Elliotts Trackside Diner (est 1-1-07)

[magicman710]

I dont think I told any of you yet, but thursday night, my brother got in a car accident. He got the worst of it. Here is the story: http://www.wtoc.com/Global/story.asp?S=6913788

[Cederstrand]

A root beer float to go please and thank you!

***Paul, stories like what happened to your friend Tony really T me off. Tony doesn't need the help (or the hassle), but that punk sure does...in the form of a few more whacks with a sledge-hammer.

***Jim, I'll be delighted to take that pie that Mark didn't want....and anyone elses here...just on a plate, not in the face.

***Philip, outstanding deal. CONGRATS! May it give you 10 years of dependable service! (I bought a Dodge Sportsman van for $1000 around 20 years ago and it made it to well over 350,000 miles, if memory serves me)

Getting a late start today. Must switch out pasture horses and start the extra watering thing. Front pasture creek is now dry. Will add a couple hours of work to my days....dang drought! Frightening thing is even the Salacoa creek which runs by the far corner of our property is barely a trickle and without that, there is no water to pump from anywhere else. I don't even want to think about what it would cost to have truck loads of water delivered. Ugh!

Healing to those in need. Later! Rob

[cheese4432]

Ah, saved by Jeff's post - Jeff, let me cover it for you. You've got enough with your rash and the pain. Chloe, I'm covering (gulp... where's PC, Mark, Ryan & I-live-to-eat-pies Fergie?...) this page.

Blessings,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

 FOR THE LAST BLOODY TIME, I HATE PIE!!!!

I go crazy for trains. Not food.

Jim: Yeah... They're making the FEF, and the 4300 class 4-8-2s... PCM, BLI, and them are making daylight cars... PCM will eventually make their GS-4 which I need, need, the PCM GS-4... Bachmann's don't cut it.

 

Wow somebody doesn't like pie!.

AMazing, so I'll have some strawberry pie for breakfast And nothing new 'round here abouts but we just planted a garden. I hope it'll grow because the we'll have pickled beets!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

It's lunchtime here in Louisiana, the temp is already at 98 with a heat index of 105. I expect the temp to hit the century mark and the index to reach 109.

I'll have ribs and an iced soda.

 

[JimRCGMO]

Oh, GOODIE! Janie, I see that Jeff's buying and those ribs sure look tasty! How about another side of them as big as his stack there,

plus an order of cheesey fries, and a nice glass of Dr. Pepper, please!

 

Oh yeah, and I'll have that slice of apple pie with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream on it. 

 

(Better eat that first before our piehounds get in...)

Grayson, sorry to hear about your brother's wreck - is he all right? That looked like a really nasty wreck from the photos.

Mark, hope you have a great birthday when it gets here. Your folks must do up birthdays better than mine did when I was about your age. Enjoy!

Cheese, you can have my share of the pickled beets, too. I never did acquire a taste for pickled anything, and I wasn't wild about beets. Probably the purple color...

I've been staying inside this afternoon - our humidity's lower than Jeff's, I think (30 percent, so we don't have any heat index right now). But our temp isn't as good as DerJohn's - he emailed me this afternoon and said they're only 21 C (69 F) up there. Sheesh! The nerve of some people, rubbing it in that way!  

This afternoon, I've been taking apart an extra conveyor belt (like the ones that go with the Walthers Glacier Gravel) and using the 3 open sides in a trianglular form for a radio station tower. Still have to decide on the fictitious call letters for it - KAZ? KRNR (4 Korners)? KAZR? KRAZ? (Kind of like that last one...) This'll be just a county-wide station; no 'Clear Channel' station out in Four Corners area! Heck, this station's so low on funds that they're going to have to hire somebody's teenager to climb and re-paint the tower ('cause it's getting some rust spots on it). The radio station idea will give me an excuse to put a speaker under the layout nearby, and have it playing Fifties Top 40 and country (my layout is set in the 1950's). Might try to figure how to put a beacon light on the top and maybe some more lights at spots lower down on the tower.

Got to finish my ribs now (and then wash up before I get back to some freight car kits). That apple pie a la mode was good, Janie!

 

Blessings and prayers for a good afternoon,

Jim in Cape Girardeau 

 

[JeremyB]

hi guys

Very nice weather here this weekend, was hoping to get out and run some RC trucks and tanks but I have a cold so dont really feel like going out in the heat cant remeber the last time I got a cold in august, oh well. other then that just watching the BUSCH race and the IRL race later on tonight ( no F1 race for a couple weeks ) have a good weekend everyone

- Jeremy

[grayfox1119]

Good evening, what a great day weatherwise.......70's and low humidity, if only this would hold for the next couple of months!!

J.R. : How did you find out that I own stock in Tucker's??? LOL, I also own stock in HD, Duke can tell you all about that, I even have my own parking spot with name on it. Bob had a nice selection of locomoties, and of course he has brass in the cabinet when you first in come in the door straight ahead. Free tax day tomorrow too J.R., and you can eat lunch outside in the shade at the Steaming Tender and watch the action at the Diamond.

MARK: A birthday coming in a few days I hear from Zoe, I also overheard Jim telling Zoe to make you a lemon marangue pie.  What is on your wish list for your BD?

MIKE: Although we are having great weather here this summer, we have not had very many warm nights, so the tomato production is suffering big time. We have only picked 4  tomatoes this far. Plenty of cherry tomatoes though. At this rate, we won't get enough to can very many. Last night several towns around us actually set record LOW TEMPS last night when the temps bottomed out at 46F, on August 11th!!! This is crazy!!!

JEFF: How are you holding up today without the pain killers?

Later,

[egmurphy]

Good Afternoon Coffee Clubbers,

Whew, just getting rested up alter the last trip.  We went to the annual national railfan and model railroad convention down here.  This year it was in Aguascalientes, which used to be a huge rail center with some of the biggest shops in the hemisphere.  Unfortunately these days it's just another town with no yard, no repair shops, and just a mainline that passes through.  They did do a great job of preserving a lot of the old facilities, and made a wonderful park with the station, freight shed, and other stuff preserved.  One of the big shop buildings is a hall for events.  And they have more of the land and buildings waiting funds to develop.  So all was not lost.

It was great to see a lot of my railfan buddies from down here, and a few that came from up north of the border also.  I hope to get some photos edited, organized and posted within a couple of days.  We'll be a little short of time this week because we have one last trip (for this month, anyway) to go on next week.  I'll tell you, I'm almost getting tired of traveling.

I won't bother giving you a detailed weather forecast from down here.  Longtime coffee clubbers already know that it's hot. 

 

Jerry - real sorry to hear about Sallie.  Hope the docs can fix her ankle up without too much discomfort for her or interference with her other treatments.

 

Hey, tell Ed I've laid off the OJ the past couple of days!

Uh, Jim, I appreciate that, but that looks suspiciously like O.J. (combined with other substances, of course) in that glass. 

 

Phil, congrats on the new van.  Our Blazer is 11 years old and I'm hoping we can get a couple more years out of it.  Just had new brake shoes and front wheel bearings put in today.  No, I didn't do the work myself.

 

HEY, stop laughing, I want to be able to get under my benches when I'm 80 how about YOU?

Me?  I'm going to go with a moveable bridge, if I ever construct anything bigger than my current door sized layout (which, as you well know, I don't even have to get under to wire!!). 

ED: I just checked the frig, we are OUT OF OJ !!!!  While the cat's away the mice will play !!!!! You can't go away and leave the orchard unattended anymore, the tanker never left the siding!! 

Ooops, sorry.  I'll check into that as soon as we get back from our next trip........

 

J.R. - glad to hear that Branford Hobbies is still in business.  I used to ride my bicycle out there from Hamden just to gaze at the stuff and windowshop, and every now and then buy something small.  That was some 45-47 years ago.

That´s about it for now.  I need to get this wound up and posted or another day will slip by.

Oh, yeah, before I forget.  How ‘bout them Boston Red Sox!!!  6-2 over the Orioles this afternoon.

Hasta mañana,

Ed

[pcarrell]

Well waddya know!  There really is a prototype for everything! 

This looks like my yard!

http://www.bilderberg.org/kingmoor.jpg

[jeffrey-wimberly]

JEFF: How are you holding up today without the pain killers?

The ankle hurts a bit so I'm staying off it as much as I can.

[inch53]

Evening all, a barley pop please Flo.

We spent most the day running round Terre Haute. Got the remodel material all on sale even, but the flooring. Mother can't decide, but she got a couple weeks on that yet, then.

Did manage some train pics to post laters. The 2 boys gave us a want list for next weekend from Gander Mountain. That place is alright, but it's a lot like Walmart," a lot of stuff, just not much of what you need, if any.

Mike, take it easy on the skillet's, will ya!

I can't help it I have a hard head, tell Mother about!!

Like the new van too. #1 son has a chevy bout like it, we're putting a engine in. Oh' and try not to enjoy your vacation from the wife n kids to much. Where was that yard pic taken and when?? Looked like Europe, 1910's or 20's maybe.

JIM CG,, weather guessers here are saying this hot and humid is suppose to break by next Fri here. I figure it should break for you bout Wed [I'm hoping anyway]

GRAYSON,, hope your brother is doing ok. We'll keep ya'll in our thoughts.

CHEESE,,, beets should still have time to make. My FIL sowed fall turnips on the 7-25 and I'll be sowing fall spinach, leaf lettuce, radishes in a couple weeks.

DICK,,, it's hot here and I have to keep reminding myself, this is almost normal and I use to bale hay in it, but I just don't do as well now as then.

Still no honeybees here, so our squash and zucchini didn't do anything, but the tomatoes are going nuts now, We'll start making salsa and canning whole ones this week. Between what we have and what my mom and hers, we'll do bout 60 pints or so salsa, plus the whole and stew tomatatoes. Her mom gave us a bunch of zucchini, so relish is on the canning list too

ED,, good to hear you had a great trip and glad your back with us. One question any photos from done that way. 

Best be going, we've got the football jamboree in Palistine tomorrow. Plan on stopping by the INRR yard while we're there, so maybe some more pics. Hope ya'll as a gooden

[Cederstrand]

What else but ato recharge the batteries.

Other than my daily peek at some train cams, running a few locos back and forth on a test track while wishing I could be building my RR empire, and dropping in here to peruse the forums, not much in the train dept today.

Used the well water for the horses and will get gas for the pump Monday. Worked on the livingroom floor and ran out of underlayment, so it's on to the next project for the moment, of which there are still plenty. Going to keep working late tonight, then out to watch some of the Perseid meteor shower.

Take Care All ! Rob

[bjdukert]

Jerry  Sorry to hear about Sallie and hope things get better soon

Paul  As soon as I get the pics in Photobucket I'll start them here.

JR Next Sat looks ok,will send an Email 

That's about it tonight

Best to all on sick call and those recovering

Talk to you later

Duke   

[egmurphy]

ED,, good to hear you had a great trip and glad your back with us. One question any photos from done that way. 

Yup, definitely.  I've just about finished going through them and editing them.  Now I have to upload some to my Rail Images album, then I'll be able to post some of them here.  I also have a few from the trip to Canada this summer that also need to get uploaded and posted.  I'm just behind......

[Paul W. Beverung]

Evening Gang: It's late and I'm tired. I got part of the far back yard mowed. Now I have to rake the clippings and mow it again. It was so thick and tall that the mower got alittle hot so I quit and cleaned out the radiator and air intakes. I'll get back to it tomorrow. I still have to cut the weeds on the railroad and then spray with generic round up. I'm going to get a 25 gal. electric sprayer so I can do fence rows also. ( At least that's what I'm telling Mary Ann).

The temp hit 100 today but it didn't feel to bad. I guess it wasn't real humid.

I guess I'll head for bed.

Jerry and Sallie and Chuck and Kathy I'm pulling for ya. Hang in there. Jeff you stay off that ankle as much as possible. for you all. 

Good Night All

[pcarrell]

Now this boy can play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNc5o9TU0t0&mode=related&search 

 

[Hoople]

Evenin'!

I already had dinner, so I'll just go for- No, no ice cream. Yes seriously floe.

PC!!!! No jokes! For the last time, NO PIE!!!

Grayfox: Well a bunch of locomotives- I only expect one out of the 7 or so I asked for. I know money doesn't grow on trees. They include: Athearn challenger, Intermountain cab forward with sound, BLI MT-73 4-8-2 with sound, P2K Y3 with sound, P2K E7A/B with sound, P2K or PCM ALCO PA1 PB1 with sound. The only reason I'm asking for some of these is because the LHS is having a sale around this time. Hopefully I'll get at least one. Most likely the challenger... I don't think my LHS has half of those!

 

Well, see y'all later!

Mark

[pcarrell]

PC!!!! No jokes! For the last time, NO PIE!!!

Huh?  Who me?

[Hoople]

You think you're so smart playing dumb....

 

MWUHAHAHAHAAAA!

[magicman710]

*News upadate*

My brother is doing better. The plastic surgery on his right cheek (I told yall before it was the left, its the right) from his mouth to just above his eye. His face is swollen up, but not covered with bandages. The cuts are covered with a vaseline type stuff, and is on a antibiotic. The tube that were down in his stomach to suck up the blood that was collectinng down there, I think from the bleeding either during the surgery or his actual injuries. Since he now is no longer put to sleep, he has the option of waking up, and can slightley talk (he asked for a tissue to wipe the stuff of his face, but couldnt) and since he can breath on his on, he dont need the breathing tube. The pin I told yall about was from his upper thigh to his knee. I went last night, but he was sleeping and didnt agnologize us. He probably wont be in the ICU much longer, then moved to a regular room. I dont know when he is getting realeased, but the driver was, he has a broken are, but the backseat passenger, who had many scratches, bruises and a bad gash on his head is still there. Well thats if for now, I'll do my best to keep yall updated.

 

Thanks for the good thoughts, I really appreciate them.

 

[wetidlerjr]

Good morning ! from Indiana.

08-12-07

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning.

Another hot one today with an expected high of 102 with an index of 110.

Today's Weather for:  
Sundown, LA  71446-6114      8/12/2007 
 
Heat Index:  88°F
Humidity:  66%
Dew Point:  71°F
 
So Far Today
High:  83°F
Low:  81°F
Rain:  0.00"
Rain Rate:  0.00"/h
Gust:  8mph NNE
 
Today  High: 102    Sunny...haze. Highs around 102. Light and variable winds becoming northeast around 10 mph in the afternoon. Heat Index readings around 110 in the afternoon.  

Tonight  Low: 72    Mostly clear. Haze. Lows in the lower 70s. Light and variable winds.

[pcarrell]

Mornin' all!

I see Jeff's been in and given his weather report, so now I'll give mine.........

I think that about sums it up!

So, I think some layout time is in order today.  Gotta work on that backdrop some more ya know.  I've got all of those putty spots to sand smooth.  Tedious work, but it has to be done.

Whats up with you all?

Grayson, glad to hear that you brother is better.

Mike, I'm not sure about the origins of the pic, but looking at it I'd say you're probably right.

 

 

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT:  Hoople does not eat pie!  (But I do!)

[rtraincollector]

Okay chole heres the card. Been awhile scince been in figure my turn to buy.

Not much happening here still job hunting. finally got moved in still going thru the boxes thou.

Been checking in every once and a while but haven't been writing much talk to you all later

from TN now

[fec153]

Been so long since I posted, I forgot how. Silver 60 had to tell me.

First- Deb and I have and are continuing to pray for all our friends here. We also have our problems and value highly your support.

So many old newbies in here. , belatedly. My hours are such that when I get home I eat, shower and get my manifest for the next day. By 9 to 9:30 my head is on my pillow.

Be that as it may, we wish better health to all and His Hand on your Heads and Hearts.

Warm regards to all.

Flip

             

[AntonioFP45]

Jim, Der

Thanks.  Maybe Bergie might know something.  I will zip him an e-mail. I know forum members come and go, but I find it hard to believe that Elliot would simply "drop off" without saying a good-bye or that he had things to take care of.  I pray that he and his loved ones are all right.

Take care..........

[egmurphy]

Good Evening Coffee Clubbers,

I made some decent progress today editing and uploading photos from the latest trip to my Rail Images album.  And I wrote a number of posts about the trip over in a thread on TrainBoard (where I usually hang out).  Rather than redo everything I'm going to try and take a short cut.  I'm going to try to copy my posts from over there, including the photo links) and see if I can paste them in a post here and have it come out right.

I'll also give you the direct link to that thread in case you just want to take a look at it there at TrainBoard.   The direct link to the thread is shown below.  It's a work in progress and I still have more to write and more photos to upload.  Will probably take a couple more days to complete.   http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=90871

Okay, on to experimenting to see if I can successfully copy and paste my efforts from over there.

We've been traveling a lot this summer and haven't posted much. Now it's time to start uploading and posting some of the shots I took. We just got back from a trip to the center of the country, spending a few days each in Aguascalientes and Zacatecas.

Every year they have an annual railfan and model railroading convention down here, at least this is the 11th year. Not much by U.S. or Canadian show standards, but it's a chance to get together with friends that I usually only get to correspond with on discussion boards. This year's convention was held in Aguascalientes, capital city of the state of the same name, the 3rd smallest state in the country.

Through most of the 1900's, Aguascalientes was one of the most important, if not the biggest, rail center in the country. While not a center in terms of lines crossing through there, they built the largest set of shops in the NdeM system there. But with centralization and privatization, little by little the facilities were dismantled. Now, even the yard has been removed, and only a north/south mainline runs through the area that once was a huge rail complex.

At least the city and state aquired most of the land and structures when they were sold off. They have developed a portion of the area as the "Plaza of the 3 Centuries", referring to the 19th century when the rails arrived in town, the 20th century when the railroad was the most important employer in town, and the 20th century, the city's future, but with little rail participation. They did a great job on the park, and it does make a wonderful venue for a convention.

Anyway, enough of the background. Let me get on with posting a few shots. As usual, this will be a several day process. If I wait until I get everything edited and uploaded before posting, I'll never get anything done. So a few shots each day.

Oh yeah, and by the way, you know that I know nothing about "diseasels". So any calls I make regarding what animal is appearing in my photos is based only on what I can glean from my "Diseasel Spotter's Guide" or unofficial roster info from websites down here. Feel free to chime in with corrections to what I have posted.

First off, walking between our hotel and the convention site, we passed by the building of the Railway Workers Union. Outside they have mounted a wonderful large scale (scale unknown to me) model of a 4-4-0. Really nicely done, very detailed. I don't believe it was ever intended as operational, most likely just display. It stands about 3' tall at the stack. I suppose I should have measured the gauge.

 

This is the old station. It is the centerpiece for the plaza. On the main floor it's mostly a museum and display area. Upstairs has offices for the complex, recreated old railroad offices, and a large meeting or presentation room.

 

The mainline runs on the other side of the station. This gave everyone lots of opportunities to run and snap photos when a train came through. The only disconcerting thing was that when the trains came through while a presentation was going on, the horns tended to disturb the talk. And there was a noticeable movement of teh audience towards the open windows trying to grab a shot. Here´s a look at the station from the south. The line runs just to the right of here. The side to the right was the side that faced the platforms.

And just to show a night shot of the station.

Okay, back later with some train shots.

Regards

Ed

[egmurphy]

Hey, that worked pretty slick!!  Okay then, on to the second installment of the saga.

 

While the plaza/museum doesn't have a lot of locomotives (only two, in fact), the steam loco that they have is a real beauty. It's this 4-6-4 Hudson (yup, checked twice) built by ALCO in 1937. High drivered, built for mainline passenger service, it ended up it's life running local freights. Beautifully maintained (obviously not in operating condition) it makes a great centerpiece for the park.

Here's a different view where I got to play with my editing software features.

And I did remember to take a shot of the builder's plate (which by some miracle was still in place).

And one last shot with yours truly spoiling the view.

Next up, "diseasels" run by the place.

Regards

Ed

[egmurphy]

Like I said earlier, with the FerroMex (FXE) mainline between Mexico City and Cd Juarez/El Paso running right by the park, we had a number of opportunities to grab shots of trains coming by. Here are a few.

First up is what I'm lead to believe are a pair of SD40-2's. The radiator sections sure look different to me, but the roster data I have access to says these 2 numbers, 3101 and 3204, are SD40-2's. Maybe some type of rebuild. Who knows? I'm certainly open for comments or corrections on this one. This is a northbound train and I'm standing just outside the park entrance to get the shot. These are still in their two-toned blue "Smurf" paint scheme from their FNM days, and have not been repainted in FXE colors yet.

Then we had a pair of shiny and clean new ES44AC's (see previous disclaimer), also heading northbound.

Then an SD40-2 number 3153 followed by C30 Super7-MP number 3819. Shot this one out the window of the presentation room. The presenter paused his talk as half the room headed for the windows. The heavy shadows in the foreground are from the high station building. Sorry about that.

And I finally got to see some of the new KCS hoppers in their new paint scheme. Nice looking cars, if I do say so. So far not badly scarred or covered with grafitti.

That´s it for now. I have to go and upload some more stuff in order to continue.

Later

Ed

[der5997]

Good evening Diners: An ideal August day here on Nova Scotia’s Eastern Shore. Sunny all day, but a slight breeze, and no humidity to speak of. Temperature perhaps 70 F. CapeJim, I’m just trying to lure you y’all up here to spend your tourist dollars! If you can't wait to cool down, there’s always this way

Finally got the photos of the Tank off to Fergie. Here’s what we’ve been talking about. Fergie’s idea of a row of portholes sounds great! In it’s original 1950’s condition, it was a boring black, and held about 130K gallons of Bunker C to dry pulp at a ground-wood pulp mill on the east side of the river the west bank of which forms the foreground of this pic. It’s been, since the mill went down in 1971, several short lived restaurant/bars. The best paint scheme was a dolphin and waves, with the name Flipper’s in script. Always seemed to attract “fellows of the baser sort” (Acts 17:5 KJV), and their attendant fellowesses. With them came the attentions of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and shall we say, business did not thrive. The food was never anything to write home about, at least on the rare occasions we tried it. Never did go to Mom’s……

Grayson: Thank God for the Jaws of Life! Here’s praying your brother and the others all pull through OK.

Flip: back! It’s been a while. Sorry that your schedule doesn’t leave much time for mrr&r. A bit like Teffy? Do you hear from him at all?

Looks like I’ve run down the clock and must get to bed. all, and God Bless. Prayers for all in need of healing, comfort and peace.