I like the rear wheel drive too. My van has a posi-track rear end so it sometimes gets squirrelly on gravel (lots of that out here). It’s the cats meow when it comes to pulling though. One wheel starts to slip and the other one kicks right in. Give it too much gas and it’ll start fish-tailing.
Afternoon, Zoe - I’ll have a grilled chicken caesar salad with cheese, those crew-ton things, and a Rio Grande mug of coffee, please ‘n’ thanks!
Jeff, that sounds like too much ‘fun’ for one guy to have. [oops] Glad you got all the wiring done and functional again. [tup] Nice (well-worn) Cookie Box there (wonder if Flip saw it, as he was trying to develop a collection of those Cookie Box boxcars, last time I heard. Flip?
Todd, I like the looks of your bridge progress, [:D] and I understand as a reward(?) that Ray has located another of those square pianers (which as we speak, is on its way to you…)[:-^]
Lee, you certainly got your money’s worth at that train show. [yeah] I’ll have to go take another look at your photo albums to see some of those rusty vehicles - I need some ideas for a few vehicle on my layout (heh, heh…)
Ken, sounds like - if you could have more days like your $3900+ one - the new job could be coming along better for you. I liked that shot you posted of your layout scenery. [:)]
Nik.n, I must’ve lost track (when I was out of the Diner on one of those many times…), but has your family moved from where you had been? And was the coal for heating your place, or to crush down to scale size for the layout?
Garry, I always love your layout photos. [tup] Keeping your mother, you and the rest of your family in my [angel][angel]
I think I already sent one to Flip with that number.
I’ve done all the ballasting work I can do for today. My ankle is doing a good job of kicking my butt so I have no choice but to give up for today. I got part of the mainline done this evening. The part that passes by Ezra’s Exxon station. That’s all the track on the extension ballasted.
At the rate you are going you’ll be well into the scenery by the time I get there.
The way things are going I may be just starting on the turf by June. Tomorrow I’ll have some help. Mr Raintree has the day off and is going to help me the ballasting on the main part of the layout.
Good Evening Diners!
It has been a good 6 weeks since I was last in so I am sure I’ve missed a lot but there are just too many posts to go back and catch up. The reason for my absence is that my wife and I were on a 5 week trip to Africa. It really was a fabulous trip. I won’t bore you with the details but if you would like some just send me a P.M. We were on safari in Kenya ( Masai Mara) , gorilla trekking in Rwanda and in the desert in Namibia. We saw many lions, cheetah, elephant, giraffe and many types of gazelle, etc. I don’t mean from a long distance either. In the case of lions as close as 20 feet or less and we had one cheetah take a rest right against our vehicle. My wife could have easily reached out and touched it as the vehicles are open sided. The trek to see the mountain gorillas in Rwanda was certainly a highlight but it did involve fairly strenuous hiking. For one trek the round trip hike was 6 hours and that is on the side of a mountain at an elevation of about 8500 feet. That was just about my endurance limit.
Anyway, I hope everyone is in good health and making progress on their railroad projects. Myself I haven’t touched the layout in 2 months but I hope to get back at it shortly.
We are finally getting some spring weather here so the snow is starting to melt.
We did have some bad news on our return and that was that our little Pippa passed away while we were gone. She was with our good friends whose place was like a second home to her. Luckily she passed peacefully in her sleep. She was my girl and I really miss her waiting for me at the door. She lived over 16 years which is a long time for any dog. Doesn’t matter, I will still miss her just as much.
Well that is it for me. I’m still really tired from the trip and keep waking up in the middle of the night. Yesterday morning I woke up with a start at 5:30 thinking we had to get up for a game drive but then thought , “Where am I?” Oh, I’m home. Not happy.
CN Charlie
Evenin’ folks!
Just a decaf for me tonight, Flo. I’ll be in the back booth by the stove.
CN Charlie, glad you had a great trip. Sounds like something I would love. Not sure I could do that much hiking anymore… Very sorry to hear about Pippa… Hard to lose a pet no matter what their age!
Went to Canandaigua to feed the sisters kitties… Neither one was anywhere to be found, but their food dishes were almost empty so I refilled them. Took her garbage out for pickup tomorrow while i was there. Since the Yaris was down under a quarter tank I figured i better help out the oil cartels. It took 8.6 gallons to fill her up… $31.50 worth… I can only remember a couple times when I had to spend more on her. She did get 38 MPG this tank full though. [:-^][swg]
Mr. Teen, I used to love Jeeps… Several farmers when i was growing up used them as 2nd. or 3rd. tractors out in the field down in low range. A couple even had PTO on them for mowing and such. My BIL once had a Jeep that he took the old 40HP flathead out of and put in a Chevy 283 V8… She was good for blowing away corvettes back in the 60’s at stoplights. 60 in about the time it took to let the clutch in with blue smoke pouring off all 4 tires… Yep those were the days. Sunday was cruise up and down Main St. time. For a few months I got to drive an old Desoto with a super slush 2 speed auto transmission. 1956 beast she was. When the light turned green you stomped her to the floor, the engine roared and you watched the speedometer climb just about as quick as the gas gauge went down. Wasn’t any problem for me though, I just filled her back up from the farm tank when I got back home… When I was a Senior in college I got to drive my BIL’s souped up jeep for a couple weeks back and forth to Rochester from Canandaigua… That
Evening Folks.
Flo, oh I see you all ready have it ready. [B]
Work Front One thing I getting really sick of is all the Secrete Shoppers that the Competition keep sending to my store! They send them to check our prices and hear my sepal. Just a waste of my time, if they want to know my prices just say Hi I Billy Butthead from mattress what ever and I was told to check out your prices. I had two of them today, one was there while I had 2 sets of customers and I be damned if he did not slip his card to one of my guess! But, that’s OK he short 1 business card and I got both deals. [:D]
BC Bug Engines are easy, what maybe 8 bolts, pull the wiring and grab a floor jack and your done. My first car was a 63 Bug, dad did not want to be a hot rodder like him. Did not work, as all here know. When dad finally made me sell the death trap (as he called it) and gave me my 68 Road Runner (which he swore would never happen) it was running mid 13’s and would spank a GTO.
Ceder I use the throttle side of a cheap blue Life Like Transformer. By turning the throttle knob (speed control) you can dim the lights to the brightness you want. I run three of them, that way I can control how much lights different buildings have on the layout. On E-Stupid you can find them for around $5.00.
Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.
[dinner] [8-|]
Good Morning,
Jim, the rusted out vehicles are a plaster cast I made from partially built/damaged kits I bought a year ago at a train show.
Good Morning Folks!
Cup of coffee please.
Boy, this month is flying by, have a great day all!
Steven
Good Morning…
Well(kind of deep and murky)…kinda…[:-^]
Yesterday was an…ern…interesting day…I had my ICD literally kick my heart rhythm back into gear…so here I had to go to the hospital ICD clinic and check whether everything was OK…it appeared that my heart was dong the VT/VF thing a little too long…[B)][:-^]
Lee, those casts came out nicely!
Ken: That is it…it is easy…if you have the things to do it properly…which I didn’t…[banghead]
It is supposed to get a little clearer today…then be sunny tomorrow…highs around the 50F mark both days
Flo, I’ll just have a coffee this morning please…I’ll be at the window booth for a bit…[:-^]
Those plaster casts are easy to make. I glue the object(s) inside an old rolling stock box then fill it with the 2-part mold compound from Micro-mark. Let it dry for 8 hours. Then cut the cardboard box away and you are ready to pour plaster. The trick is to mix the plaster until it looks like thick milk, thick but pourable. To reduce air bubbles I set the molds on a metal cookie sheet (has to be level) then set a box fan at one end. The vibration of the fan works the air in the plaster to the surface (the bottom of the casted object) and then you just sand it flat after it dries hard. You can pull the plaster from the mold after about 8 hours but it’s still green. You need to set it out to completely dry. When you pick it up and it’s not cold it’s dry all the way through.
Good Morning!! Coffee, dark roast, and a #2 special please. Scrambled on the eggs thank you.
Mostly sunny, with a high near 64.
According to the tracking info, my express car arrived in town yesterday. Also said it was delivered too. Probably today they will actually deliver it to my house.
Jim- Thanks for the tip. I’ll certainly try to find permissions. I know I’ve seen it somewhere…[*-)].
Charlie- [#welcome] back! Sounds like you had a great time. Just curious, did the Cheetah smell bad? I mean, you know, considering how it lives and what it eats and all….Just curious. Most important though, I just want you to know how very sorry I am to hear of Pippa’s passing. I know it will be hard on you for awhile but she lived a good long life. At least she was with friends and not alone or with strangers.
Ray- Workbench looks good. I’m jealous.
Speaking of workbenches, does anyone have or have you used, one of those self healing pads you cut on? Are they worth the trouble? Or should I just stick with a slab of wood. I think of this everytime I cut something thin, like decals and the blade either follows a previous cut or the grain or something in the wood if I cut too deep. I’m still gonna keep the wood, but after seeing Ray’s, I shall move up to a 2X6 or 8 (depends on what chunk I may have laying around) from my 1X4. Oh wait, I may have a 1X6 chunk somewhere, (finger snap) I know I do, I step over it every time I go in the train room. Great. The 1X4 is just a bit narrow and can be agrivating sometimes because it’s just a bit small. Believe it or not (if you knew me you would), it never dawned on me until I saw Ray’s, to just get a larger piece of wood.[:|] Brilliant.
Not much planned today. The house needs some attention as far as cleaning goes, oh look, there goes a pig, haven’t b
It is that magical time here in Lancaster, breakfast time! at least for those of us that stay up way to late and just getting our start on the day 
Flo, if you would, something with cheesy eggs, onions, tomatoes, potatoes and sausage, yum!
I’m bouncing between the city and the country and for the most part digging being in the country right now. I packed up a DVD series to watch when I had nothing else to do and a pair of Southern railroad boxcar kits, Proto2000, I acquired recently. I’ve put together one and it has made me realize I rather miss building freight car kits like this where the parts are easy to cut out, glue on and I do not have to paint and letter! I’ve honestly liked the assembly aspect more than painting and lettering personally, aside small details and figures with a paintbrush.
Alvie
Got to see the neurologist about my migraines today.
Nothing else, besides picking up stamps.
Cars…I was raised with large Dodge maxi van as my mother had MS and we needed a vehicle {with ramp} that her wheelchair could fit in. My “first car” of my own was a GMC S-15 pickup {same as the CHevy S-10} a 1983 model, just a year after they came out. A small pickup, but much larger thatn the toyota or mazda “grocery getter” pickups. It lasted til I bought a 1987 full sized CHevy Silverado 4x4 loaded with all the comforts and power and automatic everything. I had a couple throw-away cars before I became hooked on the Dodge Caravan line. The current '98 model is my 3rd. The 06 Kia Sedona Minivan is my first of that line and came cheaper than I could find Grand Caravans. The Gr. Caravans all seemed to have the back seat DVD players and automatic opening sliding doors which added $3k-$4 k to the price and I don;t need. SO the Kia won out. WE like its features, but not sure we like the frozen slinding doors {non-automatic, I’m capable of opening them myself except when frozen shut} I would have to have, I think, at least a small pickup like the s-10, or a minivan. MOH likes the minivans too. We did look seriously at a Nissan Versa small wagon, but was a little out of my qualifying price range at brand new, and the two used ones they had were standards, nt that we can;t drive a standard, but prefer not to, and they didn’t have cruise control, a must have for us… WE did like it though it seemed to be plenty of romm and easy enough to get in/out of, and had I had more to put down we MAY have bought one. May buy one when the Kia is paid for. I also like the Chevy Malibus and they get great gas mileage for a sizeable car. While we like the minivans, we also are thinking we’d like a little more than 18-20 MPG teh minivans get at todays gas prices. Even if gas goes down again, it will ALWAYS go up!
WEll, PRayers for those in need.
HAve a great day.
TTYALLL8R
Gooooooooooooooooooooood Mornin’,
CN CHARLIE: Very sorry to hear about Pippa, but glad she had such a long, loving life.
BARRY: Glad you’re still alive and kickin’, sounds like the ICD kicked-in just fine 'eh?
RAY: What’s with the clean, neat, tidy, well-organized w**k bench??? You trying to give the rest of us a complex??? Geesh! [swg]
stupid cop story follows
The following is from KGAN.com, the local CBS station in Cedar Crapids, about one of the CRPD’s “finest,” a vehicle pursuit, and some trains… This is a direct copy of how THEY wrote it. Makes me feel gooder about THAT of which I submit to THAT Editor…[:-^]
" A Cedar Rapids police cruiser was totaled early this morning after being struck by a train following a high speed chase.
It all began just after three o’clock this morning when police got in a chase with a suspect in a white SUV. The driver eventually jumped out of the SUV and ran, with police taking off on foot behind him. That’s when one of the officer’s police car was struck by the train."
Was OJ in Cedar Crapids last night/this morning???
Here’s what KCRG had:
A note of caution, for some reason, clicking on an individual story on the KCRG website locks up/crashes/boggles/binds up my computer. I think it has something to do with the comments section loading. I don’t have THAT problem with any other news site…just KCRG. The comments showcase “the best and the brightest minds, wits, and intellects” of eastern Iowa…[:-^]
The area where this all happened, is along the UP (ex-CNW) east-west double track mainline in extreme SE Cedar Rapids, out around MP 77, just east of the Cedar River Bridge. Otis Road runs along the tracks. A landmark on Otis Road is the CR Sewage Treatment Plant. CNW dispatcher MLJ used to refer to the area as "the dispatchers’ swiming hole.
Mornin’ everyone!
Zoe a bowl of Hot Cream of Wheat with brown sugar and a cup of fresh brewed dark roast coffee would fit the bill just fine this morning. How’d I know the coffee was just made… I heard Todd drank the last pot. [:-^]
Don’t worry, Chris, I doubt it will stay THAT way long! [swg][(-D]
Barry, glad the ICD thingie w*rked as it is supposed to! Hope all is OK with the old ticker.
A rather gray, dull, damp, and gloomy day outside. It is currently either 39°F or 45°F outside (depending where you look on the Weather Channel page), with a high sometime today of 44°F. Got about a 1/4 inch of liquid sunshine overnight with more scheduled to arrive today and tonight.
Guess I will spend some time cleaning the house today. It sure needs it (remember the before photo of the workbench… THAT pretty much sums up the whole house). I should get the CAD software in today’s mail (It arrived at the local post office yesterday afternoon). Will most likely get it installed on the old G5 tonight and start playing around a bit with it.
Hope you all have a great day!
73
Morning All…Its sunny and warmer here…Coffee and a swet roll for me please…Thank You…Not much going on on the I&S…gotta get some stuff started…to much arm chair’in!..
You all have a good one…Jerry
Strong coffee in a UNION PACIFIC mug, please.
***Ken, neat layout pics. Love those trees.
***B.C., cool old car pic.
Have a great day y’all.
Cheers! [C):-)] Rob