Scott NC Posted March 4, 2024 Author Posted March 4, 2024 Actually, I did try to calculate it out and that's what I came up with. I also I should have worded my comment differently or left it out entirely. I tried to make a joke without thinking. I'd never rip you off, of course, and didn't mean a thing by it. I should have stayed off the internet yesterday. Maybe I should invent an app that gives out an electric shock or locks device up when the user isn't in the proper frame of mind for interacting or commenting on the web. Quote
Frosty Posted March 5, 2024 Posted March 5, 2024 Heck Scott, you're an old RR hand and probably saw more loaded gondolas a day than I have total. I'll take your guesstimate as close enough unless I'm having to order enough gondolas hitched up. I got your joke, maybe not great but it brought a grin to my face. You'd have to try to hurt my feelings or offend me and we know that isn't going to happen unless I went way off the rails. If you invent an app like that, I'll have to invent one that slaps you upside the head with a rubber chicken every time you turn yours on! Frosty The Lucky. Quote
JHCC Posted March 5, 2024 Posted March 5, 2024 13 hours ago, Frosty said: probably saw more loaded gondolas I thought Venice was in Florida, not North Carolina. Quote
Frosty Posted March 5, 2024 Posted March 5, 2024 Venice is everywhere, I used to visit Venice Cal to surf and eat the great street food. I hear Venice Texas is really cool. Of course for folks who are Venice blind there is Italy. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Scott NC Posted March 6, 2024 Author Posted March 6, 2024 You and your rubber chickens. You've threatened me more than a few times with one. Do you really have one? Btw, they are called covered hopper railcars.... Quote
Scott NC Posted March 6, 2024 Author Posted March 6, 2024 To be fair, though. There are gondola railcars that haul scrap and other stuff that can weather the elements. They havo no tiller/oar or umbrellas though.... Quote
Frosty Posted March 6, 2024 Posted March 6, 2024 Yes as a matter of fact I do have a rubber chicken, got it for a church Halloween party with a 7 seas theme. I went as a pirate and wore it on my shoulder. I loved the church costume parties, I'd get into character and ham it up good. Said ARRRRR every 4 word as a pirate and when we boarded our first victim my parrot turned out to be a chicken! ARRRRRGH! I was "Rustybeard" the pirate. My beard was more pink but who would tremble in trepidation at the very thought of meeting Pinkbeard the pirate? I had a lot of fun with my Steampunk adventurer too. Then . . . new pastor no more parties. <sigh> Covered hopper cars, would be for grain and or stuff that might blow out or be damaged by weather? What I see on the rails up here aren't covered but are hauling coal or fill materials. Rip rap for armoring grades against energetic water, are in side dumps. Those are easy to spot by the rams in the center of the ends and big hinge pins, one on each side so it can be dumped either side. Sand and gravel going to concrete or asphalt bath plants or sub base road grade is (or was) covered by tarp. Of course that's only what I see, I can hear rail traffic from the house but rarely have to wait at a crossing. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Scott NC Posted March 6, 2024 Author Posted March 6, 2024 Yes, for protecting things like grain or lime or what not. I once was involved in a project at a repair and fabrication yard, in modifying old defunct ttx railcars that hauled semi trailers, into railcars that carried whole track switch assembleys. We cut the cars in half and made them longer, built an A-frame for the pre-fabbed rail switch assemblies to lean against, one on each side to be hauled on site where they were needed. That was for the UP. We also modified ballast cars for them to be operated by remote control, with solar chargers. Please forgive me for rambeling on but it was one of my favorite jobs and I miss the old days. Quote
Frosty Posted March 6, 2024 Posted March 6, 2024 Didn't mean to railroad you into it Scott but I can't help myself sometimes. Deb says I can't be trained to stay on track. ON a more serious note, I've always loved trains in a stay away from them sort of way. I mean, they are all HEAVY STEEL! What's not to love? Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Scott NC Posted March 6, 2024 Author Posted March 6, 2024 I used to play and climb around them on the siding they left them on in the flyspeck town I grew up in... Always loved aspects of it. I'd love to drop a draft gear again if I got the chance... Quote
Daswulf Posted March 7, 2024 Posted March 7, 2024 Never go train hopping while wearing Chuck T's #1, that train goes faster the closer you get to it. Scary fast when it looked slow further away. #2, that gravel really hurts when landing on it with shoes with thin soles. Quote
Frosty Posted March 7, 2024 Posted March 7, 2024 Uh HUH, the only train I'm hopping better be at the station or stopped at a siding. Draft gear? Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Scott NC Posted March 8, 2024 Author Posted March 8, 2024 (edited) Draft gear is just a steel box full of springs that cushion the coupler. You heard trains taking up slack? It soften all that steel banging back and forth. I suppose I am easily amused. Sometimes they are hard to get out. I think now they use compressed gas. Edited March 8, 2024 by Scott NC Fix a something Quote
Frosty Posted March 8, 2024 Posted March 8, 2024 Gotcha. Like the difference between pulling a stuck vehicle out of a ditch with a tow strap or a chain. One says bmmp the other says BANG, sometimes RIP clatter! Easily amused is a good thing, it's SOOOO much better than easily angered, nauseated, frightened, fooled, etc. I'll hang with the laughing folk almost every time, I'm not big on mean humor. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
Frosty Posted March 9, 2024 Posted March 9, 2024 Making jokes of people's troubles, problems, disabilities, etc. There's a movie, 'Mean Girls," that does a good job of showing it. With righteous revenge on the mean girls, of course. A Hollywood "happy" ending. Frosty The Lucky. Quote
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