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

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a damp 66 degrees. Just stopped raining. Going up to 80 today with some sunshine, later.

It has been a busy morning. Up early at 5:30 am. Wife's surgery was a success. But, she was in a lot of pain last night. Didn't get much sleep. Has to keep her foot elevated, and can't get out of bed for a few days. So, I am  busy. I have to run some errands later, and do some work around the house. I guess this is payback for last year. She took good care of me. I will return the favor.

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and concerns.

Dining Car was a " self serve " this morning. I will have that for a few weeks. Pretty " young " waitress is on medical leave.

Y'all have a great Friday.

Chuck

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

PS Welcome to the coffeepot, Renova!  This is a good place to hang out and talk about GRITS, Corvairs, learn the multiples of 53, the Ohiozo, Hoosierisms, and occasionally trains.  Zeke, before I forget (which I usually do), the picture of the Chief was not real.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

It is another cloudy rainy day in SE Indiana with temps in the 70s.  I was so disappointed last night as soccer practice got cancelled, evidently due to the rain.  Lucas and one of his friends and I played "Risk" until about 11 PM after they got back from church youth group.   That was fun.  Hopefully will be a quiet weekend, but I do plan to watch the IRL race at Richmond on Saturday night.  Maybe someone besides Team Green or Team Red will win.  Zeke, hang in there.  I hope the waitress at the dining car at "Points East" is doing ok.  There was just the regular fare this morning.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Jumijo]

Don,
...Sometimes you just want to break out the ol' mallet (sledgehammer, not engine)

Yeah. Just ask Baggy on OGR! HA HA!!

Zeke, praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. In God we trust - all others pay cash. Miracles happen, pray the rosary...

Hey Southerners, is the rosary only a Catholic thing, or do you do it too?

Don, go get yourself a cheap locomotive. Fill the shell with cement and ram that guy's train head on as hard as you can! Then look at him and say did I do that? 

Yesterday was an expensive one for Jimmy. I started the day by scoring a post war 6464475 B&M boxcar off of eBay for $30.00. A nice price for that car. But wait, there's more...On my way home from work, my cell phone rings. It's my wife telling me some preorder stuff had arrived at the LHS. $412.00 later I walked away with a new scale SF F3, a SF El Capitan dining car, and a Lionel Lines milk car and platform. Ai yi yi! I'm going to have to sell a lot of bodily fluids to pay for all this!!!

Boneyard was interesting last night. I thought the Amtrack restoration facility was cool.

The Chief called last night and we were discussing the upcoming weekend. He mentioned a birthday on Saturday. I asked who's birthday was on Saturday? "Your wife's birthday"! said the Chief. I had completely forgotten about it! Thankfully, he reminded me. I'm going to wrap up that new diesel and give it to her...what a lucky gal!

Jim 

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Morning all,

Renovo- Do you do American Flyer????

Pretty good rain last night.  Will help with the fields.  Corn beans and hay may recover, doubt if they will catch up to where they should be.  I did get the garden in shape, weeding suckering tieing up and the like.  Still have the flower beds.  Those tonight maybe.

Saw a neat paddlewheel boat on the Ohio and got some pics.  I'll share them later.  They had the stacks in the travelling position (down) but it is still an impressive boat. 

Well need to get off to work

May God bless

Jim 

[Anonymous]

well im off to catch some sleep, was out running trains and enjoyed myself.

 

And if anyone needs a quick jump on the day mite i suggest this......................

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

oh and dont forget the ..........................

 

on me of course!

 

[Anonymous]

good evening everyone. All is well in california, no rain which is normal but we could use it.

 

ran my lackawanna 4-8-4 tonight thinking of charles.

 

other then that i delevered a washer and a upright freezer to a family in need. they didnt have a truck so i volunteered mine.

 

well my pool sprung a leak, dang beagle.......cya later

[dbaker48]

Welcome Renovo

That's what we need is another John,  You guys are going to have to form your own identification system.  No.. Nevermind, if all you have to do is mention John, should get a lot of responses.  That'll work !!!

Waiting for that special Boneyard to come on.  It is taking its time to get here another 45 minutes anyway.

Interesting special about prison gangs.  Learning lots.

That Box Cab is one nice looking engine!  

Hope the weather lets up a little on you guys, we sure could use some of it here!  Later

Later 

 

[Brutus]

Renovo!

Can't watch boneyard, wife's watching Extras on tape.  Some pretty funny stuff though.  I emailed Jeff Kane.  His website said the screws for this motor are 4-40, so I think I'm out of luck, the holes are offsize, and I'll just have to shim them with some foil or rubber tape.

Measured, discussed and lost a foot of layout - replanning again & up to plan number 33!

Don - I hate it when other people don't respect my stuff.  I literally won't loan out tools anymore unless I'm going to be there.

[ChiefEagles]

Evening all.  Boneyard, nope.  Watching the Halmark Movie, The Last Cowboy.  Renovo, welcome to the "Pot".  Are you over on The Gauge?  Keep dropping in.  One more Yankee to feed grit too.

I knew soemthing was good in Kalmbach.  Got my Trains magazine today.  Editor is originally from NC. 

Pizza time [it not delivery].  Late dinner.  Later

[jefelectric]

Renovo, Welcome to the Coffee Pot on CTT.   

 By the way guys, we now have another John on the coffee pot. 

Boneyard was good, but they could have done two hours with no problem.

On the train front.  I picked up my new MTH boxcab last week and it is still in the box.  Got a call that my Weaver Lackawanna Baldwin 2-8-0 is in.  I need to take some time to do some train running.

Take care,

[csxt30]

Anybody else watching Boneyard?

Yes !!

Also Rnovo !!

Thanks, John

[Anonymous]

I would hate to have to use that plow and a one bottom at that. Well I'm only new to this form thanks to a great lunch I had with jefelectric. I'm glad I came.

I do farm but it is more of a full time job after my day job that permits me to shed a suit for bluejeans. Think of it as another place to invest your dollars you know like buying trains. I guess the important part is that I enjoy both.

 I did build my first layout this year and I have grown the single 1961 Lionel postwar set to the fact I have a total of 5 new engines and over 50 additional rolling stock. I run the layout with four different transformers that does include TMCC.

My trains now include Lionel, K-Line, MTH and Williams and a few Marx rolling stock. I use both Lionel Fast Track and MTH Real Trax. I like to run with PRR and the big CN. 

 

Other than adding I am from Pennsylvania I don't want to bore everyone so I will end this with saying we had a nice rain today and that heat wave has been broken. :) 

[jefelectric]

Anybody else watching Boneyard?

[Brutus]

WOW - Doug Murphy, I don't know about you, but we have had storms all through the day!  Hope you get some rain at home and not storms!  Good thing it cooled off, because we are on like week 5 with off and on AC at work.  I'm gonna call OSHA if this keeps up, seriously.  Still no box from Trainz - usually their stuff comes pretty quick.  Stopped at ACE Hardware to try various screws, but none fit.  Closest was a 4-40, but doesn't grab hold.  I will bet that 4-32 is the right screw???  Maybe metric, but I don't think so.  6 is too big.  The guy at the store wondered what the motor was for.  I said, toy train.  What kind?  Lionel.  Are you buying Lionel?  Turns out he is selling some stuff.  He said he's got some postwar, some prewar locomotives and I think he was talking about some 022 switches.  I told him I just bought 6 022 switches I need to pay for and pick up or have mailed (turns out the guy I contacted through TCA for them is in MO not MI) and some track, but I'll keep him in mind and maybe stop in again in the future.  Anyway, I'm going to email Jeff and see if he can fix me up.  Thanks for all the info guys!

Nobody liked that John Deere Plow picture from the Smithsonian?  I felt sure that would tickle some of you guys.

Prayers for Mrs. Blueberry - take good care of her Chuck!

[Anonymous]

sorry about my post yesterday and hope i didnt offend anyone. I am much bettter today. I was just upset. I have lost so much i didnt think i could lose anymore. Thank you eveeryone for listening. You all really do care and you all seem like family to me. It will get better i know.

 

I'm taking Mabel to dinner tonight. She called me earlier and wants to talk.

 

Well train stuff is on hold for right now. Everything happens for a reason i understand. I am just tired of seeing people die, I did enough of that over sea's.

 

Hope everyone has a great day.

[sir james I]

Good evening to all. Old James was lazy today,did very little. Cloudy most of the day about 78 I  think. Paid $3.04 for reg. today,just won't go down, did see $2.96 yesterday but not close enough to bother going there. My Ranger will use E85 but no one has it. I tried to watch the grass grow today but it's so dry it won't move. Wonder what the Chief is going to do with that big pile of old grits he found in the field?         Regards ,Sir James

[rtraincollector]

Just one more thing they only wanted to meet once a month and that was the only time you could run trains so you have 50 guys wanting to run there trains in a 2 hour period once a month lol

 

That was the first thing I pointed out and said it isn't going to work out . They said oh it 'll be fine you'll see. 4 loops and 2 yard areas suposely.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Evening All

Don- you bring up some really good points about belonging to a club.  As far as I know, there is not a train club in Southern Ohio.  Human nature being what it is, some folks don't look at the trains in the same way as we do, and some don't think.  It would be nice to share the hobby with friends and have a place  to run trains, especially if  you did not have a home layout. 

Raining and hot in Southern Ohio.  Can't cut grass but will weed in gardens.  MAde it home before bride so I'll get supper on.  Left-over ribs from a great place called "The Ribber" in Portsmouth.  Ever in town, check them out.  Place is NOT fancy, but GREAT steaks and ribs.  We always order extra and save the leftovers for another meal.

Take care

May God bless your needs

Jim 

[kpolak]

as far as god, I just cant believe in that man anymore.

Within a yr and a half i have lost my mom, dad, both  grandparents, brother, a sister, uncle, an aunt, and the one the eats at me everyday, my son. and now someone i just met has died. God, if there was a god why would he let this happen?

I'm also very to hear about Charles, Zeke.  Your story always choked me up every time I told it.

I know you have suffered a lot of loss, but you have to look at gains as well.  In addition to your interest in the hobby, and all of the great people you have befriended here you have made a great friend of Mabel.  It sounds like she really needs you.  God is using you to help her.  You and her would have never met without Charles.  God put you in a place of assistance, where it was needed.  It may have been at the last minute for you, but his timing is perfect.

Don't give up on God.  Pray for answers.  I will be.

Kurt

[fifedog]

Evenin' boys.  HOKIE-SMOKE; miss a day = miss 5 pages!

88- on the trainshow, my bad.  Shalln't happen again amigo.

mitchelr - no pics until said purchases are in place on the Cumberland Extension.

dbaker48 - my HO club lost me when Roberts Rules & Standards and Bylaws became the normal fair during business meetings...

laz57 - gotta love those "little" jobs.

Chief- how's the Peek?  At least the tomatoes love the dry spell...

wrmcclellan - the amount of rain you are receiving is in direct corrilation to Texas Motor Speedway being granted a second Cup weekend.

zeke - tough news about your bud, Bud.  You done good. 'Nuf said.

and a to EVERYONE else here.  Gotta go finish dinner for Mrs. fifedog.

[dbaker48]

RT - We have those guys.  Fortunately, we have about 30 members +/- a few.  But human nature is just that.  I just got my membership card last night, been paying dues for 16 months.  That's Ok.  When I was in college I was in a number of professional organizations and officer in most of them.  After a while I got burned out.  So pretty much joined this with the intention of a "place" to run trains, and "learn" something.  Both of those things are happening.  But we definetly have those that believe the place is theirs.  I have found the trick is to be selective on the time of day, and which day to go.  Then it is MINE.    The information flow is great, and with my expectations as they are, it works.  But, boy do I get frustrated with some of the "dumb" stunts that I see.

[rtraincollector]

Kinda agree Don I was about to join a club (it was in the building stages to be one at that time) and saw it wasn't for me there was one guy that had a lot of knowage but wasn't a authority on everything (in my book anyway) but made a comment a couple of times (well if your going to do it that way I'm not going to join) and everyone bowed down to him except me (me and my big mouth that is) the second time i said is this our railroad club or yours but they bowed down and I just kept my mouth shut and when it came time for start collecting due and initation fees I told them to get it from him scince you all want everything his way. Hes so valuable of a member. I know of 5 others that back out joining for same reason. Heres the kicker he wanted no part of being an officer in the club and I was VP and another was secatary that left.

[Anonymous]

Don,
WOW!  All I can say is... head meet brickwall...

And if this guy, or his kids, ruin something of yours I bet he offers to pay for it?  Problem is alot of this stuff ISN'T replaceable!  Sometimes you just want to break out the ol' mallet (sledgehammer, not engine)

[dbaker48]

Well, Well, Not to change the subject, But.....

Do any of you (that may belong to a train club), get frustrated with them, or have issues?

I sometimes do, I can't believe what goes on.  I intentionally do NOT take any of our "good" stuff there.  Something always seems to happen.

I enjoy the fellowship, it is really great!  And you can learn a lot.  But the hazzards.

Some of those are:

- Someone decides to do some improvements,  ie.. Enhance the scenery, putting in a desert scene or rural area.  And of course, use real sand.  Which is not glued down real well.  Do you have any idea what kinda of problem that can create?  Fortunately, when I went down there as I was setting my stuff up, I heard some comments about the sand.  Immediately, put my stuff back in the boxes.  As it turned out 3 engines had to be completely disassembled and blown out with compressed air.  (Sure it didn't get it all either, bearings?)

- Or, Adding an overpass, and have some abutments to close to the track.  I've gotton in the habit of putting on an older engine to make sure the track is clear from the areas I can't see.  Then running the better stuff.  So, when we put out Chris' new J the engine has a wide swing, and WHAM!!!! Right into a 2x4.  Fortunately, I was going slow.  (Lesson - Always run a long freight car first now)

- A couple of guys bring in their kids, OK, Great!  Then the kids run on a specific track in conventional mode.  The kids are 4yr and 6yrs.  The trains are now going about 160 smph, So I take mine off.  Completly....  These are rockets running around the track and the trajectory could be fatal.  So ran that night for 10 minutes after driving 35 miles one way to get there.

- Last night...... Chris took his J, for the first time (I did the time before with the 2x4).  So OK everything cool, running great.  Here comes one of the older guys, and sets up his train, and then one of the kids and his dad.  OK lets head for the barn!!!!!  We park the train in a yard area for setting up and unloading, (6 sidings).  Getting stuff ready to put it away, the Rocket Express only shut down the layout twice due to shorts, then all of a sudden this old guyz trains comes barrelling in the yard area at 80+, and Rear Ends, the J.   6 passenger cars just rolled over and died, laying their on the side of the track.  The old guy steps into the room and Says:  Did I Do That?     I thought my train passed that switch, I was going to come in the next time around.

So back to original plan......  Take the Expendable Engines (oxymoron), Inexpensive stuff their ONLY!  AND, get our layout UP AND RUNNING.

[Anonymous]

Zeke I understand your pain and have felt it many times myself. Over the years I have lost many, many, close friends and relatives and even came within a fraction of loosing my life in a very bad auto accident. It is natural to be angry at God. But let me share a couple of things with you that I have learned thru the years. The first is that there will be a day when the sun will shine again and the pain will not feel as bad Iknow right now all you can see is the darkness. Secondly this was never Gods plan. His plan was for us to live in a world with out death,suffering pain.... However because of the sin in this world we have made a wretched mess of things, thus we have death,addicitions,disease... So since we made such a terrible mess God gave us his Son (Jesus) to make a sacrifice (payment for our sin) so that we may have life eternal. When death comes upon us here in this world this is not the end. I read earlier about the loss of your son. Did you know that God has promised us that children when they pass early from this life will be in heaven ? It has been described as a place that our minds cannot fathom. Mansions,Gates of pearls,streets of Gold,no suffering,no pain,no sorrow.....I know this is little solice for you now. But I promise you your son is in Jesus loving arms and he only knows happiness and cant wait to see you again. Death is only a door to the rest of eternity. That eternal path is our to choose. Whether we , accept or reject, Gods gift of salvation.The choice is ours. You are already in my prayer and thoughts , my soul aches for you and the pain you have suffered.

You couldn't have said it any better.

Zeke - I was going to post about my own loss of faith in God and what events led to this loss and what events led to my finding God and Jesus again.  I would never use the words 'born again' because I have only one birth and no other.  I am also far from a Bible Thumper, yougottawanta has said very much what I was going to say - except I have never come close to losing my life.  I have witnessed my grandfather dying in front of me, have lost two friends to a murder/suicide, and suffered a miscarriage with my ex-wife.  I lost 3 grandparents during a 17 month span, one of them my affore mentioned grandfather on Christmas day 1985, and my favorite great uncle the Christmas before.

I'll not get into my religious beliefs because most would not understand them if I were to get into them.  I believe that God is in everything that surrounds us, both physical and meta-physical.  I can understand, and feel, your loss and pain.  I can also tell you that, with time, your pain will subside and you will begin to once again feel the Grace of our Lord upon you.  He has not foresaken you, He has not forgotten you, He has not turned His gaze from you, nor will He ever.  You nearly gave your life in defense of His greatest nation, and for that He will be forever grateful.  While you may not feel it now, He has kept you in His protective hands, as your work on Earth is not yet complete.  God works in strange, mysterious ways, and rarely reveals His intent to us. 

During my divorce my minister told me somthing that I will forever remember: God keeps His greatest challenges for but a chosen few, the greater your challanges, the more God loves you.

[yougottawanta]

Zeke I understand your pain and have felt it many times myself. Over the years I have lost many, many, close friends and relatives and even came within a fraction of loosing my life in a very bad auto accident. It is natural to be angry at God. But let me share a couple of things with you that I have learned thru the years. The first is that there will be a day when the sun will shine again and the pain will not feel as bad Iknow right now all you can see is the darkness. Secondly this was never Gods plan. His plan was for us to live in a world with out death,suffering pain.... However because of the sin in this world we have made a wretched mess of things, thus we have death,addicitions,disease... So since we made such a terrible mess God gave us his Son (Jesus) to make a sacrifice (payment for our sin) so that we may have life eternal. When death comes upon us here in this world this is not the end. I read earlier about the loss of your son. Did you know that God has promised us that children when they pass early from this life will be in heaven ? It has been described as a place that our minds cannot fathom. Mansions,Gates of pearls,streets of Gold,no suffering,no pain,no sorrow.....I know this is little solice for you now. But I promise you your son is in Jesus loving arms and he only knows happiness and cant wait to see you again. Death is only a door to the rest of eternity. That eternal path is our to choose. Whether we , accept or reject, Gods gift of salvation.The choice is ours. You are already in my prayer and thoughts , my soul aches for you and the pain you have suffered.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Taking it easy today [well, for a while].  Slept until 9:30 [well, lab wanted out at 3:30 and they both got up for breakfast at 5:30].  Thank God for Tylenol.

Poor Mrs Buckeye.   Poor Mrs. Apitz.   Saturday for her.  Best present for her is no kids and husband for a few days.

Jim A, must be a new boy thing.  Fishing buddy of mine in Texas, his son did the same thing at 4.  Heard lots of laughing upstairs.  Went upstairs and found daughter [6] and her friend watching son on table dancing nude.

Jim A., us kind Southerners always want to share.  We are sending you some heat and humidity.

Chuck, prayers for "Mrs. Blueberry".   Hope foot thing comes out OK.  Maybe she will get you to wait on her.

Got to find time to read forum more often.  Get too far behind and can't remember all the replies I think off when I read through.

Later  

[cnw1995]

Good morning from a very cool Crystal Lake where I am going to the beach (yes, there is a real lake here) with the youngest for swim lessons in a few minutes.

Jim F., yes, "your" rain ripped through downtown yesterday afternoon - I just missed it walking to the station. No rain out here in the boonies though.

Zeke, I am praying for you, man, that you feel peaceful. It's been a tough year for you.

Dennis, I am very jealous of the IT hopper - I have been looking for Illinois Terminal items - a good electric road (well, for most of its history)

[dwiemer]

Morning all, took care of a small case and have the rest of the day off.  I will be heading to the house to take care of some honey dos before the family returns.  Been a hard week and still have a day to go.  My son's birthday party is Saturday, so have some prep work to do.  Carpets getting cleaned today, so have to get the other work done before then.

Zeke, Often, people who go through such tragic circumstances blame God or say they don't believe He is there.  We don't understand His ways, and often, don't understand the big picture, but He is there and if you turn to Him instead of away, peace and comfort can be found.  I am not a preacher, but I would say that God certainly put you in Charle's path to make his last few weeks happy ones.  You were able to get his kids to see him prior to his passing, and you are now there for his wife.  This is the time when He can use you most, so please be open to what His will is for you.

I won another item from the Train-station's auction.  Got a Illinois Terminal RR hopper car coming my way.  It looks neat and I hope to use it with a few others I have.  Anyway, needed to post at least one thing train related.

God Bless,

dennis