Jeffrey's Trackside Diner For June 2025

[Water_Level_Route]

Good Morning all. Chloe, coffee and toast please.

Youngest daughter played in a charity soccer tournament yesterday. The weather forecast called for high winds and mostly cloudy. They got the wind part right. Unfortunately for me, they got the idea of cloud cover wrong. First sunburns of the summer for me.

Spent some time last night cleaning and organizing some of the bits stored under the layout. Certainly looks better, but I could still use some various sizes of storage bins to clean up some other stuff. For example, I have all my scenery making supplies in a huge storage bin, that is at best 1/3 full when you actually look in it. A couple smaller ones so I can divide up ground cover, ballast, etc, would be nice.

Fired up an old computer I keep under the layout when I was done as I wanted to play an old railroad computer game I have (Rails Across America) since it won’t play on anything newer than Windows XP. It fired up okay, but the CD rom was stuck closed for some reason. Will have to do some exploratory surgery to find out why. Some other time perhaps.

The high winds we had made the power blink yesterday, but nothing more that I know of. Certainly not the type of stuff a couple of you guys have been seeing. I hope it calms down for you.

Hope everyone has a nice Sunday!

[gmpullman]

@Water_Level_Route

It fired up okay, but the CD rom was stuck closed for some reason. Will have to do some exploratory surgery to find out why.

Don’t forget that little pin-hole you can push a wire into (opened up paper clip?) which forces the drawer open. I’ve had to resort to this occasionally when my drawers get sticky. Hate it when that happens

We hosted my granddaughter’s HS graduation party yesterday. Maybe 30 folks. Fun time and lots of happy campers. Five girls and three cats camped out in the caboose. I set up a little relaxing area near the fire pit.

Dee Ann and I visited a little tavern by the river last summer and they had several of these ‘tête-à-tête’ chair-table combos and we decided then that we had to find a couple for the relaxing area. This is a few steps from the caboose. a great spot to while-away the evening! Junior finds the spot just right for a nap!

Cheers, Ed

[richhotrain]

[Water_Level_Route]

'Morning diners. Flo, how about an ice cold grape juice. It’s too hot for coffee.

@gmpullman

Don’t forget that little pin-hole you can push a wire into (opened up paper clip?) which forces the drawer open.

I wondered if that was what that was I was seeing. I tried a track nail, but didn’t hit anything. Will have to try a paper clip instead.

Well, yesterday did NOT go as I had planned. Opened the refrigerator about noon to find the inside at 55 degrees. They don’t make that size refrigerator anymore (larger now), so cabinets are being moved, flooring patched (they placed the cabinets and then tiled around them), and a new fridge will be here Wednesday. Not how I wanted to spend my Sunday, or next couple of evenings for that matter. Oh well. We replaced the stove and microwave this spring, but I put off the refrigerator as I knew what kind of work it was going to be. At least now they will all be new. At 15 years old, they were all due, as all had acted up to varying degrees.

[Tin_Can_II]

WLR: Thanks for the picture of Sinclair tank cars. My grandfather owned and operated a Sinclair gas station/truck stop/cafe in Boerne, TX during the 40’s and 50’s. He lost it to eminent domain seizure when they built Interstate 10. I have one picture of it; at some point I intend to scratchbuild it and place it on my layout.

[Water_Level_Route]

Thanks Tin Can, and welcome back! Your grandfather’s truck stop would make for a neat addition for your layout. Glad my photo brought some hopefully pleasant memories for you.

Don’t be a stranger in here.

[York1]

Good morning, diners. I’ll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, Flo.

Mike, I’ve had to go the paper clip route several times when I worked. I was surprised that sometimes, I had to push pretty hard to make it open.

It’s good to be home again. The lawn was about three feet high, but other than that, it’s good to be here.

It was good to see all the grandchildren. It was also good that now that they are older and waterproofed, we could relax while all the kids are in the water. It was a week of boating, jet skiing, eating, drinking, and sun. The daughter’s lake house was nice and fit sixteen people comfortably. The lake was huge – a hundred miles from the dam to the end, with over a thousand miles of shore. Pretty amazing for our part of the country.

Since the lake has many steep sides, we saw quite a few places with what I called a ‘funicular’ to get from the house to the dock. I found out the ones we saw actually are called inclined elevators. Evidently funiculars are the kind with two cars that counterbalance each other. These inclined elevators are just single cars with a cable winch.

Time to head outside to make more reparations for a week off.

Not exactly what we are talking about in this month’s diner, but it’s still a type of transit if you squint your eyes. An inclined elevator:

Have a great day, diners.

[Lost_in_A2]

On the subject of transit trains, I present:

[South_Bank_Terminal]

Hi Flo’, please could I have two ‘Weetabix’ and milk and a white coffee, thank you.

Good morning Diners, the weather has returned to it’s more usual temperate self, but that did not stop us out and about yesterday, following in the footsteps of Romans marching (and driving) along ‘Dere Street’ above Jedburgh in Scotland.

Meanwhile, the ‘London Overground’ is a suburban rail network that loops around the capital, connecting areas not well served by the Underground. It is run by Transport for London (TfL) and has grown into a vital part of the city’s transport system.

Officially proposed in the early 2000s as part of a broader vision to improve orbital rail connections around London, TfL took over neglected suburban rail lines, launching the Overground network on 11 November 2007.

181.4 million passenger journeys were made between April 2023 and March 2024, nearly 500,000 journeys per day on average, which is good for a network that didn’t even exist two decades ago.

As of 2025, the Overground has been rebranded into six named lines to reflect London’s rich history and communities:

• Lioness Line: Watford Junction to Euston
• Mildmay Line: Richmond/Clapham Junction to Stratford
• Suffragette Line: Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside
• Windrush Line: Highbury & Islington to New Cross, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace and West Croydon
• Weaver Line: Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt, and Chingford
• Liberty Line: Romford to Upminster

I like the Superelevation caught in this photo.
Paul.

[_JaBear]

Gidday Chloe, a hot chocolate, please. Looks like we’re going to get another light frost again in the morning, but the log burner is stoked up and keeping us cozy.

I hope all is well or as well as it can be, good to see you had some good family time there Yorkl1John, and I hope David and Dawn are enjoying the Highlands.

My use of suburban trains goes back to when I was living and working in Sydney, Australia, some 43+ years ago.

Came across these photos in Flickr of the type of cars I would have commuted on, appears some of the cars introduced in the 1920s have been preserved.

NSW Railways - Single Deck Suburban Train by Garry Sanders, on Flickr

These were only 10 years old at the time.

Sydney backwater by Bingley Hall, on Flickr

Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them. Kia Kaha.

Cheers, the Bear.

[Water_Level_Route]

Good Morning Diners. Janie, bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee please.

Got a bunch of work on the kitchen done last night, including getting the upper cabinets mounted to the wall, and the base cabinet sitting in place waiting to be fastened. My to-do list for tonight is shorter, so I should be 100% ready for the new refrigerator tomorrow, with relatively small things left to do once it is in. This has been such a headache.

Bear, talking about frost made me chuckle, given the temperatures we’ve been seeing lately.

South Bank, is what looks like a gap in the tall grasses the path the Romans used?

A2

York1, an incline elevator?! Interesting.

[gmpullman]

I’ve been ‘nurturing’ yet another stray cat these past couple of weeks. She is really scared and only recently has allowed me to come within six feet of her. This morning is the second time I’ve seen her in daylight (0600).

Sadie After a Meal by Edmund, on Flickr

She has made the acquaintance of nearly all our other kitties and ‘blends in’ with the bunch just fine. This is a grab shot at 3 AM a few days ago:

Vagabond Kitty June 12 by Edmund, on Flickr

There must be some kind of Kitty directory these guys are using to find their way here! Of course it sure doesn’t help that there are idiots out there who will dump an animal like it was yesterday’s trash…

I think the Burlington commuter trains are nicknamed ‘Scoots’. I’ll have to figure out the origin of that name. I’ve ridden them out to Aurora on the ‘Race Track’ years ago:

Burlington Northern - Roosevelt Road by d.w.davidson, on Flickr

Speaking of the Race Track, this happened in La Grange last week:

Freight train hits semi truck in La Grange IL

Truck drivers just can’t seem to remember that they have another fifty or sixty feet of vehicle behind them!

Cheers, Ed

[richhotrain]

@gmpullman

Speaking of the Race Track, this happened in La Grange last week:

That was quite the talk on local TV here in the Chicago area.

Rich

[richhotrain]

@gmpullman

I’ve been ‘nurturing’ yet another stray cat these past couple of weeks. She is really scared and only recently has allowed me to come within six feet of her. This morning is the second time I’ve seen her in daylight

My wife and I have trapped (humanely) several stray cats that have paid us multiple visits over the years.

One of them we called Mama after she had a litter of kittens in our basement window well. She allowed us to pick them up and feed them for weeks before arranging adoptions by co-workers. We eventually trapped her and brought her inside to live with us. Had her for 16 years.

Rich

[NKP_guy]

@gmpullman

There must be some kind of Kitty directory these guys are using to find their way here!

I think some cats put chalk marks on our curb to indicate we’re cat-friendly people, the same way hobos would mark fences.

We also had a stray tortoise shell with her four kittens show up one morning looking for a hand-out. We eventually found new homes for the kittens; fourteen years later mama is still here–running the yard.

[South_Bank_Terminal]

Hi, yes that gap is the path, looking north. I am just turning off the short metaled section at UK Postcode TD8 6RP, which runs from TD8 6BF, where the car is here.

I have not driven along the path (not permitted) - this view is looking south. I have travelled from the east, up to this signpost. South is the signboard pointing to the right.

There are also Pennymuir Roman camps to the south and Woden Law Hillfort, which we staggered-up last year.
Paul.

[York1]

Good morning, diners. Brunhilda, I’ll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.

Bear, it’s always that way with me – when it’s summer, I wish for the colder days of winter, and when it’s winter…! In the U.S., the migration is moving people from the cold northern states to the southern warmer ones – Florida, Texas, Arizona, etc. Me? I much rather move north to a cabin in the Canadian forest somewhere.

Mike, I hope the kitchen renovation goes well. Once finished, it should be great. Having a new, bigger refrigerator will also help!

Ed, when we lived in New Orleans, our neighbor was an old widow who would make crab cakes in her kitchen for a local restaurant. She had screen doors, but left the inside door open. With the smell of cooking seafood, it was not unusual to have 25 cats outside her doors. (Not exaggerating the numbers!) My wife and I love cats, but not that many. The small yard between our houses was infested with so many fleas, we had to avoid it. The worst time was when she propped the screen door open and the cats got into her house. My wife spent hours helping the lady get the cats out.

Paul, that is a very interesting place with the Roman history. Outside of some cliff dwellings or burial grounds, we don’t have much in North America with that age of ruins.

That reminds me of something I posted several years ago. About 60 miles west of us is a lonely monument/grave from 1852. Some families were moving west when the mother died. The father put his kids on some other wagons, and he took his own wagon and horse teams back to Missouri. He sold the horses and wagon, and with the money he had a stone monument made for his wife. He then got a wheelbarrow and walked with the wheelbarrow and stone over 200 miles to his wife’s grave. He then headed west and eventually met up with the rest of his family in California.

A local historical group does its best to protect the grave site. It’s a pretty lonely grave out here on the Nebraska prairie. In the far distance, trees mark the Platte River (A mile wide and an inch deep.)

It looks like we’re due for more rain, so I will have to work on the layout instead of the outdoor projects.

Have a great day, everyone.

The old City Hall Station in New York City’s subway. This station closed in 1945:

Photo by Rhododendrites

[Tin_Can_II]

Wow York1; that is a powerful testament to the love between a husband and wife. I don’t know which would have been harder, giving up the kids, or walking 200 miles with a laden wheelbarrow. Thanks for posting this.

[South_Bank_Terminal]

Thanks for relating that story York1.
Seeing that Prairie in the photo reminded me of a song written by Stan Rogers - performed at a Folk-club by visiting American musician John McCormick, taken from his ‘Mercury’s Well’ album (1992)
The Field Behind the Plow
I liked that song the moment I heard it and sort of managed to play it at the Club a while later, but I couldn’t manage it now.
Paul.

[der5997]

Absolutely rivetting story about that grave marker. True love!

Nova Scotia baking at 32 Celsius
Too hot and windy to risk planting out our bush bean seedlings.

This forced me to stay indoors and make another batch of trees.

They will go on the ledge right above the lake.

Looks like I am going to have to think seriously about painting that white plaster …

Dark and deep under the mountain, shelving gravells on the other shore…easier said than done, but we’ll give it a go…

Enjoy your day…