Welcome to November in the Diner!
This is a place to gather, a place without an agenda or a topic. It's free to all, to read, to join in, or just to enjoy some virtual food. Our gracious hosts ask only that we avoid certain hot-button topics like politics and religion that sometimes raise tempers.
You'll get to know the friendly staff just by listening. It's a place to share your day, your concerns, your joys and sorrows. Welcome aboard.
This month, the diner is visiting the Harvey House in Belen, NM.
Richard
The RIP track is the place for us to pay our respect to our friends and forum members who are no longer with us.
I wondered when this place was going to reopen. Guess it took a while to truck all that stuff from Maine.
Since we're in New Mexico, the daily special is the green chile burger.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
It's nearly noon on the west coast and still no November diner, so here you go. Hopefully everyone will enjoy the visit to New Mexico. Picking Belen, NM is paying homage to Mrs. ROR who grew up just north of Belen, and whose mother stayed at the Belen Harvey House while serving as a WAF.
Today I have officially been diagnosed as being old--I have arthritis in my neck. I am pretty sure the onset is a result of riding my bicycle headfirst into the back of a car. I had Xrays taken today and am starting physical therapy in a couple of days. Wahoo.
Steven Otte. . .Since we're in New Mexico, the daily special is the green chile burger.
Nothing but the best Hatch green chiles.
Hm, I guess Maine was September, not last month, hm? That's the problem with working on a magazine four months ahead. You lose track of time. We're starting on March's issue now.
Anyway, who's coming to Trainfest this year? We're open for tours any time during regular business hours.
Richard, thanks for getting November on the rails. I guess Halloween must have worn everybody out. We had 238 kids last night. Great costumes & everybody seem to be having a lot of fun. But the street was deserted around 8:00 pm. Lots of parents were in costume taking the little ones around. That was neat.
Had a good weekend railfanning with 10 trains on Saturday, & 10 more on Sunday. I suppose they have been around for sometime, but I saw a boxcar lettered for "Operation Lifesaver" on Saturday. Anybody know if any HO models were ever produced lettered like this? I couldn't find any.
I don't weather any of my locomotives or cars, mainly because I have absolutely no artistic talent what so ever. I also tend to think that most guys who do weather their rolling stock tend to go a little overboard. But then, what do I know. And to prove that, this beauty shows up. It's an SD70 & could use a little touch up. Enjoy the week & have fun...
I don't weather any of my locomotives or cars, mainly because I have absolutely no artistic talent what so ever. I also tend to think that most guys who do weather their rolling stock tend to go a little overboard. But then, what do I know. And to prove that, this beauty shows up. It's an SD70 & could use a little touch up.
Enjoy the week & have fun...
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
Afternoon Diners,
Steven- I can't go to trainfest, I don't live in Wisconsin. I might go to the national train show in two years if I'm lucky.
ROR- Don't be discouraged about being in New Mexico if anybody hasn't posted yet.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
In the first time in years we passed out candy for Halloween. It's a good way to freshen up your people/communication skills. I saw some good costumes and some wearing their own clothes.
I mostly enjoy handing out candy on Halloween. We live a little nicer neighborhood and many of the kids that come by are not from the neighborhood. That used to bother me, but now I feel if I can help them to have a safe, fun evening, it's all good. However, when the "kids" are old enough to be sporting a full beard (real, not fake) I am a little disappointed.
Rather than candy, the wife and I give out trinkets and toys, like Halloween-themed pencils, spooky stickers, plastic vampire teeth, bendy rubber skeleton figures, glow-in-the dark spiders, ghost-shaped erasers, etc. Kids seem to like them, especially since they get to pick two or three items from a variety.
Good evening .
Richard .... Thanks for starting the thread. New Mexico !... I'll have to run my Santa Fe trains.
Steven .... Thanks for teh tasty hamburger.
Tom .... That NS locomotive looks grubby. Reminds me of the Penn Central.
We have never had Trick or Treat here. We moved here in 2001.
Where is everybody else ?
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
evening,
Give me the Chile Burger
Not much happening on the home front, It is hot here for November,
Escaped tricker or treaters
Onward!
Which state has the best Mexican food, New Mexico or Arizona? Here in Maryland I think we get the Guatemalan or Honduaran impression of what Mexican is like. Everywhere from Texas and west has better Mexican food than we do. In what used to be family run restaurants, the South American contingent has seem to take over kitchens in Italian and Greek restaurants.
Toys? Steven I'll be over to paper your house. I liked Halloween as a kid, but now the idea of kids, who are mostly overweight, begging for candy seems weird.
FRRY nice building.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Heartland Division CB&Q We have never had Trick or Treat here. We moved here in 2001.
Been in Tennessee for 15 years, three counties and briefly a fourth, but not on Halloween. Have gotten ready for Halloween twice, but have never had even one kid show up. This is my first Halloween in this county and didn't do anything to prepare. Called it right. Nobody came by. Oh well, always too far out in the boonies, I guess.
CG
Evenin' folks!
Yawn.........!!! Been a busy weekend. A happy "All Saints" to all of you and a happy "All Souls Day" tomorrow! Janie I'll have one of those chili type cheeseburgers and a cup of decaf please. Oh, Please leave off the tomato.... and the chili too.... Don't think my superfluety would take to any of them chili peppers on my food..... It would be obnoxous to my superfluety I guess.
We got my son's 50th. B-day all taken care of properly. The whole shebang went on for 4 days. Had dinner with my youngest son (who just turned 47) on Thursday evening, then a bunch of us played Eucher at the birthday bioys house until the wee hours of the morning on Friday. I slept in Saturday morning, but got to babysit the granddaughters for a couple hours on Saturday night while the sons and a bunch of cousins went to Chili (near rochester) in a limo to hear his cousin's husbands bad play (and do some serious drinking I guess, hence the limo). Then the usual family on his wife's side along with me showed up to celebrate on Sunday evening.
Yesterday I got ready for ALL HALLOS EVE (aka Halloween). The first little monsters to show up at my house (15 minutes early) were my granddaughters... They were cute as always (have a few photos I took but haven't processed yet). The rest of the evening was a trickle of kids. Probably around 15 total. No where near what I used to get back when I was teaching and they found my house........ One of the groups had a very cute little girl, about 5th. or 6th. grade I think who had on a good costume but no mask... As per my usual whako sense of humor I looked at her and said, "Wow! That is an awfully scary mask you have there!!!" The girl thought for a second and started to laugh with a great big grin on her face. At that moment appearing out of the darkness her father walked up on the deck, stuck his hand out and said, "Hi Mr. Howard it's Matt Ma..........." He was one of my all time favorite kids back when I was teaching Middle School. Great singer and very good and personable kid. He and a bunch of other similar kids were the young people that kept me sane the year after my wife died! They hung out after school for as long as I would let them most every day. Absolutely great to see him all grown up and with three kids of his own.... Rather made the evening for me!
Have a safe night out there....
73
(edit) Ok, got the photos edited and into my Photobucket account.... Here is one of the two prettiest girls I know.
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Good evening all.
Zoe - I will have a slice of apple pie, and a nice Mexican hot chocolate please. (In NM, so, close, right?)
Weather - Hit 72 today! Wow! That is hot for November in NW PA! Expected to be near that tomorrow, before rain showers and maybe even some expected...
W**k - 2nd day, and already hit a decent bonus today. So, it could turn out to be a good job. Manager seems nice, and most* customers are nice. (*Save for a few grumpy ones.... Get that working retail though.) Got told by the boss tonight that I am doing better than she expected, so.... All seems to be going good.
Trains - Hit a snag on the SD40-2 project... Ain't that always how it goes? For some reason, while the LED's fit perfectly in the front headlights, the rear lights do not fit.... Not even close! So, doing some work on that portion... Then will come front and rear ditchlights. Have the parts, and the chip style SMD lights on hand, so, hoping that goes easier.
Baseball - Cubbies got to Tomlin early, and added a grand slam, but now Cleveland is starting to try to come back... Very slowly though. To keep from going to game 7, they need to rattle Arrieta though. Hoping they get some runs in, just to make it interesting.
Hope all are well, and all have a good night!
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
Henry, I grew up in NM and my NMSU Livestock judging coach use to tell us that the farther you get from the Rio Grande, the worse the Mexican food is. Therefore, NM food has to be better than AZ.
Steve
Evening Diners
Flo, Ed and I will have a please.
Work Front High light of the day was Ronda (GM's wife) sent me some home made chile from there Halloween party. She a great cook and I like talking with her.
Rick Do you like the job? That is the most important part if you ask me. I love my job, I just hate the paychecks! Main reason I stay is becase of my feet problem. Should stand no more than 3 hours a day total.
Feet Front Not looking good with either the new shoes or the old ones now! Left big toe has gotten a blood blister and I was wearing the old shoes for a few weeks. Get new inserts for the new shoes this coming Friday, sure hope they can get them right this time. This will be the 6th visit to get the new shoes right.
Train Front Well it has sort of stunk tonight. Mess with the POS PK 2000 E-7 with QSI sound. Dang thing will still not move! THen I lost the Mighty B&O F's that Ed sent. Well, I know where they are. One of them started making a nasty clicking sound, and like Ed said in a PM it sounds like a drive shaft. Just seems odd that I did not hear the sound (Cannot be missed) for 200 hours of run time? Guess I will be opening them up, unless the sound goes away after a rest! Might just be tired.
Later, Ken
I hate Rust
Not much on the hobby front as it's the beginning of my w*rk week. But it was an interesting day at w*rk. We had a pickup catch on fire in the parking lot this evening! Engine fire. That made for a bit of excitement. The fire department was called. (I actually was the one that ended up calling as I was the one by the main phone.) As one would expect the vehicle looked to be totaled. On Friday night late, we had a customer that had to be ejected and after the customer left due to the fact that he scared everyone, the police were called and was picked up about an hour later. The store has had quite the last 5 days.
Good Morning, Diners!
Sunny New Mexico! It Grows As It Goes! (A good motto for our model railroads, I might add!) The last time I was in New Mexico was in the summer of 1966, and then it was only my left foot! The family took a side trip after visiting the Rio Grande narrow gauge in Durango and we stopped at the dusty Four Corners Monument. I wanted to add three more states to my "bucket list" at age ten, no less, before heading back east.
Flo, looks like I'll be having a Blake's Lotaburger, green, of course, and a cold Sarsaparilla to wash it down...
http://www.lotaburger.com/#menu-1
ROR—that photo would gain a lot of credibility if someone would Photoshop the cell phone tower in the background out of the picture
Mentioning the Harvey House reminds me of one of my favorite Judy Garland movies:
Let's all sing together, now... one... two... three...
Do ya hear that whistle down the line?I figure that it's engine number forty nineShe's the only one that'll sound that wayOn the Atchison, Topeka And The Santa FeSee the old smoke risin' 'round the bendI reckon that she knows she's gonna meet a friendFolks around these parts get the time of dayFrom The Atchison, Topeka And The Santa Fe
Fred Harvey should be the patron saint of the diner!
Rick, Glad to hear Day Two went well for you on your new job I wish you much success!
Hey, Ken!
Sounds like you run those engines harder than the B&O ever did ! Don't forget to run them in reverse every once in a while so you even out the wear on the thrust washers, worm gears and keep the motor brushes wearing evenly.
I have a busy week with company coming for a layout visit on Veteran's Day but I'll be setting aside stuff to send your way. [Bessemer caboose and QSI decoder] Can you run any Rivarossi passenger stuff? I'm pretty sure your curves are too tight for Walthers cars. I have some blue-box Atheran cars I'll send your way, too.
Maybe I'll get it boxed up by the weekend...
So long for now, folks! I have a mouth-watering Lotaburger to munch on! I'm a bit sore from splitting and stacking firewood, on a 72°F November day, no less...
Regards, Ed
Good morning, everybody .
I enjoyed the World Series game last night. Home runs can be exciting. The Cubs had some outstanding plays in both the outfield and the infield. The grand slam was fantastic. I suspect, pitching will dominate game 7.
Ed .... You were here in the middle of the night. I doubt it was sunny in NM at the time. .. LOL ... Interesting there was a movie about the Harvey girls. I recall the Fred Harvey restaurants which were along the old Santa Fe Railway. If I recall correctly, Fred Harvey managed Santa Fe dineing cars, too.
Morning all
Been away for a few days. "Puter" problems and LOTS of inspections at w**k.
Richard - Thanks for opening the diner
Tom - NS #2537 - I though NS took better care of their engines. Where is this one taken ?
Garry - Do you think your Cubs will have a chance to win the 7th game ?
Moeandlarry, Angel, CG - I am in your club too. No trick or treaters at our house either. I wonder if this event is dieing off ?
Howmus - You have reason to be proud. Kids are wonderful
RickyW - Is that a compliment or put down ? "better than expected". Not sure how I would have taken that.
Henry - Do you have any Peruvian resturants in your area ? We have a coouple and teh food is pretty good.
V8 - That is a BIG curve if they can see the whole train !
SRwill - I have never been that far south but I hear all the time from the many Hispanics I work with that the "Mexican" food in this area has been "Americanized" and taste nothing like their native foods.
Ken - Gee that stinks the B&O is in the Repair shop ? Speaking of repairs how is the car doing ?
FRRYKid - Was it a Ford that burned up ? I just found out from a mechanic friend of mine that Ford trucks had this gas valve that would malfunction and caused the vehicle to catch on fire. I assume they have corrected this on the newer models.
Ed - You like musicals ?
Todays History qoute I thought somewhat humerous
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
Thomas Paine
TTYL
YGW
Today's luncheon menu, courtesy of Fred Harvey... um, multiply all those prices by at least 10 though...
mmmm, who doesn't like julienned tongue salad?
We were in North Carolina this weekend for my daughter's birthday, and I grilled fajitas. We had to create a marinade out of spices we could find (no fajita seasoning in the store); but they were still good.
We grew up eating Mexican (actually Tex-Mex) as my mother learned how to cook at the family restaurant as a teenager. But I don't remember ever eating fajitas until they became popular in restaurants around the early 1980's.
yougottawanta FRRYKid - Was it a Ford that burned up ? I just found out from a mechanic friend of mine that Ford trucks had this gas valve that would malfunction and caused the vehicle to catch on fire. I assume they have corrected this on the newer models.
I have no idea. I didn't get close enough to see what logo the vehicle carried and I can't identify vehicles by their noses. However, it looked to be a fairly new pickup.
A 48 cent Old Fashion?! I still have a few coppers left over for a wedge of that mince pie!Skol !
Modeling the Chicago Great Western and Milwaukee Road along Minnesota's Cannon River Valley.
After having been off of the bike for over weeks nursing my neck, I finally went out for a ride today. It has gotten colder and darker in the mornings, so I went out after 9:00 this morning. It was a beautiful morning--mid 70's, sunny, light breeze. It was good to get back out and my neck is no worse for the wear.
Good Afternoon Diners,
Flo, I'll have an extra large coffee with lots of cream, please.
Just got back from a trip to the Pacific Northwest. Got to see a few BNSF trains and stopped in a fine LHS in Kirkland. Picked up a couple of Accurail kits. I must say I'm a little impressed with the detail.
alert
However, I can't hide my disappointment in the scarcity of kits. I think that in the long run it will affect the hobby negatively. Nuff said.
YGW: just saw the invite. Responded. How are you, by the way?
V8Dennis: Where is SP's horseshoe curve? I was in So Cal for 10 years and never heard of it.
Steve: Are you trying to tantalize us With chili cheeseburgers?
There used to be a place in Van Nuys north of the airport called Tommy's that offered chili cheeseburgers. Gooey and good! Not quite up to In-n-out, but good nonetheless.
Gotta get back to work.
Hello to everyone, and I hope everyone is OK, safe, and warm.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
YGW - westbound headed into Conway Yard. That's the only NS locomotive I've seen like that. There are some others I've seen with pretty good burn marks from stack fires, but basically their engines look pretty good.