Chicken Feathers: Hot!

Chicken Feathers: Hot!: Boy, was it ever HOT the other day! The gang didn't stay out too long yesterday - soon after this, they went back in th...



Love fried green tomatoes

R. J. Corman Railroad Group

 

The R. J. Corman Railroad Group national headquarters is located in Central Kentucky in the City of Nicholasville. There are 67 strategically placed field offices in 22 different states across the US.

Many Parts, One Source

R. J. Corman is the One Source service provider for all facets of railroading. Although we are made up of several entities, our individual companies come together to form a custom package to respond to our customers’ unique needs. All companies and service groups are unified under one R. J. Corman banner and adhere to the same set of core values in order to provide consistent, high-quality solutions for our customers.

R. J. Corman Railpower Locomotives: Bluegrass One

Bluegrass One is an eco·friendly genset locomotive that was built entirely in the state of Kentucky. It was designed by R. J. Corman Rail power Locomotives and built to carry heavy freight loads using a gen set engine system that would decrease fuel consumption and harmful emissions. 

 R. J. Corman’s My Old Kentucky Dinner Train

 

More...











 Check every thing here https://www.rjcorman.com/

World's Largest Track Layer

All that machine and still needed a guy with a big hammer.

A long way from the days of the Gandy Dancers.

UPDATE - Folkston Rail Cam - No longer Cam of the Week

The webcams at Folkston are no longer cam of the week and the free YouTube feed has been disabled. There are several others available, Do a YouTube  search for Virtual Railfan.

The webcams at Folkston, Ga. are now online at Youtube. 

Thanks to Dixie at Whistling Dixie Cafe and Railfan Lodging for letting everyone know on her facebook page. 

97  SILVER SERVICE / PALMETTO

Southbound Folkston headed to Jacksonville 

Screenshot Saturday morning 11/3/2018 at 9:52 AM

https://www.amtrak.com/track-your-train.html 

Radio

I have decided to add a new label that is searchable. I have several posts that are about radio and radio topics. I recently received an email from a young lady that was interested in ham radio and had discovered my orphan blog about ham radio. She suggested adding the following link about ham radio emergency communications.

https://alertfind.com/amateur-radio-and-emergency-communications/

Thank you Ella, that was very timely given the recent hurricane and the response by the ham radio community. Hams are currently deployed throughout the Florida Panhandle at shelters and emergency operations centers. Communications is both on linked UHF repeaters (sarnetfl.com) and on HF on 40 and 80 meters depending on propagation.

Information on Amateur Radio Emergency Service® (ARES) at the link.

 

Here are the contents of the orphaned blog:

Want to share some interesting ham radio links.

Subject for the May 15, 2016 TAPRN net was lightning protection. Lots of good discussion. Links include:

QST articles and other links. Definitive information on lightning protection.  http://www.arrl.org/lightning-protection

Gas tube surge protectors  http://www.alphadeltacom.com/

http://www.dxengineering.com/search/department/grounding-and-lightning-protection/brand/dx-engineering/product-line/dx-engineering-utility-enclosure-kits?autoview=SKU&N=4294953334%2B401126&sortby=Default&sortorder=Default


Here is the link from below we talked about on the TAPRN Net today, Feb. 14, 2016. Moved it up to be easier to find.
https://sites.google.com/site/fmtransceiverinterface/sound-card-interface-for-fm-transceivers
The printed circuit board is no longer available. See below.

WB5VJB Cheap Yagis for VHF and UHF. http://www.wa5vjb.com/yagi-pdf/cheapyagi.pdf
Kent has lots of other good information and products for sale on his website. See the downloads page for Pre Amp Cookbook, Circular Polarization Calculator and Antenna Measuring Notes.
Pre Amp CookbookCircular Polarization Calculator (exe) (zip)Antenna Measuring Notes

Happened to look a the QRZ.COM page for KH6TY and found some links to several of his projects:
Compact 2- Meter Quad for the Attic: https://sites.google.com/site/2matticquad/2m-attic-quad
A Sound Card Interface for FM Transceivers (June 2009 QST): https://sites.google.com/site/fmtransceiverinterface/sound-card-interface-for-fm-transceivers
 FM DXing (Powerpoint presentation): https://sites.google.com/site/skiptellerfiles/files/2MeterFMDXing.ppt
 SS5 (5 element Skeleton-slot beam from SVHFS Conference 2009):https://sites.google.com/site/skiptellerfiles/files/5elementskeleton-slotbeamfor70cm.doc
 Jolly Roger - Omnidirectional, Horizontally Polarized, 2 Meter Antenna: https://sites.google.com/site/skiptellerfiles/files/JollyRoger.zip
Another AmRRON member checked and the PC boards for the HT sound card interface are not available. She found an alternative on EBay. Search for "EASY DIGI" Sound Card Interface.  It is available as a kit through complete units with cables for your radio. Prices from $10 & up plus shipping. Short presentation with schematic is here: http://www.aracc.org/EASYDIGI!.pdf

Have not been involved with handling traffic before but am now participating in the AmRRON project. Hence the recent interest in traffic handling. The ARRL has some useful information / publications developed for their National Traffic System (NTS). You do not have to be an ARRL member to access it.  The publications include: PowerPoint presentation, NTS Manual, a Net Directory, Forms, NTS Digital and an Instructors Guide. www.arrl.org/nts

On the subject of traffic nets,Quick and Dirty CW Netiquette: Old hat for some, new to me...
http://www.qsl.net/n5lf/cw-nts.html

Wondering which shortwave broadcast station is on your net frequency on 40 meters? When are they scheduled to go off the air? Just want to do some shortwave listening? Check out Shortwave Schedules Around the World.

Maritime Radio Historical Society In cooperation with the Point Reyes National Seashore, part of the National Park Service, the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS) has taken on the job of preserving the historic ex-RCA coast station KPH and returning it to the air. Home of KSM, K6KPH and the True Believers. Be sure to check out Incredible Radio Tales link.

The 7163 Group meets daily on 40 Meters from about 5 AM to 8 AM to work DX. Good group and everyone gets a shot at the DX stations that show up on frequency. And there are quite a few.

KP4MD has a great web page with lots of information on antennas, antenna modeling and propagation studies. She also has a link to the 40 minute documentary "An Insider Tour of the Arecibo Ovservatory". Carol's interests include VHF/UHF and WSPR. 

Had a discussion about portable operation during the TAPRN net April 2, 2016. Lots of radios discussed including the KX-3 (10 W), FT-817 (5 W) and the FT-857 (100 W max adj. to 5 W). I happened  to have an FT-857 and was looking at various options. Ran across this website with a neat setup using the 857 with a battery setup for backpack operation:
http://yo3hjv.blogspot.it/2008/07/ft-857d-backpack-kit.html

Since we were discussing portable operation, I checked out the operating voltage specifications.
The FT-817 will operate with the following power conditions:
Supply Voltage:
Normal: 13.8 VDC ±15 %, Negative Ground
Operating: 8.0-16.0 V, Negative Ground
...................FBA-28 (w/8 "AA" Alkaline Cells): 12.0 V
.................. FNB-72 (Ni-Cd Battery Pack): 9.6 V (Option)
Current Consumption: Squelched: 250 mA (Approx.)
Receive: 450 mA
Transmit: 2.0 A

The FR-857 is has the following power specification:
Voltage: 13.8 VDC +/- 15%
Receive 1 amp, transmit 22 amps (of course this will be lower with reduced power)

KX3 Standard Features Show:
Built-in 8 AA-cell battery holder works with any 1.2-1.6V cell type
Current drain as low as 150 ma in receive mode.

Before the Iron Horse

 There were real horses. And in Florida that meant cowboys.

OK, Cowgirls. The 31 annual Florida Cracker Trail Ride across the state ended Saturday, February 24, 2018 with a parade in Fort Pierce. The ride started Feb. 17 on the west coast in Bradenton honoring the Florida cowboy pioneers.

After the War Between the States (recent unpleasantness) a group of pioneers were know as Florida Crackers because of the cracking sound from the whips they used to drive cattle and oxen pulling carts and wagons. Every year they would drive the scrub cattle across the state from west of Ft. Pierce to Bradenton and then to Punta Rassa for shipment to Havana, Cuba. Other sources say the cattle operations started earlier.

The Cracker Trail was the only dry route across Florida with the Kissimmee River and its floodplains to the north and Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades to the south. For more information, go to crackertrail.org.

For another interesting read see:  Jacob Summerlin (February 20, 1820 – November 4, 1893), aka the King of the Crackers and King of the Cracker Cow Hunters, was reputed to be the first child born in Florida after the land was ceded by Spain.

Chesapeake and Ohio 614 -- A Link

Chickenmon did a great Friday Night Steam post on the C & O 614 locomotive. I did a bit of looking around and found this video and wanted to share.

C&O 614 - 80+mph From The Air!

The information on the FNS post gave the top speed as 125 mph. 

Chickenmom

Happy Valentine's Day

Last years post featured Valentine's Day supper trains. Check it out.

Maeklong Railway Market

This is a little different. Kim Komando posted it recently and I had to share.

In Samut Songkhram, about an hour outside Bangkok, is Maeklong Railway Market, one of the largest produce and seafood markets in Thailand. But beyond the selection of fresh fruit and fish, the market has become infamous for one thing—the train that runs directly through it. In 1905, the Maeklong Railway built a commuter train line through the center of the popular market. But rather than move, the vendors adapted to the new conditions, working around the train that passes through eight times a day, seven days a week.

The Bamboo Train

 The bamboo train, called the "norry" by locals, is one of Cambodia's most adventurous tourist attractions - rated by the Lonely Planet travel guide as one of the Top Ten Things to Do in Cambodia.

Located in the northwestern provincial capital of Battambang, the bamboo train began after the Khmer Rouge left Cambodia in tatters.  With the railroad mostly broken and abandoned, villagers took tank and truck parts leftover from the war and cut them to fit the railroad.  They then placed a bamboo platform on top - held in place only by gravity - and added a small motor to the back, often taken from small cars, motos, or boats.  The result was the bamboo train - a small railroad cart capable of traveling up to 40km per hour down the warped and bumpy tracks, which can be taken apart and reassembled in under two minutes.

Watch what happens when two of them meet going opposite directions.

There are even chickens riding on the train. Just for Chickenmom.

Another that shows more detail.

The Bamboo Train is Closed but Will Reopen (Currently Scheduled January 2018)

Happy New Year 2018

How about a New Year's Day brunch train ride. And if you do, make it on a narrow gauge steam railroad.


Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum

New Year’s Day Brunch Train

Monday, January 1, 2018

SAVE THE DATE!

For a trip reminiscent of turn-of-the-century travel, start the New Year onboard the D&SNG steam-powered train. Standard class and Premium class seating is available.
Our Premium-class passengers can enjoy a delicious hot brunch buffet and live music while traveling through the pristine winter wonderland along the Animas River to Cascade Canyon wye.

Christmas Model Trains

Neat model train video for Christmas.

How to make a Christmas Village Railroad

 

 

Gingerbread Steam Train

Had some fun a couple of days ago building this from a kit.

 The Kit from Create a Treat

 Under Construction

 Decorating

 Finisshed!!!

Close up of locomotive 

Video of how to do it:

I should run to the store, get a gingerbread house and build it as a train station. 

Keep an eye out for after Christmas sales. I found this at CVS last year half price.

Communications and Signals

History of railroad Communications and Signal systems from Norfolk Southern Corp. Lots of vintage video.

Happy Halloween 2017

Chickenmom did a great Friday Night Steam post featuring Heisler Locomotives and a video from the Silver Creek and Stephensom Railroad. It just so happens that the SC & S R. R. has a Halloween Train of Terror.

Promotional video that actually has a train in it. Most of the videos of the event didn't
show much of the train and locomotive. .

"Four Trains at York" From Four Different Generations

"Four Trains at York" Flying Scotsman, 125, 225, and Azuma 800, 23/4/ 17

Happened this morning, April 23, 2017 in Yorkshire England.

Another view.

 Four Trains Four Generations

H/T To Donna

Tehachapi SP Coal Train With 13 Locomotives

Southern Pacific coal train stopped at Marcel after a meet. Thirteen locomotives (three up front, six mid-train, and four near the rear), work to get this heavy train moving from a dead stop. The engines struggle a bit at first, accelerating with no movement, but once they get the train moving, its MOVING. Check out the last set of helpers as they are sanding approaching my camera position. Smoke, exhaust, dust and roar of V16 and V20 prime-movers ----- Railroading at its finest, doesn't get any better than this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tehachapi Loop is a 0.73-mile (1.17 km) long spiral, or helix, on the Union Pacific Railroad Mojave Subdivision through Tehachapi Pass, of the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, south-central California. The line connects Bakersfield and the San Joaquin Valley to Mojave in the Mojave Desert. The line, which sees an average of almost 40 trains each day, is one of the busiest single-track mainlines in the world.


H/T to Donna

Tornado Seam Locomotive Hits 100 MPH

For the first time in half a century, a steam train has hit 100mph on one of Britain’s main rail lines.
That’s pretty cool.
During testing last night, Tornado, Britain’s newest steam train, reached the speed on the East Coast Main Line (ECML), which runs between London and Edinburgh, the BBC reported.

 More info here.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is from this website:

In 1990 a group of people came together to share an extraordinary ambition – to construct a brand new Peppercorn A1 Pacific.  They formed The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust and after nineteen years of incredible effort that locomotive, No. 60163 Tornado, moved under its own power for the first time in 2008.

This website tells the story of Tornado’s construction, an amazing tale of cooperation, skill and sheer hard graft which defied the critics who said it could never be done.  The A1 Trust has over 2500 regular supporters (covenantors) who have all played some part, small or large, in guaranteeing that we have steam on the main line in the 21st Century.

Staurt Florida FEC Bridge

This is the FEC bridge over the St Lucie River just north of downtown Stuart. It is taken from the north shore between the tressel and the old Roosevelt drawbridge. The new fixed Roosevelt bridge is in the background.
I have been wanting to get a video of a train crossing the bridge but always miss. I found one on YouTube taken by someone else. Upstream is to the right and divides into the North and South Forks of the St. Lucie just past the old bridge.

Engineer's Cap

Origin of the Blue and White Striped Engineer's Cap 

There is no sport that evokes more nostalgia among Americans than baseball. America's favorite pastime originated before the Civil War as a game called "rounders." Throughout the 1850s and 60s, the game evolved to include more mental judgment skills, and eventually involved scoring and record keeping. By 1871, just two years after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, the professional baseball league was born.

By the time the early 20th century rolled around, most large cities in the eastern United States had professional baseball teams. Because of the sport's popularity, many famous ball players like Phil Rizzuto, Eddie Matthews, Harry "The Hat" Walker and the legendary Babe Ruth spent a significant amount of time riding the rails.

Employees of the railroads, with a desire for camaraderie and recreation, formed employee baseball teams. These teams were quite organized and even competed in leagues and championships.

One semi-famous railroader took time off to play semi-pro and professional baseball. George "Stormy" Kromer was an engineer for the Chicago and North Western. Kromer made a habit of wearing his baseball cap while at the controls of his engine, but it just wasn't quite what he needed while on the job.

Kromer came home one day and lamented his discomfort to to his wife, Ida. The Kromers put their heads together and came up the design of what we now call the railroad engineer's cap.

Ida Kromer, an expert seamstress, assembled George's new cap with what she had at hand: blue and white pinstripe pillow ticking. Their efforts were a hit. The cap became very popular among railroaders, and ultimately resulted in the beginning of a business that still exists today.

Source with a photo of the Kromers. 

I have two. One with no logo and one from Tweetsie Railroad. No, I am not going to post a photo of me wearing them.