Mike. Thank you.
Congratulations on your promotion.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
Good Morning Diners. Janie, a large coffee and a couple doughnuts. Going into an all day long training session today. Going to need the caffeine and sugar.
Had a really nice day yesterday. I got a long awaited promotion at work. I was starting to believe it wouldn't happen given the amount of time it took. We went out to dinner to celebrate.
Tonight my oldest will be home from college for the holidays. Knowing this will make today drag, but will certainly make for a nice ending to the day.
NorthBritShe never let go of me as we walked to her parents house. We married in October the same year.
Mike
Good morning!
Hobbs Elevator, Hobbs Indiana (LE&W/NKP)
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
York1 NorthBrit Dawn reappeared, 'a drink on a stick' if I say so. She opened the door for us to leave. A blizzard was blowing. We got no further. Her parents got to know me better (or was it worse?) Their settee was comfortable that night. As they say, "The rest is history.' What a great story, David! I guess Dawn knew from the start you were the one.
NorthBrit Dawn reappeared, 'a drink on a stick' if I say so. She opened the door for us to leave. A blizzard was blowing. We got no further. Her parents got to know me better (or was it worse?) Their settee was comfortable that night. As they say, "The rest is history.'
What a great story, David! I guess Dawn knew from the start you were the one.
Thanks John. I reckon I knew she 'was the one' also. That all happened just before Christmas. I did not see her again until late January. In March (so after three months of actually first meeting Dawn, the following -----
Oh! I do like to stay at the North British Hotel at Waverley Station in Edinburgh. A hotel that believes itself to be not only the best in Edinburgh, but all of Scotland. The standard of service never seemed to diminish. Easy check in. Porter service. Comfortable bed. Excellent Scottish breakfast. What more could one wish for? Maybe another night perhaps? Not today though a journey to partake. An important journey indeed.Now standing on the platform in my warm overcoat, a small suitcase by my side. A newfangled one with wheels to pull along. No more lifting and carrying, struggling; the wheels doing the work. The train arrives. Not a train with a name. The days of 'The Elizabethan', The North Briton', 'The Highlander' long gone. It appears the Management have no pride in railways. Today's not the day to argue the rights and wrongs of railways, the importance of the journey is at the forefront of my mind as I board the train.I sit in First Class, a single seat, a table in front. There is another seat opposite. Nobody is occupying it at present. I see a ticket saying it is reserved from Perth. I settle down and watch the suburbs of Edinburgh pass by. A stop at Dalmeny and I see one or two passengers who board the train. Within a minute of departing we were crossing the River Forth. The bridge still as splendid as the day it was built. A ship was sailing up the river, but we were in the Kingdom of Fife and heading north.A stop at Ladybank. I do love that name. I wonder how it was chosen? One day I shall enquire. It is here at Ladybank we take the single line to Perth. The line is rather unkempt. Long grass along the trackside. Branches from the nearby trees smack the side of the carriages. One day perhaps the trees will be cut back, but for now leaves would brush the carriage sides and every so often a branch would 'thwack' the sides. Some gave a fear that they would break a window.Arriving at Perth a gentleman in business attire sat opposite me. From his briefcase he took out a book on management and began to read.A lady in a British Railways uniform arrived with a tea trolley. Funny how it is a tea trolley, but only has coffee? A coffee and sandwich purchased I looked out the window. Snow had fallen. Not a lot, but was there more further north? I smiled to myself. I always had my overcoat for the journey. Pitlochry, Newtonmore, Aviemore all passed. The downward ride to go; Inverness.Out of the railway station I saw Dawn and her parents. Pushing her way forward passed the oncoming passengers, Dawn gave me a loving hug and a kiss oblivious to the remaining passing either side of us. With my arm around her we made our way to her waiting parents. Embraces made we talked as we walked to their car. A month since our last meet, I missed them all."We'll walk home," Dawn said as her father took my suitcase. Her mother was going to mention the weather, but I guess she knew Dawn and I wanted to be together. We said our goodbyes and headed onto High Street.The paths were partially clear of snow. No need to clear it all, after all more was forecast. Holding hands we looked in the window of 'The Tartan Shop'. Mrs Douglas is a part owner of the store. She is in the same Clan as me. At the bridge we turned left along Castle Road. Inverness Castle on the hill to our left, the River Ness on our right. Walking along Castle Road we looked at the river. Sunlight shining on the snow and sandy riverbed gave an impression of hundreds of glittering diamonds floating downstream.Along Ness Bank with not a care in the world we slowly walked and talked. Instead of turning left, Dawn led me along Ladies Walk. Usually a gravel path, snow covered the way. A small wooden bridge. A waterfall to our left within touching distance.Dawn reached out her hand, touched the waterfall and with the icy cold water touched my forehead. With a startle I looked at her and we laughed.Oh! What the heck! Not what I planned, but the time seemed right. "Will you marry me," I said.She never let go of me as we walked to her parents house.
We married in October the same year.
NorthBritDawn reappeared, 'a drink on a stick' if I say so. She opened the door for us to leave. A blizzard was blowing. We got no further. Her parents got to know me better (or was it worse?) Their settee was comfortable that night. As they say, "The rest is history.'
York1 John
Yesterday I overheard our granddaughter talking to Dawn."Mama what is the best Christmas present you ever got?""It was just before Christmas and Papa came into my life," Dawn replied.Now that might sound sweet, but Dawn did not mention she had just been made redundant and out of a job. She was going home when she saw me on Inverness High Street. I was about to find a hotel for the night; heading home the following day.I took note of the Station Hotel I must book a room later, as we began talking and walked. As we turned on to Castle Road it began to snow heavily. Dawn wanted to get home, change her clothes and 'take me out' and see Inverness.On arriving home, Dawn's parents were there. Dawn introduced me to them, then disappeared upstairs to change her clothes.Here we now have a scenario of 'Meeting Dawn's Parents' and I hardly know Dawn. Meanwhile snow is falling.Dawn reappeared, 'a drink on a stick' if I say so. She opened the door for us to leave. A blizzard was blowing. We got no further. Her parents got to know me better (or was it worse?) Their settee was comfortable that night.As they say, "The rest is history.'
Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee, please.
Another busy day ahead.
Chiefs! Film of that last drive should be used for training referees. One play could be used as the definitive pass interference call that was not called. Of course, the Chiefs should have never been in the position where that play mattered. They had so many chances before that that were wasted.
I have to gas up the Ford and get ready. I'll check back into the diner later. Have a great Tuesday.
No beach, just snow:
Good Morning Diners. Janie, hot apple cider and a couple plain doughnuts please.
Jim, the officiating was awful on that last drive. My take watching the Chiefs this year is they are paying the price for seemingly experimenting the last couple years with how much success they can have with how little receiving talent they provide Mahomes. Their top five receivers consist of a veteran who has never been a number one receiver (and is a questionable number two), a rookie who is still learning what it takes to play in the NFL, a third year guy who seems to be injured as much as he is healthy so he doesn't have the game experience of a typical third year pro, and two players who could generally be viewed as draft failures given their play vs how high they were drafted. That's pretty sad.
Somewhere in Japan
Elevator, Goldsmith Indiana (LE&W/NKP)
Hi Everyone,
Just finishing up watching Jaguars and Bengals. Bengals went ahead with a field goal. I won't be disappointed if they win only because it would affect the Chiefs if Jacksonville wins. Chiefs lost to Green Bay last night. Bummer! I won't comment on the officiating on that last drive. I hope I'm wrong, but it just seems like the Chiefs are a bit complacent and not that hungry this year. When they're on, they can beat anybody, but they've been off a few times they shouldn't have been.
Oh well, my
Not much snow yet this year, but this is December in Chicago. I'm not holding my breath!
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
St Moritz to Tirano Switzerland
★ 4K Cab ride St. Moritz - Tirano, fresh snow, strong winds & snowdrifts [03.2020] - YouTube
Good Morning,
Apparently it is Monday. Seems the same as yesterday to me. A foggy morning here and 21F. Supposed to hit 45 by Wed. We don't have any snow to speak of which is unusual for this time of year. The river nearby has a thin sheet of ice and is as low as I have ever seen it. We do need some snow this winter.
Broke the glass in my coffee press so had to get out the old drip machine. It is about 40 years old but still works fine. It is a Siemens with a real gold filter. Too large for my daily needs but the new glass won't be here until tomorrow. I need my morning coffee or no point in getting up.
Time to run a passenger train so got out the cars with the 5 axle C liner for power. I really like the style of them better than any other cab engine.
Some nice steam in the snow photos being posted. The photo for Dec on my calendar is a steam switcher in winter at Allandale which is close to Dave's location.
Time for more coffee.
CN Charlie
CLOVER LEAF TStL&W (later NKP)
Good morning, everyone. Chloe, I'll have my usual.
It was 20°F for the dog's walk this morning, but it was nice with very little wind. No snow on the ground. I actually hope we have some when the family comes later in the month. It's nice to take the grandkids sledding.
Work on the layout's bridge approaches continues today. I would make better progress if I didn't take long TV breaks.
It was not a good football weekend for me -- both the Saints and the Chiefs lost.
This is the start to a busy week. I don't like weeks like this with something scheduled for every day. Some people try to be busy during retirement. I'm not one of them.
Have a great day, everyone.
Christmas Eve Empire Builder by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
Good Morning Diners! Flo, coffee and wheat toast please.
How is it Monday already? Ugh! Spent part of the weekend working on my computer. I do a whole system backup to a portable hard drive each year around this time, so I got that taken care of. Took two attempts as the first one didn't work for some reason. At about 6 hours a try that was annoying. Then I upgraded the SSD to a larger one and quadrupled the RAM. The original SSD was full so it was time. The RAM was on a heck of a sale for black Friday, so I maxed out what the machine can handle. Nice to have that done. If I do anything else to it, it will be to swap out the hard drive with a second SSD, but that's for another day.
Also got almost all of the Christmas presents wrapped, and a few small projects around the house done.
Did a very little bit of tidying up around the layout, but that's about it for trains this weekend.
Steam in the snow:
An icy Jake’s Pond by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
I hope everyone is holding up well,
Cheers, Ed
Good Sunday morning everyone. Donut Day! Just black coffee, Flo.
Yesterday we drove through heavy snow on our way home from visiting someone about fifty miles away. For a while we traveled 20 miles per hour on the highway, and even that was probably too fast.
The strange thing was that about ten miles from home, the snow stopped. At our house, there was not any snow at all. I don't think I've ever seen such a defined line between snow and no snow. It wasn't a gradual decline -- it went straight from heavy deep snow to none at all.
In retirement, I don't mind snow, and I would have liked it here. It's pretty nice having the fireplace burning while watching the snow out the window.
We heading out the door -- hope everyone has a great day.
Snow at the Grand Canyon.
Arizona Centennial Train Arrival at Grand Canyon 3254 by Grand Canyon National Park, on Flickr
Good Evening,
Crown Royal for all. I like mine over ice. It is distilled near Gimli, about 60 miles north of me on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. That is where I kept my sailboat for 30 years. The steam from the distillery made a great navigational mark, you could see it miles from shore.
Got the decoder re-programmed on the S3. It runs great now. A nice MLW switcher that CN used all over the east. In the west they used GMD units.
No cats here. We had Westies for many years and they don't get along with cats. Terriers are lovely dogs as long as long as you keep in mind that they were bred to kill.
gmpullman Thanks for all the interest and support for Felicity. It sure would be interesting if there was a way to download her background and know what her story is. Cheers, Ed
Thanks for all the interest and support for Felicity. It sure would be interesting if there was a way to download her background and know what her story is.
We have two rescue cats and we wonder the same things. We got them both as young kittens, and this is the only home they've ever known. Still, Snowflake must have had a calm first few months, because she's always calm and self-confident, while Whiskey is skittish around strangers even though he's fine with us.
Both cats are permanently indoor cats. The run away when the door opens and never try to go out.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
NorthBrit Took granddaughter to Brownie Camp. 200+ girls camping in this weather. Mad. They will enjoy it no doubt, but still mad. David
Took granddaughter to Brownie Camp. 200+ girls camping in this weather. Mad. They will enjoy it no doubt, but still mad.
i used to love winter camping when I was younger. We'd actually take a train to a whistle stop near the camping area, hike a few miles and set up camp. This was decades ago, so we didn't have camp stoves and had to dig through the snow for firewood.
Our old Boy Scout leader's motto was Scouting Builds Men.
Good morning, diners. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee, Chloe.
Cold and cloudy. The Northern Lights were supposed to be visible in our area last night, but it was too cloudy to see them.
Have a great day.
The Colorado Ski Train.
Ski Train departing Fraser by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
LE&W, Eaton Indiana (date unknown)
Good afternoon from a freezing cold land of the former North British Railway The temperature is staying below zero C. Thanks to Global Warming (I say sarcastically).
Here is a winter scene that is not taking place in the wide open country side. It is very much an urban setting.
For those of you who like to scratchbuild or kitbash structures, there is a very interesting trackside building at about the 6 min. 30 second mark. One corner of the bottom story of the building has been cut back to make clearance for the trains.
I can't get the video to embed properly. Nothing shows when I try. To see the video, highlight the link, then right clkick it and select "Go to........".
https://youtu.be/-rREQTM8Qus
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Saturday is upon us. Two of my granddaughters are spending the weekend with us. This morning I'm in charge of Belgian waffles with home canned strawberries, ice cream and whipped cream. For some reason they like staying here. Maybe it's the cats? Thanks for all the interest and support for Felicity. It sure would be interesting if there was a way to download her background and know what her story is. We're pretty sure she already had kittens even though she's a baby herself. Well, practically all of them here with us all have that 'other life' before finding kitty utopia. They know there's a safe haven for them with us.
Sixteen Paws by Edmund, on Flickr
Yep, they got it rough...
Dwarfed by snowy mountains by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
Crossing the Snake by Mike Danneman, on Flickr
John, nice work on the bridge.
TF, I have a Ford question for you: 351 Windsor vs Cleveland . Back in the day I had thought the Cleveland engine had larger heads and thus was more powerful. For me back in the day was early '70s when I worked for Sunoco as a sales rep and spent a lot of time in owner operated service stations. I was watching an auction on TV and a car had a 351 Cleveland.
Ran trains yesterday . Gave the mike a good run. It is now back in the engine house. I need to re-programme the decoder in the S3 to hopefully improve its performance.
Water Level Route The bridge itself is finished John that looks great! My fears ars are coming true. I finally had time to send my NCE system in for repairs and I'm also finally having time to go run trains that I now cannot without my DCC system. I sympathize with you!
John that looks great!
Have patience, Grasshopper.
Model railroading is so multi-faceted that even a whole lifetime is never enough. Give me a four-walls-and-a-roof kit and I will spend a month on it, painting, mortaring between the bricks, glazing the windows, building a rudimentary interior, printing walls and floors, adding figures and furniture inside, providing illumination, improving the sheet-of-plastic roof...stuff like that. Then it needs scenery around it, maybe a dog or a cat.
Down time? No such thing. To me, even an Accurail shake-the-box kit needs Kadees and metal Intermountain wheelsets.
Has anyone noticed the number of posts from people who have been forum members for 10+ years? People who rarely, if ever posted previously?
Makes one wonder what changed.
York1The bridge itself is finished
York1I can't wait to get this project finished. No trains can run until I'm done, so I'm having some withdrawal.
Good afternoon, diners. It's a late start here, so I'll still have bacon, eggs, and black coffee, please.
Water Level RouteJohn, do you have that bridge rebuilt yet?
Thanks for asking, Mike. I spent the morning working on my layout bridge. I've changed it from single track to double.
The bridge itself is finished, but the approaches are taking longer than I thought. I have trouble getting the sloped approaches exactly correct so there are no abrubt bumps or dips. I haven't attached the tracks yet.
Before:
After:
I can't wait to get this project finished. No trains can run until I'm done, so I'm having some withdrawal.
Jim, thanks for moving the diner to the new winter wonderland beach location! For me, it's hard to believe it's December. I guess I should start thinking about buying Christmas presents pretty soon.
David, I'm with you about staying inside during snowstorms. There are lots of crazy drivers out there.
It's cold today, but our part of the country can't make up it's mind. Several days we will not get above freezing, and then next week we have a prediction for a day over 60°. The dog doesn't care about the weather -- she enjoys walking no matter what.
Have a great Friday, everyone.
Several years ago, this was just west of my town. No beach, but plenty of winter wonderland.