Good morning all,
Rob, you have family in Toledo, OH?
25F for the high today as Sue’s cold weather system approaches, it was so nice of you to share. I see on the DMI board they have a train stuck out near Proctor, MN this morning. Two locomotives are dead on the mains with dead batteries and the rail road is looking for a snow plow to help fetch them back to the engine house.
Jeff, that box should show up today.
Lee
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Good Morning from the somewhat snowcovered Great Lakes basin---We are expecting a high of -8C (we are now at -14C) witha sun/cloud mix changing over to snow--heavy at times overnight tonight--which will end tomorrow afternoon--leaving us with a total between 6-9" more of the stuff. What is going to be an issue for tomorrow are those lovely winds which will go up to 70-80kmh. Oh joy
Lee; OK mine brain washed out over DMI--who be these? You'd think I'd remember this but... Have a good day
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/
LSWrrJeff, that box should show up today.
Good morning. It's 66 and cloudy out here by the lake. The high will be around the mid 70's and it will be mostly cloudy. Didn't do a whole lot done yesterday as the weather was rather uncooperative, making any tasks to be done outside nearly impossible. I did get some decal work done however and I had to change out one of the decoders in my GP38-2 set. Seems it has a bad memory and can't retain it's settings for more than a day before it reverts to it's factory settings. It's a Bachmann decoder. Go figure. I may be able to adapt it to some accessory use in the future. When I can afford to get a couple of DZ125's the Bachmann decoders will be yanked out of both locos and replaced by the DZ's. Not sure what I'll be doing today, just whatever turns up. Today's Weather for: Sundown, LA 71446-6114 12/20/2008 Wind Chill: 66°F Humidity: 93% Dew Point: 64°F So Far Today High: 68°F Low: 66°F Rain: 0.00" Rain Rate: 0.00"/h Gust: 7mph SW Today High: 75 Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog early in the morning. A 20 percent chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 70s. Southwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Tonight Low: 45 Mostly cloudy. A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Colder. Lows in the mid 40s. Southwest winds 5 to 10 mph in the evening becoming north 10 to 15 mph after midnight.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
A cup of hawaiian Kona Hazelnut coffee in a C & O mug please, egg & cheese sandwich please.
Cold and snowy here....since flurries, 7" of snow already.
Well, the new under-the-xmas-tree layout isn't gonna happen this year. $ too tight. Plus no time this year, too busy. It would have been nothing really spactacular, but a "permanent" u-t-x-t layout for years to come.
The van needed tranny work and the washer is on the blink. The van also needs a new exhaust system, so all extra $$ is going there.
We haven't even put up the tree yet {artificial and usually goes up 1st week of Dec.} and don't intend to now. We have been way to busy for that too.
Since we don't have kids, it doesn't really matter. We can do without and get ourselves "practical" gifts this year. I was hoping for a new loco this year, but aint gonna happen. :-(
Ah, well,
Everyone have a great day!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Hello Diners,
Galxie. By coincidence, I am having Kona coffee now. I like Kona hazlenut, but today it is Kona Tofffee. MMMMMMM.
Jeff ....That must have been a messy collsion with the owl. I'm glad you give a hoot.
Believe it or not Christmas is almost here. Does anybody have any big plans to celebrate?
Are there any steam fans on board to day? I was operating steam locos yesterday. Here's the photo I just put in WPF.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Mornin' everyone!
Wow, you guys sure made short work of those cookies! Oh well Flo, I'll have a cup of dark roast in a FGLK mug and that Butter Rum muffin you have over there. Yeh, warm it up so the butter will melt. Mmmm Good!
Heartland Division CB&QAre there any steam fans on board to day?
But of course! The era I model didn't have none of them diseasal type thingies..... Actually I like diesels but Love steam! Play with the 1/1 sized diesels at the museum. Too bad I don't live closer to Steamtown!
Need to finish diging out from yesterday's storm so that another can arrive tomorrow. Not supposed to be a big as yesterday's but just add to the fun here in the Finger Lakes. Got about an inch or two more during the night. I still have to dig out the car and truck from under a plie of snow this morning and then go shopping for the red food coloring. More cookies! Currently 15°F here with a high of 19°F. "We're havin' a Heat Wave....... Tropical Heat Wave......
Hope all of you have a great day!
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good Morning, Janie - I’ll have your waffle special, and add a couple of strips of bacon and a glass of Ed’s OJ, please & thanks! (By the way, are there any of Ray’s cookies left from last night? Oh, well. Shhh... don’t wake up Duke, or his reflexes will have him grabbing for cookies, even though that batch is gone.Sue, with cougars coming into town (guess they have to do their shopping too?), do you ever lose stock (that you can tell was due to cougars)? I think I’d be a bit reluctant about going out after dark... Aw, sorry to hear that Larry got stuck there. I can tell you’re greatly disappointed, and I’ll bet he is, too, eh? Ray, guess you can sorta hibernate (from sound boarding) until this spring? Yep, I remember Alice (and can play the guitar part with four-part harmony...).Morgan, are those coaches heavyweights or the newer silver/aluminum ones? For your Christmas trees loads, you might be able to use thread or maybe even dental floss (dyed). Hope you have another good ‘raiding party’ at the other store. I'll be swinging by H-L today with their coupon and see what they might have for the MRR.Vincent, excellent jobs on the covered hopper and boxcar! Lee, thanks for the photos and info on your team track dock. With all those passengers at your station (and if it’s the same for all your stations), the LS&W’s passenger operations should be a major profit center. Sounds like your area’s getting an ice sandwich, with that kind of precipitation pattern.Paul, good to hear your doctor’s got you started on something for that stomach virus thingee. Not at all something to be endured any longer than necessary, and I’m sure Mary Ann is counting on you for her ride to dialysis soon enough.BC, take it careful - we don’t want you stuck in a ditch between London and Ilderton. But from your response yesterday morning, I’m betting you like to do ‘donuts’ in the snow, don’tcha? What are you using to corrugate your cookie sheets? And it sounds like you have a great neighbor there - maybe you could bake him a couple or three dozen cookies?Lee - yep, I have a Mac, but I’ve not found much of any photos that I can’t open. I use Graphic Converter, which can open all kinds of file formats. I’ll be emailing you this morning. I did screen captures of your pics for now off your webpages, but I’m sure your pics will be better quality than them. And that’s a good price on those figures - I may have to look at some of WeHonest’s auctions. Do they have many kinds of figure sets in their auctions? Now, if I could find a sucker friend to paint mine - of course I don’t know if I have a spare loco I would want to trade off, though... You’re not related to Tom Sawyer, are you?Jeff, things will probably be okay, so long as that owl wasn’t on the endangered species list (then you’d likely be having an EPA bureaucrat knocking on the door!) It did sound like you had a good night to be back indoors at home and warm. I’ll see if I can finish off breakfast before I go back across the street to the laundromat. I figured I’d come do it here in hopes of some of those cookies being left from last night.We’re supposed to reach about 40 F or so today, and then tomorrow the weatherguessers are talking about it being a high of 25 F for the day (then to drop to about 9 or 10 F) Sheesh - that’s almost as hard as living up NOTB around CN Charlie’s or BC’s areas! Hope everybody else has a warm place to stay (like say, the train room?) today. Or those up east of the Lakes, where it appears you Diners there are getting some of the white stuff.I’ll be back after I get the dryer runs done. Duke, keep my spot warm, wouldja? Thanks. And Janie, when Ray gets that next batch of those cookies done, hide a dozen or so for me, please. Thank ya, Ma’am!Blessings and prayers,Jim in Cape Girardeau
Morning All,
The weather for Lewistown is 25 degrees ferinheight, with a real feel of 21 degrees. Today when my dad gets home, wre going to State College, so I can get some train stuff for Christmas. See Ya Later!
Morning all from Foggy/SunnyCal. We're between storms right now, the one that's probably already hitting Sue up in Washington is due down here tonight, tomorrow and Monday. Then a break, then we're supposed to get a "Pineapple Express" in from the Central Pacific (no, not the railroad, LOL!) Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Which means TONS of rain here in the valley and TONS of snow in the mountains, since it will be mixing with an Alaskan cold front. I'll probably be playing Christmas Eve Mass in hip-boots.
But we desperately need the water so we can ship it south to LA this summer for their swimming pools, LOL!
Jeff: Aren't those barn owls supposed to be BIG mothers? That must have been a lot of feathers flying. I used to have a family of burrowing owls right on the other side of my back fence, they sure kept the mouse population down. Haven't heard from them this year, though. And more mice. Little brown field-type mice. One got in the house last year through the oven vent--imagine! My cats didn't know what to do with the little guy--we're obviously NOT talking hunting instinct here. I finally got it and tossed it out the back door.
Garry: AWWWW! What a cute little 0-6-0 and what a neat caboose. Ain't steam fun? That's a really nice photo!
Nothing much here on the MR front--even with a portable heater in the garage, it's been a little too cold to go out and work on the layout. Weather permitting, I'll get some stuff done between Christmas and New Years. The Big Butte Project will have to wait until spring, however, I don't think that my Sculptamold/Bragdon castings would EVER dry out in this moisture.
Big article in the Sacramento newspaper this morning about a lot of churches around the area holding early Christmas services this year then closing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The writer wondered why Catholic Churches weren't following the example. Well, DUH---ever heard of the "Liturgical Year"? We couldn't if we WANTED to, it's written into the schedule in stone. Besides, what kind of church would want to be closed on Christmas Eve, anyway? I'm scheduled to play two Masses that evening, Okay, so it's one of the two times of year I see a lot of people at church that I wouldn't ordinarily see (the other being Easter Sunday) but at least they're THERE! Oops, enough venting!
Everyone have a great day--hope the weather isn't TOO nasty for a lot of you back in the Midwest and East. Sure is a lot of Winter back there!
Best to all, 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!
in a Soggy Southern mug, please & thanks.
***Jeffrey, Barn Owls are one of my favorites. One of the fastest selling paintings I ever did was of a pair of them about to enter into an old abandoned shack.
***Lee: Toledo, WA.
***Tom, thanks for posting my new desktop background pic.
Wife opened up the big box with some of her HO scale models in it today. First words out of her mouth were, "These are big models". I added, "At least we can see them". I love not having to build them, although they will require weatheirng to fix the "plastic look".
Still raining here with thunderstorms predicted this evening into the night. YeeHaw! Rob
twhiteJeff: Aren't those barn owls supposed to be BIG mothers? That must have been a lot of feathers flying.
Lee: No box today. Maybe Monday.
Well, it has started snowing again. Larry is out changing the oil in the generator. With the heavy snow on the branches, when the ice and the high winds hit, limbs are sure to take out power lines.
Rob, Is your dad on the flat part of Rochester, or is he out a ways. My friend Donna lives out Independence Valley, and she is usually a few degrees colder that we are. If we were a 1/4 mile south, our address would be Rochester. Toledo might not have been hit as hard as our area. We went into Centralia for groceries and they might have 3 inches.
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
twhite Garry: AWWWW! What a cute little 0-6-0 and what a neat caboose. Ain't steam fun? That's a really nice photo! Tom
Tom.... I really like your photo. The angle of the picture means I can not tell what are the types pf locos. I'm guessing a 4-8-4 for the passenger train and a 2-8-2 or maybe a 2-10-2 for the loco running light.
Alao, Tom ... Thanks for the remark on my picture. If you look carefully. you will see a 1947 International dump truck. My layout is 1950's with some 1960's primarily. Burlington dieselized earlier than most railroads, and therefore I do mostly diesels. I saw mostly diesels in my youth living next to the "Q". Also, most diesel models are free of troubles, and therefore, I use them frequently. Operations is the main focus of my layout. That said, yes, steam is fun.
Garry--
Thank you, kind sir. Yes, the passenger loco is a 4-8-4, a Key model of a Rio Grande M-67 and the freight loco running light is an F-81 2-10-2. It's my infamous 'kit-bash' of a PFM ATSF 'junker' I got about 20 years ago at a swap meet. The loco was in VERY sad shape with a whole bunch of missing parts, so I raided Cal-Scale and Kemtron for a lot of things and turned it into a kinda-sorta Rio Grande F-81. It runs very sweet and pulls like an ox. Funny thing, when I got an ACTUAL scale model of a Rio Grande F-81 a couple of years ago, I was surprised to find out just how authentic-looking my kit-bash is. Made me feel good, LOL!
Rob: Hey, go ahead, buddy, LOL! My new desktop pic is a brown tabby and white Wegie. Pick up a camera, the boy just POSES!
Hey Tom! What a beautifully marked cat!
Afternoon, Flo - I see you're in; helping Janie with the after-the-LHS-shopping crowd? I'll have a bowl of chili, some grated cheese, some crackers and a glass of milk, with a RBF later for dessert.
And hey - didn't I get the TOP honors a day or so ago, also?
Cederstrand***Tom, thanks for posting my new desktop background pic.
, Rob. Tom, I really enjoy that photo, too (the one of Remington is cute, also). Of course, fitting one of those fire-breathing dragons on my rather smallish curves might take a lot of doing... So, I'll settle for getting a Mikado to go with my Mogul, my 0-6-0 saddle tanker switcher, and my Shay. Hey, Tom - does Remington get confused if he comes up and sees himself on your computer's screen?
Was out earlier today and I'm positive that there must be several surrounding counties' entire population in town shopping, from all the vehicles on the road. Sheesh! I did pick up a couple of 4GB thumb drives for about $25, which seemed to be a pretty good price. Surprisingly, though they're supposed to be USB 2.0, both drives hooked to my laptop's USB (1.1) ports and showed up fine. Now, booting up from them, that might be another matter... But I'll probably mostly use them for portable storage, anyway. I also picked up the bigger black cartridge for my printer (sticker shock again!). Staples has TurboTax in stock already, but I'm debating whether it might be less expensive for me to have an accountant do my taxes this year, as Staples' price was about $60 for the Deluxe version (with state return and one e-file for the federal return). Methinks Intuit is gouging ... My .
On the MRR'ing front, I picked up the W-S painters figures (to go with my Preiser painters; I'll mix and match figures from the sets and still have enough for a couple of building painting jobs at the same time on my layout.
We're supposed to have sunny weather tomorrow - but only reach a high of 28 F for the day. I heard one forecast saying it would be about 8 F (what's that? - about -13 or -14C?) by morning, with a wind chill dropping it to feeling like it's -3 F. I plan on bundling up and having very little (or no) exposed skin when I head out in the morning. Choir's singing for both services, so we have to be there by about 10 till 8 a.m.
I'll be in the window booth having my chili and seeing who else comes in.
Blessings and may you all have a warm spot out of the weather),
Jim in Cape Girardeau
All right folks! My Christmas work is just about done. Went to the store this morning and bought a bottle of red food coloring. Took about half an hour to actually find where they hid it. I figured they would put it with the cake decorating and related stuff. How silly of me. After spending 15 minutes finding a store clerk to help me, the two of us did locate it in the spice display. Why sure! Food coloring is obviously a spice or seasoning now isn't it........
Anyway this is what I made.........
Enjoy! Don't push! Save some for Rob!
All right, Ray, I'll forgive you for nudging me to the TOP, since you brought those yummy cookies in. But what will everybody else eat?
JimRCGMO All right, Ray, I'll forgive you for nudging me to the TOP, since you brought those yummy cookies in. But what will everybody else eat?Jim in Cape Girardeau
Actually I counted and saw there was one more post on the last page so I divided my post in two thinking I would get the top with the cookies........... Oh well! There are lots more "trains" for snacking.
Good evening fellow cooks, bakers and eaters...
We had no trouble with doughnuts or ditchdiving, although a few did up here. I have one of those mid 90's Audi Quattro types that don't do that kind of things--much
Well from the looks of things what with Audrey doing Egg Nog Cookies., the train goodies and my 5chocolate brownies getting made up---and my sister coming down with her maple fudge pieces + whatever Flo throws in here we all won't be having to worry about goodies shortages unless of course we all go nuts at once, heeheehee
All together now----
Jim; The corrugations come via a styrene clapboard sheet. I rub into the sheet and Voila! corrugations!
refill, please & thanks.
***Jeffrey, please check your e-mail. Thanks!
***Ray, now your just trying to kill me off with sugar overdoes. Oh and, here's my plate.
***Sue, my sister lived off of Independence RD S.W. until moving further south. My Dad lives out the other direction from town and other side of the freeway.
***Tom, that is one Handsome Cat.
Finished critter rounds and waiting for those thunderstorms to arrive.
Rob
JimRCGMO fitting one of those fire-breathing dragons on my rather smallish curves might take a lot of doing... So, I'll settle for getting a Mikado to go with my Mogul, my 0-6-0 saddle tanker switcher, and my Shay.
Well I will just have some hot cocoa for now. Pretty cold night.
Well they are still calling for 1-3 inchs tonight. Cold tomorrow night.
Ok guys got a question. I went out and bought the last Medusa Cement plant around town. I started to put the bottom together, but it has some pretty gaps on it. What kind of stuff do you use that is sandable for plastic? I was looking to fill the gaps in, and sand it. So I will probably have to repaint the whole bottom half. I haven't put the top together, until I get the bottom done. I am looking for something rather easy to use, and easy to sand.
Jim, heres a shot of the mountain. You were asking if I was going to use some kind of rock cropping. Heres what it looks like, with out it. Its kinda shiny due to hairspray. I need to dull it down.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
Okay, OKAY - I'll share the train cookies! I was just kidding... Thought they were all gonna lynch me for the cookies, Flo. Man, this crew of chowhounds gets serious about their food, huh?
jeffrey-wimberlyOh come on Jim, live a little. I have a 2-10-2 that takes my 18" radius curves and #4 turnouts like it was made for them.
BC - Ohhhhh... , doing that all from one corrugated styrene sheet would be much more sensible (and less expensive). Are those cookie sheets you're using, like the one-time-use roasting pans you can buy? I never noticed that kind of cookie sheets before; I may need to look more closely next time I'm at the store...
Oh, Lee - I went by the LHS today to see if they had that V-groove, since they have some Plastruct sheets. Nope - so I may have to order some of those, unless after I go through my scratchbuilding supplies tub tonight, I find some V-groove there. The LHS in town here appears to be not getting much in the way of train stuff over the past couple/three months, though. I was looking for model paints, and found out that they sold what they did have to a new LHS opening in Farmington (about an hour northwest of Cape). The way the co-owners (Mom & Pop type LHS here in Cape) talked about selling off their model paints (which were more Testor's and such - for plastic airplane/military models, rather than Floquil or Polly S), it sounded like they're not going to be getting in much MRR'ing stuff at all. I think most of what they have had the past few months, they got from a wholesaler in St. Louis (and maybe he got it from overstocks or closeout stocks from closing LHSes). Hobby Lobby has more useful stuff than the in-town LHS. And our MRR club member/LHS-down-the-road owner is willing to order about anything that Walthers or Horizon stocks, at a discount for MRR club members!
Didn't intend that to sound like a , but I think it might have sounded that way. My apologies.
Did you Diners see that Walthers has their modular sets/stuff on sale? Most of their HO ones are on sale at about $3.98 each, and their N scale ones are on sale too. I'm getting several of the HO ones (my LHS owner/MRR club member will have to order 3 or 4 of the ones he doesn't have in stock already; he keeps some of his stock at home, in addition to his storefront location). If you have any industries you are hankerin' to build/'kitbash' - like background structures - this could make it quite a bit more affordable. But (as the ads say) "Buy responsibly"
Robby, just to be sure, you are talking about the far part of the mountain (the dark grey side), rather than the brighter part that's nearer the camera, correct? If it's the grey part, yeah, it needs some Dullcoat on it, and then you can vary the colors a bit. But if you mean the near side of the tracks, that needs a lot more... So how cold are your weatherguessers saying it'll get for you tonight? If you don't have much cloud cover after the snow drops, it could get really cold, I'm sure.
I'm gonna head for home - want to get some actual MRR'ing work done, and I got reminded that my automatic scheduled backup wants to be connected to the external drive before it will start that. Plus, I have to get my shower and hair done tonight, since if it's gonna be 8 F by morning, I definitely don't want any wet hair when I step outside.
Robby; I've used a putty that is put out by Tamiya that works rather well--there are other types of putty that,I guess, were made by Testors and any putty can be sanded, fine scale modellers use that stuff all the time. You can even paint the stuff too--just in case.
Jim; Yes, they are those one-time-only roaster things, except that these were cookie sheets that were flat---they didn't have all that ripple/bump stuff embossed. It is a thicker form of aluminum foil.
Evenin’ all, bowl of chili please , cheese, raw onions and sour cream thank you. make it a big one.
Tom- beautiful cat. I couldn’t help but notice the temp though. I’ll be thinking of that tomorrow when our temps are about 9 with a wind chill of -15. Brrrr.
Hope they double up on the coffee after church tomorrow probably need the heat. We had our Christmas cookie walk/pancake and sausage breakfast/Bazaar today and we’ll get left-overs for fellowship tomorrow. Don’t need to eat breakfast.
Great pictures one and all.
Jim- I take it you are in the choir? Great! I wish ours sang more. We have trouble getting singers for more than just a few special services. Up until about 10 yrs ago we had one every Sunday, I miss that.
Robby- I agree with BC on the putty. I’ve used Testers in my model car days and it works, or did work, fine.
Since I’m on that subject I tried a new “glue” called “Plastruct Weldene”. Non-toxic it says. Don’t think I’ll try and drink it though. Has anybody used this stuff? Is it any good? It didn’t seem to grab the parts like Testers does. I thought I’d give a liquid a try to get away from the minor frustrations with tube glue. I like the way it wicks, I just don’t want my bridge flying apart on the trains maiden run some day.
Well guess I’ll wander around for a bit maybe check out some pictures.
Stay warm to all those who are in the cold and for those who aren’t, enjoy!
Will pray for those needy and in need tomorrow.
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
Jim, my mistake if I said Plastistruct. I used Evergreen:
269-4100 V-Grove.040 thick, .100 spacing. I used a paper cutter to cut a deck 2" x 7" (HO-Scale = 14' x 51')
269-8408 Strip Styrene, HO-Scale 4x8, I cut 15 2" long strips and glued them on edge to the bottom of the platform.
The Strip Styrene running the length of the dock is 2/8" x 2/8" I don't know the decemal equevilant.
The legs are railroad ties 3/4" tall, I glued 34 of them to the bottom of the deck against the ribs for legs. If you have your siding on roadbed you will need to make these legs longer to be level with your box car floor or flat car deck. There are 15 legs per side and a total of 4 on each end.
The team track dock is extreamly ridged and seems like it could hold 3-4 pound of weight.
Next project will be to add a ramp to one end to allow forktruck access and the addition of a pillar crane.
Todd,
“Plastruct Weldene" is that the stuff in the clear jar, white metal lid with a brush attached?
If it is I hated it, it seemed to evaporate way before the plastic started to bond. Right now I'm using the Microscale Klear and "old faithful" testors in a tube.
Lee; if it's the same stuff --formulation made by Plastruct--the one I have here is a PITA. You have to hold for 30seconds but it still doesn't take. I think somewhere I heard you had to make sure no greases or oils were on the pieces to be glued though.
Robby; Tamiya basic type Putty or Testors Contour Putty are the one's I use here.