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

[Jim Duda]

Dougger - Daan has it right, this is almost a Moped or scooter. It has the 4 gear tranny with the standard left foot shift pattern which is why I like it. It is strictly a neighborhood scoot and I never ride it above 30 MPH on busy streets...just nice and slow and quiet. I'm tellin' ya, it's a great way to watch the neighbor ladies cut the grass in their bikinis and smell the fresh cut grass!

But it's getting closer to Christmas so I'm starting to dust off the trains, drink some wine, and relax. Hope the summer was good to all of you.

Finally, in deference to Professor Feinberg, I agree with what all those cute neighbor ladies tell me..."Size does NOT matter!" See pic below...(wink)

[daan]

Yes Jim, up is first, down is 2,3 and 4 and if you want to catch the free in the transmission, take a beer and try to find it somewhere between 1 and 2.. then you step on a triumph and it works just the other way round. I nearly messed one up, shifting down instead of up oneday..
Also in Holland bike riding in the big city's is suicidal.. But in my region we have a lot of nice small paths along the shore and through the countryside.

Where do you eat when the trains are out by the way?? Or do you let the gondola's serve the dishes. Nice setup.

Chief, if you have the runs, norrit can help a lot, and is also not chemical stuff. (it's charcoal actually and has another side effect, your mouth is black after using it..
[:D])
Tom, I think I"m going to join in this week on your christmas lights.. All take care and stay safe!

[Jim Duda]

Daan - we don't eat in our house from Thanksgiving (Nov 25), until Feb 1 when the trains come down. Honda in U.S.A. is (from neutral) down for 1st, up, up, up (4th) then down, down, down to get back to 1st. Neutral is after 4 beers and is between 1st and 2nd. Riding in Austin is suicidal so I just ride in the quiet neighborhoods.

By the way, I've given up on feature 45 in PS-1...I CANNOT get SQUEALING BRAKES by pushing either the bell button on the DCS handheld OR my external bell button. Oh well...

[ChiefEagles]

You don't need squeeling brakes anyway. Don't run those trains enough. Well, maybe they would too. From being rusted up.
Chief "feels like he rusted up" Eagles

Really doing good. Getting bored.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning. Off down east to my Mom's [88]. She is in for a big surprise. She does not know what I have been up to for the last week and a half. This will be our Thanksgiving meal. Pam cook full meal this AM and we are taking. All have a good one and God bless,

[daan]

Happy day chief, and bon appentit! You know what things you can do when you are bored? Take out the matches and place the small drawer upside down in the matchbox. Succes guaranteed.. There are people who are sooo extremely bored that they build a chuch out of matches etc..
Hope you feel better soon.

Have a nice day all!

[Dr. John]

Chief,
It's good to hear that you are doing so well. Hope you and the family all have a great thanksgiving together.

To all of you other forumites, I wish you a happy and blessed Thanksgiving! I may not have a chance to post again this week, so I wanted to pass that along early. [:)]

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pigseyes

[:D][:D][:D]The city of Portland was lovely and rainy as usual. I did find out on this trip they have a fabulous light rail system. From Union Station to Portland Intl.in about 30 minutes and a cost of 1.65 The last time I took a cab and it was 25.00 Having grown up in the south , where hardly anyone has light rail, this was quite a treat for me. If there is anyone on the forum that lives in Portland I can tell you that you have a first rate transportation system. If any of you visit there, you will enjoy it.
I took some pics of the station and trains and will post them in a few days. Next time I think I'll take the Seattle leg of the Empire Builder........Tim

Tim,
I rode the light rail in Portland in March of 2003 and it is very impressive. Like you, I went from downtown to the airport at minimum cost and time. Did you ride the trolley?

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Tim,
I rode the light rail in Portland in March of 2003 and it is very impressive. Like you, I went from downtown to the airport at minimum cost and time. Did you ride the trolley?

No Buckeye,I didnt see a trolley. Is it in the downtown district? I wish I had known because I had enough time for it;;;Oh well maybe nent time......Tim

[Anonymous]

Hi Guy's,Sorry I've been gone so long but it is getting to be crunch time here and I need to get the house done before Christmas!
Chief,How are you getting along? I've been concerned as have been others I'm sure!
Man I'm glad my faith isn't in Lionel or MTH or I'd be all over the webs with hate messages too!
I've seen everything now,One guy was compareing political parties to the different brands,,,,,,,,,
I just want to enjoy what we have in our layouts and hope we can all move on to the pleasuars of what we have in our friendships!!!

[daan]

As said before, trains are "just" a hobby, no-one gets killed, no war has to be fighted for and trains are for enjoyment, not for frustration.
I must say that I was pleasantly surprized that the chief of Lionel was prepared to chat with his customers on his website to clear questions. I don't know any company in Holland doing this.
Since we don't have thanksgiving in Holland, I don't know excactly which day it is, but if it's today, I whish everyone a good thanksgiving and enjoy the turkey..

Stay safe all.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Daan, this Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day after, Friday has also become a national holiday of sorts. All of the women go to the mall and the men do something else. I will be in the east, so this Friday, I am considering visiting Steamtown in Scranton, PA. and maybe some of the great train stores.

Tim, the trolley in Portland is downtown. If you ever go back, the 5th Ave Hotel in downtown Portland is a great place to stay and it is near the tracks.

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

NE Ohio has a cloudy morning at 42 deg with a high only going to 48. Thursday, Thanksgiving day, has snow in the forecast.

Chief – how did dinner at your mom’s go[?]

Pick of the Day


all be safe

tom

[ChiefEagles]

Morning gang. Trip to Mom's was great but tiring. It kind of humbled me. At least I did not have to drive. Daan, do you all have a day of Thanksgiving over there???? This is like the end of harvest and you are suppose to give thanks for all you got during the growing season. Now that agriculture is not the main occupation, you should still give thanks for what you have received. It has now become the lead in to Christmas which has become a big income maker for the businesses. In fact, now they even start Christmas "season" in stores before Thanksgiving. [soapbox] Oh well, home alone today. Who is going to make breakfast, lunch and get my needs when I lean forword in the recliner???? Think my game is up. Well, all have a great day and God bless all.

[cnw1995]

Nice to hear you had a good day, Chief. We're going to get together with friends instead of family on Thurs - I swear it's'healthier to skip the occasional holiday dramatics. Then we're off for a week to Connecticut to visit my folks - it'll be the first time seeing my dad since his Altheimers (sp) has gotten worse. I burnt out 3 grain-of-wheat bulbs in various scale lamps trying to wire them up this weekend. I also ballasted more track. I got the idea to tie little loops of yarn to the various blocks of wood that we carry for freight in our open-top hoppers and gons. That way, the young ones can try to 'hook' them with our Marx crane and move them about. Cold today - I think winter is here. I keep itching to get the Christmas stuff out.

[wrmcclellan]

Hi all,

Raining steadily in Dallas. Had coffee in hand and decided I needed to post something here. Rain is predicted for all day today and tomorrow. Clearing Wed and first real cold front Wed and Thurs. We are over 10" above normal for rain this year. This is OK as we have been in somewhat of a drought the last 5-6 years.

Worked last Thurs and Fri for a local charity called "Share the Blessings" which collects food, toys, and cash for Habitat for Humanity, SantaCop, North Texas Food Bank NTFB), SW Bell Pioneers (SWBP), and Law Enforcement Teaching Students (LETS). Had our club and sponsor's (Toy Trains Unlimited) 12' x 20' scenicked display layout with 5 loops of Fastrac running for the kids. All was set up in a huge tent at one of the large Dallas malls. Lowe's provided free crafts for the kids to construct and SWBP and NTFB had bags and stockings that could be decorated by the kids to be used when the food and toys are distributed to those in need.

We had hundreds (busloads) of school kids come through, each bringing a can of food. They had a great time with the crafts and watching the trains run. Then they get to see Santa and Mrs. Claus. A great time was had by all. Kids get a real kick out of having a TMCC control put in their hands to run a train.

Local classic rock station KZPS was there broadcasting from the tent. With their help, we had motorcyclists and other motoroists pull up with cash or toys to donate.

All in all, a great way to kick off the holiday season.

Chief - you take care of yourself and stay on the road to complete recovery.

Daan - we await the next installment on the resistor controller!

Regards and Happy Holiday,
Roy

[Anonymous]

Good morning,,,,er,,,,afternoon to you all who don't work nights,
Beeeuuutiful morning here in Central Indiana and rain or possably snow on the way.
Gonna fix the wifes cloths dryer and head for the train room untill time for work.
God Bless all,
[:)]

[ChiefEagles]

Just walked 20 laps around the back concrete pad. Pad is 3/4 length of the lot and 1/4 length of lot wide. So I just walked 20 lots in this town. Lots are not narrow. Guess I got my exercise for today. [:D]

[ChiefEagles]

Good evening gang. I want to thank all of you for the cards, emails, calls, magazines, pictures and get well posts. I even got a card from Holland today. All of you are great buddies. God bless you all.

[daan]

Hi Chief, nice to see it turned out in the right briefcase.. We don't really have anything apart from Christmas and Easter. We don't have thanksgiving, we don't have halloween, we don't have a day where the women go visit the mall and leave us alone to let us do what we want to..
We actually have 2 santa's. The first one, coming on 5th december, is Sinterklaas (saint claus). As the story goes, he comes from spain with a steamship loaded with presents for all the good kids. The kids who where not so good get nothing.. Then a few weeks after that we have Christmas, but that's more or less without presents..
When I lived in switserland, we had "sammichlaus" (saint claus again) living in the woods and being an old white man AND an old black man. There where 2. They came with a donkey out of the woods to give the kids a mandarine and some nuts. On Christmas eve there was "es chriistchindli" (a sort of angel-child on a slee which speeded through the air, it lacked the reindeers however) Then it was present-time.
To me, the "sinterklaas"-thing doesn't make sense. I love Christmas the way with reindeers and Santa and a train around the tree. I would love to see that haloween and thanksgiving showed up in Holland, since we really lack festivity's and reasons to visit family in these long evening day's. besides that we have had christmas ornament everywhere (shops etc) for almost a month now, and it really is way too early.
I remember that my grandma had "dankdag" which was a sort of thanksgiving, but it really isn't around here anymore.

To get back to trains.. I have made a few other founds the last few days for my resistor controllers; 2 4amp cirquit brakers, heatconducting paste and an aluminium cooling block out of an old frequency controller. I flattened the surface where the resistors can be mounted. It needs some work to get finished, but it's a matter of putting it together now..

Hope you all enjoy your day and stay safe.
(chief, the small switcher on the card is from the steamtram located behind my house.. They also have a 0-6-0 war reserve steamengine from the USA in working order..)

[spankybird]

Good Morning All,

NE Ohio is at 41 deg with some freezing rain in some areas of town. Snow is in the forecast for Thursday and Friday. It is the Season.

We have been some work on our layout by modifying the telephone poles bases. I did know I had so many of them on the layout. Should be done this weekend.

Daan – some of us here celebrate Saint Nicolas day, also on December 5, and if you been good you will find a small present or candy in your shoes in the morning. I remember my mom doing this for us kids. This isn’t widely practiced today.

Pick of the Day




tom

[ChiefEagles]

Morning gang. Thanks Daan for enlightening us on your holidays. Raining here. Not feeling as chipper as yesterday. Think I need a little coffeee to get me going. Hope everyone has a great day. God bless all.

[cnw1995]

Misty today but warm. Got my Jan. CTT in yesterday's mail. I'll read it tonight on my commute home after teaching my last class for the quarter. I take the slow train - get off at 10 pm. The issue has a layout design 'centerfold'! Take care.

[railfanespee4449]

I jus got my Frisco geep! Oh, Yeah!!!!!

[wrmcclellan]

Nice writeup Daan about your traditions. SP4449 - let us know how that GP runs.

Tom - I have a lot of relatives from my father's side of the family in Akron. I have spent a lot of time up there over the years.

Still raining. We need this cold front to come through to dry us out a bit.

Have a great day all!
Roy

[ChiefEagles]

Roy and Spee4449, glad to have you on the "coffee pot". We talk some trains here and a lot of family, weather and etc. Gives us a way to get to know each other. More of a family thing. Keep joining us. [:D]

[Buckeye Riveter]

Chief, you forgot to tell Roy and Spee4449, that we also discuss fishing, boats, motor repair, John Deere Tractors and windmills.

[daan]

and motorbikes!!! [:D][:D] and organ donors and saint niclauses etc. Just a nice chat with the other fellows.. The more souls around here, the more fun.

[wrmcclellan]

And all are subjects near and dear to my heart (although I have never figured out how the fish know I am on the other end of the pole - and thus they all leave)!

Leaving town for Thanksgiving, back next week.

Thanks Folks! Happy holiday to all!

Regards,
Roy

[spankybird]

Hey Roy,

the next time you visit the Buckeye State, drop me a line and maybe you can work your way a little north for a visit.

tom