Robert Pence

Does anyone else follow Planetary Gears? It's the blog of Jim Thill, of Hiawatha Cyclery in Minneapolis. His cycling focus is on bicycles as serious transportation, and his writings touch upon many topics, mostly related to cycling but sometimes not. It's a good mix of useful information and interesting musing.

The Pere Marquette bridge removal and fill is at milepost 25.45; that puts it about ten miles east of Michigan City's Carroll Avenue yard, still within La Porte County, I believe. The colors are heritage South Shore. Some late-1920s cars I photographed in Chicago around 1980 (although grimy-filthy) still carried their original scheme that dated to the Samuel Insull era:

They're GP38-2's (2,000 hp). South Shore Freight, a separate business entity from the commuter operation (Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District - NICTD), owns ten of them. I don't think they own any other motive power. I like the color scheme, and they keep them spiffy. That probably requires frequent trips to the wash rack, because they do a lot of work around the steel mills.

I seem to recall that the combined AAO/NARP Regional event last year in Toledo charged a significant registration fee, as do the MHSRA events. While fees are effective at filtering out the foamer-geeks and the people who would otherwise try to dominate the discussion with references to "When my grandpa was a conductor on the B-and-O," they're probably a disincentive to younger people who either don't have the cash to spare, or have other priorities for their spending. A high-quality facility, especially with a catered lunch, incurs costs that have to be offset, and lunch on-premises reduces the likelihood of people not making it back afterwards or straggling in late and disrupting the presentations. Lunch on-premises also promotes casual off-agenda interaction among attendees who might not otherwise get to know each other. The free events hosted by Northern Indiana Passenger Rail Association at Fort Wayne's Baker Street Station have attracted large crowds made up of a very broad demographic in terms of age and economic standing. The events were of shorter duration (1-2 hours max) though. As BuckeyeB pointed out, the AAO events are geared toward attracting people who are in positions to influence public policy and leverage spending. Note the suits and ties; nobody looks like they just interrupted hammering and sawing on their basement HO layout to come to the meeting, and I don't see a pair of striped overalls or an engineer's cap anywhere in the room.

Nice! I didn't realize Carew's observation deck was open in evenings.

Commuter Rails Through Indiana's Duneland October 19, 2009 All Images Copyright © 2009 by Robert E Pence On selected weekends in 2009 service east of Gary Metro Center was suspended so that crews could install a new catenary system that replaces overhead infrastructure dating to the 1920s. The new catenary will improve reliability by providing constant tension to compensate for expansion and contraction due to seasonal temperature changes. A crew takes advantage of the interval between passenger trains to do some freight switching at the Carroll Avenue (Michigan City) Facility. In addition to the weekend interruption east of Gary Metro, all service between Carroll Avenue and South Bend was suspended for about two weeks to allow reconstruction of two bridges and the removal and fill of a bridge over the former Pere Marquette right-of-way. Buses were substituted for trains during that time. Central Avenue runs north from US 12 to a Dunes National Lakeshore beach. Mind the crossing gates and signals, and click the photo to see a train pass. The path to the beach. The Lake Michigan shoreline, with the coal-fired NIPSCO Michigan City Generating Station in the distance. A private wind turbine at a home in Beverly Shores. A solar-powered National Park Service overlook. A Lustron home from around 1949-1950. Lustrons have a factory prefabricated steel frame and all interior, exterior, and roof panels are made from porcelain-enameled steel. Protect them from impact damage, and they'll outlast just about any other residential construction material or technology. The Spanish Colonial Revival 1929 Beverly Shores depot is the only survivor of ten built on the line during Samuel Insull's ownership. It was boarded up and rotting when NICTD undertook restoration funded by a Federal grant in 1998. The front portion is a waiting room, and the remainder of the building, originally the station agent's residence, now houses a gallery and museum. It's 6:59pm and Train 115 from Chicago, terminating at Carroll Avenue, is due. Beverly Shores is a flag stop for this train; click the photo to see if there are passengers to detrain here. Next up, a set of new 300-series bi-level cars dropping off a few commuters. Click the photo for action.

Balanced diet = donuts + cookies + cake + pie + ice cream + coffee :-D

One of the benefits of having reached "a certain age" is that I no longer feel the pressure to be concerned about physical attributes. It's still important to me to practice good hygiene, maintain a reasonably healthy lifestyle, and dress presentably, but when I was younger, a lot of my attention and energy were focused on my expectation that my clothes, haircut, weight, physical features, etc., determined how I was accepted by others. Now that I realize no one expects me to be pretty, I can pay more attention to my behavior and attitude, elements that sometimes got submerged in my concern over more superficial attributes. I guess I grew up more slowly than some.

Glad you got your Cleveland fix, and thanks for sharing it. The photos are beautiful.

Excellent photos. I'm glad the Art Museum came up in discussion; the physical facility, itself, is impressive and the collections and traveling exhibits are first-rate. The collection of Egyptian relics must be one of the best in North America, and the intact pieces of Roman glassware are something I didn't think could even exist after so much time. The Toledo Zoo is highly rated, too. In the sixties, Toledo was a frequent Saturday-night destination for gays from Fort Wayne. Fort Wayne had a couple of places to go, but neither was fully out-of-the-closet; Henry's was a hangout for the theater crowd, and we were welcome so long as we didn't get too blatant. The Van Orman Hotel's cocktail lounge was right out of a 50s-60s movie; a dimly-lighted, subdued place with furtive cruising, where married businessmen sent drinks to young men they hoped to make contact with, and rough trade hung out under the marquee and in the basement restroom. Henry's is still pretty much the same although enlarged and with live music some nights, and the Van Orman was imploded for a parking lot after being used for a fire-department training site many years ago. It was a sad end to what once had been the city's premiere lodging. Every Saturday night at least one or two carloads from Fort Wayne would head for Toledo's Scenic Bar (corner of Monroe and Erie, if my memory serves me). It was the first place I was ever in where men danced with men and openly flirted and cruised. It was noisy and lively and mostly friendly. I was 26 or 27 (late bloomer), and it was a real eye-opener. The cops used to park outside and look for excuses to harass the patrons, and sometimes they put underage male prostitute decoys on the street in the area.

Yummy set!

I was there once, but never had an opportunity to see much of the town. On a bitter-cold December day in 1962, two other guys and I wrestled a four-and-a-half-ton engine out of an old Buckeye Pipeline Company pumping station just outside Somerset and loaded it onto a 1951 Chevy flatbed truck that would only make 45mph flat-out empty on level ground. It was an interesting, long drive back to Indiana with that load and a heater that didn't work.

And Cuyahoga County got Scrooged... Porter probably is a transportation planner in Hell for all eternity - all the more reason to want to avoid going there! I'm stayin' sweet and innocent!

Striking shot! The Citgo sign adds a surreal element in an otherwise monochrome scene.

Nice-looking facility, inside and out. As others mentioned, it's good to have it downtown and not in some outlying suburban sprawl.

Great vantage point, beautiful light!

That was a problem for me, too. First thing into my head was next thing out of my mouth, and there was no censoring or playing it in my mind to see how it sounded, first. I seriously offended a lot of people without any ill intent. It took until I was in my 40s to rein it in most of the time, but I still have to monitor myself carefully in some situations. I'm still prone to messing up when I'm tired or when I've been drinking. In those situations, my impulse control goes to zero. The worst thing is that without self-monitoring I have a strong talent for instantly firing off deadly-incisive one-liners that cut right to the bone. Sometimes I'd realize what just came out of my mouth, and think, "Holy Crap! Where in hell did that come from? :-o" Aha! Maybe there's hope for me, yet! :-D In my family it seems like there's a hereditary element; ADHD runs rampant in my Dad's side of the family. Looking back, I realize that Dad was seriously ADHD, and it's amazing how much he accomplished in spite of it. He was accident-prone when working around the farm, and riding with him in a car was a scary event. ADHD affects one of my brothers, children of both my brothers, one of my cousins, and children of both of my cousins. One of Dad's great-grandfathers died when he walked in front of a train, and given the circumstances I'm sure it wasn't intentional. Dyslexia appears frequently on Dad's side, too.

Me. It wasn't something that was diagnosed when I was in school, but my report cards bear testimony with comments like "easily distracted" and "cannot seem to apply himself to the task at hand." Somebody will have to remind me to come to the meetings, though. Better yet, pick me up to make sure I don't get distracted on the way and take off to follow a fire truck. I hope I don't have to sit through meetings without falling asleep, interrupting, or completely losing track of what's going on because I see a bird building a nest in a tree outside the window.

Dang! Can I move there? :-)

I'd favor this for most people. maybe on a three strikes basis...with everyone being able to give you a warning if you're being an asshat. three strikes within a week and you're off to boot camp. You're right. Many people who look old enough to be adults, even seniors, probably would benefit by a remedial or refresher course. For some, though, an occasional quick smackdown on the street corner probably would be a sufficient wake-up. Too bad I'm not a big guy.

That's an age thing, KJP haven't you seen the Flomax commercials? :-D :-D :-D Just make sure you don't get confused between your Flomax and your Flonase. :-o And ask your Doc about TURP.

I favor boot camp until they demonstrate that they've internalized the concepts of thinking before they act or open their mouths, and treating other people with the same respect that they'd like to receive.

^Don't kill him. Just treat him so badly he'll wish he was dead. :-D

Nice shots. I haven't been back to Kalamazoo in about forty years, when I went there with a friend who was a planning consultant to photograph their then-new pedestrian mall. He wanted to get photos to use in his pitch to sell the concept in Huntington, Indiana. Huntington built one, but it was disliked by the locals from the start, unsuccessful at reviving retail, and died a rather quick death.

The ballpark is gorgeous, and giving the lie to all the naysayers, opening season attendance broke all previous records for Fort Wayne baseball. Photos from last April's open house are here. I added a keyed, smaller version to the photo above, identifying the significant buildings in the skyline shot.