Coffee Pot #3 MARCH 2013 NINE 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 Yanks.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Yesterday when I sent this link to Blueberry all he had to say is, "WOW".  

http://www.railserve.com/youtube_train_videos/

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 63° with 100% humidity. Numerous showers and thunderstorms.


Looks like it's going to be a wet one today. Thunderstorms are expected all day with heavy rain and high wind gusts.

I'm not really sure what I'll be doing today. I finally got to sleep late last night then woke up in the middle of a sugar crash about 3:15 and I've been up ever since. Needless to say I'm tired and don't really feel like doing anything. In fact you could say I feel like crap. I burned up a 5/64" metal cutting drill bit yesterday when I was working on a Mantua gondola so I need to get a replacement for that when I can. I didn't think the metal bottom of those old Mantua cars was that tough. Most plastic cars have a metal plate in them and the bit goes through them like butter. Guess it's time had come. Now you're probably wondering why I'd be using a 5/64" bit as that seems a little big. That's the closest I have to the size screw I use to secure my Kadee 242 coupler boxes. There's nowhere in this area to get 2-56 screws so I use 2x3/8 slotted brass wood screws. It fits and does the job I need it to do and I can get them right in town. If it's too long I can cut off the excess.

It seems that my internet problem has vanished. No more IP dropouts. Looks like it was the modem despite the cable company's assertions that it MUST be something in my cable in the trailer. But when you go through and replace every bit of cable with new and have everything out to the main pole replaced and the problem remains there's only one thing it can be. It looks like I have that bug out of my hair.

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

It is a cloudy 47 degrees. Going up to 68 today with some sunshine.

Today is an easy day. I have a few chores to do and then I can relax and watch the Nascar race. One more week and they televise the spring training ballgames for the Indians. It will be interesting to see how the new Manager and players work.

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Sunday.

Chuck

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning...

Going to be a mix of sun/cloud today with a projected high near 52F.... I'ma going to take advantage of said weather and take a walk outside, instead of inside, at the mall

I've been doing better lately which is a good thing...need to get some cleaning done around the house now...

Spring has a certain little 'spring' to his step this morning..wonder if he got into any Redbull around here...

Have a good day, y'all!!

[Brutus]

Hey guys, had a nice day - met up with my friend John and we had some wings for an early supper, then came over to my house and checked out the progress on the basement and played some video games.  He did show me how to put a new end on a Cat 5e ethernet cable, which is a picky job but not too difficult.  I got caught up on the Walking Dead episodes that were recorded - some big things are happening, can't wait to see the next episode!  Laz - I have been reading the coffee pot  TARDIS is ready and I know where we can get some banilla, so let's go!

[Demay]

Konnichiwa,

It’s a bit more windy today compared to yesterday, but it is still a warm, sunny day.  I took advantage of yesterday’s nice weather to take the older boy and one of his friends over to the baseball field for some hitting and fielding practice.  They both did very well.  We had Sunday school and church this morning.  We may go over to the field again today, but I think I should enjoy a nap first. 

Laz – When I clicked on the renewal link it did not mention anything about a free boxcar.

Kev – Happy Birthday to the wife!

Sayonara,

Joe

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well it's been a long day. I had a rotten nights sleep, only four hours. The burning joints are still with me though it seems to be subsiding. I ripped the truck mounted horn-hooks off eight freight cars today (OK, seven cars and a caboose but who's counting) and replaced them with body mounted Kadee 148's in #242 draft gear boxes. One, a shiny white Bachmann tank car that looks like a refugee from the 80's has a frame that's so warped on one end it took an additional 242 box as a spacer to get the coupler at the proper height. Depending on it's performance I might pull the couplers on that one. The cars are a fair mix Lionel/Revell, AHM/Roco, Bachmann and Mantua. And the Santa Fe caboose is Mantua. Photobucket seems to be down so I can't upload any photos. I'm sure there are some out there hooting and hollering in glee at the thought of me not being able to upload photos but if that's what makes them happy..., so be it. OK, time to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

SPMan

Jeffrey, I leave my computer on most of the day too but sometimes it seems to get constipated and runs out of memory so I have to shut it down to clear things out and start fresh.  I have an old Dell and it is pretty slow.  Need a new one with more horsepower I guess.

You got something eating up memory there. Mine only has 2 gigs of RAM and runs fine all day long. It's not a name brand though. It's what I cal an Elizabeth Taylor (lots of marriages in there) home-built from generic parts.

[ChiefEagles]

Canes beat the NJ Devils.   6 to 3. 

Kev, to the Wifey.  BTW:  David has a "tuner" for his new Dodge Ram diesel.  I heard sowmething beeping away when we were just coming home.  I asked what was that screen on the left corner of his dash and it is beeping.  Told me it was to help performance and fuel mileage.  He didn't seem impressed.  All I know.  

Set your clocks.

Pat, I have a special breaker box with big 240 breaker and a receptical like you use to power a motor home.  Since I have a big service feeding from the house to the equipment shelter, I feed from under the shelter behind the house to the house.  I first throw the main breaker in the house panel, Crank generator, then plug big cable with motor home plug into receptical [twist 4 prong type] and then throw on the special breaker.   Generator runs under equipment shelter so stays dry.  Runs everything but A/C and electric range [wife refuses to get gas].  City water, natural gas heat and water heater.  Only thing is fuel tank only holds enough gasoline for 8 hours.  Wish I had a natural gas one.  Once power comes on, reverse procedure.  Just remember, first thing is to throw main breaker and last thing is to throw back on main breaker.  If you don't, you could "light up" some lineman.  You can buy a hookup for $$$ that does that automaticly.  I am saving the money as do not have to use it very often.  

Tired and off to bed. 

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Cloudy but mild in SE Indiana today.  Spent 4 hours on the road dealing with that which I cannot talk about.  Did make some stops at a LEGO show and saw some pretty cool items.  Shame they stopped making their electric railroad stuff as that seems to attract the most attention.   Also picked up the Lionel and MTH RTR catalogs.  Stopped at a Barnes and Noble and got some movies.  All things considered it was a good day.  Eliot, welcome back.  Chief, not sure I understand what is going on.  Do you have another building project?  Local high school team won regional in basketball.  Will not brag too much as that seems to jinx local teams.TBIL. I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[KRM]

Zero Export

JIM / KEV can you guys enlighten me on the tuner for diesel trucks?

 

 Ryan, all I know is that Brian has a Bully Dog system with a biger Turbo and I am not sure what Jim next door has. I will ask about them.  But I hear a lot of good stuff on the Bully Dog one. http://bigrig.bullydog.com/   I don't have a clue on Gas engine tuners.

[Zero Export]

God evening...

The wife is upset because her 17 year old niece was going to come over with her boyfriend to watch movies.   The wifes brother and sis in law went to the casino so the niece is home alone with her BF.  

I tried to explain (remind)  the the wife what being 17 is all about be she acts like she was some angle at that age.......  HA AHAH   BS

Lets see, when I was 17, option 1: stay home alone with a girl, Option 2, take said girl to aunts house to watch a movie..........

the decision seems pretty clean cut to me........  

Now before all you DADS fall off your computer chairs, remember, you were 17 once too.

Now I am not saying I approve any of this, but its not my kid, and she wasn't required my her parents to be here..... so....

anyway

JIM / KEV can you guys enlighten me on the tuner for diesel trucks?

Ryan

[RedfireS197]

Sturgeon-Phish

Evening all,

Beautiful today, high 50's.  The girls helped me wash the car and van today.  Did some downspout repair and thinking more about a tuner for the truck.  With the upcoming trip it should pay for itself just with fuel savings.

Good night and may God bless

Jim

Jim,

         One bit of advice: stay away from SCT.  I had a hardware failure with the SCT that I had and it turned into a nightmare.  I've had both the Diablosport Trinity and inTune, and they've been great.  I sold the Trinity because I needed the $$, and picked up the inTune a few months ago.  Diablosport stands behind their products, unlike others.

I just came in from using the inTune to reflash the Mustang due to the Ford Racing air intake I just installed.  I can feel a very nice gain in throttle response already.  The only slight negative is that I am required to feed it a minimum of 91 octane now, but I've been doing that anyway.

[Hudson#685]

Pat, I have a small gas generator now that is old and giving me trouble. I bought it in 1983 at a yard sale. Time to give it up. I did the extension cord game. We are looking into converting from oil heat to gas. The gas mains went into the street a few years ago. So, I will do it all ay once on the EZ pay plan the Gas Co is offering.

Spman, Ray, Good luck with those engines.

John

[Hudson#685]

Good Evening!

It was a beautiful day. My son and I finished the modifications on his landscape trailer. He has turned into a good welder. Now it is 35 and Doray and I are relaxing by the fire. Tomorrow my son and I are going to the Greenberg Show in Edison. Rich, maybe we will see you there.

Kev: Glad to hear that Sandra enjoyed her day.

Brent: My neighbor Joe said that if you have a problem he can talk you thru it.

Dennis, Glad that your painting projects on the Honda are coming out great.

Have a Great Night.

John

[KRM]

Hi all,

Good birthday today for Sandra. Daughter came out with the grandson JR. and granddaughter Lexi.

I had to do some work on Katie’s car (like always) but not bad stuff.The kids made a snowman, snowkid and a snow dog in the front yard. Then Lexi and I made Grandma a birthday cake. That was fun.   We had some food and then cake and went to the train room to run some trains but by then the kids were in full blast sugar mode and going nuts running all over the basement screaming and having a blast.    Lexi just loved the new Thomas with the moving eyes and horn.

After they left my son called the woman that raised him and they talked for about a half hour. Now for a tub and some sleep.

 Jim,  Both of my heighbors have tuners in their diesel trucks and they love them. i know the one is a Bully Dog system.

Prayers for those in need and good night.

[SPMan]

Good evening, getting ready to go out for supper (if you're from the South) or dinner otherwise.  Got some positive news from my friend who has the bad order MTH Railking steamer.  He was able to diagnose the problem with advice we got off one of the forums.  He is ordering parts from MTH next week.  It is either a bad harness between the engine and tender or a bad 4 pin connector on the engine.  Wish I had some better news about my broken down Mike's Trash House proto 1 E6 A-B-A locos.  Sent E mail over a week ago.  So far no response.  Not holding my breath.

Chief, that hunting camp you described I guess was a tobacco barn but it sounded like it was much better built than ones I remember.

Jeffrey, I leave my computer on most of the day too but sometimes it seems to get constipated and runs out of memory so I have to shut it down to clear things out and start fresh.  I have an old Dell and it is pretty slow.  Need a new one with more horsepower I guess.

Have to remember to set my clocks ahead tonight.  Son is happy that he will be able to drive home from work in daylight now.

Good night all,

Ray

 

 

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Evening all,

Beautiful today, high 50's.  The girls helped me wash the car and van today.  Did some downspout repair and thinking more about a tuner for the truck.  With the upcoming trip it should pay for itself just with fuel savings.

Good night and may God bless

Jim

[lion88roar]

Thanks John! I actually ordered a repair manual yesterday - actually two, one for my 3series and one for TheQ's 5series. I have a lot of work I need to do on mine and the $80.95 for the manual should be well worth it. TheQ's 5series needs a new windshield washer pump. I can see the tank, but can't figure out how to get to the stupid thing. The quote I have from 3 mechanics is for 3 - 4 hours work $35.00 per hour. If the manual tells me how to do it then it will have paid for itself with this one repair. If I have issues, I'll email you.

Well the new laptop screen arrived today. Only 15 minutes to pop 10 screws, remove the LCD Panel, pull the cord, attach the cord to the new LED screen, reinstall the 10 screws, and power up the unit. Laptop now weights 1/2 lb less, is brighter, clearer, and has a faster response time.

Little sister and niece are in from Pittsburgh for the weekend to visit Christina and Matthew. Christina was sitting on my lap this morning while we were watching TV and kept asking about 'Choo Choo', so I went downstairs and got her remote controlled Thomas set from Christmas and set it up. She is REALLY good at working this set. She sat and ran it for about 30 minutes -  all the while driving TheQ nuts!

[LawsonFarmsRR]

We are about to set a record for days with out power in the 33 years we have been on the farm. 84 hours or 3 and 1/3 days to this point. The power company told me it would be at least until Mon. before power is restored. That will be the sixth day, a new record.

I am so glad I got the generator. I put it off for years.  I waited because I didn't want 5 extension cords running all throughout the house. Then I found out  we could have one cord running from the generator plunged into the electric meter. All outside!

RT , Hudson and any one else thinking generator - Don't wait to long!

Pat

[sir james I]

Roy, the Pot years might stay at 9 if the Chief keeps trying to blow up those beaver dams.

Kevin Happy Birthday to your wife, give her a fun day.

Off to the the club meet soon...Temp right now is 45......S.J.

[Zero Export]

good afternoon every one! great day it is today!

I got up early, went to work did what I had to do, came home cleaned the house, and RAN SomE TRAINS!!

Kev, I just now got up to speed on your neighbors.  I had a set like that as well. didnt work, on the system,trailer was a POS, etc

not to mention they were anoying people.every time I had the saw out he would come running up here to see what I was doing, 

one night the trailer burned down.  no one was hurt, and the other neighbors, us included, felt it was for the best of the hood.  (only three familes back in this nook), even if they never cleaned the burned out trailer up.

Well, the guy some how or another has insurance on it, and managed to go from a 1965 house trailer to a two story modular with full basement.   But he did alot of the work, which would have looked better if he had just not done it at all. 

Then he never paid any of the contractors he did use, and lost it all to sheriff sale and back taxes.   the new family living there are great people. 

so then get this:  the house they lived in before the trailer burnt down, between the trailer burning and the rebuild, his truck caught fire on the mountian, and he managed to get a brand new truck outa that,  then, when they were moving out before the sheriffs sale, that truck burnt up.......  and he hasnt been seen since

WHO INSURES THIS GUY?????

ryan

[wrmcclellan]

Going to be cloudy and some rain next two days. We can use it.

Kev -  to the wife 

Jeffrey - nice fix. Good you can handle that on your own.

Chores today. NASCAR this afternoon.    

[wrmcclellan]

Blueberryhill RR

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

I guess the group has decided that the Forum is 9 years old. Sounds good to me. That's a lot of posts.

Chuck

Chuck, this really wasn't a group decision. The Chief would have to change the title of the post and he never learned how to count past 10 (coincidentally the number of fingers/thumbs on his hands).

[jeffrey-wimberly]

V8Vega

Jeffery I believe you go on the internet several time a day, do you leave the internet on and the screen goes to sleep? Is it bad to leave it on in sleep? Ever since my Internet Explorer died and my tenant set me up with Mozilla Firefox I have several steps to get on the internet and I have learned I have to wait a couple of minutes for each step.

My screen doesn't go to sleep. It's on all the time as I'm on the internet all day most times. I don't think that you'd hurt your screen by leaving it in sleep

[wrmcclellan]

Buckeye Riveter

laz 57

One more question,

Did anyone get a flyer that if you re up your subscription to CTT for 3 years at discount price,  they will send you a Atlas CTT boxcar?  I got flier but can't find it now.

laz57

The flyer I got said I would get one of these:

You must not be on the A list anymore.  

Buckeye, you didn't read all the details on the offers. The one LAZ and I took extended our subscriptions for 3 years until 2017. The one you exercised extended your subscription until 2117. If you had gone for the extension to 2217 they would have painted it for you. LAZ and I will be pretty happy with our boxcars I think.

[SPMan]

SPMan

We had a nice lunch yesterday with all four regulars of our train group plus one vistor who brought over his Railking Hiawatha Hudson to trouble shoot after lunch.  The engine won't run.  We tried some resets and then decided it must be the scrambled chip thing since it is Proto 1.  One of the guys with the chip kit is coming over today and we will try to reset it.  If that doesn't work, wer'e all done.

Well, we tried the chip reset kit but it did not work.  Have spoken to others on the O gauge forum who think the problem is being caused by a bad connection in the 4 pin connector between the engine and tender.  They say that if the engine makes the chug sounds then the board is OK.  Will pass along info to my friend.  Wish I could find an easy fix for my MTH proto 2 E6 units which won't run either.

Ray

[RockIsland52]

fifedog

RockIsland - sorry you got all the snow our forecasters swore we were getting.

Fife........I got hammered!!!!!!!!  About 15" of the heavy stuff plus bad drifting from the sustained high winds.  Ironically, all government businesses and schools were closed while non-government businesses were open.  Guess who pays for that?   

Jack

[Hudson#685]

Brent: Send me all the info you can on the BMW. My neighbor Joe will get all the info on it.

John

[Hudson#685]

Good Morning from a Sunny Bayville, NJ. Snow here was almost nonexistent, compared to Mom's town. I had more snow in the bed of my pickup than on the ground. Ray came over last night and we opened the latest packages and ran some trains. I took apart, cleaned and lubed an operating Milk Car that had slow operation that I just bought. That little guy inside must be Hurcules, for he now throws the milk cans pass the dock!

Kev: Happy Birthday to Sandra!

SJ: Hope you feel better.

Brent: I hope to see my neightbor today, the BMW Tech.

Jeffrey: Nice fix on the computer.

Everyone have a great day!

John