I could see Lake Erie...Just couldn't cast far enough!

[rgfixit]

In my younger and more agile days I did a lot of rock climbing. Bald was one we bouldered on frequently. The guy in the tower had a sign as you entered that said something like,
"Before you ask,
No, I don't get bored
Yes I have spotted fires
No I don't get lonely!"

My favorite ADK face was in North Creek...Moxham Dome. A great friction climb. Did many ascents there. Burned up several climbing partners as well.

Zorro,
I've worked in Norfolk Southern yards from Altoona to Ohio. The Juniata Shops in Altoona were the coolest. They rebuild locomotives there. Talk about BIG stuff. I even got to ride in the engineers compartment of the NS President's train (for a short way). Very cool!

They had one guy in a little shop down there whose only job was to refurbish the brass clocks for the President's train. What a toy.

Pooley,
In the 70's I ran a 3 year renovation project on a million square foot industrial complex. I climbed that building every day. Coal towers, chimney, brick walls...anywhere I could get a hold. I was arrested and released for climbing a bank in downtown Rochester and was ticketed twice for climbing ice on Buttermilk Falls and the middle falls in Letchworth State Park. Those are fun memories.

I  shattered my left wrist in the early 80's, falling off......an extension ladder....(still hate extension ladders) and it ended my serious climbing career. I still like the high places though.
RG

[pooley]

In my younger and more agile days I did a lot of rock climbing. Bald was one we bouldered on frequently. The guy in the tower had a sign as you entered that said something like,
"Before you ask,
No, I don't get bored
Yes I have spotted fires
No I don't get lonely!"

My favorite ADK face was in North Creek...Moxham Dome. A great friction climb. Did many ascents there. Burned up several climbing partners as well.

Zorro,
I've worked in Norfolk Southern yards from Altoona to Ohio. The Juniata Shops in Altoona were the coolest. They rebuild locomotives there. Talk about BIG stuff. I even got to ride in the engineers compartment of the NS President's train (for a short way). Very cool!

They had one guy in a little shop down there whose only job was to refurbish the brass clocks for the President's train. What a toy.

Pooley,
In the 70's I ran a 3 year renovation project on a million square foot industrial complex. I climbed that building every day. Coal towers, chimney, brick walls...anywhere I could get a hold. I was arrested and released for climbing a bank in downtown Rochester and was ticketed twice for climbing ice on Buttermilk Falls and the middle falls in Letchworth State Park. Those are fun memories.

I  shattered my left wrist in the early 80's, falling off......an extension ladder....(still hate extension ladders) and it ended my serious climbing career. I still like the high places though.
RG

OUCH!
sorry to hear that RG! i hate extension ladders too, unless i take them off the firetruck. those are nice and sturdy, and usually include someone at the bottom. i climbed the trap d *i* k* e on colden mountain, the east coasts toughest non rope climb!

[callduckfarm]

Was that a CSX or NS yard in Lorain?
Some of those tracks look a little rusty - what a shame.

Did you ever do Conway Yard down near Pittsburgh?

I'm with Zorro, I love trains, even more than fishing.

[taxid]

RJ,

For those of us that are ignorant, what is the yellow thing on your back and how does it work? I'm guessing it has something to do with a safety harness or something but I can't figure it out.  It's not a parachute is it?  

[rgfixit]

All Norfolk Southern yards. This yard was built to service the now vacant Ford plant. The yard is mostly idle now.

I wish you train enthusiasts could tour the Locomotive Shops in Altoona. I've had free access to every corner of it for the last 2 years. Imagine the scale of a plant that completely disassembles and re-assembles a totally rebuilt locomotive.

Everything from the wheels to the whistle.
Never been to the Conway Yard.

The "yellow thing" on my back is a shock arrest lanyard. It's designed to absorb the shock of a fall. Hopefully, I'll never know if they really work.

By the way, I know this isn't fishing, but things are a little slow around here.

RG

[callduckfarm]

I wish you train enthusiasts could tour the Locomotive Shops in Altoona. I've had free access to every corner of it for the last 2 years. Imagine the scale of a plant that completely disassembles and re-assembles a totally rebuilt locomotive.

I have not been in a few years, but there is (or was) always an open house in Altoona every year.
You can walk all through those shops - pretty neat stuff.

And if anyone needs a job - CSX is currently hiring conducter trainees out of Selkirk Yard near Albany, NY.

If anyone likes trains, they should check out http://www.railroad.net/

[rayfrommaine]

I went to school about ten miles from there, but I didn't get to fish anything except for a couple of resevoirs.

[Neptune]

250 is waaaaay up there. How long did you take to make the top? What were you doing when you got there?

My biggest problem with this type of work is the ground guy. Not many you can trust to even tie a knot. On the 150' I was doing 1000w ballast replacements and was able to safely chuck the old cores off the tower. They left a 2' diameter crater in the railroad bed where they hit. 20lbs, compact and lots of speed. It was pretty cool to see them hit.

The neat part is the oscillation of the pole when you're moving around. Everyone thinks they just sway. Sway is easy to deal with, oscillation will get the best nauseous.

RG

It took me about 45-60 minutes to make it up to about 225 where I was installing Wireless Access Points for Long range Internet connectivity to remote locations.  It was a highly populated Cell site and I had to wear a radiation detector so I didn't cook myself on accident.  It was a little card with a green do that turned red, and if you didn't notice that there was a popcorn kernel in a little bag, if it was popped you had been cooked!!!  Never happened thank goodness.

The morning I was going up the tower there was a Cingular Tower Jockey up the tower and he dropped a 1.5" flat washer from about 200' up and it went clean through the box of his service van!!!  It hit on knife edge and shot right through the top and bottom of the van and embedded in the ground...  Makes you wonder if that hard hat is going to do anything...   we just stayed clear from then on...

I was an amazing feeling being up there by yourself...the osculation thing is very weird.  My ground guy use to bump one leg of the tower and about 5 second later I'd feel it....when its a bit windy and they start to set up a resonance frequency and vibrate constantly...that is the worst...wears you out!

[rgfixit]

Callduck,
They still do the open house. It's like Disneyland for anyone who likes machinery...especially trains. Until I worked down there, I didn't understand that trains are electrically driven. Seriously efficient.

Neptune,
At least I don't have to worry about the popcorn kernel in my pocket. Whatever I climb is locked out and tagged out or I don't go up. I'd really like to work on some of the windmills around here, but I'm probably too old to start. What a great job for a young guy to get into.

RG

[panfishman13]

you know, heights don't bother me, i can look up at a mountain or a tall pole and be like, meh...  but DEPTHS, depths bother me i could barely go up on a high copes course 50' up, it took me a long time to get used to rappelling down a 100' cliff, and i still get jitters!

[Grumpyoldman]

I've watched Navaho iron workers climb. Positively fearless. They can be ordered to wear the safety harness, but they don't use it.       

[Marcus]

cool stuff I am too afraid of heights to imagine doing anything like that. Once while climbing a 60' extension ladder to untagle the cable on a gantry crane I froze 2/3rds of the way up what a terrible feeling. I remember when they were building the new bridge in Boston Mass and seeing those ironworkers on top having there lunch or whatever just seeing them made me nauseous.

[Neptune]

RG, unfortunately for me, turning off a Cell site isn't an option....the tower I was talking about had all 3 major Cell carriers on it!  also High power Microwave relays for the Government and local wireless carriers.   We had to take a radiation safety class to be qualified to be on that tower specifically...

[rgfixit]

Oye!
Hope you wore your lead lined jockey shorts

RG

[beeverfishing]

Awesome view,.... But there aint no freekin way you would catch me up there.