Jeffrey's Trackside Diner, December 2018, from the Christmas City of Bethlehem Pennsylvania!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
21

Evening folks!

Today we had the MSMRC Op Session, I did a LOT of sitting, “wait at this siding” 20 minutes later (and not fast clock minutes) still waiting! That happened a few times too!

Next Saturday is the Christmas open house, I might dress as Santa Claus because I have the whole outfit, the little kids would get a kick out of that.

Jr. Took a look at the 73 mustang model kit I got, hes going to help me out with it, he also has no projects right now so I might contract him to build a home built SD55T for the NWP-SWP.

We were discussing my logo and hes considering doing the EWJ (it’s a Santa Fe subsidiary on an ex IC branchline) (I remember the initials cause Ben called it Every Weird err Donkey (J has been replaced by a more polite substitute)) anyways he’s going to do a CF7 in the ATSF WarBonnet paint scheme with the IC “DeathStar” logo and IBM style striped letters.

So this

With letters like this

And a logo like this

Or this

Hows that for confusing?!

[Political statement removed by admin]

22

I forgot to mention, next Saturday is our Christmas open house at the MSMRC.

My truck is going to be ready Wednesday but I won’t be able to pick it up until Saturday two weeks from now (my paycheck clears late Friday evening).

Right now I feel like I have a Roman Candle in my stomach, I’ve got heartburn BAD, some tums and antacids for me then! Barkeep I’ll take a alka seltzer!

Well Christmas is coming so here’s another holiday favorite.

YouTube isn’t working, ohh well.

23

Good Morning, Gang!

A happy 1st Sunday of Advent!

People in my cpuntry decorate their coffee tables with a advent wreath with 4 candles, representing the 4 Sundays of Advent. Today is the day to light the first candle!

Flo, it´s the dy for my big breakfast, but add a tall glass of OJ this time, please!

It´s raining and we are back to the usual “Schietwedder” - I ask myself why I got up at all.

Time for trains!

24

Ulrich, your picture didn’t work. All that shows is the little photo icon with the top right corner folded over.

We had a real treat tonight at Dianne’s family Christmas celebration. Our niece Renate and her husband Joe both like to cook. They saw a picture of a ‘pie cake’ and they said that would be neat to try so they did. They had some fancy name for it which I can’t remember, but they compared it to doing a ‘tur-duck-en’ where where you place a deboned chicken inside a duck inside a turkey.

The cake had three layers each about 2 1/2" deep. The top layer was chocolate, the middle layer was spice cake and the bottom layer was vanilla. What made it so unusual was that they had baked a pie into each of the three layers. The chocolate layer had a cherry pie, the spice layer had a pumpkin pie and the vanilla layer had an apple pie! The taste combinations were really good. The chocolate/cherry layer tasted just like Black Forest cake, the pumpkin and spice cake were a great combination and the vanilla layer tasted just like having vanilla ice cream with apple pie. The pie dough added a really nice texture to the cake and kept it moist.

Needless to say it went over quite well! Just what we needed after a big meal![swg][(-D][dinner]

They said it was actually pretty easy to make. Pour half the batter into the pan, set the pie on top and then pour in the rest of the batter. The recipe called specifically for store bought pies apparently because the store bought pies have less air in them than something that you would bake at home. Too much air would cause the cake batter to bubble all over the place which would leave quite a mess in the oven!

The funny part of the story was that Joe’s mom told them that they couldn’t pull it off. That was like waving a red flag in front of a bull! (Two bulls actually!) They sent her a bunch of pictures showing how beautifully the cake turned out just to get in her face![(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]

Dave</

25

Hey all, hope everyone is well.

Saw the post about the East Broad Top above,I’ve got tons of my personal photos from 2005-2011 if anyone wants to see them. The EBT is truly a special place in the railroad comminity.

What makes it special is, it’s the oldest and most intact narrow gauge railroad in the USA. All 30 miles of mainline track are still in place, although in various states of disrepair. All the locomotives on the property in 1956 are still stabled in their original roundhouse, as well as a complete turn of the century shop. it hasn’t run since 2011, and I miss going every fall.

I operated on the famous Huntingdon Northern layout in Norwin PA, the Friday after thanksgiving. I ran a couple road trains, and settled right in being the yardmaster, and sorting out cars. Here’s a YouTube video of the layout

https://youtu.be/Q8J3z4zD87k

my club started our open house last weekend, and so far it has been decent. both Saturdays so far have been packed, but last Sunday was slower because of the weather, 50s and partly sunny. Today, ugh… high of 60 and sunny. We normally have our attendees cut by the Pittsburgh Steelers games but, they are sunday night games only. I’d be worried About the Penguins, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are a true mess this year,…they’re not even going to make the playoffs at this rate.

work continues on my house, and Tuesday I sign the updated deed. So Tuesday, I’ll be an official homeowner with a 25x 30 train room in the basement. Although, if I want to drill a tunnel through a brick wall ( former supporting wall before the addition) I’ll have another 10-12 feet to add for a yard. the bathroom work is coming along nicely, and hopefully the window replacement will be as well- I had single pane aluminum windows all through the house.

Hopefully I’ll have somet

26

Hmm, Ulrich’s photo worked here.

I’ll just have some coffee for now. Taking my daughter to “breakfast with Santa” a little later this morning. Should be fun, I think Grandma and Grandpa and cousins will be there too.

Ulrich, you use four red candles for Advent? We use 3 purple and a pink here (pink on week 3 for “Gaudete Sunday”).

27

Indeed we do! It´s something of tradition, not only in my family.

It is so sad to see the once proud EBT RR left to rot and decay. With a little care, enthusiasm and, unfortunately, money, it could certainly be turned into a thriving business, similar to the Silverton train in Colorado. It would mean a tremendous boost to the local economy!

Here s a video of better days gone by.

28

Unfortunately, there is a side of Orbisonia that is indifferent to the railroad. On the East broad top group on facebook, someone brought up the plight of the railroad… a member commented “When I was there and filling up my car at the gas station, I commented to the clerk, ‘Isnt the railroad one of the best things around?’ he looked at me in the face and only said one thing ‘we tolerate it’.”

So there is a group that needs to realize without the train, the town will continue to lose business, since there isn’t a tourist influx any longer. Sure they have the trolley museum, but they still don’t have the original draw to the area. It’s the proverbial question “Now we have it, how do we keep it running?”.

29

Jimmy I’d like to see your pictures, but it doesn’t have to be today, the month is early.

I would imagine there are many people that don’t want to see the railroad run, just like Durango. Durango tries to be neighbor friendly and keeps their locos fired in the yard with compressed wood.

Chama burns coal 24-7 and I wouldn’t want to live near that station for love nor money.

It costs at least a million dollars to get a steamer rebuilt and Federally certified. They probably still have the equipment in the shop, but anyone who used to operate it is in their 70’s or 80’s. The Western Maryland is rebuilding 1309 and they had to farm out the wheel work and some of the boiler work.

Does anyone know how many places can still do 100% or the work? Cheyenne, Durango, maybe Strasburg, Chattanooga, Baltimore?

Off to the Greenberg show.

30

Good morning, everybody.

Everybody with knowledge of railroading in eastern PA is welcome this month to share knowledge and phtos… Especially model railroaders who live in eastern PA.

Ed … The EBT coach looks a bit European.

Henry … Your discussion on steam locomotives operating today is interesting. Enjoy the Greenberg show.

Jimmy … Good to see you. I’ll be interested in your EBT experiences if you share them with us. That gas station clerk should have realized you would not be in town filling up your car at his gas station if the EBT was not there. The souce of the money that pays his wages comes from selling gasoline.

Ulrich … Thanks for sharing the video.

Dave … That cake sounds good.

Dan … I hope breakfast with Santa went well with your daughter.

Happy Model Railroading.

31

Well, as Mario Puzo said, “Fools never die”. If you check Google Maps, you will find that Orbisonia sports a gas station, a drug store, a hardware store, a small furniture store, a dollar store, a food market, a used car lot, a pizza place and an undertaker - that´s about all. The population has been constantly declining. The place is dying and one would think they´d welcome any opportunity to attract business.

Apparently they are all well beyond their sell-by date.

32

Good morning Diners,

Brunhilda, I’ll have an extra large coffee with lots of cream, please.

This month we’re in Bethlehem, PA. That’s right close to Nazareth, PA, which is home to the Martin Guitar factory and Andretti Racing. Martin has factory tours, but i doubt Andretti has them. It would be an idea, though. We did the Martin tour in 2013. I really enjoyed it and so did my wife.

EBT: Everybody probably knows this, but for the newbies, MR ran a story on the EBT in the September or October 1961 MR complete with plans of one of their Mikados and their rolling stock. I hope maybe Steve O or someone can verify the issue. It’s a fascinating railroad and an alternative to Colorado narrow gauge.

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

33

Morning folks,

At church right now, later my family is doing our annual Christmas picture with “Santa Claus” the outdoor equipment company Bass Pro Shops does em for free so…

Well I’ll be around.

34

Good Sunday morning to everyone! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Rainy and gloomy here in RI! Finishing up my presentation for tomorrow, and working on some drawings for benchwork for my ARR build. I’ve decided NOT to build a version of the MR project, due to the fact that it will be very time consuming, and the end result is not something I plan on keeping anyways. I’ve already experiemented with winter scenery on two HO scale dioramas, (two years ago) and was very pleased with the results. If anyone is interested in seeing some pics, just let me know and I’ll post them up!

Anyways, hope everyone has a great Sunday!

35

The locomotive is an electric locomotive (green stripes) Diesels and other work equipment have BLACK stripes. So do self propelled MOW cars.

I guess they wqant to see at a glance weather the machine they plan to use ie electric or diesel.

|If they just want to haul work cars about the subway, they will use the electric, but they have to use the diesels for major work that requires the shut off of the third rail.

That box in the front of the cab has batteries in it, enoiugh to power the loco (at slow speed) across any gaps in the third rial

ROAR

36

I+ll be heading for the hay in a few moments.

Here is a bit of music for the season!

G´night, Everyone!

37

Quite interesting, since my wife is a lineal descendent of one of those families.

I never met GHW Bush, but I have a great deal of admiration for him. He led quite an amazing life.

Boris

38

Welcome everyone to my home state of Pennsylvania. I’m about 1.5 hours away from Bethlehem, and have live in PA all my life. Be sure to travel to Strasburg, PA in Lancaster County to see the Strasburg Railroad, the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania, the Choo Choo Barn (an O gauge display), The Toy Train Museum, then travel to Shartlesville to see Roadside America (the grandaddy of O gauge displays). And there is plenty more to see in Eastern PA.

This Saturday my church hosts our third annual Polar Express and Craft Event. We will have crafters selling their wares, but far more important are all the model railroaders bringing in train layouts. We will have Z through G represented, with around 10 layouts. We also have wooden “Brio” trains and a Lego train. If anyone is going to be physically in the area this weekend PM me and i’ll give you the details.

Have fun in the Keystone State!

39

Afternoon Folks!

I got this in an email from a guy out at the R&GV RR Museum: "

The Union Pacific will have a special George H. W. Bush Funeral Train. It should be led by a special Union Pacific locomotive number 4141 in honor of the 41st President. Here is the Union Pacific website with all the information:

Scroll down to the second page on the website below for all the information.

https://www.up.com/media/media_kit/bush41/index.htm

40

Saw some different stuff at Greenburg than I usually see at Timonium. Of course lots of Lionel and American Flyer. Hardly any toys, a guy selling quadcopters, matchbox cars and holiday ceramic houses and that was about it for non-train related. Well t-shirts, old MR mags, books and a guy who comes to both shows to sell his rail artwork.

Saw my first Menards building, a Dairy Queen in O scale. A bit too bright for my tastes and way too new for my era. A fair amount of Bowser, BLI and newer Atlas and Athearn. Lots of BB stuff and bits and pieces of locos, and tenders.

I did see those cheap Chinese people figures. They are a bit small and not many men I know where those shades of red and purple. I would not recommend them.

I saw a Viriginia steamer in a red box and was trying to figure out who made it. It had a large billboard type VIRGINIAN on the tender. He said it was Fleischmann, make by Life Like or maybe he meant Fleischmann made it for LL, but now Walthers makes the same engine in China.

It was $175, but I don’t need anymore engines to convert to DCC. Lots of AHM and IHC steam and quite a bit of N scale. I came home with a mouse pad from the WM Historical society.