Good Afternoon,
A warm, very humid day here.
Got the parts in the mail to fix my C Liner today. Exactly 2 weeks since ordering so that is quick service from Walthers considering the package crossed a border.
Had another thunderstorm last night and no skylight leak! Will wait for more rain before claiming victory.
Have been looking at sailboat ads. I won't buy one but sure do miss sailing on days when there is a nice wind as in 10 knots from the NW. I especially liked sailing closed hauled on a starboard tack. The boat would heel over enough to make it fun but not enough to make my wife nervous.
Wonder how JR is doing and how his car racing season is going.
CN Charlie
It's a cool, overcast Monday afternoon.
Charlie, right now I'd like to go with you on that sail boat! When I lived in New Orleans, my friend had a 39 foot sailboat -- I have no idea what kind or anything else about it, other than he would sometimes spend the night on it out in Lake Ponchartrain. The Southern Yacht club held races every-so-often, and he took me with some other guys along. I had no idea how to do anything other than they told me which rope to tighten. I learned how to get the rope on the winch and turn the handle!
It was a lot of fun, but the sailing hobby was far above my economic means.
David, I hope you can keep us informed of your health dealings. I'm thankful Dawn is feeling better, and that you had a good time with the granddaughter.
Brent, pretty neat photos of the classic cars. It looks like lots of work restoring and then keeping the cars running.
Jim, happy anniversary! It's time for an old "dad joke":
My wife: "Our new neighbor kisses his wife when he leaves for work. Why don't you do that?"
Me: "How can I? I don't even know her."
After everyone is through groaning, I hope you all have a good Monday evening. Mondays are one of my favorite TV nights -- Maine Cabin Masters is on!
Some refrigerator cars behind TF's favorite color locomotives:
Out of Tunnel 17 and into Devils Canyon. . . by blair kooistra, on Flickr
York1 John
John, if you were winding a rope around a winch and the using a winch handle, you were hauling in a jib sheet. That is done when getting the boat closer to the wind or after coming about on an opposite tack. I bought my first boat in 1974 and the last one in 1984 which I kept for 25 years. It was a 27' boat that was great for me, my wife and a Westie or two. The dogs loved going out for a weekend on the boat. As soon as we turned off the highway they would start barking.
Good Morning Diners. Chloe, coffee and a cinnamon roll please.
Glad Monday is over. Had a good enough day at work but a really frustrating night at home. No one thing in particular, just one thing after another. Today will be better. The power of positive thinking!
Charlie, congratulations on hopefully conquering the skylight leak. Fingers crossed for you.
Busy day ahead. Gotta run. Have a good day everyone.
Mike
Good day Diners. A cloudy day that feels warmer than the 14c it is.
A large coffee please, Flo.
John: Dawn is having a run of good days; thank goodness.
Myself, I am still waiting to go into hospital to find out what the shadow on my lung is.
Not a lot going on here. No grandchildren visiting this week (yet).
Dawn is wanting a clear out of 'stuff not used or wanted'.
Hopefully see the train room later.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Water Level RouteDo you get any snow where you live?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good morning, everyone. Chloe -- I'll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
Our nice cool days are coming to an end.
We've been watching all the episodes of 'My Life is Murder'. Finally finished the last episode last night. Auckland is a beautiful place.
Yesterday a guy from my church came to the door with a big plastic tub filled with N gauge stuff. He bought a whole tub full of railroad stuff for $10 from the thrift store. He is a Lionel collector and took out every thing not N. What he gave to me was a lot of stuff I didn't want, but had quite a bit of things I can use.
The most upsetting part was a whole bundle of Atlas flex track. Whoever gave it to the thrift store had bent the whole bundle, and the track tore loose from the ties. I was able to salvage some, but most of it was ruined. I also got some rolling stock. They were cars I normally wouldn't buy, but I am keeping them and will work on some of them. I think I can bash together some of them to make some interesting cars.
I'm sure the whole group of model stuff was stored and the modeler either died or went to a nursing home. Someone in the family just crammed everything in a box to get it to the thrift store. Still, it was fun to sort through everything.
I'm enjoying Kansas City Royals baseball games this summer. They are much improved over the past several years, and they seem to have a lot of fun playing. The team's attitude makes watching a more fun.
Hope everyone has a great day.
What is unusual about this photo? It's one of the few white UP refrigerated cars that was not covered with graffiti. I think that big white canvas just invited spray painters.
Union Pacific ARMN BKTY UP - railimages@aol.com by Ronald Eugene Estes, on Flickr
The C Liner is back running great. The axle fix did the trick.
Another quiet day here.
Hi Everyone,
Brunhilde, coffee with cream, please.
Thanks to all for the anniversary well wishes. They are appreciated.
In John's most recent post, there is something a little different in the reefer picture. I'm certain that I'm not the only one who's noticed this, but look at high up the car number is. I've noticed this on newer cars. My speculation is that the railroads have gotten tired of having to continually repaint car numbers on rolling stock because of all of the grafitti. Looking at the car, there is very little in the way of reporting marks on the cars because all of that info would be in the data base. But, the car number must be on the car to keep track of the load and destination. But then again, that's just my speculation.
Thoughts?
Hope all are well.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
up831Thoughts?
At first glance I thought the bright orange reefer was 'Photoshopped' into the picture but upon further snooping it simply looks like a brand new car, maybe even on its first revenue run, running amongst the aged fleet fore and aft of the mechanical reefer.
I seem to recall some iced refrigerator cars having the car numbers stenciled near the ice hatches. Maybe the guys running the icing operation had a list of which cars got whay kind of icing. Some produce was 'top iced' with chopped ice blown in over the tops of the cases. The car numbers were also stenciled inside the door openings, too. If cars are spotted in large produce warehouses, sometimes on several parallel tracks there was no easy way to see the car number from the outside since the cars were crammed so tightly together. There were gang planks between the door openings so several cars could be loaded simultaneously.
Similar to how these box cars are spotted:
Illinois Central Yard Chicago by Edmund, on Flickr
You would need to know what car you're in without climbing down to the ground.
up831I'm certain that I'm not the only one who's noticed this, but look at high up the car number is.
I wonder if another reason was to be able to ID the car if a brakeman or car knocker was walking along the roofwalk, too? At least back in the 'ladder and roof walk' days.
I see some tank cars with the numbers stenciled on the tops of the tanks so the loaders can ID the car from the catwalks above the cars.
Cheers, Ed
I thought that the numbers on the top of tank cars were so that someone flying over could tell which cars were on fire.
Evening
We got Filet Mignon of Wildebeest on the menu now!!!
Brother Lion, Where Art Thou???
TF
Track fiddler Brother Lion, Where Art Thou???
I tried to drop the Abbey a line to see if Brother Elias is OK, however, the contact sight is not friendly to foreigners (me), as in out-of-country inquiries. I had inquired in the distant past when Lion had been MIA, got a response, and chatted with Elias. Maybe someone from the U.S. of A. can drop a line.
https://www.assumptionabbey.com/contact-us
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Thanks Brent. Someone is me. I'll look into that, as I'm concerned about our Friend.
Hello everyone,
Chole I'll have a Bean Cheese and Rice Burrito with some chips on the side please thanks.
Been very hectic with work since mid April, but no my hours are coming down, meaning I have time to check on/tune up my locomotive fleet before my schedule picks back up again.
Wanted to share an event regarding two of my locomotives:
Recently went to a long month show with my club and discovered that one of my Amtrak P40DC #810 was not running very good. it kept starting to go, then stopped, then would start to go again. This occured 5 times I tried to get it to run, but couldn't make it all the way around without stopping and going. Also it would make kind of a "grinding noise" as it struggled to move, like something inside was loose or defective.
When I got home, I looked around on the web, but didn't see any replacement trucks for Athearn AMD103/P40's listed. I'm left wondering if I have to buy a spare P42 from evilbay and try to scalp the chassis for #810.
Anyone have Athearn RTR P40/P42's in their fleet? If so do they run?
This may be an older release, I will have to look up Athearn PDF files on google to see when this engine came out.
My other train I ran was a 90's Era Business Train with two Genesis SD75M's #207 and #232. I don't know why but #207 had a bit of a loose shell when I boxed them up. perhaps one of the inside tabs is missing or broken? Otherwise both SD75M's ran fine.
If anyone has tips for reparing my Athearn P40Dc or fixing the shell on my Genesis SD57M #207, let me know.
Good afternoon from the beautiful Pacific Rim.
There are 434 fires burning in BC, 80% lightning-caused, one week ago there were 161 fires. Wife and daughter are driving to Alberta next week..... If they can.
maxmanWere all the oil drip collector pans I saw in the photos standard equipment, or optional extra?
His shop is pretty tidy, it is just a precaution for the most part I'd say.
Had to take the wife to Vancouver to a specialist yesterday as she had a bit of a BP spike on some new meds. She called and was told to come right up. After we headed for Steveston for fresh-off-the-boat fish and chips and a walk around the town, it was a great way to spend an afternoon. It is a movie/TV filming mecca. Here are a few shows that were filmed there. We watched "Once Upon a Time" as we knew quite a few people who worked on it and had minor roles or were extras in it.
https://m.imdb.com/search/title/?locations=steveston,%20richmond
A few pics.
This boat has travelled from California.
You can buy Salmon, Prawns, Crab and just about anything else that comes out of the ocean on the West side, freshly caught that day. This is where our farmer neighbour keeps his three fishing boats.
These next three are building seen in a ton of TV shows and movies. The TV show "Once Upon a Time" filmed its run here.
Had another day rebuilding fences, better go haul the tools in.
All the best to all.
Having a hard time, even getting on the site anymore.
May have to hand over the Baton.
Leaving here would be a tough act to follow, you guys are the best!!! Love ya all
Don't leave us, man. Admittedly, I often feel the same way. Those Gateway Errors make me want to go elsewhere, too. But, staying here doesn't cost me anything.
We've lost too many friends over the past few years.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasley Don't leave us, man. Admittedly, I often feel the same way. Those Gateway Errors make me want to go elsewhere, too. But, staying here doesn't cost me anything. We've lost too many friends over the past few years.
Good evening from the smoky Great Plains. Even though the nearest Canadian fires are over 800 miles away, we are having filtered sunlight from the smoke.
TF, don't give up! Let's hold out and give the new owners a chance.
Actually, today was the first day in a long time I had trouble getting into the forum. It has worked very well for several weeks for me.
A non-political political comment: With all the political news lately, it reminded me of growing up in a mixed household. My father was a liberal. My mother, on the other side, was a strict conservative. I remember them joking every election day when they came home from voting that they had canceled each other's votes out.
Hope everyone's doing well.
Loading oranges into a refrigerator car at a co-op orange packing plant, Redlands, Calif. Santa Fe R.R. trip (LOC) by The Library of Congress, on Flickr
Reading John's non-pollitical comment reminded me of when just sfter my 18th birthday.
All my family, grandparents, uncles and aunts were staunch Labour voters. I received a letter from the Conservative Party to join them. I did not, but they were the only party that was interested in me. Yes they still get my vote.
A promise by Bear, on Flickr
Good Morning Diners. Zoe, coffee and a slice of blueberry pie. Who says you can't have dessert for breakfast?
Rough day at work yesterday. Nothing like kicking the day off with a four hour long meeting. And it went downhill from there. Today, however, is a new day!
Bear, love the toon!
TF, do not leave. I, like John (York1), haven't had issues lately, other than sometimes having to be patient while the page loads oh so slowly. Perhaps clearing your browsers history (cache and cookies specifically) would help.
York1Even though the nearest Canadian fires are over 800 miles away, we are having filtered sunlight from the smoke.
MisterBeasleyWe've lost too many friends over the past few years.
BATMANThere are 434 fires burning in BC
ATSFGuyDon't worry. I'm not going anywhere.
gmpullmanAt first glance I thought the bright orange reefer was 'Photoshopped' into the picture but upon further snooping it simply looks like a brand new car
up831In John's most recent post, there is something a little different in the reefer picture. I'm certain that I'm not the only one who's noticed this, but look at high up the car number is.
NorthBritthey were the only party that was interested in me
Water Level Route NorthBrit they were the only party that was interested in me Such a seemingly small gesture can have a large impact. Far too few people or organizations realize that.
NorthBrit they were the only party that was interested in me
Such a seemingly small gesture can have a large impact. Far too few people or organizations realize that.
Agreed, Mike. Though not a member, as I mentioned, I have letters from (past) Members of Parliament of the Conservative Party I have corresponded with.
Good morning
The Bear A promise by Bear, on Flickr
Lost another sip of coffee spraying over the coffee table again this morning
Thanks Bear, John, Mister B, Mike, for the kind words. Who could skip out on such a fine bunch of Gents as this here? Not me!!!
The site still being glitchy enough many times, but ever since my last phone updates, it seemed to get even worse. I'm starting to wonder if the new phone, and software updates, conflict with the new forum software? But certainly don't know much, if anything, about that sort of thing.
We're heading up to Wisconsin early tomorrow morning to visit Family, and installing heavy duty sanded cleats on Judy's Mom's wood stairs, to keep her safe in the Winter. We certainly don't want her to slip and fall again I'll try to check in when we get back.
I'm hopeful our Dave's get to feeling better soon. Wishing everybody good health
Photo courtesy of Relevant
Good morning from fireville. This is Jasper Alberta, where a massive fire has reached the town. While the fire services threw everything possible at the fire it was travelling at 200 metres a minute and they had to just let it go.
Chris (Tophias) said he was here for a trip on the Rocky Mountaineer, apparently, all rail on the CN mainline has been halted for several days due to the fire and the Southern CP line through the Rockies has also been greatly affected. Tourist trains take a back seat to freight ops so I hope his trip wasn't ruined.
In BC 425 fires are burning/85% lightning caused. Living on the coast with the prevailing wind from the West we usually don't get smoke unless it comes up from the Western States.
I remember working with my Uncle back in the 70s getting supplies to the fire crews up in the mountains on the rugged forest service/logging roads. Those were hard long hard days.
Back to more fence building/repairing today. One thing I notice is even though I am in excellent shape I sure don't get as much done in a day at 67 as I did in my younger years. Let's just say I could not make a living building fences.
Let's hope 6015 in Jasper survives.
TF Good to see you are still on board.
Brent I hope the fires are under control.
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require
Hi Brent,
The wildfire situation is just horrible. The Jasper fire was moving at an incredible 5 km in 30 minutes. That's just plain scary!
Dianne and I have donated to the Red Cross to help with the recovery but what we can give seems like a pittance when compared to the scope of the disaster.
I'm not sure I want to say "Cheers!!". Given the subject matter, somehow it doesn't seem appropriate to end the post that way.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critterThe wildfire situation is just horrible.
I must admit I have been quite choked up about the situation yesterday and today. Having seen a good chunk of the world the Jasper/ Banff corridor is my favourite place on Earth. I have spent a lot of time up there hiking/backpacking and/or just taking in the majesty of the place. I am heartbroken.