Coffee Pot #4 April 2012 8 years [April 1 is Anniv.] 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.

[anjdevil2]

Hey, Guys....

been absent without permission again....life just gets in the way sometimes

for our bretheren, Dougnotta, Kev's MIL, Blownout and anyone else I missed...

Sorry I missed York this time around.  Maybe October.........Good to hear that our Yorksters had a great time.

Got some stuff off of ChooChoo, a 1060 set complete and a C&O engine with tender for $40 shipped.  I need the parts from the 1060 to restore Dad's 1060, so it was worth it.

Sunny high in th 70's today.  Most of the family on the way to VA to visit my brother who will be on a mission to Afganistan need week.....2 year assignment (NOT deployment).

RT _ nice progress on the EL...looking forwar to your pictures tomorrow!

That's all from Hamilton Square...see ya later....looks like a Harley day after work!

[rtraincollector]

ChiefEagles

Morning.  Sunny and warm.  Rain on the way this evening and tomorrow.

Parade in an hour +.  Have to wave and then speak.

Off to a wedding [Wifey's friend's son].  Was told I had to go.

Yorkies had to have a horrible breakfast.  NO GRITS.

That had to be the best part of the trip

Have a good one. 

[cnw1995]

Aloha. Sunny but coooooold today. There's frost again - what's up with that?  Letting the bride sleep in whilst I take the youngest to his martial arts class. Roy, visiting Lewis U was a college visit - he's going to go there. She was just being super-friendly in an otherwise quiet tour. Dennis, there were some home-schooled families on our tour. There's some interesting ways to assess their work as part of a college application. They are always strong candidates. Dixon is a great little town - Ronald Reagan's home town. Boy, did she rob them blind! Hope they get some back... Joe, candidly, we've home-schooled too because our boys needed the extra focused tutoring. Our daughter breezed through it...  Hope to do some lawn work (and maybe work on the layout). 

Great shots of the Yorkies!    

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Sunny and warm.  Rain on the way this evening and tomorrow.

Parade in an hour +.  Have to wave and then speak.

Off to a wedding [Wifey's friend's son].  Was told I had to go.

Yorkies had to have a horrible breakfast.  NO GRITS.

Have a good one. 

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

  Had a BLAST at YORK yesterday.  Didn't get to much but spent a lot o time BSn.  GREAT BREAKFAST!!!!  TANKS CHARLIE!!! I gotta new place for breakfast at YORK!!!  WOW what a GREAT TIME meeting all DA GUYZ there for the FOTO!!!  Ya know we talked and shot the ---- for an hour.  WOW!!! seemed like minutes.  I think I had my fill of trains for the day.  Got back home at730 and sat outside with WIFE and dog and had a few OL MILs.  SADDEST news out of LIONEL was that they will NOT produce anymore BEER cars.  Some idiot from Pabst made a complaint now NO OLE MIL car.  The Ole MIL and the STROES cars were the next one to come out. 

LAZ CAMP will begin at the end o JUNE.  I need about 2 weeks to dry out.

Stay frosty,

laz57

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

It is cold and rainy. 46 degrees. Going up to 68 today with cloudy skies, later.

Today will be an easy day. My legs ache from the weather. I will do some reading and take it easy. A nap, later, will be good.

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Saturday.

Chuck

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 51° here. Mostly cloudy with an isolated shower or two. The high will be 70° and clearing to partly cloudy.

No plans for today except maybe to go back to bed.

[rtraincollector]

That is a scary looking bunch isn't it. Glad to see they had a good time.

Morning all Time for them yorkers to get going they only have a half of day left to finish all there buying. spend,spend,spend, or as Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rebal would of said chhhaaaarrrrrrgggggggeeeeee!!!!! 

Well now have 3 NYC TMCC GP-9's up and running. guess need to change the number on one as now have two 2380's still need to get coil couplers for 2 of the and install the. Need to find a windshield/glass piece for inside a GP-9 prefer with cut-out for mars light but not required.  Seems for some reason Lionel didn't/doesn't make a replacement piece for that.

Well time to go make some breakfast you all have a good day talk to you all later

[Demay]

Konnichiwa,

The baseball game went better than expected.  I had only 8 of my 10 players there but that was fine since we only put 8 on the field at a time; we don’t use a catcher.  The opposing team had only 7 players and was at about the same skill level as our team.  The kids played well and had fun, and I didn’t have to result to any Coach Buttermaker tactics.  In this week’s coming practices we will work on cutoff throws and covering the bases.

The weather is still pretty gloomy so the rest of our Saturday will be indoors and low-key.  However, I will take the kids out for dinner: McDonald’s or Coco’s Curry House. 

Kev – The tank project turned out nicely.  You have some great scenery skills. 

TTC – Nice shirts!  Brutus – What’s in those bags?

Bob – I can’t wait to see the new ride. 

Dennis – Homeschoolers have made some great strides in the public’s opinion recently.  I suspect homeschooled kids always performed well but the stigma was hard to overcome.  I believe that stigma is fading and it’s hard to refute the data.  I have been extremely impressed with the homeschool children I have met over the past five years or so.  Their academic accomplishments were awesome, and some fine colleges were accepting them. 

Sayonara,

Joe

[dougdagrump]

MichRR714

Here we are

 

Hmmm, is it "The Three Muskateers" or "The 3 Stooges" ?

Whichever it is, it appears that you guys had a good time, maybe one of these days "The West Coast Contingent" can make an en-masse appearance.

Good day at the museum today, even though I was on light duty. In Laz's words, "no pile-ups". Did get a call from my sister tonite, she logged on to the museum's on-line camera to see if I was there then she said she was laughing so hard she was almost crying. Apparently a couple didn't notice the "Video Warning" sign and the guy was rubbing the girls back then grabbed her posterior.

Kev, Prayers for your MIL.

Ray, I've ridden in a few diesels with flat spots, can't imagine what it would be like in big steamer. Probably beat you to death as well as the engine itself.

Peepers getting tired, nite all. 

[dwiemer]

Quick good evening everyone.  Been a busy day, had a case that was supposed to follow a quick case and should have been finished early.  First case had some issues that were a bit more invasive than planned, so my case started later.  As it was, I had to go help out on the first case, so I did a bit of running this morning.  

We are donating the furniture from the spare bedrooms that we used as guest rooms to a family that was burned out of their home.  They lost everything.  I have to get a UHaul tomorrow to bring the items to them.  Wife will load up some of our old dishes and anything else that they may need.

Joe and Doug, I know more colleges are starting to give preference points to home school kids.  University of Georgia and Georgia Tech both do, as do a number of other ones.  I guess the fact that home school kids out perform standard educated children in many studies has helped with this.

Doug, was reading a article in the WSJ about the city administrator in Dixon who embezled millions of dollars to run her horse farm.  Amazing how she got away with it for so long.

Well, I need to get some sleep.  God bless, good night, and may the Lord give traveling mercies to all the Yorkies going home.

Dennis

[ChiefEagles]

Good night.  Poor Brutus.  Got SJ all over himself.  

Sleep tight.

[MichRR714]

Here we are

 

[submmbob]

Hello all

Back on the hill for another week. Hope everyone is having a good time at York. How long does it last anyway?

Kev - prayers for your MIL and congrats on re-retiring. Look at it this way, more time w/ the trains! Nice job on the oil tank! That connector and switch sounds like it will be just the ticket when I get the smoke unit.

Jack - prayers for the PD and the chief's family

RT - can't wait to see some videos of the shelf layout in action!

I would have thought that the shop at Cheyenne would have had the setup to deal w/ #844 wheels. I imagine they once did, but I guess it all disappeared w/ dieselization. At least  they didn't have to limp it all the way home and can maybe continue the trip later.

The #3751 is coming thru northern AZ in May and think it will make a stop in Phoenix, so I will try and go up for that.

Well I picked up the "new" car over the weekend. The carbs need to be sychronized better (that should tell you something about what it is). The couple I bought it from was not mechanically inclined and took it too, of all places, the dealer.  Doubt there are many dealers that have the wherewithall and knowhow to deal w/ carbs any more. Ran fine on the way home though. Don't have any pictures yet, but it has turned a few heads on my street. Maybe I can get a picture my friend took when we were bringing it back.I'll keep you guys in suspense until I get a picture

Bob

Safe travels home for the Yorkies!

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

Another long day of meetings and unfortunately we have to meet tomorrow from 8 -12.

SJ - glad the York meet went well. Sorry I had to miss it. Chief - wish I had been pulling a "Chief" for York this spring.

Ray - continue to get better.

Kev - continued for the MIl and the little one. Great tank!

Doug M - was that a college visit? Were the pithy comments due to not being impressed?

Have a great day tomorrow all!

[sir james I]

Hi guys, well I didn't buy much but it was a fun trip and meeting Brutus and some of the other guys is priceless. There was a group picture taken at 1pm today so we will wait and see who makes the post. Supper tonight was with a group of LOTS members, I didn't count but probably around 30.. I'm full, no banilla tonight. Breakfast was with Banks, Laz, Traindood, John and their Grandsons...S.J.     

[SPMan]

Jack, thank you, I feel much better this afternoon.  Immodiulm works for me too.  It took three pills though to finally bring it under control.  Usually one will do it.

Thanks for the tips on grill cleaning.  I can see where you might not have to clean the flame tamers everytime since they should burn the stuff off.  My grill does not have the self cleaning feature though.  They do not recommend closing it up and putting the heat on high without damage.  Incidentally, I cooked a piece of steak for lunch today because I was afraid to eat anything else.  I cooked it in my broiler/toaster oven and it came out great.  Of course you don't get that open fire flavor and it takes a lot longer to cook in the little electric oven.  However, it beat having to fire up the monster for one piece of meat.

Just heard that they found a place to fix Union Pacific #844 steam engines flat wheels.  It's some little short line near Austin Texas.  They have a drop pit where they can get the driving wheels off the engine.  Then they will be trucked to Strasburg, Pennsylvania to the museum to have the wheels turned and then sent back to Texas to be reinstalled.  What a pain!  I heard it was caused by the diesel behind it continuing to shove it after the emergency brakes were applied and slid the wheels.  In the old days, a lot of guys were fired for getting flat spots on steam engine wheels.

Chief, your reference to fat back brought back some memories.  My grandma used to cook it all the time and boil the salt out first.  Never had bacon much until after WWII due to rationing.  That woman could take a little salt pork and some corn meal and make all kinds of things with it.  Those were the days.

Ray

[rtraincollector]

No just gave warning in-case you did chief. Glad all are having a good day up at York that went.

I thought i had an engine sold but didn't hear back from the guy so no biggie will continue in the transformation of it into tmcc.

did find a thin round washer that would work for my problem with the pick-up but it was to wide to fit so now that washer is square and it firs fine and does the job fine

Working on adding the conventional stuff to the GP-20 but where the electronic E-unit is suppose to go there a cut out in the frame so can't mount it there will figure something out I'm sure  

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. Storms are slamming through here one after the other. Went to my parents place earlier and fixed my mothers evening meal for her then made sure she got to bed OK. After that I was headed home. I had parked my van in the south driveway. From there it's downhill to the house. That also means it's UPHILL from the house to the van. Add to that it was pouring rain when I left. At least I got my hair washed!

See y'all tomorrow.

[ChiefEagles]

Home from the lake house.  Fooled you RT.  You thought I had gone to York.   Mowed the grass and, then, front yard for neighbor [the bone marrow transplant guy].  Insisted I not mow his back yard as he would get his rider out and try.  Did let me spray his back crush and run drive with ground clear.

KEV, missed the Granddaughter thing.  Prayers.  Special prayers for MIL.

Yorkies, enjoy.  Think this is history.  Roy did not make it.  I thought he was pulling a "Chief".

Jack, hope shooter gets his due with the "red guy with pitchforks and horns".  See, they want to get the good guys' hand guns but the bad guys get them anyway.

Had fried fatback [crispy, did soak it for a while so not super salty] and home ripened tomato sandwiches for lunch.  Yes, we are getting ripe tomatoes from the farmers' market.  Grown locally in big greenhouses.   

Big parade tomorrow morning.  Have to smile and wave.  Then do kids' ball opening speach.

Gas has dropped to $3.69 a gal.   Good since NC has the second highest gas tax in the nation. 

Later.

PS: Kev, great fuel tank.  Sending you email.

[cnw1995]

Thanks, Kev. That is the coolest tank project!

[KRM]

RT,

 That would work neat.

 Kev

[rtraincollector]

Kev I'm thinking of using a Atlas 33,000 gl tank car for a fuel storage when I build my pernament layout there like 17" long I have 5 of them so i guess i could spare one

I'll take the trucks off of it and then add some piping going to towers to fuel trains heres a pic of two of them you get an idea of size looking at the caboose behind the

[KRM]

cnw1995

Aloha. Grey day but TGIF. Nice chat with RT last night. Back from an all-day excursion to Lewis University - left at 0-dark-thirty, dropped off the youngest at inLaws, then drove down in the rain, met with Fin. Aid, filled out paperwork, met with Admissions, filled out more paperwork, took a looooooong tour punctuated by my bride's pithy comments, bought the middle boy an overpriced pull-over in the bookstore and then back to get the youngest and roll home. Now catching up at work. Tired, but I like the place for the boy.

Forget about the kids, I want to go to LazCamp!

Kev, prayers for your MiL and the baby. 
Darren, Jonathan Frid was scarrrry. RIP indeed.
Jack, Trainspeak counts as a language, especially Command Controli.  Red Bud is a tiny town by Dixon full of nice regular folks. We've been to a nice B&B there years ago. I'm happy for this couple. 

Long chat with the hospital to set up surgery next Fri to cut out some of  the bad stuff too. So many questions!  

 I am with you Doug, lets do LAZcamp,

 Prayers for you next week, God bless,

 Kev

[KRM]

Hi Guys,

Thanks again for your prayers. MIL is holding her own,  granddaughter is bouncing back.

Moma is at the hospital and I had a little quiet time today after my re-retirement.

Well I am no layout engineer like some out there but I am cheap and looking at fuel storage tanks that start at $69.99 I took fifedog’s advice of youcandoit.    So here is my $11.49 diesel storage tank for the K-line fueling station. Just some $3.49 decals and some 2" PVC and paint I already had. Kind of fun.

Hope you like it. After all they are Toy Trains.

 Will try to hop on tonight but will see where I am when Sandra gets back.

Kev

[Demay]

Ohayō,

We had a busy Friday here and I did not have a moment to post.  The two older kids had a youth event at the church last night which gave the youngest one and me some free time to go grocery shopping.  The wife had stocked up on most of the groceries before she left so we just needed to grab some essentials: cookies, ice cream, and root beer.  Oh we got some bananas and milk too.  Earlier in the day I had to go out to the fire range for a quick M11 qualification.  Unfortunately I could not bring the kids so I had to have a neighbor watch them for about two hours. 

We should have the first baseball game in about two hours.  It was supposed to rain overnight but it looks like it held off.  It is very cloudy and chilly right now.  I hope the kids dress appropriately.

Fife – Maybe we’ll try Laz’s school with the youngest; perhaps after the wife is wore out from the older two she will consider it.  Plus the youngest is best built to be a caddy. 

Jack – Yes, my kids are very smart.  They get it all from the wife, and if I kept out of their educational development they would probably be in college by now. 

V8 – I have not had that forum issue.  I used the links above the discussion’s pages to get back to the forum’s main page.

Kev – I’m glad the tube procedure went well for your granddaughter.  I hope the MIL is alright.  Congratulations on retiring.

SJ and other York Attendees – As Jeffrey said, we expect to see photos of your treasures. 

Sayonara,

Joe

[rtraincollector]

evening all ran into a slight snag witht he conversion I need a plastic washer but as it is the screw just fits to hold the pick up on. ight try my liquid tape and see if its good enough but not sure it will be as it probably be to thin.

Will find something

Doug I'm with you forget the kids i'm ready for laz camp myself

[RockIsland52]

Ray.........hope you are feeling better and are drinking a lot of beer water to rehydrate yourself!!!!!  One dose of Immodium works for me!!!!!  

Re the grill cleaning.............my grill is like yours.  I just keep the grates really clean by wire brushing them 1 -2 minutes as soon as I take the last of the food off the grill, when the grates are still hot.  I empty the grease catch tray when needed (perhaps once a month, or after a big affair).  I let the flame covers/deflectors just burn off the grease the next time I fire up the grill and am warming it up.  Maybe three times a season I bother with scraping the inside walls of the grill and pushing the gunk out the hole in the bottom of the grill and into the catch tray. 

I do use the "clean" feature (only when required) which essentially just turning all of the burners on full high, closing the lid, and letting the debris and grease incinerate.  Maybe every fourth use, just to keep up with things..

No one has died of food poisoning yet........  And there is no coucours de elegance award for a perfectly spotless grill.

Jack.

[cnw1995]

Aloha. Grey day but TGIF. Nice chat with RT last night. Back from an all-day excursion to Lewis University - left at 0-dark-thirty, dropped off the youngest at inLaws, then drove down in the rain, met with Fin. Aid, filled out paperwork, met with Admissions, filled out more paperwork, took a looooooong tour punctuated by my bride's pithy comments, bought the middle boy an overpriced pull-over in the bookstore and then back to get the youngest and roll home. Now catching up at work. Tired, but I like the place for the boy.

Forget about the kids, I want to go to LazCamp!

Kev, prayers for your MiL and the baby. 
Darren, Jonathan Frid was scarrrry. RIP indeed.
Jack, Trainspeak counts as a language, especially Command Controli.  Red Bud is a tiny town by Dixon full of nice regular folks. We've been to a nice B&B there years ago. I'm happy for this couple. 

Long chat with the hospital to set up surgery next Fri to cut out some of  the bad stuff too. So many questions!  

[SPMan]

Good morning all.

Been sick as a dog last night and this morning.  Running from both ends!  I think it was the food we had eating out last night.  I had a deadly (to me) combination of chicken tortillo soup and "Hawaiian Catfish".  It was by far the worst fish I ever had in my life.  It was loaded with black pepper, teryaki sauce and pinapple.  Soup would have been a good prep for a colonoscopy.  Anyway, trying to get back to normal today with meds for my problems.  I think I just had the perfect storm yesterday.  I was looking at a list of things to avoid for G.I. problems and I think I had 10 out of 16 no no's yesterday.

Jack, prayers for your police chief and family Rotten shame.  Re oven cleaning, at least the one in the house is a self cleaning oven.  The new BBQ is not one of those lava rock things where the drippings fall into the fire and burn up.  It falls on a metal catch tray at the bottom and funnels into a grease trap. So if you clean each time you would have to clean cooking surface grids, flame tamers, catch tray and grease trap.  On my old cooker with lava rock all I had to do was clean the cooking surface.  I forgot to coat all the surfaces on the new one with something to prevent sticking which I will do next time and should make clean up easier.  Also got some non toxic environmentaly friendly grill cleaner and a good brush for cooking grids.

Just got a call from my dental hygentist to remind me of appointment Monday.  Checked calendar and we have a dentist, doctor and termite inspector appointment all on the same day near the same time.  Don't know how that happened.  Obviously, have to reschedule something.

Train meet tomorrow if I'm well enough at TCA Western.  I don't think more than one or two will go to York from our whole division.

You Pennsylvania guys are lucky to live so close.

Have fun,

Ray