Not too much going on today. While out running some errands, I stopped by a friends machine shop. Haven’t seen him in a while. Dana didn’t know about April. He started out from an after school job working at an auto machine shop and now is one of the best machinists in this area. Has quite a successful business in custom engine building (his shop is Custom Automotive Machine). This shop is loaded with some fantastic equipment. Engines for Pro gas, funny cars and racing boats are lined up all over. Back when I raced and built muscle cars, he was the only one that I would let do my machine work. I of coarse loved to assemble the engine myself. You get quite a lot of satisfaction specing out the machining and building a winning car. Big block Chevys, the LS6 my favorite and of coarse the Mopar 340, a real incredible engine. Boy, did I waste a ton of $$$ when I was young but it was shure fun. He asked why I don’t do cars anymore, I told him of a much better hobby- “Trains”. I said that if your not careful you can spend as much on this hobby as on cars. Everyone got a chuckle from that.
The rest of the day was spent putting my Caravan back together. The AC evaporator was leaking and need to be replaced. I’ve done some serious work to cars over the years, but this was a total PITA. The entire dashboard right to the sheet metal firewall had to be stripped to remove the enormous heater/ AC box. It’s almost back together only need to figure where all the extra parts go. Only kidding there. Since it’s apart, I’m changing the dash speakers and setting up a better amp/ CD player. Now if the mess from the aftermarket entry/ remote start can ever get crammed back into that tight space I’ll be happy. I may be a good carpenter and mechanic, but the wiring thing is usually left to others. “Only Colored Spaghetti” to me.
My mother is back at my house until she leaves to go back to TX on the 4th. Right now she’s abo
Good evening gents, back inside for the night, had a lot of work to do rebuilding a stone wall next to the driveway, and some planting to do for the CFO. ( Keep the CFO happy and you can buy many more things at your LHS, that takes 47 years of marriage for all you young guys still in school).
JEFF: Thank you for reply, it also looks like J.R. might have some info on Atlas Alco RS-1’s. Even so, what you told me about your switcher looks like it might be identicle to the Atlas design. I still can’t talk, so I think I will try some of your watermellon wine, that sounds really good. The wife is worried about me because I awoke Friday morning with what looked like a big mosquito bite on my butt. I didn’t have it when I went to bed, and we have no holes in the screens, so I don’t know where it came from. No fever though, and I feel fine otherwise.
J.R. Thanks for reply, I will wait for your input. I do see two screws, but they are underneith the loco, not on the fuel tank.
CAPE JIM: All that rain looks mighty close to your area, are you Ok at the Cape? As for taking it easy, that is not me. Unless I am really sick, I continue with daily chores, I believe in making ones immune system work. I sort of treat it like a muscle, use it , or lose it attitude. I see some people pump themselves full of all sorts of pills, and they are always getting colds, or anything else that is going around. Plenty of rest ( 8 hours a night ), a glass of wine at night, and we are ready to go.
Dick - the reply you got on the main floor was right on. The rails can be gently prised out of the walkway and off the cab or just moved off the cab and out of the way. The entire superstructure - hood and cab then come off if the four tabs are pinched in though I prefer to gently move them in with the end of an Xacto until the top swings free as I have been known to misjudge what means “gently”. Hope that helps. As for the decoder install, of course I was having a senior moment and confused the Atlas RS-3 with my two Athearn RS-1’s. My Atlas is still languishing in Analog form. J.R.
Well Bob, since you’re still buying and Dick kindly left extra vanilla ice cream, I’ll be pleased to order that root beer float (A&W if we have it Chloe, please). Been back and forth since I got home working on the verges of the upper level where I never got around to finishing up. After it all dries overnight I’ll try putting up a fascia of sorts and some of the lower level backdrop that hides the start of the transition to the lower level. Confused? So am I - I’ll try to post a pic when it’s further along. Trying to put in multi levels and not crowd things up in a small room is difficult so there’s a bit of artistic license involved. At least I’m not creating another spaghetti bowl like the last time. Wish we had a club in these parts like Bob has with enough room to streach out a bit. That would be fun. CUL, J.R.
J.R. Thanks for the info, I am headed for bed right now, so I will give this a try tomorrow…tired hands are not the ones to start pinching “lightly” to remove cabs & tops.
Ahhh gee…all the Vanilla Bean ice cream is gone…was PC in here again on the sly??? Now I know why, Jedd is asleep on the corner table, he didn’t see PC sneak the last pint.
Evening Gang: Something strange happened today, no rain. I think the folks west of us had some and east towards Dallas. I didn’t make the outside dogs go into the dog house inclosure. It’s so middy and wet that they have been missarable. I have to build a new house for them.
Daisy will sit up that way and give you the I’m a poor little puppy dog please feed me a treat look. They are really cut and funny little dogs. She gets out into the grass and if it hasn’t been mowed she bounces through it. I guess she dosen’t like the feel of it on her belly.
No MRRing today. I’ll try again tomorrow. You guys are making me look bad.
For supper Mary Ann and I had cerial with fresh peaches. I do mean fresh. We just picke them yesterday. They were the first that this little tre produced and there were only 3. Our other trees all died out and the only other one never produces usable fruit. I guess we’ll have to plant some new trees this winter.
Evening All…Didn’t get any rail roading in today…Spent the afternoon researching a country singer Denver Darling who was born near here…even found a few of his songs…I’ll have a little of Jeff’s Watermelon wine…use to play a Tom T Hall song on the radio Children, Old Dogs and Watermelon Wine…Its almost time to turn in you all have a good night…Jerry
Good morning.
[b]
Today’s Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 7/1/2007
Sundown Fire Dept., Station 23
Heat Index: 79°F
Humidity: 95%
Dew Point: 73°F
So Far Today
High: 76°F
Low: 74°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 3mph NNE
Today High: 90 Partly sunny with numerous showers and thunderstorms. Highs around 90. Light and variable winds. Chance of precipitation 60 percent.
Tonight Low: 72 Mostly cloudy. Scattered showers and thunderstorms in the evening…then isolated showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the lower 70s. Light and variable winds. Chance of precipitation 40 percent
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A ham and cheese omlet, side of hash browns and a coffee sounds good this morning.
What a beautiful day here. At the fireworks down the beach last night it was rather cool. Very unusual to be cool and dry, no bugs, a great night with a fantastic display out over Quincy Bay. What’s nice is I’m within walking distance 1/4 mi to the beach. No hassles of parking and traffic.
Well today, I should wrap up the Caravan and have it ready to charge the AC. I might even get a chance to clean my truck. The tools/ supplies inside are a mess, been procrastinating emptying out the van to sort out all the mess.
GARRY: Some nice pics, looks like all had a good time. Your granddaughters are adorable. Funny how they were looking for the clowns.
Dick: Doing all that yardwork is one thing, but lugging and fitting feildstones can really give you some sore muscles. Well at least you couldn’t ask for any better weather for it. 47 years, I guess you have figured how to keep the CFO happy. Good advice to the younger crowd. I had a wonderful 23 years with April.
See that stone wall must have been such a PITA, now you have proof. Hope it was only a spider or mosquito bite. Just check that it’s not a deer tick.
JR: Thought you’d be off at some races. My daughter and friends were up to Loudon, NH yesterday. Had some great tailgating and really enjoyed the race. She’ll run the NASCAR circuit as much as she can. Her friend, a little 22 year old will go almost anywhere there’s a race. Funny seeing this cute, petite girl jumping out of her Dodge Ram sport when she stops over. I’m surprised that Atlas set up the RSs similar to Kato for shell removal. All my EMD stuff is straightforward.
Good Morning All…Wow we have a great day here today Sunny and mild…I’ll have Biscuits and gravey, American fries,Pork chop and 2 eggs over easy,order of flap jacks,and coffee please…Thank You…I have been setting in easy chair catching up on reading this morning and I think I’ll put the New DPB dvd in before my brother comes,and then put the Cards- Reds game on and turn down the sound…This week plan to finnish catwalks on mine and then set in and detail around it…maybe get some more work on hand car set out…
Gary…Thanks for the pictures…I saved the " tank engine" to show to my Grand daughter Tootie shes a big fan…
Bob K…Wow what a layout…I’m looking forward to seeing more photos of progress…Does everone bring thier own engines and rolling stock or is it club owned? Gonna take a lot of stuff to operate a railroad that big…
Jeff…Looks like you got another good haul at the hobby shop…How is your Mother doing?
My brother will be here shortly…Sallie is down for a nap she is tuckered out Her sisters and her took thier Mother out to eat…You all have a grat Sunday Afternoon…Jerry
Thanks for the ideas and words of encouragement on the helix. As to the seperation of stories, I forgot to ad in the roadbed and track. I need 2" from railhead to the bottom of the next story. Adjusting for that I get a 1.9% grade. Maybe I can figure a way to make that better, but it’s not too bad.
I saw Fergie in here last night. He was saying something about a Canada Day party…I don’t know. [X-)]
I’ve been solering feeders for days, but I’m keeping at it. I’m about done with that now, so next is wiring them all to power.
Jerry: The club does have a complete roster, “The East Coast Lines”. Some of the club equipment is always on the layout. A good 90% of the equipment left on the rails is member owned. For operations, some are asked to remove or to add any appropriate rolling stock and engines to suit the needs of the operation itself. Otherwise, as a member you can basically keep any registered piece on the layout and you can run anything left on the rails, yours or not. If someone doesn’t like others running their equipment then they need to remove it after playing. Any new member can run trains, usually club stuff, even though any piece is fair game. There have been only a few instances where a careless newby has done any damage to personal stuff, usually they will only use club trains.
I usually keep my Chessie SD50s and 35+ loaded hopper train parked on the staging. Occasionaly, I’ll switch out to a pair of SD7s, maybe GP40/38s or SD35s. There’s not all that many tracks available to store such trains and it’s a PITA to R&R a train like that. My B&O passenger is usually on the rails somewhere. The pic is blurry but the Chessie coal drag fills the rest of the 16-18’ of track
Me backing out of the upper staging
B&O passenger out for a run, this time an ABA Stewart F3s instead of E units
Afternoon gang: The sky is blue and very few clouds. The sun is shinning and the humidity is sky high. Temp is 80f on the back poarch. Mary Ann and I worked outside for about 45 min and we’re soaked. She has headed for the store and I have to go out and trim trees so we can get her storage container in.
I’d better get out there and get started. See you all later.
Is that all you people do in here is EAT [;)]. Just wanted to say hi to everyone. I have been doing a lot better as the days go on. I still have my bad days though. I am really glad I listened to you people here and kept all of my MRR stuff. It has been like therapy for me to keep building and working around these models, which my son enjoyed also. How many people in here are from Pa.? We have had some very bad storms here in the last 2 weeks. It is just me or does the sound of WIND, RAIN, LIGHTNING seem like the best time to do modeling, maybe it’s just me. My wife also told me to say “HI” to everyone. I owe you people a nice cold one. it would be great to live closer, I would love to shake your hands.
