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Chatterbox Spring -2016

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, June 6, 2016 7:31 AM

zugmann

Was using a ES40DC to build some trains the other day.  Would make an alco jealous with the way that thing was chugging. 

 

 
I've noticed the same thing with U-boats way back in the early 1970's.  Shouldn't be too surprising since the FDL and the 251 have the same bore and stroke. (9 X 10.5)
The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by zugmann on Sunday, June 5, 2016 10:37 PM

Was using a ES40DC to build some trains the other day.  Would make an alco jealous with the way that thing was chugging. 

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, June 5, 2016 9:14 PM

mudchicken

(Still amused that the thing is still running. KYLE/BN 4243 was usually seen laid-up bad order during its stay in KS/CO. Chrome Crank struggled mightilly with it. Sister 4240 was just the opposite.)

It's had its issues while I've known it.  Including getting "plugged" whilst running light downhill on a rainy night.

It did have a bad habit of shutting down if the throttle was closed too quickly.  

Now it's in the hands of the "ALCO god."  

LarryWhistling
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Posted by samfp1943 on Sunday, June 5, 2016 7:23 PM

tree68

Wet day on the railroad, and it seemed to rain harder when we had outside work to do...  Good thing I had a dry set of clothes to change into before I got in the truck for the ride home...

Article on ASRR (and Catskill Mtn) in the new issue of Trains.  Observant readers may also note that Delaware Lackawanna 2043 bears a resemblance to ASRR 1835 and 1845 - which would be because 2043 (nee SP&S 303 and BN 4243) once ran on ASRR and is the basis for the RS18u paint.

 

Really Nice article, Larry (tree68)

Cool  Was hoping to maybe see you waving out of one of the ASR units!   I guess you got the 'word' too late to pick up your 'white wavin' gloves'  Whistling 

  I thought the article was overall, pretty fair, seemed to present arguments from all sides...It just seems like no matter how its is 'painted'  the "Trail-types' seem to come across like spoiled children, who maybe are about to loose their playground passes- Sort of," Their way or The Highway types".    Just my My 2 Cents

 

 


 

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Posted by mudchicken on Sunday, June 5, 2016 6:28 PM

(Still amused that the thing is still running. KYLE/BN 4243 was usually seen laid-up bad order during its stay in KS/CO. Chrome Crank struggled mightilly with it. Sister 4240 was just the opposite.)

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, June 5, 2016 6:02 PM

Wet day on the railroad, and it seemed to rain harder when we had outside work to do...  Good thing I had a dry set of clothes to change into before I got in the truck for the ride home...

Article on ASRR (and Catskill Mtn) in the new issue of Trains.  Observant readers may also note that Delaware Lackawanna 2043 bears a resemblance to ASRR 1835 and 1845 - which would be because 2043 (nee SP&S 303 and BN 4243) once ran on ASRR and is the basis for the RS18u paint.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
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Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by blhanel on Saturday, June 4, 2016 6:15 PM

Murphy Siding

 

 
blhanel

Checked off several bucket list items over the past three weeks- started an Alaska Inside Passage cruise with a ride up to Denali on the Alaska RR, rode the White Pass & Yukon up to Summit and back during the cruise, and came home on the Empire Builder after the cruise was over.  Retirement sure is fun!

 

 

 

That sounds like a good time.  What was your favorite thing about each of those.  (They may not be still around when I retire...in 15 years.)

 

 

On the Alaska RR ride, I loved the fact that passengers can leave their seats and go enjoy the ride on the open vestibule at the end of the Holland America Viewliner.  I've got some great pictures from there that I have to get uploaded yet.  On the WP&Y ride, the scenery is spectacular, and again there was an open vestibule.  No such luck on AMTRAK, but the crew made up for that with great service and delicious food.  We even had two volunteer National Park Service reps giving us commentary during the days after departing Seattle and while traversing Marias Pass.  However, it sure would be nice if they (AMTRAK) took the time to clean the windows before starting the journey.

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Posted by JoeKoh on Saturday, June 4, 2016 3:16 PM

Rain here in NW Ohio.Did make it out for a bit.Csx has a rail train on the lead track in the yard.On the back is a B&O heritage caboose.Went to Deshler.Trains on the Toledo sub waited and waited for east west traffic to pass.Our last train r 365 came around the wye to go south.The steel slab train then started to turn to go east.Saw alot of old road names and chessie cats too.Our Bulldog Baseball team is bringing back the big trophy from Columbus today too.Going to tend to chores here at home.

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").

 

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, June 3, 2016 9:27 PM

blhanel

Checked off several bucket list items over the past three weeks- started an Alaska Inside Passage cruise with a ride up to Denali on the Alaska RR, rode the White Pass & Yukon up to Summit and back during the cruise, and came home on the Empire Builder after the cruise was over.  Retirement sure is fun!

 

That sounds like a good time.  What was your favorite thing about each of those.  (They may not be still around when I retire...in 15 years.)

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, June 3, 2016 9:21 PM

tree68

 

 
Murphy Siding
Rain without humidity?  How 'bout some night time without darkness?

 

I don't know, but Alaska....

   

 

Laugh I was born in Alaska.  I remember having aluminum foil taped over our bedroom windows.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by blhanel on Friday, June 3, 2016 7:50 PM

Checked off several bucket list items over the past three weeks- started an Alaska Inside Passage cruise with a ride up to Denali on the Alaska RR, rode the White Pass & Yukon up to Summit and back during the cruise, and came home on the Empire Builder after the cruise was over.  Retirement sure is fun!

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Posted by mudchicken on Friday, June 3, 2016 8:30 AM
Isn't virga weird? (all the little straws come out of the lawn and the result is nuthin'...)
Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by tree68 on Friday, June 3, 2016 6:43 AM

Murphy Siding
Rain without humidity?  How 'bout some night time without darkness?

I don't know, but Alaska....

We often see "rain" on the radar, but nothing hits the ground because it the air is so dry.    

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
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There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, June 2, 2016 10:44 PM

tree68

Up to six tenths of an inch of the wet stuff so far.  Could do without the humidity, though...

 

Rain without humidity?  How 'bout some night time without darkness?Laugh

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, June 2, 2016 9:15 PM

Mookie
remember?  "The bitter with the sweet"

It wouldn't be weather if we weren't complaining about it...

My new toy arrived today - a 3D printer.  Only one catch.  Neither of my computers has Windows 7 or higher, and that's what's required to use the printer.

So it sounds like it's time to get that new laptop I've been thinking about...

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by Mookie on Thursday, June 2, 2016 8:52 PM

tree68

Could do without the humidity, though...

 

remember?  "The bitter with the sweet"

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, June 2, 2016 4:42 PM

Up to six tenths of an inch of the wet stuff so far.  Could do without the humidity, though...

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by JoeKoh on Thursday, June 2, 2016 4:37 PM

Ns westbound when I left work.Chores to do.Our bulldogs are staying in Columbus to play for another baseball trophy.They will play on saturday.

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").

 

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, June 2, 2016 7:21 AM

The rain dance worked!  

All of .06" of rain so far, but the radar looks promising.  Just hope we get enough to actually soak in.  Doesn't do much good if only the top half inch of soil gets wet...

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, June 2, 2016 7:18 AM

 

     We’re having nostalgic memories of what dust must have looked like.  We seem to get an inch of rain every other night, and a lighter rain in between.  The landscape here has a little roll to it, so all the fields seem equally split between mud mounds and slow moving rivers. Too bad it's not flatter, or we'd be planting rice patties.

      Saturday I was at a jobsite looking at an apartment foundation that was about 100 yards off the curb.  To get to it, I would have had to wade through waist deep water.  There was an industrial sized pump sending water somewhat downstream. The water was flowing into a bog that looked like it should have alligators in it.

 

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by edblysard on Thursday, June 2, 2016 5:28 AM

Come on down and bring a big trailer, we got plenty of leftovers....

23 17 46 11

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Posted by Norm48327 on Thursday, June 2, 2016 5:19 AM

Our grass is begging for a drink, and we got all of three drops yesterday.

Norm


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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, June 1, 2016 7:30 PM

You know it's dry when people are wishing for rain...  We are very dry.

An intersection in our first-due claimed another couple of victims today - fortunately the injuries were relatively minor.  It appears the driver of a small Chevy pulled out in front of a Ram 3500 towing a large trailer of dump-bound material.  The Chevy was essentially T-boned (although it looks like she was hit at an angle), and the collision caused the truck and trailer to roll over.  It was a mess.

That's the second collision there in less than a month.  Hope that's not a harbinger of the rest of the summer...

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, June 1, 2016 5:02 PM

evening

Ns was clear when I left work.Work is busy.Chores to do.

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").

 

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Posted by mudchicken on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 6:51 PM

Part of my Sunday was spent chasing a 4 month old pup after he found a big drop of white paint spilled in the grass and he just HAD to stick his nose in it. Applying a wet cleaning rag to a black furry nose is an act of war to a scottie pup.

Today's Dumb Stunt Award is brought to you by one of Glenwood Spring's, CO finer citizens who managed to tangle with #5 and delay it for 6 hours. Drove right past the flashing lights and bells into the path of Amthrax, getting itself wrapped around the front of the lead engine and dragging the attached trailer 500 yards down the track from the crossing. You have to work really hard to find an at-grade crossing in that country west of Glenwood.

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, May 31, 2016 7:54 AM

Had a pretty nice weekend.  My adult son and I drove out to Michigan City on Monday and got pictures of South Shore street running, always worth seeing.  Also got some nice pix of various South Shore stations, Miller now has a nice shelter that looks like it was inspired by Insull Spanish Thumbs Up.  And a few other odds and ends elsewhere.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by JoeKoh on Monday, May 30, 2016 7:10 PM

Evening

went down to my old neighborhood for Memorial Day service.It was being held at the old high school due to Clinton st construction.Csx had some stack trains go by.Even the Y101 shuffled some cars today in the yard.Tomorrow Matt says good bye to Jr.High and hello to High school.Played post office but the mail won't go out until tomorrow.The swamp(and in laws new yard) could use some rain.

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").

 

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, May 30, 2016 5:41 PM

Downpour overnight (Sunday night) in Old Forge, but no problems on the railroad.  Cooled things off quite a bit - a welcome respite from the 80's of Saturday and Sunday.

Lots of things on the list for this week, then a couple more days on the railroad next weekend.  

LarryWhistling
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...

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Posted by JoeKoh on Sunday, May 29, 2016 6:38 AM

Morning

A few sprinkles in Deshler yesterday but not bad.Csx had many big trains to turn and move yesterday.Time to get ready for church.

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").

 

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Posted by CShaveRR on Saturday, May 28, 2016 10:05 AM

I have something in common with most steam locomotives...a tender behind.  Had some tissue samples extracted from prostate for biopsy yesterday.  Apprehensive times ahead, but they will not deter the trip we're starting in less than a week.

In moody anticipation of that, I spent Thursday watching trains, or attempting to.  It was an interesting adventure.  I had promised myself a day of mindless wandering, but it came out better because I put my mind into it:

Things are dead [in Elmhurst]--it might have something to do with the storm blowing a stack train all over the place in Iowa this morning. So I rode in to Oak Park to see if there were any trains on that side of the yard...nope. 

But I was able to run over to Five Guys, grab lunch, and bring it back to the next westbound scoot, all in about 20 minutes. First time that's worked for me! 

After a good lunch, I was on the train headed east again. There had been a westbound freight sitting between Wolf Road and Provo Junction, and I thought it had potential. So I rode to Bellwood, and walked much of the train's length and back within the allotted 45 minutes or so before the next westbound. It was also the first time I had tried this, and I'd call it a success.

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)

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