Railroaders' Nostalgia > No warmth at all

In 32 years out on the ‘high iron’ I observed plenty of sunsets. And once in a while I would shoot a pic. Some were quite spectacular. Most weren’t. I especially enjoyed -still do- how the Earth’s atmosphere acted like a magnifying glass when the sun (or moon, for that matter) was right on the horizon. Funny thing about human nature. Whenever I saw a sunset that low I would wonder how much warmth was left in that otherwise unchanging ball of nuclear energy. Scientific reality aside I would conclude a sunset like the one below gave off no warmth at all...

Chuckling mildly: It’s amazing some of the things a railroader’s mind will come up with while fighting to stay awake & alert during a long, tedious road trip... ;^)

1. UP 5704 rolls away “into the sunset” near Belvue, KS on September 9, 2017.

Thanks for looking!
Lance Garrels
santafe199



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/23 05:18 by santafe199.

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Beautiful shot.  Looks like it's time to turn the sidewall heater on.

Very NICE Sunset shot!

Larry

Notch7 Wrote:
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> Beautiful shot.  Looks like it's time to turn the
> sidewall heater on.

And if you’re lucky you’ll be on a old EMD with those sidewalls that would grill steaks!

Posted from iPhone

Drknow Wrote: > ... a(n) old EMD with those sidewalls that would grill steaks!

Well pardner... I certainly did my share of aluminum foil/gourmet sidewall cooking in my career. My favorite?? Why, breakfast burritos, of course... ;^)

Lance

santafe199 Wrote:
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> Drknow Wrote: > ... a(n) old EMD with those
> sidewalls that would grill steaks!
>
> Well pardner... I certainly did my share of
> aluminum foil/gourmet sidewall cooking in my
> career. My favorite?? Why, breakfast burritos, of
> course... ;^)
>
> Lance

Either of you guys ever smell one of your boot soles getting warm on one of those?

PS: I know a guy (retired quite some time) that used to put orange peels on them as a "smell good" measure.

RetiredHogger Wrote:
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> santafe199 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Drknow Wrote: > ... a(n) old EMD with those
> > sidewalls that would grill steaks!
> >
> > Well pardner... I certainly did my share of
> > aluminum foil/gourmet sidewall cooking in my
> > career. My favorite?? Why, breakfast burritos,
> of
> > course... ;^)
> >
> > Lance
>
> Either of you guys ever smell one of your boot
> soles getting warm on one of those?
>
> PS: I know a guy (retired quite some time) that
> used to put orange peels on them as a "smell good"
> measure.

I've had guys do the orange peel thing on the caboose stove.  I could never understand the reasoning behind this.  Sure didn't "smell good" at all!

Brian Black
Castle Rock, CO.

tehachcond Wrote: > ... I've had guys do the orange peel thing on the caboose stove ...

I first heard about (and tried) this after hiring on with MRL. Cabeese were long gone so I never did the orange peel thing back there. But I did several times up front. ALWAYS on side wall heaters with radiated heat. Forced air never got hot enough to have any effect. As I recall this process did make for a good smell in the cab. If you had a nasty smelling $#!++er down in the nose you would be real glad if you brought an orange along in your "emergency rations"...

Lance

I would put water bottles with a pencil hole in it to add some humidity.

Sam

Trainhand Wrote:
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> I would put water bottles with a pencil hole in it
> to add some humidity.
>
> Sam

I used to squirt (or pour) a little water on the floor in front of the forced air heaters for the same reason.
 

Lance, this a great shot! Listening to other Rails comment on it is always cool. The first thing that came to my mind after looking at it was...I got 5 hours of sleep on a train that wasn't supposedly going to be called until sunrise sometime. Thank God I have a good Conductor!!! Leaving Antelope (Roseville, Ca.) Only 289 miles to Bakersfield, I think I can do it. Of course it will be nap time in every siding...err rulebook reading.

LOL! I had a habit of putting my right foot on the sidewall heater on standard cab EMD’s so I had to watch that in the winter.

The orange peel on the heater is a good ol trick… Cheese filled sausages wrapped in foil, cold pizza, canned soup, chicken… damn near everything but a thanksgiving turkey been cooked on a sidewall.

Paper towels soaked in water are a good humidifier, and if you have a Canadian engine with a tea kettle you can survive for days in a snow storm. Ask how I know.

Summertime is coming so I’ll be back to manifold cooking soon.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

Drknow Wrote:
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>> and if you have a Canadian engine with
> a tea kettle you can survive for days in a snow
> storm. Ask how I know.
>
Do tell! Inquiring minds want to know, please.

Well upon further reflection mine was really only about 30 hrs, but I had a head cold and off course the weather was terrible.

Thank God we had a CP SD40 as a leader. Dried soup, hot tea, warmed up Beefaroni, pizza, etc and the kettle simmering for humidity in the engine, plus decent seats and a pillow along with some NyQuil after we died made it bearable. Reading materials and great sidewalls made it almost cozy.

Not really but at least we had good heat.

Regards

Posted from iPhone

santafe199 Wrote:

> I especially enjoyed -still do- how the Earth’s atmosphere acted like a magnifying glass when the sun (or moon, for that matter) was right on the horizon.

I read that the moon is no larger visually when it is near the horizon than it is when it is high in the sky.  It's the proximity to the horizon that fools our brains into thinking the moon appears larger (I checked this one time by looking at the moon thru my fingertips and and I couldn't see any noticeable difference in the size of the moon in a near-horizon position compared to a high sky position)

I presume the same thing applies to the sun.

(after mulling this over, I think it was a topic that came up in the "Ask Marilyn" column in Parade Magazine)



 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/23 20:53 by johnsweetser.