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Story & Photos By: Ken Hulsey California has had a long and illustrious railroad history and over the decades numerous railroads have operated throughout the state. Most of those lines have vanished off the face of the planet via mergers and bad fiscal planning yet many examples of their existence still litter the landscape of the golden state. Most of these locomotives and pieces of rolling stock have either been abandoned, stranded, lost, forgotten, or put on display in out of the way places where many railfans would never know to look for them. Over the next few months I hope to shed some light on many of these "lost" trains throughout California. One example of railroad rolling stock that is indeed "abandoned", "lost", "stranded" , and undoubtedly "forgotten" are what I have named "The Forgotten Pullmans of Orange". These two Pullman baggage cars that were converted into Santa Fe (ATSF) maintenance of way cars...

 University of Bath (Press Release) Fossils of small plesiosaurs, long-necked marine reptiles from the age of dinosaurs, have been found in a 100-million year old river system that is now Morocco’s Sahara Desert. This discovery suggests some species of plesiosaur, traditionally thought to be sea creatures, may have lived in freshwater. Plesiosaurs, first found in 1823 by fossil hunter Mary Anning, were prehistoric reptiles with small heads, long necks, and four long flippers. They inspired reconstructions of the Loch Ness Monster, but unlike the monster of Loch Ness, plesiosaurs were marine animals - or were widely thought to be. Now, scientists from the University of Bath and University of Portsmouth in the UK, and Université Hassan II in Morocco, have reported small plesiosaurs from a Cretaceous-aged river in Africa, in the journal Cretaceous Research . The fossils include bones and teeth from three-metre long adults and an arm bone from a 1.5 metre long baby. They hint that the...

Tucked on the backside of the BNSF railroad's massive Barstow yard is fitting tribute to the railroads that forged their existence traversing the vast inhospitable  southwestern American desert. Over the decades the vast majority of this country's commerce through this region either in the form of goods from the East and Midwest being shipped to Los Angeles or as is the case today goods from Japan and China going the other way.  The museum has several examples of diesel locomotives, cabooses and other rolling stock that once served both the Union Pacific and Santa Fe (Now BNSF) railroads in this area of country. Inside the museum are numerous other artifacts from the history of western railroading.  My personal favorite of the bunch is ex Santa Fe FP45 passenger locomotive #95. I have fond memories of seeing these locomotives as well as their freight hauling cousin the F45 in action during the 1970s and 80s.      Here is the history of the Barstow sta...

American band, formed in 1974 by Chris Stein and Deborah Harry. Drummer Clem Burke and keyboard player Jimmy Destri joined in 1975. In 1976 they released their first album "Blondie". The band embraced a wide variety of pop music styles (New Wave, British Invasion Rock and Roll, Garage Rock and Roll, Disco, Reggae, Latin rhythms, and Hip-Hop). Inducted into Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 (Performer). 10. Union City Blue (1979) Union City Blue is a song by the American rock band Blondie from their fourth studio album Eat To The Beat . The song was written by bassist Nigel Harrison and vocalist Debbie Harry. The song is about Debbie's experiences acting in the 1980 film Union City. The song did not appear in the film for contractual reasons. 9. Picture This (1978) "Picture This" was written by Chris Stein, Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri. According to Destri, Debbie Harry wrote the lyrics while Destri wrote the verse melody and Stein the chorus. Destri explained...

From Dynamite Entertainment   Red Sonja has been invincible, immortal, and through it all she is Unbreakable! Dynamite invites fans to check out her new flagship title launching this October, helmed by Hyborian legend Jim Zub. "I grew up on a steady supply of sword & sorcery novels, comics, and games in my youth and they indelibly imprinted on my mind in ways that inform all my work," said writer Jim Zub. "I’m absolutely pumped to bring that to Red Sonja. This time I have more room to explore what drives her and the depths she’ll go to overcome threats wildly stacked against her." The She-Devil With a Sword soars toward her huge 50th anniversary in 2023. To lead fans into the big celebration, Dynamite is proud to present a sweeping story of high adventure to join the canon. Acclaimed writer Jim Zub returns to write the character, but for the first time with full focus and an extended take. This series follows his previous collaborations on the beloved Conan/Red ...

Written By: Ken Hulsey Sources: Wilmington Morning Star (Saturday August 25, 1979) / Associated Press An archived newspaper article from 1979 has just become available through Google that reveals some information about a proposed Godzilla movie that was to be released in conjunction with the monsters 25th birthday. If you know your G history you probably already know that Toho played around with two different ideas for a Godzilla movie to be released in 1980, one being "Godzilla vs Bagan" and the other entitled "The Resurrection of Godzilla." It is the second film for which I believe this article is referring to. Check this out: Godzilla Returning As Nuclear Hero Associated Press TOKYO - Godzilla, the Japanese movie monster who first stomped across movie screens 25 years ago as a film argument against the A-bomb will make a comeback next year as the hero of a nuclear power plant accident. Born in the south seas as a result of U.S. atomic-bomb testing, and a veteran ...