Good Morning!
It´s Sunday and I am running late. My body seems to get started to adapt to the coming winter season, as the days are getting shorter and shorter. We have lost over 3 1/2 hrs to the beginning of summer and we will lose another 4 hrs until the days will start to get longer again.
Got the first picture of the new family addition. Say hello to little Amon!
I had forgotten that the come that small at the time of delivery! Both mother and son are in good health now, after quite a few dramatic moments leading to a rushed Caesarean.
This is the secret of life!
As happy as I am right now, I am a little sad at the same time. Petra and I will never be grandparents, unless my son comes to his senses and finds the right girl to establish a family. I cannot hold my breath on that, though.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Good Sunday Morning. No breakfast at the diner this morning, it's doughnut day!
Congratulations to everyone on the birth of grandchildren, or family members.
Don't know who said this, but it's true for me: "An hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again. Anything longer than that, and you start to age quickly."
The word's "no problem" don't bother me nearly as much as no acknowledgement at all. I will say "thank you" to clerks at fast food restaurants, and they say nothing and do nothing; won't even nod their heads. I know the manager of our local McDonalds, and all of her clerks make a point of saying either "thank you" or "you're welcome" at the end of the transaction. You can tell a good manager by the employees.
It's off to church, and then a nice relaxing Sunday. Our church has several services, and I always go to the earliest. It's still dark when we go. My wife would rather go to one of the later services, but it's one of the things she does for me. Of course, I hear about it!
York1 John
Speaking of McDonalds, our local one had an evening where my school's teachers worked alongside the clerks, and part of the profits went to the school. It was fun for students and parents to see their teacher working there.
I worked in the drive-thru part. I'll tell you that the clerks put up with a lot of (***) from adults who should know better.
There were several times I wanted to throw the food into the faces of the people in the car and say, "I hope you choke on it!" But the clerks were all professional and apologized to people even though they hadn't done anything wrong, and said "thank you" to people who should have had something else (!) said to them.
That night made me forever tolerant and pleasant to fast food clerks. I had no idea what they went through.
Good morning .....
We returned home late Friday, and we have been very busy since then.
Ulrich ....Congratulations on the addition to your family.
Ken ..... Good to hear you have a new dog.
Henry .... THanks for telling us about your travels. I'm glad it is enjoyable for you..
Everybody ..... Have a nice Sunday.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
York1There were several times I wanted to throw the food into the faces of the people in the car and say, "I hope you choke on it!"
Already been done:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/mc-donalds-employee-chokes-and-punches-customer-who-complained-about-cold-fries-195651157.html
Br. Elias?
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
Brent, don't give Lion any ideas!
I do not know who put that "kitten" in the box... I have to assume he got there on his own.
But YES! I *do* want one of those for our court yard..
RAOR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Nice Bengal tiger in the Box Brent.
Most perfect for Lion. Maybe he can jump out of the box and join Lion for a rare wildebeest prime rib in North Dakota tonight
I saw my Son Jeremy and my two Grandsons Anthony and Carter for a short time this morning. They came down from North Dakota for the Vikings game late last night. Judy provided the free hotel room.
I'm so glad the Vikings won. Happy in Minnesota and North Dakota tonight
TF
Good morning from down under; just popping in to say hi. It's been a while since I've been around these parts as circumstances have pushed my modelling to a very distant back seat.
Modelling HO Scale with a focus on the West and Midwest USA
alexstanGood morning from down under
Hey Alex!
Good to see you back!
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Good morning. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee.
Another cool, 69°, rainy morning. We have had a rainy summer.
I'm getting ready for my trip to see 5 national parks in 5 days. Lots of driving, lots of hiking. This will be my first trip alone in over 40 years.
TF, I saw that you started a page about cabooses. There are several near me that I will try to get pictures of. Neat idea. Not seeing the caboose when train watching is sad.
I look forward to reading this page every day. There is no railroad club near me, and there are no modelers near me. (In fact, there is nothing near me except corn fields.)
You guys are my connection.
Good Morning Diners
Flo, I will have a large and bagel with cream cheese please.
Thought I drop by before work today. Beteen Dirk Pip and working on the front pourch I have been busy. Did not even run the trains last night.
See you after work, Ken
I hate Rust
Good Morning All,
(Barely, it's 11:30 now). Back from Watkins Glen about 12 hours ago and just catching up in the shop. Back out to Danville, Va. in a week but things are starting to slow up a bit. Just a drive by snubbing today, I will catch up when I have a minute to read posts, etc. Ciao, J.R.
Did a quick google search for todays item and came across this:
The source link claims that it is a 1969 picture. Sure is a strange locomotive. Looks like some sort of British streamlined wannabe. Thoughts?
I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.
BNSF UP and others modelerThe source link claims that it is a 1969 picture. Sure is a strange locomotive. Looks like some sort of British streamlined wannabe. Thoughts?
RENFE bought their steam locomotives from various European manufacturers, so it is quite difficult to tell who made this rather peculiar looking engine. My best guess is it was made in France - the tender as well as the cylinders show typical French design features. The cowling may have been added at a later time. RENFE ran steam engines way into the 1970s, so the date of the pictures seems to be correct.
Edit: I did some more research on this engine. It is a class 241 made 1946 in Spain by MTM (Maquinista Terrestra Y Maritima), Barcelona, following Nigel Gresley´s design of the LNER A4 Pacifics
I was just watching the news about all the damage in Canada where Hurricane Dorian went across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.
.
I am just shaking my head at how unprepared these people seem to have been. Even with all our modern forecasting they seemed to be caught without a plan. My heart really goes out to them.
You know, down here in Florida we always make sure our children know what to do in case of a storm like this. Gas the car, have plenty of water, ice the coolers, have non persishable food, etc.
Then, if the storm turns and misses us, we go to the Walt Disney World Resort and party like it is NOT the end of the world!
Hurricane near-misses do a great job of clearing the parks of tourists.
My daughter and her fiance went to the Olando Universal Resort for the opening day of Halloween Horror Nights and the park was almost empty. They had a great time.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
My weekend winded down. Wxxk tomorrow, good night friends
Good late afternoon from perfectville.
It was a nice day today and I spent a couple of hours helping the wife train the 8-week old pups. She always has them really well on their way to being trained when they go to their new homes. My wife makes it look so easy to do. She is thinking she might do some more movie/TV and commercial work now both kids are gone. Her dogs have done Homeward Bound, some of the Air Bud stuff and commercials for Mattel, Mcdonalds and a few others. I have helped out on some of the shoots and it can be fun.
Had a mega workout this morning and it took me a while to recover, I think I am thinking I am not younger than I think.
The first time I went to Disneyland in LA was in February in the mid-80s, it was deserted and we had a good time. Also did Universal and all the other biggies a few times over the years while down that way. I have been to Disneyland 3 or 4 times and as I got older just hated crowds generally. The last couple of times I was in Europe I was done and wanted to leave. The bigger cities just were armpit to armpit with people.
We use to give our kids the choice of Disneyland or Hawaii at Christmas break and they always chose Hawaii. They had an extra week off at Christmas and Easter so we would go and the first week would be busy and then we'd have one week when it was really quiet when everyone else had left to back to school. We would go on snorkelling charters and go on long horseback rides, they loved both those.
The biggest thing we all hated was the gluttony and the amount of food you get at restaurants. We would all have food left on our plates and the wait staff would ask if there was something wrong with the food. Our last trip we had a beautiful condo overlooking the ocean and ate mostly fruit and fish in our condo and we all felt great when we came home.
Both kids went up to Bronze star in swimming, my daughter was on the school swim team. They live in the ocean when we are in Hawaii and we don't worry about them a bit. The kid befriended this Japenese kid and when they first met the Japanese kid asked my kid if he spoke Japenese? My kid said no and ask if he spoke English and he didn't. In the end, it turned out they both spoke fluent French and spent a lot of time together over the course of a week always taking in French.
TF, the kid saw a photo of you one day when he was looking over my shoulder and said you have the perfect look to be a movie/TV extra. You otta be in pictures
My Brother-in-law was the top rung guy in a Government department and they would run Government adds on TV and Radio suggesting how people deal with the issues he was responsible for. So the Government runs adds on how to be prepared for emergencies like earthquakes and storms and such. He could care less about being proactive for emergencies and I ask him why he would get mad when the public paid no attention to his adds and yet he pays no attention to another Government departments adds. He is one guy that often suffers the consequences of making his own luck.
Suppose to rain tomorrow so it will be a train room day right after I get the oil changed in the car. We have to go out of town on Friday for a funeral about a four-hour drive away. The wife and I booked a resort for a few days while there, to celebrate being kid-free, plus it is her Birthday. Time to act like newlyweds again. My best buddy told me he had to start with viagra, I told him to lose 60lbs and he wouldn't need it. He did and now he doesn't.
All the best to all.
Eveing Diners
Flo, give the gang and I a please and some dog treats.
Strange Work Day. Started out normal, trying to figuer out what Nancy and Jerry sold. Nothing new there, sold Full Sets, used Queen Skus, not marked as taken yet it no longer there, wrong dates so just the normal stupid stuff.
Then the strang part happned, I had Sales! 3 customers 2 bought for a total of $6552.00! Now that is a goooooood day!
Life with Dirk Pip the American Eskimo. Good I love him, but sometimes like tonight he can be a pain in the dog kennel. He was very, very, very happy to see me when I got home. Tail was going Mach 2 when he saw me. Followed me in to the bath room so I would pett him, hard to use the rest room that way. Follwed me to the bedroom while I was taking my meds, wanted loving and kept using front paws to get my attention while I was getting my meds ready.
Had not done number 2 all day and he is eating well. So I took him out and walked him in our yard, all he did was pee. So I brought him in. 45 mintues later I asked him if he wanted to go for a Walk About? Ears perk right up and he was ready to go! Won't poop in our yard, no sir. So I walked around friends yard across the street and got it done, and yes I had a bag.
Then I came out to the garage to run trains. He sat by the door and barked his brains out for 5 minutes.
God we lucked out to find him and we are is forever family!
Still none smoking Ken and lucky pet owner again!
This is the sunrise I saw just before turning in yesterday!
Sunrise_9-9-19 by Edmund, on Flickr
I hiked through thickets of poison ivy to get that shot but it was well worth the effort
Glad you are having a great time with Dirk Pip, Ken! Too bad we can't get a photo of him (and his daddy ).
BATMANWe use to give our kids the choice of Disneyland or Hawaii at Christmas break and they always chose Hawaii.
Yeah, we kids could choose between Disneyland or Hawaii, too. One year I got to pick out a post card of each!
Well, its off to the lower berth for now. A little sore from splitting and stacking firewood. It is THAT time of year again but I love it.
I hope everyone is doing well these days.
Cheers, Ed
gmpullmanThis is the sunrise I saw just before turning in yesterday!
That is a beautiful picture Ed. I have been needing to be at work this week before the sun rises so I have not seen it.
My hotel room is right on the Atlantic Ocean on Singer Island, and I cannot watch the sunrise.
A regular to go please Zoe. Nice picture Ed. Love the way the clouds are interlaced.
Nothing to report on the layout - still busy catching up everything else. Lime Rock Labor Day weekend was mixed. Crashed Friday in practice/qualifying but still ended up on outside pole. Fixed my car and brought parts up for the one that spun in front of me and was on pole. Ended up getting good starts even in damp conditions and managed to win all three races. Fourth got rained out when the track flooded in a couple of spots. Most of the customer cars ran well though we lost the Morgan to a broken oil pump drive.
Watkins Glen we brought a dozen cars and they were all running at the end of the weekend except one with a broken gearbox. Audi R-8 won everything, the S-2s ran well as did all the Formula cars though we didn't win anything taking consistent 2nds - 3rds. The Lotus 23 came second in its enduro and first sprint race but recovered to take a great win in the last race of the weekend beating an arch rival in the process.
We are now prepping cars for VIR and will leave on the 17th with two rigs and seven cars. After that it will be off to Austin , Tx and COTA for that weekend.
Belated Happy Birthdays, Anniversary, and congrats to new Uncle and Aunt Ulrich and Petra. Lots of new babies these last few weeks. Grandson Sam is doing well and coming up on three weeks on Thursday.
Lots to do so I best get to it. Ciao, J.R.
gmpullmanYeah, we kids could choose between Disneyland or Hawaii, too. One year I got to pick out a post card of each!
Sounds like my childhood. Dad worked for the Post Office and Mom taught piano part-time. We had everything we needed and a nice house to live in but vacations were no more than a days drive away if that. Usually to a rented cabin on a lake. Cherished memories.
The first time my Dad was ever on a plane was when I took my parents on a surprise trip to Hawaii at Christmas in 1976. The warmth helped my Dads poor health so much they went back every winter until he passed away.
I was well into adulthood before I made it to Disneyland. Getting that grade 12 education sure improved my standard of living.
BATMANWe had everything we needed and a nice house to live in but vacations were no more than a days drive away if that.
Hmmmm... great thing about living in Florida, you get a vacation without ever needing to drive even a full day away. Party in Tampa, Shop in Miami, Park Hop in Orlando, Eat in Naples, Chill on Riviera Beach, Hike the Okeechobee Rim. None are more than three hours from home.
My kids were always more than happy to vacation close to home.
Flo, give the gang and I a please. What Flo, what about the dog treats? No none tonight Dirk is getting a little chubby.
Ed I hope to get some photos posted but have ran into some problems?
1 I have forgotton how to load the photos into the computer? Computer says they are in there, just not the folder they should be in? Going to give another try Thursday.
2 Yet to pick a new photo hosting site. After Photo Bucket did there silly stuff I have just not messed with it.
Idots at work have reach new heights in stupidity!
I am still stunned by this one!
Cuustomer bought a Queen set from the dueling moron's to be picked today when the store delivery truck was due. Monday I was sent a fax saying the store truck would not be to the store till Wednesday. OK stuff happens.
Tried to call the customer to let them know about the delay, wrong number. OK I reversed numbers or miss heard my self. Stuff happens right?
Customer shows up today and explained about the delay and I tried to call. I told him I called 618-$$$-$$$$ is that correct? He looked at me strange and said is number was 618-***-****? Only number that matched was the 618 area code. Hum, I must have the wrong ticket so I asked are you Mr Smith from Granite City IL? He said he was Mr Smith but he lived in Picknieville ILL. But street address was the same?
Customer got his carbon copy receipt out and it had his name, street address But City and Phone Number Was Blank! It was not filled in while the customer was there!
So Jerry just made the phone number and city up trying to cover his mistake! With this being a pick up he could have gotten away with it. But he didn't this time.
I swear this is a ture statment. I had stopped drinking before they hired Jerry.
Thank Goodness I am still not smoking Ken with Dirk Pip
SeeYou190Hmmmm... great thing about living in Florida, you get a vacation without ever needing to drive even a full day away. Party in Tampa, Shop in Miami, Park Hop in Orlando, Eat in Naples, Chill on Riviera Beach, Hike the Okeechobee Rim. None are more than three hours from home.
I live in almost the same type of area: Drive from our town 150 miles north, you can see cornfields. Driving east out of town, you can see cornfields for 300 miles. Driving south, you get to see some really neat cornfields for about 70 miles. And for a real treat, drive west and you can see amazing corn fields for about 150 miles. If you don't like cornfields, there are some cattle ranches about 100 miles northwest.
Have I ever told you why people from here will go to Florida for their vacation?
York1I live in almost the same type of area: Drive from our town 150 miles north, you can see cornfields. Driving east out of town, you can see cornfields for 300 miles. Driving south, you get to see some really neat cornfields for about 70 miles. And for a real treat, drive west and you can see amazing corn fields for about 150 miles. If you don't like cornfields, there are some cattle ranches about 100 miles northwest.
When we lived in Chatham, Ontario we used to joke about the same thing. The land was absolutely flat, and it was almost all cornfields. If you wanted to drive up a steep slope, it was an hour away and it was a man made bridge. When we were first there, going for a drive in the late summer was an exercise in frustion! Total corn stalks!!
It is not a place that I choose to return to!
Evening all, it is 2120hrs on the Coast.
I love technology and Facebook. I was watching some aviation You-tube videos and my son pops up on the screen from Ottawa to chat and shortly after my Daughter shows up from Victoria as well as she saw we were online chatting. We all talked for a good hour and I got to hear all about the start to their year of learning at their Universities. I couldn't possibly have a better relationship with my kids and feel so lucky.
My back is killing me (arthritis) and I have a two-finger pour of scotch to help dull the pain. I am being a deadbeat and watching videos, didn't even work out today.
We did go car shopping, now the kids are gone we need to get some better wheels, we just can't decide what. Went to BMW and looked at the Z4 Roadster and I also like the Jaguar F type convertible. We went to the GM dealer and checked out the Denali for the wife to move her dogs to the shows in. I was overwhelmed because of my killer back pain. The last really nice car I had was my Mazda RX7 turbo II. It was fast and really handled better than anything I had ever driven. I had it 14 years and surrendered myself to kid and dog transports for the last 20 years. Now it is time to get back in the game.
Our good friends came over when we got home. He worked for Panavision and was the head cameraman on a couple of hundred of movies we all know of and she was a casting/production director. He comes and takes photos of the wife's dogs for her as they are into the dog thing in a big way in field trials. I was going to get him to photograph my Royal Hudson but we ran out of time. He has a huge Garden Railroad at his house and is also into trains. He shot a big-budget movie in Hungary years ago that was all centred around steam trains and was filming while strapped to the side of the loco and in other glamorous places. He once brought his photo album of the shoot over it was pretty cool. The name of the movie escapes me, I'll ask him. I think Charles Bronson was in it.
John, I find the prairies stunningly beautiful and always enjoy my visits there. A few years ago we went to a dog show in Calgary with the wife and the kids and I would go on an adventure each day. One trip we headed East to explore some of the last remaining grain elevators. My Daughter was snapping photos like crazy with the Nikon of the endless skies. My son still has one of those pics front and centre on his FB page and my daughter used them for several projects at school in the years following.
The kids and I hit a lot of places while Mom was doing her dog show stuff over a week and about a month after we got home we had a big party at our house and people asked the kids what was the best day and they said it was the day we explored all the old grain elevators.
These elevators were just out in the middle of nowhere without a soul in sight. We explored for an hour or so and then left. As you can see the scales and everything are still there untouched. We found a big pile of what looked to be a 100-year-old switch stands in the field next to one of the elevators and I was tempted to bring one home. I got the evil eye from the kids on that one.
We were driving section roads that went for miles and miles without a sign of humans anywhere so I let my daughter drive the truck for a while. I think she was 13 at the time, that was the highlight of the trip for her.
1902 on this rail. A lot of history it has seen.
My Daughter wrote a major essay on the Prairie Sentinal and it won her some scholarship money. If I had known that was going to be the impact of the trip we would have gone for a second day.
Time to claw my way to bed, the scotch is having minimal effect on the back.
Good Morning —
Something interesting I have stumbled across:
The Tees Transporter Bridge.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tees_Transporter_Bridge
That would make an interesting addition to a model railroad.
Another neat way to overcome physical obstacles using clever engineering:
Here's a concept. Take that Falkirk wheel idea and instead of tubs of water you have a flat surface with track attached, then extend it to say four, six or maybe even eight feet. You could run a length of cars, or even a whole train onto it then rotate it to another level instead of using a space consuming helix.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkirk_Wheel
Anybody remember those glass display cases where you push a button and the trays come into view suspended by two chains on either side? How about a staging yard or at least a "fiddle" storage yard set up that way?
Regards, Ed