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Chatterbox Winter 2016-2017

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 4:34 PM

Deggesty
I do not recall that centipedes are anywhere near as bothersome as scorpions are.

I've heard that some can have a nasty bite...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 4:35 PM

Only if you're ticklish, Johnny.

Carl

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Posted by Mookie on Wednesday, February 8, 2017 4:59 PM

Johnny - lived in Oklahoma for about a year.  They have the same critters as Texas and I ran across a lot more than I wanted.  A blonde hair running across the floor or a black spider that looked very big and evil....I am glad I live up north now.  

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Thursday, February 9, 2017 6:52 AM

Carl, Fantastic news, always great to win one of those battles.                              

So, I'm confused. We had rain and about 40 deg. on tuesday, this AM it's 12 deg. and SNOW.

Bob

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, February 9, 2017 7:04 AM

Same here - set a record high (+50F) at 2 AM yesterday, and with a minor uptick, the temperature has been going down ever since.

We're on the fringes of the storm that's really nailing the east coast. They told us we may get a little snow from it, but nothing like the foot plus they're expecting in "The City."

LarryWhistling
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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, February 9, 2017 7:06 AM

Deggesty

 

Mookie, as to Texas, when I was a little boy, I was given to understand that you always shook your boots out in the morning to make sure no centipede had taken up lodging.

I heard from my younger brothers that they got similar advice while camping in North Carolina, only the critter being warned about was a rattlesnake.

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 BOB WITHORN on Thursday, February 9, 2017 7:10 AM

If there is'nt an extended block of freezing weather soon, we're in for a very bad mosquito season.

Seems to take several weeks of freezing COLD to kill them off.  It also keeps all those things they have down in Texas, in Texas.

 

 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, February 9, 2017 7:16 AM

BOB WITHORN

If there is'nt an extended block of freezing weather soon, we're in for a very bad mosquito season.

Seems to take several weeks of freezing COLD to kill them off.  It also keeps all those things they have down in Texas, in Texas.

Does that include tornados??Lightning

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 BOB WITHORN on Thursday, February 9, 2017 12:46 PM

[quote user="CSSHEGEWISCH"]

 

 
BOB WITHORN

If there is'nt an extended block of freezing weather soon, we're in for a very bad mosquito season.

Seems to take several weeks of freezing COLD to kill them off.  It also keeps all those things they have down in Texas, in Texas.

 

 

Does that include tornados??Lightning

 

Wouldn't that be nice. 

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Posted by CShaveRR on Thursday, February 9, 2017 1:55 PM

I've heard that about centipede bites as well--they can be nasty and rash-producing.  However, I have a tendency to not allow them to get into position, and when you touch them anywhere they seem to "vaporize".

As for the cold, we've gotten short stretches of below-normal temperatures, such as the one keeping us home today.  I suspect that cold snaps like this one, with no snow on the ground, might actually help keep bext year's mosquito crop under control, as the ground is pretty frozen.  (All of the rain we got earlier this week just seemed to run off.)

Carl

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Posted by JoeKoh on Friday, February 10, 2017 3:58 PM

evening

Stacey was taking a half day vacation so I joined her.Went to lunch and did some errands.Did some train watching too. Had an eastbound oil train with bnsf,2 ns and 1 csx unit.The best train was an s 324(?) with an s40-3 spongebob and a sd 50.Had a long string of auto part boxcars including one that still had a chessie kitty on the side.Chores to do.Matt will be practicing more driving tomorrow.

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 Friday, February 10, 2017 6:10 PM

Recovering this weekend from last weekend. Since then out to LA & back, my old territory is hardly recognizable and spent a night in a former concrete bean elevator at MP 183 on the San Diego Sub at old Valencia siding. BossHen picked the motel totally unaware of where it was. (San Diegans whistling by on the hour in pairs plus the overnite BNSF DeyGo's 20 feet outside the window.Hmm

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 Mookie on Friday, February 10, 2017 7:45 PM

Hey - sounds like Boss Hen did a good job!  Normally, those sites are hard to find!

Cool

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Friday, February 10, 2017 8:18 PM

Winter/ What winter? Sunny and 51 today- in February! You know what that means- blizzard next week.Storm

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, February 10, 2017 8:56 PM

Got home from a trip to town to shop and it was mostly sunny, if colder than all get out.  Finally looked back outside a couple of hours later and it's snowing...

So I put the truck into the garage (I left it out while I unloaded groceries, etc) and went back into the house.  We'll see what the "damage" (shovel, or snowblower?) is in the morning...

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
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Posted by Mookie on Friday, February 10, 2017 10:06 PM

Murphy Siding

Winter/ What winter? Sunny and 51 today- in February! You know what that means- blizzard next week.Storm

 

Sunny and 70 here today.  You know we are all gonna pay dearly for this!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by mudchicken on Saturday, February 11, 2017 12:22 PM

Winds here got it up to 80 degrees here yesterday. Gotta rake the lawn before it gets buried again.

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 Saturday, February 11, 2017 1:49 PM

All the way up to +27F here today.  The snow overnight amounted to a mere 3.25".  I got the snowblower out anyhow...

Winter storm warning for tomorrow - hopefully it won't interfere with attendance at the training we're running tomorrow.  It's all classroom, but people still have to get here...

In other news, yet another ice fisherman had to be rescued.  Most of the cases in the recent past involved snowmobiles or ATV's through the ice.  Today's incident involved a gentleman trapped on the ice when the section he was on broke away and floated free...

It's happened before on the same bay...

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Saturday, February 11, 2017 2:30 PM

tree68
In other news, yet another ice fisherman had to be rescued.

Get any tractors though the ice?  Cousin's son was in the USCG stationed in Michigan and told a story about rescuing a fellow off a sinking tractor one winter.  Seems the "tractor driver" was well-provisioned against the cold as he had plenty of "antifreeze" in his veins.  The CG told him to come back after the thaw to get his tractor out of the lake.

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:02 PM

ChuckCobleigh
Get any tractors though the ice?

Before ATV's and snowmobiles, tractors wouldn't have surprised me, especially for hauling ice fishing shanties out to the middle of the lake or river.

Just read that the same fire department that dealt with the stranded fisherman this morning dealt with one through the ice a little later in the day.

The local utility once almost lost a line truck through the ice.  Rumor had it they were using the auger to "assist" ice fishermen.  That was on the St Lawrence River.

At one time, one local village used to put a car on the ice and take bets on when it would fall through.  They put a chain on it so it could be retrieved later.

Back in the 1960's, my uncle, at the time a sheriff's deputy in Oakland County, MI, and a member of their dive team, told about some kids in a Corvair who were out driving on the ice when the entire ice sheet started to "belly out" underneath them.  They were on the ice, of course, and the only way to try to drive was uphill...

They bailed and the dive team later recovered the car.

LarryWhistling
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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 samfp1943 on Saturday, February 11, 2017 3:47 PM

Temp here is 72 degrees, no wind,and not too many clouds...Saturday AM by 11AM we had had 7 trains. been quiet since then. 

Weather Guesser are saying after midnight it will be windy, and the trmp will fall. Supposwed to be in the low 30's on Sunday by Noon, and possibility for rain(?)

Like Mookie said: We are going to 'pay' for the pretty days ! Bang Head

 

 


 

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Posted by JoeKoh on Saturday, February 11, 2017 8:19 PM

evening

Matt did get his practice in.Ns sent a high hood to help with switching out a steel plant in Butler Indiana.Also sent the Up 2010 boy scout unit on a 20 N stack train.The side paint is getting really faded.Mother nature is sending us rain.Need to catch up on chores here.

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 CNW 6000 on Saturday, February 11, 2017 11:20 PM

Great news Carl.  I'm hoping you can stay on the good news side of that issue.

tree68
Deggesty
I do not recall that centipedes are anywhere near as bothersome as scorpions are.

 

I've heard that some can have a nasty bite...

A good friend of mine can be quoted: "There's two kinds of bugs - dead and not dead yet!  This corollary also applies to snakes."  As long as they leave me alone, I'll usually leave them alone.

CN had quite a parade this morning - from sunup until around 11 AM I caught 8 trains.  5 southbound and 3 northbound.  Then the Loram grinder put in an appearance for 5 hours.  Just after sunset the parade started back up with fleets of 2 and 3 each direction for a few hours now.  Hearing a few X symbols which suggests the good ol' shell game with car/train metrics is back in force.  

Dan

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Posted by CNW 6000 on Saturday, February 11, 2017 11:37 PM

Side note of interest for those along the UP in/around the greater Chicago area:

It was reported elsewhere by reliable sources that the CNW 'twins' were recalled from their extended slumber at IRM and were picked up by UP tonight (Sat Feb 11) after dark.  Not sure where they're heading but the possibility exists that they can be seen in revenue service.  At least in the near term.

Dan

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Posted by MikeF90 on Sunday, February 12, 2017 4:28 PM

Out here west of the Rockies the UPRR is in weather related meltdown.

- The Lakeside sub is closed due to a dam break near Montello, NV.

- The (Feather River) Canyon sub is closed due to slides. The emergency spillway out of Lake Oroville is active for the first time in its history (lake at 101% of capacity).

- The Roseville sub (over Donner Pass) is intermittently closed due to a sinkhole near Emigrant Gap.

- The Fresno sub is closed due to a levee / birm collapse next to the Cosumnes River; a manifest train derailed with over a dozen box cars on their sides.

- The parallel Sacramento sub is closed due to water over the tracks south of Sacramento.

Water, water everywhere and no place for it to go!

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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, February 12, 2017 4:31 PM

Got through our annual OSHA Refresher Day with minimal problems except for two speakers who cancelled (considering the weather, one was no surprise) and about 8-10 inches of snow that fell during the class.

Fortunately, I was able to cover both reasonably well.  One good thing about almost 40 years in the business...

But, it's over for another year!

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 Deggesty on Sunday, February 12, 2017 4:59 PM

MikeF90

Out here west of the Rockies the UPRR is in weather related meltdown.

- The Lakeside sub is closed due to a dam break near Montello, NV.

- The (Feather River) Canyon sub is closed due to slides. The emergency spillway out of Lake Oroville is active for the first time in its history (lake at 101% of capacity).

- The Roseville sub (over Donner Pass) is intermittently closed due to a sinkhole near Emigrant Gap.

- The Fresno sub is closed due to a levee / birm collapse next to the Cosumnes River; a manifest train derailed with over a dozen box cars on their sides.

- The parallel Sacramento sub is closed due to water over the tracks south of Sacramento.

Water, water everywhere and no place for it to go!

 

"Water, water, everywhere, and all the boards did shrink. Water, water, everywherre, and not a drop to drink." (The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner)

Johnny

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Posted by JoeKoh on Monday, February 13, 2017 2:37 PM

Sunny and 40 degrees here in Nw Ohio.Ns local was sitting uptown.Errands to run tonight.Need to get some of the Indiana dirt roads off the truck.

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 edblysard on Monday, February 13, 2017 4:29 PM

73, and grilled steaks in the backyard yesterday...had to mow first!

23 17 46 11

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Posted by tree68 on Monday, February 13, 2017 6:23 PM

We'll remember that when you're grilling steaks on the sidewalk and cutting chunks of humidity for later use...

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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