Carl,
I hope you hear what you need to (and maybe want to as well?) with your correspondance.
CN was absolutely crazy the last couple of days. Tuesday I had to run to Neenah in the early evening (around 5 PM) and I saw/heard 8, count 'em 8 trains either just south of, north of or in Neenah. The only problem? Yeah, I forgot my camera at home…DOH!
Happy birthday for you and your fellow Canadians, Bruce! You may return the favor in three days.
It wasn’t the mail I was anticipating, but today we got something I’d never gotten in nearly 40 years of railroad work: a wedding invitation from a fellow CRO. She’s one of my favorites, and I’ve been a mentor and friend to her when she’s needed one, so we’re very honored. And, since it falls during my vacation, we can make it!
Does anyone know what it means when it says “wishing well” on the invitation? I know it has to do with the gifts, since she said they weren’t on any bridal registry, but what’s expected of us? Of course we wish them well, but I think some information is missing.
And thanks, Dan! With this new venue we also celebrate the beginning of Sarcastics Awareness Month.
Camera or no, I think eight trains in that area would have been worth checking out!
Right now I’m waiting for some mail (expected in the next two weeks), and I have to make a phone call (in two or three weeks), and set up an appointment (also in about three weeks). Then I close the anglecock and apply firm, steady upward pressure to the lever…
That is one knockout shot (and, unfortunately, that referred to electrical power for a lot of folks in the area)! It appears to have been taken from one of the apartment buildings in the area. Thanks, Chris! Any idea what those limited-edition prints would sell for?
Spent Canada Day in the Adirondacks, filling in a blank conductor slot on the railroad. We’re still using an F for our locals, which leads to a 10 mile push move. Fortunately, I had two trainmen who knew the territory and were willing to call the moves.
Off day today (not that I don’t have plenty on my “to do” list), then the weekend. Probably EMS bike patrol on the 3rd for one local fireworks display, then hopefully on the river on a fireboat for another on the 4th.
Once again, I proved how outstanding I can be…the night shift was humping well past turnover time, and I was due to relieve one of our female CROs. As is usually the case, she locked the lower door. So I was left out standing until she finished the train and came down to let me in.
Came up the stairs to find a whole section of our yard missing! Below one of the group retarders, all of the switches had been removed, and the area was being regraded. By the time I was relieved, they were using two speed-swings to move one of the new switches into place. I’ve been told that the entire yard is going to get a do-over this way over the summer.
Feeling kind of smug today–helped organize a reunion of sorts for up to a dozen of my high-school classmates in Michigan on Monday. For a fairly spontaneous thing, I think the results will be spectacular. Classmates from the Chicago area (me), Detroit area, and Philadelphia will be there.
I’m certainly no expert on weddings, but I believe ‘wishing well’ is being used here as an adjective and noun - like the little structure of stone with a little roof and a bucket on a windlass, etc. - and not as a verb-adverb combination. In other words, they may have a decorative or ceremonial ‘wishing well’ set up at the reception, into which the guests may deposit whatever gifts they choose for the newlywed couple, and then make a wish for their happy future together. Hopefully someone with more savvy on that point will be able to provide better guidance.
I know the expression towards which you’re heading, Carl - but I think it’s more apropos of the ‘link-and-pin’ era than today’s Janney/ MCB coupler types - or at least not to the ones with the cutting lever on the bottom that you have to push on to get them to function . . . Don’t forget to check the status of the hand brakes, either - on both sides of the cut . . . .[swg] Best wishes to you and Pat on that move, too.
I think that folks are trying to give me some memorable days at work.
Today (and probably tomorrow), I was/will be working with the most vital section of one of my intermediate retarders out of service. I think I did all right today–nothing went down too fast for the Tower C operator to handle.
New switches are being installed or otherwise positioned for installation at our yard. The group that has been removed from service has three of its five replacement switches in position, and they are being welded together–saw a couple of successful thermite welds pulled off. Some of Tower A’s switches are supposed to be replaced Monday (as much as I’d like to watch, I’m grateful that I’ll be far away from the hump on that day!.
UP 1995 (CNW) arrived today; UP 1988 (MKT) is going to enter the area sometime tomorrow. I haven’t kept up on when it will come in (or where), or when (and to where) either of them will depart.
Perhaps the biggest thrill was humping (halfway-humping, anyway, so power could handle them) a block of nine cars–five RBLs for spacers, and four depressed-center cars, each with at least ten axles and weighing at least 280 tons. The loads were huge engine/generator sets–probably slightly wider than the 10’8" clearance gauge and at least as tall as an auto rack, each shrink-wrapped in white opaque plastic. Once the Clearance Bureau okays them, they will head west out of here to San Diego. The UP will handle them as far as Barstow.
Worked today with the bride-to-be, but didn’t get to ask what they were wishing for. Had I been relieved on time, I would have met her fiance, but they had left before I got relieved.
Thanks for sharing! That’s very impressive. Aside from the storm, the boats on the water and the lines of lights on the highways really add some interesting components to the scene.
Just thought I’d share a couple photos I took of UP’s DRG&W heritage unit earlier this week. I had no idea this train was coming, so it was a nice surprise.
I guess this makes up for all of the days that I’ve sat for three hours without seeing a single train!
Great reaction to an unexpected situation, Willy! That train just went east as far as Council Bluffs. However, we had the 1995 come into Proviso from the west yesterday, and the Katy unit (1988) is going to Global 1 sometime today after a trip across the Overland.
Happy Independence Day to everyone. Pause and reflect on this great country and how it came to be. Then celebrate in your own way. For us, there won’t be much celebrating–I have to work, then we make a 200-mile drive. I expect that as dusk gathers somewhere along the route we’ll see some pyrotechnics, professional or otherwise. I hope the natural pyrotechnics Willy mentioned elsewhere hold off.
Can’t wait for tomorrow–reservations have been made for ten high-school classmates and five spouses to get together for lunch. We saw one of these couples last month, but two more haven’t been seen since last fall, a number more after that since the last class reunion (three years ago), but there are a couple of folks I haven’t seen since actually being in high school with them.
I just wanted to get an early start wishing US readers a happy Independence Day.
CN followers might want to note that they may have dodged a bullet in the flood department near Yorkton, SK over the last couple of day’s. From what I can tell in the Canadian Trackside Guide, the Yorkton Sub. may have seen better days. I am not sure if they use it to move potash. There must be some grain moved as the news reports say Yorkton has a population of 17,000 in grain country. That has got to mean there are elevators in that town. I will keep watching the news.
While I enjoy seeing old friends at HS reunions, there’s always a bit of sadness, as one knows that the next day many will be headed back to the four corners of the world from whence they came (myself included, as I graduated in MI and now live in NY).