This is a place to gather, a place without an agenda or a topic. It’s free to all, to read, to join in, or just to enjoy some virtual food. Our gracious hosts ask only that we avoid certain hot-button topics like politics and religion that sometimes raise tempers.
You’ll get to know the friendly staff just by listening. It’s a place to share your day, your concerns, your joys and sorrows. Welcome aboard.
This month, the Diner is on a short run-around siding in the Cumberland Gap. (wherever that is)
I guess I was a little late opening the doors. Thanks for opening them LION.
I was thinking of getting the new Micro-Trains true scale couplers. My idea was to convert my Kato Bethgon hoppers with them. Since these have the air hose connection, but they cannot be together with other brands of couplers. Which might be a good thing. The bethgons aren’t going to be with any other cars. I just don’t know if they can be converted.
Flo, I will have a [B] please and give Ed one if he makes it in. What, you have speical on Brother Ellis wine? Does it have Cat Scat in it? OK, give Ed a bottle. If he lives I give it a try.
Thanks Lion for opeing the dinner. I all most did it this morning but with it being a Saturday I had to leave earliy.
Work Stunk
Train Front Either my layout is built on a Indian Burial Site, or I should have never went DCC! [banghead]
PCM Y6b I have no idea what happend, not a clue! But for some reason tonight it started moving again? [:O] [:-^] I did nothing to the engine, it just started running!Decoder Pro thinks it is the B&O F7a’s but that I understand. I did a CV8 to 8 last night and I have the B&O’s all so sat at address 3. I was stunned when I started to run the B&O F7a and the Y6b took off, last night all it did was make sound. Y6b gears need some lub, so I shut her down. Taking the Trucks apart is not fun but I have done it before.
Coal Car Front Only I left to go! All I have to do (I hope) is install 1 more Kadee coupler and then they are all done! [:D] To bad the spring is missing, but I have gotten half way good installing them. Only takes 2 springs to install one!
A little unfinished business from the September Diner…
CN Charlie… I am not sure who manufactured the sailboat. It is a small one.
Alvie … Glad you are going to Orlando this coming week. Unfortunately, the weather forecast looks bad for Orlando when you are there . We have plans to go there the following week.
Ed… the Walthers Hulett loader is very impressive. Times four in your case.
ken… I like the PRR T1 photo.
Its been busy for me the last couple of days. I hope to get back to working on the layout late tomorrow.
I told the ticket agent that I wanted to go to Cumberland Gap, Pullman, of course.
I just got off the train and discover, to my dismay, that I’m in Maryland on the B&O! [banghead]
The agent is off duty so I head over to the Queen City Hotel where I thought I had a room reserved. Then— I find out it was torn down in 1972! Wait til’ I get my hands on that ticket agent!
Tomorrow, I’ll get on the Shenandoah back to D.C. then on to Knoxville, on the Southern’s Pelican. Maybe I can talk the Conductor into letting me drop-off on the fly as we come out of the tunnel and enter Cumberland Gap, Tennessee otherwise I’ll have to hire a cab to take me back there.
Is there another railroad tunnel that occupies THREE states? You can enter the Cumberland Gap tunnel in Kentucky, pass through Virginia while entirely in the tunnel, then exit in Tennessee!
Whew, LION! You sure picked a tough place to get to by train! Well, maybe I’ll see you fellows tomorrow night IF I make my connection in Washington…
Thanks for the [B] Ken and the encouragement on the Huletts, Garry! I needed BOTH!
Flo, in the spirit of October, could I get some egg nog and a slice of pumpkin pie? Thank you.
Hobby Front: Got the new flat cars put mostly together. (The couplers and and brakewheels have yet to be attached and I have to paint the decks and weather the cars.) The cleaner box car has the sills changed to match the prototype. (The roof plugs will be ordered Monday. I haven’t decided when I will order the cleaner unit. The base paint has arrived but I haven’t had a chance to get it mixed to match the paint on the car.) The new hopper is ready for me to apply the weathering. (Paint also arrived with the cleaner car base paint.) All the cars have their proper ACI labels attached. The couplers for the flats & the cleaner car should be here middle of next week. If everything goes right, I will try to get some work done on the layout. (Most likely crossings as I have a few more that need to be built.) And there are a few more projects that aren’t even in that list.
Yes, these projects should keep me busy for awhile.
Oh Cumberland Gap, I’ve never been but it looks pretty. I’m from the Shenandoah Valley, so I’m partial to Appalachian locales.
Ed, I’ll be excited to see the lakeside scenes with the Hulett unloaders ready to go.
On the MR front, it has not been a good few says for my K4 fleet. I went from three working models to one. I talked about the model with a bad decoder in another thread. I’ll get it fixed up when I’m home next week. The other K4 in the roundhouse now is my 1361 model. After programming the decoder’s sounds and swapping headlight resistors, I had some fun watching the PowerCab shut off whenever I had it move forward or backward on the test track. I unplugged everything, waited a few minutes, and I tried again. Now, I noticed a bind in the valve-gear, as the eccentric rid had gotten bent and a cross member had been pushed to one side. I worked to straighten out the eccentric rod, then this cross member pushed out of alignment. I got it better aligned but then pushed a little more and… I ended up breaking the cross member! At that point. I put everything into a small box and said I’ll get it repaired when I’m back from Florida. I did reexamine the model and the cross member looks replaceable so long as I can get the parts from BLI.
Lion ! I man I love the new location! I am in my home territory! Oh those beautifully mountains and the rolling Piedmont, the valley and the river too AAAHHHHHH the smell of oak leaves after a shower. I LOVE it here. The babbling Brooks and song birds everywhere. There is no place like home ! Living a dream !
Didn’t make it to church today. My middle daughter is ill. Stomach flu I think.
By more research of the Micro-Trains True Scale Coupler. It will replace the existing Micro-Trains coupler conversion. I forgot the number conversion part that it replaces.
Conversion part for switching bethgon couplers is #1128. That means I’ll just keep the original ones.
Just thought I should drop in and let you know I’m still above the grass.
Chloe, I know it’s late for lunch, but I would sure like a double denver and a Dr.P. Thanks.
Once again we had a great but short visit with my Son and DIL. down Billings way. We took Cody back to the animal shelter where we rescued him a few months back and they were amazed at the changes in him. He is learning his manners and skills quite well and you would not think he is wearing the same coat. It is beautiful and shiney.
His missing eye has healed up nicely and he isn’t bothered by it at all. He and I walk a lot and that has helped me as well in having my left hip (the old clutch pedal hip) get feeling better and loosened up.
While in Montana I picked up a Buford Shops Transfer Caboose. I always thought they looked neat in pictures, but , boy in real life they are sharp. I haven’t been able to find info on whether the W.P. ever had one, but even if they didn’t I’ll reasign it to the LM&E. Several other items of detailing were also purchased, I never seem to come home empty handed.
Garry, When you live in such a beautiful home in such a gorgeous location, you sure seem to spend alot of your time on the road. Safe travels my friend. Same to you Alvie.
Ed. Those Huelette kits look pretty involved, but you sure are doing a great job on them.
YGW, Sure sorry to hear that you can’t get all of your family healthy at one time. Surely that will all come to pass for you very quickly. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Ken, The car (Merc.) that your wife got looks like a fine ride. Hope it performs well for her for a long time. One thing about it is that you don’t have to put a new decoder in
We had another nice weekend of railfanning. 15 trains on Saturday, & 13 today. The highlight was yesterday when Norfolk Southern’s OCS train came past. Power was ABBA, the A units being F9As, & the B units F7Bs. After all these years, I think they still are some of the best looking diesels ever produced. They were the power for 14 cars. It’s just such a pleasant sight seeing all those passenger cars, especially since we don’t get a chance to see the likes of them often these days.
I’m wondering where Ray (Howmus) is at. It’s not like him to not post no matter how busy he is, and he definately keeps busy. Hope all is well.
I guess I’m starting to feel my age, It’s been cool & damp today with scattered rain showers. My knees, back, well lets just everything, are telling me they are not happy. But we finished off a bottle of Reisling with supper, & that helped.
Johnboy, I agree with you about Buford Shops transfer cabooses. They are excepionally well done I think. I picked up the Buffalo & Pittsburgh when they came out. In my case, I have a photo of the prototype, but I would have bought one regardless.
Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much as I did mine.
Janie, I could sure use a cup of hot chocolate right now. I have been home about two hours from the mu8seum and I am still chilled to the bone!
Hey [color=red]Tom[/color], I’m here! Last night I did sign on for a bit, but had to head out to bed early in order to be able to on the road back out to the Museum this morning by 7:45 in order to make crew call and safety meeting by 9AM. Didn’t post as before bed I needed to clean the cats water fountain. It was full of cat hair and was really gross. Also needed to clean the Humidifier tank and the hoses on my CPAP. It hadn’t been cleaned for over a month and was pretty gross as well… I slept better last night without breathing whatever was growing in that…
We had two crowded, busy days for the opening of the Pumpkin patch Trains out at the Museum in October. Saturday was around 700 people on site, and today was just a few less. We serve hot cider up in the restoration building in the upper yard and have a “Pumpkin Patch” of very small pumkins donated by a local farmer. Every child gets to pick a pumpkin to take home… There is also a petting zoo set up on our lawn and we have a food truck on site for food service. Saturday I had two students from many years ago riding on the caboose with their children, all grins to see Mr Howard working on train. That is always a high point in a day when I see someone who I haven’t seen in years get excited to see me! Worked 8 hours on Saturday without a break as we were short handed. Today I got a half hour for lunch as we had more help. Saturday the FM H12-44 ran very well giving us a bit of a rough ride at times. I don’t mind that as it gives me a chance to explain coupler slack… [:-^]
This morning the old girl was up and running when I arrived and the Conductor and engineer were already doing the brake check. Everyth
Work was sort of bussy Had 6 customers in 5 hours. Sales where nothing speical but they where sales.
Wife hit someone in a parking lot with the new car. Well, it was more of a bump than a hit. Gas pedal and brake pedal are very close to each other. I hit both at the sametime 4 diffrent times. Now, I knew what was going on and did not freak out. Wife on the other hand? [:-^] Lady that my wife bumped and told Sue she was not going to make a claim on my insurance thank goodness.
Ed how big is your layout room? K-10 has a ore dock with a ore ship. The dock and ship is about 5 X 12 by it self. Do the Huletts move?
Best thing that happened today? Bought a 8 pice fry chicken take home from Shop And Save. They where out of wings and drumsticks. So I got 2 breast and 6 thighes! [:D] I love thighes!
Hello folks! It’s been a long & uncomfortable day. I spent most of it sitting and watching my best friend doing the wiring for the electric dryer my wife bought. Something I could have done in my sleep not too many years ago. On the model railroad front…as much as I’d like to do the 42x82 layout, more and more I’m thinking I should go with the 36x65 shortened door. It’s a matter of convenience. I’m afraid the larger size will be a PITA getting around. Meanwhile I’ll keep pondering.
