I don't have anything exciting to report today either. I haven't even seen any tracks in what seems like at least 3 weeks...been too busy working on the house and with Aedan and my job (present one anyway). One of my irons in the fire cooled unexpectedly...which put a damper on things last week...this morning I found that another may heat up that I didn't expect to. Funny how things work out. Hi ho...
Dan
CShaveRRan Infiniti M45--a very nice car,
Oh, yes, and a very capable one.....A sport sedan of high degree. $50,000 plus.
Quentin
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)
CShaveRRthree bands of thunderstorms go through here yesterday
I have had a fascinating past few days following the news and weather. As mentioned on today's Newswire, CP has had one of several washouts at Irvine, AB on Friday, about 25 miles west of our old station at Hatton, SK.
I was sort of listening to the 11:00 PM news on Friday, when I heard that they had to evacuate the hospital at Maple Creek, SK, 19 miles east of Hatton. This jolted me awake like I had stuck my finger in an electric socket. That there would be enough water, in one place, anywhere in that area to require an evacuation would be like hearing about an ice cap forming over the Mojave Desert, to use an American reference.
As a result of all this, I have had a couple of really interesting conversations with my mother, about that area, over the past couple of days. She was so concerned about a shallow lake north and east of Hatton that you would think she was still living there. It is the type of situation where if the water level rose about a foot, the surface area of the lake would increase by several square miles.
As mentioned in the Newswire story, the area is so arid that Hatton is now listed on the Ghost Towns of Saskatchewan website.
Since the branchline era has ended, there is also no easy detour route available anymore. As an example, to get around a 1.8 mile flooded section on the Trans-Canada Highway, the only detour fit for commercial trucks is 120 miles long. That is only a fraction of what the railway detour distance is going to be.
I have a feeling I am going to be a real news junkie before this mess is cleared up.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
Through the miracle of VCR technology I was able to look at all three networks late news programs. It seems the folks in the flood areas may have dodged a bit of a bullet today. There was not as much new rain today as had been forecast. They do however still have big problems.
There was one amazing scene. A reporter was interviewing a flooded out resident and in the background was a CP railroad track suspended in midair above and behind them. That is going to take a terrific amount of fill to get that track back on solid ground. This is not going to be an easy thing to fix.
CShaveRRThese are not your typical "gully-washers"!
There is a great story in the local paper there, about a man who actually witnessed about 200 metres of roadbed being washed away.
http://www.medicinehatnews.com/story/disaster-unfolded-mans-eyes
Also there is a picture, with what I always thought was a great expression coined by either Mudchicken or Railwayman, of four "expensive big yellow machines". They don't seem to hardly be making a dent in the problem. I swear I am going to have to go to "News Junkie Rehab" after this is all over.
Getting rocked here on the western shore of Chesapeake Bay. Methinks the Eastern Shore is in for it worse, though. Mostly a lot of lights and noise here, with a little rain. A couple of reports of trees and wires down in the area.
I'm beginning to wonder about the bi-weekly photo contest. I get the impression that Alex could submit a picture of a pot-bellied stove when the topic was big Diesels, and he'd still draw votes. This edition is particularly off, since the topic was "broadsides" and he submitted a wedge shot, which a lot of people seem to like "because they like F units". Maybe it's the readers that are having the problem.
Larry 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...
Barbara & I drove around Mercer & Warren counties today looking for very tall corn. Very few fields are tall. The places that normally have good crops have had too much rain. Fields with even slightly low spots are flooded. We saw many creeks out of their banks. I saw a meet between Monmouth & Burlington today. It's been a while.
CShaveRRWell, that one was a gully-washer!
It seems as though most of the excitement is over down at Medicine Hat and area. They have gone into what is being called the recovery and restoration phase.
The mayor of Medicine Hat has said this flood is the first of this type in the city's history. All previous floods have been caused by heavy rain upstream and then a big head of water roars through town and leaves a big mess behind. This time the rain dropped straight down on them (42% of their annual rainfall in 3 days) and turned all of the creeks that flow into the South Saskatchewan River into rivers' as well. The area has 17 bridges damaged or destroyed in a city of 60,000. I believe this would include RR bridges as well.
But there was two kinds of flooding. The first was what I described above, down in the valley. The second type is all the water standing around on the flatland's for 60 or so miles east of the city over to Maple Creek, SK. That is where the first washout occurred on the CPR mainline at Irvine, AB. The first 30 or so miles through Irvine over to Walsh, AB is farmed. They can do it by depending on winter snow melt to get them through the summer. The next 30 miles or so over to Maple Creek is normally so dry you can't do anything with it. That is the area where the Trans-Canada Highway has collapsed into a sink hole. All this moisture is bound to have weird effects on all the area soils including the CPR ROW. The highway is closed indefinitely.
The CP website is now saying that the route from Medicine Hat through Lethbridge to Calgary should open by the weekend. The mainline from Swift Current through Maple Creek and Medicine Hat to Calgary should reopen next week. Also movements of perishable domestic and international containers has been suspended across Canada except from eastern shipping points to Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Edmonton. They want to restore system fluidity before they resume these operations.
All in all it has been a very interesting week.
tree68 I'm beginning to wonder about the bi-weekly photo contest. I get the impression that Alex could submit a picture of a pot-bellied stove when the topic was big Diesels, and he'd still draw votes. This edition is particularly off, since the topic was "broadsides" and he submitted a wedge shot, which a lot of people seem to like "because they like F units". Maybe it's the readers that are having the problem.
If we still had the ditto smiley, I'd use it. I've also noticed that Alex seems to win the majority of the contests, just by submitting photos of steam engines in the snow. Those shots look nice, but we're supposed to vote based on the shot's relevance to the theme, not necessarily based on how pretty it is, or what kind of locomotive is pulling the train. I'm trying to figure out how he's winning this week with a wedge shot, when the theme was "broadsides." It ain't fittin'.
Carl - Looks like Chicago is getting hammered again. You'll have to fill me in on the details!
Willy
CShaveRRbut "fluidity" is probably the last thing they want to hear about, considering how much of the roadbed was fluidized
I never even thought of it when I read the website or wrote my post, but the moment I saw the word fluidity in quotes I started laughing so hard I had to stop reading the rest of the sentence. I bet the guy who wrote those notices for the website got ribbing/abuse for the rest of the day. He will no doubt be known as "Sloshy" or something similar for the rest of his days on the CPR
Willy2Carl - Looks like Chicago is getting hammered again. You'll have to fill me in on the details!
I picked this up on the AP wire: From Spain.
A train speeding through a seaside rail station plowed into a group of youths taking a shortcut across the tracks to get to a beach party, killing at least 12, injuring 14 and turning a festive night meant to welcome the start of summer into one of carnage and tragedy, officials and witnesses said Thursday.
The youths _ at least some of them described as Latin American immigrants _ got off a commuter train in the beach resort of Castelldefels outside Barcelona shortly before midnight Wednesday to head to the party. About 30 climbed down off the platform and tried to scurry across the tracks instead of using an underpass to leave the station, witnesses said.
Seconds later, a long-distance train that was not scheduled to stop at the station barreled into the youths at high speed, its whistle shrieking.
So sad
Darn Shame!
Looks like the ability to act stupidly around railroad tracks is a universal problem, not only here. But other countries, as well.
It is sad about theose who were killed immediately, but likely the toll will rise(?).
If anyone's missing their favorite GTW GP it's probably hiding in Neenah, WI. There was a sea of blue and red this morning as I dropped my son off at the sitters. Thought I saw some EJE orange too...but it could have been the sun.
Warmer and a bit more humid today, chance of storms tonight. The new lawn (1500 square feet) is starting to sprout and should be sorta safe to walk on in a week. My garden is going crazy with all the rain and sun we've been alternating with lately. Soon I'll have tons of taters, corn, and beans. Currently munching on some fresh raspberries...yea!
CShaveRRMy phone was out at work today (weather, perhaps, but why only me?)
Just finished getting rocked by some of Ma Nature's fireworks. Nothing severe (almost!) but the light show was pretty impressive. Aedan is spending the night at his grandparents house so I'll hear how he did in the morning.
Heard from "a little birdie" that one of CN's new/old C41-8s acquired from UP, CN 2105, may be on the move northward from IL. May have to swing out if I get enough of a heads up and see if I can digitally steal it's soul. Now...back to bed!
CShaveRRWe had another storm pass through here early this morning, before work. It lasted less than an hour, but dumped 0.7 inches of rain.
We enjoyed that same storm from the comfort of a Courtyard by Marriott room on the north side of Elgin, IL- went on a whirlwind tour of there and Lindenwood, IL yesterday; main objective was the final disposition of Joanie's Mom's ashes (she's now buried under a new tree on the property she grew up on), but we also enjoyed participating in some of the events of Lindenwood's 175th anniversary celebration, including a parade past the same property. On the way home, we spent an hour at Rochelle's RR park, which had lots of railfans in attendance, but only two trains to entertain them during that period.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Carl, unfortunately we were booked solid for our entire trip- had dinner Friday at Alexander's Restaurant in front of the Courtyard by Marriott with one of Joanie's cousins on her father's side. So, I decided not to advertise our presence. Since the action through Rochelle was very sparse, I only have the one shot to share, but I can certainly post it here as well! As you can see, the railfans outnumbered the trains...
CShaveRROne of the Lincoln Highway's biggest claims to fame is that it crossed this part of the country without hitting Chicago!
.....Speaking of the Lincoln Highway: In my small home town in Pennsylvania, the Lincoln Highway was main street until 1938.
A bypass was constructed then....{7 mi.}
But to this day, there is one of the famous concrete posts that were erected about 1929 {I believe}, and it identified the route as so. A plack still of Pres. Lincoln and the capitol letter "L" is imprinted on it. I believe they were erected by the Boy Scouts. They stand about 3.5' tall. It is amazing it is still there. Town is Stoystown. Pop. for years, roughly 450.
CShaveRR Dan, did you have any luck with that CN unit? I think it would look good in the CN paint (Spartan-cab GE units in CN black aren't that common!).
http://www.fuzzyworld3.com/3um/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4809&p=35162#p35162
Photos and details on the link.
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