Freight car art & logos - Roanoke

Some days there's nothing much to see on the railroad up in Roanoke. On others, I could spend an hour shooting and not get it all. Last Thursday was one of those "other" times. Eventually I had to just call it a day so I could head home and get ready for work. Enjoy...

A familiar face or two...

Magots [sic] half dead

GT Jimmy

Not exactly your run-of-the-mill aerosol graf...

Illinois Central: Mainline of Mid-America

Chicago & Eastern Illinois buzz-saw logo

CNO&TP stencil in a Southern boxcar

SOU 524135

Coming next: watching for buZ...

WSC

np: Johnny Cash - "Dirty old egg-sucking dog"

trackside in Denton County

On Tuesday morning, I spent some time along the UP Choctaw Sub between Roanoke and Denton. I had planned on going all the way to Whitesboro, but I got distracted in Denton working on vegetation control and looking for ghost signs during a break in the train activity. Whitesboro will have to wait. I'll post the ghost signs in my next entry. Meanwhile, here are some train pics...

Crossing signal and empty coal train

UP 7331 leads coal loads south out of Denton, with the landmark "Morrison Corn Kits" sign in the background. (A "corn-kit" is a box of corn muffin mix.)

This Western Pacific boxcar still looked pretty good...

UP 8029 leads a grain train south of Argyle.

M-K-T hopper with lettering still visible

former Rock Island hopper stencilled for another fallen flag (C&NW)

Grand Trunk logo on a boxcar at Roanoke

a buZ blurr drawing

Illinois Central Gulf boxcar at Roanoke

That's all for today... stay tuned for a few shots of Denton's ghost signs.

WSC, postponing Christmas shopping as long as possible

np: Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Sweet home Alabama"

nr: John Steinbeck - East of Eden

Endless Spring

Rain and more rain

We've received measurable precipitation during every day in recent memory. We're still seeing highs only in the upper 80s to low 90s. It feels a lot more like late April or mid-May than July. I sure don't mind the cooler temperatures, but we really could use a few days to "dry out" so the ground will be able to hold more water from the next wave...

On July 2, the clouds inspired M to impersonate a well-known Edvard Munch painting...

ominous clouds over the neighbors' houses

David Finfrock on the Channel 5 weather

Big Island flashback

Check out this page from a recent REI catalog. The landscape looked very familiar to K and me, since we experienced it first-hand back in April. The location is the Pololu overlook on Hawaii's Big Island.

REI catalog page photo from Pololu overlook

K at Pololu overlook, April 2007

Boxcar sightings

Even when very few trains are running ( and due to the flooding up north, there sure haven't been many though Keller lately), something interesting always seems to show up, even if it's just a boxcar sporting an interesting logo from some faraway railroad. Here are a couple I've noticed during the past week.

Stockton Terminal & Eastern boxcar seen in Roanoke TX on July 1

Columbia & Cowlitz logo - Roanoke, TX, July 4

WSC

np: Kids in the Hall - Season 3, Disc 1