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

[Anonymous]

Oh and Happy Birthday to Dave [:D] [bday] [swg]

[Anonymous]

Oops, noticed the last link didnt' work. Here's a different one, maybe this one will work better https://www.quickbase.com/db/66p836ie?act=q&qid=1 John alwas has some good stuff, really adds a lot to the last page of Farm Journal. No train stuff, but its still good reading.

Fegie: Bon Voyage, or something like that

Robert: Yeah, that's always good news when somethinglike that happens. Fishing off the back porch huh? Sounds like fun!!!

Constructive night at the 4H meeting, made a bunch of valentine things to take to the local nursing home.

Pretty good chance of sNoah tonight, but right now all we've got is rain.
.
Time's slipping away again
Greg

[Anonymous]

Hey all - been away a few days so i had some catching up to do! Transferred to a new assignment, still at the same base for now (I move in the summer) but I've hit the ground running and already have a trip lined up for next week. No rest for the weary as they say!

I enjoyed the headlight pictures a page or two ago - are those LEDs?

[trolleyboy]

QUOTE: Rob, did you get your trolley pics ? [:0]

Hi all yes Tim I did, the two unpainted metal ones look like Bowsers Jewet interurban combines. Our museum has a real live one built in 1915 it's L&PS#8 if you go to the museum site www.hcry.org we have a picture of it in the museum collection section. Beutifull car to run all cherry wood and plush seats inside. The photo on the site does not do it justice as that pic is about 15 years old it's completly refurbed now and is our pride and joy. Rob[:)]

[trolleyboy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by luct

Hi all, just dropped in for a quick one, CFO has a dental appointment this afternoon.

Bob - I just intercepted this radio transmission " Pink leader this is Lancastpink... Come in Pink leader. Over

This is is Pink leader, Lancstpink the mission is a go. Double the payload, I say again double the payload. Over

This is Lancastpink, rodger, doubling the payload. Out"

I think you've had it Bob......

Fergie I should be back about 4 ish.

Must run

Happy MRRing

Luc

oh oh Bob You may not know this but VRA the lanc at the Warplane museum is a fully functioning flying lancaster from the CDN 419 Moose squadron it's also the representitive machine for a CDN Victoria Cross winner. The 419 boys were one of the most highly decorated CDN squadrons from WW2 Many Hundred successfull missions under their belts so you may be seeing Pink LOL Rob

[TurboOne]

Hello coffee mates,

Rob I take a hot tea, peppermint please. Glad to hear about Moms good news.

Jim in CG special prayers for car woes, and hope for more $$ in future. You always are so positve that you make our sun shine. [angel][angel] Here's a little back hoping it gets better.

Elliott, how did the show go ???

Gonna crash and help the wifey with some homework.

Tim

[philnrunt]

Ed- If I ever get that time machine, one of the great small events I'd love to see is the very first time a European bit into an orange or any citrus- he must have thought God had come to earth in a little orange ball! The pics were incredible, seeing that much fresh fruit astounds me. As you can tell, I really love citrus, and this rotten diabetes has put a kink in my munching it. I sure hate being infirmed.Oh wellll, whatchagonnadoooo?
der9999- Happy belated B-day. Take very good care of yourself and live each day as full as you can, make 'em count. And the best way to make good days is to take time off work. Good man.
radivil- no need to be a stranger, stop by more. Good to hear someone is running trains.
der5997- I hate to hear about Pampas George. Loosing a pet by any means is bad. But letting them suffer is worse. My thoughts are with you, and I raise my glass of Ed's best OJ to you, Pampas George!
And for anyone that likes cold weather, no need to leave the US, just come to Indiana. Stays in the 20's in the daytime, in the tens at night. Freezing fog makes it pretty, though.Yeah, this year it a winter wonderland. A stinkin' winter wonderland.
Fergie- Take care, fair winds and a following sea.
Noah- I support your drive to speed up load times, by whatever means.

[trolleyboy]

Good evening folks popped back in for a quick bedtime tea[zzz][zzz][zzz] Fergie go well my friend try not to pick up any mermaids in your travels[:-^][:-^] and if you do we understand[swg][swg].I wonder would the govt, concider them to be illegal aliens[alien][?] BTW the lanc crew apologizes for anyone else who got some misting, those vintage bomb sights aren't all that accurateand the four rolls royce merlins create quite a bit of backwash[:O] Well I'm off to bed TTFN Rob

[Big_Boy_4005]

Luc, and anyone else who might be interested. The show went very smoothly, but where once I was excited to participate, this seemed to be more dutiful drudgery. Seven hours of setup on Friday, for 14 hours of running, and 2 hours tear down. My heart was only half in it. A big part of doing a show, is talking with the people. There were times where I found it hard to smile.

The layout was 24 x 8, and featured 4 trains running using relay logic. Two trains ran on a loop with a passing siding, alternating laps. The other 2 were on interlaced figure 8's, with the relays forming an interlocking. For some reason, still a mystery to me, Saturday the passing siding gave me a good deal of trouble. On Sunday, operation was flawless





While I was there I was invited to do another show in April. I'm not sure if I want to. I am already committed to do another one in 3 weeks, and on top of that, there was discussion of next year.

I spent a couple of hours Monday afternoon designing a layout for the upcomming show. It will be bigger and slightly more complex than this past weekend's. The plan is to take a couple days off, then do more work on the layout, making improvements.

I guess I'll be doing some soul searching the next few days. I have to decide about April by the end of the week.

[Fergmiester]

Some last thoughts before I go

Elliot: We all hit the wall from time to time and some have said:

"Some days we're the windsheild, and some days we're the bug".

If your not having fun then it's time for a rest or a change in direction. As the compass will always point North you will have to make the course alteration.

Later Gents

Fergie

[dave9999]

Morning Folks,
Woke up with a fever of 101.5. This is the third day. Plus it's still raining. Looks like another day off. If I'm not better today, I think I will see the doctor.

Fergie
I see you are on here early. Have a good trip. Dave

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
Well, the weatherguessers are calling for snow or sleet or freezing rain or maybe just rain here today. They're pretty sure we'll have weather. Paul's right, look out the window and see what it's doing. Right now it's cold and rainy. I've got some errands to run here shortly, and then I'm off to the railroad room for the day. It's going to be fun.

Dave9999, Happy Birthday, although I'm a bit late. I hope it was a great one.

Put me down for May 3rd for the 10K post if it's not been taken already. That's Shawna's birthday and that seems like a good day to pick. Somebody beat me to my birthday, May 24th. I was snoozing, and we all know what happens when you do that.

Robert, that is great news about your Mom's SSI. Perserverence pays off.

Grayfox, I'd say the loco would have gone about warp 3 on 220V, but not for very long. As with all things electrical, the smoke would have gotten out and that would have been it.

Der, the Norton sight was standard equipment on US aircraft, but I'm not aware of it having been fitted to British aircraft. I've seen B-17s and B-24s in the air, but never a Lanc. Sure would like to.

Fergie, have a safe cruise. What model railroad stuff are you taking with you this time?

Have a great day, everybody,
Tom

[egmurphy]

Good Morning Coffee Clubbers

Happy Groundhog Day!!! [:D] CNN reports “Punxsutawney Phil has spoken, and the news isn't good. The world's most famous furry forecaster saw his shadow Wednesday on Gobbler's Knob, suggesting another six weeks of wintry weather.” [:0] More details at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/02/groundhog.day.ap/index.html

He wouldn’t have seen his shadow down here. It’s kind of a dreary, wet, cool, windy morning down here south of the border. I love it. No sweating during the morning constitutional with the dogs. It’ll be a good day to stay in and work on the trains. Actually, any day is a good day to stay in and work on the trains.

Der, I’m sorry about George. It’s tough to loose a pet, especially one who has been around that many years.

Jim, sorry to hear that you have car problems too.

QUOTE: Dave9999:
.. But with the number of replies on this topic, it's hard
to keep up. I don't know how you guys do it!

We don’t have a life outside of the forum…….. [;)]

QUOTE: But it's got a friendly, kind of homey feeling.

That’s what makes the Coffee Shop so special. It’s just a nice place to hang out. It’s been running about nine months now and has a nice mix of veterans and newcomers. It’s the “social” part of our virtual model railroad club.

Sorry to hear that you’re still sick, and with a 101.5º no less. [:(] Yeah, probably time to go see a doctor. Hope you can beat the fever.

QUOTE: Elliot:
The show went very smoothly, but where once I was excited to participate, this seemed to be more dutiful drudgery.

Maybe I missed it, but I don’t recall you mentioning what the show was. Were you part of a larger model railroad show, or just an individual setup at a mall for a demonstration, or something else?

QUOTE: I spent a couple of hours Monday afternoon designing a layout for the upcomming show. It will be bigger and slightly more complex than this past weekend's. The plan is to take a couple days off, then do more work on the layout, making improvements.

Then it sounds like you’re not completely burned out yet if you’re already planning to make the next one bigger and better. Good luck.


Okay, Tom, May 3rd is yours. So this is where we stand right now:
Dave9999 29-Apr
Tom W 3-May
Elliot 18-May
Ed 21-May
Paul B 24-May
(CG)Jim 30-May
trainwreck 5-Jun
grayfox 9-Jun
Luc 14-Jun
trolleyboy 1-Jul
JP 11-Jul
Like I say, let me know if I seem to have left you out.

Time to do a little bit of foaming, mountain building that is, not railfanning. Maybe I’ll even be able to post some progress pictures by later in the week.

Hasta luego,

Ed

[Anonymous]

This topic is really weird! This looks like the topic you post a whole bunch of nonsense to get your Stars huh. This is where some of you guys get that 12-16 post daily average. Wow this is bad. People reply just to say good morning. Damn damn damn.

[TurboOne]

Hello all,
hope eveyone is doing well.

Biggie Smalls how are you ? This is a forum, not liked by all, which is fine, for everyone to get to know others. If you like that great, if not, on MRR there are a lot of other topics.

Elliott, if you are building it, they will come. Add some silly spiderman or something kid oriented, and they will flock to it. We just had the lego train club in the San Diego Museum, and the kids went nuts. Of course they looked at all the other train layouts, but Lego got them started. Just like merchandising, get em with a hook, and reel them in.

Ed, I'll take May 20th, as its my daughter B day. I would take mine, but March 11th is too soon.

Tom, stay warm if you can.

Dave, eat some of Eds oranges, lots of vitamin C and stay home work on trains. Doctor Turbo says so.

John, all my kittys are gone, so yours saddens me also. My kids put a photo album together and I get to see them all the time now. It helps me.

I'll take a big cuppa today,

Take care guys,

Tim

[lupo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Biggie Smalls

This topic is really weird! This looks like the topic you post a whole bunch of nonsense to get your Stars huh. This is where some of you guys get that 12-16 post daily average. Wow this is bad. People reply just to say good morning. Damn damn damn.

Well Alfred, why did you change PARKERLEGEND, for another name?

[:D] I used to be a schizophrenic, but WE are alright now [:D]

SPACEMOUSE: thanks for the spelling check link in the forum conduct topic I installed it and I think it works ! [:p][:p] I only had to correct 2 typo's by hand !

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon genst, another beautiful day here in central Mass, 34 degrees (F) 1(C), and no wind, clear blue skies.....

Luc, John, looks like that ocean storm is going to back in just enough to give us a little light snow, that is all. And, the little critter saw his darn shadow today, so we have 6 more weeks of winter.....no kidding Phil, 4 weeks in February, 2 weeks into March, that puts us at March 21st ....SPRING!!! I don't need a Ground Hog to tell me that!![V]

Jim, thanks for the info on backdrop painting, I am sure that I have that old copy (Aug '03), I will be ready for painting in about 3 days.


Alfred: how come you changed your name, tsk, tsk, you didn't get in trouble did you??[}:)][}:)][}:)]

Tim: I see you are making excellent progress with your layout, are you thinking of using a N.O. theme? If so, head off to Marti Gras to get some ideas[:D][:D][;)][;)]

Ed: WOW , what a stash of oranges!!! I cannot believe the prices?? Please send some up via CSX cars. Send to Rochdale Station, Rochdale, Mass, CSX main line.

Tom: cheer up Tom, Phil didn't see his shadow in Georgia, so winter is almost over for you in those beautiful Appalachian mountains!!

Dave: that must have been "some" Birthday yesterday, 101.5 fever !!! Remember what grandma alsways said, " feed a cold, starve a fever " !! Hope your feeling better soon buddy !!![:(]

Fergie: Have a safe trip, I have your address, will drop you an email onboard!

Train room update: Picked up 10 more gallons of redimix plaster, man those 5 gallon buckets are heeeeavy. This should take care of the ramianing wall and any touch-up.
Heading downstairs now, be back in coffee shop later, I left some gingerbread cupcakes that the wife made....enjoy.....Mitchell, don't eat too many !!!

[SilverSpike]

Good afternoon all!

I will have a tall cup a joe today!

Two days straight of rain, the back yard now looks like Lake Boudreaux! Watch out for dem gators!

Dave - Yum, crab legs sounds good, better luck next time the the winnings, huh! Hope you are feeling better, fever is never fun. Chicken soup is always good for that!

Robert - Great news about your mom, my prayers are with ya'll for continued success.

Tim - The rain is supposed to be over by this evening, amd I'm hoping to dry out for the weekend! Keep plugging away on the benchwork, still want to see some photos!

Belated Happy Birthday to Dave!

I guess you all are keeping a list of BD's, mine is on Halloween!

Gotta go for now!

- Ryan

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon All:

I've heard that I've got a PINK cap comming from Europe. When it gets here I'll take a picture me with the hat on standing in front of my PINK house lawn, and street. The Mayor and the Marshall wanted to know why the house, lawn and part of the street was PINK. I didn't have the nerve to tell them.

Phil:
I'm diabetic but I can 1/2 an orange and give the other half to Stephanie, I can also eat a fork full of cocanut pie and it doesn't bother my blood sugar too much. If I have a craving for Lasangue (you figure out the spelling - an itallian dish made with noodles, cheese and sauce) I walk after dinner and burn up some carbs.

John:
I'm truly sorry to hear about George. We had Trouble (Rosie-the-dogs relative) for better then 14 years and a lot of that time was before we adopted the kids so she was the only one around and got a lot of attention. She was the hardest to bury. We finally decided after many dogs not to get anymore as it was to hard on us when they died.

Ed:
I was going to ask for June 20 but since it's taken By Tim can I have June 22? Why are oranges so cheap down there and so much more on this side of the border? Avacodoes don't have that much of a difference.

Tim:
That's not fair I was thinking about June 20 last week and you did that just because I was thinking about it. (I'm going to go pout) Would you like to send me a loco so I can paint it for you? Please. It's nice to see that someone else drinks spiced tea besides John and me. I finally drank all of the Bigalow Constant Comment (orange) now I can enjoy the mint and pepperment.

Biggie Smalls:
If you'd like to come it please feel free to do so, but I don't think that any of us are keeping up with the star system. We have been talking so long that we know a lot, and care, about the other members. A lot of us even know the wives, kids and pets. For Snoah and the other kids we even know a little about their parents.

The reason that some us post 8-10 post a day is, we are helping other members on other threads.

Lawrence:
I hope you had help at the show. I enjoy them as I like getting the spectators to operate. Every once in a while we have trouble but we don't take anything up there that's valuable.

Dave:
Being self-employed like you are, we may have the same insurance company (catastrofic). Good luck with the fever.

Luct:
Your CFO is getting a double whammey having to get root canal done along with out feeling good. My heart goes out to her.

Well I've got to get back to work.

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

[Anonymous]

Afternoon all. No news on my end.

Attention: Jim (jhhtrainsplanes) won't be with us for awhile. His computer has quit working for good. Just thought I'd let everyone know.

TW100, it's the front porch you can fish off of. and only when it rains alot. Tho' you won't catch anything, the water isn't but about 12-18" deep.[:D]

JimRCGMO, I can't really say what kind of fish it was. A dogfish, or a catfish.[:D]

TTFN

Robert

[egmurphy]

Teffy

Tim took 20 May, not June. If you want 20 June you can have it.

QUOTE: LilRob:
...Jim (jhhtrainsplanes) won't be with us for awhile. His computer has quit working for good. Just thought I'd let everyone know..

Thought something like that was behind his absence. That was too long just to be a simple interview trip.

Later

Ed

[dave9999]

Philinrut wrote:

QUOTE: Happy belated B-day. Take very good care of yourself and live each day as full as you can, make 'em count. And the best way to make good days is to take time off work. Good man.

I couldn't have said it better myself.[^] Speaking of days off... it's only a little over three months until we
take our annual vacation. After all the hustle-bustle from the hurricane, I'm ready!

Tom wrote:

QUOTE: Dave9999, Happy Birthday, although I'm a bit late. I hope it was a great one.

Thanks Tom.

Ed: Thanks for putting me down for Apr 29th. It'll take a lot of posting to get it done by then.

*** wrote:

QUOTE: Dave: that must have been "some" Birthday yesterday, 101.5 fever !!! Remember what grandma alsways said, " feed a cold, starve a fever " !! Hope your feeling better soon buddy !!!

Uh-oh, I thiught it was the other way around...feed a fever, starve a cold. No wonder I'm not getting better[%-)]

Ryan wrote:

QUOTE: Dave - Yum, crab legs sounds good, better luck next time the the winnings, huh! Hope you are feeling better, fever is never fun. Chicken soup is always good for that!

Ryan, the crab legs were grrrreaaatt! Although I think I was trying to make up for my lost money
by eating all of the casino's crab legs[:D]. Not to mention the shrimp, fish, prime rib and crawfish [dinner]

Bob wrote:

QUOTE:
Being self-employed like you are, we may have the same insurance company (catastrofic). Good luck with the fever.

I don't know if it's the same company, but the policy I have is the "pay the receptionist as you leave" policy.[B)][:D]


Now as far as the Biggie smalls/parkerlegend/big Al situation, well some folks just have to inject
opinion, only it's usually where it's not needed or wanted. See ya Dave

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by grayfox1119

Bob, I wonder how fast the engine would have run if you sent it to Matt and he used European house voltage (220V) ?

I think the smoke might well all escape, and I'm not sure how the fire brigade would react "Hello, fire service please, I just caused a minor explosion and blew a hole in our wall by attempting to run a model train on mains power..."[:D]! Hornby actually tried to make an electric train that ran on the full 240v back in the 1920s, they offered a tinplate O-scale London Underground loco for 3-rail track. Apparently there was a brief scare (just wondering what the modern media would make of it, judging by their scare stories these days I think they'd probably be looking for a high window...) and the Home Office (Govt department) objected, so it was retooled to use 4V DC from batteries.

Interested to read about the Canadian Lancaster - I recall reading that there's only two airworthy examples left, this must be the other one (there's one over here in the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, along with a few Spitfires and Hurricanes - this small fleet of historic aircraft was set up as a memorial to the aircrew involved in the battles of 1940, "The Few" as they became known). Not sure what bomb sight they had but I'm pretty sure it wasn't the Norden (as I understand it this was only fitted to US-designed aircraft). I know later on they were fitted with assorted early radars and other guidance systems (did an assignment on WW2 British "RDF" as Radar was then known for A-level History and have been interested ever since).

I've added the extra resistors to my Walthers Dash 8-40B - 300Ohms on each lightbulb seems to work pretty well, gives you a decent light level without overheating the bulbs or melting the shell, posting this in case anyone else is in the midst of converting one of these locos, mine's running superbly with a Lenz 4-function BEMF silent decoder. I keep meaning to post a photo or two of it, my ISP has free web space for subscribers which hasn't been used, need to figure out how to upload stuff to it though!

[Big_Boy_4005]

Fergie, maybe my problem is more like one experiences when bucked from a horse. This was my first time out in public with a display since the Mall of America, 12 years ago. That experience was a real mixture of success and failure, and was very difficult to deal with. This first attempt to ride again may have been slightly painful, but good therapy. The key may be just to get the set up time out of my mind, and consider the smiles generated as my reward for the effort.

Ed, the show was at a small strip mall, and I was one of 10 exibitors. You would really have enjoyed it, as 7 were Normal, only 2 were Horribly Oversized, including a circus display, and of course my Outrageous self. One of my main goals with the portable layout is to do something different at each set up. This next show may be more interesting to me, as I will be playing a completely different design to my fellow modelers. The public won't know the difference, unless they were at both shows. You're right, I'm not totally burned out. Perhaps it is just that fresh ideas are slower in coming, but come they do. The April show is moving forward in my mind, and I may "just do it".

Tim, the fact that the layout was very different from all of the others at the show, did not make it less popular. Actually, I probably had the same number of visits as the other layouts. Lionel trains have a certain grab without being gimicky, though that is really part of their nature. My twist is in the motion of the trains. I dispense with the distraction of scenery, and shift the focus onto the trains themselves. People were left wondering "How did he do that?", and those that asked got a full explanation. The thing about Lionel is that the purists will always thumb their noses at it, while kids and the older crowd tend to like it for different reasons. I guess I like to try to show the potential to the purists, in addition to entertaining the crowd. I doubt I'll win any converts, but I may sway some opinions. Therein lies the challenge.[swg]

Lupo, I think you nailed Biggy Smalls.[tup]

Biggy, the folks here are good people, and they don't appreciate that kind of nonsense. If you want to be antisocial, please do it elsewhere.

[bjdukert]

JimGC-Hang in there! Been there and it isn't any fun but things did work out.

Tim-When you get your benchwork up and if you start having building withdrawl,I know where there is some more power tools and lumber.

Dave-With a temp like that it sounds like DOC time.

***-That article in MRR had more to it than the one I mentioned to you,and if you are intrested,HD has a cloud kit for $25. I opted for something I found on google,if I was going to do more then I think I would have gone for the kit.

I will do more benchwork this weekend,and am looking forward to getting it done so I can start putting some track down. When that happens I will be ready to get me a DCC system,and then the questions will come for those of you that know about it.

Biggiesmalls-I haven't been in the coffee shop long,but the people are friendly and will listen and do what they can to help anyone that needs it. Some of the attitudes on the other threads can stay there,so check it at the door and leave the good people alone!!

Talk to you later

Duke

[Anonymous]

Hello again all. Just popping in to say hi.

Here are a few more pictures I've added to my railimages site.



They are all one picture. The top one is an GP38-2, and the lower one is an SW1500. Yes, this is the VBR's new paint scheme.



And this one is also an GP38-2. This is an experimental scheme for my new RR (Gulf & Midwest - GMW).

I have a few more on there that I didn't post.

'Til later,

Robert

[Noah Hofrichter]

Jim, your right, it is a V type, I’ll have to look into that.

Ed, Glad it works, I never thought about getting close to the forum etiquette line. I’ll have to watch that from now on.

And, while I’m at it, I’m putting my money for number 10,000 on May 1st, so please add me if you would Ed. At least, that’s if we continue at the same pace. But what do we get if we win the pool?

Robert, thanks for the info on Jim (Jhh), I was starting to wonder where he got to. And I like the green paint scheme too.

Well, I have to get going, school work calls..........

Noah

[bjdukert]

This is to all in the coffee shop.

I hope I haven't caused any problems for the coffee shop with my outburst earlier. I have gotten better over the years of keeping my temper in check,but there are times when SOMEONE or SOMETHING gets it riled up. This is a great place to be,and the people are GREAT and PATIENT with everyone,and the last thing I want is to cause a problem,especially being new to the shop.

Thanks Duke

[PennsyHoosier]

Friends,

Just poking my head in the door. Things are still terribly busy. But I wanted to say:

[PennsyHoosier]