I know this may be crossing the line on some forum rules, but here goes. Steven, if this needs to be cut, I understand!
One of the subjects on the MR forums that continually comes up is the local hobby shops and how good or bad they are.
The closest shop to us is an example of a well-run store. It's owners love trains and the hobby, and it shows in how they relate to their customers.
This message came from their Facebook page. Belvidere is a tiny town (population 48) on a UP double line that goes from mid-Nebraska to Kansas City. The little town built a railroad observation deck at their old station. It's on a broad curve of the UP line, which makes it a great place to watch trains come through full speed.
The tracks are directly to the left on this photo:
I think I will head there to see Big Boy come through at speed.
York1 John
Good morning, diners.
It's a sad day here. Daisy the Deaf Dachshund was very lackadaisical when we came home from vacation. The vet said she has cancer and has only days left. It's amazing how much an animal can affect our lives. With the children grown, she has become my family.
Nebraska trains are dominated by two major railroads -- BNSF and UP. Both cross the state east to west. In my town, BNSF is double line, used mainly for coal. We also get some other types, but I would say that nine out of ten trains are coal.
Since we are directly east of the Wyoming Powder River coal mines, much of the coal for the eastern U.S. comes through the state on both railroads.
UP's headquarters is in Omaha, and BNSF's owner is in Omaha, so they both make up major parts of our state.
UP's headquarters in downtown Omaha:
Although BNSF's headquarters is not here, the owner's building is also in Omaha:
I have not gotten out to take photos of Nebraska trains as I had hoped. I think my age has affected my ability to do some things I want.
I hope everyone has a good day.
Ed, that's a good point. We were in several clothing stores over there that would have made American CEO's seize right up! Those old commercial buildings in Italy were made up of dozens of small indoor rooms, much like we would see in an old Victorian home. This room has mens dress shirts, but so does the next room over, while the one back there has mens swimwear, etc. It was honestly a really neat experience and I couldn't help but wonder why we can't seem to be open to doing the same thing here. Seems less wasteful.
We were taken to a McDonalds in Torino (not to eat (thank goodness), but to see it). It was shocking. It's the only McDonalds I've ever seen with marble floors, ornate woodwork, and carved stone pillars throughout the restaurant as it was in one of those 700 year old buildings. Nowhere close to the "corporate layout", but it was absolutely incredible.
Mike
Water Level RouteWhere we would knock an old building down because the layout doesn't fit the "corporate design" for the new company coming in,
That just brought up something I remember commenting on a while back.
There's a large shopping area a few miles from me that at one time had a Super K Mart on the property (it was an apple orchard before that). I recall driving by there in the mid 1980s when they were tearing down the K Mart to construct a new Builder's Square store. A nearly identical steel framed corrugated tin shack.
A few years later they were tearing down the Builder's Square and in its place rose a DIY Warehouse. Again, a nearly identical building, all new steel with a split-face block façade. The DIY Warehouse lasted into the early 2000s when — yep — they tore that down and built a Lowe's in its place.
Well, at least the Lowe's is still there. I'd really like to see how the Harvard Business School types can justify this kind of retail expenditure and expect to pay off all the construction debt while still trying to make a "profit" and keep investors happy.
Regards, Ed
Good morning everyone. Flo, a large black coffee and a blueberry doughnut please. Make that two.
Still cannot log in to the forum using my phone. Tried TF's suggestion of requesting the desktop site, but I still get a "403 forbidden" message once I enter my login info and hit submit. Same result whether I'm using Safari or Chrome. Oh well. Not like Flickr is terribly mobile friendly either, so even if I could post from my phone, I couldn't post pictures.
gmpullmanI realize not every structure can be rescued but I believe we, as a society, would benefit from seeing some of our historic places remain standing. Once they're gone... too late.
Sorry. Rant over. Have a good day everybody!
Good Morning!
I came across these photos of a brick interlocking tower being moved in Union City, Indiana. Being an old Millwright I like to see big, heavy moves like this :
On The Move by Craig Sanders, on Flickr
New Home by Craig Sanders, on Flickr
I'm sure glad to see efforts for preservation succeed like this. I'd sure like to be able to visit the original Pennsylvania Station in New York City which was unceremoniously razed in the late '60s to bring us yet another Madison Square Garden.
Penn_Station1 by Edmund, on Flickr
I realize not every structure can be rescued but I believe we, as a society, would benefit from seeing some of our historic places remain standing. Once they're gone... too late.
Fifty-four years ago today marked the tragedy aboard the USS Forrestal. I can't imagine what it would have been like to deal with such mayhem and devastation. 134 sailors and airmen perished. Future Senator John McCain was one of the pilots preparing to take off when the misfire occurred.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire
I hope everyone is doing well. Looks like Ken has been AWOL for a while. I hope he's OK, too.
Heartland Division CB&QKevin .... Thanks for posting pictures of the dinner train. It has an interesting consist.
I thought I had some pictures of the Head End Power Unit in the F unit, and the HVAC systems on the RDCs, but I can't find them.
Heartland Division CB&QI'm wondering why there is so little activity in the MR Forum.
I think this is just typical end-of-the-month slow down. When the new diner gets opened I expect a flurry of new activity.
A couple of members are off on vacation. John just got back.
The World Is A Beautiful Place.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Howdy ....
Kevin .... Thanks for posting pictures of the dinner train. It has an interesting consist.
....
I lived in Michigan where I went to college and worked for most of my adult years.
Below is Grant Trunk commuter train. I rode those trains for many years from Royal Oak, MI to Detroit, MI where I worked.
Next picture is a Grand Trunk freight train passing the old passenger depot in Battle Creek, MI. I was in Battle Creek many times.
Battle Creek is where Grand Trunk's locomotive shop was located. I was there several times.
Last picture is the station in Kalamazoo with an Amtrak train.
.....
I'm wondering why there is so little activity in the MR Forum. Maybe, it's because people have other things to do in the summer. ..... I thank those who find time to contribute here.
Happy Model Railroading ....
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Getting near the end of the month.
Sharing another picture of a train close to home.
This is the SEMINOLE GULF dinner train.
It is let by an F unit converted to Head End Power with a 480 three phase generator powered by a Cummins KT-19C industrial engine. The "diner cars" are rebuilt from BUDD RDCs with the Detroit Diesel 6-110 engines removed and A/C units built into the radiator housings in the roof. The third car is the kitchen/crew car. There is an old GP9 in the rear as power to push the train.
mbinsewiJust thought I'd take a quick run through MR, stop for a cup, and say hello.
Thanks for stopping by. We have had just the right amount of rain this year. Everything is green, and the ground is not all soggy. This does not happen too often.
I received this tiny little motor in the mail yesterday.
It is much smaller than a DC-71, but it looks similar. It has 7 poles on the armature. I do not think I ever had a 7 pole motor before. It is less than 3/8" wide. I think it would fit under the hood of an N scale GP30. It is really small.
I'll bet I could power a critter with it.
I hooked it up to my Kato power pack and tested it. It runs very smooth, and I can bring it down to less than 120 RPM with no cogging action.
I have no idea what I will use it for, but it was priced very low, and looks like it will be useful for something, someday, maybe.
Good morning diners,
Just thought I'd take a quick run through MR, stop for a cup, and say hello.
It's been a busy summer, with lots of hot summer weather to go with it.
Problem is, no rain. Much of WI. is doing good on the rail fall, but not down here in SE. WI., it's bone dry. I haven't needed to mow for about 2 months! It's all brown.
Browsing through some FaceBook market sites, looking for a door, I came across this:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1607500076246405/posts/3194046177591779/
A double track helix.
Have a great day folks!
Mike.
My You Tube
Track fiddlerJudy ran tuna pasta salad through the garbage disposal way to fast this morning. I have told her about that but apparently she didn't listen.
I have not had a drain pipe plug up since the girls moved out! I think I figured out what the problem was.
My wife and I put all food garbage in the bag and take it out every day. Only bits rinsed off of dishes go through the in-sink-r-ator.
Hi Everyone,
A very small ordinary win, but significance for me to a point.
I purchased 2 Trainman 40' boxcars today. No, I haven't built them yet. what makes them unique is that they have the "Be Specific" slogan on them. I saw literally hundreds of these cars growing up, but they're not common in model form. Eventually, I hope to add more, but in the meantime, 2 is a start.
In June, the local railroads where I grew up would stage boxcars to get ready for wheat harvest. I remember one day when I saw a string of these cars stretching for about a half mile all with the "Be Specific" slogan on them. That was over 50 years ago, but I remember it to this day. It was just so unusual to see that.
Ah, Fenders! While I would readily admit that Strats, Teles, P and Jazz basses are the unquestioned standard of the industry and for good reason, I just never really liked to play them that much. I had a jazz bass for awhile, but then I got my Rick and never looked back. I still have it. Sold my big amp when I got out of the industry, but I do have a much smaller one. Haven't played it for years. Recently, I started to get back into music as a hobby thing. I'm trying (lazily I might add) to learn to sight read music and learning strictly classical. Although, I see a video of Charles Berthoud play electric with all the slap and tap techniques, it's tempting, but I'll just stay how I'm doing it.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Welcome back York1! I missed you Good to have you back
I wish I had some MR stuff to share but I don't.
A couple weeks ago, I'm ashamed to say I could not handle the drain plug on the third floor. When it's a bad plug I understand it's called a slime plug and they are usually three to give feet long and have to be unplugged with a water jet.
You take apart the plumbing under the sink to snake it out and the snake can keep running through it multiple times and it just keeps healing itself
Judy ran tuna pasta salad through the garbage disposal way to fast this morning. I have told her about that but apparently she didn't listen.
It's a slime plug!!! I took apart the drain and ran a snake through 5 times!
Didn't get it! The drain Specialist guy I've used in this building about three times is coming at around 5:00.
Judy's going to have to cough up about $150.00 -$200.00 bucks depending on what mood the drain guy's in
We are wet vented here and if you can't get your own drain unplugged on the first floor, you have no choice, as it only gets worst!
TF
Ed ...... I like your photos of the CUT streetcars. Thanks for posting them.
John York 1. ...... Welcome back. It sound like you had a wonderful family vacation in a beautiful place. I bet your grandchildren will retain good memories for the rest of their lives. ..... I've seen pictures of that old tunnel before. Now, most of the BNSF traffic on that line is coal from Powder River Basin.
Everybody ..... Have a good rest of the day.
John: It sounds like you had a good time.
Hiking... my experience is as yours, it seems you are either going uphill or going down a dangerous slope.
We have never seen a bear in a National Park, but we were terrified by a Buffalo in Yellowstone.
Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee, please.
Nebraska is basically a flat state, and there is generally no need for railroad tunnels.
The CB&Q, in 1888, built the Belmont Tunnel, the only railroad tunnel in the state, in the northwestern part of the state. It last had a train go through in 1982. The railroad built a new line just several hundred feet away, which raises the question of why the CB&Q spent a lot of money on the tunnel when they could have just bypassed the hill a short distance away. Today the tunnel is still used by the railroad for service trucks, and it has become a tourist attraction:
The new line several hundred feet away:
We just got back from a family vacation. We were with the daughters, sons-in-law, and grandkids for a week in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone Parks.
It was lots of fun, but lots of hiking. It seemed the hikes all involved going uphill the entire way.
We had only one close encounter with a bear. Ahead of us on a trail, some people were stopped, so we stopped. Then we saw the people slowly backing up. The bear was meandering along, and was just looking around. It really posed no threat to us. The adults carried cans of bear spray, and we made the kids all stay between the adults. Exciting.
This is grandma and me with the grandkids outside of our hotel. It is a neat place to see and stay, built in 1910. You can sit on the deck in the picture and watch Old Faithful erupt while enjoying an adult beverage. Reservations were made a year ahead.
I haven't had time to go through all the posts I missed, so I hope everyone is doing well.
BigDaddyMike if you have to wake someone up in 2 hours for pain meds, they don't need them.
BigDaddyMy wife wouldn't give me pain meds at 3:45 hours after my ACL because it wasn't 4 hours.
gmpullmanThe flower is just beautiful:
Yes it is, very beautiful.
My Crape Myrtle has been blooming for about 4 or 5 weeks. It never really got a full bloom, but it has been going on for quite a long time.
SeeYou190The orange variety, Hamelia Patens, is what grows down here.
I brought home some plants from my mothers home a few years ago. I always thought they were Tiger Lillies which is what the greenery looks like.
This year is the first time I've seen them bloom and they sure aren't tiger lillies!
Red Lucifer Plant by Edmund, on Flickr
The flower is just beautiful:
Red Lucifer plant by Edmund, on Flickr
Sure glad I rescued a few when I did. I have some bright red trumpet vine that is in bloom now, too. The hummingbirds love both of these.
https://butterflybushes.com/products/lucifer-crocosmia
Beauty is where you find it
Cheers, Ed
I'll drop a dime in the diner's jukebox. I love this version of Mad World by Tears For Fears given the Post-Modern-Jukebox treatment.
It goes up a notch at 43 seconds in.
gmpullmanOur county extension agency passed out milkkweed plants a few years ago. We planted a pretty big crop of them to help the Monarchs. Never got a good photo, though.
We used to have tons of Monarchs at our cottage. The milkweed plants were common on the beaches. However, about 20 years ago the milkweed seemed to disappear. My mom tried to grow them at the cottage with little success. One of the reasons that she failed was me! She had a milkweed that was about 18" tall growing in the middle of the front lawn. Thinking that it was just another weed, I ran right over it when cutting the lawn! Needless to say, she was not impressed!
I have read recently that several people in Mexico who were trying to protect the Monarch's breeding grounds have been killed by the cartels who want to chop down the trees so that they can grow avocados. We don't buy avocados from Mexico.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
gmpullmanWe planted a pretty big crop of them to help the Monarchs. Never got a good photo, though.
We rarely see Monarchs down here, but there have been a few this year. My neighbor to the North has "firecracker bushes" in her yard, and the butterflies seem very attracted to them.
I can't ever seem to get a good picture in my own yard.
The orange variety, Hamelia Patens, is what grows down here.
Track fiddlerThat is a sweet Stratocaster Kevin
TF: Thanks.
I think I have posted about that guitar in here before. At one time, I owned three Stratocasters, and a vintage Telecaster.
The guitar in the pictures was the least expensive of all of them. It is an Asian made Fender Squier. I bought it because the body was absolutely gorgeous, and I was going to use it with the electronics from one of the American made Stratocasters that had solid color bodies.
However, I started playing it, and it sounded better than any of the other three Fenders that I owned. The action on the neck was perfect. I keep it strung with Ernie Ball Slinkies, and it slides like a dream.
I added the tortoise shell pick guard and vintage tone and volume knobs to class it up a bit. You can't see it in the picture, but it has a quarter screwed to the body Eddie Van Halen style.
I have sold two of my other fenders, the old Telecaster and the cream colored Stratocaster. I kept my bright red double-humbucker Stratocaster, and added a Stratocoustic for practice.
My daughters took my bass guitars when they moved out. One got the P-Bass, and the other took my Mustang.
I am not interested in adding any more guitars, but if a big hollow body 1958 Gretsch like Poison Ivy played comes along at a good price, I will probably have to buy it... like that would ever happen.
I got a good used EVH amp about three years ago, but I mostly use my old $65.00 Marshall practice amp because you can hear that EVH amp for a couple of blocks.
In my early teens I would volunteer with the maintenance of the passenger cars that the railroad club my dad, and later I, belonged to. They kept the cars stored under Cleveland Union Terminal and on Wednesdays and sometimes Saturdays there would be work sessions that were fun learning experiences for me.
I would ride to C.U.T. and back on the Shaker Rapid, part of the Van Sweringen plan for Shaker Heights, a planned community and the Terminal Tower Project.
Shaker_56_1966 by Edmund, on Flickr
I loved riding the PCC cars.
Shaker Rapid_80_93Woodhill by Edmund, on Flickr
Shaker Rapid #80_Van-Aken by Edmund, on Flickr
I would make the last run out of the Terminal at 11:00 and be home by 11:45 pm. Fare at the time was 35¢ as I recall.
Our county extension agency passed out milkkweed plants a few years ago. We planted a pretty big crop of them to help the Monarchs. Never got a good photo, though.
Water Level RouteHowmus, good a reason as any to get doughnuts! Hope the results are more good news.
Hi Water Level... Well, the results were no worse than they always are..... He removed 3 polyps (usually about twice that many) and depending what type they turn out to be I will see him again in either 3 or 5 years.... No other really concerning problems (I know I have some diverticulosis and Hemoroids. Sorry to turn anyones stomack here, LOL, But they are not that problematic and I have had them for years....)
Oh.... Give Ricky one of the dougnuts I brought in earlier... It will look better on him than on me anyway!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Top of the page Apple Galette for everyone
Apple galetMike if you have to wake someone up in 2 hours for pain meds, they don't need them.
My wife wouldn't give me pain meds at 3:45 hours after my ACL because it wasn't 4 hours. I never let her forget that.
Ray, hopefully the colonoscopy was curative. Having the procedure at 3pm is a real pain in the caboose. You can't eat all day and you are still running to the bathroom.
TF As a matter of policy, I no longer comment on pictures of young ladies.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Water Level Route ricktrains4824 Boy I dislike posting with my phone on here At least you can. My phone or the forum software won't let me log-in.
ricktrains4824 Boy I dislike posting with my phone on here
At least you can. My phone or the forum software won't let me log-in.
Desktop site Mike!
Howdy ...
Ray .... It sounds like you had favorable results, and that's good.
TF ..... Nice idea for you and your brother to have those T-shirts.
Ricky .... I know what you mean about posting with a phone. Keys are too small.
Mike ... I'm very sorry to learn your daughter had surgery. Praying she has a quick recovery.
Everybody .... Have a good evening.
Water Level Route TF, she's a cutie! You're a lucky uncle! By the way, do my eyes deceive me, or does your shirt match your new train car?
TF, she's a cutie! You're a lucky uncle! By the way, do my eyes deceive me, or does your shirt match your new train car?
Good afternoon
I thank all you guys for the acknowledgement and your kind comments on my little niece CC. Yes she is a sweetheart and actually my great-niece I think because her mother is my niece Rachel. Judy's sister Kelly's daughter's daughter.
I think I have it straight. This family stuff confuses me sometimes
You have a good eye Mike. You are exactly right that my shirt matches the arrowhead car I got at the train show.
About four years ago my brother and I were at the big train show in St Paul that only comes to town about every 7 years. He bought me the Missabe Iron Range t-shirt and I bought him a DWP t-shirt. Now we wear our t-shirts when we go to train shows together
A bit sappy I think it's a brother thing