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

[pcarrell]

 PC, looks like you've got a great rail fanning view your bedroom. Thanks again for all the photos.

Yeah, those shots from the bedroom were done with quite the telephoto lens.  Those tracks are about a quarter mile away!  Soon there'll be houses in the way and I'll be "forced" to go sit trackside.

 

Theres a lot of old yards in need of repair, It's hard to beleive they roll loaded cars there without derailing.  It'd be a trick to model one like it.

Indeed, it would be tough to model, but it would look awesome.  It'd also MAKE you obey the speed limits!

[pcarrell]

I'll get this one guys!

I mean, it's been a few days since I've had the pleasure of treating, hasn't it?

[james saunders]

ah! PC I was about to get TOTP oh well!

I'll have...a Stawberry thickshake and a Burger with the lot and a side of fries, thanks.

I'm heading out tomorrow to  go railfanning somewhere, i'll jump on the train and see where I end up! as we have a public holiday for the Royal Qld Show.

all for now,

Ozjim

[grayfox1119]

Thanks Phil, seeing Phil has the tab, I'll have OJ, scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries, pancakes, roadkill saugage and plenty of Decaf coffee.

JIM: almost your bedtime over there in AUS!!! Don't forget to charge your batteries for the photo shoot tomorrow!!

We awoke to rain this morning, much needed rain as it has been quite dry for many weeks except where some areas received TS's a few weeks ago, but not us. It is only a front moving through, so the sun will be back out by 1pm.

Seeing everything is soaked outside, it is a good time to get into the garage and do some organizing and cleaning. The 2nd story of the garage has attic trusses, which gives me an open floor of about 12 feet by 30 feet. The plan is to use this as PHASE II of model railroad construction after the smaller room (10 X 17
) in the lower level of the house is completed.

RYAN: You are really doing a great job on your layout, impressive workmanship!!!

INCH53: Great pics as usual Mike, National Geographic could use your talents for their specials.

OK, time to get out to the garage and get going....see you all at lunchtime, save the corner table Phil so we can watch the main line action out the window.

[egmurphy]

.... The plan is to use this as PHASE II of model railroad construction after the smaller room (10 X 17 ) in the lower level of the house is completed. ....

Can't wait to see the helix you use to get to Phase II.  

Something new for the orange grove today.  We purchased 16 vanilla plants.  These vines (actually a type of orchid) are traditionally grown in the shade of orange trees, and climb the trees.  We've wanted to get some for a while now, and finally ran into someone who grows them nearby.  One of the largest centers of vanilla production is Papantla, a town about an hour from here.

Also got two pistachio trees and one pepper (black peppercorn, not chili peppers or bell peppers) tree.  Yeah, we've got some variety here.

Regards

Ed

[Anonymous]

Good afternoon, had quite the busy day yesterday went to my parents for a visit and found my Dad needed his "son" today not his daughter( Yea, I'm both), so he and I pulled out the carpet in the living room. One of my least favorite things to do, especially considering the carpet has been down for the last 21 years and man was that dust badddd. My sinuses are so blocked today it feels like it sould be spring( my worst alergy season). At least it's done now until he gets the hard wood then he'll need his "son "again.

Ryan, I guess you could say I'm like the tortoise"slow and steady wins the race"( one of  my 4 year old's fav. stories). Plus it helps Everyone  when Mommy "goes to trainin" (Quote by: Trevor David, the 4 year old philosopher<look out Plato here comes Trev.) So I try to work out it 10 or 15 minutes during the day and then when my insomnia acts up I may be out there till2 or 3am.

[bjdukert]

Afternoon all and Chloe,since this is on PC’s tab. How about a nice big bacon cheese burger with everything but onion,fries,and a nice BIG Rootbeer float.

ED Good to have you back and can’t wait for some of the fresh OJ

PC Is that a 2-8-2 on the head end??

Duce I have 6 days left in the Navy as of today and I cant wait for the time off..

I for one (and I think the rest of the Vets in here) sure did look forward to the day I got out and it didn’t come fast enough. I can’t say it was all bad because I did have some good times and after all I did get to go half way around the world at tax payers expense.

Lisa My oldest daughter just started to home school last year because she wasn’t too crazy about the schools and some of the things that are going on anymore.

Well that’s about it

Talk to you later

Duke

[steveblackledge]

Howdy folk's

getting along better every day following the surgery, Lisa i feel for you having allergys, i had my sinuses excavated with a buldozer i think they used 10 days ago in a three hour operation, not nice but things are improving some, it's given me time to knock some kit's together though. anyhow it's time to hit the sack over here,

later

[Anonymous]

Duce:   Congrats on being a single digit midget.  All us vets can appreciate your feelings this week.  My father retired from the Navy after 23 years service (WWII, Korea, Vietnam) in 1969, and the toughest part of his retiring for me, as a then 12-yr-old, was getting used to having him home on a regular schedule.  I can tell you from first hand experience, I never did get used to it...and he being an old-era Chief...well, living in our house was like being the crew he no longer had as a civilian.  Enjoy these last few days.  My fondest memories, almost 26 years later, are of my own service days.  Anybody who didn't serve cannot understand.  But there comes a time to move on, and there is much life after our military days.  Not as predictable, not as orderly, and with a whole lot of crap thrown in...but it is rewarding in it's own way.  Conrrats again.  Take care.

IndySon

 

[pcarrell]

PC Is that a 2-8-2 on the head end??

NKP No. 587 is indeed a Mikado.

[Paul W. Beverung]

Hi Gang: I'm not going to mention what the temperature is. If you want to know just check my posts for the last two months.

Duce: I haven't added my congrats and thanks for your service. Nice going. If you are interested we have a group down here called Cattleman Ananamous. What we do is help you get over the urge to get into the cattle business. When you get the urge we come over and keep you drunk untill the urge passes. If that dosen't work we get you committed.

I  got down to the basement and really didn't get anything worked out. I've got to clean off the drawing board and see what I come up with. Of course this requires some thinking and that gives me a headach. I'll have to grab the bottle of asprin on the way down. The things we suffer for our hobby.

I visited a hobby shop on the way home that I've heard about. It's a nice litttle shop with a very good stock and arrangement. It's easy for me to get ot on the way home from work and the prices are under list for most of the stock. How does $199.99 for a BLI 2-8-2 heavy Mike with sound, sound? They have 2, one in Frisco and one in Burlington. I'm thinking that the Frisco would be the easest to re-letter. 

Well I'm going to cut out and head for the back yard. I've got to put the dogs up and water the the fruit trees. Ed don't worry, no orange trees just a couple of peach and a pear tree.

 

[sunsetbeachry]

HI ALL:

We have had good better and worst weather here . No rain to speak off , from mid 40's to mid 50's at nite and from mid 60's to high 80's in day with 60 to 90% humidity right now 63 and 85%, so the a/c is on and Kathy is complaining about the cost of elec. Both of us are doing better now changed meds and diet.

I don't remember who asked about other forums that I am on but............4L@yahoo. logging ; buildingandstructures@yahoo; self explainatory ; gandd@yahoo; Gorre and Defeated , layout ;Spokane,Portland and Seattle RR @yahoo ; historical ,this is my favorite and also the one that I'm trying to model a part of just 18 miles all logging ; treemaking@yahoo ;;how to build different types of trees.

GOING BACK AWAYS

PAUL

We have a aussie we will let you borrow, she is a trained sheep herder, and loves children just 7yrs old and house broken. I'll also send you food [for the dog] LOLLOL

PC

Love the pictures of the house and what you can see from the windows. Now you know that it will take some time to finish the inside...........KATHY

ALL

We both  enjoy all the pics that are put onthe forum and also elsewhere for our enjoyment.

INCH

About the little house out back...........Neither one of us ever had one but my grandfafher told me stories about them and the same with Kathy. We enjoyed all that was said about this object.

HERE GOES

Little sawmill is going fine, hard to find parts, boiler and such also saws mostly band saw. The engine house is almost finished got a lot of junk and shelves withtools on them also found a overhead crane that fits in with the age of building , cats and dogs, barrells , junked model "A" ford truck that one of the steam fitters tried to build into a rail car , Blacksmith Shop to one side almost too full of tables and tools with a fire place for the smith ,a small machine shop to the other side where I used my last small boiler for power most of the belts run from the ceiling to the machines and last but not least a carpenters shop in bach loaded with wood and parts to rebuild cars also some more floor tools that are also run by belts from the small boiler in the machine shop.

Our prayers go out for all those in need.

And welcome to all the newcomers and also to those returning.

...........................CHUCK and KATHY.....................

[inch53]

Evenin all, barley pop please Cleo,

LUCT, another great joke.

PC, to bad your bedroom railfanning won't last long, we've enjoyed watchin trains pass out back for bout 10 yr now
 Got to thinkin on the rail yards, you might be able to do it with hand layed track. May do some playing some day.

DICK, don't think I'll have to wonder bout a job with National Geographic, I'm not that good at any thing. Sounds like your doubling your layout space in the future there, does you have any ideas what kind of layout.

STEVE, good to hear your improving, took the feller down the road bout 2 months to heal good.

Worked on the shed bout all day [fellin it to], got most the sheet metel on and part of the of the roof ready for metal. No kids again tomorrow, so hope to get the roof on. Time for a shower, may play in the train room for a spell while Mothers gone to her Legion Aux meeting
inch

[der5997]

Good evening all:  Was that an oatmeal rasin muffin I saw back there Chloë?  Could you nuke the bottom half for me, and add some butter?  The top I’ll take ”to go” for a snack later. Thanks.

 

<>OZJim:  Those are brutal prices for mangoes. We stop buying at about $1.00 Cdn. Unless they are really good size and irresistibly ripe. $1.00 Cdn = A$1.165 or US$0.891  Mind you, yours are probably huge compared tot  he ones we get, if the pineaples we have available are anything to go by, compared to those we see in photos from Hawaii.

 

Ed: My numerical dyslexia took me to page 115   The only page I really went back to was 1144 to get the photo location for UKSteve’s OO layout. (Well, OK, I had to search a bit for it, but I remembered seeing it around there somewhere.)

 

Ryan: I’m with Jerry. Anytime you want to repeat that shrimp thing, leave some for us!

 

Kris and I had a celebratory dinner this evening at a Chinese restaurant in New Glasgow. a) a day late for our 41^st anniv., and b) the news that her full length co-authored mystery novel "Lucky Strike" is being published this spring in Toronto.  Great food, and enough for dinner tomorrow evening as well. Came home in wave after wave of heavy rain, courtesy no doubt of Dick!  It let up long enough for us to unload the car (which we left out of the garage to get washed) and feed Rosie-the-dog, and then fell down again.  Seems to have stopped again now.

 

Mike:  That Paris yard trackage looks worse than mine.  Sort of gives one hope!  Thanks.

 

UKSteve:  Glad they found somewhere else to park the bulldozer! Hope you heal more quickly than Mike’s neighbour.

 

Running late, gotta go.  Goodnight all, and God Bless.  Prayers continuing for all in need of healing, comfort, and peace.

[Cox 47]

Evening all.....Been a great day here temps into 50's tonight...I'll have a root beer float please...Cleaned up where I took city area out yesterday..Planing to start rebuilding soon....Watched more of the new MR DVD today...Also watched Larry the Cable Guy Food Inspector DVD this morning I thought it was very funny but I think you might have to be a Red Neck Hill Billy to Like me to enjoy....Well its almost bed time and Sallie has to be up at 4:45 you all have a good night...Jerry

 

[grayfox1119]

Almost time to turn-in for the day, cleaning out the garage and organizing is going well, but I am forcing myself to throw out some things that I have saved for years...what a pack-rat I am.

ED: As for Phase II, the garage is lower than the house, and about 80 feet awayat right angles to the end of the house. If I came out through a hole in the foundation, and started a gradual incline down to the garage 2nd floor, I just might make it without a helix. I wonder if anyone has ever tried anything this radical? That would be one enormous bridge wouldn't it? I would have to make it removable of course, the winter snowstroms would wreak havoc on it.

INCH53: Ithink I would probably model more of the New England area, taking in Maine, NH, VT and MA. Maybe modern era, don't know yet.

DER JOHN: Yup, that rain was from the same Canadian cold air front that moved through this morning at 3 AM with heavy rain, we received 0.78" in about 4 hours. No more due now until late Saturday night with another Canadian front moving south.

Bon soir everyone,

[trolleyboy]

Good evening folks, it's been a couple o days so I figured that i should drop back in for a hello.

Dick-  I hope that the rain has cooled you guys off a tad. All the rain lately has left us with nice comfy temps, I've actually been able to head up into the trainroom and get a bit  of work done

Der  A belated happy aniversary to you and your bride. Also great news about her book being published. That should convert to some good train oops I mean house money to spend

Steve & Lisa Allergies are never a fun thing. My poor wife has been on injected allergy serum since she was 11 years old.Unfortunatly she's allergic to just about everything and anything so she never really has a "bad" season.

Before I forget to share them here's a few shots from our vacation that we took to North Bay Ontario back over the holiday long weekend in July.

These first two shots are Ontario Northland Railways main shops and head office along the North Bay watrefront.

ONR's sand tower and bunker in front of the shops. Gives a nice overall view of the west side of the facility.

Another shot of the yard on the east side and behind the building.The bach up F units and a GP9 that's had a rather major engine fire are evident in this shot. Hope you liked them.

Rob

[wetidlerjr]

Good morning ! from Indiana.

08-16-06

[Paul W. Beverung]

Morning Gang: I'm sitting here with my cup of coffee and whats left of a breakfast taquito.Have any of you noticed that when you click on a photo to enlarge, it only gets little bigger and not the full size that it used to? I just did that on Robs photos.

Just starting the day so nothing to report. We'll be hauling hay again tomorrow. This time I'm going to pull the lighter 16ft trailer with the new truck that has AC and let my son pull my heavy dump trailer with his 3/4 ton that has AC. The temps are going to be in the 105 range for the rest of the week and probably a good part of next week also.

Der: Congrats on the anniversy and your wifes book.

Chuck and Kathy: That's good that the new meds are working. I've been through the allergie thing myself but not to the extent that Kathy has. kathy I'm pulling for ya. Keep your stick on the ice. That saw mill sounds great. Any chance of seeing pictures?

It's time to get going. The park isn't going to check itself out. have a good one and I'll see you all later.

[Anonymous]

Good Morning to All< Some day I will be satisfied (maybe) as it is I am redoing my tunnel again,I'm keeping the main frame that I made I'm just redoing the outer foam the carving didn't turn out right. I am layed back about most things but when it comes to my art I may start over many times before I am happy with it (not satisfied just will to accept it).

Steve & Chuck>My alergies are not really bad, I do take meds for them but I am very rarely "down" with them. Chuck,Tell Kathy she's in my prayers alergies can be down right debilitating, My neice gets the bad(not quite as bad as Kathy)

Duke> Tell your daughter I wish her the best with home school, I decieded to home school for many reasons(quality, peer influences & religious mostly) and so far haven't regreted it.

Must fly the boys are going fishing with PaPa .

[inch53]

Mornin all, short stack, OJ, n coffee Zoe

Another nice day here, temps, mid 80's, NE breeze, I'll enjoy it now while I can.

DER, congrads for the 41'st and the book.

GRAYFOX, I remember reading or seeing a G scale layout that went from the garden into a basement. Just wish I could remember where.

ROB, thanks for the pics, look like ya'll had fun on vacation.

Thought I'd post a few of the photos from Monticelle this past Sunday. First one is of the Monticello station

Next two are the CN-F unit they were using  that day

Heres some pics of our trip to the museum

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/20511/cat/500/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/20512/cat/500/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/20513/cat/500/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/20514/cat/500/ppuser/4309

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/20515/cat/500/ppuser/4309

 this is the station at the museum [Nelson's Crossing]

Hers a link to the museum web site

http://www.prairienet.org/mrm/

Still have some more photos to post laters, but it time for some more chores, hope ya'll has a good day

inch

 

[SilverSpike]

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Good morning Coffee Shop folks!

Well, well, well, looks like I hit the TOP this time around, so this round is on me! Chloe, here's the plastic, please handle it with care.....

Everyone, belly up and place your orders.....

Got a new dishwasher installed yesterday, now the glass and dish racks do not fall off every time you pull them out.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Duke I got your email, sorry I have not replied yet. Thanks for the info on the Apex train event coming up in October, we are getting excited about that. I marked my calendar and now counting down the days to the event.

Jerry, yep, I sure do! I have a great big old bowl full of them grape tomatoes! I made a marinated tomato salad with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, and a little mayonnaise, some fresh cracked black pepper and a touch of garlic salt. Tossed in some grape and cheery tomatoes that I cut in half and stirred well. YUM! Put a little dollop of that on top of your salad greens and they don’t last very long!

Happy Jack, save some of dem ribs for us, K!

Inch, that rail in the NYC yard Paris looks kind of out of gauge huh! Now that would be a modeling challenge to get that kind of prototype rail to work. And again, your photos are a real treat to view! Thanks again! You have quite an Amtrak collection there! Ben would be jealous, he collects Amtrak too!

Duce, congratulations on retiring from the Navy! The 98 acres sounds like a dream come true as well!

PC, nice pics from the house! Did you consider that location for the house because of the tracks nearby? And as long as you are buying again…..I’ll have a culinary treat of Eggs Florentine, toasted bagels with cream cheese and some home fried potatoes. Also, Ed’s fresh squeezed OJ, and then I’ll finish it off with a mango smoothie…. just please remember to wake me up for lunch, OK!

Dick, thanks for the kudos on the layout. I have taken a break from it for the past week or so, trying to work out in my head the next phase of construction as I have to work it around a window with an AC unit sticking 6 inches out into the room.

Ed, I really like what you are doing with the orchard farm! Vanilla beans and black pepper plants, you really have some variety there! Nothing beats a fresh batch of vanilla ice cream made from fresh vanilla beans!  Might even be good in a smoothie too!

Lisa, you got it right there! If I can get in 10 minutes here or 30 minutes there at least I am doing something toward the progress. I too am not in a race, I want to be sure I do it right and the slow steady pace is fine with me. I spend a lot of time thinking through my steps before I execute any of my plans.

Steve, glad to hear the recovery is coming along for you!

Chuck and Kathy, glad to hear you are doing well. And the sawmill progress is coming along too I see.

Der John, hey, you can have some of that garlic herb broiled shrimp anytime, it is virtually calorie free, virtual version that is. We just finished the leftovers yesterday. If you want a recipe for that dish send a PM and I will forward it to you.

Nice pics Trolley Rob, thanks for posting those neat facility and yard shots!

Cheers,

Ryan

[pcarrell]

Morning all!

Nice pics inch!

I was noticing the pic size thing too.  Lets try something with a good sized pic.  This one is 2560x1920 and 456k.

Lets see what that comes out like.

[pcarrell]

Morning all!

Nice pics inch!

I was noticing the pic size thing too.  Lets try something with a good sized pic.  This one is 2560x1920 and 456k.

Lets see what that comes out like.

Seems to work OK for me.  Is it working for you guys also, or is it just because it's my pic that it works for me?

 

BTW, Kathy, thanks for the kind words about the house.  You're right, the fast part is about over.  And don't think that I haven't been praying for those meds to work out.  I've got some pretty nasty allergies too, so I can relate!

Ryan, thank you as well!  No, the tracks were an added bonus.  Well, in my eyes they were, the wife doesn't see them as quite the "feature" I do!  Oh, and that big ole breakfast......it's all about you man!

inch, I know what you mean about living next to the tracks.  I've lived somewhere along these same tracks that the museum uses, almost the whole time within eyeshot, for nearly 20 years.  Only one year did I have to walk a few steps down the street to see them.  Now I'm going to have to go to the front of the neighborhood.  But I'll still be able to hear them off in the distance.  The biggest difference is that this time it'll be CSX's mainline out of the northeast side of Indy instead of the museum tracks.  I'm sure going to miss that parade of old equipment through my back yard!  Especially old NKP No.587!

[pcarrell]

You have quite an Amtrak collection there! Ben would be jealous, he collects Amtrak too!

We've got some Amtrak around here as well.  Not far from my house is the Amtrak repair facility in Beech Grove, Indiana.  They've got big time security though, so you can't get real close.  I'd love to get a shot of the transfer table they have!  Here's a link to an overhead view.  Just close the big white box on the far left and then hit the birds eye view.  http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=39.720606~-86.077336&style=h&lvl=16&scene=2552912

[SilverSpike]

Nice location photo! That is the largest transfer table I have seen, thanks again!

Oh, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner are on me today! Like I said, wake me up when it's lunch time, that breakfast went straight into a nap! 

[egmurphy]

Seems to work OK for me.  Is it working for you guys also, or is it just because it's my pic that it works for me?

Your photo expands to 'huge' size.  The enlarge function works fine.  The difference is in the format that the original picture is saved on the photo hosting website.  Or which "address" you use for the photo. 

Most photo hosting sites have small versions of the photos called 'thumbnail' versions, and the addresses show up as xxxxx.thumb.jpg or something similar.  For example, here is one of inch's recent photos, as posted:

and here it is after removing the 'thumbs' from the address:

If you post the thumbnail version, it can't enlarge to anything more than the size of the thumbnail photo, or in other words, it won't enlarge.  On the other hand, the second photo is larger than what is shown here (the forum software automatically resizes it to a maximum size to show on the forum) and therefore you can click on it and enlarge it.

 

Regards

Ed

[trolleyboy]

Morning folks,another beautifull day in the high 70's with low humidity. Heaven, mind you it means that I have to cut the back forty intead of working on the layout all day

Paul -Yes I have found that the shots don't seem to expand out quite as much as they used too,I do downsize them a fair bit before I upload the to photobucket though, since I'm on dial up if I try to put them into photobucket "full size" it would take hours to upload 16 pictures when i cut them back it only tlake about 15 minutes. If you go to my photobucket account page they blow up a bit clearer and more detailed than they do on the forums.

Inch-Nice shot of the musuem station and that FPA-4. I'm glad to see that they scrapped the old VIA rail Blue and Yellow paint job off of them and repainted it in the classic CNR Super continenetal scheme. In the heyday of CN passenger train service the black band on the locomotive matched up with the co-oresponding balck bands on the passenger cars, so that Candian National name board would run the entire length of the train ( assuming the entire consist was painted in the super continental scheme )

Ryan -I'm glad you liked the photo's. I'll take it easy on your tab today just one stuffed lobster tail Chloe

Rob

[trolleyboy]

Here;'s a couple more shots from that trip, then it's off to the back 40.

The back-up power for the Northlander and THe Polar Bear Express Catapiller re-powered FP9'sand 7's

The restored CPR trainstation on the waterfront of North Bay

another shot of the ONR and the burnt out GP

enjoy Rob

[steveblackledge]

Hello everyone,

I need a stiff drink,

just paid £325 for an exhaust for my car, I had to get a custom builder to do a stainless one as there are none available from any of the manufacturers for my model of car, it's an audi quattro of which there are less than 20 of the same model left in the UK, so it had to be a custom job