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

[trolleyboy]

Good evening again just a quick check in before bed.Ed his name was David on the forum I think br6010 or something really nice guy.I seem to remember his face at the museum a few times.It's funny I wonder how many other GTA area forum members I've likely ,met and not known.With the museum being so close to the big smoke alot of people come out and make a day of it picnics etc.Oh and yes why would I want to convert a brill to some hideious gas POWERED BEAST[V][xx(][xx(][banghead]LOL.thank you for the picture tip never thought you could put regular film onto a cd that's good to know.This just proves that you do learn something everyday. Si that is one good looking layout,I love the passenger terminal.Did you catch my post on your trains thread?Good job on that BTW as well some really good info there. Well I 'm off it's late and work in the am. Rob

[trolleyboy]

Selector[#welcome]always good to have some more left coast content.We wouldn't want Krump to get lonely.Pop by and spend some time with us,your first round is on me. Rob

[fec153]

Good morning. If there is a Harley in the side parking area, Chloe is on duty. If there is a Buell, it"s Zoe.
What the heck am I doing getting up at 2:45? Oh,yeah, doing laundry before beating the crowds at Wallyland. [ I call it Tram-Law]
Back later,
Flip

[Grubby]

Large Coke thanks, with a dash of Rasberry. I really need the sugar rush... been working all day loading in and out of various concerts but still managed to build the new extension bench..... now the layout takes up some real space....

I love seeing the pictures of your progress guys and I will post some of mine soon...just as soon as I work out how [:P]

Anyways, got to go and pick up another PA system now and then time for sleep (it will be midnight before I get home)... hopefully tomorrow I can ge to setting out some trackwork..
Night all [:D]

[GDRMCo]

get that deep frier going cuz I'm hungry!

[fec153]

I'MM BAAAAAAAAAACKKKKKKKK!
Good morning again, you sleepy-heads.
First-[#welcome][#welcome][#welcome] to all the Newbies-Ken,Selector et al. Store employees outnumbered customers. Only thing I bumped into was stacks of new stuff to go on the shelfs.
Phil-Enjoy your new locos.
TomCat & Ed- Big deal. I retire everynite. problem is getting up at 4:30 to go to work.{lol Not] Isn't there a song about "Fred,You good dog?" Ray Stevens come to mind.
LilRob-Glad your dad is home and mri shows whats up. Not knowing is a bummer.
Ed- Stop sending me the OJ and fruit boxes. Our groves are doing quite well. Many places to just pickup what I want.
Tim- Your flat cat is similar to a Sail cat. [There'''s a joke there folks]
Tom W- Thats the wrong type of trifecta. Hope you're feeling better by now.
Si-Wow. Beautiful. You swabbies really know how to keep a clean room. Nice to be able to find what your looking for right away.After seeing your layout and Fergies not to mention a raft of others, I am ashamed to call myself a modeler.BTW- are those ducks or geese in the water and is that a moose or an elk? Check with Teffy-he has a photo of my mess.[apology to Fergie]
Ryan- as long as it's a Kodak and not a Kodiak.
Si-I am on S.S. Almost 69 and working my buns off. S.S. aint secure and doesnt allow to be to social.
Ed- Is that a bridge over Untroubled waters?
FTWN-[#ditto].
BTW- All engines and motors "speak" You have to know how to listen.
TrolleyBoy-Got the photos. Will get them into the postoffice shortly.
Ryan- Would you like to see our trolley? Doesn't compare with what N.O. has. Then again, ours has a 454 engine and an Allison tranny.
Cup is empty, time for a refill. Later guys&Gals.
Here's to Health & Happiness. May they never be strangers in your homes.
Flip

BTW- All engines and motors "speak". You have to know how to listen.

[Fergmiester]

Good Morning All:

Ken: I feel your pain! the CCG has been downsizing for the past 14 years. Once a Fleet of 27 Large Fleet Vessels in our region and now we stand at 8, with a possibility of loosing another. They just cut and cut and cut and cut. We didn't know if we were holed, punched or drilled. Many took the "package" as the the future looked very bleak, You can imagine what this did to careers. Lisa was "restructured" several years ago but we managed. She has a far better job now.

So Ken hang in bud and our thoughts are with you on this one as it can be quite an ordeal. As far as the gas, well now, at between $.83 and $.92 a litre, depending on what day of the week it is or the direction of the wind. I think they've cornered our market.

Keep MR'ng as it will keep your mind focused on the good things in life.

Ed: I'll take more photos of the cars as I now stand at 30 units with another 5 reefers to be marked. I'm also negotiating the buying of 6 34' Hoppers.

***: I loves a good Clam Chowder! My mouth is watering as type! Ah yes the Roto Zip. I forgot I had one[banghead] The problem with having too many tools. Then again I was cutting thtough a 1x4 board, witha section of track sitting atop of it. However saying that a good thing came out of this as I had a pile of loose ballast in the area and the vibration caused it to resettle and I now have a very natural looking beach in the pond. Go figure!

Mitch: I can hear your arteries hardening from here! Go easy on the fat there young fella

Later Gents
Fergie

[fec153]

I did it again. Zoe, whatever they want, on my tab,please.
How did I get that sentence to print twice?
Perplexed Phil- err- Flip.

[Attaboy]

Just a bump to the first page.

[#Welcome] Selector, always room for one more.

Sinuses are still stuffed and it hurts to bend over so I'm surfing the web for rail sites. See you later.

[JimRCGMO]

Good morning, Zoe, and I'll have a cup of mocha to go, please.

Well, yesterday the federal tax refund came in [angel], so today I need to have a friend run me by a couple of places and see what kind of (hopefully reliable) vehicle I can afford with the refund. Say a few prayers for my search.

QUOTE:
Hey Jim maybe I could give you a hand with it.
Mitchell

Hey Mitch - good to hear from you again! [:)] Would appreciate any suggestions or comments. You could email me ideas/sketches, but for now there are about two things I will probably change:
1) I know I want the stripes a bit wider, but still with the separation between them,
and
2) I have a fuzzy visual image of where I’m headed with the logo, but (being visually oriented) I’ll have to sit down with pencil and pad to sketch until I start to narrow the concept down. It’s not even close enough right now that I could verbally describe it to you (or anyone else) in any detail.

The zebra striping is an approximation - I’ll probably be getting a decal of the SP striping they used (which also may shift the colors slightly so the three colors all go together well).

So how’s your modeling work going, Mitchell? What’s current state on your plan/progress on your layout?

LilRob, good to hear your dad’s doing well. Better to get an accurate idea of what's happening, and then the doctors can plan accordingly.

Tim, a belated [bday] My apologies for not posting my wishes yesterday - ended up going by some friends and watching a movie, and it was too late when I got home (plus, I needed the sleep). Hope you had a great day (and maybe even got a nice RR present?)

Fergie wrote:

QUOTE:

More bad news for the MESS, Both owner and investor took their DAR RDC1 for a trial run and decided it was lonely, So a second one has been procured for the MESS.

Oh my, what is this world coming to!

Fergie, I told you, those things will creep up on you - RUN!!! Before the whole MESS is overrun with diesels![swg]

QUOTE:

Jim: Love the colour scheme and I think I have a logo for you if your interested! Mountain peak above the clouds with a whisp of cirrus whafting across the top of it, Kinda Mount Zeus like.

Coincidentally, the ‘vision’ I have so far does involve a mountain element (though not with clouds)...Dee-dee-doo-doo, dee-dee-doo-doo...[Twilight Zone music here]

Si, what did you use for your power/phone lines? Inquiring (aka nosy) minds want to know.[;)] Oh, I think you have done those Coffee Clubbers here a very good service - well those whose layouts aren’t that large. Now they can tell their CFO’s “Honey, see, our layout is much smaller than that one! So a little more track and that new extension will *still* be smaller than that one.”[(-D]

Trolley Rob:

QUOTE:

Thanks Jim I do have a few friends with them,or I may buy one myself. Any software needed for the jpeg conversion? Thanks rob

Rob, most scanners come with some basic image editing software (nowadays, it’s usually PhotoShop Elements, a trimmer version of the prof. grade PShop) which can save the file in different formats (BMP, JPG, etc). Shouldn’t be a major difficulty, I would expect. Glad that helped. Or you can do the CD thing if you're taking new pics and having it processed.

Selector [#welcome] - was just reading some of your posts in the thread on your backdrops question (IIRC). Have a cup on me - just tell Zoe (a.m.) or Chloe (dinnertime and night shift) to put it on my tab. Hope to hear from you more soon.

About time for my ride to get here, so I'll take my coffee with me. See everyone later today, hopefully with at least some prospective vehicle ideas in hand.

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Noah Hofrichter]

Der John, That was one of the things we were looking at as a matter of fact! Glad to know it’s a good Idea, we weren’t really sure. Thanks a lot!

Well folks, the ARK is going to have a very productive weekend I see. I already have a special project almost done, got two cars that I needed assembled done, and I’ve got the roadbed to do yet this afternoon. But for now I must get going, I’m going to the library to do a little research. I might stop in later today, but I doubt it.

Noah

[bjdukert]

Hi there Fergi and Ed. Mind if I sit with you while I go back through the post with a couple replys and Fergi the drink is on me[:D]

Duke

[siberianmo]

Good morning all on this fine Saturday - let me get right to it and join in on the fun -

Railroading_Brit

QUOTE: Siberianmo, that's a great passenger terminal. Wish I had space to build something like that!

Thanx for the compliment - it truly represents something that I had always wanted to do. Once we experiences Toronto's Union Station and Vancouver's Pacific Central Station - well the rest sort of "flowed" just fine ......

Space is what it requires and our previously unfinished basement was crying out for a railroad and trainroom!

der5997

QUOTE: siberianmo: Fantastic passenger terminal - and parking meters to I'll see if I can find a pic of my B.C. Rail RDC (only had the one, but it had lights fore and aft, and the twin exhausts) I've a pair now in Normal, but they are painted still for Santa Fe. (...and a voice from Texas says "and what's wrong with that? )

John - Those parking meters gave me (more) grey hair in that they were so diffiuclt to locate. I called every LHS in the St. Louis area dealing in HO and not one could come up with a source. Then, while browsing an older Walther's catalog - there they were - buried in the recesses of those notorious back pages! Glad you spotted them!

The BC Rail RDC's are a pleasure to look at. Primarily because Carol and I have traveled within them from N. Vancouver to Lilloeet, BC - and also because I just love those cars! They are LifeLike's Proto 1000's and run very well - a wee bit more power - but good operation on my point to point mountain run.

Thanx for the compliment!

philnrunt

QUOTE: Siberianmo- I have a friend that calls her husband Fuzz Butt. Don't really want to go into that too deep, now do we? As for waiting being part of the fun, exactly when DID that feeling wash over you? I've yet to reach that level yet. Give me hope, friend. I guess those who wait also serve. Now about that layout and that layout room- OUTSTANDING! I also promise that I will look up your site. Wish my house was that nice!

I've never much cared about MY caboose - and wouldn't know whether there is fuzz or not! Hmmmm - I'll have to ask Carol - then again, perhaps NOT[}:)]

The "fun" in waiting only kicks in once the objects of your affection are delivered! Looking back, it's always easy to say, "It was worth the wait!" Follow my thought?[:)]

Appreciate your comments regarding my trainroom and layout. I don't think I've ever been complimented on anything so much and as often as this in my nearly 67 years. But - must keep my feet on the ground - head below the clouds, and all of that. The basement is simply that - a basement. With some peg board walls, rubber matting on the floors, some textured paint on the walls, a drop ceiling and light fixtures - the transformation was made! It was really fun (and a challenge) in doing all of it.

Thanx again![:D]

Noah Hofrichter

QUOTE: Siberianmo, how do you do your Snow for your layout? I might do a modual of a snow scene, and I'm curious how you did it.

The snow is from Woodland Scenics - Soft Flake Snow (785-140) and comes in 32 oz shaker container. The way I applied it may not cause a "pro" modeler to approve - but I just applied a layer of dilluted Elmer's glue (50/50) to the surface - poured the snow out and let it dry. I didn't care for the appearance that much, so I just kept sprinkling until the "look" was achieved. Since my mountain village is always going to be snow bound - no problem! Let it snow!
I used 12 containers of the stuff.

Thanx for the response.

e_bone9

QUOTE:
SiberianMo- I know the 9th tells me I'm not allowed to covet my neighbor's house.. but I'm gonna covet the HE** out of your layout! Fabulous... I'm not showing my wife cuz I don't want her to have expectations of that magnitude for my future efforts..

Ah, go ahead and show her! And while you're at it, tell her my wife helped with the lakes, waterfall and bunting around the table!! Neither of us had ANY experience whatsoever with this element of the hobby (exluding the sewing of the bunting - that's Carol's department!)

Many thanx for your envy![:)]

bjdukert

QUOTE: Siberianmo-Looked at your site a while back and all I have to say is WOW

Wow is appropriate enough - I still say to myself each time I view many of the scenes of the Can-Am layout. It was to be the railroad of my dreams - and I'm getting there.

Thanx!

attaboy

QUOTE: Siberianmo, GREAT looking layout. I'm turning green and I don't think it's the cold.

Well, we are approaching St. Pat's day![^]

Thanx!

egmurphy

QUOTE: Siberianmo: I've been finishing my decaf, listening to what has been said, and came to a conclusion: one should not miss even one day, let alone several, at the 'shop,' otherwise playing catch up can be a royal pain in the "pa-toot."

That’s about right. And most people who hang around here come to that same realization pretty quickly.

Yes - yes, spending this time on Saturday morning playing "catch up" verifies the realization!

fergmiester

QUOTE: Si: Love the layout, almost looks like my size and dimensions. We'll have to wait and see!

Sorry Si but you're missing something..... let me think now.... Mmmmmm... MMMM

THAT"S IT!! NO MESS mates

Thanx for the endorsement! The layout is about 35 ft long - 15 1/2 ft at the widest point and 7 1/2 ft most other places. As with lots of other layouts - this one "grew" into the space alloted. One day, that rear basement wall has to go, along with my neighbor's house .........[}:)]

There's always room for "just one more" freight car! Would love to add the MESS to my Can-Am layout. Is that an offer?[8D]

fec153

QUOTE: Si-Wow. Beautiful. You swabbies really know how to keep a clean room. Nice to be able to find what your looking for right away.After seeing your layout and Fergies not to mention a raft of others, I am ashamed to call myself a modeler.BTW- are those ducks or geese in the water and is that a moose or an elk? Check with Teffy-he has a photo of my mess.[apology to Fergie]

Si-I am on S.S. Almost 69 and working my buns off. S.S. aint secure and doesnt allow to be to social.

Glad you enjoyed the pictures - you have an eye for detail![tup] No need to be ashamed of anything that you consider an accomplishment - I mean that sincerely, really do. If what you have put together satisifies YOU - then enjoy it to the fullest.

My lakes and ponds have ducks and geese - even some in the diving mode. Took us a bit of time to figure out "just what is that sticking up?" - then it dawned on us - the goose's caboose!

I'm nearing 67, also "on" SS. Fortunately, my situation is such that it supplements rather than fulfills the needs of life. Sorry if my off handed comment offended you in any way. [oops]

JimRCGMo

QUOTE: Si, what did you use for your power/phone lines? Inquiring (aka nosy) minds want to know. Oh, I think you have done those Coffee Clubbers here a very good service - well those whose layouts aren’t that large. Now they can tell their CFO’s “Honey, see, our layout is much smaller than that one! So a little more track and that new extension will *still* be smaller than that one.”

All power/phone lines are common thread - grey.

You got it right! All the "honey's" out there will really buy that line! Yeah, right!

Ken Larsen

QUOTE: ...Awsome! Makes me think I might want to do passenger after all, but that would require a second deck and a few helixes..

Go for it![:)] Glad you enjoyed it.

grayfox1119

QUOTE: Siber: I "did" show my wife your layout, my strategy was to show her what an excellent layout looks like so she will be more understanding when I buy things.

Smart move! Worked for me AND Carol joined in with the landscaping (see above......). She even got a second job to help with the costs[}:)] Yeah, right!
==============================================
Okay - that's it! Gotta get going on Saturday "honey do's" - see ya'all[:)]

[bjdukert]

Morning Zoe ,how about a hot tea please

I see Noah is in right now put his drink or breakfast on my tab

Ryan

QUOTE: duck-under or pullout bridge

I plan on using on of the little 4 wheel mech. seats to sit on and then duck a little bit and give a push.

Steve

QUOTE: glad you like the picture

Amazing what you see the second or third time you look.

BridgeTom

QUOTE: forgot to install two NECESSARY insulated rail joiners-

Ahhh!!! The little things uh. [banghead]

Robert-Good to hear your dad is doing better. [angel]

Fergi

QUOTE: Duke: I'll pass on that drink and wait for ya to sit and have a quiet one with me.

Anytime and I think I could even bring some ribs as long as my wife doesn’t see me. [:D][tup][dinner]

***

QUOTE: Brian: keep buying at HD Brian, I am counting on you et al to keep the stock price up !!

We can’t have him losing his up front parking spot either. [:D][;)][:-^]

Sibereanmo

QUOTE: it was the first time I ever got into landscaping at any level.

If only I can do as well when I get there. [^][:)][tup]

Ken

QUOTE: Duke:
I see your location is SE Michigan. I grew up in Farmington (I think it's now called "Farmington Hills"?), lived there until I was 13. Fantastic state, love those tractor-trailer rigs with 13+ axles...and the 75mph speed limits!

You wouldn’t even recognize the place now with all the building that has gone on and the semis and speed have made the roads one big pot hole.
You hang in there on the job front,I know it isn’t easy because I went through it back in the early 70’s being layed off from 2 places at the same time and a one year old that we were not sure was going to be with us long. Things worked out and she is now a mother of 2 daughters,so DON’T GIVE UP!!! [angel][angel]

Selector-[#welcome] and sit awhile,I think you will find this a great place as most of the other new people have.

JimCG

QUOTE: Well, yesterday the federal tax refund came in , so today I need to have a friend run me by a couple of places and see what kind of (hopefully reliable) vehicle I can afford with the refund. Say a few prayers for my search.

You bet and good luck!!! [:)][angel]

That’s about it for now
Talk to you later

Duke

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All again:

I had a lot of responces done and they all disappered so I'm not going to go back as I want to MRR today:

Fergie:

QUOTE:
It's been a long day as I continue to blast out the bedrock on the outer loop. Blasting was so bad several cars left the track and I bent the blade on the Jig saw, darn!

I see that we now need to add Jig Saws to the list of hazardous tools.

Mo Jim:
Are you still interested in am IHC mogal (2-6-0), I've got one that I'd like to get rid of, it's just to small for my layout. I think that the smallest road loco that I want is a 2-8-0.

Siber:
I am impressed with your layout and it makes me drool. I see from your age that you qualitify for membership in the OFC (Old Farts Club) WELCOME

Paul:
I've been handed the ultimatium that you can not sleep on the sofa and I've got to clean off the guest bed and give you room for a suitcase on the desk in the downstairs bedroom. I've been using it as a workbench so ya'll's visit will give me a reason to clean it up.

Ryan:
Have you canoed the Guadaloupe in Texas, or the Cossatot in Ark before Guillam dam was built?

Ken:
In my lifetime i've gotten several pink slips and probably the worst part was the idea that I was not needed. I just spent eight hours a day looking for a job and usually I was working in less then a week.

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

[TurboOne]

Good morning all, thanks the the Birthday wishes. We had a blast. Turns out at Legoland they were reopening New York with the new Freedom Tower. It is 28 ft. high made out of Legos. They dedicated it to all the victims of 9/11. Had a NYPD come sing America the Beautiful. It was awesome. Had the local police and FD there. Thre train layout was awesome, and seeing the tower was incredible. Just being with the family was great. No trains for yesterday, but have a cab forward coming soon.

Take care all and thanks again.

Tim

[Anonymous]

As trollyboy might say, "step to the rear and mind the door!" I guess "there is always room foe one more?" At least, all of the street car Motormen/Conductors in K.C., Mo. thought so. Thought I might "break the ice" with a short intro (key of C). I am retired and into HO gauge (garage parameters) and G gauge (outside). I'm modeling Southern Rwy. and B & O in HO ( circa 1920-1950) and the same era for Santa Fe in 'G' gauge. I got an early start at aoubt 10 years of age and that was 56 years ago. So far the hobby has kept me out of trouble and ususally broke at the end of the month. I'm strictly a rookie at G gauge as I bought a Aristo Craft Doodlebug (A.T.S.F.) a couple of years ago. Ironically, that was my first purchase in HO also, a Walthers 70 ft. (C.& N.W.) kit. I apologize in advance If occasionally I make reference to some product or modeling technique that younger folks don't recognize. Just chalk it up to senility that comes with old age. Oh well, we all "go there" eventually, don't we? I traveled for twenty years [five mo. each year] with the U.S. premier Army Band and visited every LHS that time and distance would allow. It is a great pleasure to "break-in" and, hopefully, I may contribute as much as I take away from this "user friendly" site. Best regards to all.

[twhite]

Good morning all--usual for me, Vienna Roast and Danish. Don't worry about the Tuna Blintz for Spooky, Zoe, she's still sacked out and purring up a storm. Probably from all the throw-rug surfing she and Wiley were doing up and down the hall all night.

Lil'Rob--glad your dad is back, my he continue to improve. He's still on our Parish Intentions.

Siberianmo: Still knocked out by your layout---4000 trees? And I thought I had foliage!!
I REALLY like your passenger terminal, and you've inspired me to put some early Fall snow on the Sierra Buttes. Your mountain looks WAY cool!! Hopefully I can squeeze a couple of passenger terminal tracks in when I get cracking on the staging yard this Spring--something for my "Exposition Flyer" and the troop train.

Tim: Belated [bday]!! Hope you got a loco or two as presents. Remember, we can NEVER have enough locomotives!! Rule #1.

Fergie: NEAT decals!! I love those pink ore cars--! Wouldn't you know, I chose a prototype railroad who painted most of their cars Basic Black--oh, well--

Well, after curing the Great Wiring Debacle of yesterday, I just ran trains, didn't work on scenery or anything--will try and start putting in Sierra City today before I run off and play Vespers. Giving a guided tour to two Priests tomorrow after Sunday Mass--seems they're both crazy for trains. Hmm--and the Friary has a BIG basement--do you suppose??--

Ed: Kept wondering what I was looking at when I saw your photo--then realized that you'd covered the tracks with masking tape. Yah, hello, you CAN do that in N, can't you? I have to use Saran Wrap, and boy, does that get interesting when a breeze comes wafting into the garage.

Speaking of, we hit a record high of 85 degrees here in the Sacto Valley yesterday. Talk about an early Spring! 87 in San Francisco--they must have been falling on the sidewalks! And two weeks ago we were all in danger of washing into the Pacific. Ah, California Weather---! If you get bored with it, wait five minutes, LOL! If the weather patterns hold like they have been, this year, you cold Nor'Easterners should be getting our High Pressure system by the end of next week. So if your weather suddenly improves, thank us out here where all the Fruits and Nuts move to, for sending it.

Well, another nice day here, which means the plaster will dry fast, so I'm out to do some messing with the Extension. Funny thing about that extension--I didn't ADD track as much as shift it, but it's seemed to make my runs longer--probably purely psychological, but who's complaining, right?

Later, all. Have a GREAT day!!
Bridge/Cat Tom


[:P][:P][:P]

[selector]

Good day, everyone, and thanks ever so much for your warm welcome. [:I] (Now look, you've all gone and made me blush.) What a great bunch of people! I''ll drop in whenever I can.

Quick intro: retired miltary psychologist (not the head shrink type, but the organizational type). I'm still a kid at 52, and if you needed any more proof, I've just competed my first layout to the basic senic stage. I have lots of track gremlins to iron out and weathering/detailing to do, enough to keep me busy for...well...ever, I guess.

I am actually new to coffee (yes, really). I used to favour tea, and still do, but began making bread in a bread maker few years back when I lived in Winterpeg, Manitoba, on Saturday mornings. My wife and I developed a routine of drinking coffee and enjoying the fresh bread, the morning paper, and some good java. So, I like mine ...hold your breath...with cream AND sweetener.

Thanks, again, for the wonderful "Hi!"

[bjdukert]

Ted[#welcome]and come in anytime the people are great and let me be the first to buy your drink of choice.

Duke

[Anonymous]

Evening all

Well, the last of the wardrobes has been assembled (had to wait for new carpet in mum and dad's room before assembling it) so next project will be sorting what they refer to as "the guest room" and I refer to as "the train room"... We have assorted used kitchen cupboards stacked in the garage, so need to clear the accumulated junk in there first then install them. Should have plenty of storage space!

***, the first essay went in yesterday (Friday) - seems pretty much everyone's finished it judging by my friend's comments, the due date's Monday so I can pretty much guarantee a very crowded office that morning! Second essay will be worked on over the coming easter break - term ends this coming Friday and we get four weeks off.

Noah, the NRM is well worth a visit. I think admission is currently free, and though I've not been up to York for some years it still looks a good place to spend a few hours. They've shifted some of their exhibits to another site but I think these were mostly the ones that were either stored outside (and getting clobbered by our weather!) or were in storage where visitors couldn't see them. I know the Prototype APT (the 4-car gas-turbine one) has gone to the new site at Shildon. www.nrm.org.uk is their address. Hope this is of use!

Flip, the home depot sounds like my experiences in PC World a couple of years back (before I found that I could buy the same kit online for about a quarter of the price...). Went in to buy a CD Writer drive, took me 20mins to find someone who was willing to fire up a checkout and take my money! Place was deserted at 10am on a Saturday. I have bought lumber from our equivelent of home depot in the past, but after finding piles of warped timber in the racks, I decided to buy it in our local builder's merchants - they supply both trade and DIY customers and are willing to cut timber to size for you - they also have a car park designed to handle trailers unlike the bigger chain stores!

Jim, good luck with finding "wheels". Used to be one of the big pastimes when I was back in 6th form (last two years of high school, before university), perusing the local newspaper adverts for the more interesting vehicles. Never bought anything that way myself but there used to be some interesting debates about the cars we found! I started out with a Citroen ZX 2ltr diesel (no frills like power steering, etc, but big engine and manual gearbox - that thing was fun!) then was handed the keys to the Discovery when dad got his new company car. Used Discos are great value over here at the moment, though I dread to think what prices they go for over there!

Well, still no loco parts - evidently the LGB wheelsets are a bit heavy for our postal service! Should be here Monday. Will be well worth the wait though. I'm thinking in terms of pushing on and completing my LGB collection this year - there's another loco and three cars I'd like to add, plus another two Zillertalbahn passenger cars that I'll have to get via ebay or as old stock as they're now out of production. Also need a loop of their 3rd radius curves as the starter 1st radius aren't good news for larger locos - my Zillertalbahn 0-6-2 has covered very few miles as it doesn't like the tight starter set curves!

Welcome aboard to the new people, enjoy. This place gives the forums a more human aspect than some others to my mind - a place to share your experiences with like-minded people.

Bye for now.

[bjdukert]

Ted[#welcome]and come in anytime the people are great and let me be the first to buy your drink of choice.

Tim-The Lego is really something to see,they have it at the GATS when it comes into the area.Cabforward,they look good,enjoy [tup]

Ok time to go do some bench work .

Talk to you later

Duke

[Anonymous]

Howdy everyone. Nothing for me Zoe, or is it Chloe who is working now.

QUOTE: by GDRMCO: get that deep frier going cuz I'm hungry!

Sorry Mitch, the deep frier has been moved. Had to make room for more seats. You'll have to ask Zoe or Chloe where it's been moved to.[:D] And I'm glad to see you stopping by. Thought you disappeared. We were close to sending out a pack of dogs to look for you.[:D][;)]

A big [#welcome] to any new comers to the shop, and a [bday] to those who has, or will have one this month.

Thanks again to everyone for your thoughts and prayers.

Robert

[egmurphy]

Good Afternoon Coffee Clubbers,

Another beautiful down here in Paradise. [8D] But I think the really hot weather isn’t too far off. [:(]


[#welcome] Welcome to Ted Kramer. Thanks for providing a brief bio with your post. Always helps us get out hands around the new guys. Where do you call home these days?

QUOTE: I apologize in advance If occasionally I make reference to some product or modeling technique that younger folks don't recognize.

Don’t worry about it. The average age here in the Coffee Shop closely approximates the average age in the hobby. Of course, some of may not recognize the product because halfsheimers has set in, but that's different. [(-D]

QUOTE: grayfox: …we’re desperate for the Oranges and OJ....is the tanker and box car on it's way yet ???

I assure you that shipments have been leaving on a regular basis.

QUOTE: Flip: Stop sending me the OJ and fruit boxes. Our groves are doing quite well. Many places to just pickup what I want.

Hey, there you go, ***. Someone has been messing with the shipping orders. Shipping orange juice to Florida would be like carrying coals to Newcastle. (bit of U.K. flavor there for Steve and Matt). Maybe they just can't read the Spanish on the waybills!! [:D]

QUOTE: selector: I have heard that it leaves more residue than what is called 'painter's tape'. I used the latter on my tracks, and it came away clean.

Thanks. I may try that if I can find it down here. We’re kind of “selection challenged” in our area. Of course, I am heading NOB in a week and a half…..

QUOTE: selector: I'm still a kid at 52, and if you needed any more proof, I've just competed my first layout to the basic scenic stage.

I’ve got you beat. I’m 58 and just getting my first layout to the basic scenery stage.

Let’s see…. Vancouver… very close to the railroad museum at Squamish, no? Beautiful area, and a great museum. [^] Had the great good fortune to visit there a couple of years ago.

QUOTE: grubby: I love seeing the pictures of your progress guys and I will post some of mine soon...just as soon as I work out how.

Do you already have digital images on your computer? If so we can easily walk you through the steps. That’s one of our specialties here in The Coffee Shop.

QUOTE: Fergie: Ed: I'll take more photos of the cars….

But the question still is whether those are the decals you had custom made last winter? I’m wondering how you liked them as someday I hope to get some done for the FCVN. It seems that FCVN decals in N scale aren’t exactly a normal line item in the Champ catalog.



(CG)Jim – good luck with the car hunting.



Okay, gotta run. Fran and Junior have decided they want to try to learn tennis. This is still not a very common sport down here, to a large degree because there are very few public courts available. Fortunately our golf club has a pair of courts (which I have never seen anyone use), so off we go. Should be an experience. [:0]

Later

Ed

[fec153]

Ed- Who you kidding? Cubans in Kissimee, Puerto Ricans in Orlando and Mexicans
in the groves. Spanglish is spoken all over. Getting like Dade county.

Si- I'm hard headed. Never noticed anything to be offended by. Relax! Have another
drink of your choice. Your layout is eyecandy. Hubba,Hubba.
For you youngsters, that means its AWESOME!!

Ted- [#welcome]. A tad late but well ment. Do you shoot pool? The table isn't being used just now. 8 ball? Rotation? 9 ball?

[JimRCGMO]

Good afternoon, all - Zoe, a mocha smoothie, please. And put Scott's order on my tab, please.

Teffy, good to see you’re back. Sent you an email through the forum. Think I just missed you earlier.[:)]

Ted, don’t worry about the ‘young whippersnappers’ not understanding some references - we have a bunch that catch on really quick here. [;)] And the ‘usually broke at the end of the month’ sounds all tooooo familiar (to myself, and I’m sure a few others here. Ah, the cost of our ‘pleasant addiction.’[}:)][:)] Have a cup of your favorite stuff on me (if it starts with JD or such, ask Zoe or Chloe, they know the hidden place in one of the cabinets).

So if you started HO with a doodlebug, and you’ve just started G with the same, you might want to count your HO scale engines and cars (for a guesstimate, you know...)[swg]
Bet you have a good variety of the good MRR stuff, with all those LHS’s visited! I think that was how I got the bunch of stuff I found a few weeks back - catching things in LHS's sale bins.[:)]

Tom O’Cats (since St. Patty’s is approaching)[;)], sounds like you may have a branch line opening up soon in the friary.[}:)][:D]

Selector, I bet you maybe haven’t been here long enough to know that Mitchell (our young cohort - from Queensland, if I recall correctly) likes his beverages deep fried(!). So cream and sweetener is not a problem. Zoe or Chloe can take care of your drinks fine. (Zoe usually works the breakfast to dinner shift, and Chloe the dinner to breakfast shift, I think. Others may be able to tell you different ways to tell them apart...)[;)]

Matt, for me, car-hunting is a necessary evil. I want good old reliable, not-a-lot-of-frills transportation, with a heater and defrost that work, and hopefully a working air conditioner (needed for Missouri summers - humid and hot in August, usually). No great luck today, though - saw the Izuzu pickup (lower price) but wasn’t terribly impressed. Another place showed me a 96/95 Ford Taurus that looked fairly good, but when I tried to run the vent and blower or the air, I thought the heater was on full blast(!) [:-(] Also when I had it out on a test drive (to a place to get a soda in the drive thru and back), I was hearing some rattling/pinging kind of noises bounced back off a wall alongside the car. So I’m waiting to see what else that place may get in this next week. Salesman said they get ones in every week.

On a more useful note, went by Barnes and Noble after all that, and got the April MRR issue, plus couple of Kalmbach books (Basic Trackwork..., and Realistic MRR Design), with my B&N member card discount. So have some nice reading material for tonight. [:)] Don’t recall if I mentioned, but I also yesterday went by LHS and bought some rail joiners, a terminal strip and a wye switch. Figure I’ll hook it up to some flextrack on the dining room table (errr, on the pads) and see how my engines run. They have the old (X2F?) style couplers, but I can 'hook' some cars on the back and run ‘em a while. See how they run. (Wasn’t that a kid’s book text, or Beatles song, or something?) [;)]

LilRob, was that the ‘Luc dogs’ we were gonna send? [}:)]

Ed, we almost could give your weather a run for it today - weather was at least in the mid 60’s, I’d say, and just those wispy clouds that don’t stop any sun. Felt like early June, almost.[8D]

I had a late breakfast, skipped lunch, and had an early dinner (finished a couple of thin round steaks and a salad a bit ago), so I may wait a bit to have some ice cream, after having that smoothie here. [dinner]

Got to clear the layout workspace - I mean, the DR table - and hook up some track, so I can have some running time. Talk to you all later tonight, probably.

Blessings,

Jim in (pleasantly warm) Cape Girardeau

[JimRCGMO]

[oops] Looks like the drinks are on me! New page. [:)]

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[fec153]

Zoe- Tall water glass, 2 ice cubes and an inch of my vodka please. Oh, on Cape Jims bill of course. Thankyou. AHHH, thats smooth.
Flip

[Anonymous]

ftwNSengineer: Yup, cats are good for everything from target practice to dog toys[:D], most chew toys won't bite back!!

LilRob: Hope all comes out well

Turbo: Is it true??? A year older??? Hope it was a good one. [bday]

[Fergmiester]

Good thing I posted first thing this a.m. as we will have to put ona an extra Baggage Car for the Saturday Matinee Special.

Teffy: as always good to hear from you. Though me thinks you called to see if I'd calf when I was told about your 85 degree weather. Keep it far too hot for me. Hey I'm off to the Arctic this summer[^]. BTW I bought another soldering iron "Cold Heat" 1/2 price at Canadian Tire.

Look Mom! No burnt fingers!!

The snow, she does blow, ah keep it coming boys, the shovels plugged in and my gloves are handy.

Jim: I went onto clipart sights this afternoon and if you check it out you will find some nice, yet simple mountain scenes you can use for a logo. pssssst, hey Jim where' do ya think I got the lighthouse from

Ed: yes I was more than happy with Gary's decals and will have to place an order in the near future. Drop me a line and I'll give you details on his service. Once again I have you to thank.

Si: I have many fond memories of Toronto's Union Station.

Anyway I got little done today but that's OK as once I'm dug out tomorrow I'll have the rest of the day to myself.

Duke this one's on me. Cheers!

Speaking of which, where's Lupo?

Later Gents
Fergie