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

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a cloudy 30 degrees. Looks like it's trying to snow. The temperature is suppose to drop to 22 today. With snow flurries.

Today is Pearl Harbor Day. It will never be forgotten.

I have a few errands to run today. Get a hair cut. Good day to stay inside and run trains. I put the bridge on the layout, yesterday, just to see how it would look. I have to build some support pieces and do some planning. Looks real good. That's a big bridge.

Time for the Dining Car and breakfast. Later.

Y'all have a great Thursday.

Chuck

[AKKevinT]

Good Evening/Morning from the Northland,

I have to stay up late tonight so I took a couple of pictures for you fellows. The moon is out and the night sky is cloudless so I thought I would share a couple pictures of  Alaska moonlight night around our place. All of these picture were taken aboout 1:00 am alaska time.

Looking toward Fairbanks from the hills.

Along the front of our home with the moon lighting up the landscape. Check out how little snow there is!

Looking in the front window peeking at the trains!

This one is for all you sportsman out there— what made these tracks in the snow? As the say on "Car Talk" Write the answer on the back of a $20 bill and send your answers to me!

When the moon is out the snows really reflect the light and it is just like day light.

Don & Jim: My CTT came in the mail on Weds. afternoon and it was even in good shape. No tears, creases, or scars to speak of. Lets hear it for the USPS!

Good Night and Good Morning and Best Regards from the Freezer!

Kevin T. 

 

[Jumijo]

Kevin,

 

My CTT never arrived. Neither has the replacement copy they mailed. I resorted to buying one.

 

Jim

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

It is sunny and cold in SE Indiana with the temps dropping thru out the day into the teens.  Speaking of teens, TMCC Man, that was a good link you found in the Trains forum.  I may have to check that out sometime.  I was very busy last night.  We were getting the schedule set for Lucas for next semester.  He will be taking six classes instead of the usual seven, but he is taking a math class, which is a good thing.  I worked some more on getting items ready for the train exhibit, and went to the YMCA as well.  My dad is taking some stuff up to the historical society today and helping run some trains for some school kids.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[cnw1995]

Good morning from a frigid northeastern Illinois where it is currently 8 degrees, and I am going to try to take the middle boy Christmas shopping later today. I got one of those Blackberrys from work yesterday - it is like an umbilical cord - always on - I don't really like that - but I haven't figured it out yet. Colin, I picked up a book the other day, Illinois in World War II, that is full of reminiscences from a generation that has now almost passed on. It's impressive to see how the war impacted all areas of life - down to the small rural hamlet. Remember Pearl Harbor! That's a great performance review, Jim F! Jim A., that was a fine picture of your kids and trains...

[Brutus]

Pearl Harbor Day.  Thank a veteran.

No snow, guess you really didn't get any benchwork done yesterday Chief?

[laz 57]

Hi GIZ,

   PEARL HARBOR DAY, take a moment a say aprayer for all those GIZ that were there.

Any where from 33 to 44 here today.  Drove only 11 miles and that was the temp. range in the truck, screwy weather.   Suppose to get some white stuff in the form of flurries.

Happy Friday Eve.

Maybe run some trains tonite.

All have a good one.

TMCCMAN was the answer to your question ROMMEL the Desert FOX?

laz57

[ChiefEagles]

December 7, I will never forget.  Morning.  Had to run to post office as courier tried to deliver my "pay check" from Pro Mariner.  They had sent it top priority and paid $14 to mail it.  Yankees amaze me sometimes.  After s coffe or two, will start building.  In **** sleeves [long] today.  Temps dropping drastically and then high wil make it to the 40's tomorrow with wind chills in the 20's. [it moderated from earlier forecast]  Got to go.  Want to get building so the Yanks wil freeze over.  Later.

[dwiemer]

Morning everyone.  Been a busy few weeks on this end.  Hope things calm down soon so I can finish the layout.  Wore shorts to work as it was above 40 this morning.  supposed to head to the 20's this weekend, crazy weather we are having.  I guess it really does depend on when the Chief is doing his benchwork.  We will have to start a phone list so that everyone can prepare for the storm. 

Kevin, if Bass Pro Shops ever opens a dealership up that way, watch it if the Chief comes up for a visit!  You'll have 20 feet of snow!

Anyway, hope y'all have a great day.

Dennis

[tmcc man]

Hi GIZ,

   PEARL HARBOR DAY, take a moment a say aprayer for all those GIZ that were there.

Any where from 33 to 44 here today.  Drove only 11 miles and that was the temp. range in the truck, screwy weather.   Suppose to get some white stuff in the form of flurries.

Happy Friday Eve.

Maybe run some trains tonite.

All have a good one.

TMCCMAN was the answer to your question ROMMEL the Desert FOX?

laz57

Laz, the answer is Michael Wittmann. I am going to do some research on Rommel too.

December 7th today. Going to stop and say a pray and a thank you to all of the Allied troops that went into battle.

Talk to everyone later.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Can anyone see all the smiley's?

This is the bottom row in order left to right.

 It can be viewed with too many clicks and mouse moves to make it worth doing. I had written a long explanation only to have it vanish while posting. They will appear (in your post) if you click on the top half of the boxes in the bottom row

Ken

Ken, there are several more smiley's that are not appearing and they should be below the row you referenced.  When they recently changed the software, many of the smiley's became inaccessiable.  If you would look at postings over six months old, you would probably see some of the missing smiley's .

[kblester]

Can anyone see all the smiley's?

This is the bottom row in order left to right.

 It can be viewed with too many clicks and mouse moves to make it worth doing. I had written a long explanation only to have it vanish while posting. They will appear (in your post) if you click on the top half of the boxes in the bottom row

Ken

Ken, there are several more smiley's that are not appearing and they should be below the row you referenced.  When they recently changed the software, many of the smiley's became inaccessiable.  If you would look at postings over six months old, you would probably see some of the missing smiley's .

 

There does seem to be a few missing, but these are all that are available in this box. Why the size is locked and can't be maximized is beyond reason.

Best Regards, Ken

[FJ and G]

Happy birthday to all the ones I missed seeing lately.

----------------- 

 I'm planning a brand new 027 3-rail tubular layout for my new work office space (slated to move next month). Since the workstations are "U" shaped, It will in all probability be a folded dogbone shape, with lots of grimy industrial scenes. Likely will run semi-scale stuff incl. my new Lionel 0-6-0 and older MTH SW-9. Will be using DCS and conventional.

You'll see planning pictures and all that good stuff later on.

 

Cheers 

[cnw1995]

That sounds great, David!

Hey, my youngest is watching PBS and 'Bob the Builder' is making what looks like an O gauge layout for someone - hmmm, nice table, hill, tunnel, miniature cows, little houses, backdrop AND a new engine. Geez, the client sure is a geek though... Hurray for Claymation!

[Jumijo]

My wife's car failed its inspection today. It needed a new tie rod. I asked her if she had experienced any poor handling and she had, so it got a new tie rod. Now the car is safe to drive again. And I'm $300 lighter (insp, oil change, tie rod)! Looks like I'd better return the Chief's Christmas present.

 

David, I'm not sure how conducive having a layout in your work space is to forward advancement. My guess is, not very. But if you can get away with it, good for you!

Have a great day, everyone. I'm going home. That's where the real work begins. 

Jim 

[jefelectric]

Good afternoon,

Weather is pretty good at the moment, temps slated to drop today and tonight.

Jim, Now that you went out and bought a copy, you will probably get the other two in the mail.

Colin, I'm another WW2 fan.  I had a good friend that was an Air Corp photographer stationed in England.  It was his job to go along on bombing missions and take photographs.  On one mission the B17 he was in got shot up pretty bad and they had to bail out over the English Channel.  He got picked up by a patrol boot and taken to an English hospital.  At the hospital, the Nurse told him she thought he could let go of what he had in his hand, it was the handle of the rip cord from his chute.  He wasn't even aware that he was stilll holding onto it.  He still had that handle when he passed away a few years ago.  My Dad was an aircraft electrician stationed at Morris Field which is now the Charlotte, NC airport (down in the Chief's country).  He worked on P47s, B25s, B26s & B24s mostly.

Now about trains.  Last evening I connected my new meter and fuse panel and hope to get the wiring changed over to add the additional tiu and Lionel brick today.  It took a while as I bought the stuff in July.

Got to get back to work, take care.

[FJ and G]

thanks, guys,

 

Conducive to promotions? Had a layout about a year ago at work and everyone misses it after I had to move to another area. They tell us this move is permanent, so I'll give it ago. The Colonel in charge gave the green signal.

 

The secret?

1. turn off the smoke

 

2. turn off the sounds (chatter, bells, whistles, and ESPECIALLY the train wreck sounds)

 

3. run it at the slowest possible speed

 

This is what I previously did and it was not distracting to anyone (including myself) 

 

Since it's an ARMY environment, I'll buy some out-of-scale Soldiers and a tank or two; perhaps have them chasing and firing at some insurgents would be a nice touch 

[dougdagrump]

Afternoon All,

 I am back to the land of the living. Boy that was one nasty bug, not sure if it was the so-called "flu" or not but the last time I had a stomach/intestinal bug like that I spent almost a week in the base hospital due to dehydration.

 John,

 My Presidential overton car arrived and it goes real good with the AT&SF cars, will be running them this friday at the museum. I'll try to get some photos to post on sunday.

Kevin,

 Your photos remind me of when we lived in the mountains of Colo about the 9500 foot level. Winter was amazing after the first few snowfalls covered the rocks and small shrubs. Even plain ole starlight seemed very bright on those cold crisp nites and a full moon was almost like daylight. Summer could be a drag though, when the storms rolled thru the lightening almost always took out our electricity and you definitely didn't want to be above tree line at that time. 

The "emoticons" seem to change after you use them once.  

[Roger Bielen]

Throw another log on the fire, dropping down into the teens tonight in Dixie.  The Chief must be working like a madman on his layout to generate this much cold.  And wouldn't fate have it that tomorrow I'll be working on facia for the contract layout which means running in and out of the client's house to cut the wood.  If only it was last week when it was shirt sleeve weather.

[ChiefEagles]

Evening all.  Posted progress pictures.  Through framing in the big room.  Now to lug those big heavy sheets of wood upstairs.  Since they are "sublayer", I'm going to cut them up into smaller sections and then screw them down to the framing.  Don't know if I will do that tomorrow or not.  Struggling to get to 40 and wind chills in the teens.  I might just pack up rolling stock and work on inside stuff.  Got to go to Lowes and get rubber carpet protectors.  Not to protect the carpet but to hold the framing in place.  It slides all over that type of carpet.  Had to stop and get down one of our Christmas trees.  Put it together and plug it in [perlit].  Wife was whinning last night she had no tree up.  Came home, walked through the breakfast room three times before she saw it [and it was lit].  Blonde thing.  Stay warm Yanks.  I know you are colder than me so that makes me survive this cold stuff.  BTW: 60 by Sunday and then even higher next week.  Later

[ChiefEagles]

Wanted all to see the center piece on our dinning room table.

Look at his feet.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Great snow storm today and it is cold in Buckeyeland.  Maybe we will have a white Christmas. 

40^th BUCKEYE RAILROAD AND MODEL TRAIN SHOW AND SALE

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2006, 9 AM to 4 PM in the Lausche Building, Ohio Expo Center, Columbus, Ohio.

And it will be crowded. 

[laz 57]

Interesting story JELECTRIC, about your DADs friend from WWII.  I wish my DAD would have opened up about the war but like lots of GIZ then didn't.  I later found out how he got hit and it was in a effort to save a guy in his squad.  I am very proud of him and say a prayer everyday.  The only thing I wish is that I could have said it to him.  Maybe in the next world when I see him again.

laz57

[tmcc man]

Thank you to everyone for sharing their stories from WWII. We truly had some amazing people serve our country.

I finished packing up for the Reading Train Show. Will be heading out at 10:30 AM tomorrow for setup. I will then go to my aunt's to help with Christmas lights.

Good night everyone.

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

Back home from Phoenix. Temps dropped below freezing a couple of hours ago. Chief is working away! Gonna be 45 tomorrow!

Was able to catch an earlier flight and made it to my sons first B-Ball game. They won 33-10. All got to play which was nice for the boys. He made some good attempted shots but he couldn't buy a bucket tonight.

Took the family to Chili's after the game. Just what I wanted to do after beeing out of town all week - eating out!

Have a great evening all!

[mitchelr]

I heard from our 7 yr. old Grandson from Baltimore the other day, he wanted to know if I could bring my trains when we come up for Christmas.  I guess this means he's been bit by the train bug.  I'd get him a starter set but their downstairs/basement where his playroom is was flooded out a couple of weeks back by a broken water pipe in the ceiling.  Though, we'll be there a few days, if he and Pop-pop happen to stumble into a train store, who knows.

Roger - MB Klein is a good one in downtown Baltimore although not in the nicest locale.   Be sure to go during the day.

Mitch

[mitchelr]

Good evening everyone,

I finished putting the lights in the tree in the front yard, and it looks pretty good. I had no homework tonight, so I was able to relax and take a break from a hectic half week. Tomorrow is my last day for the week.

I found this on the TRAINS forum and thought I would share it with everyone.

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/968212/ShowPost.aspx

 

- What a great story.

 

Mitch

Colin, Thanks for sharing.

[Jumijo]

Good morning everyone.

We ran some more trains on the carpet last night, including a 2056 Hudson. The Hudson did not like the carpet tracks though. It made many a rude noise and slowed down each time a noise was made. Both got less frequent as time went by. I took it down to the FasTrack layout and it ran fine. But the track is so loud, I honestly don't know if it was still making the noise.

I'm going to start a new thread with a rotary beacon wiring question. If you might know how to wire one (Marx), please chime in.

 

Have a great day!

 

Jim 

[laz 57]

HI GIZ,

   17 and cold here to get to32?

COLIN, GREAT story thanks for posting it.  Have a good time at the meet in READING.

TGIF!

All have a good one.

laz57

 

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

Chief, you have got to stop working on the railroad.  You are freezing all the Hoosiers!  It is sunny and cold in SE Indiana with temps in the single digits right now and rising into the high 20s today.  It is supposed to be warmer this weekend.  Lucas was out with his friends all last evening so my wife and I got to enjoy some "alone" time.  I also went to the YMCA and she watched "Supernatural".  I will be working at the train exhibit this weekend so the time will go by fast.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana