Deggesty Zug, I have known what National Pipe Thread is, but what is BSP?--I may have been familiar with fittings using this type of thread, but did not know it by that designation. Does it have to do with small tubing? 3/4" down to 1/8" is quite a reduction, is it not?
Zug, I have known what National Pipe Thread is, but what is BSP?--I may have been familiar with fittings using this type of thread, but did not know it by that designation. Does it have to do with small tubing? 3/4" down to 1/8" is quite a reduction, is it not?
British Standard Pipe, from what I read. 1/4" to 1/8". I'm going to have to get a regulator and moisture trap... probably check Harbor freight first. Not the best stuff, but the price is right to get me started. If nothing else, I'll just pick up a compressor for airbrushing - though I'd rather not.
And Carl - I am not 100% sure what I'm going to do with this thing yet. I haven't done much art since I took this current job. Hoping to change that one way or another - and now it seems I may have to armor up for a fight. I swear, everybody wants to make huge deals about everything. Oh well. I think I will win.
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
Johnny
Zug - a trip to your favorite home inprovement store will probably fix you up. I presume you have a regulator as well.
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...
In the Chicago/NE IL/SE WI area, we've heard that Plaines is going to close due to age, not feasible to upgrade or convert. Also that the Will County, Waukegan and maybe the Sheboygan plants will either close or convert to gas. Powerton, near Peoria may also be on that list.
We've lost the Mid-American (a Berkshire-Hathaway interest) contracts to the BNSF for those plants where the UP dosen't make the exclusive or final delivery to the plant. Some of those plants also may be up for conversion.
It used to be that almost all the trains I worked were either loaded or empty coal trains. While working an empty coal bucket is still pretty common, I can go a couple weeks between working a loaded coal train. Now it's mostly manifests, some of them quite long. Long enough that it's sometimes hard to hear the conductor's radio when doubling the train up in the yard.
Jeff
I've heard rumors about one (or more) of the Commonwealth Edison plants along the Des Plaines River either converting or shutting down. The Plaines generating station has been getting coal by unit train since the early 1960s, and it would be a wrenching experience to see that go away.Yesterday's train-watching experience included a coal train of UP and CTRN aluminum hoppers (going to Rail-to-Water or whatever it's called now), and an ethanol train headed east. The cars were no longer new, and the RPMG logos had been obliterated on more than half of them, but the solid string of identical tank cars still was a spectacular sight.Z-mann, are you planning to liven up some of that desk work with that airbrush?
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)
We've been pretty heavy with coal around here - some going to export, some going to a power plant that they re-started (temporary or permanent I don't know) for the first time in a year or so. Even one of our regular plants is having their yard expanded to handle more cars at a time. Good stuff.
Add to that the crude trains and ethanol trains, we're doing pretty good.
And I got myself a new toy - a new airbrush. Always wanted to try it out, so finally got me one. Now if I can figure out how to connect the damned thing to my compressor we will be good. That will be the challenge for the weekend. (Compressor has a 3/4" NPT while the airbrush is 1/8" BSP. And I didn't even know those acronyms a few days ago.....)
Correct Randy, the Pulliam Power generating plant in Green Bay. With the WPS contract in UP's hands they are the only (save for the rare coke & Canadian coal) unit coal trains I see. When BNSF had the contract we would also get the Weston traffic too. UP can run on home rails to Weston from the PRB all the way here to Whitt Siding on the Adams Sub. There a CN crew brings the loads north to Weston (C705) or the empties south (C706).
I have heard conflicting reports of whats going on in Green Bay. It's either a shut down from the EPA or a conversion to natural gas...or a temporary draw down to upgrade exhaust scrubbers. I'm hoping for #3.
Dan
Going to guess that it's the Green Bay generating plant, I think that is the only one that goes by Oshkosh.....
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
CShaveRR Which power plant would that be, Dan? And what's happening to it...gas conversion, shut down, or what? Where will the power come from if it goes?Best wishes on continued progress for the hand!
Which power plant would that be, Dan? And what's happening to it...gas conversion, shut down, or what? Where will the power come from if it goes?Best wishes on continued progress for the hand!
Yes, I would like to know too which one. I've heard (second hand thru condrs working to Clinton) from the Illinois guys that one of the Chicago area plants has also stopped taking trains, but not which one.
Since the first of the year, we've lost 16 pool jobs (8 on the east end, 6 on the west) on the short pools. I'm youngest on the west pool, with two older on the bump board. I'm just waiting for one of them to displace me. Probably go to the extra board, but have toyed with the idea of going to the north pool.
zugmann I have absolutely nothing new to report. Other than office jobs (even on the railroad) are boring. Don't think I can do this another 31 years.
I have absolutely nothing new to report. Other than office jobs (even on the railroad) are boring.
Don't think I can do this another 31 years.
Anyone want to write out 4th quarterly reports?
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Everytime I go to the doc my brace gets smaller. I was told that my pins come out in 12 days so im hoping that holds true. Not too much pain but a few aches. I'll manage.
Thanks for asking!
Got word that the nearest coal-fired (and rail served) generating station likely got its final coal train a few days back. If true I won't get to see any more of Uncle Pete in my 'hood. Makes me sad to hear as unit coal trains are one of my favorite subjects to photograph. Time will tell if this is "progress" or not.
zardoz Well, ya gotta do something...might as well be something as fun as railroading.
Yeah, that's one word for it.
so Dan - how goes the recovery?
It's been a while...I'm still working on that SRIX project. I might get done with it tomorrow, if things go smoothly. I was able to get former series for about 80 percent of the cars (so far). Getting precise numbers would be a challenge at this late stage, especially with so many of the cars retired.I would have done more work on this project today, but I took advantage instead of balmy-for-January temperatures (we hit 50) and biked my errands around town, and followed that up with a bike ride to Elmhurst and back. The trip to the hobby shop was productive, and I was treated to a "three-fer" at the depot this afternoon: an eastbound stack train went through (and around Proviso) on Track 2, as MPRCB pulled out of the yard onto Track 1 and an westbound stack train blew past on Track 3. I was on the north side, so I got a bit of material for research off the manifest. I couldn't see much of that westbound stacker on 3 with the other stuff in the way, but I heard his power (both head-end and mid-train DPU) as they went by, and he was moving compared to the other two, which weren't doing too badly (especially once the MPRCB got all the way out of the yard).
Trains folks--your guide to railfanning will be available (courtesy of Al's Hobby Shop in Elmhurst) at my guest-speaking gig Sunday, as the first-ever presenter at the Lombard Historical Society's "Second Sunday" series of historical talks. I'm a lousy public speaker, so, at the rate of a thousand words each, I'm hoping some old pictures will do a lot of the talking for me. Most of the historical shots will be of CA&E and CGW stuff, but there will be a couple of pictures of the CNW main line from the old Village water tower. I hope to be able to take up some time with a Q&A session as well. If anyone wants to come by, it's at 2:00 this Sunday at the carriage house behind the LHS Museum, on Maple west of Main in Lombard.
Next project cut out for me...trying to narrow down origin possibilities for 418 tank cars that left GATX for SRIX in 2001. Many of them don't seem to exist any more. Have to check records one by one, then go back and plug in a little more information. What a way to spend a cold winter day when I'm not out doing something else. Until cabin fever returns...I made the offer of a day of train-watching for our church's auction again. (The auction is on February 21--proceeds benefit UMCOR, the United Methodist Committee on Relief, which often beats the Red Cross to major disaster areas).
zugmann Don't think I can do this another 31 years.
CShaveRR I still think they're for emergency ballast use, and the tarps keep the ballast from being affected by snow and ice so it can be unloaded when needed.So are you officially a castoff now? (In other words, how is your finger?)
I still think they're for emergency ballast use, and the tarps keep the ballast from being affected by snow and ice so it can be unloaded when needed.So are you officially a castoff now? (In other words, how is your finger?)
Well I will get the two pins out of my finger in two more weeks, so that's a good thing. I have a smaller brace now so I can start using my left hand more but its still pretty stiff & sore so things are still slow going.
It has also been an eventful 24 hours as my dad ended up having an emergency appendectomy which now puts off his scheduled heart surgery...it's never dull...
I'm sure that you'll be longing for the boring days before too long...
I still think they're for emergency ballast use, and the tarps keep the ballast from being affected by snow and ice so it can be unloaded when needed.So are you officially a castoff now? (In other words, how is your finger?)I just read over at Railway Age that EJ&E has officially been merged into WC.Last night, while doing some documentation of a certain ex-GBW box car series I discovered three railroads for which I had nothing in my updated files. One (WVRC) is now complete, two more (SJL, VNOR) to go.
Here's those cars I was talking about Carl:
http://flic.kr/p/dGZtTX
http://flic.kr/p/dGZtRz
Deggesty Have you thought of hiring yourself out as an errand runner? You should get a nice addendum to your fixed income. Oh, was Pat sewing something for you the day she banished you from the house?
Have you thought of hiring yourself out as an errand runner? You should get a nice addendum to your fixed income.
Oh, was Pat sewing something for you the day she banished you from the house?
Probably not necessary just yet, Johnny. I could do that, but if the railroad got wind of it I might lose free-ride privileges.As for the other, yes...and I knew that. But I didn't know just what. She was making me a nice light-blue-denim-colored flannel shirt. Usually I pick out my shirt material myself, but this was a total (and welcome) surprise to me.
CNW 791000s?Those tarp-covered ballast cars are basically wreck-train cars. The tarps keep the water out...not a problem in the summer, but would keep the ballast from unloading in weather like we're having now. If you're seeing cars like this in ordinary trains, they're going somewhere to be put into this storage, or to be reloaded. Normally they keep them with the panel track, extra supplies, perhaps an Ohio crane, etc.
Uhh, Dan...if you're talking about these things, now might be a good time to do it. With a high-quality contractor, you won't have to lift a finger... Seriously, when we talked about this, Pat didn't have any idea how much I wanted to do. She'd been saying that the kitchen needed a new floor, better lighting, etc., and the flat roof on her sewing room was presenting problems that cleaning the gutters wouldn't help. But we've lived in this house for more than a third of a century (more than half of the house's lifetime), and this year holds our 40th wedding anniversary. The time was right!
CShaveRR You mean "on each hand", right?
You mean "on each hand", right?
Good luck with your renovations Carl. Misty & i should do something similar in concept - but can't agree on a general design. Time will tell.
Spotted some interesting cars Monday - ballast hoppers covered with tarps.
Quoting Carl: "Thanks to a slightly higher cost of living, our fixed income is now fixed at a less-slightly-higher level. I should be running some errands tomorrow, possibly by rail."
You mean "on each hand", right?No trains to speak of today (a stack train and an ethanol train too far away for anything practical, and bunches of cars in Clearing Yard...ditto). We were in one of our Historical Society's museums later this afternoon, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation--nothing at all came through then.We've just authorized a contractor to go ahead and put us on his schedule for an addition to and modifications on our house. Pat will get a better sewing room and kitchen out of this; I'll get room for office space between our dining area and her sewing room. We'll eliminate the part of the house that had a flat roof, and the heat will be better in the sewing room. The contractor gave us a quote that was a bit below what we'd been afraid of...looks like we can do all we wanted to, and it will be done by mid-summer. Next step is to see what the architect can do with our ideas.Thanks to a slightly higher cost of living, our fixed income is now fixed at a less-slightly-higher level. I should be running some errands tomorrow, possibly by rail.
Unless something drastic happens...I should be still able to count to five at the end of tomorrow. On both hands.
zardoz Dan, Since I'm retired and do not need all of my digits as much as someone who is still working, if you lose your finger, I will be happy to give you one of mine. I'm always willing to give someone a finger.
Dan,
Since I'm retired and do not need all of my digits as much as someone who is still working, if you lose your finger, I will be happy to give you one of mine. I'm always willing to give someone a finger.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
I'm finally in...it's the coldest morning of the year here.(I guess that should be "season", though one can hope it doesn't get colder than this all year!)
We have plans to get out later today. Perhaps a train or two can be fit in. My sightings for December fit on four pages in my "paper trail"--back when I was working it would be a page a day, sometimes more.Our best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2013 to everyone! May railroading continue to give us pleasure and excitement, and may all of the promised developments come to pass! And moderation to go with the paneling.(As for you, Jim, may you keep your fingers to youreslf--I don't think Dan needs that one.) Dan, do well tomorrow, and find some pleasant diversions today!
Plaudits to Dan for providing the link to the new quarter's lounge in the old lounge. It made it quite easy to get here when reading my email this morning.
We are still having a light snow from time to time (though what fell last night may have been fallout from the inversion that covers the Salt Lake Valley). Living in a bowl is not good in the winter--until another stoem comes in and clears the air in preparation for the next inversion.
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