Far and Away the Best Rock Music in 1969

Blasting the Planes thru my headphones as I do almost everyday at the coffee shop to drown out all of the inane and self involved conversations around me, but that's not the point. Just listen to Jack Casady's bass solo, apparently played with a broken G string. 

The EMD Catalog

Three eras, three generations, three engine sizes, L-R; 645, 710, and 567

Ten Unit Japanese DMU - Amazing!

Soviet Alcos to Mars - ESA Rollout at Baikonour

Two trusty TEM2s assist with the rollout of the ExoMars 2016 probe (link.)

Edward Hopper's House By The Railroad - Haverstraw, New York

This mansard roofed beauty still stands in Haverstraw, New York,  just north of Hopper's home town of Nyack, which today is on the CSX West Shore line.

Screen shots below from the film Edward Hopper and the Blank Canvas:

YouTube: https://youtu.be/qk7nL27BxNg

Rock Me Baby - Polar Opposite Versions

The Red Board at Helena - I-15 Bridge Replacement - Part 1

EB passes the red board at Helena Yard for the I-15 bridge replacement project. Trains talk to an MRL foreman who coordinates with the construction forces.

Men and equipment, whistle freely.

Marshalling the forces,  Sletten Companies is the main contractor.

Next post will show the demolition of the northbound span.

TWJ Preview - The Vehicle Train

WB Vehicle Train at Helena West, rear DPU.

In the absence of a passenger train, or a hot intermodal schedule, the daily vehicle train shown above at Helena West, is the closest thing on the MRL to a premier train. The train operates in a 2+2 DPU configuration, and does not require a helper over Mullan. This train carries loads in both directions. This train seldom waits for a crew at Helena.

A Spring Walking Tour of Helena Jct., Montana

Budding Cottonwoods give a fall like appearance at Helena Jct, but it's the first sign of Spring.

Time for a "nature walk."  Need a mascot. I will call him Alan.

Looking north with the old Great Northern line to Great Falls curving off to the right.

Last stop for electrons, as if there were any. This is the southernmost pole of the GN pole line. Several were recently removed.

The north switch of the wye, cottonwoods, and Green Meadow Country Club.

No waybills in the boxes, just old wasp nests.

Passengers on the Great Northern to Helena may have greeted this scene as Mt. Helena hove into view.

The only cantilever signal bridge in the Helena area. The Mullan Pass helpers occupy the track on the right before cutting in to their train.

Looking east, back towards town.

The golf cart crossing.

A Carload of Hell - With Sulphur Spelled the Old Fashioned Way

For all the straight poop about molten sulphur rail transportation go here: https://www.fra.dot.gov/eLib/Details/L05445

Why Is Modern Space Travel So Aesthetically Boring?

Blue Origin launch from West Texas - Blue Origin Photo

I grew up in the heady days of space travel speculation by the likes of Willy Ley, Athelstan Spilhaus, and Chesley Bonestell. I spent many a childhood hour immersing myself in artists conceptions of space travel. Craggy moon mountains shadowed elaborate moon bases, rockets with tail fins landed vertically on the moon surface. Spoke and wheel space stations elegantly twirled in Earth orbit. Satellites were spherical and festooned with antennas like a 1950s suburban house tract. Unfortunately, as space technology and knowledge progressed, a lot of these artists conceptions would turn out to be misconceptions.

The mountains of the Moon are not craggy (darn!) We have yet to establish a base on the Moon. When we did land on the Moon, it was not with an elegant tail-finned rocket landing vertically, but with a little bug like LEM. We know have the Blue Origin, as seen above, but seriously, it looks like a PVC sprinkler head. Our International Space Station  is very functional, but looks to be the ultimate kit bash. Satellites and space probes are mostly rectilinear. Function rules in the harsh environment of space, but I miss the panache of the early years.

Here is an illustration from the European Space Agency of their proposed 3D printed moon base, using the lunar regolith as a base material:

Interesting, but where is the monorail system?

Here is today's ISS:

And the classic spoke and wheel concept:

The Soviet Union's early satellites and space capsules were particularly gear:

Today's space probe is all about cramming as many scientific packages into a small space. The Juno, built by Lockheed Martin:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juno_(spacecraft)

Bakken - Coming and Going

Despite the fall off in Bakken crude trains, it's still possible to see two of them in an hours time, as earlier this week in Helena, Montana on the MRL.

WB loads wait for a crew, as work proceeds on the I-15 bridge replacement.

Departure

One of the radio controlled talking switches in Helena Yard.

Double DPU on the rear.

Next train through town, EB empties.

Same power arrangement passes Beattie Park, a picnic table, but no water or bathrooms.