There were a lot of retailers concerned around this time last year about what the new administration’s threatened tariffs were going to do to both the ability of overseas manufacturers to deliver on time (usually by May 1st for Christmas merchandise) and the buying power of consumers during said tariff/trade wars. So many of those retailers played it safe and bought more “on hand” or reliable supply chain items and fewer of the items that they expected to have to mark down. Unfortunately replacement C-9 and C-7 incandescent bulbs appear to have fallen into the latter category. I wanted to replace all the clear G-40 bulbs on one of my trees with blue C-7s, either standard or cool burning translucent bulbs but nobody has anything at all.
PS the patio furniture and gardening supplies usually show up in stores before Christmas Day anyways. Usually I’m the only one complains that it’s too early.
Our stores down here are all sold out of Christmas decorations and supplies except for Wal*Mart and the mall stores.
There were huge concerns about the tariffs and lack of spendable money belonging the masses. There don’t seem to be any shortages, but there is no surplus.
When it comes to gifts, the stores seem to be overflowing with merchandise. People bought up all th4e plastic decorations for their porches but are choosing not to buy that knife set for Aunt Mildred.
This, I think, is an excellent summation of the situation. At least it’s easy to fix–enjoy all model trains and don’t care whatsoever whether non-modelers think you’re “playing with toy trains” or not!
My issue is not what people like to play with. I agree that it is all playing with trains, and to each their own. My issue is that I don’t want to be paying for what others want to see in a publication if I have no interest in it.
I’m riding in my nephew’s Great Northern Empire Builder 6-5-2 Pullman, Lewis and Clark Pass. Fun times!
I’m chilled to the bone. I spent much of the evening trying to help my neighbor who got his brand new (1 week old) Kubota, $90,000 skid steer stuck in the mud, and I mean really stuck! I didn’t want to embarass him any more by taking photos but this thing was buried well below the tracks.
He was wading into the mud to pull out an ATV that his kid had gotten stuck the day before. One track was completely caked with mud which then froze and disabled the track completely. He’s deep in the woods so no off-road crane will be able to get in there (we have a ‘heavy-haul’ towing company nearby that has some BIG equipment). My come-a-long is good for ten tons and I couldn’t budge the thing. I brought several 6 x 6 timbers which are now buried in the primordial slime. We’ll give it another shot in daylight.
Ah, I understand. My experience has also been pretty good–I haven’t met any modelers designating O guage as being nothing but toys in person, but I have met a few online who have that opinion.
Good morning, diners. I’ll have bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, and coffee.
I also like all model trains, and I enjoy seeing photos of all the types. A fun place to visit is Kansas City Union Station. In one of the rooms they have an amazing setup of layouts, with quite a few different scales.
Has anyone heard from Track Fiddler recently? He’s been absent for quite a while. I know he was traveling a little, so maybe he’s been busy.
It’s only the 6th of the month, but I’m already losing track of which RR headquarters we’ve seen.
Here’s the Great Northern headquarters building in St. Paul, Minnesota, then and now:
I’ve been wondering the same thing. Hope he is okay.
Same! So, I’ll pick an obscure, local line to share. While not headquarters per se, the Manistee and Northeastern’s main offices were located in their depot in Manistee, MI.
And this forum right here is where so much of that kind of thing was going on in the past that it drove many of us into separate camps. You didn’t wander into “enemy territory” because nobody seemed to take you seriously.
It was a very hostile environment but thankfully things are changing. And I, for one, would really hate to see a return to that environment. But I understand where some people are coming from and why they don’t like the idea of paying for content that doesn’t interest them. I could easily say the same thing if MR suddenly became 100% electronics related and 0% layout photos. It’s those pictures and the measured prototype drawings that keep my interest.
I am in HO but I get what you’re saying. I actually look up to the so-called “rivet counters” and aspire to that level of skill. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t bother going to forums or reading magazines and articles to learn from those who do have it. Are some of them boorish arrogant jerks who believe their way and only their way is the right way? Yes, but I see just as much of that attitude in the “rule number one” camp too. Neither side has the monopoly on loudmouth jerks.
It’s a bit more related to the operating characteristics rather than the model making. Because of space constraints most larger scale modelers (O, G, Standard, F, Number 1, etc.) are forced to accept that ovals are their only option. Many of us would love to have point to point operation with sidings and yards but until the late 90s the turnouts to construct a yard with accurate track spacing didn’t even exist unless you built the track 100% from scratch. (Which is a skill that at least some of us can’t afford to master. ). And even now that O Scale highly detailed mass produced turnouts (no matter how many rails) are available they’re still quite expensive and out of reach to many.
The New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad had their headquarters in this building across the street from their depot in New Haven. I think it resembles a turn of the century high school, instead of an office building.
Apparently it was replaced after World War II. A public housing project was then built on the large site across Union Street from the Cass Gilbert-designed depot.
“The 9-story building at 54 Meadow Street, near Union Station, was constructed between 1946 and 1948. Designed by Douglas Orr & Associates, it exhibits Moderne and Modernist architectural elements with a facade of limestone ashlar, granite, and glass block. The cornerstone bears the inscription “The New York New Haven and Hartford Railroad Co. 1946”. Originally built on filled-in land from the New Haven Harbor, the building is now part of the Gateway Center and houses commercial office condominiums, including offices for the New Haven Board of Education and Health Department.”
—from Google AI
I think the Great Northern Headquarters building is impressive! It symbolizes a major railroad, confident in itself. It also resembles the SP building in San Francisco in some ways.
I like this building more than the former UP one in Omaha. Thanks for posting.
So, I’ll pick an obscure, local line to share. While not headquarters per se, the Manistee and Northeastern’s main offices were located in their depot in Manistee, MI.
). And even now that O Scale highly detailed mass produced turnouts (no matter how many rails) are available they’re still quite expensive and out of reach to many.
