Morning all, a cup o' black coffee to go, thanks Joe.
The forklift school went OK. I guess I know more about a forklift that I thought, I Aced both test, Made me glad. I will be getting the certified papers in a few days.
I am hoping to get to do some work on the new layout this weekend. Gotta get back to the grindstone for a few hours, then 2 days of R & R. Take care and will check in later. Mike
Morning Folks, Coffee for me please
I remember having to take those folk lift tests back in the day, before I became a computer geek :-) Congrads on passing, I worked on the docks for about 10 years before my back couldn't take it anymore, then went back to school to get a degree in Information Tech.
I am going to try my hand at some scratch building this weekend, have to make a trip to my LHS to get some supplies. I am going to start simple, no painting, just build, I am going to start with a basic house, with some windows and a door.
Evening Everyone;
Well it's Friday night... the week is over.... thank gawd.... I'll have a triple Scotch.... never mind the rocks or the water... just give me the Scotch. And since it is Friday night, that can only mean one thing .... it's time for church! Water, wine or beer or scotch or whatever.... Throw in a little food, good conversation and I am a Happy Camper! For those of you who know me I know what your thinking. After 31 days od someone p...ing in my corn flakes each morning today I am a happy camper. Of course there's that little detail of the car, a ditch, some little &*&^&U*(&^ vandels. But I'll get over it. Besides that is why we have insurance for. Right?
GUB
I'll take a cold one Joe..And set the place up, for anybody else that may be in need!
GUB...Insurance? I must have missed something along the way. Hope it's all "more better" these days.
Even with all the other stuff going on at the moment, I laid track today! I went to the corner from ---- and put down the CCRY Forest Center Sub, again!!
With a little whisky in the "whisky eye", it seems I may have a few different radius (into, out of and around)...but the track is down and the forty foot rolling stock rolls well through it! All it right...Me thinks!
This corner of the CCRY into Cascade Junction may well be a "slow order" spot in the road with some different tangents! But...Oh Well. Better have an other one Joe...And one more for the house too!
Just checking in this morning, Joe I need a hot cup to go.
Yea, I have to go to work for a few hours today, last minute decisions from the top brass yesterday. Oh well. I will still have this afternoon. I did, however, get to put some miles on my trains last night. I can hardley wait to see them rolling along on the new layout. I am figuring the new one could be as much as 10 times as big as the one I have now. Got to run, catch you all later. Mike
Morning All;
Just a coffee please. Thursday night on the way home from work during a rather brief but ferocious snow storm I managed to slide my little smart car in a shallow but snow filled ditch. No harm to the driver or the car. A nice older gentleman stopped shortly after and the tow of us tried to get the car out, but no such luck and he then proceeded to go out of his way to drive me the rest of the way, about ten miles before going home himself. This was very nice on his part and very much appreciated on mine. After a quick bite to eat, I went to the curling rink where I proceeded to fall on the ice and now am quite black and blue on one side. However on the up side we won and our winning streak continues. That is two games in a row. Wow! Later that night or should I say in the morning we got a call from the police who had drove by the car which my wife had reported earlier in the evening. They first aked if I was okay. When questioned why, they told us that the driver side window had been smashed in and that the windshield had several inpacts presumably from a tire iron or something like that, maybe even a baseball bat. That's the reason for the Insurance comment.
Today is a better day.
Good Morning!
Colvinbackshop thanks for all your suggestions. We had a SF planning meeting at church on Friday night and for the most part even your Train related suggestions were well received. Our proposed itinerary is as follows. We fly into Vegas midweek for 1 night and the following day fly to LA, where we pick up a car and drive up the coast. Our 1st night will be in the St. Louis Obispo area. I beleive we will visit the Hearst Castle on the following day eventually ending up near San Jose. We also plan to visit the Winchester Mansion as well as The Momteray Bay Aquarium which my wife has had on her Top 10 list from the beginning. Ironstone Winery is a must for on e of the group as well as the RH Philips winery where they make Toasted Head. Can't help drooling when I think of Toasted Head. By the way your mention of Pettycoat Junction set off alot of singing throughout the night. I just might have to listen to some Pink Floyd to get that jingle out of my head. Thanks again and thanks to everyone's suggestions.
The office shelving is mostly done. I have some trim at the ceiling to do. Fill some holes and then they need to be painted and basically that room is done. Ordered the materials to do the fireplace mantel in the Master Bedroom. Picked those up yesterday. Finished framing in the gas fireplace and drywalled. Now I have to design the mantel / TV Cabinet. My wife keeps asking me what it will look like. I give her the same reply, it's all up here, pointing to my head. I just need to get it down on paper. So today's project is draw up the Fireplace and Shelving for the closet and get a material list together for the shelving. But first we must have sustanance - Breakfast at Dean Michael's.
Gotta go. Will check back later. Have a great day guys.
Good morning: A cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal, please.
Well, I made it through the swim meets and have rested up a little...Now I'm ready for round two with a trip to the Cities this Fri. morning for the State Meet. I'll be officiating two meets on Fri. and two on Sat. but will have time to hit a couple of favorite night spots and my favorite hobby shop too.
We finely got a decent snowfall with a good 12" on the ground by yesterday morning! That made for some shoveling in the morning, but also some GREAT skiing in the afternoon. It may have come too late though, as my project for today is to "discover" why my septic isn't working as it should. Things aren't draining as they should...And it's talking to me too "blup, blup"! I'm thinking that my drain-field may be freezing up! NOT GOOD!
If I can get that figured out and perhaps taken care of....I hope, I hope, I hope! I do want to spend some time in the Trainroom today. I haven't been there since I re-laid the CCRY sub around the corner. Now with the glue dry, I hope it's still down and looking at least as good as it did a few days ago!
GUB, regarding your SF trip: I'm glad to hear that your group liked some of my suggestions! And...As long as you are driving up from LA and staying in SLO, I have a couple others, if you don't mind??!!??
You might want to check out the old Missions around the SLO area, especially Mission San Luis Obispo De Tolosa. There are others and a self guided tour, but De Tolosa is the most famous and is even on the map! You could also do a great little side trip that would be fun, through the coastal mountains just North of Atascadero, which will take you to a number of small wineries, one of which is Bonny Doon. I don't remember the road numbers and I can't find my map this morning (I could, however find out the numbers, if you're interested), but if you hang a right at Morro Bay, heading inland, there is a loop North and West that is a very scenic drive, with all these great wineries scattered about! If memory serves this loop comes back out on the Coast Highway at Cambria, which is just South of San Simeon and Hearst Castle.
BTW, there is a little fish market on the North side of the marina at Morro Bay that has the BEST "Fish & Chips" I've ever had!
Well...Enough rambling. I need to go listen to my septic tank!
Morning, folks. Coffee and maybe a Mexican omelette, with some link sausage on the side. Thanks.
GUB, I thought of another thing we really enjoyed in SF. We went to lunch at the Culinary Institute of America, the "other" CIA. It's one of the premier cooking schools in the country. Don't max out your credit card before you get there, though. When we went, my daughter was about 10 years old, and she didn't really want any of the really fine menu items. So, as befitting any first-class place, they made her a grilled cheese sandwich. Also, as befitting a first-class place, it was made with fresh-baked sourdough bread and Gruyere cheese. I had sweetbreads that day - absolutely delicious.
JB, I hope you can resurrect your septic system. We have sewers, and we pay every day for all the stupidity and crooked politics of the last 50 years in Boston. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is one of those empire-building government agencies that wants to stick its tentacles into every nearby community, and its fingers into everyone's wallets.
I ballasted up a couple of short sections of track last night, finishing up the scenery around the new roads I put in a while back. Hockey tonight, so I won't be tempted to run any trains. The ballast glue won't be quite set yet, and one of the tracks is the main line through town, so it's just as well that nothing runs down those rails until tomorrow at the earliest.
I found that spraying on the wet-water before ballasting just made too much of a mess, "excessive collateral damage" is the way the military bomb-damage assessment teams would say it. Instead, I now use a pipette/eyedropper to dribble on the soap-and-water mix. This is much neater, and I don't get overspray on the surrounding scenery or on top of the rails.
Our skiing out here, the downhill type, is really good too. It was a bit cold and windy Friday and Saturday, but Thursday and Sunday were just great. Even the cold days didn't bother us hardy Yanks, since we've learned how to dress for it. (I'm using "Yanks" in the Civil War sense, of course. We are loyal members of the Red Sox Nation up here in Massachusetts.)
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Good Morning Folks,
Cup o' coffee please.
I think I am going to head to my LHS at lunch today to get some supply's. My first attempts at scratch building didn't go as planned, however I am going to stick with it till I get it right. I have been having a lot of fun trying, at least I survied the first round without any major cuts to the body :-)
MisterBeasley wrote: GUB, I thought of another thing we really enjoyed in SF. We went to lunch at the Culinary Institute of America, the "other" CIA. It's one of the premier cooking schools in the country. Don't max out your credit card before you get there, though. When we went, my daughter was about 10 years old, and she didn't really want any of the really fine menu items. So, as befitting any first-class place, they made her a grilled cheese sandwich. Also, as befitting a first-class place, it was made with fresh-baked sourdough bread and Gruyere cheese. I had sweetbreads that day - absolutely delicious.
Good Morning Everybody;
Mr. B thank you. It's funny you should mentioned the CIA. One of the people we are going with is a chef and I don't recall her ever mentioning anything about this. I am sure this will be added to the itinary. The common thread with this group is food & wine and when I can combine that with trains then I have all three of my favorite things. Thanks again.
Bye for now.
Good morning gang! Joe, I'll just have a coffee this morning.
We are forecast for another "snow event" as they are calling snow storms these days, and wouldn't you know it...Forecast is for Thursday night. I may be driving down to the Metro in 10" of new snow on Friday morning!! Oh well, such it is.
Mr. Beasley, as to what I've discovered with the septic: It works, but is VERY sluggish. I have the tank pumped tomorrow and will know a lot more after that regarding a slugged line, tank, a line or the drain-field freezing or what else may be going on. No matter, we are on a water rationing these days (at least the water that goes down the drain) and may be for some time to come.
Now for some MRRing: Thanks for the idea of using a dropper / pipette to put down the "wet water"! I tried it yesterday at my corner from _ _ _ _ on the newly re-laid CCRY sub and loved the way it worked. As I had mentioned once before...Ballasting is a job that I don't care for (too wet, not wet enough, washing away ballast, washing ballast up on the rails, overspray.....), but this method may change that scenario. I also think different brands of ballast are easier to work with. Right now, I feel I've had best results with High Ball (sp?). Anybody else have any input on this?
Wisconsin, I like your attitude! Keep plugging away. I at times even get frustrated with "craft kits" when I think I've paid for a pre-cut kit and then spend hours cutting trimming and fitting. On the other hand doing a few of those types of kits is a good learning process and make the scratch building easier.
GUB, if it weren't for a common thread of food and wine, well...what would be the point? Now for you and I; food, wine and trains all together is a slice of heaven! Oh, and Mr. B...Great idea to go to the CIA. I haven't done it, but it sounds like a "food junkies" paradise.
And speaking of food...I need to go fix an oven that is being very temperamental. That's the MAIN project for today!
A bit of snow is forecast for New England this week, too. Could be the best of both worlds, rain at home to wash the salt off the roads, and snow up north where we'll be skiing. This weekend, we're taking up 5 (yes, 5) teenagers with us. They're all good kids, so it should be a fine time.
Good news on a couple of other fronts, trainwise. My first subscription copy of MR arrived, plastic bag and all. There was some question about whether the Internet deal I found for one year at $14.95 was legit, but I've got the magazine now to prove it. (Also all the credit card info in case it wasn't legit.)
Also, I was looking around for a way to create a hexagonal cobblestone pattern. I really wanted a 3D model, not a flat surface with drawn or decalled lines. I surfed around and contacted a couple of beekeeping places, and found out about a product called PermaComb, which is a plastic honeycomb which I think will work perfectly. The supplier turned out to be a one-time Lionel modeller. I sent him a small check, and sometime next week I'll probably have my starting point for a hydrocal plaza with hex cobbles. I also realized that the Woodland Scenics "beekeepers" set was a pretty nice little scene, and would be the perfect addition for a small vacant lot I ended up with last week.
Folks, once again, we need to remember to cherish our friendships, because we'll never know when they'll end. We've lost two neighbors in the last 3 days, both from long illnesses. Good friends and good neighbors, they'll be missed. At the same time, though, we'll remember two lives well lived, and two men who greeted every day with a smile.
Good morning: I'll have a coffee and an oat meal..
Gotta' fill the old fuel tank and get outside to "move snow"! And get the wife's car out of the ditch (of the drive way). We got, still getting, our second blast of winter with a good 12" of new snow and a BIG blow to boot. With plows being pulled from the roadways and some roads being closed last evening, I decided that I will be staying home this weekend...The State Meet will have to get along with out me.
Sooo...Being on vacation and with no place to go, I'm thinking that Gary's Standard (and any number of other projects) will be worked on in the Trainroom!
Mr. Beasley, that cobblestone stuff sounds interesting! If you can, snap a pic...I would love to see how it works out for you.
I'll check in with you all later.
Joe, I'll have a tall cold tap, please. And if anybody else shows up...I'll buy them a round too!
Well, I didn't get to spend too much time in the Trainroom, with all of the snow plowing going on today, but I did get a few of the windows and doors done at Gary's. I'm going with the traditional red, white & blue of "Standard Oil" that I remember from years ago. The basic building is white with blue trim and red doors. So far, I have to say it's looking pretty good.
BTW, anybody have picture of the old Standard Oil sign?? Or know where I may be able to go to fine something. Basicly, the R,W & B oval with the torch? I would like to find one to reproduce for the big sign that I want to put on Gary's roof.
Mike, did you buy lumber and are you being a carpenter, building new benchwork upstairs? I am envious, for the space you have available! On the other hand....I'm having trouble filling / working on the space I have!
Mr. Beasley...I hope you are having fun on the snow! Two things I want to do tomorrow: Get out on the snow-shoes (them maybe the skis) and play in the Trainroom. I don't see any conflicts thus far for that scenario! So, life must be good.
Morning all, I'll have a black coffee and a couple of fried eggs. (should be good for the old ticker) Oh well I am doing great and feel like a million bucks. I will see a heart Dr. on the 15th of March, he may put me on a special diet then, but for now I can eat anything I want, I have volenteered to give up salt..
Colvin.. I haven't got any lumber for the new bench work up stairs I still have some work to do up there befor I begin construction. I am looking forward to starting on it although I can't imagin where the time will come from, Anybody got some they could spare? I am waiting for an order from Hobbylink that will have a book on building bench work and 3 flat cars. I have been collecting the Norscot Cat construction equipment from Wally World. I am thinking when the new layout is complete, I will have either a Catipillar dealership or a rock quarry or both, either way, I will need lots of equpt. As of right now I have 17 pieces, and still need more bulldozers and motor graders. For the time being, I plan to haul several loads on flat cars. Will try to send some pics.
Well I see my eggs are getting cold, will see you later. Mike
Well... it's Saturday morning and that can only mean one thing. Get out the drywall cmpound and tape and finish the fireplace wall, design the mantel, build the mantel, and finally paint the mantel. Well... maybe that's a little too ambitious for today. Finish the drywall at least... well at least get the first coat of mud on....
Last night I decided that it was time to put a decoder in the new AC4400. It runs so quiet on DC that it should just whisper on DCC right? WRONG!! I installed the decoder, placed it on the track and gave it power. I've heard electric can openers that are quieter. I worked on it for a couple of hours to see if I could get it to run quiet, but to no avail. At about 10:00 pm I removed the decoder and rewired the unit for regular DC. I was thinking that maybe it's the decoder that's causing the noise, so I installed it in my Proto 2000 PA1. Expecting to hear a high speed can opener I applied the power and to my surprise the PA eased forward and trundled down the main line with nary a sound. Seems to me that the quiet motors of the RTR Athearn units aren't all they're cracked up to be. I know I won't be buying another one real soon. It's funny. I put a decoder in a cheap BB and it runs without a sound. I put one in an expensive RTR and the neighbors can hear it. Go figure.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
Jeffrey;
Forgive my ignorance but is the DCC the problem. The reason i am asking is that I am leaning towards DCC. Just wondering.
If I understand your original post the same loco only made the noice in DCC. Correct? When you converted it back to DC it ran okay. Or am I missing something. My brain may be in a bit of a fog this morning.
Good morning guys: I'll have a coffee too Joe.
GUB, I run DCC and have never had a problem with the loco making "extra" noise because of a decoder. OTOH, a DC loco sitting on the DCC has a HUM to it.
I, like Jeffrey, have a decoder installed in an old Blue Box (GP-9) and it runs great. I also have three RTR Genesis F-7's awaiting decoders....So I can't do the comparison thing that Jeff has done.
BTW, Jeffrey, glad to see you at the Barn...I was worried.
Gotta' get down stairs, get some breakfast and THEN...Get out to the Trainroom!
Colvinbackshop;
I am quite jealous that you have a train room. As you know I have a train room in waiting and I am doing one my least favorite things - mudding drywall today. Oh well .....
Thanks for the info. Gotta go. Will check back later.
Good evening all, Joe I'll have a cold beer, Thanks.
I did get my order from Hobbylink today, I also went to Lawton and bought all the Cat equipment I could find. I think I now have around 25 pieces of Cat equipment of one sort or another.
I am on the way to the train room to watch the load of Cats comming around the bend, I will try to take some more pics later and post them on the forum.
I am going to study the book I got today and learn everything I can about building a new bench for the new layout. Joe, set up rounds for the house and put it on my tab.
Catch you all later and go play with some trains. I wonder, Does Joe have a model train in this bar? Later Mike
Evening all, I will have a Scotch on the rocks, please. Mike - nice collection. Got the ist coat of mud on the fireplace wall. Will sand and put on a second tomorrow and if I am lucky maybe the third tomorrow night. But I must go to the train show first tomorrow after breakfast.
It's a little slow tonight. I am reading a book called "The Fellowship". It's about the untold story of Frank Lloyd Wright. Any FLW fans here tonight?
Well ... I guess I'll go put the finishing touches on dinner.
I'll take a cold one too Joe. Thanks, Mike!
GUB, the last time we were in Chicago we took the CTA out to the FLW district, his house and studio and hiked all over the neighborhood. After awhile you could pick out his designs pretty easily...Went and toured the church too. WOW! What great stuff. I think what I was most impressed with at the church was the way he used the whole concrete cube thing! The neighborhood houses, were conventional construction, but even so, when looking at roof lines and over-all design...His lines would always come through. The church and any number of his designs with the cubes and monolithic pouring of concrete are really something. We even have a couple here in MN.
Mike, I like your collection! That's quite a drag of heavy equipment rolling through town..Very impressive.
At our Wal-Mart, I'm lucky to find a few cars (I already have one or more of every one for my period), let alone anything else...I can't even buy Dull Coat in town!
Good Sunday Morning to One & All;
Well, it's another snowy day here in the Great White North. At least it was snowing earlier. Today is the 18th Annual TVC Model Railtoad Show & Sale. Anyone here going. I didn't think so, it's quite a drive for most of you. Should be a nice show. Missed last years though.
Colvinbackshop, I am assuming you are talking about the "Unity Temple in I think it is Oak Park? I have only been to two of his buildings. The first was a home outside Washington DC which FLW designed for a reporter who at the time worked for the Washington Post. However i may be wrong about who the reported worked for. I remember the house was small and needed some repairs, but unfortunately they did not have the money at that time. That has to be at least 15 years ago. The second was the Guggenhiem Musem in New York, which we visited last year, where I purchased another FLW book called "On and By Frank Lloyd Wright". Pretty good book. I did wright a paper on FLW while in College. Not sure where that went. Maybe, I will find it up in the attic when I start preparing the Train Room. Hopefully by the wall.
I hear the girls downstairs waiting for me to go to Sunday morning breakfast. Gotta go. Will check in later and give you all a report on the Train Show.
Jeff, did you get the problem with the locomotive solved? Still not sure I understand. Read through your other thread on the matter and am even more confused.
See Yah Later Guys. Have a great day.
Ok, it's like this. I bought the AC4400 on Thursday. Got it home and inspected it. Found that it hadn't been lubed at the factory so I lubed it. I put it on the layout for a break-in run on DC while I got a decoder ready to fit into it. About 15 minutes into the break-in smoke pours from the shell amd the loco stopped dead on the far side of the layout, about 4 feet out of my reach. I sent one of my E units to couple to it and dragged it back to the front of the layout. No problem there. My E's all weigh about 4 or 5 times what the 4400 does. I opened the shell and discovered that the light board had gone up in smoke. It was totally fried! Well, this I could get around. All I would have to do is remove the board and hardwire the unit. This means replacing the lights with 12v bulbs as well but I can do that later. The main thing was to get it running. That was no problem. I had it rewired in about 5 minutes and continued the break-in. After 45 minutes the break-in was complete. I opened the unit and installed the decoder. I programmed it and sent the unit on a test run. Right from the start I could tell something wasn't right. It gave off a loud hum and growl as it started moving and didn't quiet down until it was almost at half throttle. I made some adjustments and tried again. Same thing. I was thinking that maybe I had a bad decoder so I removed the first one and installed another one. It did the same thing. Wait a minute, the chances of two decoders being bad and having the same problem are slim to none, and slim just left town! I removed the second decoder and installed both of them into two other locos, a P2K PA1 and a Bachmann GP40. Both run perfectly, no noise, no hum, no growl, no problems. I rewired the 4400 back to regular DC and it's been like that since then. It runs like a champ, pulls well and is quiet, as long as it's on DC. While it had a decoder in it, it made more noise on DCC than I ever heard out 5 BB's running at once. I can't figure it.
I've decided that I going to keep this unit. One thing for sure though, I'm not buying any more of Athearn's expensive junk. As far as this 4400 goes I should label it as an honorary Tyco and leave it at that.
I have one other expensive Athearn, a Genesis 4-6-2 light pacific that has earned the name of honorary Model Power trash.
Any one of my BB's run better than the pacific. I have one BB that I converted to DCC. It out-performs the 4400 in every dept except appearance. The only thing the 4400 does well is look good.