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Chatterbox Fall 2017

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Posted by BaltACD on Sunday, October 29, 2017 12:50 PM

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Norm48327 on Sunday, October 29, 2017 12:27 PM

Joe,

A few years ago I watched and photographed a tie gang in action. It is like a well choreographed balet. Each operator does his job so the next guy has everything in place. It was both entertaining and educational to watch.

Norm


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Posted by JoeKoh on Sunday, October 29, 2017 12:09 PM

afternoon

CSX tie gang has arrived in Defiance.They are working on track 2.Trains are going by on track 1.Still cool and damp out.Chores to do here at home.

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 Saturday, October 28, 2017 11:10 AM

afternoon

Well the ND&W was playing catch up today.The de-rail project at Fc is done.They brought 2 trains into town.They took 1 train back west with about 25 cars.Sounded like they were getting ready to take another west.Mother nature sent us some snizzle so I came home.Csx sent a few trains as well.Csx also has MOW in the siding at FC.Going to get warmed up.

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 BaltACD on Friday, October 27, 2017 8:00 PM

BOB WITHORN
Balt, If you get a chance, go to youtube and SCOOBY921. My son put up his videos of track time at GRATAN Raceway in his Porsche Cayman GTS.

Nice video editing software - comparative lap times and the best lap 'bug' are interesting.  With Revs & Shifts showing the data must, in part, be sourced from the OBD2 port.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by JoeKoh on Friday, October 27, 2017 6:50 PM

evening

Ns had a westbound train in the siding when I left work.Took our gift cards from our anniversary and went to supper.The ND&W had a healthy cut of cars coming back into Defiance.We took the long way back home along rt 2.We looked at NS' yard in Swanton.They had a coal train each way parked in the yard.The westbound had 4 BNSF pumpkins on it.Going to be cold and rainy tomorrow.We are having crockpot chili here at home.Going to watch the ballgame.

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 MikeF90 on Friday, October 27, 2017 3:19 PM

BaltACD
Wikipedia: A final nail in Reddy’s coffin was the general fall from grace of fictional and animated characters as corporate spokespersons. Modern corporations have tended to favour abstract logos and wordmarks and celebrity endorsers to represent their brands.

Yah, celebrity endorsers can still bite you in the corporate rear after a well publicized 'misbehavior'. In this ultra-PC world, fictional/animated characters are retired lest they offend some micro-demographic. Angry

In the 'failure at the worst possible time dept', during the ~100 degree height of our recent heat wave my only working room fan just died.  As somewhat expected, most local brick & mortar stores were completely empty of them and (I predict) will be for 18 months to please the JIT inventory gods. Fortunately I found the one SoCal store that had a few.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, October 27, 2017 7:16 AM

Carl will vouch for this, we didn't have Reddy Kilowatt but we did have Little Bill.  He was Commonwealth Edison's spokesbird and looked like an inverted light bulb (threads pointing up).

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 Friday, October 27, 2017 7:02 AM
Balt, If you get a chance, go to youtube and SCOOBY921. My son put up his videos of track time at GRATAN Raceway in his Porsche Cayman GTS.
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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Friday, October 27, 2017 6:55 AM
MURPHY, (Engineers have a very recognizable perspective on things that I can relate to.) Absolutely!! Son is a Mech. Eng. w/ Chassis dynamics specialty and his wife is a Electrical Eng. both at the same company designing all wheel drive systems. Makes for some interesting conversations. I get it, but most just look and find something else to do. Engineering is a fantastic way to make a living in my opinion. That's why I'm a sales guy??? Oops, guess I should have stayed in college instead of going to work for dad.
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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Friday, October 27, 2017 1:56 AM

I'd have to guess that Reddy is sitting around the old toons home with Speedy Alka-Seltzer and Bucky Beaver reminiscing about the old days.

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, October 26, 2017 9:27 PM

Wikipedia

A final nail in Reddy’s coffin was the general fall from grace of fictional and animated characters as corporate spokespersons. Modern corporations have tended to favour abstract logos and wordmarks and celebrity endorsers to represent their brands.[24]

In 1979, 140 American utility companies continued to license the Reddy Kilowatt trademark from RCI.[9] By the late 90s, only “a handful” of licensees remained worldwide[25] including Oklahoma Gas & ElectricKenya Power and Lighting Company and the Southeast Queensland Electricity Board. Deborah Dunagan, Chief Operating Officer of RCI, now based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, insisted that Reddy was still a “natural communicator for the information age.”[26]

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, October 26, 2017 8:57 PM

Detroit Edison also used Reddy Kilowatt - I suspect he was more of an industry trademark than any individual power company.

No health fallout from the weekend in the Pumpkin Patch - I don't think I picked up any ticks, and the weather was almost too warm, although the heater did get used in my shelter both mornings, as there was frost on the pumpkin, as they say.

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 CShaveRR on Thursday, October 26, 2017 8:41 PM

Reddy (as he is spelled by Google) was used by hundreds of power companies worldwide, and I remember seeing him in Grand Rapids (that'd almost have to be Consumers Power).  He was brought to life in a lightning storm in 1928, and might still be in power somewhere.  I do remember him being on the sides of some utility-owned coal cars, but not in the last 50 years or so.  He was the star of some promotional cartoons, voiced by none other than Walter Tetley, who had a number of radio roles and also was the voice of Mr. Peabody's companion Sherman.

Nicest day in the past week, and I'm recovering from the cold that's been my closest companion since Saturday (can't blame Pat for keeping her distance sometimes!).  I'm hoping to be able to get up and do things tomorrow, but alas, it's going to be another cold one.

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 Deggesty on Thursday, October 26, 2017 8:28 PM

Yes, I grew up with Reddy Kilowatt in South Carolina. At the time, I thought he was a Duke Power Company (the supplier of power to my home town) thing--and when I lived in west central Alabama, I discovered that the Alabama Power Company also used him. I do not recall seeing him at all since moving out here 43 years ago.

Johnny

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, October 26, 2017 8:21 PM

mudchicken
(My memories are centered around the old Redi Kilowatt sign at the DP&L Power Plant and Memorial Hall downtown.)

Poor old Redi Kilowatt, we don't see or hear much from him anymore.  There used to be a animated Redi Kilowatt visible when entering Akron, OH from the North on the RT 8 Expressway.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, October 26, 2017 7:44 PM

(My memories are centered around the old Redi Kilowatt sign at the DP&L Power Plant and Memorial Hall downtown.)

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 Electroliner 1935 on Thursday, October 26, 2017 5:20 PM

switch7frg
As I recall there is still  two land marks still  there , the 4 stacks of DP&L and the Carrolon bell tower

I remember the DP&L plant but my memory is that it is gone replaced by gas peaker units. Carillon bell tower is still there. Aee https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dayton,+OH/@39.7270946,-84.2102236,273m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x884080d5aedd1403:0xa640e392f20e4ce4!8m2!3d39.7589478!4d-84.1916069

About a mile North of the power plant is a junction (between S Edward C. Moses Blvd & W. Washington St under I-75) where the former lines of the PRR (from Indianapolis, the B&O (from Cincinnati) and the NYC (from Cincinnati) came together to enter Dayton Union Station.

The former PRR track now is just an industrial spur that ends at an industrial plant (Stratacache) about 6 miles west of the junction. Used to be a main line w/cab signals and the St Louis-New Youk fleet. Back in the fifties, I rode all three routes.

 

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Posted by JoeKoh on Thursday, October 26, 2017 4:19 PM

afternoon

Errands done.Chores done.Ns Local was going around it's empty cars when I left work.Going to get cleaned up.

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 switch7frg on Thursday, October 26, 2017 11:32 AM

Yes Bob, glad you had a great time at "Wright Pat". This what the place was designed for. Dayton sure has a lot of history on avaition. It all started at the old "Macook Field air station in the 1900s.                                                                                          Respectfully, Cannonball

Y6bs evergreen in my mind

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Posted by switch7frg on Thursday, October 26, 2017 11:04 AM

Smile Joe, thank you for the return post. As I recall there is still  two land marks still  there , the 4 stacks of DP&L and the Carrolon bell tower . All these are in south Dayton just north of Miamisburg. Am now returning from "memory lane"                

                           Respectfully, Cannonball

Y6bs evergreen in my mind

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Posted by BOB WITHORN on Thursday, October 26, 2017 6:26 AM

[quote user="switch7frg"]

Joe your young  lad has made a good choice for  his future. On another note does trains still run into and out of Dayton  east and north? We used to live in Dayton in the last century until 1969.  Have not been there since and heard the city is almost a shadow of its former self, is that so??

 

                                                Respectfully, Cannonball

 

Cannonball,

 

Spent several days in downtown Dayton about a month ago at the 380th Bomb Group reunion looking down at the East/West line through town. Quite supprised by the number of trains, both CSX & NS.  They are doing a pretty good job of bringing the area back. 

 

Bob

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Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 10:29 PM

Mookie

 

 
JoeKoh
Needmore rd(CSX).

  A good, practical name!

And about a block or two east of the yard on Needmore Rd. is Dayton Tool Crib...wonderful place which made me wish I wasn't flying into town to play with radios on the air base.  A good thing, though, as it limited what I could pack back to SD.

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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 9:56 PM

JoeKoh

evening

Rain here in Nw Ohio.The local was uptown for Ns.Chores to do.As for now our young lad here at home wants to be the engineer on bridge projects and such.Will try to keep him on that path.

stay safe

Joe

 

I went to college to be an architectural draftsman. For whatever reason, that prepared me to be a very succesful lumber salesman. I now manage the lumber yard. If I had to do my life over again, I'd think I'd be a structural engineer. Something about that is very appealing to me. Engineers have a very recognizable perspective on things that I can relate to. I'd be designing those bridges as well.

      If I could offer any advice to your son, or to any young person like our 2 sons in college, that would be to try and find someone in your dream job and ask if you can shadow them for a week and ask questions...... If anyone wants to shadow a lumber yard guy for a week, look me up.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

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Posted by Mookie on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 4:22 PM

JoeKoh
Needmore rd(CSX).

  A good, practical name!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, October 25, 2017 3:15 PM

afternoon

Local was uptown when I got off work.We have a frost/maybe freeze for tonight.Cannonball yes Csx still runs on the Toledo sub through Dayton.NS has the Dayton district.They come together just south of Miamisburg Ohio near the old DP&L plant.Last I knew there locals from Moraine yard(NS) and Needmore rd(CSX).Have not ventured into the city limits to look around.The construction on I-75 seems to be done for now.Chores to do.

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 switch7frg on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 5:56 PM

Joe your young  lad has made a good choice for  his future. On another note does trains still run into and out of Dayton  east and north? We used to live in Dayton in the last century until 1969.  Have not been there since and heard the city is almost a shadow of its former self, is that so??

 

                                                Respectfully, Cannonball

Y6bs evergreen in my mind

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Posted by JoeKoh on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 3:15 PM

afternoon

Damp and chilly today in Nw Ohio.Ns had a stack train go west.Local has cars uptown.Chores to do.

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 Tuesday, October 24, 2017 7:14 AM

Raining cats and dogs here (according to my weather station).  Rain rates have been up over an inch an hour, which sets off an alarm on the console.

The temperature dropped a solid ten degrees in no time about 5 AM.  Very unusual to see +70F at oh-dark-thirty at the end of October here...  Down to +59F now.

Gotta take the fire department computer in for a look by someone smarter than me on those things - it's not working and will either get fixed (if it's easy/cheap) or replaced.  If it's replaced, I get to reload all the appropriate software...

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 CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 7:02 AM

Got a fair amount of rain out our way, too.  Fortunately, the Oak Lawn station has large eaves so I can stay relatively dry until about a minute before train time.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul

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