Jeffrey´s Trackside Diner - March 2016

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
341

Evening Dinners

Flo, Beer for me and Tin Can when he shows up.

Work Front It was not a good day, sales where bad. Plus Jerry got Caboose with me because I had to correct his mistakes from the day before. Need to reread the booklet YGW sent me. More than likely I am being to harsh with Jerry with him suffering from brain damage from the car accident he was in. But, it is still madding for me to have to explain over and over what he is doing wrong.

Credit Front Checked with Chase Bank and there is nothing I can do to get there card approved faster. Next I checked my credit score with Credit Karma, I see Chase did check my credit score. My score is now at 742 from 728 a few weeks ago. Pretty sure I will get the Chase Slate card befor my 0% intrest runs out on my Captial One card.

Train Front I tested the LED’s for my PK 2000 B&O GP 7 and the solder work is fine. I am going to use the PK 2000 GP7 7 chassie that Tin Can gave me, it has gray trucks. It should work well with the gray band around the top of the B&O 3406 GP 7. Need to take some photos of the new B&O fleet I have.

YGW If you check your cell phone, I did call you tonight and left you a message.

Running the N&W Y-6b tonight, great engine! [Y]

Ken

342

Wake up, everybody ! … It’s morning. … There is good food in the Diner !

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Only Heartland above since CudaKen last night at 8:53.

I’ll be leaving fo church in 40 minutes, it’s 7:05 here.

344

Yawn.

I meant to sleep in this morning, but woke up instead and couldn’t get back to sleep. I went out last night to hear one of my favorite local bands. It was a new venue for them, a couple of towns over, but that town has a much later closing time for bars. So, the band started at 9 and stopped playing at midnight, which is kind of beyond my normal hours. I’m feeling it now.

Coffee and juice and a sesame bagel with peanut butter. The wife got up earlier and went to church.

345

Good Afternoon!

The sun is slowly setting, so I guess I could have said “Good Evening”.

The first official day of Spring started as a wet day, which is not unusual in our neck of the woods. It started to clear later in the day and now we are enjoying a beautiful sunset. Temperatures did not go above the 10°C mark, so it´s crisp and clear - the way I like it.

Nevertheless, I am not feeling up to par today. My heart decided to go racing again, which is really tiring. I managed to run a morning and a mid-day train, but that´s about all I was able to do.

My son is joining us tomorrow for a kind of suprise visit, making his mother one happy gal. Maybe he has the time to help me install the backdrop (with him doing the work and me giving the directions) - we will see!

I´ll be staying at the RC for a while - anybody care to join me?

346

Afternoon folks,

Chloe, just a cup of hot choclate please… I am still sick, but appear to be getting better. The cough is almost gone, but every time I do cough, I really feel it from the muscles that I have been useing! Just feel very tired…

I am going to relaxe the rest of the day. how about if I join Ulrich at the Rivet Counter for a while and we can talk about trains…

73

Ray

347

Afternoon Diners,

First things first…

1.) With the modern rails I was going to cut them down to size with a saw but I think it’s going to be too messy.

2.) With the interior girder underneath is going to be covered with a bridge, passing underneath two curve tracks.

Today I purchased water cooler pads to replace the older 4 year old ones. Which their supposed to be replaced every year before and after summer. This was a hot day for it. Unfortunately it took two hours and four hurting fingertips putting them in.

Although I got my Conrail B23-7 yesterday I can’t test them because I don’t have a DCC system. I’m going to wait until Micro Mark comes out with their $4.95 shipping charge.

348

Herrinchoker,

Just saw your post “what was the dog doing?” - I think the real question is “what was the dog NOT doing”. He removed a decent section of leather from our recliner sofa. Spread trash from evey place he could find it. Pooped wherever he wanted to. Chased the cats. Tried dining on our wicker furniture outside. Eat a bag of mulch and spread it on the deck. Tried to eat my ethernet cable from the modem, Threw a bowl of pot-potporri across the living room and then proceeded eat it. That’s just one on or two items on the list.

Today, I was eating an pickled egg and some potato chips. The wife rang the door bell and when I got back to my food the dog was licking his chops and the pickled egg had vanished. Give him 10 seconds and something happens.

My wife thinks obedience class it the answer - HA - I’d like to see that happen. If he spent a fraction of the time listening as he does destroying then I might think that obedience training might be half an idea.

349

Good afternoon folks: This was started on Saturday 19th. I haven’t bothered to update the text. Haven’t dropped by because there are many time-consuming distractions – not least of which is our on-going researches into how best to cut ourselves free from our local cable service without losing access to our favourite programs (mainly BBC or ITV documentaries and mystery dramas.) So, we’ve bought a streaming device (Roku 2 for those actually interested [;)] ) and found Acorn TV which has a fair few of both and much else besides. Also YouTube carries a surprising amount of material. I’m also in the throes of seeing just what I can stream from the laptop via an HDMI cable. So, long way to say not much mrr in the last days – except the foam insulation is all glued down on the bases, and as of 30 minutes ago, painted a kind of light muddy green colour (downstairs loo walls leftovers) Now I’m ready on the physical plant side of this to start laying out

350

Chris–

Some things you might try…Mouse traps on the table, sideboard, etc. These will discourage the dog from attempting to snag food that is left unattended. I currently have a female Chessie that was kept in a crate, in a garage, for almost three years–Reason, small children in the house, dog was deemed food agressive when a rug rat walked by with a peanut butter sandwich, you know the obvious. Shelby will try to reach anything within three feet of a counter/table/stove edge. I do not hold edables below my waist when traversing the house, not unless I want a dog holding my hand, that is holding the edible. She does not apply any pressure, it’s like, “Hi–let me help you, that looks heavy” Mouse traps worked wonders.

House poo–When I was training I kept pup in a crate. When the pup woke up, it went out, when it ate, it went out, when it had a drink, it went out, and I made sure pup knew what it was there for. I kept pup on a lead, the last thing I wanted was pup to wander around on a “sniff fest.” That gets old, real quick, on the 8th. of January, 10:30 at night, -4 deg. with a 20MPH North wind blowing.

To make an impression on the dog you have to catch it in the act—poo on the floor, in the trash, whatever. Never walk into a room , find that the dog has done somthing, call the dog, and then repramand. All you are doing is teaching the dog that when it responds to it’s name it will get a repramand. I will let you guess as to the final outcome.

Eating shoes, chewing on chair rungs, and the like–I used bug dope with a lot of DEET in it, just apply a small amount in stragic places, pup will not go back.

When dogs are bored they will get creative, make sure pup has some KONG type toys to play with.

If you don’t want the dog on the furniture use a sheet of newspaper with mouse traps undeneath, the noise will frighten the dog when they snap. (both of my dogs have their own sofa.)

Rescue animals can be a challange as you

351

Evening Dinners

Flo, a [B] for me and a RC Cola for Ulrich.

Work Front Turned out to be a good day for me, but I think I may have a problem. Seems Jerry cannot seem to under stand what is called The Up System. It determines who gets the next customer that comes in. If you are with a customer and the other sales person get’s the next customer.

If Jerry spend say 3 hours with a customer and the Ken gets 10 customers I keep the sales. If the Jerry customer leaves after the Ken’s 10 th customer leaves Ken gets the next customer.

Worked out well for me today. Jerry spent way to much time with a customer written up there ticket for $260.00. I had two POS customers in the mean time, they left before Jerry got done telling stories and jokes with his customer. After his coustomer left, I told him I got the next customer. He thought that was unfair? [:-^] Next customers in spent $2000.00 and I made a extra $115.00. [:D]

BBQ is done and the Trains like me tonight.

Later, Ken

352

Evenin’ folks!

Janie, just a cup of hot chocolate please…

I’m still among the sick here… I did get up and went to church mostly to hear (and see) my granddaughters sing for Palm Sunday. I got to our usual seat first and some young lady I did not know came and sat down, She was followed by our Sunday School Superintendent (must be a DIL I guess) My DIL sat in the last seat behind the aisle. I got up and went over to say hi, and was told they weren’t staying for the Palm Sunday Brunch and Auction. I decided since I am not eating much except comfort foods at the moment not to stay either. Half way through the afternoon I called my DIL and told her I wasn’t coming over for supper due to not feeling well.

I have decided this isn’t an allergic reaction but I think I have a mild case of the Flu. (Yes I had the vaccination last fall) What I am coughing up is clear, whitish stuff so it does not appear to be bacterial. I am on the mend I think. I decided to take a nap. Oh! When I got home from church today, Blackie was waiting for me to give him his treats for lunch. Manét was nowhere to be found. I went in the bedroom to change into my every day clothes from the Sunday Go To meeting Stuff and there is a big lump in my bed. Yep Manét who wanted to get up on the bed when I was dressing for church was still there completely under the covers. He was nice and warm. I decided to take a nap this afternoon and Manét was still cuddled under the covers. I crawled into bed and in a couple minutes he was right up by my side snuggling with me. Blackie came in a joined us! Something about two large cats purring very loud right next to you that is very relaxing. I didn’t fall asleep, but got up feeling much better!

I did try to get some more photos of the bridge scene today, but none of them are usable. Wil

353

Good Morning Diners,

Flo, I’ll have a large cup of coffee with lots of cream, please.

Not much happening nere, but had a pretty good week last week. Sold a couple of kitchens and a couple of Other blessings happened, too.

Der: If you are referring to the lower cabinets in kitchens, etc., they are called base cabinets. If not,…never mind. (In Gilda Radner voice).

[:D][:D]

I’m guessing the the SCARM people assumed that if one wants to put a smaller scale track on the same layout as a larger one, that it would be elevated to give the effect of distance. Don’t ya just love intuitive software?

Ray: please get better quickly.

Have to go.

Hello to all and I hope everyone is OK, safe, and warm.

354

Good morning …

My 96-year old Mom was in ER all of yesterday, but thankfully she will be okay.

I’m planning to be a “gandy dancer” today on my layout. I will be making corrections to some existing track. I will pull up some track to correct problems with the grade in the sub-roadbed. Then I will re-install track. In the process, three turnouts will be replaced with new ones, and another turnout will be relocated. Hopefully when I’m done, all of my trains will run through this section with no derailing. Most trains already run through okay, but some trains are too sensitive at minor imperfections in the track.

355

Herrinchoker ,

Thanks for all the hints and tips. I think the mouse trap idea is cool - I just wonder if the dog can figure out how to relocate it to my chair [:D].

On the whole the dog is pretty good (in comparison to ones I had many years ago). The only dog I ever had “Layla” that was my pride and joy. I don’t think I ever had to teach her anything - that dog was smart. She waas more like a hunting buddy than a dog.

She was run over and killed by a JERK in a mustang doing 60mph in a 30mph zone. Of course they didn’t stop - just kept on driving away even faster.

It’s taken me about 8 years to get over that and go with “Mickey” the new dog. So I will just have to work with him and hopefully by summer he’ll be in good shape. He’ll need to be as it gets HOT here in Mississippi in summer so most of his time will have to be indoors.

Funny you should mention shoes - he took a visit to my wife’s closet and chewed up a nice pair of sandals. I’ll let the wife know about spraying them with a repelant. She may be okay with that - unless she wants to loose more fotwear.

Greeting to all here. Flo, I’ll have a bacon butty and cup-a-tea.

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Chris, Sorry to hear you are having many problems with the new dog. Our new rescue is working out well. She is totally house broken which I believe is a characteristic of airedales. They just don’t seem to ever go inside unless they are very old and losing control of body functions in general. Adele has shown a tendency to want to table surf but backs off if scolded with a firm no. Yesterday we went for a two mile walk which she handled very well. I was pretty well worn out by the time we finished up.

On the railroad front, I fabricated another no. 5 turnout but am not the least bit happy with how it fits. I am going to try a no. 6 I had fabricated but did not use after I found that no. 6 turnouts actually curve to a 40 ft curve versus a 26 ft curve for a no. 5 turnout. Hand laying track is a continuous learning experience for me.

Time for lunch so I can get ready for my learning in retirement math class this afternoon.

Jim

357

ouch, oooch ouch ouch oooochhhh, The honey does this week end about killed me ! Started remodeling the living room. Ripped all of the door, window and base trim off. Installed 5 1/4 base, 3 piece crown and puttied the trim. Moved teh furnioture out and back again. Saturday was a LOOOOONNNNG day. I am so sore from all of that w**k !

Ken I saw you called - to sore to even lift teh phone. What is a good time to call back ? Glad the little thing I sent is helping you with Jerry !

Garry - Glad you Mom is doing okay. WOW 96 ! Thats amazing. What a blessing. I lost my Mom when I was 16. Still miss her.

UP831 - Blessings. Such good things to have in ones life : )

Howmus - Hope you feel better. Appreciate the comments in the NMRA thread - Thanks

DER - LOL ! “Blathering on” made me laugh. Reminded me of a sweet wonderful British lady I know.

Chris - We have a black lab ( she is very BIG lab ) and we used a dog trainer, What I quickly learned was that Dog trainer was not what she really did. She was actually a human trainer. She taught us how dogs think and how to work with the dogs langauge.

Ulrich - Still in the RC ? Can I buy you a piece of triple chocolate cake ? And a glass of ice cold milk to wash it down ?

JaBear - Good to see you. Hope all is well. Vacuum wipers ? Really ? That is insane who would build a vehicle with THAT ! Must have been someone from the West Va. design dept ! [:-^]

Lucas - Want anotehr peice of cake ??? I have wide shoulders I can handle the blame [(-D]

GALAXY !!! I am so glad you made it back. I was very worried about you. Sounds like you have a lot going on.

Well my modeling funds will have to be trimmed a bit. The frig compressor came to $730. Gas bill came in $1200. [sigh] BUT I did score a couple of coal cars on ebay for $4 each and got combined shipping. So not a total loss.

TTYL

YGW

358

YGW,

I think we already know “mickey’s” dog language - we say “no” don’t poop on the floor - and he looks and gives us the “WHATEVER” look.

JIM,

I think your lucky to have a female - my Layla was a beauty - perhaps male dogs share charateristics with their male owners - not to say I am stubborn and don’t listen much [:D]

Anyhoo, it’s a nice day outside so I may open up the garage doors and turn on the smoke units for my T1’s and let them run.

359

Woke up to 5 inches of snow. Well, at least it’s above freezing now and it will stay that way for a while. The pavement was warm to begin with. After the plows did their thing, the remaining snow on the roads and driveway melted quickly and the driveway, at least, is completely dry.

I’d hoped to be on the bicycle again, but at this temperature it looks like I’ll be confining my workouts to the gym for another week at least.

360

Good Evening!

Just reporting in for a spell. Mind if I sit down at the RC?

Our son was with us for a few (too few) hours today. His train was late, so we had to wait for him for about 15 minutes in rather unpleasant weather. He was fortunate the delay was in the last leg of his train journey, which usually takes two hours. By car that would be anything from 75 minutes to 90 minutes.

Lots of small talk while enjoying the best Petra´s kitchen was able to offer on short notice. It was good to have him with us, as we don´t see much of him these days. But now I am exhausted. No MRRing today and most likely tomorrow as well.

Not really happy today [:(]