Elliott's Trackside Diner VII: Best View Of The Rails In Town!

[unca roggie]

ooooooh, what a handsome GN wagon!  I bet its going to be hard to get into the headspace of dirtying it up...I've yet to let anything but the usual dustcoating on the top, happen to my black widow GP9, below (in fact, I've yet to even install the junk that came in the box...I think they supplied grab irons/windows/etc.) 

Back on the last diner location, someone slipped me a nice compliment (too hard to go back there to see who it was, sorry) by asking if the depot in "the picture" is the real thing or the model...problem is, I posted 3 different depot pix (one of my F&A cardboard thing from Suydam, and two of the prototype Palm Springs SP station, which sadly is nothing more than a still-cleared area of the desert.) 

I'm not going to try to model that station, just prop up a diorama so that the background of any photos taken, is the same scrubby, mountainous desert scene as one would have been staring at, from the platform, back in 1952. 

It will include some 1/87 palm trees, which I view as the biggest modelling challenge I'll have taken on, to date. 

By the way, can I solicit some advice, here?  I'm thinking that if I want to buy any old Athearn KIT items, I'd better do so NOW, as they seem to be disappearing. (Used to be most hobby shops had a WALL full of 'em)  I've ordered from some online outfit in San Diego, in the past, and also Walthers (who no longer seems to offer them)...any other good places to try? {It scares me to try eBay and the like, as it seems the chance of getting ALL the parts in the box, is slim}

[SilverSpike]

ewl01

The ribs are great.

Ryan, I have a question about your layout.  I looked at your plans, what is the basic size of your layout?  Also, your attic, do you have knee walls?  I have a very steep pitch roof so the usable interior width isn't that great.

Eric

Howdy Eric!

The room size for my layout is 19 1/2 X 14. The roof is pitched for a portion of the ceiling, but the walls on the pitched sides (north and south walls) go up about 4 feet 8 inches before they start the pitch. Make sense.

Here is a photo that might give you an idea of how the room is built, this was before any stick of wood started the benchwork This is the north side wall:

 

[Cederstrand]

Tall glass of cool lemon water, please & thanks.

With the wife's help, finished cutting & nailing up the boards for her fence today. Now just need to trim the tops & add caps:

 

Made very little progress on my deck, but did hit the local building supply store for some additional bolts and stuff. Mostly farm work today.

For the cat people here, allow me to introduce our one & only "indoor" cat, Millie:

 I think all those camera pre-flashes had her wondering.

Good Night all. Rob

 

[fec153]

I cannot keep up with you folks. I'm 13 pages behind 

Question re Peco turnouts- The switch to activate it, like Atlas or only from underneath???

Der- in 2005.when visited Teffy, he gave me one of those signs. I don't remember who posted pictures of my mess with the picture in it.

Flip

 

[fec153]

What happened to the pages??? Oh, its football time.

WIDE RIGHT!!!!                                  

Phil   aka-Flip

 

[LSWrr]

Good morning all!

Terry welcome back, what happened I see your post counter is re-set?

Very snowed in today with 6” inches due to fall between now and noon.

nice looking fence Rob.

Lee

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Good morning.

It's 70 and quite cloudy out here by the lake. The high is supposed to drop to the high 60's and falling throughout the afternoon to the mid 50's. There's a small chance of rain.

Spent part of yesterday rebuilding the old Midtown Consolidators building. It literally fell to pieces when it was removed from the layout to make way for the Shell station. I also put in some preliminary work on a potential location for the building. There's a deep hole and steep embankment there right now. I'm going to fill it in (landfill comes to mind for some reason) and work out the buildings location from there. That should keep me busy for a few days at least. I also have to make the assorted odds and ends for the interior of the Shell station. Most will likely be printed backgrounds as my scratchbuilding days are long behind me. That requires a certain amount of manual dexterity that I don't have anymore thanks to health reasons.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      1/10/2009

Heat Index:  70°F
Humidity:  90%
Dew Point:  67°F

So Far Today
High:  70°F
Low:  69°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  17mph SSW

Today  Low: 55    High: 68    Cloudy with a 20 percent chance of showers. Highs in the upper 60s. Temperature falling into the mid 50s in the afternoon. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight  Low: 38    Cloudy until late night then becoming partly cloudy. Much colder. Lows in the upper 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph.

[C&O Fan]

LSWrr

Good morning all!

Terry welcome back, what happened I see your post counter is re-set?

Very snowed in today with 6” inches due to fall between now and noon.

nice looking fence Rob.

Lee

 

Not sure about the post count but my son installed a new hard drive !

Wow new place and 3 pages already .

You guys sure talk alot !

 

[fec153]

O.K.!! Page is back to normal. Thanks to the "Phamtom".

Flip

 

[blownout cylinder]

Hello and a good morning to you all---Our cloudy days continue with a high of -5C and low tonight of -8C. we are supposed to get about 5cm of snow this afternoon with another 5cm tonight----

I spent last night wondering about the timeout messenges that I kept getting---I had no problems elsewhere but here again----GGRRRRRRR

Anyhooooo have a great day everyone!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

blownout cylinder

I spent last night wondering about the timeout messenges that I kept getting---I had no problems elsewhere but here again----GGRRRRRRR

You weren't the only one. At least 2 of my forum members were having problems with the MR site timing out on them. I was also having trouble with it and eventually got so disgusted that I just shut everything down for the night.

[blownout cylinder]

I'm trying out a new internet browser---as some people I know told me that there might be issues between the server and IE7---may be the case---we'll see whether this does the trick-----BTW the browser is Chrome.

[jguess733]

Mornin all. I'll have a stack of pancakes with butter pecan syrup, couple of sausage links, two eggs over easy, some grits and a pot of black coffee please.

Well I spent my night at work, browsing trainweb.org looking at passenger cars. Here's the link http://trainweb.org/passengercars/ I've been trying to figure out what color I want to paint my passenger cars. Pullman green is just not flashy enough for me. I found a pic of a Durango and Silverton car that I really liked. It's red with a silver roof. http://rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=82387 so I think I'm gonna paint my cars like that. 

Oh yeah, before I forget, just how exactly do I go about making a link clickable?

[ewl01]

Ryan my friend, let me buy you breakfast, Or lunch... You have given me hope. I have about 2 ft less width but roughy about the same in wall height.  Once upon a time the attic was a finished room, long before I owned it. 

(this page is running off my screen!)  Due to severe damage the entire attic was stripped out and the roof rebuilt. Judging by nail holes, and remaining rafters I should have about a usable space

of 24'x12'.   The stairway comes up 6 ft from the end of hte floor so one would come up 'inside' the layout.  I'm a roundy-round runner, a 'railfanner' I guess you call them.

Your plan has some interesting elements, as I am not much of layout designer I was wondering if I might be able to use some of your design elements.  With full credit of course.

Thanks a bunch, Eric

[Robby P.]

Well our snow sucked!!!!! We have a dusting right now. Up near Erie, they are getting slammed. I was also getting "timed out" all night. I wasn't to happy, so I tried the "Chrome" by Google. Its fast. Helps me out. Well I guess I will work on the layout some, and start weathering the engine. Everybody stay warm, and I will be in for lunch.

[Packers#1]

 Morning ya'll, basketball game at 11. Maybe today we'll win one (we're 0-2 so far). I'll be back later.

EDIT: looks like I got top honors.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 What d'ya know? Sawyer's got the page! I'll have the biscuits and gravy.

 

Lee: I'm interested in those gas pumps. What can you tell me about them?

[blownout cylinder]

I'm going to see whether my camera is going to let me do some macro mode photos today---I think some might get a kick out of what I found on the battered loco that I am weathering---- So far things are doing well on this Chrome--- I'll have what Jeff's having please---with a jug of coffee!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

I'll stop quickly for coffee to go. We are leaving for Nashville. Obviously, you chow hounds are not starving here.

Happy Model Railroading.

[ewl01]

Biscuits and gravy, mmmmm Wish I click on the pic and have it appear on the table. I'll settle for the virtual platter right now. Since this IS a diner..... I just got done braising the chuck steak for tonights dinner. Into the slow cooker with potatoes, onions, carrots, bay leaves, salt, cracked pepper, white pepper, and,a touch of garlic powder. 8 hours from now... mmmmm! Be sure to stop by and ask for the special! Weather at the shore... snowing for the second time in 3 hours. Our 'BIG' storm is suppose to net us 1-3". The folks live 75 miles north in New Jersey and have had more snow this year than we had in the last two. Going to attempt to install some more lighting units in my Walthers heavyweights. Ha,Ha,Ha.... I think brain surgery is easier than installing these lights! Eric

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Flo I'll have some dark roast coffee in a FGLK Mug if you please, and what Jeffrey is having this morning looks good so bring me a plate of that as well.

I too was locked out with the time out/ server is not responding thing last night.  I don't think it makes any difference at all what browser you are using.  Most likely something going on with their servers.  If it was browser related it would happen consistently I would think.  It also is affecting many of us at the same time and then seems to go away, again making me think it is a server problem.

Didn't do any hobby related stuff last night except to finally locate my book on Trackside Details to read up on my next project.   

Good to see business is still good here with the new place!  I have to get set up for a recording session today so I best get going.  Oh, whoever was looking for a Bass, I have one you can borrow.  Haven't used it in 6 - 8 months.  

[gear-jammer]

Good morning. Coffee.  Coffee. Coffee.

I couldn't get back in last evening.   The expiration thing was happening again.  Does anyone know what that is all about?

Today, Larry's folks are coming up to cut wood.  We are expected to have light sprinkles of rain off and on all day.

Will I ever get layout time again?

Garry,  Thanks for sharing your GN photo.   It makes me want to do some photos again.

Sue

[jeffrey-wimberly]

gear-jammer

I couldn't get back in last evening.   The expiration thing was happening again.  Does anyone know what that is all about?

You're not alone. I couldn't get back in and some others couldn't either. I believe they were having some server issues.

[JimRCGMO]

Morning Janie - I'll have a root beer float, please. Thanks!

TMarsh

Whew! Talk about confused! Went to the other diner and tried to follow the link, got shutdown with an IE error. Panic set in BUT luckily the signs were up and I found it.

 

Todd, and Jeff, I also had a bunch of the timeout errors last night - and "hashtable error", and who knows what else last night when I was trying to get back into the Diner. Finally tried to send Bergie a copy of the errors and couldn't do that either! I was using Firefox (3.0.5 for Mac), if that tells anyone anything. I could get to page 1 of the Diner, but every time I tried to go to page 2, the forum would balk and the Diner door wouldn't open. Glad Chloe and Vinnie got it fixed by today.

Well, they brought out the pies yesterday and PC and all the chowhound Diners (present or past) start coming out of the woodwork! Whatta bunch of eaters, indeed, Vinnie. Oh, you - uh, persuaded? - Ryan that we would really need all that ice cream, eh? Yeah, I'm sure his arm will lose its soreness soon enough. Glad you didn't get rough with him (and I'm sure he's glad, too).

Man, as if the food in the Diner wasn't enough to make my mouth dribble, Eric's talking about his chuck steak dinner!  You're killing me, Eric!

Sue, good to hear Larry's heading back out again - you two have some more scenery and stuff for the logging and mining areas to finish up, and ya gotta pay for that, right?

And nope, not as much done on the layout as I'd like; this weekend I'm the backup for our on-call therapist, so I can't plan much (other than laundry tomorrow a.m. and a chili supper on Sunday evening, that I asked my primary if she could handle things okay without me). Main roadblock for me at the moment is getting back going on my wiring. I really need some 14 gauge wire, but haven't ordered it (and not so sure anyone locally carries it). The terminals I soldered on my 12 gauge stranded won't fit my barrier terminal strip (too wide for the openings between the barrier strips). I've debated about trying to cut one side of the 'U' off so they'll fit in there without delaying things too much more. Any electricians in the Diner know how well that might work?

Rob, you are one busy beaver there, as PC said. How's the house-finishing coming along? The fence looks pretty good. Is that your lake you talk about the level of when it's raining/not raining? Oh, you realize that Remi, Spooky and Spring will be IM'ing Millie now with tips on the finer points of train/caboose-stealing...

Ray, sorry to hear about the (unnecessary?) repairs and your old amp. At least you have a backup now, eh? Is there any possibility that the amp maybe has a glitch that only shows up after it's been warmed up? That might be part of the problem.

Hope all our Diners with a forecast of snow don't get all that your weatherguessers think you will. I think we're maybe supposed to have a chance of snow in the morning, but the chance isn't very high. It's been cooling off this afternoon and tonight so far. I wouldn't mind a little snow (notice that - I said a little snow...).

SaronaTerry, good to see you in the DIner again (and not just your noseprints on the window glass ). What've you been doing on your layout?

Jeff, that's a really nice discount for your shoes. Now the shoe place won't come after you for the difference, will they? I found out our health coverage (last year's) didn't cover all of my last 2008 opthalmologist eye doctor's charges for tests, so I'm left with another $168 and change to pay for my 'deductible'. That's becoming one of my least favorite terms...

Hmm, those ribs Jeff had yesterday looked good - Janie, if there are any left, could I have a half-portion of those, please? Thanks!

Eric, hope you were able to get those turnouts yesterday (or at least can today). I noticed that Hobby Lobby is running their 40 percent off (single item) coupon again this week, so I may go see what they have. I think I missed when they had their after-Christmas MRR stuff clearance sale (like they had last year).

I'm waiting to hear back on some Magnuson vehicle kits I bought (B-I-N auctions) - sent an email asking for the seller to send me an invoice for shipping the three auction items in one package, but no word yet.

CN Charlie, I was meaning to ask (in my backward way..) when the coldest part of your winter usually is (like Jan., Feb. or whatever). I know down here in the 'warm' area, our colder parts of the winter are more likely to be in Jan. or February than in December.

Has anyone notified Ed of the new Diner location? We don't want those OJ tankers getting routed somewhere else and not have our morning OJ, right?

Unca Rog, check if your LHS gets stuff from Horizon Hobbies, who now owns Athearn and is their distributor. Since they sort of compete with Walthers, that's why Walthers carries little/none of the Athearn now. Go here:

www.horizonhobbies.com

and they can probably look up which of their dealers are close to you. So far as I know, Athearn's still making the kits, but they'd rather sell you their RTR's.

C&O Terry, you're getting snow??? I thought you were done with the crazy weather down there.

I'll start on those ribs for now - I don't care if it's a bit early for lunch.

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[gear-jammer]

 

jeffrey-wimberly

gear-jammer

I couldn't get back in last evening.   The expiration thing was happening again.  Does anyone know what that is all about?

You're not alone. I couldn't get back in and some others couldn't either. I believe they were having some server issues.

Server?  

[New Haven I-5]

jeffrey-wimberly

blownout cylinder

I spent last night wondering about the timeout messenges that I kept getting---I had no problems elsewhere but here again----GGRRRRRRR

You weren't the only one. At least 2 of my forum members were having problems with the MR site timing out on them. I was also having trouble with it and eventually got so disgusted that I just shut everything down for the night.

Those timeout messages kept me out of the Diner! I was starving.  Well, In my neck of the woods, its very windy, 30 plus! I wish I could have some of the rain SilverSpike is/was having.....

 

                                        I'll be back to bug y'all later........,

                                                      Luke

[gear-jammer]

Jim,  I will be in later this afternoon.  You will find me in the back booth with a RBF.

Terry,  Glad you are back in.  Snow?  Did we send ours down your way?

Sue

[pcarrell]

Morning all!  It's still morning, right?  Oh well, thats OK........

Indianapolis, Indiana
Currently: 34°F Drizzle

Rest Of Today: cloudy. Chance of rain showers this morning. Chance of rain and snow showers in the afternoon. Highs in the mid 30s. Temperature steady or slowly falling in the afternoon. North winds 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent. After that, it just gets ugly, so we'll ignore that for now.

Well, I decided to make my famous chili today since it's so nasty out.  It's simmering on the stove now, letting the flavors all blend, you know.  Already snuck a taste.....Good Stuff!

So whats up with you all?

saronaterry

Could somebody help get the rest of the pies outta the back of my truck? PC missed a couple.

Can I help?

saronaterry

Speaking of bikes, PC what did you get a few months back? Saw the pic, Never read a discription.

Yeah, I picked up a 2001 Kawasaki Drifter 1500.  I've been working on it and riding it when weather permits.  Took this shot a couple weeks ago.  It shows some of the changes I've made so far.

(Click to enlarge)

TMarsh

Saaaay! Love the new place! PC- you did great! Let me buy your dinner, whatever you want. I’ve told the girls your money is no good even if you grab the TOP.

Hey thanks Todd!  I could do some of those pies Terry has there!

fec153

Philip- GREAT job.  Deb is going to make a Pecan Pie just for you.

I knew I liked you Flip! 

JimRCGMO

Rob, you are one busy beaver there, as PC said.

Jim, why on earth are you giving him a thumbs up?  Thanks to Rob, I can't let my wife look over my shoulder and read this thread any more!  He's making us all look bad!

[New Haven I-5]

Well, it looks as if PC is in a good mood...........................

[pcarrell]

New Haven I-5

Well, it looks as if PC is in a good mood...........................

Luke,........I've had pie.  You should know that I'm ALWAYS in a good mood when I have pie!