It's time for today's Milwaukee treat... It may look like ice cream, but here in Wisconsin, we know no mere ice cream beats frozen custard's smooth, creamy texture and flavor. Tell Janie what toppings you want and grab a spoon!
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
The weather being what it is - uninviting, to say the best, but not as bad as some of you folks have it right now, I decided to indulge into my second favourite pastime - creating little track plans. So I fired up my trusted SCARM tool and drew a little nostalgic Marklin tinplate HO scale layout, just for the fun of it. As I have quite an extensive library of buildings, locos and cars, drawing the layout is not much of a job, once the track plan has been done. Mainly a cut and paste job.
Well, just to bore you guys with yet another plan - here it is:
Aside from enjoying developing little track plans, I do this also to exercise my ability to do things with my right hand, which is OK for the little daily things in life, but not yet fully restored for anything requiring a certain amount of precision. I am afraid that developing much more complex plans involving flex track requiring shaping, still is a no-go. Maybe one day ...
good morning, atleast no severe stuff came through last night. I am tired of getting woke up by tornados, although this last one we just stayed in the bedroom and listened to it howl to our north again. No damage on this latest round.
Good Afternoon!
Another drab day - at least in terms of our weather. Spring has not yet sprung and, if I follow the weather guessers´ prediction, it will not for the next couple of weeks.
Janie, I need something to cheer me up! No, hold the beer Steven, brought with him last day he joined. It´s too early in the day for that and gthe only brand I recognized as being potable was Paulaner, which I don´t fancy! A big slice of apple pie, topped with hot custard, creme and chocolate chippies would be fine, and lots of coffee to go with it! Thank you!
hon30critter Ulrich: The little OO live steamer is amazing. Given that they are hand made I think the price is reasonable. If it includes the whole set, the price is a bargain. Thanks for sharing the video! Dave
Ulrich:
The little OO live steamer is amazing. Given that they are hand made I think the price is reasonable. If it includes the whole set, the price is a bargain.
Thanks for sharing the video!
Dave
Nope, the price is just for the loco and some tools that need to go with it. The cars are from Peco and the track is Kato Unitrack.
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Evening Diners
Flo, Ed and I will have a please
Man I am beat! Tornado Waring started blaring around 12:20 AM and wife came and got me. Tried to fall asleep in the bedroom while wife watched the live storm reports. Just could not nod off, finally got up and went back to my room. Around 2:00 AM we got a little hail that woke me up. Did not do anymore damage from what I have seen so far. So I am pretty beat right now.
Gary I think I have that car. My dad drank Blatz (what a name) and I have one of there Refers on the layout. Ed sent me quit a few Boozes cars that are being dragged by the Might CB&Q's. My first beer rolling stock was the blue and white Pearl Brewery cars by Athearn. I like the color's (never tasted there brew) and bought around 13 of them while they where still being made.
Ulrich I did not watch all of the Winter Layout Video but what I did see I liked. Far as the carry along steam layout? All I can say is why? But it was sort of neat, I guess.
Trains Hate Me Night. Well I guess I should not say hate. Bessimer's, Mighty B&O F7's and Stana Fe F7 and Erire Bulit B unit want there wheels rubbed. OK, I was game but I had to move the Might CB&Q's train first to clear the line. One of the Might CB&Q's started making a god awful sound. I have been working them like rented mules from the day I got them so they have a right! Tonight is there first night off in what 2.5 month? But what a great 2.5 months! When I say I work them hard they are pulling a 3rd scale mile of freight around a few 18" turns and never missed a beat! Heck, I have not even cleaned the wheels yet!
I have said many times before my PCM Y6b is what all steam engines want to grow up to be. I can now say Might CB&Q's F7's is what all other Diesel want to be!
Ed my friend
Later, Ken
Pearl Bwery cars in the backgound.
I hate Rust
up831 Garry: is that a Train Miniature Schlitz reefer? Not that it matters, just curious.
Garry: is that a Train Miniature Schlitz reefer? Not that it matters, just curious.
Yes, Jim, it is. .... An oldie.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Steven .... Thanks for the beer.
Ken .... Maybe this will be enough beer for you .. LOL
MisterBeasley Steven Otte A helium atom floats into a bar. "Hey!" the bartender shouts. "We don't serve noble gases in here." He doesn't react. Two hydrogen atoms are walking down the road. "Oh dear" says the first. "I've lost an electron." "Are you sure" "Yes. I'm positive."
Steven Otte A helium atom floats into a bar. "Hey!" the bartender shouts. "We don't serve noble gases in here." He doesn't react.
A helium atom floats into a bar. "Hey!" the bartender shouts. "We don't serve noble gases in here." He doesn't react.
Two hydrogen atoms are walking down the road.
"Oh dear" says the first. "I've lost an electron."
"Are you sure"
"Yes. I'm positive."
What is this ? ... A fission expedition ?
Steven Otte
I'm on vacation in Florida using a tablet. It's excruciating. I want my desktop. At least there is beer in the fridge.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Good Afternoon Diners,
Flo, I'll have an extra large coffee with lots of cream, please.
This has been the craziest winter I can remember. Upper 50s in early February, when it should be in single digits or not much above that. Tornados in late Feb. All this in metro Chicago. Go figure!
A town a little south and west of here (Ottawa, IL) got a direct hit from an EF-3 tornado and damaged about 100 homes. I feel for those folks.
Ed: Ah yes, a little bit of the Steve Miller Band, another of the many fine Bay Area bands from the classic rock era. I was decidedly an Airplane fan. 50 years later, I'm still amazed by the things Jack Casady played then. Yes, it was a lot of eighth note runs, but the way he put it together, the way he carried and drove the band, truly innovative and phenomenal. I sure didn't think up Playing that way.
Steven: Thank you for clarifying the binding. Maybe the helium didn't react because He sat inert, or maybe He just had gas.
Don't worry I'm not that quick witted, quick, but not that quick. I had to sit and think those up. And, I'd have one of those all beef brats mit out, but unfortunately, I'll pass on the brew. Can one put sport peppers on brats?
Hello to everyone, and I hope everyone is OK, safe, and warm.
Today, the Diner proudly serves that other famous Wisconsin product: craft beer. Belly up to the bar, boys. (Just do so responsibly.)
Extra strong coffee in a SOUTHERN mug, please.
***Ulrich, very neat winter layout vid. Enjoyed that!
Looks like a rainy day ahead here. Good time to rest and perhaps do a little more train room organizing/cleaning.
Healing thoughts for those in need.
Cheers! Rob
Janie, coffee in an IV bag and a slice of that cherry crumble pie, please! I need to have some "soul food" today.
The weather is plain "yuck" and so was today´s lunch. In those 33 years of marriage, Petra hardly prepared a meal I did not like, but the stuff we have to eat now really taste - well, this is a family friendly forum, so I just say "healthy".
I was in a bad mood until I came across this video of an ingenious layout my friend Gerd came up with.
It´s the "Traveller´s Table Top Tramway", a layout in a box designed to take along and play with while you are waiting for your meal in a restaurant or your beer in the local "public house".
Take a look for yourself:
In case you´d fancy to have one of those OO scale, 9mm track narrow gauge live steam engines, Brian Canton of the UK is making another batch now. All you have to do is to part with about $ 1k and wait a couple of years for it....
Enjoy the video!
Hey all
The next couple of weeks I am going to be a little scarce in here. Since the beginning of the new year things have DRAMATICALLY turned around here as far as sales go. I have four,1 million dollars homes that have to settle this month and yestesterday they relased two more HUGE homes to be built. Getting busier than a one armed paper hanger around here !
Hobby barn news. This weekend we installed the beam, joist, leveled and sqaured and got two rows of subfloor inmstalled.
Hope to have more time later will respond to post as I have time.
TTYL
YGW
No damage at our house. Looks as if most of damage was towns around 50 away each direction. I see that cudaken lives way south of me and he got some of the same storm as per his post above.
http://wqad.com/2017/03/07/severe-storm-damage-reported-in-downtown-muscatine/
Town about 50 miles west give or take. No deaths so far in the news.
Wroung time of year for this kind of weather.
Modeling on the cheap
fourt!
I hope you and your family survived intact. We don't get storms like that very often in southern Ontario but they do happen. Scary stuff!
I hope you haven't suffered any property damage either.
What a night we had to shelter in the torando shelter tonight for about a hour as the storm went by. See on the news about 1/2 dozen touched down in the area. There is some damage it looks like in area.
Flo, Ed and I will have a and some Buarts please.
Work Front Had a couple come in that where around 300 pounds each. They want a Good Queen Set that would hold up under them for $300.00? Nicely told them Good Luck.
Another lady came in and all she was looking for was a King Sizes Frame. She spent $1070.00, bought a King Mattress so I threw in the frame! Sometimes you never know what someone will spend.
Ulrich Glad you see Parkerson may not be as bad you freard. Far as how Perta food taste now? Well you are losing weight, my wife cooking, well no flavor and I still stay fat!
So I am out of hear.
Ken
Just realized too I have been a member here for 14 years
Afternoon guys
ulrich sorry to hear the diagnosis, my father in law found out just before christmas that he also has parkinsons. The medication has helped and he just got back on the weekend from a vacation in Cuba.
i have been mulling the idea if I want to work on the layout. Right now I have my table top sports games setup in there and have been playing them all winter. Don't know if I want to leave that left up for the spring summer and keep playing them or move all that stuff out so I can work on the layout.
at the moment I'm siding on keep the games out and put train work aside for the colder winter months when you can't enjoy the outdoors. We aren't out of winter yet but are on the backside of it I hope.
i get more enjoyment from model trains from late September to late April
will think it over I guess, would be easy choice if I had another spare room,lol
Good Afternoon,
Dave, hope you have a nice trip to Long Point. The last business trip I made was in 2011 and it was to Port Rowan. We had a store there that was in the process of closing down. I was there in March. There is a lot of RR history in Port Rowan that is detailed in Ian Wilson's book, Steam Echoes of Hamilton.
CN Charlie
Hi Ulrich:
I'm glad to hear that your perspective on Parkinsons has improved a bit. Too bad about the dexterity problems.
All the best!
gmpullmanThe red-winged black birds are in NE Ohio already. I'm sure the warm February had something to do with the early migration. I had better get the oranges ready for the Orioles. They're one of my favorites!
Dianne and I saw about 200 swans on Saturday. They were too far away to determine which type (could have made good use of that scope we can't afford!). Kind of early for them because everything is still frozen, but that can change quickly.
We are headed to Long Point on Lake Erie Friday night. We have two nights reserved at a nice B&B. Apparently the waterfowl are already there in large numbers.
We rarely see Orioles here but my brother had them in large numbers in Campbellford. I think part of our problem is high traffic (vehicular) everywhere. Orioles typically fly about three to four feet above the ground so they tend to end up as road kill in busy areas.
Good afternoon.
Ed .... Interesting about the circus cars up for sale. I suppose some may eventually be acquaired by tourist railroads. .... Let's bid on the lion car to couple to the Diner. It'll give our favorite Lion a cozy place to stay.
Ulrich ... I'm glad the meeting gave you a more positive outlook.
Steven ... Thanks for the bratwurst served Wisconsin style. One of my favorite foods. ..... LOL at the atom pun ...
Here are a couple of old favorite puns :
The locomotive would not sit down because it had a tender behind.
Some railroaders get married because they like to couple up.
Steven - I´ll take mine "mit"!
I spent the morning in a lecture on Parkinson´s disease, which was very informative and gave me a little comfort. The prospects seem now not to be as dreadful as I feared and that I will have quite a number of enjoyable years ahead of me before things will turn to the worse. I still don´t touch a soldering iron and putting an N scale train onto the rails is not yet possible, but somehow I will eventually manage a more or less normal life. What still eats me up is that all my dreams of moving to a better place in a better country have now been flushed down the drain.
We had chicken fricassee for lunch and while Petra tried her best to give it some sort of taste, I am afraid having to confess I did not enjoy the meal. I had hoped to go for a walk and sneak into the nearest burger place, but St. Peter decided this was not a good idea and sent lots of rain in our direction! No burger for me, so I am glad Steven brought the Bratwurst dogs along!
Instead of getting a little bit of exercise, I started to watch old model railroading vids on Youtube - this time focusing on German built layouts.
Here is a nice one showing a Marklin layout in a winter setting, which I found quite impressive:
In the long run I may have to go back to the old Marklin tin plate stuff, as it is a bullet proof system, suitable for folks with limited dexterity. We shall see!
Have a good one!
Morning diners,
ROR- I have that Michael Fox book in hardcover. I got it a few years after it was released.
Der- Progress is looking good. Don't worry about the missing scenery ideas it will come in time.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.