Now let me tell ya, you guys are writing maniacs! I was only off for 4 days and you filled up 5 pages! Sure takes awhile to catch up, but you don’t want to miss anything, as it’s all good.
Christopher- can’t blame you for not wanting to go KCS in N, those handrails would be crazeeeeeee.
Tom- L&N fan, eh? A great RR, where we camp is about 200’ above that line, and I have spent bunches of time sitting on the cliff watching my own model railroad. I just wish I could get my trees to look as good. It’s CSX now, but still a good show. We’ll be going there this Fri, and by Sat I hope to be hearing the horn echoing thru the hollers.
Last Fri, myself and a sheriff’s deputy went to Richmond In, and visited RT’s Hobby House, and next door Veach’s Toy Store. I recommend them both very highly. Both have a good selection of RR items, plus tons of car, airplane and (oh yeah!) ship models. Prices are ok, and the people are friendly. Might just make them my LHS’.
On Sat, had a postponed 50th B-day party, had some Boat Drinks and good burgs, did some minor four wheeling and laughed ourselves silly. Just what life needs to be. All we needed was a train, and as I was driving home, CSX obliged with a CSX/CR/UP lashup running hard thru Muncie.
Finally heading to the mountain in Va this Fri, seems like all of our lives have been put on hold by this years hurricane season, but it looks like it might be winding down- and Fla phil, emeraldisle and others are still with us, so we have alot to be thankful for.If there is anything you guys need, let us know and we’ll see what we can do.
If I don’t check in for awhile, it’s because I’m campin’ like a fool, but like a bad penny, I’ll be back.
All of you take good care of yourselves, and keep up the good talk and good work!
Well the heavens opened up this morning and I think we got our monthly rain allotment in about an hour. It’s rain’n cat’s and big game so I suspect I’m relegated to the basement. Then again I do have item three on the list (stove pipe) that has to be repaired.
Now I have to prepare a winter game plan for the MESS.
Paul: The section under the roundhouse and yard is 1" foam. The upper main line behind the yard in on foam everything else is spline, cork and plywood.
The history of the layout is piece meal at best. Originally, the bottom section was a single oval with two sidings and an upper “Y” (now the loop). I was given this about 8 years ago by a friend who gave up the hobby (scary). Please note the basement has only been finished within the last six years. (lots of dust, which still clings to the equipment.)
Of that original layout is about 2’ of yard track, which will be replaced someday as it is brass. That section has been widened and lenghtened and is now a 5’ x 11’ with an inner and outer track mounted on foam risers. everything has been tacked on in stages as I neede more room for cars.
As I said to Bob the other day, I’ve only gotten back into the hobby seriously within the last year or so as other commitments and responsibilities have burned up any and all free time, funny how family life and studying will do that!
Knowing what I know now from this forum would have changed the construction of the layout considerably as some of the techniques incorporated are better then others and would have resulted in a single dual means of construction. I would have scavenged the original layout and gone with plywood for the yard and spline for the main lines, as this would have given me smoother transistions. And No I’m not starting from scratch!
Ed: I’m not scheduled to go back until the end of November, No I’m not lucky, I’m burning up annual leave which has been amassed over the last several years. Going on training and
No, I picked the site up when I was thinking about doing some custom decals (still thinking about it). I don’t remember what forum I found it on, but several people had used him and spoke well of the work. I have no experience with him.
Ed
Good Morning everyone:
Big_Girl: Prime Rib, medium rare, and not too fatty. Thanks, and I’ll bring the Horseradi***o go with it.[dinner][C=:-)] So now to see about those “dear” and Doomed Yankees[:O] [xx(] [}:)] [:D]
Are they much thinner than other roads? The handrails on Atlas N Geeps and their Trainmaster are to my eye pretty close to prototype, and bend a lot if they have to. So go for it Christopher, get Normal, and leave the Horribly Oversized![;)] [:p]
I think Ed and Bergie would take some of that Yankee action too. [swg]
BOYS BOYS BOYS…what have you done for me lately?? [;)] John (der5997)has special powers over the GBP’s. I can’t take the chance of jinxing them. Especially now that he has taken on the added burden of those “Damn Yankees”
Big_Boy is actually the juciy meat king, he won’t cook for the Vikings but the Twins are a different matter. They haven’t broken his heart a bazillion times before.
Why waste effort messing with fate! It is not the lot of a Boston Red Sox fan to actually see his team win the World Series. He serves by allowing himself to be seduced, yet again, by the merest glimmer of hope that they will reach the Fall Classic. His ultimate, and predestined, disillusionment, is but another drop of blood in the long agony of atonement for sins committed but long forgotten… … The Boston Red Sox fan is the modern day reincarnation of Everyman.
For those of you not familiar with the reference, I include the following brief intro to the play.
"Everyman is the best surviving example of the type of Medieval drama known as the morality play. Moralities evolved side by side with the mystery plays, although they were composed individually and not in cycles. The moralities employed allegory to dramatize the moral struggle Christianity envisions universal in every individual.
Everyman, a short play of some 900 lines, portrays a complacent Everyman who is informed by Death of his approaching end. The play shows the hero’s progression from despair and fear of death to a “Christian resignation that is the prelude to redemption.” First, Everyman is deserted by his false friends: his casual companions, his kin, and his wealth. He falls back on his Good Deeds, his Strength, his Beauty, his Intelligence, and his Knowledge. These assist him in making his Book of Accounts, but at the end, when he must go to the grave, all desert him save his Good Deeds alone. The play makes its grim point that we can take with us from this world nothing that we have received, only what we have given. "
Okay, English Lit 101 is over for the day. We now return you to your normally scheduled programming.
Hasta luego,
Ed
Ed, speaking of programming, HBO is running The Curse Of The Bambino again in honor of the Red Sox triumphant return to the playoffs. It was on yesterday afternoon, and I expect that it will be repeated many times in the weeks ahead. Tis the season. If you get HBO south of the border, now is your chance to tape it!! [swg]
Curses, foiled again. It’s available on some satellite systems. But we don’t watch much tv so we opted for the cheap local cable.
Oh wait, there’s still a chance. My daughter lives NOB, I can ask her to tape it. She owes me a favor. [:D]
Thanks for the tip.
(“Triumphant Return”? - We don’t refer to this as a triumphant return. We recognize that it’s really just one more opportunity to collapse in style! )
Ed
Speaking of satellite systems, out here on the Nova Scotian Eastern Shore the cable doesn’t come down our way and we don’t have high speed internet either. I’ve opted for a satellite downlink for the computer. I’m running Windows XP, and an upgrade to the Service Package for XP came in the other day. Since then, the satellite modem wouldn’t work [:(] [V] [}:)]. About 30 minutes ago I phoned the satellite company’s customer service, got through right away, explained to the techie what had happened. He said “Go to start, click on this, uncheck that box, click restart, and it should do it.” I said, “You’ve met this before then?” “Oh yes”, he said, “Oh yes indeed!” “The XP service package firewall won’t work with our software.”
Anyway, best quick fix for a tech problem I’ve encountered in quite a while. It did the job, too[:D][8D]
Fergie: I forgot to say just now that I’ve put the track nails Bob talked about for fixing your too narrow gauge problem in the mail. As I dropped the letter in the box I rememberd that I hadn’t gone in and looked up the post code. So, it may take a day or two longer than the usual Canada Post warehousing time.[:D]
jhh Jim: Thanks for the extra photo today. I think I’ll stick at those. Beautiful shots, even with a tripod, I bet the camera was shaking as that thing went by!
I’m working on that too! much of it will hopefully be spent in the paint shop on warmer days. Also in the building shop… hew boy, just looked at the list I made a few days ago, I didn’t realize it was soo long!
Well, better get going, got some sort of what I guess you would call a pop essay, 400 words, due by thursday. Realy rediculious, as my teacher hasn’t even really told us what to write about!
Noah
Good evening everyone
Thanks John. By the way thanks once again for being able to make it the other night. I had fun and learned quite a few interesting tid bits.
John and Ed: As far as I’m concerned Sat TV is over rated. Instead of 50+ channels of nothing on cable, you can get 600+ channels of nothing.
Paul: I do Mexican too. the spicier the better. Lisa makes a mean Chili. Her special ingredient is a stick of Chris Brothers TNT Pepperoni cubed and fried up with the onions before the beef goes in.
Believe it or not I spent the better part of the morning (should be spelt mourning) crunched up under the control panel installing a switch machine. Had to go through the control panel cover, cut through a 1" x 4" with a chisel and hand saw. Not a very productive day.
Had better luck in the garden, though they are calling for frost tonight.
So Elliot are we about to see some more fire works? Napoleon never had it so good!
Later everyone
Fergie
Noah: Don’t be intimidated by lists, when you near my age you look at them and say " I’ll get right on it" and keep on going with the original plan!
emeraldisle-I am what is called a “damn yankee” . I to married a Fla. native. Jacksonville born, Irish and Native American heritage. I must be doing something right by her for she hasn’t really hurt me-YET. She doesn’t like cold either.
Stay well,
Fla.Phil
Fergie:
Couldn’t agree more. We’ve cut our 600+ to a useable amount by subscribing to just a few packages. Still we are left with the choice of far too many opportunities to watch stuff we have no interest in. These days it seems we tune in the Brit comedies, BBC World news, Discovery, and the Weather Network. That’s about it. 10 channels on a regular basis, I’d say. Why do we bother? Local reception is CBC snow or CTV snow.
The satellite music channels are good, we quite often have that on while we are chatting with guests. (RR guests get the model RR videos, no sound[:p])
Our satellite receiver and our radio can tune in some of the same stations. Since the satellite signal has to go 23000 miles out and then back, it takes longer. Then, there’s the extra circuits in the receiver itself. Bottom line, there’s an interesting time gap between the two. I found this out about a month or so ago. The effect was neat when a particular solo artist appeared to sing a duet with herself. It really worked![8D]
You don’t get that on cable I suspect!
Big_Girl: Mrs der was wondering if the cookies were real or virtual. If virtual, and we have our computers set to not accept cookies, how are you going to make the delivery?[:p]
Real coffee is due downstairs, see you ,
Quick sports news flash…
Boston beats Anaheim 9-3 in game 1 of their series. !!!
Oh happy day.
Don’t get too excited, their usual modus operandi would be to actually win the first series, then fold against either the Yankees or the Twins in the League Championship Series. Oh how they lead you on, tempting you to believe yet once again. But they’re not fooling me.
We now return you to your normally scheduled programming…
Regards
Ed
Good Evening Everybody,
It was another good day in the mountains today. I got zero model railroading done, but I did get started on some other things that needed doing. Tomorrow will be a better day. There are some errands to run in the morning, then the afternoon will be spent working on the railroad. That sounds like a fair division of time to me.
Fergie, the layout pics are great. I really enjoyed them and the description of it. It’s a good looking layout. I’ll bet the bananna peppers do spice burgers up considerably. Sounds good. Big difference from bell peppers.
I couldn’t agree more about TV. We have satellite because when I moved up here there was no cable, and the “local” statrions are all 100 miles away on the other side of the mountains. Despite careful selection of packages and paring down, we have lots of stuff we never watch.
Fla Phil, I too am a Florida native, just one who migrated to the mountains. I was born in Jacksonville and grew up at Jax beach. The first few times I was up here in winter I thought I’d never get warm again.
Ed, I enjoyed the Eng 101. I don’t recall the play, but the point is very true. Only what we’ve given away will go with us. That’s worth remembering.
Better go for now. It’s about time for the VP debate. It should be very interesting.
Have a great evening everybody,
Tom
I think what concerned me was the scheduling of some of the “questionable” stuff. I’m not a puritan by any stretch of the imagination but I am a parent. And there are some things kids should not see. And some of theses things would make a Mariner, Marine or Regimental Sargeant Major’s hair curl.
Hey John: I betcha you don’t have problems picking up CBC French. It’s the one channel regardless where I am when I’m at sea I can pick up. Figure that one out.
This is my first time in the Coffee Shop and I want to vent while I have mine with a little milk and a donut, Lets bury the Athearn/ Horizon/ Up/Mdc/MTH/DCC and move on…oh by the way i’ll have another cup for the road.
[#welcome] Willy! I’ll have mine with cream, but my mother always made it with hot milk, sort of French style I guess. My brother still does, at any rate for breakfast. There, does that bury what ever it was you wanted to get away from?[(-D]
I was all inspired by Ed’s foam mock up buildings. I went ahead and did mock ups for my stations, and have just tonight finished as far as I’m going with them. Only one is based on a foam block, and even it has lots of card. I can’t seem to cut foam straight, so it turned out sort of Canadian Rockies log cabin stationish
The rest are all card and sign board (the stuff that’s like cardboard boxes but plastic) as a base. 2 are halves of a Knox Gelatin Box cut down. The Upper Level Terminal is a plastic model extended by passenger shelters in card etc.
Here’s a half gelatin box
and here’s the other half
and this is the “Terminal”
It’s bedtime, Goodnight, and God Bless.[|)]