Wayne Stevenson addition by JaBearz, on Flickr
Let's see if we can keep this ol' Diner rolling for another month!
Cheers, Ed
I hope this month has arrived to find everyone in good health and enjoying life. I don't believe we've settled on a theme so far. I was kind of leaning toward railroad signals and all associated hardware, towers, signal boxes, crossing gates, flagmen, torpedoes and fuzees.
Any other suggestions?
UP_Signal-bridge by Edmund, on Flickr
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Hi Ed,
Thanks for moving the Diner. I like the idea of using signals as the theme for June.
Hi Bear,
I will resurrect the snow plow project once I have a place to run it. In other words, when there is functioning track on the layout.
The train room, aka the garage, is coming along very nicely. All the crude fixed plywood shelves are history and the new cabinets and shelves have been built. Everything in the garage is on casters except the freezer, and I have rolling pads to put under it. When needed, the entire garage can be emptied in a few minutes which will allow the floor, walls, ceiling and electrical work to be done unimpeded.
The layout is almost completely cleared of all the junk that had accumulated, and I am looking for a printer who can print the track plan at 1:1 on large sheets of paper. Peter Lloyd-Lee has given me the name of the printer he uses in the US but I would rather have them done locally if I can find a place here.
I have hired a contractor to do all the electrical work, lighting, walls and ceiling. We are currently comparing the costs of using drywall vs Trusscore PVC panels. I'm leaning towards the Trusscore panels despite the higher cost because the installation will be much faster and cleaner.
I hope to have the floor done by this fall.
All of this will be rather costly but I don't care. We have been saving all of our lives so we could do the things we want in retirement. Dianne is off to Haida Guaii in two weeks and she has several other trips planned. I have the layout.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critterWe are currently comparing the costs of using drywall vs Trusscore PVC panels.
I've heard good things about those Trusscore panels, Dave. The labor savings should offset the initial cost, I would think.
Glad the Signal theme seems to be OK for this month. I was going to post the ever-popular New York Central 'Signal' film of the 1940s but I came across this N-S video that blends a nice bit of history with modern times:
Memories of the Monon by Don Kalkman, on Flickr
Good morning Diners. A coffee on the go please, Zoe.
I am still around.
Since the attack of pneumonia the doctors' have found a shadow on a lung. Two x-rays and it is still there. Not sure that it is going away I had to have another x-ray. Now to see what the outcome.
A good job that Dawn is feeling much better. Cannot have the both of us down.
Had the younger granddaughter visiting for two days. We had a good time in the train room.
Today (Saturday) a belated birthday party for Dawn and our son. Today is the first time we can get all the immediate family together.
I read that Dave is having hospital food. Get well soon wishes.
Thoughts & Peace to all who Require.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Welcome to June! Just for a change, I'd like Potatoes O'Brien with sausage.
If you haven't checked out Bear's link to the Shorpy site, be warned: it will pull you in and you'll spend a lot of time looking at things. Great site!
Ed, thanks for moving the diner. Signals sound like a good place for the diner this month.
Dave, the plan for the garage sounds good. I'm kind of like you. My entire life I saved money for retirement, and then when I retired, I've had some trouble spending. I'm getting over it slowly, and we are spending money on things we never would have otherwise.
My parents were both raised during the Great Depression, and they never really changed their view. Even though they retired with quite a bit of money (for them), they still lived the frugal lives they were used to.
David, hopefully the lung issue is not serious. Have fun with the family!
Have a great start to the month, everyone.
Tunnel Hill, Georgia:
York1 John
Good morning from the wet West Coast where there are 108 fires currently burning in B.C.
TF, I remember posting that photo you are asking about, but do you think I can find it, I'll keep looking.
With my wife's deteriorating health we bought her one of those powered examination tables for the dogs like she would have had at the Hospital, she now can get them up on the table without calling for help. Two days ago it blew up in a real smoke show. I took the cover off yesterday morning and stared at a complicated mess of wires, motors, and pumps. After figuring out what does what I headed into town and bought a bunch of parts and managed to fix it last night. It is really poorly designed IMO. It weighs over 300lbs and I had to get it on its side, but I managed in my old age.
Dave, David, Bear, and Ed, and anyone else I may have missed, hope you all get back and/or stay on the sunnier side of your health issues.
Dave, I have found in my garage the drywall hasn't stood up to the pounding over the years and it needs to be renovated. At some point, I will re-do the walls so I am following your garage reno with interest.
As far as retirement goes, I breezed through life in general, however I worked very hard along the way. We spend what we want, we don't have to budget and I fully retired at 52 and my wife retired in 2010 at 49. I was in grade 10 when I made my first contribution to my RRSP. Sitting in bars or in front of the idiot box was never a part of my day. I still have a lot of friends from both my childhood and younger years and we are all enjoying retirement. We chose different paths and have ended up in different situations as far as physical and financial health goes, but we are all very happy with our lives.
First stop on this wet day is the train room for a couple of hours on the guitar and then maybe I'll make another epic motion picture of a train doing something.
Signal me this!
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."
Good morning
The site has been slower then molasses in January. It was still morning when I first started trying to post
Thanks for opening the dinner Ed. Sorry to hear you've been having intestinal trouble since your treatments. I'm quite familiar with my inners being jacked at times myself, so know exactly how ya feel. Ever since getting diverticulitis, I've developed irritable bowel syndrome. I really got to watch what I eat now. The Joy's of getting older eh But one has to appreciate being sunny side up when all's said and done. Feel better my friend
Brent, I can't find it either, I'll keep looking too.
Man! It was the weirdest thing. Judy's had this swollen 1/2 inch line on her arm with a hole on the end for over a month. I've told her to go to the doctor. Last night she squeezed it and this white stick thing came out followed by a bunch of white goo. Freakiest thing I've ever seen. We're still wondering what that was all about. YUK!!!
She's thinking she wants to go to the carnival across the lake today. The suns out now, so maybe that's the ticket
Have a good afternoon gentlemen
TF
Hi Brent,
One of the arguments that Trusscore makes in its favour is that it doesn't get damaged the way that drywall does. None of the critical reviews suggested that it was easily broken but several mentioned that it was very easily scratched.
One of the things that made me lean back towards drywall is that my garage will no longer be a 'garage'. It will be a train room with some additional storage shelves. It won't have tires leaning against the wall or any of the other things that destroy drywall over time, and there will be no moisture.
Another issue, as I mentioned before, is appearance. I know that drywall done properly will be straight and there will be no visible seams or trim. I would go nuts if I were to spend $6000 - $7000 on PVC panels only to see them warp and sag over time.
Found it in my phone Brent. I musta downloaded it as I remember admiring the building. She's a sharp looker and sure would be fun to model.
After all these years I finally seen it driving down highway 61 in the east Saint Paul yard. That yard is huge, and always filled with double stackers a little further down
The Union puts a Christmas tree on top of a building usually when the steel framing is complete. Maybe that one was just there for Christmas as your post was in December.
Thoughts, prayers and best wishes. Hope your wife gets to feeling better
That's the one TF, can't believe it was that long ago. It does look pretty sharp, if you put that on a layout someone would say that doesn't look very real.
I went into the train room, picked up the guitar, struggled through one song, and decided it wasn't going to get better.
So I turned on the layout and one of Rapido D-10s packed it in.
One of my Hudsons started acting wonky but that was my fault, I had it programmed into the stack twice and it kept looking at me like one of the dogs demanding to know what the heck I wanted it to do.
Then this happened, first time ever for me. Time to call it quits and get some bacon and eggs going, except I am scared to turn on the stove at this point.
Bummer, looks like you had the wrong positioning of the dial. I think you can fix that. I'd be afraid of the stove now too...
I've done that before, put the burner on to start dinner, go out to the living room for 15 minutes, come back to the kitchen to stir things, just to find out I had the wrong burner on and have to start all over again...
Hoping things turn out for the better with your lung issue David
Don't be too rough on yourself, Brent. It happens to the best of 'em:
3734GTW_Pontiac_6-9-55 by Edmund, on Flickr
Nothing like a good puzzle to brighten a rainy day!
jigsaw_J3a by Edmund, on Flickr
Speaking of inadvertent cooktop adventures:
Looks like the dogs figured out the TV remote, too!
ERIE_Jersey-City by Edmund, on Flickr
Remember, the blue wire goes to the frog, red and black to pad 1 and 8.
Good morning, diners. Just coffee this morning, Flo.
Brent, your good news is that you got everything bad out of the way all at once. It's smooth sailing from here on out.
Bear and Ed, the puzzles are always amazing -- when they're finished.
The first month after I retired (before the layout started) I was given a 1,000 piece puzzle. I guess someone thought I would need something to do. It was the most agonizing thing I did. Instead of being a relaxing pasttime, it was an obsession and torture. When it was finished, I immediately took it all apart and gave it to Goodwill. Never again.
TF, I'm also glad I had finished eating before I read of Judy's arm. Hope she's doing better.
Dave, you have to be the most dedicated model railroader in the diner. Even though you're on your back in a hospital, you continue to plan and work on the railroad! Your layout room will be too nice to be called a garage anymore.
I should be able to work on the railroad this afternoon. Hopefully I can accomplish something. Progress is very slow.
Have a great Sunday.
A trifecta: A caboose, a station, and a signal all in one photo.
That is the reason we've always had the rule, nothing ever gets left on the stove Ed. Back when we lived in Prior lake, there was part of a pizza to the left of the stove. The only thing I could figure is Magnum's right paw swipped the burner dial on his way back down with the pizza. How he managed to push the sparker in at the same time, I had no idea. We were on the screen porch for quit awhile, so that rule saved the day.
Thanks for the compliment on my Grandsons John You best have your bacon and eggs after Church today. And no more gruesome stories from me. We must restore the Balance of the Space-Time Continuum here. Between your Potatoes Obrien and my Judy's exploding arm story, we seemed to throw the Bears morning Out of Wack..
Nice puzzles. We may have to dig one of those out next rainy day.
Sorry, posting pics ain't working over here this morning.
Have a great Sunday y'all
Got some news today that set me back a bit. My doctor told me that my kidney functions are somewhat diminished. This is on top of the liver issues. The cause of the diminished performance is that they had taken me off of two medications when I was admitted that were helping maintain my kidney functions. Why they stopped them I can't remember.
That means that they are going to keep me until the kidneys resume their full functions. Hopefully that will be tomorrow but there are no guarantees.
I'm getting a little tired of the hospital food. Some of it is okay but the majority is very unappetizing. Dianne has been bringing me puddings and muffins, and hopefully a sandwich today.
I'm thinking it's OK speaking for everyone, that we're all pulling for you Dave. You get better my friend.
John
Hi John,
Thanks for the well wishes!
I can definitely say that things are not boring here in the hospital. My room just got flooded out! Apparently a kid (age unknown) decided to poke one of the sprinkler heads in the room right above me. At first everyone thought it was an actual fire but it turns out that was not the case. There is a lot of very stinky water.
Looks like I'm back in the hall for a while!
Oh Man! They put you out on the back burner again Dave... On a more positive note, now you know things can only get better from here-on-out
Mornin' diners. Zoe, bacon & eggs please.
It rained for around 8 hours yesterday, which was needed. However, everything is still soaked outside and it's been sunny all morning. That means my outdoor project for today gets put off. Bummer.
Dave, I can't believe the adventure you've had in the hospital. Would make a great short story.
John(York), I got a gift from my daughter once of a puzzle mystery. There was a neat little story that you read first, then put together the puzzle (no picture to follow) that would reveal the combination for the "safe" you needed to crack the case. We fought through that thing together and when it was all done could not for the life of us figure out what the code was supposed to be. Finally cheated and looked ahead in the book that came with it. It wasn't any combination that would ever get used on a safe and I could have stared at that puzzle for a year and not figure out their code. It was ridiculous. Sent that one to Goodwill like you!
Brent, last day I had like that on the layout, I did the same thing. Shut it off and just went and sat in front of the TV instead.
Ed, Bear, TF - good to hear from you guys, as usual.
Others, I hope you chime in.
Mike
The adventure continues!
They can't put me back in my room because it is going to take 2 or 3 days to clean up the mess. If you haven't had the pleasure of being rained on by an older sprinkler system, I don't recommend doing it. The water is treated with fire retardants and it smells like fuel oil! Every surface has to be cleaned.
We were told that I would get a new room in the surgery recovery area. We waited for about two hours to be transported to the surgery ward only to be told that my room assignment had been changed to one in the cardiac ward. Our porter dutifully took us there only to be told by a very nasty charge nurse that "....that is not happening, absolutely not!...." She then went on to rant about not having been given any notice, not having a bed ready and not having seen my patient record (which had just been placed on the desk right in front of her).
The porter had no choice but to take me back to the 3rd floor ward where I started. Once the charge nurse there was informed of how we were treated in cardiac, she immediately filed a report to the hospital administration.
I got the grand tour and the bum's rush all in one short trip.
Good Afternoon,
We just had a thunderstorm but not much rain. It did halt the planting though.
Dave, you are having quite the adventure with your hospital stay. Do hope you can get out soon.
NorthBrit Dave, I have a Hornby Princess Elizabeth, Golden Jubilee version. Anyway I was noticing that the water tank in the tender seems quite small compared to CNR locos. My model of a CN Northern has an 11,000 Imperial gallon tank and my CN Hudson has a 14,000 gallon tank. Are frequent water stops the normal in the U.K.?
Glad we did our travelling when I was younger, at least my '60s now seems younger. I have no desire for the hassle of travel anymore. There were many great trips but at the top has to be visiting the mountain gorillas in Rawanda. I was 63 at the time and the oldest person on a 6 hour round trip hike up the moutain to see them. We had to crawl on all 4s on occasion. Couldn't do that now.
Well a severe thunderstorm watch has just been issued. Hope we don't get hail.
CN Charlie
CNCharlieGlad we did our travelling when I was younger, at least my '60s now seems younger. I have no desire for the hassle of travel anymore. There were many great trips but at the top has to be visiting the mountain gorillas in Rawanda. I was 63 at the time and the oldest person on a 6 hour round trip hike up the moutain to see them. We had to crawl on all 4s on occasion.
Wow! What a trip! I've never been to Africa, and now at my age, I doubt I will get there. It sounds like you had a great experience.
Thanks for all the well-wishes, everyone! It is a chilly, rainy Sunday here in NE Ohio. Time to run trains!
Signals —
BNRR-STATION-HIGHLANDS-P-COOK-1980 by John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, on Flickr
GM&O F-3's at Springfield IL Nov 1976 by Mark LLanuza, on Flickr
... and in the modeling scene:
Conrail OCS by Signal by Edmund, on Flickr
John, we made 6 trips to Africa, visited 7 different countries. We sure couldn't afford to go again. They were very expensive trips 5-10 years ago but are insane now. Costs have doubled at many safari camps and airfares too.
Charlie. UK trains very rarely made long haul non-stop journeys. Stopping a stations on the way the locomotive would be 'topped up'.
Those that did non-stop water troughs were placed in the tracks and water was scooped up into the train.
How steam locomotives could refill their water tanks without stopping - The Water Scoop (youtube.com)
Up and at em! I'll be attending school this week. Im a bit excited about it but a little nervous, as it's been quite a long time.
I'd better eat so I can think today. Oatmeal done a bit grainy and some peanut butter toast if you would Flo,..Thanks.
Charlie, that's cool you got to see Africa. I'd love to have that experience. Seeing Canada, Mexico and the Bahamas only, my neighborhood has been a bit small. My Grandfather's bucket list was Africa, Hawaii and Alaska. He brought me souvenirs from all three places. Wish I still had them.
Some for Ohio guy.
And a Penn Central. Images courtesy of Pinterest