Barry- Yup, it'll all work out. And you are right. Not often mind you, but ever so often I see stuff on the RR that shouldn't be. Like is said, to and extent, there is a prototype for most everything.
Ulrich- In your financial situation and all the worries (that WILL work themselves out, by the way) you have, you still found it in your heart and pocket book to help those in Haiti? You, my friend, are amazing
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
Well, it´s me again!
we were able to bring my mother to the new hospital, so it was not necessary for her to be taken by an ambulance to that place. When she collapsed, she was taken by heli to Kiel, which is over an hours drive away from my parent´s place. Now she is in Rendsburg, which is just 15 - 20 minutes away. A neighbor will take my father to see her every day, so that will help him to build up confidence again. My mother is doing actually quite well, she wanted to go home instead of the hospital - oh, mothers!
Starting tomorrow, my father will get a cooked meal served, there will be someone looking for him and doing some household chores. I took me quite sometime to arrange for all of this. I wish I could stay on, but my leave from the GULAG is only limited to today. On Monday I have to report back, although it is just a waste of time. and .
I did a short calculation on what the track for that Salt Lake layout would cost - another dream down the drain . At the rate I can save up the money, it would cost me 8 years just to buy the track - no loco, no rolling stock -
When will I learn to accept my current life and boil things down to what is realistic - when will I stop dreaming? .
Actually I feel a bit ashamed , fussing about my MRR woes at a time, when the people in Haiti are fighting for bare survival. I have donated a little to the German Red Cross, as we will have a little surplus this month.
Chloe, it is about time for supper - how about a bowl of that spicy chili and a Coors to wash it down?
Garry - I´ll take one of that - I just love cinnamon!
Blessings and prayers to all in need!
Ray .. I meant to say I like your work so far on the bridge when I wote earlier.
Here is a "Padacah Built" Apple Turnover. They are huge and have a cinnamon topping.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Good Pre Noon hour
See how picky this is getting?
I just spent a good part of my morning both on the phone and on the 'pooter for work----now I'm off for a bit.
Ray: That bridge actually looks right for that area
Todd: It will come together for sure. I was thinking that the period does allow for things like the intermixing because it apparently is still something that I come across even up here. Amtrak trains that I've seen up here---and I always forget the dang camera--have been sorta mixed in terms of paint schemes at times. Even odder yet---Amtrak train with a Go superliner?
Chloe, I'll have a Ceaser Salad and a Beef on Rye sandwich as well as a coffee please------I'll be at the RC for a bit----
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Mornin' everyone!
Chloe how about.... hmm, maybe some...... OH! Are those apple turnovers on the counter over there. Oooo look good. I'll have one and my usual cup of dark roast in a FGLK Mug if you please. Thanks Todd!
Remembered last night I may be responsible for the Moment for Mission at Church again this week. Sent an email to the lady who asked my for last week. I'm really hoping that someone else has it covered. This will be a very, very busy weekend, and I would just as soon someone else did it. Have to do some shopping and a bank run for the MLK Committee today, but the rest of the day should be mine (unless I have write another Moment for Mission........)
Dick, The "Bridge to Nowhere...." is totally freelanced. It goes well with my "Figment" style RR. The logging RR was put together originally 25 or so years ago. Much of the scenery has to be redone, but I decided to leave it. In my original idea way back then the track was supposed to go where I ended up putting a farm because I couldn't reasonably use a steep enough grade to get a bridge up to the level (next to the tunnel portal). Every time modelers come to the layout they wonder about the little short stub of a lead left up on a narrow hill. This is an attempt to show the rail line continuing to somewhere else over a light bridge so typical of the stuff used on logging RRs.
Weather people are saying the high will get almost to 40 today here in the Finger Lakes..... "We're Havin' a Heat Wave........, Tropical Heat Wave........."
Prayers for all those affected by the earthquake in Haiti and for all in need!
Later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good Morning. Coffee and one of those Turnovers please. Thank you. And Thanks Garry.
I say........ Ohhhhhh what, by tomorrow at....ummmm....5. NO! 3. Pm that is. THAT'S how long I give the ole "what's a scratch builder" thread to last. Got my in early.
I hope to get to the train room today. Wouldn't that be great? We'll see how the day plays out.
Barry- Yeah that was my original plan. Actually my original plan was not to worry at all because 98% of the people viewing my layout are of my age group and so well remember the red, white and blue stripes of Amtrak they probably wouldn't notice that they are wrong for the time or possibly notice they aren't used at all anymore. Time though, that is the biggest problem I have. ( see what sitting at the RC has done) Originally I was going to have a time frame of the mid to late ‘70's and that could be pushed to the early ‘80's and therefore the loco could be used and the paint scheme could be stretched. Numbers on the locos or cars in relation to what the prototypes are or were and the smaller details that set it apart from early or late production did not, does not and probably will not ever matter to me so that's not an issues either. But now that I've moved to the current time, the old 40's don't fit unless I want them to be a baggage car. NOPE! They must me a loco prime mover. Oh and that puts the phase 3 paint scheme a stretch,(though I wouldn't swear off seeing one yet) but the phase 1 should be right out gone. So, I'm leaning towards my railroad having a passenger service. An idea very similar in execution like what Chris said. Having bought an old Amtrak loco and some cars and they will get painted to be the railroad colors that have yet to be determined. They are working on that, the colors, in the town with no name. You know the town that has the industry that no one knows what it does? In the section that's being redone without an idea yet as to what I'm going to do? Sure you do.
I love it when things start to come together.
Have a Great Day!!!
Hello ...
Who would like an apple turnover from the Paducah bakery? Shelley purchased a supply of them there yesterday. These are outstanding apple trunovers and they are huge.
Robby ... I, too, liked the layout pix.
Ulrich .... Your track plan looks great! Have fun building the layout.If you're interested, my Ulrich trailer that I painted for GN piggyback will be in WPF.
Keith ... I like the CNW colors, too. CNW's passenger trains were called the 400's. In the 1960's, CNW sold some surplus coaches to GN and to CB&Q. GN painted theirs in their orange/dark green scheme. Burlington painted its ex-CNW cars silver.
Lee ... The D&TSL yard was named "Lang Yard". You can see it today from I-75 at the OH/MI border. Now it tylically has unit coal trains holding there. If you are driving on I-75 into MI, you will see it on the west side parallel with the highway. It will be the final mile or two of I-75 in OH. The north end of the yard begins at the state line. The D&TSL was a busy little RR in its day. It typically hauled over 100,000 carloads annually. Most of that was CN/GTW traffic.
Jeff ... that's a nice pix of the boxcars.
My first FT AB set is complete and ready for WPF.
Der John, Nice work. Wow, I am impressed.
JR... " cork sheet would do for the terminal area and you could cut between sections to give some depth to the ballast when you get to it (you did remember ballast for the track, right?)." Absolutely~! In all parts. I especially the idea of cutting out sections for depth. I believe Jim had also mentioned the cork.. he also mentioned or should I say.. used the initials of H L in which I have no idea what that is. If he meant Lowes I wish he would have said so. JIM? I did check at Ace Hardware and Home Depot. No luck. I found some on ebay, fairly cheap.. but the shipping is a bit much. Over all, under $30 dolllars for a piece of 2'x3' by 1/8 thickness. I'm checking on about 3 rolls right now... seeing if there is a discount on combined shipping. But thats it for the cork as far as finding a store that sells it locally. Another 'slowdown' on the layout building. But I thank you JR, and others for the input and the encouragement.. until the kind words.. I was feeling a bit down, I really needed it.~ Keith
Good morning. Its 42 degrees, and it feels much warmer.
Thanks for the comments on my layout. Hopefully I can work on it some today.
Other than that, not much planned.
Hope everybody has a good morning.
"Rust, whats not to love?"
ns3010Keith, that's looking good! And sorry I forgot, but what scale is that?
Joe, this is N scale. My particulars in model railroading, N Scale happens to be the size I want and need. I've always liked the idea of continuous running. With N scale I believe my needs will be met. If I have my way, this will run and run and run. Starting out on main #1.. if it completes its first loop (from lowest level to 2nd level), if nothing is done.. it goes back down ... it can jump onto main #2 repeating the same loop but different track. And with any luck have some sort of 'jump' that goes onto the 3rd and 4th level (single track). And if all goes well.. once again.. some how some way.. it ALL leads back to main #1 at the very bottom.. starting the continous loop all over again. Yeah I know.. wish me luck. .. lol.
Joe, btw .. every now and then.. I watch your video's .. I Love em. Keith
Good morning. It's 49 and cloudy. It will remain cloudy as the high as the high struggles to reach 55 later today. The chance of rain is 30% this morning increasing to 60% by evening.Have to go to the pharmacy today to pick up more antibiotics. No surprise there. I'll be starting on a new project today. A Con-Cor flatcar that I received in the mail. It's missing some pieces, most notably the pins that hold the trucks on. The holes the pins fit in will be filled with glue which when dry will be drilled and a screw threaded into each hole.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Keith: loving the pics... Wondering about your "Storage Tracks", are you going to have a specific track for each car? I thought that if you used a magnetic dry erase board, you could have each "Liner" on its own little magnet, and thus know where all your stored Liners are at a glance.
Well Sam I wish I knew, I really do. Lets turn the 'Way Back Machine' to .. well almost 2 years ago.. this 'Father's Day' coming up.. lol. Lets not~ Sam this is a 'Waay over the limb' layout. This is what you don't want to do. My layout is what you call 'Backward Engineering' .. lol. I built the layout first.. now I'm planning. I know I know~ yeah.. but here I am anyways. So I'll describe to you my layout. And then go from there.
This proposed layout.. is four levels. Each level going back in time. The bottom one you are looking at .. is supposed to be the newest.. around 1955-1985. And the highest level .. very old.. maybe 1880-1900's. And the two levels in between fit in between those two extremes. Now the dates are probably off, but close enough. Each space/staging area will be getting smaller and smaller with less space to work with. Yes, somewhat of a challenge .. as we've all agreed.
Now as far as your question .. "...are you going to have a specific track for each car? " I dunno~ I guess it could get rather 'busy'. There are five storage lines going back in there, each one will hold five liners. I've sort of disguised the five tracks running 3 of them through the 'engine repair shop'. If I had more room, I'd be having more spurs running off those, but I felt I should leave some room for buildings. As far as certain lines, I haven't crossed that bridge..or track should I say. But if I were to tie all this in together, I like many different types of engines, liners and so on. Even my wife, Jeanne is involved in this and has her own lines. Jeanne has the Union Pacific Lines(shark nose), I particularly like the B&O colors. But we have collected our own lines.. of many colors and dates.. and not to be limited to just having one. Or one particular 'time period' but having some of the nicer ones we like and started collecting almost 2 years ago. Well, the only solution was to do a layout with four different time periods, with this bottom level being a very busy passenger liner station. But ask yourself, what nice colors of liners do you like? What would you collect? There are some nice ones out there~ Ok Sam, as you can see .. I do too much talking..lol. And probably haven't answered your question. But nice to see you at the Diner Sam. Take care .. Keith.
Good Morning All,
24 on the way to 43F today. I'll have a regular in a to go mug again this morning. Next Tuesday we start the model railroad afterschool program for the elementary school which is just up the road from the shop. This is our 4th year with it though we have virtually no repeat customers as the school is k-4 and the program is for 4th graders (and some recommended 3rd graders). Last years group were a dickens until we got them fully engaged so I'm looking forward to see what we'll get this year. Brought the rolling stock for the program layout to the shop to go through and I'll stop by the LHS to get some track cleaning supplies to keep with the program stuff. The actual 4 x 6 layout table stays at the school and even though it's carefully stored the track still gets dirty.
well it's starting in the shop already - gotta run. CUL, J.R.
I got two packages in the mail last night: the SPROGII arrived and 2 cases of cork road bed. I’ll be setting up a programming track in my computer room and a full report will be forthcoming Saturday. The cork was a great price from Standard Hobby Supply, 50 cents/3’ section cheaper than Walther’s or the LHS.
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Good Morning,
I have safely arrived at my father´s place and will now take him to my mother. Driving was pretty bad, the Autobahn north of Hamburg was not cleared at all. The communities were counting on a warmer winter, and now salt is in short supply, as well as the money to buy it.
Flo, I´ll have some
Thuddd, Ssshhpluurtz
Flo, what is this, I did not order it! Make it a coffee for me, please, and would you be so kind to wipe that gooey stuff off the counter?
Paul has come up with a just fantastic interpretation of MR´s Salt Lake route. I hope you don´t mind me publishing it here, Paul!
Needs a lot of fiddlin´t & tweakin´ to adapt it to the space I have available, but I think it is just GREAT! I just can see a long sulfur unit train snaking along the track, pulled by a consist of Kato´s SD70´s.
Have a good day.
PS We have just received a call from the hospital - my mother will be transfered to a hospital which is closer by my father´s place, maybe we can take her there.
Hey TODD: I got an ideer for ya Buddy... The Iowa Northern runs a seasonal football fan special called The Hawkeye Express. They took a F40PH, painted it in a red and silver Rock Island scheme. They took bi-level passenger cars and gave them a black/yellow Iowa Hawkeyes paint scheme. What I'm getting at...is you "could" always invent a little paint scheme for the Amwreck... OR, borrow from JEFF's bag 'o tricks and patch 'em for your little RR. Patchin' 'em would make it easy to justify the differing "phases" 'o paint scheme...at least in my mind. Throw (OK, spray) some fade/weathering on the older phased stuff... SHAZAM! Compatibility problem...gone.
Just another half-a-cent's worth of opinion, offered completely free of any charge or obligation.
TMarshSpeaking of beautiful, there are a couple of layout shots here that fit the bill.
Very much agreed, and in THAT, I AM unanimous.
Chris
The Cedar cRapids Industrial Branch: Proudly Shipping Yesterday's CrunchBerries Tomorrow!
TMarshChris- The FrankenTrak in question is a F40PH painted in Phase 3 scheme and the cars are in phase 1. At first this didn't bother me but the more I hang out at the Rivet Counter the more it does. Even though I freelance, I find myself anymore at least needing to reason the oddities on the railroad out. That one I have trouble with as the paint scheme is too far apart for the locos. AAnd the loco is too old for the time frame, which is approximately nowish. I do like the F40's so I'm now contemplating...
Todd: Might I suggest something here. The F40PH could be left in Phase3 and you still can use the cars in phase1--as you slowly gain the phase2/3 lines. I have seen in some old RR fan mags from the 90's and early 2000 area that there were some Amtrak passenger trains that were mixed like that. If someone asks why you have it in that form you could conceivably argue that like the prototype you can only do so much in a given time frame----
Welp, this little puppy be gettin' kinda tired so's I'se befigures that this here little one be goin' off to
Have a good night y'all-----
Good evening gents, just as Ray said, today was the first day that it got above 32F up here north of 72 north latitude. The sun even made an appearance this afternoon!! Both the wife and I have a terrible cold, all sinus at this time, hopefully no coughing type later. Ginger brandy and steaming hot showers to kick the immune system into high gear seems to be working for me. ( the wife doesn't like brandy, tsk, tsk, her cold is worse )
The house is finally all back to normal after the holidays, the village display tables are all down, so know it is finally time to get back to the layout for some serious work.
RAY: I like that bridge. Is it a hybrid or an actual place on the map.?
Time to hit the sack,
WA1VEI "73"
Good evening. Beautiful day today though I didn't get a chance to be out in it much.
Speaking of beautiful, there are a couple of layout shots here that fit the bill.
I see Jeff had a wild ride into the shop. Luckily the ride home was better and much safer.
Sam seems to be a bit confused. Must still be suffering from the newlyweditus. I don't know what he's talking about. Cata- what?
Tom- Sorry your new pride and joy is a painters nightmare, but you don't seem too torn up about it. It'll give you something to tinker with.
Chris- The FrankenTrak in question is a F40PH painted in Phase 3 scheme and the cars are in phase 1. At first this didn't bother me but the more I hang out at the Rivet Counter the more it does. Even though I freelance, I find myself anymore at least needing to reason the oddities on the railroad out. That one I have trouble with as the paint scheme is too far apart for the locos. AAnd the loco is too old for the time frame, which is approximately nowish. I do like the F40's so I'm now contemplating...... I don't know. My railroad has this train which in turn would require a repaint? Possibly, probably, oh who knows.
Welp, I see where Ray says it's 12:30 so that means it's way past my bedtime and I listen to him even though he's just a musician so, Prayers for those in need.
ns3010It seems a little paint will be enough to cover up the cracks, so it'll be fine, and in service once the paint dries
AWESOME news JOE! Glad to hear it. I'd still run a little liquid plastic cement into the cracks...just to reinforce them. But then, I've been told I'm "cynical," and have a "narrow-eyed view" of things.
Good Evening... Ladies? I think just a hot ham 'n cheese...yep, just the way the now long-gone Burger Barn in Shenandoah, Iowa used to make 'em... Oh, and with a big 7-Up please 'n thank-you. I'll have a seat at the RC...I see Der John's has been installed....
JIM: On THAT cordless rap-rod... Loving Wife brought it with her, she's had the thing for...hmmm, maybe since the early to mid '90s. It isn't used in THAT mode very often, I had the thing out of the charger/base pretty much all day. Can't blame the phone as much as I can my ignorance on how long it holds a charge...and just flat-out lousy timing!!! My cell is out of minutes only because we dumped every dime into vehicle repairs. It "should" get reloaded this weekend. Then, Loving Wife will have her TracPhone, as shall I. We went THAT route since the phones would (original plan) be used ONLY for emergency situations...not as a regular means of communication.
What I need is a GOOD regular telephone in my upstairs office again. I had one...but it had some strange defect to it. I could dial anywhere EXCEPT Solon. It died a sudden, violent death after it was bashed to smithereens one fine day after repeated attempts to place a call to Solon (Iowa) and hearing "your call can not be completed as dialed." Hmmmm double-checked the numbers, pushed them ALL meticuoulsly and precisely... "your call can not be completed as dialed..." Do the exact same thing on the TracPhone...VIOLA! call goes through. Landline telephone met Mr. Bogen (tripod) and his cast iron multi-position head. Landline lost...big-time. I'm still finding the occassional odd piece of phone...
Also JIM, yeah...the lady I did the article on sounds like she was a real sweetheart, loved by all, and missed by many.
TODD: Uh, ya wanna run THAT whole Amtrak thing around the track again for me? I must've missed something...
KEITH: It was I who liked the CNW Streamliners... I'm not TODD, I don't even play him on TV... And hey, the mighty "Ball and Bar" (NorthWestern) had a dark green with yellow stripes scheme on some of the steamers. Not sure which ones though.
Welp....back to the saltmine, I still have a varsity boys basketball article to hammer out for THAT and Mr. Boss. Tomorrow is a pow-wow with them and me...to "review expectations."
Oh
Joy
Evening all. Zoe, I'll take a RBF, pleasenthanks.
Seems I'm not playing pond hockey tomorrow since I don't have a ride, and it seems no one else does either... Oh well. Now I"ll be home early...
Chris: It seems a little paint will be enough to cover up the cracks, so it'll be fine, and in service once the paint dries. Pollyscale BN Green is a PERFECT match for the car, so once I decal it, it'll look like the entire car was painted, when all I really did was a simple patch job...And Walthers Customer Service is very easy to deal with. Absolutely no issues at all. They'll do whatever they can to solve your problems.
Ray: I'd love to go back and actually be able to see this stuff for more than 10 seconds...Other than last winter, I remember going there one other time, way back. We went to see Thomas the Tank Engine! Wow, that was a LOOOOOONG time ago...And the Bridge to Nowhere looks good!
Jim: The guy on the phone said he was holding one in his hand and actually inspecting it! Like I said to Chris, the customer service there is excellent.
Ulrich: Glad to hear she is doing better. Still in the prayers.
Also in the prayers are all the people in Haiti. They're doing a collection at lunch tomorrow.
Ima gettin tired, so I'll catchya later!
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
Good Evening, Chloe. Yep, almost made it in over lunchtime, but then things got busy again at w**k... I'll have the grilled salmon steak, steamed broccoli with a butter sauce, a garden salad and a glass of your best FInger Lakes white wine, please. (Ray? Suggestions on which one?) Thanks!
DerJohn - fine job on your tower there. Yep, I would vote for your ETDRCOP, but I'm not sure if I qualify to vote or not.
AmanaMedicDER JOHN: THAT tower is amazing... Hey, what's with asking to sit at the RC?? I thought you already had a charter membership! As if your magnificent modeling wasn't enough, the tar trailer shoulda sealed THAT deal...
Hey, I see Bill T.'s stopped by again (and, brought along another fine depot photo) Thanks, Bill!
Ray - after seeing your w**kbench photo, I am soooo much more at ease with how my w**kbench/DR table looks... Yessindeeedee! (And I second Chris' comments about THAT!). About your photographer 'friend', one thing that might be throwing him off, is that Macs and PC's have different color profiles (gamma, etc.) - the same photo on a Mac will appear (I forget now, either darker or lighter)
Now, Rob - I'm having a hard time believing your w**kbench could hold a candle to Ray's. Surely not!
Ulrich, you could tell you mother, but (having a lot of German ancestry myself..) do you think it will convince her any? Keeping her in thoughts and Drive extra careful when/if you head over to see your father (and mother).
Our weather was better today - we even got to 46 F (about 7 C) this afternoon! YAYYYYYYY!!!! Cloudy, but warmer, definitely an improvement. However, tomorrow night they are talking of 'drizzly' rain/whatever (about 32/31F..). C'mon, spring (no, not the four-legged kind)!
Chris, if your phone battery's going down on its charge that quickly, you'd better start putting back for another battery (or phone, whichever will be more affordable and w**k!). Glad you're getting to do the thing for Mr. Boss, and it sounds like a fairly 'fun'/enjoyable assignment, too.
Vincent - at least you figured out WHY your battery went dead on you. Sometimes I guess we take electrical stuff for granted and forget it will eventually wear down or whatever. I was finding myself wondering about the insulation on some wire I have (out of that stuff I had in my storage unit for about 20 years), thinking I may want to make sure my two buss wires aren't close to each other, just in case...
Todd, after your remark about money, I'm thinkin' - have you been hanging around your Senator or Representative? Maybe you caught something from them...
Jeff, I hope the master cylinder w**k gets done sooner than they think. That sounded a bit 'hairy' on the ride to the shop. Great to hear that they already got it done for you (and done well).
I got an email tonight showing a FIFTEEN FOOT Eastern diamondback rattler that was caught near Jacksonville, FL. Flip, I don't think I'll be moving there after I retire...
Robby, Lee beat me to it already, but I was appreciating your layout pics, too. Looking good there!
Tom - congratulations on the newest addition to the Yuba (and project for you...). Did Uff-Dah get a portion of catnip for his birthday, or was he rambunctuous enough without it?
I'll sit in a back booth for now. [Warning: Rant follows] I'm miffed with Kalmbach. [Edit:] I decided that I wouldn't risk catching the Diner on fire and having Kalmbach close the place down. Sufficient to say, I am NOT happy with some of their choices about Information Station articles and formats... #$%*&^$#@!
Blessings for all you Diners...
Jim in Cape Girardeau
howmusJeffrey, glad you have the car back..... with the brakes w**king!!! I have this vision of you flying down a hill waving your arm out the window with a helpless OMG look on your face and no brakes! You may be able to keep the old girl on the road for a bit longer!
Only had that happen once with a car but several times with large trucks.
PackerJeff, sometimes the E-brake is the only one that'll work, granted you may lock up the rear. Then again, I'd like to learn how to parralel park using it, Changing the power brake booster is a pain, even for someone as young as me. Buying a ratcheting wrench really helps with them..
Evenin' folks!
Flo just a Mexican Sundae with lots of whipped cream on it (there seems to be lots of it on the floor, hopefully you still have some unused.....???) and a cup of decafe for me tonight. I'll be in the back booth by the stove warming up.
Today was the first day above freezing this year I think. Temps are plunging back down to around 15°F during the night. For around here the temps haven't really been all THAT cold. I can remember growing up we would always have a few weeks where it never got above 0°F......... Managed to get some of the ice off the porch and knock icicles off the eaves. Also went to 2 of our schools and picked up the Art and Poetry, took it the church where we were sorting, and helped get it to the judges. Saturday we will have them all at the Church where the MLK Service will be held this year and they will pick the winners. After the service, I get to take all the non-winning entries back to each of the 6 buildings (public and private). The winners get sorted again and the first place winners go to the local newspaper where they wil have a full page spread of the kids work. Too bad I never seem to have anything to do in retirement....
Jeffrey, glad you have the car back..... with the brakes w**king!!! I have this vision of you flying down a hill waving your arm out the window with a helpless OMG look on your face and no brakes! You may be able to keep the old girl on the road for a bit longer!
Tom, why do I keep hearing "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head....." Just remember.... ah.... how does THAT old saying go? "January showers bring the mudslides THAT come in May....." Naw, THAT isn't it.
A man was telling his neighbor, "I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art. It's perfect." "Really," answered the neighbor . "What kind is it?" "Twelve thirty."
OK... You asked for it! Now your going to get it!
The very first public photos of the "Bridge to Nowhere" spanning the main tracks of the SLOW from the logging road above...
Still a lot of w**k to be done, but it at least looks like some sort of a bridge. It will have hand laid code 70 rail on bridge ties and a lot more bracing when complete.
Hey ya'll, RBF for me
I put in a new thermostat in my car, hopefully it'll quick sucking gas up like a truck...
Bama, I've had worse. Try broken driveshaft and transmission tail cone at 85 mph...
JR, it's a chore, but in the end it'll be worth it. I had another suprise when I changed the thermostat. That autozone doesn't carry the gaskets for them, and someone put straight water in the radiator, so when I disconnected the radiator hoses, it was a rust-colored mess. I don't have the stuff to properly clean that out, so I put in a new antifreeze/distilled water mixture. I did learn how to make my own gaskets.
Jeff, sometimes the E-brake is the only one that'll work, granted you may lock up the rear. Then again, I'd like to learn how to parralel park using it, Changing the power brake booster is a pain, even for someone as young as me. Buying a ratcheting wrench really helps with them..
Sam, I've been waiting for those SW1500s for a while. I'd like to get a few in undecs (they list no BNs), rather than try to monkey with getting sound in the athearn ones. I have a BLI NW2 and C30-7. The detailing on them is pretty good and they run and pull pretty well.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Got the car back late this afternoon. They did a good job on it. The brakes work better than they have in the past 8 years, including the previous time the master cylinder was replaced. That one was a rebuild. This latest one is new along with the booster. There's only about an inch of pedal travel before I can feel the brakes taking hold. I like that.
Good Evening
Did a whole bunch of paperwork at home for work this afternoon. And then spent some time working on some elevators to get them off my worktable---need space for the trestle build---
Chloe--I'll have a coffee and a slice o' that Key Lime Pie please----ON A PLATE!! NOOOOOO-----KERSSSSPPLLIIISSHH!!!------oh-----dang
just get me a spatula and a bowl please-----sheeesh even the staff are doing this now----SAM!!
"Spring' stepped on the keyboard just as I was typing thisjun585yuttu598u4k.
I give up. I'm going to the corner booth to hide----I guess it is just a mixed up day---sheeeesh
mumble mumble---
Afternoon all from PartlyCloudyCalifornia.
We're between rainstorms here, and it's been foggy every morning for a week. I mean FOGGY! Like 2-inch visibility when I head off to school in the AM. Usually lifts about noon but then just hovers over us, waiting until the sun goes down so it can plop on the roads again.
But at least we've got a relatively WET winter out here, given what we've had for the past four years or so. We're at 95% of our water table so far, and that hasn't happened in a LONG time.
Well, I got my new brass Mallet loco from Caboose Hobbies today, and I was going to take a photo of it for you all, but when I opened the box and took one look at it, I just sat there and blinked. It's a consignment loco, but whoever owned it previous, must have stood three inches from it and BLASTED it with a can of Gloss-Black Krylon house paint. I mean, it's so thick that details have been absolutely ERASED. I'm going to have to actually STRIP this baby with Jasco paint remover even to get down to the brass. I forsee about three or four tries and about a week of scraping. Sheesh!
Now I'm certainly not touting my own painting techniques, because I'm still kinda/sorta learning, but this job is just one for the books. HOWEVER-----(he said, cheering) the little lady just runs like a Swiss Watch. That's thanks to Bob and the brass crew at Caboose Hobbies who kept it an extra week to fix a drive-shaft glitch in the articulation. Now, they didn't have to do this, you know--it was CONSIGNMENT. But it's just another reason why I get all of my consignment brass from those neat guys in Denver--they really believe in good old-fashioned Customer Service.
It's a Key model of the Rio Grande's first 'big' articulateds, a series of 2-8-8-2's built by Alco in 1912. So it's definitely pre-USRA and rather unique looking. In fact, it's cute as a button--even underneath all of the paint. Tried it out on the layout, and it ran very sweet and quiet. Evidently Rio Grande liked these little 3400's, some of them were rebuilt during WWII (which is the model I have) and outlasted some of the more modern Rio Grande steam.
Anyway, as soon as I get her stripped and repainted, I'll post some photos. She's a really unique looking little Mallet. I'm thinking that she'll look really neat double-headed with my little ex-Denver and Salt Lake 2-6-6-0. We'll see.
That's about it from the MR front out here. Have to get back to work transcribing some music for my favorite lady Sr. Margie. She's celebrating her Jubilee in a couple of weeks (25 years as a Franciscan Sister), and she wants a particular song for her Celebration Mass. Only thing, it's never been published. It was written by a friend of hers, a Franciscan Brother, and all she has are the words and the chord symbols. So I played secretary, the other night, jotting down the melody as she sang it, and now I've got to get the darned thing transcribed for our choir. Thank God for music computer programs.
Oh--Uff-Dah celebrated his 6th Birthday the day after New Years. Spent it racing around the house bugging Spooky. I celebrated it by sticking a candle in his favorite treat, a can of Chicken Of The Sea water-packed tuna. He's still grinning. Weird cat.
Best to all, prayers to those in need.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Evening all. Chloe, I'll take some of the P-stuff and a RBF, thanks. And it's for eating, not throwing!
Used the new gloves the other night, and they are so comfortable! Such an improvement over the old ones.Might go to a teammates house for pond hockey after school tomorrow. Not sure yet if I can go, and if anyone else can.
Well, I was browsing around ebay, and I found this Atlas U34CH! And at a good price! Might bid for it if my mom says yes. Would be mostly for display, but who says I can't run it for fun every once in a while? Or, I could say that the URHS restored their's (even though, in reality, their's is 4172) for excursions. We'll see...
I'll be catching up and stuff over at the RC.
Lee ... Wikipedia has a good write-up on the the D&TSL. At GTW it was simply called the "Shore Line".
It is remakarble taht the D&TSL was a railroad with a route of less than 50 miles but it had a hump yard. That yard is now a flat switching yard. It is adjacent to I-75 at the MI/OH border. Before GTW's acquistion, the Shore Line operated GP-7's in a "bumble bee" scheme looking like NKP locos. Those units would run through on the GTW to FLint or Port Huron. Prior to GP7's, Shore Line steam locos did that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_and_Toledo_Shore_Line_Railroad