2008 and the Coffee Pot is still on and over 3 years. Here we gather as friends with trains. Sweet ice tea too.

[Wes Whitmore]

Nah, I just had to deal with a sick kid again.  Pick eye this time.  Caught it from his best friend at the sitters.  I also made an offer on the house we were looking at.   It's sad when the basement train layout possibility is a huge factor in my decision.  No windows or doors all the way around the basement.  The stairs and HVAC are all in the center.  There is also a room above the garage much like yours Buckeye.  It's only 15x20 though...

I sent you an email.

Wes

[Brutus]

Good evening folks!  Prayers for the sick and families and friends.  Sun cleared off the streets pretty much today and after I cleared all that snow from in front of the drive and mailbox due to the plow    I'll be back to work tomorrow for sure.  Put in a couple hours on the basement and actually finished insulating outside walls.  Need to insulate the walls around the bathroom - it separates the playroom from the bedroom.  But, first I need to finish up some plumbing and electric in there.  I think I need to move one of the pipes I put in already   It's always something, isn't it?  Oh well, Doug is out, but I think I might strap on my snowshoes and head over to Sir James' house for desert.  Kurt, you in?  Chewy needs a little walk

[Brutus]

For those in the DOGHOUSE, or those few who have been there

DOG is Man's best friend.  If you don't believe it, just try this experiment. 
 
Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour.
 
When you open the trunk, you will see who is really happy to see you!

[Buckeye Riveter]

Dead nuts reliable: Acura.  Worked there for 3 years. Regularly had cars with 180K+ in for maintainence services. 

Built by Ohio farmers and engineered by a Boilermaker in Marysville, Ohio where the Grass Is Always Greener 

Wes...The house across the street is for sale.  BUY IT.  We could build layouts in each  basement and then dig a tunnel under the street for the trains to run through.  I bet CTT would be here in a flash to put us on the cover with something so outlandish.  (I'll check the ordinances for Roger's Corners to see if there is a legal problem.)

[ChiefEagles]

Rock, that fish was released.  Evening all.  Neighbor's dog in my back fence.  Ex-wife problems and he is hiding for a few days.  Not his fault.  When she really gets mad at him, she claims he assaulted her and he has even been around her.  Has done the same to two of her boyfriends.  She needs to be the one in jail.   He is laying low until his lawyer can work it out.  Nice young huskie with blue eyes.  She is enjoying the area as it is like a half an acre for her to run.  Later

[sir james I]

Brutus that trunk test is a perfect 10,and we all know the answer to that one.

You fellers come on over,we got banilla,strawberry, peach, choc.,hot fudge, caramel toppings,chips,peanuts,and still have some cookies. and smooth or crunchy peanutbutter for Chewy. We can run some trains,but no sticky ice cream hands. S.J.

[fifedog]

Evenin' boys.  Slowly gettin' back into the swing of things.  After reading the past 10 pages, it's safe to say that AGENT O27 has some loooong lost brothers here.  HOKEY-SMOKE!

anjdevil - Nicely put...

[Brutus]

Be right there, Sir James 1!

[Anonymous]

Busy night here in the woods - sans wife.

Was able to get the river cut, mock up some cliffs, and even painted the arch-under bridges (MUCH nicer in black - but really what doesn't look great in black?).

Started my second-to-last course for my Master's Degree! Only 12 weeks to go. Been a long haul, but hopefully it will be worth it.

Susieq called from deep in the heart o' Dixie. She met up with her cousin in Atlanta and they went out for Bar-B-Que... dag nubbits!!!! And she isn't bringing any home for Fife and me!

Started watching Blade Runner... head hit the pillow... and I wasn't even 'reclinerizing'... well OK, I was lying down.

[RockIsland52]

For those in the DOGHOUSE, or those few who have been there

DOG is Man's best friend.  If you don't believe it, just try this experiment. 
 
Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour.
 
When you open the trunk, you will see who is really happy to see you!

Precautionary Note:  Remove tire iron from trunk before performing this experiment.

[Wes Whitmore]

Beckeye - I nice 10" pipe from basement to basement would be just enough to simulate a nice long tunnel.  That might be one of the longer residential layout runs, that's for sure.  The city might not like it much...but we can try to put the street back together to the best of our ability.  We better dig at night...

Wes

 

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a sunny 25 degrees. Going up to 48 today, with some sunshine.

Not much going on today. I have a few chores to do and then I will relax in the train room, running trains. Not much else new.

Dining car has rolled in and it's time for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Thursday.

Chuck

[Anonymous]

Mornin' Fellas.

Checked the bridges this morning and they are now fully dry! Now they just need a little weathering and they'll be ready for installation. Hope to get the river banks installed tonight.

After doing the bathroom remodel I have some u channel aluminum that I was thinking of using to create a bridge. Two very short (less than 6 inches) sections need to be curved, so I was thinking of cutting the lengths I need, then cutting them in half and cutting notches to permit the aluminum to bend without warping. I don't want to buy an aluminum MIG welder, so was thinking of using JB-Weld. Has anyone used this stuff? How does it hold up? I was planning to just use it on the inside of the joint, then use some thin strips of aluminum to simulate a lap joint on the outside. Then paint the whole thing flat black. Then I just have to find some scale I-beam for the legs and leg spacers.

[Wes Whitmore]

I know people who use JB weld like it's the real thing!  Seems to hold up.  You could also consider Liquid Nails construction adhesive.  That can be sanded down when you are finished.  Not sure about JB Weld.

[Anonymous]

Wes,
I don't think construction adheasive would work since this is a butt-joint?

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

It is relatively warmer in SE Indiana with temps in the 40s today.  I am glad I am not the only one with a directionally challenged spouse.  I did some half-hearted track work last night and watched "Deal or No Deal".  There are some eBay items I am tracking.  So far there have been no bids, and I am holding off until the last minute, hoping to fly under the radar and get some long-desired items at a reasonable price.  I will keep you posted.  I had a little extra on the dining car this morning. 

All this talk of car quality is interesting.  Probably the worse car I had was a 1978 Ford Farimont.  I bought it with the 2.3 four cylinder and a four speed manual.  It was way underpowered and the clutch let me know it.  Also, when the weather conditions were "wrong", I would have to take the air cleaner off, stick a pencil in the carburetor to hold the choke open, and then start the car.  (I am surprised it did not have a hand crank as well!!)  I have had three Dodge minivans, and all have electrical gremlins around 30 K miles, but otherwise were fine. 

I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana 

[sir james I]

Good Morning

R.I.-good safety tip,about the tire iron.

As with many of my days, no plans yet except some train room projects that seem to never get done. Temp is 29 & cloudy,going to middle 30s. All of  yesterdays thawing is of course frozen. one of my grandsons just stopped in so talk later...Regards,S.J.

[Wes Whitmore]

Wes,
I don't think construction adheasive would work since this is a butt-joint?

Gotcha.  You are probably right.  Try the weld. You might also be able to run another piece of metal under the visable area for more thickness and strength.  Without actually seeing it, I'm only guessing.

Wes

[anjdevil2]

Hey all.

Up to 70F today, clear blue sky.

More nonsense at work the last 2 days, employees wrecked 3 cars in 2 day.... most of Tuesday and now today getting estimates on repairs and then shuttling them off for repairs....

My trip to Cloumbus GA was aborted late last night, as I am an "essential" employee this week.. go figure I don't get it....

I'll run home for lunch today, run the trains a little with lunch, say hello to my cats then back to the dungeon.  The race wagon is ready for drivetrain removal, just waiting for the buyer to pony up the cash.  Worked out last night while watching PINKS...it amazes me how people with these "faster" cars break them on the show.  I agonize over every detail on the race car and I'm really bad during raceday...maybe I'm different.  Company Softball tourniment on the 15th so I just have to be ready. 

Brent did you get my e-mail?

Wes & Buckeye.....I suggest watching the Great Escape for tunneling tips...(Steve McQueen is just awesome!!), just watch for the (Association) N**zis!!!

Have a good one!!

Rich

[Anonymous]

Brent did you get my e-mail?

Yep - responded last night.

[anjdevil2]

Brent - PM'd ya...

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

Raining here, low 40's, and will turn to SNOWHIZO tonight. Buckeye, Chuck, and Tom keep trying - but it will be back in the 60's by Saturday! High 60's on Sunday!

Daughter overflowed her toilet this morning - UGH - took an hour and a half to clean and scrub everything...including me! Had this new 2 gal Stinger wet vac that I used and find out when 1/2 inch of water it starts blowing water out the exhaust! - what a piece of junk - open it up later and there is a note ON THE INSIDE that says the filter must be removed for wet pickup.

Have a great day all!

[dougdagrump]

Mornin'/Afternoon All as time zone requires !

Man this crud just will not go away, after posting the other day it came back like gangbusters. Thank goodness the fever part is past, it's just putting up with the stuff(yuck) that is brought up with the hacking and nose blowing. Did I spoil your lunch? Skipped last friday at the museum, didn't want to chance spreading the crud since the fever was still up.

Won't bother you guys with this awful weather we're having, just need to pick up some sun-screen before snoozing in the backyard.

Hope to have some good photos for the SPF this week, as long as I can remember to take the camera AND take photos.

[RRCharlie]

A question for those of you with LEGACY experience. When I try to name a TMCC locomotive, the only letter the system lets me use is the "A". Is this option only for LEGACY locomotives, or am I missing something?

Thanks for any relpies and help.

Mel Hazen; Jax, FL

[Nick12DMC]

Evening all,

Just checking in. Hope everyone is OK

Have a good one

Nick

[phillyreading]

Afternoon all,

Just getting some rain and is up to 77 degrees before it rained may get back up to 80 by 4pm.

Added some more Super Streets to my layout, found out there are two & I repeat two differant 2.5 inch straight tracks in Super Streets; one is for curve to straight with a large opening on one side and a small opening on the other side, and the other is for curve to curve as the track openings are as wide as the curve all the way. Have to be careful when buying the new Super Streets track.

One other note about cars and this deels with a 98 Toyota Camry I have currently, aftermarket brake rotors can go bad after only one year of use. I had highway vibration in my brakes and didn't know what was doing this so I pulled the brakes apart and could not find anything, even cleaned the brake shoes and rotors with brake cleaner spray. Replaced front rotors a couple days later and the vibration was gone.

Lee F.

[Roger Bielen]

A question for those of you with LEGACY experience. When I try to name a TMCC locomotive, the only letter the system lets me use is the "A". Is this option only for LEGACY locomotives, or am I missing something?

Thanks for any relpies and help.

Mel Hazen; Jax, FL

Had the same problem.  Use the speed control (red) knob to move through the letters.  The book isn't clear on this.

[RRCharlie]

Roger;

Thanks a bunch. I'll give it a try a little later.

Mel

[RockIsland52]

Lee,

Original equipment rotors just ain't what they used to be, they are thin relative to those of yesteryear.  After what you describe with the after market ones, they are probably about the same. There is little or no margin for error today on brake pad replacement, wait a bit too long and you wind replacing both pads and rotors.

Whatever happened to a brake job where rotors could be machined and reinstalled, not replaced?  On one of the Infinity models, customers were experiencing worn out brake pads and the resulting damaged rotors within 14,000 miles, some as soon as 7000.

Infinity actually wound up providing a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty on pads and rotors for that model and existing customers!  They also provided refunds to customers who already paid the freight on the premature weardown repairs.  The pads were great for improving stopping distances but plain wore out quickly.  At least they stood behind their product.

When in doubt, swap them pads out or it could get expensive.

Jack 

[anjdevil2]

Another quick Drive By Posting -- of course, to boost my post count

The industry is quickly moving forward on "disposable" rotors.  This does a couple of things, and if you guessed money, you're right on both counts.

1) Disposible rotors allows every brake job to be like OEM quality.  Pays the same to the tech/mechanic, costs you (not me, I can do this kinda stuff ) more money on parts. Saves weight on these vehicles=gas mileage

2) Less warranty problems=Less lawsuits 

Nissan has/had a real problem with brake rotors, that's why they warranty them...parts had been back ordered for MANY Nissans & Infinitis

Mercedes Benz has played with idea for years, may have already implemented this, not sure.

Less mistakes and less problems=less customer service issues & more cost to the consumer.

Hope that helps!

Rich