Elliot's Trackside Diner, Mark XIX

[JimRCGMO]

Evening, Zoe, Chloe - I see it's about shift change for you two, eh? Oh, I'll have a lighter dinner, just a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of chili, please, and a RBF. I'll have coffee after dinner, thanks! Hi, Janie, you helping Chloe with the shift tonight? Probably difficult at times to keep up with these chowhounds, huh?

Garry, I'm sure (like others here) that you would much prefer if all your family were in one area (like yours?). Will keep you and Shelley's travelling in mind and , as well as your and sister's figuring out details, and Shelley's monitoring the pending arrival of your new grandchild. Good news there on your BIL!

Ulrich, that almost looks like a good ol' EMD F-unit there - 'cept more like Siamese twins, joined at birth... Keep at it with getting ready for your move, and the landlord will probably get around to approving you, after he/she gets good and ready, anyway. And congratulations on your 1,000th post - but I think Jeff has too much of a lead on you (or any of us) for catching up to him.

Rob, great to hear you'll actually be able to sleep! How soon will the machines arrive? Can't be soon enough for you and your wife, I'm sure. Hope the doctors track down whatever's causing the equilibrium problems (any history of inner ear problems?).

Jeff, on that Santa Fe hopper, would that be a hunting type tag, or a spraypainted tag, on the other side? Good to hear your folks are back from their trip - do they do that every so often?

Keith, that's too bad on the mountain supports - will you be able to 're-purpose' any of the wood for a different arrangement?

Kinda a slow day at w**k today - my (immediate) supervisor was out (she's on-call tonight, tomorrow night's my turn), and I had two intake assessments, plus a regular client to see. The two intakes would've been a bit much if they'd both showed up (but luckily for me, only the later one showed up, and their history was fairly 'plain', so I got that done, typed into the computer and printed 'n' ready for my putting in my signing supervisor's mail slot, all before time for me to head home. My other two crisis w**kers, who were covering that and walk-in today, left early. So I figured I'd treat myself to dinner out tonight and come by here.

I'll be at the window booth a while, just in case there's any problems, uh... with the chili's after-effects...

[Edit] Well, looky who has the dinner tab. Okay, chow time!

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[jeffrey-wimberly]

JimRCGMO

Jeff, on that Santa Fe hopper, would that be a hunting type tag, or a spraypainted tag, on the other side? Good to hear your folks are back from their trip - do they do that every so often?

It's a spray painted tag.

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

jeffrey-wimberly

 

Hi Jeff,

That is the Spraycan Rembrandt coming out in you.

I once saw a 60 ft. high pressure vessel tank car that had a very similar if not the same mural or tag on it.

Was this a copy of the real thing ??

Nice work.   Really glad you are feeling better and that you are attending to those medical issues.

Johnboy out.......................................

[JimRCGMO]

jeffrey-wimberly

It's a spray painted tag.

Cool!

 

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Johnboy: That's a decal copy of the rea; thing. I got it from Blair Line.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good evening...

Thanks for the thoughts. We depart afternoon tomorrow. Gives me time to have brunch here and to bother some diners in the morning.

Jeff ... The hopper looks creative.

Here is are pictures of my new F7's. I have pix of them for WPF if I get a chance to do that.

[blownout cylinder]

Hello

Got most of the HD stuff done as there were 2 things that were not where we thought they were---running around added a few more $$$$ to the tank My MR budget gets a wack taken out AGAIN

So, anyhoooo. The trainroom is alot cleaner now and I now found that a couple of my so called custom turnouts tried to modify themselves---actually what happened was I left some big books on them--- There are going to be some more turnouts to be made--two yards need some holding tracks for an exchange or two----or 3

Jeff: I thought that was where they came from----BTW the original source for that appears to have created a number of really fantastic work--keeping in mind all the issues around it---there was some talk a while back about the issues surrounding this type of work.

Flo, I'll have a coffee and a slice of that Pecan Torte for now, please--I'll be over at the RC..

 

[twhite]

Greetings all from SoggyCal: 

Been remiss about tracking the diner and already there's about 14 pages.  Nothing like staying on TOP of things, LOL! 

Well, in case the news didn't hit anywhere else, we got SLAMMED the day before yesterday by the remnants of a Japanese typhoon.  It came roaring into the Northern and Central Coast, left about 10 inches of rain in Santa Cruz county, continued on into the Valley, gave us about 4 inches in a little over 24 hours, knocked out power to at LEAST 100,000 people here in the Valley, continued up to the Sierra, dumped another 7 or 8 inches, plus about a foot of snow over the Passes, and left me in the dark for about 24 hours. 

Thank God for Coleman Lanterns!   School was closed--no power--and when the power went off in my house, it blew the Bloody Hell out of my DirectTV box--they're sending a new one UPS, LOL!--

Hint:  Do NOT watch the latest episode of NCIS during a California Storm. 

Spooky thought it was really neat, she sat in the window and watched the wind and the rain and the flying tree limbs.  Uff-Dah curled up on my lap on the couch and just stared at me.  "What the Bloody HELL is THIS, Daddy?"  

At least now I know why those two were so busily growing their winter coats lately.  Anyway, the streets are covered with leaves and tree limbs (and trunks), there's still areas of flooding, the runoff from the mountains is very busily filling all of the dams around here, and our usual dry climate is about as humid as Louisiana in July (sorry 'bout that, Jeff).   Now humidity is not my best friend because of my COPD, so I've had the Purifier on for the past two days just so I can draw a nice, deep DRY breath.  It's better this afternoon.  Actually got air all the way down into my diaphraghm.  Hey, I should be able to SING, tomorrow in class.  Today, I sounded like Death Warmed Over with the choir.  They were really worried.  "Hey, Doc, are you okay?"  "Yes, thanks.  Do what I've been TEACHING you, not what I'm doing."  They got it.  I just played the piano and gasped a lot. 

Anyway, this storm has really socked us.  We generally get about an inch of rain around here in October.  Right now, we're dealing with something like 4 to 5 right here in River City, and God only knows what the rivers look like in the mountains.  If this is a harbinger of a Winter To Come, my next message may be from a row-boat. 

But Spooky is just ecstatic.  The worse the weather, the better she likes it. 

Weird cat.

Anyhow, as soon as we get all of the tree-limbs cut up and find out where the roads are, we should be back to California Abnormal in another day or two.  One thing--two more of these babies, and our Drought could be over for a long, LONG time!

Jeff:  Neat decals!  Keep healing. 

Garry:  Love those F's.  I WANT that Burlington reefer behind them.  Where'd you get it?   Need to find out so I can add it to my fleet. 

Best to all, prayers to those in need. 

Tom  

 

 

 

[AmanaMedic]

Good evening, ladies? Yup...doublecheeseburger basket, with a Coke....yeah, at the RC please 'n thankyou.

Well, another Thursday night, and another round of stuff being finished up for THAT editor. She's getting another football game write-up (to go with the 3 still sitting in her "cache." She's getting some pics to go with it, a little blurb on a homecoming king and queen, and a Hall of Fame inductee who looks like a Furbie... For those not wanting to google it, or otherwise have no idea what that is, it's a little furry critter. Looks like the furry things from Gremlins. They interact with whoever is playing with 'em. Kinda neat, until the batteries die...then they just look depressingly pathetic.

THAT editor also gets a photo story on a bunch of 6th graders spending the day "studying" prairies, gardens, and wetlands. They got a rare treat: the U of I folks caught a red tailed hawk for 'em to see. Lucky me, I picked the right day to be there, got some pics of it. Neat bird.

The RR room is getting some changes made. I had the sky blue paint going all the way down to the petrified, harder than concrete baseboards. Now, with one bracket up, I'm moving the CNW green trim color up to the bracket level. CNW yellow and green stripes go around the upper part of the walls...I'm taking a few inches of depth off both. The bracket has been painted CNW green, except for the underside and "inside" of a 1x4 attached for wiring. That will be white. I figure when I finally run wires, I'm going to label EVERYTHING. I'm even going to attach wiring diagrams underneath the layout, so when Murphey comes a-calling and messes with me and the wires...I'll at least have a picture to look at rather than trying to rely on memory.

I'll try to get some pics of the "zone of chaos" for you guys...some of you may be needing a good laugh in a day or so...

Ah....dinner is served. I'm gonna have a seat at the RC, sit for awhile, then it's back to w**k.

Have a good evening,

Chris

[ns3010]

Evening all. Chloe, a bacon cheeseburger, please?

Sorry I haven't been in in a few days again. Just took PSATs yesterday, and spend the majority of my week working on my english paper

I'm gettin tired, so I'll be back in tomorrow to blab some more and skim through the posts. Night all

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie how bout a cup of decafe and a slice of pecan pie with a scoop of vanila ice cream on top.  I will eat it standing up so I don't have to count it......  I go over by the Rivet Counter to harrass, er talk with some of the others........

Had the fist merit badge session with the handicapped troop tonight.  i thionk these guys will do very well with the merit badge as they are very interested in it.  Spent most of the time going over Operation Lifesaver materials.  The new edition of the Railroading Merit Badge took the Operation Lifesaver materials almost word for word.  In fact one of the requirements is to tell who Operation Lifesaver is and what they do.  Only one of them has ever ridden on a train or a trolley before so they are very excited about the trip to the museums.

So Tom, How's everything in good old California?  (Ducks as flying objects wizz past....)  OK. stop shouting, you'll lose your voice again.  Glad to see at least that the cats are enjoying the weather! 

Chris, I'm confused .  Homecoming King and Queen and Furbies???  Oh that was the inductee......  Do Red Tailed Hawks eat Furbies or only 6th. graders????  Sounds like some good changes being made in the train space.  Don't forget to post some photos.

And Barry have your neighbors figured out what to do about the garden between the driveways?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Going down to 32°F and we could have some of that white stuff on the ground by morning, although most of it will be to the South of here.  Classic Nor' Easter coming in.  We are scheduled for rain and sn*w all day tomorrow and off and on for the weekend.  I already got the Sn*w blower out and started.  just need to put some air in the tires and tighten up a couple cables before I use it.

Catch you all later.

73

[gear-jammer]

Chloe, I will have a hot cider, please.

jeffrey,  That back drop is great.  The trees blend well.

Garry,   Your layout is so far ahead of ours.  Thanks for sharing those photos. Np rules.

Tom,  I sounds like you got the storm that missed us.  Sorry.  They said heavy wind and rain, but it never materialized.  Just a couple of sprinkles.  Hope that everything is ok.

Rob,  Looks like you have clean-up duty after your flood.  It is amazing what running water can  do to  a  fence.

Have a nice evening.

Sue

[blownout cylinder]

Ray: Nothing yet---although one of their neighbours "volunteered" to take said plot of land-----for her own

BTW---"fist merit badge"? Who be this now? MMM?

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Uh, oh ... there's Ray harassing everbody at the RC again. Look at him. He won't even sit down..... But.... ah hah! ..... Look at Ray woofing down that pecan pie with ice cream ...... There are some world class chow hounds in this diner! ........ (Barry enters diner) ....... See what I mean ..... ooops ... oh ...hello Barry ..... ..never mind....

Tom ... The reefer was made by Acurail. I think I bought it about 10 years ago....

Sue ..... I still have plenty of NP ... I suppose I'll take pix next time I run some.

I hope those charactors at the RC quiet down soon before they awk Duke........

 

[LSWrr]

Evening all,

One of those evenings a hot cider would be great.  Tonight I pulled the snow blower to the front of the garage, checked the oil and started it up.  Tossed 300 pounds of sand bags in the bed of the truck, so I should be ready for tomorrow’s weather, I’m guessing icy roads and sleet before we get the snow Friday night.  On the way home I stopped at LHS and picked up a new release; Athearn 50FT TOFC Canadian National with 2 trailers and 2 Walthers Algoma Central bulkhead flat cars. I’m collecting rolling stock from around the Great Lakes.  My Rivet counter friends almost have heart failure when they see certain road names that couldn’t possibly stray into Ohio.  I also had to get my Diesel truck an E-check of all things!  All they do is plug into the computer to check error codes and they pressure test my gas cap.  I passed at least.

Jeff, that is a cool tag!  I might have to look into one of those tree backdrops for my creek area.

 

[bjdukert]

Thank You    JimCG,Ray,Garry,and Todd
Best to all on sick call and those recovering
Duke

Looks like top honors,so eat up.
 

[AmanaMedic]

Good morning... a RBF on Mr. Duke's dime. Yeah...I'll go easy on our new retiree (congrats Sir, by the way). I figure, at the rate I'm going, I should be able to retire around the age of 100...only 60 years to go, how bad can that be??

RAY: The very nice young lady from the U of I spent considerable time convincing the assembled mass of 6th graders on how a hawk couldn't possibly fly away with a dog, cat, cow, deer, or anything other than a mouse or vole. She then took other questions about birds in general. I was sooooooooooooo very tempted to ask her a particular question about...sparrows...for some reason I somehow managed to resist THAT urge

Glad to hear the Boy Scout RR program got off to a flying start. Do they get to watch the neat yet tame (compared to what Europeans see in their PSAs) OLS commercials with locomotives slamming into cars and idiot teens walking "in the gauge" with headphones on??

I'm planning on taking some pics of the "Zone of Chaos" after the next bracket or two go up, and things look more "in-progress" and less "disaster in the making." Right now, it's just too...shambalized for public viewing.

The stuff for THAT editor is done, and filed. Later this morning, it's "face time" with her. I'm gonna make the case for my shooting a girl scout pinewood derby contest Saturday morning. I got a cub scout one back in the late winter/early spring, so figure we kinda owe it to the ladies. Plus...I need the hours which translates into a little bit bigger paycheck next payday. As it is, I have to miss Fire Dept. training Monday night so as to go cover a public forum on the fate of the historic Sutliff Bridge. Both approaches and one span of the historic Parker Truss were wiped out in 2008's flood. FEMA will pay for complete demolishing/removing of what's left (cheapest alternative), they'll pay for "repair in-kind" which is very expensive for what ammounts to a walking trail bridge, or they'll pay to "repair to return to use." Repair-in-kind means make it look like it used to...historically accurate, but updated to modern code. Should be an interesting discussion. It just sucks I have to miss a training session to cover it.

*yawn*

Well, time for bed. I expect Ulrich to stop in yet this morning... Janie? Get that man whatever he'd like...put it on my tab.

Good night

Chris

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

Jeff, that is a cool tag!  I might have to look into one of those tree backdrops for my creek area.

Make sure to s[ray it down with Matte-Finish or some other flattening agent. It's very glossy.

[LSWrr]

Good morning,

Jeff said: Make “sure to s[ray it down with Matte-Finish or some other flattening agent. “ 

Maybe I should spray some on my belly before the holidays.

On a lighter note (no pun intended) I have lost 10 pounds since I started working my new job, so maybe my doctor was right; stress induced weight gain.

I’m getting spoiled with the rolling stock with metal wheels; previously all I could afford was used TYCO stuff.   This weekend I’ll be trying out the Micro-Mark drawbar tester on my locomotives, I’ll post the results for everyone’s review.

 

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Evening classes tonight and my weekly weekend seminars ----- heeheehee---fun times

Got a bit of that "White Stuff" this morning--enough to stick to the roof of houses and cars----and cover the sports field behind our house The high will be 7C while tonight's low will be about -1C. Tomorrow we'll start to see more sun again.

Today is also get $$$ so I'll have a bit more money for the MR budget-----maybe

Chloe, I'll have a full breakfast platter with a jug of coffee please-----I'll be at the RC waiting for everyone else to show up---

[Robby P.]

 Gooooood morning.  Its a cold/rainy day.

 Well I just got off of work.  A guy was switching trailers around last night, and broke the driver mirror off.  Now talk about making it hard to backup, and with a trailer attached.  BUT..........The supervisor made me do the rest of  the switching for night.  So hopefully we get a mirror on before tonight.

 I will pop back in later, and everybody have a good morning.

 

[Attaboy]

Alright, breakfast on Bob.  I'll have two egs sunny side up, bacon, toast, and...after the morning I've had I need something stronger than OJ.  Ulrich informs me it's afternoon in Germany now so add some peach schnapps to the OJ.

I awakened a little before four this morning by Pat's son coming in the bedroom and telling her that her car was no long in the driveway.  Seems a car alarm got him awake and he looked out to see what was going on and he car was gone.  They both got dressed and looked out the front door to find her car at the end of the driveway in the yard.  After two days of rain it was literally IN the yard.  Neither Matt or I could drive it out so I got the chain from the garage to pull it out with my truck.  After several minutes in the rain, mud, and muck with temps in the upper thirtys I learned that Ford Fusions have no place hook a chain to the rear of the car without doing some damage.  So we called AAA for a tow truck.   Fortyfive minutes later he arrived and had the car out of the mud in a couple minutes.  By then it was almost time to leave for work anyway so cleaned up and left.  I wonder if my supervisor would mind if I take a nap today.

Congrats, again, Bob.  Enjoy your retirement.

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Oh, Duke (Bob) is buying ........ hmmmmmmmm....if that's the case, I'm tempted to have the delux steak and eggs ........but, I won't....... I'll be good....OJ & Oatmeal here.... No "flavoring" in my OJ like Attaboy is having ........

Ray ... It's really good of you to volunteer for BSA. It is remarkable that kids have no train riding experience. I recall being a kid and we rode trains to a lot of places. Dome cars and observations were neat to ride in.

I ran the new F7's a little more, and I know I will use them a lot.

We're packing today for our respective trips as I mentioned before. Solving problems pertaining to Mom may be quite a challenge. There is no instruction manual for this situation.

 

[Anonymous]

 Good Afternoon,

what a dull and wet day. Add a storm to it and here it is, your typical Hamburg fall "Schmuddelwetter" (foul weather).  Seems to me that the weather is acting crazy all over the world in these days. Floods, "white stuff", storm - what else is there to come.

Chloe, I´ll have a coffee and a slice of that pecan pie. No, Petra will be making another load of Linzer Torte next week, not this one anymore. She decided to have a 5-day w*rking week.

The landlord´s secretary gave me a call today - I have to turn in more papers, permissions, applications, forms, which  I have to apply separately - I am all caught and tangled up in red tape. Absolutely unnecessary procedures! So Petra and I will have to live with some uncertainty for the next days, weeks, months? I can´t tell you how much I hate this situation.

Lee & Barry - those "baby face" double cab F´s were made under GM license by NOHAB in Sweden and were quite popular, also for export. They roamed the roads  in Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Luxemburg, Belgium and Yugoslavia. Some of them are preserved and on special train duty. Lee, those "bumpers" are buffers, which we still need in Europe, as the couplers emplyed are still of the hook and screw type, as you can see on the picture. We were not able to agree on a common new coupling systems  in Europe for the last 80 years...

A good day to all of you...

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, an egg on a muffin this morning with a large cup of dark roast in a FGLK mug if you please.  I'll be at the Rivet Counter with the others.

I slept in late this morning.  Needed to catch up on some I guess.  I have just a few odds and ends that need to be attended to today.  Right now I am waiting for a call from my insurance man to see about discontinuing insurance for my business as I am no longer accepting any new orders.  Just selling off my equipment at this point.  By the time I get done I may have the house back as a place to live rather than a place to do business.........  just got a call while i was typing this from the secretary at the insurance office.  The insurance man agrees that I don't need to carry the insurance anymore and whatever I have left will go under my homeowners policy......  Yippy!

Ulrich, ain't paperw*rk fun??? I know you will get everything sorted out soon so you can get on with life!  Loved the photo of the "F" units....

Oh!  Hi Duke!  You're up..... I suppose you will be awake more now in retirement?

Chris, I might show some of the commercials if I can find and get copies of them...  I will be showing an old ad for a tie making company in the mid-west made in the 1920's as part of the MB.  I used to think Manual Labor was the president of Spain.......

Barry, no "white stuff" here by the time I got up.  There may have been some but it has melted...........

OK, best get a move on.  Catch you all later!

73

[Cox 47]

Afternoon..Its cloudy windy with lite rain and 40 but its not snow...I'll have a cheese buger and a diet coke please...thank You...Our cable,phone and internet went out about 7:45 right in the middle of one of Sallie and I's favorite shows so I decided to start a pond I have been planning..took everything off layout and cut thru homasote base...I call it DJ's Pond after a feller who has passed that worked for the phone company..He was a big Hank Williams fan and called me almost every morning about 5 wanting to hear something by Hank..He used to run the back hoe for the phone company barefoot!..He drove a Jeep and loved to fish so I plan to park a Jeep near the pond and model him fishing....

 

 

You all have a good one...Jerry

[AmanaMedic]

Good afternoon, well, the big yellow thing in the sky is making an appearance...2nd time this week. Allegedly, we are to move out of early winter, and back to fall this weekend. We'll see.

RAY: I've watched the OLS ads on their website, I think they had multiple formats availible. Don't remember for sure...it's been a few years. IF I recall right, I think they also had a way to obtain them, and others. I'd bet for a Boy Scout troop, they'd help you out.

THAT editor wasn't happy today...not with me or my w**k, she just wasn't happy. Made for a lonnnnnnng staff meeting. Looks like I am going to the girl scout pine car derby tomorrow morning. It's a first for them, could be interesting. I'm really not sure what to expect. I covered a cub scout one earlier in the year so know how the event goes...just not sure what a bunch of young girl scouts will come up with for their cars. Hot pink Barbie cars??? We shall see.

This afternoon, I'll do some more w**k on the XTRA hoppers. Two done, one to go. Might do some more in the RR room. I know what I wanna do in there, I've got it figured out how to do it. I'm just not looking forward to all the w**k required to do it. Also time to compare the bank account with what the next paycheck "should" look like, and start doing a little figuring/budgeting.

ULRICH: Sorry you're tangled up in red tape, we all continue to hope for the best for you and your fantastic wife. I've heard it said God never dumps more on a person than what they can handle. I know there have been times I seemed to be on the "delivery route" for God's dumptrucks...but made it through. Channel that Bavarian stubborness! Call upon the German temper! You WILL survive and rise above all this crap.

JEFF: The "tag" on that hopper is amazing for a number of reasons. I won't resurrect the ongoing debate on "tagging," I'll just wonder out loud how these "taggers" are able to do so much w**k on these railcars... I know they don't do any surface prep, they just spray bomb and go...but still that had to take a considerable amount of time. Amazing.

ROBBY P: Your supervisor made you operate unsafe equipment?? Wow. Not good. Am I surprised? Absolutely not. I just wonder who's head would be on the chopping block if something had happened and OSHA were to start investigating.

*sigh*

Time to do some w**k for THAT editor. I gotta do some research on the Sutliff Bridge, so I have a clue what's being talked about Monday night at the public forum.

Have a good 'un, will stop in later to catch up.

Chris

[Robby P.]

Chris........Want to know something else???  The driver door would come open while you are driving.  Now that ain't safe.  Talk about something OSHA needs to know.

 

[SilverSpike]

bjdukert

Thank You    JimCG,Ray,Garry,and Todd
Best to all on sick call and those recovering
Duke

Looks like top honors,so eat up.
 

 

Congrats Duke! The clock is operating....

Check out this amazing video, the baby is doing fine! From Australia....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFI1JOLrVbo

You all have a great weekend! 

[bjdukert]

Thank you also Chris,Attaboy,and Ryan.
Ray

You're up..... I suppose you will be awake more now in retirement?

  Not sure about that as I am going to see how much of nothing there is to do for awhile,but I bet it won’t last long.  Not to mention getting a lot of practice on those afternoon naps.
Best to all on sick call and those recovering
Duke