York1In spite of illness and masks and and toilet paper shortages, we are in a thousand times better situation than our parents or grandparents lived through.
Amen! Amen! and AMEN!!!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good morning. The same breakfast as every day.
I think it's time to clean parts of the layout. I noticed the building roofs and train cars have a layer of dust on them. I clean the track fairly often, but I have neglected the scenery.
Tomorrow will be the first time in six months we will go to church. We also will go to our favorite restaurant for the first time in months. Both will have people spread out, but it will be nice to get a small taste of normalcy.
While this time is unprecedented for us, I am reminded of my parents' youth.
My father and mother were both born before 1920. Their early life was difficult, but nothing prepared them for their teenage years in the depression. During our pandemic time, we are living mostly normal but isolated lives. My parents' lives were not normal, as they often had very little to eat, their parents had no money, and the future looked bleak.
Finally, my father joined the army. His enlistment was nearly up when December 7th hit. He spent another four years traveling from army camp to army camp in the U.S. and the UK before landing in France. He spent the next year in mud and snow and fighting.
Basically, my parents lived through 15 years of horrible times, with much of it looking forward to a dark future.
When this pandemic gets me upset at my situation, it does me good to think of what my parents and millions of others went through back then. In spite of illness and masks and and toilet paper shortages, we are in a thousand times better situation than our parents or grandparents lived through. Enough of my ramblings.
One of the national parks I've never visited is Theodore Roosevelt Nat. Park in North Dakota. Since my wife doesn't really like traveling anymore, I think I will try to get there by myself. It's a little over a day's drive, so it will probably take several days. I want to do some hiking there, and I'd like to see why Roosevelt picked that place to set up his ranch. He loved it there, and I'm glad the U.S. preserved it.
It seems like the diner and some the other forum sites have been a little quiet lately. Hopefully posters who have taken a break will rejoin us. This forum has been a special retreat for me during the lockdown.
My computer updated last week, and it will no longer save any passwords, on any browser. I finally decided to do what should have been done a long while ago -- I installed a password manager. Now I only need one password for the manager. It encrypts all other passwords and automatically connects me with the sites I use. It even makes its own passwords out of strings of characters with no patterns. It also syncs with any other device, so my days of password problems are hopefully over. I just hope I don't forget the one password I need. There is no way to get it back if I don't remember it.
My little town has five RR crossings in about 1½ miles. We finally made the crossings into a quiet zone. I think I am probably the only one here who misses the sounds of the train horns. Since the coal trains have decreased, we are getting only 25 or 30 trains each day. Ten years ago we were getting over 80 per day, all blowing the horns at all the crossings all hours of the day.
I've typed quite a bit today. I hope no one minds.
Have a good day, everyone.
York1 John
Eveing Diners
Flo, give the gang and I a please and Dirk half a dog treat.
My brake handle is dragging in the ash pit! Work in the back jungel today and it was and still a mess! I cut the rear yard about 2 weeks before I broke my rib 5-29-20. My Son In Law cut it onces about 3 weeks later. To say it was over growen is a understatment.
Later, Ken and Dirk say's Woof, Woof.
I hate Rust
Howdy everybody .
We have family members visiting us from Cincinnati this weekend. So, I won't be able to be here much until maybe Monday .
Have a nice weekend.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Dianne and I went to our local diner for brunch today. That was the first time we have been in a restaurant since February. The service is always great and so is the food, but their business is suffering. Their usual regular clientelle are mostly seniors who aren't coming out for obvious reasons. Their take out business is just barely holding its own. I hope they survive.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Steven OtteAnd for those of you who don't like Mexican food, there's Taco Bell.
Taco Bell! Yuck!!
Been (bean) there once in 66 years! I'm going to keep it that way!!
We went out to dinner last night, but again we were disappointed. This usually festive and happy brewpub was quiet and seemed empty, although they were at their government-ordered maximum occupancy. No happy hour, and the menu was quite limited. This has gone on far too long and many small and medium sized restaurants are struggling.
Our governor has ordered another month of this level of restrictions, a move that seems more driven by railroad timetables of the 1940s than by science or logic.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
York1I think we are officially off quarantine. Now what? I don't thing we're going anywhere, but at least the jail door is open.
I feel exactly the same way.
We are very happy that we went through post-travel quarantine and developed zero symptoms, but now what do we do?
We could go out, but I really don't want to.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Good morning. I'm heading out to cut the grass.
I think we are officially off quarantine. Now what? I don't think we're going anywhere, but at least the jail door is open.
Hope all of you with health issues get some relief, and those with storm damage get back to normal.
Good Morning All,
66F and rainy here but the temp is a nice break from the mid 80's we've had of late. I'll hav a regular and a blueberry bagel please Zoe. Driving in is still like a war zone with lots of power lines, cables and trees down all over. The roads are mostly clear though with only a few obstructions here and there. Still hundreds of thousands without power in the region.
Appraisal came back on the house lower than the CFO figured so we will need to reconsider somewhat how we do this. I think doing some of the tidy up stuff and cleaning more all around will help a bunch. We shall see.
Shop is busy getting ready for our two biggest weekends so I best get back to it. Ciao, J.R.
gm pullman wrote: "Is that the throttle on an off-set, raised handle or the independant brake handle?"
Yup. That's actually an independent brake handle from a "26" brake valve (the standard handle for the "24" independent was small and straight, like in another pic above). I used to carry one of those z-shaped handles around in my bag (in freight), because they were "a closer reach".
I didn't know they would also fit into a 24 independent valve. I'd never seen one used like that before. Like I said, it seemed immediately out-of-place to me!
More Mexico, but not Mexican trains...
I'm standing on the balcony of the vacation house in Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico.
The Gulf of California is right behind my wife taking this picture. You walked out the front door of the house to the ocean about 100 feet from the front door.
Howdy .
JR .... Thanks very much for your comment about my recent eye surgery.
Steve O ..... Thank you for this morning's Mexican scrumptious goodies. I have had similar at an authentic Mexican restaurant here in KY.
Dave ... Thanks for sharing the videos.
Kevin .... Nice photos of WV scenery .
MLC ... What a mess of wires !
Everybody .... Have a good evening.
Some pictures from my recent drive through West Virginia.
No some picture I found on the net one time. If ours looked like that we all would not be working.
MLCC - I truely hope that is not your work place. It makes Fibber McGee look like a neat freak.
Need to fix the network closet.
cudakenHigh Lite of the day? Two young lady's / Girls came in. One was wearing a bikini and the other one a tube top! Most shocking was the one in the bikini spent $845.00 for a futon. I was just happy they came in, I am old but not dead yet!
Did they ask for a demonstration?
Lunch today is a can of Sardines provided by Santa Fe Track worker.
I used to eat sardines but just don't have the gumption to do so now.
Where are the eggs, bacon, and sausage? I want a real breakfast!
Touche Steven but the only Latin breakfast I've been familiar with is the Cuban type which is probably not anywhere near Mexican brekkie food (though still delicious).
Something tells me you'd never catch an actual Mexican eating a breakfast burrito. For a more traditional Mexican breakfast, the Diner is this morning offering pan dulce y cafe.
And for those of you who don't like Mexican food, there's Taco Bell.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Good morning. I need black coffee.
Glad that power outages are the only problems most of you had on the coast.
Rob, it's good you're able to recognize a problem before you do too much. I hope you continue to do well.
Ken, in high school, a Road Runner was another of those dream cars that none of us could get. We knew everything about those cars without ever having seen a real one.
My big news!!!! This is day 14 of quarantine. We are just about to be deemed safe by the local health department. Tomorrow, my wife wants to go out to eat. I'm actually kind of surprised we didn't get it. Like I posted earlier, we spent several days without masks in the same car and the same house with a person who had the virus.
I'll have a regular and a breakfast burrito please Zoe. What was a brisk breeze for others was a little more here. We lost power at the shop 2:30 Tuesday afternoon and just got it back at 7:30 last night. Lots of trees down and power outages in the area and in the region I saw 3million were without power. Many roads were blocked as well and the tree companies are out in force. Funny how people don't cut the trucks off on the highway when they are needed. The solar array on the roof looked ok but I need to go up and physically check it and the RTU's. Storage building has two sheds out back and the corrugated roofing is peeled back on both so there is some more repair work to do there.
We lost power at home but only for about 3 hours as we are on the same part of the local grid as the emergency center in the park next door. Internet is still down at the house as well though promised for last evening. Locally no major injuries reported though one elderly woman had a close call when a huge tree flattened the house she was in except for the area she was in.
Back to the shop inspection.
Garry - glad your good luck continues with the eye operations and I hope the recovery goes well too.
Ken - hope the Road Runner project goes well. Where will you store it once you retrieve it?
Ciao, J.R.
Riding a train in Mexico:
The only passenger train left in Mexico:
moelarrycurly4E8 not Alco
Ya had me fooled there for a minute, MLC. I was thinking it was more like an Alco control stand. My mistake. I'm used to seeing the "drum" type control stand like this PRR E7 has:
https://rrmuseumpa.org/QR/e7cab/
OldEnginemanSomething "out-of-place". You would not normally expect to see it where it is. I noticed it immediately, as it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Is that the throttle on an off-set, raised handle or the independant brake handle?
Here's another view:
2006 photos 713 by Edmund, on Flickr
Here's another quizzical quiz. Is this mirror placed so the fireman can see the speed recorder?
F_cab by Edmund, on Flickr
Hey! Who's trying to steal my windshield wiper!!!
Lots of "customized ergonomic adaptions" such as using a box wrench to extend the whistle handle on this SDP40F!
Amtrak_SDP40f 563 by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
Eveing Diners!
Flo, give the dinners Taco's on my tab, the gang and I will have a and Dirk a Dog Taco Treat.
Lot on my mind tonight. Maybe be going down the Mopar Rabbit Hole again.
Work Front For a hour and half I was busy! Then nothing? Futons are in fashion again for some reason? All 3 of my customers where shopping for futons and bought and spent $2095.00. One lady spent $1035.00 on a futon?
High Lite of the day? Two young lady's / Girls came in. One was wearing a bikini and the other one a tube top! Most shocking was the one in the bikini spent $845.00 for a futon. I was just happy they came in, I am old but not dead yet!
Today was my 7 year anniversay with this company? Time flies when you get old.
Later, Ken and Dirk says Beep, Beep, Woof, Woof.
Looking at the EMD cab interior pic that gm pullman posted above...
There's something that "just isn't quite right".
Something "out-of-place". You would not normally expect to see it where it is. I noticed it immediately, as it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Can you find it? (hint: it's close to the center of the pic)
Enchilada supreme dinner with rice and beans, please.
Got most of the old train table deconstructed. Pushed as best I can but had to stop and call it a day when I started having an aura. At least some good progress was made. Tomorrow is another day.
Healing thoughts for those in need. Take it easy! Rob