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

[kpolak]

Morning!

CSXetc:  Prayers for you, and your family.

Brutus:  Hope you find the Church you're looking for.  We were pretty well welcomed at the candle light vigil we attended at another church.  Our Church didn't have Christmas Services.

We had a couple of street people show up at our Church once.  Church members went out and brought back McDonalds breakfast for them before they even entered the building.  Everyone was a little nervous when they got up to speak in front of the congregation...Turned out they were ministering to Churches, about acceptance, and they masqueraded as street people.  I meant to tell you earlier, if you weren't welcomed into a Church at Christmas, you don't need that Church.

Santa left a Fastrack crossing gate and a PRR burro Crane under the tree for me!  Crossing gate is a pretty cool accessory.  Didn't have time to run the Burro Crane.  Now I think I'll be looking for a PW one at the shows.

Neighbor lady (from Russia) gave thumbs up on the pierogies!  Whew.  Intimidating to cook traditional food.

Spent Christmas day with friends.

Kurt

[CSXect]

Thanks everyone for the prayers and thoughts.

Have been to many different churches.......church "people" can be very odd at times and even down right unfreindly at times. I pop in at 3 churches every now and then the one I grew up in is now mostly old folks their sister church which is much bigger and has a nice youth program on friday nights and the baptist church for bluegrass a small church but very excepting of others and sometimes when I have the time help mom and dad take stuff to the methodist free store where they sometimes volenteer.

[Jumijo]

PS - Jim and Doug were making me feel a little inferior, so I bought Thomas on ebay, $80 without track or transformer though.  Don't really want any more fasttrack or CW80's anyway!

You got Thomas for an excellent price! Hope he comes with the extra faces. Although we only use the happy one. He has his quirks, so if he misbehaves, let us know. If he runs balky at start ups, that seems to be normal. As he warms up that goes away.

My boys had 2 loops of HO track set up for them while they were at church yesterday. Gordon on the outer loop, UP freight on the inner loop.

Christmas was great. We had guests over for dinner. A lot of work! Now for take out Chinese food New Year's Eve!

Jim 

[Jumijo]

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got some movies (Superbad, The Simpson's Movie, The Bourne Ultimatium), XBOX360 accessories (Quick charge kit, wireless headset, cooling fans) and XBOX360 games (Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, Project Gotham Racing 4). I also got a lot of money.

I hope everyones Christmas was as good as mine.

Have a good evening everyone.

Superbad is hysterical! I laughed so hard, I had tears in my eyes! Lots of low brow humor. Not for the pius among us!

Jim 

[sir james I]

GOOD MORNING "POT"

Boy this coffee is old, I'll make a fresh pot but someone better drink it or next time I'll just add some fresh grounds. It sounds like most had a good christmas, now to clean up the mess. No train running yet, maybe later.,,,,,,,,,,Sir James

[Brutus]

Yum - good coffee, Sir J.  Full of pancakes.  Kids have to take showers, then me, then we're going to gamestop so they can spend the money that is burning through their pockets.  Chewy just hangs on me all the time - I guess she's confused because of the schedule changes and being home so much the past few days.  Watching Working on the Railroad from dvr - pretty good one on gadgets and memorabilia.

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

IIABSDISEI with temps near 50 today.  My wife also gave me a TM DVD of Carail, which we watched last night.  It is very good.  Everybody had a good time yesterday, and the house is not too big of a mess today.  In fact, it looks ok.  Some of us played foosball, some played cards, and some of us went for a walk.  It was good to be with family.  We finished the last of the streusel this morning.  I hope everyone has a good day.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[kpolak]

Just ran Buro, a lot of grinding as it rotates, and and tries to run in reverse.  Simply won't run in reverse.  This goes back. 

Kurt

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Cold and wet.

[Jumijo]

Turkey for lunch today (and most likely the rest of the week). Warm and pleasant here. Mid 40s and blue skies.

Just me and the secretary here today. And I'm thinking of bailing on her and heading home. Or to the hobby shop. Saw a Hogwarts Express for $189. Might get it. But I'm not really sold on it, and it's really not a must have. Seems to be as many unhappy owners as there are happy ones. I might save the money and buy 2 post war 2344 sets. 

Jim 

[Buckeye Riveter]

Morning.  Cold and wet.

Would you kindly explain to me why you are cold and wet when you live in a place that never rains and the lowest temperature is 75 degrees?

[CSXect]

Get weight checked today as they were closed monday. Hope the roast beef&turkey sandwich did not throw me off coarse to bad.

hardley anyone at work today, .........more for me to do

observation.................Lionel Fasttrack is easeir to put together than MTH realtrack how ever I like Gargraves the best its tubular

[wrmcclellan]

Afternoon all!

Had a great day yesterday. Friends came over at 4 - great traditional dinner - lots of talking until we all fizzed out about 10 pm. Everyone here slept until noon today. That was sweet!

He-who-is-14 received Guitar Hero III from my sister in Houston, but she got it for the PS3 instead of the PS2. The better half and he-who-is-14 headed out this afternoon and snagged a PS2 version at Wallymart for $10 less than GameStopper or Target. Waiting on receipt from my sister so we can go and get a store credit on the PS3 version.

Got a UP loco and caboose ornament for Christmas. No other train stuff this year. I was hoping that the LCCA would be delivering the #209 Alco pass set before Christmas as originally indicated in all the literature. That was to be my present this year. An e-mail to LCCA and their reply indicates that they hope to ship in January as Lionel is late in delivering. So it will be my late present to myself?

CSX - sorry about the family issues. Prayers for you and your family.

RR - I guess you wanted a new porch anyway? Glad no one was hurt.

Temps here are falling. Rain earlier today and temp now about 41 and falling since cold front went throuh.

Maybe a movie tonight?

Buckeye - didja get yer lump o' coal from the Chief yet?

 

[CSXect]

Just lost 2 pounds this week for a total of 47 so far,off other diabetic med and blood presure med as well doctor wants to monitor them a week with out meds to see if they will be stable enough to not need them.

other than that it has been a typical day for me as wendsdays are my mondays

[Brutus]

Way to go CSX!!!  Man, you are doing great!

[sir james I]

EVENIND ALL

Just finished watching my new Harry Potter movie,not sure what the plot was other than someone trying to take over Hogwarts.Liked it thou.

Kurt-the burro crane grinds like a coffee grinder even when it's working right.  You could donate it to the "POT" so we could have fresh ground.

I found a power truck for my F3 chassis,I knew I would eventually so thats done and now it runs good.

Brutus- too early for goodnite so we have christmas cookies and milk or ice cream...Sir James

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Cold and wet.

Would you kindly explain to me why you are cold and wet when you live in a place that never rains and the lowest temperature is 75 degrees?

 

Yankee weather trying to invade the SOUTH.

[Jumijo]

Yeah, Yankee weather... definitely Yankee weather. 

Watching the Dirty Dozen on AMC. Cool movie. Saw it for the first time when I was a kid. Fell asleep on the couch for 2 hours this afternoon. So I should be wide awake until 2 or 3am...

Got some Yankee weather of our own coming in tomorrow. rain and 2 inches of snow. Just enough to  make a sloppy mess. Never seems to be a long enough break in the weather to get the car washed.

Jim

[dwiemer]

Good evening on the Pot!

Long day as I had a couple of cases and were going with one man out on vacation today.  Mostly urgent findings of a chronic condition....but I digress.  We finished up a little after 4 this afternoon and I asked my bride if she wanted to go shopping....you know the answer.  We ate dinner at Cracker Barrel and then off to Michael's.  Picked up some Lemax items for the layout and then a digital switcher/sound system that plays 20 Christmas carols and has syncronized lights to the music.  Originally sold for over $120.00, I picked it up for $15 including tax.  Not bad.  Also went to Sears and picked up a Craftsman compressor and some air tools.  Wife got some ornaments and some clothes.

Well, hope everyone is doing well.  I wish we had a train store closer so I could check out after Christmas sales, but none near us.

Dennis

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Evening all,

Ran the Franklin around the tree for a bit this evening.  Seeing the kids, the tree lights and decorations and smelling the loco smoke makes for good memories.

On the last night shift for this strech.  Should not be too bad of a night.  Got up around 3 p.m. and it was beautiful out.  Hopefully will get to bed by 8 a.m. and up around noon to work on garage.  I've not worked on it for almost a week due to work and Christmas.  Just about ready for the metal roofing.

CSXect-Good job and keep up the good work.

Buckeye-The coal may come in handy around the layout.

RT-Is insurance going to take care of the porch?

Good night and may God bless

Jim

[dougdagrump]

Evenin' All,

I am one pooped puppy tonite, gonna be in bed EARLY tonite. Up very early yesterday to do all the preps for turkey and my bread baking for family & friends dinner, after everyone left yours truly fell asleep on the couch watching the boobtube. Reclinerizing the couch so to speak.   

Santa scored a knockout with Thomas, James and Percy yesterday. When our grandson, 2 yr old, turned the transformers on and the Thomas gang came out of the tunnels his eyes got as big as saucers and all he could do was point. But it didn't take long before all you could hear was their whistles as they went round and round.

Today was Kids Club Fun Run at the museum, the kids portion went well. Got in early to get ready but Murphy's Law (no offense Doug) was at max power.   For conventional operations we use 4 Z-4000's or you can use bricks with TPC's. Two of the 4 TPC's died, the Z-4000's with their handhelds were crossfeeding and all out of sync like crazy, but the ultimate catastrophe was when one of the track cleaning cars decided to derail on the lift bridge and catch fire. Thankgoodness we switched over to halon extingushers last year, otherwise there would have been one heck of a mess to clean-up. No damage, just a little soot and a few blue words in the air. Glad no one else was there.

Later All !  

[John Bakeer]

Good morning from a damp mild Stockport+11degC/52degF; Had my dear lady visit yesterday, I made us steak, chips and five veg for lunch (note, no sweeties for afters) then chilled out. She is a Phllistine unfortunately, saw Lionel run around the TV a couple of times was totally unimpressed and decided we are all quite mad. Well I like being mad when I see the idiots that think they are sane.  

Jim, Great layout/article in CTT, keep it up.  

[CSXect]

Good morning from a damp mild Stockport+11degC/52degF; Had my dear lady visit yesterday, I made us steak, chips and five veg for lunch (note, no sweeties for afters) then chilled out. She is a Phllistine unfortunately, saw Lionel run around the TV a couple of times was totally unimpressed and decided we are all quite mad. Well I like being mad when I see the idiots that think they are sane.  

madness is subjective, trains give us an easy outlet to express ourseleves in a healthy way

[Jumijo]

Wet morning in New England.  Rain turning to snow later this afternoon.

Spent time running HO trains with my boys last night. I might stop by Charles Ro and get them Henry the green engine, Thomas, and some coaches. Can an HO layout be far off?

I did stay up well past midnight last night. Not a problem. I'll sleep on the drive home. Saw some Ebay auctions close out while I watched the Dirty Dozen. Then had some egg nog and a couple of turkey sandwiches. There goes the waist line!

John Bakeer, thank you for the kind words. Glad to hear that the Jumijo is a hit in Europe as well as the States.

Jim 

[Anonymous]

Well I guess I can cancel my leave of absence from the board...

Never got the Christmas layout built, no time. [tdown]

Had a nice relaxing weekend with Susan, mostly spent time getting the house ready for Christmas guests, putting finishing touches on the bathroom (still have some to do - more on that later), and cleaning up from the construction.

Not much on the train side for Christmas this year. Got the Martinsburg Coal Mine for the big layout, 2007 Lionel Christmas Parade Aquarium car, two metal signs for the train room, DVD of that layout we've been talking about Diamond something or other - haven't watched it yet, book on C&O Steam Engines, and a print of the B&O EM-1 (now I have to get one to run on the layout)!

As I was working on the Christmas Layout framing I determined that I need to keep the big layout at a MAX of 8ft wide... otherwise there is no room to navigate through the train room.  So now I'm working on trimming it down some.

So the bad news... as Christmas day was wrapping up Susan calls me into the kitchen... 'Look at that!' (pointing to the ceiling).  It seems there was a wet spot on the ceiling, right about where the shower drain would be located.  So I go upstairs and take the shower control knob off, pull out the flange, and notice the plug for the tub line is leaking! So I try tightening the plug and it doesn't help.  So turn off the water, remove the plug, wrap with more teflon tape, start to put it back in, and it falls inside the wall!  So now I have to open the wall in the toilet room to fetch the plug.  Get the plug, put it in, turn on water, everything looks good.  So I have been thinking about this and wondering if I should just sweat the plug and be done with it.  I will never have to install a tub supply since this is in a shower and the tub is seperate, and since the teflon tape has already failed once I think it would be best.

[ChiefEagles]

Morning.  Cloudy, damp and cold.

[Anonymous]

Morning.  Cloudy, damp and cold.

So what did you do to get relegated to the doghouse?

[Jumijo]

Welcome back, Brent!!!

Sweat that connection and sleep with peace of mind.

Socks and underwear for me on Christmas. All I got was one coal hopper, and it was from Mary's cousin! Oh, and a gift certificate to a local train store from her sister. No biggie. When I see something I want, I get it. And it won't be in the socks OR underwear isle!

Jim 

 

[chefjavier]

Good Morning!

Well, I am heading back to Austin, TX. I had a great time in Lebanon, Ohio. I went to see the Cincinnati Museum and it was great to see some awesome train layout. I went to the A tower where you could see the entire CSX and NS Classification yard. It runs by Cincinnati Railroad Club. I would love to have a room with that kind of view. If you would like more info. their website: www.cincinnatirrclub.org 

Now, I need to start thinking food...

[Jumijo]

Just tried finding a couple of Lionel books at Border's and Barnes & Noble near me. All are out of stock. Might stop by Charles Ro this weekend...

Jim