Three Hobbies, One Day
So I went out to enjoy the wonderful weather today. I didn't know what to do, so I decided to try to watch some trains. Having never watched trains in the Buffalo area before, it was a bit of a learning experience trying to find the best places to watch. I am still looking for good places to watch, but I found a few alright crossings to sit at.
While on the way to watch trains, I came across 2 stranded motorists on the highway. I stopped for both. One of them was off to the shoulder, so I put a few flares out for him while he changed his tire. The other was on a ramp, in the live lane. Again... They were out of gas. This particular situation was causing a dangerous backup of traffic which extended onto the highway. Cars were stopped on the highway itself as they waited to turn right in the right turn lane, which was blocked. Of course motorists being.. motorists.. They were not really paying attention to a vehicle that wasn't moving infront of them with hazard lights on. Once I got on scene however, with my pylons deployed and my directional arrowstick functioning, the ramp cleared up nicely and traffic flowed properly.
After clearing that scene, I took a drive past a house on Goering Drive which I was interested in purchasing. Sadly it has been sold, and it looks like a young guy about my age, who likes working on trucks lives there now, and is utilizing the many garages and workshop space the house has to offer. Continuing on, I ended up stopping at Sheldon Ave to watch 2 CSX trains pass. One was a Intermodal / Trailer / Container train heading Westbound on the South track. The other was on the North track, and was a mixed consist train, heading Eastbound. While watching trains, I saw a police officer chase a speeding car across the tracks. I took a video of it, and you can see it here.
Look at all that 'snap-track'. Have they heard of a device called a welder?
On the drive home, I monitored WA2JPQ and ended up talking to VE3WRD in Burlington. I learnt that WA2JPQ is actually a very nice repeater located in Arkwright, NY on the WNYB Tower. VE3WRD was able to key up the repeater in Burlington, Ontario, with almost full quieting using only a portable radio. I am quite impressed with its coverage.