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Trackside Lounge - Spring '09 Edition

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Posted by bubbajustin on Friday, March 20, 2009 3:49 PM

tree68

We'll see what the astronomers at Cornell U. have to say. I just sent them the question...  Might be a week or so, though.

Goodness gracious! Just like math class all-over again! Kind of paying attention to Judge Judy and the computer at the same time. Today was a half day at my school. I'm now 5 hours 45 minutes and 94 seconds into spring break! Kind of cool today though 45* now. The waether man, not my dad by any means, says that it will be warmer tommorow. Hope so! Mom says she is doing a bit better. Back still hurts though. Well have a good evening. Thought we might bring up the idea of maby me fixing some "virtual" lunch when I get on here. I'll do it if you want me too. I guess cop car is in charge so whatever he says I'll do.

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Posted by bubbajustin on Friday, March 20, 2009 4:23 PM

Me 

 

Can you guy's see this? I just see a little red "X"

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Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, March 20, 2009 5:07 PM

Happy to wait for the Cornell verdict. I was able to note the location of sunrise this morning, though, so I'll know where it was at the equinox. That, by the way, occurred at 0644 CDT; sunrise here was ten minutes later.

Justin, I see the nose of a CSX GE unit. Maybe you could teach me how to superimpose a red "X" over it!Evil

Happy birthday to Stacey, Matt's Momma and Joe's wife!

Just my opinion, Justin, cyber-food or other fantasies are better left in the cafe.

Our bikes are home from the shop--Pat brought hers home with the car, I checked mine out a little more directly. Will bike home from work tomorrow if the weather is as promised.--have to work up to a round trip...maybe Sunday!

Carl

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Posted by CopCarSS on Friday, March 20, 2009 5:34 PM

bubbajustin
 I guess cop car is in charge so whatever he says I'll do.

LOL, I wouldn't put that guy in charge if I were you!

Seriously, I just happen to have created the latest incarnation of the Lounge. I'm just here for the chit chat like everyone else.

I also happen to agree with Carl -- if cyberfood is your thing, the Cafe is probably a better place for that. CW is a much better cook than I could ever hope to be anyways.

Carl -- just placed an order for some new tires with Kevlar lining for my road bike. I was having terrible issues with punctures from annoying little thorny things last year, so I figured this would help that out a bit. Now I've just got to get the crank issue straightened out, and I'm good to go.

Meanwhile, I've been looking around a bit at recumbent trikes. The "tadpole" style is really kind of calling to me. I watched a video of one, and they just look like they're a blast to ride in. Alas, they're not exactly cheap, so I think my current duo of two wheelers will serve me for the time being.

Anyways, I'm going to go check our skies and see if the cloud cover vanished, and if it did I may go see if I can scare up a train or two.

-Chris
West Chicago, IL
Christopher May Fine Art Photography

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams

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Posted by CShaveRR on Friday, March 20, 2009 5:38 PM
Chris, my tires have some Kevlar strips that I insert between tire and tube. I still get the occasional flat, but I suspect that "little thorny things" don't do the damage that they otherwise would.

Carl

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Posted by Deggesty on Friday, March 20, 2009 5:52 PM

CShaveRR
Happy to wait for the Cornell verdict. I was able to note the location of sunrise this morning, though, so I'll know where it was at the equinox. That, by the way, occurred at 0644 CDT; sunrise here was ten minutes later.

To add a little more into the calculation, Carl, your local mean sun time is about nine minutes ahead of Central Standard Time, since you are a little over two degrees east of the 90th meridian. (And it is about fifty-one minutes behind Eastern Standard Time, which you are currently observing.)

Johnny

 

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Posted by chad thomas on Friday, March 20, 2009 9:49 PM

Hi gang, how is everyone doing? I haven't been in here nuch lately except to lurk a bit here and there. I'm not traveling much these days because i am working on a project in Frazier Park (that's keeping me very busy). Anyway a few weeks back I caught a couple photo freights on the Nevada Northern I thought I would share.

first a boxcar freight (with 80% of NN's boxcars) at the bottom of the Keystone branch and then at the wye in Ruth with the SD9.

 Then the following weekend no.93 worked a photo ore train in the East Ely yard.

In contrast to the cold Nevada winter is the wildflowers on Gorman peek taken today


 

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Posted by tim o'm on Friday, March 20, 2009 10:46 PM
I might as well make a contribution to the lounge, too. The photo is a bit old, taken in January, as Steamtown's Canadian National 2-8-2 no. 3254 makes a run to the coal dock. She was preparing for a sold out train the following day running from Scranton to Tobyhanna, PA and return. Now, aren't you glad today is the first day of Spring? :) Best of luck with the Trackside Lounge. Over in the Classic Trains forum, the old "Our Place," shut down with no trace it was ever there. Meanwhile, the Coffee Pot in Classic Toy Trains seems always to be overflowing. I'll have to check the neighborhood for more hangouts. See ya!
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Posted by CShaveRR on Saturday, March 21, 2009 5:41 AM

Chad, nice shots! Do you have any close(r)-ups of those box cars? I remember when NN had a fleet of 25 rather unusual box cars (I'll have to check to see where they went--they're too new to have been scrapped yet) and a number of gons.

Tim, welcome! Your shot looks cold--and I'm breaking out the bike today!

Carl

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

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Posted by bubbajustin on Saturday, March 21, 2009 7:25 AM

Nice shots I like the Geep high hood. A SD9 is an nice thing to see in this ere of wide cabs. and mrning everybodySleepy Yawn. Mom has to go to the office today and when dad gets home from his classes he is going to take me to the depot al Laffayett for some train watching/ potography. I guess this is a lounge food not required here. Carl- we need to break out our bikes ourselves! I have a bike frm the 80's that's like when the sphix was being built! Anyway Mby we can figure out a way to make a big X over the unit and blow it up. (Size wize)

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Posted by Modelcar on Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:17 AM

Interesting and different shots {Tim and Chad}.....But oh that Winter...Burrrr.  And two cabeese on the one train....!

Like the two distance shots too of the open area.....Different.

Quentin

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Posted by chad thomas on Saturday, March 21, 2009 3:01 PM

CShaveRR

Chad, nice shots! Do you have any close(r)-ups of those box cars? I remember when NN had a fleet of 25 rather unusual box cars (I'll have to check to see where they went--they're too new to have been scrapped yet) and a number of gons.

Tim, welcome! Your shot looks cold--and I'm breaking out the bike today!

 

Thanks Carl, Q, Buba,

Carl, I was told the NN only owned 5 boxcars, the 4 shown and one rather raggedy looking one parked next the the museum (in town, not the NN museum). I would be interested in hearing what you know, especially the 'unusual' part. I'll get you some closer shots next time I go home.

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Posted by chad thomas on Saturday, March 21, 2009 3:03 PM

tim o'm
 I might as well make a contribution to the lounge, too. The photo is a bit old, taken in January, as Steamtown's Canadian National 2-8-2 no. 3254 makes a run to the coal dock. She was preparing for a sold out train the following day running from Scranton to Tobyhanna, PA and return. Now, aren't you glad today is the first day of Spring? :) Best of luck with the Trackside Lounge. Over in the Classic Trains forum, the old "Our Place," shut down with no trace it was ever there. Meanwhile, the Coffee Pot in Classic Toy Trains seems always to be overflowing. I'll have to check the neighborhood for more hangouts. See ya!

 

 

Thumbs UpThumbs Up  Nice shot Tim !!!

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Posted by bubbajustin on Saturday, March 21, 2009 7:39 PM

Youre welcome! I got a few shots today as well. Not very good. Time-line too my day. woke up, got yelled at by grouchy parents, took shower did chores, got yelled at some more, went to Lafayette, went to K-Mart and BB&B, Went to depto. Saw BNSF pulling NS train, got better pic of flower than tain doing 10mph... excerside for 68 min. got on line typed up this post. All I know sadly is that NN means Nevada Northern. Sorry. Did anyone else have an excitng day like mine? I like SD45's. Random bit of info there.Smile

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Posted by CShaveRR on Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:13 PM

Justin, sorry to hear about all of the yelling--at least you got to go to Lafayette, though.

My post-work day consisted of a bike ride to Elmhurst on my way home. Lunch was a blast from the past (nobody makes hamburgers like Hamburger Heaven any more!). I brought my burger to trackside, where I witnessed the passage of five trains in about an hour: one scoot in each direction, followed by three eastbound freights, a manifest, coal train, and a stack train. (It didn't take an hour to eat a burger--I also got to the hobby shop and was headed home when the last two were headed through.) Most exciting part of that was when the manifest had a Diverging Clear at Park off the center track, and as soon as he cleared the signal went to a high green for the coal train.

Carl

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Posted by CShaveRR on Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:22 PM

Quentin, the local freights that I grew up with had a pair of cabooses for many years, because a different crew took the train in each direction (crews worked their way back on passenger trains), and each conductor had his own caboose.

Chad, the 25 NN box cars I was talking about were built by Berwick Forge and Fabricating toward the end of the incentive per diem box car craze. NN 200-224 were beige in color, with a black logo. What made them unusual were their smooth (not ribbed) ends. I know that they went to the Mississippian Railway after a few years, but I can't tell you whether they're still there. The ones in your photos look more like museum pieces that probably stay on home rails.

Carl

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Posted by bubbajustin on Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:30 PM

Oh... that's ok Carl. It's actually my fualt. I'm a little grumpyGrumpy for some reason, I probably didn't help matters. Carl, Ever heard of Cheeseburgers In Paradise? Really good!

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Posted by CShaveRR on Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:37 PM
Oh, yes, they are! We have one of those about three miles from home. We've been there twice (the first time, our daughter announced the impending arrival of grandchild number two, now going on three). Good burgers, but hardly in a nostalgic sense.

Carl

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Posted by Deggesty on Saturday, March 21, 2009 8:55 PM

Carl, if you want to know just when to expect the sun to rise or set, you can check this site: http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/data-services/rs-one-day  the time shown on the clock at the upper right is what used to be called " Greenwich Mean Time" and then "Coordinated Universal Time."  It is, of course, the time at the Prime Meridian. When you enter your location, the results are shown in your locally observed time. Sun transit is the locally observed time that the sun reaches its zenith (high noon).

Johnny

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Posted by Modelcar on Saturday, March 21, 2009 9:59 PM

CShaveRR

Quentin, the local freights that I grew up with had a pair of cabooses for many years, because a different crew took the train in each direction (crews worked their way back on passenger trains), and each conductor had his own caboose.

Understand of the conductors having their own caboose back in the days Carl....Just never remember seeing that in my home area back then.

Justin....We've a Cheeseburger in Paradise here in Muncie.

Quentin

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Posted by chad thomas on Saturday, March 21, 2009 10:11 PM

CShaveRR

Quentin, the local freights that I grew up with had a pair of cabooses for many years, because a different crew took the train in each direction (crews worked their way back on passenger trains), and each conductor had his own caboose.

Chad, the 25 NN box cars I was talking about were built by Berwick Forge and Fabricating toward the end of the incentive per diem box car craze. NN 200-224 were beige in color, with a black logo. What made them unusual were their smooth (not ribbed) ends. I know that they went to the Mississippian Railway after a few years, but I can't tell you whether they're still there. The ones in your photos look more like museum pieces that probably stay on home rails.

 

Interesting, When was that (not familiar with the 'incentive per diem box car craze')? Any pics? And yes the boxcars are museum pieces, along with the rest of the railroad Wink. There is no connection with the outside world these days, well, actually there is but you would need a chainsaw to clear the weeds between the rails, and the rails are paved over at the hwy 93 crossing at Currie (about half way to the UP connection at Shafter.

There are plans to rebuild this line to support 2 proposed coalfired power plants at Cherry Creek, but because of the economic downturn one of the proposed plants has postponed construction plans. The other plans to move forward but so far I have seen little indication of any rail improvements. Although there was some work done this summer on NNs part on the line from Ely to McGill includeing rebuilding of the Club 50 crossing (hwy 93).

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Posted by CShaveRR on Sunday, March 22, 2009 5:44 AM
Somebody can correct me on dates, terminology, or rationale, but I think the IPD era began in about 1974 and ended in 1980 or 1981. That's when you began to see all of those box cars lettered for railroads most people never heard of, and cars for companies like the National Railway Utilization Corporation. At the end, a lot of orders got cancelled, and cars started showing up in unexpected paint schemes because they were hastily reassigned (blue GBW cars, for example). Railbox dumped most of its smaller, earlier cars to the owner railroads. I still have to look up these NN cars, but I think they were built in 1980. They're the only ones with those smooth ends that I recall.

Carl

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Posted by CopCarSS on Sunday, March 22, 2009 9:04 AM

Good Morning Gang!

Chad - Lovely shots as always. I really, Really, REALLY need to get out there, don't I? Is steam up and running back there now? BTW, I found a couple more manuals and odds and ends for the D60 while cleaning out my camera closet. Can you PM me your new address so I can send them your way?

Tim - Nice shot! Thanks for sharing. The Lounge seems to go through cycles, but I'll try my best to keep it open. Now that I'm not shooting basketball anymore, I've got more time to devote to railfanning and to hanging out here, so hopefully I'll be around more.

Speaking of being around, has anyone seen Dale or Ed lately?

Meanwhile, I got out yesterday morning for some railfanning. Here are my shots from the day:

I started out by Fox Junction. There was a transfer from the BNSF to the UP waiting for me that I was able to shoot with some nice morning light on downtown:

I had intended to shoot the Ski Train at this location with this light. Alas, the arrival of the Zephyr delayed that a bit. By the time the Ski Train got to this location, the light was getting pretty harsh and contrasty. Because of that, I was only able to make a B&W work:

Speaking of the Zephyr, here it is leaving Union Station:

I had a hankering to use some big glass before summer gets here and doesn't allow me that pleasure anymore. I had another meet at Mesa on the Limon Sub, so I figured shooting that hill at the east end of the siding would be cool with some big glass. Courtesy of the 300mm f2.8 and 1.4x "Cheater":

Not having too many trains to work with, I decided chasing this guy for awhile would be kind of fun. Here he is going through the curve just west of Watkins:

And here's my shot of the day. While maybe not quite as dramatic as mountain railroading, the high plains certainly have a charm all their own. Shots like this remind me that railroading can be dramatic anywhere!

When I got to Byers, I didn't have a lot of time to set up and wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I finally decided on another big tele shot, but didn't have time to set up the tripod. I put my trust in a decent shutter speed and Shake Reduction and handheld the 300mm/Cheater combo and was rewarded with this gem:

I kept chasing, but was starting to realize that high sun was kicking my butt. I finally gave up a little west of Agate, but not before I tried this shot, cropped to 8x20 "Banquet Camera" proportions (I almost bought an 8"x20" so occasionally I crop to this format):

And that's it! Comments and critiques always welcome!

-Chris
West Chicago, IL
Christopher May Fine Art Photography

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams

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Posted by blhanel on Sunday, March 22, 2009 10:42 AM

Oooo!  Oooo!  Oooo!

Most of those (especially that 20x8) would still look great cropped to 16x9...Smile,Wink, & GrinLaugh

As far as Dale and Ed go, I get an occasional e-mail from Dale, he's been having access problems with the new Trains website, comes up real slow for him, and Ed's been around, he just posted in Willy's thread the other day.

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Posted by Modelcar on Sunday, March 22, 2009 11:51 AM

.........Enjoyed your morning presentation Chris.....Very nice.

Quentin

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Posted by bubbajustin on Sunday, March 22, 2009 12:38 PM

Awesome shots Chris. Nice day today this Sunday aftrenoon. 61* here.

Queintion,

The next time we get up near Muncie we will have to stop in and have a bite to eat! I ate at the one at Chattanogga TN.

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Posted by chad thomas on Sunday, March 22, 2009 12:40 PM

 Hi Chris, The #4 shot (mesa) is awsome Thumbs UpThumbs Up So are the others but this one is great. As for the NN steam, the 93 is back in action but the 40 is still in need of axle work. I'm still real happy with the D60 but I am ready to upgrade to a better zoom. With the overtime I'm makeing these days that will be a near future purchase Cool. My current mailing addy is:

1011 S. Pioche hwy, #14

Ely, Nv. 98301

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, March 22, 2009 1:19 PM

Outstanding, as always.

I'm looking at retiring at the end of the year, so another lense might have to happen before I get there and have to watch my pennies a little more closely...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by CShaveRR on Sunday, March 22, 2009 3:16 PM

Larry--you wouldn't be looking toward retiring around October 16, would you? That might well be my target date, too, if I can figure out how to make things work for me.

Chris, those shots are awesome. Of course, if I were along, a train chase may have been a bit more difficult--I would have hoped you could drive along the stopped train so I could get the former BN numbers off those CTRN hoppers in there.

My thrill of the day came before work this morning, when I was rapidly overtaken by my favorite train--ZWASKP--while driving out of Lombard on my way to work. There had not been any sign of anything when I crossed the tracks, but before I got away from them, the train was in my mirrors, then there, then gone! Three units, 55 cars.

Carl

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Posted by mudchicken on Sunday, March 22, 2009 3:51 PM

Chris: Was the NW-2 out at Byers or hiding in the barn at the west elevator? Have not seen it in a long while.

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west

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