Good Morning,
Nice move Ed, very smooth.
Well Robbie had his liver surgery on Monday. Sadly the surgeon wasn't able to remove the lump as it was in a spot very close to a major artery and the gall bladder. He isn't sure it is malignant and was able to get a biopsy. Robbie is having a rough time with the recovery. We took him back to the clinic yesterday and he spent the day there. My wife is exhausted from no sleep as she has been monitoring him constantly. We spent $2500 and I had hoped it would extend Robbie's life. Oh well, at least we know we have done every thing we could for him.
Dave, nice to see northern England. My Dad's parents both were born and raised in England, one in Maidenhead and the other in Farnham. They came to Canada in 1905. We came from a very small family and don't have any relatives there now. Well we probably have some distant cousins but don't have any contact. My great Aunt and Uncle owned a pub near Oxford. Dad used to stay there when on leave during the war. He was stationed in Yorkshire, at a place called Full Sutton. I think it was just an air base. The last time we were in England was in 2016 for a couple of days on our way back from South Africa. We stayed over in Windsor so we could visit friends who live near Reading.
I managed to re-set the decoder in the PK2 SW 900. The prime mover sound is back but the loco is still stalling. I will have another go at cleaning the wheels. Right now we are focused on Robbie so not much thought for the RR.
Yesterday Classic Trains magazine arrived. I do enjoy that publication. I also recieved CN Lines which is the magazine of the CN historical society. It is a quarterly that is very well done however sometimes they give you far more information on topics, such as cylindrical hoppers, than I really care to know.
Ed, glad to hear Toby 'just' has a tear in the ligament as they can heal in time. There is a Toby who lives on the street behind us. I only know the owner as 'Toby's Dad'.
Yesterday we made a donation to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. We 'adopted' 2 little elephants. They send you updates on how they are progressing. We have visited their facility twice while in Nairobi. They sure are a dedicated group of people.
Time for more coffee.
CN Charlie
P.S. I see I have top of page, so a cup of Yorkshire Gold and toasted scones with marmalade for all. None of that domestic muck either, Robertson's or Mackays only.
Well I survived the arctic conditions that ravaged our community last night. I actually had to get a blanket out of the linen closet. Right now I am wearing sweat pants while I drink my coffee.
I considered turning off the ceiling fan, but instead just lowered the speed to medium.
These conditions are unbearable... I cannot wait until this afternoon when things get back to normal.
Hopefully this is the only Winter storm we need to endure this season.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 Well I survived the arctic conditions that ravaged our community last night. I actually had to get a blanket out of the linen closet. Right now I am wearing sweat pants while I drink my coffee. I considered turning off the ceiling fan, but instead just lowered the speed to medium. These conditions are unbearable... I cannot wait until this afternoon when things get back to normal. Hopefully this is the only Winter storm we need to endure this season. -Kevin
Conversely, all summer long when I complain about it being hot, I'll follow with "but at least we're not in Florida!". I'll take the cold any day. I think it's all about what you are used to. Alas, we've had this discussion before and Kevin always plays the trump card about women's attire in the hot weather. Can't counter that one!
Well wishes to all.
Mike
Good evening all. It is too cold to snow.
Time to make dinner. Colcannon Cottage Pie with Kale & Cheese. Bring the Samuel Adams to drink.
Stay Safe Everyone.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
NorthBritIt is too cold to snow.
What?!?!?!?
I never heard of such a thing. I can't even imagine...
Kevin. 47 degrees and you say Arctic conditions. That's our Summer temperature.
Honest, Kevin. It would be warmer if it did snow. Not that I want it to. I hate the snow.
Good Afternoon,
Living in one of the coldest cities on the planet, I can assure you that it needs to be lower than -35C before it is too cold to snow. We get a week or 2 every winter when it gets to -40, not including windchill. Just for contrast, plus 30 or more is typical in summer so you really need central A/C. We must be crazy. Why my grandfather decided Winnipeg would be a good place after southern England, I'll never know.
NorthBritKevin. 47 degrees and you say Arctic conditions. That's our Summer temperature.
Well, we are at 71 degrees now, so all is well in the world. I am working on the drywall with the windows open and fan blowing the dust outside.
This is great. The only problem is that there is no humidity, so the drywall mud is getting a crust while it is on the hawk.
Good evening all. I'll just say the saying here 'It's too cold to snow' means it's
c-c-cold!
Hello and good evening everyone,
I'd love a pint of ale and a burger with some good chips if you please.
Great choice for a diner locale Ed! My grandparents took me and my sister and to London in October 1995. If I could find the pictures I took I'll have to post them. Or more like pictures of the pictures. Speaking of pictures, the trip was special for many reasons, however my grandparents had given both of us our first cameras. I had a photography class that summer and was oh so excited to put those skills to use. My grandparents then, and if they could do so still now, were firm believers that if you go somewhere, you see as much as you can every day you're there. Two art galleries and a cathedral before lunch. Sadly I didn't appreciate art galleries than like I do now, but I'm still glad to have gone.
Alvie
I once had a Ural (russian) motorcycle and sidecar and a Ruskie posted a pic of a bottle of frozen vodka that he put outside.
I woke up to internet and furnace problems. The HVAC sounded like it had a bearing problem inside, but when I went outside, it sounded like my air compressor. The furnace people came by this afternoon and said it need to go into the defrost cycle more often and reprogrammed it.
I stream TV using Hulu and a local ISP. Hulu decided either I was using a VPN, was not in the US, using an unsupported app or had VPN software. None of those applied and I spoke to the ISP answering machine, which was playing we are off for Thanksgiving and will be back Monday. Not confidence inspiring, but at least when they called me back, they were in the same time zone and country. They figured it out this afternoon, don't know what they did, but I am back online.
Toby is still hurting. He moves outside by hopping.
I was in London in 1985. My wife was pregnant and we flew at night landed in the morning and our hotel room was not ready. I was all set to go to the British Museum, she was not. We did make it there and two "professor types' were arguing over an Egyptian block over the meaning of the heiroglyphics. Not an argument we will ever have here.
Unforutunately I did nothing railroad connected.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
NorthBrit Garry. Interesting photos indeed. I look forward to seeing your photographs of NRM York. I have a collection from 'Locomotion' (a sister Museum to the NRM.) David
Garry. Interesting photos indeed. I look forward to seeing your photographs of NRM York. I have a collection from 'Locomotion' (a sister Museum to the NRM.)
David ..... I'm glad you liked the pictures.
This was in another shop at the museum. Workers are cleaning and polishing The Rocket. .... Notice the stack is hinged so the engine can be moved through doorways.
Ray ..... That looks like a very nice house.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
As, c'mon man. Cold? I remember nights I Maine when it got close to 40 below, which is the point where Fahrenheit and Centigrade are the same.
I did go skiing on one of those super-cold days. Up on the mountain, it was maybe 20 below. I was dressed for it and took one run. I proved I could do it, and went back in for coffee. I went out later and skied some when it warmed up.
I remember getting a new sleeping bag. It was rated to zero F. I wanted to test it, so I pitched a tent in the snow and slept out on a cold night.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hello!
We have survived our first "snow event" ! first of many, I can guarantee.
These blokes sure know how to have a jolly time, what?
Have a good evening, everyone. My lasagne is ready.
Chair ho*, Ed
LONDON CHEERIO: London uses Cheerio to say goodbye. The word originates from the 17th and 18th centuries in England when people were transported by sedan chairs instead of taxis. ... And over time “Chair Ho!” turned into “Cheerio.”
gmpullmanThese blokes sure know how to have a jolly time, what?
They do look like they are having fun!
There is a very similar scale steam operation, called The Richmond Hill Live Steamers, just a few miles from us. They used to be able to open to the public every so often but the insurance got too expensive. We took the kids several times when they were younger. It was fun getting the smoke in your eyes and nose, and getting lightly covered in soot. Many of the locomotives were scratch built.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Eveing Diners.
Flo give the gang and I a please and Dirk and Robbie if the Vet says it OK a dog treat.
Charlie, sorry to read about Robbie surgery. Hope he recovers and the tumor will not be a real problem.
42 degrees is cold? Tonight Dirk and I sat outside while a had a few and it was 30 degrees! He did not like a Christmas light display down the street and growled at it.
Work Front? Not a single customer all day! Sort of normal this time of the year.
Ed, like the photo! I saw a few snow flakes Monday on the way to work. It might snow Thursday and I hope it does! Good 4 to 6 inches would be great.
Trains are running well so later, Ken and Dirk says "Me's love snow daddy, Woof, Woof!"
I hate Rust
CNCharlieWell Robbie had his liver surgery on Monday. Sadly the surgeon wasn't able to remove the lump as it was in a spot very close to a major artery and the gall bladder. He isn't sure it is malignant and was able to get a biopsy.
Hi CNCharlie,
I hope Robbie's biopsy returns good news.
I don't know why anyone would move to 'Winterpeg' either!
My son has a good friend who works one month on, one month off on Baffin Island. He is up there right now. By now he probably thinks that Winnipeg would be the tropics!
Cheers!!
Good Evening,
Dave, I lived in Barrie for a little over a year, a long time ago. It was my first job after Uni. I worked in the accounting office at the GE plant that was there at the time, being '71-'72. The population was 25k then.
Robbie had a so-so day. He isn't sleeping much. I recall that I didn't either after my prostate surgery. I would lie awake watching TV in the middle of the night, just too uncomfortable despite the morphine.
We are having a heat wave here right now, at least what passes for one here this time of year. It got up to about 35F today.
For the funny-bone:
CNCharlieI lived in Barrie for a little over a year, a long time ago. It was my first job after Uni. I worked in the accounting office at the GE plant that was there at the time, being '71-'72
The old GE plant is still standing. In fact that is where the Barrie Allandale Railroad Modellers have their clubhouse. The building has been converted into numerous offices and small businesses. The landlords are very supportive. When the club asked for permission to add more lighting, the owner offered to supply an electrician and they voluntarily picked up half the cost! Can't get better than that!
Being in the old GE building posed a couple of challenges for the club. The first was that the concrete walls were so hard that we could barely drill into them to mount the benchwork. We tried several different bits, and we took turns leaning into the hammer drill, but the best we could manage was about three holes per night until nobody could stand the noise anymore.
The other problem was that the floors are not level. They're not even close! When we first set up the portable layout nothing would run on it. We discovered that the floors were out by as much as 1/2" in 4'!! It took a bunch of shims to fix the problem.
CNCharlieI also spent a lot of time there working with the Robinson brothers on a re-finance of their store. Do you recall Robinson's Hardware? That was 25 years ago now.
I have never lived in Barrie (we are in Bradford) so I don't recognize the name. I'm sure my grandparents would know of it. They had a farm just outside of Barrie in Painswick.
These days I hate having to go into Barrie. The drive along Yonge St. is still okay, but trying to get into the malls that are on either side of Hwy. 400 is a nightmare! It is bumper to bumper all day long! We have to go to one of the malls occasionally to buy hot tub supplies. There are many days when I would rather sell the hot tub!!
I also don't want to go to Barrie because of the snow. There is a weather line at Hwy. 89 that separates the tropics from the high arctic! We are below that line. We will get 2" of snow whereas Barrie, which is 20 kms above the line, will get 10" or more. One of the things we gave our son when he moved to Barrie was a large snowblower.
Dave, when I worked for GE there were 600 people making toasters, irons, kettles and electric lawn mowers in the plant. I do remember the hwy.89 divide. I was told by life time residents of Barrie back in the mid-90s that they don't get nearly as much snow as they did back in the 70s. The same thing for London where I resided in '73. The snow belt seems to have moved north. I believe you once lived in Chatham. It was part of my territory when I worked for Sunoco as a retail sales rep. I visited it often as I had 6 accounts there. I was based out of Sarnia by that time.
CNCharlieI believe you once lived in Chatham.
We were in Chatham from 1982 to 1988. Bought our first house, had our first child. Could never keep the windows clean because of the dust from the fields. I remember the farmers bringing corn and tomatoes into town. The wagons were inevitably overflowing. Depending on the season, the streets were either red with spilled tomatoes or covered in dried corn. Both made the roads really slippery!
Good morning all. A day of rain forecast ere in England. Then snow on higher ground later.
Yorkshire Tea and toast is made.
Today our first film is taken at Darlington Station.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UGSPhlBlsc
All this talk about snow. Here is 'Snowdrift at Bleath Gill.'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=167SHQVKI9A
Enjoy
I have just found this short film of 'Coal for Shipment at Seaham Harbour'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yglORlMs4pI
The heat wave continues here,, expecting 35F again today and sunny!!!
Dave, what part of England do you call home? Seems to me you said you were near Liverpool but I could be wrong. We watch the TV show 'Escape to the Country' so we get to see a lot of rural England that way. My wife would love to move there and even more so to France. She studied French at the Sourbonne in Paris. I grew up riding in various English cars. Dad's first car was a '49 Prefect and then he bought a '51 Morris Oxford which he drove until '59. After driving such low powered cars he went off the deep end and bought a '58 Meteor( Canadian Ford) that was powered with a 303 h.p. 361 cu.in. V8. , the biggest engine available. The automatic transmission shifted out of first at 60 and second at 85 if it was floored.
I'm just sitting monitoring Robbie who is in an xpen to stop him from roaming the house. He is still a little out of it. We have to watch him constantly so that he doesn't lick or worse pull out the staples. We tried one of those 'elizabethan' collars but that really bothered him.
A grocery run is planned for this afternoon, which just means going to the store, calling them when I arrive, open the trunk and they load up. Nothing like on line ordering.
Monday came and went without the contractor installing my window and door.
The reason was the permit was not approved due to the holiday. I had been checking on the City of Cape Coral website and knew this was the case.
I checked this morning, and the permit has been issued... FINALLY. Then the contractor called me. He is coming out to look at the house this afternoon and will be here to install on Monday.
I am feeling confident this time.
Hoping to finally have this done.
It's still morning for about an hour here and I haven't accomplished much yet. I did get the walk in, but it was cold. I sure hope the field house opens to the public soon, although that seems unlikely.
If I have time today, I'm going to buy a mount for my TV in the layout room. Getting the TV off the table and onto the wall will free up some work space I need. So far, my workspace has been on an undeveloped part of the layout.
I can see how model railroading can grow.
I started out three years ago with a small table in a guest bedroom. Little by little, it grew until my wife, in her infinite kindness, gave the OK to take the bed out to allow a more permanent setup. Now I'm looking for more workspace.
Turner Classic Movies channel has on a day of old science fiction movies. I love it. One of the best is this afternoon's movie, "Them". Giant ants! It doesn't get much better.
Edit: Kevin, one of the advantages I found when we moved to this small midwestern town -- I can go to the city building and get a permit the same day, usually within a few minutes after talking to the engineer.
York1 John
York1 Kevin, one of the advantages I found when we moved to this small midwestern town -- I can go to the city building and get a permit the same day, usually within a few minutes after talking to the engineer.
The process used to be much easier here.
Now the permit office is closed due to Covid, so everything is handled online or over the phone. This adds all kinds of issues since I am changing the West elevation of the house, so architectural review was required.
Inspections are also done virtually, and that is a real pain.
All added up, everything just takes more time right now. We all want things to get back to normal.
Thank heaven this is the last part of the remodel where I need permits, contractors, and inspections.
From this point on it is pretty much just drywall, flooring, and paint.
Hello, everyone
The sun is out again today and some of the snow is melting away s l o w l y. The birds are happy at the feeder, though.
Just saw the news about Brakie, Rest in Peace fellow model railroader.
I bought myself a new camera which arrived today. Looking forward to trying it out for Weekend Photo Fun and Show Me Something.
NorthBritI have just found this short film of 'Coal for Shipment at Seaham Harbour'
Thanks for posting the videos, David. May I offer a little hint? In the menu bar you will see the little film clip with the "play" arrow.
MR_clip by Edmund, on Flickr
If you click this another window opens up that looks like this:
MR_clip2 by Edmund, on Flickr
Just paste your YouTube link in the box as shown, leave the others blank and your video will be able to play right from the thread. IF anyone wants to view it larger at YouTube they can click the embedded video ant it will take them to the YouTube site.
Stay Safe, everyone!
Cheers, Ed
Charlie. I hope Robbie gets better soon. I am sure he will.
I was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. I lived with my Aunt and Uncle until I was four years of age; then lived with my Grandmother and Grandfather. My Uncle and Aunt moved to Dewsbury, Yorkshire and most weekends I lived there.
I started work in Leeds and Otley, Yorkshire but moving to Tyneside, North East England. Married and two children we moved to New York. There I bought my first copy of Model Railroader.
Before we could really settle down we inherited property in the Border Region of England and Scotland. Moving back to England we were in 'North British Railway' land. Hence my NorthBrit name. In fact we tried to buy a former North British Railway Station, but it was not to be.
Now my wife has become disabled we have moved to a smaller property to make things easier.
The films I have posted are of all around the North East of England. Such a wealth of film hardly seen. Films of railways/railroads people hardly know of. A few more to come before I move to another area of films.
Thoughts and Peace to All who Require.
Stay Safe.