8500,
I won't even pretend to imagine that I know what you're going through. All I can say is that we're here for you. We all experience the heartache of loss in our lives, but the type you're going through has to be one of the toughest. I know all of the people here in the coffee shop will be here for you anytime you need. And as for myself, you can feel free to Email me if you like. It's my work Email, but I can get it at home if I know to look for it. Contact me anytime, OK? And lean on all of us for a while. We won't let you down.....I promise.
Michael,
I know it is tough now, and saving the train stuff is a good thing.
I had most of my train stuff boxed up for over 15 years, and some of it is still in boxes. I'm glad that I saved every bit of it too, sort of like a keep sake of memories! You will be glad too many years from now, trust me!
Thoughts and prayers for you and your wife.
Ryan BoudreauxThe Piedmont Division Modeling The Southern Railway, Norfolk & Western & Norfolk Southern in HO during the merger eraCajun Chef Ryan
8500HPGASTURBINE wrote:Hi everyone. First time in here. Just wanted to let you know that I need a place like this for understanding and guidence. It's been hard, and it seems to be getting harder. I don't know if I can handle this or not. How can it get easier??? I can't imagine getting used to the rest of my life without my son. Does it really get better?
to the Diner! Have a virtual libation, and it's on me today! Chole, Zoe, and Flo are our resident attendents and will virtually serve your every request.
I cannot image what pain you have gone through and are still having with your loss. I pray every day for my son's, and that they have the same opportunities that I have been blessed with through my life.
I do know that with pain and loss comes healing, and time heals all wounds. Expressing your feelings here in the Diner is a great way to find relief, there is a great bunch of people here and are always willing to listen and provide an ear anytime!
Welcome again!
- Ryan
the MMA usally carries wood products.
Jeff- when you send the track up could you send a motor that has the same kind of drive shaft mine does? thanks.
and today I did some 'testing' on it. I letting it run at half power. the copper in the motor might be a bit coroded.
Colby
Good afternoon everyone....still cloudy but rays of sun pop through the clouds now and then as the front still hasn't moved off the coast yet.
I picked up the tiller section of the rototiller this morning, $265 in parts, $95 labor, $13.22 state tax....$380.64 for 20 years of use and abuse. If it lasts another 20 years again, I will be 88...well, I might still be around.
I see another 5 yards of hemlock bark mulch has arrived, so that will be this afternoons work once it dries up a bit.
COLBY: Two days ago I was at the Hotspot of New England, Palmer, Ma, and the Central NE RR was pulling into a siding and there was a nice brandy new box car in the consist...guess who owned it? Yup, MMA, the RR you will be working on one day. I was wondering what product it was carrying, but I couldn't get close enough to talk with the crew.
FERGIE: That didn't take you long to get heavily into the yard work.....how long will you be landlocked this time? You will really enjoy the sunroom, especially during the Winter......it is surprising how much heat enters those rooms in Winter via the low angle sun.
MIKE: There was no way I could have repaired that tiller. The bronze gear, the tine shaft and bearings were all shot. I don't have the equipment to pull the gears and bearings, nor to press them back in. Hopefully I will get 20 more years from this workhorse. Now I have to go place the shroud and depth gauge back onto the repaired tiller section and mount onto the tiller engine.
I don't know how many of you guys subscribe to TRAINS magazine, but this months edition has a great article on small RR's and how they are expanding their business, and, how they work with the Class1 RR's. I found the article extremely well done and very informative. You should be able to get this at your library also.
TIFN
Good Afternoon All
No MR'ng today as I'm in the garden and working around the contractor. He's in the middle of building the Sun Room and Deck and hopefully we should see this finished within the next 4 weeks (walls are up and the roof is going on)
Yes I have my land legs on as it never takes me long to re adapt. I've already spent $100+ on garden dirt and will be spending more.
Just waint for a rain day so I can finish wiring the 2-10-2's and that will be it! (for this project anyway as I have 6 sound decoders to intall in the rest of the fleet).
Yes John and as I've said in the past "A tear shed for a loved one and friend is truly the deepest form of love and respect we can express"
Well I have beds to prepare and roses to plant.
Later All
Fergie
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=5959
If one could roll back the hands of time... They would be waiting for the next train into the future. A. H. Francey 1921-2007
grayfox1119 wrote:COLBY: That is quite an editorial this morning......are you planning to be an editor someday? Very well written!!
COLBY: That is quite an editorial this morning......are you planning to be an editor someday? Very well written!!
I plan to work for the Maine Montreal and Atlantic RR. and I got this off the MNGRR web site
Morning all!
It's a nice morning out there this morning.
Bob K., a very touching story. Thank you for sharing it....really. I'm glad you liked the video too. I sent you an Email. I hope that it helps.
Well, there goes the work thing again! Better get to it!
Good morning to all....70F for a temp this morning and an Rh of 74%...a bit humid I would say. Yesterday's TS's, not predicted I might add, also did some damge to 6 houses in the town of Holden which is just two towns and 10 miles north of us. Lightening struck these 6 homes at various times over an hour, blew the chimney right off one house....no serious damage however, thank God.
BOBK: I do not envy your driving in the Boston area traffic each day. I had enough of that over the years when I worked at Raytheon, and SEI in Waltham. Give me the country any day.
JEFF: How did the workday go yesterday with all those desks to cut wood for?
The Diner Missing Person Squad , otherwise known as the DMPQ, is on the lookout for the following people who have not been seen in the Diner for eons:
Ohh oh big clap of thunder, here comes the front through the area.....time to get off the PC for a while, talk later guys,
Steam Team Work Session 7, May 5, 2007 By Hans Brandes- Photos by Rich Currie MNGRR Steam Engineer
Today was our seventh work session of 2007 and what a day it was. This was a memorable day in that the call had been made by our Steam Operations Manager that #8 was to come out of the house for work to be done.
Another well attended session by the following: Rick Knight, Roger Merrow, Joe and Jay Monty, Gerry Bagley, Rich Currie, Brian Durham, Mike Moulison, Don Sanger, Steve Kohut, Bob Meckley, Richard Bock and yours truly. John and Michelle Roppel also stopped by (many thanks to Michelle for making the burger run)
Hans, Steve, Rich and Brian all arrived at 0800 to start what was to be a significant switching operation. Moving almost 90 tons of iron, namely #4, #7 and #8 is no small task. Getting #8 out required that #8 and #7 swap places. Rich and Steve fired up #1 while Hans and Bob took down the tarp and framing around #8.
Since #7 and #8 had not been moved since last year, the next order of business was to get out the oil cans and grease guns and go at it. This took quite a bit of time as every cup and oil point needed to be serviced before a wheel could be turned. As Rich said: “If it turns, oil it, if it slides, grease it.” First #8 was heavily greased and oiled as it was the first to come out of the house, followed up by #7.
The big iron was pulled out of the house as #7 and #8 had their positions switched to facilitate work on #8.
With switching finally completed by 1130, the first order of business was to finish putting #4 back together and performing the hydro. Rick lead a group and reinstalled the steam supply line to the lubricator while the boiler was filled up. A fire was light to warm the water. The pressure was pumped up to 185 PSI. This time, no leaks. Everything was sealed tight. Having successfully completed this, the front end was put back together and the fire was stoked to make steam.
In parallel, Joe, Steve and Hans worked on getting the throttle (at the head of the dry pipe) out of #8. This was necessary in order to perform some ultrasonic testing as requested by the FRA. It involved removing 5 nuts and bolt assemblies in a very confined space. No regular tools worked so Joe did some forging and modified a couple of wrenches so that the could be used. Very ingenious Joe. Once completed the fitting came out allowing the testing to be performed. This testing will be done by Brian Fanslau from the Boothbay Railway Museum. Brian has done this type of work for us on a volunteer basis in the past. MNGR is very appreciative of his skills.
In parallel, Bob and Richard took on the dirty task of working inside of #8’s tank. Bob donned mask and suit and went on in to scrape and grind. The tank has a lot of loose rust on it that will have to be removed in order for it to hold paint. A cleanly painted tank is very important so that the water source remains free of particles that can plug up the supply system.
#4 continued to build pressure when Michelle came back with a box of ‘round steaks’ and fries from McDonalds. They like it when we show up and order 20+ burgers.
After lunch came the really tough work. Rick has mentioned for quite a while that the wheels and axles inside of box car 70 needed to be moved. These are tons of iron sitting in the middle of an old box car resulting in sag to the point of breaking if nothing were to be done. Gerry got the loader so that Steve, Hans, Rick, Richard and Rich could move these parts. Each part was very heavy requiring at least 3 guys per move. Who knows how many tons of iron were moved, but it was a lot. Moving this iron is a prime example of thought and work being done with regard to caring for equipment. Box car 70 is now breathing a big sigh of relief. Thank you Rick for making us do this.
#4 continued to build pressure and was finally ready to roll. The first steam up is a time where one carefully listens to see if anything is not quite right. Today, everything was right. The blue flag was removed and #4 with car 102 (being painted) were backed out of the yard on to the main line for coal loading and some test runs.
Steam from the cylinder cocks is a sign that #4 is back under steam for another year.
The runs were made and #4 and #8 were put to bed after a long day. Fortunately Mother Nature allowed us to perform a large amount of work outside.
This is our last scheduled work session for a little while. Our resources will now be turned to car painting and track work. Both are very important not only in terms of our presentation to the customer but to the safety of operations.
Our spring track weekend is in two weeks and we have 100 new five foot ties to put down on the mainline along with building the siding in front of building 7. In addition we will now be able to start replacing the variety of nuts and bolts being used with industry standard hardware.
Yes, it’s been written in previous articles and is now written again…we continue to have a lot of talent and will power inside the engine house. But we can only do as much as money will allow us. We still need money, it’s that simple. Cars can only stay in service if there is sufficient funds to perform the required maintenance and repairs. Our superintendent, Brian Durham, along with the rest of us would be very grateful for any contributions, large and small to help keep our fleet in operation. We are very creative when it comes to stretching a buck with many people digging into their own pockets to keep MNGR rolling stock going.
Please help us by contributing what you can so that we can provide safe and presentable equipment to our public. Thank you.
I didn't help on this one but hey the National Narrow Gauge Convention will be held here
Bob K. - A real tear jerker story there....wow...tears of both sadness and joy have overwhelmed me as I attempt to continue typing this reply.
May the angels always be with you!
hey guys.
well The mountains are not done but this morning I did a clearence check with both passenger and freight trains passenger to check over hang for the curve that at the unfinished end of the mountain. the base is a whole pizza box (large) with the space for the track cutout.
Good morning.Today's Weather for: Sundown, LA 71446-6114 5/11/2007
Sundown Fire Dept., Station 23 Wind Chill: 68°FHumidity: 84%Dew Point: 63°F So Far TodayHigh: 68°FLow: 66°FRain: 0.00"Rain Rate: 0.00"/hGust: 5mph NNE Now, May 11, 2007
High: 80
Very light rain or mist will persist across southeast Texas. A few light to moderate showers will also be possible...m mainly across the lakes region. Rainfall amounts will average just a few hundredths of an inch...with the showers producing up to a tenth of an inch. Over the coastal waters...scattered showers and thunderstorms will persist over the waters out to 60 nautical miles.
Today High: 80 Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Highs near 80. Light and variable winds becoming southeast around 10 mph in the afternoon.
Tonight Low: 65 Mostly cloudy. Patchy fog after midnight. Lows in the mid 60s. Light and variable winds. I'll have the sausage links today.
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
Good Morning all,
I can tell that today is going to be a good day for me. I find if I had trouble sleeping the following day generally ends up being tough- not the case today. I usually have my coffee out on the porch and have my morning cry fest, thinking of April this morning made me smile. I feel all the help and posts from yesterday helped. Many times I'll wake through the night finding myself holding April's pillow, it still smells like her, me hugging the pillow and our little dog curled up against it as he's done to her since a puppy.
Has Michael(8500gasturbine) been told of the diner? I think it will really help him as it has done me. I know exactly what he's feeling and it is a hurt unlike anything ever felt in my life.
Dick: I'm glad your son is happy now, it's a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for me.
Paul: All the clouds in the first pics were hand painted by our artist member. The clouds in the last pic with me are printed on a photo backdrop.
Garry: I'm done with the tissues for now, I'll let you and Sue have them.
Sue: Garry has the tissues
der5997: Quite an arrangement in that room of your's, I keep looking but I can't find the kitchen sink- Has to be there someplace! Instead of placing white castings for the rock cut, have you thought of coloring the plaster? I use powdered masonry dyes, the pic below shows the brown castings to the left done this way, ones on the long cut are Cripplebush rubber rock that are painted and drybrushed w/ acrylics.
This spot is being done mostly by one member that is experienced in theatrical sets and has taught me some great methods. I still am doing the castings rocks, portals and any retaining walls though.
Most of the gray rock color is dye in this shot, this is my handy work.
Phillip: That vidio clip is fantastic, you should give the link to Michael as well as an invite to the Diner
All of you have helped me so much, I hope to have many more decent days like this.
Well I better head out, need to leave to cross Boston"s traffic, I'm still working in Cambridge, near Harvard. If I don't get ahead of the crowd the traffic will be brutal.
Have a great day!
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Good morning ! from Indiana.
05-11-07
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
Bob,
Your story brought tears to my eyes. We have all lost loved ones, but when you get to share that special time it is priceless.
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
Good evening to all, last call for coffee on the east coast on this warm and humid night. We were not supposed to have any TS's today, but we did. Most of the real bad cells went north of us, and one house in southern NH was struck by lightening and severely damaged the home in Windham.
BOB: Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us. Sharing with others is one way to let others help carry the burden. As for how my son is doing, his three boys, and family and friends, helped him through the first year. Then, as if God stepped in, he met a wonderful young lady at work who had just lost her father and mother in the same year, 6 months apart. Her mother died of cancer near Christmas time that previous year. It has been very healing for all of them, the boys love her. And, they now have another baby brother, 15 months old. Once again Bob, your story reminds us all to hold on to those we love, and not to ever take life for granted.
DER JOHN: Ok, I see your hat under the table in the corner, we know you are sleeping again and hiding from Kris.
Time for bed, see you guys tomorrow,
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
To all my great Forum friends,
I am feeling a sense of peace this evening. All your wonderful responses have helped me immensely.
This brings me to want to share an unbelievable experience I had with my wife just a short time before she slipped away. I have only spoken this and this is the first time in writing.
On Wed Mar 28th at 7am I was informed that my wife wouldn't even last until Thur afternoon. I made the frantic phone calls to CA, TX and NJ to make sure all that needed to could get here as soon as possible. My wife, April, was tired and in and out most of the day. There was quite a few people Pastor, friends and family here through the day. I did manage to contact a good friend and previous pastor of our church, she was on her way to see my wife as soon as she could. April had a special bond with her and I knew that she would want her to do the service for her. You should have seen the look on my dear wife's face when Pastor Sandy walked into the room. At first she thought she was dreaming, we were all scooted out and the 2 of them had quite a long talk.
April was quite fatiqued by Wed evening, but this is one of those days where time has no reference. I had to be about 2-3 AM when it was finally quiet. She was sleeping in the infamous "lazy boy" that she had spent most of the last 13 months in. (living room @ home) when all needed some rest, my 3 children crowded around and grabbed a chair, couch or piece of floor to sleep as close to their mother as possible. I was on the couch reaching over holding her hand as I have done hundreds of times in the past.
Morning came and April was still out. At this time none of us were shure if she would regain conciencness again. April's mother wanted to make her feel better, so she decided to give her a sponge bath. We moved her to our bedroom, (luckily only a short distance away), and her mother , 2 sisters and my oldest daughter were in the room. I didn't want to be there, I knew here complexion was turning Jaundice and she was getting quite dehydrated. This is an image I didn't want. As soon as she was being massaged she woke and was more alert than she had been in days. The excitment spread through the house like wildfire, I didn't want her to become overwhelmed by too many people, but when I walked back in the bedroom I knew that it was my girl there and she wanted everybody. My nephew, a nurse at Brigham and Woman's was there the whole time making it comfotable for his aunt as well as all of us. He was in the process of adopting 2 babies and the adoption was done. April had been following this process as if she was the one adopting the children. The look of joy on her face when they brought the kids in to see her was absolutly amazing. Others had their time with her, then my children with me and alone. All left the bedroom and I had my sweatheart to myself. I could tell that she was extremely exhausted but we still talked. We remembered some great times, those real outstanding ones. then i told her what a wonderful wife she had been to me and how luckly I was to ever find her. I told her what a fantastic mother she is and that I promise to always take care of her babies. At this point after telling her how much I love her, she took that last bit of strength and reached up with both arms and pulled me down to her and said "I Love You". I told her I will "Love You Forever". After a few moments holding her she fell asleep. This is a moment I will cherish for a lifetime, many other wish that they could have a goodby like this, I was so fortunate.
I knew she didn't want to die in her bed, we moved her back into the favorite chair, made her comfortable and shortly after just slipped away as peacful as could be.
Evening Gang: What a trip to the not so local hobby shop. We only picked up a couple of things. Nothing big just small stuff. When we left we stopped a real good Tex Mex resturant for a late lunch. This was about 3pm. After that we headed for Ft. Worth. I-35 was getting slowed doen so we got off and took back roads. Those wern't much better. In all it took almost 2 hours to make a 45 min drive. From now on we go earler and come home before 3pm.
BobK: Those clouds are great. Who, how were they done?
Jeff: I'm sorry to hear about your fellow fire fighter. Only 43, that's too young.
Well I guess I'll head for bed. Tomorrow I have to make up for being gone today.
Good Night All
Jeff...... I'm sorry you lost your friend. Only 43. Sad.
Everybody...... I saw some of you remarked on 8500gasturbines thread "getting out of hobby......" It's a sad story.
Phil , I suggest you share Bart's writing to 8500gasturbine as well if you have not done so. Aslo Phil, I'm savinf Bart's comment for my own personl reasons. Thank you.
Bob K.,
Glad the words give you comfort. I Emailed Bart about all that's happening with you and he is praying for you. He's also got the rest of the band praying. Thought I'd pass that on.
The song that those words go to has been released on video and it's available for viewing here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvhrPMJe8LE
What's up, Doc......... Der
Must be somewhere under the tables...
Good evening folks: Is it really a whole week since I asked
Only 10 pages behind, but I’ve been sort of keeping up, so here goes…
CapeJim: I don’t know what version of the story of misfortune you heard, but the original was almost certainly by Gerard Hoffnung addressing the Oxford University Student’s Union. Late 50s, early 60s would be my guess. You can read the whole unfolding disaster at http://monologues.co.uk/004/Bricklayers_Story.htm LOL
BobK:
Even though it brought tears to my eyes, it really helped.
These are early days in a bewildering and painful time for you. You are very upfront with us, and I hope you sense the support you have here in the Diner, expressed or not. What Dick suggests about trips with your daughters is sound advice too.
That club layout is outstanding, thanks for posting those pics.
Dick:
and check in on Der John, we haven't heard from him in a while, see if he is asleep under the layout again.
Here’s the tour, from the right hand side of my desk, clockwise around the room to the left of, and behind the desk. Some of it gets tidied up for running trains, but that hasn’t happened in a while.
BTW,Looks like you are entitled to get a new tiller!
by CapeJim… Jeff, sorry to hear about your fellow fireman. " style='width:31.5pt;height:17.25pt'> " border="0" width="42" height="23" />" style='width:31.5pt; height:17.25pt'> " border="0" width="42" height="23" />for you, for his family and the rest of his crew.
JR: Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet showed the Lotus (7?) entry in the DARPA Challenge. Sad to see it all cluttered up with sensors and cameras.
I’ve not put up pictures of the progress on the layout because I wanted to show completed sections. That’s a bit tricky the way the w**k is going. I’ve added more rocks and ground cover…here’s the start of that on the long access hatch for the upper tunnel. Here’s a little later, with the hatch in place, being kept separate from the main scenery by cling wrap and recycled plastic cards.
I have done some more rock colouring, and ground cover painting, but it’s slower than I thought it would be. Also I’m not too happy with the brown rock colour. However, I’ve now got two or three (out of 6 tries) grey rock colours that I like, and I find washes of these greys over the brown gives a pretty interesting and convincing look.
Trips to town, and to fix things at our daughter’s house, celebrate birthdays, and of course the inevitable outside work, have taken away from layout time.
I think I may have found a pic of the infamous “Cousin Vinny”
All, and God Bless. Prayers for all in need of healing, comfort and peace.
"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.
Evening Gents,
I just feel real good reading all your replies. Your support has helped getting through this.
Phillip: I copied those words from Bart. I found myself reading it a few times today when feeling down. Even though it brought tears to my eyes, it really helped. I think some of the subs on the job thought I was nuts or something- of coarse they didn't know what I'm going through.
Dick: Thanks for the kind words. How is your son doing these days? Believe me I shure do know what he went through. The heartache hurts so bad, never have I ever felt anything like this. My daughter thanks you for the congrats. Last Sat I had my oldest daughter go to work with me. Actually she asked me to go. When my kids were young, they went to work with me whenever they could. They were facinated with the carpentry work I do. They are no strangers to tools both hand and power. The Sat project was like old times, we both need that quality time together. We replaced a 50 year old custom designed railing at my lawyers office. My daughter jumped right in, helped cut ballusters, primed all the Douglas Fir rails and handed me the drills and nail guns...Was a great day, we spoke of her mother most of the time and it felt good for both.
philnrunt: Thanks, this is a great place to hang out. I do know there's many caring friends here. The majority of the scenery has been done by me. I try to use some of the tried and true old methods adopted by the club along with Dave Frary's help from his couple scenery books. I'm not an old hand at this, have been doing it for about 7-8 years. There are s couple of members that have proven themselves to be quite the scenery artists as well. The following shots of this "East Middleton" area of the layout has taken about 4 years to do.
There's another industrial switching area that I don't have pics of now but will show it later.
Paul: I'm doing good today, I keep hangin' in there. I need to remember this for the bad days.
Have you guys read Michael's post about quitting the hobby? He lost his son very recently, I can really feel for him.
I hope I didn't leave anyone out, I'm still new to this kind of posting w/ 3 windows going.
A big Thanks to all, I really need your support.
Figured I'd through in a pic of me backing some Chessie power out of the yard
All and Jeff- does anyone have a motor like the one my FA1 needs?
Good afternoon everyone......83F hot and very humid today, so we are drinking the refrig dry today as we work outside. Severe TS are forecasted for upper NY state, so they will stay well west of us.
CAPE JIM: Glad to hear that you are well away from the floods, it is nice to live by a river, but when it floods, what a mess it can make. I like the high country where I can look DOWN at the lakes, ponds , rivers and streams.
BOB: Good idea to take time away when you are feeling as you did yesterday. Congrats to your daughter too, that is a quite an achievement, tell her the Diner is proud of her!! Try to take some time with your daughters to go on day trips, or vacations to the ocean, mountains, camping, whatever you guys like to do...it will help you and your daughters very much...they will really need you now more then ever.
Time to get back outside, see you guys at suppertime,
Mornin I'll have the doughnut that looks like a piece of corn bread. And I need to get those supports cut but atleast I fixed the spot where the train leans over and falls (occasionally).
Good morning, all. Coffee please.
I have had a busy week, but now I am off until Tuesday. Today should make 70, so I need to work outside. We will be attending Larry's sister college graduation on Saturday, and his sisters have a big shindig planned for Mother's Day. That should total the weekend. I was hoping to get some layout time. I will need to be organized to work that in.
Garry, I know that you were planning on some help with your garage, sorry I didn't make it over. Good luck with that.
Has anyone noticed their butterfly bushes growing?
Later, Sue