Elliot's Trackside Diner, March 2013

Good Morning!

The old diner is here:

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/214473.aspx?sort=ASC&pi314=65

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GOOD MORNING!!!

Per request, we are in PA!!

I found a horseshoe curve abandoned siding on which it was OK for us to park! this way we can WATCH AS THEY navigate the curve!

Did you know the horseshoe was recently featured on an episode of Extreme Trains???

Here is some info: More than 50 trains daily can be observed riding the rails of this world-famous engineering marvel.

There IS a Funicular which transports visitors up to the trackside observation area, offers a unique way to enjoy the autumn hues of the Allegheny Mountains.

Here is spot for more information:

http://www.visitpa.com/fall-foliage-train-rides

Will have MORE stuff as the month goes along!!!

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Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

Friday, March 1, 2013

TIPTON

the rails of the late great pennsy, we should go to wishram, Wa. next month a nice riverside view with plenty of BNSF traffic and a GN steamer.

woot! 5 days off, Know what I’m thinking Model train weekend yeah!

Good Morning from Sodus,NY. I have often been by the diner before, but never stopped in. [:$] Flo, I will have a cup of coffee, in my own mug, that I brought. that’s right, the OMID mug. ( Ontario midland line ).yes that’s right, it run’s out of Sodus here.it’s nice to see that someone lives kinda close to me. that would be howmus,( ray). I will be around from time to time.

Ron

Oh sweet! And close to home too! Maybe we can take a side trip over to Cresson. Nothing like railfanning from the front porch of The Station Inn!

I still have Barry’s cold [:(!] , Coffee and cough drops, what a combination! [+o(]

I’ve been torturing myself with a Mantua “little six” switcher. Somebody, I don’t know who, but he looks like me, decided the little bugger needed an overhaul.[;)]
First came cleaning and re-lubing the axles and bearings, then some wiseacre [;)](me again) Decided to go full bore with the valve linkage, got silly on ebay and got linkage for a “Big Six”. Six is six right??[%-)] Wound up re-using the main rods, the bulK of the big six parts, and the eccentric rods came from my junk bin, from an old Bowser E6 rebuilt years ago! Thankfully I still had rivets and the peening tools from years past.
Finally I took out the old motor magnet, and installed 6 of these, “high performance” magnets. Put the lil bugger on the track and let her go. An hour later and the only thing to fall off was the left hand brush[:O]. Yep, the little brush was riding down in the chassis, and the engine never stopped!! So after repairing that (oh Joy) I then tried to make the motor stall at high speed. Wow, can you say TORQUE?? It’ll never happen in normal use. I had to push a lot harder than that cast boiler will ever load the chassis!![:O]!
Later today, I’ll work on the boiler, while I wait for additional pickups and a decoder! Before that , off to the post office, got 9 ebay winnings to send!

L8ter!

How about after we visit WA we head to Binghamton NY on the old D&H?

Good morning. Uneventful day other than that I finally have some work again. The paycheck that I’m getting today will be great. Estimated to be about $150, give or take $10.

GOOD MORNING!!!

ONTARIO MIDLAND, [#welcome] to the diner, don’t be a stranger and post often!

Lehigh, when we pick a local for the diner, it is generally a state or country picked, and while we may settle into a “area” of the state or country, we travel the whole state with info posted of the visit. We HAVE been to NY several times, up close to Ray’s way and Rochester, and, yes here, in my area, the Bingo area. WE try to alternate where we go so NY has been visited twice within the last year, and the NW of the USA {to include WA} so next time we may go to, oh, say, Georgia for instance, Unless Ulrich moves u s to a European country. Often, we DO honor requests { why I chose PA and Horse shoe curve to settle to- it was requested twice}, but try to be fair about distribution across the country and world.

Since I moved the diner, I will be posting information on trains from around PA {like i did for Hawaii}. Naturally, we have Strasburg , and Steamtown and Rock Hill Furnace, but we also have New Hope and Ivy and other places to go!

So now,other things: MOH is on pins and needles awaiting the decision on Unenjoyment, we should hear by Monday, and the sooner the better. The worst part is that as far as they are concerned, MOH “contributed” to the firing {by punching in ONE WHOLE MINUTE too EARLY from lunch- on urging from the SUPERVISOR-, and, unfortunately, it wasn’t the first errant punch}, so they may win. The Worst Part is we have to come up with the money sent already for Unenjoyment, naturally we spent some. Dunno how we will manage. things go form BAD to WORSE for us, PRAY We win!!! The company MOH worked for, has a Hired company to do the dirty work of contesting the unenjoyment!!! Sneaky!!!

I will attend to chores today, while MOH goes t

Morning All,

Only plans for today is to weather a car and turn a WM flat car (Phil gave to my Dad) into a RR used wheel carrier. Should be a fairly lazy day.

Tomorrow the grand kids are spending the night since Peggy has been invited out and Patrick is working. Moh says Peggy broke her little toe when she stubbed it against her china cabinet.

Ron- Welcome.

Galaxy- I sure hope things work out for you and your wife.

Ulrich- I hope the move continues to move along smoothly for you and your parents.

Hope everyone has a good night and prayers for those in need.

Coffee in a SOUTHERN PACIFIC mug, please.

Healing thoughts to those in need.

Have a good day all.

Cheers! [C):-)] Rob

Good morning. It’s 36° with 86% humidity. The high will be 55°.

Looks like it’s going to be a nice but somewhat cool day. It’s partly cloudy now but is due to be mostly cloudy later.

In a while I’ll be heading into town to pay some bills, get gas for the van, get the first half of the grocery shopping done and whatever else I need to get done today. Later I’ll clean up more of the layout, that is if the rest of my day doesn’t get hijacked.

I was looking at my locos earlier and counted them. I have thirty-two in serviceable condition. Of that number less than half still have their factory built drives. Many of them are rebuilds with different motors or trucks and fully a third are Frankenlocos cobbled together from spare or junk parts that weren’t intended to be where they are. What a menagerie I’ve assembled.

Good Afternoon!

Galaxy - thank you for facilitating the move! PA is a nice location. IIRC, the EBT is located in PA - I hope it is running when we visit it!

Ron - a big [#welcome] to the Diner from the other side of the Big Pond! Hope to see you frequently here!

I spend the better part of the morning with administrative chores for my parents. Add to that the usual 10 phone calls from them, filled with little complaints about the place they are in. Some of those complaints I take serious - all of a sudden, personal things start to disappear. Theft in a nursing home is something really ugly. While I don´t mind a wash cloth miraculously disappearing, a wallet that´s gone sets off the alarm. I hope my parents make it through the 6 days they have to stay in that place, before I can move them.

March 1st and the sun is out! Have not had much sunshine during February, who is said to be the dullest February since the 1930´s.

Have a good one, Folks!

Good Morning!!!

WHAT???!!![:|] I’ve been set up. Zoe, you told me there was more of **Ray’**s stash back there.[|(] Harumph. Well good thing this is the first of the month and all is stocked back up again.

Coffee and…Chicken in oyster sauce and a couple pork and shrimp spring rolls please. Thanks. Haven’t had any Chinese food this week and I’m starting to cramp up.

Scattered snow showers before noon, then a chance for flurries. Cloudy, with a high near 33.

Oh, Pennsy! We’re in J.R.’s neck of the woods. He’ll probably head out to parts unknown, but hopefully he’l be able to stop in a bit more.

Wonder how ole Lee’s doin? Cape Jim too.

Ulrich- They have Burger King’s and Chinese food in Germany? Wow! Almost like here but can’t understand what the people are saying. [^o)]Well, now that I think about it, it IS just like here. Just kidding. It is funny though to hear of these similarities between other countries, especially European countries as we have a tendency to think you are all German and no other food, for instance, is there. And I know what you mean on the fast food prices. Same as here. You can’t necessarily eat cheaper there. Oh you can, but for a “meal” at say McDonald’s it costs, with a dessert, almost $8. Now that’s a bigger burger granted, but I’m not talking a snack, but a meal. At the Chinese buffet, my meal costs $9.70 after tax. If I drank water instead of Mr Pibb, then it would be less by about $1.50 or something like that. They have weird pricing. Point is, I can eat at a buffet and walk away stuffed for about a buck more. Not counting tip of course. That varies because you are right, there always seem to have at least one pretty one and weeeelll…the price of lunch usually goes up just a bit when she waits on you and smiles a l

Change one and looky! Didn’t even get a chance to get outa the chair before the phone rang.[|(]

Here is the whole dirty nasty deal. One is allowed a 7 minute leeway either way on punches. So, when taking a lunch one can punch back in at 23 minutes {or after} punching out for lunch, all the way up to punching back in at 37 minutes past from time punched out {late from lunch, but allowable}. MOH punched back in 22 minutes after punching out, resulting in a ONE MINUTE {to} EARLY punch! MOH had 2 prior write ups for failed punches as when they opened the new store, nearly everybody who used a certain time clock got written up. SO MOH stopped using that clock and used the one in from which seemed reliable. They “tested” the time clock, and though many got write ups using that clock, it was “found to be in perfect working order” {naturally- can’tbe a faulty new time clock now can it??}!!!

NOW, Due to state and federal laws governing the need for a 30 minute lunch break, MOH got nabbed. It is policy to terminate someone who “obviously cannot regulate their correct time punches”.

Now here is a further rub: MOH was requested 4 times by both department manager and supervisor to “get back on the clock” as it was getting busy at that time, and they were short staffed. SO, MOH miscalculated the punch and punched in, warning them it might be early. HAD MOH NOT been berated and goaded into punch

Todd - we have McDonald´s just everywhere, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut - have not seen an A&W´s yet. Most of them have replaced the traditional Bratwurst place, which is really a shame. Those surviving are battling the Turkish Kebab joints. I wonder what will come next. I bet you´d feel right at home, if it were not for the strange German language [swg]

Our Chinese restaurant (the one we go to - we have 4 more in our town) serves a nice lunch and a beer for about the same amount you pay at your´s, which is quite reasonable. The food is excellent, but still a rare treat for us, as our budget does not allow for eating out.

Mornin’ everyone!

Zoe, I’ll have a short stack of Buckwheat pancakes with NYS Maple Syrup please. You have it?! just came in this morning right after they tied up the diner? Great! Better have a few strips of bacon and lots of dark roast coffee (Seneca Lake Roast).

Ron, welcome to the diner from the guy living a few miles due South of you! O&MR guy huh? Nice little short line. Too bad they lost the line coming down from Newark (I think) to Geneva so they could have interchanged directly with the FGLK. would have been good for both lines! I’m sure you were following the removal of the Hojack Bridge last Fall. Don’t forget to tell us about what you are doing with the hobby and all that stuff. Photos are nice!

Ulrich, My mom one time insisted that someone had been stealing the oranges the family had sent her from Florida… Absolutely insisted they were stealing them. I talked to the “powers that be” and they laughed as there was no reason why anyone there would have done that as they can help themselves to any leftover fruit from the meals, plus the fact that they do not enter any room unless the occupant is there. Turns out mom had eaten them but didn’t remember doing it. Coincided with some pretty high blood sugar readings and the remains of the oranges were found in her wastebasket… She swore up and down that she didn’t eat them, somebody stole them and left the remains in her wastebasket!!! I hope the wallet shows up as just being lost, but you never know. Keeping you in my prayers!

Todd, feel free to help yourself to the NYS Maple Syrup… We can always get more in this part of the country, and the new season will be starting soon. [:D][(-D]

Ray - you have a point there. The “theft” could be a part of my parents´ “how to pest our son” - scheme. I hope that ends when they have moved into the new place - if not, I am going to change my telephone number!

There IS a fair hearing MOH can apply for, to contest the contesting of the unenjoyment {now see why we call it that??}.

MOH will apply for it if denied. With the Sequester supposedly affecting unenjoyment, may be hard to do…BUT MOH has been going around like a raving lunatic and said will certainly in no uncertain terms tell a few people off. I said THAT won’t help your case at all!!! MOH said “I must get it out of my system or I will do so in the hearing!!!”

We shall see what we shall see.

Meanwhile, have not heard if my medicaid is continuing or if we get SNAP. WE won’t have food if we don’t get food stamps. In a month we will be out of food, like ULrich was.

I have worked/reworked the budget, we NEED that unenjoymet to pay the bills, no doubt. We have enough to cover the basics out of my check, baring no emergency expenses, and in order to pay a new loan we took out the day before MOH got the ax, we need that money, or we default to the credit union. There is no way around it.

We may even have to declare bankruptcy over not much, but we will then lose the reliable van, the kia which still has a loan on it. we don’t have much choice. OUr income has been CUT in half!! NOt a pay cut, but in half!

Well enough of that… we haven’t heard yet and a fair hearing could take months.

We shall see what we shall see when we see it.

SO, how is everyone else’s day going?

[:(]

[sigh]

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Calling it a day here at the computer. I´ll have to drag along at least another 2 hours before bedtime, but I am just exhausted. We urgently need a break, but there is none in sight.

Well, I am off - CU tomorrow!