Murphy SidingThat information might come in handy if he needs to touch up the dog.
That's usually frowned upon in polite society.
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
evening
went into town tonight.Csx sent an eastbound autorack train.Mowed the swamp here too.Moron that drug a tree up from the creek said he would cut it up for firewood this weekend.It is along the woods edge now so i didn't have to mow around it.Going to go check to see how the local teams are doing in football.Work newsletter also annouced that next week that NS will be putting up crossing gates uptown.Will need a slight detour at work.
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").
We have an electronic gizmo and a suitcase full of paint chips at work. You use the gizmo to match some existing color to a paint chip sample in the suitcase. My son borrowed the set-up when he did some painting at home. He was intrigued by the gizmo and used it to determine what color his dog is. That information might come in handy if he needs to touch up the dog.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
So much for painting the kitchen department:
First it was the scottie pup with white spots that had to be under the ladder. Now it's the cat stepping in a paint spot on the dropcloth and then taking off with the painted paw all across the hardwood floors. (two hours of "cleanup on aisle 3" ... not gonna even try to clean up the fur between the paw pads on the Somali cat. Not into getting fang-ed,)
And in the news today was word of a TIGER grant for one of my old nightmares, the crossing at Rosecrans & Marquardt in Santa Fe Springs, CA. One of the dumbest intersection designs EVER that never should have happened, but California PUC allowed it. To be replaced by a bridge with a HUGE $15M price tag. Spent way too many nights at that place after some local did something really dumb there (City Traffic Engineers even got stupid there, TWICE) , often assisted by alcohol. Good riddance!
Norm48327 Paul of Covington mudchicken Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater. Take some of ours, please. All the flooding in the news is just west of here, but we're still getting rain every day. I haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks; the mower sinks into the soft mud down to the axles. Sheep and goats.
Paul of Covington mudchicken Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater. Take some of ours, please. All the flooding in the news is just west of here, but we're still getting rain every day. I haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks; the mower sinks into the soft mud down to the axles.
mudchicken Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater.
Take some of ours, please. All the flooding in the news is just west of here, but we're still getting rain every day. I haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks; the mower sinks into the soft mud down to the axles.
Sheep and goats.
Johnny
Ns stack train was gone today.Power companies and people are still cleaning up the mess from yesterday.Met with Matt's teachers at his open house.Better tune in the football game.Tomorrow is Friday.
joe
Paul of CovingtonI haven't been able to mow my back yard in weeks;
I didn't have to mow my back yard for a month, and did so the other day more to even out what has grown than because it needed it. Even the weeds are dying off...
We keep getting teased - promising weather systems come across from the west, but are killed off by Lake Ontario (kills the lift necessary for rain, etc). Areas north and south of us get rain - we get sprinkles, if that. Got .03" of wet stuff this morning...
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...
Norm
mudchickenDoing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
Doing my rain dance here. Will take any of your spare rainwater.
(1) It was announced yesterday that Amtrak is starting Ski-Train service between DUS and Winter Park on the weekends this winter. Nobody has yet explained why this is Amtrak and not Iowa Pacific (Ed Ellis' bunch) - what evolved?
(2) Got pulled into a project in HoustonEd's backyard and will probably be chugging Excedrin like candy. It is amazing how certain industry engineers will buck the system to avoid dealing with the railroad design criteria and practices learned the hard way.
JoeKohWe saw a tornado drop and head east for napoleon after the storm had passed.
I was checking the radar last night to see what might be in store for us and noticed several areas of tornado watchs and warnings.
Power company is supposed to be doing a major project here today - moving a pole. Might sound easy, but there's a lot involved. We'll see what the system looks like when it gets here after crossing the lake.
stacktrain was still in the siding at work when I left.Mother nature sent us some wicked weather.We took heed and headed to a safer home at the in laws.We saw a tornado drop and head east for napoleon after the storm had passed.Our home is safe and secure with no damage.Our neighbors not too far from us have damage.We are praying for our neighbors. Some other roads into Defiance are closed.Need to get to bed.
work busy.Ns had a westbound stack train in the siding when I letf work.The pads for the crossing signals uptown were sitting by the siding.Not sure when Ns will install the new crossing gates.Chores to do.
The Dow 'Death train' still moves but seems to be split up between the Huron & Eastern to Durand and Lake States? to Flint.
The C&O had huge trafic in and out of Flint when the Buick City complex existed. It was about 800 acres of auto factory. They also had the old line through downtown that served Fisher Body plants #1 & #2 as well as the 'Tank' plant and 2 GM Parts plants in Grand Blanc. Half of the McGrew yard that served Buick is a bulk ag. dealer that receives hoppers of various stone, sand, gravel, coal. I think they still run a unit coal to Port Huron on the CN or may have just stopped. Everything north of Flint is Lake State RR. I remember them running transfers old the old line through downtown from the Grand Blanc plants and Fisher 1 & 2. The line crossed the river and Saginaw St. right at the river and went up through the Buick complex to McGrew yd. They pulled out the second track on the "bypass" last year, (it's the line built in 20's or 30's), along the east side of Flint that bypassed downtown.
For obvious reasons, traffic on the Saginaw Sub in the 60's was heavily automobile related - I remember seeing countless gons loaded with car frames (which are pretty much history, too). Just the reduction in auto traffic is enough to make a significant difference.
I recall seeing hopper trains as well - and coal is getting to be a non-player, too. Even the "Dow Death Train" is history, I believe.
They weren't huge customers, but there were two in Milford - a lumber yard that got boxcars full of lumber (unloaded one stick at a time), and the Owens and Mowry jelly factory, which got corn syrup, I think. Not sure if they got anything else. GM occasionally shipped heavy equipment (includings tanks) to and from the nearby Proving Grounds as well.
There's still a siding to the station (itself endangered) - probably hasn't been used in years. The jelly factory building still stands, empty, and the lumber yard burned in the early 70's. Nothing to stop for in Milford any more.
Carl,
Not even my contacts within CSX have a clue what the folks in Jacksonville have in mind for Michigan. Pickin's are indeed slim. Little traffic on either the Plymouth or Saginaw subs. Traffic on the Grand Rapids sub seems to be holding it's own. Since GM deserted Flint, lack of traffic on the Sagnaw is understandable. OTOH, PTC installation and grade crossing upgrades on both subs continues. Preping them to sell or lease to a short line? No one seems to know.
CN seems to be doing reasonably well considering the economic downturn.
I don't think anything in Michigan's what it used to be, folks. CSX has all but given up on the state, prefering to use lines that don't come up via Detroit and Grand Rapids. I think they want to deactivate parts of the CTC on what they have left. Just the sad state of industry up that way. (Larry, I wish I had three trains a day on my way to school...I was on a different part of the C&O up there, and could count on a passenger train to go through, and meet a freight if the freight was late.) We used to have an extensive system of spurs in the city (vestiges of a 19th-century railroad that didn't get very far); all gone now.
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)
BOB WITHORN Tree, Holly ain't what she used to be for trains!! It seems CSX only runs maybe a handfull round trips per week to and from McGrew yard in Flint. Maybe one each way daily through Holly?? Once upon a time it really was sort of busy. Bob
Tree,
Holly ain't what she used to be for trains!! It seems CSX only runs maybe a handfull round trips per week to and from McGrew yard in Flint. Maybe one each way daily through Holly?? Once upon a time it really was sort of busy.
Bob
I spent a fair amount of time in Milford while I was there - never saw a train, and that's been the trend for most of my visits there in the past few years. Had I not run up to Holly for supper that night, I wouldn't have seen what I did there.
I caught a GL train at Howell, but only one. I didn't see, or hear, any traffic on the CSX line there. Between the two, I can only guess that Plymouth isn't what it used to be either.
I can remember C&O fleeting trains through Milford back in the sixties - my 20 minute walk to school each morning usually included three trains.
afternoon
work was busy but took a 1/2 day.Matt and I got our teeth clean and shiny.No holes need to be filled.Ns was working in town when I left.Came home and CSX's Y101 was setting off for the ND&W.Mookie csx is sending BNSF units and coal trains back to you.Saw 2 go west today.Bob Michigan people come down here to NW Ohio to see trains.Going to start on chores.
Evening
rain here in Nw Ohio.After chores this morning we went to the 765(767) open house.They have added a mars light on the front.Plus they are planning to run on the Cuyohoga Valley Scenic (near Akron) in September.Go to 765.org for details.Also crossed off a bridge on my list.It's on the wabash just Northeast of New Haven.It had UP power on the point but mother nature started to rain.Going to relax here at home.
Just for the record...I was able to walk to the tracks, take the train to Elmhurst and back, spend a couple of hours trackside there, and do some shopping in downtown Lombard before walking home (just over four miles total). I was tired, but I survived. I also am cleared for doing stairs...this afternoon I climbed from the first to the third floor in the time it took Pat to use the elevator.No catheter any more, but if you ask how I'm doing, I'm likely to say, "Depends". By the way, those protective plastic linings aren't the greatest for showing progress...I didn't know whether the moisture during my walks was from perspiration or something almost as expected.Today was more blood tests in preparation for a post-op physical Monday; tomorrow should be good for a walk to the tracks and back while I go get the Sunday paper.Cannonball, that's only true about half the time. She knows my reaction to limitations as well as she knows the limitations. The stairs, for example...not a restriction imposed by the doctor any more; Pat was okay with me going down two flights, wasn't so sure when I wanted to go up, but wouldn't stop me from trying, because she knows that I can often exceed what I set my mind to when it comes to physical activity.
Carl glad to hear you are up and about" somewhat". Take heed to what "mother" says ---- as you know mother knows best, so to speak.
Cannonball
Y6bs evergreen in my mind
work not so busy today.Ns was clear when I left work.Ns signal crews are getting ready to install gates and lights at the Barre road(county road C ) crossing.Going to get cleaned up to go sing happy birthday.Going to check on CSX along the way.
Carl - All good points. Picasso is funny, so if you can laugh at it you're doing OK.
RIght, DaVinci is not a true robot, but instead technically a remote control "waldo" is my understanding:
http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/company/history/
- Paul North.
Rain here in Nw Ohio.Work busy.Ns local was waiting in the siding to go west.Chores to do.Tomorrow we go sing Happy Birthday to Matt's cousin who turns the big "10".
Ahhhh, home.
Didn't make it to Deshler this year, but I did catch traffic on the diamonds in Howell (GLC) and Holly (CN). Not much, but there were trains....
work still busy.Ns had cars uptown to move.Saw a westbound stack train when I left work.Went to historical society meeting in Deshler too.Work to be done there.Need to get to bed
good evening
Yes Carl it's on the list to get back to Chicago.Had a good time and more surprises from CSX and Ns.Nothing like a work train coming down at Vickers on the C&O.Checking the andersons in Maumee for NS horsepower and there is a whole stable full tied up.Did get a little wet but thats okay.Back to work tomorrow.Need to give hugs this week too.Time marches on.
Thank you, Paul, for your encouraging words...your trip would have gotten me to the tracks, all right (it's 0.62 miles to the grade crossing from home, per my bike computer).Yeah, Pat's still trying to do everything here (for Pete's sake, I could have wheeled in an empty garbage container!). Sometimes it feels good, most of the time I feel useless.My surgery was done by a DaVinci machine (it's not really a robot). I caught a glimpse of it (it had a lot of arms, was stainless steel, and still covered in its plastic coat) before I went under. I was told that I would be oriented with my head near the floor during the operation. Anyway, when Pat or I say "DaVinci", we get a lot of "wow" impressions from the people we're talking to--I guess that is top of the line as far as such things go. My actual surgical incisions are about the diameter of a pencil (there are five of them)--they're stitched internally and glued on the outside. I'm feeling a little internal trauma where extra tissue had to be removed, but that's about all.(I'm glad I had DaVinci surgery...the Picasso version may have been just as appreciated and almost as expensive, but I'd wonder whether everything had been put back in the proper place!)Paul, I hope I'm not thinking about this too much ten years hence. But this is now, and, for better or worse, occupies my life. And I'd rather let people know that my mind is still proud of accomplishments (wow--I used toilet paper in the right way for the first time since the surgery!) rather than just full of wishful thinking or doubts (if I were to walk to the tracks, would I be awake when the trains go by?). Hence my keeping everyone informed. It's part of how I cope.
Joe, I'm glad your pen pal is sticking around long enough for you to show him a bunch of the good stuff around there. Which reminds me...you all have to get back this way sometime. I know your videographer would have fun at some of my favorite spots!
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