Good morning, diners. I’ll have bacon, eggs, and coffee, please.
I’ve made some progress with the downloaded cardstock houses. The first one was difficult and looks like it hasn’t been lived in for a few years. The second one is going a little better. I’ve made things more difficult by adding lights. If not for that, I could probably finish a house in a few hours. Putting in the lights is easy – getting all the cracks and thin places in the walls for light leaks is more difficult. Still, all-in-all these are very easy to make. The other nice thing is that I bought and downloaded four houses, and I can print as many of them as I want.
I’m not sure where the criticisms over diner photos has come from, but I know my time on the forum is much more pleasant now that I don’t read some of the forum divisions.
The UP headquarters in Omaha is a pretty plain building driving by, but it’s very impressive inside:
I know I’ve said before that when I was a working stiff, Thursdays were the worst days of the week. I probably dealt with more students on a Thursday than all the other four days of the week combined. Other principals I knew also said the same thing. For all of you still working, hang on – Friday’s in sight!
Thursday is also a day for an after-school meeting; Fridays were out.
Thanks very much for the photos of the new UP building in Omaha. I have to say it seems coldly mechanical and not very welcoming or charming. The penultimate photo brought to mind what a Carvana for humans would look like.
Good evening all. Havent been all that active lately, and may not be for a bit. Unfortunately I have to take my doggo to the vet tomorrow to discuss the results of an ultrasound that found a tumor on his adrenal gland. Not sure what that future will look like for us.
Honestly, it wouldn’t bother me if they ever decided to roll all things model railroading and toy trains into a single magazine. I mean back in the 90s they had advertisements for larger scale equipment like Lionel and even LGB stuff in Model Railroader too alongside the HO and N scale stuff. While I’m an HO scale guy and most likely always will be I still like seeing pictures of stuff from other scales too.
I’d be happy about it. There seems to be a bit of a rift in model railroading, and it’s immensely annoying. Having all the model train stuff I follow (O, mostly, but also HO and N) in one magazine would be nice.
This weekend is shaping up to be a productive one. I tested the conductivity of the rails on my 4x8 yesterday after ballasting and I’ve determined they definitely need a cleaning. Going to finally take care of that this evening. Additionally, it’s going to not be super chilly or windy outside today and tomorrow, which means I can finally install the LokSoundV5 decoder into my Bachmann Mikado I bought nearly two months ago. Really looking forward to seeing that in action, especially after I get around to weathering it!
In non train related news, I’m hoping to finish up Christmas shopping this weekend. I have almost everything bought for my wife and I have a good idea of what to get my parents.
Good morning, everyone. Friday morning breakfast – Bacon, Eggs, and Coffee.
We’re actually above freezing now, so that means I should be able to scrape the last of the ice off the driveway. We live on the south side of the street, so the sun never hits a section of the driveway. That keeps the concrete cold, so the ice lasts a lot longer there.
Thanks for the interest, Terry. The four houses I bought are all meant to be old and weathered, so my mistakes don’t affect the look too much. I just set this house on a spot on the back side of the layout. I have a garage that will also be added, and then some grass and trees. For a paper print glued to cardboard it actually looks good, especially from a distance.
Not much else going on here. My wife is already preparing the house for Christmas and the family all coming home. What that means is that she tells me what needs to be done, and then I do it.
Have a great day, everyone.
The Kansas City Southern headquarters in downtown Kansas City, Missouri:
Finally got my old Lionel train out that runs around our Christmas tree. Set up the track, put the train on, hooked up the power pack, and nothing. Last year I bought a used MRC to run the train since the original Lionel was making very concerning noises. Worked great. This year, its dead. Tore it apart and found one of the leads broke off a transistor in it. No idea how to identify a replacement. If someone knows how, please let me know in the thread I started about it.
Finished my Christmas shopping this morning. Just need to get up the desire to wrap everything. Maybe this weekend.
Going to out for dinner tonight for our anniversary. Sunday is our actual anniversary, but my wife hates going out on a Sunday night. Going to a new to us restaurant out of town. Hope its good. They sure charge like they must be!
Headquarters of the old Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad.
Sorry, but I disagree. There are already other magazines for large scale, toy trains, outdoor railroading, and I think N scale. I do not subscribe to them.
I pay a subscription to view what interests me. Including the other things would just dilute the value of my primary interest. Plus I’d have to listen (read?) to the constant clamoring from the subscribers who are upset that their interest is not being covered enough.
When the great reckoning occurs I will then cancel my subscription.
By the way, how many of you subscribe to these alternate publications that more reflect your primary interest?
I see what you mean. I’m too broke (even with a job) to get all the magazines I want, but I’m the exception in that I have (too) many interests in different sections of model railroading. Most model railroaders only concentrate on one scale, or, at least, that has been my experience.
It seems to me there have been a few more O scale ads and articles in the past several issues of MR. The January issue has an L scale, which I did not know was for Lego.
Had to take a blood sample to the lab today for the dog. Wife wasn’t feeling great so I told her to hit the sack and sleep.
I stopped by a large Home Depot to buy something and they were taking down all the Christmas displays as they were sold out of everything. Never seen that before and I usually buy my replacement lights at the after Christmas clear-outs, not this year. They also had help wanted signs up around the store. Good job for a retired person, beats being a Walmart greeter. There is a smaller HD store closer to where we live and I seem to be always helping people out as if I work there. They keep asking if I want to come work for them.
Those paper buildings can look pretty good. I printed one off about twenty years ago and it was sitting on my desk. My five year old daughter came in and asked what it was, I told her and she walked away with it (without asking) and came back an hour later with it perfectly put together. A little worse for wear it is still on the layout and will remain there.
It’s been there for years but not forever which means it can be rectified. It really didn’t get going until some “scale model railroaders” got upset by people outside the hobby telling them they were “playing with trains”, at which point said modelers, largely the HO scale crowd, decided to throw everyone else under the bus to elevate themselves in the eyes of people who still, although now more quietly, still think they’re just “playing with their toy trains” even if they no longer tell them to their faces. The rivet counters vs the rest of us.
Those are excellent models!
Yes, but for how long? That’s my point. With so many free outlets online for hobby information it may become necessary that for one segment of the hobby to have a magazine covering what interests them most they will be required to accept that not 100% of said periodical will be devoted to their interests, because all groups involved will be in the same boat and will have to share it or sink it together. We’re not there yet, but we may have to go back to the way it was before 1987.
and came back an hour later with it perfectly put together. A little worse for wear it is still on the layout and will remain there.
