Happy anniversary Barry!
Good morning. It's 62° and cloudy. The high will be 80° and there's a 30% chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms. Well last night I brought out an F3 A/B set that's been giving me a problem. Both have Bachmann decoders. The A unit was running just fine. The B unit however while it would run the motor would rev way too high even at slow speeds and just spin the wheels as it tried to push the A unit. I pulled the decoder and tested it. Bad motor circuit. It knows only two speeds. Dead stop and pedal to the metal. Changed it out with a good one and now the set runs like it's supposed to. Fortunately it didn't damage the motor. Changing out an Athearn motor in a Stewart chassis is NOT how I like to spend my day. Speaking of things to do, it's come that time to pay bills again. So I'll take care of those that I can here then go to town to pay those others. Also0 need to get groceries and gas. That last is likely to be 3/4's of a $100 bill! And people wonder why I don't go anywhere!
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, I'll have a short stack of buckwheat pancakes with real maple syrup, a side order of bacon, and some Seneca Lake Dark roast coffee this morning.
Currently 39°F under nice sunny skies here in the Finger Lakes. High will get up 45°F and the low tonight is supposed to be just above freezing. Like Galaxy, we expect a bit of the old white stuff to fall, a slushy 1 to 2" with a bit more tomorrow morning. Like all late season events of this nature it will be gone by noon. I may go outside and weed the herb garden today. THAT I will do.... Mowing with or without city ordinances will wait until I feel like it! City doesn't usually get on a persons case unless it gets really bad and stays THAT way for quite a while. Usual concern is an empty house that nobody is caring for. The city will come in and mow it, then charge the owner if they don't comply to notices about it. They also have a ordinance saying you can't pile firewood in front of your house for more than a few days..... I have had a pile there all Winter...... Just like most years.... I should have THAT cleaned up in a couple weeks.... Before Easter.
Todd! Poor little snakes! I don't mind having snakes on the property at all. They keep the rat and mouse population down! None of the snakes in this area are poisonous so I don't bother any that decide to hang around. I consider them good luck. Now around Naples, NY over in the Bristol Hills you will find the occasional Timber rattler. They generally are smart enough to avoid humans! South of here there are some Copperheads, buy they are rarely a problem as they have to be provoked a lot before they will strike. We had a lot of them over in Waverly Glen when I lived down there. Never heard of anyone getting bit, and I knew some kids that picked them up and brought the little ones home (and to school!)..... My son has several garden snakes in the rock walls around his property... He loves showing his daughters the snakes and has taught them to respect and enjoy them. There are a couple large Black Snakes on his property too. That is a good sign as they don't mix with Copperheads.
Oh! Happy Anniversary Barry! April 15th. would have been my 46th. anniversary..... Still miss her after 25 years.
Bill, enjoy mowing your lawn! (THAT guy is really strange...... Just kidding!)
Later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Coffee in a STORMY SOUTHERN mug, please.
***Garry, is that train moving or idling? Was wondering if that one rider is racing the train or hanging on to a spooked horse. The others appear to be seasoned mounts.
Had a minor thunder-boomer come through a few minutes ago. Sure dropped the temp outside.
Have a good day all.
Rob
Got the bill paying and buying gas done. The gas wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. $52 for fourteen gallons and a bit for regular. Forked out $95 on groceries. Have less than $30 left. Oh well, easy come, easy go. Traffic in town was really tied up on the main drag. A largish Buick sedan had rear-ended an equally largish Chevy wagon effectively reducing the two northbound lanes to one lane. And naturally everyone going past had to slow to a crawl to rubberneck the scene. The guy in front of me kept stopping every foot or so and asking stupid questions. So much so the cops were getting ticked off with him and I was about ready to bulldoze him off the road. He seemed to get the message that he wasn't wanted there and finally moved on. What a flippin' circus! After I got my groceries I made my exit from town through the Lees Hills residential area. If they didn't like the noise the heck with them. I wasn't going to slow roast in traffic.
Coffee refill, please.
***Jeffrey, between the Buick and the Chevy, was there a winner?
Nothing but thunder shower after thunder shower here, so have not dared run trains. Looks like a late night deal, so just going to rest.
Cederstrand ***Jeffrey, between the Buick and the Chevy, was there a winner?
Howdy folks,
I hope everyone has bought a lotto ticket, It's making the news here in Australia and is reported being a jackpot of $640 million, but you would pay $250 million in TAX!! Here in Australia all lotto winnings and gambling etc are tax free winnings.
Still, $390 million would be pretty sweet.
I also propose that the April diner visits down under! whats everyones thoughts?
James, Brisbane Australia
Modelling AT&SF in the 90s
A bowl of the House Stew, please.
***James, I buy dark chocolate instead, there is a sure return on the purchase price. Never have been a gambler.
Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.
Evening all.
Time for my rare appearance. Nothing going on tonight, so it seems I've found some time to make it on the forums for a while.
Same old stuff going on around here. Still busy with lax and waiting for school to be over (34 days remaining in high school, IIRC). I've finally heard from all of my schools. I've gotten into Northeastern, Rutgers, Villanova, Lafayette, The College of New Jersey, and Catholic, and I was waitlisted at Lehigh. Overall, six acceptances and one waitlist is nothing to complain about! I'm still not sure on where I'll be going, but I should know soon.
Northeastern is my first choice and I've decided, but the money is the thing that currently stands between me and sending in the enrollment deposit. However, things still seem to be looking good. My parents found this "Parent Plus Loan" from the government that allows you to take out the full cost of college that is not covered by financial aid. The catch is that you cannot apply for the loan until after you commit to a school. As I said, however, things are looking good, and we should come to a final decision within a week. If it does not work out, then I will have to decide between Rutgers and Villanova (both rank equally on my list and all the other schools have essentially been eliminated because of cost and/or other factors). I'll let you guys know when I finally decide.
Aside from that, there's not much going on around here. The above mentioned things are taking up most of my time, so there's not a whole lot of time for much else.
Well, that's about it for now. Catch ya later!
-Joe
ME 18 pauses on the bridge over Baker Mill Pond as it prepares to reverse into Lake Junction to finish its switching.
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
Evenin' folks!
Janie just another cup of decaf for me please. Looks like the "system maintenance" got done and we are back up and running.....
Rob, I'd opt for the dark chocolate as well as opposed to a one in ten million chance of winning those things. Actually, I would probably opt for train stuff.........
Here are a couple shots of the measuring of the Coal Pocket yesterday.
Yep, the old, bald, guy be me.... We measured just about everything THAT could be measured of what is still there. We surmise that quite a few of the timbers came for some other structure as some had holes drilled in them that didn't match the holes drilled in a similar piece in line with it. You can see that in the two timbers jutting out from the structure on the right. Some holes were also covered by other timbers.
We haven't figured out exactly what the metal pipe was for, but think it may have been connected to sheet metal to deflect the coal either into the dump truck, or into a tighter pile if a conveyor was used to load the dump truck....
Got a tortoise switch machine installed under the new curved turnout I installed yesterday, removed some cork roadbed form a section I want to straighten the track in, and tracked down and corrected a dead short on the new trackage! You, know, I have made enough of the Fast Tracks turnouts THAT you would think I would remember to isolate the frog before I put it on the layout! I guess THAT is why I have a cutting wheel on my Dremel.... I prefer to use a very fine jewelers saw to cut the gaps, but can't do THAT without removing the turnout.
Snowing outside at the moment here in the Finger Lakes! Looks like March will go out like a LION! Where is Lion, BTW? Haven't seen him in here for a while.
Hope you all have a great night! Prayers for all in need...
Ray .... I take it the coal pocket has been out of service lately. ... Interesting pictures.
Joe ... Good to see you. I am aware college expenses are getting worse. Bloomberg TV ran a story on that topic, and they said tuition for government supported colleges has increased 268% over the past 30 Years. Remarkably they used constant 2011 dollars for that calculation. ............ and we thing gasoline prices are excessive. .... I hope can avoid borrowing excessively. Too many people are stuck with huge student loans and that is a big problem.
Rob ... They train was stopped for the picture and the horses are not moving. The horses and riders are a set from Woodland Scenics. I had some fun putting that little scene together.
Todd ... I agree with Ray. Snakes are good for keeping away small unwanted critters. We used to have a pair of big black snakes here which we named "Charles and Camilla". They went away during construction of a house next door a couple of years ago, and we think the workers killed them. I frown on people killing good snakes.
Darren ... That's sad about the fire. I hope they put it out soon.
Tomorrow, some of the grandkids will be arriving. Over the next week all six will have visited here.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Evenin', Chloe - just a Rio Grande mug of decaf please. Thank you!
Stopping by tonight for a little, before I head for home. Looks like y'all have been talking cars & mileage, eh? My car gets about 16+ mpg usually, but the biggest hindrance for me on that is that the majority of my driving is just in-town (probably less than 30 miles a week, not counting if I have to drive someplace for w**k). Now if they could price those Preeyus's more reasonably, I might consider one...used...
Man, hadn't heard about Earl Scruggs dying - what a musician (wish I could play the banjo at all, let alone play worth a quarter of his talent on that thing!). Wish I hadn't sold off the 5-string I had, but then again I wasn't doing enough any practicing on it for a while before I sold it to one pastor's kid who was into music a lot. And my hands are more used to guitar picking than banjos (which seemed to me to go sorta backwards - but they sounded great!).
Well (might've got some hail in it, up Todd, Ken, Inch and Jerry's way tonight), it looks like Ray might make it until Sunday before the grass gets high enough that he can't see the mower... 'Course, if you'd just use the Roundup, Ray, you might not have to worry about the mower for a lonnnnnnggg while.
Barry, 97 years is a good long run at it for your aunt, I would say. Hey, did you forget to send Mr. Murphy a note about your op session? Best wishes on pulling off your Anniversary Suprise for Audrey.
Jeff, your DPM building there looks good! - how'd you do the interior on it? Do watch yourself there, and don't let your sugar level get too low again like that, okay?
Todd, how do you house train Mud Daubers - what kind of treats do they like? Not to worry about knuckling under mowing your lawn, though - Ray will make up for it, when he is still waiting to mow his lawn, come this May...
Johnboy, it's not us you might have to worry about, it's whether your insurance agent is into model trains and peeks in the Diner window... (Naw, I don't think you would really do that fire thing, either!) Those Kadee cars are pretty nice, especially when you can find a bargain price on one! Atlas' cars aren't bad, either.
Hey, now that you mention it, Johnboy, it has been a long while since Packer (Sawyer) has been in the Diner...
Gabe, my condolences if your Dad is the head groundskeeper for a golf course! That would be tougher than the guy who lived near (well, down to the corner and halfway down that street from) us - he had one of those hand (push) mowers, and though I never saw him out tending to the lawn with them, I suspected that he had manicure clippers, too!
TSF, didn't know you were on a powerlifting team - impressive! How'd that go, by the way? Maybe your dog hasn't learned yet, because he caught some golf balls on the head?
Garry, hope you survive all the grandkids - at least they aren't all showing up on the same day! And best get that tax return finished up (if possible, before the grandkids arrive, so one of the youngest ones doesn't decide that some vital paper records look 'tasty').
Galaxy, that's a great price on your gas - beats what I paid a coupla days ago (to put about 12 gallons into the tank). And that sucks (big time!) about that jerk running over puppies. He has definite problems in his head (IMHO).
Goodness, somebody must've spiked Bill T.'s coffee - he's extra talkative today!
Darren, sad to hear about all the people displaced from their homes by that fire. Watch yourself - that video was scary!
Joe, best wishes on figuring the details out so you can go to one of your top colleges (hopefully, NEastern)!
As for snakes, we had something on the news (yesterday evening, i think it was) about there being some possible cottonmouths along a lake (a bit of a ways from Cape - Illinois somewhere, I think), and it was not far from a public housing complex where there were kids. Understandably, the parents were a tad reluctant to let their kids out of the house once they heard about it! Hardest part would be, the kids wouldn't be as likely to tell the difference between the friendly/helpful kinds like black racers or others and the cottonmouths.
I did order a 3TB drive yesterday (got a good price on it), to use for my TIme Machine backups. Have also started weeding through my iTunes library of... well, tunes... to thin them out. It should arrive next week.
Mostly just for fun (I will put it down for today's expenses as "entertainment"), I bought one Mega-Millions lottery ticket tonight. I refer to it as my "Shark-bite ticket" - local news had on the dinnertime news earlier this evening that the odds on this lottery were 1 in 176 million, while the odds of getting bitten by a shark were 1 in 300 million (and odds of bowling a perfect 300 score was only one in 11,500). Heck, I wouldn't even know what to do with the (after-taxes) lump-sum amount! Don't need that much, and if I did win it, I'd likely give a huge chunk to church and various charities of mine. Maybe get a small/medium-sized house (maybe even one of them thar Preeyus's?...) Ah, excuse my rambling, must be getting close to bedtime...
Prayers for a good night's rest and for healing and comfort for those in need of it (which might be most of us).
Blessings,
Jim in Cape G.
It was a busy day for us. Started off with a visit to the surgeon who put the wife's leg and ankle back together. After taking another series of x-rays, he told us they looked really good and he was very satisfied with her progress. And that whatever swelling and pain she still has was to be expected. He then released her with directions not to hesitate calling if she has any problems. So technically speaking, this ordeal, which began last October, is officially over.
We left the Doctor's office and drove up to the dealer to pick the new car up. Everything went well there too, except now I have to pay for it. It will take some study to get the hang of of using everything from the radio to the built in navigation system. There are 2 screens, and most everything is set up using menus, touch screens, etc. And the voice recognition will handle the radio, cd player, nav system, air condioning/heater, etc if you want to use that method. I think I will have to make selections or adjustments before leaving the driveway for awhile until I can get a handle on all this.
We decided to stop and have an early dinner on the way home. That turned out nice with a good meal and a nice glass of wine. So all in all, a nice but expensive day. Everybody have a nice weekend. Tom
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
Good Morning! from Tipton IN.
Gould Tower-N&W-Toledo
TIPTON
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
GOOD MORNING!!!
Today is Saturday, March 31, 2012!!!
March is now {almost} Officially OVER!!!
April Showers Bring May FLowers!!!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Good Morning,
Thoughts and prayers to all those in need and a special one for Garry having all those Grandkids over even if it is in small doses.
I went to the Doc and he is referring me to an endocrinologist to look over my hyper parathyroid issues. Never retire! I was in pretty good health when I left active duty now it seems I’m falling apart.
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Howdy,
took a day off yesterday - I have an infection in my right elbow, which hurts a lot, especially when typing. It is one of those nagging things, which makes you feel really miserable.
Lee - welcome to the crowd. Not a day here without a smaller, and sometimes even a bigger health issue.
I still have not finalized my ideas on what to do with that Z scale stuff. The main reason is again a space issue. The only place left for it is above my desk, which imposes a strong limit on the layout size. Whatever I come up with, looks too crowded and is far away from where my real interest is. If I could persuade Petra to let me have the place where she puts the laundry to dry (those things that don´t go into the tumble dryer) I´d have ample room to do something right. She´d need to put the rack up in the bathroom instead, that´s what most people do. Now if I had that space, I´d build the Salt Lake Route in Z scale, sell all the German locos and rolling stock, plus the surplus track, to finance the purchase of some US motive power and cars. There are nice locos available from AZL and MTL, which are about the same price as Marklin locos. A rough estimate is that the money i could get for it would buy me 2 locos and a sufficient number of various freight cars to get started. There is even a source for that stuff here in Germany, which seems to have reasonable prices.
The plan looks like this:
I have most of the track, all I need is a few lengths of flex track to build this layout. But how to talk Petra into approving ???
My arm needs a rest - CUL & have a good one!
Good Morning
Doing this while waiting for something to print now...a wonderful 1,200 manual that I need for one certain Audio program...oh frabjious joy........printer is really slow sometimes...
Weather here is kinda dicey..we had a small accumulation last night that melted away a little earlier this morning...going up to 44F for a high...yay..
We had a wonderful time yesterday...we went to a local restaurant that is a cozy little place and had butterflied leg of lamb, twice baked potato, grilled asparagus and herbed creamcheese cake....then went to a series of stores and got her a new outfit...a lovely time to be had....
Nothing much planned for today..more listening to the finches in our backyard sorts of things....
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Good morning, Gang. Coffee, please, Chloe.
The Sound Rails ops session yesterday was fun. We met some great guys. The gentleman who dispatched shared some great info with me. I am like a sponge.
We must get back to the layout. I only work on Wednesday, so I will be lurking around more during the day.
Later, Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
JimRCGMO Jeff, your DPM building there looks good! - how'd you do the interior on it?
Jeff, your DPM building there looks good! - how'd you do the interior on it?
Good Morning!! Coffee and a beef sancho please. Thanks.
Welp, gonna be.... Mostly sunny, with a high near 70. Good day to finish mowing. Maybe I can.... Funny. Real funny. I know the difference between a real and a rubber snake. Besides, it's not like I go outa my way to get a snake, just don't want 'em near the house. They're.....creepy.
Called the counter top people. As I suspected, it will be the last half of next week before they are ready for delivery. It’s terrible not being the only customer a business has. And then to not be first in line at that. Guess I’ll have to wait my turn. Doesn’t seem fair.
Looks like it’s mow the back yard day today and some cleanup around the outside since I don’t have to wait for a phone call for the countertops.
Ya’ll have a Great Day!!!
Todd
Central Illinoyz
In order to keep my position as Master and Supreme Ruler of the House, I don't argue with my wife.
I'm a small town boy. A product of two people from even smaller towns. I don’t talk on topic….. I just talk.
Good morning. It's 64° and partly cloudy with patchy fog. There's a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. The high today will be 85°.Just running trains this morning. I have the F3 A/B set pulling now. No problems with it after changing that bum decoder. Sometime this morning I'll run the F2A-F3B-F7A set. The GP9's and GP7's will get their turn sometime today.
A Dr. Pepper please! It has been a while since I have been in here but thought I would do so before I ghet snowed under in w*rk again. Have a good day. Healing thoughts and prayers to all needing them.
David Parks I am the terror that flaps in the night!
Morning
Flo, Lemonade to go please.
Have not posted for a few days, just not in the mood. I only got Friday off this week, have to work today. I was all geared up for 2 days away from work.
Guess we did not win the Lottery last night. I bought 6 tickets. Did a lot of running Friday, got some bills paid, went to the grocery store and spent way to much. Never have got the yard cut, I was going to do that Saturday, but Nooo I have to work.
Did watch HBO The Pacific and it was pretty good. But Band Of Brothers was better.
See you later
Ken
Pictures of a friend 68 Charger in Holland. It has my 68 Road Runner radio in it.
I hate Rust
Good moaning folks, it's currently 1.15am on Sunday 1st APRIL! I know most of you folks still have about 12 hours to go until april.
See you all soon. I need sleep.
Mornin'!
Zoe, I'll have the #2 special, over easy on the eggs, bacon, home fries, and a double order of sourdough toast and lots of hot dark roast coffee.
Wet and cold outside this morning here in the Finger Lakes. Currently 37°F with a high around 44°F late this afternoon.
Galaxy, ah..... Don't know about the Southern Tier, but up here all our "May Flowers" are already in bloom....
Jim, the snake scare must be in Southern IL. The range of the Western Cottonmouth (an Eastern Snake....) does extend into Southern IL. They have probably been their all along and somebody decided to make them "NEWS"! OMG, be afraid, be very afraid! OTOH, maybe it was an early April Fools........
If the sun comes out this afternoon like it is predicted, I will make a quick run up to Alloway, NY and get a couple photos of the Octagon Blacksmiths shop for the gentleman who drew it for me. He has an appointment next week to talk to a kit maker about making it a an HO or O kit. I need to get to w*rk making the molds for the walls for the scratchbuilt one I am making of the place.
Speaking of gas...... I had to fill the Yaris a couple days ago. I was down to an 8th. of a tank. Cost me $32 to fill it! I did get 38mpg this tank though in mixed city and highway driving..... Feel sorry for some of the neighbors mowing their little postage sized lawns with their big John Deere tractor/mowers. Some of them have to cover the same area 5 or 6 times to actually get the mowing done due to all the flower beds, big store bought rocks, trees, and other obstacles in the 1/4 acre lot (including the house) they have..... They have to use the big mowers to save their energy for the afternoon walk around the block you know! Then they get out the gas powered blowers to blow the lawn clippings into a small pile near the road to be hauled away later...... Me, I walk behind a battery electric mower. Costs me about 10¢ to mow my lawn, and I am done almost a quickly as they are (my lawn is slightly bigger), don't have to go for a walk in traffic around the block for excercise, and just mulch in all the lawn clippings avoiding having the Lawn maintenance people come and fertilize everything. Every year several people stop when I am outside and ask me what I do to keep the lawn so green? Ah, we Americans do love our lawns.....
Catch you all later!
Italian roast coffee in a BURLINGTON NORTHERN mug, please.
***Ulrich, any of the layout plans you have posted thus far look good and would offer a nice mix of train running activities. Good luck!
***Regarding Mowing: Hooved animals mow my lawn and most of the property. None are allowed in the orchard, so I do that on a little Cub Cadet, which is a much rougher ride than any tractor.
Storms kept messing with Internet connection last night, so shut it all down and actually got some work done.
Well, with the storm that moved trhough last {and DIDN'T leave us any snow} I now have a Migraine.
Took 2 doses {maximum} of my medication but not working. Yet anyway.
RAY- Yes our May flowers are in bloom and NO SNOW means they will continue to bloom out wonderfully instead of freezing to death. Trees are in blossom too.All kinds.
Going back to bed now..I think.
later
Afternoon All,
MOH and I have made it back home after a great vacation. We visited Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Grand Cayman. Weather was great and the seas were mild.
Lee- You would appreciate one tour we went on. We were on a small sport fishing type vessel that was trying to anchor in about 6 ft of water. It must of took them 20 minutes and 4 attempts to finally get the 2 anchors to hold. It was like watching amateur hour, by the time they were finished I was laughing. We did see a USCG cutter at anchor in Grand Cayman.
Everyone take care and prayers or those in need.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j372/curtwbb/