Ride'n the Rails

[KmH]

The Sightseer Lounge (SSL) car upper deck was packed Wednesday, October 19, 2016 on day 3 of the 2,438 mile Amtrak California Zephyr's run from Chicago, IL to Emeryville, CA. Here the California Zephyr is between regular stops at Reno, NV and Truckee, CA, a very scenic section of the route that follows the Truckee River up into the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

 

[tirediron]

How many days behind schedule are you now?

 

[smoke665]

Hope you'll give us a write up on your experience. The last time I went from Chicago to CA by train I was so young, I don't know if the fragments of memory are real or not. LOL Have thought it would be a great trip to try again.

 

[KmH]

How many days behind schedule are you now?

Too many days to count.

We are scrambling to gather $10,000 in donations for the Matthew Edel Blacksmith Shop by December 20.
A great-great grandson of Matthew Edel let the historical society know he would match - up to $10,000 - whatever amount we are able to raise.
Going over $10,000 would be good, we can use all we can get, but he stops at $10,000.

Tonight I had the honor of explaining stellar evolution to the members and guests of one of the astronomy clubs I am in.
I put the finishing touches on the Power Point presentation this afternoon.

My leaf blower is getting a lot of work. I blow all the leaves to the north, taking advantage of wind out of the south, and the next day the wind blows out of the north and undoes my previous day's leaf blowing.
At least the grass isn't growing very fast.
I may not need to mow again this year.

 

[KmH]

Hope you'll give us a write up on your experience. The last time I went from Chicago to CA by train I was so young, I don't know if the fragments of memory are real or not. LOL Have thought it would be a great trip to try again.

Ottumwa to Sacramento and Back - By Train

 

[Piccell]

Surprising that members of an astronomy club don't yet know about stellar evolution.
I love trains. Can you get some shots of it from outside maybe?

 

[KmH]

In the middle of the lower level of each coach or sleeper car is a boarding vestibule with a door on each side of the car.
In each door is a window that can be opened, but there is also a sign right next to the window that says it's only to be opened by staff or in an emergency.
None of the other windows on the train that passengers have access to open.

I made this photo (and a few others) by opening that window and sticking my camera outside the train:
6.2 miles to go
I'll be posting some of those other shots I got by opening the window as time permits.

On my return I spoke with the attendant in my car about opening those windows so I could clean the outside of them.
He said he was OK with that. Actually I spoke to him about that after I had already cleaned the windows.
The windows get covered with soot from the 2 diesel engines at the front of the train. Actually, the insides of the windows on the train get coated with soot too.
I took that one step further and assumed he would also be OK with me holding my camera outside to make a few photos, as long as I was careful and didn't try to do that in a situation that might result in me being injured while I was partway out of the train.

 

[KmH]

Surprising that members of an astronomy club don't yet know about stellar evolution.

I've been interested in astronomy since 1972 and have studied it for 44 years now.
I had to do a fair amount of research to put my power point presentation together so I could be sure I was presenting what we think we know these days about stellar evolution.
I can with confidence say that there is a broad range of expertise and interests among amateur astronomers.
Many don't delve as deeply into the how's and why's as others do.

Even at that, what the experts think they know about astronomy and stellar evolution is not certain.
The physics of how, cold, diffuse molecular clouds collapse and form new stars is poorly understood.
They keep discovering situations that they are unable of explaining using current knowledge.
That all indicates our astronomical understanding is flawed in many ways, though we often talk as though we have a solid understanding so that we can convey concepts in a way that helps others visualize what we think we know about astronomy.

Indeed most of what we think we know regarding astronomy we haven't know for even 100 years yet.

In 1916 there was no proof then the spiral nebula astronomers could see, and photograph, were outside our own Milky Way galaxy.
The reason they didn't have the proof was because no one had a big enough telescope.
In 1916 the biggest telescope on Earth was the 60" reflector on Mt. Wilson above Pasadena, CA.

On November 2, 1917 the 100" Hooker telescope that had been built on Mt. Wilson saw "first light" and was the largest telescope on Earth until the 200" Hale telescope on Mt. Palomar saw first light January 26, 1949.
It was in 1922 - 1923 that Edwin Hubble made photographs of the Andromeda and Triangulum spiral nebula using the 100" in which he was able to identify Cepheid variable stars. Cepheid variable stars are used as distance standard candles.

The Hooker 100".
Creative Commons usage license: CC BY-SA 2.0 © Andrew Dunn 1989

 

[Piccell]

In the middle of the lower level of each coach or sleeper car is a boarding vestibule with a door on each side of the car.
In each door is a window that can be opened, but there is also a sign right next to the window that says it's only to be opened by staff or in an emergency.
None of the other windows on the train that passengers have access to open.

I made this photo (and a few others) by opening that window and sticking my camera outside the train:
6.2 miles to go
I'll be posting some of those other shots I got by opening the window as time permits.

On my return I spoke with the attendant in my car about opening those windows so I could clean the outside of them.
He said he was OK with that. Actually I spoke to him about that after I had already cleaned the windows.
The windows get covered with soot from the 2 diesel engines at the front of the train. Actually, the insides of the windows on the train get coated with soot too.
I took that one step further and assumed he would also be OK with me holding my camera outside to make a few photos, as long as I was careful and didn't try to do that in a situation that might result in me being injured while I was partway out of the train.

Diesel, as in Diesel Electric locomotive?...ok you lost me there. I was thinking it was an historic steam locomotive for some reason without looking it up.
I love the steam locos still working but the moderns are just boring for some reason.
http://kjzz.org/sites/default/files/steam engine.jpg

 

[KmH]

Yes. GE Genesis, Diesel Electric, P-42-DC locomotives.
The California Zephyr is powered by 2 locomotives.
The diesel engine in the locomotives makes electricity. The electricity is used to both make the train move (motive power) and to make electricity that is used for power in all the cars the locomotives are pulling.

 

[Piccell]

Yes. GE Genesis, Diesel Electric, P-42-DC locomotives.
The California Zephyr is powered by 2 locomotives.
The diesel engine in the locomotives makes electricity. The electricity is used to both make the train move (motive power) and to make electricity that is used for power in all the cars the locomotives are pulling.

Yep. Did you know that a DE engine runs half of it's life going forward and the other half going backwards to even the wear of the components?

 

[tirediron]

...I love the steam locos still working but the moderns are just boring for some reason.
http://kjzz.org/sites/default/files/steam engine.jpg

Suffering the all too common and unfortunate indignity of a disease-el cut in to the consist!