Trains.com

Flat Wheel Cafe - Late Winter 09 Locked

18479 views
308 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Friday, February 6, 2009 11:57 AM

A beautiful morning and now starting afternoon.....Blue skies with bright sunshine.  Temps above freezing....That's  a change.

Even ran my truck thru the car wash this morning, confirming the roads are not too bad....But with warmer temps, of course more of this {old}, snow will be melting and messing up the roads again.  Just had to get a layer of salt off it....

7.6 unimployment figures for today and the market has been riding higher all morning. 

I had a harmonica in younger days....Much younger.  Decades ago a group or two even had some Harmonica hits on the pop music scene.  Was it the Harmonicats......

Quentin

  • Member since
    October 2007
  • From: Lexington, S.C.
  • 336 posts
Posted by baberuth73 on Friday, February 6, 2009 2:38 PM

Talk about changes in the weather! I work outdoors and was decked out with insulated underwear, work pants, three shirts and a heavy jacket yesterday. Today, no jacket, no insulated underwear, short sleeves.  Someone told me that the reason you folks in the frozen north won't move to the South is your feet are frozen to the sidewalk. Oh well, good ol' 90/90 weather is just around the corner, then I can gripe about the heat.

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: US
  • 13,488 posts
Posted by Mookie on Friday, February 6, 2009 4:18 PM

I am still amazed that it gets as cold as it does in the southeast.  Even Miami was downright cold.  The Driver keeps telling me that you have mountains on the southeastern seaboard and it gets very cold, but I still wonder about some of the temps.  I just figured you were hot and humid year round.  Even Houston getting cold surprises me. 

Yeah, I know - I don't get out much....

Mook

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Florence, SC
  • 1,614 posts
Posted by grampaw pettibone on Friday, February 6, 2009 4:34 PM

Quentin, it was indeed the Harmonicats. And of course, don't forget Bob Dylan

Tom

COAST LINE FOREVER

It is better to dwell in the corner of a roof than to share a house with a contentious woman! (Solomon)

A contentious woman is like a constant dripping! (Solomon)

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Friday, February 6, 2009 5:29 PM

....Thanks Tom.   I especially liked the sound  {was his name Jerry}, they made out of that big base harmonica.  Believe what we're talking about dates back to about the late '40's or so.....

And Jen....When we get a massive cold system coming down from Canada it can sink all the way down to south Florida. Sure the Alleghenies are stretched down from New England to just into Georgia but that doesn't impede the flow of such massive cold air.

I once experienced 47 degrees down in Miami many years ago and I almost froze.  We were down there working on a project and caught the flu and waiting in the Miami airport I was really so cold and so glad to get home....That was back in the latter '60's.

Quentin

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: Lombard (west of Chicago), Illinois
  • 13,681 posts
Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, February 6, 2009 7:08 PM
Quentin, Jerry Murad was the lead player for the Harmonicats. I forgot the name of the guy who played the bass harmonica. Al Fiore played the large chord harmonica, though. He passed away about twelve years ago--turns out that Fiore was his stage name, heavily Americanized from something Italian, he lived in the Lombard area, and his grandchildren went to school with my daughters! There is now a music scholarship in his name at "our" high school. The first winner was a very talented girl, now a professional harpist, who was (still is) a close friend of my younger daughter.

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Friday, February 6, 2009 9:17 PM

.....Thanks Carl......That's all interesting.  That group was very popular back then.  Wouldn't mind having a re recorded side of music from them over onto a CD.

Quentin

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Friday, February 6, 2009 9:52 PM

Good evening, all (it may past bedtime for some of you). Another, as usual, different day. Low forties, with high air quality this morning, so it was safe to have a fire in the living room fireplace (the fireplace was the reason we bought the house). Fully overcast at walk time this morning, so no sun in my eyes, with rain off and on during the day.

My roommate, the first two years of college, was from Mobile, and had never seen snow. I think that first winter we were in Bristol, Tenn., we had more snow that in any other one. One Christmas, some of the students from northern climes (north of Georgia) went down about to Orlando to spend Christmas with a native Floridian--and it was a cold winter. The house had no established way of heating it, and they had to use kerosene heaters to begin to stay warm. I think that a kerosene heater was used when necessary when we were living near Tampa (I was two when we moved to S. C., so I do not really know).

Johnny

 

Johnny

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Louisville, KY
  • 9,002 posts
Posted by cherokee woman on Saturday, February 7, 2009 5:42 AM

Good Saturday morning, everyone.  We have, at 6:37 a.m., a temp of 53 degrees.  Supposed to get up to mid 60s today, with plenty of sunshine and warm breezes from the south.  

Coffee, juices, hot chocolate, hot cider and hot water for tea are ready.

On the warmer bar this morning:  turkey bacon, sausage patties & links, scrambled eggs, bagels, bear claws, homemade buttermilk biscuits w/sausage gravy, and cinnamon rolls.  

Hope everyone of you have a very good day today.  And I hope to see you all back here tonight for our pizza fest.  Take care and keep safe.

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Florence, SC
  • 1,614 posts
Posted by grampaw pettibone on Saturday, February 7, 2009 6:31 AM

Good morning CW and all. 34 degrees and clear in Carolina this lovely morning. It is supposed to top out around 67. Thanks for breakfast. It hit the spot.

Quentin, Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats were formed in 1944 and first hit the charts in 1947 with PEG O MY HEART. They all died in the late 80s through early 90s.

Everybody stay safe and warm

Tom

COAST LINE FOREVER

It is better to dwell in the corner of a roof than to share a house with a contentious woman! (Solomon)

A contentious woman is like a constant dripping! (Solomon)

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Saturday, February 7, 2009 7:10 AM

grampaw pettibone

Quentin, Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats were formed in 1944 and first hit the charts in 1947 with PEG O MY HEART. They all died in the late 80s through early 90s.

Oh yes....I very much remember "Peg O My Heart" Tom.....They {Murad}, were quite a gang.....Kind of spoofed it up in their performances on early TV.

Now this is more like it....42.7 degrees and rising this morning.....Snow is diminishing fast....and that's good too.....Been here too long....

And now the sun is starting to shine on my computer screen.  Good thing is, we're to have this "warm" weather for several days.....Could Winter's back have been broken.....Probably not, but it's nice to see it on the run right now.....

Quentin

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 7, 2009 10:03 AM
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Saturday, February 7, 2009 11:08 AM

Murray
A little Saturday morning music:

 

......Now that was nice.....Which brings up the subject again....In the past I've read {someplace}, there really is a connection between railfans / railroaders and organ music interests....I especially like pipe organ music.

As I listened to the music Murray was presenting....I wondered off to be reminded of Ken Griffen....Anyone remember him and his organ music.  I have dozens of his 45's here in the home office {they probably date to the 40's...}, but do not have a turntable set up in here or out in the family room system, so I've never played them yet.  I do have a turntable but just do not have it in my systems, and haven't had for years....Wonder why...?  Still have dozens of records from years past....

Quentin

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, February 7, 2009 11:52 AM
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Saturday, February 7, 2009 12:18 PM

Murray
Quentin, here is some of Mr Griffin's music:

 

Wow.....!  Thank you very much Murray.  Good looking turntable too.

We have everything on here.....!

I just went down a pretty long list of pipe organs after watching your youtube presentations....Never realized to find all that on here. 

Just listened to the first Griffen cut you presented, and now I'll go catch the other ones....Thanks.

Edit:  That is a nice pleasant different post....very much enjoyed it.

Quentin

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Louisville, KY
  • 9,002 posts
Posted by cherokee woman on Saturday, February 7, 2009 5:01 PM

We had a high today of 61 (current temp), but it's been very windy and cloudy all day.  Lost another branch out of the pine tree.  Good thing we weren't outside, standing on the sidewalk at the time, because otherwise, we would have been hit on the head by the branch!

Here is our Saturday Night Pizza Fest menu:

1.  Anchovie; 2.  Cheese w/extra cheese; 3.  Chicago style; 4.  Pepperoni/mushroom/sausage; 5.  supreme; 6.  Goetta; 7.  Hawaiian

Dessert Pizza menu:  1.  apple; 2.  cherry; 3.  peach

Everyone take care, have a good evening, and enjoy your pizzas.

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,024 posts
Posted by tree68 on Saturday, February 7, 2009 6:56 PM

Pizza sounds good, but I even brought home leftovers from the events today commemorating the young EMT who died a week ago.   I was working the road between the fire station and the church where calling hours were yesterday and it seemed like every five minutes someone else showed up with another donation of food or related items. 

Some 2000 people attended todays ceremonies.  Almost 180 fire and EMS vehicles participated in the procession.   Attendees came from far and wide - NYC sent a contingent of the FDNY bagpipe band, and Boston EMS sent their color guard.  I spoke briefly with a paramedic from Pittsburgh, PA, and even Toronto, ON, was represented.

It was an emotional day.

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 Sunday, February 8, 2009 5:35 AM

Good Sunday morning, everyone.  Larry, I imagine it was a very emotional day for all of you.  My condolences to everyone.

 

 

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Louisville, KY
  • 9,002 posts
Posted by cherokee woman on Sunday, February 8, 2009 6:02 AM

Happy B-Day to Jack (dining car)!  May you have a Blessed, Happy Birthday Jack, with many, many more to come your way!  

Coffee, juices, hot chocolate, and hot water for tea are ready.

Special birthday breakfast menu today:  Eggs, basted, crisp bacon, fried taters w/chopped onion & bell pepper, multi grain toast w/jelly

And there will be be a special Sunday Dinner later on this afternoon, will probably have it ready between 12:30 and 1 p.m. EST.

 

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Muncie, Indiana...Orig. from Pennsylvania
  • 13,456 posts
Posted by Modelcar on Sunday, February 8, 2009 7:02 AM

....It looks like we'll start with sunshine this morning.  Temp now 37 plus, and it has done a job on the snow....Not much of it left.  Just some where it was piled up, etc....Believe a weak cold front passes today, and then back to warmer air from the southwest for several days.

Watching the race activity at Daytona last night they indicated at race time the temp was 55....Had been 70 in the afternoon.  That's an improvement to what they had several days of earlier in the week.

February is 1/4 behind us now.  Come on Spring.

Quentin

  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Florence, SC
  • 1,614 posts
Posted by grampaw pettibone on Sunday, February 8, 2009 9:55 AM

Good morning. 58 degrees and sunny in Carolina this lovely day. It is supposed to get up to 72, then back to 44 tonight. Thanks for breakfast, Paula. Larry, we had a police lieutenant about 20 or so years ago who was shot to death by a man who he had befriended and helped. I knew him well, and the turnout was enormous. Police and EMS people never know when someone will turn on them, and they are to be highly commended for the job they do. Everybody take care

Tom

COAST LINE FOREVER

It is better to dwell in the corner of a roof than to share a house with a contentious woman! (Solomon)

A contentious woman is like a constant dripping! (Solomon)

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Aurora, IL
  • 4,515 posts
Posted by eolafan on Sunday, February 8, 2009 10:14 AM

Good morning everybody.   Yesterdays warm (almost) 60 degree weather brought out virtually all the regular Eola yard railfan crowd and we all had a good time viewing and photographing all the BNSF/Amtrak and Metra trains during the warm afternoon hours.  The recently closed McClure crossing makes for a much nicer viewing as you can now safely be closer to the tracks behind the new road closure steel barriers...now when they make it a "horn free" location it will be even nicer for all of us.  I will likely not be trackside today but will be in Des Moines, IA tomorrow through Wed. morning after which I will drive home and possibly stop in Rochelle on my way back.  Have a wonderful, safe and healthy week folks!

Eolafan (a.k.a. Jim)
  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: US
  • 13,488 posts
Posted by Mookie on Sunday, February 8, 2009 10:16 AM

Where's Joe - I am missing Joe!  Blindfold

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

  • Member since
    November 2003
  • From: Louisville, KY
  • 9,002 posts
Posted by cherokee woman on Sunday, February 8, 2009 11:45 AM

Mookie, maybe he'll make a bee line in when he sees the Sunday Dinner menu, that Jack requested for his birthday:

We have 8 oz. ribeye steaks, fixed medium rare; mashed potatoes, green beans, tossed salad with blue cheese vinagarette dressing

Birthday dessert today:  fresh homemade lemon meringue pies with nice flaky crusts.  There's also chocolate cake, and cherry cobbler.

I hope Jack and everyone enjoy the menu today, and once again, Happy Birthday, Jack.

 

Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
  • Member since
    December 2006
  • 1,754 posts
Posted by diningcar on Sunday, February 8, 2009 12:43 PM

cherokee woman

Mookie, maybe he'll make a bee line in when he sees the Sunday Dinner menu, that Jack requested for his birthday:

We have 8 oz. ribeye steaks, fixed medium rare; mashed potatoes, green beans, tossed salad with blue cheese vinagarette dressing

Birthday dessert today:  fresh homemade lemon meringue pies with nice flaky crusts.  There's also chocolate cake, and cherry cobbler.

I hope Jack and everyone enjoy the menu today, and once again, Happy Birthday, Jack.

 

CW, you are a most gracious host. Thank you so much!! And my greetings to Mutt.

I don't know how my BD became known, but perhaps I can't remember furnishing it. Anyway I  am at that awkward age - too old to be tempted but too young to resist. My wife says I have used that line long enough and I should just settle for the first part of it.

Wet snow in Prescott, AZ today and it is the verticle type, not the horizontal version found too frequently in the mid-west. We need the moisture and are enjoying the beauty of snow standing on the pine trees like Christmas decoration.

 

 

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • From: Louisville,Ky.
  • 5,077 posts
Posted by locomutt on Sunday, February 8, 2009 1:24 PM

 Jack; Greetings right back to you;

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!   Happy B-Day

(and if anybody asks your age, just tell them; That You're Old Enough!!)

 

Being Crazy,keeps you from going "INSANE" !! "The light at the end of the tunnel,has been turned off due to budget cuts" NOT AFRAID A Vet., and PROUD OF IT!!

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: US
  • 13,488 posts
Posted by Mookie on Sunday, February 8, 2009 3:30 PM

Happy Birthday, Jack.  Hope I don't trample anyone getting to the dinner table!  Sounds so good!

Cloudy and colder today - wind is from east, which means I am going to send it all back east.  And will probably add moisture before I send it.

Had a huge house fire here today.  Happened to be not far from our train watching spot, so we got to see some of it.  The smoke was so heavy you had to stay several blocks away to get around it.  This was, from what I heard on my scanner, one of those houses that the little old lady didn't want to part with anything, so it all stacked up throughout the house..  No cause yet, but when they finally got to the fire, it was pretty much out of control.  An old, old house with dormers and probably lath and plaster. 

Remember please - Support your local fire department - gather all your junk and put it at the curb!!!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: Lombard (west of Chicago), Illinois
  • 13,681 posts
Posted by CShaveRR on Sunday, February 8, 2009 8:19 PM

SJ, when we see house fires around here they usually leave black areas above the windows. We took a trip one spring to the U.P. (Michigan, not the railroad), and saw in Ishpeming the aftermath of a rough winter--old wooden houses with roofs and large portions of the walls missing. Thankfully, we live in a more modern age around here. I suspect that the neighborhood near Camp Mookie is much older.

We've got a couple more days before your cold air reaches us--it's actually supposed to get above 60 on Tuesday, with Monday's rain gone. Today was a cool day by comparison (just above 40), but it got a few people with cabin fever outside, including Colin (Metra Kid 2) and Pat. The twain didn't meet, but we heard that Colin caught UP 1982 (the MoPac Heritage unit) at Elmhurst (I saw it at work soon afterward). After he left Elmhurst, Pat and I got there for dinner, and caught a couple of eastbound freights. Most of our snow is gone (this week should melt all but the largest Tonka-induced glaciers), but it will be months before the dirt roads and bike paths are hard enough for me to break out the bike.

Jim, I wish we could have made it out to Eola after work yesterday--there are a few folks in that crowd we haven't met yet!

The economy may finally be hitting us. Rumor has it that the extra board that fills my jobs will be cut from eight people to four. That will almost certainly leave the gal I've been refamiliarizing out in the cold (she did very well, and I'm proud of her!). The rumor has it that by March, the yard board will have 150 people furloughed--I think that cuts back to about 2005. I'm really hoping that we get an uptick in business between now and then (customary in normal years), so this doesn't happen.

Wow--a cafe-lounge and a dining car! Happy birthday, Jack!

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,024 posts
Posted by tree68 on Sunday, February 8, 2009 9:02 PM

Mookie
  This was, from what I heard on my scanner, one of those houses that the little old lady didn't want to part with anything, so it all stacked up throughout the house..

In NYC, they refer to those as Collyers Mansions.  A read of the link will explain it all fully.

Kinda makes my pack-rat tendencies pale in comparison.   I don't save everything.   I knew a woman who did, and when her house burned, she had to be restrained from trying to save her "stuff."

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
    December 2006
  • 1,754 posts
Posted by diningcar on Sunday, February 8, 2009 9:07 PM

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes. Now let's highball toward another great week of discussion about things that matter - or don't.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy