Coffee Pot #1 January 2012 5+ years and going strong and its for all to chat. Plenty of coffee and sweet ice tea for all. Come and join us and chat. GRITS for the Yankees.

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

I was able to combine the 2 track plans and come up with a final plan that everyone agrees on. Started securing the track and cutting all the custom length pieces, even figured a way to make an 0-72 Lionel switch crossover with closer track spacing (parallel tracks) by cutting off some curve (diverging route) track of one of the switches. Looking good.

Cooling off here - they say we might get some rain Mon and/or Tues?

Kev - forgot to mention those Grandkid pics are priceless!

What is Brent up to?

Have a great evening all!

[Brutus]

I'm having some kind of problem with my router not assigning IP addresses - unplug, restore power, works fine.  Maybe it's a firmware problem....  It's only a couple years old now - maybe 3?

We went to church, had some leftover pizza for lunch, and I made some pork minute steaks with rice for dinner.  Some laundry and a couple video games and a movie were it for the day.  Back to work tomorrow and I have to prepare training for Wednesday, then get some reviews done - I have about 50 I need to do this coming week.  Oh - and I have a dentist appointment.  Busy busy!

TARDIS is ready, just waiting for a few more beacons to come on.

[8ntruck]

Got back home from mom's yesterday, late.  She is still in the hospital, but is expected to be moved into the rehab center in the next couple of days.  I can tell that she is getting a little grouchy, and is ready for the move.

Jack - prayers fro your friend.  My sister lives about 5 hours away from mom, and I'm about 12 hours away.  Local friends providing support like you are priceless.  I spent the last couple of weeks thanking mom's friends for their help, I'll send thanks to you too for supporting your friend.

All for now.  I'll catch up more on the Pot later.

[traindaddy1]

After the Jints game, I walked the edge of the lawn. Found the end of a PCV pipe sticking up.  Chief Engineer told me to leave it alone..........(Couldn't - would you?)....Dug along it and found the other end which was not connected to anything.  We're new here. The previous owners (there were several) must have put it in for something.......Took it out......@ 60' of one inch pipe, mostly brittle. Should have listened to her.....Oh, my back!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. Thunderstorms have moved through heading north. Looks like the folks up around Shreveport and Monroe are enjoying them at this time. Got a lot of nothing done on the layout today due to circumstances beyond my control. I didn't so much as lift a paint brush. Maybe tomorrow. See y'all then.

[dbaker48]

Evening All...

Ray,  I think you made the right decision, you wouldn't have seen much that you didn't see at Cal Stewart.  You probably would have been disappointed considering the drive.  Same for Dennis.

Chief, Sounds great with the Box, is it going to become the "Eagles Nest" ?  Looks like progress is really happening.  Really glad to hear about your grandson's, that is great.

Had a busy day today.  Went to swap meet and helped set up the booth for Kay, then went off to Knotts and worked for awhile.  Then back to swap meet, and closed out the day helping her.  Then we went out for a movie and dinner.  Saw Sherlock Homes, my opinion, eh.  Her opinion really great.

Tomorrow going to replace the door lock motors on the El Camino, they are too sluggish.  May find something out about the Buick, but probably wont until Tuesday or Wednesday.  Hopefully will get flag pole back up, and maybe some time in the train room.  Then ther is the Christmas decorations, time to take them down and put 'em all away.

Roy you need to put up a G Scale out there in the flower beds.  Obviously you have the climate for it !!

Continued thoughts and prayers fo Jack and Frank.

Take care and God Bless!

[ChiefEagles]

Good night all.  Sprinkling rain.  Reclinerized to long.  Watched the DVR'd Blue Bloods [yes, I also have it on demand, DVR lets me run past the commercials].  Then switched to coyote hunting and went to sleep.

dbaker48

Went to swap meet and helped set up the booth for Kay, then went off to Knotts and worked for awhile.  Take care and God Bless!

Running the real train is NOT work.

Remembering Jack and Frank.

Sleep tight.

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

  28 here to get to 43?  Watched JEREMIAH JOHNSON last nite on AMC was the 40th Aniversary of film.

Watch your topknot,

laz57

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

IIABSDISEI with temps near 50.  I know winter will hit sometime, but for now we will enjoy what we have.  Should be quiet day at work as most of the coworkers are leaving with some diferent sorts of ailments (hopefully temporary).  Once Upon a Time and Desperate Housewives were both good last night.  I had the regular fare on the dining car for breakfast before sending it on to both "Points East" and "Points West".  TBIL and I can drive.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

It is a cloudy 30 degrees. Going up to a sunny 50 today.

Today is a busy day. Chores to do and a project to work on. I'll be busy until naptime. Yesterday, I went downstairs to the train room and ran trains for a few hours. Had a good time. Cleaned the pick-up rollers on the Budd cars. No pile ups.

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Monday.

Chuck

[Demay]

Konbanwa,

I ended my three week running hiatus this morning and went for a slow three mile run.  I was happy to do it but I can definitely tell I gained a couple pounds during the holiday break.  I had a great day at work and caught the Steelers-Broncos game this morning while reading through some emails.  Tebow pulled it out again but he'll have to step up his game next week in New England - I know I'll be cheering for him.  The wife made chicken taco soup for dinner and it was great.  I am caught up on schoolwork right now so I am off to bed early tonight.

Kev, Roy, and Laz - Thanks for the kind words about the shelves; I am happy with the way they look and glad to at least have the trains out.  Kev, your shelves look great too.

Laz - You have some great hunting stories.  Be safe out there.

Chuck - I hope your train room visits continue to increase. 

AF Ray - That's some nice Yankee gear in that photo.

Sayonara,

Joe

[cnw1995]

Aloha from a warm and sunny Chicago. Spent time visiting with my father-in-law this weekend who had a knee replacement earlier in Dec. Did all the heavy lifting I could find around the house. Took down Christmas for him. Then took the daughter back to OH yesterday. 12 hours in the car but nice time with her and nice quiet ride back listening to all the football games. Saw many long CSX and NS trains criss-crossing OH and IN.

Love the photo, Ray!

Mike C, I've taken Amtrak east to NYC and west to LA from Chicago. Nice rides both ways. It is leisurely. Unexpected stops. We were massively late both ways. Roomette is the way to go. Had parlor chair - for lack of a descriptive phrase - eastbound which were not fun. Its pricey compared to flying too.

Joe and Kev, nice shelving .Joe, you can find some fun tinplate A/C at http://www.tintoyarcade.com/

Laz, sounds like a good day out. I remember studying Jerimiah Johnson in a film class a long time ago. A great flick.

Roy, I would be tempted to put in a desert landscape instead of the flowers

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 65° and raining. the high will be 68° and it looks like it will still be raining. Where was the rain last summer? Showers and isolated thunderstorms with heavy rain at times. Chance of rain near 100% all day and tonight. Anybody wants any bring your buckets!

Very wet today. Glad I don't have any outdoor projects. With the weather the way it is I just might get the chance to clean up the layout a bit. I also have an Accurail DT&I covered hopper that still has those terrible looking dummy couplers on it. What was Accurail thinking when they made those worthless things? That would be like Mary Shelley putting hooks on Frankenstein instead of hands. I'll be lucky to get the coupler pocket covers off without breaking the pins. If they do break I'll have to file the pockets off and put on Kadee #242 gear boxes. Come to think about it that would be an improvement. Another thing is the trucks are held on with those worthless plastic pins that work loose and fall out in some inaccessible area. Maybe I can replace those with a couple of brass screws. That would be another big improvement. The car is missing an endsill and ladders on one end. Nothing I can do about that. Just gonna have to live with it I guess.

[KRM]

Slow day today. The threat is winter is coming latter this week for us Midwesterners. So better get ready DougM, Brutus, SJ and the rest.

Sent wifey back to work today after her 17day Christmas break.

Back to the cat and me. Waiting for some LED replacement lights for my floodlight towers, a Diecast 980 Cat log loader for the sawmill, and last of all the new RMT Beep. Should get something today.

Chief, Good luck moving the Box. It is good to hear those grandsons are back in your life.    I have that same kind of on again off again thing with my son, mostly his wife that has keep us from the three grandkids, 9,6, and 20 months for years at a time. They live 36 miles away and only come out about twice a year. Everything has to be on their terms. (or hers) At least this year we saw then for Christmas.  They grow so fast and you miss so much. Go figure. 

 The daughter is out here all of the time with the youngest grandkid she was the one in the picture from the other day. 

Chuck, So glad to know you are getting back in the saddle in the train room. Keep it up. 

Traindaddy I would have pulled the PVC up too. I am a sucker for wanting to know things I would be better off not knowing.

Laz, loved the story on the hunt, yep smart deer. 

SPRay, good to here your friend is doing better and got some good news. Better call your sister. for you and Jack and his friend.

Don, good luck with the door lock motors hope they are not the rivet in kind. I think your right Roy should do a Garden train with the money he is saving not planting flowers and watering them.

Joe, Those shelves were in our old house and I would not leave them behind so I took them down before we put it on the market so I would have them here. They were custom made for the trains that are on them by a good friend of mine.

Missed the Tardis last night, new sleeping hours so I could make sure wifey got up at 4:30 am today. 

Have a good day everyone,

Kev.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Thunderstorms coming through. I'm outta here! Later!

[Anonymous]

Mornin' Fellas

Chief - The Thunderbolt (which is the phone I have) is an Android phone - very similiar to Droids. I love mine! How in the heckt did you post on the forum from it? I can't that to work on my phone.

Fife - sounds like a good time!

Roy - RT is ribbing me for The Steelers' loss. No biggie - I will have more time to spend with Christina and work on the layout.

Chief - where are the pictures of the big move?

---
Weekend update
---
Got down into the trainroom Saturday and Sunday. Found a section of realigned track was 1/4 inch too low, so I installed some 1/4 inch shims between the plywood and ceiling tiles - now perfect height. Changed the upper level a tad. The girder bridge to truss bridge area left the left side of the girder bridge too close to the track below, so I moved the 1.75 inch track sections from the left side to the right side between the girder bridge and truss bridge. That 1.75 inchs made all the difference. Have some ideas on how to 'finish' off the lower level, but need to some scenery parts to come in at Scenery Express... Started construction on the under girder bridge, and have determined that some additional minor adjustments are in order for another area on the layout, also may need to reduce the width of the plywood subroad bed in same area... have to take a look at how close things are. Once I have this area figured out, and the parts come in at Scenery Express, I may be able to scenic a good portion of the layout!

Once the adjustments are made in the valley, I need to finish the transition track from the main level to second level. Then I can do the scenery on the lower hillside. I need a section of flexible concrete wall to become available from scenery express, or I may just decide to use the cut stone wall... not sure yet... depends on timing. I also need to work on the double track portal and the single track portal for the transition track (two of them actually), once those are built I can work on 'building the hillside'. Thinking about using some cardboard stock I have from boxes to help build the hillside, then coat that with plaster cloth. Once that area is done I'll have to switch to the town side of the valley. Then it will be onto the MOUNTAIN... this is going to be a challenge because I need to build a 20"x20" base for the coal mine, then build the subroadbed for coal train. I'll also need to build a coaling tower... but that is a bit in the future.

---
found out this morning that I have 6 vacation days to carry over from last year and I have to use them by 3/31. My boss is quite flexible so I talked to him about carrying 2 of them through April so I can attend both Thursday and Friday at the York meet! That will leave me with 4 days to take off with TheQ to do a long weekend trip somewhere, and 2 days to get a long weekend to install hardwood floor in the family room.

[ChiefEagles]

Rainy. Errands for Town and Mayors' Assoc.  Then Town Hall for a few letters and etc.

lionroar88

Chief - The Thunderbolt (which is the phone I have) is an Android phone - very similiar to Droids. I love mine! How in the heckt did you post on the forum from it? I can't that to work on my phone.

Chief - where are the pictures of the big move?

Sending you email instructions.

Work on "box" tomorrow due to weather.  Hopeful to still move it to Roseyville Thursday.

Have a great week.  Workers, go to it.  SS due Wed.

Later.

 

[Anonymous]

This is a test of The Chief's tech support request response.

[sir james I]

Good morning

34 with sun

Back from the store. Had to get med for granny so she can have her teeth cleaned. She got sent home Sat. because of her knee operation. Now we know Med first then cleaning. I finished CTT got OGR and TCA to go...S.J.

Following the Chief,, I hope the wind doesn't blow my post away.

[ChiefEagles]

lionroar88

This is a test of The Chief's tech support request response.

Little smarter than you Yanks think I am.

[dwiemer]

Good almost afternoon y'all!  Been away for the weekend as we switched our home phone to wireless and we were supposed to keep the DSL, but phone company messed up.  Now, they have to create a new account and do some switching.  This was all supposed to be handled within two hours on Friday, but when I checked the customer help line, says the package was sent UPS and would be here by eight tonight.  I guess that means that the modem they said would work won't and now I have to put on a new?  Oh well.  

Had a good weekend.  Did some much needed burning as we had quite a pile of brush and boxes.  Did some scenery work on the layout and finishing the elevated line.  Had two great services at church and now we are preparing for some big projects that the pastor will announce next week.  

Brent, the biggest advantage that I have found for the iPad2 over the others would be the number of available apps.  If your needs have the apps available on one of the other tablets, then fine, that would be the way to go....especially since the iPad doesn't have a USB port.  For my purposes, the iPad was the better route.  

Better get busy.  God bless,

Dennis

[Banks]

Hello all,

Clear and 30 degrees here this AM as the mild winter continues.

Busy weekend over.

Laz,  no musket hunting this weekend. Took the grandkids to the open house here   http://theaamr.org/default.aspx   They loved it.

Somebody please tell me how to make that a link. Used to be you pasted the link hit spacebar and enter. Now that won't work

More    for Frank & Jack

Watched Pa Farm Show on PCN. Was disappointed that they ran many infomercials on Saturday and Sunday morning instead of running tapes of the prior days judging. Got 99% of the outdoor decorations down and in the house. Need to sort and put back in the attic.

An interesting development with Dads 254E. There seems to be an intermittent short in one of the 021 switches. Decided to add some sort of overload protection as the #91 rheostat got hotter than he** before I could get it shut off. I'd like to get an automotive thermal breaker. Where should I look?

SS Fund calls

Prayers for those in need

 

[Anonymous]

ChiefEagles

lionroar88:

This is a test of The Chief's tech support request response.

 

Little smarter than you Yanks think I am.

Just a little.

Dennis - The tablet purchase was for TheQ and she really isn't that into tech. I bought it just for the size/convenience and so far she hasn't touched it! I think that will change with time - at least I hope!

[SPMan]

Laz, I told you that you needed a real gun! LOL.  You are approaching the record for most deer seen and not shot.  Happy New Year!

Ray

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Anybody who wants rain, bring your own buckets. We have plenty! It's pouring down here!

[rtraincollector]

lionroar88

Roy - RT is ribbing me for The Steelers' loss. No biggie - I will have more time to spend with Christina and work on the layout.

Actually 88 I was asking a question and stating an comment as I'm a steelers fan also. 1 I didn't see the game but saw where they let 20 points in one quarter thats why I said it wasn't pretty from what I could tell. Didn't mean it as ribbing now I was ready for fife to rib you about it thou.

Evening all not a lot going on today was kinda cranky as was tired as didn't sleep well last night again so will try early to bed tonight again as went at 9 last night. Having problems with my cpap mask and they just gave me a new one as was having problem with last one also but different problem.

Hoe all had a good day it was cloudy and rainy off an on all day. still cloudy now.

[ChiefEagles]

SPMan

Laz, I told you that you needed a real gun! LOL.  You are approaching the record for most deer seen and not shot.  Happy New Year!

Ray

Told him to get rid of that smoke pole and get a real rifle.

[sir james I]

Good evening

37 now high of 43, this is too good, it can't last, but I'll take it. I didn't do much after our outing this morning so I will just wait right here, Banilla at the ready..S.J.

[Buckeye Riveter]

This weekend Mrs. Buckeye and I visited the World's Famous Lehman's Hardware in Kidron, Ohio.   Lehman's is a very unique hardware store.  http://www.lehmans.com/store/catalog?Args=  Kidron is located in Wayne County Ohio, just west of Canton.  With the new steam roundhouse being constructed just south of Wayne County in Holmes County, I'm afraid my favorite fried chicken place, Mrs. Yoder's will have longer lines, so stay away.  (Thankfully, I've never seen grits at Mrs. Yoder's.)

 

[KRM]

Hi Guys,

Pretty good day considering.

On the + side

My new Beep came as well as the diecast 980G Cat forest machine for the layout sawmill and the LED lights for the floodlight towers showed up. Went to Radioshack and got some elect supplies for the accessories on the layout.

On the – side.

As soon as I got in the truck this morning my VWF phenomenon hit me like a ton of bricks as always in my right hand. Took all of the way to Ottawa with my fingers stuffed in the heat duct before it backed off. Every year it is getting worse someday I may need to move to Roseyville or deeper south to control it. Too many years on the Caterpillar assembly line using impact tools I guess.

. Once I got home I had plenty to do so I worked on the layout most of the day.

The other – is the Beep will not go through my 027 reverse S turns without pulling the lead cars front truck off of the track. Need to open up the area so the coupler can swing a little more.  Same issue as reported in the CTT review of 2006.

Have a good night.  to all in need.

 

Kev.