Duke -
Sorry to hear that about your friend [:O] — I’ll keep you and him in my prayers. I wish I could answer the ‘WHY’ question but that’s one of my biggest ‘problem areas’ too…[:(]
Evening Chloe, a cup to go tonight, since I’m on call.
*** (grayfox1119):
Whew - your temp was hotter today than ours in the Midwest! But I thought Rh had something to do with blood…[;)] Gave you a good excuse to go to HD (not that you need one![:O]), and to go get a good lunch. Yeah, ***, if you’ve been stung multiple times and haven’t developed any allergy to them by now, I doubt it’s likely to happen anytime soon.
Nick, a laugh a minute, huh?[}:)][;)] Maybe for some, but not me!
Duke, tough news for anyone to get, but especially if he’s used to being active. Will keep him in my prayers. Does he have much family in the area? It can make a difference when you have supportive people - riding buddies, family, etc. Hang in there and be there for your friend.
ftwNSengineer, I guess the cars I’ve had didn’t (by comparison) use so much oil after all. [:O] Sorry to hear about your grandmother’s health. We’ll be keeping her in our prayers. Let us know how things go with her.
We’re getting some storms coming through tonight - I can hear thunder, probably across the Mississippi in Illinois, from the sound of it. Whether I should or not, I’ve usually kept on the computer (but I have underground DSL cable and phone lines, so figure any lightning will ground before it gets in). Supposed to get some rain out of it. The farmers probably need it.
[oops], the pager went off, so time to go. May be back later (or may not).
Blessings,
Jim in Cape Girardeau
ok first post in a while here, hard to keep up (even did a 50 page marathon to keep up), hope there’s plenty of Pepsi in stock… first point, welcome, happy birthday, RIP, and get well to anyone who needs in
Next, layouts are not progressing at all. Don’t have the $$$ to expand the current layout, work on the basement that needs to be completed before i can make the new one i have planned is not going to be done for a long while.
TurboTim… On Monday you mentioned wrestling… that wouldn’t happened to be pro wrestling would it?
UK Matt… know how you feel about a class frequently being cancelled. I had a teacher who was out twice as many times as the students were allowed, and spent more time complaining that we had no idea what we were doing than actually teaching. What was worse was that it was a class that was rather important to what i am going to school for.
As for bees, my grandfather was allergic to them. He was a police officer assigned to an area that was a heavily wooded park, and was stung while on duty, which is how he found out he was allergic. When my grandmother was informed that he was in the hospital, she was just told that he was injured on duty, nothing more. I’m sure that you can imagine what was going through her mind.
Speaking of military museums, any one been to the Abeerdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland? Last time i was there (this was several years ago), iirc, they had a WWII railgun there
Seems to be about all for now… Live long and prosper.
Just stopped in before hitting the sack when I read about Duke’s friend and NS’s grandmother…they will certainly be in my prayers guys.
For some of these tragedies we may have the answers, for others we do not. I lost four uncles ( all under 70) and one cousin (44) due to lung cancer. They all smoked all their lives, so here we know the answers to “why”. But for others we can only hazard a guess. I had Prostate cancer at 63, and no family history of this in the men on either side of the family…so “why” me? The answer is more than likely…modern man’s high fat diet, I learned too late to prevent it, fat kills!! Other cancers, like bladder cancer, which just took my aunt, is probably due to both genetics and the water we drink. Most cities and towns have heavily chlorinated water supplies, and chlorine is a carcinogen. Why some people can tolerate the small quantities while others cannot is due to genetics and immune strength. I have a water distillation system on my artesian well water.
The answers to “why” all lie with the sun, water we drink, food we eat, and air we breathe.
Duke and NS, God grieves for His children who are suffering…
Duke- I am usally a very private person. When I found out about my wife and posted on this forum, the out-pouring of prayers and best wishes was and still is astounding. We are all subject to hurt be it our own or a loved one or a friend. Here in our Coffee Club we, for the most part, are family. Lean on us and we will support you. The guys and gals here sure as heck helped me and I know they/we are in your corner. And no, we have all at one time or another have asked-WHY?
Regards,
Flip
Good Evening Friends;
I wi***hat I had an answere for you Duke. I’ve asked that many times when my wife has been seriously ill. I don’t think that there is supposed to be an answere. One just has to have faith and carry on. I’ll keep your friend in my prayers and everyone else too.
It’s good to know that there is always a place where you can come when you are hurting and find friends to help you through. Anytime you need us were here for you or anyone else.
As Tiny Tim said " God bless us, everyone."
Paul
Good evening everyone: Kris’ flight came in early, but fortunately I was there already[:D] They had a marvelous time, but couldn’t find any food stores, until they discovered what “Public” meant! Who knew?
Turns out they were staying closer to Saratoga than Tampa. Anyway Kris now has another sea to add to her list of “swum-ins”. Brought me back a T shirt from Captiva Island with the logo Piracy – hostile takeover without the paperwork(©2003 Jeff Pert) [oX)]
Duke, NS, nick, Ken: On the WHY?, I agree with Duke that we probably won’t know in this lifetime. *** has given some pointers on life-style choices, and our responsibilities for ourselves and one-another. There’s much that can be said about that. It’s a valid approach. Also, you can look around and see what a huge response of good comes out of the most horrendous circumstances. Please don’t hear me say that’s why they happen. Just that so very often good is produced in the tragedy. I remember as a teen there was a girl in our youth group whose sister had Downs syndrome. That person was like a focus of love and laughter in the middle of a situation that couldn’t be fixed. I think some of our difficulty with these matters is that we are so darned used to fixing everything. The pain is made worse somehow by our affront at not being able to fix it. [soapbox][2c]
Duke and NS, I’ll add my prayers to the others.
Long day tomorrow, must get to bed. Goodnight all, and God Bless
Good Evening all,
Couldn’t sleep just yet - one of those early humid nights that just doesn’t allow it. Felt the pressure starting to turn so hopefully we’ll get rain and it’s still early enough in the season to clear things up.
Duke and NS and Ken,Nick,John as to why i think Paul Simon summed it up well in one of his songs with the line “The informations’ unavailable to the mortal man.” For those in need, you are in our prayers - there’s just so much of it these days it’s easy to get down but you need to be strong for the others. regards, J.R.
Wailing Nick, between the Who, Don Van Vliet, and Rick references I would guess you are/were a musician? Safe as Milk indeed. You are right the Ball gunners had a short expectancy in the air, but it worked out alright for my dad. Turns out when he got shot down over the Phillipines it took him so long to crank up his turret, put his chute on (no room in the ball for a chute) and bail out that he didn’t get shot in his chute like the rest of his crew. Some irony there and goes back to the why above. However, to be flip about it, worked for me. J.R.
Duke and NS–my prayers for your friend and your grandmother, respectively. I do know that bladder cancer is among the most curable of cancers, my cousin had half his bladder removed about 20 years ago and there were no after effects, let’s all hope and pray that this is the case, also. But I hope both of you know that we’re all here for you and praying for the best.
Had to fix a track problem today–my SP cabeese kept derailing in one spot and I couldn’t figure out why. And it was only my SP cabeese. One Walthers, one older Silver Streak and one American Models. Seems I had an insulated gap in the rails that didn’t bother any of my rolling stock except these three cabeese–sheesh! Ended up having to replace the entire section of track. The things I do for cabeese! And of course, the section of track was on the second level, which required some stepladder work and cursing–suuuuuurrrrre I plan ahead, LOL! Thank God it wasn’t ballsted or scenicked yet, or I’d be one REALLY unhappy camper. Still don’t trust that joint, those Atlas insulated track-joiners are not the sturdiest things in the world. Think I’ll put a couple of short inside guard rails across the joint and see if that helps. But so far, no derailments. But my, those Espee C-30 cabeese are TESTY little devils, aren’t they? Especially the Walthers. Anyone else have trouble with Walther’s cabeese? I had to rout out the inside of the steps on my two Rio Grande Walthers, the trucks hardly turned. Don’t these guys TEST these things anymore? (grumble, grumble!). Oh, well. If everything ran perfectly, I suppose I’d be bored stiff. Anyway, Spooky’s all bent out of shape, she went and shredded furnace filters like there was no tomorrow, and I spent the day laying track, instead. One unhappy little Maine Coon camper, tonight. She just sat on the kitchen table and muttered.
Speaking of, she just whacked my ankle, so it’s feeding time at the zoo. I’ll talk to you later.
Cat/Bridge Tom
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Morning all - coffees on and fresh.
Tomcat,
Yeah, same problem with my Walthers caboose - the cheap one right? For a while it would only run hooked up backwards (they do have a fore and aft no?) I took it apart and reweighted it slightly over NMRA spec and that helped, but I think the main thing was running it in. At first it would derail at the same spots ( I had two) but one was a slight elevation error that I filed down - it would launch the wheels right over the rail. The other spot defied solution until i ran the car for an hour or so and then it just went away. I don’t think anything was fouling it (my layout presently models the surface of the moon - not a tree on it yet) and this was before my cat took to ambushing the trains so it couldn’t have been fear of flying. [%-)]Please let me know what you find. regards, J.R.
After all is said and done, less is done than said
Good Mornin’ Everybody,
BJ and ftwNSengineer, I’m terribly sorry to hear your news. Please know that you will be in our thoughts and prayers. As Flip said, we’ve become a family here in the coffee shop, and that’s one of the best things about family. As to why, sometimes we can figure it out and understand, and sometimes we’re just not given to know in this life.
Louise took the day off yesterday so we went nursery hopping in the morning and then played in the dirt the rest of the day. We picked up some more ferns for the area around the pond and patio and found another Red Dragon japanese maple that we couldn’t resist. It’s a bit larger than the other one and shaped a bit differently so the two will complement each other very well in the asian garden.
The only railroading in the last day or so was to finish up decaling the lt. mountain and get the setting solution washed off. This morning I’ll get the clear finish sprayed. I’m going to start with a coat of crystal coat to trap the decal film between gloss coats and then use Floquil flat for the final coat. Because this loco was freshly painted in the spring of 1948, I want a bit of shine to the finish. Floquil flat gives a nice eggshell finish rather than being a true flat.
Doctororg and Mikeygaw, welcome back to both of you. It’s good to see you both back in the coffee shop.
Brclem, good luck on the job hunt. I hope the next interview goes well. Please let us know how it turns out.
Siberianmo, the Polar Express layout turned out super, as everybody else has already mentioned. It’s really easy to get way behind on posting here in the coffee shop.
Noah, that brush set up will work fine for a start, as will beginning with simple projects to get familiar with the process. Have fun with it.
Nickinwestwales, that is excellent on the Rick! I’ll bet the first session really did put a smile on your face. It’s supposed to be loud and shake the walls, isn’t it? I agree about
Good Morning All:
Duke:
I’ll keep your friend in my prayers.
SW:
I’ll pray for your mother too.
***:
I’ve been in the tour business for better then 25 years and have found out that MOST people want to tell you about their part of the country. Most are very nice even NEW YORKERS. Quebec is the exception - it’s the only province or state that I’ve found unfriendly. It’s the only place that I ‘ve had someone driving a Mercedes argue with a 52,000# motorcoach about who had right on way. Notice I said motorcoach, when I spend $485,000 it’s not a bus. I don’t plan tours to Quebec because the people are so rude. South of the St. Lawrence and on out to Gaspe’ the people are extremely friendly. We just don’t go into that part of Canada unless absolutely neccessary.
Flip:
If we don’t get an update on Debbie I’m going to call her again.
Ken:
I read your post on MSRP. My feeling is I should pay the asking price as I’ve used his AC, shelf space, time and expertise. He also let me look at it before I bought it. I was looking for the “Day and Night Water Heater Company” from Alpine models. I even offered the owner extra to make one for me but, he said he couldn’t run just one. I finally found the kit PLUS the interior in a small “out of the way” hobby shop in Minn. I would have paid twice what he was asking and still have been happy. If it’s worth it to me, who’s business is it anyway. The people who go down to the hobby shop, look at the item and then mail order it are going to do the LHS in. They didn’t pay the shop keeper for his time or effort.
I bought something from “Hobby Circle” and he told me to return it - three years later and I’m still waiting for my $44.50. If he was local I could go get my money but who’s going to drive from Texas to Brooklyn? He was the only “shop” that had (supposedly) this item as it had been OOP for 4 or 5 years.
Well let me get off this soapbox and get rea
Morning all … Just stopped by (on the way to “work” over at “Our Place” on the Classic Trains forum) and thought I’d check out what’s “up” …
First off: I too am a very private person when it comes to those issues in life where ‘answers’ just cannot seem to fit the situation. The loss of a loved one, a friend, a neighbor, or just someone you know, is just not that easy to accept for many of us. Let me just say this - I lost my oldest son in an auto accident a little over 4 years ago … the “whys” just continue on and on … and the loss will always remain. My attitude? Enjoy those you have and be thankful for the chance of having known, and perhaps loved, those who have departed … So, I’ll add my postive thoughts for all who are experiencing these thoughts of impending loss…
Now to the responses - let me simply offer a huge THANX! TO ALL who have commented so favorably on my Polar Express shelf system … much appreciated![tup][;)] If I’ve missed anyone who asked a question - I apologize. PLEASE ask again … these pages have a way of getting way ahead of me, since I’m really not a “regular” 'round these parts anymore …
Cat/Bridge Tom Thanx for the run down on your rock formations … yes, we do learn from one another and ain’t it great?![tup][;)] Still chuckling over that German Shepherd reference - a classic. Kudoos to your Nun friend![;)]
GMTRacing If those A.C. Gilbert American Flyer trains become reality - I should know by mid-may - that retractable ceiling mounted layout will too![tup][;)]
TEFFY Regarding my trip “home” to the Halifax, Nova Scotia area … unless the ground opens up and swallows me, I cannot see why a rendezvous won’t take place … Sounds to me as if you had a great time up there - and it is understandable indeed. Hobby shops? Well, I’ll take the Alexander Keith’s Brewery tour first! … Sorry![;)]
BMRR - Stan Thanx! By the way,
Good morning Chloe, I’ll have a Wild Cherry Pepsi and a BBQ pork platter…
Not much different to report, layout-wise. I was hoping that I had this railimages.com thing figured out, but now when I try to upload images to my online album there is no obvious way to get there![banghead] (YES I logged-in and YES I checked the ‘how-to’ and FAQ sections…nothing) So I had to upload the image to my bloated ironbelt web server instead.
The work I’ve been doing is not anywhere near as pretty as Siberian Mo’s Polar Express, but I’ll go ahead and post a photo anyway:
This view shows just a quarter of the number of pigtail leads I’ve been soldering onto my yard tracks for the past 2 weeks – for a single block [albeit the largest one]. The topside work is done, now I am ready to connect all these to 12-guage buss wires. I don’t look forward to doing all that soldering above head-level. I might try to fashion a special chair to avoid straining my knees and ankles while crouching underneath for undoubtedly long periods.
Adam –
I’m glad you haven’t abandoned the Higher Order Scale yet! But I do understand the space issue that you’re facing, and how N effectively quadruples the real estate.
Duke,
Looks like *** pretty well covered the entire list of root causes for cancer. Sometimes I’ve seen the other extreme – a former neighbor of mine who smoked like a chimney and lived to the age of 84 – and find myself resenting the seeming ‘unfairness’ of it all when comparing this to your 1yr-old daughter’s cancer battle. I suppose it’s like my favorite college psychology professor once taught: The best way to keep our sanity is to accept that “life is not always fair.” Sounds good in theory, but gosh it’s hard when you find yourself in the wrong ‘slice’ of the statistical pie chart! der John also brought up an interesting point about not always being ‘in control.’ Anyh
Morning all, I’ll have my usual, and better whip up a Tuna Blintz for Spooky, she’s on a tear, today. I either make some more of Aggro’s fir trees, or she’s going to shred more than just furnace filter material!
JR: Actually, the Walther’s cabeese are the un-cheap (at least to me) wood prototypes they’ve been releasing the past year (Rio Grande, SP C-30), but after reading your thread, I picked one up out of curiosity, and the little devils seem to be weighted toward the off-set cupola end, instead of balanced in the middle. Thanks for the hint, I think I’ll take one of the little dears apart and see if I can adjust the weight. The old Silver Streak I have is just happier than a clam now that I’ve fixed that gap in the rails. Only other thing I can think of is that one of the Walther’s wheelsets might be out of gauge–not to
[soapbox] too much, but I’ve never had the best of luck with Walther’s wheelsets–at least on their freight equipment.
Ken: I’m so happy to see all those wires, now I feel better about the underside of MY layout, LOL! Had a friend over not too long ago, he peeked under the layout and said, “My God, it looks like a DIGESTIVE tract under there!” Ain’t it the truth, though? Actually, I hope Aggro spots my AC-6 cab-forward–maybe he’ll give me some hints on weathering it. It’s a Sunset from about 10 years ago and just a honey of a runner–as is every Sunset brass import I’ve ever had.
Siberianmo: Took another look at the ‘diggings’ portion of the layout, decided that the ceiling tile will work perfectly for the hydraulic mining scars. We’ve got quite a few ‘diggings’ up in the foothills from where I live, and even though they destroyed the landscape, they have a sort of eerie beauty to them. Hydraulic mining was rampant in the Gold Rush area of California until about the 1890’s, when the state legisature outlawed it, but you can always tell when you come across one–it looks like someone took Bryce Canyon from Utah and transplanted
Hi all
Well, gave the little loco a test run last night (got a few pieces of track out and tested it) - brilliant little thing. Headlights are directional (with the correct lamp codes) and come on at full power as it moves off. Has an MTS (LGB’s DCC variant) decoder fitted which is auto-sensing, it works on both DC and MTS/DCC control. With any luck the rest of the lighting parts I have on order will arrive tomorrow, and I’ll be able to kit out my passenger stock with full interior lighting as well as extra pickups on one car that can be connected to the loco and other cars. I’ve already had to swap the polarity over on my factory-built mail van with tail lights, as when I hooked that up to a loco electrically (via the lighting kit in a passenger car) there was a short - have just flipped the wheelsets round to change the pickups over and all works now.
Duke, I’ve been thinking about building in the garden for ages now - the problem is gradients. We have a fairly flat front garden but it’s rather exposed (to weather and possible theft), while the back garden is on a pretty fierce slope - I think the locos would handle the climb but stopping them from running away downhill might be tricky. I would consider the LGB rack railway system but for the fact that there’s only two locos available and they’re expensive ones, plus you need the plastic rack to clip between the rails. Right now it’s all confined to running on temporary track on the patio - set up for the day. The plus point with this is that I can try out various track layouts for future reference - if/when I build a permanent setup I’ll know what works.
Regarding “Why” - I don’t think anyone can answer this one. I was reading Lance Armstrong’s autobiography recently (in which he talks about fighting off cancer and coming back to competitive cycling) and was struck by how arbitrary and uncertain it all is - his cancer was supposedly too far gone to be cured but he survived and will compete in his 7th Tour de France this
Hello everyone, The drinks are on me, fancy a pint Matt and Nick
MATT, have a look at this link to the Chicago Area Garden Railroad Society my friends a member, http://cagrs.com/CAGRSOL/CAGRS.htm
TOM’O’CATS, i have noticed that there seams to be a tendancy to restrict truck movement to a minimum with these new models, i have taken a sharp knife to a few steps and frame parts my self to help with the tight turns on my track.
DUKE, hope your friends going to be OK, it’s a bugger getting cancer, we have three friends under 40 who are recovering from it right now. We had a shock yesterday when my aunt told us what the hospital has done, she’s got a sister with liver cancer and the hospital wrote to her Doctors saying she had died in intensive care, this came as a BIG shock as she is alive and well in a general ward at the same hospital, somebody has dropped a huge clanger in admin, neadless to say the family are going wild over this and are taking legal advice.
Afternoon all and Zoe before you leave and Chloe comes on could I have one of those old fashioned rootbeer floats that JimCG has had from time to time.
First of all I would like to thank EVERYONE for all the kind thoughts ,best wishes,and prayers,and I hope that you don’t mind if I don’t go with names because I know I would leave someone out and I sure don’t want to do that. I am normally a very private person myself but there are times when we do have to come out in the open and yesterday was one of those for me. As to the “why” yes I do understand but it is at times the only question you ask and there has only been a couple times that I have asked it in this manner. The biggest reason I started saying anything in the Coffee Shop was because of how you treated each other and it was also about the time that some of the wives were having some problems which by the way there hasn’t been an update in a while. YOU are a GREAT group of PEOPLE in here and please don’t ever change. FtwNs and any others be sure that my thoughts and best wishes are with all of you. [angel][angel][angel]
GaTom-It seems to me that they tried to put a recoiless canon in the C-47 at one time but the aircraft couldn’t take it when it was fired.
Matt
The co-worker of my friend has a few slopes in his yard and I forget how much dirt he said he moved to get the grade he wanted. I think a garden railroad would be neat but I know my wife would tell me I would have to give up some of my other toys (as she puts it)to do it and I don’t think I am ready for that yet.
I am suppose to help a couple friends with their bikes this Sat but the weatherman (guesser)says it is going to rain,snow,get cold,and just plain be nasty so I might be able to get back to the basement and do some more benchwork instead.
Again thank you EVERYONE for being who you are and I would like to think that I
Ken truth is, I’ve only painted one of the three WSOR engines I own, and the transfer caboose was done with a spray can and decals. That’s how I’ve managed so far. But, the decals I thought I could use for the WSOR grey stripe turned out to be too short by about half a foot, and the wrong color when it’s put on a engine, so I decided painting me own was the only way to go. I hope to start drilling detail parts on my next engine this weekend. Don’t worry, I’ll take plenty of pictures of the process!
By the way, good news, the ARK may be expanding it’s engine fleet soon! I think I got my parents convinced to buy me two more WSOR SD40-2’s from the WSOR company store for my Birthday in June! With it comes a free covered hopper too! So I’m really excited, I can’t wait!
Well, never did get to take those photos I promised, but there’s always tomorrow! I think I’ll get going now to try and try to get that done for ya’ll. See ya!
Noah