Elliot´s Trackside Diner - September 2012

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!  

Coffee and the Sunday Breakfast Buffet please. Thanks.

Mostly sunny, with a high near 78.

Corn Harvest is going along well so far. Yields are down, way down, but may not be as bottom pit as thought. We’ll see when it’s over.

Odd what I don’t think about looking up myself at the time and what I don’t. Thanks for the pronunciation info guys. And the history too. Though I should have guessed a hard A (or long as some were taught) beings how it had an ai. But then again by my theory on the United Statesian language, we have ripped off words from juuuuust about every language in the world and, like everything else, altered it to make it our own so Canandaigua could very well have been pronounced Jones. Why the English haven't sued us for Trademark violations I haven't a clue.

Though I believe Ray was “agreeing to disagree” for forum rules reasons and not for fear he would get in an argument with Garry, (oh looky, turns out I was right) it brought to mind this…. No two people will ever agree on everything. Well, I agree with everything my wife says but that’s self-preservation so it doesn’t count. But it’s how we handle our disagreements that make us friends or enemies.

Garry- Nice shots! I like the one where they’re replacing the trucks the best.

Karl- Sounds like our Lawn and Garden equipment is the same. I have a IH Cub Cadet in need of some work and a John Deere push mower running like a champ. Of course the Cub is vintage 1976 or 77, can’t remember what year it was bought, so it’s carb issues after all these years are not too bad. Only thing ever had to do to it othern tuneups and only had three of them.

Haven’t even started the thing this year. Shoulda got a carb like I was gonna and get the thing fixed, but noooooo, had to see if I can fix it and she’s still sittin waitin for me to get “round-to-it”. (shakes head)

 Ray- Oddly enough, your panels do not look um…., can’t think of the right word, ugly’s not it. Unattractive, distractive….something like that. Maybe it’s the roof, but yours seems to blend pretty well so I wouldn’t have an objection myself. Well for my house anyway. I’m one of those people who don’t care what you do with your property as long as it doesn’t affect (or is it effect, too early to think) me and solar panels that some may think makes you house ugly, doesn’t affect (or is it effect, too early) me. But like I said, at least in the pictures, it don’t look bad atall.

OHHH!! I walked right into that one Lee….

Got pulled away from the shower project yesterday. Imagine that. Today I hope to get the base down and then things will halt for two days until the mortar sets enough to get on it. I hope so as I said I’d look at this guys ’56 Ford Pick-up he got back from the body shop that the generator went up in smoke on Monday afernoon. I planned on setting it Wednesday night so it would be ready for this weekend to start on the walls. THAT didn't happen.

My learning of Cantonese is coming along slow but well I suppose. Only spend about 15-20 minutes of a morning on it so all things considered. Bought one of those headset microphones so I could hear myself and compare to the “teachers” instead of in my head. That helps more than I thought it would. I still haven’t learned how to say “Gee I know this is Walmart and it’s expected, kind of a tradition actually, but didn’t you think you should maybe have looked in a mirror first before you wore that?”   I’m working on it.

Ya’ll have a good day!!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

I asked a girl working in the restaurant if she would pronounce where we were slowly so I could get the proper pronunciation.  The young girl looked at me exasperated and said: Bur-ger-king….  

Let me guess! Blonde?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

TMarsh

My learning of Cantonese is coming along slow but well I suppose. Only spend about 15-20 minutes of a morning on it so all things considered. Bought one of those headset microphones so I could hear myself and compare to the “teachers” instead of in my head. That helps more than I thought it would. I still haven’t learned how to say “Gee I know this is Walmart and it’s expected, kind of a tradition actually, but didn’t you think you should maybe have looked in a mirror first before you wore that?”   I’m working on it.

I have a Klingon language CD that I bought many years ago. Very interesting. Boy, the things you can learn from it.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 71° with 100% humidity. There's a fair chance of rain. It'll be mostly cloudy with a high of 88°.


Only thing on today's schedule is to check the charger and batteries on my mothers power chair with my digital meter. I specify digital because I also have an analog meter. Other than that nothing else is planned. I may get some layout work in later.

Here's a link to a short video of my GP7's and GP35 pulling a string of twenty-seven cars.

[kbkchooch]

Karl- Sounds like our Lawn and Garden equipment is the same. I have a IH Cub Cadet in need of some work and a John Deere push mower running like a champ. Of course the Cub is vintage 1976 or 77, can’t remember what year it was bought, so it’s carb issues after all these years are not too bad. Only thing ever had to do to it othern tuneups and only had three of them.

Todd

I wish I had stuff that new!  Well kinda! The little Deere is a 1977 vintage, but the Cub is 1967 vintage and the big Deere is from 1955! The trouble is they don't wear out! Yes, they break parts from time to time, but its usually things like belts or blades or dolly wheels. The crankshaft seal on the Cub is the first major issue its ever had, but, if I can't fix it I will remotor it...make a lawn mower racer or a pullin tractor out of it! (yeah,,,I'm a former Redneck!)

Learning Chinese are ya?  My son spent a semester last year in Beijing learning Chinese,,after graduation he wants to go back as an English teacher in China. Yeah, he'll fit in, he's 6 ft 7 and blond!

[cudaken]

 Morning Folks

 Flo to go pleases.

 Just a quick hello before I head to work.

 Today will be my first day working in the new shop. Saw the the insides last Friday night when we moved. While new, many parts of it is much smaller than the old shop. Mot crazy about the layout but I will get uses to it.

               Ken

[pascaff*]

Morning All,

   Currently 59 with and expected high of 87.

   Lee - When I was growing up on Long Island all the Indian names seemed very easy for me to pronounce. I do not know why, maybe it was because I learned them as a kid. Now I have a hard time figuring out how to pronounce a lot of words.

Sundays the store is open from 10:00 to 6:00. so I have an open and closing day. A good thing we only have to work every weekend.

   I will stop at the hospital before and after work to check on my wife's progress. So another long day ahead fro me.

  Prayers to all in need.

     Paul

[JeremyB]

Hey Fellas,

Start the new job tomorrow, bright and early at 6:30am. The wife and I went out today to find it. Its a lot closer then I thought get this, only 6 minutes by car from the house to there. Im going to walk I think as I need the exercise and the wife needs the car to go to work because she is a bit longer to work.

I don't think a 20-25 minute walk is all that bad is it? save money on gas and get exercise all at the same time. If I dont pop back in here tonight, wish me luck guys and I will come back tomorrow to report how the first day was.

- Jeremy

[blownout cylinder]

kbkchooch

Karl- Sounds like our Lawn and Garden equipment is the same. I have a IH Cub Cadet in need of some work and a John Deere push mower running like a champ. Of course the Cub is vintage 1976 or 77, can’t remember what year it was bought, so it’s carb issues after all these years are not too bad. Only thing ever had to do to it othern tuneups and only had three of them.

Todd

I wish I had stuff that new!  Well kinda! The little Deere is a 1977 vintage, but the Cub is 1967 vintage and the big Deere is from 1955! The trouble is they don't wear out! Yes, they break parts from time to time, but its usually things like belts or blades or dolly wheels. The crankshaft seal on the Cub is the first major issue its ever had, but, if I can't fix it I will remotor it...make a lawn mower racer or a pullin tractor out of it! (yeah,,,I'm a former Redneck!)

Learning Chinese are ya?  My son spent a semester last year in Beijing learning Chinese,,after graduation he wants to go back as an English teacher in China. Yeah, he'll fit in, he's 6 ft 7 and blond!

Our neighbour to the east of us has a Case Crossmotor from the 1920's ...dang thing is just too much of a boneshaker for me!!!

[blownout cylinder]

Good Afternoon...

Had some fun this afternoon...we got some new plants in to fill in some holes left by some rather overly enthusiastic mole/vole/whatsit last night..

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well I tested the charger and batteries on my mothers power chair. The front battery showed 5.5 volts and the rear battery showed 1.2 volts. The charger in stand-alone showed zero and hooked up to the chair it showed zero and there was no change in the status of the batteries. Based on that alone I'd say the charger is kaput. I reported these results to my father and  he'll be contacting the company that handles the chair about it. Needless to say my mother isn't a happy camper. She was looking forward to zipping around the nursing home in her Jazzy chair (planning her escape more likely she is) and here it doesn't have enough power to get out of the house to say nothing of getting it in the back of my fathers pickup. Looks like that's not happening anytime soon.

[Curt Webb]

Afternoon All,

It has been a MRR day today. I finished up the platform last night and today I built a 1989 Revell model of a lumber crane and modeled a lift harness for LCL containers. I  still need to put the LCL containers in the gondolas and put people down along with shipping crates. I also still need to do some touch up paint.

 

 

JeremyB- Congrats on your new job and good luck.

Jeff- Hope you got your Mothers chair working.

Ken- Hope the new work place building is a improvement.

Paul- Hope your wife is doing well.

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

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Curt Webb

Jeff- Hope you got your Mothers chair working.

Not today. Looks like it needs a new charger.

[howmus]

Ahhhhhhhhhh!  Ow!  Oh...  Evenin' folks!

I hurt!  Done stood for 7 hours straight on board the Erie Road Caboose...  Trouble with being car host is that you are in constant motion the whole time you are there.  Janie, cup of decaf would do wonders...  Thank you Ma'am!

We had a very good day out at the museum with about 200 visitors riding during the day.  They set off a Torpedo in my honor at the end of the day...  One of my usual routines after I give the safety speech to riders on the old Erie Caboose is to tell them they should feel free to ask me anything about the train they want to know.  I tell them I have a wealth of little known and completely useless information and that I even know such things as why we have torpedoes on board.  Then I just turn and walk away....  I am almost always stopped by one of the ladies who wants to know what a torpedo is on a train.  I then say, "Ah, good question!"  The past president was on board for one of the trips and I had him laughing pretty good when I did the routines.  So as they were putting the 80 tonner back on the engine track at the end of the day, they set off one with the 80 tonner.  If you have never heard one go off it is about having 3 or 4 m-80s go off at once!

Jeffrey, bummer about the charger for the chair.  Hopefully they can get fixed so your mom can tear up the hallways at the nursing home!

1920 Case Tractor?  Most of the ones I have driven over the years that were made in the 20s and 30s were very smooth running and fun little tractors.

I checked that little dial on the side of the house after I got home tonight from the museum....  Reads 9 less than it did at sundown last night!   i like nice sunny days that don't need to have an air conditioner running!

I'm going to see if I can still walk around for a bit or if I need to crawl to the little room down the hall.

Later!

73

[JeremyB]

Cheers Dave I appreciate it :)

[cudaken]

 Evening Folks

 Why thank you Flo for the

 Jeremy glad to hear you landed a job! What will you be doing?

 Far as the new shop, not that impressed! One thing I HATE is the counter tops are about a foot shorter! I am 6'4" and it was hard to type standing up before! The so called move was very ill planned (And Why it shouldn't be after all) I made 3 trips back to the old shop for stuff today.

  See you all later.

                  Ken

[kbkchooch]

Sounds like little Spring is falling asleep on the job!!  

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Ray ... You said you were tire from standing so long in an Erie cabbose. Think of it this way. You could have been sitting in there that long. Then you would have a weary Erie caboose.

Curt ... Nice photos of a great scene!

Jeff . Sometimes I actually feel like that old steam loco looks.

Jeremy ... Congrats on the job.

Barry .... Is Spring like one of those pesky little Kadee coupler springs that can zomm all over the place?

JR ... My GE 44T is one of the old 2-motor jobs, I found DCC installation instructions at Tony's Trains website.  I am using a Digitrax DZ123 decoder. This was the most troublesome project imaginable. Everything that could go wrong did so, and did it repeatedly. I would never do a second one, and I would tell everybody not to try doing it.

Now, the DCC-equipped GE 44T is operating on the layout. I hope it never dares to give me any more problems.

[pascaff*]

Evening All,

Jeremy - Good luck on the new job.

Jeff - Hope your mom's power chair gets fixed soon

Curt - The crane looks really good.

  Sundays always seem to bring out the crazys at work. The store closes at 6:00 PM, and we make an announcement at 5:50 and 6:00. I am turning out the lights in the premium gun room and locking up the hand gun cases. I have to ask three people to please move so I can lock the case, and they ask if they can see a few guns. We almost had to kick them out.

  Stopped at the hospital this morning and one of the doc's who came in to check my wife, is a customer of mine. Small world. I stopped again tonight, and they removed all the IV tubes. If she can eat, keep food down, and get some strength back she can come home.

   Waiting for Wednesday for some time off to get back to the layout.

    Prayers to all in need.

      Paul

[galaxy]

Morning Coffee in the Diner

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Monday, September 17th, 2012!!!

WE often find we say it  "Wreaks Havoc" and "there will be hell to pay" when somehting goes Awry.  SO:

HAVOC:

 chaos, usually destructive - this word derives from war; it was an English, and earlier French, medieval military command, originally in French, 'crier havoc', referring to a commander giving the army the order to plunder, pillage, destroy, etc. The expression 'cry havoc' referring to an army let loose, was popularised by Shakespeare, who featured the term in his plays Julius Caesar, ("Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war..."), The Life and Death of King John, and Coriolanus. Havoc in French was earlier havot

AND HELL TO PAY:

hell to pay - seriously bad consequences - a nautical expression; 'pay' meant to waterproof a ship's seems with tar. Probably derived from the expression 'the devil to pay and no pitch hot', in which the words hell and pay mean something other than what we might assume from this expression. See 'Devil to pay" , which explains the nautical technicalities of the expression in more detail

DEVIL TO PAY:

 - a dreaded task or punishment, or a vital task to do now with no resource available - the expression is connected to and probably gave rise to 'hell to pay', which more broadly alludes to unpleasant consequences or punishment. Neither expression - devil to pay/hell to pay - directly refer to hell, devil or paying in a monetary sense. Instead hell or devil refers to ship's planking, and pay refers to sealing the planking with pitch or tar. Specifically devil to pay and hell to pay are based on a maritime maintenance job which was dangerous and unwelcome - notably having to seal the ship's hull lower planking (the 'devil', so-called due to its inaccessibility) with tar. Interpretations seem to vary about where exactly the 'devil' planking was on the ship, if indeed the term was absolutely fixed in meaning back in the days of wooden sailing ships and galleons) although we can safely believe it was low down on the hull and accessible only at some risk to the poor sailor tasked with the job, which apparently was commonly given a punishment. The punishment aspect certainly fits with part of the expression's meaning which survives today. Sources refer to a ship being turned on its side for repairing, just out of the water with the keel exposed while the tide was out; the 'devil' in this case was the seem between the ship's keel and garboard-strake (the bottom-most planks connecting to the keel). I am advised additionally and alternatively (ack D Munday) that devil to pay: "...is a naval term which describes the caulking (paying) of the devil board (the longest plank in a ship's hull) which was halfway between the gunwales [the gunwale is towards the top edge of the ship's side - where the guns would have been] and the waterline. Due to its position it was a dangerous task whilst at sea and not having hot pitch to seal it made it all the more difficult to do. It was often used as a punishment..."

ENJOY your day and smile to make someone else's day!!!

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

Monday, September 17, 2012

NS "NE" Interlocker, New Haven IN-2003

TIPTON IN

[JeremyB]

Thanks for the kind words fellas. Its at a metal recycling plant and I think Im going to be working in a area that disassembles PC's and laptops and I think they said printers also. Im going to grab some breakfast soon and be on my way.

I will report back tonight what its like

Jeremy

[JeremyB]

just getting ready now and then Im out the door :) wish me luck guys.

[LSWrr]

Good Morning all,

 

56F, 69% Humidity, HI 78F, Mostly Sunny

 

Galaxy, caught between the devil and the deep blue sea is another term used often.

 

Curt, nice looking crane.  The east wall in the harbor area of my layout will be a giant team track.  I have a smaller team track near town, but I bought the Walther’s LCL terminal for the port.

 

Jeff, glad you guys got the chair trouble shooting done.  Will you be adding racing stripes while you’re waiting for the new charger? 

 

Most of the girls in that part of the country are blonde and blue eyed wonders….

 

Pascaff, I think my problem is I’ve never heard the names spoken.  I’m originally from Toledo, OH so the Miami and Pontiac Indian words are easy, the rest might as well be Greek to me…

 

No train time for me.  Saturday I took Katje to the Vet; she is now 32.5 pounds and cutting 4 adult teeth.  She will be 4 months old on the 19^th.  Vet said she is a pleasant Chocolate Lab, I guess most of the Chocolate Labs they treat have a sour distemper.   Sunday I spent 4 hours working on the yard.

 

I ordered 2 gallons of plastic this weekend for MRR stuff over the weekend; one 30-minute and one 2-hour de-mold.  I’ve been having troubles with air bubbles in some of the pours so I found a 2 hour de-mold self vulcanizing plastic.  I’m thinking the extra time will allow the air to escape the mold.  I’m currently using a 30-minute de-mold self vulcanizing plastic that works great on items without ridges like 55-gallon drums and some of the crates. 

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Weather be sunny and a little milder today....high of 75F expected. Tomorrow will be rainy and a high of 62F....

Having some people over to go over some figures today for a proposed business I'm looking into. This oughta be fun....

Also going to see what the beeeeep caused the hole in the garden yesterday...setting trap outside the hole to see what comes out....

Garry:    Well, for an almost 14 yr old cat he is still quite the jumper/leaper/general allround ruffian....

Jeremy:  Good luck at new job!

TA:   We are planning a trip out that way to Picton to check out their wineries....I love the scenery there....

[jeffrey-wimberly]

LSWrr

Jeff, glad you guys got the chair trouble shooting done.  Will you be adding racing stripes while you’re waiting for the new charger? 

Probably a GPS locator for tracking in the event of an escape!

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Coffee and a couple glazed donuts please. Thanks.

Showers and thunderstorms likely after 1pm. Areas of dense fog before 10am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a high near 77.

Jeffrey- My luck they wouldn't make the charger for that chair anymore even if the blame thing was new last year. Good luck.  

Lee- Chocolate labs sour temper? Haven’t heard that. I’ve heard they’re the dumbest, which if that’s true, the other two have got to be smarter than old Al Einstein I tell you what. Friends of ours picked up they’re first Chocolate puppy and they say that is the smartest dog they’ve ever had and they’ve had several over the years. But sour temper?  Hoo boy not Missy, she’s a full blooded, pure bred, pure Chocolate Lab, pure hunk of love. Sweetest, most considerate of property (well except for things on the coffee table. Perpetual tail wag you know is just right height to clean off the coffee table. I have learned to not set drink on table. Brenda….not so learned. Takes her by surprise every time), gentlest around children and most tolerant dog I’ve been around. Good thing about her is she isn’t a licky in the face dog. They say males are more lovey affectionate to people than females. Bad thing is she sheds like I’ve never seen before. I do not see how she has any fur left after just a week. My GOSH does she shed. 24/7, 7 days a week 365 no matter the season. Whoa. Can’t dry her off either. Oh you can try. Soak up enough water to load up two big bath towels and then feel her and she’s just as wet as when you started. Not a real gassy dog though. Good for me.

Not much going on this day. I set the shower floor pan yesterday so I can’t do anything til Tuesday, preferably Wednesday in that area at least. I can go in the basement and clean up some in the trainroom!! Oh wait, I gotta go check out the old Pick-up, but that shouldn’t take long. Of course I need to mow again, but I could wait another day or two on that I suppose….we’ll see.

Ya’ll have a good day!!!!

[TMarsh]

Pascaff- I just make up the pronounciations and pretty much slaughter words and basically create new words out of old as I go along. Hey, I'm from the midwest. It's expected.

[gear-jammer]

Good morning, Diners.  Chloe, I will have coffee and a waffle, please.

My climbing trip was great.  The temps were around 80.  We climbed lots of great routes.  I recognized the author of the local guide book who happened to be there with a group of climbers, and he told us about several new routes that he thought we would enjoy.  We also got some coaching on one of the hard routes.  WooHoo!  What a great time.

Curt,  Great photos.  Now that summer is slowing down, I might get more time in the layout room.

Later,  Sue