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Things You Don't See Anymore Part 3
- Thread starter Richland123
- Start date
Johnny Carson: "Now, how would I describe Zodys? It's like Kmart...without the warmth."
Must've been regional-never heard of them in FL.Johnny Carson: "Now, how would I describe Zodys? It's like Kmart...without the warmth."
The reason this whole world has gone to Hell? The Caboose has gone extinct.
When I was a kid, we lived a block away from a Santa Fe switching yard, and when the assembled train would pull out to leave, the last car was one of these, usually with a conductor sitting in that upstairs window waving at me and Aunt Angie, who'd walk me down there. I thought that had to be the greatest job in the world, after assembling the string, then sitting up there with a cup of Joe watching the world go by and waving at little kids. Naturally, capitalism put those guys out of a job and replaced them with a blinking red light on an add-on fixture. Progress . . .
When I was a kid, we lived a block away from a Santa Fe switching yard, and when the assembled train would pull out to leave, the last car was one of these, usually with a conductor sitting in that upstairs window waving at me and Aunt Angie, who'd walk me down there. I thought that had to be the greatest job in the world, after assembling the string, then sitting up there with a cup of Joe watching the world go by and waving at little kids. Naturally, capitalism put those guys out of a job and replaced them with a blinking red light on an add-on fixture. Progress . . .
I deliver flowers for a local florist, and probably 2/3 of my deliveries are in neighborhoods here in Nashville to individual homes. Ostensibly, Metro Nashville is playing catch-up building new schools for the burgeoning population.
But going through neighborhoods all over town every day, I NEVER see children playing outside either in their yard or in the parks, and we have nice ones all over town.
But right now, the Metro Police are looking for a group of 4 or 5 kids, aged 10-14, for a string of armed robberies.
So now I need to be glad I got my Carry Permit to fend off 10-year olds with stolen Glocks.
Welcome to The Greatest Country on Earth.
It may have been...I remember my Southern relatives mentioning the "Piggly Wiggly." This California kid had no idea what they were talking about!
Only 3 channels on TV. But somehow, more good choices than we have with 300 channels.
Yes indeed. I guess the B-29 you have to buy separately too.
It's OK!!! "Batteries not included"...
Here is an Automatic Electric "Strowger Switch" that was part of the General Telephone and Electronics Company's rotary telephone system. Banks of these would select the line from the originating dial phone, and decode each digit that was dialed to activate other switching equipment, and to route dial tone, ringing, voice, and busy signals. Telephone exchanges would have many hundreds of these switches depending on how many lines that particular central office building served. One line required multiple switches, depending on how many digits the system required. If your phone number had seven digits, there would be eight, (I think) relays for each line the office could handle. All this equipment operated at 48 volts DC. This one is almost three feet tall.
These were being tested in the GTE plant where I got my first electronics technician job (back in the days when Agedhorse was known as Younghorse). I worked on more modern equipment there. The area where these were being tested was filled with the sound of hundreds of relays clacking as the switches cycled through test routines.
These were being tested in the GTE plant where I got my first electronics technician job (back in the days when Agedhorse was known as Younghorse). I worked on more modern equipment there. The area where these were being tested was filled with the sound of hundreds of relays clacking as the switches cycled through test routines.
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I did my training in Step By Step Exchanges, mostly SR2000 and SE50 stuff in Aust, though there was some Strowger stuff around the traps, though I never saw it. I still have an old exchange clock (used to switch the various tones on and off) at home I'll try and remember to post a piccie when I get back (in Sept). My main expertise, though was in Crossbar which was just being superceded when I got out in 1990.
My Uncle worked at GTE somewhere in Wisconsin or Illinois back in the 80’s.
So last week we took our boys to see the Union Pacific 4014 Big Boy steam locomotive in Oroville and Roseville California. My oldest (6) is obsessed with trains and our youngest (3) likes pretty much whatever his older brother likes.
We stood fairly close to the track as it pulled into Oroville Station and our entire bodies vibrated when they pulled the whistle. There were (my guesstimate) 400 or so people there. It stayed at the station for about 30 minutes while the oilmen lubed up various components and other workers checked on other parts of the train. The next day it was on static display at the Roseville train yard with (again my guesstimate) at least 1000 people gawking at this thing.
The word “large” doesn’t do it justice. At 132 feet long, 11 ft wide 16 ft tall, and weighing in at an astonishing 1.1 million pounds it is the world’s largest, heaviest and most powerful steam locomotive in the world. One of 25 made back in 1941, it’s the only one that’s had a full restoration to operational status.
We stood fairly close to the track as it pulled into Oroville Station and our entire bodies vibrated when they pulled the whistle. There were (my guesstimate) 400 or so people there. It stayed at the station for about 30 minutes while the oilmen lubed up various components and other workers checked on other parts of the train. The next day it was on static display at the Roseville train yard with (again my guesstimate) at least 1000 people gawking at this thing.
The word “large” doesn’t do it justice. At 132 feet long, 11 ft wide 16 ft tall, and weighing in at an astonishing 1.1 million pounds it is the world’s largest, heaviest and most powerful steam locomotive in the world. One of 25 made back in 1941, it’s the only one that’s had a full restoration to operational status.
