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COFFEE POT #2, February 2010 for all to take a drink and chat. Welcome all posters. 4 yrs old and still going. Sweet ice tea too.

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Posted by LawsonFarmsRR on Monday, February 1, 2010 10:36 AM

 RT - Happy Birthday!!

This is just for you. Chocolate cherry polenta (GRITS) cake.

Will drop it off tonight by Tardis.

Pat

 RFD-TV --- Rural America's most important network!

 

              

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Monday, February 1, 2010 10:08 AM

Good Mornin', ya'll, from Sunny Taxachusetts,

First things first.  Continued prayers and positive thoughts for Mrs. Brutus and her sis Di, Roy's sis, Ray's old friend, and Chief's Mom.

Thank you for all that once again made SPF interesting and enjoyable for us all.

Falling behind again on the Pot!

MikeC......good news that your better half is feeling better. 

DougDG......read your comment about living in the CO. mountains.  Jeremiah-Da-Grump-johnson, except you don't look like Robert Redford.

Laz.....225 pounds, + or - ten pounds since high school?  Same with my weight change.  Wink  Plus I added a personal flotation device around my waist.  Your demo took 1 day?  Didn't know the use of dynamite was legal by you.

Don/DougM.....even the original transformer has fond memories for me.

JonKJ......thanks for the Vt. single digit weather.  Wife asked me to tell you, enough already.

OleTimer.....your comment about your desk filled with work-in-process projects reminded me of the time my Dad and I got permanently exiled from the dining room table by my mother who found our definition about dual purpose functionality quite different from hers.

SJ......hope your son hangs in there in this tough(est) job market.  Family members have me working on resume updates as we speak.

Saw a news blurb how 25 years old is the new 15, with a skyrocketing number of 30 and under kids living with their folks.  About 35 years ago my father predicted a European-style influence on American society......extended family living under one roof.  And here it is.  My son moved out (again) months ago, but I suspect that may not be the last time he resides here.  Banged Head 

Anyone heard the news story about the local Boston area woman tho was standing on a street corner as a fire truck passed and got hit in the head with a loose fire hose.  Terrible accident and she was DOA.

JimmyT....what is Forza 3?

Ray......always wondered how your train equipment fares in the garage with that CA humidity.  Hope your ailing old friend is exiting the woods and is recovering. Prayers, brother.  I lost a close friend of 45 years back in December and spent a few days back in DougM's neck of the woods right before Christmas.

DougM.....nice EBay score!  Sounds like the increasing educational expenses in the pipeline might force you into taking on a second job as a pole dancer but you'll need some suggestive tatoos..  Wink

navyjack.....hope your plotting and scheming about a layout is coming along.  Rome wasn't built in a day.   Keep it low cost and simple.  Small and fuctional works.  How about a used folding ping pong table, add casters,  and screw down the track?  Guys here know about how to get the track to join at the split in the table without taking up any track.

Later, gang.

Jack   

 

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

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Posted by laz 57 on Monday, February 1, 2010 9:57 AM

Happy B-DayHappy B-DayRT,

  How old 39?  Hope you get something with flanged wheels?

Enjoy your day.

laz57

  There's a race of men that don't fit in, A race that can't stay still; Robert Service. TCA 03-55991
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Posted by ChiefEagles on Monday, February 1, 2010 8:50 AM

Buckeye, UNCLE UNCLE.  Enough!!!!!!!!  A "mix" sometime tomorrow and maybe more Friday and Saturday.  Go away!!!!!

Froze good last night but warmng fast with sunshine.  Getting ready to head east to hospital.  Roads there are not in as good of a shape as here.  Wifey getting ready to go to work.  Gail called and said big wreck at Neuse River bridge [big intersection right at bridge, poor DOT planning and design].  So wifey not rushing in to sit in traffic jam. 

Hope all have a great month and week.

Happy B-DayHappy B-Day RT [you Carpetbagger, you Smile,Wink, & Grin

 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 Brutus on Monday, February 1, 2010 8:48 AM

Happy Birthday RT! 

Morning guys - daughter is taking a sick day today, so I'm just chilling out.  Son fell on the ice getting to the van this morning, but he was okay.  I think it surprised him more than anything.  Need to set up a loop of track on a small table to test my goodies.  TTFN

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by cnw1995 on Monday, February 1, 2010 8:48 AM
Aloha and happy birthday to RT. A balmy 24 so far, but cloudy. Bob, that's a great story. And I love the Mt Graham Boiler Shop. I wish I could fill in the holes in the legacy of my dad's 248 and cars as they were made before he was born. Going to call the principal of the youngest's school - a wild lad bopped him on the mouth 'by accident'.

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

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Posted by sir james I on Monday, February 1, 2010 8:22 AM

Good Morning

HAPPY BIRTHDAY  RT, enjoy.

Cold 11 degrees this morning, but we have sunshine.

"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks 

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Posted by Sturgeon-Phish on Monday, February 1, 2010 7:27 AM

Good Morning from cold but sunny Southern Ohio.  Taking today off to get some prep work done for the new washer and dryer.  The payback from the energy savings gets extended a little further.  The bigger load size will be nice.

May God bless

Jim

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Posted by fifedog on Monday, February 1, 2010 7:24 AM

Mornin' boys.  February...I haven't finished eating the kids' Halloween candy...  Tried to hang new curtain rods in living room, but my 15 yr old Craftsman drill set is dying on me (batteries).  And of course, they don't make new ones, and of course the supplier in SNOHIO wants an arm & leg for replacements.  I find myself oo-gool-ing the Milwaukee display at my local HD. 

rt ---> Happy B-Day. 

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Monday, February 1, 2010 6:43 AM

Happy B-Day RT......hope you did not take offense when I lumped you in with all of the Sutheners.  That was your official test which is issued to make sure that all transplants are regularly re-rertified as born and bred Yankee gentlemen.  And you passed with flying colors.  Bow

Have a good one on your day off.  BTW......this is #29, right?  Wink

Jack

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

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Posted by Blueberryhill RR on Monday, February 1, 2010 6:32 AM

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a clear and cold 18 degrees. Going up to 34 today. No snow.

Today is a busy day. I have some errands to run and the chores around the house. Wife has to take her dog to the Vet. We will be going all day. Then, I have my physical therapy at 3 pm. Busy.

Dining car is on the way. Usual breakfast.

RT...Happy "Hatching Day"......Happy B-Day

Y'all have a great Monday.

Chuck

Chuck # 3 I found my thrill on Blueberryhill !!
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Posted by cheapclassics on Monday, February 1, 2010 6:29 AM

Good morning all,

It is cloudy but milder in SE Indiana with some Snohio predicted for tonight.  Happy birthday, RT!!!  Bob, that is a great story about your engine.  Hopefully the recipients will appreciate the time you spent on it and the history.  I have only two older sets that I know the history on, the Marx set that got me back into toy trains and the Wabash Cannonball from 1970.  "Desperate Houswives" was good.  I had the regular fare on the dining car before sending it on to "Points East".  TBIL any time.  I hope everyone has a good day.  Prayers especially for Brutus' wife and Chief's mom. 

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

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Posted by laz 57 on Monday, February 1, 2010 6:22 AM

Hi GUYZ,

  25 and not bad here suppose to get some SNO HI O tommorrow?  Ran trains last nite all is good with DA WORLD.

Stay frosty,

laz57

  There's a race of men that don't fit in, A race that can't stay still; Robert Service. TCA 03-55991
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Posted by rtraincollector on Monday, February 1, 2010 5:53 AM

Morning all well today is the day I was hatched . Hope all have a good one will be in and out today a few times as off. Never work on the anniversary of your hatching daySmile

Not a lot planned for today need to go bake a cake I guess but other than that thats about it. wanted to get under house and run gas line but may wait till wed as its going to be a littttle warmer then.

Life's hard, even harder if your stupid  John Wayne

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Monday, February 1, 2010 1:35 AM

OOPS, reclinerized too long.  Off to bed.

 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 RockIsland52 on Monday, February 1, 2010 1:19 AM

GoodMornin', Ya'll, from frigid Taxachusetts,

After two overnights of single digits (6 and 8 degrees, respectively), things are starting to warm up a bit. 

Continued prayers for Mrs. Brutus and for Chief's mom.  Also Ray's buddy and Roy's sis. 

Played with the granddaughter Saturday night.  I was put in charge of rearranging the furniture in her dollhouse.  Then she decided I did not know what I was doing, had me rearrange it again and again.  Do they teach women these things from birth or is it simply innate to the gender?  Got moved out of the way so she could rectify my faux pas.  Whem I put a toilet in the kitchen, she looked at me like I was nuts.  I winked at her and she smiled knowingly.  That's her silly "Grampy!"   

So I moved to my favorite position and began running trains which drew her away from her dollhouse.  Running trains with her isn't running trains.  I can't get in two loops before she wants me to stop the train so she can rearrange her passengers in the freight cars.  We've got quite the mix of passengers.  Animals, Disney Princesses, you name it.  A couple of cars get knocked off the tracks in the rearrangement process.  Two more loops and it's stop again to change passengers again, knock a couple of cars off the track again.  The good news is that the e-units are working.  After the gang left I got in about an hour of some quality running time, no pileups.

Good ZZZZZZZZZs, ya'll.

Jack.  

 

IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.

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Posted by submmbob on Monday, February 1, 2010 1:19 AM

 Well we are in the clouds tonight and picking up frost. We are making progress w/ the new receiver when the weather allows.

NavyJack - I used to live 2 hours north of Area 51 (Ely). I made the drive down the Hiko Cutoff on a routine basis. This is basically at the eastern edge of the range. I once had cobalt blue meteorites going over the truck (much higher thankfully) for about a half hour. Air Force was playing (or goofed up) w/ something.

Fife - that's about the closest thing to an alien I've seen. When people ask if I've talked to aliens at the 'scope, my standard response is "never mind the aliens, I'm still waiting for Jodi Foster to show up".

Had an interesting experience tonight. Since we weren't doing much else, I thought I'd work on the 258 for a bit. The next step was to polish up all the brass and all. They put some kind of coating on the brass originally to keep it from tarnishing I think and makes it difficult to polish. So I started to remove all the brass pieces. And got to thinking.

This set was bought in 1930 by a railroad man for his only daughter. It was given by her to my dad and his brothers sometime in the '40s or early '50s. My grandmother gave it to me in 1979 (I was 12) and my grandfather (mom's side) helped me fix it up. The wheels were cracked and one side had rusted due to being stored next to batteries as I remember.  We sanded it down and gave it a quick paint job. Later I found new wheels from Madison Hardware and they were installed by AZ Trains in Tucson in 1987. Since that time I have run it a few times and had it out to show people. For most of the past 20 years it has sat silently in a shoebox in the closet. At my grandmother's funeral not quite 2 years back I mentioned it to one of my cousins. She thought her kids might like it. So I got it out and started to fix it up. This rekindled my interest in toy trains and this is what brought me here.

Originally I just wanted to do a good cleaning and get it on it's way. Well, as these things go, this project drags along and it's been cleaned, lubed, rewired, and has new brushes so far. Since the paint job we did 20 years ago was rough I have decided to go ahead and repaint the  boiler shell. I sat cleaning all the brass on this engine, and at first it just seemed like a tedious but fun project.  I knew the history of it starting 80 years ago and I realized all the people that this engine has seen. The folks in New Jersey that put it together, the railroad worker who bought a gift for his child in the midst of the Great Depression, my father and my uncles, my grandmother who thought of me when she found it after all those years, my grandfather who greatly encouraged my love of trains and helped me make it run again, and myself growing up with it for the past thirty years. This really hit me as I polished the number boards and saw them gleam for the first time in years. Soon it will have a new home w/ 3 young girls, a fitting continuation of this engine's history. Originally I was just going to box it up and send it, maybe w/ a video of me talking about it. I think now I will present it in person, to my cousin's daughters whom I've never met. These are just things, objects of steel, brass, and copper. But what they represent is people, and after all isn't that what life is all about.

 

The #258 sitting in the Mt. Graham Boiler Shop

I apologize for the length, but I thought you guys might like this story.

Bob

Bob

Tucson, AZ (aka the Ol' Pueblo)

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Posted by Ole Timer on Sunday, January 31, 2010 10:21 PM

 Internet provider down almost all night .... SoapBox .... again .... those lousey service guys they have .... Dunce  .... at least I won a diecast log car before it crashed ... missed you guys on the chat ... caught Brutus right at the end and explained .... RT ... I did'nt run off ... I could see ya all but could'nt connect .... then it crashed .  

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Posted by sir james I on Sunday, January 31, 2010 10:02 PM

How could you miss January it seemed to be six weeks long.

"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks 

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Posted by Sturgeon-Phish on Sunday, January 31, 2010 9:58 PM

What?  February already?  What happened to January?

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Posted by sir james I on Sunday, January 31, 2010 9:57 PM

Hey, it's not time yet.

"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks 

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Posted by MichRR714 on Sunday, January 31, 2010 9:56 PM

 Hello February Guys!

Charlie a.k.a. MichiganRailRoad714 (Charter Member TTC)      

 

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COFFEE POT #2, February 2010 for all to take a drink and chat. Welcome all posters. 4 yrs old and still going. Sweet ice tea too.
Posted by ChiefEagles on Sunday, January 31, 2010 9:53 PM

Starting a new one.  Drink up.  [thanks RT for reminding me, thought of it earlier but then slipped my mind.  senior moment] 

BTW: lots of snow and sleet melted today.  got a lot warmer than forecasted.  highway in front of house clear and dry.  some secondary roads are not good at all.   

 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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