tree68I was at a meeting at our local library this morning and noted a sign that said that March is National Quilting Month. I'm sure Pat will be busy celebrating!
I'm sure Pat will be busy celebrating!
I'll be sure and tell her about this the next time she takes a break from quilting (or sewing, or knitting). I wonder what makes this month different from any other. (Okay, she just got home from choir...and wonders if you're going to do a quilt.)I wonder when National train-chasing month will be.I'm hoping that we'll have a chance to see a train or six when we go out west tomorrow (Geneva/St. Charles/West Chicago). I pretty much stayed indoors today ...the snow we got overnight wasn't worth shoveling, and the walks and driveway were clear by afternoon.
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)
CShaveRR(Okay, she just got home from choir...and wonders if you're going to do a quilt.)
Only the one I pull over me when I hit the ol' waterbed tonight...
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...
evening
Ns had some empties to pick up when I left work.Went into town to do errands.Barber was wondering why CSX is backed up so much.The icy roadways have cleared.Work for a bit tomorrow morning.Matt needs the computer for his book report.
stay safe
joe
Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").
Sir Chicken: He wanted to visit Auntie Mookie! Must have seen the asparagus and headed back home - fast! Will scottie arrive in a blue blanket?
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Today, I've been an engineer for 11 years.
This year is also the year I renew my engineer's license. My current one expires next month on my birthday. In January I finished up my part, sending in motor vehehicle license info and getting my hearing and vision tested. (Despite what the wife sometimes thinks, I have proof that I can hear.) My last check ride was last year. I figured it was within the required time period when I received my new license in the mail. Upon looking at it, it was just a duplicate of the one I already held, expiring next month. I contacted my manager and he checked and said I still needed a check ride. He gave me one a few days ago. I received my new-new license today. It also expires next month.
Jeff
jeffhergert Today, I've been an engineer for 11 years. This year is also the year I renew my engineer's license. My current one expires next month on my birthday. In January I finished up my part, sending in motor vehehicle license info and getting my hearing and vision tested. (Despite what the wife sometimes thinks, I have proof that I can hear.) My last check ride was last year. I figured it was within the required time period when I received my new license in the mail. Upon looking at it, it was just a duplicate of the one I already held, expiring next month. I contacted my manager and he checked and said I still needed a check ride. He gave me one a few days ago. I received my new-new license today. It also expires next month. Jeff
Johnny
Jeff - check the address where you are sending the license. Is it a local fast food restaurant where you can never get what you order?
jeffhergert I received my new-new license today. It also expires next month. Bang Head
And they're in charge.
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
Mookie Sir Chicken: He wanted to visit Auntie Mookie! Must have seen the asparagus and headed back home - fast! Will scottie arrive in a blue blanket?
jeffhergertThis year is also the year I renew my engineer's license.
I have that job regarding our conductors. That's enough of a challenge, being a part-time, volunteer job. I wouldn't want it for a big railroad...
Cool but clear - but the ice is off driveway, so the walking is better.
Just did my check-in on the amateur radio "Rooster Roster." Everyone is still pretty chilly (except the guy in Florida - although he's only at about +45F...). Supposed to be in the 50's + next week.
Deggesty jeffhergert Today, I've been an engineer for 11 years. This year is also the year I renew my engineer's license. My current one expires next month on my birthday. In January I finished up my part, sending in motor vehehicle license info and getting my hearing and vision tested. (Despite what the wife sometimes thinks, I have proof that I can hear.) My last check ride was last year. I figured it was within the required time period when I received my new license in the mail. Upon looking at it, it was just a duplicate of the one I already held, expiring next month. I contacted my manager and he checked and said I still needed a check ride. He gave me one a few days ago. I received my new-new license today. It also expires next month. Jeff Jeff, is somebody telling you that you are on your way out?
Jeff, is somebody telling you that you are on your way out?
As I was going over the paperwork (for the train I saw going past the webcam) a inbound engineer came in to tie up. He said the North Platte guys were talking about a visitor they had out there from Omaha.
A big-wig was telling them there were some large cuts coming. That anyone with less than 15 years of service was going to be affected. I don't know if that means just for the North Platte and associated seniority districts (plus Mechanical, MOW and Signal people) or the entire Northern Region. I have 17 1/2 years in and am not on that seniority district. Still, I wonder if I may get cut back to conductor or may have to chase my engineer's seniority. Blue Earth, MN here I come! (That's one job usually no one wants, so the absolute youngest on the seniority list gets forced there.) I probably don't have to worry about either happening, but when they say things like cuts going to 15 years deep. Wow!
zugmann jeffhergert I received my new-new license today. It also expires next month. Bang Head And they're in charge.
It's been said, heard from both people in the work force and local management, you can't spell stupid without the...
Wow - 30 degree drop in temperature in about 90 minutes. Winter has re-appeared with about 3 inches of wet heavy snow. Guess we can pull down the red flag warnings for a week or so. (Fingers crossed here for Pineapple Express weather - moisture urgently needed on the front range so it will turn green.)
I was supposed to be out scouting locations of catenary poles. I'll wait.
Sir C - we are thumbing our noses at Houston Ed - it is 78 here with a stiff south wind. You really do need to do some work here - a long way east of you.
work busy.Mother nature sending super snowmelt formula our way.Ns had some cars for the local and an eastbound went by when I got off work.Chores to do.
Joe
We have a warm (above average, anyway) but wet forecast for the whole week here. The rain gauge is back out; the rain-barrels should come next.Busy week coming up for us: optometrist for Pat tomorrow, MD for Pat on Wednesday, dentist for both of us Thursday. I hope to be watching trains sometime on a couple of those days, weather permitting. I got out today, and was doing file work while the trains went by (laptop came along). I know there's some good stuff that I want to see rolling around out there, but the railroad insists in diverting my attention from those wishes with other interesting stuff. I got a good sightings report out to my buddies this evening...six pages' worth.Linda's hemoglobin count is coming up, but so is one of the markers...so chemo will be increased again (just a little). She's been doing quite well, and seems to be able to accomplish things, like enjoying her son and working on her dissertation.
local was uptown waiting for a crew this morning when I went to work.They had more cars waiting when I left work.Snowmelt in full force today.Opened up some windows to get air inside.Chores to do.
68 degrees here today. Flaky stuff all gone.
Norm
Norm48327 68 degrees here today. Flaky stuff all gone.
Up to +51F here today, but the snow that's left is pretty dense - lots of ice, etc. So it's hanging on. With the warm-up, it may or may not make it to the weekend.
We broke 70 in Chicagoland today, but there are still some plowbergs at some of the larger lots around town.It was a marvelous day for being out watching trains; I soon regretted bringing a jacket. I have a report...
Today turned from dull to exciting for me fairly fast this afternoon. After we went to Pat's optometrist appointment (she needs new glasses, by the way), we decided to visit one of our favorite Chinese establishments in Elmhurst for lunch. The plan was to eat, then Pat would go home and I'd linger with the hopes of harvesting some good freight car sightings.
This two-day-in-a-row thing was working for me. Because of what I saw and checked out yesterday, I knew exactly what to look for today when the same type of train (WEPX coal) came by...narrowed a break-point between spotting features from within 35 cars to within 15. There were plenty of freight trains through Elmhurst in the three hours I was there, but most of them were stack trains, and I didn't get anything of significance off them.
The best was saved for the last few minutes before I was ready to go...spectacular in every respect. At about 3:50, an eastbound manifest freight came in on track 1, and stopped with its power (one GE, one EMD) right by the station. I figured that he had a red signal, and was waiting for it to clear...he stayed that far back from the signal because it kept more grade crossings--including York Road--open. When I finished my typing, I looked out to see that it was a manifest freight; the cars I could see suggested that it came from North Platte (good possibility of refrigerator cars and covered hoppers I wanted to see on those trains!). My plan was to take a walk west along the platform and the street, getting up close to as much of the equipment as I could while it was not moving.
I walked out the door at the station, noted the red signal he was waiting for...and also the headlight of an eastbound train coming out of the yard. I thought he might go for Track 2, to stay out of the way of the expected scoot on 3 (getting down to about 15 minutes). But he continued to cross over toward Track 3.
Change in my plans...I'd now cross over to the south platform to watch this westbound guy--the eastbound wouldn't go anywhere until he was out of the way, and I'd be on the right side of the tracks to catch the scoot home, whether or not everything else was out of the way.
I got across the tracks at York just before the gates went down, and was ready for him when he went by. I'd thought it was a manifest, but it turned out to be a unit trainload of sand--short and heavy covered hoppers, many of which might be useful to me. And yes, they were...I saw my first 2016-built freight car, along with many others built in both January and February. I also took some other number/lot number/builder/date combinations for a while before the train speeded up once clearing the yard. I was still trying to take some notes on some DSIX sand cars when the train cleared the platform, with a pair of units on the hind end leaning into it.
It was about five seconds after the gates went up on York Road before the signal on track 1 changed from all red, giving the eastbound a lunar-white aspect to go into the yard. It took him a little while to get going, but he kept moving at a slow speed.
As the engines from the eastbound passed me, the Voice of Metra announced that my train would be arriving in six minutes. Another voice announced that the eastbound scoot would be boarding on Track 2, at York Road. So I got a few notes off the cars that were going by me. The ones I'd been hoping for didn't materialize, but others did, and I had my prize already with those 2016-built cars.
This train had a DP unit in the middle, helping to move the train in, and it was long...my scoot was "now arriving" before I could see its hind end.
The dispatcher had had a lot of foresight to bring the eastbound scoot in on Track 2. It probably crossed from 1 to 2 at Grace. It's not convenient for passengers, who have to cross over another track to get to the train, and everybody has to enter and leave via the same doorway. But in this case, it worked like a charm in Elmhurst...the eastbound freight had cleared the York Road crossing just as the scoot was arriving, so nothing interfered with passengers boarding or detraining at the one entrance. Had the scoot followed the freight on Track 1, he would have been slower in coming in because of the signals, then he would have had to sit for a while until he could get a route around the end of the freight, which would soon be at the other end of the receiving yard looking for headroom. So, beyond the extra time it took to move passengers through one doorway instead of three or more, no passenger trains were delayed in the performance of this spectacular finish to my afternoon.
more cars for the local uptown.Need to get to Church.We are having a german supper before our lenten service.Got ***??
The temp here has been in the +50F's all day - touched +60F around 1 PM. Getting some occasional sprinkles, but nothing has registered on the rain guage yet.
We are supposed to get some significant rain a in the next day or so. That may well wash away the rest of the snow, which has been stubbornly holding on in some spots. With the rain we got some of the snow is pretty dense.
Got my Raspberry Pi running. It's a micro-computer (will fit in a pack of cards, essentially), and is pretty neat. I also assembled a small (7") display for it. Right now it's loading a digital communications program that will let me send text, forms, and pictures to other hams via radio (including my handheld, if I can hit another user or a repeater). Pretty neat stuff!
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
mudchickenHouse cat was on the lam for 24 hours. Skeered critter was back in the house last night. Life goes back to somewhere near normal.. Stewart may get his name changed to Ferris Bueller. . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjMffHG1V_Q
"He gave it to a train conductor, put it on a trainNew England's where the train was headed up to Bangor MaineHe pull down on the brakes those wheels screeched on the trackAnd as it ran away, conductor said, "Here, kitty cat".
Chorus: But the cat came back, the very next day.The cat came back. We thought he was a goner.But the cat came back. It just couldn't stay away."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cat_Came_Back
"For his fourth attempt, Mr. Johnson tries to take the cat away on a pump trolley, running over many damsels in distress and even a cow tied to the train tracks until he hits a bug crossing the railroad track, causing the trolley to jump the rails and send him plummeting into an abandoned mine where be is attacked by snakes, bats, and mice."
http://www.nfb.ca/film/the-cat-came-back/
- Paul North.
CShaveRR tree68 I was at a meeting at our local library this morning and noted a sign that said that March is National Quilting Month. I'm sure Pat will be busy celebrating!
tree68 I was at a meeting at our local library this morning and noted a sign that said that March is National Quilting Month. I'm sure Pat will be busy celebrating!
Sew you do that...I'm in my remote office for the third afternoon this week, waiting for passing trains that I can "harvest". It has been busy so far, with lots of stack trains and not terribly much else (the only manifest so far was the West Chicago local). Pat and I came to Elmhurst for our dental appointments...I appear to be falling apart, and will need a few more appointments to fix it all up. We also visited a relatively-new place for lunch (they're a "brunch" spot, only open until 3:00), right across from the tracks in Elmhurst. Pat says we'll go back again (had she not said that, I'd have to find some other excuse). They have everything: windows facing the tracks, free wi-fi... oh, and the food is great, though a little pricey.
Randy: I hope you see this...
We were parked on a little used street watching trains today. We sit just back from a curve - not really a corner. A Swift 18 wheeler came around the corner toward us and like every one else, they manage to take their share and part of yours - even tho it is a wide curve and more than enough room. Everyone cuts it short and you end up face-to-face with the driver.
I saw the name and almost climbed out of Millie and ran for the sidewalk. Driver commented that there might be one or two drivers that could actually drive.
CShaveRRoh, and the food is great, though a little pricey.
But, the ambiance....
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