Athearn BB kits and a tropical storm

Hi guys,

It’s almost 4 am and i got called into work so that a skeleton essential personnel crew can try to keep the plant up and running during the T.S.Eduardo that’s about to make landfall in a few hours. I brought along a bunch of Athearn BB kits to put together. I do hope the storm isn’t as bad as they are making it out to be so that i can get finished with the kits. A plant going down is not in my plans for the day. If it does, there will be more valves to open and close than Don has pills. …chuck

So, Chuck…How many kits are in a “bunch”? You should have thrown in a couple of Proto 2000s, too - just in case “Eddy” decided to stick around a little longer. And make sure you post a group photo of the kits you get completed.

Hang in there and stay safe…

Tom

tom,

i brought 6 kits in to be exact. 2 SP, 1 cotton belt, 1 chicago & eastern Illinois boxcars (which i just broke grrrrrr!!!..the stupid coupler box from the underframe trying to put on the shell. I’ll have to take that one home for repairs.) a golden west gondola, and a CSX boxcar…

Some of the plant is down now, but fortunetly, not on my end…it’s raining buckets of water sideways right now…i feel really sorry for some of those guys out in it right now (not really… hehehehehe) i sure will be glad to retire one day and get as far away from the gulf coast as possible. These storms are devastating down here…even the mere tropical ones…chuck

I used to live in Beaumont, so I feel your pain, Chuck. [:)]

They’re calling for 3"-6" of rain here in lovely College Station, which is more than we’ve had since about April-May.

Good luck down there!

Oh, and to keep it train-related, you should be able to just glue the coupler pocket back onto the underframe. [:D]

So, Chuck - do you want to move up into the Midwest here (where we get tornadoes and/or flooding rivers), further north like Minnesota (where you get blizzards in the winter), or out to California (and have smog and/or earthquakes, fires, mudslides, etc.), or would you prefer the east coast, where they get all the rain that’s left in the remnants of Eduardo and its kind, and in the winter, you could have lake effect snow)?[;)]

Just wondering where that perfect weather area is… [:-^]

Jim in Cape Girardeau (where today it’s supposed to hit 95-99 F and heat index into the triple digits, but at least no tornadoes on the schedule for the day…)

P.S. Chuck - hope you get those kits done without any more breaks or such. [tup] Good use of your time, I’d say.

Jim in Cape Girardeau

Perhaps not everyone’s idea of “perfect” weather, but Michigan isn’t too bad as far as natural disasters go. Not much sunshine December-March and a little snow, but tornadoes and hail are rare - the Great Lakes tend to “cool down” T-storms - and an occasional winter storm is about it.

Besides, when the rest of the country “dries up” we still have some pretty large fresh water reservoirs for that occasional cool drink post-climate change. Just don’t hope for a job in the auto industry these days, that is until some magic non-hydrocarbon engine technology is developed.

i was thinking about somewhere in either northwest oregon or the ozarks in arkansas…by the way…we got a lot of rain but nothing severe…dodged the peruvial bullet again…chuck

I lived in Macon, Georgia, as a kid. I remember we had tornados and rain. Macon is inland so we didn’t get any flooding that remember.

We moved to NYC in 1956 and have been here ever since. We don’t get hurricanes (at least not so far) but we do get snowstorms and an occasional rainstorm as well. No flooding (unless you take the subway but that’s another story or the sewers back up whic has happened to friends of mine) but it can still be unpleasant.

And to tell you th truth, being retired isn’t a panacea. You get bored. And you simply can’t eat, live and breathe model railroading or your fanily will thinked you’re obsessed. Right now, I’d rather be working at my last job again.

Irv

But what if you are obsessed?[swg]

Seriously though, I would get bored doing nothing all day. That’s probably why many people travel when they retire. It’s a long time till I’ll be at that point in my life though…

OK tom, you asked for it. Got 4 of them done before my end of the plant starting having trouble

in the storm.

chuck

Lookin good, Chuck!

Did you weather them at work too?

Rotor

yes, they were weathered at work too. i’f i didn’t, chances are it would be years before getting back to them and doing so. You ought to see my work desk. The weathering powders stained it! It’s starting to look like the work desk in the train room!..LOL…The night crew is probably wondering what project i was working on this time…chuck

Nice work there, Chuck. [:)][tup]

Tom

Retirement isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

1) No weekends off.

2) No paid vacations.

3) No stat Holidays.

4) No Floater days to take off.

5) The “Honey Do” list.

6) My pension increase once a year is .55% of the increase of the cost of living. BUT, the increase in the cost of fuel and gasoline is NOT included in the cost of living.

7) To keep this Train Related. The good thing is, after the “Honey Do” list is done, I get to put my feet up in my vibrating recliner for a 1/2 hour to loosen up all the aching muscles and then I go and play with or read about TRAINS.

CWClark, glad you weathered the storm well down there and got some kits done. Good use of time! It is obvious that many folks here have no clue about retirement. This is retirement!

  1. There are still 7 days in every week. Six Saturdays and a Sunday.

  2. You will be busier than you ever have been in your life.

  3. Blood presure and shakey hands will return to normal.

4. You get to decide what you want to do every afternoon when you get up.

  1. Everyone will notice the big grin on your face when you go back to your old place of employment.

  2. You will have a lot more time to play with your grandkids and your trains.

I got to retire at age 53 (NYS decided to buy out us old teir 1 teachers. We obviously didn’t know what we were doing because we tended to question some silly stuff that came out of Albany for the schools each year). I had more spendable income after I retired than when I was teaching (Partly because I didn’t need an expensive wardrobe and wasn’t spending several thousand $ on stuff each year for my classroom that wasn’t in the budget…). Today dressing up means a T-shirt with no holes in it. [:-^]

I don’t think I have ever met a retiree that wasn’t enjoying it. There are some I guess, but I LOVE it!!!