Good sunny morning from the West Coast. It is 8c and I think I will go for a long walk with a dog today. Wife said they are filming on planet something or other today down at the park, so I'll go snoop. Last time it was "Lost In Space" It is good for a few kms depending what part of the park they are filming in.
Speaking of Vehicles, when I was twenty, I ordered a brand new Chevy van from the factory. It came empty with only the driver's seat inside. I proceeded to turn it into a really nice custom shaggin wagon. I spent more on the customization than I did on the van itself.
While I had that for 14 years, In 1989 bought a 1990 Mazda RX7 Turbo II, ordered from the factory in Japan. I had looked at a new Corvette, Nisson300ZX and a few others, however, I knew the RX was made for me the minute I sat in it. Had it up in the 260kmh ( 160 mph) plus range a few times. I had it for 15 years and when I went to sell it I found out it was only one of three in North America that had been manufactured in a certain factory in Japan with a unique registration #. I had people offering ridiculous prices for it and sold it for way more than I thought I would ever get for it.
We got this 2001 Ford F-350 with the 7.3 LTR Diesel in it and have had it for 18 years this September. I love the truck but it has been a money pit, and that's being kind. We love to go ghost towning and you would not believe the places we have gone in it.
Here we are exploring the "Kettle Valley Railroad". On this trip, we had a Grizzly bear stand up and push his nose on the passenger side window leaving a nice big nose print.
Other than the constant repairs it has tackled the off road part spectacularly as we have gone in where the roads have pretty much disappeared. We get about 700 kms to a tank of diesel and have had to take extra cans of diesel with us to get back out from places we have gone. Good times.
As far as sports go, I really admire the athleticism in all of them. I could watch all of them for that reason alone. I hold myself to Hockey as I don't want to be an armchair blob and think it is better to be involved in sport by coaching and doing other things for the kids. I have been involved with Baseball, Softball (fastpitch and slowpitch) and of course Hockey.
I think will start on the lighting for the roundhouse today if I can.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
. . .I’d have to say that I would gravitate towards “Prog Rock”. . .
We seem to be cut out of the same musical cloth. I am still a big fan of the pre-Peter-Gabriel-departure Genesis, along with ELP, Yes, and Rush. (As for post Peter Gabriel, I feel like after Duke, things went too "Pop" for me.) Supper's Ready is a favorite, as is the entire Lamb Lies Down on Broadway album. However, Progressive Rock is just one square in my musical quilt.
Richard
Today's new life experience--I sent my daughter off to Basic Training. She will be in Fort Jackson for the next ten weeks, then off to Fort Gordon for skills training. The whole process will take her about six months. (She joined the Army National Guard.)
Afternoon diners,
Went to the post office and Eds package is still not in! checked the tracking number, no updates since yesterday, and no known location... hopefully it gets delivered this week...
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Thanks to everyone who wished my wife well. The latest news is her platelets are low and her liver functions are elevated, but no one seems panicked by the results, so I guess all that passes for normal in chemotherapy patients.
Stephen good luck with the USPS. Every once in a while they declare my address as unknown, no forwarding address. They do they same with some of the people I do business with, like the people that come check the furnace every year. This is the issue you want. https://shop.whiteriverproductions.com/products/rmc8611
Has anyone else found the MR website uncommonly slow today?
Got very little done today. They are calling for morning thunderstorms tomorrow. Afternoon thunderstorms and night time are common in the summer. Morning thunderstorms are pretty rare around here.
Bear your youtube video was blocked with this message:
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Good afternoon.
The other day Henry posted a video of a ship loading locomotives. I was going to post it on Waldorf and Statlers Photo Of The Day but he just beat me to it and I hate reruns.
The ship was the M.S.Belpareil. I always have a fascination with ships history and this one was no different. I found a pic of her visiting Vancouver and wondered if she had survived the war.
Here is her history if interested. It appears she was bought by our good friend "Bear" in 1965. https://www.warsailors.com/singleships/belpareil.html Happy reading.
Here is her history if interested. It appears she was bought by our good friend "Bear" in 1965.
https://www.warsailors.com/singleships/belpareil.html
Happy reading.
NWP SWPWent to the post office and Eds package is still not in!
It must be something I do wrong at my end!
I sent a package to Ken one time and somehow the USPS sent it to his sister-in-law or something like that. The tracking said "Package redirected at the request of sender". I never requested any such thing. If I recall, Ken had to go to the P.O. in the next town over to find his box!
Lately my Amazon packages have been delivered (or NOT) by their own package "logistics" group. Sometimes they place the package in the US Mail box and the postal carrier picks it up or it gets delivered to — who knows where.
They supply a photo of the "delivered" packages in their tracking info and more often than not, I do not recognize the location of the photo!
Somehow, they seem to "think" they're saving money. In the last six months they have had to refund me about $400 in missing packages.
Your package is going directly to a Post Office Box, Steven. I can't see how they can mess that up... um, Ok, I guess they can!
See you folks later, Ed
The USPS is pretty inept in my experience... They have delivered packages in my name (which are addressed to the P.O. Box) to my dad's job because he's got the same name! And it was his birthday gift!
Evenin' folks!
Janie, I could use a refill for my Decaf please....
Spent this evening over at Hobart and William Smith Colleges attending a dinner and conversation program on "One Beloved Community", part of their MLK Celebration. We got well fed and challenged by our own discussions. I guess the biggest take away was that it is indeed "up to us" to make this world a better place for ALL people. Tomorrow night I will be back over there to hear the MLK keynote Address which will be given by the new college President. I am invited to attend the activities over there each year as a "Community Leader" (as a member of the MLK committee). Did get to see several other folks that I haven't seen in a while at the same time. Got to formally meet and talk with the college president and some other people I hadn't met before. Also found out who built the Model Railroad that is up in the attic of the Rectory of the chapel at the college. I then remembered that Rector was the same one that asked me to be the Cantor for the Easter Even Mass there for several years... Brought back some old memories.
Tastes in music.... I would add several other similar groups to the list mentioned... Anyone else out there like Mannheim Steamroller? Have a USB Stick out in the car right now that plays Fresh Aire V when I decide to hear some tunes while I'm driving... How about Manhattan Transfer? OK, probably getting to "Classy" for some of you folks..........
Drove over to Victor today to the Men's Wearhouse to get the final fit for another suit. This one is one I had taylor made for me and includes a vest. Looks great too.
[edit] Oh... I meant to post this---- Friend from the museum posted the latest news on the old "Portage Bridge" over the Letchworth Park Gorge. The bridge is now in two pieces and the first section has been removed. Check it out for yourself: https://www.instagram.com/p/BeLsUB5l9er/?taken-by=johnkucko
Have a great night out there!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Evening All!
On the subject of sports teams, mine are as follows: MLB is Atalnta Braves (since the Dale Murphy era), NFL is Denver Broncos, NBA is Denver Nuggets, NCAA Football is Nebraska Cornhuskers (I better be a Husker fan as a large part of my Dad's side of the family is from Nebraska.). I don't follow hockey much. As for NASCAR, the driver who I followed retired and I haven't really found another one to follow. (Point not withstanding, I work on both Saturdays and Sundays.)
I have had issues with the post office myself at points: Packages not delivered when they said they were and in one case, it made it to the post office but it got lost somewhere in the building. (It needed a signature to release it and I never got a card for it.)
Got the pictures of the locomotive. (It is a GMD GP9.) This shot, which was my first shot, is the one that I used for the poster.
It was a complete "hope" shot. The engine was coming to park for lunch and I just aimed the camera in the general direction and shot. This particular image is cropped as the original shot had a lot of "dead" space on the bottom. I also rotated it a little as it was very slightly crooked. It looks pretty good for being a nearly 61 year old engine. It was built in Canada in March of 1957. I also got some other shots of the nose of the unit as well. I am in the process of getting them posted to some of the photo sites on the Internet.
Unfortunately, the video I wanted didn't happen. I was misinformed on the transfer table. It is only a 60 ton and the engine is 200 ton.
Hobby Front: The plan for tomorrow is to get the car shop yard laid and part of the main yard installed. (A turnout on the railroad east turntable lead to form the yard switch lead.) Depending on time, I might even get the machines installed for the 3 way turnout.
howmusOh... I meant to post this---- Friend from the museum posted the latest news on the old "Portage Bridge" over the Letchworth Park Gorge.
I'm disappointed to see another beautiful railroad bridge gone from the landscape. I was at Letchworth about fifteen years ago and have been meaning to get back there soon.
Sure would have been neat to see the 765 roll over the bridge back in August of 2015!
I couldn't believe it when I heard the news about the Kinzua bridge being "blown over"!
Kinzua-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
These monolith concrete spans today have no character. Might as well be a super-highway bridge
Regards, Ed
Good evening all.
Zoe - A RBF please. Thanks.
USPS - In my experience, it really depends on who is working the mail room, and which delivery person you get. Some are great and very detail oriented, others, not so much.
It's the "not so much" ones that create most of the issues....
Like leaving a box marked "Fragile" with a "This end up" and arrow on it upside-down in the pouring down rain on my front steps...Right in front of the porch door, which opens outwards....With a sign in said porch door window that says "Please come inside porch and ring doorbell."...And another right next to it that says "Please bring packages inside porch.".....
Needless to say, I like one delivery driver over the other... Once you get a good one, you want to keep them!
Weather - Warm today! Once the front comes through, we are supposed to cool back down and get some more flying white stuff.
W*^k - Issues there, meeting about it tomorrow between myself, the store manager, and possibly the owner, in the morning. If the issue isn't resolved, from said meeting, we will be having one less employee, and it will not be me leaving... But I will not go into details yet. (It involves possible deliberate deception by another employee, so it may not go over very well.) We will be "comparing notes" before anything gets decided.
Nothing to report on trains, so will skip that.
Hope all are well, and all enjoy the rest of the day!
EDIT: Ed - (GMPullman) Kinzua Bridge... She was a beauty. I was on her, and under her, before that twister hit hit. I have been back since then, and, while what's left is still impressive, it is not anywhere near the same.
Never made it to see the original Portage bridge though. Kicking myself for not going a couple years ago as I had planned, but a issue popped up, so I changed those plans.
I do still think it is odd that they left the debris on the valley floor in Kinzua, even though I understand why.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
ricktrains4824 Kinzua Bridge... She was a beauty.
That deserves one more photo... from better days!
RR_views_0021 by Edmund, on Flickr
Later — Ed
I hope KCS doesn't ever decide my favorite bridge needs replacing...
I'm speaking of the Old Vicksburg Bridge...
Here she is in a post card prior to the construction of the rather unsightly span next to her...
I actually have a copy of this postcard...
What they did with the NO HPL bridge I think is also unsightly...
About four/five years back they built a new bridge over the Mighty Mississippi between St Francisville and New Roads to replace the ferry... it's one of those new fangled suspension bridges, its got two concrete towers and yellow wires!!! UGLY!
Nothing beats the elegance of the laced girders and such on an old fashioned bridge or trestle...
We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special news bulletin: CSX considering sale of 8000 miles of track... more details later... it is now 12:12 Bolonia Watch Time... now we will pause for station identification: this is N-U-T-S... now back to your regularly scheduled programming...
NWP SWPCSX considering sale of 8000 miles of track...
Brass or Nickel Silver, I wonder
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/01/22-csx-reviewing-8000-miles-of-rail-lines-for-potential-sale
Ed
One could build a pretty extensive empire with all that...
Well you'd need a shopping mall to but it in... I know of one, the Cortana mall on Airline highway in Baton Rouge...
Anyone with a fat wallet out there???
Ed, I just checked the tracking number, it has made it to the Baton Rouge Processing Center hopefully it'll make it tomorrow...
I found some cool stuff online today...
First is a cab forward 2-8-4 on eBay...
Second is a CN boxcab diesel...
BTW, reason I'm posting so late is the Joint Chiefs (aka my parents) have decided to no longer give me melatonin sleep aid to combat my insomnia! well I'm going to try for some ZZZs now...
NWP SWPEd, I just checked the tracking number, it has made it to the Baton Rouge Processing Center hopefully it'll make it tomorrow...
Yeah, I was just checking on that. Almost there!
They probably X-rayed the box and saw wires and motors and such and thought it was a time-bomb
Hope they didn't use the box as a wheel chock! Or Superbowl practice...
I occasionally use Melatonin myself. Don't know if it really works or not but... my brain thinks it does! I've w**ked graveyard shift most of my career so sleeping — or NOT — is no big deal for me.
That's why I have model projects to work on
Busy day so early 5 am start. Woodstove fired up (see below) and fresh coffee poured. Starting at -4C with snow but this will change over to frozen rain and later +7C and rain.
Music: Lots to rehearse today including my acoustic guitar solo arrangements of My Life (Joel), Honey Pie (Beatles), Rainy Night in Georgia (Benton version), You Are Always on My Mind (Nelson version).
Trains: Replacing all the couplers on my 12 new Rapido covered hoppers with #142s and need to order #555 metal trucks for the same hoppers.
Display Cases: Working on two stained glass-wood base train cases for me and several similar cases for minerals for a spring crafters show.
Dogs: Looking after my husky and beagle, as well as my daughter's border collie as I do every weekday. Sometimes it's hard to get any work done with the three of them going in and out of the backyard all afternoon. Rain might keep them in longer though.
Wife's 60th birthday in two weeks - got some planning to do for that. Daughter #2's birthday in two weeks as well - her gift is easy $$.
NWP SWPThe USPS is pretty inept in my experience
.
The postal service has a very good track record when it come to my service. I rarely have any issues, and the service is always on time.
It can't be pure lulck.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Good morning,
all of our snow is gone. it was there Friday and was gone by Sat morning.
We went to Nashville last night to hear a folk singer my wife likes. She was good and so was the guy who played after her. Her name is Airana Gillis and his was Rod Picott. Drove the wife's car and I think I have another front wheel bearing going out. ( I can change those like nascar changes tires).
I could heat the CSX clicking along in downtown Nasville last night when we keft the venue. Well back to work......on call this week....
Mornin'.....
Yep, I'm up and already had breakfast before noon! Need to give the kitty cats their medicines or I might just have stayed in bed until mid afternoon... Actually I couldn't have done that as water is now poouring into the basement here as the sn*w is melting very rapidly in the ra!n that is falling.....
OldSchoolScratchbuilderMusic: Lots to rehearse today including my acoustic guitar solo arrangements of My Life (Joel), Honey Pie (Beatles), Rainy Night in Georgia (Benton version), You Are Always on My Mind (Nelson version).
Ah... OldSchool, how come you aren't doing my favorite song I used to sing on rainy days with second graders. "Rainy Day in Utica, NY" from the Dr. Seuss songbook?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8PJPdam8P4
Best get myself moving! Time to check the siphon in the pool behind the outside stairway down cellar again. Lots of water running accross the floor and out the drain in the trainroom over to the sump when I checked it when I got up.
Will be back over to Hobart and William Smith Colleges tonight for the MLK Keynote Address by the president of the colleges. He is an excellent, knowledgable speaker so I am looking forward to being out amongst the folks again tonight.
Catch you all later! Stay warm and dry...
ricktrains4824USPS - In my experience, it really depends on who is working the mail room, and which delivery person you get. Some are great and very detail oriented, others, not so much. It's the "not so much" ones that create most of the issues.... Like leaving a box marked "Fragile" with a "This end up" and arrow on it upside-down in the pouring down rain on my front steps...Right in front of the porch door, which opens outwards....With a sign in said porch door window that says "Please come inside porch and ring doorbell."...And another right next to it that says "Please bring packages inside porch."
We have a PO box and a Street Address, all mail is delivered by the popst office to the street address. The postal person enters our east doorways walks up a shor flight of steps and leaves the distribution box on one of our four wheel walkers.
UPS and FEDex ditto except they just leave their packages on the ledge or on the floor.
They love delivering her because we got such nice clean public restrooms just around the corner from the East Door.
We had a different UPS driver the other day, instead of coming to our east door he went right into the church and set them on the steps by the altar even while we were performing noon prayer.
A sign saying "Receiving and Shipping" by the east driveway would be so easy, but I'd not be able to get anyone to go with that idea.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
howmus Ah... OldSchool, how come you aren't doing my favorite song I used to sing on rainy days with second graders. "Rainy Day in Utica, NY" from the Dr. Seuss songbook?
lol. Could also be a coffee song drip drip - double double is how I order my coffee at Tim Hortons. Wonder if the band would back me up if I did this on Thursday - maybe if I rock it out a bit!
Good morning ...
Coffee and a donut, please.
I keep getting interupted, but I am slowly making some trees for my scene.
MLC .... Bad news from Benton KY this morning. .... (Benton is half way between here and Paducah. )
Have a nice day everybody.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Alright, I got it. Rainy Day in Seneca um er Utica. Rock style. I'll recorded it on my 75 Fender Twin Reverb when the dogs wake up from their naps.
Yeah Garry, we were put on standby for that issue. Press conf at noon on it.
Afternoon Diners,
SeeYou190 NWP SWP The USPS is pretty inept in my experience . The postal service has a very good track record when it come to my service. I rarely have any issues, and the service is always on time. . It can't be pure lulck. . -Kevin .
NWP SWP The USPS is pretty inept in my experience
I lost several MR magazines, amazon and ebay packages, and catalogs.
Yes I'm back. My vacation was nice away from the internet traveling cross the desert landscape.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
angelob6660My vacation was nice away from the internet traveling cross the desert landscape.
So Angelo, were you riding a horse with no name??? Was it good to be out of the rain?