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

[jonadel]

Good Morning,

While visiting our youngest son in Minneapolis this weekend we were able to make history by riding the new "light rail" train. It's been in the making for years and Saturday was the kick off and it was a huge success. Free rides for the weekend and at times the lines were over one hour to board. The trains are beautiful and extremely smooth. We rode from the Metrodome (after watching the Twins lose and only had to wait 3 minutes)to Niccolet Ave. to check out the Hot Summer Jazz Festival which in itself was incredible.

A great weekend for Minneapolis and kind of fun to be part of history.

Jon

[FJ and G]

Morning all,

THis weekend I completed my first fully functional helix. I have one more to build. THis helix is held together by all-screws. Yes, that's what they are called! THey are long screws that resemble rebar. THis helix is unique in that it is the ugliest helix I've ever seen. Some of the bars are bent from improper measurement and the joints between the wood are sloppy. But it is functional--meaning that it works--and will be enclosed in a giant sort of box anyway. When it's done, I'll provide photographic evidence to implicate the guilty.

That evening had steaks with my buddy who runs MTH trains. Showed me the proper way to make them on the gas grill outside. First, you do a dry rub with salt, pepper, garlic, onion and chilli powder. You turn up the flame high in front of the grill and put the steak in the back. Leave it for 8 minutes and then turn it over once for 8 more minutes. Then take it out and leave it set for a couple of minutes so that the juices seep back in. THen mix 1:1 Stubs and Sweet Baby Ray BBQ sauce on it. We ate cheap stakes that were kinda fatty but the cooking technique and BBQ sauce were what made it delicious. I'll betchya that in the olden days, firemen made steaks that way on steam locomotives in the firebox.

On Saturday I had Pho for lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. Met a nice girl there and asked her how to make PHO. She told me that she would show me how to personally but I forgot to get her PHOne number. I'll be heading back there on Saturday and this time I won't PHOrget to ask.


Dave Vergun

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

So this is what being retired is like. Sleeping in a little, time to read the paper, surf the net, play with the trains, chase the wife, I could get use to this, but it is only my vacation. I still got up at 5:15am this morning, but was happy to roll over and go back to sleep.

It’s a cloudy, light rain this morning with clearing later for the sun. Sounds good to me, I don’t have to cut the grass today.


tom

[Roger Bielen]

Afternoon all,

I just picked up my first 35mm photos I had put onto disc. My first question is how do I copy a picture(s) onto a posting.

The software is "Kodak Easy Share Software" and the photos are .JPG. I was hoping that it would be click copy - click paste, no such luck as far as I can tell.

HELP!

[ChiefEagles]

Morning gang. OOOPS, it middle of the afternoon. NO, I did not sleep that late. Had Dr's apt and so hit the street early. Then went to the stir fry to eat and then across the street the the high $$$$$ train store. Only place in the Raleigh area to get train paints and etc. Guy still is pricing everthing at suggested retail. Think I saw the same engines I saw months ago. Then came home and put the decals on the custom painted JD windmill and bolted it down for good. Need some train time. Tom, chasing the wife will get you in trouble [remeber what makes little Toms [;)]] Pictures of the windmill later. God bless.

[spankybird]

Hey Roger, send me an e-mail and I will be happy to send you a set of instructions on posting pics[tup] . It is easyer to do thru e-mail than on the forum.
Chief - we are too old for little ones[}:)] , I think, maybe [%-)]

Maybe we need to find Big Boy and wake him up, he hasn't been posting much lately.[:O]

[Kooljock1]

I just walked our carpenter out the door. He was here to fix some trim moulding the dog ate.

He says to me: "I gotta bunch of trains I'm thinking of getting rid of...you know anybody who might be interested?"

I say: "come with me downstairs..."

By the time he left, I think he had decided to keep the trains and build a new layout. Even AFTER I rammed the LionMaster T-1 into the railing of the new animated caboose...

Jon [8D]

[ChiefEagles]

Kool, you might have missed a bargin but gained a buddy. Never did tell us if we could get your radio show on the net.

Tom, that is what a lot of folks think before they say OOOPPSSS. [;)]

[ChiefEagles]

Well, I fisnished my project. Pictures taken right after a rain a few minutes ago.



custom paint job with decal on the vane. bolted to a white granite slab. pthe folks that owned this houe owned the local monument company and I have lots of "leftovers".

[spankybird]

Nice wind mill Chief. By the way, is that the size of all southern porch lights.

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Yes Tom and I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. [:p] Just an area light mounted on detached garage instead of setting a pole. John Deere tractor garage is attached on the left. [has its own garage]

[Buckeye Riveter]

The John Deere Green looks great. The first tractor I ever drove was a John Deere on my uncle's farm in southern Indiana.

This was a very hectic day. I was a pall bearer at a funeral for an old friend of 29 years back in Indiana. [:(] Finally back home tonight.

[dougdagrump]

Tom, You should have seen what was cruising around at the Friday Nite Cruise. If you have gone to an amusement park I'm sure you have seen the "Bumper Cars". Someone had taken a bumper car and made it street legal with what appeared to be a highly modified atv frame/engine. It even had the pole with the contact that would drag across the power grid at the park rides. These things would be great for the Shriners to adopt for their parades, I'm going to have to take my camera next time.[D)]

[Kooljock1]

Sorry to say, we don't stream audio on the web. Between royalties fights with ASCAP and BMI, and union demands from AFTRA and SAG, the expense is just not worth it!

To give you an idea, the unions demand that their "talent" get paid for any non-broadcast play, on a play by play basis. Same deal with the licensed music. We'd have to pay more than it's worth for the few who would use the service.

To learn more about the station:

http://www.WKOL.com

Jon [8D]

[FJ and G]

Nice day today in D.C. Did you know that in this area, it would cost millions of dollars to get a house on a big lake with 10 acres of land? -- that is, if you could find it. But near Watertown, S.D., you can purchase that land, house and lakefront property for between $125 and $200K. You know, my buddy is considering doing that because his wife's parents live there and he could sell his house and pay for the new place in cash and go fishing from his back porch.

Sounds tempting to me too.

Dave Vergun

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

We have the start to another great day in NE Ohio with Blue Clear Skys and temp of 60 deg going to 78 deg this afternoon.

Doug, you will have to take some pics of the bumper car. We had a local amusement park which had the rocket ship ride. One of the locals bought one and converted it into a car [?] and gives rides at local shows. I will also have to get a pic of it.

Kooljock - to bad we can’t hear you at work.[V]

All have a great day.

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Morning gang. Beautiful day here. Got to go put down some 4X8 sheets in oldest's new house for attic storage. Oldest moves Thursday and youngest moves Friday and Saturday. Guess who has to help?????? Need to be fishing but always something going on. God bless all.

[cnw1995]

Good luck, Chief. Watch up back when moving boxes or better yet, wait until someone else moves the box and you can supervise. A beautiful day here in Chicago too. Speaking of prices, Dave, it's amazing the price differential just in this metro area - from lows to highs for the same size land/house, and then how inexpensive it is compared to both coasts.

[Anonymous]

Good Morning! It's great to be back!

As you may have notived, it's been about 4 days since I last visited the forums. It turns out that the viruses my computer had were really, really bad and I ended up sending the computer to a guy to get fixed. Thankfully now, though, my computer is 100% virus-free! I never really realized just how much I use the computer until I had to live without it. Now I've got a lot of catching up to do on the forums and ebay.

[dougdagrump]

Mornin' all. Have any of you had any luck doing the yard sale/ garage sale/ estate sale rounds in an effort to supplement your rolling stock. In our area it doesn't seem that model trains were a very popular hobby. When you do find something how did you make out on the cost, comparable or better than E-bay?[|(]

[warner brook]

hi dave
about that fishing in south dakota,that lake might be frozen a good part of the year.when i was in the service there was a farmer from s.d. the stories he told, made me glad i was stationed in georgia.he was a rugged guy of 29 who looked like 50 we called him pop.probably best to visit first in the dead of the winter before making a move.hell we even get cabin fever up here in north west pennsylvania. good luck on what you decide to do roy

[warner brook]

good after noon all
have a question for you guys.seen a few 3 rail o gauge layouts,none of the trains were weathered and the scenery and buildings all looked like they just came out of the box and were operating the one layout even had a roofer that was actually swinging his arm up and down simulating nailing shingles,while the ho layouts were heavily weathered and detailed scenery added.is this difference typical or do the 3 railers get into the weathering and scenery like some of the smaller scales,i know the garden railways are heavily weathered and they look good. just a question don`t know if it makes any sense to even ask. have a good day roy

[Anonymous]

well, we usually like our trains looking more toy like. The people that want oscale, but want it more exact detail usually do two rail.

[Roger Bielen]

dutchman,

Most 3 railers are operators and don't get involved with the weathering. The one's most likely to weather are the "hi-railers", those who model things for realism. Personally I fall somewhere between, I'll weather some buildings and scenery but not the trains.

[FJ and G]

Dutchman,

That's why, I'm told, they make gas-powered augers. In upstate NY I used a giant ice breaker and pounded on the ice. No hut. Just sat out there freezing my *** off.

dave vergun

[Roger Bielen]

Afternoon all,

This is a test, trying to post some photos thanks to spankybird's instructions.



This is the church I just finished scratch building.



Bank downtown



The mainline along the cliffs.



The mainling looking toward town.

Well with preview it appears to have worked. thanks Tom.

[spankybird]

Roger – The pics look great and so does the building and layout.

I once tried ice fishing, the only thing I got was a cold butt, never did it a second time.


tom

[Buckeye Riveter]

Spanky, you are the photo man for this forum. [bow] You made Roger look like a pro. [:)] Do you have a place to put the video that I took such that others can see your Challenger go through the O-27 curves? If not, I can post it and then send you the url. [8D]

[FJ and G]

Roger,

That's absolutely peachy!

[spankybird]

Hey Buckeye, NO I don't. Go ahead and post it for me if you would.

thanks
tom