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

[trolleyboy]

Good evening clubbers, just poped in for a bedtime tea. One more day of work then I can retire for a week,I plan to catch up on lost sleep and hopefully get my mainline in and up and running wish me luck.[^][:D][;)] john don't scrap all that gunk out of the mug we may be able to use it for weathering of some sort.[swg][swg][swg] Jim(cape) I know what you mean the people here are the best I consider you all as friends no I'm not being mushy but your all just great and supportive kinda gives everyone some hope for the human race.Also I haven't had much luck with the ami roadbed either I think it's too stickey and there seems to be no way to lesson it's stick.I think i'm going to use the woodland scenics rolled bed instead,it can be ballasted and spiked so I'm going to go with what I know how to use.Well I'm tired so goodnight all.[zzz][zzz][zzz] Rob

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: trainwreck: ...tell me again how to get a pic from Railimages to here, all I get is the ugly RED X...

My guess is that you left off the '.jpg' at the end of the image address. Try that first and we'll see if that was the problem.

QUOTE: der: As ever, Ed, you never cease to amaze...

I didn't really know the site to check, but I'm getting a lot better at finding things with a Google search. In fact, Google.com is now my default internet home page. On a flyer I just typed in 'Santa Fe rr historical' and it brought up a bunch of hits, including the SF Historical Society.

QUOTE: der: I use a rounded (not absolutely round) mini-file. I find the work goes very quickly, especially in Normal. What a difference when it's done.

I just grabbed the individual ties with a needle nose pliers and rubbed them on a sheet of sandpaper. But you're absolutely right, makes a big difference. I had kind of gotten used to seeing the layout with those gaps in the ties, kind of like getting used to seeing someone with a gap in their front teeth. But once I installed the missing ties, wow, like the same person after orthodontia. [:D] Can't wait to ballast.



Later

Ed

[fec153]

Good morning Zoe. Oh, still mad at me? Sorry about telling your secret. I'll pour my own coffee,thankyou.
Jeez, cant an old guy have some fun? Even if I could catch her dont remember what to do.[:D][:(][:(][:(].
Flip

[der5997]

Good sunny morning to you all: Crisp and clear, but not as cold as they had threatened. A large black coffee please Zoe, and don't mind Flip, we old geezers don't mean no harm[(-D]
Greg:

QUOTE: After several attempts, I still failed. You'll have to tell me again how to get a pic from Railimages to here, all I get is the ugly RED X

The formua I find works is
[ img]http;//www.railimages.com/albums/gregleck/xxx.jpg[ /img]
Where 1) there is no gap between the [ and the i or [ and the/
2) xxx is the image address in your album, for instance, aag
TrolleyRob

QUOTE: john don't scrape all that gunk out of the mug we may be able to use it for weathering of some sort.[:)][:)][:)]

Paul's "fertilizer" maybe?[}:)][swg] We would have to scrape it out in order to use it, but point taken! Conservation Rules [:)]
On the stickyness of AMI, I have found that it gets less sticky as regards ability to hold ballast, over time, when exposed to air. This means that if it isn't covered with ballast fairly soon after being laid, the stickiness goes off. However, heating it restores the stickiness. I use a hair dryer for that.
Have a great trip, and R&R, and even RR if you get he chance[:)]
Going to look at painting on the pavement of that road.
TTFN

[Anonymous]

bump!!!!! [tup]

[TurboOne]

Woo Got the top of 306 [swg][swg][swg][swg][swg] I be buying this round, smoothies, coffee, tea, soda, or as it is the weekend, beer and hard liquor, What are you having ??

Hey guys, I go to Vegas for 5 days, recover doing all the catch up and I have pages and pages to read. If we ever printed all we wrote, it is hilarious.

Glad Deb is doing better.

***, drive careful out there.

Ed, go Sox, hopefully the Padres will be their opponent in the series(though I doubt the Padres make it.) But I can hope. They are tied for first right now.

John, be safe up there in the great white north.

Ryan, how are things in my favorite part of the south ? Don't know if I missed the answer if the Ryan in MRR was you ?

Fergie, have glad you survived the boat trip, but I thought the idea was to relax and have fun?????? Did you paint the boat Pink also ?????[swg][swg][swg][swg]

Gotta run, take care all

Tim

[Anonymous]

afternoon everyone... it's another day of ugly weather here in So Cal. it started raining on thursday night and has been off and on since.

Zoe - I'll take a Bladder buster Dr. Pepper this morning.... some scrammbled eggs, hash browns, and some sausage please.... Oh yeah some of that wonderful OJ.... don't forget to put it all on Tim's Bill.... Thanks.

Well everyone I'm off for now.

[fec153]

what's wrong with a PINK ship? Cary Grant commanded a pink sub in one of his WW2
movies. and it moaned, groaned and belched . lots of t&a on board. [toes and ankles]
Tony Curtis was the gopher ossifer.
Flip
[;)].

[Anonymous]

Hi, everyone. Well, I'm back. I was too fast for myself, so I turned around and came back. Maybe I'll pass this way again, and when I do I'll get myself.[:D]

Did anyone miss me. And has anyone checked out the business hours for the coffee shop. They are listed on page 305. Please tell me what you think.

Well, the, apparently, invisible man saying bye.[:D]

Robert

[GDRMCo]

hey guys

[Fergmiester]

OK rightie then what's been happening this past two weeks anyway?

We spent the last 24 hrs doing power trials an the power plant (Bombadier Engines and GE propulsion motors) and the GE rep found several, non soldering iron related problems. Oh shucks some of you say. We bumped our power output by 15%. Now we're chugging along full ahead! BTW did someone say "Plug and Play" the other day? Well this was more like "Slug and Pray".

Anyway enough said it looks like we're in for the night awaiting a new tasking.

Anyone here form Bob?

Regards
Fergie

[Anonymous]

Good evening everyone.

Gee, this place has been very quiet these past few days. Zoe, I hope you're not too bored.

Well after reviewing all the info on roadbed and track profiles, I'm still at the same undecisive question, "To cork or not to cork". I think I'll leave it at that for now and go on to wiring plans for the track and the 12 switches + lighting for some of the structures. Now that should keep me out of trouble for a bit.....

Fergie - Nice to see you popping in. Are you back at home base or are you keeping time somewhere esle?

Has anyone heard from Lupo lately?

Mitch - Good to see you again. What have you been up to?

Robert - Did you happen to see me while looking for yourself? I'm still looking.....

I think I'll see in this corner and observe for a while.

Happy MRRing

[bjdukert]

Hi Zoe,could I have a hot tea,unsweetened,and if Luc doesn't mind I will sit over here with him.

Luc-When I get ready,someday,to start laying track I plan on using homeasote,and I think I will make my roadbed from it as well.I know it has some drawbacks but with the dehumidifiers I think I can keep it under control.The friend of mine in Del uses it and has had good luck,but he also uses a dehumidifier.It does deaden the sound as well,so there's something more to think about,for what it's worth.

Talk to you later

Duke

[Anonymous]

Hi Duke.

I'm leaning toward the not to cork. The G & L RR is supposed to be a small railroad, I've notices that on many of these, the tracks are sort of flush with the surround grounds.

Happy MRRing

[Noah Hofrichter]

Howdy All! I made off good at the Train show today, got myself a Wisconsin Southern Hat, a mug, and a few decals for the railroad. Also got to see a few nice layouts, gave me a few ideas for my own. All in all, I’m happy.

I don’t have much else to say here though. I guess I’ll keep going, I got a few more things to look at yet tonight. I hope I can get some more work done on the Layout tomorrow.

Noah

[der5997]

QUOTE: Did anyone miss me. And has anyone checked out the business hours for the coffee shop. They are listed on page 305. Please tell me what you think.

My [2c] would be for Open 24/7. Takes less Red ink! And blue too[:D] Besides, our redoubtable staff love it here so much, they wouldn't knkow what to do with free time![(-D]
Noah: Sounds like a great hat, and it's not pink is it?
Fergie: Raising the power output 15% sounds very Star Trek. Marvellous what these engineers can do. Not Scottish by any chance?
Mitchell: Is that right, you've been able to start a layout? Tell us more, why not? I'm sure Zoe will fry you up some soup while you do[(-D]
That reminds me, there's a Hamish MacBeth about to start, so I'm out of here.
Road painting went well on first two coats, but I had to widen the shoulders before I could begin. There was no place to put the posts for the guard rails.
Goodnight all, and God Bless.

[Paul W. Beverung]

Hi Everyone; Not much going on here tonight. I think that I'll just mark my spot and hit the sack.

Paul

[JimRCGMO]

G'dEv'nin' Chloe (as Mitchell might say) - I'll have one of Ed's OJ smoothies, please. Got a lot of posts to go through. Sorry I missed yesterday and most of today.

Luc, that was a cute site! Somebody had a bit toooooo much time on their hands. [;)] Haven’t heard from Lupo in a while. Did he stuff himself in the package with the hat by mistake? I certainly hope not - might get a bit hungry on the ride over here. Luc, another thing I recall was that on one of the MRR project layouts (Turtle Creek?) they used N scale cork roadbed because it was lower, like a short line or branch line might more likely use.

Also, did you see the article on Pelle’s layout (I think it was called “Perfect Track” (not the “Big Diesels in the Desert” one)). He used cork he cut himself, with sidings being not as thick as the mainline. More work, but looked pretty nice with the differences in height. I think that article was in one of the 2004 MRR’s - let me look here... July 2004, pages 44-51.

John, thanks for the info on the AMI roadbed. Now I’m kind of wondering what I can do with this roll I have (since I’m not modeling any area around the LeBrea tar pits [swg]).

Ed (our resident info hound), you might be able to help me - I’m trying to find a map of where railroads (at least the biggies') lines went, especially in the Four Corner states (and to get reeeeallllly picky, can you tell me where such a map might be on the ‘net for the late 50’s or so?). Or, barring all of that (an unlikely task to accomplish), anywhere that might at least have it from the 60’s or early 70’s? Wanting some factual info from which to deviate for my fictional prototype... [:)] My searches haven't been turning up useful stuff (so far).

Fergie, with those new improvements “Scotty” made in Engineering, can you make Warp 9 yet? [;)] Also, did you get the Scouting links I emailed to you (and were they of use)?

TrolleyRob, you just go ahead and get mushy! [}:)] With all the other stuff we allow here in the Shop, mushy is nothing by comparison.

Flip, were you talking about catching Zoe or Deb?[;)]

Uh, Tim, did you mean that the Padres are in first now, before the first game of the season?[}:)]

LilRob, those hours sound about right, so long as we have “subject to change at the whim of management/Zoe/Chloe”. I think we may need to give you and Luc a GPS tracker for each other.

Hi Noah! Good to hear you had a good time and brought back loot/bounty/stuff... [:)]

Mitchell, which design is your one you’re gonna go with for your layout? I saw several on your pages.

Part of my not being on last night was that on the way from a church singles study group, my car got a flat (after all the tire places were closed for the night).[banghead][|(] So I had to get a ride home and then this morning call another friend who helped me go over, jack up the car (mine didn't have spare or tire jack in it, which I'd forgotten), take the old tire (in baaaaad shape - had worn out on the inside, where I couldn't see it normally, and split in two places), go get a payday loan (Tuesday is payday - pooh!), find the best price and have them mount the new tire on the rim, take it back and put it on and _then_ I was able to get around again. You find out who your real friends are when you end up taking a major chunk of Saturday running around doing all that. Personally, I would rather have been calling my other friend to get the board for the layout cut today. But now it's working a bit better (except for the transm. and other stuff). One amazing thing was, after I got back home, one of the leaders of our singles group called and said someone from the group had brought her something for me (but wanted it to remain anonymous); when she came over, it turned out to be cash which offset the paycheck loan I had done. [:)] I definitely feel blessed tonight.

News is on, and I need to get ready for bed. See everyone tomorrow, hopefully![:)]

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[trolleyboy]

Good evening everyone.Well the week off has officially started woo hoo! Actually it started at 2 minutes after six my time when I punched out but the ice fog on the drive home was tedious[sigh]Once I got home I fell asleep so what a wonderfull way to start off the vaycay.John you need posts and railings for your roads I thought that the Normal drivers wouldn't need that sort of thing[:-^]Fergie glad your not drydocked and it's good to see you back with us. Luc if I see you i'll let you now coarse if I see you than you've really taken a wrong turn somewhere but you are more than [#welcome] to stay for a few days,besides I could use an extra set of hands for track laying[:-^][swg] Well I'm off for now later. Rob

[Fergmiester]

Fergie: Raising the power output 15% sounds very Star Trek. Marvellous what these engineers can do. Not Scottish by any chance?

Though I'm not adverse to checking the number's. It's a fact of life.

Fergie

[trolleyboy]

Hey Fergie are you still shipboard or are you land locked for the time being. Rob

[trolleyboy]

hey just poping in for a final late night snack.I'll leave something boiling in the pot for Tim and the rest of the latenighters.[:0][:p][:p]Time for bed [|)]i'll check in with you all tomorrow.Remember keep your hand on the throttle and your pole on the wire[:D][:0][8)] Nite all Rob[zzz][zzz][zzz]

[Anonymous]

Good evening everyone.

Just got my railimages confirmation and have posted stuff on there. Here is the link.

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/brianclemente

just some of my ideas.... the top track plans are based off of the one I have on my freewebs site that have been modified a little by our very own (Cape) Jim.

Thank you for those once again Jim.

I hope you all enjoy.

[lupo]

Morning Coffeeheads !



Just a quick hello, to let you know I am still out there ! I have been following on and off during working hours, as my home pc was disconnected during HOME IMPROVEMENT : putting a new floor in the home-hobby-office-trainroom to be, it is only finished half, and further construction is on hold now, as business is busy upcoming week.
[:D][:D] Yall been posting like a runaway train lately, and maybe there will be a BIG celebration on July 4 ? [bday]

the coffeeshop: over 10.000 served !

would look nice on the billboard outside !

take care and stay safe

LUPO

[Anonymous]

Morning all
Well, first pair of wardrobes are built and installed, now the next batch for parents room. Not sure if a large hammer's on the Ikea tool list but it seems to be essential...

Tim, interesting idea about printing the thread out - I can remember printouts from a careers package back in school, we had an old dot-matrix printer using the "tractor feed" paper, result being that we used to end up with printouts that would stretch the length of the room and halfway back! I still have a couple of old "recycled" DM printers hanging about - a massive Epson that can handle landscape A3 paper and a little Amstrad one, both working, both rescued from being thrown in a skip. Running costs on these things are effectively nil, as the ribbons last forever.

Jim, punctures are never fun - my brother had a whole series of them while learning to drive, last one was a blowout (luckily he was driving round a deserted industrial estate practising his reverse parking, so he wasn't going very quickly). I remember seeing one of those "Police, Camera, Action" TV programmes a while ago where one of the pursuit cars had a blowout at about 80mph - he just went into a spin in the middle of a 3-lane motorway, how people behind managed to avoid hitting him I don't know!

Well, I'm hearing shouts of "need another pair of hands for this wardrobe" so I'd better go. Bye for now!

[Fergmiester]

My Gawd There's Teffy! (He's presently logged in)

Anyway Here's some pics of the Trestle, which I won't assemble until I get home.

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's another gray, rainy day in the mountains. Yesterday was beautiful, clear and chilly, but for today the clouds and rain have come back. That's OK, it just means it will be an inside day, with some time spent on the railroad. I need to get started on the taxes, but I'd much rather go carve foam. It will be interesting to see which one wins out.

The bonsai class yesterday was a lot of fun. The instructor, Warren Hill, was in charge of the bonsai collection at the National Botantical Gardens in DC for years. He's retired and lives in east Tn. now. We took a japanese maple that we've had for about 4 1/2 years, and that needed some cleaning up and redirecting. It was a good opportunity to do it in a supervised setting. We also go a new kingsville boxwood, which is going to be really pretty. It was the first time I've actually done the work of cutting the roots down and transplanting one, as well as cutting and shaping the top myself. They're really outdoor plants. They need the sunshine and rain is the best method of watering. We bring them indoors for display and so we can enjoy them, but they spend a lot of time outside on the porch.

Fergie, it's good to hear from you. I'm glad ya'll got the problem resolved. A fifteen % increase in power is a bunch. Isn't technology wonderful? That much additional power will be good to have in reserve. The trestle is looking really good.

Ryan, between Hendersonville, Brevard and Cashiers NC there are a bunch of good sized, very beautiful waterfalls that are all fairly close to US hwy 64. I think there's 16 or 17 of them. Hwy 64 through there is as narrow and twisty a US highway as I've ever seen, but it's a beautiful drive and stopping to go back in and see all the falls is definitely worth doing.

Ed, fitting the ties under the railjoiners is one of those things that takes a lot of time but makes a huge difference. At that point it really starts to look like a RR. Filing or sanding ties to get them to fit is less fun than watching paint dry.

Flip, I'm glad that Deb is doing better. Remember to take care of yourself, too.

Der, thanks for the info on the flexpaste. I think I'll give it a try.

Luc, that's a good point about small railroads having low, or no ballast profiles. It would make a big difference in choice of material and technique. They also frequently get overgrown quickly with weeds and grass so that all you see are the rails, which makes for some interesting modeling.

I'd better go for now.
Have a great day, everybody,
Tom

[fec153]

Morning everyone. Lupo, glad your o.k. We were wondering about you.
Tom- you sound like my wife. Take care of yourself is what she keeps harping on me to do. [among many other things.] I think the dr. operated on the wrong part of her. She loves me and I think she is crazy for doing so. Seriously, she is doing fine. Took off the bandage over the wound. It's 4inches long and right now is ugly. When they did my dad,years ago, the front opening was much smaller and horizontal. Deb's is almost vertical. Well,I think thats more than you really want to know. Important thing is the pain is gone and looking ahead for the next operation. She will stay in Ocala at a rehab for maybe a week. Mixed emotions about the surgugy as it brings back bad memories about how my dad was after his. Good feeling about Dr. Oliver does compensate a bit. He is very competent and believes he can fix Deb's problem. And yes, I will take care of myself so I'll be able to take care of my love.

Ryan- sent you an E but it came back. Resent it. Let me know if you get it.
Flip

[fec153]

Trolleyboy- just remembered- took some pictures of 2 OLD cars. One is in process of being worked on the other is roofless-windowless and either being used for parts or will be worked on. Should have the pics developed in a couple days. I'll let you know how they come out.
Flip

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

It's was a good Saturday, I got out the air brush and painted my turntable. The pit is aged concrete and the bridge is SP Lark dark grey, should have been light Lark grey as it would show more detail, but that's what I bought so that's what I used. I can still smell the paint so I can't put the india ink wash on it yet. Then I'm going to put a few tires in the pit and put in some grass and weeds. I painted the inside of the handrail dull light grey and the outside is grimmy black, where it was pained by someone that didn't want to lean over the railing. It looks like it was painted white and then got crud on it. It took longer to paint the 180 pit ties then it did to paint the whole pit. I cut half the bristles off the brush before painting the rust.

Ya gotta love Frgies better half, Lisa. She sent me an e-mail to tell me that the "pink panther" arrived and wanted to know if I wanted her to wrap it in pink paper. While were're on pink, I'm going to take some pictures today and let ya'll see what the postman delivered.

The birds are have a "feeding frenzie" now that I popped another squirrel this morning. We've had Cardinals, Robins, Doves, and the lowley sparrows. They have been interesting to watch.

Brian:
Are you in Nearly invisable or Norriable Oversized, I forgot. I looked at your track plans today and wondered wich one you were leaning to. Your bridges are over a curve that is very close to the upper track and that might make your bridge very long. You might consider a mountain instead. That's what I had to do. Also, if you you make the yard a ladder you'll increase the lenght of the two sidings one car each. That doesn't sound like much but believe me IT IS.

Ryan:
You haven't answered Ed's question about the "letter to the editor" and enquiring minds want to know.

Ed:
I understand plaster and cardboard, not foam. The way you guys are talking about the vacuum and the mess - why bother? The plaster cloth is pretty easy.

Do the pink sox have spring training camp in Mexico? Your layout pictures are looking good.

Luct:
I've been using cork since I quit using tru-scale milled roadbed and wouldn't think about anything else. It is so easy. I just white glue it to the 3/4" plywood, sand the top and lay track. I use just enough spikes to hold the track until ballasting and then the ballast glue holds everything. I drill holes outside the rail for the spikes and that way you don't see the nail heads, also code 83 doesn't have the nail holes already through the ties

Fergie:
Before you remove those ties off the plan be sure and glue the stringers to them so the radius is right. By the way, thanks for the copies on the trestles, I see a solution to the pier foundation, just put a 12" X 12" horizonally under the piers and have that rest on a large concrete foundation and that gives me a flat surface to build to.

You might know that the minute it's in print, you see something different. The article says "no bents in the flow of water" - safety reasons. The trestle that I went and measured a couple of weeks ago had a bent right in the middle of the water flow.

John:
I'm very impressed with the progress on the MT. I wish we were comming up their again. How are the DCC thoughts comming?

Flip:
I'm really glad that Deb is doing well and we'll keep her in our prayers for the up comming operation.
I received the pictures, I like them. What about the left hand end or is it covered with all of the stuff that was on the right hand end. I know about that picture taking. What is the rolled up awning (?) on the wall over the layout - is that a dust cover?

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