BATMANIn the last 126 years Vancouver has only recorded 30 days of over 30c temps, so far this year alone we have had 7 days of over 30c. Between Covid, fires, and heat, mother nature is sure doing some house cleaning. Billions of sea creatures along the coast have died off due to the heat.
Only got to 90°F here in the Finger Lakes today. About 100% humidity too. Didn't get out for a run until 7:30 this evening when the temp got down in the low 80° range. Only ran a mile even then. Wonder what is causing this..... Sure it's nothing we're doing!!! LOL Most of the Red Maples around here are already loosing their leaves. Local Scientists say it is a combimation of wet cold Spring and hot Summer with a mold attacking the trees. They also say the trees should survive.....???
Ooooooo.... I see I have a Night Blooming Cereus in blossom. Now I know what the wonderful smell is in the house.
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
howmusWonder what is causing this..... Sure it's nothing we're doing!!! LOL
Yep, planet Earth has a way of looking after herself. I know where to get water when it stops coming out of the tap, it is everywhere here but most city dwellers would not have a clue, and I know how to hunt and fish. The ranch is six hours from the nearest Walmart or Costco and that suits us just fine. We will head there if things get really bad. 2000 acres of well-irregated hay with about 800 healthy head of cattle feasting away. The hay barn is full to the rafters as well.
I need a bug-out plan for the layout, I have my priorities and the ranch has lots of room for a layout. I would be like Ray, running the pike off of solar power.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
I am buckling down for a couple of stormy days.
Storm readiness is not what it used to be. Now that I have Cat 5 windows, rear slider, and garage door, all I need to do to prepare for a storm is bring in the trash cans.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Night
I had a great day with my Judy on her first day off this week.
Yesterday was her birthday and I bought her two dozen long-stemmed red roses, took her to dinner at El Loro and brought her to the drive-In theater.
CC was there and I hate to admit it but I had a great time laughing and having funner with my great-niece then my better half
That ain't supposed to make sense to you guys that are not married or maybe makes more sense to the ones of you that are.
Today Judy still thought it was her birthday so we went to Victoria Minnesota in the Stang and had a really good lunch on the patio. Then we went to Mound Minnesota and had dinner on another patio. The weather has been perfect up here
In between the time my car killed and we were stalled on the side of the road. I followed the wires and found a little ground nut was missing on the manifold to the engine ground. I pinched the fork together and it got us home.
It was a hell of a day at Sea Sir! but I think we had fun
TF
Hmmmm... I do not remember ever giving one of my daughters an Athearn Blue Box train car for Christmas. My wife would never have allowed that sort of nonsense.
But... here is this picture... It looks like she is looking in the box for something else.
Track fiddlerIn between the time my car killed and we were stalled on the side of the road. I followed the wires and found a little ground nut was missing on the manifold to the engine ground. I pinched the fork together and it got us home.
TF, I'm glad that your mechanical knowledge got you home!
In my youth I got stuck on the side of the road several times, but only once did I have to resort to calling for help. I remember coming back from Sault St. Marie, Ontario one time in my MGB. Suddenly the car started to run very badly. My mother was with me and she was more than a little concerned. I knew immediately that it was a vacuum leak and sure enough the vacuum line to the distributor had broken off. It took me about 10 minutes to fix and we were back on the road. Another time I bent a cam rod and I ended up on the side of a major highway pounding it out straight on the top of a guard rail post with a big adjustable wrench. I was back on the road in no time. I could go on but the only thing that that would prove is that I was driving clunkers in my youth!
Forget about doing that with modern cars!
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Eric, nice to see you in the diner!
A belated Thank you John!
Driving clunkers in my youth Dave
And those clunkers were a pain in the butt at the time but actually became a good thing for me many years later.
It was a learning experience to discover some of those things that can go wrong to know what to look for and do at a later time.
I would have to agree with you that this usually doesn't work for the modern cars. The last time my truck conked out there was a tow fee involved
Post Hog!
And yesterday was Friday the 13th! Generally I'm not superstitious but you know darn well something is going to go wrong when you get out of bed on the morning of Friday the 13th
I fixed the car okay and that was good. It was shady where I pulled over on the road and used the flashlight feature on my phone.
This is what my phone looks like now after it fell down onto the exhaust manifold.
It was hot down there and took me awhile to grab it after I was looking under the car for it
Track fiddlerYesterday was Friday the 13th!
Bucking the trend, I had a good day yesterday. When I was a kid, my older brother turned 13 on Friday the 13th.
I used to drive a Toyota that broke down every time I went out-of-town. I can drive the same route now and point out every place along the highway where I conked out. I finally sold that stupid car for $15 to a guy who wanted the seats. It hadn't run in eight months.
This is along the UP mainline in 1920:
York1 John
BATMANYep, planet Earth has a way of looking after herself.
I think it was George Carlin that said, "The planet is fine, the people are .......!" He said a lot of truths in potent ways.
Mid August is always difficult for me.... Tomorrow my wife will have left this world 34 years ago....... Still miss her!
The storm conditions are starting to build up. Power will probably be cutting out and backin again for the next couple of days.
I need to bring the trash cans in.
York1I used to drive a Toyota that broke down every time I went out-of-town. I can drive the same route now and point out every place along the highway where I conked out. I finally sold that stupid car for $15 to a guy who wanted the seats.
This was my favorite beater. I bought this car for $300.00 from a person I worked with. I kept it for almost ten years. It never failed to start, and only broke down if I tried to drive it out of town.
When I was a young man and cars were simpler, I did all my own repairs and maintenance. I knew everything about my first two cars, a Triumph Spitfire and an MGB, both two-seat convertibles. I rebuilt the engine on the Spitfire, and even replaced a push rod on busy Route 128 in Massachusetts.
Yeah, I always carried a lot of tools.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley When I was a young man and cars were simpler, I did all my own repairs and maintenance. Yeah, I always carried a lot of tools.
When I was a young man and cars were simpler, I did all my own repairs and maintenance.
I have gone through the 20,000+ pictures I received from relatives.
Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the N scale "Dream House" version of the STRATTON AND GILLETTE. I was afraid of that. Randy told me he thought he took some, but he cannot find them.
I am not sure I ever took any pictures of the layout. This was pre-digital, and there were very few finished scenes. I doubt I would have processed film for that.
I did find a few pictures of our kids taken in the house. There were a few details I had forgotton about the dream house.
The house had wood panelling in the living room and green carpeting. It also had terrible linoleum in the entry, kitchen, and bathrooms. The bathrooms had the worst wall paper. I forgotten all of this.
It is amazing how memories change when there are no photographs to remind me of the reality.
I don't know Kevin but I do.
There's a country singer that has a song "Who Needs Pictures with a memory like mine" or something like that.
So true! I've had four phones that something happened to and all my pictures were lost.
Or were they?
All those pictures are imprinted in my memory and I don't need the media ones anymore. I like to remember the ones that put a smile on my face
Although I do wish I could dig up a few of those old Kodak ones from back in the day to show others
I look for some of those really old pictures and I know they're somewhere but every year I still cannot find them
They will always be in my memory though
And where is Our Friend Bear by the way?
Last I understood he was on holiday but who could be on a holiday this long?
Maybe I should take a few lessons from the Bear for a more extended vacation when he gets back
yes
Track fiddlerI don't know Kevin but I do. There's a country singer that has a song "Who Needs Pictures with a memory like mine" or something like that. So true! I've had four phones that something happened to and all my pictures were lost.
The thing is, nearly all the pictures I have to go through are pictures of my kids. I would never have sent any relatives pictures of my layout under construction.
I failed badly at taking pictures of construction, but film and developing cost money, and the girls were the photographic topic of choice.
So, SGRR #3 shows up in the background of pictures of kids, like this one. However, the most grand version of the the SGRR was #2, and it was in a dedicated room where the kids were not allowed, so no pictures of the kids with SGRR #2.
I took lots of pictures of the girls on my motorcycles. It never occured to me to take pictures of them on the layouts.
The only pictures I have of my motorcycles have the kids in them!
The girls would be mad if they knew I was sharing pictures where you can see their feet. The poor things all got my giant feet!
SeeYou190I am buckling down for a couple of stormy days. Storm readiness is not what it used to be. Now that I have Cat 5 windows, rear slider, and garage door, all I need to do to prepare for a storm is bring in the trash cans.
The storm has turned, so the conditions will be OK tomorrow.
We had a brief period of high winds this morning. One of my neighbor's Mimosa trees blew over into my yard. I cut it up and it is in the back of the truck right now.
We had rain for a few hours, but nothing bad. Rain and wind were seperate from one another.
There is supposed to be a distant feeder band move through tonight, but it is just a rain event.
So we can add this storm to the "no big deal" column.
Howdy ...
Kevin .... those are nice family photos.
TF .... I like the old Zephyr photo. The bike rider should be more careful.
John .... That is a good picture of the UP main line.
....
Here is a CB&Q 2-10-4 which was often used for coal trains.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Dianne and I just got back from dinner at The Keg where we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Nice food, good service, and we had a $100.00 gift certificate from our son and daughter-in-law to cover part of the cost. The restaurant gave us free dessert in honour of the occasion so we came home stuffed!
Heartland Division CB&Q TF .... I like the old Zephyr photo. The bike rider should be more careful. Here is a CB&Q 2-10-4 which was often used for coal trains.
Yes he should have Garry and I like your 2-10-4
A beautiful steam locomotive always has a great nose.
And a beautiful nose at that!
Good Evening,
Hot here today and for the next few days, about 95F or so.
Today I got out my watch to time the patties I was about to grill and it wouldn't wind, like the main spring was broken. I wore it a couple of days ago and all was well. I bought it in 1976 so it isn't that old. It is a Tudor watch and yes it is a manual wind. I hope it can be fixed. I got out my Dad's watch, gave it a wind and it works fine. He got it in 1943 before he went overseas. It is a Rolex but doesn't look like current models.
Nothing much new here. Lots of birds in the yard which along with the squirrels keep us entertained. I have a few house maintenace jobs to do but can't get motivated.
Nothing happening on the layout either. I keep thinking I'll run a train tonorrow but the Pacific pulling a mixed is still at the water tower. Maybe it is empty what with the drought we are having.
At least I have my health, so far.
CN Charlie
Go back and zoom in on the picture Garry.
The engineer of the locomotive had fell asleep and his head was tilted down as you can see by his hat. I don't think the bike rider was lucky or anything, just kinda stupid because those things come through as steady as they go anyway even if the driver is awake
CNCharlie I got out my Dad's watch, gave it a wind and it works fine. He got it in 1943 before he went overseas. It is a Rolex but doesn't look like current models.
My dad had two Rolex watches. One my grandmother brought back from Europe for him, and the other was a 1941 model from the year he was born.
That 1941 Rolex looks nothing like more modern Rolex watches. I have that one, my older sister has the other watch.
Today starts the photos of the period 1950 to 1980?
CBQ, Chicago, Illinois, 1951 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr
Lots happening in this era. Railroads have pretty much arrived at the conclusion that the "Post-War" boom is going to look more like a bust. Especially for passenger.
AM, Fargo, North Dakota, 1972 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr
NYC, Marion, Ohio, 1955 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr
Three of the "Too Big To Fail" railroads, The Pennsylvania, New York Central and the New Haven will have merged, then disappeared into Conrail, only to have Conrail itself disappear in 1999. Penn Central only lasted from 1968 to 1976.
AMTK/PC, St. Louis, Missouri, 1972 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
Hi Everyone,
Brunhilde, coffee with cream, please.
Kevin: Belated sorry to hear about your sister in law. For what it's worth, hospice care is a pretty good thing. They make every attempt to make a patient as comfortable as possible without resorting to aggressive treatment. It gives the patient the chance to have some dignity in an unfortunate situation.
Don't have anything to report MRR wise, but I'm enjoying all the posts. MR did an article with plans on the CB&Q 2-10-4s in the October 1961 issue. The Q had two versions, one with Elesco feedwater heaters and one without. Both were fairly attractive locomotives for lack of a better word.
Humidity has been terrible here lately. Today was a nice breezy less humid day.
Hope all is well for everyone.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
As we move to the next era, my middle baby waves goodbye to 1900-1950 from a period appropriate passenger car.
gmpullman Today starts the photos of the period 1950 to 1980? CBQ, Chicago, Illinois, 1951 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr Lots happening in this era. Railroads have pretty much arrived at the conclusion that the "Post-War" boom is going to look more like a bust. Especially for passenger. AM, Fargo, North Dakota, 1972 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr NYC, Marion, Ohio, 1955 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr Three of the "Too Big To Fail" railroads, The Pennsylvania, New York Central and the New Haven will have merged, then disappeared into Conrail, only to have Conrail itself disappear in 1999. Penn Central only lasted from 1968 to 1976. AMTK/PC, St. Louis, Missouri, 1972 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr Regards, Ed
Perfect Ed and I thank you. I always enjoy what you post.
I'll opt for the green machine