Jeffrey's Track Side Diner - October, 2019 - This Month Visiting New Zealand

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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Welcome to Jeffrey´s Trackside Diner, which is located in New Zealand for this month! With the help of our local friend and fellow forum member “JaBear”, we will be touring the two islands and enjoy the rich nature and colorful culture of this wonderful nation, while riding the rails of Kiwi Rail.

Our welcome at Auckland Airport.

Jeffrey´s Trackside Diner is the place for you to go to relax and talk off topic about most anything - as long as you stay within the forum rules, which means certain hot button topics are excluded. Please refer to Steven Otte´s post on Forum Policies. Everybody is welcome to participate in the Diner !

The staff - that´s Zoe, Chloe, Flo, Janie, and Brunhilda - is very friendly and will serve up plenty of virtual food with a smile. Just don´t forget to leave a generous tip!

The RIP Track

At the beginning of each month, it is the time to pay our respect to friends no longer with us.

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Thank You, Ulrich!

New Zealand — Excellent choice [Y]

[sorry, the “music” gets a little wacky after 6 min. or so]

Cheers, Ed

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I’ve checked into the Diner a few times, but haven’t been a regular. However, an affordable month-long vacation to fair New Zealand? Heck yeah, so you may see me stopping in this month from time to time. Besides, it’s spring in NZ and I can drink all the virtual [B][B] I can sip, especially welcome if Bear stops in to draw a few here and there.

One interesting thing about New Zealand is that they never had any Shays, but did have Heisler and Climax locos. I’m going to recitify that oversight by bringing along my first HOn3 Shay.

My Fn3 one is a bit bulky to pack on a month-long trip, so this newly acquired gem will have to supply my motive power needs on this trip. It was purchased from the estate of a friend, fellow NMRA member, and pioneer narrowgauger, Bob Miller. Then I fixed it up a bit with a decoder, lighting, and some 1 oz+ of weight, helped along by adding 8-wheel pickup.

Here’s a pair of HOn3 cars Bob built.

Bob seemed to have some interest in overseas railways and one can perhaps see some of that influence in what he chose to build to run on his Loon Lake Line. He also dabbled in TT, like this one. IIRC, it’s the only LLL-lettered car.

Although Bob wasn’t a member of the Forums that I’m aware of, he was a dedicated fan of MR. He left our NMRA division an all but complete run of MR and had nearly every special edition, GMRRs, etc over the years, a great addition to our library, along with 6 Timesaver modules in multiple scales/gauges, etc, etc. I hope it was OK to memorialize Bob here after the inspirational opening post this month (and I suppose every month?)

Somehow through the magic of virtual model railroading, this Shay has adjustable gauge truck

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Ulrich,

Thank you.

herrinchoker

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Ulrich, thanks for the splendid welcome at the airport. Last time I was there I arrived at 0330hrs and it was a very quiet place at that hour.

Someone sent me these two photos and asked me about the differences between the two other than one is B&W. I spy?

Time to hit the hay.

Nighty night.

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Hi Ulrich!

Thanks for opening the diner and taking us to New Zealand! Such an exotic place!

My brother in law and his wife have visited New Zealand several times. Her daughter lived there for about three years and loved every minute of it. Whenever they come to the house they always bring New Zealand wine. I’m not complaining!

Dianne’s sister-in-law was married to a New Zealander. He was an incredible gentleman and a pleasure to be with, just like I imagine Jabear would be.

Cheers!!

Dave

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The B&W photo must have been taken a coupke of seconds later.

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I spy that the train is about 20 feet farther forward? Maybe?

Although it seems the slack has run-in as the upper portion is about forty feet forward.

Maybe I’m all wet. I’ll have a beer anyway [B] [:)]

Cheers, Ed

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I have to confess that I really missed the forums when they were off line, but there was a positive side in that I got some work done that I had been procrastinating on.

I do believe that everything is working faster now, so the improvement was well worth the wait.

Thank you MR for providing us with this wonderful opportunity to share our thoughts and our knowledge, and to ask a miriad of questions as I have done. My club’s new layout has benefitted enormously from the advice that I have received from the forums![Y][bow][tup][yeah]

Dave

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Gidday Chloe, heck, the Forum falls over for several days then suddenly the Diners ended up in New Zealand!! So, could I have a large stiff drink, please!! (and keep the bottle handy, please.)

I gather that in some places, East Broad Top Railroad (??), narrow gauge trucks were placed under standard gauge freight cars, but that wouldn’t work here because of our smaller loading gauge, so as not too take the side out of the Diner on the first platform we come to, we’ll have to park it up and travel by some other means.

The primary school that I attended most, primary school being from age 5 to 13, was about 500 yards from the South Island Main Truck Line, and the daily Dunedin to Invercargill Railcar, a Vulcan, went past at around quarter to midday, a welcome sign that lunchtime was near!!

“Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.” Dwight

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It´s a little late for lunch, but who caresn- I am going to try one of Steven´s pizza bagels!

New Zealand has been all the way up on my list of dream destinations I wanted to see in my life, but I know now that I will never make it. The country´s beauty is unsurpassed and the people who live there are truly blessed!

To capture the beauty, join me in a 25min drone flight.

And what would be a trip to New Zealand without taking a look at probably the cutest bird of the world - the Kiwi?

Enjoy!

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New Zealand, interesting choice! Let’s ease into NZ cuisine gently, for our less culinarily adventurous Diner patrons. Today’s lunch special is a Kiwi Burger, which is a burger however you like it, but also topped with a fried egg and a slice of beetroot. And of course a side of chips. Enjoy!

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Tell the waitress I would like the cook to substitute several slices of bacon for the beetroot. And please add a Bloody Mary (or three) to my order.

Good morning, everyone. I guess the forum was down this weekend for travel time to NZ.

NZ is another place I have always wanted to visit. At my age, I am realizing that I probably will never visit in person, so I will have to settle for videos. (Unless one of my grandkids moves there.)

Raining here today, so I could not take my morning two mile walk.

On a rainy day, the layout can get more attention. I began paving some roads yesterday past the hotel and the UP train station. I will probably try to put some street markings and stripes on today.

Have a good first of September, everyone!

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My mouth’s watering Steve-O. I would love to tackle that cattle bomb for breakfast[dinner] Not on the list of things I’m supposed to be eating lately… oh well, I’ll take one! Thanks.

Thanks for starting out the Diner in New Zealand Ulrich. From the pictures the Bear has posted in the past, quite the beautiful Country to say the least[Y]

A few strands of the flu going around in my neck of the woods here. I feel bad for the gentleman I was supposed to work for today. He doesn’t want me in his house and I don’t want to be in there either.

It looks like I have the day off today[:D][:D][:D]

TF

John… October[:-^]

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Howdy … I see the MR Forum is up and running again. … Thankfully… Apparently, we are world travelers in the Diner. Spain in September and New Zealand in October.

Ulrich .… Thanks for starting the month and for posting videos.

Brent, Ed, and Bear … Thanks to you also for the phoos you posted.

Mike L … Good to see you. I always like your layout photos.

Steve O … Thanks for the burger. Looks like a huge one.

Not much to report on the layout although I will have a football special running in October.

Friday, we attended the annual Paducah riverfront BBQ which basically is a festival.

Over the weekend, we spent time on the lake in our pontoon boat. Here is a photo of Sunday afternoon as we went under the new bridge near our house.

Yesterday, we went to Nashville to visit family. I saw this Nashville & Eastern train.

Everybody: … Have a good Tuesday.

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You are a little late for that, but just a little [swg]

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!!!

Now you know why my wife gets frustrated with me – I’m living in the past!

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I do, too, but make thatnnot a month, but a little over a century, when steam was king and we still had the Kaiser!

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Good morning from a sunny West Coast where it is 14c.

I’M RICH…I’M RICH!..I’M RICH!

Just look at the difference in consumption in my gas bill for September with both kids away at University.[(-D] It was all those hot showers where they stay in there until they drain the tank.[:(!][(-D] It would have been even lower if it weren’t for all the puppy laundry. How to spend my new found wealth!?

No photo description available.

I was really looking forward to my drive to Calgary at the end of the week and now the person is coming here instead.[|(] She is a doggie friend of the wife and she has a beautiful home on the ocean in Victoria. She wants out of the snowy weather in Alberta so she is headed West. We have stayed at her huge estate South of Calgary and at her waterfront home in Victoria. She also has a villa in the French countryside and a home outside of Zurich. We see her often and the wife has known her for a long time, but we have never seen her husband ever. He apparently is a bigwig in the oil biz.

Well took my BP as it is bike day. It was 114/67HR55 so I am good to go as soon as I finish my coffee.

The wife is at Costco so I need to be finished by the time she gets home so I can help her unload. It is also dogfood day. We get about 2000 pounds delivered and all the wife’s friends come and get their bags and tins. She gets it wholesale and they save about $60.00 a bag. The husbands tend to come along as well and it is generally a good time. She will also be handing out some of the goodies she won at the auction I’m sure and that will translate into bottles of wine for me.

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Hey all. That burger looks amazing .

Not much in this part of the world, although i ran my first revenue move on my layout in the yard Saturday night. Its temporary dc wiring, but its enough to make me happy atm. Saving a bit from each paycheck to buy a powerpro or the learner set.