Elliot´s Trackside Diner DECEMBER 2010

[CNCharlie]

Good Evening Diners,

Well I haven't been in here the last few days as my Mother passed away on Saturday afternoon. She had been taken to the hospital in the morning and I spent some time with her around noon at which point she seemed stable and was talking ok to me but she was gone a few hours later. I do feel sad but I really am greatful that I had her for so long as she was 96.

It will be a busy week making all the arrangements plus I"m executor so there are also estate issues to be dealt with.

Well see you soon,

CN Charlie

[Anonymous]

It´s me again,

Went to bed at 10 pm and woke up at 1 am. Not that I am not tired, but finding sleep seems to be impossible.

Flo, I´ll have my insomnia special - you know, it´s the hot milk! Thank you.

John - HOn3 gauge is slightly larger than N gauge, it is 10.5 mm between the rails. There is only 1 importer for Shinohara track in Germany and the guy is making use of this situation. I´ll second pcarell´s statement on your track!

Does anyone have an idea on a low to no cost HOn3 layout, involving hardly any space, but 3 # 4 turnouts (2 right, 1 left), just to give my little loco a chance for a workout?

Welp, I´ll be trying to catch some more

[pcarrell]

Well, we don't have as much snow as some of you have, but we've got a few inches.....and it's dang cold out there!  Currently 14 whole degrees, and it's going to bottom out somewhere around 10 degrees tonight!  Heck, if this keeps up, I might have to put the motorcycle up for a spell!

Der, thats some mighty fine looking track you have laid out there!  How does the 8 1/2" work out for ya?  I was thinking of more like 6" for when I do my sceniced layer over my yard (if I ever get to it), but I don't know if it'lll be enough room.  The shelf is 12" wide there and there are 4 holding tracks and a through track behind those in that area.

[blownout cylinder]

*opens door and kicks snow off of boots back outside--closes door with a thud*

Good Afternoon---

The onslaught continues. More than 30" on the ground here and they are calling for up to that much more by tomorrow---as it is it looks like they might be right We had whiteouts pretty well all day as well as a few relatively quieter conditions---but still strong winds and mch moisture continues here

Ray: Our neighbour to the east of us has a 1957 dodge power wagon that he uses to plow snow---he volunteered to do that from here on in for me-- I'm pretty happy about that--- Now all I have to worry about is keeping the deck somewhat clear so we can actually feed the birds out here--not all the deck just by the door---

Welp. I now have a few spare moments to clean up in the trainroom so that I can get some building done...

Chloe, I'll have a bowl of chile and a coffee please---I'll be at the corner booth by the fireplace getting warm--

 

[der5997]

Ken: I see that I didn't directly answer your clearances question. Rail head to rail head between the lower and upper yards is 8 1/2 inches. don't forget that this is N Scale. The mid-point tracks between the lower and upper return loops is 41/4 inches rh to rh. Here is a construction photo of that area.

[der5997]

Good afternoon people. Time for tea and a cookie.  I'll be over by the stove. Loving wife had us all geared up - including the early lunch - to head out to the Harbour to help with installing up to 80 1' diameter  mosaics (locally produced mainly by school kids after training on how-to). Arrived later than planned as we ran some errands first. No-one at the site. Not totally surprised, as the weather was appalling  last night; and it threatened rain today. Came home and she checked the email in case there had been a cancellation notice she had missed. No. Checked original email about the event....it's tomorrow, and always had been. is the wise mans' choice!

 

Ulrich:

The Swiss seem to know what they are doing.

....in Oh so many ways! After all, we don't just say "It runs like a watch", but "It runs like a Swiss watch"

we won´t have a Christmas tree, they are just to expensive

..ever on the cheap ourselves, and being lazy anyway, we have had the same artificial tree now for - let's see, brought it from Spruce Grove where we had it for at least 4 years, so let's say 17 years!  For the last six or seven of those, perhaps more, we haven't  taken it down, just covered it up with a large re-cycle bag and stored it, decorations and all. The prices of natural trees were on TV last night. A six foot one came out at a minimum $65 = € 48.60 HOn30 runs on N Scale track, yes?  That small anti-doldrum layout would keep a switch crew busy enough. How do you intend to do the turntable? I ask because I scratch built one for manual operation on the  HOn30 section of my A&W layout in Alberta.   The turntable pit wall is a card mailing tube section with brick paper,  track  power and pivot is handled through a phono plug centred in the pit base and the bridge. This was a minimum cost project that served me well.

 

Bama:

I just got called to bed by the wife, which means that its probably time for me to head that way. 

...seldom a wrong choice!

 

Morgan:

DerJohn: Nope, 4410 is HO, or the one I own is, she's an IHC/Model Power model, so there may be an N scale version.

...Nope, not there. So I don't have to worry about THAT temptation!

 

Lee:

Almost 60% of my pay check went to taxes this year. 

... and that's probably not including "hidden" taxes.  For instance, if we buy an unsalted item like peanuts at the Bulk Store there is no Harmonized Sales Tax (HST) because it's a food item. But if we buy from the next bin over, the salted peanuts, there is HST because it's then a snack for immediate consumption (think restaurant meal)!

 

Ken:

John Thanks for the link. How hard is it to build a dual level layout? I know this is sort a silly question. Wood working is not my strong suite. I all so guess you do one section at a time? What is the clearances between decks?

....This layout, despite appearances, is not really a dual level layout.  It is all one continuous grade (with level places) The average grade is 1½%.  The upper and lower loops have the mid-point turnaround sandwiched between then, all three stacked in the same corner.  While that keeps the grade % low, I paid for it in very small clearances. In N scale that's do-able, but not desirable.  I didn't build one section at a time for the benchwork; just started at the bottom and worked my way around in a continuous build that ended up on the upper level yard.  I drew the plans as three separate sheets because putting all that on one would have made it unreadable, even with colour coding.  Don't forget that this is hand drawn on school math paper - no CAD then (or now).

 

TTFN.

 

[galaxy]

WEll afternoon.

Selept i all morning. Well not really was up at 4:45 am til & am then back to sleep. I think I am coming down with something so I sleep a lot.

Just gonna breifly check inhere.

Git snow aobut 2" outside now..lake effect difting our way. Schools were delayed this am.

I am sure there will be accidents this am as people "forget" how to drive in snow.

Well later guys

[LSWrr]

Ray, we are having the same situation here and its only intensifying. Wind chill feels like 14F winds are currently at 35mph. 2” of snow/hour currently. I work very close to the lake, so walking south towards the building for ½ mile was an effort to “keep the brakes” on. NS has a GP38-2 (I think) keeping the local tracks plowed, it drives by about every 2 hours. Jeff that’s still a great tree, you did a great job!

[BamaCSX83]

Morning y'all.  Just a big glass of sweet tea for me.  Going to be doing a lunch date with the wife in a few and I don't want to spoil my appetite for her awesome cooking.  Did a little more thinking about my track plan for my layout, and if I include all the way to the subdivision end in Bainbridge, GA, then I'll have to probably triple-deck the layout, but I don't really mind that fact, I think it'll just be fun to have.  It'll also mean a larger expenditure as far as locomotives and rolling stock, but oh well, that's part of it, right? 

Well, guess I'll be back in later, see y'all in a while.

[BRAKIE]

Good Morning All!

Not much to report from the land of Buckeyes other then we got a light snow yesterday evening and we're suppose to get more flurries today so,I cancelled my trip to the hobby shop in Mansfield..Last year around this time of the year they said "flurries" we got 5-6" and that's more then "flurries".

Modeling wise yesterday I went to the club and looked over my Athearn RTR cars and realized I have a very nice collection of nice looking cars.
No big plans for today other then goofing off..

I shall have a cup and look over the forum.

Have a good'un!

[howmus]

Mornin'    (stomp, stomp, stomp)  Is this the diner???  Hold it, let me clean the white stuff off the glasses....   Oh!  yep, I found the diner!

Zoe, I think a breakfast of French Toast with real maple syrup, Oh, use the raisin bread if you have it, and a side of bacon would hit the spot!  Don't forget the dark roast coffee as well...  Put it in my R&GV RR mug.  Thank you ma'am!

We currently have a combination of sunshine and little white flakes falling out of the sky, mixing with the stuff that fell yesterday and last night swirling around into drifts.....  Wind is 19 - 20 mph and the area is under a weather advisory for Lake Effect.  Problem with lake effect for travelers is (as the weather service is saying:

"ACCUMULATIONS... 2 TO 6 INCHES OF NEW SNOW IN PERSISTENT BANDS WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS ACROSS NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE COUNTIES.

* WINDS... NORTHWEST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH.

* VISIBILITIES... LESS THAN A HALF MILE AT TIMES.

* IMPACTS... DIFFICULT DRIVING CONDITIONS IN OCCASIONAL MODERATE SNOW AND BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

IN LAKE EFFECT SNOW THE WEATHER CAN VARY FROM LOCALLY HEAVY SNOW IN NARROW BANDS TO CLEAR SKIES JUST A FEW MILES AWAY. IF YOU WILL BE TRAVELING ACROSS THE REGION BE PREPARED FOR RAPID CHANGES IN ROAD AND VISIBILITY CONDITIONS"

You will be driving on dry roads with sunshine one moment and hit a band with zero visibility and several inches of snow on the road...  You can see the line of snow, and THAT is when you need to hit the brakes and slow down.  Trouble is most cars just drive right into it at highway speed only to find a car right in their way just a few feet into the band........ This stuff is the biggest causes of winter driving accidents in this area.  When THAT happens on the interstates around Rochester/Buffalo. etc. you will get as many as 400 vehicles piled up on the road, and you can't see into the storm to find them.  Then you're next! Other than the Lake Effect stuff, I don't mind driving in snow at all.  

Thanks for the kind comments on the photos I posted.  RIT is not the biggest show around, but it is very well run and a lot of fun.  RIT has an awesome club layout BTW.  Crowd was definitely small yesterday and consisted of a lot of parents with young kids.  They brought them over to see the trains running on the many layouts both at the show, and the RIT Club layout.  http://www.ritmrc.org/tigertracks/

Ulrich, take care of yourself!  Hope the pain subsides for you!

Barry, be careful digging out up there (or should I say "over there") Shoveling snow is not a heart healthy form of exercise.......

I need to face the day which includes firing up the snow blower for use.....

Later!

73

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon,

what a day - just gray (dull), wet and awkward! My ribs are still yelling at me, so I am not up to anything, but I am getting bored to death "doing" it.

I wish I could do some MRRing, but as long as my job situation is still uncertain, I will not be spending $$$ on my hobby. For my "consultancy", all I get at the moment is a compensation for the gas I use up going there. What can I do with 3 #4 turnouts and a few lengths of flex-track?

Jeff - I like the tree! This is about the size of a tree we can put up in our flat . Like last year, we won´t have a Christmas tree, they are just to expensive (nearly a week´s food).

Janie, just a coffee to go for me! Thank you!

Edit:

I have been toying with some ideas to get started on a small scale - just to get out of the mental doldrums.

I´d just need 1 more switch, a couple of lengths of flex track , a turntable and ground throws to get started...

It ain´t much, but better than nothing.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

Jeff, that is an awesome tree, did you make that or was it a RTR tree?

The tree itself is a ready made one from Bachmann. As for it being a Christmas tree, I did that myself. 1 Bachmann tree + Clear Flat spray + 4 colors of glitter = Christmas tree.

[LSWrr]

Barry,

I'm looking at Concord or Munson TWP.  It would be an extra 15 minutes into work, but I would save over $1500 a year in fees and taxes.  I have to continue to try and put money into savings as I will be stuck with my current house for about a year.  Housing market is really in the dumps around here.  Some houses have been on the market for 3 years.

[Robby P.]

 Good morning.   Still snow flurrying, but nothing really sticking.

 Gotta go by the library and mail off a package also.   maybe come home, and start on another boxcar,   I did buy some black paint yesterday, and I will start to paint the layout legs this week. 

 Ray...........I agree, great shots.  

 Ken.........We are in the same boat as you.  Water/sewer bill comes in November and its $85.   The trash bill comes in December and its $150.   Now that's a Merry Christmas. 

 

[cudaken]

Mourning All

 Flo, Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, White Toast and a glass of Milk please.

 Have a few things to get done today, got to remember to buy packing  tape so I can get  Jeffery Scanner and Train stuff boxed up.

 Speaking of cars, car insurances and plates are due this month. There another $140, Merry Christmas.

John Thanks for the link. How hard is it to build a dual level layout? I know this is sort a silly question. Wood working is not my strong suite. I all so guess you do one section at a time? What is the clearances between decks?

 Morgan Another thing RTS is not great at is finding shorts / reversing loops. In the last plan, the only short it showed was where the yard went around the compressor? 

 See you all later.

        Ken

[blownout cylinder]

Good Snowy Mornig...

Welp, we got a bunch of snow last night so I was up and out plowing with the 4X4 again----we got about 24" on the ground and we are expecting another 24"-30" by tomorrow morning---after which we can see another 8" or so on top before it goes away...

I did not get much chance to do much in the way of modelling due to the constant snowplowing and brushing snow off'n the back deck to feed the birds...

PC: 8 came to Him? That is good!!

Ray: What was the turn out like at the show? The pix looked good

Lee: Live somewhat out in the country--that way the taxes are not as high Better zipper up--I see Vinnie again...

Flo, I'll have a coffee and a breakfast bagel please---I'll be at the RC for a bit...

[LSWrr]

Good Morning,

28F for the high today and we are under a lake effect snow warning until Tuesday night. Weather Guessers are claiming up to 3 feet of snow on the ground by Wednesday morning.

 

Jeff, that is an awesome tree, did you make that or was it a RTR tree?

 

Ray that gravel crusher/sorter looks great!

 

NERM, that’s great news! (everyone keep clear of the sidewalks, LOL)

 

Ulrich, ribs have a nerve running along them and they don’t receive trauma that often.  They also don’t get to rest to heal since they get moved every time you breathe. My GF accidently kicked me in the ribs one night and it took 5 weeks for them to stop hurting.  I wish you the best but it will be painful for a while, I wish you the best.

 

Fuel prices jumped up here as well; $3.19 to $3.25 for diesel.  Since it’s really cold outside my truck is only getting 18-20mpg.  That’s going to run me about $30/week just staying local.

 

I don’t think we need more taxes.  We need more people working.  My town is charging more and more and adding fees for trash and street lights to make up for the loss tax revenue.  More and more rentals are being occupied by welfare recipients. I can’t blame the land lords or the people on welfare, but those of us that work and pay taxes in Euclid are looking to move east before we go bankrupt paying the towns taxes and fees. Almost 60% of my pay check went to taxes this year. 

[Wisconsin Railfan]

Good Morning Folks!

Hope everyone Had a Great Weekend.

We are getting are first blast of winter weather, temps in the single digits, some light flurries, and tons of people who can't seem to drive

Steven

[Flashwave]

Morning. To the 42 people (none of you guys I don't think) who ordered the 32lb dumbells at THE SAME FLIPPIN' TIME, your turn will come after I finish with the tv people. (Agin, ot so much heavy, just repetitive)

On the bright side, I did also put a half-dozen Life Like Holiday Express sets into the system, those actually don't look half-bad. Could do without the gaudy christmas trees in the gondola, but gaudy Christmas trees can be dealt with.

It's interesting you guys are all talking Gas, I noticed tonight the Little Tikes gas pump is marked with two numbers: 3.29 and 5.30

Now, there's two  meanings for that. Total price:$3.29 and 5.30gal pumped so far, which doesn't show the price per gallon but would be 1.62 a gallon, or it's $3.29 a gallon of X gas and 5.30 a gallon of y gas. (Which is what I thought it looked like at first) Still, I'm rathered worried their conditioning drivers for this at the ripe old age of SIX.

DerJohn: Nope, 4410 is HO, or the one I own is, she's an IHC/Model Power model, so there may be an N scale version.

Ken: Alrighty. One thing to be carfeul with in RTS: It doesn't always read minimum radius properly, so do measurements by hand as well. For example. I can lay a 36" radius f;ext track piece, and geometry (rise over run) will tell me it's 36" radius. RTS might tell  me though it's 42, or 28.

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[BamaCSX83]

Ray, those are awesome looking pictures from the show.  And to all y'all getting the fluffy white stuff, I feel for ya, its getting a bit nippy down here in Bama, but nothing that the heater can't take care of. 

Been doing some thinking about my layout plans.  So far the area I plan on modelling is roughly 100 miles between Montgomery, AL and Dothan, AL on the CSX Dothan Subdivision, also known as the Bow Line.  Well I know that the sub ends in Bainbridge, GA and I've recently been thinking of modelling the entire sub, which would make things much more challenging, but also bring in a lot more operating potential with having the city of Dothan and its associated yard modelled at the "midpoint" of the layout, which would be sure to keep at least one crew, if not two busy for an operating session.  Hmm, decisions, decisions. 

BTW, great to hear that 8 more people accepted the man upstairs at the church anniversary, PC.

Welp, that's enough rambling for me, I just got called to bed by the wife, which means that its probably time for me to head that way. 

I'll be up and around in the morning, see y'all.

[Anonymous]

Good Morning Folks,

I am up again - less than 4 hrs. of sleep. Could use some more, but I have to get going early today.

Gas prices are a never ending story. Prices are changed 3 - 4 times daily, making filling your car up into a sort of gamble to hit the best price. Weekends and Mondays are a no - no, that´s when they hit top level. The difference between US prices and our prices is purely taxes - mineral oil tax, eco tax and on top of that, VAT. No, Zoe, I am not stepping on the soap box, no reason to rant about the unchangeable.

Coffee and a breakfast bagel for me, please, Zoe.

Galaxy - 65 mpg would be a dream, 32 mpg is the average reality. In all, driving a car costs about twice as much as you are used to. Enough of that

John - Urmel was one of the best children´s TV programs I have ever seen. Nothing like the animated junk that´s on TV today. In the early 1950´s, a young man returning from a POW camp in Russia (he spent 7 years there) dedicated his life to making children happy. He founded a little puppet theater, which made it to TV fame in the 1960´s. "Urmel" and "Jim Buttons and Luke, the Engineer" are still among the favorites of children aged 5 to 80! Too bad that don´t make things like this anymore...

you are right, these fences are made to keep the snow from sliding downhill. There is usually a bunch of them on a slope and apparently it works. The Swiss seem to know what they are doing.

Ray - those two gentlemen on the pic certainly seem to be enjoying themselves

Well, I must be off - CUL & have a good one!

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Flo I need another cup of decaf to sooth the body and soul....

Now Der!!!  I said "We call it a Blizzard around here...."  Didn't say it actually was, although we were and are having wind gusts around 25MPH and horizontal snow.....  There are a bunch of Lake Effect advisories around the area that will be in force for the next couple of days.  I Talked to my son tonight and even though he is had several more inches of the stuff than i have had here.  He may be getting some enhanced Lake Effect because he lives on the downwind side of Seneca Lake, and there is often enough warmth in the lake to cause more snow locally on his side.  He has been using his old antique snow blower a couple times already tonight.  I'll wait until tomorrow to fire up mine.

For your enjoyment this evening, I have brought in some photos of the RIT Train Show...  Here is one of the NMRA Booth at the show:

My partners in crime doing some modeling at the Modelers Corner:

"n"early invisible model worked on:

And a couple overviews of the RIT train show:

Hope you all have a great evening!

73

[ns3010]

Problem resolved!

The problem was that I was running it as a DC locomotive on a DCC system, which apparently is a No-No with this locomotive.

When the Gensets were first released, Atlas sent out an email alert saying that the MRC Tech 6 was incompatible with these. Since I don't own a T6, this was not an issue. However, they later discovered that running them as DC units on DCC systems would also fry the circut board. BUT, they never sent out a follow-up email with this information, so I never knew. It was posted on the Atlas forums, but I don't belong to those, so there was no way of me knowing.

According to Atlas, you can just sent them back and they'll replace the circut board for free (luckily, I won't need a new locomotive, considering that I already spent a lot of time assembling it and painting it). So I'll call them for a return number sometime this week, and hopefully I'll have it in service by the end of the month.

I'm not feeling too hot and I've got school (and a few tests) tomorrow, so I better hit it for the night. Dunno if I'll make it in tomorrow because of our game, so I'll see you guys Tuesday!

[pcarrell]

Awesome link der!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

der5997

Jeff:  it's fortunate you have the space in HO to twin the decoders like that. One further question on the Bachmann running the lights. Does the Bachmann support Rule 17 lighting ? ( CV 61 = 49 for instance) I know Digitrax doesn't (which surprises me, considering the degree of bells-and-whistlemanship  they otherwise build in) TCS decoders mostly do, and that suits me just fine, especially as they have decoders which can be made to fit in odd ball N loco frames such a Life-Like and 1997 era China built Atlas.

The Christmas tree is indeed different from last years. It's a new one. It was quite simple to make. I just sprayed a Bachmann tree with Clear Flat and sprinkled on different colors of glitter.

... simple and elegantly done. It looks v. convincing.

The Bachmann decoder does NOT support Rule 17 lighting. CV's go only to 52 which is for setting the brightness of the lights. 0 is dark, 255 is maximum brightness. Other than that the only function regarding the light is that it can be turned on and off. dimmed and brightened from the command station keypad. Thank you for the compliment on the tree. If I look at it from different angles the glitter looks like lights flashing on and off.

[der5997]

Good evening Diners - for the sake of the snowbound i won't talk about our weather today.

Chris:  Thanks for that info on Invacare. I've bookmarked the site - that is a huge help.

 

Jeff:  it's fortunate you have the space in HO to twin the decoders like that. One further question on the Bachmann running the lights. Does the Bachmann support Rule 17 lighting ? ( CV 61 = 49 for instance) I know Digitrax doesn't (which surprises me, considering the degree of bells-and-whistlemanship  they otherwise build in) TCS decoders mostly do, and that suits me just fine, especially as they have decoders which can be made to fit in odd ball N loco frames such a Life-Like and 1997 era China built Atlas.

The Christmas tree is indeed different from last years. It's a new one. It was quite simple to make. I just sprayed a Bachmann tree with Clear Flat and sprinkled on different colors of glitter.

... simple and elegantly done. It looks v. convincing.

 

Morgan:  So, the 4410 is N Scale?  Almost makes me want to find an excuse...... Thanks for the info re: The Hearth. (..."Yep."    "Kinda makes me wish we had a fireplace there..." ) Sounds though very much what she has here with us, which is why we are looking at narrow format wheel chairs, 'cos mobility around the apartment is the main concern, rather than not being able to otherwise fend for herself.

 

Vincent:

NERM, welcome to the club of not believing in global warming.

NOT getting into a political debate about this - call it whatever you like, and say the cause is whatever (magnetic pole shift maybe?) BUT something is melting the Arctic ice big time. We live closer to THAT than you (and CNCharlie and Johnboy even closer), and there are quite a few people and major industries affected by it.

 

Ulrich: Urmel can't swim as well as you do, it appears. Never made it this side of the pond, as far as I know.   If that rib is more than cracked - are you going to have it checked ?- a punctured lung you don't want to repeat... Your latest take on Pascal's plan has a major virtue IMHO. The tunnels make it into a series of scenes through which the trains pass, and then disappear.  I'm told that this is a good thing - and built my present layout around the idea!  In fact if you were able to scenic the Herausnehmbare Section to hide the surface track on it, this would divide that large portion of the layout into two separate scenes.  The fences in that photo are snow- related, yes?  In that case, are they dams?  It seems that they are neither true snow sheds, to take snow / avalanche material away across the tracks, nor sensible, if their function is to precipitate snow into drifts before it gets on the right-of-way. (not far enough back from the tracks to do that)Puzzled.

 

Ken:

John Do you have the plans for your layout that could be posted? While I do like this, I am all wise open to stealing, I mean borrowing someone else ideas.

  yes indeed just right click here http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y51/der5997/Maritme%20Trunk%20RR/ and choose open in New Window. The first three images are what you are looking for.  Actually they are the original plans, and things have developed a bit over the years.(I see that the last photo in that album is dated some time in 2007!) Those changes don't alter the essential folded loop-to-loop nature of the plan. This wouldn't suit you very much for "just letting them run" unless you put slip switches in the loops. (mine are manual and the polarity is automatically controlled by a stationary decoder) Also, it's basically a single track main -with some serious bottleneck issues around that viaduct. There is far more switching built in than you may fancy.  Have fun!

You are a friend, and friends do not get mad at each other for speaking there mind.

...You are SO right; and there are also these words of Wisdom to back up that thought - "Let a righteous man strike me-that is a kindness; let him rebuke me-that is oil on my head." and  "Better is open rebuke than hidden love."

 

Joe: Sorry to hear of your Genset troubles.  Your 9:11 pm post in the Electronics thread said you doubted the circuit board is fried because the lights still work. I wonder about that - it's possible the lighting part works, but possibly a resistor or diode in the motor power part is dead.  Hate to be the thinker of bad news. Why not ask Atlas techs about the circuit board issues and see if you can get on a list for early dibs on their replacement for the board?

 

Ray:

Something we often call a Blizzard!  You Southern guys may not know about them. 

...I went to Wikipedia 'cos I thought a blizzard had to have high winds with horizontal snow. Here, for the benefit of our Southrern cousins is what Wiki says.

By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of 35 miles per hour (56 km/h).^[1] Additionally, blizzards must reduce visibility to 400 metres (1,300 ft) or less and must last for a prolonged period of time - typically three hours or more.^[2] Ground blizzards are a variation on the traditional blizzard, in that ground blizzards require high winds to stir up snow that has already fallen, rather than fresh snowfall. Regardless of the variety of blizzard, they can bring near-whiteout conditions, which restrict visibility to near zero. Blizzards have a negative impact on local economies and can paralyze regions for days at a time, particularly where snowfall is unusual or rare. The 1972 Iran blizzard, which caused approximately 4000 deaths, was the deadliest in recorded history.

High gas prices???  We got em here too!

  Let's see, $1.143/litre at 3.8 litres to the US gallon = $4.34 / gallon - but THAT's only 58% of Ulrich's price -

 PC: That's terrific news! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

 

Galaxy:

Those of you in CAnada who may pay more for gas.....you may also have higher taxes on your gas....

...maybe we do pay more % of the price  in taxes - I know there is a 4¢/litre difference between New Brunswick and ourselves, which is killing the border town gas stations in Nova Scotia.  What really irks is that the price of our crude for domestic consumption - which we have coming out the proverbial wazoo - is set according to the New York harbor price! 'anit fair!

 

That's about it for now, I'll take a hot chocolate over to the RC and set a spell, thanks PC.  My first attempt to put fibre optics into the signals I got from the last Train Show didn't work so well. I was trying 1.5 mm single filament fibre.  That's too stiff to bend readily even melting it over a soldering iron to help it along. What I'm now going to do is use multiple filaments to make up a 1.5 mm bundle and see if that is more easily bent around the sharp corners involved. If I can get that to work, then I'll order up some multi-filament fibre of that diameter. 

 

Goodnight all, and God Bless. Prayers for all in need of Healing, Comfort, Prosperity and Peace.

 

 

 

 

[galaxy]

Sir Madog

$ 3,15 a gallon of gas? (gets out a pocket calculator and starts to make a long calculation) - hey, that´s cheap! We´re at $ 7,50 right now - how´s that?

Yeah but you european guys have higher taxes on your gas. We don't. And most of your little cars get like 65 Miles per gallon.

 

Here they are talking about adding taxes to gas to help shore up SS and to help cover teh new medicare health care costs and to help balance the budget.

So we will be paying more. WE are paying more now cuz Gov't mandates more ethanol {expensive to produce} be added to gas and cause of the value of the dollar, and because of winter fuel prices. USUALLy gas prices drop during the winter and stay lower until spring. Instead now they go UP.

Hurts the economy and travel/tourism if the prices go up. think about it gas was around $1 less last year...so gas budget has risen by about 50%. And WILL rise again come April-may....

 

Those of you in CAnada who may pay more for gas.....you may also have higher taxes on your gas....

{here's hoping Ulrich gets some sleep - thought he would once he found a job}

[pcarrell]

Today was our church's 1 year anniversary.  It was truely speacial, with lots of food and fellowship, and the whole town was invited.  And get this........8 people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior!  I'm tellin' ya.....God is all over that place!

Here's a link to my pics: http://s83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Crosspointe/1%20Year%20Anniversary/