Elliot's Trackside Diner 26

[Packer]

Evening ya'll

Got the GP35 put back together. Runs like a champ now (makes my P2k gp18 sound like a bachmann), just need to get some wiring in it to get it ready for dcc eventually.

Barry, that sucks. Good you are okay though.

Lee, soounds like a good haul and good prices there.

[ns3010]

Evening ladies and gents.

So, as some of you may or may not know, I've been working on my new website lately. Google closed my old account with the Tri-State Railway and I was kinda unhappy with Webs, so I created a new Google account and made a new Tri State Rail website.

I've still got work to do, but it's presentable. I like how it's coming along so far. I'm really happy with the system map (click the photo on the page, and then click it again to enlarge), considering that I completely freehanded that in MS Paint. I have yet to do the CT and NY maps. Connecticut should be pretty easy, but New York will be pretty hard, mostly because of its size.

Also, what do you guys think of the history? It's really a rough draft, and I'm open to suggestions for that.

Questions, comments, suggestions, whatever are of course welcome.

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I'll be in the back catching up from where I left off.

[LSWrr]

I went out to the Norwalk and Western train show today, here is the haul:

 12 Ho-scale metal John Deer tractors
Purina Feed and Seed (Suydam) Already built from John PincaSmall
Suydam building
2 older style tank cars
1 operations book and a rules of safety book for N&W for the 1960's (both hard cover)
A GG1 for a friend (Made for Penco by Rivarossi)

Spent $100, but the tractors were a good deal, bought the whole box for $40.  LHS charges $5 each for plastic tractors, those metal ones are $10-20 each.  Those GG1's sell on EBay for up to $100 each.  If you wanted diesel locomotives there were some good deals ($35+).  Rolling stock was $6 each if it had knuckle couplers (all of them had Kadee) and $4 each with horn hook.  Brass rolling stock was selling for $10/car and passenger cars were selling for $10 each for the older styles and $20/ for the newer stuff.  MANTUA steam locomotives were selling for $40+.


 Next show I want to see is the FIRELANDS show at the Erie Fairgrounds. 02 MAY 10 1000-1600Firelands Model Train ShowErie County Fair Grounds3110 Columbus AveSandusky, OH 44870Adults $3

 

[howmus]

 Hey Barry!

"Whaht's tha sense o' drinkin' if ya ain't gonna drahve......" 

Glad you are OK!  I was in one like THAT when I was a senior in High School, only in the front driver's side panel.  I was able to keep enough control to put the car between a telephone pole and a tree with less than a foot on either side.  I luckily had on my seat belt (not required back then) and walked away with a couple bruises.  I was driving to School in the family car.  The car that hit me ran a stop sign and was driven by an 84 year old man with some medical problems.  He went to the hospital.  His car (Bonneville) was totaled.  Ours should have been but was repaired and put back on the road.  A couple months later we found it wasn't handling well suddenly and found the frame had been cracked.....  Hope the guy who hit you will not be driving for a long time!

Coming home from the Batavia Show this afternoon, I had no sooner gotten onto the NYS Thruway when traffic slowed to a crawl.  About 3 miles down the road there was a car fire.  They had 3 firetrucks, two pole-eece cars, with flashing lights, and they was takin' "color glossy photographs of the scene of the crime with a paragraph on the back of each one to be used in a court of law......"  Opps, wrong song....  Anyway looked to be a car that just decided to catch on fire.  No accident or anything, just sitting at the side of the road with most of the paint burned off.  They were putting away the firehoses and gear by the time I got up to it.

73

[Trainman Sam]

blownout cylinder

Chloe, I need a strong chamomile tea to wind down with and a large slice of that Key Lime Pie there please---I'm gonna sit at the corner booth and rest---

Glad you came out "un-scathed"!  Coulda been a lot worse!  Chloe, please put his meal on MY tab? Thanks!

[blownout cylinder]

AmanaMedic

I forgot to mention earlier, JOE (I think it was) reminded me. The case of the smoldering water heater has been resolved. One element was "completely gone." The other was "just now gone." With replacements in... a HOT shower is a reality again! I'd gotten so used to "warm" showers, kinda forgot what it's like... 

Ahhh----yes. Tonight I got home to this note--which again reminds me of my water heater check up. It has been acting up a tad lately---aherm---

Hello.

I did get home at a more sillier time than usual as we had an accident with a certain fellow who clobbered my car at an intersection Guy ran a red light and PTOOF!!---right into the back quarter panel----caused me to go WEEEE!! into a complete 270 degree turn and left me facing opposite to where I wanted to go! Car is not as bad off as what I thought as all he managed to do was to put in a 3" wallop into that panel---left me having to get neighbour to give me lift home----thank goodness I have the minivan though Buddy who ran into me gets to spend night in clinker as he was DUI

Chloe, I need a strong chamomile tea to wind down with and a large slice of that Key Lime Pie there please---I'm gonna sit at the corner booth and rest---

[LSWrr]

Good evening,  A couple pictures of my weekend fun…

 

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2631309270029441264iVcSKL?vhost=home-and-garden

 

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2208845630029441264KTcUUs?vhost=home-and-garden

 

[Trainman Sam]

jeffrey-wimberly

That thing is a bugger to read isn't it?

Yes it is!  Why couldn't they have just said: If you want to do this, make it that... Like so many of the threads in the DCC section are!  Very helpful search I had earlier!  Got me to be able to get a couple engines to 4-digit addresses!  The steamer, as mentioned before, is running nicely (I think especially due to replacing the B-mann decoder with the Digitrax one!

I'm now in negotiations with the CFO about getting the Digitrax PR3... Anyone have any experience with this unit?

Ray- Believe me, there are some questionable radios floating around on NJT equipment!  Sometimes you can't hear yourself think from all the "static" over the radio!  I had one where I couldn't understand MW-31, the person in charge of the working limits on the North Jersey Coastline...  He had to repeat himself four times before I understood what he was saying!  I had to repeat myself at least that many times before he understood ME!!!

Vincent- Thanks for the tip on the resistor, I'll have to see about getting a couple at RS this week.

Sawyer- Looking good with the Locos!  I'm getting to the point that I am overly jealous at the progress on your layout!

Chris- The Zephyr isn't really THAT hard, I just didn't read all the instructions very carefully before I started reprogramming... In all honesty, the B-mann decoder is most likely just programmed to a loco # that I can't remember, which is hampering my attempts to reprogram it again... We shall see, I know there is a way to reassign the loco address without having to access the existing #, I just have to find the instruction that pertains to THAT!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Trainman Sam

I didn't make it in yesterday due to the fact that the CFO gave the go-ahead for the Zephyr... So I have been reading the "Technical Manual" ever since we got home last night around 7pm...  I believe that once I finish the manual, I will be qualified to operate a Nuclear Power Plant...

 

That thing is a bugger to read isn't it? I hadn't seen anything like that since my early days in computer programming. I think that gave me an advantage as I had no problem understanding it. Hex and binary are old hat to me.

[AmanaMedic]

 Good evening, a double cheeseburger basket with a bucket of Cherry RC Cola sounds pretty durn good right about now...

I forgot to mention earlier, JOE (I think it was) reminded me. The case of the smoldering water heater has been resolved. One element was "completely gone." The other was "just now gone." With replacements in... a HOT shower is a reality again! I'd gotten so used to "warm" showers, kinda forgot what it's like... 

SAWYER: Liking the locomotives  As for the shoulder, now THAT the season is done...rest-up THAT wing! Otherwise, later in life it might make a wonderful "weather predictor" for you...

SAM: Your DCC woes remind me of why I'm sticking with regular old DC and toggle switches...well, when I get THAT far! I hate practically anything THAT comes with a "how-to" book as thick as a phone directory...

After a few hours of further research, I now have a reason for the Golden West Service boxcar to exist. It will be assigned to haul bagged (retail packaging) sugar from Imperial Sugar in Galveston, Texas to Nash Finch Co. (grocery wholesaler) in Cedarapids, Iowa. Routing: Galveston Railway (GVSR) to UP via Houston, Ft. Worth, Wichita, and Kansas City. At Kansas City, MO it goes to the CNW. Train KSPRA (Kansas City to Proviso) delivers to Beverly Yard. "the Drag" hauls to North Yard, yard job delivers to CCP for final delivery.

All this for "the blue one" as she called it...

 

I'm gonna sit at the RC and sip my Cherry RC...

Chris

 

[howmus]

 Evenin' Folks!

Got home from the Batavia train Show a while ago and have been catching up on today's posts here.  Flo I'll have the Hot Turkey Sandwich with fries and a decafe tonight.  I'll sit in the back booth and try to get warm.

We had a very good day at the show.  had a lot of people stop at the booth.  Place was packed and at least some of the dealers did very well.  Some said it was really slow and they didn't sell much....  Tough competition as many dealers were running something they like to call....  Discounts!  So I think the dealers who were selling at a little above retail didn't seem to be doing well.....  Set up my projector and a screen I have to run off my laptop allowing a much bigger image of some of our members layouts i have on a Powerpoint show. 

I ended up putting together a Shake -the-box Accurail reefer kit and weathering 3 coal cars with paint and powders.  Actually just spent most of the day yakking with people.  Late afternoon after i had done 2 of the Coal Hoppers, I got up and took them over to the Rochester MRR Club's Modular RR they had set up.  The operator is my treasurer for the NMRA Div., and I figured I could show off a bit and harass him at the same time.  They were very near our booth.  I went over showed him the hoppers, he gave a nodding approval of the weathering job, and said, "nice!"  So I told him he needed to change the unit hopper train into a mixed frieght with some "Classic Cars".  He obliged by adding the 2 coal hoppers at the end of the train (just before the caboose).  Next time around the clockwise train and the counter clockwise train met right about where we were standing, so I put on my best "no-nothing visitor" look and said,  "Can you crash them?????"  He just looked at me and shook his head.  So next time around I say,  "So....  How fast can they go"?  In a rather loud voice!  Several bystanders gave me the, "Oh, it's one of them" type looks.  Hey gotta have a little fun, right?

I printed out about 50 fliers for our May 1st. meet to have in case anyone wanted one.  When I packed up, there were about 6 or 7 left.......  I will print more to take to some of the LHS around the area as the time gets closer.

I forget who asked,  but yes, the little one, Emily, will be getting Thomas in a year or so.  Hopefully the two of them can learn to work together with the set.  The older is always very upset if she can't see Grampa's trains run.  There have been several time I have been at my son's house or one of the other relatives and had my son say, "Dad, did you here what Olivia said?  She wants to go to 'Papa's' house...."  Does my heart good....

Trainman Sam

I have less to read and do to run the REAL thing!!  Lol

 

Sam, I have officially signed up to take the "Rules" class next month for operations at the two museums I volunteer for.....  I have been also signed up for the "Track Car" class.  Biggest if is my hearing and the need to be able to understand the radio.  I figure I stand a much better chance of  hearing running the track car than the diesels (Them old anti-que type thingies we got are a bit noisy!!!).  May have to buy myself a radio that will work for me.  And/or work with someone who can relay radio commands to me and be my ears.  The ones they are using are mostly unintellegible to me.  I can be car host without attending the rules class, but I figure the more I know about safe operation the better!

Probably should go unpack stuff i took with me today nd make sure I have everything....

Later!

73

[Packer]

afternoon ya'll

Got some major work done on the trains today. Got my Gp35 and U30C running again. On the U30C I stragthened the shaft as best I could and sanded the flywheels to compensate for it not being exactly straight. On the GP35 I stuck a piece of balsa under the Buheler can motor and then screwed the motor down. Have some gear flash in the GP35 which is being addressed at the moment (toothpaste in gears). Also got the frame for the GP18 ready to go, just have to get another long wire harness since my last one broke (and I don't want to cut up my only one with an 8-pin plug).

Sam, to program bachmann-dcc equipped locos, put a 1K resistor across the rails. I did that to program the FT ABBA I had; although I used 2 540 resistors.

Der, I like that picture

Ulrich, simply put what isn't accurate. Stuff like PRR railboxes, B&O DD40s, NYC SDP40s, etc...

[Trainman Sam]

I believe I fried the decoder that came in the Bachmann Spectrum Baldwin Consolidation 2-8-0... I had to swap it out with the plug-n-play D-163 from my NJTransit F40PH... I got it addressed to its current loco # 2119... The F40 will have to sit "dead" for a while until I can: a) figure out the decoder issue, or b) buy a new decoder...

MAN!  Can't believe the plethora of knowledge you need to program a MODEL locomotive!  I have less to read and do to run the REAL thing!!  Lol

Zoe, may I please have the Dinner Special and a RBF?  Thank you!  I'll be in a booth, avoiding any more false accusations that I STARTED pie fights... All I did was "steal" a banana cream, and look what happens! Lol

[ns3010]

Hey PC, whats up

What, SAM is responsible for all pie fights?

Ulrich, very nice loco!

Ray, ah, yes. Thomas. That's probably the entire reason I'm in this hobby...

Chris, I hear ya. For the past two weeks, we've been running on a 5 gallon tank THAT needs to be refilled daily, because our oil tank is apparently filled with water... They're coming this week to install a new one (it will be in the garage, unlike the old one, THAT was underground). So hopefully I'll be able to go in the shower knowing THAT there'll be hot water again...

Hey Galaxy, welcome back!

And welcome back to you as well Bill! I see a lot of our regulars have been returning!

Todd, NS 8459 is former LMSX- Well, of course, now the page won't open, so I don't know the number... But here's the page where you can see, assuming it'll open for you... http://www.nsdash9.com/crrepaints.html

Well, I gots ta go, but I'll finish catching up later.

[Packers#1]

Well folks, today I did some decal work. Good lord I hate those tiny numbers, but U23B #6330 now has ANRR on her in accordance w/ the ANRR history. Also got her fixed/tuned up to where she's running pretty good. still picks one turnout; it's the only turnout she picks and she's the only one that picks it. I think it may be the turn though; she's also the longest so it could be she follows the curve across the points. The camera is a cruel mistress as well. never noticed the finger print behind the cab until now.

 

Look who finally has her black trucks! GP9 #3 is patched to match ANRR lore. I'll be picking up shells for all three locos to paint into ANRR company colors for my 2000 operating scenario (check the history of the ANRR @ http://sbpackernut.webs.com/aikennorthernrwyco.htm for background info)



GP35 #5 sports her patch as well



Group photo



Also planted some more weeds this weekend

[ns3010]

Evening. Flo, I'll take a bacon cheeseburger and a RBF, thanks.

I'll be at teh RC catching up.

[Trainman Sam]

The BLI NW2 is the only one I have with sound, and it's been reprogrammed with no problems!!!

Having problems with:
Bachmann Spectrum 2-8-0

Atlas C30-7 with Digitrax 165AO direct board replacement installed  [EDIT: I got it programmed on the main... found the problem, as I am trying to get it to 4-digit (still haven't gotten that) but I can change it to a 2-digit address... looking up THAT issue now!]

Bachmann DCC Equipped GP-30

Bachmann DCC Equipped SD40-2

I am re-reading and re-reading the manual, but as of yet still getting nowhere fast!

Glad to see almost everyone having a good weekend!

Ulrich- The latest installment of your trackplan is a nice one!  Keep it up, and you could turn it into a business of trackplanning for others!

The programming track I put together was odds and ends, but I ran the dickens out of the track cleaning "stone" and the rails are glistening...  THAT and the high end loco took the reprogramming rather well!  It's the cheaper stuff I have that isn't wanting to cooperate!!!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Blazzin

I go down the the swap meet real early.. look around at the plants.. most sellers have a junk box filled with orchids that have already bloomed and you won't see em bloom again for a year... well those are $3 dollars each.  Aside from the price, the real surprise is what you get next year.  Hardly any effort to grow or bloom.. once you find the correct lighting.

Give it to my mother. She can grow anything! She's got orchids all over the place, and get this, a Bird of Paradise (plant) that's over 22' tall! She even has plants from Hawaii growing year round here.

[der5997]

Diners, orders in, as it's my round - and THAT's been a while!  I'll have a JR regular please, and one of those Danish Galaxy dropped off on his way to somewhere. LOL  I started putting together a brass photo-ethched kit for a loco service stand. I'm using crazy glue as I doubt my soldering skills will stop the perforated deck filling up with solder from the joints! IMHO they've used too thin a brass for the legs. Oh, it'll stand up OK, but they will look very thin. I've had one hiccup already. There are no instructions. The under-frame beams are attached to the sheet of brass by what, in a plastic kit, would be sprues. There are rectangular holes in the ends of the deck sill.  My putting 2&2 together came up with less than 4. I cut the sprues long enough to fit in those holes, so the under-frame beams would be secure and stable for attaching the leg frame members in their corresponding slots in the beams. WRONG! I had the leg members in place and glued OK, but there was a miss-alignment of the beam ends glued into the sills. Since I paid over $20 for this kit, I expected better precision than that. Suspicion raised, I thought about it a bit on my after-Sunday-lunch (Salmon and scalloped potatoes, squash, California mix veggies; apple pie and "Udderly Divine" ice-cream, coffee) walk. I remembered the kit has steps at each end. What if the end sill slots are to take the steps?  Back at the workbench, I was thankful that I hadn't soldered because detaching the beams from the end sills, bending the sills flat, cleaning out the holes, bending the beams to their correct position; and re-bending the now step-friendly sills to their correct position took only about as long as it has taken to type the account!

Ulrich:  Hope you get some good solid sleep tonight. Maybe I'm the sleep thief! We did the "Earth Hour" thing here last night, 8:30 - 9:30; and I got nodded off in the Lazy-Boy! (I was surprised to see our neighbour across the road had lights out too - you never know where this thing will go.

John - was that the annual train to New Delhi? It pretty much looks like the trains in post-war Germany, when city folks would flood the countryside in search for something edible to be traded in for jewellery, oriental rugs etc.

   Now that's a bit of history I'd never been taught! Kris was a country child in the war, and our family was pretty much rural/small town then too. So, we had severe shortages and rationing, but not the hardships of cities. (Rationing of sugar and candy (aka sweets in the UK) wasn't lifted until 1951 IIRC.  The ensuing sugar explosion probably underlies my current diabetes! ) On the latest layout revison, I saw the bookcase instead-of-Christian's-wardrobe, but didn't realize you gained up to 4' that way. Beveling the end of that extension to match the angle of the wall could give a few more inches, into which track slightly curved from the left end could run - it might make the difference of squeezing in an additional 4 axel freight car (goods van?).  I know JohnBoy was asking about roads - aren't there highway overpasses either end of the central scene? (Your photos from the "mother layout" show them, I think) His busses would fit up there, yes? your thoughts and others on Sawyer's shoulder injury.

Keith: I'm sure if Vinnie were shown how, we could have a virtually endless supply of those orchids for the end of the RC, and for the booths. He could bring them up in the "well lit area" of the stores cupboard.

Chris:

Back to the whole launching itty-bitty, teenie-weenie little micro-parts into parts unknown... you have to admit, it is rather impressive just how fast they fly out of the tweezers!

....reading THAT, I began to wonder about the "Min-Wax" some museums use to tack down items (creeping into mrr to hold figures one may want to move around) Would a smear of something like a tacky wax on the tweezers tips foil the flight of  ittzy-bitzy teeny-weeny super-detaily grab-irony thingys? (with or without polka dots, Ulrich and I seem to share generational song preferences )Here, BTW, is Teffy's solution to FOOBIES and Rabid Rivet Couters all in one.

Sam: Just to add to Jeff's program track/program on main advice - the program track should be every bit as clean as your regular track. Progam tracks not infrequently are thrown toghether from left over track bits because the "don't matter". Just a thought.

Must get back to the service platform and look at doing the steps, now they have a place to fit.

TTFN

[galaxy]

Good afternoon train fans!

Blazzin

   I go down the the swap meet real early.. look around at the plants.. most sellers have a junk box filled with orchids that have already bloomed and you won't see em bloom again for a year... well those are $3 dollars each.  Aside from the price, the real surprise is what you get next year.  Hardly any effort to grow or bloom.. once you find the correct lighting.

Well, golly, if they are "hardly any effort to grow or bloom" why do we have such troubles with them?????

Lighting...well we have tried natural. and plant lites and grow lites and even added a heat warmer still they die on us. WE even had some shipped back from Hawaii with us. Died Died and died.

WE have come to decide orchids are not meant for us.

 

AmanaMedic

Anybody else wanna define "foobie?" THAT's pretty much my understanding of it.

 

Gee. I thought "foobie" was a dirty word meaning...oh never mind.....That could describe some of my stuff.....

 

jeffrey-wimberly

 . Many times it's the simplest things that can drive us crazy.

 

I AM already crazy...and am a card-carrying member with papers to prove it!

 

I am making pasgetti {spaghetti as i called it as a kid I think} and meat/mushroom/onion/herb sauce for dinner...who wants some?

after I take a nap that is. Around full moon time, and we are headed there, I usually don't sleep well nights even with medications. Makes you wonder doesn't it? Hmm since the muscle relaxers for my back cause me to sleepy, maybe I shoud take one. Nah. then I sleepy for two days.  

have a good evening folks

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Sam: With some types of locos, particularly those with sound, the programming track doesn't put out enough power and so those must be programmed on the main. There are some decoders that require even more programming power than the main can give and require a separate booster. For the locos I have most will program on the program track but some require the power of the main track.

[Trainman Sam]

Good afternoon all!

I didn't make it in yesterday due to the fact that the CFO gave the go-ahead for the Zephyr... So I have been reading the "Technical Manual" ever since we got home last night around 7pm...  I believe that once I finish the manual, I will be qualified to operate a Nuclear Power Plant...

I am having a bugger of a time re-programming the addresses on my locos... I have rigged up a "Programming Track" but only two of my locos are responding on it... the rest just give me the "d nd" error code, or do nothing at all.  This is frustrating!  Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!  Especially by my wife/CFO, as she is getting tired of hearing the heavy sighs and "rants" that cannot be repeated here!

Anyway, I got the BLI NW2 reprogrammed to its original address, and tinkered with the CV's a bit, so I KNOW I know how to use this thing!  I'm just having a brain-fart when it comes to re-programming... DRAT!  I am reading the manual over AGAIN!!!

[AmanaMedic]

Sir Madog

Chris - I may appear to be a fool, but what the h.ll is a FOOBIE? This is one of the words I don´t find in a dictionary - just like RBF  .

 

No need to feel foolish, heck, I didn't know what it was either until I started hanging out around here! In MRR terminology, it's a rail car or locomotive THAT looks really nice...but is technically "wrong," "fantasy" (like an AMTRAK Berkshire steam locomotive), or totally imagineered. Athearn was (is) guilty of THAT on a chronic basis. (in-)Accu (rate) Rail does it a lot too. Take a common boxcar, and put every RR on the planet on it at some point. Looks nice, but "Joe in the know" knows it's bogus... Foobies drive the hardcore rivet counters insane.

Anybody else wanna define "foobie?" THAT's pretty much my understanding of it.

Generally, when I find one, it gets stripped and repainted. This time though, I'll just plead ignorance. Then again, I don't let the rabid rivet counters anywhere near my stuff. I dip far enough into their world THAT in general, my stuff (hopefully) "looks right."

Of course, having said all THAT...I'm now looking to see if I need to paint the roof aluminum or if I can just leave it blue...

Chris

[Anonymous]

 Good Evening,

well, it is slowly getting dark here, so it must be evening. I am still chasing that hour someone stole from me last night.

Zoe, it´s time for supper. I´ll have a bowl of that Mexican Chile and a bottle of Cerveza Mexicana to wash it down, thank you.

Johnboy -   my initial idea was to use the lower and longer side of the room, but my CFO vetoed it. This is the place where she needs to put up the ironing board and the laundry rack. This is also the place where we have to put up the inflatable bed, when our son is visiting us. This means either to use the space above the desk or no layout. But it´ll be fine with me... grin!

Todd - in terms of operation that layout with those transfer tables and sector plates is certainly more rewarding than "Potter Lane". Building those devices is a hassle, and I am shunning away from it. Potters Lane is easier to build and also easier to extend into a real layout, circling the entire room (don´t let Petra know... 

Chris - I may appear to be a fool, but what the h.ll is a FOOBIE? This is one of the words I don´t find in a dictionary - just like RBF  ... Talking about itsy-bitsy, teenie-weenie, polka-dot parts the go orbiting once released unvoluntarily from the tweezers holding them - I have to de-install most of them to be able to install my Kadees!

 

Btw, here are pics of what I am going for:

 

(Photos by courtesy of Dave/Westcoast Miniatures)

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I turned on the power to the layout this morning and found that I had a short somewhere. I turned off all the blocks then turned them on one by one until the breaker in the Zephyr tripped. It was block #5, the passing siding that also serves as an interchange to the inner loop. I checked the wiring under the layout as best I could, nothing there. I then checked the back of the control panel. A metal sliver from some project could have fallen in there. Nothing again. I then chanced to move the line of cars that was on that section and the short went away. Turned out it was a derailed wheel on a frog in the crossover. I had apparently disturbed the car while working on some project. Many times it's the simplest things that can drive us crazy. Right now I have a stack of boxes on the front edge of the layout that are full of freight car kits waiting to go to their new homes. None have been sold. Most have been traded to others and some given away. It's very possible I bumped them and the bottom one jarred the car just enough to rock one wheelset off the rails. At the moment the layout looks like many work benches I've seen in that there's a lot of clutter. An unfortunate byproduct of working on many projects.

[Packers#1]

 Ulrich and chris, yeah. main reason I played friday was it was the last game of the season.

[AmanaMedic]

galaxy

Good morning Vietnam!   OOPS, I, uh, mean America! 

I just got back from the Solon American Legion Riders annual pancake breakfast...quite a few 'Nam vets there, so this works for me!

A big "WELCOME HOME!" to them now since they didn't get it then.

Good mornin'...bucket of coffee please 'n thank-you. Had a complimentary "Mickey Mouse" pancake (pancake made so as to look like the famous rodent) at the breakfast. Great bunch of guys, very appreciative of the local paper. 

Maybe...just maybe, I can do some MRR stuff today...

ULRICH: Your latest trackplan, I think, is the best yet for the "shunting" layout/limited space. You spelled-out every...trepidation I've got about transfer plates/tables...whatever you wanna call them!! I think THAT would call for more carpentry/cabinet making skill than what I've got! Back to the whole launching itty-bitty, teenie-weenie little micro-parts into parts unknown... you have to admit, it is rather impressive just how fast they fly out of the tweezers!

Did TODD leave anymore Kadee springs in here? I'm running a bit short...

RAY: Neat pics of the granddaughters. Can't really blame the one for "clearing an obstruction from the right-of-way"

GALAXY: Welcome back! Good to see you in here again!

SAWYER: Heed what Ulrich and others have said. "Old" injuries have a not-so-funny way of coming back and reminding you later on. It's kinda like a Garth Brooks song: "much too young to feel this D*** old!"

Welp, I spent most of yesterday painting the fire station. The Chief finally decided THAT after 30-40 years, it was time to "freshen up the place." About half our roster showed up. We started at 0700, finished around 1500 (with a break for brats and burgers...). The apparatus room was white down to about wainscoat level, then dark gray. Kinda looked like an old Mobil gas station! We re-did the white and applied a dark gray suspiciously close to UP Harbor Mist Gray. Robbie, one of our more..."colorful"...characters, decided to put a fire engine red stripe between the two. Looks really good!

And now, to see what kinda trouble I can get into today...

Chris

 

***EDIT*** GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I done got FOOBIED!!!!! When the Wife and I were at the LHS a few weeks back, I was choosing from a handful of old McKean kits. I had Loving Wife make the final decision. She picked a 50' outside braced ACF single door boxcar, in a Golden West Service paint scheme. Research now tells me... it's a FOOBIE!!!! I know, I know...shock shock. Yup. I've found cars in THAT number series were either newer FMC boxcars and/or double-door cars...

*shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I'm gonna give it extended draft gear and a plug door and assign it to grocery service anyway....don't tell the rabid rivet counters....

 

[ns3010]

Morning (barely) all.

Not too much going on today, I think. Just homework.

I NEED BREAK NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have tomorrow and half of Tuesday left, I can do this...

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

Hi again Ulrich,

Morning Chloe, how about a couple of those double RBFs for my German friend and me, push it on down with a couple of slabs of Apple Strudell too.

Ulrich, maybe you want to tell me to blow it out my ear,  BUT, here goes anyway.

As I see it...................

The other furniture would fit where you have the layout now and in moving the layout TO THE LOWER RIGHT you would have more lenght  and you could have a right angle (left) towards the door (behind it) for more space, possibly even a return loop. The wardrobe could go beside the door (open side) and the chair on the flat wall where you now have the layout or vise versa. As I see it the room would still be just as useable or even more so as I don't see a lot of use for that corner behind the door anyway. But an easy way to increase your "Potter's Lane".

And now maybe a road along the front edge to display some of those neat looking German trucks and to get some BUSES to the train station. Lol

Just my  worth.    What do you think ?

Hope you got a nap this afternoon.  Tired and can't sleep has to be one of the worst things.

Johnboy out..........................for now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Blazzin]

  Hello.. good morning.  I'm still busy with the layout.. but a  time-out is nice.  I shot a pic of my wife's orchids she grows.  These bloom in January.. (indoors)(in the kitchen).. and the flowers last for about two months. 

  I go down the the swap meet real early.. look around at the plants.. most sellers have a junk box filled with orchids that have already bloomed and you won't see em bloom again for a year... well those are $3 dollars each.  Aside from the price, the real surprise is what you get next year.  Hardly any effort to grow or bloom.. once you find the correct lighting.

  Well thats it.. just a 'Good Mornin" to all of you~