Dick - I think the CPU cooling fan has stopped working. It just a matter of finding the time to get at it and replace the thing.
Happy MRRing
Good Sunday morning to everyone, right and sunny here today with a temp of 33F. A cold front moved through overnight, dropped a dusting of snow, but by Tuesday, the Polar air will arrive with only a high of 20F....ohh well, Spring is not that far away.......is it??
VISTA UPDATE: Microsoft sent me a free Ultimate version of Vista for a thank you for taking part in their Friends & Family Beta testing program for their new Software. I am reloading some of my programs and upgrading others. One feature that I really like, is these two meters that are on the right sidbar of the screen. One is a speedometer that shows CPU use, the 2nd speedometer shows RAM ( Random Access Memory ) use which is particularly great to have. This shows the % of memory that is used while I run programs. You will know right away why your PC is slowing down visually!! Very nice features.
MIKE: Sure happy to see that the kids have a house now and that supplies are arriving for them to refit their household needs. Rural America at it's best, alive and well thank God!!
JEFF: What type of motors does Athearn use in that 4400? It would be interesting to talk with people at Athearn to get their take on this problem..quiet running on DC and growling like an Alaskan Grissly with constipation. I guess that is the engineer in me Jeff, I like to know the "reasons" why something does what it does. BTW, a might cold down there in LA at 47F for a high !!!!!!!
J.R. : Nice layout pictures, you have some very nice scenery constructed!!!
LUC: What is the issue with your computer? Maybe I can help you out if I know what it is doing/not doing. Will it start in Safe Mode at all? There are 4 small LED lights on the rear of the PC, are they lit? Are they all green or are some Amber, let me know the light code if they are lit, (ie 1st and 3rd green, 2 and 4 amber.)
PAUL: Hope you take it easy today buddy, Sunday should be a day of rest and relaxation as God intended, so read your MRR mags and stay out of the shop.
RYAN: Haven't heard much from the hills of North Carolina lately, whatsup?
FERGIE: Stop peeking through the screen door to the Diner and get in here !!!!!! What have you been up to??
DER JOHN: It looks like you and I are having record Winters for low snow amounts. We usually get 72" here, we have had about 24" and running about +6F above average. All the snow came mostly in late January and early February. We have about 5" of snow remaining on the ground.
Noontime....time for dinner, see you guys later.
Good Morning All,
It's a nice sunny day out - I'll try to get some yard chores done at home. Also need to do some more castings for the museum display and deliver a car to Rowayton this afternoon.
OZJim - great pictures, the old consist in the modern settings is jarring, but the equipment is gorgeous. We should take up a collection to get you a video camera so we can see and hear the sights.
Luc - i think the girls bronzed your reserved for placard so no worries there. Just lean over when you're in and wake up Duke and Scott.
Inch - getting a lawyer involved at least for advice is the best bet at this point. The last thing your family needs right now is the run-around especially as the ins companies are famous for offering less than what you need to make things right or get them replaced.
All for now - hope those ailing are doing better - has anyone heard from Fergie lately? CUL,J.R.
Hi.
Just a quick visit. My 'puter is still down with a hardware problem. I'm using one at work today.
Just want to make sure I still have a corner...
Hope you have a great day
Haapy MRRing
Good morning. It's Sunday, the 4th day March in the year of our lord, 2007.Here's todays weather data for the west central Louisiana area.
Wind Chill: 33°FHumidity: 47%Dew Point: 19°F So Far TodayHigh: 45°FLow: 34°FRain: 0.00"Rain Rate: 0.00"/hGust: 11mph N Today High: 58 Sunny. Highs in the upper 50s. Northwest winds around 10 mph.
Tonight Low: 28 Clear. Lows in the upper 20s. Northwest winds up to 10 mph in the evening becoming light and variable.
Ham and eggs today and some doughnuts too.
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
Morning All;
Anyone here form the London (Ontario) area? And are you going to the show in Byron today? Just wondering.
GUB
Morinin, I'll have coffee and a sweet roll Janie.
The kids got them a house rented for awhile and started moving in yesterday, and with any luck they'll be staying there tonight. A church over in Hazel Dell gave them some beds along with few plates, pots n pans and such. Deb's sister has a ice box for them and a freind of ours has some other furniture in storage for them. Me n mother went an got'em some odds n ends too. So them can at least have coffee and toast. When things settle some and get sorted out, we're going to pick up some other things they need
Our grandson MAC is coming down from springfield later today. When he found out that uncle EJ and them had lost every thing, he wanted to give them his tv and entendo, so they could watch tv and play games, till they could get another one. He remembered what it was like like to loss ever thing in a fire from when their apartment burnt 5 years ago. All they had was the clothes on their backs.
Had another appraiser in in yesterday, so far the bids run from 38,000 to 70,000. The last one said if he got the job, he was going to just give the kids the check. He didn't think the house was worth saving [he was from the bank]. What the insurance company doesn't know is EJ's [my x-BIL] is a realestate lawyer and I told the kids to get a hold of him for some advice.
Guess I need to get off this subject, afor I bore ya'll to death with it.
DICK, sounds like you folks had some nasty weather your way, kinda like what we had a week or so back. glad ya'll made it through it ok.
Heather already said her and the kids are NOT moving back into that house and their bank aggreed. We've not had much trouble with gas, kinda like it even. Wood and coal is the best heat I think, not as dry as the others.
JERRY, hope Sally's feeling better today. The Rockome train show swap, is April 21 an 22. I think we're going up.
SCOTT, try not to get so busy ya wear yourself out with all thats you have going on.
PC, liked the photo, even if there wasn't a train going through.
GMT, great pics of the layout hope we get to see some more.
OZ, great pics of that down under steam, thanks.
The weathers suppose to be sunny, with highs in the 40's and less wind than we've had the last couple days, I need to do some outside work today, so not much train time. Plus Jamie and them are comin down, so another feed is on for today. Mother likes it when she has a bunch to cook for, say's it's easier than than just cooking for me n her and I have to aggree.
I'd best get on ta some chores, Hope ya'll has a good day
inch
http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4309
Good morning ! from Indiana.
03-04-07
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
Good morning all,
Cold and windy up here, going to the Lorain County National Model Railroaders Train show-flea market today. Full report when I get back. For those of you that live in NE Ohio the Lakeland Railfest is next weekend I'll be one of the many people waiting for the doors to open!
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
Afternoon all,
As promised here are some pics of the Steam train sunday, I'll post a link to the trains forum, where there is a separate post.
http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1056200/ShowPost.aspx
Der, As for the costs for insurance i'm not too sure, but I wouldn't say it would be too high, as the QR heritage is a division of Queensland Rail, which is still mostly Government owned. QR has a very big belief that heritage preservation is important. I'll see if I can find out the costs etc, for you.
all for now,
Oz
James, Brisbane Australia
Modelling AT&SF in the 90s
Paul and Grayfox: It works fine on DC now that I've hardwired it. It really ticked me off when the light board smoked after only 20 minutes running on DC. I tried two decoders in the blasted thing and got the same result. It sounded like a 20 year old electric can opener on both of them. On regular DC it runs quiet, for an Athearn. I won't be buying any more of Athearn's expensive junk. They've stung me twice already, they'll not have a third chance. The first was a Genesis Light Pacific 4-6-2 that had major drive issues and now this 4400 with DCC noise issues and electrical problems. I'll stick with Athearn's BB's. I have a bunch of them and they all run, which is more than I can say for the Pacific and they run better than the 4400, especially the F7 that I converted to DCC. It runs quiet, no hum or growl. I'm going to convert more of them and an Athearn BB PA2-PB2 set that I have.
der5997.......... you're welcome regarding NS travel...... we'd like to get back there and enjoy it without the aftermath of 9/11 impacting the trip. Again, we appreciated the kindness from Canadians to all the people stranded in NS at the time.
Philip...That signal bridge photo certainly had a mood to it. It felt cold and damp just looking at it.
Everybody.......... I've been finalizing my steel mill and am thinking of posting photos soon. It might give ideas to people thinking of building one.
Good night, and Happy Model Railroading!
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Good Evening All,
Got the evening in working on scenicing a bit of the layout so we'll try show and tell
this is the gravel company transplanted from the old layout and it's now where the river used to be under the Beichstaller or whatever bridge.
this is the spur leading to the gravel company - no ballast yet and the track needs a good clean up but you get the idea. Well I need to do a tidy up and get some ZZZZZZz's so CUL,J.R.
OK, I guess I had better clarify further my point on natural gas, and Propane. My dislike is strictly and soley from a "safety" point of view. I know it heats well, the Condo we go to up in the White Mountains has a Propane fireplace. I have a Propane fired Grille outside. Again...my issue is Safety. I have seen FAR too many homes blasted apart because of gas leaks. Yes, I know that if maintenance is done annually, there should never be a problem. But many people do not follow directions, hell, they can't even read a manual when they purchase a VCR, how the heck are they going to know what a furnace needs for care. The same does hold for an oil fired furnace, but I never heard of an oil fired furnace blowing a house apart.
Then there are the contractors who dig up the street, rupture a gas line, or otherwise cause a leak, that follows the gas line into the houses and one spark and your off to the moon baby. It is all about peace of mind at night sleeping. Otherwise, check the canary often.
PAUL: You have really been on a tear since retiring, don't burn out the candle so fast Paul, pace that bod !!! LOL
JEFF: I can hear that 4400 all the way up here!!!!
Evening Gang: Just a quick note tonight. I spent the day out at son John's place working on the crossings for his railroad. We got one done. I did alot of triming of trees along the proposed right of way. Anyway I'm really tired. I also managed to bust the rear view merrior on the truck. Oh well it's only money. My left leg is sore tonight. I had a cramp in it a couple night's ago and the mussels are sore.
Jeff: Is the 4400 running on DC alright again? This problem does sound interesting.
I'm off to bed.
Good Night All
Evenin' All,
It's been a good day here is sunny Alabama. I miss the snow, but not that much. Spring might as well be here now as flowers are blooming all over the place. Enough bragging. Zoe, may I haqve a ginger ale please? Thanks.
I think I owe Attaboy and PC an apology. For some reason I've been thinking that it was PC who sent me the photos of the PRR station at Lewistown but it was Attaboy who did. How can you ever forgive me?
grayfox1119 wrote: I hate gas.
Well I'm now to the point that if I don't see some new track in this house real soon now I'll burst. I took a layout magazine to Jamie's swimming class again today. Reading all those articles, seeing all the layouts and slobbering all over the pages are making me jittery. I gotta lay some track. Maybe I'll build a bareboard timesaver just so I can run a train, even if it is only four feet.
We can't even hear the locomotive horns from this new house! I NEED SOME TRACK. If I don't get some soon I'll aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
is it snowing somewhere my wife swears it must be as I'm finally getting the walls put up in the train/office/guess room lol. that I've been telling you all I was going to do the floors are next lol that'll probally be another year lol.
Hi all welcome to any body thats new to me. been spending a lot of time over on the classic toy trains coffee shop as I do lionel and there more my scale but still like coming in and reading all your all good advive even if I don't post that often I'm in about 4 times a week reading so I don't get to far behind.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
der5997 wrote:On the Decoder noise with the AC4400, it can’t be the drive train because it’s quite on DC. Has the AC4400 a capacitor between the motor brushes that the Proto 2000 doesn’t have by any chance?
Well, I went to get a good pic of an interesting signal in downtown Indy, but just before I got there, a hiway bridge that is just up the tracks had some chunks of concrete falling off of it onto the tracks, so they closed the tracks for a couple of hours til they get that fixed. As such, the great shots that I was going to get of trains blasting through the lit up signal in the snow are now without lights or trains. Oh well, here's the signal in the snow anyways.
Garry: Thanks for the Nova Scotia Tourism Boost! Let us know when you plan your trip, we are on the more scenic but less traveled route to Cape Breton. There are Festivals there from time to time throughout he season, which extends well into the Fall to accommodate the Fall Colours.
To me, it beats rivet counters and their perfectly precise dating of equipment.
Jeff: Powerful looking chunk of metal that AC4400!
I've been known to lash up an 1860's wood burner with an SD40-2. Hey, it's on it way to a railfan trip someplace.
On the Decoder noise with the AC4400, it can’t be the drive train because it’s quite on DC. Has the AC4400 a capacitor between the motor brushes that the Proto 2000 doesn’t have by any chance?
OZJim:
We now have five Operable steam locomotives in the QR steam heritage fleet, one Diesel Hydraulic, and two steamers in the repair shops, one needing a whole new boiler, and the other (a Garratt) needing a complete refurb.
Mike: We seldom guess just how kids, especially young ones, interpret events…like the
how sorry she is for not picking them up when mommy ask her to
Hey Duke! Good to see you made it in. How do you like the new look?
Dick: Sorry to hear about your storm woes, and hope the cold clears quickly. Here we had far less than the forecast suggested. Being on the shore works out well sometimes. Started snowing, sorta, after dinner on my walk, so I cut it short, but didn’t need to as it turned out. Maybe 1-1½ inches of snow, then freezing rain, then rain. Wind all the time before, and a bit after. All done by about 3:30 a.m. Brilliant sun all day, cloudless. To look at it you’d never know, except the barometer is down a bit.
Most people will go through their lives without ever a problem, but I prefer to be 100% sure. I can sleep nights!!
Our house in Alberta had gas heating, and we loved it. Installed a Brit made gas fireplace in the basement (UK manufacturers understand that heat is meant to go into the room, not up the chimney!) that had Royal Doulton “logs”! Both Kris and I prefer cooking on a gas stove because of the exact temperature control, but then we grew up on that. (Couldn’t tell you now what temperature a “Regulo” 5 oven is at though!)
Paul:
Inch: It doesn't sound like a good idea to put $70,000 into a house that only is worth $30,000.
Scott: Good to see you back again too, however briefly. That’s a great way to spend your bd.…all this and a gf as well.
Well, back to the layout. More sawdust/glue scenery work this afternoon. I’ve just used up the 2 Litres (½ gallon) of sifted sawdust with which I started this phase of the layout. The acres of blue foam are slowly disappearing. I’ve also got to figure how to build that Range Light.
TTFN.
"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.
A regular and a donut please Chloe. Nice day out today but I'm in the shop playing catch up again. Need to have the second set of cars and the trailer they ride in done by a week from tomorrow so it's nose to the grindstone time.
Hope you are recovering from the weather of the last couple of days. We got lots of rain and a bit of flooding but not anything that directly affected the shop or home. We'll see what affect the snow has on flight schedules as I still have people in Fla racing and they need to fly home come Monday.
Dick - I can see your point, but we've had city gas in our last two places and no problems but then we check things on a regular basis. So long as pipes don't break it's pretty safe and to tell the truth we've seen more problems with our neighbors and their oil heaters.
Scott - Happy Birthday and hope you find good shopping at the train show.
Time to get back to it and start milling away like Paul. CUL, J.R.
Good morning everyone, what a beautiful day today compared with yesterday!!! The temp has already climbed rapidly up to 48F (10C ) from morning low of 28F. We will hit 50's easily today, and we haven't seen that for weeks. Heavy duty melting is taking place.
PC: The wife had it real bad, either in bed or in recliner all day for three days with sinus pressure headachs from coughing. She is better now, but now I am fighting the bug. I don't have it as bad as she did, nor your wife.
GUB: I use Propane for the grille, but that is OUTSIDE the house. I have seen so many houses explode to splinters by either natural gas or propane leaks, that I prefer the peace of mind of not living with the possibility of an explosion, no matter how remote. Everytime I see a story on TV news of another building or home blown up by leaking gas fumes, I always tell the wife " yup, safe, economical gas, another one bites the dust". Most people will go through their lives without ever a problem, but I prefer to be 100% sure. I can sleep nights!!
JEFF: That is really too bad. I wonder why the Athearn motor doesn't like a pulsed voltage? Have you contacted Athearn? I certainly would, there has to be an explanation, I am very curious about this.
SCOTT: Happy 18th Birthday Scott!!! I can understand your busy schedule, and how MRR and this Diner, may take a back seat for a while....maybe....a looooong while like many of us. For me it was 46 year Scott, and the the same reasons that you have stated, cars, girls, school, work. Next it will be the Military (maybe), College, more girls, a wife, career job/s, family, sports ( kids and maybe you too ), vacations with family, etc. etc. until it is just you and wife living at home alone once again ( unless the kids come back to live with you LOL ) So my friend, it may be at age 55 or 60 that you return to this hobby. We will save your favorite seat Scott, stop in to see us once in awhile OK ?
10-4
Gratfox;
Why is that you hate gas? Are you refering to Natural gas or Propane perhaps? I have lived all my life with the exception of a few rentals with natural gas. Found it was reliable and safe. Had a new high efficiency furnace put in a few years ago and am quite satisfied. Our hot water tank is gas. Our range is gas as well and our BBQ is gas. Just wondering.
Howdy y'all. It's been a bit.
I come to you one year older and wiser than I had been. I'm now legal. And so I've been told, now that I'm 18 (and 1 day), I'll start complaining about aches and pains and whatnot. At least I won't feel left out at work now.
Train show today for my birthday! I get to go blow the cash I got yesterday. Maybe I'll get some articulated auto-carriers that I've been drooling over or something...Don't know how this train show'll be. It's the First-Annual Train Show by the Maryland Steam Society.
I'm going to have less time to spend around here between increasing school work, work, spring musical rehersal, and now a girlfriend. Life's hectic, but it's fun for the most part.
I'll see y'all later.
Scott - Dispatcher, Norfolk Southern
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.
Today's Weather for: Sundown, LA 71446-6114 3/3/2007
Sundown Fire Dept., Station 23 Wind Chill: 34°FHumidity: 81%Dew Point: 32°F So Far TodayHigh: 51°FLow: 38°FRain: 0.00"Rain Rate: 0.00"/hGust: 6mph NE High: 64 °FLow: 30 °F
Today High: 65 Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. North winds 10 to 15 mph.
Tonight Low: 30 Partly cloudy. Lows around 30. North winds around 10 mph.
Biscuits and gravy today.
grayfox1119 wrote: PC: I am taking your excellent advice and headed for bed real soon, been along tough day, and I am still coughing quite a bit.
PC: I am taking your excellent advice and headed for bed real soon, been along tough day, and I am still coughing quite a bit.
Hope you don't have what the wife's got......it's NASTY!
03-03-07
MIKE: I hate gas. When we bought our 1st house in the city when I just got out of the Army, it had gas, I had it removed entirely from the hosue and went oil fired for the heating system and electric for cooking and dryer. They don't explode, and they don't have leaks that scare the hell out of you when you smell gas. I hope your SIL goes for a new home build. They can put the latest features into the house for insulation, and heating, maybe a ground heat exchanger system.