Thanks for the Löwenbräu, Douglas. Speaking of beers that ain't like they used to be. Back in the late '90s I spent lots of time along the PRR main line around Latrobe, Pennsylvania, home of Rolling Rock beer.
Latrobe_PRR by Edmund, on Flickr
Rolling Rock was pretty good stuff, brewed in glass-lined tanks from the crystal-clear waters of the Laurel Highlands. Some years later, after not enjoying R-R for a while I bought a six-pack and was all ready to take that first sudsy sip.
As Bill-the-Cat would say. AAAckk! It was awful. After looking into things, it turns out the brand was sold, the brewery closed and was now contract-brewed by Budwheezer in the Meadowlands (AKA landfill) of New Jersey. Such a pity.
Then — my story of "imported" beer. At a local seafood restaurant some years ago, I ordered several Frankenmuth Beers. Come time to settle the tab I see that I was charged with buying a premium imported beer which was about a buck-a-bottle more. Questioning the waitperson about Michigan still being part of the USA, she replied "one look at the label and you know it is foreign beer, just look at how the writing is!"
Frankenmuth by Edmund, on Flickr
I did not inquire what kind of scores she got on geography exams. Is geography still a thing in school anymore?
Speaking of geography, I didn't find a New Zealand poster yet but here's one from their neighbor:
Australia_Travel by Edmund, on Flickr
And let's not forget the symbiotic relationship between EMD, Budd domes and the late, great CB&Q:
EMD_high-wide-handsome by Edmund, on Flickr
I hope everyone is getting along well these days.
Cheers, Ed
Critter Dave) ya know, ive seen that Amtrak part(1:15) a 100 times, and it keeps getting funnier everytime i see it!!!!
For the life of me i cannot fathom how people cant forsee the eminant snow wall about to up an jump all over'm. I sincerely hope the engineer is busting a gut all over that cab (payback for all the close call grade crossings).
Also makes me wonder in the scenes before that where the trains are 'running blind' essencially. Pushing snow 20 and 30 feet in the air... if one of these platform dolts was to be driving alongside and couldnt see the train because of the snow, I can only imagine what they would think it was....
"Hello 911, im on a country road in blah blah ville - youll never believe what im looking at! .... Well, its kinda like Godzilla swimming through the snow. Yes, Ill hold...."
Elevator music....
Click click "Bellvue Hospital, how may i direct you call?"
Douglas
Edit: Just noticed this is top of the page. If that sticks... is this enough?
Prozet(sp)!
SeeYou190I really wish I understood how the targetted ads at the bottom of the page work.
Hi Kevin,
Have you tried using 'Adblock Plus'? It's free. I never have any pop up ads except for those from Model Railroader.
https://adblockplus.org/
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I thought this fairly recent compilation would be appropriate to go with our current extreme cold and heavy snow. Some of the videos we have seen before but there are a few that I hadn't. Click on the 'Watch on YouTube' icon for full screen:
It must take some guts to run locomotives blind like that!
Kevin)
"I really wish I understood how the targetted ads at the bottom of the page work."
Ever hear that phrase 'Dont ask questions you really dont want to know the answer to'?
All you need to know is the keyword is "Target". Thats how they see you, and what they think of you! The reason you cant fathom the ads is, quite honestly Kevin, your not a criminal. You dont think like that.
Howmus) M*A*S*H, hands down, bar none(!), its the best show ever made! I watch it everday.
A#1 North!
Edit: Kevin, I dont know if you can recieve PMs or not but i sent you one.
MisterBeasleyand those ads have grown in size by a factor of 2 1/2 over the last month or so.
Yep! I stopped watching TV a few years ago. I noticed that MASH which was a half hour show originally, meaning there was 20 minutes of show and 10 minutes of ads, became an hour long show as a rerun and they were cutting a scene or two from the show to be able to show all the ads. Emeril Live became a few minutes of him telling what he was going to make then 10 minutes of ads where he would come back and show it being taken out of the oven, etc.
I do watch some things over at my son's house on a paid channel that really doesn't have a huge amount of intrusive stupid ads crammed down my throat. I won't say anything about the ads (what ads?) here on the site. I do know the bills have to get paid, but!
Personally I make it a practice in my life to never buy things from ads shoved at me.....
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
SeeYou190 I really wish I understood how the targetted ads at the bottom of the page work. -Kevin
I really wish I understood how the targetted ads at the bottom of the page work.
-Kevin
I would like them to revisit their policy on those bottom-of-the-page are, too. I use a small tablet for web browsing, and those ads have grown in size by a factor of 2 1/2 over the last month or so. They seem to be spew, just random collections of ads for services I'm not interested in. When I'm trying to reply to a topic, they pop up and take most of the window for my answer.
Steven Otte, your face appears in the Members Online area right now, and I know you've actually addressed it and gotten it fixed before. Can you help us out again, please? BTW, my autocorrect changed your name to Steven Otter.
EDIT: Right now, the ads I'm getting are in Spanish and seem to be for Facebook.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Lately they have all been for automotive jewelry. The current one wants me to buy Caroll Shelby Snake bracelets and necklaces.
Why am I getting these? I don't have a classic car, and I never wear jewelry?
If these ads were based on my browsing history, all my ads would be for model trains, photography gear, and music CDs. The bottom page ads are always the most random silly things.
Living the dream.
Hi Everyone,
CNC: Speaking of US beers in Canada, we were in Victoria, BC, and at a restaurant. The menu said imported beer. The imported offering was Old Milwaukee, $3.75/ bottle. Nowadays that doesn't seem like much, but in the 80s that was like asking $5 for a bottle of bilge water. Old Milwaukee was not regarded as a premium brew. I just had to laugh when I saw that. Yes, Keith's is a good brew.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
I’ve no good reason but I might have started with a forty footer, Dave.
Hi Bear,
I hear what you are saying. My drawing looks a little stubby. Perhaps I will lower the roof by a foot or two, and make the blade assembly a bit smaller.
My reasoning behind the 36' car was that, according to some of the information that Brent supplied, the plough was built in 1901. I'm not an expert on box car history but I thought they were mostly 36 footers back then. The reasoning behind the 14' box height was based on a couple of things. First, the ladder has 14 rungs on it. If the rungs are 1' apart that equals 14'. Also, I've assumed that they used a standard door size which I'm guessing to be about 6' wide x 9' tall. Based on a 9' high door, the overall height would again appear to be about 14'.
If I'm wrong then I will just have to suffer the embarassment I have a 36' double sheathed wooden box car on order from Accurail from which I will borrow the roof, frame, doors and other parts as appropriate.
Thanks for your interest,
Cheers!!
Good morning diners. Brunhilda, a coffee and a couple breakfast burritos please.
TV. Other than some sports, I don't purposefully watch very much at all. There are a couple shows we watch as a family and will usually watch them together on nights we get take-out. We recently subscribed to Apple TV to watch the Ted Lasso series. I wasn't terribly excited about the idea but ends up it is a great show. Once we finish watching the second season of it, we will cancel our subscription until season 3 is out, then cancel again. Having it did allow me to watch the Tom Hanks movie Greyhound that Apple made a couple years ago. Excellent show too, but not much else on their service looks worthwhile for us.
York1Mike, is your daughter able to attend school through all this? I can imagine she will be anxious to get back to a normal young person's life.
Mike
Good morning Diners. A full English please, Chloe.
A busy day today.
All this talk of snowblowers. No need for them here. Six years ago I bought a snow shovel. Still in pristine condition thankfully, as I dislike the snow.
Snow clearing U.K. style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ugIoMD495E&t=153s&ab_channel=BFI
Talking of things pristine (Well nearly)
In days gone railway stations had immaculate gardens. In fact there were annual competitions for the best kept garden.
Even with a picturesque scene of everything looking wonderful, Nature as the last laugh. Not quite perfect. Not wishing to spoil the beauty, but little daisies are growing - bottom right. See what you see and not what you thought you saw.
Rowley Station at Beamish Museum, County Durham.
IMG_1313 by David Harrison, on Flickr
A number of members are not feeling 100% right now. I wish you all a speedy recovery and hope to hear from you soon.
Stay safe David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I think I have the proportions reasonably correct for the rotary snow plough. The drawing doesn't show dimensions but it is based on a 36' box car which has been extended to 14' tall.
Here is the original:
Hey John) I kept calling dispatch for a helper/pusher, but none came.
And dont worry bout yer long posts, i think i have the option on short posts. And fer good reason too!
Clear Ahead!
Good evening from the starry sky West Coast. It is supposed to be sunny for the next week. I think some hikes in the mountains may be in order.
Had a great go on the bike today even though I feel not as good as yesterday I was motoring.
Got a lot of those annoying small chores done today so the trainroom will be the focus for tomorrow.
I love beer but don't drink it often as I don't like the side effects of looking pregnant.
My sisters' house was a casualty of our weather in November and she does not deal with such problems well. We just fix things and move on, she falls to pieces, so I have been trying to assist where I can. Not sure how she would handle a real disaster. She has had an easy life so that plays into it.
Ed, you're not supposed to tell them it is photoshopped. I posted the same pic on FB and they are still arguing about it. Never let reality or the facts get in the way of what you want to believe in. Have you ever dropped in on the "flat Earthers" website?
Been watching this British Murder mystery called "Stay Close". It's not bad, I generally like the British cop shows as they leave out the flash and overacting we tend to get on this side of the pond, haven't seen a gun yet. Two episodes left so better get to it. From 1976 when I graduated high school until I had a kid in 1998 I rarely watched TV, I kept saying I'll do that when I am old and can't be productive anymore. I think I must be here now as I find the Idiot box is about all I have the energy for after dinner these days. Glad I didn't waste my time watching TV when I was younger as I would have been kicking myself for wasting my life.
To the big screen!
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."
Good afternoon,
A sunny day today but it is only -11F.
John, we have lots of birds right now. A flock of Redpolls, many house finches, chickadees and sparrows. Those Redpolls sure eat a lot for a small bird. Your little Rosie is a cute dog. It was likely liver cancer that got Robbie. We had him in for surgery to remove the tumor but it was where the blood vessels come out of the liver and the surgeon wouldn't even try for a biopsy as it was too risky. He recovered fine from the surgery but 5 months later he suddenly developed an infection that the vet couldn't control and he was gone in a week. I miss him every day. He was my Bud.
I didn't start the other truck kit, well I did cut the brake hangers from the sprue but that is it. I think I will run the Northern again. It is a very nice loco and I think the first plastic steam detailed to the level of brass. Well maybe close to brass.
I don't drink much beer. In my younger days Molson Golden ale was the beer I liked best. Back in the '70s you couldn't buy U.S. beer brands in Canada. I don't like the high level of carbination that Budweiser and Coor's has but it might be just 'what you grew up with'. When I had the sailboat I used to buy an English beer, I think it was called Green Abbott. Kieth's IPA was ok too.
TF, glad you are feeling a little better.
CN Charlie
John I was an anesthesiologist, not surgeon, but no doctors don't pay attention to the rules.
I was too young for some of the old beers my parents drank: Gunther, Arrow, Schmidts. My mom drank Natty Bo, which was a terrible beer. National Premium was much better. In residency I learned to homebrew. I thought it would be a great idea to open a brewpub, when the first one opened, I thought the niche had been filled and abandoned the idea.
Nor did I see the coming of small distilleries. My grandfather and uncle owned one after prohibition, but the uncle was a crook and stole from my grandfather in several ventures.
The guy that founded Under Armor owns a distillery, Sagamore Farms, named after a classic Maryland thoroughbred stable, that he also bought.
Apropos of nothing, here is the story of the Astabula bridge disaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfhYPUU2wNw
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Brunhilda, coffee with cream, please.
John: I had a friend who once worked on the canning line at Coors back in the 70s. He said that between the two 12 oz lines and the one 16 oz line, Coors was pumping out 16000 cans of beer per day. That was before they were required to distribute nationally. That's also just cans. The bottles and kegs, etc. are another number. Anyway, that kind of shows the volume of product that Coors was producing. My favorite big rehydration beer was Olympia. Yeah, it was low rent, but I always liked it. However, either Pabst and/or Miller bought out Oly and changed the recipe. It was never the same. We stopped at the brewery back in 04 and it was abandoned. Sad!
Brent: I like the triple roter snow plow. Aye,.. now theres a snow plow. Arrr!
A couple of choices I have left in the Diner.
IMG_5730 by David Harrison, on Flickr
beer_17536 by David Harrison, on Flickr
David
As an older gentleman, I grew up in the time of basically no craft beer at all, so for most of my life I drank regular Bud, the stuff in the red and white cans, which for a while we called Bud Heavy. Sam Adams was a true revelation which proved that this country can make good, even great beer, and craft brewing began to take off. I eventually settled on Harpoon as my regular "house beer." That Bud Heavy was reserved for our post-hockey rehydration festivities.
Now, here in Delaware, we have such a cornucopia of locally brewed craft beers, the stores stock craft beers from all over the country, and we frequently dine in brewpubs, that the beer fridge out in the garage is a constant turnover of delights.
It may surprise some that the largest brewing company that is still American owned is not one of those rehydration beers. It's Sam Adams, also known as the Boston Beer Company.
York1Kevin, I hope you can survive the winter weather of 50° temps. It must be horrible! Good luck with your duct work and the ceiling replacement.
Pulled the ceiling down last night, and everything on the South end of the house looks much better than what I found on the North end last year.
It looks like just some easy resealing and some new pantone fastener strips, and I will be done.
I will put up new insulation too, of course. I am glad it is in pretty good shape.
Good morning from the House of the Sick. My wife and I both are under the weather, and I'm not sure the dog feels that great, either.
Bacon, eggs, and coffee will help a lot.
Dave, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress with that snowplow. In real life, I've never seen a train snowplow at work. Of course, with a large part of my life spent in New Orleans, I don't think the railroads there used them too much!
Bear, those were great pictures of your beautiful country's shores. I wish I had more time left in my life to visit there.
Ed, that Schlitz beer ad was pretty neat. The beer talk reminds me of college. The college students had about five bars that we went to regularly. Each served a different beer on tap. If we started the night at the bar with Schlitz, it tasted pretty good. However, if you started at one of the other bars, and then went to the Schlitz, it was horrible!
TF, I know you've lost your senses of taste and smell. My daughter said it took weeks for her taste and smell to return. I hope you are doing OK. There's really not much you can do other than lay on the couch and watch videos. If you get the cable channel TCM, right now I'm starting one of my favorite westerns, John Wayne's "Rio Bravo". That's how I'm spending my time.
JR, it's always amazing how some people never learn or think about driving on ice until they find themselves in the ditch. I think there's something about driving a four-wheel drive vehicle that makes people think they can drive on ice better and faster.
MLC, glad the ice and snow were mainly gone by the time you headed home. I think you guys in Kentucky have gotten more snow and ice this year than we have out on the plains.
Brent, I'm glad your son decided to head to the hospital. This stuff isn't anything to mess around with. I hope he does well and gets out soon.
Douglas, your experience with the snow blower is familiar to me. My wife has the idea that all one has to do when snowblowing is stand behind the machine and watch it work. She can't understand why I'm worn out and sore when I come in after a long session with that thing.
David, interesting pictures of the Panama Canal. Several years back, we thought about going from Los Angeles to Florida via the canal, but with grandchildren, vacation plans changed. It's still something I would like to see.
Mike, is your daughter able to attend school through all this? I can imagine she will be anxious to get back to a normal young person's life.
Charlie, I don't envy you with all the snow and cold you have. We are cold today, but no snow. I have a feeling that if I lived there, I would also pay someone else to clear my driveway. I think you mentioned some months ago that many of your birds were gone. Have they all returned? Are you getting the numbers you used to get? Our feeders are crowded.
Jim, you mentioned the smell of Coors. I had a friend who was originally from Denver, and he thought Coors beer was the only beer one should be drinking. We tried telling him none of us could stand it, but that didn't stop him. We even had to tour the brewery when we visited him. At the end of the tour, you could get a free glass of beer. It didn't taste any better at the brewery than it did out of the bottle.
MisterBeasley, I'm one of those beer people you talked about. In past years, I would walk into a restaurant or bar and order whatever sounded neat, and I would try a variety. Lately, I've decided it was so hit-or-miss on getting one I liked, I just decided to buy the one I knew I liked, mainly Bud Light. When we are out with the sons-in-law, they will order all kinds of different ones, and I will be drinking Bud.
Henry, I hope you can keep checking into the diner to let us know how the recovery is going. I find it interesting about how you went through surgery when you spent your life being the surgeon for other people! Are you doing the same recovery things that you instructed your patients to do?
Mike, I hope your recovery continues to progress. What you said about great expectations after surgery is exactly what my wife did. She had both knees replaced at the same time, and the doctors warned her that recovery would take a long time and lots of therapy. They couldn't believe that in three days, she was walking around up and down stairs with no pain. She was a one-in-a-thousand. I was happy, too. I didn't have to wait on her and help with everything.
Kevin, I hope you can survive the winter weather of 50° temps. It must be horrible! Good luck with your duct work and the ceiling replacement.
Well, as you can see from the length of this post, I'm bored, I'm watching westerns on TV, and I'm writing book-length posts on the forum.
How about a "The World is a Beautiful Place":
I took this on the Navajo Loop Trail at Bryce Canyon. A long, hot hike that day:
I promise to make my next post a little shorter. For those people I didn't mention, I hope you are doing well.
York1 John
Morning
Nothing better than some good aged stone David. I plan to have plenty of that on the layout.
Daisy's a cutie John! I'm glad she decided to make other plans than the vets diagnosis. It's nice that you rescued your friend back then and gave her a loving home.
Enjoyed the rotary plow video and the beautiful scenery where you live Bear. Pretty thick stuff off those mountain banks. Kinda like a thick beard in the Springtime I guess. One thin cut at a time eventually gets through it
Going into the second week on the couch trying to feel better here. This crap ain't no joke but I think humor helps anything if you can still find it. Been watching some videos to help occupy my time when I ain't sleeping. Hope things start heading in the positive direction for your son and yourself as well Brent.
Sparked from the rotary plow interest here, I looked up a few of those myself.
https://youtu.be/hbLyXtzLX3I
Oh Why? ....OY? Because it needs to get done
TF
Good afternoon Diners. A coffee and blueberry muffin please Zoe.
Just popping in. Seems rather quiet.
Another simple scene that says it all.
Note the dry stone wall. It is over 100 years old and the stonework is not all level. The weathering. The sign is incorporated into the stonework. Nature with little branches from a tree working into the stonework
A sign 'To Haworth Railway Station'. The Bronte Family would have passed the sign often as it was near their Parsonage.
Near Haworth Station by David Harrison, on Flickr
Good Morning Fellas. Mike & Henry, glad to hear you guys are progressing in your recovery.
Strong winds last night bringing in another weather system that is supposed to be bringing in some lake effect snow and cold temps again. Problem is I need to grab stool samples for the vet's office Friday and can't have it all buried under the white stuff. That's already happened once, and it's supposed to be relatively fresh. What to do?
MisterBeasleyWhat is weird to me is the number of people who will walk into a craft beer place with a large variety of beers and order a bottle of Bud Lite. Why?
SeeYou190Down comes the ceiling in the living room, and A/C duct work will be going on for a while.
John & Brent, hope you guys feel better soon.
Bear & Ed, beautiful pics as always.
Jim, isn't hospice care for dogs what most pets live through on a daily basis?
CNCharlieI think I will do the other truck on that passenger car kit today, at least start it. The first one rolls nicely, but 27 parts, really?
David, bummer you can't post the pics. Always enjoy seeing stuff from the other side of the pond.
TF, are you out there? (you know what I mean ) Anyone else?
Later guys.
Good morning Diners. A coffee on the go please, Janie.
Snowploughs!!!
Snowdrift at Bleath Gill. Apparently I cannot post properly (again, and again and ---- )
To those not feeling 100% I hope you are on the right side of recovery.
Back later. Posting pictures etc. might work then.
Stay Safe
BATMANNighty night.
Aint Photoshop FUN?
Still, look at the machenery on this wonderful machine!
https://www.railpictures.net/photo/649046/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4NMq1B_eBQ
B&O trackside shops and covered roundhouse, Martinsburg, West Virginia.
BandO_Martinsburg_WV by Edmund, on Flickr