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
Good morning all, another hot day ending with more thunderstorms today. I'll be down at the docks inspecting vessels today and Sunday.
I hope our Indiana neighbors came out of the storms ok last night, we had 2 tornadoes touch down around the Maumee River Looked like the head of the river in FT Wayne, IN got a good downpour as well.
I had to work for my new lawnmower, I got a 2005 Troy built self propelled mower in exchange I had to paint the bottom of a 30' cabin cruiser. With the Temp at 97F and 87% humidity I was beat when I got done, but wow, the boat looks really good.
Maybe after work I'll walk around the layout with the camera and show off some crazy electrical nightmares in DC and some new buildings that have been completed on the L.S.&W railroad.
Lee
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Good Morning Diners!
A cup of strong coffee please Chloe.
Well it seems that rain was the order of the day yesterday as we too recieved a good soaking. It is sunny today but very windy and cool. I don't think it is supposed to get over 65F today.
Lee, painting the bottom of a 30 footer is a lot of work. I assume you were using an anti-fouling paint too. I hope it wasn't VC17 or you would go through a lot of it at that temperature. It evaporates before your eyes when it's warm out.
As it was rainy last night I decided to put together a Yardmaster box car kit as they are easy and I don't tackle anything difficult when I'm tired. I guess I was too tired even for that as I managed to get glue on my finger and you guessed it, on the side of the car too. I managed to get it off but it did leave a mark. Oh well, I guess it could be some sort of weathering.
Well it's errand day today and I hope that will include a visit to the LHS. I need a few things, Dull Coat being one for that box car.
See you soon,
CN Charlie
Morning all--
Supposed to hit about 83 here in SunnyCal today, with north winds. Which means POLLEN! Which means that it's going to be a sneezy time in the garage today, but I've GOT to re-lay the bridge track on the viaduct, or I'm going to have Articulateds taking nose-dives! I still can't believe I put a track-joint in the MIDDLE of the darned thing. Must have been having a real DUH! day when I did that one, LOL!
Jerry--NINE INCHES of rain? Holy Catfish, I hope you guys are all right out there. Nine inches out here would be HALF of our yearly rainfall, though we sure could use some. But not all at once like that!
Jeff: I see you're planting trees. Looks really nice. I like the way the park is coming along.
Jim: The New Girl on the Block is running pretty nicely, thanks. She's a little 'grindy', but I think that's probably because I'm the first person that's ever RUN her. PFM's have a very strange gearing in their articulateds, an exposed double-reduction gear that has a real whine to it until they get broken in. I could probably clean that up with an enclosed NWSL reduction gear, but that means pulling the driver and re-gearing the whole thing, and I'm not THAT mechanically minded. She'll smooth out over time. Pulls like a team of oxen, though. I'm pretty happy with her. She's as long as my Yellowstones, and TALLER!
Alex: Congratulations again on Railcamp. I think you're gonna have a lot of fun at Steamtown. Does this mean that you'll get to drive that ex-CN Mike? That's one pretty loco!
Nittany: Ah, from Plan to Reality! Come join a HUGE club, my friend--I don't think there's any of us who have not had to make some kind of adjustment between Paper (or Computer) and the actual space. I remember my first garage layout had a mis-calculation on a grade that caused me to have to include a short section of 4% in order to keep the gradient that I needed. Needless to say, THAT layout didn't last too long! Even the present one has caused me to have to put in a curved viaduct in order to get from one spot to the other, and it was a BEAR to build--and I STILL have to re-lay the track on it. Grr!
Well, time to get to work in the garage before the pollen count gets too high. Have a great day, everyone. Best to all, and prayers to those in need.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
I don't think so, but we do get the all over of the steamers! I'm really excited to see 3713- the B&M 4-6-2. I do believe we get to run the NKP GP9, and get a tour of CP's Binghamton Yard.
Cheers!
Alex
BURP! Oh, I mean bump. Please forgive.
Flip
Dinnertime! Time for some steak and onion.
Mustn't forget the Tabasco.
Good evening....still at 80F here at 8:15pm in central Massachusetts, not a record, but the humidity is very high at 76% with a Dew Point of 72F. We were at a graduation party all afternoon, and the "sodas" were really going down easy.
JERRY: 9.5" of rain overnight???? No wonder there is big time flooding, the ground is already saturated from all the storms over the past weeks. It will be very interesting to see Mike's photos of the washed out areas of CSX.
DER JOHN: You make a good point, I must admit I have never had a brew from England, but it is so hard to fathom any room temp brew when one is hot and thirsty.
ED: The bats were humming today....Wake was "ON" also. I could go for a Peachtree schnapps with your OJ right about now, how about you....OK, Zoe, two for Ed and I.
JEFF: How is the pool today? Good day to cool off. BTW, you might want to add a pool to your park.
Later guys,
Evening,
CN Charlie, I was using Pettit EZ-poxy bottom paint, but you're right it was drying pretty fast. I'm use to painting 40-44 footers in a boat house during the winter. The weather wasn't the best, but it was the only day I could do it. The owner called me and said 12 people at the yacht club wanted my number for next spring. This boat had an uneven waterline and I fixed that, plus I've been painting boats for 21 years now and I guess I do good work, LOL. I bought a yardmaster box car for the first time this week, I hope things will settle down so I can assemble it.
Monday evening I'm painting another 30' boat.
I use the dull coat from Wal-Mart, my LHS recommends it. I've used it without any problems, but don't use it on metallic silver.
I hope inch is doing ok, did he get flooded out? My Dad said they had 60 mph winds when the storm hit Toledo. I hear IN had 80 mph.
We have a fishing festival going on this weekend, so I had to work 1000-1400 I'm so glad my boss loves me middle of the day, 97F, 87% humidity walking the docks doing courtesy exams on boats. Tomorrow I have to work the launch ramp doing the same thing 1000-1400 then inspect 4 fishing boats. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job..........
twhite wrote:I remember my first garage layout had a mis-calculation on a grade that caused me to have to include a short section of 4% in order to keep the gradient that I needed.
I remember my first garage layout had a mis-calculation on a grade that caused me to have to include a short section of 4% in order to keep the gradient that I needed.
I remember about 10 years ago my layout then had a grade so steep I never even bothered to figure it out. What I didn't know couldnt hurt me. I've made many a planning mistake, even going so far as on layout #3 of my career not even having a plan of any kind. But completely not measuring my available area correctly, that's something I've never done before!
Fortunately I was given the go-ahead to do whatever I need to do to use my plan. The exact wording was something like "as long as one of the cars can go in the garage and the whole thing is still moveable." I scavenged a 12"x10" metal L bracket, and I hope I can find three others where that came from. But its not like those are expensive. Certainly less work than building some sort of brace. Now, my secret plans for a staging cart, that's something else all together.
That's what I'm working from right now. At least two of the spurs are subject to change, and I assure you that the top-most track on the right side is not that...angular in the full size drawing. Chalk it up to something weird during resizing the picture. All the turnouts are #4s and I plan on using flextrack. Not really interested in handlaid track right now, for my sanity. Power will be a lone SW1000 and the longest rolling stock would be a 65' mill gon, but the average will probably be closer to 50'. I'm not anticipating any trouble there. Minimum radius is 30" too, so no problems there. Staging is projected to be on a mobile cart (to eliminate the footage required by a ladder) docking at the right side. Industries are more or less TBA but the big empty space at the top is the "city."
The plan is very heavily inspired by the Port Kelsey trackplan that appeared in the August 1997 MR. I've always liked it. Although my plan is more late 1990s and beyond than that layout was (was? I heard its not around any more).
Evening all, a Cold barleypop please Janie. Just dropped in to say we got power back about 6 pm, after 15 hours without. Most the roads are open again, but many are closed still due to damage. CSX has started repairing the blowouts across North Fork now, even though it's not back to its banks yet. At 8 pm, they already had a dozer and ballast there. Me n Mother followed a payloader and big track hoe in and see more ballast being delivered. They're dumping rock next to the road there, then moving it with the hoes and dozers. Trying to build the grades back up while pushing what they can back under the tracks for now. Heard they might have it open enough for some light traffic Sunday, if the bridge is still usable [they haven't been able to get to it yet].
Hopefully I'll get some more info and some pics posted tomorrow.
Here's ya'll a joke for the day
An atheist was taking a walk through the woods, admiring all that evolution had created. "What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!", he said to himself. As he was walking along the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. When he turned to see what the cause was, he saw a 7-foot grizzly charging right towards him. He ran as fast as he could. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the bear was closing, He ran even faster, crying in fear. He looked over his shoulder again, and the bear was even closer. His heart was pounding and he tried to run even faster. He tripped and fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up, but saw the bear right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw and raising his right paw to strike him.
At that moment, the Atheist cried out "Oh my God!...." Time stopped. The bear froze. The forest was silent. Even the river stopped moving. As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky, "You deny my existence for all of these years; teach others I don''''t exist; and even credit creation to a cosmic accident. Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?" The atheist looked directly into the light "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask You to treat me as Christian now, but perhaps could you make the bear a Christian?" "Very well," said the voice.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
Good one inch! A christian bear, who knew.
Good morning. It's cloudy and 76 degrees in the Sportsman's paradise. A high in the mid 90's is expected as conditions change to partly cloudy with a slight chance of thunderstorms. Today's Weather for: Sundown, LA 71446-6114 6/8/2008 Heat Index: 82°F Humidity: 96% Dew Point: 75°F So Far Today High: 77°F Low: 75°F Rain: 0.00" Rain Rate: 0.00"/h Gust: 6mph NNE Now through 07:00 AM CDT June 08, 2008 Through 7 AM...isolated showers will affect much of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana...including the coastal waters out to 60 nm. Rainfall amounts of a few one hundredths of an inch are possible as this activity moves off to the northwest at 35 mph. Today High: 95 Partly cloudy. Isolated showers in the morning...then slight chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 90s. South winds around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 20 percent. Tonight Low: 75 Partly cloudy. Lows in the mid 70s. South winds around 10 mph.
Good Morning from Tipton IN !
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
Good Morning!
I have some new aquisitions to the layout. I'll post pictures later.
In the meantime, a cinnamon bun from Zoe would be just great.
Florida orange juice too; Better than oj from anywhere else; no offense
Good morning All....The sun is shining this morning and its hot and humid...weather guesser on TV says no more rain till tuesday but he didn't see the flood coming!!We can't even use water here even after boiling so they brought a tanker of water in from Casey and our neighbor brought us in a 2 gallon jug...Store sold out on bottled water before noon yesterday...Church services have been canceled all over...
On the brighter side I got a IC GP 18 on Ebay...Hope its a good runner...You all have a good one...Jerry
Good afternoon all: A dry sherry and some shrimp and dip before lunch please Zoe.
rrnut:
Now drinking room temperature orange juice is something altogether different.
Jeff: That park is exceptional! Thanks for the progress pics.
Hope you get your water supply restored soon Jerry and everyone else stays safe and dry.
Sounds like lunch is getting ready TTFN.
"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.
Tomorrow I start a six week summer program at USF for math, science and computers (I am not a nerd)
There will probably be a lot of down time, so I can go to the Barnes and Noble on Campus and (hopefully) pick up July's MRR.
May I also mention the 6 floor library? And Cafeteia? And gameroom?
I also think I owe all of you these pictures:
Pillsbury 3 bay covered hopper; Answer to how I weathered this one at the bottom
An old Heidelberg reefer
And returning now is this fuel car.
Apologies for any low camera quality
Answer: the covered hopper isn't weathered at all.
der5997 wrote:Jeff: That park is exceptional! Thanks for the progress pics.
Good afternoon to all,,,,3 H weather here. We had several TS's go through yesterday about 9 and 10 pm, but they were one town south of us. These storms seem to like to follow the Mass Pike or , route 2 to the north. Each of these two roads runs directly west to east across the state, about 130 miles in length. My theory is that these wide 4 and 6 lane highways are like heat islands of asphalt. The really give off tremendous heat to the atmosphere, and this in turn results in cloud formations above these roads at 10k to 30K feet. Then the storms follow these heat sources east.
It is 86F here now at 1:30pm (EDST), and is supposed to hit the low 90's "if" it doesn't cloud over with thunderheads, or cumulus nimbus clouds.
MIKE: Thanks for the updates on the track washouts and flooding in your area. I am looking forward to seeing the pics of the action in that area. BTW, I don't know if you have ever heard of Northern Tool & Equipment, they are in Minnesota, and they have GREAT prices on all sizes of home generators. They bactually had 13KV generators on sale for $700!! You can get 5000 watt generator for considerably less. They have units that run on gas, natural gas, propane, or both fuels. You might want to look into one of these smaller units which would be perfect for your home.
JERRY: I was watching the news yesterday and today, I can't believe the flooding from these fronts and storms, this is crazy!! I saw the picture of the semi trailer off the highway in your area on TV. I am happy to hear that you guys didn't build on the flood plain and are high and dry ( relatively speaking )
JEFF: Another layout scene for you to build.....a wash out section of track with a flooded river......give that a try, with your talent it should be a piece of cake. I hope you get your layout featured in MRR mag, that would really be great !!!!
DER JOHN: Rats !!!! I'm all out of OJ !!^%$#$$##$# Of all times, hot and humid and no OJ !!! Where is Ed when you need him.....probably on his front porch with a Pina Colada that fox !!!
DUKE: That front in Wisconsin is headed east and looks like it will cross the lake and head right for your area. Better head for the Train room
NITTANY LION: Being in PA, and knowing what the summers and winters are like in your neck of the woods, what are your plans to control the environment in the garage for your layout?
Later,
Hello everyone..
We left home yesterday at 5:00 am and got here in the Cincinnati area in time for a grand daughter's birthday party. Nice party with kids having fun. The fence gate was left open. Their dog got out and ran into the road. The driver of the pick up truck did not even slow down, and the dog was killed. It messed up the mood at the party. We'll be home late tonight.
Happy Model Railroading.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
It's warming up out here in SunnyCal, I think our mild weather is Gone With the Wind for a time. Sure like to send it out to the Midwest where they could USE it! Myself, I wouldn't mind some more rain out here. I think it's going to be a nasty summer in the mountains for forest fires.
Railroadnut: Is this the USF I think it is? University of San Francisco? If so, you'll come out of that six-week course crammed to the earlobes with knowledge. Those Jesuits have been doing absolutely PRIME education for 450 years, they sure know what they're doing. I say that, because I just retired from teaching at a Jesuit high school here in Sacramento, and 98% of our students go on to four-year universities whose names and reputations just boggle my mind, LOL! Enjoy the courses. And the cafeteria--AND that incredible library!
Garry: What a bummer, and the idiot didn't even stop after he'd hit the dog! Some people have no brains at all--or consciences--they shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car.
Jeff: Hope the eye exam goes okay. Every time I have one, it takes about three hours to un-dialate, and I have to turn every light in the house off PLUS wearing those dark glasses.
Well, still re-laying the track on my viaduct. Taking my own sweet time on this episode--I laid it too fast the last time and wasn't thinking, obviously. VERY CAREFULLY curving the Sinohara bridge track to 34" radius--luckily it holds its curve, but it's also tricky because sometimes the guard-rails want to spring out. So far, so good. Should have it finished this afternoon, hopefully. Luckily, the Sinohara track is 39" instead of the standard 36", so it's long enough that there are no track joints on the viaduct itself, this time. Should have used it in the first place, right? Sometimes I just try and work too FAST, and it always comes back to bite me in the behind.
Well, out to the garage. Thank God the Pollen has stopped blowing around.
Best to all, prayers to those in need.
twhite wrote:Jeff: Hope the eye exam goes okay. Every time I have one, it takes about three hours to un-dialate, and I have to turn every light in the house off PLUS wearing those dark glasses.
Afternoon, a cold barley pop for a very hot n humid day, Janie
I posted mostly links of the pics from yesterday [for those with dialup] that are not RR related, keep in mind these were taken when the water levels were already dropping. First is of little Creek just below us.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008005.jpg
Part of the road bank slid on us. This one's from yesterday, it's even larger today
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008008.jpg
We then headed up to the first road [1500 rd] north of us, close to where Little Creek starts and found this
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008010.jpg
We headed back down to US-40 then and there was a coal drag headed west, waiting at Cline crossing waiting for clearance and he was still there waiting this morning
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008011.jpg
We found this at the CSX viaduct
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008013.jpg
You can see a car that an hour before had been completely under water, the driver's ok
There are 3 main streets into town on the north side from 40.This one is Mill ST, not to far from Jerry's
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008017.jpg
Next over is York, no problems there. After that is Washington [oldest boy lives on it].
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008022.jpg
after the water was down, they found the blacktop had been lifted and piled up along the other side. Then we headed for old 40 [by the high school] to check out the North Fork grade. There's suppose to be a about a 15 ft grade and if ya look close you can almost see the bridge.
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008025.jpg
Next is uptown looking at one of the streets out to the south
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008027.jpg
These two are of the other road [York st]
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008028-1.jpg
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008029-1.jpg
Going back west to where tracks are damaged
Here one of the first blowout
Here you can see the water boiling through it. The building in the back round, is the pump house for the city water [now ya know why Jerry's hauling drinking water]
While we were there, we heard a banging and seen a 55 gal drum shoot out from under the tracks.
This one is just another one from there
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008038.jpg
You could see water leaching thru the ballast all along there
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/floodof2008032.jpg
About two hours before these pics, an eastbound inter-mobile and a westbound mixed freight had been across there.
I wanted to get back in there today, but the county fairs starting and Mother got called over early.
The last time this flood this bad was in 1957. The flooding even took out the Big Creek bridge and one abutment over by Marshall.
JERRY,
If ya get to need water, holler. Us or one of the boys can get you some from out here.
Also we talked to a guy at the fair grounds yesterday, who was hauling racehorses over from the Greenup fair grounds. It's under water now. He figured there'd be a new high water mark on the grand stands for this years flood.
DICK,
I've bought off of Northern before. Harbor Freight had Generators on sale [$730] and if I'd had the money, I'd be owning one now.
grayfox1119 wrote:NITTANY LION: Being in PA, and knowing what the summers and winters are like in your neck of the woods, what are your plans to control the environment in the garage for your layout?
Prayer and lots of it. For reasons I'm not entirely certain of, the garage seems to be the same temperature all the time no matter what the weather or season is. Even in the deepest darkest parts of winter, its warm enough out there to be comfortable in short sleeves. I've never had to contend with temperature before, so this is new territory for me. There are new doors on the garage that keep the summer humidity at bay if you keep them closed and winter is rarely humid. It was more humid in the basement that I used to use way back when. Dust is my primary enemy, of course, and I have a few ideas in my head for covering the layout when not in use that hopefully has a winner in there.
MIKE: I can't imagine how bad that is!! Great photos Mike, I'm glad to see you stayed high and dry. There is going to be a lot of county road rebuilding from your phtos show, not the least is the RR.
NITTANY LION: Is your garage attached to your house? Is it on the South side of your house, that could explain the warmer temps in winter. In anycase, you still might want to consider a dehumidifier for those times it goes over 55%.
JEFF: Hope all goes well for you buddy, no fun with any type of eye work.
All the TS's hit Connecticut this afternoon, it sure looked like J.R.'s area got belted.
Good evening all,
Railroadnut; does that covered hopper say "NEW 3-47"?
Garry, sorry for the loss of the dog I can't believe some people.
Jeff, the park looks great; maybe enter it in the MRR diorama challenge? Or send the finished picture to Walther's to post in their 2009 catalog? I bet you would be a contender.
Inch, thanks for sharing the pictures. Been 2 years ago we had over 12 inches of rain in less than 6 hours, first time my basement has flooded in the past 15 years I'm told (only lived here 8). Lost all my MRR boxes and a ton of scenery stuff.
Just got a TXT message from my kids I guess a tornado touched down less than a mile from their house this evening, everyone is ok.
Inspected 7 vessels today under our voluntary vessel inspection program. Sad to say ony 2 passed.