Elliotts Trackside Diner II

[pcarrell]

PC, good to see you back in the Diner. Sorry to hear about your daughter's accident, but I bet she'll be a more cautious driver now.

PC, glad to hear that your daughter was okay after the accident and that did sound like a hairy curve too! The angels were with her!

She was indeed being cared for by a higher power.  She narrowly averted a head on.  Yesterday she took one of our other cars out and she said she wasn't nervous, but she was more cautious.  The unfortunate thing is that the road this all happened on, where this rather nasty curve is located, is one that we use to get around on all the time, so she will have to drive it again.  Good for her I guess.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

The unfortunate thing is that the road this all happened on, where this rather nasty curve is located, is one that we use to get around on all the time, so she will have to drive it again.  Good for her I guess.

When the horse bucks you off get back on.

[Rommel]

Evening fellow diners. Just got home. I think I'll just have coffee-Thanks.

Terry-I'm interested in the passenger cars.What do you want for them?

Cox47-nice job on the town. I like the diner-the extension is a nice touch.

Not too much else going on. I'm going to try and borrow a camera this weekend. There are somemore pics I want to take so I can post them. 

Before I went to work today I just happened to poke my nose in the other room and there are two wack jobs there with the screen names of Rommel and da_kraut.Personally I find those names offensive and happen to mention it to one of our pt moderators and the response I got was a sudo history lesson and not much else. Might as well have been talking to the wall.Maybe if I ignore those two they will go away.

I'll just stay in here from now on-it's safer.Well I got to go now. Got to get up at 5AM for work.

How did this happen?Top of the page again.At this rate I'll be broke by the end of the weekend.

See you all later-NJ Bob 

But then again maybe not?

Sorry your affended

Im a Historical war gamer ( Flames Of War) and a model railroader (NKP & Era II ) I feel lucky to have two great hobbys that I can i take part in and over lap some, Often my toy soldiers can be used as freight in my toy trains, Im also a orginizer of gaming events in my area and have made lots of friends in both railroading and wargaming and Im glad each of them has not judged me before knowing me like you have. You have inspired me thou ,Im thinking of changing my name to "WACK JOB" - the desert fox.

[LSWrr]

Ryan,

I would say look up a historical scosiety and go visit their locomotive shops.  often the volunteers are retired railmen and will tell you their stories all day.  If you ever find yourself in Bellview Ohio there is an excelent museme.

My "step father" worked at Conrails Stanley yard shops in Walbridge, OH from 1978-1993.  While in Jr high and High school I did several "take your kid to work" days working Toledo CUT, Stanley's hump Yard, and in the locomotive shops.  Conrail wasn't shy about letting a 15-18 year old work as long as I had the proper gear.

Hump yard was fun, working the CUT was the dirtiest and most physicly demanding work I've ever done, I'd rather fill sand bags for 8 hours a day!

My first night shift at the CUT my job was to carry the cables to the other end of the train while they turned the locomotive, those cables were 80 pounds each! And there was 4 of them! Then they showed me the little truck they used to haul the cables.

The last time I was in the shops a locomotive fell into gear, hit the derailer, went off the tracks, hit the concrete pad infront of the shop re-railing it's self and drove through both doors of the engine house (at about 10 MPH).  That bay was empty but 20 minutes previously I was in that bays inspection pit with a squeege pushing water to the drains.

The Hump Yard all I had to do was stand on a set of steps and using chalk write what ever the guy told me to on the side of the cars. 

Lee 

[Anonymous]

Morning fellow diners.Coffee and buttered toast please.

Garry-no offence taken.I understand exactly what you are saying.I know I'm not doing myself any good.

Lee-thanks for the heads up on mailing the cars.As soon as I get them I will send my stuff back ASAP.

Ryan-Thanks.I noticed the No Smoking sign when I first came to the diner.It's not lunch time yet but I'll be back for a couple of plates of shrimp.

Philnrunt-I still don't know all that my editing program can do but I'm learning.What it boils down to is this-you create it in one program then bring it over to another,convert it and enhance it.Sounds easy but I still make mistakes.Take for example the diesels in my signature. I did that in MS Publisher.I resized it and then copied it to my editing program (Irfanview) and converted it to a jpeg,uploaded to Photobucket and that's it.

I guess everyone has their own way of doing this-but this is what works for me.

See you all later-FoulRift

[Cox 47]

Howdy All....Its sunny and very cold here today...I'll have the Blue plate Special and the Amtrak German cake..please...Thank You....Sallie and I watched DVD caregiver brought this morning Room 1408 a Steven King story...Worked a little on the B&O caboose got the windows in...Not much going on here....You all have a good one...Jerry

[Anonymous]

Rommel-at first I was offended but I'm over that now.Keep the name and welcome to the dinerFoulRift
 

[Cederstrand]

 

The unfortunate thing is that the road this all happened on, where this rather nasty curve is located, is one that we use to get around on all the time, so she will have to drive it again.  Good for her I guess.

[When the horse bucks you off get back on.]

***If it is a rodeo/bucking horse. Otherwise, I would say the person who trained the horse in the first place didn't know what they were doing. Speaking strictly horses here. I know what you meant...just having fun.

Now for some in a AT&SF and the Denver Zephyr Chuck Wagon ~ Filet of Perch, Whipped Potatoes, & Cole Slaw.

***FoulRift, the light at the end of the tunnel may have been turned off, but at least you didn't fall into one of the airshafts on the way, right!?!

Have a good day all.

Rob

[JPowell]

Afternoon all -

  Just got back a little bit ago after dropping $85 @ the LHS. Had the owner order me 2 Green Frog videos, 1 Kalmbach book, and 1 Norscot vehicle.

  Speaking of the LHS I go to, the owner was also packing up some itmes to take tomorrow to the Train Show in Amherst, MA. Dick / GMT - are either of you 2 going? If so, find the table that Central Hobby Supply from Syracuse has and said hi to Bill (the owner) for me! Never know, he may have some items of your liking as well.

  Other than that, Chloe, let me have the NYC special, and the cake for desert. Thanks!

Well all, time to go get some work done here around the apartment.

Take care!

[Flashwave]

Morning, Zoe - I'll have Ed's OJ, cup of coffee and some of Bill T.'s buffet, please. Thank you, ma'am!

Jeff, good to hear that your foot's progressing. Keep up on your insulin, though.

Sounds like Lara continues to be a fighter, Paul. Great!

NJ Bob, as the others said, we'll be pulling for you to help quit the smoking. Maybe you and your wife could quit together, and help each other stick with it, also. I was the only one in our family of four growing up who didn't get started smoking ('nuther story there for later) - my Mom died from other causes before the cigarettes got to her, my Dad was in a nasty accident with another car (and quit because he was in intensive care and couldn't smoke), but later died of respiratory problems a few years later, and I had one aunt who died of cancer from smoking. My brother quit, but not sure how - he was living out of our area by then. I had a bit of bronchitis back in fall of 1990 (while going through my separation & divorce), and I never took up 'the nasty habit'. So the sooner you could quit, the more likely it is that you could be extending how long you'll live. (Mom died at age 55, while Dad - after he quit - lived into his 70's)

PC, good to see you back in the Diner. Sorry to hear about your daughter's accident, but I bet she'll be a more cautious driver now.

Fergie - nice pics of the loco and passenger cars (but almost felt cold just from looking at them, even before you told me how cold it was up your way)! 

Dick, hope you got some more wood in, to keep your home fires burning.  

Oh, a short note to our students (Colby, Hoople, Shockwave and any others I missed) -  STUDY UP! We do expect our Diner students to get a good education (which will prove helpful later when you are done with school 'n' college). Keep at 'em, guys!

On the Orange Juice Special idea, the Colorado Arizona & Western (CAW) will grant through rights between Farmington, NM and the ATSF in Holcomb, AZ. Should be a really nice view for those in the observation dome cars as you pass through the CAW's area! 

Cold and crisp today in Cape G. - it's 18 F (-8 C) with a wind chill of 3 F (-17 C). But that's okay, we're going to warm up into the TWENTIES this afternoon uh, before we drop back to about 10 F (-12 C) tonight (minus whatever wind chill...). Ah, well, just won't go out any more than necessary.

Won some auctions yesterday/last night - a P2K GP7 (undec., phase II, dyn. brakes), Walthers 4-in-1 modular building set, and an Athearn Frisco PS 2893 covered hopper. Think I need to lay off the auctions for a while now. Have to make sure I have enough left for new insurance on the car. Not wild about the rates some of the insurance companies are quoting me. I also despise their using credit history to determine rates, since that has about nothing to do with a person's driving record. Okay, time for me to step down from the now.

Better get going on my breakfast and then time to go w**k so all you ORF's can get your Soc.Secur. checks! Everyone take care out there with that cold weather most of us seem to be having a spell of.

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

Heh heh Irony. Shockwave is another part of the TF mythos. I'm Flashwave.  (I can't tell you how many times that happens here. I'm just prodding with ya.

And yes I do study. Gots my Chemistry in my lap here. After all, my plans are to be working  the large scales for a job (1:1)

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good afternoon ...

I saw Ryan posted info on the Denver Zephyr's Chuck Wagon...... The DZ was an all Budd, stainless steel train, and the Chuck Wagon was located in a vista dome car coupled ahead of the dining car. Its was Burlington's flagship train. It was highly popular, and it may have been the most profitable train in the country. It was usually a long train and often a second section was operated. Normally, it had at least two E9's, and often would have extra E units added.

I put together my own DZ several years ago, and I've upgraded with newer cars when better ones (or more prototypical) are made.  At present my DZ is as follows: 2 P2K E8's, 1 BLI baggage car, 2 Walthers coaches, 1 BLI Dome Coach, 1 BLI Dome Cafe Dorm (my Chuck Wagon), 1 BLI Dining Car, 1 Con Cor Slumber Coach, 2 Con Cor Sleeping Cars, and 1 kit bashed Dome Observation. I can add extra cars, but it's already rather long.

The kitbashed dome observation car is one I made from a Con Cor Dome Coach and a Model Power Budd Observation car. Windows were relocated to match the prottype and a roof antenae is installed.

I don't operate the full train much because it's easier to operate shorter trains. My schedule has three short fictional Zephyrs running in each direction each day.  

SO .... Thanks Ryan for posting the Chuck Wagon information.

 

[saronaterry]

Evening every one.

LEE: as soon as I figure out how ,I will. It's a map ,hand drawn, of the Omaha X i copied out of the historical soceity's book at the museum in Spooner.It's pretty neat! Plus it gives visitors a quck snapshot of what I'm modeling in the basement.

Terry

[saronaterry]

Hi, again! I'll have  an Old Smoothie please. Thanks.

OK ,Lee, I had to have the CFO DO it for me but you should have the map. E-mailed to your address below your signature.

Terry

[Anonymous]

Rob-falling down an airshaft in dark would really hurt and the other thing that add injury to insult would be if there was something creepy crawly at the bottom.FoulRift

[fec153]

Hi all! Have just a few minutes before bedtme. Big welcome to all the new folks. Heck I'm only 4 pages behind. Can't read fast enogh to catch up.

Ed-I still have 3 of their albums also 4 Freshman and The Limelighters. Plus others.

Condolances to those that have lost dear ones. Prayers are said daily for all of us. Yes, I include pets in thoughts. They give as much and even more comfort than fellow humans.

Flip  aka Fla.Phil

[grayfox1119]

Good evening, I hope everyone had a great day, I see that the Donkeys and the Elephants played nice today and we are all going to see checks in the mail sometime between May and July. So the Fed wants us to go spend that money to get the economy rocking again, so start making a list for your visit to your LHS.. $600 per person, $300 for each child, the cap is $75K for single people and $150K for married couples. After the cap it is reduced to some lower figure up to a final cap. So, if you are married, and have 4 kids, you will get a check for $2400! ( Sorry, dogs and cats don't count as kids ).

It was not too cold here today, hit 30F, 19F here now with cold air streaming in on NW winds straight from Canada courtesy of Johnboy and CN Charlie , etc. But we have a moderation coming by Monday, 40F's, whoopy doo !!!

TRAIN SHOW: The biggest train show in the east if not the whole country is this Saturday and Sunday in West Springfield, Massachusetts. They have expanded it to 4 buildings this year, which covers 4 acres of space, every vendor in the world will be there. I plan to go on Saturday with my son and grandson.

JIM: Ya, I am watching the third row disappear about 2 feet a day, but it may slow up next week with the warmup that is expected here. That will melt the snow enough that I can get the yard tractor and cart up back to get more wood "just in case", or JIT as we used to say in work.

JOHNBOY: Hop a freight and come to Springfield on Saturday, the Loony goes a long way south of the border with the exchange rates now.

CNCHARLIE:  Ok, you can shut the back door now Charlie....the house is aired out enough.

FERGIE: Good to see you made it back safely, now you can get back to the MRR room unless the HDJ is full again.

NJBOB: You are in trouble lad...your wife smokes too?? It is going to be very hard for you unless you can get her to stop also. I sincerely hope you can do it, my neighbor was facing the same problem, his wife could not stop, she passed away from lung cancer at age 62, he now is on O2 and is giving up without her. Bob, PLEASE STOP NOW !!! There are new methods now that are working well, go talk to a doctor or someone who specializes in helping people to quit, but you need to do this together.

ED: Make sure that you do PM's on that cable, otherwise you might be floating down the river to the GOM.!!

Ok, time to throw another log on the fire, see you guys later

[Hoople]

I had a good day at the LHS.

I was lucky to find four pullman standard 85' walthers cars in southern pacific. I wanted all four, but I only bough two, the 48 seat diner and the 10-6 sleeper. Red Stripe scheme.

I also bought an Athearn 40' reefer steel Swift, and a P2K 53'6" EJ&E flat car with tractor engines as loads.

Lastly I got two woodland scenics tree kits. Now I need that backdrop and I can go nuts.

Mark

[Paul W. Beverung]

Evening Gang:

Baby Lara is doing well. She is 4lb 10 oz and sucking down the milk. She peaked at Mary Ann and me today. When she gets out of the hospital she will only recognize me as a small gray box with one eye. I've always got my camera on her for that once in a life time shot.

My friend Tony is now on disability. He'll be getting $2500 a month from the VA. His case worker told him today. Unfortunately he probably won't live to see any of it. He will be moving to a hospice ward soon. At least he is being well cared for. I hear a lot of negative stuff about the VA but they are doing a great job with Tony. I just wish that he would have gone to them last year when I wanted him to.

Mark nice haul. I think that I would have gone for all the passenger cars.

Dick I think that you had better make later sooner. I just saw the girls talking to Vinnie. I would like to go to a train show like that once. Man 4 buildings! Don't break the bank.

Terry I'd like to see a good copy of that drawing too. Maybe Lee will post it?

Lee how about that?

If the Orange Juice Special is coming from Canada if it comes across the border at the Soo it can come to Marquette and my Duluth Superior & Southeastern can take it to Duluth to hook up with Terry's railroad.

Flip it's good to see you. Have a whatever on me. Maybe you could use your influance with the girls to go easy on Dick. Oh yea I think that you had better leave well enough alone. I don't think that they have quite forgotten that party.

Well it's about bed time.

Good Night All

[Anonymous]

Dick-my wife and I already talked about it and we are going to quit together and I already have the support of many of the diners who are willing to help. I talked to my doctor.He had given me some pills to help but the the ins.co.stopped paying and I slipped back into it again.NJ Bob

[LSWrr]

Rommel, Welcome to the diner!  Once upon a time I was a huge war gamer, often Going to the university meets to play MechWarrior, battle ground 2010, and some large scale medieval battles with the little cast figures and vehicles.  That was way before computers.  Having 50 to 100 people gathered around tables set up end to end in a university basketball court was always chaotic but fun.

FoulRift, no hurry I'm glad the passenger cars are going to a good home.

Terry, nothing in my email, was this a 20 Mb file or something?  I double checked my spam file and didn't see it.

Mark, sounds like you had a good day at the LHS!

Last and not Least [insert drum roll please]

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY GREYFOX! .

I know your B-Day is friday, I just wanted to be the first to say it!

Lee

[CNCharlie]

 Good evening diners!

 I'll have some of that Chocolate Cake Ryan  baked and a coffee please Chloe.

Johnboy; You asked about the train to Churchill. Yes it still runs and is operated by Via. It goes from Winnipeg but some people pick it up in The Pas. We have some friends who took it this past summer and found it a very long trip as it runs at a slow speed espcially from The Pas north due to poor track and also it stops a lot as you can still flag it down.

Grayfox; I realize I did say earlier this week that it was supposed to warm up by today but it was the usual little joke by our weather office. They now say early next week. I stand  by my earlier claim that they are a sadistic bunch at Enviroment Canada. I would very much like to stop the cold air but as I have said before I don't have much control, much like the situation at home.

I like the idea of a special headed to Ed in Mexico. We could fire up CP 2816 in Calgary and run it through Regina and pick up Johnboy, continue on CP lines to Winnipeg where yours truly could join and then south on Soo Line to Minneapolis and Chicago. I think it would be great to see steam in winter. That way we could say that something warm came from Canada for a change.

Jeff; I do have a question for you regarding insulin. We have a dog who has been on insulin for the past 6 years. He'll be 13 tomorrow. Anyway my wife and I have often wondered if an insulin injection makes you feel better or perhaps you just feel bad if you don't get it. Your insight would be much appreciated. Glad to hear the foot is doing fine. I enjoy your photos but I'm not so keen on the weather reports, call it jealous.

Not much done on the layout this week. I had planned on getting some roads done but so far have just prep'd the roadways. I won't get the plaster stuff done this weekend as our social calendar is very full.

See you soon!

CN Charlie

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Oh .. friday is Dick's birthday?  any truth to the rumor? Happy Birthday, Dick.....

[egmurphy]

Good Evening Coffee Clubbers,

Another beautiful day down here in Paradise.    I thought it was going to warm up too much, but it clouded over in the afternoon and stayed in the mid-70's.

That was good for us as we did, in fact, get our act in gear and played 9 holes at the local club.  I played about as one would expect after a 10 month layoff from the game.  But we had fun, which is what counts.  By the way, in addition to the other good things we have down here I ought to mention the golf club.  Only nine holes, and no resort course, but they do keep it in decent condition.  The best part is that there are only around 40 playing members, so we can walk on the course anytime and tee off.  This afternoon there was only one other group on the whole course.  They have a nice swimming pool too.  I'm not a pool person, but Junior likes it.  And we get that, including all the golf we want, for $45 a month. 

Fran made some excellent chicken fajitas   for lunch, played golf with me, and still found time to bake a great layer cake.  Yup, life is good.    Oh yeah, forgot to mention, that I did find time to squeeze in a short nap this morning. 

Northern Phil - ***, that's a cheap price for a house, even one that needs some TLC.

CG Jim:  ...the Colorado Arizona & Western (CAW) will grant through rights between Farmington, NM and the ATSF in Holcomb, AZ...

Hmmm, I wonder how that will work.  Shipments from here usually cross the border at Matamoros/Brownsville, or Laredo.  NM and AZ sound like a big detour west.  But I guess we can do anything we like with virtual orange juice.

Ryan:  .. how did your sauce come out?

If you're asking about the ingredient substitution, I haven't made it yet.  We still had some left over from the potfull I made last week, and just finished the leftovers yesterday.

NJ Bob - Good luck if you do decide to try to kick the habit again.  I can imagine it's tough to do.

Dick - enjoy the train show.  Remember that I have to live vicariously through the lives of other Coffee Clubbers since I don't get to visit any shows on my own.

Make sure that you do PM's on that cable, otherwise you might be floating down the river to the GOM.!!

If you saw the condition of that frayed cable you'd never get on the ferry.  Fortunately there's another one used as a guide cable on the other side.  My in-laws tell me that in the past it wasn't uncommon for the drive cable to break.  Then all the people on the ferry would have to help haul the ferry to one side by pulling together on the guide cable.

One last question.  I know you said a few days ago that your birthday was Friday, but I thought it was the 26^th (Saturday)?  

Well, that's about it from down here.  Golf just about did me in today.

Hasta mañana,

Ed

[rtraincollector]

Dick-my wife and I already talked about it and we are going to quit together and I already have the support of many of the diners who are willing to help. I talked to my doctor.He had given me some pills to help but the the ins.co.stopped paying and I slipped back into it again.NJ Bob

Sent you a email with some info on quiting

[der5997]

Good evening Diners:  I haven't been in for a while, but I have been able to get some mrr time.  I've now got the whole of my lower level yard, yard lead and mainline reversing loop cleaned and GLEAMING!

Since the reverse loop is sandwiched below the mid level turning loop, there isn't a lot of headroom (4 inches!) Here's my solution, and it's done a fairly good job.

Taking the GLEAM method onto the main towards the doorway has been fraught with some difficulties.  There were two spots, quite close together that needed fixing. The soldered track joints (done before the curve was laid) had broken, resulting in a kink on the curve, and the transition between the grade up the main to the flat for crossing onto the module  was too abrupt, resulting in unscheduled un-couplings.  In the end I've re-laid the track in that part (this afternoon), moving the joint back onto a straight part of the grade.   The loco here is at the new joint in the track.   I'm now sorting out the matching of the new track to that on the doorway module.

 

Just my on the smoking thing. My father re-married after my mother's death.  His second wife was a widow, her husband having died of smoking related lung cancer.  She never smoked, but of course had long term exposure to his smoke. She also developed lung cancer, and died, from no active smoking of her own.  Kris' dad also smoked, and died of emphysema.

Like Mark, I have a question.    I ask because, the day after is, IIRC, Dick's birthday; and we'll need all the time we've got to prepare for a suitable, safety checked, celebration. ...oops, having now read to page 113, I see Lee has it for tomorrow, not Saturday....

 

Sue:

Did you dry any bushes for trees this fall? 

...I was able to harvest over 400 of that False Spirea I ‘discovered' here on the island a couple of years ago.  They are in the basement awaiting further processing. ...like Ryan, it'll be a matter if a line and clips.  I have to straighten many out, and clips on the end as well as on the line are needed to do that, as well as dilute white glue rather than the thairspay technique Ryan uses.  Any bugs (I haven't seen any yet) would just be more food for the basement's contingent of spiders![diner]

I really like what you've been able to do with water.

 

Jeff:  On the wound healing thing:  There was an article on Discovery Channel last year (Daily Planet goes to India) that went into the virtues of Turmeric. Seems that folks in India have been using it for millennia as a wound dressing with impressive results.  Why not Google it (or search the Discovery Channel site)?

The way your backdrop hills seem to loom over the town is awesome!

 

Mitch:

I finally got a model done after a hiatus of 3/4 of a year

...makes me feel a lot better knowing I'm not alone!!!!

 

NorthernPhil: Sorry to hear about Runtzpunkin. (and thanks for clearing the mystery of your handle!)  Your trip south to see Ed idea sounds great.  First off, we take the Atlantic from Halifax to Montreal, then we can pick up Ontarians on the way either south or west depending on who's where.....

 

Ryan:

Der John, a Food Technologist eh! Very interesting, I thought about studying food technology, but no schools in Louisiana had that kind of curriculum, just studied the culinary arts. Did you create any new food flavoring agents?

...The National College of Food Technology was one of 3 such (Leather and Steel were the others) set up by the UK government.  No new flavours that I recall, but before the Grand Opening of the new campus at Weybridge, Surrey, the water system was ‘mysteriously' coloured red for hot and blue for cold!  The same crew responsible for that also carried one of the prof's cars and put it between two trees so that there was only 6 inches to spare at either end.  (The car was a 3 wheel Messerschmitt, so this was not a difficult feat.)  There was then a plan to place the same vehicle inside the closed courtyard of the Admin building. This would have meant carrying it over the roof, and that was just plain too much work, and would have cut into the beer time too much!

BTW, much as your terrific pricing policy is appreciated on the daily menus, did you happen to see today's Walther's (I think) update and the article on shop window signs?  Have a look at the prices here!   Thanks for the tree workshop, it's in my Favourites folder.

Rob:  I've read your posts about the goats.  I feel for you, it's a bad time of year.

Dean: Good to see you back in. 

I am a tractor trailer driver as well.  Now doing that I will be able to think about it for long times while I am driving all over N. America.

...Just be sure to pull over before you start drawing track plans as a result of all that thinking!

 

Kevin:  to the Diner!

 

NJBob: back. Glad you re-considered your decision, 'cause we'd have missed out on some fine modeling skills.

my wife and I already talked about it and we are going to quit together

That's huge news, and you have our support all the way.

 

RedHorse: too!  Once that trailer is converted to a train room, the cupola would be a great place from which to shoot overhead photos!

 

Flashwave:

semi pregnant

[grayfox1119]

Thank you Lee and Garry, the girls in the Diner wanted to keep it quiet until tomorrow, and just let some of the guys into the BD party early so that there would be enough "root" beer and cake left for the rest of the guys before "certain" young bulls get into the Diner and "ravage the mead hall". Better get your cake and "root" beer NOW, if FERGIE and DUKE find out......look out !!!!

CN CHARLIE, if you send me your email address, I will send you some photos of ex-Canadian National 0-6-0, 7470,  in deep snow three weeks ago in the mountains of northern New Hampshire were I was on a railfan excursion. She was built in Montreal in 1921, and had a major overhaul to the latest FED REGS in 2003-2005.

ED: If the main cable breaks, and the safety guide cable lets go, then what? Any rapids downstream?

[da_kraut]

Good evening everybody,

hope all had a great day.  Had a chance to work on the railway a little again today.  Slowly getting there.

As for quitting smoking, I can only imagine how difficult it really is.  One of the contracts that I worked on was in a local hospital on the roof.  The job was on the 8th floor so we used the elevators and this enabled us to see what was going on in the building.  This, for me, was the best motivation to try and stay healthy.  The cancer ward from a hospital was specially bad.  Occasionally one got a glimpse as to the condition of the people.  You knew that at one time the eyes were full of energy and the bodies were strong, now the opposite.  People with tubes in them and on oxygen, just not very nice.  Certain that sights like these would make anyone change their lifestyle.

Went to a train show last weekend as well.  It was packed, packed with vendors and people that enjoy the hobby.  It was really great to see.  Lots of temptations as well.

Getting way too late, good night.

Frank 

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Chloe - I see several Diners were in later in the afternoon or early evening. I'm just stopping by before heading home, so just a cup of cocoa, please.

Thanks!

NJ Bob, we'll be pulling (and praying) for you and your wife. I understand that those baby carrots or celery help occupy the mouth without filling up your tummy... Hang in there and know we're here for you both.

Ed, we could run from Illinois west across Kansas to Colorado and then via the D&RGW down to Farmington, NM to hook up with the CAW, then take the ATSF trackage into Texas and across into Mexico and down to Ed's. And how sturdy is that ferry to the orange grove? Oh, your golf club there sounds pretty nice for the price!

Y'know, Ed, I was thinking about the OJ Special, and if we made the return trip go north from Jeff's up to (and through) Canada on the return leg shortly before it gets to the Diner, it'd likely arrive pre-chilled!

Paul, good to hear that Tony will be well-cared for and somewhat comfortable while he's still here.

Better get myself going for now. Haven't made it to bed for several days before 11 p.m., and my body's reminding me of that. Supposed to be a low of about 5 to 8 F (-15 F) tonight, and it's 12 F (-11 C) now (wind chill of 4 F/ -16 C). Possibility of some snow flurries tomorrow (we'll see about that...).

 

Blessings and stay warm,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[Hoople]

Paul: I was really tempted for all four. The other two were 4-4-2 and 6-6-4 sleepers, so I'd have way too many. Anyways, I have a secret up my sleeve. Walthers has matching coaches on sale, and a dome that matches on sale also. The coaches are $16, the dome is $22, comparing to the usual $35 and $45. (Latter for the dome.) So this way I get 4 cars for the price of 3.

[philnrunt]

    G g g ood evening all. It's so cold here the puter it chattering it's keys, and as you can see, it's frozen blue.

     

  OK, it's warmed up a bit.

    SILVERSPIKE- This is a pretty economically depressed area, and most people are living hand to mouth, so there isn't much cushion when things go bad. A few years back we had 1 of our 2 glass factories shut down, and it was just another nail in the coffin. It's not unusual for me to log 2-3 vehicle repos a week, (though none this week, knock on wood) and the For Sale signs are plentiful. Alot of the people just turned their house back over to the bank and moved away, but a bunch have also been forclosed on. That is one thing about being in police work, the worse it gets, the better job security we have. Sometimes it's just a sad little area to be in.

    Foulrift- I'm not sure if you're cussing at me, or speaking a foreign language, but I'll let you post the avatars and pics, and I'll just hammer away at the keyboard! As an example, I couldn't get this puter to switch back to black from the blue I started with, and it also got locked into BOLD type. I clicked and cussed, and finally it decided to go along with me. I really belong in the 19th century (and some of the neices think I lived then anyway!) 

    Sounds like  the Orange Juice Special  is gearing up, but we still need trackage rights to hook up with the CAW from my MIDW. Anybody south of here able to convince their Operations Dept to let a passenger run go through? I should probably keep track of the RR's involved so we can list them at the end. Let's see, we started up north with.... ahh heck, I'm gonna need to check back a few pages. Should have written it down. I'll get it figured out here directly.

   Rommel- Welcome, good to have you aboard. My chief (police dept) is a re-enactor, he belongs to the 152nd Panzer Grenadiers or some such group. They have some neat equipment, and comparing how German soldiers lived in the field to GI's is pretty neat. I used to play alot of Avalon Hill war games in the 60's and 70's, now me and a few friends get together to play Axis and Allies and even the old Fortress America game by Milton Bradley. And we still get up a Risk game about 3-4 times a year, even though my better half banned me from that particular game for awhile. She CLAIMED I got a bit intense when I played it.  

    OK, everybody stay warm, and we'll check in in a few days.