The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
4541

Hi All

Well I don’t know where to start tonight and really don’t have much time.

I am making a quick 3 day trip to Missouri. Didn’t have any warning but have to go. No, it is not a bad thing and really could be a good thing. It is much too early to tell. I really don’t want to say much because it might not be anything other than a quick trip to Missouri and back. But then again it might be something I have been hoping for and praying about for a time. I ask that you pray for me during this time and that God’s will be done in this matter. I will be on the road hopefully by 9 or 10 o’clock so coffee will definately be taking the trip with me, and of course Duchess too.

Well got to run. I might not get much sleep tonight (actually this morning now) so I should at least try to sleep.

Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Jim

4542

Good Morning 12:21 west coast time, the real time, you east guys just do it too early, Thanks for the coffee and OJ, will skip the donuts as I eat protien bars instead now. Yes in SoCal we have to try and say we eat healthy once in a while.

Ed the oranges are great, wish I had a dozen or so, but the throat is getting better on Vitamin C pills. Thanks for the info on pics, here I was being silly thinking I could cut and paste right from my home computer. Silly me.

Greg, sorry to send it your way, ask Ed for some oranges, or pound the vitamin C and Echinesea. Wife who won’t take vitamins had it for weeks, me 1 day sick, two days cough, almost gone now.

Chargers are out, but we got cap room and draft picks. Thanks again Ed’s team.

Philnrunt glad you survived, love the spirit of being positve in such a tough time.

Jim, travels prayers for you, have fun, be careful.

Flip, don’t hog all the vodka, if its grey goose, send some west.

Tom, good luck with the wallpaper. I don’t do no stinkin’ walspaper here. [:D][:D]

Finally, Take care all, have a great morning !

Tim

4543

Phil: Good to see you survived and sory to hear about the trees as they are never the same after loosing a major limb or two.

Der John and Tom: Add fabric softener to the water as that softens up the paper/glue and will quicken up the process. Honest!

I have winter camp theis weekend and the temps are suppose to stay above the freezing mark. So fingers crossed.

Anyway I’d love to chat but I gotta run

Fergie

4544

Good Morning All:

Well I’m feeling good today as I got to help a guy with his Genesis “F” units. A lot of people don’t know that Athearn uses 15 milliamp bulbs and everyone else uses 30 milliampers. One guy even said that Athearn bulbs weren’t as good as Minitronics, he probably didn’t know about the difference in the current draw.

Fergie:
Go easy on the request for the Athearn challenger. Read the forum. I’ve also heard from other sources that the loco is beautiful to look at but sounds like the pitts. No sense in wasteing money. If you can wait BLI is comming out with a SANTA FE 2-10-2 and the 2-10-4. These ought to be some awsome locos. Kathy at BLI said they should ship the first of next month. HA HA HA. I talked to, heck if I can remember, at Soundtraxx (eveyone I wanted to talk to was in a meeting) and she said the Tsuanami will ship the middle of, or late Feburary. They have now learned, don’t stop selling one product until its replacement is on the shelves in the stock room. She didn’t know if the DSX was going to be up-graded or not. I don’t see how it couldn’t be. She also said that the some of the steam sounds would be comming out first with diesel to follow. It seems like steam is their best seller.

***:
I used 2X2’s against the wall instead of the 2X4s that Lynn suggested. My knee brace is a 2X2 also with a 1X4 for the horizional piece. You don’t need two of the horizional pieces as that’s a lot of overkill. By using the knee brace method I don’t have any legs sticking down out from the wall so cleaning is much easier and I can move around a lot easier. Part of my layout is 36" away from the wall and it will support my whole body weight (215#s - need to get back on the diet).

Jim:
I’m ready to come to your house and help you rummage through your old boxes and see what we can find - I’ve felt like a kid at Christmas looking through mine.

Jim:
You left us with a cliff-hanger, now we are sitting a

4545

Hello Coffee Clubbers,

Beautiful day down here south of the border. Partly cloudy, nice out now but it will probably warm up into the mid-80’s by afternoon. [8D] Cool front predicted for later this week (yeah!), probably the same one that’s predicted to blow through East Texas (or, as we sometimes refer to it, Northeast Mexico).

More fresh OJ on the Coffee Shop counter, guys, right next to the fresh pot of coffee I made with some of that great coffee grown up around the state capital here in Veracruz. Sorry some of you guys can’t join in on the OJ, it’s real sweet. But maybe the extra vitamin C will help some of the guys ward off colds while shoveling snoah.

The monthly mail package arrived yesterday, so I now have the January issue of MR, Trains, RMC, and the Jan-Feb issue of N Scale Railroading to look through. [:D] That’ll keep me off the streets for a while.

I would think you could scratch build one easily enough. They’re just a box with a sign. As far as the rail shipments go, it’s your railroad. Stick a spur up to a ramp at the back and have at it. Anyone critical of that arrangement only gets to see your layout twice…. the first time and the last time.

No fair!! You get all the good programs up there. First “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” and now a “Fawlty Towers” marathon!

Actually I’ve been dosing it with Bacardi Solera rum. It must be fermenting more in the tank car on its way north!

[quote]
QUOTE: Fergie:
Ed that was quite the haul of Oranges. What are

4546

Good afternoon everyone…30.6F here in central MA at noontime, and more snow, then freezing rain to all rain tomorrow…the California express keeps rollin on. Speaking of CA, did any of you guys see the mud slide on TV? Boy, that is one dangerous place to live at the foor of those big ravines with steep slopes. I noticed on one of the TV shots, that there was a rr running through that area, is that the North/South UP line out of LA?

ROB : Not ready for benchwork yet Rob, I am presently studding the cement walls of the room, then I have rough wiring, insulation, plasterboard, finish wiring, suspended ceiling & lights to do before I even START on the benchwork.
I took some picture today, and will continue throughout the project, and post them when I find out where and how to do that.

Fergie : It is -35F in Churchill ( Hudson Bay) and headed our way, so it might not be as warm as you think this weekend mon ami…better bundle up, it will be a two dog night!!![:O][:O]

Time to get back to work downstairs, have agreat afternoon guys…

4547

How about Kenosha and Racine? [:D]
or even better, Rhinelander!

4548

Step 1: get yourself an account at a photo hosting website.

This can be one of the free sites like Railimages.com (a bunch of us use them). It could be a site set up on your own ISP (a lot of ISP’s are now allowing you space to set up your own mini website).

So my suggestion would be to go to RailImages.com, follow the instructions, and set up an account. They usually activiate it within 24 hours. Report back when you get that done and we’ll work on step 2.

Taking periodic progress photos is always a good idea. It’s fun to look back later and see how it grew.

Later

Ed

4549

Karl, That was my origional idea, but there at oposit ends of the state. I’m trying to capture the feel of small sub, less than ten miles in length, that is an extention off of the Wisconsin and Southerns Oshkosh Sub. It gives me the opportunity to model the WSOR, but not to have to model something specific, as no one has ever heard of the two towns I have in mind.

Boy, thsi place is dead! Well, I’m a busy beaver, as my classmates have a home game tonight for Basket ball, and I figure I might go, but I’m not sure. That or I’ll stay home and model or research the ARK’s new towns(more likely.) Either way, I still better get going.

Noah

4550

Evening all.

We have started on the hotel for Gloetown. I’m using the “Adam’s Rib” from Walthers and with very few modifications I think it will work out. CFO is going through kidney stones episode. She’s not a very happy camper at this time. She said she’d rather give birth…

Elliot - Got the celebration planned. Flip will bring the donuts, Ed the OJ, Fergie the chili, Noah will get us prizes from his shop, Lupo and Pennsyhoosier will decorate, Robert can we count on the VB for shipping? and of course the BILL will get to you[8D][^][^][}:)][}:)] Does anyone else wnat to contribute to the 5000th replied celebrations? [swg][swg][swg]

Der John and Fergie - TH ok with me, where and when? keeping in mind that Fergie is booked for a bit. I seem to remember RCMP something, showed up before Chrismas then vanished, I think he is down the shouth shore.

Well that’s all for now.

Happy MRRing

4551

Well everyone, some potential news for me. After landing from today’s flight I found out that we need to provide a person to work in Okinawa, Japan where the “command and control” for our tsunami support work is. And right now it looks like I might be the winner, since I’m about due to transfer anyway (I would basically spend a couple months in Okinawa “on the way” to my next assignment). So if I up and disappear for a while starting in a few days, you’ll know why!

Noah - hmmmm - too bad Neenah and Mensasha don’t fit the letter shceme then, eh?

4552

Phil,

We got a lot of ice, but not as bad as you did. Never lost power, but it has messed everything up for a week now. We’re having floods up here now that things have warmed up. But now they say the bottom will drop out of the thermometer on Friday. [:(]

Glad to hear you’re okay. When I saw the pics from down Muncie way, I worried about you.

4553

Good evening gents…guess what it is doing again??? YEEEESSSS, it is snowing. We are predicted to get 1 to 3 inches, then FR, then rain, but the big ? is, how much freezing rain? I guess just about every part of the country is having weather isses, the Ohio is 5 feet over flood stage, CA is washing into the Pacific, the Northeast is iceing over, parts of other western states have received over 9 FEET of snow, Donner Pass, etc. ED, is OK in Mexico though thank God.

ED : thanks for info on getting photos online, I have not done this before, it looks interesting, I’ll definetly give a shot. And, the Bacardi is just fine in the OJ, one tank car headed for NS was stopped for inspection here in my town (CSX line), I had them pull it off on an old siding and told them I would take care of it…yumm, what they don’t know will never hurt, thanks ED !!![:-,][:-,][:-,] Sorry Der & Fergie et al

BOB : I intend to have plywood top for my benches also, I may need to crawl up on top from time to time,and I want the feeling of security. I used 3/4 " for my wife’s Dept56 Christmas village display, and I need to get up on the top to install the track each year, so I want something that I can trust. The 3/4" does not even give one bit with my 185 lbs on it. I will not use 3/4 " for the train tables though, I plan to reduce to 5/8".
I know I could get away with 1/2", but to me it is worth the $$ to go this way once, there is a lot riding on top…no pun intented.

The coffee is real black and overheated, who forget to change the pot???

Bon soir,

4554

Sorry *** that was me, I wasn’t thinking I’m a tea guy mostly so I thought you were supposed to steep the coffee! I’ve been looking for an old Magnusson models Vistoria arms hotel anyone seen one lately? I had thought that one of the other structure co. had taken over the line from walthers when I ask around for them everyone looks at me like I have two heads[alien][:P]Jim I hope your trip goes very well for you. All of you who are icebound I’ve got my fingers toes just about everything I can cross crossed for you. We went through it four years ago and all I can say is that I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemies! ***: do you want me to send you a nice tanker full of some prime Niagara ice wine[?] It;s sweet enough that you won’t need to mix it with the OJ[:D][:D] Take care all talk to you later. Rob

4555

Thanks for the good thoughts guys. Today was 50F, all the ice-2 1/2 “, snow-5” very wet and heavy, were washed away by 3" of rain today! Don’t know how long the phone lines will work, so I figured I’d say hi to all, as Pennsyhoosier called it right, we’re supposed to get temps near 0 F this weekend. Still don’t have power at my house, so we’ll probably camp out at Amy’s again. She just got rid of her internet, but as her phone line is laying in her yard under half a tree, guess that dosn’t matter!
Rob and Ed- Any booze or mixers need to be routed thru this area, I personally guarantee “special handling and expediting” by my MIDWest crews. Oh yeah. Just remember we have some rough trackwork now, so some settling may occur, but you won’t need to weigh the cars, just take my word for it, all the booze is still there! 3 days ago, we could have shoveled the ice in and had slushies!
Lawrence- Yeah, it’s still a mess, now we have roads closed due to the rain. Sounds like greyfox is right, the whole country is under the gun of bad weather. Again, when Mother Nature is in the driver’s seat, we’re just along for the ride. Had a great T-storm around 2200, we were just waiting for lightning to take out a substation, but we were lucky.
I have been visiting alot with Amy’s dad, and he tells pretty good RR stories, and I was lucky enough to have quite a bit of reading material on hand, so all is good.
Well, keep dry and safe, we’ll try to check back tomorrow night, weather willing and the creek don’t rise. (read that last line like the Duke)

4556

Hiya guys, its another late nighter here in Wet San DIego.

backyard drained, nothing in the house leaked, and got to run some trains, and work on adding a cirlcle for my gandy dancer. ^ year old son loves him, and I won’t have to remove 28 car train to run him.

Weather man says no more rain after toinights storm.

Ed, thanks for the OJ it hit the spot.

Trolleyboy, do you take cream in your tea ?

To all the rest, thanks for the coffee.

Tim

4557

Luct, I could bring Locomotive posters. Oh and I’ll have a deep fried coffee, two sugars and 500ml of milk. I am currently at work on designing a new layout based on a trackplan I found that I had physically drawn ages ago. The new layout will be the GDRMCo in 1970, the time when the GDRMCo was mostly running ALCo PA/PB’s and some U25B’s and some FA/FB’s. The layout will be double decked with the bed in the middle of my room and will have a pair of staging yards on the top and bottom levels. The only modeled yard will be the one at Charters Towers which will actually be the lower level staging yard. The layout will feature 5 3% grades and a 4% helper grade which will be the transition between the levels. Any comments will be appreciated. Mitchell

4558

Good Morning All:

With all the weather problems that everyone is having I guess Robert and I shouldn’t complain as we’ve had to run the AC due to the heat. The weatherman is predicting a cold snap but he lies a lot.

My last mainline switch came in yesterday so now I can fini***he mainline and get on with the serious track testing. I’ve got the three Digitraxx boosters that I wanted to finish wiring the main so I’m going to have a good time Saturday.

Mom is comming to stay with us today as we have to prep her for the next catarak surgery, they’re going to do the right eye Friday at 7:00 AM. Her vision in the left eye has improved quite a lot, it was 200/20 with glasses and now it is 160/20 without glasses. The Dr. says that the eye will continue to get better for a little while longer.

Fergie:
I still haven’t gotten a package from Loy’s. How are the decals comming along.

***:
I have open grid construction on my layout and only have a solid piece of plywood in the yard and in the two branchline towns. I’ve used 3/4" all over except on part of the upper loop where I had to worry about vertical clearence and their I used 1/2" and I’ll never do that again as I don’t feel as comfortable with it.

I wish now that I’d taken development pictures on the train room but I not much of a camera person.

Ed:
Is that your personal orange grove? How many trees do you have? The crop, this year, looks like it was very good. I asked the Dr. why I could eat an orange but not drink a glass of orange juice, his comment " one glass of OJ has the sugar from four or five oranges so if I wanted to drink a swallow or two that would be OK". Who can drink just one swallow, so I said the heck with it.

I’ve got to get ready and go to work so
Ya’ll have a blessed day and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

4559

Boy we’re sure doing Flip in, I got to start this new page.

Bob

4560

Karl, I know, other wise it’s be perfect. I do have a town right next to Neenah though, that will work. Good luck on the job offer, if you get it, I hope you join us again as soon as you can.

Well, I’ve got the first ARK name draft done, and I think this will be the final one. This is it:

A= Appleton, everyone knows where that is.
R=Rivermoor, a little town south west of Appleton
K=Keenville, a little town on the Northwest side of Oshkosh, just south of Appleton, near the bay there.

It’s right off of the old WC line in Oshkosh, and I’m going to pretend I cross and interchange with the WC, now CN, but you’ll never see the WC trains, just that cars are dropped off by my local, and new ones picked up. Then the cars are changed in between sessions, and it looks like the CN has been there.

At Rivermoor, (really just North of it in real life at Winneconne) the tracks will cross a small bridge.

Too see any of these town, go to www.mapquest.com and search for Oshkosh WI. You’ll see Appleton just North of the picture, and Rivermoor right away, and zoom in on the northeast corner of Oshkosh, and you’ll see Keenville.

Well, You’ll notice that I’m in here in the morning today, we had an ice day. They closed the schools because of the ice on the road, so I got the day off. I hope to get alot of my building finnished this afternoon, so I better get going. I’ll see you later.

Noah