I am back at home in Sunny Southwest Florida.
.
I had a great trip back from Georgia yesterday. We stopped in Ashburn for a look arround. Ashburn is one of my favorite cities in Georgia. It is very cute with a downtown that is hanging in there. They have a wonderfully fun Fireant festival every year. During the festival there are paper mache fireants all over the city. The high school art students all get involved, and it is really a great community event.
They even painted their SOUTHERN caboose in a fireant theme.
Ashburn is home to Carroll's Sausage Company, one of the most delicious tourist traps on Interstate 75, it is at mile marker 82. I bought a couple of pounds of hot country sausage for this week.
A NORFOLK SOUTHERN train rolled through Ashburn while I was there.
We stopped for lunch at the Smok'-N-Pig Bar-B-Q in Valdosta, Georgia. This is not a great barbeque spot, but they are consistently good, and they can get you back onto the road quickly. I had the Saint Louis Style short ribs.
Very few things bring warmth to my heart like crossing the state line and finally being home in Florida again.
For dinner, since the diner is in Illinois this month, we stopped at Joey D's Chicago Style Eatery in Sarasota, Florida.
Joey D's is a local chain in Sarasota with 4 locations. They have been there 25 years. The family is from Chicago. It is a great fun place to stop for dinner.
I had two Chicago Style Dogs and fries. Joey D's makes a great Chicago Style Dog with all Vienna Brand ingredients. Such a treat.
I unloaded my new steel storage cabinet and returned the rental van.
What a great trip! What a great week!
Keep having fun.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Nobody really knows anyone on the Forum here completely. I have always enjoyed Lions words and his unique sense of humor.
Even better now that I know what he looks like
TF
Lion. Do the other community members enjoy your trains? I bet they do
Lotus18 some assembly required by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr" alt="" />Good Morning All,
Just a regular to go please. After taking last weekend off to nurse the bum knee, I am taking another day today to start final assembly of the Lotus 18. I felt well enough to enter the HSR Walter Mitty at Road Atlanta leaving here the 22nd.
Catch y'all later - got stuff to do. J.R.
Good morning, everybody ....
Lion ... It's good to see your pictures, past and present.
I worked some more on my coal mine project yesterday. I still have much work to do with it.
Below is a Rock Island train in Chicago.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Track fiddlerI have to admit, I always thought Lion was joking too.
Really you guys? OK, I guess you didn't know Lion.
Have you ever taken a look at his sub way lay out?
All of you that think you need sophisticated DCC systems to run multiple trains on the same track, along with multiple tracks, should take a look.
Lion has a great web site on "lay out of him".
Mike.
My You Tube
Good Morning
I'll have a coffee, black please and one of those mini cups of espresso.
I have to admit, I always thought Lion was joking too. He always has been a bit of a jokester on the Forum.
Well,... that's a good quality to have. Humor is always a good thing. Now I know there's never a dull moment at the Monastery. Not with Him being member of community.
BroadwayLion Today's LION...
Today's LION...
I thought you were joking before, but apparently not!
Are you associated with a particular religious order?
My brother converted to Catholicisim in college and is now a Jesuit, though not a monk. As far as I can see it's been great for him.
Visit the Chicago Valley Railroad for Chicago Trainspotting and Budget Model Railroading.
BroadwayLionToday's LION...
We were expecting a Friar Tuck bald spot and a big stick to sweep the path of surly bandits.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Hey Ken!
Congratulations on the lifestyle change! I wish you huge success!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I went to the new cardiologist yesterday. He told me my pacemaker was only giving me a heart rate of 40, not the 60 I had a while back. No wonder I was tired!
I had the pacemaker examined and adjusted today. It had been picking up extra heart impulses, and the rate was not increasing with demand. I do feel better now. It's going to rain tomorrow, but I'd like to get out for a good walk to see if I'm really better.
I'm buying a house, so soon I'll have a train room and I can set up my layout again!
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Ken, stick it out, one hour at a time.
My three worst times when I quit: #1 -- driving, #2 -- having a beer, & strangely enough, #3 -- eating anything chocolate.
You will be happy when you've done it. Don't get discouraged if you fall back, just start over more resolved. I was over two packs a day, and it was difficult, but it can be done.
In the mid 1980s, my wife had a hospital stay in a double room. She called me on the phone, very upset, and told me to come to the hospital and demand a new room. The patient in the next bed was an older lady dying of lung cancer. Her two sons were visiting her, and all three of them were smoking, in the hospital room!
I'm officially tired of winter. It was in the 20s when I got up to walk this morning. Warmed up into the 40s this afternoon, but I think I'm ready for actual spring weather.
York1 John
Ken thanks for reminding me who GeePee35 is. Good to see you Galaxy. I had forgotten. The night shift scrambles your sleep patterns. In the old days I would be called to the hospital to do a D+C in the middle of the night. I could be there and back in bed in less than an hour, but not be able to go back to sleep. I would wake up the next 4 nights at the same time as the phone call.
AARP, AAA, AMA, NRA Vinne will be mad if I say more than all these organizations have an overwelming obsession with selling you insurance.
OTOH - smoking and diabetes?
My wife has a friend who is about 50 ish. A couple years ago she was a 9 out of 10. Now, she has a junky cough every couple minutes, her voice has turned gravely and she is getting smokers lines all over her face. Her husband died a couple years ago after a second smoking related cancer. Throat the last time.
I also have a doctor friend who stops by on his way from NY to FL. As soon as he opens his car door, I can smell it from 8' away. Not just the door, the trunk. It's a sour smell for us non smokers. Surely he isn't smoking in the trunk. They want us to stay with them and visit Disneyworld. We can't decide how to tell them no way.
Ken: Well done. Keep up the good work. Baby steps...
Richard
Good luck with the quit plan Ken. Everyone knows, it's a tough act to follow. On my third and successful attempt. I found I had to temporarily knock off the sauce for about six weeks to get it done.
In the words of Joe Walsh "The smoker you drink the player you get"
I wish you success and good health. You can do it
Afternoon Diners
Flo, get the gang and I a please and leave a stein outside for Ulrich.
Galaxy Good to hear from you again. I keep forgetting your new site name.
Lion I wonder what you look like now?
Lack Of Health Front. Well I am starting to do something about it!
1 I have cut my smoking down by about half this week. I was smoking around 38 to 45 cigarette's a day. I am now around 22 to 28 a day. I know I know, I need to stop cold turkey but it is a start. Next time I am at the VA I'am going to ask for some help stopping.
2 Today while I was doing my running in my car for 2 hours I did not have a single cigarette! That was a mile stone for me!
3 Starting to ride my exercise bike after 19 years again. While I am taking baby steps for the last 3 days I have ridden it. I am not pushing my self but every day just a tad longer.
After having bronchitis last September my lungs have not been the same.
Later, Ken
I hate Rust
I've eaten at the Cracker Barrel a couple times. I would have to say it's a few notches up on the totem pole from Denny's.
I think you may have to know what you're after from somebody's else's suggestion, before you get there. Otherwise you may end up with a rather motley contraption Henry
Hit and miss. Like all these places, it depends what cook is on that day. You're rolling the dice.
Judy and I wanted a quick easy fix for breakfast the other morning. We ordered off the budget menu at Denny's. She got the $4, I got the $6. We got out of there for 11, 14 with the tip.
It filled the hole but I'm in no hurry to go back. I may have developed better tastes for food as I've aged. Well,... you know the saying. You get what you pay for.
PS Congrats on Mrs MLC's book MLC!
I ate at Cracker Barrel once. Dirty silverway puts you right off. The people at the next table ordered the bacon, sausage, egg, pancake, cheesy potato, fried apple, biscuit special. It was like the Monty Python movie, except no one exploded.
Hello everyone —
Another weekend is upon us.
I scanned and uploaded a Burlington Zephyr brochure from 1939 which has some great photos and a description of the train.
Zephyr by Edmund, on Flickr
You can see the complete album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gmpullman/albums/72157708128596274/with/40628573213/
Enjoy, Ed
cudaken Lion Was that you reading the book about Pearl Harbor?
Yeah, dat's da LION before him became a monk. Here is another oldie but goodie...
ROAR
I have the book, The Chicago Tunnel Story
Very good book
You guys are killing me with the georgeous E and F unit pics!
I've been trying so hard to stay within my 80'-00's Chicago setting but it's hard. I've already put together budget vintage Rock Island Rocket and Daylight passenger consists just to test the waters and it seems like every other day I'm confronted with another great deal on a shiny streamlined passenger set. Resisting....
Got a nice Chicago area loco in the mail yesterday but I'll post it in the appropriate thread.
The Chicago Freight tunnels are facinating. Many of them still exist but from what I understand, some were closed, filled or blocked after the river broke through one and cause major flooding. I remember seeing it on the news when I was a kid. It was a big deal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_flood
Good morning from the Southern Command,
Today starts stop one one the wife's book tour. We are at the Juke Joint festival this weekend , A large Blues festival in Clarksdale Mississippi.
Her book was supposed to come out in May, but it was early and arrived in the warehouse in March.
Her book is a biography of a well known blues manager, He was manager of Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Son House and others. He discovered and managed Bonnie Raitt. I don't want this to be an ad but I am proud of Mrs MLC acomplisment. This is not a book that will make anyone rich, but it is still a big deal in the MLC household.
I will see the small shortline RR here that runs on Ex-IC lines.
talk to you all later.
Good-Morning from (Still Winter Wonderland)
Thanks Steve-O. Mighty tasty. I remember having something like that the last time I was in Chicago.
An interesting topic of conversation yesterday was why the sleet in Minnesota was tan in color. Apparently the dust, from the dust storms in Texas made its way up here, blending into the mix of things in the atmosphere over the Midwest.
Thanks guys for all the Chicago railroad pictures. Enjoyed
It seems the Diner's been pretty slow lately. Maybe we need a good lunch special to get customers in the door. Flo, why don'tcha write up on that chalkboard that today's special is a Chicago-style Italian beef. Mmmm, look at all those juicy peppers. Yummy.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Good morning, everybody .
Russ .... I did not know about the Chicago freight tunnels even though I grew up in the Chicago area.
Ed ... That's a nice photo of a CB&Q passenger train.
Below is another Burlington train with four E-units running "elephant style" . Burlington had many E-units (E5, E7, E8, and E9). Except for some E5B's, all were A-units. This train is the combined Nebraska Zephyr, Kansas City Zephyr, and mail/express train.
hon30critterHey Russ, Those freight tunnels are cool! Thanks, Dave
Those freight tunnels are cool!
Thanks,
Thanks, Dave! There's a small book entitled "Forty Feet Below" the freight tunnels and is available from Amazon and eBay. I recommend it for a more in-depth explanation and history.
Russ
Modeling the early '50s Erie in Paterson, NJ. Here's the link to my railroad postcard collection: https://railroadpostcards.blogspot.com/
Good Morning All,
48 and drizzly this morning. I'll have a regular to go please Chloe. Good to see Galaxy in the diner.
GeePee 35, you still in upstate (or Southern Tier or whatever)? I was out of the diner for so long catching up on posts was a nonstarter.
Too much to do today for a sit down. Catch Y'all later, J.R.
This sure looks like a model, doesn't it?
Burlington by Edmund, on Flickr
1963 near Aurora, Illinois.
Regards, Ed