Jan 17, 2025
The rear SL23 on the emergency randonneuse wore through last week, so I gathered up a bunch of parts to replace the rim brakes with disc brakes and today finally disassembled the bike so I can glue post mounts (or adapter pads for flat mount brakes) onto the thing.
Aside from being absolutely filthy, I discovered that I’d managed to twist and derake (part of) the fork, so had to rerake & untwist the fork. Thankfully steel is malleable so I can do this without risking it disintegrating out from under me. But I’m still going to glue a reinforcing rib to the brake-side fork leg for paranoia’s sake.
—orc Fri Jan 17 23:14:25 2025
Jan 10, 2025
Dust Mite sits in on my eldest’s newly recased & re-graphics carded gaming PC.
—orc Fri Jan 10 20:49:07 2025
Jan 08, 2025
Milwaukee Road ES-1 #E57B (and bobtail #E34C) were switching in Harlowton sometime in 1973, just before the idiots in Chicago turned off the electrification (and accelerated the railroad’s descent into oblivion.)
—orc Wed Jan 8 00:27:10 2025
Jan 03, 2025
Dust Mite poses with some seatstay/rack tubing
—orc Fri Jan 3 23:47:56 2025
Dec 27, 2024
Dec 22, 2024
Polson Logging Company #2 leads a southbound Holiday Express past Oaks Park this afternoon. I was at the top of the bluff (about a third of a mile away) and despite its best efforts the lens just couldn’t keep the image stable.
Polson #2 is underpowered for the number of passenger cars the Holiday Express usually operates. The ORHF is working on restoring Mount Emily Shay #1 now, so maybe it will be the power for next year’s Holiday Express (and if there’s anything a three-truck Shay is good for, it’s pulling ridiculously heavy trains up steep ramps) and the ORHF won’t have to put a diesel helper onto the train for that steep ramp
up to Spokane St.
—orc Sun Dec 22 23:56:30 2024
Dec 20, 2024
Not very many decorations, but the ones we have are top notch!
—orc Fri Dec 20 23:37:55 2024
Dec 17, 2024
Two fruitcakes, one for me and one for a secret santa gift exchange (to someone in That Paradise That Is California™, so packing it will be an experience.)
—orc Tue Dec 17 00:31:58 2024
Dec 16, 2024
This wasn’t a particularly good year for citron (at least according to my purchased; citron was not to be found at my local store for most of the year, and when they showed up – in the middle of the high holy days? – the ratio of rind to citrus was fairly low) so I made up for it by buying and preparing lots of them.
I think I have enough for five fruitcakes right now, at least as long as the family doesn’t graze over them like a herd of hungry goats.
—orc Mon Dec 16 19:18:27 2024
Dec 15, 2024
I took a somewhat scenic route back from the dermatologist on thursday, and found myself stopped at the Portland Traction crossing before the Springwater Trail – the Holiday Express is running and I arrived just as it came by on its trip south.
The tiny logging mikado that they’re using until they get the Mount Emily shay back into running order is too small to pull the Holiday express up the ramp to Spokane at the Sellwood end of the loop, so they need to tail the train with their ex-BN SW1000 to get enough puff to get up that hill. I stuck around at the crossing until it passed, then passed it again on the Springwater Trail (the trains only run at about 15mph, and even in my aged & decrepit state I can get up to 20mph along the flat parts of the Portland Traction’s ROW.)
—orc Sun Dec 15 20:41:21 2024
Dec 13, 2024
Something extra in a box of oranges
—orc Fri Dec 13 23:14:48 2024
Dec 12, 2024
Back on my usual nonsense of overfilling my bags when I go shopping
—orc Thu Dec 12 16:09:55 2024
Dec 06, 2024
Dust Mite warms their feet on some freshly baked baguettes.
—orc Fri Dec 6 23:49:57 2024
Dec 05, 2024
Picking up a bottle of air on a chilly december afternoon
—orc Thu Dec 5 22:45:28 2024
Dec 01, 2024
This Type 1 car looks like it’s got a new coat of paint; sort of like the paint it had when it was shipped (#116 was one of the last 2 units in the original paint, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore) but not really.
This makes me think the twilight of the Type 1s is upon us, and it won’t be long before they’re all shipped off to the scrappers or railroad museums :-(
—orc Sun Dec 1 01:38:43 2024
Nov 30, 2024
I’m sure it’s still officially friday somewhere in the world!
—orc Sat Nov 30 02:31:18 2024
Nov 22, 2024
Dust Mite helps me sew up some bags
—orc Fri Nov 22 23:56:56 2024
Nov 15, 2024
Citron is back, so it’s time to candy it up and roll it into a fruitcake or twenty.
—orc Fri Nov 15 22:42:08 2024
Nov 08, 2024
Let them eat bread & citron!
—orc Fri Nov 8 19:26:39 2024
Nov 07, 2024
The ORHF is warming up for the holiday excursion season, and that meant that when I rode by their shops today Polson Logging Co. mikado #2 was being cleaned and fired.
—orc Thu Nov 7 23:12:28 2024
Nov 06, 2024
The Octopus Tree at Cape Meares, photostitched from a dozen individual photos
—orc Wed Nov 6 19:47:07 2024
—30—
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