SeeYou190We just put out the Christmas decorations at work a over the weekend. Already over half of our stock has sold. We sold over $50,000.00 worth of Christmas today alone! That was over 25% of our daily sales. This is crazy. It is not even Halloween yet!
Hi Kevin,
I'm not surprised. I think that people are so tired of being cooped up and fearing Covid that they are looking desperately for something to make them happy. I suspect that this will be another example of the suppliers underestimating the demand during Covid, just like the lumber companies and so many other industries did. Ultimately it is a good sign. The human spirit is alive and well!
Cheers!!
Dave
Edit,
Top of the page! Well, since the American Thanksgiving is so close, I'm going to offer you all a share of my son's Canadian Thanksgiving turkey dinner just to get your taste buds warmed up (we celebrated our Thanksgiving a couple of weeks ago). They served one of the tastiest turkey dinners that I have ever had! It was incredibly delicious! Enjoy!!
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
York1Does the UK use Daylight Saving Time? How about New Zealand?
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Good Morning Diners. Chloe, coffee and keep it coming.
Kid updates: Took my oldest to her surgeon last night. One of two things needs to happen by next Monday evening. Either the incision closes up the rest of the way on its own, or it gets opened back up some to make packing it easier. We see her again Monday afternoon. Fingers crossed. Also took my youngest to our family doctor for a follow up on her broken toe. Her soccer season is probably done, but that's not set in stone. Just a waiting game to see how long it takes to heal.
Went down to the layout last night to run a train. I've had one lapping the main line with a track cleaning car in the string as I figured I would need to clean tracks soon due to some recent work. I pulled a different train out of the yard and attempted to send it along the whole mainline to staging. It confirmed it's time to clean again. Oh well. Can't complain. My basement isn't finished (not even close) and I think it's been four years since I last had to clean all the tracks. No idea how I got so lucky so far.
Hope everyone has a great day!
Mike
Good afternoon Diners. Just had my Booster jab against Covid.
Mike. Our thoughts to your children and a speedy recovery.
Britannia Bridge. Menai Straits, Wales.
video of how the great Britannia Bridge was repaired after the devastating fire of 1970 which totally destroyed the revolutionary tubes and left the Isle Of Anglesey without a rail crossing for about 20 months.
IMHO the 'new' design was/is an improvement as it carried/carries road and rail - more duties than was originally conceived. That said, the masonry towers survived the punishment of the fire and still stand today (albeit modified from the original design), and the tubes were AWESOME! It's a real pity they had to be removed/demolished using a cutting flame.
A few Diners missing again.
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
Good morning, everyone. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee. Again. I love it.
Kevin, I noticed some Christmas movies starting to pop up again on cable. I'm ready for the season.
Bear, I didn't know that I have someone from New Zealand to blame for Daylight Saving Time. I haven't liked it since it was instituted mostly nationwide in the late 60s or early 70s (I don't remember when). I'd rather just keep one or the other year 'round.
David, my town started the booster shots several weeks ago, but they haven't called me yet. They'll let us know when we go. I would think that with you having both the vaccine and having had covid, you'll be pretty much immune from now on. Who knows, though?
We don't have many railroad bridges in my area. This is about the best I can do in our town. This underpass was built in the 1930s as part of the depression recovery. It has three BNSF tracks crossing the main road through town:
I hope everyone has a good day. I miss some of the news in the diner with so few people checking. Hope that as winter hits, more of our members will check in to say "hi".
York1 John
Good morning everyone. Chloe just brought me some coffee and a bowl of granola to get me started.
I hate daylight savings time. I am not going to start a rant, because I might keep going for days.
I start full-time schedule at work next week. There are people that have been there two years trying to get full time, and I have not been there two months and I have it already. I want to look at them and say "put your phones down and do your job and it might happen", but I keep my mouth shut.
I am so glad I am not a manager anymore.
Most of the people I work with are in their 20s, and they complain about everything. I get so angry when I hear them complain about how Home Depot is a "high stress" job. They have no idea. One of these is going to college trying to get into the medical field. I hope they figure out how to deal with "stress" by then.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Daylight saving time. During WW2 here in the UK clocks were put forward two hours. The story goes, that the Germans wondered how we were always ready for them.
Yes Kevin; I too wonder how the youngsters would cope under proper stress.
Yorkshire. Old Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway and London & North Western Railway tracks still in use.
Ravenshorpe, near Dewsbury, Yorkshire. I have family living there.
Around Huddersfield area.
As information. I'm in the hospital. My heart failure is acting up again. My heart stopped beating two times, and my implanted defibrillator restarted it. I appreciate the friendship here. Might be a while befoire I get back here.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Garry, I am not a frequent diner, but I am a big fan of yours and your modeling skills. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Get well!
Rich
Alton Junction
Heartland Division CB&QAs information. I'm in the hospital. My heart failure is acting up again. My heart stopped beating two times, and my implanted defibrillator restarted it. I appreciate the friendship here. Might be a while befoire I get back here.
Oh, no! Garry, prayers for your complete recovery and for getting back home.
Good Morning,
We got frost last night but little damage to the flowers in the yard as it is very sheltered. Will cover them tonight as it is supposed to warm up again by the weekend. Never had them last this long.
Mike, hope your daughter is on the mend soon. Strange to me an insicion would take so long to heal especially in one so young. I had a 5 " one when I had my prostate removed and it was sealed up in 3 weeks as they took out the staples at that point.
I had planned on going to the LHS today but might wait, My wife isn't feeling well. It could be her reflux acting up again. She is also worried about her heart. Last November she went by ambulance to the hospital as she thought she was having a heart attack but was a false alarm. Could be her anxiety levels.
Since buying those brass locos last year I have been watching what CN and CP steam is for sale and after a flurry last winter there is little out there now. Prices are up a fair bit too. Glad I bought when I did.
Hope everyone is well.
CN Charlie
Our thoughts and prayers to you Garry for a speedy recovery.
Garry, wishing you a quick recovery!
Garry: Prayers for you.
You are not in my neck of the woods are you?
Kevin: "put your phone down and do your job" Yep! I once managed a movie theatre, Kids would complain how hard it was. I told them McDonalds is hiring, go work there then come back here and tell me how hard this job was. After all the auditoriums were cleaned the ushers always wanted to go on break. I always asked " did you clean the rest rooms?" No answer, just a sign and out the went to clean them. I always asked you would think they would just go do it.
I had one kid who would come announce he was going on break and yes the restrooms were clean. I always knew they were. He was autisitc and he learned the routine fast and he would just go and do. Smart kid just no social skills, he could not drive etc etc. The Easter seals had called me asking if I would hire him as he loved movies. I was hesitant to say yes becuase of a bad experience at another theatre. They called about a month later and asked how he was doing, I told them I wished I had a whole crew of him.
The Theatre was the most fun job I had, until I took over as general manger, then the upper management I had in my region got stupid. My first year there I increased concession gross sales from $80k to $240K for the year. I was one of the top grossing theatres that year and was top ten managers.I even got sent to Vegas as a reward. Then they got stupid. I made all of those sales by implementing a free soda refill with purchase of the large drink. I sold a lot of large drinks at 25 cent upsale over mediums. maybe 10 out of 100 people would get a refill.
I was not really paying for syrup. ( ever notice how many Coke ads there are in a theatre ? It was a wash )
i was told " you can't do that" There went the sales.
Work was interesting today.
We had an elderly lady come in weeping because an order has not showed up at her house. I won't get into all the details, but it was a heartbreaking story that involved a set of exterior door jambs she special ordered.
It took me and the man from receiving about an hour to put together a solution and make it OK.
I really hope nothing like this ever happens again. I did not take a gig like this out of retirement to deal with anything that was this important.
Garry: I sure hope you are able to make a full recovery and get back to normal. I am pulling for you.
moelarrycurly4Kids would complain how hard it was. I told them McDonalds is hiring, go work there then come back here and tell me how hard this job was.
We have one kid that really irritates me. He has EVERYTHING going for him. He is young, bright, bilingual, good looking, and strong as can be. With very little effort he could probably be just about anything. However, after being at work for 2-3 hours he seems to think he has done enough, and looks for places to hide.
I would love to give him 120 minutes of life-advice, but I am sure that would be two wasted hours.
SeeYou190We had an elderly lady come in weeping because an order has not showed up at her house. I won't get into all the details, but it was a heartbreaking story that involved a set of exterior door jambs she special ordered. It took me and the man from receiving about an hour to put together a solution and make it OK.
Kevin, you are a good man! Many of the dweebs who are on their cell phones constantly wouldn't have bothered, and what is worse, they wouldn't have cared.
I can remember several incidents where I saved a customer a lot of grief. One gentleman wanted to replace all of his windows on his own. He had never done anything like that before. When he gave me the window measurements they didn't make sense so I spent quite some time trying to convince him to go back and measure again. He came in a few days later with new measurements. Had I ordered the windows based on his original numbers he would have ended up with several thousands of dollars worth of windows that wouldn't fit. They were rather grateful.
hon30critterKevin, you are a good man! Many of the dweebs who are on their cell phones constantly wouldn't have bothered, and what is worse, they wouldn't have cared.
It was really more the man from receiving than it was me. He really knew his stuff about how to look up what customers had items she needed staged for them and comparing promised dates to figure out where we could pull from.
He knew his way around the inventory management system like a wizard.
My input was mainly keeping her from crying and creating the orders in the will-call/carryout system.
I really appreciate the kind words. I was pretty frazzled when I made it home today.
I emailed Ulrich today to see how his house is coming along. Unfortunately the authorities have still not issued a building permit. There is no reason why they can't. They are just being stubborn. He seems to be taking it in stride.
His heart has acted up a bit recently so he has been told to take things easy.
He asked me to pass on his best wishes to Garry.
Good morning Diners. A large coffee please, Janie.
A busy day ahead. I have to be here, there and everywhere.
Drone video of a thorough flyover of the Nicholson Bridge / Tunkhannock Viaduct in Nicholson PA. taken in March 2018. Was lucky enough to catch some freight train traffic. Measuring 2,375 feet (724 m) long and towering 240 feet (73.15 m) when measured from the creek bed (300 feet (91.44 m) from bedrock), it was the largest concrete structure in the world when completed in 1915 and still merited "the title of largest concrete bridge in America, if not the world" 50 years later.
Good Morning Diners.
Garry, I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles. Praying for you. You've got this!
Kevin, what a crummy situation. You are a good man to stay and help to calm her nerves.
CNCharlieStrange to me an insicion would take so long to heal especially in one so young.
On a positive train related note, I should be receiving a Trix 2-8-2 tomorrow. I've always wanted one, but could never justify the price tags I was seeing. Got a great deal on what is supposed to be a new in box one. Can't wait to try it out!
Cheers!
Good Morning All,
Garry - best wishes for a speedy and full recovery. Scary stuff.
Just a regular to go please. Brekkie will have to wait. Still thrashing in the shop getting three rigs ready for Daytona, two for COTA a couple of days after that and the regular job load as well. Beats the alternative I guess.
Kevin, the only real issues I have had with HD have been messed up pick-up orders. The local store I frequent has been great straightening things out (usually it was picked and shipped incorrectly from the warehouse) but I haven't had a crisis and I am always nice about it particularly since the folks at the store have had nothing to do with it. Great you have an inventory wizard to help. The other place we have locally that starts with L is not so helpful. We don't go there any more especially after they sold my sons special order patio set out from under him and then lied about it.
Another bridge on the Wallhalla gold railroad in Victoria Au.
2016-11-08 22.35.16 by J.R. Mitchell, on Flickr" alt="" />
Back to the shop - today I am finishing up a diesel gen set fuel inlet pipe, a shift linkage and continuing the build on another car. Big fun - just very busy.
Ciao, J.R.
Good morning, diners. Just a short check -- I have a couple of busy days ahead.
Here's an old Chicago & North Western bridge over the Niobrara river in northern Nebraska, along the old Cowboy route. Today it is part of a trail:
Hope everyone has a good day, and that the people with health issues can get the healing they need.
Not sure who is doin what to whom, but it must be breakfast time!
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Good morning diners.
It is absolutely beautiful down here today.
I went to Home Depot this morning and bought the trim boards I needed to finish my closet. It was $170.00 for the supplies! Wow.
Poplar is less expensibe than select pine right now.
1 by 2 poplar was $1.20 per foot, and an 8 foot piece of 1 by 2 select pine was almost $11.00, so I went with poplar to frame my shelves. Seems like a waste of good poplar.
Hello Railfans!
Top of the evening to yas! Dont know what to think about things.... we just got Dave back and now Garry is in the weeds. And so is TF too (right? i think?).
Guys, are we getting old or something? Use to be when ya got old and wore out, ya just got a new Peterbuilt. No wait, thats for truckers. Were Railfans...... what do we get????
(and if one of you varmints says 'we get the RIP track', imma hang a 'Waterbuffalo - low mileage' sign on your back and send you to Lions house!)
Best wishes and Get well soons to those of us that need them the most. And thats an order!
High Ball!
Douglas
PM RailfanGuys, are we getting old or something? Use to be when ya got old and wore out, ya just got a new Peterbuilt.
There is no "U" in Peterbilt!
Sorry, that is an old pet-peeve of mine from my real working days. Kind of like spelling it "Volkswagon" instead of the correct "Volkswagen". You would not believe how many experienced truck technicians added a "U" to Peterbilt.
PM RailfanWere Railfans...... what do we get?
This is a good question. People used to railfan in Station Wagons back in the day. What do they use now, Minvans, SUVs?
Old railfans should be able to buy something new to rejuvenate the spirit. Maybe a new Canon 80-D camera? I would sure like one of those.
We've seen several of these out on Interstate 80, and every time we see one, my wife tells me that's what she wants me to buy.
The first time I would drive it I'm sure I would find a low bridge or a drive thru fast food roof.
"There is no 'U' in Peterbilt!"
The 'U' was added for jochularity - Im a KenWorth man.
John) Yeah but buy her this.....
PM RailfanThe 'U' was added for jochularity - Im a KenWorth man.
That is all good. I am a Volvo man! So roomy, so comfortable.
Somebody paid over $300.00 for a resin kit of a 40 foot boxcar that I wanted. I don't have the money to play in this game!