West Virginia, Weird and Wonderful

I spent this week in lovely South Charleston, WV.  West Virginia has traditionally been pretty good for seeing weird things.  Previously I recall a goat wearing a sweater in someones back yard, various modes of transportation that might have been legal and several creative housing options.

There were two interesting incidents this half that made me give this post the title "West Virginia,

Waiting on trains so we can get to work

Weird and Wonderful.

We have been testing new equipment all half and occasionally that requires cracking open a track circuit or two.  If that track circuit happens to be in the approach of a crossing, bells will go off and gates will come down.

At one particular location we happened to crack open the track circuit just as a shirtless man rode his bicycle through the crossing.  I suppose he thought his alien implant set off the crossing because he immediately dismounted his bike and began directing traffic.  He waved one side of traffic through with one hand, while holding his other hand up in the classic stop gesture. He looked like any good law enforcement officer, well except for the shirtless part.

After about 10 minutes there was a lull in the traffic and he looked up and noticed our shiny florescent yellow vests and CSX hard hats.  A light bulb went off (perhaps next to his alien implant) and he realized he was not the cause of the gates going down, so he hoped on his bike and rode off into the sunset.

That was the second day of the half, and by the last day of the half nothing else really interesting had happened.  I was starting to get worried I would have nothing else of note to write about, but God provides all things.

We were working right outside of South Charleston yard in a rather industrial section of town.  So you can imagine my surprise when I glanced at the road that goes through the industrial complex and noticed a well fed elderly gentleman riding his bike down the street.  Now the fact he was a little round and a little elderly wasn't particularly shocking, but the lime green speedos  here was wearing did make him stand out.  Judging by his excellent tan, I would say this isn't the first time he thought riding his bike through town wearing nothing but a glorified pair of underwear was a good idea.  So sorry I didn't get a picture.

WAS Signals South Charleston

Next half I will actually be working in the same town I live in, go figure.  This means I get to sleep in my own bed for a few extra nights.  It also means my husband and I have to get ready together in the morning, something we haven't had to do, well, I can't really remember the last time we had to do that at home.  Hopefully we won't kill each other by the end of the half.

For this half's Amazon discount, I decided to go with cameras.  Mostly because Amazon was running a 20% discount and they didn't have a whole lot of other deals this week.  So if you need a camera click the pretty camera picture and get 20% off your purchase.  For the legal eagles, I will get a small commission on anything you purchase at no cost to you.

Hope you had a great two weeks, I will let you know if I am still married at the end of next half.

         

I'm BACK!!

Well after 92 days and 14 hours off I went back to work.  My shoulder is healed and doing good and I survived my first half back at work.

I can't say I was miserable all summer.  Honestly, I had a lot of fun.  The week after my surgery was fairly painful, but after that it was all good.  I spent the summer reading, writing, camping and fishing.  My legs are tanner than they have been since I was 12.  I didn't put on jeans, I didn't put on boots. It was all shorts, flip flops and water shoes.

Basically, I got spoiled for about 85 of those 92 days.

Fishing is strength training for my shoulder!

I also started a new blog  (nothing to do with railroading) and learned a whole lot about the blogging and freelance writing side of the world.  You will notice I have taken off the Google ads and have added a few Amazon ads.  That's because I can not control what Google shows you, it all goes by your browsing history. (You should see what comes up on mine!)

Amazon on the other hand, lets me show you what I want, and lets me give my readers discounts Since I know a lot of my readers are train buffs and love to take pictures, I added a 30% discount on camera bags and equipment. Just click on the banner below and you will get your discount.  And yes, I will get a small kickback on any of your purchases.




While I was off I got bumped off my job on the crossing team, so I ended up on the PTC test team. This is cool, all new to me but cool.  I like learning the technology and how this stuff really works.

On a construction team, you learn a little bit of the technology but not a lot.  You build it from scratch, then after working on the build for a few months you cut it in.  Cut in day is when you learn the most.

This team did 4 cut-ins this half alone.  So I am pretty happy with where I landed.

Currently we are working in Charleston, WV which is an interesting mix of redneck and politics. The Kanawha (KA - naw) river runs through Charleston and as we drive along it I have noticed an interesting mix of boats.  I have seen giant $200k boats, a lot of pontoon boats and one very sad bass boat.  Judging by the angle of the boat, I would say they need to move one of those boys up front.

I will be back to posting much more regularly now.  It is a little hard to post about railroading when you aren't doing it.  I hope everyone had a great summer!

The local going through Montgomery, WV.  Once he goes by, it's back to work.