"Our" Place <est 12 Apr 2005> Adults talking Classic Trains!

Classic Trains General Discussion
561

G’day Gents!

Here’s Part Deux of the AM Acknowledgments . . . running rather late this fine day!

Tuesday - May 20th :

Page 28 - Allan at 10:37 PM <____5:37 PM Wednesday NZ time>: Pete mentioned that he was thinking of wearing one of his Brit team jerseys to the ballgame - but better sense prevailed! [B)]

And a good time was indeed had by all. You may be pleased to know that the guys figured you for a natural “fit” amongst our Rendezvous crew. As they say, “Wish you were here!” [tup]

Yes, this area does offer quite a selection of things to see 'n do for those so inclined when it comes to railroading. I hadn’t a clue when first moved in 1977 and actually it wasn’t until I retired in '88 that I began checking things out. I suppose if anything were to alter our Rendezvous IV plans, we’d wind up here one more time. [tup]

First time I was in the Barriger RR library was many years ago when I was a student . . . but my first “serious” visit was with the guys last year. I also had NOT been to the StL Museum of Transportation 'til last year’s Rendezvous

562

G’day Gents!

This being our OP-SHUN-UL Toy ‘n Model Trains Day gala event, I thought I’d accelerate the viewing of the Can-Am City Subway System development now that a “sneak preview” has been released! [swg]

Okay - here are some shots depicting the early construction phase . . . the dates are meaningless in that they do not reflect the dates when the actual work was being done. Just when I got A-ROUNDTUIT for foto taking!

(1) Rough-in for Union Station subway stop

(2) Two consists of R17 cars, etc.

(3) Hanging the subway layout beneath Can-Am City

(4) Testing the clearance

[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/siberianmo/Subway%20system/Can-Am%20Subway%20System/DSC0

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G’day Gents!

My 2008 Canada Rail Odyssey continues . . .

MORE from Day Three: Saturday - May 3rd, 2008

NOTE: The fog lifted to reveal grey skies, but far better visibility. No precip with views much better than aboard the bus in 2007! Blue skies are still ahead - with our return from Gasp__é__ being the best of ‘em all. A wunnerful day was day three! [swg]

(127) From the vestibule of my bedroom car - Chateau Rouville

(128) From the Skyline dome

(129)

(130) [IMG]http://i20.photobu

564

G’day Gents!

No, I’m not trying to set a record - but these were prepared in advance, ‘n I’m gonna make myself scarce, seeing no one’s coming out to play!

Continuing on with Rendezvous III fotos . . . Rule of Six suspended!

“Our” Place Classic Trains Rendezvous III - St. Louis__, MO 2008 - Day One

(33) Busch Stadium

(34) Busch Stadium

(35) Stan Musial Plaza at Busch Stadium

(36) Stan with the Boyz!

[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b

565

Hi Tom and all.

A pint of Bathams please RUTH.[tup]

ALLAN Thanks for the kind words on the photos[tup].

Yes we had a great time at the Rendezvous and I am sure you would have enjoyed being there too[yeah], perhaps one day[tup]. Next time I am at the baseball it will be the football shirt. The Cards shirt I wore was loaned from the bride on the agreement that I did not get anything on it[oops]. As can be seen in Tom’s photo it was lovely and white[tup] that was until I had the Hot Dog at the game[sigh]. I have some photos of me in a Shrewsbury Town FC shirt at the old Busch stadium a few years back now, that I will find and post at the Bar[tup]. I also have an Inverness Caledonian Thistle shirt, mainly because we were in Inverness and the team was being sponsored by ScotRail at the time and had their logo on the front of the shirt.

The Barriger Library is truly a wonderful place for anyone interested in railways[^],[4:-)] Tom introduced me to it just before Rendezvous II. As well a great books the range of magazines and journals is amazing[bow]. I was reading some bound copies of the (British) Railway Magazine from the 1940s and they looked as though they were brand new.

ERIC I noticed the ‘smillies’ is very in a different format, I thought it was my computer.

Thanks for looking to see if there were any photos of 1931 in SJ service[tup]. I hope some turn up, but I guess they must be rare as I would have thought some would have turned up in the British railway press recently as 1931 as just been put back in service after a lengthy overhaul[bow].1931 as now the appearance of the members of the

566

G’day Gents!

Just returned from an evening out with my bride - she “suggested” that we hadn’t gone out for our “traditonal” dinner at “our” favorite restaurant for “my” birthday. Hmmmmmm, I think there was a MESSAGE somewhere in all of that!

Anyway, she deserved it given the effort she put forth during Rendezvous III AND everything else she takes care of 'round here. <an upaid, unsolicited 'n uncoerced announcement!> [swg]

Thanx for the visit, Pete - I’ll cover it in the AM acknowledgments . . .

Continuing on with Rendezvous fotos . . . end of Day One!

“Our” Place Classic Trains Rendezvous III - St. Louis__, MO 2008 - Day One

(42) Appropriate dessert for the day - an ice cream cake!

(43) Are we ready for the show [?] <Note the stuffed toy next to Pete - Juneau put it there!>

[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/siberianmo/3r

567

Good evening Captain Tom and Gentlemen!!

Hello Leon! Just a number 3, regular size, please!

Busy day today. Just a quick stop to get something to eat and check who is here.

Fergie – Thanks for the info on Orpan Knoll![tup] Interesting to hear that the temperature has increased 0.8˚C every year the last three years!

CM3 – Thank you for the weather report![tup] I hope the big light bulb was on all day.[:)] Snow in late May, no fun at all. As far as I know the snow is usually gone by late July or early August at the latest. Maybe. Most of the time. Most of it.[%-)]

Tom – I am afraid I can’t tell you what I did with Nick.[oops] As a matter of fact, it is not what I did, it is what I do, I miss him![;)]

Thanks for the photos of the Can-Am subway![tup] Now I know what those stairs I asked about look like! No escalator?[?]

Nice photos from your trip in early May![tup] Nice views of a cold day in Canada!

The photos from the game remind me of some cold rain coming down that day. But I think it was worth it! [;)]

Wow, I remember that super good cake![dinner] It didn’t last long!

CM3 certainly had a lot of very interesting pictures to show! I guess Juneau had a slightly different opinion about it.[;)]

Pete – I’ll check some more websites for a pict

568

<Big Boy at the StL Museum of Transportation - personal foto>

G’day Gents!

It’s the day BEFORE Friday once again! What’s different [?] Ruth is gone-zo - heading off for a Rendezvous of her own! [wow] [yeah]

Anyway, Cindy will be bartending ‘til her return on Tuesday - so Gents, be kind! [swg]

Coffee has been freshly ground ‘n brewed - pastries stocked in The Mentor Village Bakery case ‘n our ‘n breakfasts on the Menu Board only need orderin’ . . . [tup]

Comments from the Proprietor

NICK has been OH-FISH-UL-LEE declared AWOL! <no Email alert - as regulars “do” - zip, zero, zilch> Last visit to the bar was on May 14th . . . .

Keeping track!

132 fotos from my 2008 Canada Rail O

569

Good Morning Barkeep and all present; coffee, please; round for the house and $ for the jukebox. Weather clear, track fast - temperature in the low 40s this a.m. as I had to get up at approx 4:00 a.m. to ferry folks to meet bus for school trip. Gas is flirting with $4.05/gal. - just in time for Memorial Day as I expected it would.

Thought for the day: On the other hand, you have different fingers.

Pete - Traction engines are tax exempt in the U.K.? We must think about this!

Eric - Good picture of Springfield Union Station. I am glad I just happened to look down the block when we were crossing the street there.

OSP has been sending pictures along. My slides were so bad, they knocked Juneau out? (lol). I liked picture 130 in your Canadian material; the church by the shore. Also, my compliments on the B&O engine cut as well.

Nick, awol? What’s the number for 911?

After looking through Pete’s atlas on the trip to Springfield, I sterted a “back in the day” list.

Railroads serving St. Louis in 1950: B&O, CB&Q, C&EI, CRI&P, SLSF, GM&O, , IC, IT, L&M, L&N, Manufacturers, MKT, MP, NYC, NKP, PRR, St. Louis and O’Fallon, SSW, SOU, TRRA, and WAB.

Railroads serving E. St. Louis in 1950: Alton and Southern, B&O, CB&Q, C&EI, CRI&P, SLSF, GM&O, , IC, IT, L&M, L&N, Manufacturers, MKT, MP, NYC, NKP, PRR, St. Louis and O’ Fallon, St. Louis and Belleville Elec., SSW, SOU, CMStP&O (CNW), TRRA, and WAB.

Alton, IL: CB&Q, GM&O, IT, Mo. and Ill. Bridge, MKT, and NYC.

Carlinville, IL: IT, and GM&O.

Serving Springfield, IL in 1950: B&O, C&IM, GM&O, IC, IT, Springfield Terminal, and WAB.

Work safe

570

G’day Gents!

Good to see our WVA Connection up 'n about <aboot for Rob! > the decks . . . [tup]

Continuing on with Rendezvous III fotos . . . Rule of Six suspended!

NOTE: Day Two began with a trip to St. Louis Union Station . . . it turned out to be a good deal in that the Texas Eagle was going to be “way late” coming in from the south, so we had ample time to peruse the wonders of what had been one of America’s finest railroad stations - back in the day! [tup]

“Our” Place Classic Trains Rendezvous III - St. Louis__, MO 2008 - Day Two

(48) A view of MetroLink while walking to Union Station

<building in background (left center) is where Blues play hockey>

(49) 2nd floor display at StL Union Station <which by the by is NOT an operating station!>

</

571

G’day Gents!

Nearly 4 hours without so much as a visitor - a far cry from “back in the day” of “Our” Place. Not a healthy sign, Gents . . . but, life goes on and as long as I have some material in the hopper, why not Post it, eh [?] It IS NOT a bottomless pit, however!

My 2008 Canada Rail Odyssey continues . . .

MORE from Day Three: Saturday - May 3rd, 2008

VIA Rail trip from Montréal to Gaspé aboard the Chaleur

(133) Scenes from the Skyline Dome en route Gaspé

(134)

(135)

[IMG]http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b222/siberianmo/Canada%202008/Day%20Three/DSC

572

Hi Tom and all.

A pint of Bathams please CINDY[tup] as RUTH is off on her adventure.[swg]

TOM Hope your bride and you had a great night out at the restaurant[tup].

Many thanks for the Rendezvous photos[tup][tup][tup]; to think this time last week we were at Busch Stadium[^]. It was a great slide show we had[bow] and we were lucky we were able to carry on after the bulb burnout.[yeah]

Yes I can see a visit to the Cards shop next time the bride and I go to see the Cards is on the horizon.[sigh][:)]

I AM enjoying the photo spreads with the Canada ones and the Rendezvous III photos[tup][tup][tup]. As you say with the Texas Eagle running late it gave us time for a good look at the railroad items they had in Union Station early before it was busy[^].It really is good that they have some railroad items on show[bow]. What a wonderful place it must have been when all those lines shown in the timetables were running in and out of the station.[wow].

Many thanks for the great coastal views taken from the Chaleur[tup][tup][tup], those great views are surely best seen from a dome car[^]

ERIC I think you will be back home before I leave to cross the Atlantic. I hope the price of the aviation fuel by then, does not bring massive surcharges[:O].

Yes it was a bit strange that there was no one on the miniature train but us

573

G’day Gents*!*

Just a quickie to let Pete know that his latest round of Pix are absolutely stunning in terms of color 'n quality! Well done, Mate! Have one on me!

An Email has been sent to Rendezvous attendees . . .

We took in the opening day of the latest Indiana Jones flick at one of our multi-screen theatre emporiums . . . must admit that it wasn’t a bad way to spend a couple of hours. Harrison Ford is on my bride’s “list” - so I had to go!

There were some heavyweight passenger cars 'n a steam loco in opening scenes . . . but that was it for railroading. Good adventure flick! [tup]

Appears the doldrums has set in, once again - let’s hope the night crew has a better time of it! [tup]

New London, CT train station <courtesy: trainweb.org>

See y’all when the wind shifts! [swg]

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]

574


Well greetings fellow travellers-Leon-extremely large drinks for all-has been a bit of a week here…Had a bit of an electrical storm here thurs & fri last week-usual drill:-flash floods,power cuts,small children/pets with hair stood on end,but as an added bonus,complete loss of phone line-has taken until today to convince the service provider that there is a fault-took 20 minutes to fix [^]-Am smiling cos if I dont I`m going to do something foolish-Hope all is well here-please excuse me if I check out now and go and read whats been happening lately-just thought a “Still alive” post might stop you all thinking I had been abducted by [alien]aliens[alien]



Consider me back-will take time to catch up and be right with you…



[C=:-)]
575

G’day Gents!

NICK has returned 'n is OH-FISH-UL-LEE off the AWOL list! [swg]

Was hoping you hadn’t been abducted by a band of over-zealous Spice-Girl-Wanna-bees!

All’s right with the bar when our Chief Chef [C=:-)] is about <aboot for Rob!> the decks! Speaking of which - where in [banghead] blue blazes is our Manager [?] Hmmmmm. Nick says Mother Nature did him in - wonder what kind of a story we’ll get from Rob [?]

Okay 'nuf of that - fill up your tankard on me, Nick me boy! [tup]

Gonna watch some “thug ball” tonite - Celtcis & Pistons. Man oh man how times 'n the game has CHANGED <my favorite word!> . . .

Catch y’all in the AM!

BR 71000 Class 8 Pacific Duke of Gloucester (Foto: K. Langston)

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]

576

Hi Tom and all,

The usual round of Tuis for all the guys please Leon![yeah]

Tom. Good to see that Nick has shown up again and that the search party can now concentrate on looking for Rob, hope all is OK at his place![%-)] Looking at all of your pics of RV III and the guysit just shows what a great idea you came up with to form "Our Place" in the first place, would have loved to have been there sharing in everything with you all.[sigh] Really enjoyed all the pics of your trip to the baseball, the ones of CM3 Shanes slideshow, and the Union Station with the ones` of Pete and you too. Those were some nice scenic sea shots you took from the Chaleur domecar on the way to Gaspe. Nice pics of the Can-Am RR subway system you are working on too.[wow] Am looking forward to seeing the new Indianna Jones flick over here soon, it was released for viewing over the weekend. Nice shot of The Duke of Gloucester Class 8 BR Pacific.[^][tup][tup][tup]

Eric. Some more great shots of RV III, nice one of the gang in the train, Juneau, Tom and Shane at St Louis Union Station, and a nice shot of Springfield Union Station. Hope you are enjoying getting back to that sunny Pheonix climate again.[;)][tup][tup]

CM3. NZ$6 million works out to be about US$4,645 million give or take, today the NZ$ is at 78.3 cents to the US$. Some nice pics of you with the gang at RV III. Interesting info on the RR companies serving St Louis, Springfield etc. BITD.[^][tup][tup]

Pete. Some gre

577

G’day Gents!

Another most welcome visit - this time from our downunder connection! Good to see ya with all kinds of positive comments!

Didn’t know the NZ dollar would get me such a good deal - I’ll have to cash in those millioin dollar bills stashed in the mattress.

It’s half-time at the basketball game 'n my guyz look rather flat . . . but there’s another half to go 'n who knows . . .

Just wanted to make mention of my apprecition for your continuing support for “Our” Place 'n our small, but dedicated crew! [yeah] Have one on me, Mate!

NZ Ka 969 4-8-4 <photo credit: Steam Incorporated - trainweb.org>

See y’all in the 'morrow!

Tom [4:-)] [oX)]

578

Good evening Gents,I have returned from my dog sled trek looking for the wayward Nick.[:-^]So lean a nice cup of Irish coffee with the extra Irish in it.[:D] Actually just a week of the 7am shifts catching up with me ,but I is here now[:D]

**Tom-**You been a busy boy lots ‘o’ great pictures to enjoy [tup] I’m glad that we didn’t have to call out the guard to find Nick,we all know how unorganized the Mentor Fusiliers are [sigh] I see that Ruth’s winged away to her private Rendezvous [;)] Cindy is always most welcome espeacially since she keeps you so happy[:I]

Fergie must have been seeing mermaids again or was it barmaids [?][(-D] Please keep me posted and in the loop about any possible rolling rendezvous [tup]

The subway set up looks great [tup] hopefully not too much blood was spilt in it’s construction.I like to concider myself as a master of useless information,actually if something intrests me I’ll research it to death,by the books etc etc. heather says we don’t need any more books,I always say there is never such a thing as too many books.I’m the last of teh messed up generation up here. The generations before me were all Imperial measures folks and that’s what they know and work in my generation got taught half n half so we are the great confused generation, the generation since and continuing on are straight metric, who haven’t a clue about inches and miles.They figure in fifteen years the conversion will be complete.

<

579

Good evening Captain Tom and Gentlemen!!

Leon, Steak and Bisquits, please! Don’t forget to add extra marinade! A cold Tuborg Gold, thank you!

It is raining in the desert tonight. The temp is down to 53˚. Where is the heat?

Tom – Escalators? Hmmm, look quite a bit like some… escalators. Hmmm.[:-^]

60˚ in Gaspé? Warm? It must have been indoors. Everything below 75˚ is cold.[yeah]

Springfield Union Station belonged to Illinois Central and their track obviously ran east - west through Springfield while Amtrak is running north - south. But it is a beautiful station building well worth a visit. Photos below. I am glad CM3 saw it when we were heading for the Lincoln home. [:)]

Looking at your pictures from day 2, I can tell we had nice weather that day! [tup]

Question: Photo #138. It looks like the train is heading out onto a tiny island. But that doesn’t make sense so I guess the railroad is following the shore, correct?[?]

New London, CT, train station! Does it have a connection to the Indiana Jones movie?[?] Here is a photo from New London 1993.

BR 71000 is a very good looking locomotive! [:)]

CM3 – On the other hand you have different fingers! So true!! I like that.[:)]

Yes, I am also glad you looked in the right direction and saw Springfield Union Station![:)]

No, I don’t think Juneau thought

580

<Big Boy at the StL Museum of Transportation - personal foto>

Friday’s Grin

Brain Cramps

“Half this game is ninety percent mental.”
–Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark
<I KNOW “Yogi” said that 1st!! [swg]>

G’day Gents!

The end of the work week can only mean one thing - good times for two days coming! [yeah]

Fill up the mugs, check out The Mentor Village Bakery case ‘n order a or breakfast from our Menu Board! [tup]

Comments from the Proprietor

PLEASE visit “my other Thread” especially when there’s been looooooooooong gaps between Posts! [tup]

Keeping track!

138 fotos from my 2008 Canada Rail Odyssey . . .

54 fotos from Rendezvous III

. . . more to follow!