Elliot´s Trackside Diner - June 2014 Edition

[jeffrey-wimberly]

good morning. It's 75° with 96% humidity. The high will be 92° and there's a small chance for rain.
with

Not much I'm wanting to do today. I think I'll just watch some movies and see what comes along.

[TMarsh]

Good Morning!!!

 

Coffee and the Sunday breakfast buffet please. Thnks.

 

Got a good rain last evening. No storms here just a good rain. I, of course, had to w*rk for someone else, but hey, a few more bucks never hurt anyone. Not as much odd jobs this year but since I don't advertise and don't really do it as a "job" (don't want too either) it's ok.

 

Galaxy- Sorry to hear of YOH’s Paget’s but….I guess it could be worse for her. I hope they caught it soon enough because it sounds like many times if they do, the outlook is pretty good. I'd say you are right, your own personal Murphy is included with every electronic purchase you make. I hope it's no extra charge.

 

Jeffrey- My MIL had a wound vac and she had nothing but trouble with hers staying attached too. I swear the thing took three times as long to heal because the vac  would only stay attached a third of the time. I don’t think they were intended to be used on conscious patients, let alone active ones. Sometimes I thought just stitch her up and rub her down with Neosporin. But, I understand the “deep wound” and healing deep first.

 

And I can’t tell if Galaxy thinks the router needs to have a phone jack in it, or if he understands the phone part has nothing to do with the router, but was just looking at seeing if he could save the $6 a month and get his own modem instead of renting theirs. I’m kinda leaning toward that, but not sure with the lack of a phone line references while router shopping

 

Before I got the phone with my cable, I had my own modem. It saved me 5 bucks a month and the first one cost me like $50. I figured after 5 (Edit- I meant 10 months got carried away pushing the 5 button) months I was in the black and saving money. Well after a couple years maybe less, the modem quit. The next one cost me almost $100 and I had one question about the new modem and it wasn’t answered on the box. I asked the salesperson who couldn’t answer the question but sure made it sound like they were without saying yes or no and it was a yes or no question because, all they knew was what was written on the box. I should buy this Rolls Royce of a modem. So, with the cheap modem that my gut said was probably fine in my hand, I stopped by the Geek Squad nest on my way to the checkout and asked “do you know anything about modems without having to read the box because what I want to know is not on the box." He said yes. I asked my question, he picked up the box and I said..”you’re reading the box. It’s not on the box.” He said he doubted it and I should get one of those $300 modems just to be safe. I said that’s what the salesperson suggested and she didn’t know anymore about it than me I don't think you do either, but thanks for the show." I bought the cheap one and 5 years later it was going strong and worked wonderfully just as I thought at a fraction of the cost until I changed last month and added the phone. I figured that was the last modem I'll buy. If that one goes out, I’m calling the cable company and paying the extra 5 bucks. Now with the phoney thing I didn’t even ask about getting my own modem. If this quits….they bring me another. It has a battery backup and I have a generator so if the power goes out and the cable company has power...IF they do, thn I'll have phone. If not....I have cell phone and we do live in an area where we get good reception even if the local tower goes down. They say because of the G-string thing. AAAAANYwho.... I'm happy and like many, I'd give up the landline but gee whiz I've had one for so long it just seems like I should have it.

 

Our cable company offers either the DVD/DVR thing as way to get all those digital channels or you can just get a digital box without the DVR/DVD contraption. Some companies may not. The DVD/DVR however costs extra or it can be used as an item in place of say the phone or internet on bundles. Personally, I don’t care about the digital channels.

 

Welp, Brenda’s eye exam went ok I suppose. The three to five hours was not for the exams apparently, but for the wait. The appointment was at two, she got done right before 5. I bet she spent probably a touch more than a total of 30 minutes divided into two separate trips (first maybe ten minutes, the second probably 20-25 minutes maybe less) in the back. The rest was sitting in the waiting area reading magazines. The outcome….no problems . PLUS her Glucose levels are dropping fabulously to so far about half. Some may pass out at the numbers but for what they have been, we are tickled pink with her having most readings under 200. She was dancing a jig with the first 185. Yup....about half

 

Because you just can’t play ABBA’s “Fernando” too loud.

 

 

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

[Anonymous]

Afternoon Gang!

Lots of ra*n and storm here, with the occasional thunderboomer moving through our area. We have to switch the lights on, it is that dark!

I spent quite some time tweaking the switches to improve the performance. I am not yet 100% happy with them, it feels more like 95%, but going up. I even managed to ballast about 1 ft. - only 3 ft. are yet unballasted. Ballasting was easy today - I took a hypodermic needle and mounted it on a screw cap fitting to a bottle of white glue. I filled the bottele with the usual water/glue mix and can now apply the glue in really small quantities to the ballast. That prevents the ballast from floating up - a big help!

Have a great one!

[galaxy]

he he, this falls under the category of 

"kids WRITE the darndest things":

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liesl-testwuide/my-sons-hilarious-summer-camp-letter_b_5463374.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

 

Be sure to scroll down ad read the camp letters and then scroll down to read the 91 other kid's writing samples!

he he

[Anonymous]

Everyone seems to be busy today!

Flo, I am having a while waiting for the others to show up.

I just made a slow speed test. It took the loco 62 seconds for about 12 feet of track, that´s a notch over 6 scale mph. It has to pass over 6 switches. No stalling, no derailments. Sounds pretty good, doesn´t it? I think I can go even slower. Slowly but steadily I am getting where I want to be

[kbkchooch]

 Hiya Gang! 

Yeah, I'm still around. Just been working 6 days a week,,,11 hour+ days, running myself ragged. I've gotten nothing done the last 3 weeks hobbywise, nut releif is coming.  I've landed a new position at a local (12 minutes ride) GM dealership, with 5 day weeks and 9 hour days That starts at the end of this month, so I still have 3 more weeks of 11 hour+ days with an hour each way drives. I'll tough it out .

The youngest boy graduated from high school this week, and promptly bugged out of town to spend a few weeks with his aunt at the beach in North Carolina, so at least the house will be quiet.  I'll catch up soon enough!

 

[cudaken]

 Hey Dinners

 Flo, Beer Pleases.

 Work Front. Really odd day today. Dave had the first customer that was looking for a $60.00 Full Head Board, they came in at 1:00 PM. Yesterday the store only had 2 customers, so we thought we would be dead today. Dave had to fix Nancy seinor moment at a customer home so he left after his customer left.

 About 15 minutes after Dave left, the flood gate broke open! At one point I had 4 sets of customers on the floor and I was alone. Not a Good Thing! I did get 2 of them to buy, both have spiffs! Problem is I was in  the hole from a return last week by $100.00. But the hole is not as deep now.

 Ladder Question If I keep the house I need a new ladder. The 6 foot step ladder is OK for cleaning the gutters, but I need to get on the roof to paint and cut trees. Anyone here buy this type and what do you think of them?

 http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=251378-287-MT-17&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=1238905&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

 I need to be able to climb 8 feet to get on the roof, but I would like to trim a few trees as well.

 All so any tips on cutting limbs off with out hurting the tree?

 Later, Ken

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Good evening everybody ..... 

Ken ... Glad you had a good day yesterday at the dog show. ... I have seen a ladder like that being used and it works well from what I could tell just watching. 

Karl ... Glad you have a more normal wokr schedule because you have more time to visit in the Diner. 

Happy Model Railroading! 

[howmus]

Evenin' folks!

Janie, just a decaf for me please....

Oh man, am I beat!  Tossed and turned most of the night last night.  Couldn't get comfortable.  No sooner drop off to sleep than one or the other cat would decide it was time for me to wake up and cuddle with him....  Had to get up early again to get out to the museum to open up for the day. 

Didn't get a huge crowd today, but a fun day anyway.  Had some very knowledgable gentlemen there.  One who worked on the Railroad for over 40 years.  He is the first person I have seen out there who could not only identifry the Poling Pole, but knew how they were used and had actually used them himself.  He verified just how dangerous they were!  I like it when someone comes in and teaches me some things I didn't know before....  One of track cars decided not to run, and so got pushed down to the Industry yard for repairs.  Since another of the 3 working track cars is out of commision at the moment that left us with only one track car running for the day.  They hooked a trailer on both ends and prayed it could make it up the hill loaded with passengers.  It did!  Both knees are hurting tonight.  Too much walking the last two days.  I'm waddling around like a little old man...  Hmmm....  Guess I am that anyway.

Here are a few more photos of the trip yeasterday.  If you want to see them all click here.

Had a couple of musicians entertaining us for the ride...

Some artsy ones:

I mentioned I was one of the people who got to blow the whistle, Here is one of our Museum engineers trying out the seat in the cab right before his turn to blow the whistle:

It is raining right now here in the Finger Lakes with some thunderboomers rolling in soon.  Guess I will say goodnight and wish you all a great evening!

73

[tcwright973]

Ray - I must have missed it, but where was the steam excursion? Was it something special or a regularly scheduled event? I'm envious as there's not much around here as far as steam goes.

Had a good day railfanning on Saturday. Today, well, not so much. Saturday was 13 Norfolk Southern trains in 3 hours. 5 intermodals, 1 auto rack, 2 coal, 4 mixed freights, & 1 denatured alcohol. Today we started off on CSX. 2 weeks ago I watched a hi-railer getting off the tracks for the 1st time. Today I watched one getting on the tracks. Very interesting. Besides that, we only caught 1 train, a crude oil powered by 5 Union Pacific engines. We left there & went back to NS where we caught 1 intermodal & 2 mixed freights. When it started to rain we decided to wrap it up & came home. All in all, not too bad I suppose.

One of the UP locomotives today was a patched Southern Pacific paint scheme. It's only the 3rd one I've seen.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I'm going to the Eye and Laser Center in town tomorrow to get my eyes checked. They seem to be hurting a bit or than usual. It's probably nothing more than my allergy symptoms but better safe than sorry.

Not much done today. Met the new next door neighbor. Names Ken. Turns out he's a volunteer firefighter at the Sundown Fire Dept so we have something in common. I told him he also has something in common with my van. Their the same age. He's in a lot better shape though.

Watched a couple of movies today and a couple of Mythbusters episodes. Also played a couple of games of Starfleet 1. Won one outright and just got through by the skin of my teeth on the other one.

That's it for today so I'll be calling it a night. See y'all sometime tomorrow.

[howmus]

tcwright973

Ray - I must have missed it, but where was the steam excursion? Was it something special or a regularly scheduled event? I'm envious as there's not much around here as far as steam goes.

Hi Tom!  It was an excursion to the Arcade and Attica RR done by the R&GV RR Museum as a fun trip for the members, and as a fundraiser.  The Arcade and Attica is the only Railroad in NYS still regularly running a steam locomotive.  Old #18 is a 2-8-0 built in 1920 by ALCO.  You can find out more here: http://www.arcadeandatticarr.com/  The railroad is a shortline located in the Southern Tier of NY South of Batavia, NY.  They run passenger trains almost every day during the Spring, Summer and Fall.  They also carry frieght as well.

73

[galaxy]

cudaken

 

 Ladder Question If I keep the house I need a new ladder. The 6 foot step ladder is OK for cleaning the gutters, but I need to get on the roof to paint and cut trees. Anyone here buy this type and what do you think of them?

 http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=251378-287-MT-17&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=1238905&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1

 

KEN:I bought a ladder like that just recetnly to have our roof done. The young man who did the roof was impressed with it as well. Onlyest problem is that when we folded to down again, the one latching mechanism wouldn't relatch. I may have to take it back to Harbor Freight to get it exchanged. ALSO: I paid opnly $124 for it, and now they can be had for $117 for Fathter's day festival, far cheaper than Lowe's price as listed in your link! You may need a coupon for HF, but got to harborfreight.com and see if they have any online!

 

 

 I need to be able to climb 8 feet to get on the roof, but I would like to trim a few trees as well.

 All so any tips on cutting limbs off with out hurting the tree?

CALL A TREE SURGEON! He'll know just what to do!

 

[Anonymous]

Good Morning Folks!

We had plenty of ra*n over the night, but it is clearing up now and there is an attempt of sunshine to be seen.

As it is still a holiday here in Germany, I´ll have a big breakfast, you know, Flo, bacon and eggs, buttered toast and jams, a tall glass of OJ and lots of coffee, please.

No real plans for the day. I leave the trackwork as it is now. A slow speed test this morning resulted in 90 seconds for the mainline run of 12 ft., that´s about 4 scale mph without stalling. I bet I can go even slower when the loco is run in properly.

Ken - don´t ecomomize on a ladder. An investment into a a ladder is an investment into safety. When you want to climb onto your roof, make sure the ladder stands firmly on the ground and that there is a way to fasten it to the roof. I had to learn this the hard way - it was no fun clinging to the rain gutter while Petra tried to put up the ladder again. Things to look for on a ladder are the "feet" and the load. We are all big folks and anything below a load of 250lbs. is getting dangerous!

A perfect ladder looks like this:

The manufacturer is Hailo of Germany

Make it a great one!

["JaBear"]

Good evening All, just a hot chocolate please Chloe.

cudaken

Anyone here buy this type and what do you think of them?

I bought one of a similar design about seven years ago Ken, and I think it is worth every cent I paid for it, and it wasn't cheap!  Cheaper versions have come on the market since then, but I'm with Ulrich on this.

As for trimming trees if I tried to explain by writing I'd probably confuse both of us,  so I'll let an expert explain....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ZjIkBwTCw

Its been a warm autumn and start to winter here downunder so I've had a bumper crop off my feijoa trees this year, her-in -doors and I have made three large batches of feijoa relish , actually ran out of jars, so will have to prune them soon.

Thoughts and Best Wishes to All that need them.

Cheers, the Bear.

 

 

 

[galaxy]

GOOD MODAY MORNING!

Today is Monday,

June 9th, 2014!

Healing energies for those in need

 

I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don't trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to be got by it. -Charles Dickens, novelist (1812-1870) 

 

I am off to get spinal nerve  injections!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Sir Madog

Ken - don´t ecomomize on a ladder. An investment into a a ladder is an investment into safety. When you want to climb onto your roof, make sure the ladder stands firmly on the ground and that there is a way to fasten it to the roof. I had to learn this the hard way - it was no fun clinging to the rain gutter while Petra tried to put up the ladder again. Things to look for on a ladder are the "feet" and the load. We are all big folks and anything below a load of 250lbs. is getting dangerous!

I agree. Don't skimp on the ladder! Spend the extra money and get one that easily support your weight plus forty or fifty pounds. You never know what you might be taking up with you and using a lightweight ladder for 150-200 lbs can land you in the hospital with serious injuries or worse land you on the coroner's table. I use my fathers ladder when working on the roof of my trailer. It's designed to support 300+ pounds. It's a generic type and has no brand name. It's aluminum/fiberglass construction. I used to weigh 265 and it held my weight easily plus the weight of all my tools AND a five gallon bucket of roofing tar and six or more 2x4's.

[MisterBeasley]

Good morning, all.  We had a great weekend, but now it's Monday and cloudy.  I got out yesterday for a good long ride on my old mountain bike.  First, I took the rail trail of the old Bedford & Billerica, the first 2-foot gauge line in the country, and then I continued down the old right-of-way for the B&M's Reformatory Branch.  I hadn't been on that bike for some time, and really enjoyed trail riding again.  Way out by the end of the ride I came across a couple walking their goats.  Yes, goats.  They had about a dozen of them.  I asked, and they said, yes, the goats just kind of follow them around and don't wander off.

Last week, my wife asked if her brother could borrow that bike for a month.  I agreed, but said I wanted the bike back.  "Borrow" is not the same as "take."  She did not respond, so now I am reluctant to give the bike up.  His problem is an impending court date where they're likely to take his license for a month, DUI second offense.  He was in court on Thursday, but the officer didn't show, so now it's postponed.  This is one of those things where there are no good answers.  He's got a new job or two, he's working his butt off to keep paying for his wife until the divorce, and he needs transportation.  On the other hand, he has a problem with alcohol.  So, what's the right answer?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 72° with 98% humidity. The high will be 88° with an average to fair chance of showers and thunder boomers.
with

I have an 8:15 appointment this morning at the Alexandria Eye and Laser Center in Leesville to have my eyes checked out. They've been hurting a bit more than usual for this time of year. Usually they just have an itching feeling and a slight ache. Lately they feel like their somewhat tender and hurt a bit when I blink and my vision is a bit fuzzy. I had to take a couple of oxycodone tablets so I could get some sleep. Even then I only got about three hours. Right now they feel good and my vision is clear. This eye exam is just a better safe than sorry measure.

I have no other plans for today.

[Fouled Anchor]

Good Monday morning all.

 

Did not work on my AnyRail track plans this weekend. Sometimes ya just gotta walk away from it.

 

So I spent Sunday on the Mississippi River at Lock and Dam No. 25 with my camera. I shoot with a Nikon D200.

 

Caught the Kevin Michael heading south down river with a load of grain barges.

 

[Anonymous]

Fouled Anchor

Sometimes ya just gotta walk away from it.

How right you are!

I am taking a break from model railroading today. Time to rethink a couple of things.

[Fouled Anchor]

Ooooops, forgot a picture.

 

This is the little Chattie Sue Smith. She is a small helper tug that will help tugs line up the barges with the entry to the lock.

 

Have a good day all.

Steve

 

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Steve ..... Interesting photos. A lot of cargo moves in the waterways. 

You might be interested in this photo. This the view from our house. We are on Lake Barkley which is a man-made lake the Cumberland River.  The towboat moving to the left in the photo is going southward at this location it is going up river towards Nashville. The towboat moving to the right is going north and down river toward the Ohio River. The Land Between the Lakes is in the backgrowund behind the barge tows.

Most of the barge traffic we see is coal going to Nashville. Some barges are covered as these are for grain and other commodities. 

There is a transloading facility not far north of here where coal is moved from railcars to barges. Also, I know a guy who is a barge captain. I actually had a chance to visit on bard a tow boat, and it was impressive. 

 

[TMarsh]

 

 

Good Morning!!!

 

 

 

Coffee and the fruit plate please and thank you.

 

 

 

Ken- Werner is a good name and I’ve seen a couple of them ladders used. Never used one myself and I’ve never asked. HOWEVeeeer…., when you buy a ladder do NOT skimp. Ditto what Jeff said about weight. Get close to the limit and it becomes unnervingly bouncy. Nothing against places like Harbor Freight, I have bought many an item there and been very happy with it, the famous air brush of the infamous air brush cap wars a few years ago just to mention one, BUT be aware that some of their stuff is inexpensive for a reason, and I've also ran into my share of those (good thing I wear safety goggles and never really trust a tool  ). Many times it doesn’t really matter, but other times well, I wouldn’t trust some of their lifting/supporting equipment with heavy expensive items unless I recognized the brand. I don’t know the brand of the ladder Galaxy refers too and it may well be agood one and last a long time regardless of the brand or whether I recognize it or not. But when MY a….caboose goes up a ladder, the only way I want to come back down is the same way I went up. One rung at a time. Neighbor bought a cheap ladder because he thought he didn’t need an expensive one no more than he’d use it, well, he came down the hard way about two years ago, luckily he wasn’t too high and didn’t get hurt. That being said, even an expensive heavy duty brad name one can have a flaw. Less likely though and that's what we pay extra for. One thing though, and you probably have it covered with the one you picked, you want at least 3ft of ladder above the roof where you get on. Soooo, 13 ft should be ok at 10ft eave.

 

 

 

Mr B- Tough spot. I know what I’d say, but then again I’ve been there a few times and based on the outcome and my responses to them, my wife wouldn’t even ask if ANY member of her family or our children could borrow anything other than a little bit of air to breathe. However, your wife may be different so, to keep peace and harmony, plus maybe a few brownie points we could all use from time to time, maybe if you zip over to Walmart or Kmart and buy a “not very expensive in relation to others” bike he can ride and if it becomes an unintentional gift or seems to get slightly destroyed….well you’re not out yours.

 

 

 

Supposed to have some rain and a few possible storms off and on through today so…I got my yard w*rk done yesterday that leaves nothing but some housework and a chainsaw for a friend to fix.....So far. He’s in no hurry he said, I said poor choice of words to use on me. That was about a month or two ago. Maybe this week.

 

WHOA!!! The font on the "Post Body" Reply page is big! No squinting!                                                    

 

 EDIT:   And....apparently you no longer have to double space your paragraphs.

 

Ya’ll have a good day, ya hear!!!!

 

[cudaken]

 Morning Dinners

 Flo, Pleases.

 Got to get going shortly, long drive to St Charlies.

 Was up at 4:30, and came out to the computer for awhile. Went back to sleep around 6:15 till 7:30 my normal time to get up.

 Far as the ladder I am thinking about, it is rated to 300 pounds. Dressed I weight around 280 so that is cutting it close. Only thing I not happy about is the rungs are only 1 inch wide? Does that sound right?

 Bear, thank you for the video link! Brach I want to cut off are going to be around 8 inches. I will do some digging on U Tube and see what I can find.

  All ready time to get ready, when at the Fairview Heights store I would have another 30 minutes to chat.

 See you all tonight.

       Ken

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Todd ... You slipped in while I was editing my post. Good morning to you.

Jeff ... I like the headlights on your GP40. Perhaps you can tell us how you installed the lights and wired them. It would be interesting.

Ulrich ... I'm another who finds it is good to walk away when things aren't going right with my projects. 

Ken ... Good morning to you also 

Mr. B .... I don't like those situations where there are no right answers. Best wishes on that one. 

 

[Fouled Anchor]

Gary, WHAT A VIEW! I am only 4 miles from the Mississippi, but would love to be closer. I am not sure of my fascination with river traffic, just know I love it. The folks on the river are always kind and happy. I too have a good friend that is a tug boat captain, and I have made a few trips with him from St. Louis to St. Paul pushing empty grain barges. Are there locks in your area?

 

Steve

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

Steve .... Yes, there are locks at the north end of the two lakes. ... Our lake is the Cumberland River and the other lake is the Tennesse River. The Land Between the Lakes is run by Uncle Sam's park service and isa national recreation area. 

[TMarsh]

Ken- I didn't see the video, but I'd take the branch like you'd eat it. Small managable bites. Use some lopers to take the pieces up to where they're too small and the  saw from there. You don't mention how high this branch is, but at 8 inches I assume you can get it from the ground. IF you have to use a ladder, or your arms are above your had when cutting with the chainsaw, I would call someone who has done it before. Those are dangerous situations for someone with no real experience. Again, costs more, but the insurance is worth it.

[Jimmy_Braum]

Morning all, how's everone today? Myself, I am waiting for Walthers to update their order history for my account so I can track my purchase  (That's what I get for ordering on a Saturday night huh?) If it still isn't listed by Wednesday, I'm gonna contact them about it.  I went to the bank this morning, and chased a train in vain.  My parent's car is broke, so she needs to use mine to go shopping today until hers is fixed.