I remember a lot of days in Italy as if they were yesterday. We all experience days that we know as they are happening will stay with us forever. I had many of those in Italy. A beautiful country.
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Good Morning Diners. Brunhilda, coffee and coffee cake please.
David, good to hear from you. Enjoy this trip you are on. It sounds amazing.
@BATMAN Have you ever considered a whole house humidifier? They mount to your existing ductwork, do a good job, and donāt cost very much. Just something to think about.
Thatās the kind of stuff I was looking for too. Thatās also the type of stuff I kept finding that needed repair. Newer stuff was fine, but more expensive of course. Then there was a large amount of old tyco/bachmann/life-like train set stuff. Yes some of that can be good, but not what was there.
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Could not agree more. We moved into our current home, newly built, back in 1999 and immediately installed an Aprilaire whole house humidifier in the furnace with a humidistat to control the humidity. I change the humidifier filter once a year, usually in November. In the winter, it keeps the entire house properly humidified. In the summer, it is turned off and I actually use a portable dehumidifier in the basement where the layout is located.
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Good morning from Kansas, where itās sunny and cold to start out with a good chance of sleet and snow overnight! Iāll take a coffee and a breakfast sandwich to keep me warm, Brunhilda.
New locomotive arrived yesterday evening. I received some cash for Christmas and blew it on a Rapido E8A. First impressions are āwow, that looks good,ā āwow, that sounds good,ā and āWOW, THAT IS HEAVY.ā The locomotive runs beautifully and is eerily quiet at low speed with the sound off.
Ran it in for close to an hour and look forward to hooking it up to the passenger cars I recently acquired this evening.
Have a great Friday, yāall!
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Morning all;
My wife and I built our home pretty much all by ourselves over a period of about 15 years while we lived in a mobil home on the property. We live in west central Alberta about half way between Edmonton and Jasper. Did all in floor heat and one for the few things we paid someone to do for us was install the heating system. We went with a NG boiler and also have. NG furnace as a backup (pretty much just use it to circulate the air and act as a big air filter). We had to hire this part out as this was about the only thing a home owner could not do on their own. To pass inspections as it is a requirement that it be certified by a qualified professional that it met the BTU requirements to maintain the size fo the building.
In the winter we have a huge problem with humidity buildup and have to run dehumidifiers. (I personally blame my wife for being so fanatical about properly sealing the vapour barrier.) And demanding high Rvalues in the walls and especially the ceiling.
So it seems to me a typical forced air furnace system must be a real humidity thief on the system a humidifier sounds like a good idea.
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Good morning from the Pacific rim where it is 7c - 7/10OC.
Humidity on the West Coast is not an issue. LOL. The humidity in the house is always between 55% and 60%. The only time it gets lower is during the occasional cold spell, some years it does not even get down to freezing here. I have a humidity reader that can show me a graph that goes back years and the line is pretty darn straight. We also donāt have air conditioning as it would rarely get used if ever through the year. I turn off the furnace May 1st and turn it back on Oct 1st. We just leave our doors and windows open all the time during that period and the temps are perfect. I think the new furnace thing was a one off.
I think my recent issue with the track popping is a glue problem as the track was ballasted and upon further examination has not so much popped but just come loose. I used T- pins to hold down the track in that stretch and pulled them once the ballast was down. A higher ratio of glue to water is possibly in order.
It is a beautiful day for a scoot, two days in a row I will get into the train room after my run. Life is good.
New Stoney Creek Bridge being tested. 1890s.
All the best to all.
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Good afternoon, diners. Itās already time for an afternoon nap. Iāll have bacon, eggs, and coffee for lunch, Chloe.
Nimbus, that new locomotive looks great. I hope you keep the sleet and snow south of our state border.
Kim, it sounds like you got the house you wanted and did it the right way. Was there anything else you built yourself that you wish you had hired someone to do?
Batman, as pleasant as your climate is, we are the opposite on the plains. We get 90s and 100s with high humidity during the summer, and zero to minus 20 in the winter. We have a couple of pleasant weeks during the spring and the fall, but thatās about it. My wife would die without air-conditioning. I have to wear a sweater inside during the summer with her controlling the thermostat.
Rich, I will need to check into that whole house humidifier. We do run a portable dehumidifier in our basement during the summer.
Mike, thatās a neat photo of the mortar on the rail car. I assume that was a Civil War weapon?
Rich, Iāve been following and agreeing with you on your posts about the DCC systems thread. I get tired of reading all those responses that donāt seem to go anywhere!
My wife grew up in Euclid, Ohio, and she says the same thing. She canāt stand our days when itās cloudy all day. She said it seemed like that every day as a kid. I have a feeling her home life didnāt help, either.
der, thatās a nice looking station youāve built.
For everyone I havenāt mentioned, I enjoy reading all the posts here in the diner, and I hope everyone can keep the waitresses busy!
Not much else going on here. Iām enjoying the boredom of living on the prairie.
Green River and Citadel Rock in Wyoming, with the Union Pacific building a temporary bridge and then a permanent bridge.
Today, Citadel Rock is known as Castle Rock:
Have a great weekend, everyone.
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I come from Winnipeg so know what you are talking about. Over the decades as all the relatives would come to visit from Winnipeg they could not get over the fact we could just leave all the doors and windows open as there are few insects flying around.
The Mosquito is the Provincial bird back there.
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Good Saturday morning, everyone. Chloe, Iāll have bacon, eggs, and coffee.
Friday evening was a quiet one in the diner. Maybe everyone was watching football.
We got no snow, even though the radar and the TV weather programs said we did. Maybe they should look out the window instead of at their screens.
I think the same thing is true in Minnesota. Iāve never seen mosquitos that big and numerous. A strange thing where we live ā we are very dry but have a lot of mosquitos. In New Orleans, in the middle of all the swamps, we had very few mosquitos. Not sure why.
Have a great weekend, everyone.
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The ones i am familiar with are basically a unit about the size of a bread box hooked onto your duct work at the furnace. Consisting of a rotating cloth drum that is partially submerged in a pan of water. As the air blows past it picks up some of the humidity from the drum. The pan is attached to a plastic water line similar to what you may use to hook up a fridge with an ice maker. One problem i have seen these float valves can easily become clogged with calcium or other chemical buildup. As due to all the evaporation from the pan.
I canāt really say there is something i would rather payed for to be built then built myself. A few factors at play here. I enjoy creating things with my hands. Problem solving can be quite therapeutic. And i am extremely fiscally conscious.
if i had of payed someone to build our home my train room would of been a closet. But because we saved on the labor and had the patience to build as we could afford to instead of a mortgage my train room is much bigger.
Thanks everyone for all the old old pictures there great.
I have a limited print of that stoney creek bridge framed on our wall.and a big fan of the national dream.
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I had that type of humidifier in my last home and as you point out, the calcium build up becomes a problem which interferes with the operation of the humidifier. My old unit had a foam drum that rotated in the pan of water, not good. Too much calcium build up and the drum stops rotating.
In my current home, the Aprilaire humidifier is directly attached in the furnace plenum, and a hole is cut for the warm air to escape the furnace, flow through the humidifier and out into the ductwork that delivers warm humidified air throughout the house. A valve inside the ductwork, can be opened or closed depending upon whether or not the humidifier is in use.
Inside the humidifier is a metal honeycomb filter that is coated with a chemical that facilitates the humidifying of the warm air passing through the filter as water flows through the filter at same time. Each year in the Fall, the filter should be replaced with a new one by simply opening the humidifier door and removing the old filter from its track. That style of humidifier is extremely efficient and trouble free.
Next time I am in the basement, I will take some photos and post them.
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Evening diners! Chloe, Iāll take a slab of pizza and an ice cold Founderās Porter please.
Our 6 month old refrigerator is having a problem with the ice dispenser. Will only dispense crushed ice. Tried scheduling service using the manufacturerās online tool, but it wouldnāt work. Iāll have to try again later, probably during normal business hours. At least we can still get regular size ice from the freezer drawer.
Took down the last of the Christmas decorations today. Glad thatās done. Only things left are the lights on the house, but those canāt come down until the snow is gone.
Got a little more snow today, but not this much!
Have a good evening everyone!
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Good afternoon from the quiet before the storm West Coast. 8c/OC
Got a heavy rain warning for 48hrs starting around midnight so it will be the trainroom tomorrow all day. Went for a nice 7km slo-mo walk today it was so quiet and calm, very enjoyable.
Last week I was hoofing it along with the mutts and stopped to give a neighbour a hand for a grand total of five minutes. Today he pops by with a bottle of really good scotch for me. He is really getting up in years, I am 69 this month and he must have 20 years on me. I said to him that my five minutes of help did not warrant this reward. His answer was that he canāt take it with him so enjoy. Nice guy.
Mike, our Samsung has frozen up three times in the last five years, The only fix for us is to move the contents of the fridge out to the garage fridge for 48hours and turn the fridge off to let things thaw out. Everything we read on the issue says to not waste money on a repair guy or the āfix kitā they offer. The ice maker we have is used in several brands of refrigerators.
So I get this warning from Firecrown that people are complaining about my post(s) as in plural. They donāt say what post or who is complaining. Spineless on both counts in my book. I should get to face my accusers. I guess they donāt like the way I open the Diner and/or Show Me Something. If someone wants to take over opening The Diner and Show Me Something please jump right in. They arenāt my threads, I was just filling the void after Dave passed away.
Good morning, I have received complaints about some of your posts. This is an official warning to please adhere to the forum policies or risk being paused or banned in the future. Thank you.
Time for a few minutes in the trainroom before a splash (or more) of scotch and Hockey, it is Saturday night. 
All the best to all.
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Why?
Terry
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Well whoever is complaining about that can suck it. If they donāt like the topics, then they shouldnāt engage. IMO theyāre fun parts of the forum to see what people are doing while engaging in railroad based discussion. No different than people making idle chitchat at a club meeting/run session or a swap meet.
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Gidday Brent, to be fair, Rene is the Editor of Classic Toy Trains, and therefore has far more important duties to carry out.
But I do agree that the response is spineless but also disappointing, and demonstrates, where I believe, that Firecrowns Moderation System is badly flawed.
I doubt very much that we would have had this issue when we had Forum Member Moderators, the likes of Tom Stage.
In the badges section there is a list of 55 members who have the first fag badge, and I quote, āThis badge is granted the first time you flag a post. Flagging is how we all help keep this a nice place for everyone. If you notice any posts that require moderator attention for any reason please donāt hesitate to flag. If you see a problem, flag it!
In my opinion it would be more relevant if the list also showed the individuals specific efforts on how they kept this a nice place! Easy to be brave when one can hide with anonymity!
I suspect, Brent that envy has prompted the complaints made against you, and like moths to a flame, these sad beings just canāt help themselves by coming back to the Diner, even after saying it has no place on a Model Railroading Forum.
Just my one cents worth, Cheers, the Bear. 
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Good morning, diners. Iāll have just coffee this morning.
As far as I know, only one of my posts was flagged, and that was while I still visited the āadultā side of this forum. Since Iāve quit going into that area, to my knowledge I havenāt gotten any. I didnāt ever get an explanation about why it was flagged. It had no bad language, no politics, and no insults. It was probably because Iām such a jerk. 
Brent, my advice is the same as others are giving ā ignore the flags and keep posting what you want.
Iām afraid to make this comment for fear of jinxing myself, but this weekās calendar shows an almost completely blank slate. Only one meeting ā the rest of the week is layout time! Of course, by this afternoon, the woman living in my house will inform me of some things I didnāt know about.
Time to head out the door. Have a great Sunday, everyone.
What a life these guys led:
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Good Morning Diners. Flo, coffee please.
Iām afraid Iām one of those members with a badge for flagging a post. If I recall correctly, I was reading a lengthy post that I had a question for the poster on, and I ran out of time to finish reading it. Not wanting to forget about it, I was looking at the options at the bottom of the message, and when I hovered over the flag it said (and still says) āprivately flag this post for attention or send a personal message about itā. I thought it was perfect in that by clicking it I though it would privately alert me to finish reading it and/or open a message window I could use to PM the poster. Neither happened. Later I figured out what it really did. Until then I assumed you had to actually message Firecrown somehow to report a post. Trying to remember the details about this one, I found when I received the badge and looked back over my activity then. No flag to be found. I hope thatās because I removed it.
Okay, now Iām a little irritated. Still, the Diner must go on!
I do have the first flag badge, but thatās from a few immensely political posts on the Trains side of the Forums.
I may not post a lot here, but I read it all. Iām disappointed on all the flagging going on by user(s?) unknown, and I wish Firecrown was more transparent about this issue. For what itās worth I have only ever flagged one post - one that was legitimate spam created by some AI bot with the same username as the company / thing they were shilling.