Good Morning Everyone.....partly sunny at times and rain is forecasted for later today.
The second phased of stringing utility pole wiring has been completed and its fun stringing lines when the lines convert on one single pole to change direction and then continue on down another line of poles. It gets confusing at times on which insulator should have a line attached. Then there's where lines go under other lines thats interesting. And, then there's the gluing of the lines to the insulators using quik setting AC. Stringing the lines is time consuming, but once you get into a rhythm you'll make progress.
One problem with the lines is that they are so invisible in certain areas that you forgot the lines are installed. They will stretch over 500% in length. As long the ulity poles are securely glued to the layout there's no danger of the lines breaking or the utility poles pulling out if you accidently get the lines into a piece of rolling stck that being rerailed or when manually track cleaning. The black lines blend into the scenery more than the lighter green lines.
The results are worth all the effort.
Yesterday, I pondered about starting Phase Three of the line stringing but decided not to start.
Justin: Is the CSX ripe for a take-over by either the CP or CN?
Thanks everyone for the comments on my industrial area photo. There's been some improvements to the area since the photograph was taken.
Boris: We have some daffs next to the house that appeared about a month ago and when they were up maybe four or five inches in height we got hit by the zero degree nightly temperatures. They survived and are now ready to bloom. The yellow foliage turned back to green as the weather warmed up. When I worked at a nursery/landscaping company during a slow sales period, I was assigned with another employee the job of using 20,000 daffs to naturalize a customer's wooded area. Fun at first then boring. I never did return to see them in bloom.
Here's a link to information about a former Milwaukee Road branch line that was called the "Bug Line" and ran from the northern part of Milwaukee to Merton, Wisconsin. After it stopped operations it later became a rec trail. I always lived near the Bug Line and I remember the slow freights that ran on the Line and the sound of the locomotives as they slowly approached a grade crossing. The brakeman would jump off the train to act as a flagman at the grade crossings. The Bug Line is within walking distance of my house.
http://slahs.org/history/railroad/bugline.htm
So much for history.
I'm lucky to have had the Milwaukee Road, SOO Line, Wisconsin Central and the C&NW all in my back yard and today the CP, CN, Wisconsin Southern and UP with active lines or trackage rights as with the case of the Wisconsin Southern. During winter at night I can hear locomotive horns from both the UP and CN even though they are several miles away.
That's all for today.
Later....
Greg
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A newer Milwaukee Racine & Troy locomotive that's becoming one of my favorite locomotives. -Greg