Elliot's Trackside Diner JUNE 2010

Hi guys and welcome to the newest local of the diner!!!

Come into the airconditioning and sit a spell and gab all you want!

Not to far to find it, right near the old one: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/173328.aspx

New rivets have been installed in the counter and new paint on the walls.

FREE PIE AND CAKE FOR EVERYONE TO CELEBRATE!

have a great month of JUNE ahead!

[8D]

Getting started a day early I see.

Well Hello All, Looks very cosy in the diner!!

See you all a bit later. [;)]

From the other diner: Garry, nice loco. I remember in some magazine (think it was an issue of Trains in the past few years) there was an article written by someone who was on the Cadiz RR management about when they went diesel.

Sat. 345- Milwaukee Roaqd 261 . MAN, what a BIGA$$ engine!

Place looks good. Thanks.

Flip

I see we did not wait until June 1 to move, but I found it.

It was in Trains and written by Stan White who I know personally. The Cadiz Railroad was a family business for many years. It its final years it was owned by its largest shipper. Illinois Central abandoned its connecting line, and Cadiz RR went out of business afterwards. The forlorn Alco S1, sits near the I-24 / US 68 interchange. Last year, a roof was built over it, and frankly, it’s a really ugly roof making it hard to get a photo. I took the posted photo maybe three years ago.

A few montths ago, we (Stan, Gus, Dan, and I) went to the Princeton, KY RR museum. The volunteer at the museum is a friend of Stan’s (both in their 80’s). Princeton was once a small terminal on the ICRR. It was interesting to learn about the gold trains on that line that once served Fort Knox.

Well, another hot day gone by.

We didn’t make it to Steamtown cuz we slept in again, forgetting to set the alarm. We like to be there when they open as we can see them preparing the loco for it’s daily run in the roundhouse; watch them grease/oil her up; watch them pull it out and spin her around on the turntable so all is visible; then go to ash pit and dump; then go to get coal {a modern front end loader loads it} and take on water; then go and get the passenger cars for the day’s run before settling down to wait for its loading and first run of the day. That is the real exciting part! SO is watching her being “put to bed” for the night. By the time we would have gotten there she woulda been sitting loading passengers. Bumer. WEll there will be other days, though I don’t know if htey will run the steam again until the first excursion on June 26th.

We actually didn’t do much but take some “down time” and ocassional nap for rest.[:-^]

Tomorrow we get the 98 Gr caravan from the dealer and take her to Firestone to replace the strut towers, which are badly needed. Everybody knock wood for me that there won’t be anything else found wrong, except we know the shocks need to be replaced as well-in due time after the struts are paid off the CC.

Someday-maybe tomorrow after we drop off the caravan we need to take all the cans and bottles to the recycler. They pay extra on tuesdays and i need to find the porch again so I can get to the grill so I can GRILL something!! [dinner]. Need to get the {artificial} stone waterfall out of there also and see what I need for a new pump. Draining the pond for clean up tomorrow will help. Hafta get some algea killer and my other half wants water plants to go in the pond this year. They have to be the kinds that can stand the rushing water from the waterfall. No more fish for the pond. They either die or the neighborhood outdoor cats eat tehm for dinner.

Good evening, not sure what condition the kitchen is in with the sudden move…so will go for a cup of coffee for now.

THAT Cadiz locomotive… a guy could really have fun with a die-hard rivet-counting nit-picker! “They didn’t fill-in the pilot!” “Look how thick the posts are on the front handrail!” “There’s too much rust on the trucks!” “Obviously, the modeler used a brush and not an airbrush from the uneven finish!”[(-D]

sigh

Here’s hoping my fellow Americans had a good Memorial Day weekend…with the meaning of the day not lost in the “hey, it’s summer now!” frenzy. I covered one of three ceremonies in North Liberty this morning. The featured speaker was a young Lieutenant, deploying to Afghanistan this fall. He delivered Lincoln’s remarkable Gettysburg Address. If anybody in attendance had any question about why the day exists…the LT put them to rest, and then some.[tup]

Chris[8]

Evening all. Hey, did I hear someone say FREE PIE?!?!?! I’ll take some apple, please! [dinner]

Happy Memorial Day. Thanks to everyone who is or has served.

Catching up from teh old place…

CN Charlie- Sounds like a cool little railroad!

Ulrich- Hope June will be a better month for you than it sounds like May was


Well, it looks like I’m probably not getting the job at the ice cream place. I didn’t hear anything back, so I called them today, and they said 1) they want to wait to hire until it gets closer to summer and 2) they want to take older kids first (and I understand that), but I already have priority over the 14 and 15 yr. olds.

Fortunately, the restaurant (also across the street, right next to the ice cream place) seemed pretty interested. When I told them I had experience washing dishes, bussing tables, and serving down at the yacht club, the guy seemed pretty interested.

If I don’t get a call from them before the weekend, I’ll probably stop in again and put my name in at some other places, just to be sure.


Well, it’s getting late, so I’ll catch ya guys later!

Hey!! Where is this FREE pie???—i’ll take some strawberry Rhubarb pie please–oh and a RBF as well----[dinner]

I’m heading back to work myself after being off sick with the heart issues–very happy about that let me tell you!! Heeheehee.

I’m getting ready to go and find some more sites to get pix of—got a few on mind for next week----

Galaxy: Audrey and I are seriously thinking of heading to steamtown ourselves----

Welp—you all have a good evening—I’ll be around everyso often---------[:D]

Good Evening,

Rob, you asked it it was hard putting MT couplers on a MP loco to replace the rapidos. I have only done the tender and it is quite easy. In fact that job was my test to see if I could work with the small size of N and while the first install likely took me an hour, the last one was probably 10 minutes. The procedure has been posted but if you want to know how, just send me a PM. I looked at the Trainworld site tonight to see if they still had any of those $50 Mikes and Pacifics but alas none were listed so I guess they are sold out. You could always call them as their website isn’t the most accurate. That is the way I order from them. Don’t call the 800 number as they won’t be very helpful.

Busy day for me back at work but I am just glad I still have work to go to.

The rain finally stopped but the forecast is for more, you guessed it, next weekend.

One layout tour I attended yesterday was certainly a melancholy affair as it was the last day this fellow was running his layout before tearing it down this week due to a move. He is a master builder and has to give it all up due to failing eyesight. I am glad I got to see it. His scratch built coaling tower was truly a masterpiece, not to mention many other structures. His layout, 40 years in the making, was all transition CN and his brass steam collection was impressive. When I heard he was planning on moving a few months ago I suggested to my wife selling our house and buying his house would be an excellent way to acquire a fabulous layout at virtually zero cost she wasn’t in the least impressed. She muttered something about ‘have a nice time in your new house but I’m staying here’.

Good grief it’s 10 p.m. What happened to the evening? I had planned on doing a little layout work. Oh well maybe one of the rainy nights we are promised.

CN Charlie

Evening, Janie - I’ll have a slice of apple pie a la mode, with a Santa Fe mug of decafe, please. Thanks!

Sorry for my extended absence, but have been trying to get more organized around home, plus awaiting the return of my laptop (due in tomorrow- YAY!)[:D] It will be soooo good to have a real keyboard again…

Haven’t had enough time in the Diner to stay current (I think it’s about 15 pages of posts that I’m behind now)[oops]

Jeff, how’s the van and the mods for it coming along? I’ll have to look for what pics you’ve posted since the one exterior bunch you had first posted.

Garry, that’s one excellent module you guys put together - I can’t spot where the module ends and the background starts. [tup]

Rob - glad at least you have narrowed down the cause on your Polaris. Now, hopefully you wil be able to find the hose you need quickly (and, at a decent price).

Ulrich, good to hear there are good men over in Deutschland as well as (a few) over here in government (briefly…). Hey, Janie, what’s this [soapbox] doing under my feet? I do hope things get turned back around soon for you so we don’t lose contact with you (or with Galaxy). [angel]

Galaxy, it might’ve been hot here today (about mid-80’s (F)), but I was lazy, and got a very slow start on the day. Plus, set up the slow cooker for a pot roast for dinner, took out the trash and ran by the grocery store for milk, some other food goodies and a couple of potatoes to go with the roast. Thought about taking a nap, but decided not to…[zzz]

Chris, sounds like you attended a quite worthwhile Memorial Day service. I think I missed our here, due to my (lethargy) and late start. Should’ve gone to bed a bit earlier I did go to the 'Bay today and

Plate full of tacos and an iced decaf coffee, please.

***CNCharlie, I’ll post the “rapido to knuckle” question again when I get that far. Of coure I still have a few vintage locos that could use that transition now. Atlas Pacific, Kato Japanese version Mike, and some assorted 0-6-0’s of assorted brands.

***Jim, should get to it tomorrow, or at least get the part ordered. Sure will be nice to have it running again. I use it for a LOT of farm stuff.

Thanks to all who are serving or have served, including my dear old dad, (WWII lead bombardier B24 Liberator).

Never made it to the train room. Maybe tomorrow night.

Cheers! [C):-)] Rob

Hey, nice job G!! Place looks like new. I’ll have the same thing Barry’s having. Good to see Flip stopped in.

Busier at work than I thought tonight I guess the rain kept people from cooking out even though it quit early.

I did get into the trainroom and got the, hopefully, finish layer of mud spread for the main street boulevard in Gold Creek put down and about 2/3 of the retaining wall done. I’m not happy with the colors, but since I don’t know really what I’m looking for I guess it’ll do. I want an old look but to me it looks too black. Sure wish I was color savy. Maybe, next time I’ll find a picture of something like I want and ask what colors I should use.

Rob- Oh my goodness! It’s dejavoo. Several years ago I had a semi that would die after I forget how many miles and would not run on the right tank. It had a manual switch valve from left to right. Drove me crazy for a couple days trying to run down where it was sucking air from. Could not find a leak anywhere. Turns out the pickup had broken about six inches down and when the fuel level got down to there, you guessed it, ran out of fuel. Who’d have thought of that. Never ran into something like that before or since. I never even thought of that for you as I assumed yours would have been a bottom feed. I sure hope that’s it and you can fix it cheap.

Welp finished my pie so off to bed. Prayers for those in need.

Jim said: "Garry, that’s one excellent module you guys put together - I can’t spot where the module ends and the background starts " … … Jim: If you are talking about the photo of the yellow Alco S1, I have a secret. … Shhh… Don’t tell… we employed a neat little optical illusion… We had a full sized locomotive (the real thing) and took the photo outdoors… It was an overcast day adding to the mood. … Aren’t we clever? . Remember not say say anything. … We would not like for too many people to find out.

AH HA!!! I heard that!!! Thought I was asleep didn’t you?!

Good Morning Everyone!

Galaxy - you did it! I had set my alarm clock to 12 pm sharp, just to get up on time to move the Diner to its June track ( and be ahead of you, he, he), only to see, that it was moved already! A job well done, Mr. G [tup] - the place looks nicer than ever!

Chloe, just a coffee for me, please.

Nothing planned for today, just a little banking business and a short HD list to work down.

CUL

Good morning guys!!!

A cup o joe togo gotta go pick up the caravan.

Until June 26th, I would call their toll-free number first to be sure when they are running steam. June 26th is their first excursion and for July and August to Labor day at least they will be running steam Wed-Sun. I didn’t ask if they were running steam all the month of June when I called, just wanted to be sure if we went down this weekend that they would be running steam.

Sometimes ya just gotta have a “downtime” day, Jim.

Yep. It may not have been eactly at midnite, and a little earlier than exactly June 1st, but I needed time to paint and replace those wornout rivets in the rivet counter! [8D]

well, have a great day everyone!

Type back at you later

Good morning all,

Garry, I’ll shoot you my phone number, not sure what my schedule will look like but we could stop and have a cup of coffee someplace…

CN Charlie, did you get any pictures of the layout before it was torn down?

Garry: thought that he couldn’t hear you in his sleep huh? He hears REALLY well----[:-^]


Good Morning[:)]

We’re clearing up after yesterdays 4" rainfall and viscious t’underin’boomers came through—Byron–which is just to the south of us got 3" of golfball sized hail last night and we saw a funnel cloud just to our east—just loverly out there yesterday----today we are going to a high of 26C with a bit less humidity–BUT–we will be right back to the swing of things with more rain and nastiness by tomorrow[:-^]

I’ve got a follow up witht the heart specialist this afternoon and a visit to our FLHS in store as well–Think I’ll see whether I can pick up a set of elevvator parts and some more windows and doors again----need the ding things here—

Flo, I’ll have a coffee and a breakfast bagel please–I’ll be at the window booth checking out the outside scenery—[:D]