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

[Anonymous]

hawk: welcome back. I hope your baseball season was a winning one.

I've been really busy latley. I've had a concert to work every night. If you've never worked a concert you know that you spend the next day being sore and tired. So I haven't been up to working on the layout, or logging into the computer and checking in here. Sorry Guys. but no concerts for a week so I hope to get a lot done this week. My LHS owner has been lending me the Great Model Railroad video series, it has made me want to work on it. Plus got some neat ideas. My sister returns from her 6 months in Africa tomorrow so I'm excited about that.
Andrew

[Noah Hofrichter]

Tom, do you know, does the P1K line have a E8/9 unit too? and do you know if has an operating Mars light as well. If those were a little cheaper at MSRP I might find some of those too, as super detailing isn't really all that important to me.

Hawks, I know what you mean about a nice digital camera, it's a wonderful thing to have. Pictures cost nothing, so you can shoot things at random even if they don't come out very well with absolutely no loss. I love a digital camera, but I still do take film pictures once and a while, so I have sort of a hard copy of some things.

Noah

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's a beautiful morning in the mountains and it's going to be a great day. It's about 9:45, the coffee has been really good, and I've got most of the chores out of the way already.

Hawk, welcome back. Enjoy the digital camera. They really have a lot of useful capabilites. You'll have fun with it.

Noah, That's a really good deal on the P2K E8. They run superbly. In my experience, the P2K locomotives are some of the best available. The P1Ks have the same drive system, there just not as well detailed, so they are good bets too. Enjoy.

Phil, I'm glad the concert was a good one. Their music is so good it would be a shame for someboby to mess it up. One of my favorites of the Beatles is the "Live at the BBC" album. It's a 2 disc set that was recorded live at various times between 1962 and 1965. It's got lots of their early stuff plus lots of covers of really great early rock n' roll.

I'm going to cut it short for this morning. It's time to head to the basement and paint little bitty railroad ties.

Have a great day everyone,
Tom

[philnrunt]

Tom- the concert was great, a local band opened, then the Buckinghams came on and put on a fine show, alot better musicians than their recordings let on.They paid homage to 60's R&R, did a bunch of tunes. The Tribute came on and did around 20-25 songs, all were good but they hit about 6-7 that were perfect. Just being able to see the music played on the same instruments as the Beatles used was worth it. I would recommend seeing them to anyone that is a Beatles fan.
So you actually saw them eh?[bow][bow] You are only the 4th person I've met who can say that. They played at the Coliseum at the Indiana State Fair in '64, but I was only 10 and didn't get to go. As for their music, it's by far my favorite, I listen to them about every other day.
Your right about the cats, once a civilisation worships you, you just can't go back to being a "pet".
At least it wasn't squirrels.

[Hawks05]

ya my friend that went down said it wasn't as good as past shows down there. i really wish i could have gone. haven't been to a show in a long time, since March I don't think.

i really need to get some hoppers and buildings.

i'm so glad we got a digital camera now. i can finally take pictures of trains and they won't be crappy quality. i wish i would have been able to see that CP locomotive. that would have been a sight to see. i can't wait to go down along the Mississippi and bring the camera with me. hopefully we can find some spots along the line that are halfway close to it. might stop in a small town and wait or something.

i don't know how much i'll be around but i'll try and stop by every once in a while. glad to see some peope remember me.

hard to believe to i'm going to be 18 in a little under a month.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Hawks05, very glad your back! I'd been sort of wondering where you got too. You didn't miss a whole lot, as the show in la Cross wasn't very big, but I did get quite a few finds. I got an PK2 E8/9 for only $40 and it runs bueatifully. It's my first PK2 so i wasn't sure what to expect but it's bueatiful. I bought it in southern Paint sceam but I'm going to eventually repaint it for the WSOR. I also found a set of the WSOR decals that Microscale did. I got a Great Northern sky blue boxcar, and a few CP pins. Really I had a preety good day finding stuff, but I'm really low on cash, if I want to avoid pulling any out of my spending money in my bank acount, as I spent close to $60 yesterday. Now I've got to save up for train fest in Millwaukee in November. One neat thing at the show was they had two real locomotive displays. CP brought out one of there brand new AC4400's, it only had about 4 days running time on it. BN also had a GP39-2, in former BN paint, and a former BN caboose. The engine looked like it hadn't had a coat of paint in about 15 years compaired to the CP unit. I also saw a few BN trains that were leaving the yard, as well as two former SOO line engines switching out a hopper train near the end of the CP yard.

Noah

[Hawks05]

well Hawks05 is trying to make a comeback after a 3 month layoff from trains. probably longer than that but i've been super busy with a full schedule of baseball this summer. 25 plus games, 3-4 games a week with practice. i haven't really gotten any time to work and earn money so my trains have suffered. i mainly just get up, play some video games for 2 hours then go to baseball.

yesterday i could have gone to a train show in La Crosse Wisconsin with one of my friends, his dad is the one that got me into trains. but instead i went down to see my grandparents in southern minnesota and to a graduation party for my cousin. my grandpa isn't doing to well health wise.

my grandma gave my dad a digital camera she got free from something, a Sony MVC CD350. today i was going to Wal-Mart with my grandpa and saw a UP train on the main that goes through the town i live in. so on our way back, about a hour later, i noticed the cars along the line coming into town. and we saw the 2 engines sitting in town by a gas station. so i got home told my dad since he's monkeying around with the camera and we went and snapped about 8 pictures. if you want to see them go to railroadforums.com and the phote gallery then they should be on the first page or look for BNCN's photo gallery. i think i have 5 of the pictures up.

so now that the baseball season is winding down and i'll be able to work more i'm looking at getting back into trains. i've looked at my stuff maybe 3 times all summer. i just need to get some buildings, more rolling stock, and maybe another engine or 2. its so boring right now because i have 1 little building, a depot, and then the same rolling stock i've had for months and i just have one big loop because i haven't been able to get any switches. its going to be tough though getting back into the hobby. i'm 3 months behind on my car payments to my dad so thats like $250+ i owe him, i'm planning on buying poker chips for myself ($95+, which should go towards a car payment) so i really don't have much money.

just thought i'd stop by and say whats up, how are things going, and that i might try and make a comeback now that i'm working more. i sitll have some baseball left, have a regional playoff game tuesday night then maybe sectionals friday (2 games) and then maybe state depending on how we do. so i won't be working to much this week for sure.

so if you see me looking around don't be shocked. i've stopped in a few times, just haven't posted since i'm kind of on the outside loop again from everything.

i'm really pumped we have a digital camera now though. i saw the 2 engines in town and was like i gotta go get the camera. my dad was all for, said why not see what it can do. just by luck to we got it yesterday. i was even thinking while driving, if i hear a train now i can just hop in my car and take off and snap some shots in different places along the line.

[Trainnut484]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jhhtrainsplanes

HI All [:)]

Parking is always a problem in Branson, and of course Duchess will have to stay in the truck. I hope I can park either right in front of the store or find a tree to park under. There is a little parking lot about a block from the candy store. AND the Branson Scenic Railroad is just around the corner from the candy store. The depot is the original depot used by the Missouri Pacific. I have ridden the train there and the narrow guage one at Silver Dollar City.

Hello JIm,

Yes, My wife and I certainly can vouch for the parking problem in Branson, especially when parking on a hill [;)]. We visited the Branson Senic Railroad on a Sunday when it was closed. That was okay, because it made taking pictures of the train easier. Downtown Branson is really packed on the weekends and parking is a hassle sometimes. Thank goodness there are some kind drivers there that will hold the long traffic line back so you can get out from the side streets[:)]. That's something hard to find in the bigger cities.

Hope you had a great vacation.

Take care,

Russell

[Anonymous]

Time to move this back to the first page.

Yeah, I know about the "honey does." Every married man does.

[tomwatkins]

Good Afternoon Everybody,
It truly has been a beautiful day in the mountains today.We've been outside playing in the dirt. We gave ourselves a Lotus Flower plant for our anniversary last month, and we've been letting it sit on the patio to get adjusted after the move and so we could watch sunlight patterns in that area. Today we dug the hole in the hill above the pond and got it set in. It's a big plant in a big tub so it took a big hole. Fortunately there weren't too many roots there so it didn't take long. Then of course we had to move and stack rocks around it to finish it off. Project completed and it looks good.

Phil, it's all the fault of the ancient Egyptians, they worshiped cats as gods and cats have never forgotten it. How was the Tribute concert? Hope it was a really good one. I like a lot of different kinds of music and lots of different groups and artists, going back as far as Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the very young and early Elvis. But the Beatles are truly very special. Theirs is an incredible body of work. I actually saw them in Jacksonville Fl. in Sept. 1964. Outdoor stadium (the Gator Bowl) early '60s sound system, no big screens to project the image onto, nose bleed seats, and ten zillion screaming teenage girls - we really couldn't hear anything. It didn't matter. It was so cool. We're actually holding our own in the struggle with the squirrels. The bird feeder is now about 6 feet off the ground. It's hanging from two strands of fairly small diameter wire strung between a rose arbor and a tall, thin pole. So far they don't seem to be able to jump that high or to make it out the wire. One day Super Squirrel will appear, and then I'll have to try something else.

YNCS, don't you love it when " Some assembly required" actually turns out to mean that, instead of "Massive reengineering required" it's also a big help when the person who wrote the instructions speaks English. You really can't hope for much more than that.

Dougal, how far are you from the NS mainline? You're reporting some really interesting stuff. Before I retired, I had several customers in Charlotte who were across the streets from their mainline to Atlanta. I also had a customer in Salisbury NC very close to their line from Spencer to Asheville. I miss that.

Well, I'd better go for now. Hope everybody has a great day,
Tom

[fec153]

YNCS- you were lucky. My wife picked out an L-shaped corner desk with cabinets.
Heavy sucker. Weighed in at 165 lbs.
Honey do , honey do. Hate those words.

[Anonymous]

Yesterday my daughter's new computer desk arrived, in a long, narrow box. As you might imagine, my daughter's comment to me after she showed off the box was "Dad, would you help me put it together?" We all know that translates as "Dad, would you put this together while I watch you?"

This afternoon she and I assembled the desk. I only had to redrill one hole, and the instructions were not only written by someone fluent in English but who had obviously constructed the same desk that I had. It was such a pleasant experience that when we were done my daughter commented that I hadn't enriched her vocabulary at all.

[philnrunt]

Bill- Don't mess around with that leg, get into a Dr ASAP. Or an Emerg Room. Take care of it so you can bounce Taylor on one knee and another grandchild on the other. And congratulations on the new addition. The cat story was a killer. Hollywood could'nt remotely approach stuff that funny.
As for cats, my dog thinks he's human- my cat knows she's God. I have 14 cats, 10 kits and 4 adults, and they are a joy. I also have 9 dogs.( I live way out in the country, all of my old neighbors got together and bought this place for me!!)[:o)][:D][:o)][:P] 8 of the dogs lay around and wait to kill a cat that strays into their compound, but the cats-now there is a killing machine- Used to have huge problems with mice, chipmunks, moles etc, now I have little pieces of them laying about. When you look at a cat, you can see the tiger in them,they are soooo cool.
Going to another concert tonight, an outside one in Muncie, with 1964-The Tribute, ('sposed to be as close to the Beatles as it gets, this side of R&R heaven), The Buckinghams and a couple of other folks. Should be an enjoyable. laid back time.
Tom- Hav'nt heard any more about the squirrels, so I'm guessing you've gotten the upper hand, or that they know how to type really well. Sounds like you are having decent weather, us too, cooler than normal.
Noah and dougal- GP-50's being re-rated to 38-3's just goes to show how much trouble EMD had with them. You would think that they would have the formula down for building a locomotive by now. From what I hear, the 90MACS and AC6000's are giving headaches too.
My thoughts are with you Bill,and for that matter with Jim too, he still has those tests hanging over his head when he gets home from Mo.
Take care, folks.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Noah Hofrichter
Dougal, You keep suprising me with things I've never heard of. Who knew (besides you) what a GP38-3 was, I've never head fo it. I'd assume its a GP38-2 with some different modifacations to the engines, right?

Well, other railroads besides NS have engines called GP38-3's, most of the time these are upgraded GP38's, and GP38-2's, the one I saw was rebuilt from a GP50, NS also has rebuilt GP38AC's and GP38's called GP38-2's.

[Noah Hofrichter]

Tom, thanks for the encuraging words, I really appreciate it.

Bill, we'll keep you in our prayers with the surgery, you can bet on it.

Dougal, You keep suprising me with things I've never heard of. Who knew (besides you) what a GP38-3 was, I've never head fo it. I'd assume its a GP38-2 with some different modifacations to the engines, right?

Lupo, "King Harry" that's pretty darn good. I'm suprised he'd sit in the same place for real long, as some cats get pretty worked up if there sitting someplace and not sleeping!

Noah

[lupo]

Bill congratulations on your newly born granddaughter ![:)][:)]

I hope everything comes out fine at the doctor! must be a nuisance when you have lots of work around the house that must get done.

Loved that cat moving story ! I realise I was lucky the last time I had to move: the leader of my cat-pack "King Harry" sat and watched us shifting his furniture and all kind of boxes with his things ( you know you do not have cats, they have living-in humans) After most things were packed he decided to inspect the moving van ,jumped in, found his favorite chair in there, he installed himself on it with a look on his face "well if you put my chair inhere that is where I stay " and he did, he would not come out anymore.
So, we closed the door, and when we arrived at the new house his was still lying on his throne! He got up, followed his stuff inside , gave it an inspection and lied down as nothing happened.

[Anonymous]

Went out to the NS main (again) and didn't see anyting that great (Out of 12 trains I saw 9 had C40-9W's on the point and 11 had a C40-9W somewhere), I did see a meet (Atlanta to Croxton intermodel passing an Allentown to Baltimore freight, GA, NJ, PA, and MD by the way) and the only GP38-3 on the NS roster (rebuilt GP50, 9 more are planned), I should have shots in a week.

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's going to be another beautiful day in the mountains. Right now the temperature is in the mid '50s and it's a bit foggy. It's supposed to get up into the low 80s this afternoon. It will be a nice break from the heat of the past few days.

Bill, congratulations on your latest grandbaby. That's wonderful news. I'm glad everyone is doing well. I hope you can get in to see the doctor today. It sounds like that needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible. Please let us know how your doing as you can. We'll be thinking about you and praying for you. That is definitely the best way to move a hot tub, or a piano, as far as that goes.

The coffee is very good this morning, and there isn't too much on the schedule. I think I'll get another cup and go out on the porch and enjoy the morning.

Have a great day everybody,
Tom

[Anonymous]

Seeing how light the patronage is here tonite/this AM, I thought I'd pop in for a moment. Have switched to tea - enough coffee today.

My daughter in California gave birth to a healthy, almost 8 pound, little girl today. Mommy and baby (Taylor) are doing fine. This is her third child - or another way to look at it - my third grandchild, and boy does that make me feel older than dirt ! And my grandson is a star baseball player in his third year of high school, if that doesn't really ice the cake !

Speaking of aging, I'm going to be most likely having surgery quite soon on my leg, so I may not be drinking coffee with you folks as often, for the next few days. A lump on my knee had been getting larger, and has migrated down the inside of my leg a couple of inches, and has changed shape and size from an almond to a small lemon, and now resembles a squished tomato, as it has tripled in size the past few days. It now feels very warm to the touch, and has caused my leg to swell up all the way to the ankle. And it burns a bit, like muscles do after a good workout. I'm scheduled to see the surgeon in two weeks, but am attempting to get in tomorrow, so I may be offline for a bit. This may provide me with an opportunity to get a 'leg up' (sorry - couldn't resist the opportunity !) on some long overdue reading and designing I've been neglecting for awhile, but will set back my actual remodeling for awhile. Drat, as I was getting a good start on the framing of the model railroad room.

Speaking of moving big and heavy stuff, I had a 8' square hot tub/spa moved out of the yard two weeks ago. I took the easy approach - I sold it to someone with a truck, a trailer, and 9 helpers ! I just watched, counted my money, and drank iced tea while they uttered all kinds of normally censored, but typical construction worker, language. It was great, for I was dreading moving it. . .

And traveling with animals can be "fun", especially when you are driving an extended cab pickup loaded to the headliner - front and back, with a bed full of hardwood boards, hauling UHaul's largest trailer they rent - loaded w/ power tools and other 'lightweight' stuff in the middle of the night on 400 miles of icy roads w/ 2 large tom cats (18 and 23 pounds and not de-clawed) that hate to travel because it almost always means a trip to the vet or to be boarded somewhere. Well, that's what I did this past winter, when we moved from NC to our new home in GA. We had moved everything else in UHaul's largest rental truck and still had to make two more such trips in my GMC, and this last one was the most challenging ! Scariest moment was when my largest cat - a very furry Norwegian Forest Cat and a devout coward, got freaked-out (while I was sandwiched in the center lane with very loud 18 wheelers on either side of me, and one behind me right on my butt, while crossing a long, rather crappily paved bridge). In a moment of stupidity, he decided to jump from the back seat area into my lap. In the process, he misjudged - he's a really clutsy and not particularly bright cat - and frantically grabbed onto my head with his claws to keep from slipping. That we didn't wreck at that time, is simply amazing. Then he puked all over me. Then the other cat, apparantly couldn't stand the stench, and threw up all over himself and the other cat that started it all. . .Try and wash off two cats at a rest center in the middle of the night. I got a lot of wierd glances from some travelers !

It's late - gotta go. Save my table - I'll be back soon.
BILL

[lupo]

Thanks for the fresh coffee Phil, gonna need that, Just got up and do not feel really motivated today, but duty is calling, so hop downstairs to the workshop and see if the coworkers have a fresh supply of coffee waiting . [C=:-)] maybe a trip to the bakery, the smells coming across the square are "breathtaking" this morning [C=:-)]

[philnrunt]

My, my, looks like the Coffee Shop is empty tonight. Pretty quiet when no ones around, so i'll just put a few bucks in the juke box (remember when you could get 8 songs for a dollar?) and have a seat in my favorite booth, the one looking out at the local switch yard.
Watching the MP-15AC going about it's duty, back and forth in the cool of the night is a great way to spend the nightshift. Should be a few freights come by too, so the night will provide dividends to those that make the investment of time.
The big Bunn coffee maker needs cleaned too, so I'll have you all some really fresh java when you come in in the AM.
Sleep tight, and we'll see you bright and early.

[tomwatkins]

Good Evening Everybody,

Yes Phil, moving stuff is very high on my list of fun things to do. It actually went quite well. We got everything home and stashed in good shape. Nothing got broken or damaged. That includes the backs, legs, knees, etc. so it was a success. I don't envy you moving a piano. I've moved one piano in my life, but we moved it 3 times. It was a huge walnut upright that weighted about 4 tons, I think. The last time we moved it was about 25 years ago. I remember like it was yesterday. When Shawna decided to take piano lessons we got both smart and lucky. We found a wonderful Yamaha Clavinova that was used. It plays beautifully and I or she can move it by ourselves. Please be careful moving it.

Noah, I'm glad to hear you're making progress. Early on in scratchbuilding or kitbashing, figuring out how to do something usually takes longer than doing it. It gets easier and faster the more you do it.

I got the rails painted this afternoon. I opened up the garage door to the basement,and every window in the house, put on my respirator and sprayed it with 3 different shades of Floquil. I think it looks good. I did it early in the afternoon when everybody else was gone. I really like Floquil, but it really does smell bad, and the fumes aren't healthy. But it's done. Now I've got to paint the ties. That will take a lot longer than the rails but that's OK.

Better go for now. I hope everybody has a great evening.
Tom

[philnrunt]

I stopped in and read all of the posts last night, but didn't reply, I know it took along time for us to get thru page 49, looks like it might be another long haul thru 52.
Just checked the post" POLL" by csxmodelRailroader and it looks like some very heavy editing has taken place. Last night in that post I mentioned that up9899 was back as AC44CTE and asked how his job interview went with UP (I think it's today) and today none of the replys that were there last night are there. The poll question about the up lawsuit has also lost about 3/4 of it's letters, so now the question makes no sense.Looks like someone with the power to make a difference has taken an interest in anything that could start another flame war.
Jim- Be safe, and take good care of Duchess. I travel with my Runtzpunkin, and I know how edgy it makes me to leave her in the Cherokee, even with windows down and water for her. It would be nice if there were more places for them to socialize and get R&R on trips. And PLEASE get those tests taken- I'm getting tired of studying !!!:D][;)][:D]
Tom- Isn't moving stuff the MOSTEST fun?[|(][|(][|(] A friend has a huge piano that another friend wants in her new house, I had NOTHING in this, and I was told today that WE need to set up a date to move it! This piano is the size of a battleship, but without the grace and delicacy. Either crippled or dead, it will be the end of life on earth as I know it.
Well, this was just some ramblings to help get us thru page 52, hope all are well, I'm sure that Ed is having fun in Durango, alot more fun than, oh say, moving pianos.
PS If you havn't checked out Antonios Savannah post, I highly recommend it, those Proto modelers are DaVinci's. Talk about detail! Joe Bob says check it out![bow][bow][bow][8D][8D][:D]

[Noah Hofrichter]

Boy Tom your right. Took quite a few hours for somebody to stop in again.

Again Jim, have a safe trip and we'll see you on Monday.

Finally fiqured out how to scratchbuild the steps to they look half like steps this morning, so I've got two of the four steps done. I should be painting on monday if I can get the coupler boxes figured out.

Noah

[tomwatkins]

Good Mornin' Everybody,
It's been kind of quiet in the coffee shop the last day or so. I guesss everybody has been busy doing other things.

Jim , I'm sorry to hear that your week hasn't gone at all as planned. Life surely is like that sometimes. Be careful on the road and have a safe trip. A candy stop is always a good idea. There are people who claim that I'm a serious chocoholic. I don't know if that's true, but I never met a piece of fudge I didn't like. Anyway have a safe trip and a good weekend.

It's going to be a good day today. I've got to go help Shawna, our daughter, move the big stuff ( refrigerator, TV, shelves, ETC) home from school this morning. She was a resident assistant in the dorm at college last year, and they asked her to be one for the summer term. That's now over and it's time for her to move back home . She'll have about a month here before she goes off to another school for her junior and senior years. Time does fly. After that is done and everything is situated I'm going to start painting the rails on the newly revised section of the railroad. The wall modification is done and painted. It turned out pretty good. So progress continues.

Hope Everybody Has A Great Day,
Tom

[Anonymous]

HI All [:)]

So far this week has not gone as planned. [:(] Had trouble with the truck air conditioning, also had a nail in the front right tire and it was losing air, and I still have not had time to take my test either. [V] [:(] I am taking Thursday and Friday nights off from work and will be heading to Missouri for the weekend to visit the parents. [;)] Tonight / this morning I need to do some laundry and housework. [:(] Then I will take a nap and hit the road this morning hopefully by 9 am.

Duchess likes to ride and she will get to go as I cannot leave her here alone for 4 days. She knows where we stop along the way and is always ready to "walk" when we get to those places.

Scott, I will have to mail your package when I get back. I just haven't had time to get it together. Sorry bud, but now I might include some "goodies" from Branson. There is a candy shop there that I stop at. Hmmm, hmmm, hmmm good. They have more kinds of fudge than I can name, and the black walnut brittle is "to die for". Sounds like a really sweet deal to me. [;)] We will see if I have time to stop. Parking is always a problem in Branson, and of course Duchess will have to stay in the truck. I hope I can park either right in front of the store or find a tree to park under. There is a little parking lot about a block from the candy store. AND the Branson Scenic Railroad is just around the corner from the candy store. The depot is the original depot used by the Missouri Pacific. I have ridden the train there and the narrow guage one at Silver Dollar City.

Well I need to check out some other forums.

See everyone late Sunday evening.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the week ( I know I will [:D] ).

[cwclark]

cool!...the silverton and durango!....I took that trip about 6 years ago..it was really pretty through there...the train runs about 10 MPH there and back and it takes all day to get to silverton and back to durango....(they have about an 1 1/2 hour lay over in silverton so you can go to all the shops and check out the town)..you can watch them turn the train around on the wye there also...a lot of people get off the train about 1/2 the way and go hiking in the mountains and pick up the train on the way back the next day...you're gonna love it!....Chuck[:D]

[Noah Hofrichter]

Ed, I'll have to look into that G scale layout, I've got a few second cousins in Center, (what we call Richland Center; Center for short) and they might know about it.

Noah

[krump]

Lupo,
I sent you an email - but the picture was tiny. gives you the idea though
cheers

[lupo]

Morning All!
Hey Ed, cool your'e going to Durango!
If you have extra time check out the road just outside Durango, to Silverton, there is a long straight strech where the tracks are just a few 100 feet from the road, you can follow the train with many crossings (whistle). I made some nice videos when we where there, they did a lot of switching in the yard to turn the engine, you can make some great pictures from the engine with the sun behind it, takes some adjusting from your camera but the smoke and steam come out beautiful! [:D]
After the return trip from Silverton the staff working the yard were also very friendly, taking time answering all kinds of questions from the viewers

Krump, have you seen your dutch train your mother brought you allready?[:D]