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

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Posted by Brutus on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:58 AM
Thor - I was a huge anglophile as a kid - grew up reading reading reading.  Loved Robert Louis Stevenson, Dickens, the Horatio Hornblower books (I think the writer was actually American though), Stalky and Co., Puck of Pooks Hill, Sherlock Holmes, Tristram Shandy, The War of the Worlds, First Men in the Moon, The Wind in the Willows, The Lord of the Rings, etc etc etc and actually got my degree in English Lit.  I love the Harry Potter books too.

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by Jumijo on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 10:41 AM
 ChiefEagles wrote:
 jaabat wrote:

And yes, I am getting fat as a tick. But surprisingly, many of my wife's friends have been telling her how good I look lately. Dinner [dinner]Confused [%-)]Wink [;)]

Jim 

Yes, I can understand.  Your wife is great to do volunteer work with her friends at the blind school. Wink [;)] 

 

 

Cute! Real cute!

What do they call a beautiful woman in North Carolina?

A visitor!Whistling [:-^]

Good luck at the proctologist. Too bad you stayed up all night studying for the exam!Wink [;)]

 

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 10:45 AM

Lost all my religion trying to put the new sections of Realtrax together.  If I had not purchsed so much well in advance, I would scrap that.  I have come to the conclusion that MTH builds Censored [censored].  I'm sure once I get it together, I will love it.  Their switches are very good.  Off to Dr's.

BTW, all subflooring is screwed down.  Working on the lift out and getting the two tracks to line up right.  Got to saw some track.

 God bless TCA 05-58541   Benefactor Member of the NRA,  Member of the American Legion,   Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville Laugh,   KC&D QualifiedCowboy       

              

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Posted by GregM on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 12:15 PM
 jaabat wrote:

Forgot to mention this - I saw a Target ad on TV last night. It had a chrome plated O27 gauge train running under a Christmas tree. A dad and son were running it. Lionel or MTH? Any one else see it?

 

Jim 

 

Saw this ad a couple times last night.  Cars look similar to the ones from a recent Sante Fe set.

GregM
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Posted by Jumijo on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 12:33 PM
I wondered if it was the MTH chromed F3 set. But why would Target use MTH? They sell Lionel.

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Roger Bielen on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 1:40 PM

I caught the Target ad out of the corner of my eye, I read the paper during commercials, and by the time I looked the train was gone. Never did see the engine.

Roger B.
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Posted by dwiemer on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 1:46 PM
 ChiefEagles wrote:

Lost all my religion trying to put the new sections of Realtrax together.  If I had not purchsed so much well in advance, I would scrap that.  I have come to the conclusion that MTH builds Censored [censored].  I'm sure once I get it together, I will love it.  Their switches are very good.  Off to Dr's.

BTW, all subflooring is screwed down.  Working on the lift out and getting the two tracks to line up right.  Got to saw some track.

Hey Chief,  I had heard that the Realtrax has that problem.  It may be good to wear some mechanics gloves so you don't injure your hands.  You could check your hobby shop to see if they will exchange your track for Fastrack.  So far, I am pleased with it.

For the casual book readers  here, I have been reading a good book with the train theme, called The Christmas Train, by David Baldacci.  This is the first pleasure reading I have done in many years (besides CTT/OGR). 

Have a great day,

dennis

TCA#09-63805

 

Charter BTTs.jpg

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Posted by jefelectric on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 2:27 PM

Good afternoon,

Dennis, I read the Christmas Train some time ago.  A good book.  My Granddaughter and I rode the same train two years ago.

Still at my Son;s house working on his computer.

Later,

John Fullerton Home of the BUBB&A  http://www.jeanandjohn.net/trains.html
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Posted by Brutus on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 2:33 PM
The advantage of Realtrax seems to be that it comes in o-31 etc - more diameter circles and more sizes of short straights, right?  Is it really a smaller circle than Fastrack though?  I think I read that Fastrack O36 measures the outside edge, but other tracks measure the center rail or something???  Or did I get that mixed up?

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 2:43 PM
I'm doing 072 and a small amount of 054.  Back from the Dr's.  She might see me Sunday [with her son] at the train meet.  She found another place to cut on me.  Told her people were talking and we had to quit meeting like that.  She laughed.  Said her son loves the Lionel catalog I gave her.  Now to work on the temp lift out.  Wanted to run some temp service and runa train so I could take a picture.  Been getting Town of Roseyville calls since I've been home.   Later.

 God bless TCA 05-58541   Benefactor Member of the NRA,  Member of the American Legion,   Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville Laugh,   KC&D QualifiedCowboy       

              

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Posted by Dr. John on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 6:24 PM

Hi all,

Wow, a lot of posting in the past couple of days! Hard to keep up. Sounds like you're making some good progress on your layout, Chief!

Went in to the office today and feeling much better. If I had the flu, it must have been a light case. Last time I had it about 8 years ago, I was laid up for a week. This time only about 3 days. Maybe the flu shot helped some after all.

Didn't feel like doing any work on the Christmas layout, although it's pretty much finished anyway. Kind of tired this PM so won't fool with it tonight.

Interesting reading about the train hobby, etc. across the pond from John B., Nick and Thor. By the way, John Baker, you wondered if any of us have "Scot's blood." I'm a Johnston, so I must plead guilty. My uncle visited Scotland a few years back doing some geneaology studies on the family. No pinky problems but there was some unpleasantness with the Maxwells a few centuries ago until King James VI intervened. Seems we also had a nasty tendency to invade the north of England on occassion. I apologize if we caused any inconvenience Big Smile [:D].

There's a Johnston clan association here in the states to which I belong.  I'm fascinated by the history and hope to visit England and Scotland one day! 

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 7:16 PM

Evening all.  Would tell you what I think of MTH and Realtrax but Neil says I can not "cuss" on the forum.  Poor quality control.  Got the 2055 to run back and forth.  Pensy Flyer did but did not like backing through 072 switch.  In fact, the 2055 would trip eunit once in a while crossing the 072 switch.  Had to sand all the black off of the switch.  Suggestion, do blocks with lockons or solder on.  Solder all track connections within that block.  New track has the copper pins that are not aligning and thus bending over each other.   Discovered this by turning track upside down and watching it mate.  Posting picture on "Stop Chief" thread. 

I quit for the night.

 God bless TCA 05-58541   Benefactor Member of the NRA,  Member of the American Legion,   Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville Laugh,   KC&D QualifiedCowboy       

              

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Posted by GregM on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 8:53 PM
Just saw the Target ad.  Engine is only shown for a very short time.  It looked like an FA to me.  Everything is bright chrome.
GregM
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Posted by wrmcclellan on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 9:19 PM

Evening all!

Been having some e-mail and I-Net troubles in conversion to Time Warner from Comcast. Real Americans answer the phones for customer service. Everything should be resolved now.

70 and sunny - same for the rest of this week!

Regards, Roy

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Posted by Brutus on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 10:18 PM

A good friend (who retired and abandoned me here in St. Louis for the wilds of SC) recently did some geneology research for me and got us back to 1200 in Scotland (MacKenzie).  Dr. John, Thor, John Baker, Nick, (et al), have you ever heard of The Corries?  Scottish Folk duo from the 60's and 70's (one of them was killed in an accident) - lots of great songs and great versions of songs you thought you knew.

My boy picked up his pinewood derby car, but we adults were advised to let them make it themselves.  Have to get out my coping saw and show him how, I guess.  I let him try that 2 years ago, but he got tired of sawing (very fine blade).  My wife picked up some white felt material for the Christmas layout.  Chief, realtrax isn't the only one - my current layout is Lionel O27 track and one switch keeps derailing my locomotives.  Haven't been able to figure it out yet.

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by Buckeye Riveter on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 10:53 PM
 Dr. John wrote:

Wow, a lot of posting in the past couple of days! Hard to keep up. Sounds like you're making some good progress on your layout, Chief!

Good to see you back up and around, Dr. John because we have some work for you to do.  It seems that the Chief is cussing up a storm as he puts his layout together.  I have never heard him so irratated, even after his big heart surgery.  I'm now of the opinion that he should have kept the layout on the floor, because it is obvious to me that he is getting air sick from being so high off of the ground.

Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum. Smile, Wink & Grin

Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..

Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR

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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 5:36 AM

Good morning from a fairly warm New England, everyone.

Took more photos of the layout last night and finished my 2429 Livingston car. This photo stuff is hard work!

Office "Holiday" party this afternoon. Catered Italian food! Will try not to act like a fool in front of the boss.

Got a call from the Chief last night. He claimed he was running trains on his new table. I was re-lettering the 2429 car when he called. Said he was going to go shoot rifles out of a window with a 98 year old friend of his today. Good clean fun!

Have a nice day, all. Make sure to reply to my solder post. You all have the knowledge I want (and need) to learn from.

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by John Bakeer on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:00 AM

Just done an install of IE7, makes my typing format do funny things the line spacer doubles up and the scroller is erratic. I hope Vista will cure it, but that will not be available until sometime next year.

Still awaiting my first copy of CTT!

A Guy with a large Roman conk called Hadrian had a wall put up across the North of England. Ostensibly to keep the Hairy Scots out, but we Yorkshire puddings new it was really to stop us escaping. We were cheap labour then and the Romans didn't know how to make cow pie?

I am/was a building services design engineer. There is very little industry in E Anglia, so my travels were mainly in the areas of Birmingham, South Wales, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, Glasgow and Edinburgh. My first employer did a lot of business in Ireland (North and South). But when the mad men started blowing things up and killing each other in 60's we quit.

Chief, take some time out, it sounds like you are slowly driving yourself up the wall. I'm going to start the hunt for O gauge again now that ERNI is more or less fixed. Ive still got about 50gig of Train Sim to reinstall first.

Had a Flu jab early November promptly followed by a really heavy cold, took nearly three weeks to dislodge it!

NIHIL DICE.

John Baker

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:13 AM

Morning all.  Off to visit my retired pilot friend.  87, JimboJohn B, I'm one of those that once I get going, I drive myself too hard to get it done. 

As stated, Realtraz looks great and is great.  Solution, solder the "pins" and then turn over.  Also, RR Tracks [layout software] is not quite perfect. 

Had to take cough med last night.  Trying to sober up before driving.  Really is bad when you go to sleep three times reading your morning devotional.  Lets drink some coffee.  Later

 God bless TCA 05-58541   Benefactor Member of the NRA,  Member of the American Legion,   Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville Laugh,   KC&D QualifiedCowboy       

              

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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:18 AM

Chief,

 

Be careful driving. If you're sick, it isn't worth the risk.

 

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Buckeye Riveter on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:27 AM
 jaabat wrote:

Got a call from the Chief last night. He claimed he was running trains on his new table. I was re-lettering the 2429 car when he called. Said he was going to go shoot rifles out of a window with a 98 year old friend of his today. Good clean fun!

Jim, I too received a call from the Chief, but I thought he said he was going to go shoot his rifle out the window at a 98 year old friend. Smile,Wink, & Grin [swg] 

Off to Western Ohio today.  Will be near the town of Wapakoneta, Ohio.  Do you know the famous person who grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio?  (Where's Colin?)

See ya down the tracks,

Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum. Smile, Wink & Grin

Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..

Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR

TCA 09-64284

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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:37 AM
 Buckeye Riveter wrote:
 jaabat wrote:

Got a call from the Chief last night. He claimed he was running trains on his new table. I was re-lettering the 2429 car when he called. Said he was going to go shoot rifles out of a window with a 98 year old friend of his today. Good clean fun!

Jim, I too received a call from the Chief, but I thought he said he was going to go shoot his rifle out the window at a 98 year old friend. Smile,Wink, & Grin [swg] 

Off to Western Ohio today.  Will be near the town of Wapakoneta, Ohio.  Do you know the famous person who grew up in Wapakoneta, Ohio?  (Where's Colin?)

See ya down the tracks,

 

Everyone knows who the most famous person from Wapakoneta, Ohio. I won't spoil it for Colin, but he's a moonwalker. And I don't mean Michael Jackson.

And now that you mention it, Buckeye, the Chief did say he was going to shoot at his friend with a rifle from the window. Shades of the Texas School Book Depository! Right, Colin?

 

Dr. John,  Glad you're feeling better. It's been a tough season for colds and pnuemonias already.

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by John Bakeer on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:53 AM

Just had a call from the Vet,

He says I'm 68 today!!!

And I'll live 'till I die!

NIHIL DICE.

John Baker

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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 6:57 AM

Happy Birthday, Mr. Baker!    Happy B-Day [bday]

 

Jim 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Blueberryhill RR on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 7:02 AM

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a cloudy 48 degrees. Going up to 54 today with a chance of light rain.

Today is grocery shopping day. We are going to Cambridge and making a few stops. The prices in this area still continue to rise. Must be the Holidays.

Ran trains for a few hours yesterday. Still working on the plans for the bridge installation. This will be a slow process.

Chief.....Give your 98 year old friend a running start. You should be home in bed with that cold. Glad you are better...Dr. John.

Buckeye...Have a nice western trip. In Ohio.

Off to the Dining Car for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Wednesday.

Chuck

Chuck # 3 I found my thrill on Blueberryhill !!
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Posted by cheapclassics on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 7:43 AM

Good morning all,

It is sunny and mild in SE Indiana with temps heading to the low 50s today.  It is suppose to warm up to the 60s by the weekend.  It would be nice if the entire winter was like this.  Really did not do much last night, but we all watched the "Grinch".  I read the nice article about Lionel trains in the December issue of American Heritage.  It even uses a picture from some 1950s Lionel literature as the cover for the issue.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

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Posted by Brutus on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 8:27 AM
HAPPY BIRTHDAY John Baker! Happy B-Day [bday]

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by thor on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 8:46 AM
Happy Birthday John! Hoist a pint of Old Peculiar from me as a suitable toast to us both. Though I'd rather have an Abbott. You can get both over here in cans but neither taste right. - Mike
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Posted by cnw1995 on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 8:49 AM

I'm back! Many happy returns of the day to Mr. Baker Happy B-Day [bday] I so enjoy reading his and Thor's posts. Like Jim F, I am an anglophile -  My favorite book of all time is Great Days of the Country Railway that covers all sorts of rural routes in England mostly before Beeching.

Anyway, San Jose was interesting. I had the good fortune to look out of my hotel window into a small UP yard with the added bonus of listening to the GE's idling all night - and their moving out around 2 am complete with grade-crossing horn. There's railroad tracks crisscrossing everywhere. The real highlight was running into San Francisco for a dinner on Monday night and getting to see real life PCC trolleys. They're narrower than I supposed. Ah well, back to work. BTW, airline travel is just monstrous - I feel sorry for the Chief and Marty.

Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.

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Posted by thor on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:44 AM
 John Bakeer wrote:

Still awaiting my first copy of CTT! - I think you'll really enjoy it John - I do.

 the Romans didn't know how to make cow pie?- The Desperate Dan kind, I assume?

NIHIL DICE.

Mike

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