Welcome to Jeffrey´s Trackside Diner , this month located in Durango, CO to enjoy the first snow on the highline to Silverton!
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.
The RIP track is the place for us to pay our respect to our friends and forum members who are no longer with us.
Happen to be up late (for me). Found out that the 40-2s are not the correct loco for what I need. I need some U-boats. Most likely a pair of U-28Cs. I will have to paint them for BN but painting locos is nothing new for me.
Thanks for opening the Durango Diner, Ulrich! I see the usual crowd is here...
Chloe, I'll start out with a nice Colorado Wheat from the Durango Brewing Co. Please. Put it on Ken's tab.
I had the pleasure of visiting Durango twice—once in 1966 and again in '68. I'll have to dig out my old 8mm films and get them posted to YouTube!
Fun Stuff!
I hope December finds all of the Diner patrons safe, well and contented.
A moment of rembrance to those on the RIP track and prayers and thoughts to any who may be in need ...
Regards, Ed
The LION has come down out of the mountains. Must be a mountain lion what with all of the snow here. No wildebeests on these mountains, but him did catch a Jackalope. Lets pause our paws for some Jackalope scrabble and sticky buns.
Christmas Services...? Whale we do surprisingly little. Less in fact than on an ordinary day. There is a midnight service that starts at 10, but the LION does not attend that, him having sleep issues and all.
We begin our Christmas with the start of Advent. Music at office and mass shifts into an Advent mode, as does the Marion antiphon at Vespers. Our advent wreath is in the refectory, the parish has their wreath in the church. We ignore that.
On December 17th we shift into a deeper mode with the "O-antiphons" at morning prayer and at Vespers. (you would know these antiphons as the seven verses of "Oh Come, Oh Come, Emanuel". (The song makes the last verse the first,silly composers!) It is also the day that we turn on the out door lights)
On the last workday before christmas we put up decorations in the house, a tree in the Community Room, as well as a tree and other decorations in the Refectory.
Christmas day we get to sleep in, there is Morning Prayer, then Brunch. After that the Mass of the day, a late noon prayer, Vespers at 4 and the Christmas Dinner after that.
We do not exchange gifts, but on Christmas eve we have our supper in the community room, we light the tree and sing carols. There is food all over the place until the end of the Christmas season, which comes early this year. (The feast of the Baptism is on Jan 9th this year.) And then we go back into ordinary time. We will take down our decorations the next day (the 10th).
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Good morning ....
Moment of silence in memory of those on the RIP Track.
Ulrich.... Thanks for moving the Diner. I recall being in Germany in December and the Christmas festivities were impressive. .... Durango / Silverton is a great location for the Diner. I wonder if there will be some snow plow action.
Ed ... I too was in Durango and Silverton in the mid 1960's. Only once however. A memorable experience for sure.
Lion .... Interesting about life in a monestery. A couple of years ago, I received a gift which was a fruit cake from a monastery, but I do not recall which one. The fruit cake was excellent.
FRRY ... The BN paint scheme should be relatively easy. Have fun.
It sounds like most of you have plans for December for your lyoputs or trains. I read your posts in the November Diner in response to my question. I think my next item on the agenda will be my bridge prooect. I will need at least three spans.
Feel free to post your progress.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Hello all !!
Train front - Worked out teh cost of a Hoe Ram * $1800 , verified with the well guy that their will not be a problem jack hammering rock that close to the well ( 35' ) looks like fottings will not go in until next week now.
Ray - Why do you call him Fussy ? Is he grouchy or fussy over details and getting it right ?
MoeLarry - Hmmm Would have never considered using Christmas lights - thanks what a neat idea !
Ulrich - It is SO NICE having you open the diner again : ) And one of teh places on my bucket list to visit !
UP831 - Your comment made me laugh Barn/trainroom ! I know I will call it my Brainroom !?
DER - ABBA fan? I read it first thinking what ? Singing ABBA train locomatives ? then I remembered teh singing group !
Ken - I learned teh same way. Except with cars. I was very poor early on and had to buy broken stuff and then fix it. I think there is a lot to be said for that way
Rob - LOL Steady camera on a moving train !
V8 - It sure is easy to spend a lot quick in this hobby isnt it !
Fourt - good to see you ! Looks like Murphy has been visiting you hard !
Lion - Fascinating ! What is "feast of baptism" ? Thanks for sharing.
History qoute :
If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
Heartland Division CB&QI think my next item on the agenda will be my bridge prooect. I will need at least three spans.
Can't do it. LION does not have a long attention span.
LION put the two spans of him side by side (sort of) to create the four track mane lion over the Gowanus Canal. Him will put bridgework between the two spans to make it look like a single bridge.
In Brooklyn, the bridge has no rounded top and is the equavlent of six tracks wide since the station platforms also trnasverse the bridge.
Good morning!
It's been a year now since my LHS closed its doors. He was ready to retire anyway, but the new owners of the strip mall got greedy and significantly raised his rent, destroying his meager cash flow and forcing him out.
I now note with some satisfaction that the Maine Trains sign still graces the building and the roadside sign as well. After a year, the owners have not found a tenant so they are the ones losing money.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Good morning. I visit the Diner from time to time but tend not to post here (I post plenty elsewhere). It is still a bit of a shock to scroll through old threads and see Jeffrey's name (and photo) on a posting. In addition to missing those who have passed away, I also remember some who were avid and useful participants in the Forums ... and then just stopped and disappeared. Some of their old postings are now in the name of Anonymous. And of course I also miss Erik Bergstrom of Kalmbach who was our genial host/moderator way back. I still have my Forum Member T-shirt that Erik had printed up for us.
I live near Milwaukee and for many years the big deal here has been the annual Trainfest, which gets good coverage in MR's new products lists and videos, and other YouTube vids. It is not a swap meet but focuses on operating layouts, clinics, displays, dealers and manufacturers. Families with kids are a big part of the audience which is usually in the 16,000 to 20,000 range over two days. I am a volunteer at registration (a place where frayed nerves can be seen on display - set up is no joke). It is hectic. Putting on a big show of this kind is a huge task and much of the work is volunteer since it is sponsored by our NMRA Wisconsin South Eastern ("WISE") Division.
Having done my volunteer duty, for years and years I would walk the aisles of Trainfest with shopping bags in hand, all day (9 am to 5 pm) on both days. By Sunday night my feet and back would really feel the effects of those concrete floors, and my wallet would really feel the effect of two solid days of shopping. Since I always had my volunteer t shirt on I would help out where ever it seemed needed. And that had benefits too -- once a guy at the Accurail booth just stuck a freight car kit in my hands with a "thanks for helping with this show" and I remember a fellow at the Kadee booth doing the same with bags of couplers for me.
Sometimes I could act as a badly needed "shopping advisor" to a family considering a train set purchase. And being at the show both days, from start to finish, I got to see plenty of friends, some of whom I'd see only at Trainfest. I was always surprised by how many folks from work would be there. I had no idea they liked trains and model trains. I suspect many of us would be surprised by how many folks we know at work or elsewhere who have at least some interest in trains that we are unaware of.
The last two years I have also been a participant sitting at a table for a railroad historical society (we aren't selling anything and in fact give stuff away). It is very interesting to see the train show audience pass by from that perspective. It is obvious that a fair percent of those who come to the show are just looking for something to do with their kids for a few hours. From that perspective, Trainfest can be a pretty expensive day out given the parking, concessions, and admission. Food might be the only thing they buy, except for some toy trinkets. Now and then you see a family come by lugging a train set which is a good sign (even if you wince knowing that the train set that we think of as cheap and they think of as expensive is likely just going to frustrate the dad and modestly amuse the kids until it stops running). And now, even in HO between DC, DCC and Maerklin trainsets it gets pretty confusing for a neophyte.
It is amusing to see the same modelers walk by again and again, with ever more bags full of stuff each time. I can only imagine what the total economic impact of Trainfest is each year in terms of money changing hands. Fortunately all the local hobby shops are there and they are doing just fine at the show. They get their fair share of the money and are not victims of the show.
And then you see the families who likely cannot afford anything they are seeing and it breaks your heart because the kids are so excited and want everything of course and dad or mom just has to say "no." to everything.
There is no real point to this monologue other than to say that if you like train shows, try volunteering at one some time. It is a different perspective believe me. And being an exhibitor is also a very different experience than being "just" a shopper. But there is nothing wrong with being just a shopper either.
An early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you.
Dave Nelson
Thanks Ulrich for starting this months thread. Durango is a for any rail fan.
Dave I saw an old Afro American, he was easily 90, dressed to the nine's on a Sunday, so I am sure he came from church. He said to me as a boy he went to such and such hardware store and he could only look at the trains, his family could not afford them. He said "and now I can" It almost brought a tear to my eye that desire he had as a kid, never died.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
dknelson It is still a bit of a shock to scroll through old threads and see Jeffrey's name (and photo) on a posting.
Dave,
Jeff´s last post was on November14th, 2014 and only a month later we had to learn that he passed away, all too sudden, all too soon.
Quite a number of folks are on the MIA list - Chris (AmanaMedic), RobbyP, the weathering artist, Lee Soule, Todd, Jim Rohde, young Sawyer Berry and lately, Galaxy, and many more.
I always wonder what happened to them...
It´s been another quiet day, wet & windy again. Petra and I did our weekly grocery run. We still have that uneasy feeling when we pass through that intersection. Today we were lucky and did not have to stop. While I seem to be able to handle the incident quite well now, Petra still suffers from occasional nightmares. She used to be a tough woman, but that has changed completely.
Have a good time, folks!
Afternoon Diners,
Lately it's been hard to post. To many things to say. I'll post later about something else.
It's nice to see everything is going smoothly.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Eveing Diners
Flo, Ed will have a Crown Royal with a chaser all so know as a boiler maker and I will have just have a
Foot Front Seems my feet are in about as good as shape as I can hope. PA was pretty happy, seems the new shoes are finally right. While he was cutting off callues he nicked the flesh in a few spots and they bleed like a stuck pig! . Most Debatic's he sees if he nicks the flesh, there is no blood. My feet even still have some hair on them, which he thinks is outstanding!
YGW You have a PM from me. Be happy to post some photos for you! Just let me know here at the dinner that there was incoming mail. I hardly ever look at my E Mail unless I am looking for a job. Make subject 69 DAYTONA.
Train Front What should have taken say 30 minutes turned in to a evening where I wished I was still collecting coins! Decided to speed match a Rio Grand PK 2000 SD 9 to the Bessmeer's. Guess the Rio Grand motor is about shot, even at CV 5 set at max 255 way slower than the Bessmer's.
If you folks use Digitax what % of throttle do you use setting CV 6? I settle on 35% which is the range I use most of the time running the Bessemer's. Had to slow down the Rio Grand CV 6 to 103, it was faster at the lower speed? Just seems odd to me.
New Walther's Bessmer SD 7. Seems it only has power pick up from the rear truck! Dang thing is what, 6 weeks old max?
All so had a de-railment in a 13 foot tunnel. That was sure no fun! Then I had to some honey do's while trying to speed match the engines. So I had to warm them up all over. So it took 1.5 hours to do that should have taken 30 minutes.
Dave One of the folks I miss a lot here at the site is Art Hill. He was a master if you ask me!
Later, Ken
Some of Art Hills masterpices.
I hate Rust
Evenin:
YGW : it was a cheap way to get some warm white LEDs at the time, the sets were elcheapo at the Dollar General and so i used them in engines when I converted some to DCC.
I may only work half a day tomorrow...
Time for bed..
Hello all
Not much time. Meetings, problems to sort out at w**k...
Train front - Hoe ram being delivered today. Should start hammering away on the boulders. Footing may go in early next week.
Ken I will email you some photos. Thanks so much for posting these for me. I will have to take some time and get some help in setting up an account and learning how to do this.
Everyone else hope you have a great day and weekend.
TTYL
YGW
Ken
Check email and PMs
Thanks
Attn LION: My church would always use "Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel" for the lighting of the Advent wreath candles each year. A new choir director and now we're using something else, and I miss that tradition. We still usually sing it at the Christmas Eve service and it is a tune that I don't want to end.
Been to Durango twice; first time back in the early '70s when it was still actually D&RG. On the more recent visit a couple years back I was photographing the locomotive up in Silverton during the lunch break when someone called me by name. It was the Fire Chief from Vinton, VA and I had been one of the arson investigators for neighboring Roanoke, VA. Something like 1500 miles from home and someone calls your name.... good thing I wasn't with some woman (it was a solo trip and Mrs was back home)! The quiet of the mountains should be great this time of year.
Bill
Good morning ...
I'll have coffee and an apple turnover, please.
Dave N .... Thanks for posting in the Diner nd shring some good memories. Feel free to post here more often. Thanks for the CHristmas greetings. I stsrted in teh Forum in 2007 and it must have been after Erik was involed with it.
M L C ..... I have some stnings of Christmas LED's too. Ihave used them but not much.
I can't load my new images into Photobucket. .... Technology drives me crazy. Whatever happened to user friendly ?
Garry:
I responded to the Photobucket problem in the WPF thread.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Garry
Is Photobucket giving you the endless log in loop?
if so log in , click librarry, the click the upload photo thing on teh left side of the picture squares ( usually the left most square)
that is the only way i can get it to upload at the moment.
moelarrycurly4 Garry Is Photobucket giving you the endless log in loop? if so log in , click librarry, the click the upload photo thing on teh left side of the picture squares ( usually the left most square) that is the only way i can get it to upload at the moment.
Thanks ... I get a drop sceen... Options : " share, copy, eidt, move, delete " .... Not "upload"
Edit ... I found the box for upl;aoding.... It seems to be working but it has been spinning aorund for the past 10 minutes. .... It is not getting uplaoded.
Finally ... One of the images uploaded. Too late to post here now.
cudakenMy feet even still have some hair on them, which he thinks is outstanding!
I've got a couple of lady friends who think it's outstanding that I still have hair on my head.
I flew out to New Mexico to meet up with Mrs. ROR. She had been there for a few days housesitting her sister's house. On the way home we went to the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. This is a winter hang-out for cranes, herons, snow geese, various ducks, and other birds. We saw hundreds of cranes and herons, and spent the sunset at a pond/marsh where a large group of cranes fly in to roost for the evening. Definitely worth a visit in the winter months.
On the way home we stopped at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory Very Large Array. This is a configuration of huge radio antennea pointed into space to observe distant (as in 30 million light-years way) galaxies. There are 27 antennea in the array, each an antenna is over 80' wide and 90' tall. They arrange the antennea in four different configurations. When we were there they were arranged in the largest configuration, three branches in a "Y" configuration, with one leg 11 miles long, and the other two 13 miles long. (Here comes the train-oriented part.) All of towers are mounted on perpendicular pairs of railroad tracks. They have transporters that they drive out to the towers on the tracks. The transporters lift the tower and take them to the new location. Here's the crazy part. When they get to the intersection of the spur and the main track, they jack up the transporter, turn the trucks 90 degrees, and set it back down on the tracks. Amazing.
Richard
Morning all:
When I saw this in my comics feed this morning, I thought of you, Lion:
http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2016/12/02
Good Evening!
Flo, a mug of hot chocolate, please, and I wouldn´t mind if you spice it up a little, dear!
It´s been a sunny but cold day. Below freezing in the morning and the daytime high did not get much over that mark either. I had to do some banking business, so I went out. Took me some time to clear the iced up windows, also inside! I kept the windows open for a while, hoping the dampness inside would air out. Let´s see whether that has worked!
Got to see my doc next week, as I am not feeling well. I am short of breath even without doing anything. This could be anything from asthma to a clogged up coronary vessel, so I better have that checked.
My prayers for the victims of the San Bernadino massacre a year ago!
Make it a good weekend!
FRRYKid Morning all: When I saw this in my comics feed this morning, I thought of you, Lion: http://www.gocomics.com/garfield/2016/12/02
Perfect!
CG
[ color=red ]Rob[/color=red], the reason the color didn't work for your post is the wrong command was added after the word. I did the same thing on this. If you take out the "=red" after the name and just type [ /color ] it will come out like you want. Like this... Rob. Hope that makes sense to you!
DER - ABBA fan? I read it first thinking what ? Singing ABBA train locomotives ? then I remembered the singing group !
"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.
Der .... I finally got Photobucket to upload one of my photos. ... If you can get into your library and see an albumn page with your images, you can upload there. One of the squares is to click for upload instead of a square for a photo. .... Look at the upper left corner of your Library page. ... It says "Click to upload" .... Also, the library now has security protection for each album. I unlocked mine so I could upload, but I don't know if I needed to do that.
Don't you just love technology ?