Elliott's Trackside Diner - August 2012

[B&O1952]

Good afternoon everyone!

 I'm stuck at the rail museum for a few extra days this week, but I need to get caught up on some unfinished business anyway. I have some new images of my recent paintings for you to see, plus a couple of shots of the layout which will be expanding greatly this winter. This is RJ tower once located about 8 miles from here. This was where the PRR Salamanca branch crossed the  B&O[BR&P] Buffalo division and the Erie RR Bradford branch at grade:

Next is my newest NKP painting featuring NKP 759 flying past the grape vinyard on my grandfathers farm near Ripley NY:

I finished two paintings of the Erie station here:

and this painting of the Rio Grande in the rockies:

Here is a look at the layout. First, our two MTH Nicel Plate Berks on the mainline:

and our B&O EM1 on the turntable:

and finally, some Pennsy action out on the mainline:

Jeff, I'm glad you, your family, and of course your trains made it through ok! And your layout is looking great!

Paul, good luck to you and your Wife. It seems like we've all been through some rough times this year.

Lee and Curt, throw my hat in the ring for dismantling a veteran modelers layout! you may have seen my recent post about Mr. Tom Busack's HO layout. He wrote many articles on scratchbuilding and kitbashing for MR back in the day. He donated his layout and some of his wonderful models to the museum.

Ken and Ray, nice shots of your layouts!

Everyone have a great evening!

-Stan

 

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

sakel

Issac update: Tornato and flood warnings in counties all around me, got 7-9 inches of rain yesterday/last night, so far am alright. Though, have to say Mississippi is getting alot of talk about this...

7 to 9 INCHE!? That's a lot of rain! Might wanna toss out the anchors so your house doesn't float away.

[sakel]

jeffrey-wimberly

7 to 9 INCHE!? That's a lot of rain! Might wanna toss out the anchors so your house doesn't float away.

 

I know, some parts of Mississippi got over 15 inches... I'm glad I live on a large hill.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

sakel

I'm glad I live on a large hill.

Yeah, I like the hill I'm on too. It puts the bottom of my front steps about forty feet above the lake. Well, more like closer to fifty feet now. They opened the flood gates to take the level down a few day ago.

*

Just checked on the status of the parts I ordered for my van. The brake caliper is in but the brake pads have been delayed due to the storm. They should be in tomorrow. They had to come from Mississippi. With any luck I can get it back on the road safely this weekend. I don't like having it pull to the right when I hit the brakes.

[bogp40]

Good afternoon all.

Figured I'd stop in for a large Iced Coffee. Diner gets moved around so much I thought I'd need a GPS...

Jeff:  Glad your out of harms way. Reports of a weakened dam and mandatory evac happening.

As for the B van brakes, Mine gets so much use carrying so much equipment, I'm always on top of those front brakes. High milage and corrosion ( which mine and assumingly yours also), takes a toll on the caliper/ inner pad hanger. The grooves get hammered from the inner pad ears and cause a hang up similar to a bad caliper. The pads will drag and cause premature wear. There's not much other than filing out some of the burrs and greasing them up.  Of all the pads avail, Autozone Duralast Gold (excellent metalic compound) is the only pad I've found to last and never glaze the rotor.  You will also notice that to outer pad has ears that should be a tight press )even w/ channel locks) If there's any play there the pad will rattle like crazy over rough road when not applying the brakes.  Don't assume that the ft end braking pull is just from braking. I just had a tie rod, not the end, fail from excessive rust within the toe adjuster. As I hit the brakes, there was enough play that couldn't be cinced down w/ that horseshoe clamp, that it allowed enough wheel movement during braking to case a pull. Kinda scary, inagine a panic stop failure at highway speed. I have over 700K miles on these beasts between  three 3/4 ton B Vans.

Haven't been following up too much on all the goings on here lately. I notice some grieving loss of loved ones and old friends, some failing health. My prayers are with you, through some of these tough times.

Great news! My "first" grandaughter, Isabella was born on Tues 8lb-1oz. been waiting anxiously for almost a week for her to make her debut. I'm so thrilled, "she won't be spoiled", ah, ya think!

Mother and baby are doing great.

Had so real trouble w/ my right eye, thought it was cut or scratched, turned out to be a torn retina. Immediate laser surgery was done, but the fix didn't hold and started to loose vision about 1/2 field of view as the retina was detaching towards the center of vision. refered to specialists @ Mass Eye and Ear. I'm glad that I live so close to Boston where some of the worlds best practice. After retina reattachment surgery- touch and go for a while- I have completly restored vision in that eye.

I haven't done too much w/ the "trains" since our March show at the club. we have been doing some extensive work w/ tieing in "the 3rd" leg which is an enormous yard. Right after the show the layout was "Blue Flagged" and the destruction started. Preassembled sections- connectors to the almost fully built benchwork/ trackage were installed.  We plan to have it fully operational for the Fall show in Oct.

We have built in an elevator to access the pit, we're all getting too old to do duckunders.

Backside of the yard where the 2 divisions will continue up grade

These pics were before the tie in, it is 90% w/ only minor tracklaying, feeders etc to go. Scenery is going to be rather "Fun" to do here.

Ken: What's going on w/ your foot?

Hope everyone has a nice day. Prayers and concerns are with those in need.

 

 

[cudaken]

 Evening All!

 Flo, beer pleases.

 Paul, thank you for wishing my wife well on her second Monogram. This is the first time she has ever been called back in for a second one. She try's to act like she is not worried, but I have all so over heard her phone conversions with her girl friends.

 Stan, thank you for the complement on the photo. I would have like the picture more if the Pine Tree was straight! 

 Visit With The Surgeon. It went great!  I had the older surgeon this time that is not so eager to cut. She trimmed just a little of the callus off my big toe and left the healed over blisters alone! I don't have to go back for a month this time around. Boy I have been lucky! Meet another Vet today bragging his new Indian Name was Two Toes.

  See you all later! Think I watch Band Of Brothers Again!

       Ken

  

[jeffrey-wimberly]

bogp40

As for the B van brakes, Mine gets so much use carrying so much equipment, I'm always on top of those front brakes. High milage andd corrosion ( which mine and assumingly yours also), takes a toll on the caliper/ inner pad hanger. The grooves get hammered from the inner pad ears and cause a hang up similar to a bad caliper. The pads will drag and cause premature wear. Ther's not much other than filing out some of the burrs and greasing them up.  Of all the pads avail, Autozone Duralast Gold (excellent metalic compound) is the only pad I've found to last and never glaze the rotor.  You will also notice that to outer pad has ears that should be a tight press )even w/ channel locks) If there's any play there the pad will rattle like crazy over rough road when not applying the brakes.  Don't assume that the ft end braking pull is just from braking. I just had a tie rod, not the end, fail from excessive rust within the toe adjuster. As I hit the brakes, there was enough play that couldn't be cinced down w/ that horseshoe clamp, that it allowed enough wheel movement during braking to case a pull. Kinda scary, inagine a panic stop failure at highway speed. I have over 700K miles on these beasts between  three 3/4 ton B Vans.

I thought about the thing with the tie rod parts and that was the first thing I checked. First jacked up the front and checked for any slack from ball joints or loose tie rod ends and there was none. A close inspection showed that everything is relatively new. My nephew and some of his friends, all very good mechanics had rebuilt the front end, drive line and the suspension system when the van was his. He uses only new parts when he does work like that on a vehicle he's going to be using. He didn't drive it much because it needed a new steering column. Before he could get that he got on a boat kick and needed money for that. That was when my car gave up and I needed another vehicle. He had the vehicle I needed and I had the money he needed. I got the van, did some work on it, put a good steering column in it (not new like he would have used) and got it drivable. He hadd replaced one of the front brake calipers (right side) as it had failed. Guess the left one had thought it's time had come.

[bogp40]

Jeff, Good to hear that those steering components have been replaced. Have rebuilt mine may times over all the 30 years of running these great vans. I got 550K on a '72 B200 chassis of coarse w/ a few rebuilds. Those steering parts, and there's quite a few, don't come cheap. They do last well over 100K as long as they are greased. Do check the (2) idler arms as those tend to go especially using aftermarket. If it drives straight and no "bump steer" your all set and should be running fine after even a pad slap.

Another quirk w/ the brakes on these. You can get symptoms of a frozen caliper piston causing brake drag. The inner pressure lining of the brake hose to the caliper deteriorates and can act like a check valve. Pedal pressure will apply braking force but the obstruction in the hose will not allow pressure to relieve from the caliper and will give all the symtoms of that stuck caliper. Of coarse calipers are cheap these days and if you still notice a problem just replace the hose- or replace it when the system is opened anyway.

[JimRCGMO]

Good evening, Chloe - I'll have a CAW mug of coffee and a blueberry muffin please. Thank you!

Jeff, good to see that (so far) the worst of Isaac is missing you. Nice (LED) lantern there.

Speaking of which, I've been trying to find some smaller LED lanterns myself, but am not quite finding what I'm looking for. Saw them at a display at our local library (they have a "Curl Up With a Good Book" display with a comfy-looking bed, night stand, and two cute little LED lanterns, that are about 4-5" tall and maybe 3 inches in diameter (circular shape). From what I learned from the librarian who I asked, they were some kind of promotional thing. I'd like those just as backup things if the power ever goes out in my apartment. Saw some kind of like them on LL Bean's site, but the ones at the library don't have any name (that I can see) on 'em.

Curt and Lee - that's good of your clubs (helping those widows out with taking apart their hubbies' layout). And good to hear as well (Curt) about naming the town on the layout after him).

Hey, Paul - remember to recharge your own batteries every couple of days or so, okay? You need to keep your energy level up, so you can help out your wife as needed. Good to hear about the 'staying power' of old Floquil paint, as I have a few bottles of Floquil that I've had for a while... (Luckily, I have one of those (Badger?) mini-stirrers, and have found it very useful(!). I'm glad that a while back, I got a quart(? I think...) of DioSol (while it was still readily available without filing an EPA impact statement )

And I think that MR should ask for at least a partial refund - their spelling checker flagged "Floquil" as misspelled!

Todd, if we didn't know better, we might say that Brenda planned that door that way (to not fit)... Best wishes on learning shower tile-grouting and all that fun stuff, too.

Sam - stay safe (and make sure - if you have a basement - that the stairs to it are cleared off, just in case! I saw something on the news tonight about a farmer (didn't catch the state, but it was in the South, maybe near you, even) whose cotton and soybeans were both within a week or two of being harvested, but Isaac was spinning off way too much rain, so likely he will have a total/major loss on his crops. On the radar scans tonight, it was looking like Isaac was coming north/northwest (but definitely west of where the national stormguessers were saying they expected the storm to track).

And like Jeff said, Sam - do you have any boat anchors to tie down your house (even if it is at the top of a hill...)? Fifteen inches is amazing (and not likely in a good way for anybody downhill/downstream). I hear there was an area in Mississippi (Percy Quin Park) where an earthen dam wasn't looking really good/sturdy, and they were warning towns downhill/downstream to think (seriously!) about moving out of town, at least until the storm tapered down a bunch. I read that they're trying to do a controlled release of water so the dam doesn't break completely.

Stan - THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! And hey, that EM1 is very impressive! You do excellent w**k on your paintings (especially love the first one of the Erie station)!

Bob K, good to see you stopping by again - and beautiful granddaughter there - Congratulations! Seems like quite a while back when you and your daughters were dealing with your own 'stuff'. And as for you? Spoil that cute li'l gal there? Nah! Never happen! By the way, I hope your club will be recycling all your downtown buildings. I remember (besides your great scenery w**k...) how nice the buildings, factories, and other industries looked. Impressive layout, even with just the benchw**k and track there.

Ken, way to go, with your lucking out and getting the 'more mature' surgeon (who isn't in a rush to cut everything away). That delay until your next appointment will give your foot a chance to continue healing so even the younger/more surgically-minded doctor won't find much of anything to cut on .

Have my eye on some of d'Bay auctions (detail parts, mostly). Won one and have two more ending tomorrow morning, including a couple of rolling stock items. More later.

Tomorrow, we're supposed to start getting our lawns, wells, creeks, rivers, etc. watered - through Sunday or so... So long as we don't get nasty winds with all that rain. My apartment building is quite a ways from the Mighty Mississippi, so unless all the rain lands in the drainage ditch at the back of our lot, we should be enough above the water level. I've been parking my car in front, on the street, anyway, so I'll continue that.

Stay out of the weather, Diners, and remember where you put those rain boots/waders last year...

Prayers will continue for those in the way of Isaac, as well as those in need of healing and comfort and a good night's rest. Hope to get back in here in the morning, myself.

Blessings,

Jim in Cape G.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

bogp40

Another quirk w/ the brakes on these. You can get symptoms of a frozen caliper piston causing brake drag. The inner pressure lining of the brake hose to the caliper deteriorates and can act like a check valve. Pedal pressure will apply braking force but the obstruction in the hose will not allow pressure to relieve from the caliper and will give all the symtoms of that stuck caliper. Of coarse calipers are cheap these days and if you still notice a problem just replace the hose- or replace it when the system is opened anyway.

There's little or no braking on this one when the pedal is pressed until pressure is increased then it suddenly lets loose with a pop, then the piston will either go back normally or it'll stick. I've had this identical problem before on some cars I've owned and the problem was almost always the caliper. I've rebuilt a couple but found out rather quickly that once there was a problem it's not long in returning, no matter how good the rebuild was. This doesn't seem to apply to many of the remanufactured ones.

*

JimRCGMO

Jeff, good to see that (so far) the worst of Isaac is missing you. Nice (LED) lantern there.

Speaking of which, I've been trying to find some smaller LED lanterns myself, but am not quite finding what I'm looking for. Saw them at a display at our local library (they have a "Curl Up With a Good Book" display with a comfy-looking bed, night stand, and two cute little LED lanterns, that are about 4-5" tall and maybe 3 inches in diameter (circular shape). From what I learned from the librarian who I asked, they were some kind of promotional thing. I'd like those just as backup things if the power ever goes out in my apartment. Saw some kind of like them on LL Bean's site, but the ones at the library don't have any name (that I can see) on 'em.

There are any number of small circular LED lamps/lanterns out there. I've had quite a few, many of which that didn't amount to much. One I'm looking at getting is the Olde Brooklyn Lantern.

JimRCGMO

And like Jeff said, Sam - do you have any boat anchors to tie down your house (even if it is at the top of a hill...)? Fifteen inches is amazing (and not likely in a good way for anybody downhill/downstream). I hear there was an area in Mississippi (Percy Quin Park) where an earthen dam wasn't looking really good/sturdy, and they were warning towns downhill/downstream to think (seriously!) about moving out of town, at least until the storm tapered down a bunch. I read that they're trying to do a controlled release of water so the dam doesn't break completely.

A shaky dam is nothing to be taken lightly. I hope they can take enough pressure off it before it fails.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. Had two power outages today. Both lasted only a few minutes. One was this afternoon and the other was this morning before I woke up. My father told me about the short duration.The lights went out when he was about to leave the house at 0'dark-thirty and came back on just as he reached his car, a trip of three to four minutes for him. My old LED clock is getting hard to reset and it won't remember time during an outage at all despite having a new battery. I think it's telling me it needs to be replaced. See y'all tomorrow.

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

Just got back home from the car dealership where we bought a Nissan Versa for our son (he will make the payments, etc.). I drove it  home since he isn't allowed to drive yet (hopefully only a couple more weeks) and it is a really nice driving car.

I have the MD appointment tomorrow then need a haircut. After that it is day 2 of  trying to load the software for the PR-3.

Ken- Saying prayers for your wife.

Phil- I noticed he has several FEC cars on the shelf today.

Paul- That is a very cute Grand Baby.

Hope everyone has a good night and prayers for those in need.

[pascaff*]

Curt, I agree it is a really cute grand baby, but she is not mine, She belongs to Bob.

I have to look through all my old bottles of paint for the rail brown I used to weather the track on my last layout. I found several bottles of different colors, and some I custom mixed, but if I remember, I used the rail brown.

 Wife started chemo yesterday plus they started her on a gluten free diet. The diet seemed to help with her keeping solid food down, but we think she may have over done it eating yesterday. She has not had solid food in over 10 days, and now she has some stomach pains.

Paul

[sakel]

Weather update: Tornadoes all around, have passed though. Am glad I am going on a trip to Chattanooga, TN tomorro, getting all my brothers together before the (next to) youngest ships off to Basic training on- get this- 9/11. Strange huh? Anyway, am going to try swing by the Chattanooga railfest Sunday, trying to escape some of this rain ya know?

Oh, and about that dam, nowhere near it thank goddness, but from what I have learned it has been and is being repaired.

Signing off for tonight.

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

August 31, 2012 is the 244^th day of the year 2012 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 122 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

If you are trying to learn French then this day of the week in French is vendredi.

TIPTON

[sakel]

wetidlerjr

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

August 31, 2012 is the 244^th day of the year 2012 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 122 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

If you are trying to learn French then this day of the week in French is vendredi.

TIPTON

Sorry, but you are one hour too early.

[galaxy]

sakel

wetidlerjr

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

August 31, 2012 is the 244^th day of the year 2012 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 122 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

If you are trying to learn French then this day of the week in French is vendredi.

TIPTON

Sorry, but you are one hour too early.

SHH! young Sakel, for he is in INDIANA, where he is on Eastern Daylight TIme and thusly  ON TIME {one hour ahead of you} for the EARLY greeting!!!

[galaxy]

Morning Coffee in the Diner

GOOD MORNING!!!

Bill has provided the date.

There are 116 more days til Christmas!!!

Often, we go by the "acid test" in our modeling and lives. SO:

acid test - an absolute, demanding, or ultimate challenge or measure of quality or capability - deriving from very old times - several hundreds of years ago - when nitric acid was used to determine the purity or presence of gold, especially when gold was currency before coinage. Gold does not dissolve in nitric acid, whereas less costly silver and base metals do. The use of nitric acid also featured strongly in alchemy, the ancient 'science' of (attempting) converting base metals into gold.

If we often refer to someone as an Amateur, SO:

amateur - non-professional or un-paid, or more recently an insulting term meaning unprofessional - the word originates from the same spelling in Old French 'amateur' meaning 'lover', originally meaning in English a lover of an activity. The Old French word is derived from Latin 'amare' meaning 'to love'

Lately, some have lament the costs of hobby things, paying through the nose. SO:

pay through the nose - reluctantly have to pay too much - from the 9th century house tax imposed on the Irish by the Danes, called the Nose Tax because anyone who avoided paying their ounce of gold had his nose slit {OUCH!!}

Make it a GREAT day and help someone in need! You will be repaid somewhere along the way ten-fold.

 

[wetidlerjr]

sakel

Sorry, but you are one hour too early.

Sorry but I wasn't. You need to check your Time Zones.

[LSWrr]

Good Morning All,

 

66F,63% Humidity, Hi 91F

 

Isaac is predicted to be in Ohio Tuesday - Thursday

 

Indiana is not Central Time; Indiana is on “Indiana Time”

 

1949 In a heated rural vs. city debate, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law to put all of Indiana on Central Standard Time and to outlaw daylight saving time. However, the law had no enforcement power, and it was largely ignored by communities who wanted to observe Eastern Standard Time.^[2]

1957 The Indiana General Assembly passed a law to make Central Time the official time zone of the state but to permit any community to switch to daylight saving time during the summer. The law did, however, make it illegal for communities to observe "fast time" (i.e., daylight saving time) during the winter months. Governor Handley vowed to enforce the law by withdrawing state aid from communities who attempted to observe "fast time" during the winter, though legal obstacles forced the Governor to back down from his stance. Once again, the law was not enforceable, as individual communities continued to observe whichever time zone they preferred.^[2]

1961 The Indiana legislature repealed the 1957 law making Central Time the official time of Indiana, which allowed any community to observe DST.^[2] The Interstate Commerce Commission divided Indiana between the Central Time Zone and the Eastern Time Zone. Still, neither the time zone line nor daylight saving time were uniformly observed (see 50 F.R. 43745).

1966 The United States Congress passed the Uniform Time Act of 1966 (Pub.L. 89-387 April 13, 1966; 80 Stat. 107–108; 15 U.S.C. §§ 260–267) to specify where and when daylight saving time was applied in the U.S., and authority was shifted to the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT). Prior to the passing of this law, each state was permitted to decide this issue for itself.

1967 Having the state split in two time zones was inconvenient and so, Governor Roger D. Branigin petitioned the USDOT to place all of Indiana back in the Central Time Zone.

1967–1969 The USDOT conducted several hearings in response to Governor Branigan's petition. Citizens of Northwest and Southwest Indiana appeared to favor location in the Central Time Zone with observance of DST, while those from other areas of the state favored location in the Eastern Time Zone with no observance of DST.

2005 On April 29, 2005, with heavy backing from Governor Mitch Daniels' economic development plan, and after years of controversy, the Indiana General Assembly passed a law stating that, effective April 2, 2006, the entire state of Indiana would become the 48th state to observe daylight saving time. The bill was also accompanied by Senate Enrolled Act 127^[4], which required Governor Daniels to seek federal hearings from the USDOT on whether to keep Indiana on Eastern Time with New York City and Ohio or whether to move the entire state back to Central Time with Chicago.^[2]

2006 As a result of a review by the USDOT, eight counties were moved from the Eastern Time Zone to the Central Time Zone, effective April 2, 2006. These were Starke and Pulaski counties in the northwest and Daviess, Dubois, Knox, Martin, Perry, and Pike counties in the southwest.

[LSWrr]

Jeff, glad to hear you’re still high and dry!  When I was stationed in South Texas there was a community with small boats pad locked to their mail boxes, at first I thought it was an odd decoration.  When “winter” came everyone had to use those boats to get from their house to their cars parked in the county parking lot on a section of high ground.

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon Gang!

Well, it´s just past lunchtime, so I will have some coffee and nuttin´ else, Janie, if you please?

We are right in the midst of a bad thunderstorm. Someone upstairs must be really angry! He is also pouring water by the bucket load on us. Must be Isaac´s little brother...

I am doing some research on the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway in Wales/UK for a layout of a friend of mine. He wants to model the Llanfair Caereinion station, staying as close as possible to the prototype. I must have gone through a thousand pages on the web to come of with the track plan and the setting. 6 years ago, Petra and I had been to this place, but I did not take enough pictures -

Going for a short nap - hopefully the thunderin´ stops so I can catch some sleep.

Have a good one!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 73°, humidity is 98%. Just 0.01" rainfall this morning. Wind gusts of 25 mph. It'll be mostly cloudy with showers and thunderstorms moving northeast at 30 mph. The high will be 92° but will feel like 100°.


Looks like today is going to be grocery shopping day. I also have to go to the pharmacy to get refills on all my meds. There's going to be a familiar face missing there. My pharmacist passed away last Saturday (8/25). He was 74. I'd known him for twenty-nine years.

Hopefully the brake pads for my van will be in today. It'll be nice to get everything I need in one trip. Need to get gas too. Looks like the cheapest place in town is the Gas and Go at the old GBI store. $3.54 a gallon for regular. I might be able to find someplace cheaper.

Nothing planned for the layout today.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Coffee and biscuits and gravy please. Thanks.

A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 87. South southeast wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.

Thanks to Isaac, and I know this is trivial compared to those who are/were in it’s path, gas is no $4.95. ( I know Ulrich, wa wa wa.  )

Barry- Nothing is installed. I’m now cutting out the old prefab shower stall. It will have to be cut up because it is 36” by 36” and of course will not fit through a 32” finished door. I can take my time because the floor pan for the new one will not be in till the end of next week. Yes, another special order. No construction can be done before that's installed. It’ll be worth it though cause with this pan I won’t have to make the base and create a drain flow. It’s all ready done. All I have to do is lay the tile and even if there is an issue with the grout and water gets through unknown to me, it won’t leak to the subfloor below.

Ray- Between scouting and a career as a teacher, kinda puts you in touch with many people don’t it.

Stan- GREAT looking paintings! Now refresh my memory on the layout photos, is this your layout current or past, or a clubs. It looks fantastic as well.

BobK- Congrats on the grandchild! Glad your eye situation is corrected. The layout looks really nice.

Jeff- I know money is an object, but on older vehicles as you know, it’s a good idea to replace those rubber hoses even if they appear ok.Unless you know they’vebeen replaced recently. And boy are you right on the home rebuilds and it doesn’t matter how good someone is. Actually usually a waste of money. With the cost of remanufactured, and you want to insured it’s remanufactured and not rebuilt, there is a difference, it’s not worth any savings there may be. Glad the rain is slacking off for you and you didn’t get much of the storm. Better to be prepared than caught though.

Jim- At first it may appear she did plan this, but alas as much as I’d like to say it’s true, I’m afraid she is innocent. This time. The tile issue was not why I was reluctant to do this. It was the waterproofing side, specifically the floor. After finding this tileable floor tub, pan, whatever it’s called, I referred to earlier with Barry, I’m feeling better about it. The rest is pretty much straight forward like applying tile to a wall. Well except for the surface the tile goes to, but that’s pretty easy.

No one really knows what time it is in Indiana so…….we just nod our heads.

Ya’ll have a good day!!!!

[gear-jammer]

Good morning, Diners.  This morning, Pearl (our black lab) has an appointment with my niece (vet) to get her shots updated.  I can hardly wait for a day when I don't have to be somewhere. 

Stan,  Thanks for sharing your paintings.  I will show them to Larry this evening.  He will enjoy them.  He is on his 3rd train painting.  I chose a logging Shay for the object.  This one is for me.

Jeffrey,  Glad you dodged the bullet.  Stay safe.

Sue

[galaxy]

More Morning Coffee!!!

 

jeffrey-wimberly

 ... Need to get gas too. Looks like the cheapest place in town is the Gas and Go at the old GBI store. $3.54 a gallon for regular. I might be able to find someplace cheaper....

Ever use the MSN gas price hunter site? here it is:

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/gasstations.aspx?zip=&src=Netx

Just plug in your zippy-code  on the left search box and see what stations around you are reporting for prices!

[Anonymous]

Back again for some more coffee

Just did some finishing touches on that station layout.

It´s a pretty close match with the real location.

A few piccies from the prototype:

Stan - your paintings are just wonderful -

Bob - congratulation on grandchild # 1! She is really sweet! I am in the age to turn into a grandpa myself, but for that my son would need a new GF (which we hope will come soon, we are not really happy with the one he´s got).

Jeff - I am glad you wee not affected much by Isaac. Continue to stay safe!

There is a nice smell coming from the kitchen - Petra is preparing a nice cake for tomorrow. We will be having guests for some cake & coffee, German style, just as a belated birthday party for me. It´ll be nice to have those folks over to our place.

CUL!

[pascaff*]

Morning Folks,

   Currently 59 with an expected high of 91. Overcast with a 10% chance of a shower.

Back to work today if everything is OK at the hospital. I have a closing shift so do not have to be at work till noon.

 Can't seem to find my mixed paint concoction for painting rails. I guess I will just have to re-experiment.

Paul

[Seamonster]

Bob K:  Congrats on the new granddaughter.  Go ahead and spoil her rotten.  That's the duty of grandparents.  Besides, they grow up way too fast.  I can't believe that it's been 19 years since I held our first granddaughter in my arms in the hospital the day after she was born.  Yes, we spoiled her.  Yes, I got her interested in model railroading, at least the scenery making part of it.

I've often wondered why we congratulate the father and the grandparents on the birth of a child.  After having been in the delivery room for the birth of our daughter, I think it's the mother who deserves congratulations for going through that.

Jeffrey:  Now that's cheap gas at $3.54 a gallon.  Our regular price for gas, which has been holding for quite some time, is $1.21/litre which works out to $4.58/U.S. gallon.  We're holding our breath waiting for an increase due to the storm and the fire in Venezuela.  They're predicting at least a 5 cents/litre increase some time soon.

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have the organic cherry granola cereal with a half cup of fresh blueberries on top.  A cup or 2 or 3 of dark roast coffee in my R&GV RR mug would do nicely as well.  Please and Thank You Ma'am.

I was sitting at the kitchen table in my bathrobe about ready to take my morning blood sugar reading (101 BTW) when I look out the window and see the Painters van making a u-turn at the intersection by my house.  He was coming to varnish the wood siding on the deck....  I made a bee line to the bedroom and got dressed!  I went outside and told today was good timing as yesterday there was a huge swarm of honeybees flying around the deck.

The bees finally all gathered into a big ball of bees on the neighbors maple tree by my driveway.  The neighbors weren't home (On vacation I think.  Got home late last night) so I called the police to ask what my best course of action would be.  Sgt. at the desk said they don't take care of the swarms (didn't think they did) but for me to hold on and he would get the # for a bee keeper they use where there is one on public property.  Ten minutes later he comes back and says, "Ray, we have a situation here right now, I'll call you back".  A half hour later the phone rings and it is the officer with the number for the bee keeper.  I thanked him and called my neighbor...  THAT is when i remembered they aren't home!  I didn't figure I could give permission for the bee keeper to mess with the tree on somebody else's property (the bees swarmed about 20' off the ground on a branch of the tree) so ended up not doing anything about it.  The neighbor came over when the painters showed up and I talked to him then, but the bees have now most likely found a place for the hive and have left the tree.  I'll be watching for signs of activity around the property for the next several days.  They generally don't move very far from where they swarm.

Todd, yes, being a teacher (and Scouter) has made me very aware of whom I want to hire for things, and whom I don't want to have working on my property...   Almost every kid I ever hired to work for my sound company back when was a life scout or an Eagle already.  I knew I could trust the individual and they would go out of their way to do the best job possible for me.  I also paid well and ended up writing many of them college and/or work recommendations that gave them the highest praise!  There was a time when I taught all the middle School kids music...

Ulrich, great little layout!  Looks much like John Allen's Timesaver with some modifications.  Love the 1/1 scale photos as well.  Enjoy your late birthday party!

Jeffrey, hope you get the Van back braking the way it should soon!

Paul, prayers for your wife (and you) as she goes through all of this.

73