Note the horn heads up from the engineer that I waved too coming across Rockville…just saying !
mike dorsch said:
Thanks Pete , it’s Dorsch though .
Sorry, I had a guy I used to see a lot his last name was Dortch so that is why I goofed on spelling.
As a kid growing up in west Toronto the most common trains were all boxcars.
The CN mainline was on the other side of our schoolyard fence and it was a daily thing at lunchtime for a group of us boys to listen for the steamers working hard up the grade from the city, then we’d hang onto that wire fence at recess and lean over to watch for her arrival.
The big deal was to count the cars. 100 or more CN 40’ AAR boxcars in a row was not uncommon, and when we were young the sheer length of such trains was all the thrill.
There’s something hypnotic about trains like that.
Near where i lived there was another line where equally long drags of boxcars were the rule. Few trains went to a hundred cars; trains about half that length were common. On this line you’d see the occasional CP box more often than at school.
There were only two railroads to speak of in Canada. US cars were an exotic rarity, but always interesting of course. Dickens wrote about the exotic names of American railways. As a youngster I wondered where places like Rock Island and Joliet and Topeka and Père Marquette and Nickel Plate were.
It was also unusual to see flatcars in these drags, but it did happen occasionally, and it was fun to see what load they carried.
Today I own strings of several car types: orecars, tankers, stockcars and boxcars.
Boxcars are still my favorites, and I like 'em best when they match! My taste for strings of identical cars was formed in childhood and has stayed with me all my life.
Interesting topic.
John Le Forestier said:
As a kid growing up in west Toronto the most common trains were all boxcars.
The CN mainline was on the other side of our schoolyard fence and it was a daily thing at lunchtime for a group of us boys to listen for the steamers working hard up the grade from the city, then we’d hang onto that wire fence at recess and lean over to watch for her arrival.
The big deal was to count the cars. 100 or more CN 40’ AAR boxcars in a row was not uncommon, and when we were young the sheer length of such trains was all the thrill.
Pics?
I was ten. I didn’t own a camera, Roos. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)Neither did Dad, who brought me to the second line on weekends. We wuz po’ folks. Dad made a railroader of me, taking me to watch the trains from as early as I can remember, say 1950, in London, England, then here. In 1953 he bought me my first train set for my fifth Christmas, a clockwork set made by Chad Valley and sold at Woolworth’s. It must have been some sacrifice for him, for six months later he entirely gave up on post-war England and brought us to Toronto where he could find work and buy a house of our own.
Last year I found one of those trainsets on eBay and I’ve been restoring both the train and the box. I’ve got pictures of this restoration project. But I have no idea how to post a picture on this site. It’s not exactly intuitive, is it?.
That’s why you see my name so seldom here anymore, btw. I agree with ya’; there’s little point in posting at all if you can’t show folks a picture.
No big deal Pete , we’re good.
John Le Forestier said:
I was ten. I didn’t own a camera, Roos. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)Neither did Dad, who brought me to the second line on weekends.
It’s all good…Wish I would have had a camera when dad used to take me fishing on the Yellow Breeches which the Lurgan branch (ex Reading line) crossed. Now mind you this was the 70’s but I saw a LOT WM,B&O,C&O,Reading,Cheesie,etc…they even still had cabooses with a FRED on the rear.
(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Rooster said:
It’s all good…Wish I would have had a camera when dad used to take me fishing on the Yellow Breeches which the Lurgan branch (ex Reading line) crossed. Now mind you this was the 70’s but I saw a LOT WM,B&O,C&O,Reading,Cheesie,etc…they even still had cabooses with a FRED on the rear.(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Thanks for the memories, David.
That’s a mighty funny name for a river. One wonders how it got its name. Somebody wet his pants there, I guess…
It’s my intention, by the way, to get down to Mechanicsville and share a laugh or two with ya as soon as the border opens up.
They just moved that date back again to August, by the way. This virus thing sure screwed up summer plans for a lot of people…
Keep on chuffing.
Cheers!
John Le Forestier said: But I have no idea how to post a picture on this site. It’s not exactly intuitive, is it?.
That’s why you see my name so seldom here anymore, btw. I agree with ya’; there’s little point in posting at all if you can’t show folks a picture.
Photo inserting
- Start by uploading your photos to a server. You have storage space in the Freight Shed on this web site.
- After they are uploaded, click on the file you want to open.
- Once it is opened, RIGHT click on the picture and select copy image location. DO NOT use the url in the address bar of your browser.
- Next click on the insert photo button in your post and paste the image location in the source line.
- Look at the dimensions. You will see them if you click on the first box (height). Make it 800 then click on the second box and it will automatically be correctly scaled.
- Then hit OK and your photo will be in your post.
Video Embedding
This topic has to be re-mastered every time the site owner makes an upgrade to the software. For this incarnation the procedure is…
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Grab the embed code from the YouTube video (directly on the video) right click in OPERA (copy embed code); right click in FireFox (Copy embed code); right click in Chrome (get embed code);right click in IE (get embed code).
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In the reply window click on “insert/edit video” button in the top row (looks like a movie frame), and select “Embed”.
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Paste the embed code (copied from YouTube) in the box and click “OK”.
Joe, I can only post photos from my albums, not my freight shed. If I use the Freight shed, I get the promo that
it doesn’t support this picture. It’s been that way since day one of the upgrade. I used to be able to use the freight shed. Not now.
Joe, I can only post photos from my albums, not my freight shed. If I use the Freight shed, I get the promo that
it doesn’t support this picture. It’s been that way since day one of the upgrade. I used to be able to use the freight shed. Not now.
In the video instructions, you left out Safari. I can’t imbed videos either.
John,
The problem must be with you or your computer and NOT Bob’s site. I just posted a photo from my Freight Shed using Safari for Window and it all worked as I said in the instructions. All browsers are pretty much the same.
Thanks for that, Joe. I’ve copied all your instructions to a Notebook file that I can find pdq for ready reference & I’ll try it soon. Cheers!