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Welcome to Jeffrey's Trackside Diner for January 2020: New York, N.Y. Locked

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Posted by gmpullman on Saturday, January 25, 2020 5:50 AM

herrinchoker
Anyway---brought back memories, thanks.

Glad you enjoyed it, herrinchoker! Smile

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by herrinchoker on Friday, January 24, 2020 10:15 PM

Ed,

Enjoyed the film. The background music was what I grew up with. I could also identify the cars that were on the road, not the generic body shape of today. The Queen Mary, and the SS Normandy had interesting history during WWII. 

In looking at the movie bilboards, I caught myself thinking"jeeze, I remember that one" my,my, how time passes. While the mind stays young, the body says " You've got to be kidding---!"

Seeing the DC2s/3s, at the air field was interesting. One of my uncles was the airfield manager for American at that time in New York, Dad was in charge of O&R for PAA in Brownsville same time frame.

Anyway---brought back memories, thanks.

herrinchoker

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Friday, January 24, 2020 8:32 PM

Boy am I glad to be back at home after four days in Atlanta, and literally, freezing cold.

.

I really don’t know how all you Northern types deal with this. Cold hurts.

.

Back here at home it is 74 degrees outside. I went to the grocery store and everyone is dressed like normal in shorts, short sleeved shirts, and sandals. Not a jacket to be seen.

.

I went out on the back porch and enjoyed a sandwich and a beer and listened to the neighbor kids playing in their pool. Life is good.

.

Stay warm my friends. I hope all is well and peaceful wherever you are.

.

-Kevin

.

Living the dream.

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Posted by mbinsewi on Friday, January 24, 2020 8:12 PM

Come on PBS, your supposed to be showing the Ken Burns Country Music series, but NOOOOOOOO we're still stuck on the impeachment crap.  Angry

Rant over.  Smile, Wink & Grin

Wife is recovering from emergency detached retina surgery, and I'm trying to get over a knee injury.

We are quite the couple right now. 

Carry on!

Mike.

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Posted by cudaken on Friday, January 24, 2020 5:48 PM

 Eveing Diners

 Flo, give the gang and I a Beer please and Dirk Half a Dof Treat.

 Weather Front While it was not a plasant day it was not that cold. So Dirk and I finally got go on a probler walk just a tad over a quarter mile.

 Sometimes I hate Trains! Bang Head

 I was all ready to box up the PRR I1sa to send it back too BLI again. For the heck of it I gave it's last run before warranty repairs. I will be dang, it is making chuffing sounds again? Just a little madding, guess it needed a little rest!

 Decide to pull the trigger on PRR Shark Nose at BLI Refurbish Store. Tried to oder it but the site said insufficent quaity? Hum, that seemed strange. What can you say, it is BLI after all.

 Later Ken and Dirk say's Woof, Woof.

I hate Rust

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Posted by BigDaddy on Friday, January 24, 2020 5:43 PM

My neighbor had to have all the insulation removed and replaced from her attic because of mice discovered when she was selling.  The guy who owned the exterminating company was in her church and she said he gave her a deal, but it still cost a few thousand.

We see fox on a daily basis.  Toby stands watch at the window looking for them.  They haven't made a dent in the squirrel population.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by moelarrycurly4 on Friday, January 24, 2020 5:04 PM

Have not seen the trash pandas in a while. Lots of run over possums on the road this time of year. Lots of squirrels. I had to dispatch mr mouse I found evidence of in the basement a while back. Victor spring trap and raw bacon, gone in one day. 

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Posted by GMTRacing on Friday, January 24, 2020 4:14 PM

Actually Bald Eagles in addition to being predators are also known for scavenging and stealing food from lesser birds ( no pithy comment here so we don't incur the wrath of Steven). Mostly the ones here have a big nesting area near Stevenson Dam where all the dead fish fetch up. They are still awesome to watch. 

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Posted by hon30critter on Friday, January 24, 2020 3:09 PM

Speaking of wildlife, Dianne and I were out looking for snowy owls this afternoon and we came across a pair of mature bald eagles. We managed to get the scope lined up on them so we had a good view of them preening themselves.

Bald eagles are rare enough here in the summer time but what they are doing here in January is anybodys guess. There is very little water still open and that will all likely be frozen solid by mid February. They must be surviving on squirrels and mice. It also seems early for them to be pairing up, but I'm not an expert on their mating habits.

We have also seen a fox and a coyote in the last couple of days. There are lots of them around but actually seeing one out in the open is rare.

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

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Posted by gmpullman on Friday, January 24, 2020 2:57 PM

FWIW:

 

The '39 New York World's Fair — in color!

 

Further interesting photos and factoids here:

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/1939-new-york-world-fair/

Enjoy,

 

Ed

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Posted by howmus on Friday, January 24, 2020 1:04 PM

Afternoon Folks!

Got my 5.5 miles running in this morning at the Fieldhouse.  I think I am starting to run faster as I am feeling some muscles more than I used to.....

Animals in the neighborhood???  I took out my trash dumpster and Recycling dumpster this morning and there were deer tracks in my lawn....  Of course lots of squirrels come to visit the feeders, I leave them a tray of Sunflower seeds every couple of days.

Nice day here in the Finger Lakes Region today.  Tomorrow I will be near Rochester to see a certain Lady for Dinner and tomorrow will be rainy and nasty!  Normal, I guess.

Trying to get everything nailed down for the new car...  Will get there.

73

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by BroadwayLion on Friday, January 24, 2020 10:46 AM

 

ROARING

The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.

Here there be cats.                                LIONS with CAMERAS

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Friday, January 24, 2020 10:24 AM

In my old home back in Massachusetts, I found the best mouse solution was the old mechanical Victor mousetrap, baited with peanut butter.  The exterminator loved those poison traps, but the mice would die between the walls and stink for weeks, but without ripping out walls I couldn't get them.

The ex tried to garden, so we had a Have a Heart live trap for those groundhogs.  Turns out it was illegal to "transport a wild animal", so I drove it a few miles in the trunk of my car.  That we baited with apples.

We haven't seen one, but our community is actively trapping muskrats.  We've got deer and rabbits, too.  Forget about gardening.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by GMTRacing on Friday, January 24, 2020 9:54 AM

So long as they don't all show up at once it's fine. Wink

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Posted by Tinplate Toddler on Friday, January 24, 2020 9:03 AM

York1
It makes her day to see a rabbit or raccoon.

No coons here, but on quiet days you may observe deer, plenty of rabbits, foxes and even the occasional wolf

Happy times!

Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)

"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"

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Posted by York1 on Friday, January 24, 2020 8:51 AM

Good morning.

We're excited here on the Great Plains.  The prediction is for no snow or ice for at least three days.  The TV people have warned us that tomorrow, we may even see the Sun for the first time in 7 years.

Nice roundhouse, Brent.  Lots of time spent on that.

JR, with all those animals, my wife would love to live there.  It makes her day to see a rabbit or raccoon.

Have a good day, everyone.  I have to go find my sunglasses.

York1 John       

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Posted by GMTRacing on Friday, January 24, 2020 6:43 AM

Good Morning All,

   Definitely winter though it's up to 21F this morning over double the last few mornings. The snow on roofs and in the plowed piles melts during the day and then refreezes which makes for treacherous walking on the way out at night. Yeah and we all have the sniffles. Hope you feel better soon Ken.

   Brent - love the RH and TT. Is that one of the CMR ones? I haven't gotten my Walthers 90ft to work properly yet and will likely tear it out and redo the bridge electrics using a slip ring to transfer power. The original stuff was hokey enough that I never really had confidence in it. We used a really nice English made TT at the museum though all it has to do is rotate.

   We've been lucky with the house and except for an albino skunk that took a liking to the crawl space under the shed a few years ago it seems pretty critter free. The shop and storage - not so much. We have mice in both places and need to be careful about the storage cars as they seem to love making nests in the upholstery. The shop backs onto a large field where we have everything. Raccoons, mice, chipmunks, rabbits, red fox, deer, coyotes and the occasional long sneaky slim thing that looks like a weasel. No black bears yet and only rumors of bobcats. The sky therefore is full of hawks along with the regular birds and a rare sighting of a bald eagle on occasion though they tend to stay over the waters of the Housatonic a few miles away. We have to be careful before we let Rattie into the field as she is still only 8 pounds or so and would make a morsel for a large raptor.

Still working to reinvent the steering rack so I best get back to that. It's very hard to get right hand drive rack parts so we are custom customizing as one of my ex employees used to be fond of saying.     Ciao, J.R.

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Posted by joe323 on Friday, January 24, 2020 6:18 AM

I live in a wildlife refuge It seems  Turkey and deer roam free. Squirrels ate the wires in my car (Thank God for insurance).  So I understan the frustration of dealing with them.

Joe Staten Island West 

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Posted by Tinplate Toddler on Friday, January 24, 2020 12:42 AM

Dave - those critters are protected here, so you can´t kill them. You have to trap them and remove them. My MIL had one which kept on coming back, so she drove it to a place 30 miles away.

 

Happy times!

Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)

"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
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Posted by hon30critter on Thursday, January 23, 2020 11:49 PM

Tinplate Toddler
we had a little visitor in our attic this morning! The littel fellow woke me up in the wee hours of the day.

I love wildlife, just not in my attic. Friends of ours who have an apartment in France had the same sort of visitor a couple of years ago. It was bad enough that it made a nasty mess in the attic, but was much worse trying to convince the little beast that the ownership of the premises was not in his name! Getting him (it) out humanely proved to be quite a challenge!

We have had mice in our attic since we moved in in 1988. I have to confess that I have not used humane methods to get them out, or at least reduce their numbers. After years of paying exterminators to kill the beasts by throwing poison into the attic I discovered that the mice have one preferred route in and out of the attic on an exterior wall. It happens to go right by a window sill so I have taken to putting a poison bait trap on the sill right next to their route. The trap is too small to allow our beloved chipmunks to get at the bait, but the mice have no problem. The bait cubes last about two weeks so we know we are getting to them, and I am saving about $180.00 per year in extermination expenses.

We saw evidence of the mess that the mice have left in the attic when we renovated the kitchen and the bathroom a few years ago. I hate to think about what is up there!Ick!

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
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Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, January 23, 2020 7:27 PM

Ketchup

We are in the diner.  It was orginally a name of East Indies fish sauce.  The Brits took the name for the sauce and created their own version with beer and anchovies, walnuts, mushrooms. 

Either Columbus or Cortez brought tomatos to Europe but in the 1600's tomtoes were considered poisonous in Britain, but eaten in the Mediterranean countries.  In the early 1800's tomato catsup recipes started to appear.  It took Henry Heinz to produce a popular commercial ketchup.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by cudaken on Thursday, January 23, 2020 6:14 PM

 Eveing Diners

 Flo, give the gang and I a Beer and Dirk half a dog treat.

 Not feeling worth a dang today. Little sick to my stomach and not sure why?

 Have not walked Dirk his full walk for 3 days now due to weather.

 Later Ken not feeling well again and Dirk say's Woof, Woof.

I hate Rust

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Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, January 23, 2020 4:12 PM

There is a box sitting in my train room, I looked inside and found some old train photos.  Not sure where I took this one, probably Baltimore, but it doesn't look familiar.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by gmpullman on Thursday, January 23, 2020 2:33 PM

Some nice scenes around Manhattan, and a sailing of the Queen Mary as a bonus.

Circa 1936-37:

Just a brief glimpse of a NYC milk and express train at 11:00

Regards, Ed

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Posted by BATMAN on Thursday, January 23, 2020 12:59 PM

Good morning from a soggy West Coast where it is 12c

Ray, that Tesla is pretty cool. We will likely get an electric in the next couple of years. We will give our current car to the kid and maybe get an E-vehicle that will serve around town. We will keep the truck for the backcountry as we tend to spend enough time there to warrant it. There are and have been charging stands everywhere here for a long time and I would not have a problem owning an electric at all. 

Cordless charging may not be far off where a pad sits on the floor of your garage and when you drive in, it recharges the car the same way your electric toothbrush recharges now. Eventually, those pads will be put in parking stalls and along roadways. 

Well, it was finally move-in day at the roundhouse. My heart sank to the floor when at the big moment the TT was dead. It has been out of the box for a couple of years and I have not cleaned the contacts so once that was done we were good to go. After my recent Royal Hudson mishap, I was ready for the worse, it was just poor maintenance on my part though and the day was saved.

The RH manager has not had time to hire a kid to sweep the loose ballast out of the RH after construction had finished and the furniture has not been delivered yet.

 

A fine bottle of red had the cork removed to celebrate instead of a ribbon-cutting.

We are going to Vegas on Sunday for a few days, I am not very excited as I have been there and done that a few times before, but it was a gift and so there we are. At least the temps are going to be in the 20s with sunny weather. The wife likes Vegas more than I do and that is the important thing for me.

Today I will tidy up the train room office and start on this Canadian Pacific engine service set that has been on the shelf for a few years.

I like a clean area when I start on a new project, so I will put all my tools away just so I can get them out again.Laugh Actually the desk is covered in electrical stuff, it needs to be traded back to glue and knives.Cowboy

Best get goin.

All the best to all.

Image may contain: one or more people and outdoor

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, January 23, 2020 12:58 PM

Tinplate Toddler
That´s the wrong comparison - take a modern 4 cyl. turbo-charged direct injection Diesel engine and add the gearbox parts to the figure.

.

Your number is still exponentially high. I doubt even TOTAL part would exceed 1,000, much less moving parts.

.

All modern diesels are high pressure common rail injection with electronic governors. Eleminating the mechanical governor removes about 50 moving parts in one swoop. Electonic injectors only two or three moving parts each. Nothing like old mechanical injectors.

.

Same with transmissions. Electronics have replaced all the old valve bodies and reduced moving parts.

.

Your number that an electric vehicle consumes only 20% of the energy of an internal combustion vehicle is also very incorrect.

.

GMTRacing
Now if we could only make cleaner electricity we'd be really getting somewhere

.

The good news is that we are getting there. Currently in the USA only somewhere around 25% of our electricity comes from coal. Every year more if the grid is powered by wind and solar. Many old oil and coal plants have been converted to natural gas (methane), which cuts carbon dioxide by a huge amount. The big dams built almost 100 years ago are still producing like champions.

.

If we could charge out electric cars with solar cells (which is currently possible), that would be amazing.

.

-Kevin

.

Living the dream.

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Posted by howmus on Thursday, January 23, 2020 12:20 PM

Me again....

Tinplate Toddler
I think we will have to develop a different understand of mobility. Cars will play a lesser role in long distance travelling in the future, and that will open up new opportunities for railroads.

I can only hope!

 J.R., depending on where you live, electricity may be already quite green.  According to an article written a few years back by my son (when he was the director of Communication, Public Affairs, and Education at Arrgonne National Labs) Upstate NY was at that time clean enough that for an ICE to be comparable to an Electric Vehicle in terms of polution it would have to get 191 MPG.  That figure has gone up since then.  All my electricity comes from Solar and Wind Power meaning what I don't produce here at home I put on the grid through an ESSCO that supplies wind power.  It is actually cheaper (if you know how to haggle) than regular grid power from the Power company.  Things are improving in most places here in the USA.  So how clean you electricity is really depends on where you live.  Aren't many of that which you showed left here in Upstate, NY.... Smile, Wink & Grin

73

Oooooh top of the page!  Drinks are on me!

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by Tinplate Toddler on Thursday, January 23, 2020 11:30 AM

J.R. - it´s the price we have to pay for the stupidity and greed of those incompetent managers running the car industry. For more than two decades, the writing was on the wall and instead of adopting the upcoming change, they decided to defend their soon to be obsolete technolgy. For over a century, we have been depending on imported energy, from countries that are, to say the least, not very friendly to us, our belief and our culture. That´s coming to an end - the sooner the better.

I think we will have to develop a different understand of mobility. Cars will play a lesser role in long distance travelling in the future, and that will open up new opportunities for railroads.

Happy times!

Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)

"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"

  • Member since
    January 2005
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Posted by GMTRacing on Thursday, January 23, 2020 11:02 AM

well Ulrich - that's hardly fair. Also doesn't matter except for the people machining engine parts for a living. Now if we could only make cleaner electricity we'd be really getting somewhere

J.R.

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    August 2007
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Posted by CNCharlie on Thursday, January 23, 2020 11:02 AM

Good Morning,

Interesting discussion on electric cars. 

I think it will be a while before their sales are very high in Canada. I did a little research on the effects of cold on range. Some tests were conducted here and I don't mean in the cold we get in Winnipeg, they were done is southern Ontario. On very cold days, such as -20C, the range loss could be as much as 40%. Apparently the issue is the need for energy to heat the interior and also the increased friction in cold. In Winnipeg we can get down to -30C often and sometimes -40 so I still think range will be a major factor holding down sales here. 

As far as installing a 240V charging station, that assumes you have the room on your electrical panel. I know I don't so I would have to get a new larger panel installed and that would cost a lot. 

Hybrids are more popular but I wouldn't say very much so as they cost a lot more. 

All the electricity in my province  is hydro generated. A new large generating station is under construction up north. A lot of the power generated will be sold to the U.S. 

Time for more coffee. 

CN Charlie

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