Welcome Home Folks,
the switcher has uncoupled and pulled away, the girls have made the place ready to welcome you. There are cakes on the griddle, fresh coffee and the smell of apple pie in the air.
We are ready for a month´s chat with friends from all over the world.
I don´t quite know where we are exactly, but there is no snow to be seen and a scent of spring in the air. I guess it must be some place down south!
Sheesh, they could at least let people know before they pull way with the train! I spilled coffee all over me and have spaghetti sauce on my last clean shirt…
Hmmmm, no white stuff outside, but it looks like it is pouring rain out there.
Later!
73
AHHHH. Pretty sure we’re in LA [:D] We can stop by my layout[swg] AND we are not FREEZING like the rest of the country, i seriously feel bad for all you. I’ll have an In n Out Double Double Animal style. But dont tell anyone, its on the secret menu[:-^] For all of you who have no idea what im talkin about, well i just feel bad for you [:'(]
[8D]
aaaaahhhhhh…I see that we have a new spot or the diner…that is a good thing. And it is near a lovely beach as well…even better…
Anyways, up here we are seeing it a bit windier now…all from the Northeast…yeeesh…damp.
Chloe, I’ll have a pentuplet burger and a tub of fries as well please…I’ll be at the window booth admiring the new digs…[:D]
I see we move, and I also see Ray isn’t to happy [:P].
Just in-case we lose power, I thought I would stop by right quick. If not see y’all tomorrow.
Good Evening All,
I always liked Mobile. Had a friend from here while at communications school in Pensacola and loved to visit. I’ll have an order of catfish and hush puppies please along with some slaw and an RC (cola of course).
Went to the big train show in Springfield for the railway museum and had a blast. Over 20,000 attended over the two days and we did good business for the museum handing out lots of brocheures and selling surplus equipment, books and sundry other stuff.
We’re now waitng on the next round of storms to hit tomorrow morning thru Weds. Not sure what we’re getting, straight snow or Kens’ wintery mix. Sorry to hear about the ongoing nonsense with the house Ken. I guess with forebearance they didn’t have disclosure as high on the priority list as forclosure. How does that go - “Some rob you with a six gun, some with a fountain pen.” Hope things work out better when it’s all done.
Ulrich - good to see the progress already. Will you be doing the same as the finished modules shown?
Robbie - good luck with the NS job. As the rest said, if you can stick it out and get past the extra board it gets better. Sort of like being a temp.
Sam - ok, how did the train hit a tree - did it jump out in front of the locomotive?
Lee - I’ll have a look at home in the box of bits. Any chance you can post a pic of said pancake motor? While we’re on the subject of AHM/Rivarossi does anyone know who still carries or where to get McHenry couplers? They make a conversion for the trucks on the Rivarossi passenger cars that snaps on. The KD conversions are a lot like torture and for the display layout I really need the articulated truck mount couplers (type 54 I think for the 6 wheel trucks).
Long day in the shop with lots of distractions and nonsense. Think I’ll head on home and get ready for the next storm.&nbs
So, Californi huh, I thought it never rains in Sunny California. Looks like I’m wrong.
Great. I’m here, but have no idea where. Reminds me of a couple times in the Army. Yup, and it’s dark too. Somethings never change.
Sleet. Yuck. Cofefe (there’s a new one) and a bowl of chili. I’ll a;so ((sigh) Also) take that Pork Chop Bama left for me too. Thanks.
For the first time in my history, Williamsville has cancelled school PRIOR to the sn*w. Only one so far who has. Another first. Funny thing is the worst isn’t suppose to hit until tomorrow evening. Where were these people when I was in school?..Don’t answer that.
Bama- Oh I don’t blame you for rubbing it in, I would have myself. Unintentional you say? Yah riiiiight.
Grits? Not sure what they are. OH! Gree-its, they’re OK, we eat them occasionally here. Not too often though, maybe only two or three times a month. But my taste for them depends on the way they are cooked. I like mine firm, plain with just butter and sometimes a little sugar. Soupy = slimy to me and therefore yucky.
Well I didn’t get to the train room today, I opted to prepare to be stranded. We are right on a line where the professional high paid weather guessers say, we could probably (did you catch that? could probably) get a lot of……something. Latest guess is somewhere between a quarter of an inch to an inch of sleet and 18 to 20 inches of sn*w by the time it’s all done. Walmart weather report (heard standing in line at the Walmart) says up to 3 feet. Take it for what it’s worth. [(-D]
You know, I was just thinking. I see no reason I can’t go into the train room now. Tomorrow, after the big green snow eating monster gets used, or not, I have no plans other than wk at 10:30 IF the trucks make it ( I could wait for hours for them depending on the weather. One comes from Shee-ka-go) and then wk again at 5. Or 4 if the guy can’t get there from Spfld, or not if the owne
JR asked: “Sam - ok, how did the train hit a tree - did it jump out in front of the locomotive?”
It must have been on the branch line. [:-^]
So is this Mobile. Ulrich ran the swticher without know where he was going.
We just returned from Nashville. I was late. The drive is normally 2 hours. This time it was 3 1/2. Very bad accident on I-24. I had the car in “Park” for over 45 minuntes. Then we squeezed into one lane to pass the wreckage. One tractor trailer was nose-first into a large rock (Highway cuts through a hiil at that location. An SUV was crushed beyond recognition. Nasty.
Mobile’s history includes the worst Amtrak wreck ever. A barge hit the bridge causing the accident.
Evenin’ folks!
Just a decaf for me Flo!
Hey! Who said I’m not happy. Why wouldn’t I be happy down here where the weather is always so nice… I mean just for instance, here is tomorrows forecast: Morning light rain…then windy with strong thunderstorms in the afternoon. Storms could contain damaging winds. High 67F. Winds SE at 15 to 25 mph.Thunderstorms, some strong during the evening, then mainly cloudy overnight. Low 37F. Winds W at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%. What’s not to like?[:-^]
Here in the beautiful Finger Lakes, we are all set for some fun in the snow…[swg] Calling for somewhere between 8 and 16" of nice white fluffy stuff and then it will blow around for a couple of days. Lucky I have lots of milk and bread already in the house so I don’t even need to go out in it tomorrow when it begins… Beer! I will have to go get BEER!!! Somebody said something about the Stupid Bowl and Beer a while back… Just hope the wood holds out until it is over (the storm not the Stupid Bowl). If the electric goes out… I guess I won’t be in the diner here much. Seriously, the biggest worry I have is that my son and my DIL may have to be out in the storm and drive to work… My son’s drive is along a flat, level road that gets badly drifted and you can find yourself out in the middle of a field before you know you are off the road. Don’t ask me how I know…
Ken, in the words of the great W. C. Fields, “Ah! A thief eh? No, no, I like thieves. I have many friends who are thieves. Why just last week we had a Bank President over for dinner…”
Speaking of thieves, I called my insurance man today. He of course wasn’t in the office. He did call me back a while later… Already knew why I was calling as he pulled out my house policy renewal and even he
Ray… You had spaghetti? What about tacos and enchiladas?
Hey Vinnie! We got us a wise guy over here…[:D][(-D]
Hey, nice place. Bring on the tacos and enchiladas. And a Dr Pepper for the drink. I am too young for the [B]
Gooood evening!!..Been awhile since I posted anything. Getting ready to get blasted with some more snow here in good old Syracuse. About 4-6 inches tomorrow and another foot or more on Wednesday. I have already gassed up the sled and the snowblower and have told the boss that I feel like a cold is coming on [:-^] . I am sure we will be swamped with calls at the firehouse as usual. You would think with the citizens that live in this snow belt area that they would all be pros at driving in the snow. Think again. It’s not the quick starts that kill ya…it’s the quick stops!! I have actually been able to get some layout work done lately with the benchwork and backdrops done on the 8x8 extension I have added. This new side will be mostly scenery style with a large coal mine and other industries in the hills. It will be accessed by a rather large bridge over a gorge that I have always wanted to put in. The 2" foam base is already down and I have the track plan I like almost ready. I also have a few project I am working on for friends layouts…(Craftsman kits). I also have stuff to finish up for our club show in February. www.syracusemodelrr.org. Ray I hope you can make an appearance as we also have our Cny division meet there for the month. We open up the two clubs operating layouts which have had some major reworking done to them since last year. Also many vendors in the downstairs rooms. Have a good night all!!..Tim
Bacon & scrambled eggs, please.
***Ray, amazing work on those tiny power tools and such. [Y]
Anyone here have a (HO) Athearn SD60I with DCC & Sound? If so: (1) could you please tell me this locos weight (OZ)? And (2) would you know how tight a radius it can negotiate? Hmmmm, wonder how it would measure up next to an Atlas U30B?
Made some progress on the wife’s (HO) layout this evening. Glanced under the table and there is an out of control “wire farm” growing under there. One of these days I’ll have to start dealing with it.[:-^]
[C):-)] Rob
Hello again all!
Garry - ARRRRGGGGHHH…
J.R. - To answer the question of how the train hit the tree. We got a LOT of sn*w in a short time last wednesday, and that caused many a several trees to fall over onto the tracks. CSX has a max speed of 80MPH in most spots (which would be the Fredericksburg Line for VRE followers) and the AMTRAK crew was bringing the train back from Richmond (Governor’s Special) when they encountered “The Tree”!
On the Manassas Line last wednesday, we had one crew have to violate hours of service due to trees down. they wound up arriving at Broad Run over 4 hours late because of it! I wound up hitting 12 hours on duty the next day, that along with a 7 1/2 hour layover made for a LONG day!
Anyone up for some surfing? I haven’t done it yet, but I’ll try ALMOST anything once! No?! No one wants to go for it? Well, ok… Chloe, may I please have a Large RBF and a grilled pastrami on rye? Thanks! I’ll be in the corner booth for a while.
(EDIT: Looks like I got top honors tonight! Chloe, serve up whatever they ask for, I’ll be around to settle up later!)
Hey Gang, I see Ulrich did let the caboose door hit him on the way out to move the dinner!
Yawn, danging I am tired! Amazing how tired one can get from sitting all day.
Guess the big news is still the winter weather. Still have not seen a lot of bad stuff yet, but the trees, grass and the car’s have a coat of ice on them. They did let me close the store a little early, got the call around 7:15. Roads where wet but no ices. I was surprised that I had as many customers as I did today! While far from being busy, I did have 4 come in and 2 bought for a total of $1170.00.
Was told to call the owner Tuesday is the weather gets bad and cannot make it in.
Been think about what I need to sale if I lose the house. It is amazing to a degree what you will accumulate in 19 years! In my mind today I was thinking of stuff I will not have spaces for. Like 2 70 gallon aquariums, heavy duty vices, arch welder, 100 gallon 5 HP compressor and the list keeps going. Plus a lot of Mopar Parts as well.
Todd Would you by chances need a good air compressor? If I have to move I would just about give it to you. I all so have a set of 70 High Back Buckets Seats if you could use them for your Runner.
Then there is all the train stuff! I will still be in the hobby, but more than likely will change to N Scale. Something I had been thinking about for some time now anyway. If by chances I get a spaces close to the sizes I have now I might stay HO. It would take forever to list all the stuff I have on E Bay!
Good evening Diners: A cold and clear one here - but the stars are magnificent if you can stand to stay out and look. The wind is the problem, rather than the temperature, which isn’t worth mentioning in Johnboy or CNCharlie’s presence. That is supposed to die down overnight. I’ll take a hot chocolate with extra marshmallows please Chloe. 
Chuck: Good to see you drop by,
…inflation is wot. Lower US$ = higher oil prices - and QE2 and its potential offspring isn’t going to help that any.[soapbox] Pity about hose 12" curves, any chance of easing them? Looking forward to the pics.
Vincent:
…Kris saw our neighbour one down across the street drive down their driveway to dump a bag of garbage in the bin, it’s got to be 200 feet, max. Reminded us of that scene in “The God’s must be crazy”. 
Bama: glad you’re feeling some better.
…I generally go for
Goood Morning,
so we are in Mobile, Alabama? Good to know where I took the train to! It was dark outside, when I started the move, so I could not really see where I was going.
Zoe, coffee and a bowl of muesli, please!
There are news trickling in on the cause of the train wreck. Apparently, the engineer on the freight train turned his attention to a sandwich when he ran the signal. As this line is in eastern Germany on former Reichsbahn territory, it has not been equipped with all the safety gadgets which stop a train automatically when it runs a signal. Turning German Railways into a semi-privately held company prevented the upgrade of many a line in that region - with very sad result, as we can see now. The engineer will be facing manslaughter charges on 11 accounts, but the former president of German Railways, who is responsible for cutting down on safety investments, is most likely not being held liable.
Since 175 years, we know in Germany that you can´t run a railroad only with ROI and shareholder´s equity in mind, but apparently learning from history is not a thing to do.
No, Zoe, no need to get out the soap box, I´ll leave it at that.
John - used a rattle can to paint the modules. Acrylic paints are, for whatever reason, not available as rattle cans. It´ll probably takes weeks for the odor to disappear. It is much better by now, but you can still smell it. Acrylic paints also have the smell of horse manure - you know this ammonia smell. It makes my eyes water like the Niagara Falls, so I have to go for solvent based paints.
J.R. - yup, the modules will look similar to those I posted. I am still trying to figure out how to scenic the corner modules to give the layout a compact and continuing look. Minimum radius on those is 11", which shoulkd be OK for N scale.
Ray - I am sorry for the jerky start of the journey and the bumpy ride, that left you with a not so clean shirt. I´ll be more cautious next time .
Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.
[8-|] [dinner]