New July Coffee Pot. 10 years old For those to visit and chat. Open to all.

[Buckeye Riveter]

Blueberryhill RR

  Not much else new here, but they are spending a BILLION DOLLARS just over the hill from me. 

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a sunny 68 degrees. Going up to 84 today with sunshine.

Today is an easy day. I have a few things to do and then I'll relax and enjoy the weather.  Not much else new here.

Ray..........Congratulations.

Dining car has rolled in with Cheerios for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Saturday.

Chuck

[Buckeye Riveter]

AF53

Good Morning All!

After a long day yesterday my daughter, Carrie, gave birth at 7:49pm to a 9lbs 1oz, 20.5 inches baby boy, Patrick. Mom and dad are doing well.

Other than that it was a boring day.

Later

CONGRATULATIONS !!!!! Mountain Lakes Train store is going to have some new business.  

I had a dream nightmare last night.  I dreamed that the Chief was in California and he had a dump truck.  He backed the truck up to a swimming pool owned by Don Baker and the bed lifted.  Tons of grits were dumped into this beautiful pool. Then the California EPA declared Don's pool a toxic waste site and we had to wear white suits. They put the Chief in cuffs and let him away to Alcatraz.  THE END.

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Still soggy in the Mid-Atlantic region.  Fifepup took me to Hooters yesterday.  He interviewed for a job while there.  He's also selling AVON on the side.

AF53 - Huge CONGRATS on the grandson!  Will he be brought up 2-rail, or 3...?

dbaker - Hope those roof tiles are fastened down tight....

I think it's so cool our Westies are getting together.  Please post lots of pics.  Chief, I'm jealous, but in a good way.

[ChiefEagles]

Back to the palace.  Just laughed my behind off.  Kay just put Don in his place and I agree.   So funny. 

Enjoyed Dougsnotagrump and the visit to the Museum and car show.  The Mexican restaurant was out  standing.

Must admit Shake and Bake is a great taxi driver.

Tired so off to bed.

[Demay]

Konnichiwa,

Today’s high is around 97, so I took care of cutting the grass before 1000.  After that, the two boys and I went for a bike ride around the base.  We took our time and also stopped at a playground so the youngest could stretch his legs.  However, we were out about 90 minutes or so and by the time we were finished we were pretty tired from the heat.  I believe we’ll spend the next few hours indoors.

Brent – I’m sorry about Eddie.  I’ll keep him, his family, and you in my prayers.

8N – Don’t hurt yourself with that elliptical machine.  It would be a shame for it to collect dust due to your pulling something getting it into the house.

Congratulations Ray!

Sayonara,

Joe

[dougdagrump]

Evening All !

Big Conga's to Gramps & Granny and especially Carrie.

After a busy afternoon and evening Chief and Don are on their way back to Cerritos, thankfully the weather is very pleasant so the windows can be open. We stopped at a Mexican Restaurant for supper, those re-fried beans can be troublesome. Spent some time at the museum, the Santa Fe Depot and did a bit of sight-seeing before coming back to Escondido for supper and a visit to Cruising Grand (hoping to walk off some of that meal).

Thursday nites special event went extremely well with the exception of some traction tire issues on my Lionmaster Challenger, a pair of C-420's came thru like troopers for the rest of the evening. Between 5pm and 10 pm I would guess at least 2.5 to 3k visitors.

Time to say goodnite.  

[RockIsland52]

Grampy Ray.....has a nice ring to it!!!  Congratulations!!!  And I am glad Carrie and Patrick are hale and hearty.  You and your family are blessed.  Prayers that they will be home soon.  Let the train buying begin.  ooops, I think it already has!!!   :-)   JACK.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Really Early Morning

Congratulations RAY!! 

Interesting night tonight...played with a few other musos in a pick up band...had a good turn out..might make this one stick, if at all possible ...heeheehee

Well better turn in myself..need the sleep...

[AF53]

Good Morning All!

After a long day yesterday my daughter, Carrie, gave birth at 7:49pm to a 9lbs 1oz, 20.5 inches baby boy, Patrick. Mom and dad are doing well.

Other than that it was a boring day.

Later

[8ntruck]

High 80's and reasonable humidity today.

Work wise, my trip to Spain next month got approved today.  Got to finalize the travel arrangements.

We spent the evening setting up at the depot for another Thomas the Train day kids program tomorrow.  One of the Brio layouts we put together starts at a round house,then leads into three different loops that will always lead back into the roundhouse.  Ought to see some interesting reactions to that one from the kids.

Tomorrow is going to be busy, with the kid's program in the morning, then do more painting in the spare bedroom, then finally lug the new elliptical upstairs and get it assembled.  That thing is some work out machine.  That thing will have given me two workouts even before it is operational!  One workout was getting it from the car into the house, the second will be getting it upstairs.  I sure hope it fits through the door of the room it will be assembled in.  If not, it could be a real job to move in the future. 

About all for now.

[dwiemer]

Good evening everyone. Been a long day...and it isn't over yet. Just as I was getting ready to leave the hospital, I got called about a young patient in bad shape who was on their way to another place...can't really give more details, but the weather is causing problems in getting them where they need to be.

Brent, will ask God to meet Eddie at his need and to bring peace and comfort to him and his family.

glad to hear the folks in California are enjoying some time of trains and hi jinx.  Just don't go lighting fires on the beach!

glad "the trial" is done, just hope the verdict is just and those who would cause problems if the verdict reached does not match their opinion would think better of things.  I have a friend who is a deputy sheriff there and they are all on call because they are ejecting problems.

i must say that the new forum is a much nicer place. Thanks to CTT and the guys who keep it the good natured place it needs to be.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

IIABSDISEI with temps in the 70s again.  Went to a very nice Irish fiddle band show at noon.  Watched "The Princess Bride" with the wife tonight.   The rest of the day......  Good to hear all are enjoying California.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[cnw1995]

Aloha. Just getting to the computer. Another beautiful day for outside work... more painting, more cutting back brush, finished cutting the grass and took the youngest to the beach. Now babysitting a one-year-old so her young mom can get out of the house. I forgot how active the littlest ones can be. Prayers for Eddie, Brent. Nice ride on the TARDIS last night with RT, Brutus and SJ. Working at church this weekend. May take the youngest out to the Illinois Railway Museum afterwards.  Glad to hear about the Chief's trip. Brent, those passenger trains can take a lot of juice.  

[Buckeye Riveter]

SPMan

dbaker48

Captured Don's machine again.  Morning from the CA palace.  Heading south to capture the grumpy old man.  Got photos of me capturing Don, Ray and Dennis.  Had great fun at Rays.  Friend Larry showed up too.  Ray has 90% southern engines and rolling stock.  [Ray is really a spy for us REBs, born Southern and South at heart]  Now to harass my prisoner.

Later, the Big REB. 

PS: Concrete rivers?????  Unbelievable.

Good morning all,  Had a delightful get together with our man from Roseyville.  It was a great pleasure to finally meet the Chief in person.  So much to talk about and so many questions but so little time.  I think his honor was still suffering a little bit from jet lag or something.  His bed time is still set on the East Coast clock.  Weather cooperated enough so that we could run the trains at my layout without roasting.  Yes Chief, I confess.  You caught me spying for the South.  I am still a Southerner at heart.  All of my rolling stock and locomotive road names gave me away.  Glad V8 Dennis could come too so our guest could connect all the names and faces on the West Coast part of the Coffee Pot.  I played a Dixieland Jazz tune for the Chief with a song called "Hey Engineer is this train going South".  My friend Larry who was with us last night was the drummer on the recording.  One of the lyrics said "Hey engineer if this train's going South, for God's sake turn it around".  I told the Chief that, that part was obviously written by a Yankee.  I wanted to play some Ward Kimball stuff too but did not want to overload the Chief who was showing signs of being weary by then.  Hope you guys have a good visit today with Dougnotagrump.  I know you will like their club layout.

My car is suppose to be ready today at the paint shop.  Was hoping to get it yesterday so I could impress Frank with a shiny new car but drove my old wreck back up car 87 Buick instead to meet him and D.Baker for dinner last night.  Frank, I'm still feeling a litlle bummed out by that Chinese food I had earlier before you came.  Probably should have had a bowl of grits for a cure.

Well hope you sunshine boys have a good day in Sandy Eggo.

later,

Ray

 

Any group of words used by the Chief before or after my name should be taken as lies , downright dirty lies. 

[SPMan]

V8Vega

We all had a wonderful time at SP Rays garage layout last night. I Got to meet the Chief and Don Baker, and Ray and a friend of Rays, Larry.  I think most garages are 20 x 20 and Rays is at least that big and his layout fills the whole garage. A very nice layout arranged so he can park numerous full trains and pull different ones out on the main lines. He has mostly scale equipment and it ran quietly and smooth. Ray has a lot of 1:43 autos scattered around his layout I enjoyed looking at. I've just started my collection of cars. It was really nice to see the guys and Ray is a great host. Chief it was great to meet you and I hope you have a wonderful time in California.

  Dennis, thank you for the kind words.  Wish you and I had had more time to talk.  There are still two more guys in my circle that didn't come last night.   Just as well or would have been a little close in there.  P.S.  The garage is 24 X 20.

Ray

[SPMan]

dbaker48

Captured Don's machine again.  Morning from the CA palace.  Heading south to capture the grumpy old man.  Got photos of me capturing Don, Ray and Dennis.  Had great fun at Rays.  Friend Larry showed up too.  Ray has 90% southern engines and rolling stock.  [Ray is really a spy for us REBs, born Southern and South at heart]  Now to harass my prisoner.

Later, the Big REB. 

PS: Concrete rivers?????  Unbelievable.

Good morning all,  Had a delightful get together with our man from Roseyville.  It was a great pleasure to finally meet the Chief in person.  So much to talk about and so many questions but so little time.  I think his honor was still suffering a little bit from jet lag or something.  His bed time is still set on the East Coast clock.  Weather cooperated enough so that we could run the trains at my layout without roasting.  Yes Chief, I confess.  You caught me spying for the South.  I am still a Southerner at heart.  All of my rolling stock and locomotive road names gave me away.  Glad V8 Dennis could come too so our guest could connect all the names and faces on the West Coast part of the Coffee Pot.  I played a Dixieland Jazz tune for the Chief with a song called "Hey Engineer is this train going South".  My friend Larry who was with us last night was the drummer on the recording.  One of the lyrics said "Hey engineer if this train's going South, for God's sake turn it around".  I told the Chief that, that part was obviously written by a Yankee.  I wanted to play some Ward Kimball stuff too but did not want to overload the Chief who was showing signs of being weary by then.  Hope you guys have a good visit today with Dougnotagrump.  I know you will like their club layout.

My car is suppose to be ready today at the paint shop.  Was hoping to get it yesterday so I could impress Frank with a shiny new car but drove my old wreck back up car 87 Buick instead to meet him and D.Baker for dinner last night.  Frank, I'm still feeling a litlle bummed out by that Chinese food I had earlier before you came.  Probably should have had a bowl of grits for a cure.

Well hope you sunshine boys have a good day in Sandy Eggo.

later,

Ray

 

[Banks]

fifedog

88 - for your friend.

More from here

[fifedog]

88 - for your friend.

Okay, now I'm conjuring up images of John Belushi flying towards the Pomona alfalfa fields...

H O L L Y WOOOOOOOD!   

[fifedog]

Why am I getting the mental image of Erik Estrada pulling over Sorrell Booke...?

Buckeye - Had already picked up the WV Trains. Very eerie article on page 6. Thanks.

[blownout cylinder]

lion88roar

Just found out that a guy I grew up with (he is about 6 years younger than me) is dying, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Long story short, he got into alcohol and drugs and obliterated his liver. Not expected to live through the weekend. Tough and sad. Please pray for Eddie and his family - they really need it.

I'll chose to remember him as the young, vibrant, fun, loving, tough kid I used to play football with. Really don't feel like doing much of anything right now.

Will do......

[dbaker48]

Captured Don's machine again.  So he thought, the ruse is working! Morning from the CA palace.  I keep telling him that 4 or more rooms within one building is a house.  His constant referance to a signal room building is novel, apparently the building code in Roseyville is under review. Heading south to capture the grumpy old man.  Got photos of me capturing with Don, Ray and Dennis.  Had great fun at Rays.  Friend Larry showed up too.  Ray has 90% southern engines and rolling stock.  [Ray is really a spy for us REBs, born Southern and South at heart]  I knew that but was waiting for proof. Now to harass my prisoner.  Constant state of confusion is creating false sense of security.

Later, the Big REB. 

PS: Concrete rivers?????  Unbelievable.  Difficulty decifering difference between highways and parking lots.  Trying to convince him a "flow" of traffic is a freeway, he also has the notion of concrete lakes, parking lots.

[lion88roar]

Just found out that a guy I grew up with (he is about 6 years younger than me) is dying, and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Long story short, he got into alcohol and drugs and obliterated his liver. Not expected to live through the weekend. Tough and sad. Please pray for Eddie and his family - they really need it.

I'll chose to remember him as the young, vibrant, fun, loving, tough kid I used to play football with. Really don't feel like doing much of anything right now.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Sunny with a high near 74F today

Got some...ermm...'interesting'...news yesterday.  Doctor appointment on Monday morning for the possibility of getting something like a 'tummy tuck'. ..ermmm...well, due to the huge weight loss I now have some extra baggy skin around the ol' mid-section...it is most bizarre. ...:chuckgrudenface:

Today I'm heading to the LHS to find some Lionel Boxcars for the Xmas layout... 

Roy, James...happened again this morning...last post/blank page...

[sir james I]

We have sun and 64.

Roy same thing here, last post, blank page.

Some things to do this morning. A nice chat with some of the Tardis crew.

S.J.

[lion88roar]

Morning Fellas

I'm beat, tired, exhausted, achy, sore, itchy, stuffed up, and all around miserable. And I am NOT sick! I really, really, really, hate allergies (and I am not allergic to very much). I think I am just not getting enough rest and not enough exercise, and probably not eating well... UGH

Well last night I headed down to the train room to run a few tests. I found that no matter what 'COMMON' post I connect the drops to I get signal from the LCS to all 'variable' posts... that is cool. So I think my plan will work (Roy I will call to confirm, but I would first need your number - will email after I hit 'post' on this).

Here is my plan:
From the 'A' Common post, run a wire to a 'block' and from there run a single wire to each power drop.
For each ZW Output (A, B, C, D), connect a wire that has a U connector on one end and a wire nut on the other, from there feed a wire to each of 9 rotary switches (I bought 12 stop switches years ago but now only need 4 stops, but will use these instead of buying new), A to 1, B to 2, C to 3, D to 4. From the output post of the RS to a lighted toggle switch, from there to a 'block' and run a wire from the block to each drop in the corresponding 'track block'.

I plan to use PC Power Supply for powering lights, and either a PC Power Supply or a Kline transformer I have for powering the accessories.

Once I figure out my power needs and what I will be using to supply that power, I'll start designing the command center.

----
Doug & Dennis - thanks for the input. I have run all of my engines on the layout along with the rolling stock I plan to run behind them. I have been able to run two trains on the upper level off one ZW output. I run combinations of the following trains:

1: 2 powered GP30s, 1 dummy GP30, and over 15 PS1 boxcars (quite impressive)
2: Challenger pulling 10+ coal cars of various weights (some all metal, come plastic)
3. Powered & Dummy E7s pulling 7 18" lighted passenger cars
4. Scale Mikado pulling 7 18" lighted passenger cars

I must say any combination of the above looks really cool. Wish I had about 3 times the space I have now as it would be neat to be able to run the passenger trains a bit faster and be able to see them fully on a long straight section, or even two passing each other on a long straight section... but those are plans for the next house...

The lower level has two independent level tracks, so running long trains down there isn't much of an issue.

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Rain in the Mid-Atlantic region, which is turning the driveway repaving into a weekend event.  Oh, didn't I tell you?  My neighbor and poker buddy researched a contractor to repave his, then the boss's son came over to give me an estimate, and before I knew it, zim-zim-zalabim!  $3400 later, but will help with the sale of fifedom in a year or so.

anjdevil - Perhaps next weekend (Sat 20-Sun 21) at the Nauti-Goose.  Maybe Hudson and you can share a ride?

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a sunny and CLEAR 68 degrees.  Going up to 84 with sunshine.

Today is an easy day. I have a few chores to do and then I will relax and enjoy the nice weather.  Lunch and a nap will be nice. Fish fry for supper from a little place down the road. Great home cooked food.

Dining car is here with Cheerios for breakfast.

Buckeye & LAZ..........  TGIF

Y'all have a great Friday.

Chuck

[Buckeye Riveter]

TGIF

Brent, make sure you take Roy up on his kind offer of assistance.  He assisted me in the selection of the correct electrical components and I have never had even a hiccup compared to many who complain that this doesn't work and this  won't run.  I can run TMCC and conventionals and my accessories are powered perfectly.  I can run five to six locomotives at a time, too.  

[Banks]

Hello all,

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. But.......... I'll be here tomorrow too.

Looks like finally a few days without rain

Terry, (DIL's father) is in Pittsburgh beginning treatments. No word on how it went. Please keep him in you prayers

Seems like the Californians are keeping the Chief in check

Gotta run soooooooo much to do

Prayers for those in need