So, what's been shakin'?
Yeah, It got me up. I felt the little vibes, then the whole thing creshendoed into a full scale rumble. I could here my Transformer Figs rattle on the shelves, and I rember thinking, Bed's shaking... Cathrine? (Our ghosty friend, known to shake the bed if someone is in the neighborhood making worrysome noises) No, not her. House ius shaking. it;s an Earthqake! (Half asleep panic) Now, what is it I'm supposed to do in one of those? I should go get mom. Except the floor;s shaking. And she's a bear to get up.
After the initial, I heard her up. She thought I was shaking the bed, then figured it was military jets again. Since there were booms and flashes of light near Kokomo night before last. (F-16 practice, running through Sound barrier) We went back to bed, and I felt the bed shake minorly. Or maybe that was just me.
Mom said an aftershock hit at 11:40 while she was e-mailing her tech guy. Said the monitor shook. Why do I have an urge to build an Earthquake machine on the layout?
-Morgan
Gerry, thanks for changing the subject back to the Diner... I was gettin' lost there for a few minutes....
I'll have a Pastrami Melt with some Chicken and Sausage Gumbo for lunch today...and a beer....
Speaking of Winter Park, Fraser, and Tabernash....this is a UP/BNSF unit coal consist we found on Saturday making it's way toward Fraser.
Ryan BoudreauxThe Piedmont Division Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger eraCajun Chef Ryan
Hey howdy! I HAVE A STORY FOR Y'ALL!
I worked in the Port of Baltimore, Dundalk Marine Terminal yesterday into this morning. We spotted some multi-levels for unloading and pulled some loaded boxcars from the marine sheds, standard stuff. As we headed outta the marine terminal, with a GP38-2 and seven loaded boxcars, the engineer gets outta his seat and tells me to get over there. I sat behind the control stand and told me how to use the dynamic brake and throttle and all and let me run home! He stood right there watching me for a few minutes, but I got so caught up in where I was going and trying to keep a constant speed that I didn't realize that he sat down in the conductor's seat. That was an awesome experience! I was literally bouncing around after that! I CAN'T WAIT TO BE AN ENGINEER! Or at least can't wait for another chance to run!
And here's a good picture that I took in Enola Yard, an SD70M-2 leading two SD80MACs on an empty coal train. Dont' see many MACs around here.
Still living the dream.
Scott - Dispatcher, Norfolk Southern
Hi Zoe - I'll have a root beer float, please.
"...It's only rock 'n' roll, and I like it..."
Yeah... I got woke up for a bit this morning. Heard some of my MRR stuff (in boxes on some shelves in my bedroom) rustlin' around or something, and finally figured it might be an earthquake. I was at work when the second one hit (at my desk), but in my office, if a heavy truck goes by on the street outside, sometimes the windows rattle, so wasn't sure on that until others said something.
Good to hear no one (so far) had any big damage (unless you count those 1:87th and 1:160th insurance adjusters I saw heading out...). I was guessing that it might've happened over Indiana-border way due to all the rain you folks have been getting hit with lately ('greasing' the tectonic plates to better slip and slide).
Well, I've gone through a printout of clients I've seen in the past six months, and except for about 3 I'll continue to see (and maybe a dozen I'll be transferring after their next scheduled session), it's gonna be just some intakes to finish dictating. Of course, today I had three people to see (2 of whom I was going to transfer to the new therapist), and nobody showed up (the one I'm keeping on my load called in sick). Spent a bit of the morning chatting with the new psychologist/Dr. I told him he has as weird of a sense of humor as I do.
Didn't get any more work done on the Roberts kitbash last night. A former classmate (who's got her Ph.D. now and works as liason for one hospital we work with) is treating me to dinner tonight. She can deduct it as business expense, but we talk and catch up on what's happening with each other, too. Going to meet at Outback after I get off work. Heck, I haven't been there yet, and she's paying... I probably will pass on the "bloomin' onion" they have, though.
Tomorrow, a bunch from our church singles group is meeting to help move one of the members. She's in a house now, and moving (just herself) into a 2-bedroom apartment. Her (grown) kids and grandkids will - for now - be staying in the house as long as they can. I may get back to working on my Roberts Printing kitbash when the moving's all done (and I have dinner).
Jeff, you seem to have the magic mailbox there! Good to hear about your foot continuing to heal up. Keep doing what you're doing, all right.
Inch, good joke there - I told it to the secretary (whose office is across the hall from mine), and she laughed at it, too.
Lee, sounds like a very enjoyable session for all at your place. Alex has the right attitude about MRR'ing, I'd say. Even likes pushing the cars around for switching.
Rob, sent you a couple of emails for your questions, so check your email.
Scott, you are truly one fortunate fella! The other railroaders must be taking a liking to you, giving you that practice and all. The dream, indeed!
Jerry, that's a neat trick on those lamps. Now, if they're not too warm and you can carve some kind of top thingee for them, you'll be giving Walthers and those others a run for the money!
RT, hope the place holds open until you can get the mobile home sold off (and that you sell it off pretty quick). Is there some way you could temporarily rent a place during the week and get the new job going, and come home on the weekends? Sure hate to see you have to pass on that job due to the housing thing.
PC, How long until your classes are done this semester? Seems like it shouldn't be too much longer.
CN Charlie, aren't you outside working on your tan in that heatwave up there? And y'know if I can figure how to redirect our rain, I will for sure send it your way to wash off your car. (Would've thought that you folks there would have such modern conveniences as carwashes by now... )
And where are Johnboy, Fergie, DerJohn and Luc lately?
Well, I'd best get to my float before the ice cream gets all melted. Oh yeah, good news! - got the car part in and they fixed the chime-chime-chime-chime-chime-chime every minute. Sooooo nice to have a quiet car again. Ahhhh....
Blessings and a great start to your weekend,
Jim in Cape Girardeau
Sheeesh! I'm done complaining about the weather up here! Glad everyone's OK.
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Hey Scott ya doing great, and thanks for the latest report! Sounds like the dream job has come true for you! Looking forward to the next adventure installment.
So I get off work early today and head home, paid $3.39 / gal. for regular unleaded and then got home. Set to work in the yard since it was a beautiful day. I weed eat, mow, and then blow all the clippings. About half way through mowing I had to stop, about wore me out with 1/2 of the 1/2 acre with the push mower. Today was an Orange alert day with Ozone and the pollen count being so high, I thought I was gonna faint. Took a little break and finished it all up in about 2 1/2 hours. Only the 3rd time working the yard this season and the grass looked like it had'nt been touched since October last year.
I think I'll have a beer now....
Jim, you making that Root Beer Float look real good too! Might have that for dessert.
Well I hope everyone fared well over the earthquake this morning. Most of our earthquakes originate under Lake Erie, so we have 1,277,295,890,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water to help absorb some of the shock. Yea I had to look that number up, quite impressive no?
I finally got the challenger and mallet to go all the way around the layout on the #2 main line today. To save money I've been using brass turnouts, they will be the death of me. Most of them won't carry current all the way across to the next rail joiner so I've had to power both ends. I've painted 75% of the 3 mains so far and have applied metal preservative to maybe 10% of the #2 main.
Dick, that spray adhesive at HD is $7/can but its $3/can at Wal-Mart right there in the paint isle near the other glues.
Jerry those street lights look pretty good
Jim, I called Alex's mom today to see what Alex thought about the trains and if he had a good time, evidently Alex had a great time and gave his mom a complete inventory of motive power and rolling stock to his mother last night over dinner.
Diesel dropped 10 cents a gallon last week; $4.09/gal is kind of nice. Then again I get 20 to 28 MPG with my ford.
Lee
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Evening Gang: I'm happy to hear that everone in the quake zone is all right. That was quite un-nerving I'm sure.
Lee I'll be looking forward to seeing your dock yard scene. With your familiarty with the prototype it should be great. Have you been up to the head of the lakes and seen the loading docks? Alex sure looked like he was having fun. Better get him on a throttle soon.
Not much happening here. I went over to the track to get some work done at West Fork. I got my diesel out and fueled it. I figured that it was easier to fill it up first rather then walking back after it ran out somewhere on the main. Anyway I loaded up my tools and headed out. When I got to West Fork it was under water. At least the part I needed to work on. I went ahead and ran to the end of the line and came back heading to home. To that point I'd had three derailments. Not very good. When I was on the curve heading to Grizzley Flats I derail again. I do mean derailed. The locomotive and tender, ( yes my diesel has a conferted steam switcher tender for a head end power car) bothe were on the graound. I rerailed and the locomotive wouldn't go. The right front foot board had been e=bent under the frame. After fighting to get that bent out I headed back again only to hit the ground at the switch leading into Grizzly Flats. This is not being a good run. I finally got back to the house and into the bay. When I got the step off and straightned the brackets I started to put it back and found that the front plate of the locomotive was bent also. I got everything back right and headed home. A real bummer.
Scott: Way to go there. It is fun having you hand on that throttle isn't it.
I'm off to bed. Good Night All
Good Night All
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
A tall cool glass of water, thanks!
***Jim, if you sent "this Rob" an e-mail, I never got it.
***Lee, do you think you could send me 1,000 of that 1,277,295,890,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water, so I can top off our water storage tanks & tubs? I'm not asking for much really.
***Paul, you work too hard!
***Jeffrey, I'm surprised there would be much you didn't already know. Do try to keep your head attached to your shoulders, it would be a darn shame to lose you that way.
Good Night Folks. Rob
Good Morning from Tipton IN !
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
Good morning all,
Today: A chance of showers after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Southeast wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Tonight: A chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. South wind between 7 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Lake Temp is 42F.
Rob, go to Niagara, NY with a bucket and I'll push the water towards you, LOL! Actually the city of Phoenix, AZ wants to buy water from the Great Lakes. I thought it was a dumb idea since it would be really warm by the time it got there.
Paul, Well I have power now to the yard tracks, but had a short in one of the turnouts on the east end. Hopefully I can switch that out before Alex comes out again, last time he had to use an unpowered RS-2 to switch cars. The docks; well Dale is the Great lakes shipping industry and historical expert. So with his help the docks should be extremely accurate.
I did something wrong this week, I built a drop leaf "duck under" and it works flawlessly. Even the challenger glides across it.
JimRCGMO wrote: PC, How long until your classes are done this semester? Seems like it shouldn't be too much longer.
I'm in an accerated program, so no breaks for me. No summer break, no spring break, nothing. The only time we get a break is if a major holiday falls on class night or we also get 2 weeks for Christmas.
Morning fellers!
I done lost another 2.5 lbs. on the new regimine.....
Another spring like day here in the Piedmont....
Y'all take care now!
Mornin, an irish coffee please Janie. We got some rain here again and more forecast most the day. Highs in the upper 50's today, 60's tomorrow.
Here's more info on yesterday's quake an after shocks, http://www.showme.net/~fkeller/quake/salemquake.htm
What makes quakes in the Midwest [ called the Ozark dome] so dangerous is a layer of silt n sand on the bedrock, 1 to 5 mile below the surface, this can become liquefied and act as a lubricant to spread the force over a larger area. Then add to the fact that up till a few years, there were no quake requirements on private or public construction.
So the quakes of 1811 n 12 magnitude [estimated at 7 plus] that were felt a 1000 mile away and rang church bells in Philadelphia. Would damage or destroy buildings and infrastructures over a much larger area, than the California quakes.
Yesterday's quake was a 5.2 and short [less than a minute] was felt 350 mile plus and no major damage, so not much, if any liquefaction. A stronger, longer lasting quake [in any of the Midwest seismic zones] could amplify [more liquefaction] the major damage to larger populated areas, than those on the west coast. For more info on this area.
http://www.dogpile.com/dogpile/ws/results/Web/New%20Madrid%20fault/1/417/TopNavigation/Relevance/iq=true/zoom=off/_iceUrlFlag=7?_IceUrl=true
Here's a link to story first hand accounts of the 1800's quakes. Makes for some interesting reading.
http://www.showme.net/~fkeller/quake/lib/eyewitness1.htm
DICK
We've been getting some warmer weather [60's and 70's] here, for 2 or 3 days at a time. Then it clouds back up and rains. There has been some farm work in some places but not much.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
Extra strongin a SOUTHERN mug, please & thanks.
***Lee, congrats on the duck-under success. Any pics of it?
Priced the identical PS for the puter (Sparkle FSP350-60BT(12V) ATX) and it will cost over $60. More money drained from my train fund. Oh well.
I found an affordable pro-sumer printer that would allow me to produce/offer prints of more paintings, but I still have the challenge of finding someone with good enough equipment (and skills) to digitize art at a high quality level. Last time (some years ago) that search proved futile. Something worth pursuing for the long term.
Have a good day all. Rob
Good Morning All....Its cloudy and cool with temp in the low 50's..got some rain last nite but at least things ain't shaken!!....I'll have a Windy City Dawg and a Diet coke please...Thank You...
Messed for 3 days trying to get Photo Bucket to up load my photos..after Emailing them they say its my old computer so with my caregivers help we put my other computer my Niece gave me and it works OK so it musta been the computer but seems funny it was working one day then not the next?...
I finished up a old Roco IC caboose I had been working on....I had a M/T caboose frame that I picked up in a box of goodies and with a little triming and cutting on end rail it looks pretty good to me..Tracks like a M/T ....I'll try to get a photo of it latter....
I am watching the Cards-Gaints game from St. Lois...Cards are looking good...Beat them 11 to 1 last nite...
Got Nickle Plate Road caboose Decals in mail yesterday now I gotta strip and paint shell...Gonna be some masking to get white strip for "High Speed Servive" decal....
You all have a good week-end....Jerry
Hi,all!
Tommorow's supposed to be 70s and sunny soooo...... I go uncover the bikes to get them ready to ride. One dead battery(hers) and one stubborn won't start(mine). Got the charger on hers, then to mine.Removed the plugs and cleaned them up, maybe that'll help the stubborn one. It wasn't too bad looking, replaced them at the 3k mark last season.Oil changes at the end of last year so maybe they are still a little cold yet.(42f right now)
Hope to have them going for Sunday ride.
Finished this last weekend. One more to build to represent the Spooner roundhouse, which up to last week was still there. It was torn down Tuesday.It's sitting temporarily, still have to "dig it in":
Hello everybody....
It looks like this place has had very few customers this afternoon. The owners will be studying their break even point and shutting the place down if we don't stop in more often.
Jeff ... congrats on completing leadership course.
Terry ... that's a great roundhouse!
Jerry ...... Don't you just love technology? Good luck with the computer and photobucket. I'd like to see caboose photos.
Lee .... Congrats on your flawless duck under. I'd make a joke if somebody wants a wise quack.
Everyone .... I posted pictures of my Burlington E5 set in WPF if you're interested.
Now ... What shall I order? Hmmmm .... A chocolate milk "quake" will do fine.
Happy Model Railroading!
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Good Evening All,
A nice steak and some Cabernet would be a treat just now. Ryan may have lost a couple of pounds on his new regime, but I've found them. Work until 4:30 today finishing up a couple of jobs and delivering another plus more stuff for the new trailer to put in next week and invoicing. Did get a couple more hours in on the empire bashing up a Merchant's row II to move the tower into the middle from the end where it didn't work. Chop it all up and move it around until it fits the space. Did some more washes on the streets and that's coming along to the point where I might even attempt some stripes. At any rate here's a progress shot of the area around Hudson Wire and the bashed building front wall mocked up. Still need lots of details and sidewalks even but we're getting there little by little. J.R.
Ah, top of the page. What'll y'all have then?
Good evening....what a beautiful day today, temp hit 78.5F, and RH was only 30%, but working outside left me dry real fast...4 bottles of Gator-aid today before heading off the 4pm Mass and Dinner with the wife at a nice country restaurant.
RYAN: I'll post a pic here soon on how to get bio mass down fast.
JEFF: Brush fires breaking out here more every day, not enough green yet and plenty of dead grass and dead brush in the woodlands and fields. I'll bet you had a few cold ones after the morning training session !! LOL
LEE: Thanks for heads up on that Adhesive, the wife is planning a Wal-Mart run tomorrow, so I'll head to the paint dept and get a can to try out. What a price difference between HD and Wal-Mart though !!!!
MIKE: Those websites made for interesting reading, thank you Mike for posting for us. I'll bey many people don't know that that layer of silt was from and inland ocean millions of years ago that covered much of mid America.
Later guys,
HI ALL:
I really enjoy hearing from all of you, There is not much to say....same ole same ole. Still waiting for some reply on the insertation of decoders in small size shays. Maybe thinking of putting decoders in a trailing car but most will be log boogies. I'm lost on what to do!!!!!!!
Dinner for Kathy. I've gotto w**k. Maybe later
Chuck
Evening Gang:
Garry you really Quack me up. See what you started?
JR: Nice work there.
I went over to the track for a bit this morning. Then I headed for home to take Mary Ann to the Shaw-Kemp log cabin open house. She wanted to go and see the Blue Bonnets. They usually cover the ground around the site. Unfortunately a late freeze killed them. I ran into a fellow I had known several years ago. He was working part time as a deputy sherriff. He ownes a company that does signal and crossing gate work for the railroads. He is going to be coming by the meet and said that he'll let the rest of the department know so they may be showing up. We sure won't have a security problem.
The diesel made it around with 3 derailments. I couldn't see a problem with the track. Tomorrow I'll take Terry's diesel SW around and see if I have trouble with it. If I do it is the track and not my locomotive.
Jeff congrats on completeing the leader ship course. We never stop learning.
Well I'll head for bed.
JR, when you get to the road striping, I highly reccommend Elmer's paint sticks.You can get them in fine,med. and large tips and lots of colors,I got them at the (sorta) local wallys.:
They are very easy to use.You push down to start the paint flowing and I used a straight edge. Practice on something else first, or it'll look like a county re-paint:
Terry,
Thanks for the tip. I have a bunch of paint sticks already at the shop so I can try those tomorrow. At least two different tip widths as well. Does the paint dry pretty flat in tone or do I need to dull coat it afterwards? Whose phone booth is that in the first pic? Nice work by the way. J.R.
Tall cool glass of water, thanks.
***JR, nice progress!
***Terry...and what is wrong with "Country Repaint?" BTW, your road looks GREAT.
***Paul, sure hope you figure out what is causing those derailments. Sounds frustrating.
I've made another decision: I'm going to sell 1, 2, or 3 more vintage locos, starting with an old, yet very smooth running Berk. I will put the proceeds towards a new Life-Like version. Just love all those applied details on the newer models.
Poison ivy is not as bad as a couple days ago (wife & I both picked it up from petting the cows recently). Will put out our last round bale tomorrow. Not much else to report on.
Healing thoughts to those in need!
Rob
Good evening all,
These pictures are in order so once you look at the first picture you can just hit the "next" button.
Obviously still in the construction phase and nothing is complete yet......
Currently I have all existing track wired and I'm rolling inch by inch down the mainlines fixing minor issues. The yard runs well, however I need to clean and seal the turnouts.
Pictures of the drop leaf duck under:
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2785627410029441264LatJOW?vhost=rides
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2360067130029441264UawyER?vhost=rides
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2911087370029441264GIxQyb?vhost=rides
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2611642960029441264WrHhiS?vhost=rides
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2913457740029441264lmewRv?vhost=rides
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2642103590029441264CwncIa?vhost=rides
Picture of the train room looking west:
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2079469230029441264WUuhXh?vhost=rides
Track level looking at the west end of the yard:
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2024368970029441264AizFLf?vhost=rides
Looking under the yard; the layout is made up of 3'x4' interlocking sections. 1"x4" frames, ½" sanded one side plywood with 2'x4' legs on every other section so if I move the layout can move with me. All I need to do to pack it up is install the wood tops and off it goes. Each section can support 220 pounds plus.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2991662270029441264LPbsWc?vhost=rides