Good evening
Spring starts here about 6 am tomorrow morning.I am usually in at work watching Amtrak's westbound capitol(if on time) go by before I punch in.It is also Stacey's birthday tomorrow. Guessers say more rain on the way this 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").
Been waiting for Spring for three months. Dang; I hate Winter.
Norm
Norm48327 Been waiting for Spring for three months. Dang; I hate Winter.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
Spring was here a couple of weeks ago - then it disappeared!
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Heck, we've had spring for half the winter. Now that spring is here, we've got winter.
The good thing is that the temps are dipping below freezing at night and going above freezing during the day - perfect maple syrup weather!
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...
Spring is spring
The Grass is Riz
The Leaves have Come
Upon the Triz
I wonder where the flowers iz....
90 degrees in Lawrence, KS yesterday, high 70's expected today.
diningcar 90 degrees in Lawrence, KS yesterday, high 70's expected today.
afternoon
Had thunderstorms this morning.2 area teams are going for state basketball crowns this week.Ns tie train looked like it was looking for somewhere to park for the day when I left work.Cars for the local were in another siding uptown.Chores to do.
We've enjoyed two weeks of perpetual spring in California...took my jacket off when we arrived March 8, and haven't put it on since. We have to keep our jackets/hoodies handy for the return trip--on Thursday Lombard will have a high in the mid-40s.
But that time is coming soon...here's what I wrote this morning, to nobody in particular.
Our last full day in California. We are sitting by the beach just east of Linda's Alma Mater...watching planes take off from the nearby airport, seeing pelicans take off from a runway closer to us, and watching waves roll in. I'm not an expert on tides, but I think it should be going out at this point.
The islands across the channel are visible through the haze, and the wooden pier to our left blocks the view of Santa Barbara's famous (and infamous) offshore drilling rigs.
In a few minutes, Linda and her mentor will be coming here to have lunch at the nearby restaurant (the pier may have something to do with that place). She's spent most of her morning after radiation at the UCSB library, doing some work on an annotated bibliography to go with her Mendelssohn studies.
Pat's reading, and I've actually gotten a few things done, too. After lunch we'll go home...Linda should be ready for a rest by then, and we've got to start organizing our luggage.
This part of California was much greener this time than it has been in our past two visits. Some of it is seasonal (wait a couple of months), but a lot has to do with the uncommonly wet winter they've had. The drought isn't busted in these parts (further north, it has been), but the green of the grasses and leaves is welcome!
Some of the waves are making quite a splash at a breakwater (?) far to our right, beyond the UCSB campus. There are plenty of palms around us, and the largest of the channel islands has a bit of a cloud halo over it.
No trains in sight (Pat says she heard one). But I'll still miss this area.
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)
nice sunshine here in Nw Ohio today.Ns has a coal train in the siding at work.The have some empties to pick up uptown as well. Heard a news story that under a new budget,Amtrak's stop in Toledo could be cut.Chores to do as usual.
joe
Greetings from the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge in Los Angeles. It's upstairs and well removed from the regular waiting room. It's much more relaxed,and the attendant will ensure that we don't miss our train (one hour from right now).Linda is having a hard time wth her platelet level right now...she had an infusion Sunday, and is due for another one tomorrow. Her sister-in-law is replacing us as the helping hands around their place, and she will have her hands full with tired people, particularly a cranky and contrary grandson. He's improved since we got there, but there's a way to go.Linda herself will not be deterred from doing as much as she can. After her filming of Jeopardy! next month, she's due to fly out to Oberlin College (Ohio) to make a presentation. Other such trips may be in the works; she could Skype the presentations if she can't travel for whatever reason. But we'd rather see her angry (angry enough to fight!) because she can't do everything she wants to, than depressed because she can't keep busy enough.
Determination is a good thing!
Ok, I give up. It's 19 degrees at 6am in this tropical paradise, aka FLINT, Mi. We get a balmy 30 degrees for a high today, and 60 deg. on Friday. Then back to the upper 40's on Sunday. Mother Nature must be ticked off about something.
We apparently didn't get rid of the gremlins that have accompanied us on our last two Amtrak trips--we're currently four hours late and losing time.At Fullerton, we stopped just shy of the boarding area (our sleeper had a great view of the Union Pacific Spaghetti Factory). While we were there, an Amtrak police officer was walking the platform. By the time we got out of Fullerton, we were already a half hour late, and it was dark by the time we got to Riverside.Good news at this point: the rainy skies along the coast gave way to bright starlight for the ascent of Cajon Pass...I fell asleep at about Barstow. A little later I was awakened by silence and a lack of motion. We were stopped between Needles and Kingman, on the Arizona side. Several trains went past us while we were there; I couldn't tell which way they were going, as they were on the other side (biggest disadvantage of the roomette so far is that we can't see out of both sides of the train at once). We stayed in the same spot for well over an hour. I was asleep when we went through Kingman.But I woke up again when we were once again stopped in the middle of nowhere. This time the view was outside our window...we were on a third track, and the two main tracks were occupied by trains much of the time... two overtook us and two met us in the hour we sat there.After we passed Williams, we saw track work--apparently only one track in service in that area (looked like not only tie replacement, but also some serious grading was taking place). I also noticeed that our train was now headed by a BNSF unit. This would explain the jolt I felt when we were on our second long stop.So, with a non-Amtrak unit on the point, we're limited to 60 m.p.h. (instead of 79 in non-ATS territory and 90 in ATS, I think). MC, I think we'll be in La Junta a little past your bedtime...Linda says that Linus misses us, and wants to go to Chicago.So do we, kid...
Watch the platform at LJ Carl. - BossH and Duncan won't be along now, but I'm gonna still probably be around. Amthrax would have to go croak out in Ya-te-he country.
Ns was clear when I left work.Cool but nice sunshine.Chores to do.
mudchicken Watch the platform at LJ Carl. - BossH and Duncan won't be along now, but I'm gonna still probably be around. Amthrax would have to go croak out in Ya-te-he country.
Midnight oil? SWC now showing 5.6 hours late coming into Trinidad, looking like 1 am at LJ. Carl sure has had the Amtrak luck on this trip!
Indeed - between +3F and +7F depending on which thermometer I looked at this morning (they're all in different locations), with several below zero reports on this morning's local amateur radio net.
I'm OK with snow and cold - during the winter. Time to get started on spring. Fortunately, the NWS synopsis for us shows things getting better through the weekend and into next week.
OTOH, cold at night and warmer during the day is great for the maple syrup folks...
ChuckCobleigh mudchicken Watch the platform at LJ Carl. - BossH and Duncan won't be along now, but I'm gonna still probably be around. Amthrax would have to go croak out in Ya-te-he country. Midnight oil? SWC now showing 5.6 hours late coming into Trinidad, looking like 1 am at LJ. Carl sure has had the Amtrak luck on this trip!
Our intrepid travellers are now the pilot episode of "Little Train on the Prairie"... as they wander thru Ingalls, KS. as I type. If the second locomotive can't handle the strain...
I think I can ... I think I can ... I think I can.
mudchickenLuck? - Where???? Extra BNSF4641 East became Amtrak #4/Extra ATK2 East again at La Junta and it was immediately having air issues again.
Bad luck is luck, isn't it? Now showing 8.5 hours late and not even to Topeka yet. Liked the "I think I can" reference; it seems appropriate at this point. The word 'snakebit' comes to mind.
Well CSX had a Loram shoulder ballast cleaner working around here. It was actually cleaning the local siding. Due to a lot of mud under sections the unit made at least 4 passes over one section each pass produced more fines and mud & dirt. Now the unit is doing the main probably due to siding rail lower ?
The unit was LMIX 442 consisting of two cleaning wheels on each side and two shakers. Counted at least 32 different operating accessories each with one to 6 different function observed.
Several interesing features. When backing up the horn and lights were controlled from the front. The modified rear car was marked plate "C" tofc car with cleaner's rear control compartment built into what appears to be a modified 40 foot container with the section back of engineer's compartment a tool shed.
CARL: As an interest to you the side dump car in the consist was CSXT 995334 build date 11-76. The car was highly modified for many different types of MU cable connections. Most fines were dumped on side of ROW.
well one team from Fulton county Ohio(Wauseon) has made the state finals in Basketball.They will probably meet Lebron's former team in the championship.Another team(Archbold) will try their luck tomorrow to get in the finals.Ns had a tie train in the siding near the uptown siding when I left work.Glad tomorrow is Friday.Also found out that we will need to give hugs as well.
JoeKohAlso found out that we will need to give hugs as well.
Joe: I found out today that we will need 2 here. One local and one in CO. And the sun just came out! Maybe it is going to be a pleasant day after all.
Springtime In The Rockies:
Just got home ahead of the combination red flag warning/ blizzard warning. (and I had hoped our intrepid travellers would beat me home. Apparently not. What the heck bit #4 now?)
Howling wind has critters pacing.
mudchicken Springtime In The Rockies: Just got home ahead of the combination red flag warning/ blizzard warning. (and I had hoped our intrepid travellers would beat me home. Apparently not. What the heck bit #4 now?) Howling wind has critters pacing.
Nice warm up and windy today.Ns had some loads for uptown.Going into town as soon as Matt gets home to enjoy the weather.We are on spring break now.Going to see what csx has to run by.
evening
We worked outside this morning.Cleaned out the shed,put away the snow gear and trimmed some weeds and trees out back.Neighbor says he'd keep his shovel out just in case we need it.My driver then wanted to follow CSX west.They have been working on track and ballast west of Defiance.While at the state line my scanner picked up the NS local asking to leave SDI and go pick up some cars in Grabill Indiana before coming back to Ft Wayne.(New Haven).So we followed Indiana road 1 and caught the train at Spencerville.He decided to block Grabil while getting his cars so we drove on to the yard.While waiting we spotted so interesting cars and a high hood working too.They had 3 cabeese lined up on one track in the yard.A big frieght came off the wabash onto the nkp line so we decided to follow that and come home.Rain and fog for tomorrow.Stacey must have missed us.She just brought in cookies and milk.
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