I still show up here every so often, just not much to report..........
Still winter out, found black ice on I80 in Iowa Wednesday night, almost jackknifed the semi. Got it straightened out, and pulled into the next rest area and removed the seat cushion from my rear, and went to bed...........
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
Smart move. It's amazing how much help that even a 20-minute nap at a rest area can make in restoring your alertness behind the wheel.
evening
Had some snow showers today.Matt practiced some driving.We went up along Ns.18 N (frieght)had to drop a bad car off at Edgerton Ohio.Meanwhile 205(stack train) came flying by with the Lehigh Valley unit on the point.We then drove down to CSX.They were jammed up.They also had many trains with many different leaders.Glad to be inside to warm up.Going to work on project for G+G's anniversary next week.
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").
CSSHEGEWISCH Smart move. It's amazing how much help that even a 20-minute nap at a rest area can make in restoring your alertness behind the wheel.
I took a ten hour break at the rest area, still had to drive 25 miles between where I spun and the rest area, though. I was plenty awake........
Had one of those stress moments 56 years ago on old US 41 (pre interstate 65) coming into Kentland IN when the driver in front of me decided to pull into the median and didn't clear my lane and there was a line of traffic in the right lane. Stood on the brakes and stopped with just a few inches between my bumper and his door. He just sat there looking at me. After he vacated my lane, I proceeded to the root beer stand in Kentland and had a melt down. I was shaking. I was driving a Renault Dauphine with no power, no power brakes and no air conditioning on a very hot day, July 31st 1961 on my way to my new job in Chicago. The bolus of adrenaline does give you a high and then a real low. Glad you manage to pull out of the jackknife. I've seen too many that couldn't.
Well, we ate in the family room today. A lovely dirt dead end street in the heart of our fair city - and while eating we watched trains!
Joe - this one's for you!
We saw a scattering of BNSF trains/engines but also one CP, one KCS and - 2 CN on a grain train with a dpu - CN again! Being a locomotive person you can imagine how thrilled I was. We haven't seen CP or CN in a long time - especially CP!
Life is good - at least locally!
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Back from the big train show in MA. They had good attendance, and we had lots of visitors.
On the down side, turned out the coolant leak on the truck was more signigicant than I though and I fried the motor on the way to MA. Supposed to pick it up Friday with a newer motor (and minus some money...). In the meantime, a rental car occupies the garage...
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...
tree68Back from the big train show in MA. They had good attendance, and we had lots of visitors. On the down side, turned out the coolant leak on the truck was more signigicant than I though and I fried the motor on the way to MA. Supposed to pick it up Friday with a newer motor (and minus some money...). In the meantime, a rental car occupies the garage...
Always keep a CLOSE eye on the coolant temperature gauge!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Ho ho ho! 2nd day in a row that I got to go trackside. Sunday was Canadian Day and today was NS day!
In 2 hours we saw 4 NS on 3 trains.
Well, what can I say - some of us are just lucky that way!
50's today, snow by Wed - blah.
Tree - a moment of silence for the truck. An absolute necessity, should never get "sick"....
afternoon
Have some cars for uptown on Ns.Saw a bit of sunshine on the way home.Mother nature sending some snow for tomorrow morning.Chores to do.
Joe
Mookie Mookie broke her lurk a while back and had to get a new one....
Mookie broke her lurk a while back and had to get a new one....
Gotta be careful - a fractured lurk can have interesting side effects. I might have to upgrade one of mine, since percussive maintenance is starting to be less effective.
Thanks Joe - nice to be around here again.
Dan
I took advantage of a rare sunny morning (it has since clouded over) and a canceled radiation appointment (seems their machine doesn't want to work on sunny days!) to go trackside. Just missed the manifest freight while I was on the way there. I sprung three leeks (that were in the grocery store, because that's what the soup recipe calls for) while in Elmhurst. Being a Monday, there weren't too many trains...in the two hours I was there I caught three stack trains and an ethanol train, along with the usual scoots.
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)
BaltACDAlways keep a CLOSE eye on the coolant temperature gauge!
We'd already covered almost 90 miles of the trip. Got on the Thruway (Interstate) and it decided to let go, whatever "it" was. Tried to limp to next service area, but that was about 5 miles too far...
tree68 BaltACD Always keep a CLOSE eye on the coolant temperature gauge! We'd already covered almost 90 miles of the trip. Got on the Thruway (Interstate) and it decided to let go, whatever "it" was. Tried to limp to next service area, but that was about 5 miles too far...
BaltACD Always keep a CLOSE eye on the coolant temperature gauge!
I did that once also Larry. I was about 1/4 mile from the next highway exit, which I took. Upper intake manifold gasket blew. Lost all the coolant in about 30 seconds. Thankfully it didn't compromise the serpentine belt or at least left enough to let me get off the highway and shut down. Dash lit up like a Christmas tree! Of course...it was at night and during a very cold snap 3 years ago...like air temp of -30F. Aside from that issue I loved my Chev Blazer with the 4.3L v6. Decent on fuel and had the guts when it needed to.
Had a pair of IM trains today with ex-CNW Dash 8-40Cs for power. They are sure sharp in the CN livery, especially when clean.
How is your situation going Carl? I hope you are doing well.
The short block $$$$ wasn't planned on - sorry 'bout that.
(*) not helping my cause is another office totaling a two month old 2017 vehicle.
Those have to be some pretty nasty bugs in your area if they managed to take out three radiators.
Well what mother nature brought this morning melted away.Noticed a train of new Ns gons in the siding when I went to work.It was replaced by by a detroit edison coal train when I left work.Getting things in order for G+G 50th anniversary this weekend.Just need the boss hens to make up thier minds.
Made some deliveries tonight,the rest will wait until morning.Ns still had a full powder river coal train to go east but an empty went west when I got off work.Chores to do here.
CSSHEGEWISCH Those have to be some pretty nasty bugs in your area if they managed to take out three radiators.
Ns had some cars for us uptown but didn't spot them yet.Groundhog says 6 more weeks of winter.It's Nw Ohio winter can come at anytime.Need to take Matt uptown.More chores to do for this weekend coming up.
Ice storm in Denver overnight (rare for here) - cars in the ditches everywhere.
Didn't know scotties could moonwalk on a leash.
That danged Groundhog may be right. Weather guessers are saying perhaps heavy snow here on Sunday or Monday.
Norm
25 degrees here, but heavy snow in the lake effect band, and wouldn't you know it, I have to go right through it today...
Had some time available before lunch, so went to our favorite city lake/dam. Weather has been 60/30/40/20 - kind of unusual for Jan/Feb. Been lots of ice fishing at lake, but with the warmer days every so often, the ice had melted around the shore line - enough so the Mallards were swimming by us. The ice was "moaning" and cracking loudly and sure enough - 2 men were ice fishing.
This lake is deep enough to drown in if you fall in, especially during winter. I really have to wonder....
Is that little bluegill you caught really worth it?
Another fun day in Dawlish: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/giant-waves-smash-british-commuter-train/ss-AAmyfwZ?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=UE13DHP#image=1
NorthWestAnother fun day in Dawlish: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/giant-waves-smash-british-commuter-train/ss-AAmyfwZ?li=BBnbcA1&ocid=UE13DHP#image=1
During such periods are trains given speed restrictions through the area?
I suspect so, particularly for the HSTs. Because of the curvature of the line along the seawall and cliffs I don't think speeds are particularly high to begin with. The Pacers appear to stop at the station, and they are the most worrisome, as they have far less contact with the rail having only four wheels.
Who needs groundhogs....
23 17 46 11
Ns had a train with BNSF power up front and Ns powered mid train helper this morning.Line was clear when I left work.Did errands this afternoon.Chores to do for tomorrow.
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