Jimmy_Braum Hey all. Not in much today. It's my birthday
Hey all. Not in much today. It's my birthday
Jimmy .....
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
Mr. B. ...... On the flip side, a person have $0.00 benefits as he waited until a later date to take benefits. They should weigh the alternatives accordingly. In any case, a person should remember SS is only meant to supplement incomes. Everybody should have ample savings to fund retirement before they retire. There are 401K plans and IRA's to help people save, and they should do that in their working years.
cudakenCalled SS offices to get to some none wife details on SS when I am 62.
If you can hold off taking SS financially, it's better to wait as long as you can. Your benefits increase every year if you defer, up to 70. I decided to wait until 67 when I retired, looking quite coldly at life expectancy and calculating my total payout each way. But, as you've pointed out, you are heavily penalized for working after you start taking Social Security.
Medicare works differently. Unless you have health insurance from a qualified, employer-based plan, you really want to start Medicare right away when you turn 65 and become eligible or you'll pay a penalty for the rest of your life in premiums.
When I signed up for SS, the agent at the SS office tried to talk me into taking a "bonus" payment. What he did not tell me was that by accepting that payment, I would effectively be starting my SS benefits early, thus reducing my payments for the rest of my life. I asked how much the difference in benefits would be under the two scenarios and did the math in my head. He didn't offer the information - I had to ask for it. I did the math in my head and realized it was a con job and I would not fare well. This was a government employee at the SS office trying to jive-talk me into a deal that was going to cost me money in the long run. I was disgusted. SS is supposed to be a benefit, not a scam.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Morning Diners
Flo, big cup of please.
Was up at 6:30 AM, just had a lot on my mind and could not sleep.
Mighty Dead B&O F7a. Found the problem with the engine. Of all things the chassis cracked in half? Only thing holding it togather is the fuel tank and the decoder mouting point? I have no idea how that happened, I never dropped it.
Going to call BLI and see if they have any replacments.
Later, Ken
I hate Rust
Good morning, everybody .....
Inch ... Glad to see you. I tried to contact you with this forum's messaging. Check your PM's.
Jimmy ... Your ghost stories are remarkable.
Jim UP831 ... I could not see the photo. I use Flickr to post my photos.
Ed ... It seems like we can count on you for interesting posts. ... The Cleveland ghost story about passenger coach is quite soemthing. I like the Amtrak photos, and I think that paint scheme looks better than the current Amtrak paint scheme.
Ray .... I bet you are enjoying the convention.
Tom ... I can imagine it was frustrating with the flag pole full of water. People do dumb things.
I am pleased with the results of my work repairing my old Campbell enginehouse. I posted photos of it in WPF along with a schoolhouse and a firehouse I repaired.
On the home front, we have been car shopping for a few months seeking a replacemnt for Shelley's 2004 Caddy SRX. We have owned it 13 years and it now has 171,000 miles. Yesterday, we firmed up a deal on a new Buick Enclave. GM now has large discounts on 2017 models of that vehicle. Shelley will be spoiled with that vehicle. It's loaded with nearly everything, and it has the colors she wants outside and inside. The SRX is being passed on to our son in Cincinnati, and should have many more miles to go.
Regarding ghost stories, we sometimes think we have one here because of strange, unexplained happenings.
Ray - Here's hopinging a great time at the convention. You sound like me now with the pit stops. When traveling these days, it's not restaurants or gas stations, but men's rooms that are the main priority. Time & distance between rest areas can be critically important these days. Back in the early 60s, I went to an NMRA Convention with a co-worker that was held in Cleveland. We had a terrific time, but for one reason or another, that was the only one I ever attended. I should add it to my bucket list.
Got just about all the chores done yesterday that I previously mentioned. Glad they are out of the way. Halloween Village will be the focus of my efforts now, but I also have to go to the Library, the Post Office & the bank this morning too.
Went to put up the flag in the front yard this morning for Veteran's Day, only to discover that someone had taken the plastic cap of my PVC pipe & it was filled with water. I used some rags to soak up the water & now the flag is up. If it's not one thing, it's another.
That's it for now, time to start a load of laundry & have another cup of coffee. Stay safe...
Tom
Pittsburgh, PA
Evenin' folks from the Shores of the Atlantic Ocean here in Newport, Rhode Island....
Janie, I could use a cup of decaf to help me unwind before I head out to bed. Today I took a 7 hour drive from my house to in Newport. Had to stop a number of times just to run in the rest stop;s and empty my bladder... Guess my kidneys decided today was a good day to get rid of some excess fluid... The Hotel for the convention is brand spanking new and quite nice. Had some freshly made Clam Chowder (New England Style of course) that was absolutely fantastic and some linguini with clams in a white sauce that was just as good for supper. Went to one clinic tonight given by a gent I know from the Syracuse area. Had some excellent ideas and such in it, so the Convention for me is off to a great start.
I may have a couple photos to share tomorrow if I can into my Imgure account from the laptop. That is if I can rember my password.....
Time to head to bed!
73
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
'Evenin Folks...
Heartland Division CB&QThere has been a story about a haunted Lackawana coach in Cleveland. With Google, you may find some articles about it. I wonder if Ed is familiar with it.
Yeah, Garry. The Midwest was once my stomping grounds. Haven't been involved with the group in a while.
Looks like Ghost Hunters has a segment on the car.
The "Death Car" Or "Roasted Ghost Coach" is actually a Nickel Plate coach, No. 62. In all the years I worked in and around it in the 1970's I never encountered anyone from the evanescent world, just a few grumpy conductors...
The NKP 62 was part of a westbound Lackawanna train No. 3 — The Nickel Plate ran as far east as Buffalo, where the D.L. & W. would continue through cars to Hoboken — which seems to have met with misfortune in Wayland, New York, on 30 August of 1943.
http://www.waylandparanormal.com/The%20Wayland%20Train%20Accident.html
The only ghost I'm interested in meeting is one that can tell me where a tidy bundle of cash might be buried
Hey, Ken. I have a couple of BLI F units disassembled in the shop. I'll take a look at the motor mounts and let you know what I find. Sometimes if the motor isn't seated all the way it will throw off the U-joints and cause the scrape.
Have a great day, everyone!
How about a few more Altoona area pics?
RR_views_0001 by Edmund, on Flickr
Arriving in Altoona.
Can you imagine! GE, Erie Locomotive plant was SO BUSY that the Conrail Altoona shops chipped in to help finish orders for Amtrak Genesis P40s!
RR_views_0029 by Edmund, on Flickr
Here's one in the paint booth.
RR_views_0019 by Edmund, on Flickr
...and another pair outside.
RR_views_0013 by Edmund, on Flickr
RR_views_0012 by Edmund, on Flickr
And another one doing what it does best!
RR_views_0011 by Edmund, on Flickr
The above are taken at Gallitzin on the PRR main. MO tower is still standing!
Thanks for picking up the tab, Jim
Glad to hear from you, Ulrich. Thanks for that great film featuring the wonderful Pennsy! The producer and assistant director was Hal Roach of Our Gang fame, among many more
Prayers for those in need and hopes for a great day all around...
Regards, Ed
C:\Users\Jim\Dropbox\MRR pics
edit: it looks like things aren't cooperating, sorry.
Assuming this photo will display:
Good evening Diners,
Brunhilda, I'll have an Earl Grey tea with cream and honey, please.
Steven: Aweek or so ago you posted several pics of pumpkin spice products.
Well, here's a real one! Not sure about this. They taste sort of OK, but really? I think General Mills marketing dept. has had too much additive in their tea.
I hope everyone can see the pic, if not it's a box of pumpkin spice Cheerios. If it isn't visible , just click on the box and it should open.
Hello to everyone, and I hope everyone is OK, safe, and warm.
Edit: looks like I'm at the top of the page. Everyone's order is on me.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Afternoon Diners
Flo, Gary, Ed, Ulrich, Inch, Bent, Jan, Galaxy, Jimmy, Angelob and I will have a please.
Jimmy Love to hear your story. I have mine own from when I was in the Army thay I will post later.
Good News Bad News. Called SS offices to get to some none wife details on SS when I am 62.
Good News With her being 5 years older than me she will get $300.00 a month more than I thought!
Bad News With staying working anything I make over $17040.00 a year they keep half, that I knew. What I did not know say I think I will make $25000.00 they will keep $3980.00 worth of checks before I get dime! So much for my projected budget! I was thinking they would keep a % of the SS check's. Not keep a whole check or in the case checks!
Train Front Got the Mighty Strange B&O F7a open and ran it with the decoder off. Seems the rear flywheel or drive shaft is rubbing the chassic. Motor seems mouted tight? Off the top of my head I thinking the flywheel may have slipped back some? Need to drop the fuel tank and see how the motor is mounted if at all from the bottom.
Later Ken
Okay, welll I have two stories. The first one is: Devils Den at Gettysburg.
It was back in 2009, on a school field trip for a social studies class. Well, we had just seen the show in the tourist welcome center, and began walking the fields. We made our way to an outcropping, and things got creepy there at least for me. I was walking and exploring the den, and suddenly, the temperature dropped a lot. I'd say a bout 10-15 degrees in late April. I swear I had seen something further down in the outcropping, but I wasn't going to say anything. I also had felt a feeling of being "watched" and a heaviness on the fields.
The second one is railroad related. I was driving back from catching a Wheeling and Lake Erie train on the Clairton Branch last year around 6:00pm, so it was getting dark fast. There is a portion on Stone Church Road that shows the AVR as it passes over a side road. Well, I had seen OLD covered hoppers on the old B&O line (Now the AVR tracks out to Washington PA). It was heading in the direction I was going (West), so I figured I finally get an AVR train on film. Well, I got to the next crossing...no train. You can see down the mainline right to that bridge...still no train. It was heading west, and crawling. So yeah....might have seen a ghost train.
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
Since we are in PRR territory this month, here is a video from the time, when women were women, men were men, and trains made it to Hollywood fame!
The plot is rather silly, but that Raymond Loewy streamlined K4 is some sight!
It's 0800hrs on the West coast, 6c with a high overcast.
Good to see Ulrich dropped by, I think we need breaks from everything from time to time including the forum.
Another note on the Police constable that was killed. The department was established in 1955 once the city grew enough to support its own Police force, before then the RCMP would have looked after policing. They currently have 216 officers and this was the first person they lost in the line of duty in their history.
My Ghost story.
My Mom was in her eighties and in failing health, so we had her move in with us for the last couple of years of her life. She died of congestive heart failure in 2003. It was probably a year or two later that I had come home from another of the endless 14 hour days I had been working out in the elements at the Airport. I would usually roll in about 2330hrs just in time to collapse on the couch and watch the first half hour of Jay Leno before crawling up the stairs to bed. I would get my boots off and hit the couch with my coveralls and parka still on. You could see up the stairs from where I sat watching TV and one night I looked up and saw my Mom sitting at the top of the stairs. I closed my eyes for a few seconds as I was so tired I thought I was seeing things, when I opened them she was still there, however after I turned my head away for a few more seconds and when I looked back she was gone.
The next night, got home at 2330hrs, was sitting on the couch watching Leno still in my coveralls with my parka on, My daughter who was three or four at the time came down and crawled up in my lap and pulled my parka around her as she often did if she woke up from hearing me drive in, were watching Leno when all of a sudden she said, "look, Daddy, there's Grandma sitting on the stairs". I looked up the stairs and sure enough there she was. She disappeared after a few seconds and that was the last time anyone saw her.
Every "long" once in a while something weird will happen in the house and we jokingly say that it must be Grandma. She died in hospital, so I guess it took her a while to walk home. Mom! You should have called, I would have come and picked you up.
My Dad and I spent a lot of time on the layout(s) from the time I was three or four and while we had everything we needed growing up, discretionary spending was nothing compared to what we have today. I have a nice size layout and when I am in the train room I can feel my Dad in there with me and he is smiling ear to ear. I guess when I croak I will find out what really goes on, if anything. We are always laughing about what kind of signal I should send the family to show I am spying on them.
Jimmy! Your turn.
All the best to all.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
tcwright973It's chilly here in the "Burgh" this morning, only around 30 degrees. But it's suppose to get up around 50 later on today. I hope so because I want to put the Christmas lights up on the porch gutter.
Eh? Is 1 degree of fairy height outside at the moment.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Just saying hello to old and new friends! I have difficulties typing as my right hand and shoulder are pretty much useless at the moment. Went to see the doc about it, but from what I understand, the outlook is not really enlighting!
Seems as if I´ll have to stay in the backbooth for quite a while.
Morning all...
It's chilly here in the "Burgh" this morning, only around 30 degrees. But it's suppose to get up around 50 later on today. I hope so because I want to put the Christmas lights up on the porch gutter. I like to do that when the weather is decent & I don't freezr my fingers on the aluminum ladder. The rest of the decorations & lights on the railings will go up around the middle of December. No ladders involved with that portion.
Started my Christmas shopping yesterday & got quite a bit done, but my knee (arthritis) really flared up walking in the mall, so I quit a little earlier than I wanted too. Not much left to do, so it's no big deal.
I need to dig up the cannas & dahlias to store them over the winter too. It's not a job I particularly look forward to, but my goodness, those things are expensive to buy every year.
I also need to start taking down the Department 56 Halloween Village display, & then start the Department 56 Dicken's Village display. It will take about 2 days to dismantle, pack up & then take all the boxes up to the attic. Putting up the Dickens Village display will take 3 to 4 days, depending upon my ambition. Guess we better figute on 4 days then. Oh well, it's worth it because they do look good & we enjoy them.
Hope everybody has had a good week, I have & now I'm looking forward to railfanning on Saturday as usual.
galaxy MR. OTTE...can you PM a name and number to contact at Kalmbach to talk to directly to help me figure out why my phone keeps getting rejected?
MR. OTTE...can you PM a name and number to contact at Kalmbach to talk to directly to help me figure out why my phone keeps getting rejected?
I don't know what you're trying to do that results in your "phone getting rejected," but Customer Service's number is 877-246-4879. If they can't help you, we'll try something else.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Good morning ... Coffee and a donut, please...
It's getting spooky around here.
There has been a story about a haunted Lackawana coach in Cleveland. With Google, you may find some articles about it. I wonder if Ed is familiar with it. In 1943, there was a very bad collison of a Lackawana passenger train killing dozens of people. This coach had 21 fatalities. Many of their spirts haunt the coach.
When the Midwest Railway Preservation society began restoring the coach they heard strange noises. Eventually, they gave tours of the car. During one tour, a vistor asked the guide why the man in funny looking clothes behind was not talking. No man was behind the guide. A ghost was seen sitting on the roof of the coach.
A TV station reported about the story.
....http://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/my-ohio/passenger-train-car-from-1943-crash-haunts-midwest-railway-preservation-society-in-cleveland
Hey all. Hope we're all good.
my county was in a boil water advisory from Monday until 12:00pm yesterday. Slight inconvenienc, but do I hate the taste of boiled water.... yup should have seen the fighting over bottles of water, like there was never gonna be any more.
im actually off work tomorrow and Saturday this week. I'll do something tomorrow , and planning to go to a veteran parade on Saturday.
Ive got a ghost story of anyone wants to hear.
Good Evening,
Another frosty one here today, right now there is a windchill of -6F.
Today I took the car in for an oil change but I also needed a new air filter that cost $72 installed or about $50USD. I get all my service work done at the dealership so the costs are high but Volvo filters are a lot better than aftermarket ones. Besides I doubt I could get one elsewhere as I would be surprised if there are more than 50 models of my car in this city despite a production run of 9 years--not exactly a volume model. It only has 55k miles on it which isn't much for a 2010 so I will be driving it for quite a few more years.
I finally started on a Red Caboose reefer kit that I intended to build last winter when I was recovering from surgery. I had planned on building it in the kitchen as I couldn't go down stairs, well perhaps down but not up again. Anyway it was far too complicated and needed a dedicated space for several days so I needed my workshop. It is a model of a PGE wood reefer. So far it is going ok but those Red Caboose kits have a lot of very small parts, over 20 on the roof alone with all the hatch detail. I anticipate a one month build time at the rate I go.
I did drop into the hobby shop as it isn't far from the car dealership. First time there about a year. I didn't buy anything but found out that we will likely be getting another full gauge loco here as the Prairie Dog Central is buying one of the G5 Pacifics that a fellow from Alberta bought last year and had shipped here. He is in financial difficulty so the local group are in negotiations with the bank to buy one of the 2 locos he bought. They already have a 4-4-0 in operation and a G5 would be a really nice addition. One the G5's apparently still has time on the boiler.
Ulrich, hope you are feeling better and I look forward to your posts again.
A few years ago someone did a dive on Edmund Fitzgerald. There was a show on TV about it. It did sink in a November storm but I can't recall the conclusions of the show about the cause. I don't have that song on my mind but how about 'Baby Its You' by the Shirelles. That is what is rattling around in my brain right now.
CN Charlie
moelarrycurly4Dang! now I have that song in me head!
Well, it's a better song to be stuck with than "Yummy, yummy, yummy, I've got love in my tummy."
Oh, I can fix that!
Sorry...
Ed
Hobby Front: Well, I've gone and done it again: I've bought yet another engine. This time it is a Proto 2000 SW9/1200. It is destined to become an NP SW1200. However, I haven't decided which number to do. (Like I needed another engine/project. Yard switcher.) Probably won't get to it until next spring at least. It most likely will go out to the layout until I am ready for it.
Ghost stories
My mothers aunt passed at an early age and my mother delivered food to her cousins. When she got there the rocking chair was rocking with on one in it. Her cousins said that was their mother. She saw the same aunt at the top of her stairs a couple years later and dropped a load of laundry. It took her 40 years to tell her mother that story and grandmother remembered her screaming and dropping the laundry.
A coworker worked with the Park Service at Gettysburg when he was in college. They make the rounds at night to make sure no one is digging for souvenirs. Three wounded soldiers came out of the woods, one on horseback. They called for backup but never caught them.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
UP 831 I use to play The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on guitar and and knew all the words. Sadly I have not touched a guitar in 6 years or so. Dang! now I have that song in me head!
UP 831 I use to play The wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald on guitar and and knew all the words. Sadly I have not touched a guitar in 6 years or so.
Dang! now I have that song in me head!
BATMAN Galaxy, how hold is the hotel where you work. I have a ghost story I'll have to share at some point. It was a weird experience, to say the least. I thought I was just seeing things until....
Galaxy, how hold is the hotel where you work. I have a ghost story I'll have to share at some point. It was a weird experience, to say the least. I thought I was just seeing things until....
WEll, yopu may or may not know: spirit energy can "occupy" either a building OR the land. Gettysburg, for instance, Is NOT a place for those of us who are "sensitive" to such energies. Even our friend, the spouse of the one whose adopted son decided to tempt fate with teh Ouija board....said he didn;'t think Gettysburg was bad, but the father of the adopted Ouija board wielding son, said "oh, you don't have to be sensitive like these guys {my OH and I}, to FEEL the bad energy aT GETTYSBURG....." SO, our hotel is only aobut 9 years old. It may be a former resident of the LAND , not exactly the hotel......By the way...you left it above as :"...UNTIL....." Mind if I ask "UNTIL WHAT? WE ALL have energy, if that energy signature is left behind, we MAY have inhabited the land or building we occupied or died in. Ill figure out more in the future, I;'m sure about our "inhabitant".....
I was going to GIve Ulrich a call, actually, good to know hes not in the hospital......Thanks for sending him the email and relaying his message.
Ken...work is sucking one rail spike and Im in the ash oit too....LOL ANd it seems you cannto vatcha break, can you? the wifes manifold, the wipers, now the vacuum....what else do you have that can break? I guess not buying trains for a while would help...
Im at wrok, finally figured out AOL, I think now got AOL gold, I know old fogies using aol. BUt I like it. SO now If I can get my ohine to work..>MR. OTTE...can you PM a name and number to contact at Kalmbach to talk to directly to help me figure out why my phone keeps getting rejected?
WEll, waiting for a guest to come down for TOGO menus, better be at the desk waiting and not in the back office.
LAter guys,
SPecial thoughts and prayers for ULRICH, others who need them, and prayers for the less fortunate...
Have a great night guys.
-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.
Flo, give Ed, Gary, Angelob, Ulrich, Galaxy, Brent, Jan, Ray, Mr B, Inch and I a please.
Afternoon folks,
Chloe just a decaf to tide me over to Supper, please.....
"...That good ship and crew was a bone to be chewedWhen the gales of November came early...."
Ah yes one of my favorite songs! And this one I used to sing with 5th. graders back when...
The cruise of the Bigaler (A fresh-water forecastle chanty, the Bigaler was known as the one of the slowest ships on the Great Lakes!)
4. "We made Skilagalee and Wabbleshanks, the entrance to the straits,And might have passed the whole fleet by there if they'd hove to and wait;But we drove them all before us the nicest you ever sawClear out into Lake Huron thru the straits of Mackinaw."
Refrain:
"Watch her, catch her, jump up in her juberju.Give her sheet and let her go; we're the lads can pull her thru.Oh don't you hear the howling of the winds a-blowing free,On our down trip to Buffalo from Milwaukee."
Ah yes I love chanty songs! Fun!!!!
Had the major killing frost here last night as well. Everything was a white hoar. Roofs, lawns, and vehicles when I rolled out of bed this morning. Local election here was great yesterday. The Eagle Scout I was pulling for easily won his bid for the County Board, and everything I voted for or against (as the case mey be) went the way I voted. Got up to see a couple guys removing the sprouted election signs that grace the neighborhoods around this time of year... Almost time to put up the deco for the next season coming around....
I am just about packed and ready to head out to Newport, RI for the NorthEast Region, NMRA Convention this weekend. This will be the first convention I have attended in the new Region. it looks to be well put together from what I see online at this point. Those of my membership that have gone to them before have always had good things to say, so I figure it should be fun. I have been to several conventions in the NFR Region in past years, so I am well versed with how they usually go. I will be taking a couple of photos to enter in the photo contests, but no models this time.
Oh... Hi Ulrich! We know you are hiding in the back booth. Take care and be blest!