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

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning ! from Indiana. [:D]





Signal time !

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,
Haven't been through all the pages I missed since last week, and I'm going to miss more now as tomorrow we're off to Pocono. Birmingham went well except for some engine oil leaks and the occasional tornado.
Inch - and RT - glad to see you both up and about - hope the tests and surgery helped respectively. Got my annual physical yesterday and get to go for an ultrasound next week. At least that's easy.
Still pretty crazed at work trying to get the second batch of cars done so I really must be going cause I'm late I'm late I'm late. CUL, [:D] J.R.

[inch53]

MORNIN ALL, coffee please Zoe and a couple of Bill's donnuts

Hope ya'll haven a good day so far, Nice here, 47 now and looking for a high in the 80's latter. Chance of rain tonight..
Planing on some more outside work today and playin with the kids. Have to put a new fuel pump on the rider also, but that be late, when #3 son gets here with it. Sure be good to have it going again, makes life easier.

Scott , hope you have a good trip this weekend

Chuck , I'd never felt any thing like that weight before, almost scarry

Matt , checked out your link, keep us posted on your progress

Gmt , hope your ultrasound is'n't for anything serous, best of luck with it

With the help of Paul n Charlie, i've got rail images working here again. I had to change a couple settings on mine. Those two know their stuff
I'll get some more pics uploaded laters from the last road trip.
Well time for chores
inch

[inch53]

Ok , BELLY BOYS, another one on me, looks like

[Anonymous]

Good morning all,

Managed to get some more ballasting done last night & early this morning. I think I'm starting to hit my stride - I'm doing smaller (1ft), more manageable chunks of track at a time than the long stretches I tried to do before. Thanx Paul, Inch, ChuckNKathy, and Fergie for all your various formulas. I used straight alcohol and found that works quite well![:D] (Except when I used it to thin my Elmers - that made it 'curdle' like milk and lemon juice...![xx(][B)]) I'll pass on the india ink though - the prototype I'm modeling (both current and predecessor) used ballast that is very light-colored, and I'm already having a problem with it darkening too much when I cement it.

Trent - What era is the OJ tank car model your producing? If it's 1950's (like 90% of modelers I know) I'm afraid I can't use it on my pike...

Scott - Easy does it on the suntanning[:O]! If you're fair-skinned like me, your risk of skin cancer is much greater - don't make the same mistake of many in my generation. But aside from that, have fun in OC!

Fergie - sorry to hear about the 2-10-2 problems - hope you don't need to widen any of your curves to accommodate it...[:O]

Steve - I see you haven't posted over here in awhile. Hope you get that addition finished soon so you can get back to some serious train-runnin'!

. . .
I'm outta here, time to take my son to school!

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Paul W. Beverung



Fergie: Check my reply to your post. like I said I've had no trouble so far. My curves are very broad. They are over 36in and 38in on the main line.

36" ! must be nice. I'm hanging in on 22" But saying that I'm still able to keep the Engines on the main without mishaps. As I wrote last night Idid some filing and that seemed to help and the circuit board will be the next thing to go.

Well everyone not much on the go. Looks like rain this weekend so I'll be relegated to the basement... Oh darn[:D] But then again Lisa's talking spring cleaning[:(]

***: Stress test, you bet it's stressing me to the limit![:(!] Don't get me wrong this is a nice engine but the first die cast for Bachmann and by the looks of it it may have been made by a different "source" as the engineering is different. So there are teehing pains for sure.

Sun's Up, Time to make hay

Later Gents

Fergie

[pcarrell]

Morning all,

Just thought I'd share one last joke with you all.

Now understand, this one is kind of special to me as I work in the trouble dept. at the local phone company.


An elderly lady phoned her telephone company to report that her telephone failed to ring when her friends called -- and that on the few occasions when it did ring, her pet dog always moaned right before the phone rang. The telephone repairman proceeded to the scene, curious to see this psychic dog ....or the senile elderly lady. He climbed a nearby telephone pole, hooked in his test set, and dialed the subscriber's house. The phone didn't ring right away, but then the dog moaned loudly and the telephone began to ring. Climbing down from the pole, the telephone repairman found:

1. The dog was tied to the telephone system's ground wire via a steel chain and collar.

2. The wire connection to the ground rod was loose.

3. The dog was receiving 90 volts of signaling current when the phone number was called.

4. After a couple of such jolts, the dog would start moaning and then urinate on himself and the ground.

5. The wet ground would complete the circuit, thus causing the phone to ring.

Which goes to show that some problems can be fixed by pissing and moaning.

[rtraincollector]

morning all . Feel a lot better scince I've had a good nights sleep lol. Still don't know but know things will work out some how. will talk to you all later lots to do this am

[Cox 47]

Good morning all...Sunny and warm here....Since Mikes buying I'll have a double order of Biscuits and Gravey please....Well I'll throw my 2 cents in Its always been Breakfast, Dinner and Supper and if you have something for a snack thats called a piece.....Still not doing much on layout just to nice to stay in but I have got 1 DPM about 1/2 rebuilt

Mike....Glad tests came out good..and Ditto on that you just got to love them...

Trent...Put Sallie down for a load of Ed's OJ She's a big OJ fan I like it but it gives me the "burps"....

PC.....Thats a good one I gotta pass that along to a friend who works for the phone company.....

Well I hope you all are enjoying as nice a weather as we have here in East Central Illinois...Have a Good One....Jerry

[der5997]

Steve: Thinking about you on the loss of your friend. Please let his family know they are in our prayers too.

Mike:Glad the stress test went well. Congratulations on your release from CTQ!

QUOTE: Der you might try cutting a coffee can in half ( or just a piece of metal ) just big enough tolet the door open. but keep the birds away from it, and putting it over it , till after nesting season

…Yes, that would help, thanks. However, I’ve got to fix the flap as it’s needed to stop storm water being blown up into the vent pipe and out into the bathroom. Trust me, been there, done that, repainted![:D]

***:

QUOTE: Ahhhh , I see that Fergie calls it "Supper" at the evening meal also. I guess only the "socially elite" call it Dinner at the evening meal. I have only known it as Supper since boyhood.....

…We, and of course the Forum Smilie Codebook![dinner] [:O] [(-D]

QUOTE: Hey TRENT, have you considered making "orange juice" tankers from Ed's place in olde Mexico? I'll bet everyone in the CS would buy one, how about it ?

… In a heartbeat.[tup]

Trent:

QUOTE: Question for all---- do I need a rev. loop mgr. for each loop? I've heard that yes and also no. SSOO CONFUSED< MAKE IT STOP!!! lol

I’m running two loops on the same stationary decoder. The only thing I have to watch for is not to have two trains enter or leave the loops AT THE SAME TIME. The same would apply for any number of loops, Y’s or turntables, as far as I can see.[X-)] However, that said on the electronic side of the question, there is the consideration of physical wiring. My two reverse loops are stacked over each other. So the wiring is very simple as the power supplies to both are close together. If the two or more loops are further apart, like at the far ends of a dogbone layout, then it might be more convenient to use two decoders to simplify the wiring runs. Depends on available wire, and budgets I guess. Hope this helps.

OZJim:

QUOTE: supper/dinner arguement: well here we call it tea or dinner so supper doesnt even come into the equation.

…see, just as I suspected, civilization still holds out on the edges of the old Empire! [:o)] [:D]

Scott:

QUOTE: I can't wait. Maybe I'll tan this year, instead of come back lovely shades of pink, red, and purple.

Have a great trip, stay safe, and don’t forget the sun screen. Oh! And if you do burn, no photos please! [:P] [:o)]

CAMatt:[#welcome] back! Visitor #385 checking back here, thanks for the link. Quite the project you’ve got going there. And on a teen budget yet.[bow]

Fergie:

QUOTE: As I wrote last night Idid some filing and that seemed to help

…had to do some filing myself last night. My track cleaner car decided that it didn’t like going straight through a particular turnout, So I filed the stock rail to take the point rail better. Sort of worked, but there was still a decided “bump” as it went through. Closer examination revealed that the truck journal box (I think that’s what it’s called, I say the wheel bearing) was just grazing the horribly oversized black plastic turnout throw box on that particular (an Atlas) turnout. The Xacto knife fixed it in short order.[^]

PC: Moan!

Lunch time! I’m on my own today, so I’d better do something about it.[dinner]

TTFN

[Anonymous]

QUOTE:
The Amish Elevator

An Amish boy and his father were in a mall.

They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.

The boy asked, "What is this Father?"

The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, "Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don't know what it is."

While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat old lady in a wheel chair moved up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order.

Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous 24 year old blonde stepped out. The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son................

"Go get your mother."

[(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]

QUOTE: ...Which goes to show that some problems can be fixed by pissing and moaning.

[;)]

Real nice weather today, should be great for railfanning.[8D]

I'm heading out.

Cya later.

[sunsetbeachry]

Hi All.................

...............PC..........
Stop that !!!!!!!!!!!!! Kathy is still giggling................................

........................................Chuck........................

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon everyone, a balmy 70 here today and PC skies. The little Spring flies have made their appearance yesterday, so we will be pestered with those for a bit until they fly to NS when it gets too hot here. Get ready Luc, Fergie and John!!

PHIL Your joke about the dog isn't so far fetched as you think. When I was stationed at a Nike Missile Site back in 1960-62, the site that I was at had to have the radar vans on a high location to get above the ground clutter interference. So the vans were on made made hills, on top of a natural high area, and it was mostly raised high with gravel. In 1961 we had a very dry summer, and thus, we were having a lot of radar electonics problems that had not had the cause discovered yet. Well, there was this German Shepard called Rebel ( he belonged to a "lifer" from Tennessee ), who always was up on the hill at the radar stations. One day while I was out on the radar with the cover open trying to troubleshoot with the guy in the radar van, I saw the dog lift his leg and hose down the ground rod just outside the radar van. The poor dog let out one hellava yelp and ran off the hill like a mad cat was after him. Two things happened after that.....we discovered the source of our electrical problems ( we always kept the hose running on the ground rod in dry condtions, ) and, Rebel would never again come up the hill to the radar vans. As a male, I can only imagine what that poor dog felt. LOL

I see that Kathy and Chuck are feelin their oats.....nice to be like teenagers again right Kathy ? Ohh where did those years go!!! LOL

Ok, I just ate lunch, or was that dinner?, John...was that lunch or dinner in NS ?

See you guys later,

[SilverSpike]

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Good day all!

Got some catching up to do here so, here goes!

QUOTE: Another sign of to much time on yur hands. Ever wonder where you come out if you dug straight through the earth. You can find out here,,,,

http://www.digholes.com

Hey Inch, all my holes end up in the Indian Ocean. Thanks for the fun site!

QUOTE: How's this for a fridge magnet?

Hey Luct,Love the magnet!

QUOTE: I don't want to burst your bubble, but despite what you may have seen on the streets, the following combinations DO NOT go together and thus should be avoided:

1. A nose ring and bifocals
2. Spiked hair and bald spots
3. A pierced tongue and dentures
4. Miniskirts and support hose
5. Ankle bracelets and corn pads
6. Speedo's and cellulite
7. A belly button ring and a gall bladder surgery scar
8. Unbuttoned disco shirts and a heart
monitor
9. Midriff shirts and a midriff bulge
10. Bikinis and liver spots
11. Short shorts and varicose veins
12. In-line skates and a walker
.
Please keep these basic guidelines foremost in your mind when you shop

Inch, Great list, I will print it out and paste on the refer to remind all the neighborhood kids what happens when the ravages of time catch up with your body.

QUOTE: Cherokee Wisdom.....

The old Cherokee chief sat in his hut on the reservation,
smoking the Ceremonial pipe, eyeing the US government officials sent to
interview him. "Chief Two Eagles," one official began, "You have observed the
white man for 90 years.
You have observed his wars and his material wealth. You have seen his
progress and the damage he has done." The chief nodded that this was so. The official
continued, "Considering all these events, in your opinion, Where did the
white man go wrong?"

The chief stared at the government officials for over a minute, and then
Calmly replied, "When white men found the land, Indians were running it. No taxes.
No debt. Plenty buffalo. Plenty beaver. Women did all the work. Medicine man
free. Indian man spends all day hunting and fishing, all night in tent with
women." The chief leaned back and smiled, "White man dumb enough to think he
could Improve system like that."

PCarrell, I have seen that one before, and it is great. I have a feeling that eventually one day (many, many, many moons from now) civilization in North America my actually approach that way of life again.

Also, great Amish joke! Love it!

Hey dekruif, Love that image of the Southern engine #7071, and others! Let’s see more Southern!

QUOTE: Appears I wasn't mixing enough liquid detergent with my pre-soak water for the ballast yesterday, that's why it kept beading and eroding my carefully-manicured mounds. Increasing the soap density helped but it didn't totally eliminate the problem. I guess a lot of my discomfort results from knowing that this is a "fate-sealing" task - any tracklaying defects that I have not yet discovered will become permanent or, at the very least, 100 times more difficult to correct, once the ballast hardens.

QUOTE: Managed to get some more ballasting done last night & early this morning. I think I'm starting to hit my stride - I'm doing smaller (1ft), more manageable chunks of track at a time than the long stretches I tried to do before. Thanx Paul, Inch, ChuckNKathy, and Fergie for all your various formulas. I used straight alcohol and found that works quite well! (Except when I used it to thin my Elmers - that made it 'curdle' like milk and lemon juice...! ) I'll pass on the india ink though - the prototype I'm modeling (both current and predecessor) used ballast that is very light-colored, and I'm already having a problem with it darkening too much when I cement it.

Ken, Good luck with the ballasting. Sounds like you have a handle on what the issue is and how to fix it though! Also sounds like you are making progress on the layout too! Also, how about a current photo of that ballast, I am curious about the light colored look.

[#welcome] Back Steve and good luck on the allergies! Sorry to hear about your co-worker, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your friend’s family.

Cheers,

Ryan

[pcarrell]

grayfox,

OUCH!!!!!

[TrainFreak409]

Howdy howdy howdy, a warm welcome from the one and only Bose in H-Town, Maryland.

There is nothing like a Chick-Fil-A lemonade on a day in the 70s like this one.[:D]

Inch, Ken, & Der: Don't worry guys, I'll have fun. And I never really leave the hotel without wearing some sort of sun protection. It's usually SPF 35 or so...But last time, I even burned with that on...Maybe I should boost it up to about SPF 1K...?[:p] I'd like to tan at least once in my life however...I've never been able to do so before.[:(] It may be too big of a difference to even recognize myself.[;)]

Welp, lunch break is almost over. I'll talk to y'all later. If not tonight, then next time when a get a chance on Monday.

Peace out![:D]

[Anonymous]

Well, I didnt catch the IANR today[:(]. But I got 3 more PENTREX train tapes at the library for $1 each[8D].

Hey I've got a quick Q for you guys- I'm going to paint a pair of undec Spectrum GP30s and was wondering if I should primer them before painting?

It's hot today... 83 to be exact[:0]. Well, I turned on a ceiling fan for the first time this year and the light is shaking so I'd better go fix that.

Cya.

[steveblackledge]

Hello Folks,
just a quick one for me
Glad the test's went well guys,
I will go and see my friend Glynn's family next week, they are picking up the pieces of this tragic event very slowley, poor soul's.

As for Suppertime being at lunchtime, dinnertime or what ever, over here lunchtime is around 10am dinnertime at noon, teatime is at 5pm and suppertime is at 10pm
but if you go down south lunchtime is at dinnertime dinner is at teatime and they don't have a clue what teatime is

[pcarrell]

Breakfast, lunch & dinner here in Indianapolis. Back in Maine it's breakfast, Dinner, supper.

[JPowell]

Evening Ken... Come sit for a spell while I read up on the happenings here in the CS!

JP

[Anonymous]

Hi gang,

Just my usual short-blast before doing the Beltway 500:

Inch, glad you got your RailImages working again. I've started using PhotoBucket because 1) The image management software is more user-friendly and 2) because they do NOT clobber your original image filename and replace it with "abc.whatever". Might want to check them out...

Fergie - looks like you and the new Bachman are beginning to "understand each other"[:)]

Steve - By Glynn's "family" do you mean his kids? I thought his wife walked out on him and that's what started this whole ugly mess...

Phillip - Better not let the PITA people get hold of that story...[(-D]

Ryan - thanx for the feedback on the ballasting, apparently the goblins aren't finished with me yet - now it looks like the ballast is expanding after I pour on the Elmers. When I walked in this morning all the ties were obscured by stone, the rail tops were barely visible [:O]. I know that ballast was below tie-top level when I first applied it last nite! I need to figure out a way to grind away the excess somehow...

derJohn, at least you can learn from my mistakes! <LOL>

Oh hi JP, here have my seat I'm just leaving...
. . .
C-ya!

[JPowell]

Evening all -
Well, KenL was in here when I turned the page, but seems he must have been on the way 'out the door' as I was taking a seat in the corner booth. Ya wanna know something.... This corner booth...man is it great! Especially when there's non-stop action on the mains outside that big bay window! [yeah][tup][^][:)]

Before I get too far along with this post, a quick '[#welcome]' to the newbies and ' [angel]' prayers to those that need them... (Steve)

Well, I got my MRP 2003 issue today! [:)][^][tup][tup] Not sure how much you all know about the space I'm going to work with for a layout, but this MRP 2003, has 9 bookshelf layouts in it. Not all are in MY scale (HO) but atleast a few are, and the one's that are not, do give me some ideas to possibly incorporate into one that I will build. Best thing is, I've already got the tops to 2 2'x4' tables built. All I need to do is put the legs on, build in some shelves,and cover the 'sides and back to enclose the shelves. Already have the foam and paint for the base, and other things for scenery and buildings.

Before I forget...Luc, you never did answer me as to if the daughter is single or not....!!!!!!!!!

[#offtopic] ***, Ed - Go Sox! But I think they may need to rethink the use of Wells! He's too old to be a starter and may be better suited for use as a middle reliever! Ugh that kills me to think they would even start him after his poor peformance in Pawtucket last week! [soapbox] .......

We now resume your normal scheduled programing for this network! We appologize for any inconvience this may have caused you during this brief outrage about poor pitching from a money hoarding crybaby! [:D]

Ok all - time for me to get going and grab some dinner and get more work done (yes, I am working 2-11:30pm today) covering for a co-worker who took the day off to get some yard work done at his homestead.

Oh and ***...as for Dinner or Supper? Does not matter in my family...they both mean food is ready to be eaten! [:D]

Take care all!

JP

[inch53]

Evening all, a barley pop Cleo please,
I can sure tell the grandkids are here. Haven't had much of a chance to post today, for some one on here or needing something. Not much done round here today, I let the kids all play, didn't figure they do much without a fight anyhow. Did get the rider going, turned out to be a fuel line cracked. Glad I found it before buying the new pump. So tomorrow is a work day if it doesn't rain to much tonight.

DER , I'm like you, fix flap first. I hate fixing water damage.

PC luved the joke. Had some thing close to that happen, crossing an elecetric fence. Talk about a wake call

Ken L , I was going to look at photo bucket any how, but I think it'll be a closer look this time. Glad your ballasting coming along Ok now

Heres a pic from the last road trip down By Linton, Ind



think they both could use some repair.

tall for now , bed time
inch

[inch53]

I'll be @#$#%^&**(*(&

SET"EM UP!!! CLEO another one on me. Sure glad Mothers jewerly buisnees is going Ok.

Hey Cleo maybe we work out a trade here

[der5997]

***:

QUOTE: Ok, I just ate lunch, or was that dinner?, John...was that lunch or dinner in NS ?

…Lunch in the remnants of the old Empire, [dinner] elsewhere.[:o)]

Ding:

QUOTE: Hey I've got a quick Q for you guys- I'm going to paint a pair of undec Spectrum GP30s and was wondering if I should primer them before painting?

If I were doing it, I’d wonder if the basic plastic colour was too dark to be covered over by the paint in a couple of coats.If so, I'd primer. If not, I wouldn't. I don’t like losing detail underneath layers of paint.
If the plastic is very shiny, then a primer coat may be necessary so the paint can get a grip.

UKSteve:

QUOTE: over here lunchtime is around 10am

That would be coffee time here.[:D] Tea time would be 3:00 p.m.
Your 5:00 Teatime wouldn’t feature here (I remember it being called High Tea by my parents, and it could be quite a meal.) We agree on suppertime being 10:00 p.m (or later) [dinner]

The digital camera stopped working again, so now has been replaced. On sale at Staples, a Kodak C330. compared to the previous one, it’s composed entirely of bells and whistles [:O] I’m trying to figure out how to focus close ups with the x3 optical and x5 digital zoom. [D)] [X-)] Results so far unprintable!
Bedtime once more. Our prayers for those in need of healing and comfort (and Ken my guess would be that’s almost certainly Glynn’s wife as well as the kids ) [angel] God Bless.

[Paul W. Beverung]

Good Evening All:

Welcome to train284. Have a whatever on me and tell us more about yourself. We are a nosy bunch here. What scale do you model in? What era? etc.

Ken: Glade to hear that you have the ballasting thing under control. I think that one needs to have more penitration than soap will give. I've noticed that the ballast on my first modual is breaking up on the surface. The ballast under that is still loose and not a bit of glue.

Well I'm going to head for bed. No MRRing today. We did alot of leaf racking and dead limb triming. I hauled two full loads of leaves to the manure pile. That is with a 12'x 6'6" trailer. Luckly the trailer has a dump unit so I didn't have to shovel the stuff out.

Good Night All

[pcarrell]

QUOTE: Originally posted by inch53


PC luved the joke. Had some thing close to that happen, crossing an elecetric fence. Talk about a wake call

Now that there is what you call an attention getter!

QUOTE:


think they both could use some repair.

Now that there is what you call an attention getter! [;)]

WOW, how often do ya get to use the same comment twice?

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by KenLarsen


Fergie - looks like you and the new Bachman are beginning to "understand each other"[:)]

Well... Uhmm.... No![:(!]

Removed the circuit board and the darn thing "crashed" . So time to raise the stales and do a "Class 1" retro. Stay tuned!

Fergie

[TrainFreak409]

Good late evening again everyone.

I thought I would drop in to say that I hope that everyone has a safe, fun, and overall pleasing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; since I won't be on those days. Hi-ho, hi-ho, to OC I will go.

[:D] See you all Monday. [:D]

[Anonymous]

Quick stop tonight, but thought I'd say that it depends who i'm talking too-if Mom's around it's Breakfast lunch dinner, because she's a city girl (grew up in a town of 15,000. If it's anyone else it's breakfast dinner supper, because we're not from the city (grew up outside of a town of 500).

Greg