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Elliot's Trackside Diner JUNE 2011

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 4, 2011 6:39 AM

It´s past lunchtime, so I´ll just have a coffee, Zoe!

No MRRing today, I am just to weak to do anything. I hope it is just the temperature outside, we are hitting 84 F !

Germany is right now suffering through an epidemic of a kind of cholera, caused by mutant bacterias. It all started in Hamburg during the 823th harbor anniversary celebrations. Rumors state this to be a terrorist attack, with the bacterias coming from an Iranian lab. Over 2.000 people have been infected, 18 have died so far.

What a world we live in!

Prayers for all those in need!

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Posted by simon1966 on Saturday, June 4, 2011 6:43 AM

cudaken

 Will the turtle thing work with AC power and no decoder? Far as turnouts, I have around 60 and all are hand thrown. Yes it is simple, but one of the reasons I hardly uses them. Have to get up and thrown them and then sit back down and run the trains.

   Ken

Ken, to have a functioning turnout that can be operated from a DCC throttle you need

  • A Stationary Decoder of some sort
  • A turnout motor
  • Power to the motor

I have installed one Tortoise Motor on my layout, used for the crossing gates and when I priced out the cost to do this for a turnout I was a bit shocked at the cost per turnout to achieve this, 

Yesterday I took delivery of a Tam Valley servo control board with a built in stationary decoder,   I am going to experiment with this and see how I get on.  It looks to me like a much lower cost alternative to the Tortoise solution,  It was $19 for the servo and control.  I'll let you know how I get on.

Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum

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Posted by galaxy on Saturday, June 4, 2011 6:44 AM

Since breakfast is on Garry, I'll have a Full English Breakfast.

Cloudy here cool here and possible rain here.

WE have teh train nut friend coming over today at 11 am. TOo bad we didn't tell him earlier maybe we could have gone to Steamtown. WOuld be aobut 11-11:30 arrival if we left right when he got here. I see Steamtown is preserving their Mike by only running excursion July and August and for Train fest 2011 on Labor Day weekend. They must not have #25 or #26 up and running, I can never remember which is the correct number..it's a slope back tender switcher model. Maybe they do, but still preserving the # of days the Mike is used so as not to use up all the 1,374 {or whatever that # is} days of usage onher.

WE don't know what we will do when the trian nut friend gets here, I think he is thinking we feed him lunch...maybe I do light refreshemnts we ahve a H2O mellon.

Well, Nothing absolutely NOTHING on the housing front. AS I said many have gone up 10K, 15K putting out our reach for now until they learn it isnt going to sell for that price and reduce it. We are not going to buy a dump that is for sure, Even dumps have gone up unless they have been on market and want to be sold. Spring is prime selling around here.....

Oh well,

Hope you all have a great day!!!

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.

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Posted by Curt Webb on Saturday, June 4, 2011 8:18 AM

Morning All,

Flo I would like the waffle with bacon and a cup of coffee please.

Not much planned here. I will be going to the train club later. MOH has a wake to go to for a co-workers son (adult) that originally was called a suicide but now is a murder investigation. MOH said there was no need for me to go when I asked her if she wanted me to attend with her. Neither one of us ever met the son.

Ken- If you are only powering a couple of turnouts via DCC then even I could  probably manage that. You also have a much longer wire run than I do. I figure on mine about 10 feet for the furthest away and the majority much closer. Obviously you will figure out what will work best for you. I was just trying to explain why I did what I did. I have heard that the Tortoise can be powered by either AC or DC but I can't tell you that is a fact. I also am using manual ground throws in the yard since that is where I will usually be standing by and to save some  money. Also if you have a old DC transformer laying around that will power the Tortoise. 

Simon- I found a site on line that sells Tortoise for $13.95 individually or $12.95 ea in a 12 pack. I have ordered from them 3 times with quick shipping and no issues. If you are interested please send me a PM.

Everyone have a Good Day. 

Curt Webb

The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad

http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j372/curtwbb/

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Saturday, June 4, 2011 8:35 AM

Good morning. It's 73° and sunny. The high will be 96° and partly cloudy. The chance of rain today is about the same as the chance of seeing a pig fly.

Did I mention it's a bit on the hot side here? Still 96 is cooler than the 103 we had on Thursday. A prelude of things to come. I received my Star Trek Enterprise series DVD collection via FedEx at 4:36 pm yesterday. It's 24 DVD's in all. I'm still waiting on the Star Trek Next Generation movie collection to come in. My plans for today include staying in where it's cool. Why should I want to go outside where it's hot if I don't have to.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
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Running Bear Enterprises
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beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by howmus on Saturday, June 4, 2011 8:45 AM

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a breakfast bagel w/ cheese to start the day along with a cup of dark roast coffee in a FGLK Mug.  I'll go have a seat at the Rivet Counter for a few minutes.

Currently 60°F under cloudy skies here in the Finger lakes today.  Some showers may happen at times today as well.  I will be heading over to the Finger Lakes Live Steam ground to talk to a couple people about the NMRA Picnic scheduled there in July.

Ken, ah, I see.  You are more of a Model Railfan type of guy.......Wink  You want to sit in one place and have the train running around away from where you are sitting.  I like to operate the trains standing right by the train......  My layout cannot be operated as a "Roundy Round".  There are places where turnouts have to be thrown to make it around the layout and get back to the main yard.  Tortoise machines operate on DC, maximum of 12 volts.  I run mine on 8 or 9 volts as I like the way they throw at that voltage and they will never burn out with it.  IIRC you can use track DCC power if you are using a decoder, just like the little DC motor in the loco needs DC current provided by the decoder.  The decoder provides the power for the Tortoise.  You can buy the type of decoder that just plugs onto the wiring strip on the tortoise and then you just have to bring track power to the decoder.  Very simple to wire....., but very expensive.  Have Fun!

Ulrich, I had been thinking of you with the outbreak of the  e-coli thing over there.  Stay safe!

I was going to reply to several others, but forgot who and what......  Guess I will wait until later.

73

Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO

We'll get there sooner or later! 

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 4, 2011 8:55 AM

Ray - we stopped eating fresh vegetables, no salad, no tomatoes, no cucumbers, no zucchinis - as long as the cause has not been determined. It´s a disaster for the "greenery" business, many farmers will go bankrupt as a result of the phobia which has set in.

It´s a quiet afternoon here, just watching a little TV and wait for the time to go by. I am really up to nothing.

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Posted by TMarsh on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:05 AM

 

 

 

Good Morning!! Coffee please. Just coffee thanks. Got lot’s to do today before having to go to the (gulp) Senior Prom tonight. Last year for it. The guy who always put it on, is retiring. He is the Band teacher at the High School and every year he has put this on using the High School Jazz Band. I’m not keen on Jazz. Not knocking it, it just doesn’t appeal to me. Yes, I was in the Jazz Band when I was in High School. Didn’t care for it that much even then.

SFB- If you are careful, you can spray Roundup on the ivy without affecting the surrounding plants. Roundup is a non-ground transfer vegetation killer. That means it only kills what it comes in contact with. Careful with the spray and you’ll be ok. If you accidentally get some on a leaf you don’t want to kill or wilt, just tear that part of the leaf off. It’ll survive.

Ken-   Let me be clear on this "not allergic to it". I should say “so far”. I have come in contact with it unintentionally many many times over the years,layed in it (coourtesy Uncle Sam and his passion for dropping me places always in the dark, and then the next morning..Sigh.) chopeed it walked through it and like I said weed eated it. Don't think I've burnt it yet. As of yet I have not had a reaction. I don’t, however, purposely play with fire. But I don't worry about it either. I usually treat it as if I am reactive to it, wear gloves nd don't rub the plant on my face to dry the sweat, but not the haz-mat type hermetically sealed from the envronment self contained getup many have to wear. Unlike my Grandfather who could, and would, go up to the stuff and pull it off the tree or rip it out of the ground with his bare hands with no issues. And, No, he was not fed a leaf as a child. Neither was I.

Ulrich- I know what you mean on the sibling front. My sister lives 30 miles and even that was too far to help with Mom. I didn’t mind.

Jeff- http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/528-14832

 

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/528-14833

 

 

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/490-550

All I could find quickly. You’ve probably already looked there though. I been making mine out of styrene. Of course my hands are still fairly steady, but sometimes I think I should have bought them. More practice is what I need.

Speaking of practice and more MRR time, I need to get going and do things other than Model Railroad…DING.  

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. Laugh

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Posted by TMarsh on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:15 AM

Don't know what happened from the second link on in that last post, but that seems to be what it wants to look like. So far be it from me......

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. Laugh

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:30 AM

Todd: Thanks for the links and for taking the time to look.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by CNCharlie on Saturday, June 4, 2011 10:08 AM

Good Morning!

Thank-you Jeff and all those to the south!! You answered my call and sent up some really nice warm air yesterday. It hit 75F here!!  Man was it ever hot. We even put on the A/C. Today mind you, we are looking at 65F if we are lucky and it is mostly cloudy but hey, I'm not complaining, as we did have one summer day.

Have any of you seen that YouTube clip called Ultimate Dog Tease?  I especially recommend it to Chris and Todd but just don't let Rerun or Missy see it as I don't think they will see the humour in it. The link is www.YouTube.com/watch?v=GeKSiCQkPw.  Hope I got that right. It has had over 30 million hits so far and I must admit my wife and I have watched it many times.

I best get going here as I have errands to do this morning including getting a sheet of foam board for the top of my door layout.  I expect we'll be at the garden centre later today.

I did run trains last night a little and am about to send off the K5a with a string of heavyweights for a little run. I sure wish I had the space for a decent HO layout as I do like the passenger trains. I run one anyway even though the short Athearn cars look a little strange going around 22" radius.

See you later,

CN Charlie

 

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Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Saturday, June 4, 2011 10:21 AM

CNCharlie

Thank-you Jeff and all those to the south!! You answered my call and sent up some really nice warm air yesterday. It hit 75F here!!  Man was it ever hot. We even put on the A/C.

75F hot? Man, you'd be miserable down here. That's a pleasantly cool day. But I am somewhat of a polar bear myself as I keep my trailer at 70 degrees 24/7 no matter the temp outside.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


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Posted by last mountain & eastern hogger on Saturday, June 4, 2011 12:07 PM

Grumpy

For all you Southern boys (Jeff incl.) complaining about the heat, and even CN Charlie saying how warm it was yesterday,  as I said before we have not had a decently warm day yet and this morning it is snowing again.  It is melting as it hits the ground ,but, it is SNOWING on June 4th.

I did get the lawn mowed yesterday in the cool damp weather and so today I am in the train room running my MOW trains.   I run an Aztec "Craytex" GT. boxcar for a while and then comes in the heavy Equipment.   

First inline is a CMX. (alcohol) tank car, then comes (2) Centerline cars with dry wipes on them then come an atlas tank car with the pad underneath. followed by a MOW ballast hopper and a MOW caboose converted from an old Boom Tender.

I only do this every couple of months but I do run the Aztec car more often in regular trains.   Seems to keep things   running nicely and I consider it well worth the money invested as the last thing I ever feel like doing is hand cleaning track.  All the cars other than the CMX I bought off Evil-Bay at far less than half price.  For example the Aztec car is worth about $79.00 US. and I got it for $28.10  including shipping. The CMX I did buy new from Craig at Dallas Model Works.   Thumbs UpThumbs Up

Well, back to it.  Hope you all have a great week-end.

Johnboy out.......................................for now  Whistling

from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North.. 

We have met the enemy,  and he is us............ (Pogo)

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Posted by simon1966 on Saturday, June 4, 2011 3:05 PM

96 flippin degrees and humid!  Welcome to Summer St. Louis.   I am beat and all I did was watch the boys play baseball, one had a 9am game the other noon.  Andrew caught the entire game, I have no idea how he managed it.

Time to go speed match some locos for him.  K-10 is having its open house again tomorrow and he really wants to run his new locos purchased with confirmation, graduation and birthday money.  May and June have been good months for him!

Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum

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Posted by Cederstrand on Saturday, June 4, 2011 3:13 PM

Coffee in a  UNION PACIFIC  mug, please.

Temps in the 90's again here today. Didn't get much done yesterday. Expect about the same today.

Have a good one y'all.

Cowboy Rob

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Posted by simon1966 on Saturday, June 4, 2011 3:20 PM

Curt Webb

Simon- I found a site on line that sells Tortoise for $13.95 individually or $12.95 ea in a 12 pack. I have ordered from them 3 times with quick shipping and no issues. If you are interested please send me a PM.

Thanks for the heads up Curt.  For now I am going to try the servo route with the Tam Valley Depot products.   Looking forward to starting that experiment tomorrow!

Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum

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Posted by galaxy on Saturday, June 4, 2011 3:29 PM

Sir Madog

No MRRing today, I am just to weak to do anything. I hope it is just the temperature outside, we are hitting 84 F !

Ulrich....I hate to "harp on the subject" or "beat a dead horse over it"...but THAT ALONE {the fact you are to weak to do any MRRIng!} should tell you....you NEED TO TELL YOUR PARENTS ABOUT YOUR SURGERY!!! I know your mother may be "stubborn", but she may conceed to outside help if she knew of your situation and that doing the slightest thing could "take you out"!!!

Got a good migraine starting. The weather changed form just cloudy to stormy and rained on our parade so no BBQ today. Besides, I cancelled it with firends of ours once I knew I was getting tghe injections THursday as I can move but barely. Train Nut friend has an electrode insert in his body to electrically stimulate his bad back...like a TENS unit inside him. SO he knows about the injections..how they can hurt worse than the pain they are trying to eliminate to begin with. He was here for awhile though and I managed to be pleasant and visit with him with my head pounding. Now the nausea is setting in so I took an anti-nausea pill.

Now sun is shining some..but "steamy" outside now. A/c in house is definitely nice.

WEll, I should go lie down for awhile.

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.

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Posted by der5997 on Saturday, June 4, 2011 3:55 PM

Good afternoon Diners:  Tea and lemon cake please. Galaxy has TOP honours, but who wants to deal with that and a migraine?  So Zoe, shove the page on my tab, there's a good lass.

Ulrich:

So just think of the "fog" being mist rolling in from the sea ...
... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Y6xFOPPW0 Stick out tongue!  
Germany is right now suffering through an epidemic of a kind of cholera, caused by mutant bacterias. It all started in Hamburg during the 823th harbor anniversary celebrations. Rumors state this to be a terrorist attack, with the bacterias coming from an Iranian lab. Over 2.000 people have been infected, 18 have died so far.
...tha's been reported here as being a "never seen before mutation of e coli suspected to have come from infected manure used to grow veggies (possibly from Spain - but vigorously denied by the Iberians as you may expect!) the mutation thing is quite normal apparently, bacteria share genetic material quite frequently - and this particular strain has a very virulent toxin. Your report is the first we've seen of any terrorist link.Ick!

sfb:

You all use turtles ? I just went with the atlas switches with the remote controlled machines. They work just fine for me.
...too rich for my purse as well. I use mainly hand thrown Pecos, and Peco and Atlas with push button control for those I can't get at easily - like those for 3 hidden passing sidings in tunnels!  I totally agree with Ray about not using tech for tech's sake when it comes to something like turnouts on the throttle. I have one stationary decoder - an old MCR somethingorother which manages polarity for two return loops. So long as I don't try to simultaneously run trains through both turnouts at once, one of those is all I need. It's worked well and uncomplaining for years.  Doubtless I could hook up this computer to monitor that polarity switching - but really, why?Huh?

Ken:

Yes it is simple, but one of the reasons I hardly uses them. Have to get up and thrown them and then sit back down and run the trains.
   I can only see my layout well standing up. I designed it so you pretty much have to follow the trains around to throw the turnouts, uncouple, and all that stuff.  Just different approaches - what makes this hobby so fascinating! Cool

CNC:

but hey, I'm not complaining, as we did have one summer day.
...and we have one going for us today. I managed after lunch to get all the mowing done - Yeah! Place looks so much better that way. I would have done it anyway because one has to grab any break in the weather this season.  I had an added incentive today though. Our granddaughter phoned late morning to say she was at her boyfriend's parents place in Dartmouth, and they (parents as well - they have the car Whistling) were going to drive down the shore today, would we be in?  So, I'm glad I finished the mowing by the time they arrived. (I was in fact all sweaty and drying my hands having just got back indoors in my yard clothes when the door bell went - human powered this time Laugh) Boyfriend's mother just coming in the door says "I'm Tracy, and would you be  "aroundtheroomshelf"? "  Turns out she is the moderator of the HRM "ReUseIt" - and the Dartmouth "Freecycle" before that. It's a Yahoo hosted effort, and my Yahoo username is "aroundtheroomshelf" - I guess she remembered the address or something! How weird is THAT?Alien  Anyhooo, they brought good weather as the day has gotten better and better as we've gone along.  And we had of course to visit the layout to see why I'm aroundtheroom shelf.  They were duly impressed, despite the gremlins they brought along!

Must be seeing what Kris is doing about supper. Zoe and the boyfriend are still here, the parents having gone off sightseeing - who knows when they will re-appear!

TTFN.

 

"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.

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Posted by JimRCGMO on Saturday, June 4, 2011 5:15 PM

Hot Afternoon, isn't it, Flo? I'll have a super-large RBG please, and a bucket of ice water (to drink). Thank you. It's 96 F (36 C) with a couple of degrees extra when you count the heat index. Glad it's only 38 percent humidity! (And Barry, I'm jealous of your weather! Angry

Ulrich, great to hear you're getting/got out of the medical stalag! Thumbs UpYeah And Petra's Cake goes good with a RBF.Dinner

Sir Madog
Think of this place as a place where folks meet after (or even before) w*rk and share the day. And, yes, tea is also being served in here!
And for those who are retired, they come here instead of w**k, right? Smile, Wink & Grin

Well, I am disappointed - Ed (of the fabled orange groves that supply our OJ for breakfast) in Mexico, had sent me a link to the schedule for UP's 884 (Challenger), and I was gonna try to head downtown to see it come into town (about 2:30 p.m. today - CDT). I was just hoping my pager didn't go off (I'm on-call Saturday and Sunday pretty much all day both days), and it hadn't - I got there maybe 45 minutes to an hour early, and was a bit further up the track on the route I thought it was coming into town. However, it turned out that the train is an hour late (so far), and apparently it came down the Illinois side of the river and will be coming in from the west (maybe backing in from Chaffee, MO, to the west of Scott City, south of Cape). So having been steamed in the sun, I think I'll try to get by Monday morning a bit before 8 a.m. when it gets ready to head out of town. Sigh All I got so far today were some photos of the 'Missouri Mural' that is painted on the 'land' side of our riverwall, with a bunch of famous Missourians. I'll see about posting pics after Monday. I did see a couple of BNSF freight trains (one heading north with empties, and the other coming south) and got a few pics, including some that Robby may like. Wink

Ken, sorry to hear about your day (and the 'dirty little bird', as someone once called them...). Is your co-w**ker related to the boss' family? Maybe you could find a reason to have the boss cut his hours (like the boss is paying more bonus between the two of you, but not making enough more in sales)? Just an idea...Whistling

A belated Welcome to the Diner, Sfb! I see Galaxy has covered what few 'rules' we have around here (and there aren't many, that's for sure!). Have a beverage of your choice on me - Flo, put Sfb's drink on my tab, please! By the way, we have (I think) a couple of the Diners in here who have steel mills on their layout, so they'll likely have some info for you (or you for them...). Ah, I see Garry (from KY) has already mentioned his, which is very nice and even semi-automated. Maybe he'll tell you about it.

Jeff, did your folks figure on your next Star Trek purchase being a boxed set? That is cool that they're covering the cost of it - and it'll be some good viewing this summer when you don't even wanna leave your mobile home's A/C. Pop a bag of popcorn, get a tea, soda or such, and hit the remote to start it up. Thumbs Up

Bama - good to see you in the Diner again, even if you haven't been able to get a lot done on the MRR'ing. (Neither have I got much done, except a couple/three structures) How're your girls doing?

Speaking of my MRR'ing, I've been accumulating again (which might be related to why I'm watching my pennies until payday on Tuesday (literally...). Have some w**k train cars coming in - got a blacksmith car kit already and one gondola that I already got looks like it could fit in. There're some more of the Walthers cars they made coming, and a Jordan spreader kit (which will serve double duty for ballast and trackside... uh... spreading, as well as what smaller amount of sn*w clearing that the CAW needs in its mountain trackage in wintertime. Probably shoulda held off, but they looked sooooo cute! Oops

Dave (claymore1977), you're a sight for sore eyes - Good to see you in here again, too! It may be that the mods/Kalmbach - by putting the Forum under 'Community' were trying to attract newer MRR'ers who are used to the social media sites, plus what you said about the new software. For me, I have permissions for google-analytics.com turned off in my Firefox, as well as saving the page for the Diner where I left off as a bookmark on my desktop. So I may have less difficulty than someone coming in through MR's main page.

Simon, I use (actually) three resources: Joe's e-zines, the MR 'specialized' forums here (layout design, general prototype info, etc.), plus some specialized sites and web searches. Wherever I can find something at the time, then often I'll print the page on my Mac to a PDF file and save it in my MRR folder on my drive. And like 'Dinger' said, if I find the info on the MR (or other) forums, I may not even post (because sometimes I forget how to get back to the other sites' forums/fora)Whistling

Larry (Brakie), sounds like you're making good progress on your layout. The #158's are the newer version of the 5's (with the wire spring instead of the coupler box insert), right? I've seen (I think) a set of those, but just not sure about changing over, since I have many cars with the #5's (over half) and still have 1-1/2 10-boxes of the 5's left to install. Doesn't mean I won't at some point change it..

Galaxy, hope (even if there's the temporary pain) the injections help you every bit as much this time. AngelAngel I for one, am glad we're in Nova Scotia, where the temperature is more moderate (and it's good that here we don't have the 'critter help' that we had back in - what was its name? - Moosegate? or whatever. Better railfanning here, too. I like seeing the VIA RDC's when they come by. Smile

Chris, sounds like you almost got (to use a political term) "Full disclosure". Laugh Maybe it's the Floridians coming to Iowa for vacation - it'd be cooler and lower fire danger, maybe?

Well, (not counting the dozen pages I missed before the Diner moved to Nova Scotia) I've only got four pages caught up. Guess I'll get to the other ten (or coupla dozen?) tomorrow after church or on Monday. Prayers for cooler weather for all of us Diners roasting in the weather (and rain, but not enough to make the crabgrass grow too much and have to mow it again), for good recuperations and good night's rests, and for healing and some MRR'ing time.

 

Blessings,

Jim in (kinda hot) Cape Girardeau (just not quite as Devil as Florida, though)

  • Member since
    June 2004
  • From: Orig: Tyler Texas. Lived in seven countries, now live in Sundown, Louisiana
  • 25,640 posts
Posted by jeffrey-wimberly on Saturday, June 4, 2011 5:37 PM

JimRCGMO

 

Well, I am disappointed - Ed (of the fabled orange groves that supply our OJ for breakfast) in Mexico, had sent me a link to the schedule for UP's 884 (Challenger), and I was gonna try to head downtown to see it come into town (about 2:30 p.m. today - CDT).

I can't any reference for a UP 884. The 844 is the 4-8-4 northern. The Challenger is 3985.

Running Bear, Sundown, Louisiana
          Joined June, 2004

Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running Bear
Space Mouse for president!
15 year veteran fire fighter
Collector of Apple //e's
Running Bear Enterprises
History Channel Club life member.
beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam


  • Member since
    January 2011
  • From: Winter Garden, FL
  • 1,546 posts
Posted by Curt Webb on Saturday, June 4, 2011 8:02 PM

Evening All,

I didn't stay long at the club tonight. They are having DCC issues that come and go. I assisted (grunt work) for about 90 minutes. The 2 mains appeared to be working OK, but I didn't want to take a chance with one of my sound locomotives.

At home I did some switching in the yard. I am still getting some hesitation in places that increased speed will normally overcome, so that will have to be  addressed in the future. First switch machines, then fine tune the main line then yard and sidings. Plenty of work to go.

Everyone have a good night. 

Curt Webb

The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad

http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j372/curtwbb/

  • Member since
    January 2005
  • From: New Milford, Ct
  • 3,232 posts
Posted by GMTRacing on Saturday, June 4, 2011 8:46 PM

Good Evening All,

    The layout is gathering dust with not so much as an inch of track down, magazines unread - must be racing season. Life has become a bit of a routine - pack, go to track. come home, unpack, do laundry, repack, go to track, etc.  Summit Point, Wva; Leeds, Ala; Millville, NJ, and this weekend Lime Rock, Ct. Still beats working. Have kept up with modelling obligations at the museum and have turned out 4 O gage repaired locos and modded a half dozen more N passenger cars with better trucks and Con Cors fixed couplers ( so they don't uncouple when stopped and restarted).

    No time to check all the pages but is sounds as if some of you are not doing so well and my prayers go out to you.  No racing in Connecticut on Sundays but I have a full slate of shop w..k to catch up along with house and yard chores so no day off just yet.                           CUL,   J.R.

  • Member since
    July 2003
  • From: Metro East St. Louis
  • 5,743 posts
Posted by simon1966 on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:03 PM

Just got done speed matching a trio of locos that will run together at the K-10 open house tomorrow.  One factory sound Athearn SD70ACe and a pair of non sound non DCC that I installed NCE decoders in.  Andrew just took them for a test consist run on our layout and they ran great together.

Time for bed for me after all the sun and games earlier in the day.  I'm beat.  I got about 5 miles in on the bike early before the heat kicked in and then the two baseball games.   The temp actually hit 100 this afternoon.

Simon Modelling CB&Q and Wabash See my slowly evolving layout on my picturetrail site http://www.picturetrail.com/simontrains and our videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/MrCrispybake?feature=mhum

  • Member since
    April 2007
  • From: Northern Va
  • 1,924 posts
Posted by yougottawanta on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:21 PM

Good even all, Flo can I get a cup of Joe and some back pain meds. Aspirin is all you got. Yea that will be fine.Can I have a slice of Lemon Pie too ? Still preparing for the big celebration next weekend ( celebrating the first year of MOH surviving cancer) We have about fifty people invited. Last night repaired the ole vacuum, today pulled weeds first half of the day , then spread out 12 yards of mulch. Thought I would never see the bottom of that pile. Then fixed the mower and mowed until dark, then came in and changed the water filter, fed the kidos and put them to bed. Tomorrow morning is going to be tough !

Ulrich glad to see you are out hope you are feeling better soon.

Cuda Ivyrest works great,of course you could try the desperate measure and scratch the stuff and pour alcohol on the poison Ivy. OUCH !!!!

Galaxy - doing any house hunting this weekend.

Jeff which star trek series did you get ? The James Kirk or Picard ?

We lost another friend this past week , When I was a kid we a family of friends whose last name is Cox. The youngest brother Mac passed away this week, Cancer got him. I found out that he had been going to church and had made some important decisions.That made me feel better. I guess he is in heaven right now singing some bluegrass train song .

 

  • Member since
    June 2006
  • From: Maryville IL
  • 9,577 posts
Posted by cudaken on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:23 PM

 Evening Folks!

 Beer Please folks.

 Work Front, had a great day if your goal is not to make any money! Grumpy Shaun and I had 2 customers for the entire day, and neither one bought! Bang Head

 Jim far as having Shaun at the store today, it was a blessing today.

 1 He can tell Ben and Berry Yep, we only had 2 people come in.

 2 Had someone to talk to.

 3 We both brought in our Guitars! While I cannot say I played great, I did better than I hoped. With a little practices (OK A Lot) I will get good again. He recognized everything I tried to play and my rhythm is still solid. Sure need to work on the cord changes but was getting better as the day went along.  When we started in the morning, I could not make a F cord and was messing up the C cord. By the time he left (I sent him home at 6:00 PM) I was making C and F's cords much better.

 He all so might be a latent MRR! Seems on my days off he has been looking at my train magazines. Today we watched some videos taking at K-10 and seemed to enjoy it. He was most impressed by the fact Roger Daltry, Neil Young and Rod Stewart where model railroaders. We found pictures on the web of Rods layout.

 Simon Let me know on the servos and are you getting them from K-10? Do you think they will work with JMRI? I really think that might be the way I want to go. I wonder if I can use JMRI and the DT 400 at the same time?

 Ulrich Sorry you are still under the weather. Just hope you need time to adjust to the new med's. Or maybe they can change the med's so you are not tired all the time.

 Train Front Broke out a Proto 2000 B unit that was speed matched to my PK E-7 with sound. Note I said was speed matched. I noticed the B unit was catching and and pumping against the coupler, fall back and catch up again. I pulled it from services about a year ago. Now that the PR 3 is back on line, I was going to speed match it again. First I gave it a test run behind the E 7 and it was pulling down the E 7. Before it was faster than the E, hum. So I oiled it last night and I am going to give it some run time tonight and see it starts running better.

 See you all Sunday!

       Ken 

I hate Rust

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Anna, TX
  • 189 posts
Posted by CP guy in TX on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:35 PM

One too many schlubs at the shop today.

Am I ever glad the weekend is here, even if it's late.

I really need a cold beer

Van Hobbies H1b, K1a, T1c, D10g, F1a, F2a, G5a. Division Point: H24-66 Hammerhead, Alco covered wagons A-B-B-A, C-Liner A-B-B-A, EMD FP7A A-B-B.

H1b modified to replicate modern day 2816. All with Tsunamis.

  • Member since
    January 2008
  • From: Shalimar. Florida
  • 2,622 posts
Posted by Packer on Saturday, June 4, 2011 9:44 PM

Evening guys

Today was a scorcher. Heat index was 116 and the A/C at work went out. Now there are T-boomers. Dunnow what the weather for tomorrow where I pressure wash there is. I also got another # from a girl at work. So that's 3 in 1 months, as opposed to my 1 in 3 years at the other one. The crew at the new store rocks!

I messed with some trains today after work. I put together an Walther's 65' mill gondola kit and starting work on the Chessie SD40-2. I was putting the DW anticlimber together, but then one of the braces dropped and got lost. I fabricated another one out of a styrene. Then I shaved off the grabs with a  shortened #11 blade (don't have the chisels), added a Warren's custom finishing buffer plate, and a DW snow plow. Still have yet to get the Cal-scale detail kit or the smokey valley handrails for the units. Also have to see how to get the handrails to mount right to anti-climbers for the BN, and have to get a gyralight for the ex-slsf.

I got a group of quick connect plugs for my QSI RSD15 decoder. I have to buy a speaker and find (or get a new) kadee 2-56 tap and drill set. so I can put sound into one of my C425s.

Yougottawanta, Sorry to hear about your friend

Ken, I know what you mean. It's nice to have people around to talk to when it's slow.

Jeff, Like what you did with that old SD24

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.

  • Member since
    November 2008
  • From: Williamsville, ILL
  • 3,698 posts
Posted by TMarsh on Saturday, June 4, 2011 10:32 PM

Evenin. Didn’t make it inside for the Senior Prom. Got out of the car walked halfway across the parking lot and out of knowhere the wind picked up and suddenly it was like I was smack in the middle of a West Texas Rain (sandstorm). Clouds rolled in fast and then as we were about to open the door to the school Brenda got a phone call saying they heard a Tornado was down in Williamsville (there was not. Not even rotation that I saw.) But the wind was real strong and the clouds were dark and the thunder was atalkin. She wanted to go home so we did. No damage, but there was a severe Thunderstorm warning. All we got was the wind.

Jeff- No problem. Found em quick cause I was looking at those myself. But as you saw, the price is a bit thought provokingSurprise. I’ll keep practicing my scratch built interiors for a while.

Charlie- That video was GREAT!!!! I laughed and laughed. I bet I watched it ten times. Thanks for letting me know. The link didn’t work, but I don’t know why. It did take me to you tube but said something like the link was bad or something. When I searched you tube for the name, it came up the same address for the video you linked. Odd. But worked and it was great. Missy wasn’t impressed. She thought it was cruel. The dog has no sense of humor. 

PFTIN and especially for those here who are not feeling well tonight/today.

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. Laugh

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Marion, Iowa
  • 1,263 posts
Posted by AmanaMedic on Saturday, June 4, 2011 11:22 PM

*grumble grumble grumble***

Evening,

Well (full, thanks for asking), we had what could've been a tragedy a couple of hours ago. Stanwood (next town to the west) gets paged for a motor vehicle accident with power lines down. Caller thought it was "just east of Hwy. 30 and Hwy. 38," their district. Adam-5 (ambo) finally finds the incident near a little roadside park. Our district. We get paged to join the party. After about ten minutes of traffic control, it's determined we can release some of our trucks/personnel. So, back at the station, we're speculating about what was going on up at the scene. Our Po-leese Chef pulls in, tells us a "drunk lady with three kids in the back went off the road, through the ditch and hit a power pole."

Yup.

Drunk woman with KIDS in the back.

Oh, but it gets better. Apparently, she got out of the car, staggered into the corn field, dropped her jeans, squatted, and proceeded to relieve herself for the amusement of the Stanwood Fire/Ambulance crews and Cedar County's finest.

My take on it: IF there was ANY "justice" in this world, she would've squatted over the live powerline, and the straight stream would've conducted her sentence...if you catch my drift.

The wife says "she got lucky."

I said "no, the KIDS got lucky."

*grumble grumble grumble*

Best wishes to all in need,

Chris

The Cedar cRapids Industrial Branch: Proudly Shipping Yesterday's CrunchBerries Tomorrow!

  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: IN/USA
  • 2,495 posts
05/05/2011
Posted by wetidlerjr on Sunday, June 5, 2011 3:29 AM

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

Bill Tidler Jr.

Near a cornfield in Indiana...

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