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

[ChiefEagles]

Morning gang. Ben good shot. Is it a Lionmaster? They will go 031. You can always go one size lower if you use K-Line like Tom uses. No switch stand to hit. The big SD80's, Lionel says 042 in all the old catalogs [since they started making them], but this year's says 031. Interesting. I ran the SD60 on the inner loops which are 027. It is suppose to run on 031. Runs with some jerky motion in the curves but does run. Will derail occassionally when backing through an 027 switch. My plans call for 054 on some siding switches but mainly 072 on main lines. Just had a shower of rain so can not mow. [was not suppose to do that] Guess I'll experement with my smoke unit for the MTH Dash 8 dummy. Got it lit last night. Have a good day and God bless all.

[ben10ben]

Chief,
Nope, it's the full 19 1/2" long SD-80. Pages 48-49 of 2003 Volume 1 say that it will run on O-31, however they changed this in later catalogs.

I'm running mine on O72 now, and it still doesn't look that great.

[jonadel]

So I was having a great morning moving trains around and I was almost done moving all kinds of engines and rolling stock to different sidings and I wanted to move a new transport to a different part of the layout........

"Hey boss, you know that new transport of Budweiser trucks? Well, there's one less and one with some roof damage........ "

I kind of like the one laying on the side next to the bridge[:D]

Jon[:I]

[ChiefEagles]

Jon, ooops. One day I'll be showing my "dressed up" layout. Thought Tom, Buckeye and Laz were coming to build it for me. I guess not. [:(]

[Anonymous]

Good Morning, Everyone!

Hooray! It's finally here! Today is graduation!

After years of school, it's all finally comming to an end. Last night, some of the family got together for gift opening. I got lots of nice things, but what you guys would be most interested in are the trains I got from my parents. They gave me a selection of beautiful prewar trains made in Austria by Ditmar. This includes two very heavy steam engines and tenders (an 0-4-0 and a 2-6-0), four 4-wheel passenger cars, a 4-wheel baggage car, an 8-wheel low-sided gondola car, an 8-wheel gondola car with stakes, an 8-wheel high-sided gondola car with doors and two short 4-wheel flat cars that together haul some long logs. I found these pictures of Ditmar 2-6-0's the same as mine.



At 12:30 today, I've got to go get my picture taken in my tuxedo. Then, at 5:30, is the supper for grads and their parents with speaches and stuff. The actual graduation ceremonies start at 8:00, but I have to be there by 7:30.

There's still school all next week. Monday, June 20 is the last day of regular classes and then final exams start. I only have two to write: French on Friday the 24th and Chemistry on Monday the 27th. I have to head back to school on Wednesday 29th for two minutes to pick up my report card and then I'm outta high school for good!

[ChiefEagles]

Congrats Sask. [^] Well, getting smoke unit ready to mount in dummy. Opened it up [new Lionel] and did my "mods". YES, the motor turned backwards. Got that right. Really smokes up a storm now. Best voltage is 13V. 12V is OK. 18V really puts it out but I bet it will burn the unit out. Now I'll get our friend Bob Nelson to give me the forumla for the bridge rectifier to reduce the voltage and I'm on my way. [:D] Sun ever comes out and dries things off [keeps misting rain], I'll get teh JD out and mow.

[ben10ben]

Sask,
Congratulations and good luck!

And just think, even if you fail all of your finals, they're probably not going to take your diploma back:[:)][:)][:)] You have nothing to worry about[:)].

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ChiefEagles

Jon, ooops. One day I'll be showing my "dressed up" layout. Thought Tom, Buckeye and Laz were coming to build it for me. I guess not. [:(]

Somehow I knew that the three of us would get the blame for the slowness of the Chief's[:)] layout being constructed.

[csxt30]

Sask, congratulations, and those are some real nice looking trains you recieved!! [:)] Thanks, John

[Roger Bielen]

Opened up my Hudson, weak smoker, today and pulled out the old fiberglass and added some pink insulation, left the sleeve on the resister but wrapped some FG around it, added 20 drops of smoke fluid and put it back together and ran it after about 15 min.. No smoke, probably flooded. I'll try it again later this evening.

Taking the GD's to Chattanooga in the a.m. for the weekend to go to the aquarium, stay at the ChooChoo Holiday Inn and go to the TVRR Museum for a train ride on Sunday before heading home. I'll try to get some decent pictures with the digital for posting.

[IronHoarse]

Good evening all.

Sask, congratulations. I remember when I graduated many moons ago, I was glad to leave that place. [:)]

Al I hoped my truss bridge finally arrived today. Got it all put together and set up. Didn't even read the instructions to assemble it, boy am I good, ha ha. Well time to play trains for awhile and conserve money so I can get some more stuff later.

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

[ChiefEagles]

Roger, take the sleeve off, do not wrap it and add enough fiberglass to fill the "bowl" but not block the airway. Then make sure the element is touching the fiberglass. Takes a lot to flood it then. Had to order more JT's as my diesels are drinking it up.

[cnw1995]

I'm back from running trains with Elvis in Las Vegas - actually went to a trade show there - very interesting place. I like the monorail - very Disney-esque. Flying is for the birds - I'm fortunate I do not have to travel regularly - Chief I don't know how you do it - though it is kind of weird to think it takes only 11 hours from Vegas hotel to home sweet home Chicago. Congratulations, Sask - this is commencement weekend here too - I'll be at the Lyric Opera House in my robes to read names as they hand out college degrees. Great looking Truss, ironhorse! Rice coal? I learn something new here all the time. Thanks laz.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations Sask!!!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing the pics of those beautiful trains..Tim

[ben10ben]

Here are some quick shots from the train ride that I took over a week ago and am just now getting scanned in



Alco S-2(with whistle!)



Tipple. In response to some recent discussion, I believe that one chute of this tipple also functioned as a breaker, although I wouldn't swear to it. Certainly not every chute was.

[daan]

Hi Guys,
Very nice train you got from your parents sask! Take a look at ebay.de (german ebay) in the 0 gauge section if european tinplate interests you.

This is what sort of trains you can find over there (take a big wallet, it's going for over 2000 euro's, which is very cheap for that AE 3/6 of the swiss railways; made by Maerklin in the mid 30's, and very rare in this quality; with box!)

I also like the bridge Ironhoarse, you are gifted to make nice layouts with very simple things. It really has charm.

In Holland I found a set of 4 hoppers from K-line for 50dollars! It's all plastic except the wheels, but it looks nice and 4 individual numbers. The best part is that they sent me an e-mail that they also are going to sell a lot of Lionel, and will send me a list next week.
Yesterday I worked on the mountains on my layout. I jigsawed the mountain structures, glued them onto the board and stapled wire mesh across it.
The next thing will be a plaster cloth and then I can start to color and fini***he scenery.
(which is the best part!)

Hope everyone is up and running!

[ChiefEagles]

Morning all. Daan, good find. Weight them down and they will ride OK. Good pictures from you and Ben. Off to take wife to her friend's as they are going to the mtns and back today. [[in NC, that is a good drive]. Hope to get the parts for reducing the voltage as Bob Nelson [Lionelsoni] is talking me though the process. After I get it done, I'll take pictures and post the process. Have a good one and God bless.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Live from Roger's Corners Ohio, It’s Saturday Morning!!!

It's so hot in Buckeye Land that...
· the birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.
· the potatoes cook underground, and all you have to do to have lunch is to pull one out and add butter, salt and pepper.
· farmers are feeding their chickens crushed ice to keep them from laying hard-boiled eggs.
· the cows are giving evaporated milk.
· the trees are whistling for the dogs.
· you no longer associate bridges (or rivers) with water.
· you can say 92 degrees without fainting.
· you eat hot chilies to cool your mouth off.
· you can make instant sun tea.
· you learn that a seat belt makes a pretty good branding iron.
· the temperature drops below 95, you feel a bit chilly.
· you discover that in July, it takes only 2 fingers to drive your car.
· you discover that you can get a sunburn through your car window.
· you notice the best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.
· hot water now comes out of both taps.
· it's noon in July, kids are on summer vacation, and not one person is out on the streets.
· you actually burn your hand opening the car door.
· no one would dream of putting vinyl upholstery in a car or not having air conditioning.
· your biggest bicycle wreck fear is, "What if I get knocked out and end up lying on the pavement and cook to death?"
· you realize that asphalt has a liquid state.

And it is only June! This isn't Texas, this is Ohio.

Chief, must have stopped work on his layout, because the cold wave reversed.

Daan, very interesting.

Ben, you need a trip to Cincinnati to see the museum and the rail yard. The NMRA Convention is in Cincy. I might try to go on the day that they have it open to the public.

Sack, Again congratulations, and when are you going to take the Chief and I fishing. We want to catch a big one.

Doug, we would like to see the photos of you and Elvis running trains. I believe it would be a candidate for the cover of CTT.

Jon, I believe you have committed the ultimate sin for toy trains, wrecking the beer truck. Another "in the news" item for CTT.

Chautauqua Tom, I'm heading your way.

Tom, keep your head down. The storms are heading your way again today.

PE Tim, there must be trout fishing near you. Has the snow melted from the mountains?

Everyone take care and have a good safe weekend. [:D]

[spankybird]

Good Morning from NE Ohio

where the temp is 75 deg with partly cloudy skys.

We had very strong T-Strom last night. Twice in one day it two much.

You got to love the competition on high speed internet service. You can have either SBC (phone) DSL, High speed Cable (Comcast) or Dish. I have SBC DSL. It was $26.95 per month, then they offered a package of $19.95 if you also had your long distance and cell phone with them. They have now lowered that to $14.95 per month.

DSL now also has two speeds, fast and faster. Faster is about twice the speed of fast. That was $36.95 per month and is now $29.95 per month. For $3.00 per month more I can have an extra cup of coffee each day. But boy is it Fast.

Buckeye – I will be looking for the dark clouds.

Sask – Cong on high school

Pick of the Day

Busy Saturday Morning in Downtown

All be safe
tom

[dougdagrump]

Mornin' All,
It must truely be summer. We've had some brush fires in the SW, some of the Gulf states have already been hit with the first "Named Storm", and the midwest is sweltering in the heat.
I can already hear the whispers "Come on winter!" [swg] [:-^]

[zwbob]

Tom, You're getting all the rain. Yesterday around 4:00 there were dark clouds all around us but the sun was shining in Seven Hills. How about sending one of those storms a little SW. Thankfully me and my brother got the new AC in on Tuesday. The old one quit on Sunday.

[csxt30]

Wouldn't you know, same thing here! Dark clouds yesterday towards Cleveland, went south of us & missed us. One good thing is the strawberries are here now! [:p] Too hot outside, so am wiring up my ZW that came yesterday. Now I have some power! [:)] Thanks, John

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon, everyone!

Well, graduation went great last night! I had a good time and walked home with some scholarships, so I can't complain! Now I'm counting down the day until school's finally done.

IronHoarse, Looking good! Your layout's coming along great! I can't wait to see what's going to happen with it later on.

ben10ben, Great pictures! I love that Alco switcher!

daan, I love European tinplate trains and have many vintage European-made trains in my collection A lot of these trains are too expensive for my budget, though. I've been lucky enough to get some deals. There's a lot of nice stuff in Europe, but I've been a bit wary about buying trains from there due to high shipping costs to get them to Canada.

Bukeye, I will if you come up here. You guys are more than welcome to pay me a visit.

[wrmcclellan]

Sask - congrats!

My Comcast connection has been down since early yesterday and it just came back up - so I have some catching up to do.

Tom - great photo today!

Buckeye - good reason to stay indoors!

Hot here - mid 90's for next 5 days and as one can expect - it gets hotter after that and won't cool down until late Sept. No rain to speak of and now we need it. Got out early and mowed lawn before it heated up today. The went down to the hobby shop to look around. Need to find a nice litttle UP (traditional) caboose to go with my Williams 0-27 Alcos.

Have a great day all!
Roy

[Anonymous]

Yes Buckeye, all the snow has melted here, but I can still see some on a few Montana peaks looking east from town. High of 72 today, and clear blue skies . Low tonite 45.
Sorry I am not the fisherman in the family, Mrs PE is. Her dad is coming up this week from Houston, and they have booked a charter on Lake Pend Orielle (Ponderay) for Tuesday. If they get any I will post some pics. I bought here a new fly rod for her B Day.
She used to go fishing with some of the guys at her old job, I just could never get into it, always go to sleep in the boat . Later... Tim

[tschmidt]

Hey all,

Good list Buckeye! I look forward to your visit out here.

It was an unbelievable day here with the heat and humidity. We borrowed a pick-up truck to help my mom clean out the shed. It took 3 trips to the dump to get rid of everything. I felt like i was going to melt today. We sure could use some rain.

Tonight we're sitting down in the family room. It is very cool and comfortable. I thought about running the trains but I will settle for just looking at them.

Have a nice night everyone.
Tom

[ben10ben]

Evening Folks(or maybe morning by the time I get through typing this),
Sask,
Once again congratulations on the diploma.

Buckeye,
I've been to the Cincinatti museum, but it's been a while. When's the NMRA convention?

By the way, if I may nit pick, asphalt technically is always a liquid. By definition, it is an amorphous solid, meaning that it has no definite point which it becomes a liquid. Water has a definite point where it goes from a liquid to a solid crystalized state. Asphalt, like most other hydrocarbons, just becomes increasingly more viscous until it seems like a solid. It has no crystalline form. Being an engineer, I thought that you would appreciate this [:)][:)][:)]

Here are a few more favorite train pictures from last week


The whole consist


The whistle(aren't telephoto lenses great? [:)])


Belching out smoke on notch 8 while climbing a hill(whoever said that diesel smoke units aren't realistic? [:)])

[underworld]

Sask Congrats! Very cool graduation present!

ben10benWhere is that train excursion???

daanI've found lots of great train items on eBay in Europe......Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and the UK so far. Many of these things I had never seen in the US. Good luck with your construction!

BuckeyeGood list!!! Pretty much the same in NW Ohio. It was a frigid
82 here today! [:p]

underworld

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[spankybird]

Good Morning from NE Ohio

where the temp is 75 deg with cloudy skies. The weather lady says we will have rain most of the afternoon. Well I won’t have to cut the grass for another day.

Roy – thanks, after 1 ½ of playing with the camera, I am still learning some of the custom setting. That one and this one was taken with slow shutter speed.



This really give great depth but the camera has to be on a tri-pot and the scene has to be static because the shutter can be open up to 2 seconds.

BTW – I just pick up this engine yesterday in a package deal along with some HO engines. Of course I didn’t want the HO, but didn’t want to break up the deal.

Ben – Great pics

Tshmidt – it has been humid here too. It has been so high, it will just start to rain for 10 minutes, then stop and then even higher humidity. The rain hasn’t helped.

All be safe
tom

[IronHoarse]

Good morning,
yesterday I spent some time in the train room planning a track addition. Wow time can fly when you are busy thinking about trains and layout plans. I am thinking of getting a second train soon so I am planning a place to park one train while I run the other, that is if I don't want to run both at the same time. I am going to need two more switches and a couple of block power sections for the parking area in the train yard. Of course I am still waiting for my first two switches to be shipped. They are still on back order. I want to get either the Lionel "Keystone" or the "Black Diamond" set from the 2005 catalog. I am having trouble deciding which to get. I like steamers but I really like that SD-80 too. Getting both is just out of the question right now. I noticed that the SD-80 has two motors. Does that mean that it will draw twice the current of a single motor engine? Hope everyone has a good day and stays cool.