I thought there would be a more recent article than 1957 about her in Trains, but maybe I just read it more recently when I acquired that as a back issue. Jeff's plausible explanation seems to fit in with what I remember from whatever it was that I read.
In the days before Amtrak, the only passenger trains left on the Overland Route (only running from Chicago to Clinton were No. 1 and No. 2, the Kate Shelley. (Used to be the Kate Shelley 400.) The pink color used on Metra's timetables for the UP West Line is Kate Shelley Rose.
Shelby, indeed (blaming the source, not Cher!)!
As to that last article, I found it plausible. I could attach real names to a few of the fictitious ones that he gave to people at work. And the photograph that was on the first page of that article was taken from Tower A, my home away from home (in fact, I was on duty when it was taken...think they'll fire me?). I talked with Terry last time I was in Kalmbach's offices, two months ago. It turns out that he would have been coming on duty soon after I did on most days (second shift), so I didn't see or know him when he was the chief clerk. (I'd be in the office often, but only knew the gal he relieved.)
Interesting piece on Proviso in the most recent issue of Trains: the modern-day photo was taken from the top floor of the "Top of the hump". The older picture could only have been taken from the old steel light tower (which, by the way, is still there).
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)
CShaveRR Interesting piece on Proviso in the most recent issue of Trains: the modern-day photo was taken from the top floor of the "Top of the hump". The older picture could only have been taken from the old steel light tower (which, by the way, is still there).
The photos of the interior of the roundhouse showing just the front of the steam locomotives were my favorites.
Trains did an issue with tributes to women in railroading sometime in 1982. I'm pretty sure she was mentioned in that issue, but I don't think it's what Carl, and myself are thinking about. I remember reading something in Trains that the CNW had stopped the eastbound passenger train at Scranton, IA, waiting on word from the engine that had been sent out. (Moingona sits at the bottom of a hill either way. Helpers were stationed there for westbounds into Ogden and eastbounds into Boone. It was a helper engine that was sent out.) It hasn't been that long (relative term) ago, but may not have been an article devoted to her. It may have been a time line or side bar to a bigger article.
We went to Boone today to run a few errands. I noticed on the Boone County Historical Musuem's outside board that on this coming Sunday, July 10th from 2pm to 4pm there will be a program/open house at their Moingona depot site. The depot is actually (IIRC) the one from Beaver, IA and has a few items on display. The old right of way is a walking trail down to the river where the old bridge stood. The tracks were taken out in the 1930s, but the bridge piers remain.
On the way home, we made a stop at Sacred Heart Cemetary on the western outskirts of Boone to pay our respects. I've always been meaning to visit, but never got around to it. I thought today would be appropriate. There is a nice plaque at her gravesite recounting the story of that eventfull night and that the memory of that will last long after the last rail has rusted away.
Jeff
jeffhergert but I don't think it's what Carl, and myself are thinking about. . . . On the way home, we made a stop at Sacred Heart Cemetary on the western outskirts of Boone to pay our respects. I've always been meaning to visit, but never got around to it. I thought today would be appropriate. There is a nice plaque at her gravesite recounting the story of that eventfull night and that the memory of that will last long after the last rail has rusted away. Jeff
but I don't think it's what Carl, and myself are thinking about.
. . .
I recall reading about the Kate Shelley story and my TRAINS collection only goes back to 2005. I think we are thinking about an article about building the new bridge. The original story may have been included in a sidebar or something.
As a railroader that was a very nice thing to do, going out to see the grave site. The histories of so many businesses today rarely stretch back further than the last two quarter's.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
I just checked on my "Classic Trains" DVD and it is not there. The article we are thinking of must be in a TRAINS magazine.
The "Magazine Index" here for Trains seems to end at 2007, at least for the entry of "UP" . . .
- Paul North.
Let's see... we had a RVPR hopper in the yard with "Reynolds Aluminum" lettering. That was pretty cool.
Also a Great Lakes Carbon car.. now in grain service. MWCX, probably.
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
Good stuff!
The Reynolds RVPR car was probably originally lettered USLX (Reynolds had some of its own, lettered RMCX, but those wouldn't have gone to RVPR). RVPR is the Riverport Railroad, which has trackage in the old Army depot near Savanna, Illinois.
The Great Lakes Carbon car was probably originally lettered GLCX (I don't know of any lettered with any other reporting mark). I'll be looking forward to seeing one of these for myself.
____________________________
Greetings this evening from La Plata, Missouri. We're spending the night at the Depot Inn. So far, we've had some surprises, both nasty and nice: the nasty one was the downpour that started just before we arrived, The nice surprise is that as ATCS display of the BNSF Transcon in this area is one of our in-room TV channels, and another channel shows the webcam view from the observation deck not far from here. I hope to be able to take a walk out that way later, if the rain lets up. But for now, I'm watching a manifest pass through from the comfort of my desk chair!
The purpose of this trip is to attend a niece's wedding, so this is probably the only railroad action I'll have at least until Sunday.
We will be coming home via St. Louis, and--between trips with daughter's family to do some touristy things--might get a stab at some train-watching, either at the Amtrak station or in Kirkwood. And on the way home, of course, we should be able to observe progress on UP's ex-GM&O route. I doubt, though, that we'll have time to peek in on Global 4.
We get all the junkers here, including a fleet of RFMX hoppers in full Penn Central paint.
Oh, those babies have an interesting history! They went to RFMX from CR, and originally had their old PC numbers on them (890000 series). But now they're numbered in the 464000 series, because they spent some time on the BN, which relettered and renumbered them.
Got out to the observation deck here, and saw an ethanol train blow through. Pat had to hold her ears--this might be the first time she was in exhaust-stack range of three hard-working GEs! It was definitely the first time she noticed the numbers on the tops of the tank cars.
CShaveRR Pat had to hold her ears--this might be the first time she was in exhaust-stack range of three hard-working GEs! It was definitely the first time she noticed the numbers on the tops of the tank cars.
Pat had to hold her ears--this might be the first time she was in exhaust-stack range of three hard-working GEs! It was definitely the first time she noticed the numbers on the tops of the tank cars.
Dan
CNW 6000 The sweet thunder of horsepower. You guys should come to Byron sometime...
The sweet thunder of horsepower. You guys should come to Byron sometime...
You nailed it. The best one I've heard was three GEVOs in run 8 leading a unit ore train south on the HWY F overpass. Nothing like 13,200 HP just beneath your feet! Moments like that and seeing the sunrise in certain places sure makes me wish I'd passed that vision test last August...
Interesting article that was linked to my Linkedin news page
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2081930,00.html?xid=tweetbut
Some RR relevance to it.
zugmann Interesting article that was linked to my Linkedin news page http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2081930,00.html?xid=tweetbut Some RR relevance to it.
Thanks for sharing that, zugmann. I'd seen a similar review of that book in the Wall Street Journal (! ) a few weeks ago.
About 10 years ago - in the midst of the dot-com bubble - NS had a series of full-page ads in the same paper to the effect of how much of the serious hauling that really moves the economy is on the rails. It hit the right tones - I can't find the words to describe it right now - better than a 'faithful underdog' without being arrogant about how much you still need us, and so on.
Maybe more later when I get done writing a certain professional paper . . . - it's now attained dimensions of a unpaid 2nd job . . .
Greetings from steamy (95 and sticky today, 102 promised for tomorrow) St. Louis!
With the killer temperatures here, most of my railfanning will likely be via computer, unless I decide to go to a hopefully-air-conditioned Amtrak station when we're done having fun with the family by the river.
I got to spend a little over an hour yesterday at Eureka, Missouri. I may have mentioned this spot before: should have more trains than Kirkwood (the same ones, plus a parallel BNSF line), but no nice depot, shady park, or any other comfortable spot to relax in while waiting for the trains to come by. One UP coal train came through, probably making track speed (I'll have to see what that would be when I get home). One unit on the point, and two DPUs...I've never seen one like that before!
I always feel a grimace coming on when I hear about bean-counters looking at us. I know of one railroad that was notorious for having a self-proclaimed bean-counter at the top. It's still the railroad that gets the most sidelong glances at operational and maintenance policies on this forum and elsewhere.
In a post about outdoor church services a few weeks back, I mentioned our church's annual service/picnic and that we would not get there this year. Early last week, Ricki began making noises about wanting to go (it had been four years since she had gone)--and we went this morning, astounding some whom I had told last week that I would not be able to get there.
We had no steps to negotiate, and I had to push her only a very short distance without pavement from where I parked the car. Altogether, it was a fine day--a good worship service; good food; she was able to talk with friends she had not seen for some time--and no rain until after we had returned home (we had a good hard shower about an hour after getting back).
Johnny
That sounds like a kind of day you and Ricki will treasure for a long time!
Yes, Carl, it was indeed a wonderful day. Ricki was able to enjoy the scenery much more than I as we went up Parley's Canyon on the way to the park and as we came back down (three lane winding highway, with 65 mph limit and a few 18-wheelers along the way, along with the usual number of people who think the speed limit is determined solely by the road and the ability of their vehicles). However, the time at the park (named for a cousin of mine who is well-known to most people) was wonderful, and I could give full attention to the service and to friends.
Right now we're at an amazing hotel in downtown St. Louis. In an hour or so we'll venture out into the heat for the walk beyond the Arch (there are tracks there) to the riverboat rides, and take the hour-long cruise with our daughter's family. It might give us a train going over one of the bridges. As I mentioned earlier, any other railfanning might be done from inside this nice, cool (and I mean that literally, in this weather!) building. We do have a distant view of one of the bridges over the river; I saw a coal train crossing it yesterday.
From the looks of things, we're missing out on more wild weather around Chicago. Trains on Metra's BNSF line were delayed by about 20 minutes during rush hour by "inclement weather conditions", and on the UP West, the delay was more like 45-60 minutes; high winds were the culprit there.
Trains' Newswire is reporting the passing of yet another of railroading's stalwart authors and photographers, William D.Middleton, at age 83. I'm proud to say that I have six of his books in my library: his electric-railroad trilogy (The Interurban Era, the Time of the Trolley, and When The Steam Railroads Electrified), his definitive histories of the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee and Chicago South Shore & South Bend railroads, and Landmarks on the Iron Road, a treatise on remarkable bridges, tunnels, and other engineering marvels.
The storms in Chicagoland were responsible for widespread power outages and disruptions to Metra service in many areas: on the UP West Line trees had to be cleared before service could be resumed. There's a good possibility of more strong storms tonight.
Meanwhile, Pat and I are staying cool in our hotel room in St. Louis, where the temperature is rising from the 95-degree reading taken at noon. Our cruise on the river yielded us a UP train crossing the MacArthur Bridge while we approached and passed beneath it, and another train that curved toward the west after having gone under the Arch. They were both there at the same time; our poor grandson didn't know which way to look!
Sad to hear that Mr. Middleton passed, I also have 'Landmarks of the Iron Road' in my library, it is a very good book.....
Have been battling the "no truck" syndrome since Friday, my A/C went out on my semi tractor, and the mechanics have been pulling their hair out trying to fix it. So, I went home. I'm hoping I will be back up and running tomorrow, maybe they will give me a new rig after this......
Glad you're having a good time in St. Louis, maybe one of these years I can do the tourist thing down there, I have seen a bit of the Anheuser Busch brewery railroad, and other snippets along the major interstates. Also hope you have power when you get back, ComEd said there were about 800,000 people without power around Chicago.....
Randy Vos
"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings
"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV
rvos1979 [snipped] Glad you're having a good time in St. Louis, maybe one of these years I can do the tourist thing down there, I have seen a bit of the Anheuser Busch brewery railroad . . . .
Paul - It went dormAnt (discontinuance of service at STB), then an OFA popped up to be operated by a third party hoping to stir business up (OTHER THAN AB) and keep the rail line intact.
Trying to go home via Iowa. Have fun with the project that will keep nagging until it's over....got my own headaches in the same department..I will be there to watch you sweat that out and then the roles reverse 4-6 months later.
Anheuser-Busch wasn't on our list of things to see, for some reason (actually three reasons, six and under), but we could see the building on the river tour. Our thirty-something nephews, on the other hand, stopped there "to see how water is made". Today it's the City Museum; I hope they've made progress on their HO layout since we were there last. We're going to head for home around noon, but the kids are expecting to stay there until they drop (for a hopefully quiet ride home).
A-B used to be one of CNW's biggest customers, with us shipping the malt down to St. Louis from many places in Wisconsin. In fact, they were the driving force for at least two batches of covered hopper cars that CNW got while I was there, totalling 1500 cars.
The next communique will hopefully be tonight, from home, after we've seen progress on the upgrade of the Chicago-St. Louis UP line for higher-speed passenger service. Unless, of course, we become involved in storm cleanup...keeping our fingers crossed.
CShaveRR A-B used to be one of CNW's biggest customers, with us shipping the malt down to St. Louis from many places in Wisconsin. In fact, they were the driving force for at least two batches of covered hopper cars that CNW got while I was there, totalling 1500 cars.
Well, still home, so getting a few coats of poly on our new basement stairs handrail, looking good so far. When I ran over to Menard's to grab a few supplies, noticed that CN was changing out ties on the curve in downtown Burlington, looks like traffic will be scarce for a while....
Have been in four AB plants since I started driving, St. Louis, Columbus, Cartersville, and Baldwinsville. I know that at least Baldwinsville has robot forklifts loading the trucks, looks weird when you step inside and the only humans are at the check-in point.....
Home again, safely and swiftly. Pat dragged us from St. Louis a little more quickly than expected. It would appear that our power may have blinked, but that was about it.
The TRT-909 was discovered in a siding just south of Odell, Illinois, along with a string of concrete-tie cars. There were two ballast trains in the sidings south (west) of this one, and we saw an empty rail train heading south. That and what appeared to be a southbound local freight, south of Bloomington (with two BNSF units as power!) was all that was on the line--though we just missed something in Springfield. Welded rail was laid along the track from Odell north toward Dwight.
Dan, I don't think we've done much malt business in Manitowoc for ages. I remember that that was the destination for the Manufacturers Railway's own covered hopper cars, more often than not.
Randy,
There has been a fair amount of upgrades going on lately. In this neck of the woods too. I'm not sure how much you can or want to keep up on "heads up" kinds of information but there's a couple of ways to do that easily. Are you on RailWis or WisRail? PM me if you need or want more info.
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Carl,
CN handles traffic to Manitowoc. It was easy to tell when a cut of cars that was going past me was going to or coming from there because that was one of the only times I'd see a CNW malt hopper.
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