Rain "No Game"

Where I live, heavy rains have curtailed most outdoor activities today so I am indoors catching up on things that I have postponed...like the latest Archer episodes and other mindless pursuits.  I did plan to start a MofW kit but when I reached into the closet I found a pile of blotters instead.  If you don't know what a blotter is let me harken to the days when the Sisters of St. Joseph walked into the classroom and said, Kennedy's been shot, the Cubans are invading...get home.   All I could picture was getting to Princeton Ave, and dodging the Cubans on the way home but I digress. Blotters were used to control the flow of ink from your fountain or cartridge pen...back in the days when we wrote letters with real ink and real paper.  Businesses, taking advantage of this phenomena; advertised their service, the railroad industry being no exception.  Take a look at one of my favorite blotters from the early part of the 20th century.

 Of course, I am an old tank car guy so I like seeing these Standard Tank Car blotters and there were a lot of them.  For real railroads, they advertised their service, both passenger and freight, as follows:

It is sad that not one of the connecting railroads exists today, but the Alton and Southern still exists as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Union Pacific Railroad.  Finally, remember when there were passenger trains...before Amtrak.  Here is one of the forgotten railroads when it was still a "player"

Alas sweet name trains, I knew them well to quote a famous English author...

Speaking of passenger trains, The Heritage Explorer Train, sponsored by the Lackawanna Heritage Valley National and State Heritage Area, operated from Steamtown National historic sight in Scranton to Carbondale PA on August 20.  If you missed it, it is an annual excursion to the City of Carbondale’s Ethnic Heritage Festival.  While this a unique opportunity for young people to learn about the pleasure of train travel, once a year is not enough in my opinion and wouldn't it be nice once more to get on a train and travel everywhere.   Take a good look at the handsome F unit leading the consist and thanks to Tom Horvath for sending this along...

Speaking of F unit locomotives, we have taken in a couple of large collections of Lionel Trains at the Big Little Railroad Shop.  Lionel made a good living selling F units and continues today to re-issue the ever popular EMDs.  Stop by to take a look at our used trains and if you have been looking for a particular train for a long time, we probably will come across it sooner or later.  We also carry lots of the latest trains issued by the Lionel, MTH, Athearn, F&C and also have the latest in Division Point Brass including exclusive L&HR and CNJ RS3s.  Look no further than Somerville NJ to meet all of your hobby needs.

Stay Safe Out There...

Joe