Thoughts on Rails

Biking and Caching

2009-04-26T21:00:00.005-06:00

My plan is to ride my bike 3 times per week. Two short after work rides during the week and a longer ride on the weekend. I did the two shorter rides this past week and a 20 mile ride today. I had originally planned to ride yesterday but it was too cold and threatening. After church today, I headed out to ride to the Lone Tree area in search of a bunch of geocaches. I found a few and missed a few and skipped a few others. I noticed how dark it was getting back towards home. The temperature had dropped from about 57 to about 48 degrees by the time I got home. As I turned onto Wildcat at its exteme east end, it started to rain and it rained all the way back home. That's about 5 miles. Needless to say, I was thoroughly soaked. It was interesting riding 33 miles per hour in the rain - a new experience for me.

My immediate goal is to get my bike mileage to 6000 miles. Right now, that is only another 25 miles. I plan on completing that in the next week. My goal for the year is to ride at least 1000 miles - 814 to go. I also have a goal to do a 50 mile ride sometime this year. I am also planning to ride at least 2 stretches of the Colorado Trail and the Indian Creek Loop. These are definitely mountain bike trails.

Metaphor

2009-04-12T18:16:00.001-06:00

A captain sacrifices himself to save his crew and is rescued alive on Easter Sunday...

Up Close

2009-03-16T19:06:00.004-06:00

It is common to see these guys in Waterton Canyon. They pretty much ignore people which is not necessarily a good thing. This ram was just off the road and I was able to get this closeup. He appears to be watching me. The horns are quite worn and show some scars of the battle to see who would be the big cheese in the herd. Click on the picture for a larger view.

First time on youtube

2009-03-13T21:28:00.003-06:00

I posted a video on YouTube. It is a special train heading from Denver to Pueblo for the State Fair a few years ago. It is steam-powered

Climbing

2009-03-08T18:16:00.003-06:00

When I was a kid, it was not unusual to find me up in a tree. My friend Kevin and I were climbers for sure. There was one tree in the neighbor's yard that was especally good for climbing. We'd get 30-40 feet up easily. I don't climb trees that often anymore. Well, in fact, I did climb one today to retrieve a geocache.

Here is a picture of me on top of a rock that I had to climb. It's from a few years ago and is in Rocky Mountain National Park.

One of my hidden geocaches

2009-03-07T19:57:00.002-07:00

One of my hidden geocaches requires a climb up this hill. It's a bit hairy but doable. That's me up there. This is definitely the hardest one of mine to get to. So far, only 3 cachers have found it and it has been there since November 23, 2008.

Pippin in the Sink

2009-03-06T18:40:00.003-07:00

Pippin wanted me to post this picture.

Who is this guy?

2009-03-05T22:01:00.002-07:00

The Train Crew (as I understand it)

2009-03-05T21:52:00.001-07:00

At one time, it took 5 people to operate a typical train. In the locomotive, there was an engineer, a fireman, and a brakeman. In the caboose there was another brakeman and a conductor. In the steam days, the fireman's job was quite important as he was the guy who kept the fire going. The engineer operated the locomotive and the horns and no doubt lots of other gizmos. The head end brakeman obviously handled the brakes from the locomotive while the rear end brakeman handled the brakes from the caboose. The conductor in the caboose had all the paperwork for the train and was actually the person in charge of the train.

When diesels arrived, the fireman became a dunsel but was nevertheless kept in place for a long time due to union agreements. The same became true of both brakemen since the engineer could do all the braking for the train.

Eventually, the crew dwindled down to just the engineer and the conductor. It makes sense to have 2 people in the locomotive to support each other so the need for a caboose went away except for trains that had to run backwards for lots of switching moves. That's is the only type of train that still has a caboose today. The replacement for the caboose on regular trains is a "fred" - a flashing rear end device. It is a box of electronics that can monitor the systems on the train. This is one of the reasons for lots of antennas on today's locomotives.

P.S. I don't get to use the word "dunsel" very often.

Cabooses were not all the same

2009-03-03T19:33:00.003-07:00

The three below all have extended vision cupolas meaning the cuploas are wider than the body of the caboose. Two of them are very similar (BN and Rio Grande) but there are noticable differences. These two also have their windows plated over while the MP caboose does not.

Here is one from the Burlington Northern in Fort Worth, Texas in 1984.

Here is one from the Rio Grande in the same location as the BN caboose maybe on the same day.

Here is one from the Missouri Pacific in a different location in Fort Worth also in 1984.

Top 100

2009-01-28T21:12:00.002-07:00

Last time I looked at the statistics, I had actually made it into the list of top 100 cachers in Colorado. I am #100 in Colorado and in a 6 way ties for #6397 in the world. What a hoot.

Series Caches

2009-01-24T20:00:00.004-07:00

There seems to be a plethora of cache series these days. Here are my stats for some of the more significant series as of today:

The Plain Fun series are all hidden out on the plains near DIA. There are 30 so far and I have found these:: 21, 22, 23

The Silo View series consists of 47 caches so far out on the plains east of Denver. I have found these: 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47

The Barn View series consists of 17 caches so far out on the plains east of Denver. I have found these: 2, 3, 4, 10, 14, 15, 17

The National Park series are all named after national parks and are out on the plains east and north of DIA. There are 57 of these and I have found 41 of them.

The Hansel's Crumb series consits of 20 caches on the plains east of Denver. I have found these: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 19, 20

The Gretel's Crumb series consits of 9 caches on the plains east of Denver. I have found these: 7, 8

The Caching Stimulous Plan series consits of 10 caches on the plains east of Denver and Aurora. I have found these: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

The Colorado Spirit Quest series are hidden in or near cemeteries throughout Colorado by many cachers. There are over 150 of them. I have found these: 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, 17, 44, 47, 60, 68, 69, 79, 87, 140, 144

The On Every Corner series are all hidden by Walgreen's stores. There are 57 so far and I have found these: 15, 16, 18, 25, 26, 28, 29, 34, 35, 36, 43, 44, 50, 51, 54

Like the On Every Corner series, the Project Wal series are hidden by Walgreen's stores but by a different cacher. Of the 16 that exist, I have found these: 1, 12, 13, 14

The Douglas County Historical series are virtual caches where you have to go to some historical location and report a specific fact from it. There are 20 of them. I have found these: 2, 3, 8, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

Four More Caches

2008-11-25T06:03:00.003-07:00

This past weekend, I hid 4 more caches. All of them are along the Platte River and three of them are in Waterton Canyon. These three plus one that I hid a week before make up a series devoted to Waterton Canyon side trails. These side trails are rarely visited by people who go into the canyon and they are really interesting places. One of them in particular is about 500 feet down one of these trails and the side trail ends up in a really neat mini canyon. I think cachers will find all of this series a lot of fun.

However, they all require a bit of a hike since you can't drive into Waterton Canyon at all. You have to hike or bike. The closest one requires a hike of about 1.75 miles one way and the farthest one requires a trek of about 4 miles one way. This would be easiset by bike and that is what I recommend.

The other cache was also hidden along the Platte but over in the Two Forks area. It is another cache in the Fallen Flag railroad series. The trail along the river is on an old railroad grade. The road up into Waterton Canyon is also on the old railroad grade but after a little over 6 miles, it reaches the Strontia Springs Dam. At the far end of the reservoir behind the dam, the old railroad grade continues and comes out where the Platte River branches into "two forks". It is at this location that you can park and walk the half mile or so to this new cache.

The railroad through the canyon was constructed in 1878. It eventually became part of the Colorado & Southern Railroad. The last train went through there in 1937 and the rails were probably taken up not long after that - probably that year.

There are some interesting railroad-related artifacts along the right of way and you can see them every 100 feet or so on the hillside along the old grade. There were two methods employed for the telegraph line that followed the railroad and you can see the remains of both along the way if you keep a sharp eye out. The more common method was typical wooden poles. Most of these along this grade were sawed off leaving pole stumps about 3 feet high.

The other method is more interesting and this method is in evidence along this route as well as in Waterton Canyon and just about anywhere else along this old railroad grade. You can see one or two vertical metal poles stuck in rock outcroppings fairly high above the grade. This cache is hidden behind a spot where there is only one of these metal poles.

Getting to this cache requires a bit of climbing but it's not that hard. The cache is hidden about 35 feet above the trail and about 25 feet behind one of these metal poles.

These caches are not likely to be snow friendly and they require some effort to get to. They are all meant to be memorable caches. None of them have been found yet - not even the closest one in Waterton. It will be interesting to see how long it takes. It might even be next spring!

Three New Caches

2008-11-15T19:26:00.002-07:00

I hid three new geocaches today. Two of them are part of a series started by a cacher named Grand High Pobah dedicated to fallen flag railroads. Fallen flag railroads no longer exist either through abandonment or corporate takeover. These two new caches are near one of those historical railroads.

The Denver, South Park, and Pacific railroad was a narrow gauge line (3’ between the rails) that started life in Denver in 1874 and was headed to the mining camps in the mountains. The main route of this railroad followed the course of the Platte River through Waterton Canyon and eventually over Kenosha Pass.

There was a branch that split off of the main line just before the line entered Waterton Canyon. By the time the branch line was built, the DSP&P had become part of the Colorado and Southern (C&S) railroad. This branch line was called the Silica Branch and it crossed the river, went back downstream a ways and then headed up into what is now Roxborough. It then ended near the old kiln that was built there about 1904 by the Silicated Brick Company.

Construction of the railroad branch line began in September 1908. It was a narrow gauge line almost 4 miles long terminating at Silica. The brick company lasted less than 10 years but clay and silica was mined in the area until the 1960's. The railroad branch operated intermittently until 1940 when it was abandoned and then dismantled in 1941. All of the remaining brick-related buildings were demolished over time, except for the kiln which you can see even today.

I hid two caches, one at each end of the branch line. They are both camoflaged pastic containers.

1000 Caches

2008-11-11T21:37:00.002-07:00

Actually, 1001 as I write this. I discovered a set of micro caches outside of DIA hidden by Mondou2. They are named after the national parks and I think there is one for just about every park that exists. So I went out there and found a bunch of these caches on consecutive weekends. On the first pass through the area, I found 52 caches most of which were part of the national park series. That beats my old record for one day of 22. And these 52 caches were found in about 4 hours.

The next weekend, I made my way up to Greeley to watch the Northern Colorado Bears lose another football game. I left early to find some more of this series of caches and found a total of 37 in about 3 hours. This put me past the 1000 milestone.

The 1000th cache was a micro in Greeley called Beware of the Bear. It is in the parking lot of the football stadium. Later in the day, I hid one of my own in Greeley on campus. It was published later in the day and found at 6:20 the next morning. A total of 2 people have found it so far.

MY next goal is to be among the top 100 cachers in Colorado. This will be difficult and might take some time. Right now, number 100 has found 1149 caches. My current rank is 113. Mondou2 has the most finds in Colorado with over 15,000. He has hidden more than 500 caches!

The Planets

2008-10-18T11:28:00.002-06:00

We now have 8 planets since Pluto was demoted to a dwarf planet. But did you know that Pluto is not even the largest of the dwarf planets? The knowledge of the Solar System has changed quite a bit in recent decades. When was in high school in the 70’s, I think Jupiter was known to have only 12 moons. Now it has 63.

Here is the order of the planets (8) and dwarf planets (5) along with some interesting facts about each one. By the way, one AU is the distance from the sun to the Earth.

1. Mercury - .38 AU – 4880 km in diameter
2. Venus - .72 AU – 12,100 km
3. Earth – 1 AU – 12,750 km
4. Mars – 1.52 AU – 6800 km
5. Ceres – 2.5-2.9 AU – 950 km
6. Jupiter – 5.2 AU – 143,000 km
7. Saturn – 9.54 AU – 120,500 km
8. Uranus – 19.2 AU – 51,100 km
9. Neptune – 30 AU – 49,500 km
10. Pluto – 29-49 AU – 2274 km in diameter
11. Haumea - 35-51 AU – 1400 km
12. Makemake - 38-53 AU – 1500 km
13. Eris – 96.7 AU – 2450 km in diameter

Not all of the planets have moons and some of the moons have not yet been named.

Earth – 1 – the moon

Mars – 2 – Phobos, Deimos

Jupiter – 63 – Metis, Adrastea, Amalthea, Thebe, Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Themisto, Leda, Himalia, Lysithea, Elara, Carpo, Euporie, Orthosie, Euanthe, Thyone, Mneme, Harpalyke, Hermippe, Praxidike, Thelxinoe, Iocaste, Ananke, Arche, Pasithee, Chaldene, Kale, Isonoe, Aitne, Erinome, Taygete, Carme, Kalyke, Eukelade, Kallichore, Helike, Eurydome, Autonoe, Sponde, Pasiphae, Megaclite, Sinope, Hegemone, Aoede, Callirrhoe, Cyllene, Kore

Saturn – 60 – Pan, Daphnis, Atlas, Prometheus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Janus, Mimas, Methone, Anthe, Pallene, Enceladus, Telesto, Tethys, Calypso, Dione, Helene, Polydeuces, Rhea, Titan, Hyperion, Iapetus, Kiviuq, Ijiraq, Phoebe, Paaliaq, Skathi, Albiorix, Bebhionn, Erriapo, Siarnaq, Skoll, Tarvos, Tarqeq, Greip, Hyrrokkin, Mundilfari, Jarnsaxa, Narvi, Bergelmir, Suttungr, Hati, Bestla, Farbauti, Thrymr, Aegir, Kari, Fenrir, Surtur, Ymir, Loge, Fornjot

Uranus – 27 – Cordelia, Ophelia, Bianca, Cressida, Desdemona, Juliet, Portia, Rosalind, Cupid, Belinda, Perdita, Puck, Mab. Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon, Francisco, Caliban, Stephano, Trinculo, Sycorax, Margaret, Prospero, Setebos, Ferdinand

Neptune – 13 – Naiad, Thalassa, Despina, Galatea, Larissa, Proteus, Triton, Nereid, Halimede, Sao, Laomedeia, Psamathe, Neso

Pluto – 3 – Charon, Nix, Hydra

Haumea – 2 - Hi’iaka, Namaka

Eris – 1 – Dysnomia

Units of Time Part III

2008-10-18T10:28:00.003-06:00

What about units of time that are shorter than one second? This topic enters the realm of physics and some of these units are used as measurements of half-life of elements and the amount of time it takes to do things that people don't ordinarily think about. Here are some definitions:

Centisecond – 1/100 of a second – the length of time a single frame is displayed on a tv
Millisecond – 1/1000 second – a blink of an eye
Microsecond – a millionth of a second
Shake – about 10 nanoseconds – the time it takes a lamb to shake its tail
Nanosecond – a billionth of a second – light travels about a foot in one of these
Picosecond – a trillionth
Femtosecond – a quadrillionth
Attosecond – a quintillionth
Zeptosecond – a sextillionth
Yoctosecond – a septillionth

Planck time – This is the smallest unit. It is the time it would take a photon traveling at the speed of light to go the distance equal to a Planck length. It is the "quantum of time", the smallest measurement of time that has any meaning, and is equal to 10 to the minus 43 seconds. A Planck length is the "quantum of length", the smallest measurement of length with any meaning. It is about 10 to the minus 20 times the size of a proton. It would take a bit of study in physics to understand what this really means.

And a few more second-based time units that are larger than a second. By anyone's reckoning, some of these have not yet happened even once.

Kilosecond – 1000 seconds – 16.7 minutes
Megasecond – 1,000,000 seconds – 11.6 days
Gigasecond – 1 billion seconds – 32 years
Terasecond – 1 trillion seconds – 32,000 years
Petasecond – 1 quadrillion seconds – 32 million years
Exasecond – 1 quintillion seconds - 32 billion years
Zettasecond – 1 sextillion seconds - 32 trillion years
Yottaseonds – 1 septillion seconds - 32 quadrillion years

Units of Time - Part II

2008-10-13T19:45:00.003-06:00

And now, continuing some thoughts on this very important matter - units of time. Please read part I first if you haven't already done so.

There are much more interesting units of time that are longer than a second because they are not precise measures ot time.

For instance, there is the "while". "How long will you be"? "Oh, a while". How long is a while? It depends on whether it is a short while, a long while, or just a while. I think a "short while" can be anywhere from a few minutes to about an hour and a half. A long while could be anywhere from several hours to a number of years. A regular while is somewhere inbetween and they no doubt overlap. Whiles are never plural. As in "I'll be away from home for two short whiles". Would two short whiles be equal to one while? How many whiles are in a long while? Do whales care about this at all?

How about a jiffy. This word is not used much today. I have never heard of a short jiffy or a long jiffy, just a jiffy. Like whiles, jiffies aren't plural and therefore can't be combined. "I'll be gone for a while and two jiffies." Oddly, a jiffy in some circles is a precise time interval of .01 seconds and in others, it is a precise 1/50th or 1/60 of a second (someone needs to make up their mind). However, it is more commonly intended to mean a very short but not a precise amount of time. What does a jiffy have to do with peanut butter or popcorn?

It is strange but both "minute" and "second" are sometimes used to refer to an amount of time that is not precise as in "I'll be there in a minute" or "just a second". Oddly, this doesn't bother me.

How about a "coon's age"? How long is that. How long does a raccoon live anyway? Well, it's about 5-7 years but the phrase could simply mean a long time and how long that is depends on the context. "I haven't seen you in a coon's age". Seems like that could be weeks, months or years.

A month of Sundays. Whoa. I suppose this could be 28, 29, 30, or 31 weeks. But it's really just another lengthy and indefinite amount of time - somewhat less than a coon's age. "I haven't seen a raccoon in a month of Sundays".

Speaking of ages, it's been ages since I lived in Chicago. How long is "ages"?

Can you think of any more? Take a short while and add a post to this one that shows your ability to waist a little time (or a lot of time, or a short while or a few jiffies). Once you send your posting, it will be on the blog in a New York minute (the time it takes from when the traffic light turns green, till the guy behind you starts honking his horn").

Units of Time - Part I

2008-10-13T19:19:00.003-06:00

And now, on to a very important matter - units of time.

The other day, I got to wondering about this topic and have hereby compiled a list of various units of time that are longer than a second and are almost always the same length.

A minute consists of 60 seconds.

An hour consists of 60 of those.

A day consists of 24 of those.

A week consists of 7 of those.

A fortnight consists of 2 of those.

A month consists of, hmm, not always the same like the others. Sometimes 28 days, sometimes 29, 30, or 31. There was one month that only had 20 - September of 1752.

A quarter consists of 3 months.

A year consists of 12 months.

A decade takes 10 years to go by.

A presidential election cycle seems to fall here somwhere.

A century is ten decades.

A millennium, ten of those.

Disgusting

2008-10-04T22:30:00.005-06:00

Someone stole our McCain sign from our front yard today. We happen to be sitting by the front window when it happened and Heather heard the guy and ran out and yelled at him. He dropped the sign in the street and kept going. A neighbor's McCain sign was replaced with an Obama one. They weren't home tonight. We called the police and they have been crusing the neighborhood.

No matter who one favors for president, there is just no excuse for this kind of behavior.

Colorado Spirit Quest Caches

2008-09-28T18:05:00.002-06:00

I found #1 in the series of Colorado Spirit Quest caches today. I have found #1, #17, #44, #60 and #79. I have a long ways to go since there are over 130 of them in the series so far.

The Colorado Spirit Quest is a series of caches placed near cemeteries in hopes of paying respect to the many pioneer ancestors that have gone before us. This idea is not unique to Colorado. The idea started in 2004 in Indiana and there are now similar series in many states. Indiana has over 650 of them!

Caching Sunday

2008-09-28T17:35:00.004-06:00

After church today, I set out to have a caching day in Golden, Colorado. As usual, I made an ambitious list of caches to find, this time 33 of them. I failed to find 3 of the ones I ended up looking for. I also skipped quite a few because I didn't like the area or the lack of nearby parking. So, I ended up finding 18 today and did not break my record of 22 in one day. This ties for my second best day.

Almost all of the ones I found today were micros. Lots of pill bottles and quite a few cammoed containers in poine trees which I always have a hard time finding.

The best ones today were these:

Slim Pickens - a cache about 500 feet down a little used trail. Attached to a tree was a nose, two eyes and a mouth. The tiny cache was in the nose!

Ulysses 1.5 - In the cap of a chain link fence post.

A Stream Runs Through It - In the cap of a chain link fence post. I like this kind.

Colorado Spirit Quest #1 - The first in this series of caches. There are over 100 of them now. This one in Golden is in a pine tree right by Edward Berthoud's gravesite.

From the Halls of Montezuma - By the marine memorial in Golden. Nothing special about the cache but the sheriff did drive by while I was there. He didn't stop, though. Would have been fun if he did.

Walborn - Light pole cover caches are common. This one was full of bees. Good thing they were all dead.

Old Railroad Trestle at Riflesight Notch

2008-08-13T21:36:00.007-06:00

Here are some pictures of an old railroad trestle near Rollins Pass at Riflesight Notch in Colorado. It last saw a train way back in the 1920's, I believe.

This first photo shows the trestle and that it is clearly blocked off from traffic. The grade to the left of the bridge is a road easily navigated by automobiles but the road takes a detour to the left.

The next photo shows the same view from a bit farther away. The grade continues to the right around the hill descending in a loop that actually went through a tunnel right below the trestle. The tunnel is completely covered at both ends so no entry is possible. I believe this was Tunnel #33.

Another view of the trestle.

Some of the wood has come off of the surface. You can see how big the timbers were on the bridge. I don't think there are any trees in the area that are large enough to create timbers of this size so I guess that they came from somewhere else. On the other hand, since this bridge if about 100 years old, maybe there were larger trees in the area back then.

Does this look safe enough to cross? Just remember that it is about 13 miles from the nearest main road.

This photo is from well below where the other photos were taken. The tunnel was in the cut in the foreground.

Columbines

2008-08-08T22:20:00.005-06:00

The state flower of Colorado is featured here. Here are a few that Heather took today along the Rollins Pass road. I saw some smaller dark blue versions earlier this year in Deer Creek Canyon Park. The ones shown here are about 3 inches across. They are interesting and beautiful flowers. If you click on each picture you will see a larger version.

New Cache Published

2008-07-29T19:30:00.002-06:00

My new hidden cache is called Some Cheese. There is no particular significance to the name of the cache. I just thought it would be amusing to see emails coming in that say so-and-so found some cheese! It is hidden in a relatively new open space park called Sharptail Ridge. It is near Roxborough, Colorado.

The container is a large camouflaged plastic peanut butter jar. Right now it has an assortment of the usual stuff in it including a nice travel bug beanie baby for whoever finds it first. It also has 5 identical blue and white whistles that I picked up from various caches. These are the calling card of a prolific cacher who lives somewhere in the Denver area. I am hoping he picks them up from this new cache.

Sharptail Ridge is a lonely and somewhat out of the way place. I have been by there a number of times and have not seen any other people. Perhaps this cache will help people discover the park.

The sign by the trailhead says no bikes and no dogs but there is the potential for rattlesnakes. I didn't see any.

Templar Geocoin

2008-07-22T19:11:00.005-06:00

Shown above are two of the varieties of Templar Geocoins. These were manufactured in three main varieties: Antique Copper (top), Antique Gold (bottom) and Antique Silver (not shown). They are produced by a company in Germany and can still be bought directly from them for 8 Euros each. People continue to try to sell them on ebay and typically get more for them than the company in Germany gets. It always pays to see if you can get something elsewhere before bidding very high on Ebay.

The front of these coins shows a templar shield and features translucent color so that the metal structure of the coin can be seen. The back depicts the seal of the templars.

Like many geocoin producers, this company also produced some limited quantities of special editiosn of these coins. There were no more than about 30 of each of these varieties produced: Nickel, Foggy Gold, Black Nickel, Two Tone. I haven't seen any of these special ones.

Blarney Geocoin

2008-07-21T22:03:00.002-06:00

The Blarney Geocoin was part of a subscription of geocoins in which I get a new coin once a month. This was the coin from this past March and is one of the nicest ones this particular compnay has produced.

Colorado 2008 Geocoins

2008-07-20T15:04:00.002-06:00

The above Colorado 2008 geocoins are only two of the varieties of this new coin. These are even better looking than we expected and make great additions to our collection.

Monarch Butterfly Geocoin

2008-07-16T18:32:00.003-06:00

This geocoin was found in a cache near Chatfield sometime last week. It has a nice butterfly design and is quite attractive. I will put this one in another cache soon.

Signal Geocoin

2008-07-14T20:38:00.003-06:00

We found this geocoin in a cache in Fort Collins on July 4th. It will be placed in another cache very soon. This is the first of this particular type of coin that we have come across. It is part of a series of coins featuring Signal the Frog. Signal is the official geocaching mascot. This coin is part of a series of 19 coins that were released between January, 2006 and July, 2007 - one a month. You can still buy some of them from the people who put them out. This particular one has a Canada theme.

Talon Geocoin

2008-07-12T19:26:00.003-06:00

This is a picture of the new Colorado State Park Talon Geocoin. We were lucky enough to get two of these at a state park recently. I suspect that they are relatively rare. I haven't decided for sure if I will put it in a cache for others to grab.

Ups and Downs in 90 Degrees

2008-07-12T15:24:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, I went on an adventure with a couple of interesting misadventures along the way. I planned a geocaching bike ride in the area of Red Rocks park. There are 18 or so caches hidden in the area and I wanted to see how many I could get. The path would be about 6 miles long down and up some mountain bike trails that did not appear to be all that challenging. Well, it turned out differently and this bike ride turned out to be the most challenging bike ride I have ever been on.

Having left work early, I got home and got everything ready and headed out with the bike on the back of the car. I arrive at the trailhead near Alameda and C470 about 1:30 and 6065 feet in elevation. I put my camelback on loaded with water and stuffed my geocaching stuff in my bike shirt pockets. The GPS receiver went on the bike mount and off I went.

The first part of the trail is a switchback up the side of North Dinosaur Ridge. It's an elevation gain of about 400 feet to the first trail junction. Turning right and heading uphill another 50 feet on a rocky trail is where the first cache was. I also found a few other caches on this part of the ridge. From the car to the high point was a gain of about 550 feet altogether. I then continued down the hill to the parking lot at Metthews-Winters park where there is another bicycle trailhead and a number of additional geocaches. At this point, I was at 6338 feet.

The trail in Matthew-Winters park is lengthy with mostly a modest slope. It was not as steep overall as the switchback up Dinosaur Ridge but it did have its moments. The highpoint on this trail is at 6800 feet so that made another gain of almost 500 feet!

I rode with 4 teenagers on this part of the trail and they had been up there before. They advised me to lower my bike seat for the trip back down the other side of the trail. This was a very good idea due to the steepness and roughness of the trail. There are lots of exposed rocks and bumps and a lower center of gravity made this a good plan. By the time I reached a road crossing, I was at 6220 feet, an elevation loss of 580 feet and that was in about 1/4 of the trail length as the distance to get up to the high point.

On the way down this hill, there is a cache hidden hanging in a tree. When I approached the area, there was another biker resting in the shade of the tree. I stopped and chatted a while about the trail he was about to go up. He wasn't ready to leave so I told him all about geocaching. He said he would check out the geocaching.com website and he seemed genuinely interested. I showed him the cache when I found it.

At this point, I was in Red Rocks park. I found a couple of caches there. One of the ones I did not find was by a small cemetery that is in the park. It's the old Morrison cemetery. The cache is hidden inside of a hollow square pole. You have to stick your finger in the hole from underneath and the cache can be found there magnetically attached. When I was there, I was not willing to stick my finger in the hole so I did not find the cache. It was a good thing too since when I later read the logs on the cache, I discovered that there is a family of wasps who live in that very same hole! The last person who found the cache got stung on his finger. The cemetery is at 6000 feet.

The next cache I found was not too far away and it is a film canister hidden under a rock. After this find, I was facing the biggest climb of the day...

Did I mention how hot it was? It was well into the 90s. It was not too long after this point that I ran out of water with a couple of difficult miles to go. Not good. The high point on this next climb was 6575 feet - another gain of 575 feet, with no water, rubber legs, and a rocky trail so rough and steep that I walked and pushed the bike more than I rode. I took lots of breaks. When I finally reached the downhill switchbacks, the same ones I rode up at the beginning of the ride, I was quite relieved and really enjoyed that bit of downhill back to the car. I arrived at the car more than 2 hours after I expected to. The ride was almost 12 miles rather than the 6 that I expected.

I found 15 of the 18 geocaches that I went to find so it was a very good day in that respect. I was very exhausted when I got home but did sleep very well last night!

Who is the Last Cylon?

2008-06-21T18:20:00.002-06:00

Thinking logically now. Consider the following:

The Xena Cylon said that the last Cylon is not in the fleet. How would she know that. Does she know what all 36,000 people in the fleet look like? Not likely.

So, I believe that she must know the wherabouts of this last Cylon.

Sometime in last season, a person excaped from the Cylons and found the fleet. Could there be others like him. Quite likely, I think.

There must be someone still on that very same Cylon base ship that is in captivity there. I believe that this is the last cylon.

But who is it?

One of the other Cylons once claimed that "Adama is a Cylon". There are three Adamas. One is dead - Zach, having been killed somehow before the series started. We have never met him. He was killed in some sort of accident or something in one of the vipers, I believe. We know that people can get blown up, yet live (Starbuck). Could this have happened to Zach as well? And, could he have come back to the Cylons and be captured by them?

I think Zach is the guy. He has "been with us since the beginning" (sortof). The only question is his origin. He would have to have been adopted by the Adama's or something.

Of course, Xena might just be going on some sort of vision she had. I hope it isn't that, though.

Piano Movers

2008-06-09T21:59:00.002-06:00

For some reason, piano movers are funny. Why is that? I just saw a commercial on TV featuring two guys hoisting a baby grand piano up to an upper floor via a rope and pully system. Alas, the rope was not strong enough and the piano fell. But since pianos fall very slowly, the two were able to get below it to attempt catching it using some sort of fabric or plastic. That didn't work so the piano broke into a million pieces. They gathered up the pieces and stuffed them into a strong plastic bag (the subject of the commercial) and then delivered the bag of parts to the intended apartment.

This piano moving gag is not new at all. There was a silent Charlie Chaplin film from 1914 called "His Musical Career". You can watch the entire short film on YouTube. He has to deliver a piano up a single flight of stairs and he does so all by himself with the piano on his back!

In 1932, Laurel and Hardy made their classic film "The Music Box". They are piano movers who have to deliver a piano up a long flight of outdoor stairs. These stairs and their 131 steps still exist out in LA. Once they finally get the piano to the top, a postman informs them that they could have driven their horse-driven cart around the block to get to the same location. So, they heave ho the piano back down the stairs to do just that!

This L&H film was a remake of a similar film from 5 years earlier called "Hats Off". In this film, the boys have to lug a washing machine up the very same stairs. Unfortunately, this film is lost.

The Three Stooges made a film called "An Ache in Every Stake" in which they are ice men delivering blocks of ice on a very hot day. So hot, in fact, that they can't get the product up the 147 steps of a similar stariway in LA before the ice shrinks from a one foot block into a one inch cube.

Bonewop

2008-06-09T21:49:00.003-06:00

You might be wondering about the name I chose for one of my geocaches - Bonewop. I believe there are only two people in the world who know the true significance of this word and of course I am one of them. I just googled the word and it came up with only 3 hits all referring to this geocache.

The description of the cache is below. It has nothing to do with the real significance of the word.

Bonewops were previously thought to be extinct but I saw long haired red one while placing this cache.

Bonewops were so named because of their strange clublike feet that were often used to konk predator animals on their head to fend them off. This was purely a defensive action since the bonewop is a grazing animal about the size of a beaver. Its favorite food is puncturevine. Perhaps the increase in the amount of puncturevine in Colorado is what has brought them back from the brink of extinction. Watch out for puncturevine, by the way. These are the plants that produce goathead thorns that are the bane of many bicycle tires.

For some really peculiar reason, it is common to see very unusual animals near this cache. Besides that red bonewop I saw, I have also seen a parfer, a floober and a grindleflick in the area as well. Please log what you "see" and describe in as much detail as you can. A photo would be great!

Caching Stats and Facts

2008-06-09T21:46:00.000-06:00

On the left side of this page, I have added information about my hidden caches and travel bugs. The caches are listed in order of how many times they have been found. The bugs are ordered by last found first. You can keep track of them this way and see where the travel bugs are right now.

On the cache list, one of them has been archived because it disappeared. That's Count for Marcy.

Beeing a Cacher

2008-05-24T15:36:00.004-06:00

Occasionally, geocachers run into hazards along the way. In my case, I have run into two problems recently. Today, I attempted to be the the first to find at a new cache called Desperate Measures. It is another cache along the Highline Canal. This one is a micro and is well camoed somewhere around a large cottonwood tree. I looked for it a little while all around the tree and then noticed a plethora of bees exiting from a large crack in the tree. So, that was enough for me at this one. I'll monitor the cache to see what others experience there. I did leave a note on the cache page about the bees.

A week or so ago, I was the first to find another cache in Chatfield State Park. A day or so later, I discovered that I had a rash in three spots on my legs and also on two fingers on my left hand. These spots have become worse over the week but I think they are finally turning around now. I read about poisin ivy and the fact that it does not spread but it might seem like it does because its effect might not appear in an exposed area right away. That seems to be the case with my current problem. I don't know if it's poisin ivy but maybe.

As a consolation, I was the first to find that cache last week and I got another one today a bit farther down the canal.

The Satisfaction of an FTF

2008-05-18T14:50:00.002-06:00

I was FTF on a geocache yesterday morning. That's "First to Find" for all you muggles. This particular one is over in Chatfield State Park and is tucked away in a relatively remote corner of the park that hardly anyone visits. The cache was published Friday night and I rode my bike over there the next morning.

This part of the park has a number of old paved trails that are interesting to explore. Some of these trails are completely overgrown and some are even underwater! I rode my bike to with 30' of the cache but this is not necessarily a good way to get there since the area has a lot of punturevine and the goathead thorns will easily puncture bike tires. In fact, I pulled about 50 of them out of my tires but since I have puncture resistent tubes and flat-attack goo in my tires, none cause me any problems except for the time I spent pulling them out.

I discovered a travel bug in the cache and left a squeaky frog. I grabbed an interesting foreign coin (2 pence). The travel bug was a plastic bag full of wine bottle corks. I didn't take it since my pockets were not big enough to hold it. Each person who takes it is encouraged to add a new cork to the collection and then move it on. It originated in Wisconsin and has travelled over 5000 miles.

Interesting Old Cemeteries

2008-05-14T20:56:00.002-06:00

Just got back from a little road trip to Texas. On the way down, I did some geocaching. In fact, I found 26 caches on this trip!

The first of the cemeteries in which I found a cache is called Ghost Watching. It is northwest of Amarillo, Texas near the Cal Farley Boys' Ranch which is a home and ranch for placement of children who have all sorts of different types of problems. The cache itself is located in a nearby genuine and authentic boot hill cemetery. The location was apparently known as Old Tascosa at one time and it had a colorful history. The Town's famous "cowboy strike" ended in gunfire, with some of the participants ending up buried at Boot Hill Cemetery which is actually on top of a hill that you can drive up on a rough rocky road. There is a historical marker that lists the people buried there with about half of the 50 people having been murdered. This was all back in the late 1800's. The cache is a magnetic key holder stuck on the back of this sign.

I found the area around Cal Farley's to be a bit strange. I noticed two police cars at the entrance to the ranch another 1/4 mile down the road. There were two other cemeteries nearby. One was a pet boot hill cemetery. The other was a cemetery for people (boys) who had died at the ranch. It was not small.

The second cemetery where I found a cache was called Calm and Windy just a little outside of Claude, Texas. This was a large old cemetery for the surrounding area. The cache was another magnetic key holder that was hidden on the good old fashioned windmill.

Finally, the last cemetery cache I found was in the cemetery by Goodnight, Texas. This cache is called Lonesome Dove - Charles Goodnight Cemetery. Charles Goodnight and family are buried there. This is another old cemetery not quite as large as the one in Claude. According to the cache page, Charles Goodnight is sort of the patron saint of all cowboys. He was instrumental in the development of the cattle industry. The chuckwagon (a cowboy's portable kitchen wagon used on the cattle trails) was invented by Charles Goodnight in 1866. Goodnight was a Texas Ranger and owned the first cattle ranch in the Texas Panhandle. It was called the JA Ranch and was located in Palo Duro Canyon about nine miles south of Claude. Goodnight helped create one of the major cattle trails, the Goodnight-Loving Trail, which was a cattle drive route from Texas that led into eastern New Mexico and Colorado.

The monument for Goodnight is quite large and along with several other related monuments is surrounded by a 3 foot chain link fence. About 75 bandanas have been tied to the fence by people who have visited.

Thunder

2008-05-06T20:07:00.003-06:00

Thunder is not that common around here like it was in Texas or Illinois. However, tonight there was some thunder. I even heard some in the distance during my bike ride tonight. It was over in the foothills. I could see it from the top of the hill I rode up on by Mountain Vista High School. I didn't see any lightning, though.

After I got home, there was some close-by thunder and light rain.

You Tell Me

2008-05-05T21:04:00.001-06:00

Guvf vf n zrffntr gung unf orra rapelcgrq hfvat n ebg13 grpuavdhr. Vg vf gur fnzr grpuavdhr gung vf hfrq gb rapelcg uvagf ba gur trbpnpuvat jrocntr.

Galactica Predictions

2008-05-03T19:56:00.003-06:00

1. Anders will somehow calm the tension on Starbuck's ship. That's why they will get to the Cylon Base Ship as shown in the previews.

2. The Deanna Cylon (Zena) will be unboxed in a future episode and she will reveal information about the final 5 cylons that she recognized in her last show last year.

3. My guess as to who the final Cylon is: Tom Zarek

Today's Extraordinary Bike Ride

2008-05-03T19:38:00.002-06:00

I set out to find some geocaches via bicycle today and actually found all 9 that I looked for to get my total finds to 600 even. Four of the caches were part of a series called "Historic Highline Canal Series". There are 4 of them and at each one is some information about the highline canal.

Construction on the canal was started way back in 1879 and it is still used to some extent today for irrigation. It's mostly used to fill ponds and small lakes along its 70 mile length. There is a great hiking and biking trail along much of its length and it is along this path that I found the 4 caches today. I have hidden several caches of my own along the trail as well.

After finding the fourth and final cache in the series, I began contemplating what the area might have looked like when the canal was new or even "only" 50 years old. I was riding close to the C470 expressway along the paved trail when all of a sudden, the concrete was gone and the pathway was covered by weeds. C470 and County Line road disappeared along with all the traffic noise. The only thing that was the same was the sound of the frogs croaking in the nearby pond. The cottonwood trees that line the canal were very small. Water flowed through the canal just like it was today. I stopped and wondered what had just happened but then I heard someone say "on your left" and I was back to 2008.

Empire Builder Complete

2007-06-10T21:56:00.001-06:00

I acquired the last three of Walthers Empire Builder cars to complete my train. The last three cars are two regular dome cars and one full dome car. All I have to do now is add the details. It'll probably take a week to get that done, maybe more.

Nothing Going On Here

2007-04-27T21:58:00.000-06:00

I simply haven't been doing much railroad activity lately. The last thing I did was to get one more of the Empire Builder cars (see below). The latest one is the end of train observation car. All that is left are two regular dome cars and one full dome car. They are both supposed to arrive in May.

Empire Builder Coming Along

2007-02-17T14:51:00.000-07:00

I acquired the latest Walthers Great Northern Empire Builder car today. The train I am putting together is abbreviated compared to the real thing. The real train might have been 18 cars and that is too long for my layout. The length of the 12 car train I am settling for is pushing it. This is the train I am doing:

1. Burlington E7A diesel

2. Burlington E8A diesel

3. baggage mail #42 (similar car photo)

4. Baggage-Dormitory #1205

5. 60-Seat Coach #1214 (similar car photo)

(6. 48-Seat Vista Dome Coach) (similar car photo)

(7. 48-Seat Vista Dome Coach lettered for Burlington rather than Great Northern) (similar car photo)

8. Ranch Coffee Shop Lounge #1245 Whitefish Lake (similar car photo in blue)

9. 7-4-3-1 Sleeper #1260 Skykomish River (similar car photo)

10. 6-5-2 Sleeper #1374 Park Creek Pass (similar car photo)

11. 36-Seat Diner #1250 Lake of the Woods (similar car photo)

(12. Full Length Great Dome Glacier View) (similar car photo)

13. 7-4-3-1 Sleeper #1269 Poplar River (similar car photo)

(14. 6-4-1 Observation #1390 Grand Coulee) (similar car photo)

The ones I don't have yet are in parentheses. The complete train will be out by June or so.

Here is a picture of the train as pulled by Great Northern engines.

The numbers by the sleepers refer to the different types of accommodations in the cars. The 7-4-3-1 sleeper had 7 duplex-roomettes, 4 upper and lower berths, 3 double-bedrooms and one compartment. The 6-5-2 sleeper had 6 roomettes, 5 double bedrooms and 2 compartments. The 6-4-1 observation car had 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms and one compartment.

The real train in its heyday might have had a couple of baggage cars, another coach and 2 or 3 more sleepers. The train ran between Chicago and St. Paul on the Burlington pulled by silver Burlington engines. From St. Paul to Seattle, the train was pull by Great Northern F units.

You can read my earlier post on this subject.

Passenger Train Idea #1

2007-01-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

I would be more likely to ride on an Amtrak train if I didn't have to get to the central depot in the big city. Such as Denver Union Station. That station is just fine for its purpose but what if Amtrak made a short stop on either side of town in addition to the centrally located station? Maybe this isn't practical in Denver given the route of the Zephyr but in some cities it might work.

Imagine a train that ran through Denver from Wyoming all the way south to Colorado Springs and farther. It would make perfect sense for such a train to make a stop in Denver's suburbs of, let's say, Littleton and Westminster.

Lights

2007-01-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

I just finished adding lights to several buildings on my HO train layout. Sounds easy but this project has complications. For instance, it is easy enough to stick a light in a 4 story building. However, now that the building is lit up inside, you can easily tell that it is a hollow shell of a building with a light bulb inside. One of the tricks is to put intermediate floors in the structure using cardboard so that the light only lights up some of the building. It's also good to ensure that the light bulb is not easily visible. It looks more interesting if these tricks are used.

I was also concerend with having the lights not be too bright. If the light is too bright, it doesn't look natural espacially with the room lights off. You can make the bulbs shine less bright by wiring two of them in series. This trick was very effective as well in improving the appearance of the buildings.

I am going to continue this project since there are still numerous buildings with no lights. I also need to add some additional street lights to increase realism.

All I need is a bunch of bulbs and some more wire. There must be a mile of wire under the layout now. Why not add some more?

Tucumcari, New Mexico

2006-12-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here is yet another train station. This time, it's the large Rock Island / Southern Pacific depot in Tucumcari, New Mexico.

According to this page, this station is the only original Spanish architecture Train Depot in New Mexico.

Antonito, Colorado Depot

2006-12-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here is the Rio Grande station in Antonito, Colorado in 1986. It was built in 1882 and is still there today. The building is 124 years old!

I don't know why it was boarded up at the time. The building otherwise appears to be in good shape. The semaphore signal is especially interesting.

Antonito is the end of the narrow gauge line called the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic which was once part of the Rio Grande as well. The C&TS does not use this station, however. They have a newer one a bit south of this old gem.

Here are some interesting photos of this same station of other sites:

Evidence of third rail to accommodate the narrow gauge.

Photos of various vintages.

Las Vegas - New Mexico, That Is

2006-12-11T17:23:00.000-07:00

I have run out of Texas railroad depot photos so I will now move elsewhere. This is the station in Las Vegas, New Mexico which is just down I25 about 111 miles from Raton. Amtrak's Southwest Chief stops here at 12:38 pm westbound and 3:45 pm eastbound. This train runs from Chicago to Los Angeles on the route of the Santa Fe's famed Super Chief.

Train Station in Denton, Texas

2006-12-10T16:45:00.000-07:00

Here is yet another train station in Texas, this time in Denton. This is the Texas-Pacific station taken in 1986.

Train stations vary in architecture quite a bit but they also often seem to have some common things about them such as the overhang you see in the picture. They almost always have the name of the town on both ends of the building as well.

Yet Another Waxahachie Railroad Station

2006-12-09T16:04:00.000-07:00

Now, this train station is the neatest of the three Waxahachie train stations I have put on this blog. It was built by the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad.

There is another station much like it in Corsicana, Texas. See it here.

The T&BV after a bankruptcy, became the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad. It was jointly owned by the Burlington and the Chicago Rock Island & Pacific. Later it was part of the Fort Worth and Denver. Today, it is part of the BNSF Railway.

Another Train Station in Waxahachie

2006-12-08T17:28:00.000-07:00

I am pretty sure that this train station is in Waxahachie, Texas. I do not know which railroad owned it.

A Train Station in Waxahachie, Texas

2006-12-07T16:59:00.000-07:00

This is one of the train stations I found in Waxahachie back in 1985. It belonged to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad.

Sherman, Texas

2006-12-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

This little depot is really neat. It's in Sherman, Texas. I am not sure which railroad owned it and I doubt if the building is still there. This photo was taken in 1985 and you can see that it is not in very good shape.

Brownwood, Texas Railroad Station

2006-12-05T17:28:00.000-07:00

This train station is very large for a town the size of Brownwood. According to this web site, the station served 15 trains a day in its heyday. It was built by the Santa Fe in 1909 and the last passenger train to use it ran in 1968.

Train Station in Bonham, Texas

2006-12-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

This is another Texas-Pacific train station, this time in Bonham, Texas. This picture, like the TP station in Paris below were taken in 1985. Both the Paris station and this one are on the same line that ran across Texas not too far from the Oklahoma state line. This one is obviously quite a bit larger than the one in Paris.

Another Station in Paris, Texas

2006-12-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is the Texas-Pacific train station in Paris, Texas. It is much less interesting looking than the Frisco station in the same town (see below). But, this is what makes train stations interesting. Some are plain, others quite elaborate.

Paris, Texas Train Station

2006-12-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

I think this old Frisco train station was quite attractive in 1985 when I took the picture.

It is still there as this link can attest. Scoll down a ways.

San Francisco Zephyr

2006-11-29T19:46:00.000-07:00

When Amtrak was formed, their train that ran between Chicago and the San Francisco area was called the San Francisco Zephyr rather than the California Zephyr as today. The original pre-Amtrak California Zephyr ran on the CB&Q from Chicago-Denver, the D&RGW from Denver-Utah and then on WP to California. When Amtrak was formed, the D&RGW did not join so the Amtrak train did not use their rails. Instead the train went through Wyoming on UP and it used SP from Utah to California. This was in 1971.

In 1983, D&RGW finally joined Amtrak and they moved the train to D&RGW rails so that passengers could enjoy the more scenic although slower route. And they renamed the train back to the California Zephyr even though it still ran on SP out west.

Here is a picture of the SF Zephyr in 1981 passing through the Belmont station in Downers Grove, Illinois. I like this picture because of the lighting and the presence of the passenger platform between the rails. It has since been removed. The F40PH up front sports the original Amtrak paint scheme for these locomotives. It is known as Phase I. The second loco is also an F40PH but has the Phase 2 paint scheme - the stripes are different.

Passenger yard completed - sortof

2006-11-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

The passenger yard has been completed. It has 4 tracks spaced apart 2.5 inches to allow for easy handling. I am not making use yet of the track closest to the abyss (a drop to the floor). There is no barrier between this track and certain doom for the little HO sized people inhabiting the passenger cars.

I had in mind creating a wall along there using cheap 1" by 36" pieced of wood - better known as yardsticks. I even bought a bunch of them and painted them (rendering them useless as yardsticks). But I have decided that I don't like this idea. Instead, I am going to buy a bunch of girders by Atlas to form a wall with them. These plastic girders will each be held in place by 4 small screws so it will take a while to drill and insert about 100 of them. But I think it will look better. I have used this technique elsewhere on the layout.

I bought one package of girders last time I was at Caboose Hobbies, their last one on the shelf. I need 6 more packages of 4 to complete the wall.

Work Has Begun

2006-11-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

After much consideration, work has begin on the expansion of my passenger train yard from 2 to 4 tracks. Right now, what a mess! Sawdust everywhere, tools everywhere, loose track everywhere, cork, screws (not corkscrews), stray pieces of wood, etc., etc.

What is One To Do?

2006-10-27T20:39:00.000-06:00

What is one to do when the model railroad layout is basically finished? Well, in truth, there is no such thing as a finished model railroad layout. At least this is true for the one who builds the layout. My current layout might be considered finished by some people but there is always more that can be done. Such things can be small or large. Maybe add some people; maybe add some scale size trash; build a fence; add some more trees; add more lights to buildings; on and on, really.

While more light in buildings would be a good thing, that is not what I have in mind. You see, I have a fondness for passenger trains. I have these:

Santa Fe - an 11 car San Francisco Chief
C&NW - a 4 car commuter train
C&NW - a 5 car streamliner (needs a diner)
C&NW - a 10 car heavyweight train
GN - a 3 car Empire Builder (adding a new car each month until 10 cars)
Amtrak - an 11 car Superliner

There are also some older ones that are "retired" because they are from older and now inferior models:

UP - 12 car "City" train (actually 18 cars at one time!)
Santa Fe - 10 car Grand Canyon Limited
CB&Q/D&RGW/WP - 11 car California Zephyr
Santa Fe - 10 car Super Chief

The layout isn't nearly big enough to have all these trains on it so some of them rest peacefully in their boxes.

What I am thinking about is to have someplace to park them where they can be seen as if in a large passenger station. This would also enable me to trade off trains periodically without having to box or unbox them.

But, how will I do it - that is the question.

Yet Another Load of Coal on the Joint Line

2006-10-24T19:16:00.000-06:00

That Union Pacific train I wrote about in my previous posting had 6 locomotives each with 4400 horsepower for a total of 26,400. This is the typical configuration for UP coal trains going south on the Joint Line south of Denver.

Today, I got a nice photo of a southbound BNSF coal train in the exact same place as the UP train - the far south end of the dam at Chatfield State Park. BNSF has a different approach to coal train motive power for the Joint Line. They typically place two locomotives up from and 2 at the end of the train pushing.

This train had this configuration:

At the front of the train:
9954 - SD70MAC built in 1998
9514 - SD70MAC built in 1995

At the rear of the train:
9613 - SD70MAC built in 1995
9331 - SD70ACe built in 2006

The last one, the SD70ACe, is quite new. My picture of it did not turn out well so here is a link to a nice clean one.

The SD70MACs have 4000 horsepower and the SD70ACe has 4300. So this train had a total of 16,300 horsepower - quite a bit less than what UP uses for similar trains.

Notice that these two engines do not have the same paint scheme. The 9514 is one of the earlier SD70MACs that Burlington Northern acquired before its merger with the Santa Fe. The paint scheme was called the "Executive Scheme" because BN had an executive passenger train and the special engines that pulled it were painted similarly to these SD70MACs. Here is a picture of one of those at the Illinois Railway Museum.

The 9954 is a newer SD70MAC. It has one of the "heritage" schemes that BNSF came up with. It combines colors from some of the predecessor railroads such as Santa Fe and Great Northern.

Another Load of Coal Going South

2006-10-15T15:52:00.000-06:00

Here is a nice coal train heading south on the joint line just west of Highlands Ranch. It is a Union Pacific train led by UP 6007. This load of coal most likely originated in northwestern Colorado or it could have come from Wyoming.

At the front of the train were similar engines but different models:
6007 - AC44CCTE built in 2003
6485 - AC4400CW built in 2000

In the middle of the train was:
6882 - AC4400CW built in 1995
5939 - AC44CCTE built in 2003
6414 - AC4400CW built in 1995 - ex SP 368

At the end of the train was:
6582 - AC4400CW built in 1997

Union Pacific has about 520 AC44CCTEs and about 850 AC4400CWs. UPs most common model is the SD70M - with over 1400 of them.

Here is the 6007:

Celebrity Engines

2006-10-14T22:22:00.000-06:00

The Union Pacific Railroad has painted 6 locomotives in special paint schemes to honor some of the railroads the UP has gobbled up over the past 25 years or so. I saw my first one in person today. It is UP 1989 painted to honor the Denver and Rio Grande Western whose track runs between Denver and Pueblo as part of the joint line. It runs about a mile from my home and this is where I saw the 1989 today as the 4th unit of 4 on a northbound train.

The set of locomotives are all model SD70ACe built in 2005 and 2006. They are:

UP 1982 - for the Missouri Pacific
UP 1983 - for the Western Pacific
UP 1988 - for the Missouri - Kansas - Texas
UP 1989 - for the Denver and Rio Grande Western
UP 1995 - for the Chicago and North Western
UP 1996 - for the Southern Pacific

You can see pictures of them here.

Let me know which one you like best.

I would like to see one commemorating the Union Pacific itself.

A Couple of Train Sightings

2006-09-30T16:17:00.000-06:00

While on my bike ride in Chatfield State Park today, I rode the length of the dam. As I began my traversal of the dam, I saw a stopped northbound empty coal train and wondered if it would block my route at the other end of the dam. As I rode on, the train began to move. However, there was another train right behind it and not all that far behind it. I always thought it was unusual to see two trains on the same track so close together. The first northbound train was another of the many BNSF coal trains that utilize the Joint Line. The train behind it turned out to be rather unusual. It was just 7 engines – five SD70MACs and a couple of AC4400CWs.

While all this was going by, a loaded southbound coal train came along on the other track. It consisted mostly of brand new CEFX coal hoppers. The build dates on them were 09-2006. Here is a picture of one.

One of the trailing locomotives was a fairly new SD70Ace:

I really like this picture showing most of the train.

All these photos were taken at the southernmost end of the Chatfield dam.

Moffat Tunnel Area – 9/24/2006

2006-09-25T21:53:00.000-06:00

My wife and I spent a good part of the afternoon exploring some semi-back roads up in the mountains looking for some fall colors including the road to the Moffat Tunnel. We found some good colors and even saw a train exit the tunnel. Right after it completed its emergence, the big ventilation system came on to eliminate the fumes from the tunnel. The fumes from one train can be considerable.

The fans are really noisy and when they start; they sound like a jet airplane starting its engines. They run for about 20 minutes and then shutoff. They railroad dispatcher does not let another train through the tunnel until the ventilation is complete.

We had in mind the possibility of doing a little hike up the trail that goes behind the tunnel but it was way too snowy and muddy for that. However, I did go up the trail a little ways to one of the many "restrooms" that are available. Here I am returning.

One of the interesting things about this area is the old railroad route over Rollins Pass, also known as Corona Pass. This sign is at the beginning of this road.

And this is what the road looks like. We didn’t go up this time but I have been up there on my bicycle.

The Texas Zephyr

2006-09-22T20:05:00.000-06:00

The Texas Zephyr was a train that ran between Denver, Colorado and Fort Worth, Texas. I have driven between these two cities a number of times and to me, being a railfan, I enjoy the fact that US 287 follows the BNSF line much of the way. I wish I could take the train, though. This is a route not included on Amtrak's map. Before being part of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, the line was part of Burlington Northern. Before that, it was two different but related railroads. The Fort Worth and Denver and the Colorado and Southern Railways came together at Texline, Texas which is right on the New Mexico border in far northwestern Texas. The town was started by the FW&D railway and today is the home to about 500 residents. From Texline to Fort Worth, it was the FW&D. From Texline to Denver, it was the C&S except for the part where it shared the tracks with the Santa Fe and Rio Grande railroads.

The route was the home to an overnight passenger train called the Texas Zephyr. In 1950, it left Denver at 12:30 pm and arrived in Fort Worth at 6 am the next morning. Coming back, it left Fort Worth at 3 pm and arrived in Denver at 7:30 the next morning.

Equipment was the following for these daily trains:
4000 HP diesel locomotive (2 E5’s, I believe)
Reclining-seat chair cars
Dining-lounge
Special streamline Pullmans with drawing rooms, compartments, bedrooms, and sections.
All equipment was air-conditioned
No Extra Fare

When I Was Workin’ On the Railroad – Part VI, Leaving

2006-09-15T16:57:00.000-06:00

It had always been my intention to return to college to earn a master’s degree. I had in mind an MBA and I ended up attending the University of Wisconsin starting in February, 1982. This was good plan, I thought, because the degree could be achieved in one calendar year since I had already earned a BBA at the University of Michigan.

In January of 1982, I reluctantly gave my notice and then my C&NW career came to an end after two fun years. You know, not everyone can say that their job is fun. I have had a number of software jobs since then and I would not call all of them fun.

While at the University of Wisconsin, I participated in the business school’s on-campus interviews. During this same time, I contacted the C&NW again to inquire about the possibility of returning. I was turned down but not because of my qualifications. Sadly, they had a hiring freeze on at the time so it was not to be. Happily, however, I did get a good job through an on campus interview with Texas Instruments and that began a significant turning point in my career and life. But that’s another story.

Skipping ahead to about 2002, I mentioned to an acquaintance in Colorado where I now live that I had once worked for a railroad in Chicago that didn’t exist anymore because it had become part of the Union Pacific. He said that he had a good friend who worked for the UP in Omaha who had once worked for the C&NW in Chicago. I immediately thought, “How many times had I heard this sort of thing?” He told me the fellow’s name and sure enough, it was someone I had known when I had worked there. In fact, it was the same person I had ridden with in the freight train that I wrote about in my previous post!

I ended up contacting Dean via email and we shared a few memories about people we had worked with way back when. Dean still worked for UP and I suppose he still does though I have lost contact with him once again and do not really know.

When I Was Workin’ On the Railroad – Part V, The Ride to Clinton

2006-09-12T21:20:00.000-06:00

During my time working on the Locomotive Utilization System at the C&NW, the business analyst that we were working with found out that some of us had not had the opportunity to "go out on the road". He arranged for my partner and me to ride on a freight train from Proviso out to Clinton and back. This was a ride in the lead or second locomotive for about 120 miles one way.

We met the train at about 5:30 that morning at the west end of Proviso. The train was just about ready to go when we arrived. My partner, Dean and I were to trade between the lead locomotive and the second locomotive which was facing backwards. If I remember correctly the lead loco was a C&NW SD40-2 and the second one was a Union Pacific SD40-2 with a long "snoot" nose.

The ride out was the most eventful and I remember the most about it. Dean and I traded between the locos while the train was still moving although relatively slowly. We had been notified of a derailment that occurred the day before somewhere along the mainline. At some point we moved as fast as 79 mph (which was 4 over the limit). The derailment had been cleaned up but the site was obvious and we had to go through that stretch fairly slowly.

At one point we had a very interesting experience. We were approaching an intersection with a road at perhaps 50 mph. We were on the left hand track of two tracks. On the right hand track was a stopped freight train facing the same direction as our train. It was stopped for a signal short of the road crossing. Also on that same track was another freight train facing the opposite direction. It was stopped for a signal short of the road crossing on the other side. The two stopped trains were facing each other with the road crossing between them. We were moving along on the empty track. There were crossovers that one of the two stopped trains would use to cross over to the other track after we went by.

The interesting part of this passage was the behavior of the people in a car at the crossing as well as that of the experienced train crew. A man and a woman were in a station wagon and had approached the crossing. The gates were not yet down for our approach. The man driving the car slowed down to observe the two stopped trains to make sure they were not moving. He didn't initially spot us coming. When the gate came down for our approach, it came right down on the hood of the station wagon! The engineer saw this and pulled the horn and then hit the floor of the locomotive. So does the head end brakeman.

I was sitting in the left hand seat at the front of the locomotive (engineer on the right, brakeman behind) and I saw the crew hit the deck but I just sat there and I saw what the people in the car did. The woman in the passenger seat got out of the car and started running down the road away from the tracks. Then the man was able to back the car out of harms way. Then we went by the crossing and that was it. No accident.

The engineer thought I was dumb to not have hit the deck along with him. He said that you never know what part of a car might fly up right into the cab – maybe the hood of the car. I told him that I saw that the car driver was obviously going to get out of the way and therefore did not see the need to do anything.

The other thing that stands out about this trip was just how noisy it was in the cab. I don’t think they are quite as noisy these days but there was quite a racket in this loco. Besides the engine itself, there was the radio, hissing brakes, warning bells, horn, and the loud talking engineer who never stopped talking.

While we were in Clinton, Iowa, we met with some people and for the most part, hung around for a while not doing much. I remember that our host spotted what he thought was a problem with one of the cars on a coal train that was slowly passing by. He thought it was "off center". Freight cars are not attached to their trucks. They just have a pin that sits in a hole in the top of the truck – not unlike model train cars except unlike models, there is no screw attaching the car to the truck. If a car is off center, the pin has come out of its hole but is otherwise still sitting on the truck. The next event would be a derailment. He immediately entered one of the buildings to notify someone and he got the train to stop very quickly. Fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm.

I don’t recall what was on the train going out to Clinton but I believe we caught one of the Falcons going back. The Falcon trains were the hotshot intermodal trains that the C&NW ran to and from the UP in Nebraska. Its destination was Wood Street in Chicago. This was a fast train as well and it doesn't usually stop at Proviso where our cars were parked. It didn't quite stop for us either but it did slow down to about 10 mph for us to hop off at the nearby Berkeley commuter station stop. It was a short walk through the weeds to get back into Proviso where our cars were parked.

The whole day took about 12 hours.

When I Was Workin’ On the Railroad – Part IV, Locomotive Utilization

2006-09-09T22:19:00.000-06:00

The most interesting computer system I worked on at the C&NW was the Locomotive Utilization (LU) System. Unfortunately for me, I never saw it to its completion because I left the company to return to school full time to earn a Master’s Degree.

I was one of the key designers and implementers. The railroad was very interested in maximizing the usage of their locomotives. Given the expense of these assets, it was foolish and expensive for the railroad to have idle locomotives. This would even lead to the purchase of more locomotives and such purchases add up very quickly considering that they cost around a million bucks even back in 1981.

The LU System had built into it a roster of the C&NW locomotives as well as locomotives from other railroads that might run on C&NW rails – such as those of the Union Pacific Railroad. The system also knew of all of the locations on every bit of the railroad along with mileage from certain other locations. Users of this system would enter in information about what locos were on what trains and when they went by these various locations. They could use this system to help maximize the locos usage. It also kept track of maintenance requirements so that they could make sure locos got to their maintenance points on time.

For locos of other railroads, the system kept track of horsepower miles and horsepower hours. If a 3000 horsepower locomotive went one mile, that was 3000 horsepower miles and if a 3000 horsepower locomotive spent an hour on the C&NW, that was 3000 horsepower hours. It was these measurements that were used by the railroads to repay each other for pooled locomotives. Every time a UP loco spent time and miles on the C&NW, a similar C&NW loco was supposed to spend the same amount of time and miles on the UP. If an imbalance occurred, one railroad would have to pay the other in cash.

About 20 years later, in about the year 2001, I met a fellow who learned of my interest in railroads. He told me that he knew someone who worked for the Union Pacific Railroad in Omaha. I told him that I worked for the C&NW back in 1980 and 1981. He said that his friend had worked for the C&NW also during that timeframe. It turns out that I actually worked with this person in Chicago. I thought the odds were against that.

I contacted him via email and he informed me among other things that the LU system had worked very well in its day. It’s long gone now as is the C&NW as an independent railroad. It’s part of Union Pacific and there is no doubt a new generation of computer system for the tracking and utilization of locomotives.

When I Was Workin’ On the Railroad – Part III, Warehousing and Intemodal

2006-09-07T18:37:00.000-06:00

My first assignment with the C&NW was to be part of a team that developed software for a warehouse inventory system. The railroad had a number of warehouses scattered about the country that stored equipment and materials for maintaining the railroad itself. Think hardware like spikes, rail, sledge hammers, as well as many more items for doing railroad business. This was a great way to get my feet wet with COBOL and Assembly language programming. And this was the first of a series of systems based on this same software architecture.

The second such system that I worked on was a system that kept track of trailers and containers as they arrived and departed from C&NW’s Wood Street intermodal yard (later known as Global I). Every time a truck with a trailer or container entered or exited the yard via railroad or concrete, an entry was made in this system by a clerk. Customers were charged for the time the railroad owned trailers and containers were in use off the railroad premises. So the system kept track of the time.

One of the problems with this system was that there was a significant number of errors in the manual data entry process. Numbers were transposed, for instance. This would result in trailers appearing to leave the yard and never return.

I remember when we first installed the intermodal system in 1980, we had to be at the yard where it was used around the clock. Members of the development team worked in shifts. I had the midnight to 8 am shift. It was a smooth installation so we didn’t have to keep this up very long.

Both of these systems were fun to develop and got my software career off to a great start.

When I Was Workin’ On the Railroad – Part II, Location

2006-09-06T20:02:00.000-06:00

When I started working for the C&NW, I worked in the Riverside Plaza Building in downtown Chicago. This was the 400 West Madison Street headquarters address for the C&NW. In the next block west was the C&NW Terminal with an address of 500 West Madison.

The Riverside Plaza Building was completed in 1929 as the Chicago Daily News Building. The newspaper moved to another location sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. This building was the first commercial building erected on air rights over the railroad tracks that led to Union Station from the north. One of the interesting things about this building is that it included a system to carry smoke from steam engines up through the roof.

The building is 26 stories and I worked on the 4th or 5th floor. I remember that they had piped in music playing all day. It got more lively after lunch to help keep people who had large lunches alert and active. Here is a link to information about the building.

Another interesting thing about this building was the mural painted on the ceiling in one of the main hallways. According to some web sites I found, the building originally had an outstanding ceiling mural by John W. Norton, a noted Chicago artist that showed the process of producing a newspaper. It was removed in 1993 for restoration but is currently still in storage because initial restoration bids were deemed too high by the building's management company. It was commissioned for the original tenant, the Chicago Daily News. It was dominated by diagonal lines, and divided into three sections: Gathering the News, Printing the News, & Transporting the News. The mural was there when I worked in the building and was 180x18-feet in size.

Close to the end of my 2 year tenure with the railroad, the offices were moved to a building two blocks north. The building was named One Northwestern Center during the time the C&NW had its offices there. It was one of two nearly identical 18 story buildings that sit next to each other along the Chicago River. They were originally known as the Butler Brothers Buildings. There is a 1928 photo available via this web site. The buildings were completed in 1913. The C&NW occupied the northernmost of the two buildings which is on the right in the photo. I worked on the 3rd or 4th floor.

Both buildings were quite convenient for me. I commuted on the C&NW to the C&NW terminal across the street. I did not even have to go outside to get to the Riverside Plaza Building and I only had to cross the street for the other building.

When I Was Workin’ On the Railroad – Part I, Getting the Job

2006-09-05T20:49:00.000-06:00

I graduated from the University of Michigan in December of 1979 with a business degree. My interest was "Information Systems". That was the business school term for software design and programming. I enjoyed it and still work in this area. I failed to get a job through the university’s on-campus interview system. It seems that most of the recruiters who came to the business school were interested in accounting and finance majors which I was not interested in. So, I was out of school with no job and living back with my parents in the Chicago area.

After the holidays were over, my father helped me craft some letters to use in seeking a job to begin my career in software. Since I had a longstanding interest in railroads, I thought I would try to get a software job with one. In 1980, there were still a number of railroads headquartered in Chicago. Most notable were the Santa Fe, the Illinois Central Gulf, and the Chicago and North Western. I sent my letters to all three and threw in the Missouri Pacific for good measure. They were in Saint Louis.

I never heard from the Santa Fe or the MoPac but I did get interviews with ICG and the C&NW. I don’t recall much about the ICG interview but I do remember showing the interviewer some COBOL code that I had written in school. I didn’t get an offer from them.

The C&NW interview went well though I don’t remember much about it, either. I ended up getting an offer for $16,500 per year which I gladly accepted. It was my first professional job.

The hiring process was interesting. In order to avoid any problems in their hiring practices, they put every new employee through certain tests. One of them was an extremely easy math test though it might have been harder for some people. They also gave me a vision test. This is important for personnel who operate the trains. It included a color blindness test. This is when I first found out that I was color blind (at age 22)! This test is also important for train personnel. They said that it was unimportant for me since it was unlikely that I would be operating any trains. They also took fingerprints.

So I started for C&NW the first part of February, 1980 at 400 West Madison Street in Chicago.

Great Northern Empire Builder

2006-09-01T17:04:00.000-06:00

I noticed on Walthers web site that the first of the new HO scale empire builder cars has arrived. Walthers is the distributer of these cars so it will take a few days for my pre-ordered car to arrive at Caboose Hobbies in Denver. Walthers is producing accurate models of the entire Great Northern Empire Builder. You can see their artwork here.

The actual full size train was made up of these cars but in some cases there was more than one of each type. For instance, there would have been 3 of the shorter dome cars and two of the 7-4-3-1 sleeper cars and two of the 6-5-2 sleeper cars. The entire train could have been 18 cars! That’s too long for my HO layout so I’m going to make mine 10 cars:

1. Baggage-Dormitory
2. 60-Seat Coach
4. 48-Seat Vista Dome Coach
3. 48-Seat Vista Dome Coach
5. Ranch Coffee Shop Lounge
6. "Lake" Series Diner
7. Full Length Great Dome
8. “River" Series 7-4-3-1 Sleeper
9. "Pass" Series 6-5-2 Sleeper
10. “Coulee" Series 6-4-1 Observation

I might add a plain baggage car if the one they are going to release late in 2007 matches this train (it's not part of the set).

The Empire Builder was a Great Northern train. You can read all about it on this web site. The train ran between Chicago and Seattle. However, the Great Northern Railway only went as far east as St. Paul, Minnesota. The train was operated by the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy between there and Chicago. Since it is this part of the route that I am going to base my model on, my train will be pulled by silver Burlington engines rather than the attractive Great Northern engines shown in the Walthers page.

I acquired a Burlington E7A and an E8A several years ago to pull a model of the California Zephyr. These are Life Like Proto 2000 models. I hadn’t run them for a long time in favor of other models but recently dug them out in preparation for the arrival of the Empire Builder cars. I got motivated to add some additional detailing to them.

Here is a picture of the E7A number 9924A:

Here is a picture of the E8A number 9941B:

These models were very detailed right out of the box. The extra details that I have added so far make them stand out even more. Mostly what I did was add additional grab irons on the cab, nose and roof. There is a lot more that can still be done.

Information about proper placement of these details can be found in various publications and web sites. For instance, here is a link to a picture of the full size 9941B.

It is also interesting to notice how this railroad was inconsistent in its paint schemes. For instance, notice the difference in the color and number of stripes on the front of the locomotives.

Many of the Burlington E7’s and E8’s had their side frames replaced with stainless steel the entire length of the locomotive behind the cab. These two never had that done.

I am looking forward to completing my Empire Builder. Unfortunately, it wall take almost a year since the cars are being release about one per month.

Old Postings

2006-08-30T21:39:00.000-06:00

If you are looking for my non-railroad topics, you can find them on my new blog.

The Denver Zephyr

2006-08-30T21:30:00.000-06:00

The Denver Zephyr was the Burlington’s top Chicago to Denver train. It was the main competition to the C&NW / UP City of Denver. It’s overall schedule was almost identical in 1950 as shown below. It traveled the route at an average speed of 63 mph.
Station	Leave	Total Miles	Miles	Minutes	Avg Speed
Chicago	5:00 PM
Galesburg, IL	7:07 PM	162	162	127	77
Burlington, IA	7:51 PM	206	44	44	60
Ottumwa, IA	8:56 PM	280	74	65	68
Creston, IA	10:42 PM	393	113	106	64
Council Bluffs, IA	12:08 AM	492	99	86	69
Omaha, NE	12:30 AM	496	4	22	11
Lincoln, NE	1:45 AM	551	55	75	44
Hastings, NE	3:23 AM	648	97	98	59
Holdrege, NE	4:12 AM	702	54	49	66
McCook, NE	5:32 AM	779	77	82	56
Akron, CO	6:40 AM	922	143	128	67
Fort Morgan, CO	7:13 AM	956	34	33	62
Denver, CO	8:30 AM	1034	78	77	61
Today, Amtrak’s California Zephyr is the only train to run between Chicago and Denver. Its schedule is shown below. It is a bit slower but not all that much – at least when it is on time. It travels the route at an average speed of 56 mph. Not all Amtrak stops are included. They stop at more places than the Denver Zephyr did. They also eliminated a couple of stops.
Station	Leave	Total Miles	Miles	Minutes	Avg Speed
Chicago	1:50 PM
Galesburg, IL	4:28 PM	162	162	158	62
Burlington, IA	5:15 PM	206	44	47	56
Ottumwa, IA	6:43 PM	280	74	88	50
Creston, IA	8:31 PM	393	113	108	63
Omaha, NE	10:19 PM	496	103	108	57
Lincoln, NE	12:18 AM	551	55	119	28
Hastings, NE	1:57 AM	648	97	99	59
Holdrege, NE	2:44 AM	702	54	47	69
McCook, NE	3:53 AM	779	77	69	67
Fort Morgan, CO	5:15 AM	956	177	138	77
Denver, CO	7:30 AM	1034	78	135	35

C&NW Passenger Trains

2006-08-29T20:06:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, I think, a lot of the most interesting railroads have been merged out of existence into a handful of mega railroads. For instance, the current Union Pacific Railroad consists of the old original Union Pacific plus Chicago and North Western, Missouri Pacific, Missouri-Kansas-Texas, Western Pacific, Southern Pacific, and Denver and Rio Grande Western. These railroads include numerous other railroads as well.
My original and current favorite is the Chicago and North Western. It’s because I grew up near the C&NW mainline in the Chicago area and it has a rich history of passenger trains. I also worked for them for a couple of years in the early 1980’s.
The C&NW has a long history that goes back more than 150 years. When it was absorbed into Union Pacific in 1995, it was one of the oldest companies in the United States. How many companies can you think of that still exist that are over 150 years old an still operate with the same name as 150 years ago?
The C&NW line that went west out to Omaha, Nebraska was the host of many famous passenger trains that originated in Chicago including the “City” trains that were operated in conjunction with Union Pacific: City of Los Angeles, City of San Francisco, City of Portland, City of Denver. There were also trains like the Pacific Limited (Chicago to LA), San Francisco Challenger, San Francisco Overland Limited, Los Angeles Challenger, Los Angeles Overland Limited, The Columbine (to Denver), The Portland Rose, The Forty Niner (to San Francisco). They also had trains that went north and northwest to Wisconsin and Minnesota. Trains like The 400, The Viking, The Victory, and the North Western Limited. These were the "big" and famous trains on the C&NW. There were lots of other trains that had names and many that had only numbers.
Not a single one of these trains made it to the Amtrak era. And, I never saw a single one of the big named trains other than in pictures.
So I have a model of one of them using Walthers’ passenger cars and Proto 2000 E6, E7 and E8 locomotives.
In February of 1950, the westbound City of Denver, train 111, had the schedule shown below. The train was turned over to Union Pacific in Omaha. The train had an overall average speed of 64 mph for the 1048 mile run from Chicago to Denver. This was one of the faster Chicago to Denver trains in 1950.
Station	Leave	Total Miles	Miles	Minutes	Avg Speed
Chicago	5:00 PM
Sterling, IL	6:37 PM	110	110	97	68
Clinton, IA	7:04 PM	138	28	27	62
Cedar Rapids, IA	8:15 PM	219	81	71	68
Marshalltown, IA	9:18 PM	289	70	63	67
Ames, IA	9:51 PM	327	38	33	69
Boone, IA	10:10 PM	340	13	19	41
Council Bluffs, IA	12:17 AM	485	145	127	69
Omaha, NE	12:30 AM	488	3	13	14
Columbus, NE	1:55 AM	570	82	85	58
Grand Island, NE	2:50 AM	632	62	55	68
Kearney, NE	3:28 AM	674	42	38	66
North Platte, NE	4:47 AM	769	95	79	72
Julesburg, CO	5:00 AM	851	82	73	67
Sterling, CO	5:55 AM	908	57	55	62
La Salle, CO	7:20 AM	1001	93	85	66
Denver, CO	8:30 AM	1048	47	70	40

Railfanning August 27, 2006

2006-08-27T15:57:00.000-06:00

Spent a good part of today railfanning the Moffat subdivision of the Union Pacific. Here is a picture of Amtrak’s California Zephyr running at least 2 hours late. This photo was taken at Crescent, one of the sidings that the trains encounter on their way up to the Moffat Tunnel. The equipment on this train has seen better days. Some corrosion and flaking paint. I hope they are in better condition inside.

There were some nice freights up there too such as this coal train also at Crescent.

I saw several of these coal trains. Most were empties but one was loaded.

Up at the Moffat Tunnel, it was 50 degrees compared to 73 back down in Denver. I walked a little ways up the trail that begins here and ends up at Arapaho Lakes about 7 miles away. I just went around to the backside of the tunnel portal to see what I could see. While I was there, the tunnel’s ventilation fan was operating. It’s quite noisy and runs 20 minutes or so until the tunnel is ventilated. They do this after each train runs through in order to avoid breathing problems for the railroad personnel. The Moffat Tunnel is about 6 miles long and comes out at Winter Park on the other side of the Continental Divide. No train came through the tunnel while I was there.

I drove up the old Rollins Pass road about a half mile. The road is in as bad of shape as ever. Lots of pot holes and rocks. Nice view of the railroad leading to the tunnel though. This road was the railroad itself before the tunnel was completed in 1927. You can read my story of cycling up Rollins pass if you'd like.

Along the Joint Line 1

2006-08-23T21:21:00.000-06:00

Here is a set of locomotives that are often seen south of Denver doing switching duties at various industries. It's an interesting set because the three are quite different looking with three different heritages. This photo was taken on August 23, 2006.

The Rio Grande engine is a GP40-2 with 3000 horsepower. It has been renumbered via a patch to Union Pacific 1348. It used to have Rio Grande number 3126 and was built in 1974.

The Cotton Belt engine has also been patched by Union Pacific to number 1526. This engine was originally built as a GP40 in 1967. It had a series of owners and numbers beginning with Louisville and Nashville 3024, then Seaboard 6820, then CSX 6820. Then Cotton Belt got it and numbered it 7291. It was rebuilt in 1991 into what the railroad calls a GP40-2M. It has 3000 horsepower.

The Union Pacific 1924 engine is a GP60 that was built in 1988 as Cotton Belt 9622. It used to look a lot like the Cotton Belt engine in the photo. It spent about a year as Union Pacific 5724 before getting the number shown here. GP60's have 3800 horsepower.

Where Were Those Trains Going?

2006-08-22T18:02:00.000-06:00

I remember vividly right after going to bed hearing the sound of trains going through Lombard. Our house was about 4 blocks from the tracks where there were frequent trains. There was always a train going by when I was too far away to see what sort of train it was. They did not often blow their horns through Lombard and the other western suburbs. Lombard was a bedroom community and people were aware of the need to be cautious by these high speed tracks. But especially late at night, you could hear the trains anyway. It was the sound of the diesel locomotives and the sound of the train’s wheels hitting the joints in the still-jointed tracks. I could tell if it was just another commuter train heading out to West Chicago or Geneva or towards Chicago. The sound of the F7’s and E8’s were distinctive and recognizable because of the sound of their acceleration away from the Lombard station. Freight trains were different because they made a steady sound with little or no acceleration. They might have had their terminus as close as Proviso Yard about 10 miles east or they might have gone all the way into Chicago. They also could have gone to any number of far away points west but most often to Omaha where the train would be turned over to the Union Pacific to go even farther west – even as far as California.

Railroad Interest - Part 2

2006-08-21T20:02:00.000-06:00

I grew up in Lombard, Illinois. Lombard had three railroads running through it at one time. The only one that still exists today is the Union Pacific line that runs between Chicago and Omaha and points farther west. This was part of the original transcontinental railroad and was known as the Chicago and North Western when I was growing up. It was absorbed into the Union Pacific in 1995.

Lombard also had a single track line usually know as the Great Western or, more formally, the Chicago Great Western. This line ran from Chicago out into Iowa and is now a bike trail through Lombard. It was merged into the Chicago and North Western in 1968 and gradually abandoned over the next decade or so.

There was an interurban railroad that ran through Lombard. The Chicago, Aurora and Elgin. We called it the "Roarin Elgin". This was an electric line that ran between its namesake cities. It ceased operating in 1957 and in the 60’s was converted into a trail called the Illinois Prairie Path. Great for hiking and biking.

All three of these lines were fascinating for me to poke around. I never saw a train on the CA&E but did see some on the CGW after it was merged into the C&NW. Trains on that line were rare. The C&NW, of course, had lots of trains including commuter trains and freight. I used to ride my bicycle up along the C&NW after school to watch a train or two and the first of the evening rush hour commuter trains. I liked the Elizabeth Street crossing because you could see the farthest at this point where the track curved slightly. From here you could see well past Grace Street to the east and a good ways into Glen Ellyn to the west.

The Prairie Path was fun to ride my bicycle on as well since over in the next two suburbs west, Glen Ellyn and Wheaton, it was adjacent to the C&NW tracks. So I could ride over there and see some trains on the C&NW as well.

I used to notice railroad artifacts along these lines. One of the interesting items on the CA&E is the remains of an old station in Glen Ellyn just east of Hill Avenue. As of about 2003, it was still there. It was much more overgrown that it was 20 years earlier. It consists of some brickwork that must have formed an arch over the entry to the station. That’s it. You could also find the remains of station platforms at various places through Lombard.

One of the unusual things about the C&NW line is the lack of lighted signals. Instead, they have signals in the cabs of the locomotives which receive their indications through low voltage current in the track. But it wasn’t always this way. Over in Elmhurst, you can see signal bridges still in place. Years ago, I noticed concrete supports along the right of way just west of Lombard. These had to be for signals that were there at one time, long ago.

The C&NW track through Lombard is where I found some date nails. These were nails with the number 57 on top representing 1957. The pole line on the south side of the tracks was put up by Western Union. The poles had date nails in them as well - 42 for 1942.

My Interest in Railroads - Part 1

2006-08-20T21:26:00.000-06:00

I have long been interested in many aspects of railroads and railroading. What is it that I like about them and why? The origins of my interest in railroads goes back to when I was a kid. It must have been about 1964 or so when I was about 7 years old when I got a Lionel trainset for Christmas. It ran in a figure 8 with a single steam locomotive and a set of freight cars. I still have one of the cars – a Sunoco tank car. I don’t know the origin of this trainset but I believe the set was used since the cars were not particularly pristine or even fully functional. I liked it anyway.

A few years later, I found a report that my brother had done for school about railroads. I found this fascinating because everything my older brother did was fascinating by definition. I had to do a lot of things that he did and I was interested in many of the things that he was interested in because, well, he was cool – simple as that. He was (and still is) 12 years older than me. To prepare this report, he acquired numerous booklets and other information directly from the railroads. So, I had to do that as well. I wrote to the railroads, and there were lots of them back then, and asked them for whatever information they could send me. They sent some of the same booklets published by the Association of American Railroads as well as timetables, photographs, and posters - all for free. I still have a lot of this material that dates back to the late 60's.

These are some of the things that sparked my interest in railroads.

Mischief Along the Railroad

2006-08-15T20:37:00.000-06:00

My interest in railroads began sometime in the 60’s. Where that interest comes from will be the subject of another posting. Sometime in about 1970 when I was 13, there were three of us (Randy, Leif and I) who rode our bikes up to the Chicago and North Western triple track mainline in Lombard, Illinois – about 5 or 6 blocks from where we lived. It was late in the day during the week so there were numerous lengthy commuter trains bringing workers home from Chicago to the suburbs. This did not deter us from walking right down the tracks while leaving our bikes at the station.

After walking about a quarter of a mile, one of us found a fusee - a railroad flare - lying on the ballast along one of the three tracks. Why it was there, we didn’t know. What it was for, we didn’t know. It had never been used.

Well, it hadn't been used until we lit the thing. Now, these things burn very hot and we found an empty soda can nearby and found that it could burn a hole in it quite easily. It was entertaining for a while but we left it behind to finish burning while we continued walking on down the tracks.

A little while later, here comes a man walking down the tracks towards us. When he gets close to us, he whips out his badge and identifies himself as a policeman with the C&NW police department. He said that he drove all the way from Chicago to find out what we were up to. He explained to us what fusees were for – emergencies that require trains to stop when sighted. He took our names down and gave us some well deserved scolding about the dangers of hanging out on railroad tracks – especially ones where trains go as fast as they sometimes did in Lombard. He also cautioned us about putting stuff on the tracks saying that even a penny can cause problems. He then told us that if we wanted to watch trains, which is what we were really interested in doing, that we should do it from the station platform or off railroad property. He realized that we were just kids who did not realize the meaning of the fusee and let us go on own way. He did tell us that he didn’t want to see our names come across his desk again.

Not feeling particularly guilty about all of this, we went back to the station and waited for another train or two. The train that went all the way to Clinton, Iowa on the center track came through a lot slower than usual that evening.

Then we went home and that is when we found out that the railroad cop had called our parents.

In 1980, when I actually went to work for the same railroad, the subject did not come up.

Acequia, Colorado

2006-08-08T20:24:00.000-06:00

An acequia is a community operated waterway used in the American Southwest for irrigation. Acequias are usually historically engineered canals that carry snow runoff or river water to distant fields.

There is a location along the nearby railroad joint line that is called Acequia. It is just southwest of Highlands Ranch, Colorado. At one time on both railroad lines, there were sidings at this location. I have heard railroad personnel refer to this location occasionally as Acequia. Here is the location on a topographic map. Acequia is clarly marked and you can see both railroad lines on the map. If you zoom in enough, you can see that both railroads had sidings. The western track, currently owned by Union Pacific, was originally built by the Denver and Rio Grande Western. The eastern track, currently owned by Burlington Northern and Santa Fe, was originally built by a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Also on the map, you can see that near Acequia, the Highline Canal runs between the two tracks and then turns to the west and the one track goes over the canal. Railroads often named places after some geographical feature. In this case the canal. The canal was built through here about 1880. The Rio Grande track was built in 1871. The other track, built by a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railway was built in 1887.

I rode my bike to near this location this evening. It's a ride of about 5 miles from home if I go the long way. I followed the Highline Canal trail all the way to a place where the canal trail is no longer rideable because of the presence of evil weeds that contain a plethora of "goat heads" (which I will write about in another posting). About 1/4 mile south of where I stopped is the actual location of Acequia. Then a little ways farther south, the canal turns under the track as stated above and then it heads through a tunnel under a ridge and under Plum Creek. That’s why the trail is really broken at this point. See this satellite photo.

One of the cool things about the ride tonight was the presence of three large full-racked elk that were hanging around. They were quite wary of me being there and moved off into the nearby woods as I rode by. I was never closer than about 150 yards.

Date Nails

2006-07-25T18:54:00.000-06:00

One day in about 1975 my father and I were walking along the Ann Arbor Railroad in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We were looking for discarded insulators when my father noticed a nail in one of the railroad ties with a number on top of it. We soon noticed that these nails were in many of the ties and we were able to pull out a few using just our fingers. A new hobby was born!

In the next several years, I spent a lot of time walking various railroad tracks in numerous states looking for and pulling these nails. Besides Michigan, I looked for date nails in Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin, Colorado and Ontario. I pulled hundreds of nails from these railroads (and maybe others):

Chicago and North Western
Grand Trunk Western
Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific (The Milwaukee Road)
New York Central
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis (Big 4 Route)
Michigan Central
Ann Arbor
Wabash
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe
Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern
Chicago and Illinois Midland
Illinois Central
Great Western Railroad
Canadian National
Erie
Chicago, South Shore and South Bend
St. Louis and Southwestern (Cotton Belt)
Southern Pacific
Texas Pacific
Detriot, Toledo, and Ironton
Detroit and Toledo Shoreline
Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh
New York, Chicago and St. Louis (Nickel Plate Road)

I had joined the Texas Date Nail Collector’s Association back then so I had many contacts with other collectors. I participated in trading nails with these other collectors and accumulated nails from many other railroads by trading extras that I had collected myself. The nails from the Grand Trunk Western were the easiest to trade for some reason.

The oldest nail I ever found still in the track was a "6" representing 1906. The second oldest was a "13" on the same line not far from where I found the "6". Both from a Big Four branch line in Michigan.

I haven’t collected date nails for many years but I still have the collection. You can read all about date nails on this page and you can find some photos of part of my collection here.

Insulators

2006-07-24T21:03:00.000-06:00

One of the offshoots of my interest in railroads is a past interest in collecting insulators. You know, those glass or porcelain thingamabobs on telephone poles. There are lots of people who collect these and there are even insulator shows from time to time. I went to one in Houston one time and it was very interesting seeing some of the rarer insulators on display.

I got interested in these things sometime in the late 60’s or early 70’s when I found some lying around somewhere – probably along the railroad tracks. My father and I embarked on a number of mostly unsuccessful insulator hunts. Most of the ones we saw were still in use and it would have been difficult and illegal to collect those. We thought any discarded insulators along the way were fair game, though.

There were several good finds that we had. I remember one time, my father somehow got word that the Chicago and North Western Railway had taken down some poles and left the insulators lying at the base of the poles. This was somewhere out west of Sterling, Illinois. We made a trip out there and collected about 100 insulators most of which I no longer have. I kept only the better ones that were not chipped or were unusual in some way. I recall that a lot of them had a spiral groove to hold the wire. And some of these had the name HEMINGRAY with a backwards E.

Another of our collecting successes was along the Chicago Great Western Railway. This particular part of that railroad was abandoned in the early 70’s and the wires on the poles along the right-of-way were cut at intersections. So, we were confident that there was no electricity in them. But how to get the insulators off the pole without lugging a ladder around? We created a 10 or 12 foot pole with a loop of rubber insulated wire on the end. The wire was slipped over the insulator and then twisted tight on the glass and then turned. We were able to slowly unscrew and remove the insulator in this way. There were some neat porcelain insulators along this line that looked hand made. Still have them.

Eventually I lost interest in collecting these since they were taking up so much room and they were getting harder to find. I still looked for them in every antique shop I went in and occasionally would find an interesting one. I have acquired several purple ones this way.

When I moved to Texas, I was driving around with my wife one day and spotted a bunch of poles with insulators lying along the Santa Fe railway northeast of Dallas. Couldn’t resist grabbing a few. We went back there and hiked here and there along the line picking up a few select others as well. This line runs from Dallas to Paris, Texas. This kindled a renewed interest in collecting these for a while but it faded again.

I have some of the better insulators on display on my display shelves in my model train room.

Waterton Canyon

2006-07-12T20:06:00.000-06:00

Waterton Canyon was carved by the South Platte River southwest of Denver. The mouth of the canyon is at the far south end of Wadsworth Blvd. several miles south of C470 near the Lockheed Martin facilities. Some information about Waterton Canyon is readily available on the internet. You can read about it being the beginning of the Colorado Trail, how you can do some good mountain biking once you reach the Strontia Springs Dam, how the road is closed to automobiles, how the big dam at Strontia Springs is owned by the Denver Water Board, etc. These things are easy to see for anyone who visits the canyon.

Here are some lesser known facts about Waterton Canyon:

1. The start of the canyon is at a location known as Kassler. This was a water treatment facility built in 1889. The facility is not used for water treatment anymore but there are still some active buildings there.

2. The Highline Canal has its start about a mile and a half up the canyon. Once you get up there a ways, you can see a concrete wall on the other side of the river. This is actually the wall of the canal. The canal’s water is diverted through a tunnel upstream a bit further. You can see where the water exits the tunnel at the location where two large pipes cross the road. This canal is about 70 miles long and it ends up near the Denver airport. The canal was built between 1879 and 1883.

3. Those two large pipes are diversions of their own. One of them feeds into Marston Lake in Littleton. Where the other one goes, I don’t know.

4. A little ways before the pipes cross the road, you might notice what appear to be bridge abutments parallel to the road on the side opposite the river. These concrete abutments supported yet another large pipeline once upon a time. You can see pictures of them at the Denver Public libraries historic photo website.

5. The road up Waterton Canyon is on the old railroad grade of the Colorado and Southern. It was built originally as the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railway. The railroad eventually made it all the way to Gunnison via Buena Vista and the Alpine Tunnel. It was built through Waterton about 1878 and taken up from the canyon by about 1940.

6. There was a large hotel at Strontia Springs at one time. No evidence of it now. The big concrete dam is called the Strontia Springs Dam.

7. Strontia Springs was formerly called Deansbury.

8. Cell phones don't work in the canyon.

Favorite Railfanning Spots

2006-07-09T18:25:00.000-06:00

I live in Colorado near Denver and there are a few good railfanning spots that I especially like. The first is in the Palmer Lake area and the other is in Coal Creek Canyon at Crescent.

Palmer Lake is where the north-south BNSF-UP Joint Line goes from two separate tracks into a single track. This happens just north of the lake in Palmer Lake. It’s a good place for several reasons. There is good parking right there at this park location. You can walk completely around the lake and up and down the tracks in a park trail without trespassing on the railroad right of way. Along this path are numerous good photo vantage points. Second. This location is the top of the hill that goes from Denver all the way south to this location. Southbound coal trains are moving really slow at this point are quite loud as they strain to overcome the hill. BNSF trains often stop about a mile north in “the sag” to cool off before making the final climb. It’s also neat to hear the loud train horns echoing off the nearby foothills.

The other location is in Crescent. This location is on Union Pacific’s (ex Rio Grande) track that heads west of Denver into the tunnel district. Crescent is at a road crossing between tunnels 18 and 19 and is another neat place to photograph some trains from a higher vantage point.

A third place is much closer to home in Highlands Ranch. The same Joint Line I mentioned above has its two tracks close together just about a mile away. There is a nice bike trail practically along the tracks along the Highline Canal and on top of Chatfield Dam from which you can see trains. I have seen many while on my bike rides over there but haven’t done much photography from there.

"cajrrman"

2006-07-09T18:13:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time, my personal email address was cajrailfan. That's my initials followed by my hobby. However, eventually, I got so many spams at that address that I ended up abandoning it. You can still find some stuff on Google Web and Google Groups with that id in the search key. I ended up changing it to cajrrman. My initials, followed by "rr" for railroad, followed by "man" for man. That's been my mark of presence on the internet ever since.

I created a website using this id and you can find my other much older web page here. I haven't updated it lately and a few things are definitely out of date. But you can still find a collection of some of my railroad photographs that I have taken over the years. That page has had over 30,000 hits. I'll do an update to it sometime this summer once it stops raining and I can get out and take a few good railroad photos at one of my favorite spots.