The Railroad Press

Every time I get involved in a new hobby I wind up with a new set of books and magazine around the house. Trains has been no exception. It started with one magazine called “Trains” and now I think I'm up to at least three. While looking over the magazine rack at Borders Books the other day I found a new one. It is called The Railroad Press and has a red diamond logo in the upper left corner of the front cover with the letter TRP in white.

This is an exceptional magazine! The photography is beyond description you just have to see it for yourself. The writing is clear and concise and the story content is very interesting. About the only down side I can find is that it is not published every month like others. Rather it is a quarterly publication coming out four times a year. The issue I picked up is issue #66 JUL/AUG/SEP, 2005 so that means it will be October before another one hits the news stands. Without a doubt I will be subscribing to this one.

When I went to check out the publisher I found out that they are located right here in Pennsylvania.

The Railroad Press
PO Box 444
Hanover, PA 17331

Check out there web site for additional information. Good reading!

Man sitting on tracks struck by train

From the Tribune Review :

A man hit by a train on the South Side this morning while he sat on the tracks suffered severe head injuries, police said.

The man was struck by a Norfolk Southern train, along tracks near the 3300 block of Jane Street about 5:13 a.m. police said.

The conductor told police he saw the man, wearing dark clothing, sitting on the tracks. The conductor blew the train whistle but was unable to stop the train before it struck the man, police said.

Follow this link for the complete story.

Great information source

While going through some files that have accumulated on my TiVo's hard drive this evening I was watching a 60 Minutes segment that I had recorded back in December of last year. It was all about how Google got started and where the company was at that time. I watched it one more time before deleting it and while there were talking about the various new services that Google was developing they mentioned Google Print.

I made a mental note to check out what “Google Print” was about the next time I was at the computer which I did this evening. Well it blew my socks off. Go try it for yourself and see what you think. Enter http://print.google.com and then put in the words “railroading” or “diesel locomotive” and see the results. I think you will be as impressed as I was. Good stuff!

Old railroad line chugs back into service

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

It will carry tons of coal from Armstrong County to Homer City power plant

Friday, July 22, 2005
By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

INDIANA, Pa. -- John W. Mills, who spent most of his career as a doctor delivering babies, took a class to become a train brakeman at age 64. He met half the requirements -- you have to make four perfect runs on a train -- but now, at age 79, he doesn't think he'll ever finish.

For the complete story and photos follow this link. POST GAZETTE RAIL STORY

Last week on the Rail Fan Net

Last week we had an interesting Rail Fan Net on the 146.88 repeater Thursday night. Dennis, KB3HPC, was delayed by a previous work related engagement so I got to sit in the conductors seat and run the net. I dubbed myself “break man in training” not yet being of the stature of Dennis in knowledge of matters related to railroading.

Late in the net we were joined by Paul, N0VLR, who was leaving a club meeting and had with his two meter rig on scan had found the Rail Fan Net quite by accident. This turned out to be our good fortune as Paul works for Union Switch & Signal makers of control systems for the railroad industry. Paul writes the software that allows the complex movements of trains on the network of rails that crisscrosses our country. It was an interesting conversation to say the least.

Tomorrow as each week we will once again meet on the air to talk about all things railroad and you are invited to join. If you are a licensed amateur radio operator you will find us on the North Hills Amateur Radio Club's 146.880 repeater at 09:30 PM local time. If you are not a ham and you have access to a police scanner you can listen in by programming 146.880 into one of the scanners channels. If you would like to participate in the net you can send your questions or comments to Dennis at railfannet@hotmail.com and he will do his best to get your comment on the net or your question answered. Hope you can join us each Thursday evening.

Playing With Trains

I have been adding some books to my home library on our favorite subject, trains, but haven't had much time for reading as of late. Sometimes I think my real hobby is reading and that all of these other activities are just peripheral to buying books.

Today I started one of those books called “Playing With Trains” the sub title of which is “A Passion Beyond Scale” written by Sam Posy. I only got into the first few chapters but I can tell that I'm really going to enjoy this one and I will write something more about it once I have completed reading it.

When I read a book I read the jacket cover and then start at the very beginning reading any dedications or information that precedes the first chapter. At the front of “Playing With Trains” I found a dedication to Rolf and John, a poem by Walt Whitman and a scanned image of a paper that the author had made up to use at his train layouts with the whistle signals on it. Sort of “Morse code” for trains as it were. Being an amateur radio operator I found this interesting. For your enjoyment and edifications here is the list of signals.

I was going to try to replicate the list here just the way I see it in the book but the way the blog software handles formatting it is not really practical. So I'm giving your my version of the information.

DAH = Long Toot
DIT = Short Toot

DIT - Apply Brakes, STOP!

DAH DAH - Release Brakes, PROCEED!

DAH DIT DIT DIT – Flagman go back and protect rear of train.

DAH DAH DAH DAH – Flagman return from west or south.

DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH – Flagman return from east or north.

DIT DIT DIT DAH – Protect front of train.

DIT DIT – Answer to any signal not otherwise provided for.

DIT DIT DIT – When standing, back up, When running.

DIT DIT DIT DIT – Call for signals. //////// stop at next station.

DAH DAH DIT DAH – Approaching highway or grade crossing.

DAH – Approaching station, junction or railroad crossing.

DAH DAH DIT – Approaching a meeting or waiting point for trains.

*********** - A number of short toots is a signal for persons or livestock on the track.

A new way to "look for trains" on the web

Everyone who owns a computer that is connected to the Internet knows what Google is. The search engine that started out life as a research project has become such a force in the on line world that it even is a recognized word in the dictionary. If you spend more than a few minuets a day on line you know how to “Google” for something.

If you have ever “Googled” you know that putting in a one or two word query can produce literally thousands of links in the time it takes you to get your hands off the keyboard. Much as with other search engines that preceded it learning how to google has become somewhat of an art form. If your search terms are too broad you can spend minuets or hours sorting through all of the web links that are produced looking for that one page that you had in mind when you started. If on the other hand your search terms are too narrow you will get either “ 0 results found for foobar” or a few pages to search through but not the one you are looking for.

Now how would you like to go one better? A small high tech firm here in Pittsburgh has developed a technology that not only searches the web for pages that contain the terms you are looking for but then sorts and categorizes the results for you. The output of the search can be impressive indeed. The search engine is called “Clusty” and you should wander over to their site and give it a try. Just for fun put the word “train” in the search box and see what you get. Once you see how it works I'm sure you will find it useful.

Great Fourth of July

Well it was a great Fourth of July for me. Got to spend it with friends and family especially great this year as my first grand child was there and though not quite a year old yet was running around like crazy.

To top it all off I was in a pretty good spot for watching trains and I got to spend some of the afternoon talking with an engineer for Norfolk Southern. If there was any down side to the day at all it was that I just couldn't get the darn trains to cooperate and show up when I had my camera in my hand. There were at least four trains pass during the day while I was there and I don't have a single snap shot to show for it. Well I'm going back again another day and I will correct that problem. In the meantime, life is good.

I hope all of you reading the blog had a fantastic Fourth of July.

Good times, old friends and rail fans

I have been friends with Bill and Jenny Humphrey for over twenty five years now. They are really good people and Bill is one of the most avid train enthusiasts I know. He was bitten by the bug LONG before I was and someday I will have to ask him how he came to be so enamored with the machines of iron. Matter of fact I will see him this morning and I will make myself a note to have that conversation.

This wonderful couple recently celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary and their kids put together a dinner in their honor to which Linda and I were invited. Held in the basement of our church here in Oakmont yesterday evening we had about one hundred friends and family for the joyous occasion.

When I arrived Bill was sitting off to one side talking with a couple that I didn't recognize but I thought looked familiar. When I walked up to say hello Bill introduced Glenn McClintock and his wife Pat. Now I didn't remember where I had seen Glenn before but he remembered me. We had met last year at the Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum.

A group of us that check into the Rail Fan Net on two meters each week had gotten together for a road trip to the museum and descended on the place like a heard of turtles. The museum is open to the public during the holiday season starting in November and running through January. The layout at the Carnegie Science Center gets all the media publicity during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season and it is a great display which I love to visit when I get the chance. However, if you are a true rail fan the WPMRM is the premier event in the Pittsburgh area. Wander over to their web site [Western Pennsylvania Model Railroad Museum] and take a virtual tour and you will begin to see why I make this statement. Then mark your calendars for the fall when you can visit in person and experience first hand one of the best model railroad layouts on the east coast of the United States.

Just to put the icing on the cake it turns out that Glenn is also an amateur radio operator. He is not currently active in the hobby and on the air but I am going to work on changing that. I'm sure after talking with him that he would enjoy our weekly rail fan net on the 146.880 repeater and would be a great source of information for the net with his knowledge of the rails.

So what was already a great evening helping Bill and Jenny celebrate their anniversary also included a few enjoyable hours of discussing trains both real and scale. Life is good.

Building a book shelf

I would like to build a “reference library” of sorts here on the blog in the form of an on line book shelf. Not to post the book themselves but rather to have a list of titles and some quick comments and reviews. I will be writing up a few posts about items that I have in my book case when I get the time. If you have any titles that you would like to add to my list drop me an email with as much detail as you can and I will add them. I just made a similar post on my Amateur Radio & Scanner blog and thought it would be a good idea for the rail fans as well.