Odessa
For those of you who don't know this, our house in Odessa is located fairly close to the train tracks. We hear/see about 20-30 trains a day. Going BOTH directions. That got me to thinking last night...when I couldn't sleep, what or who, keeps trains from running into each other? Now I know, given my previous profession with Boeing, I should know the answer to this question. Apparently I was missing or asleep during trains 101. Do they have a FAA controller type for trains? They must since the trains know when they should be on the siding to let another train go by. And did you know that trains have different sounding horns/whistles? And Amtrak has a completely different sound of a horn/whistle than freights do. And speaking of that, who controls how long and loud the whistle is? If it is someone on the train, I would like to have a talk with a few of them who seem to keep their finger on the whistle button waaaaaaayyyyyyy to long! One thing we have noticed since being home this time is that there seems to be more trains on the tracks this year. Fuel costs???? Hmmmm And I still can't go to sleep until Amtrak goes through at night...it usually goes through at 10:45 p.m.....although, some nights is has been as late as 12:30 a.m.....I know, I will still be awake waiting for it!!!! And some of you Boeing people can answer this question for me....are we still shipping 737 fuselage's from Wichita to Renton?? I haven't seen any this year.
Other than listening to/for trains, we have been sticking pretty close to home. Last week Joyce, (Al's sister), Ardis and I went to Spokane for a girls day. Joyce needed to do some clothes shopping, so Ardis and I decided it would be a good time for us to just go and look around. Neither of us bought a whole lot, we let Joyce do that! Then yesterday Ardis and I took the dogs, Beau and Schuster and her Simon to Ephrata to be groomed. We decided to stay there and bum around for the day. We went to Moses Lake and got a pedicure...which was Ardis' first pedicure...I think she is hooked. I got even with her...she hooked me on quilting and I hooked her on pedicures!!!
The weather has been bizarre here. Cold one day, warm the next, then windy, cold and rainy, then sunny and cold. I can't figure it out! And apparently neither can the weather guesser....he is always wrong.
We are getting ready for our trip to Alaska. We leave on July 5 and I am "gathering" and sorting things to take. And worse of all, I can't remember what I left up there last year. I have been watching the weather and it has been fairly nice in Sterling, but I still can't figure out what to take as far as clothes. This year I am going to make a list.......... then be in the same position I am now next year, as I probably won't remember where I put the dumb list!!!!
Until next time..................
2 comments:
OOOO OOOO I Know this one. I saw it on discovery. There's a main grid computer doo hicky thing somewhere - I'm guessing maybe Spokane and Seattle or whereever. It has lights and flashy things on it and tells the train traffic controller what train is where and what it needs to do when it hits a certain point. The computer relays that to the conductor and that's how they know to slow down or take a right or left.
As for the whistle...that's at their discretion I think. So I'd say hop on a train and smack any given conductor.
Well, at least that settles how they don't run into each other!!! And believe me, last night there was a conductor or engineer or someone who was itching for me to slap him/her. From one end of town to the other this horrible sound of a very BAD train horn/whistle was heard at the highest level one can imagine. Not only did it disturb the whole town; but every dog and coyote within a 10 mile range was barking/howling.
Post a Comment