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

[bjdukert]

Evening all

Got through to Dick tonight and he said all is well considering everything. They had a lot of ice and quite a bit of damage to their trees but the house is ok and he was out with his chainsaw today doing a lot of cutting. John got through to him as well and he can probably add some more to what I have said and Dick is going to try to get into the Diner soon.

That’s about it

Best to all on sick call and those recovering

Talk to you later

Duke

[demonwolf224]

Today was a good day for me, right now were having our first heavy snow, it's been snowing since 5:00pm eastern, really heavy. Well saturday were going to State College to do some last minute Christmas shopping, and I still got a good $100 on my Christmas buget!!! Plan on getting an Athearn geep, in a conrail heritage, maybe buy an airbrush.

[howmus]

Ooooooooooo, Aaaaaaaaaaah!

Flo I'll have that surf and turf special!   And some decafe in a R&GV Museum mug!  Thanks.

I'll be in the window booth watching the snow fall..........  Hasn't started yet but soon I guess. 

[pcarrell]

Cederstrand

At lease there are Hospitals available in N scale (take THAT all you Hugely Oversized modelers...)

If I doze off in the corner booth, just let me be. (unlikely after above comment, eh!)

Don't worry buddy.  You doze.  I've got your back!  (Watch this.....I'll distract them!)

 

 

 

 

OK EVERYONE......FREE SURF & TURF DINNERS ALL AROUND..........ON ME!

[New Haven I-5]

jeffrey-wimberly

LSWrr

60% off locomotives, very nice!  I hear that my older locomotives (90% of my fleet) can’t run on DCC with open frame motors, so now I have to decide on selling them off and replacing them or do some major rebuilds.

I know what kind of decision you face. Couple of years back I rebuilt a Bachmann diesel that's now over 30 years old so I could convert it to DCC. To do this would require removing the old open-frame motor and the wornout trucks. I ended up having to reengineer the frame so I could mount a can motor  and new trucks with their respective gear towers then had to make drive shafts to link the motor to the towers. No easy task that. I went through all that and it runs very well but I can count on one hand the number of times I've run it since then. Would I do it again? Well, I'll put it this way. I have a Bachmann 0-6-0 that's about the same age. I'm not even comtemplating taking any action on it. It came with a pancake motor and it'll still have that pancake motor in it when I finally get rid of it.

LSWrr

Jeff, I left my bag at the house so I’ll ship that stuff out tomorrow, sorry.

No problem. I forget things at times myself. Actually more times than I'd like to admit.

Jeff, check your pm's.

[Cederstrand]

refill, thanks.

***BC, after discussing some options with the wife tonight, we're now leaning towards a dual scale layout with forced perspective. The hospital will be up a small hill, like it is in a nearby town here. Will be an interesting challenge for first us time modelers. I would prefer to use a river to divide scales. Still plenty of time to figure out a reasonable approach to this. At lease there are Hospitals available in N scale (take THAT all you Hugely Oversized modelers...)

If I doze off in the corner booth, just let me be. (unlikely after above comment, eh!) Rob

 

[blownout cylinder]

Good evening/afternoon, depending on whichever way one carves up the old clock---everyone!

I've been at the doc's. So far the arrythmia is behaving itself and the blood sugar is doing the same--I've been diabetic for a few years now so getting used to poking myself every so often--so I befigure that I must be still ticking...

Jim; Nah. It's more like--gee, what would happen if---OOOPPS!---kind of/sort of... Actually what is more challenging is trying to convince Audrey that this is a good idea...She is more partial to the smaller scale elevators(that way we can stuff more of them on the layout.

Rob; Is she proposing to have the hospital have a spur there for coal by any chance?

[Robby P.]

Well heres a mountain/hills I have been working on today. I ran out of plaster.  I will have to order some more tonight.  I was very close to making a tunnel, but nope I didn't.

I also gave a shot of what the new backdrop looks like, and the rest of that curve.  I didn't make the backdrop as tall either.  I didn't wanna feel boxed in.

 

[pcarrell]

[Robby P.]

I get confused as well. 

People back down south called my Robby, people up north call me Rob. 

[Cederstrand]

***Jim, you have me (Rob - Cederstrand) confused with Robby. Yes, my wife is the one looking for a HO scale hospital. No, I'm still a full time artist, although these days it's almost like being unemployed.

Rob

[JimRCGMO]

Good Morning (well it still was when I started) Zoe - since it took a while to catch up on the posts, I'll have a nice bowl of beef stew, some whole grain bread, a couple slices of cheese and a root beer float, please 'n' thank you.

Rob, that kinda sucks on your hours being cut back to about nothing. Would you make more drawing unemployment or taking the one day a week? Sorry I didn't get back to you last night on my email - it was getting nasty and the police were telling everyone to NOT get out unless you absolutely, completely, positively HAD to be out (like an emergency). So I stayed home, where my connection is so-so at the moment. I'll write you the email today at work, and send it when I get to lunch from the WiFi at the restaurant. From what I recall of your website before, your weathering is great. I think BC's about right on your CFO's hospital - either the European companies or the Walthers/DPM modulars may be your best way to go. (The DPM window choices would be better, while the Walthers are somewhat simpler to put together however you wan)

I think I must be in 'kid mode' today - when I got up and saw all those schools (on the bottom part of the screen with our local TV station) that were closed today, I figured for sure that our office wouldn't be open.  Called them about 20 till when I usually start, and they were open. Oh, shoot! Luckily, I'd had a little to eat, so I just needed to shave, throw some clothes on for today and get loaded up to go out (and scrape off the car's windshield). I had the foresight last night to leave the wipers in the 'up' position last night, with a large trash bag held under them, so getting the front windshield cleared off wasn't too much w**k.

CN Charlie, Johnboy, BC, and our other 'Frozen Frontier' Canadian brothers - so how many places shut down up there when it's -40 C/F? Some places in the US last night, I heard some places were cold enough that engine blocks were in danger of freezing. That's really nasty cold - if I lived there, I'd be getting one of those block warmers (or an electric blanket) for the engine overnight. I suspect even your polar bears up there are wearing their red longjohns when it gets that bad!

BC, from the photos and your description of that Purina mill, it sounds like you love a good challenge, eh? Best wishes on getting it the way you want it.

Good to see DerJohn and Duke in the DIner again, and Der, those carvings are amazing! Duke, thanks for the info on JR. Good to hear of the progress on his house. Amazing what can happen with a good contractor, huh?

I sure hope Dick has a lot of blankets and wood for that stove to keep them warm while their power's out. We dodged the bullet on losing power around here with this batch of weather last night. About all the schools in this part of MissouriLand are closed, though.

Lee, what I decided to call "Murphy's Bar" is the DPM kit aka Kelley's Saloon (I think it's #243-10100 in Walthers). I like being able to use Murphy's Law things for jokes related to it, so I changed the name to that.

All right, RT, are you trying to tempt us away from (as it was said) "portion control"? 'Cause that sure looks tempting to me, and I can imagine what PC might think about it ("MINE! YUM!") What, Zoe - you say that PC and the others finished it off before I got here? - what a bunch of piehounds!

Inch, just remember that after the candy-making is done, then comes the candy-eating. Good to hear you're getting some train-running time in.

Terry, I like your miner's shack - and as you said, it needs a rocker and a hound dog. There might be a suitable dog in the Preiser or Woodland Scenics dogs and cats sets that'd w**k (though they may or may not be a hound dog, if I recall correctly).

Ryan, those foot-warming tools should be very useful this winter.

Ray, that sounds like a good idea for dealing with McScrooge the new owner... I'm guessing he isn't worried about getting a lump of coal in his stocking this year, either.

Jerry, your new hill looks good. You're about done on your layout, I'd guess. Or, what else do you have in mind to do on it?

I'll be settling into the booth and get to my lunch now (before PC eats that, too...)

Prayers for a warm and dry place for all to be in today. I'm hoping our weather will moderate out by the weekend. I heard rumors of temps into the 50's (F) by Sat. That'd be nice!

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau (which is knda white and a bit slippery today)

[Cederstrand]

in a UNION PACIFIC BIGBOY mug, please & thanks.

***Jerry, we sure look forward to joining you in the abillity to "run trains" one day. Must be great to have a finished layout.

***Ray, love that idea. That would show the new owner not to mess with Railfans.

Seems quiet in here today. Turns out that Faller hospital was N scale. Gee, if I can't find any in HO, I might have to combine one end of both layouts and do some forced perspective, just so the wife has a hospital. OK, so perhaps this is a way to keep her from taking over the entire room.

Looks like the fella I bought those two models from may be able to replace my mistaken N with an HO gas station after all. That would be excellent customer service. I'll still sell off some of my structures to put towards buying track. Just wouldn't look right to have duplicate structures on our two layouts.

Painters were back at work yesterday and one is here working today. The build is almost completed. A few things we'll have done after our contractor leaves, like soem additional tiles laid and then the carpeting. The huge dumpster was hauled off this morning. 

Rob

[Cederstrand]

refill, please & thanks.

***Terry, that Miners Shack looks great. If my wife sees it, she'll want one on her layout. (she's out of control)

Thanks for all the HO Hospital suggestions. Hope not to have to kitbash anything other than my (N) Soylent Green Plant.

I found two HO hospitals, one is a Model Power (not available anywhere), the other made by Faller (St. Joseph's Hospital). Not entirely sure the Faller is HO scale. Waiting to hear back from that store. Oddly enough, there seem to be several hospitals made in N scale...now what are the odds of that happening!

Wife is going to be taking care of her folks the next few days. MIL is getting a series of shots in her back and will be unable to take care of FIL. He is a LOT of work these days. I dread the day they end up back here, but it is probably inevitable. A couch in the train room would sure come in handy.

Hope everyone is doing well today. Rob

[howmus]

 Mornin' everyone!

A nice seasonable 24°F outside this morning in the Finger Lakes, but the weather guessers have issued a weather advsiory for tonight.  They have some real weather in store for us I guess just like many of you folks are getting.....

From the National Weather Service Buffalo, NY office: 

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 PM THIS EVENING TO 12 PM EST WEDNESDAY.

SNOW AND A WINTRY MIX WILL PRODUCE SLIPPERY DRIVING CONDITIONS TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING... INCLUDING THE WEDNESDAY MORNING COMMUTE. LIGHT SNOW WILL START ACROSS THE SOUTHERN TIER EARLY THIS EVENING AND RAPIDLY SPREAD ACROSS THE REST OF WESTERN AND NORTH CENTRAL NEW YORK DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE NIGHT. THE WIDESPREAD SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT BEFORE TAPERING OFF WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO MIX WITH SLEET AND POSSIBLY SOME FREEZING RAIN AFTER ABOUT 3 AM... ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE WESTERN SOUTHERN TIER AND THE FINGER LAKES. SOME FREEZING DRIZZLE IS ALSO POSSIBLE FOR A TIME WEDNESDAY MORNING AFTER THE STEADIER SNOW ENDS.

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS BY MIDDAY WEDNESDAY ARE EXPECTED TO REACH 4 TO 6 INCHES NORTH OF THE THRUWAY... WITH 3 TO 4 INCHES ACROSS THE SOUTHERN TIER WHERE AMOUNTS WILL BE HELD DOWN SOMEWHAT BY MIXED PRECIPITATION. ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF LESS THAN A TENTH OF AN INCH ARE POSSIBLE... MAINLY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN TIER AND FINGER LAKES.
 

I have to go into school for a rehearsal this afternoon but then can hunker down and work on the layout tomorrow.  I do worry about my son as he works 2nd shift and has a 15 mile drive to get home on country roads.  Hopefully it won't be too bad when he gets out of work.  Think I'll gas up the snow blower before it gets too deep as well.

Flo, I'll have a cup of Dark Roast in a FGLK Mug this morning.  Oh, since Jeffrey is buying, I have a raspberry danish. 

[edit] Almost forgot...  I have gotten a series of e-mails from the Rochester Chapter of the NRHS letting us all know that a popular railfaning location in Rochester, NY is now off limits to all railfans.  It's the parking lot of an office building at the corner of Blossom Road and University Ave. New owners don't want "riff raff" hanging around the property.  They are giving people one warning and then calling the police.  Former owner liked having us around as it helped with security on the property and he encouraged us railfaning there.  Some of our members are considering renting the smallest space in the building possible and using it as a place to "dump" stuff.  That way all  RC NRHS members would be tenents and legally be able to be there.......

Prayers for all in need!  Hope you stay warm and have a great day! 

 

[pcarrell]

SilverSpike

RT, nice cheese cake dessert there! Any left........PC and Jim!

What?  Why you lookin' at me?

[Cox 47]

Good Morning All....Its cloudy 17 with lite snow flurries....I'll have coffee and sweet roll please...Thank You...Not much going on here on Pearl street...I worked on 2nd "hill" yesterday and ran trains...Here is a coal drag meeting the IC run thru Pig train at stoy junction....

You all have a good one...Jerry

[SilverSpike]

Went to Walgreen's last night to get some Zyrtex for Ben and Monique since they take it every day for sinuses and they had all Christmas lights 50% off and lots of stuff with slashed prices. I got an electric Dr. Scholls foots warmer for only $18.99 and Monique got one of those massage/heating pads for only $22.00, has a car plug adapter too.

Heartland Division CBandQ

Ryan .. Six bean soup would be good.  Does the chef make house calls to prepare it?

Duke.... I am glad you checked on Dick, and I hope he and his family are OK. That was quite a storm up there according to the news. Have you seen a long term weather forecast for S E MI?

 

Hey Garry, house calls only within a 3 block radius of my house! Sorry about that, but the recipe is included! 

I second what Garry said, thanks Duke for checking in on Dick! I was thinking about them with the ice storms and power outages, hope they are OK!

RT, nice cheese cake dessert there! Any left........PC and Jim!

Thoughts and prayers to those in need and recovery.

 

 

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

60% off locomotives, very nice!  I hear that my older locomotives (90% of my fleet) can’t run on DCC with open frame motors, so now I have to decide on selling them off and replacing them or do some major rebuilds.

I know what kind of decision you face. Couple of years back I rebuilt a Bachmann diesel that's now over 30 years old so I could convert it to DCC. To do this would require removing the old open-frame motor and the wornout trucks. I ended up having to reengineer the frame so I could mount a can motor  and new trucks with their respective gear towers then had to make drive shafts to link the motor to the towers. No easy task that. I went through all that and it runs very well but I can count on one hand the number of times I've run it since then. Would I do it again? Well, I'll put it this way. I have a Bachmann 0-6-0 that's about the same age. I'm not even comtemplating taking any action on it. It came with a pancake motor and it'll still have that pancake motor in it when I finally get rid of it.

LSWrr

Jeff, I left my bag at the house so I’ll ship that stuff out tomorrow, sorry.

No problem. I forget things at times myself. Actually more times than I'd like to admit.

[Robby P.]

Well its a cold day so I will take a hot tea.

Right now my area is under a winter storm warning.  They are calling for 1-3 inchs of snow today, and a wintry mix tonight.  We have about a inch or so on the ground now.  Its a good day to stay in the basement. 

I already cleaned the dishs, put the clean dishs up, making 2 pitchers of tea, I vaccumed the house, cleaned the hamster cage, and about to do towels.  All of that since 8 this morning.  I am done, with the honey do list, but I kinda made my own list.

I started on the backdrop of my layout the other day.  I started to paint some sections of it, but its to dark.  I still have to sand some drywall compound, and paint that to.  So I have enough to keep me busy. 

I will keep hoping in and out of here today.  I hope someone offers to pay for lunch today in "The Trackside Diner".  I am already getting hungry. 

From a line in the movie "Popeye".      Wimpy, "I'm buying, and hes paying."

Have a good day guys and gals.

[pcarrell]

inch53

The radar's showing JIM n GARRY's getting ice now. Tmarsh, snow and if PC it's getting it now, he will.

It's supposed to start snowing any time now, then change over to sleet this afternoon.  1"-2" accumulation.  Should make the commute home a real party! 

OK everyone!  Break out your Hans Brinker storybooks, cause we're going skating!

[inch53]

 

Mornin, an irish coffee and 2 hot chocolates for my girls Zoe. Looks like I got top honors, I'll get back in later n settle up

Today - Areas of Snow, Sleet, and Frz. Rain. Up to 1" of Snow Accum. High 28°
Tonight - Mostly Cloudy with Wintry Mix exiting. Low 27°
Tomorrow - Mostly Cloudy. High 33

The radar's showing JIM n GARRY's getting ice now. Tmarsh, snow and if PC it's getting it now, he will.

Mother n Beth are suppose to go down to W Union tonight for catfish at Earls for the AL Christmas party. I'm stuck at home with leftovers.

Thought's for those in need and stay warm. 

[C&O Fan]

Morning All

at 38 degrees it's a bit nippy for Houston

The Roofers finished yesterday So much for buying any brass locos for Christmas !

 

I 'm almost done with my miners house

But still need a rocking chair and a Coon dog for the front porch

 

[gear-jammer]

Good morning.  Brrrrrrrrrrr. A Balmy 10 degrees here.  It seems warmer today because the wind is not blowing so hard.

Rob,  We must have posted at the same time last night.  Try Musket Miniatures under Civil War figures to see what you find.  I ordered my cowboys and horses from them.  They were metal and unpainted.

Sue

[blownout cylinder]

And a good morning to everyone! I'll have a cup of STRONG coffee and toast/jam please. We currently sit at -10C and expect a high of -2C with 'overcast'. We are expecting about 2" of snow tonight--

Lee, tnx for the tip! I forgot completely about that site. eergh.

N scale 'i' beams have to kept away from 'Spring'. He had to have a couple of them to chew on as he was fighting them--pushing away with his back feet etc...oh, and running around with them in his mouth ....

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

 

Cold today the high will be between 12F and 20F with rain changing to sleet and snow later.  No accumulation of snow but they are forecasting .25” of ice on everything by tonight.

 

60% off locomotives, very nice!  I hear that my older locomotives (90% of my fleet) can’t run on DCC with open frame motors, so now I have to decide on selling them off and replacing them or do some major rebuilds.

 

Paul, the shipping is taking a hit from the automotive industry; steel mills are going through “rolling blackouts” shutting down steel production until the market improves.  This all but halts taconite shipments to the lower Great Lakes and Coal shipments to the Upper Great Lakes.  Ice control salt seems unaffected so far.

 

Rob, for a hospital I would look at kit bashing DPM models, fair price and they are easy to bash.  They have some pretty tall buildings if you go to their web site.

 

RT, that cheesecake looks really good.

 

Blownout, have you looked at Live View Maps web site?  You can get aerial pictures at a birds eye view of most places.

 

Jeff, I left my bag at the house so I’ll ship that stuff out tomorrow, sorry.

 

HOn3, anybody modeling in this scale? I picked up 16 pairs of Kadee couplers that I can’t use.

   

Lee

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

it's 36 and cloudy with light rain. Today's high should be in the mid 40's with light rain continuing.

Yesterday I got my Heinz 57 GP50 put back together and running under DCC control. I also rebuilt one of my old Athearn GP38's . It will be paired up with my SF Kodachrome GP38 in the near future. Went to see the foot doc yesterday. The remnants of the infection that was trying to start before Thanksgiving is gone. That's news I was happy to get.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      12/16/2008

Wind Chill:  31°F
Humidity:  98%
Dew Point:  35°F

So Far Today
High:  37°F
Low:  36°F
Rain:  0.11"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  20mph NNE

Now through 06:15 AM CST December 16, 2008

Scattered showers will continue over the coastal waters along a cold front located from east of Marsh Island southwest to 80 nm south of Grand Chenier. Behind the front...scattered patches of light rain will occur across the coastal waters mainly west of Cameron and inland across southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana. This activity will move northeast at 35 mph. Rainfall will be light with amounts less than one tenth of an inch per hour.

Today  High: 45    Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain. Cooler. Highs in the mid 40s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight  Low: 42    Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain. Lows in the lower 40s. East winds around 5 mph.


 

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning from Tipton IN !

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Hello everybody....

I'll have a cappucino flavored with cinnamon, plese.

It appears that everybody is experiencing a heavy dose of "global warming" with John Boy winning the prize for being the coldest. We are having sleet and light snow. Is this sort of weather forecasted to continue through the rest of the month?  

I made a little more progress on my layout this evening. The is an area that needs scenery before I go much farther because I will have some bridges over a stream. As long as I am making a stream, I will work on the background scenery.

Rob.  I believe you are correct that there are no hospitals available for the layout.  Perhaps, a fun idea for the diner (or even the main forum) is to brainstorm a kitbashed hospital from other buildings currently available. I just glanced thru the Walthers Catalog and I see an HO Cornerstone model of "The Bralick Building". It says "retired model", so who knows if it is in stock. It is supposed to be a condo building, but you could add an emergency entrance and other stuff. Most buildings look too "industrial", but the windows on this one more closely resemble a hospital. Perhaps other diners have better ideas.

Der John ... What is a D10?

Inch ... I have been in Castle Hobbies. If my memory is correct, they had a good selction of used HO.

Ryan .. SIx bean soup would be good.  Does the chef make house calls to prepare it?

Paul..  If you are talking of the Heritage 2-10-2, I have seen the good prices on them. ....and I bought one last year at the best price then which was much higher.  It is a very nice locomotive.  I should get another I suppose.

Duke.... I am glad you checked on Dick, and I hope he and his family are OK. That was quite a storm up there according to the news. Have you seen a long term weather forecast for S E MI?

Cheers.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[blownout cylinder]

I just spent an intriguing evening going over the mill pix and trying to piece the footprint together on the project mill. In going after some of my topo maps the site the mill is on drops from the n.e. corner of the property to the s.w. corner approx 60-75'. Couple that with a cut on the east side of the site changing over to the west side being a filled trestle complete with underpass I decided tonight that the building will be done after I tease all the landscape together. Onto the next thing; finding foam to play with---heeheehee

I am going to get some sleep--g'nite