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

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon gents, I see everyone is scurrying about getting all their last minute things done. I see from the snow coverage map on the Weather Channel that there is a considerably smaller area of the country that will have a White Christmas this year, all thanks to El Nino. And after 1 week of that terrific wind storm that hit the NW, 50K people are still without power in Washington State, and another storm is due to hit tomorrow.

RYAN: Please drive safely buddy, you have a long way to travel in some bad weather conditions, TAKE YOUR TIME!!!!!

ATTABOY: Very wise to keep all your info and boxes etc. when you purchase computers, you will always have the references that you need if trouble arises.

   I received this poem from Ken, and thought it would be appropriate for the Coffee Shop, Zoe and Cloe said it was OK, so here it is:

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through my pike,

Not a steamer was stirring, not even a Mike. My yard tracks invitingly empty and bare, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

The diesels were nestled all snug in their sheds,

While visions of DCC danced in their heads. While I, in my blue-and-white engineer's cap, Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When down in the train room, there rose such a clatter,

I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the basement I flew like an ace, Tripped over the cat and fell flat on my face.

I stifled a curse meant for Chessie (the cat),

And I muttered to no one, "I meant to do that," When what to my wondering eyes should appear, But an HO-scale sleigh and eight Preiser reindeer,

With an engineer driving, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than GG-1's, onward they came,

And he blew a steam whistle and called them by name:

"On Athearn! On Lionel, Kato and Walthers!

On Kadee and Micro-Trains, Atlas and others! To the top of the mountains of Hydrocal plaster, Now dash away, dash away, dash away faster!"

As dry leaves that behind a new Genesis fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So in through the window the coursers they flew With the sleigh full of trains, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, on my roundhouse, I saw on the roof

The prints in the dust of each HO-scale hoof. As I drew a deep breath, and was turning around, From beneath the benchwork, St. Nick came with a bound.

He was dressed like an engineer from head to foot,

And his clothes had that fine smell of ashes and soot; A bundle of trains he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes - just like marker lights! Dimples, how merry!

His cheeks like a Warbonnet, nose like a cherry! His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And his beard was so white, it would please Phoebe Snow.

He puffed on a pipe as he refilled its bowl,

And the smoke, it smelled just like bituminous coal. He had a broad face and a belly (I found) That shook like a tank car with wheels out-of-round.

He was chubby and plump, and I wanted to shout,

"Yes! The man's got a route the UP can't buy out!" A wink of his eye as he passed near the door Soon gave me to know I'd have freight cars galore.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work.

He filled all my yard tracks; then turned with a jerk, And leaving an airbrush he'd found on eBay, And giving a nod, he returned to his sleigh.

He pumped up the brakes, blew two blasts on his whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, "HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! KEEP 'EM ROLLING! GOOD NIGHT!"

(Author UnKnown)

[DigitalGriffin]

Too all in the coffee shop, I just wanted to say,

Merry Christmas and/or Happy New Year!

Wish me luck.  I begin my Christmas shopping for 8 people tomorrow.  (As well as put up my tree!)

[NeO6874]

wow, it's been a while since I've come in here for something hot and a meal... I'll have the soup of the day with a coke.

 

I really have to stop spending all my time playing with my locos...although i did learn something kind of important about one of them - the tender doesn't pick up power all that well, even after cleaning and sutff... this might take some timkering..

 

anyway - I've finally gotten almost all of my cars swapped to metal wheels (wow, they're loud).  I'll need another pack of wheels to finish off the last 2 cars, though I don't have any time (or the necessary funds) to go to the LHS for a while...

 

Of the 5 locos I have, i can drag the cars around my oval o' track with 4.  the last one slips something awful unless the 0-5-0 gives it a little help (or it's going slightly downgrade to get started)... kinda wish I had DCC so i could pair it up with another loco.  Although, come ti think of it - it's probably more suited to passenger traffic... 

[rtraincollector]

My main Christmas present to myself came in today (won on the 3rd of DEC paid on the 4th) Its identical to My first lionel except the dynamic brakes on the top is a repo and not painted light/med blue like the rest its a lionel 2359 B&M GP-9 and books at per greenberg pocket guide at $170.00 good to $320 Ex and I would grade VG so somewhere in the middle lol. I paid including shipping and buyers premium $181.00 So i still feel its right in line and its an engine I've been getting out bidded on for about 5 years lol. and some went for way out of my pocket book allowance (mint in box $800.00 - $1200.00) Not uncommon for these to go for $200.-- to $400.00. now for an engine thats 45 - 46 years old I think shes in great shape. here's some pics she was only made 1961-1962

 

 

 

[der5997]

‘Evening all: We are in for a wet time over Christmas by the sound of it. The mandatory house cleaning involved a major go with our daughter’s carpet shampoo thing, and vacuuming all over, but it wsa done by lunch, so that wasn’t too bad.

 

JR: Thanks for the info on the helmet cam.  I’ll see if Circuit City has anything along that line, and at what price.  I doubt if Santa will be as generous as Dick seems to think!

Believe it or not, I actually found a similar device to your uncoupler in a box of treasures after you posted the pic. I always wondered what it was and hadn't a clue. If i can fit it in it will work well in my future passenger yard.

…Happy to help, hope your one works out OK.  The little split tabs on the sides go between a set of ties.  It should fit in quite snug. You may have to put a dab of adhesive on the back if it is too loose.

 

Now that JR has found his own Horn Hook uncuopler, is there anyone out there in Horibly Oversized land with Horn Hook couplers who would like the one I have?  Just email me your mailing address.

 

Jerry: That’s grand about your daughter.  Isn’t it a fine feeling? ( Iseem to have lost my clapping hands gif, so this will have to do)

 

Got to go. TTFN.

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I had a somewhat busy day today. I turned on my DVD player this morning and it went through a complete section eight! The darn thing would not work at all! So I had to take it apart to get my DVD out of it (Star Wars episode V special edition, no way was I leaving that in there). Headed to town to get a new DVD player. On the way, the cars muffler decides that it is it's time to go and starts roaring like a WW2 fighter plane engine. I stop at the auto parts store (Advance Auto Parts) and pick out a new muffler. I decide on a Thrush muffler. I get up to the checkout and things start to get positive for a change. I got a 10% discount because I'm an emergency responder. I then go to Midas to have the muffler installed. There I'm put in ahead of several other customers and I also get a good discount. The job cost $41. On to Wal-Mart for the DVD player. I'm expecting to pay $65 like I did a few years ago when I got my old one. Wrong! $37.65. That's a good deal, especially considering that it will play just about any kind of disk. I finally got home around 6 pm cst.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Does everybody have this plain Jane reply box to use? The only options it gives me are post and preview, there are no smilies, no formatting options, no UBBC code options, nothing. If I put in a post consisting of several spaced lines, it runs all the lines together like one sentence when I post.

[NSlover92]

I haven't really been in The Coffee Shop in awhile I thought I would just pop in and wish everyone a

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[pcarrell]

RT, thats a good looking loco!

Jeff, mine comes up like that at first, but if I wait a few seconds before I type it gives me a menu box with all the options in between where it says "Message" and the place where you type.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I used to get that, but now I don't.

[JPowell]

Evening all -

  Just a quick stop in this evening. I spent the last 2 hours wrapping some presents and watching the SU basketball game.

  Anyway, when i was out to get my haircut earlier today, I took the camera along. Unfortunately, I went to the wrong end of the yard for my pics today and used up the last of the film. If I had gone to the east end, I would have been able to get some pics of what's left of the derailment that was sitting along the right-of-way between the street and tracks. I figure there were at least 8-10 wheelsets, 2 damaged Schneider trailers, 1 of which was still attached to the 5th-wheel mount, and lots of pieces of rail and ties. If I get some film this weekend, I'll snap up some pics for you all to see.

  Well, if I don't get back in before Christmas, Happy Holiday and Merry Christmas!

Take care!

[Hoople]

I guess I am in for double the fun on Christmas. I get to open presents, and watch the Dallas Cowboys slaughter some unsuspecting victim. 2 days away... I can't wait... Still can't wait... Well... By. Mark

[Anonymous]

JERRY, just when you wonder about the now generation you are brought back to reality by something like your daughter. You must be very proud of her. I overheard my daughter tell a friend of hers, "I am what I am because of the way I was raised by my mother and father. She was 16 at the time. She is now 42 and I have never been disapointed in her. I would venture to say that your daughter had some of father rub off on her.

JEFFERY.  sounds like you ran into a lot of good bargins today.

and RT did well with that Lionel, and just in time for Christmas.

Well I have decided to model the Illinois Central and the Cotton Belt when I get to Mississippi to stay. I bought 5 p-3 IC coal hoppers and three ICG airslide covered hoppers today. All eight for $69.86. All RTR.

DICK, that was by far the best Twas the night befor Christmas I have ever read. Thanks for sharing that with us.

DigitalGriffin shopping for eight on the last shopping day before Christmas, and put up a tree too. Boy you are just under the wire on this. Good luck.

DERJOHN, we have had two days of rain here. Cool and overcast all day today. But rain in the picture for tomorrow, Sunday, and possibly on Monday. But it's going to be cold here Monday.

JEFFERY,

Does everybody have this plain Jane reply box to use?

it's probibly that fast machine you use. I have slow dial-up and I have all the options on mineLOL

ATTABOY,

Swish, ooo... Swoosh, aaah... the cable man just left. 

glad to hear you have made it to the fast lane.

well guess i'll call it a night. sleep well all and God Bless.

[grayfox1119]

Last call for Coffee guys, at least on the East coast, the Atlantic time zone guys in NS have gone to bed, and us EST guys are right behind them.

JEFF: A setting might have changed on your browser..I now have IE7 and VISTA OS and everything is now working fine. As you recall, I could not get the tool bars either up until December 1st, then it starting working fine. I think this was a patch that Trains.com software guys installed to get IE7 to talk to the new Forum software. Recheck all your Browser settings.

NESU: Glad you enjoyed the MRR Night Before Christmas.... I had never seen it either until today, I had to share this with the troops in the CS for sure.

Well, good night guys,

[trolleyboy]

Good evening gents. Just a quick pop in to wish everyone a Merriest of Christmas's and the happiest of New Years. Rob

[wetidlerjr]

Good morning ! from Indiana.

12-23-06

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Today's Weather for: Sundown, LA 12/23/2006 -- Sundown Fire Dept., Station 23 -- Wind Chill: 39°F- Humidity: 71%- Dew Point: 33°F- -- So Far Today- High: 43°F- Low: 42°F- Rain: 0.00"- Rain Rate: 0.00"/h- Gust: 6mph NNE - -- High: 62 °F- Low: 42 °F- -- Today High: 62 Mostly sunny. Highs in the lower 60s. Northeast winds around 10 mph. -- Tonight Low: 42 Partly cloudy with isolated showers in the evening... Then mostly cloudy with chance of rain after midnight. Lows in the lower 40s. Light and variable winds becoming north around 10 mph after midnight. Chance of rain 30 percent.

[LSWrr]

Good morning all, 44F for the high today with 22Kts winds, and it's been raining all week.  We had thunder early this morning.  Is everyone ready for Christmas? 

 

Lee

[inch53]

Mornin all, Just coffee Janie thanks,

Suppose to be an alright day here, no rain, but cooler than it has been.  Most all the family has been battaling colds, ear infections, and a stomic bugs round here. Seems like  some body's going to the doctor everyday for something.  The way the weathers been not surprised.

 Still haven't got the Christmas tree decorated yet or all the shopping done for all the kids, but we still have week. We do our's the Sunday after, makes it easier on the kids and us Christmas day.

Scored a couple times on Ebay and got those in this week. Got some 3/16's Marks cars [all metal] that were sold as HO, which is fine by me They'll just go on display. Also scored some metal with balsa wood floors, HO cars. I started a thread out on the main board to try and find out who made them. Heres a link,

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/984047/ShowPost.aspx

FERGIE,,, sure glad your dads home now and the addition is coming along.

DICK,,, thanks for the poem, first time I'D seen it too.

JERRY kids can sure surprise us old folks some times. Leroy cleans his toy box out every year and give them to Goodwill for the kids that don't have any toys. Guess J Bird gave one of her dollors to the bell ringer the other day. Don't know where they pick that stuff up, but I'm glad they have.

Got a little running to do today, then back to helping Mother with cleaning house, making candy and such. So I thought I'd leave ya'll with a thought today,

Little Tommy was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything; flash cards, special learning centers, in short, everything they could think of. Finally in a last dash effort, they took Tommy down and enrolled him in the local Catholic school. After the first day, little Tommy comes home with a very serious look on his face. He doesn't kiss his mother hello. Instead, he goes straight to his room and start studying. Books and papers are spread out all over the room and little Tommy is hard at work. His mother is amazed. She calls him down to dinner and she was shocked, the minute he is done he marches back to his room without a word and in no time he is back hitting the books as hard as before. This goes on for sometime, day after day while the mother tries to understand what made all the difference. Finally, little Tommy brings home his report card. He quietly lays it on the table and goes up to his room and hits the books. With great trepidation, his mom looks at it and to her surprise, little Tommy got an A in math. She can no longer hold her curiosity. She goes to his room and says, Son, what was it? Was it the nuns?

Little Tommy looks at her and shakes his head.

Well, then, she replies, was it the books, the discipline, the structure, the uniforms? What was it?

Little Tommy looks at her and says, Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that guy nailed to the plus sign, I knew they weren't fooling around.

Hope ya'll has a great day and we'll be a thinkin of you

inch

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Inch: Any news on the missing railfan yet?

[pcarrell]

Mornin' all!

Just headin' out to run errands!

Later!

[inch53]

JEFF,,, haven't heard anything in any of the other forums, but I'm still hoping for the betters

[james saunders]

Guys and girls...afternoon/morning...etc...

 Missing railfan? sounds bad! 

 ONLY   two days until christmas!! who is excited?? I am!!!

Derjohn: thanks for the email. Appreciate it!

 
I'll try stop by Christmas day, with some Rum-balls and maybe some Leg ham or Roast to share with you guys...sound good?

 

Oz...
 

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All, Raining and mid 40's outside. I'll have a regular coffee and a waffle please. At work again this morning, I have a client coming in to pick up a car at 11 and I can use some time to clean up without interuptions. Got some more time in on the layout last night working on some embankments and trackage at the back where it is harder to reach. I can get to all the track just fine, but I don't want to be streching over scenery to build other scenery any more than necessary and so the piecemeal approach. Hope to spend some time at the museum later this day and then any remaining chores pre Christmas but I think we're pretty set. Jeff - I get only the plain answer board too - no options or setup info at all. Maybe another adjustment by the host? Hope everyones doing well - good to hear from James and Rob and a few others not around much lately. If I don't get back on before hand, Merry Christmas to all. J.R.

[pcarrell]

This place needs some decorations!  Lets see if I can fix this........

Lets start with something over the door!

There, it already looks more festive around here!  Now for a tree.......And what tree is complete without a train under it?

OK, thats MUCH better!  Now for some lights!

Do you guys like the frosty colored ones.......

or the regular ones?

OK, lets do the regular ones!

And since this diner is in an old RR car, we need a proper loco to pull it for the Christmas Eve scenic run, right? 

I took the liberty of taking care of that.  Will this do OK?

Well, just gotta head out to run errands!  Got more Christmas stuff to get!

Enjoy the decorations!

Hey listen, I don't know how much I'll be on here in the next couple of days.  The visiting schedule is nuts you know.  I'll pop in when I can.

Til then, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

[grayfox1119]

Good morning everyone, a very foggy, and damp day so far here. The temp is 45F with a Dew Point of 45F and a RH of 99% hence the fog. It "is" supposed to clear here this afternoon and stay clear right up till Christmas afternoon, then there is a "chance" that the next storm due here will have enough cold air to give us "some" snow..we shall see.

For you folks who use Mozilla (Firefox) for your web browser, better get the latest security patches for version 2.0

MOZILLA RELEASES PATCHES FOR FIREFOX 2.0
On Wednesday, Mozilla issued an update for Firefox 2.0. The update fixes security flaws in the popular Web browser.

In all, eight vulnerabilities were fixed. Five of the flaws were labeled critical.

So as you can see, just as soon as Microsoft fixes their security leaks with their products, the bad guys turn their attention to the next weakest link....... is anyone really surprised that this would happen? Not me!! Fully predictable!!

JR: I hear that Connecticut awarded you the best decorated home in the state!!! Nice job !!!!!!

  Did any of you guys see the online edition of MRR yet? They have a nice article on using metal studs for constructing benchwork......a real nice idea, strong, light weight, no warping issues of wood, etc. check it out, it has some nice merits...and very cost effective also

I hope you guys have all your shopping done, if not, I was noticing yesterday that there were some very attractive prices on new computers, $499 fully loaded 2 GB RAM, VISTA ready, etc. At these prices, it isn't worth upgrading an old computer ( more than 6 years old ), as the Motherboard memory access speed is too slow to take advantage of new memory, and other features, so by the time you buy a new MB and other parts like a better Video graphics card, you have blown right past $499 for a brand new computer with all kinds of new features and speed.

See you guys for lunch, JEFF and PC, save the corner table.

[GMTRacing]

JR: I hear that Connecticut awarded you the best decorated home in the state!!!Nicejob !!!!!! Dick - must have been someone else. All we have here is an 8' inflatable Grinch on our shop roof. J.R.

[pcarrell]

Hey!  The Christmas spirit is alive and well at JR's house!  Congrats my man!

[Hoople]

Good morning guys. I'll have some pancakes and a milk. Nothin much over here, just waiting... I doubt I'll be in day after tommorow. It's always a day where I don't use the net. I might pop in about 2 or 3 tommorow. Merry Christmas, Mark

[JimRCGMO]

Good afternoon, Chloe. I see Duke's trying to nap in the corner booth. I'll let him sleep for now. A cup of hot cocoa for me, please. 

Wish me luck.  I begin my Christmas shopping for 8 people tomorrow.  (As well as put up my tree!)

 

You glutton for punishment, Dan! Hope you find a decent parking space out there!

OzJim, that Roast sounds pretty good - do bring it along when you get back. The rum balls sound nice, too, so long as it's all right with Zoe and Chloe - you know how they feel if the party here starts to get too feisty... Good to hear from you and from TrolleyRob both again!

RT - nice looking engine. Of course I think it would look better in one of the Western RR colors, but...  

NEOH Dan - I'm curious about that 0-5-0 you have. Got a picture of it? (I'm trying to figure where that fifth wheel fits...)

Jeff, your trip turned out better than I would've guessed from the start of it. With the way your savings were increasing along the way, do you think you might've broken even or come out ahead if you had been gone even longer? [tee hee]  On your plain text box, does your browser have some settings turned off (like loading images from other servers, not allowing certain scripts, etc.)? Thought it might be a setting, since sometimes when I upgrade my FireFox, I have to go in and adjust some of the settings which I guess it handles different in the newer version.

Got my Christmas shopping done today (except need to go online and get my brother's gift certificate off to him. Need to wrap my S-I-L's gift card/box, and Tuesday when my daughter's Apple Store card shows up, will need to wrap that, too.

Nice decorations, PC! Thanks! That really brightens up the place. Of course, with all the lights in here now, Duke may have a tough time sleeping in the corner booth until after New Year's...

Our weather here is pretty good. Only warming up to about 50-51 F (and feels a bit cooler, almost that kind of 'about to snow' smell to the air), but the sun came out, so it's good enough weather while we're waiting for a chance of snow. The prognosticators are saying that - not in the morning, mind you - there might be some chance of a dab of snow later on Christmas Day, but it won't be enough to stick long.

Fergie, did you or DerJohn bring by some logs for the woodstove? It's toasty warm in here. I think I saw some snowflakes outside the front window, too. 

My wrapping awaits! See you guys later (either tonight, or tomorrow afternoon), and enjoy your last-minute preparations, and the eggnog supply that I saw Zoe and Chloe have laid in for us. 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau