Elliot´s Trackside Diner February 2011

[LSWrr]

Did anybody have trouble viewing the links I posted?

Robby sorry to hear you guys are breaking up.  Not sure what to say but keep in touch and we shall see what happens.

Attaboy, my divorce required a 180 day cooling off period.  I was in Kuwait for 9 months so it only took a couple months to get the divorce, but no new marriage license for 180 days after the divorce.  My ex who ran off with another guy while I was overseas was chomping at the bit.

[simon1966]

Ken i am on a plane at 10am UK time tomorrow flying back via Chicago.  Hopefully the bad weather will stay away and I will make it back home sometime early evening Illinois time;

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

Did anybody have trouble viewing the links I posted?

Can't say as I did. They loaded perfectely for me.

 

Robby: Sorry to hear of the breakup.

[cudaken]

 Evening Folks.

 Flo, I will take a please, and I will pick up Rob's tap.

 Robby P Sorry to hear about you and Jessica. I will all so miss your posting and photo's. Lack of funds is one of the biggest reason's married people break up. I know, been there and did that.  I hope things work out the way you want.

 Big Hook Wrecks are cleared and the trains are running again. 1 Athearn Coal Car hit the floor and lost it's coupler but other than that all was fine. If I move, I wonder how many couplers I will find after the garage is cleaned out?

Work Front While I did lose a $1200.00 deal (customer found bad feedback on the Manufacture on the web) it was still a solid weekend with $6875.00 so I am not crying over split milk. I have $41,000.00 in sales this month. If everything could be delivered I would have made $2870.00. Far cry from the $50,000.00 the ad said, but better than a stick in the eye.

 Catch you all later.

               Ken 

[LSWrr]

RR_XING_ND.wmv

Snow Vs. Train

[Cederstrand]

Veggie plate, please.

***Robby, sorry to hear the news. Life sure can be quite challenging at times. We'll be keeping you in our thoughts.

Pulled the boards, bricks & fence posts off the spray foam experiment. A few real uneven spots were revealed. No match for a belt sander though. Once sanded smooth, set the track back down and ran trains. All went smooth, except for some reason the GS-4 only backs up over Kato #6 switches if done very slowly. I suppose that is how one "should" do it anyway. So, next up will be glueing track down. Progress!

Cheers! Rob

 

[fireman216]

Evening diners!!...Coffee extra regular please in a NYC mug and a piece of that cherry pie should do it.

ROBBY..My deepest sympathies...keep your head up and stay strong my friend...the best things in life are yet to come!!!

RAY...No problems with not being there today for the show. We had a pretty good turnout for attendance and we made enough money for another years expenses plus some to play with (supplies and such).

Had a pretty decent day today at our club show...ran both our club layouts with multiple trains running all day and everything worked flawlessly. Didn't really buy much from the vendors as I actually curbed myself from buying stuff that I will not get to for awhile as my basement is still loaded with stuff from shows two years ago I haven't built. I did buy the Kalmbach book by Tony Koester on his AM layout that is no longer. I was looking for a modern coaling tower but I only found one in N scale. Oh well. That's about it for me today...Have a good night all!!...Tim

[AmanaMedic]

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood (I suppose) Evening, cup of coffee please.

Well (shallow, full of sediment), for purely morbid curiosity (looking to see if there was any carnage), I checked out THAT thread: RTR vs. kits. It shouldn't, but it does amaze me how these guys keep going around and around in circles. It also amazes me how they miss an obvious point. One guy says an RTR flatcar by Intermountain looks better than the kit.

Huh.

Funny, some guy (or gal) in China is taking the kit and putting it together. Same parts, put together by a worker on an assembly line vs. a guy (or gal) in their train room. I think some of the conversationalists over there think the RTR stuff comes out a machine THAT way or something... Seriously!  I think the real question is "do you prefer to have someone else put your toys together for you? Or, do you prefer to put your toys together yourself?"

Anybody wanna put up bets how much longer the discussion goes before it gets shut down???

How did THAT guy put it in "My Ding-A-Ling"?? Oh yeah: "Live like you wanna live Brother, ain't nobody gonna bother you!"

Something like THAT...

Chris

Heh heh, maybe if things get too 'hot' over there, I'll send this gal over to take care of the situation...

The Dangerous Kind?

[TMarsh]

Kinda bummed right now, but on the bright side,

Lee- No problems loading the photos which looked pretty darn good to me by the way. For some reason, the photo sites like photobucket and the one you use, or do you use two? Anyway, the photos always load slow for me even on cable. I believe it's because of my RAM. Most all other sites load fine even if graphic or picture heavy though, so maybe not. For some reason those photo posting sites load real slooooow.

[Packer]

*stubles into the dinner and takes a seat at a booth*

Evening Dinners.

After 3 days of working for 9 hours, then coming home and working on the car for 5 more hours. I'm wore out but I'm finally done. Managed to get the toe set right as far as I can figure (1/8th difference between the fronts and backs of the tires). The car handles a lot better, although it seems to pull slightly to the right. I don't have a way to measure the caster of chamber so I'm off to the alignment shop sometime this week.

Managed to find 5 of those Front range centerbeams on HO yardsale. I picked up a BN, CP, UP, and 2 undecs. I plan to use the undecs for spare sparts and to get my Milwuakkee one together.

Chris, I give it 36 more hours. Kind of funny uou were talking about foobie CNW centerflows. I was noticing some of my athearn BB PS hopper foobs (ERES and SOO come to mind first). Luckily I could bash them to Portecs, or paint them green.

Robby, Sorry to hear about the split. Hope stuff works out for you

Roof shots, does anyone know what color roofwalks usually are on new cars? Are they silver or body  colored?

[blownout cylinder]

Good, kinda sorta, Evening, I guess...

Robby, Attaboy:  OUCH!! That is not good at all...hopefully things will work out for the both of you...

Chris, Ray: Well,  I had to step foot into that quagmire thread again..this time I was a little more...ern..concise...that's it... about how aesthetics works here    ...there seems to be an issue over whether there is an 'objective' means of saying which is better looking...

Also, Chris, I'm looking at some more of that site...good grief there is a lot of stuff in that site!!   ....my problem is that I'm just finishing printing out the latest manual for my Sonar X1 Digital Audio Workstation...all 1,800 pages of it!!

Well...I got the report finally done..it took ALL frikking fracking day to put what needed down on paper...all I can say is one relative is in trouble....    

I also discovered that our roof will need re-roofing this spring/summer... 

Chloe, I'll just have a decaf coffee and a plate of grapes please...I'll be at the RC for a bit

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Flo, just a decaf for me.  I'll go sit in the back by the stove for a bit.

Robby, so sorry to hear of your breakup.  Always a difficult thing........  Same for you Attaboy. Hope it all works out well for both of you!

I spent most of the day in the layout room continuing on with the Engine House.  Got quite a bit more done with the belt drive equipment.  The larger space is definitely easier to w*rk in.  I only had one major swearing tantrum from an incident where the belt equipment assembly I was putting in broke as the boards were ever so little much too long......  It was an easy fix and is now installed where it will reside.

Barry, Over in the "tread" you said exactly what my point has been.  "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder!"  That is why I used that awful flat car from Horrible Hobby as an RTR next to my kit built flat car.....  Even if I had the finest, most accurately detailed, perfect RTR, I would still find the kit I made to be "better Looking".  Funny thing is it is the RTR crew that seems to be making all the noise because everyone doesn't do things their way therefore not varifying their choice.

Hope you all have a great night!

73

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[Anonymous]

Good Morning Folks,

I have not been in for a few days. Spent a lot of time in the hospital, as there is still any noticable improvement in my mother´s condition. No ide when the surgery will take place now.

Flo, just a coffee for me please.

Attaboy, Robby - I am so sad about you folks splitting up . There will be tough times ahead of you, so I will include you in my

Today´s chores are waiting for me - helping my father to shower, get him dressed, taking him to his doc. shopping, cooking, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, driving to the hospital to see my Mom - the list is endless...

CUL

[Wisconsin Railfan]

Good Day Folks!

1 more cup of coffee please.

Gonna miss this place, can't wait to see the new location!

Have  great day all!

Steven

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning..

Ulrich:  Our go out to you and yours in this time...

We are going from 40F down to 23F this afternoon down to 7F tonight...I'll be wearing layered today

Well, I see some people are still posting in that RTR vs Kitbuilt thread... I'm assuming it will get locked fairly shortly...

Today I'll be getting ready to go and do some night classes at the University...I have a couple of things to do for it yet...

I'm in a little better mood than I was in yesterday so that will help with my blood sugar levels..seems I was rather high in that department the last couple days...stress does wonders in keeping blood sugars up

Flo, I'll have a coffee and a toasted breakfast bagel please..I'll be in the corner booth checking out the MRR mags...

 

[LSWrr]

Good Morning,

This has been a horrible month, for some of the diner patrons.  I pray that with spring things either resolve themselves or become more manageable for all…

 

I didn’t get back to the Suydam building kits, but I did buy a dehumidifier for the basement and set that up.  I don’t think the hose idea is going to work so I’m going to plumb it into the AC drain pipe.  I also cleaned and organized most of my “stuff”.  The MRR work bench is mostly cleared off and I finished working on all but three my friend’s locomotives.

 

10.5” of snow last Friday, 2” of snow Saturday, and Thunderstorms last night with overnight temperatures in the high 30’s and low 40’s.  This morning 80% of the snow is gone, and some streets are flooded.

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

     Regular and a blueberry bagel for me this morning please. Driving north to Sebring today so I'll be absent most of the day. Sorry to hear about Robby and Attaboy but I hope it all works out for the best. Life has enough stress built in, no need to create more. Like the new car Robby.

   Ulrich - I'd hoped to hear your mother was improving - we'll keep her and your family in our prayers.

   Heard from my racer friend in NZ - he's ok but has some damage and water and power outages to contend with. Some folks down yonder with a load of challenges to deal with.

   Lee - thanks for the progress shots - I like those buildings. Solder or adhesive for the construction?

    Jeff - hope you're doing better - any progress with your mom ?

   Chris - I can sympathize with your annoyance. Bought a New Haven livery C-Liner only to have all the knowledgeable folks chime in about its' shortcomings to the point where they issued a new shell that is still incorrect. Think I'll either wait until Rapido brings theirs out or just start doing research and fix it myself.

    Well (the area in the car where the spare tire fits) time to check out and get on the road again.   CUL, J.R.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

GMTRacing

    Jeff - hope you're doing better - any progress with your mom ?

She's doing a little better. Still refuses to exercise or eat right. My father told the staff at the home she's in that exercise is not a choice for her. She WILL exercise or she's not coming home, period. As for myself my ankle is causing me some problems but nothing insurmountable.

[LSWrr]

GMT: Solder the entire kit is corrugated sheet metal with brass chimneys  

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee and a peanut butter and strawberry preserves sandwich on toast please. Thank you.

What’s up fellers?! Feeling like a load is off my shoulders what with the apartment cleaned out and all. Now to sell her house and I’ll be back to normal. Whatever that turns out to be.

Speaking of the latest Battle Thread, I agree no two people (well, figuratively speaking) are going to like the same things. Like I’ve said for years, if that were the case, we’d never find our cars in the parking lot because they’d all look the same. I also find it funny that some always want to blame some faction, and it's usually the scratchers, but not always, that blame some one for the “downfall of the hobby” as if it‘s their hobby and every change is for the worst and is destroying the hobby. (oddly enough, like Ray said, the scratcher are strangely gentle this time) Last time I checked there was no shortage of scratch building supplies. My FLHS has plenty. Both styrene and wood. So how can a group claim prefab items are destroying a hobby, when their material of choice can be found anywere including the grocery store? Shoot, Hobby Lobby is scaling back on the RTR stuff, but a stroll around finds plenty of scratch building supplies. PLENTY. What? No not in the train isle. What I find as the downfall of the hobby, if there is one other than just lack of money now, and that is a mighty big if, is the blowhard hardcore “my way or you aren’t worth being in the hobby” representatives we have out there. For someone who may not have LHS and the internet forums are their only contact with those who share his hobby, or even if they have the LHS the hot air tanks go there too, they don’t need some over bearing braggart looking down his nose at them. THAT would turn anyone off if they thought that was what a MRRer was. Do I appreciate scratch building Oh heck yah. Looking at Ray’s board by board builds are awesome. Do they look better than styrene panel? Well, in my opinion, yes they do. It is tough to beat the look of wood for a wooden structure. And I’ll be the first to admit I prefer kits to RTR for me BUT, I’ll not turn down an RTR or walk away from a car I want because it’s not a kit. NOR will I bash some one else. Besides, half the kit’s the kit builders claim is a requirement for the real way to be in the hobby, is really not much more than a ready built structure, but you have to snap the roof on. There! A kit. What this hobby needs is the older crew to help the younger. A baby doesn't run before it crawls. Modification of a RTR is the first step for some. Like paint by the numbers, they feel the groundwork is there, Sooner or later they will try a kit, then when they get the hang of that, they'll try a scratchbuilt. Look at that engine house and soner or later they'll wanna try a scratchbuild. Start out small and simple and they may get hooked and with a lot of patience and practice, POW! Another scratchbuilder.  But even if they stick with RTR....who cares? I mean really..., who... cares. If they like what they are doing let them be and help them along with what you can. Dragging someone through the dirt for not doing it "the right way" isn't gonna make more real model railroaders, more gardeners is what it's gonna make. It's really very silly because in the end, they'll all still be just a little choo choo train running around amongst little buildings inhabited by little fake people, hauling fake stuff and we all love it. Sorry for the rant guys. Don't know why it even gets to me. I always say everyone has a right to feel anyway they want. They feel this way so why it bothers me I don't know. Kinda sorta contradicts myself. 

Ulrich- Was just going to give you a shout. My prayers continue for your Mother, you and your family.

Don’t know what I’ll do today not having to go move stuff. I know I have the Church bookwork to do. I suppose the Church Treasurer being busy is not a bad thing. Then, I do need to go to the grocery store and get some of that stuff you put in your stomach. Getting a might tuff to fill the feed bag here lately. Of course we’ve spent most our time dealing with the stuff from Mom and the grocery store hasn’t been visited much other than making sure the fat DOGS supper dish is full. PLUS I really need to get the fixing’s for my Chili. We have the Village Chili cookoff this Saturday and mine needs a full day for the flavors to blend. Last year I put it off too long and made it the night before. It needs to sit at least 22 hours 37minutes and 11seconds or the thing just tastes like a bunch of unblended stuff with beef.

Best get going, I’ve taken up waaaay too much of your time.

You cleaned off the workbench! Oh my gosh! I forgot I had one. Maybe I should do that today as well.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a breakfast bagel w/ cheese and a pot of dark roast coffee...  You can serve the coffee in my R&GV RR mug.

Todd, well said on the "thread"!  There are a couple of attitudes that always seem to show up in those threads.  1. My way is the only way to be a REAL MR..  2. I can't do it differently because (fill in the blank).  One thing I learned as a teacher over the years is you can't teach someone without their permission.  "You can Lead a Mule to Water, But You Can't Make him Drink!"  There are actually many, many people in this hobby willing to help others learn a skill (THAT is what the NMRA is all about at the division level.  Or at least should be!).  I know my modeling has improved tremendously over the past several years.  This forum and a couple others have helped, but some of the people in the local division (including 2 MMR) have patiently helped me improve my modeling....

OH!  I didn't tell you guys....  I got an email late last night telling me my Civil Certificate has been approved by National Office of the NMRA and has been received back at the Region.  It will get mailed out to me early this week.  So, that makes #3...  I will be completing the Association Official next October, and have a start on Volunteer.  THAT leaves Structures and Cars on my list of things to do.  Both of those are way outside my comfort zone, but I can learn!  Maybe THAT is the biggest problem some people have over in the "thread".  Sometime we need to move outside our comfort zone....  (I do know there are many who can't do some things due to physical/health conditions....)

Ulrich, you and your family remain on my daily prayer list! 

Jeffrey, hope they can get your Mom to do some exercise!  And you!  Take care of that ankle, ya hear!

Best finish the coffee and get on with the day!

73

[TMarsh]

Yes Ray, and I want no one to misunderstand me, (I know you don't) I know there are by far, waaaay more great folks out there like you, who feel the way you want to do it is not necessarily the "right way" for anyone but you. Always willing to help those who are weaker, like me, do it the way I want to do it if they can. If I want to make a car look just ok for me and ask for help in some area, most will help the best they can. NOT say, "well this is a RTR. A toy and it will never look good as a kit or scratchbuild and therefore you are wasting your time so why bother. You're ruining the hobby".  Then there are the few. The very few. Unfortunately, like the squeeky wheel that always gets greased, it's the loudest that get heard and usually the really good helpful modellers are the quiet ones. (with some exceptions)

By the way, my BIL who works for NS, said a person who is a MRR is not looked at with caution or cast aside just because they are a MRRer. It's because of their experience with the "know it alls" group. The ones who try and tell them how it should be done, or don't pay attention in the classes (or whatever they call them) because they "already know how" that has given them the bad taste. They have a name for them, though I can't recall what it is.

Relaxed too long this morning,(felt good I must admit  ) so I best get going doing something constructive.

[LSWrr]

Funny you guys should mention that…

 

Our NMRA Div 4 is compiling a data base of the membership’s individual interests and experience. Train control system used, scale, era, operating interests, what they are willing to share with other members, so forth and so on…

 

It looks interesting to say the least, I was offered a preview of my listing and asked permission to provide it to the membership.  Looks like 50% of the membership has approved their listing.  So far “that guy” you know the one in every group that is against the whole idea (one out of over 200 members) is opposed to the concept. 

[Cox 47]

Good morning all...its cloudy and cooler after a rainy,stormy nite...i'll have a double cheese burger,onion rings and diet Coke please...Thank You..

Still working on scratched shot gun house...other than that work bench is clear..

You all have a good one...Jerry

[Cederstrand]

Hear a train a comin'. It must be getting close to move time. I'll have a quick coffee TO GO please.

Fixing to get severe storms here in a few hours. "YeeHaw"

Removed 2 calves from our pasture a bit ago. Quite the contrast between them and that bull. These two little guys moved with a quiet voice and calm body language. Kinda sweet little critters.

Catch up with y'all at the new place. Cheers! Rob

[Anonymous]

Good Evening Folks,

just back from the hospital. It is tearing my heart apart to see my mother going down so rapidly. The doctors have now scheduled the surgery for Thursday, as the dead kidney is poisoning her. I will have to go to my home tomorrow to pick up my own medication, say hello to Petra and move back to my parents´ place.

February has not been a good month - too many departures and only a few good ones. Seems as if the world is going haywards.

I won´t be around to make the move to the new location - will someone please be so kind and take up this bit? Just let me know where we will end up, please.

Blessings to all of you!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good afternoon.

Where will the March diner be located?

Attaboy and Robby ... Breaking up and divorce is extremely painful emotionally. Hopefully, you have close friends and family to help you through this. Of course, we are here in the diner to offer friendship. Focus on yourselves and stay away from rebound relationships that may not be right for you. Model trains are great for sanity breaks, and so keep on working on model trains. Attaboy, suggest you get Duke back to thew diner

Ulrich .. Prayers for you Mom, you and your family. .

Jeff... Prayers, too, for you.

My AL sister and I have made progress with our mother's situation. Still have much to do. Thanks for all of your kind remarks. Ray mentioned his Mom experienced a broken hip a few years ago, and our Mom has a very high risk of that happening. Todd mentioned Life Line. Much appreciated. The assisted living center has something better, and that's what we want. Last night, Mom finally agreed to move ASAP to assisted living, and we are busy handling that right now. Also, up to our necks with legal matters trying to recover scammed money.

Is Galaxy OK? Didn't see his posts lately.

Keep those model trains running, everyone.

.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well my mother's condition took a turn this morning. She had to be rushed into the ER. No word yet. I'm usually the last to learn anything.

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

 

Well Folks, what's for supper ??????????????

Count me in on the House Special this evening Girls. Thanks, and make it a Dr. P. to chase.

My heartfelt prayers are with Ulrich and Jeff right now.. I have been there and done that and it is not an easy assignment.  How are your Fathers holding up?.  Keep an eye on them through these times as well.

Just got home from work and waiting for my good wife to get home from the Gym. (Curves they call it ).

Will do more work in the 3/4 bath this evening, but not for long as the next two morning I have to be at work by 7.00 am.  So it looks like the train room is out for tonight.

Best wishes and good luck to all who stand in need.  This Feb. has not been a great one, has it ??

Johnboy is ..................................out for now