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Jeffrey’s Trackside Diner for December 2023

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Posted by maxman on Monday, December 11, 2023 4:42 PM

My favorite is "A Christmas Story".

You'll put your eye out.

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Posted by Water Level Route on Monday, December 11, 2023 5:20 PM

My favorite's in order are:

A Christmas Story

White Christmas

Miracle on 34th Street

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation

Mike

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Posted by CNCharlie on Monday, December 11, 2023 5:35 PM

Good Evening,

I grew up in a house with a fireplace but it was only lit at Christmas. The first house I bought had one, that was before I got married. We had one installed in our present house 25 years ago but haven't used it much in the past 5 years as my wife says the smoke is toxic. We have a gas one in the basement TV room which is where I hang out most of the time.

Been running errands today. We got a free turkey with our grocery order today, a nice bonus. It is a top grade one too.

CN Charlie

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Posted by York1 on Monday, December 11, 2023 8:44 PM

One of the issues with a fireplace is they are very inefficient.  In some cases, they take heat from inside the house and send it up the chimney.

Even with that, I enjoy the fire so much I'll put up with it.

York1 John       

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Posted by OldEngineman on Monday, December 11, 2023 9:22 PM

CN Charlie wrote: "Headstones sure don't tell much of the people. My paternal grandparents passed in 1947 and 1961. My sister and I are the only people who know anything about them and when we pass they will just be names and dates."

Have you thought of setting up memorials for them on a site like "findagrave.com" ??

You can include photos (of both the headstone and the person), and can enter a brief text description as well. There's no charge, it's free (at least at findagrave).

It will give them just a little more than "a name and a date" for the years to come.

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Posted by Lazers on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 4:52 AM

For me, it has always been the lithograph, "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas", by Norman Rockwell.

I first saw a print when I was a kid and my mom worked in the house of a wealthy family, who had returned to the UK from Canada.

I used to stand looking, because it depicted a lifestyle that seemed so far removed from my own.

As the saying goes, 'a picture paints a 1000 words'.

"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".

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Posted by wetidlerjr on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 5:27 AM

Good morning!

1928 Model A Ford

Source:
Tennessee State Library and Archives

1702380308720.png

Bill Tidler Jr.

Near a cornfield in Indiana...

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Posted by gmpullman on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 5:40 AM

wetidlerjr
1928 Model A Ford

You know you've arrived —

    when it's in a Cadillac.

 Keokuk_Jct_Cadillac by Edmund, on Flickr

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by NorthBrit on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 5:57 AM

gmpullman

 

 
wetidlerjr
1928 Model A Ford

 

You know you've arrived —

    when it's in a Cadillac.

 Keokuk_Jct_Cadillac by Edmund, on Flickr

Cheers, Ed

 

 

Some of us have to travel by railbus

 

Ford Railmotor (colonelstephenssociety.co.uk)

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by York1 on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 9:44 AM

Good morning, everyone.  Brunhilda, I'll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.

 

Lazers
For me, it has always been the lithograph, "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas", by Norman Rockwell.

 

A favorite of mine, too!  So much going on in that picture.

 

Well ... I've finally reached the miracle age.  I have to start taking money out of the IRAs.  I told my daughters their inheritance now begins to go down, with the money being wasted on trains!

The layout is a little closer to actually having a train run again.  Today, I should be able to finish the double track.  Then, I need to vacuum and clean all the track.  There is a lot of dust and other junk that has gotten onto the tracks with the track relocation and bridge repairs.

Have a great day, everyone.

 

Let it snow!:

 

York1 John       

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 10:43 AM

Lazers

For me, it has always been the lithograph, "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas", by Norman Rockwell.

I first saw a print when I was a kid and my mom worked in the house of a wealthy family, who had returned to the UK from Canada.

I used to stand looking, because it depicted a lifestyle that seemed so far removed from my own.

As the saying goes, 'a picture paints a 1000 words'.

 

I've made a few trips out to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, when I lived near Boston.  The Tanglewood Music Festival is there in the summer, and the Shakespeare Company puts on the Bard's plays, although the plays are indoors now, not outside like they used to be.

Yes, I've been to the Norman Rockwell Museum to look at his artwork.  It's great to see the originals of paintings I remember from those Saturday Evening Post magazines decades ago.  Rockwell had local citizens sit for him as his models.  As I sat on the porch of the Red Lion Inn in the center of town, I realized that the people walking by looked familiar.  They are the descendents of the characters in Rockwell's paintings.  It appears that kids stayed around Stockbridge for a while, grew up and raised families of their own.

I looked at an image of the Main Street photo.  At the right side of the painting, the large white building (where Main Street crosses Route 7) with the long front porch is the Red Lion Inn.  The Rockwell Museum is a bit further north on Route 7.  The Red Lion Inn is one of the oldest inns in the country.  It boasts a fine restaurant and serves draft beer from an inside bar out on that old porch.  As I recall, I had a beer after about a 30 mile bike ride through the hilly countryside.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by York1 on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 1:05 PM

Not a Christmas picture, but I had a copy of this on my school office wall:

 

York1 John       

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Posted by hon30critter on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 4:32 PM

Last Thursday I had a rather nasty fall and I split my right knee wide open to the tune of eight stitches!Grumpy

Normally that would be a rather bad experience but in this case it wasn't! I had been experiencing increasing pain in my right knee starting in late October. The joint was replaced in mid August and was fine for about 10 weeks. Then the pain started. Amazingly, the pain has almost totally gone after the fall! Figure that one out!!Big Smile

Cheers!!

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Tuesday, December 12, 2023 4:59 PM

hon30critter

 Amazingly, the pain has almost totally gone after the fall! Figure that one out!!Big Smile

Cheers!!

Dave

 

Sounds like my friend Chuck from hockey.  He'd always had an ugly broken nose, perhaps from his baseball days in college.  He'd been playing hockey with us from his 40s.

As one of mature guys, he had his helmet and mask on as he came to the bench.  He raised his mask to towel off his face, and Wham!  A puck came off the ice and hit him in the face.

When he came back a week later, that ugly broken nose was, well, normal.  I asked him if they had fixed it and he said "No, the puck fixed it.  They just put on a band aid."

 

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by wetidlerjr on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 5:24 AM

Good morning!

Barnaby Lumber Mill, Greencastle Indiana

BarnabyLumberMill_GREENCASTLE_IN1960s.jpg

Bill Tidler Jr.

Near a cornfield in Indiana...

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Posted by Water Level Route on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 5:27 AM

Good Morning Diners.  Zoe, corned beef hash and a couple fried eggs please.

Realized last night we are less than two weeks away from Christmas.  How did that happen?!?  Now, to be honest, I'm sitting much better in terms of being prepared than I was last year.  Still don't care for the limited time left.

My wife and oldest daughter watched another Christmas movie without me last night.  My choice, not theirs.  They watched "Elf".  I can't stand that show.  

Mike

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Posted by NorthBrit on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 8:04 AM

Good afternoon Diners.   Afternoon tea with sandwiches and cream scone please, Chloe.

 

A pleasant surprise today.   A visit of an old friend (Lynn).   We have been friends since taking our children to the same nursery school.  Her children played with ours through school  and beyond.

Her son died young; her husband (Dave)  died shortly after, leaving a daughter to bring up.  We have remained friends  through good time and not so good.  Lynn had been in hospital and it was a great, pleasant surprise as she knocked on our door looking so well. 

 

David

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by York1 on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 8:52 AM

Good morning, everyone.  I'll have bacon, eggs, and black coffee for breakfast.

Dave, that's sounds great!  Next time something hurts, try falling to see if that helps!  Stick out tongue  I'm glad your pain is gone.  I have not kept up with other threads since I keep getting 'timed out' messages on this forum.  Did you ever work out a way to get that guy to be able to come and build your layout setup?  Edit:  Never mind, Dave.  I just found the answer on your thread.  Good luck!

 

Water Level Route
My wife and oldest daughter watched another Christmas movie without me last night.  My choice, not theirs.  They watched "Elf".  I can't stand that show.  

I'm with you.  My wife loves that movie and I can't watch it.

David, that's was a nice surprise visit you got.  We don't get too many of those.  When it happens, it's always amazing how fast time has passed.

 

My oak trees are nearly done with leaves.  We have a possibility of rain or snow tomorrow, so I have another trip to the roof to clean gutters.  I wish the oak trees would lose their leaves all at once.

 

Our town had a Christmas celebration, and one of the attractions was an ice skating rink.  Except ... it was a synthetic surface, not ice.  I had never heard of that before.

When I was a kid, our town would flood the park's tennis courts and we had ice skating all winter.  I don't know if they still do that.  Something fun about it was that the tennis court - ice skating rink was across the street from the Roman Catholic convent.  There were often nuns in their full black and white habits out ice skating.  What a scene.

Have a great day, everyone.

I don't know if Ed posted this already, but I love the scene.  I was a kid when I took my first Union Pacific trip -- two days and nights.  I spent a good amount of time in the dome car.  However, I don't remember eating in the dome.  Maybe the City of Portland train didn't have the dome dining cars.  Not sure about that.

York1 John       

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Posted by hon30critter on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 10:12 AM

JamesAlan
I love the concept of combining winter and summer themes at Winter Wonderland Beach! It's a delightful idea to imagine skiing and surfing in the same locale. The thought of railroading through snowy mountains and along sun-kissed coastlines is truly enchanting

Hi JamesAlan,

Welcome to the forums!!!       Welcome

Please tell us about your model railroading. Do you have a finished layout or perhaps a 'plywood paradise'. Even if all you have so far is an idea, we are interested.

Don't be afraid to ask questions! If somebody complains that the question has been asked many times before, just ignore them!

Cheers!!

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 11:20 AM

We actually watched Miracle on 34th Street last night.  What a show!  We watch it every year.  It's a Wonderful Life came on next, but it was already bedtime.  Maybe tonight.  White Christmas is around somewhere, too.

As any steam fan will tell you, they don't make 'em like they used to.

Even Sirius satellite radio was disappointing.  The GF  was looking for real Christmas music, but all she found was more Holiday Pop.  We get enough of that at the grocery store.  I'm down to one station on my car radio now, so I've got an Eric Clapton CD in there.  The GF's car doesn’t even have a CD player anymore.

We've got yogurt with fruit for breakfast, topped with fresh home-made granola.  A cup of coffee and a glass of milk to wash down my old man pills and I'm good to go for the day.

Sunny and low 50s today.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by York1 on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 12:07 PM

JamesAlan

I love the concept of combining winter and summer themes at Winter Wonderland Beach! It's a delightful idea to imagine skiing and surfing in the same locale. The thought of railroading through snowy mountains and along sun-kissed coastlines is truly enchanting

 

 

Welcome to the forums and to the diner, James!  Your first posts will take a while to clear, but if you post several more times, the posts will appear immediately.

Hope to hear from you again.

Welcome

York1 John       

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Posted by gmpullman on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 12:44 PM

York1
I don't know if Ed posted this already, but I love the scene.  I was a kid when I took my first Union Pacific trip -- two days and nights.  I spent a good amount of time in the dome car.

I haven't posted that particular photo, John. My dad always used to get the Union Pacific calendars every year and I could dream of far away places while riding in their beautiful equipment. New York Central and later, Penn-Central didn't compare.

 UP_Dome-diner-art by Edmund, on Flickr


The view these diners are enjoying is of a coach yard somewhere, probably Chicago, looks too big to be Omaha.

 UP_Dome-Diner by Edmund, on Flickr

My first 'real' dome car ride was in a former Northern Pacific Budd dome on the Abraham Lincold from Saint Louis to Chicago back in 1972 (post Amtrak). It was after dark but still a pretty neat thrill for a while. The train still had a heavyweight diner!

 GMnO_Diner-1075 by Edmund, on Flickr

Fun times!

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by NorthBrit on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 12:47 PM

To the world you are someone.    To someone you are the world

I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought

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Posted by Lazers on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 3:39 PM

York1
York1 wrote the following post 6 hours ago: Good morning, everyone.  I'll have bacon, eggs, and black coffee for breakfast.

Hi John, I like the 1960s era caught in that image.

Paul.

"It's the South Shore Line, Jim - but not as we know it".

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Posted by York1 on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 5:28 PM

After suffering this week from a slow forum and many 504 errors, it was good to read a response from Kalmbach.

I don't know how to link the response, but it's in the thread "504 Errors".  The poster's handle is "zprisk".  He is working on the software system.

It's nice that he is working on Kalmbach's online system, knows the frustrations we have with the forum, and believes it will be fixed.

I was happy to read that there is hope to keep this forum active and that it will eventually be fixed!

York1 John       

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Posted by CNCharlie on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 5:40 PM

Good Evening,

Dave, that is good news about your knee, strange way to fix a medical problem.

John,  I too liked the dome car picture. I was only in a dome car once, on CN's Super Continental in the Rockies back in 1960. 

I too can't stand the movie Elf. Family Stone isn't bad. I first saw it when recovering from my prostate surgery.

Things are rocky on the home front as has been the case at Christmas for the past 6 years. That was when my wife had her breakdown. 

Weather is still mild here, at least for us it is with 30F today. I haven't plugged in the block heater once yet, must be some sort of record.

CN Charlie

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Posted by Water Level Route on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 5:44 PM

MisterBeasley
We actually watched Miracle on 34th Street last night.

Great show.  I assume you were watching the original and not the remake.  I like It's a Wonderful Life too, but I might be the only one in the house that does.  It does maintain a bit of a dark theme for a while in it.

MisterBeasley
Even Sirius satellite radio was disappointing.

The 40's Junction station becomes Holiday Traditions this time of year.  It has plenty of the real Christmas music on it, but the last couple years has brought in some '60s & '70s Christmas music that I just don't care for.  Still, there's enough of the real stuff to be workable.

James Alan, welcome to the diner (& the forum)! Grab a spot at the counter or an empty space in a booth and stay a while.

York1
After suffering this week from a slow forum and many 504 errors, it was good to read a response from Kalmbach.

I missed that.  That is good to hear someone is working on it.

Charlie, I'm thinking of you bud.  Wish I could do more.  Hang in there.

Have a great night guys.

Mike

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Posted by richhotrain on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 5:59 PM

York1

After suffering this week from a slow forum and many 504 errors, it was good to read a response from Kalmbach.

I don't know how to link the response, but it's in the thread "504 Errors".  The poster's handle is "zprisk".  He is working on the software system.

It's nice that he is working on Kalmbach's online system, knows the frustrations we have with the forum, and believes it will be fixed.

I was happy to read that there is hope to keep this forum active and that it will eventually be fixed!

 

It may be too late.  Crying

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 7:04 PM

So what forum is this 504 errors thread in?

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by York1 on Wednesday, December 13, 2023 7:14 PM

MisterBeasley

So what forum is this 504 errors thread in?

 

 

Model Railroader -- General Discussion

 

He has several long posts explaining what is happening.

 

Edit:  Top of the Page!

It's 7:15 p.m. here, so for me it's after dinner time for some ice cream.  My favorite night time snack:

 

 

York1 John       

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