Elliot´s Trackside Diner April 2011

It´s a few minutes before 1 am, so I took the liberty to move the Diner to a new location for the month. As no hint was given where to move it to, I thought a bit of narrow gauge air would not be hurting us.

Man, I tell you!  Go to check out the plumbing out back, come back and the place has been moved......  Well , here is what i just posted at the old place only to find a message telling me to get moving....

(Oh, thanks Ulrich!  I like the spot you chose!  Great minds think alike I guess.)

Evenin' folks!

Flo, I'll have the fish and chips with the salad bar for supper tonight.  Need a cup of decaf to go along with that I guess.

Garry, congratulations on coming over to the bright side of computing.  Hope you enjoy the iMac and that it serves you well for many, many years!

Yep it seems to be time soon to move again.  How about we return up toward the North and help to bring some needed sunshine and warm weather up with it??? 

I have been spending much of the day doing some decalling.  I won't be able to show you what it is or what I am doing until after the Spring NMRA Meet in Hammondsport next week (Saturday the 9th.)

Later!

73

Good Evening..

I was about to post at the diner then discovered the land was bereft of the diner!!  

I was looking high and low for it and lo and behold ...there it was...

How we been doing mmm?

I've been doing rather well considering that my blood sugar dropped like a stone this afternoon..too much running around I guess

Chloe, I'll just have a coffee and a small apple please...I'll be at the RC for now...

Nice new location and diner. PA is a nice location for the diner.

Flo I would love a beer, but it has to be coffee tonight.

Well it has thunderstormed all day and continues to do so. What a miserable day. Hopefully tomorrow will be dry. The guy that I ordered my last 14  turnouts from, emailed me a little while ago that they were in and I could  pick them up on saturday at the club. This makes me vey happy. Once I get these down it is on to the flex  track.

Ulrich-  Can you order what you need directly from WS or is the shipping ridiculous?

Chris- I had a similar problem (my mistake caused it) and after taking the tip off I was able to use a toothpick in the ports behind the tip and where the siphon tube goes into the bottom of the brush, then blow thinner through the brush. I have a Badger.

A guy at work showed me how to display 2 programs at the same time (I am computer dumb) so I am going to try to post a picture this way. The fiirst time failed and I lost my post here.

So (not a needle pulling thread), we're in....Pennsylvania? Huh. Always wanted to visit PA. Thanks for handling the move again, ULRICH!

CURT: Thanks for the tip Pally! I often shoot thinner through the brush, just to make sure she's cleaned out, before running paint. Guess what I didn't do this last time????

But, I WAS able to run thinner through it during the soak and rinse. It (the jar/siphon tube/"spout") gave every indication of being cleaned out. The more I think about it, the "clog" HAS to have been in the angled metal spout. I would've seen it for sure in the plastic tube. I guess it doesn't really matter, the problem is allegedly solved, life goes on. Since this is the first real trouble I've had with the unit in...however many years I've had it...I'll continue to be happy with the Harbor 'O Freight airbrush. I mean, if THAT is the biggest "crisis" of my week...it'll be a pretty doggone good week.

"Facetime" with THAT Editor in the morning...just can't wait.

Chris

Pennsylvania huh? May get some of that coal. Doesn't hold a candle to the Welch stuff though.

finally got a lift kit for my Jeep. Turns out my dad now wants to replace the left front door and right front fender. We were supposed to start working on it today. That didn't happen. Sure enough my dad's got work lining up now that we start something other than a work project. , That much figures. Happens every blinking time I plan something, always tends to blow up right in my face. I'll be in the corner booth for a while. 

Dern it Ulrich!

You moved it so fast my head spins!

{and I am dizzy already}

Slice of chocolate cake, please.

Have a good night y'all.

Cheers! Rob

Zoe,  Don't put that cake away. I'll have the other half of it that Rob left.

Nice setting here in PA. Are we far from the Horseshoe Curve ????????????

Johnboy out................................and to bed,  work in the morning.

Yay the diner's in my state :) though Orbisonia's kind of a trek from Dutch country, but whatever, always worth the trip. For tonight I'll take all Japanese food some Peanut Avocado sushi, spicy stir-fry and Umeshu please :)

So, what's up lately? Getting my taxes done tomorrow, United Way program that does free tax prep for low income individuals. I also just sent in my resume and cover letter for a job 8-blocks from the row-home with all the cats.

I've decided to work on creating the 1949 Crescent in HO. I've just gotten some awesome advice from folks on a mailing list and have acquired one of several essential pieces, a like-new P2K E8 diesel in proper Southern green and cream. 

Alvie

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

Morning

It will get  a little brighter out there...going to be a mix of sun/cloud and the high will be 45F ...

I have a  few things to pick up today for the weekend....

Flo, i'll just have a coffee for now..I'll be a the RC for a bit..

Italian Roast coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please.

While working on cleaning up my art studio, discovered some little roof parts for my wife's (HO) model, "Stan's Diner". This weekend will be warm enough to spray paint outside again so will add this to my To Do list.

Have a great day y'all.

Rob

Good Morning,

Galaxy living in the country isn’t that bad.

JR, more snow tonight; I already have a shipping label to FWD it to you…

Ray, you cut the trip pins off, that have trip pin pliers to adjust those.  In the future if you sell those cars or decide you want to use the magnetic uncouples your going to be in a jam. Just IMHO.

Someone needs to lock up the old dinner; I didn’t see a button…

Good Morning All,

    PA eh? I like it. Not too bad a commute either and next week I'll be in the Poconos. Regular and a couple of blueberry donuts please Zoe. Like the pics posted too. The first is from MR in the 70's I believe and the Pennsy steamer was shot not too far from here I believe (Mauch Chunk?) or Jim Thorpe? anyway out Pittsburgh way I believe.

    Did I sleep through it or did we miss Sawyer being published in Model Railroad News Oct2010? Very nice 2 page article describing how he designed his layout and basic how to stuff. Very nicely written and his personality comes through as well. I'm impressed (not that counts for much, eh?). I don't subscribe but we hand the magazine around at the museum so i just got the issue in question.

   Have to pick up a car in North Bergen N.J. this morning so I'm happy the snow has missed us so far. Just a light dusting last night and none so far today. Had a bit of a scare though. We're picking the car up from a bonded warehouse as it came over from Merry Olde on a freighter. I am sending a tag trailer with a ramp door and wanted to make sure they had ground level loading available (no way to get a car off a loading dock into the back of the tag). When I phoned up to check they told me I had to speak with (ulp) Vinnie on the loading dock. However hewasn't there just then (probably helping the ladies get ready for the EBT move) so I spoke with someone else and am off the hook for now(whew). Who knew?

    Finished the layout lighting last night  and can now start to think about getting the 2" foam for the top. I plan on using Peco turnouts and THAT will be easier with the 2" as I just need to burrow down under the switch bar for clearance and I'm done since the turnout switches mount directly to the track. Also need to see if the asphalt based track bed I prefer is still available. I only have two rolls left from before. Didn't like the WS foam bed much - seems to transmit too much noise once ballasted.

  Time to skedaddle. Hope the rest of you are doing ok/better. Hopefully Galaxys' house hunting will pick up once the weather finally breaks.   C.U.L. , J.R.

Good Morning!! Coffee and a stack of buttermilk flapjacks please. Thank you

A 50 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54.

Looks around outside…..Looks like a good spot. Narrow gage huh? Boy That’ll put the skids to those who show up in a speeder. Apparently, last time J.R. was down there servicing the wheels, he added a little bit of the James Bond/Green Hornet stuff. Adjustable wheel spacing. Cool.

Garry- Kinda hard for me to understand what you’re typing there. Like Ray’s I have trouble making out what you say. Not sure if it’s because of the compatibility issues between Mac’s and PC’s or not.

Rather miffed. Nothing in the Walthers flyer say “free to Todd” again this month.

Well, the wet paper towel seemed to want to do better, except for the tear factor. Ya, that was fun. I use the heavier, yet unquilted or patterned whatever kind, but getting wet prior to dipping in plaster was a bit to much I guess. They're getting harder to find around here, but they are there and fairly cheap. They are a lot like the blue shop towel paper towels but not as heavy or expensive. Or blue. Anyway, wetting wasn’t the answer. Thinning, as obvious as it may seem, was. Gotta make the plaster thinner than suggested. I was afraid there would be a hardness issue, or should I say sturdiness. The trick will be that fine line between thin…..and too thin. Oh well, Just add another layer I suppose. Not like you’ll see it when done and say “Gee…..”

Gonna head down in a bit to w**k a little more on the area. I find if I get down there before I have to do my morning chores, I stand a better chance than waiting til after. People have a tendency to change my plans later in the day if you know what I mean.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

Good Afternoon,

after another sleepless night, I thought it to be a wise move to get a nap. I just woke up, feeling eve more tired now.

Chloe, I need my coffee in an IV bag this time, please.

Curt - I went to the WS homepage, just to check the shipping charges. They´d amount to a horrendous $ 38.75, turning a $ 50 order into something like $ 120 landed cost in Germany, duty and VAT paid. Now if you tell me which bank to rob, I will place my order with them. I guess Ken will nominate the Bank of A for that venue.

The dang thing is that this is the scenic material for just one of my mini modules! There is no way I could ever justify such an expenditure to Petra.

Maybe I should change hobbies, like collecting bottle caps.

This is starting to eat me up.

Have good day!

Ulrich,

    Have you tried trainworldonline ? They have better prices and most everything in stock. The other obvious place is Walthers. Both will figure overseas shipping before you confirm the order. Just sounds like a lot of cost even before you add in your VAT, etc. All this leads me to ask why someone doesn't start a similar mailorder scheme for those of you in the EU ? Now there is an oppourtunity just waiting. No store needed, just a warehouse and shipping arrangements or do the individual countries still have all the silly restrictions on shipments within the European Union? Might be a business plan worth looking into?   J.R.

Morning All,

Flo I would love a sausage biscuit and coffee please.

The rain stopped finally. The high today is supposed to be 81. It is still cool out due to the moisture in the air from the rain.

Recieved my new work schedule for May-Sep.I did  well. I will be working Mon, tue, wed. I do 2-16 hr shifts and 1-8 hour shift. I talked to my new partner last night and told him we would  give ourselves the title "Grumpier Old Men". Several people at work call me Walter (Jeff Dunham). Oh well, I am what I am. I don't have a lot of compassion for stupid people, and there are a lot of them.

Ulrich- Sorry about your modeling situation. I figured that shipping would be ridiculous. When I was looking for track alignment tools I  found a guy in Turkey that had what I wanted, luckily if you bought 4 items (not overly expensive) you get free shipping.The downside is it took about 2 months to get here.

I am at w**k today so no modeling today.

I will check in later. Everyone have a great day.

 Morning PA!

 Flo, just a diet dew to go, off to work.

 Ulrich, is it the cost of shipping or the import taxes makes it that much?

 You know, I have a customer that is going to Germany in June, I wonder if I could get him to take the supplies you need? Worst he can say is no. Would that be smuggling?

             Ken

last mountain & eastern hogger

Zoe,  Don't put that cake away. I'll have the other half of it that Rob left.

Nice setting here in PA. Are we far from the Horseshoe Curve ????????????

Johnboy out................................and to bed,  work in the morning.

It's about 60 miles.

Tom

Good morning. It's 57° and mostly cloudy. The high will be 79° with patchy clouds.

Nothing on the schedule today except paying bills and buying groceries. I can pay most of the bills online but there are three that must be paid in person as they don't except payments over the internet. Some companies insist on living in the dark ages. I may get some layout work done later depending on how I feel.

Jeff- I have the same enginne house as you, although I did not build  it as a drive through. Can you tell me what you applied to the red bricks to make them appear well used?

Me again,

importing from the US pays off if you get rock-bottom prices, which some of our importers get. Customs adds 10% to the total, including shipping, VAT another 19% on top of all.  WS products are widely unknown over here, most folks use Noch, Busch or Faller products. As I am pretty much settled on WS products to capture the lush green Japanese scenery, I will have a hard time to find an alternative. Well, time will tell...

Zoe, coffee and a handful of those gorgeous looking cookies, please.

Jeff - another nice billboard!

Ken - if declared as a gift, any purchase below $ 50 would be free of any duty or VAT. But taking it along, finding a post office and mailing it here is too much of a hassle to do. I am sure I will come up with a "brilliant" way of solving my sourcing problem - without adding $ 70 to the bill!

TTFN

Curt Webb

Jeff- I have the same enginne house as you, although I did not build  it as a drive through. Can you tell me what you applied to the red bricks to make them appear well used?

Good grief Jeff! While that loco's in the engine house, you need to build a little power washer and hose that thing off. Uh..., see'uns how  you have "nothing else to do" you know. (chuckle)

We have a friend in some friends in Pennsylvania. Good state. The Pennsylvania Railroad Museum is worth visiting, too.

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe I'll have a short stack of Pennsylvania Dutch Buttermilk Pancakes with some new Maple Syrup for the Maple trees down the road to go along with a mug (or two) of dark roast coffee in my FGLK Mug, Please and Thank You!

Looks like the trees have started to bud out now that April is here....  I forget who it was that is 60 miles away from the diner's location...  I am an hour and a half away.  "You might be from Upstate NY if you measure distance by time...."

Dark dreary day outside, but we are well away from the April Fools day Nor'easter roaring up the East Coast at the moment.  May get a some sprinkles and a few flacks, but nothing more.

Jeffrey, nice shot of the engine house! 

I hope to have the Passenger Cars done with decals by the end of the day (Or close to it).

Best get doing some things needing to get done.

Later!

73

Orbisonia, PA to Euclid, OH = 274 Mi, 5 hours 12 minutes