Zardoz, what are the odds that two people not only share the same date, but are the same age? When I was growing up, another boy in town was the same age as I was, and when I was in seminary, the assistant librarian was the same age as I was (she married one of my classmates, who was younger not the same birthday than I). She would not tell me her age, but she did tell me that she also was born on a Friday--which enabled me to calculate that she had to be the same age.
Johnny
what are we up to? Larry, Carl, Dan....
All happy birthdays.
I got to take part in some track inspections today. Interesting stuff... guess I had hopes on becoming the wrong type of engineer.
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
CShaveRR With the possible exception of Johnny, I think everyone posting here so far has something in common. First hint will come tomorrow.
With the possible exception of Johnny, I think everyone posting here so far has something in common. First hint will come tomorrow.
"Tomorrow" was Dan's birthday. At that time, besides Johnny, we'd had posts from Dan, Jim, Larry, and me...all early-October birthday boys!
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)
James, there aren't too many series of Western Pacific cars left, but the car you saw, built by the FMC Corporation in 1980, was part of one of them. The series was WP 12051-12100; 36 of the original 50 cars are still left, and I'm willing to bet that most of them carry their original lettering. UP may repaint these cars eventually, but--if current practices are followed--will not reletter or renumber them.
I used a westbound stack train on Track 3 (four GEVOs, two of which were in the 8000 series) to run interference for me as I left Elmhurst this afternoon. If I could have held my cell-phone and biked at the same time as I was pacing him, it would have made a spectacular enough video--even a sound recording would have been neat. After he cleared me at the gravel-pit crossing (West Street), the signal on Track 2 changed to high green for an inbound (my prophecy fulfilled!). I was able to see that inbound (coal) train from a distance as I was headed into Villa Park.
The other day, I saw a covered hopper with outside bracing marked for Western Pacific with WP reporting marks at the local glass factory. Are those reporting marks being used today, or was it an older car?
James
CNW 6000 Happy Birthday to Larry also. Cripes...I better start taking notes.
Happy Birthday to Larry also. Cripes...I better start taking notes.
Larry, Carl, I hope you get some of what you hope for.
WMNB4THRTL, Paul, Zug (the other "Z"-man), thanks much for the good wishes.
Had too much and , but not too much in the department (one can never get too many presents). Now I need a few days away from the tasty stuff so my blood sugar can get below 1000....
The current thinking in mathematics and probability theory is that odds are that in a group of only 23 people, there is a 50/50 chance that at least 2 of them will share a birthday. I know this seems rather counter-intuitive (it is to me), but those with much more learning assert that this is the case. http://www.scribd.com/doc/18294062/Birthday-Paradox-Coincidenceorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem
You'll just have to come west, young man, so's I can somehow reciprocate.As far as I know, I'm unique with this date in my family and Pat's. There used to be a church member with the same birthday, but she's been gone for twelve years now. At work, there was a CRO "probie" with the same birthday, but that didn't help him survive.I'm still at Elmhurst, and the trains have come by fairly heavily. However, we're now in a lull, so I'm considering going back home and letting Pat have the computer for a while. Of course, you know what will happen the moment I leave the tracks.
So far, so good, but I do have to attend a meeting this evening. Dinner with daughter and family (and their new pup) is next Monday.
Of course, it's happy birthday right back to Carl. Last year I gave him a cab ride and a book...
They say that if you have a gathering of at least a certain size you'll find at least one person with whom you share a birthday. Here on the forum it's Carl, and there's a member of my FD with whom I share the day.
I also share the date with my parents wedding anniversary, and my mother's parents wedding anniversary. I ran into the date while working on the geneology, too, back in the 1700's or 1800's, but I can't remember if it's a birthday or another wedding.
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...
Well, Happy Birthday to both of you gentlemen!! Hope you each get to really enjoy your special day!
Nance-CCABW/LEI
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” --Will Rogers
Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right! --unknown
Dan
Thanks, Dan! I hope to spend a lot of the day trackside, since Pat will be otherwise occupied for the morning.But today's also the day we add another ring to the Tree...happy birthday to Larry. I didn't abuse this past year too much, so there's plenty of 62 left for you to enjoy.
Paul_D_North_Jr CNW 6000 Funny I know a railfain who looks like that. I can also think of at least one thing missing from the person there... Safety glasses. (Hard hat if in the engineering departments. Boots, too, but since his feet aren't shown, I'll presume that he complies there. Also, hearing protection, but he could have the foam rubber plug-type stuffed in his ears, and they wouldn't show in this view, either.) Congrats, zardoz: "59 - the new 39" (don't ask how I know . . . ) - Paul North.
CNW 6000 Funny I know a railfain who looks like that. I can also think of at least one thing missing from the person there...
Congrats, zardoz: "59 - the new 39" (don't ask how I know . . . )
- Paul North.
Happy Birthday to Carl Shaver! Many returns...and I left you a puzzle on Facebook too.
Ya know, I really don't like how small our avatars are on this.
Hard to make many of them out.
That is all.
59, eh?
Better increase the font size.
Happy B-day Z.
Happy Birthday, Jim! Hope it is a great day for you.
Thanks, Carl and Dan. #59!
Looking forward to and and !
Happy Birthday Jim!
You're absolutely right, Z. I've had good ones from "the class" and people I've worked with for years who made rotten officers. (When they get busted--which they almost inevitably did--revenge could be sweet.)Jim, I didn't forget this year:Hey, everybody...it's Zardoz's birthday!
Many happy returns of the day to you, James!
CShaveRR Would you want to work with a "fresh-off-the-street" trainmaster?
Would you want to work with a "fresh-off-the-street" trainmaster?
I've known a few that were pretty decent. I don't believe having ground experience automatically makes you a good trainmaster, RFE, dispatcher, yardmaster, etc. either. It can help, but there's more to it than that. (I know you know this Carl, that was for the benefit of the rest of the lounge readers).
I still see big gaps that need to be filled in management in the next 10 years. No wonder CN is resorting to ads on facebook. Now if they could just stop bouncing managers all over the system, or expecting them to be on the job 24/7 and micromanaging every aspect of the railroad, it wouldn't be bad. Play your cards right and you can retire at 55 with my carrier, or so I'm told...
A trip into Chicago this afternoon showed that most of the work at Park (the west end of the three-tracking project around Proviso) has been done. There had seemed to be a few extra switches being built around there; these have turned out to be derails to keep things from rolling out of the yard on their own. I saw one of these for sure at the west end; there could be as many as four, if all yard tracks are covered. I also saw one at the east end of the yard.The new track is connected at the west end, but still out of service beyond the "Illinois Outbound." It's fully ballasted and tamped all the way to the Mannheim bridge...where it abruptly ends! I'm not sure what is supposed to happen east of there, as nothing seems to line up with it yet. East of Bellwood there are also new tracks all dressed up and nowhere to go. The main lines still have to be shifted between Bellwood and 25th Avenue. Or should I be saying 19th Avenue now?
Nonetheless, it was neat to be at the front of the train as we were moving right along on the center track between Berkeley and Bellwood. It looked convincing, anyway.
Funny I know a railfain who looks like that. I can also think of at least one thing missing from the person there...
This ad popped up on facebook. Had to chuckle.
Carl, check your PM/converstions. Should be something there. I hope.
Jeff
Jeff, you wouldn't have numbers yet, would you?
I was wrong about the hay cars, too. You had 60-foot boxes, because the 86-footers have a "7" instead of a "6" in that spot. I should have a copy of those things gathering something-or-other somewhere.
______________________
Chris May have a happy birthday today--let's hope so! Enjoy your day, "CopCarSS"!
It's now QNPCXP. They changed the symbol around the first of the year. It still retains the "perishable" designation, but many times there are only a hand full of loads fitting that description.
The car type code for the car carrying the ash is H3C. (Appears as LH3C on the list, but I know the L means load. EH3C would be an empty car.) It's the code the company uses and may not be the same as the AAR mechanical designations. I never saw the car up close (train was only 49 cars long) but wondered if it wasn't tarped somehow.
The box cars were all D6C designations. The hay cars were all together close to the head end. Looked like newer cars. I know there is a guide to the freight car designations but I've never had a copy. About all I can tell from it on a list is the basic car type and whether it's loaded or empty.
PS. That sound you may here is my hand hitting my forehead. I just remembered our lists now carry a freight car type summary and it shows one open hopper in the train. All other types listed have multiple numbers of cars, so the ash was in an open type hopper.
Is that still QNPSKP?
Ash--fly ash?--is usually carried in covered hoppers.
Hay was often carried in old woodchip gons, or in 86-foot hi-cube box cars. I think some company got a bunch of old hi-cubes specifically for hay transport, but I can't find that in my records now. (I seem to remember them as former MILW cars.)
In the fairly recent past, we've had discussions about hay moving by rail and ash. Today coming home on the UP-CSX run thru (not the salad shooter, the other one that predates that) we had 3 box cars of hay and a car load (I think an open hopper type) of ash.
CShaveRRFive lines in an old sightings pad have added about 1000 words to my Soo Line file, will add several hundred to the CEFX file, and untold numbers will be added the KCS, LDCX, PVGX, ATSF, certain NAHX, and perhaps other files. Hundreds of prior identities, sometimes two for the same car, are falling into place.
As it turns out, I finished yesterday with more than 3000 words added to the Soo Line file (that's a good 20-percent increase from what I had in the computer; I have plenty to add from old information), over a thousand to the CEFX file, and--besides all of the other files I mentioned above--I had to add to the RUSX, FURX, NS, TNM, TILX, certain GACX, and D&RGW files. The CEFX file (one of the five biggest files I have) grew by well over 1000 cars...so far! I just have another 100 or so cars to work on there, and that whole mess is done.I'm also trying to keep up to date on recent sightings. A trip out yesterday gave us three freight trains (and a neat local deli/restaurant from which to watch them at lunchtime); nothing new was seen on those trains, though. One of the tank cars I saw on our stop at Rochelle two days ago was able to be traced back (along with everything else in its series) through three previous owners!
Today it's time to wish a happy birthday to Ed Blysard's lovely wife, Aimee.
Have a great day, and many happy returns!
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