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

[Fergmiester]

Boy has it slowed down or what! I think it's time to pick up the pace and get posting!

Inch Great news on the Grandson! Always nice when the kids shine through.

RT: Ever wonder why they call it the stress test? Exactly! Keep it cool and think nice thoughts. Take a copy of MR with you and dream of that layout you always wanted. Too bad MR doesn't have a centre fold. Then again all those Steam engines might get one excited and raise the old BP!

Later all

Fergie

[waltersrails]

http://ztrainman.tripod.com/

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon gents, I see that everyone is doing fine. It is a chilly 35F today and partly cloudy, but the air is very envigorating.

INCH53 Mike, I see you are on the same duty as I today, I have 2 month old Sean today for a few hours, just gave him 6 ounces and a diaper change. AND, congrats on your grandson!!!!!! Lets hope the young man goes on to nationals, we can then see him on TV!!!
As for layout, I am doing pretty much the same, 40's and 50's, but I think I will go hybrid and have some scenes olden days and some modern with new locos. It will be called, " back to the future" I guess, LOL

HAWKS05 wow 28" , I guess you guys are getting all the snow this year, we have had about 74" since last November, which is just average for central MA. We have forest fire alerts here now, it has been so dry, and the snow pack has all melted weeks ago. The Robins are all over the ground already, very early for them.

DINGOIX I think we all have in some ways, hybrid layouts. It is tough not allowing oneself to run steam with those engines, or, not allowing oneself to run modern Diesel. I guess I'm like a kid in a candy store, I like it all, the old, the mid and the new. So I guess the trains will run through scenes of each period of time, we can do that can't we?

PCARRELL Thanks Phil, what is more comforting is the fact that no need to do this agin for 10 years and by then they will have a perfected the camera in pill form that you will swallow and the camera will take videos all through your system. Now isn't that a better way to go? I hope the reception is not too s....y LOL

GMTRacing J.R. , I love steam too much not to do the 40's also. I can remember the big steamers coming up the Main from CT to Worcester, Mas through Oxford , Ma where my grandfathers house was, right in front of the tracks. I would sit on the banking and watch those trains all day. But I love the new Diesel too, so , I have to do a hybrid layout.

TROLLEY ROB I will NEVER look at a saugage the same way again, and I have lost my appetite for sausage for a while too, maybe a long time. LOL

Later,

[pcarrell]

inch!,

Congrats on the grandson! I missed that when I was reading earlier, shame on me!

[JPowell]

Your Attention, Please. Attention in the Coffeeshop.....

Fergie and Noah - Your presence is requested in the Virtual Interchange Office immediately!

That is all.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Hawks!! It's good to see you back!! Boy, it has been a long time since I've seen you around. It sounds like things have been going okay for you at least. Do you get out to railfan much? I finally made it up there last fall with a buddy to railfan La Crosse and the River with the BNSF, CP, and ICE, and it's a really great area to catch trains. Weather permitting I might be heading back up there this weekend too.

Hopefully you won't be such a stranger around here anymore!

JP, I'll be over there in a minute or two.....

Noah

[Anonymous]

Hi.

I just thought you might enjoy this photo a friend emailed me

That should bring a smile or two....

Inch - Great news, Congrats.

RT - Hope the test goes/went well.

Back later

Happy MRRing

[trolleyboy]

Afternoon folks just a quick pop in for me this aft.Gotta get back to the benchwork as it doesn't seem to want to build itself [sigh]

Inch Great news about your grandson ! Won't he be excited once he finds out.

*** I've given up on suassage as well, when we do buy it we get the low fat turkey or chicken version [dinner] I'm guessing that the "tunnel" and "hind end" type jokes will now soon subside for you, coarse maybe not with this group. LOL

Luc Great picture !

Catch everyone later

Rob

[Cox 47]

Afternoon all..Sunny and warm here today...I'll have a butterscotch shake and onion rings please...Had a small burst of energy yesterday and got the rest od my back drop in and painted...Got my IC decals from Great Decals today so I can start painting and decaling Ic hoppers..Great decals is a good place to order from decals are good and shipping is fast and very cheap...

Mike...Congrats on the Grandson he must take after Grandpap...Are you going to train show in C/U this weekend?

Ding..Thanks for info on IC grey cabooses...Have you ever seen pictures of any of the Eastern style cabooses that the IC leased from the Pen Central X Pennsy You can make a model of one from The old Tyco train set caboose all you have to do is cut roof and turn an center cupalow [sp]...Rmc ran article on it at one time..Makes a interesting conversation piece

Hawk..Carefull out shoveling all that snow!!

You all have a good rest of the day....Jerry

[Anonymous]

PAGE 1000 contest update

Flip - March 1
KenM - March 3
luct, TallDude - March 4
manofwar - March 5
Jim in Cape - March 6
Attaboy - March 8
*** - March 9
trolleyRob - March 10
JP - March 11
Kathy - March 12
Noah, Chuck - March 13
Duke - March 14
RT - March 15
Deuce - March 16
pc - March 17
OZJIM - March 18
steveblackledge - March 19
Jerry, Trent - March 20
Fergie - March 21
Greg - March 22
KenL - March 24
Gman - March 25
Paul - March 27
dhilyer - March 28
inch - March 29
JR - March 30
nsscot - April 1
Phisig3 - April 2
Ed - April 3
Scott - April 5
der John - April 6
dekruif - April 7
stripes2 - April 8
TrainsRMe - April 10
avidham73 - April 15

We have reached the cutoff page, page 965. No more entries accepted.

I will post this from time to time and update to the post date.

Good Luck.

The winner will get to help out Elliot!!!!!!

[rtraincollector]

Well all heres whats what on me and my never ending heath situation I did 10 minutes on the stress test doc said that was good. But (I always had a hate for those BUT) he feels I should get an implanted Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD). which means probally 1 to 2 weeks no work 3 - 4 days no driving(top it off wife can't drive because of eyes but not legally blind.) no lifting over 5 - 10 LBS for 2 - 4 weeks.

Well other than that not much happening today . Been talking (more like hashing it over) it over all day till the point I'm tired of talking about it but she still wants to talk about it some more. Told her give it a break for tonight. enough is enough!

Still haven't heard from daveJ611 so if anybody does let me know.

Take care for a now all

Oh chole as promise I'll have the baked salmon dinner with green beans and 2 corn muffins thank- you

[james saunders]

howdy all, im planning a trip to the LHS tomorrow and will probably walk out with a P2K SD60 when i plan to buy a few freight cars and some cork. [:)] if not an SD60 a BNSF liveried locomotive [:)] or a BN white face OoO choices [:p][:D][8D]


PC - you beat me to that suggestion [^][;)]


Luct - awesome pic [8D]

INCH - congrats on the G'son

ALL in the CS post faster so we get to 1000 pages before tomorrow [:D][:D]

well ill catch you guys later, and ill let you know what i return with from the LHS...

OZJIM[:D]

[TrainsRMe1]

A round of drinks for the whole coffee shop on me Zoe, errr send the check to UP just kiddin' Congrats "Inch"

[wetidlerjr]

Good Evening ! from Indiana. [:D]

[Anonymous]

Hey RT, I would get a second opinion on the difib unit. That's just my opinion..... but I wouldn't wait too long to get the second opinion. Glad the stress test went without any serious situations.

Have a good evening everyone !!!

[Attaboy]

Evening all, thought I would drop by for a root beer float.

***, you're probably generally right about the locos and time periods. Just don't forget the prime directive of model railroading - it's your railroad, do what you want. If someone complains, show them the door. I plan to model a late 40s to early 50s narrow gauge with a connection to a standard gauge line. If a friend shows up with a modern diesel to run that engine will experience a time warp and run. I'd rather be unprototypical and have friends than a be a stickler for details and run alone.

Inch, congrats to the grandson, hope he keeps going.

It's good to see some folks returning after a long absence. And the new folks too.

Time to go, I have a really slow connection tonight for some reason and don't want to push my luck.

[der5997]

Adam: that’s a really neat shot through the door![tup]

Duke:

QUOTE:

QUOTE: I won’t put the work crew in however, just suggest they are on a break

Paul’s idea is good and you could put them off to the side on a bench or as some places have,a picnic table set out for the employees to take a break and/or lunch at

…How embarrassing to have to admit that, while I agree with you and Paul, I just don’t have the personnel to put there. [:I]

QUOTE: I think I have to show the rotten boards darker

That would be a very good touch

[Paul W. Beverung]

Well, almost two full pages since last night. That may through off some of the estimates for the date of making the 1000th.

Did I miss something? I probably did. I'm modeling the era of 1953. I may pin it down even further but I have to do alittle more research on some diesels. In my case I have to check on the dates of use for some of the lake boats that I'd like to use at the ore dock. I just may have to move the launching of the Aurther B. Homer ( sister ship of the Fitzgerald). I'd do the Fitz, but everyone does it. Actually as we say "It's our world".

Luct: A second openion might be a good idea. At least you'ed be sure and not worry.

The fires are still burning inn the Panhandle. Over 800,000 acres now and 11 deaths. It's supposed to rain this weekend. We are going to cancel our part of the display at Clark Gardens. Two of the group are down sick and I can't see that it is worthwhile to set up and break down and load all that stuff in the rain. The weather guessers are in agrement for a change. Rain starting Friday afternoon with a 60% chance for Saturday and 80% chance Sunday.

I called Walthers yesterday about my order for 100 data only ore cars. The lady there said about 1 Jun maybe. Well that will be ok as the price was so low. It's well worth waiting for.

Well I guess I'll head for bed. Good Night All

[philnrunt]

Paul- You don't know how excited it makes me to hear about the ore cars, sounds like you are well on your way to getting that look of the ore roads down. Long drags of ore cars are sooooo neat. Did you see the rr featured in the '91 or 92 Great Model RRs? It was an N scale Great Northern line, his trains were all of the 50-60 car length, and the scenery was excellent. I was just reading it the other day, having dug out all of my old copies, except (of course) the one I was looking for. I have a copy of Know Your Ships from 1972, if you need me to try to find the info on the Homer. I imagine you have all that figured out already, what with the internet and all. Or just wait, Ed will come up with the launch date, crew roster, and what they had for dinner the first week.

A few weeks ago I answered some questions about what was in the latest edition of Garden Railways, and won a PDF download of my choice. Pretty neat, huh? These Kalmbach folks take good care of us. The planning for the indoor G scale line is coming along well, Amy is setting up a place in our trainshop to do shallow front buildings, and I am getting ready to order some wheelsets and Kadees for the cars I have. Wish I could get them for the price of the HO ones, but it ain't a gonna happen.

Ed- Just think- the next time you run a unit train of OJ tanks north, as soon as my line interchanges with them their volumn will increase by....well, whatever the ratio is for N to G. Lots and lots, thats for sure.

Seems like there's always alot of health talk here in the CS, I have an eye dr's appt today ( Friday) and it looks like I'm gonna need prescription glasses, these reading ones just dont do the trick these days. Gonna try to wait until after the big trip in April, need to save the cash for it. Don't want to drop them in the ocean either. That would be bad.

Just thought I'd try to catch up, you guys sure are prolific, like Paul said, lots of pages in a very short time, can't read 'em all, but this is still a great place to visit!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: 1. If you do a layout of a certain period, you more than likely will be staying with the locomotives of that era. So, if you are doing the 40's, you will have mostly steam, and maybe a couple of Diesels, but certainly none of the nice new Diesels.

2. If you are doing modern age, like the 70's on up, you can have all the nice Diesels, especially the new ones coming out, but Steam would only be Scenic runs.

Maybe I already answered this, but o well. I'm modeling a freelance IC in 2006. Before that I planned to model CGW in 1968 (i still might; but I think I like modern stuff too much) It was going to be accurate equipment for '68 too. I still LOVE the idea of modeling an exact year in the past, but man I love this modern stuff too. I might have a sliding era BUT the rolling stock will be too modern for '68 because I can't affoard 2 sets of rolling stock yet.[xx(]

[inch53]

evenin alls, can I have a slice of that apple pie and a coffee Cleo,
Alls, quiet here , no wife or grandkids tonight or tomorrow, well till tomorrow evening when Mother gets home from Schamburge.
Got my brass Mantu engine today that I bought off Ebay from a guy [Bruce] I know over to Marshall. Man it's an old one, still need to get it running and find a grill along with some odds and ends, but it's sure different from every thing else I have. i'll try n get a pic up this weekend. I'll most likely selve it for now till I get some other projects done and find some parts. Bruce thinks he has a couple steam engines i can get cheap as long as he gets to run them once in awhile here. RT, you'd like him, ex -marine and going with O scale

Grayfox , baby sitting is 4 plus days a week here. KC is 4 months now, Jbirds 20 months, Leroy 's now 4 , and Jocko 5, she's in school half day now and then there's Herman 9, he's here after school and the one that won the poster contest. so I have plenty of dirty diapers and cartoons all day. In the summer there might be 5 or 6 of the other grandkids here. Seems to some thing bout grand ma / grand pa's house being fun

LUCT , liked the photo

Jerry , we're going to skip C/U this weekend, don't really have the money. Theres also one in Springfield Sunday that I'd like to have gone to. WE are going up to Rockome next month, I've already told the CFO and put it on the calender, and I even cut back on Ebay

RT , Glad to hear you got through the test with out a overnight stay. My little brother has had one of those ICD for 10 years now and not to much problem

Paul , to bad bout the show and all, but am sure glad y''ll are geting some rain down that way.

bout it fur now, think I'll get a shower and play in the train room somemore, not very tired for some reason
inch

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning ! from Indiana. [:D]

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,
Regular to go please Zoe. Sunny but cold out this morning. Have the Excursion plugged in to warm the oil (diesel) so I can use it later for errands. I did ascertain that one can fit a 4' x 4' sheet of thin plywood into a Ford Focus, but only with great difficulty. Thankfully no-one was around with a camera or I'd have made funniest home videos.

Inch - Congrats on the grandsons prize and good luck to him when he advances. I hope you get a shot of the brass loco before it becomes shelf bound. Sounds interesting.

Jerry - Way to go with the backdrop. Let us know how the decals come out. What Tyco caboose did they use for the conversion? I must have six different ones from back then. I may have enough cabeese that I could model the private car train they run in New Hampshire with one pullman and about a dozen privately restored cabeese. Helps to have put up a door to the train room to bar the cat from the room. Cut down on the wreckage and way down on cat hair fouling the running gear. I left a little portal on the adjacent staircase and it will still poke it's head through and watch the trains run butit can't get into the room.

James - good luck on the shopping trip. How is the shelf system coming and were you able to salvage the corner and embankment you had?

Philnrunt - now that you can answer all the questions, how are the plans going? Will you break ground in the spring?

*** - I agree for the hills in New England it would be hard to top a hard working steam engine for visuals, but I remember the early diesels (vaguely anyway) and prefer the variety of designs found at the start of that era. Perhaps once i get a steamer with sound that will change, but for now a couple of steam locomotives on the roster (ok four) suit me fine.

Time to pick up tools. CUL,[:D] J.R.

[Anonymous]

Good morning from Tupelo, MS !!! Zoe, I'll have a cup of good hot, black Joe !

[pcarrell]

QUOTE: Originally posted by luct

PAGE 1000 contest update

Flip - March 1
KenM - March 3
luct, TallDude - March 4
manofwar - March 5
Jim in Cape - March 6
Attaboy - March 8
*** - March 9
trolleyRob - March 10
JP - March 11
Kathy - March 12
Noah, Chuck - March 13
Duke - March 14
RT - March 15
Deuce - March 16
pc - March 17
OZJIM - March 18
steveblackledge - March 19
Jerry, Trent - March 20
Fergie - March 21
Greg - March 22
KenL - March 24
Gman - March 25
Paul - March 27
dhilyer - March 28
inch - March 29
JR - March 30
nsscot - April 1
Phisig3 - April 2
Ed - April 3
Scott - April 5
der John - April 6
dekruif - April 7
stripes2 - April 8
TrainsRMe - April 10
avidham73 - April 15

We have reached the cutoff page, page 965. No more entries accepted.

I will post this from time to time and update to the post date.

Good Luck.

The winner will get to help out Elliot!!!!!!

And next up on the chopping block we have......

Morning all,

Just popped in to say hey. Off to a busy day!

Prayers for all have been offered.

Later.....[8D]

[grayfox1119]

Good marnin to aulll the Irish members of the Coffee Shop, the top of the marnin to ye aull. ( hey, I'm sorry, I'm of Canadian French ancestry, about 3 generations back near Valleyfield, just south of Montreal.....I don't speak good Irish brogue )
It is beautiful here today, clear blue skies, grass is starting to turn green, and it is 30F and no wind.

INCH53 Mike, your ranch sounds like ours a few years ago. We had 8 grandkids here every day at 6am until 5pm. Yup, there is something about Grandpa and Grandma's house isn't there?

PAUL Yes, we have watching those fires on local TV stations out of Boston, as well as the Weather Channel. A lot of acreage has been burned, but it looks like "some" relieve in the form of showers is on the way for this weekend. I wonder how many Rattlesnakes are now toast? The way those flames were spreading in the wind, I can't see too many creatures out-running them.

DER JOHN Ok, that answered my question regarding the TT and engine house. Your latest pictures show great progress being made, I wish I was at that point....ohhh well.

I ordered John Armstrong's book on layouts as well as a couple of other good books, they have a great sale on them at Amazon, $15 new, or $5 used...can't beat that. Every little piece of info is good when planning a layout I feel. You pick out one idea here and another idea there, etc. If you choose standard delivery, 5-10 days, the shipping is FREE. I can wait a few more days.

Ok, back to work, coffee break is over, talk later guys,

[sfrailfan]

Good Morning All!

I just noticed how popular this post is. I agree it's nice to come here and just say hi. Great way to make friends and keep in touch. I quit drinking coffee last year because I was too addicted but will have a cup of tea or whatever. I am happy train guy today, it's Friday and our Train Club meets tonight! —chooch!

[Cox 47]

Good morning all...Partly cloudy and cool here..I'll have the breakfast special with coffee...Thanks....I plan to to get the layout back running today its been down all week while I got back drop in...Hope to paint and decal 1st hopper this weekend have 8 to do...Saturday gotta go to a fish fry for my mother-in laws birthday..

RT..Take it easy and do what the DR. says...

John..Layout is looking good....Keep us posted

Paul...Wow!! thats gonna be a ore train..What you gonna pull it with? You gonna buy loads fpr it or make your own?

Mike...Same with us hope to go to Rock Home and take Grand Girls next month..Did Deb get caught in the snow on her trip North?

GMT....I am not sure what they called that Tyco caboose but it was the one that came with most of the low end train sets and you could pick them up for not much of anything..I had a couple in the junk box as most Ho ers did..I would'nt think it would be to hard to find I think the proto type was a Pennsy...

You all have a good one ..Jerry

[Anonymous]

Hi all

Not a huge amount happening here, at the moment I’m redoing the lighting on some G scale coaches so they have onboard pickups rather than a wire leading to the loco. I think this is why I like the metre gauge stuff – the lights are factory fitted so there’s no need to use a soldering iron close to expensive plastics!

Rob, they should be relatively easy to do although working out the centre pivot will take a little trial and error. One article about building similar stock from a kit suggested that the pivot plates have slots where they screw into the coach floor so they can be adjusted for different curves, I’ll aim for it to handle Hornby R2 curves which are about 18in I think.

John, the Hornby Dublo model came out in late 1938 or 39 and for obvious reasons production stopped in 1940. Unlike most of the rest of the range it didn't reappear after the war. They go for up to £500 in good condition now hence my desire to build a modern version. The LNER used a fair number of articulated sets – they had two three-unit artic restaurant cars built (1st, kitchen, 3rd) for the Flying Scotsman and the Coronation Scot used twin-unit articulated cars. The Dublo one looks to have been based on a Gresley steel-bodied pair that appeared at about the same time as the model – even though these were steel the LNER spent a fortune on having very effective mock-teak paintwork done so they matched the other coaches of the era, such cars were being outshopped even in 1940. One of the suburban Quad-art sets is preserved and undergoing restoration – website here: http://www.mandgn.co.uk/quadart.html

Bye for now

[steveblackledge]

Just a quick one for me,
Inch congrats on the grandson front
Matt i wish i could get some modelling work done, i'm sick of looking at brick's and dust and all the other stuff you get during house building

Everyone have a COLD brown ale on my tab (if your old enough that is) otherwise get the ginger beer's in