The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

[xarmycdn]

hello all and i would like to wish you all a merry christmas and all the best for the new year. And may all your trains run straight and stay on the tracks.
enjoy '05 and all the best

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

Last night was enjoyable at the operating session. One of the guys(mcouvillion) brought a minature camera with a transmitter sitting on a flat car. We got to watch it running around the layout on a TV. I noticed that some of the ground slopes that looked very good from the aisles were very steep from the track angle. The camera gave a different perspective to model railroading.

On the turntable - Fred's employee, while we talked, just used a drill motor instead of the drill press and drilled the coupler off center and at an angle. So off to Grangers for another coupler and I'll dig throu the garage and do it myself. I've got to move two lawn mowers and half of Heaven and earth to get to the drill press.

We've decided that since my sister fell and broke her leg, another sister-in-law has her car in the shop, we will have the Christmas get together at our house instead of the third sister-in-laws house in Houston. That means another good house cleaning, after all I don't want them to know that I can't keep a clean house.

Jim:
I'd forgotten about running through the sprinkler in the yard until you posted it. We sure were easy to entertain weren't we. That's called SELF ENTERTAINMENT and we did that all the time. Remember mom telling us "go outside and play". She didn't care what we did but we'd better not get out of ear shot. Did you go up on the roof and sail your model airplane off so it would fly farther? I thought they were going into town and went up on the roof only to have them come home because they forgot something. I couldn't sit down for a couple of hours after that whippin'. Ya remember having BB gun wars? I remember one time throwing mama cat and four kittens up and having them catch on the power line comming into the house. Stupid me was proud of what I'd done so I went to get mom and show her. WRONG THING TO DO. After I got the cats down and was all scratched up I got another wippin'.

This is taking a long time to post as I'm walking down memory lane, but I'll not bore you with the details.

About those turnouts I don't have lots of hands but I"m fast - well, at my age, maybe just half fast.

Flip:
Last night I looked up OK Streamliners and they are in the 2005 Walthers calalog. I couldn't tell which were the 60' and which were the 80'.

Some of the jokes come throu, I wonder why it's a hit or miss.

Lupo:
That Intermountain warbonnet "B" also looks good behind a 4-8-4 and that also requires welding goggles. Who cares - it's my railroad.

I've got to get out of here, enjoy a cup of tea on me.

Ya'll have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's been a busy couple of days in the mountains. Nothing really earth shaking going on, just lots of stuff to deal with. The weather this morning is pretty nice. We should make it up into the low 40's by early afternoon, then it's going to rain and turn very cold again.

Progress continues slowly on both kinds of mountains. I've gotten most of the detailing done on one side of the light mountain and I'm well into the carving process on the ones for the layout. Foam is really fun to work with, but very messy. Carve a little, vacuum a little.

There are a bunch of birthdays this month, and I missed a good many of them. A Very Happy Belated Bithrday to everybody that I missed. I think Lupo takes first prize for the coolest present ever. A Ferrari for the afternoon! Wow! Now that is what friends are for. I'd sure like to have seen the look on his face when he saw it. Lupo, are there pictures of that?

Noah, the WSOR locos look really good. That's a pretty scheme.

Trainwreck100, I'm not sure those engines (the 8000 hp drag engines) would make it a mile. I think they'd self destruct before that. Kinda like when the NASCAR teams ran qualifiying engines and then switched to race engines after qualifiying, only a lot more so.

Paul, I haven't found that article yet. I'm still looking though. Bear with me.

I'd better go for now and get some stuff done before it gets wet outside.
Have a great day everybody,

Tom

[Anonymous]

Greetings all

Teffy said I should drop in and see what all the hubub was about.
I guess some introduction:

Name is Sean, I was named after my grandpa His name is John but in Ireland its the same as Sean.
My grandpa was my influence into model railroading
he modled a fictional shortline called the Algonquin and Southern. We spent hours together talking about steam engines and wheel configurations. He also took me to the age of steam museum and showed me all of the steam engines and their respective parts.
I am married two kids a boy ( Harrison) and girl (Cheyenne)
Wife Carla supports my hobby and gave up her parking spot so it could expand.
I model Union Pacific (insert boo's and hisses here) Green River Wyoming 40'-50's
I work for a local home builder in the architecture dept.
Live north of Dallas about 20 minutes and even though I am south of the red river Teffy thinks I am a yankee??
I think that is all.

[Fergmiester]

Well I'm back! for a couple of days anyway... I think... I hope, maybe? I see the posting madness hasn't stopped and am pondering whether or not to go back to page whatever and try to catch up on all the gossip. Anyone want to give me a summary[:D]

It been a quiet two weeks so far with two to go. I've been painting cars, I now have the decals, I've learned the basics of Digitrax DCC and installed two decoders, which gives me three operating engines and I ordered two more decoders and will hopefully see them in the not so distant future.

I went through my roster and to my surprise I have 25 engines. I've decided that 9 of them including the Big Boy will be declared surplus and sold off to support the MESS's modernization operations pogram or MOP for short. So you could say the MESS is about to get mopped!

Anyway not much else on the go so I'll check in later

Regards
Fergie

[der5997]

[#welcome] Sean. Glad you dropped by. The very best railroad food we have ever had was on the Irish Railways when we went to the west coast for our honeymoon in (yes guys, I can remember without having to look it up [(-D]) 1965. Was it the effecty of being on honeymoon? All I can say to that is that I was too excited to eat my steak at dinner the night before.[:O][:I][dinner]
As you can see, some of the food in here is excellent, despite the sign over the door. [:D]
Welcome home Fergie. I'll leave the precis to some-one quicker at typing [(-D] Pages and pages of the usual high quality chat, and some excellent photos by Noah etc.
A couple of days sounds like you will still miss Christmas. Oh well....
Good luck with the engine sales. Our mutual friend didn't do so well with mine, but I din't have real quality engines , and in a custom road paint scheme to boot.

[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

Well I'm back! for a couple of days anyway... I think... I hope, maybe? I see the posting madness hasn't stopped and am pondering whether or not to go back to page whatever and try to catch up on all the gossip. Anyone want to give me a summary[:D]

Fergie, you could do what I sometimes do - print out the pages, make notes of what you need to reply to, and then just go to the last page and start your response(s)... [:)]

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[JimRCGMO]

[#welcome] Sean! I brought some cinnamon rolls, so have one with the coffee Krump's buying.[:)] This is a good place for your questions, chewin' the fat, or most any (sort of) RR-related topics.

Fergie, sounds like you've been very productive while you were offline from here![tup][8D] What are the engines you'll be selling? Any (Horribly Oversized) SW 7/1200/1500 in there, by chance? Email me if you do, maybe I might be able to afford it (if it's not brass). Roadname doesn't matter, since I'll be doing my own line's paint job and adding some detailing.

[#offtopic] We got between 10-12 inches of that white stuff overnight (over a crunchy ice coating). Can't get out of the parking lot for my apt. building to get to work, but then again, when I called work to let them know, it sounded like several others couldn't either. On TV (local) this a.m., they said the police were having some difficulty getting around in spots(!). Der, you wouldn't have to worry about radar traps here today (maybe going into the ditch, but not radar traps...)[;)]

Gonna do some paperwork (for work today), and also sketch some for the terrain and mods I want to do on the Sassi layout I mentioned earlier. Will get going on that for now. Those of you with the white stuff in your area, drive careful!

Blessings on your day,

Jim in (Snowy) Cape Girardeau

[Fergmiester]

Oh I almost forgot I also finished a Real Wooden Reefer Kit that Bob gave me. I have to say I like tinkering with the old time stuff as it adds character to the layout.

Oh and Noah, There's no SNoah on my drive way[:-^]

Season's Greetings
Fergie

[krump]

[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome] Xarmycdn-
just saw that you joined us for a coffee today. I've got some of the java for you, and it looks like Jim CG took care of the cinnamon rolls (don't know why he's chewing the fat though, with all of the goodies on the table ? [:D])
- I have a question ? does "CA" in location mean Canada (as the cdn might indicate), or does it refer to California ???
- that could be a general forum question - I'm always confused, but some here would say that that is just a state of being
[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome][#welcome] Sean. We enjoy having new coffee clubbers and perspectives on this great hobby.[^]

gotta go... have a great day all

[simon1966]

Hi Coffee Shop folks,

I have stuck my nose in before, but never put my toe in the water. Since I am sitting here in Phildelphia airport waiting for a flight and praying that the snow gives St. Louis a miss so I can get home, this seemed like a good time to say hello.

For the first time in as long as I can remember, I am going to have 3 weeks at home without travel. I have made a long list of activities that I hope to accomplish on my layout over the Christmas and New year.

7. Scenery in the oil dealer area
8. Water in the river
9. Main yard scenery
10. Mine scenery
11. Backdrop decision and implementation
12. Town planning
13. Scenery in the grain elevator area
14. Test track and cleaning track installation.
15. PC interface installation and mount of PC monitor
16. Extend the loconet with new UP5 and UP91
17. Facia

I can't wait to get stuck in. (I already accomplished 1-6 on the list)

Merry Christmas to you all!

[Noah Hofrichter]

Jim, if you'd be willing to pay airfare both ways, room, board, and food for the day, all the hot chocolate I can drink, and throw in WSOR SD40-2 models 4002 and 4004 from the company store, and voila! I'll consider it!

Krump. I got that snowball at school today, as I was walking in this morning. I thought maybe the shout would ahve made it to you by now. But, as far as the snow, see the above offer, but change the road numbers to 4007&4008, avalible form any hobby store!

Well, I'm free, and loving it! Tommarrow comes the striping of the shell, in another window right now I'm search for the thread that dealt with that a while ago. I also plan to continue working on my layout, so I have to get going, I'll see you all later!

Noah

[Paul W. Beverung]

Quick Note; There is about 2 inches of Snoah on the ground here.It does look pretty. Of course in about an hour when I get through putting out hay for the cattle and taking care of the rest of the chores I may feel different.

ATSFfan; Haven't loaded it yet. I'll do it later when time permits. The more snow and bad weather the more time permits.

So long for now

Paul

the Duluth, Superior, & Southeastern

" The Superior Route "

[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Noah Hofrichter

Jim, if you'd be willing to pay airfare both ways, room, board, and food for the day, all the hot chocolate I can drink, and throw in WSOR SD40-2 models 4002 and 4004 from the company store, and voila! I'll consider it!

Noah

I may have to pass on that offer, Noah - might be a tad over my budget![;)] And did you mean the models, or the prototype size SD40-2's?[:D]

[#welcome] xarmycdn! This is a great place - to hang out, ask questions (might even get some answers), drink some coffee (or hot chocolate)![:)]

[#welcome] Simon, and your list looks pretty good - may need to make a list like that for myself![;)] But I don't know how promising St. Louis' weather may or may not be - I live a couple hours south of there and we got about 10 inches of the white stuff last night and about the same is predicted for tonight! [sigh] So for your sake, I'd hope that the snow didn't track any further north than Cape Girardeau...

Well, time for another cup of mocha - it's turning pretty cold here tonight! Might want to put another log on that old potbelly stove here in the coffee shop.

Blessings and warm blankets (or a couple of fuzzy dogs?) for your night,

Jim in Cape Girardeau (for now, almost a winter wonderland, to look at it)

[Anonymous]

Hello, all. Man is it cold. It is so cold, Frosty the Snowman is on vacation in Hawaii. Or any other warm place. Guy's, my picture is now in my profile. Just thought I'd mention it.[:D]

Oh, BTW, I went to Wal-Mart Monday, thought while I was there I'd check the price of the airbrush. It was $20. They were all sold out. I'm gonna get me one, soon.

To all the new guy's, I'd like to say [#welcome]

I also want to say...HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! to everyone.

'Til I thaw out, see you all, later...tomorrow.[:D][;)]

Robert

[Anonymous]

Well today was the last day of school till Christmas break fopr me!!![:D]

Cold around here, but no snow. I want it to stay that way until after next Tuesday so I can go rabbit hunting.

Some of you have probably noticed I haven't been posting as much, nothing new going on since I have to spend less on mrring now![:I]

Christmas will leave me with a few car kits to build, though.[:p]

Christopher

[egmurphy]

Good Evening Coffee Clubbers,

Our enjoyable cool spell ended with a bang yesterday. It’s been up in the 80’s since yesterday, [8D] back to my normal uniform of shorts and sandals. For those of you in the land of low numbered isobars, I’d like you to know that I am complaining, not rubbing it in! I know, you guys are just trying to make me jealous of the White Christmas you going to have! [(-D]

I’ve actually been doing a bit of stealth construction on the layout. That’s not stealth in the sense of secretly trying to get ahead of Teffy, it’s more like stealth in the sense of that if you watched me it wouldn’t seem to you like I was actually moving, I’m working that slowly. Anyway, the section of mainline and engine terminal that I tore up a few weeks ago is back with the small mods made. All I need to do is clean all the collected junk off the layout so I can tip it up on its side and resolder the feeder wires I had to cut and relocate.

Our ISP server was down all day yesterday so I hardly had any chance to log in. Fortunately I actually have things to do other than hang around here so I didn’t go through too much withdrawal pain. [:)]


Larry, gotta say I like the art deco poster of the Pennsy locos in your signature. [tup]

QUOTE: NorthernPhil: I've noticed that most model rails complain about loud motors in their engines, I always liked 'em loud, probably the only sound system I'll ever be able to afford.

I’m with you there, Phil.

QUOTE: Teffy: Were you serious about no heaters in the house?

Dead serious. Gives me a chance to wear those sweaters and jackets I still have left over from previous lives.


Bunch of new people stopping by the last couple of days. Excuse me if I miss someone but [#welcome] to:
Joe Aloia – you devil, you!
atsf railfan –
xarmycdn -
unionpacific4018 – Hey Sean, any discount on foam insulation for your coffee shop buddies?
Simon1966 – enjoy your vacation, but that stil looks like a daunting list for only three weeks.

QUOTE: CapeGirardeauJim: (showing my age here) when I was little we had such a wind chill in the summer - got it from running through the sprinkler on our front lawn!

Yup, remember that quite well.

QUOTE: Teffy: We sure were easy to entertain weren't we. That's called SELF ENTERTAINMENT and we did that all the time. Remember mom telling us "go outside and play". She didn't care what we did but we'd better not get out of ear shot.

Yup again. I grew up on a small dead-ended street. Most of the parents would sit out on the front stoop (just the concrete steps, not a real porch) in the evening and socialize among themselves while all the kids played in the street and through some of the yards. We didn’t even have to necessarily be in at dark because it was a really safe neighborhood.

QUOTE: Teffy: Some of the jokes come through, I wonder why it's a hit or miss.

Hey Bob, we’re talking computers, electronics, high tech mumbo jumbo, black magic and blind faith. And you wonder why some don’t make it?? It still amazes me that we can have this virtual conversation. Of course, I’m easily amused and easily entertained.

QUOTE: Tom W: Foam is really fun to work with, but very messy. Carve a little, vacuum a little.

Your shop vac, don’t carve foam without it!


Hola, Fergie. Glad to see you in port for a couple of days anyway. Hope it stretches into Christmas.


Okay, hope that pretty well catches me up. Remember,
Only 2 more shopping days left until Christmas


Hasta luego,

Ed

[Fergmiester]

Christmas is a go, barring any unforeseen SAR calls

Well I'm pulling what's left of a full set of receeding hairlined hair. I'm applying the decals and they are not cooperating . These ones are very thin and tear easily. I'm tempted to spray on a layer of decal sealer to see if I can give them more strength. Any thoughts out there!

Lisa's Freaking as my Christmas Gift is caught somewhere between here and Quebec. Unfortunately she shipped it UPS! Should have shipped it on the MESS[:D] Serves her right!

I have to admit my interest is peaked especially as Bob's involved with this! Could it be MR related? I'll have to wait two more days

Fergie

[simon1966]

Well the snow missed St. Louis so far and I just got home! Now I can relax and forget about work for a while and enjoy this great hobby!

[Anonymous]

Evenin' Y'all, Its cold out there, let me tell ya'.

Simon: [#welcome] pour ya a nice hot cup to dampen the temperature.

Ed: Must be nice to be above the not possible to be de-iced mark.

Jim: I did that when I was littler, but that wasn't but five or six years ago. Things are a little different out here in Calumet.

Seems like if it can go wrong, it'll happen when it is below freezing doesn't it? Feels like everything has gone wrong since last night, oh well, it should get back up above 25 in a day or two.

Greg

[Anonymous]

what are stars for? I'm new here and exploreing

just checkin it out
Dan[%-)]

[PennsyHoosier]

Hi all,

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And then more SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, I'm not griping about it. It really is beautiful. And, after all, it is December in northern Indiana. In all honesty, I love the snow--it's the cold I can't take. And the weather people say that's on the way on Friday. Oh well....

Ed,
thanks for the [tup] on the pic! There is not a Baldwin Sharknose, but, still, this pic simply blew me away!

Phil,
I was planning on driving down to Bluffton today, but it looked a little "iffy" on the Weather Channel. Perhaps one of these days we'll bump into one another.

Out of jealousy my oldest son now wants to use the airbrush. If it hadn't been for his little brother and sister I don't think he would have ever thought about it. But now...

[PennsyHoosier]

Hi Dan,

Stars indicate one's number of posts. Don't worry about them. Just enjoy the company and take advantage (in the best sense of that phrase) of the expertise of the folks that are here on this forum. Each day is an adventure for me here! [^]

[Anonymous]

Paul,
Snow in north Texas!!!! It sure would be nice to have a white Christmas. I have lived here all of my life and I have NEVER had a white Christmas. BTW: We shut down at 10:30 this morning. Filled out my vacation request and took half a day off to start my 10 day vacation!!!!! And we MAY not open in the morning!!!! Better call if you have to work!

[Paul W. Beverung]

atsf railfan; I stayed to the bitter end. I am now on vacation also, so I'll get the cadrail loaded. You should be able to hear me scream in anguish.

Well we got the stock fed. It wouldn't have been too bad except that Noah didn't close the gate up there and that north wind was loose. Very pretty outside. The snow is on the trees and ground and alittle still coming down. Very Christmasey.

I got the LGB set up around the christmas tree. The Porter is pulling a 4 wheel gon, four 4 wheel "V" skips, a 4 wheel bulkhead flat, and a caboose. I'm thinking that I may get a circle of 18" snap track and set up a HO with my new little village on the table in the living room. Maybe that would be too much mrr in one room. Nah, never too much.

Too all the new comers. My most hearty welcome and please feel free to join in. Answeres to questions are free and sometimes even correct. We do try and help out. You will eventually realise that this is a bunch of pretty good people and a few loose nuts looking for a bolt. I'm feeling a little silly tonight. must be the snow.

Fergie; I hope that no one is foolish enough to get in a situation that warrants a SAR. I hope that you can enjoy Christmas at home.

I think that it is time to hit the sack.

Paul

the Duluth, Superior, & Southeastern

" The Superior Route "

[philnrunt]

Ed- I wish I had temps like that to complain about. Went walking with Amy today around Portland and it was just too cold to stay out, 17F with 20mph in your face winds, so we ducked into the Corner Cafe and had a cup of joe and a piece of cherry pie. Made the walk back easier.
Pennsyhoos- It's possible, I seem to go to 1stplace hobbies about once a week anymore. Their in store selection is rather small, but it's fun to search thru it to see what you turn up. Found an HO Alaska SD70MAC hidden under a N BNSF SD70MAC. I need to volunteer to straighten up their stock, maybe we could meet there and get it organized and score a discount or something.
Welcome newbies, glad to have you on board. Hope you're staying warm where you live. I know it's a struggle here.
Ferg- Was it pretty rough this trip? Hope you can spend some time ashore, but you seem to get more done at sea than the rest of us put together! I have a feeling that if I tried to build something at sea, it would look like a Dali painting of a train.
Simon1966- Glad to hear you're getting some downtime to model. It's always better than work, even if it's time spent traveling.
It finally started snowing at 1800hrs, and we have about 3"s on the ground now. I like the snow, but it's going to be -8 C-mas morn. Too cold for me. I'm with Pennsyhoosier, don't mind the snow, hate the cold.
And remember, only about a jillion days til Spring!

[krump]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Noah Hofrichter


Krump. I got that snowball at school today, as I was walking in this morning. I thought maybe the shout would ahve made it to you by now. But, as far as the snow, see the above offer, but change the road numbers to 4007&4008, avalible form any hobby store!

your yelling started an avalanche that buried my driveway AGAIN, thanks so much [:D] get here soon.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone, a small black please.

Just a short visit, the last few days have been busy, I've finally emptied my in basket at work and I'm still playing driver for CFO for last minute things and deliveries. I just enjoy playing in the traffic AHGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome back Fergie, I hope the season will be a quiet one for you and your shipmates.

A warm welcome to all the new comers. Drop in often and have fun.

The coffe is gone and I must run (being paged by the CFO)

Gloria and I wish everyone the Merriest of Chritmas and may we all enjoy Peace on this earth.

[der5997]

Just skimmed this page before heading out to New Glasgow for lunch with friends, and a bit of maybe shopping.
Fergie: There is or was a product that painted on ordinary print pictures turned them into decals. I think it's called "Decal-it" or somethng like that. It may work to firm up weak decals too. google it and see.
While in NG, I'll see if thterre is any trace of the mythic "New" LHS.
TTFN

[fec153]

Paul- there was an episode on Tracks Ahead a year or so ago that showed a Michigan
G gauge outdoor layout using a snow blower going thru the sNoah. I'm serious.
To all the newbies-[#welcome][#welcome]. The coffee or your choice of drink is always ready. Great group of folks to talk to. Bring your own danish/donut as some of us are on sugarfree diets.
Flip