Elliot's Trackside Diner 26

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

As the mods shut down the old place It seemed a good time to open a new one.

Good morning. It’s 46 and cloudy with rain imminent. The high will be 50 with a 90% chance of rain.

Gonna be a wet one today! And why not? This is the day I gotta go out and pay bills. Yesterday I put up four more of the solar Tiki torches. That’s a total of eight now. On two of them I took out the factory installed NiCd batteries which are rated at 1.2 V, 600 mA and replaced them with Eveready NiMH batteries rated at 1.2 V, 230 mA. Just after sunset all eight lights came on as they should. Six ran down during the night and went out but the two with the NiMH batteries were still lit up at 6:45 this morning and didn’t go off until sunrise. Take a wild guess at what kind of batteries are going into the others. I figure the NiCd batteries will work OK in my remotes, postal scale, LED tester and magnifier. Nothing much on the schedule today except paying some bills that can’t be paid by mail or internet and I have to get the grocery shopping done before my cupboards look like those of Mrs Hubbard. I may be able to get some more weathering practice in today but it’ll probably be late.

2

Good morning all. Happy March the 1st. Sorry I haven’t had time to look for a card. Count down to the big anniversary of my birth has begun. The 18th and I will be another year older. Odd, you age a year in one day[%-)]. Strange species we are. Sure beats the alternative though.

Coffee please. I shall not mention the weather so as to not jinx it.

Today I must make the deposits and pay some bills at the Church. Then Pay the fish bill, order more fish for the 12th, stop in at Wally-mart pick up some KILZ, then home to do some more clean up in the base-a-ment before going to w**k. My plans, yours may vary.

Joe- [(-D]I didn’t expect anybody to really understand the colors thing. I’ve lived with it everyday my whole life and I don’t even get it.

My boots smell like fish.

Ray- Yes, every day the old ticker ticks and I can breathe, is a good day.[:D]

Speaking of tickers, Barry, any news on your tests?

Hey, the headcount is a good idea Ulrich. Let’s see of the top of my head I see Lee needs to be added, as well as this German fellow, can’t think of his name right now, but I’m sure it will come to me.

HEY!!! I step outside for a second to set my boots on the platform, turn around and the diners heading down the tracks. I guess I won’t wear the boots in here again until the smell is gone.

Have a Great Day!!!

EDIT: I guess chasing the diner down the tracks and grabbing the handrail and holding on for dear life wasn’t the wisest thing to do for two reasons. One, the obvious safety reasons, and two, now I have to walk 25 miles back to the wilderness to get my truck!!![banghead]

3

Good morning!!..Coffee regular please in a NYC mug…I will have the engineer special…light on the grease…and some Italian toast please. Well…one more week on disability from my shoulder surgery…healing well…therapy sucks.[V] That’s only one more week of full time modeling!!!..I have to wait for the delivery guys to show up with the new furniture my wife ordered. I got a new shoulder…she got new furniture…I guess that’s fair. They said between 0830-1130 for delivery. My luck I will head downstairs and get right in the middle of something and they will be here. So here I sit waiting…but in good company in the diner. Today will be just a nice cloudy day…maybe a dusting of snow. Still nursing a small hangover from Saturday night as our Syracuse basketball team put some SMACK on Villanova in the dome. I think we will see a #1 rank in the country after that!!! Be smart all you bracket players for March Madness. SU should be in your final 4 for sure…if not the final game. Just my [2c] Everyone have a good day!!!..Tim

4

… well, here we go again, Sophie , me gal! How could I forget our Coast Guard Veteran! So it´s back to Milepost 25… must I really?

Edit: Well, someone moved the Diner back to the yard, now on track 26. Of course, I only found out when I arrived there… [sigh]

Here is the now hopefully complete list.

  1. Barry

  2. Chris

  3. CNCharlie

  4. Dick

  5. Duke

  6. Garry

  7. Flip

  8. Jeff

  9. Jerry

  10. Jim

  11. Joe

  12. John

  13. Johnboy

  14. JR

  15. Keith

  16. Lee

  17. Mark

  18. Mike

  19. PC

  20. Philip

  21. Ray

  22. Oz-Ray

  23. Rob

  24. Robby P.

  25. Sam

  26. Sawyer

  27. Sue (occasionally)

  28. Teen Steam Fan

  29. Tim

  30. Todd

  31. Calif. Tom

  32. PA Tom

  33. Vincent

Including me, that´s now 34 regular customers to the Diner! Vinnie is going to be a rich man - Vinnie? No, Vinnie, I did not mean to… Slappp!

Ouch! [D)]

5

Good morning. Now we are back in town. What did we learn from our experience out in the boondocks? I wonder if Der John left all the spiffy biffies out there.

I’ll have coffee and a donut at the RC. Then I’m headed to the layout for more wiring.

Happy Model Railroading …

6

Good Morning…Its cloudy and 35 here…I’ll have coffee and a sweet roll please…Thank you…I got couplers on Life like GP 20 with atlas GP 7 shell…runs pretty good and working on laser wood kit Saw Pit store…You all have a good one…Jerry

7

Mornin’ everyone!

Zoe a nice big bowl of hot oatmeal with brown sugar and a cup of dark roast in a R&GV Museum Mug would suit me fine. I’ll go check out the view in the front booth.

Looks like a good location. Nice to get back to civilization (if you can call this place civilized…[:-^]). I do love the countryside being an old Farm Boy through and through, but it sure is a shorter walk to the yard than the old spur out at MP25. I did see a fox crossing the tracks first thing this morning… What? Oh he was bringing the ducks for the “Duck a La Orange” for dinner tonight.

I checked my Credit Union Account first thing this morning, and it seems I still owe $.52 on my car… I think I will go down there and have them transfer the 52¢ and pay it off in full! One less monthly bill to pay on. The money I was spending on THAT loan will now be added to the Revolving Loan on the house. If all goes well, I will be debt free in less than a year and a half (If I don’t go buy something expensive THAT is…[;)])

So Barry, how did you make out with the 24hour monitor? Hope all is well!

Just realized I have a meeting tonight to prepare for so I doubt I will get much hobby stuff done today.

Better get moving!

73

8

I agree, Ray. It’s more civil in the country. In our county, people driving in on-coming cars will typically wave at you as you pass. When I go to cities like Detroit, people wave but only with one finger.

We should include Paul and Ed on the regulars list even though we don’t wee them often anymore. Perhaps if the ysee the new location, they will stop in again. Ed’s orange juice would hit the spot now.

9

Ahhh!

I see we moved already. I’m thinking we’re running about one move every three weeks now.

Our novelist urges are going strong I see[;)]

10

Good morning,

Welp, since we’re back in the yard, I’ll go ahead and get the necessary protections in place. The yardmaster has been advised we’ll be on Track 26…for at least 2, maybe 3 weeks. Switches leading to the track have been lined away, spiked, and a red ribbon tied to the handle on the switch stand. Derails have also been placed to further prevent movement onto the track. Tracks 25 and 27 are also marked as out-of-service, with yellow ribbons tied to the handles on their switch stands. I’ll also put-up blue flag protection on the Diner… we theoretically should meet all RR requirements now! [swg]

sniff sniff Do I smell…fish? Oh, hiya TODD![:D] Nothing like a series of fish-frys to occupy a guy’s time 'eh? We did three/year at Springville Fire. I ended up on the serving line. Only the “cool kids” got to go play in “the fish house.” Yup, the fish-frys were/are THE fundraiser for the Springville Fire Dept., so they built an addition to the back of the station for the storage, preparation, and frying of the fish. To keep the “fryers” happy, a supply of Black Velvet was kept on-hand… THAT’s part of why only “the cool kids” got to play back there.

THAT reminds me, our (Clarence) Fire Dept. pancake breakfast is…next month!!! Well, guess I know what we’ll be discussing at the monthly business meeting tonight…

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh shazbot. Another w**k week begins. Already, I’ve e-mailed last year’s “North Liberty Community Guide” text to NLFD and NLPD for review/updating. I also lined-up a new business feature interview for tomorrow following a “jump rope for hearts” thing at a North Liberty elementary school. I’ll probably also stop by another NL elementary to take pictures of some recycling thing they’ve got going on. There’s a company who takes…trash…and makes bags, purses, wallets, etc. out of it. Picture a girls’ back-pack made out of Fritos, Dorritos, and Cheetos bags. Yup. One kids’ trash = one man’s profit and another kid’s backpack

11

Coffee in a small SANTA FE mug, please & thanks.

Have a good day all.

[C):-)] Rob

12

Another “regular” … We don’t want to exclude Cajun Chef Ryan for sure. I did not see him on the list. His recipes are the best!

13

Good Morning Zoe - I’ll have a CAW mug of coffee and a ham, egg & cheese sandwich for breakfast, please ‘n’ thanks!

Well, I see we’re back in town, though I think our furry friends had uh,… left the previous location a bit before the move. Now some of their cousins might be checking over the old location by now for any food scraps and such that had fallen under the Diner’s track. [dinner] But it’s good to be back where we can see a bit more railroad action here. [yeah]

Sawyer, great photos of your layout. But I think those trucks on the Geep look a bit too shiny and clean - might want to grease 'em or weather them up. The shine almost blinds me at this hour of the morning. [;)]

Chris - living in farm country there, I’d be surprised if you didn’t see colors as those tractors! When I was married, my (ex-)wife had a friend who lived in farm country, and her kid was starting pre-school or kindergarden. They showed him the color green, and asked him “What color is this?” The kid answers right away: “John Deere!” [;)] Of course, when I was an art major, I found out that there are about as many names for a color as there were paint manufacturers. [oops] Hey, on your Borg saga, is there a Windows utility like my Mac one - it asks me anytime that some program (other than my browser of choice) tries to access an internet location (and I can tell it yes or no). If there’s something like that, it could help you squelch the Borg’s devious plans to reinstate Internet Exploder 6, 7, 8, etc.

And Congratulations(!) to all our Canadian neighbours on their team’s big(ger) win! Sounds like a well-fought game (speaking figuratively I guess, but this was hockey, right?). [;)] [tup]

[#welcome] to the Diner, Puddlejumper/OzRay! I see some of the others have also welcomed you and

14

Tall glass of lemon water, please.

***Jim, thanks for the tip. I learned a long time ago never to have all the trains out at one time where my wife can see them. Of course considering how she has taken to the hobby and how much more she has collected for her own HO layout, she does not have as much ground to stand on anymore.[(-D]

So, are MRC (HO) DCC Decoders any good? Is the Bachmann starter DCC controller worth the cheap price or is there a base model of another brand that is “simple to use” we should save for? Although not committed to changing over the wife’s HO layout yet, I’m thinking ahead here. **Would like to find a decoder for her newest loco (**ATLAS GE U23B) that could run on both DC & DCC, especially if there is one with sound available for a reasonable price? Suggestions?

[C):-)] Rob

15

Rob - I only had one encounter with a MRC decoder. It was in a factory equipped Athearn Genesis MP15AC w/sound. Frankly, that decoder was … [soapbox]. The Digitrax decoders worked nicely, so do the Soundtraxx Tsunami´s.

The Bachmann DCC commander set is a cheap start, but nothing else. Better to get a real one right from the beginning, i.e a Digitrax Zephyr or a NCE PowerCab. A little “dearer”, but worth the extra buck.

16

Rob- One word of caution. If you are DC ,You can, but it is a PITA, run a loco with sound. It takes more power to start up and if there is a dc engine on the pike , there will be an accident. [anyone into kit bashing engines that have already been bashed?] Also, any lack of current will stop the engine and it HAS to go thru all its sounds again. I took my sound equipped engine to my lhs to have ,either a on /off switch put in or take out the sound chip.

Flip

Oh joy, T O P. Ok, Janie , See what the folks will have.

17

Ah yes, Jim, there is THAT isn’t there… I just got back from doing some banking for the Martin Luther King Committee (meeting tonight) and while I was downtown, I stopped over to the Credit Union (I don’t do my personal business with Banks…) to see about paying off the $.52 left on the loan. The lady I usually see for such stuff was out of town being trained today, so I marched up the stairs to see somebody in the loan dept. I told the girl there I’d like to pay off the 52¢ left on my car loan… She giggled a bit, transferred 52¢ from my savings account and told me the release form for the title would be in my mailbox early next week. Then I had them put most of what I was paying on the car towards the other loan starting next month.

If something breaks, I can always put the cost on the revolving credit loan anyway. Right now I only pay 3.75% interest on THAT one.

Zoe I could use a RBF to tide me over 'til supper. I’ll go sit in the front booth and watch all the commotion outside.

Later!

73

18

Good afternoon.

Went to the job interview, and that’s were it stands. Maybe I will get a call later this week. Its for a distribution center for grocery stores. The shifts are from 8am-4pm or 3pm-11pm or 6pm-2am. Just depends on business. Have to work Sundays, but have Saturdays off. Sometimes its 6 days a week of work, but then just a few days. Starting pay is $12.00 a hour. Part of a “union” after 45 days.

Doesn’t sound to bad.

**Jim…**Isn’t that crazy!!! Once before a box was at $10.00, and I didn’t have it taped. I taped it up real good, and the weight made it jump to $20. WHAT!!! I wasn’t to happy.

19

Good afternoon Diners: A green tea and a Lassie Mog please Zoe.

Jeff:

…Thanks for the tip. It explains something about the lights around (and on) our ornamental puddle (aka pond LOL) I’ll check those batteries when the weather gets warmer. The better performers are in El Cheepo WallyMart ones, and the other two are way worse.

Ulrich: The list should also have TiptonBill who drops in with morning photo and Hello from time to time, as well as RT the Lionel King, who again, comet-like swings round every now and then.

I see we’ve been moved on the basis of astronomy rather than page count - Oh well, it is what it is. Did anyone see that switcher though? - the good old 3295 Arhs-Kiama all the way from OZ! Cool -(thanks for the lead OZJim)

Garry:

…THAT they belong there? LOL. OK, so I’ve found some more, here’s today’s; it’s for PC and other ax-men!

Jerry: Let’s see that GP 20 when it’s done! [tup]

Rob: I’d endorse what Ulrich just said, My MRC (N Scale sound decoder died, and not from abuse) after a not very long life. (I do however have a MRC stationary decoder managing the po

20

Der- That ones for the choir boys when they are off-key.

Flip