Elliot's Trackside Diner JUNE 2011

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Ken: Me think'um your post fall down, go boom!

[cudaken]

 Evening Folks

 Flo, I take 2 Bangers, Chips and a Spotted Dick and a please.

 Not sure if this will work.

 

[Packer]

Evening guys

Not doing much ATM. I'm thinking about trying to stop my U-boats from squealing, but I've had no luck in finding my bearing oil

Todd, Thanks for the compliments. I had a laugh about the "running the other way" bit. I don't think I've ever seen one IRL. Guess they weren't really good or something.

Lee, Are you talking about the cars or the locomotive when you said "I like the paint job!"? If it's the cars, Thanks. If it's the loco, it'll be green sometime soon.

[Cederstrand]

Coffee in a Southern Pacific mug, please.

I see some neat pics being posted.

The old Inlaws are coming apart at the seams. Not sure how long it will be before they end up in a end of the road nursing home. They've about reached the limits of the assisted living facility they presently reside in. It might not be so bad when my wife becomes an orphan.

Have a good day y'all.

Cheers! Rob

[blownout cylinder]

Simon: That is pretty sad to see her go like that...wonder what happened...

Good Evening peoples....

How be ye? I'se be good tonight....so far...

Got a few things done on the layout that needed some work..namely one elevator that I stupidly placed in the worgn area... ...which meant that I had to rescenic the areas concerned...

Chloe, I'll just have a coffee for now please...I'll be at the RC fro a bit..

[simon1966]

The Liberty Belle has been destroyed, I suspect beyond salvation.   This is really sad news

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-110613-b17-plane-crash-pictures,0,3672607.photogallery

We had the pleasure of visiting this wonderful old plane a couple of years ago,  Here are the photos that I took that day.   It is really a shame to see a piece of history go up in flames like that.

[teen steam fan]

Hey guys

Foreign food is today's topic of choice, don't mind if I do. 

Some countries are known for good food like the Germans, Swedish and Polish. Just for the record if you reach for my cabbage roll or cinnamon roll, I will stick my fork through your hand and into the table. Other countries like England, well.. I'll leave it at that. I do like Chinese food, I just ask for beef instead of cat and make it explicitly clear that I want nothing to do with dog. the only type of sushi I am willing to eat is gringo sushi like the Jack@$$ roll Guy Fietti makes. Now Italian food, try and keep me away. 

[howmus]

Afternoon folks!

Flo, I'll have.....  Oh i see you have Chinese on the menu...  Ok, I'll have the Birds Nest soup and the Hundred Year Old Eggs...  And a glass of Rice Wine to tide me over to dinner.

My Night Blooming Cereus bloomed the last two nights.  Got the camera and took a few shots of it. This one was shot at ISO 100, f/13, using Apperture Priority, my 100mm lens, and a 21 second exposure on the Digital Rebel XSi.

Sorry I can't send you the smell of these things.....  Wonderful!  Did Emeril Lagossi ever perfect "Smell-a-vision?

Starting to cloud up outside....  Should get a couple things done out there before it starts getting drizzly...

Later!

73

 

[Anonymous]

Simon - Petra and I will be celebrating our 27th anniversary in 5 weeks. I am married to an expert cook, who taught cooking and housekeeping in a vocational school. Petra did have some eating problems when we traveled around England and Wales some years (in fact, too many) ago. OTOH, we got some nice meals out in the country. I guess each country has some foodstuff on the platter which is revolting to others. Try Japan or China ...

[LSWrr]

Good Morning,

I just don't get it! No load on the motor except touching the armature with a paper towel. Two feet of track that was wired to the E-Z with only 2 feet of wire. Yet, I still cook a decoder? 

Ken, I doubt it’s your stall current I would bet the motor is not insulated from the frame and your shorting out the decoder.  I go over the whole locomotive with a meter before I fire up the decoder just to double check everything.  All you need to do is a continuity test or an OHM test on a multi meter.

Ulrich, I was never a fan of the English breakfast.  I spent time on British and Dutch warships and just couldn’t handle the hotdogs and blood sausage that early in the morning.  Tripe and Haggis was good at dinner, I looked forward to that.  I didn’t care for rice with peanut gravy or the giant baked fish covered in hot sauce. I loved the lunch meat until I found out where it came from, LOL.  Fish and Chips rule!  So does anything on the German or Polish menu…

[blownout cylinder]

Train Master

 

AmanaMedic:

 

Oh yeah, found this in the news this morning:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Railroad-Switch-Tampered-With-Officials-Say-123739794.html

 

May certain parts of their anatomy be nailed to the door!

 

GROWL!!!!

Good afternoon...well...sort of....

After reading this fine piece of news..wonder what kind of lowlife they'll come across on this one...

It is now back to being dull dull dull...and cool...only 60F right now....

I've got a few things done, then found out that the classes for tonight had been cancelled due to other facilitator getting the sickies...oops...

Anyhow..on to some trainstuff...oh...Todd...how did you know I was alone when there was nobody around?...of course nothing ever happens unless there are more people in here...then all H...l breaks out....

[simon1966]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Simon ... How many English restaurants are in the USA? We have various ethnic restaurants such as Italian, Mexican, German, French, Greek, Indian, and so on. However, I do not recall an English restaurant. Why is that the case?

Because most people who were not raised on it consider English food to be "inedible muck!  It is not considered one of the great cuisines of the world!!  Tends to be rather plain really, nothing fancy and as my Wife likes to say  "They do eat some strange things"

You do see the occasional English pub over here, but not much else, perhaps a tea-room serving High-tea.

Ulrich was real close with the pub menu, he just missed a few "With chips" on the list, oh and another fine delicacy  Mushy Peas...   That one make my Wife want to throw up.

If you wander around Birmingham, or any of the bigger cities outside London, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Curry house was the traditional British dining establishment.   Nothing like 10 pints of lager and a Vindaloo curry after watching a football match in the pouring rain!!

BTW, Ulrich as I approach my 17th wedding anniversary, I can assure you that there is not a single jab against English food that I have not heard before.   My Wife is full of them!!   Just get her started on the smell of Stilton cheese and she can rattle on for hours!

 

I have to say that I am really enjoying this interchange, I head to the UK in early July on business and now have a great urge to gorge myself on all thing English.   I'll be just like a pig-in-....well you know!

[Train Master]

AmanaMedic

Oh yeah, found this in the news this morning:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Railroad-Switch-Tampered-With-Officials-Say-123739794.html

May certain parts of their anatomy be nailed to the door!

[Anonymous]

Heartland Division CB&Q

Simon ... How many English restaurants are in the USA? We have various ethnic restaurants such as Italian, Mexican, German, French, Greek, Indian, and so on. However, I do not recall an English restaurant. Why is that the case?

Garry - I had some fine meals in countryside pubs - a little frugal and hearty, but very tasty. I also had some really bad meals, but I had that in France as well.

The typical menu of an English restaurant reads like this:

• Fish & Chips
• Lasagne & Chips
• Spaghetti & Chips
• Steak n´ Kidney Pie
• Plowman´s Pie
• Trifle
• Sandwiches (assorted)
• Spotted Dick
• Spam & Chips

Simon - no offense meant!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good afternoon.  ... I'm too late for German breakfast. (Rats!) Instead I'll have bratwurst with sour ***.

Simon ... How many English restaurants are in the USA? We have various ethnic restaurants such as Italian, Mexican, German, French, Greek, Indian, and so on. However, I do not recall an English restaurant. Why is that the case?

That Chris ... I tried N scale for a while, but went back to HO. There are some good models in N scale though. As for the light bulb law, I think this time the "D's" in Congress did the usual stunt. Both D's and R's do this so I'm just observing. Line item vetoes are not allowed. If Congress wants the Prez to sign a bill, he opposes,  Congress includes the legislation with urgently need legislation. ... UH, Vinnie... I was not being to political. Many of our fixtures have clear incandescent bulbs, and they would look very stupid with the new style bulbs in them. We also have indoor flood lights in the ceiling, and any CFL flood light I tried had about half the light output and had a short life. I hope Congress passes a bill to allow homeowners to choose their own bulbs. At least the icon is not yet a CFL. 

Ulrich .... Glad the meds are working. The meds I take do well. I'm also glad Petra is looking out for you. Speaking of sick humor. A sick comic failed to report to work after he called in well.  

Stan ... Happy birthday to Engineer Alexander.   The painting is looking outstanding. 

Happy Model Railroading 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

Stan - I to thee - that painting is fantastic!

Chris - now say after me: I am Chris, and I am a HO modeler Seriously, I think there is a lot of potential in that modular system. You can really grow your layout without any pain and benchwork is not much of an issue. Even an extensive around the wall layout is not intrusive, as it can really be incorporated into bookshelves. Not that I want to sell the idea to you The best of it, however, is that a mediocre modeler like me can achieve amazing results.

Ray - I just love Monty Python. Their sick humor is adorable!

TTFN

[AmanaMedic]

"You're getting ideas? Uh-oh!"

Yep JEFF, ideas...biiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggggggggggg ideas.

Be afraid. Be very very afraid.

I'm also having...visions. Not just ideas, but VISIONS.

 

I really need to do some w**k and get my mind off of this quick!!!!

Chris

[jeffrey-wimberly]

AmanaMedic

ULRICH: Darn you! Darn darn darn darn darn darn!!!! Thanks to those AWESOME pics of your FANTASTIC modules, I've started having...ideas. Thoughts have started to take shape in my feeble brain. I've actually DREAMED about scrapping/selling ALL of the HO stuff, and going into N-sane scale!!!

You're getting ideas? Uh-oh!

 

Good morning. It's 85° and sunny. The high will be 96° and partly cloudy with no rain in sight.

Nothing much going on today. Yesterday I put a Lenz LE1014JST decoder in a Bachmann GP30. Two of the light function wires were missing so I piggy-backed it on the existing Bachmann decoder so the LE1014 will handle motor control while the POC Bachmann decoder board will handle light control. I had a Digitrax DZ125 I was going to use but three wires came off it including one of the pickup wires. I'm not up to doing soldering under a microscope so I tossed it out. At some point in the near future I have to get some more decoders.

Tomorrow morning I have to go to DeRidder to get my foot measured for a brace. After that comes the wait as we wait to see if Medicaid approves the construction of the brace.

A friend of mine who's a great mechanic has examined the engine in the beast (my van) and determined that it's problems are minor especially considering that it's older than his oldest child and qualifies for Social Security. The rocker arms are a bit loose but not to the extent where it could be a problem. Correcting it would require that the push rods be replaced. The timing sprockets are worn but not to a great extent. It's enough that there's a growl coming from the timing chain cover. One of the hydraulic lifters is weak but is still working. He was able to determine all this without turning even one bolt. A stethoscope can be a fantastic tool in the right hands. He also tracked down the metallic tap that's coming from the back of the engine or the front of the tranny. For this he had to loosen a few bolts. The cause of the tap is so simple that it's utterly stupid yet funny. The head of one of the bolts holding the torque convertor is a little bit thicker than the others and is making a light contact with a raised ridge somewhere in the bell housing. He knows exactly where and says it doesn't present a problem and isn't going to cause a breakdown.

[AmanaMedic]

Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooood (what's left of it) Morning everybody,

I'll just have my usual breakfast: can of Coke and a smoke... Depending on the day and assignments, THAT may have a Casey's breakfast burrito or breakfast biscuit added as well.

CFL's?? Well (quite full), here's my take on it. Let the consumer decide what type of lightbulb goes into his/her house. I'm stock-piling the good 'ole incandescents. I like 'em. THAT is what I want to use in MY house. At risk of getting the soapbox out of the corner, "W" should've never signed THAT bill banning the tried and true incandescent. Yes, I've heard people sing their praise. Fine...enjoy! I've heard people curse them. I'll stick with Thomas Edison's invention for as long as possible. Which reminds me...I should grab another case of 'em today when I roll by Lowe's in Coralville..... You use what you want, I'll use what I want. Everybody's happy THAT way 'eh?

I can help choose who will be the president...but soon, I won't be able to choose what kind of lightbulb goes into my house... Oh, wait, not true....I'll be able to choose between CFL or LED...

ULRICH: Darn you! Darn darn darn darn darn darn!!!! Thanks to those AWESOME pics of your FANTASTIC modules, I've started having...ideas. Thoughts have started to take shape in my feeble brain. I've actually DREAMED about scrapping/selling ALL of the HO stuff, and going into N-sane scale!!!  Using your modular methodology, I "could" have a rather convincing SW Iowa branch line... I'm thinking CB&Q and/or Wabash as it ran around Shenandoah. Darn darn darn darn darn DARN!!!!! Heck, with THAT modular methodology, I could FILL the RR room...get some decent distance between towns...

Oy.

"I'm happy with HO scale. I'm happy with HO scale. I'm happy with HO scale. I'm happy with HO scale. I'm happy with HO scale...."

Have a good day peoples...I have to go and get something started, something else finished, and a thing or two lined-up for THAT Editor...

Oh yeah, found this in the news this morning:

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Railroad-Switch-Tampered-With-Officials-Say-123739794.html

As is standard with KCRG...the writing is somewhat vague. Whenever I get down on myself for my lack of writing abilities, I read some KCRG stuff...and feel very much gooder!

Chris

[howmus]

Mornin'!

I know I'm getting in here late this AM, Zoe, I'll have some.....  What is this?  Spam on the menu?  But I don't like Spam!  Spam, spam ,spam, spam, Spam, spam, spam, ..................  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODshB09FQ8w&search=monty%20python   Zoe, just my dark roast coffee and a couple of Hagis please!

Galaxy, makes me glad I'm in Ontario County.......  I remember from when I lived in Waverly, they were often just a tad behind the times.....  Once a year we have the Household Hazardous Waste collection...  No charge.  Actually I am a lot more worried about the crap they do put in the landfill THAT isn't labeled as hazardous.........

Well (shallow and hand dug), I better get moving as I have many things to do sometime today....

73

[simon1966]

cudaken

 I started a post in the DCC section on the proper way to test a motor amps. How do you folks do it? Simon, do you test the motors before you install a decoder? 

Frankly I don't.   I have replaced some motors in some known issue locos like the old P2K PA (I think that was it?) 

cudaken

 Took a paper towel and spray some electrical contact cleaner on it and touched the armature while it was running. Let the smoke out of the Digitrax DH 163 decoder? 

I just don't get it! No load on the motor except touching the armature with a paper towel. Two feet of track that was wired to the E-Z with only 2 feet of wire. Yet, I still cook a decoder?

 Contact cleaner is highly conductive.  In all likelihood you created a situation where there was a direct conduction path through the liquid which would be virtually the same as a dead short across the motor leads.  Even the momentary surge of current across the motor leads could have caused the smoke to get out!

[Train Master]

galaxy

Nowhere in the link that DER provided for "full English Breakfast" do I see "haggis". Here is what I see for the "normal ingredients:

Look under Scottish breakfast on the same page.

Full Scottish breakfast

A similar Scottish alternative

In Scotland, the traditional breakfast is porridge, but the "Full Scottish Breakfast", along with the usual eggs, bacon and sausage, is usually differentiated by Scottish-style black pudding, haggis and tattie scones. It may also include fried tomato, baked beans, white pudding, fruit pudding (also fried), and oatcakes. In some instances, the regular "link" sausage is replaced or augmented by square sliced sausage also known as Lorne sausage.

[B&O1952]

Good Morning!                                                                                                                                                 -  I finally have a chance to get caught up! We had a busy and productive weekend at the Salamanca Rail Museum this weekend. Good turnout, and some great donations including two single chime airhorns from an old B&O Baldwin switcher, and a whole set of blueprints of the B&O diesel fleet and some steam through the 1950's. I hope to have these scanned into the museum computer a little later, and they will be made available to my modeler friends here and on a few other sites by early fall. We already have the BR&P steam fleet and the Erie RR steam fleet scanned for anyone interested.             -  English breakfasts take me back to my time in the UK while serving in the USAF. I lived off base with a number of other GI's and we lived the British experience! I still throw darts in a winter league.               -    Ken good luck with your dental issues I've been through it all, and I've had a full upper plate since I was 17. We have terribly weak gums in my family.                                                                                         -      Great layout pics everybody! I like the module Ulrich,  Jeff, your paint scheme looks like the locos I ran on the B&P RR. I think they finally got around to painting them G&W orange and black.                -    Here is an updated image on the painting project, I hope to finish it today and get the next one sketched.

                   -                                                                                                                                                                                         

Finally a shout out to my littlest engineer Alexander who turns 7 today.

Everyone have a good day! I'll catch ya tomorrow-Stan

[Anonymous]

Galaxy - I can´t believe it is so difficult to find a proper home which suits your needs and pocketbook. I guess that a lot of folks are just not putting up their homes into the market to wait for better times, as this is a buyer´s market right now. I keep my fingers crossed for your search!

My "American" mother is right now attempting to sell her property on Bainbridge Island, which also proves to be difficult. It is a beautiful home at the water front, has a spectacular view - the place I´d like to be.

A sneak preview is here.

[simon1966]

galaxy

THAT house is now off the list. We keep looking. Oh well.

That's the way to do it.  Walk away, the right place will come up sooner or later.   My parents-in-law made the cardinal mistake of doing things in a rush to accommodate letting my Wife's sister move into their old house.  In doing so, they did not walk away from a place that was utterly unsuited to their needs.  3 Years later, they wonder why they feel trapped in a house that has 4 steps up to the main door. 

[galaxy]

TMarsh

Galaxy- Der’s post linked to a page that not only described an English breakfast, but other traditional breakfasts also. Among the items for another place, and I believe it may have been Scotland as Simon says (HA! Really didn’t mean that either), Having lived so close I’m sure he’d know. But anyway, the name Haggis appeared and though I’d heard of it, did not know what it was and it too was linked to a description. That’s how Haggis got brought into the mix.

Ok, it is true that haggis is mentioned under "Scottish Breakfast"....but if you had didn't read anything but the "Full English Breakfast" in the descript, then you would not have lost your breakfast!!!!

Anywho as you would say.

On to next discussion.

The house we looked at yesterday was  a TINY cape cod style. The second floor had stapled up 1 foot square tiles that had fallen off in most spots. We would probably use it for storage anyway. It was not big enough to really put 2 layouts up there either not to mention HOT.  up there on a relatively cool day. The kitchen had a 5 foot counter with a sink and that was it. There were 4 cabinets above the sink, but we have more than that in the trailer and would have no room for panty stuff. The area of "eat in kitchen" for the table would have to have a very small table and if we put the pantry there, there would nto have been room for a table. The stove would have to be either half blocking hte door to the LR or would have to be the smaller Apartment sized unit. The 2 BR on the first floor were ok. The bath needed a new tub wall and probably a new window installed there. Two windows were broken, so they would have to be replaced. The LR was tiny we could about get the couch and the recliner in there with the TV unit and thats all. The carpets were of course gonners. The back yard was "squishy" from all the rain we had yesterday. But the real kicker was some WATER IN THE BASMENT AND MOLD ON ALL FOUR WALLS TO ABOUT 3 FEET UP THE WALLS.

THAT house is now off the list. We keep looking. Oh well.

TTYALL8R

[simon1966]

Sir Madog

 I just love my German breakfast, with fresh rolls, different bread, butter, jam & honey, cheese, ham, OJ, soft boiled egg and coffee, not tea. I can go with a French breakfast for a few days, I can live with cucumber sandwiches for tea or fish & chips for lunch, but I´ll always come back to my German breakfast to start the day.

Oooh now I am really hungry.  Having travelled in your fine country many times I have to say that I agree with you.   I really like it when a hotel has a huge buffet spread with all the different cured meats and sausages and different kinds of cheese layed out.   I'm not much of a sweet tooth so I really enjoy breakfast in Germany.

 

 

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee please I’ll spare the repeat of the days activities. Suffice it to say I did some things prior to coming in here as opposed to after.

Partly sunny, with a high near 76. Looks like they took the rain out of the forecast at least until after 1 am tonight. This morning. Whatever you wanna call it. Morning is when the sun starts coming up. Night is when it's dark so here, 1 am is night to me anyway.

Galaxy- Der’s post linked to a page that not only described an English breakfast, but other traditional breakfasts also. Among the items for another place, and I believe it may have been Scotland as Simon says (HA! Really didn’t mean that either), Having lived so close I’m sure he’d know. But anyway, the name Haggis appeared and though I’d heard of it, did not know what it was and it too was linked to a description. That’s how Haggis got brought into the mix.

(chuckles) Special dump fees for hazardous waste. Yup know them well. We had to dispose of old asbestos lined brakeshoes a number of years ago due to the fact they (DOD) did not want to pay special fees to haul them so we had to just dump them in the city dump. OK, called the dump and asked what to do. They said double bag and tell the person what you have. Fine. Did it and I think it was like $10, $20 extra. Something like that to dump asbestos and then we were sent to the top of the hill and told to tell the guys what we had. Cool. He sent us to an area between two garbage trucks dumping and we pitched the bags to their final resting place. As we were pulling away we saw the bulldozer pushing our truck load of brakeshoes down the hill with the rest of the trash. I somehow doubt the plastic bags could have held up to the strain of a bulldozer pushing them, scraping and rolling down a hill. Now, mind you, this was way before Force-Flex bags were around.

All right, now I won’t eat Saumagen.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[Anonymous]

simon1966

 

TO ANYONE put off by Ulrich, take if from a true Englishman, that you have not lived until you have had a " Traditional Full English Breakfast"

 It is about the only meal of the day that is regularly done well!!! 

Simon - I hope I did not put off anybody, but the English breakfast (of which I had many during my days in London Ealing) was something I could not get used to. I just love my German breakfast, with fresh rolls, different bread, butter, jam & honey, cheese, ham, OJ, soft boiled egg and coffee, not tea. I can go with a French breakfast for a few days, I can live with cucumber sandwiches for tea or fish & chips for lunch, but I´ll always come back to my German breakfast to start the day.

Btw, we have something very close to Haggis - it is called "Saumagen" and was the favorite meal of our former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Takes a lot of bravery to eat that.

Ken - they are concrete catenary posts, so the gray color seems to be right.

Chloe, I´ll have coffee and a slice of that cherry crumble pie, please.

It´s a slow day. Being a holiday in Germany, there is little activity around us. Time to recover and make plans for future MRRing activities.

CUL

[cudaken]

 Morning Fellow Dinners!

 Sleep well last night with all the drugs that are in me. Will be going to work today, I need to get away from the wife. Her helping me is driving me nuts! She is such a worry wort, she has good intentions but she repeats her self over and over and over.

 Train Front Got the SD 50 motor quite with it mounted in the chassis, must have been the lose motor mount screws. I was test running it on the Bachmann E-Z with no drive shafts so there was no load. I had over oiled the bearing and the brushes had oil on them and they where smoking. Took a paper towel and spray some electrical contact cleaner on it and touched the armature while it was running. Let the smoke out of the Digitrax DH 163 decoder? 

I just don't get it! No load on the motor except touching the armature with a paper towel. Two feet of track that was wired to the E-Z with only 2 feet of wire. Yet, I still cook a decoder?

 I started a post in the DCC section on the proper way to test a motor amps. How do you folks do it? Simon, do you test the motors before you install a decoder?

 Ulrich The two sections look good together. Are you going to paint the telephone poles? They seem a odd color to me, but may be correct for what you are modeling.

 Well, it is that time, see you after work.

             Ken