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

[FJ and G]

Good morning.

Yesterday lots of bikers riding around and around the block attracting other bikers who all went to Rolling Thunder. Some looked a bit younger than Vietnam era.

Had about a freaky 3 minute spell of wind 50mph plus pass thru the area yesterday. Turned over one of the Dragon Boats racing on the Potomac River and also flipped over my expensive grill, busting the handle. Lucky no other damage as the grill is new.

Grilled a 15 pound turkey that will keep me fed a couple of days (and BB the beagle). Basted the turkey in Italian dressing for about 30 minutes and then layed strips of turkey on the grill. The turkey comes out a bit dry but tastes like chicken without that turkey taste that doesn't taste that good for more than a few meals.

Best part about the turkey is the meat is about the cheapest you can buy and also has the least amount of fat.

But cook the skin too, as it gives off steam and smoke that flavors the meat.

BB the beagle agrees that grilled turkey is the way to go.

Doing some soldering on the layout today but mostly cleaning garage and work area.

[hi3rail]

Thanks to all that covered by backside in Nam -- and to all other Vets everwhere -- thanks for all your pain

And for all those no longer with us -- today especially -- I will honor you

[FJ and G]

THere was a guy in the DC parade who's 101 years old and a WWI veteran (enlisted when he was younger than legal). He did some fighting in Europe and continually smokes a pipe (but doesn't inhale). Only about 30 WWI vets left.

[ChiefEagles]

Lets try this again, computer keeps messing up. IA internet service [just for Jon].
Shoving off. Going to drive to Chicago for meal with retired railroad cop friend. Great place to visit and watch trains. Sad to leave. Great place to fish [even if I did not catch great fish like Buckeye]. Got late evening flight out of O'Hare [what a bad name [;)]]. Have a great Memorial Day and God bless all.

[Dr. John]

Have a great Memorial Day, everyone. Shake the hand of a vet. They deserve our thanks as do all of our active duty and reserve forces.

[wrmcclellan]

Have a great Memorial Day all.

Cloudy and supposed to rain again today. It never did more than sprinkle a bit yesterday.

Have a great day all!

Regards,
Roy

[Roger Bielen]

Its been a gloomy weekend here, rain yesterday afternoon into this morning and drizzle early this afternoon, finally stopped and just cloudy now. No outdoor grilling for me, nor pool for the GDs. With the weather I didn't mind working this morning and holiday pay rate doesn't hurt either.

Be safe all.

[Anonymous]

Was a nice day today. Wewnt to the park with the g/f, she dropped her ice cream, so I have her mine.

Right along the NEC, so I have her a little lesson the Amtrak trains [;)]

Stay safe - Chris

[tschmidt]

It was an absolutely beautiful day in WNY. We went into the small town where we live and watched the local parade. Then we followed along up to the cemetery for the service. It is very moving for me to go every year because I know how important it was for my dad. He was a vet from WW2 and I never really knew how the horrors of war affected him through his life until his older years. The thank you I said to him on Memorial Day was no where near enough for what they all did.

On days like this I am reminded of the saying... Peace is not the absence of war, but rather the presence of God.

Have a good week everyone.
Tom

[Anonymous]

Hello All: Hope you all are enjoying Memorial day down there. Special Regards to all Veterans past & all personal presently serving. Full honours & respect for those who didn't make it back. In Canada we have Rememberance day on Nov. 11 always an honour to be a part of those services. The Vets usually go to one of the Legion Halls or Veterans clubs to do some more remembering(If you know what I mean). Read the new CTT this weekend, was it me? or was this one, one of the most informative I have ever read. Like to know what the thoughts are on it. They certainly made the GG1 feel like a must have. Also liked the article on DCS. Kind Regards to all Steve

[daan]

Well, France voted against the European union.. well monsieur Chiraq has a bit of a problem now, since the french are one of the founders of de EU.. We can vote tomorrow about what we want. It's a big circus with yes and no and a lot of fuzz about what's it all about. Well, I will vote Yes. It's about time we start to organize things a bit tidier on our end of the ocean.

The layout is in slow progress. Yesterday I started with one of the tunnels and imbedding the rails in foam, which is a lot of work, but a nice result.
Memorial day is on the 4th of july over here.. and freedom day on the 5th.
Freedom is, together with health, one of the most important ingredients of a good life, and a lot of brave men and women have fought hard to achive that.

The possibility of voting for or against the new EU regulations is also belonging to that freedom.

Hope everyone is safe and sound (and that the tree is off buckeye's roof)

[spankybird]

Good Morning from NE Ohio

where the temp is 48 and heading to 75 with partly cloudy skies, by mid week temps will be in the 80’s. Summer is on its way.

Yesterday on the way to my mother-in-laws, we pass over the siding for FirstEngery power plant. They normally have CSX or Conrail engines for pulling the drags in and out of the plant, after all it is on the CSX mainline. Yesterday we saw this guy there



and behind him was a War Bonnet SF engine







Never can tell what you will find were.

All be safe
tom

[laz 57]

HI GIZ,
Beauty of a day here to get to 77.
We need rain only got 0.88 inches this month, not to good for the garden.
Went out fishin yesterday caught and released 17 and my brother caught and released 15 pretty good day for about 3 hrs o fishin. Most were brownies the biggest about 13 inches.
All have a good one.
laz57

[FJ and G]

Gee, must have skipped a page. Went back a few pages and saw a tree landing on Buckeye's house and railroad. Hope the house and the trains get patched up. It's nice having the shade but sometimes trees fall the wrong way. At least you'll have firewood for this cold Ohio winter coming up.

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

Cloudy and low 80's today. Possibly some rain, which is predicted for the rest of the week, save Thursday. Took daughter to her first HS band camp. Son went to B-Ball camp. Summer has started.

Dann - good to see you back!

Spanky - When I did some work with the RRs a couple of years ago, they were planning to run their unit trains intact to avoid locomotive changes at interchange points. Now that much of the equipment is common and some forms of cab signaling compatible, looks like it is starting to become a reality. In the past, if they left home road locos on the train, they would have to put at least one native loco (for the new road being traversed) on the front due to different cab controls and signaling so the engineers were using familier equipment.

Interesting thing about locomotives. The RRs many times do not know precisely where about 10% of their locomotives are at any point in time. Every month RR motive power representatives confer and discuss who owes who "power." Thus if you have several of another road's "power" on your road and they have none of yours. You owe them an equivalent amount of "power' to loan at some point.

BTW - this means that you now have an excuse to run any road's "power" on your road at any time due to "interlining" agreements!

Have a great day all.
Roy

[Dr. John]

Good morning!

It's another rainy day in Prattville and I am glad for it! We've had a dry spell and the rain is much needed and very welcome. Kind of cool too, only in the 60s today.

Roy, interesting info about the interlining agreements. I was not aware of that. Thanks for sharing insights into how the real railroads do things.

[spankybird]

Boy what a great looking day out with Blue Clear Sky's and temp at 72.

Roy, I can say that since the CSX - NS buyout of Conrail, I have seen alot of different motor power that I have never seen before. UP, BNSF, CP (sometimes) just to name a few. Living next to both mainlines (waterfront route) does allow me to see many more trains than most. I also get to see the east end of the Berea yard and also pass the Colloinwood yards going back and forth to work.

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Afternoon gang. While eating prok bar-be-que with retired railroad cop in Chicago, we discussed the mixture of road name engines. He said that the railroads would "steal" an engine and use it and then later put it back. Said they all did it and no one got mad. Got some good railroad pictures to downlaod but do not have time right now. Garden tilled, tomato plants suckered and pulled up in baskets. Now to mow the lawn and spray the flowers, garden, fruit trees and grape vines before cooking ribs for Pam and being ready by 5:00 PM. Wow. God bless all.

[ChiefEagles]

Got it all done. Great ribs, baked potato and fre***ossed salad [greens from the garden]. Now to read more of my CTT issue. [:D]

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by wrmcclellan

Interesting thing about locomotives. The RRs many times do not know precisely where about 10% of their locomotives are at any point in time. Every month RR motive power representatives confer and discuss who owes who "power." Thus if you have several of another road's "power" on your road and they have none of yours. You owe them an equivalent amount of "power' to loan at some point.

Roy, is GPS teamed with a GIS Database the beginning to the end of lost engines?

[ben10ben]

Hello Folks,
With summer break nearly here, I thought that it was about time I got back into the habit of posting to the coffee shop. Tomorrow is my last day of school. The day after, I'm headed on a Church trip with to The Big South Fork Scenic Railway in Stearns, Kentucky, which should prove to be exciting. I never had heard of the railroad or the town before this, however on looking them up I discovered that their power comes from three Alco S-2s and they have a steam loco being restored. I'll be sure to post pictures.

I hope to be able to keep up posting to the Coffee shop, as I do enjoy it, although I often don't have time.

Hope that you all have a good day tomorrow!

[daan]

Hi everyone
That sounds like a nice trip you're heading for, Ben, I'm a bit jealous now. My holiday is in August, so I've got to work a bit longer..
Yesterday I got an invitation for a huge trainshow in September. They have `american modeltrains` as their subject and since I´m also a member of the zero gauge railway club in Holland, they asked me to show off my Lionel and other brand trains on that show.
I´m not cetrain in what form I´m going to show them. We have mostly h0 and if they have 0, it´s 2 rail... Only tinplate uses 3rail over here..
But I´ve time enough to work things out ´till then.

Hope everyone is doing fine..

[spankybird]

Good Morning from NE Ohio

Where we have Blue Clear Sky’s with temp at 56 deg and heading into the high 70’s.

Ben – sounds like a great trip, have fun.

Dann- take the ‘O’ Gauge.

Buckeye – I thought all engines now had GPS in them. Maybe only the newer ones.

Pick of the Day


all be safe
tom

[Anonymous]

Finally, a new report on the layout.

I finally got the rodebed glued on to the outer loop and have the track layed down! (needed alot of elmers glue!!!) Now I have to buy another bag.

I need to make some train purchase though...

4 UCS sections

and a KW

Have to make some money mowing a lawn ot something, beacause I really need these. The Kw is needed right now beacause I dont feel like hooking up the R to the mainline and inner loop, beacause it does not have any whitcle rectifiers.

[jonadel]

Good Morning,

Speaking about GPS on trains, (way off topic here we go) last Friday I bought a Magellan Roadmate for use in our cars. It is an amazing tool for not getting lost, I am just blown away with what it can do and it's ability to re route you if you miss a turn. AND you have a choice of a nice female or male voice AND if won't berate you if you miss a turn[:D]

I spend lots of weekends in communites that I'm not familiar with and this is going to be a lifesaver, no more stops at the convience store at 11:00 p.m. to get help finding a certain motel.

Jon[:)][:)][:)][:)][:)]

[laz 57]

Mornin GIZ.
53 and another nice day to get to 78.
BEN you are lucky tomorrows your last day o school. Enjoy your trip sounds cool.
I have til next tuesday with the kids. Trying to get all their projects done is a real chore. Good thing I bought my own nail gun. I don't like using it on projects but when in a pinch it gives me more time.
Planted my bush beans and transplanted kolarhbi last night.
Have a good one.
laz57

[FJ and G]

Chief,

How do you prepare and cook your ribs. I just bought some beef back ribs (looks similar to baby back ribs but are beef) and am clueless.

Tom,

Great photos

Roy

Interesting observation and factoids

Daan,

French people seem smarter than their politicians, maybe they will be smart enough to elect some better leaders next time.

Laz,

When I was a reporter I did an article on a construction worker who accidentally shot a #6 nail into his knee

Ben,

Just check in from time to time. Sometimes it goes slow and I can read everything, but other times I have trouble keeping up with all of the different topics in the coffee thread

[IronHoarse]

Good morning, Yesterday I took down my layout moved my benchwork and put the layout back up again. The whole project took about three hours to complete. I also did some minor improvements on one of the benches. Layout has three benches. It seems that I broke one of the layout rules, the 30" reach one. After having to climb up on one of the benches a couple of times I decided to move them so I can walk around to get to things.

Here is what my layout looks like so far, I have a ways to go yet before it becomes something. It is 16' by 4'. I am still waiting for my caboose, switches, and truss bridge to get here. I am also considering getting an AMC/ARC gantry crane.

[image] http://www.moranweather.com/trains/Layoutw.jpg [/image]

[ChiefEagles]

David, BEEF?????!!!!! I'm sending you to Texas. [;)] I do nothing to mine but wa***hem and salt them, put them on the grill and baste them with my special homemade sause. I keep them basted and turned to prevent burning. If the sause is too thick, it will burn easy. Get a Kraft [or other] premade sause and thin it with vinegar. Add some maple syrup, some mustard [just a little], red pepper, black pepper [the more the black pepper, the hotter], garlic pepper, salt and cajon shake. Bring to a boil to get it to mix. Go for it!!! Suppsoe to rain today. We need it bad. Buckeye, did you get a T storm Monday night? I posted on the Dubuque photo post that we flew beside Tstorms all the way to Cincinnati
before we made a turn east. Big lightning over your way. Hope to make it to "Miss Edna's today. Been three weeks since I visited. All have a great day and God bless all.

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

Ben - neat trip and hooray for the last day of school. I am sure you will enjoy your summer break!

Jerry - sounds like good progress being made there on the layout. Also sounds like you are WAY ahead of the Chief!

Iron H - Nice looking layout. You will enjoy the AMC/TMCC crane. It is very cool!. Note the program/replay sequence feature doesn't work that well (this is where you record a sequence to replay). If you move the crane anytime after replay of the sequence - it does not know you moved its position, so it just starts up wherever its last position is, so the sequence is off.

Daan - my friends in France say there are still deep rooted economic issues (unemployment and how the Euro is controlled) that led to the defeat of the proposed EU constitution.

GPS and locos - It is no big issue to put GPS on a loco. The issue is how to get the information back to the dispatching centers. All RRs still use analog radios for voice communications only. So there is no effective means of transporting digital info like GPS coordinates. Some RRs have experimented with Satellite Communications (Satcom), but it is very expensive to equip each loco and pay for the account. So the dilemma continues for the RRs. I worked on solutions using GSM or CDMA cellular technology, but this requires a partnership with a cellular carrier and none of them have continuous coverage over the entire US or just one of the big 6 RRs. Rural coverage is also a big issue.

Have a great day all!
Roy