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

[jdolan]

I have a job watching the creek next to the house tonight. Right now it is running bank full ,but since the house is only 15 feet from the bank, it could be surrounded by water by morning. Needless to say we don't have a basement, train layout is in family room on second floor. Water hasn't been a problem in the last 10 years, but weather is weird this year.

[GDRMCo]

Hi all coffee clubbers. I just finished drawing up some of GDRMCo's locomotives that will be on the layout. There are three different paint schemes for each of the different locomotives. Ore Black for cab units, Queensland Maroon and Yellow for hood units and Great Dividing Range Green and Creme for switchers. So far I have completed a Ore Black PA-2 and a GDR Green and Creme S-4. Here they are:
PA-2: http://www.railimages.com/albums/micklegg/afj.gif
S-4: http://www.railimages.com/albums/micklegg/afk.gif
Hope you like them and any comments will be appreciated.
Mitchell

[der5997]

Lawrence: Kris says that's a fabulous name for a dog, and I second the motion!

Going back 2 pages at a time from page 226 I found a lupo post on page 216 or 214 ( I forget which now). The date was Dec 29th. Shook me a bit, has it really been that long? Anyway, sent him a note.

[PennsyHoosier]

[#oops], meant to say "hi" to saskred and forgot. So [#welcome] friend. Be sure and post like you're voting in Chicago--early and often. [;)]

Hey der, did you like "Yes, Prime Minister"? That is the sequel to the early "Yes, Minister." Frankly, I think "Yes, Minister" is the simply the BEST TV PROGRAM EVER! I have the complete set of Minister and Prime Minister. I watch them constantly. HILARIOUS!

I told my daughter I would buy her a dog on one condition--that I could name it Sir Humphrey Appleby. She was desperate enough to agree. [:D]

Take care all. I have to shut down before the big storms clobber us. G'night!

[der5997]

[#welcome] saskred: Please don't drip on the carpet as Elliot our beloved founder gets awful upset at that sort of thing [(-D] I'm up the shore from Fergie and luct in Nova Scotia, and yes, so far as we can tell, there's no-one in here as pretty as Lacy. (Big_Girl hasn't shown up for a while, so is virtually invisible [:D])

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

TrolleyRob

QUOTE: By the way that boiled down coffee would make a good rock stain' I've seen it happen on the old club layout

However, if you want to model a peat operation (as I did on the Athabasca and Western in the HOn21/2 section) then coffee grounds are the exact thing you need for the piles of peat.

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

Ed: PBS stations in the States may be a source for VHS versions of some of those Brit shows. They give them out as incentives for membership drives, and would likely sell them too. We've just watched "Yes Prime Minister", on a PBS station this evening.

I'll see if I can find lupo's last post, and email him.

Goodnight all, and God Bless.

[PennsyHoosier]

Evening friends,

Work is INSANE! This was supposed to be an easy time, and I just got home from the office a couple of minutes ago. After 10:00 p.m. eastern. No time to do anything fun. [:(!][:(!][:(!][:(!][:(!][:(!][:(!][:(!][:(!]

And then there's the weather. I just checked the radar )and we're about to get clobbered by a strong thunderstorm. THUNDERSTORM in northern Indiana in January! Two weeks ago it was -15 fahrenheit. Then ice storm, now thunderstorm.

The only good thing is that I'll be going to Alabama Friday, just about the time the cold weather returns.

Poor Phil. Take care, buddy. Good to see that you're making the best you can of it.

G-night, all! (Gotta be at work at 6:30 a.m. [:(!]

[Fergmiester]

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

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

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

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

Bob: as always it's a pleasure!

Saskred: welcome to our Coffee Shop. This ain't the Ruby and you won't find any of us as pretty as Lacy. But we can talk!

Later Gents
Fergie

[trolleyboy]

Hey guy's I ran out of the wood friendly glue so I've stopped trying to recesitate that old van for now so I thought I'd come in and hang for a while.[8D] To our new frozen Canuck in Sask[#welcome] come on in and enjoy the fun and our hot liquids just don't drink the stuff I make though cause *** thinks it's to strong[:O] I was just trying to keep him awake while he works on his train room[swg] By the way that boiled down coffee would make a good rock stain' I've seen it happen on the old club layout [:O] took several layers of ground foam to cover, after that we put in bylaw banning food and drink from the layout area. Catch you all later Rob

[GDRMCo]

TurboOne: First I gotta consult the CFO's on wether or not I can rearange my bedroom with the bed in the middle and a layout around the outside.
der5997: The grades will be used to get the trains over the dresser and short bookshelf.
I will scan the layout trackplan when our scanner starts working.
And could I get a deep fried chocolate expresso with two spoonfuls of sugar and 500ml of milk with a gingernut cookie crumbed and mixed in. Got to go. I'm currently working on a PS2 game design that my friend and I are working on. Mitchell

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Coffee Clubbers!

Please pass the OJ, and I'll take a cup of the mocha after that.

Teffy, I think what I'm gonna have to do is clear all the boxes out to the walls and use the floor and the dining room table (lay out all the goodies and figure which details, etc. to use with which building). Looking at the pricetags on the stuff, part of me is wondering where I got all the money - but the other part of me is grateful that I set it back (until now)!

Hey, jay_c - I don't use MIE (M.Internet Exploder) at all (okay maybe two times a year when my other browsers won't render a site properly). You might check out FireFox for an alternative browser - it's based on some of the Netscape code but is open source, so more people are working on bullet-proofing it as we speak. It's also a cross-platform browser. Our MIS guys/alpha geeks at work like it pretty well. But hey, I'm a Macintosh user, so I don't get viruses/virusii anyway (for the past 8 years or so).[;)] (I do have anti-virus software, though!)

Luc, my condolences to your wife - I've heard kidney stones are much worse than giving birth! Will pray for her doctor to get them out quickly (some use ultrasound to break them down to pass more easily).

Jim, will keep your trip in my prayers (whatever is going on). I will admit that this "inquiring mind wants to know". But I'll survive

Karl, hope your tour is very good if you're heading out there. They sure need a lot of help and stuff transported in there (besides our prayers).

Noah - is Keenville where that orchard of peaches is?[;)] (Peachy Keen small pun there)

Hey ***, was that coffee strong enough after it boiled down? Me, I like mine a bit weaker than a lot of people. If you let it go a bit longer, it could make a nice pigment for coloring some rock castings, maybe.[}:)]

Robert - !etuC

Finally got (in a temporary fashion for now) my DSL up and running. So now I won't get bounced off in the middle of posting.[:)]

(About the plywood thickness question) I'm a bit partial to something thin enough for the cookie cutter (with some spring to get a nice transition rise) and glueshell approach. Kind of modified cookie-cutter/open grid merged.

The rain's supposed to be coming in later tonight here in S.E. Missouri, with rain. Good that you guys in California are getting a rest from the wet stuff for a while.

Going to go through some back issues of MRR I have checked out from the library and see what articles I want to get copied from them. Have to return them by Friday.

Blessings on your evening,

Jim

[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester


Der John and Tom: Add fabric softener to the water as that softens up the paper/glue and will quicken up the process. Honest!

...<snip>...
Fergie

Well, if it works to add dishwashing liquid (which is kind of like fabric softener) to make water wetter with _adding_ scenery, it stands to rights that the fabric softener would help with taking off the wallpaper, right?[:)]

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Anonymous]

Hey all. I am enjoying reading the thread and decided to jump in as there seems to be a shortage of contribution from the great white western north. Here in Saskatchewan we are dealing with wind chill factors that make it feel like - 40 Celcius. In case you are not familiar with that temperature scale you don't need to make a conversion because at that point both Celcius and Fahrenheit converge. It's just plenty cold!! I tis great weather for staying in the train room and modelling summer.

[Anonymous]

Hey, all!

I've been out of circulation for a while. Just dropped out, really, no other real reason.

Since my last check-in I've re-enrolled in college (majoring in Information Security aka counter-hacking [oX)] ) and install WinXP on my computer. I'm still stuck working at the Post Office for $10 an hour (no bennies; temporary slave labor) and now on 3rd shift [V]

From what I've learned so far, don't use IE in its default options. If you must use it, disable auto-install of software and for God's sake, turn off ActiveX. Get a good virus scanner and update the definitions at least once a week.

On the plus side, I finally spent $20 at the WISE Division meet in December and bought some secondhand turnouts. I still don't have time to install them just now. Between college, work, and family, I have precious little time to myself, much less for sleep.

[Anonymous]

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

Robert

[Anonymous]

Robert - ????????????????????????????????????????????? I think you have your glasses on backward!!!!!!![(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]

[Anonymous]

Now I think I have the FINAL version of my CB&Q/Rock Island: The two railroads in the '50s, with me modeling them as the two dominating roads in the Midwest and West, owning the Chicago & Alton, Rio Grande, and Western Pacific.[8D]

Christopher

[Anonymous]

Evening all,

I came home early from work. Someone showed up rearing some cheap perfum and wound up loosing my voice, not good when you have to talk to customers......

GDRMCo - Train posters? Do bring them along please. [8D][:)]

Tim - Is the world ready for CA smoothies? [swg] You can line them up on the bar.

Fergie - Ice Storm? By morning it should be aq wash out, unless the system stalls. RCMPman I think that's the one I was thinking of. Have not seen him in a few weeks. I don't remember his location.

Robert - Thanks a bunch for the use of your RR. Be sure to bill Elliot. [}:)][}:)][}:)][;)][:-,][:-,]

Ed - Thank you for visiting Gloetown website and your word of encouragement. Greatly appreciated.

Must go for now

Happy MRRing

[Anonymous]

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

Oh, read each word bewards.

treboR

[grayfox1119]

Good evening gents, I did manage to get another wall section constructed for the room inbetween bus runs for the grandkids. We had a low level ice storm here today, the temps have slowly crawled up over 32, so I don't expect any power outages like areas to the north of us.

BOB[ : thanks for the idea on wiring the room. I know exactly what you are doing, it is very clever, and with my grandkids around at times, I like the concept. I wired my house when I built it back in 1967, so I have no problem with control circuits as you have. The fan is something that I will incorporate because this room is a basement room with no windows, so I want to control heat build up and ventillation.

Der : OK, so your the guy who drank all the Peachtree Schnapps...NICE !!! But that is OK, I caught a cold, I am taking cold pills which clearly states..."stay away from alcohol"...ohhh joy !!!! I had a gladd of Merlot Blacberry wine last night and it knocked me out because of the medication...must be careful.

[?] What radius do I need to run a RIV. 26662 Artic.? I am starting to layout plans, and I don't want to make a mistake on curves for a couple of large locos that I have.

I hear the dinner bell, time to hit the chow hall, see ya later gents,

***

[Anonymous]

Evening all. Not much going on with me.

Luct: You can count on the VB, and it's parent owner, the Gulf & Midwest. We're here to serve. Has onyone heard of a railroad by this name. I'm just wondering.

Teffy: You're right, we shouldn't complain about the weather, although, I haven't been running my AC, except the one in the car.

GDRMCo: A deep-fried coffee, that's a new one for me.

TTFN, Robert

[Fergmiester]

OK I've read (skimped) over this past daze written word and am now spent. Wrote two tests on first aid this morning and did well, though I'm getting too old for this stuff.

Bob: You should have the decals sometime this week. A second run was sent out by Gary on Monday so I should have those sometime next week. Thanks for the heads up on the Challenger as I do remember reading something negative on the sound quality recently. As to the prospect of a 2-10-2 or 2-10-4 Oh how I would love a Texas but I don't think one could handle my curves. I looked at the Pics on the BLI website and I do like the UP 4-8-2. I'll just have to wait and see.

Der John: Sorry to hear about Georges. I don't think he had a great Christmas run as he mentioned business went dead all of a sudden. He had alot of people coming in asking about Canadian Tire sets and where to get more track only to be told that the guage was not the same. I suspect a lot of upset campers. Are you ready for the ice storm?

Luct: are you ready for the ice storm? If memory serves me correct RCMPman is from Newport. According to his profile he doesn't post all that often.

Mitchell: The party sounds good but not the Deep fried coffee. It has to be either strong, but not Timmies, or crisp.

Later Gents
Fergie

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by grayfox1119

Bob : I agree with you on not using 1/2" plywood, I found it to bend too much for satisfaction. It may cost me a little more $$ for 3/4" or maybe 5/8", but when you consider that this will be there as long as you own a train setup, I feel it is well worth the initial investment. I can STAND on 3/4 inch and never worry about it if I had too.
With the new digital cameras Bob, you really don't have to be much of a camera person to get descent pictures, go for it !!!
I hope all goes well for mom Bob, I will keep her in my prayers.

***

***:
When we bought the house that we live in it was probably 70 - 80 years old and had tube and knob wireing. I decided to rewire the whole house. In the train room all of the receipticals have an ivory plate with one ivory rec and one or two brown rec. Several of the fictures are three duplexes with the different colors. The reason for the different colors is - the brown ones turn off with a switch at the door and the ivorys are hot all of the time like a regular rec. This way when I leave the train room and turn off the brown switch in the ivory face plate all of the train stuff is dead. The brown switch is in the same box as the regular light switch. By making the special citcuit brown I don't have to worry about anyone making a mistake. In the spring and fall I also plug a 20" box fan into the "brown" rec and when I turn on the track power the fan comes on too.

This is just and idea that works very well for me and since you're rewiring the basement I thought I'd pass the idea out.

If you'd like to give me a call as to how this works e-mail me at:
[e-mail]

Bob

[trolleyboy]

Der John thanks for the polly filla tip sounds like it will fit the bill and I've got a box leftover from some repainting I did a year ago(the people we bought the house from were either bad with the game of darts or had more family pics than carters had liver pills)[:O][:O] A good friend of mine is a "Normal" gauger from way back and his thoughts on LL n is that if it's older than say 10yrs pass on it. The proto "n" gauge stuff is excellant though so if it's newer than you've likely got a good engine. I'm off to try and resuitate an old Juneco caboose a friend started looks like it won't be savable as a piece of rolling stock[xx(][xx(] but it should make a nifty roadsode shed. TTFN Rob[8D]

[der5997]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy

.Since I'm a hopeless plasterer and the walthers street systems are so 'spensive[xx(][:O] I'm wondering what other options are out there as these are the only track in road building tecniques I've ever used, any ideas[?]

Rob: I wouldn't be so quick to put yourself down. How about this. Get a tube of ready mixed Polyfilla. Lay out your trolley tracks in the street, and the guard rails inside those. Install any reed switches or other sensors you may need for detection or reversal units. Then gently sqeeze in the Polyfilla between the guard rails and level it off with a piece of stiff plastic. Then lay down a ribbon of Polyfilla on the outside of the running rails, smoothing it off at rail hieght, or just below if you can manage it. Fini***hese ribbons off on their outer edges with whatever your main street building material is. Or, maybe that material is something like foamcore that's cut to match the outside of the running rails. (Undercut the top surface to allow space for the ties if your rails are snap or flex track.) Or maybe you have some AMI roadbed in mind for that.
The thing about Polyfilla is that is isn't as wet and sloppy as plaster, and has the terrific plus of being re-constitutable with water if you make a mistake or change your mind, or want to retrofit sensors, etc.. I wouldn't recomend it for general scenery on cost and strength grounds, but for your Interurban needs, it could fit the bill.

About that Christmas cake. I found it in a tin. As everybody knows, Aunt Jeanie (not my aunt BTW) uses wax paper, which is why the lot you guys tried was dry and stale. Mine, in the tin, was nice and moist, and in fact still tasted of .....Peachtree Schnaps![:D] OH![:0] maybe it was someone elses![(-D]

QUOTE: Been pulling my hair out over the Dash-8, I didn't think Atlas' bulbs were bright enough, so I came up with a bright idea and well, you know how those go. Anyway, I got all new bright white L.E.D.'s in there, and they don't auto reverse anymore, the back one stays on, and the front ones stay off no matter which direction the loco is travelling. I'm just hoping I didn't burn up something in the decoder.

Greg: When this sort of thing happens to the guys on the ndcc yahoo groups, there is learned talk, that I don't understand, about resetting the CVs. They also mention, from time to time, resetting the decoder to factory defaults. That last one I do see as a possibility. After all, it left the factory able to light up correctly. Maybe it's worth a shot?

Ed

QUOTE: This is the first time we’ve seen the grove produce so much. I don’t expect it to be the same next year.

You may recall several varieties of apples do just that, one year on, one year off. Golden Delicious springs to mind.

Mitchell:

QUOTE: The layout will feature 5 3% grades and a 4% helper grade which will be the transition between the levels. Any comments will be appreciated.

Just the thought that with steep grades the VERTICAL easement is important. What can happen is the couplers come undone as they slide up and down over the crown of the rise, so a transition out of the "curve" is a good policy. The curve in this case is a vertical one.
BTW, You must get a chuckle out of all this snow and ice talk as your summer continues up there in Darwin!

Fergie: Got to George's, and as I suspected the Normal used stuff I had picked over before. Thanks for the thought, though.(While I was searching back pages for the phone # of Arizona Minerals, I noticed that you gave me that "heads up" what seems only a few days ago about 8 pages back! )
I did see a Life Like F40 (no PHs after the description on the box) and thought that it might do for my VIA train, if 1) it's a reasonable runner, and 2) it's an easy fix for a decoder. I'm fairly sure about 2), but have no idea on how well LL F40s run.
Any N scalers out there know this loco? (The one I saw was in Ontario GO Train livery, but the same thing may be more common in Amtrak)

TTFN

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon guys....I had to pick up the grandkids (4 of the 8) and bring them to the bus stop this morning . They live up on the side of a big hill and we had yet another ice storm this morning and it is still icing. The kids have to walk down a 450 foot driveway to the road where I pick them up, I was not about to drive up that mountain and slide sideways all the way down with steep drop-offs.
Then I headed over to local HD to get the rest of the 2x4's for train room wall construction. It is amasing how many 2x4's that will fit into a 2002 Ford Explorer, 26!! Plus my electrical wire, boxes, outlets, staples, two GFCI's and of course ANOTHER 50 lbs of ice melt for our driveway and sidewalk!!!!

It is still heavily icing out, so I will have to go pick up the grandkids again at 2:30 and 3:15, so I don't know how much will get done on the train room today.

Bob : I agree with you on not using 1/2" plywood, I found it to bend too much for satisfaction. It may cost me a little more $$ for 3/4" or maybe 5/8", but when you consider that this will be there as long as you own a train setup, I feel it is well worth the initial investment. I can STAND on 3/4 inch and never worry about it if I had too.
With the new digital cameras Bob, you really don't have to be much of a camera person to get descent pictures, go for it !!!
I hope all goes well for mom Bob, I will keep her in my prayers.

Time to get back to work, with all the running around today ,I will not get much done.

Uh ohhh!! big crash outside, another big branch just fell from the snow and ice load, I hope we don't lose power!!![:O][:O]

See you all later tonight, keep the coffee hot, I caught a nasty cold yesterday, it will tasts great on a sore throat.

***

[TurboOne]

QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy

Turbo absolutly not cream in teawhat are from California or something[swg][swg][swg] ![8D][(-D] Any way quite a T storm moving in so I'm signing off for now will talk to you all soon. Rob

All the euros brought that with them. Now SoCals think they invented that.

Had our share of rain so enjoy Rob.

We are back to normal winter weather hey boys and girls, 70 today, not a cloud in the sky. And the backyard swamp is almost completely gone. Weatherman says no rain thru the weekend. Love the CA sun. Hollar if you need some sent your way.

Tim (back in Sunny San Diego) [:D] [:D] [8D] [8D] [8D] [:D] [:D]

[trolleyboy]

Turbo absolutly not cream in teawhat are from California or something[swg][swg][swg] Teffy my thoughts are with your mom ,my mother had both of hers done a year ago and her 160/180 eyes are now 25/25 without her glasses on She says that she hasen't seen that well since she was 16! BTW my dad is no longer able to paint walls now that she can see where he was cheating along the corners and ceilings![8D][(-D] Any way quite a T storm moving in so I'm signing off for now will talk to you all soon. Rob

[JPowell]

Good day all -
Just a quick stop to grab a cup o' joe to go along w/ the Hamburg Helper I have for lunch. I'll stop by again after lunch for some fresh made deserts and another cup o' so keep it fresh as I don't drink it if it's over 1 hr old! (EWW)!
Hope everyone is doing ok, espcially jhh.... (wonder what the trip is all about why asking for the prayer's...which of course I'll do anyways?)
Take care...
JP

[TurboOne]

Good morning to everyone. It stopped raining and weatherman says CA sun at least thru the weekend. Woo Hoo. Backyard is down to only 1 inch of water in deep end. It might even get into the 70s today. Now that is winter CA style.

My sons pigs "drove" the trains last night, they were sitting atop all engines on the layout.

Luct, for the party I will bring CA smoothies. Gotta keep you snowbirds healthy.

Teffy, way to beat flip to the top of the page.

GDRMCo, layout sounds great, when are you going to start it?

Take care all, Have a great day. If you need some CA sun, ask and we will see if we can send some your way.

Tim[:D][:D][:D][:D]

[Noah Hofrichter]

Karl, I know, other wise it's be perfect. I do have a town right next to Neenah though, that will work. Good luck on the job offer, if you get it, I hope you join us again as soon as you can.

Well, I've got the first ARK name draft done, and I think this will be the final one. This is it:

A= Appleton, everyone knows where that is.
R=Rivermoor, a little town south west of Appleton
K=Keenville, a little town on the Northwest side of Oshkosh, just south of Appleton, near the bay there.

It's right off of the old WC line in Oshkosh, and I'm going to pretend I cross and interchange with the WC, now CN, but you'll never see the WC trains, just that cars are dropped off by my local, and new ones picked up. Then the cars are changed in between sessions, and it looks like the CN has been there.

At Rivermoor, (really just North of it in real life at Winneconne) the tracks will cross a small bridge.

Too see any of these town, go to www.mapquest.com and search for Oshkosh WI. You'll see Appleton just North of the picture, and Rivermoor right away, and zoom in on the northeast corner of Oshkosh, and you'll see Keenville.

Well, You'll notice that I'm in here in the morning today, we had an ice day. They closed the schools because of the ice on the road, so I got the day off. I hope to get alot of my building finnished this afternoon, so I better get going. I'll see you later.

Noah