Trains.com

What exactly is your avatar?

5732 views
84 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 9:03 PM

Deggesty
Mine should be self-explanatory, showing that I am almost dry behind my ears. I think it was taken 3 1/2 years ago, when my older step-daughter, Katie, and her daughter, Jackie, and I were traveling.

You handsome guys can get away with those avatars.  If I put my mug on here, I'd shut down the site.

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

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Guelph, Ontario
  • 4,819 posts
Posted by Ulrich on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 8:48 PM

No story behind my avatar.. I just like cats.. well all animals really.. but cats especially. 

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Sunny (mostly) San Diego
  • 1,920 posts
Posted by ChuckCobleigh on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 8:39 PM

Exemplar of most of my "train" sightings these days, this one at the Seaport Village stop just behind the Kansas City BBQ of "Top Gun" fame.

  • Member since
    May 2015
  • 1,836 posts
Posted by 243129 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 7:23 PM

Mine is of me as the engineer on train #141 New Haven to New York Penn Station in the spring of 1971.

  • Member since
    November 2011
  • 77 posts
Posted by nycstlrr on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 6:57 PM
Nickel Plate Road`s PA`s just outside of Kimball, Ohio, heading for Bellevue.
  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 5:38 PM

Nah. Takes the fun out of it.

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

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 711 posts
Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 5:30 PM

zugmann

there is a method to my avatars here.

Do explain

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • 4,557 posts
Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 4:43 PM

I got bored with my old avatar one day, and did a google for "art deco train poster" and this one was one of the results.

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 4:42 PM

I race in SCCA's Formula 500 class.  Picture is of my son passing me at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI.

My son is fast, I am only half fast.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 4:19 PM

SD70M-2Dude
He sure lasted though. Hung around way longer than any of the ponies.

I think Shadow was the longest.

there is a method to my avatars here.

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

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 711 posts
Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 4:17 PM

zugmann
SD70M-2Dude
I still miss Perry the Platypus.

he didn't do much.

He sure lasted though.  Hung around way longer than any of the ponies.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 4:11 PM

SD70M-2Dude
I still miss Perry the Platypus.

he didn't do much.

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

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 711 posts
Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 4:10 PM

zugmann
Murphy Siding
and zugman changes his all the time.

Not all the time.

I still miss Perry the Platypus.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 4:07 PM

Murphy Siding
and zugman changes his all the time.

Not all the time.

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

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 3:44 PM

Mine should be self-explanatory, showing that I am almost dry behind my ears. I think it was taken 3 1/2 years ago, when my older step-daughter, Katie, and her daughter, Jackie, and I were traveling.

Johnny

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Southeast Michigan
  • 2,983 posts
Posted by Norm48327 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 3:43 PM

Norris,

My avatar came from a bit of a whimsy.  I was standing near a crossing waiting for a long overdue train when the thought hit me 'Why not'. That said I focused the camera on the crossbucks while waiting. "Two track railroad one track mind" syndrome if you will.

I thought it appropriate at the time and used it on an aviation forum only to discover an airplane owner and friend of mine was of like mind and spent big bucks to have a caboose transported to his property. He now uses that as his office and stokes the fire to warm it before starting his day's work. He is in Vermont and winter days get cold there too.

You need to snag a wayward caboose you can put on a spur to your lumber yard so you have a convenient place to go hide when you feel the necessity, though I doubt your job is that stressful. Take life one two by four at a time. They re all pretty mucht e same.

Yep, I'm ragging on you a bit but it is neant in friendship.I have researched the company you represent and I think you douldn't have found a better employer.

Can we get you to park an airliner i your driveway/

Said with utmost respect,

Norm

 

Norm


  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
  • 10,820 posts
Posted by mudchicken on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 3:31 PM

What mudchickens do. (this happens to be Fountain Creek bridge/ BNSF Br. 88.60/ ATSF 650.12 just  south of Fountain, CO on the joint line)

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
  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,560 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 3:30 PM

A semi-streamlined East German Pacific locomotive, built in 1961, 18-201 is the number and it normally pulls two tenders. I was on an excursion from Halle to the Meiningen shops on thier open house in 2009 on a train pulled by it when I took the picture at a local station. 

  • Member since
    May 2013
  • 3,231 posts
Posted by NorthWest on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 3:25 PM

White Pass and Yukon DL535E. Tried out a few and it just seemed to fit.

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Iowa
  • 3,293 posts
Posted by Semper Vaporo on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 3:12 PM

I drew mine from what I see in my mind when I think of a locomotive.  I assume it to be a wood-burning American 4-4-0 steam locomotive.

I originally drew it using MS Paint (that came with Windows 3.1) and I drew it at 900 pixels wide and 3000 pixels tall... Thus on a standard (at the time) screen resolution of 800x600 I could only see very small portions at a time.  I drew only the left half and then mirror imaged it and flipped it horizontally to paste as the right side (doubling the width), then added the non-symmetrical items (boiler door handle and hinges).  Then I scaled the image up by 4X and did some clean up of the result to eliminate some of the "Jaggies" caused by the scaling.

I then drew a companion image of the back of a Caboose.  I drew it the same way as just the left half, mirror imaged it to complete it, then added the non-symmetrical items (ladder, brake wheel and stove chimney), scaled it up and did some post editing of the result.

The two files are 83Mbytes each as bit-maps.  (Jpegs are only 6.6Mbytes but lose detail and blur stuff.)

I had Kinkos print both images on thick vinyl making two posters 23.5 inches wide and 39 inches tall.

When the two posters are placed back to back it makes a nice yard flag of a 2 dimensional train (look at it from the front and it has height and width... same as when looking at it from the back, but look at it from the edge and it has no discernable length; thus it is only 2 dimensional!)

I hang it outdoors when I am running my live steam trains in my backyard.

I have also made smaller images to print out and laminate in plastic as 2 dimensional train bookmarks.

I also made much smaller images to use as Avitars on web-sites (such as using the engine on this site).

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • 711 posts
Posted by SD70M-2Dude on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 2:26 PM

Mine is pretty self-explanatory too, but I chose it because the steam locomotive I help maintain and operate was originally built for the Canadian Northern, and would have worn it when new.  Today 1392 wears the same Canadian National scheme she spent the majority of her service life in, but I never forget where she came from.  She would have looked similar to this Consolidation when new:

http://silverhawkauthor.com/images/site_graphics/Trains/e010861781-v8.jpg

1392 today:

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/445873/

 

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

  • Member since
    May 2005
  • From: S.E. South Dakota
  • 13,569 posts
Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 2:17 PM

CSSHEGEWISCH

I honor my father's combat service with mine. It's the 367th Bomb Squadron, part of the 306th Bomb Group (Heavy) at Thurleigh during WW2.

 

Thurleigh is in the UK I presume? My father-in-law and his brother both flew B-17's out of Foggia, Italy toward the end of the war.

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 1:58 PM

I honor my father's combat service with mine. It's the 367th Bomb Squadron, part of the 306th Bomb Group (Heavy) at Thurleigh during WW2.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 3,139 posts
Posted by chutton01 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 1:45 PM

Exactly as it appears; a rather custom-design no parking sign on Export St. in Port Elizabeth (there were at least 2 mounted on that fence) in an area where it's entirely feasible that a errently-parked truck or freight car could block access to the Terminal Corporation office.  The No-Truck image is standard MUTCD iconography, but the No-Train image (No-Bar Circle over a cab-unit loco) seems somewhat custom, the loco likely extracted from the standard "Railroad Station" icon.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,021 posts
Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 1:14 PM

Our long running effort to save the former NYC Adirondack Division from those who would rip it up.

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...

  • Member since
    May 2005
  • From: S.E. South Dakota
  • 13,569 posts
What exactly is your avatar?
Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, December 6, 2017 1:10 PM

 

      I get used to seeing familiar posters by their avatar. A lot of them are self-explanatory but there are some I just don’t get. Most seem to be railroad oriented. Some are self portraits. One is of a little piggy ringing bells (?), and zugmann changes his all the time.

      Mine is of a drumhead(?), I believe, on a Santa Fe passenger train. Chris in Colorado was kind enough to help me with it. What’s the story behind your avatar?

 

Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy