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Jeffrey's Trackside Diner for September, 2023

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  • Member since
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Posted by Track fiddler on Tuesday, September 5, 2023 6:17 AM

Good morning

Been busy with the rehab down the hall and just got back from going out of town.

So we're in Washington this month eh?  Beautiful, Thanks everybody for all the contributions here. 

 

BN, Seattle Washington  Image courtesy of Pinterest.

Rocky  Image courtesy of RailPictures.net 

This one has my stamp of approvalWhistling

 

gmpullman

One of my favorite Washington state structures, the bridge-within-a-bridge (pretty clever engineering):

 BN, Rock Island, Washington, 1974 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr

The dual posts of Green Machines were enjoyedStick out tongue  Thanks Ed.

The Bridge Within a Bridge has always been one of my favorites as well, ever since you first introduced it to us years ago.  Never grow tired of looking at that one I'll tell ya!

Yet it makes me wonder if there was a second concrete pier on the other end at one time?  Perhaps it was deemed unstable when they doubled the weight with that extreme reinforcement for heavier loadsHuh?

I'd love to build a model of that one for sure.  Not that there's any place to put it, but just for the sake of building it would be fun.  One would certainly need a few more views or specs.  It would look great in a shadow box on the wallBow

 

One for Ohio Guy.

  Image courtesy of eBaumsWorld at Pinterest

Thought you might get a kick out of this one.  In this situation, WM may stand for Why MeLaugh

 

Have a great Taco Tuesday gentlemanSmile

 

TF

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Bradford, Ontario
  • 15,681 posts
Posted by hon30critter on Monday, September 4, 2023 11:21 PM

SeeYou190
So, it seems that Labor Day is the unofficial "bring your kids to Home Depot" day! I have never seen so many children in the store.

I never liked seeing children in the store when I worked at Home Depot. There are enough things that the adults can do wrong like overloading carts and ignoring the forklifts, but when you add in kids running and climbing all over the place and riding on the carts etc., things can go south fast.

Same with dogs. I witnessed a very scary situation where a German Shepard got separated from its master and the dog went berserk! It was growling and snapping its jaws at everyone. We had another incident in another store where a lady brought in a miniature dog. One of the staff went close to it to snuggle and it bit off a large chunk of the end of her nose!

Cheers!!

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

  • Member since
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  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
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Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, September 4, 2023 10:35 PM

Good evening everyone.

So, it seems that Labor Day is the unofficial "bring your kids to Home Depot" day!

I have never seen so many children in the store.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: North Dakota
  • 9,592 posts
Posted by BroadwayLion on Monday, September 4, 2023 7:26 PM

The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.

Here there be cats.                                LIONS with CAMERAS

  • Member since
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  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
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Posted by gmpullman on Monday, September 4, 2023 3:13 PM

Here's an excellent look at the labours of railroading in a snowy Canada:

For any modeler interested in 'ops' this film has some good insights. Get a load of that dispatcher's 'model board' in Wellington tower at Montreal! (24:20) Looks like it is from a spaghetti-bowl train layout!

Cheers, Ed

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,492 posts
Posted by York1 on Monday, September 4, 2023 8:42 AM

Good morning, diners.  Chloe, I'll have bacon, eggs, and black coffee please.

The new dog is wearing me out.  When I sit down to watch TV, she constantly bothers me to get up and do something with her.  I wonder if my doctor had anything to do with us getting a dog.

The Tacoma shops for Northern Pacific:  My great-uncle worked there during the 1930s - 1950s:

 

 

Have a good day, everyone.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, September 4, 2023 8:29 AM

Washington Is A Beautiful Place

-Photograph by Kevin Parson

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

Good morning everyone. Chloe, please bring me two ripe bananas and a cup of coffee. Thank you.

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

There are no empty houses around me anymore. The new neighbors all seem like good people. Rents are coming down. The landlords could not get tennants with the prices they were asking for.

There are still way-too-many rental properties around for my preference, but there is nothing I can do about that.

gmpullman
Happy Labor Day to those folks who celebrate it.

I am working today, but every day at work is no problem at all. I get an extra days pay in all weeks with a holiday.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: North Dakota
  • 9,592 posts
Posted by BroadwayLion on Monday, September 4, 2023 6:30 AM

The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.

Here there be cats.                                LIONS with CAMERAS

  • Member since
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  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
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Posted by gmpullman on Sunday, September 3, 2023 11:00 PM

Things that go bump in the night:

 MILW, Hall Creek, Washington, 1979 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr


 

Cicero loved his holidays!

 Cicero by Edmund, on Flickr

Happy Labor Day to those folks who celebrate it. Every day is a holiday for me Smile

Cheers, Ed

  • Member since
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  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
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Posted by MisterBeasley on Sunday, September 3, 2023 11:00 PM

I got to go to the 1964 New York World's Fair and the 1967 Montreal World's Fair.  New York was just a train ride and a subway from where I lived, so I was there several times.  By 1967 I was in college and I went with some college buddies to Montreal.

These were great events, but I guess they got to be too expensive to put on.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,492 posts
Posted by York1 on Sunday, September 3, 2023 8:40 PM

Good evening, diners.

Seattle is an amazing city (as long as you know where you are going).  At the foot of the Space Needle is the amazing Chihuly Glass museum.  It is worth the wait in line and admission price.

 

At the time of the 1962 World's Fair, a monorail seemed like such a great image of future transportation.  I loved it at the time.  Now it doesn't seem like such a great thing.

 

 Seattle Monorail by Bela Lindtner, on Flickr

 

Have a good Sunday evening and if you're in the U.S., a wonderful Labor Day holiday.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Sunday, September 3, 2023 7:20 AM

Attuvian1
To me, the most amazing thing about the Brasstrains posting is not the price, but the "Item Sold"! 

Brass trains really does an excellent job knowing what the market will pay for some of these items.

They had a brass model of the USS Missouri for $10,000.00 that was made by Fine Art Models. That was the most expensive item I saw on their site back when I used to browse it thoroughly.

gmpullman
I'd be willing to bet not a single one ever made it into a layout scene. Most are probably still in the box on a closet shelf somewhere.

I would bet that is true of 95% of all brass models.

As I have collected my fleet of models imported in the 60s through 80s, not a single one of them looks like it has ever pulled a train.

Brass models really seem to appeal to collectors.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,286 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Sunday, September 3, 2023 2:21 AM

Attuvian1
To me, the most amazing thing about the Brasstrains posting is not the price, but the "Item Sold"! Whistling

   — and I'd be willing to bet not a single one ever made it into a layout scene. Most are probably still in the box on a closet shelf somewhere.

Regards, Ed

  • Member since
    January 2021
  • 514 posts
Posted by Attuvian1 on Sunday, September 3, 2023 1:11 AM

gmpullman

 

One of my favorite Washington state structures, the bridge-within-a-bridge (pretty clever engineering):

 BN, Rock Island, Washington, 1974 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr

Overland once offered a brass model of this little guy. I'll see if I can recall what the price tag was on the little toy.

Here it is, a mere $7,500. 

https://brasstrains.com/Classic/Product/Detail/120396/HO-Brass-Model-OMI-3386-1-3387-1-GN-BN-BNSF-416-6-BRIDGE-IN-A-BRIDGE-250-Pratt-Deck-Truss-Bridge-F-P

Regards, Ed

 
To me, the most amazing thing about the Brasstrains posting is not the price, but the "Item Sold"! Whistling
 
John of Attu
  • Member since
    June 2002
  • 569 posts
Posted by drgwcs on Saturday, September 2, 2023 10:51 PM

Doughless

 

 
SeeYou190

 

 
BigDaddy
That's the most amazing thing I learned this week.  Personally I don't know any Amish, but I see their horse drawn carriages, plows and riding bicycles uphill from town to home.

 

I used to read the corporate newsletter when I worked for my previous employer.

One of the articles that stood out was about an electrical application sales team making a multi-million sale to the Amish community of back-up generators, transfer switches, and paralleling/load-sharing devices.

My first thought was that was like selling snow shoes in Columbia. What did the Amish community need back-up electrical power for? I honestly assumed they had no primary power.

I have since learned a lot about how wrong I can be when I make assumptions.

-Kevin

 

 

 

Back when I was more involved with banking and lending, it was my understanding that the various parish's? of the Amish Church have slightly different rules about things.

One of the more common unknowns is that a lot of the no-electricity stuff doesn't apply to their businesses.  Some Amish are known as high quality cabinet makers that make it difficult for some high volume manufacturers to compete with. 

And no, the Amish aren't out-competing other busineses by using hand saws, hand screwdrivers, and mule-powered sawmills. 

Your order may have been for an Amish owned businesses. Some are known for being pretty shrewed and ruthless competitors.

They also have access to telephones, but the phones can't be inside the building, or something like that.

The rules have something to do with their personal houses, farms, transportation, being connected to the outside world via electricity and electrical wires. But many have normal jobs and go to work in normal factories...so the rules are a bit different when they are "on the clock" so to speak.

 

 

 

Years ago when I ran an Ace store in Indiana we were told by our rep that the store with the highest power tool sales in the state was the one in the very heavily Amish town of Shipshewana.

  • Member since
    August 2003
  • From: Collinwood, Ohio, USA
  • 16,286 posts
Posted by gmpullman on Saturday, September 2, 2023 9:20 PM

I live just north of Middlefield, Ohio which has a rather large Amish contingent. There were a few Amish members of our model railroad club and, yes, there was great interest in battery power for supplying DC to throttles. One of the members made several of these throttles.

One of the Amish businesses I deal with, a metal roofing supplier and installer use a gasoline air compressor outside his shop and all the machines inside are air powered. Many of the Amish construction workers here use both air tools and battery cordless tools. I just had an outbuilding resided by an Amish crew.

Presently there's an Amish group clearing and logging land across from me. They have two, two-horse teams and a skidder on each team. They work as every bit as efficient as any diesel-hydraulic machine.

Some of the younger Amish teens have some 'boom-box' sound systems in their buggies that would envy any tecno-nerd. After the teens officially enter the church they give up all those 'trappings'.


One of my favorite Washington state structures, the bridge-within-a-bridge (pretty clever engineering):

 BN, Rock Island, Washington, 1974 by Center for Railroad Photography & Art, on Flickr

Overland once offered a brass model of this little guy. I'll see if I can recall what the price tag was on the little toy.

Here it is, a mere $7,500. 

https://brasstrains.com/Classic/Product/Detail/120396/HO-Brass-Model-OMI-3386-1-3387-1-GN-BN-BNSF-416-6-BRIDGE-IN-A-BRIDGE-250-Pratt-Deck-Truss-Bridge-F-P

 

Regards, Ed

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 8,728 posts
Posted by maxman on Saturday, September 2, 2023 8:37 PM

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: North Dakota
  • 9,592 posts
Posted by BroadwayLion on Saturday, September 2, 2023 8:20 PM

The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.

Here there be cats.                                LIONS with CAMERAS

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Heart of Georgia
  • 5,406 posts
Posted by Doughless on Saturday, September 2, 2023 5:11 PM

SeeYou190

 

 
BigDaddy
That's the most amazing thing I learned this week.  Personally I don't know any Amish, but I see their horse drawn carriages, plows and riding bicycles uphill from town to home.

 

I used to read the corporate newsletter when I worked for my previous employer.

One of the articles that stood out was about an electrical application sales team making a multi-million sale to the Amish community of back-up generators, transfer switches, and paralleling/load-sharing devices.

My first thought was that was like selling snow shoes in Columbia. What did the Amish community need back-up electrical power for? I honestly assumed they had no primary power.

I have since learned a lot about how wrong I can be when I make assumptions.

-Kevin

 

Back when I was more involved with banking and lending, it was my understanding that the various parish's? of the Amish Church have slightly different rules about things.

One of the more common unknowns is that a lot of the no-electricity stuff doesn't apply to their businesses.  Some Amish are known as high quality cabinet makers that make it difficult for some high volume manufacturers to compete with. 

And no, the Amish aren't out-competing other busineses by using hand saws, hand screwdrivers, and mule-powered sawmills. 

Your order may have been for an Amish owned businesses. Some are known for being pretty shrewed and ruthless competitors.

They also have access to telephones, but the phones can't be inside the building, or something like that.

The rules have something to do with their personal houses, farms, transportation, being connected to the outside world via electricity and electrical wires. But many have normal jobs and go to work in normal factories...so the rules are a bit different when they are "on the clock" so to speak.

 

 

- Douglas

  • Member since
    February 2018
  • From: Flyover Country
  • 5,492 posts
Posted by York1 on Saturday, September 2, 2023 1:33 PM

Good afternoon, everyone.  It's getting closer to happy hour, so I'll just sit in a diner booth and wait.

Our lives have taken another drastic turn.  My wife got a new dog yesterday.  After our other dog, Daisy the Dachshund, died several months ago, my wife has been thinking "dog, dog, dog".  Our town's dog shelter found a deaf miniature Australian Shepherd that had been abandoned.  My wife scooped it up.

If I felt like I didn't get enough exercise, that is now taken care off.  This dog is active!

Have a great day, everyone.  I'm heading outside to walk the animal again.

York1 John       

  • Member since
    December 2004
  • From: Bedford, MA, USA
  • 21,413 posts
Posted by MisterBeasley on Saturday, September 2, 2023 12:57 PM

BroadwayLion

 

Looks like our younger cat, Whiskey.  He's affectionate and usually either asleep or hungry.

Neither he nor our lady-cat Snowflake ever tries to go outside, which we're happy about.  There are foxes in the neighborhood, and some are probably rabid.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, September 2, 2023 12:21 PM

BigDaddy
That's the most amazing thing I learned this week.  Personally I don't know any Amish, but I see their horse drawn carriages, plows and riding bicycles uphill from town to home.

I used to read the corporate newsletter when I worked for my previous employer.

One of the articles that stood out was about an electrical application sales team making a multi-million sale to the Amish community of back-up generators, transfer switches, and paralleling/load-sharing devices.

My first thought was that was like selling snow shoes in Columbia. What did the Amish community need back-up electrical power for? I honestly assumed they had no primary power.

I have since learned a lot about how wrong I can be when I make assumptions.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    December 2015
  • From: Shenandoah Valley
  • 9,094 posts
Posted by BigDaddy on Saturday, September 2, 2023 11:22 AM

There was a discussion in a NCE forum about battery power for a portable outside layout.  In the midst of posts about amps, inverters and voltage, someone threw out the comment that he knows an Amish model railroader who use solar charged battery power for their model railroad.

That's the most amazing thing I learned this week.  Personally I don't know any Amish, but I see their horse drawn carriages, plows and riding bicycles uphill from town to home.  Imagining an op session with horses and carriages outside, their straw hats and kerosene lights running a consist of SD60's seems like the Twilight Zone to me.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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Posted by gmpullman on Saturday, September 2, 2023 1:06 AM

Little Timmy
I'll see your cats, and raise you a lapfull of tuckered out kittys.

My cats are all working cats:

 Sixteen Paws by Edmund, on Flickr

Here they are working their way up to dinner time.

  Cheers, Ed

  • Member since
    January 2017
  • From: Southern Florida Gulf Coast
  • 18,255 posts
Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, September 2, 2023 12:33 AM

Little Timmy
You can thank the avalanch of adds for my last post. They pop up just when you try to post pictures.

The bottom pop-ups, and the new side-scrolling pop-up are both obnoxious.

crossthedog
Indeed it is, and I cherish all such memories.

This 30+ year old picture of my middle daughter is one of my favorites. It is cropped out of a much larger picture, so sorry for the poor image quality.

-Photograph by Kevin Parson

She is a software engineer now.

-Kevin

Living the dream.

  • Member since
    January 2018
  • From: Douglas AZ.
  • 635 posts
Posted by Little Timmy on Friday, September 1, 2023 8:05 PM

one more time....

I'll see your cats, and raise you a lapfull of tuckered out kittys.

 

Rust...... It's a good thing !

  • Member since
    January 2018
  • From: Douglas AZ.
  • 635 posts
Posted by Little Timmy on Friday, September 1, 2023 7:43 PM

 you can thank the avalanch of adds for my last post. They pop up just when you try to post pictures.

Covering the screen...

Why bother?

 

Rust...... It's a good thing !

  • Member since
    January 2018
  • From: Douglas AZ.
  • 635 posts
Posted by Little Timmy on Friday, September 1, 2023 7:40 PM

Rust...... It's a good thing !

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    February 2021
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Posted by crossthedog on Friday, September 1, 2023 7:04 PM

howmus
And raise you his brother sticking out his tongue at you!

That's hilarious. We have an orange boy just like that one, I sometimes refer to him as "Creamsicle Boy". Gentlest soul.

SeeYou190
I do not have any pictures of my kids with me and trains. I have a couple of them on trains that I took, but nothing like yours. Great memory!

Indeed it is, and I cherish all such memories. I dug up the post I wrote about that adventure with my daughter, back on my old blog. It's embarrassing that back then I didn't know not to call ballast "gravel", but it was before I got back into the hobby. If anyone is battling insomnia but doesn't want to take drugs to get some sleep, rest your eyes on this: https://bythedarkofthemoon.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/in-search-of-trains/

Some of you guys who worked on railroads might find the piece amusing, having a perspective from the other side of the roundhouse door, as it were. But be warned about wandering to other posts -- that was a very personal blog. Please don't take me to task for any ideas expressed there about politics or religion, or even parenting for that matter. I won't respond.

-Matt 

 

Returning to model railroading after 40 years and taking unconscionable liberties with the SP&S, Northern Pacific and Great Northern roads in the '40s and '50s.

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  • From: Finger Lakes
  • 10,198 posts
Posted by howmus on Friday, September 1, 2023 6:00 PM

BroadwayLion

 

 

I'll see your Kitty...

And raise you his brother sticking out his tongue at you!

Good to see you Brother Lion!

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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