General Discussion (Model Railroader)

Hi Gang,

Had to come back to work for four hours tonight and did some book work. Then had to find my way into the new diner.  You would think they could place it in the same place on the same track.//  I felt like a hobo wandering around looking for the way in.

JEFF.  Nice camera work, you've got that close up thing working great so now show us an interior shot of the cab & controls.

RYAN,  Thanks for the Great Northern Pie.  Any thing west of the Mason Dixon line is always appreciated. West of the Missippi is even better.

JERRY,  I too, thought your layout was much bigger than it is.  You have done a great job with limited space.  Anxious to see how the expansion goes for you.

Well I guess I can go home now.  Hope the storms are a thing of the past for all of you.  It was cold here today but is to warm up tomorrow to around freezing.

TAKE NOTE:::  I would never admit I was a "STEELERS FAN"  cause I am not..........

The Cardinals didn't lose that game,   The Steelers won it....    Great first and last quarters.

Night all,  Prayers and Blessings to all in need.

Johnboy out................

May the Rails never be Silent..

Thw "Wobbly" wobbles on...............

Good morning,

Snow and a high of 26F today, what could be better?  Last night I stopped at my LHS and picked up my B&O FT “B” unit that has been back ordered for a couple of weeks and a WS gas station.  The WS gas station was on sale and it’s built-up and fully painted, with the customary piles of junk and used tires around the back of the building.

I think the Super Bowl was the best football game I’ve seen in a long time. Both teams did a great job and they ran the ball and worked the field up until the last 4 seconds of the game.

One of the NMRA members paid a visit to my layout Friday night and liked some of my work (yes I was surprised as well), the local division has requested I hold a workshop on how to scratch build trees.

Ok time to go to work, I’ll peek in later.

Lee

 Good morning.

It's 31 and partly cloudy here. The high is expected to be in the low 60's and it will be partly cloudy.

Didn't find any damage yesterday from the early morning hail storm. As most are aware of by now my new camera came in yesterday as did a new 128 MB SM card for my Olympus D550. I was getting really tired of card errors popping up on that old 64 MB card I was using. If I have time today I'll do a step by step of the tear down and weighting of the dummy UP GP40. But first I have to keep a promise to a friend and send him a certain SP gondola I have in my possession.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      2/3/2009

Wind Chill:  30°F
Humidity:  92%
Dew Point:  28°F

So Far Today
High:  35°F
Low:  30°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  0mph NNE

  Today  High: 62    Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 60s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

  Tonight  Low: 30    Mostly clear early in the evening then becoming partly cloudy. Lows around 30. North winds 5 to 10 mph.

Morning folks!

NEWS ALERT: Got some bad news for you guys who enjoy my virtual diner menus. And maybe it's good news for those who don't like em, I know there are some of you who don't care for them. I got a PM from Bergie yesterday, seems my "Menu Board" as he calls it, which is really just a few lines of HTML embedded coded tables with tiny thumbnail images sized between 3 to 10 KB each of the railroad heralds and menu items has been one of the culprits for bringing down the performance of the MR forum. He said I need to stop posting "off topic" items such as the virtual menus, so in reply I ask him if I could just post the menus in text format and I am still awaiting his response to that question. So until I hear back from Bergie any reference to "off topic" items even in the diner seems to be a bugaboo at this point.  Fair warning for those of you who also post "off topic" images or make references to food items in the Diner...go figure!  I wonder if he is going to make us stop all the weather reports too! Hummm....

I did not know that I had such power to bring down the performance of the MR forum with my little HTML table coded menus, hehehehehehehehehe..... I got the power! Since I was such a big target and low hanging fruit is easier to pick too! But, it really don't make any sense to me, I have only posted 7 of those embedded tables over the past two weeks and the MR forum has been shaky ever sense the change over "upgrade" a couple months back.

Flashwave:

Hmm. New Place.

Not to second guess the mods. but why do we need a new diner every month? I mean, if it's weighin in on the new software harder than the old one, then I'm all for it. But flipping from DIner to Diner just because the calendar turns is gonna be annoying.  Sorry Berg.

Flash, see my news alert above, it might answer your question!

Trainman Sam:

I got to page 5 of the Gen Dis Forum before I realized I was lost...  Wandered around aimlessly for a minute, then stared at the sky for help, whilst looking up I caught a whiff of the Crawfish Etoufee and followed that...

Sam

EDIT: Forgot to ask...  How do you post a picture on here... I have shots of my Rivarossi/AHM steamer but can't figure out how to get them on here???

Sam, glad you followed your nose to the etoufee, but you will need a map next time! "No more soup for you!" See above...

To answer your question about images, to post photos here you will need to upload your images to a photo hosting site like Photobucket or Railimages, and once you do that you can link them to the URL of that image in your post with the Insert/edit Image icon in the forum post edit menu above your post message box.

fec153:

I thought the Yankees won!

Jeeze! Miss a day and the place gets moved.  Did I say something wrong?  I know I showered.

Flip

JimRCGMO:

Evening, Chloe - I'll just have a hot cocoa, please 'n' thanks. The new location looks pretty similar to the old one, but I just hope we still have a good view of the local switcher's runs.

Ryan - great job on the weathering (though Robby might think those cars are a bit too clean...). And Ryan (and Ray) - no, the Bills and the Saints neither one were NOT in the game yesterday evening!

Jim you are so right, they are way too clean for Robby!  Not enuf rust at all! And, yup, better luck next year eh! I keep saying that every single year....

last mountain & eastern hogger:

RYAN,  Thanks for the Great Northern Pie.  Any thing west of the Mason Dixon line is always appreciated. West of the Missippi is even better.

You are very welcome! But until I hear back from Bergie, consider it your last meal in the TS Diner!  See alert above! Hopefully I will still be able to post text menus, but only time will tell.....

Hey PC, in a past life (before modern times  ) my then girlfriend was an alcoholic I know all about the struggles. Being in Al-anon and attending AA meetings with her was quite a challenge. Hope you are able to help your friend through his troubles and you should be commended for being his sponsor!

BTW, for those who care and are following it, my dad decided on taking the surgery for the prostate cancer, he meets with the docs this morning to schedule the time and date!

Until next time.....  I'll be in the corner booth sipping on some water......since the kitchen is closed for now....

Oh...and thanks for those who liked my weathered KCS ACF covered hopper and such! Much appreciated comments!

No more pictures of food?  Man.......those made me so hungry.

Well its snowing right now.  Just a inch or two today.  I guess I will watch the Steelers parade today.  Might head to the basement and work on the cement plant some.  Gotta put down some ballast!!!!!!!

Well everybody have a good day.

SilverSpike:

NEWS ALERT: Got some bad news for you guys who enjoy my virtual diner menus. And maybe it's good news for those who don't like em, I know there are some of you who don't care for them. I got a PM from Bergie yesterday, seems my "Menu Board" as he calls it, which is really just a few lines of HTML embedded coded tables with tiny thumbnail images sized between 3 to 10 KB each of the railroad heralds and menu items has been one of the culprits for bringing down the performance of the MR forum. He said I need to stop posting "off topic" items such as the virtual menus, so in reply I ask him if I could just post the menus in text format and I am still awaiting his response to that question. So until I hear back from Bergie any reference to "off topic" items even in the diner seems to be a bugaboo at this point.  Fair warning for those of you who also post "off topic" images or make references to food items in the Diner...go figure!  I wonder if he is going to make us stop all the weather reports too! Hummm....

I did not know that I had such power to bring down the performance of the MR forum with my little HTML table coded menus, hehehehehehehehehe..... I got the power! Since I was such a big target and low hanging fruit is easier to pick too! But, it really don't make any sense to me, I have only posted 7 of those embedded tables over the past two weeks and the MR forum has been shaky ever sense the change over "upgrade" a couple months back.

So, Ryan, you are the source of their {MRR} discontent?

Hmmm, I thought the Diner and Beer Barns were the ONLY places on site that we could relate to each other, share things and info that IS off topic?!?!

Perhaps we are all wrong?

JimRCGMO:

And where's 'Psychic Galaxy'? (Or was that 'Psycho Galaxy'? ) Cute one there!

Some call me "psyCHO" lol. And I actually have papers to prove it!!

I see/know somethings, but not everything!!  I still can loose my car keys on occasion.

Jeffrey nice sharp pics! Nice camera. I have a dinky digital {pocket size} we should try to use, but I won't use photobucket here. {I don't like photobucket. or Face book}.

Well another warm day here, but tomorrow night another story. January thaw came in Feb, how about that. BUT I guess temps are supposed to spike the end of week/weekend. A real thaw-a-commin.

Going to help some friends strip wallpaper off their walls and paint in their 1824's house. I know, I know, sounds like tons of fun doesn't it????

Good luck everybody and have a great day.

And have some chocolate chip brownies! oh, wait? can I say that here?

Ryan, yes it’s hard to be humble when we are so popular. I find it interesting, maybe next dinner we can call it Elliot’s all week photo fun and ask for more bandwidth.

Lee

Got a reply from Bergie this morning about my question on posting a text only version of the daily menu. He said that it would be OK for now, but if any forum issues persist then they would have to go too!

galaxy:

So, Ryan, you are the source of their {MRR} discontent?

Hmmm, I thought the Diner and Beer Barns were the ONLY places on site that we could relate to each other, share things and info that IS off topic?!?!

Perhaps we are all wrong?

And have some chocolate chip brownies! oh, wait? can I say that here?

Bergie said I was only a "part" of  the problem, aparently the other "Diner" forum threads are also wreaking havic among the entire MR site. He said threads that get to 100 + pages are just to large for the database to handle effectively and essentially they bring down the servers to a snails pace.

So, for now, text only menu items seems be OK...for now....like I stated above, if Bergie still sees performance issues then any "Virtual Diner Menus" even in text form will be a thing of the past...........

Um...um...good...that cool glass of water is ummm....ummmm...good....  

Good morning, All.  A quick coffee on my way out the door.

I may do another layer of water tonight.

Sue

Good Morning All....Its sunny and a cold 4 here this morning...Well I hope the grill is still open!..I'll have a Big Slce of Garry's KY Ham on a biscuit and coffee please...Thank You...They got my hospital bed in but no mattress so it will be a couple more days...Thanks for all the feed back on my layout..It is 40 inches long and 24 inches wide...and its on wheels so its easy to move..

Ryan...For my part I look forward to your menu....

Jeff...Good close up photos with new camera..keep them coming...

I got some more work done on Walther's Red River Mine kitbash...

.

You all have a good one...Jerry

 Hi Guys,

Just to clarify Ryan's comments, I'm looking at the forum as a whole, not necessarily one individual member. The coffee shop-style threads that weren't locked on a regular basis were certainly harming performance. Those are being addressed on a regular basis.

The next piece of low-hanging fruit are the menu boards that are posted each and every day by some members. It's not that an individual day's post is overwhelming to the forum, it's when you look at all those posts over the course of a month or a year. They not only add up, they also hurt the performance of the site for members who are on dial-up or slower Internet connections.

The Weekend Photo Fun threads are one thing, because they are on-topic images. However, the menu items are off topic and potentially harming the performance for some users.

I see the value in the coffee shop threads because I know a lot of strong friendships have been created because of our forum and that you would like to keep in touch with your fellow members. However, that can be done without showing the same images over and over and over again.

I hope you guys understand. I'm simply looking out for the forum as a whole.

Take care,
Bergie

Good Morning All,

    Interesting that we're messing up the web site so badly and unintenionally. I wonder if we're ultimately going to be asked to move to a different set of tracks altogether? I read many of the topics in the main areas and respond when I think I have something intelligent to offer but, truth be known, despite the off topic stuff, I've found as much good information and advice here as anywhere else and without the frequent condescension of the main room. If the ultimate aim of this site is to promote the hobby isn't a friendly thread as important as the self important ones that frequently turn into flame wars out there? I for one value the meetings here and the sense of friendship and support and wouldn't want to see it disappear.

Flip - we go to Palm Beach International (formerly Moroso) this week, back for 2 weeks then back to PBIR then Sebring on consecutive weekends, 10 days back home, then back to Sebring and PBIR on consecutive weekends through the end of March. Other than that and the shop move, not much is going on.    Gotta run, CUL, J.R.

Thanks for the explanation Bergie. We must have been composing and posting at the same time. JR

Good Morning, Zoe - I'll have the two eggs (scrambled, with cheese), toast with blackberry jam, glass of OJ (has Ed got another tanker run up here yet?), and a cup of TH, please. Thanks! [edit] Just read Ryan's news alert...

Flip, the old Diner should still be there, you'll just need to respond in here. 

Hey, everybody! Lee's gonna be an NMRA 'expert' on scratchbuilding trees! Bet we'll see an article in MR later this year on that, huh? Way to go, Lee! I suppose maybe we used more bandwidth than WPF? The power of a bunch of talky Diners!

Well, Ryan, I guess we're all on a diet now. Probably be better for our (virtual) waistlines (and maybe our real ones...).

Kinda bummed out last night - found out that, due to Walthers having raised the minimum order for their dealers (from $100 to $150, I heard), my MRR order I thought went in a week or two ago, didn't really go in yet (which probably means I won't be getting the sale prices on all those ones.) At that rate, I may wind up having to go with online ordering to make sure I get the sale prices on stuff. (Especially on those nice Prieser figures I was gonna order)

Think I'll grab a spot in the window booth for now.

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

How bout dat!

Sue runs in for a quick coffee to go, and Jerry gettin' him a ham biscuit!

<<whispering>> OK, Chloe, sneak me one of those Lumberjack specials too....OK! And don't stir up any commotion OK....  <<slips back into the booth>>

Nice coal mine there Jerry!  And I like the rust on those hoppers too!