Chatterbox Winter

[Randy Stahl]

mudchicken

The city slickers need a reminder every so often about the real world and life in fly-over country...(and hey, the pansies get a day off out of the deal....We constantly get reminded here at work about how we are expected to deal with the snow and be here.)

 

I had the day off.....

[Uncle Jake]

My parents used to get the Reminisce magazine. Back when there were still people who could remember what the early 1900s were like, there were stories about the winters they used to have and how it was all different anymore; hardly any snow now, rivers no longer freezing over, etc. Now the old timers aren't around to give us perspective on things like that. Therefore we succumb to Little Chicken Syndrome.

[mudchicken]

Joe: have to find out still if they want us or somebody else at NS-NKP-Shinlock.

[JoeKoh]

afternoon

clear here in Nw Ohio. NS was all clear in Archbold.Did some shopping after work.Matt working on his homework.Tomorrow his confirmation class project is to work at a local soup kitchen.MC could meet you at the Mad River museum after the work is done???Time to get chores done.

stay safe

Joe

[tree68]

They almost have to color each storm as an apocalypse, because if they don't, the less-wise will wander out into the world and end up stuck (or worse).  After all, "how bad can it be?"  Those of us who have lived in the environment for years know.

On the other hand, we haven't had a really bad winter for a few years (at least, around here).  I haven't asked the town to knock down the snowbanks in front of the house in several years as there was no need.  And since people forget, they venture out when they shouldn't.

[mudchicken]

....and what would our favorite alum of WeatherLiar U. be saying now?

Joe: preparing an estimate now for the black horse folks about 120 miles east of you in the Fire Lands of Erie County.

[Mookie]

Murphy: 

[Murphy Siding]

BaltACD

 

 

Murphy Siding

BaltACD

How many 'Storm of the Century' have we had in the 15 years of this century?

 

 

 

 

 I suppose we're working our way up to the "Storm of the millenium". 

 

 

 

 

 

With only 985 years left in the millenium as well as 85 years left in the century.

 

    You have to think like a TV weatherman.  It's not the biggest storm in the whole century, it's the biggest one so far, because every storm is worst than the last- hence the use of words like monster, mega, ultra and extreme, everytime a cloud pops up.

      Storm of the millemium!!  The worst storm ever!! World ends at 4 o'clock today!!  Film at 11:00.

[blue streak 1]

Nearly bagged a young deer with my lawn mower coming around the corner of my house once.  They really are too tame here.

[ramrod]

tree68

It amounted to about 5-6" of kinda wet snow.  Didn't slow us snowbirds down at all...

I can believe you had no trouble with that small amount. When I lived in the Syrcuse area about 50 years ago, the local newspaper always referred to 5" or less of snow fall as "flurries" or a "dusting." And they weren't joking!

[BaltACD]

Murphy Siding

BaltACD

How many 'Storm of the Century' have we had in the 15 years of this century?

 

 

 

 

 I suppose we're working our way up to the "Storm of the millenium". 

 

 

With only 985 years left in the millenium as well as 85 years left in the century.

[Murphy Siding]

BaltACD

How many 'Storm of the Century' have we had in the 15 years of this century?

 

 I suppose we're working our way up to the "Storm of the millenium". 

[Murphy Siding]

jeffhergert

Our local paper had a story last week of how a couple went from town over to Boone on old highway 30 (now a county road) and hit a deer.  They came home on new US 30 and hit a second deer.  Some people have all the luck.

 

Jeff           

 

 I know a guy who bagged two in one morning on I-29, about 50 miles apart.

[Norm48327]

They seldom do, Jeff. We have more than our fair share in southeast Michigan. I've been lucky though; lots of close calls but no venison for the table.

[jeffhergert]

Yes, we both came out OK.  The deer however...

Jeff

[CShaveRR]

I trust that you and Becky are all right, Jeff.  I got my deer this past June up in northern Michigan (I was unhurt; Pat was un-along).  I didn't fill out any reports, and was able to drive away (air bags didn't deploy).  Insurance covered damages, which were handled first by a local body shop.  The adjustors missed something that was discovered by our local mechanics (can't say enough good stuff about them!), and insurance covered that as well.  The inconvenience on both occasions wasn't much fun, but at least we didn't have to pay any money for the experience.

We had the east's major blizzard (or part of it) swoop through here yesterday when it was just a pup.  We're getting some more nasty stuff this evening, just in time for the road crews to share rush hour with everybody else--including us, as we have to go to a fundraiser for our grandson's school or Cub Scouts; not sure which.  It has been well over a week since I've had any sun to light my way anywhere.

[zugmann]

jeffhergert

Hey Zug, I just saw Mookie's question about cab signals. Do yours have color lights or position light cab signals? I was on an ex-CR engine once that had the position light type cabs.

 

Position.

[jeffhergert]

I took a couple of personal leave days and last Saturday morning Becky and I went out to Council Bluffs to the Great American Train Show.  Pretty nice show.  I got a couple of books, an N gauge auto rack, a couple of RI/Rock plastic time table covers and a Wisconsin Central  time table.

I also got a deer on the way to the show.  About 715am, the sun starting to come up, driving along about 20 miles from home and all of a sudden I see a deer's head and neck in the windshield.  She ran into the front driver's side panel.  Did some damage, but could've been worse.  After the county deputy made out an accident report, we turned around, took the car to our local Ford dealer, who did the last accident repairs we had a couple of years ago.  Got a loaner car for the time being, and went out to CB any way.

Our local paper had a story last week of how a couple went from town over to Boone on old highway 30 (now a county road) and hit a deer.  They came home on new US 30 and hit a second deer.  Some people have all the luck.

Hey Zug, I just saw Mookie's question about cab signals.  Do yours have color lights or position light cab signals?  I was on an ex-CR engine once that had the position light type cabs.

Jeff           

[mudchicken]

The city slickers need a reminder every so often about the real world and life in fly-over country...(and hey, the pansies get a day off out of the deal....We constantly get reminded here at work about how we are expected to deal with the snow and be here.)

[BaltACD]

How many 'Storm of the Century' have we had in the 15 years of this century?

[tree68]

AgentKid

Best of luck to US forum members about to face this big blizzard.

I cleared Springfield, MA, this morning about 8 AM under mostly cloudy skies with a hint of sunshine.  Ran into some light flurries once back in NY, but now that I'm home, there's not a flake in the air.

On the way home, however, I did see a half dozen convoys of utility crews, as well as DOT road graders and even a couple of big snow blowers headed into the "field of battle."

I'll sit home and watch it on the news.  

It snowed Saturday morning in Springfield, which caused a huge drop in attendance at the big show.  The only had as many people for the whole show as they normally get for one day.

It amounted to about 5-6" of kinda wet snow.  Didn't slow us snowbirds down at all...

[JoeKoh]

afternoon

sun is out trying to melt the snow.Ns local was shuffling around at lunch time.They have empties to pick up in town.matt is working on homework.Time to do chores.

stay safe

Joe

[AgentKid]

Norm48327

Hey Bruce,

I have a friend who lives in Airdrie.

Here's an interesting tidbit you might want to pass along.

It is claimed that Airdrie generated the thickest file of complaints ever generated about the service provided to any point on the CPR. From the 1890's to sometime in the 1960's, housing devlopers of varying levels of reputation wanted to build new developments, backstopped with promises by the CPR to provide heavy rail commuter services to Calgary. Once the handwriting was on the wall that this would never happen, the town fathers orchestrated the puchase of all of the land the law would allow next to the CPR ROW and proceeded to build on it to prenent the CPR from ever putting it to any other use.

Nobody knew it at the time but this has really hamstrung plans to ever build a Calgary/Edmonton HSR line, as almost all of the land immediately west of Airdrie is too soft to support another rail line. The local farmers always knew to double-check their land before taking their farm machinery out on it, but it seems they didn't bother to tell anyone else!

Bruce

 

[Norm48327]

Hey Bruce,

I have a friend who lives in Airdrie. He's not complaining about the weather. LOL

[AgentKid]

Best of luck to US forum members about to face this big blizzard. This coming from a guy who lives in the city that was the Canadian hotspot yesterday at 63º F. Oh well, I suppose our turn will come soon.

Bruce

 

[rvos1979]

Huh, slow weekend..........

In Cairo, GA, today, waiting to get unloaded, then get a load headed home. Last day with Millis is Wednesday, then a few days off before going to Green Bay for orientation with Schneider that starts on the 2nd of February.........

Have a good one........

[JoeKoh]

evening

errands are done.We got our taxes done as well.More errands and chores for tomorrow.Going to check on my brother and his rehab work for his knee.Truck also needs a bath before mother nature gives us more snow on Sunday.Ns had a westbound when I left work and the local picked up the empties.

stay safe

Joe

[AgentKid]

Fifty Years Ago Today

 

On January 23, 1965 our family moved out of the CPR station at Irricana and into Calgary. My father had bid in to be the Agent at Crossfield, AB and he would be able to commute from Calgary. This would prove to be very fortuitous, because on February 1, 1965 the CPR served six months’ notice that all open stations on branch lines in Alberta served by Mixed Trains would be closed. So began what would end up being the closure of all open agencies in Canada by about 1970. Dad only worked as the Agent at Crossfield for the month of February, before he began training to be a Dispatcher. He was set up as a Dispatcher on August 1.

 

Growing up in a CPR station enabled me to see many things that today are only seen at museums or written about in books. Some of the many things I saw included:

 

• ·       Wood body boxcars – outside braced, outside sheathed, smooth ended, dreadnought ended, original steel ends, K and AB brakes, numerous different truck types including some with wood components, and both truss rod and steel underframes. Almost none of which would have been legal for interchange use by that time
• ·       Wood body hoppers and gondolas.
• ·       40’ flat cars with stem winder brakes.
• ·       Riveted body tank cars.
• ·       MOW cars of various descriptions that were considered too old for revenue service, making them older than anything mentioned above. Including wood body ballast cars about the size of modern dump truck bodies with the most astounding variety of Rube Goldberg type mechanisms made up of steel levers and rods held together with big nuts and bolts to direct the flow of ballast as required.
• ·       Combines converted form old colonist cars to provide the mixed train service.

Our station had coal heat and no running water. The company provided a forty ton boxcar of coal each fall, which was loaded down a coal chute under the platform. Water was provided once a week by a turn of the 20^th century riveted body tank car originally used in oil service. It was pressurised the same way as passenger car water supply systems, to prevent freezing in winter, but that didn’t always work.

 

In the freight shed were numerous lanterns and flags of many colours for all possible situations. There was both a two wheel and a four wheel baggage truck. Two different sized scales, and numerous other tools one needed to keep a station operating.

 

My brother and I got to ride in Geeps, and once I got to ride in a Switcher, when they were switching at the elevators.  My brother never did learn to like the noise the airbrake made in the cab. When I was very young, Dad explained to me the miracle of MU connections.  One Engineer could control two engines! I was actually a lot older before I realized those original style MU cables were not electrical connections. Even at a very young age I could have bought that those cables were electric cords.

Both of us got to ride in the cupola of the Caboose from Irricana, north five miles to Beiseker, once during the last summer we were there. Interestingly, that trip ended any desire I ever had to work for the railway. The Langdon Sub. had a 25 MPH maximum speed and I at once understood the hurry up and wait aspect of railroading, moments of deadly serious activity followed by hours of boredom.

Irricana also had a Water Tower, Coal Dock, Section Foreman’s residence, Roadmaster’s Office and residence, and sheds to keep their Motor Cars and supplies. I was just old enough to remember Dad taking me through the Coal Dock and Water Tower before they were demolished. The thing that sticks with me to this day about going through that Coal Dock is that there is nothing blacker than creosoted timbers coated with forty years of coal dust.

I got to see and handle all of the various components used in track work. The Section Foreman dealt with the other Motor Cars on the line. This was interesting because I got to see what I would call Two Man Motor Cars, Four Man Motor Cars, and an extremely rare Six Man Motor Car. This design was considered a failure because it proved to be too much car for too little an engine. Think of the classic Motor Car you see in pictures and at Speeder Events as a Four Man Motor Car.  My brother and I both got to ride the smaller Speeders.

The same day he brought in that big Speeder he also brought in a Hand Car. Funny thing is, compared to that big Speeder; Hand Cars are almost as common as dirt. I don’t think I have ever been to any museum worth its’ salt that didn’t have a Hand Car.

When we were first there, there were the scheduled Mixed Trains four days a week, and extra Coal Drags in season. The Mixed’s ran to about forty cars, and the Coal Drags up to about sixty cars with two Geeps. The last summer we were there, there hadn’t been extra coal drags for several years and some Mixed Trains had only seven to ten boxcars. At one time in Irricana there were five families supported by the CPR. Once the station closed there was only the Section Foreman and the Roadmaster left, and the track was pulled up about 1972. An era had ended.

Now, most days I pull up the Rochelle Web Cam and I get kind of bored seeing coal trains and double stack trains, but what keeps me coming back is the sound of trucks crossing those diamonds.

O.S. Irricana,

Bruce

 

 

 

[tree68]

rvos1979

Long day today, drove over 600 miles from Effingham, IL to Stringtown, OK.

That's my Friday, and again Sunday night (unless jury duty gets cancelled Monday)

Headed for Springfield, MA for the big Amherst RR Club show.  It's a doozie.  I'll be working, though, trying to convince people to come ride our railroad.

[Mookie]

blue streak 1

Interesting post on train orders.  BNSF has over 90+ locos stored laid up good order ( LUGO ).  Reported at Northtown, Topeka, Barstow.

 

Are they the older models? 

During the recession a few years ago, we had a lot of tracks around the depot with shrink-wrapped locomotives.  They sat there for awhile and then were eventually put back in service.