Overmod Flintlock76 Best show in town, and it was free! I couldn't count the number of times I bicycled to North Hackensack for lunch or dinner at McDonalds to get the 'honorary steam engine' experience from one or more U34CHs. Why go anywhere else with such a show right across the drive-through lane?
Flintlock76 Best show in town, and it was free!
I couldn't count the number of times I bicycled to North Hackensack for lunch or dinner at McDonalds to get the 'honorary steam engine' experience from one or more U34CHs. Why go anywhere else with such a show right across the drive-through lane?
Well, the Mickey-D's is still there, so's the Pascack Valley Line, as active as ever. The U34CHs? Well, as Lucius would say, "Gone with the snows of yesteryear."
But it's not all bad. A buddy of mine was at that same Mickey-D's earlier this year and saw the NJ Transit CNJ Heritage GP40! The downside?
"Dammit! I didn't have my camera!"
But if you want to relive those days Anchor Videos has a DVD of a head-end ride on the Pascack Valley Line, shot from the cab of a UH34CH! It was shot in 1990, but things haven't changed too much, a lot of what's seen is recognizable to guys like you and me.
I watched it about a dozen times after buying it at a trainshow the previous weekend!
www.train-video.com Look under "Railroad Video Productions.)
Ulrich SD70Dude You are happy to get stopped at crossings. Yeah, I can relate to that one.
SD70Dude You are happy to get stopped at crossings. Yeah, I can relate to that one.
You are happy to get stopped at crossings.
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)
When I hired on as a boiler inspector with The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company in 1991, the logo was a 4-4-0 sans tender numbered 1866 (when the company was founded) in an oval. It drove me nuts how everyone referred to it as a "train." I had to give up telling people that it's a locomotive that's not going to get very far without a fuel supply.
If you are setting with the wife watching TV at home and the local freight blows the horn at one of several crossings and the wife says, listen, did you hear it, they are playing your song.
In response to CShaveRR:
Wow, five trains for one crossing stop? The ultimate railfan "inconvenience"! And totally worth it.
If you sit and enjoy reading all of these posts and just smile because they are all you.
[quote user="Fred M Cain"]
SD70Dude You are happy to get stopped at crossings.
You're watching TV or a movie and you hear a train horn but its the wrong pattern for a crossing!
Regards - Steve
Or there's a train in a scene, and you're trying to figure out (or already know) what museum equipment is being used! (example - A League of Their Own)
Flintlock76 When your skin crawls and your blood pressure rises (Especially if you're a steam freak) when a TV reporter says "The train sounded its whistle..." referring to an accident or incident on a contemporary rail line. It's not a whistle. It's a HORN. H-O-R-N. Blasphemy!
When your skin crawls and your blood pressure rises (Especially if you're a steam freak) when a TV reporter says "The train sounded its whistle..." referring to an accident or incident on a contemporary rail line.
It's not a whistle. It's a HORN. H-O-R-N. Blasphemy!
Speaking of horns, you notice that multiple football teams (including Rutgers University) sound a train horn after big plays. RU has a three-bell horn that I can't easily identify, but Purdue uses my favorite, a Nathan M-5!
jerseyguy Flintlock76 When your skin crawls and your blood pressure rises (Especially if you're a steam freak) when a TV reporter says "The train sounded its whistle..." referring to an accident or incident on a contemporary rail line. It's not a whistle. It's a HORN. H-O-R-N. Blasphemy! Speaking of horns, you notice that multiple football teams (including Rutgers University) sound a train horn after big plays. RU has a three-bell horn that I can't easily identify, but Purdue uses my favorite, a Nathan M-5!
According to on-and-off poster Doctor D while Pere Marquette 1225 was undergoing restoration at Michigan State when they'd got it to the point they could fire it up, they'd blow the whistle for MSU touchdowns! Home games obviously.
Perdue's nickname is "The Boilermakers," I'm suprised they don't have a portable steam boiler with a whistle attached. I mean, they're not called "The Diesel Mechanics."
Just curious, I'm an old Jersey guy myself, what part of NJ are you from?
Flintlock76Perdue's (sic) nickname is "The Boilermakers,"
Does anyone else here think first of a shot & a beer when they see this term?
I agree, Flintlock, it would a unique thing the students would enjoy and promote the town/gown heritage. Local railfans, service organizations and the alumni association would all get some mileage out your fine idea.
Just to be a nitpicker, it's PURDUE, we don't raise chickens.
To add little my quirk to this collection, using local roads instead of interstates when they put you closer to the tracks (especially US30 in Nebraska and US34 in Illinois and Iowa instead of I80.) My wife understands.
NKP guy Flintlock76 Perdue's (sic) nickname is "The Boilermakers," I agree, Flintlock, it would a unique thing the students would enjoy and promote the town/gown heritage. Local railfans, service organizations and the alumni association would all get some mileage out your fine idea.
Flintlock76 Perdue's (sic) nickname is "The Boilermakers,"
If'n they was to do that, I might have to change my university allegiance to Purdue, and start watching college sports!
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
NKP guy That's "an Imp & an Iron" where I come from. True Boilermakers don't just pour the shot into the beer; they put the whole shot glass in the beer glass. Flintlock76 Perdue's (sic) nickname is "The Boilermakers," Does anyone else here think first of a shot & a beer when they see this term? I agree, Flintlock, it would a unique thing the students would enjoy and promote the town/gown heritage. Local railfans, service organizations and the alumni association would all get some mileage out your fine idea.
That's "an Imp & an Iron" where I come from.
True Boilermakers don't just pour the shot into the beer; they put the whole shot glass in the beer glass.
ChuckAllen, TX
That happened to me as a kid living along CR's Danville Secondary. A couple of our tenant's kids accompanied me to the tracks to release a chipmunk I caught in a box trap when a work train was there trimming brush along the tracks. We started a conversation with the crew about the chipmunk we were releasing, when before I knew it we were being escorted into the cab of the four axle EMD pulling the work train. The train had to be moved forward about twenty feet when we were in the cab, and that was my first ever cab ride. I still count that as one of the coolest things that ever happened to me as a child.
If you actually write to the program after Amy tells Sheldon they will ride behind an "Alcoa F4 locomotive." on "big Bang Theory." Too close to Schenectady to let that go past.
Lithonia Operator When you cringe when your local news reporter refers to any passenger train as a "commuter train." The Empire Builder can derail in the middle of nowhere in Montana, and it's a commuter train crash.
When you cringe when your local news reporter refers to any passenger train as a "commuter train." The Empire Builder can derail in the middle of nowhere in Montana, and it's a commuter train crash.
If while being rocked to sleep on CN's Hudson Bay train you wonder why CN put their 4-8-4- sleepers in the "E" series instad of the "Northern" series.
When your beloved smiles knowingly when the two of you see a railroad situation on the program that you're watching.
The local comes into town behind a Niagara with your grandmother's casket in the baggage car, and you get all excited and exclaim to your relatives, "Now I've seen one!" [Me at Butler, Indiana, in 1953]
Dr LeonardThe local comes into town behind a Niagara with your grandmother's casket in the baggage car, and you get all excited and exclaim to your relatives, "Now I've seen one!" [Me at Butler, Indiana, in 1953]
Not from a 'railfan' perspective.
Handling the casket of a Viet Nam causality at Salem, IL with myself, the Baggageman and the undertaker's driver - and attempting to do it with the respect that the soldier deserved.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
RKFarmsJust to be a nitpicker, it's PURDUE, we don't raise chickens.
Whoops! My apologies!
At least Purdue has a nickname, the school I went to, Glassboro State College, didn't have any. In fact, the school motto was "We never heard of you either!"
Interesting, the source of the "Boilermakers" nickname, I thought it was due to the steam and mechanical engineering department the school had. In fact, Purdue got the PRR's stationary test track displayed at the 1904 Saint Louis Fair after the Pennsy was through with it. The story goes it was pulled to the campus by the engineering students with ropes.
PS: Don't ever drink boilermakers on an empty stomach! Don't ask how I know.
I'm glad none of these apply to me, and I am a rail fan and have tons of photos to prove it.
D&HRetiree If you actually write to the program after Amy tells Sheldon they will ride behind an "Alcoa F4 locomotive." on "big Bang Theory." Too close to Schenectady to let that go past.
The later episode where Amy dreams about Sheldon running a steam engine (filmed at LA's Travel Town museum) made me cringe.
He's just yanking the throttle in and out, shouldn't a railfan know not to treat a steam engine like that!?
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
SD70Dude D&HRetiree If you actually write to the program after Amy tells Sheldon they will ride behind an "Alcoa F4 locomotive." on "big Bang Theory." Too close to Schenectady to let that go past. The later episode where Amy dreams about Sheldon running a steam engine (filmed at LA's Travel Town museum) made me cringe. He's just yanking the throttle in and out, shouldn't a railfan know not to treat a steam engine like that!?
Shouldn't ANYONE operating any means of powered transportation know not to do that?
Flintlock76 The story we have heard here for years is that in the early years of the football program, some ringers were brought in to help the team and they came from the Monon shops where, at that time, there were actual boilermakers. Someone in my extended family spent his career in the shops and his earlier years were as a boilermaker. Ruined his hearing, but it was a good living for those days. we could use a little help with the football team now, but the shops are almost gone, only one shell of a building left. RKFarms Just to be a nitpicker, it's PURDUE, we don't raise chickens. Whoops! My apologies! At least Purdue has a nickname, the school I went to, Glassboro State College, didn't have any. In fact, the school motto was "We never heard of you either!" Interesting, the source of the "Boilermakers" nickname, I thought it was due to the steam and mechanical engineering department the school had. In fact, Purdue got the PRR's stationary test track displayed at the 1904 Saint Louis Fair after the Pennsy was through with it. The story goes it was pulled to the campus by the engineering students with ropes. PS: Don't ever drink boilermakers on an empty stomach! Don't ask how I know.
The story we have heard here for years is that in the early years of the football program, some ringers were brought in to help the team and they came from the Monon shops where, at that time, there were actual boilermakers. Someone in my extended family spent his career in the shops and his earlier years were as a boilermaker. Ruined his hearing, but it was a good living for those days. we could use a little help with the football team now, but the shops are almost gone, only one shell of a building left.
RKFarms Just to be a nitpicker, it's PURDUE, we don't raise chickens.
RKFarmsJust to be a nitpicker, it's PURDUE, we don't raise chickens. To add little my quirk to this collection, using local roads instead of interstates when they put you closer to the tracks (especially US30 in Nebraska and US34 in Illinois and Iowa instead of I80.) My wife understands.
Students in the College of Agriculture programs at Purdue may raise a chicken or two...but nothing to compare with Perdue Farms and all their chicken production.
I've got a couple of Boilermakers in my back as this is being typed - my son and one of his friends from Purdue enjoying the winter break. At least Purdue managed to have in person classes in the semester that just ended, albeit more of the class time was on-line vs in-person.
My thermodynamics professor was a Boilermaker. Everytime the basketball team lost we had a quiz. A 30% or higher usually curved to a A.
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