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.

[cnw1995]

ALoha. Sunny and a bit warmer - funny how 45 seems like a heat wave. Bride is up and about today. Will try to keep her from overdoing it so her back goes out again. All this talk about White Castle confirms where I want to go to lunch. .  

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Went to the Suddenlink office and got my new modem. From there I went to Lowe's to get a couple of packs of small brass wood screws (2x3/8 slotted). Spent a whopping $2.76 on those. They're the closest thing to 2/56 screws I can find here and are dirt cheap. Well, upon getting home I opened the box from Suddenlink and found a modem, power cord and LAN cable. Not an instruction sheet in sight! My last modem was USB. It used an A/B USB cable. I looked at the USB port on this new modem, it's an A port meaning I needed an A/A cable. Guess what I don't seem to have a spare of? I had no intention of making a run back to town to get a that I can't afford in the first place. So I looked at the modems LAN port. Hah! There are FOUR of them! Obviously it has a built-in router as well. So I connect the LAN cable to port #1 as that seems the obvious thing to do then connected the other end to my computers LAN port. I pulled up the Network Connections page and attempted to make a new connection. LAN PORT NOT FOUND! I looked at the system monitor and the LAN port is non-op. I checked the driver status. No driver. The LAN port is as dead as my social life! I looked for the CD that came with main board and naturally I can't find it anywhere. It's just an old RTL8102. How hard could it be to write a driver? Time to put those years as a tech and programmer to use. I consulted some of my old books on the program protocols of such drivers then wrote a general LAN driver and assigned it to the LAN port. Restarted the system and went through the process of making a new connection and the LAN port came alive. The modem came up and I was online! That was the first driver program I'd written in years and the first for XP. I put my books away and guess what I found? A USB A/A cable AND the driver CD for my main board! Naturally right when I DON'T need them. This modem is a nice looking thing, festooned with green and blue LED's. Hummm! LED's! That's got me thinking evil thoughts. I better end this.

[laz 57]

As ROY stated, you have until midnite for this sale.  Gee I hope we get the boxcar?

laz57

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

  Thanks ROY about the flyer.  I contacted CTT and they did send me this site so if anybody is interested here it is.

https://secure.kalmbach.com/offer/Default.aspx?c=ID32C

 

I just sign up.

laz57

[Banks]

Hello all,

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick check in today. 't was a cool breezy 32 this AM. 39 is the predicted high. But low 50's for the weekend. and still nice the 1st of the week.

Wasn't early March the anniversary of Navyjack's passing?? RIP

Phish is back but where's 8N been

Fry'n fish again tonight.Hope t get back later.

Altoona Train Show is Sunday 

SS Fund calls

Prayers for those in need

[lion88roar]

Bills paid

Car parts ordered

Repair manuals ordered

next up - figure out how to pay for all this! I still need to get oil, oil filter, cabin filter, and air filter for my car - $422 for rear rotors, pads, sensor, front wheel bearings (got a noise that sounds like either a bad bearing or tires are worn uneven), and spark plugs... funny how oil change, cabin filter replacement, tuneup, and rear brakes ALL come due on my car at the same time... UGH! And I may need new tires... IF YOU'VE GOT SMOKE 'EM BOYS!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Hudson#685

Jeffrey: Let me get this straight. They actually named a town after the "White Castle" hamburger chain.

Don't we wish! White Castle was carved out of the George Wailes Plantation "White Castle". The 1883 Charles H. Dickinson Survey of several parishes of Louisiana shows the "White Castle" Plantation property. Nearby is the plantation property of John H. Randolph called "Nottoway". Here's the Wikipedia page on it.

[rtraincollector]

sir james I

It's 28 with bright sun.

RT your probably right. CTT never offers their subscribers anything. Wow a week of March is already gone and I have little to show for it. I just don't seem to be making any progress cleaning up the train room. I might have to ask granny for help after all wives are experts at everything. A nice little breakfast will do till we go out this afternoon...S.J.

Sj I told you box them all up and give me measurements and weights and I will send you shipping lables and they will come get them from you. And I will store them for you say for about the next 25 years and will keep them nice and safe for you.

[wrmcclellan]

LAZ - I got the flyer in an e-mail on Feb 22. The deal expires tinght at 11:59 pm CST. It said on the boxcar "while quantities last".

I did the deal and got a confirmation on my magazine extension but nothing confirming the boxcar.

Did you try the website?

[Hudson#685]

Good Morning From Snowy Central Jersey! I stayed at Mom's last night. Woke up to 4" of unexpected snow. Still snowing and my snow blower is 55 miles South.

Chuck: Turn the snow cannon off!

Jack: I bet that you are tired of the snow.

Kev: That is a sad story about Eddy the Knife and his family. What a waste of lives.

Jeffrey: Let me get this straight. They actually named a town after the "White Castle" hamburger chain.

Roy: Your generator set up is what we are contemplating. I am considering the air cooled Kohler. We are switching from oil to natural gas soon. The gas mains are in our street now.

Pat: with a 500 gal gasoline tank it makes sense to run on gas.

Doug M.: Speedy recovery for your wife.

Laz: No flier here.

Ryan: The electric and gas co that I worked for tried running the fleet on Compressed Natural Gas in the 90's. Result: We do not do it anymore. No range from the tanks. The Dodge vans from the factory had I believe 3 or 4 tanks underneath and they could not run the day. We installed 2 more behind the safety screen inside the van. we also had bi/fuel Grand Ams and Contours. The venders that made the parts are no longer in business so those vehicles met and early retirement.

Blownout: I hope the med issues work out.

Time to shovel the snow!

John

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

IIABSDISEI with temps in the 40s.  Work is crazy here today as part of the upgrade is not working.  On the phone to people trying to make it work.  Busy day yesterday at work.  Good night at home as we had grilled cheese sandwiches for supper and played some Farkle.  May go to a LEGO Brickworld show this Saturday and have some of the family getting together on Sunday.  All this talk of generators is very informative.  Never really had very long power outage, but I suppose it would be worth looking into.   TBIL.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[sir james I]

It's 28 with bright sun.

RT your probably right. CTT never offers their subscribers anything. Wow a week of March is already gone and I have little to show for it. I just don't seem to be making any progress cleaning up the train room. I might have to ask granny for help after all wives are experts at everything. A nice little breakfast will do till we go out this afternoon...S.J.

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

LAZ - I am not able to answer your question. Most of the "whole house" generators are made to operate on LP and Nat Gas. This seems to do with emissions issues. I assume to run on gas vs LP means a fuel mixture change as LP and Nat Gas BTU content is lower than gasoline.

Cloudy here and 60's today. Rain predicted for Sat/Sun.

Have to travel on business next week. May not be able post much.

Have a great day all!

[KRM]

Sunny and fogy today, Warm air cold snow thing on the North Bluff

Ryan, Good video, I hated fluff back in the days of running the yard.

Laz, Yes they make Tri fuel and dual generators. They cost more but there out there.

http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com/power/tri-fuel-portable-generators.html?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=+tri%20+fuel%20+generators&utm_campaign=fuel+trifuel

http://reviews.homedepot.com/1999/100662830/6000-watt-mean-green-dual-fuel-electric-start-gas-lpg-generator-reviews/reviews.htm

[Prairietype]

Almost there, maybe....

The ALCO project continues to rumble along.

Two things:

1. Forget what I said the other day about my paint mix with Testors Red and Orange.  It is close (very close) but I think comes no closer than a good paint mix for the starter. 

2. This is really my first foray into paint mixing. 

So starting with the basic paint mix,  I began adding aanother pinch here and there of yellow, orange, and green, combining these and testing, and then adding more red, and orange, and yellow drops in varying proportions and test spraying. 

The paint match is reaaly close now, but not quite.  In extremely bright low angle sunlight I can see the difference and you will too.  So I think the mixture needs a few drops of a burnt orange to achieve an exact match.

I need to say (also) that that the intent here is not to produce a perfect show-case lcomotive; this shell when acquired was already beat up with nicks and scratches, a missing pilot apron, and other issues.  I have customized this cab unit with a closed pilot and an extensive touch-up just for fun to see how far this project can go.  I just want to make a sad piece better.

The chassis frame was rough and I have re-blued it, the motor is a rebuild, and I plan to put a 3-position reverse unit in it because the 2-position refuses to function. I have a giant weight from a UP non-magnetraction junk ALCO cab that can be installed on this cab.  I want to get a windshield and headlight for the engine as well,  and make it a reliable runner.

So here are some pictures of its progress. Photo 4 is one in which the paint variation is most apparent.  In most light it can't be discerned.  But I can be an obsessive type and I'll probably keep playing with the mixture until I get it right.

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[Blueberryhill RR]

I joined the Forum in October, 2004.  At that time, I remember it was about 2 years old.  So, if that start day for the Forum is true, it would make the age at ELEVEN ( 11 ).

Chuck

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

We are getting a little bit of sun here this fine morning...

I've been rather busy lately...dang tests...medical appointments...now I also have a few interesting bruises to add to my collection...dang Pic lines

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 39° with 95% humidity. The high will be 70.


 It's looking like it will be a warm but cloudy day and we may have rain this weekend.

 Well yesterday I worked on one of the 70's era FP7's in an attempt to quiet down the motor noise coming from it and it most definitely is the motor making it. It runs good and pulls well. It's quiet enough running by itself but put a load on it and it develops a load hum. This one may become a parts source for others needing repair or it may be fodder for a future project. If I get a wild urge to remotor something it may get picked. I have an Athearn motor from an SD45 that I could shoehorn in. I put an Athearn blue box motor into an Atlas FP7 last year and that loco runs very well now. As I remember I had to cobble together the drive shafts for it from Athearn and Life-Like parts.

 Sometime this morning I'll be taking my modem to the Suddenlink office and exchange it for a new one. Hopefully that'll stop the dropout problems I've been having. That's so irritating to have the IP signal just vanish and have to power down and restart the modem to get it going again.

 My joint pain is still with me, mostly in my arms, ribs, neck and back. It doesn't feel like a pinched nerve. This has a different feel to it, like my joints are on fire. The docs don't seem to know what it is and I don't think they want to know. All they do is throw pills at it and suggest things that don't work. Right now Aleve is my best friend.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Sunny and warming.  Going down east to farms.  Fill feeders and exchange SD cards in cameras.  May do some shooting lanes trimming.

On the Pot age, LAZ would know.  So would Chuck, Buckeye, Spankybird and Big Boy.

Poor Jack.  Good luck as news shows you all are really getting pounded.

Have a good one.  

[Zero Export]

LAZ my genny is Gasoline.  I think, as long as they make it, you can convert ANY gasoline engine to LP.  we had an old junker forklift here, that was LP and the diaphram rotted out, so I just put a single barrel gas carb on it and used a lawn tractor gas tank.  worked well for years.   but thats a fork lift...... so....... I may not be the best person to be answering this.

Your also starting to see alot of Fleet vehicles being converted to propane.

Ryan

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill RR....

It is a sunny 34 degrees. Going up to 48 today with sunshine.

Today is a busy day. Wife is grocery shopping. She is not happy about it. Prices have gone up badly. Milk is almost 5 bucks a gallon.  I have the chores to do. Put groceries away. Have lunch and then, take a nice nap.

Buckeye & LAZ.....  TGIF

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Friday.

Chuck

[rtraincollector]

no wish I did. Guess need to ask bob but I bet it was for model railroader a lot less expensive car

[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

[laz 57]

Hi GUYZ,

  33 here and windy.  BUCKEYEs cowboy hat would have to be stapled to his head here.  WIFE took the train from Harrisburg to Philly today to go to the flower show there with her friend.  I guess its BIG GIRL CHRISTMAS?  Me and MINNIE will hold down the fort.  Got to do the dusting and vacumming today.  Last words before she left was "better get it done", yes PAM we will.

CHIEF, yepper the pot is 9 years old thats when I first started posting here.

ROY and RYAN and others on the generator talk, I've been pondering this for some time and what I heard was the LP generators are easier to get parts and work on, is this true?  And is there a generator that has the option of LP and regular gasoline?  Our LP gas here is at 2.25/gal.  Not bad for us. Thoughts.

CHUCK & BUCKEYE, TGIF!!!!!!

Stay frosty my friends,

laz57

[Zero Export]

Good Morning

Jeff, my doctor gives me a prescription called Naprosyn 500 mg, its basicly a perscription Alieve.  Its super cheap (I  don't have Ins)  And works better than ANY narcotic Pain med I have EVER been perscribed, and your not all goofy on it either, IE you can drive and function as a human being

looks like one of those days at work.  got 12 pallets to load at 8 am, then nothing except for what ever customers wonder in. 

Ryan

[Lehigh Valley 2089]

Good morning. Whoa boy do I feel off today. I'm just not feeling like myself for some reason. Not sick, nothing hurts,.........

[Demay]

Konnichiwa,

The beautiful weather continues so I might as well concede that winter is over for me.  The Friday workday was easy and I left the office early.  I can use the extra time to take care of some schoolwork.  The wife is making homemade pizza for dinner tonight.

Jack – Yes, breakfast for dinner is one of our favorites.  And you can never have too much bacon – we never have leftover bacon.

Sayonara,

Joe

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well my joints have been burning all day. The Aleve I took eased it somewhat but it's finally worn me down. I did some work on one of the FP7's earlier today, trying to work out some of the motor noise. I haven't tested it yet. I also worked on the primer gray FP7 filling in the gaps in the drill holes where the grabs and rails were put in. Modeling clay has so many uses.



Tomorrow I'm going to take my modem to the Suddenlink office in town and exchange it for a new one and see if that puts an end to the problem I'm having with my IP dropping out.

Well, it's time to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Evening all

We avoided all the bad weather.  It is to be sunny and mid 40's Friday.  

When I sold my truck last fall part of the deal was a LP generator.  It is a portable 3500 watt Generaic.  It starts easy and runs good.  We have not had to use it but it is nice that it is available.  I wrote up a procedure on the steps to power up the house, so my bride colud do it if need be.

Looking at another Marx tinplate set.  Oh AC Gilbert, forgive me.

G'nite and may God bless

Jim

[Lehigh Valley 2089]

Good evening. Nothing to report today. Hope to have something for tomorrow.

Night.