Ye OLE Coffee SHOPEE XXVI

[RexHea]

Good evening all! Hope all of you have dug out from the snow and ice. I had a very good day today with a visit from Carey and some of the other "Alabama Rail Gang". It had been awhile since they have been over, so much of the time was looking at my changes and progress. Of course, this didn't slow down some good'ole train talk and general gossip. Hope we can do it again soon with a full blown Op session.

Terry, about your neighbors: don't know about the deodorant, but they must know something you don't.

Jeffrey: Yeah, I've got those messages about reducing credit card interest as well. You are right: just a scam. Think about it: you and I are aware of such, but think of the old people that still believe in trusting and being courteous to those on a phone that sound "important". Can't express my feelings for those that do this type of crap...lest not on here.

GO PACKERS!​

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

02/06/2011

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[kbkchooch]

Quick stop before I go to the train show!

Hope everybody has a fun day, and GO PACKERS!!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 33° and clear. Today will be mostly sunny and warmer with a of 62°. There's a 50% chance of rain tonight.

Ankle feels like it has a hot knife stuck in it so I likely won't be doing much today. I'd like to work on the layout but I don't have much of the stuff I need for scenery and don't have the funds to buy more so it's shoved way back on the back burner for now. I need stuff like ballast, blended turf, coarse turf and coarse foliage. Until I get those items I see no point in even attempting to proceed on it. At the rate I'm going it may be near summer before I get started on it again.

 

[bnsf971]

Terry, about your neighbors: don't know about the deodorant, but they must know something you don't.

No, we all know something. When the low-lifes move out because the place has gone to he11, it pretty much sums it up. We have a house rented in Winston-Salem, and mid-March, we're moving there. In the fullness of time, when our credit fog clears, the plan is to buy the house, provided we all live that long, and the world doesn't end in 2012...
Now, if any of y'all aren't doing anything March 19th, I could use some help loading the truck. At least everything is "ground floor".

There is something I could use some input on. The new house has a full basement. The floor of the basement gets wet when there's a lot of rain, but there's never been more than 1/2" of water on the floor. The garage is also in the basement, and any excess water will just run out under the garage door. So, it's about 2/3 the size of the house, but it's damp. There is an addition at one end of the house with a 20 foot square room that's both heated and air conditioned. There is also an attic that is not air conditioned that is about 20 feet wide and 45 feet long. Summer there would be murder. If you were to choose one as a layout room, which would you choose? I am thinking the attic is out, but would you go for the damp, large basement, or the finished, not as large added room?

 

[leghome]

Terry one thing to look at if you bought the house would be one of the drainage systems that go round the outside of the house and get the water away from the house. We had that water problem at our church and with that drainage system and a sub pump we have only had a problem twice in the last 15 yrs. I built a 10 X 15 room for my layout in 1999 and really like having in the living area of the house. I had it in the garage before the room was built but it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer. The heat and air do really make it a nice year round play area.

 

[Littlefoot14]

Morning coffee shop,

Karl- Nice of you to treat the public to a viewing of some D&H

Terry- From someone who has never owned a house, built a layout, or dealt with water in the basement, i think ive got a suggestion. I really think it depends on how big you plan on going with it, and how much of each room you plan on dedicating to the layout. Im guessing on dimensions, but if the basement is 30x20, and you plan on using the whole room, thats a really big layout. If you plan on building your dream layout, then i might finish the basement and go with this room. Personally, id go with the 20x20 (if thats what it is) room. Its heated and cooled, already finished, and being on the ground floor, youll have more natural light (which i think is a good thing for photos). This room gives you a nice around the walls option (depending on windows). I guess what type of layout you plan on building could be a factor too. You probably already thought of all this, but figured id point it out anyways.

Not much going on today. Probably go to the store before the big game. Im not sure if im having any friends over or not. I ran some trains yesterday. Im particularly impressed with one of the SD75s. Ive had genesis locomotives before, but this thing starts moving at 3% on my MRC DC controler! I havent assembled the other one yet, but i hope it runs just as smooth. Ive already decided, that if they both do, i think im getting them custom painted. More on that later Oh yeah, been working on some special loads too, ill share those later, but now, time to clean up the snow that we got yesterday

Have a good one!

 

[bnsf971]

Here are a couple of photos of the exterior of the house. The room is obvious, and the basement is also obvious. No interior photos, my cell phone doesn't have a flash. The attic area is the upstairs windows in the photo:

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Hello...it's me again...heeheehee

We be getting a few snowflurries...not like last night when we 'found' about 8" of the stuff...to top the total snowfall off here at 144"...

Anyhow...how you been lately?

We had a few people show up for an operating session ... and, of course, certain gremlins showed up...

...which made for an interesting evening of fun an frolic under the layout...

So..anyways...have a good day people!!

 

[posse]

Larry G- Montgomery is a good hour and half drive from my place.
I'll be heading to my brother's place here shortly for a Super Bowl party, I think it's the first Super Bowl party I've been to in my life. Not sure who to root for, Steelers- my uncle's favorite team, Packers- my younger brother who is a big Viking fan hates the Packers.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Nothing much happening here. I ended up replacing the blower fan above the layout (been going 24/7 for three years) and while I was next to it I vacuumed out the filter on the A/C. Broke a HO Scale station into several pieces when I knocked it off the shelf over the layout. I'll get around to putting it back together some day. I won't have any idea of what's going on with the ball game as it comes on a local channel here and I don't get any local channels. Yeah, Dish Network makes a lot of noise about how they get local channels but they don't tell you that you have to get an upgrade and pay extra for them. I'm paying enough for the America's Top 250 plan that I have now. I can't afford to jack it up from $84 to over $95. My rate WAS $79. They kicked it up by $5 this month. Amazing how that happened just as they tacked on 8 Starz channels free for a year. Just shows that nothing is free. Well enough about that. I took the time earlier to apply some water-slide Midland Gulf decals to a couple of F units. An Athearn F7-A and a Bachmann FT-A. The F7 will later get a L&A decal across the nose. I also have a Bachmann flatcar with a container load that's been boxed up for some time . I had planned to trade it to another modeler for a couple of items he has but so far nothing has happened on that front. If it hasn't been sent off by the end of the month it'll go back on the shelf.

 

[leghome]

The approaches to the garage doors are ice free now after 2 1/2 hrs work. I worked up one heck of a sweat chipping away at that cottonpicken frozen crap. I am surely ready for SPRING now. I have used a 1/4 tank of diesel plowin this stuff, my back aches, charlie horses in the calf's of the legs and my shoulders feel as though they are ready to fall off. All in all a very good day I feel better than I have in a few weeks. It is amazing how a lot of manual labor will make you feel better even though you are tired and sore..

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Look on the bright side! You got your exercise.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

02/07/2011

Good Morning ! from Tipton IN.

 

[Cjcrescent]

CJ, I've about given up on the weatherguessers. They were calling for snow showers today, we got rain. Its now 36 degrees outside, with patchy clouds and gusty winds. The best weather report I can find these days is right outside my window!

Karl, believe it or not that's the most scientific method of weather forecasting known to man! Its called G.O.A.L. (Go Outside And Look!)

Speaking of today, had a blast!! Ran trains and wandered around the train show all day, and I get to do it tomorrow too! Here's a little sample of what I ran today. 65 car train pulled by 3 Atlas SD24's! I could have done it with 2, but since this was their maiden voyage on the modular layout I couldn't play favorites, so I ran em all, even though 2 would have done the job.

The arrow points to the caboose, the 65th car on the train!
Tomorrow, the D&H PA's go with a passenger consist, the Midland GP38AC's will have a grain train, my Western Maryland Pacific will have a passenger consist (also a maiden voyage) and since the grandkids will be there, Thomas, Annie, and Calarabel are also packed up!

Better get some sleep, catch y'all later!!

Neat layout. Is this one your modular, or a groups?

PS. If you need a real loco to pull that, I gotta few you can borrow. They're all 2-10-2s, and I've had about 100 cars behind one of them, and about 80 behind each of the others. But if those are too big, how about a couple of smaller 2-8-0's?

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 41° and cloudy. The high should be 48° and cloudy. It will be clearing later. Tonight will be clear and 26°.

Didn't watch the Super Bowl game last night for the simple reason that I don't get the channel it was on. From what I understand though I didn't miss much. My schedule for today is rather simple. Go to see the foot doc this morning then come home. After that my schedule is pretty much open. Layout work is off the list as I don't have the supplies I need for the scenery work and probably won't have them for several months. Sometimes I find myself thinking about just tearing it down and putting everything into storage or selling it off and using the space for something else. Not much point in having a layout if I can't use it or work on it. Then I wouldn't need the internet anymore as I only use it to go to model railroad forums to see what others are doing on their layouts. That would save me almost $50 a month. I could always go back to my other hobby of building computers.

 

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It was 32 F when I headed out this morning. Our high today will be 47 F. Maybe finally some of the snow will melt. I can see some of the taller Christmas decorations in the front yard. Who knows maybe by the end of the month I will be able to bring them in.

I had a busy week or so with work. We are trying to tie up some loose ends on a couple of projects and trying to prevent one from imploding. I have put in some overtime in the effort which has limited my forum time. This week could be a repeat.

On the funnier side of things. My daughter has changed position once again with her volleyball team. She is now the Setter. Originally they wanted her to be a Hitter but since no one else can set correctly or consistently they moved her. She welcomes the challenge because she wants to learn as many positions as possible. Also she knows without a good setter no matter how good the hitters are the team can’t win. We will see how it works out in a couple of weeks in their next tournament.

I took my son to a Merit Badge College on Saturday in Salisbury, MD. The classes were held at Salisbury University. We went down the night before and stayed at a hotel. He took the Architecture, Photography, and Cinematography Merit Badges. The classes were well done, although the Photography was a little dry at times. He has to go back next month to turn in his projects and finish some loose ends. In Architecture he has to measure his and draw to scale a plan of his bedroom. I wonder if there is a symbol for piles of dirty clothing. In Cinematography he has to make a five minute movie using the techniques he learned in class. The drive home on Saturday was interesting. We were in a thick fog from south of Dover to home. At some points the fog was so thick I could barely see fifty feet in front of the van.

Tonight we have Boy Scout Troop Meeting.

I hope everybody has a good day.

 

[bnsf971]

Looks like a slow day in the coffee shop.
I got the bad news last evening my uncle had passed away. I'll be driving from North Carolina to Northern Pennsylvania late tomorrow night for the funeral. I may wait until very early Wednesday morning to give the rain and snow that's predicted time to go away or be plowed/salted. The forecast temp for the funeral is 2. That's 2 degrees... I hope that will be revised upward between now and then. I don't think I have enough long underwear to keep warm.
And I thought it was cold here...

 

[kbkchooch]

Neat layout. Is this one your modular, or a groups?

CJ, The layout is the Four County Society of Model Engineers layout, of which I have been a member for the last 18 years or so. We had a permanent layout til 95, lost our lease and went modular from there!
The 1st 2 modules in the pic are mine (Orphan Creek and LouAnnes farm) the rest belong to various members. The pick only shows a small fraction of what was there. Even still, more stayed home than showed up! (3 of mine wont fit in my truck!) Too many of our trailers were mired in snow, mine included!! We expect to have it all out this April for the next show. Should be about 375feet of double track mainline!

You oughta come up and see it sometime! I promise, the weather will be warmer!!

 

[Secondhandmodeler]

Good evening coffee shop patrons.

Terry, sorry to hear about your Uncle.

Karl, that's a very nice layout from what I can see. Running a train that long would make me nervous!

I'm working a half day today. This morning my wife and I had an appointment in the Twin Cities for our next round of IVF. We weren't going to try again for a baby, but the Doctor made us an offer we couldn't refuse. He knocked the price down and guaranteed the results. I'm hoping things work out this time for my own sake, but especially my Wife's sanity. I don't know if she can take the let down of another negative result. I guess we're not out much of it doesn't work out. Wish us luck!

I have tomorrow off with my wife not having the day off! What am I going to do? Whatever I want! I think I'm going to plant some trees around my town project. That should help give the layout a more cohesive look. Right now it's sections of trees, then nothing. Then sections of trees and nothing again. I'm glad I made a huge batch of super trees when it was nice outside. Now all I have to do is flock them and plant them. It should be a great day off.

I hope everyone has a good night.