The Coffee Shop is now open. Come on in and say hello.

[Cjcrescent]

Mornin' Sabrina, How about a really good breakfast! Big Java, grits eggs, and bacon, biscuits and gravy. Put an OJ with that as well.

I crashed pretty early last night, about 730 here. Wanted to get up early and watch the weather. We had a bad storm about 0500. It moved thru here so fast I thought there was a funnel cloud in it. Just some straight line winds thou.

Talk about things changing! At 0430 here the official temp in B'ham is 71 degrees! This is 45 degrees above normal for this time of the morning! That is unheard of this time of year!.

The SPC (Storms Prediction Center), has changed our outlook. We went from a slight risk of severe weather to a moderate. Moderate is the highest risk they will issue. The NWS (National Weather Service) has issued a super rare PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) forecast for areas just east of us over thru Georgia. (Watch out Stan & Jarrell!!!) A PDS generally means there will be real severe weather, they just don't know where in the area of concern. This includes the formation of super cell thunderstorms, hail that is golfball sized or bigger, and long track tornadoes of F3 strength or greater on the Fujita scale. The Fujita scale measures the strength of the tornadoes based on wind speed and damage type asseted.
The scale is considered to go to F6, called an inconceivable tornado as damage asessment would be impossible to tell from an F4 or F5.Winds here would be over 319mph. Here are the other "strong tornado" speeds; F3, Severe, Winds 158-206mph, F4 Devestating, 207-260mph, and F5, Incredible, 261-318mph.

Thanx for the breakfast, girls. I gonna see if I can get some work done this morning before the storms start firing up again this afternoon.

 

[BMRR]

Stan - glad to see you can start the new year spending some Quality Time with your trains! Kinda hard to pull yourself away once you see them actually running, huh?

Morning all, Sabrina coffee please. Just got in from work. I went in and worked four hours. We're off today but I need that OT.
KenL - You're right, it is hard to break away from the trains once you start running them. I'm going to take my time on the layout and try to do it right.

cj - We dodged the bullet so far on the bad weather, it rained hard this morning, but thats about it. I think there is more to come.

Take care.

Stan.

 

[jbaakko]

FUDGE! Well it was cold & windy on the way up, and in 45 mins of waiting I saw 5 cop cars & one train. I need to Google Earth survey that I10 area before my next trip there, and check weather.com!

Anyways, I left Kingman early considering the failure on the way up, so as i leave 29 Palms (after getting gas), it starts raining!!! Didn't stop until I hit the City of San Diego line :-(. Only a few good shots from Needles, CA and Amboy, CA coming south today, and I think one or 2 from Banning, CA on the way north yesterday.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Evening everybody, my New Years weekend is almost over so I gotta make this quick. Hope those of you down in 'Bama, GA and FL made it alright thru the storms - I haven't seen any of you posting here the past 12 hours...?

I spent most of Sunday and today in the garage, resurrecting the blast furnace sub-mill on my layout - so many pipes to connect at so many angles (sure wish I'd have written up some instructions for myself 3 years ago before I put it in storage ) I want to put down some more 'mock-up' scenery before I snap any pics of it though...

Good nite!

 

[jbaakko]

Oh wow, guess I should venture into my shots online once and a while!

http://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=56937

I forgot about this! Looks like DID get published I remember email the guy from Iraq, who was asking to use those pictures for the article!

Anyways, check out my post in the weathering forum ;-)

 

[Cjcrescent]

Hope those of you down in 'Bama, GA and FL made it alright thru the storms - I haven't seen any of you posting here the past 12 hours...?

Appreciate the concern Ken. We here in Al, or at least central to west part of state did well. Whats called a CAP prevented the cold upper air from mixing with the warm surface air and result was we REALLY dodged a bullet. GA, on the other hand, got nailed. In the space of about 2 hours this afternoon, the weather went from a relatively quiet scenario to one where there were several tornadoes SW & NE of Atlanta, with baseball sized hail in the storms in Fulton Co just west of Atlanta. According to a scanner report, many cars were blown off of I-85 SW of Atlanta down toward La Grange. I haven't been able to confirm this and I don't know if anyone has been hurt or what the property damage was. The NWS storm asessment on all this will probably be out tomorrow.

One reason you haven't heard from several of us was

FOOTBALL!


​

It was one heck of a defensive battle Bama had with Texas Tech!! The game was real good. Bama won on a last second field goal at the end of regulation. That makes 3 games Bama has won that way this year!!

What was even better, Auburn lost! (Sorry Tiger Fans)

What was better than that even, Notre Dame lost to Ohio State!!! There are only two teams that I dislike more than Auburn, they are Notre Dame & USC. I dislike USC most of all! I do hope Texas beats 'em and beats 'em good. What is it they say in Texas???? Oh yeah, Hook 'em Horns!!!
​

 

[RexHea]

Hi everyone and yes I am still around. As Carey said, football has been the big part of today with some very exciting games. In-between games I managed to talk Carey into coming over for a visit and a run session. Great way to start the new year...with a friend and trains and football.

GatorDave: Congats! on the Gator win. Guess Bama still left you enough gator tail to do the job

After a little more scenery work, I believe it is time to plan for my layout signals. I don't want too much in the way. I am going to post an "advice needed" thread over on the signal topic, so please give what you got.

Now that Bama has won their game I have to say, "Go Nittany Lions", "Go Horns"

 

[modelbob]

The SPC (Storms Prediction Center), has changed our outlook. We went from a slight risk of severe weather to a moderate. Moderate is the highest risk they will issue. The NWS (National Weather Service) has issued a super rare PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) forecast for areas just east of us over thru Georgia...

Looks like a serious case of AO (Acronym Overload).

 

[RexHea]

DITTO Bob! Is any of that like PMS which is also PDS.

Hey ya'll! Is it safe to post yet or what is the status of the forum?

 

[Fergmiester]

DITTO Bob! Is any of that like PMS which is also PDS.

Hey ya'll! Is it safe to post yet or what is the status of the forum?

PDS... Mmmmm When Lisa told me this new acronym yesterday I stopped pondered and then thought "Oh must refer to a political gufaw. Pretty Dumb Statement to be exact!" I was wrong, oh well.

Better make mine an extra large. Been busy and doesn't look like it will ease up. Rex, I talked to Bob this evening, told him I ordered a Tsunami Heavy Steam. Can you tell me the difference in quality between a DSX and the new TSU's?

I gor two DSX's for Christmas but I'm not overly happy with the sound, then again I think I made the box too small.

I'm presently seating the turn table so I figure I'll be at that for several days.

Me thinks it's going to be a busy winter!

Later everyone

Fergie

PS Happy New Year, Sorry I missed the party but, well, you know

 

[jbaakko]

*walks away from the Aycronym convo* Flo, LARGE hot Chocolate, its cold here! Well new to my today too, I'm single again, apparently.

 

[RexHea]

Josh:??

Bob: You have said when the server change is taking place and told us about posting, but you haven't said when things will be normal again or how we will know.

Fergie: I can't really make the comparasion of the DSX and Tsunami as I don't have a DSX. I can say that the sounds are by far better than those of the DSD150 or those of the QSI. You also have all sorts of adjustments that you can make to help match the decoder with the speaker such as the frequency response that improves the bass. Also, don't forget all those adjustments for smoothing out the motor operations. Loads of different sounds. How about pulling up to a water tank and pushing F9;you hear fireman fred lifting the water tank lid and the water pouring in. Push F9 again and the water goes to a trickle and Fred shuts the door. How about him squirting his oil can or turning a wrench while adjustint the valve rods.
Neat huh? I know, novelty stuff...but fun!

I would like to recommend that when you install your sound decoder/speaker in a tender, use the whole tender as the speaker box and be sure to completely seal it. I used doublesided mounting tape (foam) by "Duck" around the inside ridge that the shell goes over. Man, it gave me a deep and powerful sound from then on. Also, I used a 28x40mm oval from Tony's as my speaker. Be sure to download the Tsunami Users Guide at their web site.

I like mine well enough that if I loose a QSI decoder, it will be replaced by a Tsunami.

This advertisement paid for by the ...

 

[Fergmiester]

Fergie: I can't really make the comparasion of the DSX and Tsunami as I don't have a DSX. I can say that the sounds are by far better than those of the DSD150 or those of the QSI. You also have all sorts of adjustments that you can make to help match the decoder with the speaker such as the frequency response that improves the bass. Also, don't forget all those adjustments for smoothing out the motor operations. Loads of different sounds. How about pulling up to a water tank and pushing F9;you hear fireman fred lifting the water tank lid and the water pouring in. Push F9 again and the water goes to a trickle and Fred shuts the door. How about him squirting his oil can or turning a wrench while adjustint the valve rods.
Neat huh? I know, novelty stuff...but fun!

I would like to recommend that when you install your sound decoder/speaker in a tender, use the whole tender as the speaker box and be sure to completely seal it. I used doublesided mounting tape (foam) by "Duck" around the inside ridge that the shell goes over. Man, it gave me a deep and powerful sound from then on. Also, I used a 28x40mm oval from Tony's as my speaker. Be sure to download the Tsunami Users Guide at their web site.

I like mine well enough that if I loose a QSI decoder, it will be replaced by a Tsunami.

This advertisement paid for by the ...

Oooo Kay... Now I know why Fred (Loy's Toys) was getting all weird and excited on me yesterday on the phone, He actually said "This stuff is really cool, Ya gotta read the manual man", Thought I was talking to George Carlin for a second, Whoa 70's flashback!

Sounds really interesting. I've had several people over and couldn't believe the sound on the BLI C&O Texas. It's got an echo and easily drowns out the Athearn Challenger. As Bob said there's a back order at present so I don't know when I'll get it. Thanks for the heads up on the speakers. I've ordered two OS-L (1.1" x 1.57") from Loy's as Fred suggested this would be good if I had the space.

Anyway time to get in gear

Later Everyone

Fergie

 

[jbaakko]

Josh:??

Aycronyms will be the death of "english" in the military, they'll soon have a new language.

DEERS
RAPIDS
MIA
POW
DFAS
MOL
USMC
USN
USA
RESRET
RET
URW
URFS
UMW
UMFS
And on, ones I see daily that I could come up with in 2 mins...

 

[RexHea]

Josh, the Federal Gov has a list of acronyms used by the US Gov, in a book bigger than the NYC phone directory. Some see it as a time/space saver, but I see it as laziness. (But I am just an old grumpy senior.)

 

[dthurman]

So Rex that makes you an OGS

 

[RexHea]

OGS Ha! Ha!
My goodness, I think its time for me to adjust better I still don't know half the acronyms that are used on forums.

Football fans, TEXAS Horns did it! Pretty remarkable when they not only had to beat Southern Cal, but also ABC TV. I have never seen such one sided coverage of a football game. SHAME on you ABC!

Oh yeah! Glad we are back up and running. I guess the server switch went well.

 

[jbaakko]

I knew i should bet on that game!

 

[IronBeltKen]

Good Morning Gang!

Man these post-holiday blues - I got 'em BAD!

I've been reading Tony Koester's Realistic Operations book, and I'm reminded of some of those challenging college courses I took: Started off easy, giving me a false sense of security. Then I get to the fourth chapter and whammo! Everything becomes totally incomprehensible and I fall further and further behind. That was my reaction to the chapter on yards; couldn't understand much of anything, other than I only have 1/3rd of the necessary number of staging tracks (according to his formula anyway). Then in the following chapter he says if I want to avoid a railroad that is 80% maintenance and 20% operation, I have to spend a fortune building a cleanroom-type area before I even start putting up benchwork. So, what he 'gave' me in the opening chapters, he just 'took back' in the last two! Now I have no desire to even go into the train room or continue reading the Koester book.

 

[dthurman]

Morning everyone.

Ken: Don't get down on the book, Koester has a way in the way he writes to make all of us "poor-not in the gang" MR guys to feel that way, while I am not a Koester fan in regard to his writing personality, I think he does have some valid points, continue to read, and then read again, then again, and you should start to get the idea of what he means, I have no staging per say and still have a great operating session. When you look at some of the smaller layouts in MR of late, they have hardly any staging, so if Koester is such the expert, then you would think any MR shots would follow his rules.

I sent Eric a PDF on operations, that may help you. Let me know with a PM.