G'day!
In response to our visitor, M636C (no further ID) . . . thanx for the elaboration. These movies we show at our Theatre are for the enjoyment of our customers. Reviews are from the sources indicated.
You are welcome to check us out by reading Page One of this Thread and if you think you'd enjoy participating in our discussions of CLASSIC TRAINS with a bit o' fun thrown in - please do so!
Tom Proprietor,
"Our" Place, an adult eating 'n drinking establishment (est: Apr 12, 2005)
Courtesy: http://www.viarail.ca/
A smile to begin the week!
We have a good time together, even when we're not together.
(A Yogi-ism!)
G'day Gents!
Monday, Monday . . . here we go again! Coffee ‘n pastries are ready and so are the <light> ‘n <traditional> breakfasts from the Menu Board!
Spring has returned - should be a glorious day here with temps in the 60s (F) - maybe low 70s by the ‘morrow. Got quite a bit of outside "stuff" taken care of yesterday as the bride was most energetic, which of course means so was I! <groan>
One month from TOMORROW the guys arrive for our 2nd Annual Rendezvous in St. Louis!
No "takers" for the Tuesday "Theme for the Day," so I'll make the call: Baltimore & Ohio (B&O). There's a "ton" of stuff on the original Thread for the "Theme Challenged" amongst us!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS (since my last narrative):
Eric at 12:49 AM today: Saw you "peeking in" during daylight on Saturday . . . there's no "escaping" the bar, eh
Saturday wasn't as active as some, but not bad. Surprised at some absences, but then there surely ARE other things to do on weekends!
You are correct Sir, I wasn't a resident of this area in the days when the Knickerbocker ran between NYCity ‘n St. Louis. However, I did pass through here by train in 1953 en route Santa Ana, California for a Boy Scout Jamboree. Spent the night aboard the train at Union Station. Was a "blast" for us all. Train departed Penn Station in NY with stops ‘n tours at WashDC - St. Louis - Kcity, MO - Colorado Springs - Santa Fe, NM - Grand Canyon - Santa Ana. After the Jamboree, we headed up to San Francisco (Oakland) - Salt Lake City, UT - Yellowstone Park - Cheyenne, WY - Chicago - Penn Station, NY. Was quite the adventure, fer sure, fer sure. Lots of black ‘n white photos! <grin>
Furthest west on the Pennsy for me was to Cincinnati in 1960 by train from Penn Station. Don't have a clue what the name of the train was.
I like Pix of the everyday stuff too . . . makes for some interesting observations.
There's a piece in the works regarding the flicks at the Emporium - watch for it!
Thanx for the visit.
Doug at 5:27 AM today: Sounds like you've had a busy weekend and more work to follow. Such is life in the fast lane, eh
I'm not really enthralled with exhibits where something as special as the Zephyr gets reduced to gimmicky nonsense, if ya follow my drift. <barf. I'd much rather see the "real thing," restored to the times of course. But, one takes what one gets, eh
Sooooooooo, did I get your question answered correctly???? <geesh>
Good to see ya this AM!
Reminder: Ruth has the bar from 9 AM until Leon the Night Man comes in at 5 PM ‘til closing.
Boris, serve ‘em all of the "spiked" OJ they can handle!
Tom
siberianmo wrote: ENCORE! Saturday ‘n Photo Posting Day!at "Our" Place!We are CLOSED on SUNDAYs!Starting Sunday at the Mentor Village Emporium Theatre! . . . April 15th thru 21st: Vertigo (1959) Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore & Henry Jones - and - In Which We Serve (1942) Starring: Noel Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson, Kay Walsh. SHORT: The Three Stooges - Nutty But Nice (1940). Vertigo (1959)PLOT SUMMARY: John "Scottie" Ferguson is a retired San Francisco police detective who suffers from acrophobia and Madeleine is the lady who leads him to high places. A wealthy shipbuilder who is an acquaintance from college days approaches Scottie and asks him to follow his beautiful wife, Madeleine. He fears she is going insane, maybe even contemplating suicide, because she believes she is possessed by a dead ancestor. Scottie is skeptical, but agrees after he sees the beautiful Madeleine. from: amazon.com In Which We Serve (1942)PLOT SUMMARY: In Which We Serve is a 1942 war film that tells the story of the British destroyer HMS Torrin, as told in flashbacks by the survivors as they cling to a life raft.It was written by and starred Noel Coward, and was directed by Coward and David Lean, both making their directorial debuts. Coward played Captain Edward Kinross, commander of a destroyer flotilla ("Captain D"). Celia Johnson portrayed his wife, Alix. The cast also included Richard Attenborough (in his film debut), John Mills as Ordinary Seaman "Shorty" Blake, Bernard Miles as Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy, Ann Stephens as Lavinia Kinross and Daniel Massey as Bobby Kinross.In Which We Serve won an Honorary Academy Award, presented to Coward for "his outstanding production achievement". It was also nominated for Oscars for Best Picture and Best Writing, Original Screenplay. from: amazon.com SHORT: Nutty But Nice (1940)PLOT SUMMARY: Featuring Moe, Larry & Curly The Stooges are singing waiters whose silly antics inspire two doctors worried about little Betty Williams, whose father was kidnapped. Dressed as three little girls, complete with balloons and giant lollipops, the Stooges visit the girl in the hospital, but even they can't bring her around. The boys volunteer to find Mr. Williams (he's 5 ft. 10 inches tall in his stocking feet, has a tattoo on his shoulder, and yodels like this: Yodel-aydee-aydee-odalay-eeoo.) When they find him, they're chased by the crooks to the basement of the building where they have a final battle in pitch darkness. The Stooges emerge victorious and reunite Williams and his cured, healthy girl. from: threestooges.netEnjoy! Tom
ENCORE! Saturday ‘n Photo Posting Day!
at "Our" Place!
We are CLOSED on SUNDAYs!Starting Sunday at the Mentor Village Emporium Theatre!
. . . April 15th thru 21st: Vertigo (1959) Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore & Henry Jones - and - In Which We Serve (1942) Starring: Noel Coward, John Mills, Bernard Miles, Celia Johnson, Kay Walsh. SHORT: The Three Stooges - Nutty But Nice (1940).
Vertigo (1959)
PLOT SUMMARY:
John "Scottie" Ferguson is a retired San Francisco police detective who suffers from acrophobia and Madeleine is the lady who leads him to high places. A wealthy shipbuilder who is an acquaintance from college days approaches Scottie and asks him to follow his beautiful wife, Madeleine. He fears she is going insane, maybe even contemplating suicide, because she believes she is possessed by a dead ancestor. Scottie is skeptical, but agrees after he sees the beautiful Madeleine.
from: amazon.com
In Which We Serve (1942)
In Which We Serve is a 1942 war film that tells the story of the British destroyer HMS Torrin, as told in flashbacks by the survivors as they cling to a life raft.It was written by and starred Noel Coward, and was directed by Coward and David Lean, both making their directorial debuts. Coward played Captain Edward Kinross, commander of a destroyer flotilla ("Captain D"). Celia Johnson portrayed his wife, Alix. The cast also included Richard Attenborough (in his film debut), John Mills as Ordinary Seaman "Shorty" Blake, Bernard Miles as Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy, Ann Stephens as Lavinia Kinross and Daniel Massey as Bobby Kinross.In Which We Serve won an Honorary Academy Award, presented to Coward for "his outstanding production achievement". It was also nominated for Oscars for Best Picture and Best Writing, Original Screenplay.
It was written by and starred Noel Coward, and was directed by Coward and David Lean, both making their directorial debuts. Coward played Captain Edward Kinross, commander of a destroyer flotilla ("Captain D"). Celia Johnson portrayed his wife, Alix. The cast also included Richard Attenborough (in his film debut), John Mills as Ordinary Seaman "Shorty" Blake, Bernard Miles as Chief Petty Officer Walter Hardy, Ann Stephens as Lavinia Kinross and Daniel Massey as Bobby Kinross.
In Which We Serve won an Honorary Academy Award, presented to Coward for "his outstanding production achievement". It was also nominated for Oscars for Best Picture and Best Writing, Original Screenplay.
SHORT: Nutty But Nice (1940)PLOT SUMMARY: Featuring Moe, Larry & Curly
The Stooges are singing waiters whose silly antics inspire two doctors worried about little Betty Williams, whose father was kidnapped. Dressed as three little girls, complete with balloons and giant lollipops, the Stooges visit the girl in the hospital, but even they can't bring her around. The boys volunteer to find Mr. Williams (he's 5 ft. 10 inches tall in his stocking feet, has a tattoo on his shoulder, and yodels like this: Yodel-aydee-aydee-odalay-eeoo.) When they find him, they're chased by the crooks to the basement of the building where they have a final battle in pitch darkness. The Stooges emerge victorious and reunite Williams and his cured, healthy girl.
from: threestooges.net
Enjoy! Tom
I thought a bit of extra information on "In Which We Serve" might not go astray. I have a DVD of my own of that movie. The story is a fictional version of the true story of Lord Louis Mountbatten who was flotilla commander of the K class squadron on HMS Kelly. He had his ship badly damaged (I can't recall if it was sunk), but I don't think he ever had to use a Carley Float.
Coward knew Mountbatten well and probably got some detail from him that helped the accuracy of this movie (better than average). Mountbatten, of course was effectively a member of the Royal Family, related to Prince Phillip and didn't live the middle class life represented by Coward in the movie.
M636C
Good morning Tom and friends. I'll have a light breakfast.
I pretty much spent the weekend painting the homestead. Got one more coat to apply to the kitchen tonight, and then I'll take a break from from that particular type of work until next weekend. Started a little project over at the barn to keep birds from tearing out the fiberglass insulation, which I hope to complete after work in my "spare time" this week. Next week I'll be going in extra early for some horse-sitting and cleanup. That will take a few hours each day.
Great pix of the reunion Tom, and nice to see Eric in so early. Getting to the Pioneer Zephyr ... what you see is all they're going to do. They don't renovate back to a period, and many changes have been made. For exmple, here's an annimated Zeph, the official mule of the Pioneer Zephyr, who narrates the tour in the baggage car
Here are the Budds, who "talk" to us in the observation car
The windows are projection screens, so you can see scenery go by, as well as popular attractions from the 1934 Chicago's World Fair.
That only leaves the smoker and one passnger car. I'll show pix of both at a later time. Have a great day!
Geez, it's dark here! I can hardly find the mail slot. Must be a burned out light bulb. I saw the light is on in the Penthouse suite though. Somebody must have forgotten to turn it off, or... No, it couldn't be.
Good morning Captain Tom and Gentlemen!!
I guess this last Saturday was a little bit on the quiet side. Most of the guys were probably home trying to recover from that long and busy Thursday!
Tom – It is actually pictures showing everyday things that in the end are most interesting (with a few excemptions!). At least that is my opinion. We tested the first train set for almost thirteen months before the revenue service started. That meant a lot of overtime and traveling. Spent more than 200 nights on different hotels during that period of time. It was hard work, but it was also a lot of fun! About Manager Lars I have no (?) clue why he was carrying a bottle of wine. Smiling! Hmmm. Did you find that phone number? Of the “waiting passenger” in Toronto? Another hmmm. More info on NYC!Knickerbocker, New York - St. Louis? Did you ever ride it? I guess that was before you moved to St. Louis? A Hitchcock movie, Vertigo! Starring James Stewart! I have to see that one. james Stewart is (or was) my favorite actor! Followed by a war movie, “In Which We Serve”. I have to go to the Mentor Village Emporium Theatre this week! Thanks for the Toronto pictures! I recognize the ones from inside and outside of the Union Station! Doug – I am afraid I don’t remember what kind of cake I ate during that coffee break. But I am sure it was very good!! A bunch af very nice and interesting pictures! What does tha silver bean symbolize? A lot of work to keep it shiny, sparkly clean! The train to South Bend! Interesting to see the inside of the cab! Not much room for the engineer though. Ah, the Zephyr!! Nice pictures of an interesting train well ahead of its time! I can tell they are still working on it to make it look real nice. The inside of the cab was obviously spray painted, everything is white! I am sure they will fix that though. Lars – Yeah, I have always been a “Night Owl”. Don’t mind staying up all night, but I hate to get up early in the morning. Early for me is before 9 am. Nice book covers, as usual! That streamlined locomotive on the cover of New York Central’s Mercury is the same type/class as the one on one of Mike’s linked videos! Missing a round “anything”? A round anything, what the heck could that be? Some kind of evidence? Pete – I am afraid I not seen any Harry Potter movies (or read the books). Hogwart’s Castle? Not a very nice name on a locomotive, but I guess it had to be that to fit in the movie. Thanks for the signal info! I never heard of any “Theatre Box” before. So they use letters to indicate the route the line is set up for? Interesting!More pictures from the Harz Railway! (Thanks Allan!) Those locomotives are very compact! I can see the locomotive in the first picture is taking water. I wonder what the hose, hanging down across the front, is used for? It looks like it could be steam for the train heat.
Eric
My final Post for this ENCORE! Saturday - and Photo Posting Day! Remember gents, "Our Place" is CLOSED on Sundays!
Doug at 10:10 AM today: SNOW! Now that looks as natural as can be along a right-of-way!
Some interesting personal Pix! Really look forward to visiting Chicago with you, for apparently you have the "secret" to getting into situations where some fine railroading shots can be taken - without the grief I've experienced at Union Station. However, I know it all depends on timing and the personalities of the people working at the time . . .
Have a great weekend!
Lars at 1:41 PM ‘n 4:09 PM today: So, the Mets dropped one to the Nationals, eh??? Beat the good teams, lose to the not-so-good ones. That's NOT a good sign, but it's early . . .
Always enjoy the book covers you provide for the gang - very good stuff! That last one is a sure-fire-winner!
Knickerbocker - now that brings back some memories, fer sure, fer sure. Let's see: Beer ‘n basketball ‘n knickers immediately comes to mind.
Soooooooo, what is IT that you THINK you MAY HAVE lost somewhere between the bar and Penthouse Suite???? <uh oh>
Enjoy the weekend . . . and thanx for the Email!
Pete at 3:32 PM ‘n4:21 PM ‘n 4:37 PM today: A three-bagger for today! Nice work, Mate!
Enjoyed your inclusive ‘n informative catch-up-Post; really covered lotsaground with that one! As I've said, it's great being able to eavesdrop on the conversations going on ‘round here - much to enjoy ‘n learn!
Are you SURE that you ‘n Boris are being held back in the typing class or are you being kept after school for OTHER reasons?? Since "Our" Place is footing the tuition, I'm going to meet with the "Head Mistress" - Molly Throttlebottom - to see just what's going on! Hmmmmmm.
Okay, I'll ask: whats a "keen birder"??? I may have missed something . . .
Interpretor, Moi???? That should be a riot, but maybe not such a bad idea before we head off to Quebec!
Don't quite know what to make of the "situation" going on with Lars, the Penthouse Suite, Ruth ‘n the missing something-or-other! Hmmmmmmmmmm. ‘Tis a puzzlement,but not something that our investigative tandem of Clueless ‘n Doyle can't handle!
Nice spate of Pix from your Mate, Alan, and all very much appreciated. Please convey our continuing THANX for his contributions.
Freezing fog - now that's one of winter's wonders, eh <grin>
Enjoy the weekend!
Pete had wondered whether Rob or anyone else who may wish to take (or retake) the 4-Part "Our" Place Skill Level Test that was Posted in late February ‘n early March of this year. If so, here's the Page numbers:
Part I . . . Page 25
Part II . . Page 26
Part III . .Page 26
Part IV .. Page 27
Some random Pix . . .
Rendezvous 2006: Toronto's Union Station
Rendezvous 2006: Toronto's Union Station ‘n CN Tower
Rendezvous 2006: Upper level, Toronto GO Transit bi-level car
Rendezvous 2006: Toronto subway cars
Rendezvous 2006: Interior VIA Rail coach #8306 departing Union Station,Toronto
Doug at 7:17 PM today: Just caught your Post - sure looks like the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry to me . . . Thanx for the Zephyr photos . . .
Hi Tom and friends. Busy day today! I'd better get a bottomless draught before I run out of time. I see we have some new movies at the Emporium and book covers from manager Lars. Pete's left some mighty fine steam pictures. Please forgive my hastiness, but I've been painting most the day and really wanted to get this done sooner.
Does anyone recognize this building?
Howabout what is just inside the entrance after descending 4 floors?
Inside the mail car
Here's another control console for ya'll
The end (literally)
Must run now to pick up a kid and visit a horse. More soon!
Hi Tom and all.
Just seen you call in LARS while I was doing my pics and thanks for the round.
Does finding something of yours, where it should not be, and holding on to it in case it came in handy later for bargaining purposes, sound the what this trusty bar chandeller would do to his manager.
Many thanks for the Knickerbocker Link, it was very interesting. I see there was even a link with Baseball with the name.
As you say it has been a great NYC time the last few days.
I see TOM has put the movies that are appearing at the Emporium this week. Different sort of films but great entertainment . I did not know that "In Which We Serve" was Richard Attenbourough film debut. With the Stooges as well another great week..
Well CINDY I am about ready for the Steak and to make sure the track gang is well supplied with ale tonight.
Pete.
CINDY I.am ready for a Holden's Bitter now with around for the house and the Steak for later please.
This weeks pics are from the Harz Railway and feature around Wernigerode and on the Brocken branch of the system.The Brocken line features grades of 3.3%.The locomotive featured is No 99.7242 3.
As It can be seen it was a bit chilly on the climb to Brocken with freezing fog.
.
The last pic is the main line station at Wernigerode. The train is the HEX which is a play on words meaning Harz EXpress, but also Hex means 'witch' which this area of Germany is famous for.(Photos and info from Alan).
The pics should enlarge.
Pete
Ahoy Cap'n Tom 'n fellow travelers at the bar!
<huff> <puff> <phew> Cindy my sweet, just time for another "jolt" of JD, then I gotta get going. Had to get up to the Penthouse Suite to ensure that everything was ship-shape. The "grapevine" has it that Inspector Clueless and his sidekick, Mr. Doyle, PI, are about to look for "evidence."
Ah, I see the Bar Chandler has been in to square away the supplies before tonight's gathering for Steak 'n Trimmings! Diligence, that's what I like to see, diligence! By the way, you haven't "found" anything 'round here that, errrrr may belong to me, have you???? JUST wonderin' . . .
Forgot to make mention of Da Boss' idea of making trolleyMAN Rob the Chief Chief . That's a great idea and I think he should be DRAFTED! He's got the "quals" - even though I've heard he has problems boiling an egg! <grin. Nevertheless, it was HE who brought those two gals (?) into our midst and it is only RIGHT 'n JUST that HE should supervise 'em!
Nothing more to drop off, as I think the NYC has had quite a run on this thread and also over on Cap'n Tom's lonely site too. Really been a winnAH!
Oh yes, Pete the term KNICKERBOCKER goes way, way back for New Yorkers. The Dutch were the original European settlers of what is now known as Manhattan Island. And there was a character known as Father Knickerbocker . . . well, check out this Wikipidea Url:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knickerbocker
Cindy, that was sooooooo good, I'll take one more "hit," and also spring for a round, then call a cab and get myself home!
Until the next time!
Lars
As RUTH has got the weekend off I will have one of H&H's Breakfasts please CINDY.
DOUG Thanks for kind words on the Named Locos posts, indeed there was 4 posts but it got reduced to 3 after I managed to delete the LNER one, still I will re do it, as in my humble opinion, they had some of the best names.
Many thanks for the parts IV and V of the NYC steam locomotives. A very comprehensive description of the engines.
Hope you had a great time at the L&RHS meeting.
Great photos from the Metra South Shore Line. It was good you found a friendly engineer who let you takes photos of the cab and the inside of the car. They do look comfortable seats.
Liked the ‘Silver Bean'
ROB H&H are really hoping you will take over the Head duties.
Thanks for doing the tiding up at the bar after the anniversary bash. I was truly worn out making sure the bar was well stocked and after H&H came off duty, donned the Lederhosen and wanted to dance my energy was all used up.
Unfortunately BORIS and I have just learnt we are to be held back in year one in the typing class, but at least Boris is being sponsored by a keyboard manufacturer who is using the slogan "Even BORIS can't break 'em".
YES there this a great deal of hard work in getting those trolleys and trams back to their former glory a big to the volunteers.
MIKE. Great set of video links, The NYC streamliner is a real classic and great pics of the X2000 at speed. The pantograph in the last clip seems nearly at full stretch
CM3 Thanks for giving me the term ‘smoke lifters' as they are called over here. In the UK they were usually fitted when the locos were fitted with double chimneys or Kylchap blast pipes, which gave a softer exhaust and caused problems with drifting smoke. They tried recently to run the Flying Scotsman without the German type deflectors, fitted when the locos were fitted with the Kylchap system, the idea was to give the loco a more traditional appearance but they have had to be re-fitted after drifting smoke.
Enjoyed the details on the NYC locomotives in Doug and Lars's posts.
Great ‘Coal Miner list.
DL I did not know about Sir Nigel being a keen birder, I will be doing the LNER namers in a bit.
I have often noticed the Victoria at Beeston as I have passed through the station but never had the chance to call in for a pint or two, it certainly looks a great pub from the outside.. Beeston station had not been modernised much when I was last through there, is it still the same
A fair while ago I read an article about the fish traffic from Grimsby when it was in its heyday and it all went by rail they amount of trains were amazing. The Great Central Railway had a class of 4-6-0 locos that were known as the ‘Fish Class' designed for mainly hauling that type of traffic. Some of the speeds those trains got up to with the short wheel based 4 wheel vans and the sound of them passing over the rail joints was some not easily forgotten.
I hope you enjoy your trip to Penzance, look forward to the report. Will you be going to Helston and sampling the Stingo ale at the Blue Anchor. Luckily the bus to Penzance stops right outside the pub door, or used to when I went there.
ERIC. The Hall class has recently found fame as the loco in the Harry Potter films, the loco is named Hogwart's Castle for the movies; its real name is Olton Hall.
I have found a picture of the Royal Scot locos nameplate. The bottom part of the plate was added after the locos tour of North America. The loco happily is preserved although in its rebuilt form.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Royal_Scot_nameplate.jpg.
If the HLI name was long there is a LNER V2 loco that had 50 letters in its nameplate.
The signal in the pic is the standard BR 4-aspect signal, the box on top of the signal is known as a ‘Theatre box' they are used in stations and on lines with a slower speed. When lit they indicate the route the line is set up for. For example; US would indicate the line was set for the Up Slow line, UF would be the Up Fast line.
Many thanks for the photos,
Cindy, my oh my you are indeed a sight for a sailor's eyes! No, I'm surely NOT flirting, just making an astute observation, my deAH! <grin> Ah, Saturday and the skies have a bit of blue, but from the looks of those clouds whisking about, I'd say we're in for something not so good. Better "hit me" with a double "jolt" of JD as I check out the sandwich menu . . . . think I'll try something a bit different today.
Don't be surprised, but my Mets have caught up with the detested Braves! <grin>
So, what have we got today??? I see Da Boss has been in with MORE New York Central! What a week - what a week of terrific lightining stripe material, and it doesn't appear to want to end! Many thanx to all for such a fine outpouring. It's been a week to remember, especially with our Second Anniversary Bash being such a hit.
Doug has been out 'n about I see. Some personalized train shots too. Chicago, Chicago - yeah, a fine "town" in many regards.
Eric in the desert returned with a rather LATE or EARLY "deposit," depenidng of course on what time zone one is in. You are really the "anchor" for those who like that "Night Owl" lifestyle!
Noted the "count down" to the Rendezvous and it's getting to be THAT close, huh
I see that I'm rambling on here, so best to get on with some pix and stuff, then get going on my "domestic chores," oh the life of a married sailor in dry dock. <groan>
Many of these are reruns - but that's what "Encore" is for, hope you enjoy 'em again . . .
Good morning Tom and friends. I'll have a light breakfast, and whatever kind of cake that Eric was eating during his "coffee" break. Enjoyed the commentary from CM3 on the stuff we post, as usual, but the coalminer test at the end proved that I was definitely not a coalminer. Still , it was amusing. Manager Lars seems to be keeping to the secret areas and hidden passageways of the bar these days. It would be interesting to track his movements with a GPS one of these days. More great stuff from Eric as usual, and the part III British piece from Pete. Sure wish I could answer the questions that extend beyond the scope of the articles submitted, but I would need other articles to do it! I see Captain Tom also survived the recent festivities, and appreciate the kind words directed the way of this unworthy one. Nice continuation of the NYC theme too!
Yesterday turned out to be interesting for moi. The shelves were empty at work, so I did a little traveling, which started at the Metra train station in Crystal Lake. See the snow? By evening it was gone, as we had a nice sunny and warmish day
This is part of the Millenium Park in Chicago. Check out the silver "bean" on top.
Anyhow, here's the reason I was interested in getting to the Millenium Park ... it houses a the Metra South Shore Electric Line
The engineer of my train was nice enough to let me photograph the control console. He really didn't know much about the equipment though, other than it was built in the 70's, and was soon to be replaced.
These guys said I could take this picture too. The seats were the most comfortable I have been in.
I exited at the 55-56-57th street station. Later today, you will see why!
ENCORE! Saturday - 'n - Photo Posting Day!
The Passenger Railroad Fallen Flags of "Our" Place #12
New York Central Railroad
Here's another Passenger RR Fallen Flag for the gang from Classic American Railroads:
A form of this was initially Posted on Page 122 of the original Thread
Caveat: The information provided is NOT all inclusive and is reflective only of the periods mentioned.
New York Central System (NYC) Headquarters: New York City Locomotives in 1963: Diesel: 1,965 Electric: 65 Rolling stock in 1963: Freight cars: 94,115 Passenger cars: 2,905 Principal routes in 1950: New York-Buffalo, NY-Cleveland, OH-Chicago, IL Buffalo-Detroit, MI-Porter, IN (Chicago) Boston, MA-Albany, NY Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati, OH Gallion, OH-St. Louis, MO Chicago-Indianapolis, IN-Cincinnati Indianapolis-Peoria, IL Cleveland-Pittsburgh, PA Detroit-Toledo, OH-Springfield, OH Toledo-Columbus, OH-Charleston, WVA Utica, NY-Montreal, QC Passenger trains of note: Chicagoan (New York-Cleveland-Chicago) Chicago Mercury (Chicago-Detroit) Cincinnati Mercury (Cleveland-Cincinnati) Cleveland Mercury (Detroit-Cleveland) Cleveland Limited (New York-Cleveland) Commodore Vanderbilt (New York-Chicago) Detroiter (New York-Detroit) Detroit Mercury (Cleveland-Detroit) Empire State Express (New York-Buffalo) James Whitcomb Riley (Chicago-Cincinnati) Knickerbocker (New York-St. Louis) Lake Shore Limited (New York-Cleveland-Chicago) The Michigan (Chicago-Detroit) Motor City Special (Chicago-Detroit) New England States (Chicago-Cleveland-Boston) Ohio State Limited (New York-Cleveland-Cincinnati) Pacemaker (New York-Cleveland-Chicago) Southwestern Limited (New York-St. Louis) 20th Century Limited (New York Chicago) Twilight Limited (Chicago-Detroit) Wolverine (Chicago-Detroit-New York) Enjoy! Tom
This is ENCORE! Saturday - and - Photo Posting Day!
"Our" Place is CLOSED on Sundays!
Saturday in chilly, rainy and blustery mid-continent USA where the petrol prices are at $2.79 (rounded). Appears to be a slow start, but a start nonetheless - so draw yourself a cuppa Joe, grab a pastry or two and order a <light> or <traditional> breakfast ‘n let's kick start the weekend!
With no suggestions for a Tuesday Theme for the Day, I'll either go with something from the archives, or skip it. Remember, whoever "suggests" must "kick it off"!
Eric at 2:20 AM today: Figured that something like work kept you from your previous night's Post. But not to worry, you began the festivities for our 2nd Year Anniversary in a most memorable fashion with your innovative ‘n inclusive "2"!!
Seems as if you've managed to salvage quite a bit of your X2000 experiences on film, which is always a treasure to possess. Being able to "go back" for review of the times, places ‘n faces means a lot. One of these days (daze) I'm going to have to sort through my scores of Pix (35mm slides and others) . . . . Yeah, right! <grin>
Anyway, THANX for sharing those memories with us; puts a lot into perspective, fer sure, fer sure!
Yes, we ARE indeed approaching a time when we can say, "In less than a month . . . " our Rendezvous will begin!
Wonder WHY Manager Lars would be carrying a bottle of wine up to the Penthouse Suite when I know "first hand" that the stock in the Manager's Bar was just replenished????? Hmmmmm - and in daylight hours at that! <uh oh>
I could only WISH that Cindy had made the adventure to Toronto. Nope, was just a waiting passenger who was gracious enough to take that shot of 2 "old guys" and a youngster. Now where did I put her phone number??? <grin>
Always happy to have you on board - enjoy the weekend!
Reminder: Cindy has the bar from 9 AM until Leon the Night Man comes in at 5 PM ‘til closing. Ruth has the weekend OFF. This is Steak ‘n All The Trimmings Nite! with dinner beginning at 5 PM!
Good morning Leon! Nice to see you again! I know, I missed last night, had to work late and get up early in the morning. I just had a quick look through the window last night. This place was really crowded, wasn't it? Yeah, I saw Manager Lars going up to the Penthouse suite with a bottle of wine in his hand. Yes, he was smiling all the way! How about a ham sandwich? It sounds good! Coffee, please!
A very busy day at Our Place yesterday! Oh, sorry, I mean the day before yesterday! A lot to read and learn! And a bunch of very nice pictures! Today it is only 34 days to the Rendezvous!
Doug – Thanks for the nice words! You have worked hard and posted a lot of interesting material these two days!! One of the first things I saw was those nice pictures of the RDCs catching up lost minutes! Interesting story about GG1 #4877! (And a nice picture of it!) For how many years did it run for NJ Transit after it was painted in Tuscan Red and where is it now? Thanks for the article, “Rails Northwest”! 79” drivers on the Hudsons! I would say that is pretty good size drivers! Interesting info on NYC’s more famous steam locomotives! The Niagaras could out perform a two-unit E7!? With speed/traveling time?Very interesting to read about the booster! I think that Class L2a was a very good looking locomotive, not too big just big and stromng enough!Tasting terrible after “Wash. Biol. Surv”? What did they expect? That was a good one!I love that picture of the two fork lifts working as a team!Tom – I am very familiar with Murphy’s Laws! I have tried them all and then some! Good to see our 1st mascot, Juneau! The money printing press? I think Boris has it in the shed.A young lady took the picture of the three of you? Why do I have a feeling that her name was Cindy? Quite a few idiots around! CM3 – I love that story about B&A and New Haven! I agree with Tom, put all these stories in a book! I’ll be more than happy to buy a number of them!
Maybe I was a coal miner in my previous life? No, probably not, but I laughed anyway! No, I would say laptops were barely invented in 1989. But we (the railroad) bought one for us in early 1990! BK – Glad to see you at the Bar again, Sir! Thanks for the drink! No chance that I would forget to add your initials to the 2. We are all novices in one way or other. If we are strictly talking about railroads I have a lot to learn! And a good place to learn a lot about railroads is here, at “Our” Place! Lars – I noticed all those 2’s hanging from the ceiling! Even in the restroom! I saw Boris took two of them back to the shed. Sending Ruth to the Penthouse suite? And then what? Very nice pictures of the NYC steam locomotives! It is amazing to see how almost identical the last two pictures (of the Niagara) are. The same angle and the engineer hanging out through the window!Nice color pictures of the diesels! The more I see of them the more I like Alco’s PAs even though the engineer’s view forward must have been obstructed by the hood at close distances.Rob – Thanks for the TH&B/NYC ad and schedules! From what year? Port Maitland is in Canada, right? I just noticed that Tom had the answer to my question, Ontario.DL – Railroad cars for fish? Even if I have Friday Fish a few times every year I think one have to be a cat to really like it! Or am I wrong? Interesting to see though that they had trains loaded with fish. Thanks for the info on the “cousins” of V200! I am not sure what kind of diesels Norwegian State Railways has. Diesel hydraulics that is. Interesting article by Christian Wolmar about “Freight pays the price of Europe’s rail paradox”! Seems like one of very few European railroads making money on freught is the Swedish Green Cargo! Buffalo Central Terninal is an impressive building! It is sad it isn’t used as a railroad station any more.
CM3 Shane at 9:15 AM today: Caint say anything ‘bout "You Might Be A Coalminer If . . ." other than to say it's a "cultural thang!" <grin>
Thanx for the quarters - round ‘n visit.
DL at 10:27 AM ‘n 10:30 AM today: Eavesdropping my way through your Post I find the commentary extremely interesting. One of the benefits of being a bartender . . .
From the description of the pub locale to the restoration comments to the forthcoming Penzance round trip overnighter, I'd say you've covered quit a bit of territory.
Of course Pete ‘n I will have much to "report" once our late May adventures in Canada are over. Speaking with the Wolfman today, I know he's excited about getting going - but of course FIRST we have our Rendezvous in St. Louis!
Thanx for the Posts on this day and yesterday AND of course the round!
Rob at 11:14 AM today: So Count Robulla, you are cruising about in daylight, eh Didn't think "your ilk" could handle the brightness. <grin>
Have a suggestion for YOU: We haven't had a Chief Chef since the days (daze) of Nick - so why don't you take that OPEN position??? With the H&H gals in constant need of supervision and your familiarity with the way things are done ‘round here, you'd be a natural for the job. Heck, you don't have to a be a culinary magician, as Nick was, this is a tavern after all!! Kitchen is only open on Thursday thru Saturday nights anyway and Boris has the breakfasts and sandwiches "covered" during the other times. C'mon, you've "earned" it! <grin>
Hope the dentist "thing" went as well as anything like that can. <ouch>
Many thanx for the visit!
Lars at 12:30 PM today: The Manager made it in on "the day after"!
Quite a turnout yesterday and the accolades are still coming in. I concur about the enormity of the material - perhaps a wee bit too much reading, but the "stuff" is really top shelf!
I pretty much did remain away from the keyboard for most of the day and managed to get some outside "things" accomplished ‘round the Haus. Rains are on the way and the grass was looking in need of cutting. Third time I've done so - really odd so early in the spring.
Interesting question you posed of Dave - I'm wonderin' the same thing, especially with my background.
Nice to see you commenting favorably in the direction of Wolfman the Bar Chandler!
Concur wholeheartedly with the words directed to BK ‘n Lydia!
Enjoy the weekend and chill, man, chill! Hope to see ya tomorrow . . .
Pete at 12:56 PM today: Really a treat speaking with you today. Especially interesting since I'm beginning to actually understand what you're saying! <grin>
Appreciate the Part Tres of your British Big Four Railway Companies. They're all stacked up in the Rat's Patoot Room Library Wing! <grin>
Amazing how much detail goes into things like name plates . . . but then again, these are the things Classic Railroading is made of!
Hope to see ya on Saturday, and of course, hope the weekend is relaxing for you ‘n your bride!
Leon, set 'em up - drinks on the house! Boris, ring the chimes!
Well RUTH I had just have a quick coffee.but I have got a Doc's appointment in a bit.( by the way I noticed you are wearing a wide smile this morning RUTH, can't help but wonder why..
What a fantastic day yesterday and a great start today.I will have to fully read the recent posts and will do the acknowledgements later if I may.
It was great to talk with you,today TOM ..
I thought I would drop off the next installment
NAMED LOCOMOTIVE OF THE BRITISH BIG FOUR RAILWAY COMPANIES.(Part 3)
LONDON MIDLAND & SCOTTISH RAILWAY. (LMS)
The two big rivals who put together in the LMS were the London & North Western Railway and the Midland Railway. When formed the LMS went with the MR small engine policy, which was found to be inadequate for the West Coast Main Line of the L&NWR. In a trial between a LNWR Claughton and a GWR Castle the Castle out performed the Claughton. The LMS asked the GWR for a set of Castle blueprints which request was refused but the SR allowed the LMS to have asset of their Lord Nelson drawings this formed the basis of the Royal Scot class of 4-6-0s.
The Royal Scot was the LMS rival to the LNER Flying Scotsman train from London to Scotland. The Royal Scot engines were named after regiments of the British army, although when first built a few Scots were named after early steam locomotives, that ran on lines the LMS now owned. These engines had a neat brass plate below the nameplate with an etched picture of the original loco named. Two of the Scots were named ‘The Boy Scout' and ‘The Girl Guide.
An interesting byline was that one Royal Scot went from having the shortest name to one having the equal longest when No 6121 went from H.L.I. to Highland Light Infantry, City Of Glasgow Regiment.
A smaller version of the Royal Scots was built. The first two of this class of 52 locos were nominally re-builds of Claughton class locos thought very little of the Claughtons was used in the new locos. The first loco was the L&NWR war memorial engine ‘Patriot' which the class was known as, although they were also called ‘Baby Scots' in their early days. 42 of the locos were named, with a mixture of names including more army regiments, seaside resorts served by the LMS, railway officials and two LNWR employees who won Britain's highest military medal, they were Private W. Wood V.C. and Private E. Sykes V.C.
When Stanier came to the LMS from the GWR his first passenger engines were the 192 Jubilee class, these locos were all named. The first loco was named for King George's V Silver Jubilee and had stainless steel numbers on the cab side. The next 86 locos were named after countries and their provinces tied to the British Empire or Commonwealth. Next were famous Admirals and sea battles, a few Ancient Greek legend heroes then British warships, some early locomotives and finishing with the four provinces of Eire.
For the Stanier pacifics a Royal theme was chosen with the Princess Royal class of 12. Then Stanier's masterpiece the Princess Coronation class, which followed the Royal theme after the first loco Coronation, with 2 Queens 2 Princesses 10 Duchesses the last 23 locos took their names from Cities served by the LMS, with two exceptions. No6244 King George VI and 6256 Sir William A. Stanier, F.R.S. named after their designer.
A picture of a nameplate on a Stanier class 5. Although this loco was not named in BR days it shows the etyle of nameplates fitted to the Jubilees. Out of 842 LMS Class 5s only 3 were named.
A pic showing the nameplate as fitted to the Duchess class, this was theonly class to have the name fitted to the boiler side. The crest above the name plate was fitted after preservation.
Ruth, a bit o' lunch is in order and today I'd like to try that great looking seafood salad special - #7 on the board if you please! A tankard of lager - Piels should be fine - and treats for the critters, small jar of pickled pig's feet for Boris - a round on me - and the change is yours!
So, you're taking off for the weekend, huh Can't say as I blame you, for you worked that pretty looking off yesterday, for sure! <grin> Guess Da Bossman will be hanging 'round the joint tomorrow with Cindy aboard!
A great day was had by all who frequented the bar by the ballast to partake in our Second Anniversary Bash! Nice work, gents!
Does appear that we have a substantial amount of reading material, so much that I thought 20 Fingers himself returned with a mega-data-dump! Heaven forbid!!! <arrrrgggghhhh> I don't know when I'll get 'round to reading everything posted, but I'll tell ya this: the pix are great! <grin>
Very good to see DL from across the pond with two days in succession of fine readin' matter! Some witticisms from Shane (but no "report" from Mount Mentor's Ace Reporter for the Anniversary!!). A nice Friday, all begun with another NYC Water Level from our barn weevil, Doug!
I hope Cap'n Tom has taken the day off, for he deserves a rest, having spent the majority of the time here. How many acknowledgments did he put together??? At any rate, I think we've all demonstrated our willingness to kick start the 3rd year sufficiently forward so that we'll be 'round for an April 12th, 2008 Bash!
I've got a few things to attend to, and the Mrs. is not at all pleased with my inattentiveness lately. Says I'm spending far too much time on the 'puter. She's right. Heck, she's ALWAYS right! <grin> She's sooooooooooo right that even the PORT side of the ship is RIGHT! 'nuf of that . . .
Comment to Dave in Iraq: How does a USAF civilian investigator wind up with the USCG??
Comment to Pete: I see you got here almost immediately after I mentioned that you were needed. Hmmmmmmmm. Just where do you HIDE???? Back in the shed with one of Boris' "friends" perhaps?? Anyway, you did a fine job in keeping the stock up, the kitchen crew moving, and in general handling all the duties of Chandller of the Bar quite well! A tankard of brew for you too, Wolfman Pete!
Comment to Rob: Haven't seen the "Count Robulla" in some time! Those were the days, huh?? Night or day appearances most welcome and hope that your work situation has calmed sufficiently to where you can resume the title of "regular" at the bar.
Comment to BK: Don't know if you're checking us out, but let me just say that in rereading what you had to say, well, it was really heart warming! Great to have you back and just know that those of us who are your friends wish you 'n Lydia the absolute BEST!
Ok, that's IT from me today. Nasty weather and all, I'm gonna do what the Mrs. wants, and hope to catch some baseball AND hockey on the tube tonight. Just want to chill, chill, chill.
Good morning Ruth. I think I'll have a coffee with a spalsh as an eye openner and a number three to wash it down.Nice to see how good of a day we had ourselves yesterday, 5x {gold plated) for all for the efforts of yesterday. I see that the teutonic titans of the kitchen and Boris and Leon have managed to return the place to normal ( whatever that is )
Tom-Yes the count is back mwa-ha-ha,actually you may see a few more day visits from me, I seem to be getting more of the early day type shifts,which is a pleasant change.I will put a warning out though, the next three days I may seem a bit off,I'm finally getting risd of a pesky wisdom tooth this afternoon so with two of the four gone I will be about half as smart The weekly idiot, is well just that lets leave it at that
Doug-Wow the NYC stuff is still not bottomless,way to go we have set a new theme record by running it into a fourth day, and I imagine with no particular end in sight. Lars will be happy when he crawls in from the penthouse latter todayGreat info really top notch stuff sir
CM3-I'm glad you liked the TH&B stuff. I'll see if I can't dig up a bit more for all to enjoy. It is a well loved railway still today. the people in Hamilton still refer to it as their railroad with pride even though it hasn't existed in an independant form since 1986.They do still have the Srt deco station on Hunter street in Hamilton. It was lovingly restored stone by stone less than a decade ago, and still hosts passengers. Go transit uses it for the bus and train hub for Hamilton, and the CPR still bypasses the city streets of Hamilton using the tunnelss and bridges the TH&B put in in the 1930's to keep trains and casr and people separate from each other.
DL-The folks at Critch do , do an amazing job.There does come a time though when it's not a restoration but a remanufacture. Our museum does not have that level of funding to remake unfortunatly. As long as the main structures are sound we can restore. We estimate that the Guelph birney ( which is just the basic wooden frame work no side pannels or interior ) is most likely beyond our scope. All's not lost though as we have a more complete sister from the Windsor Sandwich & Exeter, which had a roof and intact sides. We just need to find a single taylor truck to put under it.Our equipment is 90% under cover, hopefully the next barn will be up before the end of next year and we can improve upon that number.
Rob
Oh and yes, CM3 - as you say that Chappel viaduct was interesting stuff - in real life it is impressive, but it was interesting to share the website with people, which I had to dig out for the purpose. We don't tend to have trestles here (the wooden ones we had got replaced by brick or stone inthe early 20th C).
Can I see the food menu by the way, I think I'll put in an order.
DL
Hello Tom
Yes, I'll stand a round to all in.
I certainly did note the 2nd anniversary - not sure why I didn't make specific mention of it - must have just felt that raising an eyebrow (just like Mr Bond, James Bond) would be a suitably reserved, British style of marking the occasion!
I guess in reality it was because I'd pre prepared much of the post on the WP and then forgot to slot the right info in!
Certainly been plenty of good stuff to mark the occasion - Doug in particular has posted some thoroughly interesting info of some detail.
Pete - interesting stuff on the naming policy. I always felt BR naming policy after about 1975 (when names were 're-introduced') was a bit sqew whiff - apart from the class 50s that is with their Warship names. Very few naming policies post privatisation have been up to much either.
I just read the other day that Nigel Gresley was keen birder and that is why he selected bird names for many of his loco classes, but I guess you will expand on that in the next instalment of your info.
The occasion when the fish freights was mentioned was when I was down in Beeston with a mate who grew up there. I don't know if you know the station well, but there is a top quality pub adjacent to the platform (called the Victoria Hotel) and you can sit in the garden more or less right by the track. A public footbridge crosses the line here too (towards the old Plessey Telecoms Plant) and my mate was telling me about how they used to walk down there in the evenings to watch these express freights from said bridge. I guess they were coming down from Grimsby via Lincoln and on to Midland metals and heading for Trent Junction and the world.
Rob - when you look at the stuff some of the guys restore it would seem nothing is not really restorable - but even for the streetcar I mentioned they reckoned they'd need £ 300,000 I think. Mind you the standard of restoration they achieve in Crich is quite phenomenal - I suspect the cars look better than the days when they were in regular service. They have all undercover storage too which helps a lot of course.
Eric - I think you launched the Buffalo Central topic - looks impressive from your pictures so I'm going to see what else I can read up about that. A mega structure.
Meanwhile I've just managed to book a clutch of tickets for a reasonable price on the London - Penzance (in Cornwall) sleeper service (there and back overnight both ways) for later in May for a long weekend. Last time I took this trip we were waiting for our return journey and went up to take our pictures in front of the locomotive. The driver was doing the pre journey checks and just invited us up to have a good look in the cab! Real nice guy - clearly he could make a realistic assessment of the ‘security situation'.
Tom - that report back you had on Scotland and the scenic journey was 100% correct. As you say, if you can get that printing press cranked up you're under way. In the meantime I for one am looking forward to a trip report from yours and Pete's Eastern Canada expedition. I guess that is not too far off now?
All the best
PS - I found this site yesterday - of particular interest to anyone interested in publications and ephemera - Pete - I fond this as the author was featured in a Railway Magazine article for a I saw from a while back - his collections sounds prety impressive!
http://www.forsythe.demon.co.uk/
Good Morning Barkeep and all Present; coffee, please; round for the house and $ for the jukebox. Certainly an outpouring of NYC and other material. Let's see it is in the low 30s today and cloudy - weather says its supposed to be in the 50s and sunny. Gas went up to $3.00 yesterday (sheesh!)
I mentioned earlier I would deal with comments, etc. today. So here goes.
I enjoyed reading about Eric's class - the technology in the classroom was interesting. Check out the overhead projector - not a laptop or PPT in sight. However, you sure had a nice laboratory session (LOL).
Mike sent lots of links to look at. Going back a little, check out the pictures at Harmon. RDCs mu cars and lots of Alco switchers. The S motor at Mott Haven is a classic as well. Appreciated the picture of the geeps (running long hood first, of course) at Indianapolis.
The pictures of Buffalo are enough to make you weep. The second aerial picture will give you an idea if where Eric got his picture - where the platform trackage usta be. BTW, the railfan net site is well worth a visit.
Pete - Thanks for rerun of things past re 25/26 consist. Some NYC locomotives had smoke lifters; these included 4-8-2s and 4-8-4s. You can't generalize a whole lot about which locomotives had them because they were added and removed over the years. Another road in the area which used them was the D&H. Go back through some of the D&H postings and you'll see what I mean. I am saving your locomotive posts.
Rob provided comments and information; I saved the TH&B material - always useful to have more about an underappreciated railroad.
Barndad had some fascinating material from RNE; I have a lot of those mags in one of the file cabinets in the east wing. The material on PRR 4877 was nice to see again, especially the shot of her on the Port Road. Also the NYC steam material was excellent to see again. The articles give you a good idea of what was behind the Central's steam fleet. Kiefer is well-known, of course, but Starbuck was the "man behind the curtain." As near as I can tell, not much is out there about him. Also anything by Phil Hastings is worth studying - one of the best, IMHO. He did some wonderful photography on the Boston and Maine which was gathered into a book awhile back; o/p of course, and PRICY when you find one - it sleeps on the B&M shelf in the collection.
The second batch of NYC pictures features a fine picture of a B&A 1400; truly a beast and unlikely to be confused with anything else. Design considerations dictated why appliances were placed on the locomotive the way they were. The feedwater heater up top is an example as is the monstrous sand dome. The shot of the 4-8-2 at Cincinnati shows old style lettering for subsidiary lines on the tender. Last, the one at Geneva, NY was great - Fall Brook Line outstanding!
Lars sent lots of material. The shots on the Big 4 at Bellefontaine were nice to see as well as the pictures at Englewood. The second batch of pictures had some interesting items relating to the "evolution" of the NYC Hudson. 5437 has an almost as-built smokebox, but check out the drivers and the long haul tender. 5450 has been seriously modified - again look at the smokebox, drivers, and the tender. You can date some of these pictures just by looking at the locomotive. NYC 6003, if you enlarge it, shows a mix of HW and LW cars; very typical for the time period. Last, thanks for the rerun of the diesels.
Dave paid us a visit. The Buffalo Terminal was almost destroyed by the local population plus some !@#$ political infighting. The building has been secured and stabilized and folks are trying to do something with it. Local group does tours every so often, lights the clock tower, etc.
DL visited , too - I always enjoy reading trip reports - the Chappel viaduct site is a good one.
OSP - Thanks again for keeping us going - I'll bet the Mentor and Southern Narrow Gauge is running several bottle and can extras to handle all the empties. Incidentally, the picture of the Boston section of the Century is immediately west of the station at Springfield - you can see part of the complex at the immediate left of the picture.
This last is a good one; sent to me by a friend in deepest Mingo County, WV. True stuff, trust me. Sorry abt the caps, but I didn't feel like retyping the entire list. BTW, I think Boris looks great in his skeleton suit.
YOU MIGHT BE A COAL MINER IF:
YOUR WOOD PILE IS COVERED WITH BRATTICE CLOTH
YOUR TRUCK FENDER IS PATCHED WITH DU PONT RESIN
YOUR TOMATO PLANTS ARE STAKED WITH ROOF BOLTS
YOU HAVE EVER BEEN LATE BECAUSE YOU STOPPED TO BUY SNUFF.
YOU BUY YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY'S SHOES AT THE IRON AGE STORE.
YOU HAVE A "JOY RULES" TATTOO.
YOUR FAVORITE BALL CAP HAS A SKOAL EMBLEM ON IT.
YOU CALL YOUR WIFE "BUDDY."
ALONG WITH THE SANDWICH IN YOUR BUCKET IS MSHA TAPE, CHANNEL LOCKS, AND A SCREWDRIVER.
YOUR CHEEK LOOKS LIKE A TUMOR EVEN WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE A CHEW IN.
YOU HAVE EVER HAD GREASE IN YOUR EAR.
YOU COON HUNT WITH A "WHEAT LAMP".
YOUR GARAGE LOOKS LIKE AN ACE HARDWARE STORE.
YOUR DROP CEILING IS SUSPENDED BY SPADS.
YOUR KITCHEN TABLE IS A CABLE SPOOL.
COMP IS ANOTHER WORD FOR VACATION.
IF "OVERCAST" MEANS SOMETHING OTHER THAN A CLOUDY DAY.
YOU CAN PUT UP DRYWALL WITH A PICK HAMMER.
YOU HAVE A FLAME SAFETY LAMP ON YOUR FIREPLACE MANTLE.
YOU GOT YOUR NICKNAME FROM A TIME YOU SCREWED UP.
YOU HAVE EVER GREASED SOMEONE'S GLOVES.
YOU HAVE EVER GREASED A STEERING WHEEL ON A GOLF CART.
YOU HAVE EVER SAT ON TWO CEMENT BLOCKS TO GO TO THE BATHROOM.
YOU EVER DOUBLED BACK TO GET MORE SLEEP.
YOU RECEIVED A FLAT TIRE FROM "JACK ROCKS".
YOU READ ALL THESE AND LAUGH BECAUSE AT LEAST THREE OR MORE APPLY TO YOU.
Work safe
*Idiot of the Week #11 The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signlas blind people when the light is red. Appaled, she responded, What on earth are blind people doing driving?!" She was a probation offricer in Wichita, KS. STAY ALERT!They walk among us . . . and they REPRODUCE . . . !!! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * G'day Gents!
*Idiot of the Week #11
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine. She asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signlas blind people when the light is red. Appaled, she responded, What on earth are blind people doing driving?!"
She was a probation offricer in Wichita, KS.
STAY ALERT!
They walk among us . . . and they REPRODUCE . . . !!!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
What's to say other than we had a "banner day" for our 2nd Year Anniversary! Repeated THANX to all who made our day such a success - well done, Gentlemen!
Coffee's ready - pastries are fresh - breakfasts all set for orderin' - so what's the problem???
Doug at 8:26 PM yesterday: And the Water Level Route Steam "stuff" marches on - and on . . . <grin> The more we drink ‘round this joint, the less likely it is that any serious readin' is being done! This must be a "plot' hatched to draw us into to something diabolical. So, what is it?????
Really like the Pix accompanying all of your submissions, which of course make the articles even more intriguing for future readin' - many THANX!
Mike at 11:08 PM yesterday: An anniversary greeting from our resident URLMeisterMonster along with URLs <what else!?!?!>
Rob at 12:11 AM today: The trolleyMAN returneth with a fine inclusive Post and finale for our Anniversary Celebration.
The return of Count Robulla to the late hours makes things seem "normal" again! <uh oh>
Doug at 4:55 AM today: You've been like a Timex watch, keeps on tickin' - fer sure, fer sure! And yet ANOTHER Water Level Route Post! We'll just have to turn the Rat's Patoot Room into our Readin' Room as there's soooooooooo much material piled up in the "stack o' stuff"!! Many THANX, barn weevil, for being the continuity throughout our Anniversary Day! Gold 5- Salute to you Sir!
Great "funny Pix" - Shane will love it! <grin>
Reminder: Ruth has the bar from 9 AM until Leon the Night Man comes in at 5 PM ‘til closing. Ruth has the weekend OFF, Cindy will be working tomorrow! This is Pizza ‘n Beer Nite! - and - Steak ‘n Fries Nite! with servings beginning at 5 PM!
Howdy Tom and friends. I'll have a light breakfast, and reading glasses. I see that silent Mike and Rob made it back in before our party was done. Please forgive this hasty submission, but I need to be off to take care of horses, then work, then ride the train downtown for a meeting of the Locomotive and Railroad Historical Society! Here's part V of my little NYC series (and to think that Lars doubted me on material content this week ..... sheesh)
Concepts of Water Level Steam by Bert Pennypacker
New York Central 4925 (ex-CCCSt.L #6525, ex NYC 5000, ex-MC 8349), class K5, Schenectady built 1926, has just taken on a full load of coal at Indianapolis, Ind., photographed October 1949 by Harlod K. Vollrath
Secondly in 1922, the task of creating an all-new heavy duty Mikado fell to Will Woodward who was Lima's noted design engineer. Using the final H7e's of 1920 as a basic starting point, Woodward increased the grate area (59.6 to 66.4 square feet) anjd cylinders (27X30 to 28X30 inches), then proceeded to add an array of components that were destined to be the nucleus of his shortly forthcoming Super Power. These features included stokers, boosters, feedwater heaters, over-sized 14-inch piston valves to handle a greater volume of steam and a heretofore unheard of superheating area of 2020 square feet which was nearly 2 ½ times greater than heretofor used on most other NYC power. The result of all this was the formidable and rugged looking H10 No. 8000 which could produce 63,470 pounds TF plus 11,000 pounds with a booster.
So successful was the trial 8000 that Alco and Lima by 1924 had produced 302 near duplicates and yet, while these were Central's last Mikados, they signaled the beginning of the Super Power Age. In 1924, all that Will Woodward need do to design America's first Berkshire, the famous A1, was to slide rule the H10 specs into a slightly enlarged boiler with a mammouth, enlarged firebox boasting 100 square feet of grate area and boosting steam pressure from 200 to 240 pounds. Perhaps the most notable new feature of the A1 was the first fabricated outside bearing four-wheel radial trailing truck which was necessary to support the enlarged firebox. During test runs, the trial A1 took the B&A by storm as she thundered up and over the Berkshires with more horsepower, speed and tonnage than either the USRA light Santa Fes or 2-6-6-2 Mallets could manage. The A1 herself, a Lima-owned demonstrator, was eventually sold to the Illinois Central where she became the 7050 while, beginning in 1926, the B&A started acquiring a 55-unit fleet which, significantly, became class A1 built, of course, by Lima through 1930.
The M10 Mikado and closely related A1 Berkshire projects were only two facets of a wide-ranging, nine-year modernization program that began in 1922 and lasted until 1931, by which time the Central had totally retooled its mainline fleet with 1113 new or rebuilt Mikados, Berkshires, Mohawks, Hudsons and Pacifics. Much of the credit for bringing the road into the world of modern steam belonged to Paul W. Keifer who in 1926 was appointed Chief Engineer of Motive Power and Equipment, a position he held for 27 years. Like his predecessors, Kiefer was an exponent of conservatism while employing every known modern appliance to produce the highest possible capacity and efficiency in his locomotives.
Since we have already told the Mikado and Berkshire stories, let's now explore Mohawks, both old and new. The two-engine upgrading of L1's with three cylinders had produced unsatisfactory results and yet, here was a sizable fleet of 185 engines with good potential, but lacking modernity. The obvious remedy was to equip them with such appliances as stokers, feedwater heaters and boosters which added 11,000 pounds TF for a very healthy total of 65,080 pounds. The steam pressure was also raised from 190 to 200 pounds while the added weight of all the new devices raised an L1's total weight from 174 to more than 182 tons. Many received larger 12-wheel tenders and the ferocious countenance of H10 and A1 prevailed with the overhanging Elesco feedwater tank and pilot mounted air pumps behind protective shields.
Turning now to new Mohawk construction, once the final H10b Mikado orders were completed in 1924, the following year saw Alco delivering a single L2 prototype No. 2700 which, unlike the A1 Berkshire, was not a deviation of the H10. Rather, she ranked a bit larger than the L1 and was, in fact, based upon the USRA heavy mountain design. Her total boiler heating surfaces (including superheater) stayed within close proximity to those of the H10, but a larger firebox having 75.3 square feet of grate area presumably afforded a greater steaming capacity to feed an identical 200 pounds pressure to 27X30-inch cylinders whose bore was one inch smaller than an H10 had. With 690inch drivers, the TF stood at 60,620 pounds plus 12,400 pounds for the booster.
New York Central #3006, class L3a, Schenectady built 1940 on the ready track at Chicago, Ill., taken May, 1948 by Harold K. Vollrath
Remember, practice safety at work today
Good evening Leon , still on your feet are you Good man ! I think I'll have another Keith's as I wind out the day.As promissed I have made it back in to help the girls clear up the debris of a well attended second aniversary. A 5x for all of us who give a rats patoot.Makes me proud
Doug-Wow the weevil strikes ust a simply amazing amount of info put out by you today I to you,great water level route info and pictures and you done good me lad ! Even found another shot of the GG1 for all to enjoy.
Pete-I'm glad that the girls worked so hard for you,nice to know that the kitchen is in good hands. Amazing info on the various classes of steam locomotives as always we have fun and learn at the same time. Good show all around. I don't imagine that you let Boris do the typing for you though
dave-great to see you take the time out to be with us this afternoon , or is that morning where you are Nice linkage of the E units as well to keep the NYC theme rolling well into it's third day.
Lars-Isn't it great the turn out we've had today, warms the cockles of me heart.I have to say that I never get tired of shots of early first gen diesels. The PA3 does it for me,I'm still a recovering alcophile
DL-great to see you make it in today. I haven't waded all the way through your post yet,but it's good stuff fer sure fer sure.I'll search out that story you mentioned. Funny thing the museum owns the body of a Guelph Radial Birny car. It was the upper story of a house by the speed river in Guelph. The owner didn't know it was there. unfortunatly when they were renovating this chunk of upper story fell into the speed river,once it was determined what it was they donated it to us,that was ten or so years ago,we felt it wasn't really restorable then but we haven't the heart to put it out of it's misery.
Tom-Now you know any and all Robism's are usable no matter how in poor taste they are.I only watched the first two overtimes of that game, remembering that they are 4 hours different from my time zone,what better do I have to do at three in the morning thoughI did see that our gals won again. Good for them, if it wasn't for the Can / USA rivalry in women's hockey I don't think there would be such a game.I figured that you would like the Port Mailtland info it is a cute little town still today.My copies of those are very old and faded themselves though I did notice that once you blow them up they are fairly readable, the hotel rates remind me of that one hotel rate add you've posted on many an occation.
Mike-Nice to see one more round of urls to wind out the day from you as well knid of rounded out the day quite nicley.
Well guys here's to year three and some continued success for this play and the continued friendships for those of us who enjoy our times here.
Hi Tom and everyone, a round for the house
Congratulations on 2nd anniversary and thank you for keeping it going.
GG1 re-set to Windows Media Player
http://static.thoughtequity.com/video/aux/warehouse/493/01051/49301051_025_lp.wmv
http://static.thoughtequity.com/video/aux/warehouse/493/01051/49301051_026_lp.wmv
New York Central streamlined steam train
http://static.thoughtequity.com/video/aux/warehouse/331/740/331740_014_lp.wmv
X2000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6EjkikFGDY&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wkh9PZUshI&NR=1
Mike
Hi again Tom! Another bottomless draught and another round please. I can't believe you thought my jokes would improve as the day went on. They never do that! Two great new posts from Pete, and I believe he has two more to go to finish the series. Mine is going to take quite a while. Here's part IV
New York Central #2780, class L2a, Schenectady built 1926, backs to his train after making a pick up at Geneva, New York. Photographed March, 1947 by Harold K. Vollrath
In the NYC's scheme of flatland operations, the fast freight K11 Pacific of 1910 design clearly pointed the way toward an early dissatisfaction with the inherently sluggish, low-horsepower characteristics of Consolidations. Therefore, this type was quickly relegated to play a minor role over the years as evidenced in the modern day roster which listed only about 160 Consols as compared to 1060 such engines on the Pennsy. The first significant inroads upon the existing Consolidation fleet occurred to class G5 of 1903-06 vintage which underwent conversions to H5 light Mikados during the years 1912-17, plus some all-new construction lasting until the early 1920's to produce a fleet of about 360 engines.
The conversion work, done principally by Alco, retained little more than fireboxes having 56.5 square feet of grate area, cabs, 63-inch driving wheels and running gear. Steam pressure was lowered from 200 to 180 pounds while the cylinders grew from 23X32 to 25X32 inches to produce a TF that increased slightly from 45,680 up to 48,570 pounds in the new H5. In later years, many got stokers, feedwater heaters and boosters, thereby considerably increasing engine weight and affording an additional 9900 pounds TF. Since the G5 boiler possessed only 2995.9 square feet of heating surface as compared to 4095 in the H%, the desired objective here was not one of merely increasing the TF, but on of providing a marked increase in steaming capacity which was the key to higher horsepower and speed. On the other hand, these were frugally-designed, economy-minded engines because of their tiny fireboxes, together with lowered steam pressure evidenced concessions to conservatism, steaming capacity, larger cylinders and better adhesion., these traits probably suiting Central's needs for a fleet of all around general utility engines.
Concurrently with the acquisition of the H5, the 1912-20 period saw NYC's lines becoming heavily populated with nearly 400 other Mikados. These included 130 heavy-duty drag freight H7's, 40 H8's built principally for the P&LE, 194 USRA light H6's and 30 USRA heavy H9's. Most of the Central's Mikes were notable for having straight boiler barrels and the standard 63-inch drivers, the only exception being the 56-inch drivers on class H8.
Aside from USRA power, the big locomotive news of World War I times was probably the widespread acceptance of huge, lumbering Santa Fe types which were in great demand to cope with the staggering tonnage volume, thus was born the so-called Drag Freight Era. Receiving only ten USRA light Santa Fes for use over the B&A's Berkshire Hills, NYC didn't really succumb to the ten-drivered syndrome as its motive power designers found their own unique way to suit the needs of flat railroading. The Mountain type had first been developed for the Chesapeake & Ohio in 1911 as a heavy passenger hauler and to date was not looked upon as either a freight hauler or a dual service machine. Since the Central had slight need for cumbersome drag machines and since its fast freight Pacifics had established a new technique back in 1910, the obvious next step was simply to enlarge them into America's first steam fleet of freight Mountains which were promptly renamed Mohawks out of sheer necessity. Between 1916-18, both Alco and Lima built a combined total of 185 L1 Mohawks which encompassed a direct enlargement of the K11 plans as witness the Pacific's 26X26-inch cylinders being enlarged to 28X28 inches in the Mohawks while 69-inch drivers remained constant. As built, the L1 represented a plain and simple design, its lone modern appliance being the superheater while the TF of 54,080 pounds put it in the class of a Mikados power, yet able to attain higher speeds.
With the ending of World War I and lifting of the hated USRA controls, America's railroads in the early 1920's set about a vast rebuilding and re-equipping of their lines despite a short, yet severe economic depression. New frontiers of larger, high-powered boiler development were reached as the drag freight mania saw Baldwin delivering 475 I1s Decapods to the PRR, the magnificent Big Six Santa Fes were acquired by the B&O and such Western roads as the Santa Fe and Espee got their share of large Santa Fe types. But on the NYC, where the desire for horsepower and where a wariness about using any more wheels probably exceeded that of the Pennsy, new ways were sought to increase the capacity of such existing wheel types as Mikados and Mohawks with the resulting innovations having much to do with the shortly forthcoming Super Power Era.
In 1922 and again in 1924, Alco took an NYC L1b Mohawk and rebuilt each with three, 25X28-inch cylinders replacing the existing two 28X28-inch size while steam pressure was raised from 190 to 200 pounds and TF from 54,080 to 64,670 pounds. Engines 2568 and 2569 were by no means the first three-cylindered single-expansion locomotives, but they did revive the long dormant concept in a high capacity machine. The experiment proved to be a deadend street for NYC because of high maintenance costs and the two were eventually converted back to their original form. However, this idea had far reaching effects for Alco where, in 1923, a practically identical Mountain type was built as a demonstrator and sold to the LV where its three-cylindered muscle performed wonders in hauling passenger trains over the Poconos between East Mauch Chunk and Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The Valley quickly bought five more and thereby began a long line of such power for numerous roads, the best-known being Espee's 4-10-2 Overland types which appeared in 1925 and UP's monstrous 4-12-2 Union Pacific type of 1926 design.
New York Central #4802 (ex-6502), class K3r, Schenectady built 1925, photographed at Chicago, Ill. July 1947 by Harold K. Vollrath
Why isn't phonetic spelled the way it sounds?Why are there interstate highways in Hawaii? Why are there flotation devices under plane seats instead of parachutes? Why are cigarettes sold in gas stations when smoking is prohibited there? Why do fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing? If you can't drink and drive, why do you need a driver's license to buy liquor, and why do bars have parking lots? Do you need a silencer if you are going to shoot a mime? Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations? How does the guy who drives the snowplow get to work in the mornings? If 7-11 is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the doors?
Back for another series of recognitions to those who have taken the time and made the effort to join in on our 2nd Year Anniversary Celebration!
It has been a grand occasion! To repeat myself, in spite of a relatively small nucleus comprising our "regular" customer base, the overwhelming majority joined in as requested with a toast to our success and contributions relevant to our anniversary. Many THANX!
Dave at 4:04 PM today: Being transferred to a Coast Guard squadron, eh Surely wish you'd ship me an Email if at all possible. As you know, I have a wee bit of background with that organization . . . Times and things change, and I'm in "wonderment" over it all.
Really pleased that you not only stopped by on this our "day of days," but have kept pace with our "shenanigans" as well! As if you have nothing else to DO! Yeah, right. Thanx very much Dave - an inspiration to all who COULD but DON'T.
Clever tie in with the SP ‘n NYC via the EMD E7 . . .
West Coast Oooooooooo - that will "work'!
Doug at 5:14 PM today: And it continues - another batch for the "stack o' stuff"! Not a problem, for it all will be read and undoubtedly enjoyed . . .
You've truly outdone yourself today and I can't recall the last time you've provided not only frequent appearances, but so many meaningful Posts!
Awful joke! <groan>
Pete at 6:34 PM ‘n 6:48 PM today: Back again, eh Glad to see you've not let the Manager get to you. <grin>
Just a clarification on "that" Pix provided by Doug of the "three of us" standing in front of "Our" Place. That shot was taken by a young lady at the Brantford, Ontario VIA Rail Station last May as our 1st Annual Rendezvous got underway. It's Moi - Ted ‘n Rob. Sorry, but the barn weevil wasn't there.
Yes, we are approaching the 10,000th Post for "Our" Place - remember "last count" on the original Thread was 9,013 - just add the numbers. That's not necessarily for YOU, but for anyone else who is interested . . . I too am amazed at how many "observe" us, but do not wish to "talk." My bride thinks it may be due to the way we operate. We're structured and keep to it, whereas most of these cyber sites are as loose as a goose . . . Perhaps.
Thanx for the Hall class loco shot and the Part Deux of your British Big Four Railway Companies!
Okay Gents, I've spent about as much time here today as I have during any recent week! So, time to do other things. Truly appreciate those of you who remembered this Anniversary Day and said so!
This has been a GOOD day with lotsa GOOD stuff from quite a few GOOD folks. THANX!
Set ‘em, Leon 'n Boris ring the gong!
See y'all on Friday!
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