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

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
4561

Good morning to everyone. It stopped raining and weatherman says CA sun at least thru the weekend. Woo Hoo. Backyard is down to only 1 inch of water in deep end. It might even get into the 70s today. Now that is winter CA style.

My sons pigs “drove” the trains last night, they were sitting atop all engines on the layout.

Luct, for the party I will bring CA smoothies. Gotta keep you snowbirds healthy.

Teffy, way to beat flip to the top of the page.

GDRMCo, layout sounds great, when are you going to start it?

Take care all, Have a great day. If you need some CA sun, ask and we will see if we can send some your way.

Tim[:D][:D][:D][:D]

4562

Good day all -
Just a quick stop to grab a cup o’ joe to go along w/ the Hamburg Helper I have for lunch. I’ll stop by again after lunch for some fresh made deserts and another cup o’ so keep it fresh as I don’t drink it if it’s over 1 hr old! (EWW)!
Hope everyone is doing ok, espcially jhh… (wonder what the trip is all about why asking for the prayer’s…which of course I’ll do anyways?)
Take care…
JP

4563

Turbo absolutly not cream in teawhat are from California or something[swg][swg][swg] Teffy my thoughts are with your mom ,my mother had both of hers done a year ago and her 160/180 eyes are now 25/25 without her glasses on She says that she hasen’t seen that well since she was 16! BTW my dad is no longer able to paint walls now that she can see where he was cheating along the corners and ceilings![8D][(-D] Any way quite a T storm moving in so I’m signing off for now will talk to you all soon. Rob

4564

All the euros brought that with them. Now SoCals think they invented that.

Had our share of rain so enjoy Rob.

We are back to normal winter weather hey boys and girls, 70 today, not a cloud in the sky. And the backyard swamp is almost completely gone. Weatherman says no rain thru the weekend. Love the CA sun. Hollar if you need some sent your way.

Tim (back in Sunny San Diego) [:D] [:D] [8D] [8D] [8D] [:D] [:D]

4565

Good afternoon guys…I had to pick up the grandkids (4 of the 8) and bring them to the bus stop this morning . They live up on the side of a big hill and we had yet another ice storm this morning and it is still icing. The kids have to walk down a 450 foot driveway to the road where I pick them up, I was not about to drive up that mountain and slide sideways all the way down with steep drop-offs.
Then I headed over to local HD to get the rest of the 2x4’s for train room wall construction. It is amasing how many 2x4’s that will fit into a 2002 Ford Explorer, 26!! Plus my electrical wire, boxes, outlets, staples, two GFCI’s and of course ANOTHER 50 lbs of ice melt for our driveway and sidewalk!!!

It is still heavily icing out, so I will have to go pick up the grandkids again at 2:30 and 3:15, so I don’t know how much will get done on the train room today.

Bob : I agree with you on not using 1/2" plywood, I found it to bend too much for satisfaction. It may cost me a little more $$ for 3/4" or maybe 5/8", but when you consider that this will be there as long as you own a train setup, I feel it is well worth the initial investment. I can STAND on 3/4 inch and never worry about it if I had too.
With the new digital cameras Bob, you really don’t have to be much of a camera person to get descent pictures, go for it !!!
I hope all goes well for mom Bob, I will keep her in my prayers.

Time to get back to work, with all the running around today ,I will not get much done.

Uh ohhh!! big crash outside, another big branch just fell from the snow and ice load, I hope we don’t lose power!!![:O][:O]

See you all later tonight, keep the coffee hot, I caught a nasty cold yesterday, it will tasts great on a sore throat.

4566

Rob: I wouldn’t be so quick to put yourself down. How about this. Get a tube of ready mixed Polyfilla. Lay out your trolley tracks in the street, and the guard rails inside those. Install any reed switches or other sensors you may need for detection or reversal units. Then gently sqeeze in the Polyfilla between the guard rails and level it off with a piece of stiff plastic. Then lay down a ribbon of Polyfilla on the outside of the running rails, smoothing it off at rail hieght, or just below if you can manage it. Fini***hese ribbons off on their outer edges with whatever your main street building material is. Or, maybe that material is something like foamcore that’s cut to match the outside of the running rails. (Undercut the top surface to allow space for the ties if your rails are snap or flex track.) Or maybe you have some AMI roadbed in mind for that.
The thing about Polyfilla is that is isn’t as wet and sloppy as plaster, and has the terrific plus of being re-constitutable with water if you make a mistake or change your mind, or want to retrofit sensors, etc… I wouldn’t recomend it for general scenery on cost and strength grounds, but for your Interurban needs, it could fit the bill.

About that Christmas cake. I found it in a tin. As everybody knows, Aunt Jeanie (not my aunt BTW) uses wax paper, which is why the lot you guys tried was dry and stale. Mine, in the tin, was nice and moist, and in fact still tasted of …Peachtree Schnaps![:D] OH![:0] maybe it was someone elses![(-D]

[quote]
QUOTE: Been pulling my hair out over the Dash-8, I didn’t think Atlas’ bulbs were bright enough, so I came up with a bright idea and well, you know how those go. Anyway, I got all

4567

Der John thanks for the polly filla tip sounds like it will fit the bill and I’ve got a box leftover from some repainting I did a year ago(the people we bought the house from were either bad with the game of darts or had more family pics than carters had liver pills)[:O][:O] A good friend of mine is a “Normal” gauger from way back and his thoughts on LL n is that if it’s older than say 10yrs pass on it. The proto “n” gauge stuff is excellant though so if it’s newer than you’ve likely got a good engine. I’m off to try and resuitate an old Juneco caboose a friend started looks like it won’t be savable as a piece of rolling stock[xx(][xx(] but it should make a nifty roadsode shed. TTFN Rob[8D]

4568

***:
When we bought the house that we live in it was probably 70 - 80 years old and had tube and knob wireing. I decided to rewire the whole house. In the train room all of the receipticals have an ivory plate with one ivory rec and one or two brown rec. Several of the fictures are three duplexes with the different colors. The reason for the different colors is - the brown ones turn off with a switch at the door and the ivorys are hot all of the time like a regular rec. This way when I leave the train room and turn off the brown switch in the ivory face plate all of the train stuff is dead. The brown switch is in the same box as the regular light switch. By making the special citcuit brown I don’t have to worry about anyone making a mistake. In the spring and fall I also plug a 20" box fan into the “brown” rec and when I turn on the track power the fan comes on too.

This is just and idea that works very well for me and since you’re rewiring the basement I thought I’d pass the idea out.

If you’d like to give me a call as to how this works e-mail me at:
teffy@pernet.net

Bob

4569

OK I’ve read (skimped) over this past daze written word and am now spent. Wrote two tests on first aid this morning and did well, though I’m getting too old for this stuff.

Bob: You should have the decals sometime this week. A second run was sent out by Gary on Monday so I should have those sometime next week. Thanks for the heads up on the Challenger as I do remember reading something negative on the sound quality recently. As to the prospect of a 2-10-2 or 2-10-4 Oh how I would love a Texas but I don’t think one could handle my curves. I looked at the Pics on the BLI website and I do like the UP 4-8-2. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Der John: Sorry to hear about Georges. I don’t think he had a great Christmas run as he mentioned business went dead all of a sudden. He had alot of people coming in asking about Canadian Tire sets and where to get more track only to be told that the guage was not the same. I suspect a lot of upset campers. Are you ready for the ice storm?

Luct: are you ready for the ice storm? If memory serves me correct RCMPman is from Newport. According to his profile he doesn’t post all that often.

Mitchell: The party sounds good but not the Deep fried coffee. It has to be either strong, but not Timmies, or crisp.

Later Gents
Fergie

4570

Evening all. Not much going on with me.

Luct: You can count on the VB, and it’s parent owner, the Gulf & Midwest. We’re here to serve. Has onyone heard of a railroad by this name. I’m just wondering.

Teffy: You’re right, we shouldn’t complain about the weather, although, I haven’t been running my AC, except the one in the car.

GDRMCo: A deep-fried coffee, that’s a new one for me.

TTFN, Robert

4571

Good evening gents, I did manage to get another wall section constructed for the room inbetween bus runs for the grandkids. We had a low level ice storm here today, the temps have slowly crawled up over 32, so I don’t expect any power outages like areas to the north of us.

BOB[ : thanks for the idea on wiring the room. I know exactly what you are doing, it is very clever, and with my grandkids around at times, I like the concept. I wired my house when I built it back in 1967, so I have no problem with control circuits as you have. The fan is something that I will incorporate because this room is a basement room with no windows, so I want to control heat build up and ventillation.

Der : OK, so your the guy who drank all the Peachtree Schnapps…NICE !!! But that is OK, I caught a cold, I am taking cold pills which clearly states…“stay away from alcohol”…ohhh joy !!! I had a gladd of Merlot Blacberry wine last night and it knocked me out because of the medication…must be careful.

[?] What radius do I need to run a RIV. 26662 Artic.? I am starting to layout plans, and I don’t want to make a mistake on curves for a couple of large locos that I have.

I hear the dinner bell, time to hit the chow hall, see ya later gents,

4572

yeH, s’yug, was ew erew ta eht mottob fo egap eno, os I dias fles, ylper dna tup su no pot niaga. oS, I did.

Oh, read each word bewards.

treboR

4573

Evening all,

I came home early from work. Someone showed up rearing some cheap perfum and wound up loosing my voice, not good when you have to talk to customers…

GDRMCo - Train posters? Do bring them along please. [8D][:)]

Tim - Is the world ready for CA smoothies? [swg] You can line them up on the bar.

Fergie - Ice Storm? By morning it should be aq wash out, unless the system stalls. RCMPman I think that’s the one I was thinking of. Have not seen him in a few weeks. I don’t remember his location.

Robert - Thanks a bunch for the use of your RR. Be sure to bill Elliot. [}:)][}:)][}:)][;)][:-,][:-,]

Ed - Thank you for visiting Gloetown website and your word of encouragement. Greatly appreciated.

Must go for now

Happy MRRing

4574

Now I think I have the FINAL version of my CB&Q/Rock Island: The two railroads in the '50s, with me modeling them as the two dominating roads in the Midwest and West, owning the Chicago & Alton, Rio Grande, and Western Pacific.[8D]

Christopher

4575

Robert - ??? I think you have your glasses on backward!!![(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D][(-D]

4576

Luct: sure anytime. And Elliot the bill is in the mail.[:D]

Robert

4577

Hey, all!

I’ve been out of circulation for a while. Just dropped out, really, no other real reason.

Since my last check-in I’ve re-enrolled in college (majoring in Information Security aka counter-hacking [oX)] ) and install WinXP on my computer. I’m still stuck working at the Post Office for $10 an hour (no bennies; temporary slave labor) and now on 3rd shift [V]

From what I’ve learned so far, don’t use IE in its default options. If you must use it, disable auto-install of software and for God’s sake, turn off ActiveX. Get a good virus scanner and update the definitions at least once a week.

On the plus side, I finally spent $20 at the WISE Division meet in December and bought some secondhand turnouts. I still don’t have time to install them just now. Between college, work, and family, I have precious little time to myself, much less for sleep.

4578

Hey all. I am enjoying reading the thread and decided to jump in as there seems to be a shortage of contribution from the great white western north. Here in Saskatchewan we are dealing with wind chill factors that make it feel like - 40 Celcius. In case you are not familiar with that temperature scale you don’t need to make a conversion because at that point both Celcius and Fahrenheit converge. It’s just plenty cold!! I tis great weather for staying in the train room and modelling summer.

4579

Well, if it works to add dishwashing liquid (which is kind of like fabric softener) to make water wetter with adding scenery, it stands to rights that the fabric softener would help with taking off the wallpaper, right?[:)]

Jim in Cape Girardeau

4580

Evening, Coffee Clubbers!

Please pass the OJ, and I’ll take a cup of the mocha after that.

Teffy, I think what I’m gonna have to do is clear all the boxes out to the walls and use the floor and the dining room table (lay out all the goodies and figure which details, etc. to use with which building). Looking at the pricetags on the stuff, part of me is wondering where I got all the money - but the other part of me is grateful that I set it back (until now)!

Hey, jay_c - I don’t use MIE (M.Internet Exploder) at all (okay maybe two times a year when my other browsers won’t render a site properly). You might check out FireFox for an alternative browser - it’s based on some of the Netscape code but is open source, so more people are working on bullet-proofing it as we speak. It’s also a cross-platform browser. Our MIS guys/alpha geeks at work like it pretty well. But hey, I’m a Macintosh user, so I don’t get viruses/virusii anyway (for the past 8 years or so).[;)] (I do have anti-virus software, though!)

Luc, my condolences to your wife - I’ve heard kidney stones are much worse than giving birth! Will pray for her doctor to get them out quickly (some use ultrasound to break them down to pass more easily).

Jim, will keep your trip in my prayers (whatever is going on). I will admit that this “inquiring mind wants to know”. But I’ll survive

Karl, hope your tour is very good if you’re heading out there. They sure need a lot of help and stuff transported in there (besides our prayers).

Noah - is Keenville where that orchard of peaches is?[;)] (Peachy Keen small pun there)

Hey ***, was that coffee strong enough after it boiled down? Me, I like mine a bit weaker than a lot of people. If you let it go a bit longer, it could make a nice pigment for coloring some rock castings, maybe.[}:)]

Robert - !etuC

Finally got (in a temporary fashion for now) my DSL up and running. So now I won’t get bounced