Pat shuddered at that, hoping the tie wasn't silk or something else expensive.Thanks to my hobby, I was shown an awful lot of love last weekend. Pat and I were at the local historical society's office, doing our usual volunteer work, and Pat and the director got to talking about a new series of programs starting next year, on the second Sunday afternoon of every month. They'll be free to members and anyone else...sort of an apology for all of the fund-raising the society has had to do recently (a large addition is being put on one of our buildings, rendering it less historic but far more useful). I innocently asked what subjects would be talked about in these programs.The director got up from her desk and put her arm around my shoulders. The program director came in from her office and did the same thing from her side. The education coordinator blocked the doorway so I couldn't escape. And they all three (with Pat grinning from ear to ear) said, "Why, trains, Carl!" I think they want me to make some sort of presentation...So, of course it will be at the Lombard Historical Society's Sheldon Peck Homestead, which has the UP main line passing by across the street, over a piece of right-of-way that Sheldon Peck, the area's first settler, sold to the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad for the first railroad line to serve Chicago. Date and time to be determined.
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)
Carl: Yes, she did cut off one tie, another gent wore a tie as well, but removed it real fast when the bride approached, scissors in hands.......
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
Congratulations to your sister, Randy! (I loved your FB post about the removal of ties at the reception--did anyone do that?)
Replacing the heavy concrete crossing "timbers" with the rubberized counterparts seems like a step backwards to me (and I've never liked the rubber ones because I've found them slippery in wet weather).
Well, I now have a brother-in-law, my sister Jackie got married yesterday, they left the church in a 1957 Oldsmobile station wagon.
Railroad item: CN has been busy this past week changing out the railroad crossing at Adams st in Burlington, MP 72. Work included removing the industry track from the crossing (the switch was pulled last year), and removal of a mud hole in the main track and replacement of the panel in the crossing. The west side crossing signal is also to be moved closer to the main track, and concrete crossing panels are being replaced with either rubber or plastic pieces (could not tell from where I was).
My back is better Carl, thanks. Not quite 100% but at least 85-90% so I'll take it.
I didn't know Star Trek was "that old" but it fits. Wow...
I helped Aedan catch his first fish today. Boy was he excited! A nice bluegill. Heading home tomorrow...maybe we'll go again in the morning.
Dan
CShaveRR Hope you're feeling normal soon, Dan (though the bridge update was most welcome!).Can't let today go by without saluting composer Antonin Dvorak on his birthday. When mentioning classical composers who were also railfans, his name is usually the first that comes to mind (though his railfanning probably took the European form of train-spotting, even when he was over here in the States). As far as I know, though, there was no overt "eau-de-train" in any of his well-known compositions.
Hope you're feeling normal soon, Dan (though the bridge update was most welcome!).Can't let today go by without saluting composer Antonin Dvorak on his birthday. When mentioning classical composers who were also railfans, his name is usually the first that comes to mind (though his railfanning probably took the European form of train-spotting, even when he was over here in the States). As far as I know, though, there was no overt "eau-de-train" in any of his well-known compositions.
Been there and done that Carl. Glad your doc appt went well. I've had plenty of time over the last couple days to review my photos while I recover from a strained back. Vertical feels much better than horizontal now, and I've finally gotten around to updating my Oshkosh Bridge thread.
Stay dry everyone.
A little frustrated this afternoon. I had to visit my cardiologist (routine checkup, which went well, by the way), and decided that the best way to do that, and to observe construction progress at the railroad's new control point in Wheaton, was to take the train.Westbound, was on the southernmost track, so I chose a northward-facing window. I can state with certainty that no switches are being assembled on the north side of the tracks--no room for them. So they must all be on the south side--eight of them will be needed for the four crossovers to be built here. So, coming back east to Lombard, I took a seat on the south side of the train, with an option to look out the front as well. We pulled out of the Wheaton station, past the downtown. One new switch...westbound stack train...College Avenue. The best-laid plans...However, after my appointment, I had nearly an hour to wait before my train arrived. In that time I caught two coal trains, two stack trains, and a manifest (MPRCB--about the only train I can recognize by its consist any more.)
I need to win the lottery, Then I can get that engineering degree and find out what all those numbers on the rail really mean...
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
Dyslexia would be a real - umm, handicap ? - for someone in zug's current position: "Is that train really there on the screen - or over here ?!?"
Old joke:
Q: Did you hear about the dyslexic, agnostic, insomniac?
A: He lay awake at night wondering if there really was a doG.
- Paul North.
Don't worry, I hear there's dyslexia for a pill now.
Sorry to hear about the misgivings, Z-man! I hope you have a decent exit strategy, but remember...If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
If life gives you melons, you might be dyslexic.
Starting to wonder if the decision I made was a wise one...
Gee, go away for a long weekend and the Lounge drops to Page 3!
Not much railroad-wise happened to me on this particular trip to Michigan, though I "harvested" a few more secondhand (or thirdhand, as it turns out) cars at Muskegon.
On the way home, just a few hours ago, we made a point of driving under the brand-new, bright-blue truss bridge over Torrence Avenue near 130th Street in Chicago. The videos and photographs do not do it justice--this thing is a monster! Work is being done on the eventual relocation of 130th from the Little Calumet channel to Torrence and beyond.
Overland Route Three-Track updates
Part deux (open-ended): Work at Wheaton
This forumist observed a number of switches in the process of being built along the tracks on both sides of Chase Street. The crossovers here, if they're anything like the ones at Lombard, will require eight switches, and nothing has been installed yet.
The pedestrian underpass at Chase Street, which looks like a bridge from the top, is completed. But the approaches for pedestrians and cyclists are not--in fact, the south "portal" is still pretty much buried up to ground level. The bridge is wide enough for a service road along the three tracks, but the grade crossing that it replaces will eventually be closed (one assumes that the street will survive as far north as the service road, still crossing the bike path).
_________________That concludes this report from C.S.Harriest.Those sightings were made on a 33-mile bike trip today from Lombard to West Chicago and back. We had the usual four trains or more per hour, including the regular contingent of scoots.Once I arrived at West Chicago (after some medical labs at Glen Ellyn, a look around the Wheaton work site, and brunch in downtown Wheaton (looked a lot like lunch, but I was breaking my required 12-hour fast before the blood draw at this point), I found my place in the sun (unfortunately) where I could sit and write a letter to a friend in Oregon (who hasn't discovered computers yet). During the hour or more I was there, a number of trains went by. The scoots seem to meet somewhere very close to here, according to reality (timetable suggests that they should meet east of the station, toward Winfield).The first freight I saw at West Chicago was a westbound stacker, with a KCS GEVO as its third unit.For the second day in a row, I saw an eastbound manifest with a block of CP/SOO/DME grain cars, and other things that look like they were more likely to come off the CP than our lines, directly behind the power. Jeff, would you know anything about this?Had a nice train of empty UP/MP/DRGW/CNW/CTRN steel hoppers head west. Most of the smaller-bodied MP and CNW hoppers have had extensions of three or four inches to their height, bringing them more in line with the other cars, holding 4000 cubic feet of coal.After getting my letter done, and hearing the timer (another pair of scoots) tell me that I was well baked in the sun, I moved off to the old BNSF yard by General Mills, where I saw a couple of AEX covered hoppers (among nearly a dozen cars) that yielded their origins to me. Also discovered, along the BNSF right-of-way there, was a thriving cactus plant--I kid you not! If anyone needs proof that we've had a hot, dry summer, here ya go...
The next stop was a trip over the bridge that crosses the EJ&E yard, which I used to get close to a couple more covered hoppers I needed to check out (one of them has given me a lot of transcribing work for tomorrow!), then went to the UP yard office there. I probably looked weird, with no PPE whatsoever (my gloves and hard-hat were non-regulation, no ear plugs, no glasses, and my Crocs and shorts weren't too useful, either). But I met a former co-worker there, so it seemed like I kind of belonged (the UP water is as wet as ever!). While at the yard, I saw MPRCB head west, and a train at the auto-loading yard had CNW 8701 as one of its units.After I left the yard office, I went under the bridge, next to the UP main line. But before I did that, I went up on the bridge to see something that had been whistling on the CN (ex-EJ&E). It was two locomotives (one an old BCOL 4600-series unit) and three freight cars, which they set into the interchange yard, coming from the north. I think they were also going to continue south with some dirty-dirt gons that were in the yard, but I left after getting information off more covered hoppers, and went back to the UP main line.(A word about the covered hoppers...I visited three places in West Chicago, researched three batches of covered hoppers, but I couldn't have gotten these cars anywhere else in West Chicago except where they were...the first bunch were grain cars for General Mills, the second bunch were plastics cars at a local industry, and the third bunch were sand cars, probably bound to or from Troy Grove, eventually.)
More letter writing before the trip home (since my correspondent is also interested in freight cars, it was worth a postscript to the letter). After seeing another pair of scoots right at the West Chicago station (they would have met west of there again!), I made a slow trip home, stopping for mailing the letter, then more hydration, then a rest at the zero-marker on the Prairie Path (at which time I assured Pat that I was on the way home). More scoots on the way home (early components of The Fleet), but no more freights, save for one westbound stacker stopped on the center track at Winfield station.33-plus miles...a far cry from what I used to do, but not too bad for someone as shapeless as I have become. And I will sleep well tonight, I suspect--unless my glowing arms and legs keep me awake!
CShaveRR MC, I'm with you on that slo-mo thing. But I don't carry expensive equipment...my slo-mo times used to come in those seconds when I realized that the wheels were not going to land back on the rails.
MC, I'm with you on that slo-mo thing. But I don't carry expensive equipment...my slo-mo times used to come in those seconds when I realized that the wheels were not going to land back on the rails.
This wasn't slo-mo, it was just a THUD, then I realized what fell. But with a little work with the pliers and some *ahem* handyman's secret weapon, I think I brought her back from the dead. Ain't pretty, but as long as she shoots good (have to give her a test), I'll be happy. Wasn't excited about spending a lot of money to replace an itty bitty plastic part.
Today in Council Bluffs as we were coming off the 12th Street line at 10 mph, a car went around the gates in front of us. We weren't anywhere close to hitting him, but there was a marked police car right behind him! That cop really wanted to go after him and you could tell he thought about going around the gates to chase that car down. He didn't, but he did turn around to head toward the nearby overpass. I'm sure he got the license plate so I doubt the driver is going to get away with it.
I had just remarked to the conductor about some of the vehicles that had stopped for us at the cross streets on the 12th Street line. (The busy streets have flashing lights, no gates. The less busy ones only have cross bucks.) Most that waited could've safely made it across after stopping.
Jeff
Zugs: Understand that helpless feeling as the piece of pricey technology collides with the ground in slow motion. Some of the angst is that lighter feeling in the 'ol wallet.
CShaveRR My condolences to you, Z-man, or congratulations if you were looking for an excuse...
My condolences to you, Z-man, or congratulations if you were looking for an excuse...
Not needed.
Camera is just a thing. I'm not emotionally attached to it at all. I may just pick up a cheap(ish) used body to use for now. Then maybe send this in the shop to get an estimate. i really don't use the camera enough to justify spending a lot of money on a new one.
Thanks, James--finally found it. I have to check it out and see how it works.
My condolences to you, Z-man, or congratulations if you were looking for an excuse...Willy's been home for a couple of days now; he's looking at hurricane predictions, so I'd say the recovery's probably going smoothly.Any railfanning I had planned for today (Pat gave me permission, since I went to the big quilt show with her yesterday) was washed out by over 1.5 inches (so far!) of rain! We had biked to church this morning and the rain began while we were there.
My camera decided to take a dive off the table, assisted by my chair snagging its strap. I only had it out to do a firmware update to it.
sd card door is busted off (and in half). That door is what presses a "deadman's" button on it to keep it from operating with the door open. No clue what internal damage it has. Luckily it only had the kit lens on it (and not my limited 15mm) lens seems ok either way. Camera is probably fixable, but I don't know if I really want to spend the money on it... never been too happy with this body.
CShaveRR I guess we go for the color of the stars, not the count. It's been about three incarnations of the Forum since we've had stars to complain about (some people who posted all the time saying next to nothing were known as "star-chasers"). Now all we need are the seniority dates--very important for anything that has to do with railroads, right?The one thing I still miss the most is a "Mark All Read" feature, as a memory aid to what I've seen or want to see._________________ Just got a message on Facebook: Willy's expecting to go home tomorrow. It's hard to type this with crossed fingers!
I guess we go for the color of the stars, not the count. It's been about three incarnations of the Forum since we've had stars to complain about (some people who posted all the time saying next to nothing were known as "star-chasers"). Now all we need are the seniority dates--very important for anything that has to do with railroads, right?The one thing I still miss the most is a "Mark All Read" feature, as a memory aid to what I've seen or want to see._________________
Just got a message on Facebook: Willy's expecting to go home tomorrow. It's hard to type this with crossed fingers!
James
CShaveRR Just got a message on Facebook: Willy's expecting to go home tomorrow.
Just got a message on Facebook: Willy's expecting to go home tomorrow.
zugmann I think those things would take first prize in "ugliest diesel" contest. In other news, I think I know what it feels like to be drawn and quartered. The things we do for another seniority date.
I think those things would take first prize in "ugliest diesel" contest.
In other news, I think I know what it feels like to be drawn and quartered. The things we do for another seniority date.
Johnny
A little something for the Lounge to enjoy from my recent blog entry...
Darren (BLHS & CRRM Lifetime Member)
Delaware and Hudson Virtual Museum (DHVM), Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures)
My Blog
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