Tickling/Religion/Guilt & Evil...

[qjakal]

Todays Generation...

Well, they've segued into hiphuggers and bellbottoms, which are a VAST improvement over that stupid crotch of the pants at the knees look(wtf WAS that?) and the one pant leg pulled up jailed wannabe tough guy style. Hopefully the music will follow.... Q

 

[Daumantas]

I will back and support Strelnikov in his bid for the title of Grand Imperial Khan, so long as I get to the Nylon Dungeon Enforcement Officer. 😎

 

[Daumantas]

Oops - should have read, "get to BE the Nylon Dungeon Enforcement Officer."

It's a little typo, but hey, us writers are sensitive about this kinda stuff...

 

[Strelnikov]

Works for me, D. Happy to have you on board. Yes, passenger trains are the civilized way to travel. Hell, compared to airlines these days, riding the rods* is a civilized way to travel.

Strelnikov


*Gotta be an old timer to understand that one!

 

[Strelnikov]

Riding the rods...

Wood-and-steel railroad cars built before about 1940 had external bracing under the floor, steel braces joined by steel rods. Length of the rods could be adjusted with turn buckles or by tightening bolts. That enabled the repair crews to keep the bracing tight, so that the frame stayed square and the car didn't sag. This rig extended downward to axle height, or about 18" above top of rail.

"Riding the rods" was a way to get a free ride on a freight train. The rider put a plank on top of the rods and rode on top of the plank (or rode on the bare rods without the plank - ouch!) That way, you didn't have to break into a boxcar, or risk being accidentally locked inside an empty one. Kinda drafty though - train crews would occasionally find people who did this dead from hypothermia.

Car builders dispensed with this system when the railroads went to all-steel cars.

See? You learned something.

Strelnikov

 

[Daumantas]

Hmmm...let's see...

Hanging on to the truss rods for dear life, vs. being crushed into a teeny weeny airline seat.

Being chased by the railroad bulls, vs. being chased by Southwest's flight attendants ("we're here for your safety - we're not servants!")

Eating scraps of discarded food at hobo jungles, vs. airline meals.

Freezing to death, vs. freezing to death.

All in all, you're right Strel... Depression-era freight train travel beats circa-2002 airline travel all to hell!

 

[qjakal]

Me & Strel...lol

See...I'm the one on the lookout...while strel is logging ZZZZ's! As usual, I'm pulling his weight...sigh.

 

[Strelnikov]

Ahh, yes! I remember those days well! Doesen't Q look dashing in the derby hat? And I even had hair back then.

For you youngsters - railroad bulls are railroad company police. They had legal authority and arrest powers on railroad property. Sometimes even away from the road; the answer to Butch Cassidy and Sundance's question "Who ARE those guys?" is, they were railway police.

Since the roads were in the passenger business back then, they took a dim view of riding the rods. The trick was to get under the train just before it started moving, then get off as soon as the train stopped rolling. The bulls were notorious for administering savage beatings (the sort that cause broken bones and missing teeth) to the riders they caught. In other words, sorta like airport security, but with gusto.

Strelnikov

 

[Strelnikov]

This town ain't big enough for the two of us!

There was an old-time insult that implied that the recipient was a bum: "There's a train leaving town at 8:05 tonight. Be under it."

Strelnikov

 

[qjakal]

Bum?

Or else a desire to see them dead? We used to put pennies out on the tracks all the time as kids, and those overpasses with cars going under were awesome for waterballoons as well, but it was all a bit risky, looking back at it now. Duct tape probably would have saved a lot of lives then...you could have secured yourself to the plank and frame rather easily with it. Of course, running from the Bulls wouldn't have been too easy! Q

 

[Daumantas]

So Strel -

Your take on the best luxury passenger train in US history.

1. 20th Century Limited?
2. Super Chief?
3. California Zephyr?
4. City of New Orleans?
5. Empire Builder?

Or another, unmentioned?

Being an East Coast native I'm partial to the Century - how could you not love a train where they rolled out red carpets for boarding passengers at each stop - but I do think it's pretty cool how the Super Chief had a special "hidden" lounge where Hollywood stars could hang out without the ordinary shnooks being aware they were on the train.

 

[shark]

I saw an exposee on modern railroads. Today's "bulls" deal with an actual gang on the tracks,which deals in the usual robbery,rape, drugs,murder,etc. Railroad police find around 500 dead bodies every year in and around trains and tracks.

 

[Haltickling]

Amtrak?

Many years ago, I organized a pecial group tour for 120 people from coast to coast. New York - Toronto - Chicago in two special coach cars and a separate dining car, then onward to Denver - Salt Lake City -Reno, we had 3 special Super-Liners, a separate dining car, and a separate panorama car (they even had to add an additional locomotive for the section through the Rockies). The last part from Reno to San Francisco again two extra coach cars and a dining car.

Amtrak provided us with all the best service, special menu choices (prearranged by us), and a lot of extras (a bottle of Californian wine when we entered California etc). The rest of that special program was arranged by us: Light show on Times Square, a visit to the Railroad Museum in Golden (near Denver), a huge barbecue at the Roaring Camp near San Francisco, luxurious hotels throughout, special dinners, and so on. A lot of work, but a huge success (we made about 400.000 $ with this tour alone). And as I'm a train enthusiast as well, I'd certainly this way way of travelling. As a passenger said: The train allows our soul to travel with us, whereas planes always fly ahead of our soul... 😎

 

[qjakal]

Yup...

I found 2 myself as a boy. Dad was in the military, and we always ended up renting a house by the tracks, usually near a bowling alley as well, because: 1--cheapest in town, and 2- that's what would always be available. The beds would shake from one side of the room to the other overnight, but amazingly enough, we all got used to it and slept well. But the area was always rougher than anywhere else in town and seemed to be a magnet for problems.... Q

 

[Strelnikov]

Q, your photo got blown away.

D, I'd have to say the Century too. Unfortunately, it went away before I got a chance to ride it. Back when I was a kid, the CN still had steamers on passenger runs in Ontario - one went from Toronto north into the Bracebridge/Muskoka/Orillia lake district and on past Georgian Bay to Sudbury. The line ran past the resort where we spent a week every summer. I used to walk around the lake to the old depot at Port Stanton (even then long disused) with my grandfather to watch the locomotives stamp and pound as they went by. Diesels just aren't the same.

Hal, check out this website: http://www.dlm.ag
They are a spinoff of Sulzer in Winterthur, went out on their own when Sulzer got out of the steam engine business. They list some of their customers, European excursion and tourist railroads mostly but also a passenger boat line on Lake Geneva. Note their claim that "steam draws customers". As for Amtrak, unfortunately their regular service is nowhere near as good as you describe.

Strelnikov

 

[JoBelle]

Trains ~!
Love 'em!

My first trip was when I was 17 years old. I went from New Orleans to Chicago then back making stops in Memphis, and St Louis and a few small towns along the way. It stand out in memory as one of my best trips. Why? You get to see the best things from a train. There is something so cool about the back porches of old MS houses that were built not long after the tracks were laid! Then there is the thrill of seeing a city in a way you never would in a car! It was great!

There was also that feeling of familiarity with the fellow passengers that you just don't get on a plane. I spent the better part of the trip chatting it up with the nicest woman! She was from Nebraska and we talked about...well, you name it and we talked about it! 😛 *sigh*
Ahhh, well...now I'm in the mood to hop a boxcar. 😀

The only drawnack for me??
I grew up on boats as a kid, so my "sea legs" are great...My "rail legs"...well, they WERE a bit wobbly for a couple of days!

Joby....who, we see through observation, will talk to almost anyone! 😛

 

[Deleted member 2452]

the spirit of new orleanes

i was on that train 2 summers ago. once the train left chicago, it took 19 hours to reach new orleanes. i loved it! the scenery was great, as joby said. the food, was terrible.
this last summer we took the train to arizona. horrible trip. the food is still terrible, but the prices were raised double, and triple the old prices. the new prices took affect about a month before our trip, we were told.
steve

 

[Daumantas]

Actually, back in the old days, trains like the original Spirit of New Orleans were well known for their dining cars. The very best of them were on a par with top restaurants.

Amtrak's current Spirit of New Orleans retains the name of the Illinois Central Railroad train but little of the original's charm.

Of course, it was the very ostentatiousness of those trains that made them economically not viable in the first place. The one thing worse than Amtrak was that period in the late Sixties when the railroads were trying to get rid of passenger service, and they almost deliberately let it deteriorate in a really godawful way. For what it's worth, at least Amtrak has managed to keep a skeleton service alive, and has managed to renovate some classic passenger stations (like Washington, D.C.'s Union Station) that the railroads had allowed to fall apart.

The dining car on the 20th Century Limited was called not "the dining car" but The Century Room. VERY classy train.

Big Jim, on your side of the pond there were some classics too - the Flying Scotsman, the Orient Express...

 

[omega]

HOLY MOSES !!!!

Hey Q,

I haven't been around for a long while for various and sundry reasons. I decide to pop in and see what's going on. Only to find that you just can't let this puppy of a thread go to rest. I have to admit I haven't reread the whole thread. Probably won't. But to look back a few pages and see that you people can go from Russian philosophy to ridin' the rods and Amtrak. I take my hat off to you. There is no way I can do transitions like that in my sermons.

Well here is my Amtrak story. I have taken Amtrak round trip between Michigan and Toronto and once from Totonto to Michigan. Interesting to watch the crew from one nation switch with the crew from the other.

I wonder if the hobos ever tied somone to the rods and tickled them?

BTW Q, have you an adopted child yet?

 

[qjakal]

Omega...

Hi Omega! How odd that you popped in...upon rereading this thread, one of the first things I thought about was where you had gotten yourself to these days! This novelette resurfaced about 2 weeks ago, so if you'd been around, you'd have had almost a year of peace and quiet on this front. As for the youngster...due here in 19-22 days...yikes! Catch us all up on life in the ministry willya? I almost threw out a thread on the priesthood during the last set of scandals, but it might have stirred up a bit too much venom and vinegar. Good to see the unofficial conscience of the TMF back once again. I was getting to be so much trouble that they had to make me a Moderator just to be able to silence my extremist opinions. 🙂 Q

 

[JoBelle]

Note to Q 🙂
19-22 Days? Just in time for the holiday season and brand New Year! That's so great! Just wanted to interject a bit of shunshine here and tell you (from a mom to a soon to be new dad) that I'm happy for ya! You'll be in some southern thoughts ya damn yankee! 😛
Joby

 

[Haltickling]

Hi omega, welcome back! We missed you and your rather insightful cleric's views... 😎

 

[Deleted member 2452]

may i ask?

what denomination is father omega?

steve

 

[Daumantas]

Nice going, Omega - I got everybody talking about trains, and then you just HAD to come along and change the subject back to Tickling/Religion/Guilt & Evil!

The very NERVE of you, with the on-topic post and all...

 

[Strelnikov]

Welcome back, Omega. I STILL think that no more perfect instrument has ever been invented than the pipe organ! That's the one thing I miss since I parted company with the Catholic Church.

Strelnikov