Monthly:April 2017
When was the first time you tried the bumper cars at the fair or carnival? I must have been around nine or ten years old when I first noticed them at one of the traveling carnivals that would stop by in Aldbourne twice a year in those days. Back then the traveling bumper cars would use a conductive floor and ceiling with a separate polarity. As the cars would drive around I’d be fascinated by the sparks from the ceiling […]
I’ve often flown over the wind farms of the Texas panhandle. The other weekend I had an opportunity to drive through some of them. I think the first wind turbine I recall was the one just off Junction 11 of the M4 in Reading, England. Since then, now many years ago, I’ve grown used to seeing these turbines sprouting from the tops of distant hills while driving in California and other US states. Driving along I-20, I felt harried on […]
“Welcome to Katy” says the sign on the water tower in the background at right in this image of the UP 5950. The red logo on the side of the water tower is the logo of the Katy Tigers, eight-time winners of the state high school football championship. In the foreground sits two Union Pacific locomotives, the UP 9590 and the UP 9698. Both are GE C44-9W model locos. The UP 9590 was built in June of 1994 while the […]
