Hey , chaps ,
My son Martyn just got back from his holiday in the USA , or California if that counts .
He said that he was really made to feel very welcome , and he really enjoyed himself . He met his future wife’s family , had a good time with them . He also went driving around as many sites of interest as possible , from the Hoover Dam to Palm Springs , Las Vegas(won 300 dollars) , and somewhere along the way stumbled across a museum type railway called the Nevada something , right in the middle of nowhere . He took a load of photos which , if anyone is interested , will appear on this site .
He also got stopped by the Police at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere for not stopping at a stop sign . He swears there was nobody in sight from horizon to horizon , yet not long after he pulled across , having nearly stopped , he saw this flashing light in the mirror .
He apologised to the Police Lady , saying he knew why he’d been stopped ; she reminded him that he could have had a fixed penalty , so don’t do it again , and wished him a happy vacation . Nice lady , and as Martyn said , typical of the nice people that he met .
So thanks to all you folks .
He is one happy bunny .
Mike
Mike Morgan said:Ah yes. The famous California rolling stop :D (In fairness to Calif, also Maine and all points in between) Martyn should have done a Montreal stop -- forget the brake, kick the throttle through the floor and devil take pedestrians or cross-traffic ...
My son Martyn ... swears there was nobody in sight from horizon to horizon , yet not long after he pulled across , having nearly stopped , ... Mike
Glad Martyn enjoyed his visit. I think that might have been the Nevada Northern RR. It’s on my someday list.
I used to like to roll through stop signs. For a few years I lived in the middle of nowhere, flat farmland. My road crossed a higher speed limit road at a two-way stop. Visibility was about 1/4 mile in all directions. I was in the habit of running that sign at speed until one day I learned that my truck’s 3" wide side mirror covered a large area 1/4 mile a way. I didn’t see the car until I was in the middle of the intersection and she was 5 feet from impact. She slammed into the rear quarter of my step van at about 45MPH after trying to stop. Spun the van 180 degrees which was too much for the top heavy vehicle and it went over on it’s side. I was damn lucky I wasn’t crushed by the load I was carrying and that the van fell on the driver’s side. My injuries were very minor. The driver of the VW bug was not so lucky, she left in an ambulance.
Now days I come to a complete stop, look both ways, then look again before I enter an intersection. I don’t expect I’d be so lucky the next time.
Drive safe and live to enjoy your trains.
JR
Glad he enjoyed our hospitality!
Mike Morgan said:Might that be the Nevada Northern, of Ely, NV? It's a great place with some great old trains.
He also went driving around as many sites of interest as possible , from the Hoover Dam to Palm Springs , Las Vegas(won 300 dollars) , and somewhere along the way stumbled across a museum type railway called the Nevada something , right in the middle of nowhere
Mike, glad your son enjoyed his trip here in the US of A. I guess he found out about our police and their cloaking devices…
Wascal can be right beside you and you can’t see him…
Jon, I share your accident experience 
…but only from the other person’s point of view. It still gave me a great respect for stop signs. The other driver is lucky to be alive…I hit him at 40mph square in the driver’s door.
Sounds like he found the “ghost railway”, the Nevada Northern alright…the steam loco survived because the engine house crews managed to hide it from management for something like 20 years by spotting it on remote spurs or even covering it in scrap metal behind the roundhouse.
Victor Smith said:Vic -
Sounds like he found the "ghost railway", the Nevada Northern alright...the steam loco survived because the engine house crews managed to hide it from management for something like 20 years by spotting it on remote spurs or even covering it in scrap metal behind the roundhouse.
Cool. I never heard that story. I’ve only seen the magazine ads and have been intrigued with the physical plant. Is there more to it?
JR
Feb 24, 1996 – She stopped. She went. We hit her.
It cost 35 grand to repair the wife.
When you’re sitting at that stop sign, an 18-wheeler can hide behind your doorpost and you’d never know it was there.
I have problems with vehicles hiding behind my right hand windshield post. I watch that very close at unmarked intersections.
Warren
Hey , Warren , that’s the only thing I have to complain about with my Jeep , it has a quite wide pillar , and it can hide quite large vehicles . I get quite a bit of neck exercise with that .
Mike
Mine’s a Dodge Caravan…same problem…it will hide a fleet of 18 wheelers…
Warren
I drive a Dodge Ram 3/4 ton Pickup and I am always surprised at the number of little cars that drive out from my front bumper. I never saw them! And that windscreen support! You can hide a battleship behind it. I sometimes think I need to drive down the highway like a tail-dragger airplane on the taxiway-S-curves to clear the view ahead.
And parallel parking! I need a tugboat to get alongside the pier.
madwolf
My pickum-up is a b**ch to parallel park too…won’t even try. With the topper on back I’m blind as a bat. I can back straight into anything, but trying to zip into a parking spot with someone’s puddle jumper behind is impossible. Now, if I could borrow Steve’s tug boat to shove me in sidewards… The Caravan on the other hand is a snap to parallel park. Good visibility to the rear and manuverable as hell. Just can’t see worth a damn frontwards…
Warren
Jon Radder said:
Victor Smith said:
Sounds like he found the “ghost railway”, the Nevada Northern alright…the steam loco survived because the engine house crews managed to hide it from management for something like 20 years by spotting it on remote spurs or even covering it in scrap metal behind the roundhouse.Vic - Cool. I never heard that story. I’ve only seen the magazine ads and have been intrigued with the physical plant. Is there more to it? JR
Jon I heard this story on a railfan video of the line. Its so far the only recorded refernece I have but I had heard the story before seeing the video, so there must be a kernal of truth to it. I have been looking for printed version of it but so far nada. The facts are that the line was ordered to sell its steam engines when it converted to diesel back in the 60’s, somehow #40 managed to elude the scrappers torch till it was “rediscovered” in the late 70’s. She was restored in the mid 80’s after the line became a living museum RR. The legend is that the shop forman at the time thought her lines were so pleasing that it would be a crime to scrap her, so he managed to hide her in the back of the engine shop, it became a game to keep the engine from management with subsequent shop crews. Whenever management came by, the engine was hidden behind piles of scrap, or moved to a remote location, then moved back into the safety of the engine house. When the engine was finally revealed several years later, she was in remarkable shape and it at the time the commercial line was partially converting to a tourist line and it didnt take a rocket scientist to realize what a assett a steam locomotive would be, so in a short time the engine was restored to her glory and has been the queen of the line ever since. How much is true, aprocryphal or at least wildly exhagerated, I dont know, but it makes for a great story… heres the lines website and a picture of the Ghost Engine http://www.nevadanorthernrailway.net/
Erm , there will be a delay in posting the photos of Nevada , Martyn was rushed off to hospital Wednesday with a bout of Kidney Stones .
I blame the donuts .
He says it’s like peeing needles with someone kicking your back .
Do nut eat donuts .
Ow!
The Nevada Northern’s ten-wheeler is one heck of a good looking loco. They have a real sweet connie too, and some classic wooden coaches. The coaches and one of the locos were damaged several years ago when the train ran into a runaway hopper. They just got the loco up and running again a year or two ago. I don’t know if the coaches have been repaired yet.
One of the best trips I had was driving from San diego to Las Vegas and back. It was my first view of the great American desert. Lotta good spots along the way to view some big time railroad action.
Mike Morgan said:
Hey , chaps , My son Martyn just got back from his holiday in the USA , or California if that counts . He said that he was really made to feel very welcome , and he really enjoyed himself . He met his future wife's family , had a good time with them . He also went driving around as many sites of interest as possible , from the Hoover Dam to Palm Springs , Las Vegas(won 300 dollars) , and somewhere along the way stumbled across a museum type railway called the Nevada something , right in the middle of nowhere . He took a load of photos which , if anyone is interested , will appear on this site .Mike
Mike,
Glad to hear you son had a great trip. The City of Las Vegas was more friendly than others it appears… He left with $300. Good for him.
I’d be interested in seeing the pictures, to place where they were taken.
LV_Tom