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Jeffrey's Trackside Diner for September 2021 - Featuring Stations & Depots

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  • Member since
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  • From: Paducah KY
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Posted by moelarrycurly4 on Monday, September 6, 2021 4:45 PM

Jouh ( York1 )

I think all we got was rain. Prob a bit of wind. Our house is in NW Mississippi. The real bad stuff was south and east of us. we will head down next week to check etc. 

 

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Posted by howmus on Monday, September 6, 2021 11:58 AM

Thought for today:

"Do unto others as they wish to do unto you.....  But do it first!"

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 SeeYou190 on Monday, September 6, 2021 11:55 AM

NorthBrit
Kevin.   Glad the spear was fixed and all is well. 

Back when I was going to CosPlay conventions with the girls (the youngest two), I had quite a reputation for fixing props on the fly. Several people would come to me for patches and repairs.

I am very happy that baby/baby has learned from my efforts and can fix her own props without me now.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Monday, September 6, 2021 10:04 AM

Good morning ..... 

Kevin, David, and Bear......... Thanks much for the anniversary greetings. 

GA by Bear, on Flickr

 

 

Bear..... That's hilarious ! Laugh Laugh Laugh Smile, Wink & GrinSmile, Wink & Grin Smile, Wink & Grin BowBowBow

 

Thanks very much ! 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by York1 on Monday, September 6, 2021 9:28 AM

NorthBrit
I was once told to write down the story of my life.   My children would not be interested in it,  but my grandchildren would be.

 

That's a good idea.  My oldest daughter has asked several times for us to start writing down stuff about how we met, what things we did, etc.

I guess I should do this while I'm still halfway lucid.

York1 John       

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Posted by NorthBrit on Monday, September 6, 2021 9:17 AM

Good afternoon Diners.    A cup of tea please,  Brunhilda.

Kevin and John.   Going back in time?  Now there's a thing.  

I was once told to write down the story of my life.   My children would not be interested in it,  but my grandchildren would be.

There are times I wonder what my grandparents lives were like, but never asked.

By writing down my life history I do 'go back in time'.   Not the way we would like, but the memories come back (good and bad).

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by York1 on Monday, September 6, 2021 8:11 AM

Good morning.  Another bacon, eggs, and coffee morning.  It's very quiet outside on the trail.

Kevin, I know what you mean about going back in time.  When we were younger parents, people told us, "Enjoy every minute, it goes so fast."  Of course we tried, but now looking back it seems like it was just the blink of an eye.  I, too, would like to go back just one time and relive a normal day with the girls all at home growing up.

Brent, that's a neat bed spread.  I wonder if UP makes something like that!

MLC, I may have missed it if you posted, but I've wondered how your Mississippi house did in the hurricane.  I know most of the energy went into Louisiana, but southern Mississippi got a lot of it, too.

To all others I haven't mentioned, I hope everything is going well.

I thought for a while that the forum had straightened out, but last night my computer kept timing out before I could even open a forum page.

Hastings is a small town about 60 miles west of us.  It has an old BNSF station that is now the Amtrak station, along with several other businesses.

It is different for our area because it's one of the only ones made in a kind of Spanish style:

 

 

In 1989, our family took a trip and stopped in Hastings.  That morning we arrived, the train was five hours late, and the temperature was 35° below zero.  The toilets on the cars were all frozen, and it was not a pleasant ride (or smell) in the cars.  We were glad to get off the train, even if everything was frozen.

York1 John       

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Posted by "JaBear" on Monday, September 6, 2021 5:34 AM

GA by Bear, on Flickr

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

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Posted by NorthBrit on Monday, September 6, 2021 4:53 AM

Good morning all.  Keep the coffee coming please,  Janie.

Garry.  Happy Anniversary.

Kevin.   Glad the spear was fixed and all is well.   

 

Slough Station

Thoughts & Peace to All who Require

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, September 6, 2021 1:01 AM

I made chicken breasts stuffed with ham and cheese for dinner. Pretty good. Next time I will try to do better.

The depot in Channing:

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Sunday, September 5, 2021 10:56 PM

Dave, I really like Maple station. If I ever get the gumption to scratchbuild a station (let's be serious, I won't) that would be the one I used for inspiration.

John, your pictures of Omaha Union Station are amazing.

Garry, Happy Anniversary.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

Minor Disaster at DragonCon

My baby/baby ran through a door with her spear and broke it... OH NOOOOOO!

A quick return to her hotel room, some glue and pins, and a field repair was underway.

Some touch-up paint, and it is looking pretty good.

Back in action on the convention floor.

I really miss going to conventions with my girls. I would give anything to go back in time and do it all again.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by BATMAN on Sunday, September 5, 2021 7:34 PM

Heartland Division CB&Q

Brent ... Just say railroaders like to couple up. Whistling

 

One of them asked if I had a big boy, I have ordered one and will answer when I received it.Laugh

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 Heartland Division CB&Q on Sunday, September 5, 2021 7:12 PM

Brent ... Just say railroaders like to couple up. Whistling

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by BATMAN on Sunday, September 5, 2021 4:32 PM

Romantic by Bear, on Flickr

 

Happy B-Day to Meyrl. Bow

 

Laugh

She posted the photo on her FB page which is the world wide dog show crowd. Those dog show ladies (they are mostly ladies) sure can come up with a lot of racy comments that can not be repeated on our much more sophisticated MRR forum.WhistlingLaugh

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 "JaBear" on Sunday, September 5, 2021 4:20 PM

Romantic by Bear, on Flickr

 

Happy B-Day to Meyrl. Bow

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Sunday, September 5, 2021 12:49 PM

John .... Thank you. 

This forum is still very slow. 

Remarkably, Users Online included Grampys Trains. He has not posted since 2017, and I consider him to be among the MIA's of the forum. 

Everybody .... Cheers ! 

 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by York1 on Sunday, September 5, 2021 12:02 PM

Heartland Division CB&Q
Howdy .....  I'm on my good behavior today because it is our anniversary. 

 

Happy anniversary!  You must have had a birthday and gotten married in the same week.  Sounds like it was fun.

York1 John       

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Sunday, September 5, 2021 11:52 AM

Howdy ..... 

I'm on my good behavior today because it is our anniversary. 

.... 

Stations ...

Here is the D&RGW / WP station in Salt Lake City, UT. .... I beleive the train is the Prospector.

 

Happy Model Railroading.  

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by BATMAN on Sunday, September 5, 2021 11:45 AM

The wife is turning 60 next week. I found her the perfect gift!Whistling

No photo description available.

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 York1 on Sunday, September 5, 2021 6:52 AM

Good Sunday morning, diners.  Donut Day!

I'm liking all the pictures.

It's raining again, so it looks like another day of inside work.  Unfortunately, the inside work is in the kitchen and not on the layout.

While flying around the country, we can see some very beautiful airports, and some airports that are just utilitarian.  I guess that is what railroad stations were 100 years ago.  Some were magnificent, and some were just places for people to catch a train.

Then and now.  Omaha had two side-by-side stations.  They both were beautiful buildings.  Today, the Union Station is the Durham Museum, and the Burlington Station is the local ABC TV station.

The first two photos are of the Omaha Union Station, and the third is Omaha's present Amtrak station.

York1 John       

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Posted by NorthBrit on Sunday, September 5, 2021 6:27 AM

Good afternoon Diners.   A large coffee please, Chloe.

Bear.   Great holiday pictures.

 

Lovely station building pictures being posted.

 

London Waterloo Station.

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by hon30critter on Sunday, September 5, 2021 12:48 AM

Post hog!!

Here is Toronto's Union Station:

It has recently undergone a major rebuild so it can continue to be used long into the future.

This former Grand Trunk station at Maple, Ontario is still in use:

A Grand Trunk station in Montreal circa 1915:

This is what's left of a flag station in Haliburton, Ontario. The local cottagers might have made this a busy spot during the summer:

More to come later.

Cheers!!

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 hon30critter on Sunday, September 5, 2021 12:06 AM

York1
This is the before and after hurricane photos.  The house had very little damage, and the trees will recover, but it sure looks sick right now:

Hi John,

The 'before' picture is what I have always considered to be one of the iconic pictures of the 'Old South'. The 'after' picture breaks my heart. Certainly there are more important things and people to worry about after Ida, and I am not trying to glorify the dubious means by which the 'before' scene was achieved, but the 'after' picture speaks volumes.

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 hon30critter on Saturday, September 4, 2021 11:49 PM

Great pictures Bear!! You live in a beautiful country!

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 SeeYou190 on Saturday, September 4, 2021 11:34 PM

Bear: I love all the vacation pictures you are sharing. The waterfall is wonderful. I also really like the photograph of the old engine shed.

This is the railroad depot in Waycross, Georgia. It has since been repurposed into a government building.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by "JaBear" on Saturday, September 4, 2021 9:38 PM
Kevin, Mike and Garry, I’m pleased you found the Antarctic transport photos interesting. Having regrets is a waste of time, but I would have liked to have gone to Antarctica.

Batman, if I was ever to find myself in Vancouver, I reckon a trip on several of those BC Ferry routes would have to be a must, especially on a nice day!!

York1
Bear, I watched an interesting program on the Coastal Pacific train in New Zealand.  It showed some of the damage the earthquakes cause along the line, and it also showed the neat observation car on the train.

Gidday John, yes, the earthquake certainly terraformed the landscape, I may have said that with the seabed uplift that scientists thought that the whole ecology including the marine food chain would be destroyed, but I think that we tend to underestimate Mother Nature, not that we should go out of our way to pollute. There were still plenty of these beasties about!
 
NZ fur seal by Bear, on Flickr
 
In our race to get a ferry crossing to get back home before the latest Covid lockdown, we travelled back up the Kaikoura Coast, but did not dare stop for more photos.
 
 I think I know of the observation cars you mention, they  appear not to be in current use. Prior to the latest Covid lockdown the consist of “the Coastal Pacific”, which ran on Saturdays and Sundays, was what was used on “the TranzAlpine” running Thursday and Friday.
 
The TranzAlpine leaving Arthurs Pass heading for the West Coast. It was rather wet, and later that night, there was quite a storm: the rain was horizontal!!
 
TranzAlpine by Bear, on Flickr
 
Next day’s walk…
 
Walk by Bear, on Flickr
 Walk1 by Bear, on Flickr
 
A close up of the Te Tautea o Hinekakai waterfall, the first drop is around 130 feet.
 
Waterfall by Bear, on Flickr
Walk2 by Bear, on Flickr
 
At one time the Arthurs Pass village had a population of around 250, mainly railway staff and their families, the village now has a permanent population of around 30. A former railways workers cottage.
 
Railways cottage by Bear, on Flickr
 
The old Engine shed.
 
Arthurs Pass Loco Shed by Bear, on Flickr
 
Arthurs Pass Station, “new station” built in 1966.
 
Arthurs Pass Station by Bear, on Flickr
 
The turntable which still gets used by the occasional steam excursions, and three boilers and a tender which had been dumped into the Bealey River to help river bank erosion.
 
Arthurs Pass  Turntable by Bear, on Flickr
 
Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them. Kia Kaha.

Cheers, the Bear.Smile

"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, September 4, 2021 6:11 PM

TOP OF THE PAGE

Have some truly delicious Southern Fried Catfish on me.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

A few days ago I went to Orlando and stopped by Colonial Photo and Hobby. Among my purchases was a new (to me) 28-135mm EF series lens for my camera.

I finally put it onto the camera for a test-drive. I walked around the house snapping a few pictures. I think it is OK. My previous "walking around" lens was a 38-55mm EOS. Having an increased zoom on a GP lens is good. Pictures seem OK. Test shots all looked good.

When the weather conditions are better I need to give it a real test. It was cloudy and overcast today.

I need to try it out on a train ride!

-Kevin

Living the dream.

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Posted by BATMAN on Saturday, September 4, 2021 5:58 PM

 

 
BATMAN
Does anyone want to guess where this is?

 

It's a "Sweet" photo! Paradise

Smile

 

Thumbs Up

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 Heartland Division CB&Q on Saturday, September 4, 2021 5:51 PM

Bear .... Thanks again. I have never used GIMP. 

Mr. B ...... Did you purchase any good stuff at the train show ? 

Brent ...... I like the photos of BC. Also, that's a long, funny joke about track guage. 

 

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

  • Member since
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Posted by BATMAN on Saturday, September 4, 2021 5:03 PM

I had this little snipet from long ago and my cousin in England asked me to send it along as she wanted to pass it to a train-nut co-worker. Most of you have seen it, but for those that haven't......

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number.
Why was that gauge used?
Well, because that's the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that?
Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that's the gauge they used.
So, why did 'they' use that gauge then?
Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing.
Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?
Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.
So who built those old rutted roads?
Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England ) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And what about the ruts in the roads?
Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with this?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horses' asses.)
Now, the twist to the story:
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything......

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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