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

[John Bakeer]

Hello John (jefelectric),
Thanks for your kind wishes, due on the slab in 4 hours.
When I was setting up my profile as I was typing Baker I sneezed and didn't notice the extra E.
I'd like to try that coke and nuts thing you guys are talking about. We get the bottled stuff (standard and diet), but just which type of nut do you use (not xox) and what quantity? here there are dozens of different peanuts from plain in their shells through sweet honey to hot chilli flavour. All our drinks and savouries are now in metric, so I will have fun converting your measures. Did you know that the US and UK system of measurement differed ie. a UK ton and a UK gallon are greater than the US.
The green meenies will be telling us not to run more than one train at a time before long. Some clever Dick here has calculated that all the electronics (computers TVs etc.) on standby use enough juice to fry an egg and could kill an ant.

[Jumijo]

Good morning everyone.

Today is Friday at long last. Ahhhh. Big nature hike this afternoon with the Brownie Scouts. Then my daughter and I are off to dinner - just her and I.

Tomorrow it's off to Mountain Trains at long last. I'm looking forward to seeing their layout.

I watched most of CSI last night and then fell asleep towards the end. I wonder how it all turned out.

After waiting more than a month, I called Kalmbach about my missing More Allstar Toy Trains. They assured me that another one would be sent. After another week, still no magazine. I called yesterday and cancelled the order. I'll pick it up at the hobby shop. Next year, I'll know better.

Jim

[dwiemer]

Top of the morning to Y'all.  Well, the first level of track is down and I have to adjust my plans....again.  The second level, the passenger level, will be simplified.  Just  a big, winding loop with several tracks at the station.  I decided to add another level of a simple loop to just run a simple train, like a porter with a few cars.

One thought that has come to mind is that I will not fight the fastrack issues with the milk cars, etc.  Instead, I will have a track set up below the main level of tracks, on one sideof the layout that will have several animations, like the cattle car, milk car, etc.  and have push buttons for the kids to play with.  This will keep their enthusiasm about the trains and will open up some room on the main layout for more scale items that will work with the fastrack.  The only thing I do want on the main layout is the #497 coaling station.  I need to figure out how to mate this up with the fastrack operating track section.

Have a good day and weekend.

Dennis

[Jumijo]

Dennis,
You might consider elevating the coaling station on a piece of plywood so that you can get it closer to the track. Bevel the plywood to the same angle as the FasTrack's pastic roadbed.

Jim

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

It is sunny and cold in SE Indiana with temps in the 40s.  Slow evening last night as all I did was go to the YMCA and get gas for the wife's van.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a cold, sunny 25 degrees here. Going up to 43 today and partly sunny. There is a light layer of snow on the grass, came down late last night.

Today is a normal chores day around the house. I plan on spending some time in the train room, this afternoon, working on my layout. And I also need to run trains for awhile. Relax and enjoy.

I hope some of you guys checked out the link that I posted last night here. It has some nice steel bridges and catenary equipment. I think I will get a bridge to try out.

Off to the Dining Car for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Friday.

Chuck

[dwiemer]

Dennis,
You might consider elevating the coaling station on a piece of plywood so that you can get it closer to the track. Bevel the plywood to the same angle as the FasTrack's pastic roadbed.

Jim

Jim, thanks for the information.  I have heard that they have problems getting the track to work with the blades on the station, but I think I can overcome this.  As with your suggestion, it sounds great.  I plan on putting a "well" around this with a wide screen cover so that the inevitable thrown coal can be readilly picked up and put back into the bin.  I will post photos soon of my progress.

Thanks again,

dennis

[cnw1995]

Good morning from a sunny and freezing Chicago where I'm in interviews for new hires essentially all day. Got the leaves raked up. Resealed the dryer vents - I have to think up something cleverer than just duct-taping flashing to extend the vent and keep the cold air out.

Thanks for the link, Chuck. I've spoken to that vendor in the past - my biggest issue is how to connect the cat supports to the base of my layout which isn't exactly secured - 'grass' carpet on various foam boards. As long as I'm essentially running three-rail with roller pickups, it would be more for show than anything too.

[Brutus]

Cold morning in Missouri - going to Chucky Cheeze with the kids after work.  People keep bringing in food - hard to get back on the diet thing!

John Baker - use a small bottle of Pepsi Cola or Coca Cola (8oz = 240ml) and add one small bag of salted, plain peanuts - not the dry roast or beer nuts or anything.  They are just bare cooked nuts with salt on them.  I guess enough nuts to displace the soda to the top of the bottle is about right?

God bless and good luck on your surgery.  Hope Doug and Lucas are feeling better and He grants us all good health and a nice weekend.

[Dr. John]

Dennis,
You might consider elevating the coaling station on a piece of plywood so that you can get it closer to the track. Bevel the plywood to the same angle as the FasTrack's pastic roadbed.

Jim

Jim, thanks for the information.  I have heard that they have problems getting the track to work with the blades on the station, but I think I can overcome this.  As with your suggestion, it sounds great.  I plan on putting a "well" around this with a wide screen cover so that the inevitable thrown coal can be readilly picked up and put back into the bin.  I will post photos soon of my progress.

Thanks again,

dennis

Dennis, I am pretty sure that Lionel has a Fastrack adapter section where part of the roadbed can be removed to allow accessories close to the track. Not sure of the part number.

John Baker - I have found that the salted, dry-roasted peanuts by Planters, Tom's or Lance work the best. The salt seems to make the coke a bit more "fizzy" and helps offset the sweetness some. The best proportions of peanuts to Coke (in my opinion) is to use the peanuts that come in celophane packets out of vending machines and add that to the 8 oz. glass bottles of Coke. Now if you want the absolute best combination - go to Mexico and buy your Cokes there. The Cokes bottled in Mexico (and other Latin American countries) still use cane sugar. The Cokes in the U.S. went to corn syrup years ago (cheaper than cane sugar here).

That's probably more info than you wanted!

[TomOnHudson]

Good Morning ... nearly afternoon already. It was a chilly start here in the Hudson Valley region of New York; around 35  F when I looked out the window at 6 AM this morning. Last night, I had told the kids we might run into Jack Frost, but it wasn't quite that bad.

After walking the kids to school, I took a few pictures around town. Here's an Amtrak heading north through Cold Spring station:


Here's another Amtrak, heading south onto the causeway just south of Cold Spring station.

The foot trail on the right side of the picture is actually an old railroad bed. There was a spur here that served the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, and later used to haul waste from the Marathon Battery superfund clean-up site.

[Jumijo]

Nice photos, Tom!

[Blueberryhill RR]

A quiet day on the Coffee Pot.......I wonder why ??

[GregM]

A quiet day on the Coffee Pot.......I wonder why ??

No Gritsmeister?

 

Tomorrow is an open house at the train museum but there is a NMRA train show in Dayton.  I should stay home and rake leaves.  Decisions, decisions....

Anyone familiar with the Dayton show?  It's at the Hara Arena.

[BMRR]

Stan - whereabouts in Alabama do you live?

Dr. John, I live in Anniston. We love grits and sweet tea here also.

Stan.

[Dr. John]

Ah, Anniston! Back in the summer of 1981 I worked at Shocco Springs Baptist Assembly in Talladega as a counselor. Nearly every Saturday, we'd head to Anniston to have a change of scenery and get some decent food. Not a lot to choose from in Talladega back then - a Tasty Freeze and a McDonalds was about it.

[mitchelr]

Good evening from Gettysburg. Temps tonight down into the mid 20's.  Last night I watched the WVU - Louisville game.   Sad night for Mountaineer fans.  Turnovers and special teams were the killers, that and the fact that the defense could not stop Brohm and the rest of the Louisville offense.

Ran some trains after dinner tonight.  Tonight the 2033 F3's ran without problems.  I must have been  in a daze when I was trying to run it last week.  I also played with the 3462 Milk Car.  Had some fun flinging milk cans across the layout.  I also ran a KCC Kennecott MP15 (????) and work caboose that hadn't been off the shelf in a while.  As always the RMT Beep got it's share of running time too.  That little loco really is perfect for my small layout.

Well, I guess I'll sign  off for now.  The crossword puzzle is calling my name....

Take care,

Mitch

[csxt30]

Good Evening Everyone !! Glad it's Friday, even though I have to work tomorrow !! We got a little bit of snow here & now they say it may hit 60 degrees next week !! It's below 32 now, I think .

Well, still working on my Diner area, with a street now in front of it & maybe a little park next door ! It turned into a big project once I got started. Ideas stated popping into my head as I go !! Just need to get some more asphalt paint & other scenic stuff . Maybe have a picture for Sunday Photo Fun !!

Nice Amtrak pictures & Tom & BMRR !!

Hope everyone has a nice weekend !    

Thanks, John

[jefelectric]

Good evening,

Quiet day, no training, worked on doll house.  Ready for carpet, vinyl and baseboard & then the interior will be done.

Hoping to get some outside work done tomorrow with the help of the grandson.  May even get him to help on the layout if time allows.  I want to add another feeder.  Have a brick to feed thru another TIU to split up one section that is to large.  Just haven't gotten it done.

Chuck,  That site doesn't have very good pictures of the products.  At least I haven't found them.

Have a good weekend,

[jefelectric]

Thanks for the link, Chuck. I've spoken to that vendor in the past - my biggest issue is how to connect the cat supports to the base of my layout which isn't exactly secured - 'grass' carpet on various foam boards. As long as I'm essentially running three-rail with roller pickups, it would be more for show than anything too.

Doug,

You could try glueing small squares of thin plywood to the foam at the pole locations so you have something to screw them fast.  If the bump is a problem you could cut depressions in the foam or use a foam cutter and burn them in.  Never tried it, but I think it would work.

[AKKevinT]

Good Evening from Fairbanks,

At 3:45, AK time, this afternoon we submitted a monster sized proposal to the department of education. We have been working evenings and weekends on this puppy for 4-5 weeks. If everyone in the lower 48 felt a strong breeze around your dinnertime it was me exhaling a sigh or relief! No more working every night until 2-4 am then getting up at 6:30 am and back in saddle at 8 am the next day!

Life is now back to normal!

LAZ: If you like to fish you will like Alaska! Put it on your list!

Cleaning out the garage tonight, it is that time of the year to be getting the cars in the garage at night. It is finally starting to cool down in Fairbanks. Not to cold yet but it will probably dip down to 10 below tonight.

As soon as the garage is clean the Christmas layout is coming down and gets spruced up.

I am looking forward to trying the coke and peanuts combo this weekend– more on that later.

Regards from the Freezer!

Kevin T.

[Brutus]

Well, Kevin, as a border state, we in Missouri can enjoy the best of both worlds, peanuts in our Pepsi with grits for breakfast, or northern cuisine, like maple syrup or Alaskan King Crab.  Now if I could just get some of those buckeye candies with the peanut butter center to try....  Glad to hear you are getting to sleep again!

Anybody know, does the Lionel 3461 log dump car have working couplers?

[dougdagrump]

The dude in the big brown truck came by while I was at the museum. My AT&SF 4-6-0 was waiting for me by the front door.  

We had a visitor at the museum today, he is doing some research for an article about camera cars. I've seen some of his stuff on-line, nice to actually meet him in person. I want to investigate the possibility of using one of his applications at the museum, I think it would be real hoot. Go to www.trainfacts.com and look at his Christmas tree.

Forgot to add: I'll be happy as hell come wednesday !!!! Why you ask, all this election will be finished. At least for two years.

[John Bakeer]

Dr John,
I am about 4000 miles from Mexico, can you tell me what weight of Planters dry roasted is in these vending packs? All uk food is in metric packs but I can convert to US.
Darned difficult working ERNI left handed. The hospital tell me that my hand will be bandaged and useless for five weeks, by which time I shall probably be ambidextrous.

[John Bakeer]

Thanks Jim,
I shall send Nursey to the market ASAP.
Interesting things keep appearing on the screen, the left hand really dosn't know what the other is trying to do<:{@)^%"£.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Okay, what happened? I just changed to IE 7.0 and the message box on the reply is real small for the CTT forum? Don' t tell me that the forum is not compatible with IE 7.0,

I don't have the smileys anymore either! I can't bold type and colors are gone, too.

I can't cut and past photos either.........................................................................................


BTW, good morning to everyone.

[TomOnHudson]

Good morning from Cold Spring ... 30 F this morning at 6 AM.

Jim, John, glad you liked the Amtrak pictures.

I wish I had my camera in my hand yesterday afternoon: I was standing on my front porch when a B2 stealth bomber came thundering down the Hudson. What a sight! Must have been part of the Army/Navy pre-game show at West Point.

Buckeye, r.e. IE 7 ... sorry to hear that. This is why I switched to Firefox a long time ago.

-tom

[GregM]

Okay, what happened? I just changed to IE 7.0

Microsoft strikes again!

 

 

[BMRR]

Buckeye - There has been a lot of talk about IE 7.0 and I haven't heard anything good about it yet. I think they are still working the bugs out of it. I started to switch, but I'll stay with the old IE for now. As far as everything being small, you may have to reset your resolution.

Stan.

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It's a cold , frosty , sunny 25 degrees out there. Going up to 50 today. I hope the sun stays out. Looks pretty with the frosty glaze.

Today, is a normal day. Chores and a few errands to run. I almost forgot it was Saturday. I think I will work on the layout this afternoon. I have a few things to figure out for clearance.

Buckeye....That IE 7.0 does not mate well with this software, or so it seems. Do you still have the old system ??  Good luck.

Well, the Dining Car is serving breakfast. Later.

Y'all have  a great Saturday.

Chuck