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

[GDRMCo]

Hi all. The layout is a no go so I will have to just pretend I have one. So I will have nothing to do over the last of the school holidays. I'll just have to con my parents into letting me just paint and display locomotives. I'll have a deep fried chocolate mud cake coffee and a oven baked T-Bone steak.
Turbo: I might be able to do one.

[GDRMCo]

Here ya go Turbo. Didn't have a undec S-4 on hand so I did a RSD15 instead. I call this SHOP WORKERS GONE WILD!!!! RSD15.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/micklegg/afl.gif

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by der5997
Speaking of not showing up, I'm a bit concerned for lupo. There have been some very bad storms in Europe. lupo's in a low lying area on the coast, and we haven't heard from him in days.......

Fergie: Just hoping NS Power can keep the lights burning through this ice storm, and that in fact it changes to rain before it gets serious. The forecast looks as if we might get lucky that way.



Goodnight all, and God Bless.

Where Lupo is. Os not at home! You must have missed his farewell as he is presently basking in the sun. [censored] He left the first of January if memory serves me correctly.

We still have power, knock, knock as we got more pellets and snow then rain, which is coming.

Luc sorry to hear about the Miss's as I've had kidney stones and yes they are very painfull as they lefy me crawling across the deck one morning.

C Jay good to see you back buddy!
Anyway I gotta go

Later Gents

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's a gray, rainy day in the mountains this morning. There's quite a bit of wind right now, and winter is finally supposed to return tonight. Considering what everybody else has been dealing with though, we have nothing to fuss about.

I'll fini***he last of the wallpaper this morning. Fergie, thanks for the tip on fabric softener. It really helps. I need to put a good coat of primer on the walls, and repaint the laundry room. Since the color selection commitee is still looking at paint chips, I have a few days to get that done.

Saskred and Jay_C, welcome and welcome back. Have some coffee and a danish, and enjoy.

Luc, I'm sorry to hear that your wife's dealing with kidney stones. I've had two bouts with them. They are extremely painful. I hope she gets better quickly.

Ed, I'll tell Bill M. hi for you and everybody else. He's been very busy lately with multiple projects. The swap meet Saturday should be fun.

Philnrunt, I'm glad you finally got power back. A week without it is a long time. Ice storms are truly nasty things.

Pennsyhoosier, I remember "Yes, Minister". It's one of the funniest shows I've ever seen. It's absolutely hilarious.So is "Fawlty Towers". They're both great shows.

Grayfox 1119, I'd recommend 3/4" plywood for the subroadbed. I used 1/2" for mine and I've had to go back and add risers in a few places to eliminate sags. If I were starting over I'd definitely use 3/4". The foundation for the railroad just isn't a good place to try to cut corners or economize, at least not in my opinion. I'd try for a 30" minimum radius to accomodate the 2-6-6-2. It, and a lot of other locos and long rolling stock will get around tighter curves, but they will look better and have less overhang on bigger curves. Once again, I didn't do that. My minimum radius is 24". My biggest locos are light mountains. They, and my Branchline coaches are OK on 24" curves with easements, but they'd look a lot better on bigger curves. Hindsight is always 20-20.

GDRMCo, sorry the layout plan got nixed. It sounded good. 3% mainline grades and a 4% helper grade are steep, but doable. The point about needing transition grades into them is very valid. Short cars, (40') might not have a problem, but longer cars could very well uncouple when at the top and bottom of the grades without easements.

Teffy, That's no fair! BLI is doing 2 Santa Fe steamers, pretty much back to back. They could do one ( Your choice) and a Ps-4. That seems a lot fairer to me. I'm just kidding. Enjoy them. Good going on getting the mainline finished. That's always an accomplishment worth celebrating. I hope your Mom's second cataract surgery goes well. Let us know how she's doing.

Kolja94, let us know if you're going to be heading to Okinawa. Take care over there. Where will your next permanent duty station be?

I'd better go for now, there's still a bit of wallpaper to be removed. Thankfully, not much.
Have a great day, everybody,
Tom

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

Fergie is a talker, we talked for better then an hour and covered all of the subjects, from the Tsuanimi to the storm in NS. I really enjoyed it.

Mom is now with us for three weeks and I forgot about how irritating the TV is in the morning at a level that a partially deaf person can hear it, because she won't wear her hearing aid, because she isn't hard of hearing. Everyone else just mutters. BUT I'M VERY GLAD THAT I STILL HAVE HER!!

Lawrence:
If, on your trip to Alabama, you are anywhere around Tuscaloosa, Rexhea would probably be glad to show you his layout. He is very interesting to talk to and the pictures of his layout on his webb site are impressive. I've got his phone number that I'll give you if you e-mail me. I just called Rex to see if it was OK and he said he'd love to show you his layout.

Jim:
I use the 3/4" BC. I like the way I can start an incline, the plywood is so strong that it gives me a very easy transition from flat to riser. If you want to give me a call, e-mail me and I'll send you my phone number. I've found out what to do and what not to do. I'm not saying that my way is the only way to do it but, their isn't any reason for you to re-invent the wheel.

I've got to get to work so
Ya'll have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[TurboOne]

Morning all, thanks for having the coffee brewing.

GDRMCo thanks for the train pic, now that is a train. Stick it in front of some palm trees and we have SoCal.

Anyone for a smoothie this morning ?

Hope everyone is warming up and drying out, especiallyour OHIO brethern.

We are going to be upper 60s low 70s today. Not a cloud in the sky. Backyard dried out, didn't find any fish.

Take care all

Tim[:D]

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the kind wishes all. Turns out that for the first 60 days they have found someone else they wanted to send, but I might still be on the short list to fill a spot there later in the spring. It would be rewarding work, that's for sure. Always nice to be able to make a difference!

Tom - the next "permanent" duty station will be Fallon, Nevada. I'll probably move in early May (I have to be "at work" in June to start turning over with the guy I'll take over for).

[JPowell]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

I was on the phone this evening with Bob and he gave me the impression, well actually he told me I might have "snubbed" JP! Ooops.

JP: when you were talking about exchanging rolling stock, were you refering to virtual RR'ng or were you actually talking about exchanging real HO cars?

If you were talking real cars then I misunderstood you and apologize for my hostile protectionism. I've got several requests at this time for decals and I look forward to exchanges so if your interested just e-mail me and we'll work something out for sure.

As it stands I'm hosting the Almost Nothing and Clinch Valley.


Later Gents
Fergie

Fergie -
Well, I was thinking along the lines of - not sure how this works but have seen some forum members talking about this - say I have customer 'X' who has a customer 'Y' (your layout) and 'Y' has just ordered a carload of product from 'X' . How do we get 'X' and 'Y' their goods? Either I take a car from 'X' and move it to a yard and label it as being 'off layout' to 'Y' (simulation), or we, on ocassion, actually send a few cars to eachother (interchange (tackage/hualage rights?) comes to mind here?) from time to time via mail, UPS, or some other carrier.
Solution 'A' is the cheap/free way out, and solution 'B' would allow us both to see different cars/equipment on our layouts, just like the real-time roads do. Everytime I go by the CSX yard here, I always see cars/equipment there w/ different roadnames.
What are your thoughts on this?
Afternoon clubbers! How's everyone today. Temps into the 50's already w/ a forcasted high of 65 yet to come this afternoon. Then, it all goes downhill in both temps and precip!
Hope everyone has a great day...
Take care...
JP

[egmurphy]

Good Morning Coffee Clubbers,

Just finished off another good cup of coffee, and some fresh squeezed orange juice, so I’m set to go. The weather was warm again yesterday, it probably got up to at least 90º, if not a bit higher. That seems to be changing now. As we speak the wind is blowing hard from the north, clouds have blown in, and the temperature is probably down in the high 60's. It won’t get near where you guys up north are, but it wouldn’t surprise me to have temps in the low 50’s by tonight.

I suspect that this is the same front that’s going through Texas about now. But I think it’s a bit colder there.

Luc, hope Gloria’s problem with the stones gets resolved quickly.

Teffy, that’s great improvement in your Mother’s eye. Here’s hoping tomorrow's surgery in the other eye yields equally good results. Maybe you need some earplugs to help with the noise from the TV?

QUOTE: Is that your personal orange grove? How many trees do you have? The crop, this year, looks like it was very good.

It’s the family’s, although we take care of the maintenance of it. It’s about 4-5 acres. We’re actually in the middle of trying to figure out what we have there, no one had done that before. I believe we probably have about 500 trees (of various types of oranges and tangerines), but there are probably easily about 150 of those that are too young/small to produce anything. There’s space for about 800. We may add some more over the next few years. The market for oranges down here is very bad, so there’s really no good reason to pour money into it to improve the yield. We maintain it more as a hobby than anything else. Wholesale price for oranges down here runs around $0.02/lb, or $40/ton. You can buy a whole crate of oranges by the side of the road in this area for $0.90.


Noah, sounds like you’re coming along well with the concept for the ARK.

QUOTE: der:
Ed: PBS stations in the States may be a source for VHS versions of some of those Brit shows. They give them out as incentives for membership drives, and would likely sell them too.

Unfortunately we don’t have access to any PBS programming down here south of (the other) border. Not really a problem, I was really just teasing and pulling your leg. We don’t watch much tv at all, so (while I do like a lot of that BBC produced stuff) we’d never really consider buying vcr tapes of anything. Although if I could get the old Black Adder series (with Rowan Atkison) on DVD I might consider it. I think it might be available at Amazon.


Hey there Phil, or Groucho, good to see you taking advantage of the computer at work to check in.

QUOTE: … never seen so many bucket trucks and line trucks. They are doing their best to get everyone back on before the next wave of rain…

Sounds like Florida just a few months ago. Mother Nature likes to spread the wealth around.

QUOTE: Took her to a scrapbook shop, saw quite a few things that could be used in MR-ing, …... Told her we would be going back as soon as I thought about what they could be.

Yup, I never complain when Fran wants to stop in a Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. I just wander around and imagine what I can use some of that stuff for.

QUOTE: Amy said as we were watching it roll by that she will never look at a train the same way again…

True love! Good for you.


Okay, that should about cover it. '

Hasta luego,

Ed

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon gents, another icy morning here in central MA, temp has finally rose over 32F and headed up to near 60 tonight before taking the big plunge Friday as yet another cold wave sweeps east and south.
After taking the grandkids once again to the bus stop, I slid halfway down the hill on shear ice, the kids thought it was great , I had my heart in my throat.
I am back in the lower level working on completing the studding of the wall, I should fini***hat this afternoon.

TOM : Hi Tom thanks for inputs on sub-track base. I have decided to go with 3/4" plywood as you suggested along with Bob and a few other guys. The difference saved $$ in going to thinner plywood just isn't justified. As for curves, I am going to fo with 30" min also, too many inputs from too many people cannot be ignored, experience is the best teacher.

JIM : Mon Dieu!!!! That coffee could be scraped out of the pot!!! It curled my straight gray hair!!! I gave some to wolf in the back yard and she ran into the dog house and hasn't been seen since !!!!

BIG WELCOME TO SASKRED[#welcome] I know you must be cold up there in the far north country, as we get the residual air after it "modifies" somewhat. Next week we are due to get cold again with temps every night in the low teens.

Time to get out of the coffee shop and back to work.......I left a fresh pot on the stove, not so strong as what I had. ooooooaahhhhhhhhh !!!

See you later tonight gents.

***

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by RDLkrbyvllRR

Luct: sure anytime. And Elliot the bill is in the mail.[:D]

Robert

Just what I need, more bills. Thanks.[}:)][:0][swg]

[der5997]

Mitchell: Too bad about the layout. They won't comprimise on just one wall with a shelf? That way you don't have to move furniture, and you do get to model something. Tell them a retired pastor on the MR forum(whose father ,BTW was in the Anglican Bush Brotherhood before the war) says that having teens into model railroading is a very good way to keep them out of trouble on the streets, as it takes all their pocket money, and keeps them at home [:D] - Just ask Noah!

Fergie: Thanks for the explanation of the missing lupo. As you say, I must have missed his exit signal. Good to know he's likely OK.

Returning, and why not, to the Peachtree Schnaps saga, it wasn't me who drank it. I found the cake in the tin, remember? It was all soaked in the schnaps before I found it. So whoever depleated the bottle couldn't possibly be me! [:O]Add smilie of injured innocence!

Glad to say we escaped the ice storm. Rather more snow than was forecast. I was going to let it melt (like the Areo chocolate) but heard that behind tomorrow's even warmer temps is a nasty cold snap, so spent the late morning shovelling. The stuff was way too wet for the snowblower. The plow came and filled back the end of the driveway of course. Kris says she's going to clear that after tea this afternoon as she won't be walking Rosie. I guess it's the treadmill for me after dinner.

TTFN

[Anonymous]

Afternoon y'all, just killing time in class.

I didn't use plywood near as thick as what y'all did, I used 1/4" with a lot of bracing underneath the table. It's still plenty strong though, 1x4's on edge provide a lot of bracing.

I saw y'all discussing bucket trucks and line trucks, the last ones pulled out of here about 4 months ago. They were still fixing stuff from the February 2002 ice storm, yes 2 years later they got it done. Right after the storm hit we had crews here from Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, New Mexico, Arizona, and every truck in Oklahoma was out repairing lines. The last people were turned on 45 days after the storm. The ice on the highlines was about an inch thicker than a Coke can, that's a lot of weight.

Saskred: Welcome, pour ya' a cup of the good stuff.

Ed: Rollin in the dough with those oranges huh[:D]?

Karl: Nevada will be a big change in climate won't it?

Teffy: Saw one of your posts on another topic out there about the BLI steam, what all is the upgrade you're getting?

Mitchell: No layout in the house??[:O][:O]?? Now whatcha gonna do?

Does the GATS have a website? They came to OKC last year, but I missed it, saw the ad on TV and it looked like a kids show, so I avoided it. Now that I know what it is, I want to know when they are coming back.

Well, class is nearly over, so I better go. See y'all later,
Greg

[jdolan]

Well the water came up to the side of the foundation of the house and does not seem to be rising anymore, now it is snowing and getting colder so will probably have ice bergs in the yard now. We now have 1 inch of snow down and still snowing. Great weather for pengiuns. Will be able to get my redesigned layout under way again since it is too messy to do anything outside.

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: Greg:
Does the GATS have a website?

Sure they do. It's www.gats.com, what else?

QUOTE: Jack:
Well the water came up to the side of the foundation of the house and does not seem to be rising anymore, now it is snowing and getting colder so will probably have ice bergs in the yard now.

I suppose it's too late for the sandbags. Good luck on hanging in there until it starts to go down.


Weather update from down here. Whatever front it was blew through, the sun came back out, temp is back up in the high 70's or low 80's. Just a beautiful afternoon.

Regards

Ed

[trolleyboy]

Hi guys talk about wierd weather our 6 inches of snow and ice is gone and it's 60F in the middle of Jan[%-)][%-)] The city is camped out beside the grande river though because with all the meltin the river is at it;s spring height I'm not close enough to worry but it's wierd all the same. *** you fed your wolf my weathering material?[banghead] now I'm going to have to boil more down.[C=:-)] Der John my brit com vote is for Are you Being Served and Allo Allo both make me and the wife roll on the floor and best of all both are available on DVD! Also what is it with the Anglican pastors ours is also an "N" scaler is this something you guys take as a minor degree in collage[8D][?] Well I'm off to catch up on the rest of the gossip talk to you soon. Rob

[egmurphy]

Maybe it's really 'N'glican .....

[trolleyboy]

Perhaps but it makes we in the Horribly Oversized feel less pious. Rob

[trolleyboy]

Mitchell do you have any other real estate in your house that you may be able to barter for. Mind you I survived for many years with a club membership to run the big trains and a small bedroom shelf layout that was 8 feet long by 20" wide for many years switching puzzles can be fun too! Rob

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trainwreck100

....I didn't use plywood near as thick as what y'all did, I used 1/4" with a lot of bracing underneath the table....

Teffy: Saw one of your posts on another topic out there about the BLI steam, what all is the upgrade you're getting?....

Greg:
All of that bracing under the table gets in the way of wire and switch machines.

BLI has an up-grade program available for those of us that purchased their first entry into the market. The old locos, stock # 001, didn't have nickle silver wheels and were lacking some of the better refinements that are available now. They offered us a chance to turn our loco in with $99.00 and get an up-graded loco. I thought about that offer for about two months and decided to go for it.

One of the rewards of using 3/4" plywood is the fact that you can eze into the risers with out a sharp attack angle. If the angle change is to great the pilot, on a steam loco, will short out on the track. I make my subroadbed about 3 1/4" wide so that gives me a lot of open space between the tracks but enough room to tack plaster cloth to it. The only places that I have solid plywood is in the main yard and in the two small towns, and that's only because I design the town as I lay the track. I may go in and trim the plywood out after I get it all laid, but who knows. I like not having a flat prarie to work on.

***:
I used 30" and 28" on the main as they can be concentric circles (same center point) and still not sideswipe an 85' passenger cars. I laid those radii out on a scrap piece of plywood to be sure they would work. I use 24" and 26" on the branch line as I want it to look more delapatited, (heck, old and worn out) and their is no double track. Tom told me about cutting off every fifth tie and spreading them out to look like an old track. It beats my way of moving the ties all the way to the end and then cutting them all off at one time.

Mitchell:
One of my test tracks was nothing but a 1 X 12 with one track on a grade (to test trucks and see how far they would coast) and several other tracks with about six or seven switches. I used Caboose Ind. switch controllers and had all of the switches within easy reach.

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

[Noah Hofrichter]

Mitchell, you know, I think I'll have to try one of these deep fried things. Pass a deep fried Root beer and a deep fried chocolate cream pie over here please!

Well, I made progress on one 5 inch wall on the building yesterday, and it only took me two hours to cut the Door openings![:(] I am making progress though, I should have all the walls finnished this weekend, and I hope to get the roof on by the next weekend. Then comes pictures!

I hope to get pictures of my layout too. It's not lit really well, but I got to thinking, and if I use time lapse, it'll lighten it up a little. So hopefully I'll have those results this weekend.

I also have about eight cars to run over the layout for the first time, test for coupler height, truck give ect, and I have to measure siding length for my track schematic, and so I have alot to work on. I think I'll get a move on then. That, and I want to come up with an ARK decal scheme, something I can stick on boxcar, and trade with others. So I guess I'll see ya!

Noah

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by RDLkrbyvllRR

yeH, s'yug, was ew erew ta eht mottob fo egap eno, os I dias fles, ylper dna tup su no pot niaga. oS, I did.

Oh, read each word bewards.

treboR

peY, enco niaga.

Oh, and Luct my glasses are on straight, it's my brain that's in crooked.[:D][:D][:D]

GDRMCO, sorry to here about the layout. Maybe you'll get it going one of these days. And, oh btw, cool [8D] pictures.

Elliot, don't worry to much about your bill, I gave you, because you opened this place, my usual 1% discount. Hey, want to make a deal. Let me eat [xx(] and drink for free here, and I'll rip up the bill.

Robert

[Anonymous]

Oh, Elliot, one more thing. What will be the prize for the person who makes the 5000th post. Guy's you got any ideas to help Elliot choose. I want a couple of Athearn C44-9W's, preferably in BNSF colors. Write it down Elliot, so you won't forget it.[:)][:D][8D][;)]

And, [#welcome] to the newbies.

Robert

[der5997]

TrolleyRob:

QUOTE: and Allo Allo both make me and the wife roll on the floor and best of all both are available on DVD!

Listen very carefully, I will say this only vonce....[(-D] thanks for the news about that being on DVD. We were given a Benny Hill DVD for Christmas, and are waiting for a good deal on a player before being dragged kicking and screaming into the late 20th. Century [:D] Now, if we can get Allo, Allo, we might just speed up the process!

QUOTE: Also what is it with the Anglican pastors ours is also an "N" scaler is this something you guys take as a minor degree in collage[8D][?] Actually, I'm technichally not an Anglican, although I was raised as one, my dad being the Australian Anglican Bush Brother, etc. However, it is true, I think, that there are not a few ministers, priests, etc. who are model railroaders, especially in the UK. Maybe pedromorgan can confirm that. The local Anglican priest here is a mrr wannabe. I described before you became a Coffee Shop regular, his faux pas with the Dickens Village layout on the dinning room table while his wife was off visiting, and the subsequent wrath on her return. Now she finds her craft space needs ever expanding into any space he may desire for his layout. [V] He's in HO, so when Ed says "Maybe it's really 'N'glican ....." he's very amusing, but ....inacurrate. (who was that Laugh-in character who played the German soldier coming up from behind the vegitation with the observation "Very interesting, but .....stupid?)

Noah:

I hope to get pictures of my layout too. It's not lit really well, but I got to thinking, and if I use time lapse, it'll lighten it up a little. So hopefully I'll have those results this weekend.

With your digital camera software, you may be able to adjust the brightness so that the underlit detail shows up better. Downside is, I find, that the background is then often overexposed. If the background doesn't matter, as in many photos of buildings, then this may be something to play around with.

Thanks for the after dinner coffee, it was excellent. Maybe washing out the pot every few weeks really is paying off[(-D] Daily Planet is on, so TTFN.

"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.