evening
Good day today as we went to TSUN(otherwise know as Michigan).
Our friends model club had an open house in Blissfield.On the way we saw the switcher working the steel plant in Delta.On the way home saw a pair of GP 60's bring an NS frieght westbound in Swanton.They have a nice mom and pop place right by the tracks too.Chores to do 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").
Joe,
I wish I could venture down in to your neck-of-the-woods more often but it isn't in the cards lately. I miss the days I could drive down there and watch the action on the Chicago line. The Adrian and Blissfield was not something I wanted to watch because their equipment was mostly parked when I was there. I did, though, go to Butler, IN to watch the action. Usually started at Swanson and worked my way west, sometimes as far as Goshen, IN and at other times down to the diamond at St. Joe. Fond memories of all those trips.
As an aside, I remember the times my dad was teaching me to drive. I'm surprised he didn't tear his hair out . HOPE YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THAT. LOL.
Norm
Lincoln rocks right now - saw over 50 motors - all on trains. A couple I could not see because they were behind another train - but around 6-8 NS. All in about 3 hours. Lots of coal and some x-freight - including the Hunt train. Even UP brought in a pretty good load of local freight headed to the sorting yard. They have gone from 2 motors and about 6 freight cars to a respectable train and 2 motors.
She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw
afternoon
Frosty this morning.Went to Deshler and put up a new railfan message board.Had one Ns unit and plenty of power from UP.They even sent a couple"Cotton Belt" hopper cars.Came home and mowed the swamp.Back to work tomorrow.
joe
Beautiful day here. Spent the morning in class. Headed for night 2 PBS auction tonight.
Wheee!
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...
It was nice here today, too. I was supposed to go railfanning with a little guy and his mother today, but she had to have her harp repaired (I have none but the classiest of friends...this one was a friend of Linda's in high school and before). Pat and I dined out along the Racetrack in LaGrange, then (after a nap) I made the first pass of the year on the back lawn. Tomorrow it's back to the dentist for a small repair uncovered by last week's exam. I'll leave early and stay late, since I can watch trains and the day's going to be just as nice as today. Friday, on our return from Michigan, I saw two reporting marks that were new to me: ABS (Alabama Southern Railroad) and OCAX (Blue Cube Operations, L.L.C.). The latter is probably a spinoff of the Dow Chemical Company, as most of its tank cars are ex DOWX, same numbers, and the company is headquartered in Midland, Michigan. The former has a series of 80 bulkhead flat cars. Thanks to some smart guidance from Pat (after I'd given up myself), I was able to get an original number off the center sill of this flat car. I found out, once I got home and could check, that there were two intervening operators. More fun work for my files.
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)
Interesting that you ran into a three-letter reporting mark. It seems that almost all new reporting marks since 1976 have had four letters. I would opine that your other new reporting mark may be Dow's car-leasing subsidiary, presumably for tax purposes.
First time on a 'ZERO' turn mower!!! Went from 1/2 acre to 3 1/2 acres and figured the old 36" tractor was going to die trying to keep up. SO, brand new Simplicity Citation XT 27/61" monster will now take over. Practice, practice, practice and more practice!!, which I of course did NOT bother with, who reads the instructions anyway. How tough can it be to sit and GO. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA, After mowing a 'straight' line that looked more like one of those, well I'm not sure what you would call it but IT WAS NOT STRAIGHT. I got the idea and did ok until I got near the guy wire for the power pole, where the TRACTOR fit just fine, and decided to do a 2 foot high wheel stand before I got the idea to STOP and back up. That area will be the old tractors area of duty. I be much smarter now that I went back andd READ THE DUMB INSTRUCTIONS. FYI - 1.7 hours instead of 3.9 hours, a slight improvement.
work busy.Ns was clear when I left.Looked like they took the Tonka toys too.Chores to do.Speaking of railcars I do have pictures to send you Carl.It's an old soo line flat car.Chores to do.
Westbound stack train and the local was uptown on NS when I left work.Getting warmer.Guessers say plenty of April showers on the way.Oldest brother comes for a visit this week.Chores to get done.
Joe - cold coming your way. Snow north of us. Looks like Murphy might be digging? Still no moisture here. Ceiling fan on since humidity high; furnace running periodically. Blah....
The roto-tiller here got a workout yesterday and today - May not get another chance to turn over & till dry dirt for a while in advance of planting.
(The terrier in Duncan is saying "who needs a roto-tiller?" ....now if only he had a plan on where he's digging and putting the dirt - makes some interesting moonscapes)...still farming in a brickyard here. Gonna go to Iowa and steal some real topsoil.
MC,
Good story about Duncan. In the eighties Vicki and I had a German Shepherd/Norwegian Elkhound mix that couldn't jump the fence. OTOH, he was an ace at digging under it. I thought if I could have kept him going in a straight line I could have made a fortune trenching. Have you considered using him to dig tornado shelters?
Oh there are plenty of other new reporting marks since 1976 with fewer than four letters. My home town has the MS going through it now, and the MQT runs down to my wife's home town. EEC had thousands of box cars, but those are disappearing.As for Dow and Blue Cube, I think there are still a whole lot of DOWX cars out there. As far as I know, Blue Cube hasn't gotten any of the covered hoppers that Dow owns. While I was attempting to dig out information, I discovered that Dow has absorbed Rohm and Haas, and the Olin Corporation. A merger between Dow and DuPont is next in the works.
Looking at summer-like temps here for the next couple of days, then back to normal. Can't complain - I'll be inside for some classes on Friday and Saturday.
The PBS auction continues. The last couple of nights have been positively placid. The fun begins tonight when they start bringing major items into the mix - they really slow things down. This is one of the station's big fundraisers for the year, though, so those big items really help the bottom line.
Westbound stack train on Ns when I left work.Asked me to stay but need to take Matt uptown so he can mow.Need to get stuff loaded up.
Ns was clear when I left work.Going to sisters house.Big brother has flown in from Virginia.Will see if CSX has anything on the way.
Ns sent a westbound with a CN cowl unit on the point.They were going into the siding when I got off work.Rain has arrived too.Time to get chores done.
blowing rain to snirt to thundersnow to 6"-8" of wet snow overnight.
Springtime in the Rockies, Ma Nature is off her meds again!
Yup--rain almost every day here; daytime temperatures in the forties; ski resorts happy with the new snow up there (will stay open daily into May and then on weekends until the snow is gone).
I stay warm and dry.
Johnny
We're going to be under a flash flood watch starting tomorrow afternoon. I think they said that we could get up to three inches of rain in the next couple of days. Areas to our south could get twice that. Temperatures are going to be cold, even for the season...mid-40s for the high tomorrow.
Last month I opened one of my freight-car files, only to find that it had been completely replaced by a different file! I blame that on operator ineptitude. Fortunately, a backup had the information I was looking for, and the revised file now has been brought very much up to date, both in information and format, so it's beyond what I had before. That rebuilding of the file was one of five things I had on a "to-do" list dated Tuesday. So far, two things were accomplished, two others are in progress, and I have to dredge out some information on the fifth one.
Some brighter news today: Four new signs were dedicated along the Illinois Prairie Path in the village. The IPP is, as you may know, one of the first rail-trails in the country, on the roadbed of the Chacago, Aurora & Elgin through the western suburbs. Lombard is the first cmmunity along these lines that I'm aware of to post historic signs to illustrate the four stations that used to be along the line within the current village limits. Pictures of the station at Main Street are pretty common, and Stewart Street and Green Valley's shelters have been seen in pictures before, but the station at Westmore (or Home Acres, in one picture) was something I'd never seen illustrated until now (and Green Valley/West Lombard had two shelters at different points in time). Platform timbers can still be seen at most of these stations. One photograph of Stewart/East Lombard had two houses in the background that are still recognizable.
Well Matt got to experience I-75 and idiots upon it today.Went down to help Big Sis.It was warm and humid south of Dayton after the rain but north of Sidney it was cold and damp.Might have to get the boat out.Also picked up signs my Nephew did for Deshler.Did see some csx,Ns and I&O here and there.Not everyone was moving.Need to get some chores done here.
The weather prognosticators are promising thunderbumpers over the next couple of days. We'll see if the system holds together.
Finished up the EMS conference today - two days plus an evening of continuing education.
One of the speakers was nationally know EMS cartoonist and writer Steve Berry ("I'm not an ambulance driver"). Pretty entertaining!
One more night of the PBS auction. I'm pooped.
Mud Season starts today. (I kinda resemble that remark) ... 14" of wet snow and 23 degrees right now. 60 degrees this afternoon. Lotsa broken branches and shattered trees. Good part was that the streets and sidewalks were so warm that there was little to shovel or plow. Duncan the scottie is perplexed.
(Methinks the graduation class of 2017 for Weatherliar U may have to take remedial classes this summer)
WESTERN KANSAS IS CLOSED
We had gotten our three inches of rain by this morning, and it hasn't stopped yet. I had to postpone a train-watching outing with a longtime friend yet again, and our friends from the cafe in Gary won't be coming to see the lilacs today, after all. This must be quite a storm system...this morning my left clavicle was aching. I broke it in a biking accident nearly 30 years ago, and this is the first time it's done that to me.
You're not getting old, are you Carl? I understand that the aches from injuries show up in old age.
After several days of sporadic rain, we have had none today. It is still unseasonably cold, but the promise is that within a week temperatures wlll be more like normal.
Took my 5-year-old grandson out train-chasing yesterday afternoon. We drove back and forth on US-30 between Lisbon and Mechanicsville, IA along the UP transcon- saw three stackers, two EB and one WB, and got to pace one each way. The EB we paced, which was very long, was barely making 50 MPH. The WB, which was relatively short with three engines up front, was doing 67 MPH. I will not disclose how we know that. Grandson had a blast.
Brian (IA) http://blhanel.rrpicturearchives.net.
Years ago, when my grandparents came to visit, Grandpa would take my brothers and I into town and we would watch the local switch. We'd sit at a crossing and watch until someone came up behind us, then drive across and circle around or watch from the other side. It made for a good morning of fun, topped off with a stop at a local mom and pop burger joint. Fun times.
Yesterday was my day off, I worked 7 hours. More fun times. It's OK though, I think I'd go crazy if I wasn't working in agriculture.
Well now, we're under a tornado watch!
tree68 Well now, we're under a tornado watch!
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