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You might be a railfan if...

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Posted by JPS1 on Monday, December 21, 2020 9:04 AM

NKP guy
.....what's the mascot at Altoona High School?  

Mountain Lion!  

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Posted by Charles H Bogart on Sunday, December 20, 2020 11:28 PM

When you are teaching a class - the class hears the train blow for the crossing - they all go silent so you, the teacher, can go to the window and watch CSXT roll by 

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 12:36 PM

rrnut282
 
BaltACD 

Garrett, IN - the Bulldogs were very close to you 

My children's basketball and volleyball teams played them.  (if you hadn't answered this, I was going to ask.)

The Bulldogs referrence is to NKP's home area - we both graduated from the same college.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by rrnut282 on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 12:34 PM

BaltACD

 

 

Garrett, IN - the Bulldogs were very close to you

 

My children's basketball and volleyball teams played them.  (if you hadn't answered this, I was going to ask.)

 

Anyone slow down and look both ways at an abandoned rail crossing (you know, just in case there is a rip in space-time)?

Mike (2-8-2)
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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 11:51 AM

JOHN BARRY
Maybe your tradition is different from others' for naming the job. In western Europe trains are driven by a driver. Machinery is designed and developed by an engineer, as is the permanent way, signalling, communications, PTC etc.

The reason the person that runs the locomotive is called "Engineer" is because the first few that were built, the only person that knew how to run it was the engineer that designed and built it (he didn't just draw up some plans, he was totally involved in the construction of the parts and the assembly of those parts).  The name just carried over to the next person that got the job of running the engine.

My grandfather was just the Janitor at the library, (he swept the floor, emptied the trash and did simple repairs), but he was called the "Building Engineer" because he operated the boiler and steam powered air conditioning pump ... the people that designed and built that machinery were engineers and were the only ones that knew how to make it work.  When my Grandfather was hired, the title just carried over to him.

The dictionary now lists one of the definitions as "one who operates an engine".

 By the way:

The Engineer runs the engine and the Conductor conducts the train.  This was settled in a fist fight early in RR history... the Conductor wanted the train to go and the Engineer didn't.  The Conductor tried to take over the engine, but was stopped by the Engineer.  A fist fight ensued on the ground next to the train.  The Conductor won the fight, but had to concede to the Engineer the exclusive right to run the engine.  The engineer had to do what the Conductor said, but the Conductor was not allowed to touch the controls.

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 10:17 AM

Proctor HS in Minnesota calls its teams the Rails.

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 BaltACD on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 10:08 AM

NKP guy
 
BaltACD
My education from High School through college graduation as viewed by the schools nicknames - Railroaders.... 

  The only high school that I've heard of that has "Railroaders" as its mascot is Collinwood High School in Cleveland...because of the New York Central's shops and yards just down the street.  Are there others in the USA that have the same mascot name?  For example, what's the mascot at Altoona High School?  Or at Croton (or would that be Harmon?), NY?  What about Roseville High School in California?

Garrett, IN - the Bulldogs were very close to you

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by NKP guy on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 10:01 AM

BaltACD
My education from High School through college graduation as viewed by the schools nicknames - Railroaders....

  The only high school that I've heard of that has "Railroaders" as its mascot is Collinwood High School in Cleveland...because of the New York Central's shops and yards just down the street.  Are there others in the USA that have the same mascot name?  For example, what's the mascot at Altoona High School?  Or at Croton (or would that be Harmon?), NY?  What about Roseville High School in California?

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 9:39 AM

Erik_Mag
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 education from High School through college graduation as viewed by the schools nicknames - Railroaders Bulldogs Boilermakers Trailblazers Golden Flashes.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by NKP guy on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 7:47 AM

cefinkjr
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.

   I thought in western Pensivania that a shot of Imp (Imperial) is chased with a fishbowl of Iron ("arn") City beer; not dumped into it.

   In Texas, Wiki says, a shot and a beer is called a two-step, not a Boilermaker.

   By the way, I think it's against the law in Pensivania to have a bar and not have a mounted deer head in the establishment, preferably over the shelves of liquor.

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Posted by rdamon on Wednesday, December 16, 2020 6:33 AM

My thermodynamics professor was a Boilermaker.  Everytime the basketball team lost we had a quiz.  A 30% or higher usually curved to a A. Confused

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Posted by Erik_Mag on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 11:10 PM

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.

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 10:03 PM

RKFarms
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.

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.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by RKFarms on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 9:47 PM

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.

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 5:38 PM

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?

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 5:18 PM

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

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Posted by JMK on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 4:59 PM

I'm glad none of these apply to me, and I am a rail fan and have tons of photos to prove it.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 4:37 PM

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.

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Posted by BaltACD on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 4:02 PM

Dr Leonard
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]

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!

              

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Posted by Dr Leonard on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 3:53 PM

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]

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 1:51 PM

When your beloved smiles knowingly when the two of you see a railroad situation on the program that you're watching.

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 D&HRetiree on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 1:50 PM

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.

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Posted by wjstix on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 1:50 PM

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.

 
...or when they report a derailment involving "tanker cars" and "flatbed cars".
 
Purdue U. got the "Boilermakers" nickname because in the early days of college football they used to recruit strong (but not necessarily literate) employees from a local railroad heavy repair shop to play in their homegames.
 
Speaking of prestigious Big 10 institutions - and since someone mentioned MacDonald's - I just heard that the MacDonald's at 15th Ave SE and SE 4th St. in Minneapolis is closing. It's located in the "Dinkytown" neighborhood by the University of Minnesota, and is right above the old (below grade) Great Northern line that originally went across the Stone Arch Bridge a few blocks west of there. At one time, the U's model railroad club was located just a block or two away.
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Posted by D&HRetiree on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 1:47 PM

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.

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Posted by Conrail Quality 352 on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 1:04 PM

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.  

 

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Posted by cefinkjr on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 11:42 AM

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.  

 

Chuck
Allen, TX

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 11:04 AM

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.

 

If'n they was to do that, I might have to change my university allegiance to Purdue, and start watching college sports!

 

 

Semper Vaporo

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Posted by RKFarms on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 10:38 AM

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.

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Posted by NKP guy on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 10:24 AM

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.  

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, December 15, 2020 9:53 AM

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?

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