Lionel Bill is in Australia

Great to hear Dave,

 

  I'm sure you guys will runs trains and have a great time. Take lots of photo's and post them.

 

Thanks, Alex

Last I talked to Bill (at Spring Thaw in Allentown) he seems more of a Nathan's Hot Dog guy.  Hope you guys have fun.

I happened to see the station four years ago ...

 

 

Dave that is a wonderful picture you posted. Is the picture looking South and slightly East? Would Sydney be a little more to the right and 25 miles or so away as the crow flies? Lovely area around their. Spent some time working in Sydney area back in the 90's.

Spot on Popsrr, you are correct, the pic is looking east to the Pacific.

Ace, and you have a pic of the mural! Great stuff!

Alex, I don't think we will have time to run trains, but, I will take them sightseeing and I'm sure some nice lunches and dinners. They love the beach, and we have some lovely beaches around us, so I think there will be sand in the car.

Chuck, I know his club is doing a Nathan's box car, but I won't be feeding him dogs here.

What are they John?

White Castles are the original "sliders" Dave.  Small burgers that slide in and also slide out, if you get the drift.  Kind of a staple/tradition in many parts of the U.S. for many years.  Last time I had them--a good many years ago--I ended up with a rather severely upset tummy.  

White Castle is one of the original fast food chains here in the States(founded 1921).. Their signature product is a small square hamburger on a small square bun. They used to be very inexpensive-(5 cents each)-- so the average working man would be able to buy several for his lunch. As far as i can remember, the resturant chain was mostly in the Midwest states---with some in the New York City area. I used to go to my local one a lot before I moved to florida---

Nothing beats a box of sliders when you really crave them. 

 

http://www.whitecastle.com/food

 

Nothing beats--  *********

 

Oh yea,  pork chops off my grill, will beat em. 

love this kind of forum,  beautiful pictures,

a little bit of comical relief in life!  White castle i believe

was pretty big in  D.C. also back in 60's

with the tremendous vast talent in this forum, 

I betcha , somebody has got something of similar nature on a layout !!

any more pictures out there !!!

 

Have fun in Oz, Bill. Cool picture, Dave...I like the mural at the station, Ace.

 

As for White Castle, I grew up on them in Chicago, and we had a thread about them at the end of 2011:

 

https://ogrforum.com/d...ent/2415514336537151

 

...This is an aerial view of where I live.

Bill is in for a real treat. Dave, you sure represent Forum hospitality.

Back in the 1990s a friend and I spent two weeks in your beautiful and unusual country (your toilets flush 'backwards'!). We were in Sydney and Townsville and got to dive the reef.

 

With all that water surrounding you Dave - do you have a boat?

Have FUN! 

 

BTW, in the Southern US, we have our own brand of "sliders" called Krystals.

 

They started out in Chattanooga, TN.

 

We also have White Castle, but they are considered upstart Yankees!  

 

I also remember White Tower "sliders" in my youth in Woodhaven, Queens, NY.

Sam, I don't have a boat these days, but I am seriously thinking about a steam powered launch. I used to have a nice boat when I lived in Sydney, and had it moored in the harbor. I also did quite a bit of sailing, both in the harbor and off shore when I was younger. But it needs to be a bit more gentle these days, hence the steam launch idea. We have a nice wooden boat festival here every Easter.

Allan, I've encountered Nathan's Hot Dogs, but I'm pleased the sliders have gone under my radar. Ya know, American food really intrigues me, there is so much fast food that underwhelms me on one hand, but things like the "Diner", in particular, those magnificent chrome looking stainless steel monuments found  more in  NY and NE are wonderful, and true Americana, I could do a tour just of Diners. I wish someone would make a model chrome diner.

Viewed from the Bridge, boat traffic in the harbour gets kinda busy ...

 

"I wish someone would make a model chrome diner."

 

i think k-line did, the starlight diner.

I believe various O gauge (or close to it) models of these establishments have been made in the past, but I don't recall the makers.  I also will be needing one at some point for the town area outside my Army depot.

"I used to go to my local one a lot before I moved to florida---"

where you can go to Steak N Shake instead...orders of magnitude better.

Nicole, you know of these things? You amaze me. BTW, the images in the White Castle website make me even less inclined to try one.

It used to be fun on Saturday afternoons, many sailing clubs out all conducting races, and harbor ferries, cruise liners and container ships tearing through the middle of the various fleets, great entertainment. I lived on the harbor in those days, 70's-80's, wish I'd never left.

The train ride from Woy Woy towards Sydney is really good - along the water, cross the big Hawksbury River Bridge, tunnels and a substantial grade (Cowan Bank) climbing out of the valley.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is2NSykcpJQ

 

Check out those curious Clyde/EMD "E units" which are basically SD40 power.

Dave, in my time I have travelled quite extensively in the U.S.A., and have experienced many exotic foodstuffs. I've even shopped at Piggly Wiggly. 

I travelled by "Subway" across Australia. Their sub sandwiches are just the same as here. 

Now you know Nicole that the Southern Pacific RR used a very nice little PIGGY on the sides of their Containers. And now we even have "talking" pigs doing TV commercials.

The one thing I have not seen yet but I am waiting for is that Talking Pig do do a TV commercial for B B Q

Dave when I was living down their a friend of mine rented a home on the top of one of the hills over looking the Harbor and it cost him 8k per mo for the place. I was in "sticker schock" over the cost back then in the 90's. Beautiful view

Thanks Ace, great video, I had not seen before. Cowan bank was a fantastic place to watch the steam trains, but even modern day diesels are very interesting. From the Hawksbury River to Berowra, at the top of the bank is a climb of about 700 feet, so it's a real challenge for these big freight trains. It's a 1 in 40 grade.

Tinplate Art: before this completely goes away, thanks for bringing up the Krystal

hamburger; I've never been in a White Castle, but, as a Southerner, I am very

familiar with the 5-cent Krystal (I'm an OLD Southerner!). The go-to burger;

"when you gotta have a Krystal, you gotta have a Krystal".

 

I was well into adulthood before I knew of the existence of a "White Castle", and we

never called Krystals "sliders". Not really a very appetizing term.

Here ya go Allen,

 

Just a little bit of Burger Heaven from across the pond!

 

Best,

Don

 

My wife and I are getting ready to move to New Jersey soon. We are scheduled to go up next week for a house hunting trip. One of the first things we're going to do is stop for a sack of sliders, onion chips, and White Castle coffee. I grew up on them in Cincinnati and remember (sorta) making 2 a.m. runs after partying in college. We moved to Florida 13 years ago and we both really missed them. The frozen White Castles in the grocery just don't get it. The downside to moving to Jersey is no Skyline chili (we have 2 here in South Florida).

D500:

 

You are correct: I never heard a Krystal called by the rather unappetizing term, "slider" - YUCK! 

 

I will take a Krystal anyday over a White Castle, and I am originally a Yankee!

 

PS: We have both here in Nashville, TN.

Forget the WC hamburgers, Australia has a great variety of trains and scenery. I visited with a friend who lives near the NSW state rail museum at Thirlmere. You could spend days just riding around Sydney on trains, light rail, monorail, ferries etc. Check out the monorail, it is being removed this year.

 

http://www.monorail.com.au/ 

 

Train on Harbour Bridge

 

Sydney monorail - scheduled for removal in 2013

 

 

Boy, the internet has made this a wonderfully small world. Dave if Bill starts singing the old Lionel theme song and waving uncontrollably at passing trains just take him home to run some trains and the attach will pass soon enough.

 

As for White Castle we use to have one in South Philly, but it closed about ten years ago. The only other one that I can remember was in New Jersey on Rt 30, in Bellmar I think.

 

In any case guys, have a great time "down under" and please post some pictures ASAP.

Mario, Bill and Ann will get to my place this evening. Tomorrow we will be getting around seeing the sights, and yes, I'll post some pics.