Elliot's Trackside Diner NOVEMBER 2010

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon Folks,

I spent most of today in bed. I slipped and fell on my ribs in the bathroom this morning. Nothing broken, but it hurts a lot. I must be getting older.

I have been working on my Swiss friend´s layout. He started building it 2 years ago. The track plan is really simple - a two-track main roundy-rounder with a station. The fun part of that layout is the fact that it is an exact (well, almost) copy of a real station and my friend Pascal is a nut for detail. Most of the buildings are scratch-built or kit-bashed. His roads have oil stains and tire markings at the same place as the prototype. He even took rock molds from the place for his mountains. Like Ken, he just loves to watch trains run by him, so he will let a PC do the control.

The layout will also have working catenary - built by him! He is a master of the soldering gun!

Flo, just a coffee for me please!

TTFN

[BRAKIE]

Good Morning All!

Not much to report from the land of Buckeyes other then it cold outside and today is club day..No modeling was done yesterday as I help do some research with a friend of mine-the same one that I help look up detail parts with-a former anti computer guy that is now thinking about buying one.He likes the on line shops,the ready available information but,not interested in forums.

I shall have a cup and look over the forum.

Have a good'un!

[TMarsh]

Good Morning! Bowl of fruit please. Coffee. Dark Roast thank you.

I brought the Miter saw home last night! It was a guh-looorious event. I just have to paint this little hall and the remodel is done. Well except for trimming around the fireplace. Then it’s cleanup and dumpster week next week. Actually, this coming Saturday . ANYway, the project is nearing the end. A few minor replairs and it’s off to market. (Siiiiiiiigh) The train room is getting nearer to me. I can feel it. Hence the purchase.

Speaking of the purchase, I'm sorry. I forgot to say what it is. A T&P caboose from Athearn. Bought it off the bay because Castle Trains can’t get Athearn due to the fact their enormous amount of stock is……in the owners basement. Walk out basement. Business signs, hours of business, employees, taxes. The whole shebang. But….still in the basement. Oh well, anything Athearn will have to be purchased elsewhere. No biggy.

Gonna take Mom to her apartment today and wait for her sister to arrive in the afternoon. She will stay with Mom for a week then we’ll see what happens from there. I’ll lose most this day dealing with her relocation and the inevitable preparations for my Aunts visit. So I think I'll just wipe today off and hit the house again tomorrow.

I am now starting to think of what I need to finish the loop on the railroad. As you may recall, I have not completed the bench work for the first half of the layout yet before I was …. Um….distracted.

Y’all have a Great Day now ya hear?!!!

[Robby P.]

 Good cold morning.

 Not much planned for me.   Watch the Steelers and clean the house some.   Maybe later put up the Christmas tree.

 Hope everybody has a good morning.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 38 and cloudy with just a little sunlight peeking through. The high should be 65 with times of clouds and sun. Isolated showers are expected this evening.

More layout work today. There's still some clutter to be cleared away. Amazing how hard it can be to find places to put things sometimes. Whoever said 'A place for everything and everything in it's place' obviously never had a layout that took up most of the space in the front room of a small trailer. The room is 7' 10" wide by 13' 7" long. The layout is in the shape of an inverted 'U'. If you stand at the back of the room (hall) looking to the front of the room the layout is laid out this way. On the left side of the layout is 3' 10" wide by 6' 5" long. The top of the layout bridging the two sides of the 'U' is 1' 10" wide by 2' long and the right side is 1' 11" wide at the top for a distance of 4' 10" where it expands to 3' 5" wide for a distance of about 5' 8". The walkway in the middle is 4' 3" long by 2' wide. The park (2' wide by 1' 8" long) takes up part of this space when it's in place. The space underneath is at a premium too. Under the left side at the front is the heater. Along the left, front and right walls are boxes full of MR related stuff, a 5 gallon Shop-Vac, a small milkhouse heater in case the big one conks out, numerous cans of different colors of latex paint ranging from 1/2 pint size to 1 gallon size, a small air compressor (Campbell Hausfeld 3 gallon) and under the right side extension is the computer. This leaves some space on the left side of the room for the door and the fridge and a little space on the right side for a tiny kitchen where there's barely room enough for the sink and the microwave and a small patch of counter space. And you thought your layout space was cramped.

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[blownout cylinder]

Morning...

That's all I'm sayin' about it...

I have a busy day ahead of me...got some stuff to pick up from one clients home and take to a nursing home. Then I have some things to do at the office....then I have to pick up new amplifier for my guitar...then go and find some shelving for the expansion on the layout...yep...that expansion thing again...heeheehee

So.Have a good day people!!!

[Paul W. Beverung]

Morning Gang:

It's after 3AM and the alarm is set for 4. I guess I should just get dressed. It's on e of these morning s when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. Bummer.

Yesterday I got the fence at the hay lot finished. It's so much fun working with barbed wire. Kind of like handling a bag of rattle snakes. My hands are all full of little nicks and punktures. Anyway it's done. Now I can start on the fences running along the other sides of the lot and many more.

I actually have been  thinking about the layout. I am going to try and get down there after I get the leak in the kitchen sink fixed. That is going to take a new faucet. Have any of you priced a kitchen facuet lately? They an't cheap. Anyway, Mary Ann want's to get a plumber to do the job. That may be a good idea since there is some pipe that should be replaced also.

Well, I think that I'll go to bed and see if I can get a couple of minutes sleep. We are both doing well and had a great Thanksgiving.

See you all later.

[Cederstrand]

Scrambled eggs with onions and hashbrowns. Who cares if it is 1:00am.

***Der, actually I was curious about both versions of "how it works". Thanks for the info. I've sorta gleamed over half the wife's (HO) tracks. Seems to work OK. BTW, WOW, the work on the silo is amazing. I'm quite impressed.

***Ray, sounds like you're as busy as ever. You must love this time of year.

***Garry, you have your hands full, huh! Has your wee little work crew been on High Alert with all the company? Hope the SD24 engineer wasn't injured in the derailment.

I actually accomplished some scenicing tonight. First time in too long. Felt good, even if it was only a few small areas. Also placed a few more little folk. That Scenic Cement is STICKY stuff. The little folk kept sticking to my fingers and tweezers. About drove me nuts.

Have a good night y'all. Rob 

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Flo, just a cup of decaf for me tonight.  I'll go enjoy the warm stove in the back for a while.

It's currently 32°F outside the house here in the Finger Lakes tonight.  Luckily the wind has died down.

Der John,  Gorgeous photo of the steamer in the snow!

I have been out to the museum this morning, and came home and spent most of the afternoon at church getting the recording mics set up and checked out.  Poor guy helping me.....  We went to check out if their was going to be a problem with the new mics picking up "dirt" from the speaker system.  I told him to plug in the headphones into the output on the CD recorder so he could hear if the input was still clean if i spoke through one of the other mics.  Somehow the volume on the CD output had gotten turned up all the way and he didn't check it.....  I said "Check, Testing, one, two....."  He tore the headphones off , they twisted behind his head, and then he couldn't get them them off his head......  Another sound man goes deaf.......

This evening I actually got a few minutes to play with trains.....  Got a bit more done on the Quarry scene.  By mid week it should be ready to install on the layout.  Photos when I rescue my camera from my son's house.  Supposedly I am taking some photos for their Christmas Cards soon.

Hope you all have a grat night!

73

[der5997]

Rob:

how does that track cleaner work

...was that "how well does it work?"...I was running it using rubbing alcohol as the solvent for most of my "between sessions of scouring" (think Bright Boy - not that THAT was what I scoured with) up until Jeff enlightened me about the Gleam Method.  Since then, I've not used the car for track cleaning.

..was that "how does it work?"...there's a brass cylinder with a cleaning cloth wrapped around it. The cylinder sits in the frame resting on the railheads so that it is able to roll as the car is pulled along the track. Cleaning fluid is poured on to the cloth (I adapted the roof of the cupola so that a tube takes it down to the cloth) and the car run around the track. Pushed around ahead of the loco if the situation warrants it.

On an unrelated note, I've been able, with some success, to progress the chicken feed silo. It now has the bracing, ladder and roof vent.

Time for bed - Good night all, and God Bless. As Ulrich  reminded us, it's Advent Season starting tomorrow - for those who keep it, may it be a fruitful time. Prayers for all in need of Healing, Comfort, Prosperity and Peace.

Yes, that last train photo was WAY too cold for me too! Maybe this is from a warmer setting.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Hello everyone..

The "second wave" of the Tennessee Clan arrived today. Full House! .... No MRR'ing except layout tours. Only derailment was an SD24 ran over an HO telephone pole that was bumped onto the track by a guest. It's been a busy Thanksgiving weekend.

Der John ....... That was a COLD photo you posted ....... Bbbbrrrrrrrrrr .

[Cederstrand]

Decaf coffee in a SOUTHERN mug, please.

***Der, how well does that track cleaning car work?

Long day on the ol' farm here. Think I'll go run a train (on wife's HO layout) and relax awhile.

Cheers! Rob

[der5997]

Good afternoon everyone:

 

Joe:

I just had a very, very, very long post typed up (took me over a half hour), and when I hit backspace to fix a mistake, the page went back, and EVERYTHING was gone.

EDIT: Same thing just happened while posting in another thread (although fortunately, it was a short post). I don't get it.

...I don't know why it happens either - but I agree with Jeff's solution.  I type all I can in a Word doc, and then bringing it over to the Diner for a final edit / smilie insertion, photos etc.

 

Robby and Ray: -even if it getting way late to say that. Sounds like you had fun!

 

Jerry: What a great Thanksgiving present!

 

Todd:

  (by JR)  FWIW I see cabeese all the time on the Hudson line as parts of work trains so they are still prototypical. We use one in the museum yard similarly as a tool car so don't worry about those rivet counters and go for it.   J.R.

....and CN's local in Truro, Nova Scotia uses one regularly for their switching moves - just what they are needed for - not even stuck in a work train. In MY world - The Maritime Trunk - there is a cut down caboose in MOW as a track cleaner. Trucks and frame are a Centerline track cleaner - shell is a kitbash.   .....and a couple more that could be brought into service if I felt like it....If you are wanting an over night in a caboose, an experience may be had at (warning does not open in New Window!) http://www.trainstation.ca/ .

 

So, the best of the afternoon has been frittered away. Much better weather than the forecast had led us to expect. I'll have a JR Regular please and go and see what's up at the RC.  Waiting on parts for a couple of projects, but I can do some more on the chicken feed silos - which haven't had any TLC for some time. TTFN

 

[BRAKIE]

Good Morning All!

Not much to report from the land of Buckeyes other then we have snow showers..Yesterday I spent time servicing my HO C&HV locomotives getting them ready for next years shows.Sadly there was some touch up painting to do on the handrails and car bodies but,they look like well worn locomotives..I still have several cars in the repair shop as well so,I have enough projects to get me through the winter.As far as Slate Creek..I decided to look over particle board shelving since they come in various lenghts and widths to include 15"..This may be a blessing I overlooked..I will use Woodland Scenics 12" x24" roadbed trim to fit the 15" width..That extra 3" will give me headroom.

I shall have a cup and look over the forum.

Have a good'un!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Todd: You almost have me at the point that I want to run off to the Bachmann site and order 2 or 3 cabooses just for the heck of it.

[ns3010]

Morning all.

JR, I didn't realize that you had come down to Morristown when you took those photos. At first I thought maybe their frames had got sent somewhere after getting parted out, but I immediately recgonized that location from that second set of photos. That would be the South Jefferson Team Track, (like you said,) about a mile east of the M&E shops.

Todd, congrats on the caboose! If you ever get sick of being told that your layout is too modern, then you can consider having your shop forces transform it into a shoving platform (SPLAT). That's what the guys at TSR's shops are currently doing to one of their old cabooses. See my shots over in WPF:
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/p/183033/2003360.aspx#2003360

Well, I gotta go. Gotta do homework, then practice and other stuff.

Later!

[GMTRacing]

Todd,

    FWIW I see cabeese all the time on the Hudson line as parts of work trains so they are still prototypical. We use one in the museum yard similarly as a tool car so don't worry about those rivet counters and go for it.   J.R.

[Flashwave]

*Backs a flatcar with an outhouse up to the DIner.* I think someone has earned their own private throne for the next week or three. I  vote we move to someplace EXTREMELY cold, since that old barn is badly sealed.

TMarsh

NEWS FLASH!

I did it. Sucked it up and decided, it's MY world.

I ordered a caboose.

Worst that could happen is someone gets upset with me for having a caboose in the current era. I will cry then move it to a stationary display. Many places have those. I remember as a kid there were many places in our travels that had cabooses-es-es-es parked around and were used as displays, or most I remember, playhouses. That was as they were phasing them out and definately before they phased out the "sorry your child was hurt, but you as a parent should have been watching them better. After all they are your children" law was phased out and the, "if your child gets hurt doing something they shouldn't have been doing or because you felt it wasn't your rresponsibility to check out the equipment you were going to allow them to play on and/or feel it's too much trouble to watch them as they play so you can sue" law came in. 

Me like caboose. Me think caboose useful.  

Whadja get? Huh huh? We wanna see! Whadja get?

Ken: try this thingy: https://sites.google.com/site/cmpaho/ken-s-site free download of your trackplan, as well as the track curve template I used to make the 26-34" curves.

[TMarsh]

NEWS FLASH!

I did it. Sucked it up and decided, it's MY world.

I ordered a caboose.

Worst that could happen is someone gets upset with me for having a caboose in the current era. I will cry then move it to a stationary display. Many places have those. I remember as a kid there were many places in our travels that had cabooses-es-es-es parked around and were used as displays, or most I remember, playhouses. That was as they were phasing them out and definately before they phased out the "sorry your child was hurt, but you as a parent should have been watching them better. After all they are your children" law was phased out and the, "if your child gets hurt doing something they shouldn't have been doing or because you felt it wasn't your rresponsibility to check out the equipment you were going to allow them to play on and/or feel it's too much trouble to watch them as they play so you can sue" law came in. 

Me like caboose. Me think caboose useful.  

[TMarsh]

(Slams restroom door) DON”T…., GO IN there.

Good Morning! Turkey and ham omelet please with lots of cheese and salsa. Coffee too thank you.

DANG IT! And I wanted to wish Ray a HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yesterday. Dog gone memory. I remembered all day Thanksgiving, (well off and on) and Friday morning but as soon as I signed on POOF! Like last weeks salary…., gone. Oh well,

HAPPY late BIRTHDAY RAY!!!! Sorry you didn’t get Salmon on a slab, but I‘m sure you were quite happy with Thanksgiving leftovers. That is my second favorite meal. First being Thanksgiving Meal.

Jerry- A great surprise! What an honor to have someone think so highly of you to give their child both names after you .

One item I missed out on by not watching the adds for the door busting, people trampling, make up new words because the age old cusswords just aren’t sufficient for dealing with the people and their actions Day After Thanksgiving Day Sale. Menard’s had a 6 ft Keller stepladder for $9after mail in rebate. In store credit, but that’s ok. I’ll be in there for $30 worth of stuff sooner than later . Odd. The ladder, a 250lb limit was on display for $52 for the last couple weeks. Now they must have dropped it to $39 then the $30 rebate. Hmm.

 

Best get out to Mom’s house so’s I can get back at a decent time tonight. Once again running late. Nothing unusual about that. Problem is, I’ll need to go to Menard’s today for some trim. I think I’ll just pull my hair out right now and get it over with.

Y’all have a Great Day now ya hear?!!!

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

    37F and partly sunny today - I'm back in the shop again. Just a regular for me please, I'm just passing thru.

   Joe - a few years ago ME scrapped out a few of their RS-11's. We have an ex New Haven example in the yard at the museum that's getting a cosmetic restoration and we needed parts so we wheedled our way in and bought some stairs, chairs, window frames and some other stuff. We also needed trucks and cab filter frames, but that stuff was already spoken for or gone by the time we found out. The prime movers were being sent to river barge duty and I'm not remembering about the generators butI think they were going to the same place. The trucks are used on almost all 4 wheel Alco's as well as many early U-boats so they were snapped up right away also. The company doing the scrapping was from Miss. and had lots of contacts as well as a yard full of scrap rail equipment somewhere in Ohio. Clever people, they pretended to be somewhat slow but you tell after a couple of minutes that they were real sharp operators. After a few minutes back and forth, they decided we were ok and let us buy what we needed and also let us remove most of it ourselves which gained us all the special stuff that is normally cut off and tossed. We helped them load a couple of the dumpsters as well and scored a bunch of valves and couplings as well that were scrap to them and a fortune to us. Figure we parted with both sides happy.

Another couple of shots of the line up - all on a siding probably a half mile or so north(east) of where you took your picture.    CUL, J.R.

[howmus]

Morning everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a bowl of ghot oatmeal w/ brown sugar and several cups of good hot dark roast coffee in a FGLK mug to warm me up this morning.

Lawn was white when i got up this morning.... First measurable snow of the season.  looked nice, but it is windy and cold out there.  Currently 34°F with snow flurries predicted this afternoon.

I have to deliver the cahin saw to the museum, so i am about ready to head out the door.  Hope to get back home before the white stuff starts blowing around too much.

Later!

73

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 32 and sunny. The high will be 62 and it will remain sunny. Wow, a whole 30 degree spread there.

Didn't get much done yesterday as I was busy disassembling the computer power supply that I use for powering the structure lights so I could clean the dust out of it. Taking it apart was easy, cleaning it was even easier, putting it back together was a bit tricky as I almost needed 3 hands for the job. Masking tape works wonders when you need something held in place temporarily. There was a 1/8th inch thick layer of dust on everything in the power supply. Not too bad considering it was a 10 year plus accumulation. A small paint brush and a Shop-Vac made short work of it. I also got several structures wired with 3 lights each.

[galaxy]

GOOD MORNING ARIZONA!

Hope you all had a great day yesterday.

Cold and furiously flurrying here!

I did NOT go freaky friday bargain hunting though I may have missed a deal or two. We are done with xmas shopping and nothing in the ads screamed "come get me,take me home!!!!" at me so I slept. and slept and slept. MY Other Half {MOH} has a cold and so spent a lot of time in bed as did I as I think I am coming down with it too.

Could use a nap again now and think I will as soon as I am done wih the forum. I also think that the higher dose of muscle relaxer the nuerologist gave me aslo puts me to sleep.

Not much else to report.

Have a great day!

[fec153]

Ditto of what Rob said .

Jeff- Its called "Georgia Weather".

Flip

 

[Robby P.]

 Good cold morning.

 Well its the last day for the MIL.  Plus I think shes ready to get back to the warms temps of Florida, and have a bedroom with heat.  

 Not much planned for me today.  Maybe go by Lowes and get some things for the layout.  

 Hope everybody has a good morning.

[Anonymous]

Good Morning (it´s lunch time here)

a bright and sunny day, but icy cold, only 25 F. The land looks beautiful, with its layer of snow.

Zoe, just a coffee for me, please!

You all have a good one!

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Flo, just a decaf for me...  Overate big time at my son's house today.

Thanks for all the good wishes for you folks!  I did have a great day.  Got to watch my Granddaughters for a few hours while my son, his wife and another couple (old high Shool buddy and his wife) did a bit of the local wine trail.  After everybody got back home, we had a great supper of "Thanksgiving Leftovers" (just as good the next day), celebrated my birthday, then play Cutthroat Euchre for a few hours........  My son had the fixin's for White Chocolate Martinis.....  I had a small one as I am not supposed to consume much alcohol with some of the drugs I take... Not bad!

Hope you all have a great night!

73