Robert Pence

Nice!

I think it shows how electric railroads and environmental beauty can coexist. :-)

is that a pic you took? Looks like the aftermath of an SSP meet! :roll: I sense a story. Hint..Hint! lol Not being a fun drunk or part person, I have no first-hand experience with those shenanigans. I've heard the stories and seen the pictures, though. Other forumers are better qualified to describe them. I'm not about to tell stories or name names.

It's what happens when the RTA is controlled by suburban politicians in Springfield. I think Metra had something like a 97% on-time record, although that took a hit when Union Pacific bought out the C&NW and moved the dispatching from Chicago to Omaha. The Metra Electric line, with its frequent headways, turnstiles at stations, and mostly grade-separated ROW, had more in common with a rapid transit line than a typical commuter railroad. By popular demand, Metra Electric has done away with the turnstiles. Now if they could just get the ticket machines at 57th Street to work once in a while ... I haven't ridden any of the other Metra lines recently, but the ride quality on the electric line is excellent. It's smooth as silk, with hardly a bump or jiggle.

is that a pic you took? Looks like the aftermath of an SSP meet! :roll:

I'll second that. Although I don't live there, I'm a frequent visitor. So far, I've loved it all; the Loop, Near North, residential neighborhoods, tourist attractions, etc. I'm sure I would feel more strongly about CTA if I had to rely on it daily for commuting, but for my purposes it works; it gets me where I want to be, usually with a tolerable amount of discomfort and inconvienience. It probably helps that I'm a transit geek. :-D I have to agree with MTS's comment elsewhere on the bumpy buses. On one visit I had to catch a bus near Jarvis because of reconstruction on the Red Line. By the time I got to the Loop, I thought I would puke; I haven't been roughed up like that since I was a teenager riding on the back of farm trucks. The articulated buses are the worst.

Photo from last Wednesday morning, killing time while waiting for a train. I agree. HDR can be used for creative effects when used skillfully, but its strong suit is recreating an image the way the photographer's eye sees it, which may be beyond the reach of basic technology.

A large part of the contention results from the fact that for a hundred years or so, our traffic infrastructure has been auto-centric and has failed to accomodate both bikes and cars as serious, viable transport modes. It will take time and money to remedy that and defuse some of the hostility. That said, both groups - motorists and cyclists - have among their numbers some arrogant pricks who need to get over themselves. No amount of infrastructure can fix an a$$hole with an attitude; some of them might benefit from hormone therapy to counteract their excess testosterone.

Gorgeous photos!

Beautiful photo set and narrative.

I like it. Some of the buildings are blah and some of the streets are too wide, but some of the buildings are striking. Overall I'd give it two thumbs up.

I would just assume let a bent frame lie, but is there any wisdom whatsoever in attempting to straighten it? It's steel. Trying to straighten it would only make it more unsafe. The tubes, lugs, and joints already were stressed when it got bent, and applying enough force to straighten the tubes would stress everything again, possibly causing hidden or invisible cracks that might result in the frame completely breaking apart while you're riding it, most likely when you're in a tight spot and either trying to stop or accelerate quickly. That could be a very unpleasant experience. The only way to fix it properly and safely is to replace the fork and bent tubes. It can be done, but it would cost far more than the frame is worth. You could buy a better frame for less money than repairing that one, and the frame that mkeller234 has is a nice one. Go with it.

^Definitely bent top tube and down tube, and the fork may be sprung back a little bit, too. It looks like the front wheel encountered an immovable oject like a curb. It's probably still safe to ride for its intended purpose, so long as there are no visible cracks where the tubes are brazed into the lugs. The wheels may run a little out of line, but that's something you learn to compensate without really thinking about it.

I agree. Probably lower maintenance, too.

I see it at Lowe's, where sometimes it's not just the shopping carts, but the heavy steel platform carts they use for building materials. People don't just leave them; they push them into the handicapped parking spots as if they can't tell the difference between those and a cart corral. People who do that should be subject to the same penalties as someone who parks in a handicapped spot without a permit, because they're effectively making the spot unavailable to someone who might need it. However, the stores aren't going to have anyone enforce it because it might alienate customers. I used to call people's attention to what they were doing when I saw it happen, but I gave that up after I very nearly got punched by some redneck f*cker.

The food aromas must have been great, and so would seeing all those people in downtown. It's an impressive downtown despite all the economic losses, and it would be great to see it busy again.

There used to be a place called the Wrecking Ball. I think it was on Lorain; I'm not sure if it's still around. I bought some doors there for a very reasonable price, but that was 20 years ago. It was an old house just crammed full of stuff - huge inventory of doors of all types, and lots of hardware, with a back yard full of salvaged bathtubs, lavatories, and toilets. There was another place with lots of stuff in the old bank building across from the West Side Market then, but it's no longer there. Everything was overpriced and the guy who ran it was an unpleasant b!tch.

Interesting composition and colors.

Great photo set! Just my kinda stuff! The Hoboken Terminal is a gem! I'm so glad it was preserved, and it looks like it's well cared for.

Great photos! Sometimes rainy days are good for photography. I caught that cast-iron appearance right away, too. Except for the Mansard roof, it has a similar flavor to Milwaukee's Iron Block:

Add me to the list. I unplugged my TV more than two years ago. Since broadcast TV went digital, I no longer own a working TV. Not only do I not miss it, but I find it annoying when I'm confronted with it in a public place.

Great photos! Sometimes rainy days are good for photography.

Classic views! If I were forced to choose just one skyscraper as my favorite, I'd probably go for the Chrysler Building.

The increased popularity of bicycling has given rise to a need for safety instruction in the local community; there are a bunch of people out there who have no clue as to how to protect themselves or to ride courteously in order to not invoke the ire of motorists who can run them off the road. My cross-street will accomodate two cars going in opposite directions, except where there are parked cars. It's also part of the Rivergreenway, and gets a lot of bike and running traffic. Yesterday afternoon I came up behind a young man and young woman riding side by side and taking up the whole street at something less than 10mph, and either completely unaware that I was behind them, or indifferent to my presence. After about a block of that, here comes some dork from the opposite direction, riding on the left side. Immediately it becomes clear that neither he nor they know what to do, and they're all all over the street. I just stopped and waited until it all got sorted out. I stifled the impulse to 'splain things to the left-side rider, realizing it would do no good and he'd just speed up to get away from the crazy man. This evening at dusk as I was leaving Lowe's, I saw a young man in dark clothes, on a bike with no lights, riding in fast, heavy traffic while absorbed in his cell phone conversation. Local drivers must be better than I gave them credit for, else we'd be reading about a sharp uptick in bike-car fatalities.

Except in very long stretches without curves or turns, expansion/contraction due to temperature change shouldn't be a major problem. Curves and turns can absorb a lot of expansion/contraction without significant displacement. Besides, not every joint is welded; typically switches wouldn't be, or any place that a track circuit needs to be isolated to control any kind of signal, and if they needed to allow more, they could purposely leave some joints bolted. On mainline railroads they impose speed restrictions when the temp exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit because of rail expansion, and again when temperature drops below 0 Fahrenheit because of possible rail breakage due to brittleness. On streetcar tracks the loads are comparatively light and the speeds relatively slow