Good Afternoon!
I never thought that I´d welcome rain, but now I do! After over 4 weeks of dry weather, we are now enjoying a good dose of rain. Motther Nature is thirstily drinking it all up, while we are waiting for the temperatures to go down.
The postman rang today and brought my order of a set of Faller kits. I have foud a few typical southern German small town buildings to complement the depot and the signal tower. The first building out of 4 is now finished. I am sure it´ll make a nice row of town buildings for the layout!
Pictures when all 4 will be done!
Make it a great day!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Flo (or whoever's handy), could I get a roast beef and cheddar omlette with a side of blue cheese dressing with a couple of slices of buttered wheat toast and some OJ. Thank you so much.
last mountain & eastern hogger If I wasn't so rushed for time I should stop in and give Ferry Kid a hand on getting set up in town at Miles City as I go by. Sure hope it goes well for you and that you are back up and running sooner that you think.
If I wasn't so rushed for time I should stop in and give Ferry Kid a hand on getting set up in town at Miles City as I go by. Sure hope it goes well for you and that you are back up and running sooner that you think.
Sorry I hadn't noticed this ealier. (And for reference, my parents and I pronounce it as "furry".) Considering I hadn't run anything on the layout for who knows how long, this just might be the encouragement to actually get stuff running again.
Most likely, I be be going out to the ranch again this afternoon and will, hopefully, bring more things back into town. (What exactly I bring I haven't decided. I am torn between the rest of the cabooses and the remainder of the engines. I have a lots of both. It will also depend on how much stuff Mom wants to bring into town.) I think the actual sections will come into town in June. I already had taken a Sunday off and after this I requested the Saturday off as well. (The last I had checked, the Saturday hadn't been approved.) A few of Mom and my friends have offered the use of their SUVs to get the benchwork moved into town. (The sections are too big to fit in a car.)
Today we honor those who have served and those who have fallen, may we never forget!
Well I'll be around later, see ya!
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
Tinplate ToddlerI never thought that I´d welcome rain, but now I do!
.
We have to much. There was over four times the average rainfall in May.
Thankfully the tropical cyclone went North into the panhandle and left us alone.
I have about 2 inches of standing water in my backyard right now, and we are having a light rain.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Afternoon Diners
Flo, get the gang and I a and Rick and Steven what they like.
Today was our Wedding Anniversary. Meet Sue when I was 17 and I am now 62 so we have been togather for 45 years and married 40 years! She wanted to go to Golden Corral for some reason? I got off cheap being a Vet, mine meal was free so tab was only $9.93.
She had been wanting to go to Alton ILL for sometime now. She enjoyed the drive along the river and we made a few stops. But it was hot at 96 degrees so no where near what she would have liked to have done.
Only bad thing? On the way home her cars blower motor stopped working so no AC. Great, I wonder what that is going to cost me! I told her all along "Sue we don't want this car!" Engine is in great shape and uses no oil. But I knew there would be other problems. She has only driven the car 3500 miles in two years and so far I have spent $1000.00 in repairs! I knew we should have went MOPAR!
Train Front I am getting close to having the PRR Coach Lake Merritt for a test run. Have the Athearn Coach Wheels fitted and what looks like it needs to be trimed, trimed. Going to test it going around a 18" turn. If that works I will wrok on the couplers.
Dang it is a all Ed Ball Express Night. Mighty B&O, Mighty CB&Q and Bessmer SD 7 with Thundering Tennise Ball's are the only engines making a living this afternoon? Thank You Ed!
Over all not a bad day.
Ken
I hate Rust
Good Evening,
Another sunny day here but showers are forecast for tomorrow. I sure hope that happens as we are experiencing the driest spring in over 40 years. Our water bill will be outrageous but I guess we should be thankful we have the water to use. The quarterly bill for water/sewer is usually about $250 but we have had it as high as $400.
Ken, congrats on the anniversary!
Ray, that is wonderful news regarding your son and his move to England. I must say that I feel more at home there than any other country we have visited. Maybe it is the common Head of State and same political system or maybe it is the influence of my father, who knows. At any rate I hope everything works out well for him. I noticed in one of the photos that they have an Aga range in their kitchen. Friends of ours had one installed and they had to have the floor of their kitchen re-enforced to handle the weight. My wife would love to have a cottage with a thatch roof.
I think we have purchased all the plants we need this year and hopefully can start planting this week after the rain. We lost several old hostas this year, not sure if it was the frost or the early drought but a couple of 20+ year old ones didn't come up.
I mowed the grass in the front for the first time this year. The old gas mower we use in front started on the first pull. And by old I mean well over 30 years. We use an electric in the back but it needs a new battery. It uses a small wet cell used on motorcycles. This will only be the third one in 15 years so that isn't too bad.
Time for tea and tellie. It is so cold in the basement where we have the TV that we have to put on the gas fireplace. I know that sounds crazy in summer but the cold from the A/C just filters downstairs.
CN Charlie
Good evening Diners,
Brunhilda, a cup of sleepy time tea, please.
Just came back from Southwest Michigan to see DIL's brother get married. It was a great time. Lots of food, etc. The in-laws rented a house for the weekend on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. There must have been 30 people staying there, all related. It was hot. Not like heat in So Cal or Arizona. This had humidity also. Historically, I've always been able to handle heat better than most where I live, but we were sitting outside in direct sun in our dress clothes. It was even getting to me. I can't imagine how uncomfortable the other people were.
We spent today in St Joseph, MI. Quaint little town. The downtown reminded me ever so slightly of Manhattan Beach, with the quaint shops and how this one shopping street points to the water. That's where the similarity ended, but it was a nice day.
Off to bed.
Hello to everyone, and I hope everyone is OK and safe.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
Evening diners,
Well today was rather uneventful compared to the rest of the weekend but let's not get into that.
Well Wednesday (I think gotta double check my schedule in the morning) I am going to drivers ed! Which should be interesting.
My friend is of to a religious summer camp for the week and is incommunicado for the duration, they are really weird about "fraternizing" as their website calls it between males and females. She only goes because her parents expect her to, she's happy that this is her last year though!
Anyways what I've been up to, well mowed all the grass last week just in time for it to be cut again! Uh, I opened an Instagram account, and am trying to post more often on there and Twitter. Brought the Mitsubishi (AKA the Mule) in to the dealer to get the Takada air bags replaced. Did some yard work, went to church. My dad said he'd help me with buying a push mower for my lawn care business, I've got about 3/4 the money just need a little loan for the last bit, hopefully I'll buy it sometime this or next week. My next few purchases will be some train stiff of course, a new phone, new computer, and maybe a rowing machine to help me get in shape, although I'm in no way fat, nor am I low on muscle but I could be in better shape, at 6'3" 240 (which is "overweight" by the doctors standards) I'm a pretty big guy, I'm wanting to increase my batting speed, I got a new bat recently, a old TPXBBXL Louisville Slugger 34" long and 30 oz., I was using a Little League TPX Louisville that was 32" and 24 oz. The 6 oz. Increase has slowed me down a bit. Uh what else is going on, well anxiety is under control only an occasional attack but the ambient anxiety is much better.
Music, well I have decided that I'm going to give American Idol a shot, I'm going to go audition for season 2, I'm not looking to win, just get my name out there, and if I win well that's just a perk!
Well tomorrow is Tuesday so I'll be going to the club, just realized I'm going to be in Drivers ed Saturday so I'm going to miss the Op Session, aw snap! Oh well next time!
Well that's about it, sorry to go on a bit!
Good evening all.
Zoe - A great big RBF please. Thanks.
Ken - Congrats on the anniversary!
I know what you mean on car issues... I went to fix the (what I thought) surface rust on my rear fender, and as I was sanding it, poked a hole right through it. Here, it had been "repaired" before, and they did a lousy job at it... If I wasn't thinking it was crazy, I would say it looked just like they had placed aluminum foil over the bad spot on the fender, did a paper thin coat of bondo, and painted it and called it done!
Needless to say, the little project is a lot less little now....
Ulrich - I must say, those trains look like FUN! And I really like the looks of the overhead wire, it gives a very nice touch.
Almost makes me want to break out the Lionel set I was given, just to set it up and run.
But, then I would not be making any headway on other projects, and that will not be good right now.
Jimmy - Keep plugging. It seems like a lot of places are not as active as they should be when it comes to getting the right employees.
Case in point, where I am now, they are still looking for more help, but the only place you can find that out, is the stores website or on the door... Had I not been sent there by my old boss for supplies, I would never have even thought of applying there.
My point to that, is, you might need to "think outside the box", and apply at places you wouldn't think about normally.
While I had retail experience, it was never with office supplies and printing. So I was applying places, and getting zero interest. When I went there for needed items for my old boss, I applied, and was interviewed on the spot. Once I cleared the background checks, I was offered a spot.
That was less than 3 months ago. (March 9th was my first day.) So far, all of the "traditional" spots I applied at, have either not contacted me at all, or contacted me just to say "thanks, but no thanks".
So, keep appliying places, but try to think about ones you normally would not think of applying at, as they just might be the right fit you are needing.
Too bad you aren't closer to me, my boss would love to find another someone with retail experience right now. We really need at least two more people, and so far, all of the others who have applied are a "not at this time, but thanks for showing the interest", to a "no, no, no, no, NO!"
Weather - Hot and humid. Dew points around 70, and temps hit 90 today, and forecast is at least 90 tomorrow. Have the downstairs AC in, will be getting the upstairs AC in tomorrow after w*^k.
W*^k - Mixed bag. I was awarded "Employee of the month" for April, and was used as a example in today's meeting on how to greet and talk with customers.
Next minute, I was not doing another task "right", in that, I have only sold 2 since I started there, and everyone's numbers are way down on that as well.
Then, it was that none of us is doing the "store card" often enough.
Problem is, we were getting compared with the Hermitage Pa store. They out perform us on every metric by a country mile, including sales, customer count, and market size. So it's no wonder they destroy us on these two metrics as well.
And then, we all got asked, why it is, that we are not getting many customer survey's, but then pointed out that, myself and one other person, are constantly being mentioned in good survey's... Seems like we are the only two getting customers to take the survey's, unless they are a negative one.
Then, it was brought out how we are getting way too many negative survey's. Yet, three negative ones were about the store OS going down during one customers visit, so nothing was working, yet we did the best we could, it just took too long. (When the entire store crashes, we do everything by hand, including receipts, and pricing. Or, how another store closer to the customer lost their building lease and was forced to close. (How in the world is that our fault?) Or how the customers felt that the price for printer ink was outrageously high, yet we were the cheapest of all stores in the area. (This is a reflection of our customer service how, exactly?)
So, I'm not too sure how to feel tonight about it all.
Trains - Main layout is still "flying in a holding pattern", as other, more pressing things, are being taken care of currently. Hoping to make major progress soon though.
Well, I best be headed off to bed, hope all are well,,and all enjoy the night/tomorrow!
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.
ricktrains4824it had been "repaired" before, and they did a lousy job at it... If I wasn't thinking it was crazy, I would say it looked just like they had placed aluminum foil over the bad spot on the fender, did a paper thin coat of bondo, and painted it and called it done!
That sort of shoddy repair is all too common. I had a work associate a few years ago who decided to open a used car lot. He openly admitted to doing exactly what you describe regularly.
A few years ago I was in the market for a used car. Every used car dealership that I went to had patches on many of their cars that were done poorly. I soon gave up on the used car dealers.
Next time you are buying a used car, carry a small magnet with you. If it won't stick to the fender then you know that you are looking at Bondo.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Thanks to everybody for not burning the joint down while I was gone. Have a nice cold snow cone as my way of thanks.
Geez, it got hot here all of a sudden. Weather in Wisconsin be like:
WinterwinterwinterwinterwinterwinterwinterwinterSprHAHAjustfoolingwinterwinterwinterSprHAHAgotchaagainSummersummersummer
Anyway, the month is almost over. Where are we heading next?
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Morning All!
Hobby Front: Didn't get to go out to ranch yesterday. Mom decided that it was too wet. (The car doesn't get along with mud very well.)
Did, however, get a few things worked on with the equipment that I have in town. Got some decals fixed on some of the passenger cars. The decals didn't "suck" down properly and I ended using some spare sheet that I had made. (Custom decals that I made when I first did those cars.) Got a little further on the wheel car. (Glued some of the roller bearing details on the wheels.) Made an error on the NP caboose with the ladders. (Got another set ordered.) Also found that I should get some knockoff knuckles replaced and given that a lot of cars use 148s I decided a bulk pack was a good idea. (Just the immediate ones to be replaced amounted to 6 pair.)
Good (late) Afternoon!
It is way gtoo hot for me to feel comfortable! The rain we had yesterday didn´t cool the temperatures down, as I had hoped! Today, the all time high for the month of May was reached with a sizzling 33°C, that´s 92°F for you guys over at the other end of the Big Pond and south of the 49th!
Despite the heat, I was busy assembling the buildings from the set of kits I got the other day. 3 out of the 4 buildings are completely done, and # 4 is half way down the road. The layout already has a different "face" to it, luckily in the direction I planned for!
Those Faller kits have turned into quite a challenge for me. I am glad I have a "third hand" to hold things while I glue bits and pieces to it. My right hand is not steady enough any longer, so this exercise is somewhere in between fun and frustration.
Pictures when I am ready ...
Steven - thanks for the cold beverages - can I order three of them? One down the hatch, and the other two to cool my feet down!
TTFN!
Morning diners,
Mr. Otte, thanks for the snowball, I'll take a pink lemonade one, thanks!
Where to this month?
What about someplace Canadian?
Maybe someplace mountainous, like Donner, or the Cascades, better to go there now than in the winter!
Any volunteers?
Well good noose (err, news!) is that I don't have drivers ed till next week! I forgot that it's the 6th so next Wednesday, so I will get to go to the op session.
Well I'll be back, later!
NWP SWP. . .Any volunteers? . . .
I think now that Ulrich is back, location selection is his forte.
It is starting to heat up in earnest here in the desert southwest--it is currently 101F. When it clears 105, it is just too hot, and above 110 is horrid. We also had the driest winter on record so the national forests are all closed. The Boy Scout troop in our area is scrambling to try and find an alternative to the traditional scout camp.
I finally recovered enough from laying the flooring and the arrival of the grandkids to get out for a nice 25-mile ride this morning. Luckily it is still cooling off over night--it was a balmy 71F when I left at 6:00am.
Tomorrow is my son's birthday and we are going to an Arizona Diamondbacks game with his family. Good thing Chase Field is enclosed and air conditioned. The way they cool the stadium is rather interesting. They have giant water-based coolers that they freeze at night when electricity is cheap and available, then they run the air through the frozen coolers during the day. This allows them to keep the stadium cool without putting a large demand on the grid during peak hours.
Richard
Ulrich is usually on hand for new month duties.
Some of you have seen pictures of flooding in Baltimore. The worst flooding was in Ellicott City, formerly known as Ellicott Mills and the site of the 1st segment of the B&O way back in 1830.
Two years ago they had a 1000 year flood, which destroyed the road and sidewalks. The owners rebuild only to get hit with a flood, that was worse, this weekend. 8" of rain in a couple hours from a stationary front.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/28/ellicott-city-maryland-flash-floods-leave-1-missing-devastate-town-recovering-from-2016-deluge.html
Last pic is the railroad bridge across Main St.
The rain I was complaining about before Steve went on vacation was 5 or 6" over 5 days. We normally only get 8" of rain during hurricanes. BTW Steve, my next door neighbor's house was built 2' lower than mine. His sump pump was still running most of the time this past Thursday. (mine finished completely Tuesday)
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
RideOnRoadI think now that Ulrich is back, location selection is his forte.
I´d happily let someone else do the honors!
It´s too hot to sleep and too noisy to keep a window open! I guess I am in for another sleepless night!
Grrrr!
Good Afternoon,
A lot of thunder out there right now but only a few drops of rain so far. Hope there is more.
Ulrich, that is a really nice little layout you are building and I can see that it is a lot of fun.
Well think I might read a book I ordered that was delivered last week. It is Speed Graphics and Steam 1957 by Ian Wilson. Another of his wonderful books about steam in Ontario.
Yesterday I heard Riders On the Storm by the Doors on the radio. It sure brought back a lot of memories about the summer of '71. I had just moved to Barrie, ON to start my first real job with GE after university. I find that song haunting.
I missed the discussion of misheard song lyrics, or "mondegreens" as they're called... but I still would like to share one of my own.
From Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" (lyrics in question at 0:43)
"On we sweep with threshing oarOur only goal will be the western shore"
My version:
"Only sleeping, 'specially nowI wanna go where these directions show"
Your link doesn't work,Thor -- er, Mr. Otte.
Happy anniversary, Ken.
I'm off to bed after four days of tossing crap into a dumpster at Dad's house. I hurt in places I forgot existed.
Soooo tired...
ZzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Eveing Diners
Flo, the gang and I will have a please and give Rick and Steven what they like.
Work Front Pretty decent day with $2818.00 in written sales. One for $1900.00 is a done deal and would have been a good $135.00 in spiff money. But because of taking SS at age 62 no spiff's for me! But I have no worries about making the house payment either!
Rick and Dave The magnet trick really does not work these days. With cars and trucks usiug aluminum and plastic body parts, well the magnet will not stick to it. Plus there are other dirty tricks! When I was going to auto body school one of the tearchers asked me to help at his house to do some used car lot cars. He used Metal Tape, and ground up some sheet metal in the filler with a grinder. To top it off, he added some Metal Flake in the primer! I be dang, a magnet would stick to the repair.
PRR Coach Wars. Got the Lake Merritt Coach to go around a 18" turn. Still a tad stiff in the turn but did not derail! Going to try to make it more free wheeling and then next the coupler pockets.
Ed, have not heard from you for a few days. Hope you are having fun!
Later, Ken
Went to the club today, Ben looked at Matts RSD15 it does NOT have SDDS (Sudden Decoder Death Syndrome) it is back alive and among the living.
Op session is Saturday, we'll try our best with the crew we've got, the club has a membership issue we need about a dozen more members, at least, to be both financially stable and operational in both running trains and doing necessary rebuilds to the layout.
Well goodnight folks!
cudaken Rick and Dave The magnet trick really does not work these days. With cars and trucks usiug aluminum and plastic body parts, well the magnet will not stick to it. Plus there are other dirty tricks! When I was going to auto body school one of the tearchers asked me to help at his house to do some used car lot cars. He used Metal Tape, and ground up some sheet metal in the filler with a grinder. To top it off, he added some Metal Flake in the primer! I be dang, a magnet would stick to the repair.
Hi Ken:
That's really deceptive!
I'm so glad I'm past the days of having to buy used cars because that's all I could afford. I just hope that I am smart enough that when our current 2014 Odyssey starts to become a money pit I will dump it. I have made the mistake with more than one vehicle of thinking that I could get some more life out of them by spending money on repairs when I should have sold them off.
Good Morning,
We just had a bad thunderstorm with lots of water pouring down. At last it cooled off a little and I feel a little more comfortable than in the previous days.
The day started early after a hot night with no sleep. In my age, a hot night means it´s too warm to sleep properly
Got busy finishing building # 4, wihich now found it´s place on the layout.
Here are some pictures:
I love when a plan comes together!
Talking of bad repairs and used cars, our rather dimwhitted neighbor bought a used Golf R+, that´s the one with the 200+hp. Cars like this are usuall fairly beaten up, but his looked OK - until the paint started to fall off in rather thick flakes. He accused us of having slammed our car door into his dear vehicle, which of course was not the case. I called my insurance to send someone over to check the damage and it turned out that the car had been involved in a serious accident and the damage had not been repaired properly. The insurance fellow had some strong words for our neighbor, trying to defraud the insurance company. Needless to say we are not on talking terms with that neighbor.
Lunchtime is coming up quickly now and I do have to work down my HD list before I can eat, so CUL, folks!
I finally had the Mexican Fan Palm tree rermoved that had been leaning towards the driveway since Hurricane Irma came through last year.
The tree guys were finally hungry for work again, and prices came down to where they should be.
Thank heavens it never fell on the house!
Good afternoon
Ulrich ... Your Marklin continues to look like loads of fun. It sounds like you have a dishonest neighbor
Kevin ... it looks like you are fortunate for not having the tree fall on the house. Falling trees are dangerous .
Happy Model Railroadig, everybody !
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
My laptop died the black screen of death. It is still in warranty, but I have the hassle of sending it in and waiting.
My back kept me up last night but is feeling better now. Went with the wife to see the radiation doc. After a week she has some redness, like a sunburn. That may or may not progress to blisters.
I'm going to use some dowels to align my two modules together, then lay some cork and track and figure out bridge abutment height, but I didn't even go downstairs today.
Here is a collection of wierd stuff, old locos, locos through station walls, a propeller driven loco, and some cool old stuff.
Heartland Division CB&QUlrich ... Your Marklin continues to look like loads of fun. It sounds like you have a dishonest neighbor
Garry - you couldn´t be more right, on both accounts. I am really enjoying myself building this little layout, where everything is against the rulebook, but ever feels so right! And, yes, our neighbor is not an honest guy at all, but he is not the only one in this neighborhood. You know, we live in this Gulag not by own choice.
Henry - nice video! It was interesting to see Mr. Kruckenberg´s "Schienenzeppelin" in it. It was an expeimental rail car, powered by a WW I airplane motor, which reached a top speed of 140mph, which was quite an achievement in 1931. It never went into regular service, as no insurance company would sign for it and became obsolete, when the highspeed Diesel rail cars of the "Flying Hamburger" were inaugurated a year later.
Good Morning to everyone - it´s 4.45am and I am enjoying the crisp morning air and the first cup of coffee of the day!
Flo, the gang and I will have a and give Rick and Steven what they want.
Work / Reding Front. Well the good news is I finshed another Clive Cullser Book. It was a NUMA File Kirk Austion book called Madusa. I am running out of Clives Books. I think this was around the 45th book of his. Sad thing I was the only person in the store today.
Ulrich While it is not my cup of tea, good looking layout. I like the buliding's and the Engines and Rolling stock look's good. Don't care for the track, but I know it is easy to work with.
Back To The PRR Coach Wars. Going to work on the PRR Lake Merritt Coach some more. Looing forward to getting some little people soon I hope.
Good evening diners,
Not much going on, mowed some grass this evening, the mower is fixed, had to put two bolts by the deck mounts to keep it from coming loose.
Well not much going on so goodnight everyone!