JANUARY 2017 COFFEE POT Hot coffee with grits for the good Southerners and oatmeal for the Yanks.

[ChiefEagles]

Starting early as most of us old geasers will be snoring by midnight.  You can keep posting December until midnight if that is your wish.

Here is toasting you a happy, safe and prosperous 2017.

God bless you all.

[sir james I]

lol...Chiefs gonna be sawing logs by midnight.

Now that I think on it I might be too..

Happy New Year.

S.J.

[Firelock76]

I won't be making a night of it either.  Lady Firestorm has to work tonight and Ginger our attack Basset doesn't like loud noises, so the new year won't be getting a flintlock salute when the "witching hour" comes.

But have a happy and prosperous New Year everyone!  I'm looking forward to all the new posts and learning the Forum will provide.

[KRM]

 We will be joining ranks with the snore club tonight well before midnight. So, for all of you who will be in party town, be careful out there. Hope everyone has a happy, healthy, prosperous and wonderful New Year!!!      

 

[rtraincollector]

Not sure but probably go to bed before the new year, but wife will come in to wish me a happy new years at midnight. So might stay up knowing I will get woke up anyway. 

[wrmcclellan]

Happy New Years all!

Speak for yourselves. We will be up until 12:01!

[wrmcclellan]

Did I forget to say GMT-4?

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Happy New Year to all!   Spent an enjoyable evening with friends after watching a Premiere League match this afternoon.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[rtraincollector]

May you rest in peace Father Mulcahy You where great actor. 

[dbaker48]

Good Evening All !!!  HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!!  I've had no problem staying up its already the New Year for you all, and I'm wide awake.  Probably wont go to bed for a couple hours yet.  Went to the movie LA-LA-Land.  It was pretty good dragged in a couple of parts.  But Kay really liked it so that is all that matters.

Been kinda wild out here the past couple of days, Knotts issues with the Sky Cabin, (people stuck for 8 or 9 hours.)  36 car pile up on Interstate 5 near the bottom of the "Grapevine", then tonight the "Grapevine" is closed due to snow storm.

That OHIO car caused havoc when it was here, (06 2009). 

 

Going to see what I can find on TV.  Happy New Year!!

Don (GMT-8)

 

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Damp and 42 in the Potomac Valley.  Wound up staying in last night, binge watching House of Cards.  Called Mom as is customary.

Happy New Year!

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good Morning from foggy 37°F Southern Ohio, 

After Mass watched Clemson whack Ohio State then went to bed.  Two of the kids stayed overnight with friends and the oldest came home after being with friends.  My bride still has the crud.  It acts like it's going into bronchitis maybe she'll go to the doctor.  Nurses make lousy patients. 

Don – When I come across the pictures of the car exchange it brings back fond memories. 

Got to go 

May God bless  

Jim 

[Firelock76]

V8Vega, I feel your pain, somewhat.  I've got a friend who lives in New Jersey who's M1 Carbine and Ruger Mini-14 GB have taken up residence here in Virginia for the same reason, at least until things take a turn for the better.

But he's not holding his breath.

[KRM]

Well it is a new year and as with every one, another chance to improve.

 Glad I have some friends here and can get some advice, whether or not I listen,,,well you know. 

Hauled and stacked 3 Gator loads of wood from the wood-shed to the front porch before it rains and the temps fall out later in the week. The yard will be a mess so I figured do it now.

I did order up post war axles and wheels to fix the slop jobs Lionel put in those celebration series blue stripe passenger cars and I also bought a ALCO frame and front truck so I can re-build the one I cannibalized to make the powered A- unit for the four-motor set. So, I am tapped out but will be able to keep working the hobby.

V8 what are the clips for??? I bet you can sell them if you wanted to as long as it is not to someone in CA or New Jersey.

[8ntruck]

Happy New Year, all.

My wife and I have been on a Star Wars marathon this weekend.  Watched I and II Friday night, III on Saturday morning, went and saw Rouge One Saturday afternoon, then watched IV and V last night.  Got through VI this afternoon and will finish up with VII tonight.

Added a ground bar to the breaker box.  Driving that 8' ground rod into the ground with a 3 pound hammer was quite a job.

All for now.

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all and again Happy New Year!

Had a lazy morning with mimosas, waffles, and bacon. 

As it was unusually warm today (65), I broke out the ladder and took the outside decorations down and stowed them in the attic over the garage. Then the wife joined in and we attacked the indoors. Watched football and packed stuff. Got it all done and stowed in the attic over the house just a few minutes ago. Whew!

I have conceived an effective punishment for those incarcerated. They have to repack artificial Christmas trees into their original packing. And then troubleshoot 100 lights strings of Christmas tree lights. They will either go straight or go mad....

[Firelock76]

Ah, Lady Firestorm and I are traditionalists, the Christmas decorations are staying up until Twelfth Night, or January 6th, when according to Christmas lore the Three Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem to pay their respects.

January 6th is a Friday this year, so it works out well to take the lights n' stuff down Saturday.  And isn't it strange the stuff always comes down a lot faster than it goes up?

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Did 3 miles in 45:02 today outside.  Not a bad run.  Worked on a Nighthawks puzzle wife got me for Christmas.  1000 pieces.  Ugh.  Only one available.   RT, I echo your sentiments on William Christopher.  CTT did a piece on him years ago about the time he worked for Lionel in the postwar era.   Amazing how people can touch so many other people's lives.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[submmbob]

Hello all

Back in AZ and back at work. Trip to CO was good, but way too much travel in too short a time. But this is prob the last time family will be in one place (except for me) for the holidays, so I went ahead and went this year.

CO RR Museum was great. They have a nice collection there. Circle track around the property w/ several operating steam locomotives standard and narrow gauge.

Don - I saw 3 of the 7 D&RG Geese! I really like the #6 which is the flatbed work goose. They are the crazyiest combo of auto and rail. Like something I would work on!:)

Kev - that was prob original post-war dust and to remove it would lessen the value...:)

I think Don's mystery train was the prototype for Lionel's Area 51 set...

Was very sad to hear about Carrie Fisher. In addition to working in a crazy industry she was bi-polar, a product of a Hollywood marriage, and had trouble w/ various substances over an extended period. She managed to deal w/ some of her demons in recent years. As one her of co-actors once said, 'it's not the years, it's the mileage'. A troubled, but talented and forthright individual w/ a great sense of humor. May she rest in peace.

On the way to work today to pick up the truck, I walked by the new USS Arizona memorial on campus and decided to look at the display of medallions representing all 1177 crew members who died. I found Gordon Eddy Moulton, Fireman from CA. He was 19 at the time. I had seen the name before and have no idea if there is any relation. The U did a very nice job w/ this. The flagpole which is lit at night is supposed to be like the foremast of the ship from which the original bell was mounted which now hangs in the student union.

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Rain and 42 along the Patterson Creek cut-off.  I will probably be "sent" out for breakfast in a while... 

So Wifey and I were talking about the new layout.  I have already purchased the paint for the walls, "Flyway" blue (SW6794), with my 30% off coupon, and hope to apply it this week.  Got to talking about structures, as I've been spending a great deal of time on da bay trying to find the closest buildings to fit my 1911-1913 time frame.  When I was modelling early winter, there rarely was an issue, but try finding Dept 56, Lemax,etc without snow on the roofs...  And it is hard to "blend" the ceramic structures with plastic offerings from the big manufacturers, even Ameri-town.  She suggested that I stop buying plug-and-pay (pun intended), and build my own.   

Then I came across B.T.S. kits, which is based here in WV.  The further I researched, the more products I found would be perfect for the location and time I'm looking at.  My question is, has anyone here attempted to build one of these laser cut kits, and what was your impression? (Realy didn't want to start a thread because the usual "hi-jacking" will occur.)

[Firelock76]

submmbob's post reminded me of something I haven't thought about in a while.

About ten or so years ago I was in an antiques mall in Pottstown PA.  There was a militaria dealer in said mall, and he had a display case of some interesting Navy artefacts.  Well-lit, and central to the display was what World War Two American sailors used to call a "Donald Duck" hat (which they all HATED, by the way), and on the hats base was a ship's name ribbon.

"USS Arizona."

To say the sight of that hat was heart-stopping was putting it mildly.  Turns out the shop's proprietor had an uncle who served on the ship and had been re-assigned several months before the Pearl Harbor attack.  Among the artefacts were other pieces of ship's memorabilia like coffee cups, cruise books, and the like.

All were prominantly marked  "NOT-FOR-SALE."   Good for him!

[ChiefEagles]

Afternoon all.  Raining yesterday off and on.  Last night and today almost constant.  1.68 inches per my weather station.  50 degrees out.  Rain tomorrow.  Maybe a T'storm.  Hope no thunder.  12 days, snohio.

Where is Buckeye?  Hiding in shame.  Did Ohio State play a football game?  No, they just showed up.  

Tournament of Roses Parade looked chilly in CA.

Firelock, agree with you on Christmas decorations.  Wifey insists get them down.  All packed and stored here as of this AM.  Outside was done Saturday.

Have a great week.  

[KRM]

Wife got in the mood yesterday and started taking down the tree, So I got myself lost till she was done. So now it is all over.

Overcast and cold with light rain. Dull!

Edit:

Good evening,

I have been looking for replacement O42R ,,,O27 profile Lionel remote control switches and it looks like they are going golden since Lionel quiet making them. I have checked a bunch of dealers and most are out of stock and those that are not know they have gold.
I got a heavy bid on E-bay for a pair because I need a right one now and would like to have a left on hand but they look used,,,,,,,crap shoot at best, I all ready have used ones.  Hate to think I will have to buck up for Ross to replace them$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 

[Ole Timer]

thanks for the welome backs guys .....  ..... been shopping for engines .... where's jim ??????????????????

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Good Evening from overcast 47°F Southern Ohio, 

I took down the outside decorations requiring getting on the roof taking advantage of the weather.  The rest will stay up until next Epiphany Sunday and we'll start taking them down then.  I did get some of the mess in the garage cleaned up.   

Ole Timer – Which Jim? 

Chief – My grandson Gabriel is a dye hard Ohio State fan and he was saying that Clemson was a real good team and would be surprised if OSU won.  Seeing the game and the stats, it was real lopsided.  The Alabama Clemson game should be a better game.` 

Roy – Some of the strands of lights were not working and I pitched them.  Between the post Christmas sales of lights it was too cheap not just to replace them.  It struck against my nature to not fix the sets, but I judged I have enough challenges right now. 

Good Night and may God bless 

Jim  

[Buckeye Riveter]

Don Baker... 

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Added some switches to both the standard gauge and O-gauge.  The O-gauge addition looks perfect, the jury is still out on the Standard gauge one.  Back to work tomorrow....ugh.  Will carpool for at least 2 days.  Worked on the puzzle some more.  Long, slow process.  About half the pieces are just black.  Hmmm.  Weather was warm today.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

Long day. Spent the last 2 days dealing with the repartitioning and rebuilding of my home network to work with the ATT Uverse modem for Internet (vs Time Warner - and had to physically move the modem from one room to another). 6 PCs (2 from kids when they visit), 2 iPads, up to 4 iPhones (kids), 4 printers, 1 Blu-Ray, and 1 CCTV/DVR security system in various states of wired or wireless connections. It was quite a challenge to get the ATT modem into a mode to allow external internet access for just the security system without endangering the entire network to invasion due to stupid issues with how ATT Uverse modems work ( or better to say do not follow standard convention for modem/gateway firewalls). Had to add a special router for just the security system. Argh....

Summbob - glad your trip went well.

Chief - how many helpings of black eyed peas have you had? The wife made a pot of them here with bacon. Yum!

Sturg - I toss them also. I keep a few sets just so we can power our older Hallmark animated and lighted ornaments. They will not work with LED strings.

[dbaker48]

Good Evening All,

This has been the loooongest New Year's Day in a long time!  Enjoyed it though.  Didn't do much the past two days, been feeling a little down like Iam getting a cold or something.  Did replace a speaker on my MTH Mikado today, sure sounds better.

Seems like the guy trying to install the layout I delivered is running into issues.  He has experience with DCC on 2 Rail O Gauge, not familiar with DCS and 3 rail.  Spent the better part of an hour on the phone with him this am, but I think that is going to be just the begining.  I suggested to Lloyd that it might be a good idea to try and find someone in the Chicago area that could help him as a consultant.  So will see what happens.

Bob - I'm hoping to get to Colorado possibly this summer, so will see.  Would definetly like to see all the other Geese!  I found an O Scale DRG "Chama" passenger car this weekend, got it for less than $10.  What makes it so special to me, is that the original is at Knotts.  I cleaned it every day!  All of the restrooms were locked and used for storage.  As a result they were never cleaned.  That bothered me given the history of the cars, so I cleaned them, thought I was like Gomer Pyle.  

Got a date with a dentist tomorrow, going to get a partial.  Be glad when that is over. 

You all take care, stay warm and talk with you later.

 

 

[SPMan]

Cold day, for Southern California that is, for the Rose Parade.  I know a couple of guys who drove floats.  They used to be engineers on the SP railroad when I was there.  Rose Bowl game between SC and Penn State was a squeaker with SC winning in the final seconds with a field goal to break a tie.  Had my traditional Southern black eye peas and corn bread yesterday for good luck.  Man, those things will blow your head off.  I can't take it anymore.  Had a breakfast burrito for dinner tonight.  Weather still cool for the week ahead.

Ray