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

[trolleyboy]

Bumpy bumpy we were almost at the bottom of the page[:0][:(]We don't have fearless Fergie to nudge us up so concider us nudged[;)][:D] gotta run Have to put dinner on for Heather[dinner][dinner]if I forget no more trains for me[8][8][B)][:0][:(][xx(](read like soup guy on Seinfeld)Later gents Rob[;)]

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon All:

I just got an e-mail from Fergie and he said to pass along his regards to the coffee clubbers as he has been doing escort work through the ice. He's been breaking ice from 6" to 24" thick. Don't you know that would be nerve racking - having the ship always going up and down, and wondering is the hull going to give or is it going to be the ice.

Jim:
I don't know of anyone else that makes #5 switches besides Walthers.

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

[Noah Hofrichter]

Jim, Well, you asked for it! I did get a chance to make it to the meet, and I enjoyed it a lot. They had two clinics, one on Bench work and one a photo collection from the area. I also won a door prize, and got a NMRA 2005 calendar. I really enjoyed it, I can’t wait to the next one. March will have David Popp and Cody Grivno, of MR fame, presenting the clinics. It should be awesome.

Well, I summed up my yesterday above, and I did get a little more on the building. Second section roof, front awning, and weathering and I’m done!! I guess I better get going, I would Like to add part of the roof tonight and finally get the thing close to done!!!

Noah

[grayfox1119]

Good evening gents!!! I heard from Fergie, all is going well, he is getting a lot of kit building done, calm seas so far, and doing the ice breaking for the shipping lanes in the Gulf of St.Lawrence.

Der John, the storm Thursday down here is supposed to be snow. Measureable snow with 15 foot seas to boot. Tomorrow evening and Wednesday, there are showers predicted before the storm moving off our south New Enland coast "explodes" when it hits the moisture of the Atlantic. Stay tuned on this one John.

Greg: I'm the old generation, I'm the generation that is supposed to find the Metric system too difficult to learn after 66 years of the English system, but I find the Metric ssytem so much more logical. Just take simple measurement for example. In the English system, we an INCH, a FOOT, a YARD....they are words that have no logical connection. With the Metric system, you have a mili-meter, a centi-meter, a meter etc. The system builds on itself, it is LOGICAL. It is only because we grew up with the English system programmed into our brains, that we have difficulty in changing. All my grandchildren are learning the metric system in school...GREAT NEWS!! Someday, before I die, I hope our country goes 100% metric. Furlongs, fortnights, rods, links, GOOD Lord, what a nutty, non-logical system. [soapbox] Ok, now that I am off the soapbox, I smell spaghetti and meatballs............see ya later guys !!!

[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Noah Hofrichter

Jim, Well, you asked for it! I did get a chance to make it to the meet, and I enjoyed it a lot. They had two clinics, one on Bench work and one a photo collection from the area. I also won a door prize, and got a NMRA 2005 calendar. I really enjoyed it, I can’t wait to the next one. March will have David Popp and Cody Grivno, of MR fame, presenting the clinics. It should be awesome.

Well, I summed up my yesterday above, and I did get a little more on the building. Second section roof, front awning, and weathering and I’m done!! I guess I better get going, I would Like to add part of the roof tonight and finally get the thing close to done!!!

Noah

All righta, Noah!![8D][tup][bow] Way to go - sounds like you had a pretty good gggrrrrrreattt time, as Tony would say...[C):-)] Yessiree, cowboy.

And you are planning on going to the next meet, correct? [C=:-)](But of course!) (said like the chef on Sesame Street, even if he is Swedish instead of French...)[:D][:)]

Good to hear about your fun.

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau (on dinner break right now)

[Anonymous]

Evening all.

Just a quick visit, Gloria is doing a little better but..... well I think you know.

I haven't had much time or ambition to do more with the layout at this time, may be in a while.

Must go for now

Happy MRRing

Luc

[Anonymous]

Hi everybody. There hasn't been much happening with me. Zoe, I'll take an ice cold Coca-cola, and maybe a few jelly-filled donuts.

JimRCGMO, [#dots], might be.

'til later

Robert

[Anonymous]

I guess this is why I can't buy any train stuff. I keep starting new pages. So guy's, what ever you want is...gulp...on me.[:D][swg]

Is there an ATM in here? For I'm down to my last [2c]. [:D]

Robert

[egmurphy]

Good Evening Coffee Clubbers,

Beautiful day down here in Paradise. Sun came out, [8D] temperature climbed up into the low 80’s, nice breeze. Couldn’t well ask for much more in the first week of February. [^]

No progress on the layout today. We were back out in the orange grove this morning for a quick fill up with juice and oranges. Fran fried up some fresh fish filets for lunch. Yum. And I went into town with F-I-L to shoot some pool in the afternoon. [8]

Now to dig my way through the backlog of posts. I actually did read them a couple of times during the day, but without enough time to respond.


Speaking of ‘digging your way through’, those were impressive shots of the snow drifts in Newfie, Luc. Maybe that’s why I haven’t heard from the relaitives lately.


(CG)Jim, excuse me for losing track, but is this plan just a module that fits in the middle of your layout? Looks like a complicated bit of switching there, boy. That’ll keep the visiting operators busy for a while.


Thanks to everyone for telling me that the SB commercials weren’t all that good this year. Now I don’t feel quite so bad about not seeing them.


Remember guys, I’m not NE Patriot fan. I’m a New York Giants fan. But you’ve gotta pick someone to cheer for in the SB, just to make things interesting. So I went with NE, partly because of the Boston things, and partly because the Eagles are big divisional rivals of the Giants.


John, thanks for the detailed explanation of kilopascals. Is that useful enough that I ought to learn it? Or can I muddle through what’s left of my life in inches of mercury??

QUOTE: der: Watched an Agatha Christie Mystery "The body in the library" with Kris while the game was on…

Look, I love Agatha Christie stuff (especially Hercule Poirot), but I could have picked a better time to see the flick.

QUOTE: TrolleyRob: …Ed or any of the other foam scenery guys,is the sureform tool really needed,I've always had luck using a couple of old saw blades and a ginsu knife to do the rough cuts'n'slices…

There’s no ‘right’ way to do scenery, or to cut foam. No, it’s certainly not needed. I rough cut my pieces before stacking them up so it’s more like simply shaping them, rather than cutting through a stack. Just differences in technique, plus I’m working on some rather small areas. Here’s a little shot of my little surform tool, I think they come in all sizes.



Thanks for the heads-up on the Athearn SD-70, but they’re way too modern for me. I do have a Kato SD70MAC, but I bought it on an impulse because it was in TFM colors (colours). It doesn’t like the tight curves I have anyway.

QUOTE: Rob: Have any of you used rail graphics or a like company for custom decals.

I haven’t, but here’s a link to the company that Fergie used to do his:
http://www.kcnet.com/~gmcrail/GMCRail1.html

Ouch!!! Guess this isn’t a good time for you to ‘thumb” through an old Walthers catalog then, is it, Rob?

QUOTE: der: Mind you, there are those who say the only Imperial conversion of consequence was Constantine, and others who would say that was not an unalloyed blessing, but that's another story.

Waxing a bit esoteric today, are we, John?

QUOTE: trainwreck: …as for the surform, I found it didn't remove the foam as fast as I wanted it too, so used a keyhole saw instead, along with a wood rasp, and now a chainsaw…

Egads!!! [:0] One slip with a chainsaw on my layout and all I’d have left was sawdust and bits of foam floating in air. I’ll stick to my surform tool, thank you very much.

QUOTE: Matt: …and found the cemetary. Very poignant places, row upon row of near-identical white tombstones, perfectly kept grass and flowers - so far removed from the way they died. Sorry if that's a little off-topic, just thought it might be of interest.

Hardly anything too off-topic for this thread (except maybe politics and religion). In fact, if you dig back in the pages to last Nov 11th, you’ll find several posts regarding WW1, Armistice Day, war cemeteries in Europe, and, iirc, I quoted “In Flanders Fields” for you all.


Sounds like it was a great meeting, Noah. Congrats on winning the calendar. Sounds like your local region really has its act together.


Okay guys, that's all for today, play nice,


hasta mañana,

Ed

[der5997]

Jim: That was my fault about the galleon/gallon. Didn't read hard enough I guess. Sorry. (And I don't mind apologizing either regardless of John Wayne's opinion, which I don't value that highly.[:D]) In my defence, your actual quote was

QUOTE: One gallion = ? in metric??

To answer your question then, I'd say about 30 metres at the waterline, possibly 8 metre beam and 10 metres to the top of the stern lantern[:O] Masts and spars extra, we just build the hulls in Sheet Harbour, they are rigged in Halifax.[(-D]
True actually of the schooners that were built here in considerable numbers in days of yore.

Folks, I've heard from Jimhh. He says to say Hello, and has been away on a trip. His neighbour saw he had returned today, and came over with the mail. Mitchell Jim says Thanks very much for the magazines. They were in this lot of mail. BTW, he didn't mention being able to access the internet at a library, and I forgot to ask.[B)] He's got a nasty case of sinus, so let's remember him too on the sick list.

Matt: If you ever get to the south coast of England, the Seven Sisters cliff area, have a look to see if the scars from all the incendaries have healed. That's a lot of phosphorous over a fairly small region. The German bombers used to dump anything they had left before heading out back over the channel so as to have less weight/ more speed. When I was a teenager the ground was all ash and tail fins. Why didn't they dump earlier? Who knows. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, BTW. It must have been a special moment finding the grave.
Luc: Glad to hear that Gloria had a better day. We're continuing to think of her.
TrolleyRob:

QUOTE: Have to put dinner on for Heatherif I forget no more trains for me

Sounds a bit like my lunchtime. Kris was away shopping so I was in charge of getting her mom's lunch. No sweat, especially as I had remembered to empty the clothes drier, and so was on a roll.[:D] Just got started, and the power went out. Quickly found that the "cause unknown" outage was estimated as a 4 hour job. So, fired up the woodstove and cooked lunch. (well reheated, as it was Sunday's roast etc.) Got everything ready and was serving it when the power came back on![banghead][C=:-)][dinner]
Ed:

QUOTE: Or can I muddle through what’s left of my life in inches of mercury??

Muddle away, our barometer was made in England, so the weather predictions that accompany the inches scale on the perimeter of the dial say things like Fair or Change around the 28 to 29 range, and it can be raining stair rods outside 30 inches gets Very Dry.

QUOTE: Look, I love Agatha Christie stuff (especially Hercule Poirot), but I could have picked a better time to see the flick.

This "body in the library" thing was a bit of a bust as we were expected to believe, by the time of the denoument, that the police medical examiner didn't notice that the dead dancer was in fact a pre-teen girl guide with hair dyed platinum blonde! It was set in the late 40s, but even so...I mean a 12th Century Cadfael would have picked up on that!

QUOTE: Waxing a bit esoteric today, are we, John?

It's a tough job, Ed, but somebody's got to do it![(-D]
That's all caught up for now, except what may have come in while I was reading through.
The foam is slowly taking shape around the East end of the lower tunnel. I was disoriented [:D] when I refered to it as the West end the other day. TrolleyRob I tend to use smallish bits of foam, setting them in place, and sometimes carving some before I glue them in. I use pins (stainless steel from my blood testing lancettes) to hold things in place if neccessary. The stainless feature is useful as the pins once removed when the glue has set can be soaked to release the white glue, and reused without rusting. I figure I may as well get some pleasure out of a nuisance proceedure[:D]
Must see how the last lot of foam has turned out. good night all, God Bless.

[JimRCGMO]

Good evening, Zoe, looks like it's you and me again at this time in the evening. I'll have a mocha with whipped cream on the top. Oh yeah, and some of that apple cobbler with a spoonful of ice cream on top. Glad that Der John brought those! [dinner]

Luc, hope Gloria's doing better soon. Will be keeping her in my thoughts and prayers.

[:P] Oh sure, Ed, rub it in - sunshine, shooting pool, and temps in the 80’s while we’re having fog and drizzle here... [;)] Sounds nice - especially getting the oranges and some fresh fish filets! [dinner]

Sorry to confuse you on the layout, Ed - I'd switched from the idea of a 4 X 8 after Teffy pointed out the largest (and still rather small) radius curves I’d have in a 4 X 8, plus how hard it would be to connect it to a larger layout later. So I decided to start (sort of) from one of Iain Rice’s shelf-type layout plans, and also try to make it where I can connect it to other modules. Oh, I also found out that there is a MRR club/group in my area, which is building a 16’ X 16’ layout of modules (which influenced my decision to go modular, also).

John, thanks for the kilopascals explanation [:)] - the reason I hadn’t responded yet was, I missed it when I came back to that page. Liked your esoteric pun, BTW. [:D]

Good to hear about Jimhh, and that he's doing okay. I'm sure it's nice to get some MRR mags in the mail. Was he expecting them?[:)]

Well, need to get some things done before the evenings done (including looking at the Walthers catalog for those #5 switches).

Blessings (and hopefully, everyone's busy working on their layouts tonight),

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Anonymous]

Evenin y'all

Trolleyboy and ***: I was just messin with y'all on the metric thing; I know ours is the messed up system, but its still kinda hard to convert. I know whatcha mean about the cars with metrics though, GM's are probably some of the worst, of the three bolts on a GM alternator, usually 2 are metric and 1 American. None are the same size. But I still think the drill bits are the worst; instead of having a standard system like the base 10 metric, we have 4 systems, so if you don't understand one, there's always another one for you to not understand also.

Noah: Congrats!!!! Lucky, I never win anything[V][(-D].

How would Fergie go about breaking the ice anyway? Its hard enough to break 4 inches off of a cow tank, 24 inches on an ocean woudl be nearly impossible wouldn't it?

Ed: Thats the disadvantage of Normal scale, and besides that, all my mountains end up being a little extra tall, that way if I slip, I can just take a little more off to cover it. I kinda like that Surform of yours though, we have larger ones, about 50 years old, but that little one would be nice for a lot of woodworkng projects.

Good night y'all
Greg

[grayfox1119]

Good evening guys, I see most of you have gone to bed, except for SilverSpike. Just got back from Monday night men's league candlepin bowling, we are still in 1st place by 6 points, having taken 6 more tonight with 8 weeks to go.

Greg, are you messin with TrolleyBoy and me? Hey, I'm 66 and doing my best to learn metric, my registers are getting mighty full, shift right, shift left, OHH OOh Buffer FULL, there goes that bit of memory.

ED, they are lying to you about the commercials. First of all, the opening ceremony was a great tribute to WW2 vets, men and women. The military choir was great. And the Bud commercial was a very touching patriotic theme, that would make you proud of our service men and women.
It hit the 80's today I see. Gee, that is only 32 degrees above us, 2000 miles closer to the north pole...not too bad mon ami !!

Time to watch a little of Dave Letterman, he has Brady on tonight....see you guys later,

***

[trolleyboy]

Good evening again gents,since I decided not to loose anymore skin today I went back to the HD and picked up a small surform to comliment my other arsenal of foam torturing tools.Ed: at least it's my left thumb so I still canflip the pages of the walthers cat the only problem with that is mt credit card doesn't like me looking to closley at that sort of book[:O][:O] it's the same as giving Heather the Ikea catalogue.Well looks like I've got the place to myself again so good night all. Rob

[SilverSpike]

Good Evening!

Been busy the past three days with sanding, painting, and finally laying down some ceramic tile today! My back is a killing me, it feels good to sit down in my nice comfy desk chair for a change.

Now it’s time to play catch up with the forum and Coffee Talk! My apologies for the long post, three and a half days is too much to miss!

QUOTE: Originally posted by egmurphy
Okay, here’s the latest update on the post lottery. I think I’ve captured all the dates, but if you think I’ve missed yours, please let me know:

QUOTE: It had to figure that a team with a guy named "Brewski" for a defensive captain would win!

Ed,
Thanks for adding me to the lottery list, my estimate may be off, but hey, you never know! Another shot of OJ for me please! And, I’ll drink to that! Another Brewski please!

QUOTE: Originally posted by Noah Hofrichter
Ryan, thanks for the advice, I’ll keep that in mind for when we get back there. I usually get in at least an hour or two or rail fanning when we go.

You are welcome Noah, anytime!

QUOTE: Originally posted by TurboOne

Good Morning all, it is great to see everyone getting ready for some football. After New England defeats Philly, we can watch some commercials, think there will be any train ones, (NO) , and listen to Paul for the halftime entertainment.

Ryan, squirrel gumbo, you in the south will try some unusual things. I'll stick to the shrimp.

QUOTE: Evening all, just wanted to say the game was great, but the commercials had one that was outstanding. The salute to the military was AWESOME. It was class, done right. Made you proud to be an American.

Tim,
How about the Pats, three out of the last four huh! Tim, there were a few new commercials that were funny and interesting. I agree, the military salute one was great! Paul was great, huh! The old guy can still sing huh!

Well, to be honest about the squirrel gumbo, I have never made the stuff, but I think my grand mother did many years ago, and you know…… it did taste just like chicken!!!!!

And Tim, I’ll take you up on a smoothie! I like fresh banana and strawberries with a touch of honey!

Oh, BTW, belated congratulations on reaching 500!!! Awesome Job!!!!!

And thanks for that Can O Sunshine yesterday! Clear and cool, and SUN!!!!! YEA!!!!!!

QUOTE: Originally posted by der5997

Ryan:
QUOTE: Another Cafe Au Lait for me and some King Cake! Oh, King Cake, if you are not sure what a King Cake is, let me know, I can let you all about it later!
Now you've got us all fascinated, but I'm a bit confused King Cake....We have a vinyl 45 of "The King" singing King Creole, and lauding the attractions of the NO kewpie doll queens. While many thought that he "took the cake", I didn't know he had one named for him. So, details please.

John,
Sorry for the long wait on the story of King Cake. Now you know…. if were up to me….. I would have named it after The King too, but Elvis did like to eat, he had some extravagant parties!

So, King Cake Story, ….
Once upon a time….
To make a long story short On the Christian calendar, the twelfth day after Christmas is known as "Epiphany", "Twelfth Night", or "Kings Day." The New Orleans tradition, begun in the 1870s, borrows heavily from European customs. As part of the celebration of Mardi Gras, it is traditional to bake an oval cake in honor of the three kings - the King Cake.

You can read the whole story at this web site: (recipe included) http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/cake.htm

And BTW, that breakfast plate you had yesterday was great, my favorite eggs, sunny side up!

QUOTE: Originally posted by JimRCGMO
Thanks to all for the suggestions on places for the paper.

Jim,
Glad to here that you found the paper you were looking for.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Dave9999
My mom used to tell me stories of eating the entire squirrel when she was growing up... including
the brains!

Dave,
Great campout photos, I miss camping and the creek looks like trout, heh! I’ll pass on the squirrel brains!

QUOTE: Originally posted by luct
Just a quick visit. CFO has spent the last few at the hospital. We are trying to get pain under control with some heave meds. Between work and hospital, I haven’t had time to do much else. She should be coming home today.

QUOTE: Remember a few weeks ago we were talking about how much snow we all get and went on discussing the snow storms. Many of those storms ended up in Newfoundland north of us. We have an office in St John's and they have sent us some pics from the storms. Here are a few.

Luc,
I hope the CFO is feeling better and my prayers are with you! Glad to hear she is doing better too!
That’s quite a show of snow! We don’t ever see that down here, the city closes when we have a ½ inch.

QUOTE: Originally posted by greyfox1119
have a thermometer in full sun and it is reading 62F. Two feet of snow on the ground, 62 degrees, and I am on my deck in a "T" shirt getting a tan, sipping a fuzzy navel made from Ed's oranges.....does it get any better in Feb in New England??

***,
Boy oh boy, a Fuzzy Navel and all, and 62 F., I bet that was great, soakin’ it in, baby! I hope you didn’t t forget the SPF 30!

QUOTE: Ryan: boy did you bring back a long memory. When I was 16, I used to hunt squirrels and give them to a old couple living in a small cabin in the pine woods nearby, they loved squirrel meat....I never did try it, I only provided the meals, they said it tasted like chicken. Did you ever notice that all off things are told to taste like chicken?

Man, I never knew that my mention of Squirrel Gumbo would have touched so many people! Hey, people in the woods gotta eat man! Yea, tastes just like chicken! Rabbits, squirrels, possums, ducks, and even doves (not the white ones used in magic tricks.)

QUOTE: Originally posted by Railroading Brit
I've also managed to set up a website with our ISP - much easier than I expected it to be!

Matt,
I love the photo of the NYC cab units! Great job on the HO locomotives!



That’s enuf for now! Good night!

Ryan

[philnrunt]

Jim- lets see if I'm not mistaken here, 8 sloops equal a frigate and 4 frigates equal a gallEon-thanks for spelling it write...er, rite...well, you know what I mean.
In this months RMC, Athearn has a very enlarged pic of their 2-8-0 steamer in N scale. I don't think it does them any favors, the silver paint (D&RGW I'd guess) on the nose (can't get away from that diesel terminology, sorry Ed) covers the detail a bit thickly . However, the add states that it comes with a 5 pole motor, so thats better than the 70MAC. IMHO, they should have used a side shot of the engine, to show some of the details present.
And this month, MR absolutely smoked RMC for issue content. Pelle's layout is fantastic. RMC has the 20th installment of essential freight cars, all from the early part of the 20th century. They need to break the installments up a bit, but if they did I might not live to see all of them! And I wonder how many 24' box cars a pair of 90MACs could tug along? Hope they ease a bit more into modern time next issue.
OK, buh-bye!

[Anonymous]

Hi all, just posting to get the shop back onto the first page. Not much going on here though.

Ryan, thanks for the kinds words about the NYC locos - the near one's one of the old E R Models Sharknoses and the far one's a Proto 1K C-Liner, both have the cheap Bachmann DCC decoders fitted though I'm thinking that was a mistake - the P1k loco seems to be either not moving or taking off! I think adjusting the speed curve might help though my Compact can't program to that level. I've just ordered a couple of Lenz decoders to convert my Bachmann doodlebug and my Fleischmann DB Br.211 when it arrives, will be sticking to these from now on as they seem to be far better judging by the two I had in the starter kit.

Interesting to hear about the new Athearn N loco, I remember the reviews of their F59PHI which basically said "nice model, but the motor's not right" - it was apparently not a good slow runner and made an awful noise at speed due to the motor being over-revved. Hope they fix it, the F59PHI looked great apart from the motor problems.

[grayfox1119]

Good morning everybody, you too Zoe, thanks for hot coffee, and that Possum creole soup for lunch sure smells..........good that is...I'm sorry Zoe !!!

Matt, I read in the local paper this morning that they found some carvings in a cave in SW England that date back to 3500 years....did you hear about that?
And nice job on the NYC loco......real nice !!

Luc: hope Gloria is doing OK and getting some much needed R&R.

Ryan: big day today in NO right? Things must be really hopping there with Mart Gras ending at midnight!!

Der John, Luc, the local forecasters down here in the Boston area are forecasting a nor'easter to start late Wednesday night and all day Thursday, possibly into Friday. From the track, NS is going to stay on the SNOW side of the storm, so get ready mais amis!! The storm is going to rapidly intensify once it passes off the south coast of NE.

Time to head down to the train room, final coat of plaster on the lower 3 feet and then the backdrop artist work begins.

Have a great day everyone,

[JPowell]

Morning, Afternoon, Evening (depending on locations) to all -

Just dropped in to grab a Hot Cocoa, and a Frosted Chocolate Fudge Pop Tart...mmmmmmmmmmm CHOCOLATE!!!!! :-{P

Hope all is well with everyone. I have nothing new to repot on since the merger got approved last week. I've got to go finish eating my lunch. I'll stop back in in a few hours!

JP

[trolleyboy]

Good morning all found us on pg2 so posting to bump us back.Luc hope Gloria is doing better were pulling for you guys.*** homw's Fergie doing,glad you got through to him hope he gets out of the way of that storm.I don't know which CCGC he's on but some of them are pretty small.Had an awfull night last night we've had rain and warm for us weather so Heather didn't sleep to well her foot was acting up something awfull and when we did get to sleep we had two tom cats fighting in our backyard likely over one of the stupid squirrels arrgh why can't people keep thier cats in their own houses. Sorry my rant for the day gotta get ready for work talk to you all later. Rob

[SilverSpike]

Good Day All!

Yes, it is Mardi Gras in New Orleans! Happy Mardi Gras! I am sure that the city is a hopping with excitement and revelry; however, we are staying home today to rest and maybe attempt a few more rows of ceramic tile. Party on!

Matt,
Keep me posted on the decoders for your locos. I have all DC equipment that some day will be converted to DCC. I just have to figure out how to get it done!

***,
While I have been to my share of Mardi Gras celebrations, I am taking advantage of the day off to work on the floor of the soon to be train room. I try to avoid the French Quarter and down town at all costs now!

Gotta go for now!

Keep the shop on page one!

Oh, another OJ for me Ed, and a smoothie too Tim.

Ryan

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon all,

Rob, sorry to hear about Heather, maybe a nice foot soak would help. Hard to sleep when your in pain. As for the cats fighting, I can send "wolf" down via CSX on the main line.
Fergies sounds like he is doing fine and getting kits built and ages also ( coffee that is strong and days old I think )

I came up for lunch from the train room, all the plastering is finished, finally. Now when it dries, a little touch sanding before painting the skyscape. I have to watch the video first to see how the clouds are done. While the plaster is drying I can install all the screw hooks for the suspended ceilings though.

Ed, Tim, Jim & All Patriot fans, I am watching the big parade in Boston for the team, what a sight. The team is riding in all the Boston duck boats ( for those not familiar with Boston's Duck Boats, they are a combination of multi passenger tour vehicles, and water boats that drive right out into the Charles River ). The crowds are 20 to 30 rows deep. Quite a parade!!!

Time to get back to work, see you all later today,

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

Not much going on here. I had to clean the house for the super bowl dinner (nine people) and then clean it after they left. I did like the tribute to the troops. I think that it's terriable that we don't do that more often. Pauls Tee shirt wasn't going to come off and expose anything. I've now heard that the reason it was a "wardrobe malfunction" last year was that he was supposed to pull the flap down but their was supposed to be another covering. Do I care - NO. Did I see it - NO (I was in the kitchen getting some more turkey). I don't think the commercials were as good this year as last, to me probably the best (during the game) was the one were the burro tried out to become a draft horse.

If you haven't read the post about "the changing of the light bulb" it is very funny. The address is http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19526

You guys talked so much about the cloud kit at HD, I went to Lowes to get one and they didn't know what I was talking about so I guess it's off the HD and that's thirty five miles one way. What is the part number?

Jim:
If you buy switches in the beginning of layout construction, don't worry about buying too many as you'll use them someplace - trust me. The only time I messed up was when I was going to build a 5' X 9' and bought all of the switches in code 100 and then changed my mind and built an 11' X 13' in code 83. Since they were BK special order the hobby shop wouldn't take them back, now I have a lot of switches that I'll never use.

Phil:
I agree on the Athearn ad but I'm not into Nearly invisable. Some guy made a post about that loco having a three pole motor in it and the $1000.00+ ad in MR clearly states FIVE pole motor - I've spent this morning looking for that thread so I could post the issue and page number (I hate when people state facts and they aren't correct). BLI used that head-on shot for some of their locos and I don't think is a good idea, we're just used to a side shot.

Luct:
I'm glad that Gloria is getting better. I'm going to get that polish out to you and John this week, I found one box and I just need another.

Ryan:
How big is your layout? How far along? Your close enought that Stephanie might come over for the day, of course we'd need an invtation first. and talking about invitations

Lill Robert:
When are you comming down? This weekend and the weekend of the 25th we're going to mediation school but I'd like to meet you any other time.

Rob:
I use hardshell scenery - no flying foam just gloop on the floor, especially if you decide to not put newspaper down, after all it's only a small area and we'll be carefull. My mother heard that a lot on the first layout in the 1950's and she had the awdasity to mention it to Stephanie. Now she saves newspapers for me.

***:
Our postMAN is a woman but she'll always be a postman to me. I can convert metric to wentworth for my own use but I am to old to start THINKING in metric. A very good friend of ours that came over from Germany said she felt like an American when she realized that she was thinking in English instead of thinking in German and then converting to English.

Snoah:
My wife was pleased when the NMRA calender arrived untill she looked at the pictures and they were all of trains. Now I get to use it.

Ed:
YOU'RE GOING TO TALK TO JOHN ABOUT BEING PHILOSOPHIC?? Between you and him we get a good education

I'm going to go get lunch
Ya'll have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[Anonymous]

***, no, I hadn't heard about those? Thanks for the "heads-up"! Spend more time these days scanning world news for my degree (if it's international and/or political it'll come up eventually, and some of our tutors love to ask about stuff that only one or two people have heard about!). Thanks for the kind words about the NYC units too - can't really take much credit though, that's the factory paint so all I had to do was fit Kadees (#34 at the front, #5 mounted to the frame on a couple of old plastic ties at the rear - needed a bit of packing and they were just the right size!) and add a decoder. Not a bad loco considering how cheap they are from one of the online suppliers, presumably they bought up the remaining stock from a distributor.

***, I've only been using Lenz and Bachmann decoders so far, Bachmann's are basically the cheapest Lenz units rebranded (the PCB has a Lenz part number stamped on it!) and are usable, but really not the best. From now on I'll be buying the Lenz silent decoders with BEMF - more expensive, but I'd rather it took longer to fit everything out and I ended up with better decoders. Bachmann decoders would probably be ok with replotted speed curves, I'll be testing one of the Lenz versions of them when I fit out the matching C-Liner B-unit that I have sitting in the loco box awaiting a decoder. Guessing the Lenz version might be slightly differently programmed. If all else fails I'll put the cheap decoders on Athearn BB locos (where their tendency to take off will be counter-acted by the higher starting voltage of the motors) and buy some better decoders for my P1K locos. I can recommend the Lenz 1025 units - I have one of these in the CSX Dash 8 on the same site, removed the original circuit board, hard-wired it to the pickups, motor and lighting (with resistors), tidied the wiring with tape and sticky pads, it'll now crawl almost silently and very steadily. The BR Class 37 is also fitted with one of these (using the standard circuitry and socket) and will crawl similarly slowly, even makes a pretty realistic noise now at low speeds (the real locos were nicknamed "tractors" by enthusiasts due to their engine note)!

Currently searching for information on fitting decoders to Fleischmann locos - anyone out there know a site with information on how to do this? apparently isolating the motor can be tricky.

[JimRCGMO]

Good afternoon all! Zoe, where'd everyone go today? Well, I'll have a mocha frappacino for dessert, just finished lunch before I ran errands.[dinner]

Getting off early this afternoon, and will go by LHS. I'm thinking I may get the wye switch I will need there, and get Walthers #5's ordered online. Then in another week or so, I can make more headway on getting things lined out and start benchwork.[:)]

[?]Anyone know of a manufacturer making MOW (maintenance of way) cars nowadays? I'd be looking for some generic labelling, since I'm making up my own prototype. Did some looking last night online, and didn't find lots of choices. [sigh] Years ago, I recall there were some in the Walthers catalog (I think) - bunk car, derrick/flat car, tool car, etc. But last night I found one company that made a derrick car and all the others must have been specific RR lines (didn't go looking to see what the specific lines were like). Or maybe I'll have to kitbash my own. Any suggestions or help will be greatly appreciated.

Paperwork day until 3; then it's off to the LHS.[:)]

Have a great afternoon!

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Anonymous]

Morning/afternoon/evening all.

seems like it may be a nice day here in So Cal today.... after the last 2 days of non stop drizzle.... at least it didn't pour down like it did a couple weeks ago.... although there are still houses falling off the side of a hill still.

Not much going on for me today.... maybe run my oval again for like another 30 mins or so and watch some more TV.

Talk to you all later.

[der5997]

Good afternoon all: It's tea time, so a spot of Oolong please Zoe.
Gentlemen, here is a heads up in case you need it. It's from Chuck Butler's daily financial newsletter " A Pfennig for your thoughts", and since it coincidentally carries a baseball theme, I thought it might appeal.

QUOTE: That's it for today... Do you know what's sneaking up on us? Valentine's Day! Yes, it's next Monday, so don't forget! I've given you fair notice and warning! Bet you thought I was going to say that spring training was sneaking up on us! Well, it is, and I can't wait to begin to hear Mike Shannon's voice calling a spring training game on the radio! Have a great Tuesday!

***: Thanks for the weather advisory. We are in full calm before the storm mode here right now, as it is a really beautiful day with sun and hazy cirrus (I think, the fine high stuf anyway[:D]) I'll get some more wood in after tea.
Ryan:

QUOTE: To make a long story short On the Christian calendar, the twelfth day after Christmas is known as "Epiphany", "Twelfth Night", or "Kings Day." The New Orleans tradition, begun in the 1870s, borrows heavily from European customs. As part of the celebration of Mardi Gras, it is traditional to bake an oval cake in honor of the three kings - the King Cake.

Our neighbour who has travelled a bit in the US, but not to NO, was over yesterday. I asked her about King Cake, and she thought that it was the same as Simnel Cake. Now I've been to the Holiday site, I see that King Cake is basically a gussied up cinnamon Ring, while Simnel case is much more dense, and covered in marzipan (almond paste).It is served at Easter. A Simnel Cake would have 12 round balls of marzipan around the top edge, representing the 12 Apostles. Some times it's called Apostle Cake.[C=:-)] Very yummy, whatever you call it! The King Cake with the "hidden" Christ Child is a much more Epiphany related thing. The colours are amazing! Simnel Cake is very plain by comparrison. Didn't know that Mardi Gras has a Season from Epiphany to Lent. Learn something new every day!
Matt: The North Raliegh Model Railroad Club has a very detailed site with N DCC install info. You are in HO, I believe, and they are N. However, why not have a look at the site and drop them a line. They may be able to help.
http://trainweb.org/nrmrc/index.html

Ask and you shall receive! I asked our local library if they would carry MR. The reply is No, we are deemed too small, but there are 2 branches in the system who do carry it, and we can borrow back issues. So, today I picked up the first batch, Sept, Oct, Dec, 2004 and Jan 2005. Since I'm on the senior's card, I'm not expected to remember to return them on time, so my neighbour can see them too[tup][(-D] (November is out on loan, I'll get that later.)
I'm off to see how the latest foam gluing is doing. So far things are coming along nicely. I'm taking pics as I go. One day I'll post on railimages, and drop one or two in here. I don't want to yet as there is a large incongruous piece of foam at the portal that has to be carved down to make it look like anything The "After" shot of that will hopefully make sense of it.[:D]
TTFN
Came back to edit my reply to Ryan, and see that I've relieved you Robert of the new page obligations! Zoe, you'll find some Simnel Cake in the back of the freezer I think. Break it out, if you would be so kind, and let the assembled multitude have a bite!

[Anonymous]

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[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LilRob1974

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[JimRCGMO]

Good afternoon again, Zoe! I see John left some nice Simmel Cake, so I'll have a slice of that with my mocha, please.[:)]

Went by the LHS, and they had the Atlas wye I was going to get, but I was wondering if it'd work with DCC (if/when I ever get to that). Asked the LHS owner, but he wasn't for sure. (The packaging on the switch said both tracks were powered, but I got wondering if DCC needed that, or if I might need - in certain arrangements - to isolate power from one track (like before I go to DCC). So I didn't get the wye, but got the DCC Made Easy book instead. (Oh yeah, *and* some CA glue - have a broken Christmas ornament I need to fix, and may later have other MRR stuff to glue with it, if it doesn't dry up before I use it again).

Good for you, John - we never know what we can get our local libraries to do (if we don't ask)![:D] I'm not trying to dry up MRR mag's revenue stream, but I have trouble storing the few years worth of issues that I have... [:0] So if I can find the info at my local library and let them store the issues for me/us, great!

Well, I guess I'm off to Walthers' site to see about some #5 switches (still wondering what size of their wyes is about like the brass Atlas Custom-Line wyes). See everyone here later tonight!

Blessings on your work (paid or MRR[;)]),

Jim in Cape Girardeau