That's one HELL of a good idea, Sir !!!!

Over the first “a”. The Spanish default would put the stress on the second syllable.

There’s a code you can enter to put accents on properly, but it’s a pain. Selecting “English international” as your keyboard language used to give an easy shortcut, but that option seems to have disappeared from both iOS and Windows. It was really useful because a lot of French and Spanish words need accents for meaning as well as pronunciation.

Does anyone have an NdeM work equipment book? I am looking for infore mation on the cranes they owned. I have tried to contact museums in Mexico but have never gotten a reply,

Mr T, I've seen librettos azules (blue books), for NdeM steam, diesel or passenger cars, but never for freight cars or MOW equipment. That doesn't necessarily mean there's no such thing. If I should come across anybody with the information you're seeking, I'll keep you in mind.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo !!!

[quote="John T"]Does anyone have an NdeM work equipment book?,[/lquote]
This is all I found so far, but it’s military equipment and not solely Mexican:

https://www.amazon.es/Manual-militar-fe ... ref=sr_1_6

Ferromex might know where to look or even have one in their archives. Also, a library near their HQ may have such a thing. I’ll keep looking.

As if anybody really needs further proof that the world is going straight to Hell, I'd like to share the results of my online search for up-to-date information about the NdeM Niagara locomotives: I found any number of very nice in-service images, and a number of recent, helpful youtubes, but almost nothing involving actual readin, writin, or rithmatic which is remotely accurate. There WAS plenty of misinformation to be had on this subject, but no links either to my article on RyPN, or to the primary sources and writings of the real authorities --- the railroaders, photographers, historians, and explorers who led the way for me back in my youth.

Of course this is a crying shame, but I have at least gained an understanding of how so many well meaning folks could get this story wrong, even though they may have tried to get it right, and they may with some justification think they have gotten it right. I can hardly wait to see what the next generation of AI powered cyber oracles will cook up when consulted about NdeM Niagaras....

There is an old, so old it's a pre-boomer term, in computer science: GIGO. That stands for 'garbage in, garbage out' -- the computer is not going to extract a silk purse from any number of sows' ears.

What I have observed about the early 'released' instantiations of Chat GPT and similar engines (see poe.com for a sort of Dogpilish portal to what a number of them say when asked a common question) they are following the old characteristics of computers -- that they are very fast, very dumb, and very literal. They apparently run down the first xxx hits from engines like Google, search popular lists and chats, and sort of distill what they find into, often, comprehensible sentence and paragraph structure. The problem is that the information so confidently stated as an 'answer' is often crook beyond belief, the greatest of the great problems being that unless you already know all about the answer the 'information' provided can be disastrous.

Now, in terms of an increasingly ignorant-by-intention populace relying on these "resources" to learn about things: I don't know if it's worse than being educated by newspapermen and book editors, but there was at least some concession to peer-review and informed fact-checking. In our current world, where facts are so often manipulated to fit agendas -- the situation Mr. King is discussing with NdeM steam can only get worse. It took an enormous amount of time and effort to even halfway 'rehabilitate' the PRR T1, and to this day there are all sorts of people who still believe the things were hopeless failures that show the incompetence of steam designers who got ahead of themselves.

I'm thinking of making it a personal crusade to follow those bogus links, and post as many corrections as I can. Whatcha wanna bet that's like only voting for honest politicians ??

If you don't do that, who else will? and who else knows as much about the truth as you do?

It's greater swamp than the 'misconceptions' about the PRR T1, but it's at least as important, or significant anyway, to fix "erroneous narrative" to prevent it becoming as established as IPCC methodology.

Even if few read the corrections, you've at least put the correct version there -- and if it's picked up in enough places, you might even sway the chatbots that are increasingly going to be our historian gatekeepers...

I've determined that the Museo Tecnológico de la Comisión Federal de Electricidad has been closed for a good long time. That most likely doesn't bode well for the railroad exhibits, including 3038's tender and the two heavyweights remaining from El Tren Olivo. UP still lists the DD40AX as being there, so we'll see.

Most likely I am the most rabid Niagaraholic still preaching the NdeM QR-1 gospel, but I certainly can't claim to know more than anybody else on the subject. For technical matters, I consult J David Conrad, who knows exponentially more than I ever will. In historical matters, I can still ask Dr John Kirchner. Since the Niagaras lasted another year and a half after my encounter in 1966, there must still be a few folks left who were a little older than I am, and experienced correspondingly more than I did, and understood it better than I did. At least one of them is also an RyPNer. In the last few years we have lost Tom Irion, Stan Kistler, Ron Zeil, Frank Barry, and no doubt many others. We should extinguish our lanterns for them.

For any questions concerning operations, I have gotten some good help from retired NdeM maquinista Alan Daza. While the guys that let me drive back in 1966, Mario Flores Galindo and Roberto Hernandez, are gone now, I'm certain that there are still some retirees in Mexico who lived the Niagara legend for real. After all, Tequila is an excellent preservative.

I met one of them in all places Houston. In Herman Park. Right in front of the 982. He had his daughter with him, and he smiled in admiration. His words, said with a smile..."little wheels...she pull much!" I smiled and said to him that she would. He was an engineer out of Monterrey and stayed for a while talking steam, his daughter translating. I just hate I can't remember his name...

Sammy I want to publically commend you for your writing skill. What I like about it is your human connection to the people you met, worked with and learned from. Not to get side tracked on what you learned but from who and the details of how. The mexican prostitutes and the RR guys, both were mentors!

In my life I have been blessed to meet some real one of a kind tradesmen, RR people, or the miscellaneous undefinable person who makes a dent in your life. At the time we experience some of these people/events we often take it for granted or assimilate it later. So I like your sharing and style of writing. Brings back many memories of mine both good and not so good, but all part of the cosmic puzzle.

Many of your experiences were south of the border or in the great southwest which gives even more content, the distantence thing. At least for me. I think as a kid growing up and knowing some RR people from the midwest was a privilege not so different from the folks you met and mentored you. What a ride this life can be eh? Regards, John.

Thank you very kindly John, Kenneth, Robert, Senora Morgen, & Rick. I'm not used to responding to such positive feedback.

Railroading is the same in every part of the world I've been fortunate enough to visit, even if I can't understand, speak, read, or write the prevailing local language. RAILROADING is a universal language even deeper and more primal than that, just as for many of us it is our religion of choice.

Being mentored by Guatemalan prostitutes deserves special mention.... but if I were to post the details here, I'd doubtlessly offend some sensitive types. Suffice it to say THAT'S a universal language, too.

Answering an earlier question, the three Olivo cars (RM1,RM2, and RM5) were moved, so the DL&W dining car (RM5) was part of the move.

video shows the set up at the air port www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQV6XA2Og3w

--Joe Bania