Elliot's Trackside Diner....JUNE 2013!!!!

[howmus]

Mornin' everyone!

Zoe, I'll have a bowl of granola with some blueberries and a cup of dark roast coffee in my R&GV RR mug.  Thanks you Ma'am!

Currently 76°F outside here in the Finger Lakes with a high of .... ah.... 76° they say.  For the moment the big bright yellow orb has shown its face and there is a nice breeze to keep things feeling good.  later today we may vet a few thunderboomers, just to keep the puddles active.

Didn't get to post last night as I went directly to my son's house for dinner after being car host at the R&GV RR Museum all day.  i was served Salmon grilled on a cedar plank with a speacial home made BBQ sauce using Dijon Mustard and brown sugar amonst some other iongredients.  Tasty!  Also had some shish kabobs, fresh sauteed summer squash, and fresh baked apple pie a la mode for dessert.

Had a good Fathers Day on board the old Erie Caboose C-254.  Fairly good crowd considering the rain almost all day.  They got out our Fairbanks-Morse H44-12 for motive power for the day.  She had not been used much for the last 3 years as she has been spewing oil out through the exhaust manifold (I have a yellow museum crew shirt just covered in little black oil spots....).  When They started her up this spring she had stopped throwing oil.  Used her several times to do some switching and she seemed to be over the problem.  Half way through the day yesterday guess what she stared doing again....?  Our Museum President is an engineer for CSX in the Rochester yard.  He says that these old machines need to be used often and hard and the problem will cure itself.  Problem is we don't have any work at the museum that can get her revved up under load taking all her 1200 HP to get her back in condition.  Not sure what they're going to do.  He mentioned a type of machine that could do just that if they can get one loaned to the museum.

On the way back home, I got off the NYS Thruway at the Geneva exit to find the route I usually take back to my house blocked by two State Police cars with several other police cars up on the overp[ass and a couple blocking the exit ramp for Rt' 96 coming from Phelps NY.  I took Rt. 14 to Geneva and found the next several roads were similarly blocked by state police.  Then I had to get off the road to all an unmarked police car with lights flashing doing about 75mph coming north on 14....  Figured something big was coming down...  When I got to Geneva I turned onto North St. to take the short cut over to my son's house and ran into a group of City Police Cars blocking the road near a church in Geneva.  Found out what was happening when I got to my son's house.  Shots were fired on North Street in Geneva, City Police resonded and ended up with a high speed car chase up Rt. 14, and then on Rt. 96 toward Phelps, NY.  The truck being chased had either 3 or 4 people in it.  The truck crashed a ways up the road.  One person got out and pointed a gun at the police and was promptly shot.  Nailed him in the arm.  He was taken to Strong Hospital in Rochester with non-life threatening injuries, treated and released to the police during the night.  One other person who was hiding in the woods near where the truck crashed was taken into custody over night.  One or two more are still being sought at this time.....  My doors are locked!

Most likely a drug gang event.  We have had a few similar incidences in that same part of the city over the last year.  They have also recently arrested something like 35 drug dealers in the area (three county area) so this may all be related.  More on the incident here: http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S3069201.shtml?cat=566

Need to get myself moving!  Later...

73

[pascaff*]

  Morning All,

     Currently it is 57 with an expected high of 85 with breezy conditions this afternoon.

     Daughters and son-in-law came over yesterday evening and we all went out for Sushi and then ice cream. They paid, plus one daughter made me some fudge, and the other bought me some resistors and diodes. Inexpensive but thoughtful. Well sushi dinner was not inexpensive, since we did the all you can eat.

   Ran four trains around both loops of the layout for several hours to check the track w**k, everything seems OK so far. I will wire up the last three toggle switches for the turnouts for the sidings, and check that track w**k, before painting the rails and getting down to doing more scenery.

    Soilwork  -

    Prayers to all in need.

     Paul

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 80° with 85% humidity. The high will be 92°.


Today I have to take my fathers poodle to the groomer then mow the yard then go pick the poodle up from the groomer. It's gonna be a busy day.

[MisterBeasley]

soilwork

I will throw a burger on the grill later and I pan on watching the Bruins tonight!! Not much else going on at the moment.

The Bruins!  I loved the way they came out in the overtime Saturday.  I am seriously considering building a small Stanley Cup to haul around my layout on a flatcar.

[soilwork]

                                                     Good morning everyone!!!!

It's Monday an lucky for me I don't have a severe case of the Mondays, have today and tomorrow off. Just put a pot of coffee on and toasting a cinnamon raisin bagel. Just turned on the Jazz channel on Music Choice, now all I need to do is jump in the shower and I'm good to go. Not much on the agenda for today. Might try and sketch out the expansion on my layout and I'm thinking about doing something that has probably not been done here. Here is a teaser pic!!!

I will throw a burger on the grill later and I plan on watching the Bruins tonight!! Not much else going on at the moment.

[MisterBeasley]

Good morning!

Well, SWMBO's on her way to visit her parents in Florida.  They're 96 and 92 years old, still living independently in a second-floor walkup condo right on the ocean.  But, even they realize it's time to move to assisted living, so that will be the order of business down there.  Her Mom gets upset easily, so nobody else goes down with my wife anymore.  Besides, it's summer and so hot that they're mostly trapped inside anyway, and it's a small place.

Just a bit of train work over the weekend.  I decided to keep the track plan simple for the tanning company and the Railway Express depot - just a siding for each and maybe bring them back together for switching at the end.  The space isn't there to do the kind of things I'd like to.  So, once again, I'm thinking more long-term, as in "when I retire I'll have a bigger space."  I also re-wheeled 5 freight cars with Intermountain metal wheelsets, and I removed, painted and weathered 5 more sets of trucks.  I got the Upsidadium cannisters decaled, too.  They came out perfectly.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

Coffee and an order of biscuits and gravy with a couple scrambled eggs thrown on top please, thanks.

Isolated showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Areas of fog before 8am. Otherwise, partly sunny, with a high near 86. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Curt- We tried the pot luck thing for Thanksgiving one year……liked to starved.

Flip- Yup, and I’m that Patsy. If I want peace with the wife, I break out the wallet.

Soilwork- Welcome to the diner!

Ken- Got me beat. Owned mine for 33 come 1^st part November.

CDN Dennis- I use Ailene’s Tacky glue for most everything except what you use thinned of course. You can get it most anywhere including Wally World.

4” in 30 minutes!!!!!! My gosh I’m surprised you even have a roof Barry! That’s like dumping buckets !!! Talk about flooding….you must have one heck of a drain system there. An inch an hour here is a deluge.

Jeff- Sorry about the Poodle. I hope the Dane calms down.

Boy what, everyone is moving on to another hobby about the time I can start to play again too? Just kidding.

Welp, all in all yesterday was what I asked for. To be left alone. I watched Warehouse 13 marathon…first time I’ve seen said show. Not bad. Then, juuuust about the worst movie short of those B-made for TV ScyFy things, but worst big screen movies I’ve seen since I don’t know when…Catwoman.  Odd for Fathers Day there was no Ziva marathon. Hm. And in there I felt guilty and buzzed the yard. BUT! I did get in the trainroom! Worked on the interior for the Café. Not much done (that’s when I felt guilty about the yard)  but some is better than none.

Bookwo*k for the Church, then…..don’t know. You don’t suppose I’ll have a uneventful day do you? Let's hope so. Ok? Ok.

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[galaxy]

JimRCGMO

 

Heartland Division CB&Q

Galaxy .... Interesting about the word "Redneck" ..... I don't think Wiki is correct to say it is derogatory. Maybe in the past it was, but not now. Now it means people living in rural or non-urban areas of the South. Typically they are working class people.

Hey Garry, keep in mind that I heard someone (I think it was on a morning show out of the East Coast) refer to the middle of the country (that is, anything between the coasts) as "flyover country"... Maybe Galaxy could look up "flyover country"?

 

 

Jim:

 

Flyover cournty is simly the part of the country which they will never visit, and that most people only see when flying from one place to another-usually coast to coast..

 

More specifically:

Flyover country and flyover states are Americanisms describing the region of the United States between the East and West Coasts. The terms, which are often used in a pejorative sense, refer to the regions of the country passed over during transcontinental flights—e.g., flights between the nation's two largest cities, NYC and Los Angeles. Flyover country thusly refers to the part of the country that many Americans only view by air and never actually see in person at ground level

 

the middle part of the US, considered as a place that rich, famous, or fashionable people living on the East or West coast of America would never visit, but which they often fly over on journeys to the other coast - used humorously: I feel happy at 20,000 feet, approaching flyover country, far above that wasteland between Manhattan and California

 

 

Naturally, this phrase would only have come into being when flight allowed for coast-coast or region to region flights across the counry, so it is about mid 20th century in origin,

[galaxy]

jeffrey-wimberly

This is the starting point:



Well, that's all for tonight. See y'all tomorrow.

Sounds a LOT like Microsoft Adventure game.

 

I choose W, Jeffrey.

[galaxy]

morning coffee in the diner...

GOOD MONDAY MORNING!!!

Today is Monday, June 17th, 2013!

I will light the prayer candles at 9 am for those in need....

MAKE it a GREAT DAY!!

 And, As promised for Garry and others:

"the proof is in the pudding":

Dictionary references:

Meaning 1}: The original phrase is "The proof of the pudding is in the eating!" Which means you have to eat the pudding to know what's inside of it.
The modern version of "The proof is in the pudding." Implies that there is a lot of evidence that I will not go through at this moment and you should take my word for it, or you could go through all of the evidence yourself.

Homeowner: I don't believe it really takes 100 trees to build a house?
Carpenter: The lumber for the framing of the house requires all the boards to be the same length; the proof is in the pudding.

 

Meaning 2}:

A phrase that, when uttered, instantly identifies the speaker as being incredibly stupid and illiterate. The original saying is "the proof of the pudding is in the eating", basically meaning that something has to be experienced/utilized in order to prove how good it is. This phrase got messed up by idiots who don't quite understand what they are saying. Similar mistakes include could care less (couldn't care less), stop running around with your chicken cut off (stop running around like a chicken with its head cut off), begs the question (raises the question), here here (hear hear), and all that glitters is gold (all that glitters/glisters is not gold - "glisters" is used in the original Shakespeare quote)

 

A general meaning:

To fully test something you need to experience it yourself

 

Origin:

'The proof of the pudding' is shorthand for 'the proof of the pudding is in the eating'. The longer version makes sense at least, whereas the shortened version really doesn't mean much of anything - nor does the oft-quoted incorrect variation 'the proof is in the pudding'. The continued use of that meaningless version is no doubt bolstered by the fact that the correct version isn't at all easy to understand.

The meaning becomes clear, here,  when you know that 'proof' is a verb meaning 'test'. The more common meaning of 'proof' in our day and age is the noun meaning 'the evidence that demonstrates a truth' - as in a mathematical or legal proof. The verb form meaning 'to test' is less used these days, although it does survive in several commonly used phrases: 'the exception that proves the rule', 'proof-read', 'proving-ground', etc. When bakers 'prove' yeast they are letting it stand in warm water for a time, to determine if it is still active. Clearly, the distinction between these two forms of the word was originally quite slight and the proof in a 'showing to be true' sense is merely the successful outcome of a test of whether a proposition is correct or not.

'The proof of the pudding is in the eating' is a very old proverb. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations dates it back to the early 14th century, albeit without offering any supporting evidence for that assertion. The phrase is widely attributed to Cervantes in The History of Don Quixote. This appears to be by virtue of an early 18th century translation by Peter Motteux, which has been criticised by later scholars as 'a loose paraphrase' and 'Franco-Cockney'. Crucially the Spanish word for pudding - 'budín', doesn't appear in the original Spanish text. It is doubtful that 'the proof of the pudding' was a figurative phrase that was known to Cervantes.

The earliest printed example of the proverb to be found is in William Camden's Remaines of a Greater Worke Concerning Britaine, 1605:

"All the proof of a pudding is in the eating."

As the phrase is quite old, it is worth remembering that the pudding would not have been a sticky toffee pudding from the sweet trolley, but a potentially fatal savoury dish! In Camden's listing of proverbs he also includes "If you eat a pudding at home, the dog may have the skin", which suggests that the pudding he had in mind was some form of sausage. THE OED describes the mediaeval pudding as 'the stomach or one of the entrails of a pig, sheep, or other animal, stuffed with a mixture of minced meat, suet, oatmeal, seasoning, etc., and boiled'.  Those of you who have ventured north of the border of England on Burns Night will recognize this as a fair description of a haggis - "the great chieftain o' the pudding-race", as Burns called it in the poem Address to a Haggis, 1786. Mediaeval peasants, faced with a boiled up farmyard massacre, might have thought a taste test to have been a wise choice.

 

And, so, the proof of the pudding is in the eating....does it taste good, or does it stink?

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Warning: This post has very little to do with trains.

I'll be cutting grass tomorrow. I had scheduled that for Tuesday but my niece wants it done tomorrow for whatever reason. And I have to take my fathers poodle to the groomer then go back later to pick her up and set the appointment for the next visit. Lucky me. Well I got one of the old Apple computer systems out of the closet today. The one that belonged to my mother. I had to so I could move things around to make room for the boxes of train stuff That I took off the layout this morning. They need to go somewhere while I'm rebuilding the layout. So just for laughs and a little fun I set the system up on the plywood top of the layout extension so I could install and test a new memory board. After the computer had been running for about twenty minutes there was a pop and a puff of smoke from the power supply. I shut it down quick then did some tests. I couldn't find any shorts so I turned it on again. Everything works. I ran some test programs and everything checked out. I did a memory test and it checks out at 128k RAM. A-OK. The only thing I can come up with is something set up house keeping inside the power supply. It started moving around and stepped on the wrong thing. POW! And is no longer amongst the living. The computer is working fine.

Speaking of things no longer amongst the living. One of my fathers poodles has passed on. My nieces great dane grabbed him behind the head and shook him hard enough to snap his neck. Fortunately he didn't live long. Right now the dane is everyone's least favorite dog and he knows it. What he doesn't know yet is that he has an appointment next week to have certain parts removed to help curb his aggressiveness. My worry is that he now knows the joy of killing. What's next? The cat has been missing for four days now. Did he kill her too? We haven't found her yet so we don't know.

Since the old computer is set up I took a couple of photos. This is what will be taking up part of my hobby time.



The text on the screen is part of a game program I wrote way back in the 80's. It was never on the market for the simple reason that I never released it. It's similar to the old Zork games. You have to use the clues presented to figure out what to do next. It's not an easy game and will knock you off at the first opportunity. Areas to search are a forest, an abandoned mine, a cabin and a large mansion. There are things that have to be found to progress from one level to another.

This is the starting point:



Well, that's all for tonight. See y'all tomorrow.

[JimRCGMO]

chochowillie

Jim  To my eye, maybe if you tried a light wash of a sorta kinda burgundy over what you have it would dull it down to about the right color. Just my guess for what it's worth.

Dennis

Thanks, CDN Dennis - another good idea (now I just need to figure out which to try first...)

Jim in Cape G.

[JimRCGMO]

galaxy

Jim: I would suggest a very light over-coating of thinned out white sprayed over the whole thing, OR at least on the "more sun exposed sides".

This would give it a faded look that would, I think kinda look pinkish too.

I beleive in many cases Robby P. {'memba him?} said he did that..a light white spay over coating to start his 'fading " proceedures.

If you Try it let us know and post more pics fo how it turned out!

Galaxy, I may just try that; I also (now that you reminded me- thanks) may email Robby and ask his suggestions, too. You're right on both counts!

Jim in Cape G.

[soilwork]

I hate rain, but the rain loves me. It always seems to find me when I'm commuting back and forth to work. I hate working all night in cold damp clothes!! I just finished browsing Ebay and was very tempted to hit the buy it now button, but after spending $340 on 13 Athearn 50' flat cars with 25' trailers last week, I decide to hold off.  

[jeffrey-wimberly]

blownout cylinder

backyard raingauge is showing 4" fell in 30 minutes

Wow! That's a lot of rain in such a short time. Good thing it decided not to stick around.

[blownout cylinder]

Good Evening

Boy did we have some excitement here...a good ol' t'underin'boomer showed grumbling and growling its way towards us...left just a few minutes ago...backyard raingauge is showing 4" fell in 30 minutes plus we ended up with about an inch of hail....bit of a surprise this one...

Going to finish off the BBQ we had going BEFORE this thing showed up..of course...under the awning.

[chochowillie]

tcwright973

There were so many things going on in downtown Pittsburgh today, parking was almost non-existant.

Well Tom at least you didn't need to worry about the Penguins playoff game....  

I can't talk cause my team got booted out in the first round of the play off's. 

Cheers

Dennis

[chochowillie]

Well now I've been twisting the night away doing the WS tree armature thing and dabbing on the Hobby Tac stuff they sell. That stuff works well but at 8 bucks a little bottle I have to wonder if something else would work just as well.  Anybody got any alternative ideas to the WS stuff?

Pretty dull Fathers day here. Weather wise and otherwise. Haven't heard from my kid but that doesn't surprise me. Not the first time and won't be the last. Not complaining, just saying...

I'll be watching the ideas on Jim's elevator since I have one sitting on the shelf waiting to be built too. Lots of other building kits as well, some years old but sooner or later I'll get to them.

Oh right, back to the spruce/pine tree thing. After watching some twine/wire making on YouTube, I thought I'd give it a try.  You don't want to know how they turned out. Made 6 and threw out 6. What a disaster. They make it look so easy on the video's.... Sheesh. For now I think I'll try the furnace filter way and see how they turn out. The WS trees are great but I'll be in the poor house before I get even close to enough. The ones I've got will make good foreground trees but I have to find a cheaper way for the back ones.

Nothing but troubles I got.... woe is me....   

Best go spend some time with MOH before she gets grumpy.

Later all

Dennis

[cudaken]

 Evening Dinners

 Flo, Beer for all the Dad's and one for me!

 Been in a good mood all day? Not sure why, maybe because I am working on the Road Runner again, a new quest! I was all so mistaken, I have owned the 68 Road Runner for 40 years now? Boy we are both getting old!

 Work Front Best news I got today is that Evil Scott will not be back for another 2 weeks! 

 Jeremy I made my coal loads by cutting up the cardboard boxes my Walther cars came in. Drew the lines around where the OD of the car was (flipped over on the cardboard) then sanded for a tight fit about a 1/4 inch down in the car.

 Later, Ken

http://s83.photobucket.com/user/cudaken/media/Real%20Trains/boenginesconnellsville_zps9b753ad7.jpg.html]

 

[tcwright973]

Spent a couple of hours rail fanning yesterday. Not bad with a total of 8 trains in 2 hours and beautiful weather. There were 4 intermodals and 4 mixed freights. The consist on one of the mixed freights was interesting in that the power was 2 GP40-2s which are listed as slug masters and 2 RP-E4C's which are listed as slugs. But the most interesting thing was this combine being transported on a flatbed. It was suggested on another forum that this car was possibly being considered for rebuild and future use on one of NS's special trains. As it was headed west toward Conway Yard, I'm thinking it's not going to a scrap heap somewhere. At least I hope so.

Today was another show at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. "7 Brides for 7 Brothers", and it was another terrific performance. The only down side was the parking. There were so many things going on in downtown Pittsburgh today, parking was almost non-existant. With the wife not being able to walk long distances didn't help either. But we finally got into one of the parking garages after trying a whole bunch of lots and garages. We had just about decided to return home when we got lucky. Besides the Civic Light Opera, there was an afternoon performance by the Symphony Pops Orchestra, the Pirates had a home game, The Three Rivers Art Festival was in full swing, and finally we had a major street that runs through the downtown area closed for a gay parade and festival. Something for everyone I guess.

After the show we went to a very nice restaurant for dinner. I thought we might have a problem getting seating because of Father's Day, but we walked in and were seated right away. Different story when we left however, with people waiting inside and out for a table.

And to top of a nice day, at 9:00 this evening is a new episode of "Inspector Lewis" on Masterpiece Theater which runs on our local PBS station. I'll be hitting the sheets as soon as that shows over as I'm getting very tired. And tomorrow will be quite busy as Monday is our shopping & errands day. Last week it was almost 4:00 in the afternoon before we wrapped everything up. Hope tomorrow isn't as long a day.

Everybody take care and keep safe...

 

[chochowillie]

JimRCGMO

but closer to where the red isn't as saturated but is starting to look "dull"

Jim  To my eye, maybe if you tried a light wash of a sorta kinda burgundy over what you have it would dull it down to about the right color. Just my guess for what it's worth.

Dennis

[soilwork]

galaxy

soilwork

Hello everyone,

                                   Just sitting here reading the forums. I cant play with my trains because I am house and cat sitting for the weekend. Just finished watching Unstoppable for the 2nd time. I went outside and put some chicken on the grill....yummy!!!! Gonna hit Ebay and see what I can find. This Friday I am going to pick up my Athearn SD70 SP heritage unit with DCC and sound, cant wait!!! I hope everyone has a great night!   

a big fat hearty to you soil man! I don't recall seeing you in here? SO to the diner!

Come in sit a spell, share your day and chat with us!

Thanks! First time visit  at the diner for me!!

[galaxy]

soilwork

Hello everyone,

                                   Just sitting here reading the forums. I cant play with my trains because I am house and cat sitting for the weekend. Just finished watching Unstoppable for the 2nd time. I went outside and put some chicken on the grill....yummy!!!! Gonna hit Ebay and see what I can find. This Friday I am going to pick up my Athearn SD70 SP heritage unit with DCC and sound, cant wait!!! I hope everyone has a great night!   

a big fat hearty to you soil man! I don't recall seeing you in here? SO to the diner!

Come in sit a spell, share your day and chat with us!

[galaxy]

JimRCGMO

chochowillie

JimRCGMO

I want more of a "kinda washed out red from sitting in the sun for years and years" kind of almost-red color. Anybody have any suggestions how to do that (on my simple level)?

I had a red truck once that sat in the sun for years and it turned into kind of a pinkish color. Don't know if that helps Jim.

Dennis

Thanks, Dennis - I'm thinking a stage on that color before it gets kinda pink, but closer to where the red isn't as saturated but is starting to look "dull" (if I can borrow Barry's favorite weather word...).

 

 

I still need to put the decals on (and other parts...), and maybe if I 'streak' the white lettering for the Farmers' Co-Op name on the side, that may help, too.

Jim in Cape G.

Jim: I would suggest a very light over-coating of thinned out white sprayed over the whole thing, OR at least on the "more sun exposed sides".

This would give it a faded look that would, I think kinda look pinkish too.

I beleive in many cases Robby P. {'memba him?} said he did that..a light white spay over coating to start his 'fading " proceedures.

If you Try it let us know and post more pics fo how it turned out!

 

[soilwork]

Hello everyone,

                                   Just sitting here reading the forums. I cant play with my trains because I am house and cat sitting for the weekend. Just finished watching Unstoppable for the 2nd time. I went outside and put some chicken on the grill....yummy!!!! Gonna hit Ebay and see what I can find. This Friday I am going to pick up my Athearn SD70 SP heritage unit with DCC and sound, cant wait!!! I hope everyone has a great night!   

[JeremyB]

Evening guys,

Was going to go over to my parenst for supper but just started to feel awful this afternoon, like I am getting a cold. The house is getting warm with the sun beating down on it so I may turn on the air so I can get comfy tonight. The wife went over though, I have been off all day really, I just did the house cleaning this morning ( minus making the bad,lol ) and then did nothing. It was rainy until about 12:30 or so. Well off to make that said bed and might just get into it,lol.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

JimRCGMO

I'm thinking a stage on that color before it gets kinda pink, but closer to where the red isn't as saturated but is starting to look "dull" (if I can borrow Barry's favorite weather word...).

Glory be! I had a pink Ford pickup once. Course it started out fire engine red.

[CNCharlie]

Good Afternoon,

Happy Father's Day to all those who are. Didn't get a card from Robbie but then again he is Westie and likely thought that a card was a needless expense. I did get a nice greeting when I got up though. Oh wait he is just a little dog so my expectations might be a little high.

Just sitting here sipping a glass of a fine Ontario red. It is a 2006 Old Vines Foch. Nice but very dry.

Well it is cloudy again here and 68F so not a great day weatherwise but at least it didn't rain.

I ran trains or at least a train for a while today. It is the Mortimer local pulled by a Pacific. If any of you are looking for a nice small passenger steamer, I sure can recommend BLI's Pacific. I did take my Mehano Hudson into the LHS as a consignment sale. It is a version sold here to somewhat resemble a CN K5a and was my first new loco when I got back into the hobby. It ran well but I don't have much of a use for it now and rarely ran it so off it goes to a new home. I'll be lucky to recover the cost of the decoders I installed but I'm not a collector. If I don't run them or they don't fit the layout, then out they go.

On the N scale front I insalled MT couplers on a Kato PA1 and also a decoder. Although MT couplers are the standard for N quite frankly I think Kato couplers are nicer. They sure are more to scale and work well but they aren't compatible with MT or others. Good grief those coupler parts sure are small!  Especially a little spring that you have to fit in a special holder which is then glued in place. This is in a PA1 set in D&H livery. I just think they are really attractive locos and I really like D&H colours so on the layout they go. Funny but with N I'm far more relaxed about a loco fitting the layout either in type or the road. I now have more N scale than HO but so far rarely run any even though all of the trackwork is done and some of the scenery.

Mr. Beasley , sounds like we are in a similar situation. I will have to retire soon as I'll be 66 in Nov. and we too are thinking of moving. In our case it is more for a better climate and no yard work. By today's standards our house isn't  very large at 1400 S.F., but the back yard is heavily landscaped and takes a lot of upkeep. We probably spend $500 a year on flowers. My wife is the gardiner but she has bad knees now and was just diagnosed with early oesteoporisis in her spine so she can't lift much or bend.

Well I guess that wine is having an effect as I seem to be rambling a bit here. Thanks for your patience if you made it all the way through the post.

Nasi Goering for supper tonight. Yum!!  Developed a taste for it when we went to Borneo a few years ago.

It is our TV night. We watch PBS on Sundays as we really like Masterpiece Theatre and MI5.

CN Charlie

[JimRCGMO]

chochowillie

JimRCGMO

I want more of a "kinda washed out red from sitting in the sun for years and years" kind of almost-red color. Anybody have any suggestions how to do that (on my simple level)?

I had a red truck once that sat in the sun for years and it turned into kind of a pinkish color. Don't know if that helps Jim.

Dennis

Thanks, Dennis - I'm thinking a stage on that color before it gets kinda pink, but closer to where the red isn't as saturated but is starting to look "dull" (if I can borrow Barry's favorite weather word...).

Here're a couple of photos of the current color/colour:

and:

I still need to put the decals on (and other parts...), and maybe if I 'streak' the white lettering for the Farmers' Co-Op name on the side, that may help, too.

Jim in Cape G.

[chochowillie]

JimRCGMO

I want more of a "kinda washed out red from sitting in the sun for years and years" kind of almost-red color. Anybody have any suggestions how to do that (on my simple level)?

I had a red truck once that sat in the sun for years and it turned into kind of a pinkish color. Don't know if that helps Jim.

Dennis