Well I got a bit accomplished today. Changed the oil in the van, new filter installed, bought gas for the beast, paid bills, got the first half of the groceries, perishables mostly.No work on the layout today. I did however change out the A unit on the F unit trio. I took off the patched Santa Fe F7A and put on the L&A F7A #1525, a Bowser/Stewart shell on a chassis consisting of Athearn and Proto 2000 parts driven by a PPW motor.We got rain today when it wasn't in the forecast. It didn't rain long, just long enough to leave egg on the weather guessers face. It's 39 now. We're expecting a low of 32 and no rain according to the weather guesser. He already missed once today so the umbrella is by the door.
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
Hia y'all!
Wazzup with our weather?? Temps in the mid 40" for the next week or so?? January and the ground isn't frozen yet. Can't get more wood delivered yet cuz the truck will sink in the yard. Its just weird!
Austria, Sehr Gut!
Beautiful pics Ulrich, keep em comin!!
Like to stick and chat, but I'm bushed! must be jet lag!
L8ter!
Karl
NCE über alles!
Good Morning
It was a very busy day for me...had to run to the office first thing this morning and get some paperwork together so that I could start on our final year report...talk about a mess of paperwork...3 boxes full....
Weather here be cccold and dreary...with little tiny snowflurries around and abouts...
Have a good evening!!
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/
Evening Diners.
Well holiday season is done and now its time for a long winter of cold and snow. Temp right now is -12c but feeling like -17c so a little on the chilly side of things. Was over at the rail yard earlier tonight and shot a few pics of some freight cars but no train came through except the VIA passenger train but it doesnt make for the most exciting pictures plus it was bitterly cold out with the wind. Using the wife's DSLR and a telephoto lens makes for some very nice pics though.
Hope I can get to bed early tonight as Team Canada plays the US tomorrow at 4am at the world junior hockey tournament. Might try to do some more rail fanning tomorrow as there calling for snow, and the trains and snow look awesome.
chochowillieEven with Rossetta Stone I'd have a tough time learning German. Not good with languages Can't even speak French and my father was French Canadian
Sir Maddog you really seem to be enjoying the tour guide role. I'm learning a great deal with your explanations and pictures. I am however not showing any of your submission to MOH as she wants to go to Europe bad enough as it is without her seeing what a wondrous place it really is.
One of the things I didn't realize was how l o n g the words in the German language are. Wow! A German friend of mine tells me that you pronounce every letter as well . Even with Rossetta Stone I'd have a tough time learning German. Not good with languages Can't even speak French and my father was French Canadian
I have a question about the video.... What the heck kind of guitar is he playing????? Kind of neat really. Anything more that 3 valves on an instrument confuses me.
Thanks again for the tour good Sir
Dennis
CDN Dennis
Modeling the HO scale something or other RR in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies Alberta, Canada
Afternoon y'all! Just stopping in for a....hmm apple strudel, yes, that's what I'll have, apple strudel! Didn't do a blasted thing I planned to do last night, and that's ok! That's what days off with clear schedules do to you. I did go by a friend's shop and check up on him, haven't had a chance to hang out and shoot the breeze with him in about 2 months. Felt good to just sit back and talk shop. Didn't make it by the Doc's office either, but I do feel better than I have been feeling, so maybe the worst is over.
I of course also didn't get around to doing any MRR-related stuff, but that too, is ok! I DID get to do a little train watching as the local guys (Conecuh Valley RR) was doing some switching with their GP40-2 and GP38-2 (always good to see old EMD power working hard). Got home a couple hours ago and have had an attack of the lazys, oh well, almost time for dinner, going to be cheesy chicken quesadillas here, so I'd best get the chicken down and start defrosting it.
Tomorrow is going to be fun as its Heather's (the 5-year old) first day back to school since the Christmas/New Years break. I also have to w**k, which can be a crap shoot as far as how busy it is on Thursdays. Welp, I hear Amy requesting that Heather clean her room, so I'd best get myself into the living room to supervise the other two....
Later taters!
Mr. Dispatcher Sir Madog Good Morning! I hope you all enjoyed yesterday´s night out at the opera! Today will take us to Schoenbrunn Palace, once the residence of the Emperor Franz-Josef and his wife Sisi (Elisabeth). all those rooms and only one rest room
Sir Madog Good Morning! I hope you all enjoyed yesterday´s night out at the opera! Today will take us to Schoenbrunn Palace, once the residence of the Emperor Franz-Josef and his wife Sisi (Elisabeth).
Good Morning!
I hope you all enjoyed yesterday´s night out at the opera! Today will take us to Schoenbrunn Palace, once the residence of the Emperor Franz-Josef and his wife Sisi (Elisabeth).
Flip
Afternoon All...It is cloudy and 29 here..dropped to 8 last nite...I'll have coffee and a roll please...Thank You...My yougest Daughter is going to stay with me for awhile..We are taking transit Bus over to see Sallie Thursday..with snow and New Years its been over a week since I saw Her..Got a 50 foot double door TP&W box car from Ebay deal today..Its an old Con Cor but still in box and looks brand new..
You All have a good one...Jerry
The weather guesser strikes out. Again. This morning there was no rain in the forecast. Take a wild guess what's happening now. That's right. It's raining. Thankfully the oil change on the van was done this morning when it was dry. One thing I hate is working in mud! Got the bill paying and the first half of the grocery shopping done. Got a letter saying I should take out a mortgage on my home. Guess they don't know it's a sixty-two year old mobile home! It's not much but it's paid for.
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, Ah, who is the funny looking guy in the little leather shorts over there playing the accordion? Oh... A friend of Ulrich's from Bavaria. Well tell him he is goiung to have to keep moving fast if he goes outside the dinner to play... Anyway, I would like a bowl of hot oatmeal with brown sugar and a pot of dark roast coffee to keep my R&GV RR mug filled for a while.
I'm still trying to throw off the cold I've had for the last week. I have been coughing all morning so far. I'm hoping that if I lay low most of the day today, I can start getting rid of it. Being out at my son's house where the air is very dry just irritates things. I really don't want to have to start out 2013 with a trip to the doctor....
Currently 25°F outside here in the Finger Lakes with a high today of 25°F... Yep that what it says. We have a few little white flakes floating around out there as well at the moment. Dark and gray today again as well. Sometime today I should get several deliveries by Fed Ex, UPS, Fed UPS, USPS, and who knows whom else... I await getting the roof rake delivered so I can get the solar panels back working and producing at least a bit of power for me. Clearing the bottom 4 panels (18 total) at least got the system to turn on, but sure didn't make much electricity.
Oh, yesterday while out at my son's house a reporter for the Finger Lakes Crimes called my house saying he wants to ask me a few questions about how my solar panels are working out for me. Front page article in yesterday's edition was about a installer company for solar in Florida is moving his business to Geneva as he feels the market for solar is actually better here with the various grants and tax breaks owners can get here in NYS.... Actually he is right it is a growing market here locally at the moment.
Better go get dressed for the day and make a phone call to the reporter for the Crimes....
[edit] LOL wrote this a few hours ago and got sidetracked with something else. Just came back to find it still sitting here unsent......
Later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Sir MadogFollowing dinner, we will take the No. 38 tram to Grinzing
Now I want to go to my Oma's house and have some schnitzel, she always makes it the best pared with some mash potatoes and gravy, with a side of chopped beets. I'm hungry now...
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
Good Evening!
Time to go for our schnitzels! We will enjoy them at a typical Viennese Beisl, a traditional, no frill restaurant with a reputation for good food and drinks, but modest prices.
The word Beisl (or Beisel) is probably Jewish. It oroginates from the word Bajiss, which means house. Beisls, which evolved in the 18th Century are inns offering local specialities. The style of a Beisl is like trattoria in Italy or Kneipe in Germany.The characteristics of a Beisl are the followings: measuring beverages, panelled walls, hooks for clothes on the wall, mobile partition walls, wooden tables, checked tablecloth, choice of food and beverages displayed on blackboard, spice rack on the table and marking the frequenters' tables. You can choose among Viennese specialities such as Tafelspitz (braised beef garnished with chips, chives sauce, spinache, horseradish and apple puree), Vanillierostbraten (roasted meat with garlic) and Schnitzel (fried meat). Besides the meat dishes soups are also very popular. The choice of beverages consits mainly of ales and porters and in most of the Beisls one can buy also the so called mixed beer (ale mixed with porter). As a dessert we recommend you the famouse apple strudel.
There will be apple strudel for desert, and you can see whether it matches Petra´s
Following dinner, we will take the No. 38 tram to Grinzing, where we will end the day enjoying the good wines of the region, Blauer Zweigelt or Gruener Veltliner, entertained by Viennese "Schrammelmusik".
Schrammelmusik is a style of Viennese folk music originating in the late nineteenth century and still performed in present-day Austria. The style is named for the prolific folk composers Johann and Josef Schrammel.
A typical Schrammelmusik ensemble consists of two violins , a double-necked contraguitar, and a G clarinet (also known in Austria as a picksüßes Hölzl). Often a button accordion, called a Schrammelharmonika, is included.
Performers strive for a melancholy, "crying", but melodious sound. The style is influenced by folk music from Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Moravia and Bavaria.
Watch this video to get a taste of it:
watch?feature=playerdetailpage&v=RGU7MhlhXfk
Enjoy!
Good Morning all,
Well at the end of December the President signed an executive order giving federal employees a half of a percent pay raise effective March 2013. I see all of that was cancelled by this last session of Congress. There go my dreams of a new BLI locomotive…..
I hope everyone had a good New Year’s Day. Mine went very well until the very end. I let the dog in for the last time in the evening, slipped on the stairs backwards, but I didn’t fall. When my elbow smashed through the glass window in the side door the broken shards of glass stuck in my elbow preventing me from falling down the stairs. I was fortunate that I had on my heavy canvas-padded coat and no glass made it to my arm.
Sequestration, originally scheduled to begin today, has been postponed until March 1st. So I need to save up enough money to cover a 2-3 week furlough possibility.
Jeff, I was one of those people, I stayed inside a lot the first 2 years I lived in Corpus Christi….
JR, friend of mine bought the small slide switches from Radio Shack, drilled a hole for a wire in the switch and attached a dowel rod to it. At the edge of the layout you pull the dowel rod that throws the turnout that illuminates a diode on the edge of the layout showing the turnout position. The turnout is held in position because the slide switch snapped into place.
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Sir Maddog, you make a wonderful tour guide I've never been to Europe so the antiquity of the building and the history is astounding! Where I live, any thing that's over 100 years old we just generally tear down. The Canadian west is not particularly interested in History. How Sad
Anyway, thanks for the pictures and the history lesson.
Okay... So all is good in my little world once again. We went to a new place for breakfast this morning. It was the first on a list of places we were going to try. Although we have gone past this place a thousand times, we never stopped in. Anyway, the inside is a 50's theme with counter, table or booth service. We had a very good breakfast and the coffee was great. Free refills as well. So I guess this will be our breakfast destination from now on. Now if any manufacturers would announce some new engines and freight cars for Western Pennsylvania railroads in January, it will be a tremdous beginning for this new year. As you can see, it doesn't take a lot to make me happy.
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
Well, went grocery shopping at wally world and Aldis. Spent more than I'd have liked...but at least I had a fist full of coupons for Wally world to take! saved about $15 there....And got some laundry stuff like the cleaner for the washer it needs it again..that stuff is $6 and change with coupon for $1 off it, too...and $5 for the clorox 2 with coupon off too. so I spentg about $20 on non-food items....
Pasgetti {that is what we call it} was dinner last night, tonight don't know..have a bunch of choices for tonight......
Something BIG is going down must be at the River must be...as the Rescue Boat went flying by, too.....Every piece of emergency rescue equipment went rushing down the roads..from all directions....some idiots don't know how to get out of the way for them!!! Guess I will find out on the 5 pm news.
Well, today is free bread day, so I await the call it is ready..... then *groan* I have to go out in the cold again...I feel for the Rescue workers in the bitter cold!!!
Speaking of cold I about got frost bite coming out of Wally world...I didn't put my gloves on, so even though I am close as I have handicapped plates i was finger frozen by the time I got to the vehicle.....
Well, time to take the pain killers back is settling in to aggravate me now.. a short nap will be in order now...
later
-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. It's 40° with 100% humidity. It'll be cloudy with a high of 48°.Looks like it's going to be a nice day despite the cloudiness. The weather guesser said nothing about rain. It should be a good day for running about paying bills and getting groceries. The trip in this morning could be a little dicey though. The vans gas gauge is on 'E' meaning it could be near empty or there could still be as much as half a tank left. Guess I could dump in a few gallons of the tractor gas as a safe guard.Later I may work on the layout a bit.
Morning all,
It's 12.19AM here in Australia. I'm up watching New Zealand play South Africa in test cricket I'm sure "JaBear" would enjoy knowing this.
In a stroke of luck, I have secured the extra layout space I've pined for. I need to clear some space tomorrow (removing an old TV cabinet and a few plastic crates!
Below is a rough layout of my hopeful layout plan with dimensions. It is remarkably similar in shape to the plan Ulrich posted in last months diner. With this much room I think I can take *MOST* of the elements of Lance Mindheims layout and have my own smaller version.
I'm hoping my parcel from Trainworld (NY) arrives early next week, it was dispatched by USPS. The folks I dealt with seem very nice, pleasant experience so far.
I bougt a CSX GP40-2, tank car and two box cars. This will compliment my two gondolas I have now. I will slowly build my roster up to somewhere around 75-100 freight cars, I figure I will need 30-40 to operate at any one time, with some surplus so I can interchange properly. All in all I will only need 3-4 locomotives but I will probably end up with approximately 10, mainly GP40-2s, GP38's, GP15s and maybe a MP15. I would like an old B series GE for old times sake. Having a small loco fleet will mean I'll be able to run sound in at least 50% of my units without breaking the bank.
Sorry to bore you all!
Best get some sleep.
James, Brisbane Australia
Modelling AT&SF in the 90s
Good Morning!!!
Hey look what I found! Shorts with suspenders! And they fit! Cool! Not very comfortable though, kinda stiff. Oh well, I guess they’ll break in after a few washings. But this hat. Feather’s neat, but won’t keep much rain off of you.
Coffee and some Schnitzel with all the trimmings please. Thanks.
Jeremy- Good luck on the job hunt. I too find winter depressing. Well, not really depressing, but I just not a winter guy.
J.R.- I like the shrinktube idea. Doesn’t have to be solid I wouldn’t think. As long as the wire is sturdy enough to throw the switch without bending, I’d say good idea. If it bends, then I’d probably go with a stiffer casing for the containment of the wire. Either way, I’ probably also give the wire a shot of silicone lube spray lightly juuuuuust to be on the over kill side. Just remember, if it can stick it will. But only AFTER it’s covered and would be a real pain to remove.
Well I didn’t get much done on the modeling desk yesterday. I did get a good start, but decided….”I’m tired of running an extension cord from the other room for the magnifier/light contraption. So, I installed another outlet. The trainroom is, or was, actually two rooms. A bedroom and a storage room/future trainroom. When I brought my old boyhood 4X8 I found propped up behind some plywood in Mom’s garage home, I cleaned out a space in the storage/trainroom for it and it became the train/storage room. Well I was talking about expanding and made some half meant comment about knocking the wall down and Brenda said I could!!! So now the two are one-ish. Layout went through a couple phases/plans and now this one. Anywho, the layout is on the old bedroom side and the desk is on the storage side and the one wall that has no power is the wall the desk is on. Naturally, wouldn’t have it any other way. Soooo, since the wall in question is not finished on this side, it wasn’t a big deal and I had all the stuff I needed too. No trip to Menard’s! It can be done. Who’d a thought. A Law and Order SVU marathon didn't speed things up either .
Oh and another exciting thing around here is because the room was two, there are two doors. Go figure huh? One on the south end (storage), and one bout halfway up the west side. Real obnoxious for railroad expansion. Well, once again I made some half meant comment about closing the west door in and Brenda said. “Will you finish the support coverings you started 15 years ago so the wall will finally be finished?” I said “um…I suppose” she then said I could and besides, that would give her more wall space there but she would really like it if I put the light fixture up we bought to match the other two and to replace the one that finally quit 5 years ago because now it really will be dark there if the doors gone. I said…”well I’m not gonna do this like tomorrow. Yeesh. At least give me time to adjust to the thought of another project. These things you can’t rush. I’ll need to take a few naps on it first.” She just kinda looked at me and calmly said….
“Eat your supper before it gets cold.”
Load of laundry or two needs done. We’ll see what the day brings. Maybe more trainroom time.
Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!
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.
Thanks, Galaxy - for trying to get me BP up. I am still having issues with that, making it a miserable day for me. I can´t even go to see my doc about it - he is gone skiing!
Ulrich, I'll be your Liebe Omi bought you one for a gift!!! AND there are pictures of you wearing them!!! LOLOLOL
WHat A HOOT!
Lederhosen, lederhosen. I must wear mine lederhosen!
Um pah, um pah, um pah pah, um....
Auf Viedersehen, Ulrich!
Ich wünsche dir einen schönen Tag
{i lnow, I KNOW...watch my language...}
Not for all the money of the world could you make me wear one of these:
Sir Madog Galaxy - that´s enough German to get you around. But what´s that about Lederhosen? No German wears those thingies, Bavarians maybe.
Galaxy - that´s enough German to get you around. But what´s that about Lederhosen? No German wears those thingies, Bavarians maybe.
Here is a bit of history. Prior to Jan. 18th, 1871, Germany was split up into a number of kingdoms and principalities. Prussia, under the leadership of the chancellor Otto von Bismarck, aimed at uniting them all, leaving Austria out for numerous (good) reasons. The kingdoms of Hannover, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg and Saxonia were strongly opposing this, backed by Austria. It took a series of wars to "convince" them to join up with Prussia to form the German Empire. In 1866, Austria declared war on Prussia, with the Bavarians fighting side by side with the Austrians. In the infamous battle of Koeniggraetz, a small town in Bohemia, the Prussian Army defeated the Austrian in a short, but costly battle. The Bavarians fought on for three more days, but had to surrender as well, changing sides and teaming up with Prussia. To this date, Bavarians,although being seen as the epitome of being German by many US folks, are not considered "real" Germans. In 1870, there was only one opponent left - France. In August 1870, France was tricked into declaring war against Prussia. On September 1st, 1870, the Prussian Army annihilated the French forces, and took the Emperor Napoleon III as a prisoner. On January 18th, King Wilhelm of Prussia was proclaimed the Emperor of Germany - in Versailles!
Morning Coffee with friends in the Diner
Guten Morgen!!! { Lederhosen, Froehliche Weinachten, Nine mit/und 'O tannenbaum', sprechen sie Englisch, Ja, Wo ist die Toilette?, Danke, bitte, Auf viedersehen- that about exhausts my German for use in Austria...}
GOOD MORNING!!!
Today is Wednesday, January 2, 2013!!!
Now that the New Year is here, we can all look forward to a "biger bang for your buck", SO:
Meaning:
More for your money
Origin:
Generals and political leaders have argued over the costs of the military since Adam was a lad. Their conversations have probably not changed much:
General: "Caesar/My Liege/Mr President, we need more triremes/cannons/nuclear weapons." Emperor/King/President: "The people need more olives/bread/iPads. Can't you manage with what you've got?"
Dwight D. Eisenhower faced something of a dilemma in 1953. He was a military man to his socks and was inclined to augment defence in the face of the perceived 'reds under the bed' threat, but he was also a Republican US president and, as such, politically wedded to cutting state spending. His solution was simple - increase the armed forces but decrease their budget. In ordinary circumstances that circle would be difficult to square. The solution that the US Joint Chiefs of Staff came up with, which they titled the 'New Look', was a policy of using nuclear weapons in any conflict bigger than what they called 'a brush-fire war'. That allowed them to radically reduce the numbers of servicemen and replace them with the comparatively inexpensive atomic bombs.
All of the above was described in a story in The Winona Republican Herald on 21st December 1953. The story also reports Admiral Arthur Radford as describing the policy as the 'bigger bang for your buck' theory. This was an adaptation of Pepsi-Cola's 'More Bounce to the Ounce' slogan, which was introduced in 1950.
Most sources credit US Defense Secretary Charles Wilson as the source of the expression 'a bigger bang for your buck'. These invariably point to him having used the phrase in 1954. Wilson could be the person who coined the phrase but 1954 is clearly too late and, until a pre-December 1953 source is found, the phrase has to be logged as 'coined by Anonymous'.
The current form of the phrase, in which has lost its nuclear connotations, is 'more bang for your buck'.
{It ought to be mentioned that a theory that this phrase originated as a reference to prostitution is suggested by some. There's no truth whatever in that notion.}
The prayer candles will be lit while I am at home for those in need!
Good Morning! from Tipton IN.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
TIPTON
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
You are not that far off with this - I remember visiting this place and having to walk for about a mile, cross-legged, to find a rest room