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

[L&N Castle]

Happy 39th B'day there Steve. I too will be turning 39 in May. To be honest,I can't believe it. Man,I feel old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Sir.May you enjoy many more.CHEERS.William.

 

[Fergmiester]

Hello Everyone

Good Skyping with ya Ken!

Steve! Happy belated 39th... I think it's time for you to have a Mid Life Crisis!
Go out and buy yourself a Steam Engine and live a little

Got on the Mountain Bike this morning and started off easy as it's been three months so I only rode 7 km. Now I just have to wait and see what cramps up!

Well I'm off cycle as of yesterday and was able to sell Dad's boat, which was a miracle in itself but it's done and Dad said to me last night to go out and get the 2-10-2 and some more Tsunami's.... ... ....... ...

Life is good!

Later All

Fergie

 

[IronBeltKen]

Good morning crew,

It's a beautiful sunny day here in the Land Of Pleasant Living and I have no business being cooped up in an office [unless, of course, if I want to earn the cash to support my habit...er, hobby!] I have a mild stress-related muscle spasm, but no biggie - nothing that a few advil won't dispatch.

There's another Zane & Company train show scheduled for Timonium on Saturday but I'm sitting it out for two reasons, (1) I'm saving my scarce 'leisure' cash for a six-pack of CSX bethgons that Walthers will be re-releasing in a few weeks and (2) I have to get busy cleaning up that trainroom, if I want to rekindle my enthusiasm. Every time I go out there and see the clutter, I have this anxiety that no trains will run anywhere due to some damage I might have done to the track. Gotta put those worries aside and at least get it looking photogenical, so I can finish the Powerpoint presentation I'll be doing at the Philly train show in July.

Rex - I guess I'd better study my Canadian language skills eh? I didn't realize that, when Fergie said he was "off-cycle" it meant he hadn't done any mountain biking recently! My bad...

Speaking of extra track: when I was digging thru some boxes of Walthers structure kits that I bought 5 years ago, what was sitting at the very bottom other than - you guessed it - a dozen Atlas code-83 #6 turnouts N-I-B! Looks like it may be time for me to build that extra staging yard I've been thinking about...

Fergie - I'd advise you to hurry out and buy the 2-10-2 and Tsunamies ASAP - before Lisa comes along and has you spend the boat money on something "sensible"..!

Steve - glad to see you in better spirits than the other day. Maybe that BLI C30-7 can be a birthday present, ya think?

RT - Thanx again for the photos, especially the proto-sized Pikestuff repair shed - I may have just the right place for one of those on my layout!

Later, gents...

 

[PNKFLOYD]

April Fool's Day?

My company is changing over to a new computer system this weekend. ALL employees must show up!
May have to work both Saturday and Sunday. Salaried employees will not be compensated. Sunday is the change to Daylight Savings time.
Not only does it reduce my modeling time this weekend, but I lose an hour of sleep!
If I gotta work, the cash for a new engine would make me feel better!

Could this be an April Fools joke by the company?

 

[Steve B]

Fergie

Steve! Happy belated 39th... I think it's time for you to have a Mid Life Crisis!
Go out and buy yourself a Steam Engine and live a little

YES, but i think i'll get a DIESEL, i love steam but a diesel would be more at home, especially a C30-7 (Drool drool)

Nice work selling the boat, i have a boiler to sell, maybe it will pay for the BLI loco

Ken L things will get better now, i cleaned out Glynn's locker and took his stuff home to his family, a bit of a tear jerker to say the least.

Ms Rice is in town today and she's causing quite an impact, she was given a Blackburn Rovers football club shirt, of course she got quite a bit of stick for Iraq and some other stuff,,,at least the school kids enjoyed her visit

Mikey my lot wanted us to work but i have done enough this last fortnight

William why thank you very much friend.

 

[RexHea]

Greetings all and happy weekend to 'ya! Nice to see everyone here again.

Fergie: Yeah, you need to follow Ken's advice and rush an order for the 2-10-2/Tsunami's. If Lisa is like my wife, there will always be something that needs replaced, repaired, added, or then there is the guilt trip, "...I was hoping that when we had a little extra cash we (I) would be able to..."

KenL: What?? You can't speak Canuck??
I sure know what you mean about having to rekindle your enthusiasm because of the "inappropriate positioning of hobby related equipment" (didn't want to insult Fergie with the word mess) I have been fighting with myself over the same, but seem to be gaining some ground. Maybe I will have everything in a "proper" place by the end of the weekend.

Steve: Glad your moving on to the upper side of life. Ms. Rice is a remarkable woman. She came to Tuscaloosa last fall for several events and I enjoyed listening to her very candid comments.

Mikey: Oh Boy! Are you ever going to have fun this weekend or what! Wishing you a better "change over" than I have experienced in the past. It seems that all is very slow and boring...then all "H" breaks loose and then there is always the terrible scream, " Where did my files go ?"

CJ: Where are you fellow? I know your gums and tongue get mixed up, but there isn't anything wrong with your typing fingers. You going to the boat show this weekend? If so, best leave your check book at home.

 

[Cjcrescent]

Greetings all and happy weekend to 'ya! Nice to see everyone here again...

CJ: Where are you fellow? I know your gums and tongue get mixed up, but there isn't anything wrong with your typing fingers. You going to the boat show this weekend? If so, best leave your check book at home.

I'm here. Just really starting to get back to normal. Two days ago I went down and started cleaning my workbench off to get it ready to move. Not counting the two four foot flourescent fixtures arestin, on top there were boxes of stuff I forgot I even had! Anyway the whole pile came up 2.5' off the top of the bench, and there were the other's stuff, (my wife's, son's, & daughter's) piled on that. How it got there I'll never know!

That's what I get for not using it for a while but working upstairs on a portable bench. Gotta stop doin' that.

As to the boat show. No, I'm not goin'. I stopped goin' to boat shows the year my wife wanted to get the houseboat at the Mobile show one year that was only $200,000.00, in 1978 dollars! Its bad enough when I come outta there droolin'. Don't need her to do the same! We'd both drown before we got home!

Tomorrow though going on first real fishin' trip of the year. Hope we do well,
but even if we get skunked, it'll be worth it.

 

[Steve B]

Fergie good talking to you, hope you enjoy your new purchase

This is the loco on the London to Liverpool run tommorow, 4-6-2 No 6201

and this is the one that went through today on it's way to London, 2-8-0 No 48151

here's a nice DIESEL video clip, two loco's hauling the nuclear flask train, turn up the volume http://www.burgess57.freeserve.co.uk/6C53.WMV

 

[IronBeltKen]

Steve, excellent video clip - those locos sound exactly like the earlier model GE's, no wonder you're so anxious to get that c30-7!

 

[rtraincollector]

Steve B stop showwing Fergie pics like that he drools everywhere when you do that and makes a MESS here in the forum to where you can't get from one page to another

Hi all feeling great tonight just wish wed. would get here so this opperation would be done and over with .

Well all have a good eveing talk to you all tomorrow.

 

[modelbob]

> I have a boiler to sell, maybe it will pay for the BLI loco

What kind of a boiler?

 

[modelbob]

My company is changing over to a new computer system this weekend. ALL employees must show up!
May have to work both Saturday and Sunday. Salaried employees will not be compensated. Sunday is the change to Daylight Savings time.
Not only does it reduce my modeling time this weekend, but I lose an hour of sleep!
If I gotta work, the cash for a new engine would make me feel better!

That reminds me... Nearly forgot to post this, it's probably related to the work your company is doing.

Internet Cleaning

DO NOT CONNECT TO THE INTERNET FROM MARCH 31st 23:59 pm (GMT) UNTIL 12:01am (GMT) APRIL 2nd.

*** Attention ***

It's that time again! As many of you know, each year the Internet must be shut down for 24 hours in order to allow us to clean it. The cleaning process, which eliminates dead email and inactive ftp, www and gopher sites, allows for a better-working and faster Internet.

This year, the cleaning process will take place from 23:59 pm (GMT) on March 31st until 00:01 am (GMT) on April 2nd. During that 24-hour period, five powerful Internet-crawling robots situated around the world will search the Internet and delete any data that they find.

In order to protect your valuable data from deletion we ask that you do the following:
1. Disconnect all terminals and local area networks from their Internet connections.

2. Shut down all Internet servers, or disconnect them from the Internet.

3. Disconnect all disks and hardrives from any connections to the Internet.

4. Refrain from connecting any computer to the Internet in any way.
We understand the inconvenience that this may cause some Internet users, and we apologize. However, we are certain that any inconveniences will be more than made up for by the increased speed and efficiency of the Internet, once it has been cleared of electronic flotsam and jetsam.

We thank you for your cooperation.

Interconnected Network Maintenance Staff
Main Branch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Sysops and others: Since the last Internet cleaning, the number of Internet users has grown dramatically. Please assist us in alerting the public of the upcoming Internet cleaning by posting this message where your users will be able to read it.

Please pass this message on to other sysops and Internet users as well.

 

[Cjcrescent]

Another nice April Fool's joke there Bob!

Had my first "serious fishing trip", that is to say I wasn't checking out the boat, this morning. Boat performed flawlessly, and we had a grand time.

Fished the Coosa River above Childersburg, and spent a good portion watching trains. The CSX crosses the Coosa there, and from where we started fishing and then drifting with the current, we either saw or heard at least 8 trains from 8 am til 12 pm when we quit. Too bad didn't have the camera, but it was raining some when we got there. Both of us got a little wet.

Didn't matter thou, as basically all we did was watch the trains, talk and fish a little. Got plenty of bites but after a 2 year layoff my bass catching reflexes ain't quite got back to the point of catching any. Yeah Rex, we got skunked, again. I'd be sitting there, get a good hit, and I'd still be sitting there, saying to myself, "Jerk the rod you idiot! Jerk the rod!!", I'd still just sit there! Never make a move.

All in all a good day anyway! I got to relax, fish, boatride and watch trains!

Perfect!!

 

[Steve B]

Carey sometimes it don't matter if you catch anything or nothing, the break away from it all is more important than catching fish, i'm going fishing in june, we are going to a small channel midway between England and Ireland, apparently every fifth or sixth fish you get a shark will take the next, it may be a 20lb Blue or a 300lb Porbeagle, should be FUN.
Ken L the loco's in the video are class 20 and 37 with English electric prime movers, they sound fantastic
Ken M put the C30-7 down a while Ken, were missing you.

I just got another Skype,eee from a friend in New Zealand, he moved there last year with his familly, they love it.

 

[L&N Castle]

Evening CJ. As you have often told me,a bad day fishin,beats a bad day at the office. Glad to hear that the boat is working good. How are you coming on getting your basement ready for your benchwork? I still have too get a few more things in order,before I get started. CU later sir.William.

 

[RexHea]

Well Carey, slow reaction time kind of goes along with older people like youself, but you can always try calling the fish long distance. Then just use a net and pick them up when they answer the ring.
Is that a siren I hear?

If that doesn't work try your home raised...GUMMY WORMS! gotcha

GrandeMan: Have they caught that Bengal Tiger in Cullman County yet? If you hear a weird scream one night, you best lock and load. Yeah, that's right folks...a real tiger. Seems someones "pet" got loose.

 

[NZRMac]

Ken M put the C30-7 down a while Ken, were missing you.

I just got another Skype,eee from a friend in New Zealand, he moved there last year with his family, they love it.

Can't help it Steve the horn is just so addictive, I'm not bored with it yet and that's on a short 4 ft straight track!!

I have been fiddling with the SD40-2 too.
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?p=23328#post23328

And of course some layout construction, the main gate is swinging (inspired by Steve's gate) and just needs a tidy before some photo's.

I've also been re-building the main entrance to our house. Found some nice beefy foot diameter round hardwood posts, man we used a digger to lift them into the holes. Now to build some gates.

Well been a huge weekend so I'm off.

Oh, two weeks to go and I'm gunna play engineer for a day, taking a freight train up to Kaikoura and bringing the passenger train (coastal express ) back home. Start around 10 am and finish 7pm.

Ken.

 

[Steve B]

Go for it Ken,
i stuck on some drywall and did some plastering today so the boiler man has somewhere to put the new heating and water boiler tommorow, did a good job considering it's something i havn't done before.

 

[grande man]

GrandeMan: Have they caught that Bengal Tiger in Cullman County yet? If you hear a weird scream one night, you best lock and load. Yeah, that's right folks...a real tiger. Seems someones "pet" got loose.

I think it's still at large. I have an image in my mind of a Cullman County local. [sound of shotgun racking] Heeeeeeeere Morris... [/sound of shotgun racking]

Fortunately, we haven't had any reports of missing neighborhood dogs or anything. I'm thinking this one might be a bit much for the Jester to handle.

 

[Steve B]

Here's a clip of my local steam railway taken by Don Burgess, it was pouring down at the time http://www.burgess57.freeserve.co.uk/45231.WMV