#Nickel Plate Road

[20th-century-railroading]

Nickel Plate Road 1500hp FM H12-44 No.153 built 4/58 one of twenty-two (134-155) owned by the NKP. Number 153 was in yard service at Toledo, Ohio on August 2, 1963. Photo by Howard Ameling

[cottondaycarestims]

🚂/🌾/🚂|🌾/🚂/🌾|🚂/🌾/🚂

Stimboard of my favorite Locomotive: Nickel Plate Road 765, S-2 class Berkshire built by LLW in 1944. Wish I could have found gifs of the actual train.

~ Ches 🚂

[collinthenychudson]

"High Speed Freight"

Several miles east of Fort Wayne, Nickel Plate Road 723 thunders through northern Indiana with a westbound freight heading for Chicago.

Models and Route by: K&L Trainz, Jointed Rail, Auran and Download Station

[aryburn-trains]

The Golden Spike Centennial Limited Glen Carbon, IL May 15, 1969

[princessisnikki]

[railwayhistorical]

Happenstance and Heritage

While on the road today, I saw a diminutive train along an unknown line and made chase.

I got ahead of it and pulled into what turned out to Plymouth, Indiana. There I saw another line running more or less perpendicular, supposed a crossing to exist, and made for that. I was able to set up so that I could showcase the ancient Pennsy home signal, still doing its job after what I would suppose to be greater than a century.

I'm standing on what was once the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, which was part of the Pennsy of course (and now operated as the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern). Our little train is on what was the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, which became part of the New York Central and later the Nickel Plate (and is now operated by the Elkhart & Western).

The little train appeared to be powered by one Paducah geep on each end, with but a few cars in between. After it trundled away, I took an additional shot of the decaying station along the Pennsy, which can be seen lurking in the background of the first few images.

To add to the rail history in this spot, Rail Guide (a fabulous website where one can track down the heritage of any rail line in the US) says the the Panhandle (also part of the Pennsy) crossed here as well, creating a triple crossing. Go to the pull down menu under "maps" and click "early owners".

Five images by Richard Koenig; taken November 13th 2024.

[backside-into-the-heavenly]

The Nickel Plate Road 765 during the Indiana Rail Experience America History Train.

[guerrerense]

Nickel Plate Road Alco PA2 #190 por Kenny Ganz Por Flickr: Scranton Pennsylvania

[the-sleepy-conductor]

Dumping train photos from the weekend

No seriously. There's a lot

I got to go to the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad this weekend and I was in HEAVEN. The last time I paid a visit to CVSR was 6 years ago for Steam In The Valley, and although no steam locomotives will be back until 2025, I was still very happy to get to see and ride these trains.

Before I get bashed for the photos where I stood on the tracks, I was walking on a little trail that required you to cross over the railroad even though the signs say not to. They only have one train running all day and I was stalking its schedule to see what station it would arrive at and what time so I knew it was safe for me and others to cross. This was the Indigo Lake station btw, and I held up my family for a solid 10 minutes just so I could get more pictures of the train when it arrived. I still do not support the idea of farting around on or near tracks or outright walking down the middle of them like they're sidewalks like I've seen a lot of people do.

Safety rant aside, I got to stop by the Buckeye Express on the way home which was AMAZING by the way. Not just in terms of the food, that was delicious, but also because the restaurant is in a literal railcar.

I was too absorbed in all the train stuff around me to take pictures of the interior.

And here's some Steam In The Valley 2018 stuff I never dropped here, just for those steam locomotive lovers like me. As a treat.

I am punching myself for not realizing I only have 1 picture of Nickel Plate Road 765 and everything else I have are videos. I tried several times to upload them here but Tumblr will Not Have It.

And finally, I got myself a new train shirt because my "Who Tooted?" shirt is really starting to wear down after having it a year and a half. I gotta get me a new one. I also got a few bonuses because why not.

That's all I got for now :3

[ruknowhere]

YOGI BERRA QUOTES:

1. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

2. “It’s deja vu all over again.”

3. “I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”

4. “Never answer an anonymous letter.”

5. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”

6. “You can observe a lot by watching.”

7. “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

8. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.��

9. “It gets late early out here.”

10. “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”

11. “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

12. “Pair up in threes.”

13. “Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.”

14. “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

15. “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.”

16. “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”

17. “Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.”

18. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”

19. “I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.”

20. “I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.”

Modal Trigger

Joe DiMaggio and Yogi Berra in 1955.

21. “I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.”

22. “I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.”

23. “I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”

24. “In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”

25. “I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?”

26. “I never said most of the things I said.”

27. “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”

28. “I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.”

29. “I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.”

30. “So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.”

31. “Take it with a grin of salt.”

32. (On the 1973 Mets) “We were overwhelming underdogs.”

33. “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.”

34. “You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”

35. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

(Sources: Los Angeles Times, Baseball Almanac, Baseball Digest, Catcher in the Wry (Bob Uecker), Sports Illustrated)

[theoutcastrogue]

8 Fancy Pocket Knives

Etched pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

Silver / mother of pearl Victorian fruit knife, England

Damascene Toledo knife, Spain

Inlaid Toledo knife, Germany

Silver-plated fruit knife, USA

Damascene Toledo knife, Spain

Etched pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

Mother of pearl pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

@victoriansword [details after the cut]

1) Swedish pocket knife by EKA (Eskilstuna Kniffabriks AB), c. 1980-2000. Model 6 GS (1967-2010), with main blade, bottle opener/screwdriver, pen blade, and nail file. Tang stamp "EKA / SWEDEN" (from 1967), etched handle, 7 cm closed.

These were very popular in the 2nd half of the 20th century as gift knives or advertising knives. They were manufactured by many cutlers in Eskilstuna, and widely exported. The decorative pattern appears, with variations, on Swedish knives from at least the 19th century, and is inspired by Norse / Viking art, which often features twisted serpents/dragons. The interlacing perhaps also borrows from Celtic knots.

2) English fruit knife by Martin Bros & Co, 1848. Silver blade with 4 hallmarks (for Queen Victoria, the year, sterling silver, and Sheffield) and maker's mark, mother of pearl scales, 9.5 cm closed.

This is the posh version of what used to be an incredibly useful tool, a knife (and sometimes a multi-tool knife and fork) for eating on the road. The fancier ones were also status symbols, and very popular gifts – millions of silver fruit knives were manufactured in Britain from the 18th to the 20th century, mostly in Sheffield, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.

3) Spanish Toledo knife, as it's sometimes called, a damascened penknife of recent manufacture. Two pen blades, tang stamp "TOLEDO", 6.7 cm closed.

Not to be confused with Damascus blades! The handle is damascened – decorated with gold inlaid into oxidized steel (see here for details). Reminder that gold is a highly ductile metal (you can stretch it real thin before it breaks), so that impressive aesthetic result comes from a tiny amount of gold. It's a cheap knife, is what I'm saying, for tourists basically.

4) German pocket knife, confusingly also called Toledo, by Hartkopf. With main blade, pen blade and nail file. Brass handle inlaid with oxidised steel. Tang stamp "Hartkopf&Co / Solingen", 8cm closed.

It's "damascened" in the broad sense of inlaying, hence the name "Toledo": it supposedly emulates the Spanish style, and perhaps pretends to be Spanish, but both the metals and the geometric patterns are different. Knives of this type were popular in Germany all through the 20th century as gifts and advertising knives.

5) American fruit knife by William Rogers Mfg, made in Hartford, Connecticut c.1865-1898. Main blade, seedpick [also called nut-pick or nut-picker *snickers*], silver-plated nickel silver, decorated with flowers and apples. Tang stamp: an anchor logo and "Wm ROGERS & SON AA", 8.2 cm closed.

Sometimes fruit knives like this were bought by fruit shops/groceries (relatively fancy ones, presumably) in bulk, and sold or given to customers as gifts.

6) Spanish Toledo penknife (another one). With pen blade and damascened handle, different pattern, probably a bit older. Tang stamp again "TOLEDO", 6.8 cm closed.

7) Swedish pocket knife by Emil Olsson, c. 1920-1950. Blade, pen blade and corkscrew. Tang stamp "EMIL OLSSON / [star logo] / ESKILSTUNA", 9.2 cm closed.

Another etched serpent pattern on the handle, though by now you have to squint to see it. This knife has seen some shit. Until ~1940, pocket knives were widely sold and used in Sweden because they came with corkscrews, and all the bottles had corks, and everyone needed to open bottles. After the war, bottle caps replaced corks for everything except wine, and the pocket knife's utility plummeted, and cutleries started closing. There used to be hundreds, and by now only EKA's left. So statistically, if it's from before ~1950 it saw a lot of use, and if it's after ~1950 it did not, it was a gift or something.

8) Swedish pocket knife by EKA, c.1935-1965. Model 38 PB, with blade, pen blade, flat screwdriver, and corkscrew. Handle with mother of pearl scales and nickel silver bolsters, tang stamp "E.K.A. / ESKILSTUNA / SWEDEN", 8.3 cm closed.

The corkscrew is a quirky one, known as Gottlieb Hammesfahr patent: it pivots on the pin and opens perpendicular to the handle, not pulled downwards as in most pocket knives.

[20th-century-railroading]

Circa '53, Nickel Plate 2-8-4 number 706 drags a fast freight at Frankfort in Indiana. This locomotive was built by the American Locomotive Company in 1934 at the first order of the road's super-power locomotives for the NKP. 

Photograph (c) Raymond Breyer

[72eli]

YOGI BERRA'S TOP 35 QUOTES:

1. “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

2. “It’s deja vu all over again.”

3. “I usually take a two-hour nap from 1 to 4.”

4. “Never answer an anonymous letter.”

5. “We made too many wrong mistakes.”

6. “You can observe a lot by watching.”

7. “The future ain’t what it used to be.”

8. “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.”

9. “It gets late early out here.”

10. “If the people don’t want to come out to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”

11. “Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.”

12. “Pair up in threes.”

13. “Why buy good luggage, you only use it when you travel.”

14. “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”

15. “All pitchers are liars or crybabies.”

16. “A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.”

17. “Bill Dickey is learning me his experience.”

18. “He hits from both sides of the plate. He’s amphibious.”

19. “I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.”

20. “I can see how he (Sandy Koufax) won 25 games. What I don’t understand is how he lost five.”

21. “I don’t know (if they were men or women fans running naked across the field). They had bags over their heads.”

22. “I’m a lucky guy and I’m happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary.”

23. “I’m not going to buy my kids an encyclopedia. Let them walk to school like I did.”

24. “In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”

25. “I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?”

26. “I never said most of the things I said.”

27. “It ain’t the heat, it’s the humility.”

28. “I think Little League is wonderful. It keeps the kids out of the house.”

29. “I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I’d never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.”

30. “So I’m ugly. I never saw anyone hit with his face.”

31. “Take it with a grin of salt.”

32. (On the 1973 Mets) “We were overwhelming underdogs.”

33. “The towels were so thick there I could hardly close my suitcase.”

34. “You should always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise, they won’t come to yours.”

35. “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.”

(Sources: Los Angeles Times, Baseball Almanac, Baseball Digest, Catcher in the Wry (Bob Uecker), Sports Illustrated)

#YogiBerra #yankees #baseball #baseballlegend #baseballlife #BaseballLove

[upon-sunflower-trails]

love, well i've waited for you... (part 5)

richard hayden x fem reader | 1043 words

work below the cut

prev | next

Tommy paced around outside of the car, muttering to himself. "I gotta do this... This is it, this one's gotta be the one!"

You straightened your suit jacket out, smoothing out the wrinkles in your dress shirt. Richard checked his hair in the rearview mirror before circling his way around to Tommy on the sidewalk.

"I gotta do this, it's gotta be me..." Tommy continued to chant to himself, slightly freaking you out. You'd never seen the man so high-strung before.

"Are you ready?" Richard chirped. Tommy's posture straightened.

"Yeah, sorry, I’m ready. Hey, does this suit make me look fat?" Tommy asked. Richard looked at the man with an unamused expression.

"No, your face does," he stated with a dry tone.

You shook your head, circling around the front of the car to ready yourself for the first sales pitch. "Real classy, Richard," you scoffed.

"Okay Tommy, let's check you out."

Richard reached for the man's tie, attempting to straighten it out. However, he pulled the tie right off of Tommy's shirt.

"Hehe, it's a clip-on," he giggled. Richard gave a fake smile before returning to his normal bitter expression.

"Are you sure?" he snapped. He shook his head, as if trying to brush off any stupidity from Tommy that could have rubbed off on him. "Alright, now. It's sales time. Remember, we don't take no...?" Richard looked at Tommy expectantly.

"No shit from anyone!" Tommy exclaimed confidently. Richard sighed.

"No-"

"Oh, we don't take no prisoners!" You chimed quickly. Richard shook his head at both of you, clearly not enjoying being cut off by you.

"No. We don't take no for an answer."

You and Tommy both let out an 'ohhhh', nodding.

And yet, "no" was all Tommy seemed to take for an answer.

The first sales pitch…

"No." The man looked at the three of you as if you were crazy.

"Okey dokey!" Tommy chirped, quickly leaving the office.

The second sales pitch…

"No," your potential customer had stated, as if he would rather be torn apart limb by limb than touch a single one of your brake pads.

"Gotcha, thanks!" Once again, the three of you left without putting up a fight.

The third sales pitch…

"No way in hell."

"Terrific, thank you for your time!"

And then there was your fourth sales pitch…

"Let me say... Maybe."

The three of you looked at each other in shock. This guy... was considering it?

Richard began to speak, stammering. "Well, then, I’d just like to add that the spectrometer read-out on the nickel-cadmium alloy mix indicates a good, rich strobe and fade, decreasing incidence of wear to the pressure plate! If you could just-"

"Woah there, little fella. You're not speaking my language," the man remarked. You watched as Richard deflated in his seat, and you spoke up.

"Um, sir, if I may! With recent fluctuations in the economy and the changing nature of the auto parts industry, I really think that investing in these brake pads could help you become a pioneer, an innovating force, even, and help you get a leg up on the competition, if you just-"

"Look, I don't know who you think you are, girl, but I don't think I need some woman telling me what is and isn't good for my company," the man spat. You sunk down further in your seat, running your hand through your hair.

"I shouldn't have to take this shit," you muttered under your breath to Richard, and he nodded subtly in agreement.

"Uh, listen! I think what my associates are trying to say is that our new brake pads are really cool. I mean, you're not even gonna believe it!" Tommy announces.

He grabs one of the man's model cars off of his desk like a child playing.

"Like, let's just say you're driving along the road with your family, driving along, driving along..." Tommy sings. You can already feel your heart sink. You looked towards Richard, trying to signal not to leave Tommy to his own devices. However, there didn't seem to be any way to stop him.

"And then! All of a sudden, there's a truck tire in the middle of the road! You hit the brakes... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Tommy shrieks, imitating a braking sound. You flinch, the sound grating to your ears. You watch as Tommy scrapes the model car across the desk, stopping it in front of some kind of spool.

"Woah. That was close."

Richard glances at the man, smiling slightly, as if trying to ease his own nerves. You can barely watch the scene in front of you unfold.

"Now, let's see what happens when you're driving with the other guys' brake pads. You're driving and driving, and suddenly your kids are yelling from the back seat."

Tommy moves to imitate a shrill, high-pitched child voice. "I gotta go to the bathroom, daddy!" he suddenly drops his voice and octave, indicating that he's acting as the 'father'. "Not now, dammit!... truck tire! I can't stop! there's a cliff!"

Tommy lets the model car crash to the floor, breaking it. You cover your eyes with your hands, letting yourself peek through the cracks of your fingers slightly. It's a disaster you can't seem to look away from.

"And your family is screaming, 'Oh my god, we're burning alive!!! No, I can't feel my legs!'" Tommy shrieks, and you nearly choke as he pulls the lighter from the man's desk, setting fire to the model car. You watch as the man's face morphs into an expression of horror.

"Here comes the meat wagon!" Tommy exclaims, grabbing another model car to act as the ambulance, mimicking siren sounds. "The medic gets out and says, 'Ohhh! My! God!'" Tommy puts on an accent, truly committing to the bit.

"Now the new guy's in the corner, puking his guts out!" Tommy pretends to vomit on the floor, Richard flinching back. You're nearly shaking at this point, both from shock and laughter at the scene unfolding before you.

"All because you wanna save a couple of extra pennies!" Tommy declares, looking quite proud of himself. "Now, to me, that doesn't seem-"

"Get out. Now." The man suddenly roars. 

You stand straight up out of your seat, turning around instantly to hide your horror and laughter. Richard gulps.

"Yes, sir," he mutters. He attempts to blow out the flames on the man's model car, but only ends up making it worse. Tommy leans forward, holding a pass in his hands.

"Do you validate?" he tries, voice innocent.

"Now!" the man shouts again.

[aryburn-trains]

The Golden Spike Centennial Limited Moberly, MO May 14, 1969

[1863-project]

Looking through your blog, many of your train posting is northeastern focus, which, absolutely fair, love what's around you, but what are some of you favorite non-local trains, historic or modern? Around the US and/or international

Ah, yeah, I'm in Northern New Jersey, so I tend to do a lot of PRR, NYC, Lackawanna, Jersey Central, Erie, etc. (not to mention the NYC Subway, PATH, NJT, etc.). Grew up going to the Strasburg Rail Road a lot as a kid, so in terms of historical railroading, I was exposed to the Pennsy first, and everything else just got picked up as I continued along.

In terms of the rest of the US, I've inherited a fondness for the Nickel Plate Road's Berkshires from my dad. In 2015 we went to Jim Thorpe because 765 was visiting and normally she's not that far east so we couldn't miss out on it.

It was a real treat, we got to walk right up to her and everything.

I also love the streamlining for the Southern Pacific (the Daylight is just gorgeous), everyone knows the Santa Fe (still haven't made that French toast but I swear I will), and the Southern...the green paint on their locomotives...divine. And of course, nobody has a better logo than the Chessie System! I also need to do a big shout-out to the Milwaukee Road, as well, because those Atlantics are a dream drive for me that I'll never get because they're all scrapped. But those timetables make me drool...

Internationally, most people who follow this blog are aware that I'm a huge fan of Sir Nigel Gresley's work with the LNER and have a particular obsession with the A4 Pacifics. Driving one would be a dream come true. I know they won't let me take Mallard out (she hasn't operated since the 1980s anyway), but there's a few A4s that are in operational status, so...I promise I won't immediately go for the speed record or anything.

In terms of modern stuff, I'm also fond of the E5/H5 Shinkansen trainsets. They're gorgeous and they operate so well at high speeds. Keep an eye out for the ALFA-X, though, it's due to dethrone them as the highest speed regularly running Shinkansen trainset if it goes into revenue service!

That's a brief overview - a verrrry brief one - but I'm always excited to see trains from everywhere, especially historical ones. It's genuinely the longest-lasting passion in my life (it's been there for over 30 years now) and I hope it stays that way forever!