Storytime with Charlie

Charlie Mar 31, 2007

  1. trainman-ho

    trainman-ho TrainBoard Member

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    First and foremost, Charlie, I think if Story Time was a comic strip or TV series, it would be more worthy of syndication than a lot of the shows and strips that have achieved that distinction! I guess I am one of the lurkers that Boxcab mentioned, however I believe that where credit is due, it should be given! And you certainly deserve a great big THANK YOU for regaling us with your stories!

    Thank you sir!!

    Jim
     
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  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow. Very interesting. I don't recall ever seeing this one. At least several of the scenes were shot in the Wenatchee- Appleyard (South Wenatchee) areas.
     
  3. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    Thank You, my pleasure!

    Charlie
     
  4. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to all on trainboard!

    Charlie
     
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  5. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    Well everyone, it is now time for my annual Lenten hiatus. I hope everyone has a good spring. If there is anything of major importance that you feel I should know, you may feel free to e-mail me as I will check my e-mail daily.
    I should be re-joining you on or about Easter. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. Be good and be kind to each other.
    Save up your questions, I'll see you soon enough.
     
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  6. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    Hello Gang,

    I'm back. took a little longer due to very personal family situation. Any questions?
     
  7. Mr. Train

    Mr. Train TrainBoard Member

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    Welcome back.

    Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
     
  8. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    Thank You
     
  9. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    Just checking it to say hello!

    HELLO!

    If anyone has questions about railroad ops or similar, please ask, I'll try to answer.
    With this Labor Day holiday marking the traditional end of summer, I hope everyone had a great summer and to those who labor I wish you all the best. To our friends and colleagues in organized labor I say "keep the faith" and press onward and upward. Everyone please realize that this great nation of ours was built quite literally on the blood,sweat and tears of those who believed and continue to believe in it, organized labor or not. Be Strong, Be well.
    God Bless You,
    God Bless the United States of America.

    Charlie
     
  10. UshCha

    UshCha TrainBoard Member

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    COME BACK CHARLIE I have missed your tails they, add massivley to the store of knowledge and understanding of real railroads and there workings. I do hope you and yor famaliy are well.

    Brian in the UK
     
  11. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    I'm still here Brian, and thank you for your wishes for myself and family.

    I do have a tale about the UK and I cant remember if I related it. I was stationed in Germany, with the US Army in the early 1960s.
    I was able to procure some leave time in early September of 1964. I had been wanting to visit Great Britain for some time and decided that this would be my chance. I had asked some of the guys I knew who had already been to the U.K. if they could give me a hint as to the weather in early fall. I was advised to bring a sweater or two. Anyway when my leave began, I took the train to Frankfurt-am-Main where I hoped to get a military air hop to Great Britain. Anywhere in the country would be fine with me. Well it seems that my luck had run out before it even began since I had just missed a couple of Air Force hops to England. I teamed up with an Air Force guy in the terminal, his luck was the same as mine. The clerk at the counter was a decent guy and he realized the two of us wanted to "get outta town". He told us that their was a hop scheduled later that evening from a nearby air base(Rahmstein AFB)and there was a shuttle bus leaving soon for that place. He signed us up for the list and off we went. Well the time came for the flight departure and it seems their was a small group of rather high ranking officers and NCOs waiting for the flight. The airplane to be used was a C-47 which in civilian mode is a DC-3, a twin engine prop.plane. They could take the two of us peons also but we would be seated in the longitudinal seating along the fuselage of the aircraft, where it was not heated. The persons of rank were seated in regualar passenger seating behind the cockpit in a heated area. The pilots were a Major and a Lt.Colonel, the crew chief was a high ranking NCO with a bunch of years under his belt. The only thing we could figure out why such a ranking crew for a C-47 was ...A/they were probably the only ones familiar with the aircraft and B/they were probably ground officers doing required hours for flight pay. The crew chief was a straight-up dude and told the two of us peons that if we got too cold, we could come up to the cockpit and get a warm. I took him up on that offer as we were about to cross the channel. I was made a "radio operator" and sat at the navigators position. The pilots began a conversation with me. The one pilot told me that we were at the exact spot where the last radio contact was made with the plane that was carrying the legendary American band leader, Glenn Miller. The plane went down over the Channel and IIRC the wreckage has never been found. Glenn Miller was a Captain in the U.S.Army at the time. Well the rest of the trip was uneventful and we landed at an AFB near the town of Shippea Hill. I spent the remainder of the night in a transient barracks building at that base. The next morning I got a train to London and made arrangements to stay there for a week. I paid for a week even though i knew I would be making side trips but I didn't want to lose the room since I would need it at the end of the week for my return flight. After a day or two I decided to try to see the ancient ruins at Stonehenge so I caught a train to Salisbury. I knew I needed a place to stay so I stopped at the accommodations window at the train station and the agent quite literally took me by the hand, under the RR tracks and across the street to a small "mon & pop"hotel and public house. My room was facing the tracks of the Great Western RR.(then BritRail) and steam was still running so for a young railfan and GI I had the ideal situation. I could watch trains and when I got thirsty I could go downstairs for a drink! I was in 7th heaven. I did get to Stonehenge by taking a bus to Amesbury and then walking a mile or so to the site. At that period of time the area was 'wide open" and the day I was there, BBC was filming a documentary about the henge. Now that site is "stuffed and mounted" as a "look but don't touch" area. I thoroughly enjoyed that stay and the chance to see classic British steam in daily revenue service.
     
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  12. Mr. Train

    Mr. Train TrainBoard Member

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    thanks for sharing. :cool:
     
  13. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    First a disclaimer; I have Crohns disease and while I certainly could be on a disability and smoke medical weed all day, I choose instead to work. I have been working with Crohns since I was 17.

    That said here is my story.

    On the WC we did a project to lower the high noses on a group of Southern SD45s. One thing they unwittingly did was cut a rather large slot on the top of the traction motor blower duct (toilet room floor) It wasn't discovered until I had to use the toilet on one of its first trips after rebuilding. Mid pee, the room turned into a vortex and I was turning my body to arc it into the can. Arcing it in the toilet stopped working in notch 8.

    I almost never use the locomotive toilet. On the WC and elsewhere I would stop the train to (inspect).

    I have Crohns disease so it was difficult for me to be an engineer or a conductor. On the RR I worked for in Maine there were many single man crews so stopping along the way was common. There was also a spot of nice undulating track that worked when I had 100+ train. I could simply leave the locomotives in notch 5 and the train was happy trundling along at 25 MPH for enough time to do what I needed to do (or until the alertor went off).

    On one occasion I was engineer on a snow plow and we were having a long day because of trespassing snowsleds. We had derailed twice because of packed snow and ice so we were more than a little irritated. Towards the end of the trip we came across another pesky snowmobile trail across and along the track and since we had stopped an hour before for hotdogs and coffee I really had to go. I told the conductor up in the plow I was stopping to do my thing. I stopped the engine directly on the narrow snowsled crossing, went out the rear door, dropped trousers, hooked my arms around the handrails and let it fly like only a post surgical Crohns patient can . There were a group of snow sleds on the other side waiting for us to move. The spot I left in the snow had to be visible from orbit!

    My conductor in the plow happened to look back and said that it looked like a big fire extinguisher going off. I guess because it was 15 below zero .

    In any case the snow sledders were faced with a choice. There was only one way around.. straight through or turn back..

    Randy
     
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  14. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Randy!

    While the context of your story may be humorous, there is certainly NO humor in your affliction. In spite of your medical problem you have been able to pursue a productive life. A thousand kudos to you and "Press On"!

    Charlie
     
  15. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    I should add to my previous post on visiting the UK that the weather that week was pristine except for the Sunday AM that I left Salisbury. The day dawned with a "pea soup" fog. I wanted to pay a visit to the historic Cathedral Church in Salisbury but the fog really made taking outside photos rather difficult. I did,however, take a tour of the inside of the Cathedral until I heard the sanctuary bell sound and 3 robed priests processed to the main altar and began a Eucharist service. Discretion being the better part of valor, I quietly left the building so the worshipers could worship in peace. At that time,I wasn't too religious. LOL My wife & I were able to tour the Cathedral in 1993 when we vacationed in the U.K. Unfortunately NO steam locos running, but we did take the train from London to the National Railway Museum in York. That venue is an absolute "Must" for any railfan visiting the U.K.
     
  16. Charlie

    Charlie TrainBoard Member

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    My pleasure!


    Charlie
     
  17. r_i_straw

    r_i_straw Mostly N Scale Staff Member

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    I first was able to visit the UK in 1970. I missed the last steam by a few years. While attending the University of Exeter, my dorm room overlooked the main shunting yard northwest of town. I loved to leave my dorm window open and listen to them banging the wagons around all night. A lot of squealing wheels too. Everyone thought I was crazy. I guess I sort of was. Years later, when my daughter was working in York, my wife and I visited her and we were able to spend a whole day at the National Railway Museum. Wish I could have spent a week.
    [​IMG]
     
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  18. Hytec

    Hytec TrainBoard Member

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    I was fortunate to visit the Didcot GWRR Center in 2004.

    [​IMG]
     
  19. UshCha

    UshCha TrainBoard Member

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    Charlie, thankyou so much, your stories add to my day. Thgankyou for re-starting it is very much apprciated. Unfortunately no pics but my last trip was to Ecllesbourne railway whith a loaned Ginty runnining the trains. In such a small cvountry and lots of little railway groups they reant each others locos.
     
  20. Keith

    Keith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Charlie,

    During your time in the U.K., way back when....
    A couple of questions:

    What was the most unusual thing you saw back then?

    What was the funniest thing you saw while in the U.K.?
    Suspect the funniest thing may not have had anything to do with trains.

    On another note:

    With all of the hurricanes that have hit recently, what's the scariest thing
    you've experienced in severe weather? Rain, snow, extreme heat/cold etc...


    Randy,
    Reminds me of a story a friend told me once!
    Returning to Denver, on helper units, after a middle of the night repair call.
    No toilet on locomotive(s). 2 pots of coffee. Stood on uphill facing side of train.
    Wouldn't be seen, relieving ones self. Sitting and waiting at Blue Mountain grade
    crossing was a Colorado State Patrol car! Yep, right across the hood!!
    Officer not watching, or paying any attention. Doing paperwork, or filling out a report maybe.
     
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