Aloha all. Rained just during my walk to work but now it looks like it’ll cleared. A busy weekend. Lots of running around on Halloween. We had lots of kids visiting - probably because it was a Sat. Yesterday was busy too - my wife hosting all the teen ministry leaders over to the house and I played valet. Got my Stress-Echo in a few hours, and an elder mtg at church tonight. Apart from showing off the trains, haven’t got to run them lately. Found a ‘connection’ for some Hornby items though.
54 here is NICE!! Love it. Had 1 go through High school like a breeze, my daughter, wow…headaches and drama…already too much for me. This to shall pass.
Got a call from my sister in NJ, Mom broke her wrist in church yesterday, coming down from the alter. She is like the “go to” person in the Parish. Jim Phish, I think you know people like that in your Parish. We may go up a visit, just to ease the “homework” tension and see how she is.
Check out the link: USS New York is HOME!
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2009/11/jersey_city_awaits_uss_newe_yo.html
Good Morning
Well It was beautiful sunshine when I got up, but now the clouds are here again. 40s till friday. Made a trip to the drug store and then a hair cut and that could could be my outing for the day. Enjoy your monday…S.J.
Morning to All
Home today with a bit of a cold, don’t think it is anything worse. Better safe to stay home a day than infect everyone else.
Mitch
Another nice day here in the Ol’ Pueblo. Actually ran the cooler w/ the pump off yesterday to warm the place up. Garage is ready, but I may have to delay things a bit again. Sigh. The surgery on my foot is scheduled for the 12th. I’m going to switch to days next week so I can be back in town for it. That’ll give me just over a week to recover so maybe I can get back to work. Doubt I’ll be moving engine blocks just yet. Happy w/ the garage set up though. Should have plenty of room for both engines if that is the way I decide to go. Have to go thru the tools today. After all the trips to the rez and all, some of my sockets have gone missing.
Doug - Is the stress-echo test the one w/ the radio-isotopes? Are you running on a treadmill or doing the stress test chemically? The chemical is some funky stuff, but fortunately the feeling doesn’t last long. Good luck w/ all that.
Charlie - I liked the Halloween pictures of you and the family. Remember dressing up as an engineer for Halloween many times in my youth.
Well probably not much train work in the near future w/ the engine rebuilds looming. I should get the puller and wheel cups for the 1664 soon, so I may be able to finish that. I will just need a new axle and wheel from Olsen’s. Then w/ 2 engines I can start playing w/ the the switches I have and isolated blocks on the floor. Need to get the 258 set cleaned up and off to my cousin for Christmas too.
Bob
Good morning all, just another day in paradise here with summerlike weather returning. Clear sky and bright sunshine. No earthquakes or fires today so far. Celebrated daughter in law birthday last night with dinner out for family and cake and ice cream after at the house. That finishes up the birthdays until next April. We are going away for our 50th anniversary on Thanksgiving so we don’t have to cook this year. Only big deal is Christmas and that is a way off but it sneaks up on you. Was able to hear a friend of mine in Virginia on the radio Saturday. His station is available on the internet. He is a DJ for a Bluegrass show from 11:00AM to Noon on Saturday on WPMH 670AM. The show is called “The bluegrass show with rambling Ralph”. He and I grew up in the same neighborhood and went railfanning together a lot over the years. I rode an excursion with him once around 1983 on the N&W with a steam special featurning N&W 611 from Roanoke to Bluefield and return. At least I can tell if he is still alive now by listening to his show. I tried calling him Saturday but he was not at home. Have to check back later.
D Baker, that was interesting about following the airline flight information. That’s neat!
Got my new sump pump installed a few days ago behind the garage in low spot so now I’m ready if it ever rains.
The dreaded Yankees did it again last night against the Phillies. Looks like they are headed for the championship. I am not partial to either team but root for the underdog which seems like Philadelphia now. Rooting for the Yankees is like betting on the favorite at a horse race. Alex Rodrigez should get an award for the most times hit by a pitch in a world series game.
Set up an MTH scale 3 position semaphore signal on the layout recently but it would not work for a while. &nb
I got the Flyer 302AC in the mail today, and I have started disassembly to clean it. As I looked over the internals, I noticed that everything is there except for the smoke piston and lever. I have no idea why someone would remove them and leave the smoke unit. I’ll have to look for replacements, but if I can’t find them, I’ll just strip the plastic 302 for the needed parts.
Brutus,
Thanks. I’ve got more pics of the Christmas layout on the desktop PC, so I’ll get them on my laptop to post here.
I found the needed parts on ebay already. A seller in WI has the piston, piston pin, lever, and the screw to attach the lever to the gear for $10.[tup]
Wow, Ray is running some beautiful trains. Bob, it was a treadmill test - they kept saying how ya doing and made it go faster. Remind me never to run a marathon, but all checked out ok. Amazingly, it has turned into a spectacular day here - the rain has probably blown off to Sir James and Kurt.
Good Afternoon,
Still hot and steamy down here in near West Palm Beach FL, overnight only saw low 60’s. Today it is near 85 with a chance of rain, may cool off in a day or two.
Round a bouts A.K.A. demo derby crossings for retirees! People down here in south FL go the wrong way for some reason in a round a bout.
Went to The Depot in Lantana and got some traction tires for my steam loco’s & a bottle of coal scented smoke fluid. Have two Reading steam engines, both MTH, T-1 2124(a 4-8-4 Northern) & 117 Reading Crusader(a 4-6-2 Streamlined Pacific) and will use the coal scented smoke fluid in them. The Reading Crusader is my newest addition from the train show aboiut three weeks ago and thanks to greenprobe97 I have the uncoupler working.
The only problem upstairs is that I have to watch out for a cat so that he don’t get in my trainroom, the cat is almost all black, guess I won’t have rodent trouble!
I go back to the dentist next week, ouch! Not looking forward to that.
May go to Camilla GA next weekend, the place where they process the corn for gasoline additive, also nearby is the McDonald’s chicken nugget processing plant in Flint GA.
Lee F.
Lee,
I am glad that it is working for you. What brand of coal scented fluid did you get? I like the MTH coal fluid because it isn’t overpowering.
Falling behind again on th pot! So much to read let alone post.
Fife…I think about the police officers so often around here. There was about a zillion people that packed themselves into Salem MA (Witch City) for the last night of the month-long Haunted Happenings which culminates on Halloween. The police have to be so alert and organized with the crowds that tend to get disorderly. Five arrests this year versus fourteen last year. Two stabbings, suspects at large. Nice celebration…not.
We had a record bunch of Trick or Treaters this year. About 65. Temps hit 72 during the day and remained in the 60s for the kiddies, and no rain. I had a housefull. Eight kids including my granddaughter and all the parents. Beef stew and Scala bread, desserts to die for, pictures, followed by T&T, then back to my house for more fun. The place looked like a bomb went off by the time the last of the partygoers left around 10. Our carved pumpkins were a big hit. Another plus…my surplus of beer from the summer cookout season stored cold in the garage fridge got worked down.
One casualty…one of the more rotund parents sat down on my wife’s 100 year + hall seat and snapped the seat in two. He was embarrassed but it never occured to us that the reason the seat held up all these years is because no one ever sat on it. I moved a plant off the seat right before the guests arrived, my own undoing.
RT…glad to hear you med problem was not more serious. I hate it when I am told to take something by the docs only to find that it whacks me out.
Chief…your comments about the funeral made me kind of sad. Our family is spread out and we don’t ever seem to get together as a group except for weddings and funerals. By the same token, I get to see the ones I don’t wan
Good Evening
A chilly day. after hair cut and drug store I stayed in all day. Guess I will just wait for the thingy. Still have banilla…S.J.
Good Evening all
A challenging day today and more tomorow. Family issues. Please pray for my eldest daughter.
Jim - Rather than swaping the piston and crank, swap the entire chassis, if it is a better running chassis.
Don’t forget to vote Tuesday
May God bless
Jim
Jim- prayers are on the way.
Leave it to a Yankee Cop to not know Super Streets. [:-^][;)] We have round-abouts in subdivisions on thoroughfare streets. They are traffic calmers. We love them. Super Streets is something different. People loved them and Board approved the DOT proposal. In fact, TV crew is still in Rolesville to do a live 11PM news on it. Yes, I am on there too as I did interview before the Board meeting.
Now for some microwave popcorn. Been a long day. BTW: SJ, which hair did he cut? [:-^][;)]
Later.
Hi All,
Jim, your daughter and family are in my prayers. Took two grandchildren to the Gratiot Valley train show yesterday. They always have plenty of layouts. Sir James next show we have to meet each other. The grandchildren were impressed talking to the NS Operation Lifesaver officer. Zack, the five year old said "Look that engine only costs one dollar ? His eight year old sister explained to him that a comma and three zeroes after means ONE THOUSAND. He knew Papa couldn’t buy it for him. They kept me honest too. Being laid off I am banned from train purchases and they would and should be honest with grandma.
Driving to Wayne, PA (NW of Phily) Thursday for a Saturday wedding. Probably wont have time to stop in Altoona or elsewhere.
Prayers for 88, Rich’s Mom, Mitch, and Bob, and especially for Charlie and Toni tomorrow as they should welcome another little train fanatic! Prayers for the rest of us and our loved ones as well.
Finally got some straight shooting news from the doctor himself. No beds are available until maybe the week before Christmas. They will have a couple beds open the first week of January, so one of them is now spoken for and my wife should be in the hospital then starting chemo for the transplant. Paperwork is going to the insurance and they should reply in the next week - it’s really the doctor’s decision at this point. So, we have progress and better communication.
After work tonight, I took off the new light fixture and had my son work the breakers. Tested and found the black was hot, but the neutral wasn’t working. Backtracked that to the fixture I piggytailed from at the bottom of the stairs and a 3 wire nut had only grabbed 2 wires! The third, to the new fixture, was only touching plastic. Usually I wind the ends together pretty good before I put the nut on, but I was in a hurry. Fixed it and all worked perfectly! Now I just need to patch the drywall where I had to fish the wire through 2x lumber.
As you can see, I clearly twisted the nut a little too hard on that last connection and my entire house is now tilted to the right. I will have to get the level out tomorrow night and see if I can loosen that up and get things fixed. Guess I didn’t know my own strength! [(-D]
TARDIS is ready and I hear there is banilla and popcorn?! Let’s go guys!
Happy November! Great weather here this weekend. Raked leaves Saturday, and followed up with more yard work on Sunday.
Had to chuckle at the interesting sight at the city’s collection point for leaves - When I pulled up to empty my pick up, there was a guy there with what looked like a 25’ enclosed race car trailer. All the doors were open, and leafs were being thrown out. Looked like that trailer was completely full to a depth of about 5’!
Between chores, nice weather, Talledega, and F1, about the only train activity was getting outbid on a Minuteman box car on e-bay. Watched the first 30 and last 30 laps of the NASCAR race. Didn’t miss much, did I?
Halloween was a bust - just two kids came by for trick or treat.
Round abouts, traffic circles, whatever - these were common in Spain. If there were two lanes of traffic each direction, the circles were two lanes wide. They seem to work, but they have their own rythem and seem to also have unwritten rules.
South Bend is in the process of expanding their airport. Part of the expansion was re-working the streets on the south edge of the airport. They included a traffic circle. They did not plan for the semi truck traffic on that road - the diameter of the circle is almost big enough to allow a semi with a 40’ trailer to get around.
SPman - Southern Pacific runs west bound freight traffic through Sedalia. Most common is empty unit trains of coal hoppers. Normally have two locomotives on the front and one remote controlled helper on the back. Always wondered about the need for a helper on the back of an empty train. It is not that hilly here in Missouri and Kansas. Makes the scheduling of the motive power easier?
Brutus - I picked up a book about home wiring
Evenin’ All.
Still pooped from halloween activities, lots of kiddos on saturday then a houseful on sunday. [xx(] But well worth it.
Jim, Sounds like some headway is being made, [angel] for Mrs Brutus.
Forgot what else I was thinking about, must be bed time.
Can’t stand this time change bologna…