Stubbornness. Old Goat! I do wear it with pride. That's why I keep coming back here and getting up in the morning. Big Jake, you asked what line? It will be the outer line on the backside and the inside line on the front side. They crossover. I don't build simple. Yes, I like it complicated. And now the dilemma that puts me in. Back story: Health related. I've had some serious vision problems. We seem to be past that. Three surgeries and Four procedures later my vision isn't perfect but I can see well enough to splice wires. So we shall see what happens next.
Reminds me of my grandparents... They would read the obituary page of the newspaper, first thing every morning, just to make sure they weren't in it! I like complicated layouts! I like being surprised where the train goes next. Just not in real life. I'm glad your vision is restored. I like the ability to choose what I don't want to see. Last trip to the eye doctor yielded a forming cataract, not yet bad enough to remove. Just something to look forward to!
Looking back. As a mortician we used to read the obituaries to see who went to the competitor. Funny how we are influenced by what drives us and our chosen careers. Give me a chance and I'll be the last man to let you down. No! I didn't say that, did i?
Reminds me of the title of Alan Alda's first book: "Never Have Your Dog Stuffed." A great read, by the way. My copy is autographed (by him, not me!).
Now we are talking about dead dogs, Alan Alda's first book, the dangers of drinking Diet Coke and the last man to let you down. Can one say this conversation has gone to the dogs? LOL Aiiyiiyii !! It's all good and okay with me. I needed a laugh. Now back to the layout. If I can get in and under the layout I will reunite some wires and get the bottom line back up and running. Then George and his sweet wife can come back and run trains. Outside is a shed that needs to be cleaned up. A back porch arranged so I can cut risers, sub-roadbed and more. So If the weather stays sunny and warm I might get some things done. Wish me luck
"BarstowRick - So If the weather stays sunny and warm I might get some things done. Wish me luck" Just realize you have dared the weather to change!
Dare I? Dare I do! The earth is cyclic but not necessarily on a set pattern. Variables can make things interesting. What might seem like a new norm maybe a repeat of something years ago. Fun to watch and guess what's going to happen next. To the young it's all new. To us olding's we've seen it before. I think we are in for one more freeze before spring can finally get here. We shall see! Pay Day. Make a list and go grocery shopping. Thank-you for all the "Likes", responses and fun we are having. A good day when everyone has fun.
Greetings from Idaho. Spring has sprung. Along with all the...expletives I can't use here...ALLERGIES!!! Pretty up North, but the Treasure Valley is beginning to remind me of the suburbs of the greater Los Angeles area. Traffic and drivers angry at all the traffic. Beautiful up North but desert like down south. Well we didn't get a Mother's day storm. Some rain but that hardly counts. We didn't get one more freeze. It did get down to 38 F. Cold enough to damage some tender sprouts and flowers. They'll be back. In the Big Bear Mountains we would say the Mother's Day storm will mark the end of winter. Usually, Mother Nature dumps an honest to the great guy, snow storm. She must have noted that they got enough snow this year. They could do without. I don't think they got one this year. She can be finicky but I won't say like who. A sexist would say! Don't you hate all the pidgeon holes everyone is putting everyone in. I thought it was bad enough when I was growing up. Today!!?? Aiiyiiyii !!!!!!! You won't mind if I don't go there. Live and let live. Anyone remember that one. Okay, I went there. Rick, trains! We talk about trains here! Did I forget something? Good News and Train News. I was on the phone with Dave B. from Big Bear Country, Ca. He was one of two good friends who helped me load the truck. He reminded me that I had some long boxes marked RXR-Rick. I'll bet you caught onto that, yep, train stuff. He thought I had track and cork roadbed in the boxes. Typical of us morticians, I started digging. Surely, I didn't say that, did I? Sure enough I found five long boxes. Now to some that might look like rifles packed away. Yeh, that could happen but not in these boxes. Sure enough I found boxes of Midwestern very pliable cork road bed. Atlas Code 80 flex-track. In bundles. If my estimates are anywhere near correct, I should have enough to restore my layout. I also found a box or two of track that some really fine guys have sent me. Thanks for that. If my eyes are settling in from all the surgeries. My new normal will hang on for awhile. It's time. Time to get the layout back up and running. As I kick myself in the rear end. Would that be good news? I think so! Later all.
I'm sure you've seen pictures of the damage the move made. Harrumph, harrumph, harrumph. My layout looks like a bunch of snail trails. Fixable.
Allergies. They hit me as well. Where I am, Rick, nature is hitting us in a different way. We had a "red ball" sunrise this morning. I do mean it was red! Heavy, heavy, forest fire smoke, with accompanying odor. Rain we were to received yesterday and last night, failed to materialize. (Even though still Spring, I hate summer type weather!) This is where the indoor hobby comes in handy. Always has for me. Might work for you, too? I spent some time this morning, in cooler temperature, sitting at my model RR workbench, and looking around the 'Net for a couple of items I am contemplating acquiring.
George, Your in trouble now. Well, not with me. I dig it when someone gives me a hard time. Grumble, grumble, mumbling to myself. What did I just call you? More news: I sorted out the track and found a bunch of early Peco Flex, better said Peco Hardened track. This stuff isn't going to flex if I force it at gun point. It's not bullet proof either. It will come in handy in stub in yards, passenger yards where straight track is needed. Then I found a box of SECTIONAL Unitrack. The only places I will use it is when hooking up Kato Bridges or moving away from a Unitrack Switch. "Stubborn old goat" quoting George, that I happen to be. I don't like sectional (any) track because they don't offset the joints. They are always obviously, directly across from each other. On the real big trains, they are offset except when you get to the switch panels. Speaking of Switches. I just got to share this. Never EVER, heard my family of Railroad Professionals, call the Switches anything else but SWITCHES. No turnout men in the ranks...either!! Back to the layout. Pretty sure there is enough Atlas Code 80 flex track to get the job done. That would be the good news. And? 3 & 1/2 boxes of Midwest cork roadbed. 1/2 box of Model Power cork roadbed that's a bit brittle but can be used in industrial spurs and the likes. Should I need to start ripping and tearing. Demolition. Reconstruction, I'm covered. Okay,more stuff to do. Later.
Not sure where you are writing us from. Sounds like California. Could be Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and even here in Idaho. Then I remembered you saying something about Montana. The trouble with all the rains is it didn't solve the problems of the already dead and dried out vegetation. I could go on as to what used to be done and isn't anymore. Do I dare mention raking out the forest and removing the pine needles, dry limbs, what we used to call fuel? Except today, we get to deal with the consequences. Cause and Affect. Fire! I hate spring and summer because of the Allergies. Heat, fires, and all those wonder...ful wind events. Like you I turn to my Model Railroading to escape it all. In Big Bear Country, I've seen flames flickering on the ridge above me and wondered why it didn't come down the hillside and take us out. We lucked out that time. Back to trains. I finally got the train room darkened up. Spent most of yesterday or should I say Monday putting up some foam board in the windows to cut down the light. It's working. Now to get some internal lighting up and over the H&P Railroad. Then I can start demolition. Like it hasn't started already. Later all !!
What? You didn't like this one. Bunch of grumpy old men hanging out here. What? You expected differently from me. It's all cool. We like what we like and we don't like what we don't like. Grumpy or otherwise.
Do you have any friends who have had cataract surgery? It is literally one of the best things that happened to me over the past five years. They don't just "remove the cataract." They obliterate that old, cloudy, wrong prescription lens inside your eye and install a crystal clear correct prescription lens. You don't feel a thing and it's done in about 20 minutes (per eye). I generally never pass up an opportunity to encourage folks where you are at. Now, back to our current topic. Rick: I no longer have any space for a layout, so I don't struggle with "what should I do." I have a huge dining room table and a double loop of Unitrack, so I can run anything I want and then just tuck it away before the next big dinner. If I need to do more, I'll build an N trak or T trak module and join a club.
Big Jake and Norseman Jack. Yes on the Cataract Surgery, and I agree it was the best thing ever. It gets complicated as both of my eyes began to show signs of Imacular Degeneration. Where the interior walls of the eye begin to swell up and separate. For now after three surgeries, and four procedures we have it under control. However, my vision isn't 100%. Present day it is cloudy in the area where the damage was done. Better then being blind. I can see well enough to drive, read a tape rule, lay track, play here on TB and chase my cat's around the house. They can do some amazing things with eye's. The only downside. Those friends of mine and myself who've had the Cataract Surgery are experiencing extreme light sensitivity. I pray for a cloudy day to go shopping and try to avoid driving at night. I've even darkened up the train room. Hoping to install indirect lighting. Later!
