Elliot´s Trackside Diner - January 2013

[chochowillie]

Oh goody, I get to have a new adventure  That's right, for the first time in a long building career, I'm going to use... dare I say it.... Metal Studs. Picked them up this AM. So far, I am impressed. A bundle of 4 10 footers and 4 8 footers packed out under my arm as opposed to wood 2 by 4's which take at least 4 trips from the vehicle to the train room. Wow, those things sure are lite. Makes me wonder why I didn't use them to frame out the entire basement a couple of years ago 

The object of the exercise is to do a drop in the suspended ceiling to accommodate the hot and cold air ducts that hang down from the floor joists about 8 inches.

This is going to be a snap to do as opposed to building a wood ladder on the floor and raising it grunt, groan, groan into position. I finally got smart.  Hmmm how did that happen?

Today MOH and I get to go to the bank and pay off our mortgage . That is going to be so nice to be mortgage free at last. It will be like a $900 increase in the monthly pension.

To celebrate we are going to go out for Ribs at Tony Rommas.  

CU later all.

Dennis

[jeffrey-wimberly]

chochowillie

Makes me wonder why I didn't use them to frame out the entire basement a couple of years ago 

Many places don't allow the use of metal studs in outer facing walls (walls facing to the outside) or for use in locations where water may be a problem (such as basements).

[Robby P.]

 Good afternoon everybody.

 Just been busy lately, and haven't stopped in.   Between life, and rusting cars.....time flys by.

 Right now, I'm wating on another "heritage unit" to come by.  This one is the Conrail engine.  I got the Virginian a few weeks ago, and just missd the PRR one. 

 Hopefully it comes by soon, running out of sunlight.

 I hope everybody has a goodnight!!!

[saronaterry]

Good Monday afternoon! 32f and sunny. Supposed to warm up to 38f by Thursday. Must be our January thaw.

 Ray, that was some neat reading and pics.

 Congrats on the mortgage payoff, Cho!! We'll be paid off in 2015, although it was only a construction loan. House is about 80% finished and I'm doing the final stuff as I can afford it( CASH). Being a contractor helps.

Well, Day 1 of 3 days off. Finished up the remodel Friday. I need a few days to recover then on to the next job.Been downstairs trouble shooting trains. Running each train one at a time with motive power F/R for about 11/5 -2 hours. Track's pretty bullet proof, but finding a number of rolling stock issues. So the train runs, I remove and fix the offending stock and replace them . All this because every time I get visitors, SOMETHING goes wrong. I figure a good 2 hours run time/train, problems will show up. So far I've worked(played) through 4 train sets, or around 45-50 cars , with 8 issues. Seems to be the ones without IM wheelsets that are the problem. My B-day's coming up so I'm hoping to pick up another couple bulk packs of 100 sets ,25 cars worth each.

Thanks for the kind remarks about the video. I've never done that before. Is it normal to take such a looong time to upload one to photobucket? Took a few hours! Any ideas to shorten the upload time?

That's it for now, prayers for those that need'm.

Terry in balmy NW Wisconsin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[alexstan]

Cho-Congratulations on the mortgage payoff, that must be such a relief! And goodmorning all. It is 7:38AM Tuesday morning here in Australia.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Afternoon.

Just got back home from an early morning day at the office...report writing away..and finding weird things in various files....

And we had all kinds of sun!!...once the dull dull cloud left us....around 3pm......hopefully we will get to share in the sunshine...and not have to wait until late in the day for our share...

Got supper going ...have to go...have a good one!!

[galaxy]

chochowillie

Today MOH and I get to go to the bank and pay off our mortgage . That is going to be so nice to be mortgage free at last. It will be like a $900 increase in the monthly pension.

To celebrate we are going to go out for Ribs at Tony Rommas.  

CU later all.

Dennis

Congrats on paying it off! Now all you have to pay is taxes {?}.

It is a great feeling to own it isn't t? And not just "renting it from the bank"?

If only cuda ken could pay his off.

[cudaken]

 Evening Dinners!

 Flo Beer Pleases.

 

Sir Madog

Gave the loco body a clean-up in that household ultra-sonic cleaner we have. It´s not meant for this type of job, but worked nicely. All the grease and grit is gone - ready for a coat of primer. Still to cold for that, though.

 Ah Ulrich, did you ask Petra First?

 Work Front Still sick as a dog and went home early again. At one point Tyler said "you sound awful, don't stand next to me"! So I am sitting here watching the trains, drinking beer and wondering if I can give any of you my virus over the internet? Personally I think Galaxy gave me this one! 

 Ken, sick again.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I lasted a bit longer today but I'm now starting to feel very tired and a little green around the gills. I was able to run a train for a little while today if for nothing else to wipe any accumulated dust off the track. Looks like rain tomorrow. Time to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

[kbkchooch]

Hey gang

Just wanted to share one with ya real quick.

Ever wonder about painting a real engine?

Watch this!

watch?feature=playerdetailpage&v=2eAk2rWjGrE

Note: The "Sound of Music" music is NOT in this video!!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Karl ...... That is a great video, but the workers moved so quickly, I was not able to see their rattle cans.

Ulrich .... I'm enjoying the tour photos.

I can sympathize with you guys who are sick with the "bug". I had it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It was awful. I could not get out of bed for over a week.

On the layout today, I worked on freight cars. I had several which were needing minor repairs, and I worked on them. Now, they are back in service.

We may have to track down some MIA's again. I can think of several who have been absent.

Cheers, everbody.

 

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a cup of decaf please...

Long day, but got quite a few things done that are on the list, so it was a good one.  Tried to clean more white stuff off the panels, but what is left is frozen solid and won't break up and slid off, so it is there until it melts, which should be in the next couple days.  Had to run a couple errands today, pharmacy for a couple Rxs and to the grocery store, so I decided to try out a plan I found at a Prius chat site on line to cure the ICE coming on all the time when the car is in EV mode.  There seem to be several things that make the ICE (internal combustion engine) start when you don't want it to.  One is having the heat on in the car.  So today I turned the heat down all the way to LO and then started the car.  Sure enough the ICE never kicked on for my trips around town!  So my gasoline mpg today registered as 999 mpg.  Drove all over town on electric only!  First time I have got it to do that.

Spent most of the evening printing the latest newsletter for the NMRA Division.  Will try to assemble and mail the ones we mail out tomorrow.  We have a combined Meet with the CNY Division on the 19th. of January in Auburn, NY.

Think it is time to head out to bed...  Prayers for all in need!

73

[wetidlerjr]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

TIPTON

[Anonymous]

Good Morning!

Our tour throughout Austria is slowly coming to an end. After a short train ride, we will reach Innsbruck, the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol (Tirol) in western Austria. It is located in the Inn Valley at the junction with the Wipptal (Sill River), which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some 30 km (18.6 mi) south of Innsbruck. Located in the broad valley between high mountains, the Nordkette (Hafelekar, 2,334 metres or 7,657 feet) in the north, Patscherkofel (2,246 m or 7,369 ft) and Serles (2,718 m or 8,917 ft) in the south. It is an internationally renowned winter sports centre, and hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics as well as the 1984 and 1988 Winter Paralympics. Innsbruck hosted the first Winter Youth Olympics in 2012. The word bruck comes from the German word Brücke meaning "bridge" which leads to "the bridge over the Inn".

I thought I´d spare you another day of just sightseeing, so we just step outside the train station, take a deep breather of Innsbruck air and board a train of the metre-gauge Stubaital railway, taking us to Fulpmes at the foot of the Stubai Glacier..

The Stubai Valley Railway  is an 18.2 km (11.31 mi) long narrow gauge interurban tram from Innsbruck to Fulpmes in Tyrol, Austria. In the city of Innsbruck, it uses the local tramway tracks. At the Stubaital station, the branch line-rated part begins. The meter gauge track starts at Innsbruck's Main station, crosses the Wilten district, and passes the villages of Natters, Mutters, Kreith, and Telfes. Between the Stubaital station and Fulpmes, the railway is single-track, but at eight stations: Sonnenburgerhof, Hölltal, Mutters, Feldeler, Kreith, Telfer Wiesen, Luimes, Telfes, there are passing loops where the train usually uses the left-hand track. The final station, Fulpmes, has three tracks and one depot.

The line was opened in 1904 and was electrified right from the beginning, using 2,500 V 42.5 Hz AC, which was changed to 3,000 V 50hz AC in 1914. In 1983, when the railcars employed from the opening year of the line became to costly to maintain, the line was changed to 3,000 V DC and streetcars bought at scrap value from the German city of Hagen entered service. Today, the line is operating modern streetcars and has become an integral part of the city of Innsbruck public transport system. One of the original cars was saved and restored, and is now operating special trains to Fulpmes.

At Fulpmes, we will enjoy a day of leisure. Those, who wish, can go skiing on the Stubai Glacier, and the coach potatoes like me, will just bask in the sun, relax and enjoy the good food.

Enjoy!

[nscaler711]

I may be late but Happy New years to all,
As for me, a New Years resolution that is RR related, well... its a long list, but the top two are...

A MTH Bigboy that i am preordering...
and trying to figure out how to program CVs correctly....  

[galaxy]

Morning Coffee in the DIner....

GOOD MORNING!!!

Today is Tuesday, January 8th, 2013!!!

Today, we continue looking at American original phrases:

'The customer is always right', SO:

meaning:

A business policy that says the customer comes first

Origin:

Several retail concern used this as a slogan from the early 20th century onward. In the USA it is particularly associated with Marshall Field's department store, Chicago (established in the late 19th century). The store is an icon of the city, although it is set to lose its name in 2006 when, following a takeover, it becomes renamed as Macy's. In the UK, Harry Gordon Selfridge (1857-1947) the founder of London's Selfridges store (opened in 1909), is credited with championing its use. The Wisconsin born Selfridge worked for Field from 1879 to 1901. Both men were dynamic and creative businessmen and it's highly likely that one of them coined the phrase, although we don't know which.

Of course, these entrepreneurs didn't intend to be taken literally. What they were attempting to do was to make the customer feel special by inculcating into their staff the disposition to behave as if the customer was right, even when they weren't.

The trading policy and the phrase were well-known by the early 20th century. From the Kansas City Star, January 1911 we have a piece about a local country store that was modelled on Field's/Selfridges:

[George E.] "Scott has done in the country what Marshall Field did in Chicago, Wannamaker did in New York and Selfridge in London. In his store he follows the Field rule and assumes that the customer is always right."

Whether the phrase was coined by Field or Selfridge it is fair to call it American. What we can't do is credit them with the idea behind it. In 1908 César Ritz (1850-1918), the celebrated French hotelier is credited with saying 'Le client n'a jamais tort' - 'The customer is never wrong'. That's not the phrase that people now remember, but it can hardly be said to be any different in meaning to 'the customer is always right'.

 

The prayer candles will be lit as long as we are home for those in need of special thoughts, healing needs, or help for a loved one's passing

 

Smile and give a compliment to someone to make their day!

 

["JaBear"]

Gidday All,

OzJim,  "a cricketing tragic, eh?? All I can suggest that you regularly take yourself to a place where you can inhale the smell of new mown grass whilst listening to the "thwack" of leather upon willow and partake of a cucumber sandwich and a strong cup of tea,(or other suitable amber liquid) . Without wishing to offend our hosts I personally think that any country that can come up with this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football  , can't comment too adversely about cricket.   No good about the fires in NSW, Victoria and Tasmania.. 40 C (100 F) far too hot for this kid.

Currently 0051 hours, 9 Jan, 57 F, 81% humidity.

Galaxy. Unfortunately I find that some customers do take "The customer is always right" far too literally. From time to time, part of my job is to "advise" my customers when they may be straying from "the Straight and Narrow" and think that the saying should now be rephrased to something along the lines of    "the customer is  NOT always right, you just have to tell them that at YOUR peril !! "

Thoughts and Best Wishes to All those that need them.

Cheers, the Bear.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Morning....

A mix of sun/cloud is greeting us this morning...always a good thing to see..temp going up to 34F with tonight's low sitting at 24F....

Got a telecommute thing going today...so I'e be a happy fellow here Tomorrow not so much...

Cricket? I love playing it...watching it? megh....

[TMarsh]

Coffee and a piece of lasagna please. Thanks.

Can you see this post Lee? Oh wait. If he can't how would he know.....

Leeeet’s see if the weather is worth repeating..tum de dum dum dummm. Ah, here it is, Oh!... Mostly sunny, with a high near 48. South wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 17 mph. (nods head) Not bad for January 8.  Looks like we’re in for some needed rain Wednesday night and all day Thursday. Oo. Then again on Saturday too. Good we need it.

Does anybody else find themselves reading our Australian and New Zealand friends posts with an accent?

Aussie Jim- Oh you betcha I’m lost on the Cricket stuff, but just keep on chattin. I’m sure there’s a subject or two we United Statesians go on about that leaves you scratchin yer noggin too. I’m gonna look up and see kinda briefly about it. I’ve seen a game years ago on the tv but can’t remember much othern I couldn’t figure it out. Of course, I haven’t figured out hockey either.

I guess hockey might be kinda like soccer on ice with sticks and fewer teeth involved. But I don’t know much about soccer either. Too violent of fans for me.

Yah Karl , gotta admit Ziva has foiled many a plan for me too. Oh well, whataya gonna do.

Lee- Just talking about that a couple days ago with a friend of mine about his doors. I said I’d buy the whole pre-hung jobs and it’s easier for me to replace all that, than to try and get the hinges right on the new door. That is something I always had trouble with.

G- Drink plenty of juice and water. Hope your cold gets better before it turns into the flu or worse. For me, Johnboy’s right about the toilet paper….we use the blue bears one. Aaaaah soft. We don’t care for the aloe tissues either. Like wiping your nose with a grease rag. At times, adhesion is important.

Hm, not sure if a cold can “turn into” the flu or not. Just repeating what me mum used to say when I was sick as a kid.  

Ray- I use handkerchiefs but mainly as sweat wipers.  Like Galaxy, when my sinuses kick in, a handkerchief cannot hold, …, do I wanna say effectively, or efficiently? Hm we'll say both. The volume of nose waste that is evicted from my snoz in two evacuations. Many times just one. It’s not human, it’s super human. I wish I could make money as fast as I make that stuff. You’d have to carry a dozen with you and suspenders for pants with biiiiig pockets just to get into and out of a reeeeal quick trip to the store.   

Where does that stuff come from? Mucus I mean. How can that stuff be generated so quickly you can’t even get a good breath in afterward before it’s back full again. If you saw what comes... ..you know, maybe I’ll just…. Change the subject.

Never saw the Sound of Music. Mom liked it. I remember her and Dad would watch it every time it was on TV and they had the video. She actually preffered Dr. Zhivago. Don’t know if that was a musical or not and I don’t think it had anything to do with Austria either. I never saw either one though I am familiar with some of the songs in The Sound of Music.Then again, who wouldn't be. I did not however, click on the videos.

Chocowillie- Congrats on the payoff, wanna borrow my lighter? Around here in commercial buildings they require metal studs. Fire issues they say. Or rather the lack of I suppose. However I wouldn’t want them in my house. I have trouble enough finding a stud when I need one let alone having to screw into one. Nails don’t work too well.

Welp, flapped my lips long enough, best get a move on.

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Chochowillie: Congratulations on the mortgage payoff. Hey, that's extra money for the hobby!

*

Good morning. It's 46° with 99% humidity. Flash flood watch in effect. Cloudy with showers and thunderstorms. The high will be 62°.


Looks like today will be warm and wet. At this momnet I can hear thunder in the distance and with the heavy clouds it looks like dawn instead of 8:30am. I'm feeling better today than I did yesterday which isn't saying much. I still don't have enough control over my equilibrium to do any work that requires me to stand at the layout. I may be able to do some work while sitting though. That thunder is getting louder. Time to wrap this up.

[cudaken]

 Morning!

 Flo, cup of coffee pleases!

 So this is cricket?

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovv6LhF-_KM

 Seems so what a cross between Baseball and Golf? Oh wait, now they are hitting the ball in the Air? Boy the Pitcher sure works awfully hard to throw such a little ball?

 Well I am feeling somewhat better today!

 See you all later.

            Ken

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a couple sour cream glazed donuts to dunk in my dark roast coffee this morning, please.  What?  Yes, my FGLK mug would do fine, thank you, Ma'am.

Something ain't cricket here this morning....  Huh, Oh, it is Cricket this morning.  I thought all the players had to wear dress shirts and tie like the Umps in that game...  Musta changed the rules, I guess.

We are getting a few patches of almost brightness outside this morning!  Don't worry, it is supposed to return to heavy sunless clouds soon.  Solar panels did actually kick on a produce some usable power yesterday.  Are you sitting down?  Get this, it netted .4 Kw yesterday.  WOW!  The temperature is supposed to make its way up to 38°F this afternoon, so with any luck I will be able to get more slush off the roof.

Ulrich, beautiful photos as always, sir!  I am enjoying the tour very much. 

Dennis, congrats on making the final payment on the mortgage!  Are you going to have a formal Mortgage Burning Ceremony?

This time tomorrow I will be driving my sister to the Rochester Airport so she can head out to Ghana for a couple weeks.  I get to take care of Claude while she is gone.  Actually she also has a kid in her neighborhood stopping by to check on him and play with him as well.  Hopefully he will do OK.  This is the first time since she got him that the kitty's servant has left....  He is still a kitten and to say he his active is a severe understatement.  I'm thinking her house will be a complete shambles by the time she gets back home... LOL

Ken, Cricket is one of those games that as soon as you think you have figured out what they are doing, it all changes.  My father was a fan of the game and tried unsuccessfully to explain it to me many times...  Now Baseball I understand.  Have even been known to attend a few games over the years.  If they had Cricket around these parts I might be tempted to go to a game or two... It seems to be a very "gentlemanly" game, in an English sort of way.....

Best get  moving I think.  Later!

73

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Boy, glad I don't have to do anything outside today. There's heavy rain falling and it's almost dark out there. Anybody who wants fresh rain water, hey you're welcome to it. There's enough pouring off my roof to fill up a rain barrel in a few minutes!

[Anonymous]

Good Afternoon!

It´s been a boring day today - dull outside, dull inside . Had a number of useless telephone calls, but that was all.

Our tour is slowly coming to an end. Tomorrow morning, we will had back to Innsbruck and make our way to Munich. The train ride will be one of the highlights of the trip, as we ride down the Arlberg mountain line.

The Arlberg Railway, which connects the Austrian cities Innsbruck and Bludenz, is Austria's only east-westmountain railway. The 135.7 km line is considered one of Europe's most problematic mountain railways, in part because it is threatened by avalanches, mudslides, rockfalls and floods. It is operated by the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and frequented by international trains, including the Orient Express.

As early as 1842 a railway over the Arlberg Pass was under discussion, as the British sought a rail connection for traffic from England to Egypt. Two years later, in 1847, Carl Ganahl - a textile industrialist from Feldkirch - decided to privately support construction of the railway, despite the many technical challenges involved. On the other hand, the opening of the Semmering Railway in 1854 showed that mountain railways were basically possible and feasible.

Construction of the Arlberg Railway started in 1880 and proceeded at a faster pace than planned. Completion was originally not expected until the autumn of 1885, but already by May 29, 1883 the valley route from Innsbruck to Landeck in Tyrol was put into service. On September 21, 1884 the entire stretch of mountain railway was completed, including the then single-track, 10.25 km (6.37 mi) long Arlbergtunnel, the construction of which claimed 92 lives.

The transalpine Arlberg Railway opened up a completely new connection between Lake Constance and the Adriatic Sea. Traffic increased so rapidly that already by July 15, 1885 a second track through the tunnel was opened, as had been planned since the beginning of the project. The most renowned train on the Arlberg route was the Orient Express, from London to Bucharest, which had only first-class compartments and parlors.

Right from the beginning, the use of steam locomotives on the Arlberg led to serious problems: Passengers and crews were exposed to the unhealthy effects of sulfurous acid, which condensed from the steam in the tunnel. Grade slopes of up to 3.1% on the western ramp and 2.6% on the eastern ramp caused traction troubles for the locomotives. Finally, in 1924, this problem was eliminated with the completion of electrification of the tunnel, followed by the ramp sections in 1925. This electrification of the railway was carried out with a 15 kV, 16.7 Hertz system, allowing heavy trains to be pulled over the route once the tracks and supporting structures, including the Trisanna bridge in 1964, had been upgraded for the increased axle weights.

Today, traffic through the Arlberg railway tunnel has increased considerably, despite competition from road transport through the Arlberg Road Tunnel. This has made it necessary to widen the approach ramps for double tracks. Many long-distance, high-speed EuroCity and Railjet trains ply the route from Vienna to Vorarlberg over the Arlberg. On the occasion of the World Ski Championships in 2001, the railway station of St. Anton on the eastern side of the Arlberg Tunnel was completely reconstructed and the tunnel itself extended by several hundred feet.

Our journey will finally take us to Munich, where we will stay at the Hotel Bayrischer Hof

Dinner is being served at the Hofbräuhaus, where !we will a traditional Bavarian meal, accompanied by !

Time to say good bye to good old Europe, as we head back to the States, Canada and Australia the following day.

I hope you enjoyed our little tour!

[cudaken]

 Thank You for the Tour Ulrich! To bad it is such a small country.

 On Cricket, there's rules? You sure Ray? I all so think there out fielders need to stand back a little more from what I have seen.

 Well, I am off to work.

 Later, Ken

 

[Burlington Northern #24]

can't mount blma's emd pilots on my GP15-1 it sits way too low, so I guess I need to repaint the pilots. both will still receive MU hoses, coupler cut bars, and air hoses. I also tryed my hand at weathering, if you plan on using stoney mtn, spray dullcote after you put the powder on for some reason it destroys decals... 

[galaxy]

Ulrich...Um pah, um pah, um pah pah, Um pah, Um Pah Um pah pah. UmPah Pah band! {hey don't look at me, MOH said it!} ANd we would enjoy to eat at the Hofbrauhaus...Danke shoene{?}, {I know...Bitte}

Well,

we went to CU to get a consilidation loan. Done and Done....

Went to Sams club to get a few things...

WEnt to get a "give us this day our daily bread" platter for some friends for either Easter or Next Christmas...HA HA.

did our once- a month eat-out dinner, a 2 for $10 special at Long John silvers {fried=not good, fish=good I know} I got the fish MOH got the shrimp plate.

WHat else?

oh, now for a nap....

Cold still hanging on.but manageable or Im geting used to it one or the other...

 

[rdgk1se3019]

Hey Ulrich.......

I have a friend that is an old elementary school friend.....that has an art gallery in Berlin.......of all things to call it ........it is called the "WYE"......I think it is in an old print factory that happens to be in the middle of 3 or 4 rails lines.

[rdgk1se3019]

Hello all,

Do any of you here get the monthly E mail newsletter from Micro Scale Industries?

If so check out the bottom of the page...........

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

POLKA!!!

73