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elliots diner: the January 2011 edition... Locked

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Posted by Heartland Division CB&Q on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 9:28 PM

Good evening.

As you know, I was in Tuscan a few weeks ago. It's very sad what has happened there.

JimCG ... I put the scrap yard on the back burner for Christmas travel. Since returning to teh layout I've worked on scenry close to it, and I'm ready now to resume work on it. I'm getting some creative ideas for it meanwhile.

Happy Model Railroading

GARRY

HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR

EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 9:17 PM

JimRCGMO

Jeff, chuckled at your description of the sanding (and prep)...Laugh Those temps in the 20's is hardly what you're used to down there, correct? Hope things warm up some for you before too much longer.

Gonna be 19° tonight and in the 20's tomorrow (Thursday) morning but lows should be above freezing until next Friday (21st).

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Posted by GMTRacing on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 8:55 PM

Good Evening All,

    A productive day today even if it wasn't at the shop. Got the first coat of mud on the not so grand canyon of the wall, got a bunch of sorting and some electrical stuff done in the basement so I can start on the next walls for the layout. Found some used steel bookcases on line and will pick them up tomorrow for the base of one of the outer walls. all part of my nefarious plan. I'll just get a coffee and a slice of apple pie ala mode and set here for a spell at the rivet counter. Back to the shop tomorrow - the roads are mostly clear and passable. Shop totalled 27" of snow and the house got around 24" in all. J.R.

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Posted by JimRCGMO on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 8:35 PM

Good Evening, Chloe - yep, it's me again (no, I know your name's not Margaret, but then again, I'm not Ray Stevens, either...). Oh yeah, I'll have a bowl of chili with some grated cheddar on it, some cut up onions on the side and some of those cute l'il oyster crackers, with a RBF, please. Thank you!

Yeah, I see Ray and I are on the same page about the 'social diseases' - chortle, chuckle - love that diagram! I'll be printing that one out tonight and taking it to w**k tomorrow with me. Whistling Think it might show up (anonymously, of courseWink) on a (non-electronic) bulletin board or such. Just hypothetically speaking! I've never had one of those social diseases (I mean social webpages! Actually, never had the other, but moving right along...), never expect to have one. As you said, there's totally TMI (Too Much Information) being posted on them...

Robby, I expect that you will catch onto Macs fairly quickly - just think of the "Option" key as the Ctrl on Windows, and the one that looks like a cloverleaf (or an Apple, depending on your school's Macs) - or Command, as it might be called, as the Alt key. A lot of it will be familiar mnemoics abbreviations, just Command/Apple-C instead of Ctrl-C to copy, Command-V for Ctrl-V to paste, Command-O instead of Ctrl-O to open (file or window, depending on your program), etc., etc. Actually, the major programs in graphics have pretty similar abbrev.'s, since many started with a Mac version and they kept the same kinds of keystrokes (see above) for on Windows versions of the program(s). Before the mid-point of the semester (maybe earlier), you will have a good w**king knowledge of the command key combos. Now remembering which filter does what, that may take a bit longer...

Oh, Robby - this post (and about all of my productive w**k (and a lot of my non-productive time...) is done on this 9 year old Mac PowerBook (bought new in 2001). Of course, it's been upgraded (because I have a little geek in me) from its original (384MB RAM and 10GB drive) to (now) 1GB of RAM and 120GB hard drive. So Ray's right - hang around Macs and you may get 'infected', but you won't care by then, anyway. Smile, Wink & Grin When Windows was very new, I was w**king in the computer center at the local university, and from my Mac experience, I taught the university's hardware guru how to do what he needed with Windows.

Seemed odd today when the weather guy locally is talking about the South getting a bunch of sn*w dumped on it, while our meager inch of the white stuff is mostly gone (even with the cold weather). I'm sure it seems strange to any of our Southern Diners (those who didn't grow up in colder parts of the USA), though.

I'll be kicking back at the table by the potbellied stove for now. Oh, Chloe, could I have a hot fudge brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, please? Thanks!

Hope our East coast Diners have their supply of wood for the stove, and lotsa warm blankets (and that your power stays on!). AngelAngel for warm places for the night, a good night's rest, and comfort and healing.

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

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Posted by Cederstrand on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:52 PM

Regular coffee in a SNOWY SOUTHERN mug, please.

UPS made it out today with my wife's birthday presents, which I will keep hidden for now. Only thing I gave her early were the 3 sections of stone wall, because I want to go ahead and finish that part of her layout.

Still a snow palace here.

Cheers! Cowboy Rob

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Posted by blownout cylinder on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 5:56 PM

LSWrr
My issue was the locomotive was shorting the system when it crossed the turnout.  I had the transitioning rails insulated with plastic rail joiners and it didn’t help.  Making that cut right above the frog did the trick right away.  Now the 4 axel GP7, 6 axel SD9, and the 4-4-4-4 roll right through without any issues.

My issue with the wye is pretty much the same as your's except that mine was an intermittent thing......I finally decided to redo the dang thing and placed the cuts just about where you have yours...it seems to have done the trick...

Gooooooooooooood Evenin' people!

We had a sunny but CCCOLD day today...no s**w be fallin' at all today...I spent the afternoon getting things straightened out at the bank and doing some track maintenance...as mentioned above...think I'll be doing that with a few more switches...a bit of preventative maintenance as it were 

Chloe, I'll have a coffee and a fruit explosion muffin please...I'll be at the RC for a bit...

Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry

I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/

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Posted by howmus on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 5:50 PM

Evenin' folks!

Flo, just the soup and a sandwich please.  Huh?  Oh Turkey soup, and a toasted cheese.  Cup 'o decaf to go along with all THAT!

Now, now Chris, nothing strange or foreign about the Mac.  The original code for the Mac was written right near me in Rochester, NY at Xerox Corp.  i know a couple of the people involved with the project.  It was, ah, borrowed (stolen) by Apple (somewhat) under contract and then sublet to a guy named Bill gates from there who stole it and made Windoz, I believe.  Thing is you use it for a while and.....  you might end up like a Scout Leader friend of mine who at one time used to get outraged when I would bring in my Mac laptop and plunk it down anywhere near his Dell...  After a while he started checking out what I was doing and compared it what he could get accomplished and....  A couple years later he decided his 4 year old Dell was getting old and undependable so he needed to upgrade.  He wouldn't ever look at a Mac, but was totally ticked that it was going to cost him more for a Dell set up for the old Windoz XP than buying a Mac.......  He did NOT want Vista (for good reason) so he ran the idea by another of the Scout Leaders working at a Science and Tech camp we ran.  This guy was a high mucky-muck of installations for Cisco Systems.  His answer was, "If you want bells and whistles get the one that has been doing right for years....  get a Mac!"  You should have seen his face, I thought he was going to cry!

Next time I see the guy he walks in and sets up his new MacBook Pro with the biggest grin on his face.  The next year he has his brand spanking new iMAc 30" sitting on the table.  I say, Oooo  whose is THAT,  He turns to me and grins.  So Robby, be very very afraid!  They are out to get you...  Given a chance, I bet you will actually like the Mac OS.  I'm typing right now on an 8 year old Mac G5 (dual 1.8 64 bit G5 with 2.5 GB SDRAM and well over a TB of hard drive space...)  I have had basically no problems with it, and I have no reason to think about "upgrading" at the moment. 

Oh, oh, looks like I rambled on a bit...  Basically I think people should buy and use whatever platform suits their needs...  How's THAT?

Galaxy, I have THAT shirt and 14 or 15 others from Despair....  I wear them to meetings quite often! Whistling

John, I did see the Prieser drill press and other equipment.  Way too modern for the 1920's...  I guess THAT is why I have a seat reserved for me at the Rivet Counter......Whistling

Later!

73

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by JimRCGMO on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 4:12 PM

Good Morning, Zoe - I'll have a Rio Grande mug of coffee, please-n-thank-you! Smile

Robby P.

I did get a email last night, and I will have one of my "weathered" train cars in a upcoming Track Side Photo.    Don't know what month, or the picture.   I was very excited about the email last night thou.   I will keep y'all informed.

Sounds great, Robby - and will they be paying you anything for publishing your pic (beyond the fame that you will receive, that is)? Hey, a guy can hope, right?  So how are your classes coming along this week? On that afternoon break, make sure you remember to actually *use* that time for your studying (don't ask my how I know...).Whistling

Belated congrats on the new job, Ken! Have a beverage on me (and Zoe, put his lunch ticket on mine, too). It sounds like you should do okay on commission, even with their stipulations. And don't get sickly like that again anytime soon, it's bad on the commissions.

Fergie, your new ship looks impressive! Is that ramp for surfing off the side? Smile, Wink & Grin Hope you can get some time for the MESS(tm) soon.

Ulrich, I liked the layout plan (with the mines and all) that you posted. And good to hear you are starting your own layout (sort of) with some motive power. Thumbs Up Now that I see your "Little Japan" layout (though I'm not fond of helixes), that looks sharp. But I'm sure I couldn't get by with only one siding - I'd be itchin' to add some more, couple of passing sidings, etc. Oops  Ah, I see you read my mind on that. Wink On the right side of the (passing siding) iteration of your plan, do you have a helix on the right side (or did I miss that in your earlier version), or is there a circular loop under the city?

Barry - you've been posting some nice photos; I really liked your weathering job on that older house...Wink Good that you'll be getting back to w**k again. Yeah

Chris, does the USPS kinda (at times, not always) fall into the same type of camp as a certain cable company we've been mentioning around here? Whistling How's your benchw**k coming along, by the bye? I hear you on the 'spray booth needed' topic - mine shuts down when it's raining outside or the temps drop (since mine is the back deck outside my apartment).Oops But I don't have the production spray line like you do, right?Confused

DerJohn, good that your car didn't seem to have much of any damage (and hope the check-out at the shop confirms that). Yeah Was that a jet-powered RDC?? If so, that's a first for me to see. Wow As for your inkjet ink questions: 1 - Dunno, and 2 - Dunno.... (Not counting your other question as to admin. privileges to re-install the printer stuff...)

Ah, I see from J.R.'s comment that it was! Wonder how long of a run that train covered? J.R., good to see you're starting back on your (new) layout. Thumbs Up

Debbie - have added you to my Angel list (Flip's already on there), and your doctors & team. Continue taking care of yourselves there.

NSJoe - on your layout, I forgot - what scale are you modeling in?

Jeff, chuckled at your description of the sanding (and prep)...Laugh Those temps in the 20's is hardly what you're used to down there, correct? Hope things warm up some for you before too much longer.

Galaxy - ah, the urologist - such fun (even if it's been about 15 years since my last 'fun' time there...)!

Ray, on that drill press, have you looked into Preiser's stuff? It looks to be an electric, not belt-driven, but I think it's under military stuff on the Walthers site. Here it is! I had found it (with the lathe) in a W-sale flyer some months ago.

Lee, I don't think I have the first edition of that "764 Tips" book you got, I might have a later (think mid-70's) edition of it. That has a lot of odds 'n' ends in it, doesn't it? Oh yeah, I'm with DerJohn - can you thanks for showing us where those cuts go? That website is a great one on DCC - I need to just print the whole site out, I think. (so long as my printer doesn't rebel like DerJohn's did)Surprise

Garry, do you have any progress pics of your scrap yard yet? I might want to steal some ideas from ya....Clown

Ken, maybe (for a happier marital situmacation, to borrow a phrase) you could close out that Facebook account. Our local TV has run pieces about marriages MESStm)-ed up via that site, and a relative of my friend Linda in Memphis, decided to divorce his wife because of some ex-girlfriend contacting him there. (But that's just my My 2 Cents...) And [ditto] Ulrich's comments as far as putting my personal info online like those social sites (certain other social... things... come to mind as I say that 'social site' phrase). Okay, soapbox - back in your corner now!

Here in Cape G-land, we'll reach the mid-20's (F) today, no snow left from our about 1 inch (2 cm) from Tuesday night. Think we might get a dusting by the weekend - if you believe the weatherguessers.

Well, I'm almost caught up now (one page to go), so I'll take a break at the RC for a bit.

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

 

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Posted by galaxy on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 3:59 PM

Evening all

On the Facebook thing:

This forum and my "publicness" on it is about as far as I go towards any public forum. Facebook, and now twitter, and others like them are appearing to ruin too many lives for various reasons from what all I read, hear and see in the news. I never wanted to be on Facebook or even the "classmates.com" which my HS classmates are on, and I am not a part of, except that all members of my class got so kindly  "signed up for it" automatically by the class reuion president, who evidently thought it would be such a great idea. I got two messages from classmates that I tried to answer, but they wanted $$$ to answer them and I said NO WAY. then thought better of it, and decided auto-delete is the way to go with that site. I don't need to send a tweet or read a tweet that I or someone else is go to go take a pee...I don't need that much info. about anyone. Not even Oprah.

SO I am not on now, nor wil I ever be on Facebook, MY space, Twitter, or any other such site. Only Three people on here actually know anything real about me. the rest I prefer to leave anonymously known as galaxy with galaxy's thoughts, opinions, experiences, ideas shared thusly as they are now. Even the IRS {who likes to know everything} doesn't need to know I am on here, Nor does President Barrack Obama {but they probably do}.

There. I said my piece on that and will leave it at that...does anybody want to buy the T-shirt?

Later time to cook dinner.

-G .

Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.

 HO and N Scale.

After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.

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Posted by AmanaMedic on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 1:42 PM

Gooooooooooooooood Afternoon, need a refill on THAT bucket of Boot Coffee...

RAY: I'm liking the shirt. Didn't see "Second Life" on it though...maybe no place to put it. I thought Facebook kept everything forever, but the last time I "closed" the account, they said it would be marked for removal in 14 days unless I told 'em otherwise. Haven't gone back to see if they bulldozed it or not, just might. Also, your "sweet little student" sounds a bit like a niece I've got. Between the pics she'd post (shot by her mother!!!) and the eternal love of her life (for this week...stay tuned to see who he is next week), I just couldn't take it any longer. But to "unfriend" or "de-friend" or whatever...my own niece...well, it seemed like THAT would just cause problems. "Why did Uncle Lucky un-friend me?" OY!!!!! Facebook was also the site of the final words between me and the ex-cousin...a political discussion turned all-out war...on the Wife's "wall" no less.

Nope...glad to be rid of it. Should've never gotten on it.

ROBBY P: I hear ya on the Mac's...strange, foreign creatures they are! THAT Editor has 'em in the Solon and North Liberty offices, I use them only when I absolutely have to...like to drop-off content. The Wife uses MACs, loves them, even had her laptop designed as what I call a schizoid: half MAC, half Windows. Feel free to pick her brain for any hints and/or help. Heck, I'll see if she has an updated "Kit's Little Book of Facts" THAT she cooked up years ago regarding computers, graphics, etc.

Back at it...so far today, I'm mostly just spinning my wheels but getting nowhere.

Chris

The Cedar cRapids Industrial Branch: Proudly Shipping Yesterday's CrunchBerries Tomorrow!

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Posted by Robby P. on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 1:20 PM

  Well I had one class this morning, and the other one canceled.   The late class emailed the students and said you don't have to come if you don't want to (bad weather).    Once I heard that the one class was canceled.....I came home, and then found out the other class might be.  The teacher said if enough students didn't come, he would make it a free day.   I look at it as.........Why drive in the snow 25 miles (one way) to have a free day.   I rather stay here, and get caught up on homework. 

 Ulrich.........I agree with the others on the great looking layout.   I haven't had time to do much to the one you designed me.   Thanks to school Grumpy.

 Chris.........The school thing is coming along Indifferent.  I do have more headaches now than I did before Whistling.   The graphics teacher hasn't gone over to much yet.  He said this semester is more to get our feet wet.  Still show us somethings thou.   My biggest thing is using a MAC computer.   I've always used windows.  

 "Rust, whats not to love?"      

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Posted by howmus on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 1:04 PM

Afternoon diners!

Flo I'll have a nice big, hot mug of hot cocoa to warm me up.

AmanaMedic

Facebook, where your past meets your present! Or....where your past meets YOUR WIFE!!!! DunceBlack Eye I had a Facebook account for awhile, finally turned out the lights, pulled the door shut and marked it for demolition. I had former students, former classmates, former co-workers and some other more political "friends" all gathered on there. Included in the mix were two former girlfriends, one the Wife knew about (but forgot about), the other...I don't think she knows there was a degree of involvement...shall we say. So, I just shut down the whole mess and had Facebook call in their bulldozer. I don't miss it at all.

 

Chris, I have this as a T-shirt.  One of my Favorites!!!  http://www.despair.com/somevedi.html

Unfortunately MaceCrook doesn't let you remove your info from their site anymore.  It will be there for ever and ever for people to hack into (they would never sell your info now would they......Whistling)  I had an active account for less than 2 weeks.  Several of my former students managed to find me....  I looked up what they were putting out for the world to see....  Frankly I don't care what they did what with whom (also one of my sweet little students, or so I thought) last weekend or how many times either.  Nor do care to hear about the sound she made when....  I better stop now.  I usually refer to those sites as social diseases....

We are lucky here in town, the only CU we have is absolutely top shelf!  It started out 50 years ago as the Teacher's Federated Credit Union and was housed in a room on the 3rd. floor of the old high school.  It eventually got a store front downtown and now serves anyone who lives in our county.  Great service, competitive rates, and no double talk.

Making some Turkey Soup today amongst other stuff going on.  Catch you all later!

73

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by AmanaMedic on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 12:25 PM

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood Afternoon, bucket of boot coffee please with extra boot. Yup, to go. Thankya.

Wellllllllllllllllllll, I've been trying to get caught up on the going-on's in here...think I'm up to speed on everything again. It sounds like the evil white stuff THAT falls from the sky this time of year is burying our eastern patrons. We had a touch of it yesterday...barely even enough to notice.

ROBBY P: Good luck with your classes, sounds like you're off to a good start!

TODD: Your..."wonderful" sister sounds a bit like my disowned ex-cousin. They'd probably get along just peachy.

ULRICH: Neat little layout you've got planned there! Glad things are looking more positive for you...still sending good thoughts out your way.

CUDA KEN: Ahhhhhhhh Facebook, where your past meets your present! Or....where your past meets YOUR WIFE!!!! DunceBlack Eye I had a Facebook account for awhile, finally turned out the lights, pulled the door shut and marked it for demolition. I had former students, former classmates, former co-workers and some other more political "friends" all gathered on there. Included in the mix were two former girlfriends, one the Wife knew about (but forgot about), the other...I don't think she knows there was a degree of involvement...shall we say. So, I just shut down the whole mess and had Facebook call in their bulldozer. I don't miss it at all.

 

Credit Unions. We deal with two "local" operations. One, we got our 30 year rent-to-own ("mortgage") from. We chose them so we would have someone local to talk face-to-face with if need be. They promptly sold our mortgage to Washington Mutual. When Washed Mutt went belly-up, Wells Fargo bought it. I detest THAT we had nothing to say about it. I didn't choose Wells, I don't want Wells...but for another 24 years and change...we'll be dealing with them. Unless of course, they sell it to someone else, or the govt. takes over everybody's mortgage. *grumble grumble brackin' frickin' frack* No Ma'am...no soapbox needed.

The other local credit union has been easy to w**k with. Too bad we didn't get the home loan from them.

Gotta get moving, lots to do, running behind already...

Chris

 

 

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 11:00 AM

A lazy afternoon today!

I finished my today´s work early, so there was plenty of time to "sell" my layout idea to Petra, as she is the artist in the family. I also tweaked the scenery a little bit and found an "easy" solution to the station issue. I degraded it to a halt to let of the workers from the factory, which is at the same scenic level as the passing siding. A footpath leads to the factory. The town is up much higher and remains an own LDE, not connected visually to the lower level.

Construction of this layout will be a little tricky, as both the town section and the let section need to be designed as lift-outs in order to be able to retrieve a derailed train from either helix. The whole layout will be put on a little cabinet on casters, allowing me to store all my train stuff in it and roll the set-up out of the way when the space is needed. I got that idea from the  Kalmbach book N scale Model Railroading - Getting Started.

Janie - it´s supper time, a bowl of chili and a Beer, please.

John - I watched a nice report on Nova Scotia on TV today. I think I have seen it before, but it was still a joy to watch. How far is it to Lunenburg from your place?

CUL Folks!

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Posted by LSWrr on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 10:34 AM

My issue was the locomotive was shorting the system when it crossed the turnout.  I had the transitioning rails insulated with plastic rail joiners and it didn’t help.  Making that cut right above the frog did the trick right away.  Now the 4 axel GP7, 6 axel SD9, and the 4-4-4-4 roll right through without any issues.

 

Still snowing just as hard as this morning, the weather guessers are saying we will get up to 9” by tomorrow morning.  That’s a big change from the 1-3” they predicted last night.

BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret)
 L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes

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Posted by GMTRacing on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 10:32 AM

Afternoon All,

   Or at least close enough to afternoon. Taking a break from filling a 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" x 12' gap in the corner of a ceiling in the den. Crew had stuck a 2x4 projecting into part of the room as a header and I had to cut that back and pull the other "stuff they'd stuck up and mudded over. Big mess but making progress now.

Der - depending on what track you're using, it's possible the 6 wheel trucks are bridging the frog and causing a short. Not usually an issue in DC but a real pain in DCC. The isloated or electrofrog  can cure that for you.

Ulrich - Didn't see too many stations when I was in Japan, but here there are some prototypes that have one line on one level and down into a cut directly below is the second lines station with internal stairs connecting the two. The Poughkeepsie NY station is large and built that way as well the tracks are three stories below the main lobby. No reason mountainout Japan couldn't have done just the same. For more pics look through Inch53's photos. IIRC he shot two such terminals and has them on his photo archive (link from his forum posts here).

Well back to plaster dust and drywall screws.   J.R.

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Posted by BRAKIE on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 10:28 AM

Good Morning All!

Not much to report from the land of snow covered Buckeyes on this Wednesday morning other then yesterday I was looking for a long forgotten HO boxcars and found 2 Athearn 50' gon underframes.I had picked these up for a repair project and how in the world they ended up in the bottom tote will remain a mystery since that tote hasn't be open since April of last year and I got those frames last August.I never did find those 2 40' boxcars and those 2 cars I had since the late 80s and I know I didn't sell 'em.

I shall have a cup and look over the forum.

Have a good'un!

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by howmus on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 10:27 AM

Mornin' everyone!.......  Mornin' Bill!

Welb, I stiw hab the colb this mording.......  First one I have had in ages.  At first I thought it was just allergies but it has to be one of the viruses spreading around the area.  Probably caught it from the granddaughter last week.  At least, knock on wood... no, let's see , oh here is some 'real' wood, "tap, tap" it hasn't yet turnied into a bacterial infection.  I hope I am better this weekend!  Should be.

Ken, your stories about the "Bank of no amnesty" does make me pleased with the choices I have made over the years to only do business with our Credit Union here in town. 

We got about 3-4" inches of light, white, fluffy stuff last night.  May get another inch or so today.  Love being retired....  I can just sit here and watch it fall....Big SmileLaugh  I'll fire up the snow blower later this afternoon.

Best get moving!

Later!

73

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by der5997 on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 10:11 AM

Ulrich:

John - You have found the weak spot of that plan! If I were to call that passing siding a station, it would need to be somehow connected to the town above it. I would not know how to facilitate that in the given space. The plan needs some more tweaking, but I´d like to keep the overall concept of both scenery/looks and simplicity.
..."Sorry about that Chief!" Whistling  What I was thinking was that if you were to cut back into the "cliff" (have to eliminate/re-configure and re-purpose Hakuhodo Street  a bit) you could access the station with one of those cliff railways (The ones at Hastings, Sussex, England http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Hill_Cliff_Railway  spring to mind and fits your era. Check out the 78% gradient!!!) Wouldn't that be Ubercool? Cool

 

Lee: Thanks, I've got that bookmarked. I was interested that your guy did his turnouts because he was having trouble with 4 axel units losing connectivity. Now I've adapted all my turnouts in a somewhat similar way, the only locos to give me trouble - it seems to be some shorting issue I haven't yet been able to track down - are 6 axel.

 

Todd:

Der- The forms I'm referring to that you have to buy, are the forms the employer has to fill out and send to the employee and the form the employer must send to SSA.
...Yup, that's better - and I agree with you on the "hidden" costs of "free" government issue materials.  There is no free lunch - unless you are into a cuisine of windfall and carrion!Dinner
A rear deck observation car
...I was interested to see that the "Toys for Tots" train Joe posted had one running in reverse - first time I've seen that.
Evil bay as Ray calls it.
...the Evil part for me is usually in the shipping charges  - like $ 19 for a sheet of decals USA to Canada!!! No Zoe, I'll not need the soap box, I'm done for now.

 

Catch 22 misunderstandings can happen Oh so easily.  Kris' mother has her Seniors' clinic at the hospital on Thursdays. So, while she's out is a good time to do major house work, which we do every other week. Tomorrow is such a day. I take her in to the hospt - which is also where our doctor's clinic is. I need some Rx renewed, so I made an appointment last Thursday for that after I will have dropped off Ellen tomorrow. Saves on gas, as I'm taking her in, right? Wrong!!!! "You always make Dr's appointments on house-work days!" Sigh

Anyway, with this major storm looming, those clinics may be cancelled. We'll see. TTFN

 

"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 9:28 AM

Good morning. It's 24° and sunny. Today's high should be 44° and mostly cloudy. We have a north wind of 8 mph with gusts to 12 mph. Not bad but coming across the lake as it is it carries a wind chill of 15°. I have NO intention of going outside for ANYTHING until it warms up a bit!

Got more sanding done on the layout yesterday and now have the joint compound fairly smooth. The next step is to seal it with shellac so it won't soak a bunch of paint later. I got my parents video camera charged up last night and packed back into it's box. I had thin out the paperwork with it (most of it unnecessary) to make room for the charger. It has to be packed with the camera or they'll lose it. What a pain that was. I finally made enough room in the box for the camera, the charger, the case for the SD card and the instruction booklet. Believe it or not that was the easy part. The hard part will be teaching them how to use it. I'm not really looking forward to it.

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Posted by TMarsh on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 8:30 AM

Good Morning! Coffee (back to coffe I appear to be) Please and some oatmeal with milk and sugar thank you. It’s……cold. Awoke Monday to sn*w. Weather liars said 3 to 5 inches, I'd say here we got 3, maybe 4. But it's a dry snow.

Well, and not a deep one, I didn’t make it in here yesterday because it was just one of those days when something just keeps showing up and nothing gets done.

Der- The forms I’m referring to that you have to buy, are the forms the employer has to fill out and send to the employee and the form the employer must send to SSA. The forms that are required to report to the IRS and actually pay taxes on, are free to both citizen and business. Sorta. If you don’t count the way the printing and postage costs are funded. But we'll ignore that little fact and call it free. Make you feel better? Me too.

Oh, Monday I got my base platform for my version of Elliots Diner. A rear deck observation car off the Evil bay as Ray calls it. Which by the way, I wish you luck on your transaction there Ray. I firmly believe, that there are by far more reputable dealers and individuals on the site than bad ones. We just seem to hear more about the bad ones and never about the good ones. Anywho, It’s an undecorated Athearn BB kit (originally price marked at $2.98, so I think it’s been around a year or two) It was assembled and in excellent shape, but is now disassembled. No glue required and no glue was used, so is now disassembled. ALL for less than…..10 bucks, to the door. Happy is me.

Today, will be a hap hazard see what happens day. I have to download the payroll program at the Church (long story. I’ll grace you with it sometime when even I am boredto tears) then hopefully pay them by the 15th. The Funeral home is sending some crony out about 1:30 to get our feedback on how things went and to also bring out a nice 8X10 fancy obituary picture like thing for us. Free of course, Mom has one from Dad’s, and they will be kind enough, I‘m sure, to offer to get us more for a low price. Then my loving sister is supposed to grace us with her presence this evening (whoopty doo). We’ll see. She was supposed to come by Monday night at 7:30. At 11:30 I called and said “I take it you’re not coming over” to which he replied, “oh, yeah, I guess we should have called.” We decided to stop in at home and Paula (my loony sister) laid down and didn’t wake up until just now” So I did get to talk to her and she made the appointement for this eve. She will call me today sometime to “confirm”Confused. I wanted to say you mean like before the visitation, wake, whatever people call it? Or Monday? Or the COUNTLESS times she left Mom waiting for them to call or show up for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mothers Day, birthdays, even just to visit? This is the stuff that just infuriated Brenda when she’d pull it on Mom. Mom would so look forward to their visit only to go to bed disappointed. I told Brenda between her ranting and ravings, “hey, at least she isn’t prejudice towards Mom” THAT comment did NOT break the tension as I had hopedIndifferent. Ooops. Sorry, kinda turned into a rant there. I’ll step down now.

So, in between those, I must pay some bills, cancel all the services I can, (no I haven’t done that. Something keeps stepping up and stopping me from having the time.) And the lady who owns the restaurant asked if I would stop by and change the locks on the doors on her apartment. Her future ex-husband seems to have a key. I must wear a disguise. Her “husband” may be hiding across the street, at least 200 feet of course, with his camera filming the “affair” we are having. He’s an idiot. I kinda feel sorry for the beer guy who had an affair with her because they were in the restaurant at the same time alone. Of course she was vacuuming the carpets and he just dropped off the beer. But, they were alone and there’s no telling just how much hanky panky you can accomplish in those 2 ½ minutes they were alone by golly. But MOST important. I have my eye on the Huddlehouse for lunch. Kitchen Sink burger. Yuuum. We’ll see.

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

Todd  

Central Illinoyz

In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.

I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk. Laugh

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Posted by GMTRacing on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 8:17 AM

Good Morning All,

   No w..k today as the state has banned road travel. We have over 20" so far and the prediction is 2-3' total before the snows end. Snow up into the glass on the first floor sliders and above the hood of my Fiesta. Shoveling a bit at a time where the snow blower doesn't reach. At least I got a can of coffee last night on my way back from the museum. If things keep up like this I'm going to have to think seriously about that generator shed for the house. Thank heavens it isn't icy as well as we'd lose power for sure.

Barry - that's great news about being able to go back. Keep us posted.

Larry - couldn't use a paint brush in your right hand? Did I miss something?

Robby - many people still haven't figured out that while 4 wheel drive and snows let you go fast in snow, it still take a lot more room to whoa up and nothing there helps. How does that go - it's not the fall, it's the sudden stop when you reach the ground?

Jeff - probably the heater lights are to remind you it's on. When you fix it, you can probably rig an LED or similar easy pilot light but then you've just gotten a long term supply of lamps so......

Spent last evening cleaning out old O scale Lionel track at the museum. We'll package it and bring to Springfield to sell at the train show there along with whatever else is surplus to requirements. We'll go through the HO rolling stock to set aside cars for the Introduction to Model Railroading course we give at one of the local elementary schools. It's for second and third graders and we usually have 6 to 7 kids each year.

   I can get some house stuff done today and perhaps get some done in the basement on the layout room as well. Catch ya later, J.R.

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Posted by Robby P. on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 7:22 AM

 Good "snowy" morning.   We got about 4 inches and maybe another inch or so today. 

 More school today, and this is day two or the long days.  The class I have at 5:00, I don't have Friday, so I am done early!!!!  Got a bunch of reading to do thou.  Maybe do some of that at the library today. 

 My poor layout is on the back burner.  I probably won't get to it till some time after "valentines day".    That's when I'm done with two of my classes.

 Have a good day, and I will chat with y'all later.

 "Rust, whats not to love?"      

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Posted by blownout cylinder on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 6:46 AM

Lee: I looked at that site as well as I'm having to re-lay one of my wye switches...again ...as it is I've been having them 'intermittent' issues...

Hello...

Everyone be up and ready for another day here..I'll be getting ready to go downtown to do some banking stuff ad to pick up some things needed around here...

Flo, I'll just have a coffee this morning please...I'll be at the RC for now....Whistling

Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry

I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/

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Posted by LSWrr on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 6:08 AM

Good Morning,

Garry, I haven’t pulled anything with them, yet.  But they sure look nice.  I need to pick up some sound decoders for them.

 

3” of snow on I-90 on the way home, 4” of snow on I-90 on the way in this morning. I-90 runs from Boston to Seattle are you telling me it doesn’t need plowed??? What the heck?

 

John, the cuts are made on the rails that form a V when the turnout divides, if you hold the turnout switch points down you cut both rails about ¼” above the frog (frog rails). Here are some pictures: http://www.wiringfordcc.com/switches.htm

 

Or you can spend $15-$24 on a DCC friendly turnout.

BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret)
 L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes

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01/12/2011
Posted by wetidlerjr on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 4:30 AM

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

Geeked

Dinner

 

Bill Tidler Jr.

Near a cornfield in Indiana...

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 2:01 AM

Good Morning Folks,

the night was pretty bad - I woke up a couple of times sneezing and coughing & could go back to sleep right away. Worst thing is, I woke Petra up and now she´s a bit miffed about that ... Whistling

Zoe, a mug of dark roast coffee and a breakfast bagel, please.

Ken - I prefer to stay out of these social networks, like Facebook, StayFriends, Twitter a.s , exactly for this reason - to avoid trouble Whistling. No, that´s not the reason - my friends know how to keep in contact with me and I don´t see the necessity of making my personal data available to a broader public.

John - You have found the weak spot of that plan! If I were to call that passing siding a station, it would need to be somehow connected to the town above it. I would not know how to facilitate that in the given space Question. The plan needs some more tweaking, but I´d like to keep the overall concept of both scenery/looks and simplicity.

Need to think about it, which may take a while, as my brain is still an analogue one, not digitally driven.

Have a safe day!

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Posted by cudaken on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:53 PM

Evening Folks.

 Flo, could I please have a Beer and the SoapBox Please?

 Called the Bank of don't know what we are doing of America today. I was letting them know what was going on with the Job and unemployment and when I would get a payment in. Told her it would take around 2 weeks to  get a whole payment saved up with the way I am being paid. She then asked "could you make a partial payment"?

 Soap Box Time. SoapBox I have been told 4 times now I can make partial payments and 4 times I cannot make a partial payment.  Gee I wish they could all get on the same page. Or better yet, talk to the same person only!

 This lady told me as so as I get a pay stub, to call with a budget and they will see what plain will work for me. Before her I was told by a guy that I was in accelerated collection in prelude to foreclose, and I need to poop $15,000.00 to stop it? (I did intend on spelling Poop and not Pop this time!Big Smile)

Last few weeks I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about losing the house. Before that it was daydreaming about the new layout. 

 New Subject

 My Face Book Account. I think I posted about part of this before. I started a Face Book Account last February so I could keep in touch with my friends at Mattress Giant after I left. I soon got bored with it and stopped using it. One day while my wife was with her, my daughter looked on face book and found my account. The people that know me know I am married, so I did not list in my profile I was married. 

 When Sue got home we had a pretty darn good fight about it. She accused me of looking for women on line because I never told her about the account! It was a silly fight on her behave, and if you look me up (Kenneth Greenwell) all I talked about was MRR and Mopar. Yep, Chicks are drawn to that right guys!  Well, cool ones are!Whistling

 Sue started a Face Book account to keep in touch with some of her friends and that was that.

 I had not been to the account now for 5 months or so. Today at work I was bored and went to my account. I had 3 people that wanted to become friends with me! One was my wife, and 2 X Girl Friends!Oops - Sign For the heck of it I looked up Barb's profile ( Yep we where Barbie and Ken) and she was recently divorced, 10 year younger than my wife and talking about letting her KEN DOLL get away! Whistling

 Think I am staying away from Face Book for now on!Whistling

 Lee, I am checking the PM now.

  Dodging another fight Ken 

I hate Rust

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Posted by ns3010 on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:35 PM

For those interested in some prototype footage, I was finally able to convince Youtube to allow me to upload a video from the Toys For Tots train a month ago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8LBnYPUzBM

DerJohn's photo reminded me that we haven't heard from Sam in a while. I wonder how things are going down there for him with VRE and Keolis.

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Posted by der5997 on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 9:14 PM

Good evening Diners: I began this this morning while sitting waiting an hour after the local computer chap said he would be  here to see why my printer won't re-install.  Love punctual trades, don't you?   Actually he came within 15 minutes of my typing THAT. Long story short, he couldn't figure out why the printer won't re-install either (The printer claims I need Admin Rights to do the install - which I have, but it doesn't acknowledge that! Bang Head)  so I'm printer-less, and trying to decide if I want to spend any more money on the reluctant one - seeing as I can get another All-In-One for about $80.  Kris took the car in to the service station today - the ditching hadn't damaged anything - but they did find issues with the front brakes, tie rods, shocks....not a cheap list...don't want to drive an unsafe vehicle, don't know enough about cars to either know if they are right, or to fix it myself if they are. Sigh

 

Todd:

CRUD!!! I didn't get any W-2's for the Church!! Now the search begins and I'll have a hard time finding them again this late and........wait , I think Quickbooks lets you print them out on paper without buying the blank forms. In fact I'm sure they do. I usually don't because of the list of requirements the SSA has for the paper and ink shades and fonts and amount of saliva allowed etc  for the W-3 so I buy...
..You guys have to BUY your tax forms? That's like a flogged sailor having to clean his blood off the deck!  Please tell me I've miss-understood.

 

Garry:

Cold here too. One of our two furnaces quit working Friday, but it's repaired now.
...You live in Kentucky and have two Furnaces?   Makes this Canuck pause in wonder!

Lee:  My very limited mrr library has that 764 tips book - I've used quite a few over the years.Thumbs Up

I had several non-DCC friendly turnouts on the layout.  A friend stopped over and said: Hey make two cuts here and here.  Poof now all my $1 turnouts are DCC friendly and work like a champ.
...and the cuts were where, exactly? Inquiring minds need to know!

 

Barry: That's great news on your return to work Thumbs UpAngel

 

Ulrich:  You said that with the passing siding would work in a station (on the street side I imagine)...how does the access to that work for the passengers?  There doesn't seem to be a lot of room for vehicles/parking - yet the station is not directly part of the town. Just worrying out loud here  That's encouraging about the TV business. Can you say just what the business is, or would you prefer not to just now?

 

I've been busy in an N Scale Forum getting help with a decoder install in a LL GP 38-2. I've got two possible pathways to go on the light board - massive surgery on the stock LL board, or adapt a set of split boards from an Atlas GP 7. I'm in the middle of the surgery right now, and if I can't do that, then it will be the alternative route.   Isee the clock's moving on, so I'd better get back to that surgery on the light board. (See http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=105512&highlight=decoder+install  to get the "Gray's Anatomy" on it.) Then to bed. Goodnight all and God Bless. Prayers for all in need of Healing, Comfort, Prosperity and Peace.Angel

 

 

 

 

"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.

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