Welcome to Jeffrey´s Trackside Diner , this month located in Bretton Woods, NH - home of the first cog railway in the world, the Mt. Washington Cog Railway!
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.
Blessings to all!
John, our for a speedy recovery of YOH!
Why the earth are we stopping at Bretton Woods this month
Bretton Woods is a town of rather unknown fame. First of all, it is home to the first mountain climbing cog railway, which started operation in 1858, many years before the Swiss discovered that shuttling tourist up the mountains is a lucrative business. Up until a few years ago, much of the original equipment was in daily use, but in recent years, rather unsightly Diesel locos have taken over from the unique steam engines. The line has lost a lot of its pioneering atmosphere through this move.
Bretton Woods is also a town which made it into world history in 1944, hosting the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, a gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of World War II. The Bretton Woods system of pegged exchange rates lasted into 1973.
So breathe a bit of historic air while you enjoy climbing up Mt. Washington with me!
HAPPY NEW YEARS ALL
Hope this year brings nothing but good to you all.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Letst we all forget that old sage song:
Auld Lang Syne (With Lyrics and English Translation) - YouTube
Hope YOUR new year is Happy, Healthy, prosperous and filled with your first delight: TRAINS! {second only to your OH [Other Half] of course}
Had "family" {friends close enough to be considered family} over yesterday for dinner and to ring in the New Year: I cooked: glazed ham, sweet potato/pear casserole with golden raisins, cheesy Broccoli, tomato/basil/mozzarella salad and of course the old "everybody favorite"- Deviled Eggs. And home baked Sugar Free Chocolate on Chocolate cake. SInce one is also newly diabetic too, he could eat all, but does shun the flour in the cake too.
Hope y'all have yourselves a Merry Happy little new years day!
Such a shame there was a shooting in NYC last night. ANd 35 killed in TUrkey's NY celebration, 40 injured. Sad people can't leave major "nice" milestone celebrations alone. WE will leave it there without getting political, FOr Steven's sake.
-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.
Hello and A Happy New Year to All!
Thanks for setting up the diner in beautiful, but rather chilly, New Hampshire, Sir Madog! My last visit there was some thirty years ago! Fond memories, indeed.
Things were still pretty-well maintained then but you could see a bit of tarnish on the silver.
And, on the top! If the train wasn't quite making the time you had hoped for you could always hike the near-by Appalachian Trail.
These photos were taken in July of 1986, and you can see that folks are bundled up against the chill.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Washington_Cog_Railway
I was pleasantly busy the last few days and haven't had the time to stop in the diner for a "good-bye, 2016" meal but hopefully things will settle down in the coming weeks.
Ken: {quote}
Ed How did your train night go Thursday, eveyone have a good time?
Thanks for asking, Ken! Everything was fantastic fun! Three visitors and myself ran trains for hours. Then on Friday, Mrs. Pullman's nephew stopped by for a visit to the railroad and just last night MY nephew and his friend spent the evening and welcomed in 2017 with a delicious meal and Running More Trains!
Just so you don't feel bad about your decoder problems, Ken, Let me tell you you're not alone! My PRR Q2 4-4-6-4 was resting all by itself near the roundhouse and my nephew had mentioned that I forgot to turn off the smoke unit! What smoke unit? In the tender???
Sure enough. While not even running the engine, it had decided to let out the magic smoke all by itself! So, another Paragon2 bites the dust! I have not opened her up yet but I'm curious to see what I'll find in there. A WOW steam decoder will take its place. I'm hoping Loksound offers some updated STEAM sound projects soon (I hear they're in the works) then maybe I'll switch to a Loksound Select.
Well, I hope 2017 brings glad tidings to you all! I'll stop by in a little while once the soup kettle is warmed up and Chef Ryan has his knives sharpened and Chloe and Flo are familiar with their new surroundings...
Regards, Ed
Thanks for the view. Mount Washington on a clear day is rather nice. Too bad my last and only visit in person found us completely fogged in. We enjoyed the ride up and down, even though we couldn't see anything. Fortunately, they were still running the steamers back then.
CG
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year...
We spent New Year's Eve at home, which has been our usual routine for many years. I was up to ring in the New Year, but the wife was all tucked in & sound asleep. Lots of fireworks in the area, but for the first time I didn't hear any automobile horns. Since our one neighbor has passed away, nobody beats on pots & pans anymore either.
We haven't been railfanning for 3 weeks now, & I'm definately having withdrawl symptoms. I'll be out for sure next weekend though. I keep thinking about all the new & neat things I'm positive I missed.
Now that we are in the New Year, I can begin to look forward to the release of an Intermountain Everett Railroad GP16 for my collection. It's scheduled release date is March, but that's subject to change I'm sure. I didn't have many additions last year, so hpoefully that will improve.
Stay safe & enjoy everyday,
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
The day has been surprisingly quiet here! Usually, we have a lot after party celebrations to use up the firecrackers not set off last night, nut this year v- naught so far. I hope it stays that way.
When I first saw a video of the Mt. Washington Cog Railway, I found it quite odd, that most of the line is built on a trestle. It was certainly much cheaper to erect the trestles than to do any extensive grading work in this rough terrain, but maintining the trestles must be a killer for any profitability. I just love the steam locos for their unique design. I am surprised no one ever had the idea of making a working model of them. Shapeways has a non-operational 3D print in both HO and O scale, the latter one being rather expensive.
Ed - thanks for posting the pictures!
Sir MadogWelcome to Jeffrey´s Trackside Diner, this month located in Bretton Woods, NH - home of the first cog railway in the world, the Mt. Washington Cog Railway! . . .
Mount Washington is also one of the seven windiest places on earth. For 75 years it held the record for the highest recorded wind speed--231 MPH.
Richard
New Year's Day - certainly the day to order up some black eyed peas (a virtual requirement for good luck here in "the South").
CN Charlie: Hang in there. It is now closing in on 11 years since my surgery for prostate cancer, so as you mention your difficulties I hope that my "been there, done that" is received as an encouragement. My body did NOT like having a catheter and that was a tough couple weeks, so getting that thing out was a good deal. Walking, or even shuffling around the house, does help restore tone to all the muscles of the abdomen, and that seemed to help me. So good luck on Wednesday.
Bill
RideOnRoadMount Washington is also one of the seven windiest places on earth. For 75 years it held the record for the highest recorded wind speed--231 MPH.
I am not sure whether our Brocken mountain is among those seven places. It is not as high as Mt. Washington and not as windy, but it sure is the windiest and snowiest place in Germany. Like Mt. Washington , you don´t need to be an Alpine mountain climber to reach the top - there is a 1,000mm narrow gauge line up to the top. The trains are pulled by 2-10-2 tank engines built as late as the 1950´s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken
The Brocken is a good three hours drive from my place.
Happy New Year everyone!
Ulrich, thanks for getting 2017 started for us here in the dinner! Hoping that 2017 will be a better year than I expect it will be for my family and myself..... I won't go into detail........
2016 was actually a good year here. Just checked the final data of 2016 for the Solar panels. Ended up making 4512.3kWh in 2016, a new record for the system! Beat the old record (2 years ago) by 33.64kWh. December was also a record for the month at 110.32kWh. December is the lowest month of the year due to snow and the Winter Solstace. I got a lot of things accomplished that I am pleased with and been in relatively good health. Sun is busy shining outside today so it is a good start to the new year....
Handyman/plumber will be arriving early tomorrow morning to repair/replace the old laundry tiub and put in new water lines for the washer. I plan to spend most of today cleaning and putting away stuff. May even get to spend a few minutes doing a couple things on the layout.....
Have a good one!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Afternoon Diners,
Not much of a happy New year. It's been raining since the weekend. Charlie is acting up. Murray is sick he threw up twice but he is eating. I'm wondering if I should take him to the vet. My dad say it's not that serious.
I found a old website I saw several years ago. I can't believe they still had it.
http://www.m-rail.net/layouts/n_scale/lodi2/lodi2.htm
It's a N Scale layout converted from the Carolina Central for the Ann Arbor.
I'm having a little differently modeling the idea of the New York Central but I decided to take a break. Recently I started replaying Rise of the Tomb Raider but after not making successful dives for a challenge. The video game will get a break as well.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Italian roast coffee in an Undecorated mug, please.
***Ed, those are neat photos. Thanks for posting them.
Will put up another shelving unit today, right outside the Train Room. Making progress. Absolutely determined to make time this year for model RRing.
Going to be spending most of my limited energy this week digging holes for new footers for additional 6x6" posts under that section screened porch. The top of the old support post is not exposed and only held up by tips of nails. Getting there!
Cheers! Rob
Happy New Year!
Hope everyone has a better year than last. I expect to as the issue of my cancer has hopefully now been resolved. Sure am looking forward to Wednesday.
Beach Bill, thanks for the words of encouragement. You certainly do know what I am experiencing. I find the catheter more of a nuciance than anything.
I can't drive the car for another 3 weeks and lift more than 5 lbs. for another 5 weeks so my activities are severly curtailed. Oh well, at least it is winter and so I couldn't do much anyway.
We had a big snowstorm on the night of the 25th right after I got home. I was worried that it would hit the day of discharge but they told me at the hospital not to worry as they would just let me stay another day or 2 if the storm was a problem. As it was I was in 6 days which is at least 2 longer than in normal in some places. The care was absolutely great. Here the 6 hospitals in the city are all run under one authority so each has a specialty. The one I was at has Urology as a specialty and when I was in the entire ward I was on was all urology. The nurses really know their stuff on those issues as that is mostly what they deal with. If you have a heart issue they send you to one hospital where all the heart specialists are for stents, by-pass ops, etc. There is a little overlap at the 2 large hospitals but not a lot.
Someone mentioned making sure of health insurance when you travel. I would like to second that. My wife and I travel a fair bit and were in Africa April/16. We always look at the insurance carfully and I actually read the policy. A habit from my work career when I looked after insurance for my company. Surprisingly some of the best health care you can get in the world is in South Africa. The only foreign doctors who can practice in Canada without writing our exams are those from the US, GB, Aus., and South Africa.
My wife has been making some of my favourite meals so I have been well fed since I came home although I find I can't eat a lot at any one time. She made a roast chicken with a leek dressing(stuffing) that has roasted carrots, mushrooms, bacon and a lot of white wine. It is an old French country recipe. Fantastic! For lunch today it was homemade pancakes with a blueberry compote and lots of maple syrup plus bacon! Not often I have bacon but I do like it once in a while.
Sure do miss our Robbie. He is staying with friends until next week as it would have been too hard for my wife to manage him while I was in the hospital. She actually stayed in an hotel as it was very close to the hospital as opposed to a minimum 30 minute cab ride from our house to the hospital. We would have spent more on cabs than the cost of a night's accomodation. They even had a free shuttle so my wife could go back and forth at ease.
Well enough of me, hope everyone has a good day.
CN Charlie
Wildebeests for Gnu Ear's Dinner.
ROARING
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Happy New Year's everybody!!! Dianne and I wish all of you a great 2017!
We had a very nice evening with some close friends, three of whom went to high school with Dianne more than 40 years ago. Everyone contributed some fantastic foods and wines which we nibbled and sipped away at throughout the evening.
CNCharlie, I was thinking of you part way through the evening because two of the guys are prostate cancer survivors. They were quite open about their experiences. One elected to have surgery and the other decided on radiation and hormone therapy. Neither are past the five year mark yet but one (radiation/hormone therapy) is getting close. The after effects were pretty much the same for both of them. However, one of them is battling depression as a result of loss of erectile function and unfortunately he has not talked to his doctor about it. I was trying to convince him to make the move since I personally know how nasty depression can be and I also know how effective the treatments can be. Good luck with your recovery!
Ulrich, neat location for the diner, and really neat locomotive! I got a kick out of the angle of the boiler.
All the best everyone!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
CN Charlie based on a story I heard from a former SA citizen just yesterday, the best care isn't available to everyone. A friend of his was sent home with leg pain because it was a Friday and died of a pulmonary embolus a couple days later.
Did I just see one NFL player rip a necklace off another after the play? No wonder their ratings are down. Right up there with watching Don Lemon get drunk and Mariah Carey flub lip-syncing on New Years Eve.
Mom's here and dinner is about on the table. Happy New Years everyone.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Happy New Year to all my Diner friends. While I'm stopping by, could I get a grilled chesse sandwhich with a bowl of clam chowder, given the weather. Thank you so much.
BigDaddy Did I just see one NFL player rip a necklace off another after the play? No wonder their ratings are down.
Did I just see one NFL player rip a necklace off another after the play? No wonder their ratings are down.
You did. The game involves two bitter rival teams. (Denver Broncos [my team] and the [hated] Raiders.) With those teams I'm not surprised, but I woun't be surprised to see a fine coming from that.
I did learn last night that Corni is how Cornelius Vanderbilt (NY Central) was know in the Anderson Vanderbilt Cooper family and that Anderson denies that the Vanderbilt's, Rothchilds. Rockefellers and Carnegies counted their money when they got together.
Good Evening,
Henry, you are certainly correct in that the same care isn't available to all but then again I think that is true in many places. I have a good friend who lives in Johannesburg and he has many good medical contacts given all the surgeries he has endured. Sadly a lot depends on you financial circumstances.
Dave, of the 2 prostate remedies the preferred is surgery. One reason is that if some cells are missed, then radiation is possible. If you get radiation, surgery is no longer an option due to the amount of scar tissue. I was lucky in that I was under the age cut-off for surgery which is generally 70. One reason I had blood loss is that the surgeon did some nerve sparing which complicates the process somewhat so hopefully that side effect you mentioned won't be such a problem but you really never know.
I am reading a magazine, Great Trains, East which is really quite good. Must have been great to travel by train in the era of the name trains. I would like to take a trip from here to the west coast by train but I would be going alone as my wife wouldn't come. Via still runs the Budd stainless steel cars so to some extent it would be like travelling back in time. I would like to get a little Roomette, take a few good books and just enjoy the trip.
Rob, I am jealous about that I4 you got for Christmas. I was tempted by one as I am a sucker for steam with 80" drivers. I would keep the NH livery as it is an iconic loco of that road.
Der, hope your wife is recovering well.
Well time for supper, another walk around the house and then to the recliner for some TV. There is a new Sherlock Holmes on PBS tonight.
Good evening ....
I hope each of you had a very nice New Year's day.
Steven ... the February issue of MR is another great one. Keep up the good work.
CN Charlie.... Altough not pleasant, your surgery is a blessing assuming it is successful. Praying for that.
Rob .... That sounds like a great locomtove model even though I am not a New Haven modeler. ... I wish BLI produced a CB&Q 4-8-4.
I've been running my Empire Builder along with my version of the Nebraska Zephyr and some freight trains this afternoon.
Happy Mdoel Railroading.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
I will tape Sherlock, but I liked Jeremy Brett's version better.
Prostate Cancer, a friend of mine wrote sort of a blog on prostate cancer. He is an engineer by trade, but very obsessive compulsive. He had cancer himself and explains it in more in depth than you would usually find in an article directed at a non-medical population. Yet he makes it very understandable.
http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/prostatecancer.htm
Evening Diners
Flo, Ed will have a Crown Royal and I will have please.
Went to bed last night at 11:50 PM. Got woke up by some fire works but fell a sleep quickly. Sure was in the Green Fog today!
Work Front while slow started out well. First ticket for the year was $1765.00 so not a bad started. We where going to be open till 6:00 PM but all the stores where slow, so we closed at 5:00 PM.
Ed At your train party, did you use High Ball Glasses?
YGW I forgot to post this photo.
12/29/16 7 - view of the boom extended to check and see if they equipment was set up close enough. Waiting on concrete to show up.
Trains Running the BLI Hudson again, boy that is a great sounding whistle!
Miss spell to you all later, Ken
I hate Rust
Evenin' Folks!
Janie, just a refil for my decaf right now.... Still stuffed from dinner!
Went over to my Son's house for dinner tonight. His MIL had baked a nice pork loin roast with all the trimmings for supper. Delicious!
Now, I have to tell you that last week, about 5 days ago, DIL brought home a tiny little Shih Tzu dog. He is about a year old and full grown at around 11 lbs. She heard about him from one of her friends and stopped at the house of the people trying to get rid of him. He was one of a litter of 3 puppies. The other two got adopted quickly, but nobody wanted this little guy as he was very skittish, shy, and growled at anyone he doesn't know. I have a feeling he wasn't treated very well by the family that owned him.... He appears to be half Shih Tzu and half either Wire Haired Terrier, or Miniature Poodle. I met him yesterday and when I walked in he growed, was scolded by DIL, and shrunk back under the counter as far as he could. As I talked with DIL in the kitchen he eased out and just looked at me. Put my hand down near him and he growed again, but then leaned out and sniffed my hand. Shrunk back under the counter. Second time I came out where DIL was working on Dinner, put my hand down and he actually let me pet the top of his head. I took a couple steps back and he came over to me and let me pet him a couple times then disappeared back into the corner....
That went on a few times during the evening and by the time Midnight came he had come into the living room and let me pet him, though still very shy.... Tonight I went over and he came over to greet me and let me pet him and scratch his head. A few minutes later I sat down on the couch by DIL and he jumped up to sit on her lap. Next thing you know he is snuggled down between us, let both of us scratch his head and pet him. About 5 minutes later..... Well the photos show it best! DIL got a couple of me with my new best friend....
That little guy is absolutely adorable and I think is loving his new home!!! He is just over half the size of my kitties here at home, BTW.
Their old Beagle (at least 11 years old) had a bad day I guess. He has arthritis and was limping badly early this morning. Also appeared to be having some trouble breathing. They got him his morning aspirin (vet recomended) and he seemed better tonight....
Have a warm and safe night out there.
BigDaddy I did learn last night that Corni is how Cornelius Vanderbilt (NY Central) was know in the Anderson Vanderbilt Cooper family and that Anderson denies that the Vanderbilt's, Rothchilds. Rockefellers and Carnegies counted their money when they got together.
I don't knwo if they could count all that money.
I certainly don't have any of it, nad Anderson has LOOOONG declared he gets/got nothing in the way of family money so he makes his own, and accordingly Gloria Vanderbilt, his mother didn't have much in the way of family money either, that is why she got into Jeans Fashions.
Just because parents or grandparents or greats greats made moeny doesn;t mena it trickles down beyond a generation or so, at least not anymore.
WHo has money these days anyway?
lol
Happy New Years to all. Spent a quiet evening yesterday at home. Wife fixed beef stroganoff for diner using filet for the beef. It was very tender and tasty.
Worked on the new workbench this afternoon. I am making a doves tailed drawer for the center of the bench. Routed a groove for the drawer bottom in the sides, front and back. Then tried to remove the router bit and could not finish loosening up the collet nut. Spent an hour reading tips on getting stuck bits out of routers with out much useful info. Finally found a site that had the owners manual for a Porter Cable model 690 router. Bingo, they had directions for how to place the router on a workbench to tighten and loosen bits. This, along with more elbow grease did the trick and I was able to get the bit out and the clean the collet out and install the next bit. Hope to get the sides dadoed for the back n the morning and the set up the dove tail jig. I have had the dovetail jig a couple of years but this will be its maiden voyage.
CN Charlie, hope your healing progress rapidly and 2017 brings good news on health reports.
Mt. Washington tramway looks like a lot easier way to the top then they way the daughter's family took this past summer as the hiked up Mt. Washington. She said it was tougher than hiking the eastern Sierras which she has done a couple of times with us.
Jim
Chamomile tea, please.
Got the last shelving unit assembled and started putting some of the HO structures and assorted train boxes up. Still much to do.
I would love to see a working cog railroad for HO scale. That would be very cool.
My dad had prostate cancer. His was very slow to develop and being well on in age, the docs told him something else would take him long before that would. He opted to do nothing and lived many many years with it. And sure enough, it was something unrelated that finally took him at age 89 (if memory serves me).
Healing thoughts for those in need!
Good evening, first time visitor to the diner. I got a request to stop in and say hello and get a hot cup of joe (hi test for me). Been a quiet year for me on the railroad this year. Been out of work since september so action has slowed on the Huntington Valley basement line. Set up an old Nscale section at the house so the kids could have trains running on christmas morning. My dad passed away back in mid october so I been trying to finish up some details he was working on. He had a Bachman Spectrum FB Morse 4 axle loco that never ran that I can remember. I finally got around to taking a look inside and discovered a broken pick up wire and missing driveshafts. After some re-solder work and a five finger discount from another bachmann wreck, This things runs very well with DC power so now I need to decide if I want to upgrade to DCC and add another loco to the basement line. Sometimes your the bug, and sometimes your the windshield I guess.......thanks for listening fellas........
Rich