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

[spankybird]

Good Morning All

Happy Halloween

It has returned to a more normal weather, cool, temp at 52 with a high of 57 and cloud cover.

All be safe

tom

[daan]

Happy halloween. Enjoy the popping cars..

[Anonymous]

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!!!!!!!

[ChiefEagles]

Howdy all. Went to early church and then SS. Wife had to run by the Super Wallyworld so just getting home. Can not believe it. Yankee weather is gone. Sun out and it is hot. [:D] Hope you all have a great HALLOOOOOWEEEEN. God bless all.

[Buckeye Riveter]

What is a Super Wallyworld? Is this some southern peculiarity like Piggly Wiggly.

[ChiefEagles]

Oh, I forgot. Yankees are deprived individyals. Super WALMART [:p]

[Buckeye Riveter]

Is a Super Wallyworld like a Macy's or Sak's Fith Avenue? I've been in both of these stores and they are very boring. No guns, fishing poles or trains can be found. I can't figure out how they stay in business.

I wonder if the editors of CTT ever dreamed that there would be so much BS on their forum. They could easily have over 100 items from this forum that they could use for the best of the net type article.

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

NE Ohio has a typical fall day, temp in the mid 40’s with a high of mid 50’s and a chance of rain. Most of the leaves are off the trees after this weekend wind storms.

It looks like a long haul until the weekend


tom

[FJ and G]

It was a skunk weekend. On Sunday, BB the beagle chased a skunk. Fortunately, she didn't get perfumed. Also yesterday, we discovered that one of our neighbors has a skunk that lives under their front porch. They say that it sought refuge after all of the new housing construction likely forced it off its home. They put water and corn out for it every day, surprisingly.

Worked all day on the layout. now completed 8 handmade turnouts. Practice makes perfect. May redo some of the earlier ones.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning. No coffee and no food for me. Just lots of water. Off for nuclear stress test. I guess I'll glow or explode. [:D] All have a great day and God bless all.

[cnw1995]

Had a good Halloween here - took the kids around early, then sat in the front room giving out candy - gave lots of it to the kid who showed up in complete engineer outfit...hat, overalls, gloves, with a long-spout oil can!

[daan]

It's really a shame that we don't have halloween over here. In our place x-mas is allready starting to come in.. Halloween is a nice thing to keep the x-mas feeling away and still enjoy yourself. It fits in with autumn, x-mas doesn't..

[Roger Bielen]

Hi Daan,

Saw a TV program on our Public Broadcasting Station last night about Amsterdam. It was a Globe Trekker travel program. With some of the characters they showed (a gay parade and a number of "artist") it looks like they have their own version of Halloween.

If what was presented is true, Amsterdam appears to be an extremly liberal town, more so than I remember about 20 years ago when I spent a couple of days there.

[dougdagrump]

Doug, I wonder just how many people actually knew what his costume was. [:D]

[Anonymous]

Winter has arrived in the great Northwest!!!!!! 2 inches of snow Saturday , flurries yesterday, and another inch this afternoon. Oh well we always have a white Thanksgiving here. Highs in the fortys and lows in the twenties here on the mountain. Drive 3 miles down the mountain and the temp goes up 10 degrees and no snow. At least no shoveling or plowing YET...............Tim

[ChiefEagles]

Wow, my plans got changed!!!! Canceled gall bladder operation and scheduled heart catherization [sp] instead. Guess Thursday will really be fun. Good night and God bless all.

[ChiefEagles]

On the run. Off to tha tother university hospital {UNC} and that is a drive through early morning traffic. Tired of Dr's apts. Last day of good weather for a few. Hope all have a good one and God bless all. The Buckeye State can not get their voting right. Figures. [:D]

[daan]

Take care chief, hopefully all the appointments will end one day and then it's train time again. Good luck with the heart caterization thursday. Will they inject fluid into the veins to see if something is wrong? Or are they going to operate?
@ Roger. Of all city's they showed Amsterdam[B)] What must other country's think of us? Amsterdam is a strange city. Everything is possible, gay, drugs, hashies, but if you park your car a bit odd it costs you 500 dollars.. Luckily the rest of Holland is a bit more back to earth and we actually are normal people[:D].

In the mean time I'm thinking about a Lionel ZW transformer which I saw at a swap meet. The only drawback is that it cost $300.. May be it's cheaper to pay the huge costs of airposting and buy one in the states..
Does anyone know it's weight? I've been thinking about other possibilities, but in a DC minded europe, a simple high amp transformer which is regulatable is nowhere to find.
I have a 24Volts 12 amps (so about 290 watts) transformer, but unregulatable. The only way of regulation is with wirewound pot-meters, which can handle 40 watts max. Besides that I'm supporting the heating of the house by using wireresistors..
One possibility left is using halogen-suited dimmers and put a transormer behind it.
Drawback is that the dimmers cost $40 each, the transformers behind it $30. Which gives a result of 3x$70= $210. And that's not even close to the real stuff..
Ebay, here I come..

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

Running a little late this morning. NE Ohio has rain with temp at 61 with falling temps all day. They say next week we may also see some of the white stuff. I better find that snow blower.

Daan – is your house current on 50 cycles or 60 cycles [?] Not all the US transformer will work on 50 cycles. AT $300.00, double check on a new MTH Z4000. It can be bought for about the same price.

Chief, good luck with the Heart. You have a good one, let’s keep it going.

We almost forgot the pic of the day[:D][:D][8D]



tom

[jonadel]

Chief--hope all goes well for you today, you'll be in our thoughts.

Speaking of snow blowers, I just gave mine to our oldest son & wife as they really need one for northern IA. They just move about 170 miles north from where they were and that does make a big difference. So today I take in my new ATV and get the new blade installed, bring it on!

Some minor progress was made yesterday in the train room, even the small projects take time if it's to done correctly. When this project began in earnest a year ago I had no idea it would take this long, however, the worst day in the train room is far better than the best day at work!

Jon

"Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time and your government when it deserves it."
-- Mark Twain

[cnw1995]

I love picture of the day, Tom - keep 'em coming. That's almost the perfect smoke plume. I want my snowblower to work this season - I think I put some bad gas in it or never got the oil / gas mix right maybe. Since the motor covering is so dang hard to get off (safety issues I guess), I'm going to haul it in somewhere for a tune-up. Looks like we're going to need it this season. Fortunately, I just got the leaves up and bagged as it's been raining for two days now. Try to vote today! There was a big line at 6 am but I still made it to work on time. Had to do it early as I'm working late tonight. I carefully photocopied a few pages of the Your First Lionel Layout book so I can refer to the wiring instructions later.

[ChiefEagles]

[:D][:D]Lung thing is 10-4. Come back in 4 months for CT to make sure. [:D] Maybe sign of things to come with heart thing Thursday. Thanks to all the gang.

[spankybird]

Doug - thanks, soon we may have to take some more pics of the layout.

Chief - glad to hear that your lungs are OK. Stay away from the corn cob pipe.

tom

[Buckeye Riveter]

Spankybird is right Chief. If you didn't smoke that corn cob pipe while sitting in the outhouse, you wouldn't have these problems. [:D]

Great news that the lungs are okay.

[daan]

@ Tom, we have 4 cycles outside in the garden shed[:D][:D] bicycles... In Europe its 230volts 50 Hz, and the only thing which is problematic is the noise it will make..
I have found a dealer in the north of holland also having Lionel. I'll ask there for some power. Besides that I dismantelled the 24 volts transformer and thinking of rewiring the thing to one with steps of 2 volts at once (6-8-10-12-14-16-18-20 volts) by using power takeoffs every few windings.
There will be a way of keeping my attic noisy!
And Tom, take care, regarding the pic of the day, that you don't have to change your forum name to smokeybird
[:D][:D]
VOTE WELL (I'm curious who will win)

[ChiefEagles]

Idea. Get a bicycle generator and produce enough electricty to run my trains. Get my needed exercise. [:D]

[dougdagrump]

Don't knock those corn cob pipes, my wife's great grandmother smoked one till she was 105 yrs old. Don't know if it was the pipe or that good ol Ky Hillbilly bloodline. [:D]

[ChiefEagles]

More like KY Hillbilly MOONSHINE. [:D]

[daan]

[(-D][(-D][(-D]

[ChiefEagles]

Gooood morning. Now the political adds are over. [:D] Just like OhwhooO to cause trouble for our nation. [;)] Bet Buckeye and Tom are the problems. [:p] Got to cook chickens for the State Parks Staff for noon meal. Cloudy and might get some rain. Looks like some Yankee weather is coming our way this weekend. It might frost. Have a good one and God bless all.