jeffrey-wimberly Packer: (What's a mill gon?) Here's one. Drop end 53' mill gondola.
Packer: (What's a mill gon?)
Probably should have phrased it better. What's the difference between a mill gondola and a gondola; or what makes a gondola a "mill" gondola.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Packer(What's a mill gon?)
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
CURT: Hope the rest of your shift calms down for you. You'll notice, I did NOT say THAT "Q-word." Don't want to jinx you... THAT interesting question came from the mind of MORGAN (FLASHWAVE) elsewhere in the forums. I was just cogitating out-loud about it. I doubt my layout will have very long trains either, but I want enough variety THAT I'm not looking at the same dozen hoppers on the track for Quaker Oats, or the same three boxcars rotating in and out of Jerebek's Wholesale Distributing (beer wholesaler, he'll have the "finest" in brews: Schlitz, PBR, Old Style, Hamm's, Grain Belt, Old Millwaukee, Millwaukee's Best...).
ATTABOY: Just be careful, and yes, by all means DO keep an eye on her when move-out day finally comes. I got a brother-in-law who was left a rotten potato and a bent spoon in an otherwise very empty house. It might not be a bad idea to have some friends around. I can just see her having a boyfriend or some such charecter coming along to "help" her move. Strength in numbers, if you know what I mean.
Chris
The Cedar cRapids Industrial Branch: Proudly Shipping Yesterday's CrunchBerries Tomorrow!
Hey guys.
Attaboy- Good call. My uncle got cleaned out by his second wife. the (I'mnotgoingtosayit) took even the toilet paper and the lights out of the light fixtures.
Well, (deep subject) I got home from paying my boss a visit. She's in the hospital after a stroke on Saturday. She's doing surprisingly well. One thing I forgot to do was ask her if I could put her as a reference on an application.
talking about jobs, my mom's waiting for a call on a job from a hospital about working there.
Oh yeah, I thought I'd throw my two cents in on life.
You can get paid to take a car and no one will park next to you. As soon as said car is fixed up, all of a sudden every bad driver wants to park next to you.
If you can read this... thank a teacher. If you are reading this in english... thank a veteran
When in doubt. grab a hammer.
If it moves and isn't supposed to, get a hammer
If it doesn't move and is supposed to, get a hammer
If it's broken, get a hammer
If it can't be fixed with a hammer... DUCK TAPE!
Evening guys
I've weathered a few cars today. A Details West N&W box, an MDC SCL hi-cube, and an Athearn CB&Q Hi-cube. Also put together a Walthers RI waffle box, an MDC Southern hi-cube waffle, and an E&C BN mill gon (What's a mill gon?)
I found out that the Valspar clear flat works very well as a base instead of dullcote. But it doesn't work very well as a sealer when I picked up the SCL car. On the CB&Q car I tried krylon workable fixative. The krylon works great as a sealer. Fixed the SCL car and used the later on it. Pics later.
Chris, The Chessie unit will become one of the "normal" BN units. The Frisco will just be patched for BN. Both will be detailed for there respective types. I have to come up with a "right hand step guard" for the Chessie unit. Say isn't that ethanol land too.
Ray, That is funny about the British Border agent.
Rob, Thanks, but those wheels were just painted with Rustoleum rusty metal primer. I have a few other colors that I want to try, but that color works really well when I hit the wheels with powders.
Curt, funny you should ask. I just paid a visit to a shyster lawyer today about getting rid of her after the divorce is final next week. Turns out I may be able to get her out quicker than I thought. Last month I told her she could stay till June 3rd if she signed the papers. She didn't then but lawyer said she may be able to convince a judge/magistrate that is why she signed them last Friday so I should wait till June 4th. Since there is no landlord/tenant relationship after the divorce is final she will be an "occupant by sufferance". Meaning she can only stay as long as I let her. By law I will have to give her 15 days to move after June 4th. Then I can go before a magistrate and have her forceably removed the same day has the hearing unless she appeals to the courts. Lawyer said in all probability she will either not show up for the hearing (I would win a summary judgement), she will find a way to get out before then, or she will not appeal it since she would need a darn good reason for not moving. The lawyer did suggest I make sure I'm here when she does move, just to make sure she doesn't clean everything out of the house. I planned on that anyway.
Well the facatchied* TV problem seems fixed. Another thing. I programed my remote witht eh zip-fast destructions the guide for the remote says to operate the TV {on/off/ volume}, BUT when I tried it onthe second remote for my other half..it wouldn;t take! BUT let teh cable guy have it and wham-bam-thank you sir it works for HIM, but NOT for me! {I think it was facatchied* when I tried it}
*remember its a word of frustration taken from the facata eye-talian bread, NOT a swear word.
Here is part three of lifes mysteries:
21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.22. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in. BUt as I get older, carrying 10 bags in one trip seems like a Herculean task, so I'll take 3 trips with 3-4 bags for teh excercise my Doctor Insists I get.23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text. {texting and driving is now illegal so strike that one}24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.I'm hungry when I'm bored, and bored when I eat.25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. 27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. 28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists. 31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey - but I'd bet fifty bucks everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!!!
So what are YOU up to tonight?
Me? Nothing,,, but checking out new channels on the HDTV device. Only problem is now I have 3 of the same channels..one regular, one on a higher number channel,and one in HD. I thought the HD thingy was supposed to give me ALL HD TV ALL THE TIME. Now I have to select, and honestly, I can't tell the difference between the regular low channel, the upper channel number AND the HD!!! I think it's a rip-off.. There are aobut only 15 new channels I may watch out of the 175 more channels I get now. Hmm.
Call now and order yours!
BTW guys...here is a tip...Call up and cancel your upper channel expensive package for next month. Then call back and ask what new deals or specials they have going for new customers. WE got the 175 channels and High Def box for $20.10/month LESS than we were paying for 13 basic channels and 70 odd "extended package" channels! If we call up next may 10, we may get another deal if we threaten to cut off High Def service and go back to basic again.
I did the same with another account. I called up and said "I don't need this" at this rediculous price", and was told, "oh, no, we don't wnat to loose you as a customer so we can give you the 'prefered rate' at half the price"!!!! I may STILL cancel that one. I really don't need to pay for it.
I pre-ordered some trains form the manufacturer last Nov. they called last week and wanted to know if i wanted to process the payment in full now for shipment. I said "can you call me back in 2 weeks?". They said, "um sure" and he noted my account as my financial situation changed form my pre-order time when I had the money. Today they called and said if money was an issue they have a lay-away plan if that would help. I said "sign me up", so they will ship out in a few months. MOH insisted I do it, though it will still be tight as I had so looked forward to them 7 months ago.
Lessons to be learned: in this economy anybody may be willing to make deals with you to get you/ keep you as a customer at a better rate. I wouldn't try it with my mortgage, though there was a guy on a financial TV show who questioned a financial advisor that he had gotten a ntoice from his bank offering "no closing costs refy at 4.8% on his 6.7% mortgage" and wondered if he should take advantage. The financial advisor said "by all means...they are afraid you will refi wiht someone ELSE at a lower rate so they want to keep you as a customer- go for it" {sorry Cuda Ken for all your troubles}.
Now If I could just negotiate gas prices down....NO WAIT! I CAN.!!!.. I get 10cents off a gallon up to 20 gallons per filllup for every $50 I spend in the local grocery store where MOH works. So SPend $200 in a month and get $0.40 off 20 gallon fillup! at today's prices that adds up to savings! SPend $400 in the sotre on groceries and get $0.80 cents off a 20 gallon fillup! comes in handy!!!
Now if we can just find a bargain for a house....
well I have rambled enough hope I gave some tips that helped you out a bit!!!
TTYALLL8R
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Curt Webb Jeff- More great looking pics. Is that your freight house across from the Exxon?
Jeff- More great looking pics. Is that your freight house across from the Exxon?
Evening All,
Flo I would like a BLT and a ice cold coke please.
At w**k and it has been really busy, but you can only run one call at a time. There is a nice breeze blowing so it is comfortable today. I had to order some more ground throws with adapters for my PECO turnouts in the yard.
Attaboy- please be careful with your Ex. You never know what a person will do when they feel trapped or under a lot of stress. Can she claim squatter rights to stay in the house longer?
Howmus- It must be great working on real RR equipment. Nice joke on the food being safe from factories
Ken- Is the comfort exchange a brand of mattress? I haven't bought a mattress in probably 15 years.
Heartland- I had forgot how much of a frontal slope there was on the E-6.
Chris- Interesting question about the right number of rolling stock cars. I will be running smaller trains at home due to size compared to the club. There will be no 40 car coal drag at the house It would cover 25% of the main line. Oh well.
Galaxy- I had the same issues when I got my HDTV a couple of years ago. I hope you got off cheap with your brakes.
Everyone have a good night.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j372/curtwbb/
Careful there RAY, you're talking to a guy who lives smack-dab in the middle of high-fructose corn syrup land! ADM Clinton (formerly Clinton Corn Processors) and ADM Cedar Rapids (ADM Corn Sweetners), not to mention Cargill (East) in Cedar Rapids...
Just how does one go about submitting names to THAT list???? I've got a few candidates in mind. Then again, I'm sure I'm probably on some list somewhere with all the petitions I've signed in the past 2-1/2 years...
Was THAT a stealth helicopter I just heard????
Evenin' folks!
Flo I'll have a hot roast beast sandwich semi smothered in gravy... Just sorta like it can't catch it's breath. All the usual trimmings as well, and a cup or two of decaf to help me get warm since i see we have run out of wood for the stove in the back.......
Chris, you have to understand we have to make sure food served in the schools is safe. They do that by only serving stuff (I can think of a better word, but I don't want Vinnie after me) safely processed and packaged in a factory. Can't serve food from farms or gardens anymore. Besides we need to make sure everything contains the new magic ingredient of High Fructose Corn Syrup! Almost impossible to buy products THAT have been run through a food factory THAT don't have goodly amounts of High Fructose Corn Syrup.... Yum!
Attaboy... Maybe you should do what this guy did. "Britain's Border Agency announced the firing of an immigration officer recently. The man apparently had turned sour on his marriage, and while his wife was on holiday with her family in Pakistan, he quietly added her name to the terrorist list of people not allowed to fly into the country"........
Back to w**k!
later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Howdy ...
The water level has dropped quite a bit, but it is still above normal. Here is one of the logs awaiting removal. It looks like a huge serpent guarding our property.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
"Chris, sure enjoy your sense of humor. Funny post."
What can I tell ya ROB? I had a head injury once.... bamaged my drain, or is THAT damaged my brain? Either way, it's somewhat modified my perspective of life. Glad I put a little humor into your day. Also, glad to hear the barn roof is done!
Goooooooooooooooooooooooooood Afternoon.
Another day, another assignment covered for THAT Editor. This time, it was to North Bend Elementary School in North Liberty. The University of Iowa's PanAmerican Band gave a performance. Whoda thunk a bunch of cut up oil barrels could be used to make some pretty catchy music??? The really cool hippie-amazon principal wanted 'em to perform outside. The band declined. Good thing I packed along ear plugs as they set up in the gym. I got shots of happy musicians (ranging from college freshmen through "kids" going for docteral doctorial doctoreal, PHD degrees). I also got shots of happy kids gyrating to the tunes. For the encore, the really cool hippie-amazon principal released her iron fist grip on the kids and let 'em dance.... I even grabbed some shots of her shaking her tail feathers to the beat. Now I gotta go through 'em all, select out a few, crop 'em and make 'em ready for THAT EDITOR. I also need to e-mail some low-res versions to the really cool hippie-amazon principal so she can ID the young skulls full of mush.
Here's a funny one for you guys: THAT same school put in a "sensory garden" last week. Veggies, flowers, and some other...stuff. I thought maybe they'd use the veggies in the school vomitorium...I mean, cafeteria. NOPE! Really cool hippie-amazon principal says they can't do THAT. Something about regulations prohibiting THAT. But, they CAN donate the veggies to the local food bank/pantry.
Huh?
I can see some federal bureucratic azzzzzzzzzclown shaking his head and scowling. "NO!" You absolutely may NOT feed THAT tomato to the children of this school. BUT, you MAY give it to the pantry to give to the parents of the students of this school."
Lord, deliver us from idiots...or at least from the geniuses in the government!
GALAXY: Sorry to hear about the migrane, and the TV fiasco. Thanks for giving me a new word to add to my vocabulary, by the way. I'm kinda in the same boat today. I had the TV set to channel 4.2, WHBF out of the Quad Cities. They show the RTN or RTV network: all Universal Studios shows all day. 4PM is Adam-12, 4:30 = Dragnet, and 5 is "Emergency! 'O clock." Two solid hours of Jack Webb's finest efforts. But...the blinkingbracken flicken frappin digital box done lost the signal!!!!!! I made A-justments to the antennae...no dice. Re-scanned the channels. Gone. Tried a dozen different antennae positions/re-scanned a dozen times.
Gone.
Channel 7.3, KWWL out of Waterloo used to carry these shows, but they switched to an all 20th Century Fox programs format.
I just so dearly love digital television....
JEFF: I'm liking the scenery progress, good stuff!
VINCENT: Looking forward to seeing the SD40-2's evolve into BN units.
TODD: Black with flames 'eh? The Wife would surely love to see THAT. One of her die-cast collections...Yes, I said HER die-cast collections...is a black with flames theme. When we go to car shows, she seeks out black with flames, and any VW bugs on-site.
*sigh* Time to get back at it...pics to edit et. send...
Coffee refill, please.
The barn roof is finished. That's one more item checked off the To Fix List.
Rob
Good Afternoon. Flo, could I please have a chocolate donut and a lemonade in a CPR glass please. I have finally survived a busy weekend so now I can notch back the throttle for a while. I cut the grass this morning and I nearly need a combine to cut it because it was long and wet! I'm getting tired of the rainy weather.
Lone Geep
\
Coffee in a SOUTHERN mug, please.
While the roofers were on their extended lunch, I got up on the barn roof and ran about 100 screws to speed up the process. Probably would have taken them an hour to do what I did in minutes. Wish I could have read their minds when they returned to find the only thing left for them to do was add the last half dozen sections of tin. Today they will be done, whether they know it or not.
Wife and I need to take today easy and rest. We're both spent.
Afternoon Everyone,
Not much happening here. I installed 4 ground throws and ran a FP-7 for a couple of minutes. I decided that was enough as I go to w**k in a couple of hours.
Galaxy- I feel your pain. Sometimes you are the bird and sometimes you are the statue.
Everyone take care.
Morning
WEeeeeelllllll the cable guy came and the setting for the tv WAS off...It should have been for HDTV2 instead of just "cable" for inline connection.
The DVD player and the cable HD box don't have to be connected, so no more cables needed as long as the DVD {with surround sound} is connected to teh TV directly as it has nothing of course to do with teh cable box.
Our "all in one" remotes are NO GOOD for the HD thingy. So SHHHHHHH! we got a second remote free. we have always had at least 3 remotes...one for me, one for MOH and one for the dining table to control the tv anywhere without playing "where is the remote" or "football" passing it around betwixt us. The "all in one" buttons is what knocked it out of the proper setting.
I don't know why they make those thingys so complicated, my computer is easier to figure out than that blasted TV/DVD?HDTV CABLE box is/are!!!!!!
At least teh TV isn't broken as I had feared. but WE DONOT use the "all in ones" now!!!!!!!!!!
What could have been a simple fix for the cable man took a little over an hour as he had to replace teh cable wires as the old connection was outdated and techincally ILLEGAL NOW. So he had to run new wire and a new connection!
AS I said, I don't know why they have to make things more complicted.
WEll still have my headache. Going to lay down soon.
Have ANOTHER repair bill coming that wil$1****$2me off- for the Grand CAravan. MOH drives it to work, adn came home yesterday and said that the brake light is on and the brakes "squishy". SO they must be facatchied* too. SO made the {groan} appt. for it tomorrow at 9 am at FIrestone to see whats what. abut 1-11/2 yrs ago they did the front brakes only as the back brekes were "ok". But I was warned {$600 later for front brakes} that the back drums are at a point of replacing them next time back brakes are done. RATS! That means another "higher than $600 repair ASSUMING we don't need new front ones now again too!" kinda bill!!!
Always something. Will have to warm up a credit card somewhere along the way.... RATS!
Hope everyone's day goes better than mine.
Have a {great} non- facatchied* day everyone!
* facatchied is a take off on an italian bread facata, modified to use as a word of frustration instead of other words that are not printable.
Mornin'
Zoe I'll have a short stack of Buttermilk pancakes, Maple Syrup, and a cup of dark roast coffee, no cream, no sugar... What? You're out of cream, so how about "no milk, no sugar".... Uh? OK THAT will have to do.
Up to my armpits in alligators already today. I am busy running off the rest of the programs for the dinner. Then i will start making the tickets for it and the Scholarship Awards themselves... Have to be at the collage by 2PM and go over and vote on the School Budget after I am through there. Looks like I won't be getting my "Ears Lowered" before the dinner......
It is currently 51°F under dreary, drizzly skies here in the Finger Lakes this morning. May get all the way up to 58°F this afternoon..... Just another beautiful day here.
Todd, yep that was me ducking behind the baggage car.... following a group of visiters to do my guide routine in the car.
Jeffrey, your new part of the layout is looking really good! I know you are having fun with it as well.
Attaboy, good luck getting through the whole situation....
Hope everyone has a great day!
Todd, she's been say things like that since I found out what she has been up to. She keeps telling me not to file the papers till Friday because (and I quote her) "I want to think about it." She can't seem to understand two important concepts: 1. the time to think about was before she went out and slept with other men, and 2. I DON'T want to think about it anymore. She can't save the marriage alone.
Good morning. It's 57° and sunny. The high will be near 80° and it will be partly cloudy.I made a lot of progress on the trees yesterday. Today I intend to add the bushes IF nothing else comes up to change that. I also have to move a few structures to their final positions. One of these will be the Cup-o-Joe Trackside Diner (slightly kitbashed version of Donna's Diner with a scratchbuilt kitchen added). For the bushes I'll be using clump foliage and lichen. I have so much lichen in the closet (enough to fill six or more shoe boxes) that it's getting in the way. I have three 32oz bottles full of clump foliage. So I should be able to make a good sized dent in the scenery job. The foliage is mostly one color, dark green. So I'll have to see if I can vary things with the lichen, which I have in a variety of green shades. I even have a little in autumn colors. I may be able to do something with the brown shade. Dead bushes anyone? I must remember to spread some dead fall around too. That stuff sure makes a difference.
howmus Ever have one of those days where every time you finished a project that has to be done right away, two more appear out of nowhere you had forgotten about?
Ever have one of those days where every time you finished a project that has to be done right away, two more appear out of nowhere you had forgotten about?
EV-ry SING-gle DAY of MY LIFE! Nice video, by the way. And was that you ducking behind the car?
Good Morning!! Cup of Dark Roast please. Thanks. Did not get a THING done yesterday I needed to. (shakes head) Always something pops up to stop progress, then when I do progress....see Ray's quote. YGW- Prayers continue for the OH.
Good Morning!! Cup of Dark Roast please. Thanks.
Did not get a THING done yesterday I needed to. (shakes head) Always something pops up to stop progress, then when I do progress....see Ray's quote.
YGW- Prayers continue for the OH.
Ray- Perhaps your sister could paint her lawn mower in a pastel flowery design. Make it a piece of…...art she can display all year long. At least it will possibly keep it out of the cellar.
Reminds me of the time years ago, when a guy asked if I could check out his push mower for the season and touch up paint the deck. I laughed and said, “more like repaint” He laughed too and said it would be faster to just sand and paint the whole thing, but since it sat outside, he figured just knock the rust down and spray bomb it. He’d done this several times over the years and it's an old mower anyway. Must have only been 5 years old at the time. ( Apparently not to him, but that's a pretty new mower to me). The touch up paint turned into a full black mower complete with a flame job courtesy Rustoleum. He wasn‘t reeeal happy but not mad. What could he say. It was done on Federal time and he was a supervisor from another department. I just smiled and said “hey, you have to pay for it somehow, and since money or favors is somewhat illegal as opposed to against the rules, I guess a flamed mower sitting in your yard is payment enough.” he never brought anyhing back again. Of cours there was the time this guy brought in his whell barrow to weld a bottom in. Stripes it got. Now HE was not happpy at all. Don't like it...., BUY A NEW WHEEL BARROW!!!!
Jeff- Layout is looking great.
Attaboy- Sooo, she signed and delivered the divorce papers, then gets mad when you… file them. Hm. Sounds like a woman I used to know. Used to.
Also sounds like my sister. Now there’s a whacko. She claims she is not psychotic, because she, ready for this, “gave myself the test just to be sure”. (whatever the test is) I will not even go into her powers of reasoning and deduction. They just defy any descrition imaginable.
Enough about Nutjob, let’s talk about me. Not much to report. I hope to get the yard mowed or at least most of it today before w**k, then w**k on the tractor. Spark plug was not it. I suppose I’ll have to break down this year and give it a proper tuneup. This is averaging a tuneup every ten years. Getting a it rediculouis not to mention expensive. Better start looking for new mowers.
Trying to get stuff done and out of the way, these things are keeping me from playing with my trainset.
Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
Tall glass of water, please.
***Chris, sure enjoy your sense of humor. Funny post.
***Galaxy, the equipment is most likely fine. If it was working with the new conncetions, then it is probably a settings issue. Between my wife who hits buttons and two cats which walk across the remotes, it seems I have to delve into the settings menus at least once a week to return things to normal. Good luck!
Have a great day y'all.
Garry, I exchange emails with Duke from time to time, I think he's busy planning his summer bike rides. He mentioned going to Apex in October already. Actually I might try to get there too. I've never been there. I know he looks in the windows sometimes because he mentions seeing things on the forum.
Good Morning.
Well, I am having another rainy kind of day, same with tomorrow and Thursday and Friday....there are a lot of fields currently underwater here.....our sump pump has been running at 1 minute cycles for awhile now....
Galaxy: I have done a lot of those HD and HDMI interface things for awhile now...they can get rather annoying, especially when one is configuring a ceiling mounted system...
Ray: I enjoyed that video very much//looked like it must have been a lot of fun!! Even if it was all dribbly
Curt: All I know about that shot was that it had to have been sometime in the late 1920's early 1930's.
Flo, I'll have a coffee and a toasted breakfast bagel please...I'll be at the RC for now...
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
Good middle of the night
I developed a migraine yesterday morning and all day. so I slept all day on migraine meds. so here it is middle of the night and Im awake with a pounding headache.
I facatchied the new TV/cable box. {facatchied is a take off on an italian bread called facata, and I use it as a cleaned up word of frustration}
YOu see with our cable bill getting so high, MOH called to cancel the upper channels. Then called back to find out what offers they were offering to new subscribers, and found out htey were offering a yr-long special on HD High Def with many more channels than I think we know what to do with, though I think we will never watch 2/3 of them ata $20 discount over what we were paying. SO MOH went up tho the office and got a new HD box and remote. WEEEEELLLLLLL, the connections were a nightmare, but finally MOH got the tv connected to the box, but not the DVD player connected. MOH called for a repair man to come out Tomorrow. WEEEELLLLL, I accidentaly hit a tv button onthe tv remote {that doesn't work the cable box,a nd it got facatchied.
So NOW MOH is trying to figure it out and get it straightened out. THe TV does NOT seem to take teh "cable" setting and lock it in, it reads anttenae and there is none.
I tell ya my parents thought hooking up a VCR was confusing, BUT this new HD LCD TV and all it's "settings" and teh cable box with all its "settings' and the DVD player {which does not seem to play well with others} are WAY more confusing than setting up a plain old VCR.
So here I sit, all broken hearted with no TV to watch and bored ont he 'puter while MOH tries to straighten out the TV situation. Now MOH is stubborn and says I do it all wrong, but isn't geting it to workout well either. We DO get an error message witha phone number to call. I hope somehting isn;t screwed up with the TV and we have to send it back?!!
So, like ULRICH, I am up during the night and so is MOH, who only came to check on me.
WEll enough of that....
g'nite
Gooooooooooooood *yawwwwwwwwwwwwwn* Evening.
Well (full, dogs are pulling skeletal bones out as they float to the top), the Wife helped with a major decision tonight regarding the future layout. You see, I had a change of plans for a boxcar project. Some weeks back, I mentioned doing a project out of a Rail Model Journal (I think) article I found online. It called for taking a Life Like boxcar and making something good out of it. The subject was a Penn Central car. So, I got paint, decals, Details West underframe, Walthers steel wheels trucks...ready to rock 'n roll on it. At original glance, I thought the high, flat-roof car would be in appliance service, so figured out where a Whirlpool or Maytag factory was in Ohio, on a Conrail (ex-PC) line and worked out the routing to a furniture/appliance warehouse.
So, I get the thing built, painted, half-decaled and realize the prototype has interior bulkheads...more like a "can stock" kinda car. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Scrap the appliance service idea, look at "food stuffs" THAT could go a carload at a time to the Nash Finch grocery warehouse. So (not a needle pulling thread), I take a gander at an online list of industries, the RRs THAT served them, and what was shipped. Some operations special interest group posted it, I think. I decide to stick with Ohio, on PRR/PC (Conrail) lines, and come up with four possible industries:
La Choy Food Products, Archibold, Ohio. The Wife said I should re-name THAT to "Lajoy Food Products" in honor of my mother..."La Joy" perhaps.
Frito Lay, Canton, Ohio.
Procter and Gamble, Ivorydale, Ohio or Lima, Ohio (food products such as Crisco, or carloads of soaps and laundry detergents).
Nestle Food, Twinsburg, Ohio.
I ask the Wife for her input. After explaining the situation and the options, she decided she liked the Nestle idea the best. Then, she looked at the half-finished car and asked "wouldn't you have to repaint it?"
"If it's a car for Nestle, wouldn't you have to paint it and decal it for Nestle?"
God love her.
No Dear...and I proceeded to explain how railroads assign freight cars to industries.
She's now happily clucking about how it'll be a car load of Nestle products...I think she's even posting something about it on her My Space, or Facebook, or My Butt, or Face Space, or whatever THAT social media thing is she's posting on...
Then again, she's still happily clucking about how I grabbed a Pepsi boxcar (Lionel) some years back for a proposed but never built Lionel layout. When I put up the train around the Christmas tree this last time, I made sure "her" Pepsi boxcar was in the consist.
I'll take all the points I can get!
CN CHARLIE: You know, I couldn't tell you off-hand what the Dragonslayer has for exhaust...I know she's got a small flathead six...and it sounds like a sewing machine ("clickclickclickclickclickclick") when it's actually running. The chassis itself is a Dodge B-3HH152. Years ago I was a member of the Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motorized Fire Apparatus in America (SPAAMFAA) and they did a feature article in their quarterly publication on those 1950s Canadian Dodge rigs. It looked to me like they tended to stretch-out the hoods on 'em. Looked kinda funny to me!
I started a reply to MORGAN's question about how to come up with the "right" number of rolling stock...confused myself...and scrapped it. I guess I hadn't really thought about it much even though I keep adding to the fleet. This PC boxcar is a good example. I'll have to build a few more now, I mean it would be strange to see the exact same boxcar every few sessions moving out of staging, across the layout, and in to the CCP yard. The closest I got to really skulling-out how many of a particular car I'd need was my theory on how many coal hoppers I'll need for the Iowa Electric Light and Power Co. 6th St. Power Station. The CRANDIC served it in real life (until the 2008 flood sealed it's doom). But, in my world....the CNW will bring in six hoppers each week for the plant in addition to loads from the CRANDIC (a subsidiary of IE, now Alliant Energy). I figured: one set at the plant. One in-transit (loaded). One set in-transit (empty, back to Wyoming). One set at the Black Thunder Mine in Wyoming being loaded. I figured (rightly? wrongly?) a six-car block of hoppers might not move quite as expeditiously as a unit coal train, so I might need to add a set or two. At the same time, I'm adding to my CRANDIC coal hopper fleet, which would've been loaded in Southern Illinois.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Remember when we were thrilled just to have Nestle boxcars going around a circle of track on the floor????? It sure was a lot simpler then.... Dad: "why do you want another Nestle boxcar? You already have a Nestle one...you should get a Kellog's or Purina car instead..." Kid: "but the weal wailwoads have mowe than one boxcar..."
G'Night!
Ray ... The old "Hammerhead" looks good in the LV paint scheme.
YGW ..... Hope your wife's test results are good news. Certainly will pray the cancer is being cured.
Ulrich .... Hope your Mom and Dad will be doing much better.
Rob ... Hope the roof repairs will go well.
Jerry ... Glad to see you.
Jeff ... It's good the signs are clean unlike your locomotive fleet.
Ken ... I suppose if we need a mattress we should contact you.
Attaboy .... I hope your situation is resolved quickly and you recover emotionally from it. Where is Duke?
There are several MIA's. Feel free to email some of them and bring them back.
On the layout .... I have been ballasting more track, and I am putting together a building materials supplier to be served by my railroad.
Here's an old photo in Birmingham, AL in the good old days before Amtrak.
Evening, all. Nothing to eat for me, thanks.
Well, it's been just a great day. Got a speeding ticket (doing 38 in a 25 school zone - I'm such a societal menace), we lost one of our expected upcoming projects at w**k so I'm not sure what I'll have to fill my time for the next few weeks, and this evening I slipped going down the basement stairs. Left a few layers of skin from my right arm on one of the treads and I either sprained or broke the little toe on my left foot. Fully expect my shoulder to be sore tomorrow from the funky way my arm was bent as I slid down the bottom 6 or 7 steps. At least I wasn't carrying one of my boxcar projects from the paint booth (i.e. the garage) to my workdesk.
Tomorrow can only be better, right? Time for me and Mr. Throbbing Toe to get to bed.
Jim
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright