Elliot´s Trackside Diner February 2011

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee and an order of French Toast please. Yes, Maple syrup. Thanks.

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 16. Wind chill values between -9 and 1. West northwest wind between 8 and 11 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 1. Wind chill values between -1 and -6. West northwest wind between 5 and 7 mph.

Ok. We’re gonna try again today. My sister is to come back and finish going through Mom’s stuff. She is to be there around 10 or 11 am. I’m expecting at some point in time between 10:30 and 11:30, they will call with some mumbled reason they can’t make it. IF that happens AGAIN, my fuse will be very, very short. I just need her signature and I can legally start getting rid of things and get out of the apartment.

After that, I need to get into the basement and do what I want. Again, we’ll see.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[galaxy]

Morning

Waiting for the "semi-reliable" guy to call to come and replace teh heat tape that is failing according to him. He's a new guy to us who came to thaw pipes for us 2 weeks ago, and said the heat tape is failing. He agreed when i had the cash form my disability check that he would come and replace it for us.

He was supposed to be here at 9-10 am monday, but I called and left message at 10 for him. He called at 10:20 and said he was sorry he didn't call me but was out trying to get his only vehicle {an old chevy truck} to run adn finally gave up and called for a tow to get it to the shop. He would try to get out here yesterday. I called and left 3 messages at different times yesterday and he never returned my calls. I called this am and got the bloody answering machine again and no call back yet from him.

I am beginning to think he is stiffing me. He will now be busy with more people who don't have water due to frozen pipes as the weatehr has gotten cold again, so I will go on the back burner I am sure. What do you guys think? AM I being stiffed? He also doesn't seem to be teh brightest lightbulb or the sharpest tool in the shed. MAkes me wonder.

He is one of the few guys who is certified to, and WILL work on trailer pipes as plumbers don't like to anymore- they won't crawl under trailers, yet will crawl into crawl spaces under a house. What is the bloody difference? SOme crawl spaces under houses have less height room than under a trailer taht is 36" off the ground...

The guy was reffered to us by the elderly lady on the corner, who does have ahandy man also who will work on her trailer. Maybe I call her and see if he will do it instead as Mr. Smith of smith's home improvements for trailers doesn;t seem to reliable.

MIL should be coming home today I guess. That should be good news, but Drs. said that doesn't mean that teh infection won't return. We will see. She may end up back in the hospital again in a week.

Train nut friends wife doing ok, they took the tube out of her stomach/nose, so now she can at east have tea and toast.

Thats about all, but I am sure getting steamed about getting the heat tape done...

TTYALL8R

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon,

the migraine still has its grips on me, but not as bad as it was yesterday. I can slowly move around without feeling sick to my stomach - that´s already an improvement.

Janie - nothing for me this time - I hope you don´t mind me hanging around for a little while.

Barry - if you now tell us what we see on this picture ...

John - the A4 is some loco, isn´t she? The picture must have been taken somewhere around the late 1950´s early 1960´s, looking at the ladies´ wear.

Ron - Marklin or Trix did a Hogwarts Express set some time ago. If you have to go for it, make sure it is Trix, not Marklin.

You all have a good one!

[blownout cylinder]

Ulrich:  Supposed to be rooftops...

....I thought I had enough styrene around to complete one of the garages...looks like I get to go out anyways.......megh...wait until tomorrow,,,,

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 41° supposedly with a 30% chance of rain though I've yet to see any. The high will be, you guessed it, 41° with a 60% chance of rain. The weather guesser is talking about ice and snow again. He keeps that up and there will be a lynch mob waiting for him.

I'll likely be working today getting some clutter off the layout. A simple task for most but when you have only one good foot to stand on and a compromised sense of balance it gets a bit tricky. Most times I can lean against the layout and keep my balance that way but sometimes I have to hang onto the side of the layout with one hand while using the other to sort things out. I have to take breaks often. Try standing on one leg for a while and you'll quickly discover what I mean. When (if) I get a new brace I'll be able to put equal weight on both legs and increase my working time. That won't however help my balance. That's a constant problem that I've had all my life but it's gotten worse in the last twenty years due to complications from diabetes. Due to offers of help from other modelers it looks as if I'll be able to continue work on the layout. Scenery materials are what I need most and they've stepped up to the plate to offer what they can spare. Every little bit helps. I really appreciate that and thanks to all who have offered. You know who you are. I've often thought of model railroading as a hobby where those who enjoy it also enjoy helping others to continue in it or get others started in it. I've done a lot of both over the years in the form of giving people power packs, track, rolling stock and locomotives. Not the cheap stuff either. I've also received from others that often came unannounced and accompanied by a note of thanks for whatever help or advice I had given them. I don't know how many do this but to me they're exceptional examples of what the hobby is about. It's not just something to do for your own enjoyment but to also help others enjoy it as well. Well, I've bent your ear for long enough. Time to get on with the days business, such as it is.

[howmus]

Mornin'..... er..... Afternoon folks!

Sheesh, where does the time go?  Already dealt with 30 or so emails this morning.  Most of them needed a reply..........  Are we still serving breakfast Zoe?  Good, I'll have a short stack of blueberry pancakes (leave the Maple syrup at the table), some bacon, a glass of Ed's OJ, and lots of dark roast coffee in a R&GV RR mug.  Please and thank you!

blownout cylinder

Now THAT's snow!  Looks like some photos I have seen of the Old and Weary from way back.  One of the reasons they never showed a profit was the problem they had in some areas keeping the tracks open.

Currently 14°F up from 7° overnight.  A bit of sunshine peeking through now and then, but a chilly day outside here in the Finger Lakes.

Hope you all have a great day!

73

[AmanaMedic]

Gooooooooooooooooooood Mornin', if breakfast is still up, I'll grab a stack of pancakes with peanut butter (hope nobody keels over from the peanuts) and maple-flavored corn syrup syrup. Oh, bucket of Boot Coffee to wash it down please 'n thanks.

BARRY: THAT snowbound train pic looks like one from near Center Point and Walker, Iowa on the Rock Island. Geepers, "global warming" must've been rampant back then...

Good luck and good wishes today everybody. Sounds like we've got some people in need.

Chris

 

[Cox 47]

Good Afternoon All...Its cloudy and cold here posta be below 0 tonite but up near 50 by week-end..hope we can get rid of some of this ice so I can get out on my power chair...

I'll have a windy City Dawg,onion rings and aRBF please..Thank You!..

Mess'in around on E bay picked up a couple of Jazz cds on the cheap..seems like train stuff is going to high!..

This is the caboose I finnished yesterday..picked it up used,painted roof with $ Store rattle can flat black,weathered with thined down craft paint and changed trucks and couplers..

You all have a good one...Jerry

[howmus]

LSWrr

 

Ray did you see that Trainland/trainworld has the 1930’s passenger cars on sale?  5 36’ cars for $59.

 

Lee,  36' passenger cars?  1930's???  Not familiar with those.  Spent an hour or so trying to find Trainworld as my old bookmark does't work.....  They do have the Rivarossi Heavyweights, but only in PRR decor unless they are hidden somewhere else at the site.  I hate to buy ones in a roadname because that makes a whoile lot of extra work for me.  have to take them apart, strip all the paint off, set up the airbrush equipment, buy Pullman Green, dilute it down, airbrush them, clean the airbrush (only thing I really don't like about airbrushes...) then, decal them for the SLOW.....

I much rather get them already in Pullman Green, plop decals for the SLOW in the proper places, number, and coat with Dullcoat, do some weathering, and get them into use.  I felt lucky to find what I wanted at Walther's........

But, I do appreciate the thought and now I have the place bookmarked again, so i can check them out from time to time.  (36' passenger cars in the 1930's????????)

73

[cudaken]

 Afternoon folks.

 Boy I wished I was scheduled (spell check) to work today. Nothing worst than feeling like poop on your day off.  Sue cooked me some eggs this morning and after that have not felt like doing much of anything. Think I better stick to eating here at the dinner!

 Flo, a pitcher of and a frosted Monon Mug please, and how about some peanuts as well.

 Stupid Bank of America. Made a $1000.00 house payment today and they took it. I asked if there was in one at the branch I could talk to about my loan, answer was No. Guess they are afraid they have customer punching there employees if they did.

 Train Front DT 400 is acting goofy again. It is plugged into the DB 150 and the DB 150 is off. DT 400 should say idle. But NO, it says Idle, then Idlq, then idle, then Idlg again over and over. If I twist the right speed control it says Idng?   While it will still control the engines, only thing that shows on the display is the speed of the engines. No F functions or engine address. 

 It would figure I have train company coming over Thursday. Tony is dropping by again and bring some Atlas engines to run. That could be interesting, Tony has only used my DT 400 one time and it was working right then. 

 Need to go and drop by the DCC section.

 See you all later.

              Ken

[galaxy]

LSWrr

Good Morning,

 

Ray did you see that Trainland/trainworld has the 1930’s passenger cars on sale?  5 36’ cars for $59.

 

Hi,

could you provide more info on who makes them, and preferably provide a link??

I searched all over trainworld's site to no avail to find/search for them.

Thank you!

[DrgnTrappr]

Good Evening Everyone!

Just coffee,Flo the thick truck driver stuff.

Well yesterday I got enough materials to build four modules for the layout, I still need to decide on how high and what material to use for the legs. the local big box hardware store here do,es not carry 2" foam board but they said they could order it for me even if I only ordered one sheet, but I want to check out some other sources before I order it. Was hoping to get  up to the studio and get to work today but I am still feeling under the weather maybe tomorrow. supposed to snow tonight and if we get more than a dusting they cancel school here so I might be able to talk my teenage daughter into giving me a hand. This will tell me if she really wants to get involved or if the Hogwarts train is just because it is from Harry Potter.

I want to go and shoot some pictures of the train wreck from the movie "The Fugitive" it is one of the movie scenes I want to model on my layout. Surprisingly the wreck is still there but almost all the paint is gone from the engines, it has just been to cold and wet around here for me to get down to were it is at. Another scene I want to model is from the original 1959 "War of the Worlds", I have found the martian machines in N and O scale but not HO so I may get the wife to help me mold them out of clay.

Ok I have rambled on enough here so I will take a cup of mud to go and hope to chat again tomorrow with some progress to report.

Good Night All

Ron

[jeffrey-wimberly]

DrgnTrappr

I want to go and shoot some pictures of the train wreck from the movie "The Fugitive" it is one of the movie scenes I want to model on my layout. Surprisingly the wreck is still there but almost all the paint is gone from the engines,

In some ways movie companies are like small children (or some big ones) in that they have a habit of leaving their toys lying around.

[Cederstrand]

Decaf coffee in a SNOWY SOUTHERN mug, please.

Neat pics being posted. Keep it up folks, we do enjoy them.

Long farm day here. Trying to get up the energy to head down to the train room now.

Cheers! Rob

 

[der5997]

Good evening folks, following Ray's fine example, I actually spent some time running trains, after clearing the steps, driveway , and ramp after lunch. Then I was ready for a big hot chocolate, and one of Kris' fresh cherry tarts she made for a meeting tonight. OK, it was a "second" so I wasn't tasting "Forbidden Fruit".

 

 

Tim: that's very cheerful news about your wife being able to return to work. Send her please our best regards. Also interesting about those self-adhesive grass clumps. How high ( fractional inches) are they ? I'm wondering out loud how useful they would be in Normal Scale.

 

Garry: Our thoughts are with you and your mom too. A difficult transition for her. My Dad re-married after my mom died; and this worked fine until she died too. The ironic thing was she died of lung cancer, she wasn't a smoker, it was the result of second hand smoke.  Took the skids right out from under my Dad I can tell you - so watch your mom. Dad came through eventually, and died at 98!

 

Ron:

Well that almost knocked me out of my chair, and believe me I know where this would end, three months from now.

...Not sure what you have in view there, but if you are thinking anything like I did when my daughter wanted a  "Train set" for Christmas when she was about 12, tread lightly.  Oh, she got the set no problem, but like a complete idiot (well not "like", I mean "as" ) I stole it from her by adding turnouts and so on that made it more complicated than she wanted, and she stopped playing with it - but I didn't. What a clutz!

 

Ulrich:

John - the A4 is some loco, isn´t she? The picture must have been taken somewhere around the late 1950´s early 1960´s, looking at the ladies´ wear.

...sharp eye Sir, and closer examination brought back memories of my mother in just such a dress, but not quite. However, that general style has an unfortunately enduring quality. Here's a close up, and you'll see it's a "crisper" look than I remember from the period.  Check out the hair styles as well - don't look too 50s to me IIRC.What do you make of the vehicle? Also, check out the ties - they have a decided and uniform dished profile ( seen better in the original photo) and scream concrete to me. I understand that the Mallard is run 3 or 4 times a year. I'm guessing that's where the photo is sourced. TSF should be able to tell us.

 

Barry: I'll see your American and raise you a whatever this is.

 

I'm waiting for Kris to return from the Arts Society AGM. I hope she makes it by 9:30, which is when the Comedy channel has The Big Bang Theory. She missed an episode tonight on our "local" station, CTV because of the meeting. Anyhoo, I'll say Goodnight, and God Bless. Prayers for all in need of Healing, Comfort, Prosperity and Peace. htt

 

[cudaken]

 Belch. Time to hit the hay. Belch again.

[teen steam fan]

Hey folks. 

Not much from me. Bought myself a new printer yesterday for school and printing decals. Wireless, so I can print stuff from my layout in the basement and have it done and waiting for me in my room. They are convenient when you can get the blasted thing working. Now if my mom can find the disc that came with the one we had before, I can get that working too. 

DerJohn and Urlich- I honestly don't know. What I do know now is that Mallard is on display at the NRM's Shiloh museum. She's been on static display for a while, so I don't know when she was last ran. 

[fireman216]

Good late evening diners!!...Just a small hot fudge sundae please...with a scoop of peanut butter on the side. We finally got a days break from the snow here except for about 30 miles north of here. There is a nice lake effect snow band setup of off Lake Ontario about 25 miles wide that is dumping snow at the rate of 2-3 inches per hour. The poor folks will be waking up to another 2 feet of snow!! . That is where my boss lives and he is pretty used to it. While most of us worry about keeping our driveway clean he worries about keeping his roof clean!! We have been working details in the Fire dept taking shifts trying to unbury the hydrants and making sure the caps are loose. It's a never ending battle it seems...but routine this time of year. We may actually hit the 30's this weekend!! Went to the Carrier dome for the Bball game. Had great seats and our beloved Syracuse Orangemen lost to the Georgetown Hoyas. Can't wait for March madness!!!

DER...check this link out about the grass tufts.  http://www.sceneryexpress.com/products.asp?dept=1056 The tufts are anywhere from 2mm to 6mm in length.

JERRY...Love the Chessie caboose...reminds me of one I had as a child. I think I burned out several wheelsets on it as I ran it non stop.

Well...off to bed to catch some zzzzs before my wife yells downstairs the usual "Are you coming to bed"!!!...In that voice like Edith from All in the Family. Take care everyone....Tim

[Cederstrand]

Bacon, scrambled eggs and hashbrowns, please. Who cares if it's almost 2:00am.

More cool pics being posted I see.

Briefly visited the train room, mostly to contemplate plans for my (N) layout. A geo-thermal plant near the volcano mining operation seems like a worthy pursuit. It could be the power plant to support the Soylent Green manufacturing complex. 

I'm also "considering" altering my plans for a rocky desert layout to accommodate the wife's desire for a Smokey Mountain backdrop. It could work, just not sure I want to sacrifice the original concept.  

It's snowing again. Will likely melt away by midday.

Rob

 

[Anonymous]

Good Morning,

did not catch much sleep last night, so I feel a little drowsy already.

Flo, strong coffee for me, please.

John - I have been trying to date the picture, but I can still only guess. The picture comes from the files of the National Railway Museum in York, but I could not find a clue to its date there. Looking at the lady´s dress, I clearly say it was taken in the late 1950´s or early 1960´s. There is a gentleman shown with a hair style you would have found in the late 1960´s and color of the car and bumper style also point into that direction. It could be a Fiat 124, which was introduced in 1966. The use of concrete sleeper started at about the same time. All of this points to a year around 1968, but that would leave the woman wearing her mother´s cloths. I guess we will never find out...

Have a good day, folks!

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[Wisconsin Railfan]

Good Morning Folks!

Thermos off coffee please!

-11 here with wind chill - Have a great day all!

Steven

[blownout cylinder]

GGGood MMorning!  

Currently we are sitting at -3F with a windchill at -12F....it is fracking CCOLD out there! We actually went for a walk in this brisk air this morning!! 

But we are seeing a sunrise ...

Today I get to pick up some styrene from my FLHS and actually finish off another project...then I'm going to work on my so called photography skills...hohoho  

Flo, I'll have a coffee and a breakfast bagel please....I'll be at the window booth watching the sunrise..

[LSWrr]

Good Morning,

Jeff, got your wish list for layout supplies.  If I have time to go through my stuff this weekend I’ll let you know.  Those Ink Jet Decals I’m not really impressed with, but until I can re-stock the ink in the ALPS it’s all I can do right now.  I think it’s the clear coat that makes them curl.  The paper thickness doesn’t help either.

 

Galaxy, make sure he uses a heat tape for plastic pipe if that’s what you have.  I replaced a heat tape on a mobile home last winter and it made a world of difference this year.  Also if you unplug the tape in the summer and put a few drops of whal clipper oil on the plug (not the outlet) and then use a three prong adaptor to protect the heat tape plug while it’s hanging there it will last a lot longer.

 

RAY & Galaxy: I see they sold out of all the other road names, just D&RGW remain.  They are 50’ not 36’ (sorry) Roundhouse units, set of 4 at $49.99 …Fully assembled and ready to operate
New window and clerestory glazing
Wire truss rods
Molded plastic underframe with seperately applied brake cylinder
Razor sharp printing and painting
Machined RP25 profile 33" metal wheels
Magnetically operated knuckle couplers
Four pack includes one each of baggage/combine, mail car, coach and business car
Coach in this four pack has a different road number than the single coach

 

http://www.trainworldonline.com/catalog/category/detail.php?id=27094&find_section=686

 

 

Friend of mine bought the NKP set for his layout; he said they were used as (150 mile runs) commuter cars back when he was a kid.

 

SLOW progress on the grain elevator, but it’s not really a MESS anymore.  The tortoise switch machine is installed (but not wired), shrubberies and some tall static grass (3mm wheat color) are installed and the price board is printed and ready to be installed.  The sidings are connected to the mainline and the main line turnout tortoise is installed, wired and working.

[Robby P.]

 Good "cold" morning.   Its currently 7 degrees and the wind chill is -7.

 Well I think I caught what Jessica had .   Cough, runny nose.  No sore throat, but it still sucks.

 Not much planned for me.  Fight this cold, and take it easy.

[AmanaMedic]

Goooooooooood Mornin', bucket of coffee please.

-20 in the area, according to Yahoo. -18 in the local area according to NWS Quad Cities.

"Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 16. Wind chill values as low as -25. Southwest wind between 5 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph."

It's gonna be a peach of a day...

Chris

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee and Huevos Rancheros please. Thanks

Today:

Sunny, with a high near 18. Wind chill values between -3 and -13. Southwest wind between 7 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.

I….could….strangle…. my sister   . She showed, 5 hours late, went through the same room she finished with before, just to be sure…. And filled the car again. Now she “reserves the right for one more visit”. My Niece was right. She has nothing to do with Mom for years and now swoops in for the kill on anything and everything she can take that may be worth something. Leaving me, of course, once again, cleaning up HER mess and under the time gun to do it. When this is over, she will return to estrangement. Let her waller in her “fond memories” and her treasures alone. (if this sounds like I'm bitter for what she took, nothing could be farther from the truth. Admittedly, Mom made sure Brenda and I recieved all the important family heirlooms and things we wanted over the last several years as we went through this whole moving process.)

They were supposed to return this morning at 9ish but called off AGAIN! I should be out of that apartment by the end of this month and she is reeeeeally urinating me off lollygagging around and reminiscing about every towel she sees , calling her husbanad in to try and discuss why anyone would have so many cans of haispray or analyzing forensically why something is the way it is. TAKE IT and figure it out at home or leave it BE! MOVE ON!

(spoken calmly) Actually, I don’t have to be out until end of March. I told her February so she can push you up to the wall as she does and then do you a favor by “just letting you have it all so you can get the place cleared” too close to the deadline to avoid being late without looooong days hauling crap. She has done this twice before from rentals she has had from Mom.

Any whoo, don’t know what I’ll do this morning other that PLAN on getting snowblower out of truck. Haven’t had time yet. And maybe a little layout work. Then w**k at five.

Now, you watch. Something will come up that prevents that from happening.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 28° and cloudy with a 10% chance of snow. The high will be 41°  and variably cloudy.

Today's task is to clear the clutter off the layout as I didn't get it done yesterday. Maybe I'll just bring a trash can in and clear the clutter off into it as it mostly consists of stuff I no longer use and just keeps getting in the way. I can't imagine anyone wanting this stuff and I couldn't afford to send it off even if they did. Much of it consists of pieces of old structure kits and freight cars of assorted types that were used as parts sources for other cars. The rest is just assorted junk of one kind or other.

[GMTRacing]

Good morning All,

    20F and sunny this morning. Still awash in shop stuff so no rivet counter time for me this morning. I'll have a regular to go and do just that.

   Lee - stuff is on your way - UPS

   Jeff - if you want to shoot me an updated material list as a PM I can look to see whats around.  CUL, J.R.

  

ooh and I get TOP as well - I'll just leave the card on the register ladies and I'm off.

[cudaken]

 Morning Folks.

 Flo, I have the scrambled egg's, bacon, hash browns and wheat toast ad some milk please.

 Just checked the Temperature here in Maryville IL, a balmy 8 degrees. This is the longest we have had snow cover scenes I moved here 20 years ago. Think it has been 3 weeks now. While I won't call it a bad winter (I like snow) I sure would like to see it warm up some. I be happy with high 20's right now.

 Been to cold to mess with the Dodge Daytona, like to get the other battery in the car and see if it is good.

 H&R Block I am sure you folks have seen the ad's where they will do your Federal Taxes for free. We are heading down there today at 10:30 to get ours done. I just hope we don't owe this year.

 Train Front Tony is dropping by around 1:00 and bringing over some Atlas engines. I will be interested in seeing how they run. I never had a Atlas.

 DT 400 problem I am starting to think the problem is the socket on the DB 150. I plugged the DT 400 into one of the UP ports on the bench and the display cleared right up.

       See you all later today.

                Ken