Elliot's Trackside Diner- MARCH 2012!!

[galaxy]

Hope your St. Paddy's day is going well.

I'll have some of that Irish Coffee! No make that an Irish WHiskey followed by an Irish coffee chaser!

Been watching Ireland all day on Create- the PBS network. The travel shows all with Ireland as the theme. We are about Ireland-ed out now.

Been a funky day...we both have slept a few hours, up a few hours, then slept a few hours...etc in a vicious cycle. Not much accomplished.

We are trying to figure out how to afford a renewal of our 10th year anniversary renewal of vows. WIth MOH's hours cut now, it seems unlikely without adding to debt. MOH wants a lot, naturally, and we have only a little to pay for it. Hence the need for the Irish Whiskey!

Ah well, have a great evening!!!

Don't drink the Irish whiskey and drive.

Later

 

[CNCharlie]

Good Evening Diners!

A round of Irish coffees for everyone in the Diner please Chloe. No I'm not even Irish but say they are a great bunch so why not.

Todd, a Happy Birthday to you. Hope Ziva made her appearance. Well I'm now watching NCIS re-runs too and it is all your fault and of course Ken's too. Mind you they are pre-Ziva so I guess it is Kate. I've seen Ziva but perhaps prefer her predecessor( not sure if I spelled that right) . Anyway it is on every night here at 7. On Friday we still get Sea Patrol which is even better in my opinion. I'm sure OzJim is familiar with that show. We used to get it every night but at least it isn't off the air.

Had a good trip last week but didn't get to meet up with Barry. On my way to the airport on Thursday I did make time to drop into 2 hobby shops. I thought Doug's was small but good and the prices were fair. Can't say the same for  Broughdale though. I enjoyed driving around rural Ontario and luckily had a decent car to do in. It was a VW Jetta and I was quite impressed. 

No RR work this weekend. It was 19C today which broke a record and tomorrow it is suppossed to hit 26C which is about 80F. The normal this time of year is 32F. I plan on doing a few jobs around the yard.

Well perhaps I'll see you tomorrow,

CN Charlie

[Cederstrand]

***Jim, haven't heard the coyotes lately. Did a head count last week and all were still present and accounted for.

Had to out smart the big horses today to take a fresh bale out. Used distraction (food) and patience techniques againts them. At first they were on to my plan and came galloping up to the front gate. That's when the patience part came into play. I parked the Beast (tractor) with the hay and walked away. Eventually, they returned to the distraction, at which point I had no problem completing the task. HA!

Not much else going on. About to toss some burgers and marinated chicken onto the grill. It is to much food for just me, so will bring some into the Diner for anyone who wants some.

Cheers!  Rob

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

Back from the club early since I w**k in the morning. Only plans other than that are painting wheel sets and go on vacation (my kind of week). Unfortunately we have to drive to Miami to get on the ship. Found out that the annual club open house has been moved from August to the last weekend in April. We do it in conjunction with the annual Orlando train show which has moved, so if I am not working I will be there all weekend. 

Garry- Glad you made it safely there.

Ken- I have a uncle that in his early 20's had the same model and  color as yours. He always seemed to have carburetor problems.

Everybody have a good night.

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a decaf right at the moment please.

Warm here in the Finger Lakes today.  Nice, very nice day!  After the fog (pea soup variety for St. Pat's day) burned off the sun came out and Made even me spend some time out in it.  Will help the psoriasis at least.  Got all the way up to 69°F out there.  Tomorrow will be in the low 70's but calling for some liquid sunshine during the afternoon. 

I had a great day..... Today I made something called progress...  The sheetrock got a coat of drywall primer:

And then received some Sky.....  Fog, Clouds, and trees will appear next!

Hope you all have a great evening!

73

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. I got all but sixteen freight cars put away today. I'll be using them on the layout. My F2A/F3B/F3B set needs something to pull. Of the locos that were out I put away the Rivarossi/Athearn U25C Frankenstein, the Atlas FP7A/FP7A set, the old Bachmann 0-6-0 and the Walthers GP9m/GP9m Frankenloco set. The aforementioned F unit set is the active power on the layout and I placed a Bachmann GP40 dummy in the north engine house. I guess tomorrow I'll wipe the track down and run a train for a while. It's gonna hurt a bit but it beats sitting here watching my fingernails grow. See y'all tomorrow. If you don't I may be tied up on the track someplace!

[Hoople]

Howdy all.

Been forever since I've been in. On and off I think about the choo-choos. Being 17 in highschool makes it a little hard to keep my focus on trains. But I think for once I'm going to do something about it! Gonna get the layout moved over to my Dad's house, so I have something to do when I'm over there. I've also grabbed my 4-8-2 out from it's resting spot and stuck it in front of my monitor so I'm forced to look at it's poor scarred face to remind me that I must do things with my trains! Haha. 

Well I figure I should run along now.
(wonders if anyone who was here is still here and/or remembers me as I walk out...)

See ya,

Mark

[galaxy]

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Sunday, March 18th, 2012!!!

Hope there are no hangovers from Green !!!

[wetidlerjr]

 

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

 

 

 

Depot-Fishers IN

 

TIPTON

 

[james saunders]

Evening folks,

 

Here is a bridge pier update, this is what I've come up with...

 

 

Thoughts?

This is the overall scene so far...

I coated the foam with hydrocal before I ran out, so I went and tracked down sculptamold here in Brisbane - GREAT stuff!!!

I spent Saturday/night on the Gold Coast for our annual end of year cricket trip and we spent most of the night at the Casino...

I'm having an early night to recover...

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Weellll...did I get a shock yesterday....a friend of mine almost passed away from a heart attack.We had just finished a deck for his backyard and he was just going into the house when he collapsed right at the threshold of his house..I ended up giving him CPR and had his wife phone 911 for an ambulance...they came and got him to the hospital where he is resting in ICU at the moment...I just phoned up the attending nurse and she told me he is doing OK at the moment...I'll be up there later today...

[LSWrr]

Good Morning,

Went to the NMRA Division 5 train show yesterday morning, and bought a couple box cars and rolling stock blue print books from NKP. 

Todd, happy belated birthday.

Garry, this year I’ll be making a big trip to Michigan, all the way to the Soo.

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers for “Mom and daughter” friends of mine.  The Mom has pins/rods in both arms, both legs, and both ankles. Her elbow has a metal plate holding it together until a new joint can be ordered.  Believe it or not; both were wearing seatbelts when they hit the tree. The Mom is doing ok and her daughter made it through the cranial surgery to reassemble her skull.  It looks like the “sack” around her daughter’s brain is completely intact.  Like Jeff said; kids belong in the back seat properly belted.  If the daughter had been in the back seat she probably would be at her grandma’s house playing like 6 year olds should be.  Daughter is still in an induced coma for now and had a cat scan last night, family is waiting on the results.

[LSWrr]

Holy Toledo Barry!  I hope everything works out today at the hospital

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Mark: Good to see you again. I'd wondered where you had gotten off to. Don't be a stranger.

James: Good looking scene you have there.

Barry: I hope things work out in your friends favor.

[inch53]

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

Mornin,,  an irish coffee, 2 eggs n bacon please Janie. Had a storm come through last night with plenty of lighting and maybe a ½”rain. There’s a chance of more rain this morning, clearing afternoon, high near 80 again.

Gr-G-pa and G-ma are kid free for the week, well other than the one that catch the bus. Beth went up to her mom’s [#3 daughter] and the girls went too. Sure is nice to have a nice quiet house for a spell.

TODD,,,,, a late Happy B-day, hope you had a good time at supper.

GARRY,,, glad you two had a safe trip up north.

BARRY,,, prayers for your friend n and he recovers ok.

Plans,,, lets see, need to hang out a load of towels after Mother gets them washed, shampoo carpets, maybe go mushroonin, work on some trains cars and whatever else the boss comes up with.

Thoughts for all in need, hope ya’ll has a gooden

[cudaken]

 Morning

 Flo, Coffee to go.

 Berry, good job and best of luck for your friend!

 Duncat, yes I remember you.

 Got to get ready for work, see you all this evening.

  Ken

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 69° and cloudy with a 20% chance of showers. The high will be 82°. Wind south at 10 to 15 mph.

Well the plan for today is to wipe down the track and run some trains providing Murphy or my father don't have plans I don't know about.

Cleaned my a/c filter yesterday. Boy did it need it! My nephew wonders why I use a fiberglass filter in a window unit. Why not just use the filter that came with it? Well, to be honest, the cheap little thin filter that comes with those units is a piece of crap. It lets through more dirt than it catches.  So I buy a pack of large fiberglass filters. I cut out a piece that will completely cover the cheap filter and place it over the aforementioned cheap filter. When I showed it to my nephew yesterday he could plainly see that the dirt was only on the front of the fiberglass mesh. The cheap filter and the fins were clean as a whistle. Guess who's going to Lowe's to get a pack of filters to use in HIS window a/c unit.

[Curt Webb]

Morning All,

At w**k until 4 PM. Nothing else planned.

Barry- Prayers for your friend. He is lucky you were there.

Lee- Glad your friends continue to do well.

Oz Jim- Your modeling is looking good.

Ray- Your wall is looking good.

Garry- Very nice scene.

Prayers for all those in need.

[gear-jammer]

Good morning, Chloe.  I would like a cinnamon roll with my coffee, please.

 Todd, Have a happy birthday. Go easy on the cake.

Johnboy,  I have to finish my tax stuff today.  I have an appointment with my tax preparer on Thursday and will have no time to work on it later.

Mark,  How is school?  Are you thinking about college?  Don't be a stranger around here. 

Sue

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a couple eggs over easy, bacon, and an English muffin with real butter this morning.  Oh a cup of...  Oooo, you have my favorite!  I'll have a cup of the Marrakesh Express Organic, Fair Traded Coffee (dark Roast) with half and half and some sweet leaf to sweeten it.  Thank you Ma'am!

Barry, good you were right there and have the training to help the guy!  Hope he recovers quickly.

Is today Todd's Birthday or yesterday???  Either way, Happy Birthday Todd!

Currently 63°F outside under sunny skies this morning.  Possibility of a few thunderboomers this afternoon with a high of 73°F.  I think we have jumped forward to May after skipping December and January........

Hope to be able to spend some time w*rking on the layout today.

Later!

73

[jeffrey-wimberly]

howmus

Is today Todd's Birthday or yesterday???  Either way, Happy Birthday Todd!

As far as I can tell it's today.

Happy birthday Todd!

[Anonymous]

Well, I guess I was too early with my to Todd yesterday...

Good Afternoon Gang!

A dull day, dull and boring. We are waiting for ra*n to come, which is desperately needed by Mother Nature. I am having blood pressure problems today, so no w*rk on my boat. I did go to my friends place to machine the bottom part off the hull - it´s now a waterline model for use on my layout. I have to do some touch-up work on the paint job to get it looking nice again. Maybe tomorrow...

Barry - ouch, that was close! I am sending a healing prayer to your friend

Ken - that´s a great looking car. How much mpg does it get. Not that it matters, but at over $ 9 a gallon, one starts to think about fuel consumption .

Have a good day, everyone!

[Seamonster]

Barry:  Your friend is very lucky you were right there and knew how to do CPR.  Still, it's very traumatic to see that happen to a friend right in front of you.  My best wishes for your friend's recovery.  When I was working we were required to maintain a valid CPR and first aid certificate, which meant re-training every two years.  I've been retired for 12 years now but I think I can remember enough of both courses to do what I would have to do if the circumstances arose.

Your story brought back memories of the death of my best friend years ago.  We often got together at his place in the evening talk over coffee and I'd stop first at a neighbour's place to help her daughter with her computer while my friend picked up his wife at work.  This one evening when I arrived at his place, his daughter's boyfriend answered the door and informed me that my friend had had a fatal heart attack while he was picking up his wife at work.  I was in such shock that I don't even remember driving back home.  It's been many years but it still bothers me a little to remember it.

 

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!! Just coffee please. Thanks.

Haven’t checked the weather so not sure what is supposed to happen, but it’s beautiful out so far.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! And yes it is today. Regardless of when they are given, all are appreciated the same.

Today I get to do nothing. So far it’s held up good though I may do a little cleanup in the train room because I want to.

Ulrich- The boat is really looking good!

Jim- We went to check out some more paint samples yesterday after our weekly scheduled trip to the Chinese buffet. Got a different waitress again. Twice in a row AND a somewhat dirty look from my usual waitress. Not really a dirty look, more of a quizicle like "why you sit there? You supposed to sit wth me" from across the room followed by a "this two time in a row now! Next time I Kung Fu chop you in the face" look. I smiled and shrugged. She nodded and went about her business. Don't know what that means to them, but she didn't show back up with a suitcase thinking we were taking her home, so that's a good thing I suppose. Anyway, it dawned on me as I was looking a the Sherwin Williams paint chps WHICH, by the way, at $50 dollars a gallon will NOT get purchased,  I guess they have to come up with something other than fifty three “light, lighter, real light brown” I suppose. So call it something marketty. I’m looking for a color called “Potty Pink”. Haven't seen it yet. No no issues with the double celebration. Brenda is always with and she is a friend also.

Ken- I think Ziva’s flight was delayed and she must have phone problems. No room on the HD list for anymore so that got left alone.

Charlie- Sorry about the latest TV show addiction. Same thing happened to me. Just got weaned from Law and Order and then I saw NCIS. Started all over again.

Barry- Prayers for your friend.

Last night went well, but there weren’t too many people there. The resataurant closes at 9 so no real "bar activity”, if you will, happens til about 830. By then on St Pattys Day, most people who are more professional than us start at about 0930 or ten in the morn and they’re pretty much done by that time and we are just waking up from our naps to be able to stay up past ten. Like I said we usually celebrate together on I guess not necessarily the middle of the two days but the closest Saturday or Friday night if there is none between. Then there are more people. We don’t mind. Like I said it’s more of a tradition than a party.

Welp, some silly movie called Hall Pass was just on Cinemax and I did chuckle a few times and that’s unusual for me. I looked over a Brenda once early on in the movie when they first gave the pass to the first husband and recievd a "No."

Now, I shall commence doing something else. No wait, I mean NOTHING else.

 Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!

[TMarsh]

UPDATE!!!!

Soon as I clicked the post button, I heard Brenda tell the dog "daddy and I are going in town to get the paint now"

Guess the stay home and do nothing lasted but for a brief moment sweet as it was. Of course I could have mis-heard her also. Ya. That's probably what it was.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

This morning I found that I'd neglected to convert a Tyco 40' Hi-cube boxcar to body mounted Kadee's. Twenty minutes later it was converted an dis now ready for service.

[GMTRacing]

Greetings from Palm Beach Airport,

      Waiting on my flight home. Seems like 've been on the road for weeks - oh I have  Sebring went well with a third in the enduro and a second in the sprint race the next day. Our friends at Audi did well as well in the real race (12hr) finishing first and second (their third car broke its' gearbox and dropped out).

     We had spent the previous weekend testing with the Audi team at the Shuttle landing strip at Cape Canaveral and that w..ked out well as the ECU problems we'd been having didn't crop up again all weekend.

   Good to see Hoople and Nick dropped in. Hope Nick brings his coveralls to the museum - nothing is as dirty as an old rail car (except for an old locomotive).

   Happy Birthday Todd. Hope you have a relaxing time painting on your birthday. How does that go? No rest for the weary ?

   Ken - does your employer track people in the door as well as job tickets and extra sales? It's hard to be brilliant at selling when you have no traffic.

Ulrich - The smart car intrigued me for a while but the version we get here is overpriced and gets lousy mileage (in the thirties on average and no diesel available). Most of our Ford Focai get in the thirties in a reasonable package and I see nearer 40 mpg with my Fiesta (all gas no diesels available).

Barry - your friend is very lucky you were right there and knew what to do! Hope he makes a good recovery.

Lee - It was sad to hear about your friend and her daughter. We out of ignorance always had the kids in car seats up front but had no airbag equipped vehicles back then. I still think the air bags are worse than the problems they were meant to fix. Another mostly overlooked fact is that most vans and light trucks are not required to meet the same safety standards as passenger cars. There ae some I would,t move up and down my driveway.

    Fluid in the cavity around the heart is not much fun. I had plurisy a few years ago and ended up in hospital. It can reccur but hasn't so far for me. The worst was the CFO thinking I was having a heart attack until they got back to her with a diagnosis.

   Well, I'll have a coffee and some pie while I wait here. Back in the shop tomorrow to see what disasters have befallen me in my absence.    CAtch Y'all later,   J.R. 

[howmus]

Afternoon folks!

Flo, I'll have a root beer float to tide me over to suppertime.....

Currently 78°F...........  In the Finger Lakes on March 18......  78°!  New record for here by 9°!!!  Record low was 2°F set in 1993.  Previous record was 69° back in 2003....  Too &@%$ hot for march!  I'll take winter back any time.  Turned on the air conditioner in the Yaris when I went to my sister's house to feed the cats.  Her early spring flowers are all in bloom already.  And when she gets home Wednesday night, I bet she will want me to bring up her lawn mower from her cellar (at least this year it is out of gas.....).  I refuse to mow my lawn until well into April at least!!!

Getting cloudy here, both outside and down in the train room....  Got out the stencils and have started making a few clouds on the backdrop.  Also found the two colors of green paint I used both as is and mixed to stipple the trees onto the backdrop.  Have started to create the trees as well.  Right now the room is airing out to get rid of paint fumes.

Later!

73

[Cederstrand]

Coffee in a  UNION PACIFIC  mug and leave the pot on the table, please. Looks like I'll need to "weather" this mug, or just let Jeffrey do it for me.

***Inch, that's a very cool pic of a once great machine.

***Ken, nice looking car.

***Ray, you have to much model RR space, how about handing some of it over?

***James, nice progress pics.

Cheers!  Rob

[Hoople]

Afternoon all!

Blegh. Some bug's been going around up here lately and it's gotten to me. Obnoxious. Oh well, figure I'll work through it.

Jeff: Good to see you too, bud. I missed seeing all the pics of your layout in here every day!

Cudaken: Nice to see ya' too. Hows that charger coming? Those '68 and '69 chargers are my favorite cars! Up near my school there's a guy who's got a really really nice 1969 one, as well as a couple dart swingers. I love those old muscle cars!

Sue: I'll try my best not to be a stranger! School is pretty good. I enjoy all of it except AP chemistry. That class... not a fan of it in the slightest. Hardest class I've ever taken. Managed to hammer down a 3.4 GPA on the 4.0 scale last semester (that's equivalent to something like 87% or so). I've got the AP test for that, as well as the AP test for my Language and Composition class (which frankly is much more enjoyable, fun, and easy than AP chem). Taking the SAT on May 5th... same day I'm going to see VAN HALEN at the TACOMA DOME. Gotta love me some rock!

As far as colleges- trying to aim high for the most part, we'll see where I can get in. The list looks a little like this:
1. MIT
2. Colorado School of Mines
3. Carnegie Mellon
4. Cal Poly
5. Purdue
6. Cal Tech
7. United States Air Force Academy- I put this one last because I'm not entirely sure if I would want to go or not. On the fence about it, really... I want to be an engineer and work with aeronautics or aerospace, and it seems like the Air Force would be cool to work in but I'm not sure if I want to do it. Also, the academies are extremely hard to get into. Luckily, the ROTC programs aren't!

That's all for now.
Mark