The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Hawks05

good evening everyone.

i didn't get a chance to work on any of the model railroad stuff today. i was getting ready to wash my car this afternoon and heard a whistle so i ran inside, grabbed the camera, and i was off to find the train. i went up by the baseball field where i knew i could get some good shots, but i waited for 10 minutes and it was coming at all. so i decided to go down by the first intersection in town that it would cross, as i was going over the tracks i looked to my left and saw it. i parked my car, got out and went to the other side of the tracks to talk with some guy who was also taking pictures. the locomotives went by and he then told me it was a 126 car train, and my car was on the other side of the tracks. so i waited a good 20-25 minutes as this passed through. once it was all done i wanted to try and catch it again while it was going under a bridge, one thing i didn't figure was how far the traffic would be backed up. needless to say i didn't get to the bridge, but i almost got pulled over. a old guy let me on to the highway through town and i procceed onto another highway to catch the train, its only 35MPH going east and i was doing about 65-70 trying to catch this thing. i saw 2 cops parked in a lot and slowed down a lot. i ended up going to the next town 3 miles away and going about a mile out of that town to a intersection where i snapped a few more pictures.

so basically that took up about an hour of my afternoon. i got home and washed my car then and put the pictures onto the comptuer.

right now i'm trying to create a website for the pictures. hopefully i'll get a few pictures up yet tonight.

Yes Jim (Hawks), the other Jim is right, BE CAREFUL!!! Chasing trains isn't easy, and can be dangerous, because you are distracted as you drive. You are young, and don't have much driving experience to begin with. Combine that with the excitement of the moment, and it's the perfect recipe for trouble.

At least you didn't have a hundred other railfans to contend with today. Big Girl and I had long day back at the beginning of July chasing 2816 and 261. I drove and she had the camera.

[Hawks05]

well i caught that "Z" train or Triple Crown train as its called. most of the pictures i took of the locomotive were crappy. i mean total bad. i didn't realize that once the screen turns black it will take the picture after that so i had a bunch where i was taking pictures of the ground, now that explains why i the picture of the Cotton Belt hopper i took yesterday didn't show up. dangit. oh well i'll have the best picture of the locomotive up on my website in a little while along with one or two pictures of the cars. after i got into the car and looked at the pics i realized that a lot of the good ones i thought i'd taken of the locomotive were not there i sped off again for the next town over. as i was leaving the town i live i saw the train over an intersection and then heard it going under a bridge so i knew it would be close. i was going the speed limit the whole time though.

now i just have to get more gas and fix my right front tire. it keeps making a rattling noise that is driving me and my dad nuts, we can't figure out what it is.

now i get to look forward to taking pictures of pretty much the samething tomorrow around the same time.

[Big_Boy_4005]

I think it's only the BNSF that uses the designation of "Z" for their priority stack/intermodal trains. I'll have to watch my Pentrex videos again. They have a bunch of different kinds of trains. The UP has a different system for naming trains, and so does the CP for that matter.

A wheel weight in the hubcap perhaps?

[Hawks05]

i don't think its the hub cap or the valve steam. i took the hub cap off again tonight, put it back on and tightened everything and it was worse so i don't know what it could be.

i'm not really distracted while i'm driving trying to find a train though. the tracks are usually behind trees so i can't see the train at all so thats usually a plus.

this is my fun for the summer. chasing trains. once school starts i won't be doing much of this unless its on weekends.

[Anonymous]

YNCS [:)]

Everything is cool, no problem. [;)]

I took the Coast Guard pic to work tonight and showed it to 4 different ex Navy men. One said the gun was a 5 incher, one said it was a 75mm cannon, one said he just didn't remember what it might be, and one said he would try to find out for me but he wasn't sure either. [:(] So I guess you could say we are shooting "blanks" here. [;)] lol [:D] (No throwing rotten eggs [;)] )

[krump]

Teffy -
I like your Bull Story - I mean your story about the Bull [:D][:D][:D][^][:D] how much did you get for it? I'd love to visit in Texas. (I'm also a country boy on acreage (7), few chickens and a dog, but no bull...). Sounds like you have a wonderful corner of the world. You are welcome to go after the bear meat on my yard if you wish...
I have friends all over the States, and I've travelled through many of the States. Also spent a few hours in Dallas - Fort Worth TEXAS [C):-)][:)] (yes, around the airport). A cousin recently moved away from Dallas. I miss the visits with friends, but the only thing keeping us out of the States right now is that 2 of my 3 adopted kids are landed-immigrants, not yet Canadian Citizens (since 9 11 it's harder to get through that process, and more costly) - we hope to have that remedied by next summer. [:)].
cheers

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Hawks05



it was a pretty boring day, i was expecting to hear a train come through town, but none did. now i just have tonight to look forward to.

Here is a list of some people around your age who have aim, these are all forum members.

Jeff in New Jersey . . . Conrail7316
Mike in New Jersey . . . njmike6901
Mikey in Philadelphia . . . MikeyGBall
John in St. Louis . . . Railpac
Scott in Maryland . . . Hawkeyes650
Jarrett in California . . . mariopuzo1988
Henry in Kansas . . . KansasTrainbrain

These are just a few. I have talked to them all on aim and many others too. But this is a start for you.

Right now I do not have msn messenger but will download it again some day. There is a good group of guys on msn messenger. I do miss them too. We were a little family.

I know I have forgotten some, I hope it doesn't offend anyone. But it is late and I am tired and the mind just doesn't work 100% about now.

Oh and don't forget me. I am on of a morning from around 9 to about noon. And then after work from about midnight to 2 or 3 am. I "see" Jarrett is on but he is probally moderating a forum. He does that ya know. [;)] [8D] [:)]

[krump]

Welcome Wedge,
Great coffee on today, think I'll have another big mug-full. At the same time I'm watching the pool fill up right before my eyes [8D] - perhaps I can take a dip tomorrow.

Lupo - howdy. How's life in The Netherlands? Busy as per usual I'm guessing. I just discovered a new "folding tricycle" for adults, made by a company named Di Blasi. Sounded interestinng, sounded very popular in Europe, particularly The Netherlands, so I've asked that a brochure be sent to me. Eager to check it out...

now it's really coffee time. cheers

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

Right now I do not have msn messenger but will download it again some day.

I got rid of mine because I just didn't have time to go on so I uninstalled it (for now).

[lupo]

HELLO ALL,
Yes, life in holland is still busy as usual, summer is making efforts to get on its way, so everyone is urging us to print T-shirts as fast as we can. proposed delivery date: yesterday or sooner [:D]
Well we try, but we have to be carefull working too long in a hot enviroment with machines that can rip off your arm when not handled with care.[xx(]

Krump - Looked at the three wheel folding bike, looks nice but not to practical overhere, because it is too wide to get along really fast through dutch traffic and narrow streets, the reason of the massive use of bikes overhere, and you can't leave it parked outside because it will be taken apart within moments of you leaving it there. most folding bikes are kept in the boot of cars I guess. btw the railroads here have special cars where passengers can take their bike on the train to work.
I know the tricycle from my youth, my granddad and uncle had one to deliver groceries to their customers, but those trikes had the double wheels in the front, supporting a big trunk where they stored their stuff.

Did anyone notice that the forum software update they did some time ago makes it possible to stay logged in as a member from all computers you use, ( it used to be the last computer you used only ) and the members signatures are disabled from viewing by guests ? Did not notice any other positive effects, only a lot of error500 "internal server error" messages.

Also made a railtrip to an openhouse to celebrate 150 years of Roosendaal station, a station on the belgium border, handling about 250 trains a day ( TGV, freight, commuter international ) from the station there was transportation to the servicing facility by an 1930 passenger train with an ex DB 023 series steamer at each end of the train.
on display were al kind of diesels: old Baldwin build



and brand-new Vossloh 2000,



Electric freight locomotives equipped with disk brakes, that was new to me,



also on display a small switching loc with a hydraulical double coupling system, able to pull freight and passenger cars ( they have different coupling systems overhere ) how is that in the US?



another question pops up: busy railtraffic overhere is 200 - 300 trains a day how is busy to us standards?


[#welcome] All new visitors, and wedge: may the force be with you!

[Anonymous]

[#welcome]


Welcome to all the new coffee shops patrons. [;)] [:p]

Have a cup of coffee on me. [:)]

Has anyone noticed that we have not had a visit from Boblonain lately? [?]
Remember he was the one who posted the "jibberish". He is still shown as a member but I haven't seen any posts from him here lately.

Codyr is his brother. Cody posted some pics about a train excursion but then hasn't posted much since then. I would like to see what trains look like there.

Codyr -- come back and post some more pics please. [;)]


Here is a bit of history trivia. [:D]

From the "This Day In History" website

July 27

1940 Bugs Bunny makes his official debut in the Warner Bros. animated cartoon "A Wild Hare."

Happy Birthday Bugs. [bday]


Hey Noah, have you ever thought about downloading AIM and chatting with us in real time? [:D]

That reminds me, I need to send Snake an email. [:)]

[Big_Boy_4005]

Hey Lupo, cool pictures of strange looking trains (by US standards).[swg] Here in the US the train counts aren't quite that high. Part of the difference is that we have almost no passenger service to bring the count up. I doubt any single set of tracks at any given location sees much over 100 trains a day.

The busiest areas would be the Northeast, between Washington DC and Boston, and also around Chicago. Have you ever watched the web cam in Rochelle Illinois that they have here. That's about 60 miles west of Chicago, and the UP and BNSF double track mains cross. Very busy by US standards.

[Anonymous]

The UP main in Nebraska sees 140-150 trains (mostly coal) a day, then (as mentioned before) there's the NEC.

[Big_Boy_4005]

One other factor that makes a difference here guys, is that this country is much bigger and more spread out. Not all of the trains pass the same spot, even if they are going the same place.

[lupo]

Guys, I think another reason for that many trains passing is that freight trains overhere are much shorter ( 20 - 30 cars ) than the US trains, ( if they where longer, at some occasions the locomotive would have reached it's destination while the rest of the train is still on the departing yard [:-^] ) so they use more trains to move their goods around
and the station I described is a station that handles most passenger traffic between Amsterdam-the Hague-Rotterdam (10.000.000 people) and Antwerp, Brussels ( Belgium) and Paris (France)
these busyness on the dutch railnet also needs electronic train control systems on all trains using these tracks ( even the steam locomotives must have this sytem build in )
in order to stop trains automaticly when they miss a red signal when traveling over 15 MPH. Now they are talking about putting in a system that controls the trains at all speeds, in order to prevent accidents by trains switching at low speeds ( like the on the picture I posted earlier ) only the costs 1 billon euro's could prove too much

[Anonymous]

GOOD MORNING ALL:

TO WEDGE AND ICET: [#welcome]

KRUMP:

I left you a post on the decal page? forum? or whatever.

The wife had 13 chickens, and 18 ducks. She enjoyed messing around with them for better then 5 years and then we aquired a new neighbor who had a dog that she couln't or wouldn't pen up. Needless to say in four trips to our yard he killed everything. She paid us for them but, the wife was devestated as she had hatched many of them and we still have yet to get anymore, even though the neighbor has moved on. My idea of a fresh egg has changed for one that is a couple of hours old (out of our coop) to one that is probably 3 months old (from the store).

Have you ever been to Winnipeg and attended Folklarama? It is great. The last time I was in BC I went in at Vancover and then across to the ice glaciers, Lake Louise, Banff and then on to Winnipeg. I think that the people in Canada are a lot more friendly then their US counterparts. If I turn on my left blinker, they will actually slow down and let me get in front of them. Not so in Houston - they dare you to move over.

We own a charter bus company and I've been to BC several times. It has given me a chance to meet a lot of nice people throughout North America. I also enjoy the hobby shops as their inventory is so different. Down here we see a lot of SP, UP, and ATSF. When I went to a hobby shop in Vermont I got to see a lot of Rutland, Maine Central and Vt. Mtn. Like wise in Louisville - a lot of L&N and Southern. Winnipeg hobby shops have road names that are foreign (pun)to us - something about CP and CN [%-)] maybe a regional road?

I just received an e-mail from Fergie after I told him that this year it was going to be just the wife and I comming to Nova Scotia. I'm going to try and fit into his schedual so I can see his layout and get a chance to meet him face to face just like bigboy and tinplater. He's just done a turntable and I'd like some ideas. From eBay I've meet a good number of people and seen some great layouts.

I think that we are going to stop by Custom Model Railroads and see how they build professional layouts. They are currently redoing the B&O layout in Baltimore at the museum of transportation. THAT'S A MUST SEE.

I don't have a lot of time today as the home computer got hit by lightening (SP) and is dead, so I'm using the one at work on work time.

Tom:

How is the rail laying comming along? I spent Sat and Sun after church laying a six track yard and then wired it in. I sure am pleased with myself as to how well it works. This is the first time that I've used under track magnets for my uncouplers but I like them so far and it looks so much better. I hope that I never have to take them out because most of them are on the curved ladder tracks.

Have a blessed day and rmember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY

Bob

[Hawks05]

good afternoon/morning. i just got up a little over an hour ago now. as soon as i sat down to watch the midday news i heard a train and was off. what a great way to start a day, hearing a whistle and taking pictures. as you can probably tell i don't have a summer job where i work often. i have one but don't work, not until my 18th so i can deliver. it was only about 10 cars long and 2 locomotives.

now i have the rest of the day to sit around and do next to nothing. i have to get gas in my car and clean my windshield. sounds like a fun filled afternoon to me.

some of those guys you listed Jim, i've never even seen on here before. what forum are they from?

also does anyone know where i can get a locomotive roster for Union Pacific. i don't know the types of locomotives all that well yet and if i can get something that wil show the locomotive number for me so i can easily identify the type that would be great.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Hawks05

also does anyone know where i can get a locomotive roster for Union Pacific. i don't know the types of locomotives all that well yet and if i can get something that wil show the locomotive number for me so i can easily identify the type that would be great.

www.witherspublishing.com he has both UP and NS rosters, I have his NS one and its great, after a while I memorized the entire NS roster!

[lupo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Hawks05


also does anyone know where i can get a locomotive roster for Union Pacific. i don't know the types of locomotives all that well yet and if i can get something that wil show the locomotive number for me so i can easily identify the type that would be great.

you can find one here:
http://utahrails.net/all-time
there are lots more info on UP traction

have fun[:D]

L-UP-O

[Anonymous]

That's a great site but the roster is a couple of years old and it said that they won't update it, UP did a major renumbering & retiring of engine last year.

[lupo]

OK Dougal, you are right, I did not notice that, I printed the rosters few years back and I only use them for checking the older stuff , and there are tons of information beside these rosters on that site!

[Hawks05]

dougal- i was hoping to find something online, not a book. i might get that later on once i really get into and have space for books. but for now i need websites.

lupo- that is a great site. i think that will have what i'm looking for, at least i hope it does.

thanks guys. not to start writing these down in what will hopefully turn up to be my Locomotive Journal. all the trains i take pictures of will be logged into this.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Jim, I was just thinking about Codyr and Bobalonian last night. I enjoyed the pictures that Codyr took, and Like you said I wish he'd come back and post more pictures.

Codyr and Bobalonian, where are you!!!!

There, that should do it if there around some place.

Jim (hawks) you should put your website in you signature. I'd like to check it ever once an a while for updates, and that way I won't have to go back to the page you put it on to find it.

I've got both sides of the TC decalled now, and next comes the ends. I've got to figure out how to add wieght to it. as I ran just the bottom around my track and it was way to light untill I put some nails in a little box on it temporarially. Any suggestion on what to use? I don't have time to go to my LHS before the deadline, so lead weights are out of the question. I was thinking just glueing some pea-gravel inside ths cabin area, and if I have to I will, but I'd like something more cleaner than that.

Noah

[Anonymous]

Weather's terrible, nothing much to do but try to hit 2000 posts by next week [:D]

[Noah Hofrichter]

Har Har Har, I'm still working on 1000. Should have it in the bag by middle of August. I'm not worried about that as much though, I just post for the fun, not beat records.

Noah

[Anonymous]

Noah, What I use for weights are are pennies. They are small and can easily be glued together. A lot of my cars are weighted with pennies. It's also a good way to get those pesky loose pennies off your hands and out of your pockets.

Jim(hawks05)-You can put me on your aol buddy list. My name is TjMcnasty745. I always enjoy getting im's from people on this forum. Something neatt jim does is have everyone join a chatt room you get to meet some real neat people.

Not much working on the layout today. I got the trains on location horseshoe curve video last night so I'm watching that. Trying to obtain as much knowledge as I can on the horseshoe curve. The scouts are taking a trip there the first week end in august and I'm the tour guide. I'm really excited as I get to railfan and teach kids and as my dad put in the troop newsletter "Andy's enthusiasm is contagious. By the end of this trip, he won't be the only railfan."

I got to see my mothers picks from her trip to europe and she took some picks of some trains she saw on the other side of the atlantic. So I'll post those as soon as I find a place to put them.

A quick story from her trip: My mother and my sister were travelling through most of Europe by train. One trip the took a train that stopped in what they thought was a tunnel. She wondered if there was a problem and they were evacuating. So talked to one of the conductors and asked why everyone was leaving. The conductor told her they would be stopped for about 40 minutes and that they could spend the time in the shops upstairs. So my mother and sister headed upstairs to go shopping. As they were walking up the stairs they felt that whatever they were on was moving. Understanderbly confused they made up it upstairs to see that on all four sides they were on water. Their train had pulled onto a ferry without them even knowing.
Andrew

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by Noah Hofrichter

Har Har Har, I'm still working on 1000. Should have it in the bag by middle of August. I'm not worried about that as much though, I just post for the fun, not beat records.

Noah
[/quote

I'm the same way, the post before was a joke [:D]]

• Edit