Elliott's Trackside Diner X - Are We There Yet?

[blownout cylinder]

'ello pipples

The snow is stickin' to the ground and I had fun drivin' from out of town in the snow belt wherein a dang snowsquall pestered the area---grumble snarl snort grouch--the thermometer outside the back of our house is reading -4C---more of the above snarking--

Chloe--I'll have a giant 32oz ribeye steak with mashed potatos and grilled asparagus with a large RBF please--I'm going to sit by the fireplace and try to get some warmth in 'dese ol' bones----

[saronaterry]

Back atcha, Jeff!!

BTW, I had an experience like yours last Sunday also! A ROF  my wife waited on at Applebees is a MRR really close to me . Ended up being invited over to see his layout. She had told him that we had "Recently built our house and my husband started his trains in the basement" Read: I'm a noob! I get over there , REAL nice guy, ex Illinois Central Engineer, beautiful house etc.Layout's in 1/2 the 2 car garage(I'm in WISCONSIN.)Great trees. Kind of a doughnut shaped layout,DC, duck-under.The reason he said he wanted  me over was wiring ?'s.2 loops connected with a ramp. No biggie, but when I tried to give any advice, I.E. reverse loops ,DCC, etc.It was "Let me tell you how I did.......!!!

He did have well over 100 custom-painted diesels in his freelanced scheme, and a TON of steamers. 6 complete passenger consists. 400 +WEATHERED freight cars. With loads.Robby would DROOL. All on shelves. On shelves.

All in all, I had a great 2 hours and he's expecting an invite to my layout, which I  will gladly extend. I just wish there was a way to kind of let him know I've got more expierence than he thinks I have without "slamming" him. Any tips,guys?

Terry

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

saronaterry

Jeff, watch your mailbox for a big box.

Got the box today. Check your PM's.

[Packers#1]

pcarrell

HEY!

Where'd those 70 degree temps go?  I want them back!

 

Came down here to SC  

Thanks for the congrats y'all,a nd belive me, i stay out of trouble, lol. Never been wrote up, and never been sent to the principal's office since 5K (repeated something my dad said abt. the Easter bunny)

[Flashwave]

jeffrey-wimberly

 You folks complaining about the cold can come down here and share in our warmth. It's supposed to be in the high 70's to low 80's today.

AH HA! So yor hoarding all the heat, tease

Though actually, it's not so bad out right now. Not 70s, but it beats the 7s we had this time last month or so,

[Flashwave]

jeffrey-wimberly

 You folks complaining about the cold can come down here and share in our warmth. It's supposed to be in the high 70's to low 80's today.

AH HA! So yor hoarding all the heat, tease

Though actually, it's not so bad out right now. Not 70s, but it beats the 7s we had this time last month or so,

[pcarrell]

ewl01

Dark, dismal and cold here too, "Feels like 41".  Supposed to get rain later.  It never did hit 70 here, barely hit 62.  Experts (?) say it's because the ocean is still cold.  Great, except that I live 1 mile west of the ocean and the wind is blowing east....

OK, I live in Indiana.  Is that whats causing it here too, so say the "experts"?  Because last time I checked, the surf was NOT up in Indiana!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

AmanaMedic

No thank you, Sir... Never had any desire to go be a "glow worm." I was quite content with HAZMAT Awareness level training. As in, I'll go be "aware" of the mess someplace else!

You sound just like my fire chief. When it comes to 'glow worm' situations he'll put miles between himself and the incident. The heck with the 'thumbnail' assessment.

[AmanaMedic]

LSWrr

If you guys think your HAZ-MAT class was bad try going to a 4 week course where you spend most of the day reading and researching the Code of Federal Register (CFR) and United States Codes (USC) to determine reportable quantity, segregation and storage, prevention, and enforcement of HAZ-MAT.  That was 280 hours of my life I’ll never get back. 

No thank you, Sir... Never had any desire to go be a "glow worm." I was quite content with HAZMAT Awareness level training. As in, I'll go be "aware" of the mess someplace else!

Chris

[AmanaMedic]

jeffrey-wimberly

And yes, watching paint dry would be preferable to going through another Hazmat class. In fact I would watch paint dry while measuring the growth of the grass during a rain storm while watching an old car rust. Does that tell you anything?

Thanks Pally! Man, don't hold back, tell us how you REALLY feel... I'm just sooooooooooooo looking forward to Saturday.

 Not.

Oh well, gotta do whatcha gotta do. I haven't had it for 10-12 years, so hopefully I'll learn or re-learn something. The dept. in general somehow "forgot" to do the required refresher programs...so guess we're going as a group. With UP's east-west main and US Highway 30 running through town, probably not a bad thing to go to. Ethanol trains, the "death train" (name bestowed on a mostly chemicals run, by the First Responder team at General Mills next to Beverly Yard), God knows what in the container trains...

Gee, I picked a GREAT place to live!

Chris

[blownout cylinder]

Robby P.

Jim, I agree about the hamster.  He's down to 5 lives now!!!

Robby-- I suspect some of our critters must be hookeded on STRESS!!

Chloe, I'll have a cheeseburg deluxe and a large RBF please

I'm going off to a clients home to see family and do a mtg w/them. Have a good'un---

[Robby P.]

The suns out but still kinda chilly. 

Jim, I agree about the hamster.  He's down to 5 lives now!!!

Worked on my scrap yard some this morning.  Ran the trains for a few minutes.  Now I am getting ready to watch some NCAA.  

So that's pretty much my day.   Busy huh?

Well everybody have a good day.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 You folks complaining about the cold can come down here and share in our warmth. It's supposed to be in the high 70's to low 80's today.

[ewl01]

Dark, dismal and cold here too, "Feels like 41".  Supposed to get rain later.  It never did hit 70 here, barely hit 62.  Experts (?) say it's because the ocean is still cold.  Great, except that I live 1 mile west of the ocean and the wind is blowing east....

Jim, I believe it was you... the small structure is for a boiler type building.  Nothing special, I'll see about some interior detail.

OOH! Almost lunchtime!  Chloe, what's the special today?  Meatloaf Surprise?  The day can only get better.  I'll have a rootbeer with that. Thanks!

Now... about that foamcore... Staples!  Afterwork if I'm not too tired.

Later all, Eric 

[Cederstrand]

Coffee in a large AT&SF mug, please & thanks.

Have a good day all.

Rob

[nik .n]

Pepsi please, Chloe.

I was at a hobby show and I saw a steam locomotive for $40, that was all I had left over from a LHS trip and i wished I didnt. There was a guy in the back room of the fire hall with some others vendors that was selling boxes of 50 $30+ cars and two $200 locomotives in each box, for $20! They all looked REALLY nice and the locos were in thier own boxes never opend. They were part of some estate the guy was selling. There was five boxes and hundreds of other high priced cars and locomotives around the boxes, the prices not even going above $1.00. the reson he hadent sold any yet is because he was at the end of a long hallway and there was a lot of other vendors blocking the way. RRRRRRRR!!!

[blownout cylinder]

pcarrell

HEY!

Where'd those 70 degree temps go?  I want them back!

Some people NW of here wanted us to share their cold weather?

Give us our warmth back!!

[pcarrell]

HEY!

Where'd those 70 degree temps go?  I want them back!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good morning.....

Donuts and coffee here please.

Watch out for JimCG. His mrr'ing progress may be slipping. Too much California dreaming. Right, Jim?...Seriously, she looks very nice. Last I checked, there are many mile from Cape G to the Golden State, however.

Jeff....That looks like a very busy scene on you layout. Nice.

Inch... I hope MIL recovers OK from that surgery.

I placed an order at Chuck's Depot for more supplies for some projects I am wokring on.

Happy Model Railroading!

 

 

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

That bright Yellow thing is back this morning.  Not a cloud in the sky after a day of rain yesterday. Picked up nearly an inch of rain.  It is currently 43°F here in the Finger Lakes this morning.  It will stay in the mid 40s most of the day.

Chloe a very large dark roast coffee in a FGLK Mug would be in order to start with.  I guess I'll have a short stack of sour dough pancakes this morning with the NYS Maple Syrup please.

Jeffrey hope everything goes well at the doctors today! 

I have two days to get everything done for the meet.  I have to print out all the materials today and check to make sure that it will print correctly from my laptop and little Canon printer that I will take to the meet in case we have a lot of people and need more.  Looks like all the presenters and layouts are ready and at this point the weather is supposed to good for the day.  I'm hoping for a lot of people showing up for it.  I still have to get this house cleaned up for the guests, but it is looking better.

The Spring Musical is going to be interesting as they are way behind schedule.  I got most of the cast who need mics wired last night.  20 minutes later the director had them return them to me.  He said, "they aren't ready for mics yet......."  The show is in a little over a week.  In fact dress rehearsal is one week from today!  Gong to be interesting!

Got an email this morning from my SIL.  She said that my FIL told one of the nursing assistants at the nursing home last night that he "just wants to be with his wife".  She passed away 3 years ago at the age of 92. 

Prayers for all in need!

[Cox 47]

Good Morning All....Its sunny and 42 here headed to a high of 55 after temps up near 70 yesterday...I'll have sausage biscuit, and coffee please..Thank You..Not much happening on Pearl Street this morning..I plan on getting some more track work on fiddle yard..You all have a good one..Jerry

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

It's 48 and clear. The high should be in the upper 70's and it will be partly cloudy.

Got a bunch of work done on the low end industry on the extreme south end of the layout yesterday. It only served to point out how much work still lies ahead (*groan*). I don't envision getting much done today. I have an appointment with the foot doc at 2 pm so that's gonna pretty well trash the afternoon. I went yesterday to look at the 'completed' layout of another modeler. It was good but hardly what I would term as complete. Structures set out with gaps visible at the bottom, majority of the scenery was grass mat and the background was a haphazard collection of cutup photos that varied in size. The layout was built primarily for running with very little emphasis on operation or switching and was severely lacking in interesting scenery. I made some suggestions to the builder/owner on how to improve it, all of which he eagerly wrote down in a small notebook. I gave him a short one on one lesson on how to close up the gaps at the bottom of the structures with a quick application of the proper scenic material, a little alcohol and some 50/50 water/glue mix. I then showed him how to dramatically improve the backdrop imagery. With the availability of pictures on the internet it's not hard to piece together a good looking background image. This in no way made him think that I was putting his efforts down. The entire purpose of my presence there was to show him how to improve what he had already done. He had taken one look at my layout and decided that his needed some real help. That's quite a compliment when you consider that mine is nowhere near complete. I'll be going back there in a couple of weeks for a two hour session to teach him more about how to lay out and build up scenery. Just putting some blended turf and clump foliage on the grass mat made a dramatic improvement.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      3/19/2009

Wind Chill:  48°F
Humidity:  95%
Dew Point:  47°F

So Far Today
High:  57°F
Low:  48°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  0mph NNE

Today  High: 78    Mostly sunny early in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. Patchy fog early in the morning. Highs in the upper 70s. North winds around 5 mph.

Tonight  Low: 52    Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 50s. Northeast winds 5 to 10 mph.


 

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning--We're at -1C with our high going to 2C--and we'll see some snowflurries again. At least the yard work is out of the way.

All this HAZ-MAT course stuff reminds me of a ridiculous course I took, by myself mind, on Investment Management several years ago---I still am supposedly 'licensed' to do this, BUT---BUT--BUT---I would be a dang fool to do this, what with all the shenanigans going on any more! I get kind of annoyed when I see what's going on-----now, if'n you want to do what I did back then--you would have to do this through the 'good offices' of an investment firm that would 'hire' you then that way you'd get paid to do the Canadian Securities Course then do a Course through the Professional Conduct & Practice Handbook and an Insurance Course as well. All this takes a matter of a few weeks/more like 3 Months!/ Oh--and THEN you'd have to take a brain melting exam of some untold number of hours of pure investment work/math/math/ & more math Once you have the license you still need some refreshers and so on and so forth etc etc The last time I did any work in this was BEFORE I took a Brain Holiday---My PSW work is about enough---thank you very much-----I still do my own things with this but again----

JimRC-It feels spring like up here but we'll get the occassional surprise---

Chloe--I'll have a coffee and some toast with jam thanks---I'll be with the gang by the windows, train watching

 

[LSWrr]

Nittany Lion, I’m sorry you had to put yourself through the WGH show.  That was by far the worst train show I’ve attended. There is approx 24 to 30 train shows in the Cleveland area between October and May. If you shoot me an email

The top 3 shows: Berea, OH. Cuyahoga County Fair Grounds. Typically the first weekend in October, sponsored by NMRA Div 4 and occupies 6 buildings. Approx 3,000 people visit the show over 2 days.

Kirtland, OH. Lakeland Collage. Typically the weekend of St. Patrick’s day, sponsored by NMRA Div 5 and occupies the main gymnasium, 4 racket ball courts, and two of the auxiliary basket ball courts.  Approx 3,000 people visit the show over 2 days.

Toledo, OH. Lucas County Fairgrounds, 4 shows a year (November, 2 in December, April), sponsored by the Friends Of Toledo area Model Railroaders. This is a bit of a haul from Cleveland (120 miles), but items are in good and serviceable condition and priced to sell. Vendors sell new in the box items that have been in inventory over 13 months and it’s priced to sell.  Most vendors have the attitude that: “ I carried it to the show, but I don’t want to carry it home”.  So you get the best deals.  They offer a early bird pass, this allows you admission 2 hours in advance of the regular admission I highly recommend spending the extra $4 to get in early! I think Toledo show is 26 APR 09. Shoot me an email and ask me to look it up. 

All three are well visited, but there is plenty of space to move around and you don’t feel rushed.
  

Lee

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

If you guys think your HAZ-MAT class was bad try going to a 4 week course where you spend most of the day reading and researching the Code of Federal Register (CFR) and United States Codes (USC) to determine reportable quantity, segregation and storage, prevention, and enforcement of HAZ-MAT.  That was 280 hours of my life I’ll never get back.  I still have to have to sit through 40 hours a year of refresher training and I get a full physical every year to monitor the effects of doing HAZ-Mat response.  Glad I’m working in a new job, but they still want me to keep my qualifications current.

  

Lee

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 

blownout cylinder

Jeff-do you have issues with the Nutzville or the Sundown seperatists? If'n you get that large they may start their own liberation fronts!!LOL!!

If they want to expand outward then THEY can finance the knocking out of the walls and the outward expansion. I don't foresee that happening.

LSWrr

Jeff, you may need a troop train to sit on a spur in your town just to keep the locals calm.

Yeah, the police force here may need some help at that. They have two Chevy Caprices. One runs an dthe other is a parts source for the other one.

JimRCGMO

Jeff, I'm looking forward to seeing Ezra's new digs above the garage. And - under the 'better ways to spend 6 hours' - would 'watching paint dry' be above the Hazmat training?

A photo of Ezra's home will be forthcoming in the next few weeks. And yes, watching paint dry would be preferable to going through another Hazmat class. In fact I would watch paint dry while measuring the growth of the grass during a rain storm while watching an old car rust. Does that tell you anything?

 

 

[ewl01]

Good Morning Everybody!!

If I did my math right, I've got TOP.  Chloe, Flo, load everyone up, feed them good.  My treat!

It's nice to see students who take education seriously.  I tried but was always mediocre, never seemed to understand everything 100%.  Those that "get it" should sieze every opportunity to advance and succeed.   I finally went back to college after 30 years and I guess I now "get it".  I'll pat my self on the back with a 3.47 GPA.  Not bad for someone who always got C's.

I read of many of my new found friends difficulties in life and leads me to believe that this is in part the reason for our 'brotherhood' here in the Diner.  Life is hard enough but some of us have additional trials and tribulations to overcome.  We seek and offer each other both comfort and prayer.  This is what sets us apart from some other forums and posts I've read. 

Off topic? Yeah, it is.  Life is all about Topics.... You focus completely on one Topic and you forget that the world is out there.  We've been over this before, we discuss PIE!, we discuss eachother, we talk about our accomplishments, both scholarly and occupationally.  And, most of all, the thing we all have in common, our love of trains.  We share, observe, we praise the work of each other as we enjoy the one thing that takes us away from those trials and tribulations for a little while.... our model railroads. 

The opinions expressed here are solely mine.  Those outside who wish to criticize are probably just jealous.

Eric

Well, if I wasn't so longwinded I would have been TOP.. Oh what the heck, I'll treat anyway.

[inch53]

 

Mornin an irish coffee please Zoe

NIK N,,, very sorry to hear of your grandpa's passing. Our prayers be with you n family.

GALAXY,,,,, I feel for ya feller and know it ain't no fun. I've put up with it for about 20 years now

SAWYER,,,, all those classes will keep you out of trouble for a spell I think.

JIM CG,,,, she's a good looking lady.

Well the health issues continue round here also. My MIL had to have gale bladder surgery last evening. Everything went ok and may get to come home this afternoon.

How bout an almost funny.

"The man told his doctor that he wasn't able to do all the things around the house that he used to do. When the examination was complete, he said, "Now, Doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what is wrong with me."

Well, in plain English," the doctor replied, "you're just lazy."

"Okay," said the man. "Now give me the medical term so I can tell my wife."

Best gets moving, it's almost time to ruin everybody's sleep. Thoughts for those in need n hope ya'll has a gooden

[wetidlerjr]

 Good Morning ! from TIPTON IN.

 

 

 

[galaxy]

Good morning every body....coffee please...any kind in any mug just give me some..... 

TMarsh

Galaxy- I have back (spinal issues) myself and I sympathize. I also have knee issues and shoulder issues and wrist issues and brain issues. The last one is my wife diagnosis. Prayers for you to be able to overcome or find relief from the pain. I'm in the forties also.

It just adds to my medical conditions list for me- I have eight other major health issues  including Asthma; Bipolar/depression; Migraines; being the particular ones that in combination have put me on disability. And I have noticed my short- term memory seems faulty sometimes. I wonder if that is caused by my Bipolar medication.

Next month I have a regular visit with my Dr. at which point I am going to ask about why my arms and hands go numb a lot, whether at/in activity or at rest they seem to go numb, so numb I can't then pick up a coffee mug while watching TV till the numbness spells a bit. Somptin' ain't right 'bout that, I tells ya.

I have a squashed disc in my back and always thought that was what caused the pain in my back from bending over, or walking alot or even doing around the house work. But, now at least there seems to be a particular reason for spinal pain. I'm just not liking arthritis. The muscle relaxer works well enough taht I can't type well, and have to correct everything I type frequently, but the pain med for the muscle spasms doesn't seem to be doing squat.

Thanks for the prayers, it seems odd to be on THIS side of the prayer things, as it is usually I who puts up a prayer candle for those in need. It is out now as too early {5:55 AM EDT} in day to start it and I am going back to bed, but it will be lit later on in the day for those who need it.