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Chatterbox Fall 2020

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 8:16 PM

Probably our last nice day of the year today - high around +73F.  Cooler tomorrow, with showers likely, but it's been a good run.  

A fifty-year-old motel burned to the ground near here yesterday.  The fire had substantial headway before fire department units arrived.  There wasn't much they could do.  The cause hasn't been established.

Got a few more warm weather tasks done today, and discovered a broken window I've got to deal with, but that doesn't require warm weather, and I've actually got some glass to use for it.

 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, November 11, 2020 5:20 PM

evening

Ns had an eastbound stack train after work.Helped co-worker who needed a ride home.His car was having an electrical problem in the headlights.Will pick up some supplies to finish up the shower repair tomorrow.Govenor said some colleges were going to finish the semester virtually. Matt hasn't got any word from his school.Ohio State can not travel east due to a covid outbreak at Maryland.Going to get cleaned up.Larry I heard some windows can be a payne.

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 Thursday, November 12, 2020 4:25 PM

evening

Ns was clear after work.Co-workers car had a loose wire that was causing the headlight problem.Got a letter from pen pal.Seems he finally has an email now.Glad tomorrow is Friday.

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 Friday, November 13, 2020 4:45 PM

evening

Ns was clear after work.Finished up projects here at home.Went into town and got supper.Saw 2 csx trains go west.Also saw the ND&W bring cars from the csx siding at Fc.Going to go check on my brother tomorrow.We have to visit through a window because of the increase of Covid.Hope one day soon to be able to take him out to watch trains outside.

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 mudchicken on Friday, November 13, 2020 6:06 PM

Methins Cincinnati is under assault by flaming trucks. Two bridges over the Ohio River (including the I-75 bridge) closed and another threatened.

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 ChuckCobleigh on Friday, November 13, 2020 7:59 PM

mudchicken

Methins Cincinnati is under assault by flaming trucks. Two bridges over the Ohio River (including the I-75 bridge) closed and another threatened.

Has Kentucky launched an invasion?

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Posted by JoeKoh on Saturday, November 14, 2020 12:29 PM

afternoon

Checked on brother.he is doing ok.Sis had to come and reset his music box because the nursing home changed internet providers.Saw some good stuff on Ns.Also areas around Butler are getting cleaned up.Went down to see Csx.Dispatcher said North Baltimore was plugged.Had q 200 at 11K,Q 010 at 14K and q 192 at 9k.Trains just as big to come west and turn at Deshler as well.Going to load pictures.

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 rvos1979 on Saturday, November 14, 2020 5:06 PM

mudchicken

Methins Cincinnati is under assault by flaming trucks. Two bridges over the Ohio River (including the I-75 bridge) closed and another threatened.

The Roebling Bridge was shut down because of the moron truck drivers with car GPSs that were ignoring the 11 ton weight limit. Haven't heard anything about the third bridge, headed that way Sunday on my way to London, but I take the west 275 bridge into Kentucky.......

Randy Vos

"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings

"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV

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Posted by BaltACD on Saturday, November 14, 2020 10:06 PM

rvos1979
 
mudchicken

Methins Cincinnati is under assault by flaming trucks. Two bridges over the Ohio River (including the I-75 bridge) closed and another threatened. 

The Roebling Bridge was shut down because of the moron truck drivers with car GPSs that were ignoring the 11 ton weight limit. Haven't heard anything about the third bridge, headed that way Sunday on my way to London, but I take the west 275 bridge into Kentucky.......

Which bridge has a 11 ton Weight Limit?

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by mudchicken on Saturday, November 14, 2020 10:49 PM

11 Ton limit is the Roebling Bridge (Suspension Bridge) that predates Brooklyn Bridge and had construction stopped by the Civil War. Bridge upstream at Maysville, KY (Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge) also shut down...

Cincygram: Roebling Suspension Bridge dazzles by day and by nightWCPO

I-471 Purple People Eater Bridge had to deal with a flaming truck on the northbound approaches to it.

(Army Corps & Coast Guard shut down traffic on the river under the bridge for 36+ hours as well)

Weird set of coincidences...Anderson Ferry suddenly was very popular. The I-75 Brent Spence Bridge may be closed for 10-14 days)...

 WCPO

They've been planning for replacing the I-75/I-71 bridge for 10 years. It's handling twice the traffic it was initially intended to handle.

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 BaltACD on Saturday, November 14, 2020 11:09 PM

mudchicken
11 Ton limit is the Roebling Bridge (Suspension Bridge) that predates Brooklyn Bridge and had construction stopped by the Civil War. Bridge upstream at Maysville, KY (Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge) also shut down...

I-471 Purple People Eater Bridge had to deal with a flaming truck on the northbound approaches to it.

(Army Corps & Coast Guard shut down traffic on the river under the bridge for 36+ hours as well)

Weird set of coincidences...Anderson Ferry suddenly was very popular. The I-75 Brent Spence Bridge may be closed for 10-14 days)...

Driven the I-75 bridge many times (25-30 years ago) when I was helping installed the data system that Queensgate Yard used to run itself.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by mudchicken on Saturday, November 14, 2020 11:19 PM

ChuckCobleigh

 

 
mudchicken

Methins Cincinnati is under assault by flaming trucks. Two bridges over the Ohio River (including the I-75 bridge) closed and another threatened.

 

 

Has Kentucky launched an invasion?

 

More likely it was Indiana feeling left out. (Sounds like Randy is going south on the I-275 beltway through Indiana)

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 blue streak 1 on Sunday, November 15, 2020 8:16 PM

CDC is expeecting 400,000 excess deaths over number normally expected for the year 2020.  Of that number probably 60 - 65 % directly attributed to Covid=19.  Following article is rather scary as it appears many persons have not gotten medical help due to Covid-19 concerns. 

https://newatlas.com/health-wellbeing/excess-deaths-coronavirus-united-states-covid-2020/?itm_source=newatlas&itm_medium=article-body 

Wonder how that compares with the 1918 flu epidemic ?? 

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Posted by rvos1979 on Monday, November 16, 2020 6:42 AM

mudchicken

More likely it was Indiana feeling left out. (Sounds like Randy is going south on the I-275 beltway through Indiana)

I did, sailed through at 1800 last night, only had to deal with one moron on their phone while driving. Wasn't too bad yesterday, other than the crosswind in IL and IN..........

Randy Vos

"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings

"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV

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Posted by JoeKoh on Monday, November 16, 2020 2:38 PM

afternoon

Winds have calmed down since yesterday.Plenty of small branches for us to pick up.Ns had some cars to switch around uptown after work.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 Monday, November 16, 2020 4:08 PM

Still pretty breezy here - had a gust of 38 MPH here at the house around 1AM and it's been holding at 10MPH for most of the day.

Fortunately, I don't have any major outside projects.

I do still have to cover and mulch the bulb garden at the front of the house.  Daughter learned to put down a couple of layers of newspaper then cover it with mulch.  It works pretty good, I just can't do it in the wind - hard to make the newsprint stay down while you're trying to spread the mulch.

Got a couple of antenna cables into the house - now I have to finish routing them to the ham shack.

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 Monday, November 16, 2020 7:31 PM

Pardon my absence and subsequent attempts to catch up on things.

Randy, does the Illinois Tollway System still have (or enforce) a trailer ban in times of heavy wind?  I used to hear about that fairly often, but not in the last several years.

Cincinnati:  If the C&O bridge is still open I'll bet it's plugged!

We're hunkering down pre-Thanksgiving.  I had a passing appointment with an oncology nurse today--she was happy with the way my labs have turned out, but the big one (PSA) wasn't among today's tests.

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 mudchicken on Monday, November 16, 2020 9:07 PM

C&O Bridge (and 1974 Clay Wade Bailey Bridge attached to it) are the next bridge upstream and are getting quite the workout. (US-17 Dixie Hwy & US-42/25 are its primary users).....Kentucky side thinks its too rusty - must be gorgeous to the naysayers about now)

They are now talking a bridge closure for months (!?)....biggest issue is said to be the post tensioned reinforced concrete decks...stretched & deformed wire strands no longer have their former tensile strength

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 mudchicken on Monday, November 16, 2020 9:08 PM

C&O Bridge (and 1974 Clay Wade Bailey Bridge attached to it) are the next bridge upstream and are getting quite the workout. (US-17 Dixie Hwy & US-42/25 are its primary users).....Kentucky side thinks its too rusty - must be gorgeous to the naysayers about now)

They are now talking a bridge closure for months (!?)....biggest issue is said to be the post tensioned reinforced concrete decks...stretched & deformed wire strands no longer have their former tensile strength...

Polar Express at CRRM-Golden is gamely soldiering on.

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 tree68 on Monday, November 16, 2020 10:53 PM

mudchicken
Polar Express at CRRM-Golden is gamely soldiering on.

We threw in the towel quite some time ago.  

Too much unpredicability with COVID - we are now seeing a surge in NYS which likely would have killed the event even if we had held on.

One of our biggest issues is sanitizing 10 passenger cars and the two "backstage" cars.  Running two trains on one night would be virtually impossible.

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 rvos1979 on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 6:54 AM

Carl, the only bans I'm aware of are the long double/triple bans on the Indiana and Ohio turnpikes, and they were in effect Sunday. Never heard of one put out by the Illinois Tollway.........

Randy Vos

"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings

"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 8:00 AM

CShaveRR
Pardon my absence and subsequent attempts to catch up on things.


Randy, does the Illinois Tollway System still have (or enforce) a trailer ban in times of heavy wind?  I used to hear about that fairly often, but not in the last several years.

Maryland bans empty box trailers in high wind conditions from crossing the Francis Scott Key Bridge (outer harbor bridge on Baltimore Beltway) and the Susquehanna River Bridges (both I-95 and US-40) .  All those bridges have large open spaces for winds to develop and act upon the sides of trailers.  Surprisingly I am not aware of the same kinds of restrictions on the Potomac River Bridge in Southern Maryland.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by tree68 on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 10:24 AM

The bridges across the St Lawrence River at the Thousand Islands and Ogdensburg will ban trucks in wind situations.  Such trucks are not usually banned, but certainly are warned on the N-S I81  as appropriate.

Last time they tried to keep trucks off the Interstate the chaos that ensued was worse than allowing the trucks to go.

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 SD70Dude on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 11:51 AM

Double stacked empty containers have speed restrictions in certain weather conditions, and we have wind detectors at a number of tall bridges. 

There have been numerous cases of empty double stacks being blown over in high winds, including right off of bridges.

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by rvos1979 on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 2:01 PM

Latest news on the Brent Spense bridge says that Kokosing will have it repaired and open by Christmas, main structure is sound, only top deck and several upper deck floor beams need to be replaced..........

Randy Vos

"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings

"May the Lord take a liking to you and blow you up, real good" - SCTV

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Posted by JoeKoh on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 2:54 PM

afternoon

Ns has some cars to get uptown.Csx did issue high wind warning for Sunday.The Ohio turnpike as well was shut down to certain semi traffic as well.I don't think Ns ran anything over the sandusky bay.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 Electroliner 1935 on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 5:27 PM

tree68
mudchicken
Polar Express at CRRM-Golden is gamely soldiering on. 

We threw in the towel quite some time ago.  

Too much unpredicability with COVID - we are now seeing a surge in NYS which likely would have killed the event even if we had held on.

One of our biggest issues is sanitizing 10 passenger cars and the two "backstage" cars.  Running two trains on one night would be virtually impossible.

Likewise at FRTM. We run 44 seat exCTA cars and at 25% occupancy, it just doesn't work. Got one night of Haunted Ghost Story trains in and had to cancel the next. Big lose of revenue.

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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 2:36 PM

afternoon

Ns has more cars to move uptown.Somebody thought it would be great to move things from one corner of the warehouse to the other.We'll see how they like it tomorrow.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").

 

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 2:47 PM

Electroliner 1935
We run 44 seat exCTA cars and at 25% occupancy, it just doesn't work.

Most of our coaches are 60+ seats - and those seats are chiefly cloth.  Just that much harder to sanitize.

It takes just as much fuel to power that 12 car train at lower capacity as it does to run it full (500+ pax).  The variables go down (cocoa, cookies, royalties) but not much of anything else does.

Cases are starting to rise in the area - increasing the possibility that we'd get cancelled out anyhow...

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
    April 2003
  • From: Defiance Ohio
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Posted by JoeKoh on Thursday, November 19, 2020 3:47 PM

afternoon

Ns was clear after work.Ran errands in town after work.Wishing today was Friday but tomorrow is.Off to do chores.

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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