Good Evening Diners,
Brunhilda, I'll have a cup of Earl Grey tea with cream and honey, please.
YGW: Just able to catech up a little, sincerely glad to hear SIL is Doing better, although it will be a long road to recovery.
Ulrich and Mr. Otte: When I was a kid, we had doughnuts that looked like the Berliners in the pictures, but they were filled with raspberry jelly and had a white frosting on them. We called those Bismarks. Either way they were delicious.
About the only thing I do for New Years is to sip on a liqueur such as Baileys or Sambuca as we watch the ball drop on TV. Real party animals.
I hope everyone is OK, safe nd warm.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
yougottawantaRichard - where do you shovel the coal into to get that piano thingy steamimg ? I do believe that is the strangest loco I have ever seen ! . . .
Pianos and trains? Here you go! (Hint: Fast forward to 2:45.)
Richard
Good Evening,
Typing this from the old laptop which has a Vista system so it is slow going.
Hope everyone had a nice Christmas. Ours was fairly quiet but that is ok. We went to my SIL for dinner on the day.
Ken, that was really unfortunate Sue had such a nasty fall.
Not a lot new here. I have been running the HO a little. I just did a little shunting with the 0-6-0 which is my smoothest running loco. It is an older PK2 and one I treasure a lot as my FIL gave it to me for my birthday the year before he passed away. I made up a short mixed train with a mike on the point. Probably too large a loco for such a task but I don't have a 10 wheeler.
We will soon head downstairs and watch a movie accompanied by some panettone. I guess panettone is our Christmas tradition even though neither of us are Italian. I also enjoy mincemeat tarts. I managed to pick up a couple of boxes of Walkers brand from a local specialty grocery. I'm willing to bet John knows about mincemeat tarts and Walkers of Scotland.
Lion, I would like to join you your trip to Zimbabwe. I have a stamp and visa in my passport from that country when we visited Victoria Falls a couple of years ago. You are correct that they still run some steam there. We could also go to South Africa and travel on Rovos Rail as they still use steam to pull the train out of their station in Pretoria.
Well the kettle is boiling for the tea, so I'll sign off for now.
CN Charlie
mmmmm....our New Years traditional meal is more Pork Tenderloin with some brown rice and grilled veggies. New Years eve tends to be more of a neighbourhood thing...pot luck then countdown...and shiveree...
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/
Evening Dinners
Flo, please.
Been a loooong day! Took Sue to the ER today and spent 6 hours there. They took some x-rays and the news could be worst I guess. She has fractured three bones. One toe bone, bone in the bottom of the foot and her Fibula in the left leg. She was given a speical boot to wear (which she won't, cannot figuer out how to get it on and off) and a walker.
After I got her home, walked Sparkie the Rocket Dog, it was off to Wal-Mart to get a med filled for the pain. Had to waite a hour for that.
No one has given us a real idea how long it will take her to recover. My guess a month plus. If it gets Sue out of doing the dishes, I would guess the next 10 years!
Ken
I hate Rust
Richard - where do you shovel the coal into to get that piano thingy steamimg ? I do believe that is the strangest loco I have ever seen !
Bama - Here in my part of Va. we have the cornbread and black eyed peas also.
Der - Yea man ! You did have good reasons to give praise !!
Ulrich. Steve - what is the difference between a Bismark and a Boston Cream donut ?
Steve - oooo fish ? yuck Boy I hope your wife REALLY loves you to take that kiss !!!!
Ulrich - That is simply amazing ! I would have never guessed. I bet that is a pain to order all of thise parts.
V8 - No traditions ?
Lion - that is some interesting history there.
Train front my Hobbies Alco C630 High Hood came in today ! The seller said it was slightly used. It is brand new ! Never run. It is beautiful - at least as beautiful as a diesal can be. Everyone knows steam it more beautiful - okay- okay - just kidding !
Kelly - has passed her swallow test and now she is being moved to a lower level trama unit closer to everyones home. Her parents were having to drive two hours each way every day to get to the special hospital/unit she was in. Still a long ways to go....Please continue to pray.
MOH will soon be home - Her aunt was lucid enough that she was able to recognize her and our daughter. A pastor talked to her aunt today and she made her peace with God ( HUGE BLESSING ). I tell you it sure makes a big difference when you know that a loved one going before you, you will see again on the other side in heaven.
TTYL
YGW
A quick visit while the grandkids are out back playing. My son is down from Idaho for a couple of weeks. He brings with him a wife and five children, all under the age of eight, including a pair of eighteen-month-old twins. And, yes, they are all staying at our house. The older three are staying in the office, sharing the room with my layout and they just leave it alone. They have really good parents.
Today the piano arrived. It is hard to believe after all of these years of waiting, we finally have a grand piano. It has been an emotional experience for both of us as we have played it.
Hitting the hay now!
Ken - how inconsiderate of me! I hope Sue is recovering from her fall!
Barry - nice kitty - looks very royal! She´s got a certain je ne sais quoi
Thought I'd scroll up the page on m way to the door, and I see I'm way behind on whay's happenin'! Ken, sorry to hear about Sue's fall - please let her know we're thinking of you guys and prayers for a swift recovery from that.
cudaken Train Front I have tested some of my old Atlas Remote Turnout machines, and they work? Bought some wire and hope to have a few turnouts wired up Tuesday. I think I will enjoy it, I have around 50 turnouts on the layout and seldom throw any.
-by MisterBeasley Ken, I've got a few old Atlas machines on my layout, too. Some date back to my teenage years, so they're 50 years old or more. Get yourself a capacitive discharge thing, or build one yourself. It will give you much more reliable throws and protect the machines from burnout when a toggle switch sticks in the on position.
On the Christmas decoration takedown thing. we usually wait for 12th night - which works out to Epiphany - or the Orthodox Christmas Jan 6th or thereabouts. AS tot he temperature thing - we leave the lights up if neccessary but don't have them on past Jan 6th. All the indoor decorations come down on 12th night.
by Steven Otte Since we have such a broad-based group here, thought I'd ask a question. Do you have a tradition of some specific food you eat on New Year's eve or day to bring good luck for the year? For a while the wife and I tried the Japanese tradition of soba noodles on New Year's day, but it hasn't seemed to work yet.
Ulrich, on the JFK thing Amazing Lego Locos too!
Barry, our Penny, also black, say Hi! to Lucy.
Now, Der has left the building...
"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.
Good afternoon yall. Just stopping in on my lunch break. Wasn't 100% sure I was going to get one today as I'm the only mechanic on duty. Thankfully not too busy today.
As far as New Year's meals are concerned, you could always do what we in the south do. Fried chicken, collard greens, black eye peas, and corn bread.
Speaking of new years, I will actually have the day off, so I'm going to try to spend it doing something model railroad related. Dunno what yet, but something.
Well, that's enough of my rambling. I'll swing back through this evening after I get off.
Later taters
Never heard of that before - maybe it is as German as the Christmas pickle, which nobody knows here?
Some people eat a pickled herring the next morning to get rid of what we call a "Kater", which translates into tomcat, but is actually a truly genuine, well earned hangover
An article I found online said that for good luck in the New Year, Germans eat pickled herring exactly at the stroke of midnight. They're considered good luck because the shiny silver sides look like coins. Can't imagine why they don't just eat coins. Anyway, a little while back the wife bought a tin of herring in tomato sauce for no reason she can properly explain. So we'll likely put those on crackers and try it this year. Though it will likely interfere with the tradition of the midnight kiss (and probably any other kisses for a few hours after ). Now to find someplace on the way home that sells berliners... too bad our local donut shop closed...
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Diners! It's tea time, so a cuppa will go well with the shortbread that's in the round tin over on the counter there Zoe, thank you. In FaceBook land Trolley Rob (from the old Coffee Shop for those who remember him) has posted this link, Enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiSFZBDAH9Y&feature=share
yougottawantaDer - God was looking out after you that day !!! That was a CLOSE call.
He certainly was! The very first thing we did as we drove home along the causeway (having checked the rear view mirror to be sure that truck hadn't hit the guard rail - it hadn't and was nowhere to be seen!) was to give thanks - loudly and fervently!
A minor triumph yesterday as I discovered where Microsoft hid the "Snip Tool" in Windows 10 and have moved the icon to my task bar. It's my favourite screen grab method. I mention this only because i've now grabbed the track plan for the Nathans Pass RR from SCARM and can print it off in order to see how I can reconfigure it to fit the two doors arranged as an "L" which I hope to make the base for the next layout. Let me just pull up a blank WORD.doc and see how the .jpeg will fit on the page...needs two copies for the reconfiguring exercise, but it's printing off now as I type. Looks good, one thing I notice immediately is that a double cross-over which in the original is directly below a double track overpass will in the new alignment be free and clear - should I elect to keep the feature. Can you imagine the headaches which maintaining those switches would induce? BTW CN Charlie, did your camera batteries charge up? Enquiring minds need to know.
Tea was good, but now I've a date with a pair of scissors and some tape....
Cheers!
Well Mr. Otte:
First its nice to see you participate in the diner without yetyrant hat on!
I don't know that it is special to bring good luck for the new year, but we usually opt for to to cook a good lamb dinner! Just like TG and Christmas, I tend to go all out.
The one tradition I have heard of is: to kiss the one you love to bring good luck that you will still be together by the year end!
My spouse and I have for 15 years practced that tradition at the stroke of midnight, and though we have some problem s we are working on, so far it has remained true!
This year we are going to very close friends house- so close we are considered family to ring in the new year with them there will be kisses and hugs all around, I am positive.
I don't know what spread they have planned for dinner, but it will be very delicious anyway.
We must have been good boys this month as haven't seen you here with your moderator cap on.
I wish all a happy new year and a healthy happy and prosperous new year!!!
-G
-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.
Afternoon.... Awwwwww... What a sweet littke kitty! Belongs to Barry? I think he just likes Black Cats. My two Black and White Kitties are sound asleep here in the dining/computer room by me.
Chloe, what are those lovely looking pastries over on the counter Berliner phiskidoodles???? (Mien Deutsch ist nicht so gut!) Well they sure look good, bring over a collection of them for me to, ah....., sample whilst I sit at the rivet counter. Yummy!
Steven since I am descended from English, German, Irish, scotch, and a little Bourbon heritage, The only traditional foods in the family, my Father would not permit in the house. He just thought that Steak and Kidney Pie was gross. We did make our own "Bitter" butter at home..... I thought that was pretty gross and prefered sweet cream butter. At New Years we generally roasted a large Prime Rib Roast. Now that everyone agreed was good (except for one of our former cows that the roast came from....) On New Years we always ended the Grace that My Grandma Cooley wrote with an extra line asking that the bank not forclose on our farm.... Most years it was close to that, but since we were farmers, at least, we had good food on the table.
Whatever you have to eat on New Years, I hope that each of you here at this forum will will have a "Prospero año y Felicidad".
I just got home from the Boy Scout Camp. Except for a monstrous amount of dirt and dust, everything came down, was marked properly, and will be strored until Mid Winter School Break when it will be reinstalled as the room should be redone by then.
I best get at cleaning the house. Company coming over tomorrow afternoon.
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!
Whew...just got back from out of town visiting...sheesh the roads are kinda slippery...
We got a new kitteh...her name is Lucy.
"Berliner" look very similar to your "Bismarcks"
You can also get them with icing instead of the sugary stuff, and even covered with a chocolate icing! Most of the are filled with strawberry jam, some with custard, but that depends on the region you live in.
(Photo courtesy of:„Berliner Pfannkuchen in Stuttgart“ von Dr. Bernd Gross - Eigenes Werk.)
Steven OtteHer family is German, but she doesn't know of any lucky German New Year's traditions. So, what do you eat for luck in the New Year where your people are from?
LION lives in monastery. In North Dakota. The people in this part of North Dakota most of the people are Volga Deutsch, that is Germans from Russia. The Germans were granted land in the Volga region and were supposed to be autonomus, but in the march of the years the writing was on the wall. It was in the early 1900s that they moved to the USA. How they landed in North Dakota was indeed a function of the railroads. Germans from Russia who are also Catholic get put off the train here. Germans from Russia who are also Lutheran were put off the train at the next stop. Hungarians from Russia who were Catholic were put off over there. Deal was that the railroads owned the section where the town was located, and they sold the lots to the settlers. They set aside one lot for a Church, but were only giving out once church per town. As a point of histor, the first Mosque in the USA was set up on the GN main line in the Williston area in the same manner, but there were European Moslems, and over the years they intermarried with Lutherans and Catholics and so eventually dissapeared.
In any event I was trying to speak of foods, but the monastery caims to be "German" their food is actually far more Russian, so say I who come from New York City where the good food is served.
Our New Years Eve tradition is Pizza which is ordered out since we give our cooks the night off. Other than that our food traditions are sort fo dictated by the cooks that we hire.
Oh for Mom's Chocolate Whipped Cream Roll! Mom and Dad are still alive, but are in assisted living, and Chocolate Whipped Cream Rolls and Molasses Shugar Cookies are on longer foods that happen anymore.
Sister Michael, from the convent down the road gifts us with Carmel Popcorn, so we will have to do with that.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Steven,
Why did You have to post that pic'...? Now I am craving one or two..LOL. It's snowy, rainy and butt cold outside and at 73, I'm not about to go outside and get any...LOL. I'll just dream.
Take Care!
Frank
Looks pretty close to it, Steven!
Steven Otte
And if there's a tray of those at the end of the counter, I'll take one. Or two.
last mountain & eastern hogger Ulrich, what you call,>>>Another one is to eat a special doughnut called "Berliner Pfannkuchen" I think we call a "Bismark". Does that sound right ?
Ulrich, what you call,>>>Another one is to eat a special doughnut called "Berliner Pfannkuchen" I think we call a "Bismark". Does that sound right ?
I think Bismarks are chocolate-covered and custard-filled... what I (probably incorrectly) call a Boston cream.
Johnboy out..........
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
yougottawantaUlrich - Those arent kits ? I assumed that you could buy those and put them together ? If those arent kits that makes them more impressive !!!
No kits, but so-called MOC´s - which stand for My Own Creation. It´s a German guy doing an incredible job of designing and building near-to-scale locos using Lego bricks. The bricks are not that expensive, the only difficulty is to track them. There is no place you could just send a list of the bricks you need. You have to individually order them. If you are lucky, you can get them at one place. HAve you ever identified and order 500 individual items? Takes ages!
Ken - How are you and Sue doing ? I hope okay.
Ulrich - Those arent kits ? I assumed that you could buy those and put them together ? If those arent kits that makes them more impressive !!!
Lion - Uhhhh if those lions are TSA agents at the depot lets see if they have a back door outta there !!! Do I look like a wildebeast ?
Bama - YES you are outnumbered ! Man what a great blessing you have been blessed with ! Talk about being outnumbered. I have three daughters, wife, two female dogs, one female cat ! The estrogen and DRAMA flow deeply here.
Angel - I agree on star wars. There were some really great parts but I am soooo glad I was not one of those that stood in line for days to get tickets or a seat.
Lazy day planned. Will be working on the study with finishing the new trim, some paint prep and then lazy afternoon.
Good Afternoon!
I was hoping my friend Lothar would join me today to complete the wiring of my layout, but he did not come - . He is a bit of a lone wolf and tends to forget such things.
Steven - there are a few traditional New Years customs I know of. The most prominent is Bleigießen - you´ll find a lot about it here.
Another one is to eat a special doughnut called "Berliner Pfannkuchen". Despite its name, it´s not a pancake, but a doughnut, filled with jam, but without the hole in it. Incidentally, this was not what JFK meant in his famous 1963 speech "Ich bin ein Berliner"
There may be more, regional traditions, but I am not aware of any. For my wife and I, the New Year´s Eve is a time to get a little sentimental. We have a rather frugal meal consisting of potatoe salat and German sausages (Frankfurters) and listen to music. It´ll be a glass of champagne at midnight and "Auld Lang Syne", before we hit the hay, trying to get some sleep while the rest of Germany sends billions of Euros worth of fireworks up in smoke and noise.
I did some searching of the web for more info on Lego trains and the deeper I look into this subject, the more I am fascinated by what can be done out of those plastic bricks.
Just look for yourself:
More to be seen here
The only problem I see is to source all those bricks. "Hunting them down" could take years!
YGW - no snow yet, but the weather guessers see a fair chance for New Year´s Eve. A few years ago, we had a long, cold and snowy winter, which started in December and lasted well into March! More recently, we had rather mild, but wet winter seasons.
Prayers for Kelly!
Have a great one!
Good morning, Diners.
Since we have such a broad-based group here, thought I'd ask a question. Do you have a tradition of some specific food you eat on New Year's eve or day to bring good luck for the year? For a while the wife and I tried the Japanese tradition of soba noodles on New Year's day, but it hasn't seemed to work yet. Her family is German, but she doesn't know of any lucky German New Year's traditions. So, what do you eat for luck in the New Year where your people are from?
Snow! It's the first of the season here. It's wet and sloppy, and we're only getting an inch or so. It's already turning to rain and will stay that way, so I'm looking for just wet roads on the drive to hockey tonight.
Ken, I've got a few old Atlas machines on my layout, too. Some date back to my teenage years, so they're 50 years old or more. Get yourself a capacitive discharge thing, or build one yourself. It will give you much more reliable throws and protect the machines from burnout when a toggle switch sticks in the on position.
We'll be skiing next week, and this snow is welcome up north. They've had no significant natural snow this season, and the man-made stuff is pretty limited. We go to Sunday River. This is the biggest ski week of the year, and they've got barely a quarter of their trails open. And, that's the resort that has the best snowmaking in the East. I feel sorry for those who've booked vacations at places with even less snow.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hmm... Amost the end of the month it is...
LION thinks that the next stop for the diner should be in Zimbabwai. They have nice trains there, including Garretts on the point. And we can park our diner under a Baobab Tree, and will have very plentiful Wildebeests this time of year.
Get your passports ready, and do not mind the TSA agents, they are friends of mine!
LION bounds into the dining car... finds a table near the kitchen door. Him orders Wildebeest Steaks for breakfast. Sticky Buns are just coming out of the ovens. I'll take the ones with Raisins and Pecans, if you do not mind. Or even if you do mind... LIONS are not all that particular (except with regards to what trains the BMT runs on Broadway... Him has ideas about that!)