Elliot's Trackside Diner V, at the diamonds

[Flashwave]

Thanks that's pretty cool.  The trucks were too damaged to repair and at the train shows I can pick up hoppers for $1 each (cheaper than replacing the trucks).  I'm glad the stuff went to good homes.  I think the stuff I sent to Morgan had lead weights since his shipping was twice as much as anybody's at 15 oz.

I think you'll be moderatly impressed with the flat cars I'm working on.  I've been experimenting with a weathered wood look for plastic decks.  Dorothy picked them up and thought I glued little wood boards together and put wood stain on them.

Waiting on my final publishing meeting here.

Lee 

I await them eagerly. Can't wait to see what arrives. 

 

 

[Cederstrand]

When is a double crossover a good idea? Are they inherently prone to causing derailments? Have been looking at some the unitrack version. Thanks for any suggestions.

Rob

[Flashwave]

When is a double crossover a good idea? Are they inherently prone to causing derailments? Have been looking at some the unitrack version. Thanks for any suggestions.

Rob

When you need to jump across a track quickly in a yard and don't have a lot of room. In my opinion, they are a piin in the butt to use, and frequently wind up trains running into the wrong place because I misrread the way they were in fact aligned. But they have a time and place

[rtraincollector]

Evening all been a nice and quiet day had a few honey dues but other than that its been nice. went to Dominos on the way home fom one of 2 trips to walley world and got there steak subs for us . I use to like them when they made them before and didn't know why they stopped then glad there back and for $4.99 not bad about 8" long and subways 11" subs are 9.00 for the steak sub and I like these better

Hope all are having a good day been a while scince I posted other than earlier today to much to catch up.  

LSW I don't know a lot about HO or n scale do they have electric couplers now? Lionel has always had where we could uncouple most by a electric magnet in the track (well let me correct that they have scince ww2 has been over or shortly after as they went to the knuckle couplers ( the cheap sets thou had fixed knuckle couplers or nonoperating) But scince TMCC they had put on the engines eltric couplers that you can opperate by remote control thru the TMCC or Legacey systems. I know you all have the DCC systems that lionel looked into but had problems with it keeping there engines on AC power that most are still today for a little while lionel made some cheaper sets that where dc and they even made some engines that could opperate on both AC and DC power.

Well prayers to all that need them and talk to you all later

 

[Packers#1]

I'm getting so phsyced up for tommorow! I'm ready to cream kennedy middle in football! I'll tell ya'll who wins.

[Flashwave]

Evening all been a nice and quiet day had a few honey dues but other than that its been nice. went to Dominos on the way home fom one of 2 trips to walley world and got there steak subs for us . I use to like them when they made them before and didn't know why they stopped then glad there back and for $4.99 not bad about 8" long and subways 11" subs are 9.00 for the steak sub and I like these better

Hope all are having a good day been a while scince I posted other than earlier today to much to catch up.  

LSW I don't know a lot about HO or n scale do they have electric couplers now? Lionel has always had where we could uncouple most by a electric magnet in the track (well let me correct that they have scince ww2 has been over or shortly after as they went to the knuckle couplers ( the cheap sets thou had fixed knuckle couplers or nonoperating) But scince TMCC they had put on the engines eltric couplers that you can opperate by remote control thru the TMCC or Legacey systems. I know you all have the DCC systems that lionel looked into but had problems with it keeping there engines on AC power that most are still today for a little while lionel made some cheaper sets that where dc and they even made some engines that could opperate on both AC and DC power.

Well prayers to all that need them and talk to you all later

 

The easiest thing is a magnet pulling on a trip pin, disguised as the hoses hanging underneath the car. There is a company producung DCC couplers, but it's astronimcal per car and it;s only for boxcars right now, they need the room.

[OzarkBelt]

ALOHA!

Well, I have been a bit absent as schooling and all that has been keeping me dreadfully busy. I have been a tad busy also on doing some research on Conrail. I have finally decided to take the plunge and model Conrail after finding an attractive GP-35, some rolling stock and a caboose at the train show a couple weekends ago. As of right now, the OBRR will remain in place as I am still working on that. I am working on designing a 1'x4' shelf layout to showcase my Conrail equipment and will serve as a seed for a much larger layout (hopefully)

And then there is some G scale stuff calling my name along with several Gn15 micro layout ideas and some N scale tagging along. This is a Great Hobby! So many projects, so little time.  Oh well, I'll find a way to work on most of them... I hope.  

Well, I better head out. Ya'll take care. PS: If any one has any info or tidbets on Conrail, that would be nice if I ccould hear from you. thanks! 

 

 

[LSWrr]

Well Ozark belt you didn't say please, but here you go;

http://crcyc.railfan.net/

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=CR

http://www.railsandtrails.com/default.htm

This will get you started.  There is a fallen flags RR page that lists CR's family tree but I can't find it in my stash.  i have a ton of pictures if there is something special you need a picture of let me know.

Lee

[der5997]

Good evening Diners:  No mrr today, but I did get an historical insight from the basement.  I unearthed a broken taillight lens. It has Guide R3-53 on it.  So this evening I Googled, and found quite quickly that it's  from a 1953 Olds 88 or Super 88.  For the latter, see http://www.adclassix.com/a3/53oldsmobilesuper88sedan1.html  A new lens is only $38.00.  That was a surprise in two ways. 1) that they are still available (well maybe not such a huge surprise) and 2) that they are so cheap, seeing the price of replacements for current auto hardware is through the roof.  A friend from Mushaboom recently had a deer run into their truck. $5000 in repairs, of which $500 is a headlight.  The deer walked away, BTW, and the friend has all sorts of bruises from the sudden stop.

JR:  That's rotten about the roof and water damage. I had imagined your repairs were more or less finished. Sorry to hear otherwise.

Rob:

When is a double crossover a good idea?

...The A&W layout I had in Alberta had one because I liked the look of the trackwork.  It operated very well, and was in fact fairly useful where I had placed it. I had the turnout motors wired so that one could not easily get into the situation Morgan describes. This limits total versatility, but I was going first of all for looks rather than operations. I'd say, if you like the idea, go for it.

Must run. Goodnight all, and God Bless.  Prayers for all in need of healing, comfort and peace.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good evening ...

Just got back from Nashville. Medical test indicate that the new treatment is working and recovery is progressing. Rhythm of heart is as good as could be expected, but still not normal.

RT....... best wishes with the cath test. They gave me another one of those while I was in the hospital along with all the other stuff.

JR  ... That's really sad about the water getting to the layout room. (Other places, too, of course) I've been waiting here hope the repairs to your home get completed OK. In particular, I liked the phtos of your layout's city scenes very much.

Rob ... I think of your fire too and all the troubles you have had as a result. I am using a Shinahara double crossover with no problems.

Lee ... sounds like you had fun passing on those hoppers. I've replaced trucks and couplers on train show cheapies myself numerous times.

Jeff ... the GP40 looks good!

Der ..... I'm glad you are spending time in the diner and getting back to mrr'ing.  Looking forward to learning of your progress on the layout.

Oh Paul ........ go ahead and scream!

Ryan ... sorry I missed that breakfast casserole.

TrainsRme1 ... Sounds like a wonderful adventure wiring the UP yard!

Packers .... best wishes for the big game! BTW did you ever explain about your friend Shayne mentioned at bottom of your posts?  Sounds like a sad story.

Jim CG... any noteworthy progress with the club layout lately?

Terry..... Watch out for Ike! 

Morgan .... Sounds like that was quite a show in Danville. You got a variety pack of stuff.

Oazark .. Enjoy the Conrail stuff. IS the GP35 an Athearn model or which maker?

Happy Model Railroading

 

[Paul W. Beverung]

Evening Gang:

RT: I'm sorry to hear about your health problem. Maybe if they can do the cath they can also fix the problem. Lets hope so anyway. Let us know how things go.

RT: That's a real bummer there about the roof and rain. I hope that the layout is all right. We had a pipe break in the basement a couple of weeks ago. Of course it was right over the layout. It was a small leak so I didn't catch untill I went to the basement and saw a couple of inches of water on the floor. Fortunately the sump pump did a good job of keeping up with the flow so only stuff on the floor was hurt. I did have many copies of my collection of Inland Seas damaged. That is the quartely publication of the Great Lakes Historical Society. The layout did have some damage. I had to take up a couple of turnouts up along with some track. I will still have to do some re ballasting if I can ever get the layout out from under all the stuff I had to store on it from the remodeling job.

It looks like Ike may come up my way. I just saw two projected tracks that come right over us. I guess we brought it on by cutting our hay. I did get to burn the brush pile today since the burn ban has been lifted. I'll dump some more on tomorrow if the winds are right.

Ryan I'm happy that I could be there back up if needed. Any time guy.

Well I guess I'll head for bed.

Good Night All

[Cederstrand]

A tall glass of cool lemon water, please & thanks.

Well, the roofers sorta finished today, except that our contractor wasn't satisfied with one edge and is going to make them redo it. Roof should be properly finished tomorrow.

Now I need to correct same contractor regarding a door we must have centered, rather than shoved over to the edge of my high deck (for safety reasons). We will be glad when this build is complete.

Although tired, managed a rather heavy workout tonight in my tiny gym. Had to much pent up frustration steam that had to get let off. Might pay for this tomorrow.

Have a good night all. Rob

[Cederstrand]

Some Chamomile tea, please.

Tis' almost 4:00am and no sleep yet. Wife must have sawed half the trees in the Smokey Mountain National Park by now. (good thing she doesn't read my posts ) The thing is, she is not feeling well at all, probably from that bad tooth. I put my foot down and will drag her to the Dentist tomorrow, like it or not. A systemic infection can be lethal and is best to be avoided. Nuff said.

Rob

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN ! 

[LSWrr]

Good morning all.

Finished painting the floor in the laundry room maybe Thursday I can move the cupboards into there and start work on the train expansion room.  Last night I finished 3 more gondolas and started work on the 4 flat cars and put the final coat of paint on several MOW units.

Paul, I hope it misses you, friend of mine is in Corpus, and she is the lead for the Incident Management Team so she has to shelter in place while the storm rolls through.

Well the weather here is very fall like, everyone things we will have a bad winter due to the short summer we had this year.

For those of you tracking the F7 in MINN that was resuscitated the same RR has established it as an A-B-B-B-B-A.

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Philip:

 

Good morning.

It's 75 and cloudy. The high today should be around 90 and there's a chance of thunderstorms.

I received a package in the mail yesterday from Euclid, Ohio. I was expecting it so no big surprise there. In it I found two gondola bodies, three hopper bodies and one caboose, all without trucks and couplers. Again this was expected. I have every intention of rebuilding all of these and putting them into service. Yesterday I rebuilt two of the hoppers which evidently had Talgo trucks originally. I installed Bachmann trucks and body mounted Kadee #5 couplers and immediately pressed them into service. The roadnames and numbers will be left as is as an honor to the modeler who gave them to me. The only change I'll make will be to add the logo of the MGRy below the cars numbers.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      9/10/2008

Heat Index:  77°F
Humidity:  95%
Dew Point:  70°F

So Far Today
High:  73°F
Low:  71°F
Rain:  N/A"
Rain Rate:  N/A"/h
Gust:  6mph NE

Today  High: 92    Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs in the lower 90s. Northeast winds around 5 mph.

Tonight  Low: 75    Partly cloudy until late night then becoming mostly cloudy. Lows in the mid 70s. East winds around 5 mph.

Here's one of the rebuilt hoppers.

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

    A regular and a donut please Zoe. Went to the museum last night and worked on the O gage display. It was good to play with trains again and see the rest of the crew as I'd missed most of the last two months due to the racing schedule.

    I'll go back to the house tonight and evaluate what needs doing - just couldn't get enthused about it yesterday. In all likelyhood the entire layout and the walls it's on will need to come out so I'll have an oppourtunity to start over again. If we upgrade the heating system and remove the boiler from the basement I might even get to expand the empire a bit. At what point do i do an entire new track plan? I really did like the more urban part of the layout and the code 100 track looked right at home there as well. Perhaps with some revision I can make it all more coherent. The big deal for right now will be to remove the layout without destroying all of it.

   Enough of the rambling, time to get on with the shop stuff.  CUL, J.R.

   

[C&O Fan]

Morning all

I'll have a cup of tea please

I've been watching Hurricane Ike looks like you'll stay dry Jeff

We'll know to day if we have to make a trip to get the boat

they said yesterday the west end of the island will get 4 to 5 feet of flood water

here's the current path towards Corpus

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200809.html#a_topad

I'll be in the back booth

[sleeper33]

afternoon all

 just a tea for now please

hows is everyone havnt been on for a while cause of work but i can see that the chat is as lively as ever

 oh well ill be at the counter if anyone needs me

 

 

[LSWrr]

Terry, I just looked at the forecasted path of IKE, NWS predicts it will turn north about 50 miles offshore (Corpus Christi) and head north into Okalahoma.

Garry, yea those train show cars can be a good price; I've noticed a trend to charge $10 for a Tyco Caboose.  Not sure what these vendors are thinking. I was almost thrown out of a large train show last year while looking at some used rolling stock; the vendor asked me if he could help me find anything I said Yea, something cheaper than my LHS sells new at your used prices.

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I've noticed a trend to charge $10 for a Tyco Caboose.  Not sure what these vendors are thinking.

Haven't you heard? Tyco is COLLECTIBLE! Collection day here is Tuesday. Put it out at the curb Monday night and it will be collected.

[SilverSpike]

Some of you may remember that my dad had gone through a bunch of medical testing last month and now that they are back in NOLA from the week long evacuation due to Gustav. Now his scheduled gall bladder surgery is set for tomorrow (9/11). Supposed to be an outpatient thing, get in pre-op early AM, 1 hour procedure, recovery and rest then release in the mid-afternoon.  Just requesting some more prayers and thoughts to go their way especially tomorrow! Thanks!

Just got back from Nashville. Medical test indicate that the new treatment is working and recovery is progressing. Rhythm of heart is as good as could be expected, but still not normal.

Ryan ... sorry I missed that breakfast casserole.

Hey Garry, glad to hear the recovery is progressing! The casserole is virtually available at any time of the night or day. That's the great thing about the Diner!

Ryan I'm happy that I could be there back up if needed. Any time guy.

We really appreciated it Paul! I talked with mom last night and they said to give you a big "Thank You" for the offer, she said they drove through your area on their way back on Sunday. Now they are cleaning up the yard yesterday and today.

Now for some lunch time fare for all my special Diner buddies!

Braised Short Ribs

 

Fruit Salad & Blueberry Sauce 

Hugs and prayers to you all!

 

[sleeper33]

already on way mate

hope all goes well

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Ryan: Good luck to your father. The gall bladder surgery is rather quick and relatively easy. My older sister had gall bladder surgery a few years ago and was back at work the very next day.

[JimRCGMO]

Good Morning, Zoe - since Ryan said that casserole's still on the menu, I'll have some of that, along with some of the famed OJ and a cup of coffee, please. Thank you, ma'am!

Lot of catching up to do - don't think I stopped in yesterday or since the day before, though I peeked in the door once or twice during the day yesterday. JR, sorry to hear of your layout getting soaked (and that the house rebuild is taking so blooming long...). Guess you could keep your favorite parts (city, etc.) of the layout and redesign the other parts that connect to them. That's one thing about re-starting is, you get to change your mind again.

RT, will keep your hospital trip in mind and . Those couplers sound neat, being able to uncouple anywhere. I think they'd be way too expensive in the smaller scales, as you said.

Terry, watch out for yourself there and don't delay too long in getting that boat moved (and don't overdo yourself in moving and hurt something, either!).

Rob, hope things for your FIL go well on his surgery. Hope you get your contractors in line on the house build, also! 

Paul, hope your hay gets done before Ike arrives. I have a friend near here who's mowed his hay and is hoping the weather here stays dry long enough for baling, too. 

Lee, sounds like I should've gone by my P.O. box yesterday. So I guess I'll stop by today at some point to see what's there. I'd be interested in how you do the 'wooderizing' of the flat car plastic, so when you get done, you could post a topic on that, right?

And it's PC's birthday? Maybe he's laying low and that's why he hasn't been in so far. Well, here's for you, PC:

Zoe, let's break out the ice cream, too!

Gav, good to see you by again. Work sometimes has that nasty habit of pulling us away from MRR stuff...

Lee and Jeff - my take on that is "Collectible? Smullectible!!"

Jeff, I thought that Santa Fe diesel looked fine in the colors it had.. But you did a good job on the new painting, anyway.

Ryan, will be keeping your Dad's surgery in mind. Those specials for lunch look really good, and I may have to stick around for lunch, today...  

DerJohn, good to see you in a bit more often. Thanks for the update on Luc. As for a double crossover, for my tastes that's pretty fancy.  

Garry, on the club layout, all the backdrop is in place, and we got probably upwards of 95 percent of the roadbed down on Monday. We also voted to paint the backdrop and have Kevin (our layout design guru, who works at an auto trim place where they can make vinyl overlays) will take photos for specific areas and have one of his co-workers make the photo into a vinyl overlay (with the outer edges laser-cut, ready to glue on) for the more detailed parts of the backdrop. Cuts the cost down vs. doing the whole backdrop in overlays. 

Anyone who might get by St. Louis - this weekend.  Here's the publicity blurb:

Missouri, Saint Louis — The Boeing Employees’ Railroad Club will be holding a Railroad Swap Meet on September 13th, at the Greensfelder Recreation Complex at Queeny Park, 550 Wiedman Road. Hours will be from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Admission: $3.00, adults; children under 12 admitted free. For more information, contact: Wayne Schimmel, 733 Hwy. Y, Winfield, MO 63389-2206; [phone] after 6:30 p.m. Central Time; e-mail: [e-mail]

They usually have a goodly number of booths/sellers, plus some layout exhibits and you can find bargains ('non-collectibles,' maybe they're called? ). There are vendors with O, HO, N scale and probably other scales (but not sure on that). Some LHS's also have table there (including our LHS owner/club member, who'll have 4-6 tables).  (We now return you to your regular Diner programming...)

I'll settle here in the corner booth for now. Prayers for those in need, and especially for those along the Texas/Lousiana coast in Ike's path.

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Lee: Remember that caboose body you sent me? I have no real idea what company made it, probably Mehano. All I could find on the bottom is 'Made in Slovenia'. Anyhow, I've fitted it with a new frame, trucks and couplers. Here's a few photos:

[sleeper33]

lookin' good Jeff

 your work gives me insparation

[LSWrr]

PC:

Well Jeff is cleaning up my old rolling stock very nicely.  Jeff, you should have gone to the Toledo train show last spring, there was a guy with a paper box filled with loose parts you would have had a field day with that stuff.

I don't know who made that caboose, it was rather depressed when I got it.

Some of the TYCO brown box stuff was ok if you wanted to spend a few hours touching it up and adding some detail work to it.  The 4 flat cars I'm working on are TYCO and don't look half bad.

Ryan, thoughts and prayers to your Dad, I hope everything works out tomorrow.  My mother may need to have her gallbladder removed this fall she is having her tests done this week.

Jim, I'll post some pictures once I can get them finished, maybe Thursday night.

Lee

[Cederstrand]

Let me 2nd the  " border="0" width="81" height="26" /> for PC.

Roofers came and finished the back edge. May be waterproof(?), but it looks like #^*%! Wonder what our cantractor is going to make of it. All the more reason to go with spray foam insulation throughout.

Have a good day all. Rob ps: (not my FIL having surgery, at least any that I've heard about)

[OzarkBelt]

Well Ozark belt you didn't say please, but here you go;

http://crcyc.railfan.net/

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/locoList.aspx?id=CR

http://www.railsandtrails.com/default.htm

This will get you started.  There is a fallen flags RR page that lists CR's family tree but I can't find it in my stash.  i have a ton of pictures if there is something special you need a picture of let me know.

Lee

oops.

Thanks for the links, I will check them out.

Garry: The GP-35 is one of the newer Bachmann spectrum with DCC. It pretty nice, for $22!