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THE FLAT WHEEL CAFE Locked

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  • Member since
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  • From: MP 175.1 CN Neenah Sub
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Posted by CNW 6000 on Friday, February 29, 2008 2:32 PM

The interview went pretty well.  I was all but offered the job, and I suspect that the offer will come next week.  Better hours, better pay, and closer proximity to trains=more railfanning time.  WOO HOO!

The forums do seem a bit lively today.  That's a good thing, I think.  Time to put on my lurking costume and lurk...

Dan

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Posted by diningcar on Friday, February 29, 2008 11:40 AM

CW, thanks for the goodies. I shall eat lightly as a big meal is planned for this evening, if I miss supper with you it is because I have been invited out!! Enjoy the rocking chair & trains.

Had my coffee early so will take cider and a cherry danish.

Another warm, sunshiney day in AZ with more baseball as the 'boys of summer' get in shape. 

Jack

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Posted by blhanel on Friday, February 29, 2008 7:41 AM
That's funny, Larry.  Between that and Mark's story about the KBR contractor leaving an excursion train mid-trip, I'm really enjoying the forum this morning.
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Posted by CNW 6000 on Friday, February 29, 2008 7:36 AM

AMEN to TGIF Larry.  That story is pretty cool!

Just a quick, light breakfast this morning all.  I'm off to a job interview that starts in about an hour.  I'll keep you all posted.

Dan

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, February 29, 2008 7:18 AM

Hot tea.  Bearclaw warmed on the grill.  Extra sweater.  Six below at the airport as I write this, and -15 as I was leaving the house this morning.  The sun is out, though!!!

TGIF!

When I was growing up in Michigan, my folks listened to WJR in the morning.  One of the morning shows was a gentleman named Bud Guest.  I believe his father was a poet - Edgar Guest, but I've actually never thought to research that.  Anyhow - the show included a small band, etc, and I can still remember (and sing) their little "TGIF" jingle.

I think I've mentioned it before, but the show which preceded Guest's on WJR (the actual "morning drive" with radio legend J.P. McCarthy) frequently had assorted guests - personalities in town, interesting people, etc.  One of them - "the singing plumber" - had a phenomenal operatic voice and sang the national anthem at one of the 1968 world series games.

Of more interest to us here was the fellow who did sound effects with his mouth.  His "moving between two cars on a moving train" had to be heard to be believed.  He also did a number of other train-related routines.

A rather amusing part of the interview included his story about working a late shift somewhere.  This required passing through a small town each morning around 2 AM.  The town had no railroad, but this guy did have a PA in his car.  He took to doing a train "passing through town" each trip, and supposedly had the locals out looking for the tracks....

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by JoeKoh on Friday, February 29, 2008 6:32 AM

good morning

happy leap day! matts teachers have an in service day today.everyone else is on a 2 hour delay.snow had stopped but now its starting again.Cw thanks for the doughnuts and the hot chocolate.time to go get the shovel.later on we'll be grabbing the sled.

stay safe

joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by cherokee woman on Friday, February 29, 2008 5:57 AM

Good Friday morning to one and all!  Hope you all had a very good evening.  Noticed a thread on the Iraqi Railroad.  Saw a very familiar name, too:  Mark Hemphill!  Really enjoyed reading his posts on that thread this morning.  (That's why I'm late getting in here:  just had to read it, when I saw the thread name.)  Very, very informative, as is everything from him.  

Coffee is ready, along with the juices for today, hot chocolate, hot cider and water for hot tea.  

On the counter this morning:  our Friday morning doughnuts/danish.  Cake and yeast doughnuts (plenty of chocolate covered, cream filled, custard filled), apple, peach, cherry, raspberry danish, and muffins:  blueberry, oat bran, apple/cinnamon, etc.

Enjoy your Friday treats, and I'll be over in a rocking chair, watching out the window for the trains going by, listening to the train CDs.

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by Modelcar on Thursday, February 28, 2008 9:58 PM

.....Cannonball:

I have great respect for the DC-3's....and it's war version, the C-47.

I rode a C-47 from Seoul, Korea to Kobe, Japan back in Thanksgiving week of 1953, going on leave {R&R} and returned back on one Thanksgiving day flying at about 11,000 ft. {cold}, and was provided with a cold turkey sandwich for my Thanksgiving meal....No complaints.  Just had nets inside to set on....No seats or interior finish, just the ribs visible.

Yes, the flight from O'Hare {when it was dark}, the fire and sparks could easily be seen blasting out the exhausts as we flew along.  But as I said before, I had confidence in the old birds.  I had read a lot of their history up to that point.

And yes, on rare occasion, one can still see one somewhere in use.

Back in the late 30's the airline {at this point, don't know which air line...perhaps, TWA}, but really don't know...flew them right across my little home town in Pennsylvania.  That was their route, east and west.  They followed beacon lights that were placed on average about each 15 to 25 miles to provide a course for them.  There was a beacon light up on a rise right at the edge of our little town...{Stoystown}, and they flew right over our area, and not very high either.  They had a very distinctive sound that I still recognize yet today.  Some kind of aircraft.

 

Quentin

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  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
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Posted by Modelcar on Thursday, February 28, 2008 9:41 PM

.....Tree:

The link worked ok for me....That looked rather nasty.  Good to hear the men all came out alive...Hope none were seriously injured.  I didn't turn on the sound.  And how about the Steamer and it's train passing across the picture....

Quentin

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Posted by switch7frg on Thursday, February 28, 2008 9:24 PM
  Quentin ; You ignighted a spark of remember on DC 3s. ( C47s.) At times the P&W radials were suposed to do that when the engines were in ( high blower) , this was done to blow soot and sludge from the blower clutches. If not done, plug fouling will occur , not good on take off. That old gal is still in service  ( 73 yrs. ) some where in the world. Not the same one. LOL The only plane that can replace it is another DC 3  Another long lived bird is a B52 ~~ but that is a bird of different feathers from 1955.  Thank you for the remberance '   Respectfully, Cannonball

Y6bs evergreen in my mind

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, February 28, 2008 8:21 PM

There is a story on the fire newswires today about a fire in Durango which destroyed three buildings and injured seven firefighters (who were on the roof of a building when it exploded - all lived).

The railroad wasn't affected, but did put in an appearance in the news story.

I find I have to hit refresh in order to get a correct display of the page - must be a glitch in their code somewhere.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by JoeKoh on Thursday, February 28, 2008 6:59 PM

good evening

matt and I went to the corn city today.saw some great train action.q 500 was 8 crazy as it had 8880 and 8088 for power.just made me wonder where the runaway loco 8888 was at.going to make some popcorn.get reay for a leap day tommorow.

stay safe

joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by cherokee woman on Thursday, February 28, 2008 5:25 PM

Eolafan, glad to hear you're doing better!  Let's hope you stay that way!  

I'm going to do some research on Cherokee recipes, to add something a little different next week to our menu.  If any of you have favorite ethnic recipes you'd like to see on the menu, please email them to me, and I will try my best to fix them next week.  That includes German, Polish, British, French, Italian (other than what we normally have), etc.  

Meanwhile, our Mexican Fiesta is ready for tonight, along with Bob's Navajo tacos.  

 

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by eolafan on Thursday, February 28, 2008 4:36 PM
 Mookie wrote:

 eolafan wrote:
Can't even tell you what the weather is today as I have been under the weather for two days now with extreme pain caused by what I (and the doctor) believe is a kidney stone...the pain is nothing short of unbelievable!  I am going in for a CT scan to see if they can locate the stone and somehow get rid of it.  Wish me luck.

Never had one; don't want one; but trust me - I feel for you.  Get better!

Thanks Mookie, I had my CT scan and by the time I arrived home the doctor's office was calling to say no signs of a stone...must have passed it (they say something as small as a grain of sand can cause excruciating pain) along the way.  Keeping my fingers and toes crossed that that's it for this saga.

Eolafan (a.k.a. Jim)
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Posted by Mookie on Thursday, February 28, 2008 2:27 PM

 eolafan wrote:
Can't even tell you what the weather is today as I have been under the weather for two days now with extreme pain caused by what I (and the doctor) believe is a kidney stone...the pain is nothing short of unbelievable!  I am going in for a CT scan to see if they can locate the stone and somehow get rid of it.  Wish me luck.

Never had one; don't want one; but trust me - I feel for you.  Get better!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by eolafan on Thursday, February 28, 2008 2:21 PM
Can't even tell you what the weather is today as I have been under the weather for two days now with extreme pain caused by what I (and the doctor) believe is a kidney stone...the pain is nothing short of unbelievable!  I am going in for a CT scan to see if they can locate the stone and somehow get rid of it.  Wish me luck.
Eolafan (a.k.a. Jim)
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Posted by Modelcar on Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:17 PM

....We too have the beautiful sunshine today....Temp..? We'll have to wait a bit longer for that.  Was 13 early this morning but quite a bit above that now....Haven't looked for some time, but it really is a nice winter day.  Got my truck washed, so it was that nice.

Quentin

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Posted by diningcar on Thursday, February 28, 2008 12:55 PM

CW - Enchiladas are a favorite of mine. In AZ, CO and NM we smother them in red or green and as an option, two sunny side up eggs on top. I always have ice tea or diet soda with mine.

1st Diamondbacks spring training game in Tucson today with beautiful sunshine and temp of about 80 degrees.

Jack

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  • From: Aledo IL
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Posted by spokyone on Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:58 AM
 cherokee woman wrote:

Now, onto today's menu:  Thursday Mexican Fiesta Day.  All our regular Mexican items have been set out on the warmer bar.  So help yourselves to the tacos, enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, Spanish rice, tamales, etc.

Not Mexican but we haven't had the Navajo taco for a while.
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Posted by cherokee woman on Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:44 AM
 nanaimo73 wrote:

 

One possible stupid question-
Is the Diner (and the forum) open tomorrow, Feb 29th? This will be my first Leap Day on the internet.

 

Dale, unless something happens to the cook (yours truly) tonight, yes, the Diner (oops, old habits die hard:)  the Cafe will be open tomorrow.  And yes, the forum should be open for business, I would think.

Now, onto today's menu:  Thursday Mexican Fiesta Day.  All our regular Mexican items have been set out on the warmer bar.  So help yourselves to the tacos, enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, Spanish rice, tamales, etc.

Jack, don't think I fell asleep in the rocker; I was just watching and waiting for the trains to go by.  (Mookie:  need someone in the other rocker, so we can talk, and others know I'm awake!!)

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by diningcar on Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:18 AM

CW, thanks for the nice spread this AM. I shall be quiet as I get my biscuits & gravy, so if you are dozing in your chair I will not waken you.

Working taxes on the computer so my sense of humor may be a little skewed if indeed it is even apparent.

Train fans from Idaho called yesterday and we talked two hours. Two hours does not allow enough time to tell all of the true stories so no lies were exchanged. I have none of course but my friend do.

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Posted by nanaimo73 on Thursday, February 28, 2008 8:46 AM

Oatmeal, coffee and juice is a great way to start the day.

One possible stupid question-
Is the Diner (and the forum) open tomorrow, Feb 29th? This will be my first Leap Day on the internet.

Dale
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  • From: Louisville, KY
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Posted by cherokee woman on Thursday, February 28, 2008 5:16 AM

Good Thursday morning,everyone.  Gee, looks like another slooooooow night in here last night.  Sad [:(]  Remember, folks, we're open 24/7/365 around here.

Coffee has finished brewing, and fresh juices are made, and in the cooler.  Also got hot water for tea, and there's milk warming for hot chocolate.

On the warmer bar this morning:  oatmeal, toast, turkey bacon, sausage, fresh bagels and bear claws (maybe Larry will get a break to come have breakfast with us), and homemade buttermilk biscuits w/sausage gravy.  

If anyone needs anything, I'll be over in the corner, in one of the rocking chairs, waiting for daylight and trains roaring by.

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 8:53 PM
Gotta be at work at 4 AM.  G'Night!

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Louisville, KY
  • 9,002 posts
Posted by cherokee woman on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 5:13 PM

Got more stew, cornbread and soup on the warmer bar.  And I'm getting ready to start grilling some grilled cheese sandwiches, if anyone wants some.

Not sure if I'll make it back in here tonight, but you all have a good evening, and take care.

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 3:45 PM

Last time I was at O hare we had to go up and around the terminal to get to our plane for a 45 min flight to dayton.Matt and I saw some nice mixed trains and the y101 work this afternoon.We also had to call in a bad crossing here in town.mother nature plays havoc with those every winter here.Cw thanks for supper.

stay safe

Joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 1:24 PM

....Boy, that really sounds like a pain.  When I was doing it, life was just a tick simpler.  In fact, back then our commuter was Lake Central, and  several times I rode on DC-3's.  Then later, the French {Nord}, plane {a high winger, with two turbo prop engines}, and that thing I didn't care for....It would run most of the rather long runway here at Muncie, before lifting off.  The DC-3's would be blowing out sparks and so on at night from the engines, but I knew the history of them and that didn't bother me.

Quentin

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Posted by cherokee woman on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 1:23 PM
Jim, I had a little bit of help:  I asked Mutt.  Since he's a former Army Nat. Guard crew chief, I knew he'd know.  As a matter of fact, he said he had that question a day or so ago, on a trivia question somewhere.  The only Chicago history trivia I know anything about is Mrs. O'Leary's cow and the fire!
Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by eolafan on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 1:06 PM

MC, you bet it is a real pain to park at ORD.  If you want easy parking you can pay up to $75 per day for the really close in spots and if you want economical you park about 1.5 miles away from the terminal and take a "convenient" people mover (really a rubber wheeled train with about three or four cars) to the terminals.  I use the economy lot quite a bit ($12/day) and take the people mover to the terminal, but usually walk about 1/4 mile from my car to the people mover terminal in the parking lot and recently I came back into town and found my car had about a foot of snow on it that I needed to clear before heading home.  MDW, on the other hand has an economy lot (also $12 per day) with a five story covered parking garage which will keep snow and rain off of your car and they have shuttle buses that cycle through the lot about ever five to ten minutes max. so it is very convenient and the trip to the terminal is about five minutes at MDW while the ORD people mover takes about fifteen minutes if you are in the farthest out terminal (#1-United Airlines). Just more reasons why I use MDW whenever I can.

Eolafan (a.k.a. Jim)
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Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, February 27, 2008 12:58 PM

....I imagine parking would really be a pain now since it has been enlarged, etc....I never had to contend with parking.  I'd go from Muncie via commuter into O'Hare and then west to Az. to our project we had gone at that time.

 

Quentin

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