Another year is here already. Some people like to make goals for the upcoming year. I really don't make goals at the start of a new year. One thing that I will do this year is upgrade my lenses for my Canon Rebel XTi to Canon's L series.

Over at Railroadforums.com, there is a monthly photo contest. For the month of January, it deals with the cold(http://www.railroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21540. While driving home last Saturday from the roundhouse(Midwest), I passed the old Erie Railroad yard on East 55th. NS was there putting a train together to clear out the yard for the week. Some of the cars in the train contain scrap metal that was steaming. If I was smart that day, I would have pulled over to get some pictures of steam coming from the gondolas. I still have the rest of the month to come up with something interesting........

I'm starting to consider myself more than an amateur photographer. I have had my website for years now. It is time for my photos to be share with the outside world, not just to rail fans. There are a few websites out there that are viewed by other photographers. Two that come into my mind are Flicker (www.flicker.com) and PBASE (www.pbase.com). I have recently opened an account with Flicker (http://www.flickr.com/photos/clevelandtrains/) and soon at PBASE. I'm still trying to figure out which site to go with. Maybe for more exposer I should use both. Updates will follow about this subject.

Happy Holidays!

Once again, I'm in Philly, home to a lot of things. I will admit that I have not found any nice rail fan spots to hang out at yet. I did make one huge mistake by going on the Ben Franklin Bridge to explore New Jersey. I soon found out that I was in Camden. Man. The homes are really old, most seemed to be boarded up or gutted for anything that could bring a quick buck at the scrap yard. It kind of reminded me of the HBO TV series, The Wire. There were drug dealers on a lot of the streets, ladies of the night working during the day and crack heads looking for some dope. It was a sight to see. After driving around for about 10 minutes and looking at this sad place, I found my way back to the Ben Franklin Bridge and headed back over to Philly. I had to pay a three dollar toll to cross back over. I asked the toll collector ‘What the fuck happened over here?” He had no real answer while he passed me my change. I wonder what he thought about my statement.

I was driving back to my sister’s home on I 95. While driving, an Amtrak train came up on the left of me. I was going about 70mph or so and was able to pace the train for a few seconds. What was so cool abut this moment that this train was so quite. No GE or EMD locomotives smoking at 80 mph. Pretty cool sight.

I have found some old maps of the rail lines and yards in the metro Cleveland area. One map dates map back to 1934 http://www.railsandtrails.com/Maps/Cleveland/CleveMap-100a.jpg
No date on this map and no color http://www.railsandtrails.com/Maps/Cleveland/ClevelandRRMap-100.jpg

How do you start a locomotive with weak batteries? You jump it. Kind of like jump starting your car, but only with a lot more juice. This past Saturday, I got to help and see this happen to a Alco RS3 locomotive. This old lady did put out a lot of smoke at first. Then she started to do a slow chug. With each chug, more smoke would puff out. As the chug became quicker, more smoke came out. Soon, she was running on her own power and the smoke died down some. If you have a chance on November 25, come down and see her running. See the post below for details.

It has been some time since I have updated my blog. During this time, I have been very busy with work and volunteering. Yes volunteering. I joined the Midwest Railway Historical Society (http://www.midwestrailway.org/). It is a small group of folks with a vision to restore an old B&O roundhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. If you happen to be in interested in looking at the equipment, learning about the past, come on out to to the open house on November 25, 2007.

I will post pictures of some of the equipment. The coolest thing that I personally like is GTW 4070. 4070 is an old USRA light Mikado steam locomotive. I hope to be part of the group helps to bring life back to this unit.

I hope to see you at the open house!