Good Morning Everybody. Clear and a nice cool 71° here in North Central Texas. NWS is predicting 98° again today like yesterday, but it only reached 94°, thus keeping their record of misses intact.
I spent more time yesterday morning doing household chores than normal. Maybe I just did them slower. I blew off mowing yesterday as there was just no wind, an essential part of outdoor tasks when it's warm like this time of year. Today's forecast shows the wind picking up later today so I'll resume then. The HOA doesn't mind the raggedness anyway. I am the only member!!! Meanwhile, I did do some cleanup in the garden removing the remnants of the squash and some tomato plants.
Thanks for the likes and comments everybody regarding the Downtown Deco structures;
Tom O, Christian, Gary, Patrick, Karl, Chad, Guy, Moermusic, Garry, Hughie, Curt, Tom, Sherrel.
Today I need a hardy breakfast Flo, how about a chicken-fried steak with southern cream gravy and a pile of grits. Make it a sugar free A&W root beer to wash it down with.
I did spend some time out in the train shed yesterday, mostly doing odds and ends. Since I have all of my field grass/weeds stuff out, I did some more of that. I have many areas that I added ground cover to in the past few months, that I never put in the weeds. So a little here and there whenever I have the stuff out. I ran out of fine gray ballast which I use for roads/drives/parking areas, which put a hold on an area that I am currently working on. I took the unusual step of ordering some from Amazon instead of going to the LHS. Even though Amazon is slightly more expensive (by 79¢), I don't have to spend $12 on gas to go to the hobby store. Somehow I didn't have it on my list when I went two weeks ago. I also resurrected another small project that got set aside a few months ago, simply because it got put aside. It's one of those antique Magnuson resin vehicle kits from the 80's.
I had attached the two vehicle halves, painted it and the tires and moved it out of the way for something else. Well now I resume.
A little more detail painting and decals and I have a MOW vehicle for a small mini-scene that I have in mind at one of my switch towers.
I also had time to run and document an out and back switching run to keep a train crew busy. Their job was to pick up two empty boxcars and drop off two reefers and a boxcar in Charlottesville.
One empty is at Miracle Manufacturing. It will be replaced with a full one of lumber for furniture.
Next door at Federal Cold Storage, they will drop off a reefer of frozen vegetables.
A little further south they will exchange an empty for a full RBL boxcar at Loy Distributing, a local beer distributor.
Oooops! That shot is a little fuzzy!
After using the caboose as a handle, they drop the two empties off down the siding while they run around on the main.
They are now in position for picking up after the loads are dropped off.
First the RBL is dropped off at Loy's.
Then the boxcar of lumber goes to Miracle Manufacturing.
Then I hit the limit for photos in a single post, so I will add another post to finish the trick.
Patrick -
Rockefeller was extremely unhappy about having his company broken up into the 34 "baby" companies by the government (much like AT&T).
And eventually just like AT&T, through mergers and acquisitions, it's mostly back together again!
Steve J - You mentioned the Kadee coupler hanging low. No car or engine goes on my layout without an initial inspection for coupler height, weight and overall visual inspection. That includes adding metal wheels when needed. All of the resulting measurements and information then goes into my rolling stock database along with any future maintenance records.
Interesting about the "ah-ha" moment regarding the TT placement. I was wondering how you were so far off with the track placement when you first posted it. Fractions of an inch always, but not that far off. Glad that you finally resolved it.
I find that engine sound on a layout can be cute but annoying. That's just me though.
Garry - Have a safe trip to see 4014. I remember that you have seen it before, but it is still a sight to see.
Curt - You mentioned your dad and hearing aids. They were unquestionably the best investment that I ever made.
Today is my late mother's 92nd birthday. She joined her maker in 1994.
Everybody have a great day.