Happy Easter, everyone.
Ulrich .... The Pennsy layout in the video looks so good, the 3-rail track was not notivable.
Ray ... I like your photo the way it is. My opinion is the blacksmith shop is better where it is in the photo. The photo is more aesthetic and realistic the way you have it. .... Great work with the modeling and photography.
Der John ... Say hello from me to Krump. Better yet, ask him to visit the Diner again for some coffee.
Galaxy ... Tell your golfing neighbor to go to the driving range.
Lion .... you what ? ! ? .... Ate the bunny ! ? .... Terrible !
Remember .... A covered hopper is a rabbit wearing a hat.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Heartland Division CB&QLion .... you what ? ! ? .... Ate the bunny ! ? .... Terrible !
It was a chocolate bunny ...
I am really bored today. WHile running a train, I dropped my throttle, but nothing bad happened. Talking about being lucky.
Just made a few more shots of my layout.
I like the first one the best! Now imagine more detail and - most important - that delicate catenary system!
Let´s see whether I can make it into Trackside Photos once all that is done!
Here is yet another video of Norm´s great layout:
I´ll probably get shot for what I am about to say, but I truly believe that atmosphere is more important for a layout than scale accuracy
Ready, aim, fire ...
A quiet day in the Diner. I must have fallen asleep in the backbooth
Just woke up - in time to head for the bunk. I didn´t get anything done today, just watched some videos on Youtube. Some of them showed really nice O gauge layouts and you know what? I have fallen in love with that stuff! Brings back fond memories of childhood play, when I built up my Marklin tinplate train set on my bed and just played with it. I have built quite a number of layouts since those days, but, although I enjoyed building each one of them, I never had as much fun as I had in those days!
Well, out I am - G´night!
Afternoon Diners,
Happy Easter everyone.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Evening Dinners
Flo, warm please
Well I have had better Easters and Worse ones. Sue called me at work Saturday and told me the Furnace would not come on. It was dead at work so I left Jerry in charge.
Got home and the pilot light was out. Got it going with no problem. Few mintues later, Sue came out the the garage / train room and told me it stopped running again. Decide to mess with it Sunday some more.
Today I vacum out the furance, cleaned the therocoupler, brushed out the pilot light it self, used some can air and lite the pilot light. Furance came on, ran for a few minutes and went out. House or the car's all wise seem to know when I have a little extra $. Bright side, garage / train room is nice and warm. It has it own gas furance.
Yard Wars After I gave up on the furance I cleaned up a little around the in ground pool. Cut down a few stumps and finally got the pool re-covred. I think I will be lucky if this cover makes it this summer. Bought it from Harbor Freight, while it was only $59.00 with my discout I think I will regreat buying it. Pain in the caboose covering a 16 X 32 foot inground pool by your self!
Later, Ken
I hate Rust
Happy Easter to one and all. It has been a busy Easter this year. I sang at two services this morning. Our choir normally only sings at the 10:30 service but we make an exception on Easter and Christmas. Daughter, SIL and granddaughter accompanied us to a big Easter dinner brunch at the local historical hotel. Good eats for all.
I am kind of symied on track laying awaiting an order of insulated track joiners needed for completing the laying of turnouts. Walthers says two weeks on orders but normal I have been receiving orders in about seven days.
CN Charlie, where are you?
Ken, glad to see you have been able to make some progress on your yard wars. We are now into the weekly grass mowing season.
Just saw that Canada is going to require a bunch of paper work and a fee for US visitors traveling by air. I don't know whether they will require the same for ground travel or not.
Time for some more Penguins hockey as they are playing the Rangers in MSG tonight. Good time of year for sports fans. I really enjoyed watching the UConn Huskies women game yesterday. They really put on a show of profection. We used to watch all the womens games when we lived in Connecticut as the local PBS station broadcasted all UConn womens games.
Hope everyone had a delightful Easter
Jim
Heartland Division CB&QRay ... I like your photo the way it is. My opinion is the blacksmith shop is better where it is in the photo. The photo is more aesthetic and realistic the way you have it. .... Great work with the modeling and photography.
Thanks Garry! I am a great fan of classicism and the "rule of 3rds." is one of many things I tend to take into account. The lines elsewhere in the photo should lead the eyes to the Blacksmith Shop and the other items, the people, the locomotive, and the end of the freight train just complete the scene. It is not a picture of a Blacksmith Shop alone.... At least that is how I thought of it. That said, there is no absolute right or wrong way to present the scene either and others may well prefer a different take.
Yes, it is 1925 on the SLOW and the Beer Car is very out of place right in the middle of Prohibition! LOL
The other problem? Well here is the shot I plan to use followed by the one I put in yesterday... Take a good look at the 2nd. story windows..... I still have a bit of work on the photo, but I think it is basically what I want. Thanks for all the comments folks! You all have been a help to me!
73
Ray
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Ulrich Gomergrat., different thread. I have never skied next to a train. It would seem to be a very problematic place to run a train, with lots of snow. I've skied a couple places in Colorado, where you could look a couple miles down the mountain and see the freight trains run through the valley. There might be a resort in New England that has rail service. I think that was part of the plot in Bing Crosby's White Christmas movie.
Galaxy I can't think of anything to say about your issue with balls that wouldn't bring down Vinnies' hammer on me.
Ken I have a friend who has a pool cover that looks like blue bubble wrap. I will have to look at it again, but as I recall it is like a big roll of saran wrap on a bar and he just pulls it over and onto the surface of the water. He also heats the pool as his Swiss wife doesn't like cold water. He keeps it close to 90 in the summer, which is uncomfortable when the ambient temp is also in the 90's.The Brandy Alexander pie was excellent, but could have taken a little more cognac. I did hte Paula Deen Rib Roast recipe. That really requires both patience and a leap of faith. You cook it for an hour then turn the heat off, keep the oven door closed for 3 hours than reheat it for another hour. At T+ 4 hrs you have a piece of meat that is 102 F and the question is: Is it a warm piece of raw meat or a less than hot piece of med rare beef. She said heat it for 30-45 min but I heated it for a solid hour until it was 130, then let it rest for 10 min and it was perfect.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hello all
Another quiet night at work.
Updated the resume and started sending things out. Changes are afoot in my organization and positions may be eliminated. I was planning on moving on after this season was finished anyways, this just encouraged the process.
Found a good deal on a Minitrix Pacific. One of my first acquistions in N-scale this time was a Minitrix 0-6-0 which I've been impressed with. Simple, rugged construction w/ enough detail for the size, but w/o a lot of delicate stuff to break.
I've been underwhelmed w/ a lot of the Bachmann products on the market and recently had a bad experience w/ a Kato GS-4. Impressive w/ all the stuff under the hood, but they kind of over took the plumbing. Fragile plastic gearing and the electrical connection w/ the tender was just a plain bad design.
Minitrix doesn't make new US style rolling stock, but there seems to be a lot of used stuff available at reasonable prices.
Bob
Tucson, AZ (aka the Ol' Pueblo)
Home of the Mt. Graham & Arizona Eastern Boiler Shops
BigDaddy Galaxy I can't think of anything to say about your issue with balls that wouldn't bring down Vinnies' hammer on me.
Well, Big Daddy,
If he kept his balls to himself, we might be fine neighbors. But when his balls are in my yard I grab his balls and put them in my garage. It might help smooth things if, instead of scowling at MOH, he just asked me to release his balls. My yard is NOT a driving range, a miniature golf course or a golf course. I don't really want or like his balls. But he insists on foisting his balls upon me. He IS learning..I haven't had to deal with his balls recently.
GOOD MORNING EVERYONE!
Rainy and wind advisory here. Typical day here in the southern tier of NY. Only in the 40s today.
Train nut friend from NYC is coming up today. I wish I had the mini HO scale layout up and running,but alas it isn't. It will be a nice visit/
SInce we are now house poor, I doubt we will go train hoping this summer.
well have a great day guys!
-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.
Morining Dinners
Flo, big cup of please
BigDaddyI have a friend who has a pool cover that looks like blue bubble wrap
Henry Your friend has a Solar Blanket / Cover. It is used to keep the pool warm from sunlight. I all so have one but could not use the reel. One end of the pool has a diving board other end has step's with a hand rail. Sides all so would not work because of the slide on one side and other has a ladder to get out of the deep end.
Ken
Afternoon, Folks!
The day started nice and bright, but is back to dull. I also feel dull today - not a t all in the mood for anything, not even running a train. It´s still a public holiday here, with all businesses closed until tomorrow.
I´ll be staying in the backbooth for a while, until I have finished my coffee
Mornin' everyone!
Yep... Still morning here for a few more minutes.
Like where Ulrich is, it is very dull, gray, damp, and chilly, icky, and dull outside here in the Finger Lakes this morning. yesterday was bright sun all day long. On top of having a very good Easter with the family, the solar panel on the roof churned out 25.38 kWh of electricity, a very good sum for this time of year!
Went over to the vets to get another bag of the diabettic formula cat food for the boys and then stoped at the Body Shop so they could take a few photos of the PiP for the insurance company. They should get final OK for the job today and will get the parts ordered this afternoon. The actual removing the old bumper and installing the new should only take a few hours and will be done in one day. He said they will call to make the appointment as soon as they have the new bumper painted and ready to go on the car.
Yesterday, between lunch at the fancy dancy hotel placey, thingie and going over to spend the rest of the day with my son and his family, I ate a few jelly beans..... Bad, bad idea. The temporary crown popped right off. Luckily I am in no pain, as the dentist office is not open this week..... The Dental Hygenist who is manning the phone said I can glue it back in myself using............ Or, just don't chew anything on that side and they will see me for the regular appointment for the new crowns next Monday....
I'm going to take some different angles of photos of tye Blacksmith Shop area of the layout and see what happens (at the advise of a guy over accross the street....).
Catch you all later!
Hey all
Belated Happy Easter from me. Spent ALL WEEKEND TRYING TO LOG IN guess what I couldnt ! . Finally gave up and sent in an email to customer service. Just tried and it seems to be working now at least from this computer.
Ken - Saw the PM thanks. I laughed out loud about you keeping your neighbers balls I know you didnt mean the way it sounded BUT.....
Got some disappointing news from the cardio specialist - he says I need to go in for a heart operation. The attempts to fix the bad circuit is NOT working and they have to go in roto router style through the veins and burn the circuit out. Worse news is he said I have to loose about 60lbs in three months !!! What ? ! That is going to be tough one ! they probably should just take me out back and me. I have been trying to loose weight all my adult life and it just refuses to go away. I have cut out, potatos, Chips bread, rice, diet soda, no sugar, processed foods and eating only vegetables with out any seasoning such as salt or butter and every reducing amounts of meat ! It just refuses to come off Long ago I gave up alchol products. Now they are telling me I cannot eat the cardboard crackers with seasoning ( triscuits ) Boy I tell you if it wasnt for trains......
TTYL
YGW
Thanks for listening very discouraging turn of events,
yougottawantaGot some disappointing news from the cardio specialist - he says I need to go in for a heart operation. The attempts to fix the bad circuit is NOT working and they have to go in roto router style through the veins and burn the circuit out. Worse news is he said I have to loose about 60lbs in three months !!!
Welcome aboard this train, YGW! I am sorry to hear that we apparently share the same heart issues. I´ve been through the roto-tiller treatment and it didn´t help as much as it should have. I am still left with reducing my weight, which is extremely difficult to accomplish if there is nothing you can do to burn those calories. I have managed to lose 2 lbs. out of the targeted 60 ...
YGW and Ulrich,
There must be something magical (or diabolical) about 60. When I had my 3BP and AAA surgeries 13 years ago, I was encouraged to drop a few more pounds. Now, I'm dealing with A-Fib and COPD, at 60# over my surgical weight. I believe it is catagorically impossible (at my age anyway) for me to drop that weight short of some selective amputation.
Afternoon folks,
Chloe, just a decaf for me right now.... What? No, leave the jelly beans over there on the counter! I don't need them any more than Ulrich or YGW do....
Sun has decided to show up this afternoon. May actually make some kWhs of electricty after all today.
At the advise of a gent over across the street (who is a professional photographer) I went back down and got a few more photos of the area.... I think this one may just do everything that he and several others suggested. Shows off the little 0-6-0 tank engine that switches the Stone Quarry around the corner better too.
Need to go grocery shopping, so I will pop back in later!
I like this one much better, I was seeing 4 separate scenes in the first version. Now the eye starts at the red switch signal and moves to the top right corner.
60 pounds in 3 mo? That's a tall order for a bum ticker. My wife and her sister and BIL were on a medically supervised liquid protein diet. I was sceptical as the doc was also selling the protein. It didn't taste bad and they all lost a good deal of weight. The problem is going back to the old ways of eating snacks and carbs and as much as you want.
The day started rainy, turned sunny and then windy. Power went out for a little while. This county loses power like a third world country.
Spent some time pondering my buss and sub-busses. Sharpened the lawn mower blade. The Korean Zoysia grass still yellow but the weeds have started in earnest.
Early in the morning I notice a swarm of bees around some tree branches. (It wasn't there yesterday because the dog can't go potty without supervision.) I then got the hose and tear down their hive with water.
A little later on I called severely bee remover businesses. The exterminator was willing to take the job without asking for price. But everybody else wait until they rebuild then call again.
They managed to rebuild within 4 hours. Unfortunately I told my dad of what happened. I told him to do nothing, but he did the opposite making the situation three times worse. Cutting the branch that holds the hive and trying to kill with soapy water.
During that small break in between I went to the theatre and watched Batman V Superman.
Hi Gang,
Talking about weight, when I started my Cancer treatments over two years ago, I weighed 208 Lbs. The radiation was so strong because by the time I got a proper diagnosis it was forth stage, that it burnt my esophagus to the point it has closed like a draw string purse. Since then I have been on a liquid diet that goes through a stomach tube. For the first year it was mostly "Ensure" and "Two-Cal" but this last year I still use those products but I have introduced alot more regular food that goes through a "Blendtek" blender and watered down to go through that same tube. I went from that 208 as far down as 162, but now as I have started this other food I have come back up to 174 and have stabilized at that point. That is a good weight for me as I am only about 5' 8". No trouble tying my shoes now. So if you really have to, you can do it with that liquid diet, only thing is it is not much fun. No satisfaction for me any way.
Ran some trains this afternoon and realized I have too many trains on the layout and in staging. There is no place for me to get rid of one properly to bring out another. There is ten trains on the tracks here at the LM&E, so I am going to have to put a couple of trains back in to storage for awhile until I get closer to operations and then reconsider again.
RAY, I agree with Garry. I really like that last photo, great composition, and yes, that must be a recently shopped loco. I would enter it if I were you.
Back to work in the morning, but only for the day until the week-end.
HHhhmm. 1940 posts, and that was my birth year as well.
Have a great evening Guys, Catch ya later..
Johnboy out.................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Good morning .....
Ray .... Your latest photo looks great. .... However, the locomotive looks new and shiny. Weathering would make it look more real, but I can understand if you don't wish to do that.
Lion .... That's a nice photo. Feel free to tell us about it.
Have a good day, everybody.
Good Afternoon!
There was a blue patch visible in the sky today - could that have been Spring knocking at the door?
Well, it´s all gray now and no sign of improvement in the coming days.
I gleamed my track this morning, starting with burnishing the rail head with a stainless steel paper knife, which is nicely shaped for the job. Before applying the metal polish. I cleaned the track thoroughly, then too a piece of cork roadbed to apply the polish. After it had dried properly, I then polished the rail. What an improvement! It got even better after I had cleaned the loco wheels. Electrical pickup has improved, and I have a the feeling there is also a considerable amount of less noise - good.
After lunch I lookea at a view videos on Norm Charbonneau´s O gauge layout, which I like very much. Now, if I were a rich man ...
I don´t really know what makes this layout so attractive to me. Is it the size of locos, the deep and much more realistic sound, or is it little gimmicks like steam coming from the whistle when it´s blown. I don´t know, but I could picture myself having a layout like this one and enjoying it maybe even more than I am enjoying my HO scale narrow gauge layout. It brings back childhood memeories...
The layout has a rather simple track plan, which I quickly adapted using SCARM
I understand that layout has been taken down in the meantime and is being replaced by a similar, but bigger layout.
Folks, don´t worry - there is no danger of me being lost to the toy train community - I can hardly finance my little scale "train set".
That´s all from me for the moment!
Morning, folks.
Lion - What's that a pic of? Looks like a couple of trolleys going by?
Madog - I have a friend who's into O scale. The cost terrifies me, and the amount of space you need for anything approaching something that looks semi-prototypical. It's his retirement project but it still wows me at the size he's got going, and what he's invested.
I had a nice but very expensive easter brunch at the Hyatt this past weekend with my family, and my mom humiliated my brother and I by forcing us to take a picture on either side of the easter bunny. It was quite a spread.
After the food coma left me, I got to work building the remaining two sections of my benchwork. It's just okay, I'm not proud of it, but it is level enough thanks to the feet I bought. I think it'll be straight enough for a first layout. I was really exhausted by the end of it. All that's left now is to secure each sectional piece to each other (they're all designed like lift-outs) with brackets.
A quick photo (that's an extra piece of pink foam in the far corner sitting on top):
Julian
Modeling Pre-WP merger UP (1974-81)
Ulrich wrote - Welcome aboard this train, YGW! I want off that train ! I am making additional changes to my life style. Like instead of driving around the 8.5 acre site I am building I am walking. Changing more of what I am eating and NOT eating So instead of focusing on food I think I will focus on other hobbies like MRRing !!!
Johnboy - too manmy trains !!! One can never have to many trains. When you reach that point you have to expand or take over another RR so you can run on more track !
Henry - Yea I think 60 is almost impossible in three months ! Maybe a year ? Heck it took me a lifetime to get here !
Howmus - Thanks for moving the jelly beans ! I could feel a cold sweat come on as I was trying to resist the little black licorce ones ! Great picture almost looks real !
Weighmaster - What a name for weight loss discussion.Where did that come from ? I think you are right. To reach that much weight loss I will have to have some "surgical removals" performed !
Lion, Garry, Der, UP831....Hello hope you all are having a great day.
Morning diners,
Ulrich- We all have dreams like that. I thought many times to switch N-HO. But then I look at the equipment I have in freight cars and Superliners/Amfleets. Realizing that switching, cost twice as much to get a full length Amtrak train with Superliner I & II in Phase III-IV. The HO Scale timeline is set for 1994-1996 Southern Pacific. Because I get precise details on locomotives to look realistically.
Mornin' everyone,
Zoe, can i get another pot of Marrakesh Express Dark Roast coffee? Thank you Ma'am!
Heartland Division CB&QRay .... Your latest photo looks great. .... However, the locomotive looks new and shiny. Weathering would make it look more real, but I can understand if you don't wish to do that.
What??? Dirty up and brand new locomotive??? Yeah, it would be all weathered and looking well worn and used, but since I bought it a couple years ago, I simply haven't even had time to renumber the decoder from 3..... Don't have time to do anything with it before the photos have to be matted for the contests... In fact I am taking the 4 photos I am entering down to the Photography place this afternoon to get the matting done.
Sun is out trying to shine here in the Finger Lakes today. The weather people say "Partly Cloudy", but I like what we are getting better.... The total kWh of electricity is already at the 2nd. highest for the month of March I have had since they were installed. Lacking about 15 kWh to match the best of the 4 years... Maot of that should be generated today.... If tomorrow is good at all it should break the record for March for me. A year ago the "Net Metering" for the month of March was +404 kWh (that means I used 404 kWh more than I made in exchange of how much I added to the Grid and how much I pulled off the Grid). This year the "Net Metering" was +117 kWh. A very, very good month of March. That does not include the kWh I use directly when the sun is shining out there. Right now I am making more electric than I am using, so the flow of the excess goes out to the grid and is used by the neighbors.......
I'll catch up to all of you later today!
Heartland Division CB&QLion .... That's a nice photo. Feel free to tell us about it.
The train is part of the heritage fleet, the journey is a museum trip, the train is on the Brighton Line, for this event the express track from Prospect Park and Kings Highway was given over to the service.
These are BU cars, wooden cars with gates on the end platforms. They never operated with pax in the tunnels. Arnines hauled the cars through the tunnels, but the pax had to ride on the Arnines for this leg of the trip.
YGW,
re Weighmaster: I was a scaleman for a large corp. weighing trucks for 28 years prior to retirement. It has nothing to do with the excess poundage I am currently blessed with...Gary
angelob6660Ulrich- We all have dreams like that.
There is a reason behind that dream - my eyes are getting worse and worse, and my hands are getting too shakey to handle all the small stuff. That´s why my layout will be the last one I build.