Afternoon Diners
Flo, give the gang and I a please and Dirk half a dog treat.
Just had nothing really to say this month Ed. I still read the post every day and sit in the back booth of the dinner.
Health Front Well my rib is feeling 98% heald so that is good.
Bad part is I have a new toe ulcer on the great toe on the right foot. Foot looked good Wednesday and on Friday it was a mess. Came out of no where, no standing or walking. Heck I have not even cut the grass for a month? If it does not look better Sunday, off to the ER.
Liked the new Grass Trimer. It is a 40 volt trimer and is 5'6" tall. Can hack down the weeds with out my back hurting.
Time to sit outside with Dirk and Sue.
Later, Ken and Dirk says Woof, Woof America.
I hate Rust
BigDaddyInstead Amazon, wants to move to Northern Virginia, where real estate is sky high and a 2 mile drive to the bank takes over an hour, round trip.
Infrastruture is the thing. For a company like Amazon interchange will all forms of transportation is paramount.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Howdy ..... I'm taking a break for a few minutes from our company while they swim in the lake. .... We've been swimming, boating, fishing, and eating constantly.
Happy 4th of July !
I took the photos below in Detroit during the Bi-centennial celebration.
In the second photo, you can see the Renaissance Center under construction.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
MisterBeasleyKeep the big city stuff away. We left to get away from that.
My wife says the same thing when our town's council talks about attracting new companies to our area.
York1 John
I asked my doctor if I gave up delicious food and all alcohol, would I live longer? He said, "No, but it will seem longer."
BigDaddy Winters are harsh, but there are parts of WV that are gorgeous. I don't see why a big company hasn't relocated there, get the state to build some roads, help finance better schools and get that economy moving.
Winters are harsh, but there are parts of WV that are gorgeous. I don't see why a big company hasn't relocated there, get the state to build some roads, help finance better schools and get that economy moving.
A lot is needed. Not just roads and schools, but also a serious international airport, stores and restaurants.
We used to live in northern Virginia, and you're right -- trafic, crowds, outrageous prices and all. Now we're in Delaware with none of that, no commercial air traffic, not much in the way of shopping, and just enough restaurants for us locals. Keep the big city stuff away. We left to get away from that.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Happy 4th of July to all our U.S. friends to the North, South, East and West. This is a tough one to be sure but things always get better eventually. I think we have more American friends than Canadian ones. I have good friends in California and many in the Chicage area and Virginia. My wife is good friends with a lady in Virginia that lives on a huge estate right out of "Gone With The Wind" as my wife puts it. The lady sends a car to the airport to pick the wife and dogs up and she stays in the guest house while she is there.
I have had my two giant mugs of coffee, played my guitar for an hour, pumped weights for 30 minutes and am just checking the forum before I do 40 min on the bike. BP was 102/60HR44 so I am good to let it rip. Then it's cutting tile for the BR project and hop on the John Deere if there is time left. At least I don't have to lay the tile as the wife loves to do that. She marks the tile to be cut and I cut them all and hand them back to her along with a bucket of thinset which works for me.
We have a young person staying for a couple of days as home life for them with being home due to the covid19 crap has deteriorated. We use to take lots of kids in when my kids were younger that were having problems at home, my kids would just invite them to stay with us. We would even take them on vacation with us. It was that or the street for them. We have been locked up with our kids for months now and we get along great.
TF, glad your family crisis is mostly in the rear view mirror now and hopefully life will return to somewhat normal soon.
Time for some good ole rock and roll to be put on while I pedal ( makes me goes faster while I am not moving)
All the best to all.
Winters are harsh, but there are parts of WV that are gorgeous. I don't see why a big company hasn't relocated there, get the state to build some roads, help finance better schools and get that economy moving
Instead Amazon, wants to move to Northern Virginia, where real estate is sky high and a 2 mile drive to the bank takes over an hour, round trip.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Good morning, everyone. Happy 4th of July!
Kevin, I know what you mean about impressions of states. When I tell people where I live, they honestly believe we have chickens in the kitchens and climb a pole to anwer our phone.
I forget the musician, but he once joked how he had gone home to visit his elderly parents, and they had put carpet in the bathroom. They enjoyed it so much, they decided to run the carpet from the bathroom all the way up the path to the house.
Actually, our farmers are now ahead of the curve. With all the talk of self-driving cars, we've had self-driving tractors and combines for years.
Welcome back to the diner, TF. Glad everything went well with the family.
Kevin,
As depressing as it was, not all of WVa is like that and there are pockets of extreme poverty throughout the country. When my friend went on manuvers from Camp Lejeune they ended up in a rural area where he thought he was back in Nam the way the roads and houses were. We go to Summit Point WVa for racing and probably due to its' proximity to DC, it is all modern developments and lots of farms away from the main roads. If you followed 52 you were on the border of Kentucky and West Virginia and likely where the mines have all shut down. There has been rampant unemployment since. Hope the rest of your trip is better. J.R.
Yesterday was a learining day.
We decided to drive all the way across West Virginia since neither of us have ever been there before. We agreed to drive off route over to Kentucky, then take US-52 all the way West-To-East and see West Virginia from the local perspective.
One great thing about travelling through these United States is seeing how each state is nothing like the stereotype or reputation that it has. None of the States I have visited was anything like the general reputation that it has in culture.
Until West Virginia, they really lived up to everything I have heard about their back roads.
US-52 through West Virginia is like visiting a third world country that lost a war. I have never seen such terrible living conditions and rampant poverty anywhere in the USA. It is like a long stretched out version of Gary, Indiana.
There are apparently no building codes or inspections. No code enforcement. No attempt by anyone to have a presentable community.
All the cliches were there, cars on blocks, above ground pools in the front yard, and weed filled lawns 18 inches high.
I had no idea what it would look like. Crossing the border from Kentucky was like turning off a light switch, then arriving in Virginia was like turning it back on.
It was absolutely not what I expected. Next time I go to West Virginia I will stay on the Interstates and restrict myself to the larger cities.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Good morning
Thanks for starting the Diner Ed.
Happy 4th to everyone. Thanks for our Countries Happy Birthday wishes from our neighboring Country Friends
We just got back from the hotel spending quality time with Family in town after saying good bye to Kelly Tuesday. It was great to see everyone and miss them already.
Ulrich, Thanks for taking over PH while I was gone. Somebody's gotta do it
Have a fun wonderful 4th everyone and be safe
TF
Good Morning All,
A regular and a blueberry donut please Chloe. Oh what the heck, how about a stack of blueberry pancakes instead with a side of link sausage. It is virtual after all.
Thanks to our friends for the Independence Day wishes. Yes Bear, we could use a little cheer just now.
Finished up the backdrop last night and started cleaning. Next up will be more turntable repair and then remounting the control panel for the layout so it is more easily opened. Once that is done and the tracked cleaned it will be on to rolling stock starting with the immobile C-Liner and then the 2-8-0.
Same photo as in WPF but for those of you who don't surf, this is the backround through the yard.
yard view by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr
Hope those recovering are doing better. We take Bristol the mutt to the vets Weds next for a second opinion on her left hind quarter. She is still limping pretty badly. Well that brekkie was good - off to the shop and the trailers again.
Ciao, J.R.
Thanks to all the good folks, friends and neighbors in wishing the USA a happy Independence Day!
C&NW Station 24 August, 1996 by Edmund, on Flickr
Cheers, Ed
I came across an interesting discovery today when I was reading through the Model Railroader Newsletter from July 2nd. Bowser is offering drive systems to fit the Varney Aerotrain locomotive shells and chassis for the coaches! I have two Varney Aerotrain locomotives but only one older motored chassis, so I seized on the opportunity to buy a modern spec DC chassis which can be easily converted to DCC.
The new coach chassis are an easy solution to the totally absent floors in the original coaches, but I passed on them because I think they could be scratchbuilt easily. I had already replaced the original plastic wheel sets with metal sets from NWSL. The NSWL wheel sets required a wee bit of trimming of the axle mounts but they work great.
The Aerotrains used a pretty much standard EMD 567 12 cylinder engines so sound will be easy to install.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good Morning!
Dave - it´s a little bit too early for me to enjoy a slice of that birthday cake. Mind, if a save a slice for a little later?
Today´s program takes us following the tracks and traces of lost railways in Britain.
Enjoy!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
I'll second Ulrich's post!
to all of our friends in the USA!!!
Edit:
Top of the page so the Birthday Cake is on me! Lots of icing and ice cream too please! (That is the only reason to eat cake isn't it?).
Happy Birthday, America!
drgwcsLittle Choo Choo is still closed sorry I didn't catch this post last night-
Thank you for the great information. I just arrived in Spencer. Will go to the Transportation Museum in the morning. I really appreciate the information on Chuck's Trains and the antique malls.
I'm sure this'll have been posted before but here's Tornado hitting 100mph a few years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAGutU3BL_U
Good Afternoon —
It is beginning to warm up a bit here in NE Ohio. I really don't mind it so much. There's a nice breeze at least.
Has anyone seen a Barracuda adrift somewhere in the Atlantic with Ken in it? Haven't heard from CudaKen since the Diner move?
Thanks for that side trip to Wales, Paul
How about a pop up to Scotland?
I wonder how I'd look in a kilt? (OK, don't have to answer that)
If anyone would like to make a reservation...
https://www.belmond.com/trains/europe/scotland/belmond-royal-scotsman/
I hope everyone is doing well this weekend,
Hi everyone. Ladies could I have my usual Friday (and Saturday) evening drink please. A bottle of Pilsner Urquell, brewed in Plzen, Czech.
I've been reading thru all of the posts. Whilst you are in the UK, please do not forget the great little trains of Wales. Here are just a few. Hear those exhaust beats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7yJREB-L9g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAUxDAZF4Lg
"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".
I know this is a model RR forum but this is a sad day for me.
So many memories.
I am rivaling TF now in being a post hog!
I just cked the Lego website - the Crocodile set is already sold out, only 3 days after it was released! There are a number of listings in Ebay, for up to double the price I paid for it! I am just glad I ordered it on July 1st!
I forgot about Fawlty Towers! That was a great one.
My wife did subscribe to Acorn TV. They carry a lot of British TV shows. Unfortunately, not Morse.
How about "Keeping Up Appearances"? My family loved that show because Hyacinth remined us of a relative we had.
The Avengers ran on German TV in the late 1960 - fully dubbed in German! We always translate the movies shown on German. Did you know that John Wayne spoke German without trace of an accent?
My favorite Brit TV series were `Allo, `allo" and "Open All Hours!, and not to forget John Cleese in "Fawlyty Towers". In the years I spent in Britain I learned to love that black sense of humor so typical for British people!
John, our biggest source of Brit TV is PBS.
Another great series is Foyle's War. It ran on PBS for 8 seasons. It is about a detective during the war. We bought all the DVDs.
I agree, the Avengers with Diana Rigg as Emma Peel was great. When it was on TV back in the '60s I usually watched it with all the interest of a fevered teenager. That leather jumpsuit, oh never mind.
CN Charlie
Good Morning,
Going to be another hot one here today. Expecting another day with a humidex of 100F.
As it is still morning, I'd like breakfast please Chloe. As we are in England, I'd like scrambled eggs and kippers with grilled tomato and mushrooms too. I like kippers but my wife won't let me cook them in the house saying that they stink up the place. They're great on toast with melted cheddar on top. Haven't had that for years.
Well my brass engine arrived. It is a model of #2851 that hauled the press train in advance of the Royal train in 1939. The model turned out to be made by SR and not Samhongsa so it is truly the last run imported by Van Hobbies in 1998. I guess that is how it was 'new in the box'. Anyway the detail is truly amazing right down to the tiny red valves in the cab. It runs well too and likely will improve a lot once broken in. The finish on painted brass is different than on plastic. It is subtle but there is a difference. Even my wife can tell. Certainly is when you handle it. The piping and appliance castings are some how a little sharper than plastic castings. Not that I'll be buying another engine like this one. I still would like to find a J4e Pacific. They aren't hugely expensive as they were produced in the mid '70s.
We are still busy doing gardening and have planted most everything. Well my wife has. I just fetch and carry.
We are watching a great TV series called Bodyguard on the computer. We recorded it on the PVR but the version on TV is edited and has commercials. It was done in Britain last year. One of the highest rated shows in Britain.
I'm enjoying the videos posted on railways in Britain. One of my desired travel destinations is to do an extended trip there to see heritage railways and visit the pub my great aunt and uncle owned near Oxford. My Dad used to stay there when he was on leave during the war. There is a website for 'The Fishes'. Way things are now, who knows if I will ever do a holiday involving flying again. We also want to go back to Paris.
Well keep cool,
Ulrich, when I see that movie, I can't get past the star, Whatley. In my mind, he is Detective Lewis in the the best crime series ever -- Morse.
It's too bad that reruns of Inspector Morse are not on normal TV. I know you can subscribe to channels that carry it, but I don't want to pay the extra fee.
That detective series was the best -- on American or English TV.
Since we're in the UK, and my mind is on TV, how about "The Avengers"? The years with Emma Peel were the best for me. That's another program I have not seen in years.
"The Prisoner". Another UK export that was a great TV program. It wasn't just fluff TV.
Good Afternoon!
I could sure use some coffee to keep my eyes open. It´s humid and the air is so thick I could cut it in slices!
I continue to be narrow (gauge) minded in our field trip to Britain this month. Today we hop over the border to Wales and visit the Brecon Mountains with their quite unusual railway, which should look familiar to you guys!
Edit: Shoul you be bored or have nothing else to do and want to kill 100 minutes? Then watch this 1992 British comedy!