Elliots Trackside Diner IV, Under New Management!

[Cederstrand]

available, in a SOUTHERN mug, please & thank you.

***Inch: Some coons can be quite bold around people. Doesn't mean they are sick in the least. One of my more memorable "coon encounters" was camping out on the Penninsula (WA). Come evening we were literally surrounded by them. There was even some infighting amongst them for being the closest to our campfire. Was almost spooky when one would try sneaking up behind us, within feet of our fold-out chairs. I would guess someone had been previously feeding them. Got to play with some baby coons a couple times. Interesting little critters.

A SIL will be coming out mid-week to give my wife a break. She will sure be ready for one. 

Hope everyone has a good day. Rob

[Cox 47]

Good Morning....Its sunny and pleasant here this morning with temps in low 70's...I'll have coffee and a sweet roll please..Thank You...I'm kinda hoping I get the engine on Ebay deal today got notice that it was shipped on Friday...My son and His Family are posta stop by on their way home from vacation..You all have a good one...Jerry

[JimRCGMO]

Good Morning, Zoe. I'll have some eggs, hash browns, couple of strips of bacon, toast and coffee, please.

 

Thanks!

Looks like all the fathers were out busy yesterday. Luckily for me, that meant not as many posts to catch up on.

Inch, that was a good one about the hooligan. That raccoon of yours may not have been a pet, 'cause I've seen some that just walk up as if they owned the house. Of course, if you get close or start walking toward them, they hiss/growl at ya. One we had back when I was married, the first time it got into our trash barrel, I tipped the thing over to let it out; second time I found him in the barrel, I called the conservation agent to give Br'er Coon a vacation out of town. Oh, that engine shed in your one rail pic almost looks like you could build that with the DPM Learner kit.

Jeff, another great weathering job on the RailBox, and good shot of the park.

Sue, your comment ('only talked about layout progress') sounded very familiar for me, too. I was looking at my Roberts kitbash building yesterday, and thinking that I needed to get going masking it for painting the brick areas...

Tom, thanks for catching me (sort of) up to speed on Third Order, and I hope you get some of that 'cooler' 80's weather today (or soon), so you can get to some of those projects.

Nscaler, what've you been up to? As for the rest of us, I've not been doing lots (except adding some stuff to my pile that will need assembling), but BridgeTom has a new creeper that he can do aerial views of his layout with (he's the envy of his neighborhood, I think), and Jeff's been installing a new city park (liftout) section on his layout. I'll let the others fill you in on their stuff.

Rob, good to hear your FIL isn't upset (with what he knows about the fire). Now, to get your SIL in and give your wife a break and rest time. Hope the plans for the replacement house look great. This could be a chance to tweak what needed correcting from the former house plan (closet arrangement, traffic flow, etc.). Best wishes for getting things lined out and construction started soon.

TexasTerry, stop by for the tea and honey as often as you like. Always welcome in here.

Dick, hope your dentist is able to rule out the root canal idea today. Not fun at all, from what I've heard.

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood here at w**k. One person in walk-in, so I've had time to write a post mostly without interruption.

Back to my breakfast now, before it's time for lunch, too.

 

Blessings and good weather for you all today,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[Flashwave]

Rob, good to hear your FIL isn't upset (with what he knows about the fire). Now, to get your SIL in and give your wife a break and rest time. Hope the plans for the replacement house look great. This could be a chance to tweak what needed correcting from the former house plan (closet arrangement, traffic flow, more layout space  etc.). Best wishes for getting things lined out and construction started soon.

Blessings and good weather for you all today,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

Fixxed.

[JimRCGMO]

Rob, good to hear your FIL isn't upset (with what he knows about the fire). Now, to get your SIL in and give your wife a break and rest time. Hope the plans for the replacement house look great. This could be a chance to tweak what needed correcting from the former house plan (closet arrangement, traffic flow, more layout space  etc.). Best wishes for getting things lined out and construction started soon.

Blessings and good weather for you all today,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

Fixxed.

Thanks, Flashwave, my slip-up. Appreciate your correcting that.

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[SilverSpike]

Whats' cooking folks?

Hope all the dads had a Happy Father's Day!

Just dropin' in for a quick bite!

Check back in later.

:-)

[Guilford Guy]

I'm in for some tight scheduling in July... July 4th-5th Boston & Maine Pullman Salisbury Beach will be running between Boston and Portland Maine. July 5th is also the day we drive to Scranton... Time to sell my left arm...

[Cederstrand]

refill, please & thanks!

***Jim, Flashwave: The wife has already said she wishes to designate one entire room to trains. Pretty darn cool, eh! And today we mailed in a free trial card for Model Railroad Mag w/ free gift. (Hope this will include online access to the website extras here?) Anyway, after the trial issue, we do plan on subscribing. At the very least, each issue will present a most welcome mental break from recent life events.

RFD-TV Alert (for those who get it) "Trains & Locomotives" The Nickel Plate Story Omaha : Rail Metropolis, is on at 6:00pm EST.

MIL remains in the hospital and could be for some days. I forget what my wife called it, but sounds like she has all sorts of blood flow issues to her gut, plus an inflamed colon. Wife brought her dad here for a bit and with the new seizure meds he is on, he may as well be in a nursing home. She is going to cut back the dose for sure, as being like a zombie with no balance and little abillity to speak is not a life worth living. What a reversal from where he was just a short time ago.

Heard from one of our adjusters that the "unofficial" verdict is: an accidental/undetermined fire that probably started in the kitchen. Could take several more weeks before the Official Report is submitted. They did take a lot of appliance photos, along with ash samples.

All for now. Rob

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon,.................well the verdict was as I suspected, root canal required. The cold test did NOT work at all, I never felt a thing. The dentist feels that was due to the effects of still being on Amoxacillin. So next Wednesday the 25th, we have the root canal and then capping a few weeks later. Root canals are not like they used to be years ago, they really are no big deal these days, I have had a couple done and never had any pain or discomfort at all.

ALEX: You are going to have a summer to remember!!! Enjoy every minute and take some photos for your collection and journal.

CAPE JIM: As you can read from above, it is required. Better than losing the tooth, I have watched guys with many teeth removed, and no bridges or false teeth, try to eat a steak.....it is no fun trying to "gum it" to death. BTW, with the rivers north of you in Iowa all at 500 year record levels and flowing into the Big Muddy, is Cape Girardeau going to be able to sustain the high waters headed your way?

Time for chow, and still have some Strawberry-Rhubarb pie left , where's Duke?

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good evening....

I don't know where Duke is, but I'll get in line first for some strawberry rhubbarb pie, Dick! I have a dinner plate instead of a dessert plate.

Rob .... I'm sorry to hear baout all those problems.

Texas Terry...... You are on the prayer list regarding the radiation treatment. 

Happy Model Railroading!!!!

[bjdukert]

Dick   That better be a big piece because it looks like two of us are headed for it

Duke

[LSWrr]

Evening all,

Dick, I hope everything works out at the DDS.  I have a "bionic tooth", lol.  Actually it's an implant I had to have my jaw and upper left side of my jaw reconstructed when I returned from Kuwait and I had a tooth that had been missing for several years so the Government paid for an implant.  When the day comes that I need dentures I'll pay to have the implants put in. 10x stronger that real teeth and little maintenance.

Rob, when you get the email/online news letter watch Cody's Office, I think you'll enjoy it. Congratulations on the train room! Sorry to hear about the troubles in your life, I wish everything falls into place soon for you.

Sounds like Alex has a full summer ahead of himself.  Just remember us boring people and take lots of pictures to share!

55F tonight and 66F tomorrow  I might just putter in the train room all day since I have the next 15 days off.......Wahoo....

 

Lee

[grayfox1119]

GARRY & DUKE: Better hurry, I think I saw Fergie headed for the counter with an empty plate and fork in hand.

LEE: I will be getting a bionic tooth sometime later this year. They had to pull a molar on the lower right side because it was cracked, could not save it a few months back. This latest one is just above it, so it will need to be strong chomping down on a bionic tooth. BTW, did you receive those pictures from Fergie of the ships at sea with high seas?

[twhite]

Afternoon all: 

Nice, balmy day in the high '80's out here, the fires are either out or contained, and things are looking up.  Supposed to have one hot day tomorrow, then settle back into respectable weather here.  The humidity here was 54% today, which might not sound like much to a lot of you, but out here, it's sheer HEAVEN!!  Now if we can only get those Midwest floods to drain, we might be able to get back to something approaching 'normal' for a while. 

Garry:  Strawberry/Rhubarb.  Yummy!!  My grandmother on my dad's side, who was raised in Cornwall used to bake STRAIGHT Rhubarb pies.  I'll tell you, you had to be really brave to chomp into one of THOSE, LOL!!  I don't know what else she used to season them with, but hoo boy, you knew you'd eaten a PIE, afterwards.  No wonder a "Rhubarb" is a baseball term for either an argument or a fight.  Wowser!  When I was a kid, I had an orange tabby cat that I named "Rhubarb"--he didn't like anyone or anything--except me.  Great cat!

Terry:  Those radiation treatments sound a little rough, buddy.  Keep the Faith, I'm sure pulling for you. 

Inch: Raccoons just like to take over.  They're like cats.  I've got a couple that come visit me in the garage at night when I'm running trains, sometimes.  Walk in from the driveway, give me the EYE, look to see if I've put out a bowl of dry catfood--I used to when we had a neighborhood feline that mooched from everyone--then mutter to themselves and sidle on out the side-vent into the back yard.   I have NO idea where they're from, but it could be a big, leafy plant that I've got out by the pool.  They're very weird and really kind of funny, I just respect their space and they respect mine. 

Jim:  Reason I explained that Third Order to you was so you didn't think I had to sign up for Celibacy, Poverty and Obedience, LOL!  Even though it's a very fancy moniker, it translates out to "Lay-Person".  Which, actually, considering the growning shortage of Religious in the Church could turn out to be EXTREMELY important in the next several decades.   

Well, started on THE BUTTES today.  First thing was to tear out the Yuba Pass tunnel entrance and make it a rock bore instead of the stone tunnel casting it used to be.  Right now, it's a whole bunch of drying Sculptamold, it looks pretty good.  I had planned on using Hydrocal castings, but I don't know whether it's me or the Hydrocal, but this batch I bought doesn't want to SET!  And I'm certainly no beginner when it comes to Hydrocal, I've been using the stuff for years, but four mixes and it just sits in the molds like split-pea soup and will NOT set up!  Thank God I had about four bags of Sculptamold handy.  Actually, I wasn't planning on using the Sculptamold because it's actually heavier than the Hydrocal, but that's what I ended up using.  Actually, it's pretty cool, because the castings have a nice 'grit' to them.  Cut the first Cripplebush, and am about to position it on the cliff above Bassetts as soon as the Sculptamold starts drying.  Oh, and yah--that Creeper is the best $200+ I've invested in YEARS!!  But it's going to be a slow go on this project--I don't see an end to the re-rocking until at LEAST Friday, and then I have to go back and paint and detail and--

Hey, guys, when do we ever get to run a TRAIN? 

Best to all, sincere prayers to those in need. 

Tom

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Thanks for the pie, DIck.... Munch, munch, munch....MMMMM..

I was once told to eat well balanced meals. Accordingly I eat half nutrician and half junk. Life is uncertain, and so I eat the junk first.

Tom, now that sounds like some really tasty rhubaarb pie. I'm glad you like the creeper. For $200.00, it's good for the buttes and the rocks. Must be really something.

Well, I'll dispatch a load of country hams to the diner. Should be good for breakfast.

Happy Model Railroading.

[railroadnut675]

Does anybody use the tracklaying software XTrkCAD? If so, how do I import cars and things?

IN ENGLISH PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Diners - How about a hot fudge sundae and a cup of coffee, please?

 

Thanks, Chloe!

Rob, once they have your subscription at Kalmbach, you'll be able to see all the subscribers' stuff. One thing to check once you do, is the trackplan database. You can check for plans by scale, by type (shelf, table, etc.) or size (small room, half-garage/garage, basement-full, etc.) or other kinds. Hope your final house report come through soon, so you can get started on the new cover for your MRR room.

Dick, hope the root canal goes well and you get healed up for that steak. As for our fair city by the river here, the floodwall will protect a big chunk (but not all) of town There's a section out the north end of town that is outside of the levee/floodwall (called Red Star District, after one of the biggest churches on that end of town) and some of the houses there took a buyout a while back after an earlier flood (don't think it was the 1993 flood that gave Dutchtown, the town south of Cape that I mentioned earlier, such a wash). Here's a link to the high water marks from some earlier floods marked on the floodwall (the downtown part, I think). As you can see in the photo, there's still a lot of space above that for the downtown. I believe in the 1993 flood, some of the downtown businesses had damage, but because the pressure on the sewer lines backed up through the toilets and plumbing in the buildings on the 'dry' side of the river floodwall. Many years ago, the floodwall didn't go much past downtown business areas, so the 'poorer' side of town on the southern end usually got flooded... And for those wanting to use Google Earth, here's another link.

Dick, I guess I'm lucky that I don't care for rhubarb pie, with all the crowd elbowing each other for those last slices of the pie. (Oh, now I've gone and done it - better get out of the way before PC comes through the door!)

Tom, I didn't figure you were that kind of religious order, since you'd talked about your kids before... And you're about right on raccoons - one time I was at my (ex-)in-laws (down in the Bootheel of Missouri where their farm was), and a bunch of dogs and one racoon came through the yard, chasing a cat. I think the raccoon thought it was a dog like the rest of 'em!)

Oh, Tom - "Run the trains"?? I think that's down the road a piece... Hang in there, it's coming.

So Lee, what kind of MRR'ing projects will you be working on over your vacation?

RRNut, I know there are some of the Diners who use XtraCAD, but not sure who - we'll wait for them to pipe up.

About time for me to get to my hot fudge sundae...

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

 

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

     A regular to go please Zoe. Little time to do much beyond w..k and clean up just now. We're in the middle of a 4 week run of races as well so I haven't had time to keep up on news here either. Hope everyones ok with al the flooding taking place in the midwest and sorry to see it looks like Rob had a fire too.

    We're still cleaning out the house and getting our belongings into storage for the long pull to the finished repairs. The entire second floor was totaled by the insurance company but we're determined to save a few pieces that have been in the families for generations so we'll set up a strip and refinish operation in the garage to go along with the house renovations. Not sure how much I'll be around for a while but wish us luck and please keep us in your prayers.  J.R.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 71 and partly cloudy in the Sportsman's Paradise. We're expecting a high in the mid 90's and a small chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Not much going on here today. I have a doctors appointment later (feet) to see what progress is being made. I may be able to get some work done on the layout today if I'm not too tired. All these antibiotics and other meds I'm on take a toll.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      6/16/2008

Heat Index:  76°F
Humidity:  88%
Dew Point:  68°F

So Far Today
High:  72°F
Low:  71°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  3mph NW

Today  High: 95    Partly cloudy. A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 90s. Light and variable winds.    

Tonight  Low: 68    Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the upper 60s. Light and variable winds.

Todays photo was taken from the roof of the American Foundry next to the park.

[LSWrr]

Good morning all, we have a cool north wind and a high of 66F today.

Dick, Yes I got the pictures, very cool pictures.  I've been in weather like that but I wasn't going to let go of anything to take a picture, LOL. I was missing a lower molar and the tooth above was dropping down, so Doc put the bionic tooth in to keep everything in good order.

TWhite, I make straight rhubarb pie and rhubarb crisp.  The rhubarb I grow keeps better if you cook it down first then you can freeze it.  You cut the rhubarb into 1" chunks then its 1 cup sugar for every cup of rhubarb and mix this in the crock pot.  Set the crock to low and let the sugar and heat break the rhubarb down to an apple sauce consistency.  When you want to make a pie you thaw out a pint of rhubarb and mix it with strawberries or leave it as is in a pie crust.  You can add tapioca to thicken it up.

Jim, I really need to finish downtown, install the EB service track to the yard, and work on the industrial park at the east end of downtown.  (Direction gets confusing when you work in ovals, LOL).

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Seeing that Lee has the TOP honors, I'll have the bacon and eggs and some OJ.

[Cederstrand]

in a UNION PACIFIC #4009 mug, please & thank you.

Went ahead and ordered that N Athearn Bigboy. I'm pretty sure the wife has no idea how much they cost and I am sure not going to tell her. She gave me the OK and that is all that matters, right?

SIL is landing as I type. Wife will soon have a break, thank goodness.

Here are a couple pics of what's left, (or not left) of our home:

Not much else to add. Woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. Off to do critter rounds.

Have a good day all. Rob

 

[NS Luc]

Good morning

[inch53]

Mornin, an irish coffee n 2 hot chocolates please Zoe to get us started on a cool day.

Mostly sunny skies will be around today with a few clouds popping up this afternoon and cool northwest winds. Temperatures will start off in the mid 50's and warm into the upper 70's during the afternoon hours. Mostly clear skies will be around tonight with temperatures dipping back into the mid 50's. Wednesday will see a slight chance for spotty rain showers during the afternoon hours with temperatures still slightly below average in the upper 70's.

DICK,

It's good to get out n get some pictures again. With gas being so high and less traveling the chances have been slim. Good luck with the root canal.

JIM,

Your right the engine shed would be easy to model; just to bad they don't use it anymore.  There is one set of rails left going to it. Here's a couple more pics of the engine shed.

ROB,

Hope the insurance company decides on things soon, so ya'll can get started on rebuilding. Also thoughts the in-laws get back on the road to recovery soon.

TOM,

Coons and cats are 1'st cousins, in-fact some coon hunters train their young coonhounds with cats. Some of the best hounds I've were trained that way.

JR,

Good to hear from ya and on the progress.

On the coon front, we decided he must have been a pet now. After we got home from a baseball game, Mother heard a scratching on the back door, looked and there he was sitting up, with the food bowl in his mouth, begging. He doesn't seem to both anything, other than he keeping digging up the potted plants. But I'm just afraid he'll hurt one of the kids.

Great to hear of the MR progress you folks been making. Nothing to report from here, with all the summer things, the layout work has been mostly dormant, even on the rainy days.

Best get onto chores, hope ya'll has a gooden n stay safe. Thoughts for all those in need.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Today's photo was taken from the roof of the American Foundry next to the park.

[Cox 47]

Good Morning...Its sunny and cool here this morning..I'll have Bill's breakfast buffett and coffee please..Thank you..I got my Illinois central LL GP 18 yesterday..Runs pretty good but has no couplers..Gonna see if I can find a MTL conversion kit for it..Inch and Jim that shed use to be the home of Tony Hulman's private railroad car...I have some photos of it somewhere..One of the guys in the yards gave my friend and I a tour of it...You all have a good one ...Jerry

[Guilford Guy]

Morning Folks!

I'm just about to head into shchoolf or my French Final... yuck!

to meez!

[C&O Fan]

 

Snip

Terry:  Those radiation treatments sound a little rough, buddy.  Keep the Faith, I'm sure pulling

 

Tom

Yes Tom they start getting ruff about the 3rd week and i have 3 more weeks to go

6 weeks 30 treatments total

gotta stay positive ! I think i can I think i can I think i can

Choo choo

 

[JimRCGMO]

Morning, Zoe - I think I'll have that breakfast buffet and a glass of Ed's OJ also. Thanks for the idea, Jerry! Oh yeah, and since Luc brought in the Tim Horton, a cup of coffee, too.

JR, good to hear from you, and hope the refinishing/recovery jobs in the garage go well and quickly (as you get time for that). You sound like one very busy beaver, with the races picking up, plus your stuff to do at home. Keep at it.

Jeff, nice photo of the park, from the factory roof there. Have you thought of some smaller trees behind the backstop? I guess I am used to there being some trees behind the backstop at a lot of ball fields in parks. Looks good from up there, though.

Got an email from JP (JPowell) this morning, He couldn't (obviously) say much, but he did say they eat pretty well there. Four dining halls, and they often have a food theme for the day (like cajun, mongolian, etc.), but have fast food lines as well, and you can get most any of it to go. I think JP put it as that he's on for 12 hours and off 12 hours, and that the three things to do are (Paul, hide your eyes here...) "work, eat and sleep", with sleep being the #1 favorite off-duty activity. Said he hasn't had much time to get in MR reading so far. JP said he's going to work on updating his resume for when the next round of jobs come up so he can shoot for a promotion to a better job slot (for after he gets back home). I was thinking after reading JP's email, that if we could send some of our excess Missouri and Iowa water over to his area, they could cool off in it. Meantime, keep him and the rest of our guys and gals over there in your ].

A bit cooler today here in Cape G (only supposed to hit 81 F (27 C) this afternoon), and the humidity is down as well. Supposed to drop into the upper 50's (F) tonight. 

Lee, I hear you on the "How do I determine which direction is N/S/E/W on my layout?" question. Have wondered that myself a few times when planning my layout ideas. Hope you're able to get to some of those jobs during your vacation.

Rob, it puts a whole different perspective on things, after seeing your pictures. There wasn't much besides the chimneys left. Glad you weren't at home, for sure! It does look like the area near where you live is gorgeous country - I can see why you'd like living there.

Went ahead and ordered that N Athearn Bigboy. I'm pretty sure the wife has no idea how much they cost and I am sure not going to tell her. She gave me the OK and that is all that matters, right?

Sure, Rob - but just in case... Have you told Barbara what clothes you'd like to be buried in? Nah, I doubt she'd do that to you, since she did give you permission to buy that loco.

Inch, thanks for the additional pics of the shed, and I see Jerry had a bit more information on it for us, too. That just looks like a basic car shop kind of building, functional and to-the-point construction. Inch, I'd be with you about being concerned that the kids would get too close and the 'coon would bite one of them. Plus with it being summer, the 'coon could catch rabies from another animal out in the woods and then be itself a danger for the kids for that reason.

Alex, hope you remember all the French that's on the test. Maybe you could let the French teacher know (and it'd be even better if you could say it in French) that it's your birthday today... Oh, and don't want to forget -

H A P P Y  B I R T H D A Y ! !

Wasn't sure what kind of cake you might like, so we had Zoe make a couple of kinds of cake

 

 

(and I think they made a couple of pies, also, but we won't tell PC yet until you get you a slice, if you want...)

I'll be at the corner booth, munchin' on my breakfast for now. Prayers for those who are ailing, for our Diners still awaiting the go-ahead from your insurance adjusters, and for those with other needs.

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau