Trackside Lounge: Sep.-Dec. 2009 Edition

[CShaveRR]

I wasn't in here yesterday, so I completely missed a Very Important Date:

Happy birthday (Saturday) to MBKCS--Tina Hemphill!

I wish I were as organ-ized as you are!

My "sinful pleasure" of late: Symphonie Concertante by Joseph Jongen.

____________________

Tomorrow, besides a follow-up with my physician, Pat and I will be at the studios of our favorite radio station, volunteering during one of their fund drives. These have become worldwide affairs, thanks to streaming on computers and other technologies; join the fun at wfmt.com.

____________________

Perishable trains are heavy this week: 78 cars on the first one (they lost one somewhere), and 65 on the second. First one is in Illinois; should hit the Kohnen City and the Corn City by early afternoon.

[mbkcs]

CShaveRR

I wasn't in here yesterday, so I completely missed a Very Important Date: Happy birthday (Saturday) to MBKCS--Tina Hemphill! I wish I were as organ-ized as you are! My "sinful pleasure" of late: Symphonie Concertante by Joseph Jongen.

 

Hey Carl, and all who have said Happy Birthday to me, thank you very very much. Paula, that goes to you, too. And facebookers...thanks for well wishes there, too. 

I am on facebook and I get several requests for friends, but I don't recognize names well. I am sure some of them are from the forum here. So, if I don't answer back, it is because 1. I rarely use Facebook. 2. I'm lazy. 3. I'm trying to figure out if I know you or not. 4. I'm lazy. 5. I forget. Please forgive me if you requested to be friends and I haven't responded. I sure don't want to cause hurt.

 Carl, I love the Jongen! However, I hope to teach myself next Julius Reubke's Sonata on Psalm 94. That is if I quit being so lazy and drag myself to church to practice. 

 I forgot to use quotes for this and didn't pay attention to who wrote the following and I apologize for that. "Apparently someone at Wikipedia thinks that the letter "b" is a proper substitute for the symbol for a musical flat. " Actually, I use a small "b" all the time to designate a note being "flat." Just like I use the pound sign to indicate "sharp." Bb, F#, works for me. Of course, when I studied theory in college, there were no personal computers and thus no access to symbols to use in typing. One could have rolled the typewriter bar a bit and try and superscript the "b" next to the "B" but that would have not been necessary for an assignment in theory and comp. And even in Finale, if I am placing my own chords using the Lyric tool and not the Chord menu, I will in fact write B-flat as Bb.

Anyhow, again thanks for the birthday wishes. I share the 14th of November with Aaron Copeland and it was also the day one of his dearest friends, Leonard Bernstein debuted with the NY symphony. As a musician, it would be harder to find a better day to be born on.

tina

 

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

mbkcs

  [snip]   I forgot to use quotes for this and didn't pay attention to who wrote the following and I apologize for that. "Apparently someone at Wikipedia thinks that the letter "b" is a proper substitute for the symbol for a musical flat. " [snip]

Deggesty/ Johnny, in the 3rd post from the bottom on the previous page of this thread = Page 12 of 13 (presently), from 11-11-2009 at 10:09 PM.

[CNW 6000]

Does anyone know if CN is running some kind of unit sulphur train?  Several times in the last two weeks(ish) I have seen a train of nothing but tanks that I think were labeled for Sulphur.  I have seen it going both North and South.

[CShaveRR]

Dan, sulfur tanks are about half the size of ethanol tanks. So if the cars struck you as being smallish, it probably was a unit sulfur train.

As to CN having unit sulfur trains, it's likely. We on the UP have sulfur tanks running regularly between "up north" and our interchanges with CSX and NS. Often they're just good-sized blocks of the cars in a manifest train, but we occasionally receive solid trains through here. No reason we should have all of the fun!

Tina, great to hear from you!

[Modelcar]

Carl....haven't noticed Tina on here for some time and remember that she was a master at the Pipe Organ....Music that is produced by those at Pipe Organs is my favorite.....

[CShaveRR]

Mine, too, Quentin! Hope you can get the radio program Pipe Dreams over a public radio station where you are (90 minutes every week). The Joseph Jongen composition I mentioned is a totally amazing combination of organ with orchestra--not necessarily pompous or reverent, and definitely intended to bring down the house at its conclusion.

I'm trying to remember whose organ piece a professor friend of my daughter's was talking about when he mentioned that one of the score notations could freely be translated as "Detonate!"

[Modelcar]

CShaveRR

Mine, too, Quentin! Hope you can get the radio program Pipe Dreams over a public radio station where you are (90 minutes every week).

 

Carl....I have heard that program in the past and really have forgotten about it....Must take a look and see just when it may be on at our local PBS station.  Thanks for the reminder.

[tree68]

While the music may not have been classical, I suspect both of you would have enjoyed a pizza place in metropolitan Phoenix (I don't know that it's still open).  Known as the "Organ Stop", it featured a complete theater organ - "toys", pipes, and all. 

The fellows who usually played there could do it justice, and they've played other pipe organs around the country as well.  My mother could tell you their names.

[CShaveRR]

There used to be a place like that in Grand Rapids (what is it about pizza?), built around a Wurlitzer organ that had been in a large downtown theater. The restaurant eventually closed, but the organ was moved to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Don't know how often it's played there.

The Tivoli theatre in Downers Grove still has an organ that sees weekly recitals before the night's shows. I don't think that's a pipe organ, though.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

tree68

While the music may not have been classical, I suspect both of you would have enjoyed a pizza place in metropolitan Phoenix (I don't know that it's still open).  Known as the "Organ Stop", it featured a complete theater organ - "toys", pipes, and all.  [snip]

Yep - looks like it's still there and in business - in the eastern 'Mesa' section of the city.  See: http://www.organstoppizza.com/welcome.htm 

Larry, thanks for that.   It looks like about 30 miles and 35 - 50 mins. from where my daughter now lives there, so we may well check it out when we're out there for the holidays.  If we do, I'll try to remember to post a brief review.

'Pipe Dreams' is on early Sunday mornings - like 6 AM - on WVIA-FM out of Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre, PA.  I first heard it while driving to Steamtown for a double-headed steam excursion trip to Binghamton in the early 1990s.

EDIT - see: http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/ 

- Paul North. 

[Modelcar]

I too often wondered how Wurlitzer organs were teamed up with the product Pizza.....??

Not sure if it's still open and in operation...but we have attended a performance several times at the one in Indianapolis.

It was identified by The Paramount Music Palace.  And make music it certainly did......and any time we attended a performance, the musician playing it was a true professonal.  Ken Double of a TV station in Indy was one of the masters of it on one of our visits.

I believe the data indicated this Wurlitzer came from California.

It had all the wind instruments.....percussion, etc......and would really put out the genuine theater organ sound.  At the start of the program the area would be darkened, and then the music would start and the organ console would come up out of the floor, rotating as it rose to it's proper position with the organist playing, and all the theater lights, etc.....Quite  a program and the organ unit did have beautiful sound....Very capable.  Doors on the walls that would open and close in choosing volume from pipes, etc.....

But how that got associated with Pizza.....I certainly don't know.  I wasn't crazy about the Pizza, but the orgain and it's performance was 100%.

[CNW 6000]

Just noticed this in some pictures I have...but it made me curious anyway.  In the nose of widenose engines GEs have their doors on the Conductors side and EMDs have theirs on the Engineer's side of the headlight  Is there any rhyme/reason for this?

[AgentKid]

CNW 6000

In the nose of widenose engines GEs have their doors on the Conductors side and EMDs have theirs on the Engineer's side of the headlight  Is there any rhyme/reason for this?

Since the experts haven't had time to weigh in on this question yet, it gives me a chance to ask a followup question.

As well as the difference between GE and EMD engines, does the door position also have to do with the age of the EMD unit? I say this because recently I have noticed pictures of CN units with the door on either side of the headlight, depending on the age of the unit. I understand CN has not been a purchaser of many GE units, so I am working under the assumption that the pictures taken in the last twenty years or so have been EMD units.

I too am curious.

Bruce

 

[mbkcs]

Modelcar

I too often wondered how Wurlitzer organs were teamed up with the product Pizza.....??

Not sure if it's still open and in operation...but we have attended a performance several times at the one in Indianapolis.

It was identified by The Paramount Music Palace.  And make music it certainly did......and any time we attended a performance, the musician playing it was a true professonal.  Ken Double of a TV station in Indy was one of the masters of it on one of our visits.

I believe the data indicated this Wurlitzer came from California.

It had all the wind instruments.....percussion, etc......and would really put out the genuine theater organ sound.  At the start of the program the area would be darkened, and then the music would start and the organ console would come up out of the floor, rotating as it rose to it's proper position with the organist playing, and all the theater lights, etc.....Quite  a program and the organ unit did have beautiful sound....Very capable.  Doors on the walls that would open and close in choosing volume from pipes, etc.....

But how that got associated with Pizza.....I certainly don't know.  I wasn't crazy about the Pizza, but the orgain and it's performance was 100%.

Okay, I will continue the "organ" conversation for just one more posting..then back to trains, eh?

The Paramount in Indy was on East Washington Street. Just think, Quentin, that if you went there in the 70's, you may have sat next to my dad and me. I lived on Shortridge Road back then, just a few blocks west of the Paramount. A couple of the main rail lines out of Indianapolis eastward were just south of there.My husband informs me that they would have been the NY Central and Pensy lines.

I think the idea of putting organs into pizza parlors was to take advantage of the popularity of Shakey's Pizza with its sing-a-long bouncing ball music. You'd have to find someone in the Theater Organ clubs to get a better answer as to that. Plus, Virgil Fox, my idol, was very popular in the 70's, traveling around cities and college campus's with an all Bach program set to the new technology of lazer lights.

For the record, I am not a theater organist, though I highly admire the skill. Also, I was taught and embraced Virgil Fox's interpretation of Bach, not E. Power Biggs.

For you organ fans, membership in the American Guild of Organists is open to non-playing membership. You won't be able to vote on issues, but you could get notification of local chapter events, such as recitals, when you receive their monthly newsletters. My local chapter lists the programs for Pipedreams every month. Go to agohq.org for more info.  

For awhile there was great interest on the yahoo group pipes-trains but I haven't seen discussion there in a long time. The group was for those of us who like pipe organs and trains. I also like Allen and Rodgers organs. I am not a pipe organ snob. However, the one I took my lessons on in Indy was a dream instrument.

tina

[Modelcar]

mbkcs

The Paramount in Indy was on East Washington Street. Just think, Quentin, that if you went there in the 70's, you may have sat next to my dad and me.

 

.....Thank you Tina for the comments.  I hope you enjoyed the Pizza better than we did since we have the great "Pizza King" products in Muncie, I suppose we're spoiled.

Music though was great...! 

One comment:  We now have a brand new Music school facility at Ball State University in Muncie that is state of the art, including a new Pipe organ.  Attended a recital there when it was introduced.

Ok.....now back to trains.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

mbkcs

  . . . I also like Allen and Rodgers organs. . . .

tina 

The Allen Organ Company - http://www.allenorgan.com/ - is just on the northern outskirts of Macungie, PA, well within sight and sound of the NS 2 track Reading Line main line's grade crossing of PA Rt. 100 there.

And in the southeastern quadrant of that crossing is the Macungie Flower Train Park and gazebo in the style of a train station - see:  http://www.macungie.pa.us/parks_files/parks.html - something for everyone there !

- Paul North.

[mbkcs]

 

Paul_D_North_Jr

mbkcs

  . . . I also like Allen and Rodgers organs. . . .

tina 

The Allen Organ Company - http://www.allenorgan.com/ - is just on the northern outskirts of Macungie, PA, well within sight and sound of the NS 2 track Reading Line main line's grade crossing of PA Rt. 100 there.

And in the southeastern quadrant of that crossing is the Macungie Flower Train Park and gazebo in the style of a train station - see:  http://www.macungie.pa.us/parks_files/parks.html - something for everyone there !

- Paul North.

 Paul, thanks for the links. The parks look pretty. Pennsylvania is a pretty state and anytime one can sit in a gazebo and breathe in fresh air and watch trains...well..that's nice, too.

tina

[CNW 6000]

AgentKid

CNW 6000

In the nose of widenose engines GEs have their doors on the Conductors side and EMDs have theirs on the Engineer's side of the headlight  Is there any rhyme/reason for this?

Since the experts haven't had time to weigh in on this question yet, it gives me a chance to ask a followup question.

As well as the difference between GE and EMD engines, does the door position also have to do with the age of the EMD unit? I say this because recently I have noticed pictures of CN units with the door on either side of the headlight, depending on the age of the unit. I understand CN has not been a purchaser of many GE units, so I am working under the assumption that the pictures taken in the last twenty years or so have been EMD units.

I too am curious.

Bruce

 

Good call Bruce.  I'll go back to some of my pics of the older GP40-2Ws I've got and see if I can spot the same thing.

[AgentKid]

Well now we have an interesting situation. Are we going to call engines built at GMD in London, ON, EMD units?

If so have a look at this SD40-2F:

http://www.mountainrailway.com/Roster%20Archive/CP%209000/CP%209000.htm

Bruce

 

[CShaveRR]

Oh, joy--today I get to work with wet conditions and half of one of my retarders out of commission until Monday. The retarder will take four hours to repair, and Monday is the first chance they'll have to accumulate the necessary equipment. At least that's what I was told.

Guess I'll have to derive my pleasure from other aspects of the job...

[zardoz]

CShaveRR

Guess I'll have to derive my pleasure from other aspects of the job...

Like perhaps the fact that you DO have a job, whereas 10%+ of the population does not?

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Carl -

What do you do then ?  Double the setting on the other half of the retarder ?  I presume it's not the 'master' retarder, but one of the 'field' or outer ones ?

- Paul North. 

[CNW 6000]

AgentKid

Well now we have an interesting situation. Are we going to call engines built at GMD in London, ON, EMD units?

If so have a look at this SD40-2F:

http://www.mountainrailway.com/Roster%20Archive/CP%209000/CP%209000.htm

Bruce

 

I guess I always considered 'em EMDs at heart.  Kinda like Lincoln/Ford/Mercury I guess.

[CShaveRR]

Paul_D_North_Jr

Carl -

What do you do then ?  Double the setting on the other half of the retarder ?  I presume it's not the 'master' retarder, but one of the 'field' or outer ones ?

- Paul North. 

Well, Paul, you just do what you have to do to control the speed of the cars going down the hill. This is the lower half of an intermediate retarder--normally the most vital one I have for fine-tuning my exit speed or holding a car for spacing purposes. Yes, I do use the upper half more, or at least I depend on it more, to do the work of both halves. But I'm also doing a little more with the cars (both loads and empties) in the master retarder, so that the half-retarder can handle them the way I'd like it to. If I didn't control the empties up top, they might come off the rail in the intermediate retarder and "ride the beams", either until they reach the open out-of-service retarder or the rerailers at the end of the entire unit. If the wheels ride the beams for a short distance, it's no biggie, but if the car hits the retarder too hard or too fast, it might bounce enough for the flanges to ride the beam, diminishing the odds that the rerailers will be able to do anything. Then I'd have some explaining to do. Today a couple of loads slipped through the intermediate retarder without slowing down as much as I'd have liked (because I didn't slow them down up top as much as I should have, for whatever reason), but our skillful Tower C operator got them under control just fine with her group retarders.

Yes, Jim, I'm grateful for being among the employed for now, particularly with the medical and dental bills both of us are incurring. But don't think that retirement doesn't cross my mind every day I go to work! (Our UTU L.C. told me today that I'm probably making the right call by hanging around, though.)

As for other pleasures, I saw UP 1995 getting ready to depart on something westbound.

[Paul_D_North_Jr]

Carl -

OK, thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply.  I looked at a close-up aerial view of the yard - this is at the west end of the yard, out by I-290, correct ?  A pair of leads, each with a 'master' retarder, then the 'scissors' X-over connecting them, then the 'intermediate' retarders - 1 in each lead - just beyond that, then the 'group' retarders down at the bottom of the hump - 4 on the north, 5 on the south, and Tower C is on the southern side also ?  Quite the capable operation, it seems.

Thanks again.  Have a good one !

- Paul North.

[CShaveRR]

Tower C's the one on the north, with four group retarders. That doesn't mean that she's got less work to do than Tower B--in fact, it seems like quite the opposite in most cases, at least on our tour of duty. (I should note that "she" refers only to the daytime Tower C operator--there are usually males there on the other two shifts, each of which has a female operator in Tower B.)

Of course, I'm the guy in front of the diamond--the quarterback, as it were.

[CNW 6000]

Interesting insight Carl. Re: your advice on being careful the other day, fear not. I'm actually far away from any tracks currently. As I type this (on my Blackberry phone) I'm on the West side of a White pine tree, facing West about .75 miles from the truck. A gorgeous day to be in the woods, but nothing to report yet today. Even CN hasn't been running today yet. I can hear 'em blowing for crossings in Sheridan from the woods here. Hopefully the afternoon is more productive than the morning!

[CShaveRR]

Well, things never go as expected, but here's what I expect for the next day or so:

My broken retarder should be repaired, with damaged beams and chairs replaced.

My tower, or at least one of the other ones, should have had its windows replaced with some that actually close tightly for the winter, and which contain more energy-efficient--and sound-deadening--glass.

I will not be too happy if things should be different from this, as I might still be feeling my root-canal work from this morning, and just might feel like gnawing on situations that cross me.

Plenty of business: we've been seeing some trains with "x" at the end of the name, indicating that the cars apparently are there for additional runs. Over the weekend, we were not able to keep up with the receiving yard on Friday or Sunday.

This morning we encountered a stack train fresh out of Global 2, with four units on the point and two more DP units behind (pretty sure they were all GEVOs). This was one very long train, and it came across right after an inbound manifest had finished blocking us. It was very impressive (especially to Pat) to see how the train took off when they got onto straight track, particularly with the DP units suddenly leaning into it, and realizing that nobody was back there!

Thanksgiving plans involve much travel and little railfanning. Not disappointed; just home the weather cooperates well enough so that I can make a side trip or two on our second trip to Michigan next Monday.

Remember to be thankful in (and for) all things, and drive carefully!

[AgentKid]

Glad to see Carl got the thread back on the front page.

Got back about a hour or so ago from my mother Sheila's 80th Birthday supper. My sister and her husband and two kid's joined us and a good time was had by all.

It's getting so that the number of women who experienced the life of a Station Agent's wife in a CPR station on the Canadian prairie is getting fewer all the time. She even noted that herself once, after some CPR retiree's function several years ago.

One more time

Bruce