Happy Birthday Joe!

Joe I use a 300mm lens for my sony. Some day I'll have x2 doubler to inert between lens and body

Joe I sure love to ride with you could really get some neat pictures

At 12:57am on January 22, 2009, Kris Durschmidt said…
Dear Joe,
NO, you're NOT too old for this computer stuff...your doing wonderful!... and great pictures and better than most..definitely great pictures...the steps are simple anyway....your almost there..only one more step to go..you're going to say..."Oh, that was easy..it was right in front of me all along and only two more steps or so...see the "picture icon???" just click on it!!... hold your mouse "cursor" over the picture icon above... and the text will read "add an image"...it is so easy an old or young person can do it!..you will be glad you did, cause you have some awesome pictures to share with the viewers!!! You'll have them posted in seconds....you have the now, posted already on your profile page..you just need to add them to your Blog page....I just remembered how to use the spell check above..good thing too...cause I had 5 misspellings before I checked it again..(ha)..Did the name Leaf Erickson or "something" Erickson from FD who ran the Olsen Park Train....ring a bell to you or anyone you know??....boy I remember him and grampa being buddies (ha ha).....Later Kris
PS...........don't give up....your doing fine...you were right also..that they don't make computer keyboards for mens fingers or hands! (ha)..........kd.....practice using the icons above..then you won't be afraid to use them often...like this: BOLD,underline, italic and etc...... kd

Hi Joe,

Your last name seems to jog my memory. Did you have any male relatives who played basketball for Sacred Heart or Corpus Christie?

My father worked for a very brief time for the Illinois Central as a brakeman on the Dubuque to Ft. Dodge run. He had a love of railroads and steam engines. During World War II, he would take me down to the station to see troop trains and trains carrying military equipment. We would go to the depot and eat at the cafe, walk to the round house and watch the turntable turn steam engines around. We would also walk out to the Chicago Great Western Viaduct and back to the depot. I even got to ride in switch engine to Barnum to pick up a railroad car from a siding.

I gorgot to add....you may want to start a blog on this site asking for photos or stories of the Illinois Central Railroad...it would make a great discussion topic and you would get lots of leads and stories..also check the History and geneology department of the FD Library..they have full time historians and genenology volunteer researchers who can recommend and tell you what books they have on the R.R.'s...they found several of my ancestry line photos and when they entered FD and their stories..it is very fascinating, and I will be able to keep it forever in my ancestry/roots files...(one of my hobbies is researching my ancestry!).........good luck..hope these leads and tips help you in your R.R. search.............kd

Dear Joe,
You should post here on your site, that you are looking for Ill. Central Railroad photos and some history on your hobby. I bet you will get some (or alot!) of suprising info., stories and photos. I wouldn't have known you were looking for this origianlly, but I saw it posted on Bill's site. The folks of FD, probably have alot of photos and stories for you.
I myself, think I still have a few, rare photos, that are probably special, to knowone but me: but they are the last pictures I ever have of me and my grampa "Bud" who loved the trains and made sure, I got to ride them and we got pictures on them, before they were gone and my grandpa was soon gone...He knew I wouldn't understand or value them, till now, when I'm all grown and have nothing left but the photos and memories of the great trains and him....It gave me a respect and love of trains, too...there are several train musiums out here and I think of my grandparents when I visit them...kd

Glad you found us. The search engines are just beginning to give our pages some nice rankings. We're a local site...and I truly appreciate any invitations you can send out to help us to continue to grow.

Hope you will join some groups and meet some old friends here along the way.