Elliot´s Trackside Diner April 2011

[Curt Webb]

Hi All,

Not much happening this way. Weather is hot again. I went out to lunch with my son, Mom and Dad. It was nice. We went to Cracker Barrel (always a good choice). I got home with planning on doing nothing but ended up gluing signage to 2 buildings then over spraying them.

Friday I need to order power supplies for 2 Digitrax UP-5's that I will be installing soon. I am also going to the LHS to get a NMRA guage, plastic sheeting for windows, some styrene to build the track plans I want to build and  possibly a loading dock for a buisness.

I hope all of you that have the pain or sleep issues get them resolved quickly.

Talk to all of you later. 

[galaxy]

howmus

Galaxy,   Hope the procedure helps your back pain!

Actually NOT. The proceedure would have been a 6 months treatment similar to the injections I was getting. But since the injections don't work, the radio frequency thingy won't either. The Dr at the Pain relief center is sending me back to the neurosurgeon to consider surgery, but who already told me my back is not in bad enough shape that he can surgically do anything for. Yet. The CPR Dr. also said changing to another narcotic pain reliever wouldn't work if the ones I am on aren't. Any other meds they could give me would be contrindicative or interactive to what i already take {for my heart palpitaions for example}.

So i think we are at a stale-mate.

I guess I have to learn to live with what I got now.

[Cederstrand]

Strong coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please.

That storm the other night was a goo done. What was the start of small hail where we live ended up in huge, damaging hail a few miles further down the line. Dodged a bad one, we did.

Today is a sunny, beautiful day.

Hope y'all are doing well.

Cheers! Rob

[BRAKIE]

Good Morning All!

Not much to report from the land of Buckeyes on this cold overcast Wednesday other then I decided to rest up for this weekend's activity which starts Friday around 3:00pm when we start setting up the dealer's tables..Then Saturday we will start gathering around 6:00am and help the dealers..Of course one good thing we get to see the dealer's wares first.LOL!

I shall have a cup and look over da forum.

Have a good'un!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good morning.

I'll pass on the pancakes because Barry and Ray consumed all of the real maple syrup. It was a big bottle of syrup, but they finished it all. Instead I will have a pecan roll and coffee.

Todd ... I like the windmill. 

Lee ... It sounds like you expect to be affected by the government shutdown. Congress should have completed the FY 2011 Budget last summer, but they are still not done with it. They evidently are not watering the money tree very well. 

I did complete a small scene adjacent to the scrap yard. I have much more to do on the layout, but I'm busy working on tax returns. Also, I'm getting ready for another Alabama trip to help my mother with her taxes and other stuff. 

HAPPY MODEL RAILROADING!

 

 

 

 

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone,

Zoe, I'll have a short stack of Buckwheat Pancakes, side order of bacon, and bring that bottle of real maple syrup over from Barry's table and set it right here.  He should be done with it as i see the table has been almost cleared...  Oh, almost forgot, yes I DO want my usual dark roast coffee in a R&GV RR mug.  Thanks!

Galaxy, a photo of his Eagle Project was posted a page back I believe.  Hope the procedure helps your back pain!

Have several items on the docket for today...

I best get moving.

73

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 50° and sunny. The high will be 76°.

Nothing special going on today except getting some laundry done. May do some layout work later.

[galaxy]

Morning

I go to the Center for PAin relief for "radio frequency something something or other" to the nerves in my back. If it provides relief should "last 6 months". I am skeptical. They say I will need a driver so I will come out apparently very numb or fairly imobile so I am not looking forward to that. I cripples me for a few days when i have the regular cortisone injections.

We will see.

I See we have  a New Eagle Scout amongst us! COngrats! DId I miss it or what was your Eagle Scout project that got you the award? My brother's was to build a handicapped wheelchair accessible ramp onto the back door of our Church. It was a necessity for our mother, who had Multiple Sclreosis and was wheelchair bound.

WEll, not a lot to say. Behind in all my chores due to the migraine for 4 days. If I come out in agony today, I doubt I will be able to do much tonight.

TTYALLL8R

 

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Dark Roast coffee please and scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, bowl of firm grits and a biscuit with butter and , um, raspberry jam. Thank you

Mostly sunny, with a high near 67

Chris- (laughing) I don’t think I’ll be getting my tootsies dolled up any time soon. My normal daily activities are not conducive to the wearing of sandals.

Barry- Actually, I goo goo’d the railroad and contraption number and got all sorts of info on what I guess if you were in a city in those parts, these things were all over the place for the Pennsy line. A slight exaggeration, but I guess they weren’t rare to see. Never seen one before myself. Thought it might be some homemade thing. Guess not.

Curt- Actually I model ( a term in my case used loosely) the current era. Freelance of course. What that area is, is the west side of a western town that so far until I come up with a name, I call Tourist Trap Town. It’s one of those towns that gets restored and people go visit to see life in the “wild west” The train is a nostalgia train ride. Doesn’t run but on weekends for people to get the feel of the old west. And, considering it’s an old Bachmann 4-4-0.…once a week is pushing it. (LOL)

Jeff- I have found that, not always, but many times, Walmart carries the equivalent to the better items the medical supply stores have, for a fraction of the cost. The common items anyways. Mom used a walker and Walmart had way heavier rear skids for like 6 or 7 dollars a pair. Home health care places? $45.00. And they were half as thick. Same material. Our walmart carries cane tips also, don’t know if yours does but I assume you already checked for them?

Lee- Sorry about the furlough. Been on a couple myself. I would wish for them to do something in the next couple of days, but I don’t want to mess up your plans (chuckle). Bad part is, you can only plan for a day at a time ’cause you never know when the yahoos who got the raises will pass the spending bill and you get a call halfway into something saying “see you tomorrow morning”.

Well, today I…. what? Today I’m off so maybe a bit of train time don’t you think? I do. Not sure what else I will get involved in though. Should be one of those days I actually feel guilty about not being outside. I suppose we’ll see if I feel guilty enough to actually do anything about it.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

EDIT:  (ahem) After reading, I see a misunderstanding can be had. So allow me to clarify. Bachmann being the brand, has nothing to do with the little 4-4-0’s poor performance. More likely the age. It suffers from nothing more than being in need of a good connection cleaning and the normal problems older loco’s have with the insulated frogs. Poor little thing stalls out. I just haven’t rewired to have the thing pickup on both ends. Nothing to do with it being a Bachmann or any other brand. When it connects, it runs as well as can be expected. No Swiss watch, but for what I paid….

[jeffrey-wimberly]

galaxy

Besides my "going out adjustable metal cane" was only $19.99 at Kmart. I think I could swing that again if I had to to avoid tip replacement issues. Probably now, like everything else, though has gone up.

My new cane is a black aluminum adjustable that seems to be of quite sturdy construction, much better than the two hospital provided pieces of junk I had before. I'm impressed. It can take my full weight without a problem and I'm in the 240-250 range. I got it for $12.83 at Wal-Mart. Next time I'm in town I think I'll go by and get some spare tips for it. If I run across any tips that will fit my wood cane I'll grab them as well.

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

40F and intermittent showers today. All the rigs are back as well as the shipping container from Austrailia and New Zealand so yesterday was busy unloading and scurrying about. Museum last night where I'm proud to say the N scale had survived a second week with no derailments or other disasters. Definitely impressed with the Peco code 55 track even if the ties are spaced incorrectly. Once I get ballast down, no-one will notice anyway - in fact, they finally noticed I put a TGV trainset in the yard on the ready track (circa mid 50's Danbury). After that we spent time fixing up the HO display and getting a turnout to function properly and that is successful so far as well.

 Jeff - 1" i.d. rubber tips should be a hardware store item - used a lot on collapsable bodywork stands, etc. I'll have a look around the shop and see if we have any of the above. Yeah - I wasn't impressed with the alloy canes at all and found a wooden one in an antique store that needed refinishing (cheap like me).

   Hope the rest of you are doing ok. I now have the first 62sq ft of faom board down on the benchwork and more to come when I can break the piggy bank. I also need to get the camera download stuff up and running again so I can shoot some pics.    Time to get back into the shop. CUL, J.R.

[LSWrr]

Good Morning,

I took the next couple of days off to go to the Indians Game tomorrow (free tickets) and then heading to Detroit this weekend to see the kids.

 

Galaxy, Mom’s cane had the same issue.  I found the right size in the hardware section at Home Depot in the isle with the cupboard hardware and mail boxes.  I think they are feet for chairs or stools.

 

Looks like I’ll be furloughed starting Monday so I’m lining up the projects to keep me busy.  Sunday will be almost 70F outside so maybe some outside chores will be in order…

[Wisconsin Railfan]

Good Morning Folks!

Extra large jumbo coffee please!

Been out house hunting, out of 15 houses, only liked 1 of them somewhat.  The search will continue.

Have a great day all!

Steven

[blownout cylinder]

Morning

We are going to be seeing a mix of snow/rain today as temperatures start to crawl back up to 40F...then just rain..tomorrow we will have a taste of that weird yellow/orange orb..beware the orb...

I have a few things to do today..not as many nor as tedious as yesterday...but still...

Ulrich: 4-4-0's of all sorts never quite had that tractive effort..I think they made one too many wheelsets for the things...now...if it was a 2-4-0.......or a 2-6-0...

Flo, I'll have a big ol' stack o' pancakes with real Maple Syrup...sheeesh..not that coloured water!...and a coffee, please...I'll be at the window booth watching the day awake..

 

 

[galaxy]

jeffrey-wimberly

Today I looked online at my usual suppliers for cane tips. They had 1" inside diameter tips but they no longer carry the specific type of 1" tip that my old wood cane (bought new thirty-two years ago) takes. I then went to town and checked the drug stores and pharmacies but eventually ended up going to Wal-Mart and getting one of those aluminum telescoping canes with a 3/4" tip. I hate the darn things as I've folded up a couple of them. This one is somewhat more heavily constructed than those two hospital provided el-cheapo pieces of junk. I'll see well it holds up over the next week or two before I decide if it's worth the $13 I spent on it. I've already wrapped the foam covered handle with masking tape as I well remember what happened with the cheap foam rubber grips on the other two. But as I said, those were cheap hospital provided pieces of junk that clacked and rattled at every step and that they charged WAY too much for. I guess that's so the doctor can hear you trying to sneak up behind him to waylay him about the bill.

I actually have two canes....my "at home cane" made out of sturdy hardened  bamboo, and  a newer adjustable metal one for my "going out cane" that always stays in the van. I can walk from the porch the 6 steps to the van without a cane.

When I had to replace the tip on the bamboo, I found nothing would fit. SO I did what any other red-blooded american would do...I wrapped duck tape around the tip till it was firm enough to push a larger ID tip onto that would stay. Worked like a charm.

Besides my "going out adjustable metal cane" was only $19.99 at Kmart. I think I could swing that again if I had to to avoid tip replacement issues. Probably now, like everything else, though has gone up.

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

[Anonymous]

Ken - it is regular N scale Kato Unitrack, which is quite expensive, wherever you look. Have not yet seen a real bargain on it. The reason why I use it is that Kato´s "Unijoiner" system provides a strong bond between each track section and also excellent electrical contact, yet is designed to be taken apart numerous times. In Japan, layouts are usually not permanently set up.

This is the way it works:

 

[cudaken]

 Ulrich for the heck of it, what track are you lacking? I will be at K-10 and like to see how his prices are compared to your cost. If it is higher than you are buying it for, I might look on line.

                   Ken

[Anonymous]

Good Morning,

it is just past 6 am at my neck of the woods. The forum is dead slow again. I won´t complain about it, but this sure ain´t funny any more.

Chloe, darling, I need an extra strong coffee in an IV bag to get me started for the day, please.

Barry - interesting picture. It is the Royal Bavarian State Railway Class S2/6 # 3201, which was built in 1906. It is a 4-4-4, with her drivers exceeding a diameter of 7 ft. Due to this, her pulling power was not what it was expected to be, so she never saw much of a regular service, although she set a nationwide speed record of 154 kph in 1907. She was put out of service in 1923 and is on display in the "Deutsches Museum" in Munich since then.

Engineer & Fireman of this beauty:

Resting here since 88 years:

Ken - once the track has arrived, it´ll be just a good start, i.e. an oval of track. I plan to gradually extend that into a "real"  layout. I am using Kato Unitrack, as their rail joining system will act as connectors between the modules. Minimum radius is about 11".

One of the ways the layout can be set up looks like this:

This layout consists of  10modules, out of which 2 are bespoke modules, i.e. non-standard.

An overview of the modules:

TTFN

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Today I looked online at my usual suppliers for cane tips. They had 1" inside diameter tips but they no longer carry the specific type of 1" tip that my old wood cane (bought new thirty-two years ago) takes. I then went to town and checked the drug stores and pharmacies but eventually ended up going to Wal-Mart and getting one of those aluminum telescoping canes with a 3/4" tip. I hate the darn things as I've folded up a couple of them. This one is somewhat more heavily constructed than those two hospital provided el-cheapo pieces of junk. I'll see well it holds up over the next week or two before I decide if it's worth the $13 I spent on it. I've already wrapped the foam covered handle with masking tape as I well remember what happened with the cheap foam rubber grips on the other two. But as I said, those were cheap hospital provided pieces of junk that clacked and rattled at every step and that they charged WAY too much for. I guess that's so the doctor can hear you trying to sneak up behind him to waylay him about the bill.

[cudaken]

 Evening Folks!

 Flo, I will have a Tuna Salad Sandwich and a Beer Please.

 Work Front Nothing special today but the month is off to a good start. Projected to do around $60,000.00 

 Cody the warehouse miss manger messed up yet another deal of mine. Actually he has messed up the same deal 3 times now. I am just lucky the customer likes me and knows it not my fault. 

 Joe Congrats on the Eagle Scout rank. Dad was a Eagle Scout and was disappointed when I dropped out with only being Life. But I wanted to join the Civil Air Patrol because they had planes. I think I redeemed my self in his eyes when I became Cadet Squadron Commander.

 Ulrich I am thinking about splurging a little and building a small N Scale layout for work. I want to run steam about the sizes of yours. What radius are you running and type of track? Would you mind post your track plan as well, I might steal it. 

 Glad to hear you are getting your track this week. Will you have all the track you need or is it just a good start?

Train Front You folks that are working on your layout is starting to get me motivated a little. My next days off I am either going to work on some engines, or add to the K-10 Mountain and add a camping since.

 See you all Wednesday, my Saturday!

               Ken   

[ns3010]

Good evening,

Thank you everyone! I must say that it feels great to finally have it done. It was a lot of work, and very stressful at times, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. For those interested in seeing and hearing what I did, here is a photo, and a link to the Flickr page with a brief description:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ns3010/5594112670/

If you want to know anything else about it, feel free to PM me (or conversations, whatever it's called) or shoot me at email at [e-mail]
I don't know how easy it will be for me to get on the forums in the next few days, so that would be the best way to contact me.

Ray, I know it's not the end. I plan on getting some palms as well (as many as possible before I turn 18 in June 2012), and probably the railroading merit badge to get those. And yes, I did my OA Ordeal. After that, my troop kinda dropped out of the whole OA thing, and I've actually kinda forgotten about it...

For those of you who are not in the scouting thing, Eagle Palms are the things you can get after achieving Eagle, "extra credit" so to speak.

Well, it's getting kinda late, so I better head out. Hopefully I'll be back in soon.

Thanks again everyone!

EDIT: Looks like I've got TOP. Girls, could you please hold onto the bill for me? I'll square up with you guys next time I'm in here.

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

Flo I would love a piece of peach pie warmed up with a scoop of vanilla ice cream please.

Not much happening here. At  w**k dealing with stupid  people. After about 1300 today it cleared up but the high was about 66, very nice for a change. I am off tomorrow and I think all I am going to do is go to lunch with my Mom and Dad then veg out.

TMarsh- Very nice windmill. It goes well with the water tower in the background. What time frame do you model? The train looks like the mid 1800's to me but  I could be wrong.

I was reading a article on track pans and specifically the PRR. It said the average size for one for the PRR was1500 feet long. I calculate  that out to a little over 17 inches in HO scale. Is my math correct? I think one or two would be awesome on a PRR layout. I think that some styrene worked to look like wood and fake water would pretty much do it. Obviously I would model it on a non installed piece of track first.

Everyone take care. 

[blownout cylinder]

Good Evening..

Ningh...I had a busy day filled with doctor appointments..now that that is out of the way I am going to have a somewhat slower day tomorrow.....

I have a couple of things to do tonight before I get to go to my domain and work on it a bit...

As for the photo...so far all I know is that it was taken sometime in the late 1930's early 1940's...and it appears to have been a switcher of some kind......what exactly is not known...I suspect a custom job..

Chloe, I'll have a cofee and a piece of lemon meringue pie please...I'll be at the window booth checking out the scenery

[AmanaMedic]

Good afternoon,

It's been an "interesting" few days. We had our first "Storm Watch duty" of the year Sunday night as a line of heavy Thunder-Boomers rolled through. Some places had hail up to golf-ball size We just had pea to marble size. The World's WORST Public Safety Dispatcher advised at one point THAT she had a caller reporting a tornado on the ground near Cedar Bluff (somewhere around Tipton) and THAT it had been "on the ground for ten minutes." Well (with a body at the bottom wearing cement shoes), Tipton Fire ran all over their district looking for the alleged swirly thing. Nobody saw a thing. National Weather Speculationists in the Quad Cities never got confirmation, so no warnings issued, no sirens sounding, no TV weather geeks doing on-air aerobic exercises. We think somebody was messing with the poor girl...

Following a pair of assignments this afternoon, I had to stop at the Church of Christ in Clarence for a visitation. One of our firemen lost a teenaged son Friday night in an ATV accident just across the district line in Stanwood's territory. For those so inclined, please include the Jim Droll family in your thoughts and prayers, Jayce was only 17, I think. His buddy, on a machine behind him, suffered serious injuries as well.

 

Now, on to happier things.

TODD: THAT windmill is looking good! Maybe, just maybe, if you ask DER JOHN really really nicely, he'll make you some trumpet vines to wrap around it. I figure him or RAY are the only ones in here capable of such micro-surgery skills!! For those unsure of what "trumpet vines" are, some call it "honeysuckle." At least our southern-fried neighbor did when I yanked a few thousand feet of it off of my garage!

Long story.

JOE: A bit late, but CONGRATULATIONS on earning your Eagle Scout! I've had the pleasure of meeting a few, so know what kind of effort goes into achieving THAT honor.

So (not a needle pulling thread, although there WILL be some "needling"....) TODD, you know you could've gone with the girls, maybe gotten a "mani," "manny," whatever the male manicure experience is called. Could've made you look all up-town for the upcoming Easter holliday! You could've even had a pedicure thing done...whipped your toes into shape for Roman Sandal season...

As I say THAT, 'ol Merle is singing "leather boots are still in style for manly footwear. Beads and Roman Sandals won't be seen..."

*saunters over to the RC whilst whistling "Okie from Muskogee"*

Have a good rest of the day/evening...

Chris

[LSWrr]

Curt, layout looks good so far; I’m using old brass turnouts myself from various makers.  I have about 98 of the brass turnouts on my main layout and have had very few issues with them.  Your right the camera makes the radius look like 10” curves. I’m running 30”, 36”, 38.5”, and 41” curves.  I lost several square feet maintaining the larger curves.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Wonder what happened to Fireman216? I haven't heard anything from him since the middle of last month.

[TMarsh]

Hi, it's me again. Dr Pepper and a Taco salad please. Heavy on the taco part.

Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the newest resident of the Tourist Trap Town. Mr Windmill.

I still have a few more touchup things to do such as add a bit of rust, ( hear that Robby! Add some RUST) to the access door which I'm not sure you can see all that well in the picture. Then I will add the terrain and all but not until I drape the sloppy plaster cloth edge down to the lower level. It's not close and has a track between them, but..... you know. Murphy and all. I decided to make the fins metal instead of wood. Probably would have rotted and been replaced years before or at least when they revived the town for tourism and rebuilt the windmill anyway. They too got a bit rusty. (hear that Robby? RUSTY!!)

Also while I was at it I decided to take a snapshot (wow. Haven't heard that term used for pictures in a while) of the inside of the two tunnels to be. I ran out of ground up dirt and haven't walked to the other side of the room to the bucket to grind up some more except for a few fingers full for the windmill base. Lazy.

Again, still much work to be done. Just wanted you to see what I mean when I keep saying tunnel, that I'm not refering to the same tunnel I spoke of earlier and claimed done rights to. You can sorta see the opening to it in the background. The tunnel against the wall will exit about 6 inches from the opening of the one in the back creating my as of yet unprototypical land formation for the bridge to nowhere. THAT's the one I forgot about until Charlie, I think it was, reminded me. Won't happen again.

Welp, back to whatever I get involved in. Hopefully I won't get a call saying I need to take Missy to get her nails done. She has an appointment on Brenda's lunchand Brenda is to take her (they like doing girl stuff together), but we all know how those things turn out. I don't understand, we cut her claws here but for somereason, women like to go and get their nails done sometimes. Seems like a waste of 8 bucks to me.

 

[BRAKIE]

Good Morning All!

Not much to report from the land of Buckeyes on this cold overcast Tuesday morning other then I didn't get much modeling done yesterday other then researching transloading machinery for covered hoppers and tank cars..I also realized I am out of X-acto blades.Well,I pick some up Thursday after my doctor's and lab appointments.Nothing big planned for today so,I may watch a railroad video or two.

I shall have a cup and look over the forum.

Have a good'un!

[howmus]

(Opens door....  Walks over to Joe, extends Left hand)  Joe my heartiest congratulations on attaining the rank of Eagle!!!  Remember Eagle isn't the end of the trail, It is just the beginning!  (You will be hearing that many times I know!)  Are you OA?

Mornin' everyone!  Had to do the truly important things first!  I am often asked why I continue to volunteer in the BSA after my children have all grown up?  My answer is always the same.  Because every once in a while I get to shake hands with an Eagle!

Zoe, I'll have the Big Troop 3 breakfast this morning....  Oh, THAT consists of Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, Home Fries, and toast all done over an open campfire (in the bacon grease....)!  Better fill my R&GV RR Mug with some camp coffee as well...

I had a good time taking photos of a friends layout yesterday.  I have downloaded them to my computer and deleted the ones that just don't make it, but still need to go over them and find a few "best" ones for the Division Slide Show.

I'm going to have a seat by the stove as it was 60+°F here yesterday, and currently 37°F with a high of 40... maybe.  Rainy, dark, and windy outside right at the moment.  Gust of 40mph are expected all day.  'tis Spring here in the Finger Lakes.  If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute!

Later!

73