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Chatterbox Fall 2017

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Thursday, December 7, 2017 6:41 PM

Mookie

Thank you Bruce!  And all of my well-wishers.  Been a very nice bd - even bitterly cold as usual.  Some things never change!  

 

For years we gave our bigger customers poinsettias at Christmas time. We hand delivered them the 2nd week in December. Poinsettias are the wimpiest plant ever. In our climate it takes about 10 minutes in the cold to kill one dead as a doornail. We knew a year in advance which week in December would be bitter cold.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Mookie on Thursday, December 7, 2017 6:22 PM

Thank you Bruce!  And all of my well-wishers.  Been a very nice bd - even bitterly cold as usual.  Some things never change!  

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by AgentKid on Thursday, December 7, 2017 4:58 PM

Mookie
I washed the plate very carefully, just in case you might find some more ^-^

Happy Birthday Mookie.Happy B-Day

Bruce

 

So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.

"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere"  CP Rail Public Timetable

"O. S. Irricana"

. . . __ . ______

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Posted by Mookie on Thursday, December 7, 2017 4:50 PM

JoeKoh
See the cupcake was enjoyed

I washed the plate very carefully, just in case you might find some more  ^-^  

Even that tasted good!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by JoeKoh on Thursday, December 7, 2017 3:13 PM

afternoon

Ns was clear when I left work.Chores to do.See the cupcake was enjoyed.

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 Deggesty on Thursday, December 7, 2017 12:00 PM

Oh, yes; east and west of downtown, State Street curves south. On the east side there is a cemetary where no one living in Virginia may be buried.

 

 

 

Remember, it is not proper to bury living people. I was caught on that the first week I was in college.

Johnny

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Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, December 7, 2017 11:55 AM

There is a much more friendly feeling between Bristol, Tennessee, and Bristol, Virginia--separated by the state line, which in downtown is down the center of State Street. When I was in college (in the fifties) there was separate post office in each city; now there is one, in Tennessee, with two zipcodes on it.

Back then, Virginia had no state sales tax whereas Tennessee had one--so the Virginia Bristol fathers levied a city sales tax so that the Tennessee merchants would not be at a disadvantage.

Because Sullivan County in Tennessee was dry, Virginia Bristol was also dry--and you could go up to Abingdom and buy your "adult" beverages there.

As well as I can tell, there is still good feeling between the two cities--except between the two high schools.

Johnny

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, December 7, 2017 11:36 AM

BOB WITHORN
The twin cities of St. Joseph on the south side of the river and Benton Harbor on the north were not twins!! The St. Joseph River became almost the DMZ.

We've got a couple of neighboring villages like that here (and with a river in between).  You don't want to discuss merging the two - fisticuffs may not ensue, but you'll get some dirty looks.  Ironically, they do share the same post office...

In reality, it would be the wise thing to do, but....

LarryWhistling
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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Thursday, December 7, 2017 11:18 AM
The twin cities of St. Joseph on the south side of the river and Benton Harbor on the north were not twins!! The St. Joseph River became almost the DMZ.
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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Thursday, December 7, 2017 11:13 AM

Carl, The nick name for Benton Harbor became something less then complimentory. Downtown was deserted by all business and you did not drive through downtown after dark. They have made a remarkable recovery over the past few years.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 9:59 PM

Murphy Siding
    I ran across the world's biggest doofus last night in Target. He was arguing with his wife about why he should be able to take his laptop with him to an unpcoming event they both would soon be attending. His (whining) explanation was that nobody would notice, he didn't want to be there and he needed to keep up on things going on in the world.


      Once I saw her up close and they got deeper into the discussion, it became apparent that he wanted to have his laptop with him so he'd have something to occupy his time while he was in the labor room with her while she was having a baby! I hope the baby is smarter than him.

Maybe he wanted to stream the event live on YouTube!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 9:41 PM

    I ran across the world's biggest doofus last night in Target. He was arguing with his wife about why he should be able to take his laptop with him to an unpcoming event they both would soon be attending. His (whining) explanation was that nobody would notice, he didn't want to be there and he needed to keep up on things going on in the world.

      Once I saw her up close and they got deeper into the discussion, it became apparent that he wanted to have his laptop with him so he'd have something to occupy his time while he was in the labor room with her while she was having a baby! I hope the baby is smarter than him.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 6:46 PM

Just outside the crosshairs for some lake effect tonight and tomorrow.  Coming down pretty hard just south of me.

If the wind swings a bit more to the southwest, I'll probably see some...

The snowblower is all ready...

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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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 5:13 PM

evening

work busy.Ns was clear when I left work.Chores to do.Going to leave this nice chocolate cupcake right over here.Happy Birthday"Mookie".

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 Norm48327 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 11:45 AM

CShaveRR

You might be surprised, Bob...I'll explain if I need to.  But back then the Greyhound station there used to be a regular rest stop for buses on longer trips.

Carl,

I havent ridden a Greyhound bus in eons but I'd guess it was a "comfort stop". Wink

Norm


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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 10:16 AM

You might be surprised, Bob...I'll explain if I need to.  But back then the Greyhound station there used to be a regular rest stop for buses on longer trips.

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)

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 10:04 AM

Carl,

Bet there aren't many that get your Benton Harbor reference.

 

Bob

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Posted by zugmann on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 7:45 PM

erikem
The book came out well before the movie, so the author would (or should) have a bit more say.

Probably signed all rights away for those big checks.

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

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Posted by JoeKoh on Tuesday, December 5, 2017 4:07 PM

evening

Ns had an eastbound frieght go by when I left work.Going uptown to a concert.Maybe Csx will send something by.

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 JoeKoh on Monday, December 4, 2017 2:30 PM

afternoon

Ns had empty well cars going west.Also the local was uptown when I left work.Stacey has supper all ready to go into oven.I just need to put it in here in a bit.Other chores to do as well.Need to make ready for this week.It's a certain Nebraska cat's birthday.Chocloate cake with more chocolate usually works.

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 tree68 on Sunday, December 3, 2017 8:32 AM

erikem
The book came out well before the movie, so the author would (or should) have a bit more say

That was before most of my time on the railroad, so I have no idea what those arrangements were.

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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Posted by tree68 on Sunday, December 3, 2017 8:29 AM

blue streak 1
Tree does that mean that you keep an engineer in each loco ?  Problems with the MU or need to creep just one loco ?

We run one loco on each end of the train.  It's a 12 mile run at track speed from Utica to the "North Pole," which would make for a long back-up move going back south, and there's no way to do a runaround at the north end.  Besides, that would take too long. 

There is a substantial grade climbing out of the Mohawk valley, so the south loco does help push at times, especially if there are slippery rail conditions.  Once we reach the "North Pole," we swap ends and the south loco becomes the controlling unit.  The units are not MU'd.  There is one spot where the occasional slippery rail conditions require the north loco to push a bit, but for the most part it's all brakes going south.

I'm usually in the north locomotive, so it's notch 8 and the occasional sand for much of the trip, but I get to kick back and relax on the way "home."  The south end engineer takes his cues from the conductor, who is monitoring the progress of the big guys through the train and calling for speed adjustments accordingly.

Twice each night.

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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Posted by erikem on Sunday, December 3, 2017 12:00 AM

tree68

 Actually both the licensing agency and Warner Brothers check out our operation - one of them was on the train tonight.

We have made changes at their suggestion (and occasionally, insistence), but we also remind them from time to time that we were doing this before they became involved.

The book came out well before the movie, so the author would (or should) have a bit more say. I had a lot of fun reading the book to my kids before the movie came out. My impression of the movie was that it was about 3X too long, which was also my impression of Where the Wild Things Are.

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Posted by Electroliner 1935 on Saturday, December 2, 2017 9:53 PM

blue streak 1
Tree does that mean that you keep an engineer in each loco ?  Problems with the MU or need to creep just one loco ?

At the Fox River Trolley Museum, we run to former CTA cars for our P.E.X. and we keep a motorman (or motorwoman) in the cabs at both ends of the train. It just logistically simpler. They get to eat cookies when they are not operating.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Saturday, December 2, 2017 9:48 PM

tree68

Two sold-out trains tonight (over 550 per train).  I didn't see any of them - I was in one of the locomotives.

 

 
Tree does that mean that you keep an engineer in each loco ?  Problems with the MU or need to creep just one loco ?
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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, December 2, 2017 9:01 PM

Electroliner 1935
Larry, This says you are doing it right. I presume you are inspected by the Warner Bros Elves and that you have to pay them for the use of the name?

Actually both the licensing agency and Warner Brothers check out our operation - one of them was on the train tonight.

We have made changes at their suggestion (and occasionally, insistence), but we also remind them from time to time that we were doing this before they became involved.

And we've shown them how it should be done on occasion, too.  Our boarding method works very well - coach passengers are broken into three sections (denoted by color) before they pick up their tickets, so we can balance the load in the cars.  The colors appear as arrows as they arrive on the platform, and as colored flashing lights at the appropriate vestibules.  With minimal assistance, the passengers sort themselves!

First Class (Cocoa Class) gets assigned specific seats, but they have to be routed to the proper cars, too.

Every now and then two groups who want to sit together will fail to coordinate their reservations and end up in completely different sections.  We'll usually try to accomodate them.

Two sold-out trains tonight (over 550 per train).  I didn't see any of them - I was in one of the locomotives.

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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Posted by Electroliner 1935 on Saturday, December 2, 2017 8:11 PM

tree68

Encountered a family at the hotel last night that I also encountered last year - they were in town from NYC to enjoy our Polar Express - for the fifth time...

Larry, This says you are doing it right. I presume you are inspected by the Warner Bros Elves and that you have to pay them for the use of the name?

 

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Posted by zugmann on Saturday, December 2, 2017 7:41 PM

blue streak 1

Can you imagine having a pinball machine located in the lower level of a Superliner ?  Talk about random lurches !

 

Not a superliner, but...

http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/pinball-on-rails-strasburg-rail-road-is-featuring-a-moving/article_3f53094a-2cca-11e5-9b0f-874facb29750.html

 

I don't know if they did it this year or not.

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

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Saturday, December 2, 2017 7:22 PM

Can you imagine having a pinball machine located in the lower level of a Superliner ?  Talk about random lurches !

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Posted by JoeKoh on Saturday, December 2, 2017 5:28 PM

evening

Made second trip back from Dayton.Found some CSX action in Wapakoneta.Ore pellet K 172 train passed a q 506 frieght in the siding.Looks like someone was having a bad night as we turned into our driveway.Was down the road.Might have found a deer.Matt is making lunch tomorrow after church.

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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