What to expect if you take up Garden Dance on his Sailboat up the Deleware River in Philly

[gardendance]

chutton01

Wonderful...just great. Now in addition to No-Go zones I have to model she-male prostitutes on my layout.

I wonder if Presier sells a ladyboy figure set.

Garden Dance, about that tankcar - you weren't thinking either of Advance Technology Specialities at State & Imperial Ct, which seems to doing OK with numbers of tankcars on its sidings and a working website, or the Sewage plant a little south of that which used to get Chlorine tankers but I don't has done so since the turn of the century, were you?

 

I have on at least one layout seen a desolate area with a sign "On this site to be built an urban slum".

I can't figure where Imperial Ct or Advance Technology Specialities is, but anything on State Rd itself at ground level would be too far from the river to see through intervening trees and buildings, although one can often glimpse Amtrak's northeast corridor, which runs on a fill on the land side of interstate 95 for a few miles.

The perhaps tank car I'm thinking of is either somewhere in the water treatment plant between Linden Ave and Pennypack St, or a mile or so further south around Cottman Ave. For some reason I've never bothered to photograph it before, I guess because I thought any photo close enough that one could think it looked like a railroad car probably wouldn't have enough room left to show any identifying landmarks. Give me a chance to fix that and post the results.

[ACY Tom]

For a fleeting moment I wondered how you determined they were transgender, but I don't think I'll ask.  TMI already. 

[chutton01]

trackrat888

which is well known for transgender hookers who are "Prospecting" Ignorant oversexed college boys into back alleys in order to roll them.

Wonderful...just great. Now in addition to No-Go zones I have to model she-male prostitutes on my layout.
I wonder if Presier sells a ladyboy figure set.

Garden Dance, about that tankcar - you weren't thinking either of Advance Technology Specialities at State & Imperial Ct, which seems to doing OK with numbers of tankcars on its sidings and a working website, or the Sewage plant a little south of that which used to get Chlorine tankers but I don't has done so since the turn of the century, were you?

[schlimm]

trackrat888

I had a number of preying eyes of would be predators

Pot meet kettle.  Predators?   Takes one to know one.

[dakotafred]

gardendance

And to anyone else who might think of sailing with me, I've given up alcohol. I just got tired of lying to my doctor every exam when he'd ask how many drinks I had each week, it's a lot easier just to say none.

 

To me, that's a poor reason for giving up something as important as alcohol. Doctors are trained to say you're supposed to give up or cut down on alcohol or tobacco. Doesn't mean they know what's best, that you have to do what they say or even that you owe them the truth.

 

If we can't reach our age and be our own man, when can we? And how long do we want to live, anyhow?

 

 

[gardendance]

CShaveRR, I can go on any body of water that's at least 4 feet deep, but generally my fellow sailors watch where I sail, and when my boat stops suddenly they know where the shallows are. I hold the yacht club's Columbus award, given to the skipper who discovers land.

If you're talking about static freight cars, just a few miles south of my club is and industrial area which I'm sure had its train tracks severed, yet still has what sure looks to me to be a tank car. I've long meant to take a photo of it, and will do so shortly after I get the boat in the water, which should be in about 3 weeks.

Firelock76, I think it's sad that most pirates dropped out of grade school before learning the entire alphabet and discovering the wonderful letters S T U V W X Y and Z.

I have problems getting photos of the boat itself, since I or my cameraperson are usually aboard, but maybe these will sassify you for now

https://plus.google.com/photos/102801537445304393658/albums/5930068611389900449

 

Trackrat, you obviously must have been so drunk from drinking my and my friends' beer on the boat that you forgot the numerous times I pointed out to you the Market-Frankford elevated's Spring Garden St station before I put you off the boat. I have no idea why you walked south AWAY from Spring Garden St.

And to anyone else who might think of sailing with me, I've given up alcohol. I just got tired of lying to my doctor every exam when he'd ask how many drinks I had each week, it's a lot easier just to say none.

[ACY Tom]

T.R.:

I could be mistaken, but it seems like you're the only one who has mentioned roaming around Philadelphia drunk or hung over.   This might be relevant to you, but it seems irrelevant to the subject of going on a boat ride with G.D.   I kind of wish you'd keep it to yourself.   Thanks.

Tom

[trackrat888]

"No Go Zones"- Having to Walk under the Ben Franklin Bridge away from the hustle bustle of the Philly Waterfront Tourist District I had a number of preying eyes of would be predators in there scopes. Every major city is like this that has a "Yuppie Entertainment District" They are waiting just on the edges of these districts waiting for some druken suit and tie man or college student to eat them alive for a midnight snack. Baltimore has its Inner Harbor which is right next to "Da Projects" Buffalo has "Chippawa Street" which is next to "Da West Side" Cleveland has the Flats and the Gundarena which is on Prospect Ave which is well known for transgender hookers who are "Prospecting" Ignorant oversexed college boys into back alleys in order to roll them. Having a good subway system to that runs late on bar night is a good way to get everyone hone safely.I had a little trouble finding the Subway station because I tried followed the Ben Franklin Bridge back to the PATCO Line. Changing Trains @ 69th for the Norristown Speedline to KOP and leaving the station for a coffee and snack at 1130pm is never a good idea.

[Firelock76]

Arrrr, that's some fine lookin' fam-lies there Skipper, but how's about a picture of that vessel o' yours?

(Didn't know I could imitate Robert Newton, did 'ye?)

[CShaveRR]

I was going to ask if you were capable of going up other rivers.

I don't need to see moving freight trains; just freight cars sitting somewhere is fine.  Odds are there might be something I haven't seen before, and that wouldn't take too much away from the rest of the sights for the rest of the people.  Note to self...binoculars!

[gardendance]

CShaveRR Carl,

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/109800441038327801875/albums/6138842195087224833

Those photos show the most passengers I ever had, a family of 6, plus me and my wife, total 8 people. The most that had been on my boat since I got it was 9, but somebody else was the skipper.

Anyway there's plenty of room for me to take 4 guests.

As for freight visible from the river, yes. I haven't yet taken my boat all the way to Trenton, so I can't swear that I can get in viewing distance of Amtrak's bridge across the Delaware.

The next place is Bordentown-Fieldsboro NJ where NJTransit's Riverline right of way is right next to the river. I had posted a few videos of Riverline trains going by in

http://cs.trains.com/trn/f/111/p/230465/2666902.aspx#2666902

"need help photographing Delair Bridge from the river". Take a peek and bump that old thread back into the light.

I know you said freight, but that would be after sunset. I have berths for 5 people. Are the rest of your party of 4 willing to spend the night on the boat anchored off of Bordentown to wait for a freight train? I'm willing.

There are some switching tracks at a pier in Tullytown, although I haven't seen trains there.

Then the next freight opportunity is the Delair bridge that Ray already mentioned. Most freights go to or come from Pavonia yard in Camden, so if the trees don't have their full foliage you might get shots of freights on the north south tracks before or after they cross the bridge.

No more freight action on the Delaware till the area opposite the Philly airport, and yet again that's switching at the piers, this time on the Jersey side of the river, and I have seen some freight trains moving there.

And finally for the Delaware River there's Claymont, on Amtrak's northeast corridor. Like the Trenton bridge, it's not unknown for freights to come by, but so far I've only gotten some incredibly poor passenger shots. Let's face it, I need people on board who are willing to sail long distance, then hang out a long time waiting for the trains. But don't despair completely, there are yacht clubs in Essington, not too far from Claymont, which have reciprocal agreements with mine, so we can nip in to their docks and take advantage of their civilized bathrooms.

Another thought is to go up the Christina or Schuylkill rivers, probably on diesel, not sail, and get a look at NS's former Conrail former Pennsy Shellpot bridge, which I think now hosts trains, or CSX's bridge across the Schuylkill.

chutton01, yes there is a marina a few blocks from Independence Mall, that's at Penn's Landing, south of the Ben Franklin bridge, but that wasn't the marina at which Ray disembarked. We used the one at the Phila Marine Center, about at Callowhill St, several blocks north of the bridge. I don't know why Ray made his "no-go" comments about either location, neither of them is any more dangerous than any other place in center city Philly in my opinion.

[chutton01]

Since my layout is set around Philadelphila, I like to read and occasionally visit the area (no boat tours, though). Anyway, the marina you & trackrat888 left from is clearly the one by Poquessing Creek near the northeast end of the Philly waterfront (the street names do give it away some). But you landed at a Marina near the Ben Franklin bridge, and here I am confused - it looks like you'd be landing on the Philly side, a few blocks from Independance Mall, and that doesn't seem to be a bad area anymore (certainly not according to Philiaphilia, which has covered buildings in the area from time to time). Conversely, there doesn't seem to be any useful marinas across the river in Camden, so I wouldn't expect you to have landed there...so the question is why the heck is trackrat888 claiming that area to be a "NO-GO" zone? Inquring minds want to know...

[CShaveRR]

Patrick, if we ever return to Philadelphia, perhaps Pat and I would take you up on that cruise.  I'm not sure whether our hosts have ever been on the river, but if you could accommodate four guests, we'd all go.  Is there any freight railroading left to see from navigable water?

I feel compelled to point out that not everyone with Aspergers will post annoying, misspelled, grammatically-incorrect messages.  Some of us are capable of rising above that from time to time.

[gardendance]

As usual, Ray, or Ohiorivertrails, has posted several exaggerations and lies. And of course many misspellings.

trackrat888

Getting There-Take SEPTA Trenton Line to Toressdale there is very little parking at the station. Local Bus service is sporatic.

I don't know what he means by sporadic, local bus service 2 blocks from the club is 2 lines that run every 30 minutes Sat. Another line, a trackless trolley, runs every 11-15 minutes Sat, and stops less than a mile away.

You will see Three Monkees cafe which is over priced.

This area of Philly was a little odd in that it was devoid of local bodegas and no sidewalks.

I agree with him that 3 Monkees is expensive, but it does have an outdoor seating area with a great view of Amtrak's northeast corridor.

I'm not sure why he thinks it odd that there would be no local bodegas, many parts of many of our cities have no bodegas. For what it's worth, there is a convenience store, and 2 reasonably priced restaraunts in a strip shopping center about 5 blocks away.

And there are sidewalks in the neighborhood, just not on the last 2 blocks of the walk from the train station.

The Yaght club is SE down Grant Street and then take left on Minor.

The Yaght Club- Is a overstament and and as far away from the Princeton Hamton Crowd as you can get. Since this is Philly which is a Hot Humid Hellhole If yiou have taken a shower at the Hotel/YMCA you will need another one after getting off of SEPTIC. The Captain will let you use the faciltys at your own risk.

The Captain- Garden Dance will provide with his cell phone on PMing him.You must have a working cell phone as well and have have it well charged.

I tried being low tech and off the grid by email and that does not work. He works as a Museum Curator/Catologer.

I have no idea what he means by "Princeton Hamton". We're a club, we have grounds, a building with kitchen, meeting rooms, bathrooms and showers, and docks and boats. That sure meets the definition of yacht club to me.

I stronly suspect that Ray did not spend the prior night at a hotel, and Philly's YMCA no longer has overnight rooms. I believe he needed a shower because he hadn't had one in several days.

No, you do not have to have a working cell phone, but you will have to speak with me on the phone before I'd be willing to adjust my schedule to be at the yacht club to meet you. Email will only work if you're willing to be there when I happen to have planned to be there anyway.

I work at a museum, but as a data manager.

My way of decsribing his personlity is Big Bang Theory and very methodical. His wife is very nice and down to earth.

My wife wasn't there the day Ray and I met, so I don't know where he got any idea about her personality. Who knows, maybe I told him she's very nice and down to earth, but I don't remember it.

As for myself I realise that even though I have Aspergers I know in hindsight that I would not want to spend 12 hours on a sailboat with another Asperger.

There were 2 other people in the boat that trip besides Ray and me, but I don't know of any of them who have Aspergers.

But he is the Captain and listen to everything he tells you.

The Boat- 1980s low power sailboat. Expect to help out with sails and get a crash course in handling sails and have some swiming skills.

I'll invite folks to help out with the sails. Since Ray several times asked if I'd let him handle the tiller, I assume he wanted to. Maybe he meant to say "expect to be allowed to help out". Some swimming skills is always a good thing to have when on the water, but I do have enough personal flotation devices readily available for all passengers.

Also learn how to use the head on a moving veihical that is ten times worse then Amtrak on class 3 track.

The Ride-Come Sober as in hanging out all night at a dive bar in the Philly Hood and getting on a moving sailboat is a Bad Idea. I expected to sail for the railroad bridge and be on the next train by mid afternoon but its not a speedboat.

And I expected Ray to have shown up on time in order to take advantage of the tide so that we would have been able to sail immediately for the bridge. However he showed up about 3 hours early, so since the tide was against us we would have had a hard time fighting the tide to go that direction.

Bring your own booze and pick something that everyone likes like Coors Light. You get to meet a lot of the locals as Garden Dance has overcomed his disablity by having a boat and some booze means you get freinds.

I'm not sure what disability he means, unless of course he's talking about me being a foaming railfan. I will probably invite several people onto the boat at a time.

Sailing up and down the river and getting to see the backside of Trenton/ Philly that I never knew existed like the Mansions and long abandoned industry and PRRs river industrial.

The Bridge- Most Traffic is NJ Transit Trains and a rare NS Freight. Taking good pics on dry land is hard enough but having a hangover and being seasick and trying to get a good pic in the dark is hell on water.

We arrived at the Delair bridge in full sunlight, at least an hour before sunset. It didn't get dark till we got to the next bridge, the Ben Franklin.

End of the line- My Captian droped me off at the Philly Muni Boat Club Dock at Ben Franklin Bridge and I thanked him for the ride.

It is safest to call a Taxi Cab at this point because walking to the nearest SEPTA Station from this point as a certain ethnic person means that I am a Deer during hunting season because the Hunters are waiting for drunk strays to walk away from the Entertainment District. NJ Riverline Camden Trenton Quits running at 900pm.[/quote]

Riveline stops at midnight Saturdays.

SEPTA also shuts down whole lines of both regional rail and Subway Surface without ryme or reason for mantaince unlike NYMTA which runs lines while under contruction.

I don't know of any maintenance shutdowns that happened the Saturday that Ray and I met.

I ended up taking the Cushions to Harrisburgh Enola( Amtrak) rather then risk worse calamities in Philly. I am familar with both passenger and freight but had to get back to work ASAP. I am happy to cross this expernace off my bucket list and thank the captain for the oppurtunity.

[ACY Tom]

I hate Coors Lite.  Maybe that's the root of the whole problem.

[trackrat888]

Getting There-Take SEPTA Trenton Line to Toressdale there is very little parking at the station. Local Bus service is sporatic. You will see Three Monkees cafe which is over priced. This area of Philly was a little odd in that it was devoid of local bodegas and no sidewalks. The Yaght club is SE down Grant Street and then take left on Minor.

The Yaght Club- Is a overstament and and as far away from the Princeton Hamton Crowd as you can get. Since this is Philly which is a Hot Humid Hellhole If yiou have taken a shower at the Hotel/YMCA you will need another one after getting off of SEPTIC. The Captain will let you use the faciltys at your own risk.

The Captain- Garden Dance will provide with his cell phone on PMing him.You must have a working cell phone as well and have have it well charged. I tried being low tech and off the grid by email and that does not work. He works as a Museum Curator/Catologer. My way of decsribing his personlity is Big Bang Theory and very methodical. His wife is very nice and down to earth. As for myself I realise that even though I have Aspergers I know in hindsight that I would not want to spend 12 hours on a sailboat with another Asperger. But he is the Captain and listen to everything he tells you.

The Boat- 1980s low power sailboat. Expect to help out with sails and get a crash course in handling sails and have some swiming skills. Also learn how to use the head on a moving veihical that is ten times worse then Amtrak on class 3 track.

The Ride-Come Sober as in hanging out all night at a dive bar in the Philly Hood and getting on a moving sailboat is a Bad Idea. I expected to sail for the railroad bridge and be on the next train by mid afternoon but its not a speedboat. Bring your own booze and pick something that everyone likes like Coors Light. You get to meet a lot of the locals as Garden Dance has overcomed his disablity by having a boat and some booze means you get freinds. Sailing up and down the river and getting to see the backside of Trenton/ Philly that I never knew existed like the Mansions and long abandoned industry and PRRs river industrial.

The Bridge- Most Traffic is NJ Transit Trains and a rare NS Freight. Taking good pics on dry land is hard enough but having a hangover and being seasick and trying to get a good pic in the dark is hell on water.

End of the line- My Captian droped me off at the Philly Muni Boat Club Dock at Ben Franklin Bridge and I thanked him for the ride. It is safest to call a Taxi Cab at this point because walking to the nearest SEPTA Station from this point as a certain ethnic person means that I am a Deer during hunting season because the Hunters are waiting for drunk strays to walk away from the Entertainment District. NJ Riverline Camden Trenton Quits running at 900pm. SEPTA also shuts down whole lines of both regional rail and Subway Surface without ryme or reason for mantaince unlike NYMTA which runs lines while under contruction. I ended up taking the Cushions to Harrisburgh Enola( Amtrak) rather then risk worse calamities in Philly. I am familar with both passenger and freight but had to get back to work ASAP. I am happy to cross this expernace off my bucket list and thank the captain for the oppurtunity.