Good Morning All,
13F out and with the wind chill it's down to 9 with a high to be 22. I'll have a regular and a g;azed donut please - did Der get the shipment of TH's off to us.? I'm looking forward to another Dutchie - yum!
Was in the shop late last night (well late for me anyway) as we w..k to finish up the Chevron for next week. Want to make sure I still have time to go to Springfield this weekend - with Dick possibly only going Sunday it'll leave me much more stuff to snap up!
Hope everyone's doing better healthwise or at least continuing to improve. Cheers, J.R.
Whoops. Guess I fell asleep in here last night. Oh well, since I'm here I'll have fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, put them in a pile and cover with sausage gravy please. Coffee too thanks. Lots of coffee something has my head closing in on itself. The coffee should open it up. Too bad it's not spring I could get some sasafrass tea.
Lee- good luck on the roundhouse. I hope a bidding war starts. Prices many times jump up in the last few hours you know.
Why is it in the planning stages of the highspeed trains, (or anything the government wants to do) everything is great. Then when it's ok'd and the wheels start turning everyone comes out with the downside and facts. Why don't the show up sooner.
As much as I'd love to step back in time and use passenger trains more, I just don't believe that with todays mindset you can ever get enough people to take the train. Unfortunately to tell someone they can go from St Louey to Chi Town in 3 hours will only draw a few people away from commuter flights. and even fewer from driving. That, I don't think, will be enough to justify the expense or even keep it going. I would choose the train, shoot I choose it now. The few times I need to travel a distance and a car is not required, I'll take the train. but I'm not enough people to make the thing fly. I'd love to see a train stop here again. Not likely, but that would mean commuters are using trains and the traveller is using trains, business is up, maybe some commuter packages would become available, like bus passes. Life would be grand. Who knows, the return of steam? Hey, a scrubber system and a steamer burning waste oil? Sounds like a plan. Oh well that's just me.
Have A Great Day!!
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
Todd, prime example; I want to go from Cleveland to Columbus, OH. By car its 143 miles one way, 2.5 hour trip at $17. By train its 2.5 hour trip at $25. By train I need to rent a car or hire a taxi to go from my house to the train station, and then I need to do the same in Columbus to get to my destination adding an extra $100 to the train trip. Now nobody is going to think about this additional $100 expense until they actually set the schedule and the fares. Or they will totally ignore this additional $100 and wonder why they have no ridership. Currently the railroad is baffled why the ridership is so low now.Now if you ran a short train from the suburbs into downtown Cleveland where the daily commuters could ride M-F for $80 to $100 a month you would need to add extra cars to every train! Parking in downtown is around $80 to $100 plus fuel and traffic it would sell like hot cakes.If you go with a high speed train, who is going to ride it and to where? I doubt a ticket anywhere will be less than $95. Maybe we need to look at a high class rail service like the Super chief, or the 20th Century limited. Don’t model it as a train ride; model it as an overland cruise ship. 4 days and 3 nights; NYC, Chicago, Denver, Grand Canyon, San fran. With all the Cruise Ship amenities.
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Good Afternoon,
St. Peter is dumping tons of that white stuff onto us! It is an outright "Schneesturm" or blizzard! The good thing about it is, that I still have that DIY cheque...
Janie, I´ll have my LKAB mug full of cafe au lait and a slice of that delicious looking pecan pie, thank you.
Lee, since in the US, the train stations are not really downtown, IIRC, and local public transport is not really available, it sure does not make sense to take a train under these circumstances. As soon as you have to start the motor of your car to go anywhere, other forms of transport will lose out.
If I were to go to Hamburg from my place, I´d have a 5 minute walk to the train station and a thirty minute train ride into Hamburg. I can cover all of Hamburg with that $ 15 ticket, including the return trip. Now if I´d taken my car, it would have cost me $ 19,50 for gas and another $ 20 for 3 hours parking. If I were to add depreciation, insurance, tax and the likes, my trip to Hamburg would be well over $ 50 as compared to the $ 15 for the train. Now, that´s for short distance. If I had to go from my place to, say Frankfurt, the gas bill for the return trip would amount to over $ 200 and I would have to spend 8 hours on the road. By train it´d cost me about $ 100 and the train ride back and forth would be 6 hours...
Nope, you can in no way make a comparison between the US and Germany - just imagine the US having 2,2 billion citizens...
Thanks for the best wishes, guys. Had dinner at La Tapatia last night as planned. Here's a photo documenting restaurant servers' method #3 for embarrassing customers:
No, the ice cream didn't explode when the "fuse" burned down.
Mark
Good Mid-Morning
'Spring' is all curled up between my arms so I'm typing in a kinda single finger hunt/peck mode.
It is snowing out and we are sitting at -11C with the windchill at -18C. It's just generally CCCOLD out there
Mark: Looks like a fun little place---
Chloe, I'll just have a coffee for now----I'll be at the RC
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Mark, how do you keep the hat from catching fire???
Ulrich, the problem is AMTRAK is seperate from the local buses or city train. So the fees just pile up, plus I think Diesel and Gas in the States is cheaper than Europe. Not sure, I think Diesel here is running between $2.50 and $3 a gallon. Right now even in the cold my diesel truck gets 24 miles per gallon. Long trips I get to decide when I'm going, if the train was closer I would take it to work everyday since the station is closer to my office than my parking spot. The bus has to run through the bad part of town and for safety reasons I drive to work everyday.
Good late afternoon. Its cold, and cloudy. edit: Its currently 10 and wind chill -1. Dang winter!!!!
Started on a swamp for my layout yesterday. Its going to be near the shipping dock. I will probably have to add a bit more color. Then some weeds, old trees, etc.... Hopefully I can get some pictures up later next week.
Sawyer/Barry.....I found a few spots (derail) were do to soldering. It does get you mad a heck thou.
Mark....I agree with Lee. That's a BIG candle .
Chris....I will try to get some pictures this weekend for you. I will PM you. I'm with you....I'm sure we will think of something.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
"Coffee"..
Good morning all~ Just dropped for a quick cup.. and to ...
TOM~ ? I"ve been following your paint job. Thought I'd throw my two cents in. When you started talking about painting.. I was thinking more in the lines of this
color. Maybe I'm wrong.. just my two cents... but if I were to repaint.. I'd strive for more of this color and L@@K!
Ok.. thats it for me.. not too much to talk about anyways.. other than I am planning on doing some serious work on the layout today.
Bye Keith
Lee - gas is $ 7,40 a gallon here in Germany! Prices like that make train travel attractive:
Mark - must have been one of those nomex straw hats!
High speedrail has a place as commuter rail where you can run spokes from a central point (much like Sam is doing). the train takes 27 hours (32 for the local) from Miami to New York. If it ran on time that would w.rk but it is always late bacause it has to share the tracks south of DC and they are crowded and in really poor shape. A dedicated passenger route would boost things considerably as much of the winter disruptions cascade for weeks on that air route. The areas around New York already are prime commuter rail matireal as is the area around Boston. Federal money there would allow the double tracking and signalization of the Danbury - Norwalk line as well as the expansion of service north to New Milford - maybe even re electrification (the catenary between Danbury and Norwalk came down in the sixties). Those things make sense. Lots of the moneyshould be spent on free or subsidized commuter parking and other ammenities (like ticket booths and terminals) to make the experience less painful. I use Metro North to get to NYC (60 miles) from here as it is cheaper and often faster as is. There is free parking in Brewster or Danbury for the car so no need for taxis. I think the days of taking the train on an intercity basis is over except for the larger population centers. That was really driven home while on holiday in Ca. watching the commuter rail whizz by as we sat in traffic on the freeways around L.A. I'll get off my soapbox now.
Ulrich.. you of all people should recognize that locomotive. Nice to see you're up at this hour.
Keith
Sir Madog Lee - gas is $ 7,40 a gallon here in Germany! Prices like that make train travel attractive:
Keith - interesting loco, where did you get it from?
It is a class 44 ÜK 2-10-0 freight loco, with WW II changes made, mainly simplification. The grey color is also correct. ÜK means "Uebergangskriegslokomotive" or "Provisional War Loco". They were built to last "only" for 5 - 7 years, but actually some of them saw service until 1977, when steam finally ended in West Germany.
Ulrich, I got that off of ebay. The looks.. the everything was nice. But to be truthful, I'm pretty sure it won't run on my tracks. Yes, I bought for looks. If you remember way back when .. you and I talked about certain train stations. I had told you of my glass canopy station.. and the building that goes with it. Well, you knew the station and the whole setup. To me.. even if I have to place this loco on 'dead' tracks..just for scenery.. well so be it.~ I just thought it would look nice sitting near this station. You remember?
Mornin'...... "Alive, Awake, Alert, Enthusiastic..... Alive Awake Alert zzzzzzzzzzzzzz"
Huh? What? Uh, Where am I? Oh! Shakes head, takes deep breath...... I must have fallen asleep in the back last night. Mornin' zoe! Coffee! Lots of coffee! I don't give a flying **** what mug you serve it in!
Slept like a rock and didn't even roll over until 10AM this morning. Amazingly I feel pretty good. I have to head out and help my son finish unloading the last load as he has to get the truck back by 5PM today. We made 3 full (and I do mean full) loads in the 24' bed high cube to get everything from the 2 houses. My son said they finally said "close enough" at 11:30 last night and went home. MIL and DIL are cleaning the MILs house today. Art and I have to w*rk at the new house. I have a load of their **** in my Yaris so I will drive that out there.
Currently Sn*wing outside with the temp at 11°F. High will get all the way up to 12*F. Lucky the wind has did down so the wind chill is in the - single digits at the moment. Remind me never to move in January in NYS!
TMarshRay- And others moving their or others things. George Carlin had it right. Did you notice your things are referred to as "stuff" and other peoples things are referred to as s**t?
He got THAT one right! I would have referred to all of it as s**t but wanted to maintain some semblance of being nice so as not to be censored here.....
Two time zones in New York??? Man you miss the paper one day a+nd see what you miss???
Well the kitties are going to get fed early so I can get over to my son's house.
Later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
It's a balmy 50 here. It might make it up to 55. Somebody seems to have left the freezer door up north open. The word for to is thunderstorms, as in that's what we've been having. Just one after the other and with thunderclaps coming like a series of bomb blasts going off. I'll be glad when it ends.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Ugh...afternoon...coffee please.. No hot sauce for me today. That hurt yesterday. Nothing like waking up this morning to wind chills that make little icicles inside your nose when you breathe in. The car almost rebelled against me when I tried to start it. A balmy 50 degrees Jeff??...I can't remember the last time we hit that temp...maybe November? Got quite a bit done in the layout room last night. I love making Supertrees and the look they have. (my layout is set in autumn). Even my daughter got involved in the mess..she loves doing the dipping!! Although my wife hates the smell when I boil a big old pot of the armatures on the stove. She used to think I was crazy when I used to bake my bowling balls in the oven to desaturate the oil from them. Oh well..home from work early and I have a few hours before she gets off the school bus...so time to go downstairs and clean up last nights mess as the boys are coming over for a small operating session...well..more like watch the game and have some cold ones. Nothing like Friday night trains and games!!!...See ya all later for Dinner...Tim
A true friend will not bail you out of jail...he will be sitting next to you saying "that was friggin awesome dude!" Tim...Modeling the NYC...is there any other?
Blazzin "Coffee".. Good morning all~ Just dropped for a quick cup.. and to ... TOM~ ? I"ve been following your paint job. Thought I'd throw my two cents in. When you started talking about painting.. I was thinking more in the lines of this color. Maybe I'm wrong.. just my two cents... but if I were to repaint.. I'd strive for more of this color and L@@K! Ok.. thats it for me.. not too much to talk about anyways.. other than I am planning on doing some serious work on the layout today. Bye Keith
Keith:
That's pretty much the color she'll be after I get her all stripped down. Just a little darker. I use a mixture of Floquil Grimy and Weathered black, then dark graphite for the smokebox and firebox, and silver for the cylinder heads. Pretty typical Rio Grande steam scheme.
Someone remarked that by the time I get all the paint off, she might turn out to be N-scale, LOL! That's how thick it's plastered on.
Speaking of, time to get out into the garage and start the process. It's looking a little overcast today--supposed to have another bit of rain coming in this evening. Weatherman changed his mind again.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Jeff, thanks for that weather update. It's -2F here with the wind chill. If you have time can you send some of the 50F up this way, thanks.
Good Morning (well, for a few more minutes) Afternoon, Zoe - I'll have an open face hot roast beef sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes, please, side salad, and a RBF. Thanks!
TMarshLee- good luck on the roundhouse. I hope a bidding war starts. Prices many times jump up in the last few hours you know.
It's been doing that white stuff from the sky this morning, but not lots of it. Currently 21 F (-6 C) and a windchill of 7 F (-14 C). So the local schools are all letting out about now (of course, around here, there're all those out-of-town roads that the school folks don't want to risk having a bus go off of..). At w**k, it's been a hot bed of activity; mostly calls from people cancelling their appointments with the doctor and some cancelling therapy appointments. One of our contract therapists (poor gal) had one of her clients show up, two reschedule, and she's not sure if the 12 o'clock will show.Then there's her 4:00 appointment (and they tried to call the person, but the phone's out of service... ). Hard part for the contract therapists is, they don't get paid anything for the people who don't show. I've had NO calls so far, and nobody coming to walk-in clinic. So, I've been hunting down some new desktop pics ('wallpaper') and getting time to be caught up on my paperw**k.
Ulrich, yeah, at those prices you do have it more affordable for riding the train there. And I'd agree with much of what Lee was saying about the difference in the USA (Poo!...)(No, I did spell that correctly)
Mark, I'd be careful that they didn't singe your sombrero there (as Lee said)! That's something, all right (lemme think a bit as to what THAT is, though...)
Robby, if you're adding a swamp, you should take a look at those Busch 'little critters' that Ray and I got - they'd be just what you need for the swamp (Frogs, and newts and snakes, oh my!)
Keith, NICE locomotive there! And from the photos, it looks like you have been busy on the layout (and structure placement) since last time you posted.
I see that MR has a special coming up on back issues - anyone else get the email on that? Looks good, I just need to see if there are ones with articles I need/want and get my order ready for payday.
My credit union is doing some computer system upgrade (hardware, software or maybe both) over this weekend, Sat., Sunday and Monday, so their ATM's, and any access using my debit card won't be available (until Tues. a.m.). So that means I have to pull out whatever cash I might need for the weekend, and get whatever payments done today. Ah, well - I didn't want to order that Lamborghini just yet, anyway...
Jeff, I'm with Lee - you can send us some of that 'cold' 55 F weather, even with the thunderboomers!
Tom, I was that one commenting about the 'hidden N-scale' under all that paint - and good luck with getting all the stripping done that you need to do today.
I'll be at the window booth, checking out the icicles on the switcher's railings out there.
Blessings,
Jim in Cape Girardeau
Afternoon All...It cloudy and 18 here with about an inch of snow sounds like were gonna have a cold week-end...I'll have a bowl of chili with cheese and a diet Coke please...Thank you..
I finnished up a B-man caboose a feller sent me that he was practicing weathering on..I cleaned it up put new couplers and trucks on it,removed the roof walf,made new end rails,painted it with $ Store orange and flat black rattle cans and walthers decals..Its pretty ruff but its gonna be a runner and as always I use the 2 foot rule...
You all have a good week end....Jerry
Jim.......I thought about adding some animals. I just painted and poured the swamp today. That will take a day or so to dry. I will try to get some shots up next week.
Afternoon. The Church's grill is out of the garage thereby removing any excuse I have for not cleaning up the area for Brenda's car to resume it's rightful place.
Lee- Exactly my thinking. You know, maybe the people planning this project should have a panel of people like us (all of us) to come up with ideas based on reality. Like you said I believe if they made packages similar to what people do with parking, monthly weekly etc, with a bit of tweaking I bet the rail service would at least be self sufficient. I don't see how they feel that just having it will make people use it.
Jerry- You must've taken the picture from 2 feet away. Looks pretty good to me.
SWAMP CASTLE!!! "........so I built a third one. It burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up!" Sorry got carried away abit there.
Thought maybe that might cheer Ray up. He seems to be getting a liiiiiiittle bit testy.
jeffrey-wimberly It's a balmy 50 here. It might make it up to 55
I'll take it. You can keep the T-storms though. I don't want to be greedy.
TMarsh SWAMP CASTLE!!! "........so I built a third one. It burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up!" Sorry got carried away abit there. Thought maybe that might cheer Ray up. He seems to be getting a liiiiiiittle bit testy.
That just might do the trick. Though on the other hand----it just might set him off on the other direction He does sound a liiiiittle out of sorts doesn't he?
aaaahhh! the glorious sun is out----although that usually is associated with bitter CCCCOLD and raw winds. Oh well---another week of CCCOLD is ahead of us
I've got a few parts placed around for the coop that will grace the central part of Anson. I'm going to do some "datamining" tonight on some image banks to come up with some workable ideas from them as well.
Chloe, I'll just have a coffee for now---I'll be at the corner booth ---warming up
Good evening ....
I completed my F3 B-unit and it is now in WPF.
Vincent asked yesterday if CB&Q F-units lasted into the BN merger. I'm not certain, but I think none of the CB&Q were still in the fleet when the merger took place about 1970. In the 1960's the CB&Q traded its F-units in for second generation units such as GP20's, GP30's, GP35's and GP40's.
It's snowing here. So far it is not enough to keep me from going out in the truck for a while. Cheers, everybody.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
A bowl of chili, please & thanks.
Rain/sleet/ice here tonight into tomorrow. Got some gas for the generator, just incase.
Caught two CSX trains in town today. Two medium-large locos moving a smattering of mixed freight by the textile factory while two BIG diesels hauling loaded coal cars slowly passed through with horns blaring.
Enjoyed browsing through the new MRR mag today. Sure wish I could win a Lottery, as there are more trains I would dearly like to have. Isn't that always the case though?
Rob
Good evening gents, I see that Fergie and Duke must have here along with Ed as my BD cake is all gone.
8F here now under the full Wolf moon, and wind chill is -6F, the NW winds blew hard all night and all day and still are hitting 20 to 30 in gusts. Wind chill on top of Mt. Washington is currently -60F . You dont stay outside long in that weather.
Got more work done on layout, table 2' extension built, 2" foam glued down, now I have to lay the foam riser for the loop track from the adjacent room layout.
TODD: No more carrying foam boards for me on windy days, I thought I was going to go airborne.
JERRY: Nice job on the Caboose !!! Very well done !!
Anyone heard from Oregon Sue lately ?
Later guys,
WOO-HOO!!! Got the little lady down to the raw brass today. Took about six applications of Jasco and about three baths in linseed oil, but she's happily soaking in a bath of vinegar, hot water and Palmolive dish soap for an hour or two right now.
Got the boiler and tender done, still have to do the front cylinder deck and rear cylinders. I'm not going to take THOSE apart--just very CAREFULLY apply the paint thinner and linseed oil (no plastic, so I can just kinda/sorta 'dip' it while I use the toothbrush to get the gunk off). I just don't want to have to re-connect all of that eccentric gear back into the cyinders--this baby has more eccentric gears than almost any other articulated I've ever seen. Actually, I was surprised at how easy she was to get into to remove the boiler. Four screws and--wham! Lifted right off.
So I'll let her 'cure' for a couple of days, then start the Great Re-Painting Project.
Oh, BTW, Jim: She WAS HO after all, LOL! But OMYGAW was that paint thick! It lifted up in SHEETS!
While her boiler was off, I did a couple of minor adjustments to her running gear--and ran her in some more. She's going to be a sweetie, but whoever owned her before removed the boiler weight, so I'll have to get out some lead sheeting and do a little re-balancing inside the boiler. Right now, she'd be a little 'light' for the grades on the Yuba River Sub. Now that I've finally gotten into her, she's been through the MILL! I'm sure grateful to Bob Zimmerman at Caboose Hobbies for working her drive train before he sent her out.
So when she's all put back together, I'll post pictures. With all of the paint off, she's just cute as a button! Those 3400's were the Rio Grande's "little" 2-8-8-2's, and had a TON of 'character'.
Evening all. Janie, I'll take a RBF and a cheesesteak, thanks.
Well, ended up not getting to catching up last night... Every time I go to catch up, something happens and I can't...
Anyways, I got all my exam grades back:Chem H- 94Theo 2- 97English 2H- 86Algebra 2H- 75US History 1- 99 (I missed one question, so I got a 149/150. Really happy about the grade, but so mad that I missed that one point...)Spanish 2- 99
So pretty good. Report cards will be mailed soon, and Powerschool will be open soon as well, where I can see every individual grade. I will also need to choose my classes.
Well, on Wednesday, I was able to make a very special and rare train catch. I heard on a not-to-be-named forum that a very old and rare locomotive would be at the Morristown & Erie shops for an overhaul. Know what it was? It was none other than an EMD BL2!!!!!
This unit was built as BAR 54, and is now Stourbridge Line (SBRR) 54, in tourist service on Pennsylvania. I doubt that many people (especially anyone my age) these days have seen a BL2, nevermind one that is operational! Now, I feel a sudden urge to model this baby...
Now, I'm SERIOUSLY going to catch up. For real. Legit.
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