Good Morning,STILL RAINING HERE!! Historically we have about 4.5 inches per year, so far this year we are at 27.7 inches!! Getting sogging!! The river channel behind us has been flowing very quickly most of the time, but its doing the job! It is unreal seeing everything so green. But beautiful! The downside of course is houses sliding down hills, and pot holes all over the place. And, we have more to go, more coming next week as well. The government is saying the drought is over for the majority of the state, haven't heard that in years.Its great to be retired through all this!Not much else going on.Stay safe!
Don
Mornin' guys and gals. Sunny and 38 along the Patterson Creek cut-off. Wifey will be headed to B'more to tend to her sister for the next week. Fifey has to fend for hisself. Big fat raccoon was caught on trailcam overnight.
Spent yesterday on landscaping. First at Middle Princess's castle, tearing out bushes and leveling stumps. Then at Fifedom, ripping up juniper for the next section of creeping flox. Had not worked that hard in sometime.
MartyE popped up on YouTube, spotlighting a Lionel GE Demonstrator. Good to see him.
The high school robotics team I mentor hosted a competition here last weekend. I volunteered to be a robot inspector. Fun job. It lets me get a close look at the robots and talk with the kids who built them. It also gave me a field side place to watch the matches, as part of the job is making a quick visual inspection as the robots came on deck for the next match.
After the competition was done, the lead robot inspector encouraged me to inspect at the world championships in Houston next month.
The school fields two teams. One is largely the upperclassmen, and the other is largely the underclassmen. The upperclassmen team ended up in the #1 seated alliance, while the underclassmen ended up on the #2 alliance. They met in the best of 3 final round. Sadly, for the upper class men, they lost 1 match to 2. All 3 matches were close with the winner only winning by a few points.
This same thing happened to the upperclassmen team in the competition we went to a couple weeks back, so the upperclassmen were frustrated and discouraged. We have one more competition in New Orleans this week. We appear to be one of the better teams that will be in attendance, so they still have a chance at winning.
d baker - definitely sounds interesting. I had caught some show awhile ago about Salton, before and after. Keep sharing.
While at the RR museum yesterday. Started researching Cumberland in the early 50's, and discovered the sports car races held at the local airport. All kinds of exotic cars would race on an improvised road course on the runways. Lots of crowds. Lots of footage of these events on YouTube. So for those of you who want planes,trains and automobiles on your layout, try that approach.
Good Morning,Had a couple of very interesting days. A little background, wife has a get together scheduled for the first part of June with 4 high school classmates in Palm Springs. The 3 other girls all live out of state, (Nevada, Florida, Conn.). The girl from Nevada is coordinating all the details, and she rented an AB&B for 4 nights. Kay thought it would be a good idea if we took a drive out there to check out the place a little. Good idea.Also, Chris is working a job site at the Salton Sea, and Borengo Springs, both sites are about 50 miles SE of Palm Springs. (Which is about 100 miles from our place).So off we went, had a pleasant drive to PS, found the AB&B, looked nice enough and in a safe looking area. Then checked out restaurant, shopping and airport locations, all looked rather convient.Then we talked with Chris about meeting up the next morning for jobsite visits, and a brief visit to the Salton Sea area. If your not familiar with the Salton Sea, I think you would find it interesting to do a Google Search. Essentially, it is a large body of water east of San Diego. It is the largest "lake" in California, and rests in a cauldron 280 feet below sea level. The area was formed by "run-off" from the Colorado River. The area was a Very popular recreation area in the 50's - 60's. Then as a result of water shortage, the water was diverted away, and run off from agricultural, began to pollute the area. It is now a "dead" water area. All the amenities have been either destroyed or abandoned. And with nothing feeding the Sea, it is evaporating. Currently the salinity level is over twice what the ocean is.Anyway, the State is drilling a couple of wells in the area to test the aquafer 600 to 800 feet down. (He is the project manager at 2 sites.) Viewing the area was extremely interesting!! They have thousands of hay bales on the shore to divert wind gusts and prevent dust/soil erosion. Visiting the site which is at Salton Sea City, which is all but disserted, was quite interesting!Then went to the other site, Borengo Springs, which is located about 60 miles away and in a state park. That drive was remarkable with all the natural scenery and wild flowers. Borengo Springs would be a great place to stay for a few days.We decided to drive around to the east side of the Sea, and return home. Keep in mind this is all in the desert!Recently a vast Lithium deposit has been discovered in the Salton Sea area, and feasibility studies for mining is being conducted. Chris suggested we go by the geothermic area where some hot mud pits, a mud volcano, and geothermal wells are in operation. Saw that, heh, not much to see. Then went on to "Slab City", and "Bombay Beach". These areas were extremely popular in day. They have been taken over by the Bohemian/Artist community and extremely interesting. The average income is negative.We finally got home that evening, but it sure was eyeopening, and very depressing what happened down there. If you can do a google on Salton Sea, Bombay Beach, and Slab City.Sorry such a long post, thought some of you might enjoy.Have a great day and Stay Safe.
Mornin' guys and gals. Rain and 43 along the Patterson Creek cut-off. FifeMax is sick of the damp weather, as he gets put on a leash, which he detests, to keep his paws mud-free. Heading to Volunteer at the RR museum after while.
Spent a few hours in the train room yesterday planting more trees. Our local Surplus City had a 20% off sale on floral, and I discovered some light green amaranth clusters that yielded 10-12 "trees" per stem. So I was able to forest some bare spots along the back of the layout, as well as "green up" some color saturated areas.
Will shoot some pics for SPF. Hopefully some more folks might contribute to this weekly thread.
smokey1Yes my room is a total mess at the moment
Don't feel bad, the workbench in my Chugger Barn has a "BIOHAZARD!" sign on it! Now that the weather's warming up and I don't have to wait two hours for the heater to warm the place up I've GOT to organize the thing!
Just a further worth on the 402:
I checked my Doyle's guide to pre-war Lionels and according to Doyle (and he was working with TCA collaboration) the only color the 402/402E locomotives were produced in was "Mojave." However the "successor" model (for lack of a better term) the 408E, very similar to the 402, was produced in "Mojave," "Apple Green," "State Brown" and "State Green."
And that's a gorgeous 402 in the photo! Wow!
pennytrainsMy dad was born 67 years before I was so I have almost zero resources figuring out if they're even related to me or not. Which is a pity because some of them are tin.
Lady Firestorm feels your frustration. Her late brother Brian, the erstwhile family historian, left a mass of old family photos he collected, some of them tin like yours, but with NO documentation. She and her sisters have their work cut out for them trying to figure out who's who. If he wasn't dead they'd kill him!
Unfortunately I suspect many are facing what I called "trash can oblivion." What else can they do?
Flintlock76then the REALLY old photos began to surface
Got A LOT of those. My dad was born 67 years before I was so I have almost zero resources figuring out if they're even related to me or not. Which is a pity because some of them are tin. Never had a chance to know his parents and I often wonder if I'm looking at their likenesses with innocent but ignorant eyes.
Same me, different spelling!
I realized I was thinking of the 42 not the 402.
smokey1 - Now that's a classic toy train.
Here is a pic of one of my 402's and my 418 passenger car
Yes my room is a total mess at the moment
Flintlock76 smokey1 Becky, Actually from what I have read that wasn't an actual color for the 402 back then According to Henning's Trains (and they're usually right about these things) the color of the 402 is "Mojave." Here's their color chart for vintage Lionels. https://henningstrains.com/collectorcolor.html However, check the caveat printed vertically.
smokey1
Becky, Actually from what I have read that wasn't an actual color for the 402 back then
According to Henning's Trains (and they're usually right about these things) the color of the 402 is "Mojave." Here's their color chart for vintage Lionels.
https://henningstrains.com/collectorcolor.html
However, check the caveat printed vertically.
According to my book "Standard Catalog of Lionel Trains 1900 - 1942 Mojava was the main color but some examples have been noted/found in mustard, brown, cream, and dark green.
Just not your Apple Green.
smokey1 Becky, Actually from what I have read that wasn't an actual color for the 402 back then
pennytrains I find I'm more grateful to my younger self for taking the time to write someone's name on the back of a photo I took in 1989.
Very wise! I remember a Don Phillips column in (I think) "Railfan & Railroad" about what he called the "Who IS that?" syndrome. The story was his mother had died and he and his brothers and sisters were going through the family photographs. No problems with Mom, Dad, grandparents or uncles and aunts and then the REALLY old photos began to surface. "Who's that?" "I don't know, and who's THAT?" The end result being the "unknowns" were going to be consigned to trash can oblivion as they didn't know what to do otherwise.
Don's REAL point of the article was label your railfan photos with "who-what-when-where" so folks in the future going through your stuff won't go nuts!
Smokey: Apple green?
Wayne: You're not alone! I find I'm more grateful to my younger self for taking the time to write someone's name on the back of a photo I took in 1989. At least sometimes I can finally remember who those people were!
smokey1Needs some work but sure I can get it back to the way it should look, this set was sold originally back in 1923.
Congratulations!
Good Lord, that set's 100 years old! I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact 1923 is 100 years ago. I'm old enough to remember the Civil War Centennial and in my mind 100 years ago means the 1860s!
Morning all
50* going to 77* today.
Plans for today is goto HD get some plants and mirical-grow for wife and 50 bags of Mulch for me to start with, probably will need at least another 50 bags. 50 bags has truck fairly full and HD is only like a 1-2 miles away. I have some weed barrier coming in through Amazon.
I bought prewar standard gauge train set 403E ( no boxes ) from Trainz and it is suppose to be here today. Thats has a 402E ( dual motor electric ) and 418, 419, & 490 Passenger cars. Needs some work but sure I can get it back to the way it should look, this set was sold originally back in 1923.
Mornin' guys and gals. Mostly cloudy and 43 in the Potomac Highlands. I think Wifey wants to go shoppin' today, as the rest of the week is s'posed to be rainy, but warm.
Got my Benji up to the front of the house yesterday. He winters in our downstairs bar, and apparently not bothered by lack of sunlight for months. Then I took down the St. Patty's decor, and strung up the Easter stuff. Looks cute, but Ms Kelly wants more color. Maybe that's why she wants to go shopping...
Did clean and lube the AF camelback, as well as the other goodies I got this past train show. It's a good runner, but has a little "shimmie", and I haven't seen it smoke yet.
Good Evening,
Still high and dry here, we have had an additional 2" of rain todau, Then clearing for 2 days, and probably more! Can't believe this weather.
Ended up spending the day working on taxes, and that didn't turn out too bad, then decided to take a break from that! I almost forgot I had a dental appointment at 5:00 pm, went to that and ended up had a tooth pulled.
OY VEY !!!
Spending a quite evening at home.
Hope you all are doing well, and stay safe!
Mmmmm.... chicken noodle soup! My standard breakfast! . Oh yeah! Nothing like hot soup in the morning!
Mornin' guys and gals. Sunny and 29 along the Patterson Creek cut-off. Grandmom is over at Middle Princess's house watching the 2-yr-old, who apparently gave new meaning to "color tv" with a crayon yesterday...
Did travel to Altoona for the Blair County train show, and our chapter president was nice enough to drive. I paid our admission (as well as lunch at Texas Roadhouse). It was a well attended show, stocked with something for all scales, as well as railroadiana.
I picked up an AF B&O hopper ($5), a Beth Steel gon ($15), a Lionel 6816 flatcar ($8) and Lionel C&O PW 6058 caboose ($16). I had my eye on a 736, but then my eyes caught a custom built AF 4-4-2 camelback, lettered for CNJ, from a sizeable S gauge estate. It had $195 on the sticker, and the vendor approached me and said I could have it for $150. SOLD! I'll share it on a future SPF. It is sweet.
Tom wanted to do some railfanning while we were in Altoona, so we headed over town, then up to Horseshoe Curve. Caught a couple westbounds there, then headed to Gallitzin, then Cresson, where we caught NS 8102 (PRR Heritage unit) on the point of a westbound hopper train. So cool.
Came home to Ms Kelly's side-stickin' homemade chicken noodle soup. Then sat down to watch a really good NASCAR race.
Fifey had a good Sunday.
Good Morning,
We are actually drying out a little! It was up to 75 yesterday, nice to be outside. Heard on the radio we have had twice the amount of rain as Seattle has had this season. Unbelievable, another storm due in Tue/Wed.
Finally finished my lighting project on the layout, I am pleased it looks better than it has in a long time! Ran some trains Fri/Sat, it became obvious that track cleaning is necessary, and servicing of some engines is also required. Will get started on that later this week, need to get the taxes taken care of first.
A belated Birthday wish for Brent!
Fife, glad to hear Daniel is doing well and growing!
Did whatch some Nascar yesterday, the Infinity race was probably the most interesting one I've ever seen. Included lots of drama as well.
Not much else to report on here, everyone doing well, and seems happy. Can't get much better than that!
Take care all and be safe.
Aloha. Happy Sunday. Sun is up but it is only 15 degrees! I sure hope it reaches 40 like it is supposed to do. We celebrated my MiL's 82 bday last night by surprising her with a nice dinner. Today I have to do a reading at church but there is nothing planned for the afternoon. If it gets warmer, I'd love to take the dogs for a walk.
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Mornin' guys and gals. Sunny, windy and chilly along the Patterson Creek cut-off. Not much on the agenda today, but maybe I'll prep something for SPF...
Wife and I took Youngest Princess to Patrick's (Cumberland) yesterday afternoon. Best wings and fried shrimp, and I partook in a green . We were back at Fifedom by 5:30.
Middle Princess had a check up on "Danny". Everything looks good, and he's 1+ lbs already.
Hope Rich and Jenni bring some of those FL temps up the coast with them.
Evening.
Not much going on here, been running what I bought at the recent Piedmont Division NMRA Train Show. (Southern 2730, from a freight set with a Lionel Southern caboose from said set, a Lionel MPC Illinois Central GP9 #8030, and a Lionel Canadian Pacific boxcar)
Happy St Patty's Day, guys and gals. Going out for dinner, but will be home waaayyy before the amateurs get started...
88 -
Lion88Roar (Brent) Happy Birthday
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