Hi everyone!
Once again it is time to move the Diner! The suggested theme for this month was roundhouses. I'm sure there are plenty of pics and stories of roundhouses, but to keep things interesting, let's expand the offering to include locomotive shops and servicing facilities.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Jim,
Thank you for moving the Diner!
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Nice to have the Diner moved with such finesse and flawlessness! Thank you Jim!
So we're in the roundhouse? I'll just sit in the corner, um, when I can find it
Here's the old remains of the first roundhouse I called my 'childhood home' for quite a few years. This is the New York Central Roundhouse and turntable in their major Collinwood Yard on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio:
Collinwood_roundhouse by Edmund, on Flickr
Well, this is the way I remember it, anyway. It had been torn down a few years prior and I don't have any recollection of it standing.
In better days:
Collinwood_roundhouse_crop (2016_08_17 08_08_12 UTC) by Edmund, on Flickr
I used to stand on that bridge with my dad and observe all the activities. Even getting invited to ride along with a switcher crew every now and then
Cheers, Ed
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good Morning Diners. Flo, coffee please.
Going to be a looong week at work. Corporate audit this week and they will be digging heavily into a bunch of stuff I am reponsible for (among other things). Stressful. The HR manager has already set up an unwinding session for a few of us key players in this audit at a local brewery for the end of the week. It will be needed.
Got most of the way done with the stairs I'm redoing in the house. I still have to install the landing and fix some of the wall where the knotty pine was cut around steps that originally stuck out past the wall. That will take some work, but with a bit of care and some fancy trim work, it will turn out just fine. Here's the project as it stood yesterday evening.
Stairs 1 by Michael, on Flickr
Stairs 2 by Michael, on Flickr
Otis the dog appears unimpressed with the amount of work I've put into them. Oh well. Can't win them all!
Cheers guys!
Mike
Water Level RouteGot most of the way done with the stairs I'm redoing in the house.
Mike, the stairs look great.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Here's the Philadelphia Roundhouse:
I don't have any roundhouses my me, Wisconsin has a few round barns!
Nice work on the stairs Mike. Looking good!
I had to search for that Philadelphia Roundhouse, from what I found, there are efferts underway to save it, from what, I don't know. I suppose some big developers have a grand idea about something else that should be there.
Horray horray! 1st of May.....you know the rest.
Later,
Mike.
My You Tube
Water Level Route Stairs 1 by Michael, on Flickr Stairs 2 by Michael, on Flickr
Stairway to heaven, or the layout. Same thing.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Good afternoon everyone. It's a little early, but I'm ready to start happy hour.
Not a good day. I had to cut the grass for the first time this spring. I honestly hate cutting grass almost as much as I would hate paying someone else to cut it.
My cold just won't quit. Coughing and hacking all day and parts of the night. I had a meeting last night, and several others there said they have the same thing. The only good thing is if I understand viruses, I won't get this exact same strain again. Of course, I'm running out of years to catch these things anyway.
I grew up in a town that had Union Pacific shops with a roundhouse. It was right off the highway east of town, and when you drove that highway, you passed right by that large curved building.
My Little League baseball coach was a UP shop worker. He would show up for our afternoon practices in his overalls that at one time were blue, but were actually black from all the grease and grime. He was a nice old guy and a good, encouraging coach.
The roundhouse was taken down when I was a kid, and the UP yards there are not nearly as big as they used to be. Right now, the yards are a big connection point for Union Pacific and the Nebraska Central Railroad, which took over quite a few UP tracks to small towns.
Not a good picture of the roundhouse, but I can't really find many photos of it. I wish I had taken some when I was a kid.
York1 John
Happy Birthday, Amtrak!
Fifty two years and I've witnessed all of them for better or worse.
An Amtrak turntable:
PRR_turntable_GG1 by Edmund, on Flickr
GG1s in a roundhouse? It happened in Wilmington A trademark of the PRR was to put the operator's cab in the middle of the bridge. I wonder if a hostler working alone had to make a few attempts before aligning the rails? I see two fellows standing on the right end of the bridge.
Here's close to the same view today. Note the two rectangular buildings still standing:
Wilmington Turntable by Edmund, on Flickr
39° F (the high!) here in NE Ohio. Nice day to plant flowers?
At the home of US railroading, Baltimore, the B&O roundhouse wasn't built to modern code. In 2003 a big snowstorm brought down the roof of some vintage railroad stock. The roof was rebuilt, I'm not sure the restored all the damage stock.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Ulrich sent me this video of the latest addition to Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg, Germany. Unfortunately there are no subtitles but the creative technology is very interesting:
Here is the John Street roundhouse in Toronto, Ontario. It was restored in 1997 and now hosts a railway museum, a furniture store, a theater and a brewery:
Gordon Lightfoot passed away this evening in a Toronto hospital at 7:30 p.m.
I went to the ReCon wargaming convention over the weekend to sell off my late friend's collection for charity.
-All Photographs by Kevin Parson
As always at these things, some truly stunning modelling skill was on display.
And, as usual, I saw a model painted so well that I figured I should just put all my brushes into a blender, liquify them, and flush them down the toilet.
Why do I even try?
We sold enough of the collection to make a $1,419.00 donation to Avow Hospice of Collier County. We sold only about 20% of what we brought. We will need to go back to HurriCon in September.
Our table was between two great dealers and we had a very enjoyable time talking with them.
I really am glad I was sandwiched in the middle of The Bad Goblin and The Happy Troll.
Liz from The Bad Goblin was a wonderful personality. She and my wife had an enjoyable time together.
And... there were even a few trains.
Good Morning Diners. Janie, coffee and wheat toast please.
Day 1 of the audit went well. Hoping that continues. The auditor I have looking over my stuff, while currently living in Texas, is originally from Michigan so we have a lot to talk about. He and I even graduated from the same small university 3 years apart. Small world sometimes.
York1My cold just won't quit.
hon30critterJohn Street roundhouse in Toronto, Ontario
SeeYou190We sold only about 20% of what we brought.
Here is all that is left of the roundhouse in Ludington. I've seen one photo of it standing before, but can't locate it this morning. Will keep looking.
My story about my house guest got lost in the Forbidden 403 zone. She talked non-stop and talked over us when we had a response or started a new conversation. She tried to put a buttered bagel in the toaster. When my wife wouldn't let her, she licked the butter off and tried again. I found this site. It links to google maps, so there aren't really good up close photos https://www.steamlocomotive.com/roundhouse/
Here is an pic at Scranton Steamtown.
It is not a jpeg so you have to click on the link.
Good morning, everyone. Bacon and eggs please.
I'm going to sit all day and take medicine. Tired of this.
Mike, the stairs look great. I hope the audit continues to go well.
Ed, I don't know about Ohio, but my wife planted flowers last week and had to cover them -- we got down to 26°F one night. I think they're safe from now on.
Dave, I'll second Mike's comment. I wonder how they got all that wood to look so good after the years of smoke, grease, and grime that must have covered on the roundhouse ceiling.
Kevin, it sounds like you did well at the sale. That's a great idea, and it has to be a comfort to the widow that you are spending so much time and effort in memory of your friend.
Brent, too bad about Lightfoot's passing. While I'm not a music fan, I do know some of his songs.
In Nebraska, there are two surviving roundhouses with turntables (that I know of). This one is in Chadron in the northwestern corner of the state, and it is still used by Nebraska Northwestern Railroad.
I believe the building was covered with the metal siding, but the original brick is still inside. From what I've read, it's one of very few roundhouses and turntables that are still used in the western part of the U.S.
This photo was taken years ago. I believe the building has been cleaned up since this photo and is now used by the railroad:
Jay Anderson Photo
Have a great day, everyone.
BigDaddyMy story about my house guest got lost in the Forbidden 403 zone. She talked non-stop and talked over us when we had a response or started a new conversation. She tried to put a buttered bagel in the toaster. When my wife wouldn't let her, she licked the butter off and tried again.
Now I'm curious. What a guest! Maybe you can fill us in on what was lost in the 403 information!
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
Good morning everyone. Chloe, I will have two bananas and a large coffee today. Thank you.
Water Level RouteI'm sure you would have liked to sell more than that, but it still sounds like you had a pretty good haul.
The limiting factor to sales was that we could only take cash. If we had any way to accept a credit card or other transfer payment, we would have sold a lot more.
We must fix that for September.
BigDaddyMy story about my house guest got lost in the Forbidden 403 zone. She talked non-stop and talked over us when we had a response or started a new conversation.
Bad house guests are the worst. So sorry.
I was opposed to having a guest room in the house, but my wife won out on that one. I hope it is rarely used.
York1Kevin, it sounds like you did well at the sale. That's a great idea, and it has to be a comfort to the widow that you are spending so much time and effort in memory of your friend.
It was quite an experience. I will probably post more about it later.
Good Morning,
Sad about Gordon. I saw him once at the concert hall here in 1969. Took a girl I was dating with whom I hoped to marry one day but it didn't work out. I was in 3rd year at the uni. I find that a lot of things trigger old memories lately.
This morning we got our 3rd covid booster. Have evaded it so far.
It has really warmed up here with temps in the 60s. Tomorrow I plan on taking the thatch rake to the front lawn. The lawn is small as most if the yard is covered by 3 huge spruce trees.
Mike, the staircase looks great. I haven't lived in a 2 storey house since I was 13. Your photos made me think of my childhood home that had a large oak staircase in the middle of the house. See what I mean about triggers.
All of the roundhouses here are long gone. Winnipeg had major shops for both CN and CP. There is still a small roundhouse and turntable in Thief River Falls.
Coffee time as I was up at 6 this morning.
CN Charlie
York1Now I'm curious. What a guest! Maybe you can fill us in on what was lost in the 403 information!
Now for the rest of the story.
Previously she was a highly competant physician and not rude at all. After a 40 year relationship/marriage she divorced and got the short end of the stick. She says she has AHDH, OCD, PTSD, long Covid. She was supposed to visit us 2 years ago and canceled because:
She lives in Chapel Hill, U of NC Med Center and had never gone to the migraine clinic, where they have more useful drugs than the ones she is on.
Finally she showed up a year ago, knowing we would take her out to dinner, she arrived at 10 pm
This time I asked her to share her location. At 7:30 am she texted me that I was snarky. Her car wasn't packed. She was supposed to arrive between 4-6 pm. At 5:30 she was "checking her car" She rolled in at 11:15 pm claiming to have gotten lost on WAZE. Never called to say she was running late.After dinner the second night, she (who was a wine connoisseur when she lived in San Francisco) asked for a funnel so she pour what was left in her wine glass back in the bottle. I belong to another forum with lots of emojis. We need a puke emoji to insert right here.
Henry, I hope this woman has a relative or friend living near her in Chapel Hill who can watch out for her. She sounds like she is going to need help dealing with things over the next years.
That's too bad, and I'm sure it's hard for you guys to watch a friend lose her way in life.
Good late evening
My Grandfather the Scotsman, always wearing a Tam said, "If you have one True Friend towards the end of your life, you are a fortunate man".
It's also nice to know someone else gets me.
Here's Judy riding the Rhino under the stairs in the hotel last weekend
Our last 100 mile+ hotel.
The View.
And the bridge, of course.
There's a lot of history preserved with that bridge you know!
When you have more than one friend while growing old, you did done good.
More than one friend in the Forum here
Images courtesy of ASME and the two guys right of the turntable bridge
TF
Good Morning Diners. Brunhilda, a large coffee to go please.
I appreciate the kind words on the staircase guys. A lot of work, but worth it. Most frustrating out of all of it was that the stairs were carpeted before the knotty pine walls were put up and the tile laid in the pantry area at the bottom of the stairs. Pulling the carpet showed me that even if we had wanted to recarpet them, major work would have had to take place as there was no way to reattach the carpet in a couple locations without ripping the walls off. Not an easy task as whoever put the knotty pine up both nailed and glued them up! I have to investigate (someday) why two outlets on an outside wall in that area don't work and I'll have to do it by tearing apart the wall from the outside. Not high on my priority list!
The audit is still going well (knock on wood). Two more days.
TF, I'm not a Pennsy modeler, but I do love the GG1's. I'm going to have to get one or two someday. Beautiful.
Must have been a thing back then to roll out your 'motor' and take a group shot?
CUT_P1a_Dedication-Erie by Edmund, on Flickr
Two lucky ladies in the cab! I've had the pleasure (and thrill) to ride behind both the GG1s and the above P-1a motors. These locomotives are amazing with their smooth, effortless power!
They even adorned the C.U.T. paychecks!
CUT_pay-draft by Edmund, on Flickr
Maxs' pay would have adjusted to $817.47 in today's dollar. Hope he had COLA in his contract.
Still more rain mixed with snow here today.
Good Morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
TF, welcome back! It looks like you two had a good time.
Compared to many of you, I'm a newcomer to model railroads and to the forum.
Every-so-often, there is a thread complaining about Model Railroader not being as good as it used to be. I don't have that experience, so I can't comment on that.
But ... I got my June issue yesterday. I liked it as much as every other issue I've gotten over the past five years.
I love the magazine, and I read it cover to cover -- even the articles that I'm not really too interested in. I even read the ads. This is the only mail I look forward to receiving, and I'm not disappointed when it arrives.
This is in Houston:
Good morning everyone.
Imgur is malfunctioning this morning, so no picture.
SeeYou190Imgur is malfunctioning this morning, so no picture.
Kevin, the picture you posted yesterday reminded me of my recent trip through Utah, with the red rocks. Am I close?