Newton Place Knicknacks

I didn't live in Newton Place for long, but it's where I watched the last season or so of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I remember hardly anything about the layout of the apartment, and I have very few photos of my time there. This is one of them. 
 

Oilcan Jerry

I painted a railway dude holding an oilcan, one of the more esoteric figures from Pulp Figures. The miracle of zoom photography reveals I didn't see that Oilcan Jerry is smoking a pipe. If I can find a drybrush small enough, I'll paint the pipe black or brown. 
 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2022 Day 5

 

The train whistle howls

Warning the hissing snake to

Avoid Rocket and Robot

Locomotives of the Future

 

All Aboard the Coke Train

 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2019 Day 2

The train blast echoes

The shuttle glides overhead

Silent as snowballs

A Train at Tofield

All the Colours of Flin Flon

Maybe not all the colours. It's the Flin Flon Station Museum! Shot on an overcast day back in 2009. 

Lego Advent Calendar Haiku 2018 Day 11

"Aren't you a little

Short for a Jedi?" asks train.

The light sabre shrieks. 

Mossleigh

LEGO Advent Calendar Haiku Day 21

The polar express
Glides south on Christmas morning
Its whistle blowing

Fish Farm Factory Freight Train

Fish Farm Factory Freight Train. The f-words found purchase in the fjords of my frontal lobes even as my eyes flicked across Jeff's sketches, fantastic flights of fancy from the fiddling fingers of a fine friend. Fish farm factory freight train? Forsooth, these funky frescoes flummoxed me. For what purpose did Jeff find himself fondly doodling four facsimiles of fundamental freakanomics? For fame? For fortune? For fun?

Fin!

Harrier vs. Locomotive

Mom and Dad dropped in for a short visit today, and in passing I mentioned that I might accompany my friends Stephen and Audrey and their family to Churchill, Manitoba in August. I knew that Dad had made the trip, but until today I didn't know that his train voyage in 1972 also involved a game of chicken with a Harrier jump jet.

Dad was sent to Churchill by Acklands Ltd. on a business trip, who generously paid for a sleeper berth, which gave him access to the dining car and "the best prime rib I've ever had." The trip from Thompson to Churchill takes many hours, and the train would periodically stop in the middle of the bush to allow fur trappers to snip into their snowshoes and egress into the wild.

As the train approached Churchill station, Dad noticed a Harrier jump jet flying about. As he and other passengers craned their necks out the windows for a closer look, the jet swooped down to hover over the tracks, directly in the train's path. It was perhaps the deadliest game of chicken ever played, with the train's horn shrilling angrily and the exhaust from the jet's powerful engines blasting ground debris everywhere.

Of course in a game of chicken with a locomotive even a multimillion dollar fighter aircraft must yield, so at the last possible second the pilot cranked up the throttle and leaped forward and upward, soaring over the rumbling train.

"What happened to the pilot?" I asked Dad, who had made inquiries after the incident; the fellow was a British national.

"He got sent home," Dad answered solemnly.

What a photo or painting that would have made.

The Right Side of the Tracks

On Wednesday I documented my first trolley car ride in several years. When I learned that the Edmonton Radial Railway Society had a second car, newly restored to 1912 condition, I had to return for another trip. Here's Streetcar No. 33, the product of 17 years of restoration work. It's a work of art, inside and out. Here's a collection of images of the new car:

Period filament light bulb!

The trolley is running until 10 pm during the Fringe and stops right in the heart of the festival, so there's no better time than now to toss a doubloon into the fare box!

Back on Track

On Monday, I attempted without success to hop aboard Edmonton's High Level Bridge Trolley. Yesterday I knew where to board and enjoyed a short trolley journey from downtown to Old Strathcona, my favourite part of the city.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the Osaka No. 247 services the route, a wheelchair-accessible trolley that, as noted above, hails originally from Japan. I'll have to go again on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday to ride the Edmonton Radial Railways Society's newly-restored 1912 trolley.

The trolley quickly filled up with lunch-hour sightseers and tourists. Note the stylish disco ball hanging from the ceiling!

I barely restrained myself from pushing this button. Do any of my readers read Japanese?

Sadly, passengers hand over their change to the conductor rather than depositing it in this very cool fare box.

There were just enough seats for everyone, so no one had to use the overhead handholds. I doubt the same was true in more densely-populated Osaka.

According to our interpreter, Edmonton's High Level Bridge Trolley is the highest trolley in the world, 48 metres above the river.

Tunnels are inherently fun, especially when the conductor signals with a "WHOO-WHOO!" that the train is coming through.

Here's a look at the controls. I'll bet it would be a blast to drive (pilot?) one of these.

The trolley arrives in Old Strathcona. Just a few steps took me to Whyte Avenue, where I enjoyed a working lunch. Sadly, I didn't have time to stop at the Wee Book Inn.

Old Strathcona is hopping right now as workers prepare for the Fringe. This year there are even "green" carnival rides fuelled by vegetable oil.

Admiring the view. It's nice to travel with open windows at moderate speeds...sometimes I wish I'd been around in the days of stagecoaches, when cross-country trips took months.

The train graciously stopped just north of the High Level Bridge, allowing passengers to cross the street to the Alberta Legislature. The conductor offered a jaunty wave as the train departed.

I'm grateful that the volunteers of the Edmonton Radial Railway Society have poured so much time and effort into keeping this historic, educational and fun service operating. I encourage all Edmontonians and visitors to thank these volunteers by taking a trolley trip sometime this summer!