There've been 0 posts since 9/1 -- what is going on?
Posted by Moderator (Member # 2933) on :
Hi RRRich
No, the Forum isn't down. Numbers have been falling the past while, maybe it's a combination of factors.
Laurie
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Been wondering same. Maybe some of us need to do something to stir the pot.
Posted by Moderator (Member # 2933) on :
A few years ago I purchased, at auction, a box of old books and photos, and between the pages of one of the books was a little twenty four page pamphlet titled "Car Window Glimpses en Route to Quebec by Daylight Via Quebec Central RY." The narrative is exquisitely written, in a time frame of probably last quarter of the 1800's. There is no publication date but it was printed in New York.
What intrigued me was this Railways' claim, "the most DIRECT and QUICKEST Route between NEW YORK, BOSTON, WHITE MOUNTAINS, and all NEW ENGLAND POINTS to the PICTURESQUE OLD CITY OF QUEBEC,"
I know it's not Amtrak related, but has anyone ever heard of this Railway line that ran both sides of the border?
Posted by Robert L (Member # 3144) on :
While we are at it, whatsup with the
More rail news at Railnews.net ?
there are no posting here since 11-10-15.
Is this down also, or just no longer in service. It was valuable while it lasted.
Comments
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
The Quebec Central Railway was a railway in the Canadian province of Quebec, which served an area of Quebec, called the Eastern Townships, south of the St. Lawrence River. Its headquarters was in Sherbrooke. It was originally incorporated in 1869 as the Sherbrooke, Eastern Townships and Kennebec Railway, and changed its name to the Quebec Central Railway in 1875. It would eventually own around 300 miles of track.
Posted by Moderator (Member # 2933) on :
Thanks Mr Norman
I couldn't find anything on the route stateside. Interesting.
Posted by Moderator (Member # 2933) on :
Robert L
I've passed your question on, hopefully we'll hear back soon.
Posted by Moderator (Member # 2933) on :
Robert L
I've heard back this morning that RailNews is under consideration.
They have been looking into a program that would automatically scan and post, but it still comes down to finding the time to do these things.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
It appears that this Forum is coming back to life - even if some of the regulars such as Mr. Mayo (last post June 22), Ms. Sojourner (probably dreaming up some masochistic "don't fly, don't rent" itinerary), and Mr. Frank SBALAX (think he is off on extended cruise) remain MIA.
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
Frank just took a high speed rail trip from Madrid to Barcelona. I told him he needs to report his experience here. Inquiring minds need to know.
Posted by PullmanCo (Member # 1138) on :
I wonder if the election is sapping energy from other discussions. I know on other forums I participate in, not rail related, traffic is also down.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
Well, it seems as if Mr. Harris, Mr. Nicholson, and myself, talk to one another about the political landscape over at Open Discussion.
This is likely the most mature venue at which to talk politics on the Internet; how say some others?
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
Well GBN, I think it's safe to assume that all on this forum are mature, but know what you're saying. And, I'm grateful that politics rarely enters our rr discussions. I suspect some of the general decline in forums is more of the younger generations express their opinions on social media than do most of us.
I too hope we hear more from some of our MIA, including Notelvis, Smitty, and Sojourner- enjoy her very detailed and useful suggestions on visits to Amtrak served cities.
Posted by TwinStarRocket (Member # 2142) on :
I still look in on this forum every few days. Has anyone heard any news about Henry Kisor or Mr. Toy?
I seem to be accumulating grandchildren, which means more babysitting and less time online. Someday they will be of age for a first trainride. And I can tell them stories of bagpipes and ponies.
Posted by HopefulRailUser (Member # 4513) on :
Twinstar! You are one I have missed.
Henry is fine, he is one of us age wise but quite hip on social media. I follow him on Facebook. He had a wonderful service dog, Trooper, who he has taken on train trips. And he is just releasing another mystery book.
Posted by smitty195 (Member # 5102) on :
I am GUILTY! I have been finding it very hard to remain up-to-date on my usual online hangouts. Several reasons for this. The main reason is lack of time because my parents are in their mid to late 80s now, and for the first time in my life, they live down the street from me. I think I told everyone this back when the moved happened, which was the summer of 2013. I honestly don't recall what I have and have not said about that because I have been so busy that basically all I do is eat dinner at and sleep at...my home. I'm not here any more. I have so much work to do. I'm the youngest of six kids, and I am the ONLY one to make sure they are not only doing okay, but that their doctors know what's going on (they never tell their doctors the truth----my dad told his doctor he wanted to drive again..........HUGE mistake if the doc signed that letter, so I had to call the doctor and give him a reality check. I would imagine that some of you out there know what I'm talking about when I say that sometimes, the only way to get a doctor "on-board" (railroad term!!) and to understand what is REALLY going on is to virtually (not for real) grab the doctor by the neck and squeeze hard, in essence saying, "Look Doctor such-and-such, YOU ARE NOT LISTENING TO ME, AND THAT IS NOT GOOD. I have a letter right here---you can read it if you'd like to------that will be dropped in the mailbox TODAY to the board that controls your license. Copies of this form will be sent to the Pleasanton Patch (a newspaper), as well as ALL review sites that I can locate such as Yelp, HealthGrades, Google Reviews, and many more. I am retired. That means I have the time to do this. Not only do I have the time, but I have the motivation. You know that I'm a retired police officer, and you know that I know my way around a courtroom. I already sued (and won) a physician in Southern California in 2011. So I now EXACTLY how a med-mal lawsuit works. Can you hear me NOW??".
I'm really sorry that it takes that type of pushing to get attention, but nothing else works with most of these guys. One thing I learned on my own about myself is absolutely golden advice which is this: 1) There is nobody out there who will fight for you more than YOU do, 2) There are lots of crappy doctors out there who put on a good show, but a quick check into their background tells a different story, 3) Don't believe everything you read, good and bad, and 4) a physician is NOT required to tell you anything about medical malpractice lawsuits he has lost, damages he has had to pay in court because of his mistakes, whether or not his license was suspended and then reinstated again, etc, etc......There is no law on any book that says they have to tell you. That means you have to quickly learn how to become a detective. Ask the doctor to refer you to 2 of his/her patients where the surgery outcome (or procedure, whatever is being done) was fantastic and the patients are happy and would love to talk to someone about it. Also ask the doctor for 2 of his/her patients where the outcome was POOR so that you can ask these people how they were treated post-surgery. The instant the surgeon or doctor says, "I don't have any dissatisfied patients", you are free to start laughing and telling him, "Very funny, now stop lying to me and please put me in touch with two where it didn't go so well". Doctors don't want you to talk to those people, but EVERY surgeon has them. And the number is MUCH higher than 2. If the doctor refuses to discuss his failures and what happened, walk away. He will not come running after you saying, "Please, please, don't leave! Come back!!! I'm sorry!!!!". Hah!!! That is fantasy. Reality is, you walk out that door and you're done----he will make no effort to contact you ever again. That's because he knows that you are going to expose what he thought he had hidden. The basic rule here is quite simple: Do not put doctors up on pedestals as if they are some sort of god-equal who can't make mistakes and is the ultimate authority on everything. We USED TO do that----but these days, we can't do it any more.
Let me give you an excellent example of what I mean by putting doctors up on a pedestal. I am sure that anyone reading this right now either has a friend or a family member who had some sort of surgery in the last few years. I don't mean an emergency surgery where the person was in a car accident and they landed with the surgeon on-duty at whatever hospital they were taken to. I'm talking about a surgery where you choose the person yourself, and you follow all of his interactions leading up to the surgery. Does anyone know what I'm about to say about this? You may not, but you'll recognize it as soon as you hear it. The person who is getting the surgeon will, at some point, talk about the surgeon who will be doing the procedure. This is pretty close to what you'll hear from anyone and everyone: "Oh let me tell you, this doctor is SO good. I am so lucky to have found him. He's an expert in his field, and other doctors come to him for advice. He once did this exact same surgery on Robin Leach, so he's a surgeon to the stars and is very, very good". Something along those lines is what EVERYBODY says about their surgeon. Here is what you never hear: "My surgeon SUCKS!!! The guy must have graduated at the bottom on his class because he doesn't know what the heck he's doing. He can't answer half my questions, and I don't even know if he's done a surgery like this before. He smokes and there are ashes all over his office----he's a dirty guy and can't even keep his office clean.".
So in the second example, that is something you're most likely never heard about a surgeon BEFORE surgery. After surgery is a whole new ball game. I'm talking about BEFORE. My point is that everybody has "THE BEST" before their surgery. Then when things go wrong, "My surgeon was terrible----I don't know what he did but now I'm in so much pain and the problem is worse!". That is a typical post-surgery comment, and the praise comment was a typical pre-surgery comment. We always tell everybody we have the best of the best. That's true, right? We're NOT going to say, "Yeah, surgery is on Tuesday and I'm seeing a quack. I hope I live through it". Because of this strange connection we have with our doctors, putting them through the ringer with questions AFTERWARDS is useless. That's why it must be done BEFORE.
I'll stop blabbing here but I hope that maybe I've helped someone? Please do elevate doctors and place them so high that they are unreachable. Doctors have a "practice", and that is exactly what they do----they practice medicine. There are so many medical questions out there that we don't know yet! So question away-----ask them anything you want to. It will save huge hassles down the line.
I'll write more later, hopefully about train stuff and a trip I took on 22 but that was 2 years ago and I think I already wrote about it didn't I? My memory is not sharp as of late.---it's frustrating! But anyway, I am alive and well----just sooooo extremely busy.
Take care, and talk soon.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
I'm back -- see my post about our most recent cruises and the three train rides we had. And that's not counting the Metro in Madrid.
Hopefully I'll get some Amtrak rides in during the brief break before our next cruises in the Spring.
Frank in sunny and clear SBA
Posted by MargaretSPfan (Member # 3632) on :
Hi, Smitty!
SO good to hear from you again on here. Been wondering where you were. Glad you are OK, if really, really too busy. I had been wondering where you were and how you were doing. It is really, really sad that none of your siblings are willing to help your parents. (Seems to me to be very uncaring and irresponsible of them, and they seem not to care about you or what dealing with all this is doing to you -- but, then, I do not know them or their circumstances. )
Your parents are very, very fortunate to have a son -- you! -- who is so caring and loving and able to take care of them in the excellent way you are doing. Just please try to do what you can to keep from burning out. I burned out 10 years ago, and it was awful. I would not wish that one anyone.
Thanks so much for the update o what you have been doing, and HUGE thanks for the EXCELLENT advice about doctors! I, too, find some doctors -- and nurses! -- to be VERY frustrating to try to talk to. That is VERY sad and is a HUGE problem for us all, as NONE of us can ever get decent and worthwhile medical care if neither the nurses or doctors will listen to us or take us seriously or tell us the truth about their mistakes, and their overall error and failure rate.
And if a person is in an HMO, they are even worse off, because ALL HMO doctors are required to see far, far too many patients, so that NONE of those doctors can EVER get to know ANY of their patients well enough to even begin to be able to provide decent and acceptable care. This is, to me, absolutely disgusting and should be a crime. This is why some people say "HMO" also stands for "Hand the Money Over". as MONEY is the ONLY thing these HMO top execs care about -- NOT giving superb health care to ALL their patients.
Thanks, again, for the excellent advice. What is sad is that most people do not have the ability or the time or the energy to effectively fight to get the best medical care -- if they can even afford it.
Please do post here when you can and let us know how you are doing -- when you have the time.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
I can't be certain if with the five eye surgeries I had between Dec '12 and Feb '14 if there wasn't a screw-up on one. But is doesn't matter for this guy who was 20/100 and in danger of losing his Driver's License is now 20/40 and corrected 20/20.
Something other than my vision will decide when I can no longer drive.
But the second cornea transplant didn't work. I'll always wonder "did he f u"?, but who cares; the third one worked - and Medicare paid!!!
And I had so much love and support from Maureen, Bambi, Meg, Carol, Gloria, and Susan - all happily married women, but who love me as their friend.
I'm not in love with any Doctor I see, but in this case, Dr. Smith saw it through.
Posted by sbalax (Member # 2801) on :
Margaret--
Is there another HMO available where you are? I'm very happy with the one I've gone to for the last 20 years -- Sansum Clinic. It's sometimes called "The Mayo Clinic of the West" with a long history in Santa Barbara going back to the 1920's.
My primary care physician is wonderful and I never feel rushed when I see him. And I don't think it's because we share the same birthdate. He is 20 years younger than I.
Each of the specialists I've been referred to are top notch and show the same care and concern that I get from Rick Ponce.
I'm in an Advantage Plan (AARP United Health Care) that costs $49.00 a month but that will go down to $46.00 in January.
Frank in sunny and warm SBA
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Smitty: A few thoughts on your experience:
quote:Originally posted by smitty195: [QB]I'm the youngest of six kids, and I am the ONLY one to make sure they are not only doing okay, but that their doctors know what's going on (they never tell their doctors the truth----my dad told his doctor he wanted to drive again..........HUGE mistake if the doc signed that letter, so I had to call the doctor and give him a check.
It seems that in most families there is only one of the kids that steps up to the plate. Was that way with the parents on both sides, and for both sides it was us.
I see you are in California. We were for several years (in San Francisco) and we did not have any satisfactory medical related experiences there, with the exception of a dermatologist and a podiatrist, neither of which were from there. That is the reverse of what we have experienced in this part of the world. Suggest that you try Dallas, Houston, Memphis, or Nashville for better success with finding good doctors.
Skipping the details, a few years ago my wife was in need of surgery for a back problem. The doctor in SF said she should not have surgery, but "pain management", which is to say get doped up and stay that way. For someone to whom falling can have serious consequences to be doped up in nonsense. We went back to a doctor in Texas who had dealt with a neck problem several years previous. His comment, you are overweight, diabetic, above 60 so considered a somewhat of a poor risk surgically, so she is worried about her statistics. We know all those but there is no reasonable alternative that leaves you functional, and I don't care about my statistics. He went through the pros and cons in a thorough and realistic manner. We decided to do the surgery and don't regret it.
Posted by SilverStar092 (Member # 2652) on :
It's been my opinion for several months that this forum has been buried below lots of other stuff. Much of that is useful but non regulars probably have a hard time navigating to this part of the web site. I wish the message board was easier to access as I think activity would increase greatly.
Posted by Moderator (Member # 2933) on :
SilverStar092
I also went to the main page and agree with your observation. I sent your post to Steve Grande, maybe something can be changed.
Laurie
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
Hi Silver Star - glad you are back with us.
Posted by SilverStar092 (Member # 2652) on :
Thanks, Palmland. Please see private message. And thanks Laurie. As a TrainWeb contributor I'd like to see the Forum easier to find so more visitors would use it as before.
Posted by sojourner (Member # 3134) on :
I had a lot of reasons for not posting much any more. I will try to post more again in future.
Good luck with health issues!
Posted by Moderator (Member # 2933) on :
SilverStar092
Just received a reply from Steve Grande pertaining to your suggestion about making it easier for newcomers to find the forum.
"The suggestion about the link to the forum is a very good one.
I have added a link to the forum as a tab in the main menu bar near both the top and the bottom of every page at TrainWeb, right after the links to TrainWeb.com / .net / .org / .us, and have placed it in a BLUE color font to help it stand out from the other black color tabs in the same row.
I have also added a graphic ad for RailForum in the left column, and have added FORUM as a new category in the TrainWeb Directory.
Hopefully this will make it easier for people to find the RailForum.
So far these changes have been made to the main page at TrainWeb.com and a few other pages. Within the next few days I'll be reloading the entire TrainWeb site and then these changes will appear on every page at TrainWeb.
Please do thank that user for his suggestion."
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
Thanks for all the work, Laurie. Hopefully this will prompt some new names on the forum. We'll try not to chase them away with one of our wandering discussions.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by Ocala Mike (at another topic):
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman:
At the moment, my Florida trip looks set for Super Bowl weekend (fortunately miles away in Houston, but the Dolphins, as a Wild Card contender could possibly be in it), auto down (Mike, let's see what we can do about an en-route meet up)
Just saw this, Gil, and hope you and yours had a great holiday season. My breakfast spot of choice lately has become the "low-rent" Waffle House (as once featured on Anthony Bourdain's TV show), but of course there's always the Cracker Barrel. I know some decent pizza places, too, but they're a bit off I-75. E-mail me your plans when you get a chance, and Happy New Year.
Finally Mike, my Florida trip calls for two nites at "cheapo digs" (Holiday Inn Express) in Boca (Red Lex will spend one morning getting his 45K), then Sat Feb 4 on to "high rent" in Miami for Cleveland Orchestra and some Love Tub viewing (I book and pay for a Port of Miami view at Marriott Biscayne Bay) and hopefully not too many cranes pointing skyward.
As of today, the trip is on, or at least $845 of non refundable deposits (concert $205, Auto Train $640) says so.
Feb 2 I should be heading through Ocala. Even if I think the place is vile, we both know where Cracker Barrel is - and mighty convenient to the 75.
I think this year I'll tie up Feb 1 in Macon (full service Holiday Inn off the 75 at Arkwright)as I have no pressure whatever on when I get to Boca (unlike last year when I was going to a concert that evening in Miami). Mr. Google's "lead foot" drives it in 4' so it will take me 5; 730A departure means 1230 Ocala. Mr. Google says 3.5hr on to Boca, so that means 4.25 for me. In short, plenty of time for somewhere else than UNOWARE.
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
E-mail me later in the month, Gil. Ruby Tuesday's or Chili's isn't bad; also, there's a Chinese buffet that's pretty good - all on Route 200. Lunch better than breakfast, anyway.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
GBN, surprised about your Ocala comment. While we haven't stayed there but passed through on way to Oralndo, It seemed nice from US 301 with lots of horse farms. Have a good trip on A-T. Wave when you pass SC. We're headed that way in March for some spring training baseball.
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Feb 2 I should be heading through Ocala. Even if I think the place is vile, we both know where Cracker Barrel is - and mighty convenient to the 75.
Mr. Palmland, not the city, but rather Cracker Barrel restaurant. Chili's or Ruby are both fine. I've located them both on Google Maps. Get off 75 at 200; head North. First get gassed up at BP, then both Chili's and Ruby are there on the Right. Worry about how to turn around on 200 after Lunch.
Posted by palmland (Member # 4344) on :
Thanks, my mistake.
Speaking of road food, anyone have a favorite? Ours is 'Parkers'. An institutiion near Wilson, NC and a slight detour off I-95. If you like NC style BBQ (vinegar based) this is the place.
As to Cracker Barrel, anyone have one of their Goo Goo clusters? Been around 100 years and will pull out your fillings. But, just the thing if you need a sugar fix. Absolutely no redeeming features.
Posted by Ocala Mike (Member # 4657) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert B Norman: [QUOTE] Worry about how to turn around on 200 after Lunch.
Funny you said that! 200 is a bit daunting, even for me (a local), especially in the winter with all the snowbirds down here. I simply turn right on 200 out of those restaurants, and hook around at the next light. Actually, I think you pretty much have to do that.