Good morning all,
It is cloudy in SE Indiana. OMWUMNSFGH. Did some soccer practice with the high school kids and then weights at the YMCA. Learned that Sarah Fisher will be in the local sequicentennial parade. Odd that there was no publicity about this. Busy weekend planned. Two parties tomorrow and now the parade. One daughter is coming to do landscaping on the house. Could be an interesting weekend. Work has been a bear (Laz's 800 pounder). I had bacon and biscuits on the dining car again this morning. When I mentioned the comment about "grits", the "saucy wench" told me she has some every once in a while for breakfast. I told her I would pass on the privilege. Beacon is lit when I get finished mowing the yard tonight (weather permitting). I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Morning to All,
Made fresh pot this Am since Bob has been drinking tea all night. Too much coffee can eat away at the old stomach lining. My stomach must be lined with cast iron since I have poured coffee in it all day long for the past 35 years and thus far no ill effects. Ran the standard gauge trains for a while last night. They had been stored away for a month or so and I had not charged the battery on the ProtoSounds 2.0. Crew talk etc. would not operate, so I plugged it in hopefully that will cure the problem. Proto 2.0 with the IR remote on the Z750 sure is fickle. I have yet to master the button sequences to get the crew talk to work every time.
Today is last day with students. Yahoo.... teachers last day is Monday. Lots to do so I better get going. Staff party after school, so likely there will be no trains tonight.
Take care,
Mitch
Bob Mitchell Gettysburg, PA TCA # 98-47956 LCCA# RM22839
Chief - our monsoon season is usually July thru September, although we have been having what I call the too-soons for the last few weeks or so. We get some pretty exciting storms up here in the summer. I've never been in the scope when it has been hit, but I've been here when they touched down close by. We actually have to replace all the ground system between the rotating and non-rotating portion of the building this summer. The originals look like a pantograph w/ bronze brushes a very poor mounting system. They kinda overtook the plumbing on that design. The new ones will be adjustable pipes w/ carbon brushes, kind of like Lionel brushes on steroids.
We can get a fair bit of snow in the winter up here. The other big corcerns are frost and high winds. It's an interesting job and when things are running well (which is often not the case) I will sometmes tinker w/ the trains. I imagine I have the highest O-gauge stuff in AZ.
Bob
Tucson, AZ (aka the Ol' Pueblo)
Home of the Mt. Graham & Arizona Eastern Boiler Shops
Thanks Bob. Up that high, you get T'storms with lots of lightning?
Reclinerized too long. Off to bed. Tomorrow.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Another fairly quiet night here on the mountain. Chief, as Doug said I work at the Submilllimeter Telescope for the University of Arizona. The 'scope sits at 10K ft on top of Mt. Graham in southeastern Arizona. We work week on/week off during the observing season which is Oct. - June. Most of us live in Tucson for at least the time we are not here. It's 2 hours from Tucson to basecamp and then an hour or more up top, so needless to say, we stay on site. The bottom two floors are non-moving and have the living quarters and shops. The upper three rotate w/ the scope and have all the computer and instruments. We work very high radio frequency, 200 - 700 GHz. Doug, we shut down for the monsoon season and to do the heavy maintenance. This thing is basically a giant piece of heavy equipment that happens to do science. It's kind of like living in a battleship turret or large mining shovel (and ironically I've been fairly close to both of those). Lots of creaks and groanings from the pier as the telescope rotates. For anyone w/ a lot of time on their hands, they can check out http://aro.as.arizona.edu and see our somewhat underwhelming website (documenhtation is always the last thing). We also have the 12 Meter site on Kitt Peak. Maybe I'll try posting a small "greatest hits" album.
Working at 10K+ plus has it's advantages and disadvantages. Right now I'm dealing w/ stomach issues, trying to develop acid reflux or something. Guess I'm finally going to have to get serious about my diet. As Indiana Jones said, "It's not the years, it's the mileage". I typically work nights BTW, even though we run 24 hours barring weather, if anyone was wondering about my extreme late night posts.
Darned if I didn't end up bidding on another 1615 yesterday. Wasn't it Ole Timer who thought there should be a voluntary lock for the site? We'll see. Those little guys sure are popular. Was thinking of going w/ a newer one, but I like the look of the older models and really enjoy fixing stuff (hence, I own an MG and a Covair).
Well, should go make some tea so I can keep myself awake for the next group coming on. No coffee for a bit I think.
Hope everyone is having a good week
Sorry guys - bad bad storms here with lots of lightning and hail last night - no hail at my house though! Read the pot at lunch today and it was just overwhelming. Thanks so much. You are really a bunch of great guys - a real family here, and I know it too well. I believe all these prayers are going make the difference guys, thanks so much. I'm really humbled.
Reading the new issue of TRAINS Magazine - very interesting article on myths and facts about railroads. I really recommend this issue and this magazine.
Banilla sounds great, will come and get all you guys and we'll have a big blow out - get all the toppings and have a big old sundae bar :)
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
Good Evening
We had a lite rain all afternoon. But man it was only 60 and we should be at 80. Got a good chat going tonite, I snuck away to say Hi. Banilla and strawberrys or rootbeer ready to go. Brutus bring it on. S.J.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
Buckeye, you must be referring to the 1 1/2" scale outdoor railroad with trains big enough to ride on. I was there years ago. I think they called it Sonoma, Gaslight and Pacific or something like that. I know it was near the wine country. They had a big steam engine in their roundhouse but I never saw it run. They had a diesel running when I was there. That area is over 400 miles from where I live down here in the South. There is also an ex SP 4-6-2 running in the bay area at Niles Canyon. I have seen pictures of it on the forums. Of course, now they have the Napa Valley Wine Train that everybody knows about. I have seen that too but never rode it. They use old Alco FA units on it. That's probably the train you were thinking of.
Ray
SPMan
Good Evening all
Jim F _Continued prayers for your bride.
Rich – Forgot to tell you, mailed a couple of packages to you Monday.
Work has been very busy past couple of days. Major testing of rebuilt systems. I must of walked 10 miles the past two days.
We got our new to us camper tonight. A 2000 Citation truck camper. It was too tall to put where I originally was going to set it so it is in a neighbor’s yard till I can cut some trees back. Doing some research as to what type of hold down system to use, and will beef up the suspension with some air bags.
Buckeye & Wes - want to stay in the camper at York this fall?
May God bless
Jim
Ray....By any chance have you been over to Napa Valley? The engineer for the train last year was an old SP Engineer.
Speaking of fog, try navigation in a boat without GPS.
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
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
Lawson Farms - Sailboat was water-tight (checked on her yesterday). Didn't even have to run the bilge pump. That 15 minute gail Tuesday packed as much wallup as Isabel (without the storm-surge of coarse...)
Basement on the other hand --->
Second evening in a row of serve wheather last night was worst than tonight. Hang in there chief its heading your way ( north and east from here)
Not to much happening today pulled a good one on the wife I was going to give her $100.00 to go torwards her auction money so I got a $100.00 bill and wadded it up and dropped it on the kitchen floor for her to find. should have seen the look on her face when she opened it up.
Well you all have a good evening off tomorrow so will lite beacon for the tarus to pick me up.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Dennis, in all my years on the Southern Pacific I was never stopped because of fog. There is a rule that covers running at reduced speed when visability is limited but we never had to stop. As long as we could see the proceed indication of signals (green) we would keep on going. If we passed a more restrictive signal ( yellow) we had to reduce speed and be prepared to stop short of the next signal which might be red. If the fog was thick we had to just crawl up to that next signal so we could stop short of it. The experienced engineers were very familiar with the territory they were operating in and knew from memory just about where the next signal would be. It would be harder at night to pick out landmarks in the fog though. It was very spooky running in the fog especially approching grade crossings. We tried to give as much advance warning with the whistle as was possible.
We are having a get together tonight at my layout with my Thursday Night people. We are expecting three new guest tonight including our buddy (Shake and Bake) Don Baker. Maybe Don can take some photos of the layout and let you guys see what it looks like.
Get back to you later,
WOW! Fifey - I knew rough weather was to the north of us, but didn't know it was that rough. Never a dull moment. Any problems with the boat?
Watched the "I Love Toy Trains" show on RFD-TV this afternoon. Good show on Ward Kimble's California toy train layouts. Two rooms, one with American trains, the other with European, trains all from 1895 to 1940. In his yard he had a real train station, narrow gauge steam engine on tracks, box cars and a water tower. His favorite expression "He who dies with the most trains wins."
Don - Did you ever see his layouts?
Pat
RFD-TV --- Rural America's most important network!
Evenin' boys. Evenin' English. Humid and 73 here in the Mid-Atlantic region. S'posed to have flash floods in a while. Third day in a row. Tuesday's storm knocked our power out for nearly 24 hours. 100 gallons of water in basement (not exagerating), maple tree torn to shreds next to house, and lost all food in fridge. Spent better part of last night chainsawing carnage.
As heavy as the marine layer has been this month I wouldn't be surprised in hearing weather related wrecks on the passes from the coastal areas to the dessert areas. That stuff rolls in, wet& heavy, and backs-up against the mountains making for poor visibility period. We have had drizzly misty nights for the past couple weeks with very limited sunshine during the late afternoons, and much cooler than normal. I don't think we have been much past 70* since the middle/later part of May.
Remember the Veterans. Past, present and future.
www.sd3r.org
Proud New Member Of The NRA
Dennis,
RAY will be much better at answering this. But, I'm not aware of train traffic being interupted for fog through the Cajon Pass. Fire yes. And, those trains are soooo long, that they wouldn't be able to stop even if there was something that was visible. I'm sure everything is electronic sensed. I havn't seen fog through their often, but snow yep. Typically the fog is over on Interstate 5, and Hwy 99, through the San Joaquin Valley. There they get fog big time. Called Tooley fog.
Don
A good one there Ole Timer! Well, had a dinner with the gang and one of the sales reps. We had to discuss some of the equipment and possible changes. We always try to keep a streamlined set up for surgery and keep the costs down, but with the impending "change" we are looking at all options. In the past, some bean counters tell you that you have to take this or that away. When you tell them that on average, this $280.00 item saves the patient one day in ICU, they don't seem to care. They just want their portion of the problem to look good.
Wife had a hair appointment yesterday. The school that our kids go to is trying to raise money for the cheerleader's camp. The cheerleader team offers babysitting and you name the price. Two show up to handle the duties. Well, while they were there, one of the girls lost her shoes. When the lady in charge came to pick them up, they all searched all over the house and the areas that they were with the kids....no shoes. I got home and within 2 minutes, found them. Under one of the chairs in the den. I know that the den is really comfortable, and if I am going to take my shoes off, that's where i'd do it. We just think differently than the ladies.
On a train related item, I see that Cajon Pass had a bad accident with fog. Does anyone know if they restrict train traffic when weather conditions dictate on that place? I know from some stories that that pass can be especially dangerous for runnaways and you would think that they would at least limit speed to allow for reaction time.
Well, busy day, so I'll check in later.
God Bless<Dennis
TCA#09-63805
Did you hear this one:
Howdy
Wet here and low 60s. Trip to the prostate doc went well, the best kind. Hi Jim how are you, see you in a year. Eye doc tomorrow morning and then I am free for awhile. Stopped at K-Mart and Burger King, also a new grocery store all on the way home. I bundle my trips. Later...S.J.
A husband and wife were driving down a country lane on their way to visit some friends. They came to a muddy patch in the road and the car became bogged. After a few minutes of trying to get the car out by themselves, they saw a young farmer coming down the lane, driving his tractor .
He stopped when he saw the couple in trouble and offered to pull the car out of the mud for $50. The husband accepted and minutes later the car was free.
The farmer turned to the husband and said, "You know, you're the tenth car I've helped out of the mud today."
The husband looks around at the fields and asks the farmer, "When do you have time to plow your land? At night?"
"No," the young farmer replied seriously, "Night is when I put the waterin the hole"
Brutus / jim ... you know my prayers are with you and your wife buddy .... had what they call walking pneumonia here ... with the COPD ... pretty much took the wind out of my sails . Still have a good bit left to kill but am feeling better . I'll try to make the tardis .. but have been down for a few days . Darn wife broght it home to me from a woman at work ... ... doc said yes it is contagious ... gotta check if she raised the amount on my life insurance policy ... LOL .
Don .... letter's in the mail .... sorry for the delay ... could'nt even walk to the mailbox .... plus the address mixup .
Pat ... love those farmer quotes .... darn I miss that life !
LawsonFarmsRR Today's Wise Farmer Saying is: Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you. Pat
Today's Wise Farmer Saying is: Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
Pat, My thoughts exactly when Mike said he might try to catch that possum. Normally pretty docile but get one cornered and they get pretty vicious. Used to find them in my rabbit traps when I was a kid, no not a goat, just much younger.
Hope all are well or getting better today.
The munchkin, won't be able to call him that much longer, will be spending the nite with us tonite. That means it is Pepperroni Pizza nite and waffles for breakfast on friday.
Man all these former "rugrats" grown up and graduating, talk about making you feel old.
Brutus,
Prayers for you and your wife.
Chief,
I meant to post sooner, but I have had a busy week. My friend has had some type of situation arise, but I haven't heard from him since last week. He was living with his sister, and he moved out after they had an arguement. I am concerned. The weather here has been less than spectacular this week. It was fairly nice Tuesday, so I uncovered the Probe and let it idle for about an hour. It is amazing what a difference new upstream O2 sensors and a new PCV valve can make.
ChiefEaglesGreat news!!!! TWC has signed an agreement with RFD-TV. Do not know when it will hit the programing here but it has been signed.
Great news!!!! TWC has signed an agreement with RFD-TV. Do not know when it will hit the programing here but it has been signed.
That is great news. As you know, RFD-TV is my favorite station. For $30 a year you can get a bi-monthly program guide (and a free denim hat), or a free weekly program e-newsletter. Their programing includes several train shows, lots of old and new country/bluegrass shows, Tractor pulls, Etc.
Did anyone, especially those who went to York, see the picture at the end of Bob Keller's recent email newsletter video?
Good Morning from Blueberryhill....
It is a rainy 66 degrees. This has been a wet summer. Going up to 74 today with rain all day.
Not much doing today. I have some paperwork to do and then I may run trains later. Need to do some dusting on the layout.
Dining car was here for the usual breakfast.
Y'all have a great Thursday.
Chuck
For the first time since we've lived in this house (19 years) we have water in the sump pump pit, could not believe it, glad it works. I gave up on wearing shorts last week, still wearing jeans today. This weather is more like April/May---sure hope it warms up soon and stops raining.
Brutus--hang in there my friend, prayers sent. Better days are just ahead.
Lots to do before we head out for the weekend, will have traveled several thousand miles before July gets here, loving every minute of it this month.
Jon
So many roads, so little time.
Morning all. Cool and grey today. Dodged the rain for last night's Sox game. Going to leave in a few with the middle boy for today's game. Looks like it's raining there now. Hope it dries up. Doug is right - miserable, cool, wet June so far. And I can see December on the horizon. Ack! Rain on its way to Mike C and Sir J.Did a dad thing burying another hamster early this morn, and cleaning out the cage. Chief, Bob has the coolest job - at a telescope atop an AZ mountain! Bob, what do you do during summer shut-down - maintenance? Roy, tried to interest daughter in nursing - it's certainly served my bride well. She's not interested of course. ;)
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Morning. Suppose to be hot and humid [what's new]. Good chace of TStorms this afternoon. Finally going to my B'day dinner. Big crew is meeting us at Shuckers Oyster and Seafood Bar. New place [old business moved to new bigger building] two miles from house.
submmbob Back on the hill for our last week of observations before summer shutdown. Weather is fairly good, even though we are still seeing the too-soons in the afternoon. Bob
Back on the hill for our last week of observations before summer shutdown. Weather is fairly good, even though we are still seeing the too-soons in the afternoon.
Did I mess something? What in the world are you doing? You not working a fire tower in the Rockies are you? Sounds interesting.
About time for Jack's Granddaughter to "appear". Prayers there.
Almost time for good news [we hope and pray] from Brent [88].
Brutus, just said one for the wife.
Roy, nursing is a great job and in great demand. Hope she will continue. They are all angles helping the sick.
Mike C., I will have to ship the "saucy winch" a big bag of grits so you can have a decent breakfast.
Hope all have a great day. God bless all.
HI GYZ,
Muggy at the start of the day. Ran just a 3 miler and NO BIKE today, got GOLF dis afternoon against BRO? Got half the load of mulch down yesterday. Gotts move about 7 tons of stone for back access road, this morning. Slept great last nite.
Read in paper, a guy in our area has a large O gauge collection for sale, might have to give him a call?
Stay frosty,
laz57
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