvement region benefited by the tunnel” his method of financing, wherein a district guarantees a bond issue, and constructs and leases a property to a privately owned railroad, was novel and, as matters turned out, profitable.

Using methods of construction efficient beyond the wildest dreams of early tunnel workers, including a supplementary, pioneer bore; traveling cantilever girders, to hold back loose rock while timbering operations progressed; and electric mockers which cleared away rubble easily and swiftly, the job was carried to fulfillment on February 27th, 1928, and named in honor of the practical dreamer who had devoted his whole vast fortune to rail expansion through the Rockies.

Meanwhile, surveys beyond Craig, Colorado, on the western end of the Denver & Salt Lake, did not encourage rail projection from the point to the Utah capital. Instead, it was decided to swing a line southwestward down the headwaters of the Colorado River to Dotsero, where it would tie in with the Rio Grande, reducing Denver Salt Lake trackage by more than one hundred and seventy miles. Nobody anticipated, then, the tremendous part the Dotsero Cutoff would one day play in speeding a vast army to victory. That was to be the undeclared dividend of the Moffat Tunnel Improvement District.

Even before the Moffat could lay claim to top honors among American railroad tunnels, Great Northern was hewing away at the backbone of the Cascade Range, making swift headway toward completion of a still longer corridor, measuring forty-one thousand feet between facings. Chipping out large fragments of this Washington State obstruction was no new experience for the Big G. Jim Hill’s original line had see-sawed its way across Stevens Pass by means of a temporary system of switch-backs, involving four reversals of trackage. While the first trains in and out of Seattle were shuttling over its breathtaking grades, construction engineers were busy driving a permanent line through the upper strata of the big hill at a point where its flanks were separated by some two and one-half miles of formidable granite. It took the better part of eight years to lance a lane between them, and the finished job was nothing to write prosy travelogues about. Winter weather at those heights was rugged, and before GN was through, it had hammered together eight miles of supplementary snowsheds and was shelling out a cool six hundred-thousand dollars annually for drift removal.

Then there was the problem of ventilation. In February, 1903, suffocating smoke nearly gassed out a trainload of passengers when a double-header lost its feet in the bore. Only the quick action of a double-heading fireman by the name of Abbot, who cut off the coaches and allowed them to coast back down the tunnel, prevented a loss of life unparalleled in railroading history.

Taking a cue from the Baltimore & Ohio, which had completed the first heavy-duty electrification project in America when it sparked juice through its Baltimore Tunnels in 1895, Great Northern wired the original Cascade in 1909. But the obvious advantages of a longer, lower-level bore had long since become apparent. The new and greatest smoke hole of them all, begun in December 1925, was the consummation of this dream. Never in all construction history was a project engineered with greater vigor. No item had been overlooked. Even when a subterranean river rushed into the tunnel at the rate of ten thousand gallons per minute, it found a diversion sluice already prepared for it.

In 1928, President Coolidge took his Indian was-bonnet long enough to press a button on his desk in Washington, D.C. Over the nation’s telegraph wires a tiny electrical impulse found its way to the deep recesses of the Cascade. Almost before growling gelatin could heave the headings into a shapeless mound, surveyors proudly announced that their calculations had miscarried by a matter of a mere half-foot.

Like its predecessor, the Western Hemisphere’s greatest tunnel is electrified. With new approaching trackage, it represents a twenty-five million dollar investment – money well spent, in view of nine difficult miles of 2.2 per cent trackage eliminated. Gone are the days when steam pressure in Great Northern pusher Mallets dropped from two hundred pounds to a mere seventy, simply because fires could no longer burn in the exhausted air of the five-hundred-foot-higher, old Cascade.

There are only five railroad tunnels in existence which exceed the New World champion in length. Curiously, all of them are in the Alps. Heading the list is the famous Simplon, whose twin bores link the Swiss Rhone valley with Iselle, just across the Italian frontier. 64,971 feet in length, it was completed in 1922, at a cost of approximately twenty million dollars. Then, in order, come the Etruscan Appinine (60,720 feet); St. Gothard (48,927 feet); Loetschberg (44,685 feet); and Mt. Cenis (42,150 feet).

As the latter proved a testing laboratory for the Hoosac, in the matter of compresses air drilling, so another Alpine project laid the pattern for America’s most unusual tunnels – the CPR spirals above Field, British Columbia. Until 1903 the main line of the Canadian Pacific clambered out of the Kicking Horse valley by means of a heart-breaking 4.5 per cent gradient which was a veritable ski-slide in reverse. The close-spaced canyon walls defied any attempt at relocation until construction engineers recalled a neat trick which the burrowing Swiss had used to reduce the slope of their ST. Gothard line. Entering a mountain side they had proceeded to carve a sweeping circle through it, emerging at a higher elevation, crossing the original line; then plunging back into the slope for a second complete ascending loop.

Canadian Pacific followed suit, varying its new track pattern in only one respect. For want of a mountain long enough to embrace two circles of track, it plunged its rails into the north flank of the defile; next swung back over the stream and hammered its way into the south wall for a second spin. The resulting spiral tunnels present the unique picture of a railroad train heading in three directions over parallel track for a matter of the two miles. In the course of the intricate process the rails gain a vertical height of nearly four hundred feet between outside portals; all on an actual grade of 1.6 per cent.



[:I] One day in a lawyer's office the devil appeared, he told the lawyer, I have a deal for you. I can make you five times richer, all your partners in the firm will appreciate you, all you clientes will like you, and you will win all your cases. The lawyer said that sounds good, what do you need, the devil replied I need your soul and your wife and your two children, is it a deal, the lawyer said what's the catch? [:I]

[siberianmo]

Tom’s INDEX, thru Mar 2006
recommended for "bookmarking"

A helplful hint:

Generic URL: Just insert the index page in place of “106,” copy ‘n paste ‘n “go,”

http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=247&TOPIC_ID=35270

-or- insert the index page in the address portion of this page (at the top).


Fallen Flags (passenger ops):

106/150/253 SP … 106/150 MP .…….. 108/155/170 WP ….. 109/182 Frisco
112/187 CNR . . . . .112/182 Heralds . . 114/195 ACL …..….. 115/195 SAL
116/195 D&RGW .. 118/181 RI . . . . . . 119/202 D&H …..….. 120/144 PRR
122/144 NYC .…… 124/202 UP ..…..… 125/203 AT&SF ..…. 127/203/234 B&O
128/204 CM&StP . 129/205 CB&Q ..…. 130/205 Soo Line …. 133/205 C&NW
134/206 SP&S ….. 136/213 GN ………. 139/216 B&M .…….. 140/218 NH
141/219 MEC …… 142/221 BAR .……. 145/226 NP .……….. 146/231 L&N
147/237 WRR …... 148/234 C&O .……. 148/243 KCS ……… 151/250 N&W
152/256 Erie …….. 152/263 IC ……….. 154/271 NPR ……… 155/280 SOU
156/284 CGW ….. 157 RDG ..…………158 MON .....………. 159 IT
162 LV ..………….. 163 GM&O ...……..164 Extra


Personal rail trips

12 ………... Canada Rail Journey, Part I
13 ………... Canada Rail Journey, Part II
15 ………... Canada Rail Journey, Part III
16 ………... Canada Rail Journey, Part IV (final)
80 ………... Dallas Trip
99/206 .…... A trip to remember (personal account of cross-Canada rail trip)
124/243 ….. A tale of Classic Trains BC Rail RDC trip
134/206 ….. Personal RR journey CPR’s “The Canadian”
199 ………. A Trip to Remember (Remembrance Day Train 2005)


Passenger Train Nostalgia:

110/181 .…. MKT Combined Fallen Flag and Ads
112/187 ….. CNR Ad - Super Continental Time Table
113/144 .…. #1 ”Start ups” 1800s & early 1900s
117/144 .…. #2 Ad - Vista-Dome sleeper obs-lounge
121/174 .…. #3 Ad - CP Hotels & Lodges
127/202/234 .B&O Ad - Strata-Dome
127/219/234 .B&O Ad – Diesel Electric Trains
129/174 .…. #4 Ad - CN Hotels, Ltd.
130/206 .…. Great Britain #1 Poster - East Coast Route
133/221 .…. #5 Poster - CP 1886
133/211 ….. #6 Poster - CP 1950s
134/244 ….. #7 Poster - Washington & Old Dominion Railway
135/226 ….. Great Britain #2 London & Northwestern & Caledonian Railways
137/231 ….. Great Britain #3 London & Northwestern & Caledonian Railways
137/231 ….. #8 Ad – GN (1956)
139/237 ….. #9 Ads – GN (1956)
140/237 ….. #10 Ad – UP
141/250 ……Nostalgia 1956 Hotel Ads
142/257 ……Nostalgia Fairbanks-Morse motive power Ad
143/257 ….. #11 Ad - PRR – The Jeffersonian
145/259 ….. #12 Ad – NP
146/263 ….. #13 Ad – L&N
146/257 ….. Great Britain #4 Poster (1870s)
147/237 ..... #14 Ad – Budd & Wabash – New Blue Bird
148/234 ..... #15 Ad – C&O
149/264 ….. HERTZ Ad - 1956
151/271 ….. #16 Ad – Budd RDC (1950)
153/271 ….. #17 Ad – Budd RDC (1950)
153/247 ……North American Steam Loco Wheel Arrangements
154/272 ….. #18 Ad – Budd RDC (1953)
155/272 ….. #19 Ad – Budd RDC (1954)
156/250/253.#20 Ad – SP, Golden State (1951)
157/253 ……#21 Ad – SP, Sunset limited (1951
158/254 .......#22 Ad – SP, City of San Francisco (1951)
159/246 ……#23 Ad – AT&SF (1950)
161 …….…. 9 WWII Ads ENCORE! of Vets/Remembrance Day Commemoration
162/246 ……#24 Ad – AT&SF (1951)
163/247 ……#25 Ad – AT&SF (1952)
164/279 ….. #26 Ad – Olympian Hiawatha
166/264 ….. AVIS Ad – 1956
167/280 ….. Pocket List of RR Officials Ad – 1956
169/240 ...... #27 Ad – NYC Aerotrain (1956)
170/240 ...... #28 Ad – NYC Xplorer (1956)
171/284 ….. #29 Ad – CP (1950)
172/285 ….. #30 Ad – CP (1950)
173/285 ….. #31 Ad – Pullman (1950)
176/285 ….. #32 Ad – Pullman (1950)
177 …….…. #33 Ad – Soo Line – Winnipegger (1956)
178 …….…. #34 Ad – Burlington Route (1949)
180 …….…. #35 Ad – Soo Line – Mountaineer (1956)
181 …….…. #36 Ad – Soo Line – The Laker (1956)
182 …….…. #37 Ad – MoPac – Eagle Dome Coaches (1956)
183/240 ….. #38 Ad – NYC – New 20th Century Ltd (1948)
184 ……….. #39 Ad – PRR – Broadway Ltd (1949)
186 ….……. #40 Ad – British Railways (1948)
186 ……….. #41 Ad – Glacier National Park (1949)
188-189 ...... #1-8 Ad Christmas RR travel #1
190/240 ….. #42 Ad] – NYC – Dieseliner (1950)
191/247 …...#43 Ad – AT&SF – El Capitan (1949)
193/254 ..... #44 Ad – SP – Golden State (1949)
194/250 …...#45 Ad – Rock Island – Golden State (1949)
196 …….…. #46 Ad – CP (1949)
197/260 ……#47 Ad – NP – Yellowstone (1949)
199 …….…. #48 Ad – British Railways (1949)
200 ……….. #49 Ad – UP – Bryce Canyon (1949)
200 ……….. #50 Ad – SOU (1949)
209 …….…. #51 Ad – CP (1963)
209 ……….. #52 Ad – EMD (1948)
210 ……….. #53 Ad – CNR (1949)
211/234 ..... #54 Ad – B&O (1946)
212 …….…. #55 Ad – Pullman (1946)
218 …….…. #56 Ad – CP (1965)
219 …….…. #57 Ad – SP (1946)
222/260 …...#58 Ad – NP (1947)
222/240 ….. #59 Ad – NYC (1954)
224 ……….. #60 Ad – Great Britain: LMS – LNER (1933)
225 …….…. #61 Ad – UP (1933)
228 …….…. #62 Ad – California Zephyr (1949)
228 ……….. #63 Ad – Budd Company (1949)
229 ……….. #64 Ad – Pullman Company (1949)
230 …….…. #65 Ad – Milwaukee Road (1933)
231 …….…. #66 Ad – Swiss Federal Railways (1933)
239 …….…. #67 Ad – SP (1948)
249 ……….. #68 Ad – NYC (1954)
254 ……….. #69 Ad – Railways of France (1933)
256 ……….. #70 Ad – CNR (1933)
258 ……….. #71 Ad – Great Britain: L M S and L N E R (1933)
271 ……….. #72 Ad – NP (1933)
274 ……….. #73 Ad: - CP (1952)
276 ……….. #74 Ad: - SOU (1956)
276 ……….. #75 Ad: - SOU (1956)
276 ……….. #76 Ad: - SOU (1955)
281 ……….. #77 Ad: - CP (1969)
284 ……….. #78 The Pullman Company
290 ……….. #79 Ad: - Pullman (1942)


Canadian RR events, history & Railways of the Past

215 …….…. Significant events in Canadian RR History (Jan): Part I of II, 1800s to 1900
216 …….…. Significant events in Canadian RR History (Jan): Part II of II, 1900s to present
241 ……….. This day in Canadian RR History (Feb 8th): Hinton train collision
243 ……….. Significant events in Canadian RR History (Feb)
246 ……….. Canadian Railways of the Past #1 – CNoR
249 ……….. Canadian Railways of the Past #2 – NAR
261/262 …... Canadian Railways of the Past #3 – BCR
271 ……….. Significant events in Canadian RR History (Mar)
278 ……….. Canadian Railways of the Past #4 – HBRY


Railroads from Yesteryear

233 ……….. #1 – Baltimore & Ohio (B&O)
234 ……….. #2 – Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O)
237 ……….. #3 – Pennsylvania (PRR)
240 ……….. #4 – New York Central (NYC)
242 ……….. #5 – New Haven (NH)
246 ……….. #6 – Santa Fe (ATSF)
253 ……….. #7 – Southern Pacific (SP)
259 ……….. #8 – Northern Pacific (NP)
267/268 ……#9 – Coastline/Seaboard (ACL – SCL – SAL)
276 ……….. #10 – Southern (SOU)
282 ……….. #11 – Denver & Rio Grande Western (D&RG)
287 ……….. #12 – Great Northern Railway (GN)


Railways of Europe

247 ……….. #1 – British Rail
248 ……….. #2 – Eurostar (London-Paris-Brussels)
255 ……….. #3 – TGV of France
270 ………. #4 – ICE of Germany
279 ………. #5 Irish Rail


Little Known Operating Railroads

283 ………. White Pass & Yukon Route (WPY)


Model & Toy Trains

288 ………. OO Gauge & British Model Trains


The Mentor Village Gazette

165 ……….. Vol I, Number 1 – November 17th, 2005
188 ……….. Vol I, Number 2 – December 12th, 2005
208 ……….. Vol II, Number 1 – January 2nd, 2006
236 ……….. Vol II, Number 2 – February 2nd, 2006
278 ……….. Vol II, Number 3 – March 17th, 2006 – 2 Parts



NOTE:

trolleyboy Rob’s Barn - passengerfan Al’s Streamliner Corner & barndad Doug’s Roundhouse have individual Indexes


Enjoy!

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]


THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[Anonymous]

Good morning Tom and all! I'll have two light breakfasts please. I can't believe it's finally April, and winter is almost behind us. As windy as it's been, there must be a change on the way ... I hope.

Quite the impressive index Tom. Mine pales in comparrison, but here it is nonetheless:

Barndad Doug's Roundhouse

168 ….. The Making of a Signalman, Part I
……….. The Making of a Signalman, Part II
……….. The Making of a Signalman, Part III
171 ….. Through Thick & Thin, Part I
……….. Through Thick & Thin, Part II
……….. Through Thick & Thin, Part III
172 ….. Through Thick & Thin, Part IV
174 ….. Walking the Track, Part I
175 ….. Walking the Track, Part II
175 ….. Walking the Track, Part III
178 ….. Recollections of a Locomotive Fireman, Part I
……….. Recollections of a Locomotive Fireman, Part II
184 ….. Recollections of a Locomotive Fireman, Part III
……….. Recollections of a Locomotive Fireman, Part IV
188 ….. Granville-Paris wreck in 1895
189 …. The Great Pickleworks Wreck, Part I
190 …. The Great Pickleworks Wreck, Part II
……… The Great Pickleworks Wreck, Part III
191 …. Sorting on the Road, Part I
……… Sorting on the Road, Part II
193 …. Maintaining the Way, Part I
……… Maintaining the Way, Part II
194 …. Maintaining the Way, Part III
……… Maintaining the Way, Part IV
195 …. Maintaining the Way, Part V
196 …. Caboose History
197 …. Steam Delights of India, Part I
……… Steam Delights of India, Part II
198 …. Steam Delights of India, Part III
……… Steam Delights of India, Part IV
201 …. Steam Delights of India, Part V
210 …. Steam Delights of India, Part VI
210 …. Train of Life (poem)
211 …. Genius at the Junction, Part I
……… Genius at the Junction, Part II
213 … Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company 1894 Wages
214 …. Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad Company 1894 Rules
215 ….. 1931 June Insurance Claims list
216 …. Danville letter from W.B. Henderson
219 …. Safety First letter from William E. Talbott
221 …. Chicago Tunnel Company
221 …. Russian Decapods, Part I
224 …. Russian Decapods, Part II
226 …. Russian Decapods, Part III
226 …. Smoke Deflectors, Part I
226 …. Smoke Deflectors, Part II
230 …. Smoke Deflectors, Part III
239 …. Cabs, Part I
239 …. Cabs, Part II
240 …. Cabs, Part III
242 …. Cabs, Part IV
242 …. Cabs, Part V
245 …. Cabs, Part VI
245 …. Our Own Lingo, Part I
247 …. Our Own Lingo, Part II
249 …. The Great Strike of 1877, Part I
249 …. The Great Strike of 1877, Part II
252 …. The Great Strike of 1877, Part III
252 …. The Great Strike of 1877, Part IV
255 …. Southern Pacific, a National War Agency, Part I
256 …. Southern Pacific, a National War Agency, Part II
258 …. Milwaukee Super Domes
260 …. The Dynamiter, Part I
261 …. The Dynamiter, Part II
262 …. The Dynamiter, Part II
263 …. The Engineer’s Brotherhood, Part I
265 …. A Preserved Pioneer (Zephyr)
268 …. Lionel M-10000 Streamliner
269 …. Burlington Zephyrs, Part I
270 …. Burlington Zephyrs, Part II
270 …. Hoodoo Engine
277 …. Two Million Locomotive Models
278 …. Tunnels, Part I
281 …. Tunnels, Part II
286 …. Tunnels, Part III
287 …. Tunnels, Part IV
290 …. Jesse James. Train Robber Part I
290 …. Tunnels, Part V

I'll be spending a several hours of my weekend pre-typing my humble offerings for the next week , starting in a few minutes. Take care ya'll!

[:I] A man is driving down a deserted stretch of highway when he notices a sign out of the corner of his eye....It reads:
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS
HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
10 MILES
He thinks this is a figment of his imagination and drives on without second thought....Soon he sees another sign which reads:
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS
HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
5 MILES
Suddenly he begins to realize that these signs are for real and drives past a third sign saying:
SISTERS OF ST FRANCIS
HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION
NEXT RIGHT
His curiosity gets the best of him and he pulls into the drive. On the far side of the parking lot is a stone building with a small sign next to the door reading:
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS
He climbs the steps and rings the bell. The door is answered by a nun in a long black habit who asks, "What may we do for you my son?"
He answers, "I saw your signs along the highway and was interested in possibly doing business...."
"Very well my son. Please follow me." He is led through many winding passages and is soon quite disoriented. The nun stops at a closed door and tells the man, "Please knock on this door."
He does so and another nun in a long habit, holding a tin cup answers the door... This nun instructs, "Please place $100 in the cup then go through the large wooden door at the end of the hallway."
He puts $100 in the cup, eagerly trots down the hall and slips through the door pulling it shut behind him. The door locks, and he finds himself back in the parking lot facing another sign:
GO IN PEACE.
YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SCREWED BY THE SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS. SERVES YOU RIGHT, YOU SINNER. [:I]

Have you ever noticed that the longer a joke is ...the worse it is?

[siberianmo]

(courtesy: www.trainweb.org)

The bar is CLOSED TODAY!



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . APRIL FOOL! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .



SATURDAY’s INFO & SUMMARY of POSTS


Saturday and the weekend, a good time for a hot cuppa Joe, pastries from The Mentor Village Bakery and a selection from our Menu Board for a <light> or <traditional> breakfast![tup]


Daily Wisdom

It’s better to know the country than to be the best cowboy.[swg]


”Our” Place” ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION is Wednesday, April 12th!


Info for the Day:

Railroads from Yesteryear – Missouri Pacific (MP) arrives Tuesday!

* Weekly Calendar:

TODAY: Steak ‘n Trimmin’s Nite! – and –
ENCORE! Saturday


SUMMARY

Name …..…………… Date/Time …..…..………. (Page#) .. Remarks

(1) siberianmo Tom Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 06:19:45 (290) Friday’s Info & Summary

(2) coalminer3 CM3 Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 09:15:59 (290) Coalminer Speaks!

(3) siberianmo Tom Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 10:01:03 (290) RR Book Relay! status

(4) siberianmo Tom Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 10:32:30 (290) Acknowledgments & Comments

(5) LoveDomes Lars Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 14:33:35 (290) The Lars Report (abbreviated)!

(6) pwolfe Pete Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 14:56:07 (290) Wolfman Howls!

(7) siberianmo Tom Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 15:30:13 (290) Acknoweldgments

(8) siberianmo Tom Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 16:18:39 (290) Nostalgia #79 Ad – Pullman (1942)

(9) barndad Doug Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 21:11:45 (290) Tunnels, etc. & joke!

(10) siberianmo Tom Posted: 31 Mar 2006, 21:24:50 (290) Tom’s Index thru Mar 2006




The Mentor Village Emporium Theatre

NOW SHOWING:

Double Features and Three Stooges Short Subject!

. . . Sunday, March 26th thru April 1st:Major League (1989) starring Tom Beringer, Charlie Sheen & Corbin Bernson – and – Bull Durham (1988) starring: Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon & Tim Robbins. SHORT: Plane Nuts (1933).

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

. . . Sunday, April 2nd thru 8th: Eight Men Out (1988) starring: Jace Alexander, John Cusack & Gordon Clapp – and – Field of Dreams (1989) Kevin Costner, Burt Lancaster & James Earl Jones. SHORT: The Big Idea (1934).



That’s it! [tup][;)]

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]
Proprietor of “Our” Place, an adult eating & drinking establishment!



THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[siberianmo]

April Fool's Day


Used with permission from: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Formatting differences made necessary due to Forums requirements.


April Fool's Day or All Fools' Day, though not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends and neighbours, or sending them on fools' errands, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible. In some countries, April Fools jokes must only be made before midday.


Origin

The origin of this custom has been much disputed, and many theories have been suggested, e.g. that it is a farcical commemoration of Christ being sent from Annas to Caiaphas, from Caiaphas to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and from Herod back again to Pilate, the crucifixion having taken place about the 1st of April.

What seems certain is that it is in some way or other a relic of those once universal festivities held at the vernal equinox, which, beginning on old New Year's day, the 25th of March, ended on the 1st of April. This view gains support from the fact that the exact counterpart of April-fooling is found to have been an immemorial custom in India. The festival of the spring equinox is there termed the feast of Holi, the last day of which is the 31st of March, upon which the chief amusement is the befooling of people by sending them on fruitless errands.

It has been plausibly suggested that Europe derived its April-fooling from the French. They were the first nation to adopt the reformed Gregorian calendar, Charles IX in 1564 decreeing that the year should begin with the 1st of January. Thus the New Year's gifts and visits of felicitation which had been the feature of the 1st of April became associated with the first day of January, and those who disliked or did not hear about the change were fair butts for those wits who amused themselves by sending mock presents and paying calls of pretended ceremony on the 1st of April.

However, it is unlikely that this explanation of April Fool's Day’s origin is correct. Well before 1582 when King Charles IX of France brought in the new Gregorian calendar, French and Dutch references from respectively 1508 and 1539 describe April Fool's Day jokes and the custom of making them on the first of April.

Though the 1st of April appears to have been anciently observed in Great Britain as a general festival, it was apparently not until the beginning of the 18th century that the making of April-fools was a common custom. In Scotland the custom was known as "hunting the gowk," i.e. the cuckoo, and April-fools were "April-gowks," the cuckoo being there, as it is in most lands, a term of contempt. In France the person befooled is known as poisson d'avril. This has been explained from the association of ideas arising from the fact that in April the sun quits the zodiacal sign of the fish. A far more natural explanation would seem to be that the April fish would be a young fish and therefore easily caught.

The Dutch have their own reason. Back in 1572, the Netherlands were still ruled by the Spain's King Phillip II. There were roaming Dutch rebels who called themselves Geuzen, after the French "geux", meaning beggars. On April 1, 1572, they took a small coastal town called Den Briel. This event was also the start of the general civil rising against the Spanish in other cities in The Netherlands. General Alva of the Spanish army couldn't do much. Bril is the Dutch word for glasses, so on April 1, 1572, "Alva lost his glasses". Dutch people find this joke so hilarious they still commemorate April the first.

Hoaxes

Many media organizations have either unwittingly or deliberately propagated hoaxes on April Fools' Day. Even normally serious news media consider April Fools' Day hoaxes fair game, and spotting them has become an annual pastime. A number of serious journals would publish hoax articles in their April volumes. For example Datamation used to publish quite elaborate spoof stories related to computers.

The advent of the Internet as a worldwide communications medium has also assisted the pranksters in their work.

Well-known hoaxes

• Alabama Changes the Value of Pi: The April 1998 newsletter of New Mexicans for Science and Reason contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi to the "Biblical value" of 3.0.
• Spaghetti trees: The BBC television programme Panorama ran a famous hoax in 1957, showing the Swiss harvesting spaghetti from trees. A large number of people contacted the BBC wanting to know how to cultivate their own spaghetti trees.
• Left Handed Whoppers: In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today, saying that people could get a Whopper for left-handed people whose condiments were designed to drip out the right side.
• Taco Liberty Bell: In 1996, Taco Bell took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to "reduce the country's debt" and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell." When asked about the sale, White House press secretary Mike McCurry replied with tongue in cheek that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and would henceforth be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
• Lies to Get You Out of the House In 1985, the L.A. Weekly printed an entire page of fake things to do on April Fools day, which hundreds of people were suckered in by.
• Kremvax: In 1984, in one of the earliest on-line hoaxes, a message was circulated that Usenet had been opened to users in the Soviet Union.
• San Serriffe: The Guardian printed a supplement in 1977 praising this fictional resort, its two main islands (Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse), its capital (Bodoni), and its leader (General Pica). Intrigued readers were later disappointed to learn that sans serif did not exist except as references to typeface terminology.
• FBI Crackdowns on On-line File Sharing of Music: Such announcements on April Fools Day have become common.
• Metric time: Repeated several times in various countries, this hoax involves claiming that the time system will be changed to a one where units of time vary by powers of 10.
• Smell-o-vision: In 1965, the BBC purported to conduct a trial of a new technology allowing the transmission of odor over the airwaves to all viewers. Many viewers reportedly contacted the BBC to report the trial's success.
• Tower of Pisa: The Dutch television news reported once in the 1950s that the Tower of Pisa had fallen. Many shocked and even mourning people contacted the station.
• Wrapping Televisions in Foil: In another year, the Dutch television news reported that the government had new technology to detect unlicensed televisions (in many European countries, television license fees fund public broadcasting), but that wrapping a television in aluminium foil could prevent its detection. Within a few hours, aluminium foil was sold out throughout the country.
• Sidd Finch: George Plimpton wrote a 1985 article in Sports Illustrated about a New York Mets prospect who could throw a 168 mph fastball with pinpoint accuracy. This kid, known as "Barefoot" Sidd[hartha] Finch, reportedly learned to pitch in a Buddhist monastery.
• Assassination of Bill Gates: Many Chinese and South Korean websites claimed that CNN reported Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, was assassinated.
• Write Only Memory: Signetics advertised Write Only Memory IC databooks in 1972 through the late 1970s.
• Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy! Double Switch: In 1997, Pat Sajak, the host of Wheel of Fortune, traded hosting duties with Jeopardy!'s Alex Trebek for one show. In addition to Sajak hosting Jeopardy!, he and co-host Vanna White appeared as contestants on the episode of Wheel hosted by Trebek. White's position was filled by Sajak's wife Leslie.
• Comic strip switcheroo: Cartoonists of popularly syndicated comic strips draw each others' strips. In some cases, the artist draws characters in the other strip's milieu, while in others, the artist draws in characters from other visiting characters from his own. Cartoonists have done this sort of "switcheroo" in several years. The 1997 switch was particularly widespread.
• The Trouble with Tracy: In 2003, The Comedy Network in Canada announced that it would produce and air a remake of the 1970s Canadian sitcom The Trouble with Tracy. The original series is widely considered to be one of the worst sitcoms ever produced. Several media outlets fell for the hoax.
• National Television Station (TVM) in Malta: In 1995, TVM announced the discovery of a new underground prehistoric temple with a mummy. Another year, TVM announced that Malta would adopt the European continent convention of driving on the right-hand side of the road.
• VeryCD: This P2Pweb site, one of the largest in China, announced in 2005 that it had ceased operation without specifing a cause.
• Free wine for all:The Norwegian newspaper "Bergens Tidende" announced in 1987 that the state alcohol monopoly had 10,000 litres of confiscated smuggler-wine. The inhabitants of Bergen were invited to the main store in town to receive their share of the goods, rather than spill good wine down the drain. That morning staff were met by about 200 men & women with bottles, buckets, and other suitable vessels for carrying the prized goods. Legislation in Norway means that alcohol is relatively expensive and has limited availability.
• The Canadian news site bourque.org announced in 2002 that Finance Minister Paul Martin had resigned "in order to breed prize Charolais cattle and handsome Fawn Runner ducks." The Canadian dollar dropped to its lowest level in a month before Martin's office debunked the hoax.
• SARS Infects Hong Kong: In 2003 it was rumored that many people in Hong Kong had become infected with SARS, that all immigration ports would be closed to quarantine the region, and that Tung Chee Hwa, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong at that time, had resigned. Hong Kong supermarkets were immediately overwhelmed by panicked shoppers. The Hong Kong government held a press conference to deny the rumor. The rumor, which was intended as an April Fool's prank, was started by a student by imitating the design of Ming Pao newspaper website. He was charged for this incident.
• China Decapitates Taiwan: In 2005, an undergraduate nicknamed SkyMirage, who was well-known in Taiwan for his humor, fabricated a series of news that China's airforce was bombarding Office of President, Taiwan.
• Annual BMW Innovations see a new "cutting-edge invention" by BMW advertised across British newspapers every year , examples including:
o The "Toot and Calm Horn" (after Tutankhamun), which calms rather than aggravates other drivers, so reducing the risk of road rage,
o MINI cars being used in upcoming space missions to Mars,
o IDS ("Insect Deflector Screen") Technology – using elastic solutions to bounce insects off the windscreen as you drive
o SHEF ("Satellite Hypersensitive Electromagnetic Foodration") Technology, which sees the car's GPS systems synchronise with home appliances to perfectly cook a meal for the instant you return home ,
o Marque-Wiper - mini-wipers for each exterior "BMW" logo coming as standard on all future models ,
o "Uninventing the wheel" to counter the "EU ban" on right-hand drive cars
• April 1st RFC
• Google's hoaxes

By radio stations

• Death of a Mayor: In 1998, local shock jocks Opie and Anthony reported that Boston mayor Thomas Menino had been killed in a car accident. Menino happened to be on a flight at the time, lending truth to the prank as he could not be reached. The rumor spread quickly across the city, eventually causing news stations to issue alerts denying the hoax. The pair were fired shortly thereafter.
• Free Concert: Radio station 98.1 KISS in Chattanooga, Tennessee falsely announced in 2003 that rapper Eminem would be doing a free show in a discount store parking lot. Several police were needed to deal with traffic gridlock and enraged listeners who threatened to harm the DJs responsible. Both DJs were later jailed for creating a public nuisance.
• New Format: Radio station KFOG in San Francisco, claiming new corporate ownership, switched to a new format - the best 15 seconds of every song. All morning they mixed in false calls from perky listeners calling with compliments. This hoax can also be considered a parody of late 1990s media consolidations.
• Sydney Olympics: Australian radio station Triple J breakfast show co-host Adam Spencer announced in 1999 that he had a journalist on the line at the site of a secret IOC meeting and that Sydney had lost the 2000 Summer Olympics. New South Wales Premier Bob Carr was also in on the joke. Mainstream media (including Channel 9's Today Show) picked up the story.
• Defy Gravity: In 1976 British astronomer Patrick Moore told listeners of BBC2 that unique alignment of two planets would result in an upward gravitational pull making people lighter at precisely 9:47 a.m. that day. He invited his audience to jump in the air and experience "a strange floating sensation." Dozens of listeners phoned in to say the experiment had worked.
• Shuttle landing: In 1993, a San Diego radio station fooled many listeners into believing that the space shuttle had been diverted from Edwards Air Force Base and was about to make an emergency landing at a small local airport.
• Cancellation of the Howard Stern Show: The April 1st, 2004 show started off with an announcement by the station manager stating that due to increased pressure from the FCC, Viacom had cancelled the Howard Stern Show. The station played pop songs until 7:00 am, when Stern came back on.
• Change of drinking age: On the Gold Coast, Australia's biggest tourist destination (particularly amongst school leavers), radio station Sea FM announced the drinking age would be changed from 18 to 21. This left a huge number of under 21s angry and frustrated, and incited protests. It was later announced at the Sea FM dance party that it was a hoax.

By television stations

• The Space Needle collapsed in a windstorm on April 1st, 1989. Seattle area TV program Almost Live! set up a phony broadcast room and dressed actors as TV anchors to pull an April Fool's joke of legendary proportions.
• After 50 years, the 1957 BBC report of the purported bumper annual spaghetti harvest (see Spaghetti trees above) remains one of the most successful TV hoaxes of all time.
• The BBC's Saturday lunchtime show Football Focus broadcast a piece centred on the upcoming change of the size of goals. Using West Ham United manager, Harry Redknapp, the report claimed that the size of the goals would increase by two feet in height and four feet in length. Redknapp was being 'interviewed' on the training ground where his goalkeepers were getting to grips with bigger goals.

They told the truth on the following week's show, where outtakes of Redknapp messing up his lines were also shown.

Other prank days in the world

The April 1 tradition in France includes poisson d'avril (literally "April's fish"), attempting to attach a paper fi***o the victim's back without being noticed.

In Spanish-speaking countries, similar pranks are practiced on December 28, the Day of the Holy Innocents. This custom also exists in certain areas of Belgium, including the province of Antwerp. The Flemi***radition is for children to lock out their parents or teachers, only letting them in if they promise to bring treats the same evening or the next day.

In Iran, people play jokes on each other on April 3, the 13th day of the Persian calendar new year (Norooz). This day is called "Sizdah bedar" (Out-door thirteen). It is believed that people should go out on this date in order to escape the bad luck of number 13.

In Australia and New Zealand the April 1 tradition exists, however it is accepted that if somebody pulls an April Fool's Trick after 12pm (mid-day), then the person pulling the trick is actually considered the fool (this caveat may also exist in other countries).

Quotes about April Fool's Day

"April 1st: This is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three-hundred and sixty-four." — Mark Twain
"You couldn't fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life even if you had an electrified fooling machine." — Homer Simpson

Nuisance caused to third parties by April Fool's Day

• One type of April Fool's Day hoax is to leave a message telling someone to telephone Mr. C. Lion or Mr. L. E. Fant (or various others) at a number that turns out to be a zoo. That prank, perpetrated upon many people, results in a flood of calls to zoos' telephone exchanges.
• In some cases, hoaxes appearing in a newspaper caused readers to send mail to nonexistent addresses, creating problems at postal sorting offices.

See also

• April Fool is the codename for a spy and double agent who played a key role in the downfall of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
• Pigasus Award

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.


Used with permission from: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Formatting differences made necessary due to Forums requirements. Some heralds from other sources.

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

Enjoy!

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]



THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 157

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

Reading Lines

Headquarters: Philadelphia, PA

Mileage in 1950: 1,286

Locomotives in:

1930:
Steam: 930
Diesel: 2 (box cab switchers)

1963:
Steam 4
Diesel: 337

Rolling stock in

1930:
Freight cars: 43,298
Passenger cars: 910 (includes MU self-propelled)

1975:
Freight cars: 12,213
Passenger cars: 176 (includes MU self-propelled and RDCs)

Principal routes in 1950:

Philadelphia-Jersey City (New York via ferries, floats)
Philadelphia-Bethlehem, PA
Philadelphia-Reading, PA
Philadelphia & Camden-Atlantic City, NJ
Manville-Port Reading, NJ
Reading-Harrisburg, PA
Reading-Allentown, PA
Reading-Newberry Jct. (Williamsport), PA
Reading-Wilmington, DE
Harrisburg-Hagerstown, MD (through arrangement Hagerstown-Lurgan, PA)

Passenger trains of note:

Crusader (Philadelphia-Jersey City (New York)
Wall Street (Philadelphia-Jersey City (New York)
Schuylkill (Philadelphia-Pottsville, PA)
King Coal (Philadelphia-Shamokin, PA)
Harrisburg Special (Jersey City (New York)-Harrisburg
Queen of the Valley (Jersey City (New York)-Harrisburg)
North Penn (Philadelphia-Bethlehem


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday


THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 177

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #33

Here’s something to ponder with regard to our appreciation and fascination with
Classic Trains. Check this out (from The Official Guide of the Railways – 1956)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Roomettes Now Available On . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . The “WINNIPEGGER” . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BETWEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ST. PAUL – MINNEAPOLIS – and WINNIPEG

For the Best Meals on Wheels and Complete Beverage Service

. . . . . . . . . . In the Soo Line Dining-Club Lounge Car . . . . . . . . . .

Roomettes, Bedrooms, Bedroom Suites and Open Sections.

. . . . . . . . . . Clean Comfortable Coaches . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Restful Individual Reclining Seats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . All Equipment Air-conditioned. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

NORTHBOUND. . . . .(Daily – Central Standard Time). . . . .SOUTHBOUND

Lve. ST. PAUL . . . . . . . . . . 7 45 PM . . . . . . . Lve. WINNIPEG . . . . . . . . . . 7 10 PM
Lve. MINNEAPOLIS . . . . . . 8 40 PM . . . . . . . Lve. THIEF RIVER FALLS . . 11 25 PM
Arr. THIEF RIVER FALLS . . 3 55 AM . . . . . . . Arr. MINNEAPOLIS . . . . . . . . 7 15 AM
Arr. WINNIPEG . . . . . . . . . . 8 15 AM . . . . . . . Arr. ST. PAUL . . . . . . . . . . . 8 00 AM

The Milwaukee Rd. Hiawatha leaving Chicago 100 p.m., arriving St. Paul 7 15 p.m, Minneapolis 7 45 p.m., and C.B.&Q. No. 25 leaving Chicago 11 30 a.m., arriving St. Paul 6 15 p.m., connect with the Soo Line Winnipeger for Winnipeg and Western Canada.

Southbound “Winnipeger” makes convenient connections with morning “Hiawatha” and “Zephyr” and other important early morning trains from St. Paul to points East and South.


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday


THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 178

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #34

Here’s something to enjoy regarding the BURLINGTON ROUTE in a 1949 advertisement from my private collection:

. . . . . VISIT Colorful Colorado! . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . Land of a Million Thrills! . . . . . . . . . .

* No vacation empire in all the world offers you more variety – more sheer enjoyment! Mile-high Denver and its mountain parks . . . picturesque Colorado Springs and pikes Peak region . . . the grandeur of Rock Mountain National-Estes Park . . . the friendly Dude Ranches. Ride or hike! Fish or golf! Go sightseeing or just be lazy! Whatever you choose, Colorado gives you extra pleasure!

. . . . . For Speed, Comfort, Pleasure . . . Go Burlington! . . . . .

* Choose between two famous diesel-powered streamlined trains -0 the DENVER ZEPHYR, overnight every night from Chicago to Colorado . . . or the CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR, with its entrancing Vista-Domes. Extra speed, extra luxury . . . but no extra fare!

BURLINGTON’S 100th ANNNIVERSARY * 1849-1949
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Way of the Zephyrs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . VISIT THE CHICAGO RAILROAD FAIR JUNE 25 – OCT 2 . . . . .


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom [4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday


THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 180

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #35

Here’s something to ponder with regard to our appreciation and fascination with
Classic Trains. Check this out (from The Official Guide of the Railways – 1956)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Mountaineer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Famous Train through the CANADIAN ROCKIES

THIS YEAR will operate Daily June 29 thru August 28 between

ST. PAUL – MINNEAPOLIS

. . . . . . . . . . AND THE . . . . . . . . . .

NORTH PACIFIC COAST

Via Soo Line St. Paul-Portal. . . . . . . . . . . Can. Pac. Ry. Portal-Vancouver.

Through Standard Sleeping Cars offering Drawing-room, Compartment, Bedrooms, Roomette and Open Section accommodations, also excellent Dining Car Service.

Note – The Mountaineer is Diesel Electric Powered between ST. PAUL, MINN., and Portal, N.D. and in the Mountains.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . From ST. PAUL June 29 thru Auust 28.
Exmpl . down . . . From VANCOUVER July 2 thru August 31 . . up . . . Exmpl

Sat . . . 9 40 PM .lv St. Paul (C.T.) . . . . . . (Soo Line) . . . . . . . .ar 7:15 AM Sat
“ . . . . 1025 PM lv Minneapolis . . . . . . . . . (Soo Line) . . . . . . . .ar 6 30 AM “
Mon . . 7 15 AM ar Calgary (M.T.) . . . . . . . (Can. Pac.). . . . . . . lv 7 20 PM Thu
“ . . . . 10 30 AM ar Banff . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Can. Pac.) . . . . . . . lv 4 35 PM “
“ . . . . 11 45 AM ar Lake Louise . . . . . . . . .(Can. Pac.) . . . . . . lv 2 40 PM “
“ . . . . 12 55 PM ar Field (M.T.) . . . . . . . . . (Can. Pac.) . . . . . . lv 1 30 PM “
Tue . . . 7 50 AM ar Vancouver (P.T.) . . . . . (Can. Pac.) . . . . . . lv 6 30 PM Wed
“ . . . . 10 00 AM lv Vancouver . . . . . . . . . . (C.P.S.S.) . . . . . . . ar 5 25 PM “
“ . . . . 2 15 PM ar Victoria . . . . . . . . . . . . .(C.P.S.S.) . . . . . . . lv 1 10 PM “
“ . . . . 9 00 PM ar Seattle (P.T.) . . . . . . . . .(C.P.S.S.) . . . . . . . lv 8 00 AM “

C.T. – Central time; M.T. – Mountain Time; P.T. – Pacific Time


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]


ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday

THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 181

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #36

Here’s something to ponder with regard to our appreciation and fascination with
Classic Trains. Check this out (from The Official Guide of the Railways – 1956)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . THE LAKER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . CHICAGO – DULUTH – SUPERIOR . . . . .

. . . . . On the Following Fast and Convenient Schedule: . . . . .

NORTHBOUND . . . . . (Daily – Central Standard Time) . . . . . SOUTHBOUND

Lve. CHICAGO . . . . . . . . . . 6 30 PM . . . . . . . . . . Lve. DULUTH . . . . . . . 7 30 PM
Lve. WAUKESHA . . . . . . . . 9 20 PM . . . . . . . . . . Lve. SUPERIOR. . . . . . 8 00 PM
Arr. SUPERIOR . . . . . . . . . .7 48 AM . . . . . . . . . . Arr. WAUKESHA . . . . . 5 40 AM
Arr. DULUTH. . . . . . . . . . . . 8 15 AM . . . . . . . . . . Arr. CHICAGO. . . . . . . .8 15 AM

FEATURES – Pullman Sleepers offering a variety of private rooms (Bedrooms, Bedroom Suites and Roomettes) and open sections.

Dining – Club – Lounge – Complete Beverage Service and the Best Meals on Wheels.


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday


THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[siberianmo]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday
first Posted on page 182

PASSENGER TRAIN NOSTALGIA #37

Here’s something to ponder with regard to our appreciation and fascination with
Classic Trains. Check this out (from The Official Guide of the Railways – 1956)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . surround them with scenery! . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . sell EAGLE Dome Coaches . . . . .

Your Travel Patrons will enjoy thrilling Dome Coaches on these great trains!

*The TEXAS EAGLES overnight between St. Louis, Memphis and the principal cities of Texas. Through sleeping cars between Chicago, New York, Washington and Texas. Planetarium-dome coaches between St. Louis and Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio. Direct connections at Laredo with new streamlined AZTEC EAGLE to Mexico City.

*The COLORADO EAGLE between St. Louis, Kansas City, Wichita and Colorado. Planetarium-dome coaches between St. Louis and Denver.

*The MISSOURI RIVER EAGLE between St. Louis and Kansas City, St. Joseph, Lincoln, Omaha. Planetarium-dome coaches between St. Louis and Omaha.

. . . . . . . . . . R. J. McDermott . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . General Passenger Traffic Mgr. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . 1601 Missouri Pacific Bldg. . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . St. Louis 3, Mo. . . . . . . . . . .

MISSOURI PACIFIC LINES Route of the Eagles


Enjoy! [tup]

Tom[4:-)][oX)]

ENCORE! Saturday - ENCORE! Saturday


THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[West Coast S]

A snappy April first Tom and the gang, got the duty, so what do you recommend from our fine selection of non-alcoholic beverages?? Time for a few saltuations, first and foremost, pleasent belated birthday greetings Lars, Rob thanks for the feedback, nice to know i'm not the only one confused when it comes to UP doings, glad all enjoyed the SP could have been electricfication project.

Tom, you may be in the midst of your spring garden adventure, my misses just purchased a forty foot long by ten feet tall tapestrie to hang on the living room wall, must weigh a ton, a certain person will have to figure out the engineering to hang the darn thing!! Wives, what would we do without them..

As usual, steller job with the encores, what would do if we couldn't venture down memory lane once and awhile???

Well, duty calls, I shall return

Dave

[siberianmo]

[bday] 2006 BIRTHDAY WATCH LIST [bday]
(rev. Apr 1st):

March 5th (Nick – 46)
March 13th (Doug – 50)
March 31st (Lars – 66)
April 18th (Al - 64) Next up! Set the date & time!!
May 18th (Tom - 68)
May 27th (Dave - 47)
June 3rd (John) – 47)
July 30th (Russell – 35) Legion of the Lost
August 11th (Pete – 55
August 16th (Ted – 68)
September 8th (Rob - 35)
October 18th (BK – 66)
December 29th (CM3 – 60)


Not on the list [?] Send me an Email with your birth date (month-day-year). Corrections too!


Tom (Siberianmo) [4:-)] [oX)]
Proprietor of “Our” Place, an adult eating & drinking establishment!



NOTE for all: Check the SUMMARIES!

[siberianmo]

G'day!

A Saturday that needs to be forgotten, both here in the Ether and in reality. Just one "of those daze!"<groan>

Glad to see ya, Dave and it's good to know that someone has taken the time to check out the ENCORE pieces.

Wives[?] Oh [yeah] they surely can come up with all kinds of "stuff" for us to do. In fact, that's part of my dilemma for this day. Not to be "aired" in cyber space, but suffice it to say I'll be most pleased when this day is over.[tdn] I should add that marital bliss is not the issue - circumstances are. You know, "if" we would have done "that" when "it" should have been done, none of "this" would have happened! That kinda day.<double groan>

Received a few e-mails and responded to 'em all (finally). The B'day Watch List was Posted upon request from jlampke John - and it's a good thing too. NEXT UP IS PASSENGERFAN AL !! So, c'mon Twenty Fingers Pick the time and date for YOUR bash![tup]

If things keep up like this, I'll send the "staff" home and we'll just put it on "auto pilot."

Later!

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]

THINK April 12th –
The 1st year Anniversary of ”Our” Place!

[wanswheel]

Hi Tom, a round for the house.

Pete, "You're a gentleman and a scholar and a good judge of whiskey."

Doug, we'll need an Index of Bad Jokes (Watch the Watch, Paint the Porch, etc.)

Rob, nice BB&G post the other day. Brantford rings a Bell for Gretsky.

http://www.ulib.csuohio.edu/working/cmp/cmp/collections/cut/images/tower4.gif
"The Cleveland Union Terminal Collection is the archives of the company that built the Terminal Tower, the union passenger station, the complex of office buildings, post office, department store and the infrastructure of tracks, bridges, signals, electrical catenary structures and yard facility buildings necessary to switch passenger coaches over from steam to electric and bring them in to the downtown area. This was a massive urban redevelopment project that foreshadowed the Rockefeller Center, in New York; gave Cleveland the second-tallest building in the world in 1930; and forever changed the face of Public Square and wide swaths of adjoining neighborhoods."

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=716&REC=4 Seedy neighborhood?
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/postcards&CISOPTR=1301&REC=11 Yes
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3477&REC=20 Tower

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3536&REC=16 Mix it
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3535&REC=16 Dig it

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3548&REC=16 There's
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=1307&REC=11 A
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=1337&REC=16 Ford
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=1311&REC=10 In Your
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=1313&REC=19 Future

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4727&REC=7 Concrete
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4629&REC=4 Reinforce
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4635&REC=13 Platform
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4585&REC=10 Daylight
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4554&REC=8 Platforms
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3920&REC=5 Tracks
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4790&REC=15 Outside


http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4712&REC=1 Sidewalk
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3517&REC=16 Front
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4709&REC=2 canCoors
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4722&REC=3 48 Stars
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3500&REC=16 Flagpole

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4019&REC=18 EAST
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4018&REC=13 West
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3501&REC=16 Bank
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3504&REC=16 Harbor
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3505&REC=7 Bank

http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=3525&REC=16 Trolley
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4553&REC=8 Night
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/cut&CISOPTR=4683&REC=13 Erstwhile Standard Time
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/press&CISOPTR=1449&REC=1 Thanks for the memories

Mike

[nickinwestwales]

Hi guys,[4:-)][oX)]TOM-a quick Starop,half a dozen in a bag to go,round for the house and a large one for yourself-Can`t dwell tonight,small one suffering from combination of stomach bug and too much of Auntie Sarah`s double-choc b/day cake,poor little mite doesn`t know which way is up just now.
Will catch up tomorrow,have a pleasant evening everybody,all the best,nick [C=:-)]

[pwolfe]

Hi Tom and all.

A pint of Bathams please.

DOUG Thanks for the Tunnels interesting how the tunneling methods changed with the advance in technology. Impressive lists of posts as well [tup].

MIKE Thanks for the kind words and the links showing the building of Cleveland Union Station, great old photos[tup].

NICK Hope the small one is feeling better real soon.Look forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

TOM Many thanks for the great Encores and the hard work you have put in as the list of subjects show [yeah][tup][tup][tup].

The April Fool's Day post contained a lot of interesting new info to me.
The puter played its own prank by deleting all of my e-mails at least I have still got the addresses.

One of the best railway April Fools Day jokes was done a few years ago in the British Steam Railway magazine.
Probably the most popular loco for fans of the Great Western Railway is an outside frame 4-4-0 named the City Of Truro of 1900 vintage, which is reputed to be the first British loco to achieve over 100MPH in 1904 although this up for argument.The loco was saved after service and in the 50s it was restored to work some specials immaculate in GWR Brunswick Green.
After this spell in work the loco was kept in the museum when in the early 80s it was decided to give the loco another spell running.
The overall was done on the Severn Valley Railway The spoof was done just before the loco was re-painted into the GWR livery, the loco was painted in BR black saying that this was the livery the loco was going to run in. Well nothing upsets some railfans as a engine's livery and the magazine recieved many letters some saying they had ripped up their membership cards to the SVR and saying they would never visit the railway or the National Railway Museum( who own the loco) again.
What they felt like, when the Magazine said it was a joke and showed how it was done in the next issue, I would not like to say.

I'll have another Bathams and look forward to tomorrows Photo Day. PETE.

[trolleyboy]

Good evening everyone. Leon wake up I need a double Cr.

Tom Those type of daze seem to breed other's. Mine of today was a similar bust,A day off spent running here and there oh well tim eto put my feet up. As usual a fine assortment of the good old stuff from you5x[tup][:D]

Pete By chance I happened to see two or three of those type 66's being moved and tested in St Catharines ( my home town actually ) No pictures I'm affaraid as it was a sleetly miserable day, we had gione down cheifly to visit my folks. We have to drive by the old Ferranti Packard plant where these loco's were assembled. Carried out on the old,NS&T rails by the local shortline Trillium Rail. I'm glad to hear that the 66's are running well and upto expectations.

Dave Nice to see you pop by, and yes I refuse to even attempt to understand the why and the what UP does with their roster of locomotives. Good luck with that engineering project,nothing some good anchers in the drywall can't help I suspect.

CM3 Great roster of the classic diesels there sir. The older simpler units did seem to outlive and out perform alot of the newer variety. I'll have to dig I may have some usable photo's of some of that power somewhere. I know that CP tended to use their baby trainmasters in heavy mine haulage use. Worked the copper and nickle smelters in trail BC and in Sudbury Ontario.The niagara peninsula is still a busy busy rail hub, not as much variety but the vast portion of that trackage is still in use.

Mike Thanks for the url's on the Cleveland Towere terminal. I had wondered how it actually looked, those are the best pictures I have ever seen of that operation.

Doug Nice next peice of the tunnels series. The spiral tunnels have always amazed me,both by theior scope and by the engineering required to build them. espeacillay when one considers the times they were built and the techknowlogy that was available to them. The index list is quite impressive sir. makes it easier to bounce back and forth to get the info, thanks.

Lars Hope that the birthday hangover wasn't too great, at least you have sunday to recover.

Remember to loose your hour tonight everyone, spring has sprung and all that. Must be why the gas prices hit almost a buck a litre this weekend [tdn]

Rob

[trolleyboy]

ENCORE ! ENCORE ! As seen originally on page 242

CLASSIC JUICE # 20 THE HAMILTON INCLINES

The city of Hamilton as you may or may not know is seperated by the Niagara Escarpment, so you have an upper and lower city, before the road access's ther were two incline railways built to help people get up and down the escarpment, or the mountain as it's locally called.

HAMILTON & BARTON INCLINE RAILWAY

The older of the two incline's, was the one at the head of Jame's Street. Built on a 31% grade , the line had two tracks of eight foot gauge, on each ran a car 36 feet long, 14 feet wide and 13 feet high at the lower end,each weighing ten tons. The structure was 700 feet long and the cars climbed 195 feet. About two thirds of the line was on a steel trestle which was at one point about 50 feet high. The two cars were not connected together as is usual on such lines, but each had it's own 125hp steam engine at the upper terminus, and could be operated independantly of each other.

They were however,normally operated in balance. each had two cables and two 10 foot drums, one drum for hauling the other as a powerfull emergency brake. The upperc terminus had in addition to the steam engines and their controls& boilers also had quarters for the operator and his family with the caaretaker living in a similar dwelling at the lower terminus. Passengers payed a 2c fare and were kept in a narrow cabin on the right side of the car while the left side of the car carried horse teams and buggies for 4c !

The first test ttrip was made in 1892 on June 3rd.Public service started on june 11th but was closed down after two hours because of a shortage of steam caysed by boiler foaming, but was successfully restarted the following day.

Very little change was made to operations over it's coarse of operation.Fares wer increaed in 1919 to 50c and 1.25 but defficets continued. The company offered to sell the system to the city in 1931 for $50,000 the original cost of the construction. The propsal was refused and the line shut down on Dec 26 1931. It did reopen the following March 1st when the city aggreed to bear and operating cost of $1000 per year. It was abandoned again in may of 1932.

The assets of the company were taken over by the city for non-payment of taxes in 1934.several; attempts to restart the service by the city were attempted before it was finally dismantled in 1942. The houses remained until 1947 when it was discovere that a family of 16 was living in the lower house !


THE HAMILTON INCLINE RAILWAY

This was the newer and larger of the two inclines, located near the head of Wentworth St. it opened in 1900.It was of similar construction to the James Street incline, 800 feet long and on a 40 % grade. The track gauge was 12'1 and a half inches. The cars were of similar out-line and were planned to carry single truck streetcars up the mountain to the upper lines,this never occured.

The duration of the trip was one and a half minutes. Fares never changed, 2c round trip for mountain residents, 8/25c for "downtown" residients. A new company took over in 1906 and ran it till the end.

Passengers had to cross two busy railway lines between the lower terminus and waiting streetcars.The original plans had visulized the incline manuvering level crossings of the Grand Trunk and the TH&B lines but thankfully the engineering wasn't possible.

The cars on this incline wer in balance, the two haulage drums were connected together and revolved in the same direction. The cable from one car was taken over the top of one drum while the other cars cable went out the bottom of the other drum. Thus one car would be pulled up at the same rate as the other was being reeled in.

On november 3 1913, the entire structure was badley damaged by a rockslide on te mountain,and during the rebuilding the opportunity was taken to rebuild the trestle more securly to the escarpment. They also converted it to electric drive at this time. Operations resumed in april of 1914 and electrification came a few months later. The actual power was provided by batteries, cahrged at night by the old steam engines.

The companies greatest prosperity occured in 1929-30 when the Mountain developement was advanced, but before proper road access was extended.Thuis incline lasted a bit longer than the Jame's street one, shutting down in aug 1936.Consatnt efforts to restart the line were made espeacially during the war as there still was no convienient road up the mountain,and about 2500 people made the 521 step climb up the mountain each day. The restart efforts were unsuccessful as the city refused to assume the lines defficet which was estimated to be $5000 dollars ! Supprisingly the strusture was not removed until 1949.


Rob

[trolleyboy]

ENCORE ! ENCORE ! as posted on page 263
The last of the stuff for this week, enjoy. Hopefully we will see quite a few of you for sunday picture posting fun day.

Rob

CLASSIC DIESEL'S #8 THE CF7

The CF7

At the end of the 1960's the ATSF found itself with several hundred F7 frieght diesels that were out of a job. They had been bumped from mainline frieght duties by high horse power hood units , and their carbody configuration made them unsuitable for the branchline and local duties where they were needed. Santa Fe could not afford to to buy several hundred new units for this type of work and the F7's mechanically still had many usefull years left in them. So the Sante Fe decided to convert them ( F7's ) to hood units.Two factors influenced this decision : 1) The desire to keep the shop at Clerburne Tx busy , 2) The financial advantage of a capitol rebuilding program, whick let them treat the rebuilt locomotives as new, therefore enabling them to depreciate their value over a period of several years.

The rebuilding process was complicated by the basic difference between cab units,such as the F7, and a hood unit. A hood unit is essentially a flat frame carrying a diesel engine,and a generator and controls, with sheet metal hoods protecting them and the crew from the weather. A cab unit was designed so that the sides carry part of the weight of the machinery. Remove the sides and the frame will sag. Fabricating new frames was a major part of the conversion process from F7 to CF7 .

At first glance, the CF7 looks like a GP7 that has had it's short hood lowered.It differs from a GP7 in having a shorter , short hood and a longer cab ; the side members of the frame are also quite different. Most of the CF7's were built with a curved cab roof ; the last 54 had an angled cab roof that can accomodate a roof mounted air conditioner.Mechanically the CF7's are tthe same as the GP7 1500hp 567prime mover and the assosiated gen set. All refurbished as needed, but the original as installed powerplant from their F7 days.

Sante Fe built 233 CF7's between 1970 and 1978. In the early 80's the road began to phase them out and discovered a ready market for them in the various short lines and regional railroads. Many are onto their third and forth owners, in may cases running with thier purcgasers longer than with their builder. The CF7 was likely one of the most ambitious rebuilding schemes attempted by a class one. eclipsd only by some of the switcher rebuilds and GP7 and 9 conversions done by the UP and ICG to name just two.



CF7 working for a shortline dinner train in Florida.

Enjoy Rob