elliots diner: the January 2011 edition...

[Cederstrand]

Decaf coffee, please.

***Ken, hope it works out well for you. There is something to be said for getting out of ongoing debt. I will likely die in debt, at least to some degree. As long as there is fun to be had in life along the way and our critters are kept well fed, that is all that matters (to me).

***Garry, that's a good idea, too. 2 steamers double heading would be cool. Or, he rcurrent steamer for the circus train and 1 good size diesel to do double duty for the maintenance train and log train??? Eihter way, will need to sell some stuff to aquire any new DCC w/sound loco.

Flew my wife's 2 RC planes today. Too windy for the small one but I managed to land it safely. Then flew her large plane and crashed it 3 times into different trees. Seems my depth perception was entirely off, hopefully more from wearing Noir sunglasses than do to eye floaters. Seemed I was going to miss every one of them, but hit them all hard. Otherwise, for first flights I managed some loops and rolls will little difficulty. That larger plane took a real beating though. With a prop change it will fly again. Nice thing about model trains, they are not likely to hit trees unless you're really not paying attention to your layout.

Good night y'all. Rob

[cudaken]

 Evening folks.

 Flo, a side salad and a please.

 Jeffery I got ask what was wrong with the Proto 2000 that you swiped it's truck? My self, I rather have a PK over a Athearn.

 Last two days have been good news and bad news kinda of days.

 Good News Last few days have been good at work. In two days I have sold around $5000.00 in mattress. So I no longer look like a ***. Ben the sales manager today sort of confirmed I was looking like a *** when he stated "looks like you are going to be fine" and $5000.00 in two days is great! I did point out to him I knew I looked like a ***, but when I worked with Chad the door was swinging his way (luck was on his side) and I was getting all the $300 mattress set customers and Chad was getting all the $900.00 mattress set customers.

 While he understands this does happen, he need to see me produce and he has now. To think I get a pat on the back for $5000.00 in two days? At Mattress Giant I had a $8,000 day followed by a $12,000.00 day.

 Bad news Sounds like I am going to lose the house. I won't go into great details right now because I am exhausted. Unemployment messed up again and only sent me $747.00 where they owed me $1400.00 +. I called the Bank of Cheat em and How of America and I  the rep I was going to send $750.00 Saturday and would send another $700.00 Monday. I was outright told I would not send the $750.00, it will not make a differences. Your account is in review for fore-closer and could go into foreclosed on before we hang up. Does not give one a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

 I did send the $750.00 (not that smart) and a detail letter of what I am hoping to give them in the next few months like anyone is going to read it.

 Good news? I did a search of the area I live in and found house's about the same sizes as I am livening in for $650 to $750.00 range. Plus I am working so that will help if I need to rent a house. Plus I will have a burden off my back after 20 years! When I bought the house 20 years ago and I had a stable income and I knew my single income would be push to pay the payment. (I had great credit and charge cards and car payments) My wife swore she would get a real 40 hour a week job if I bought the house for her! She lied. I still hold that against her and will till one of us is taking a dirt nap.

 Time to sleep and dream about hitting the Lotto!

                Ken

    

[BamaCSX83]

Good evening all.  Nothing for me.  Just stopping in for a quick minute before heading off to bed.  Not feeling all the swift at the moment, dunno if its just tired, or if I'm coming down with something. 

Talk to y'all later I guess.

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Flo, just a cup of decaf for me.

Been an interesting day.  I no sooner got myself down the layout and was starting to put together the first of many belt drive assemblies, when the phone rang.  My son, inviting me over for dinner.  Now Sunday is usually the family dinner thing at their house, but it seems they were celebrating his wife's Uncle's Birthday tonight.  I had 45 minutes to finish up what I was doing (hang up a wash), change my clothes, and drive over to his house.  Shouldn't have hurried, the Birthday boy was an hour late.....  I looked to see if i had a borthday card in my collection of unused cards, but the closest i could come was a sympathy card.  So i justy sand extra loud when the cake was brought out.

Heartland Division CB&Q

 

Ray ... You don't care for Mexican food. Holy Tamale! What will we do with you? Good to hear about the wonderful evening with your sister.

Nah, they put smaters and THAT salsa stuff on everything, and it somehow always resembles left overs....  I actually have found a couple items on the menu I do like so I don't mind going there really.  Took a couple years for the guy who owns it to get a client base built up, but now it is Thee Hot Spot in Canandaigua.  Always packed!

Garry, I thought THAT Van of Jeffrey's was the Sundown Shops Official Vehicle.....

Galaxy, glad the surgury has helped a bit.  Hopfully as it completes healing you will have more relief!

Later!

73

[teen steam fan]

Hey folks. 

Der-Ain't that the truth for government. Its the same thing here in the US and Illinois too. 

The jokes were funny. I think I may make my own offering. 

I was in a small town south of where I live at the gas station. An old farmer pulled up next to me and we started shooting the breeze. I looked in the back of his truck and saw that he had a pig with a wooden leg. 

"Hey," I asked, "How'd your pig get the wooden leg?" 

"Well, you remember a few years ago when all those twisters hit?" 

"Yeah." 

"Well, my wife and I were trying to get to our basement when the twister hit and collapsed our house. That pig rooted through the rubble to find us and drug us out of there and waited for the fire department. Saved our lives" 

"So, is that how the pig got the wooden leg?" 

"No, that spring I was out in the fields with plowing. The ground was wet from all the rain we got. My tractor's tire got caught in a washout and the tractor flipped over on top of me. That pig came over, flipped the tractor back on it's wheels and drug me to the side of the road and got a police officer to take me to the E.R.Saved my life." 

"So is that how the pig got the wooden leg?" 

"No, that summer, we had the grandkids over and the youngest, about 8 months old, toddled over the the edge of the dock and fell into the pond. That pig jumped in and swam to her and pulled her out. Saved her life."

"Is THAT how the pig got the wooden leg?" By this point I was getting annoyed. 

"No." 

"Then how'd the pig get the wooden leg?"

"A pig like that, you don't eat him all at once."  

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Sir Madog

Jeff - why does the paint scheme of this loco remind me of your van?

Next, we might hear that Sundown Shops has named the van an "AAR truck".

 

Everybody ... If you have not seen the video of George Sellios' layout, I suggest you go there now. It's very worthwhile. The home page of the MR forum has the link.

Duke ... If you are peaking in, you may be interested in the Berksahire on George Selious's.

Ron in NC ... I'm sorry to learn of your surgery and the long ordeal afterwards. Very glad to hear about the imporvement.

Galaxy .. I've wondered where you were. Glad there is some improvement. Will pray for more. Sounds challenging about FIL, Dad, and MOH. Hope all goes well.

Ray ... You don't care for Mexican food. Holy Tamale! What will we do with you? Good to hear about the wonderful evening with your sister.

Rob ... You might not be very far from Ron in NC. Sounds like you need a double header for the track cleaning car.

[blownout cylinder]

"Fell" across this in the wires...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12317356

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Possibly because it's almost the same.

[Anonymous]

Jeff - why does the paint scheme of this loco remind me of your van?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

[TMarsh]

Welp, aboutr time for a nap. I pulled an Ulrich last night. That means I just did't sleep all that well.

Ulrich- Glad you're getting started.

G- Glad you have at least some pain relief from the surgery.

Ron- Glad you feel better and I hope your Doctor is able to tell you you're Cancer free soon.    

(I seem to be glad abbout everything)

Speaking about people who are getting back to MRRing, I did spend a bit of time in the old choo choo room this morning cypherin out the track. I've come up with a pretty good plan I think (not really much of a "plan" but it sounds good to put it that way). It should accomodate the passenger station in one of the towns without a name yet, and the mainline. I've realized I don't need three tracks (why for some reason I felt that way I don't know) so that will give me room in front of the tracks for a highway and some structures. I hope. At least one or the other but I hope for both even if it's just one lane modeled. 18 inches sounds like more than it really is, but I opted to trade a few inches in layout width or a few inches in isle width. 

I'll come from the north and meet with the trickier part where the upper level meets the lower level on the south end. Not sure how that will end up because I have trouble with the smooth transitions in grade. The normal direction of travel is clockwise so the down grade can be a bit steep, but I don't want it any steeper than it has to be obviously, plus you never know, I may run the other way from time to time when DCC comes to Toddland (of which I'm king). Anyway, I may not get the upper level functioning with the lower level for a bit, but I shouldn't have too much trouble completing the lower level. As I said before, I'll need a trip to the FLHS before I can complete either.

Hey, at least, I'm able to get back to the layout and I have the parts of the layout where I can piddle with some scenery and a few kits and projects to work on also. Things are looking up here.

(yaaaaawn) my comfy chair is calling me. Oh..., I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition.

(I just may regret saying that.)

 

[DrgnTrappr]

Good mid-afternoon everyone, I,ll have an extra large soda and some fries, Flo.

Well was a busy day and I was not able to drop in yesterday, stopped by the big dollar sale of used electronics at the university lots of computers and moniters some furniture. I grabbed up a couple of Dell speakers and an HP 1700 series printer, but I missed out on the media projecters, everything was just a dollar so it was worth the trip.

The Dr. says I may be able to go back to work soon, so after a little over a year off, two major surgeries, removal of two vital organs, six rounds of chemo and, five weeks of daily radiation treatmentshe thinks I am going to jump back into that big car hauler and hump up and down the ladders and ramps and hit the road agian. Now domt get me wrong I loved my job and took alot of prid in shoving 11 cars onto a 75' truck toting them 600 miles and driving them off with out a single scatch. But I just know that I am just physically not able to do it anymore, and there is also the fact that my job may have been the cause of my cancer, I also promised my daughter and my wife that I would not be gone on the road like that anymore. The Dr. wont tell me I am cancer free but I feel better than I did a few months ago.

After all that I was up in the studio moving the 220 power lines so I can move the kilns and open up some space so I can start putting the modules together. I hope to be laying track by mid Febuary, I am so looking forward to have a layout again after nearly 40 years.

Oh,oh, the better half is calling, she needs me to trade out the oxygen bottles up in the glass studio. So I better get on it.

See you all again soon.

Ron

[Cederstrand]

Coffee in a  SUNNY SOUTHERN  mug, please.

***Der, I haven't looked at the bell yet. I will need to get out the magnifier for that one. My eyes are not good at all these days. We'll see about the other stuff, but I reckon there are plenty of places to place "stuff", especially if we give 'em some rust treatment. I'll be adding some rock work to the chicken house site to more easily fit everything. No problem, just need to decide precisely where and then get busy on it. BTW, I like that cleaner you made.

The new cleaning car works GREAT. Only issue is the wife's Bachman 2-8-0 doesn't weigh enough to push it through crossings so I need to give it a hand, or at least a finger. Also spins it's drivers some around turns in the track. Eventually, we're going to need either a larger/heavier steamer or heavy diesel for her "maintenence train". It could also serve as the designated log train loco. Already have a diesel, but it's not DCC and I just don't know if I want to try converting it. But new DCC w/sound locos cost an absolute fortune these days. Yikes!

Having a reasonably smooth day here with the Inlaws.

Cheers!  Rob

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I was thinking about how the Athearn blue box F7 looked with the AAR truck on it last night. I would have put one on the back as well except that the rear flywheel (spline drive uses larger flywheels than hex RTR drive) got in the way. Well, a little while ago I got an Athearn F7 with hex drive down off the shelf and went to work on it. I changed out the two perfectly good Athearn trucks with two Proto 2000 trucks from an Alco FB frame (no body, no motor, it no run again) just to see how well they would fit. They fit like a glove. All I had to change was the worm assembly. I like the way it looks so much that I'm leaving it just the way it is. May the rivet counters go into vapor lock!

[galaxy]

Hi guys,

I haven't been in lately as I just haven't felt like it, or in typing, or being on the 'puter.

Not much really.

My incision is healing nicely and It has reduced some of the continuous back pain, but nto eliminated teh canstant back pain if that makes any sense. I still cannot stand for longer periods {over 10-15 mins} and cannot get through cooking dinner or doing household chores without agony.

The FIL is being a real "pickle" and the MIL is now home. They never did find out what was wrong with her. But she seems to have recovered her speach and conherency.

Went to my dads, and he is fine, and said he hopes he never gets to be teh FIL is being. I mean, com'on he drops a cup to the floor, calls MOH in a panic and says "get over here right away i need you" and then only wnats MOH to pick up the cup, claiming he can't do it and "your mother doesn;t want it in the middle of the floor". It's like lets get real. He will cry "wolf" one too many times.... ANd this business fo shopping a grocery list every day instead of once a week is getting old. "Go shopping and buy us eggs, your mother wants eggs and we don't have any"...he plays the "mother" card on MOH, but I told MOH years ago that "using mother to get to father or to get father to do something" was gonna backfire. And now it is as FIl is using "mother as excuse" for every little picky-uny thing he wantst o be a baby about.

I guess FIL DID fall int he hospital while MIL was there adn the Dr.s told him he shouldn;t be doing anything much, so now he has more "ammo".

Well that's enough for now.

Have a great day!

TTYALLL8R

[howmus]

Mornin' Bill!  Mornin' Barry!  Mornin' all the rest of you good folks!

Zoe I'll have a short stack of buttermilk pancakes this morning with a side order of bacon and a cup of dark roast coffee.  I go sit in the front booth and watch the switcher work the yard.

Ulrich, sounds like you are having fun again!  Wonderful!

Had a fun day yesterday.  Got the 2 tortoise machines set up and operating correctly after some curious glitches.  He is using NCE Switchits to operate them.  The first one we programed before installing on the torti since the machine was already up in place under the layout.  No problem, worked as it should.  He just had to figure out the sequence on the throttle to work it.  Got it wired up under the layout and ran a train through to check it out.  Everything was wired correctly and the train ran through without a problem. The next one.....  Couldn't get the Switchit to program.  We scratched our heads, checked how it was wired, tried again.  No luck!  I finally told him to unhook it from the torti and try it.  He asked what difference that would make?  I mentioned that the torti was putting load across the switchit and that might prevent it from being programed.  The light turned on, he unhooked the torti from the circuit and tried again.  Success!  Rewired it to the torti tried it and it was working properly.  Then we installed it under the layout.  This was in a spot where it took 2 of us under there to get it up in place.......  The first time the turnout would throw in one direction, but hung up on the other.....  Under layout again and found the torti was a bit sideways the run of the track.  Repositioned, this time using some of the magic words Mom didn't like....  Worked like a charm.  Ran a train through....  Train shorted on the frog......  The look on his face showed a bit of frustration   Told him to just switch the 2 wires going to the internal toggle on the torti (we added a terminal strip to this one.  He immediately saw why I suggest THAT!)  Switched the 2 wires, and she ran beautifully!!!  

What I thought would be an hour and a half job turned out to take over 4 hours....  i was smart and called my sister to let her know I would be late (we were going out to dinner).  Very smart idea actually...  By the time I made it to her house, she was staring at her watch and had the "YOU'RE LATE!" look on the face.  I mentioned I have waited for her on many occasioned which she immediately said, "I HAVE NEVER MADE YOU WAIT FOR ME......."  I mentioned soome late flights when I picked her up from the airport on numerous occations and she seemed to be satisfied that it really wasn't her fault in those cases.  So as punishment we went to the Mexican Restaurant I don't like.  Actually the place was just listed in an upstate NY guide as the best Mexican Food around!  I just don't care for Mexican food.....  The place was packed.  So I sat at the table by myself for 45 minutes while my sister went and bothered several patrons and employees she hadn't seen in a couple weeks.  Then went back to her house to give my sister some help changing a light bulb that she can't reach to change and show her how to type in an url in the address line of her computer.....  Both of which were just reasons to get me too watch an hour or so of some fantastic photos from her trip to Bhutan a couple months ago.  It is a very photogenic place, and she got some world class photos! 

All of the above was to tell you it was the wee hours when I arrived back home last night to a couple of upset kitties who thought I had left for good and didn't leave treats in their food dish........

Sorry for going on for so long...  Catch you all later!

73

[Anonymous]

 

Good Afternoon Folks,

Zoe, I need a good , how about a good Flensburger Pilsener:

Shortly after I had written my early morning post, I went to our local home improvement place and bought some of the lumber and paint - now there are the first 3 modules waiting in our attic for the paint to dry. It was just a handful of $ for all - certainly a humble one, but a beginning!

I am back to active MRRing!

Oh joy, oh rapture!

Zoe, whatever the chowhounds are ordering, put it on my tab (can I pay next month?)

TTFN

[jeffrey-wimberly]

TMarsh

Boy my sinuses are pressing big time. I may explode!

 

Sounds like you could benefit from some of my chili. It's been known to clear the sinuses quite well.

 

Good morning. It's 48° and mostly cloudy. The high will be around 70° and partly cloudy. There's a 40% chance of rain tonight.

Went to a barbecue at a friends place last night and had a good time. Later changed out a defective truck on an Athearn F7 with a truck from a Proto 2000 FA. I fitted blomberg side frames to it this morning. The FA also had a Bachmann decoder in it. It tested as good so I'll be using it in the F7 as well. I had been thinking about getting a Digitrax DZ125 for it but why spend the money when I already have something that'll work. Today's work is to get back to the GLEAMing process I didn't finish yesterday. When the body says it's hurting too much it's time to stop.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning! Coffee please Thanks

Boy my sinuses are pressing big time. I may explode!

Guess what!  …….no, really..., guess.

Inch- The list gave me a good chuckle. I think a few of those will come in handy so I saved it.

Garry- Scrap yard is great!

Der- That joke was a good one too. I reminds me of the man taking his wife hunting for the first time joke.

I’m like Garry (well not really, my hair is a bit darker, but we do both wear glasses  ). My bench work is built in sections also. My plan was in case I had to move it I could. Then just yesterday I thought, “ gee. What are the chances of me moving to a place where this thing would fit?” But, you never know and it would be a lot easier to move if I ever had too.

Through guessing? Ok you give. I got the foam laid yesterday. Yup. Now I can begin laying some roadbed and some track WHICH, as luck would have it, will require a trip to, you guessed it, Castle Trains to get a turnout or two and probably some track etc. I haven’t been there in what seems like forever. I hope they remember me. Well, only one kinda knows me. He’s the one that works during the week when I usually go in. The others are there on weekends and I don’t usually go in then. Why not? I have no idea.

Well, I have no idea what I will do today. Brenda hasn’t told me…. IIIII MEAN, I haven’t figured out what needs to be done nor have I ASKED her what she would like done that I am WILLING to do. (ahem) Ya, that’s it..... So I guess I just play it by ear.

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

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Train Master

 

Oh my God! How could you do that to that poor Alco!

 

It wasn't easy. The P2K FA is pretty well built. Other than that is was a snap.

[Train Master]

jeffrey-wimberly

I have an Athearn F7 that had a bad front truck so I was going to change it out. Problem! I don't have an Athearn truck that will fit the frame. It was then that I remembered I had a Proto 2000 FA A unit in the closet. I pulled the front truck out of it and checked it out. It would fit the frame with only a minor modification. The loco works now even if it does look a bit strange being that the front truck is very definitely an AAR type and the rear truck is a Blomberg type.

Oh my God! How could you do that to that poor Alco!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good morning.

Snow did not last long here. It has been above freezing last couple of days.  

Barry ... Excitement at your place! Good the driver was not hurt.

Ulrich ... Barry mentioned modular layout construction. I would agree. My layout is sectional instead of modular. If I had to move the layout, it could be done. Construction is somewhat like tables end-to-end. Moving would require cutting track, wires,and scenery. So, it is not portable as is teh case with modular layouts.

[Robby P.]

 Good snowy morning.   Snow is in the forecast but just a few inches.   A MAJOR snow storm is suppose to come up "northeast" later next week.   The jet stream is going from Seattle all the way down to the Mexico boarder and then back toward West Virgina.   That's just never good!!

 Thanks again for the comments on the hopper.  I like the snow scene but you can only take those a few months of the year.    Don't really know what the plan is today.  I guess just wait and see.

 Ray.....I like those shots.   I rode the train in both directions, but I like the dam/river rafting one more.   Years ago I rafted down the one river, and it was pretty fun.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning!

My I'm up all bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning! We had a fellow show up at our door earlier this morning with a car problem...his car done blew up and was on fire in front of our home!! ...he did not have a cell phone so guess what he had to do?! Anyways..we got the fire guys down ..and the police showed up as well...more for traffic management...such as that is at the early hour...we actually found a crowd believe it or not!! 

So, today I am starting my 72 hour on call thing..looks like I might get no calls today though as everyone is all showing up and appears to have things under control...tomorrow though..

Ulrich: I do think modular is the way to go ... I've been kicking the idea around myself what with the space thing that I have going on now... 

Flo, I'll have a coffee and a bran muffin please...I'll be at the RC for a bit

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[Anonymous]

Good Morning Gang

Did not catch much sleep last night. I don´t know whether it was the bug still clinging on to me or my usual set of worries which kept me from getting the sleep I need.

Chloe, coffee, please, and bacon and eggs, buttered toast and a glass of Ed´s OJ, thank you.

The night´s been pretty cold at temps around - 12 ° C, but no snow. A week ago, we already had + 12 ° C, so it is quite a drop. Winter is here to stay!

Nothing yet planned for this weekend, I will be just waiting for something to happen.

CUL

Edit: I just found a page with some videos showing the kind of modular set-up I´ll be going for -enjoy!

Videos

[CNCharlie]

Good Evening or Morning depending on your time zone,

We had another dump of snow today but at least it was mild recognizing that a high of -5C is only mild in a relative sense. We are looking forward to -24C by Sunday but it will be sunny. More snow is what we don't need as they are now saying we could get some serious flooding in the spring.

We were out for dinner at our friends' house tonight and had a nice dinner and time. Luckily they don't live far from us so the drive wasn't a problem.

Garry, nice junk yard and shot of it along with those GN units.

Ulrich, I sent you a PM.  Glad to hear there is some progress on your TV project.

Just a short note again as Robby is ringing the bell by the back door, so out I go again.

Goodnight all,

 CN Charlie

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I have an Athearn F7 that had a bad front truck so I was going to change it out. Problem! I don't have an Athearn truck that will fit the frame. It was then that I remembered I had a Proto 2000 FA A unit in the closet. I pulled the front truck out of it and checked it out. It would fit the frame with only a minor modification. The loco works now even if it does look a bit strange being that the front truck is very definitely an AAR type and the rear truck is a Blomberg type. I tried using the other truck from the FA bit it strikes the rear flywheel. Tried changing the side frames but they're just different enough to not fit. I could get them to fit with some modification but I don't feel like doing that tonight.

[der5997]

Good evening all: The coconut shrimp curry with jasmine rice please, and a JR Regular to follow, thanks.

 

Lee:

She likes re-arranging the cows in the small pasture and moving the vehicles around on the layout when I'm at work.

I remember coming down to my Campbell River layout to find a distressed lady driver trying desperately to push her car off a grade crossing! The work of our daughter...

Tom:  congratulations on the 47^th. Anniversary.; an inspiration to us all! LOL  Kris and I discussed Valentine's Day (heads up Gentlemen, that's in just over 3 weeks time! ) We decided that, given the current economy, we'd just have dinner at the new Italian/Pizza restaurant in the Harbour and rent a movie (Despicable Me probably - haven't seen that yet)...that's unless some "must see" movie comes out between then and now....Card and chocolate is a "given"  Glad you enjoyed The King's Speech...as an ex-Brit born very early in Hitler's war, I was left with a tremendous feeling of gratitude for the Australian speech therapist who brought King George VI to a point where he could make those public speeches - they were greatly instrumental in Great Britain surviving the Nazi  onslaught. (An historical reminder, if necessary, Europe had been at war for over two years before Pearl Harbour was attacked.) Great to hear things went well with your wife's eye op.

 

Garry: I'm embarrassed, as a dweller in the GWN to say that you have more snow - from the look of the photo - than we have here on our island .

(by Bama) Garry I like the picture of the scrap yard and glad that things went well at the Dr's appointments. 

...and I like the distance feel in the backdrop too! Thanks for posting those GSMR pics.

 

Ulrich: Ah! Chicken Run! Thanks for posting that link, it brought back a raft of memories. That whole series is a riot - and very clever at many levels, not just the brilliant claymation....we really enjoyed them.  Well worth tracking down.

Janie, a mug of hot chocolate please, and add some Laphroaig to it, dear. Now John will complain about wasting this marvelous Whisky in a hot chocolate, but believe me, it´s got a grand taste to it!

..not really old chap! I'm not fond enough of whisky myself to get my knickers in a twist about what others do with it OTOH, I'm glad you're enjoying the Whisky Macs. We gave our New Glasgow friends a bottle of the Green Ginger Wine for Christmas and it's a smash hit - they have since gone through 3 more bottles - he has a regular nightcap now. Just hope we haven't started him on a slippery slope - but then my dad developed a liking for cherry brandy in his 90s and it didn't become a problem AFAIK.  The office; I guess you don't sign contracts until the bank has spoken?

 

Ron: Welcome to the Diner, make yourself at home!  Virtually anything you wish for is on the menu. Would you care to tell us about your mrr / railfan (GSMR, or broader interests?) If you want to check out Chef Ryan's layout,  go to http://piedmontdivision.rymocs.com/   Not your average Chef in any sense!

The engine is a Swiss built 4-6-0 and is equiped with europian style hook and buffer system so they have also purchased the coaches to go with the engine.

on my last trip to the UK (2001?) I was interested to see brand new gondolas with that hook and loop coupling system - something I grew up with over there, but thought had been phased out. Seems the GSMR have deep pockets...."not short of a bob" as they say, or used to, in Blighty.  Come to think of it, what else but steam would the Smoky Mountain run...Oh wait, Early Alcos!

 

Jeff: Glad the traction helped.  (Of course, TrolleyRob [now there's a long-time MIA!] would recommend it for everyone )

It gets the track really clean, gets rid of gouges  in the tops of the rails and reduces future track maintenance (cleaning) to a minimum. The old track that has been in place since around 2004 was GLEAMed in the summer of 2006 and hasn't required more than an occasional wipe with a dry cloth since.

...I'll  second your observation on the reduction of maintenance; but I could get away with just a wipe with a cloth. The salt air here still builds up a film of crud on the railhead. However, because the rail is GLEAMed, it's super smooth, and I need only repeat the polish application and buffing (not burnishing, just buffing off the applied polish) this is a lot less work than previously, but still takes about a day of work to do the entire layout. I tend to get lax about the buffing, and find the first few trains' wheels have to be cleaned frequently until all the polish has been removed from the rails. Here's my N Scale version of your block and cork. The blue material is a flooring underlay with a firm foam composition and a smooth surface. The stick lets me get into tunnels and through bridges, station platforms, between buildings, etc.

 

Mike: Great to see you made it back here (just in time for another relocation LOL) Thanks for the jokes - they're on their way to the email file! In thanks, I offer this

A farmer named Bill was overseeing his herd in a remote mountainous pasture in Scotland when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced toward him out of a cloud of dust..

The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the farmer, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

Bill looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his Cingular RAZR V3 cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg , Germany .

Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses an MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-colour, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer, turns to the farmer and says, "You have exactly 1,586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says Bill.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on with amusement as the young man stuffs it into the boot of his car.

Then Bill says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a Member of Parliament for the British Government", says Bill.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the farmer. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You used millions of pounds worth of equipment trying to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a thing about how working people make a living - or about cows, for that matter. This is a herd of sheep...

Now give me back my dog.

...doesn't bear close analysis on the use of "herd" for sheep, but it wouldn't work any other way!

 

Rob:

***Der, the silos arrived and in great shape. Thank you so very much. Wife really likes them. Guess I'll need to buckle down and make the chicken house to go with them.

...that's a huge relief, as there's no way to track a "Small Package" through Canada Post, even though it's automatically insured!  A present we mailed to our great-niece in the UK before Christmas has yet to arrive...... Glad this made it through in time for the birthday! Get busy on the chicken house, it would be interesting to see how the scene all fits together. BTW, are the other bibs and bobs of use?

 

Bama: look on the bright side, in a week's time her hair will be just that bit longer for the hairdresser to work with! Why is it kids do that SO often?

 

Chris:

Now, I "could" leave it as-is and use it as a standard grain hopper leased by Cargill (ACFX reporting marks). OR, I "could" carve off the grain hatch on the roof, replace it with small (Athearn) hatches,

....and here I sit wishing my grain hoppers had grain hatches instead of those ( for me) foobie round ones! We're never satisfied are we?

 

Robby: great looking hopper - again, very subtle.

 

Once more, "time to climb the wooden hill" -so Goodnight All, and God Bless. Prayers for all in need of Healing, Comfort, Prosperity and Peace. h

 

[Cederstrand]

Large slice of decadent chocolate cake, please.

***Garry, excellent layout pics. Put one of them on the puter desktop.

Wife loved her MRRing presents. If not needed, perhaps I'll make it down to the train room sometime tomorrow. Inlaws are a lot of work these days.

Have a good night y'all.

Cheers! Rob