Afternoon Folks!
Chloe, I'll have a tall glass of lemonade please. Thank you Ma'am!
Ulrich, I love German Steam Locos (and the English one as well)! Beautiful beasts they are... Glad to hear you got a day to relax!
'Tis turning out to be a nice day here in the Finger Lakes. About lunch time I walked by the phone and found I had a phone message from someone named Private. I normally would have just erased the message and not given it any thought. I decided to let it play before I erased it and lo and behold it was the computer guy calling to tell me the iMac was repaired and all set for me to pick up! He also pointed out they were only open until 2PM on Saturday... I gave the place a call to make sure and the lady at the stroe told me as soon as she picked up the phone that the computer was waiting for me. I had a quick lunch and headed out to the store near Victor, NY.
A couple days ago while goofing around with the laptop I decided to Google the Jessi Group and see what the shortest route to get there actually is. Turns out driving to Canandaigua and then heading North to Victor is several miles shorter than taking the NYS Thruway. So, I decided to give it a try. The car was fully charged and said I had 12.4 miles of EV and it is a 57 mile round trip. I decided that by taking the back roads i could drive a bit slower and use all the hypermiling techniques for the PiP. They include the Pulse and Glide, letting your momentum take you up over a hill and accelerate on the downward side, EV Stacking (you can build up EV miles by switching back to EV and braking going down long hills. I did this going into Victor on the back road where it is 55 mph at the top of the hill and 30 at the bottom when you reach Victor. Gained 2.5 miles of EV on that hill.), staying in EV when you are driving at 30mph or less, and a few other things. I was able to save about 6 miles of EV for the trip home. Anyway on the trip to the store I got 80mpg! On the way back home.... hang on to your hat... I got 92mpg with the car! I also managed to time the trip perfectly so I crawled back in to my driveway on the last few milliamps of EV available before the ICE would start (known as golf cart mode...). Fun! I should add there was only about 5 miles each way where I was any kind of main highway where I had to stay with traffic. The rest was all back roads that had no traffic to make me hit the throttle.
The iMac is set back up and I am starting to work on the Nametags for the class reunion... Catch you all later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Used my fathers truck to go to Wal-Mart to complete my grocery shopping. Dang store was packed! Seemed like a traffic jam, insane asylum and political rally all rolled up into one. As for the weather, man it's hot out there! It feels like 104 now. Think I'll stay inside the rest of the day.
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
Afternoon guys
Train club went okay. The fuel tender works fine between locos. I used it between my 2 C30-7s as I don't have any operable SD40-2s in BN yet (I need an Athearn RTR SD40-2 numberboard; although one from a BB SD40-2 might work.) I had to re-program the ATSF SD40-2 and the 2 BN C30-7s, again. But I think I got them for good this time, I might try using the ATSF SD40-2 at the tail next time there. It seem my throttle is about to crap out. Between 50% and 75% it's like I turned it power to 0. Between ~10% and ~35% it acts like it's near full, and full works about normal. I'm probably going to just get a DT400R or a DT402R if I can find one cheaply...
It seems I have an issue with 3 of my 4 BLI locos. One of my C30-7s looses power where the other one won't. Both of my NW2s won't program the way I want them too, one like to play the coupler sound constantly unless it's programmed so the lights don't work, and one likes to lose power when changing directions, even from a stop, one also likes to derail (but the derailing has gone down a lot since I took it messed with it). However upgrading the version 7 chip may change those. If the version 7 fails, I'll just rip out the QSI stuff and stick a loksound in one and a lenz in the other. I'm going to post in the general area to see if anyone has any ideas...
James, Nice tour.
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.
Howdy Folks!
I took a day off from political turmoil and trouble. A friend invited me to a railfan tour to that little museum line we have in about an hour´s driving distance. It was the year´s special event, when they fire up all the steam locos the have. Just a few impressions:
See the little toddler? He is from Durham, NC. It was nice seeing his eyes getting bigger and bigger. I had a nice chat with his dad, as well.
I really enjoyed the day, even though the phone rang quite a few times...
Have a good one!
Morning All,
Currently it is 61 with an expected high of 91. Was cool again last night, so no ac or fans, just opened all the upstairs windows, it was very comfortable sleeping.
I took a little over two hours to get home from w**k yesterday. There was a fatal motorcycle accident on I 80 around 2:30. I left w**k at 7:00 and got home after 9:00. NHP was doing an investigation to see what happened. I did manage to see three trains while stopped in traffic. All were hopper unit trains, going East, most likely to the mines in the Eastern part Nevada. We have a lot of mines there. Needless to say, did not get and model w**k done, probably will not today either as it is another w**k day for me.
James - Nice pictures of Brisbane, and great tour also.
Prayers to all in need.
Paul
Living in Fernley Nevada, about 30 miles east of Reno, also lived in Oregon and California, but born In Brooklyn NY and raised on Long Island NY
Packer: No, the battles are WW1 style dogfights. However, the main problem I am having is that there are plenty of people in each battle that can out maneuver what I have. They also have plenty of experience. Not me. However, I made myself happy by shooting down an enemy F4U Corsair with a F4F Wildcat in a head-on pass. Also have a P-39 Airacobra for the Soviet Union now.
Gary: If you like those games, you will like WoWP. It's not a simulator, but it does have a realistic type of battle environment. You have to watch out for friendly fire, collisions, running into the ground when on the deck, and so on. It's in Beta Test mode now, and if you get in more than 700 battles in Beta mode, you'll get a special aircraft for it. However, the game being in Beta mode means that when it is officially released, your progress will be wiped to keep a level playing field for those who are new to it at the time of release.
Currently I'm doing good. Happy, but with a slight headache, but nothing to major. Have a graduation party I'm going to this evening. Looking forward to it.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Route of the Black Diamond Express, John Wilkes and Maple Leaf.
-Jake, modeling the Barclay, Towanda & Susquehanna.
Good morning. It's 85° with 64% humidity. It feels like 102° outside. The high will be 98° and will feel like 108°. with Gonna be hot today. I have some grocery shopping to do later. For the most part I'll be staying inside where it's cool. Besides the shopping I have no plans. But I'm sure something will come up.
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, I'll have a big bowl of Pumpkin Seed Flax Granola with some Blueberries on top and a cup of Dark Roast Coffee to start the day.
So far the big yellow thing is up in the sky and trees and other things are casting something called shadows. Won't last I bet.... Today appears to be lawn mowing day in the neighborhood as several of the nieghbors are taking advantage of the cool weather this morning to get it done. Currently 70°F here in the Finger Lakes with a high this afternoon of 75°. I have the fan in the bedroom window and windows open so far today. May get another day of not running the air conditioner today.
Tomorrow when I am out to the Museum the temperature is not even supposed to reach 70°. Talking about scattered thunderboomers as well. I'll take a light jacket with me. So far I seem to be the only Docent signed up to work... Hope at least one other person shows up out there. If we get any kind of crowd two guides are really needed to handle it. I can't be everywhere at the same time....
Best get myself moving. Lots of stuff to do. Later!
[edit] Looks like lunch is on me today! Eat hearty...
MisterBeasley Good Morning! Or, since we seem to be in the land down under, G'day. Given the time shift, it must be almost beer-thirty, so I'll go with an Adelaide Lager. For some reason, decades ago a local liquor store (we call them "package stores" here) got a shipment of Adelaide Lager. I tried a six-pack, then a case. No one else seemed to be buying it, and it wouldn't surprise me if I eventually bought half the shipment. The only other time I've had it was in an Aussie bar in Aspen, Colorado, where they had it on tap. Our microwave died. It's got a bad control panel. I googled around, and someone said this is a bad enough problem with these that they may fix it for free. Unfortunately, Customer Relations is closed for the weekend, but I'll call back Monday and see what can be done. Cloudy and 70 right now. The map looks like we'll be on the borderline of a fast-moving rain system today. Oh, well, lots to do inside.
Good Morning! Or, since we seem to be in the land down under, G'day. Given the time shift, it must be almost beer-thirty, so I'll go with an Adelaide Lager.
For some reason, decades ago a local liquor store (we call them "package stores" here) got a shipment of Adelaide Lager. I tried a six-pack, then a case. No one else seemed to be buying it, and it wouldn't surprise me if I eventually bought half the shipment. The only other time I've had it was in an Aussie bar in Aspen, Colorado, where they had it on tap.
Our microwave died. It's got a bad control panel. I googled around, and someone said this is a bad enough problem with these that they may fix it for free. Unfortunately, Customer Relations is closed for the weekend, but I'll call back Monday and see what can be done.
Cloudy and 70 right now. The map looks like we'll be on the borderline of a fast-moving rain system today. Oh, well, lots to do inside.
Modelling HO Scale with a focus on the West and Midwest USA
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Good Morning!!!
Partly sunny, with a high near 81.
Coffee and biscuits and gravy please, Thanks
Well James, thanks for the tour of Brisbane. Very good. I’m looking forward to others.
Not much different to report here. Was told yesterday of new purchases by a couple people that may result in more repair/remodel wo*k. We’ll see. I need yard stuff done bad. Brenda ran the mower yesterday cause I was well, busy waiting for them to clear out of the stairway so I could get back up to wo*k. Needless to say….I’m going back today to finish up.
I hope.
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 for the compliments on the images. The river snakes it way through the city a blessing and also a burden as many have seen in recent years with the devastating floods. I believe Brisbane is one of the best cities in the world.
The blue locomotive is an English Electric 1250 class. They were first introduced into traffic in 1959. They were fitted with an 1390hp engine initially with later units fitted with a 1540hp engina and MU capability.
In the early years they were used on ore trains in the north before moving to general freight system wide. The very last was withdrawn from use in November 1987 with a spectacular 28 year career for Queensland Railways.
The workshops is home to Queensland Rails heritage operations, where they have many heritage loco's, rollingstock and rail motors tucked away "out back" as well as whats on show.
Here we see a QR Garratt.
It is also rumoured to be the location of the short lived Great Southern Pacific Express rollingstock.
There is hundreds of examples of withdrawn freight cars and prototypes hidden in the yard out the back of the workshops as you can see from the google maps image.
For more you can check out their website
http://www.theworkshops.qm.qld.gov.au/
Will be back in with more of a tour later!
TTFN
James, Brisbane Australia
Modelling AT&SF in the 90s
morning coffee in the diner...
GOOD SATURDAY MORNING!!!
Today is Saturday, August 3rd, 2013!!!
Make it a GREAT DAY!!!
Many times we have said, or been told to 'Keep a Stiff Upper Lip':
Meaning:
Remain resolute and unemotional in the face of adversity, or even tragedy.
The short version:
This phrase means to show no emotion in times of great emotional distress, or to have a lot of self-control. The origin is fairly simple. It refers to British soldiers and their mustaches. Even when trimmed and waxed, moustaches sort of moved when standing at attention. This was considered undisciplined! So, a soldier was ordered to control his mustache's movements and keep a stiff upper lip!
The in-depth version:
This is such a clichéd expression that it is difficult to imagine doing anything else with a stiff upper lip apart from 'keeping' it. It is similar to 'keep a straight face', 'keep your chin up', and, to the amusement of many Americans, 'keep your pecker up'.
The phrase has become symbolic of the British, and particularly of the products of the English public school system during the age of the British Empire. In those schools the 'play up and play the game' ethos was inculcated into the boys who went on to rule the Empire. That 'do your duty and show no emotion' feeling was expressed in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's The Charge of the Light Brigade:
"Forward, the Light Brigade!" Was there a man dismay'd? Not tho' the soldier knew Someone had blunder'd: Their's not to make reply, Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die: Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred.
In more recent years British heroes have been able to show more emotion. Footballers now cry when they lose and the public doesn't turn away, which that would have been unthinkable before WWII. The national outpouring of grief at the death of Princess Diana, although intensified by a media frenzy, began a trend toward accidental deaths being commemorated with garlands of flowers laid by the public.
As recently as 1963 P. G. Wodehouse published a novel called 'Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves', and you can't get much more English than that. It is strange then that a phrase so strongly associated with the UK should have originated in America. The first printed reference to it is in the Massachusetts Spy, June 1815:
"I kept a stiff upper lip, and bought license to sell my goods."
That citation, although it doesn't explicitly refer to keeping one's emotions in check, is similar to several US references from the 19th century which do make the meaning unambiguous; for example, from the Huron Reflector, 1830:
"I acknowledge I felt somehow *** about the bows; but I kept a stiff upper lip, and when my turn came, and the Commodore of the P'lice axed [sic] me how I come to be in such company... I felt a little better."
-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.
Cool photos Bear!
Thanks James for stepping up to the plate and being our Host this month.
Some great pictures there. Tell us about that blue locomotive, there has to be a story there.
Always wanted to get down your way and into N.Z. as well. I have some distant relatives there that I have never met. Don't know if I ever will.
Anyway, thanks again.... The Bear rules....................
Johnboy out ..............................to ZZZZzzzzland, work in the morning, next three days, then one off and three more work.
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Gidday All, Ockerstraliasville eh? Then make mine a cold "Victorian Bitter" please and one for anyone else who would like to avail themselves of one( or two) .
My only time in Queensland was two nights in Cairns and just over month w**king and living on Horn Island off the top of Cape York. The Horn Island Airport was built in 1941 as an advanced operational airfield and then was a staging base for Allied aircraft moving between Australia and New Guinea. It was bombed by the Japanese 8 times in 1942, 43. Now it is the gateway to the Torres Strait and Australia's northern most resort island of Thursday Island. No trains up there of course.
Thursday Island.
Horn Island Airport,"The Freedom Bird", Sunstate DHC Dash 7.
Great Barrier Reef, south of Cape York, taken from "The Freedom Bird".
Looking forward to the rest of the tour OzJim.
Thoughts and Best Wishes to All those who need them.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good Early MorningWe did get dumped on again tonight...a li'l ol' flashkaboomer gave us about 3/4" of rain in 10 minutes here...they come, dump on our'n heads and leave just as quick...Was pretty quiet at the office today...got home about 7 and went out for a coffee...mmmm...some coffee that turned out to be...took until just about 30 minutes ago!! lol!Anyhoooo...have a good night's sleep or whatever!!
Brisbane!! Oh My!! Love the photos!!
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/
Evenin' folks!
Janie, just my cup of decaf tonight.....
James, Beautiful city you got there. Thanks for hosting the diner. I know we will all enjoy the tour this month!
I didn't get a whole lot done today. Think I just needed a day to rest up. I did get some more done on the Tomar kit of a Packard Stake bed truck. Never did turn on the air conditioner as we got a downpour of rain mid afternoon that brought the temp back down into the high 60's here. The fans and open windows were good to keep the house from getting too bad.
I did some grocery shopping for a few items I forgot to get when I was there a couple days ago and swung around to the local Sweet Corn stand around the corner from where I live. About 3 miles of driving total and only used about 2.5 miles worth of EV millage according to the car. I have enough gas to get to and from the museum on Sunday and to get me over to the Computer place and home when I pick up the iMac early next week. Then I should be able to get around on EV only until the following weekend. Depending on how many miles I rack up in EV I could make my first 1000 mile tank of gas before I have to fill up before going to the Museum for the Picnic and then Diesel Days on the 17th. and 18th. I already have enough points from the grocery store to get a $1.10 discount on the next tank of fossil crud. By the time I have to fill up I may have $1.40 off per gallon. Even if I get down to the flashing light on the dashboard I will only have room for 8.5 gallons or so. Since I bought the car last December I have averaged 70 miles per gallon with it.
Best be heading out to catch some ... Prayers for all in need!
Great tour James!
*
Well computer wise it's been a productive day. I got a lot of work done on not one but two IIe's. I also got some scratches and a minor cut. Time to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.
holy smokes, that's beautiful!
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
I'll gladly show you around!
We'll start in my home city, Brisbane (pronounced Brizben) and the temporary home of the USS George Washington, which leaves today. We've arrived at Brisbane international airport. before setting off around Queensland.
Brisbane - affectionately known by it's residents as the river city.
Brisbane is named after the river on which it sits, which in turn was named after Scotsman Sir Thomas Brisbane, the Governor of New South Wales from 1821 to 1825. The first European settlement in Queensland was a penal colony at Redcliffe, 28 kilometres (17 mi) north of the Brisbane central business district, in 1824. That settlement was soon abandoned and moved to North Quay in 1825. Free settlers were permitted from 1842. Brisbane was chosen as the capital when Queensland was proclaimed a separate colony from New South Wales in 1859. Brisbane is one of the largest cities in the world for land coverage as there is only one city council in the Brisbane city. Brisbanes population is around 2.1 million.
Brisbane is famous for being the head quarters of General Macarthur during WW2. McArthur square in Brisbane is a shopping area named in his honour. There is also a museum including the Generals office in the McArthur building.
Queenslands railways are built to 1067mm (3' 6") gauge, a decision made in the late 1800's to save costs and the thought that standard gauge would never benefit the state. We do now have extensive coal railways which haul huge tonnages.
Brisbane has an extensive commuter railway network running north to the regional town of Gympie North (160km away) South to the Gold Coast and west to Rosewood, near Ipswich. It was near ipswich that the first section railway was opened 1865.
Brisbane and the surrounding region have many railway related attractions - arguably more than most other cities in Australia.
Run by Queensland Rail monthly is steam train sunday, it goes to a different destination on the suburban network every month.
One of my favourite destinations is the Workshops rail museum at Ipswich - a working railway workshop with much of the dis-used area converted into a museum with many old locomotives, rollingstock on display. There is also a large layout based on various Queensland scenes. It hosts an annual model train show.
We also have the Rosewood railway, Downsteam and later we will travel north to ride the Savannahlander.''
After a busy day of railfanning at the museums and heritage railways, why not retire to one of the many fine restaurants in Brisbane, although I prefer have a meal at one of the many pubs that overlook the rail lines around Brisbane.
We will continue tomorrow with a look around other parts of our great country.
Cheers
I finished with the Apple I was working on this morning. I hooked it up to a disk drive and an old trash 80 9" monitor and powered it up with a PRODOS system disk in the drive. I put it through the tests and it works perfectly. The case had quite a few big scuffs on it so I sanded them out as best I could. It still didn't look good enough for me so I painted it shiny basic black and applied a little Clear Flat. Now it looks quite a bit like the old Bell & Howell 'Darth Vader' Apple II+they put out in the 80's except the keys are the wrong color and it very definitely says 'Apple IIe' on the case. I also painted one of the Franklin disk drives to match. Here's a couple of photos.
Afternon All...Its cloudy and 75 here..weather guesser on TV says rain this weekend...I'll have a double RBF please...Thank You..Not much going on here...I have been donating some of Sallie's clothing to the Thrift Shop here in town..hope someone can use them..
I got my IC reefer train running...must be hauling Southern Illinos strawberrys north..
THis week did some work on Mattoon yard..
You All have a good week end...Jerry
james saunders Why not a tour of my home country? Perhaps the diner has crossed the Pacific...
Why not a tour of my home country? Perhaps the diner has crossed the Pacific...
I was actually thinking that.
Why don't you "lead the way'??
You can do the research for us.
Take the engineer conductor by the horn, blow it and SHOW us what is around your fair country in the way of trains...!!
Thank you.
Now on to other things.
Went to the pharmacy and the CU so the AM errands are done. Never know when i have to those two things. Got the laundry caught up yesterday ,s o that is done. Only a few dishes to be done and so a nap is in order, I guess. Headache {yes, i still have it} has eased some so maybe a good sign?
later...
Good morning!
Hope to get back to working on my layout extension soon. There's too much other stuff going on.
Remember: Be happy, and everybody is wlecome in the DIner!
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Good morning. It's 86° with 67% humidity. It feels like 96° outside right now. The high will be 98° but will feel like 109°. Glad I did my outdoor stuff yesterday.Well I spent a couple of hours this morning moving the main board of my mothers Apple IIe to an actual IIe case. The case it came in was one of the very early IIe cases. To make it more up to date with the later models I put it in a 1984 case. There are structural differences in the two designs that make interchanging case parts difficult if not near impossible. These later cases are somewhat easier to remove should the need arise, things like changing out a keyboard or power supply or changing out some of the chips. I put the main board of my IIe in the same type case when I changed out the power supply last month. Good thing I took the time to collect all these parts over the years.Now as for what to do with the rest of the day, guess I'll start with cleaning up this mess I made working on the computer. After that I'll just see what happens.
Currently it is 58 with an expected high of 87. It was very pleasant yesterday, slept with the upstairs windows open and no fan or ac.
Another w**k day with not much else happening.
Mister B - Great tribute to you day, very touching.
Mornin' diners!
Zoe, I'll have the #2 special over easy eggs, bacon, home fries, and a double order of the sour dough toast this morning. Oh, don't forget a mug of dark roast coffee to wash it all down with. Thank you Ma'am!
Been looking outside and saw some shadows.... Interesting. The shadows disappear now and then just to shut down the little wheel in the basement I think. Currently 72°F outside with a high of 75°F or 78° F depending on which prediction you look at on the weather channel site.... Since it is already 76°F inside the house with the fans going and the windows open and I think it may rain in the dining room where I am, I think I may give up and run the air conditioner.
Later!