CLOSED////////The Coffee Pot is still on and over 3 years. Here we gather as friends with trains.

[Anonymous]

PS: almsot forgot.  Brent, you doing carpenter work and repairs is like Tool Time on TV.

Chief,
When I was talking with my dear ol' dad last night and I told him about this he said, 'You must be Tim Allen's son, not mine!'  LOL!

[Nick12DMC]

Hi all,

Zeke, your in our thoughts bud. Get well soon.

Further progress on Gararge and Gamesroom has gone pretty well considering the weather at the moment. Here's a couple of pics. 

The guys are just starting the cotswold stone which will cover the garden end and the frontage.

Hope you all have a good day

Nick

[ChiefEagles]

Dennis!!!  Dennis!!!!  Where is a Dr. when you need one.  Zekie needs a heart Dr.!!!!!!  Prayers for Zeke. 

Morning all.  Guy that lives down the street and his wife owns the property next to me [rental house where widow lives and I mow plus 20 acre field behind house] died yesterday.  Late 70's or early 80's.  We use to work together on keeping his property up.  Great gentleman.

Tom P, thanks for the advice.  He did not send the infrared remote with all the track, engine, cars and accessories.  I knew it had to "hit" something and did not see a "receiver" in the transformer.

Not as hot and humid.  Been busy watering wife's flowers [again and again].  Folks flooding all over the country and we can't get a drop.  Next we will get lots and complain its too wet.  Guess the good Lord gets confused with our requests.

Man, the new used KW is great.  Retired the oldest one I have for spare.  This one is powering accessories and constant power for switches.  Speaking of switches, got another MTH switch acting up.  Got to figure this one out. 

Have a great day.

PS: almsot forgot.  Brent, you doing carpenter work and repairs is like Tool Time on TV.

[anjdevil2]

Thanks for the update Jenny....Get better soon Zeke meister...!

Its been raining here off and on for 3 days, so no more "well, we really need the rain.."  comment, thanks.  I think we've had enough for this week.  Last day at work this week, no more until the 9th.  Stared at my layout last night.....between moving into an apartment and cleaning up stuff I haven't had time this week.  (Hot Wheels anyone???)

Bought a whole bunch of (Frank53..you listening?) tubular track from e-Bay + buildings and spent about $100 for the lot (total).  1 bunch was all brandy new stuff. about 51 curves and 4 30".  The other stuff was lightly used and has some light tarnish(?).  I may reconfigure my layout from the fastrack to to tubular, just because of the noise, still waiting for my O-42 curves to arrive, to replace the fastrack curves.  

Tomorrow going downtown for fireworks over the river,  should be a "blast" (sorry) 

Be safe and "sane"

Best Italian cook in Jax(unpaid)...Rich 

[cnw1995]

Good morning from a sunny Chicago where Metra and the UP / BNSF are shuffling commuter trains for the big fireworks display tonight - that means my inbound was the only early one running and was jammed -I'm happy I got on near the end of the line. Have to figure out what's running to get home too. But it should be slow today and that means I'll get work done.

I spent the evening moving iTunes from one computer to another - it looked like Mission Control on the dining room table.

Jenny, thanks for letting us know.  Hope you are now able to rest, Zeke.

Prairie, I hear you - that's one of the reasons I love the turn-of-the-last-century trolleys - they were the mode of transportation in a much slower and gentler era. I can't believe how many traction lines criss-crossed everywhere. And it makes for easier layout building... no autos, poor roads, pretty rural settings.

Nothing like tax payment time... we pay in two installments - in mid-June and early Sept. Wonder why it keeps going up and never down... Manys the time I've forgotten and had to run a check over to the County Bldg. before five. 

[sir james I]

Morning all. All that talk about working and so many ill I think I will just go back to bed and stay till tomorrow. Lots of stuff going on in the coffee room,must be summer. All I have is an HP laptop and it serves me well but I have no add ons. Can't fold staple copy but it's entertainment. I'm waiting for the blowout Target set, don't have any of those small steamers and want to see what they will do. I have repaired them but only ran on test track. Going to 80 today, scattered storms expected for the 4th. Later, Mi Jim

[Prairietype]

What an evening. I sometimes think I'm going a little crazy when I succumb to temptation. On Sunday I passed by this guy selling some HO and Weaver at the City Market. Some junk, some ok stuff. He mentioned that this stuff came from a guy he knew who died, and that there was some old Lionel among the stuff, among those a steam locomotive that had a "crescent moon" on it. I asked if it was green and he said yes. So I went to his house last night, knowing what I was pbably going to see and he had two 8702's that he claimed were "10 years old" and perfect-not quite but I bought them, and a 2037 w/out tender and a 681 w/out tender. The 681 doesn't run, but I am not concerned. 2037 runs fine as do the to Crescents. The prices were ultimately right, but I now have four more locomotives, and it is not my desire to keep acquiring. I'm also lousy at selling, actually I've never sold anything, but that day may come.

So now I have more to clean and repair, and need to find appropriate tenders for the 2037 and 681. It is actually the 2037 that I like the best, because I'm actually a post-war purist (I think). I do have the Chicago and Alton set, and the Union Pacific Overland passenger set as well. The UP set is nearly mint condition, because I only take the locomotives out and tes run them to warm up and keep operational every couple of years.

OK, enough of that, after I left this guy's house I went home by way of Union Station in Kansas City and took a picture of UP 844 & the consist of about 7 cars it is pulling. 

I went to sleep last night dreaming of ways to operate these locomotives on my layout.

That was Monday night, full of trains etc.

I have to tell you about Saturday, and my expedition out into the Flint Hills of Kansas to find the destination spot for my layout, which I have now determined to be a not fictitious spot called Diamond Springs.  I'll construct layout scenery with ceiling tiles and fabricate the cut and grade to look like that area. I stopped by a few Santa Fe train stations and took pictures of one that was brick and "mission" style, and another "county seat" type station. Saw the Santa Fe Hudson in Topeka, and two Prairie type locomotives in Lawrence, Kansas and Emporia, Kansas. I have now seen three Prairie types in the last month (the third in Coffeyville, Kansas). I don't know why I like that type of steamer so much, must be something about the times in which they appeared on the prairies, just before the automobile, the airplane and everything else; when railroads still connected most small towns and the unglamorous short hall passenger train was the principal way of traveling between towns in America. 

Prairie Type

[laz 57]

Hi GIZ,

  48 and could see my breath this morning.  To get to 78 today.  Fireworks tonite on the Susquehanna River in beautiful MILLERSBURG, Pa.  Can't wait.

  laz CAMP at 0530 today got a nice 6 miler in.  Saw 5 deer at creek this morn, 2 buck a 6pt and 8 point in velvet,  looks like they will be a couple of beauts.  2 does, and a nice fawn with spots on yet.  These things really make getting up early worth it.

  SWANSTONE is up in bathroon.  Today I will only hook up vanity.  I have to haul old shrubbery from HS principals house.  Brownie points.

  ZEKE prayers to ya BUD.

  All have a good one.

  HAPPY 4th.

laz57

[kpolak]

LOL!!!!  The wife wanted to use the Shop-Vac to suck up the water... I told her she can't use it for that because there is saw dust in side it and it will cause a mold hazzard.  She just stared at me.

Ah I know that look well...We just finished (1-1/2 years ago) a whole house remodel.  She kept the books, and made shure I was aware of how many trips I took each day.

We won'h be building or remodelling any time (ever) soon.

Kurt

[Anonymous]

Brent.  Hopefully you finished the project with only one trip to Lowe's.  That sounds like a 3 or 4 tripper to me, with a few extra $$ on tools to fix the problem.  Like a new wet dry shop vac to pick-up the water from the leak!

Kurt

LOL!!!!  The wife wanted to use the Shop-Vac to suck up the water... I told her she can't use it for that because there is saw dust in side it and it will cause a mold hazzard.  She just stared at me.

Actually it was 1 trip to buy the materials, then 1 trip to return the unneeded baseboard (and get the new molding package, and coupler, tool to cut the CPVC pipe and gluing solutions), then 1 return trip to get the right coupler and supply lines.  So in all it was a 3 tripper!  Wife has informed me that she is not going to Lowes or Home Depot for at least 2 months!  I asked her how we were going to get a shed... 'I'll transfer the money into your checking account and you can go order it!' LOL!!!!!!!!

[kpolak]

Wow.  Thanks for the post Jenny.  Prayers for Zeke, and Jenny, and Mable...Jenny sounds like one in a million.

Jabbat: Welcome to the '90's!  Your girls will take that over in a few days, and you'll be back to the library.  My 2-1/2 yo already calls it her computer, and knows where all the games are.

Brent.  Hopefully you finished the project with only one trip to Lowe's.  That sounds like a 3 or 4 tripper to me, with a few extra $$ on tools to fix the problem.  Like a new wet dry shop vac to pick-up the water from the leak!

Kurt

[Anonymous]

Bit of humor on the home front last night.

I've been working on installing wainscotting in our powder room, well I had all the wainscotting up, all the joints sealed, and the only thing remaining was installing the cap rail and baseboards.  So I get home last night and start installing the cap rail.  Get 4 sections installed and go to grab the next section to start the longest piece and notice it is different than the first plank I was using... low and behold the cap rail package I bought wasn't two sections of cap rail it was 1 section of cap rail and one section of baseboard!   So I now have baseboard to return to Lowes (but I also need one more package of moldings).  So I start installing the baseboard.  Get 1 section up and start to nail the second section in place (I was using my 15 gauge air nailer to make the process go faster).  This section was going under the pedestal sink... yep you guessed it... I shoot a nail and WHAM!  FIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSZZZZZZZZZZZZ... hit the cold water supply line!  Well the wife and I found out how to shut off the water to the house! So we head to Lowes to return the baseboards and filler strips I bought, and get a coupler for the CPVC pipe, new package of moldings, more nails for the nail gun, caulk, and two supply lines for the new faucet... get home and find the coupler is the wrong size and I forgot the supply lines So it was back to Lowes (keep in mind it is 30 minutes each way to Lowes).  Got home at 9:00, installed the coupler (had to wait 2 hours for the glue to set to test the pressure)... 11:30 test the pressure and it held!  So I am back in business.  So I have a heck of a lot of work to do tonight after I get home from THE TRANSFORMERS movie...

I am expecting a package in the mail... can't wait... [insert image of Brent eagerly awaiting a package]... I have to stop at Lowes tonight and get the lumber to build my platform so I can install the foyer light.  Wife asked about this last night and when I explained what I needed to buy she says, 'So let me guess, you are going to use this lumber for your layout after you are done installing the light?'  LOL!!!  I hadn't even mentioned this fact... guess she isn't a PhD for nothing!  Can't pull one over on her either...

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

IIABSDISE with temps in the 80s.  The mood of the forum can change so quickly here in a day, from the hilarity of "Commando Monday" and comparisons of "Nawthan" vs "Southron" cooking to worrying about the fate of one of our own.  Zeke, take care of yourself.  Sounds like you have a good woman in Jenny, so take care of her and let her take care of you.  Chuck, glad to hear the pretty young waitress in the "Dining Car" is getting better.  I'll bet you'll be glad when the breakfast is no longer self-serve.  Jim (jaabat), glad to see you are enjoying posting from home.  I ran the 10E for a while last night and went to the YMCA for some weights.  It was just the regular fare for breakfast this morning as it arrived from "Points East".  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[spankybird]

Just tested my new used KW I got from ChooChooAuctions at a great price.  Looked new out of the box.  Works great and no flaws I can find.  Anyone know how a Z750 works with a remote?  So far I have not gotten the remote to do anything.  The Z works fine manually.  No instructions with remote.  Did get the instructions with the Z.

Well Chief, lets start with basics. You did plug the brick into the 110 volt outlet and you did put batteries into the remote, didn't you???

Did you also get one of these

The brick is pluged into this item and it is connect to your track.

 Aim the remote to the red button on top of the lockon and it will turn on the power to the track. Press the Horn button to blow the horn and the bell button to ring the bell. I am not going to fast for you here, am I?

 

The Black button turns it off.

[Anonymous]

ZEKE - Take care buddie and get well soon!  We are all praying for you! (btw that is ZEKE in Red, White, and Blue (white wouldn't show up well so changed to some light shade of something).

You've been through H311 and back, that is for sure.  Jenny thank you for posting the update.  I just got to work and read the forum and was not expecting this.  One more struggle for the ZEKESTER, no doubt he will overcome this obsticle as well!  He has brought light, life, and laughter to a few these last few months, and let me tell you we all here on the forums love him like he is one of our own as well.  If we could bring a little light, life, and laughter into his life it is US that are honored to do so!

Take care ZEKE, get some much needed rest, we will miss you, but you have to take care of yourself first and foremost.  We'll pick up the flag and hold it in your stead while you are recovering.

--- Chuck best wishes to your wife as well.  Keep her off her feet for a few more days, it will do her some good, and we all know she deserves it!  (just hide the cookware so she doesn't chase you with the frying pan when she is back up and runnin').

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a cool 50 degrees and cloudy. Sun coming out and going up to 78 today. No rain predicted, so far.

Jenny...Thanks for letting us know how Zeke is doing. I wish him luck and he will be in our prayers.

Today is another busy day. Wife is doing better on new pain meds. She can walk a little, but has to take it slow. I have some errands to run today. Take Woo to dog groomer for bath and haircut. Then, the usual chores around the house. Gotta take a few minutes and run trains later. It's been too long, since I was in train room. 

Dining car is here and still on " self-serve ". Time for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Tuesday.

Chuck

[rtraincollector]

zeke yes your in all our prayers man . Take buddy

[Jumijo]

Good morning from New England!

Had a busy day at home yesterday. Did some painting, ironing, put some laundry away, worked on a post war train, roamed the web, yadda yadda yadda...

So John, what is commando Monday. The name intrigues me.

Jim 

[Anonymous]

Hi, this is zeke's girlfriend Jenny. He had to go in for emergency surgery. His diflibulator shorted? Its been going off like crazy and shocking zeke like hes in the electric chair for a week almost. He suffered a heart attack tonight, it was not life threatning but they took him away and I dont know what is going on yet really. But zeke told me to come here and tell you guys. He thinks the world of you guys, hes always talking about you all. You guys dont know it but you saved his live. Before he started on this forum he was drinking really bad, he didnt want to live, he has lost everyone in his life that he cared about all within the last yr or so. the hardest was his son. Sent him over the deepend. he is usually heavily medicated due to severe depression and post dramatic stress disorder and losing his brother over in bagdad was very graphic and hard for him to.But meeting you all he is so much happier and hardly takes any meds. He told me that he thinks of you all like family because you care. These trains are the only thing he talks about,and you all. He loves the trains, but he has a severe brain tumor to, dont know if he told you all, but its the size of a hardball and its starting to cause him to lose his sight in his right eye. this is the main reason he hasnt got anywere on his layout. he cant see it very well . I hope this helps understand my stubborn zeke. hes in bad health but is a survivor. I will tell him your praying for him.You know he told me to tell you guys that he will be back and be posting twice as much. Right as they were rolling him away. well Im headed back to the hospital. The next time you see zeke's name it will be him posting, Please just pray for him.thank you very much

 

Jenny (zeke's gf)

 

[mitchelr]

Morning to All,

Posted a note yesterday.  Forum must have eaten it. Beautiful sleeping eather, in the 50's.

Zeke - hope you get some help at the ER and much needed rest.

jefelectric - John - I feel your pain about the taxes, ours should be here any day. 

jaabat - Jim glad to see you posting in the evening rather than running to the library. 

csxt30 - Ughhh - Commando Monday ... that will give a fella nightmares, the thought of you and jaabat posting commando style... yikes... gives a new meaning to the word scary.

Have a great day.

Mitch 

 

 

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Zeke-Prayers with you

Jim 

[Anonymous]

well folk's i have been up since friday around 3 am. i cant sleep, ive taken sleeping aids and even tried getting drunk, but nothing, I am headed to the er as advised by mr. Chuck. I have a diflibulator and my alarm keeps going off, i been shocked about 25 times since fridayAnd thats due to irregular heart beat. So im seeking some help, I am so exhausted but when i lay down i cant shut my eyes. And when i do all i see is bad things , stuff from iraq. So im off, hopefully i dont have another heart attack, thats what happen last time my heart did this.......

 

well i will catch you guys in 8-10 hrs thats the usaull wait time here at the er!

 

take care guys.....

[Anonymous]

PPS - just scored the Bobbing Head Dracula car for my Halloween layout!  My wife is going to KILL me!  Got it for $61 compared to $150 or more going on ebay last time I saw one - just a little more than the original MSRP. 

 

just tell her you got it cheap, for half the price....lol

 

chief--whats with the zekie...Is this my pet name? i told you that was between us!

 

and no i still couldnt sleep

[Brutus]

PPS - just scored the Bobbing Head Dracula car for my Halloween layout!  My wife is going to KILL me!  Got it for $61 compared to $150 or more going on ebay last time I saw one - just a little more than the original MSRP. 

[Brutus]

PS Tivoed Boneyard, have to watch it soon, sounds good.  Still haven't run my new locomotive.  Don, sounds like you got a good one!  Zeke - you need to get DVR or TIVO since you keep such different hours, it's really great once you get used to it - you can pause tv, watch shows when you want etc.  FCC ruled that cable providers have to separate the sercurity from the digital tuner, so we'll all be able to get tvs and dvrs etc with built in tuners in the future and not have a separate box.  Not sure about satellite providers.

[Brutus]

Jim (Sturgeon) - I just don't know why I didn't think of it   Oh well, I've got the tap for next time.  Just got off the email with Mr. Jeff Kane at the traintender and he is shipping me a new motor with 2 screws preinstalled (service free) for a total of about $11 shipped, so not too costly of a mistake and I learned something!  I'm going to the eye doctor thursday as I have been having trouble reading the tiny print at work etc unless it is just the right distance - you should have seen me trying to solder that motor!  I had to get my head the right distance, hold the motor, hold the iron and solder, and I have a hereditary tremor that made things a lot more fun!  I've got a list of supplies I need for a little train work bench:  A lighted magnifier on an arm, a hobby vise, a soldering holder (clips and stuff that hold the wire for you), etc etc.  As a woodworking project, I might make a little workbench just for this stuff.  If I get to it, I'll put some pics up - probably be a while as I have to keep working on the basement and my son needs a new dresser first!

Zeke:  Romex is a brand name of wire for electrical work in the home.  it's solid copper wire, 12 gauge in this case, with a black and white wire plus a bare copper ground wire all encased in some paper insulation and wrapped in an outer plastic sleave, which is yellow for 12 gauge wire nowadays - used to all be light gray, including 14 gauge and 12 gauge etc and you have to look for printing on the cable.  Now it's color coded.  I'll try and post a pic from Lowes:

[ChiefEagles]

Renovo, glad to see you are still posting here.  Zekie, romax is "house wire" cable [2 wire with ground].  Jim F, call Farm Bureau.  May have to move all your ins there.  Discount if you do.  Popcorn eaten.  Bed time.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry John. Well the bright side of having a farm in the clean & green program is that we get about a 60% break on the school and county tax. Thanks for paying for my tax break.

I did buy another Lionel milk car, NYC issued about 2003. Now that makes two with different car numbers. They are cool and have the silver milk tank inside. I love the trucks they are different than the standard ones.

I spent the last two hours running Kate through her basketball drills. They have not lost a game yet in the summer league, but then again last season they went 36-4. That is a ton of basketball.

 

PS> John thanks I got the app and sent it in. 

[jefelectric]

Got my school district tax bill today, Ouch!

Weather has been really nice here for the past several days.  Was 51 degrees this morning at 6:00 AM. To get hot again for the 4th, with afternoon thundershowers of course.

Jim A, Now you will fall into that trap like the rest of us, no longer get anything done on the layout since you will be on the forum all the time.

Take care,

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Evening all,

Real nice outside, cool and clear.  All the windows open!  Hear fireworks in the distance.

Had Mexican for supper.  Church took all the teachers out for an appreciation dinner.  I'm stuffed.  Sat on the back porch till dark.

The arm is doing better.  Getting a red purple bruise in the forearm, I guess where the blod from the tear collects.  The Rx from the doc has the swelling down and it must only be a partial tear because I can move pretty good with only pain in a few places.  No strength, but I'm not pushing it at this point.  The lack of strength is wierd.  In teens was high school power lifting champ, not ther now!

Thanks for the advice I do plan to take it easy.  I'm got good extension and flexiability so I'll just let it heal. 

Jim-welcome to the posts during the week.

Jim F - I've got taps and dies for most all the tiny screws; invaluable!  Clean up threads, rebuilding mounts, go on and on.  Surprising how many times I've removed the wrong screw someone forced into a screw hole.  Most of the time they'll clean up, but I've also had to build up the hole and drill and tap it too.

All take care

Jim