Yup! It finally started snowing here about 30 minutes ago. Kids in Dallas say it started there about two and a half hours ago. Local Weather Underground station a mile away reports .01" so far...not much yet.
Hi gang, it's 46*F and sunny with a slight NW breeze here in central MD. While Willie was getting snow, MOH and I took a leisurely stroll thru the neighborhood since it was so pleasant - a bit of weather-related role-reversal, eh?
Since I'm trying to control my A1C level (pre-diabetic), I think I'll pass on Hughie's boneless doughnuts...
Guy - Hope your Tuesday court appearance results in a favorable verdict.
Lee, bummer about your Covid affliction - hope you'll make a complete recovery soon!
Tom-O - In spite of the temporary inconvenience and isolation, I think you're definitely doing the right thing as far as your Covid situation. BTW -did you get a chance to try out that Krylon "Khaki" paint on a test piece yet?
* * *
I was feeling somewhat depressed yesterday, so I thought maybe I'd try some "shopping therapy" and acquire something to fill in one of the remaining holes in my loco roster. My aim is to get at least one example of every type of loco I typically saw during my days of chasing trains on the B&O as a teenager, and one type that kept appearing was the F7 Phase-III with a winterization hatch. Since they were the "youngest" of the B&O's F-units, they were among the last to be retired.
A spotting feature on these cab units was the twin rows of vertical-slit louvers along the side. Most F7 models available nowadays are the Phase I or Phase II with the horizontal slit louvers, and I've made several futile attempts to modify those. The problem is that while the horizontal slits protrude from the surface and need to be shaved-off, the vertical slits are concave, i.e., sunk-in. I'm sure there are people who have the skill to replicate those from scratch, but I'm NOT one of them! I've made occasional visits to eBay to find another Stewart C&O Phase-III unit like the one I already have, but they've become rare as hen's teeth.
Then I had a light-bulb moment: There are probably plenty of F9 models available, which look identical except for the additional louver in front of the forward porthole. That can easily be filled in with Squadron Putty and sanded smooth, reverting the shell back to a Phase III F7. So I checked eBay, and - not only were there lots of F9A models, there was actually an undecorated Stewart model available at a fraction of cost of the Intermountain, Bowser, and Genesis ones. All my existing F-units are Stewarts, so this will fit in perfectly!
View attachment 123065
I hopped over to the B&O section of the rr-fallenflags.org website, and found a unit whose photo was captured in 1974 - two years past the end of my era, so I can have this one appear in a layout photo staged for 1972: http://rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo4598goa.jpg
I already have a Cal-Scale winterization hatch to put on it, and plenty of paint and decals, so I can fix it up in short order once I receive it.
In the meantime I'm hoping the elusive snow blower I ordered will arrive on Monday...
Ken - So 2007 I was diagnosed diabetic, later pre-diabetic. I was put on Metformin, 1000MG twice a day. Then in November of 2019 I saw a video by Dr. Jason Fung, in December I read his book. The main premise is that drugs like Metformin and others as well as insulin shots treat the results of diabetes but not the disease itself. It made sense to me. He prescribes to a low carb diet, and in some cases fasting. January 2020 I went low carb. September 2020 I was taken off Metformin. I had put diabetes in remission. Last 2 A1C's 5.1 and 5.3. The proof should come in March, 6 months with no drugs. Yes I still which the carbs, and the kind and source of the carbs. No potato, rice, pasta and no white bread. If your interested, you can search the web for Dr. Jason Fung, see what you think. The HoboHi gang, it's 46*F and sunny with a slight NW breeze here in central MD. While Willie was getting snow, MOH and I took a leisurely stroll thru the neighborhood since it was so pleasant - a bit of weather-related role-reversal, eh?
Since I'm trying to control my A1C level (pre-diabetic), I think I'll pass on Hughie's boneless doughnuts...
Guy - Hope your Tuesday court appearance results in a favorable verdict.
Lee, bummer about your Covid affliction - hope you'll make a complete recovery soon!
Tom-O - In spite of the temporary inconvenience and isolation, I think you're definitely doing the right thing as far as your Covid situation. BTW -did you get a chance to try out that Krylon "Khaki" paint on a test piece yet?
* * *
I was feeling somewhat depressed yesterday, so I thought maybe I'd try some "shopping therapy" and acquire something to fill in one of the remaining holes in my loco roster. My aim is to get at least one example of every type of loco I typically saw during my days of chasing trains on the B&O as a teenager, and one type that kept appearing was the F7 Phase-III with a winterization hatch. Since they were the "youngest" of the B&O's F-units, they were among the last to be retired.
A spotting feature on these cab units was the twin rows of vertical-slit louvers along the side. Most F7 models available nowadays are the Phase I or Phase II with the horizontal slit louvers, and I've made several futile attempts to modify those. The problem is that while the horizontal slits protrude from the surface and need to be shaved-off, the vertical slits are concave, i.e., sunk-in. I'm sure there are people who have the skill to replicate those from scratch, but I'm NOT one of them! I've made occasional visits to eBay to find another Stewart C&O Phase-III unit like the one I already have, but they've become rare as hen's teeth.
Then I had a light-bulb moment: There are probably plenty of F9 models available, which look identical except for the additional louver in front of the forward porthole. That can easily be filled in with Squadron Putty and sanded smooth, reverting the shell back to a Phase III F7. So I checked eBay, and - not only were there lots of F9A models, there was actually an undecorated Stewart model available at a fraction of cost of the Intermountain, Bowser, and Genesis ones. All my existing F-units are Stewarts, so this will fit in perfectly!
View attachment 123065
I hopped over to the B&O section of the rr-fallenflags.org website, and found a unit whose photo was captured in 1974 - two years past the end of my era, so I can have this one appear in a layout photo staged for 1972: http://rr-fallenflags.org/bo/bo4598goa.jpg
I already have a Cal-Scale winterization hatch to put on it, and plenty of paint and decals, so I can fix it up in short order once I receive it.
In the meantime I'm hoping the elusive snow blower I ordered will arrive on Monday...
Follow up: No new cases have been detected after lots of testing, so the lock down has been lifted 25 minutes ago , but the wearing of masks outdoors and in shops etc will continue for 10 days.
I don't need a mandate to wear a mask. That's good news about no new cases.
No rules against that. There's a whole section somewhere on the forum called "The Interchange Track" that is set up for that. Many forum members also inform one another here in the Coffee Shop with a link to the thread over there since many don't just peruse that section.
I can't recall it having been before in Queensland, but because of that new UK strain showing a very high infection rate compared to the "usual" one, it was made a condition of lifting the lockdown. The Virus keeps on mutating, after all, it doesn't want to die out either. It's less than 1 year old, only an infant.
