Elliot's Trackside Diner XXV- Milepost 25

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Sir Madog

 Keith - I am married for over 25 years now, and believe me, Petra knows all about me and my hobbies. A long time ago, she decided, that this hobby is much better than fooling around in bars, and cheaper as well...

She just pretends not to know anything about the $$$ involved, as long as I am not overdoing it. Kinda keeps me happy, although I am not spending a single $ on it, at least at the moment!

The hobby is much cheaper than psychiatry, also.

Ulrich and Lee ...Thanks for the remarks about my caboose.

Jeff ... nice weathering of the freight car truck. Keep on trucking!

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, wait you're not Zoe, you're a raccoon dressed up to look like Zoe......  Sheesh!  Are there any real waitresses here this morning?

I'll go sit if the front booth and see if the service improves any and watch the mainline outside.  I understand another tank car of Ed's OJ is due any day now.

Stayed up till after midnight last night w*rking on my taxes.  Should have them done by the end of the week, I hope.  May even find some train room time if I am lucky.  Oh, there's Flo!

Flo, I'll have a bowl of hot Cream of Wheat w/ brown sugar and a cup of dark roast coffee in a FGLK Mug, please and thank you.

Wait, THAT wasn't Flo, what the heck!  THAT looks like a fox dressed up to look like Flo......!  (Well Flo is a bit of a fox herself    )

Tom, used to love it when camping at Boy Scout camp when a momma raccoon and her kits would come into the campsite after taps.  Well, until momma decided to climb up on the bunks to check out the Scouts, that is........  They sure are cute, but keep well back and don't get between momma and her little ones!!!  Hopefully rabies isn't around your area!  When I was first a Scoutmaster back in the 1970's the Troop was at summer camp (we picked the farthest campsite out from the center of camp) a raccoon family would come into the campsite and check everything out every night about 11PM.  The Scouts would lay in bed and watch the 4 of them wandering around the campsite checking out things.  Near the end of the week one of the babies got preoccupied with the fire pit and didn't notice momma and the others leave.  All of a sudden he realized that he was all alone!  He ran around the campsite screaming and crying.  Completely terrified!  A minute or so later momma chirped from down the trail and he took off as fast as his little legs could go to catch up with the family.  I am sure the incident is still told by the Scouts to their kids! 

W*rk awaits....  Hope to get the rest of the sorting done and entered into my database for reentering into TurboTax later this week.

73

[BamaCSX83]

Morning all, took me a little while to find the place, but I like it.  Chloe, I do have one tiny question, where did we get our new employees?  Oh, they wandered in when we set up...okay.  Well if you ever want to remove them, just look in the back window of my truck, I've got two things that will take care of them hanging (.30-06 and a .410 pump).  I'll just have a hot ham and cheese with an order of cheese fries and a RBF please ma'am, and yes, could you please bring it to me, I'll be seated at the RC. 

Not much has been happening down here, this past weekend was Amy and I's 5 year anniversary and VD, so nothing in the form of MRR happened.  Monday was filled with all sorts of running around shopping and yesterday I did some much needed maintenance on the car.  Today I have w**k from 12-7, so maybe I can play a little after I get home. 

Thanks Chloe for bringing the food by, I know that the new staff has been doing well, but I'd much rather have your capable hands bring it to me.

PS, Jim, check your email

[LSWrr]

JR, Thanks I'll keep the PECO track in mind.  I tell you if I get into too much more trouble with this thing it might wind up in the middle of a busy street!

[Anonymous]

 Keith - I am married for over 25 years now, and believe me, Petra knows all about me and my hobbies. A long time ago, she decided, that this hobby is much better than fooling around in bars, and cheaper as well...

She just pretends not to know anything about the $$$ involved, as long as I am not overdoing it. Kinda keeps me happy, although I am not spending a single $ on it, at least at the moment!

[Blazzin]

  "Coffee Please~"

  Good morning to you Ulrich, ... and all~  I don't know about you my friend, but Keith and Jeanne have been a special item for over 34 years.  This time, she never saw it coming.  But I would guess,  to be in Model RR... one would have to have a special wife to tollerate the piles of stuff here and there as Jeanne puts it.  "But don't touch anything~ I know right where everything should be"

  Sam, you do right by planning ahead. (25 years ago I built N scale-things have changed since then)   Me.. well I call myself the 'Test Crash Dummy' and you can learn a lot form a dummy too~   But if I were to make a wild guess....  I'd say,  oh.. building a layout.. is probably 80 percent planning.. and only 20 building.  Something I never would have guessed.  But if you do plan ahead,  it should go pretty fast.  I think it was Tom or Todd.. I always get the two mixed.. but its true when building.. TAKE YOUR TIME.. you can't rush a thing like this... and I am glad I did at least.. not rush things.. and just go slow.  I had went back and re-did my staging area at least 4 times.  I wasn't going to let something .. 'just slip by'.. and then regret it later.  And everytime I would look at that area.. well.. I'd be saying.. "Shoulda coulda woulda"  as well as kick myself. 

  So.. Sam.. plan.. plan way ahead.  Take your time.. and don't rush.

  As for me today~  Its a sunny morning.. too sunny with clear skies.  So yes.. it will be warm here.. I won't say how warm .. but under conditions like this.. I can honestly say.. we'll have a very cold night.  The heat of the day.. at sundown.. starts to rise.. sucking in cold air.   The warmer the day.. the colder the night.  Can't have one without the other I guess.

  My layout is going slow,  but I am planning.. and I have a desire to go with 'fiber optics'  and being my first attempt at fiber optics.. I shall do my version of an easy fiber optic approach.  What ever the case.. if it doesn't come out.. the very worst that could happen .. is that I have loose dangling fiber optic wire underneath the staging area. My approach? ... lol.. two things.. 1. If you were to do fiber optic..  the easiest way to me.. is to build a diroramma .. to be placed in.. when ready and.. 2.  Try not to get fancy with optics.. but in the hard areas.. use the optics more like ground lighting.  That is~  flush with the ground.. and more like landscaping lights around bushes and trees.    Yeah well~  We'll see how it goes.

  Today, I shall put on a movie... (for those who like war movies)  Battlefielled 360' Enterprise aircraft carrier.. and also 360' with General Patton.

  Jeff bud, I keep looking at your pics.. thats.

  Joe... just love those vids.. yes I saw the new one.

   Bye~

[Anonymous]

 Hi Everyone,

thought, I just drop by for a coffee, a slice of that delicious looking pecan pie and a chat by the RC.

Does the raccoon, who is serving the coffee, already have a name, or shall I address him? with just "hey, you there"?

Well, I have been doodling with some track plan ideas, again just for the fun of it. Came across some British web pages, and, golly, their modeling craftsmanship is just gorgeous. Lotsa kits available. The plan I made is an O scale adaption of a layout designed by one of my favorite "layout artists" - Iain Rice. It is essentially a branchline terminus, set somewhere in the Southeast of merry old England, in the times of Queen Vicky.

Well, a nice exercise to keep my mind and hands busy.

Here it is:

 

It always amazes me, how small the British build even big scale layouts -

If you look closely on the plan, you can even see the Vicar on his tricycle...

Edit:

... and this would be the loco to service the station:

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

TMarsh

Jeff- Mom had, including the unfinished basement, about 4500 square feet and I know all the stuff she crammed in there. I hope your parents don’t save everything they get.

Yep, they're pack rats.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning. (walks right past, and ignoring, the raccoon wearing French maids outfit. It’s best if you don’t encourage the behavior.) I’ll have an Omelet. Make that a Denver Omelet. Or Do you call it a Western. Oh my gosh. Were are we? East or west of the Mighty Mississippi? That makes a difference you know. How do we know what to call the steak? Kansas City Strip, or New York? I need coffee.

Stayed up too late watching White Collar. Never seen it before but last night I watched an episode and they played several back to back. It’s got a running storyline apparently along with the crime of the week. Never should have started watching it. Kinda interesting.

Flip- Super glad to hear Debs doing OK. We’ll shift gears into the healing up prayers.

Jeff- Hey! That is good news about the puss sucker. And the boot too. I hope that helps you be able to get around much more comfortably. I hear Spring is coming and I have a feeling you will be itching to get out and do this enormous amount of things off the J.D. list. (that’s Jeffrey Do). 5000 square feet? Wow. Mom had, including the unfinished basement, about 4500 square feet and I know all the stuff she crammed in there. I hope your parents don’t save everything they get. You’re right I would take way too long to pay for that solar power.

Rob- Great news for you too!

Tom- Those coons must be pretty used to people! Can’t say I’ve ever been that close to one that, um,is still breathing. Kudos though for not just arbitrarily taking them to meet their maker when they appear really to do no harm to you. It is quite rude however to barge into some ones home and use it as a shortcut. At least they could leave a little morsel from the neighbors trash can as a sort of thanks. A “People Bag” if you will. Oh, and by the way, in reference to the length of time it takes you to do anything on the layout. Remember, you’re retired now….., sort of. And as we retired people say, I don’t know when I found time to work. It’s normal.

Fireman- Good news for you too!

Always nice to hear good health news.

So far there is nothing on the plate for today. Wednesdays, like Saturdays are the two days I don’t have a scheduled thing to do. So, layout room here I come. Construction continues until I run out of recycled materials. As the motto of the Union Pacific goes, “There’s no stopping me until I get stopped.” What? No Zoe, that’s not their motto, but it fit a railroad theme. Say, don’t you think Garry has a nice caboose? I do too.

Have a Great Day!!!

[fireman216]

 Good morning everyone!!...I would love some thick french toast stuffed with baked ham and melted cheese please...and a coffee extra regular in a NYC mug please..thanks. Well...been a week since the surgery to repair the rotator cuff in my right shoulder. The doctor is amazed at the outcome. I have pretty much stopped using the sling and can do some basic "flexing" movements without too much agony. Night time is still unbearable with pain so the wonder drugs really help to "zone" me out. I find myself down in the train room just staring at a string of cars making it's way around and around the layout. Therapy will start next week...oh joy...can't wait for the "bending" and "stretching". The good news is that I will still be home for the next three weeks!!...With my arm feeling this good I can get about a years worth of layout work done since the wifes at work and daughter is at school. Looking forward to our clubs show this Sunday..(HERE ME RAY?)..We open up both layouts for the public and have about 3 rooms of vendors downstairs...plus our divisional NMRA meeting is held with annual elections. Hope everyone is well and safe. Currently 27 out with a windchill of 15 with a small storm hitting today with about 4-8 inches of fresh fluffy stuff. Tim

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 28 and sunny. The high should be 55 with no sign of clouds.

Yesterday I got freed from the grip of the wound vac and got an orthopedic boot to help support my ankle. Now I can start concentrating on layout work again now that I don't have to be worried about splitting my ankle joint apart. It's going to be slow at first as I get used to the limitations imposed by the boot but I should be able to get a quick list of what I can and can't do. One thing on the list already goes without saying. No fancy gymnastics. I can't turn my foot unless I turn the entire leg. The left and right twist of the lower leg that everybody else finds so simple to do is physically impossible for me. Vertical climbing is pretty much out for now. Going into a squat position or rising from said position has to be done with the majority of the weight supported by the good leg. That's a minor limitation. It shouldn't take me long to round out the list. No distance walking for sure. It does feel good to be able to walk around a bit though without feeling like I'm going to fall over any second.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning-

Everything has a little bit o' freezing drizzle on it--and the drivers are going all guibbly again.

Oh well--we are at 0C right now going to a high of 1C and that'll be the first time in weeks we saw anything near or above 0C around here

Ulrich: Our little "Spring" is all cuddled up in our bed. The seasonal Spring don't show up around here till sometime next month-----hopefully

Great. Now one of the things in my "Seeking Alpha" stock market things are talking about Municipal Bonds having issues------I'm waiting for a couple of people I know to come up with their views---another we don't need

Sam: What is going on now with NJT that there is now this going on with your job? We got you on our Prayer list now

Chloe, I'll have a NORMAL sized breakfast bagel and a coffee please. I'll be at the RC

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

   Ended up with around 6" of sn*w at home and at least 8" at the shop (only 10 miles away). It was a nice bright morning with no wind so the drive here was easy. I'll have a regular and a corn muffin please - yes toast it and butter it please/thank you.

Jeff - Glad you got rid of your personal hoover. Hope the new shoe/boot works out also - bet it'll be good to be able to get back to the layout.

Lee - I hate it when THAT happens. When we kit bashed the turntable at the museum we found a piece of PECO flex that we used as it takes a set when you curve it. We were losing ittrying to keep the Atlas track round and unkinked long enough to solder the join. Having insulators just wasn't on. The PECO w..ked well.

Tom - How does the Rio Grande Z6 and 2882 stuff relate to the ex N&W Y-3's surplused off in the thirties? If the raccoons keep using your garage for a highway, can you set up a toll booth? On trak make an HO raccoon raiding barrel detail casting that might interest you also.

Ulrich - ditto on the not revealing all on the cost of the hobby. Sort of like don't ask, don't tell. I had a friend who always told his wife that his race car stuff  was all "around 3 grand" . She chose to believe it and turned a blind eye to the rest. Even though he could afford his hobby, if she'd known the true cost of stuff it would have been very unpleasent.

   Time to get up from the counter and head out.   Catch y'all later,  J.R.

[Robby P.]

 Good morning.  We have some light snow coming down, but maybe 1 - 2 inches today.  

 Glad everybody liked the pictures.  I got some more today.   Almost all of them are from the 70's.  They are neat to look at!!

 Not much planned today.  Maybe later I can post some more pictures.

 Hope everybody has a good morning.

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

Barry, better question is why are the two of you talking to the raccoon?  I’ll wait for the fox to take my order.

Jeff, I have a friend that sells and installs wind turbines for about $20,000.  The electric company is required by law to buy any excess power you generate at the same rate they sell it to you or provide you a power credit if you need to draw power off the lines.  If you email me the average KWh/month I can get you a close estimate to what size turbine you need.  This isn’t a fly by Night Company they just signed a contract to install turbines for Canada and are currently working in negotiations with China. I’m glad to hear you got that sucker off your foot and it sounds like you got a good boot there.

Garry that’s one handsome caboose you got there!  Those big ones are always cool looking.  I have a all wood kit for the morning and evening dairy run.

Flip, I missed the post about Mrs. Flip’s surgery, I’m glad things came out well for you guys.

I’m still working on the turntable; I installed a new rail in the turntable pit and decided to insulate the rail into 2 parts made the first cut and part of the track sprung off the ties, same with the second cut.  So I spent an hour messing with that last night.

[Anonymous]

 Good Morning,

well, actually, it is already close to lunchtime, so just make it a mug o´ coffee for me, Zoe, please.

It is a sunny day again, but with night time temperatures below the -15 C mark, last night, it is not teally a warm day - shiver! Where is Spring - Barry, no, I don´t mean your cat...

Flip - I am glad, that your wife´s surgery went well - my healing  for a speedy recovery.

Jeff - Congrats on getting rid of that ol´ pestering vac thing! One more step towards a more regular life! Take care...

Rob - good to hear that your pump is at normal working level - heart issues are no fun, and I know what I am talking about!

Chris - a very belated  to Rerun - next time you take him in here, there is another bag o´ burgers waiting for him at the RC .

Keith - our CFO´s, SWMBO´s, better halves, whatever your name is for the lady sharing your life, are fully entitled to know everything about our hobby, anything but the cost involved. Whenever I bought something in the past, it was always a "little loco" or a "little car". It still works, after so many years! Petra thinks in $$ - terms, not in $$$$! But, psst, don´t let her know....

Garry - I like that pic of your caboose!

Have a good time!

 

[Trainman Sam]

ns3010

BTW, Sam, I hear that after Christie cut $33M (~1.5 months) of funding from NJT, has there been talk about the F-word (NO, not THAT F word!... the one with the forced days off, Fur***ghs), or even as bad as the L-word (Lay**fs)? On an unmentioned and not-to-be-named NJT forum, people (especially the employees) are really worried. It seems Christie expects Transit to get their act together, and fast...

It's not so much a rumor, as something coming down the pike, FAST...  There was a memo at the Bay Head Crew Room, stating that the three union heads sat down with Christie's newly appointed NJT guy,  no specifics.  We are the SAFEST commuter railroad, yet of the three major commuter railroads in the NY/NJ area, we are the third LOWEST paid, but Christie thinks we (the unions) have FAT contracts, FAR FROM IT.  Most guys are scratching paycheck to paycheck (me included).  It's only the older guys that are collecting the HUGE paychecks, and as soon as they retire Transit splits up the job and makes two smaller ones out of it.  Hopefully these guys Christie has appointed have good heads on their shoulders and realize that the reason for the Student Engineers is that there are so many Engineers that are of retirement age, and they only have to walk into an office and announce that they are retired, no questions asked, just the crew caller has to find someone to run the rest of the guys trains...  Rant over, almost, I just wish I knew if I'm gonna have a job in two weeks... Stepping off ...

To answer Blazin/Keith- NO I don't have deep pockets, I don't have even a quarter of the stuff I will need for this layout, but I DO have an AMAZING wife, who understands my need for a hobby, but even she balks at the price of some things... But she comes around after a while, I just show her the price of O, S, or G scale stuff and she kinda gets that I am saving money by staying with HO scale (neverming the look she gets when I show her N-sane scale stuff!)

I am just trying to plan the best possible layout/trackplan, that will best represent NH&I they way I think it should look in model form, and also have the most "play" value built in.  If it takes me several years/decades to build it, so be it!  I want something that looks/runs/feels as good as possible.  I figure, the more I plan NOW, the better it will come out later, because I will have worked out a lot of the bugs before hand.

  I know, I know... Insert Lee's Rules here:___________________________________________________

I got three of the books that I ordered, the only one that didn't come, won't until April!

It's late, so I'll start reading one of the books and then hit the sheets!  Good night my friends.  Please add my fellow classmates and myself to your prayer lists, as we may have to find new jobs in the near future, Hopefully not.

[twhite]

Evening all from SunnyCal (but not for long, I understand). 

The past three days have seen blue skies with puffy little clouds and a high of about 67 around these parts. 

It's also seen me in the garage doing early Spring Cleaning on the layout.  And--GASP--!  Actually running some trains.  And it's also seen my garage become an evening Freeway for interesting critters.  Now, I live in the suburbs of a rather large city, remember.  About the only thing you'd think I'd have wandering into the garage would be a neighbor's cat or two on the prowl for either a female cat or a stray mouse. 

Nope.  I've got my family of raccoons back again.  They come into the garage via my back yard over the fence from the school in back, traverse my garage and go out the door and across the street to my neigbhor's garbage cans.  Then when they're finished, they saunter back through the garage and back out into my back yard and over the fence.  I'm IN THE WAY, of course.  At least from the looks on their furry little faces when they wander by my feet heading to the utility opening in the garage floor wall.   One of the little ones has taken it upon himself to walk to the door that separates the garge from the music room and whack on the door.  He thinks it's a short cut, or something and can't understand why he can't get through.  This, of course, brings Uff-Dah to the other side of the door, and the two of them 'box', neither knowing what the other one is.  This goes on until momma raccoon snarls and errant child mutters and follows her out of the opening.  Meanwhile, I'm just standing by my Controlmaster 20, shaking my head. 

Spring has Sprung, I suppose.  The Freeway is again open.  I have learned not to do too much 'night' running around here, this time of year, LOL! 

Well, the Little Lady got her green boiler the last couple of days.  No photos so far, because I have to do some really TRICKY touch-up painting, and right now she looks a little--ah--'weird', shall we say.  But I think she's going to turn out pretty well.  I'm still running in her mechanism, and that part of it's running smoother and smoother.  Gave the mechanism a turn around the layout yesterday, and it's not bad.  Nice and quiet and relatively smooth. 

But you know--and here's where I could kick myself, but not really.  I had a Sunset Z-6 on reserve at Bruce's, then started thinking about it and realized that much as I love that big Alco Challenger, the most it would ever be on my layout would be a WWII "loaner".  So I cancelled it, and put some of the money into the used Key Rio Grande 3400.  Then on another thread, I saw that Z-6 in action, and I almost banged my head against the wall.  OHMYGAW!!!!!  What a beautiful, smooth-running piece of machinery that loco is!   I mean, it's a brass MASTERPIECE, and the price is to die for! 

And right now, I've got my little Key 2-8-8-2 still in parts on the kitchen table being repainted and literally rebuilt.  And I ain't as young as I used to be, LOL!   Takes me longer to 'tinker' these days.  I can think of other brass locos over the past thirty years or so that were 'basket cases' that I had up and running in two or three hours, and this little baby has taken me almost four WEEKS!   And it will probably be another week before I get the boiler details painted right.  I mean, by the time she's up and running and working trains on the Yuba River Sub, it could be SUMMER! 

Makes me wonder.  I'm not getting discouraged, don't think that, but I'm just getting angry that I'm slowing down when it comes to things like this. 

Oh well---  I'll stop now before I get Maudlin, LOL! 

Best to all, prayers to those in need.

Tom

[GMTRacing]

Good Evening All,

     Back from the museum and none too soon - the roads are icing up pretty good. With all these critters on staff now have we become a branch for Noahs' ark? Between the racoon taking the utensils off the table before you're done eating and the deer chewing up the vase of flowers by the register it's getting a bit nuts. Better not say that, we'll have squirrels next. That's what happens I guess when you pay peanuts - you get  monkeys.

Flip - glad to hear things went well today. Here's hoping the recovery goes as well as the operation.

   Spent the evening painting the scenery on the O gage layout and tidying up a bit. I really should take some pics so you can see the progress..Speaking of O gage, has anyone heard from Attaboy of late?

   Time to grab some shuteye as I'm nodding off here and last time I did that some wise guy painted eyeballs on my eyelids. Sheesh - bet you didn't do that to Duke. Catch ya tomorrow. J.R.

Oh boy - TOP again - now I've bought my own breakfast. The canteen is open for late night snacks folks.

   

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Flo just a cup of decafe for me...  Hey, why is my pet raccoon wearing that funny little outfit.....???  Have these guys been harassing the wildlife out here?  Sheesh.  I'd sit at the Rivet Counter but it is all wet.   I'll go sit in the back by the stove for a bit.

Spent most of the day doing my least favorite w*rk of each year.  TAXES!  This year the business part should be easy, didn't spend much money as I was using up supplies.  It may prove to be a bit harder on my wallet without the deductions though.

Sounds like several of you got good news today!

Jeffrey congrats on getting the vacuum removed from the foot!  Take care not to re-injure either of them!

Rob glad you had a good session and results with your docs.

And Flip, so glad everything went well with your wife's surgery!   Hopefully she will be recovering well and soon be up and around!  Prayers continue.....

Later!

73

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

I'll have a malted milk shake.

Jeff ... Glad to hear you are off the wound vacuum......

Rob ... THAT"S GREAT NEWS about you heart tests. Here is a site where you can see pix of U23B's and look to see what they were MU'd with. I would think they would be with mostly 4-axle units by either GE or EMD.  http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php

Jim CG ... You asked to see my branch line caboose, and here it is.

Flip ... Glad Deb's surgery was OK. Praying for a full recovery soon. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I had a busy day day today. I had to follow my father to town this morning so he could turn his truck in for repairs. We then went to BJ's Diner for breakfast then I took him home. We did some research on solar energy as an alternative for for powering his home. Bad thing is that a system capable of pulling a 5,000 square foot home comes to over $60,000 with installation. At that rate it would never pay for itself. I then had to take off for an appointment with the foot doc at noon. Good news! He took me off that dang wound vacuum. It didn't make much sense to keep it on being that it hasn't picked up anything in six days. Another piece of good news. He put me in an orthopedic boot to help support my ankle. Now I can actually walk around a bit without it feeling like a railroad spike is being driven through my ankle. The Charcot condition is still acting up so I'm feeling deep bone pain from my foot and my ankle from the bones being softened. The boot effectively immobilizes the joint and forces it into a straight posture. That's something I haven't had since several bones were removed from the right side of the foot. With the support of those bones gone the ankle was rolling to the outside, putting a strain on the muscles and the Achilles tendon. Now it feels much better. Once the Charcot calms down (it has to eventually) the pain will subside. Back to me day. I went to my parent's home and visited with my mother for a while. I told he the good news and she's quite happy about it. The power went out shortly thereafter and stayed off for quite a while. I visited one of my neighbors for a little while then went to see my sister. I hadn't been able to do that for a while because I couldn't safely negotiate her steps. Now I can. She told me about her day at work. She spent most of the day in a classroom. We looked over her collection of Harry Potter books (early printings) and discussed the merits of some collectors series books she's expecting to come in. She has many original printings by J.R.R. Tolkien and Clive Cussler to name a couple. An avid collector would go crazy in there. The power eventually came back on and this is the first chance I've to get online since this morning.

[Packer]

Chris, I don't know if my LHS would do that, but they do deal with horizon, But as of now, I'm kind of hesitant to do that. My post in the "My Hopping Athearn RS3 Best customer service you can get. " thread should explain why.

Joe, where's the deer? I haven't had venison in a while.

[fec153]

Good evening diners. To tired to play catch-up even tho its only 3 pages. Just a great BIG Thankyou to all you wonderful friends. Prayers were answered. Deb was in the o.r just over 3 hours. The surgeon took a piece of hip bone , right rear , past the replacement hip. and a piece of wire and repaired numbers 1,2 and 3. He is happy at how it looks but we will know for sure in while. The area is all bruised and swollen. Thanks to all for your good wishes and prayers. You folks make me feel like the wealthiest man in the world having such friendship  given to me.

May He Bless you all and grant you peace of mind and heal your pains.

Phil     aka Flip

 

[TMarsh]

Apple pie a la mode please. Double the ice cream too thank you.

Good news. The issue of grid marks affected nothing but the location of a tunnel entrance for what I have done already. That was the only part I measured off of the grid. Everything else so far was measured off the wall and the edges of the bench work. Whew.

Keith-  !If it had been a movie camera you would have seen the standing up part. I do have bad knees from running around in circles for years without the proper running shoes. Used to be they didn't make them and after they did, I said, "why? I've been running for years without them. In fact I've taken PT tests in boots. Just some gimmick". Again Wroooong. Aaaand a little sudden stop courtesy a Ford pickup that turned in front of us at 50 mph didn‘t help much either. Totaled the car I was in. Metal dash, before seatbelt law, Luckily when the guy driving slammed on the brakes the car slid sideways and the drivers door took the hit. Bent the car in half, (well, sorta. My story) and broke both my buddies collar bones. I just bashed my knees on the knee bolster. Why did she turn in front of us you ask? I did too. Said she needed to get home, her daughter has an upset tummy. Actually, that day I don't think I had trouble. I have my days.

Jim- Don't sweat the card. It's the thought that counts.

Well, the radius for the rise to the higher level is worked out and now I must do the lower. Then I will add the supports for the rise and place some track down and then see how it works before moving on. So. I shall now head back down stairs and do some more w**k.

WHOOPS! Slipped on something on the floor. ( looks down and checks out boot soles) Oh man!

[ns3010]

**Walks in and sees a deer licking crumbs off the RC**
Well, glad to see that the new bus boys are hard at work!

Keith, here's that new video from today:
NJ Transit 1028 at Netcong, 2/16/10

BTW, Sam, I hear that after Christie cut $33M (~1.5 months) of funding from NJT, has there been talk about the F-word (NO, not THAT F word!... the one with the forced days off, Fur***ghs), or even as bad as the L-word (Lay**fs)? On an unmentioned and not-to-be-named NJT forum, people (especially the employees) are really worried. It seems Christie expects Transit to get their act together, and fast...

I'll probably be back in later.

[AmanaMedic]

Packer

Dunno what I'm going to do to get the diesel fuel tanks though. Maybe cut up a lenght of balsa wood and paint it to stand in for them on the reffer and the bachmann reffers I have.

Athearn's got 'em:

13108

50'-57' REEFER TANKS

6

$2.25

13106

50' BOX UNDERFRAME

2

$2.25

IF you've got a LHS, I'd have them order, otherwise Uncle Irv's bunch will stick ya for shipping...

Chris

 

 

[Packer]

Evening ya'll

Got the fuel line apat to get at the one I needed. Fuel tank is installed and it all works fine. Now back to body work unless another thing pops up *looks for murphy* 

Chris, maybe. It was a listing on HO yardsale that he adverstised them with metal wheels and kadees, but nothing on the cars conditon (usually that means good condition).  I don't really need an athearn frame (I'd take one since I have another car that had it's shatter) since I could mount a kadee box to the weight with double-sided duct tape (I've done that with a few MDC cars already, by some fluke it comes out to the correct height). Dunno what I'm going to do to get the diesel fuel tanks though. Maybe cut up a lenght of balsa wood and paint it to stand in for them on the reffer and the bachmann reffers I have.

Rob, I'd throw in second generation Geeps (especially 35s, 38s, and 38-2s), BB U-boats, and maybe BB century alcos (I want to try U28B, C425, U28B, C425; can almost see the smoke already ). Depeneds on the railroad though, since some mixed around power while others kept similar power together

[AmanaMedic]

blownout cylinder

What's a racoon doing with a french waitress costume on?

Good evening, say...THAT waitress outfit looks a lot nicer than the plain old apron did... Let's just hope the ASPCA doesn't find out about this! Other than stealing some of my fries...I think the raccoon is working out just fine!

ROB: Hey! Glad to hear the good news on the 'ol ticker...and THAT the lab results are lookin' good! As for what looks good with a U-23? I'd echo the guys who suggested first and second generation diesels.

I'll just have a seat at the RC and see who-all makes it in. The roads are icing up fast (strong wind + blowing snow), so I abandoned all hope of making it to Tiffin tonight. Hope THAT understands...

Chris

[blownout cylinder]

Robbie: Neat pix!!

Sawyer: That was a catch!

Rob: I seen them with GP40's, GP7/9's---all kindsa stuff

Hello--

Got some shopping done--part of the gotta do/buy list---eeerrgh-----then got mine own stuff to do.

What's a racoon doing with a french waitress costume on?

Flo? I'll just have a coffee and a salad please---I'll be at the RC--