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COFFEE POT #1 January 2011 for all to take a drink and chat. 5+ years and going. Plenty of coffee but also grits along with country ham, redeye gravy and sweet ice tea.

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Posted by fifedog on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 6:36 AM

Mornin' boys.  Cloudy and 28 here in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Heard that ENERGY stocks are up.  It is good to know that some are benefitting from others' misery.  Our regional energy company seems to be on every radio/tv channel, every 5 mins, telling us how to better ourselves.  I,for one, would love them to fire their entire ad/pr staff and pass those savings on to us.My 2 Cents

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Posted by Blueberryhill RR on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 6:53 AM

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It's 32 degrees. Going up to 38 today with a little snow.

This is my second post. First one got lost.

Usual chores today. Not much new.

Dining car is here with the usual breakfast.

Y'all have a great Tuesday.

Chuck

Chuck # 3 I found my thrill on Blueberryhill !!
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Posted by ChiefEagles on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 7:28 AM

Morning gentlemen and Yanks.  Never got below freezing last night nor the night before.  Foggy [big time].  Rain on the way.  Got to do my electrical for ceiling lights in office and walk-in closet today.  Wall ended up right over the ceiling light already there.  Contractor sawed out 12" area of the ceiling to middle of office and middle of walk-in area.  What a dusty mess.  PLASTER!  Covered desk and etc with plastic.  Got Chamber thingy tonight.  

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 cnw1995 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 8:40 AM

Aloha. Long day today with class tonight but should be plenty busy. Thus I find myself entering the 'doldrums' of winter. Grey. Not too cold. Nothing too much happening. Good thing we got toy trains.

Chief, what a mess! Our contractors have to cover everything before working. We usually move the offices temporarily too.

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

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Posted by sir james I on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 9:05 AM

Good Morning

Overcast and 25

Sorry chief no pink nitey, just have PJs next to the bed in case I need them. Going to be a lazy day, no plans. Breakfast was eggs, bacon, hash browns and 1 toast. I have been eating cereal and oatmeal so this one is ok..S.J.

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

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Posted by rtraincollector on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 10:13 AM

Morning all suppose to get up to 47 today as there calling for some rain. Its 41 right now.

well got two loops put down on the floor last night in fas-track so I'm going to be running trains again befor the day is over just need to dig out the ZW and find the command base for TMCC have the hand control right here know where the ZW is so hoping the base is with it just need to dig down about 3 containers that the printer is sitting on top of lol.

my outer loop is O 48 curves and inter loop is O 36 loops. outer is about 6' X 9'

Not much going on today cleared my desk of all the junk and trash I had on it. it grows fast when you don't pay attention. some how lost the windows to my dinning car that i opened up as was going to try and detail it. ( yeah that got far it ended up sitting on desk opened up disassembled and that was it )

May have to craw under desk and see if it fell off and behind it.

well not on floor under desk but did just remembered I put on shelf in front of me under trains so I wouldn't lose lol. Well thats a good deal anyway. now i have it. may need to look into a few things for this room think desk as a whole is going to go by by lol but think I'm going to build a work bench so I can work on trains and things and put some drawers in it and put putor at one end in away the chair isn't in the way and make work bench desk height or will need to get a stool for the computer end. Will see it will be some planning lol.

Going to go out with wife to do some shopping talk to you all later.

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

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:01 AM

Good Mornin' Ya'll From a Grey Overcast Taxachussetts,

Sub zero temps from last evening took the train out of town, heat wave present, now 21 degrees!!!!!  A warm and wet front is moving up the East coast from Roseyville and will clash with our cold temperatures tomorrow night.  Up to 12 more inches of the white stuff forecast. Bang Head

RayAF.......bet your Husky is loving the cold temperatures. Thumbs Up

Chief.....didn't you know that male pattern baldness is common in men with high natural testosterone levels?  SJ would thank you for the compliment, but he is too modest as we Northerners tend to be. Smile, Wink & Grin

RT........if I understand you correctly, you will be running trains for the first time in eons by nightfall.  YAHOO!!!!!!!!  With all you have been accumulating, however will you choose what to run first?  Another RT milestone.  

HudsonJohn.....you are alive!!!!  I got to wondering if any of the NJ crews were sent up my way during our January 12 blizzard to help out with the downed power lines.  At one point, we had 101,000 residentialand commercial customers without power during that event and had to rely on crews from outside of MA to bail us out.

Laz.......has the wifey sent you out yet to get a coat for Minnie? Laugh  I was showing my wife the photos you posted of Minnie, and she reflected out loud about all of the wonders that pup will bring to your life.  We train Maximus with a couple who two years ago adopted a smaller female black lab from a local shelter, but "Addie" came with "issues."  Today that dog is a TDI-certified therapy dog and visits the local rehab hospitals and the Beverly School for the Blind.  But there is more.  The final 2010 year end American Pet Dog Trainers' Association (APDT) National Rally 2 rankings (competitive obedience) came out recently. This same black Lab Addie ranked number 4 in the nation!!!!!  Translation: this pup has gone from the bottom of the scrap heap to a nationally ranked obedience champ in 24 months.        

The thoughtful posts from yesterday's Pot were a good reminder that I must spend more time living, less time fussing over yesterday and worrying about tomorrow.

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 rtraincollector on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:19 AM

Jack just for you heres a pic of my carpet central layout

 

Now understand this is going to be where it is for a while but its only a temp layout as have no plans to use fastract on my true layout when i build it. but at least i have something to run trains on for a while and as I do additions ( buildings ect)  I will send you pics lol or post them. present I plan to take one section out of each end of inside track and put a 1/2 section in so I can put my station platforms between outer and inter loop so my passenger cars have a stop to pull into lol.

did dig the ZW out and lo and behold the Command base was there with its plug adapter Yes so yes trains will be running today guess will run my PRR trainmaster with the PRR Passenger cars behind it. and then one of my NYC diesels with some freight behind it on the inter loop.

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

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Posted by Hudson#685 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:21 AM

Lunch time,

  Fife, I agree with you about the energy companies and all of the advertising. I wish we had the advertising budget for O&M. We need it for maintenance not for telling people how good we are.

Jack, that storm coming up the coast is a real concern. The weatherman said that it is hard to predict but we may be in for 5-10" or more. We have not been sent out of state for mutual aid this year. I will let you know if I am going towards your neck of the woods.

Ray, AF53, check out the AF Steamer derailment posting. NO MAGNETRACTION.

I was reading the back posts about the accidents and other tragic happenings. My thoughts and prayers for the victims and their families.

Back to work,  John

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Posted by Hudson#685 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:23 AM

RT,

    Those carpet layouts can be a lot of fun. Enjoy and have fun with it.

John

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Posted by SPMan on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:28 AM

Good morning all, off to another doctor appointment this morning for regular check up.

Don, sorry to hear about your your son's girlfriends friends.  I think I saw something about that accident in the paper.

Went to awards ceremony at local school board meeting last night.  My grandson got an award for a painting he did in the visual arts catagory.  There were about 20 kids in all that got awards which were the top in their fields in the entire school district.. 

Got to run,

Ray

SPMan

              

 

              

 

              

 

              

 

              

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:31 AM

Guys,

            Thanks for the well wishes on the interview.  Until this morning, I wasn't feeling well since getting some sort of stomach bug late Friday night, so I just followed things here.  The interview seemed to go well, and the two that interviewed me said that they would discuss it and let me know.  I'll be waiting be the phone.

Laz,

         Congrats on Minnie.  It seems like we just brought our dog home yesterday, and it has been almost eight years already.

John,

            Welcome back.

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Posted by submmbob on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 11:57 AM

Well, last day of the shift. We are open and running and the weather is good.

Finally got the Heathkit battery eliminator finished. I was hoping to use it to power an old Philco from a '49 Plymouth so I could finally align the set, but alas need some more parts for the radio. I ordered a replacement vibrator for it years ago (a vibrator converts DC to AC) and well I took it out of the box and found it was 12V?! I needed a 6VBang Head. Guess I ordered the wrong one. Well the set is back together w/ the tubes installed, so it will be ready for next time.

Only a few more hours 'til I get to unwrap the UP NW-2Smile, Wink & Grin

RT - congrats on getting some trains running

Bob

Bob

Tucson, AZ (aka the Ol' Pueblo)

Home of the Mt. Graham & Arizona Eastern Boiler Shops

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Posted by Demay on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 12:13 PM

Good afternoon all,

I've been home all morning since the plumber is here installing the water softening system.  He should be finished in about an hour and then I can finally go to work.

S.J. - Too much information, but i guess that's what we get since the Chief asked.

I'll stop by later on tonight.

Joe

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Posted by arkady on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 12:17 PM

rtraincollector

Jack just for you here's a pic of my carpet central layout

{picture}

RT, your carpet layout looks pretty much like the one my Lionel 2026 is running on next to me right now, fireplace and all.  Difference is, I haven't got the room for the outer loop.  Like you, I'm looking ahead to a permanent layout.

 

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 2:06 PM

Arkady and RT........the three of us should start a carpet layout club here on the POT.  We could call ourselves the Carpetbaggersrunners just to rile the ChiefWhistling  I'm still running the Christmas layout sans tree and tree stand on a 4' x 8' plywood board (covered by a white sheet) on the floor in the living room.  RT......thanks for the pictures!   It has been quite a while for you.  Are those 036 curves on the inner loop?  What about the outer loop?  The Fastrak sure makes it a snap!  Big Smile

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 RockIsland52 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 2:20 PM

JimmyT.....glad the interview went well, and you have my prayers you receive an offer.  Did they give you what the timelines are for the candidate interviewing process, next steps, and the decision? 

Don't forget to send an interview follow up email pretty quick to the interviewer, thanking him/her for the exchange, your particulaly good fit for the job, and reiterating your interest in the position and in the company. A tie goes to the candidate who, as sales people will tell you, pays attention to the detail and asks for the order.

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 cheapclassics on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 2:53 PM

Good afternoon all,

IIABSDISEI with temps in the 30s.  I am sorry I have not posted the past two days, but I have been hammered with the flu.  Finally found a combination of drugs to make me feel human.  Been off work the last two days and will stay home tomorrow as well.  My dad was released from the hospital today and will be staying with us the rest of the week.  My sister will be down on the weekends to take care of him as well.  We hope to find out tomorrow from the oncologist.  I will catch up on the other posts later. 

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

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Posted by sir james I on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 4:55 PM

Good Evening

29 and cloudy all day.

I just goofed off. But I got banilla and rootbeer for the thingy ride...S.J.

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

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Posted by rtraincollector on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 6:34 PM

RockIsland52

Arkady and RT........the three of us should start a carpet layout club here on the POT.  We could call ourselves the Carpetbaggersrunners just to rile the ChiefWhistling  I'm still running the Christmas layout sans tree and tree stand on a 4' x 8' plywood board (covered by a white sheet) on the floor in the living room.  RT......thanks for the pictures!   It has been quite a while for you.  Are those 036 curves on the inner loop?  What about the outer loop?  The Fastrak sure makes it a snap!  Big Smile

Jack

 

Jack and Arkady try this link

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/186329.aspx

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

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Posted by dwiemer on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 7:36 PM

Wow, you guys are a chatty bunch lately!  Posted yesterday and I find myself several pages behind tonight.  Regarding the accident/fire, it is a reminder that things can happen in an instant and beyond our control.  It is why we need to be mindful of where we go from here and be grateful for all we have been blessed with.

Mike, your family has had it's share of cancer...even more than your share.  I will pray for you and the rest.  May God's peace and comfort cover you all and may He meet you at your need.  It is never easy to go through such a dark valley.

We had a nice day here.  I had to go to a class this morning at church at 0600, then to work to do a case.  As I was finishing up my case this afternoon, we got two calls, one right after the other on patients needing emergency surgery for the same problem.  I was not on call, and they were able to handle things, so I met up with wife, while princess had ballet, son and I got hair cuts.  (Cost more than $7.99 each and No, we didn't have a nice girl shampoo our hair).  Then it was off to a seafood restaurant for dinner.....now I am tired and heading to bed. 

Hope everyone has a great night and don't get too cold up north Y'all!

Dennis

TCA#09-63805

 

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Posted by rtraincollector on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 7:47 PM

Jack the outer loop is O-48 curves it came with my New York Central Legacy Lion Master Frieght Set

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

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Posted by RockIsland52 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 8:49 PM

RT........PLEASE tell me you didn't lean lumber up against the grandfather clock in the picture you posted in the Carpet Central thread.  Or that you moved it after you took the picture but before the wifey saw it.  Man, you live dangerously.

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 Demay on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 8:59 PM

Good evening all,

We had clam chowder for dinner and just lazed around the house.  The new water softening system is working nicely and I can already tell a difference.  I did not get much sleep last night because the baby was fussy.  I will be off to bed early tonight since I have a fitness test in the morning. 

Dennis/S.J. - I pay $8 for a haircut; however, I get it cut at the base's barber shop so I don't have much input as to how it gets cut.

Good night,

Joe

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Posted by ChiefEagles on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 9:02 PM

Speaking of carpet railroads.  I was razzed by the Yanks for several years because of this.

Loved running on the carpet. 

Chamber thingy over.  Great meal.  Said my little speach.

Rain has come but not like they had said.  Really warm too.

SJ knows I tease him because I like him.

Mike C., GET WELL.

Popcorn and TV.  Think shooting on Outdoor Channel.

Sleep tight.  SJ, my "comfey clothes", as Wifey calls them, are in the office across the room from my bedroom.  Can't sleep in clothes as too hot.

 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 AF53 on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 9:20 PM

Jack- You couldn't have been more on target with Sable, my Husky! She would dive into snow just to play with it. Whenever I take her out for a walk or "whatever", when I want to go inside and warm up, all she wants to do is stay outside. She really loves the snow.

John - I've read all that about those derailments, funny, I've never had that problem!Whistling

Snow coming in a few days and I say "Bring it on!" Winter in Jersey!

Staying warm inside,

Ray

Ray

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Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans - John Lennon

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 9:20 PM

Jack,

           I will send a followup letter in the mail to the interviewers since I wasn't given nor can I find an email address.  No timelines given, but the interviewers said they'd discuss me and get back promptly.  That, and the wording used at other times gives me a good feeling about this one.  They talked extensively about the schedule which is a 2-3-2 schedule involving a 5:45AM-6:15PM shift, but if that means a job for me, I am glad to do it.

Just had one of those nights servicing a 736 Berk that hasn't seen action since Christmas 2007.  I got a bit Lubriplate happy when I serviced it a few years back and it was oozing out the rear axle bushings and both ends of the armature.  When I pulled the armature, I removed all four thrust washers and both thrust bearings and set them aside with everything else on the kitchen table. 

When I went to reassemble, one of the washers was gone.  My first thought was that it clung to a paper towel which I had thrown into the garbage.  So, after being elbow deep in the garbage and not finding it, I was ready to order some.  It turns out the washer somehow got transferred to the counter.  Don't remember putting it there, but I am glad it is still here. 

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Posted by Sturgeon-Phish on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 10:01 PM

Evening all

Congrats Jim, I hope the interview is fruitful.

Chief - Stopped by the insurance agent, they said to get estiments.  The window is a Pella double hung I installed about 25 years ago.  I called Pella and they are sending a service guy next Monday.  The $500 deductible still stings.

I have the outline for my homily for this weekend, it is on the Beatitudes.  We'll see how it goes.  Still have evening prayer to do and I'll include the special intentions for the needs.

May God bless

Jim

 

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Posted by Brutus on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 10:56 PM

Howdy guys - a little warmer in Saint Louis and everything is melting for now.  Maybe hit mid 40's on the weekend?  Have to decide if I am working OT or not.  I probably will do it.  We got our W2s online and also bank stuff online, so I might run the taxes this weekend as well. 

James T - good luck, sounds like you scored Thumbs Up

Mike - prayers for healing for you and your family.

Nice chats with RT, SJ and Charlie until my network burped.  I got it back up after a little bit.  Tardis is ready, but no banilla for me - I'm eating TUMS right now.  Something is bothering me, guess the garlic pepper on my dinner?

RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.

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Posted by Hudson#685 on Wednesday, January 26, 2011 5:57 AM

Good Morning from Jersey, 37, waiting for the snow,

 Jim, 97 Probe, Good Luck with the job.

 Mike C., I hope that you and your dad get better soon.

SJ, Go ahead, Goof Off Again Today.

Ray, You and your sister (my wife) love snow. You because you may be off or in the office loking at and buying trains on the computer and Doray, because I am at work not buying trains and the "Cha Ching", OT to pay for what I already bought. She told me how much I spent last month. She missed some.

Brutus, Stay away from the garlic unless you are fighting vampires.

Carpet Layouts, When we take the Christmas Tree down, yes it is alive and still up, we like it and the smell, it is too big and you can not see the trains, I will keep the trains up and photo them. By the way , Ray still has his trains up. He took the tree down last week.

John

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