Friday Night Steam

A beautiful little video filled with steam, wonderful whistles and fog! Enjoy!

 

R 761 Maintained by Steamrail Victoria

This photo is kindly provided by Trevor Staats and shows R 761 and R 707 doubleheading near Maryborough on 17 May 2003. 

Builder	North British Locomotive Co, Glasgow
Builder’s Number & Year	27051 of 1951
Designer	Victorian Railways
Wheel Arrangement	4-6-4  “Hudson”
Entered Service	9 April 1952
Withdrawn from Service	6 July 1964

R 761 was commissioned in 1952 as one of 70 members of the Victorian Railway's R-class 4-6-4 "Hudson" main line passenger locomotives.  These locomotives were designed by Victorian Railways and were urgently required by the post World War 2 period, however construction was delayed by competing priorities.  Eventually construction was outsourced to the North British Locomotive Company, Glasgow but, as with so many post-war steam locomotives orders, delivery ultimately came many years after the demand required. The R-class superseded the A2-class 4-6-0 locomotives on fast passenger turns however the simultaneous arrival of first-generation diesels reduced their usefulness and the R-class was destined for relatively short lives and low mileages. R 761 was withdrawn as early as 1964 and placed in storage at Newport Workshops.  It outlived most other steam locomotives withdrawn around this time, eventually passing into the care of Steamrail Victoria. R 761 has been immaculately maintained by Steamrail Victoria at their Newport Workshops base for many years.  It wears authentic black livery with red running boards and “blinker” smoke deflectors.  R 761 has delighted both rail fans and the public with many fast main-line excursions over several decades of Steamrail Victoria excursions, often double-heading with either R 707, R 711 or R 766. Wikipedia provides further information about the Victorian Railways R-class locomotives. YouTube has several videos of R 761 in railtour service, including this fine example “Snow Train 2013 with Hudson Steam Engine R761: Australian Trains” showing R 761 on high-speed run pasts during the Snow Train II tour of 2013.  In addition, John Hurst has many images of R 761 in railtour duty in his excellent collection of railway photographs.

My thanks to John Hurst for this slide view captioned "R 761 waits at Pakenham for clearance", taken on 10 April 1994

The SCOAP wheel centres are prominent in this view.

The North British builder's plate centrally mounted on the German-style "blinker" smoke deflectors.

This view was taken as R 761 awaited departure from Bendigo during an Easter 1995 railtour.

Source: http://australiansteam.com/R761.htm

Today's funny :o)

:o)

I was lucky...

...... a few days ago! The vultures came back to roost in our trees!

 

 They didn't even fly away when I ran back to the house to get my camera:

 They usually roost in the trees in back of the stone wall.

 I'm glad they moved closer to the house this time!

 I've never heard them vocalize, but they can make grunting sounds.

 Just love it when they perch and spread their wings to catch the warmth of the sun!

 They turn around and get front and back warm!

 

And then - off they go!

That just made my morning!

:o)

Good Morning!

Everyone is coming to Coopville for Thanksgiving and  there is LOT  to be done!

Taking the day off to do fire up the ol' oven and start baking and cooking to be ready

 for a hungry family !

Have a Happy, Blessed Thanksgiving!

:o)

A Rooster's Tale...

A  big H/T to BW for sending!  :o)

Wily Wylie Street rooster outsmarts all who try to catch him

Sharon Hughes

Sharon Hughes has photo prints that depict a rooster that comes onto her property.

---

By Diana Nelson Jones / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Roosters aren’t allowed in the city, but tell that to the one on Henry Gaston’s property on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District.
This rooster, which crows at midnight and at all other hours, according to neighbor Sharon Hughes, has evaded animal control’s efforts to catch it for years. It has landed Mr. Gaston in magistrate’s court multiple times, and he was back before District Judge Oscar Petite on Wednesday.
City housing inspector Roberta Bullock told the judge that Mr. Gaston was in violation of the urban agriculture code, which does not allow roosters — only a certain number of hens based on the size of a property — and that the lot is overgrown with weeds.
“The weeds, that’s one thing,” said Ms. Hughes, “but this rooster is the real problem. It’s my alarm clock” at 3 a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m. and all hours of the day. She lives across the street. “I taped it.”
“I want to hear it,” Judge Petite said.
Ms. Hughes dug the recorder out of her purse and turned it on. Within seconds, a piercing cry sounded, definitely a rooster. Then another. The screech punctuated the ensuing conversation, prompting giggles from people waiting for their cases to be heard.
“It comes in my yard,” she said. “There were kittens born on my porch and the rooster was playing with them.”
Judge Petite’s eyebrows shot upward, and he said, “I’d like to see a rooster playing with kittens.”
He asked Mr. Gaston to respond, and Mr. Gaston said, enunciating each syllable slowly, “I do not own any roosters. How am I supposed to get rid of something the professionals can’t catch?”
“If I lived there,” Judge Petite told him, “it wouldn’t take three years to get rid of that bird.”
“I’ve lived there 27 years and I am really sick of it,” Ms. Hughes said. “I’ve got a gun but I don’t want to shoot it. I don’t want that on my conscience.”
“Go ahead and shoot it,” Mr. Gaston told her.
“You shoot it!” she shot back.
The district judge turned to Mr. Gaston and said, “How much time for the weeds? A week, two weeks?”
Mr. Gaston nodded.
“And you’ve got 30 days to get rid of that bird,” the district judge told him.
Later, back at the Wylie Avenue property, which was Mr. Gaston’s mother’s — he lives in Homewood — he said he has tried to catch the rooster and that he chases it off when he sees it, but he allowed that the property has been favored by roosters for decades and continued to maintain that they are not his birds.
“Why am I accountable for something that isn’t mine?” he said.
In the grass near a thicket of weeds and small trees, someone had sprinkled pinched-off pieces of wheat bread. A neighbor, Ruth Johnson, pulled up in her car and, after chatting with Mr. Gaston, got out carrying a bag of peanuts. She said she often stops to give the rooster peanuts.
“He knows me,” she said, peering into the overgrowth and calling, “Here Chicky!”
Mr. Gaston admits it will be a challenge to comply with the judge’s order in 30 days. Whether his or not, this wily rooster on Wylie Avenue has been around this property for a long time.
Ms. Hughes doubts the rooster will be captured. “There have been three or four hearings and animal control gave up. If that bird gets caught, I think it would be a miracle.”
Ms. Johnson agrees.
“You won’t catch him,” she said. “This rooster is smarter than all of us.”

:o)

Today's funny :o)

H/T to Wild river!  :o)

:o)

Monday

(The wind has still been howling - internet service is spotty here in Coopville)

Maude looking for something to eat - she does looked starved doesn't she? LOL!

 Hubby checking out the snowblower for when we really get some of the white stuff:

 Begging (again) for a treat:

 Spot the crow:

 All lined up waiting for their oatmeal:

 Another pretty sunset - have been getting lucky with them!

Watch the girls run to Charlie when he calls them as he pretends to find a goodie!

:o)