Elliot's Trackside Diner JUNE 2010

[blownout cylinder]

howmus

Remember, "Dogs have owners, Cats have servants!"

Yes, well, cats have staff----

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good Mid-Morning--

Got up to glorious sunshine and slightly coolish winds today---going to spend it outside doing the gardening and some general yard work----

Hopefully I'll be able to get some photos up and going on here this weekend---have a few places to nail down---

Chloe, I'll have a LARGE bucket of rawcaffeine please---I need to wake up the brain here--

[howmus]

blownout cylinder

howmus

Remember, "Dogs have owners, Cats have servants!"

Yes, well, cats have staff----

 

My favorite is the one my FIL had hanging by the door, "The more I deal with people, The more I like my dog!"  

BTW Spring looks as Piculous as ever.

73

[Packers#1]

ns3010

 Evening all. Feel like I haven't been in here in years...

I'M A JUNIOR!!!! Yep, today was our last day! Hard to believe HS is already half over...
And I survived exams. According to Powerschool (online gradebook), I did a lot better than I expected too.

AND, tomorrow's my birthday! Will be a nice, quiet day home too.

Well, that's about it from here.

I'll catch ya guys later!

Y'all just got out? dern, we've been out since June 3. I did wayyyyyy better than I thought I would; we have powerschool, but in the words of my mother "That's for parents who need to watch their kid's grades." My final year grades: 92 in English (my only low grade); 97 in Geometry and Spanish; 100 in Gym, Biology, Physical Science, and World Geo. Well, it's off to Greenville until Saturday night, so though I have plenty of layout work to do, I must take a break, which is actually ok by me; I'm hoping to do look up some Southern Railway pictures for ideas.

[Cederstrand]

Coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please.

It's cleaning day here, so it's best I either help out or disappear. Will probably do a mix of the two.

Have a good day y'all.

Rob

[Cox 47]

Afternoon all..Its partly cloudy and 83 here...posta hit mid 90's in a few days..just can't wait for that..that kinda temps keeps me in under A/C...They are having Hiway 40 road do'ins this week-end but if its that warm I'll take a pass..I'll have a cheese burger and a Iced Tea please..thank you..worked this morning on extension on fiddle yard and a scatch build yard building that I'm trying to dofrom a rather por photo..guessing on all walls ect....You all have a good one...Jerry

[AmanaMedic]

 Good afternoon...bucket of ice water and a bucket of Gatorade please 'n thank-you...oh, with a triple decker bacon cheeseburger.

Cederstrand

It's cleaning day here, so it's best I either help out or disappear.

 

When Loving Wife gets into a "cleaning frenzy" Rerun and I both HIDE!!!! It's just safer THAT way

Weather speculationists are doing their best to spook people...calling for BIG thunder-boomers later today and tonight. To be fair, the conditions are "ripe" for big storms but nothing unusual for Iowa in mid-June. A little situational awareness goes a long way. I'm just wondering when the storms will start to fire-up, and if THAT will wash-out high school softball this evening.

THAT spent durn-near 10 minutes last night (on the cell phone) to ask me if I could/would cover it tonight. A simple "Can you cover softball tomorrow evening?" would have sufficed...yet, THAT Editor proceeded to tell me her life story.... At the time, I was trying to follow the action (and take photos) of a high school baseball game. A man conversing with a fellow man could've had the entire conversation wrapped-up in under a minute. THAT Editor had to keep on a-flappin' her jaws, and flappin' her jaws, and flap-flap-flappin' her jaws... The guy running the scoreboard, I thought he was gonna wet himself he was trying so hard to keep from busting out laughing.

You would think, a newspaper editor would subscribe to "brevity is the soul of wit!"

Welp, best get back at it, I'm trying to get stuff finished up so I don't have to deal with it late tonight.

A safe day to all...

Chris

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good afternoon.

Ray said that Barry's cat looks "Piculous". I'm impressed. Wow!. Barry has a  Piculous cat. How many diners are envious?

Cheers, everybody!

[TMarsh]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Barry has a  Piculous cat. How many diners are envious?

Scarry.

Yep, if they were bigger, a domestic cat would have us fixing AND serving their dinner and cleaning their toilet. ....too late.

Howdy, got busy first off today came back in and saw I was signed on to the MR page. Don't remember doing that. Not sure if I fell asleep in here or not. Anyway, I MOWED!!!!!! Now I need to rake but it seems to be raining inside my clothes and I'm wet. So... I came in for a spell. I have to run the weedeater yet, maybe tomorrow. Now I'm hungry and I have to w**k this afternoo..... What was that!?!?!? Uh oh, Missy made a smell. Best leave the room. Past time for lunch anyway.

TTFN 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Today I was checking the wiring in the van for short circuits. Only found one. The part of the headlight switch that handles the running lights is cross circuited so I disabled that and set the running lights up on a toggle switch and made sure it could handle the load without over heating. Only one of the 4 headlights works right now. Whether that's due to burned out bulbs or a bad switch I don't know yet. If it's just the bulbs that'll be easy to deal with. If not, if it's the switch then I may have to run them on a heavy duty center off toggle switch like we did with my grandfather's old pickup. There's more than enough space in the dash for switches with the blower control panel being gone. No reason I couldn't attach a lighting control panel right there. For the testing I was powering the circuits with just a battery charger. The amp draw on the starter motor is so low I actually started the engine with just the power from the charger. Turn signals, hazard lights, running lights all work. Don't know about the brake lights yet. Pretty difficult to check them when you're the only one around to step on the brake.

[fec153]

Hi Jeff- Use a broom stick or equivalent stick or a brick. Doesnt take much weight to push the pedal down. Heck one of your locos should do it.                 lol

Flip

 

[galaxy]

Hi guys!

Just a quick pop-in.

I can't seem to get a health break this year. TOday I was supposed to see the neurosurgeon about my back, but the last two days I've had a stomach bug and had to cancel the neurosurgeon. I was obviously Pretty bad to cancel THAT appt., but lets just say it was coming out both ends with a vengeance.

Sent my other half out to get Pedialyte electrolyte solution, good for replacing lost electrolytes due to vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling a little better now, but stomach muscles hurt from all that heaving.

I will have to wait another month to see the neurosurgeon now. ANd I will have to go back to my regular Dr to get more pain meds.

Well, I will go rest and stop grossing you out.

later.

[Packer]

Hey ya'll

Not much doing recently. It's been raining off and on for the past few days so I haven't been able to get anything done on the car. Lately I've been fixing up the cars I got at that trainshow. Unforunately I ran out of those wheelsets already, but I have most of the kadees still left. I'm thinking I should have boughten 2 more pacakges ($8 for a package of 24, branchline blueprints) of the things instead of the kadees since I can get the latter locally. Looks like I'm gonna have to order some more and some DW freight car ladders (I figure cutting an 8-rung one will net me 2 4-rungs)

Flip, I tried that with my car whenm my brake lights kept cutting out and it didn't work. Broomsticks were too short and a brick couldn't hold the brake pedal down.

Robby, sucks the body shop is taking their sweet time, good to see the insurance really is on you're side!

Teen Steam Fan (TSF for short?), Cats are always like "all your base are belonged to us." Lol, seriosly, maybe keeping a dog in your room or honk a horn (or whistle) at your cat will scare it off (like Barry did).

[Cederstrand]

Coffee refill, please.

***Jeffrey, I almost burned up my old Dodge Sportsman van when a the jackets on a couple wires under the floor board somehow wore out. Started smoking bad by the time I pulled over and figured out where it was coming from. Double check all that wiring! I'm impressed with everything you've been doing with that vehicle.

Accomplished 50% of my To Do list today. OK, so there were only 2 items on that list when I started.

Healing thoughts to those in need.

Rob

[fec153]

 

Vince- How about a gal. container of water? 8 lbs. will hold the pedal down.  I see we have the 27th of our month the same. This month I will be 888 months old. Ah. to be 21 again... lol

Because of my jobs hours, havent been in often. Now, on top of all the family troubles, I am not working. D O T exam told me I have a hernia. Shoot, I knew that a month ago They will not allow me back to work till it is repaired.[next week]. Also needed is a Nuclear stress test. Did that today. Not only do walls turn brown, but the floor gets covered to a foot deep.

Yeah, I feel sorry for myself. Why not? Its my problem. Then I read whats going on with so many others in our Brotherhood and kick myself. Prayers help but the lottery wouldnt hurt either. Wish I could help all here.

Blessings and Prayers for all  Fatherly love for everyone.

Flip

 

 

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Cederstrand

***Jeffrey, I almost burned up my old Dodge Sportsman van when a the jackets on a couple wires under the floor board somehow wore out. Started smoking bad by the time I pulled over and figured out where it was coming from. Double check all that wiring! I'm impressed with everything you've been doing with that vehicle.

I hear ya. I had a similar with a 75 Pacer X back in 83. A wire going to the taillights (factory installation) was chaffing on a sharp metal edge where two body panels joined together. The wire burned a bit before the fuse blew. The car had been modified in Germany to pull a fair sized camper trailer and a larger fuse had been put in to take the extra load. Problem was it was never taken out after the camper was sold off as it had never caused a problem, until the wire wore through that is. Fixing it was an easy case of taking the interior panels off on the drivers side and replacing the wire. It was fairly easy and straight forward. It went from the headlight switch up through the roof support over the door and rear side window and down to the taillight assembly. Fortunately it was a well built car and the wire wasn't touching anything flammable. I can't say that for many of the cars I see today where the wires go through plastic conduits.

 

After some testing with a multi-meter the headlight problem is definitely  due to burned out bulbs. I got readings of 12 volts on all the headlight sockets. A funny thing happened earlier when I started the engine. There was a bag of 8 taillight bulbs and some backup light bulbs sitting up on top of the radiator. The fan sucked the whole bagful down in a split second. There was a lone survivor. One of the taillight bulbs came through unscathed. That'll teach me to look next time.

[JimRCGMO]

Goooooood Evening, Chloe - I'll have a salmon steak with some broccoli, a nice garden salad, baked potato, some peaches and a nice glass of Finger Lakes wine (but not too much - don't want to run 'em out of it back in NY!). And later for dessert, I'll have a slice of that apple pie with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream on top and with that, a Santa Fe mug of decaf, please. Thanks!

Gee, that old soapbox is gonna get worn out, with all the travellin' back and forth from its corner lately... Guess I'd better keep my lips zipped so it doesn't get even more wear and tear, huh?

Robby, good to hear your insurance agent is ready to come to bat for you on the vehicle repairs. You might encourage your wife to keep you in the loop about where her pain levels are, in case you need to rapidly transport her to the doctor. I'm sure she would want to head that off and avoid a repeat trip to the doctor.

Rob, what kind of figures did you get in for your wife's layout? One of those gergantic-large assortments of unpainted? I am still w**king my way through a Preiser unpainted set I got that had been on sale in the Walthers flyer (from last year sometime, I think). They were kind of a white base color, so I'm having to build up by layers on the painting - flesh tones first, then shirts, pants, socks, shoes... Hey, that's neat about those carts - are those the Preiser ones? I might have the set with shoppers and about 3 carts. Maybe I should get some more carts to have them scattered around the parking lot. (Heh, heh...) Oh, good luck with your 'disappearing' today.

As for that wet liquid stuff, we had a bit of a thunderboomer come through today - made the power at w**k the office blink for a second or two. Our new crisis therapist got to hear the sound of all the doors in the building going 'slam, slam, slam, slam...' (They're held open by electromagnets in the wall, that hold a metal arm off the top of the back of the door, so power goes out, the weight of the door (and I guess the way the hinges are set up) pulls the door shut. We had a bit of that liquid 'sunshine' - it was pouring down for about 10 or 20 minutes. Then the bright yellow thing came back out to make sure the humidity didn't drop too much.

Garry, it looked on the radar like your area was getting some of the rougher parts of the front as it moved through this region (from northwest to southeast). Haven't you all in Kentucky been getting a bunch of r**n over the past month or so? Seems like it, anyway. Nice cat photos there, by the way - I'd guess that unclaimed one might have some Terrier or Chihuahua in it, with that pointy nose on him/her.

Joe, great to hear you finally got done - that is one LONNNNNGGGG school year you have there. What is it until things start back up for the fall - couple of weeks? Enjoy your birthday, and an early to you.

Todd, I guess Johnboy was just giving you something to shoot for (on the lawn height). Now, getting past that record if your wife notices the lawn, on the other hand, might be a bit of a challenge. 

So, Todd and Robby - do you want to go start a topic in the big forum about insurance companies and car repair places? Nah, better not...

Yeah, Barry, I'd heard the cats vs. dogs comment about like that (staff). How're your layout revisions coming along?

Sawyer, I got a chuckle out of your comment about that 'low' grade of 92. I would've loved getting that in high school (but then again, I was told back then - I think by a teacher or principal - that I was an 'underachiever' for whatever my standardized test scores *allegedly* told them. Yeah, motivation was my weak area back then.

Jeff, it's good to hear you're getting closer on the van being road-ready. Flip's idea sounded workable (to check the brake lights), but what do I know? Glad it looks like only the bulbs, even if Mr. Murphy chewed up those bulbs on you.

Galaxy, you're not grossing me out, but that kinda sucks about missing your doctor's appointment. I know that sometimes it is darn hard to get them rescheduled without going a month or two out (and the waiting feels like it's a lot longer than what it is). Will add you to the and candle list, definitely.

And Flip, sounds like I should add you to those lists also. Will it take you very long to set up the doctoring stuff for your hernia? I'm sure it will take much longer to pay it off, like a lot of medical things. (How DID that soapbox get under my feet?) Hope you have some sick leave/ETO you can use for some of the time that THEY want you to spend getting the doctoring tended to.

Ulrich, keep at it and smilin' there; you never can tell when something may open up that will be the start of the turnaround for you and Petra. Keep your eyes open for whatever possibilities may be out there, and keep thinking 'Go west, young man' (Okay, not very many of us are that young, but you know what I mean!

 As you can probably tell, the laptop got back today. However, they didn't have replacement keyboards, so when I got it, the 'e' and either the 'i' or 'o' keys didn't function. So after I got off around 3:40 this afternoon (busy day and no lunch, plus I was able to talk my supervisor into letting me leave early with our new crisis person covering the last hour), I got home and swapped the keyboard off my non-functioning (and not-yet-put-back-together) duplicate laptop. THAT keyboard w**ks, but I have to reseat the 'Esc' key (shouldn't be THAT bad to do, just a bit of a nuisance). Now, to get all my files transferred from the desktop over to the laptop again and get things set up so I can use them easily...

I'll finish up my apple pie a la mode and then it'll be time to head for home. But tomorrow is Friday (YAY!) - now if I could get payday to be tomorrow instead of Tuesday. Hmm, let me think on that one a bit...

[Edit]: Well, Chloe, looks like I have the night shift and early morning tab. Start the total, please. And when Ulrich (or our night owl Diners) comes in, tell him it's on me. 

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[ns3010]

 Evening all! Chloe, I'll take a RBF, thanks!

I'll pay for cake and RBFs for everyone tonight! And since it's late and I missed today, I'll cover tomorrow as well.

I have all my exam grades and final grades for everything but Theology (I'll list exam, then final):
Chem- 88, 92
Band- 96, 99
Theo- IDK, 95 (not including exam grade)
Gym- 100/A
English- 93 (Woohoo, I REALLY needed THAT...), 90
Algebra- 76 (I think she curved it, even though she said she didn't...), 90
History- 97, 98
Spanish- 94, 96

--------------------------------

Thanks, Ray!

Yeah, Sawyer, but you're gonna have to go back in August, so I got ya there (we have Junior orientation on Septemeber first, and school starts like the 7th I think (day after Labor Day).
And if you got a 92 in English, then your class must be way harder than ours. I worked my butt off all year and got a 90 (although THAT 40/80 on THAT Crucible test probably didn't help... ).

Thanks, Jim! I got a little less than 2 and a half months of summer, and since I'm down the shore all summer and don't see my friends that much, sometimes school isn't THAT bad.

Well, I gotta go, so I'll catch ya later! Prayers for all.

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Chloe I'll have a strawberry sundae and a cup of decaf if you please.  I'll go settle into the back booth for a while and just relax.

Been a busy day around here.  Got about half the lawn mowed which took 2 charges on the batteries as the lawn is very high and thick.  Haven't mowed in 2 weeks........  Bought the rest of the treated wood I need to build the deck and sides for the new trailer after I unloaded and put away all the sound equipment THAT I didn't end up using last night, did 2 loads of wash and hung them to dry, then actually did some stuff in the trainroom.  Got a bit more cork roadbed put down after checking my latest design out on the actual layout.  Hopefully I will get the lawn finished tomorrow and be able to start building the deck and sides for the trailer. 

Earlier tonight I checked out my son's Vacation photo album on line.  

Joe, those are some excellent grades!  Can't blame you for being proud of them.

Jeffrey, sounds like you are finally making some progress with the old van.

Barry........  Ah, never mind. 

Prayer for all in need!  Hope you have a good evening.

73

[TMarsh]

Strawberry rhubarb pie and a cup of decaf please. Oh, I best get out of the way of the bathroom in case......um.... well, you know, just in case.

I'm really pleased the youngsters among us do so well in school and use the term "worked my butt off". So many today don't take school seriously. I didn't and, like Jim, was an underachiever. I just couldn't see a use for much of what was being taught and certain subjects I just didn't think were worth the time. Now that I'm all growed up, I see I was wrong. No not all the subjects I took were really necessary, and I have my own objections with the way History is taught, for which I will be glad to explain my views (yaaaaawn) but not now. It's late and I'm tired. Anyway, just wanted to say great job guys and stick with it. You may never know what you'll use.

Flip- Are you going in for surgery? You're also in the prayers regardless.

Prayers for those in need.    

[blownout cylinder]

Flip: Hope all goes well with you---we'll continue to pray---

Ray: why so glum my friend?----

Todd: I was in the same boat--just could not see the value in taking history or english even--now I think that I was dumb for thinking that way---Great work there Sawyer and Joe-----

I'm having fun with some of the revisions--my track planning takes place on paper and pencil---seems I work better that way----

Welp---I best be heading off to get some Y'all have a good nite----

[Cederstrand]

Some raw mixed nuts w/ raisons, please. 

***Jim, there is NO WAY I could paint HO figures, even with a magnifier. Eye floaters would drive me crazy. Might manage touching up a few, but that's it. You enjoy yourself with those Preisers. Bet you're doing a superb job on them. She got the following carts, along with 2 different sets of women hanging laundry, a CSI group, medics with stretcher, and a couple trees (which after seeing them, wants me to fix them):

 

Tonight I put together one of 4 old circus car kits for the wife's circus train. It is a Travis Bros. Flying Trapeze Act car. The replacement couplers lined up perfect with wife's Bachmann 2-8-0 which is her designated circus loco. Should finish Bubble's shed tomorrow and if up to it, will tackle another circus car. If it wasn't for that lighted magnifier, I couldn't put any kits together.

Have a good night y'all.

Rob

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Well I checked out the brake lights. The circuit is DOA. I suspect the problem is a bad brake light switch. There's a new one in the glove box so I'll try installing it and see what happens. It's gonna be a tight squeeze as there isn't much room under the dash and at 242 pounds I'm a pretty good sized guy.

[Robby P.]

 Good morning.   Its going to be a warm one.  The high will be about 85 degrees.

 Well we went and checked on the car yesterday, and its finally painted.   The body shop manager is VERY worried that we are not happy, and Allstate not being happy.   The gave us a brand new rental car, and told the car will be ready next week.  The suspension problem was a lower control arm.   The also want to make sure the "review" is good.    We won't "low ball" them but we will be VERY honest.

 Today is another day at work.  So no MRR for me.  Hopefully this weekend I can get the two boxcars weathered.  

 Hope everybody has a good day.

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,

Jeff, wow, sounds like that van is going to be something with all the work you have put into it.  I can’t wait to see the finished project.

Not much going on here today 85F+ and high humidity by this afternoon, Saturday night and most of next week we are going to get hit with some storms.  I have a bunch of older steam locomotives to remoter and repair this weekend. Lee

 

[blownout cylinder]

Hello---

We getting sunshine and mild temperatures again today--27C and not too much stickiness as what Lee's getting---yet----tomorrow is when we'll be sticky and hot---32C with t'underin'boomers in the morning--yay

I'm not going to be doing much MRR'ing this weekend---we be getting all kinds of stuff brought in to the house and me getting photos done and going out with friend doing this---heeheehee

For now I'll have my coffee and a danish please---I'll be at the RC for now

[Anonymous]

 Good Afternoon,

the weather is fairly mixed - a little sunshine, followed by a spell of rain. Just like I am feeling right now, after having received that letter about my job application.

Public life has come to a halt, due to the soccer world championship. Currently, Germany is playing Serbia, with Serbia leading 1:0  Seems, as if there are some open bills to be paid in that match - open since 1914

A friend of mine has invited me to go and visit Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg with him next week - that´s going to be one of the year´s highlights for me.

You all have a good day!

[TMarsh]

Morning. Biscuits and Gravy please. Coffee too thanks.

Suppose to get more rain today. I hope not.

Rob- I'm with you there Bud, the lighted magnifying glass on a arm thing is the only way to fly. Love it.

Jeff- Gee, it sounds like a treasure hunt inside the van. Every space has a spare part or two. Or maybe not a spare part.....

Barry- My approach to history would be, up through High School, exact dates and such would not be testable. Example, Knowing about the Boston Tea Party the reasoning and the reaction, or Lewis and Clark and their expeditions are important events in our history. Or knowing what the articles of the U.S. Constitution are. All important things to know about. But the exact dates things happened? Nnnnnot so sure. Ask many if not most kids what is history and they will respond much as I did. Just a bunch of dates. Sorta like reading Numbers and Deuteronomy. Leave most dates out except for the obvious , July 4^th 1776, March 2, 1836, and June 15^th 1937, and teach the meaning and how it affects and it just might be more interesting than the test pretty much consisting of questions involving exact dates something happened or when an amendment to the Constitution was ratified. Leave them in the books of course and in the discussions, but to make someone fail or score low on a test because they didn't know the exact date Pocahontas pooped for the first time west of the Rockies, is silly. Or what is more important, everyone should know about the rights pertaining to search and seizure, but, is it all that important to know it is was ratified on the 25^th of Feb 1967 and not 1956? Or ‘68? To a lawyer or a teacher, yes, but to you and me? Not so much so. My point is, you can teach a child what they need to know and make it much less mind numbing by leaving those dates out of testable material and make sure they know the material and the reasons, it would be much more interesting. Let's save that super specific stuff for the advanced classes, the college classes for those who want to either major or delve deeper into history. Many teachers may disagree, but from where I sit, the majority of kids, react to History in the same way, even if they do well, "it's just a bunch of dates. Pretty boring." Not many kids look beyond that. It just makes it harder for those who aren't as good a student and throws a tremendous obstacle in the way. They can tell you all about the movie Frankenstein they watched or the story they read or even heard, but ask them when it was written, or the dates it supposedly took place. This is not a rant, or even a cry for reform, just my thoughts on the subject.

Gee, that was long. I sure wish I could get back to the train room so I would have choo choo stuff to talk about. Even if it is failures. I need to pick up a couple random stone tunnel portals. There MRR stuff.

Robby- Glad you're not going to tank the review. Honest yes. But so many get a bad taste in their mouth they do ignore the good things, if any, a shop does. That is why I usually don't hold much regard for reviews. Very few people will submit a review if it is a good product, but let it break and they flock to the internet to post bad reviews, so it appears to be a piece of junk when in reality it is actually pretty good. Or funier yet are the ones where they obviously bought something not suited for what they needed, but slam the product for it's inability to get the job done.

(the following satirical example is recited using a slightly puckerd mouth and a funny sounding tone of voice)

" A piece of junk. I bought this little 2-cycle motorized snowblower because they advertised it as being lightweight and rugged. I'm getting older now so I figured it'd be a good thing and still some excersize, but being easier for the wife instead of shoveling. Shel retired last year and I though this would be a nice retirement gift. It is lightweight but after using it just 4 times on my 1/4 mile gravel lane it quit. First the plow board broke, plastic. It is severely under powered, the auger would constantly clog up with a wet show. AND it requires a special mix of oil and gasoline, so that requires a separate gas can just for this POC. Now it's broke and sitting in the garage. Isn't even heavy enough to make a decent anchor. Do not buy.  (no stars)."  

Have a Great Day!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

Jeff, wow, sounds like that van is going to be something with all the work you have put into it.  I can’t wait to see the finished project.

Well there's really not much inside to look at. There's no heat or AC, no stereo and the climate control panel is completely gone. No blower/defroster. The windshield defroster is an electric rig that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. I bought the van to serve as basic transportation and that's precisely what it will be. Basic, no frills. I'll eventually put in an AM/FM/Cassette stereo and a couple of 6x9 speakers, nothing fancy. The object now is to get it up to the point that it will pass inspection which in this area doesn't take much. Good tires, headlights, brake lights, tail lights, turn signals, warning flashers, horn, wipers and serviceable exhaust system with minimal noise limits. In other words the noise can loosen dental fillings 2 blocks away as long as there's no leaks. No catalytic converters to worry about as the vehicle has never had any in the first place. Being that it's a 3/4 ton it's exempt.

 

 

TMarsh

Jeff- Gee, it sounds like a treasure hunt inside the van. Every space has a spare part or two. Or maybe not a spare part.....

It was a rebuilding project in progress when I picked it up. It would run and that was about it. I've put a load of work into it and it's almost ready to hit the road. Not a bad deal for $400 considering it came with most of the parts I needed and had $600 worth of brand new tires on it, new brake system, suspension system completely rebuilt, brand new carburetor, new distributor and a newly rebuilt transmission.

[TMarsh]

No Jeff, $400 is not a bad deal at all. Around here it would be more than $400 even if it didn't run and no parts. Add in the parts, even if you do have to supply the labor, and you got a great deal.

[Blazzin]

  "Good morning Coffee please"

   Jeff your knowledge and work of automobile's amazes me.    Considering all in all.. especially those new tires.. I'd say you made out pretty darn good.

  Now as for me .. and my Aerostar,  slightly under $400 to replace the alternator and most places said right off,  its kind of hard to get to and alternator is the expensive part of the bill.  Labor is $60 a hour.

 Now as far as my layout goes... I'm moving slowly.  I am at the point where I'll actually might be laying down track..

AFTER I finished (start) weathering the train yard track,  I'd like to be able to solder the power / wires now, but the exact location of the train yard in relation to the diorama is not set in place.  So I am going slow, as Todd said.. so long ago.  lol. 

  We're going camping this coming sunday or monday.  I really don't care to know all of the details.  I did remind Jeanne of last year's camping expedition.  Last year she came to me.. and said  "I've got a camping ground site reserved for us at your favorite beach"  When she told me that I was quite surprised last year.  Imagine getting a site so late in the season, hmm usually we have to start looking at Jan 1st at the stroke of midnight.

  Well there was a reason why that particular camp site was open.  It was away from the beach, away from everything and next to the ATT SF railroad running right next to us.  Not to make matters worse.. the tracks came straight at us (well almost) and then turned away from us.

  Now being I grew up next to a trainyard,  I figured.. what the heck.. shouldn't bother me hearing the Super Chief going by, it might be kind of nice.   Well~  that night a fast moving freight train went through and moving fast and loud.  I have seen and heard fast freight moving before but not like this.  Running full speed and with brakes on some of the cars.  I would have guessed there were 3 engines pulling this load. The sound of fast moving diesels pulling a load was a bit much.  I don't even know why the brakes were on some of the cars but just imagine hearing the horn of a couple of diesels coming at you getting louder and louder,  plus the sounds of the squealling brakes sounding off. 

  I said to Jeanne,  (in so many words)  "Wow that train is getting louder and louder"  "Its not even here yet, and the noise~and the ground is shaking!"   I mean this, all of you would have been scared.  I said to Jeanne after it passed  "Good thing that train was going the other way.. I'd hate to be here if it came the other way"   "He must have had only so much time to get through and keep the main line open"

  So we go back to sleep, well sure enough  that same train comes back the other way.  And Jeanne says to me as we in the tent.. "Its coming back the other way!" 

  "Ah it couldn't be worse than before~"  I replied.

  Well it was,  seems he was going faster and louder.  This time coming almost straight at us before he makes the turn.  Now I know some people would like to think,  I'm spinning a good 'yarn' here.. but I'm telling you truth.  The sounds and rumbling we more than you could imagine.  Jeanne and I are just waiting for this to come.  You could hear it coming.. louder and louder. 

  Jeanne says to me, "Now this isn't going to derail and come straight at us!"  "IS IT?j"  ... as these Diesel engines blow past us.  I replied "It probably just keep making the same sounds as it comes straight at us"

  The sound was more than you could imagine,  and the brakes were on again making a terrible noise running at full speed.  I stuck my head outside the tent as it blew by,  and it seemed the flatcars were the ones with the brakes on,  maybe to stablized the whole load... I dunno, but that was one frightful event. 

  Jeanne swears to me this time we have a site right on the cliffs overlooking the ocean.

  I'll be back later to document the size of my son's Hound Dawg.  I can't believe the size of this pup .. whew!

   Keith