All is right now in the haven of the HOWDY on the JDBB.

We're back on track...

"I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah..."

California trivia: Tehachapi is one of the top locations for rail fans in the US for spotting trains. You will get several shots of the same train is it courses the curvy route through those mountains, all the while standing in the same spot.

Make that Tucson.

I'll bet it's plenty hot there today!

Marvelous job, Mark. So it's all caps, too?

I'm a train spotter and we live about 1/4 from the train tracks. I would guess there are 12-14 trains coming and going each day, mostly BNSP and Union Pacific. We have learned to recognize common carrier railroad abbreviations.

When we first moved here, we really didn't know much about the area except that Houston was south, Conroe was east and RRTX was west. Texas A&M in Bryan/College Station is north if we had a mind to go and we don't. So the day that Layne and I were driving the first moving load from RRTX to Magnolia we got caught at a rail crossing and found much comfort in seeing the yellow GRR cars flying past us.

Quick story- We lived in Round Rock for 16 years before moving to Magnolia. UPac is very visible there with a rail going thru east and west and just about every day we would also see AmTrak flying thru. Up IH-35 from Round Rock is Georgetown and it is the location of a very large crushed stone (mostly caliche) plant owned by the Robinson family of Round Rock (they also have a plant in McNeil, a wide spot in the road between Round Rock and Austin). When they grew tired of leasing cars from UPac or whomever, the Robinson's invested in their own railroad car design to haul rock to the Port of Houston. The company is called the Georgetown Railroad Company and their abbreviation is GRR.

Also- in Texas, and perhaps elsewhere, train stations were once painted brown or brown with yellow. A brown station was designated as a freight only station whereas a brown with yellow station was freight and passenger station. How about that?

Correction- BNSP should be BNSF for Burlington Northern Santa Fe. They have cool hats.

Doc;

There are some scenic rail road systems that are still using steam locomotives.  I was just curious if there were any close to you..  REB

Good evening folks! Nice flip-turn & trivia, Mark.

It's been a hot & muggy weekend here ... excessive heat warning today (due to humidity)

Hope y'all are staying cool ;~)

Harking back to 2 weeks ago, here's a clip of the aforementioned Jack Pearson & Guthrie Trapp pairing:

 tinyurl. com/ JackPGuthrieT

Add http and close the spaces

tin... registered

Nice clip, FrankieP - thanks!

Good evening folks! I was totally absorbed in work today ... finally got home - decided to have a snack ... and broke my tooth - bummer! I hope the dentist can see me tomorrow.

Hope y'all are having a good day ;~)

peanut brittle?

Tough luck Julie, hope you get in with Dentist tomorrow.

OK folks you better check out ResoGat topic, you don't know what you are missing!

no - not peanut brittle ... it was a piece of dark chocolate with almonds (yum!). I guess I'll have to stick to my protein sports drinks tomorrow - or, until I can see the dentist. I don't want risk breaking any more tooth and exposing the nerve - that would be bad :(

I remember that story Eric, and this was Tomfbomb's first trip there. Pain in the butt if you are in the delivery business, it's a pretty good distance out toward the coast in west Marin, but what a beautiful spot.

I'm curious about something though: why is it that people whom are pretty computer/tech savvy, as I know you are, use an "@" sign when addressing people on things like internet forums?  I've noticed this over the past few years, and I haven't the slightest freakin' idea how and where this originated.

@ markin-

...it originated when folks on the forums realized that prefacing their remarks with the @ symbol might rankle you somewhat!  ;~)

The @ symbol kind of reminds me of a joke Steve Martin told at MerleFest this year. He had his set-list on a new iPad (rather than a piece of paper, like most bands). Anyway, he said the beauty of the iPad was that he could also make comments out on the Internet during his set ... so, he pretended to do so - and added, "laughing out loud" (as he was typing) ... however, instead of using LOL, he spelled it out loud as he typed:   "L - A - U - G - H - I - N - G         O - U - T         L - O - U - D",  which WAS the joke.

Mornin' folks!

Hope y'all have a great day! Stay cool!