Elliot´s Trackside Diner - February 2012

[Cederstrand]

Coffee refill, please.

***Terry, thanks for all the tips. Much appreciated.

***Garry, excellent layout work there.

IF I can cut the tiles without any breaks, then I'll do the pad (below) instead of what I posted earlier. Won't mark the floor until tiles have been cut, so I know if it will be plan A or B. I think this latest idea looks the best from entry way into the main room. Only a single 45 degree cut to make, too.

Time for evening critter rounds.  Rob

[ns3010]

Evening all.

Sorry about the ongoing multi-week absences. Ever since the second semester started, the teachers have been raising the work load. That, and I find myself taking longer and longer to accomplish my work... 

Not much else going around here. Keeping busy as always.

Nothing new in the MRR world. No time to accomplish anything. The only new development is that I'm selling an Athearn GP40-2, and  trying to buy an Athearn SD60. Nothing overly exciting, but something is something, I suppose.

I've gotta go for now. Catch ya later.

-Joe

EDIT: Looks like I'm buying!

SEPTA Silverliner IV 384 leads train Airport-bound (via Center City) train 3445 out of West Trenton Yard and into the station at CP-TRENT.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I made a trip into town today to the local library to get some reading material. 'HO Railroad from start to finish' by Jim Kelly and 'How To Build Realistic Model Railroad Scenery' by Dave Frary. It also gave me a chance to evaluate the operation of the vans automatic choke. It seems to be working perfectly. Later I got the two Bachmann GP30's off the display rack so they could have some time on the layout. The one in the photo below is #30 and has a somewhat strange decoder setup. The stock bachmann decoder has a bad motor control circuit but I left it in because it had the headlight LED's on it. So the original decoder controls the lights. The motor control is handled by an old Lenz decoder that's piggy-backed on the Bachmann decoder. The setup works quite well. The other loco has the original unmodified decoder. They'll likely be going to a new home soon.

[Cederstrand]

Chicken dinner, please.

***Terry, any tips on mixing and the application of Flexbond mortar? I'm more concerned with getting this aspect right than anything else.

***Jeffrey, nice shots. In person, do the colors look more like the first or second pic?

 Rob

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Cederstrand

***Jeffrey, nice shots. In person, do the colors look more like the first or second pic?

 Rob

 

That's two different units. One is a dark green and the other is a rusty black and white.

[Train Master]

teen steam fan

David- I know I'm late, but congrats on the job. Hope you do well. Does your parents business deal with old farm equipment? 

Thank you. We do not handle farm equipment as such. What we get is most of is machines broken down to their component parts ready to be processed.

I have the paperwork glut down to a small pile now and can manage it in 3 - 4 hours a day. That will give me some time for other things.

Jeff: Good to hear the choke is working finally. Sorry to see you letting the gp30's go.

Rob: It looks like you quite a project there.

Ken: Good to see you are having some good luck finally.

Curt: Good looking work on your layout.

Sue: I enjoy your layout pics when you put them up.

Lee: My best wishes and prayers for your mom.

Todd: Will the work on the house ever be done?

[Cederstrand]

jeffrey-wimberly

Cederstrand:

***Jeffrey, nice shots. In person, do the colors look more like the first or second pic?

 Rob

 

 

That's two different units. One is a dark green and the other is a rusty black and white.

***Jeffrey, I was refering to the landscape colors. In one pic the gravel looks brownish, in the other light gray!?!  -Rob

[saronaterry]

First, Rob, work a small area (3-4 tiles). I like to mix the thinset to about a stiff cake batter consistency. I like it to "stand up" when troweled with a 1/4" notched trowel. Lay a blob on the cement board, spread it out and then pull it to you with about a 45 degree slant on the trowel. You want a nice even depth, no double ridges. Lay the tile , close to your final spot, then push down and give it a little back and forth twist to set it. Move it into the final position then leave it alone! Set your next tile with the edges nearly touching the previous tile, move it into the spot, little down pressure and twist ,set and leave it be. Make sure you've got mortar evenly distributed under each tile, you'll get a dead spot if not. That'll cause cracks . Don't mix more thinset than you'll use in 1/2 hour or so. Toss the unused stuff before you mix any new, use clean tools,buckets,etc. When I mix, I start with a little bit of water in the bucket, dump some thinset in, mix it and check the mixture.If it looks like a DQ soft serve when you pull out the mixer, it's about right. Add water or thinset till you get the mixture you want. Make sure you let it "slack" for 10-15- minutes. then remix and use. I use a paddle mixer in a 1/2 drill. Watch the splashing! You don't have to hurry, just work steadily. If you've got your tile cut already , you should be able to lay that area in the picture in 30-45 minutes, so no worries on the expired thinset.

It really is easier than it sounds!

Terry in NW Wisconsin

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Cederstrand

 

jeffrey-wimberly:

 

 

Cederstrand:

***Jeffrey, nice shots. In person, do the colors look more like the first or second pic?

 Rob

 

 

That's two different units. One is a dark green and the other is a rusty black and white.

 

 

 

***Jeffrey, I was refering to the landscape colors. In one pic the gravel looks brownish, in the other light gray!?!  -Rob

OK, I gotcha now. Like the first one. No flash was used. In the second one the flash was on and makes the gravel appear to be whiter.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well, I'm calling it a night. I'll have an easy day tomorrow. I thought I was going to have to take my mother to a doctors appointment in Alexandria. I got the call this evening from my father that he has tomorrow off so he'll be taking her there and back. That's a great relief for me. Driving that little Pontiac G6 of hers makes what's left of my ankle hurt, and it hurts enough already. I can see what looks like another piece of shattered bone starting to emerge from the wound on the side. I'll have to watch it closely and be ready to pick it out with the tweezers when it's pushed out. This has happened before. The last chunk was about the size of a dime. See y'all tomorrow.

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, hope the service is faster than the website tonight......  Their service is crawling!  I'll have a cup of decaf please, and a seat by the stove in the back.

Did more cleaning up down cellar today.  Decided the best solution for shelving is to buy another steel shelving unit for in the layout room.  I already have 3 of them doing service in the workshop, and after pricing some other solutions, I can get the unit at about the same cost as some shelving...  So tomorrow I will see if the truck starts and go shopping.

I finished installing the floor with the boilers and the turbines in the powerhouse.  Ended up using JB Weld.  I don't think I'll be getting it out soon.......  I now need to do some outside detail on the building like drains for the flat roofs, and a sign on the building.......  I haven't hooked up the wires yet but I think the inside should be great when lighted.  Any suggestions for the downspouts from the flat roofs.

See you all tomorrow!

73

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

Good Evening Gang,

Hope all of you south of the 49th had a great Presidents day.  There are about four of our ten Provinces that use this same day as a Family Day or some other name. The other six it is just another Monday.  We are one of the lucky ones.

Well I was working on my Branch line today, after spending a couple of days looking for the two thru truss bridges that cross the Helix going down. I had removed them when we had all that trouble with the house settling and the mud jacking that I have told you about. They were put away well.

Over my big canyon. I can't decide what I want there for a bridge and that has been plaguing me for awhile now.  So I thought , I can't wait any longer so I just put in plywood sub roadbed so that I can get that Branch line running and I'll go back and redo that section when the light comes on and I know what I want there.  It is curved so I  (THINK) it will be deck girders with more modern concrete abutments.  There will be some modeler's license taken if I go that route as I sure wouldn't be putting in an abutment for each section of girder.  That, I believe is what the hold up is. Can't get it right in my mind.  (OPYK)     stands for "Old Phart You Know"........................

You folks posted some great work this week-end, I always stand in awe.                              I did buy a new camera, so I'll have to get that working so I can post as well.

Well, I'm going to watch the news to see if Germany is still there. Still nothing fron our Buddy Ulrich I see.   Then off to ZZZZzzzzland for me.

Oh brother,  I just remembered that I washed the bedding today and I have to make the bed before getting horizontal.   Here I go, that won't take me long.

Night all,  Chloe, I'll pick up the tab for these late nighters that are still hanging on here.

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

[cudaken]

 Evening Fellow Dinners

 Flo Beer Please!

 Work Front Well, lets just say it was a interesting day and a trying one at that!

 Manger I was told showed up for work full of then went home. That what Larry told me, I did not see it.

 Larry The Nazi Services Manager thinks they are going to make him manager.  God helps us.

 Well, it is late. I did not get out of the shop till 10:00 PM and I am tired.

             Ken

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

 

 

 

 

TIPTON

 

[galaxy]

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Tuesday, February 21st, 2012!!!

Make it a GREAT Day!!!

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning..

Snow turning to rain later this morning. High near 38F.

Floor Wars, London ON division, part 3...or summat: I'm going to do the other bathroom and the foyer now...this week will be the bathroom...which needs a bit of work before I put the floor in..we need to get a new shower stall in there...this oughta be fun....

I gotta say that htere have been a lot of cool pix of people's layouts lately...keep it up guys!!

Flo, I'll have a coffee for now..I'll be at the back for a bit...

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee and oh, something. I don’t know. Surprise me please. Just make sure it’s dead and cooked thank you.

A 20 percent chance of showers before noon. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 48.

Just reread my post from yesterday morning, as per tradition, to see what I’d already said and noticed I made an error. The friends daughter is w**king on her Masters degree, not Bachelors. Sorry for any lost sleep you may have had over the typo. (chuckle)

Rob- Terry is right (again). Well of course he’s right, he does this for a living. Anyway, go sloooow if you’re using a saw. I get impatient and well….I suggest some scrap pieces to try first to get the hang of it. I usually chipped, but most often it was under trim so no biggy, but it looks like you’ll have some exposed. I tried to use a snap cutter for any straight across cuts. The notches I had no choice but the saw.

David- In a word…no. The w**k in the house will never be done. When you go crazy, do something silly and find yourself married to a woman instead of getting a dog, you’ll know what I mean. We mean.

Jeff- Every time you speak of pulling bone out of you with tweezers, I get this oowee feeling. Guess you’re used to it.

Barry- SHUT UP ABOUT THE NEW SHOWER STALL!!! Brenda wants me to replace our fiberglass one and redo the area in ceramic. I don’t need Terry chiming in he knows how to do it either.

You guys are not helping my cause.

Brenda baked last night…….treats for the dog.  They weren’t half bad though

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[gear-jammer]

Good morning, Chloe.  Just a quick coffee before I head to the pool.

JR,  You are right.  Larry says, " I go to a foreign country every day.  Why would I want to go somewhere else?"  I usually try to do most of the driving if we do take a trip, and the hiking & climbing is with friends.

Rob,  I like your tile choice.  When I did our tile, we had several 45 degree angles.  I used my brothers tile saw.  It used lots of water.

Sue

[LSWrr]

Good Morning All,

 

Right back into the fire this morning; one of the projects I spent planning for 4 months fell behind due to unforeseen mechanical issues.  Another project fell behind due to unexpected delays in refurbishing parts.  Another project may be delayed up to 2 weeks due to weather.

 

Good news is this weekend I managed to make 4 new molds; scrap metal, crushed cars, taconite load, and a coal load.  I also built a new spray table down in the basement and installed an exhaust fan.  I’m not too happy with the fan, it’s 4” and rated at 80 CFM and it just doesn’t seem to be enough.

[Curt Webb]

Morning All,

Just wanted to stop in and say Hello. Yesterday was crazy busy at w**k and today will be warmer at 80 F. It was 50 this morning so we will have a nice 30 degree warmup. I figure it's really busy because of Daytona and the All-Star Game happening this weekend and all the extra people in town for those events.

MOH decided for her birthday she wants my son and I to overhaul the front flower bed for her so I start on that tomorrow.

Everyone take care and have a great day.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 52° and cloudy. The high will be 73° and it will be partly cloudy.

Nothing special planned for today. I'll probably be doing some clean up work on the layout.

[blownout cylinder]

Todd:  The shower stall here is going to be one of them thar acrylic things. No ceramic tile thingumee here....yet. Audrey does not know that they still make ceramic tile shower stalls.....

[GMTRacing]

Good Morning All,

   25F and sunny but feels colder out. We still have the cars to load this morning as we aren't allowed antifreeze at the track and it was about 20 out last night  - cold enough to freeze the alloy radiators to bursting. With Curt directing traffic up the northern end of Fla, we'll fly into West Palm and then out of Orlando two weeks later when things clear up.

   As usual a thousand things to do so off to the shop withme.   CUL, J.R.

[howmus]

Koko de betsu no utsukushī hida!

Zoe, I'll have the Tamagoyaki and Okayu today.

J.R., have fun loading cars.  Do you run them to load them?  Put water in for that, then drain?  Inquiring minds want to know.....

Todd, Rob, Barry et al, I have a sure fire way to get those tile jobs done quite painlessly.  I hire someone who knows what they are doing..... LOL  If it involves me crawling around on my knees and doing a half-vast job, it is usually cheaper in the long run...

Have to get moving as I have a lot of odds and ends to get done today. 

Later!

73

[GMTRacing]

Ray - We push them in. The semi trailers have lift gates so onto the gate and then up to the load floor of choice. The gooseneck has a home built ramp system and we winch the cars in. With sintered bronze racing clutches in all of them one doesn't  try slipping the clutch to go up ramps. Usually ends in tears.    J.R.

[Cederstrand]

Italian Roast coffee in a  AT & SF  mug, please.

I'll be by the stove, trying to warm up.

 Rob

[BroadwayLion]

BARN-B-GONE... The pidgions are still flying in circles looking for their roost, as if on the next turn the barn would be back where it was for the last 95 years.

 

Here is the Abbey Fleet in Dry Dock:

[Cederstrand]

Already feel the need for a coffee refill. First cup isn't working at all. Bacon & eggs, too, please.

***Lion, kinda sad every time another old barn goes away. Hey, can I borrow the trackhoe. Now THAT size machine could probably dig out all of my stumps in a day.

Rob

[galaxy]

Well, Good Afternoon all

Not much today.

MOH {and I} went to the Dr. First call of antibiotic MOH's insurance balked at and wouldn't pay for and would have been over $200 to pay out of pocket....so they called the Dr again and he prescribed somehting they WOULD pay for...its getting so any proceedure or any script nowadays needs prior approval or a cheap one they WILL cover!

MOH also has a ganglion cyst on an index  finger  that an orthopedic specialist will look at to determine if it can be removed as MOH says it not only hurts, but when it gets colds, feels like frost bite and can't warm up and gets stiff as a board {an unwarped one LOL}. Now watch THAT proceedure get denied by insurance!

My back is killing me..pulled a muscle on the right side last week, has yet to heal...keeps getting bent out of shape again. No pain releiver of muscle relaxer is working on it to allow it to heal either.

WIll try to do some laundry and get teh dishes done. Keep forgettting to look for new belt for vaccuum...only have a SHark electric sweeper to do the job that works right...or buy a whole new vaccuum...

Porkchops, mashed taters and green beans for supper tonight....any takers?

later

 

[last mountain & eastern hogger]

[quote user="BroadwayLion"]

BARN-B-GONE... The pidgions are still flying in circles looking for their roost, as if on the next turn the barn would be back where it was for the last 95 years.

Br. Elias Lion,

I find that so sad.   Sure sorry the decision had to go that way.

Hope all goes well with that job and workers stay safe.

Johnboy out.....................................................