Elliots Trackside Diner IV, Under New Management!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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Model train show in Pittsburgh this weekend, so my brother and I went on down. Set a very meager budget of $150 (have an equally meager three day vacation to Corpus Christi TX next week, bad timing!) and managed not only stick to it but came in under budget. Only got things with good prices and stuck to my shopping list. Just one impulse buy! Still, a small haul by some standards. Got five RTR pieces (four Walters, one Stewart) and one kit (Bowser). Saw a few things, even things I plan on getting eventually, but the prices weren’t very good or I knew it would be some time before I need them. Right now I’m just trying to get enough together for one full train on my future layout before I start construction. A few things I was looking for no one had, to my slight displeasure. Still we had a good time. The Bowser kit was the impulse buy. The roadname it comes in can’t exist in my freelanced world, but who cares.

In the last couple weeks my fleet has grown eight cars. Right now its larger than my fleet was when I had a layout as a kid/teen. Not counting toy train level stuff that is. A few of the old Blue Boxes, Walthers, MDC, and what have you kits from those days can be salvaged I hope, though I don’t know what I’m going to do about all the missing ladders. And some of those (the intermodal) can’t fit with the new plan. Seeing all those high quality locomotives makes my BB SD40-2 and SW1000 look hopelessly primitive now. Maybe that will help me mentally when these guys lose their BN colors.

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WOW!!!

I have been so far behind lately… its not funny. Good to be back here though. Did you miss me?

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It just hasn’t been the same without you.

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Good Morning from Tipton IN ! [:D]

[:o)]

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Good morning all,

3 years ago I bought a stick in a box of dirt (raspberry bush from home depot). This year I’m getting black raspberries larger than my thumb! The Rhubarb patch is not doing very well at all I should have had 3-4 5 gallon buckets of rhubarb by now in my freezer. The tomatoes plants are about 5’ tall and have large green tomatoes on them, wahoo!

Tom, looking forward to some more pictures and I’m glad the air is clearing up for you.

Alex, sounds like you had quite the adventure this summer.

NittanyLion, Have fun in CC,TX I lived there for 3 years, great place to visit but I really didn’t like living there. How was the Pittsburg train show? Would it be worth a 2hr drive for me?

Railroadnut, welcome back!

Well I think I’m caught up on painting the UP and BN rolling stock in my LS&W black with yellow lettering. I’m thinking about painting my cabooses yellow and black to match the color scheme.

Lee

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Well, dad says I can take out the layout once I finish my summer work.

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I can’t take mine out. Never put it away.[(-D]

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Mornin, Janie, just some coffee n a couple of Bill’s doughnuts please. Better weather forecast for us today. The heat n humidity the last few days bout had me down.

Sunday-Early rain, then partly cloudy and cooler. Less humid. High82 Sunday night-Clear and cool. Low 57

One good them bout the weather we’ve been having the couple-3 weeks. It’s help catch the crops n gardens catch up some from late plating and cool weather, we’ d had earlier.

We got some sad news Wed, found Deb’s x SIL, Terry, died from a heart attack at 48. Jamie n her bunch came down for the funeral Fri n got caught in a hailstorm, which beat her car up purrty good. When they went home last evening, they got caught in another thunderstorm. Luckily no hail this time.

JP,

Happy burthen day, be it a bit late.

Terry,

Hope your starten to feel betters now that the treatments are over.

Flash,

Real sorry to hear bout your dads problems. We’ve still got him in our thoughts.

Tom,

Hope the blue skies n cooler winds continue for you folks. Now with the better weather and extra help, they can get the fires under control.

Your prohibition story reminded me of some the stories my great grandpa told about him and Uncle George making n runnin shine. He still had all the equipment hid in the barn and I got to help him make a batch one time. There’s a place in Charleston were we go for bbq ribs that was a speak-easy during those days. They still have the dice table, but it’s hanging from the ceiling now.

RT,

I see you may a couple good train scores again with the command control. Have you started on the layout yet?

Been busy round here the last few days, but I finally got round to uploading some more photos. Here’s some pics from the Paducah rail museum’s layout.

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g214/inch53/vacation

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Good morning.

It’s 74 this morning and clear. It won’t stay that way though. The high is expected to be in the mid 90’s and it’ll be partly cloudy.
[b]
Today’s Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 7/13/2008

Heat Index: 79°F
Humidity: 92%
Dew Point: 72°F

So Far Today
High: 80°F
Low: 74°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 7mph NNE

Today High: 95 Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 90s. West winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight Low: 72 Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of thunderstorms. Lows in the lower 70s. Light and variable winds.
[/b]

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Good morning…

Tom … That’s a funny story about prohibition. I’m now living in an area that includes moonshining in its history. Before the big man-made lake existed, the area here was called “Shotgun Hollow”, and the moonshine was made in a small town named Golden Pond that no longer exists. The biggext customer was Al Capone’s gang. I have the Woodland Scenics moonshine still located on the banks of the Mrs. Hippy River on the layout.

We talked about chapel cars, and here’s my effort. My box of out of service passenger cars included this Roundhouse kit. I still need to install the awning, but here it is. I’m using the Prairie (2-6-2) to haul it with a combine car for use by the railroad crews. Note: liitle locomotives can be fun, too. (To those who insist on extra large lcomotives).

Inch… .You got a lot of good photos in Paducah! Did you happen to drive around the VMV locomotive re-building plant. They had many older locomotive stored in back awaiting rebuilding the last I saw.

I here Shelley getting up so we will soon be off to church this morning. It’s likely we’ll visit her late sister’s grave after church. Janet passed away last September, and today would have been her birthday.

Have a beautiful day.

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Oh nice, rub it in.

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Good Morning Diners!

OK Garry, I’ve placed the order for the wild blueberries but they won’t be in for another month or so. When you get them you’ll see that they are quite small but the taste is far more intense than cultivated ones. I think you going to like them! I’ll tell Chloe when the’re shipped and I’ll send along some maple syrup too. The Manitoba stuff is odd tasting so I’ll send some from Quebec as they have lots there.

I was going to head out to the boat today but I’m too tired for an hour and half drive each way this afternoon. We were up at 4 a.m. as one of the dogs was sick and I just couldn’t get back to sleep. Besides the yard needs a clean-up after the stormy weather we had yesterday-lots of wind and rain.

Jeff, Make sure that gas storage fridge is well ventilated as gas fumes have about 10X more explosive force than TNT. I remember well the lectures from the tech guys at Sunoco when I used to work for them. A gas explosion would blow the door off any fridge but I guess you know that being a fire fighter.

Well I have to gear up for my return to work tomorrow otherwise it is too much of a jolt. I might even go into the office for a short time but my wife would think I’m nuts and she could be right.

See you soon,

CN Charlie

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Hey, just kidding with you. As my mother says, if you have it, flaunt it. Besides, at roughly 8x10 feet it’s a little big to stick in a closet or move down the hall.

No problem with the ventilation. The door is badly sprung (warped?) from a 14 year-old boy (now 15) hanging on it. When it’s closed (hinge is on the left side) the door is open an inch and a half at the bottom right and a half inch at the top left. There won’t be any fumes building up in there.
[(-D]

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Afternoon Gang: We went into Cracker Barrel for breakfast this morning. Actually late morning about 10:30. It’s Sunday so sleep in is OK. Anyway we got back and the compressor on the gas well was not running. My SIL said that it was down yesterday also. I called the production manager but got her answering machine. It’s about time for them to fire that company that provides the compressor. It was down for a week two weeks ago. Our check this month is going to be short for sure.

I guess Bergie and the guys got things cleaned up fast. I was lost for awhile yesterday when the site was down.

My operation went well. Right now my left eye is very blood shot but will clear up in a week or two. There is some improvement now but it takes a week for any real improvement to show.

Terry I hope that you are starting to feel better now that the treatments have stopped. I’m sure that the knowledge that they are over is a relief.

I’m not doing a whole lot since I’m supposed to take it very easy. No bending over to pick up anything heavy and such. I should get down to the basement but the things that need doing on the layout require lifting and that’s a no no.

Flash I’m really sorry to hear that your dad is having trouble again. Prayers for his recovery. As the others have said if you need a shoulder we’re here.

I’ll stop back in later tonight.

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[:-^]

Well Gang, I hope you are all having a great weekend. It has been a beautiful week here in Spokane where we are house and pet sitting while our son and DIL are attending a wedding in Florida. They will be back on Tuesday.

For those interested in the fires ( Jeff, Tom, etc.) ust a couple of miles east of us here on the western edge of Spokane Valley we had a terrible fire that is believed to have started in a back yard (all they will say as of now) It burned 100 acres and 13 very expensive homes. Another home was spared because the heat was so intense that it melted an above ground swimming pool and the water flooded out into and onto the house they say and it was spared.

I couldn’t log in the other day because of the service work they were doing on the site. But I found it interesting that you guys started talking about “Chapel Cars” Not an hour after I had ordered on-line The book “This Train is Bound For Glory” A book about those Chapel Cars. We were really on the same wave length that day.

Well the wife is calling me for lunch, so will try and get back in later.

Prayers and blessings to all in need.

Johnboy out…

The “Wobbly” is on vacation…

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in a SOUTHERN mug, please & thanks.

Speaking of moonshine: My wife’s 2nd cousin was Raymond Parks (founder of Nascar), who employed Lloyd Seay(sp), Frank Sosebee, etc… Not sure if this is something she should be proud of or not?[:-^] She and her sisters (as little girls) were also responsible for destroying several of those early moonshine cars with rocks & such. I think that was right after her grandad’s death, another big time moonshiner. She thinks about what those cars would have been worth today and shakes her head.

Took advantage of the free weekend on this site and downloaded all sorts of track plans. Also read many articles. Cool!

Significant Weather Alert here. Frequent lightning and strong wind gusts. Getting real dark now…YeeHaw. [C):-)] Rob

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Afternoon. I pulled out my Cha[el Caboose, didn;t realize how much dust and dried paint flakes had accululated on the roof. Shoudl use it for my steamers. I still need to put some “stained glass” in the side windows. Like to put a bell in the couplola , but no one would notice it. I glued a piece of Sprue to the chimney to finish the Cross look on it.

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Howdy …

OK, CN Charlie … thanks a million…it’ll be worth the wait for wild blueberries and Quebec real maple syrup!!!

Johnboy … wow that’s somthing you just order the Bound for Glory Book. Maybe a book review from you would be a good idea Those fires are bad.

Paul… I’m hoping eye number two heals as well as did eye number one. How do you like Cracker Barrel? The ycertainly have a lot of trinkets in the store part of the business. I like the food. In the store, they have old fashioned candy. One of my favorites from way back when was Chuckles candy which they have. Instead of 5 cents it’s 75 cents now.

Flash … Your Dad remains on the prayer list. You have neat ideas for teh caboose. I recognize it as the Walthers CB&Q type 4 window wood caboose.

Tom … Thanks for your remark in WPF … The Prairie type steam locomotive is a brass model imported from Japan. I’ve had it a long time.

I added the awning to the Chapel Car this evening. I’m looking forward to seeing others from some of the diners.

We did make it to Shelley’s sister’s grave today on what would have been her birthday. Shelley is still very sad about the loss of her sister.

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Good evening, we were out at Palmer all day yesterday ( Sat ) with the members of the MBRE for an all day railfan picnic at the hotspot of New England. I got some nice shots on video as well as many photos. There were intermodals, car racks, Manifest, The Vermonter, and Amtrak. The weather was great, the food and drink was great, met some real nice people form all-over.

GARRY: Picked 2 gallons of blueberries, but I don’t think this year’s crop will be as large as last year. I had to do some prunning last Fall, and this has had some effect.

MIKE: Now that is what I call a CTC center !!! That is electronics heaven. And, I saw those two tankers on the CSX main line yesterday.

Later, guys, time for bed,

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[:-^]

Hi crew, I see most of you have hit the hay for the night… Me too soon.

So, when you get up in the morning, those of you who have been in on the discussion about “Chapel Cars” might find the reviews to the book I ordered quite interesting.

You can find the book at Amazon.com then typing in the title. Look at the great prices that they have for used copies, everyone can afford to get a copy.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: ![3.0 out of 5 stars|64x12](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-3-0._V47082372_.gif)**Railroad Religiosity**, August 23, 2004

By

WILLIAM H FULLER (SPEARFISH, SD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
The ingenuity of humans in furthering their own ends is practically boundless. Add to that ingenuity the fervor of 19th and early 20th century evangelist