MARCH 2017 COFFEE POT Hot coffee with grits for the good Southerners and oatmeal for the Yanks. March on towards 13 years in April.

[phillyreading]

Good evening,

Just because I am in south Florida right now doesn't mean that I have not dealt with snow in the past. I grew up in Stratford CT for around 10 years as a child in the 1960's and used to play in the snow outside in the winter. Also lived in Reading PA for about 8 years before going into the US Army for 6 & a half years. Was stationed in Fulda West Germany for 40 months so I learned all about cold weather. One summer in Fulda W. Germany the high for the whole summer was 75 degrees.

Lee Fritz

[wrmcclellan]

Evening all!

Some light rain last night and this morning. Perfect as we had just put fertilizer down. Frost tonight. 80's by the weekend. Hope no one badly affected by all the Snowhizo.

NASCAR race was (another) pretty boring until the end and then K Busch going after Logano (who was not touched) and getting himself roughed up was pretty humorous. Busch should be mad at himself for that wreck. Good thing he only took himself out.

Fife - let's hope it works out.

Ray - glad you are feeling up to spending time with us. Prayers for healing.

Dennis - that was a good question. Are you collecting certain brands and/or styles?

 

[SPMan]

Thanks Roy, I am trying to get back in circulation now.

Ray

[dbaker48]

Good Evening All,

Ray,  Glad to see you getting around.  You have lots of friends so I hope all the adustments go as easily as possible.

I finished putting all the switch mods, on the Dr's layout, not starting various configuration changes and new accessory additions he wants.  Probably a weeks worth of work.  They had some family issues so I wont be back there until next Monday.

NOW, I get to work on getting my train room back together.  Haven't finished with the shelving yet.  I need to get the track secured on the shelves, then start going through everything to fully see the scope of the damage.

This past weekend we went to Carlsbad to get some Callifornia Poppys for Kay, (her birthday).  Carlsbad is between LA and San Diego, it took us almost 3 hours to drive 60 miles!  So 15 minutes getting the flowers and started back, but decided to take the inland route (15 thru Escondido area, where Doug dg lives)/,  It was a nice drive, all the hills were very green and lots of Poppys blooming.  It looked as if there were gold veinx through the area.  We went by one canyon and it was orange with flowers, and there must have been 100+ people walking amoungst the flowers.  A ton of cars parked on the access road.  Then the traffic on the other side of the freeway was bumper to bumper, the people in the cars, watching the people on the hill looking at the flowers.  They managed to create a solid traffic jam for a good 20 miles, SOLID!  I've never seen such a mess from Lake Elsinore all the way to the 91 freeway!

Sure hope you guys in the midwest and northeast don't get battered by the blizzard rolling through there!  Stay inside and play with the trains.

So far the Flamingos have not taken off anywhere, I think we may end up with albino Flamingos before the summer is out.  They may fade in the sunlight.

Take care all, and thoughts and prayers for all you with the bad weather.

[cnw1995]

Aloha. Happy Tuesday. Lots of 'lake effect' snow in downtown Chicago today. It's like one of those blizzards Laura Ingalls Wilder talked about in her Little House books... pitch dark, couldn't see 5 feet,  howling winds. All the switches in the throat to the station were on fire as they use the old fashioned flaming natural gas heaters instead of the electric ones when the weather is like this. They look cool all on fire in the swirling snow. It was quite the adventure walking to work but it'll all go away soon.

DonB, I looked up some photos of those flowers. Sure looked pretty. 
Ray, praying for you!
Buckeye, meant to thank you for posting that great Monon photo in Boiler-town.

[sir james I]

Sun and 21 degrees this morning. About 2/3 inches of snow on the ground from yesterday.

The detroit3railers March meet video is now posted on OGR. You will want to see this one. All 143 cars winding through the layout.

S.J.

[rtraincollector]

Great video there SJ. You guys had two long trains there. 

Morning all not much planned for today. 

Hope all have a good day talk to you all later

[KRM]

When I went to log in I got a warning from Firefox that this site is insecure.

Wonderful.

https://support.mozilla.org/t5/Protect-your-privacy/Insecure-password-warning-in-Firefox/ta-p/27861

 

 

Dennis, These Aurora G+ cars had the magnets in the cars above these metal strips and were the fastest when I had mine.

 

Here is a link to some more information on them.

http://www.hoslotcarracing.com/GPlus.html

 

 

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

Sunny and pretty cool. Low 60's today and predicting a rise through the week and 80's all next week?

Dennis - cool!

SJ -

Doug M - the switch fires would be a cool sight!

 

[fifedog]

Evenin' boys.  Lingering flurries and 31 in the Potomac Highlands.  Got 6-8 inches of snohizo, and hung out with the neighbors clearing our private road down to bare pavement.  Back to work tomorrow, bright and early.

[dougdagrump]

G'day All !

Back from the CHF Support group meeting. After the meeting the BetterHalf and I dropped off a bunch of goodies the Ladies Aux put together for the kiddos at Rady's Children's Hospital, then it was on to the vampires. We both had to have blood drawn for Dr. appointments this week and next.

Don, Did you guys go to the flower fields in Carlsbad ? That place is amazing this year, the rain seems to have delayed the earlier blooms and everything bloomed at almost the same time. Have a peek: http://www.theflowerfields.com/ 

Sunny and 91* yesterday and today with a slight cooling tomorrow thru the weekend. 

Later all.

[ChiefEagles]

PC been O/A since Friday night late.  All fixed now.

Sending you bad Yankee some snow and wind for the cold temps you are sending us.

KEV, has always been insecure with some of the Yanks on here.

Later. 

[dbaker48]

Good Afternoon,

Doug, Yep that was the specific Armstrong store we went to.  However the Flower Fields didn't have anything in bloom, but that was OK.  We didn't have time to go through them anyway.  Got the poppys and came home.

Had today off, so Kay and I worked in the front flower beds.  (Was a little bit warm though, 85 deg.)  Been thinking about all the weather everyone is suffering thru on the east coast, wish we could help.  The best thing we could come up with was to go to DQ and have a Blizzard, so that's what we did.

So for SURE will work in the train room tomorrow, assuming its not too hot.

Take care all, and dress warm.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Very quiet day at work Monday.  Was busy doing things Monday night and did not post.  Busy day Tuesday, but went well.  Wife had to make emergency pickup of grandson tonight (all is ok, just too long a story for right now).   Quote for sewer work was way too high so may have to look elsewhere or do some negotiatiing.   We got two prices for two different amounts of work and they do not make sense.  Tire sensor is lit up on Encore but it appears all 4 tires are reading the same.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[ChiefEagles]

Yankees always want to share their bad stuff with us good and warm hearted Southerners.  26 degrees this late.  Whind chills are horrible.  Now you all sleep in.

Got a luncheon today.  Is is an anual meeting of an organization I am a member of.  Raises funds for fallen First Responders' survivors.  Gives them immediate funds to help with expenses until insurance kicks in. 

Hope all are warm and safe.

Later.

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

Low 40's this morning, cloudy, 60's for high today.

Chief - nice cause to support.

Mike C - sewer issues are so varied. Only way to know the truth is to witness them video scoping the line.

Don - too bad about the traffic but sounds like the scenery took the sting out of it.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Semi-quiet day at work.  Some issues appeared and then went away.  Very cold and miserable on walk today.  Played some games with grandson tonight.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[fifedog]

Evenin' boys.  Just plain cold.  Spent today in the shop with 1309, polishing here, grinding there.  I was covered from head-to-toe in steam engine boogers, and Wifey made me shed down in the garage.  Did get my FRA approved threads today too, so now I'm official lookin'.

[rtraincollector]

Fifey

[wrmcclellan]

Morning all!

Cloudy, 60, maybe some drizzle, to hit 70 today.

Fife - so now you are a well dressed "wiper" 

Pretty quiet here - must be digging out from the storm.

[fifedog]

Roy - If you consider dark blue with chartreuse stripes fashionable, yes.

Today was body and fender work on WM caboose 1813.

[KRM]

Not much going on but did make a device for tracing out my plywood for the elevated loop platform. Just lay the track as I want it on the plywood push this device over the track and cut the plywood. I think it will work. 

 

I added the fast angle wheels sets to it and it works great. Tracks very well down the middle of the rails.  So now I need more wood. Will be using 5 ply 1/2" plywood for the platform.  So when I go to pick up the kids on Saturday I will get a few more sheets. Also some square stock to make the supports for the section of straight I want to do on top of the MOW bump run.

[wrmcclellan]

Kev - pretty neat!

[KRM]

Thanks Roy, I made some changes and did an edit to the post.

[cheapclassics]

Good evening all,

Great idea, KRM!  I like it!  Semi-quiet day at work.  Pain two will be gone tomorrow, but freezing rain is in early morning forecast so I may stay home.  Nice evening at home playing cards with wife.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[8ntruck]

It has been a while since I've posted.  Work has been kind of nuts lately.

The high school robotics team I've been working with went to their first competition last week.  Ended up seated 3rd going into the quarter finals and made it all the way to the final match.  Ended up as the runner up. They did win a wildcard qualification to the world meet later this spring in St. Louis.  I thought they did well for a first outing with a robot that was not completely de-bugged.

They are going to compete in Kansas City this weekend.  My wife and I will go to spectate on Saturday.

Not much on the train front.  Going to have to get going on the G scale layout at the KATY museum in the very near future.

My wife got a job offer from the city library last week.  Part time, not many hours per week. She accepted.  It has worked out so far.

About all for now.

[Banks]

TGIF! !!!!!!!

[rtraincollector]

HAPPY ST. PACTRICK'S

DAY TO YE ALL. 

Hope you all have a good day. No real plans for today. 

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  41 degrees.  National Walk to School Day.  Up early and walked with kids.  Got 5 hours sleep.

Busy time Town wise. Big meeting with parents and school board member last night at Town Hall. On school security and etc. Great success. She just needs support and more staff.  Largest HS in NC.  Under staffed.  Parents brought that out. 

Big fire in downtown Raleigh. A biggie. Destroyed at big apartment complex being built and so hot damage buildings next to it. Big crane in the middle melted and fell.  Lots of power and communications out.

Someone told me it is Brent's birthday.

OH, backed up to read past post.  Will not let me go back to page 6.

Later

 

[KRM]

HAPPY ST. PACTRICK'S DAY!!!  

You guys have to much Irish last night?? If not there is always tonight. 

 37 Heading to 50 and dark gloomy with light rain.

 

Brent, Happy Birthday!

Chief, you got to go to the first then back to the page 6. Yeah how do you say junk software??