Toy train operating and collecting

Good morning all,

IIABSDISEI with temps climbing to near 60.  Buckeye, have to agree with you on 1225 article.  Most of that issue looks pretty good from what I read so far.  We watched "Desperate Housewives" last night.  It was pretty good.  I had bran muffins on the dining car for breakfast before sending it to "Points East".  TBIL any time tonight.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

Mornin' boys.  Looks like 50's all week in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Back on nightwork, so I get to chat a bit in the AM.

cheapclassics - I am soooo glad I DVR'd the NASCAR race...  Looks like the drivers were sending a message back to the sanctioning body.  If my butt were in the grandstands, I would have asked for a refund midway.

dbaker - Like I tell the fifelings - "Adapt! Improvise! Overcome!"  Glad you're still with us.  OH, Dougaroo's car will be headed your way.

Morning guys,

A crisp 54 at wake up time (0530), sun is just now coming through the low clouds.

Halloween has been deconstructed and put back in the attic.  I’ll post the video link for the house later on.  Looked over the Christmas boxes and am now starting to formulate a game plan on those decorations.

Whilst going through some of the leftovers of the Train Works (things I was given), I thought I had some 21^st Century trackage.  Note the work SOME.  As it turns out, I have a “paper” box FULL of straights and what looks like O54 curves.  I have half a curve of O27, looks like I’ll need the other half.  I was going to use it for the permanent Christmas layout under the tree.  NOW, I’m thinking Fastrack under the tree and 21^st Century on the layout.  Brent, I KNOW what you’re thinking.....hmmm decisions, decisions......

I would have done more on the train front, but we are having er, “disagreements” on the Princesses’ homework.  Once in gear, she goes.  But getting her started is a big issue.  Typical teenage stuff.  At least I’m not using stuff for sling shots.....

Yankees win, Giants didn't bother showing up in Philly, Devils win Saturday, play again on Wednesday in NJ

See ya later!

Morning all.  Cloudy and chilly.  Hope it does not spit rain while we are doing the Roseyville Mill Bridge Nature Park ribbon cutting at 11 AM.  Then feeding all the County Comm's, County Staff [Dept Heads], Sheriff and our Comm's.  Going to Fitzgerald's the new seefood restaurant in town.  Got County Commissioners' after that.  Then Town Board tonight with main topic which is DOT's Super Streets for the Roseyville By-pass.  Super Streets are intersections without signals.  Interesting.  Coffee and toasted ham and cheeze.  Don Baker, glad to see your In-laws are visiting.  Rich, 54 is a little cool for FLORIDAYA for this time of the year.  BTW: the homework thingy is a teenage thing.  I know as had 5 go through that.  Later  

Chief - I think the term we use up here is "Round-Abouts".  Traffic circles at trouble intersections, which only permit right turns.  They actually work safe (after the first couple months when Otis runs into them after a bender "Who put that there?").  I wouldn't recommend them for streets with more than one lane each way (think European Vacation...)

54 here is NICE!!  Love it.  Had 1 go through High school like a breeze, my daughter, wow....headaches and drama....already too much for me.  This to shall pass.

Got a call from my sister in NJ, Mom broke her wrist in church yesterday, coming down from the alter.  She is like the "go to" person in the Parish.  Jim Phish, I think you know people like that in your Parish.  We may go up a visit, just to ease the "homework" tension and see how she is.

Check out the link:  USS New York is HOME!

http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/11/jersey_city_awaits_uss_newe_yo.html

Good Morning

Well It was beautiful sunshine when I got up, but now the clouds are here again. 40s till friday. Made a trip to the drug store and then a hair cut and that could could be my outing for the day. Enjoy your monday...S.J.

 Morning to All

Home today with a bit of a cold, don't think it is anything worse. Better safe to stay home a day than infect everyone else.

Mitch

 Another nice day here in the Ol' Pueblo. Actually ran the cooler w/ the pump off yesterday to warm the place up. Garage is ready, but I may have to delay things a bit again. Sigh. The surgery on my foot is scheduled for the 12th. I'm going to switch to days next week so I can be back in town for it. That'll give me just over a week to recover so maybe I can get back to work. Doubt I'll be moving engine blocks just yet. Happy w/ the garage set up though. Should have plenty of room for both engines if that is the way I decide to go. Have to go thru the tools today. After all the trips to the rez and all, some of my sockets have gone missing.

Doug - Is the stress-echo test the one w/ the radio-isotopes? Are you running on a treadmill or doing the stress test chemically? The chemical is some funky stuff, but fortunately the feeling doesn't last long. Good luck w/ all that. 

Charlie - I liked the Halloween pictures of you and the family. Remember dressing up as an engineer for Halloween many times in my youth. 

Well probably not much train work in the near future w/ the engine rebuilds looming. I should get the puller and wheel cups for the 1664 soon, so I may be able to finish that. I will just need a new axle and wheel from Olsen's. Then w/ 2 engines I can start playing w/ the the switches I have and isolated blocks on the floor. Need to get the 258 set cleaned up and off to my cousin for Christmas too.

Bob

Good morning all, just another day in paradise here with summerlike weather returning.  Clear sky and bright sunshine.  No earthquakes or fires today so far.  Celebrated daughter in law birthday last night with dinner out for family and cake and ice cream after at the house.  That finishes up the birthdays until next April.  We are going away for our 50th anniversary on Thanksgiving so we don't have to cook this year.  Only big deal is Christmas and that is a way off but it sneaks up on you.  Was able to hear a friend of mine in Virginia on the radio Saturday.  His station is available on the internet.  He is a DJ for a Bluegrass show from 11:00AM to Noon on Saturday on WPMH 670AM.  The show is called "The bluegrass show with rambling Ralph".  He and I grew up in the same neighborhood and went railfanning together a lot over the years.  I rode an excursion with him once around 1983 on the N&W with a steam special featurning N&W 611 from Roanoke to Bluefield and return.  At least I can tell if he is still alive now by listening to his show.  I tried calling him Saturday but he was not at home.  Have to check back later.

D Baker, that was interesting about following the airline flight information.  That's neat!

Got my new sump pump installed a few days ago behind the garage in low spot so now I'm ready if it ever rains.

The dreaded Yankees did it again last night against the Phillies.  Looks like they are headed for the championship. I am not partial to either team but root for the underdog which seems like Philadelphia now.  Rooting for the Yankees is like betting on the favorite at a horse race.  Alex Rodrigez should get an award for the most times hit by a pitch in a world series game.

Set up an MTH scale 3 position semaphore signal on the layout recently but it would not work for a while.   After fiddling with it and tapping it on the bottom a few times it started working.  Not much faith in how long it will last.  I have another one of those that only works in two positions now.  Stop and caution positions.  The light is burned out in that one too.  They are cheap enough to be disposable though if you pick them up at train meets.  I got the last one for 20 bucks.  I think they retail for something like $39.

Jim, I have given up on the electric coupler thing for a while on my MTH F3 units.  I have tried everything I know about.  Funny thing is, neither front or rear coupler work so it must be more than just a problem with one of the couplers.

Been running my SP stuff again this week.  I have my Coast Daylight train with the most recent MTH GS4 with proto 2 on one loop and my MTH SD45T-2 powered and dummy units running on the other loop.  Also proto 2.  I used to run the real SD45 Tunnel motors sometimes when I was an engineer on the SP.  We used them a lot in helper service over Tehachapi Loop and Beaumont Hill.  I think now a days they just use remote control helpers cut in on trains and they  stay with the train for the whole trip.  When I was there, we cut the helpers in and out only as far as needed.

Have a good day y'all,

Ray

I got the Flyer 302AC in the mail today, and I have started disassembly to clean it. As I looked over the internals, I noticed that everything is there except for the smoke piston and lever. I have no idea why someone would remove them and leave the smoke unit.  I'll have to look for replacements, but if I can't find them, I'll just strip the plastic 302 for the needed parts.

Brutus,

           Thanks. I've got more pics of the Christmas layout on the desktop PC, so I'll get them on my laptop to post here.   

I found the needed parts on ebay already. A seller in WI has the piston, piston pin, lever, and the screw to attach the lever to the gear for $10.

Good Afternoon,

Still hot and steamy down here in near West Palm Beach FL, overnight only saw low 60's. Today it is near 85 with a chance of rain, may cool off in a day or two.

Round a bouts A.K.A. demo derby crossings for retirees! People down here in south FL go the wrong way for some reason in  a round a bout.

Went to The Depot in Lantana and got some traction tires for my steam loco's & a bottle of coal scented smoke fluid. Have two Reading steam engines, both MTH, T-1 2124(a 4-8-4 Northern) & 117 Reading Crusader(a 4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific) and will use the coal scented smoke fluid in them. The Reading Crusader is my newest addition from the train show aboiut three weeks ago and thanks to greenprobe97 I have the uncoupler working.

The only problem upstairs is that I have to watch out for a cat so that he don't get in my trainroom, the cat is almost all black, guess I won't have rodent trouble!

I go back to the dentist next week, ouch! Not looking forward to that.

May go to Camilla GA next weekend, the place where they process the corn for gasoline additive, also nearby is the McDonald's chicken nugget processing plant in Flint GA.

Lee F.