Carl - My dad did a lot of biking, so I was biking since I was 7 or 8 and was doing long trips by the time I was 13 or so. I had slowed up a bit in the past few years, but last year I really started biking a lot again. In the great "someday" scheme of things, Colorado is supposed to build a trail all the way from Wyoming to New Mexico. While I don't hold my breath on that being complete anytime soon, it is fun to explore the fairly extensive trail system around the Denver metro area.
In your travels, have you managed to bike the Virgil Gilman Trail? I think it's an old EJ&E line. That was one of the closest to home, so I found myself on it a lot. Not especially spectacular, but there were some nice views of the Aurora Sub along the way, so I could mix biking and railfanning on those occasions.
Dan - Nice shots! I like the Fuzzy Bandit one, too!
-ChrisWest Chicago, ILChristopher May Fine Art Photography"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams
Dan - as much as I like trains, your fuzzy bandit really did intrigue me.
Not a good place to be for obvious reasons and also during the daylight hours.
Mook
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
A couple of shots today:
This one was more of a fun shot but worked:A Fuzzy Bandit
This one was yesterday. Manifest train A452 is just north of Shops Yard (NFDL)A452 at Fisk Rd.
Dan
This is Carl, Justin--I was the one with e-mail problems, and I mentioned the eventual construction of a third main track from Elmhurst around Proviso and into River Forest. According to UP's press release, this work is slated for this year. They will put on a flagman's job (to be filled by a qualified yard employee--which could be me, if I wanted it to) to keep the contractors out of harm's way. From the sound of your latest e-mail to me, the e-mail situation is under control.
We tied the record high for this date--74 degrees. Pat and I took a couple of walks today, neither of which were in the direction of the tracks. The car's sitting where we left it last night--that means another butterfly on our calendar!
"When [you were] younger", Chris? I was about your age when I took up biking again! Anyway, I have made it the length of the Fox River Trail, in increments--a trip from Lombard to Elgin, Aurora (via Eola, of course!), and back home, and a one-way trip from Crystal Lake to Lombard.
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)
Nice shot Dan! Is that one of my favorite engines there? You know the SD70M? I love those things. Very very nice here in Indiana today 73*! Have a good evenig everyone. Ps I think I found a host site for my pics. tangle.com. Formaly god tube.
Dan maby somehting's wrong with my e-mail, I'll check. I don't really understand what you mean about any new main tracks and flagman... sorry. Thanks for responding though!
The road to to success is always under construction. _____________________________________________________________________________ When the going gets tough, the tough use duct tape.
I have seen those green box cars but never thought to get shots of 'em. I will add that to my list of "shoot that" for the near future and then report back.
Morning All,
Dan - I really like the shot. Normally I don't like mile markers and such in the frame, but you've used it well to frame the shot. Nicely executed.
Carl - I need to get both of my bikes in the shop one of these days, too. The mountain bike just needs a tune up. The road bike needs a crank bearing replaced. I'm hoping to really get the mileage numbers up this year. I was up to doing around 50-60 miles a couple times a week with shorter rides in between at the end of last year.
Of course, I used to do the full length of the Fox River Trail from Aurora to Crystal Lake and back again when I was younger. I'd like to be able to pull off those kinds of rides again. They really open up possibilities for investigating the world by bicycle.
......Yes, that's an unusual situation {for Amtrak}, to have such a problem. Sure hope the organization takes advantage of this oportunity to improve the passenger rail system and build for a better future. Certainly more passenger equipment {being renovated and repaired}, will be an advantage to be put to use as it is made available......and when the economy returns to expansion again.
Quentin
Nice shot, Dan! Any idea what those green box cars behind the power were? Looks like they may have had their height increased.
We aren't planning to use the car today, and our bikes are in the shop for their annual tune-up, but we might get a couple of walking trips in--temperatures should top 70, and we've broken out some short-sleeved shirts for the occasion (mine even has some green in it--Pat doesn't wear green, because she doesn't look her best in that color).
It almost looks like Amtrak has an embarrassment of riches lately--it's actually having problems deciding how to spend it and stay within the guidelines: http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=46328
Thought I'd drop a pic in here. Not the absolute best thing we'll see but the best 'scenic' shot I've taken in a while. I found that I tend to be a 'roster' shooter. It happens!
Q118 at MP181.1 Defect Detector
YouTube video of the detector squawking after the train passes:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc-DlSzmPUQ
I couldn't let todays great 60 degree weather go to waste! We'll see what the 65 degree stuff lets me find tomorrow!
Justin, for some reason my e-mails to you haven't been getting to you. I tried again tonight, but you're probably off the computer for the evening.
We celebrated the nice weather today by driving to LaGrange (and to visit daughter and grandchildren in another town that will remain nameless because it has no railroads), then walking across town. Not much in the way of trains in either location. Tomorrow is supposed to be an even nicer day here, but we'll be staying close to home. In fact, we hope to not use the car at all.
No discernible signs of the new main track around our yard yet--should be showing soon, as we'll be providing flagmen for something!
I have a question for somebody in the old "Land of the Burlingtons" (and you have to go back a while to know about that): What's with the elevated structure that looks like a crossing-watchman's tower we saw by the tracks in Western Springs? I couldn't see that there were any stairs to get up to it. Making a movie set?
Hay folks were fading down into the archives. Can't let that happen. Thanks for all the thankses about the honor roll. Mom gave ne 25 dollars for my card. The dispatcher sure had the road railrs backed up at Attica last night. 5 trains in 30 minutes! About 50* right now.
Justin - Congrats on the honor roll!
Well, I was going to get up early again and go chasing again this morning. After waking up and listening to the scanner, I decided that I'd be using a lot of gas to get a couple of shots. I decided it wasn't worth it, so I stayed at home and flipped through my Don Ball, Jr. books instead.
As odd as it is for a railfan to say, I'm kinda getting tired of the sunshine anyways. I've always thought my best work was in less than perfect weather. I LOVE shooting in snow and rain and such. We've had something like half an inch of snow in the past two months, so I'm starting to really crave a rainy/snowy day shoot.
evenig all.
I saw 5 NS train at Attica just a little while ago. I got the A, B honoroll on my report card. Yay for me!
CopCarSSCarl, do they use multiple routings for the Rocket Trains? I was thinking of you when I saw all the special cars and was going to try to get roster shots of everything. Alas, me being artsy fartsy didn't allow me enough time to get everything. I have one other flat car and the other clearance car.
Carl, do they use multiple routings for the Rocket Trains? I was thinking of you when I saw all the special cars and was going to try to get roster shots of everything. Alas, me being artsy fartsy didn't allow me enough time to get everything. I have one other flat car and the other clearance car.
Alas, I haven't done much for Pi day. I may have to remedy that with a Pizza 3.14 tonight.
Justin, it's a shame you can't share your shots, but I understand where your Mom is coming from with that. There really are some crazies out there.
Chris, nice booster shots! We're supposed to get those every so often...
Seriously, this is equipment that never gets to our neck of the woods.
Hey All,
Didn't have a chance to read all the comments, but I'll get back to them either tonight or tomorrow. Thought I'd post a couple shots of some recent stuff. I managed to find not one, but two Rocket Trains (Solid Rocket Booster Trains for the Shuttle Program) yesterday on the Limon Sub -- an Eastbound and a Westbound. Here's some standard documentary stuff:
And here are some "artsy fartsy glint shots" of the Eastbound:
And finally, a couple shots from a slow morning (at least for eastbounds) on the Moffat Line:
Comments and critiques always welcome!
Carl, the sure-fire way to make links work is, after copying them into your post, edit them to put a {url} in front of the link and a {/url} immediately following it, except use the square brackets instead of the curly ones. Always works for me.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Since you said you didn't like math, Justin, I'll let you in on a little secret: we didn't need to measure it--read the diameter off the package and used pi to figure out the area. It wasn't as big as you think--a square pizza ten inches on a side would contain 100 square inches.
In spite of your vicious elbow attack , your mother drove you out into the country so you could catch up with a train? You should be especially nice to her!
CShaveRR Thanks, Brian! This new Mac doesn't make such things easy, but there's got to be a way (following the link with a space doesn't do it). Did you sneak a peek? Justin, all 113 square inches of the pizza were good, as were the 0.785-square-inch pieces of pepperoni thereon. We just finished lunch, after work. A little later on, we'll have a slice of apple 3.14159.
Thanks, Brian! This new Mac doesn't make such things easy, but there's got to be a way (following the link with a space doesn't do it). Did you sneak a peek?
Justin, all 113 square inches of the pizza were good, as were the 0.785-square-inch pieces of pepperoni thereon. We just finished lunch, after work. A little later on, we'll have a slice of apple 3.14159.
HA HA HA! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I didn't know anoone evan listens to me on here! That sounds like a big pizza 113 square inches! You actuall measured it cool!
Mom got elbowed in the side to day by me she hurts even worse now. Pancakes were good this morning! I got a good pic today too bad I cant share it with you guys. Is'a -8 leading a -9 across the open Indiana fields.
CShaveRR Finally an article that actually offers promise: http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=46290 And another one that says something about my old stomping grounds: http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=46297
Finally an article that actually offers promise:
http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=46290
And another one that says something about my old stomping grounds:
http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=46297
Here you go, Carl...
Thanks for the suggestions but mother wont allow it. MY PARENTS ARE NUTS/BONKERS! She says someone will track me and see where I live and kill me or abduct me. Scarry stuff and she is just being safe but what's unsafe about this site ( worries about it too) You wouldn't want to see my pictures anyway. Thay stink. I'm going to a pancake b-fat this good mornig. that = yummy!
About mom, she is still in a great deel of pain and is going for an appointment (IDK when). Seems to be covering up the pain fairly well though. Grandmah didn't notice it!
Carl.... How was the pizza? My chips and salsa were good!
Justin, anything you can share on your mother's condition?
Pat has promised that we can have pizza tomorrow for Pi Day. We could also have some apple pi, but probably won't..
CopCarSS Brian - If you let me know what shots I sent you and what your new resolution is, I can send you updated versions. Justin - You have to host your pictures someplace else. I have paid accounts at both Flickr and PBase. You can find free sites as well, though (Flickr actually offers a free account, but there are some limitations to it). Once you have that site, it's a matter of just using the forum code to link the picture. Let's take this example from my PBase site: http://www.pbase.com/copcarss/image/102902248 With my PBase images, it's just a matter of adding .jpg to get the url for the picture by itself. So, I would take that link, add .jpg to the end and enclose it in the forum code for an image. The end result would look like this, with one small exception: {img}http://www.pbase.com/copcarss/image/102902248.jpg{/img} The only difference is that you'll need to change the { and } to [ and ]. (If I had done that above, it would have made the image link work). If all goes well, you'll have a picture embedded in your post like this: I know it sounds confusing, but it's not too bad. The biggest thing you need to do is post the images someplace else. If you do that, I can help you embed the pictures once I know where they're at. Good luck!
Brian - If you let me know what shots I sent you and what your new resolution is, I can send you updated versions.
Justin - You have to host your pictures someplace else. I have paid accounts at both Flickr and PBase. You can find free sites as well, though (Flickr actually offers a free account, but there are some limitations to it).
Once you have that site, it's a matter of just using the forum code to link the picture. Let's take this example from my PBase site:
http://www.pbase.com/copcarss/image/102902248
With my PBase images, it's just a matter of adding .jpg to get the url for the picture by itself. So, I would take that link, add .jpg to the end and enclose it in the forum code for an image. The end result would look like this, with one small exception:
{img}http://www.pbase.com/copcarss/image/102902248.jpg{/img}
The only difference is that you'll need to change the { and } to [ and ]. (If I had done that above, it would have made the image link work). If all goes well, you'll have a picture embedded in your post like this:
I know it sounds confusing, but it's not too bad. The biggest thing you need to do is post the images someplace else. If you do that, I can help you embed the pictures once I know where they're at.
Good luck!
I hope that I can find a free sight that is safe. Thanks for informing me!
We had Pi day today. I brought in chips and salsa. Other stuff was just burnt crispy garbage.
My amfleet coaches still arent here. 19 weeks since ordering... UGH!
Chris, that conference sounds like it's right up your alley! It's a ways north for you, but we would be especially interested in hearing if you make it out this way, and can stay into Sunday evening (I'll e-mail you and tell you why).
CopCarSS Justin - Welcome! You don't really have to worry about "pitching in" or anything like that. The lounge is just a nice place to hang out, chit chat, share photos, etc. I'd like to hear more about your Amtrak project, though. Carl - Good to see you here, too. How are things back in your neck of the woods. I *might* be back that way in April. I'm thinking about attending this conference. I have to see if I can work that into the finances. On the bright side, since I could stay at Momma's house, I wouldn't have to worry about paying for lodging! Cannonball - Thank you for the kind words. Tree - Thank you for the kind compliment. I haven't been hanging around here as much as I should, so I've missed a lot of stuff in here. Do you have any new work? zardoz - A long time ago on a sub far, far away?
Justin - Welcome! You don't really have to worry about "pitching in" or anything like that. The lounge is just a nice place to hang out, chit chat, share photos, etc. I'd like to hear more about your Amtrak project, though.
Carl - Good to see you here, too. How are things back in your neck of the woods. I *might* be back that way in April. I'm thinking about attending this conference. I have to see if I can work that into the finances. On the bright side, since I could stay at Momma's house, I wouldn't have to worry about paying for lodging!
Cannonball - Thank you for the kind words.
Tree - Thank you for the kind compliment. I haven't been hanging around here as much as I should, so I've missed a lot of stuff in here. Do you have any new work?
zardoz - A long time ago on a sub far, far away?
Thanks for the warm welcome. I don't know how to put pictures on here can somone tell me?
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