Ed,
Job well done, enjoyed all that you have done the last two months--it represents much work on your part---
Jan
Thank you to everyone who sent a note of appreciation for my hosting of the Diner these past two months! It was a fun and educational experience for me, too. I especially appreciate your recognition, Bear!
CN_Newfoundland by Edmund, on Flickr
Newfundland_CN by Edmund, on Flickr
Let's while away the last few hours at the Newfoundland Railway Costal Museum, shall we?
https://railwaycoastalmuse6.wixsite.com/railwaycoastalmuseum/about
Six Turning, Four Burning by 95wombat, on Flickr
https://www.hiddennewfoundland.ca/burgoynes-cove-b36-crash
And now we march on to March!
Cheers, Ed
Hello Railfans!
Top of the day to you! This is about the 5th day weve had over 60F. And most of them uncloudy. Youd think it was spring around here.
Here we are at the end of February though. 2 months into this year (a big Eeyore whoopie!) already. Speaking of.....
Id like to drop a big thank you on Ed for the last two months of fine presentations/hosting. Job well done buddy! Lotsa lotsa good stuff in there. And in the spirit of such fine Railfanism, i am hereby tearing up all these poker I.O.Us from our late night parlor car get togethers while on the trip. Hats off to ED!
Closer to home, I had company this weekend which have departed to return back to the doldrums of being Married with Children. This weekends theme? Assemble and test another.... wait for it..... 3d printer! Ofcourse we accomplished our mission. I knew it was a success when he said on the way out... 'you can use it if you want'. I wonder if he knew then he'd already lost it?
As become a lil custom on my buddys visits, we usually construct ourselves one grand meal over the visit. This trip was steak n cheesy subs, avec un' au jous et les pommes frites! Ahhhh magnifique! The peppers n onions ever so crisp. The bread only kissed by golden crunchiness. The salt glistening on the fries as they awaited each their turn to be plunged into a splurge of ketchup. Not a fork in sight!
And in keeping with the fine fasion like Kevin speaks of, my friends daughter while under 18, hasnt married yet, nor embarked on a rewarding career, so how does she put a twinkle in daddys eye? Sends him along with a pan of brownies to accentuate our Kingly feast. Gotta love daughters, aye!
I cant post the pics of the cleaned up plates but i know some of you grub hounds would like to hear about it. After all, this is a Diner, aint it?
Now, for a fine stogie, relaxing recline in the living room barko-lounger, and the latest copy of Classic trains. Have a great evening all!
A#1 North!
Douglas
Herrinchoker, your health news sounded terrible. I hope everything heals well and you can enjoy doing some things without pain. Is there any hope your vision will clear, or is that permanent?
Kevin, you can be very proud of your daughters. You did well in raising them!
We are back home from seeing grandchildren and inlaws. There was a lot of Interstate traffic.
York1 John
I just had a long phone conversation with my oldest daughter in Illinois.
Background: A couple of years ago, we came into a lot of money. Literally more than we needed for our modest lifestyle. My wife and I decided to do everything we could to help the girls rather than buy extravagant things for ourselves.
We paid off my oldest daughters house, paid off all the middle daughters student loans, and paid off all the debt of our youngest and paid for her move to Los Angeles so she could chase her dreams.
We did not know that our oldest daughter and her husband were in the process of seling their roofing company in Orlando to another company out of Tampa that wanted to expand into the Orlando area.
When the company sold, my oldest daughter was instantly wealthy. She and her husband moved to Illinois to start another company restoring old houses and investing in rental property.
On the phone, my oldest daughter told me that she wanted to pay her mother and I back for paying off her house, but she knew we would never except the money from her (true). Instead, she decided to give each of her little sisters $100,000.00 in January.
My middle daughter is using the money as additional funding for her new house so she can afford her real dream home. This is the money my youngest daughter is using for her car purchase.
So my oldest kid told me not to worry if baby-baby buys a Ferrari or whatever. It is none of my concern and she can buy whatever she wants.
I have tears in my eyes right now. I can't believe she was so generous with her sisters and really wants to make them happy. I know she was not ever going to tell me, but she did not want me to be ticked at her baby sister.
I feel stupid now. This is a great day.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
gmpullman (sorry Kevin, a bit chilly here).
I want to thank everyone that has loaned me their coats and tried to help me keep warm on this trip.
Please join me for a cup.
Good morning, everybody.
Henry, CN Charlie, David, Bear, and Kevin: ..... Thank you also for comments on my news.
Herinchoker..... Sorry to here about your injuries from falling, and wishing you a full recovery.
Everybody .... Be back later.
CHeers.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Good morning, diners. I'll just have coffee today -- I'll get donuts later.
Ed, thanks for being the best host for two months. You can sit back with your feet up in the diner for a while.
We're headed out of town to visit some in-laws. It's a short trip, but it will feel good to get out.
This isn't a railroad bridge, but I love it anyway. That's me on the bridge headed to our cabin in South Dakota. Neat place.
Thanks, Ed. Two great months. Your hard work in putting it all together is much appreciated.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
We sure covered a lot of territory this go 'round. And here we are touching the shores of the North Atlantic (sorry Kevin, a bit chilly here).
The Last Ride: Passenger —
(See our Diner at 1:50!)
The Last Ride: Freight —
Good morning all. A sunny day here in the UK.
Garry and Herrinchoker. Take care. Our thoughts to you both.
Kevin. Your children looking at Ferraris. Nothing wrong wth that at all. 'Dream BIG,' I told my children and now my grandchildren.
Looking after Dawn 24/7 was a difficult day yesterday. Today should be a lot easier.
Our youngest grandchild spent the day in hospital yesterday. Apparently she had cut the inside of her mouth. She is home now and all is well.
It is coffee time. Just a regular. There are no cakes, so some baking to do later.
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.
hon30critter So many people are losing their livelyhoods that I feel guilty about being retired and being set for life.
I know what you mean. I have nothing to be concerned about short of a complete catastrophe. So many people I used to work with are really struggling.
SeeYou190In the past 12 months, I have only fueled up the Impala three times,
Hi Kevin,
I'm guessing that a whole lot of people are in the same situation. The last time we filled the van was two months ago and it is still mostly full. My wallet is happy but I am not. So many people are losing their livelyhoods that I feel guilty about being retired and being set for life. Hopefully there won't be too many more waves of the pandemic so we can eventually get back to normal.
Cheers!! (we have to keep our chins up!).
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Ed: Those CN RDC cars are beautiful. That is a great picture.
I have been going through the ledger looking at the money spent my first year of not working.
In the past 12 months, I have only fueled up the Impala three times, and the truck once! Amazing. The truck still has more than 1/2 a tank.
I know the lock-down has also effected the amount of gasoline I buy, but this was a surprise.
Spending on eating out is nearly zero. I used to eat out almost every night.
We are in budget as a whole, but what I predicted we would spend in every category was way off.
I haven't spent a nickel on hair cuts or new clothes.
The World Is A Beautiful Place.
Hello gang!!
Have we made a decision on where to place the Diner in March? I had suggested doing a tour of the major dining car manufacturers' locations. So far we have had a few people comment positively and no objections that I know of.
We also need to choose a host. I am willing to take that on. Ed has done a fantastic job of hosting the Diner for the past two months so he deserves a break. I doubt that my hosting skills will be anywhere near as good as his were (and David's in December). My biggest challenge is that I don't know much at all about passenger car manufacturering, but I have already done some homework and found some good sites to reference.
If we decide to go with the above recommendations, we will need to choose which manufacturers to document. The obvious ones come to mind like Pullman, Budd and Canadian Car and Foundry but there are lots of others. Information and suggestions are welcome from everyone.
What say you? If you have something totally different in mind, please speak up.
Cheers!!
One thing I do know about aeronautics — ya' gotta have lift!
Flappers by Edmund, on Flickr
Ruth Nichols crashes in St. John, New Brunswick. She was hospitalized after attempting to fly the Atlantic taking Lindy's trail by Boston Public Library, on Flickr
For the last leg of our North American journey we will couple the Diner to tonight's The Gull and leave Portland for the journey up the coast to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Tomorrow it will be a ferry ride to see the narrow gauge Newfoundland Railway.
Maine-Central by Edmund, on Flickr
We'll travel on the Maine Central, Canadian Pacific and Canadian National for this leg of the trip. This run was reduuced to RDCs in the late '50s but we can squeeze the diner in the consist for a slight extra fare
CNR_Moncton_NB by Edmund, on Flickr
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newfoundland_Railway
CNR #101 westbound passenger train narrow gauge Newfoundland Grand Falls NL by Jon Archibald, on Flickr
Plenty of fresh seafood to finish out our journey.
https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/economy/railway.php
CNCharlie I was in the accounting dept of the Housewares Div and one item sold was electric clocks. Come inventory time I was sent to the parts dpt with the job of counting all the spare clock hands.
Well at least you had a hand in the operation
I scanned a '71-72 GE appliances catalog a while back. I still have an aluminum skillet that was made in Bridgeport, Conn. My family bought lots of GE appliances purchased at the employee store
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmpullman/albums/72157697339441201
Take a look at the ED-3 clock (sorry, chronoscan!) $300 in 1971 is about $2000 today!
GE_1971_0035 by Edmund, on Flickr
Glad to hear you're on the mend, Herrinchoker
Hello, Ken? How 'ya doin'?
Evenin' folks!
Speaking of airie-o-planes, here is one that was bulit by my Father-In-Law way....... back when. A Ford Model T motor for one and built after the fact by him is on display at the Curtis Air Musem in Hamondsport, NY. The propeller on that engine was also hand laminated and carved by Barney. I asked him once if he had used it on the original Pietenpole he built. He said, "h*ll no that d!mn thing is so out of balance it would have torn the plane apart before you ever left the ground!
I actually sat and watched him convert the old motor to be able to fly upside down and still run whenever we visited. He would take me out the garage and proudly let me know what he had gotten done every time we visited when I was first married to his daughter. Then he would work some more and we chatted.... (I was the favored son-in-law since I took an interest in the stuff he did!)
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Garry GREAT NEWS.
Dave I'll bet the surgeon would have taken you to the OR the next day. Although all the torn Achilles tendons I saw were nearly 100% torn
Herrinchoker that's a big operation. Don't put it off. I'm sure you will do well.
I recently reconnected with a fellow resident. I had his wife call mine as they both had breast cancer. His wife has had stage 4 cancer for 15 years, one of her doctors' treatments, which worked for her, caused him to flee to Mexico.
She is into nutritional therapy. I tried to make sense out of nutritional science a couple decades ago and I concluded it was the original Fake News. People can make claims about anything and get it published somewhere.
We had a very pretty 2" snowfall yesterday afternoon. It turned to rain all night and melted all the snow. It was so foggy in the morning I couldn't see the houses in my backyard.
Lady Gaga, who was quite good in A Star is Born, got her dogs back. Some dog napper shot her dog walker 5 times in the chest just to steal ugly foo foo dogs. People are no darn good.
The original Glenn L Martin plant is going to close in Baltimore. Martin was one of the original aviation pioneers along with Curtis and the Wright Bros. They made the B-26 They still launched sea planes from the plant's airport when I was a teenager. In fact the P-5 was used in Vietnam
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/SP-5B_Marlin_of_VP-40_takes_off_from_Can_Ranh_Bay_in_April_1967.jpg/1280px-SP-5B_Marlin_of_VP-40_takes_off_from_Can_Ranh_Bay_in_April_1967.jpg
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Herrinchoker- hope all that works out for you. Ouch. After all that lets make sure the floor exercizes for the Olympics don't get cancelled.
Kevin - I think your kids have figured out you have sense of humor. All four of mine know better by now.
Charlie - I do expect the same parts made by the same suppliers should not be a thousand percent different in price. We are all ready to pay a premium for better quality but for instance the same relay for a Mercedes in the 80's was $45.00 and the same exact part for a VW was $4.50. Just sayin. J.R.
Good Afternoon,
Cold and cloudy right now with a dusting of snow.
Garry, glad to hear you had a good cancer check-up. I know how that feels.
Interesting comments about the cost of parts and repairs on high end imports. I have driven Volvos for over 20 years and find they are a little more expensive but I would expect them to be. I can't understand why anyone would expect parts for a car that cost 100 grand new to be anything less than expensive. What does it cost for a high end Cadillac?
A flock of house finches just arrived at the feeders. Seed consumption sure goes up when it is cold.
Ed, that fellow counting spikes reminded me of a task I was given when I worked for CGE. I was in the accounting dept of the Housewares Div and one item sold was electric clocks. Come inventory time I was sent to the parts dpt with the job of counting all the spare clock hands. A small box contained hundreds of hands worth pennies each. It took me a couple of days.
Hope we have pizza for supper. Robbie goes nuts for it even though he only gets a few little pieces of crust.
CN Charlie
herrinchoker, the silence was becoming deafening, attempting gymnastics at a certain age is foolhardy, hope your repairs are carried out sooner than later and are a success!
SeeYou190 What is wrong with my kids?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
GMTRacing Funny thing Kevin, some Ferraris are in fact not outrageously expensive used. The parts on the other hand are billed out like they are all hand forged of pressd latinum mined on pluto and shipped here at great expense.
That is what my middle daughter was teling me. She even said when she heard the price of used Ferraris, she might buy herself one too.
What is wrong with my kids?
They were here when one of my friends bought a used very high-end BMW 12 cylinder something. They heard all the nightmare stories on parts and service costs.
I have another friend in Tampa who owns the biggest Mercedes Benz I have ever seen. He rarely drives it because every part for it is apparently only able to be hand-made by an elderly German craftsman working on an ancient forge fueled by the fires of Mordor.
I honestly think the girls are just messing with me, but baby-baby has turned into a real California Girl since she moved out West, so who knows?
Heartland Division CB&Q I have "Too Many Birthdays Syndome" which also includes congestive heart failure. Everybody ........ Happy Model Railroading.
Garry, you will be in our thoughts and prayers. I hope you keep having fun with that masterpiece model railroad you have for a long long time.
York1This bridge is on the Cowboy Trail on the old Chicago & North Western line. The bridge is a quarter mile long and 148 feet (45m) high. Although I wish it was still carrying railroad cars, I'm glad they saved the bridge and it's a pretty neat place to walk.
That is a wonderful bridge. I am glad they saved it as part of the trail.
Had a fall back along, went down a hill backwards, cracked my L.Pubic Arch, tore my R. shoulder, again, then hit my head on the frozen ground and got knocked out--no idea as to how long. Also have torn somthing in my right eye, looks like a tadpole egg off to one side. Doc had me scanned, and re-scanned, and don't you know the bulge in my abdominal aeorta has grown, so now waiting for scheduleing at Me. Med. to have it repaired. Getting old is not for the faint of heart.
Came across a site "The Newfoundland Bullet", history of rail service in Newfoundland. Extensive 2 foot system, finally shut down in 1988. One place on the line called "Gaff Topsail", atop a high barrens, would drift with snow so bad that keeping the tracks clear nearly caused the line to fail due to the cost of snow removal. one passenger train was trapped for nearly a month.
The traffic line on the road up in the County indicate that there is "No Passing" from either lane. Broken lines indicated where passing was allowed, a solid line indicated no passing if it faced your lane. A broken line, with a solid line on both sides indicated no passing either side/direction.
Rain at present, love it--shovels auful easy.
Best to all,
herrinchoker
Good morning. Bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
Another day of not much to do. I am planning on Florida in a couple of weeks. The plans keep changing, but I leave that all up to the kids. Today I need to confirm the plane reservations and get some boarding passes onto my phone.
My phone! Yes, my daughter said I need a phone for this trip. I bought a $30 phone from Walmart with a one-month service. Now I need to figure out how to ignore it when it makes noise.
This bridge is on the Cowboy Trail on the old Chicago & North Western line. The bridge is a quarter mile long and 148 feet (45m) high. Although I wish it was still carrying railroad cars, I'm glad they saved the bridge and it's a pretty neat place to walk.
Some of my former students on the bridge after our canoeing-camping trip:
Good morning .....
Dave Critter, Brent, and JR..... Also, thanks to you for commenting on my news. I'm still dealing with different health issues, but it is good to get this one behind me. I have "Too Many Birthdays Syndome" which also includes congestive heart failure.
Everybody ........ Happy Model Railroading.
Good Morning All,
I'll have a regular and a short stack of blueberry pancakes please Flo.
So Ed it this where you catch Mel Tillis' famous train from Caribou, Maine in "Sweet Mental Revenge" ?
Great news Garry. I assume you still get to go in regularly for the doc to recheck ?
Funny thing Kevin, some Ferraris are in fact not outrageously expensive used. The parts on the other hand are billed out like they are all hand forged of pressd latinum mined on pluto and shipped here at great expense. Same as most German cars. It's why I buy domestic. Even my race cars that are all English have mostly Ford motors. That cloud was the one that hung over us all weekend at Sebring and it's just searchin around for me now.
That UP locomotiive stash was awesome. I'd like the one three off center of the line please. I guess it's far enough out in the sticks that vandalism isn't a worry?
All for now. I've been doing government work the last few days so our boarder can move to Tennessee where he has a job offer. He does research into original American folk songs handed down orally and has found a couple of sources that were previously unknown or little known enough that he is getting a grant to do further research and recording. With a lot of the mines closing and people moving away this is probably the last chance to get a lot of this before it is gone for good. I've heard some of the tapes and you practically need a translator for some of the spoken dialect but the songs come through clear as day.
Time to quit stalling and pick up tools. Here is a shot since we are in the neighbourhood from the east coast of Nova Scotia. The world is a beautiful place.
072 - Copy by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr" alt="" />
Meanwhile — up in Caribou.
BAR_Caribou-ME- by Edmund, on Flickr
The potato harvest is in. October 1940, Jack Delano.
Note the road striping, two yellow solid lines with a white intermittent line between. This question comes up in the forums sometimes.
Regards, Ed
We had interesting weather today. There were huge black low hanging rain clouds all afternoon. For hours it looked like it was going to rain in five minutes.
We never got one drop of rain.
Two scenes from the Boston & Maine's Billerica shops:
BnM_Billerica-shop by Edmund, on Flickr
"Six million, eight hundred thousand two hundred sixty-two; Six million, eight hundred thousand two hundred sixty-three; Six million, eight hundred thousand two hundred sixty-four...
"Hey' Spike, what time is it?" — "Ten minutes to four!"
"Six million, eight hundred thousand two hundred sixty... ??? Aw Shucks!"
BnM_Billerica-shop_washers by Edmund, on Flickr
"Today, flat washers. Six months from now maybe I'll be up to lock washers, could be straightening cotter pins even? Boss says in five years I'll be over with those guys counting spikes! —Whoopee, hit the big time!"