Elliot's Trackside Diner- MARCH 2012!!

[galaxy]

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Thursday, March 15th, 2012!!!

BEWARE the Ides of March!!!

BEWARE the Ides of March!!!

BEWARE The Ides of March!!!

You have been fairly warned!!!

[LSWrr]

Good Morning All,

 

Been a busy week and I’m a few days behind in posts.  Saturday and Sunday I’m hoping for a little luck of the Irish as I attend the NMRA DIV 5 train show at Lakeland College.  I’m looking for those uniquely marked rolling stock and small details.  Mostly small details since I don’t need any more rolling stock, I don’t need any more rolling stock, I don’t need any more rolling stock…..

 

I did finish planting 200 spruce and cedar trees on the coal mine modular section of the layout this week.  I took pictures and as soon as I get some me time I’ll post those.  I’ll be in the rear booth catching up….

 

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

 

 

 

 

TIPTON

 

[Anonymous]

Et tu quoque, mi filii Brute!

You too, my son Brutus!

I am not having fond memories of that. I had 7 years of Latin, translating Caesar was not really my favorite!

Lunchtime, Zoe - I´ll go for a burger & fries, and an RBF to wash it down, please.

Did some minor fiddling around with the boat, not much, just stated on some of the rigging. My fingers are way too big and shaky for that job. At least I have figured out how to do the sails - I found a couple of pictures of the Bluenose II inport, which I can use as a reference.

Have a good one!

If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of
Caesar's, to him I say, that Brutus' love to Caesar
was no less than his. If then that friend demand
why Brutus rose against Caesar, this is my answer:
--Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved
Rome more.

[galaxy]

I was gonna ask Jeffrey if he had any of the troubled flooding Southern Lousiana got, as he complained about a lot of rain, but I seee he has been posting so he must be ok. I know he's in the Mif=ddle western side of the state. I also wonder if hte pond behind his parents house is once again full?

Meawhile, we have a burning alert and ban for outdoor burning due to little precip this winter. We certainly don't need any rampant fires here!!!

Well, I have to take it easy today, as my back is still screaming at me from yesterday's shopping. Spring cleaning is in the air!

High today 75*! A the A/C will be on later as it warms up and gets hot in here. The A/C also helps keep spring time allergens out!

Maple Surple is being produce now and this weekend if Maple surple festival days! NY and VT make the best Maple surple!!! Also the best aged Cheddar cheese!

I had to take a well known prescription sleep aid last night to sleep aafter 2 dyas of not not sleeping. Slept well, but also have to "sleep off " the pill today too.

ta ta for now

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Coffee and a breakfast burrito please. Thanks. What? Yes dark roast.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm ( bout a 30% chance). Partly sunny, with a high near 82.

Lee- How many cars did you buy?

Not much to report. Just …. forgot what I was gonna say.

Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

galaxy

I was gonna ask Jeffrey if he had any of the troubled flooding Southern Lousiana got, as he complained about a lot of rain, but I seee he has been posting so he must be ok. I know he's in the Mif=ddle western side of the state. I also wonder if hte pond behind his parents house is once again full?

No problem for me. I'm on high ground here and just mean and ornery as ever. The lake is overfull resulting in the lower part of my parents back yard being under a foot of flood water. My nephew, niece and her husband were working down there yesterday repairing a wood foot bridge my father and I built in the late 80's. At between forty to sixty feet long it's not a small bridge as they found when they were figuring out how much lumber they'd need for the repairs. I told them when they thought they had it figured out to take the numbers they came up with and increase the amount by half. They thought I was crazy but now they admit it's what they should've done as they have to go back to town to get more lumber they didn't think they needed.

[inch53]

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE

Mornin,,, an irish please Zoe. Weathers sure been nice round here lately, with mostly sunny skies and temps close or at 80. Gotta chance for rain today and the next 4-5 days, but still warm.

Hadn’t made it in for a few days, been busy with the, needing dones n kids, you know just normal days round here.

Made it up it up to the train show last Sat, but I missed seeing Jerry there. Wasn’t a big selection of HO stuff and most was high priced. Did pickup a Train Miniature powered PRR f-3 or 4 for 25,,,, a Bachman PRR f-3 dummy for 5,,,,, a Milwaukie 40’ box car kit made by Rib Side Cars [made in Bensenville, ILL] for 7.50,,,, a Bachman 50’ PRR box car for 8,,,, Athern 60’ C&EI box for 4 [needs work] and a few other odds n ends.

I’d like to get over to my NSLHS, but with gas now at $3.90 here and $3.99 in Terre Haute, that’s not likely to happen soon.

Well I had more to say, but gotta get moving, time to chase kids and finish chores. Thoughts for all those in need n hope ya’ll has a gooden

[moelarrycurly4]

morning,

feeling better but just wiped out as I over did it at wo*k yesterday.

cough cough.......

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a short stack of Buttermilk Pancakes smothered in fresh NYS Maple Syrup, a side order of bacon, and a cup of dark roast coffee in a FGLK Mug, please.  I do hope you have a fresh pot of the dark roast made as I will be needing more.

Got up 2 hours early again this morning to see if the contractor would show this morning....  He was supposed to come late yesterday afternoon to do the final coat of mud on the drywall joints...  He didn't.  Hopefully he will show up late this afternoon.  Of course I may be Canandaigua then. 

I'll be out to my son's house early afternoon to load up some old TV's and other electronic gear to take to the recycling center here in Geneva.  He will follow me home with his girls and help me load the old laser printer and a couple other things into the truck.  I can then take them over to the place and get them unloaded.

Jeff, glad you are high and dry.

Tom, sounds like a good plan to me.  I look forward to meeting you and your wife and showing off the SLOW.

I have a few things I would like to get done this morning as long as I am now awake, so I think I will mosey on to some other things......

73

[gear-jammer]

Good morning, Chloe.  Finally, we have no snow, just the usual horizontal rain.  I'll bet we end up with some flooding in the lowlands.  I will have my usual coffee in a NP mug, please.

Ulrich,  Our friend Jerry is more of a boat modeler that a MR modeler.  He has done some beautiful models.  Can't wait to see your end project.

Sue

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 68° and cloudy with patchy fog. The high will be 82° and it'll be partly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain.

Today I need to mow my parents yard before the rain moves in, otherwise it's going to get out of control. I'm going to take a flash drive with me and plug it into the old computer there and download any old layout photos I find. They're scattered all over the main drive. I figure a two gig flash drive should be big enough.

[Cederstrand]

Italian roast coffee in a SUNNY SOUTHERN mug, please.

***Inch, congrats on the smaller catch, which is still better than no catch at all.

Have a good day all.

Should be up around 80F here today. Nice!

Rob

[wetidlerjr]

Hobbs Depot-Hobbs IN

 

[Stourbridge Lion]

Good Morning Modelers!

It's another bright and sunny day; currently 36F but will be heading up towards to 70's by the afternoon.  Went to Village Inn last night for dinner and had our Free Pie.  Enjoy the day everyone!

[Anonymous]

gear-jammer

Ulrich,  Our friend Jerry is more of a boat modeler that a MR modeler.  He has done some beautiful models.  Can't wait to see your end project.

Sue

Me too, Sue!

It´s still a long way from being completed. I have got a fair idea how to put up the sales. I can´t use much of the supplied materials, though - need to somehow fabricate my own. I also took the piece of cloth that´s supposed to become the sails and transferred the outline of those two I will have to make. Discussed with Petra how to do that, and , with a little persuasion, she is going to get out her sewing machine and do it for me. Ain´t that sweet?

I also received a bunch of answers to my job applications in Canada To sum them up : "our client is looking for a person holding Canadian citizenship..."

Without a job, no immigration into Canada, without immigration, no job in Canada. Just to add to the pity, I am still waiting for the money from our job administration...

What a pretty day - the sun is shining, the birds are singing ...

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

[cudaken]

 Morning Folks!

 Flo, Diet dew Please.

 All most seems like a day off today. Got home yesterday at 4:00 PM (had to stop by the Vet's) and don't go into 2:00 PM today. Then I am off Friday!

 I miss winter Had to use the A/C at the house yesterday and the wife is all ready wanting to know when I am cutting the grass? Hard to believe the grass is all ready growing and it is only March. If the weather stays like this for another week I bet most of the leaves will be out.

 Finally Changed out the trains I have been running. Ever get in the habit of running the same trains all the time? Been running the same 3 for some time. Finlay parked the BB Santa Fe A B last night, it had been pulling 40 cars for months now. Cleared my longest passing spur (still had to pull 6 cars) and giving them a rest. Running my Hudson in its places.

 Rob The picture of the 63 Super Stock 426 Maxie Wedge is Geno's, he is a friend of mine.

 Well, going to nap for a while.

           Ken

[galaxy]

cudaken

  I miss winter Had to use the A/C at the house yesterday and the wife is all ready wanting to know when I am cutting the grass? Hard to believe the grass is all ready growing and it is only March. If the weather stays like this for another week I bet most of the leaves will be out.

           Ken

I DON'T miss winter, but we have had the AC running now for 2 days already, today will be the 3rd. We have it on because the trailer heats up fast in the rising hot sun, and because when it does run it keeps the spring allergens out of the house while running and keeping us at a nice temp. We both have spring/summer/fall/winter allergens that agrivate our sinuses and ravage them severely. SO the A/c keeps us temeprate and limits alergens!

I am a fresh-air freak, but when allergens come in and I can't breathe well, well the AC is a boon.

SO while we want to be stingy on the electric bill, we kinda need the AC.

 

[JimRCGMO]

Good Morning Zoe (well, a little bit yet) - I'll have a BLT with cheesey fries and a RBF please. Thank you!

Jerry - good to see you again in here! Also good to hear you're expanding your RR. Give Sallie a hug for us.

Jeff, sorry to hear about that one site (maybe it was hacked); I've been to that site in the past, I think. (Well, the one I was thinking about was like "Illinois main street" type buildings. I will check if I have their downloads on my drive and send 'em to you if you want - PDF files, if I recall correctly. I can zip all of them that I find, or would it be easier to send separate emails (does your ISP have limits on file attachment size?). Hey, your current layout looks neat (and shows it off better now).   Your previous layout pics looked great, too (especially that one with your photo backdrops!). ([ditto] about your trees on that one looking very good). Lot of w**k put into those ones, definitely!

Hey, Jeff - I was trying to see (but didn't yet) - in what part of your layout is Ezra's place, in those 4-5 photos?

Ray, nice progress on the re-do of your layout area there. You'll have a nice-sized yard area, looks like.

Barry, that was one interesting photo you posted of the "flying car". (Gabe's driver's ed test...) Hey, that's one heckuva audio setup you have there!

Chris, more jobs you get, better for having some more MRR funds, right? Now, if you can get a little time for w**king on your MRR...

OzJim - on your trestle between the two bridges, I haven't looked at them in a while, but Rix/City Classics has a 'concrete' support for one of their bridge kits that (if you have any LHS that might carry their stuff) you could take a look at the dimenstions to see if it'd fit for what you need.

Ulrich, (I hope that since you first talked about 'craftsman' kits, that you've made some progress - and not on new word-learning...) from the photo I had seen of your ship, you're doing well in *spite* of inadequate instructions and less-than-ideal materials. Shows that your skills might just be better than their instruction-writing ones... Keep at it!   (Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres...) Yep, took a couple of years or so of THAT language...

Darren (Stourbridge) - after you mentioned Pi Day, I 'talked it up' at my w**kplace. And speaking of Pi, back in one high school math class, (they had older rooms, with the molding that was about a foot below the ceiling, for those who recall those things), and the math teacher had a paper up on that part of the wall - that went around 3 of the 4 sides of the room, with Pi to... a LOT of places. He made math more fun than some other math teachers I had, for sure!

MoeCurlyLarry4 - hope your ear's doing better (or at least, less pain).

Ken, your Cuda hides all that power well - wouldn't guess from the outside what all it has underneath.

Lee, I see you're memorizing the motto of the RSA group, eh? Good luck (o' the Irish) at the train show on Saturday!

Galaxy, hope you can sleep tonight without needing any 'assistance'. And, that you get the 'groggy' out today!

Mike, sounds like you found a few useful bargains for your MRR'ing.

WIth as much as Jeff gets down in his area, it's very good that he's on the 'upside' of a hill there.

Like Ken - and Galaxy - I actually turned on my A/C at home last night (but somewhere in the night, got up and turned it off (then went back to bed, without even checking the time). Had my two fans running some, too - brick exterior on my apartment building can hold heat sometime longer than sundown.

It's been raining a fair bunch today - I'm on-call tonight (so out of office today), so I got to the library (using their WiFi) about 9:20 this morning, and since a bit before 10, it's been off-and-on rumbles of thunder, and I often can hear driving rain outside, too. Wonder how much the weatherguessers will say that we got by tonight... Think they were saying we were going to have rain chances through Saturday this week.

Might be a good day or two for w**king on some MRR projects...

I'll be at the window booth, checking out that horizontal rain that Sue mentioned. (Hmm...look at that...)

[Edit:] And lookee here - I have the TOP honors! Okay, Zoe, start my tab. Chowhounds?

 

Blessings and prayers,

Jim in Cape G.

[Stourbridge Lion]

JimRCGMO

Darren (Stourbridge) - after you mentioned Pi Day, I 'talked it up' at my w**kplace. And speaking of Pi, back in one high school math class, (they had older rooms, with the molding that was about a foot below the ceiling, for those who recall those things), and the math teacher had a paper up on that part of the wall - that went around 3 of the 4 sides of the room, with Pi to... a LOT of places. He made math more fun than some other math teachers I had, for sure!

Jim - Glad to hear that I could bring a bright spot to the day.  Math can be fun when when you get away from just crunching the numbers just to crunch numbers.  I know a couple of card tricks that are completely based on math but yet most folks don't know that when you show them the trick

[jeffrey-wimberly]

JimRCGMO

Jeff, sorry to hear about that one site (maybe it was hacked); I've been to that site in the past, I think. (Well, the one I was thinking about was like "Illinois main street" type buildings. I will check if I have their downloads on my drive and send 'em to you if you want - PDF files, if I recall correctly. I can zip all of them that I find, or would it be easier to send separate emails (does your ISP have limits on file attachment size?). Hey, your current layout looks neat (and shows it off better now).   Your previous layout pics looked great, too (especially that one with your photo backdrops!). ([ditto] about your trees on that one looking very good). Lot of w**k put into those ones, definitely!

Hey, Jeff - I was trying to see (but didn't yet) - in what part of your layout is Ezra's place, in those 4-5 photos?

Ezra's place is in the fourth photo behind the yellow and black billboard. Send PDF files as attachments only. The ISP here won't accept ZIP files.

[gabeusmc]

I'll have a diet coke Laura. Isn't this nice weather.... I know 67.... And last week the snow piles from the snowblower were above my head.... Yah I know, next week it will probally be Siberia. 

Its so nice up here in Northern MI that I got to operate the layout today. Can't do nothing to fancy on my 4x8 MINRail layout but thats ok. Most of the time I just run a local from the south (Interchange with the BNSF). Switch a few covered hoppers at the elevators, maybe a boxcar at cenex fertilizer and the days work is done. The next time I run the layout the Local will come from the north (interchange with Rail America).

Other than that I took all of the autos on the layot off, and then put them back in different places. Just to freshen up the layout, and to have some fun. Also finnesed the office for my Lakeforest Co-op elevator with a few last touch ups and some signs.

Stourbridge Lion

JimRCGMO:

  Math can be fun when when you get away from just crunching the numbers just to crunch numbers. 

Case in point. Math to figure out how big the door should be on a building for my layout, fun. I get to see the end result, and the end result matters to somebody

Mindlessly doing algebra problems that ten seconds after the teacher grades them nobody on earth could give a care? agonizing

[JimRCGMO]

Afternoon, Zoe, how about another RBF please - Still have a little room left after lunch. Thanks!

Darren, yep, that math teacher - when he was teaching, I think it was factoring (bear in mind, this was at a time when we had real chalk and chalkboards in the classrooms), he would say something like "This cancels this, POOF! Talcum powder!" (as he slapped the eraser on the board. One quarter (half-semester) I was pretty close to the next grade up (probably between a B and B+, I'm guessing), and the day we were to get grade cards, as I'm walking into the classroom he asks me "Quick - what's your last name?" (I got the higher grade that quarter). As they say, there's a fine line between creativity and insanity (even in teaching)...

Hey, Jeff, thanks for pointing out Ezra's shop for me. I had tried sending all of those building files (about 10 altogether), but the combined size was about 58MB, which my ISP balked at. So it's coming in four different emails to you.

The "liquid sunshine" appears to have run out for the daylight hours here. When I left the library around 2 or so, the sun was back out and the rain had stopped. Just 73 F now, and no particular heat index, either. I can live with THAT...

I'll be spreading out at the window booth; want to do some sketching of other ideas for how to expand my layout besides the plans I've come up with so far. But I can still talk (might want a 'break' every so often, actually...).

 

Blessings,

Jim in Cape G.

[blownout cylinder]

 

Good Evening...

 

Sheeesh, got all kinds of weird stuff in the mail today...bills from people i never heard of going to people who used to own my home...like...oh 15 years ago??...I phoned up a couple of the companies involved only to find out they moved??...and one...asked me to check the date on the date stamp...none found?...so they told me that there seemed to be a problem with the post office...a bunch of bills and such, in a couple of bags, got processed by mistake...when they should have gone into a dead file....

JimRC:  We got a lot of stuff in that space...

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Chloe I'll have the rib eye steak, med. rare, a baked potato w/ sour cream, and a trip to the salad bar along with a glass of unsweetenerd Ice Tea please.

Been a busy day, but one where I actually feel like I got some things accomplished.  I was just about ready to drive over to my son's house to pick up some old TV's, etc. for taking to the recycling place when the guy showed jup to sand the wallboard joints...  Did get the son's stuff picked up soon after that and then they came over and helped me load the old laser printer, the dead microwave, and a bunch of other associated stuff.  Almost a full truck load.  Took it over and got it dropped off, Cleaned out some more of #1 sons stuff still left here from his youth... Found a whole bunch of old photos.  He was thrilled!  Several dated back to when we went to Steamtown when it was in Bellows Falls Vermont!

Got home after feediong my sisters cats, andthe phone rang.  It was the monument place calling to tell me the drain grid I took over to get sand blasted a couple weeks ago was done.  Wouldn't take a cent (same family I just did the CDs for).  Got that home and have the first coat of Rustoleum on it!

Now I'm off to a Museum meeting tonight!

Later!

73

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jim: Thanks! I got them all saved.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I transferred a whole pile of old layout photos from my old computer (one at my parents place) to my flash drive. I have being uploaded to my computer. Probably take about two hours. My little flash drive is a slow one and my secondary hard disk is plugged into a USB 1.1 port, so it's slow too. Went to Wal-Mart this morning this morning to do a little shopping. Picked up some sandwich meat, cheese, some med supplies, some masking tape and a $1.50 bag of twelve foam paint brushes. Got that put away then helped my father rebuild the gate we built yesterday. He wasn't happy with it. Got the grass mowed this afternoon, ran over two snakes in the process. I had to get it cut before the next rains hit or rent a bush hog. This climate down here is something else! I was mowing a wet, soggy yard with wet grass and had dust blowing in my face. Hunted down the photos afterward then my father and I had chili dogs as a late lunch.

[galaxy]

well, here's a happy thought:

My area, is considered the least optimistic and most pesimistic area of the USA!!!

FOr those who want to know more here is a link to AOL with the story:

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/03/15/binghamton-n-y-nations-most-downbeat-city-poll-says/?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl11%7Csec3_lnk1%26pLid%3D143814

 

 

[JeremyB]

Weather here has been very rainy today, nice and warm though.

Jeff: Two snakes? thats a pretty good take,lol, in my opinion a dead snake is a good snake.

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

Just got back from dinner with MOH which was nice. Her medical procedure went well today so that's always a plus in my thinking. Went to the LHS and picked up a pack of WS shoppers for the business district so now it's not bare.

Well once again I proved to myself I'm a . I was practicing different ideas for a coal loading operation and I noticed that several of my locos were starting and stopping or slowing down when running the inner loop. I pulled out the meter and checked power and the inside was running around 8-9 VAC where the outer loop was 10-11 VAC. I got looking for feeders and could only find 1!!. I guess I removed several during all the track replacement I have completedand never replaced them. I added 3 more sets evenly split and now both loops are 10-11 VAC.

The one positive out of it was there were no derailing or power issues in the coaling yard. That was a pleasant change from before, and I like the concept that I will be using there. 

Galaxy- I'm not sure what to say about that article.

Everyone take care and  prayers for those in need.