jblackwelljr wrote:Talldude - That was my first taste of Brooklyn Lager - not bad. I wouldn't call myself a beer connoisseur, but I live where they make Yuengling, so I'm somewhat enlightened. I can smell the brewery from my house and they still blow the steam whistle every morning at 7AM. And I've hardly ever met a beer that didn't have some redeeming quality. Oops, this isn't the Beer Barn. Sorry.
Talldude - That was my first taste of Brooklyn Lager - not bad. I wouldn't call myself a beer connoisseur, but I live where they make Yuengling, so I'm somewhat enlightened. I can smell the brewery from my house and they still blow the steam whistle every morning at 7AM. And I've hardly ever met a beer that didn't have some redeeming quality. Oops, this isn't the Beer Barn. Sorry.
I'll definitely give it a try if I see it somewhere. :)
Lisa, I am glad someone is in the Christmas spirit. The big wind storm that hit on Thursday, left us without power for 40 hours. Both dentists that I work for are still without power. The power company said maybe Friday. The news this morning said only 100,000 homes left without power. We have a generator, which we have used 3 times this fall. Hmmmmm. We do not suffer too much. We haven't turned our Christmas lights on, because the people on the next hill still do not have lights. Somehow, that would not be very considerate.
No power, no trains. Withdrawal!!!
Later, Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
I'm dreaming of a White Christmas......but I think that's the only way I'll see one around here - in my dreams. Anyway it's still Christmas and a very special time of the year for many. I'm glad I've had this opportunity to "meet" you all and I wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year and a blessed Holiday season.
I'll second that about the green, or rather brown, Christmas in New England. But, think of it this way - I've probably already saved enough on fuel bills this season to buy a decent locomotive. And, if this global warming turns Massachusetts into something more like the Carolinas, well, maybe after I retire I'll start building a garden layout. Global warming seems to be bad news for the Patriots, of course. Where are the snows of yesteryear? Those guys really are better in Clydesdale mode, plodding through across the old frozen tundra in Foxboro, laughing all the way...
Still, we're hoping for some decent skiing over the vacation week. We'll be up at Sunday River, where the snow guns put down the white stuff when Mother Nature goes MIA, but they can't do much with temperatures in the 50's.
Anyway, a Merry Christmas to you all, and may you find the train of your dreams beneath your tree.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Hi Everyone,
It's been several days since I last checked in, I've been so busy with Christmas prep. I haven't had the time. The weather here makes it difficult to get into the Christmas spirit, being a native New Englander makes it hard to accept a "green" Christmas, we've been having record high temps all this month. The family and I are making the best of it but it's just not the same. I won't be able to come in until "next year" so.....
I wish you all the very happiest of holidays!
jblackwelljr wrote:Oh, yeah - middle of the afternoon, no crowd and cold Brooklyn Lager.
Oh, yeah - middle of the afternoon, no crowd and cold Brooklyn Lager.
mmmmmmmmmmmm......beer!
Here in Ingersoll that is a daily occurance. Just outside of Iingersoll ther is a Lime Quarry and they blast every afternoon close to 2:00. It's a little unnerving at first. Like your neighbour I too thought it was gas.
GUB
jblackwelljr wrote: GUB wrote: jblackwelljr wrote: ate pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge Was that Grimaldi's by any chance?GUBOh, yeah - middle of the afternoon, no crowd and cold Brooklyn Lager.
GUB wrote: jblackwelljr wrote: ate pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge Was that Grimaldi's by any chance?GUB
jblackwelljr wrote: ate pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge
ate pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge
Was that Grimaldi's by any chance?
I was there last January. Four of us went to NY for a long weekend and one of the must go to places was Grimaldis. It was crowded even in the afternoon. Cramped quarters, but the beer was cold and the pizza was great! I would go back in a heart beat. We did have a little trouble finding the place after we got off the subway. Under the Brooklyn Bridge is actually under the bridge. Try telling that to the navigator. But it was well worth it. We chose this place after reading that it had the best pizza in all of NY.
GUB - I find as I get older I get more nostalgic and even sappy. I remember my Dad and his friend assembling a ferris wheel from my AC Gilbert erector set - I was only 5 and probably too young for the set. Took them hours but I played with it for months. He's 80 now - I'll have to jog his memory about it.
Lisa P - Since you're in southern NH, I imagine the shed doesn't get too cold in the winter - you can spend most of the season there - right?
All - My wife and I got to spend a day with our son in Brooklyn & Manhattan last week. Rode a lot of underground trains, ate pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge and walked around Brooklyn Heights - beautiful. Treated him to dinner and lo and behold, we ran into two of his friends, who joined us.....I think they snookered us.
MisterBeasley - Your subway video and layout pictures are awesome. Subway cars from that era are really beautiful - and no graffiti. I'm modeling eastern PA coal region - can I get away with a subway in a coal mine?
lisap wrote: It was also fun to see the old home town, haven't been back for about 10 years, there were quite a few changes but the old house is still standing.
It was also fun to see the old home town, haven't been back for about 10 years, there were quite a few changes but the old house is still standing.
It's always nice to go back and have a look at the old homestead. In my case I always drive by the house I grew up in Chatham. It's been a couple of years since I last drove by. Regrettably there are too many changes for my liking. I do have many fond memories. Since the Christmas season is upon us I always remember the year I got my first train set. Not sure how old I was, probably 10 or so. On Christmas morning I went down stairs to find a huge layout in the dining room. Well, huge for me. My Dad and his freinds had set it up on a 4'x8' sheet of plywood on the Dining Rm. table. It was he best Christmas I would have for many years. Now when I think back on it there was a party at the house that Christmas Eve and I am sure that they were having just as much fun setting it up as I would have running the trains. Years later I would get into HO scale. Not sure what happened to the old Lionel set. Dad sold the HO stuff when I went to college. No I am back into the hobby once again - HO scale. Unfortunately I have to limit myself to research, kits and dioramas until the attic gets finished. But that is another story for another day.
Thanks for stirring up the memories.
Good evening all,
PC the Wilmington show was great, all of us(boys, hubby and myself) had a great time). It was also fun to see the old home town, haven't been back for about 10 years, there were quite a few changes but the old house is still standing.Glad to hear that the family is better.
Grayfox, Didn't make it to that show would have liked to but all my weekends get tied up this time of the year. I don't have a free Sat. until the 3rd week in Jan. Oh well, it's all fun.
Appreciate the prayers all. They seem to be on the mend now.
Didn't get any more done on the layout though. That's OK, I've only got the rest of my life!
Success at the Reading Expo Center train show this weekend. I found a Vollmer station kit that is out of production and matches (sort of) my hometown Rdg station with some modification (prototype long gone). It kind of jumped off the shelf at me. Reasonable price and only a billion parts...woo-hoo. Also picked some Accurail hoppers. My wife was along and she actually enjoyed the show.
Philip, Sorry to hear that you have illness in the family. Hopefully, it is not the flu which seems to last for 3-4 wks that everyone around here is getting.
I haven't had a chance to work on the layout for two weeks. We at least operate the trains while we work out. With the mainline as a large loop, it takes quite some time to make the journey. Today the F-7 AB is running freight.
I made wreaths this morning which should be the last of the decorating for Christmas. Then back to the layout.
Well back to work, Sue
gear-jammer wrote: Philip, Did you get your benchwork finished?
Philip, Did you get your benchwork finished?
Nope. I got some done but the wife and daughter are sick, so I'm Mr. Mom this weekend. Oh well, maybe later.
Philip, Did you get your benchwork finished? That was an exciting stage for us. We had moved our small layout into the dining room while we waited for the mainline. What an excuse to not invite people over for Christmas. When the mainline was functional we hauled the old layout down to Larry's uncle.
This was a short weekend for Larry, so we spent it cutting down a tree and decorating. We no longer have any christmas trees of marketable size, so we fall a large tree (30') and use the top. We are at a stage when they need to be thinned. Larry cut 7 trees before we found one that was usable. Sometimes a branch breaks when the tree falls.
We put Thomas, Percy and James under the tree. James is noisy and probably needs some work, but his color is great under the tree.
gear-jammer wrote: It has been a few days since I turned the computer on. I am anxious to get back to the layout. It has been a whole week.Later, Sue
It has been a few days since I turned the computer on. I am anxious to get back to the layout. It has been a whole week.
I know what you mean. I'm itchin' to finish up benchwork tonight! I want to get to laying subroadbed in my staging area. Then it's on to backdrops!
Wow, this fell all the way back to pg 5!
So, Lisa, how was that show?
Dave-the-Train wrote: jblackwelljr wrote: If you know when you will be around Manchester/Widnes e mail me and I'll see if I can inr=troduce you to a decent pub. If you can time a trip right the macclesfield shoe is usually good... will try to post the dates when I know them."Are you a modeller yet"? Would you have been satisfied without doing the work?
jblackwelljr wrote:
If you know when you will be around Manchester/Widnes e mail me and I'll see if I can inr=troduce you to a decent pub. If you can time a trip right the macclesfield shoe is usually good... will try to post the dates when I know them.
"Are you a modeller yet"? Would you have been satisfied without doing the work?
Thanks Dave - not sure when I'll be back in the UK but I'm always up for a decent pub. Heck, I even like the not-so-decent ones.
About the modeler question - you're right, I would not have been satisfied without doing the work.
jblackwelljr wrote: Dave - are grilled eggs something you can order out at a restaurant or hotel or is that your own invention? They sound interesting - I get an opportunity to come to the Manchester/Widnes area now and then - I'd like to try them. BTW, snow is not like hair - I don't know anyone who has hair that doesn't want it - if you do, have them send it to me - hair, that is.All - weather changed with a vengeance on Friday. Tornado touched down one county over. It went from 70 to 30 degrees overnight. Phil, I'm sure you were right in the middle of it where you are. Snow (flurries) possible on Monday. I just put some finishing details on my set of cheapo IHC passenger cars - upgraded wheels, Kadee 148 couplers and added weight. Then applied the hangy-down ladders and grab bars - aarrghh!. I can't believe I put those tiny parts on cars that no one will really ever use. Am I a modeler yet?
Dave - are grilled eggs something you can order out at a restaurant or hotel or is that your own invention? They sound interesting - I get an opportunity to come to the Manchester/Widnes area now and then - I'd like to try them. BTW, snow is not like hair - I don't know anyone who has hair that doesn't want it - if you do, have them send it to me - hair, that is.
All - weather changed with a vengeance on Friday. Tornado touched down one county over. It went from 70 to 30 degrees overnight. Phil, I'm sure you were right in the middle of it where you are. Snow (flurries) possible on Monday.
I just put some finishing details on my set of cheapo IHC passenger cars - upgraded wheels, Kadee 148 couplers and added weight. Then applied the hangy-down ladders and grab bars - aarrghh!. I can't believe I put those tiny parts on cars that no one will really ever use. Am I a modeler yet?
My own invention... most people think I'm nuts when I mention it here... but Americans are more adventurous with their food so I thought I'd mention it. I don't know if your cookers have grills like ours. It's amazing the things that we just assume will be the same but then find are different.
Weather changed here too on Saturday night. 80mph+ rain... and Welsh rain is wetter than English rain!
It was definately not boring. Our window was right next to the machine. All those workers quit working because a bunch of women were taking pictures of them with their cell phones. My cell said not enough memory. Of course, they were taking pictures as well. It is so disheartening to have a dozen guys looking under the car that you are in.
I did enjoy the switching.
Sue
Well, my trip to Portland on Amtrack was interesting. We arrived an hour late. It was a three hour trip that would take 1 1/2 by car. We yielded to every freight train. There were work crews that we had to stop for, but in Vancouver, we got to watch switching for 15 minutes. That part was fun.
On the trip back north, we were an hour late due to stops to check problems with our train; we had to pass an empty grain train; and our train hit a machine on a work crew that we had permission to pass. That initiated the emergency stop. They were replacing the ties with the cement ties. We actually got to watch that procedure while everyone checked our train and their equipment. They started announcing, "Hopefully, our next stop will be.......".
It is good to be home. Larry painted some clouds on the backdrop this weekend. What a treat!