Elliot´s Trackside Diner - January 2013

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Howdy .....

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday, and he would have been 95. He got me interested in trains when I was a child. Alos, yesterday, we took down the Christmas tree and all of the Christmas decorations. That means the Lionel train is packed up awaiting Christmas tree duty next time.

Alex.... Welcome to the diner. We like having international diners here and hope to see you continue to visit. . The thread is basically a bull session among friends.

Ulrich ... Your critter looks terrific!

Ray .... Nice work on teh water tower! ... .009 wire! Tiny stuff!

Curt ... Layout looks good.

Terry.... You too. Nice layout.

Jeff ..... Your layout and your latest locomotive look great!

Ken ..... That rusted switcher should have been ssold to a scap dealer long ago.

Flip ..... I'll try to reach with this electoinc "puker" now. Other wise, we might have a mutal friend who we met here where we can exchange emails.

Cheers!

 

[Curt Webb]

Evening All,

I completely finished the outer loop and yard lead. I'm not going to do anything to the inner loop until the reverse loop is up and running. I will probably put a series of hill cut thorough in between the main and the inner side of the inside main. My friend suggested that I put a large hill behind the coal mine and run the conveyor from the mine to the hill. Great idea, I can't believe I did not think of it.

I'm off to w**k tomorrow so I will talk to you Wed night.

Dennis- Thanks for the info. The way the DCC guys were talking last night it is fool proof. Good to hear another side to it.

Jeff- I hope you are doing better than this morning.

 

 

 

 

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

Galaxy- Take care of yourself so the cold does not turn into something more serious.

[galaxy]

Hmm

I share Ulrich's headache, and spent most of the day in bed. MOH has the day off, so has joined me often as well..now watch we will both be up most of the night...!!! are taking it a s a day of rest.

My headache is easing some, but not gone.

Did not much else since. MOH ran a load of laundry to wash work clothes and the remnants of laundry yet to be done. I have scolded MOH enough about putting in the rest of clothes and not JUST washing only the work clothes...it saves water that way!

I was gonna reorganize corner "dry goods cabinet" but I think tomorrow...although I did add a shelf to, and reorganize the freezer on top the "refridgidator". So at least I accomplished something before the headache set in.

OH, yeah...I am coming down with a cold, though I do have a slight fever as well....sore throat and productive cough and a noted change in voice sounds and pitch. Sinuses not so bad,,, yet.

Hmm..getting a smidgeon of hunger,,will go have a fiber bar...

later all, hope this finds you all well.

 

[JeremyB]

Hi Guys,

Jeff - Maybe you should head back to bed, seems you had a bad day

Well I was in the store today looking at new PS3's of course all the sales associates are trying to sell me one,lol. I looked but didn't buy one. I don't feel like dropping $250 at the moment on a video game system. I really go in spurts playing it. I could play it alot for a couple weeks and then not touch the thing for months. I play it more in the summer during the days its too hot outside. Winter is for model trains

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Sir Madog

I´ll tell the waitress to add some extra chili peppers for Jeff!

That would be good. Could you make those habanero peppers?

*

Well I was feeling a little better around noon, I thought. My nephew was doing some work outside moving some vehicles around and it was evident mine was getting in the way. I came up with this bright idea that I'd move it. Well thinking of it and getting out there to do it are two different things. Going out the door I stumbled on the top step and ended up falling down the steps. Getting up into the van, well I missed the foot well TWICE! Managed to get it moved without wiping out anything, I think. Went to get out and missed the foot well AGAIN, hit my butt in the bottom of the foot well and hit my head against the door. My nephew sees what's going on and helps me back to the trailer. I managed to get back inside without doing further damage. Then it occurred to me I could have just told him he could move the van. See how clear I'm thinking today? But I put two locos on the track today. After knocking them over that is. Maybe I should go back to bed before I do something really stupid.

[Anonymous]

Good Evening!

I am battling a bad headache which had put flat out on the sofa for the better part of the day. Still not feeling up to par, but maybe a nice dinner with you folks will help to chase it away.

Time for goulash, or gulyas, as the Hungarians call it.

I´ll tell the waitress to add some extra chili peppers for Jeff!

For drinks, I recommend Hungarian red wine from the Balaton region.

For those of us with a sweet tooth, this will be our desert:

Calling it a day now - CU tomorrow!

[howmus]

Afternoon folks!

Chloe just a refill for the decaf please.

Ulrich....  Gorgeous photos of a beautiful country!  The little loco is coming along nicely.

Thanks Karl,  you needed new string on your axe anyway...  They do actually look the right size don't they? 

You Aussie guys, I somehow was thinking 3AM not PM....  That's what I get for trying to use my brain that late at night.

Have a few things I need to get done very soon, so I will catch you all later.

73

[kbkchooch]

Morning gang!

Chloe my dear, can I get some sausage biscuits with gravy, and a large coffee with splenda. You can stir it with your finger if you want to make it extra sweet!

Not a whole lot happening here today, temps in the low to mid 40s, bright sun, not bad really! Got a lot done this week, 2 Bl2's with sound, 1 caboose, built, painted and weathered, and an update to a Russian Decapod. The bad part is now that I reworked the model to be more prototypical, I have to redo it's "sister" too! The good part is that I was smart enough to fabricate 2 pilots at the same time!

Ray, That tank looks great! Only 1 question, would you know the whereabouts of the strings from my guitar?? 

Ulrich That little switcher looks amazing ! I can't wait to see it completed! The pictures of Austria are beautiful, but, I cant help hearing tunes from "The Sound of Music" while I'm looking at them. 

Alex  Honestly, we don't bite! 

Jeremy, Sorry to hear about the PS3, but look on the bright side, now you have more time for trains!!

Gonna split for a bit,,, be back later!

[rdgk1se3019]

Curt Webb

It was very highly recommended for me to get the DCC Specialties PSX-AR so that is the plan.

I have one of these for my wye I recently added to my layout.............I did the so called "plug and play" with it and could get intermittent use of it when I run an Atlas MP-15 through it.........every 5th or 6th time thru it would not change polarity and shut the layout down...........I haven`t done much with it or tried other locomotives yet.

[Curt Webb]

Morning All,

My friend came by yesterday and checked everything out and electrically everything was wired right and the track isolation was done correctly. We ran a loco through the reverse loop and some times it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. Later at the club we talked to our 2 club DCC guys and the consensus is that the AR-1 is working intermittently and probably in the process of failing (2 years on the layout). It was very highly recommended for me to get the DCC Specialties PSX-AR so that is the plan.

Today I plan on doing some small sections of  ballasting on the completed sections. Tomorrow I go back to w**k on my new schedule (40 hours spread out over Mon, Tue, & Wed). Sometime in Feb that will change to Sun, Mon, & Tuesday.

Terry in Wisconsin- Very nice layout and video.

OzJim- Look forward to seeing your progress on your layout.

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

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 40° with 100% humidity and patchy fog. It'll be cloudy with a high of 58°.


Today isn't one of my good days. I knew that the instant I got up this morning. I'm having some balance issues that are making it difficult to get around. Looks like I won't be going out today and unless this changes I won't be doing any work on the layout or the trains.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning

Snowing out here this morning..about 3" fell last night...some more expected...

Thanks for the breakfast Flo...

Have a neighbourhood potluck to get stuff ready for this afternoon...every couple of weeks one of the neighbours gets to host this event...this week is our turn...

Have a good day!!

Lovely scenery Ulrich!!

[james saunders]

Looks lovely, Ulrich.

Had a couple of hours this afternoon to start the layout extension.  See below:

The next module will come back at 90 degrees towards the left of the photo towards where I took it.

The modules I built are 4'x2' (two of them) that are placed together to make the 'L' shape. The final module will be 6x2.  The final stage will be the 4 x 1' 8" wide module behind where I took the photo.

I'm considering building a narrow shelf between the ends of the layouts so I can run continuously (mainly when my family are over) rather than switch the layout.

Anyway, I will be finishing the other modules next sunday.

TTFN

OzJim

[Anonymous]

Good Morning!

Your tour guide is back on duty! How about a nice trip into the countryside? If you like, we will visit the romantic Salzkammergut.The Salzkammergut is a resort area, stretching from the City of Salzburg eastwards along the Austrian Alpine Foreland and the Northern Limestone Alps to the peaks of the Dachstein Mountains, spanning the federal states of Upper Austria, Salzburg, and Styria. The main river of the region is the Traun, a right tributary of the Danube. The name Salzkammergut literally means "Estate of the Salt Chamber" and derives from the Imperial Salt Chamber, the authority charged with running the precious salt mines of the Habsburg Monarchy.

Our tour will take us to Bad Ischl, once the favorite vacation spot of Emperor Franz-Josef. During his reign of 68 years, he spent 64 summer vacations there. He also met his wife Elisabeth (Sisi) for the first time there.

Until 1957, we could have made this trip on a little narrow gauge line, the Salzkammergut Lokalbahn. Despite high ridership figures, the line was closed down to make way for a highway. There are plans to econstruct the line, though.

Today´s tour therefore will be mainly a bus tour.

From Bad Ischl, we will move to St. Gilgen, where we board a paddle wheeler to St. Wolfgang. We will enjoy our lunch at the famous "Weisses Roessl" restaurant.

After lunch, we will take a short walk along the lake to the Schafbergbahn station, a cog railway leading up the Schafberg Mountain.

A spectacular view will be waiting for us!

Later in the afternoon, our bus will take us back to Salzburg.

Enjoy!

[galaxy]

Morning Coffee with Friends...

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Sunday, January 6th, 2013!!!

{already? where DOES time go?}

Some people think it costs an 'arm and a leg" for our "toys,SO:

Meaning:

A large, possibly exorbitant, amount of money

Origin:

'It cost and arm and a leg'  is one of those phrases that rank high in the 'I know where that comes from' stories told at the local pub. In this case the tale  is that portrait painters used to charge more for larger paintings and that a head and shoulders painting was the cheapest option, followed in price by one which included arms and finally the top of the range 'legs and all' portrait. As so often with popular etymologies, there's no truth in that story. Painters certainly did charge more for large pictures, but there's no evidence to suggest they did so by limb count. In any case the phrase is much more recent than the painting origin would suggest.

It is a American phrase, coined sometime after WWII. The earliest citation found  is from The Long Beach Independent, December 1949:

Food Editor Beulah Karney has more than 10 ideas for the homemaker who wants to say "Merry Christmas" and not have it cost her an arm and a leg.

'Arm' and 'leg' are used as examples of items that no one would consider selling other than at an enormous price. It is a grim reality that, around that time, there were many US newspaper reports of servicemen who had lost an arm and a leg in the recent war. It is possible that the phrase originated in reference to the high cost paid by those who suffered such amputations.

A more likely explanation is that the expression derived from two earlier phrases: 'I would give my right arm for...' and '[Even] if it takes a leg', which were both coined in the 19th century. The earliest example that can be found of the former in print is from an 1849   edition of Sharpe's London Journal:

He felt as if he could gladly give his right arm to be cut off if it would make him, at once, old enough to go and earn money instead of Lizzy.

The second phrase is American and an early example of it is given in this heartfelt story from the Iowa newspaper the Burlington Daily Hawk-Eye, July 1875:

A man who owes five years subscription to the Gazette is trying to stop his paper without paying up, and the editor is going to grab that back pay if it takes a leg.

Other cultures have similar phrases; for example:

In France -  Ça coûte les yeux de la tête - It costs the eyes from the head.    

Spain - Un ojo de la cara - A pretty face.    

 Bulgaria -  Това струва майка си и баща-  It costs one's mother and father

The prayer candles are lit for those in Need...

 

Make someone's day and do them a good turn!

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

TIPTON

[alexstan]

howmus

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a cup of decaf for me tonight.

Hi James, Alex!  Good to see you folks in here...  Up rather early aren't ya?

Supposed to warming up here in the Finger Lakes over the next few days.  I may yet get enough sn*w off the panels on the roof to get the system working again.  Right now there is quite a bit of ice on the deck.  Had to watch my footing when I went out to plug in the car.

Will need to get myself up and around early tomorrow as I will be an usher at church.  Found out our supply preacher tomorrow (Interm pastor shows up 2 weeks from now) is a lady that some of us have little use for.  She destroyed the Music Camp program we did at Church Camp for many years.....  I may turn off my hearing aids so as to not have to hear her preach....   I can do that you know.  have a Mute button on the remote.  I can turn off the noise and nobody knows I did it.

Best get to bed for the night.  Prayers for all in need (even that preacher I don't care for...).

73

Actually it's 3:07 PM Sunday afternoon here.

[saronaterry]

It works when you click the pic, I  guess.

Way to go, Packers!!

Terry in NW Wisconsin

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a cup of decaf for me tonight.

Hi James, Alex!  Good to see you folks in here...  Up rather early aren't ya?

Supposed to warming up here in the Finger Lakes over the next few days.  I may yet get enough sn*w off the panels on the roof to get the system working again.  Right now there is quite a bit of ice on the deck.  Had to watch my footing when I went out to plug in the car.

Will need to get myself up and around early tomorrow as I will be an usher at church.  Found out our supply preacher tomorrow (Interm pastor shows up 2 weeks from now) is a lady that some of us have little use for.  She destroyed the Music Camp program we did at Church Camp for many years.....  I may turn off my hearing aids so as to not have to hear her preach....   I can do that you know.  have a Mute button on the remote.  I can turn off the noise and nobody knows I did it.

Best get to bed for the night.  Prayers for all in need (even that preacher I don't care for...).

73

[saronaterry]

Evening, all!

Watching the Packers spank the Queens.

Played with the trains all day. Here's my first stab at a video, please be gentle.!!

We start at Cameron fresh out of staging. Then Rice Lake, Haugen, Sarona and into Spooner.Don't know if the audio came thru or not. I really need to clean up the layout! Ignore the clutter.

Hope this woks!

Terry in NW Wisconsin

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

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

[alexstan]

james saunders

Welcome Alex, from a fellow Aussie.

Enjoy the place!

G'day mate, I see you model things similar to me.

[james saunders]

Welcome Alex, from a fellow Aussie.

Enjoy the place!

[Burlington Northern #24]

I need my special tweezers to put the coupler cut bars on my GP15-1, they're not here. I'm going bonkers because I can't finish the pilot to my loco.

[cudaken]

 Evening Dinners

 Flo, a and some cough drops. No, not in the Flo.

 Work Front, kind of slow and I only made it 5.5 hours instead of the 8 I could have worked. Cold is kicking my caboose right now, getting old sucks!

 Lets see for supper I could have leftover Chile or leftover Chinese, or I could have both Chilinese?  Bet Todd would love that! 

 I am done in, I am off Sunday so I may stop by and type for awhile longer.

 Ken

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Been working on one of the Frankenlocos in the F unit trio to make some adjustments on the drive. The shafts have always been a little long and that would cause it to bind in the turns a little bit. Not enough to slow it down but enough to make a bit of noise. So today I cracked it open and just for giggles uploaded a photo of the drive. That's below. Don't burn out your brain trying to figure out where all the parts came from. There's stuff an Athearn enthusiast will recognize and stuff a Proto 1000/2000 enthusiast will recognize with some other recognizable brand items that have no business being connected to either one of those and some items that would have you scratching your head.

[JeremyB]

chochowillie

JeremyB

Maybe I should just quit while Im ahead.

Uh, do you really consider yourself to be ahead Jeremy? After I awoke to hear the score in the Canada Russia game I pretty much decided the day was a write off right then and there 

When I said ahead, I meant can I get through the day without having anyhting else break or teams lose . Hopefully the packers can beat Minnesota tonight. I guess that not having video game time means more train time

[alexstan]

galaxy

alexstan

Thanks for describing this thread to me and explaining all the rules Galaxy! But how does rule 6 actually work? Does it actually involve spending real money or what? Anyway, I better introduce myself as Alex, from South Australia, and I model a bit of contemporary Union Pacific. I also like the SP Bloody Nose scheme a lot, so I justify having a few of those under the merger. I also have some BNSF and ATSF around. Because our seasons are opposite, I'm currently in summer now.

You are making itmore complicated than it is!

NO, NO REAL MONEY {or credit cards are used...just "fake" or "artificial" "money" {if you like those terms better than "virtual money"}

NO MONEY HERE CHANGES hands. AT all.

I also forgot to add to # 6 that you can  order WHAT you want, it will ALWAYs come out just the way you like it, and will NEVER have ANY CALORIES at all, so you may eat as much as you like! {it is "virtual FOOD"}

Post what you like, keep it clean enough that your mother, grandmother or child might read it and you'll be OK, and limit clean  pics to 2 for our Host's sake...

 

 

I have understood now, thanks a lot mate! Sorry for seeming dumb.

[chochowillie]

JeremyB

Maybe I should just quit while Im ahead.

Uh, do you really consider yourself to be ahead Jeremy? After I awoke to hear the score in the Canada Russia game I pretty much decided the day was a write off right then and there 

Anyhoo, I did go and buy the 2 extra fluorescent fixtures I need for the train room. Because of the stupid heating ducts, I need them so that there is no shading from the drop in the soon to be ceiling. Now for my  rant.

Can anyone explain to me why a 2 tube fluorescent troffler light fixture cost a little over $ 8 bucks MORE that the same brand 4 tube fluorescent troffler fixture. Same brand, neither on sale. Just 8 bucks more times 2 of course and don't even get me going over the price of the fluorescent bulbs. Two for $10.97 or ten for $27.49. Pricing like these drive me nuts Rant over.

Time to go down and fight with the JMRI Digitrax Command station ... again. Sooner or later something is bound to work.

Cheers

Dennis

[galaxy]

alexstan

Thanks for describing this thread to me and explaining all the rules Galaxy! But how does rule 6 actually work? Does it actually involve spending real money or what? Anyway, I better introduce myself as Alex, from South Australia, and I model a bit of contemporary Union Pacific. I also like the SP Bloody Nose scheme a lot, so I justify having a few of those under the merger. I also have some BNSF and ATSF around. Because our seasons are opposite, I'm currently in summer now.

You are making itmore complicated than it is!

NO, NO REAL MONEY {or credit cards are used...just "fake" or "artificial" "money" {if you like those terms better than "virtual money"}

NO MONEY HERE CHANGES hands. AT all.

I also forgot to add to # 6 that you can  order WHAT you want, it will ALWAYs come out just the way you like it, and will NEVER have ANY CALORIES at all, so you may eat as much as you like! {it is "virtual FOOD"}

Post what you like, keep it clean enough that your mother, grandmother or child might read it and you'll be OK, and limit clean  pics to 2 for our Host's sake...