BRAPPA!
“Brappa-brappa-BRAP-BRAP! Blat-blat-blat.”
Followed by high-pitched buzzing.
“For Heaven sake,” I exclaimed; “an actual rice-burner down there in deepest, darkest Harley land.”
“Rice-burners” are any Japanese motorcycle. They don’t thunder and bellow like Harley Davidsons. (Signifying anger on the part of their owners.)
As a railfan, I watch Railstream®, a streamer of railfan video over the Internet.
Railstream has various webcams, but the one I watch is Cresson, PA (“kress-in”), hosted by Station-Inn, a bed-and-breakfast for railfans.
I’ve stayed there myself. It’s across the street from the mainline of the old Pennsylvania Railroad, now owned and operated by Norfolk Southern.
I watch that webcam because I’ve been in the area many times. It’s where Pennsylvania Railroad conquered Allegheny Mountain.
Eastbounds past Station-Inn’s webcam are climbing the west slope of the mountain.
The line is extremely busy. Sometimes a train every 5-10 minutes. (There are dead times.)
That old Pennsy line became one of two major conduits of trade with the east-coast megalopolis.
The other was the old New York Central railroad across NY state, now owned and operated by CSX Transportation.
“Railstream,” above, is a link. Click it and you’ll go to their home-page. On it are webcam selections, one of which is Cresson. Click that, and you watch the Cresson webcam for free.
But you’ll get ads, and I think it times out.
To avoid all that you become a “member” like me.
100 smackaroos per year, but worth it, considering how much I view the Cresson webcam.
Especially on Saturdays, when my classical-music radio-station out of Rochester, WXXI-FM, airs stuff I can’t stand.
An entire afternoon of opera: “Uh-oh; they goosed her again!”
Stringy-haired 350-pound blonds screaming “Ride of the Valkyries” at the top of their lungs.
Stabbings, shootings, star-crossed lovers holding hands leaping off 350-foot castle parapets into roiling ocean.
None of that for this kid! Fire up Railstream’s Cresson webcam.
A passing train just about blows my computer-speakers.
Station-Inn is on Front St., which is parallel to the railroad. The railroad is about 200-250 feet away across the street.
The webcam is aimed southwest. You get the classic three-quarters view, sometimes as many as five-six locomotives.
Eastbound trains are climbing the mountain = assaulting the heavens. Westbounds are just as noisy.
Plus engineers like to blow the horn at waving Station-Inn patrons.
The camera also gets anything passing on Front St., e.g., blatting Harleys.
Central PA is Harley country. I suppose it’s also Trump country, but I ain’t touchin’ that.
If it doesn’t weigh 600-800 pounds, it ain’t “a man’s motorcycle.”
Harleys cruise Front St. The webcam gets everything: church-bells, lawnmowers, the town fire-siren, parades. I’ve heard drunks yelling at each other, R-rated language, the scanners of railfans sitting on Station-Inn’s front porch.
None are as loud as an unmuffled Harley: “Brappa-brappa-brappa! Brap-brap-brap!”
150+ idling horsepower, pounding the pavement with thunderous exhaust-pulses. If you can’t get your way otherwise, assault people’s ears = macho manliness.
We had a lawnmower like that; no muffler at all. Nowhere near as loud, but only one cylinder, and less than 100 cubic-inches displacement. A Harley has two cylinders, perhaps 650 cc’s each.
Unmuffle that, and I hafta turn down my ‘pyooter-sound.
A train is no match for the Harley-dudes!
• Many Japanese motorcycles are four cylinders inline across the frame. Harleys are V-twin (two cylinders) inline with the frame.
• Engine “displacement” is the size of the engine = the cylinder volume swept by each piston. NASCAR is currently limited to 358 cubic-inches displacement. Going above that is “cheatin’, but can be done. (The old NASCAR saw is “there is no substitute for cubic-inches.”) Current Japanese fours run 600 cubic-centimeters up to a liter (1,000 cc’s). The large Harleys run 1,200 cc’s or bigger.
• It’s no longer “we.” My wife died five years ago.
Followed by high-pitched buzzing.
“For Heaven sake,” I exclaimed; “an actual rice-burner down there in deepest, darkest Harley land.”
“Rice-burners” are any Japanese motorcycle. They don’t thunder and bellow like Harley Davidsons. (Signifying anger on the part of their owners.)
As a railfan, I watch Railstream®, a streamer of railfan video over the Internet.
Railstream has various webcams, but the one I watch is Cresson, PA (“kress-in”), hosted by Station-Inn, a bed-and-breakfast for railfans.
I’ve stayed there myself. It’s across the street from the mainline of the old Pennsylvania Railroad, now owned and operated by Norfolk Southern.
I watch that webcam because I’ve been in the area many times. It’s where Pennsylvania Railroad conquered Allegheny Mountain.
Eastbounds past Station-Inn’s webcam are climbing the west slope of the mountain.
The line is extremely busy. Sometimes a train every 5-10 minutes. (There are dead times.)
That old Pennsy line became one of two major conduits of trade with the east-coast megalopolis.
The other was the old New York Central railroad across NY state, now owned and operated by CSX Transportation.
“Railstream,” above, is a link. Click it and you’ll go to their home-page. On it are webcam selections, one of which is Cresson. Click that, and you watch the Cresson webcam for free.
But you’ll get ads, and I think it times out.
To avoid all that you become a “member” like me.
100 smackaroos per year, but worth it, considering how much I view the Cresson webcam.
Especially on Saturdays, when my classical-music radio-station out of Rochester, WXXI-FM, airs stuff I can’t stand.
An entire afternoon of opera: “Uh-oh; they goosed her again!”
Stringy-haired 350-pound blonds screaming “Ride of the Valkyries” at the top of their lungs.
Stabbings, shootings, star-crossed lovers holding hands leaping off 350-foot castle parapets into roiling ocean.
None of that for this kid! Fire up Railstream’s Cresson webcam.
A passing train just about blows my computer-speakers.
Station-Inn is on Front St., which is parallel to the railroad. The railroad is about 200-250 feet away across the street.
The webcam is aimed southwest. You get the classic three-quarters view, sometimes as many as five-six locomotives.
Eastbound trains are climbing the mountain = assaulting the heavens. Westbounds are just as noisy.
Plus engineers like to blow the horn at waving Station-Inn patrons.
The camera also gets anything passing on Front St., e.g., blatting Harleys.
Central PA is Harley country. I suppose it’s also Trump country, but I ain’t touchin’ that.
If it doesn’t weigh 600-800 pounds, it ain’t “a man’s motorcycle.”
Harleys cruise Front St. The webcam gets everything: church-bells, lawnmowers, the town fire-siren, parades. I’ve heard drunks yelling at each other, R-rated language, the scanners of railfans sitting on Station-Inn’s front porch.
None are as loud as an unmuffled Harley: “Brappa-brappa-brappa! Brap-brap-brap!”
150+ idling horsepower, pounding the pavement with thunderous exhaust-pulses. If you can’t get your way otherwise, assault people’s ears = macho manliness.
We had a lawnmower like that; no muffler at all. Nowhere near as loud, but only one cylinder, and less than 100 cubic-inches displacement. A Harley has two cylinders, perhaps 650 cc’s each.
Unmuffle that, and I hafta turn down my ‘pyooter-sound.
A train is no match for the Harley-dudes!
• Many Japanese motorcycles are four cylinders inline across the frame. Harleys are V-twin (two cylinders) inline with the frame.
• Engine “displacement” is the size of the engine = the cylinder volume swept by each piston. NASCAR is currently limited to 358 cubic-inches displacement. Going above that is “cheatin’, but can be done. (The old NASCAR saw is “there is no substitute for cubic-inches.”) Current Japanese fours run 600 cubic-centimeters up to a liter (1,000 cc’s). The large Harleys run 1,200 cc’s or bigger.
• It’s no longer “we.” My wife died five years ago.
Labels: trains
posted by BobbaLew at 9:33 AM
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