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Hey, folks. After my Florida trip (which I hope will include Tampa and Lakeland, per earlier posts) I am thinking of a quick trip on the Cardinal to Cincinnati and from there into Kentucky with a friend. Was wondering on your input on Cincinnati, including what it's like to arrive and depart in the middle of the night and what you most recommend seeing/doing in the city. Right now I'm planning on a hotel on the night of arrival (even though the westbound train can be so late it could be the next morning) plus the next night and also a hotel room a week later on the night of departure (even though will have to leave 2AM-ish to catch the eastbound train). I am not thinking of a sleeper on either train trip since we'll be paying for hotels instead.
Have done the train ride before so I know the prospect, s/b nice esp eastbound--but any input on recent Cardinal rides and what it's like seeing the views without a sleeper?
Also, I am especially interested in any input on Cincinnati sights, neighborhoods, restaurants, etc.--it would be greatly appreciated.
Posts: 2642 | From: upstate New York | Registered: Mar 2004
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Sojourner, the Union Station in Cincinnati was discussed in this thread. I can't stress enough what a great terminal this is and now it is an excellent museum where you could easily spend two days. It will be interesting to arrive in the middle of the night. As you walk through the great rotunda you will hear the echos of all the great trains that have used it. Be sure to allow enough time for a guided tour of the terminal.
Cincinnati is one of my favorite cities. The Netherland Hilton is a wonderful art deco hotel. Even if you don't stay there, stop in for a glass of wine. Cheaper lodging is just across the river in Covington. Not sure about public transit though. As I recall there is very good german restaurant nearby.
The Over-the-Rhine is a neighborhood that is becoming gentrified but had many good restaurants and other attractions. Fountain Square downtown is another popular area. This site seems to have pretty complete list.
Posts: 2397 | From: Camden, SC | Registered: Mar 2006
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Wow, I'm surprised to hear that the station is as nice as described. I must have missed the other thread (or my memory is shot!) that talked about it because I used to live in Montgomery, OH which is basically Cincinnati. I still remember our address and phone number from back then, and we're talking 1974 when we departed. It was my favorite house that we ever lived in and my favorite town. Huge custom house, three-car garage, entirely separate residence for my grandmother, intercoms throughout, really nice finished basement, etc, etc. I couldn't believe it when my parents told us we were moving. I remember it so clearly even today. We were at 8017 Deershadow Lane, Montgomery, OH and our number was 791-6144 but I do forget the area code. For some reason I'm thinking 503 but I'm not positive on that. But I remember Union Station and the area around it---it was not nice at all. Glad to hear it changed. And I think Riverfront Stadium is still in the same location but they torn down the old one and built a new one in its place? I don't follow baseball so i could be mistaken. Wow, so many Ohio memories....I should go back and visit.
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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quote:Originally posted by smitty195: We were at 8017 Deershadow Lane, Montgomery, OH and our number was 791-6144 but I do forget the area code. For some reason I'm thinking 503 but I'm not positive on that. But I remember Union Station and the area around it---it was not nice at all. Glad to hear it changed.
Somewhat off topic: The area code may have changed since anyway, maybe even the address. We are retiring into my parent's house. Since 1952 it has had 4 addresses and four phone numbers. One was going from 5 digit numbers to 7 digit numbers, then a change of the first 3, and after the addition of area codes (I am not even counting that one) a change in area codes.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Four addresses? I can understand the changing phone numbers (I'm on my 4th area code since living here in Pleasanton, CA....it started as 415, the same as San Francisco, then went to 510, then xxx, and now 925. I can't believe I'm forgetting the third one. It was very short-lived and whenever I gave my number, people would say, "Where is that, New York?" and I would just laugh and say, "No, it's right here about a mile away!". It was right when the phone company was getting overwhelmed with new phone number requests due to pagers, fax machines, then cell phones, and all that stuff.
As far as your parent's house having four address changes, I don't know if things work the same way there, but where I live the addresses are given out by the Post Office. I used to know the method to how they came up with the addresses but it has been so long since I've had to teach it I can only remember a part of it. And actually, it's really interesting how they come up with the number because of what those numbers mean----most people don't know that those numbers really do mean something! First of all, as a police officer you had to know if the address you were responding to was on the left or right side of the street. (There is a lot of pre-planning that goes through an officer's mind before arriving at an emergency, and vehicle placement is one of them so that you park safely and don't pull up and get shot). So this is how we know which side of the street the house is on---we use this system:
NOW
and
SEE
NOW stands for North Odd West, and SEE stands for South East Even. So let's take an address that has an "odd" address such as: 455, 1275, 67, 12345, etc---those are all "odd" addresses. Which one of those two words above has the letter "O" for odd? That would be the word "NOW", so right off the bat we know we're going to use NOW and not the other one. So take the word "NOW" and since it's odd, cross out the "O" since it's an "Odd" address. You are now left with two letters: The "N" and the "W". The next letter you are going to cross out is whatever direction the street runs. Does it run North/South? Or does it run East/West? Let's say the street runs North/South----of those two words, one begins with "N" and one begins with "S". Well, there is no "S" anywhere in our equation so just throw it away---not needed. That leaves us with the "N"---so go ahead and cross that out. So we have the word "NOW" and we have crossed out the "O" and the "N"----leaving us with one single letter----the "W". That means the house is on the west side of the street.
It might sound confusing, but it's not. You can run this through your head very quickly, even when driving Code 3 (lights/siren turned on). Here is the example of how "SEE" works: Let's say you're going to an even address, such as: 1248, 62, 14380, 19574, 244, etc----Since they are "EVEN" addresses, which of the two things above ("NOW" and "SEE") had the letter "E" for "Even"? Obviously, it's the word "SEE"---so we know that for all even addresses, we are using SEE and can toss "NOW" since it does not apply. So now we just do the same thing as before. We have the word "SEE" and we are going to an "Even" address-----toss out one of the "Es", and we are now left with an "S" and an "E". Does the street run North/South or East/West? Let's say the street runs East/West----so we are working with an "E" for East and a "W" for West. Of the two letters remaining (S and E), which one can we cross out because it's still there? The other "E"----get rid of it. Now you are left with the "S", which means the house will be on the South side of the street.
Give it a shot with your own addresses---I think this is a nationwide thing if I'm not mistaken. You have to know which direction your street runs in order for this to work.
One more quick example without all of the explanation:
-Address: 4186 Main Street -(It runs north and south) -SEE (even) -Drop an "E" (Even) -Drop the "S" (South) -It's on the East side of the street (E is last letter remaining)
Does that make sense?
And for the address numbers and what they mean, I'd have to look it up again but I can tell you that the address is a description in miles as to how far away a building is from a reference line (street). They usually pick a long, major street. You don't know what the reference streets are, but people who work with addresses do. You might have an address such as 2012 which means it's very close to the reference line, and you could have an address such as 2995 which is very far from the reference street. When I lived in Saratoga, our digits were 19575, and we lived 5.75 miles from the reference street of Prospect Road. I totally forget what the 19 meant. But I'll bet Mr. Google has all of these answers.
Let me know if you guys get a chance if the NOW/SEE works in other parts of the country. I'd love to know!
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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It's still early, and I haven't had coffee yet, but I live at 8575 NW 115th Avenue in rural Marion County, FL. I can assure you that the street runs almost due N/S, and I am most assuredly on the EAST side of the street. What am I doing wrong?
As far as addresses changing, I think it was maybe 20-25 years ago when we were first moving in that everyone got on the "911" system, and "RR" (rural route) designations for addresses were all changed.
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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Mike: I should have mentioned this, but the street direction is not determined by what we think it is. It's determined by whatever the "powers at be" think it is. You can probably think of many roads/highways that are not going in the direction that they say they are. For example, around here if you are driving Southbound on I-680 in San Jose, when you cross Highway 101 it magically changes names and directions and becomes Northbound 280, even though you're traveling east/west. But in that case, Caltrans determined the directions.
For your address, it is "Odd" so you would use NOW. Cross out the "O" for Odd, and you're left with N and W. If your street "officially" runs east and west, then you would cross out the "W" and are left with the "N"---so you'd be on the North side of the street. Is that possible or do you think the official direction is N/S? If so, I wonder if there are exceptions to this rule where things happened to create changes, such as your RR designations for the E-911 system? (E stands for Enhanced----it just means it gives phone number and location. Prior to E-911 it was just a phone number and nothing else).
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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Out here it's a fairly strict grid (one or two exceptions due to mountains). I'm an 16670 on the west side of a north-south street. Our previous address was south side of E-W street, 420, but was 30 degrees from true east-west so we'll ignore that one. Over the other side of the city, 15879 on the east side of a N-S street.
On another forum I posed a question as to which way to turn if you come to a crossroads with your intended street where the sign just says "800 block" - if you want 850 do you turn left or right? The theory being that numbers always increased westwards/southwards, or whatever. The answer was "it depends", ie might be consistent in some cities but not others.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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You're welcome to "google street view" my address, anyone. NW 115th Avenue runs almost due N/S, and anyway all AVENUES here are considered N/S, while all STREETS are considered E/W by convention.
Knowing Florida, we're probably a deviant state in all this standardization and/or it came about when that E-911 thing came into being.
Here's another quirky local thing. I'm 8575, and the guy BEHIND me (not next to me)is 8601. On a county map, there's a so far imaginary road called NW 86th St. that is actually our shared driveway. If the county wanted to make this a street, I guess I'd have to give an easement or they'd take it or something.
Posts: 1530 | From: Ocala, FL | Registered: Dec 2006
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Smitty ---- Thank you very much for that absolutely fascinating explanation! I had no idea there was that much meaning in a street address.
Your posts are always very interesting, no matter what the subject.
Just to further confuse some folks: Here in California, if you look at the San Francisco Peninsula on a map, you will see that the south part of the Peninsula is canted at a 45-degree angle to true north and south, and almost all streets in flat areas are laid out in a grid and are also canted 45 degrees from a true north-south direction. Makes it interesting when one is trying to figure out which geographic direction one is going in! Streets that I always used to think of as going north and south actually go east and west -- or I would not have the sun in my eyes going "north" on some streets in the late afternoon!
The way I keep all that straight is to think of the direction in the Southern Pacific way: when you are driving generally towards San Francisco, you are going west, and when you are going away from SF, you are going east. Just gotta ignore the geographic direction.
Or, as I like to say, "Out here, everyone knows the sun rises in the south and sets in the north!" LOL! Sure feels that way!
Posts: 211 | From: California | Registered: Dec 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Ocala Mike: Here's another quirky local thing. I'm 8575, and the guy BEHIND me (not next to me)is 8601.
Ah yes, that's another one. I just checked my parallel streets and the block numbers do line up (ie the house behind mine is also 166xx, as is the house on the next street over). But I know that didn't happen down in eastern Los Angeles county - maybe patches where they did line up, but you certainly couldn't rely on it.
-------------------- Geoff M. Posts: 2426 | From: Apple Valley, CA | Registered: Sep 2000
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quote:Originally posted by MargaretSPfan: Smitty ---- Thank you very much for that absolutely fascinating explanation! I had no idea there was that much meaning in a street address.
Your posts are always very interesting, no matter what the subject.
Thank you, Margaret! Very much appreciated. Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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It would take me a while to work this out for my area, which should rate a slap on the hand since I got this thing started. Our four addresses: 1. RFD #1 2. RFD #3 3. city based number system 4. county wide number system
We are in DeSoto county MS. When I was about to say where the zero lines east/west and north/south were, I was surprised to find that my assumptions did not match the addresses I checked. In general, they are about mid county both ways, exact road TBD.
Now, for the city of Memphis, I can be more precise. East/West Zero is the Mississippi River, except Florida Street where the river turns west. Therefore, for most of the city there is no such thing as a west whatever. East/West streets are "Avenues" and North/South streets are "Streets" The North/South dividing line is Madison Avenue. If someone tells you to go to some address such as 450 West Madison Avenue, you better know how to swim. There is no such address. Even numbers are on the north side of Avenues and east side of streets.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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Well that sure is interesting! I love hearing about off-topics like this where, even though it's not rail related, it's one of those topics that generally never comes up.......anywhere! So this is very cool stuff.
I've never been to Memphis, however, I would love to go, "Walking In Memphis".
A city that was built in a really interesting way is Washington DC. Most people who have been there have read or heard about it somewhere along the line, but if you don't know, check it out on Google----I'm sure it's explained there.
For me personally, the easiest city in the world to navigate that I have ever been to is London. Such a neat system that was thought of way back before there were city engineers, etc....(I also like how they paint arrows on the sidewalk so that you know which way to look before stepping out into the street).
Posts: 2355 | From: Pleasanton, CA | Registered: Apr 2007
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