Tales From the Railroad

[Jahrule]

Another fun-filled day on the railroad. It started as a “get lost” kind of day, only for the boss to call us up and inform us that we needed to drive two hours in the opposite direction to go blow snow off switches.

"Maybe it won’t be so bad," we told ourselves encouragingly. Surely those Con-River guys kept their switches in pristine condition.

We were confident the snow would blow right off. Spoiler: the snow did not blow off. It looked like nobody had touched it since the late Paleolithic era.

Fortunately, reinforcements soon arrived. "Yay!" we exclaimed, breaking into a joyous victory dance. "Nothing can ruin this day now."

And then, as we set off into the sunset on the long trek home, a blizzard rolled in. "It’s just a minor setback," we reassured ourselves. Nothing crazy—at least until a truck jackknifed, shutting down the only route home.

"Today was a good day." -Icecube

 

[BagdadBill]

Nothing crazy—at least until a truck jackknifed, shutting down the only route home.

See what climate change is doing!

 

[Lisa-Lisa]

Another fun-filled day on the railroad. It started as a “get lost” kind of day, only for the boss to call us up and inform us that we needed to drive two hours in the opposite direction to go blow snow off switches.

"Maybe it won’t be so bad," we told ourselves encouragingly. Surely those Con-River guys kept their switches in pristine condition.

We were confident the snow would blow right off. Spoiler: the snow did not blow off. It looked like nobody had touched it since the late Paleolithic era.

Fortunately, reinforcements soon arrived. "Yay!" we exclaimed, breaking into a joyous victory dance. "Nothing can ruin this day now."

And then, as we set off into the sunset on the long trek home, a blizzard rolled in. "It’s just a minor setback," we reassured ourselves. Nothing crazy—at least until a truck jackknifed, shutting down the only route home.

"Today was a good day." -Icecube

View attachment 8052

Another productive day on the Railroad! Our mainline dispatcher would always start his shift by keying the radio and announcing ............ Ladies and Gentlemen, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!! We all knew it would be a " Hurry up and wait day" Murphy's law.......... if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong!

 

[Jahrule]

I'm really looking forward to a day off. It's been over a month without a weekend due to snow and now a train derailment.

My railroad game project is on hold because of work. I can't keep this pace up for another 29 years, so I'm studying IT again—this time focusing on web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). Hopefully, I can leave the railroad to become a full-stack developer soon, though it'll take a few years.

Recently, I had a 36-hour workday and got very sick afterward. Life has been tough, but I'm surviving thanks to Jehovah. This morning, I prayed for strength during another derailment, and humorously, "I Will Survive" played on the radio. "Very funny, Jehovah." I thought to myself. All I could do was laugh.

I'm still working on a Bible tooltip feature for the New World Translation, facing many technical challenges. Even if nobody else uses it, I want to create something that doesn't exist.

I love the railroad and my crew—they're like family—but I don't want to do this until I'm 70. My passion is IT, and if Jah wills, I'll transition into that field someday.

I love you all. Robert, you're a mentor to me. To everyone on the forum, despite past disagreements, I see you all as brothers and sisters.

 

[Watchman]

View attachment 8466

I'm really looking forward to a day off. It's been over a month without a weekend due to snow and now a train derailment.

My railroad game project is on hold because of work. I can't keep this pace up for another 29 years, so I'm studying IT again—this time focusing on web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). Hopefully, I can leave the railroad to become a full-stack developer soon, though it'll take a few years.

Recently, I had a 36-hour workday and got very sick afterward. Life has been tough, but I'm surviving thanks to Jehovah. This morning, I prayed for strength during another derailment, and humorously, "I Will Survive" played on the radio. "Very funny, Jehovah." I thought to myself. All I could do was laugh.

I'm still working on a Bible tooltip feature for the New World Translation, facing many technical challenges. Even if nobody else uses it, I want to create something that doesn't exist.

I love the railroad and my crew—they're like family—but I don't want to do this until I'm 70. My passion is IT, and if Jah wills, I'll transition into that field someday.

I love you all. Robert, you're a mentor to me. To everyone on the forum, despite past disagreements, I see you all as brothers and sisters.

A train derailment is a good metaphor for this system coming off the rails. With Trump back as the Engineer, I expect there will be some track sabotage soon. They can't let this Trump Train get to the station.

 

[Jahrule]

A train derailment is a good metaphor for this system coming off the rails. With Trump back as the Engineer, I expect there will be some track sabotage soon. They can't let this Trump Train get to the station.

Very true. And unlike the railroad, the country doesn't have enough people dedicated to getting it off the ground. I think we all know Trump is fighting an unwinnable battle. Only Christ can get this world back on the right track. Thankfully, we know Jehovah has a plan. That's what keeps me going.

 

[Jahrule]

Oh, and because of all this overtime I've been working, I finally got a new PC. It's nothing crazy. I originally wanted to get a gaming rig, but I decided to go with something a bit more simple. My new workstation is a BosGame mini. It's not exactly a full fledged gaming PC, but it is significantly better than my laptop. Furthermore, I had to get more glasses too because I got hit right between the eyes with a railroad spike not long ago. Thank God I was wearing my glasses. They absorbed most of the impact. Of course, it destroyed them. Banged my nose up pretty bad too. That really really hurt. I thought I broke my nose at first. But I'm fine. New glasses and a new mini PC. I'm like a new man! My glasses should be in next week. My new PC should be in soon after.

Here's my new system. If it wasn't for the railroad I wouldn't have been able to get it. Thanks Jehovah.

 

[kenmuldoon55]

Oh, and because of all this overtime I've been working, I finally got a new PC. It's nothing crazy. I originally wanted to get a gaming rig, but I decided to go with something a bit more simple. My new workstation is a BosGame mini. It's not exactly a full fledged gaming PC, but it is significantly better than my laptop. Furthermore, I had to get more glasses too because I got hit right between the eyes with a railroad spike not long ago. Thank God I was wearing my glasses. They absorbed most of the impact. Of course, it destroyed them. Banged my nose up pretty bad too. That really really hurt. I thought I broke my nose at first. But I'm fine. New glasses and a new mini PC. I'm like a new man! My glasses should be in next week. My new PC should be in soon after.

Here's my new system. If it wasn't for the railroad I wouldn't have been able to get it. Thanks Jehovah.

Had a pc built 4 years ago.
Ryzen 5600 6 core Gtx1650 graphics and 32 gig mem. Never knew how good gaming could look until then.
Previously only had the stock built Best Buy store models. What a difference!
Glad things are looking up for you

 

[kirmmy]

Had a pc built 4 years ago.
Ryzen 5600 6 core Gtx1650 graphics and 32 gig mem. Never knew how good gaming could look until then.
Previously only had the stock built Best Buy store models. What a difference!
Glad things are looking up for you

I got this for both of you:

Uh! Uh huh yeah!

 

[kenmuldoon55]

I got this for both of you:

Uh! Uh huh yeah!

Thanks kirmmy very funny parody.
I haven't seen weird Al since the 80’s.
He touches on a very sore spot for many pc enthusiasts namely the obsolescence built into each one. Just like with your cell phone devices, which become antiquated and replaced with the new models rather quickly. A real rat race for those enslaved to the tech.
The nice pc I have now basically fell out of nowhere (think Covid era stimmy checks) and is probably the last hurrah for me cuz I sure ain’t gonna shell out fifteen hundred for another one. Thanks for the laugh.

 

[BrooksB]

Susan and I were cruizing thru New Mexico today on our way to Albuquerque from the Clovis area when I spotted Jahrule's compadres working on the railroad all day long. Sorry for the poor photos, you will have to zoom them in to see what is going on. Plus I was busy watching the road and just shot these blindly as we were driving by. @Jahrule

 

[BARNABY THE DOG.]

This ones for you:

Reminds me of my days “Working on the Microphone”.

 

[Jahrule]

Susan and I were cruizing thru New Mexico today on our way to Albuquerque from the Clovis area when I spotted Jahrule's compadres working on the railroad all day long. Sorry for the poor photos, you will have to zoom them in to see what is going on. Plus I was busy watching the road and just shot these blindly as we were driving by. @Jahrule

View attachment 8639 View attachment 8640 View attachment 8641

Wow! How did I miss this? I've been MIA lately. Threw my back out pretty bad about a week ago. It's feeling better. The funny thing is I didn't even do anything. All I did was look down. That was it. A week of pain. In fact, I was in that machine right there in the first photo in the front getting ready to pull spikes. It's my first year in a real machine, so I was excited. Of course, that's when my back gave out. As for this crew, I am not familiar with all their equipment. I recognize my machine. The one on the end is the spiker gauger. I don't know what the heck that blue box is. Looks like a porta-potty. I do believe that is a tie gang, though. Their machines look nicer than ours. I don't have any photos right now of the whole fleet, but I do have a short video I took from the street with the rail stretcher.

 

[BrooksB]

Wow! How did I miss this? I've been MIA lately. Threw my back out pretty bad about a week ago. It's feeling better. The funny thing is I didn't even do anything. All I did was look down. That was it. A week of pain. In fact, I was in that machine right there in the first photo in the front getting ready to pull spikes. It's my first year in a real machine, so I was excited. Of course, that's when my back gave out. As for this crew, I am not familiar with all their equipment. I recognize my machine. The one on the end is the spiker gauger. I don't know what the heck that blue box is. Looks like a porta-potty. I do believe that is a tie gang, though. Their machines look nicer than ours. I don't have any photos right now of the whole fleet, but I do have a short video I took from the street with the rail stretcher.

Great video! Rail stretcher? Do they heat them up and literally stretch them some?

Yes the blue box is a porta-potty. After seeing this crew, further down the line later both in New Mexico and then almost immediately as we entered Arizona (on Highway 40) we saw 3 more crews, one of which was double the size of the ones in the photos. They all had the blue "Biffy" porta-potties in tow.

 

[BARNABY THE DOG.]

Great video! Rail stretcher? Do they heat them up and literally stretch them some?

Yes the blue box is a porta-potty. After seeing this crew, further down the line later both in New Mexico and then almost immediately as we entered Arizona (on Highway 40) we saw 3 more crews, one of which was double the size of the ones in the photos. They all had the blue "Biffy" porta-potties in tow.

In the beginning, when I first joined watchman, I was secretly hoping that at sometime along the journey of salvation, I might find out what the “blue box” was on the rail repair machines that trawled the Americas keeping all the trains running. Now that wish has been fulfilled, I feel somewhat bereaved in purpose. Maybe if you have a picture of the toilets in bethel may help me to come to terms with it all.

 

[Jahrule]

Great video! Rail stretcher? Do they heat them up and literally stretch them some?

Yes the blue box is a porta-potty. After seeing this crew, further down the line later both in New Mexico and then almost immediately as we entered Arizona (on Highway 40) we saw 3 more crews, one of which was double the size of the ones in the photos. They all had the blue "Biffy" porta-potties in tow.

Believe it or not, the rail expands and contracts on its own. We sometimes have to give it some encouragement. To make it expand a bit you can set the rail on fire. You can actually see it growing. That's why there's a gap between sections of rail to compensate for expansion during warmer weather. On welded rail you can get sun kinks. To stretch those you have to cut some out. Tracks may look like hard steel, but they're really just giant noodles.

Gap in railroad sections:

Sun Kink:

 

[Jahrule]

In the beginning, when I first joined watchman, I was secretly hoping that at sometime along the journey of salvation, I might find out what the “blue box” was on the rail repair machines that trawled the Americas keeping all the trains running. Now that wish has been fulfilled, I feel somewhat bereaved in purpose. Maybe if you have a picture of the toilets in bethel may help me to come to terms with it all.

On my crew we don't have the luxury of a porta-john. You just have to be creative.

 

[BrooksB]

Believe it or not, the rail expands and contracts on its own. We sometimes have to give it some encouragement. To make it expand a bit you can set the rail on fire. You can actually see it growing. That's why there's a gap between sections of rail to compensate for expansion during warmer weather. On welded rail you can get sun kinks. To stretch those you have to cut some out. Tracks may look like hard steel, but they're really just giant noodles.

View attachment 8669 Gap in railroad sections:

View attachment 8670 Sun Kink:

Makes total sense but I had no idea the steel moved like that. But of course it would!

 

[BARNABY THE DOG.]

On my crew we don't have the luxury of a porta-john. You just have to be creative.

Surely that would cause either a wheel-slip or derailment?

 

[Jahrule]

In this episode of Tales from the Railroad I break format to show off my new wallet. It was expensive, so I don't have any money to put inside it. Nevertheless, I credit the railroad for giving me the means to purchase it. Also I have a beard now. You can call me Peaches. Everyone else does. Picked this wallet up after my card was cloned again. This one has RFID blocking.

 

[Jahrule]

Just made my first student loan payment. I may have mentioned before that I've been aggressively tackling my debts. My credit jumped from the 300s to now almost 800. Since I got most of my smaller debts paid down, I'm starting the big ones with extra vengeance. My minimum is $267. I'm shooting for $700. If possible, even more. The strategy is simple. Target the highest interest loans first. Get my interest paid off, then blitz into the principle like a mole rat on adderall. I am so happy to see that balance going down. If it wasn't for Jehovah's help, as well as my job on the railroad, none of this would be possible. I'd be in default like so many other people. Thank God I decided last year to reconcile my student loans, or else I'd be facing some serious issues right now. At this rate, depending how much time is left in this wicked system, I might even be able to own a home one day.

Praise Jah!

 

[Jahrule]

By the way, anybody here use a budgeting app? I'm using YNAB currently, but I might try Simplifi since it's cheaper.

 

[Jahrule]

Just an update. I did not like Simplifi. Anyway, thank God I work for the railroad. Has anybody seen the drama lately on the student loan crisis? People are losing their mind. I'd like to poke fun of these people, but if it wasn't for my job I'd be in the same situation. Granted, I'm not quite as entitled as some of these clowns. Nevertheless, I do sympathize with people. Not all of them. Some of these people get what they deserve. At the same time, though, I understand that it's not just these borrowers. The system itself is broken. It's really designed to keep people in perpetual debt. There was a time when you could go to college, buy a home, raise a family, all on one income. Those days are long gone. I'm just glad I wised up and got out of college before racking up much more debt than I have. I'm at about $53,000. About $14,000 of that is just in interest. Some of these people are in way worse than that. Thankfully, I make more than $53,000 a year, so for me it's possible to pay this off in under 10 years. However, some of these people will never, ever, pay off their student loans.

All I can do is thank Jehovah. I'm doing better than I ever imagined, and that is only with the help of Jah.

 

[Jahrule]

So I took Barnaby's advice. I plan to turn this Tales from the Railroad stuff into a video series. My hopes is I'll be able to generate a separate source of income in advertising revenue. If I could just generate an extra $500 a month that would help immensely. It might take a couple years to build it up. That's fine. I waste time doing other crap. Why not invest a little time each month into making railroad videos? There's not a lot of MOW centered content. Every railroad channel focuses on conductor content. MOW is ignored, so that's a niche I am ready to fill. I decided to invest in a tripod to make videos in the near future. It will likely be a while before my first official video. Several weeks at least. Robert may not approve of me sharing those videos here, since that would be considered self promotion. I will respect Robert's rules. There's nothing to share now. I don't even know what I plan to do yet, but it is something on my list. Before I say anything else about it, I might be several videos deep into the project, and even then I'd reach out to Robert first before posting any links. Thanks to Barnaby for the encouragement.