Elliot´s Trackside Diner August 2010

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Lee: The grassmaster works great. A friend of mine has one. As Ulrich says, it eats batteries like they're going out of style. He uses rechargeable Duracell batteries in his. He always has another set on charge when he's using it. When he changes the batteries he puts the discharged ones in the charger and goes back to work with the freshly charged set. In 15 - 25 minutes the other batteries are charged and ready to go.

[Anonymous]

TMarsh

Do they have dish rags in Germany?

 

Probably invented in Germany, like the automobile, cruise missiles, the bubonic plague and other important developments of mankind ... 

[blownout cylinder]

ULRICH!!!! You're back!! You had me scared too!! Great to see you back here!!

Good Morning from droughtyland. They are now telling us to water our trees--not our lawns as the young trees are starving of water---we had a 2 minute dribblefest here yeaterday--first time we saw any rain here since about 6 weeks ago. We will get barrels of humidity and no rain to be seen.

My weekend will be strapped to the cellphone again as I'm on call for the next 72 hours---grrr---oh well---

That usually means not much time for the layout--which means that the layout will be in a mess for the weekend

Anywaay---get ULRICH anything he desires here--it's on me!! Have a good one ---

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe I'll have a breakfast bagel with cheese and a cup of dark roast in a R&GV RR Mug to start the day off right.  I'll go sit at the Rivet Counter this morning for a little while.

Sir Madog

Probably invented in Germany, like the automobile, cruise missiles, the bubonic plague and other important developments of mankind ... 

 

Ulrich!  ROFLMAO!  Good to see you haven't lost your sense of humor.  Just remember the English invented Steak and Kidney Pie..........

We appear to have ghosts out at the R&GV RR Museum!  Got a photo of one last night as we were starting the photoshoot with RGE # 1941:

They have just started her up inside the Restoration Building.  

How about a shot of some MU hoses?  On the right is Lehigh Valley RS3 Hammerhead #211, on the left is one of our 80 Tonners, R&GVRR #1654.

I'll be putting more up in the WPF thread to see who gets upset with pics of 1/1 scale trains......

Later!

73

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Inventions? The first locomotive was Richard Trevithick's invention. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Locomotive_trevithick.jpg

The Brits gave steam locomotives to the world.    The Germans gave the diesel engine to the world.

The following photo is not a recent picture of the "earthquake" on Jeff's layout. It is the result of a head-on collision in Colorado on the C&S (subsidiary of CB&Q). The F7-A was rebuilt by EMD into an F9-Am. See my photo in WPF for a model of the F9-Am.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

 Ray - there is something about British food - it is the world´s best diet, as you hardly go for seconds! Sometime ago, there was a report on an ostrich farm in South Africa. The owner called the ostrich "the Brit among the animals", as they gobble up just anything

Seriously, I have had some nice meals in Britain, but also a lot of not so nice ones.

[LSWrr]

Ulrich, the same can be said for Netherlands cooking.  I spent 30 days on a Dutch Frigate; dinner one night was fritters period and don’t make my mistake of calling them French Fries.  The next night we had rice, with peanut gravy period that’s it.  I was doing good eating the lunch meat until I found out what it was made from.


Electric fly swatter:  I have plans on how to take an electric fly swatter and turn it into a 110v grass applicator, I’m a Boatswain not an electrician by trade and feel the $150 for the Noch will be cheaper than the 5 days in the hospital, LOL!

[AmanaMedic]

LSWrr

I’m a Boatswain not an electrician by trade and feel the $150 for the Noch will be cheaper than the 5 days in the hospital, LOL!

Awwwwwwwwwww c'mon LEE, where's your sense of adventure?? Besides, it'd only be about three days: just long enough to stabilize your heart rhythm, run some cardiac enzyme tests, and start recovering from the contact burns. I mean, think about it...what would RED GREEN do???

ROBBY P: Can't wait to see THAT MRL hopper. 

 

For the SECOND weekend in a row, I have..."no deeds to do, no promises to keep!" But, starting next Friday is the nine-week high school football season, meaning nine Saturdays of photo processing and game report writing for Sunday afternoon submitting to THAT.  Might get some paint splashed around in the RR room... might do some w**k on some stuff receiving natural weathering (dust) on the w**k table...

Who am I kidding?

I'll be trimming tree branches, changing oil in the mowers (shoulda done THAT a few weeks ago), mowing the yard, there's a junk freezer in the garage the Wife wants to get rid of...and on and on and on it'll go.

TODD: Am I channeling you? Has Brenda been in contact with Kit??? I don't dare answer Mr. Bell's invention lest somebody "need" my time for something...

Hmmmmmmmmmmm, maybe I oughta go hide in the RR room now...might be my only chance!

Chris

[blownout cylinder]

AmanaMedic

LSWrr

I’m a Boatswain not an electrician by trade and feel the $150 for the Noch will be cheaper than the 5 days in the hospital, LOL!

Awwwwwwwwwww c'mon LEE, where's your sense of adventure?? Besides, it'd only be about three days: just long enough to stabilize your heart rhythm, run some cardiac enzyme tests, and start recovering from the contact burns. I mean, think about it...what would RED GREEN do???

Geeesh Lee, I wouldn't mind it if you "shared" a few RF burns like mine on my thumbs---CX1000A power pentodes tend to do that to ya----

Welp got the ol' cellphone strapped to me side and waiting for some strange call to come in.

Chloe, I'lll have a couple of quadruplex burgers and a tub o' fries as well please---oh and a giant barrel of RBF--gonna need the caffeine high I guess----I'll be at the window booth for now

[Packer]

Hey guys

That SW10 (aka sw1000; BN dropped the last 2 zeros on sw1000 and sw1500s) showed up in the mail today. It's a really nice unit and runs pretty good with the DH123 (all for $69.99)

I'm gonna get either a TCS T4 or a DH163 for this unit, BEMF should make it crawl (although mine could stand to be run around)

Lee, When I heard electric flyswatter I was thinking that you heald it and it did the swatting for you. Wrong, it's a bug zapper. Might get one to keep my brother and sister out of my room (read messing up all my glues, paints, brushes, etc) and another for the static grass applicator

Ulrich, I thought the bubonic plague was carried over from central asia?

 

 

[Wisconsin Railfan]

 Good Evenin Folks!

I added the first layer of grass and track to the C&NW Diorama, like I said earlier this is my first attempt. next step is to add ballast and loose rocks.

I am going to watch the only Nascar race I still watch, Bristol night race.  I used to watch Nascar all the time, but not much into it anymore.

Thanks Chris for another great C&NW picture

 

 

[teen steam fan]

Packer

Hey guys

When I heard electric flyswatter I was thinking that you heald it and it did the swatting for you. Wrong, it's a bug zapper. Might get one to keep my brother and sister out of my room (read messing up all my glues, paints, brushes, etc) and another for the static grass applicator

Ulrich, I thought the bubonic plague was carried over from central asia?

 

 

Packers, One thing I've learnt when it comes to siblings and modeling gear, get them out and keep them out. My parents are good about making sure that my sisters know not to mess with my stuff, or else. They know that if they mess with my stuff, they lost a ride to dance. The perfect blackmail.

URLICH!!!! Glad to here from you dude. The germans are the only ones that still have steam engines in normal service and going strong right?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I take it you guys know that the movie 'The Train' comes on next Friday at 7 pm central time on the Military Channel.

[Cederstrand]

Weird, not only did my post disappear, so did my coffee?? Internet went down right after I posted, so perhaps it didn't get sent. We had big thunder boomers & torrential rain here this evening. Really needed the rain, so it was most welcome.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Cheers! Rob

[Anonymous]

 Good Morning Folks,

What a feeling to wake up and still be around 

Chloe, I am on a diet, you know those low calories, low cholesterol things, so I´ll go for bacon and eggs, sausages, a muffin, cakes from the griddle and a mug of strong coffee, please 

Had a good sleep for the first time in weeks - no getting up in the middle of the night, no nightmares, what a relief! Hope this continues!

Lee - you are right, it is much better to bite the apple and cash out $ 150 than to get electrocuted! But do you really need to buy one? Here in Germany, you can sometimes rent the Grassmaster for a small fee.

TSF - there is a narrow gauge line in the Harz mountains, which is completely steam operated. The line has a length of roughly 100 miles and sees 20 trains a day. 

Just a few pics for you:

There is also a large number of "tourist" lines, offering steam operated weekend services during the summer months - just like many UK lines do. We have no regular mainline steam operation, but also a lot of steam specials. The love for trains is much more wide-spread here than in the US.

You all have a good day!

[Blazzin]

  Ulrich,  Good morning.  Wow all I can say it is a pleasant surprise to see you here back at the forums.  I can honestly say, you have brought me great joy to hear from you.

  You have been at missed, loved, and on the top of everyone's mind and prayers.

  Keith and Jeanne

[wetidlerjr]

[blownout cylinder]

Sir Madog

TSF - there is a narrow gauge line in the Harz mountains, which is completely steam operated. The line has a length of roughly 100 miles and sees 20 trains a day.

mmmmmm---nice looking one too. I wonder if the one that ran through Mulde is still around. It's been awhile since I saw that--gotta dig through the photoboxes to find out what it was called----

Good Morning--

Well, the first night came up with nuthin' so I'l hope that the same happens for today---hope hope hope---

I've got some plans I'm working on to rebuild my layout a little bigger---see how that works out

I'll have a pile of pancakes and a large mug of coffee please---I'll be at the back window booth watching the sun come up.

[LSWrr]

Good morning,

Ulrich nobody rents them up here, Maybe I’ll buy one then rent it out until it’s paid for.

Looks like rain for me today.  I went to the train room last night and cleared off the new bench work in the addition and I might even start laying out the track design for the ore docks and break bulk freight pier today!  Why a break bulk freight dock? Most of the stuff on my layout has a source or termination point for operations.  The port will allow me to have almost anything heading to the port; scrap metal, cars, large parts, tractors, rolls of steel, and so on and so forth.

[Robby P.]

 Good morning.  Its going to be a hot one.  The high around 90 degrees.

 Well I'm off to do some shopping around town.  Maybe work in the basement later today.

 I hope everybody has a good Saturday.

[Anonymous]

 Good Afternoon,

lunchtime is over, so I´ll just have some coffee, please, Flo!

Barry - it was the Weisseritz, not the Mulde, which destroyed the line close to Dresden, during the big flood of 2002. The line has been rebuild since, as it is a major tourist affair in that region.  As it was the last line owned by Deutsche Bahn, it took a lot of political fighting to facilitate the rebuild, which commenced after ownership was transfered to the state of Saxony.

This is what the line looked like after the flood:

but as of December 2009, you now can enjoy this:

 

[TMarsh]

Good Morning. Coffee and waffles please. Oh, sorry, some maple syrup thank you.

Gonna miss this place when the big switch takes place (sarcasm). Sounds like folks take the change like the end of the Mayan calander. I myself, am expecting to have no problems other than possibly learning where they keep the spoons after the switch. 

Got an inch of rain last night. I guess we needed it, though I'll have to admit, I was liking the fact the grass was slowing in growth.

Ray- Just where do you think you are? Walmart? Trying to stir up trouble in WPF. Shame on you. Didn't they have something called Thursday proto fun, or something similar? Or is that some other site I used to...... whatever you call reading without participating in a forum.

OH! Forgot to give the update on Missy's doctor appointment for those of you interested. If not, now's the time to do some skipping. I was right, she's fat. Brenda insists the vet said she should loose "just a few pounds", but in reality that means "your dog is fat". She thundered in at 73 pounds and should be between 60 and 65. Soooo, as far as losing some tonnage the dogs ok with. It's the treatment that she's not too keen about. Cut the treats in half........

Lee- I think enough duct tape would insulate the handle well enough on the flyswatter. Besides, is that not what they make circuit breakers for?

Ulrich- In Germany, Model Railroading is probably looked upon as another form of say..., Woodworking. Germans are well respected for their craftsmanship and it would be just another form of Craftmanship. Here, though, we have a large number of participants, there are a large number of Model Railroad "bashers". Those people who feel that something someone does that they don't is something to make fun of. Me, it just doesn't bother as most I know don't care what I do. Especially if they want me to help them, but that is another rant. Those that have, usually stop with a glazed look on their faces after I respond, "Yeah, I know. And I quit "playing" baseball ( or whatever sport they are wearing the attire of and are babbling on nostop about) a loooong time ago too." Most seem to catch the correlation and don‘t say anything when someone says "whatcha been doin today Todd?"

I'll have to agree with the earlier comments on British food. They sure have some strange things they eat.

Welp best get a movin. Gonna, hopefully get the bathroom floor down in Mom's master bath and several other things. Hopefully the floor in the upstairs bath started. Then, I think it be Bar-B- Que time. Maybe some roasted Groundhog, maybe some braised possum, possibly even some deep fried 'coon. One things for sure I'll start with some Crawdads. Another thing is for sure, no Kidney pie. That's just plain weird. Those crazy Brit's.

Have a Great Day!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 Good morning. It's 79 and sunny. The high will be 97 with a heat index of 112 and there's a 20% chance of thunderstorms.

I would think that UPS stumbled somewhere along the way as my steering column didn't come in yesterday. Today I'll be taking it easy. One thing that has to be done is to mark out the area of the layout that will be removed. I have to make an additional support leg for the west side as it will no longer have the support of the front member that at the moment goes all the way across. After the cut is made there will be a 20" gap in that member. The wiring underneath will have to be taken down. Instead of lengthening all the existing wires it will be easier to simply rewire the layout. This will give me the chance to rewire it for DCC operation and do away with all but a few of the blocks and simplify the wiring immensely. Looks like I'll be going to Lowe's for a roll of wire.

[galaxy]

Morning all,

Haven't been in lately as don't have much to say, my life is currently boring, really. Now watch me write a book.

I finally got the referral to the Center for Pain Relief for my back. The CPR called to schedule an appt. for me teh 23 of September. I won;t get drugs then to help, but will be "evaluated". I will have to go see the regular Dr. to get more pain meds this mon, tues or wed a s I will be out.

Dental metal frame work fitting went fine, but I think the dentist adjusted it too tight...he may have to loosen it up after they apply the plastic for the teeth, sorry, acrylic. THen next will come the wax teeth for a fitting. The only thing I hate aobut the partial or a new tooth added to it is that I can taste the acrylic, which makes me want to gag. When I get the final copy they will have to sit in mouthwash for at least a week to let teh acrylic residue leach out so to speak.... They also filed off some of the old partial that was getting caught on the soft back palate that was gaging me on that partial. THe new partial has no material after the second bicupid.

On the Trains front, Sept. 4th is only two weeks away! Steamtown will be having Railfest 2010, and naturally we will be there! They will run #2317 Pacific for her last two days before her 1,374 day teardown. #3254 Mike should be running too. Or at least that is the plan according to the fireman for 2317 {who was playing conductor on the "Scranton Local Yard Express"  pulled by a GP9 ride}  when we last visited Steamtown. They will have an excusion pulled by a vintage diesel. They have been repainting a set of F3's for Lackawanna Railroad in the pretty gray/marroon/yellow paint all getting purtified and everything. We saw them working on them when we were there last getting the purtification done. SHArp lookin locos! Not sure what else RR or who else RR will be there. Steamtown is also doing asbestos abatement on all their static steam engines. Dunno if they will be back out front or not for RailFest or not yet. They are hoping to, but they have them all pulled in back to get the job done. We were shocked last time to pull in and see NO steamers on static display out front! Railfest 2010 is Sept 4th and 5th for those who want to make the trek to Steamtown for the event. WEll worth it! The excursion is only Sat. the 4th though. Probably sold out already. But there will be lots of visiting RRs with their vintage and modern locos and trains on display with walk throughs and all! They hope to have # 26 running next summer again to help replace 2317 while she gets her rebuild.. Do a Utube vid search for it, it's a small steam yard switcher. But by the looks of the pieces  she was still in on the backshop floor with no flue tubes in her yet, it will likely be teh end of next summer, not the beginning or middle, unless they put her back together on the fast track. SO if you are close enough, or want to take the drive, go for it!

See, now, I wrote a mini book. TOo bad it won't be a best selling novella! 

 

[teen steam fan]

Urlich, wow, that is a amazing. Looks like I need to add another place on my international travel list.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 I went to Lowe's for a roll of wire. I came back with 2 one gallon buckets of Rapid Coat joint compound, a 1/2 pint of paint I got for 50 cents, 2 plastic putty knives, 2 25 ft rolls of 16 gauge primary wire (1 green, 1 white), 1 50 ft root of 18 gauge speaker wire, 2 packs of 25 coaxial clamps and a 5 pack of Pull-Twist metal cutting disks for the Dremel. Oh, and mustn't forget the bottle of Mountain Dew.

[Cederstrand]

Columbian coffee in a SOGGY SOUTHERN mug, please.

***Jeffrey, looking forward to seeing what you do with all those materials.

Neat pics being posted. Keep it up!

Cheers! Rob

[galaxy]

Bottom of page one?

Can't let it slip to page two!

Bump!

[LSWrr]

Evening,

Jeff is going to be busy with all that wire and Mt. Dew.


Jeff I sent you an email.


Duck tape conducts electricity; yes I have duck tape it’s made here in Cleveland by the Duck Corporation they make tape, boxes, and other stuff.


I finished up in the layout room sorting and storing stuff under the layout, now I can get to work laying track in the new room.  I still have some gremlins to take care of in the main train room.  I finished layout work for some water slide decals my neighbor wanted Elsinore Brewery decals for a couple 50’ box cars and a couple three dome tankers.

[grayfox1119]

 Good evening gents, it has been a while since I hopped off the train and stopped by the Diner. MRR was going great on the layout until we headed out west for our 50th wedding anniversary. Took over 900 photos as we traveled by Amtrak from MA to CHI to Denver Union Station via Lake Shore Ltd and California Zephyr. From there we rented a car and went to South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado visiting all the National Parks. We were gone the month of May. We hit white outs in Montana, stampeded on ST89 by 10,000 sheep being herded straight down the highway. Saw Buffalo, Grizzly ( 20 feet from car) Black beer, Antelope, Elk but no wolves. We were nearly killed on I-84 in Utah when we came around a corner and were faced with a big dead Elk in our lane, a semi on our right, and Utah drivers doing 90 right on my butt. I was doing the limit at 75 and if it had not been for a very good Semi driver who saw what I was facing and pulled as far as he could to the right to barely give me room to miss the Elk's head by millimeters. We nearly were stranded in the Wasatch mountains when we hit a snowstorm high up in the range. The snow was 6" deep and as we turned a corner the road was closed with gate and no previous warning of such. We had to backtrack 18 miles in the storm.I guess this is what they mean by " Springtime in the Rockies" ( good Lord it was only 4 weeks from SUMMER!!!! )

Then after we got home, I nearly had the HD jar empty when I tokk a hard jar on the lawn tractor which in turn caused me to have sciatic nerve damage for the first time in my life and hopefully the LAST. This is the worst pain that I have ever experienced by FAR. So while I was not able to walk 5 steps or do practically anything other than sit of lie on my side, I was pulling up staples from the hardwood floor and received a wood burn/blister on my left elbow. No big deal, I cleaned the wound and it healed over nicely, or so I thought! Two days later my entire arm was badly swollen and red...yup..Cellulitis!! So now it was down to the hospital for IV drip every day for 6 days to knock the staph infection out.

In the meantime, the sciatic pain was not getting better, so they decided to put me on the "rack", you know, that 15th century device that stretches you two times your body length? Actually, it is very hi-tech now and it appears that it will help as it increases the space between the lumbars which in turn increases the space for the sciatic nerves which right now are somehow pinched. Of course the X-rays indicated that I had normal degenerative arthritis for a 71 year old, no surprise here.

The lessons learned here are:

1. get a seat for your lawn tractor that has springs so that your tail bone doesn't become the shock absorber !!! 
2. Clean wounds RIGHT AWAY

Do more Model Railroading and throw the *** HD jar out the window.

Hope you all have a great weekend,