Elliot´s Trackside Diner August 2010

[SilverSpike]

Aftanoon folks!

Robby, that is some great work on those box cars!  You keep getting better every time see your work!

Garry, those storms ran through here too, sorry about your friend's dock! Glad your electricity is back on again!

Hey Bob, let me know how the rub works, I see it arrived on Wednesday! Thanks again! 

Here is what we had for lunch today: Oven Fried Catfish

You all have a great weekend!

 

 

 

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Today, August 13th is my I am Alive Day" ! ... It was 2 years ago when my heart stopped and was re-started 6 times. I had my helecopter filght to Vanderbilt Hospital. Doing fine, now! That way I can bother all teh diners, still.

 Below is the remains of my friend's (Guses's) boat dock. Yesterday's storm destroying it.

[Cederstrand]

A strong Italian roast coffee in a Burlington Northern mug, please.

Lots more neat pics posted in the Diner. Keep it up guys!

***Ken, quite a shop (and cool cars) you have/had there. Sweet!

Have a good day y'all.

Cheers! Rob

 

[Robby P.]

 Just a quick stop.

 I've posted this car in the WPF, but I will post it here as well.

[galaxy]

Afternoon guys,

I have been avioding the computer room as we have had much needed rain, but taht means the window can't be open and the scent of the mouse is still too strong for my sensitive nose and weak stomach. I can smell it everytime my other half opens the door and who has a far less sensitive nose and very much stronger stomach than I. It is slowly getting better and the next day and a half should be opren window as its not supposed to rain, but that followed by 2-3 days of more rain and closed window. Darn. I try to eat at least once a day to be sure I am at least eating somehting, though. Even with zero appetite and gastritis to boot.

SO, I have some catching up to do. I skim read and see lots of well wishes from several over the health issues. Thank you. I took the Cardiologists humor as was meant, I think it's a good joke. It is nice to know I'm thought of as much as I think of others when we lite the prayer candles for those who need special thoughts and prayers.

I won't comment on other things as the diner has grown, what, 5 pages since I was last here?

SO, thoughts and prayers for those who need them. The prayer candle will be lit tonight for awhile!

THe pics I saw were great pics.

I Do believe I will have a double bacon cheesburger, that actually sounds good for a change...maybe I will go get one at A&W!   SHHHHHHHHHH! don't tell teh waitress here I said that! I don;t want to get kicked out!

HAve a great day guys.

[fireman216]

 Afternoon everyone...just a coffee extra regular for me. Going to go get my freak on tonight. Taking the wife and daughter to Darien Lake theme park and resort for the weekend and seeing KISS in concert tonight. You either love em or hate em but the band was a huge part of my growing up in the late 70's and 80's. This will be my 3rd time seeing them and my wife and daughters 1st time. They are hooked on them due to them watching all the Gene Simmons Family Jewels shows and A&E. They are in for a true rock and roll show like nothing they have ever seen!! They are even going to wear the face makeup!! Best get a move on..still have to ice the cooler and top off the tank. Have a good day!!!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

 Good morning ....

Storms here yesterday afternoon did extensive damage. Power was out from mid afternoon until after midnight. ... My mrr friend, Gus, had his boat dock destroyed. Winds lifted it out of the water and truned upside down in his yard. It is a pile of scrap metal. The boat is mostly OK, and he retrieved from a neighbors dock where winds had blown it.  

LSWrr

The trip to CN was interesting Johnboy, we watched how they scheduled, moved, and tracked trains from the US border in Minnesota (Rainer, MN) to Chicago.  CN is running their freight trains as passenger trains use to be moved, on timetables. Instead of paper, everything is electronic of course. We also got a brief period of instruction on how they break up the power units in the train and who decides what locomotives are going on what train. If you ever wondered; a typical coal train for them hauls 19,000 tons of coal.

Lee ....... CN in the US has changed much since I was with them in MI. The US subsidiaries were then in Grand Trunk Corporation". It included GTW, DWP, and CV. One of my assignments was to write sections of GTW's application to the ICC for acquiring DT&I and D&TSL. (For D&TSL it was actually to acquire the half interest of N&W. GTW alread owned half of D&TSL.) . Acquiring the DT&I gave CN/GTW connections with SOU and L&N in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, for CN/GTW, the two southern roads merged into Norfolk Southern and CSX. Traffic volumes, therfore, never attaind GTW's forecasts on the line to Cincinnati. Eventually, DT&I lines in Ohio were taken over by a shortline from CN..

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Good morning. It's 80 and partly cloudy. The high will be 98 with a heat index of 107. There's a 30% chance of rain.

I had a stormy session at the planning table last night as I worked over some proposed changes to my layout. The inside loop, the park, the passing siding and the surrounding scenery will soon be no more. The layout as it stands at this moment has two access holes in the largest area. Until recently these access holes were easy to reach but owing to complications brought on by my medical problems these holes are now much harder to reach. Therefore much of the center of the layout will be removed. The track plan as it is now looks pretty much like this:



With the proposed changes it will look more like this:



The loop on the right will have an access hole but it will be easier to get to.

[Blazzin]

  Ken,  quote: " She wants me to use wood putty to fill in the sub floor damage. Because? Her girl friends said it would work"

  Maybe they are right,  this is what I found. 

"What are you guys using for exterior filler on nail holes?   I've been
trying to use the DryDex stuff, but if I don't get to priming the holes in a
suitable timeframe, the spackle seems to melts when it rains.  Thanks".

answers:

Durham's Water putty works for me. Has to be mixed like plaster, but
not affected by rain. A setting type drywall compound would probably
work pretty well.

Crawford's painter's putty. Easy to use, lasts forever, comes in a can,
dries hard and sticks well, and is all-natural to boot. Available at
better building supply places everywhere.

  Ken Make her happy, its important.  "Honey, your friends are right, thank you so much,  what would I ever do without you~" .. lol.  WOOT!

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Mornin' Bill!

Zoe I'll have a blueberry muffin and a cup of dark roast coffee in a FGLK Mug to get me going this morning.  I'll be over at the Rivet Counter for a bit.

Chris, Got another email from the "Boss" at the Ambulance company.  Below is waht he had to say this morning:

"Thank you for updating information regarding this incident.  Based upon that I have been able to pinpoint the crew and driver responsible.  I’ve referred the matter to our safety officer and driver trainer who will follow up.  We have a policy which forbids stopping on RR tracks or crossing with RR lights flashing/gates down, coinciding with current law.  The crew will be re-trained and a disciplinary note will be made in their file.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

Case closed I guess.....

I have to get the Yaris up to Canandaigua this afternoon for its 15,000 mile service.  Yep 2 years and 5 months and only 15,000 miles.  Guess I don't drive THAT much these days.  Most of it was between my house and the museum and back I think.

I haven't heard any news about my BIL, so I guess he is still hanging in there.  What he has is Myelofibrosis, a cancer of the bone marrow.  My wife died of ALL (Leukemia), and their Mother died of Bone Cancer.  All 3 can be linked to exposure to Benzine.  My FIL for many years recovered old wood and cloth airplanes in the basement of their home.  They were sealed and stiffened with a product called "Dope".....  Pure Benzine.  I figure the cigars my FIL smoked must have protected him as he died a while back at 95 years of age.

Bets get moving!

Later!

73

[Blazzin]

   "Coffee with cream please"

  Ken,  no no,  my pleasure.Thank you~  Wow, I really loved looking at those babies. Ken out here $1800 bucks to have the engine compartment brand spanking new like some of those pics.   I'll probably go back and re-read your post, with a double take of the cars.  Wow, I'd be happy with just a 383.  I must admit, the one car I want to have on my layout that I don't have is the Barracuda.  Truly a primo car.  I love the 60's back then.  When that time came in the Sunday paper of the "Next Years new cars" I'd sit for a long time, and just read about the new ones  coming out.  The one reason why I haven't bought an N scale Cuda, is because I wanted to get the colors just perfect.  I suppose I should have looked up the colors.. but the ones available just didnt' seem perfect.  No wait.. I did buy one.. inspite of the colors.. or was that a Roadrunner orange...now I truly can't remember~ .. lol.  I have a nice collection of the 60's Muscle cars.  If there is one interests I truly have/love in model railroading .. well its the cars.  I lived by the Ford Motor plant,  and I'd see tons of cars all loaded up.. ready for shipment.  I'm very proud of this one~

   Buying cars for the layout has been my kind of fun.

  Chris,  I hope you don't need some 'Hip boots' for the rain.  And .. you're probably right about the sharks.  Last summer Jeanne's nephew wanted to learn how to surf, so I taught him.  The first day he made some comment about no one will really know he's a beginner out there.  I said... "They'll know, the sharks will know"  He ask how?  I said "Because you won't even be able to sit on the board with balance"  He didn't believe me, well sure enough.. he kept falling off.. I told to laydown or I'm going elsewhere.. away from him.. cuz he's going to attract something with all this splashing.  We had only one shark attack I believe was last year. Some Tri-Atheletes thought they should swim way out there.. and began to race.  Well sure enough.. it happened.  I stay closer to shore.. and surf in a more public area.

  Steven,  Jeanne my wife got a little chuckle out of your comment. 

  Johnnyboy I thank you,  most of my information I have on modeling has been right here from the forums... and the dumber questions I ask here at the Diner.

  Barry,  I love country music... then again.. all kinds of music.  And my pittbull loves music too and will start a dance if I start to sing.  Comes from out of some part of the house if I start singing.

  Everyone enjoy today,  its Friday!

Keith

[TMarsh]

Good Morning. Well looks like one more day after today for the heat. Today Mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 96. Heat index values as high as 109. Tomorrow cooler with a high heat of only 106, then the temps plunge into the mid 80's starting Sunday. Looks like a cool week for the ILLINOIS STATE FAIR!!!! (roly eyed look of whoopdee doishness)

I was, and so far still am, extremely happy with a little teensey bit of info I gleaned from this, or is it next, months issue of MR. Guess what it is? No guess. OK I'll tell you. Pelle Soeborg's recipe for concrete. Yup, the color of the portal in his diorama is the color I'm looking for. Thank you sir!

Chris- I'm with you on the anti- cold weather. I can deal with the heat, but not the cold.

KEITH! !!!- Dog gone it, now it's twice in a row you've got me on Youtube and I can't get off it!!

Ken- (More drool.) 426 wedge is cool. Actually on the street, sheer jawslack aside, rather have a wedge than a hemi anyway. 440'sp, 426W's could take a hemi on the street just do to the weight alone. The 440, even the 383 with just a little tuning could hold it's own against the mighty elephant on the street or any of them for that matter. Juuuust wouldn't wanna go too far or place a whole bunch of money on it unless it was a 440 six pack. Then actually it's a roll of the dice. Niiice pics by the way. I'll have to dig out a pic of mine after the first fix up. Reason she's sitting is I decided to do a redo of the car, then I found Brenda, then I fell in love, then life and kids and..... Well the car's still in the garage. Waiting patiently. I will spare you the pain of seeing me in the eighties though!!

Sawyer- Lotsa good cars out there. Or used to be. Every manufacture had their engine of envy, but none could or can, replicate the sheer potential of the Hemi. Notice I didn't say one from the factory was better or faster or stronger than another. That is a debate that will go down in history as the most contested thing ever. Potential.  Too many factors involved in which was faster/quicker. But the potential for making big horsepower is in the hands of the Hemi hands down undisputed if you have the cash. Top fuel don't run many wedge type engines for a reason.

You know, with all those trips to Tiger Direct, Barry just MAY be building his own defib....

Was gonna say something else, but thank goodness I forgot what it was.

Best get going. Just might use the AC in the truck today. Nah, why break the streak.

Have a Great Day!!!

[AmanaMedic]

Robby P.

.You have any major flooding going on?

 

Thanks for asking! But, nope...high and "dry" (raining currently) here. Ames is what got hit the hardest this time, far and away above what they got in '93. But, THAT said, parts of Ames are flooding for the FIFTH time, like their prized Hilton Colleseum, one of the premiere entertainment venues in the state. Colfax (small town east of Des Moines along I-80) also got hit pretty hard. 

Part of why we settled in Clarence: no creeks, no rivers, no lakes, no streams to flood. House even sits atop a slight hill. THAT said, I do get water in my basement...it oozes through the 100+ year old limestone walls due in large part to a profound lack of gutters on the house. Yup...they're on the list.

Due to flooding and a wash-out on the BNSF across southern Iowa, AMTRAK is again detouring over the UPRR, and due to the Colfax flooding, the Iowa Interstate (IAIS) is running on UP from Council Bluffs to Fairfax (just west of Beverly/Cedar Rapids). At Fairfax, UP has a connection with the CRANDIC for ADM-bound coal and grain trains. IAIS is using the CRANDIC to get back to home rails (Amana).

Mornin' BILL, LEE...looks like KEITH needs a little "zipity" for his "doo dah."

STEVEN: Hope my blathering yesterday helps you at least a little...

 

Welp, time to grab a "to-go" bucket of coffee and get ready to face THAT Editor for her weekly "face time."

A good, SAFE day to all!

Chris

[cudaken]

  Morning folks, Flo big glass of the Dew please. Could not sleep last night and was up till 2:00 AM, yet still woke up at 6:30 AM. 4 hours of sleep, it going to me a rough day, today. 

  Todd  Miss Lumpy (68 Road Runner) does not have a Hemi, she has a 63 426 Maxie Wedge. I still have her original 383 sitting under the train bench. Original 727 and rear end are long gone. I got her from Mon and Dad when I was 17, they bought her when I was 12. Ready for a good laugh?

 Yep that is me in front of Miss Lumpy. You know you have a big cam when you can still hear it hitting at 30 MPH. The Daytona I drove last week was the 3rd one I have driven. Other 2 I helped build. Green one picture was taken in my shop, but I did most of the work here at the house. 

 White is one owned by Steve, was taken at my house. The skinny guy with the beer in his hand is John. We meet on a Mopar site, he flew over from England to meet me and go to Monster Mopar Weekend.

 

 My old shop, Miss Lumpy and the red 69 Charger with the primer hood is mine.

 Here is what I was up to on the 68 on the right with no front wheels. It is Dave's Charger, he gave Miss Lumpy her nick name.

 So why is your Runner sitting? If the motor was sound when parked, I can walk you through getting her started. Another friend had a AAR Cuda sitting in a lean to (is that spelled right) for 10 years on his farm. When asked why it was sitting he said the motor had to be bad by now from sitting. It took a week, but we got the 340 fired up, smoked for about 15 minutes and after that ran great.

 Train Front  Simon 1966 and his two son dropped by Wednesday night and we had a blast. Boys ran the trains for 3 hours while Simon and I shot the breeze. I really enjoy watching kids having fun with my trains. Simon and I dug out a few more projects and he helped me with some parts numbers for missing parts. Found all most all the parts for the Athearn Dash 9 RTR. Will see if the NCE decoder makes it run like RTR SD 50. Both where parked because I did not like how they ran with Digitrax DH 123 and 163. All so found a Proto 2000 SW 8 switcher. Have it apart and is going to be a little bit of a challenge even with a N scale decoder.

 Floor Wars  Wife and I are still having at it. She wants me to use wood putty to fill in the sub floor damage. Because? Her girl friends said it would work. When I asked how thick can I apply it, I don't know was the answer. How long does it take to dry, did not know that either. Now before you think I am being to hard on her, I have been asking her to get the details from her girl friends for 2 days now. But all she reports back to me is Susan and Linda says it will work?  Now if Bob Villa said it would work, I would give it a try. Remember, I need something that will dry fast, not in 6 to 8 hours. Through the kitchen is the only way to let the dog's out.

 Thanks for letting me bend your ears, so to speak.

                     Ken 

  

[Robby P.]

 Good morning. 

 Well I guess I'm off to the basement this morning.  I will try to get some stuff done on the cars.  I also have the clean the house later.  Its getting kinda dusty.

 Chris.......You have any major flooding going on?  I was watching the morning news, and they were saying how bad Iowa has been getting with the flooding.   

 Well I will pop back in later, and I will see some of you guys in the WPF (when it gets posted).

[Wisconsin Railfan]

 Good Morning Folks!

Big ol' plate of bacon, and some pancakes please.

Happy Friday, It's going to be in the low 90's here with high humidity.  I was advised that my loco has been shipped, can't wait for it to get here.

Steven

[LSWrr]

Good morning all,


It was 87F with 75% humidity the past 2 days here, rain all weekend is in the forecast in the upper 90’s. good thing my railroad community in the basement is always 70F and sunny, lol.


The trip to CN was interesting Johnboy, we watched how they scheduled, moved, and tracked trains from the US border in Minnesota (Rainer, MN) to Chicago.  CN is running their freight trains as passenger trains use to be moved, on timetables. Instead of paper, everything is electronic of course. We also got a brief period of instruction on how they break up the power units in the train and who decides what locomotives are going on what train. If you ever wondered; a typical coal train for them hauls 19,000 tons of coal.


Allegheny, I used the Walther’s brick street system and those drains and manhole covers are going to be a project.  I recommend experimenting with a spare section before you start. I found it best to use a caulk type silicone adhesive to secure it to the layout and glue the sections together with plastic model cement.  Those curbs are 2 parts (sidewalk and curb) and I highly recommend alternating the sidewalk/curb/street joints! The fire hydrants that come in the pack are cool.


Ok I gotta get back to work…..

 

[wetidlerjr]

[Blazzin]

  "Good morning all of you~" 

  I"ll still be in bed while you all wake up.  I am tired,  very.  But I'll leave you all with one country song and some morning reading.  I love to search the forums here.

Don't click if you don't like country... lol~  (actually, this guy is from Dire Straits)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHJWsgGx4g

City Planning.  Yep.. thats where I am in the sceme of things.

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/157021/1732110.aspx#1732110   Second entry,  has a whole check list.

  Any of you peeps out there want to contribute to a daily reading ?  It would seem,  I do alot of reading here concering trains.  More than when I was in college and when I took my national exams back then, I was the top 1 percentile, nation wide.

  Good night for me.. good morning to you~

Keith

 

[AmanaMedic]

 Gooooooooooooooooooooooood Evening, pulled pork sandwich sounds really good right about now, with some IOWA sweet corn and a large glass of lemonade... yup, at the RC.

I thought BARRY was gonna make his own defiberalationator too!  Amazing things. When you stop to consider THAT the first portable units weighed over 60 pounds and were tied to an electrical socket in the emergency room... the fact they can make one small enough to place in a man's chest...simply amazing.

RAY: Kudos to you for calling in THAT Emergency Medical TWIT who parked on the crossing!  You nailed it, emergency vehicle drivers, just by driving the big white taxi, or the big red truck are automatically held to a higher standard. The law sure holds us to one... Plus, it reflects poorly on the organization as well as ALL who wear the uniform when somebody does something stupid like THAT. It should be pretty easy for them to figure out who was driving. I doubt anybody will lose their job, but they should find it difficult to sit with a good portion of their butt missing... Apathy kills. Maybe a little wake-up call will prevent a tragedy down the road.

 

Just back from an enjoyable evening with the 78th East Iowa Cadet Squadron, Civil Air Patrol. I've met some fine young people in a variety of occupational settings, but this group..."top notch" doesn't cover it. They're beyond THAT! It was an absolute honor to be among them, and also humbling. When you have a 16 year old, in PRESSED BDU's standing at parade rest while answering your questions, and calling you "Sir,"...quite humbling indeed! The first time a cadet did so, I said "aw, you don't have to call me sir, I'm a civilian and I work for a living." An adult CAP member said "yes, he does have to" and politely explained why... they are taught to show respect for civilians, and calling them sir or ma'am is part of it as they live the Air Force values and practice Air Force military customs and courtisies. 

Now I have to come up with a title for the eventual article...

Speaking of articles, the big one is DONE, 'cept for writing the photo captions. I still have to hammer-out a short piece on the grand opening of the Heritage Christian School in North Liberty. Should be easy...only 500-600 words necessary, if even THAT many. Got facetime in the morning, so had best get to it.

Chris

 

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Flo just my usual cup of decaf if you please.  I'll go sit with Barry as he seems to be the only one here tonight.

So Canada is too hot for you, eh?   Been fairly cool here in the Finger Lakes today.  The high got all the way up to 73°F with a bit of drizzle from time to time and clouds the rest of the day.  It was actually higher way up in Moosonee.  They were 76° this afternoon.  Sure hope the hot stuff isn't being sent over to me....

blownout cylinder

I got told we are now going to see a specialist who will talk to me about the Defibrillator implant and we will work out a time to get it done. I also went to Tiger Direct and got the parts I need for my own computer

 

Whew, I had to read THAT twice!  For a second I thought you were going to make your own Defriberalatoree type thingy.....  So what new parts did you get for the puter?????  

Chris, I blew in the Ambulance to the head office.  Got an email back telling me they take those things very seriously and the driver was violating both their own policy and NYS Law.  They wanted to know exactly when saw the ambulance stopped on the tracks and the location, and they will do an internal investigation.  I made it very clear THAT I feel the drivers of emergency vehicles should model the best in driving at all times.  My fear is some young thing with 2 or 3 kids in her car will figure THAT if the ambulance can stop on the tracks, it must be OK for her to do it as well............  Also let them know I am a councilor for Railroading MB for Scouts and much of the Merit Badge today involves safety around the RR ROW.  It will be interesting to see what transpires........

Just finished making one of my famous Potato Salads to take with me to the NMRA picnic on Saturday. We provide the BBQ Grill (actually the museum is doing THAT for us) and everyone brings their own meat to cook and whatever else they want for the meal.  We will have the Curator of the Museum give us a historical talk about the Museum and how it came to be.  Then we get to spend the rest of the day in the museum with its 104" by 14" HO model railroad.  The guy going to the event with me is into G scale, and one of the NMRA members who volunteers at the museum has some "Large Scale  " (aka: Gauge 1) on display there.  He is also involved with Live Steam.  Looks like it will be a good day weather wise so I am looking forward to having a great day at the Medina Museum on Saturday.

Hope you all have a great evening!

73

[Cederstrand]

A bowl of chili, please.

LOTS of great pics posted lately.

Put out hay and finally glued Tinytoons shoes back on today. (***Ray, I'll have to measure her) Not much going on here. Haven't made it into the train room lately.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Rob

[CNCharlie]

Good Evening Diners!

Our heat wave is supposed to end on Saturday so we can expect highs of about 70F.  I'll try to get some of it sent south, maybe as far as Iowa but I don't know about Missouri (sorry Jim). 

Barry, if it makes you feel any better I'm going in for the roto-rooter job on the 23rd. It is just for a screening but I'm not looking forward to it. I haven't been into a hospital for 40 years and hopefully this won't really break that trend. The only drug I take is Lipitor and that was more of just a precaution. Believe me I am very thankful when I read the problems some of you have.

Well, I think I'll read the latest Classic Trains for a bit before I head off to the Land of Nod. I picked it up in Thief River Falls last weekend and the local KMart of all places. It cost $6.95 compared to $8.95 up here. That is a sore point with many Canadians as on just an exchange basis it should be at most $7.50.

CN Charlie

[blownout cylinder]

Good Evening

We got up to 93F with the heat index of 108F today. nice and sticky for another sticky week.

I got told we are now going to see a specialist who will talk to me about the Defibrillator implant and we will work out a time to get it done. I also went to Tiger Direct and got the parts I need for my own computer--so there harrruuuuuuummpph.......

Anyhow, I'll have a pulled pork sammich with a diet Dr Peppers please---I'll be at the window booth for a bit--

[teen steam fan]

Hey guys, whats up? I just got out of the pool, about 100 degrees, minus the blooming heat index. Was outside all morning cutting grass. A large Cuban sammich sounds really good right now. Thanks. Nothing new from the model layout hopefully the bipolar cat has left it in one piece.

[Wisconsin Railfan]

 Good Evening Folks!

I am craving a pulled pork sandwich and a cherry Dr. Pepper please.

 

Thank you Chris for all the insightful information, sounds like I am in for a fun project.  I am in the process of my first diorama, that is almost finished, so I needed another education project.  I purchased this loco for the dio, so if it's not 100% that's OK, these are just "live n' learn" projects, and for practicing my techniques for my future layout.

Steven 

[AmanaMedic]

 STEVEN: Trad. yellow. And it looks like Uncle Irv's bunch put the nose herald up too high... Confirmed, I just looked at one I did, re-did, and will re-re-do eventually. I ended up repainting the nose after I put the bell on. For the bell, take a visit to Walthers, and look at Detail Associates or Details West. One makes 'em in white metal, the other in plastic. Your choice, I've used both with no preference. I think it boiled down to whichever one was cheaper at the time.

You might also look at 

http://www.dufordmodelworks.com/

He does a lot of CNW locomotives, has some handy tips for matching factory paint. He clued me in on where to find the best looking strobe beacon to put on the cab roof: Precision Scale 39137 "strobe beacon." A little Tamiya "clear orange" paint, and it looks GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD.

With all THAT said, I'll not "call you out" or issue any citations if it ain't 100% detailed, etc. Some others (NOT in the Diner crowd) would... I don't "roll THAT way." 

 

"EMERGENCY! O'clock" has arrived, time to see which Season One episode RTV is showin' today. Might be right back on tape review as I finally found one of the "money quotes" I've been looking for...

Chris

[Wisconsin Railfan]

 Chris,

This is the picture

Also, I am having trouble finding the bell, you recommended to go with the inserts.  Would you happen to have a link for those?

Thanks for posting all them pictures, 

Steven

[AmanaMedic]

 Good afternoon...sanity break!!!!

STEVEN: Yup, THAT be the part! "Original yellow" is just THAT...the yellow CNW used forever and several decades. The locomotive number will be a smaller roman font (type style) on the long hood. "Traditional yellow" is what they started using in '91 after the Zito yellow faded out so badly. Traditional yellow is darker than the original yellow, and has large green (reflective in real life) numbers on the long hood and a yellow safety stripe on the side sill. Zito is the nuclear fireball, melt your retinas bright yellow used briefly from about '81-'91. It too has large block numbers on the long hood, in dark green (same as the top and cab).  Traditional yellow repaints also got the Ball and Bar on the nose. Athearn probably put it right where it'll get hacked into to put the nose bell in....

The CNW 6852 is in original paint, the trailing CNW 6809 is in Zito yellow. 

One of the "better," in my not-so-humble opinion Traditional yellow repaints. On some they took the time to paint the nose bell notch green, as well as the fronts of the battery box/steps. I think THAT adds some "class" to the units. Other repaints were more "dip-job" in their appearance. Probably the difference between Transco in Oelwein and some outfit in Kansas City doing the jobs. 

And here's what I did to two Athearns and a vintage GSB Rails unit. A trio in Zito. They won't win any awards, I'm sure of THAT...but I'm happy with 'em.

JOHNBOY: You ARE correct Sir! THAT be the Kate Shelley all right...used to be one of my favorite places to be... The new Kate Shelley is next to it now, on the north side. A concrete and steel monster. I haven't gone to see it yet...not really sure I want to.

The bridge where Kate saved the day (night) is actually a mile or two south of there, a little place called Monahelia or something like THAT. I guess the original depot is there with a museum dedicated to her. Never made it there, I was always too busy taking R&R at the bridge and inspecting the dead line in the yard at Boone. 

Welp...back at it...again. I just got through the guy's azzzzzzzzzclown lawyer essentially telling the opponents THAT they are stupid, don't know a good thing when they see it, and by gosh..."we've met ALL of the requirements." All this said while waving his finger in the air, and delivering his bilge in a loud, testy, irritated at the "common man" way.  I'm about half-way through the tape...

Chris

[Packers#1]

 Chris, enjoy listening to agitated people. it seems that's a part of life. I hear you on that cold weather; I'm starting to look forward to fall but I'm sure I'll start complaining about how cold it is by January or February. It's nice for a while, and then gets really old realllllllly frickin quick. That second bridge looks kind of like the micro-engineering steel viaduct kits. I know I keep on going back to those kits but I'm not that great at scratchbuilding. I could see my ME open deck girder idea for the bridge on the lower line and that bridge or one like it on the higher line.

It's taken me a while to hammer out this plan and also a lot of other ideas that never really worked or didn't appeal much to me for whatever reason

Robby, as always, great work!

Johnboy, I actually set out for this layout to not have a yard. Yard switching is kind of boring to me (my current layout has one and I've sorted some cars a few times), but town or industrial switching is fun to me. I've added a switchback and small passing siding to my current plan so far. Worst case scenario if I get a crave for some yard switching I can switch a few trains in a staging yard once they're built.

Well, I have about half my spanish studying done. it got to the point where I was doing it to get it done and so wasn't learning. I'll take a break and either attack it this afternoon or tomorrow.