Your Avatar Picture

[jbsmith]

Tell us about your avatar picture if you use one!
The pictures are usually small and sometimes difficult to figure out What the
photo is of.
So I will start this with my own.
Mine is a shot of a  triple header. With a 4-8-4 in the lead.
The Locos are in order:
A.T.S.F #3751,  FP45 #97, FP45 #65?  It looks like 65 to me when I zoom in.
And what looks like some sort of passenger combine behind the F-45s'.

The photo was shot in the Cajon Pass of Southern California.
Here is a larger view.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=132186&nseq=139

Your turn!

[NarrowMinded]

Mine is an O scale pickup truck that I weathered to sit on my layout

NM

[jonathan]

I change mine on a regular basis.  Right now it's the Varney "Little Joe" that I recently brought back to life.  Usually, I use something from my layout as an avatar.

Regards,

Jonathan

[az2rail]

Mine is "chupacabra". I mythical creature from Mexico that feeds by sucking the blood from other animals, preferably a goat.

Bruce

[Joe Satnik]

A shot of the Soo Line 2719 lifted to remove the drivers.

Click on the globe under the avatar to see a larger version. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soo_Line_2719

http://2719.com/

I was a crew member during the Ladysmith excursion in Summer 2001. 

Insurance quintupled after 9/11, putting her in storage. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[CNE Runner]

Since I generally model a long gone NY branchline in the late 1800s, my avatar portrays a scene reminiscent of those bygone days. The scene shows a runner - head out the window - scanning the rails ahead, as well as a semaphore signal just passed. I imagine a late summer afternoon: Hopewell Junction and the end of the day are on the runner's mind.

Ray

[ebtbob]

My Avatar pic is me,  operating at one of the GATSME Model Railroad Club's open houses wearing my favorite engineer hate,  blue with white pokadots.    You would be surprised,  how many people remember that hat if I don't wear it.

[jward]

mine is a photo of csx engine number 1, a ge ac4400cw. not that many railroads have a number 1.....

[mhampton]

I use a logo I designed for my railroad.

[Jim Banner]

Mine is me, mucking around with something model railroad related.  If you use Firefox, right click on it, then select "view image" for a larger view.  Jonathan has his avatar photo set up the same way  (you have to see his docksider if you haven't seen it before, and even if you have, it is worth another look.)

I don't know if I.E. has similar capabilities or not.  But there is always the option of copying and pasting the image into Windows Paint.

Jim

[NMWTRR]

I am a recent addition to this discussion board but recieved a lot of help on adding a decoder to my  0 6 0 tank locomotive from folks here so I added that as my avatar.

The shot is on my layout with 0 6 0 tanker in front of the Las Cruces,  New Mexico station I converted from a walthers kit.  The back drop is an image of the very rugged Organ Mountains outside Las Cruces.

[Bruce Chandler]

Mine is a picture of a narrow gauge boxcab that I built from a Bachmann 45 ton diesel.   

In the full picture, it's crossing a bridge and trestle on my railroad.

[jsmvmd]

Dear Guys,

Sorry to be so dense, but what is an avatar photo ?  The Webster definition of avatar is the bodily reincarnation of God.

Best Wishes,

Jack

[Jim Banner]

Jack, have a look at this list:  http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&safe=off&newwindow=1&q=define%3A+avatar&btnG=Search&meta=&aq=f&oq=

It turns out that "Avatar" is a word that has acquired a slew of new meanings since being taken over by web users.  Rather like the word "engine."  Somebody, somewhere thought the term "engine" implied big, powerful, capable of going places and doing things so they called their search program a "search engine" without any real understanding of the word.  They just liked the sound of it.  There are many more examples on the web and in advertising of adopting names for things based on how the names sound rather than what they really mean.  For example, are you willing to invest in property and move to a place called "Skunk Hollow"?  How about if we rename it "Green Valley"?  This is nothing new.  Even the Vikings named a chunk of rock and ice "Greenland" because it had better sales potential.

The term "icon" would be a better choice for a photo or image used to represent a person, place or thing.  But the word "icon" has a lot of negative baggage trailing behind it, not the least of which is some religions telling us to shun "graven images".  "Avatar" which you have rightly pointed out originally meant an embodiment and by implication an image of a god, has its own baggage.  Forgetting the words themselves for the moment, would you rather be represented on line by something that should be cast out (and by implication, you should be cast out along with it) or would you prefer to be represent on line by something that represents a god or at least a superior being that should be revered (and by implication, you should be revered along with it?)  "Avatar" even sounds nicer than "icon."  Icon not only has that hard "K" sound in the middle of it but it also sounds a lot like "I con" as in "I con people" or even "I'm a con".

If you love etymology, the (mis)use of words on the web is enough to make you laugh and cry at the same time.  But if you just see language as just a tool for transferring ideas from person to person with no worries about those ideas being comprehensible to anyone as little as a generation from now, then just go with the flow.

Jim

[jsmvmd]

Dear Jim,

Beautifully stated !

Methinks I wilst namest thou philosopher in residence.  Lest I resist all flow, one shall lend impedance to cathodic impulse.

Avatar it is !

Best Wishes,

Jack