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Posted by mudchicken on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:09 PM

Chris:

Hope you got to play with the wild afternoon light. About the time you posted, CN2564 came into town MU'd to a FURX leaser and a war pumpkin at South Denver. If only the camera was with me and not in the truck!

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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Posted by CopCarSS on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 6:24 PM

Personally, I really do love digital, and don't miss a lot about film. Probably the one item I miss the most is the reliability of a nice mechanical camera, no matter what circumstances you throw at it. I've used my Canon F1N (kind of a hybrid between mechanical and electronic) in temperatures nearing 20ºF below zero and 105ºF above. While I've never had my D60 fail me in cold weather, battery life is attrocious, and once the batteries are gone, that's it. With the F1N, if the battery died, I just had to pull it out, and I had all shutter speeds from 1/125th up (plus 1/90th...the flash synch speed). Of course, I'd be guessing at exposure, but this really isn't as hard as one might imagine.

Mostly, when I shoot film now, it's either a nostalgia trip, or to keep the lubricants from gumming up (and usually a combination of the two). The exception to the rule is when I get the 4x5 camera (a Graflex Crown Graphic) out. It delivers resolution that would cost me tens of thousands of dollars in the digital realm to duplicate, and I picked it up on Ebay for $250 or so. While it doesn't have lots of movements, it does pack easily, and delivers great images. I don't have many lenses for it at the moment, but I am looking to add a nice Wide Angle, and a Portrait lens. With those two, plus the good standard lens it comes with, I'd have a nice little kit that could deliver quite a bit (and could even be handheld in a pinch). Not bad....

 

-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 CANADIANPACIFIC2816 on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 4:08 PM

I will eventually make the switch to digital, but I feel that there is something to be said about the old standby 35 mm SLRs. Virtually everything I know about photography I learned from an old friend of mine who was a master at it, and he sold me my first Nikon 35 mm camera. I have two old Nikon FE camera bodies and an assortment of lenses and right now I would hate to dispose of my Nikon FE's, as they are like old friends to me.

This past summer I visited a cousin of mine who lives out in Denver and she was able to show me what she was able to do with her digital camera, and I am convinced that there are advantages to going to a digital camera format.

CANADIANPACIFIC2816

"There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run, when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun, long before the white man and long before the wheel, when the green, dark forest was too silent to be real." Gordon Lightfoot

 

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Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 3:10 PM

....Yes, Chris...the Elan 7e is still here and an Infinity SuperZoom 300 Olympus.  EOS Elan has a 28 to 200 mm lens and If I remember correctly the Olympus zoom is 38 to 135.....Haven't used either one in some time and was making sure batteries were either out or not causing any problem.

I just find myself not using them and grabbing this inexpensive Fujifilm FinePix A330 digital so I can come right in and download them on here, etc....What a shame.  But then I really am at the place where we don't need hard copies of pic's to add what we have in drawers here, etc.  So, so far that's what I've been doing in recording photos either to send via email or perhaps to make a copy here if I have one I really want.  Guess I've really backed off and settled down on the picture taking action.  Guess it comes with age...ha.

Quentin

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Posted by CopCarSS on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:45 PM

 Modelcar wrote:
...Chris:  Boy it sounds good to hear someone to even mention film...!  Maybe I don't have to through away my 2 film camera's quite yet...In fact just had them out of their cases in the past 2 days looking at battery situations...123 type stuff....

Quentin,

It's been awhile since I played with any of mine. I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend, but I may get my Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL out just for kicks. It's always a sentimental favorite, as it was my first SLR, and previous to that, it was my Dad's first camera. I've added a couple M42 lenses to go with it, and it really is a sweetheart to use.

When I complete the switch of my Canon stuff to Pentax stuff, I may just have to add a K1000 for those occasions when I want a simple, all mechanical film camera to take out into a blizzard or something.

Do you still have your Elan 7? I had one of those and really liked it. By far and away the quietest SLR I've ever used.

-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 Mookie on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:27 PM
Wow Tree!  A multi-tasker!  Great picture!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 1:25 PM

will take some cider please.last i heard tommorow is supposed to be a cold cold rain.Im going to check the gutters for leaves today.after last nights frost our trees have dropped there leaves now.short raking season.

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 tree68 on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 12:53 PM

 blhanel wrote:
And you're snapping pictures WHILE YOU'RE DRIVING IN IT?Shock [:O]Smile,Wink, & Grin [swg]

Took a lot less concentration than changing lanes, I want to tell you. 

Did have to stop trimming my nails to get the shot (wedding pictures, donchaknow).   Lunch was getting cold, too...  (Not! Big Smile [:D])

LarryWhistling
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Posted by blhanel on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 12:51 PM
And you're snapping pictures WHILE YOU'RE DRIVING IN IT?Shock [:O]Smile,Wink, & Grin [swg]
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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 12:47 PM
 mudchicken wrote:

CW: The weather liars are talking about a prairie blizzard (6-14 inches of blowing snow here) and an Albuquerque Low to feed it. The plains get the snow and the mountains get little if any. SE Colorado (Pueblo, Trinidad, La Junta, Colorado Springs, everything south of I-70 and east of the front range could get really slammed) It all depends on how much moisture Hurricane Paul and Houston Ed send this way when the cold front gets here from the Pacific NW. Could be ugly or could be nothing.

Boss Hen stocking-up at the store on her way home tonight. May not be staking railroad curves on Thursday.

Fire-up the soup kettles! Hot apple cider!!!

The snow shovel is having anxiety attacks out in the garage....

Like this stuff I had to drive through last Friday on my way to the wedding?

Not that there was a lot of it (a total of 4" fell), but it was that nasty wet, slushy stuff that makes you afraid to change lanes, for fear that you'll keep on changing lanes right into the median....

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 cherokee woman on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 11:15 AM
 mudchicken wrote:

CW: The weather liars are talking about a prairie blizzard (6-14 inches of blowing snow here) and an Albuquerque Low to feed it. The plains get the snow and the mountains get little if any. SE Colorado (Pueblo, Trinidad, La Junta, Colorado Springs, everything south of I-70 and east of the front range could get really slammed) It all depends on how much moisture Hurricane Paul and Houston Ed send this way when the cold front gets here from the Pacific NW. Could be ugly or could be nothing.

Boss Hen stocking-up at the store on her way home tonight. May not be staking railroad curves on Thursday.

Fire-up the soup kettles! Hot apple cider!!!

The snow shovel is having anxiety attacks out in the garage....



Yeah, mudchicken, that's about what I heard this morning on GMA

I've got the soup pots going on the stove:

1.  beef vegetable soup
2.  cream of broccoli soup
3.  beef stew
4.  the rest of Ray's chicken noodle soup (that was a pretty big pot, Ray:  still have
     quite a bit left!)

Of course, we have regular saltines, whole wheat, and oyster crackers for the soups,
and cornbread for the beef stew.

And there's a big pot of apple cider on the stove (range) keeping hot for mc and
anyone else who wants some hot apple cider.  And have plenty of cinnamon sticks,
if anyone wants one in their cup of cider.

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Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:18 AM
...Chris:  Boy it sounds good to hear someone to even mention film...!  Maybe I don't have to through away my 2 film camera's quite yet...In fact just had them out of their cases in the past 2 days looking at battery situations...123 type stuff....

Quentin

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Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:12 AM

....rvos1979:  That sounds interesting and for sure a 1:1 rev. box would allow the vehicle to go as fast backwards as forward.  {If it would stay on the track}.  That could explain the speed I saw as the truck moved out on the rails....Not high speed but faster than I realized it would be moving with a normal Rev. gear.

I'm familiar with automatics and power train stuff basically as was exposed to such in the Lab I worked in for 37 years developing and testing such stuff at BWA.

Quentin

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Posted by CopCarSS on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:09 AM

Morning All,

Not a whole lot to report here. As MC said, weather could be interesting tonight (though it shouldn't be too bad up here on the NW side of Denver). We shall see. I actually have a roll of film! that I need to have developed from the last bit of snow.

Every so often I like to run a roll of film through my older cameras to keep the lubricants from getting hard and crusty. So after the last bit of snow, I took out one of my Soviet Rangefinders (a Fed 3b to be exact), and headed out. It was actually kind of a novel experience. The Fed 3b is about as simple as a camera can get. It has precisely three controls to affect the image: Shutter Speed, Aperture & Focus. Since the lighting was consistent, I used the "Sunny f16" rule. Since I had 400 speed film in, I set the shutter speed to it's highest (1/500th), adjusted the aperture to a bit under f16, and pre-focused to get all of the DOF that the small aperture would allow (from about 6 feet to infinity). Any time I wanted to take a picture, I simply raised the camera to my eye, and snapped! Wow, I'd forgotten how much fun rangefinders can be! Now if I could just find the cash to pick up one of the new Leica M8's and a couple of those killer lenses!

Anyways, guess I had better get to work. Hope you all have a great day!

-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 Modelcar on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:03 AM

....MC:  Watched the national weather reports on morning shows today and it was being described very much like you mentioned in your post.  Sounds like east a bit from you {Plains}, could really get a dose of January like weather.

Seems strange this kind of stuff is messing around now out there  as our mid west forecast for the upcoming Winter is:  Warmer than normal and drier than usual.  It showed a large sweep of it coming from the west all up over the upper plains and to us for this Winter forecast.

Quentin

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Posted by Mookie on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 9:01 AM

Hmmm - a Mudchix now thinks he is a Prairie Chix.  Next he will want to be a snowy owl!

Moo....Big Smile [:D]

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:56 AM
....CW:  Thanks for the info on the "Produce"....{and Jen too}....Sounds like a good program and must be so handy too.

Quentin

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Posted by Modelcar on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 8:47 AM

....MC:  The truck in the picture from your link is very close...Very likely it was a Brandt truck but with different equipment on the back.  I note it does have 3 axles in the picture so maybe what I originally thought I saw...I did.

Yes, very similar designed truck overall.

Quentin

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Posted by mudchicken on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:47 AM

CW: The weather liars are talking about a prairie blizzard (6-14 inches of blowing snow here) and an Albuquerque Low to feed it. The plains get the snow and the mountains get little if any. SE Colorado (Pueblo, Trinidad, La Junta, Colorado Springs, everything south of I-70 and east of the front range could get really slammed) It all depends on how much moisture Hurricane Paul and Houston Ed send this way when the cold front gets here from the Pacific NW. Could be ugly or could be nothing.

Boss Hen stocking-up at the store on her way home tonight. May not be staking railroad curves on Thursday.

Fire-up the soup kettles! Hot apple cider!!!

The snow shovel is having anxiety attacks out in the garage....

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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Posted by blhanel on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:37 AM

 cherokee woman wrote:
Coffee is on and ready, juice is made, and am working on getting breakfast
on the warmer bar:  bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage patties, biscuits,
sausage gravy, diced potatoes w/onions are frying in the skillet as I type,
so they'll be ready in a few minutes.  Also have some pancakes w/your choice
of maple syrup, blueberry syrup, or Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. 

Good morning!  I'll take some pancakes with the real stuff, please.  Nothing beats real maple syrup- I grew up on it, home-made from my grandparents' neck of the woods in northwest Wisconsin.

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Posted by cherokee woman on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:09 AM
 Modelcar wrote:

....CW:

Sorry....I missed whatever the discusion way back regarding Produce....I see you comment all the time about "we've" had this and that for produce this morning, etc...Is that something that has to do with the "diner" or is it a function of reality....Just wondering...?

Wondering minds, you know....



Quentin, "Produce Tuesday" is when the local Dare to Care and Kroger send trucks of
excess produce to community centers, churches, where Dare to Care has centers to
help the hungry. 

In our neighborhood, it's two doors up from our house.  They normally bring potatoes,
bagged salad mixes, sometimes will bring fresh iceburg lettuce, onions, etc.  Then,
there are times that they might bring milk, eggs, canned biscuits, cinnamon rolls,
cookie dough, yogurt, orange juice, etc.  You just never know what they'll take off the
truck when it pulls up in front of the community center. 

Mookie, they didn't bring any carrots yesterday, but we do have some carrots here
at home!!  Do you need some?!?!


Angel cherokee woman "O'Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist."
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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 7:00 AM

mookie

saw a mini cat version you could use to paw around in your yard.its being used on a county road project now.

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 Mookie on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 6:52 AM

CW - thank you - I will put it to good use.  Can't seem to shake this!

Joe - I still want that big CAT....obviously!  Could watch it work all day! 

CW - Q wanted to know about Produce Tuesday.  You will have to fill him in!  Got carrots? 

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 6:43 AM

morning

juice and coffee are ready.also have some hot chocolate too.had to scrape my windows this morning.those brandt trucks are neat.seen them help drop & pick up ties for csx.

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 Wednesday, October 25, 2006 6:39 AM
Good Wednesday morning, everyone!  Hope our friends out in Colorado are
keeping very warm!!  Heard on the national news, that they may be in for a
good coating of snow tonight!!

Coffee is on and ready, juice is made, and am working on getting breakfast
on the warmer bar:  bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage patties, biscuits,
sausage gravy, diced potatoes w/onions are frying in the skillet as I type,
so they'll be ready in a few minutes.  Also have some pancakes w/your choice
of maple syrup, blueberry syrup, or Mrs. Butterworth's syrup. 

Mookie, hope you're feeling better this morning.  Check the cabinet above the
sink in the Diner's kitchen, and you'll find some cough syrup.  Hope it'll help your
cough.  And I've got a biiiiig cup of coffee ready for you.  It's by your hammock.

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Posted by rvos1979 on Wednesday, October 25, 2006 4:07 AM
The powertrains in the Brandt trucks are interesting... The older models had an Allison auto trans with a 1:1 reversing gearbox, and two speed rear ends, could do 40MPH in reverse with the rears in low, something like 75-80 with the rears in high. Newer models use a Twin-Disc auto, and are limited to 30 MPH in reverse.

http://www.brandt.ca

I believe the models built for freight and MOW use have three axles in the back, thr rearmost axle is an air-up air-down lift axle to spread the weight on the highway (these weigh in the neighborhood of 55-60 thousand pounds road ready.).

Randy Vos

"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings

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Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 10:40 PM

No rack above the flat deck and no work box on the back, sounds like a Brandt truck with a knuckle boom...

http://www.vif.com/users/r-rhurlbut/BrandtRoadRailPowerUnit.html

or is it a "Brute" truck crane used by mechanical forces

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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Posted by Modelcar on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 9:07 PM

MC:  It was a rather new vehicle....and quite sizeable....the bed was like one would call a flat bed with a boom like crane mounted near the rear of it.  The boom was constructed similar like on a back hoe but pretty good size.  The truck was all white in color.  There was no cab connected to the boom on the back.  Didn't note just where the controls were for it.  Might have had a mounted seat right at the base of it with the controls, etc...

I don't know why I didn't try to I D it with any writing on it but I neglected to do so.  I'm not sure if it had that 3rd axle I mentioned but it might have....

Looked like a well engineered rig....not a home built.  Again, it must of had an automatic transmission as it's backward speed would be much too fast for a manual transmission.  The rail wheels looked like they were "powered" down to take some of the weight off the truck and it didn't take long to do it....

 

Quentin

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Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 8:57 PM
Quentin: Wondering if you encountered a wheel changeout truck, a rail changeout truck with a knuckleboom or a Brandt multicrane scavenger truck....What was the bed of the truck like?
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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Posted by Modelcar on Tuesday, October 24, 2006 7:58 PM

.....Hello Jim:  Sorry, I don't seem to get there for coffee...but guess it's never too late to do so...

Just a little trivia:  Stopped by our local Trail Depot parking lot today shortly after lunch and {had some Steak n Shake stuff with me in my little truck  {my fun truck}, as the wife was with a girl friend out hitting the stores, etc....and had a little lunch while putting myself in place to catch a train if I'm lucky.

NS Newcastle line runs parallel to trail there...{Triple Crown route}.

No trains but a large truck came up to the crossing and an employee was at the controls for the crossing signals and they started to blink and the gates came down.  This large white truck..{didn't notice who it belonged to}, pulled up between the crossing arms {on a 4 lane street}, and worked it parallel right over the tracks and then dropped the rail wheels down on front and then on the rear....and he was "on the rails"....

The truck was sizeable.  Had 3 axles on the rear {or was it two...}, and a rather complicated looking crane built on the bed of the truck.  He then proceeded backwards...{north}, via rail....and I was surprised at his speed {backwards}...and then he was out of sight.  The rig was rather new.

Didn't have the radio turned on when he first arrived and really didn't hear any chatter from him after I did engage it....Don't have any idea what his mission might have been but he continued to run backwards until out of sight.  One of the biggest I've seen get on the rails and move out on them.

I guess what surprised me was his speed heading backwards....We all know Rev. is not a fast ratio in that size {normal} truck....

Jim as for Hybrid cars....That is going to be a pretty popular subject at least for a while until something else tops it on the automotive scene.  No, I don't have one but automotive stuff is a subject I like....Believe Toyota is one of the most successful with models presently.  Seems they are really stepping out with the process...from a small Toyota model to a top of line Lexus {high performance one}.  Honda is right in there too as well GM  is working with it too.  Ford has a crossover model on the market now too.  Believe it's a Freestyle model...

Anyone else here care to add to the subject....Owners with reports of performances, etc....

Quentin

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