Welcome to the NEW edition!
The 'Olde diner' is here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/227099.aspx?page=26#2542587
COme on in, sit a spell!
I polished the rivet counter!
Daisy, Chloe, ZOe, Moe-ey, Set the guys up with breakfast!
-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.
Morning coffee in the diner...
{FINALLY! February is OVER! Is spring coming???}
Kyriolexy - Speaking literally. From Greek meaning 'proper speaking.'
Laetificant - An adjective that means something is an anti-depressant
A psychic was talking to GailShe told a preposterous taleShe would come into money10 million, it's funnythe next day it came in the mail
There once was a dragon so fairhe could not even pull off a scare.Although he triedhis ugliness diedand now he cannot scare a hare!
Good Morning All!
Just a cup of Ethyl for me. Had a late supper, still full.
Galaxy,'' February finally over'', seem's like it flew by for me. That reminds me. I'll have to, update my Bio. from 12yrs retired, to 14yrs, where did they go?
Wishing everyone a ''Great Day''
Stripe
Brought forward from the previous diner:
Time to show you my latest and probably last computer project. I guess you could say this //e has an identity crisis. The motherboard is from an A2S2128 and the case is for an A2S2064. The memory card is for an Apple //e so it's right at home but the printer card, CP/m card and drive card are pre-1980 and are really for an Apple II or II+. But they do work OK in the //e. Also, the case is from 1982 and board is from 1986.Now I said at the beginning of this that this will probably be the last one I build. There's several reasons for that. My stock of parts has run out. I have no money to buy more. All the money I have is for home repair and emergency use and that's what it'll be used for. I don't have much space to store these in and let's face it, there's not many if anybody here who shares my passion for these old computers. So this one will be the last and you won't be besieged with any more photos of them unless it's something special.Now, the two photos of the last build.
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
Good morning. It's 59° with 100% humidity. It'll be cloudy with a high of 75°.No plans for today. I may work on clearing some of the clutter off the layout later.
Well, Jeffrey,
SInce you insist. You can share your computers, though I must admit I started skipping the readings about them. If I share an off topic subject, I try not to use it too much so our readers don't do that to me either. {Like my recent ideas of housing shells cash-paid-for, then finished off to give us a new house} I may bring it up again as I find new news about it, but won't "beat it to death". NOT that you were beating the computers to death, i'd have more interest if they were more relevant to today! Like how to navigate a tablet!!! I will HAVE my fill of old IBM PC computers when My father passes, he has kept all of them!
I see we have had no drop in from ULRICH, I fear he has gone Hospital again on us, he complained yesterday, and hasn't been in today. I think the stress of not finding his "public dole check" Has done him in.{I don't know what else to call it that what he calls it ;oh wiat, I think he calls it "support check' or something..too}. Too bad he can't get a job, but with a bum ticker I can see why someone might NOT want to hire him.
I haven't decided where we are but I'll bet we'll just be "down home" at you-alls houses. THat is because there is really no safe place to visit this month. with the storms raging across the country anywhere could be rain/flooding/snow/ice/bitter cold, etc. COme spring the tourist locos will open up again and we can go galavanting.
Speaking of Spring, Easter Sunday isn't until the 20th of April! Late in the month! The later Easter is the later "spring arrives". So it may well be MAY before we see spring like doings! I hope not! I am sick of this winter, and we have more snow on the way here...3-6 or 6-12" depending on travel it takes...
Well, I 'd best get of to the bedding as I didn't get to it yesterday. Then wash the bath rugs, and then wash the machine..it IS the first of the month time for that.
later
Jeff,
Hi, You don't offend me one bit, by your photos of the computer projects you have going on.
I have an old Beta player laying around here, just for maybe some day, I was thinking of using one of the thousand's of parts in that thing, gears, god you name it. If it wasn't so big, gigantic and heavy, I send it to You to tinker with. I even forgot who made it. I would have to look.
Keep on keeping on.
Have a Good One!
Frank
Good Morning,
It is a balmy -30F right now with a wind chill of -54F but it is sunny. We aren't going out at all today! So far this winter we have had 73 days when the temperature went down to -30C or more. This really is one of the longest, coldest winters we have had in a long time.
Barry, nice to see you back in the Diner!
Ulrich, sorry to hear about your heart and stress problems.
Mr. B, that is great news about your retirement. I too had planned on working until I was at least 67 but the company had other ideas. At least I made it until I was 66. Until bought out in 2010 the company I worked for was on shaky ground financially and I was always afraid it would fold when I was 60 or so which wouldn't have been so great for me. I got lucky and I hope you do too.
Well not much on the agenda today except for more building construction. I've finished painting one and will put it together today. I can't do any more as I don't have any paint on hand that is brick colour. I have some spray bombs but the wife goes ballistic if I use it indoors due to the smell. I must admit I have used it in the basement with a couple of basement windows open when she is at work but the house cools down really fast at -30 which isn't good for the heat bill.
I sure hope Johnboy doesn't have to outside today as it is at least as cold in Regina as here.
CN Charlie
Performed all the diagnostic tests on //e #6 and it's certified 100% operational. Enough about that. I downloaded a new pinball game this morning. Scored five million points my first time out. Went on Ebay and bought two NIB Bachmann locos (GP7 and GP9) for less than one non-sound GP7 on the Bachmann site. Couldn't pass that up. So much for my fun money for the next couple months. Gotta tighten my belt.
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.
CNCharlieIt is a balmy -30F right now with a wind chill of -54F but it is sunny. We aren't going out at all today! So far this winter we have had 73 days when the temperature went down to -30C or more. This really is one of the longest, coldest winters we have had in a long time.
That is a lot of cold CNCharlie ever for Winterpeg. We aren't far behind you here in Central Alberta though. Minus 34C this am but no wind which helps. I'm like you not going out today unless it's an emergency.
We'd planned on going to Edmonton to visit the MIL in the hospital but frankly I don't like travelling when it's this cold. Darned new vehicles don't give you any warning that something is wrong, they just quit. Don't want to get stranded on the highway in this weather.
Speaking of the MIL, thanks for all your prayers folks, she survived the colostomy surgery pretty well. Amazing at her age. Of course, her digestive system quit working but that's normal. She'll be in hospital on a liquid diet till things start working again so I suspect she'll be in for a while yet.
Her Dr. tells me that this type of colon cancer is quite fast moving so she may or may not make it till fall. I see lots of trips up the highway this spring and summer.
On the RR front, I've been working mostly on doing some scenry work with some decoder programming thrown in just for a change of pace.
Today I do the dreaded income tax returns. Haven't done them in about 15 years as the company accountant did them when we still had the company. Don't have it anymore so things are really simple again. Even a dumb dumb like me should have no problem (Touches Wood).
That's about all from out here in the frozen waste lands of Alberta.
Take care all.
Dennis
CDN Dennis
Modeling the HO scale something or other RR in the shadow of the Canadian Rockies Alberta, Canada
Dennis: I have kept her on the prayer list. We keep so even if i don't mention her in the morning greeting!.
I have been playing with financial calculators looking to see how we may possbily retire. We can't, but never know. IF that is BIG IF, we save 54% of or gross income for the next 16 years, and earn 8% a year {wonder where now???}, we MIGHT could do it! HAH! maybe we will just show 'em! I told MOH IF we live like the paupers we were last year on last year's income, adn save the rest, we might be on our way!
Fun to play with depresing when you have nothing to back it up with!
Well, now the laundry is done, the dishes are done, the bedding is done, now for the throw rugs! BUT MY back has given out!
oh well,
"We're havin' a heat wave, Tropical Heat Wave......"
Afternoon folks!
Chloe I'll have a cup of the dark roast coffee and some egg fu old...... Huh? Just the leftovers for what you made up for Todd a while ago....
We are all the way up to 31°F outside at the moment with a possible high of 40°F and sn*w showers this afternoon.....
I got over to church this morning to finish checking out the new CD recorder. Appears to be working as planned. I did make a couple small adjustments to the channel inputs on the main mixer, but other than that, all was well. Got home and unplugged the computer so I could switch everything over to a new Pure Sine Wave Battery power supply system. Power went out a week agao and the computer shut down..... I think it was just the old supply had seen better days.
Jeffrey, I have really enjoyed seeing what you have been doing with the old Apple IIe computers. Those were what I started out on and I have learned a lot about things that can be done with them I never knew possible. Keep on Sharing! After all one of the purposes of this thread is to be able to share things in our lives other than strictly just train stuff....
This afternoon I need to get the new Registration Sticker put on the front windshield of the PiP. Then get ready to go to a recption at church for the New Pastor Candidate.
I best get moving!
Later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
galaxyI haven't decided where we are but I'll bet we'll just be "down home" at you-alls houses. THat is because there is really no safe place to visit this month. with the storms raging across the country anywhere could be rain/flooding/snow/ice/bitter cold, etc. COme spring the tourist locos will open up again and we can go galavanting.
How about Orlando Florida........a pic from a short vacation I took down there in 2010.......I used to live 20 minutes southwest of there in a town/city called Kissimmee.
This pic is from downtown Orlando at a place called "Church Street Station".....
.....although it is nothing like it used to be 20 years ago.
Dennis Blank Jr.
CEO,COO,CFO,CMO,Bossman,Slavedriver,Engineer,Trackforeman,Grunt. Birdsboro & Reading Railroad
Italian Roast coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please.
***Dennis, very cool train pic.
Haven't seen any trains lately on drives into town. Nor have I made time for the Train Room.
Have a terrific day all.
Cheers! Rob
jeffrey-wimberly Performed all the diagnostic tests on //e #6 and it's certified 100% operational. Enough about that. I downloaded a new pinball game this morning. Scored five million points my first time out. Went on Ebay and bought two NIB Bachmann locos (GP7 and GP9) for less than one non-sound GP7 on the Bachmann site. Couldn't pass that up. So much for my fun money for the next couple months. Gotta tighten my belt.
Like I said, you can keep sharing your computers,. But I have to admitt the same thing I admitt to MOH when MOH wants my "opinion on something{s}"{like picking something out}..that it after AWHILE, I Have to say "THEY ARE ALL STARTING TO LOOK THE SAME to ME"
I didn't pick any location as we all deserve to have 'some home time'. It IS mroe fun to go on "fantasy tourist trips on the tourist trains" in the summer months when they are open, than now when everything is closed down.
My back has finally given out today for sure. Not much for em to do except REST.
I am worried about ULRICH! I think he may be in hospital again.
howmus Jeffrey, I have really enjoyed seeing what you have been doing with the old Apple IIe computers. Those were what I started out on and I have learned a lot about things that can be done with them I never knew possible. Keep on Sharing! After all one of the purposes of this thread is to be able to share things in our lives other than strictly just train stuff....
galaxyLike I said, you can keep sharing your computers,. But I have to admitt the same thing I admitt to MOH when MOH wants my "opinion on something{s}"{like picking something out}..that it after AWHILE, I Have to say "THEY ARE ALL STARTING TO LOOK THE SAME to ME"
jeffrey-wimberly One of the more mundane things I did was to fix a cars faulty ignition computer with a shoestring, a ballpoint pen and a paper clip. How I did it is my secret. What bores me to tears is shopping for clothes, even online! But let me loose in the electronics section and you may as well go do something else. I'm gonna be there a while.
One of the more mundane things I did was to fix a cars faulty ignition computer with a shoestring, a ballpoint pen and a paper clip. How I did it is my secret. What bores me to tears is shopping for clothes, even online! But let me loose in the electronics section and you may as well go do something else. I'm gonna be there a while.
You're a real McGyver! But, but where does the 'chewing gum' come into play? OH,i get it, you had me chewing that as the 'most important part' to keep me outta your hair whilest you FIXED the ignition!
I have to admit to being "mystified' somewhat by electronics. Now, MY father {don't forget an IBMer by trade} can handle that. If I build somehting i see in a mag, for instance, I go to the electronics store and say "I need this list of parts". Then I carefully follow the directions on how to make the thing in the mag.
When I wanted a 1K resistor for the programming track thingy, I took the book with me and said I wanted to "do this" and they showed me the parts. I didn't argue over price as I admit to not knowing what a good price is!
Being that I AM into MRRing AND enjoy DCC, I SHOULD learn more if I can. But don't know of any "jr elecetronics courses around here anymore if there ever were.
Now, My father form a footballs field length away can tell you exactly what ohm resistor you got, I know the pretty colored lines tell you something, but NOT WHAT without a label. Oh, the pretty colors!
You guys go snipping capacitors off your DCC decoders and I have no clue which one is the capacitor! My Q would be, if it wasn't needed it wouldn't be there right? SO it must have a purpose. SO why go snipping a perfectly good capacitor like jumping out of a perfectly good airplane?
I rely on book,s or now Youtube to show me certain things electrical/onic. I can fry a toaster taking it out of the box.
Chloe I would like a coffee please.
Well spring is here. My son and I raked leaves, cut the grass, cleaned gutters, trimmed shrubbery, and hosed off the pool enclosure today. After that I laid track in the next new area. That seemed to take forever since there are 2 sidings and the main. The issue was adjusting track geometry to get it to work the best. I ran a 50’ reefer over it without issue, but did not have the gas in my tank to hook up track power today.
Jeff- Everybody needs a couple of hobbies, so more power to you if yours is old computers.
Ulrich- Saying prayers for you. I am worried about you.
JohnBoy- I continue to say prayers for you.
Phil- Great health news. I will give you a call tomorrow.
Barry- Great to see you back in the Diner. Sorry to hear about you and YOH medical issues. Saying prayers for the both of you.
MrB- Congrats on retirement. I figure 5 more years for me. I still enjoy my job but am starting to get tired of dealing with people. Mainly it is the Drama.
CDN Dennis- Prayers for your MIL.
Todd- I wasn’t happy with my layout track plan either. That is why I am doing all my changes.
Dennis- The Train is no longer there. It was moved to the museum in Seffner FL. Anyway I think it is Seffner.
Rob- Good to see you in the Diner again.
Hope everybody has a good weekend and prayers for those in need.
Curt Webb
The Late Great Pennsylvania Railroad
http://s1082.photobucket.com/albums/j372/curtwbb/
galaxyYou're a real McGyver! But, but where does the 'chewing gum' come into play? OH,i get it, you had me chewing that as the 'most important part' to keep me outta your hair whilest you FIXED the ignition!
*
Test ran my Bachmann GP7's today to be sure there wasn't anything broken in the drives. I had to give their wheels a good cleaning first as they were tarnished from sitting idle so long. I had to use alligator leads to route power directly to the pickup pads on the light boards so I could clean the wheels with an alcohol (91%) soaked paper towel. In that I had to be careful. It isn't fun when there's a spark while you're holding that alcohol soaked paper towel. On the other hand it'll put some excitement into your life! Now they run very well and the decoders (DZ125's) still had their programming intact and still set to address 116.
Curt WebbWell spring is here. My son and I raked leaves, cut the grass, cleaned gutters, trimmed shrubbery, and hosed off the pool enclosure today
That's easy for you to say Curt. It's currently bright and sunny here with a -28 C here with a real feel of -39 C. Going down to -43 C tonight with who cares what the wind chill is.
I cannot remember it ever being this cold on March 1st in my 66 years of living here. Note to Mother Nature... ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!
Had one of those days that everything I tried to do didn't work out so I finally gave up. No RR progress today. I finally said to heck with it and came upstairs and read a book.
Think I'll watch a movie with MOH tonight.
Over and out all.
CDN Dennis- Sorry, the temps here are already getting in the 80's. Our bad season here is summer when the temp and humidity are ridiculous. I do work with a great guy originally from Calgary and he loves the warm weather.
Well today was a little busy. I put my Bachmann GP7's on the layout run a short run to see if anything was broken in the drives. The wheels were so tarnished they were completely insulated from the rails. After a good wheel cleaning I tried them again and they run just fantastic. In maybe a week I'll be receiving a new Bachmann GP7 and a new Bachmann GP9. I got the two of them for a great price that I couldn't pass up. I already have Digitrax decoders for them so that's one thing I don't have to worry about.Now I know I said no more computer photos but I got outvoted on that several dozen to one, on forums and by email. So the computer photos remain. There just won't be as many.A shot inside one of the 2128's. You can clearly see who it belongs to. That really was a name used for a software outlet I had back many years ago, around the time Apple pulled the plug on the II series.
Evenin' folks!
Janie, I'll have a hot cup of decaf for the moment...
Curt, 80's??? I hate it when it is that hot! Can't go outside for more than a few minutes at a time. I just melt and get all drippy with sweat and exausted without even doing anything.... That is when I stay inside in the air conditioning. Now low 70's is just right where I am concerned....
Currently 30°F on its way down to 16°F overnight. They are predicting a few days of frigid weather over the next week. Come to think about it maybe 80° isn't so bad........ Hmmmmm.
Went back down to church this afternoon for the reception for the pastoral candidate. Did get to say hi and shake his hand, but that was about it. I look forward to hearing him preach tomorrow (I may actually try to get a working hearing device to use with the hearing aids for the service to see if I can hear him better......)
No hobby stuff today, unless you include sending out some emails about the upcoming NMRA Meet. I have to get info put together in the next couple days for our newsletter. i would like to get the newsletter ready to send out by the end of the week....
Time to call it a day I guess. prayers for all in need!
Hello Diners ......
Glad to see so many people in the Diner on the first day of the month. Looks like we should have patented the name "rivit counter" based on what I saw in April MR.
Just drove back from Cincinnati ahead of a major ice storm forecasted to start tomorrow afternoon. It was 60F today, and by Tuesday it will be 10F. Only problem driving today was an accident with cars burning in Louiusville.
Have a good one as Jerry in IL says. ..... (Where is Jerry, by the way?)
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
morning coffee in the diner...
My grandaughter's name is Alyssa,And when I don't see her I missa,She just turned age nine,And she's doing just fine,And I think when I see her I'll kissa.
Good Afternoon!
I finally got my Internet connection up and running again. My WiFi router quit working on Friday, so I had to get a new one. Fortunately, I could buy a used one for little money, but couldn´t get it working on Friday. Yesterday, a friend of mine invited me to join him on a trip to a narrow gauge model railroading convention, where we spent all day looking at a number of world-class layouts. I also had a chance to meet some folks I knew through some forums I also contribute to. Best of all, I was able to get my first piece of On30 rolling stock - for just 5 Euro (that´s $ 7). It´s a caboose, lettered for the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes RR. It had the window inserts for the side doors missing, hence the steal. We returned fairly late yesterday evening, just in time to head for bed.
I was not able to shoot many pictures, as the light conditions were not good. But here is a shot of a small O gauge Western display:
The loco is a O scale Rivarossi V&T RR "Reno", long out of production.
This morning, it took me about 4 hours to get that dang router hooked up and linked. Inserting the window inserts, which I found after taking off the roof of the caboose, into the doors was a 5 minute job. Just a little superglue took care of that.
Although the caboose is a nice model, I am not overly impressed by Bachmann´s quality. Those window inserts shouldn´t have come loose. The plastic looks a litlle cheap and brittle and there is a nasty gloss to the body. OK, it won´t matter, as I have to repaint and re-letter it anyway.
Bad news of the day was, that the kits for the stub switches I intended to use are no longer available I will have to use either Peco On30 or MicroEngineering switches (or even try my hand on scratchbuilding them).
Tomorrow, Petra and I will go to THAT office again and raise some painful questions about not being able to process our application within 7 weeks, and about lying to us. A letter to the big boss in Berlin is also on its way!
Have a good one!
Ulrich: Welcome back buddy! I thought you had gone to the hospital {or Horse piddle as Todd of Toddland, of which he is King, calls it}
I put you on the prayer list so's you'd be all set! all that stress you had the last time you posted, I figured you for a trip to that big 'Horse Piddle'!!
GREAT tO SEE YOU BACK!
MAKE IT a GREAT day!
Good Morning All,
Little cold, more snow, here in Chiberia, so what's new?
Ulrich. Glad to hear you are OK! Your router sounds like, some of the ABS system's I hear, that some people talk about, get them lost in their own neighborhood.
I like your caboose and I don't believe it looks bad at all, for sure the price was right. Alway's liked that style.
Have A Great Day All!