Good morning Diners. I hope you are all well.
Tea and toast please, Zoe.
Vintage Southern Railway Film. 'Ladies Only' 1943
Today is 'Armistice Day'.
In ocean wastes no poppies blow,No crosses stand in ordered row,There young hearts sleep… beneath the wave…The spirited, the good, the brave,But stars a constant vigil keep,For them who lie beneath the deep.‘Tis true you cannot kneel in prayerOn certain spot and think. “He’s there.”But you can to the ocean go…See whitecaps marching row on row;Know one for him will always ride…In and out… with every tide.And when your span of life is passed,He’ll meet you at the “Captain’s Mast.”And they who mourn on distant shoreFor sailors who’ll come home no more,Can dry their tears and pray for theseWho rest beneath the heaving seas…For stars that shine and winds that blowAnd whitecaps marching row on row.And they can never lonely beFor when they lived… they chose the sea.
'We Will Remember Them'
Edit; Top of the Page
A bottle for everyone as we remember the fallen.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Good Morning All,
It's five o'clock somewhere so I'll have one of what David is having.
For those who served, thank you, today is your day. Remembrance Day, Armistice Day, Veterans Day, too many memories for too many people. J.R.
Good morning everyone.
Ed, didn't know about that film. Another one to add to my list.
No news is good news from my end of the line today.
Troop train movement in WWII:
Mike
Someday I'd like to model a hospital train. I have the Mohawk and a bunch of troop sleepers but no Hospital Cars.
NYC_War_Hospital by Edmund, on Flickr
An old friend of mine, Art Davis, owned a few Hospital cars. They could be bought for scrap price back in the late '60s. I think some went to the Monon and others to the Alaska Railroad.
Cheers Ed.
Good morning, diners. David, thanks for the drink.
It was a cold and windy walk this morning, as a cold front swept through. This evening we will dip down to 17° before we begin a slow warming.
Ed, thanks for the neat posters. Interesting to read.
I have kind of a weird family story. My maternal grandfather came to the U.S. from Germany early in the 1900s as a teenager, leaving his entire family behind. He married here, and began farming. Meanwhile, back in Germany, his younger brother joined the German army.
During WWI, his younger German brother was fighting against my grandfather's adopted country, the U.S. The brother was killed, just weeks before the war ended.
My grandfather never went back to Germany for a visit, but his father did come to visit his son in the U.S. during the 1920s.
Hope everyone has a good day today.
York1 John
The 11th of November.
I share this picture every year... My father-in-law with the rest of the B-17 crew:
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Here's a picture of my father. He was in command of this gun crew, and they made it all the way into Germany.
He's holding his ear -- when he came home he never heard out of that ear again.
SeeYou190 The 11th of Nevember. I share this picture every year... My father-in-law with the rest of the B-17 crew: -Kevin
The 11th of Nevember.
Hi Kevin, I spent some time studying this photo. The Faces and expressions, stance and different levels of Uniform and Rank. I don't think any Film Producer could capture that moment in time - if they tried, in a million years.
Same with John's photo of his Father.
My wife and I were visiting Holy Island today, which lies off the Northumberland coast and is only accessible by road, over a Causeway at low tide. We were right by the War Memorial when I saw the Poppies and suddenly remembered the date and thought of the sacrifice made by so many. Paul
"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".
LazersMy wife and I were visiting Holy Island today, which lies off the Northumberland coast and is only accessible by road, over a Causeway at low tide.
Paul, that's another place I've wanted to visit. I don't think I'll make it, but I love looking at pictures of the castle.
LazersHi Kevin, I spent some time studying this photo. The Faces and expressions, stance and different levels of Uniform and Rank. I don't think any Film Producer could capture that moment in time - if they tried, in a million years.
Paul, there are only 9 crewmen in the picture. The story I was told was that picture was taken following the mission where the tailgunner was killed by flak. Mary Alice was rebuilt with a new Cheyenne tail turret after that happened. While the plane was getting repaired, my father-in-law flew 2 missions on Cincinatti Sleigh Ride.
This allowed him to complete his tour before the rest of the Mary Alice crew, but he flew the last two missions with them. He was almost killed on his 32nd mission that he did not even need to be on.
He was stuck in the belly turret with a chest wound when the plane bounced off the English Channel. He rode to base clinging to the broken frame of the turret. He spent six months in an Army Hospital when he returned home.
Another tailgunner was killed on that mission as well.
He named his most beautiful baby daughter Mary Alice, and I married her.
- - - - - - - - - -
The World Is A Beautiful Place.
Hi Kevin, There were so many tragic events concerning the losses incurred by USAAF crews on missions over Europe (day or nighttime) so that we could keep our freedom. It must be great being able to see the aeroplane like that, after all those years since. Paul
Just a regular to go please Zoe.
Kevin, from the world of coincidence, my father was also a ball turret gunner first on B-17's then B-24's in the Pacific theater. This plane was shot down off the Phillipines and because he had to hand crank the turret back up and put his chute on before bailing out he survived while his crewmates were strafed in their chutes. He was able to make land on Mindanao where he was taken in by local guerillas and hidden until he could be safely taken off the island. He was lucky.
Off to the hospital. Turns out my daughter has given birth to a healty baby girl albeit 11 weeks early. Both are ok and we get to go visit today. Best, J.R.
Good evening Diners. A hot chocolate please, Zoe.
After a busy day 'playing taxi' to the family then some shopping to do, a little 'time off' before making dinner.
J.R. Congratulations.
Kevin. An interesting story with a lovely ending.
John. I wonder how many others were affected by the noise of the guns? I bet nothing was actually reported.
The only wartime photograph I have is of my Mother. As she died three days after I was born the picture has been in every wallet I have ever owned.
It is Friday. Our younger Granddaughter is staying for a couple of nights. Burgers with fries etc. are on the menu with Strawberry Trifle to follow.
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require
Good Afternoon,
We have just had the first winter storm this year. Not cold but a fair bit of rain that turned to wet snow and then it got windy. It lasted nearly 2 days. We were up most of the lasr 2 nights knocking snow off a pine tree and a couple of large cedars.
Kevin, interesting photo of your FIL's crew. My sister has the photos of Dad's crew. He was bomb aimer in a Halifax which was about the same size as a B17 but set up for night flying. It had only 2 turrets and a crew of 7.
Perhaps inspired by our current weather, I put my Athearn rotary plow on the rails. I put a decoder in it to control the blade speed. I guess it looks a little silly on a summer themed layout. I don't have room to leave it on a yard siding. Maybe I should sell it as they go for a fair buck on ebay.
J. R., congrats ! Have you ever worked on an AC Bristol?
Lunch time,
CN Charlie
Good afternoon everyone. I didn't get to my usual morning post -- I'm having a busy day.
Right now, I'm waiting on a tree trimming company that also sells firewood. Since I don't cut and split my own anymore, I'm always on the lookout for good wood.
Our area is just now getting attacked by the emerald ash borer. Since about one-fourth of our trees are ash, we will have a lot of dead trees in the next years. Lots of ash trees are being cut down now, with the result that we can get very good ash firewood. I prefer ash over other wood -- it burns clean, long, and hot.
We love our fireplace, especially on these cold windy days.
I just switched to a new credit card. This one gives cash back. I know I'm a little late to the game, but the kids kept telling me that my I was not taking advantage of the cash on my old card. It's not much cash, but it's nice that for something I was doing anyway, there's a few extra bucks involved.
We normally do not use the charge card for anything except vacations, but we may start using this one for monthly bills since we will get something back.
My reason for bringing it up is that to communicate with the card company, this bank will only text, not email. Since I don't normally have a cell phone, I'm having to use my wife's phone, which I don't like. Modern problems!
Hope everyone is doing well.
Hi, I hope these photos upload ok, since this is my first attempt. The photos are not some of my best and do no justice at all, to this fanatsic Loco. Another example of USA Engineering that helped win the war (Willys MB38's are my first)
In 2015 'Locomotion' museum at Shildon, Co. Durham, England hosted a 70 years-on event and USATC S160 2-8-0 2253 was on loan for display (I think she came from the North Yorks. Moors Railway) Built by Baldwin in 1943, she was sent to England to help in the war effort prior to being shipped to France after D-Day for use there. She was eventually purchased by Polish State Railways, hence for this occaision she displayed British & Polish Flags on her front Buffer-beam.
Other USATC Locos that were used and retained in England were the S100 0-6-0 Side-tanks - used on the Southern Railway.
Before the war, USA Loco design had already greatly influenced British Loco Engineers, and in the duration, RA Riddles designed the War Department (WD) 2-8-0 and the 2-10-0 'Austerities'. The 2-10-0's had a USA style wide Firebox that was over the Plate-frames. From this British Railways developed a range of Standard Class Locos which culminated with the best ever, the BR Standard Class 9F 2-10-0. High Running-plates, Rocking Grates, Self-cleaning Smokeboxes, External Pipework, 2 outside Cylinders, Wal's Valvegear - no frills. But they are still good-looking locos. All alas, came too late in BR history.
You can Google Austerity, BR Std Locos and also H G Ivatt Class 4 Moguls (LMS railway) and can clearly see the American influence in their post-war designs. Paul
Good evening all.
JR - Congrats on the new grandkid!
No pics of my relatives from wartime, but my Grandpa served on the USS Missouri, along with a few other ships, during both Korea and Nam. He was part of both Operation Wigwam, and a crew that dealt with Agent Orange. My Mom's oldest brother served in the Army at the pentagon in the 80's and early 90's, but was never allowed to talk about what he did, or where, other than "the pentagon".
Doggie - Test results came back, unfortunately it is a malignant tumor. Due to it being extremely aggressive, and it's location, the best we can do is keep him comfortable.
Layout room progress - One wall is completely painted, baseboard trim is up and stained as well. Second wall is primed, prepping a third wall for primer this weekend.
Hope all are well, best wishes to those not well, and hope all enjoy the rest of the day!
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
This was my father
Ricky sorry about your dog, my neighbor's dog had the same thing.
JR congrats
Garry glad you are on the mend.
The guy on the right was my uncle George. He was a tailgunner on a B-26 in Burma. My mother told me he survived after the tail got shot off. None of my other cousins remember that story so it may not be true.
I have doubts about the horse too. Where is the rest of it's body?
I don't know how anyone in combat can hear. At the place I hunt deer last week, there is a rifle range and a rifle going off 200' a way is unpleasantly loud. That is nothing like being in a fire fight, or around cannons tanks and howitzers.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Thank you to everyone that commented on my pictures and the story that went with them.
I just realized it is Friday, and I never got an invitation from my wargaming group. I wonder what is going on there?
GMTRacingTurns out my daughter has given birth to a healty baby girl albeit 11 weeks early. Both are ok and we get to go visit today.
Congratulations J.R.!! Is this your first grandchild?
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Good late afternoon from a soon-to-be very soggy West Coast.
Daughter is home for a few days as it is mid-term reading week. She has a good friend at University from Singapore that landed a four-month Co-op position over here with the Provincial Government in a computer engineering position and needs somewhere to live in a hurry starting right after Christmas. He told my daughter he could only pay us $2000.00 a month as he still has to pay his rent in Victoria while he is away the four months. We said $600.00 would be fine for full room and board. He is lucky, my wife really knows how to cook. We certainly have room for him and we have had a lot of kids pass through our house over the years that needed a break from a less than ideal home life. It will be nice to hear about life in Singapore.
I have been enjoying everyone's contributions, especially Ed's troop train posters, those are very cool.
Lazars, that 2253 loco is sure an eye-catcher, thanks for posting that one.
John, we use our credit cards for absolutely everything. The kid went to University in Ottawa and the air miles we got paid his airfare home four times a year. Before the kids grew up we would get enough air miles to take us all to Hawaii every year and pay for the car rental. Accommodation and meals we had to cover. Can't wait to get back to the South Pacific. I would like to visit Tahiti one more time.
Just got off the bike, I was helping the boss move all the furniture in our bedroom for a good cleaning and rearranging just for a change. Then we started in my sons' bedroom. He moved out last April and left a mountain of stuff for us to take to charity. He has a really cool R/C hovercraft that I love to play with, it performs well on land and water and is a lot of fun. He also has an R/C submarine that I like to play with in the pool. He also has one of those Airhog twin-engine R/C planes that I like to fly around the backyard chasing the dogs with. I am keeping them all. He has a couple of older drones that still work pretty well. In the summer I fly it several hundred feet to the neighbours when I hear them out on their deck. I get a wave and most importantly an invite to come over for a beer and crab legs. He goes crabbing just about every weekend through the summer.
I smell something wonderful being prepared in the kitchen, time for a quick shower now I have stopped leaking everywhere and then it is pigout time. I usually only eat once a day so I love when the dinner bell rings.
In 1939 Canadian Pacifics Ogden shops in Calgary quickly changed to war production.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
For all the bird watchers out there, Dianne and I drove to some fields about 45 minutes north of us to see Sandhill Cranes. We weren't sure how many we would see but we sure weren't disappointed! There were thousands of them! We needed our binoculars to get a good view. Stupidly, we forgot to take our spotting scope. There was one single large white bird in amongst them. We are pretty sure it was a Whistling Swan but it was a long way off.
I suspect they will be gone by Sunday because the weather is supposed to get snowy and nasty.
hon30critterThere was one single large white bird in amongst them. We are pretty sure it was a Whistling Swan but it was a long way off.
Dave, when the Sandhill Cranes come through here, there are usually several Whooping Cranes traveling with them. They also stand out in the crowd. I have never yet seen one, though. Seeing one is major goal of mine.
Howdy ... it is good to see all of your interesting posts of recent days . Apparently, each of you had a good Veterans Day and I am glad.
I am generally pleased with what the cardiologist said in my Wednesday appointment. My recovery , however , will still be a very long time. I sleep much of the time. So it will be a while before I can participate here very much .
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
York1Dave, when the Sandhill Cranes come through here, there are usually several Whooping Cranes traveling with them.
Hi John,
The possibility of it being a Whooping Crane didn't occur to us but it didn't have the brownish forehead, and I think the possibility of a Whooping Crane being this far east is pretty remote. However, you never know what you might see!
Lazers. Further information on USATC 2253. It now appears to be in good hands.
https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/usatc-2253/
Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee, please.
It was a cold walk this morning. The creek was covered with ice. I spotted the local blue heron standing on the ice. It flew when I got close. I'm not sure where it goes when the creek freezes solid. I also don't know if this is the same heron that I see each year.
Kevin, that's pretty neat story of your wife's father. What an amazing life some of that generation experienced.
J.R., congratulations on the birth of the grandchild. Now don't spoil her, OK? Eleven weeks early! She must be a very tiny baby. How long before they will let her come home?
David, that's a sad story of your mother. It's heartwarming that you have carried a photo of her with you your entire life. On another thread I read about your patience when you have your grandchildren work with your layout. You have exactly the right attitude of layouts and children.
Charlie, please keep that snow up there with you. We had some flurries yesterday again, but nothing like you guys get up there this early.
Paul, that Baldwin certainly had an interesting history. I'm glad it's preserved after all the action it saw.
Ricky, your mention of Agent Orange hit home. My oldest brother flew planes off the USS Kearsarge in Vietnam. He was trained for anti-submarine, but they flew over land, finding targets. He eventually died of lung cancer which had the earmarks of Agent Orange. Once diagnosed, he didn't live long. Also, I hope your dog is able to have comfortable last days.
Henry, that's a great photo of your uncle having fun with the horse head. Those guys certainly had experiences we can only imagine.
Kevin, are you still enjoying your time at Home Depot? I'm afraid I would get tired of dealing with some people all day.
Brent, you have your kids move out, and someone else moves in! I'm glad you enjoy it. I think I would probably get tired of having others in the house here. Even when relatives visit, I'm usually ready after three days for them to move on.
Garry, it's great to hear from you. I'm glad to hear that your doctor gave you good news. Slow recovery is better than the other alternative. We're thinking of you.
For everyone, including the diners I didn't mention, I hope you have a great Saturday.
Let's not linger in the Dining Car too long. There's GIs waiting to be served:
NYC_War_Diner by Edmund, on Flickr
Cold, windy and a bit of snow in the air around here today.
Time to get to the trains!
Cheers, Ed
Good evening diners. Flo, I'll take a banana split please. Extra cherries on top.
When I got up this morning, the weather said the rain was about to stop for the day. Great! I can get my outdoor Christmas lights up, so out I went. And got rained on for two and a half hours. Oh well. Got almost all of them up. Glad it's done. About an hour after I came in, a winter storm watch was issued for tonight and tomorrow.
Ricky, so sorry to hear about your dog. I've been there too. I feel your pain.
JR, happy new grandkid!
Garry, just keep getting better. Stop in and catch up reading posts as you are able, and drop us an update when you feel up to it. Thinking of you.
All others, thanks for all the interesting posts. Lots of neat info out there!
Have a good night guys!
Hi David, thanks for the additional info on S160 2253 and John I forgot to mention that one major acheivment of this design was that it fitted inside the very restricted British Loading Gauge, which is smaller than European and a lot smaller than the USA L/G. It was a truly versatile and very successful design. Paul