Elliot's Trackside Diner, Mark XVII

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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Afternoon, an ice tea please Zoe. Been a nice day here, sunny, high in the low 80’s and a warm south breeze.

PC, sorry to hear bout your daughters accident. Hope she’s doin betters now.

LEE, you mat have bought your frig to soon. Heard on the news this morning, that the government might come out with a cash-for-clunkers on appliances now. I will withhold my thought an comments on this.

CRIS, like the weathering on the boxcar n gon and that looks like an interesting engine project.

RYAN, thanks for finding the old coffee shop thread, it brought back some memories. Glad ya’ll had a good trip.

TODD, I agree with you bringing up old threads. Like the one with Atlas turnout tips, reminded me of some tricks, I’d forgotten.

JERRY, sure hope you get that new chair soon. I don’t think that one’s gonna last much long. Hope the doc figure out whats wrong with Sally’s hip now.

GARRY, good ya’ll had a nice party, but very sad hearin bout your mom getting scammed. Hope the law can do something. Sorry to hear bout Diane, our thoughts go out for her and the family.

Forgot to tell ya’ll last week, but our nephews’ home from the hospital now, but still on IV anti-bionics. They’re still not sure how he came down with the mercia infection.

And now, Herman blowed he knee out at Sundays football game. Won’t know how bad till after the MRI results come back, but his sports season is done for the year.

Well best gets movin, the bus just got here, so it’s time for milk n cookies

Thoughts for those in need n hope ya’ll has a gooden

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First soccer practice of the fall rec. league tonight, gonna be awesome!

I have the track I purchased now, so I may start a bit of preliminary track laying this weekend.

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Hi gang…

I know I’ve been absent lately and some of you know why. Well, as my luck would have it, the move still has not taken place. What’s even worse, is that Julie has not talked to me since 11pm last night to say they were stopping near Toledo - the 1/2 way point from Des Moines to Syracuse - for the night. So, right now I’m not in too much of a talkative mood as I’m trying to deal with not knowing what’s going on…

Take care…

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ME BACK!

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Afternoon from Can’tMakeUpIt’sMindCal. Was supposed to be a nice, balmy week with Delta Breezes, but they suddenly stopped, and it’s supposed to be back in the 100’s for the next four days. Wow, I can hardly wait. [|(]

I’ve missed a lot of news with school starting up, I’ll try and play catch-up this weekend.

Jeff: I have a nephew like that. Only problem is he just turned 40!!

Sawyer: I hope you KILL in Soccer! Take No Prisoners, buddy, LOL!

PC: Hope your daughter’s leg improves and quick. And I hope that whatever caused the accident gets sorted out. Healing prayers for her.

Well, had the Faculty Retreat yesterday. Really good one–Faculty Retreats are sort of our Spiritual “Pep Talk” for the year with a theme that’s supposed to last through the year. If we can keep centered on it, it should be a good year.

Had half-day Orientation today for the Sophs, Juniors and Seniors. I was with the Seniors, and there was a lot of hugging and back-slapping before we all got settled down. It was good to see a lot of my students, especially since I missed their Junior year. Amazing how they can have matured so much in so many ways and still be as goofy as ever in other ways. And that, in my opinion, is a Very Good Thing.

Got a real surprise: The Principal approached me (the more I’m around her, the more she reminds me of Julia Child–big and tall and extremely personable–) and asked me if I minded having the 5th period Concert Choir all to myself on Thursdays. I was kind of taken back by that. “There’s a Stipend, of course,” she said. I told her it was no problem, but I didn’t quite understand why. Well, it seems that Leah, my choir director and partner in crime, is w

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Hello

Got a total of 11 bents done—1/2 section therefore one—yeah right[:-^]

Also—another wonderful BBQ with marinated steaks and Corn on the cob–heeheehee

JP: We’ll pray you’ll get some kind of word—seems kind of funny that

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lol, I won’t. What’s funny is my skill set is now more geared to offense than defense, and all I played in the spring was defense. oh well, wherever I play, I’ll play and give my all.

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Well shoot I thought they were going to do “Cash for Cluckers” next, you know pay us to eat more chicken or “cash for splinters” where we trade in a bunch of short boards for new longer ones. I think it will all work out since I bought a $1200 fridge for less than $800. i hear the auto dealers are not too happy with the cash for clunkers! 1. most people bought japanese or Korean cars. 2. the dealers haven’t gotten their goverment checks for the cars they sold.

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Today was another day of my sister’s son coming home with his entourage and immediately zipping off somewhere else. So as I said would happen, I ended up fixing the mower that he said would take too much time and require tools that he would have to dig out, so he wasn’t going to do it. let me tell you guys something. I’d never changed out a single belt on that mower in all the years my sister has had it and it only took me [b]5 minutes[/b] to change it with no tools. I didn’t even have time to break a sweat! Though it did take me a couple of minutes to stand afterwards. So today I mowed my parent’s yard which is 5.5 acres and then my sister’s yard which is just over 2 acres and I’m not even tired. I think I’ll bill him for my time.

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Yard ladder has been laid. i won’t psot the pics, but here’s the album link:

http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh55/Packers_1/SCRail/

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Good evening all,

Well, the wife and I drove up to North East, PA on Sunday to visit the Lake Shore Railroad Museum for the first time. Has a great afternoon looking over their locomotives and rolling stock, as well as watching CSX and Norfolk Southern traffic, which runs right past the museum. The best part though was the conversations with two fellas who volunteer there. Great stories and a lot of information to fill in some of the many gaps about railroading I have. Unfortunately, it was very overcast so I didn’t get much in the way of photos. On the other hand, that’s a good excuse to go back.

After checking into the motel in Erie, we went up to the casino, where we also had dinner. Monday morning we drove down I90 to Conneaut, Ohio, which we visited two weeks ago. Watched the CSX line for a couple of hours, then drove on home. Another nice little get-a-way.

By the way, the museum has a very interesting electric locomotive built by GE. Only 20 were built for delivery to Russia, but delivery was cancelled due to the cold war. If anyone is interested in more details, just Google “Little Joe locomotive”. They were called that because they were going to Joseph Stalin’s country. When I first saw it driving up to the museum, it reminded me of a double end E7/E9.

I’l post any decent photos after I download them, but I’m not too hopeful. Besides very dark clouds, my photography skills leave a great deal to be desired.

Tom

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I just got back from Erie, too. I was up by Presque Isle.

Milk, and a Heaping platter of Wild Bill’s Beef Jerky, Zoe. [dinner]

RAY, AND ANYONE ELSE: The BL down at the museum amazed me, so I made this, (I hope the museum doesn’t get mad becau

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Good morning.

It’s 74 and cloudy. The high will be in the low 90’s and it will be partly cloudy.

The mower drama played out just as I thought it would. I changed out the deck belt on it in just 5 minutes with no tools. Getting up off the ground afterward was the hard part but I managed alright. I then mowed the yard since I was already there anyway. This was after I had already spent half the day mowing my parents yard so I was already in not so good a mood. I just hope it cools down this year so I’m not still cutting the grass at Christmas. So all in all it was a fairly busy day for me. Didn’t get a chance to work on the layout but I may have time for that today.
[b]
Today’s Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 8/26/2009

Heat Index: 78°F
Humidity: 72%
Dew Point: 65°F

So Far Today
High: 75°F
Low: 72°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 6mph E

Today High: 92 with a heat index of 101. Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 90s. Southeast winds around 5 mph.

Tonight Low: 68 Partly cloudy. Lows in the upper 60s. South winds around 5 mph.
[/b]

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Good morning,I looked at the cash for clunker appliances; $50 - $200 off any new appliance that meets the new GREEN requirements. No trade in required.

Barry, that’s a good idea using cotton panels.

Ulrich, I liked the track plan. Want to draw one up for me? Actually I need two. One for a 3 foot by 8 foot table where the trackage will enter from the left 3 foot side and the other 3 sides are water. The second area is 3 foot by 80 inches and the trackage will enter from the right hand 3 foot side. I intend on a Hewlett dock and coal dock and a general break bulk dock with 3 traveling cranes. I liked your previous ideas especially how “busy” the area looked with smaller spurs for various consumers.

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Good Morning–

We are DULL today. Oh. And rainy—a lovely morning in London. High will be 24C with our low at 9C. We are supposed to clear up this afternoon to some sun

I’m going to be doing some more trestle bents today and then assembling part1 of the overall trestle bridge----this oughta be FUN!![swg][:-,]

Ulrich: I like that switching layout! Took a closer look at it with a friend of ours–he thinks that it almost looks like the layout in Owen Sound north of here—CN had one side of the bay/harbour with CP at the other side–and an interchange----all this was pretty much cleared out by the 1970’s/80’s.

Chloe, I’ll have a coffee and a toasted bagel please—I’ll be at the window booth watching the morning switching—[swg]

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Morning folks! [#welcome]

I’ll have the Fresh Fruit Bowl with Ed’s Oj and a tall cup a Joe in my NS mug, Chloe! Thanks… [dinner]

Ben’s baseball practice went well last night, he started out on 1st base and learned some new techniques, never played 1st much before. Then went to 3rd base and finished up at pitching, he throws about 10 mph faster now than in spring ball. His BB coach from spring was there to watch with us and is going to help Ben practice pitching tomorrow night, really nice of him to come out and support our little Ben!

Garry, sorry to hear about your mom and hope that all gets straightened out soon. All the best too for Diane, hope the move is beneficial for her recovery efforts.

Mike (Inch), glad you liked the old coffee shop link, memory lane is nice to stroll down every so often. It’s always good to remember the past.

John P, sometimes travels like that can be both annoying and exciting at t the same time! [sigh]

Barry…looking forward to your bent and trestle pics! [(-D] [:-^]

Going to try to get some more work done on the track loop redux tomorrow, here is the plan with the loop going over the stairway.

Before

After

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Good morning, Coffee, ham, beans, eggs, Spam, beans and Spam please thank you. Woke up this morn at 3 am with a headache that you wouldn’t believe took two Ibuprofen and nothing. Finally got up and took a hot shower, that helped and now the coffee is helping a bit too. Sorry to those of you who have or have had Migranes for my “whining” about a bad headache. I know it ain’t nothing by comparison.

Looks like the weathering thread is behaving itself. Aggro posted a nice little how-to on a tank car. Which by the way answered a couple of questions I had (well ok, one question) without even asking.

Last night I saw a NS C40-9W leading a UP C44-9W( I can’t get a good look at the them because I’m seeing this stuff as it whizzes past the elevator so I only get glimpses as the pass the gaps in the bins. That‘s what they looked like and considering the amount they have more than likely) from the kitchen door at the resataurant. First I’ve noticed them on this stretch of track. According to the NS website they shouldn’t be there. Oh well they were so, run what ya brung.

Jeff- 20’ motor home? Boy, did you by chance coin the phrase, “I don’t need much space” ? At least in that the kitchen was bigger based on my understanding of your description of this one. Hey, if I happen to be in the area in the next couple of months, I’ll let you know and you can tell me how to get to your sisters place and I’ll put that belt on for you[swg]. Oh I see you already got it. Just thought I’d help, sounded like it was going to be a while if left up to him. Bill him? Sure, how long would you have to wait for that. I’m still waiting on my son to pay me from when he was 16. 10 years ago! I guess he hasn’t got paid yet. That’s what he said “pay you back after I get paid”. I think I was conned.

Barry- Sorry about the shins[(-D]. We had, at a town meeting a few years ago, a feller that was upset because the blacktop road, I guess it’s a street, in front of his house was “repaired”

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Good Morning all…Its sunny and 70 here…Coffee and a sweet roll please…Thank You…I got Dr. apointment in yesterday…I have lost 20 pounds since I was in hospital I havn’t been trying but I’ll take it!..Sallie was in so much pain they couldn’t get her settled down to get MRI…I havn’t ran trains for a few days but planning to get things going this afternoon…I don’t have a project on work bench right now but gotta get going again…I guess I’ve just had to much on my mind…You all have a good one…Jerry

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Mornin’ everyone!

Zoe, whatcha got good this morning? … “But I don’t like Spam!” Huh? OK, I’ll just give my Spam to Todd, he loves it! Oh don’t forget my cup of dark roast coffee in a R&GV Mug. Thank you!

Todd a few years back they "Tared and feathered… er chipped, aka: resurfaced the county road that is the “back road to Canandaigua” here. Of course the company hired to paint the stripes on the road arrived a couple weeks early, so they resurfaced over the already freshly striped road. I was a high school friend of the guy who was the county highway super at the time and ran into him at a party a couple months later… I DID have a bit of fun jerking his chain on that one! [}:)][:-^]

The City of Geneva is outside across the street this morning digging a big hole… Starting work on a catch basin for the storm sewer to reduce the lake that forms in my neighbor’s yard every time we get a downpour. Right now there is one guy pointing and waving his arms while 4 more poeple are leaning on rakes and shovels or standing with their hands in their pockets…[;)] Since water and gas lines are right next to where they are working, I think they are trying to see how they avoid messing it up???

Nik, there should be a problem with you quoting the museum’s web page as you gave them credit. Neat game, BTW. That little Plymouth is an interesting old loco isn’t she. It used the old link and pin coupler and only pulled some very small, special, cars used for construction, etc. I has seen her run on a couple of occasions.

I went and bought Mac OSX.5.6 (Leopard) yesterday, so today will be upgrade day. Snow Leopard which will be out in just a few days won’t work on the old IBM G5 processor Macs, so I figured I should get Leopard while I still can. Knock on wood… The upgrade should

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Good Afternoon, Folks,

it has been a nice autumn day today, sunny, but not too warm. Nature starts to prepare for winter, I can already feel that. We had the first flock of geese flying over our house, heading south - signs of a cold winter to come! I did some w**k in our yard, cut the grass, washed the windows and also our “oldtimer” Merc.

I dearly miss my locos and cars, which I had for such a long time. I sometimes spend hours just checking on them, testing them, maintaining them - and now? The room is so empty, my eyes are getting filled with tears when I see the empty spaces in the display cabinets.

Janie, a mug of hot chocolate and is there some of Petra´s strudel left?

Barry - I checked Owen Sound on Google Maps. From what I could see, your friend is right - my layout could actually be based on this location. Although there are no tracks to be seen anymore, you can still get an idea of what it must have looked like twenty years ago. Was CN or CP who served Owen Sound? May be I relocate my layout… [:D]

Jerry - I also lost 20 pounds over the last weeks - my worries keep me from eating the amount I should eat. I hope Sallie gets well soon! [angel]

No word from social security yet - and no check either. The food we have will go for another 4 days - what then? I dunno… [:(]

The “weathering” post has turned into a pleasant thread to read. I still would not dare to post any of my weathering attempts there, in fear of being torn apart by the “experts”.

To those who are just starting the day - have a good one, y´all!