Welcome to the August Diner, this time in sunny Mexico

[cudaken]

 Eveing Diners

 Flo, give the gang and I a please and Dirk a dog treat, he was a good boy today.

 Today was a ball buster at work! Not that busy with new customers but with the store shippment and pickup's my brain is fried. Boy that first tasted good when I got home.

 I may be MIA for a while. With my 68 Road Runner coming home more that likely I will be looking for parts and hitting the Mopar Sites again.

 Is it really August? It is 64 degress in Mrayville IL right now?

 Later, Ken and Dirk say's Beep, Beep Daddy!

 Edit, Top Of The Page.

 Flo, I am buying.

[gmpullman]

SeeYou190

I cannot believe how dangerous this was. There were no screws in this sheetrock, just nails.

I recall doing some home improvement work in my first home, built in the early '50s using an early type of drywall. It wasn't sheetrock or rocklath but older 4 x 8 sheets of actual gypsum sheet.

The builders must have still been "transitioning" from using the old wood lath because they nailed all the drywall with short, blued, straight-shanked nails that were traditionally used for wood lath. They were barely over an inch long!

I could see them popping out all over the place and, yes, the ceiling drywall could easily be pulled down with very little effort. I spent days driving in ring-shank drywall nails (before screws became common) for security and peace-of-mind.

Cheers, Ed

 

[York1]

Good morning, everyone.  Bacon, eggs, and coffee. Again.

Not much going on today.  I have not worked on the layout for several months, so today I'm going to try.  Something always seems to divert me.

Kevin, it's great you could get a drywall lift.  Years ago, I had very little money, so I put sheetrock on a ceiling without a lift.  I ended up cutting it into smaller sections to make it more manageable.

For those of you on the east coast, I hope you have no issues with the storm.  Hyping storms that were not serious is what caused many people in New Orleans to not evacuate for Katrina.  They had grown complacent after years of news reports predicting doom for every tropical storm.

Tomorrow is day 14 of self-quarantine.  Even though we were in the same house and the same car with someone with an active case, and none of us wore masks except to go out, it seems we may have not caught anything.  A couple more days and we will all breathe easier.

Hope everyone has a good day.  Stay dry.

 

[moelarrycurly4]

Good morning

Kevin: Drywall looking good, I don't understand why they use nails, yes i do it is quicker and cheaper for them. 

hope all are safe from storm.  I hate tropical storms, lived with them for years in Houston Tx. 

 

 

Some blues for you. Sorry no video

[York1]

MLC, no cupholders in that cab.  My truck has six (!) in the front seat.

[gmpullman]

    — Mornin'

Hope everyone's well this fine day. A balmy 59°F along Lake Erie this morning.

  Hey, MLC!  From your Alco to my EMD!

2006 photos 713 by Edmund, on Flickr

Enjoy the day, Folks —

Regards, Ed

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Howdy .... 

I hope everybody in East Coast states is surviving the storms. 

Thanks everybody for well wishes regarding my eye surgery. .... This is a good year for eye surgery .... 2020. 

First eye had surgery a week ago on Monday. It is now 2020. 

Second eye had surgery two days ago (Monday). It tested 2030 only 20 hours after surgery. It is expected to improve to be 2020 also. 

I'm very happy about it. 

I'll catch up to your posts when I can. You guys seem busy. I can't look at compter for very long. 

[Cederstrand]

Strong Italian roast coffee in a Santa Fe mug, please.

Hope to get a little more of the old layout removed today.

Have a great day all.

Cheers!  Rob

[MisterBeasley]

The storm came right through here, but by that time the winds were down to 35 mph and there wasn't much rain at all.  I was out for a walk by mid afternoon.  There were a few small tree limbs down, but I didn't see anything major.  Our power never faltered.

[York1]

Rob, hope you're feeling OK.

Garry, good news on the eyes!

The picture below is what I've decided I want for Christmas.  I'll be leaving hints to my family.  It may involve not following our $50 limit on Christmas gifts.

 

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2009/11/inspection-cars-for-railroad-inspectors.html

[CNCharlie]

Good Morning,

Another nice sunny day here.

This tour of Mexico is likely the only one I will make as it isn't on our list of places to go and I haven't been there before. I'm not a fan of Mexican food. It isn't  very popular in my city. There are one or two small Mexican restaurants but that isn't much for a city of 750k. We have food from many lands even a couple of Turkish ones.

Well I went and did it as in buying a brass CNR J4e Pacific. Several have come on the market recently and I just couldn't resist. I bought it from Brasstrains. It will need a can motor installed and I think a sound decoder but we shall see. I plan on selling off my BLI Pacific and maybe the Mikado too. That will cover a lot of the cost of the new loco. Both of those locos are GTW. CN didn't have any USRA Pacifics and only a few Mikados that they bought but modified heavily.

When I had my car in for servicing they found an outer tie rod end that needs replacing. I'll need a 4 wheel alignment too. Not sure  if I'll get the dealership to do it as they want $200 to do the alignment when the going rate most places here is about $110. Not sure why they deserve 80% more.

Today is the day I caulk that skylight. Hopefully I am successful. It didn't leak during the last rain storm but only when we had a light rain. Go figure.

We are still just staying home and not going anywhere. My wife is just too afraid even though we only get a few new cases per day. As she says, 'it only takes one'.

Garry, glad to hear your eye surgery went well. You can throw away your glasses now, assuming you did wear them before.

Kevin, nice work on that ceiling. Must be handy to be as tall as you are.

We are getting a lot of birds in the yard now. My wife is feeding live meal worms to the chickadees. They are mad for the things and start pestering her as soon as they see the dish.

CN Charlie

[SeeYou190]

York1

Kevin, it's great you could get a drywall lift.  Years ago, I had very little money, so I put sheetrock on a ceiling without a lift.  I ended up cutting it into smaller sections to make it more manageable.

The drywall lift is a cheap-o from Amazon for less than $200.00. I only need to hang about a dozen sheets for the whole project so I did not buy a good one.

It has proved to be an example of money very well spent. It is wonderful.

Heartland Division CB&Q

Second eye had surgery two days ago (Monday). It tested 2030 only 20 hours after surgery. It is expected to improve to be 2020 also.  I'm very happy about it. 

Good news to hear Garry. My wife is going in for her eye surgery next week. She only needs one eye operated on.

moelarrycurly4

Kevin: Drywall looking good, I don't understand why they use nails, yes i do it is quicker and cheaper for them. 

My house was built in 1988, which is in the ultimate "bad time" for houses to be built in Florida. It was during the era of high interest rates and before Hurricane Andrew, so all kinds of building codes and inspections were relaxed.

gmpullman

The builders must have still been "transitioning" from using the old wood lath because they nailed all the drywall with short, blued, straight-shanked nails that were traditionally used for wood lath. They were barely over an inch long!

These nails were one and a half inches long, but the shanks were bright and smooth. They certainly did not have much holding power.

Now I am fretting about the interior ceilings. I need to take down the ceiling in the bathroom, so I will find out soon.

CNCharlie

I'm not a fan of Mexican food. It isn't  very popular in my city. There are one or two small Mexican restaurants but that isn't much for a city of 750k.

WHAT?!?

How is this possible? There are cities here in Florida with 10,000 people and four Mexican restaurants. How can you not love Mexican food? How can there be an entire city of people who do not love Mexican food?

My mind is blown.

CNCharlie

Kevin, nice work on that ceiling. Must be handy to be as tall as you are.

Thank you. I hope to have it done and ready for texture by Friday.

I still need a 14" high work platform to do the ceiling work out back. The Lanai ceiling is 8' 6" high.

-Kevin

[howmus]

SeeYou190

How can you not love Mexican food?

Well.....  I, for one, am not a big fan of Mexican food!  They seem to have to have Tomatos in and on everything. LOL  I do not like Salsa at all and when my sister insists on going to the local Mexican Restaurant (an excellent one, BTW) I kinda pick at it and try not to gag...  Old childhood dislikes I guess, but prefer most other ethnic food (love Asian).  Actually all food has ethnic origins, I guess, but no Mexican for me!  (barf!)

12

73

[hon30critter]

I'm with CN Charlie and Ray. There is very little Mexican food that I like. We have a couple of Mexican restaurants here in town. I assume they know their stuff because their primary clientelle are the Mexican farm labourers who spend months here in the summer working on the Holland Marsh. We went in once and ordered a bunch of dishes but nothing struck my fancy. I do like burritos and guacamole though!

Dave

[moelarrycurly4]

 

E8 not Alco

[Lastspikemike]

gmpullman

 

 

SeeYou190

I cannot believe how dangerous this was. There were no screws in this sheetrock, just nails.

 

 

I recall doing some home improvement work in my first home, built in the early '50s using an early type of drywall. It wasn't sheetrock or rocklath but older 4 x 8 sheets of actual gypsum sheet.

The builders must have still been "transitioning" from using the old wood lath because they nailed all the drywall with short, blued, straight-shanked nails that were traditionally used for wood lath. They were barely over an inch long!

I could see them popping out all over the place and, yes, the ceiling drywall could easily be pulled down with very little effort. I spent days driving in ring-shank drywall nails (before screws became common) for security and peace-of-mind.

Cheers, Ed

 

 

The history of gypsum board is quite interesting. The full paper coverings were introduced in the 1930's. "Drywall" is the generic name. The first manufacturing plant was built in the UK in the 1880's. My father worked as a chemist at one of the gypsum mines that supplied that plant in the 1950's and then later in the plant itself. He actually invented a plaster manufacturing process for drywall used around the World today. 

Conceptually no different to mud and wattle huts, drywall is a much more convenient way of fastening the "mud" to the "wattle" (That's the Mexican reference).  Many variations were used including wood lath and plaster, drywall lath and plaster, naked sheetrock plaster and so on, since replaced with sheet drywall. 

The paper has no structural function. The strength is all in the plaster. The paper is merely there to allow for convenient storage, handling and installation plus to hold the joint mud and paint.  

The fastener type is important. The steel fasteners are coated to prevent corrosion. Critical is the head size and shape. You must not overdrive fasteners whether into paper covered or naked gypsum board. If you do then a second fastener needs to be placed close to the failed install. 1 1/4 to 1 5/8 length is adequate. You use a lot of fasteners rather than long ones. The weak part of the fastener system is the drywall, not the holding power in the wood studs. Screws are by far the best fastener to use and a drywall bit with an automatic release collar is very handy if you haven't done much drywalling. I tend to just use a standard Phillips type (not actually Phillips)  without the collar because I've done enough to not need the automatic release feature. The Phillips shape is used because it will cam out very easily as the fastener dimples the paper. The fastener gets driven just hard enough to dimple the paper so the head can be covered with mud. If you drive through the paper that's too far and the fastener won't hold the drywall. Nails require a high degree of skill to install correctly, lots of practice. Easy to overdrive. Nails hold as well as screws do, the weakness is in the drywall not the wood or steel you nail into. Screws are just faster and require very little skill if you use a drywall bit. It's the fastener head that holds the drywall on or up, very little fastener length is required to adequately hold the drywall. 3/4 inch for screws and maybe 1" for nails is plenty.

For standard height ceilings just use a drywall T bar to hold up the "other" end of the sheet. Unless you are experienced resist the temptation to use longer than 8 ft sheets on ceilings. Always fit ceilings first, then walls. Horizontal install of long sheets works best for walls, taping and muddling is what takes most of the time and effort. Quite tricky unless you're experienced. Use as little mud as you can. 

[SeeYou190]

I just saw Space Mouse in the "Users Online" box.

I hope this means we hear from him soon.

-Kevin

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good afternoon 

John York 1 ... Thanks for commenting about my eye surgery. One good thing is the doctor has me on restrictions that will preclude me from performing "honey do" tasks. LOL 

CN Charlie ..... Thanks for yoiur remark. I have worn eyeglasses since I was in third grade. Now I do not need them except I will need some reading glasses. 

Kevin  .... Thank you also. If your wife's eye surgery is cataract, she has nothing to fear. As Henry encouraged me prior to my surgery, it is a "piece of cake". My surgery only needed a local anaesthetic, and I felt absolutely no pain during the operation . I just layed there and watched a "light show". It did not take very long. 

.... 

Mexican food tastes good to me. 

Below are my two Mexican boxcars. they are custom painted and lettereed for N de M. 

 

If there happens to be any Mexicans in the MR Forum, I hope they will visit with us in the Diner. Of course, they would be welcome. ..... Actually, all MR Forum members are welcome here. 

[Cederstrand]

Enchilada supreme dinner with rice and beans, please.

Got most of the old train table deconstructed. Pushed as best I can but had to stop and call it a day when I started having an aura. At least some good progress was made. Tomorrow is another day.

Healing thoughts for those in need. Take it easy!  Rob

[OldEngineman]

Looking at the EMD cab interior pic that gm pullman posted above...

There's something that "just isn't quite right".

Something "out-of-place". You would not normally expect to see it where it is. I noticed it immediately, as it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Can you find it? (hint: it's close to the center of the pic)

[cudaken]

 Eveing Diners!

 Flo, give the dinners Taco's on my tab, the gang and I will have a and Dirk a Dog Taco Treat.

 Lot on my mind tonight. Maybe be going down the Mopar Rabbit Hole again.

 Work Front For a hour and half I was busy! Then nothing? Futons are in fashion again for some reason? All 3 of my customers where shopping for futons and bought and spent $2095.00. One lady spent $1035.00 on a futon?

 High Lite of the day? Two young lady's / Girls came in. One was wearing a bikini and the other one a tube top! Most shocking was the one in the bikini spent $845.00 for a futon. I was just happy they came in, I am old but not dead yet!

 Today was my 7 year anniversay with this company? Time flies when you get old.

 Later, Ken and Dirk says Beep, Beep, Woof, Woof.

[gmpullman]

moelarrycurly4

E8 not Alco

Ya had me fooled there for a minute, MLC. I was thinking it was more like an Alco control stand. My mistake. I'm used to seeing the "drum" type control stand like this PRR E7 has:

https://rrmuseumpa.org/QR/e7cab/

 

OldEngineman

Something "out-of-place". You would not normally expect to see it where it is. I noticed it immediately, as it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Is that the throttle on an off-set, raised handle or the independant brake handle? 

Here's another view:

2006 photos 713 by Edmund, on Flickr

Here's another quizzical quiz. Is this mirror placed so the fireman can see the speed recorder?

F_cab by Edmund, on Flickr

Hey! Who's trying to steal my windshield wiper!!!

Lots of "customized ergonomic adaptions" such as using a box wrench to extend the whistle handle on this SDP40F!

Amtrak_SDP40f 563 by Edmund, on Flickr

Regards, Ed

 

[hon30critter]

The only passenger train left in Mexico:

 

 

Dave

[hon30critter]

Riding a train in Mexico:

Dave

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

    I'll have a regular and a breakfast burrito please Zoe. What was a brisk breeze for others was a little more here. We lost power at the shop 2:30 Tuesday afternoon and just got it back at 7:30 last night. Lots of trees down and power outages in the area and in the region I saw 3million were without power. Many roads were blocked as well and the tree companies are out in force. Funny how people don't cut the trucks off on the highway when they are needed. The solar array on the roof looked ok but I need to go up and physically check it and the RTU's. Storage building has two sheds out back and the corrugated roofing is peeled back on both so there is some more repair work to do there. 

   We lost power at home but only for about 3 hours as we are on the same part of the local grid as the emergency center in the park next door. Internet is still down at the house as well though promised for last evening. Locally no major injuries reported though one elderly woman had a close call when a huge tree flattened the house she was in except for the area she was in. 

   Back to the shop inspection. 

Garry - glad your good luck continues with the eye operations and I hope the recovery goes well too.

Ken - hope the Road Runner project goes well. Where will you store it once you retrieve it?

Ciao, J.R.

[York1]

Good morning.  I need black coffee.

Glad that power outages are the only problems most of you had on the coast.

Rob, it's good you're able to recognize a problem before you do too much.  I hope you continue to do well.

Ken, in high school, a Road Runner was another of those dream cars that none of us could get.  We knew everything about those cars without ever having seen a real one.

My big news!!!!  This is day 14 of quarantine.  We are just about to be deemed safe by the local health department.  Tomorrow, my wife wants to go out to eat.  I'm actually kind of surprised we didn't get it.  Like I posted earlier, we spent several days without masks in the same car and the same house with a person who had the virus.

 

 

[Steven Otte]

Something tells me you'd never catch an actual Mexican eating a breakfast burrito. For a more traditional Mexican breakfast, the Diner is this morning offering pan dulce y cafe. 

And for those of you who don't like Mexican food, there's Taco Bell. 

[GMTRacing]

Touche Steven but the only Latin breakfast I've been familiar with is the Cuban type which is probably not anywhere near Mexican brekkie food (though still delicious).

[York1]

Where are the eggs, bacon, and sausage?  I want a real breakfast!

[moelarrycurly4]

Lunch today is a can of Sardines provided by Santa Fe Track worker. 

 

I used to eat sardines but just don't have the gumption to do so now.