Afternoon Diners.
Flo, Ed, Jan, Brent and I will have Crown Royal please.
YGW I just reparied a broken wire on the Athearn BB F7b. But I did install the harrness years ago and it was not that hard.
Just posted on the main page about my results on ATF on the rails. Feel free to comment.
Later, Ken
Hum, top of the page, Tab is on me.
I hate Rust
Rule G Amtrak employees involved in the backhoe crash didn't get the message
https://dms.ntsb.gov/pubdms/search/document.cfm?docID=448761&docketID=59509&mkey=92941
NTSB ruled Drugs or alcohol played no role in the severity or cause of the accident.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Good Morning, Folks!
I am up quite early today, but that´s nothing new. The nights are quite short at this time of the year, as we are closer to the arctic circle as you "Southerners"
For today´s feature of Ulrich´s Train Movie Theatre, we stay in Asia and take
A Journey To The Top Of The World - Riding The Qinghai Express
The Qinghai–Tibet railway or Qingzang railway is a high-elevation railway that connects Xining, Qinghai Province to Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region of China.
The length of the railway is 1,956 km (1,215 mi). Construction of the 815 km (506 mi) section between Xining and Golmud was completed by 1984. The 1,142 km (710 mi) section between Golmud and Lhasa was inaugurated on 1 July 2006, by Chinese President Hu Jintao: the first two passenger trains were "Qing 1" (Q1) from Xining to Golmud, and "Zang 2" (J2) from Golmud to Lhasa. This railway is the first that connects the Tibet Autonomous Region to any other provinces. Tibet, due to its elevation and terrain, is the last provincial level region in China to have a railway. Testing of the line and equipment started on 1 May 2006. Passenger trains run from Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xining, and Lanzhou.
The line includes the Tanggula Pass, which, at 5,072 m (16,640 feet) above sea level, is the world's highest point on a railway. Tanggula railway station at 5,068 m (16,627 feet) is the world's highest railway station. The 1,338 m (4,390 ft) Fenghuoshan tunnel is the highest rail tunnel in the world at 4,905 m (16,093 ft) above sea level. The 4,010 m (13,160 ft) New Guanjiao Tunnel is the longest tunnel and the culminating point 3,700 metres (12,100 ft) between Xining and Golmud and 3,345 m (10,974 ft). Yangbajing tunnel is the longest tunnel between Golmud and Lhasa. More than 960 km (600 mi), over 80% of the Golmud–Lhasa section, is at an elevation of more than 4,000 m (13,123 ft). There are 675 bridges, totalling 159.88 km (99.34 mi); about 550 km (340 mi) of track is laid on permafrost.
The trains are specially built for high elevation environments. The diesel locomotives were built by GE in Pennsylvania, and the passenger carriages are Chinese-made 25T carriages: on train Z21/Z22, between Beijing West and Lhasa, Bombardier Sifang Transportation (BSP) made carriages on the Golmud-Lhasa section in deep green/yellow or deep red/yellow. Signs in the carriages are in Tibetan, Chinese, and English. The operational speed is 120 km/h (75 mph) and 100 km/h (62 mph) over sections laid on permafrost.
Enjoy!
Good morning everyone!
Coffee time here! I missed a few lunches / dinners here lately! How is everyone?
Hey Ulrich!
Thanks for yet another fascinating video!
I do wish they had shown more of the technical details regarding how they built across the permafrost. Canada has a long history of building roads and railroads on permafrost, and there have been many successes and almost as many spectacular failures. There have been more than a few locomotives that simply sank out of sight into the quagmire, and there are stories of building wooden support structures only to have them sink out of sight when the surface thawed. I do admire the Chinese attention to minimizing the ecological damage done by constructing things in that environment. In the early days the Canadian construction companies didn't know any better (or didn't care). It has been suggested that a single bulldozer track through the tundra will take hundreds of years to heal, if it ever does thanks to climate change.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Give Ken two fingers of the aged stuff,(you know, the batch that is two weeks old)
Ken, left a response to your other post. There was a question as to:" where does everything go,"--don't know, don't care, track and wheels are clean, everything runs better than ever. Bottom line----
herrinchoker
I am pleased to announce that our club, The Barrie Allandale Railroad Modellers, has signed a lease for a new home. The only outstanding issue is to secure sufficient insurance to satisfy the landlord. Unfortunately the NMRA standard insurance isn't sufficient. We can start to move in on June 1st, that is if we have the insurance in place.
However, since nothing is ever simple, our dearly beloved and recently elected Club President has suddenly resigned. The fact is that he has too many other irons in the fire. And, our also dearly beloved Vice President has informed us that he is now working out of town and won't be around much. We are all sort of wondering what the heck just hit us?!? Not to worry. We have a number of solid members who I'm sure will rise to the occasion. I would put my name forward but I don't have a car during weekdays and I live about 40 kms away. If I were to drive my wife to work so I could have the van, that would be at least 50 minutes each way to her work and back, plus another 30 minutes to get to Barrie. Then I would have to be out of Barrie by 3:30 in the afternoon in order to pick my wife up at her work on time. That makes meeting the obligations rather difficult and costly, and I'm not about to buy a second car so I can get to the club through the week. The only way I could afford that would be to not build my own layout. Then again, I was just looking at a mint '75 Camaro Z1 for what seemed like a really good price, clean as a whistle.....or maybe we should buy my wife a Chevy Volt and get 1000 miles per gallon.... Dream on, dream on David!!
Cheers everybody!
Dave,
you are right - they should have shown some graphics about how the line was built on permafrost soil. From what I gather, quite a number of sections of the line are elevated, with the foundation of the supports going deep into the permafrost. Other parts are on dams, which are cooled by long trubes filled with ammonia.
I am not sure how true the statement of the line having been built with a minimum of an ecological impact is - I see this more as a markeing statement.
I am glad your club has found a new home!
Hi Ulrich,
I also noticed mention of sections where coarse rock was used in the road bed to allow the wind to push colder air under the roadbed to prevent things from thawing. I believe the same sort of concept is currently being used on the Alaskan Highway to reduce road buckling. My brother drove up the Alaskan Highway last summer. He was towing an Airstream trailer. He told me that the highway uses small red flags to indicate where the frost heaves are. One flag is going to give you a serious bump if you don't slow right down. Two flags will rattle your false teeth. Three flags will do damage, and four flags will likely knock your wheels off. He may have been exaggerating a bit, but he soon learned to watch for the flags!
Good morning ...
Ulrich ... That is an intersting video. Thanks for sharing it. At that altitude, I can see why they add oxygen to the cars.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Coffee and a side of WiFi for me... I guess I'll take a plate of eggs and sausage, too. Oh, and some toast. And fruit, can't forget that. I have no Earthly idea why I peeled out of the bed at 0230hrs... If anyone could answer that please let me know.
An artist sees the world in colors and patterns. An engineer sees the world in mathematical equations. Both help shape the World and are just as important as the other.
This is depressing. As some of you know, I'm gong through a divorce right now. The divorce itself does not bother me, but soon I will have to take down my layout, a labor of many years, and pack it up. I don't know where I'll be going yet or whether there will be room for a layout, so I may be packing them up for good.
I've also had a sore knee for months now. It's better, but I'm not sure it will ever recover enough for me to play hockey well again. I've continued to play, but overall my responses just aren't there. Some of that, I'm sure, is the medications, my "Old Man Pills" that I must take every day.
At least I can still ride my bicycle. Sorry to burden you guys with this.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
MisterBeasleySorry to burden you guys with this.
That´s what friends are for, Mr.B!
We have a proverb in Germany, saying that shared joy is twice the joy, but shared sorrow is only half of the sorrow!
MisterBeasley This is depressing. As some of you know, I'm gong through a divorce right now. The divorce itself does not bother me, but soon I will have to take down my layout, a labor of many years, and pack it up. I don't know where I'll be going yet or whether there will be room for a layout, so I may be packing them up for good. I've also had a sore knee for months now. It's better, but I'm not sure it will ever recover enough for me to play hockey well again. I've continued to play, but overall my responses just aren't there. Some of that, I'm sure, is the medications, my "Old Man Pills" that I must take every day. At least I can still ride my bicycle. Sorry to burden you guys with this.
Sorry to hear that! Hopefully when you get set up in your new place you can get set up. You may have to think outside of the box, but where there's a will there's a way!
Mr. B
Sorry to hear you are hitting a rough spot. I think the people here are glad to listen, so, please keep us in the loop as it is good to have a sounding board to bounce your thoughts and ideas off.
I hit a real rough spot years ago. I ended up walking into the bosses office and told him I would be back in three months. I got on a plane to Tahiti and carried on to several more countries after that. Without going into all the details of my travels, I was in a much better place when I returned. I think if I had a similar life changing event happen again, even with being an old geezer with health issues, I would stalk up on pills and start in Tahiti once again. One more thing, tough times are easier to get through if you stay well rested and get plenty of sleep.
It is sunny and warm but we had a real blow last night. Power was out, and we still don't have a TV signal.
I have been helping #1 son with his scheduling as he is booked up to July 14th for movie work, although that is always in a state of flux. He has had a lot of long days/nights working on
"The Predator".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3829266/
One day he got up at 0630hrs and was at school by 0800hrs, came home at 1200hrs, drove into Vancouver and was on set for 17 hours, walked in the door at 0700hrs the next morning, had a shower and went back to school. We were all young once. He got over a $1000.00 for that day.
He has been working with a small group of only eight extra's and has now had training in filming around burning car crashes, burning buildings and gunfire and explosions going off all around. They hide in a protective bunker right in the middle of the set while all the explosions and stuff go off and then run out through the destruction and carnage. The kid got to be the group leader and yell action to his group when word came over the radio.
The set was a few blocks in size in an upper class area in Vancouver. Many of the residents were put up in hotels for a few nights and it apparently looked like a total war zone by the time they were finished with the neighbourhood.
They shoot the scene of him doing his thing and then put a wig on him, change his clothes and have him do other things and it looks like it is different people in the scenes. One day he showed up and they said that after looking at the dailies, he had been in too much for that part of the movie and was becoming recognizable. He was there 10 minutes, they paid him a $100.00 and sent him home. He needed the sleep so he was happy.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Phewwww I am exhausted. Delivered two houses in two days. Folks that is like delivering twins two days in a row...Exhausted and wore out !! Now have to go catch up on other stuff that has been neglected so I could get these houses pulled out of the hole...
Hobby barn - Have the gravel driveway finally all filled in.. One pick up load at a time ! That is a LOT of shovels...
Brent - I assume that place in Vancouver is not really damaged and it is just props and slight of hand ? I would hate to be the residents and come back to a bombed out home !
Ulrich - I like that saying !
Mr. B. - Hang in there my friend. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and no it isnt the "J" coming at you...
Brass Boot leg - Howdy ! What does your name refer to ?
Dave - That has to be rough driving on that highway ! Geez ! Wo that is awful with the Pres and VP leaving! Who signed the lease ?
Yannis - Thanks for asking I am doing fine. Are you getting any modeling done ?
Angel - In N scale you may be able to use ceiling tile also. I have never heard of anyone using that but it has similiar properties. If you find a piece damaged at the store you can probably pick it up for little to nothing.
Where did Lion go ? Is he lost on the subway ?
DER - How are you ?
Howmus - I was wondering if one can get certs towards the Master Modeler by building a one to one scale building ?
History qoute of the day:
A leader is someone who helps improve the lives of other people or improve the system they live under.
Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives you may win Southern independence, but I doubt it. The North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche.
We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for present aid: none is at hand. We must now act or abandon all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children may bless their father's name.
TTYL
YGW
Hi everyone! Was told to stop by, like forever ago, but I've been kinda busy...
Had a crazy storm go by last night. Didn't really do much damage as far as I know, but it was one crazy lightning show.
Also prepping to go back to Cali for the month.
Also have my eye on a Big-Boy at the hobby shop, it seems to be at a pretty good price...
Hope everyone here is doing ok
And I'll have some chicken alfredo please :)
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Steven .... Wow ... Chicken alfredo magically appears. Lookd great.
Derrick .. (Blackwolf) .... Welcome to the diner. ... I saw your thread, and I am glad you are here..... My two cents: Most of the enjoyment in model railroading comes from what you make more than what you own. Therefore, I suggest you think about making things. .... A Big Boy is nice if you have a large layout with wide radius curves on which it can be operated. .... Remember, it is model railrodaing and not model locomotiving. I suspect, the guy with the most expensive locomotive does not necessarily have the most fun. ... You can have a lot of fun building a small layout with side tracks going into small industries while your only locomotive is a small switcher locomotive. That is easier on teh budget, too. .... Don't be afraid of making scenery. It is easier than you might think. ... My opinions for what they are worth.
Happy Model Rairlaoding ...
yougottawanta Brass Boot leg - Howdy ! What does your name refer to ?
Howdy! In my job I'm "kinda" in charge of things, but kinda not (expect for myself). While it's not really official, most people respect my opinion. But I don't really have any true power. So I consider myself bootleg (or slightly under the radar - think moonshine) brass of course being the ones that are actually in charge of things.
Mostly though, I'm left to my own devices (which I like). I make friends along the way, and sometimes people ask my opinion of a technical situation, so they tend to say okay when I provide my expertly unexperted technical opinion.
Mr B I feel your pain. A divorce was one of the hardest things I ever went through. There were kids involved and she did her best to get as much money as she could. Plus you have to move. If I were you, at your age, I would want a model railroad over ice hockey. Of course I never could skate worth a darn, but ice hockey doesn't seem like a good idea for us codgers.
I was looking at Facebook, which is frustrating. The idea is you keep up with friends and family, but it practice, they show you posts of some of your friends everyday and others a couple times a year. The ones that have no political tolerance are in your face every day.
HOWEVER a friend said he liked this video. It has a bit of adult language at the end but it is pretty spectacular
Mr. B...you already know my opinon, and I'm on your side! sent you a PM answer to yours.
Well, I have tonight off and finally got my garden planted. DOn't knwo if it will take or they will actually grow, they are late getting ina dn the seedlings I grew were too weak form being in the "incubator" too long.
On the other hand, i might actually get some apples this year, if the storms have not shredded the apples right out of the blossoms. ALso my cherry tree is budding!
Getting the front three trees out of the back yard will open it up quite a bit. that will happen in June. I just have to get the money together without touching the Hard line low level the emergency fund has gotten to. The van needs yet another repair, the ignition switch is giving me fits and starts adn doesn't always want to realease the key. another $25 fix. It might be simple for you guys to fix/replace, but not for me, i don't do much work on cars nowadays, never did really.
KEN: did you get teh wifey her own wally world meter? it's called RELI-ON meter.best of luck on that front, it's in the waltmert pharmacy section.
well, before my eyes close ont eh keyborrd, i will be off to sleep...
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Top of the night folks.
YGW, Yep, it is all movie props and magic. It is amazing how fast these movie crews can make a mess of things and fix them up again. If you want your house remodelled, lease it out for a movie or TV show and they will leave it pristine when they leave, with new paint and flooring throughout. We know a few people that have done it.
A friend of mine is in commercial real estate, he has been busy gobbling up all the real estate, in and around our own mini silicon valley in the greater Vancouver area for different companies, as hi tech firms are moving in parts of their companies at an incredible rate from elsewhere.
He came across this in his travels and told me to watch this story if I wanted a quick look into Quantum Computers. I think I will get one to help run the layout.
A good night to all.
Good Night, Brent, and
Good Morning Everybody!
It´s Father´s Day here, but I bet I won´t get a bouquet of flowers It is also Ascension Day, a public holiday, which makes it a quiet day - hopefully!
Today´s feature of Ulrich´s Train Movie Theatre takes us into a forbidden world - the world of freezing cold temperatures and permafrost, the world of ice and snow, but also the world of the blood, sweat and tears of toiling men in GuLags.
Ticket To Beijing -The Trans-Siberian Railway Documentary
The Trans-Siberian Railway) is a network of railways connecting Moscow with the Russian Far East. With a length of 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles), it is the longest railway line in the world. There are connecting branch lines into Mongolia, China and North Korea. It has connected Moscow with Vladivostok since 1916, and is still being expanded.
It was built between 1891 and 1916 under the supervision of Russian government ministers personally appointed by Tsar Alexander III and his son, the Tsarevich Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II). Even before it had been completed, it attracted travellers who wrote of their adventures. Russia has expressed its desire for Pakistan to participate in the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, by linking the Trans-Siberian Railway with Gwadar Port.
The railway is often associated with the main transcontinental Russian line that connects hundreds of large and small cities of the European and Asian parts of Russia. At a Moscow-Vladivostok track length of 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles), it spans a record eight time zones. Taking eight days to complete the journey, it is the third-longest single continuous service in the world, after the Moscow–Pyongyang 10,267 kilometres (6,380 mi) and the Kiev–Vladivostok 11,085 kilometres (6,888 mi) services, both of which also follow the Trans-Siberian for much of their routes.
The main route of the Trans-Siberian Railway begins in Moscow at Yaroslavsky Vokzal, runs through Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, and Khabarovsk to Vladivostok via southern Siberia. A second primary route is the Trans-Manchurian, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian east of Chita as far as Tarskaya (a stop 12 km (7 mi) east of Karymskoye, in Chita Oblast), about 1,000 km (621 mi) east of Lake Baikal. From Tarskaya the Trans-Manchurian heads southeast, via Harbin and Mudanjiang in China's Northeastern Provinces (from where a connection to Beijing is used by one of the Moscow–Beijing trains), joining with the main route in Ussuriysk just north of Vladivostok. This is the shortest and the oldest railway route to Vladivostok. While there are currently no traverse passenger services (enter China from one side and then exit China and return to Russia on the other side) on this branch, it is still used by several international passenger services between Russia and China.
The third primary route is the Trans-Mongolian Railway, which coincides with the Trans-Siberian as far as Ulan-Ude on Lake Baikal's eastern shore. From Ulan-Ude the Trans-Mongolian heads south to Ulaan-Baatar before making its way southeast to Beijing. In 1991, a fourth route running further to the north was finally completed, after more than five decades of sporadic work. Known as the Baikal Amur Mainline (BAM), this recent extension departs from the Trans-Siberian line at Taishet several hundred miles west of Lake Baikal and passes the lake at its northernmost extremity. It crosses the Amur River at Komsomolsk-na-Amure (north of Khabarovsk), and reaches the Tatar Strait at Sovetskaya Gavan. On 13 October 2011, a train from Khasan made its inaugural run to Rajin, North Korea.
Mr. B- It sounds like you'll be missing the outdoor activities more than the railroading. That might be a good thing. If you can't find a new place for your trains you need to sell them. In which many cases is not good.
YGW- I haven't found any broken tiles yet, but I did find some broken coasters.
I did buy some new shoes today. For something that was supposed to take a few minutes turned out to be a 30-40 minute trip.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
yougottawantathat is awful with the Pres and VP leaving! Who signed the lease ?
The VP hasn't actually stepped down thank goodness. The problem is that he will have a hard time attending meetings since he is now working out of town.
The lease was signed before the President resigned so we are going to go out on a limb and keep moving forward.
Nobody seems to be really enthusiastic about taking on the Presidency. I am playing with the idea, but to be an effective President I would have to be able to get to the clubhouse a couple of times a week, and I would need a lot of support from fellow members since I wouldn't have a clue about what my responsibilities are. The support I'm not worried about. Getting to the clubhouse frequently would mean buying a second car. Do I really want to spend several thousand dollars just to be able to serve the club? On the other hand, there is a pristene 1976 Camaro Z1 for sale close by for just $3000.00! That could be a fun ride! Too tempting! Plus, I would have to buy a beater for the winter, and the Camaro would take up garage space that is currently designated for the layout. What to do? What to do? Just so you know how supportive my wife is, she said tonight that she would be fine if I bought a second car. How good is that eh!?!?
Cheers all!
yougottawantaGood morning how was your weekend ?
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
your wife is a keeper
Being a club president is a lot of work - and a lot of responsibility! I have found out, that most people like to be the president for the honor connected with the office, but none wants to do the work involved. The job eats up a lot of precious hobby time and involves a lot of money above your regular club dues. It´s one of those tasks someone has to do and get blamed for it by the fellow club members. I have been involved in a similar job only once in my life, when I was the president of a political party in our state and member of the board of directors on federal level.
Never again! Never again a president and never again a member of a political party!
Should you take the plunge and go for it, better get a pickup - you´ll find yourself hauling material in that role!
I certainly won't be in it for the glory. I'm not that vain. I do have plenty of time on my hands. I'm also not afraid to do whatever work is necessary. Perhaps my biggest challenge would be figuring out what work needs to be done, but that is where I think I can rely on my fellow club members, especially the senior ones.
I thought of buying a pickup but the problem is that every pickup that is available at an affordable price is usually a rust bucket. We already own an Odyssey van which has plenty of carrying capacity and which tows the club trailer quite nicely, so really what I'd be looking for would be a small car that Dianne can use so I can use the van. She has a long commute (45 mins. each way). That would save us a ton in gas money.
I was looking at the Chevy Volt. With the rebates we can afford one on a long term lease. Leasing would seem to make more sense given that the battery will eventually require replacement. Leasing it for a term shorter than the expected battery life would seem to make sense since the battery replacement will be the dealer's problem.
Much to think about!
Cheers everybody!! Happy model railroading!!