Sometimes when buying a used loco online, it is likebuying a “pig in a poke” SO:
pig in a poke - something sub-standard that is bought without proper examination - from the country trick of a putting a cat in a bag to pass it off as a suckling pig; ‘poke’ is an old English word for bag, from the French ‘poche’ for bag or pocket: See Also let the cat out of the bag
ALSO:
let the cat out of the bag - give away a secret - a country folk deception was to substitute cat for a suckling pig in a bag for sale at market; if the bag was opened the trick was revealed. See also ‘pig in a poke’. Additionally this expression might have been reinforced by the maritime use of the ‘cat ‘o’ nine tails’ (a type of whip) which was kept in a velvet bag on board ship and only brought out to punish someone?.
Have y’all enjoyed the origin {sometimes an assumed origin} of common phrases? What would you like to see for next month?
Good morning. Well maybe for you it is. It’s 69° and the humidity is 99%. We have patchy fog. The high will be 92° but will probably feel like 99°. It’ll be partly cloudy.
I’m not a happy camper this morning. I was awakened at 3 am by intense back pain, tightness in my chest and a burning sensation from my neck down to my knees. I;m somewhat lightheaded and dizzy. It sounds alarming but 90% of it is med side effects. The other 10%, the burning feeling, is due to a pinched nerve in my neck. Some Aleve has dulled that but the nerve problem will require I spend some time in the traction rig. That’s hung on the closet door and awaiting my presence. I know where I’ll be for the next hour or two. Depending on how I feel later I may get some layout work in. I also have plans to start on scratch building a grain elevator similar to the Walthers ADM elevator. I’ll have to get measurements for the approximate size of the buildings.
(post was written Saturday morning prior to me realizing the site was down for maintenance. Due to the fact the notice on my screen said the site would be up again Monday, I didn’t try to stop in yesterday. Nothing happened here anyway. )
Good Morning!!!
Coffee and Huevos Rancheros please. Thanks.
Got about ¾ inch rain last night!! (Friday)
Carpenter ants……hate ‘em. Luckily, only heard about them, never met one. I don’t think. I understand they are as bad as termites.
Bob- I look about the house and I see my Mom’s house and that scares me. The basement has become a couple of path’s (exaggeration but not much) and stuff is everywhere. I told myself when moving her that I was NOT gonna have all that stuff thinking of my “passion” for keeping every car part I could right down to the nuts and bolts.
I was so proud of myself when I let all that stuff go with my BIL on his scrap metal run. Of course I realized later that I let my rear bumper mounts and the rear license plate/fuel access assembly go. Some of us older guys know what I’m talking about. That beautiful design that allowed you to pull up to the fuel pump on EITHER side of the car without having to circle the pumps like a bunch of Comanche’s trying to locate your fuel filler on the correct side while watching the pump you were going for get taken before you could get there. Why can’t they leave the good ideas alone.
So…….Ken. Don’t know what to say. Sorry for….your loss? Sue’s loss? Hey, does this mean you still have to pay taxes? Gotta be some loophole where you can stay dead and still get a paycheck. I mean they do it in Chicago all the time.
Ulrich- Whew. Good to hear from you. I was afraid something was wrong. My prayers continue for your health.
Flip- Thanks for the update on Jerry and Sallie, I pray for them as well
Flo, I´ll have a chili dog with all the works, fries and a RBF to wash it down, please.
The weather is pretty miserable in our neck of the woods. Lots of [um] and [st] - a perfect day for staying inside and let the mind wander around.
Drafting up that plan for my friend Lothar made me think about my own MRRing activities. N scale has its limitations, at least for me.It´s fine for letting trains move along a nice large layout, but if you only have space for what our friends from the Great Island (UK) call avidly a “shunting plank”, it is too small. What if I also go back to HO scale, German prototype? I could exchange locos and rolling stock with Lothar - an intriguing thought. Sourcing should also be less cumbersome than buying just about every bit and piece in Japan…
Well, I spent the better part of the morning putting some ideas on paper. Basically, the layout is nothing but a timesaver, with a fiddle yard added. It fits on the shelf I have with my N scale layout being relegated to the upper deck of it.
This is my idea:
I will have to equip the locos and cars with Kadee couplers, but that´s an easy game, as Kadee offers a drop-in replacement.
Motive power could be something like this:
It´s a 1960´s 0-6-0 Diesel-hydraulic switcher, which also saw some road service. The local passenger train could be handled by this:
Nice and sunny but kinda coolish out there…42F right now…and of course the weatherguessers are saying a ‘mix of sun and cloud’ with the ever popular chance of rain be falling on our’n heads here…high? 57F…
Today is another day of grocery buying and general cleanup around the house/yard…[:-^]
Have a great day!!!
Ulrich: Which models are those? They look familiar…
Barry - they are the standard branch line locos of the late 1950´s and 60´s in Germany. Nearly all manufacturers sold them, be it Marklin, Fleischmann, Trix or Roco. They were at home at nearly any layout of my youth days.
Funny thing just happened. i was watching my favorite TV show “Railroad Romances”. In this 2002 feature they ran a report on “billboard” tank cars, advertising household chemicals. The person they interviewed was the girlfriend of my student days! What a surprise. We lost contact over 3 decades ago. I can´t say she looks the same now, but I would have recognized her on the spot! Shouldn´t let Petra know [:-^]
Oh yes, I remember the ‘Red Buzzers’ as they were affectionately called. They was from the sound they made. They were on the way out when I left Germany in late '78. The last ones were retired in the early 80’s. I know the model makes a similar sound. Look what’s on the top of my display rack. It still runs too!
Jeff - I have fond memories of rides in one of them “red buzzers” or in German “Roter Brummer”. During my final year at the University of Cologne, I was sick and tired of being stuck in a traffic jam every morning and every evening, so I opted for taking the train. It cut traveling time down to half! At the beginning, it was still a Roter Brummer making up the train. I always managed to get a front seat, right behind the driver. The buzzers did not only have a distinct sound to them, but also a very special smell in them. A mixture of Diesel, toilet odor and an undefined smell coming from the plastic upholstery. I never got around taking a picture, as they were nothing special in those days - at least that´s what I thought. Later in that year, they were taken out of service and replaced by a V 100 Diesel hydraulic loco pulling a string of “Umbauwagen” - coaches rebuilt on the platform of at that time 80 year old Prussian 6-wheeled cars. Not much of an improvement, but a little faster, cutting 5 minutes off the timetable. A typical consist looked close to what Fleischmann offers in N scale:
A lot of those “Red Buzzers” were sold to Greece, Croatia and other exotic countries. Only a few are preserved now.
'morning everyone (or suppose 'afternoon to some of you [:)])
Nothing much happening here … haven’t been active in the [model] railroading scene for a number of months (though I have started posting here again in the past week or two). Have been working on the 12" to the foot scale ones though. BIG difference in weight there [;)].
Zoe, need lots of very hot dark roast coffee in my R&GV RR Mug!!! Mostly just to warm up my hands as I have already had one pot of it before I came over here…
It was 53°F outside when I rolled out of bed this morning… I slept in for an extra hour too. Right now it has crept all the way up to 55°F under partly cloudy skies with a predicted high of 60°! Good day to do some baking I think. May have to light the wood stove for as while to get a bit of heat in the house.
I see we have another 12" to the foot modeler here this morning… Welcome NE06874, good to see you!
Ulrich, so good to see you planning again! Love the little layouts you come with.
I have a long list of items having to get done today so I won’t spend a lot of time sitting at the computer (except for those things requiring the computer, which seems to be quite a few items on the list…)
Ray - those plans keep me from thinking about my future, which does not look to good, both in terms of health and finances. Both issues are connected to each other…
Currently 57 with an expected high of 79 under “mixed skies”.
Supposed to have a closing shift today, but oncologist just called and said he will start second round of chemo later today, so I do not think I will be going in.
On layout front, used a rattle can of Rust Oleum reddish primer to weather the tracks. They came out OK, will look a lot better once some ballast is applied. Speaking of ballast, I have never tried Arizona Rock and Ballast (at least that is the name I think) but have heard good reviews, Anyone have thoughts on this brand?
My first year in Germany as a teen (1975) we lived on the economy, a place called Bietigheim-Bissingen about 11 miles (19 km) north of Stuttgart. I didn’t see them often out there but they were there. The area was rife with steep hills and terraces and I must have climbed or slid down every one of them. There were also plenty of ruins to see. One thing I remember vividly is the narrow streets. In some places the corners of the buildings came out into the streets and only one vehicle at a time could get through resulting in frequent traffic jams.
Evening, Chloe - I’ll have some of that roast beef (if Rerun & Chris left any), just an open face sandwich with some gravy, and a side salad and a RBF. Eating kinda light tonight. [dinner]
Okay, Garry got me to show up, and I (sorta) got Chris to show up, now who’ll get DerJohn in? [swg]
At least you missed the really nasty side effects, Jeff… (Think I spoke too soon, after reading about your sudden awakening today - ouch! [:O]) (After hearing some of the lists of side effects on the TV ads, you wonder how/why the FDA okayed 'em) (And I won’t start guessing… might sound like a rant) [:-^]
If anybody wants to know how to fit decoders in really, really tiny places, ask Karl - or if you’ve ever wanted a ‘Hustler slug’… [(-D] Nice website you have there!
Ray, it sounds like the museum is drawing a bunch of people in on the weekends. Do they (I hope so!) charge a fee for riding the trains, or do they sell enough souvenirs to cover their diesel/fuel costs?
Ken or Vincent, about those drag racers, are we only counting those who compete (and not those who are in a hurry and leave the stop light extra-fast? [:-^]
Galaxy, I’ve enjoyed your informational ‘start-of-the-days’ - I’
