Sir MadogJaBear - I understand that NZ government took over control of KiwiRail, after privatization proved to be desastrous.
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
gee, here it is some 6 hours later and i am the last one to post?
I seriously MUST smell...
Well you may not have to worry aobut me smelling up the place for a few days...I will nto be here, and DON'T look for any fancy reading for a morning greeting eihter, we have a LOT of thns to do once officially up to do.
so
Have a great life,
-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.
well, lots of things to do. We are going away for a few days, so I have been busy,
On Scripts: I Have been trying since the wednesday before last to get a storng pain killer filled. First the Drs office had the wrong Dr/ sign the script, nto my Dr. SO I had to take it back, now it is stuck in limbo and the pharmacy cant' fill it, and blamed the doctor, the doctor got it preauthorized, the problem apparently. BIT the insuranve says it is done, the pharamcy is hte holdup the Drs office blamed it on the insurance, hte insurance blames the Dr, the pharmacy blames anybody. It is a pain reliver it SURE woudl be nice to have while away! We are going aobut 3.5 hours away, and we were only going for the weekend bUT I NEED to get AWAY. the four walls are closing in on me!
SO You MAY or may not see me over the weekend...
IF you don't maybe early next week.
Everybody have a smooth weeekend...DON"T FORGET its Mother's DAY WEEKEND....so IF you have a mother in your life,,,REMEMBER her!
rest well
Afternoon diners, need the coldest drink available. Not ready for really hot weather yet. It is 89 this afternoon in SE Ohio and very dry but not as bad as California.
Inch, your contributions are a good reminder that there is never a shortage of people for the annual Darwin awards. It also reminds me that half of all people are, after all, below average and don't live in Lake Wobbegone.
Ulrich, neat contrast pictures. Hopefully Europe will never see such devastation every again.
Time for a cool shower and then off for a burger and our first artist walk downtown for this season.
Wishes for good health for all.
Jim
last mountain & eastern hoggerUlrich, just run a couple of aligator clips on some wire to power that part of the module, I'm sure youve got a couple of those kicking around till you get the stuff you need for that job.
I wish I had, Johnboy! I am not going to buy a few, though - it´ll probably speed up the wiring job not to be able to run a train...
Hi Gang,
Chloe, I see that you have Borscht on special today. I'll have a large bowl and a grilled cheese and onion sandwich on whole wheat, Thanks with a Mountain Dew for Ken & me.
Yes thats right, I'm starting to wean him off the .
It is a very cool & cloudy day here as I guess that the breeze is off all that snow that Alberta got earlier this week and because of that I don't feel like being outside much today. So it is back to the Elevated Union Station and area for a few hours and then I have to get ready to go in to work for a few hours this evening.
Bear, I am really enjoying the NZ rail videos keep them coming.
Ulrich and Galaxy, sure hope you fellas start feeling better soon.
Nice to see some new faces in here, would like to see a few more of the older ones as well.
Mr. B. and Jeremy, good to see you guys have gotten out on the bikes. My wife is after me to get hers down and do a spring tune up on it so she can get out and pedal all over our community. ( thats not what I was going to say, But thought better of it)
Ulrich, just run a couple of aligator clips on some wire to power that part of the module, I'm sure youve got a couple of those kicking around till you get the stuff you need for that job.
Inch, nice to see you, it has been a while. Liked the tales too.
Ray, your house has really come along quickly and looks very nice. I am pleased for you.
I too am just amazed at the modelling that French fellow (Jean) Bubule ??? is doing. It is remarkable and especially when he is doing all of that on such a small layout. The detail and enngineering is beyond my capabilities. But I sure like seeing it.
Well, back to the LM&E and take advantage of a couple of hours of my modelling before work.
Catch ya all later, you are all looking good.
Johnboy out...................and going to perform...
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Good Afternoon Diners,
Just a quick note while I'm on lunch.
Ulrich: I had the good fortune of having a layover in Frankfurt for a few days back in 1969. Two things that struck me right away is the intensity of the green(grass, trees, etc.), and that there were still bullet holes in many of the buildings.
A slightly amusing true story. While in Frankfurt I stopped in a hamburger stand to eat. I was thinking to myself, how am I going to do this. So, I step up to the counter and said, "Ein hamburger und ein French fry." The man behind the counter looked at me like "Whaa......" He called the manager over and they barked a few things at each other. The manager turned to me and said, "What seems to be the problem here?" I said, "All I wanted was a hamburger and fries." He said, "They speak good English here." He then turned to the cook and they barked a few more things at each other. I found out three years later that what I'd done was to order a person from Hamburg. This was near the main rail station (Hauptbahnhof) in what was at the time the "red light district," which was also unbeknownst to me at the time. Well, there went my diplomatic career.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Richard,
although most of the rubble was removed before I was born, I still reminder empty lots in the street where we lived, some still with burned down houses on them. It was strictly forbidden to go there, which made it even more attractive for us to choose that for our playground.
Up until today, each community has an armament removal unit and they are still quite busy ...
The destruction by the Allied bombing was tremendous, far beyond any imagination. First estimation stated, that it will take up to 40 years to remove the rubble and another 50 years to rebuild the cities to a certain degree. Well, it took "only" 15 years, thanks to the enormous efforts of our mothers and grandmothers.
inch53I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. 'Do you need some help?' I asked. She replied, 'I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car.
I'm reminded of the gal who called BlondeStar ("always on, 'cause you're always blonde") because she'd locked herself out of her car. "Please hurry," she implored. "It's starting to rain and I left the top down."
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Ulrich: Those are some amazing pictures. I was in Germany for about a month after my junior year in high school. We spent three days in Tubingen (couldn't figure out how to add an umlaut), and the rest of the time I lived with a family in Hamburg and went to a school there, as part of an exchange program. We happened to be there when the school had scheduled a field trip to Berlin, back when there was an East and West Germany. Riding the train through East Germany and the associated checkpoints was an interesting experience. One day, I hope to get back. It is a beautiful country.
Richard
Good morning everybody.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, I'll have a bowl of organic granola and a pot of Seneca lake Blend Dark Roast this morning.... Please and Thank You Ma'am!
Inch, remember there is no cure for stupid, but duct tape can quiet them down fairly well...
Galaxy hope you get to feeling better quickly!
I'm just popping in here to see who else got so far, then I have to go mow more lawn before it gets to be 90°F outside...
Later!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Recently, when I went to McDonald's I saw on the menu that you could have an order of 6, 9 or 12 Chicken McN...uggets. I asked for a half dozen nuggets. 'We don't have half dozen nuggets,' said the teenager at the counter. 'You don't?' I replied. 'We only have six, nine, or twelve,' was the reply. 'So I can't order a half dozen nuggets, but I can order six?' 'That's right.' So I shook my head and ordered six McNuggets (Unbelievable but sadly true...) (Must have been the same one I asked for sweetener, and she said they didn't have any, only Splenda and sugar.)
TWO I was checking out at the local Wal-Mart with just a few items and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those 'dividers' that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the 'divider', looking it all over for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code, she said to me, 'Do you know how much this is?' I said to her 'I've changed my mind; I don't think I'll buy that today.' She said 'OK,' and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue to what had just happened.
( But the lady behind me had a big smirk on her face as I left)
THREE A woman at work was seen putting a credit card into her floppy drive and pulling it out very quickly. When I inquired as to what she was doing, she said she was shopping on the Internet and they kept asking for a credit card number, so she was using the ATM 'thingy.'
(Keep shuddering!!)
FOUR I recently saw a distraught young lady weeping beside her car. 'Do you need some help?' I asked. She replied, 'I knew I should have replaced the battery to this remote door unlocker. Now I can't get into my car. Do you think they (pointing to a distant convenience store) would have a battery to fit this?' 'Hmmm, I don't know. Do you have an alarm, too?' I asked. 'No, just this remote thingy,' she answered, handing it and the car keys to me. As I took the key and manually unlocked the door, I replied, 'Why don't you drive over there and check about the batteries. It's a long walk....'
PLEASE just lay down before you hurt yourself !!!
FIVE Several years ago, we had an Intern who was none too swift. One day she was typing and turned to a secretary and said, 'I'm almost out of typing paper. What do I do?' 'Just use paper from the photocopier', the secretary told her. With that, the intern took her last remaining blank piece of paper, put it on the photocopier and proceeded to make five 'blank' copies.
Brunette, by the way!!
SIX A mother calls 911 very worried asking the dispatcher if she needs to take her kid to the emergency room, the kid had eaten ants. The dispatcher tells her to give the kid some Benadryl and he should be fine, the mother says, 'I just gave him some ant killer......' Dispatcher: 'Rush him in to emergency right away'
Life is tough. It's even tougher if you're Stupid!!!! Someone had to remind me, so I'm reminding you too. Don't laugh....it is all true...
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
JaBear - I understand that NZ government took over control of KiwiRail, after privatization proved to be desastrous.
Sir Madog It´s really a pity, that today´s KiwiRail is all but a shadow from what NZR was in the glorious days of steam!
Anyhow, on with our travels. Last night we slogged up the grade on the Midland Line, so tonight here’s a quick look at the EO electrics that were used in the Otira Tunnel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7_B-Xs2f1I
Hamburg 1945:
Hamburg 2015:
Dresden 1945:
Dresden 2015:
Cologne 1945:
Cologne Central Station1945:
Cologne 2015:
Berlin 1945:
Berlin 2015:
Munich 1945:
Munich 2015:
Not a single town was spared.
No Morning greeting, just a hello
I had a migraine develop yesterday so I took a script and went to bed. I slept for nearly 10 hours!
MY back is absoltely killing me, though, it does that when I lay down to long. THe pain pills are not working so fast either...
SO, You MAY or may not hear from me over the weekend..so If I don't pop in, have a great weekend!
I hope the migraine form yesterday does not turn into a 3-day marathon one!
later
Good Morning Diners,
Flo, I'll have my usual humongous cup of coffee with mass quantities of cream, please.
Well, happy V-E Day. On this day in 1945, Admiral Doenitz signed the articles of surrender to the Allies, ending the war in Europe. The war still raged on in the Pacific for several months, but Europe was finally at rest, sort of.
Germany is a remarkable country. When the war was over, the country was in shambles in every area. Now, they are world leaders again, all thanks to the Beatles!
A quote for the day:
"When a politician gets an idea, he usually gets it wrong!" -Vincent Grinnell, Physics Instructor at Los Angeles City College
I hope everyone is OK and safe.
Good Morning!
May 8th, a date which will never be forgotten, the date, when peace came to Europe!
Galaxy is late this morning, I hope he caught a good night´s sleep this night!
I was busy doing some w*rk on my little layout. Not much, as my back is still hurting a lot. By a miracle, I found my long lost diamond cutting disc for my Chinese Dremel look-alike tool I bought for $ 5 10 years ago. Since then, it has given me good service. I dared to cut the rails at the module joints. The noise made Petra leave the room - it reminded here too much of a dentist´s drill . While cutting, one rail came loose and I had to resolder it. Only one more module joint and that milestone will be reached. Drawback is that my track is now without power and I can´t run a train until I tackle the wiring. For that I need a few items, but I have to see, whether this month´s budget allows the purchase of them.
Ken - I am feeling for you. We have to live with our children´s choices regarding partnership. Petra and I are also not happy about our son´s choice, but we just grin and bear it. Don´t want to lose the little one ...
Ray - good choice on the carpet. All kind of colors will match and it looks like a rugged, durable one!
Well, lunchtime is coming up - I have a nice smell from the kitchen in my nose!
Have a good one!
Evenin'folks!
Janie, a refill for my decaf would be very nice... Thank You!
Today has been one of those days where everytime I solved one problem, two more popped up to take its place. I will really be glad when the next two weeks are done with! Two major events that I have way too much to get done for coming up. I did solve the biggest worry for the convention I still had. that was getting all the items we needed for the Hospitality room. Had two people (well actually 4 if you count their wives...) take charge of taking care of everything for it. that worry was replaced by two others as I mentioened earlier. Making sure the presnters have any items they need from us, and getting the convention breakfast program done. Niether of those have really been solved yet... Tomorrows panic for the day! I am also waiting for a bit of information from a guy who may even be busier than I am with all his stuff going on and he still has to that nasty four letter word that starts with the letter w....
As I mentioned this morning the carpet installers were here this morning and the carpet is now done. Looks great if I do say so. I fact the contractor came back late this afternoon and took a good look, smiled at me me and said, "I like!" I went down to a local hardware store (Old Time place that has almost anything you can imaging on stock... Yep one of those very rare old time stores owned by an old timer for the last 60 years or so...) and got a bunch of various gray color cards for paint. I will send those on to my son with a leftover chunk of the new carpet for him to advise me on the paint color. Couple pictures as I promised:
Just to show what is under all of this, the lower left side you can see a broken piece of the concrete outside step from the original version of the house. Just above that is the doorway into the kitchen that was originally an outside door.
The contractor and I decided on a couple other things today as well. He asked me what I thought about using solid red oak for the molding around the window on the inside. Funny I had been thinking the exact same thing! That should make a nice splash of wood color right in the middle of that wall on the inside. I told him great minds think alike! He and I also agree not to put up molding along the ceiling inside but use the newer look there. I brought that up and he said I think your right, that will really look nice that way and said he was going to suggest it be done that way anyway... There will be red oak moulding around the doorway and the "window" that looks into the living room from the kitchen. I already did the inside off those way back when I rebuilt the kitchen myself 14 years ago... Never did finish the job. I found the old gallon of stain I bought way back then and I will stain the oak with it (if it is still good) to match the look on the other side and then he will install it for me. I'll check on a piece of the wood first to make sure I don't mess up some very expensive oak!
I also got half the lawn mowed again this evening... Just set the thermostat back over to heat for the night. Tomorrow is supposed to get up to 90°F around here. The air conditioner will get turned back on after breakfast tomorrow.
Have a great one! Prayers for all in need...
Today's disappointment--waiting for a week for my MB Klein package, only to discover I ordered the wrong turnouts. Tomorrow I get to find out how forgiving their return/exchange policy is.
JeremyBi still have severe pain in my head and mouth. I'm starting to think it may be a tooth infection and not migraines.
Jeremy, well, I wondered about that the first time you mentioned a toothache. I think I'd rather have that than a migraine, because the tooth can be dealt with while migraines are only treated, not really cured. Have they given you anything for the tooth infection, like amoxicillin? I'm actually on that right now, as a preventative after I had a tooth pulled last week. My wife's on it too, for a bronchial infection. I also got a prescription for Tylenol with codiene for the pain. I decided to tough it out instead of taking a narcotic, though, so that bottle sits unopened in my medicine cabinet. Dr. Cynthia did a fine job on the extraction, and even the ibuprofen I took was just precautionary.
Another fine bike ride today. It's time to branch out and expand my route. I've been doing a mostly flat 15-16 miles to get back into it, and now I'm ready to alternate longer rides with more hilly ones.
My new little turntable is operating, but there's no power to the rails. I've got to look into that. I've got one track run up to it, and I've run an engine on, but it stops as soon as it's off the fixed rails. Nothing on either side from the meter.
Afternoon Dinners
Flo, Beer please and I may need you to help lifting to my lips.
Yard Wars Been cutting, hacking and mowing. I can see results, I might get it all done this year.
My Daughter Marriage Boy did I ever call it! Daughter told her boss she was quiting. Shawn told Adam's parents Sharyn and him where married. Adam's parents where OK with Sharyn working there while they where just dating. Now that they are married, they don't want her working there and want her to pay rent to live there!
I knew this was a mistake from the start. But neither I or my wife cannot talk to Sharyn when we dissage with her with out it turning into a big fight. Now she is thinking about getting her house caught up, which would be the smart thing to do.
Train Front Think one of my Proto 2 B&O GP 30's has split a axle gear. Heared a clicking when I first started it up. Have a 1/2 hour the clinking is gone?
All most done with the BBQ, so I am out of here.
Ken
I hate Rust
Watch out Vega the thought police are out and you could get banned !
Galaxy - I am used to being warned and getting in trouble. I join a good crowd of rowdy folk who speak their mind. Such as John Adams, Patrick Henry etc...
Did I ever tell you about the little engine that had a balance problem ? You see there was this steam engine. Every time it went around a right hand curve the wheels on the left side screemed, growned and made an awful noise. The odd thing is when it went around a left hand curve the left side wheels didnt make a sound ! You see as long as the wheels went their way the left side wheels were happy. But the left side wheels couldnt stand it went it went around a right hand curve and demanded that they only go around to the left ! So you know what happened ? It only went in circles and didnt get anywhere !!! That engine wasnt worth a hoot after that because it was one sided and couldnt go straight to save its boiler ! Soon a new steam engine came out that had balanced right and left wheels and it went plenty of places and was able to do much because it was balanced. Unlike many of the engines in the round house these days. They have unbalanced wheels and can only tolerate left hand curves ! Sad but true story.
Ray - wll keep your sister in prayer. Here is one for her . I go to a barber shop not to get a hair cut but to see if there is any extra someone doesnt need
JaBear - MOH also adds strawberries in banana milk shakes she makes
Hi guys
just on the iPad here.
i still have severe pain in my head and mouth. I'm starting to think it may be a tooth infection and not migraines. The pain medication she has me on is doing nothing at all. Id go as far as to say this is the worst pain I have ever been in and I have had my head spilt open twice by hockey pucks. I go back in the morning I think if the tooth is infected there is nothing they can do until the infection clears up. Just sitting here is agony. We'll talk to you guys later, if I don't come back on tonight I will give a update tomorrow
the thing that has annoyed me besides the doctor not knowing what's going on is that I am falling behind in house work, lawn work and at work. I'm glad I have a boss that understands
Zoe, I'll have a short stack of blueberry pancakes, pure NYS Maple Syrup, a couple of sausage links, and a large pot of Dark Roast Coffee to start the day...
I have already been over to the barber a couple blocks away and got (all) my hair cut. want to look my best when I am doing service on the NYC Empire Express Coach this Saturday.
The carpet installers are here this morning and should be done in another 45 minutes or so. Photos later... Getting close to having the space back.
up831Ulrich: Live steam! Wow, that is wild. How does one stop, reverse direction, and do switching on reals steam that small? It's not like a person can hit the stop button on the DCC. Just curious.
I am afraid that the handling of such a tiny live steam loco is not really as comfortable as with a bigger, RC controlled live steamer. To stop it. one has to catch and hold it. To reverse it, you have to give it a gentle shove in the opposite direction. Switching, as we understand it, will be a little difficult.
In my better days, when I still had a very good job, and house with a sizable garden, I had a large loop of G scale track in it and one of those to steam a long:
and this one:
With the loss of my job and my house, I had to sell them
Live steam is so much fun! You get the sight, the sounds and the smell of the big ones. For the sound, I had a "bark box" installed in the black one, which improved the sound dramatically.
Flo, I'll have my usual gargantuan cup of coffee with lots of cream, please.
Ulrich: Live steam! Wow, that is wild. How does one stop, reverse direction, and do switching on reals steam that small? It's not like a person can hit the stop button on the DCC. Just curious.
Been doing a little measuring and scaling on the plans for the U-33C shells I acquired. On the plans and the model, the grabs measure at about 15", but my Detail Associates grabs seem to scale out at about 18". Not sure which is correct. Any advice?
Well, have to run.
i hope everyone is OK and safe.
Good Morning Gang!
It´s quite cold, wet & windy today - no time to be outside!
Thanks, Bear, for sharing this nice video with us! It´s really a pity, that today´s KiwiRail is all but a shadow from what NZR was in the glorious days of steam!
Rob, Hielscher of Germany makes a HO scale live steam model of your little "Glaskasten" (glass box) BR 98. The price is about $ 100 above the Roco RTR model - for the kit and a little more for the RTR version.! Assembly, though, is fairly simple.
Check this link:
Hielscher Glaskasten
.... and a short video of it:
Lunch is coming up quickly - it´ll be pizza for us today!