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

[ben10ben]

We're headed to visit some family this evening.

I just got my Mom's car good and warm, with all the ice off the windows, and all 4 doors open [:)]. I was also finally able to get my Lionel service manual out of the backseat of it as well [:)][:)].

We could have just planned on taking my Dad's car(stored in the warm garage) when we left this afternoon, but, he didn't want to take it out in the snow[:(].

Merry Christmas to all!

[Roger Bielen]

The wife and I drow up to the daughter's in Maryland yesterday. What a trip, 646 mi., 12 1/2hrs. The worst was approaching DC, the 5mi. to the Woodrow Wilson bridge over the Patomic took 1 hr., that's right ONE HOUR. No sign of an accident only the number of vehicles. Now I remember why we moved to a rural area. I hope to go to the Baltimore RR Museum on Sunday, they're closed today and tomorrow.

We'll head home Mon., this time we'll try I81 through VA instead of I95, hope no snow.

Hope all have a safe and Merry Christmas, I'll be back on line late Monday.

[Anonymous]

Great Pics, Roy. Are those 022 switches in the pictures. I just bought some for the second level of the layout. Merry Christmas to all , and to all a good night.........Tim

[ChiefEagles]

Does Buckeye have power of not? Talked to him around 11:30 and it ahd gone back off right after he posted this morning. Now looks like he reposted his original at around 12:30. Hope he does.

Roger Bielen, if you come up I95 through NC, you are about 20 miles from me. Crossed it twice today.

Been down east to Mom's, back home for a short Church service and then to MIL's to open presents. Back home now and beat. Good night all and I hope Santa is good to you all. God bless.

[ben10ben]

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Jesus,
Happy Birthday to you!

And Merry Christmas to all you other folks out there!

[spankybird]

From our Family to all of Yours

NE Ohio is in a deep freeze this morning at 2 F. No new snow and yes Santa found us.
Tom, Lusia and family

[ChiefEagles]

Good morning and Merry Christmas. Hope Santa was nice to you. Youngest and her hubby are due. Cooking hot stuffed country sausage and biscuits. MUUUMM. Cold but not as cold as OHIO. Hope the Buckeye has power. Check out the post of the Lionel Nutcracker Santa brought me. Lets see some pictures of what Santa brought you. Later and God bless all.

[daan]

Happy Christmas everyone!!
Santa has found our place too, but as predicted by Jim (duda the red nose reindeer) my sd28 hasn't made it in time. It's somewhere in a postoffice still waiting to be delivered..
I did get my MTH beer reefer I ordered in time, so there are trains under the tree..
Now just waiting for mom and sister to arrive, they are late.. Then we can unpack all presents under the tree..
Hope you have a nice weekend all!!

[Back2Trains]

Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas, everyone. And a hearty "Amen" to Ben!
Jim

[wrmcclellan]

Good morning and Merry Christmas to all!

Here is the No 258 (flying extra flags) stopping to let passengers do last minute shopping at the Lionel store! Hope they brought you something good! Jim D there on the left is getting those last minute tree deals ready!



Happy holiday all!
Roy

[wrmcclellan]

Pigseyes,

Thanks for the compliments. Yes those are 022 and some 5132/5131 (modern era) switches. Also have some 072s on the outer loop. I run them all on constant voltage as they really need about 18 volts (esp the 022s) for reliable action.

Merry Christmas!
Roy

[ChiefEagles]

ANY WORD ABOUT BUCKEYE???? Guess I'll have to call. Cold and Cloudy here now. Think OHIO is upon us. No snow though.

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ChiefEagles

ANY WORD ABOUT BUCKEYE???? Guess I'll have to call. Cold and Cloudy here now. Think OHIO is upon us. No snow though.

After 46 hours without power and temperatures below zero, the power came back on this Christmas morning at 5:30 am. There are still over 300,000 people without power. They have just abandoned their homes because they have no heat and have headed into shelters.

Merry Christmas.

[ChiefEagles]

OH NO, THEY ARE CALLING FOR OHIO IN NC. Light here but more towards the coast. Good night all.

[spankybird]

Chief - we only wanted you to have a White Christmas.

[Dr. John]

Merry Christmas!

We drove up to Prattville, AL from Mobile this afternoon through some sleet and snow - a deep-south version of a white Christmas. After church tomorrow, we are heading up to Gatlinburg, TN for some R & R.

Hope your Christmas was merry and that you have a great year in 2005!

[daan]

Hi guys,
We had a frosty night, and the doggies got to wear their new jackets outside. My girlfriend bought Oele, my jackrussel and Bull, her chihuahua a new coat with wool polstering inside, so they keep warm when it's cold..
Bull had a bit of adapting problems wearing his jacket. I don't know if that's because he looked so funny that he realized we laughed about him, or if he had to get used to the jacket on his back..
Later on he enjoyed it though.. He didn't want to go home, and before that he only wanted a small walk when it was cold.
This afternoon I booked a few tickets for the polar express!! With this my afternoon is pleasantly filled..

Have a nice day, and hope that everyone has power back up..

[ChiefEagles]

IT IS OHIOING all over the place!!!!!!!!! Roads are covered. Birds are flocked to the bird feeders [knew it must have been coming as they were yesterday]. Not suppose to amount to much they say?????? [;)] All my buddies around Houston had their first White Christmas. Dr. John posted!!!! Glad to hear from him. Daan, got to the Polar Express and enjoy. Glad Buckeye is powered up and warm. Well, time to eat breakfast. Have a good one and God bless all.

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

NE Ohio is a warm 23 F deg. We had a light coating of fresh snow overnight, only an inch or two. By Wednesday, we will be above freezing and then there local rivers will start there flooding.

Daan – we also have a Chihuahua. She is ten now, likes the snow but the cold temps we have been having.




Dr. John – good to hear from you – Glad that you and Chief both got a Merry White Christmas. Maybe JimBo Duda also has some snow.

Hope Buckeye still has power and is warm – news still says that part of the state is a mess.

Ben – hope you had a safe trip

Roy – great looking pics – you should share them on the Sunday Photo Fun

All be safe

tom

[cnw1995]

Woke up to snow yesterday - had an unexpected dusting for a 'white Christmas' - boy, it's fun to enjoy a Christmas morning with small children- though one of them gave me a cold....Santa was good to me - got the WW2 pylon, a semaphore and signal that are surprisingly scale - I thought they were going to be the big tinplate ones - guess I ordered the wrong ones though they come with the connectors. My wife unexpectedly got me some nice train things too: the Kalmbach 'Toy Train Memories' picture book, Sam Posey's book on model railroading, a plasticville barn, and a Christmas village 'pub' she found on sale. Going to try to re-hang the backdrop today while the rest of the family shops...Supposed to get up to 53 by Friday - can you believe that? In Chicago, of all places...

[ben10ben]

Morning folks,
No church this morning. The guy who usually hires someone to scrape our parking lot it out of town, so the parking lot is still a solid sheet of ice. I took the rare oportunity to sleep in this morning, so I'm feeling more awake than I have in a while.

I guess that it's still cold here, but it's going to warm up tomorrow or Tuesday.

Chief,
Stay warm and stay in!

[Anonymous]

Okay People .....I`m hooked , at 46 years old I just got my very first train O scale for xmas . thanks to my loved one ,,,,,, ...Going to fall heads first into train layouts . As we just bought a old 104 year old farm house with acres and a old barn (32x 80) that is in prefect condition with lofts .... now this is where you great people come into the picture ,,,,, how do i get started in building a great looking layout from the very beginning , need all the help i can get ,,,,,,,,Thanks Jim

[spankybird]

Hi Jim,

Merry Christmas and welcome to the CTT forum



Here is a good place to get some of the basics

http://www.thortrains.net

tom

[Jim Duda]

Dang it! I had great weather to deliver my presents on Christmas Eve in my sleigh...except when I got into Ohio - got it all mucked up and froze my chain! I cleaned it off yesterday so it wouldn't get my Santy suit dirty!

Tombo - YES it snowed in Austin yesterday as you can see in the pic...but the snow was GREEN and was not hexagonal shaped crystals like the Ohio snow...the TexASS stuff is shaped like blades of grass! Yikes! The neighbor ladies will be out mowin' their lawns - gotta go and help them...(wink)

[wrmcclellan]

Good afternoon all!

Glad to see all are accounted for, safe, and had an enjoyable Christmas day!

Sunny and warming here. Good news is the grass is not growing here in Dallas (yet - that starts next week!). Temps go to the 70's by Wed/Thur.

Wireman (Jim) - welcome to the forum! Hope to have you join in regularly!

Here is the 262E coaling up for the new year!



Have a great day all!

Regards,
Roy

[ChiefEagles]

wireman277 [Jim], [#welcome][#welcome] I can see a barn that big making a wonderful layout. Months and years to finish [never finished really]. Maybe a room in the bottom or in the loft, walled off, insulated, heated and A/C. Wow. The OHIO has stopped and the sun is out so it will be gone soon [except in the shaded areas]. No church here either as the snow was on the streets and parking lots. DOT has scraped it and now the mess [as well as scraping off the center reflectors, they will never learn]. Tomorrow morning will be the mess as the water freezes back tonight. Me, I don't have a place to go tomorrow AM and Pam is off. Just stay dry and warm. [:D] Think I'll go run trains.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Here is the story as of 8:30 pm, Sunday, December 26, 2004.

Thursday morning around 5:00am the power went off. The power was off until about 5:00am Friday morning. The temperature outside was 4 above.

Friday morning around 8:30 am, the power went off. The power came back on Saturday morning at about 5:30am. The temperature was about 5 below. The power stayed on most of the day with one very brief flicker.

Sunday morning the power went out at 4:00am. Thinking that we were in serious trouble, my neighbor, Jeff , purchased a generator at Lowes in Pittsburgh. We wired the house using an extension cord to the outlet of the sump pump. We turned off the main breaker to the house, then turned on the breaker for the sump pump and the furnace and we started heating the house again.

The power is now back on. It came on about 8:00pm. It was a warm 15 above when it came back on. Also, today the phones have been out all afternoon. There was a terrible wreck at the intersection at Rogers Corners (yes, it is a real place) where the signals were not working.

[spankybird]

Buckeye - Glad that you have heat and lights tonight.

take care
tom

[ChiefEagles]

Buckeye, hope the power holds this time. Had been worried it had gone down as no posts from you. God bless.

[daan]

Hi Everyone!
Polar express was great!! Some very nice shots of the steamer and its cars, and even a Lionel on the end on 3 rail!!
I was surprized at the quality of the movie, the people seemed like real, nothing like the former computeranimated movies I've seen before..
Good work!!