markpierceThe TV just made a tornado warning with the emergency altert system. Fortunately, the storm's direction is away from me. (Good luck, Discovery Bay.) And here I thought we only had to fear earthquakes, fires, and mudslides out here where there aren't (hardly) any basements.
GLAD you're in the clear on this one MARK... Just wondering, how many Californians do you think are Googling or Wikipedian-ing the words "tornado warning" just to figure out what the crazy weather dude is talking about??? Hopefully, it's just a "radar indicated" rotation (swirly-thing) and not the actual "Finger of God" we see here in the midwest.
Good afternoon, double cheeseburger basket with a Coke please 'n thank-you...yeah, at the RC.
Welp, I'm actually having what could almost be considered a "productive" afternoon. I found THAT by stretching and compressing various parts of "The National Docks Ry." layout featured in the 2/07 MR and 6 Railroads you can model (2010)... I can have a decent little chunk of "Cedarapids" (representing Cedar Rapids). Fingering-out the trackage/structure arrangement for MY Quaker Oats complex, and a simple yard for the Chicago Central seem to be the biggest hang-ups at this point.
I also did a little more w**k on the roundhouse project, which thanks to a key element in the National Docks trackplan...is all but garunteed (sp.) a home.
I even managed to take care of some "Hazel duties," took RERUN out for a second trip in the cold, wind, fog, and rain; and had an epiphany.
Going back to the Kansanian theory of a future layout... Westmoreland, Flush, Louisville, and Wamego are geographically so close together...it wouldn't make any sense to have multiple crews/multiple trains ("The Flush Flyer," "The Flusher," etc.). In fact, only 2-3 guys would be needed (in the real world) to run the train, another couple of guys for MOW duites, a secretary/billing clerk, and some kind of "management" person. I figure operations would be on a semi-daily basis: run from Flush to Wamego twice/week, run to Westmoreland 1-2 times/week or as-needed. A couple of geeps, some 10mph track (with plenty of deferred maintenance 5 mph slow orders)... could be do-able. I'd need a fast clock though, otherwise the trip to Wamego would take only 2-3 minutes (small room).
The plan floating around in my brain would work best in a larger bedroom, or a good-sized basement...or in N-sane scale for the room I've got. The key would be to get some kind of distance between the towns. Scenery would be easy: Kansanian farm/pasture land mostly. Could go with several small bridges or trestles over the meandering Rock Creek to break things up a bit; as well as parts of the towns of Flush, Louisville, Wamego (URPP interchange), and Westmoreland (north end).
OK, so who's gonna go buy RERUN and me the winning lottery ticket so I can put up a building for all my layout ideers????
Anyone?
Chris
***WHOOPS! Looks like my rambling on just cost me dinner for some lucky Diner patrons! Order up boys
The Cedar cRapids Industrial Branch: Proudly Shipping Yesterday's CrunchBerries Tomorrow!
Evenin' folks!
Zoe I'll have the Hot Turkey Sandwich, Fries with gravy, Cole Slaw, and a cup of decafe on a R&GV mug. I'll go sit in my seat at the Rivet Counter.
Finally have the Art and Poetry photographed or scanned in for posterity (although the MLK President has some ideas on fund raising...... which is why I have been scanning everything for years.....). I was downloading and wo*king with the photos when the phone rang. It was my son. I say, "Son..........". he says, "Father". I say, "whatcha need" Tells me he is standing on my porch and the door is locked. I ask if he just wants to stand on my porch for a while or come inside? He says, "Your granddaughter is here to see you". I say, "Be right there!" He had a large box of old fluorescent tubes he has been putting off recycling for a few years. I had him bring them over here as I go to the toxic wste day at the landfill every year.
Olivia made a bee line for Thomas. We had to tell her there wasn't time for Thomas today. I did ask her if wanted to see Grandpas trains. She said, Uh huh! and ran to the cellar stairs. While Art and I were finding a place to store the old tubes, she got out her crate she stands on and was all ready to see a train run. She looks at me and points to the 0-6-0 yard goat and tells me, "That one Gampa!" So we ran a short little switching operation I was going to do later anyway to get some more cars out to the front of the layout so I can get their data into the database.
My son and his family are in the middle of closings on the houses. They closed on their old house yesterday and will close on the house they are buying next wednesday. Wednesday and Thursday will be moving days. Friday they have to clean out their old house for the buyer........It needs it!
Catch you all a bit later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Tired today. Physical therapy was a bear. I may turn in early tonight.
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
Evening. Just a Dr Pepper please, Brenda is making ribs for supper. Beef or pork? I didn't ask and don't care! Mmmmmmm! I love ribs no matter cow or pig.
Wasn't much of a flame war, though I get the feeling it was wanted. Thought it kinda funny the last post he made was. Seemed a bit "steamed" Luckily the diner patrons are a bit more, how do we say, tolerant than some.
Tornadoes in CA? Wow. Glad Mark's in the clear. Hope Tom and Keith are too.
Chris- THAT's my main problem. I can fit what I want on the space I have, but I want some space between towns and such. I haven't asked, but I have a good feeling the perfect wife isn't so perfect as to let me have the ENTIRE basement. Oh well, gotta take some bad with all the good.
Ray- You mean you don't just reach for the cars and get the data? You actually spend the time to bring them to you with a loco? ( he he ) IS THERE ANY OTHER WAY!!!????
Jeff- get some rest there hoss. When that sucker gets off your foot you'll be all over the place.
Hauled some more stuff from Mom's house to her apartment. I don't know why she wants all the stuff.
Also was down in the basement today, not long enough to work on the layout, but long enough to think if I moved a wall and the storage closet I could have a lot more layout space. Don't think I'll bounce that one off the CFO. It's good to have lofty dreams.
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.
TMarshChris- THAT's my main problem. I can fit what I want on the space I have, but I want some space between towns and such. I haven't asked, but I have a good feeling the perfect wife isn't so perfect as to let me have the ENTIRE basement. Oh well, gotta take some bad with all the good.
We found that to get space between towns I had to limit the towns to between 5 to 8! Talk about major grump------
Good Evening
It's been another dull day for us'uns again. Supposed to get all rainy by tomorrow and warm---hey now a 10C day will draw out the shorts, the sandals, the t-shirts,even sun tan lotion if it get sunny Which it won't---this time
I'm having an off day today---even my turn outs did not turn out----grrr Think I'll go for some comfort food----
Chloe! I'll have 6--yes 6 Big ol' sloppy grease burgers with mozzarella cheese and portobello mushroom sauce on 'em, a platter of home fries and a slice of that NYC style strawberry cheesecake, as well as a large RBF please
I'm going to the corner booth to try to cogitate the turn out issue-----
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/
TMarshI can fit what I want on the space I have, but I want some space between towns and such. I haven't asked, but I have a good feeling the perfect wife isn't so perfect as to let me have the ENTIRE basement.
Ya 'spose THATs why they gave us N-sane scale and Zoiks! scale??? Heck, in Z, I'm sure I could accurately replicate either layout ideeeer. So Perfect Wife probably won't give up the whole basement? Welp...Loving Wife won't let me have the entire upstairs either. Her cat is in one room (very anti-social, Rerun wants to exterminate it, it wants to exterminate Rerun...). The remaining room is fairly large for a bedroom. It's the junk room, Rerun's room, the spare bedroom, and eventually Future Kid's room... At the rate we're going, Future Kid will be in diapers...and so will Loving Wife and I!!!!! I keep saying "what do we need a kid for? We've got a Rerun! He's like a kid...he just wears a dog suit and walks around on all fours!"
Oddly, Loving Wife doesn't quite see the humor in this.
TMarshif I moved a wall and the storage closet I could have a lot more layout space. Don't think I'll bounce that one off the CFO. It's good to have lofty dreams.
Hmmmmmmmm. And just how long do ya think it'd take to move the wall? It "could" be moved while she's out of the house.... once she's used to the new look "that always was..." you then relocate the closet.
"No Honey, THAT wall was always over there....."
Well l got my new computer going. Finally got the internet to it, and photobucket is working. So.....tomorrow maybe I can get some pictures up.
Here's one I got in a email. Its called "The BIG Split".
"Rust, whats not to love?"
Evening, Flo - just a go cup of hot chocolate, please.
Have been running errands today, getting laundry done, bought some drill bits , and have been trying to track down both info on how big of an external hard drive my PowerBook 2000 will recognize (whether I partition the drive or just have one half-a-honkin'-terabyte hanging out there on a Firewire(IEEE 1394a)/USB (2.0) cable), and also find the best buy on such drive that WILL w**k (or at least play nice...) with my PowerBook.
Also started communicating with a match from eHarmony, will take a bit to see how that goes. She's in St. Louis (can you say roadtrips? ), and she's 5'1" (but she doesn't see it as a problem "I'll wear heels; if we get along well, it won't matter"). And NO, no "film at 11"...
I did start on painting one of my Boy Scout figure sets - going to have at least 2 patrols in my layout's troop, by golly! Also got some more plastic tubs for some MRR stuff that was in boxes previously. Got reminded I have a few other structure kits...
Well, time for me to get gone. Flo, if I get the TOP with this, just start my tab, and I'll settle up after church tomorrow when I'm back in.
Prayers continue for those in need of 'em (which is about all of us).
Blessings,
Jim in Cape Girardeau
Evening all from QUIETCal.
Yes, the clouds are kinda/sorta broken up around the Valley tonight, and we might even get some--gasp!--SUN tomorrow . That is if I can remember what it looks like. It's kind of bright and yellow, isn't it? I seem to remember it being SOMETHING like that.
Anyway, if so, poor little Mallet goes out into the garage and gets STRIPPED! YAY! I'm getting tired of walking by the kitchen table and having her staring at me as if I bought her just to abandon her.
Well, played Vespers tonight--we had Baptisms, and just think of how many things could go wrong during a Baptismal ceremony and you've got what we had. Sound system went berserk because the sound man was down with the flu, so we got Stereo "Popping" through the entire church every time Fr. Garibaldi turned on his Lavalier mike. And one of the little dears PEED in the Baptismal Font as they were being Baptised. And one of our Cantors got the words mixed up for the Ceremony and accidentally sang the Wedding Verse. It was one FUNNY Mass. But we survived.
Besides, we do these things for God, not Critics!
Anyway, it was quite a night.
Chris/Todd: Believe it or not, we DO get Tornadoes here in SunnyCal. Mostly here in the Valley, and they're not very big, but enough to tear fences down and lift barn roofs. And there have even been some in Southern California. So we're not immune from them, even though they aren't the type that would take Dorothy from Kansas to Oz. But they're still NASTY!
Jim: Big, BIG thanks for the PM, it had me on the floor. I just LOVE stuff like that. You really should share it with the rest of the diner, just so you can hear the groans, LOL!
Well, that's about it from my little corner of the world. I have to go out into the garage and clean up the floor. One of the neighborhood cats trapped a rat in there while I was at Mass, and--well, you don't want to know the rest, do you? I hope not! Thankfully, it was not Spooky or Uff-Dah, they don't go out there, and if they ever did and saw a rat, they'd be back in the house so fast it would make your head spin. "Ooh, Daddy, there's something GROSS out there. Yuk!"
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...Its 48 and rainny here..just dropped in for a cup of egg nog before hit'in the sack..you all have a good night...Jerry
howmusWednesday and Thursday will be moving days. Friday they have to clean out their old house for the buyer........It needs it!
Hey, how'd the trailer turn out? Hopefully on the better side?
Hopefully all you CAlifornians came out of the storms ok... The news on the mud isn't looking to good, prayers for you...
Jim- Good luck, I met my wife online!!! Thank you AOL Christian Singles Chatroom!!! YEAH!!! Knew she was the one for me when we met in person the first time! Oops, sorry for getting all sentimental and "mushy"...
Ever since my puter "Updated" itself, I have been having minor issues, slow to boot up, and not recognizing key strokes occasionally... I checked it out for a little, seems to be running ok now... we shall see! I am into my second night attempting to "reset" my sleep habit. Last night was a disaster, as I was in bed by 2am... I have to stay up LATE tonight, or else I may be asleep for my first shift of trainhandling (which I will most likely not run the train anyway, just take notes on initial braking points and car spots! Will be interesting!)
Well, I'm off to take another "stay awake" break. Chloe, may I have a double Mountain Dew Float along with a "5 hour energy" shot? thanks...
Sam
May He bless you, guide you, and keep you safe on your journey through life!
I Model the New Hope & Ivyland RR (Bucks County, PA)
SHIIIIVERRRR!
(The door to the diner flings open. An icy gust of wind fills the place, when a tall, fury creature steps in. Is it man or is it beast?)
Good Mornin, folks!
Brrrr - it´s been an icy cold night, temps down to -12 C, highs will be -10 C today - and no improvement in sight! Zoe, I´ll have a bucket full of cafe au lait and that French breakfast basket that Vinnie has put on the menue following his visit to "Parih".
It´s a day to stay home. I will warm up my fingers, get the old track planning software going and doodle around. Nothing specific - just to fill my library of track plans.
The mail man brought me a shopping voucher from my local DIY store. This is a rebate on the purchases of the last two years and it could take care of the lumber I need to start building my layout .... . Let´s see how I get this passed by Petra.
Jim - just a .
Tom - Rowdy Medieval Latin Drinking Songs? I never thought of Carmina Burana to be that. I know that Carl Orff did enjoy drinking a glass or two (too many), but I doubt that this was his inspiration. Saw Carmina Burana once, in the ruins of an old castle along the Rhine river - what a show! The entire scene was lit up with flaming torches, very nice.
Robby P. - I now understand how to measure the distance between two tracks - is this according to NMRA RP?
Barry - how´s your cold, eh - you, doing? Getting better - sniff, harrk, coff?
Ray - Jeff is getting rid of the sucker ?
*The Diner door busts open with another person coming in*
"Good Morning. I'll have the same as Todd, scrambled eggs, hash browns and some salsa covering please. Oh yeah, and some coffee. Thanks"
Keith and Jeanne reporting in from Water World. The rain stopped, wicked stuff. Have you ever seen rain? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu2pVPWGYMQ (lol, one of my dogs comes to the edge of the bed, I guess she likes CCR.) When I said Biblical proportions.. let me tell ya, I was scared. Now even with my kids all grown up, you have to maintain a certain level of confidence. Two of my kids looked at me with eyes wide open. 90 mile/hour winds when it wasn't raining, then pouring rain. "Oh sure, back in 64' it rained Cats and Dogs, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a few coming down any minute." The Husky begged me.. and begged me to go for a walk. Well sure enough.. two blocks away.. pouring rain.. I could have sworn the rain stopped... well, no use in trying to stay dry.. might as well enjoy the rain... we were sopping wet by the time we got home.
Today.. I shall be off to.. well somewhere to buy some type of Digital volt meter? Two days ago I hooked up a transformer.. wow..(polarity problems/ short circut?) I told Jeanne.. " I might start all over with the layout/staging area.. even though I spent all this money on turnouts... I think I want to start all over" Jeanne said, "I think we'll go out and buy a Volt meter" I think Jeanne wants to learn everything I know about electricity. 30 years ago I could have sat down and drawn out schematics of 'self rectified' generator.. and tell why an x ray tube uses both halves of the sign-wave (useful energy).. to make a 3phrase 12 pulse.. and so on.
So if anyone wants to know.. what is Keith and Jeanne up to.. ? ... as far as Model Railroading.. well we're reading and looking up.. Polarity.. electrofrogs.. verses insulfrogs.. and what the heck is going on. Should be a fun day today.
Although, its about 2 A.M. right now. I went to bed early.. 8:30 Pm .. now I'm wide awake. But it was cold... and the thought of trying to sleep when the whole house is cold... I dunno~ Yeah, yeah yeah.. I know.. Southern Californians.. don't know what cold is. The temp right now.. is 40 degrees and dropping. But if there are no clouds at night.. the temps.. well you might as well be in the desert. No wait, this is the desert.. lol. 30 degree temp spreads. Sure.. it could be low 70's.. really a nice day.. but at night.. don't be caught without a jacket. It can fool ya. Still, there are four more hours of darkness and I say.. its getting colder.. I can tell and my lousy knee also say so.
Todd... ".... scrambled eggs, hash browns and some salsa covering".. Todd, now that is a southwest dish. Salsa and scrambled eggs .. always goes together. I wouldn't have it any other way. And any of your others that have never had Salsa and eggs..for breakfast.. well, "Ese' .. you're missing something"
Good Morning!---**coff**
We're going to see a bunch of raiin today with showers then little tiny snowflurries tomorrow. Going up to 9C today then cool off tomorrow after tomorrow's high of 5C. Oh, and a bit of wind for us too.
I'm up awake and piculous this morning. Gonna do the seminar thing today then see whether I'll get a chance to do any building of buildings that need building----mmmm---that kinda sounds oddod
Sam: The only problem I have with my keyboard is my inherent habit of addingg and drping of letttes.-----geee---I wonder why---
Urich: My favorite line for DIY rebates---"Well, it was addressed to me!" See how far that gets you!! Oh. If that fails I'll give Audrey my sad puppy look and pout, "Gee mom!! Everyone else gets one to play with!!"----a lot of the time that works!! lol!!
Chloe, I'll have a large bucket of coffee and a breakfast on a toasted bagel please--I'll be at the fireside warming up a bit
jeffrey-wimberly Blazzin So whats the actual weight of the car? Few pennies?. And just what exactly do you achieve.. or striving for when you add the weight? Does it run on the tracks better? Is there some rule of thumb here? Thanks Keith The weight of the car with the container on it is 5 ounces. It's an 8 inch car (measured coupler face to coupler face) and assumes 1 ounce of initial weight with an additional half ounce added for each inch of length. That comes to 5 ounces. The weight makes a too-light car heavier and it will track better and will resist string-lining (tipping over) in a curve. This page from the NMRA recommended practices explains it quite well.
Blazzin So whats the actual weight of the car? Few pennies?. And just what exactly do you achieve.. or striving for when you add the weight? Does it run on the tracks better? Is there some rule of thumb here? Thanks Keith
Jeff, Todd, I thank you both. That was fun and interesting. And I actually get it! ...lol.
OK.. it would seem no one is up at this hour. Just me~ Well the temp has dropped to 39 degrees.. and maybe just a tad lower.
Ok.. this mornings dumb question is.. DC question. If I were to test my staging area hooking up a transformer, and I want to test the flow of electricity through the rails... using a Volt meter.
1. Do I, .. should I hook leads to both ends of the track. That is, wires from the transformer to one end of the track.. (east bound).. and hook up additional wires at the other end (west bound) to make sure 'connection' runs through the system.
2. When using a volt meter.. what exactly am I looking for? ..lol. good conection?
And most importantly .. What the heck am I trying to do? I dunno?... but I am .. we.. are both having fun. Well~ we're looking for some type of separation of lines.. coming off the mains into the yards... using various electro's and insulfrogs. Right now, I'm sure I'll have to take out a few.. replace this .. that.. make some cuts using a Dremel... but thats about it.. I thank you all.. or any that wish to reply. Thanks Keith
Good morning all,
Yesterday I picked up the parts required to connect the turntable motor to the turntable. I found a pair of T.P. &.W. box cars to add to the layout. And I picked up some more ground cover. I need to find an appropriate size box for the old roundhouse and put that on the bay this week to make room for the new roundhouse. Still waiting on my LBHS to call me so I can pick up my last order from him, I suspect the Digitrax order is holding it up. They came out with a new sound decoder in N-Scale that will fit in my HO-Scale GE 44 ton locomotives. Decoders come with a small speaker already attached (SDN144PS) $49.95 MSRP, however I see Lichfield Station is offering them for $39. Walther’s noted a delivery date of 30JAN10.
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Blazzin1. Do I, .. should I hook leads to both ends of the track. That is, wires from the transformer to one end of the track.. (east bound).. and hook up additional wires at the other end (west bound) to make sure 'connection' runs through the system.
Goooood Morning. And happy National Pie Day. I know it was yesterday, but we Williamsville United Methodists (or WUMC's as we are sometimes called) will celebrate tonight by going to the Church this eve bearing a pie. We all set down and begin consuming said homemade pies. ‘Tis a wonderful holiday. Speaking of that, I must watch the time I take to write this post. I have to shower before Church. Not that I stink, but my hair looks a bit, how shall we say, bed-headish.
I surely hope to get some RR time in today as it will be rainy all day and after Church I have no plans nor do I think Brenda does.
Speaking O Brenda, Chris- I don't think I could move the wall without her noticing. Unfortunately my wife notices things like...., well...., wall locations. She would notice the lack of a second door, floor space (the tile section of floor especially), the fact her table and chairs would now be against the wall instead of about 10 ft from it, and of course the lack of the ceiling light that has yet to be replaced along with the other two that have, that she keeps houndi...I mean asking me about. Never finish a project I say, you‘ll run out of things to do when you retire. (mainly saving things to do when they want you to do something you don‘t. Doesn‘t always work, but sometimes....). Good idea though. Real good idea. One I hadn't thought of.
Jim- ST Louie eh!? Well, that's not really too far. 5'1''hmm. Brenda is 5'3". You do know shorter women also mean shorter fuse on a more packed charge don't you? Have you mentioned the Choo Choo train? Hey, just kidding. Good luck buddy.
Tom- Hey NO tornado is just a little wind. That service actually sounded like it would have been rather enjoying to set through!
No, I didn't mean it that way guys. You don't have to scoot away, there won't be any lightning strikes. The big guy knows what I meant. (looks up and says half under breath, "uh.. You do know what I meant. Right?)
Ulrich- Hey man, what have we been saying? Little things like that are showing the light is at the end of the tunnel. May take a bit longer than you want to get there, but it's there. So, get some real rest. OK?
Keith- Aw don't sweat it. Getting a couple of wires crossed is about the easiest thing to do when wiring a layout. Or doing anything to a layout except look at it for that matter. When you get some turns and spurs and such you have a tendency to very easily get the direction of travel twisted up and backwards. Just remember most times just because a team track goes back from the main, doesn't mean that the direction of travel has even if you plan on driving a loco forward r backward. Oh yes, yes. yes. I prefer salsa on eggs regardless of how they are cooked fried hard, OE or scrambled. Better ‘n ketchup.
All this talk of meeting women online makes me wish I'd met Brenda on line. Instead I met her in a bar. A smoky bar. There she was, sitting on the ole upright piano in a red dress and a silly hat, singing a song and swinging a feather boa. No wait. Now that I think about it, that's not how it happened at all. I wonder how I did meet her.....?
Have a Great Day!!!
Good morning, and it seems like some rain is coming.
Ulrich.......That picture does look like something that happens on my layout!!
Not much planned for today, other than watching some football. No Steelers, but I guess I can pull for the Vikings, and JETS!!
Finally got some pictures of what I've been working on. I still gotta do some "touch ups" though. I wanted the building to look just "bad". I made the steel beams look like they will fall any day. I do want to add some caution tape to that area thou. Seems like my wifes "nickname" got sprayed on the building . I still need to weather up the parking lot, and add some more detail work to. Its just a beat up, old, dirty, nasty building!!!
Mornin' Everyone!
Since yesterday was "National Pie Day" and nobody told me, I'll have a big slice of the Apple Pie and a huge pot of dark roast coffee served in a FGLK Mug. What? Of course, good nutrition with fruit, wheat flour, and vitamins.... You know stuff like THAT. I'll be in the front booth by the window watching the comings and goings outside.
Sam, yes the trailer has been jacked up to get the weight off the axles. I just hope he didn't damage the suspension system on it. We'll see when we get her unloaded. I am planning on selling the trailer to a Boy Scout Troop as soon as we are done with his moving. I will probably end up getting a small flat bed trailer for hauling wood and the log splitter around some time.
Todd of course I move the cars with the loco (Don't want the granddaughter to know you can pick them up with an 0-5-0)! At least to move them to where I can get to them without reaching over buildings an stuff.....
Robby, I thought only CSX did stuff like THAT!?! ROFL! Bet there is a story behind THAT....
OK need to get myself moving here. Overslept so I didn't get to church today. Today is the annual meeting of the congregation to do the "business" stuff and elect Deacons and Elders to serve. There is a bad rumor going around that our Minister may announce his retirement...... I'm hoping it is just a rumor being passed around to get more us us to the meeting. He is a year younger than me and if his wife retires this year (Head Start Administrator) it could be a true rumor. If they move from Geneva, it will leave a huge hole to be filled on many community boards including the Boys and Girls Club, Hospital, and many others that he and his wife have served faithfully on as well as a major effect on my church. He is the type of Pastor you don't easily replace!
All right now I'm posting this and getting busy with all the other things I should get done today!
It's 57 and partly cloudy here in the sportsman's paradise. The high will be near 70 and it will be partly cloudy.For most of the afternoon yesterday we were expecting a storm front to come through at any time. Well, the weather guesser was wrong again and missed the timing by several hours. I shut down my computer at 8 pm and the storm hit at 8:04 pm and did some wild tricks with the power for about ten minutes. The power never went off completely but the lights were flickering like crazy. Then the storm front hit here with winds that hadn't been predicted. No damage here that I can see with the exception of some branches blown down and a ton of pine needles added to what was already there. It was mostly wind, not much rain to speak of. Nothing planned for today other than my usual day to day activities.
I'm back from church with a full tum tum. Fellowship day don't you know, and that means food. That coupled with pie night at 6 pm.... It's good to be Methodist.
Robby- Love the building! Looks good and used. I like the parking lot look also. Concrete and asphalt give me fits to look right. (dirt roads too) Haven't got it yet. But someday. Say just a thought on the fence. I noticed you don't have a top bar. Or maybe not yet. But here's a thought to ponder, add some top bars and leave one or two off, maybe one or two has a top bar that is broken and hanging down on one end? Just a thought. Looks good as it is.
Ray- Yes after telling a child you can't pick something up, it isn't a wise idea to do it yourself. They don't seem to understand "do as I say, not as I do" Besides, letting the locos do the "work" is WAY more fun. I hope your Pastor's leaving is a rumor. Our Pastor has had a tremendous positive affect on our Church as well and would be very difficult to replace. Our congregation likes the older preach from the Bible type and not the newer updated style of talking from some other books.
Keith- May I? Let's forget about east and west and go with forward and backward. It will be less confusing IMO. As you sit in the cab of the loco going forward on the main direction of travel whether it be your choice of CW or CCW, the right rail should be hot, or pos. (think "right is Red") The left should be neg. or ground. How you choose to connect the wires is as Jeff said up to you. I do happen to agree with him on the use of Scotch-Lock type connectors, but many will disagree and have no problems. Cost wise, solder would be cheaper, much, much cheaper than any snap or crimp connectors considering the amount you may use. But that is only my opinion. The part that gets you (read "me") a lot of times is in the spurs or team tracks that come back from the direction of travel. I want to, many times without thinking, change the direction simply because I'm now going "this way" and switch my right and left, instead of looking at it as backing into it and therefore the right rail is still the right rail. You may, however have this A OK and have a turnout issue. That I don't know. At any rate the DC and DCC are wired in essentially the same manner with the exception of power Lock -outs as I call them. If you plan on going DCC you can either turn all your switches on or simply disconnect the switch and run the wire to the correct rail. Clear as mud? For power, after determining as you go your still in the correct polarity, I like using about half throttle. If I notice ANY decrease in voltage, I add a feeder. Now that is me, many will disagree with that method and some may agree. I have no issues with that, but I haven't experienced all situations either. Some which you may have. But it's agood start. Adding feeders wouldn't be all that bad if you needed to in the future and Ray has showed us about the best and easiest way to do that with little to no disruption of the layout. Look on the NMRA links for electrical help and of course back here if I‘ve made it more confusing than it should be. If I were you I'd wait a day. If I‘ve mis spoke, or there is a better way, someone will jump in and stop the mistake soon.
Good Evening Everyone,
Flo, let me have just C & C - that´s Coffee & Calvados, please!
Spend some time fiddlin´ around with MR´s track plan for the current project layout, just to find out that "ends did not meet" where they should, should one follow MR´s drawing based on Kato´s Unitrack
Otherwise it has been an uneventful day - did not move an inch outside - it is way too cold. Time to hibernate!
Have a good day!
Jeff, nice pic. Nice cars.. nice truck. But what I really noticed.. is your multi-level of the area. I hate flat layouts.. nicely done. I may copies of every pic I see.. that I like. They remind to of certains things I'd like to add.
Well, I'm off to the Local hardware store... maybe Ace hardware.. they greet you as you come through the door, will tell you where exactly what aisle you need to find your product. I love it~ I have a very bad knee, good for most things except walking all over the place looking for something. Aside for my volt meter.. I'm planning on getting some wire. Any specific guage? I figure 12 ga.... lol. just a general guage of wire to run power from transformer to track. Ok.. I'm off, wish me luck..lol. Keith
Just a quick stop.
Todd........I have some plastic I could use for the top of the fence. I think that would help it out, plus that will give me something to do . I need to add some more yellow (layers) to the parking lot. The parking lot was done with "smooth it". I like the stuff, but I did read in a magazine that someone used a cement patch from Lowes for the same thing. It looked good to, but I don't think I want to try it thou.
Robby P.I have some plastic I could use for the top of the fence.
Just a suggestion, or FYI, I know of several industries in my area that do not put the top rail in, specifically to keep people out. I believe they do this so that you have no quick way of entering or exiting the property... They also have the razor-wire stranded accross the top as well, just as an added deterrent! OUCH!!! I have also notice several of them adding run-of-the-mill barbed wire across the bottom, three separate strands, about 3-6 inches from each other with the first strand starting just above ground level (some even have "DANGER Electrified Fence" signs posted every 50 or so feet, double ouch).
Well, I'll be in one of the booths, I'm searching different ariel/satelite websites for different challenges, such as Flush, KS for Chris!!! This one looks like it's going to be a great bit of fun researching and developing a track plan... Thanks for THAT!!! hahaha
Also searching for "possible" trackage that New Hope & Ivyland RR could have added to expand business! We shall see about THAT as well!
Flo, may I have a Chocolate Milk, a BLT sandwhich, and a gigantic RBF with extra icecream please? Thank you!!!
Robby- Never thought of cement patch. Or maybe Hydraulic cement? (might actually be one in the same. Don't know, I've never used cement patch) Hmmm. I did think of actual cement, but figured it'd be too largely pored. But that stuff might not be. I have some hydraulic cement I use for filling holes around pipes and cracks in basements and foundations. I might try a smooth patch and see how that works out and looks. Not on the layout of course. I doubt if it could sand well when dry though.
Sam- Right you are. I have seen a few of those without top rails around here and there. Wasn't meant as a criticizm for Robby though, just an idea for him to ponder. I thought a couple of missing or broken, bent rails might add to his look of not exactly the most upkept building on the planet.
Ooo, a barrel or crate or something put too close to the fence and pushing it out. OR how about a small tree or some bush or something growing up. Hang on Robby, I'll be right over.
Haven't made it to the basement yet due to several unexpected circumstances. One of which involved the lack of an ingredient for the making of a Shoo Fly Pie. Never had one before so this should be interesting. The other being the operating end of the electric sweeper.
Sorry I fell asleep in the booth... What'd I miss? Oh...
TMarshWasn't meant as a criticizm for Robby though, just an idea for him to ponder.
I apologize, I didn't mean to give the impression that I thought it was a criticizm. Your suggestion reminded me of what I've been seeing on the job so I thought I'd share it! In all actuality, I like your idea for the fence, it would add that "rundown" or "dirty" industrial look he's going for!!! He could also split the bottom of the fence near the end of the stub tracks, to make it look like people have cut through the fence to access the tracks and clutter that are in that area!
BTW, I wish I had known that yesterday was National Pie Day!!! Missed out on a great chance to get away with having a catapult reappear at the Diner!!! Darn... always next year!!! Hope you had a good time at "Pie Night"!!!
Before I fell asleep, I found that there are several LARGE quarries within stones throw of the ROW (Pun intended!). I think if they had the right business proposal, and the right rolling stock (lettered for the NH&I of course) they could turn a hefty profit by adding the sidings and shipping the stone to destinations "Off Layout"! I will start drawing some of these plans into (are you ready for this?) a NEW around the walls layout plan! (that's right, I am BACK to the Drawing Board!) Wish me luck on this one folks, it'll be iteration #5 of the scale model layout plan for the NH&I...
TMarshHaven't made it to the basement yet due to several unexpected circumstances. One of which involved the lack of an ingredient for the making of a Shoo Fly Pie. Never had one before so this should be interesting. The other being the operating end of the electric sweeper
TODD: I'll see your electric sweeper and raise you a headlight assembly on a 2000 VW New Beetle
One "glitch" of the New Beetles is their habit of eating headlights like candy... Loving Wife's is burned out...again, and as-always it's on the driver's side. The genius designers at VW put a lot of stuff in the way: battery, a block of terminals, and some other plastic-covered thing. The headlight assembly itself is designed to slide out the front, as a tube-thing. You then open the tube, change out the bulb, close the tube, slide it back into the car. Easy Peasee Japaneesee right???
Yeah.
I opted to break out the Sawzall and just cut away the fender...then duct tape it back when I was done. I'm completely out of liquid plastic cement, otherwise I'd just glue the plastic fender back together. Would use orange tube Testor's...but I hate the glue strings. She disagreed with THAT plan.
So... carefully, ever so carefully I tried to pry up a trigger-shaped thing you allegedly pull up on to release it all. No dice. Looked in the Chilton's book...ya gotta push on one thing while lifting the other. OK. Loving Wife gives it a try and manages to break some plastic piece out. Gone. Gaping hole where it was. Trigger thing still won't move. I darn-near cracked some other parts trying to pry on the trigger-shaped handle thing.
She's hoping her automotive guru brother can pop it over their respective lunch breaks tomorrow. I figure...it's gonna end up costing us a visit somewhere.
I don't think I've experienced "farfegnuven" or whatever the word was they said in the VW commercials...
What's worse, we've changed it out before on hers and my P*O*S 2002 version. It's always an epic battle. The passenger side is much easier...so naturally, it doesn't burn out as often!!!
Back to the VW forums... good thing I got 'em bookmarked. Between headlights and a bum transmission (on mine), it's proven a handy little site.
Oh yeah...did I hear right? A kid getting baptised sprung forth a stream into the font??? Was there a "666" on his head? Sounds a little bit demonic...