Hello to all - Rex, Ken, Jeffery, Jim & Josh & others,
Well I had somewhat of a false start a while back that was short lived. Major computer problems knocked me out till today. Had to build a new one and then was still faced with major Virus problems but I think I've got most of them cured?? God I hope so!
On top of all of this the convalescent hospital that is taking care of my Mom somehow droped her and broke her arm near or at her Left shoulder so she had to be hospitalized for surgery and that too took about four days of time and traveling back and forth to Fresno, a 31 mile run each way but I'm use to it and my Turbo Eclipse is a lot of fun to drive.
As far as the weather here this past Monday 12-07-09 it Snowed here and put down about one inch and then the weather got pretty darn cold with a lot of moisture to it and the temperature droped down to 28* or lower, very chilly. When the Yousemite Mountain ranges and the Serrias, which are closer, to the North by about 10 miles get snow on them and the cold settles down my way along with the already frozen snow on the ground and roof it make for some very cold days and nights. It did warm up a bit today for awhile and it's about 36* outside, I just went out there and in the light from the flash light I could see fine white flakes starting to fall so I may be in for more Snow?? At this time of year it most always Snows when it's between 34 to 36*.
The good news is that during all of this I managed to take a break from all the frustration and work on my layout a bit more by connecting the lower rail line with the upper and then finally running the main power lines around the outside edge of the layout so that I can make connection of track feeders and block selectors which I have already begun to do. It's not the ultimate of where I want it to be? but will surfice for now and allow trains to run as intended with easy access to strip the main wires and solder the feeders to it and the track. Some adjustments had to be done to the track work in a couple of spots but that keeps me in Gandy Dancing practice, I can't just ride the Rods all the time!
This now is beginning to feel a lot more like railroading and gets me very anxious to extend the line as planned. Being able to run the trains and test the track is a lot of fun
even if I am still using just straight DC. The raido control hand throttle from Aristocraft is quite enjoyable to use and gives me a lot of freedom to move along with the train and ensure there are no derailments. I already noticed one thing, and I haven't got all the track feeders connected either, which is that that the locomotives slow down a lot more prototypically than before.
Rex, your bench work looks pretty nice and similiar to what I'm doing except I havent yet put any kind of facier boards on my tables yet but then I have five or six more to build too.
Glad you and Jim avoided any Tornados, they can sure cause the damage.
Well now, I think I'll be able to be a more frequent visitor to Flow's place with the new computer, it's good to see you all again.
Speaking of that, whatever happened to the fellow who used to post the pictures of Flow and another gal along with the breakfast menue? I kinda liked the Brunette, is she still there with Flo?
Drive the spikes straight and keep the rail aligned and for God Sake, No Peeing on the rails, it causes soft spots.
Several roads are still closed north of us and a friend of ours called up and told us they are shoveling out about 30" of snow from their 3/4 mile driveway----using a Paymaster front end loader....
Your daughter will call you at the last moment when she needs you to pick here up! Long as she's in a safe spot.....Let her wait some!
U had worst as I can recall!