A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....03-07,08-06....All Aboard!

Billie

[Billie]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Dutchess, DollyCali, Mama_Bear, GodBlessUSA ~

CLICK

In September, 1825, the Stockton & Darlington Railroad Company began as the first railroad to carry both goods and passengers on regular schedules using locomotives designed by English inventor, George Stephenson. Stephenson's locomotive pulled six loaded coal cars and 21 passenger cars with 450 passengers over 9 miles in about one hour.

I am fascinated by trains. I love to ride on them. When I was a little girl, my teacher took our whole class on a short ride (about 20 miles) on the train that came through our small town every day. Ever notice, especially in small towns, how the engineer always waves at the cars waiting for the train to pass at a railroad crossing? :)

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Songs are written about trains. Movies have been made about them. The first western to tell a complete story in film was "The Great Train Robbery" filmed in 1903 in New Jersey. That movie started a great relationship between trains and movies that still survives 100 years later.

"The General" (1927), a comedy starring Buster Keaton, was regarded as one of the greatest of all silent comedies - and possibly the best train film ever made. It was a Civil War adventure-epic classic made toward the end of the silent era. Posters described the slapstick film as: "Love, Locomotives and Laughs."

Trains were a big factor in several of the James Bond movies, most notably: "From Russia With Love", and "Live and Let Die."

Here are a few more movies either written *about* trains or, as noted above, were a big factor in the storyline. The list is by no means complete, and most of them I've neither seen nor heard of, but for what it's worth, here they are....in no particular order:

• Silver Streak ~ 1934
• Union Pacific ~ 1939
• Murder on the Orient Express
• Von Ryan's Express
• Strangers on a Train
• The Lady Vanishes
• Son of Frankenstein
• Sherlock Holmes in Washington
• Terror by Night
• Ticket to Tomahawk
• The Great Locomotive Chase
• The Narrow Margin
• North by Northwest
• The Train
• Orphan Train
• Terror Train
• Chattanooga Choo Choo
• Back to the Future Part III
• Runaway Train
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles ~ 1987
• Throw Momma from the Train

These are but a few songs I found about trains. I'm sure you can all add many, many more to the list. I've listed only those I could link to music - mostly midis, but the last one is an mp3 - and still a favorite of mine: "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips.

"Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe"
"Casey Jones"
"Chattanooga Choo Choo"
"City of New Orleans"
"Freight Train"
"Honky Tonk Train Blues"
"King of the Road"
"Last Steam Engine Ride"
"Night Train"
"Orange Blossom Special"
"Wabash Cannonball"




~ Gladys Knight and the Pips ~

Finally, let me close with a link to an inspirational album by Country & Western Singer, Randy Travis. You should be able to view the titles of the songs in the album; and hear clips of those you might be interested in.

"Glory Train, Songs of Faith, worship & praise" ~ Randy Travis

12-28-05 ~ Hall of Fame #14

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 03-06-06 Military Monday

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

[MEG33]

I love them,too..

[MEG33]

I was so happy when I figured out the problem and turned it into my post..

Cute! I'll have to practice putting a frame around......and... Why does my *blockquote* preview as a blockquote and posts like I never used it?

[MEG33]

Gorgeous..I think that was taken in Texas?..I remember showing it to my daughter because she plants to please butterflies and I knew she would like it.

Don't worry about us..Take care of yourself..and we can look forward. ((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))

[Majie Purple]

That is no mistake meg! That is a masterpiece!
Thanks ever so for pinging me to this one!
Me loves me some bunnies!

[Majie Purple]

Hope this in line still directly after my prior comment!

[Majie Purple]

O good...T'was in line directly after. I'm pressing my bless with trying for 3 in a row though!

[freema]

Betcha I can guess one of the first volunteers ; )

[freema]

Sounds good to me!!

[Majie Purple]

My...I've never seen a butterfly with transparent wings before...interesting! I hope your computer glitches get hammered out soon. Take care...

[MEG33]

The cottontail brings back scenes from my youth..I saw them frequently as there were large fields nearby in my very small town in Central Texas.

We saw what I believe were box turtles (we called them terrapins) and horned toads ,too, frequently. They are endangered now.

I'm glad you liked my "mistake"..

[freema]

THANK YOU. That was a powerful reminder of my own father's passing, Dave...on Christmas Day. Not much 'sorrow', but rather a powerful joy and humble gratitude.

(The post above that was AWEsome, too!


I feel as though I'm getting my tank filled and my windshield cleaned for 'this trip home'.

Thank you so much.

[freema]

"I was just playing around and look how my "mistake" turned out."

There's either a good sermon in there, or a good sex-ed talk, or both.

ROTFLOL!

[Billie]

I was so happy when I figured out the problem and turned it into my post..

It was cute. Your table around the rabbit and bluebonnets was evidently exactly twice the size of the graphic, so it tiled it twice across and twice down. When I did the kittens, I changed the table width and height to match double the size of the kittens. :)

Cute! I'll have to practice putting a frame around......and... Why does my *blockquote* preview as a blockquote and posts like I never used it?

It *centered* your words, didn't it? I looked at your code, and you turned on a <CENTER> command just before your <BLOCKQUOTE> command. If you previewed it in notepad (if you were building it there), the IE browser isn't as strict as the FR posting form, and the blockquote might have overridden the center. (It's all I can think of)

[MEG33]

Meg33

Original intent before the "mistake".

Meg33

Or this may be better

[Billie]

Hi, Kitty. Am glad you liked the train posts!

[Billie]

Uh oh.... looks like you two are creating a new craze at the Finest :o) Too cute! Okay...off to a meeting!!!!

LOL! I had to view her source code to see what she did. It looked LOTS better than mine did! :)

[Billie]

Shhhh! You should never have said you hadn't intended for the *first* post to be that way! :)We just thought you were getting awfully clever with your tables. :)

[MEG33]

Too clever..I cut that photo down a lot through experimination..It had over 1,100,000 bytes!! I was trying to slightly enlarge one of the links I had made in that table..When I saw what had happened..I went ahead and doubled it.

[Kitty Mittens]

There are Bunnies Here at my Little Ranch, but I don't See them Very Often. :(

Huge Turtles Live in a Pond Back Behind the Creek, and One of their Favorite Pastimes is Sunning themselves on an Old, Fallen Tree. All Lined Up on the Log, they Make an Interesting Sight. But, as I would Draw Closer to them, there was Always the Inevitable "Splash! Splash! Splash!" as they Dove for Cover! (When my Back Problem Improves Enough, I Plan, our Lord Willing, to Walk back there and See those Turtles Again!)

I Remember the Horned Toads from my Childhood, but I haven't Seen One in Years. The Fire Ants Probably Decrease the Horned Toad Population Greatly. :(

[Mama_Bear]

Hi dutchess! I was so disappointed to read that we won't be able to connect while you are in San Diego next month. It would have been such fun to meet at Knotts Berry Farm, but I understand that your schedule is tight and, on top of that, it is quite a distance to travel. I hope next time you are out here you have more flexible time, so we can get together. Better yet, make plans to come out for our picnic in September! :-)