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

[Brutus]

88 - Spaceman Spiff!  I loved that comic strip!  Sorry, not looking for fastrack, because those are really great prices!  What was that book Calven always wanted to read - Hamster Huey and the Ooey Gooey Kaplooie?

[Anonymous]

EVENING ALL

Brutus you promised not to post that picture.  But at least you used someone elses name.

Stomach feels like I drank battery acid, had evening meal at local coney island. Same thing happens with White Castles but sometimes it just seems right and you know what the result will be but, one must sometimes.

Started gathering for sundays show but I don't want everything out all week so I will add a little each day. Hope sales are good want more train money.     See you in the morning,nitey nite.  Sir james

Coney Island and White Castles... sobber????

The only time I've ever eaten at either establishment was after a night of 10 cent wings and 25 cent drafts... college days in Erie, PA... every Thursday at the Plymouth, then down to the Shaggy Dog... my apartment was 2 blocks from the Plymouth, number of times I had 10 - 15 people crash in my apartment (3 fully furnished bedrooms, large living room, dining room, and an unfinished attic (one bedroom in attic and the attic was floored), so lots of room for sleeping bags and blankets... only $250 per month...

[sir james I]

Brutus I not only have Tums I always have an extra bottle, plus those fizzy  things. I know what will happen when I eat that stuff, but dad blame it's good.

[Anonymous]

Brutus - LOL!!! I have all the books... my favorites were the ones where he made snowmen... they were great!

'Dad your current ratings are way down!'

[RRCharlie]

Brent;

What college in Erie, PA? I graduated from Edinboro State Teachers College and took 1 class at Gannon College in Erie.

Mel Hazen; Jax, FL

[sir james I]

YES  100% sober, crazy isn't it.

[Anonymous]

Mel,
THE Pennsylvania State University, Erie - The Behrend College

I was an MIS grad and PSU at the time decided only research degrees should be at University Park, so I went to Erie, got a better education (smaller classes so the profs actually had to TEACH), was President of the MIS Club and pretty much new all the influential people on campus... miss those days... I actually could make a difference!  LOL!

OH... graduated in 1989... you?

I take it you are familiar with The Plymouth and The Shaggy Dog then (seeing that you went to Gannon)?

[Brutus]

Man - IE just killed my post!

88 - loved the snowman tableaux!  Those were classic!  I think I have all those books in the basement in boxes somewhere along with some good old Charles Addams and Gahan Wilson books.  Was just thinking I need to find some old Pogo books, those were great!

[Anonymous]

YES  100% sober, crazy isn't it.

You are one brave soul... I miss CI's Greek Fries...   Fries LOADED with Chili, Cheddar Cheese, Onions, and Green Peppers... I think the fries were only there to soak up the grease!  LOL!!!!

[Brutus]

Sir James - you need to get feeling better soon so Chewy doesn't pine away!  Haven't heard from John lately and she's getting a little thin!

[Anonymous]

Brutus - I was rummaging through the office on Sunday and found my Opus Graduate... couldn't locate the Doonsbury Books though... Calvin and Hobbes have a place of honor on our family room book shelves... When my dad first read the comic strip he said, 'Hey Brent I think this guy knew you as a kid!  He wrote an entire comic strip about your childhood!'

'Hey Susie Derkins!'   And to think my wife's nickname is Susieq....

[sir james I]

Brent I think you are right about the fries/grease. About five or six of us use to take turns stopping at White Castle on the way to work. Breakfast at 6AM. The smell drove the other 50 employes crazy but we always brought some for the boss. So no complaints.

[Brutus]

Loved Opus in the Bloom County days, but the retread version wasn't any good.  Ditto Doonsberry - I thought it was funny when I was a kid, but the retread leaves me cold.  Zonker should be hanging out in a pond pretending to be Jacques Cousteau or something.  I really love Pearls Before Swine, Mother Goose and Grimm, and of course Garfield and Dilbert.  I loved Foxtrot - too bad he semi-retired.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Evening all

Working night shift and got everyone at work busy so time for me to goof off. 

Chief-Glad to hear about Peek, hope the shoulder is doing better

Don-Did the travellers make it home?

I have most of the Calvin and Hobbes books and love them.  Sometimes very profound and most of the time funny.  No train work today, slept from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.  Grandkids came up for Trick or Treat.  Bride made their costumes, a cat a ladybug and a pirate.  They were cute but I'm partial to them.

I emailed the folks about the flickering campfire that Frank53 was talking about and I think I'm going to get one after I figure where I can put a campfire.  About $17.  We'll see.

Need to go

May God bless

Jim

[RRCharlie]

Brent;

I graduated in 1962. Didn't start drinking until I started teaching!!! The little darlings drove me to it. Was at Michigan State 1962-1963, then 4 years in Kenton, Ohio, then Jacksonville, Florida.

Mel Hazen; Jax, FL

[wrmcclellan]

Ah yes - Calvin and Hobbs - snowmen were one of the best!

Long day. First robotics class for this semester went very well. Good group of well behaved kids.

My current favorite comic is Pearls before Swine. Used to really like Ernie (Pirahna Club now) but it has lost its edge a bit.

Welcome to new posters to the 'Pot!

[John Bakeer]

Joetrains,

Shunting (switching) across the road (highway) crossing (grade), it also can refer ro a switching move across the main (high speed) lines. A lot of our multi-track (4) main lines are still divided into fast and slow lines/passenger and freight. Non corridor/slam door commuter stock has been phased out. It was never popular as there was great danger due to passengers opening doors and trying to alight before the train had stopped. The main international Channel Tunnel station is to be St Pancras in London which will have links to all the lines to the rest of the country.

Just downloaded latest version of IE7pro, still got glitches.

Someone from your side just e-mailed BBC Radio2 with a halloween greeting, so not to be outdone this old TOG sends greetings to all you good folks in our ex colony. Today being Halloween we are bracing ourselves for the horror of 'trick or treat'. One of your less desirable exports!!

Have your ladies got the Christmas sprouts on yet? Some of ours have been simmering since September.

[kpolak]

Stomach feels like I drank battery acid, had evening meal at local coney island. Same thing happens with White Castles but sometimes it just seems right and you know what the result will be but, one must sometimes.

Sir James:  I here ya on the White Castles.  It must be a Michigan/Indiana thing...Relatives do it too.

Coneys are for breakfast...I agree with Brent...those are silent killers at evening meals, unless used medicinally to counteract barley and hops.

Chief:  Lifetime Sportsman License sounds great!  I don't think we have those here...It looks like it was offered once in '89.

Went to see Russian Patriarchate Chior last night.  Group of 10 that can really sing.  All acapella, all in Russian, translation in playbill but it wasn't necessary.  Simply amazing.

Does anyone know if you can get a Gargraves flex down to a 16" radius?  Superstreets goes to 16, but I wanted my own roadway material, and it won't fit on the Superstreets.

Kurt

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Morning all,

Been a long night, shift almost over.  Fresh pot of joe then go home and bed!

Have a good day

Jim

[Jumijo]

 

Good morning from New England. Warm and sunny today for all the trick or treaters.

I see Jimbo posted a photo of me in one of my nocturnal expeditions. My best side, too!

Calvin and Hobbes. I loved that comic strip so much, I named my dog Hobbes. Loved the snowmen, but my all time favorite was when he went to the doctors. He kept looking at the doctor's tools and asking "What's that? Will it hurt?" Finally in the last panel, after one too many "What's that? Will it hurt?" the doctor says, something like "It's a cattle prod. It hurts a little more than a branding iron.". Calvin faints.  Funny stuff!

Brent - $50 for everything. and that's me final offer.

 

[mitchelr]

Morning all. Nippy here this Am.  Broke down and put on the furnace to take off the chill.

Tried to get on the Forum yesterday AM but it was down.  No train work last night but I did make a repair on my Subaru's clock.  Dealer wanted big $$$ for a new one.  Found a fix on-line. Few dabs of solder on a bad joint on the circuit board and voila, it works like a charm.

Have a great day.

Mitch 

 

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a dark, cold 31 degrees. Going up to 70 today, with sunshine.

Today is a busy day. Have to take wife to doctor, this morning, for her blood work. Out patient surgery next week. Should be easier for her, than the last one. No time for trains today. I need a train day.

Dining car is here early. Breakfast.

Y'all have a great Wednesday.

Chuck

[Jumijo]

 

What's everyone giving out for Halloween candy tonight? We buy all my favorites so that I can eat the left overs. Reese's cups, KitKats, and MilkyWays.

We ran trains last night for a good long time. A Santa FE FT AB pulling coaches on the outer and Thomas pulling A&C on the inner. 

[Buckeye Riveter]

Good morning from Buckeyeland where it is 38 degrees. 

Columbus, Ohio is the home of White Castle.  Their headquarters is in a white porcelain building just west of downtown.  We are also the home of Wendy's, Bob Evans and Max & Erma's.  Most of you in the east have seen one or more of these establishments. 

Brent, so you did not spend time at HAPPY VALLEY? 

Really feel for Reggie as he tears apart that great layout of his. 

 

[sir james I]

GOOD MORNING FOLKS,

Stomach is fine this morning, but then there will be a next time.

Kurt- with the state gov. we have nothing is lifetime. They say lifetime today next year well we should not have done that. Made me buy a permanent trailer license for $75.00 when I use to buy a 6 month license for $6.50.At my age how many more years must I live to break even. And thats providing I'm well enough to use the boat. AND if you buy or sell you must also buy a new license.

What do I give the little monsters?  usually a scope of chocolate ice cream. What kid would not want ice cream in their goody bag?

I'll be back,Run some trains,,,,,,,,,,,,Sir James

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

IIABSDISEI with temps near 70 today.  As they would say at the "Greatest Spectacle in Racing", "It's a neeeewwwww track record!"  OK, so it was just a personal best and really not all that impressive, but I did reach one of my steps on the way to my personal goal for the winter.  I did a 5 MPH pace for 30 minutes on the track last night.  I still have a long way to go to get to 6 MPH, but at least I made it this far already.  After that workout, came home, had supper, got cleaned up and went to the Halloween concert the high school band was performing.  It was a pretty good show, and we got home in time to see that Helio made it another week.  The trick or treaters will be by this evening so the YMCA work will be after that.  Read some more on the TCA Quarterly.  Really nice article on the Flyer display layout.  I slept much better last night than the night before.  Bran muffins on the dining car this morning.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[Anonymous]

Jumijo - Susan bought 8 bags of candy and we are only supposed to get 25 - 30 kids! I requested a bag of mixed stuff from Willy Wonka (laffy taffy, runts, gobstoppers, etc) and I got that - only for me! Then we got bags of Milky Ways, KitKats, Twix, 3 Musketeers, Snickers, and some other stuff.  So I'll be fat as a Heffer in a few weeks!

Buckeye - Yes I spent every Saturday in Happy Valley, that was back in 1992 - 1996.  My Junior Year was when PSU walked through the Big Te(leve)n and won the Rose Bowl over Oregon and the Pollsters decided Tom Osborne deserved a MNC and gave it to Nebraska...

---
Took my car to have the Passenger Front Axle checked yesterday (still vibrating), mechanic replaced the axle, no vibrations so far!  So the car now has 2 new front axles, passenger front lower control arm, sway bar linkage, and driveshaft... driveshaft still bothers me... wonder if there is anything I could do to get my money back from that unnecessary repair.  Needs new brakes, shocks, and struts but not right away, maybe in January.  Very fun to drive again!

[rtraincollector]

Brent I'm starting to think you could of bought another one used for about what you have init in the last 3-4 months

[Anonymous]

RT - not quite... this round only cost me $381 (friend is a mechanic, just takes a long time for him to get to work on it).  I could have saved a TON of money on the last repair bill, but as I said it takes him a long time to get around to working on the car and I couldn't wait on the repairs.  The driver side axle repair cost me $938 at the dealer and my mechanic did the passenger side for $381... how is that for dealer markup!  The last time I called him and left a message (car was still at the dealer) and it took him 2 hours to get back to me that he could do the work within a day or two... But when your car is at the dealer you can't wait 2 hours to give them the go/no-go on the repairs... now he either answers right away or he calls back within 15 minutes...

In all, I've put 4 grand into her over the last 4 months... $850 of that was the driveshaft that I didn't need and got shafted on!  That really burns me because it was done by my FiL's childhood friend and he was supposed to have been a great mechanic... if he weren't a family friend I would have taken him to court over this...

[kpolak]

What's everyone giving out for Halloween candy tonight? We buy all my favorites so that I can eat the left overs. Reese's cups, KitKats, and MilkyWays.

Late September I did buy:

(2) 200 packs of the Skittles/Sour Skittles/Starburst...(Ate one bag)

(1) bag Kit Kats...(ate that)

(1) bag Reeses...(opened bag, and had a few of those)

I like the Ice Cream idea!

Brent beware of buying candy to leave out while you work on the house...We (a friend that was helping mud and tape, and myself) went thru 5# of Jolley Ranchers in 2-weeks.

Kurt