Elliot´s Trackside Diner XXIV - on a new track

[Anonymous]

 Lunchtime!

Flo, I´ll have a double greaseburger w/cheese and onions, an order of fries, and OJ, please n´thanks!

I am just playing around with my CAD tool - variations on a theme called the Salt Lake Route. Nothing serious, though, just for the fun of it.

 

I just introduced a few simple changes, like making the left side single track, thus getting rid of the double crossover of MR´s Kato-based plan. One of these days I might even figure out H2 integrate some staging into this plan. .. Wouldn´t that make some of the purists blush?

CUL

[Robby P.]

 Good morning.  Its still snowing, and a few minutes ago we had 17 inches.   Its a mess!!!

 Well no work last night.  Gotta go in Monday night thou.  So that will be some overtime work.  

 So Jim, this will probably be a basement day.  

 

[fec153]

Good Morning [afternoon ] Herr Ulrich.  Is it true that a disgruntled German is a sour ***?

Lousey joke seen on the back window of a car owned by a Mr.Schmit. No offense intended. I am from Germanic stock as the names,Steinman and Hirshfeld imply.

Gonna try try and catch up on nine pages. Cripes, you folks could have written War and Peace in two weeks.

Prayers for all.   Flip

 

[blownout cylinder]

Sir Madog

One of these days I might even figure out H2 integrate some staging into this plan. ..

I almost can see point to point with staging under the layout------that would be fun!

[Robby P.]

 Well the news just said my town is in a "state of emergency".   One of about six towns in Western PA.  Also our town isn't that big!!!

 Last time I was in a storm like this was when I was a young kid living in NC.  That was about 20 years ago.  

[Anonymous]

fec153

Good Morning [afternoon ] Herr Ulrich.  Is it true that a disgruntled German is a sour ***

 

 

Yup, it is true, Flip! How come, that so many model railroaders have a German background, or is this only my perception?

Just received my March copy of MRR, so that gives me something to do on a dull Saturday afternoon. I should stop fiddlin´ around with that track plan - I start to like more than it is good for me... .

Zoe, make that coffee and a slice of that walnut & apple pie for me, please!

CUL

[fec153]

Ulrich- We all came from somewhere else. sometime in the 13th century, in Austria , an ancestor was a keeper of the kings deer,hence-Hirshfeld-Male deer/field. Simple when explained.

Keep the faith ,Ulrich. Remember, in 20 years this will be the good old days.

Phil             aka-Flip

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Hello everybody ....

I should have already welcomed AztecEagle to the diner. Welcome! Sorry I didn't do that sooner. You were mentioning games that were invented elsewhere. There must be something that started here. Video Games?  PinBall? Jacks?

Madsinger .... good seeing you again, and please visit more often.

Where is Jerry?

Ulrich .... I like the track plan.

Cal Tom ... Your project loco evidently is a real challenge. The feline supervisors are more hinderance the help I suppose.

JimCG.... I still think that one CMW REA truck is the closest to the old photo you showed. I suggest watching regularly on EBAY until one is listed.

The news of snow in DC and other eastern locations reminds me of numerous business trip to Washington. I was on one flight into National Airport there from Detroit in a bad snow storm. I was on a Northwest 727 as we approached National over the Potomac, and the plane was rocking back and forth. It was really scary. The pilot aborted the landing and circled back to line up for another try. The second approach was worse. The guy across the aisle filled his white bag. Yuk! The pilot aborted that landing, too. He flew our plane to Dullas Airport instead. It was a long, very slow bus ride from airport to downtown through deep snow. My meeting was scheduled for 10:00 AM, but we finally met at 6:00 PM.   

[Robby P.]

 Here's some pictures of the snow storm.  Currently we have about 20 inches.

 

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

A little chilly here in North East Ohio, but it sounds like we faired better than Robby with only 5” of snow on the ground.


Roundhouse progress with pictures: I have glazed 12 out of 63 windows; everything has been airbrushed before assembly.  You can see in the picture this Walther’s kit will accommodate a Challenger with its centipede tender in any of the six stalls.  This weekend’s goals are to install the rails and inspection pits and finish glazing the windows.  So far I have about 6 hours invested in the project. Remember this is a bit of a kit bash project; I bought two 3-stall roundhouse kits, the expansion kit was backordered until March, not to mention the roundhouse kits are on sale this month.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/576376778QCKZMD?vhost=home-and-garden

 

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Chloe just a sourcream glazed doughnut and a cup of Dark Roast Coffee in a R7GV Mug please.  I'll be sitting at the Rivet Counter for a few minutes this morning.

Today is "Christmas Dinner at my Sister's house in Canandaigua............  OK, I know you didn't ask, but (always ignore anything before the word but....) she was in Mexico over Christmas so we didn't have the usual celebration on Christmas Day at her house (It's a Tradition!).  Today is the first day since she got home that all of us could get together, and may be the only possible day for several more weeks.  Plus she wants to get all the presents out of her house!  I'm hoping she may have some time for me to help her with getting and sending email later this afternoon.  (Remember her last computer was an Amiga.....)  She sent an email to a friend and it bounced back to her so there must be a big problem with RoadRunner and another friend told her she needs to get aolyahooinghotmail.com which they have and they never have any problem...... etc.  Or she may have typed in the address wrong..... (Much more likely.)  I think her biggest diffculty is she has too many frinds who don't know what they are talking about when it comes to computers!

I saw on the list of Canadian Inventions Lacrosse was listed.  Lacrosse was a Hodenosaunee game (At least according to the folks at Ganondagan, the old capitol of the Seneca near here).  Most of you will know the Hodenosaunee as Iroquois (which is a filthy French term for them...).  Much like other native games, the losers were executed.  Lacrosse originally was played by two villages THAT may be many miles apart.  The game continued until the ball had been moved into one of the villages.  It may have taken weeks to complete the game which was played from sun up to sun down.  If you were injured and survived you hid fixed your wounds, such as a broken arm (Oh, BTW, the Hodenosaunee knew how to set and splint a broken limb and were the ones who taught the "pale face" haow to do it) and then just went back in the game the next day......  Actually I guess the Canadians can claim it as well as the Seneca held a large portion of what is now Ontario Canada.

Flip the derivation of names is a fascinating topic all by itself.  My family name, Howard, came from the title of the knight that patrolled the outlying lands owned by a Duke, Count, Earl, or other royal personage in England.  The knight was refered to as the Hay Warden, which became Hayward and in the Scottish lands Howard.  Howards and Robinsons, I believe, were both part of the Dunn Clan, aka the Scottish Mafia......  Oh, Ulrich, on me mother's side I be a Cooley!

Time to put the Squash in the oven for the Chiristmas Dinner....

Later!

73

[AztecEagle]

And a great big ol'"Howdy Neighbor"from Cowtown-Fort Worth,Texas-right back atcha!!

About Teutonic/Slavic last names:Having lived in the Czech/German Belt of South Central Texas,I'm quite familiar with Eastern/Central European names.

Besides Fredericksburg and New Braunfels,there's West-Between Waco and Hillsboro on the UP-which has a big Czech populace;Flatonia;Schulenburg and Weimar on the old Sunset Route which has a mixed Czech and German populace as well.

Now as for myself,the ol'Aztec Eagle's Scots-Irish.My ancestors were Border Reivers*(*Cattle Rustlers)in the Cheviot Hills on the border between England and Scotland who were forcibly rounded up by the British and sent to Ulster(Northern Ireland)to kick the Irish Catholics off their land and in turn the Brits kicked us out of Ulster and sent us in exile to the US.

Upon arriving in Baltimore;Richmond;Charleston;Wilmington and/or Savannah,the Aristocratic English Planters despised us because we weren't Anglicans and the Irish Catholic Minoirity despised us because we were Protestant!!

Seeing as we didn't swear allegiance to neither King George nor The Pope,we set out west to follow the sun into the far blue mountains and set out a life of hardscrabble substinence farming and making moonshine whiskey only to head further west as more and more settlers moved into the mountains!!!

And we Scots-Irish are a pretty loyal yet tough and tenacious bunch of people!! 

Some of the famed Scots-Irish were such fighting men as Andrrew Jackson;Davy Crockett;Daniel Boone;Sam Houston;Thomas Johnathon"Stonewall"Jackson ; Audie L.Murphy  an;John McCain and Jim Webb not to mention such entertainers as John Wayne;Jimmy Stewart;Robert Mitchum and Johnny Cash.

A very good book to read is"Born Fighting:How The Scots-Irish Helped Shape America"by James Webb.

"If All Else Fails,I Shall Make My Way To The Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia And With The Help Of The Scots-Irish There I Shall Make My Final Stand."-George Washington.

BTW:My Last Name Patterson Means'Son Of Patrick'Translated From Gaelic.

Well,enough History Lessons for now.It's nearly lunchtime and it's Saturday,so Chloe or Floeebring me a Cheeseburger with Pepper Jack Cheese,Lettuce,Tomatoes and Onions,an Order Of Onion Rings and a Diet Dr Pepper!!

[twhite]

Morning all from SoggyCal: 

But not as Soggy as the East Coast.  OBOY, did you people get socked!   I understand it's the worst snowstorm in recent memory.   I suppose I could say, "Why, 2-1/2 feet of snow is NOTHING-- out here we get 10 to 12 feet as a BASE,"  but that would hardly be fair.  Out here, I'm talking about mountains, not major metropolitan centers.  So believe me, you people have my sympathies!" 

Ulrich:  Funny you should mention the "German Connection" here in the US.  Actually, back in 1781 at the first Continental Congress, German lost by only one vote as becoming the official language in these here United States, LOL! 

My own forbearers arrived here (at the invitation of King George III of England) in 1778 or so as Hessian mercenaries for the Crown.  Luckily, they promptly changed sides and fought with the Colonists and settled in the New York Hudson Valley.   Then part of them moved west, eventually settling here in Northern California where there was a large contingent of German farmers around Woodland.  I've still got relatives in New York--found that out when I was doing some Geneology.  Their name was Scherp, which got 'anglicized' to Sharp, and when my great-grandmother got married, she promptly wed a Mezger, who had emigrated out west via Pennsylvania from Salzburg Province in Austria.   This is my mother's side of the family. 

My father's side of the family is descended from a long line of English stagecoach robbers, LOL!  One of them--my namesake Thomas--was apprehended and given a choice--hanging or 14 years of indentured servitude in what was then "The Colonies".  He arrived in Virginia in 1763 and promptly got involved in the great Pontiac Rebellion.  For his service in helping defend Fort Pitt, he was 'manumissed' and given some land in Georgia.  That's one side of dad's family, the other half came from Cornwall and came out to California to work the hard-rock gold mines in the 1850's.  So when anyone asks me about my 'heritage', I usually answer, "Would anyone like a German Pastie?(a meat, onion and potato pie)"  Leaves 'em blinking, it does, LOL! 

Well, that's it for now.  Back to the 'rescue' locomotive.  The mechanism is running pretty smoothly for now, so back to work weighting the boiler.  Let's see what new tricks that little Brass Baby has up her sleeve for me TODAY! 

Best to all, prayers to those in need.

Tom

 

[Trainman Sam]

Hey guys!

Welcome to the newcomers!

I believe I am in for the day.  Waiting for my FiL to get the snowthrower going so we can clear all three houses in one shot, and we are waiting until the snow actually stops.  Gives me more time to review my layout Ideas.

(EDIT: My mind has really gone for a loop this weekend... I shoulda remembered that I JUST told you guys this stuff just yesterday... I have got to get out of this house somehow...)

Here's what I plan for the NH&I:

I am "fudging" history just a bit.  The Reading built the branchline, but it was never overly busy.  Well, I am going to say that the line was busier:  Auto dealer that receives vehicles by rail; the three quarries will have their own sidings (only one currently has a meager excuse for a siding) and will hae two or three cars in and out in a given day;  the railroad across the Delaware River will have a bridge connecting it to the NH&I for interchange traffic( I am ficticiously calling the RR the Lambertville & Raritan RR [L&R RR]); there will be several more industries added along the RoW (as of yet unknown # and types); also I plan on adding a freight yard and a larger facility for the tourist RR equipment.  The busier RR means that the freight portion (when bought from the Reading Company during it's bankruptcy and mergers) will be profitable enough to support the tourist portion, including an excuse for having more steam power on the property!  (YES THE BUG HAS BIT! )

The new "expansion" may just include a roundhouse, haven't quite decided but most likely yes.  There will be a specific section just for passenger equipment storage.   The NH&I currently has two or three (don't remember exactly) cabooses in various degrees of "disrepair" and I would love to see some of them get the NH&I paint scheme, so I will have a few of them for the layout!  I want to have it where there are at least two passenger trains runnning at any given time, one leaving from New Hope, and the  other leaving from Warminster.  THAT is the other issue I am flubbing, right now the passenger equipment only goes to Lahaska, which is right by the famous Peddlers Village so that people visiting New Hope can also do some shopping there.  My theory there is that the passenger service should have been from Warminster so that people can take SEPTA from Philadelphia and surrounding areas to go to New Hope and Peddlers Village without having to drive, thus affording them more spending money!  So that also means that the Warminster Station would get an overhaul to go with the style and atmosphere of the New Hope buildings!  Now all I have to do is copy this text so that I can remember my own ideas!  There's still more to come...

Chloe, please fill everyones glass with hot cocoa, my treat! Thanks

(EDIT: Chloe also get them a meal, on my tab, for having to listen to me repeat myself again!)

I'll be in a booth still studying.

[fec153]

Cat Tom - That sounds like a 'K'nish! Meat or potato k'nishes were/'are very popular in N.Y.C. .Darn, its been many years since I've had one. Little shop around the corner of 110th and -to many years ago. Yikes, 59 years ago.

Prayers for all.

Flip

 

[Trainman Sam]

Darned mind, slipping again...  I have several pages to re-read... apparently I read, but did not read everything there was... I don't know, this weekend has really started wierd...

Speaking of ancestry, I have always joked that I am WW III in body.  I have Irish, Scottish, English, and German in my blood.  My wife has Italian and Polish, so our kids are REALLY gonna be interesting!! LOL

Barry- I have three cats, Schuadnik (Russian for Trouble-maker) is the oldest (just about 7 or 8 years old) and possibly the father of one of my other two cats.  Bandit (the cat mentioned before) and Lance are brothers, and are going to turn 5 this year.  Schuadnik thinks he's a dog, he will play fetch, waits for me at the door, growls(occasionally) at the mailman, and just wants to hang out with you most of the time.   Bandit is an attention hound, he will pester you to snuggle.  You can put him down off your lap, but he'll be right back a few seconds later as if you will forget that you just put him down...  He does it a lot with my wife, jump up, be put down, jump right back up as if to say "What?  You put me DOWN?  You really didn't WANT me down, you WANT me on your lap!!!"

Lance is a different story all together... we think he has brain damage! (In the nice way)  He will sit in the middle of the living room and CRY CRY CRY for you, but when you call he just stands there and doesn't move.  He'll come into the bedroom while we're in bed, and STARE at us crying all the while, but won't move a muscle towards the bed, you have to go and pick him up and put him on the bed, then he'll stay for maybe two or three strokes of the hand then run off, as if to say "I'm satisfied" but then sit there and STARE and CRY again... Very strange cat...  He is also the designated "We're out of food" alarmist... the other two don't get out of sorts, they just let him strike up the alarm!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Trainman Sam

Speaking of ancestry, I have always joked that I am WW III in body.  I have Irish, Scottish, English, and German in my blood.  My wife has Italian and Polish, so our kids are REALLY gonna be interesting!! LOL

That is interesting. I'm American Indian, German, French, British, Irish, Welsh and Scot. Chickamaugua for the most part though. That should be enough bad tempers in one sack.

[ns3010]

Afternoon all. Janie, I'll take a RBF, thankss.

Haven't been able to get on. Did anyone else have problems logging on over the past two days...?

Got my spanish paper done. Have my history due on March 3 and chem/algebra due a week later, on the 10th.
So I'm free for the rest of the week. I'm hoping to have the room rearranged and possibly some lumber cut and maybe even screwed together for tomorrow. We'll see how it goes.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 

ns3010

Haven't been able to get on. Did anyone else have problems logging on over the past two days...?

No problems here, but I hardly ever log out either.

[ns3010]

Hmm, wierd.

Does anyone know if Railroad Picture Archives uses the same software or something? Cause that was down and I was getting the same error message, and both came back up around the same time...

[TMarsh]

Good afternoon. A fine day it is despite the fact that I had a lot of trouble getting here. My Virus program cleans my cookies on Friday nights, I guess technically it's Saturday mornings, but I‘m asleep and it‘s dark, so 1:00 a.m. (0100 for some of you) is night to me. Of course that means I have to sign in to the place every Saturday. Today apparently the secure side had a problem or something as the server couldn't be found, and something else about too many people in the pool. Who‘d have thought people would be swimming this time of year. So I've been sitting outside waiting for them to let me in the yard with Joe.

Dodged the bullet for the snow. Ground temps were warm enough most of the day that the snow melted when it hit the ground. That coupled with the fact it didn't snow Thurs night and didn't get as much snow as predicted yesterday, though it snowed all day, left us with less than about half an inch of snow this morning. Cool. (oops, sorry Robby. Didn‘t mean to rub it in) Sun is shining so I don't think it will last long.

I'll have a piece of that Walnut and Apple pie please. Sounds good.

Keith- I have that "stop, slow down and do it right" voice too. THIS time around, I'll do my best to listen! No promises.

Sam- I decided not to fudge history for my little world, I found it easier to just rewrite it. I guess if you have ADD, an engineer is a pretty good job for you. I mean..., it's not likely you'll miss a turn.

One of the great things about this diner is, you can eat anything without concern of diet, or adverse reactions. Hot wings and hot chocolate?

Aztec-True on all the country music comments. At least in my opinion, and apparently yours. We are a dying breed. We're the ones who listen to songs like "Big River" and hear something completely different than others who say it's "lame". Songs like "Long Way Home", "This Time", "It's Not Supposed To Be that Way", "Even Lonesome On'ry and Mean" among countless others have a meaning and are becoming history. Songs just aren't written the same way anymore. Saw Kenny Chesney bunny hop across the stage once. Cash or Jennings would never have bunny hopped. Funny you should mention the Hill Country Flyer. I've patterned a tourist train off of that very thing. Not the train itself, but I use that it is a weekly seasonal excursion to justify my use of steam in the modern era. EDIT: I meant, use it's weekly seasonal excursions as an example to justify a steam tourist train (when it was and will be again) in the modern era.

Been to the Church for soup and sandwich lunch-e-own. Book sale too. Brenda is happy about there being oodles of cookbooks. That's all we need, more cookbooks. After that I've been in the basement continuing with the project.

I've already made my first concession. Right now my bench height is 40" using ¾ foam. I think I'll save myself from cutting 1¼" off EVERY leg and just add the 2" foam on the existing height and go with an odd 41¼" bench height. Hm. I might document this with pictures. Yes good idea. Maybe give PHILIP some incentive. Which reminds me, I hope all is well with him and family. Haven't heard from ol PC in a while.

Ah, my pies here. Hey, what is this Flo? Tastes like chicken.

Have a Great Day!!!

[markpierce]

jeffrey-wimberly

Trainman Sam

Speaking of ancestry, I have always joked that I am WW III in body.  I have Irish, Scottish, English, and German in my blood.  My wife has Italian and Polish, so our kids are REALLY gonna be interesting!! LOL

That is interesting. I'm American Indian, German, French, British, Irish Welsh and Scot. American Indian for the most part though. That should be enough bad tempers in one sack.

Linking ancestry to country of origin has as much or more to do with cultural heritage/behaviors than it is to chromosomes.  For instance, genetic ancestry of the Germanic peoples became or contributed a long time ago to the ethnic composition of Germans, Belgians, Swedish, Finland-Swedes, Estonian Swedes, Danish, Faroese, English, Scots, Icelanders, Austrians, Dutch and Flemish, and the inhabitants of Switzerland, Alsace, and Friesland.  For a more specific example, the English largely result from the gene pool of the germanic Anglo and Saxon invasions.  And then came the Norse (Vikings, Normans), and so on.  So, I'm not certain that the genes of my English greatgrandfather aren't as germanic as my German greatgrandmother.

Makes me wonder if a Pueblo Indian (like a Zuni) wouldn't find more in common with a German villager than a nomadic plains Indian (like a Cheyenne).

Mark 

[fec153]

All this talking of heritage shows it's a small world and we are all related. America is NOT a melting pot. It is a TOSSED SALAD.

Prayers for all. And a warm home.I include our cousins in Oz and all over the globe.

Flip

 

[Cederstrand]

Grilled chicken, please. 

Took a few pics of the rocks I made for the wife's HO layout the other night. Used leftover mortar (for laying tile floors) mixed a bit on the dry side. Will touch them up with paint, then add foliage & stuff around them here and there. Also played around with some of those sprinkle on grasses. If anyone is wondering, those are horse trails around that part of the farm, which overlooks the town.

That's it for now.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Rob

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[grayfox1119]

JimRCGMO

Hey, Dick - good luck with finding much of any Blue Boxes nowadays! Didja forget Athearn has stopped production of those (at least a month, maybe two ago)? Yeah, they did - I was crushed when I first heard about that. So I guess we'll have to stock up on Accurail or maybe Tichy kits, right?

We've got a bit of slushee coming down tonight (but only a winter storm 'advisory') - it's 34 F now, and only will reach 31 F tonight. Plus, the ground's not that cold, so it won't stick through tomorrow. Just fine with me - keep people off the streets tonight, and my on-call tonight a very 'silent night'...

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

 

JIM: Yup, I read the news a while ago, however my LHS still has an ample supply of Blue Boxes. And of course there are Accurail and Branchline kits at his store also, so I am in pretty good shape for now with kits.

Sounds like you ducked the big storm of the century that hit NC, VA, MD and PA. We missed it too as it did a right face as it approached NE. Rumor has it that Scot Brown had some influence on the storm track. LOL

No MRR work today, had to help the wife with Super Bowl prep as we have 14 people coming over tomorrow. 

ULRICH: I have a Germanic connection also, my grandmother on my mother's side was 1/2 English 1/2 German. Father's side was all Canadian French when a young sailor settled in New France in 1630. Of course there were women behind every tree in Canada, so I must also have Native American in me also, as those Frenchmen married many of the native ladies. 

So how are all you guys doing tonight who live under three feet of snow? 

"73"

[Packers#1]

Well, the rugby pitch was more mud and water today than grass. That was one crazy game. We lost either 15-7 or 17-7, not quite sure. did manage to get my adams apple smashed by a guy on the other team; the top of his head smashed my throat. 

[LSWrr]

Todd, don't buy 2x4's buy "Studs" they are cheaper and you'll find that you waste less wood.

[Blazzin]

  Todd.. Yo~! 

"Keith- I have that "stop, slow down and do it right" voice too. THIS time around, I'll do my best to listen! No promises."

   Todd, I'd practically kick myself everytime I would see some glitch or something I decided not to take the time to do~   I just feel better knowing I did do it right.. or at least took the time.  But honestly .. I thought this was going to be alot easier.  I just felt I had to be able to pull straight into the lead yard or into the A/D ..off the main.

  Now Todd.. concerning wood.  Some areas of the layout should be taken in for strength not how cheap the wood you can buy.  Some wood is not dry enough and can warp on you.  Some types of wood, are just too plain soft .. especially where needed strength might be a factor.  A soft lumber can and will give.. even if bolted.. over time.. it does give.  Now you wouldn't want  a soft wood for legs?  Maybe I'm wrong,  but look around,  the heavier the wood the harder.. in general.  Although.. some hard wood.. can and will split.. than give.  

  All I am just sayin.. Yes.. buy the cheap stuff ... most of the time.. but not too cheap.  Look around and check to make sure its not too soft.. or it hasn't been dried enough."  A few cents more .. might save a few head aches.  Look for the weaker areas that might need a heavier gauge of strength .. lets say legs of the layout.   Good luck.. keep us informed.

  Keith

[AztecEagle]

Hmm!!Actress Comedian Brett  Butler(Grace Under Fire)once commented"I'm So Southern I'm Related To Myself!!".

In a strange coincidence,I've got about 200 years of Southern History in me:
My Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Patterson served in the American Revoluition in the 10th North Carolina Contiental Line Regiment;my Great Great Grandpa Patterson and one of his four brothers srerved in the 47th Tennessee Infantry,CSA.

In one of those really strange coincidences,my GG Grandpa Patterson was a Sergeant in Co.A,47th Tennessee and his brother was a Captain in the 47th Tennessee,Co.A!!

My Great Great Grandpa John B.Jordan(My family pronounced it'Jerdin)was a Captain in the 36th Alabama,CSA.

He was captured by the Yankees and sent to the infamous Elmira Prison Camp in Upstate New York.

However,he escaped and caught a train heading for Canada.Upon crossing over into Quebec,he made his way to Halifax,Nova Scotia and caught a blockade runner to New Orleans and rejoined his unit!!

A semi funny but true story:As said in a previous post,I lived in a small town in South Central Texas with a primarily German/Czech populace.

And there wasn't really too much to do on weekends except drink beer and watch the SP come through town.

One Saturday,I was in a little'watering hole'drinking a few cold ones and a friend of mine saw a news story about the Confederate Monuments Controversy.

He said"You Know,I'm Tired Of All This BS About the Confederate Flag!!It's Heritage Not Hatred!!".

I said"Yep!!I Pretty Much Agree With You!!By The Way,On Which Side Of Your family Voted For Jeff Davis and Flew The Stainless Banner and The Bonnie Blue Flag??".

He got real sheepish and said"Uh Neither Side!!We Didn't Come To America From Germany and Czechoslovakia Until The Turn Of The Century!".

It Was All I Could Do To\ Keep From Spitting Out My Beer and Telling Him"You Damned Poser!!!You Got About As Much Business Flying the Rebel Flag as a Pig Needs To Know Quantum Physics!!!My Ancestors Were Fighting Yankees When Yours Were Calling Hogs in The Carpathian Mountains!!"

But I didn't!! Anyway,enough about history for tonight!!

Just give me a Chili Dog and Onion Rings to go!!"The DaVinci Code"is on TNT Tonight!!!

[Cederstrand]

Veggie plate, please.

When my wife and I were in town, we watched a couple CSX trains pass each other in town. She suggested having CSX on one of our layouts. Somehow, this lead to an impulse buy (on my part) tonight on the-bay:

 

This one is N, so my question is, will CSX mix well with UP? Rob