Robert Pence

The Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency started out providing security for Norfolk & Western Railroad. In the early 1900s they provided enforcers to the mining companies to help suppress labor-organizing efforts by miners. At the extreme end of their heavy-handedness, Baldwin-Felts thugs were involved in massacres of strikers at Matewan, West Virginia, and Ludlow, Colorado. At Ludlow, a strikers' tent city was machine-gunned in pre-dawn hours and then torched. At least twenty people died, including many women and children.

Actually, it's "belated happy birthday," not "happy belated birthday." His birthday happened right on schedule; the greeting was belated. So, you have my belated wish for a happy birthday, MTS! Just bear in mind -- after a certain point it's difficult to greet new birthdays with enthusiasm, until you contemplate the alternative.

People who can't leave their cell phones alone for anything. This morning I attended a funeral service for a neighbor from when I still lived on the farm. The service was at a small 1800s country church that might seat a hundred people if everyone's pretty good friends, and there probably were around sixty people there. During the liturgy someone's cell phone went off. They silenced the ring quickly and let the message go to voice mail. Then, rather than shutting off the phone to avoid further disturbance, they apparently felt compelled to listen to the message immediately. I was sitting maybe thirty feet away, and it was loud enough that although I couldn't understand what was being said, I could hear that they were listening to voice mail. I first thought it might be one of the handful of teens there, but if it were a teen it would have been text, not a voice mail. For all I know, they may already have been busy texting or tweeting how bored they were, the whole time. Dammit, in that setting if you have business that's all that urgent, go outside and take care of it and then shut off the damned phone before you come back inside!

Various railroads' requirements for very high-dollar liability insurance were a major factor in mostly ending steam passenger excursions on mainlines. Perhaps somewhat ironically, the railroads' risk-management lawyers scrutiny of insurance coverage was brought about by a high-speed derailment of a passenger train pulled by NS's 611 on an excursion for railroad employees and their families. I believe the president of the railroad (Mr. Claytor) was at the throttle. During the mid- to late-1980s, liability requirements for passenger excursions on some railroads reached $25 million for two one-day round trips of less than 150 miles each.

I'll believe the Greenbrier Express after it's completed at least a year of service with economically sustainable revenue. I've heard rumors that the resort is having to pare down, and the explanation for the reduction in workforce rebuilding cars doesn't resonate with me. Even in the best scenario operation of the train will almost certainly have to be underwritten by the resort on the premise that it brings in more money in tourist trade than it costs. Ross Rowland once operated C&O 614 as a test bed for some of the technology being designed for the now-dormant ACE 3000, a proposed high-tech coal-burning locomotive being developed by a consortium of coal and railroad interests in the early 80s when oil prices spiked. When oil prices dropped in the mid-80s, major players in the ACE 3000 project dropped out and the project went up on blocks. From what I heard from people knowledgeable in steam locomotive operation and restoration, C&O 614 had been run hard to the point of abuse and was badly in need of major boiler and mechanical work by the time the project work stopped. Unless someone like Rowland with deep pockets, stepped up, I speculate that the work done on the locomotive before it was placed on display was mainly cosmetic and that it's a long way from being serviceable even if CSX were permit steam. The most recent issue of TRAINS Magazine has a feature article on the Buckingham Branch. Apparently it's one of the outstanding examples of a family-operated short line started on a shoestring that has grown and prospered.

Excellent! I haven't been in the Field Museum in many years, and had sort of forgotten how magnificent it is!

Superb!

Excellent upbeat set of photos, with appreciation for the new development that's taking place.

Nice job. It's always interesting to see photos by people who don't live there or visit often; they tend to come up with unique views of familiar places. You've done that in several of your photos.

Oh they'll scoot alright. They'll plow over all the able-walking pedestrians on their way. Those things go fast. In the office were I last worked prior to retirement, there was a kid who used an electric wheelchair. He was a menace. We had narrow aisles and cubicles with six-foot partitions, and everyone got into the habit of carefully looking both ways before stepping into the aisle, to make sure Kevin wasn't coming at full speed. His chair was quiet and he always went as fast as he could, and never gave any warning when he shot past someone from behind at close clearance. I never got used to that.

Post-WWII (1947) Packard. When I was about 17 there was a dark red one on the Studebaker dealer's used car lot. It was practically in mint condition and I wanted it in the worst way, but Dad wouldn't even let me bring up the subject.

Good luck with the parental visit. My parents lived only 25 miles away. Mom, too, was a fastidious cleaner and very efficient at it, but they didn't visit often. More often, I stopped by their place on Saturdays. Although I clean much less frequently than I ought to, I do know how to do it well. One thing I learned when refreshing my rental property after smokers moved out was that white vinegar is an excellent cleaner for windows, counter tops, appliances, and other hard surfaces. It's non-toxic and environmentally safe and a big plus is that it leaves a place smelling clean and fresh.

At least Duke is open to seeing what works in other places with successful streetcar operations. I wonder if anyone has looked into the feasibility of relocating the utility lines three feet, and then offsetting the manholes to eight feet, either with a diagonal access to the level of the lines or an underground vault between the manhole access and the lines.

To add a bit of clarification to the above article: Citilink is the public transit authority that operates buses in Fort Wayne. Board president Fred Lanahan has been an advocate for bringing back passenger rail service to the city and a leader in Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association (NIPRA) from the get-go. The Baker Street Station that the article refers to is not the restored former PRR station now owned by Martin Riley Architects. The article refers to Citilink's Baker Street transfer station, in the block immediately east of the former PRR station. The Baker Street transfer station had been closed for some time, although the shell of the open-sided brick shelter still stood there. The other of two 1980s transfer stations, on Superior Street, has been the main transfer point for Citilink bus routes for the last few years. I believe that when the new transfer station is opened, the Superior Street facility no longer will be used. Incidentally, the Superior Street transfer station stands on the former site of the Nickel Plate Railroad passenger station, adjacent to the elevated tracks owned by Norfolk Southern.

I'm glad to know the Indiana folks are working on synergy with All Aboard Ohio. I wasn't sure they were doing that.

County helps fund Fort Wayne-Chicago train study Vivian Sade | The Journal Gazette FORT WAYNE -- The Allen County commissioners agreed unanimously Friday to contribute money to study the viability and economic benefits of passenger train service from Fort Wayne to northern Indiana and Chicago. Rich Davis, director of the Downtown Improvement District, said the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association is close to having the $80,000 needed to proceed with the first of several studies involving rail service from Fort Wayne to Chicago. Davis is also a member of the rail association. http://journalgazette.net/article/20120224/LOCAL/120229734 I assume this would involve the same former PRR right of way that is part of the proposed Toledo-Fort Wayne-Chicago portion of planned future HSR development. In that case, any movement forward is a good thing. Given the absence of enthusiasm for passenger rail on the part of the governor's office, it's appropriate that local officials move forward to demonstrate the level of local support that exists for this project. - RP

Spring will come! Thanks for the hopeful tour.

I love those Pennsylvania small towns with their massively-built old homes and public buildings. I assume that forbidding-looking structure beside the courthouse is the county prison; that's another thing that I've found characterstic of those places. It sort of reminds me of the one in Ebensburg, although of a somewhat different architectural style. That one looks like it probably includes the sheriff's residence in the front part.

Wandering off topic ....

Interesting set. I remember the vews along the river and into the city from a trip on Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited, back when it still ran to Grand Central.

I'll second that on a new-generation slumbercoach equivalent. I used the originals often on trips from Fort Wayne eastward prior to our loss of service in 1990; my basic guidline was anyplace Pittsburgh or beyond merited a slumbercoach, and it wasn't all that expensive compared with a roomette. I'm not a big guy, so the small compartment and comparatively narrow bed were completely adequate for me. I haven't taken any long Amtrak trips in several years, and one thing that gives me pause whenever I contemplate one is that meals are bundled in with the price. Whether it makes the deal more marketable, or jacks up the price beyond the value I don't know, but that feature is of no value to me; I have special nutritional needs that can't be met by the on-board meals, and have to carry my own supplies with me. I haven't inquired whether they can exclude meals and discount the price. Just remembering - my first long Amtrak trip was to San Francisco from Fort Wayne via Chicago in 1973, before Amtrak had rehabbed much of their Heritage Fleet equipment. The coach that I rode from Chicago to Oakland was of Santa Fe provenance, and the seats were nearly as comfortable as any home recliner. They were of furniture-quality construcion, with springs, padding, and upholsery fabric and they were widely spaced and would recline way back, with leg rests. They were very comfortable to sleep in, and the only downside was late-night boardings in places like the middle of Nebraska, where boarding passengers bumped their luggage into the seats as they trooped through the car.

In some smaller-scale construction projects I've seen them apply load tests to caissons and bridge piers before they start to build on them. I'm guessing they probably conducted some rigorous testing on the support structure of Key Tower before they started construction. I remember reading that before Terminal Tower was built (mid-1920s), no buildings of significant mass were built on its site because the area is ancient river delta with unstable soil and deeply-buried bedrock. If my memory is correct, there may be as many as two hundred caissons supporting Terminal Tower. They go down two hundred feet to bedrock, and some of the caissons are ten feet in diameter.

Interesting, lively scenes. I need to spend some time in Chicago after dark; the last time I did that was more than four years ago and it was snowing like crazy. The last time before that was eight years ago, in an on-again, off-again cold soaking rain. The city always has a lot of vitality, but it takes different forms depending on time of day. Thanks for sharing these.

The house in the last photo looks interesting. Overall, though, I don't think I could take the excitement of living in Kent City. :wink:

Once a legend, always a legend! Your photos are pro-quality, always excellent both in content and composition. I always enjoy them.