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

[cnw1995]

I'm here - it's great to be missed. Boy, I seemed to miss all sorts of fireworks. Got up early this morning to take all this extra paint from the basement to be recycled by the township. I'm slowly clearing more space in the crawlspace to expand the layout (I'm secretly plotting to take all of it - but have to move the paint to move the Christmas stuff etc.) I took our 2 year old with me - we made an unpleasant discovery that our local hobby store is closing due to a HobbyTowne USA opening on the main highway (I'm sad and surprised!). After watching a few Metra trains go by, we heighed over to the HTUSA and were unpleasantly surprised to find nothing O train related except for a few sets and Fasttrack - I immediately committed to buy more 027 track from my local shop while it's still available. No great sales either - but 20% off Lionel MSRP is something. This is the second incarnation of our local downtown hobby shop to close in the past 14 years (the owner of the first one had his layout featured in the June MR - he moved to Penn. I'm blanking on his name). This seems to be a daddy-Ben (the 2 year old) day - we're going to see Thomas the Tank Engine in a few hours at the IL Railway Museum - he's too young probably to remember this - but I like the excuse to run over to the Museum , and with both of the other kids, I've never done this. We had to get tickets on the last run - I guess this is their major fundraiser - over two weekends...weather is lousy (damp, humid, grey) but we'll go rain or shine. I'll let you know how it goes....

[cnw1995]

Had to wait for 60 seconds to pass. I forgot to mention I got the OGR traveling boxcar in Thurs. mail, I hope to run it tonight and take some pictures to share!

[dougdagrump]

We have a "Hobbytown" around here somewhere, didn't bother finding their new address. The one we had didn't carry much "O" stuff but lots of N and HO. Just like most of the other so-called hobby shops around here.

[spankybird]

Good to have you back Doug,

I am surprised that your local shop can’t compete with HobbyTown. We have one here, about 5 miles from our local train shop.

As you noticed, there is no match in ‘O’ gauge trains or other real train stuff.

Looks like I should have gotten 10 lbs of cheese today, knew it was going to be a bad day after seeing that thing last night.

Well we have big T-storms coming thru now, so we better pull the plug.

tom

[spankybird]

Good Moring All,
IT is a partly cloudy morning, with temp at 72 deg and humd at 70, sounds like a chance of rain at any time, here in NE Ohio.

I woke up this morning from a very sound sleep, and thought I sleep thru the alarm. I couldn’t remember what day it was. Ever have that happen to you [?] Well I was a far as the shower, when it came to me that today is Sunday. One time I was all the way into the car and on my way to work before reality hit me.
Pick of the Day

All have a great day.

tom

[Anonymous]

Yeah I know what you mean about not knowing what day it is. I remember one time, in the winter,being so tired when I got home from work that I layed down and slept so hard that when I woke up and saw the time and it was dark I thought it was morning. I came flying out of the bedroom freaking out about being late and such. There sat my family all looking at me like I was nuts. There was stunned silence for a split second and they all just about wet themselves laughing. I slunk back off to bed.

[Roger Bielen]

We had a Hobby Lobby open in Athens a few weeks ago. I finally stopped in last week, they had maybe a dozen pieces of K-Line track with a bit more of HO, some N. I think there were 1, or 2, HO sets and some scenery stuff.

I'm glad we have Memory Station here in Watkinsville, he's 99% Lionel with a bit of Atlas, token HO & N, some of the specialty cars, and a reasonable amount of scenic and accessory items. Also, if he doesn't have it he's willing to order it.

[cnw1995]

Tom, if you slept that deeply, you must have needed it. I'm glad you're were able to relax that much and to discover it's Sunday before you went too far. I''ve done this too - woke up at 530 am and begun to get ready for wok before my realizing it. Roger, our town has a Hobby Lobby too - lots of Woodland Scenics ground foam and HO and N stuff - but only a smattering of Kline track - and pricey at that - and train sets. I hear they have good sales at Xmas. The hobby shop owner was telling me about their economics - the discount Lionel gives them vs. the bigger volume stores - which she figured wouldn't allow her to compete on the products they cross-carried like the train sets - which she said is where they make their money - same percentage but on a higher ticket item. I refrained from pointing out - the prices she charged for single cars and accessories were usually far higher - but she must not sell as many of them. I did run into a fellow O scaler though - who was civil. He was more of a collector but may be I'll try to track him down - it would be neat to meet some 'locals' _ I was thinking of trying to advertise to start some sort of round-robin club like I did when I first came into the hobby..

[ChiefEagles]

Big rains headed this way. Maybe I can send them up to YANKEE land. [:D]Repaired the spillway to the pond in woods yesterday. 99% finished. May get a good test this PM and tomorrow. Wanted to pour a little more concrete [hand mixed using pond water] to insure the big monument stones [used the scrap cemetary monuments dumped on property] were holding in place. Those things are heavy to load and wheelborrow to the site. Started to use tractor with forklift and pallets but then with storm on the way, might punchure a tire or something and get it stranded in the woods. Nothing like manual labor. Did find a big family of "red bugs" living there. Forgot to spray legs before going. [#oops] Have a good one and God bless.

[ChiefEagles]

Big thunder. Well, we are under a Tornado Watch, Flash Flood Watch and severe Thunderstorm Watch. Who knows. Guess Gaston si getting close. glad it is suppose to be dying out. Bye for a while.[V]

[Dr. John]

Looks like more thunderstorms rolling in on Lower Alabama this afternoon. Chief, hope you avoid any bad weather from Gaston.

Looks like I'll be spending my off days getting the house ready to put on the market. There's a good chance that I'll be moving to a church in central Alabama in about a month. More on that later. My model railroading will be on hold for a while.

[Back2Trains]

Hi, Hope you guys in the Carolinas are OK. We're down here in West Palm Beach looking Frances square in the face according to the latest info. it looks like it's going to be a mean one. Oh well, I guess I'll go do some layout wiring for now.
Jim

[ChiefEagles]

Back2Trains, hope it turns south of you. You are in a great area. I lived in Homestead in 68 and 69 as a "guest" of Uncle Sam. Got one of those greatings letters. Loved that area. Fished the ocean and the Everglades. Was out in the Hole In The Dougnut in the Everglades Nat. Pk. out of Florida City. Watching Castro and ready to fire a missile at him. Good luck on Francis. Go south young man. [;)]

[dougdagrump]

Just finished checking flights into Daytona, now it's wait a day or two to see where Franny is going to go. Closeup step-mom's home and head for safer ground if need be, like maybe Atlanta.[%-)]

[Anonymous]

Hi to all . Been in Montana last few days. Wife got back from Hawaii. Went to a an Irish Catholic, Norweigan wedding. Friends of the family got married and threw a big shindig in Great Falls Montana. We had a blast. Got differant company visiting all week so not much posting. all take care.....Tim

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

It’s a gray overcast light rainy morning at 65 deg. in NE Ohio. And so it goes.

If it wasn’t for work, it would be a great day to play with the trains.

Pick of the Day


all be safe today


tom

[ChiefEagles]

Raining and windy [Gaston is here]. Got some power outages in Raleigh. Probably a tree from soaked ground. That is what made Fran so bad. The ground was super soaked and then hurricane. The windmill is spinning up a storm [literally]. My spillway repairs will get a test. Wish I gotten the other 1% finished yesterday but started raining early. Well, sit inside and watch TV. Hey, play trains and work on getting stuff out of that room and maybe ready to go someone else"s house. [;)] Can not sleep for weather allert going off [Flash Flood Warnings]. Don't want to ignore it due to it might be a tornado warning. Snooze in recliner and go run trains. [:D] God bless all.

[FJ and G]

Morning. Grass is dry. Hasn't rained since Charley. Wish we could borrow some S. Carolina water.

Hope we get a few sprinkles.

[cnw1995]

Boy did we have fun at the 'Day Out With Thomas' at the Illinois Railway Museum on Sat. It just teemed rain, but the volunteers were cheerful and friendly, and I have never seen more people at the museum. Fortunately, with a two year old, we could wander past the gigantic tents selling Thomas stuff - grab a photo in front of Thomas during a lull and hop on a streetcar built in 1908 (!!) to ride their loop a couple of dozen times before our train. A kindly motorman let us out a bit early when I misjudged our time to run across the sodden lawn to the train. We found ourselves in old Rock Island coaches pushed by a BNSF E unit from their old exec. train. I was amused all we did was pull out towards Union and back - a very brief trip - but all the kids and parents enjoyed it. They were also running their CNW bilevels and even Frisco 1530 on the main line but we could only glimpse them from afar. After our ride, we had a chance meeting with Sir Topham Hatt in the Electroliner barn, and then trudged through the mud on home. Lots of fun. And then I managed to mangle some shots of the OGR traveling boxcar on the layout later that evening. Sunday and today are cool. Definitely not what I consider to be August but appropriate as it's the first day of school!

[ChiefEagles]

Dr. John, some water from NC should be ther by tomorrow PM. Runs down hill and it is high. [:D] Think my pond filled up whre I raised the water level by raising the spillway dam to what it use to be. My windmill is having fits.

[Dr. John]

Chief,
Yeah, some of that rain made it down here - BIG TIME! [:(] We've had some local street flooding today (fortunately, my Blazer didn't have any problems). I'm not sure where all of the rain came from but I'm ready for it to go somewhere else!

[Kiwi Down Under]

YIPEE, YEE-HAA, In New Zealand its the last day of winter..

Tony

[spankybird]

Tony, the only bad thing about that is

THAT it will soon be winter in the North half of the world.[V][:(]

But the good thing about it is, more time for trains [:D][8D][:P][;)][;)]

[dougdagrump]

Unless Mother Nature makes Frances disappear tonite or tomorrow morning(tues.) it looks like I'll be in Daytona Beach wed. Anybody ever been to Roundhouse South in Port Orange? If I'm going to be there and we don't get blown away mite as well make time for trains. [:D]

[Anonymous]

Great Shot of the TB!

Anyone interested in ave the boxcar visit there layout, and is a OGR member as well, please contact me, Thanks!!

[Anonymous]

Im chugging off into bed now, Goodnight fellows.


Chris.

[ChiefEagles]

Wow, New Zealand!!!! Doug, have a safe trip. You don't need to be there on Saturday or Sunday. Praying it will turn south and go somewhere away from us. Got to get things done here before heading to Myrtle Beach SC for BPS Grand Opening. Hope Francis does not help me do the opening. I lucked out as only got 2.3 inches of rain yesterday. Did my windmill have fun in the wind yesterday. Off to Raleigh to get W/S wiper module for truck. Yes, a printed circuit board to run W/S wipers. Make things too complicated. Have a good one and God bless.

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

It looks like a start to a great day, cool 58 deg at 6:00am and full moon out. We are loosing about 3 minutes of sun light per day now. [:(] Bummer. Sign of the times to come.

Can’t tell how clear the sky is, it was too dark.

Pick of the Day


All have a safe day[8D]


tom

[ChiefEagles]

Hey Tom, where is pigseye? Anyone heard from Jim Duda? Guess he is due a call. ????????

[Jim Duda]

Dooodaaah is hibernating until December...he's a Christmas train guy, ya know. Still racing the airplanes until late October. Can't wait for winter...gets down in the 70s each day - perfect! Been a cool summer in TexASS - I don't think Austin had triple digit heat indices but 3 or 4 times this year....Brrrrrrrrrr!