For July, Brent has suggested that we stick close to home. Who’s home you may ask? Why everyone’s home, either current or past. If you have lived in seven places around the world then hopefully you can show us railroading (or other) information from as many of those locations as possible. This should be an interesting month with lots of variety!
As always, we wish to honour those forum members who have gone before us. Kevin has kindly brought the RIP list up to date:
Dave
THANKS for the seamless move of the Diner, Dave!
Happy Canada Day (or Dominion Day, if you please) to the folks up there [:)]
CN_Toronto by Edmund, on Flickr
Looking forward to another month of Fun and Adventure —
Cheers, Ed
I’m going to take the liberty of starting the Diner off in my own backyard, more or less. Toronto is blessed with the Toronto Railroad Heritage Association and one of their gems is the John Street Roundhouse and Museum. Here are a few pics:
The bridge being rebuilt:
The TRHA museum occupies three stalls, but no space is wasted in the roundhouse. The Steam Whistle Brewery is right inside:
Some folks touring the inside of the roundhouse:
Here is a tour of the museum and park:
Dave
For those of you who were looking for information about ‘Johnboy’, Ulrich just sent me this:
Dave,
I just read that Johnboy is MIA for quite some time. His nome de plume was last mountain & eastern hogger and his last post was on Feb. 25th, 2020. If I remember correctly, he suffered from cancer of the esophagus and the surgery didn´t go to well, leaving him having to live off liquidified food. As he disappeared at the time of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreading rapidly, I am afraid we may have lost him. Unfortunately I do not know his clear name.
Ulrich
Dave
Good Morning All and Happy Canada Day to our northern neighbours.
Hope Ulrich is mistaken about Johnboy but given the circumstances lately, i also fear the worst. Thanks for passing the message on though Dave.
Still haven’t caught up posts and still dividing time between the old house, new house and shop. We have three weekends in a row coming up starting next week and we have probably three cars going down to the wire. Load out starts next Monday.
Have the last of the train tables cut up to move. I had to pull a total of four turnouts in the yard section so I could cut the six by eight table into two pieces as it neither fit out the basement door as is nor would it go into the new basement. The CFO for some reason didn’t want to give up a room on the main floor for it so it is now cut and ready to go. The river canyon didn’t make out so well either but is mostly intact. The mirror at the back bit the dust as I had used construction adhesive to attach it to the wall. So it goes.
All for now, I hope the rest of you are doing well. Ciao, J.R.
Thanks for starting the July diner and for the photos of the museum. It looks like a neat place.
Another day with not much going on. Fireworks outside, nice and cool inside.
Virtually everyone here has central AC. We live in a part of North America where in February we had -35°F (-37°C) and in June we had 105°F (40.5°C) with high humidity. We very seldom see any house with window AC. It’s kind of expected that everyone has central air and heat.
Growing up, my parents didn’t like running the AC too much, so during the summers I would sleep in our unfinished basement. It was dark and cool.
I don’t have too many train photos of my area, so I will need to get out and take some soon to post here.
Have a good day, everyone.
Good morning diners.
Yardwork is on my agenda for the day, followed by a trip to the grocery store and some Chinese food for dinner.
I hope all are well.
Dave… thank you for setting up the new diner. How do we decide who’s turn it is?
My parents only ran the A/C at night. Both my sisters still only run the unit when the sun is down.
Not me, my 3 ton unit keeps my 1,300 Square Foot House at 72 degrees year-round.
[ip]
-Kevin
Good morning and happy Canada Day.
Dave … Thanks for moving the Diner . The Toronto museum looks very nice. I used to go to Toronto when we lived in Michigan. I rode the train before VIA Rail. CN’s Tempo train from Windsor to Toronto was very nice. I recall seeing the CN Tower under construction as we arrived in Toronto.
As was discussed, the July Diner will have convesations about places where we currently live or previously live. I don’t have much time today, but in the dyas ahead. I can talk about railroads in places I lived (TX, TN, MO, IL, CO, MI, and KY). I was in Illinois from age 5 to 18, and that is the era I model. Much of what I post will pertain to that. I save it for another day.
In the convesation about MIA’s I am remembering “Grampy’s Trains” AKA DJ. He posted great pictures in Weekend Photo Fun of his very nice PRR layout. Suddenly, he quit posting at least 4 years ago now. Nobody was able to find out what happened to him.
Happy Model Railroading.
Is that roundhouse in Toronto the same one that was at the foot of the tall tower? I remember visiting some years ago and just sitting in the tower and watching the trains for a long time. It was still part of the functioning railroad back then.
Good Afternoon Guys,
Flo, a grilled ham & cheese sandwich please.
Nothing much to talk about from my end of the woods. Just wanted to let you guys know I’m upright and taking nourishment.
Happy Canada Day to our northern neighbors!
Cheers,
Good morning Diners.
Dave - Thanks for the smooth moving of the diner.
This month, all share the area(s) they call home.
My home is in the snowbelt of rural NW Pennsylvania. (We average around 120" of snow each year.) Weather can be hot and humid in summer (High 102F just on Tuesday with “feels like” of 108F) to very cold and snowy in winter, with frequent “Lake Effect” snow storms.
In my area, It was (formerly) NKP, NYC, PRR, Erie, the GE Locomotive plant, and a oil hauler turned tourist line, now the OC&T.
Now, they are NS, CSX, Buffalo & Pittsburgh (G&W Family), Western New York & Pennsylvania Railroad, WABTEC, and Oil City & Titusville lines.
We also have a pair of RailTrails (Both ex PRR, built by Western New York & Pennsylvania Railway) and a museum in North East Pa, the Lakeshore Railway Museum, which is located alongside the CSX & NS tracks and hosts a VirtualRailfan RailCam. (They have several GE built locomotives, as well as railcars, both freight and passanger, on their display grounds, with the gift shop and indoor displays inside a former NYC {Lake Shore & Michigan Southern} depot.)
There is also a display locomotive in Corry Pa, inside their historical museum, open by appointment only, of a Climax steam locomotive, as well as a second Climax display unit in the works. (Climax Locomotives were built in Corry Pa.)
I will share some information on them all as we go through the month.
First, the WNY&P. This line is still “Alco Heaven”, but not quite as much as it used to be, with the arrival of rebuilt GE AC46C6M units they have purchased, that have (mostly) taken over the role they used big 6 axle Alco & MLW power for. But the local’s still use almost exclusively 4 axle Alco & MLW power, including 3 operating Alco C430 units! (Very rare unit
I just ordered tires for the Impala.
I decided to go with the exact tires that were originally installed on it. Firestone Firehawk GT radials. It always rode very well with almost no road noise.
$900.00 and an eight day delivery time. The original set lasted 51,000 miles, so I guess that is reasonable.
This is the first time I have had to replace tires on one of my wife’s cars in over 20 years. We normally replaced the car long before it needed tires.
-Kevin
Good Morning Everyone,
Chloe, a large black coffee in a New York Central mug please (Cedarwoodron, you out there?)
Hope you guys don’t mind the “other” option here. With the 4th of July just about upon us, I wanted to share my hometown’s claim to fame. Presenting the world famous Scottville Clown Band performing a couple of their signature songs. This group always closes out the 4th of July parade here followed by an impromptu concert at the end of the parade route. They are wonderful entertainment. Just plain fun.
That is pretty neat. They all look like they are having a great time.
Thank goodness you didn’t drop some I.C.P. in the Diner! [+o(]
-Kevin
Good afternoon Diners. A large coffee please, Janie.
An enjoyable few hours playing Seniors’ Cricket.
An ‘old timer’ tram at Beamish Museum, County Durham. Picture taken before Covid outbreak. The Conductor (man in brown coat) is my son.
Tynemouth Priory - at the entrance to the River Tyne.
David
Both my GMC Canyons, a 2003 and a 2009 kept their factory tread until well after 75,000 mi. — even then, I only replaced them because, well, they were getting old. Tread wear was negligible. The “exact” replacement tires lasted just over 25-30,000 mi… Factory equipment seems to always be superior to any replacement part. “Genuine” or otherwise.
This Nickel Plate Hudson is on an excursion stopped at the East Cleveland station, only about a mile from my boyhood home.
Nickel Plate Hudson 175 by Edmund, on Flickr
I didn’t make the trip. I was only two at the time, dad was laid off so probably couldn’t afford the fare anyway. Sure would like to find one of these NKP “compact” Hudsons in HO!
Cheers, Ed
I have replaced the tires on my 2008 Colorado three times, every 50,000 miles.
Once they get that old, they tend to slide in rain even though they still have usable tread. We get so much rain down here that I do not take chances with wet traction.
The tires are P225-75-R15, which is available with very long-wear tread styles.
The Impala takes P235-50-R18, which are mostly performance “rated” tires, and much more expensive.
-Kevin
Good Morning All,
Just a regular to go please Zoe. Kevin, $900.00 isn’t bad for a set of 18’s. The higher performance tires never seem to last that long but they sure do work well.
Hopefully we will have the last of the basement and garage cleared out tomorrow and we can keep on cleaning up the rest.
All for now, catcvh you all later. Ciao, J.R.
Good morning … Have some scrumptios goodies from Kirchhoff’s bakery in Paducah. We were there yesterday. … Cinnamon roll, sticky bun with pecasn and raisins, bear claw, and appricot almond yummy thingee. … Each one is huge.
Not shown is a loaf of cranbeerry walnut bread we also puchased.
…
I see some great photos and videos have been psoted.
Ricky … I like pictures and the video of Alcos on the WNY&P .
Ed … The NKP locomotive is beautiful.
David … I like the old tram.
Mike … The Clown band was entertaining as you said.
JR … Glad you could save some of the old layout for your new home.
…
As I said, I grew up in Illinois. My family lived very near the CB&Q’s “race track” between Chicago and Aurora. It had thrre tracks , and it was the busiest railraod main line in the Chicago area.
In Weekend Photo Fun, I showed a train on my layout I am currently running with CB&Q and GN F-units in the same consist. I showed one picture of the prototype for example.
Here is another example:
Garry, that “Appricot Almond Yummy Thingee” looks amazing.
Thanks!
[C=:-)] [dinner] [:D]
-Kevin
