A distant horn in the fog....

Today was the day of trains heard but not seen.

The Minnesota Commerical has a spur that ends about a mile or so away from home here.  As they work that spur, it crosses over a four lane highway at grade.  Since this is a low traffic line, most motorists are oblivious to the fact that several hundred tons of iron would have the nerve to block the road.  This leads to copious amounts of air horns being employed to alert the oblivious motorists.  Of course I heard these events as I got in my car to head back to work after a quick lunch at home. 

The horns from this operation are all the more obvious, as the BNSF which also runs within earshot of home now has the silent crossings.

 I have seen the Commerical work this branch once they cross the highway, but I have never caught them in the act of crossing, even though I drove that road twice daily 5 days a week for three years.  One day though.....

Almost time for the big show....

For now the big show being the day or night when we actually get clear skies.

November and December tend to have the most cloudy nights here in Minnesota.  Stinks for getting out to do any stargazing or getting railfan pics.  

Railfanning isn't affected to much, the hustle of the end of the year and being in work during the duration of daylight hours doesn't allow for much time to get out and explore trackside. 

The long nights are good for getting in some stargazing/observing at night.  When the sun sets, the summer constellations are hanging low in the west.  Winter's stars are staged to the east ready to make their trek across the night sky.  By the time dawn rolls around,  the sky looks like it would on a clear April evening, giving hope that the cold will eventually break.

This down time with the clouds has given me a little time to get the scope set back up after a fall camping trip.  Their is also time for some maintenance, like making the sure the collimation, or alignment, of the mirrors in the relflector is up to snuff.  Also I may get some white lithium grease to relube the focuser.  The scope shipped from the factory in China with a "grease" that is more glue than grease.  In warm weather this isn't much of a problem.  In a norther winter though, when we get clear skies, it get's cold in a hurry.  At -10 that grease nearly solidifies, making precision focusing a fools errand.

These are a couple of quick chores that'll get things ready for when the veil of clouds lifts around here...

Happy First Day of Winter!

Or for our readers south of the equator, happy First Day of Summer!

Since the axis the Earth spins around is offset from our orbit around the sun, we get seasons.  This time the sun is directly overhead at approximately 23 degrees south latitude.  Here in the North, the sun is now at it's lowest point in the sky at noon.  Also at this point, our days will gradually start to get longer again until six months from now the process will reverse.

Currently my backyard observing site is sitting under a foot plus of snow.   I have a few more days to dig it out before new moon.  That is also assuming it actually clears up around here.  Early winter in the upper midwest is known for copious amounts of clouds.

The clouds have given me some time to get my scope set back up.  I took the larger reflector off the mount and took the tripod and my small refractor with on a fall camping trip to Colorado.  It looks like everything is still clean, with just the outside of the reflector tube being a bit dusty.  With sitting in front of out south facing patio door, I noticed that some parts on the scope have received a reverse tan.  There is a cover over the main opening to the scope, so nothing internally is getting cooked, but I noticed that the finish on the focuser for the reflector and the end of the finder scope have changed from flat black to an almost reddish bronze.  It is especially noticeable when you take the cover off the lens end of the finder scope.

Other than that, both scopes are just about ready for heading back out into action when there is a break in the weather.

Stuff I like (and the stuff that makes the blog)

So for new readers, hopefully there will be a few, here's the low down on what this blogs is about, or supposed to be about.

I like a lot of stuff, some I even know a few things about. And in this blog, I hope to share some of that stuff with you.

I've liked trains and model trains ever since I was a little kid.  The model trains came first.  I think I was about 3 or 4, and my older brothers had received an HO scale train set.  With this new treasure in hand, they headed down to the basement and set up the oval of track, and put the engine on, followed by a couple of cars and a caboose. The magic happened when they turned the dial on the power pack and that chunk of plastic and metal came to life, quietly gliding around a course of brass track.  It was infatuation at first sight.

I also like prototype train, aka the real thing.  Let me count the ways:

• They're big  (cool)
• They can be fast, which is cool
• They can be loud which is also cool!

Sounds like reasons enough, but wait, there's more!  to actually see one in person, you get to head out into the outdoors!  Now here in the cities, there is usually some truth to the expression "The wrong side of the tracks", but a lot of tracks also run through some scenic parts of the country.  To get to these scenic parts of the world, you get to leave the house and head outdoors!  Sounds like a good deal to me.

I can also hear the trains that run about a mile from the house here when I am out at night doing a little stargazing.  As a kid I was also fascinated with space, rockets, planets, and other astro stuff.  The rockets were kind of like trains into space, and seeing the a spread of stars against a velvet background is a heartwarming sight any night.

So that is a little sample of what'll be in this blog...