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ELLIOT's Trackside Diner VI: The Full Meal Deal! Locked

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  • Member since
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  • From: Olympia, WA
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Posted by gear-jammer on Friday, December 5, 2008 9:04 AM

Good morning, Chloe.  Coffee and waffles for anyone who shows up.  It is quite in here today.

My goal is to make some deciduous bush type trees this morning to put around the base of the trestle.

Sue

Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.

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Posted by howmus on Friday, December 5, 2008 9:14 AM

 Mornin' everyone!

Nice sunny day here in the Finger Lakes.  Currently 25°F with a high around 29°F.  A nice day this time of year around here is one that you don't have to shovel "partly cloudy"................

Mornin' Bill

Jeffrey always good to have the eye test behind you although I know you have another soon to look forward to.  I have a six months before my next one.  Luckily I live all of 2 blocks away from my Optometrist so getting back home isn't too bad.

Blownout and Galaxy, I taught a lot of kids like you............... (Some eventually joined chorus!)  Galaxy I remember a couple of those names but can't put a face to them.  Well that was half a lifetime ago.

Mornin' Sue!  I'll have a couple of those waffles with Maple Syrup and my usual dark roast in a FGLK Mug. Thanks!  BTW, it's quite what in here???? ConfusedWhistling

I best finish my coffee and get to work.  See you all later! 

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by Cederstrand on Friday, December 5, 2008 9:17 AM

in a SOUTHERN mug and what Sue is having, please & thanks. And don't skimp on the syrup. mmmm...wafflesDinner

Found 4 more fraudulent purchases on our old/cancelled cc. Called them in right away. Seems like a busy time of year for crooks.

Well, gotta do the critter rounds and then get busy finishing up a few things on the build that I am responsible for. Have a good day all. Cowboy Rob

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Posted by gear-jammer on Friday, December 5, 2008 9:22 AM

Rob, 

 How is the critter health doing?  Sometimes I am happy to only have 4 steers.  I am much lazier than I used to be.  Horses were definately more work.  I guess the affection was worth it.

Sue

Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.

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  • From: East central Illinois
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Posted by Cox 47 on Friday, December 5, 2008 9:39 AM

Good morning...It;s sunny and a cold 15 here this morning...I'll have a glass of Ed's OJ and toast please...Thank You...Its starting to look like Christmas our caregiver is putting up tree..She is also cooking up a big pot of chili for the week-end..

Got the camera going yesterday this is the track cleaning car..If I remeber right John Allen had some of these on His G&D years ago..I had one I built in HO back then...This is my N-scale car..works pretty good run a few laps and the pad is black..and all and all the only cost was 2 small wire nails and maybe 1/2 hour at the most...

you all have a good one...Jerry

ILLinois and Southern...Serving the Coal belt of southern Illinois with a Smile...
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Posted by gear-jammer on Friday, December 5, 2008 9:47 AM

Jerry,

An old freight car is a great place to hide the track cleaner.  We have one that runs on the main line all the time.

I just heard from Larry.  He got snowed in at a truck stop in Prince George, BC.  Sounds like the roads up there are miserable.

Its daylight so I should head outside.

Sue

Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Western transplant to the Deep South
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Posted by Cederstrand on Friday, December 5, 2008 10:47 AM

***Jerry, looks like a good cleaning car. Do you put any kind of cleaner on the pad or run it dry?

***Sue, the old mare (Sandy) is holding her own and has been off Bute for a good while now. Looks like she will survive the inhury to that lower leg. One tough old mare, almost completely blind and with limited hearing. Hate seeing an old friend get that way. Sounds like Larry has his hands full on this trip.

Back to work here. Cowboy Rob

  • Member since
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Posted by gear-jammer on Friday, December 5, 2008 11:41 AM

Cederstrand

 

***Sue, the old mare (Sandy) is holding her own and has been off Bute for a good while now. Looks like she will survive the inhury to that lower leg. One tough old mare, almost completely blind and with limited hearing. Hate seeing an old friend get that way. 

 

Rob,

Some of them are just tougher than nails.  Sounds like Sandy is one of them.  I had a good gelding that could get through a knot hole and not hurt himself.  Never a sick or injured day until I came home from work to find that he had had colic all day.  He was gone with 30 minutes of me getting home. Sad day.

On a lighter note.  My wreath party went well, so I get some layout time today.

Sue

Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.

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Posted by Cox 47 on Friday, December 5, 2008 11:42 AM

Rob..I just let pad run dry..I have thought about putting alittle Goo Gone on it but havn't tryed it...Jerry

ILLinois and Southern...Serving the Coal belt of southern Illinois with a Smile...
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Posted by C&O Fan on Friday, December 5, 2008 2:19 PM

Cox 47

Rob..I just let pad run dry..I have thought about putting alittle Goo Gone on it but havn't tryed it...Jerry

Goo Gone will clean but it does leave a residue

 

TerryinTexas

See my Web Site Here

http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/

 

 

  • Member since
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  • From: Orig: Tyler Texas. Lived in seven countries, now live in Sundown, Louisiana
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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Friday, December 5, 2008 2:45 PM

 Best liquid track cleaner you're gonna get is lacquer thinner like the Clean Machine uses.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by LSWrr on Friday, December 5, 2008 2:52 PM

RAIL-ZIP!

Clean the tracks, apply rail-zip let it dry over night.

I haven't cleaned tracks for 6 months, works great on brass too.

Lee

BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret)
 L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes

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Posted by howmus on Friday, December 5, 2008 3:08 PM

jeffrey-wimberly

 Best liquid track cleaner you're gonna get is lacquer thinner like the Clean Machine uses.

 

Be very, very careful using it!  It will destroy any and all plastic parts on contact.  Don't ask me how I know that............Sad  That is not even mentioning the health hazards that come with the stuff............  I use 90% alcohol in my clean machine as well as the "Gleam" method.  A quick once over with the Clean Machine and it is ready to run.  I also run this car ahead of the loco when I clean:

It picks up stuff like this:

 

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

  • Member since
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  • From: Orig: Tyler Texas. Lived in seven countries, now live in Sundown, Louisiana
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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Friday, December 5, 2008 3:21 PM

 All I've had to use since June of 2005 is a clean dry cloth. I did the GLEAM method once and haven't had to do a real track cleaning since. Just a quick wipe with the cloth if the trains haven't been run for a month or so.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


  • Member since
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  • From: England
  • 525 posts
Posted by sleeper33 on Friday, December 5, 2008 5:10 PM

Good evening all

Just a tea for now please Zoe

well for track cleaning i use an abrasive block tried a cleaning car with no success so will stick with the tried and tested.

 well my teas here so will be at the counter if anybody wants me

 

Gav TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING AT ONCE AND NOT GETTING ANYWERE
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Posted by Cederstrand on Friday, December 5, 2008 5:37 PM

in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please & thanks.

Good discussion on track cleaning. Hope to cross that bridge myself one day.

Got the rest of the fans up in our little future Diner & sleeping porch. Here are pics (much brighter in person) of the Diner:

Tiles still need cleaning up, but that's the contractors job.Mischief

Finished up the evening critter rounds. I'll be in the corner booth sipping my coffee. If I nod off, please let me sleep. Cowboy Rob

 

  • Member since
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Posted by Packers#1 on Friday, December 5, 2008 7:08 PM

OK, so I took the PSAT WAY back in the fall, and we got our scores today. This was for the Junior Scholar thing here in S.C. To be one, you had to get a 50 on one part (highest you can get is like an 80). So my scores were:

Critical reading: 70 (higher than 99% of sophmores)

Math: 57 (higher than 85% of sophmores)

Writing: 55 (higher than 89% of sophmores)

So I got junior scholar in all three areas. Now, convert that to an SAT score, and you get 1820 out of 2400 posible points, lol.

Sawyer Berry

Clemson University c/o 2018

Building a protolanced industrial park layout

 

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Posted by blownout cylinder on Friday, December 5, 2008 8:08 PM

Sawyer; Ha!! Good stuff!!Thumbs Up

Rob; What direction is the diner facing? It looks like one gets a good view up there...Smile,Wink, & Grin

I'm still testing the wye out. I have not lost anything yet...Whistling

I'll have an egg nog, thank youSmile,Wink, & Grin

Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry

I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/

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Posted by gear-jammer on Friday, December 5, 2008 8:28 PM

I will have a RBF for the evening.

Rob,  Nice Dining and sleeping porch.  It should help with some solar heating in the winter.

Sue

Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.

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  • From: Finger Lakes
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Posted by howmus on Friday, December 5, 2008 8:35 PM

Sawyer, nice work on the PSAT!  Congrats!!!  See what "playing with trains" will do for you.......Smile,Wink, & Grin 

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

  • Member since
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Posted by sleeper33 on Friday, December 5, 2008 9:12 PM

Nice work there Sawyer

keep it up and next stop Notre Dame

 

Gav TRYING TO DO EVERYTHING AT ONCE AND NOT GETTING ANYWERE
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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Friday, December 5, 2008 10:09 PM

Howdy everyone. Just got back from a church meeting.

Texas Terry  .... I really like your company house you posted in WPF!

Ray .... I saw your layout pictures in WPF also. Bravo! BTW, my favorite teacher decades ago was my band teacher. I have no musical talent, but band was enjoyable.

Sawyer .... Thumbs Up for your PSAT scores. Perhaps, the high score for critical reading comes from reading all of the posts in the MR forum. Smile

Rob.. Wow, the new house will be terrific from what you posted!

Jeff. You've psoted some neat stuff including your post in WPF. Any second thoughts on starting an Amtrak service. I like those big Amtrak locomotives. I wish you the best with your glasses and your eyesight.

Sue .. Tell Larry "hello" from the diner, and we'll be hoping for a safe return home so he can get that bridge completed. Here we are in our nice warm homes, and there's Larry stuck in the snow in BC.

Jerry ... Nice job on the track cleaning car.

Lee ... I agree that Rail Zip does a great job.

I use various track cleaning methods. Rail Zip works fine. I have a Walthers Trainline track cleaning box car and it works fine. I have an old Roundhouse track cleaner consisting of four pads hel to the track with springs located on each corenr of a dummy box cab diesel. The Roundhouse cleaner works until a pad slips and hangs up on a turnout. I also use the trusty Brite Boy as needed.

I'm still working on the expansion to my layout. So far, it's just boards and track and hardly worth any photos.

Happy Model Railroading.

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by JimRCGMO on Friday, December 5, 2008 10:10 PM

Evening, Chloe - I'll have some vegetable beef soup and a Dr. Pepper, please. Thanks!

Ryan, that was a nice GSMRR photo. Think I might add that to my desktop pics folder...Smile How's Monique doing lately? Let her know she's in our AngelAngel

Terry, I like what you're doing with the house(s). Did you get the three-house set, or the single kit? On your sage tree - maybe you could make a little money selling the rest of us around the country some sage materials for making our trees...Yeah!!

Sue, sounds like your party went well - so, are you going to add a raft to your river now? Wink

Rob, you may have created a 'train monster' Smile,Wink, & Grin when you introduced your wife to model railroading. I'm trying to figure out if it was like one of those theme plots from that Moonlight show (about the vampire guy) - you have to mentor the newly 'turned' MRRer, so they learn the ropes of MRR'ing... Just can't turn 'me loose without any direction. Whistling Hope your bank gets things straightened out on your account - I guess finances are hard for crooks too, this year. I had one guy at a local jail this week to assess who had been in court that morning, and then got caught trying to steal car batteries from an auto parts place. Not his best thinking, but I've heard a lot of law enforcement guys say that most crooks aren't the sharpest pencils in the box...Whistling Good to hear your old mare is doing better.

Wow!!, Rob - the Diner looks like a neat place to just sit out and enjoy a cup of coffee on a morning or around sunset!

Sawyer - way to go on your testing there! Thumbs Up Keep that up and you'll be able to get all kinds of scholarships for college. Smile

Blownout Cylinder, good to hear you're on your way to having the wye working right. Yeah!!

CN Charlie, when I hear the phrase 'dry cold', I think of the moisture being sucked out of any exposed flesh surfaces (like ungloved hands, etc.) Shock Oops As for my car's inside fogging, the strange thing is, it also happens on my side windows as well, so I don't think I can blame it on the heater air. Usually, I start the heater on cold days with it blowing only on the windshield, and then after it warms up, shift to also the lower areas.

Lee, can you tape those muscles so they can heal a little bit sooner? That sounds rather painful to me.

Ray, does your track cleaner have a magnet in it, or just a pressure pad?

I'll be enjoying my soup for now (and my Dr. Pepper). Hope everyone can fit in some MRR'ing time this weekend.

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

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Posted by blownout cylinder on Friday, December 5, 2008 10:54 PM

Good almost morning people

Jim; If this fogging up happens a few minutes after you get into your car you are probably casting just enough heat yourself to trigger it off. Around this icebox of a town it can be very annoying--everytime I get into the beater I get fogged up windowsSigh

As for the el tedium wye this would be the third attempt at handlaying the thing and, yes, it may be done now...Whistling

Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry

I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/

  • Member since
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  • From: Western transplant to the Deep South
  • 4,256 posts
Posted by Cederstrand on Friday, December 5, 2008 11:11 PM

Tall glass of cool lemon water, please & thanks. 

***Sawyer, GONGRATS!Thumbs Up

The Diner faces the timber company land directly behind us. Nice one for wild critter watching, Most scenic view is from my studio window, or any of the front facing windows. Pasture land with a creek or two, nestled in a small valley.

Going to bed early here...much to accomplish tomorrow.

Night all. Cowboy

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Posted by Cederstrand on Saturday, December 6, 2008 3:17 AM

Chamomile tee in a "ICE TRAIN running past a 2-8-0 Southern steamer", please & thanks.  

***Garry, some folks around here (me) would be interested in seeing your "boards & track" progress at any stage. You are still further along than at least one person here (me again). 

Cowboy Rob

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12-06-2008
Posted by wetidlerjr on Saturday, December 6, 2008 4:56 AM

Good Morning from Tipton IN ! Big Smile

Clown



Dinner

Bill Tidler Jr.

Near a cornfield in Indiana...

  • Member since
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  • From: Orig: Tyler Texas. Lived in seven countries, now live in Sundown, Louisiana
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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Saturday, December 6, 2008 5:51 AM

Heartland Division CB&Q
Jeff. You've psoted some neat stuff including your post in WPF. Any second thoughts on starting an Amtrak service. I like those big Amtrak locomotives. I wish you the best with your glasses and your eyesight.

Fraid not. While the red and blue Amtrak logo is still on them the Amtrak name has been removed.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: Orig: Tyler Texas. Lived in seven countries, now live in Sundown, Louisiana
  • 25,640 posts
Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Saturday, December 6, 2008 6:47 AM

 Good morning.

It's 32 and clear. High is expected to be around 57 and it will be clear.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      12/6/2008

Wind Chill:  32°F
Humidity:  88%
Dew Point:  29°F

So Far Today
High:  37°F
Low:  32°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  5mph NNE

Today  High: 58    Partly cloudy. Highs in the upper 50s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight  Low: 32    Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 30s. North winds around 5 mph.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Texas
  • 2,934 posts
Posted by C&O Fan on Saturday, December 6, 2008 8:06 AM

JimRCGMO

Snip

Terry, I like what you're doing with the house(s). Did you get the three-house set, or the single kit? On your sage tree - maybe you could make a little money selling the rest of us around the country some sage materials for making our trees

Snip

 

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

Thanks for the kind words Jim and Garry The house is for my friend Arts layout

he just bought the single kit

As for the trees the next time I make a trip to West texas I'll fill the back of my pickup

then I'll have enough for all of us

Rob what a great looking sleeping porch it looks like you have your own tree house

TerryinTexas

See my Web Site Here

http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/

 

 

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