"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good morning, everyone. It's a beautiful morning on the plains. It was actually cool enough that I had to wear a jacket for the morning walk.
CN Charlie, I hope everything is OK with you. I don't remember hearing from you for a while. I hope you can check in.
Henry, my mother spent several days canning food each fall. I hated it. We were required to help her. If you could eat it, she canned it. The only thing she didn't can was meat. She froze that.
Cleaning the corn outside was hot, itchy work. Then working in the kitchen was like working in a sauna. I could not wait each year until all the canning was finished, and all the jars were in the basement "fruit room".
Mike, prayers for your family. I hope your daughter's condition improves quickly and she can enjoy school with the rest of the kids.
This old Rock Island station is in Fairbury, Nebraska. It has a Rock Island museum, and also has model train layout. It claims to be the largest Rock Island station still existing between Chicago and Denver.
York1 John
Good morning ....
Mike ..... Nice photos of Kalamazoo station. I lived in Kalamazoo in the 1960's. Here is a trackside view of the station with an early era Amtrak train.
Here is Nashville, TN railroad station in 1952.
Today, the station is a hotel.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
SeeYou190Bear: I love those little blue penguins... too cute!
gmpullmanMike, I hope your daughter is improving.
And when it rains, it pours. Had grand plans of going to bed early last night to try to catch up on some sleep when we got a call my father-in-law was up at the ER. He has been having some issues that the doctors can't figure out. My wife was a wreck. He's back home now, but doesn't sound like we are much closer to figuring out what's going on with him. They say bad things come in threes. Sure hope that doesn't hold true this time!
Train stations: Here is the station in Kalamazoo, MI. I was born in Kalamazoo and most of my family is there so it's my other hometown. This is a former Michigan Central station. Still in use today. Hopefully these pics work right.
Cheers guys!
Mike
SeeYou190 John, Thanks for the ice cream. BACHMANN E-Z RIDERS: Has anyone used these? They look well made with ball bearing rollers on a bracket. They are on sale at Walthers right now, and they look handy for test running steam locomotive chassis. -Kevin
John, Thanks for the ice cream.
BACHMANN E-Z RIDERS:
Has anyone used these? They look well made with ball bearing rollers on a bracket.
They are on sale at Walthers right now, and they look handy for test running steam locomotive chassis.
-Kevin
Rich
Alton Junction
Good morning Diners. Tea and toast please, Flo.
Ninja Cats. They look fantastic. I shall have to get some. They will make great little scenes.
Reading Station.
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
gmpullmanMy ninja cat!
That is an awesome cat.
We have had this cat in our house for about a month. Most certainly this cat is not a ninja!
She is my youngest daughter's cat. She was anticipating moving back to Orlando, and she had a courier bring the cat to us so she would not need to deal with her in a move.
Since then she has picked up another job, so she will be in LA for a few more months. I guess we have a cat now.
I have no notes on when or where I took this depot picture.
Living the dream.
This depot would be a jewel on any layout:
Laconia_1900_NH by Edmund, on Flickr
Circa 1900. Look at the neat New Haven box car in the distance. This is at a time when most roads were content with simple stenciling on their freight cars.
Laconia_1900_NH_crop-1 by Edmund, on Flickr
Fortunately this station hasn't succumbed to the wrecking ball!
Laconia_Depot by Edmund, on Flickr
I get a kick out of the term "unmarked police car". Gee, I'd never guess that was a vehicle of law enforcement. Heck, they even have a big arrow pointing right at it! "Sush, we're undercover"...
Mike, I hope your daughter is improving.
My ninja cat!
Wilson_blog by Edmund, on Flickr
Regards, Ed
.
Here is something every layout needs:
NINJA-CATS!
Sorry if someone shared this before. I just saw them for the first time.
SeeYou190I have only spotted myself in one Cosplay convention video in costume, out of hundreds I have watched.
Being so tall, would make it a little easier to spot you. I was keeping half an eye out for the Kevin-made spear prop for your daughter.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
BATMANKevin, while sitting here killing time I watched some YouTube videos of Dragon Con. It looked like a lot of fun. I bet you could spot your Daughter in some of them.
There were 40,000 people there, so probably not.
I have only spotted myself in one Cosplay convention video in costume, out of hundreds I have watched.
Good afternoon from the sunny West Coast.
I am back at the desk this morning still dealing with this Estate that won't go away. I knew it was going to be a long haul but I have had enough of it, thank you very much.
I have been talking to a U.S. East Coast Bishop today on and off. He is not the first of the more senior church guys I have talked to regarding this Estate. They are never what I expect. I guess Hollywood has, as usual, had something to do with that. We have been getting along great and he surprised me with some off coloured humour I would not expect from a Bishop.
Kevin, while sitting here killing time I watched some YouTube videos of Dragon Con. It looked like a lot of fun. I bet you could spot your Daughter in some of them.
My kid was an extra in Legends Of Tomorrow, four episodes of Legion and an icebox mutant in Deadpool 2. He is listed on the Wiki sites for DC and Marvel. He was asked a couple of times to go to Comicons somewhere in costume for promotional purposes by the production company. He had more important things to do or he would have done it. The pay was not too bad and he would have had all his expenses paid as well.
My Daughter has about 200,000 followers on Fan Fiction and has been approached to write an original concept story. Not sure where she is on that but it takes a back seat to University.
Ottermere lake was only accessible by train. We had our Summer place there and we loved it. Lots of stories to tell around the train(s) but here is the station for now.
Wife is still spending a lot of time with her mother at the hospital, I don't think she will be coming home as her decline is steady. I have lots to do to pick up the slack. My wife is turning 60 and any celebrations have been curtailed with the MIL in such a fragile state. My Daughter is hopping on the ferry Thursday night and will come home for three days to bake her a cake and we will try and do something that can be done on the fly to celebrate the big 60 if we can.
I spent most of the day weeding yesterday. I love cutting the grass and can't stand anything to do with gardens. I weeded a strip 10' x 226'. It made my wife really happy when she pulled in, so it was worth the torture.
All the best to all.
DragonCon is over. My daughter had a great time, and said it was worth every penny.
She has retired the spear props. She sent me an email thanking me so much for helping her out. It made me feel like a heroic dad again... saving the day.
She left her hotel room in Atlanta and is on the flight back to California. I am sad that she was within 600 miles of me, and I did not get to see her.
She told me to make plans for GenCon 2022... she wants to be there with me, and she is wanting to pay for everything.
SeeYou190 I have always been the cook in my family. Cooking with the girls was always fun... and a big mess -Kevin
I have always been the cook in my family.
Cooking with the girls was always fun... and a big mess
I do all the cooking in our house now. I love it!
I show my granddaughters how to bake pies and jam tarts. (That can get messy.)
Tonites dinner. Hunter's Chicken, Potato Wedges and Roasted Vegetables
NorthBrit I was not allowed in the kitchen to watch my grandmother cook etc, but she would let me help with the baking. Pies and breadcakes.
Cooking with the girls was always fun... and a big mess!
Good morning, everyone.
Aren't Kalmbach and Walther's both located in the Milwaukee area? Maybe there's a connection that both are having internet issues at the same time. I wonder if both use the same service provider?
I'm headed out to get the oil changed in my Durango. It gets driven so little now that an oil change can last a long time.
More great photos from everyone. Thanks!
How about more before and after station pictures. The first photo is the old Burlington Station in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's now a shopping and office building:
It was replaced by this Amtrak station. Quite a difference. Amtrak has one train, the California Zephyr, come through in the middle of the night:
Have a good day, everyone.
Good afternoon Diners. I'll join in with a large coffee.
Kielder Viaduct. One for TF (possibly).
Saughtree (pronounced Sootra) Station now
Good (?) Morning Diners. Flo, a LARGE coffee in the biggest mug you have available. Oh, and leave the pot.
Spent the last two days replacing a sliding patio door. What a PITA. Seems like they built the house around the old door, but I know that can't be. The old door certainly wasn't 100+ years old! They had even nailed drywall into the frame of the door! The way they sheathed the outer wall made the rough opening too small for the new door, so that took a bit of work to correct. Throw in a bunch of flashing work that needed to be fabbed for the install, it was all I could do to get the door in by the end of the first day. Spent yesterday re-doing all the outdoor trim and siding as due to design differences in the doors and how they had trimmed out the old one, nothing was a simple slap back into place affair. Still have to finish the interior side, but at least I'm weather tight again.
Then, I spent until almost midnight at the ER with my oldest. She had surgery at the end of July, and the doctors aren't sure if what we were there for last night is a new issue, or a lingering one from the surgery and apparently no real way to tell due to the nature of the issue. At least she is okay for the time being. Looking to hear from the surgeon for a follow-up today. Boy did that 5am alarm come early!
Good morning Diners. Janie. I'll have Pancakes with Maple Syrup and some of that Chocolate Ice Cream that John has left, please.
Watching Mother. I was not allowed in the kitchen to watch my grandmother cook etc, but she would let me help with the baking. Pies and breadcakes.
Carlisle Citadel Station
Thoughts & Peace to All who Require
Good morning to my fellow insomniacs.
I haven't had much luck using the forum starting the end of last week. It took forever to post a reply or switch to another thread. Long enough that I just lost interest. Elsewhere on the Internet, my computer works fine.
My mother was a big canner and I was the beneficiary but I never helped or watched her can. This weekend I canned my first tomatoes. It took more tomatoes than I thought. No wonder my former Italian American neighbor started with 3 bushel baskets to make tomato sauce for the rest of the year.
There were 12 years separating my father and his younger brother, with a sister in middle somewhere. The brothers did not know each other well at all. My sons were just under 2 years apart.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
SeeYou190For anyone who wants to complain about this website... Go to Walthers right now. Their site is a complete disaster. It is slow and unstable. I had $350.00 in my cart, about 20 items. I went to check out, and it emptied my cart!
Well, I finally got my order to go through with Walthers.
That took over two hours... ridiculous.
Last time I placed a Walthers order, the two items on sale I really wanted were cancelled from the order. I hope that does not happen this time.
gmpullmanOn sale for $66! I seem to recall I bought mine for about $45 per set but, well that was maybe five years ago, maybe longer?
Thanks for the information Ed.
For anyone who wants to complain about this website...
Go to Walthers right now. Their site is a complete disaster. It is slow and unstable. I had $350.00 in my cart, about 20 items. I went to check out, and it emptied my cart!
That was frustrating, but now it is taking so long to load pages, I am about to just give up.
JaBearAnd for something completely different, Little Blue Penguins.
Bear: I love those little blue penguins... too cute!
The depot in Del Norte. This building is now being used as City Hall.
SeeYou190Has anyone used these?
I have two sets. I love 'em. Just used them last night to diagnose a wobbly PRR T1.
IMG_6625 by Edmund, on Flickr
On sale for $66! I seem to recall I bought mine for about $45 per set but, well that was maybe five years ago, maybe longer?
https://yankeedabbler.com/42901-bachmann-ho-on30-e-z-riders-ball-bearing-rollers-scale-ho-part-160-42901/?sku=160-42901&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dPhnqlopDPcpGg23XWET6-IOiv3hbHtcGFsndJVfSskvehFkbB7MRYaAq-NEALw_wcB
Still, yes, they are well made and you can place them on powered track and they will conduct up through the bearings. Sometimes I use them on a short length of track with no power but apply DC straight to the motor.
https://www.micromark.com/HO-On30-Locomotive-Rollers-Assembled-Set-of-4?gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dN-I9Zqro5wY4D9W1PXt86R1vUc2Y2hxUjMtBcO1eq2MPrFryEf5GoaAhPKEALw_wcB
[edit] I see these MicroMark ones are NOT the Bachmann ones. They do not look like they're as good.
Nothing better for diagnosing the odd noises or floppy running gear that needs attention. There's another "system" out there (Bachrus?) but I'm not sure of its availability.
Neenah_WI_Soo by Edmund, on Flickr
Chicago Union Station:
To_Trains by Edmund, on Flickr
Good Luck, Ed
With TF on vacation, I'm officially claiming the title of Post Hog until he gets back.
And top of the page, too!
It's almost 9:00 p.m., how about a dish of chocolate ice cream for everyone before I head to bed?
SeeYou190We had about 20 months of them all under our roof, and those really were the best times.
My three were so close, they were all in college at the same time.
I don't know if that's what 'family planning' is all about.
York1 Of course we tried, but now looking back it seems like it was just the blink of an eye. I, too, would like to go back just one time and relive a normal day with the girls all at home growing up.
When my youngest was born, my oldest was 17. We had very little time with them all together, but the time that was, was perfect.
We had about 20 months of them all under our roof, and those really were the best times.
MLC, we lived many years in New Orleans, and we spent a lot of time at Henderson Point and Bay St. Louis in southwest Mississippi.
Those places always seemed to take the brunt of any storm.
We always stayed in a condo that went away with Katrina, and I don't think anything's been built on that spot again.
Hope your house did OK.