Elliot´s Trackside Diner - October 2011

[blownout cylinder]

Garry and Curt: Nice work there!!!

Good Evening.

Had a few things that needed done here...now I is bushededed....

Chloe, I'll just have a coffee please...I'll be in the corner booth for now....

 

[JimRCGMO]

Gutenabend, Fräulein Flo! (Okay, I've run about out of my Deutsch vocabulary, at least words related to the evening) Flo, I'll have the Octoberfest roast beef special with a side salad, a Santa Fe mug of coffee, and some of that apple struedel after I finish my dinner, please. Thanks!

Gee, I'd have caught up sooner, but I missed the flight out of Newark (don't ask my friend Linda in Memphis about the Newark airport, though...). Finally found another flight headed this way, and glad you left directions and a copy of the itinerary at the airport. Just when I get some time to stop by the Diner, it's in the shop for refitting and we're all on tour. Sorry for the point I missed yesterday and earlier today on the tour, Ulrich. Oh, and our tour locomotive looks like she can really move when needed.

I see Thortenney (Thayne) has dropped by, - any other new folks along in the other cars? Oh, and Thayne, I'm trying to think of the name of your company, but just can't seem to come ups with it... Hey, sounds like you have some good MRR'ing resources close to your area (I wish I did ). Who put yours on?

Bama, it didn't sound like a good day there for you, Amy, OR her father! You likely showed more restraint than some would have, with that guy and his "I fell asleep" excuse for being THAT late.

Barry, your survey of your college folks was surprising, to have 5 of 7 MRR'ers - and maybe more so that there were that many lady MRR'ers in the bunch. About that 'Murphy bed' layout, when I was in junior high (or a bit before), my Dad built my brother and me a w**kbench on that line, with the two legs hinged so they'd lie (mostly) flat against the underside, with (as best I recall) a chain on one (probably need two for a layout) side and a (strong) hinge connecting the one end to the 'box'. It wouldn't be as hard to do if you had the long side of the layout along the hinged side, I expect.

Although I have watched a bit of Dr. Who, I have much more played a Daleks game on the Mac (maybe 20-25 years ago, when the Mac was still fairly new). Got 'toasted' a few times in that game...

DerJohn, the church and orchard are looking good! So is it true? I heard that the minister there has told the congregation that they will be using apple cider for communion soon.... (The Rev. must've w**ked out an agreement with the orchard owner, I guess...) Sorry I missed that episode of BBT (last Thursday, I'm guessing - had a call out that kept me out 'till almost 10 p.m.). By the way, does the Rev. Good have any relatives who spell it differently (like... J.B. Goode)?

Rob, I was wondering (since I hadn't seen that many episodes at all of Dr. Who) - aren't call boxes (maybe except on the show) red ones? Or is there something else like it that is?

Cool photo of the 'cat box', Barry.

Todd, from your description, I'd bet you just loved the "Chuckie" movies too, eh? Speaking of older shows, yesterday I saw "The Incredible Shrinking Man" on a local TV station. Suprised I didn't get scared of spiders after that one... Of course when it came to scary movies, I just didn't go see the really creepy or slasher ones (easier way to head off any nightmares...)

Jeff, I'll bet your 'critic' (using the word loosely) probably hasn't seen that many Model Power locos up close enough to tell that your Geep has a totally non-MP chassis under that shell. As they say, "Don't feed the trolls..." And if THAT guy's gonna get all bent out of shape over calling a Front Range chassis a Front Range chassis, wait till he sees some of the Sundown Shop's more creative engineering... (Heh, heh, heh...)

PA Tom - great shot of the NS power there!

Galaxy, good to hear that your water levels there are going down (even if you're getting rain). And I must be in your camp on identifying diesels (past the late 1950's, for sure). Don't think I could even tell an AC4400 from a Delco!

And dang, Garry - they got a new month's issue of MR? Congrats on another photo in there - we're getting several of our Diners who are having photos published. (Hmm, I'll have to check my P.O. box, probably got the new issue waiting for me there, if I just go look, eh?) By the way, your downtown is coming along VERY nicely!

Hey, Chris - thanks for a bit more info on Front Range and McKean, as I had only marginally more info about them than young Mr. Parks did. Heard of 'em, might've seen one at a train show (and got scared off by the price, if I recall), but haven't fiddled with trying to assemble one. Heck, I am taking my good sweet time with the E&B Valley covered hopper kits I have now. Oh, you mentioned LBF - I'd thought they were some import, and I have 2 or 3 gondolas by them. May have to take a closer look at their boxes and see...

And Mr. Trainmaster, don't fret too much about the B+; just figure any adjustments to your studying for that class that you need (or if it's the usual sag in the first grade that I would have the first time I had a new teacher/instructor, you'll likely pull it up further along this semester. ).

And speaking of those E&B covered hoppers, I have decided that if *I* ever get into the MRR kit-manufacturing sideline, I will make sure my instructions have the photos NEXT to the directions, not somewhere else on the page (or worse yet, on the back of the page). And BIGGER pictures, or else go with line drawings that make it easier to tell what's what. I have had to read the directions, look at the photo they refer to, go back to the directions again, try to figure where the part they're talking about is, go back to the photo again... But I will take my time and get these together correctly (or reasonably close). They have very good detail - if the directions were better, they would be great to build, too. Okay, Flo, you can put away that mini-soapbox, I'll stop now.

Great weather today in Cape G. - but started out pretty cool (almost had frost on the car's windshield this a.m.). Had the baseboard heat on last night, and I'm not sure whether we even got above the mid-60's (F) this afternoon. Have changed over and put my short-sleeved shirts in the back part of the closet for the season (unless it changes again before March or April).

Tomorrow, I may (besides seeing if my Nov. MR is waiting at my P.O. box) see about painting some pine tree trunks that I've started. From John Olson's Jerome & Southwestern RR book, I decided to make some pine trees from 1/2" balsa wood, carved/whittled to sorta round (and then sanded to make it a bit more round), then add texture to the trunk with a (Zona) saw blade. I also bought some caspia last week at H-L and need to spray them with paint and/or matte medium (to make them hold together better), punch holes in the trunk to glue the caspia 'branches' into, spray them with a greyed-brownish color and then sprinkle 'foliage' (W-S conifer green) on them while wet, and see how they end up looking. I'm trying to take photos as I go on this one. I want to see how my end results look compared to some of the commercially made ones. And no, I'm not looking to give Grand Central Gems, W-S or any other scenicking companies a run for their money (just seeing if I can stretch my ).

So, I might have a mini-tutorial later if I like how it turns out. Then we'll ignore any acorn-counters that don't like my style...

And later in this week, I hope to have at least one of the covered hoppers ready for viewing in here. If I'm extremely fortunate, I might have photos of both of them (but don't hold me to that).

Prayers for lowering water levels as needed, as well as for a good night's rest, comfort and healing.

[Edit]: Okay, looks like I have the late night (as well as Ulrich's breakfast/OzJim's lunch) beverage tab. Flo, keep track and I'll settle up in the morning...

Blessings,

Jim in Cape G.

[thortenney]

WOW!!! Gary And Curt Very nice work!!!

[Curt Webb]

Garry- Great Job on the station and the surrounding city area.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

David Parks got all A's except for one B+.... Bravo, David! ... ... Time to celebrate with lots of RBF's. (Root Beer Floats)

Rob .. Thanks for the remark. 

Chris.. Thansk fro teh comment. I like your CNW chop nose GP9.

Jeff ... I like yours, too. I know the Alaska Railroad had chop nose GP7's with Alco trucks similar to your unit. I rode on the engine when I was in Anchorage. 

Ray ... Your shop is a classic, and I really like it. I hope you continue posting pictures of it. 

Curt ... The stationary tank is a great idea. It looks nice. 

Cheers. 

 

 

[Cederstrand]

I'll have the Bratwurst & Sauerkraut tonight, please.

Excellent layout pics being posted in here.

***Bama, check your "conversations" please.

If I fall asleep in the corner booth, just let me be. Thanks!

Rob

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

 

Here is my Union Station that I have been working on in recent weeks. Of course, the building is the popular Union Station kit made by Walthers. The kit is based on the Burlington Route station in Omaha, Nebraska.

I placed station at street level above the tracks. The streetcar line runs between the station and downtown. A future project is to install trolley wires.  

Currently, I am building the downtown area, and I have completed several buildings.

 

 

 

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

Well I got everything done that I wanted to today. I also gave a white wash to the brick walls on the roundhouse. I decided to pre paint the parts before assembly this time, so it will probably be a couple of weeks before I am ready to start gluing, but that is OK since I won't be actually placing it on the layout until January sometime.

I decided to use the tank car as a stationary tank on the layout. I took the tank off the frame of the car and mounted it on wood planking, painted the base and did some weathering. I really enjoy little projects like this.

Trainmaster- Congrats on the grades. It sounds like you are doing really well in school.

Chris- Good to see you back.

Jeff- I think I am like you. I have problems telling jokes/teasing from a serious post a lot of times, I think because I can't see the talker and I am usually a more serious person.

Have a good night.

[thortenney]

Thanks Ray, you will have to be a little patient with me my English and computer skills are not to good. Too many years in the cab of a truck I guess? I also would like to tell you Ray I am a big fan of yours. I have followed your posts for a long time, I think that you are a very interesting. I wish I had a friend like you here in the Beehive state.

                                                        Thanks, Thayne

[howmus]

OK, Thayne....  Sorry about that.  i just couldn't help myself!

To post a photo here or anywhere else at the Kalmbach site, you first off have to get yourself a photo hosting site to put your photos on.  i use Photobucket, although there are many other places as well.  photbucket and many others offer free hosting (as long as you want some very questionable ads promising a good time on your site...  I personally pay for a membership which avoids the ads as i used to also put up Boy Scout Activity Photos and wanted to know what the people were going to see when they visited.)  You download the photos to the site.  After they load you will see a bunch of choices of how you can have the photos load to other places.  For here use the [ IMG] tags  There will be no space in the tags, I put one in so it will show correctly here.  just copy the line that has the correct tags.  Then you can just paste the location into your reply here.  Here is what it will look like (again i put spaces in to be able to demonstrate.

[ IMG]http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h259/slow_rr/SLOW_RR_II/BranchEngineHouseDetail18w.jpg[/IMG ]

When you post the reply, you will get the photo in your reply, like this:

Pretty easy actually.

73

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Hot decaf coffee please and thank you!

Cold, chilly, and very wet this morning out at the museum.  The pot bellied stove in the Depot was nice and warm when i got there this morning.  Several of us tried to light the stoves in the cabooses.  We got the one going in the PC caboose without too much problem once we put some kerosine into the fuel tank on it....  We spent much longer fiddling with the stove in the Erie Caboose.....  There was ample kero in the tank, all the valves were set the proper way,  everything should have light in about 5 minutes of letting the fuel soak into the wicking in the burner......  I was left to light it before the loco was brought up and coupled on....  used up a whole lot of matches, I did!  Never lit.  We figure there is a clogged fuel line somewhere between the tank and the stove.

Oh, guess which caboose I was on???  Luckily the sun came out for most of the afternoon and it was a bit more comfortable.  Had only a few riders today.  By far the lowest turnout of any day this season we were running diesels.

Got home a little over an hour ago, and I am still thawing out.

Seems to me we do have  a number of folks on the missing list.......  Hope all of them are doing well.

Oh!  Hi Thayne.....  You post pictures here in the diner exactly the same way you do in the rest of the forum.

Have a good evening!

73

[thortenney]

Good evening every one! Quick question, How do you post pictures in the diner?

                                                                                            Thanks!    Thayne

[AmanaMedic]

Well hi there MR. PARKS,

Front Range...before your time young grasshopper. Front Range and McKean started out making stuff nobody else was making in the late 80s/early 90s. But...it wasn't always the best stuff they were making. They cranked out a good ACF 4650 cu ft. Center Flo...but it takes some w**k to get it to go together well and look good. They made a 60-something foot center beam lumber flat. I read a review of it in a magazine once, saying the kit was a good reason NOT to have a firearm at your w**k bench. The GP-7 and GP-9 they came out with was, I think, the first scale-width hood version of those locomotives. But, there were some dimensional goofs THAT gave the Rivet Counters of the day fits...and still do since Athearn allegedly used most of the same tooling for their "brand new" geeps.

Front Range went belly up, McKean went belly up. LBF (Loads By Fred) was a last-ditch attempt to resuscitate the business... but some of the old Front Range stuff lives on in the Accurail line (the 50' outside braced boxcars).

There, more useless model railroad industry trivia than you, or anybody else, probably ever wanted! I've got a bunch of the Center Flo hoppers, and am looking for more. I have one GP-9. I chopped the nose on her to model  CNW 4547, a chop-nose Oelwein Shops rebuild. I didn't have any trouble with the shell breaking, so maybe I lucked out on THAT one??? It looks kinda...funny...next to an Athearn wide-body geep though. 

Front Range GP-9

Front Range ACF 4650 cu ft CenterFlo

Chris

[Train Master]

 

Hi guys. I got a B+ on my history test last week and it is bothering me a bit. I did good on the other tests. All A's.

Ken: How goes the job search? 

Rob: A big bear told me you have car probs. I am like you. When it comes to engines I am lost!

Jeff: Front Range? I never heard of them. Sounds like a good job you are doing on it. Front Range/Proto 2000/Walthers? GP9s? I stopped trying to figure out your creations when your IQ left my IQ in the dust at the start line. I like the crack about having to lose 40 IQ points to be as smart as Sheldon. He says he would have to lose 60 IQ points to be smart.

For those who wonder, Jeff does not have a sense of humor though he has been known to tell a joke once in a while. 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

cudaken

 Never built (or rebuilt) any Dash-9's, Santa Fe or otherwise.

Jeffery, that was me kidding a round nothing more.

       Ken

I know. It's very difficult for me to my rather serious sense of humor on the net.

[cudaken]

 Never built (or rebuilt) any Dash-9's, Santa Fe or otherwise.

Jeffery, that was me kidding a round nothing more.

       Ken

[jeffrey-wimberly]

cudaken

 Jeffery I don't have a clue to why someone would even care. But feel free to tell them to contact me scene I sent you the engine in trade. Couple of reason I never did anything with it besides being lazy. You could see the light through the shell, and did not like the looks of the trucks insides. But they sure used a good motor!

Never built (or rebuilt) any Dash-9's, Santa Fe or otherwise.

AmanaMedic

JEFF: So, let me see if I understand this...some guy gets his knickers in a twist over you calling your obviously Front Range locomotive chassis a Front Range locomotive chassis??? Where do these twits come from? A line from "Backdraft" does come to mind: "These moments do try me..." Sounds like the Sundown Shops are going to have another Rivet Counter's Nightmare by the time you finish up THAT Front Range/Model Power/Walthers/Proto Frankenstein Geep!

Yep, got some low forehead giving me grief about it. Whoever it is should know by now that I don't care what it looks like as long as it runs dependably.

[AmanaMedic]

Goooooooooooooooooooooooooood (Guten?) Afternoon/evening. A fine German bier, beir, beer... please 'n thank-you...er, should THAT be "danka?"

ULRICH: Thanks but you can light the prayer candle for someone more in need than me... just haven't stopped in lately, but have been hitting the take-out window and sticking my head in to keep up on things. Hope your mood improves, but its understandable.

THAYNE: Welcome Pally!

JEFF: So, let me see if I understand this...some guy gets his knickers in a twist over you calling your obviously Front Range locomotive chassis a Front Range locomotive chassis??? Where do these twits come from? A line from "Backdraft" does come to mind: "These moments do try me..." Sounds like the Sundown Shops are going to have another Rivet Counter's Nightmare by the time you finish up THAT Front Range/Model Power/Walthers/Proto Frankenstein Geep!

ROBBY P: Good to see you back in here, good luck with the new job.

GARRY: Loved the shot in MR...very nicely done!

DER JOHN: Liking the church photo!

I might get to get back to w**king on a Walthers Trainline, Trainman, Train-something GP-15. I'm in the process of rebuilding it. It was first acquired in 2004 or 2005. It has been dismantled, stripped, re-painted, and had missing details added. It will retain it's CNW 4422 identity. All THAT is left are some decals and final detail painting (white railings and step ends). Photos soon, perhaps.

Some have mentioned "Dr. WHO." I never got hooked on it, but the Wife sure has...she's more into the latest seasons of the saga. I caught part of one with Spitfires flying into outer space, said some bad words and flipped the channel. THAT said, to me there is only one "true" Doctor: the one played by Tom Baker (the dude with the hat and the scarf). And...I really, really, really want a Dalek. 

I like them. 

I think it would be really cool to have one in the back of my truck in my travels.

"TAIL GATE ER....EX TER  MIN ATE! EX TER MIN ATE!"

Best wishes to those in need, seems like quite a few in THAT category again...

Chris

[cudaken]

 Afternoon Folks.

 Flo, yep and but it on my new best friends tap, Thayne!

 Jeffery I don't have a clue to why someone would even care. But feel free to tell them to contact me scene I sent you the engine in trade. Couple of reason I never did anything with it besides being lazy. You could see the light through the shell, and did not like the looks of the trucks insides. But they sure used a good motor!

 Train Front I did get everything done I wanted to do to a degree.

 1 Fit the Athearn F7 A power pick up problem, wire broke on the rear truck.

 2 Found the noise problem in my Santa Fe Dash 9. Jeff, did you build this engine? Model Power Chassis and Shell, Mashima Motor (whole reason I got the Front Range) and Athearn BB Trucks. But she has been a good Engine. Racket was from a lead tire weight the fell and stuck to rear truck tower gear?

 3 Installed a longer shank coupler on my UP Dash 9 so I can run it with the Santa Fe Dash 9

 4 Sort of fixed the Flywheel Puller. I can not pull flywheels off Athearn's motors, but see know way of pulling my PK 1000 flywheels at this point.

 5 Re-motored my Athearn RTR SP SD-50, but there is a hitch.

 If you remember a few months ago I posted that I was getting real odd readings when I was testing the replacement motors I have? Well Simon came over and we used a different DC power supply and the readings where normal? Well Today I tested the replacement for the SP SD 50 using the same power pack and started to get the same stupid readings! Would start out at around .50 amps and started climbing up and up and up till it hit 13.0 amps! 

 Went a head and installed the motor. While it is some what loud who knows how long scenes it was last ran. Going run it with the DC plug and see in the motor quiets down, if not I have other motors.

 All so going to Harbor Freight and get a new meter.

 See you all later.

       Ken 

[BamaCSX83]

Afternoon y'all.  Just checking in from w**k. 

Rob: Hey, on the wiring information.  The wire that you need to chase is purple in color at the starter (remember, its the small terminal), it runs from the starter to the Neutral Safety Switch on the driver's side of the transmission.  Coming out of the NSS the wire becomes a yellow wire that runs from the NSS through fuse number 8 (should be a 10amp fuse) located in the interior fuse compartment.  From the fuse panel, then the wire goes to the ignition switch.  So you should be able to see if you have power going through fuse number 8 with the ignition turned to the "start" position.  If you do, then you know that you have a good electrical portion of the ignition switch.

Not doing a whole lot today just kinda hanging out.  Have to close tonight, so I won't be free again until 8-ish.  Tomorrow is a busy day, I have to install a steering gear box on a Chevy truck, and then possibly drive up to Birmingham to pull the Camaro home....  Once it gets home I'll be diagnosing the PassLock anti-theft system and find out what i need to do to it to fix the issue....  If we don't drag the Camaro home I'll be changing a strut on a VW Jetta tomorrow afternoon.  Gotta love days off and side jobs that net a little extra funds in the wallet...

Welp, guess I'm going to head off for now we've gotta get things started on shutting down. 

Later taters!

[Cederstrand]

Coffee refill, please.

So is this (or some part of this) thew Neutral Safety Switch and how exactly do I test the wire from the starter, providing I can identify it? Do I remove the plug it's in and stick a tester probe in it and have wife turn the key?

http://s1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb331/Robert_Cederstrand/AutoStuff/?action=view&current=NeutralSafetySwitch.jpg

Finished setting the last of the posts. Well, still need rain to actually "set" the remaining quikrete. Have one huge tree trunk squishing a section of fence still to chainsaw out. Other than that, I'll be in fence stringing mode this week. 

Wife has been called off a few times recently and with zero art sales, this month is going to get tight. She's stressed, which gets me stressed. Could always be worse though, not that it cheers her up any.

Rob

[galaxy]

Robby P.

 Good morning.

 Well I start 3rd tonight  .    I have to work at Sears for four hours then go to the next job.  Going to be a rough night.

 I hope everybody has a good day 

Good luck witht eh new job, Robby!

Good to see you back in the Diner, hope you come by often!

Jeffrey- Just to declare my innocence, I am NOT THE ONE who posted the anonymous email to you! I couldn't tell a Studebaker from a Fjord Fjairlane {thanks ROse} or a Packard if they didn't have name tags on them!

Good thing my locos are all Bachmann...!! But i have put a sticker with the name on each one under it so I know which is which as I can't exactly tell my GP38-2 from my GP40...maybe most of you can but i am not so good at sorting out diesels YET. LOL

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Today I decided to convert the Front Range loco chassis to DCC. I had a Digitrax DZ143 decoder laying around with nothing to do so I got it ready to be installed. Something very important was going to have to be done first. The TAPP trucks are OK for display but if this were to become an active runner the worse than bad TAPP trucks would have to go. I replaced them with a pair of Proto 2000 trucks from a FA2. Yes, I know those have AAR sideframes but when has that mattered to me in the past. Never I think. Besides, it puts my personal signature on the job. How many GP9's have AAR sideframes? Not many I would think. I got tired of looking at the BNSF GP9 shell so I put the patched Soo GP9m shell on it. What does all this make it now? A DCC Front Range/Proto 2000/Walthers GP9s?

[tcwright973]

Although it was windy, chilly and raining, it was still Sunday so a little railfanning was in order. So down to the "Strip District" in Pittsburgh we went. Caught 3 Norfolk Southern in about 1 hour. I was hoping to catch the Allegheny Valley, but apparently my timing wasn't very good. Anyway, 2 mixed freights westbound, and 1 of my all time favorites, the Sunday trash train headed eastbound. Well, time to grab a Vernor's Ginger Soda and watch the Steelers. By the way, I also wanted to welcome Thayne to the diner.   Tom

.

 

 

[Anonymous]

It´s only 7 pm and it´s getting dark already !

Just a little remark on our tour - of course we will see Heidelberg and spend time in Berchtesgaden.

Rob - the MIA list is a mile long. It´s Jerry, Chris, BJ, Keith (missing for over a year now), Sawyer and lots of others whose names don´t come to my mind at the moment.

A prayer candle for them!

[Cederstrand]

Strong coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please.

***Garry, CONGRATS!

***Barry, the way cats do everything on their own time line, it's no surprise to see one have it's own Tardis.

***Ulrich, very nice pics!

Anyone seen Jerry lately?

Have a good one y'all.

Rob

[blownout cylinder]

Jeff: Methinks the 'anon.' person-who is too chicken to post who they are/were-just wants to be a 'knowing subject' who thinks they know more about those things than you do. They are just like the clowns that show up at car shows to flex their knowingness about what engines were installed in what cars...when they do not even have a clue about what the ---------- they are talking about.

[Curt Webb]

Jeff- I can't believe that someone feels so strongly about it to act like a idiot. Scratch that, I guess I do. You do great work on almost no budget so keep up the good work. The problem with the  internet is that it is pretty anonymous with little or no consequences for one's actions. 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Hello Diners!

Barry... The cat in the police call box looks very much like Shelley's cat that died last year. 

Galaxy ... More rain? .. You've had enough. 

Jeff ... Don't let the critics bother you at all. You are doing great work in your Sundown Shops. It's always interesting to see your creativity. ... Well, I admit when I saw the GN GP30 changed into an ugly ducking, I did  cringe a bit but not for long. .....  By the way, Galaxy is getting too much rain. Can any of your good friends do an un-rain dance. Just asking.

Ulrich..... Your photos are terrific. I like the German 4-6-2. A very long time ago, I had a Fleischmann 4-6-2 that my Dad brought to me from Germany. I was really young at the time. Shelley and I have thought about another vacation in GErmany, but too much other stuff keeps happening. By the way, are you including Heidelberg in this trip? I like that city. The castle there is remarkable. .... Ulrich, I'm concerned about your health. Doctors should be able to control your heart rhythm. I hope they will do that for you soon. 

Thayne ... Thanks for coming back. UPS, eh... Can we call you "Brown"? UPS has quite an operation in Louisville. They always have several cargo planes at the airport there. 

Robby .... Thanks for checking in. You really are busy. 

Curt ... Biscuits and gravy sounds like  good Southern cooking. 

Todd  .... How was the strudel? I arrived here in the diner too late for it today. 

 

To those who did not see my picture in November Model Railroader yet......  Here it is. I'm very happy with it

 

 

[thortenney]

Hello Every one, I guess i am in charge of buying the drinks today. So everyone belly up to the counter. Go easy on me Ken! I only have a few hundred dollars and I know you are as thirsty as I am, [I've seen your post's]  I got a good laugh at the "keep Utah brown" joke. I will look for the signs but I have not seen any lately. I'll bet someone stole them for scrap.......  I went to a great clinic yesterday on making trees and also different landscaping techniques for your layout, The guys who did the clinic did a super job, I need to get busy with some bench work so i can start making some trees!   see you all in a while time to get moving,

                                                                                                                                          Thayne.