The pot of coffee is always on [even after 2 years have passed]. Come on in. Sweet ice tea too.

[Anonymous]

Hey there Dr. John ... I grew up in Mobile and still have a lot of family there. Spent many a night fishing off the pier at Dauphin Is. and the Cedar Point pier. Singing trout if you know what I mean... and specs. Drop me a line on my e mail if you want to chat. .....oh yes we had snow here today but nothing like the tinplater. Will be back Monday... going to daughters college graduation in Tx.......................Tim

[daan]

In Holland we have 15 degrees (celcius) and a bit of clowds. I've been working on the garden and starting to make a room for the train layout. Found someone who had new tracks for me (Lionel).
If one ever is in Switserland, visit the Furka Oberalp Rack railway! It's a beautifull scene in the mountains with all steam rack locomotives. It's an old section of the furka oberalp bahn, where there is a tunnel now. The old very steep rack section with windings in the mountain across the Furka passway is being refurbished and the old engines are actually the ones that used to live there. They have been bought back from all sorts off indian and other companies they've worked for after the service in switserland.
It is maintained and run by volunteers from across the world. Really worth a visit if you'll ever be there..

[daan]

The url is www.furka-bergstrecke.ch Visit their website, you'll be amazed!
(I've used to spend my holidays there when I was younger, and will be back as soon as my daughter is old enough to travel by car 2 days without a big hassle[:D])

[ChiefEagles]

Morning Daan and all others [Daan is up a lot earlier than us/time difference]. The boys [dogs] are fed so I think I'll go back to bed for a snooze. Worked on servicing trains until past midnight. Hope all have a great day and that includes the lion chaser. [:D] Currituck County is trying to steal the Currituck Lighthouse from the conservationist [who the Feds gave the light to and now operate it]. NC coast is lined with lots fo great lighthouses. I need to have one for my layout. God bless all.

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

It’s another Great day in NE Ohio. 71 temp going up to 85 today with chance of t-storms. Even better, we don’t have the snow that our friends, north of the border are having.

Yesterday had a business lunch and went to Buckeye’s favorite restaurant, The Station Restaurant. What a great place, converted train station right on the CSX mainline. Saw 4 CSX and one NS go by. Even better, great food.

It look like it might rain last night, so we cut the grass and tilled the garden last night.

Had to go to the grocery store and pick up a few things from the frozen food section, Even better, some young ladies wearing tank tops were there.

Everyone have a great day.

tom

[lander31]

Good Morning everyone; [:D]

It is goning to be another warm day in North Fl. over 86 and lots of humidty.

My son I put power to the track layout last night to see if everthing would work. It took me while to get the inner loop working. He wants to add a trestle, I really do not like the idea. He did let me blow the whistle on the tender some. It bought back memories as kid in WV hearing the trains as they went thru the valleys.

Take care all
Terry

[FJ and G]

Guess I'll add my temperature in for today as well.

Since I don't have a thermometer here, I'll just say it is very hot and sticky.

Hot is nice, sticky isn't.

Glad I have an indoor job. Those power line guys don't have it so good. In addition to the danger of getting a shock; they also could get heat stroke up there in those cherry pickers.

Anyway, the heat & humidity isn't half as bad as in Iraq. Seems every time I turn on the TV, I can spot railroad tracks amidst the chaos. I know that there are some transportation battalion folks making improvements to the rail infrastructure. I think I'll call them up and get an article for my magazine: The Military Engineer.

Have a nice weekend, folks.

Dave Vergun

[FJ and G]

The news is that the evil snakehead fish (look like a big snake) have entered the Potomac River and infestation could spread if the 2 fi***hey found were not solitary. Since they were the same age, and it happened about the same time; it appears they now are breeding and, unlike the ponds in Maryland, the Potomac CANNOT be drained.

Worst-case scenario, which is entirely within the realm of the possible, these savage snakefish will spread over the US, killing any and all fi***hey come in contact with. That would spell the end of fishing as we know it and instead of fish in our rivers and lakes, we'll have these nasty fish.

They spread thru water and even stroll over land. The one they caught was actually near Alexandria (Mt. Vernon), where I work. It wouldn't surprise me in the least to see these monsters ordering drinks in the downtown bars or trying to get seats on my VRE commuter train.

It's lunatics here.

dav

[Dr. John]

Good morning, all!

Tragedy struck this morning - my coffee maker died! [xx(]

The really sad thing is it's only 4 months old! [:(!] It replaced one that lasted about 6 years. How can a coffee maker conk out so fast?

Fortunately, I have a spare 4 cup coffee maker that we sometimes take on the road. (Always carry a spare! [;)] )

We got a little more rain this AM. I'm off today, so I will work on the layout some, then go to a luncheon at my daughter's high school, where she will be graduating in a few more days.

Have a good day!

[FJ and G]

John,

That's terrible. I've had a rare migrane the last 2 days and actually had to drink decaf. Can you imagine that; drinking fake coffee?!!!

[Dr. John]

Dave,

I recall David Letterman's line about decaf: "It's useless, warm, brown swill!"

[ChiefEagles]

Dr. John, congrats on the daughter. Know you will be proud fahter at the ceremony. Dave, you better get off the snakehead fi***hing or it will come and get you. I think the lion got Buckeye as he only posts a few times lately. Just picked up E unit for the switcher [one giveing me a time last night]. Now to go back to work on the trains.

[FJ and G]

Dr. John,

My daughter is graduating as well. Going off to George Mason U. Not following in her daddy's footsteps and joining the Marines. Just as well.

Congrats to you.

Dave

[ChiefEagles]

Well, congrats to you too Brother Dave. [:)]

[Dr. John]

Likewise, congratulations, Dave.

My daughter will be heading off to Samford University in Birmingham.

Going to a small local swap meet tomorrow to see if I can unload some of my old HO collection to help fund the O gauge work in progress. Wish me luck!

[ChiefEagles]

Well gang, the Chief Eagles Very Short Railroad Line is now the Chief Eagles Short Railroad Line. [:)] It is an oval with a siding. Moved all the wedding presents to the side and middle. Laid down anice curvy oval. Ran all my Lionel steam and enjoyed it. Put on the Williams SD90 NS diesels and they would not run on 027. Made two curves and realized I had used some 031 [027 heigth] tack at both ends. Tried putting in half straights and would not work. Moved all teh presents and junk to the middle. I had bought a box of 072 K-Line at 027 heigth. Rebuilt the whole thing with 072 execpt the switch and siding. Soldered on 4 connectors so the old track does not have any dead spots. Now those old Lionels with magnitraction love those 072 curves. Now to rest.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning gang. Boys fed and I'm going back to bed for a snooze. Have a great weekend. God bless all.

[Dr. John]

Good morning, all!

I love this time of day when things are still quiet. No T.V., no voices, even the dogs are back asleep (after I fed them, of course!). Still working on my first cup of coffee. I like this time to think, pray, read the Bible and just be still before the day gets busy.

One of the nice things about a forum like this is its relatively slow pace. You can ponder before you respond to a post, take time to formulate a question, or simply read the wit and wisdom of others. I sometimes fear we, as a society, are losing the desire or time to ponder things and respond in a thoughtful manner. People demand instant results and instant answers. Personally, I don't think most people are wired that way. So my little word of advice for the day: Take time to think. As the Bible says (paraphrased) be quick to listen, slow to answer and slow to anger.

Have a good day!

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

NE Ohio is wet and cool today. 86 deg yesterday and today its 53 going to 65 with more rain. Sure am glade I cut the grass this past Thursday. And its better than the snow that our friend north of the boarder got. This will be a good day to work on trains with out feeling guilty about yard work.

I sure am glad that Chief has his railroad running again. Now for him to set up his DCS.

I also know that Amtrack Jack and Buckeye will love there DCS when they gets it. I got the NEED FOR SPEED this weekend. Hope the NHRA doesn’t get rained out. I love to see the nitro cars run 0 to 330 in the ¼ mile. You know when I was young, I used to do that, between playing with my trains.

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Dr. John, if we all could only be that way. A great goal to work toward. I know about the dogs. The boys I referr to are a Peek and a Lab. They want to be fed about 5:30 each morning and then go back to sleep. I'm retired but wife still works [ a lot younger than me]. I get up and feed the boys and let them out while she sleeps later. Something wrong with that picture. [:D]

[Dr. John]

Chief, my two dachshunds are the same. They wake up hungry and let you know it! Most mornings, my wife will feed them, but I usually do it on Saturdays so she can sleep in some. Of course, my three kids just sleep right through the barking!

Now if I could just train Rocky and Misty to fix my coffee, I'd be all set!

[Roger Bielen]

Well I put in my 5 hrs. at work this morning, stopped at the train store on the way home, read the paper and had lunch. I thought I could waste enough time after getting home for it to start raining so I 'd have a reason not to cut grass, no luck. Guess I'll go spend the next 4 hrs. riding a lawn tractor.

At least the family'll be out this afternoon and I can run trains without the grandaughters after I'm done.

[Anonymous]

Good morning everyone!

Well, just to give you an idea of how crazy the weather can be here, all the snow is gone now!

The trip to Winnipeg was really great! We did a lot of great stuff! I think there may still be a little bit of snow left there. As I speculated before, I did come home with toy trains. I went to the antique store I mentioned and bought a Marx set. Not an original set, just a mishmash of stuff put together as a set. It had a 400 steam engine, which is very common, but it has a 4-wheel plastic Marlines tender, which is quite rare because it is from the first plastic set that Marx ever made. The cars were all 8-wheel. There was a U.S. Army gondola, which is quite rare. Also an LV hopper car and UP caboose and a little bit of track and an AF transformer. I paid only $80 Canadian for everything! My fellow classmates on the trip were slightly shocked that I paid that much money for a train set. I wonder what they'd think seeing all the $1000+ engines in the latest Lionel and MTH catalogs?

[Buckeye Riveter]

SACK...Where's the best place to go fishing up there where you live?

[ChiefEagles]

SACK, Buckeye needs all the help he can get when it comes to fishing. [:D]

[Dr. John]

Whew! I'm tired! Just got through cutting grass - after finding out the riding mower has a flat! Used the old push mower and got some exercise in the process.

Had a great time at the train club meeting today. Our host has a great layout and provided some outstanding barbecue. Didn't sell anything or pick up anything at our little swap meet but that's okay.

Good evening, all!

[ChiefEagles]

Bar-be-que!!!!!! That was PORK and not beef like the Texicans claim. [:D]

[Anonymous]

You have to come to Lexington NC for real BBQ.[dinner]

[Buckeye Riveter]

Chief, you are 100% correct. I need all the help fishing I can get. Please send me a new Bass Pro Nitro Bass Boat as soon as possible. [:D] Make sure the tank is full of gas and ready to go. [:D]

As a high paid executive of Bass Pro, I know that this will not be much of a bother for you. [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D][:D] I never thought you would ask. I can't wait to see my new boat. [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

It’s good to see that Chief is giving Buckeye a new fishing boat, then he can swing up to NE Ohio and pick me up. Then we all can go fishing.

A bit of a cool morning today, 48 deg with blue clear skies and going up to 70.

CSX has to do some rail replacement from the plan crash. I believe only one of the four tracks are open.

tom