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

[Anonymous]

Evenin' Y'all,

Well, not much mrring for the next few days it looks like[|(]. Weatherguesser is calling for another ice storm. Those are BAAAD!!! Last time we had a major ice storm, we were running on propane heat only, and getting food up town from Evan's for two weeks. Not much time between taking care of cattle and 4 generators on 3 houses (1 for the water pump). Maybe it won't be too bad this time though, our electric cooperative had to put in 15000 new poles from the last one, so we have a strong system now. Anyway, it sure is amazing how fast we're filling up pages on here!! Its hard to believe we were on page 166 when I joined in November.

Robert: Good to hear it!!

Trolleyboy: Champagne in the Coffee Shop? Sure beats the shop at Evan's!!

Krump: Gotta getcha a new one!!

Where's Ed????

Guess everyone's watching the Orange Bowl tonight? Maybe we'll all see the Sooners win their 8th!! No USC fans on here are there? Hope not, we might have to place a wager if there is.

See y'all later, gotta get things ready for the Ice Age.
Frozen Greg

[tomwatkins]

Good Evenin' Everybody,

Kirby, welcome to the coffee shop. Pull up a chair and enjoy. The coffee and tea are good, and so is the conversation.

It was a good day in the mountains today. It was another unusually warm one for early January. Tomorrow were supposed to get up into the mid 60's. That's hard to believe for this time of the year.

I got most of the section of track that I need to get ballasted done today. I also got another layer of ground cover, tall weeds and bru***his time, done. Next is to build some trees. I don't think that will get done tomorrow. There's a long list of chores to get done. I will get up early and get started on them so maybe I can get a bit more ballasting done.

RdlkrbyvllRR, I'm glad your Dad is OK and home. That's good news.

Fergie, be careful with that thing. Actually, better the carpet, in my opinion, than your leg. They hurt, but stuff happens. I managed to stab myself with an Exacto knife last week. Not slice, stab. I'm still not sure how I managed that. Sorry to hear about the trouble with the decoder. I bet they would sound good running through computer speakers. If some's good, then more's better. Incidently, have you tried Loy's Toys large oval speaker? It's just small enough to fit into a USRA tender and really sounds good.

Teffy, yep, the Ps-4's were flatland engines. They pretty much stayed east of the mountains on the Southern's double track main line. In the mountains they used the Ts and Ts-1 light mountains and the Ps-1's and Ps-2's, which were very low drivered light pacifics.

Krump, sorry to hear about the power outages and computer problems. Neither one is any fun at all.

Trolleyboy, congratulations on getting a locomotive running. That's a milestone and worth celebrating.

Der, even though Teffy beat me to it, here's the info on Arizona Rock and Mineral:
PO box 567
Paulding, AZ
86334
928-636-9134
www.rrscenery.com
Their on line catalog is excellent. So are their products. They have a steam era yard mix that's beautiful stuff. I recommend them highly.

I'd better go for now.
Have a great evening, everybody,
Tom

[fec153]

Welcome newbies-[#welcome][#welcome].
Bob- I hope you remembered I'm into H>O.
Robert- Glad to know your Dad is home. Still on list to stay well.

Greg- Heck yes! And the Old Fashions are still the best. Did you notice I started another page?
Whoops, time to shower and get ready for bed. Darn, I feel like I'm 8 yrs. old instead of
68. Imagine, having to go to sleep so early so can be up at 4:30.
Night all,
Flip
[|)][sigh]

[Anonymous]

Evening all.

Visited LHS today, George tells me he can get me a CPR Hudson for aroung 200.00. I'll need to investigate this further. I ordered Walther's sugar refiney for Gloetown should be here by end of month he said.

Robert - Glad to hear your dad is home and all is fine.

Fergie - Was talking to Hardy today, he did not realise you were MRRing so lookout he may rib you a bit.... BTW he broke a leg a few day ago, happened in his drive.

Noah - Did you visit here? some of the snow is missing?????? [#dots][:-^][:-^]

Elliot - someone moved that we add another car to the caffee, I second the motion!

Hope you all had a great day.

Happy MRRing.

[grayfox1119]

Good evening guys, thanks for the trial info on those new soldering irons Rob, that will save me some wasted $$. Noah, just an inch or two?? The local weather forecaster here out of Boston just informed us that here in the hills of central MA we are to get 6 inches, maybe more, and maybe some ice on top of that !!! I guess I had better get the chain back on my snowblower that came off the right wheel after that last 7" Decemeber 21st. When these storms exit the New England coastline, they make a bee line for Nova Scotia, so Fergie won't feel left out in the cold ( no pun intended Fergie, he, he, he[(-D][(-D][(-D]).
Robert, very happy to hear the news about your dad, now if you can keep him away from the spicy hot stuff.........

Just picked up the 1st load of timber to frame the train room, HD was running a special on 2x4's 88" in length, $2.49 ea. With a double sole, one of which will be PT on the cement floor, the 88" length will be fine, and it saves the cost of 8 footers. I loaded the Explorer to the roof, left a peek space for the wife, and made it home safely. Now the grunge work begins before the fun can.

Have a great evening all,

***

[Anonymous]

Hey, Noah, want some snow then buy it. It will only cost you 250K for a bowl. It is from Corpus Christi, Tx's first snow fall ever. Are you interested.[:D][:)][;)][swg]

Robert

[PennsyHoosier]

Evening all!

Phil, "without any adult supervision." I'm still laughing out loud on that one. [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

Bracing for the ice...

[Noah Hofrichter]

Well, I think the snow situation is solved, as We're supposed to get an inch or two tonight, and 3-6 inches tomarrow night, although that may go south of us. We got a dusting last night, so I still had to get up and shovel. So currently I have a headache and feel rather bad. I guess I better get going though, as I got homework and it may take me longer to do it if I'm tired. That, and I want to watch a pentrex video on the Green Bay and Western railroad later. See ya!

Noah

[trolleyboy]

Hi guys, *** I've tried those new fangdangled soldering irons unfortunatly it was more off[sigh] there than on so I've gone back to my tried and true pen type iron.Also please keep your white stuff there we've had three days of above zero "C" and rain so mines all gone I may even have to mow the lawn oh joy! I actually have gotten a ten foot length of track and roadbed down and of coarse I test ran a loco on it with the old aligator clip trip so today It's champagn time for all who's interested. This is the first time in 5 years I've been able to run one of my engines!!! I'm going downstairs now to lay maybe a switch and a bit more track(I need to do some switching)[(-D] Talk to you folks later. Rob

[Anonymous]

Hello all. Well good news, my dad came home today (Jan. 4). They say the chestpains could be from heartburn, or indigestion.

krump: You mean, you've been gone. Well, where ever you went, I say welcome back.

Nuttin' else goin' on, see yalls later.

Robert

[krump]

since nobody's been missing me, I'll have a large mocha and a chilli for lunch.

Happy New Year. Still no computer so I need to borrow from the public domain... occly stopping by.

[JPowell]

All -
Allow me to apologize. I forgot to extend the 'Welcome Mat' to our fellow modelers who have stopped into the CoffeeHouse for the 1st time... HELLO ALL NEW CoffeeClubbers! I've just made fresh pots of liquid refreshments... please drink up. I hate making so much and nobody drinking any!
JP

[grayfox1119]

Good morning guys, look at the time, it is almost noon, where is the coffee? The morning chores are done, fed the wolf, sent Rosie the cat out to tease the wolf, brought in the firewood, we have another big snowstorm due to hit us Thursday, being sent to us courtesy of all our midwest friends, thanks guys.
Today the sun finally came out, my Davis weather station tells me that it is 43 degrees with a dew point of 44, calm winds, a beautiful day here in central MA today, HOWEVER, it is the calm before the storm.
This afternoon the wife is coming with me, thanks wife, to help me get the 1st load of wood for construction of the 12x27 foot room for 1st layout. Rob, this is NOT the fun part for sure is it ??!!
Burn hole in the rug? I better not let the wife see this thread, I think I will try out those new instant ON, instant OFF soldering irons being advertised. Have any of you guys tried it yet?

Soups ON!! Lunch is ready, just left a few jelly doughnuts on the table for you guys, boy, someone sure was hungry this morning, was it you Fergie?? Or Kirby?

***

[JPowell]

Well all - A Happy New Year to all from the Employees of Powell Transport.

We're going to start this year off on the RIGHT foot. Some of our customers are looking for other locations to send and receive product from. So, with that, we here at Powell Transport are going to start advertising our services to locations outside of New York State.
We will deal with any/all interested parties, but our main interest will be with those in the Horribly Oversized area.
We closed out the year 2004 by singing a 'trade contract' with the M T to open up the northeastern border with the Canucks in hopes of allowing our customers the right to ship and receive goods from the 'North'.
We're also in the inital stages of working out a 'trade contract' with the folks at the MESS, in hopes of generating more business for our customers.

On a sad note, during a recent benchwork modification last Friday, 31 Dec 04, part of the future development area of the East Syracuse (NY) Co-Op, fell victim to a 'sinkhole'. ( For those that remember my inital layout deminsions ( 2- 4'x5' and 2- 2'x4' tables to form the letter 'C'), I tried to make of of the 4x5's into a 4x8. The problem occurred due in part to fault benchwork during the original construction of this particular 4x5. This 4x5 started out as a 4x4, and I then added a 1'x4' section to make it a 4'x5'. After adding the 3'x4' addition, the table started to 'buckle' at the joints where the 4'x4' and the 3'x4' joined this 1'x4'. (Poor planning on my part resulted in a 'sinhole' emergency on the CO-Op's part and resulting of the entire 4'x8' being cut up and a run to Home Depot Saturday for more lumber so I could do a solid 4'x8' table). Started at 5pm and finished by 8:30pm Sat.
New layout is in the shape of a 'G'. I'll try to get the company (Powell Transport, Inc) homepage listed on RailImages and post a pic or 2 in the next few weeks so all can see the new desigin, but due to things still not being good between CFO and I ( she still wants me to leave and get a place of my own (compatability issues here now) sometime soon after we get our tax returns.), I may not be able to do the railimages site till after I get a apartment and a new cpu (if she wants the cpu, she can have it since she paid off the Gateway bill a few years back before we got married using her tax refund that year.).
Well, I'm hungary...lunchtime....
JP

[Fergmiester]

QUOTE: Originally posted by TEFFY

Good Morning All:

Fergie:
I wasn't going to tell anyone about the ADDITIONAL burn hole in the carpet. I'm going to call Allan at Soundtraxx and see what he has to say about the "scratchy" sound. I'll give you a call tonight before I go to Train Meeting.

well it's time to get dressed for work

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

Yeh Right!! Besides, it's not a hole, it's an outline, kinda like that found at a crime scene, the experts would have no problem ID'ng the culprit.

I called Fred at Loys this AM and he said to send it back to Soundtraxx and it sounded like TIM (transistor Infant mortality). Actually I made up the acronym, something we do in government as it makes us feel important and Xspurt like![^]

Anyway Soundtraxx is shut down until the 10th (Colorado... Skiing.. that's my guess). I'll pack it up and send it off and hopefully it will get fixed or replaced.

JP: Please don't take offence but I really don't think partnerships work as there's too much warm and fuzzy sharing stuff. Think UP, Think CN, Think Klingon. That's it, Now you know my corporate strategy!


Oh and Bob, remember POL (pants on last)
Fergie

[JPowell]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

Good Morning All

Such kind words! Well I'm on the home stretch and I'll be off in 2 days but with little time to spare as I'll be on course starting Monday.

I found Teffy's number and didn't get off the phone until after midnight! Anyway we agreed that Soundtraxx might have to change the name of their new line of Sound Systems, as Tsunami will be a name of infamy from now on.

Nice thing about being on ship is there are very few distractions in the evening. This is why I can get alot accomplished in short time. I also find I'm most focused after 8 pm, which can easily carry me to midnight if I'm not careful.

Mmmm... Let me see MESS-Southern works for me as I can have MESS-Western (my chain of motels) MESS Northern and MT-Mess. I'll be running the Continent in no time at this rate!

Der John: I see Gray Fox, this new kid from Maine thinks he's going to dump snow on us! Well he'd better take a number as sNoah's the only registered snow drifter and might take offence to some one else snowing on his parade!

Later Gents

Fergie

Hey Fergie... Can Powell Transport be of assistance to you and your operation? We're always looking for partnerships with our neighbors to the north....

[Anonymous]

Good Morning All:

Kirby:
[#welcome]

Tom:
Thanks for the information on the speed of the PS-4. Wasn't the reason that they weren't double headed do to the fact that they were used north to south on routes east of the mountians. Now I don't know -I'm just guessing.

Fergie:
I wasn't going to tell anyone about the ADDITIONAL burn hole in the carpet. I'm going to call Allan at Soundtraxx and see what he has to say about the "scratchy" sound. I'll give you a call tonight before I go to Train Meeting.

Soggy Jim:
I know the feeling. We've had several days of rain, the ground is water logged and no place to run, overcast with high humidity so everything is just slop.

Phil:
I had not thought about being at a show "..without adult supervision.." Their is a local guy that is legally blind and has no way to go to the GATS show in Houston (100 mi) so I usually get him to ride with me. We seperate when we get their and meet back at the door at closing, he goes his way and I go mine. He's into "G" scale. From what he tells me, the out-side roadbed requires a lot of back-breaking work.

John:
I don't mean to butt in to your conversation but Arizonia Rock and Marterial:

http://www.rrscenery.com/

It's a nice webb site, one of those that you could spend hours looking throu.

well it's time to get dressed for work

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

[Anonymous]

Morning All [:)]

1:30 am and it is STILL raining in central Arkansas. [:(!] Water everywhere. [:(]
When I walk the dog half the dirt/mud/leaves/grass in the yard comes into the house with me. [V] What a mess it is too, I am tired of rain. It started early Saturday morning and has been going pretty much since then. Praise the Lord the temperature is well above freezing or we would be having a major ice storm.

Robert, sorry to hear about your dad. I will join the prayer circle and pray for his health.

Well tonight while going up the steps into a plane I slippped and fell against the MED (main entry doorway). It has been hurting since then. Now while typing this post I just noticed there is a big knot forming between my wrist and my elbow. [:(] (I won't tell you that last year I managed to break the second toe on each foot in seperate accidents about one month apart.)

Well the good news is we are closer to spring now that we were just a few shorts weeks ago. [;)] Notice that the stores have the valentine cards and candy out now? [;)] Personally I like February, yes I really do, not for Valentine's Day, but because I get my tax returns back. [;)] Only problems is which fire (bill) to put out. [:(] Know what I mean Vern? I sure would like to be able to get a new RSD 15 but don't think I will spring for the BLI. CNWfan5525 keeps rubbing it in by instant messenger about his. He is getting several from another ho guy.

Well I am tired. After 2 weeks of work I am not back up to speed, funny how quickly the body gets lazy awww worn out. [;)]

Noah, with my rain situation down here, I might need to borrow the ARK. [:D]
Of course, if it keep raining, things will become a real MESS. [:D]

Soggy Jim in Arkansas [B)]

[trolleyboy]

[#welcome] Hi folks welcome to the newones I'm still new too(wow don't say that ten times fast) ***: I feel your pain with the wood just finished purchasing the rest of the tree's I've needed to fini***he last of my benchwork . Now I just need to stop typing and start screwing(the wood people don't fall into my gutter I haven't put the warning tape up yet)[swg][angel] my CFO has told me that I can purchase the Orr girder rail for the street railway section of my/our layout so it's off tot rack laying school I go.[:D] I've got the early shift tomorrow so some sleepy time tea for me and the next round for the new guys is on my tab tonight as well sleep well talk to you all later [zzz] Rob

[philnrunt]

Hey guys, and welcome to kepople, or Kirby, here at the diner you can truly have it your way.
Fergie- Run the continent, eh? From what I've seen of your work, we could do alot worse! At least things would get done, albeit only at sea and between 2000 and 0000 hrs! Still better than now.
der5997- You have the same disease that I do, and I suspect many others here have- you see everything in your scale. I was with Amy the other day at W-Mart, she was looking tat sewing supplies and I found a bag of tiny cylindrical beads,all in bright colors that just might serve as HO soda cans. They are about 1/72 scale, but if you place them here and there, maybe a barrel full at the break area, a few in the ditch, etc, I think they'll work. As for your nail strips, I'll keep an eye out. (that could be funny, something about nail guns and putting eyes out, but....) I've found that if you have enough strange looking things behind a factory, along with recognizable items, it all looks pretty good. Growing up with GM plants taught me that, I had NO CLUE what they were, but there were always alot of them. I've used roller bearings, little clips that held Mini Exact cars to their packages, etc as factory "thingies".
jhhtrains- My phone went out last week too, makes me feel better that you have the same phone company. Mine shuts down whenever it rains and the wind blows, and now I guess when we have a big snow melt. Oh well.
Lawrence- I heard about the ice coming your way tonight, looks like it will miss us, hope it dosn't hammer you too hard. I'll let you know if I end up going to the GATS. Amy has to work til 1500 (3PM) so if I go it will be solo, or as she likes to put it- "without any adult supervision." Yeah, she is one f u n n y girl. Har har.
And speaking of Amy, she was looking over my Garden Railways that I got the other day, and she has been talking about how cool an outdoor RR would be. I guess we'll see how this transpires. Ed, you said she would add spice to my life! !Caremba!
Got my MR and Trains today, MR is good as usual, but this copy of Trains is a bit more interesting than usual.
Noah- The WSOR 25th Anniv SD40-2 looks great, they have a pretty nice shot of it and on the next page GE places an add for their Evolution Series loco and they included a pull out poster of 2 in the mountains. Great shot.
And there is an article about how UP is trying to pull itself up by it's bootstraps, looks like Joey got that job and has turned them around! Ahhhh, the power of positive thinking! But really, except for even more shots of that roads power, it's a good article.
Well, I'll put a new pot of joe on for you other late nighters, NYPD Blue is on, and thats considered a training film around here.

[grayfox1119]

Hey Fergie, you need one of those new sol,dering irons that goes cold the minute you release the trigger. They have been advertising them here on TV, but I am sure the Mall stores that sell TV add stuff will have them, a hot seller ( no pun intended) I am told, I may buy one to check it out for small wiring jobs.

Raining cats and dogs here in Mass tonight, but we have snow coming Thursday, so I need to make a Home Depot run tomorrow, to get wood to start the train room.
Just got back from bowling in the Monday night men's candlepin league, we split tonight 4 each.
Got to run the dog is having a fit outside, may be the pesky Coyote again.

***

[Anonymous]

Evenin' Y'all,

Krump: sounds like our power on a daily basis[:D] we're on a cooperative, that should explain everything. Longest outage was 16 days, back when we had the big ice storm a couple years ago.

Kirby: See you already got the grand welcome!! Whatcha modelin? I'm in HO scale.

Better get goin, it's late
Greg

[krump]

3 days of snow, 7 power outages, 1 burnt out computer = I haven't been around. see ya later...

[PennsyHoosier]

Hi all!

Hi Kirby, [#welcome]

Phil, I don't think I'll make it to GATS. My daughter was interested, but now some stuff has come up. I'll probably be stuck up north. Who knows, though. But if you're in Anderson, you're as good as there. Let us know how it is, if you make it.

And as for sabotaging gifs, would I do something like that? [:-^][:-^][:-^][:-^]

We have a winter storm watch tonight. It may not be SNoah, this time, but the dreaded ICE. [|(][|(][|(]

[Fergmiester]

Well Bob I'm bust! BTW Bob got to hear a whole lot of nautical venacular tonight, (Sorry Bob I'll steal your thunder and hang myself) when I dropped the soldering iron and put another (one of several) holes in the carpet. The sound decoder was a bust as the scatchiness is across the whole bandwidth and the distortion is everywhere. I even tried computer speekers and man if only I could find a way to mount those puppies and not take out any bridges or portals! I could knock this place off its foundations.

Anyway that's my evening. Sorry Bob I didn't call you back but between tonights 66 minute call and last nights 1 and a half hour call the wifes might get suspicious.

It's nice having a "mentor" though I haven't figured out if Bob's a dementor or a tormentor?

Later guys as it's time to soak my wounds in salt

Fergie

[Paul W. Beverung]

Kirby; Welcome friend. Have a cup and set awhile. How about telling us alittle more about your self? I'm in HO and model a freelance ore hauling railroad in upper Michagan. I also like the great lakes bulk carriers. Those are the boats that carry the ore, coal, salt, grain, and just about any bulk material that can go through the hatches.

Der; Well I'm licensed. So I guess that's good enough. They probably sent it west because nothing can go east. Actually, they have about 30 trains a day going past us. Of course that only means that at mile post 269.9 everything is OK.

Karl; My vacation ended Sat morning. I've been on the job for 3 days now and it don't get any better.

I'm off to bed. I was up at 3 this morning trying to round up the dogs. I finally gave up trying to sleep and did some mrring. So Good Night and God Bless.

Paul

the Duluth, Superior, & Southeastern

" The Superior Route "

[Anonymous]

Noah:
Same here; lots of rain, no snow.

Here we go again....[;)]

Now I think I'm going to go back to my original plan, and model the CB&Q and Rock Island, between 1948-1958. I'd still have some non-prototypical things to add interest, like the Q having Fairbanks-Morse and Alco RS-1's and PA's, and both roads being by far the most powerful lines in the Midwest, (which the Q already was), as well as both lines making it to the West Coast (maybe a little too far-fetched). I also thought of modeling a free-lanced line with the CB&Q for a while, but anything I came up with would be just like either the Q or the Rock.
[:D]

Christopher

[der5997]

Paul:

QUOTE: Der; There is a car load of incentive on it's way. It may take awhile as we routed it via UP. Well it may be in that freight that just went by. OOps. It's a west bound.

Missed that on the first zip through. Was it licenced incentive? If not, UP may get all hot and bothered about it. Maybe that's why they took it west, to get a better look at it somewhere in Wyoming![}:)][(-D]
While waiting I made up a small batch of that Delta Ceramcoat Dark Chocolate acrylic paint to test for the airbrush. A 50-50 paint - water dilution at 25lbs pressure worked fine with my badger single action. The spray didn't get down to the ties and ballast between the ties the way I thought it wold, so I'm still having to do something about most of the strange white stuff. I'm thinking brush paint with a brownish grey, then do the rails. I'll see what happens when the car of incentive gets here! [:D]

[#welcome] new folks. We really need that extra space, and probably an extra coffee machine or two. Elliot, will MR spring for those as well as the passenger cars?[:P]

[grayfox1119]

Noah, we have more snow coming Thursday, ohh joy!!! The CSX refers are empty on the return via former B&A/NYC main in my home town, just 10 minutes from my home, so sending you a few cars full is NO PROBLEM, I'll trade for some nice Wisconsin cheese!!!! Monterey Jack will be nice!!!

***

[grayfox1119]

Welcome Kirby[#welcome] I am fairly new myself, at least to the coffee shop, great bunch of guys here, coffee is hot by 5am, Ferggie is an early riser!!

***