Coffee Shop Part VIII


Steve sorry to hear about the abcess, looks like the endodontist didn't prescribe the right antibiotic(s) for your root canal :eek:

Guys, I actually got more done today than I normally do when I'm at the office! People tend not to disturb me when they know I'm off-site.
 
So I'm driving down the road, I 69 out of Indianapolis, and I'm fighting all this rush hour traffic. It's cool, I expect it at 10 after 5 in the afternoon, right? So anyways, I'm cruising along, and up in the next lane is something you just don't see everyday. There's a train on the hiway! Actually, to be more precise, a train on a truck on the hiway. (No, this isn't going to turn into some kind of Dr. Suess thing here.)

Now I had taken my camera to work today because I knew of this old caboose that I wanted to get a pic of on my way home. OK, it's not on the way really, but thats all academic, right?

Seizing the moment, I reach over and grab the camera and, while trying desperately not to drive off the road and become some sort of weird statistic, squeeze off a few pics.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype Train Photos/11-28-070.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype Train Photos/11-28-071.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype Train Photos/11-28-072.jpg

Oh yeah, and I did make it to the caboose, though the sun was quickly fading.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype Train Photos/11-28-073.jpg
 
Evening all, been a busy day getting the honey-do list done. Beautiful weather her in Dixie with a high of 70 degrees.

Phillip, good catch, it's not every day that you have a locomotive for a traveling companion. Anyone have any idea what make and model this thins is? It almost looks like a modernized GE 70 tonner with an EMD shaped roof. It was apparently going to Consumers Energy in Michigan, I presume to switch one of their coal fired plants. The handrails and grabs appear to be much thicker than normal too. I wonder why the end handrails were either removed or never put on? It's also unusual for a locomotive to be trucked - they are usually delivered dead in transit on another rail road. I couldn't tell if this one had trucks or not but it appears so based on the height of the superstructure above the lowboy. There must be a a story behind this one. :)

Got to run and do more stuff. Hello to everyone I missed.
 
It didn't have trucks on it, nor were they elsewhere on the semi. In this pic you can see right under the loco: http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Prototype Train Photos/11-28-071.jpg

I didn't see another semi obviously traveling with it, so I don't know where they are. Maybe it's going to be a retrofit on an older chassis thats already on site at the destination? It definately doesn't have any trucks on it now.

I wondered if the paint scheme signified anything. It's painted in the same colors as the recent "green" demo loco was.
 
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I'd say it was one of those "Green hybrid locos" small diesel generator and large battery bank for power. we get lots of locos here on semi trucks as well, because of our main road and highway road bridges being a minimum of 16ft they can go complete with wheels still attached, whats the national standard in the USA for semi truck height ??

Just been back to dentist, hes put a drain into the jaw to allow the gunk to come out, apparently the infection is in the bone, now i got super dooper tablets as well, high as a kite.
 
11-29-2007

Good Morning from Tipton IN ! :D

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:eek:

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Good morning.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 11/29/2007

Wind Chill: 52°F
Humidity: 93%
Dew Point: 50°F

So Far Today
High: 52°F
Low: 50°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 0mph NNE

Today High: 65 Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 60s. Northeast winds around 10 mph.

Tonight Low: 42 Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 40s. Light and variable winds.
 
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Good Morning ! Steve , Bill & Jeffrey , Another dreary day here on the Niagara Frontier with rain and snow expected. Steve sorry to hear about the infection. Those are really painful hope it clears up fast. Phillip neat pictures and your right about not seeing that on the highway everyday . Well gotta get to the post office so you all have a nice day !!!
 
Morning everyone, things are slowing down around here for me a little. Finished typing my final paper for my strategic planning course, just have the test to take. Decided to run a couple engines around my layout last night, talk about frustrating. My cab forward could go around the layout with no problems but my 4-8-4 would jump off every so often. I think the cold has affected my tracks, looks like I might get a space heater to turn on about 30 min before I go out to the garage to help with that. Anyone else ever notice these kind of things happening?? OK enough ranting about the track, huge train show happening this weekend in Oklahoma City, just 45 min away from me. Can't wait to go. Hope everyone has a great day.
Nick
 
Morning, everyone, up early and running more errands today. Starting out to be another nice day in Dixie with a high somewhere around 70 again. Paul, I remember those endless strings of gray and dreary days in Cleveland. There were times I think I got suicidal living there. :)

Steve, I hope they got all the gunk out this time. Don't try any decaling or painting today. Those happy pills don't improve your modeling skills. :)

Ken, one of the nice things about being a consultant is that I could work at home a lot. I got at least twice as much work done as I did at the office, even including surfing MR websites. There's nothing worse than being deep into something and have a co-worker stop by for a "chat".

Phillip, I checked the Consumers Energy web site and couldn't find anything about this new locomotive. The little logo along the side says "Proud To Wear The Colors", whatever that means. I suspect it is some kind of hybrid due to the lack of vents on the side. Maybe it was just the shell being trucked to wherever they install the frame and mechanicals. Whoever makes the body does nice work. It's good combination to an EMD type cab and GE 70 tonner body. Looks very clean and modern.

Nick, yes, I've had just those kinds of operating sessions, especially when the trains haven't run for a few days. It may be temperature variations if your garage gets cold but mine is in the basement and the temperature doesn't vary more than about 10 degrees in a day and it still happens. The "experts" will tell you that you're just a crappy layout builder because your trains should run flawlessly every time. I'd love to be a fly on the wall when some of these guys run. You can have small piece of ballast that rolls to just right place in a turnout to cause a derailment and it happened because a little piece of glue fractured at just the right place. One of the things I have learned is to run a vacuum around the tracks before I run if it's been a few days and I'm always surprised at the amount of junk on the roadbed that wasn't there the last time I operated. At the scales we operate in, it doesn't take much for something to move a little and then we have problems.

Steve, there are no national (enforced) standards for bridges here, even on our interstate highways, which would be the same as your motorways. In theory, the minimum clearance should 15' 9" but the interstate system started being built in 1956 and wasn't competed across the country until about five years ago. Even though the federal government provided much of the funding, each state built their own portion and there's never two states that can agree on anything here. A 14' clearance is common and many of the bridges have prominent warning signs for substandard clearances. It takes careful planning to transport a high load over here.

OK, off to run more errands. I'm hoping to complete my cotton field sometime before the weekend is out. I'm using the WS dark green foliage, which is that net kind of stuff. I stretch it out and then stiffen it up with hair spray. Next, I use white acrylic paint and a small brush to paint little cotton balls in rows so it looks like cotton plants in bloom. It's tedious to say the least but you can't order cotton fields from Walthers and every Alabama town has to have a cotton field. :)
 
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Mornin'!

Mighty nippy out there this morning!

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Today: mostly sunny & much colder, diminishing winds - high: 38
Tonight: mostly clear and cold - low: 25

Right now it's a balmy 27 degrees out there. Time to break out the swim trunks, huh?

Well after running all over the place doing errands all evening last night, I awake this morning to do it all over again! Man, this wife being laid up thing is tough! I'm doing all of my errands and hers too. I didn't get done until 11pm last night, and it looks like it'll be 10-11pm tonight before I'm done. I'm a busy boy these days! Got a ton of schoolwork to do this weekend too. Maybe next week will calm down, huh?

So whats up with you?

Steve B., Most trucks I've seen are 13'6" high max.
 
Good morning folks

It was 38 F when I left the house this morning. High today will be 54 F. Ominous clouds are gathering on the horizon, however. Saturday night when could have white stuff falling from the sky. By Sunday, however it is supposed to turn to rain. The biggest problem is this prediction will set off a full scale bread and milk panic by tomorrow night. By Saturday morning there won’t be a loaf of bread, gallon of milk, or a roll of toilet paper to be found in the Philadelphia metro area. Guess who has to do their regular grocery shopping this weekend? I would rather take on the crowds at the mall on Black Friday.

I didn’t make it here or to work yesterday. This cold hit me hard Tuesday when I got home from work. I did not make to the public meeting I was supposed to attend. There was just no way I could drive an hour and half one way. Not only was I now and out yesterday; my daughter and father-in-law were also home and in bed. My son missed school on Monday but has gone the rest of the week. I am hoping to make it through the day here at work. I did make to our Cub Scout Pack Meeting last night and everything went well. We gave out a horde of patches and awards. Many of the kids were surprised at what they got and it was great to see their excitement.

No modeling the last few days.

I hope everybody has a good day.
 
Afternoon all!

Steve, hope that jaw infection clears up fast for you. I've had a couple of abscessed teeth and they aren't much fun.......

Today is one of those "if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute" days. I just walked in the house from the rehearsal at school and it was sprinkling out. Right now the sun is shining. No wait, now it's gone..... Nope sunny again (with very dark clouds in the background).

First concert of the "Holiday" season will be tonight.
 
rhoward said:
Afternoon all!

Steve, hope that jaw infection clears up fast for you. I've had a couple of abscessed teeth and they aren't much fun.......

Today is one of those "if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute" days. I just walked in the house from the rehearsal at school and it was sprinkling out. Right now the sun is shining. No wait, now it's gone..... Nope sunny again (with very dark clouds in the background).

First concert of the "Holiday" season will be tonight.
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Same with us here on the other side of Lake Ontario from you...winter definitely has plans for us but can't decide how hard to slam us all at once. :)

Good news is I gotta hit Toronto tomorrow on business so on the way home I'm-a-gonna hit one of the better train stores in Ontario - should be fun as the last time I went there I didn't have a clue what to look for. Now I do...which could be dangerous...

Mark
 
Evening gents, decided to do some card modeling, started the Scalescenes retaining wall, it's going to be a long one, about 10ft i recon, it goes up in around 7" sections between butresess,,, The meds are STRONG, legs like rubber now so gave up.

Just updated the Free magazine thread with news about the new international version which is also a free download at

have a look atn sign up, the more the merrior
 
Ray, I thought MD and MA were the only states with schizophrenic weather - another myth busted! :D

Mark - I hope you've got a high max limit on your credit card(s), sounds like you're gonna need it! :eek:

Steve, hope you can get some modeling done - but E-Z does it, don't compromise your body's ability to recover from that mess!
 
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