Come on back to the caboose and get a cup of coffee [or sweet ice tea] - Part VII

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Good morning.

It's 37 and clear. The high will be around the mid 60's and it will be partly cloudy.

Didn't get much done on the layout yesterday as I'm getting used to this new antibiotic the foot doc has me on. He said it would cause some drowsiness initially. One thing I did get done was to make up a load for my 50' D&RGW gondola. It's several loco axles, some tin sheets, a bunch of knuckle coupler clones and some assorted junk.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 11/19/2008


Wind Chill: 37°F
Humidity: 81%
Dew Point: 32°F

So Far Today
High: 38°F
Low: 35°F
Rain: 0.00"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 0mph NNE

Today High: 65 Mostly sunny in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 60s. South winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight Low: 45 Partly cloudy. Areas of fog in the late evening and overnight. Lows in the mid 40s. South winds around 5 mph.

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TomPM

Another Fried Egg Fan
Good morning folks

It was 27 F as I headed out this cold crisp morning. High today will be 37 F.

The weather for Friday and Saturday while cool look good. We have a Cub Scout overnighter at the Ashland Nature Center in Delaware. Several of the activities are outside and we are hoping that there is no rain or snow.

Another long day at work meant no trains once I got home. Tonight we have Cub Scout pack meeting.

I hope everybody has a good day.
 
L

lester perry

Good Morning every one. 26 this morning. Apparently it snowed a little yesterday everywhere around me but not here. This is wierd none of my phones are working this morning. no cell no land line and they are not with the same company. So my agenda for today is run some trains work on some trains. Thats about it. :mrgreen:
Les
 
L

lester perry

I almost forgot to winterize my camper, so I will squeeze that in some time today also.
Les
 

Brutus

Member
57 in St. Louis now, but it's going to get cold again. Truck was not done today as they found more damage to the frame and also the cab was damaged when the truck bed section flexed into it, apparently. Should be done tomorrow, they said. I'm getting used to the Ford Edge, but I still would not buy it. No trains today I think. Nice pic, Jeffrey - you did a good job with that load.
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Three cars rolled away on a side track today and slammed into a freight train on the mainline. Two tank cars of the freight train were knocked off the track. All three of the runaways derailed from the impact.


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sir james

Member
Howdy from crispy michigan 20s and 32 today.Should be 40s but not to be found. Took wife grocery shopping again today, I think I have enough money left for milk next week. Sorry no trains today but I did do PS2 golf. I guess that doesn't count.
Have a good tomorrow...S.J.
 

Chief Eagles

Active Member
Cold!!!!!! Really colder than normal for Nov. Not as cold as it gets in winter. Just went from record highs to cold. Not use to it yet. Later
 

jefelectric

Member
Evening all. Back from dinner and meeting. John F, was the engine arcing and tripping breakers? If so, that is common with MTH switches and newer engines. MTH told me to put a piece of clear tape on the side of the switch points as wheels were arcing across outer rail and center rail. If this was your problem, I like your solution. Popcorn time.

No Frank, it was just derailing. It actually didn't blow a fuse as it would stop and not short out. The flange way between the running rail and guard rail is too wide for short coupled engines, plus the fact that this particular Lionel loco has very narrow flanges didn't help the problem. These problems come up when mixing brands of trains in 3-rail. There ought to be standards for 3-rail like the NMRA has for all the other gauges. Of course there would be no guarantee that the manufacturers would abide by them if there were.
 

jefelectric

Member
This is my first time at the caboose, I am not sure but it seems that this is a no topic thread just a bunch of shooten the breeze. Which is cool, I will probably check in every once in a while now that I have been here once. For now I must say good night it is my bed time.
Les

:welcome1: Les. You guessed it right. I do try to to throw in a little train related talk now and then, but just about any topic is OK here.
 

jefelectric

Member
Brutus, I just got an email from NARP with this news.

[FONT=Verdana,Geneva,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif]New St. Louis Station now open; public invited to dedication Friday

[/FONT]
Amtrak began using the new St. Louis Gateway Station today. The station is at 15th and Poplar Streets (physical address: 430 S. 15th Street). It is adjacent to the Civic Center MetroLink station.

If you plan on using the station in the near future for travel, you should know that long term parking is extremely limited. Amtrak is working with the City to identify and install more long term parking as soon as possible.

Friday is the formal grand opening of the facility. All are invited to attend the festivities which will begin at 10:45 a.m. Friday morning.

Are you aware of this? Last time I took Amtrak to St. Louis, they unloaded you at what looked like the middle of a freight yard. It has to be an improvement.
 

Brutus

Member
John - interesting! The current/former platform is about 500 feet from the front entrance of the building where I work in downtown St. Louis. There is a highway between them, but it is elevated. Here is a picture of the yard you are thinking of an you can see the Amtrak loading platform on the left closest to the highway.

08-01-08_0805.jpg


Here is a picture from the 4th floor of the Regional Office showing the highway and you can see the yard under/through it:

06-26-07_1134.jpg


The current/former station is really a steel building just to the left of the view in the 2nd picture, out of view of the camera due to the building. So, the train locomotive would basically be straight ahead, but on the other side of the highway in this view - I can't see it, lol!

That yard is very busy and I got a lot of fun out of watching the trains on break until they put up that ramp. Now, the view is almost totally blocked from the ground floor.

I'll have to walk over and scope out the new station when it is open!
 

Chief Eagles

Active Member
Strange. Temps not dropped much from the daytime temps. Warmer tomorrow and then another Yankee invasion with COLD temps through Monday. Windy Friday so leaves will pile up again. Getting lots of pecans. Good night.
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Good morning.

It's 50 and very foggy. the high will be in the mid 70's and it will be partly cloudy.

I spent the better part of yesterday rebuilding several old freight cars. The trickiest of these was an old gondola. I have no idea who made it. The only info on it is that it was made in Taiwan. It was quite obvious that this car originally had truck mounted couplers but somewhere along the way it had been updated with body mounted couplers. Nor were the coupler pocket covers secured with screws. These were glued on so I had to carefully pry them off. As they were glued at the pin only they came off fairly quickly. Notice I didn't say easily? The horn hooks quickly disappeared into file 13 and were replaced with Kadee 148's. Reinstalling the coupler pocket cover was the tricky part as I was using Super Glue for this. I simply put the cover in place and put just a tiny drop at the back of the cover and let it flow around the sides before wicking the excess away with a paper towel. A check 10 minutes later showed that no glue got to the couplers. While I was at it I replaced the old trucks (I had no metal wheels that would fit them) with new Bachmann trucks with RP25 metal wheels. The gondola is now part of my general freight and is at this moment rolling along in 18th spot of a 20 unit train.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 11/19/2008


Wind Chill: 50°F
Humidity: 100%
Dew Point: 50°F

So Far Today
High: 53°F
Low: 50°F
Rain: 115.24"
Rain Rate: 0.00"/h
Gust: 3mph WSW

Important Message

Dense fog advisory in effect until 9 AM cst this morning.
Now through 07:15 AM CST November 20, 2008


Areas of fog are forming tonight across southeast Texas and southern Louisiana limiting visibility in some locations to less than 1/4 mile. Visibility will vary through the morning hours finally improving after sunrise. Motorist and Marine interest should use caution while operating vehicles and Marine craft as visibility will drop to near zero in some locations. Remember that school children will be out from 7 AM onward unto the school bell.

Rest Of Today High: 75 Mostly sunny early in the morning then becoming partly cloudy. Areas of fog early in the morning. Highs in the mid 70s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight Low: 40 Partly cloudy. Lows around 40. North winds 10 to 20 mph.

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TomPM

Another Fried Egg Fan
Good morning folks

It was 33 F as I headed out this morning. I ran into an intense snow squall just before I got to the office. High today will be 43 F. The weather guessers are calling for a 50% chance of less than a half inch of snow overnight. I wonder if this will trigger a full blown bread and milk panic. With my luck it will since we need to get milk.

We had our Cub Scout pack Meeting last night. I managed to keep my voice through the whole meeting. This virus just will not give up. Last night after the meeting I felt horrible. This morning I woke up with aches and pains and a headache. I rarely get headaches. I am so tried of coughing.

We have to go out tonight and get some supplies for our Cub Scout pack overnighter. The overnighter is Friday night at the Ashland Nature Center in Hockessin, DE.

No trains.

I hope everybody has a good day.
 

Chief Eagles

Active Member
KISS MY GRITS!!!!!
Snow here in November is unusual. Twice in one week, unheard of. Computer forcast says snow from midnight to 7 AM. Low 33 so will not stick. Then we may have more of what we had Tuesday. Clouds blowing by with sunshine in between. Popcorn snow flurries off and on from the clouds. Later
 

sir james

Member
Good evening, Chief in the snow, close the schools. sickness in the schools already, grandma had to go p/u g.son today,he was sick, wife said about a dozen kids in the office waiting to get p/u to go home. All sick. I ran one train today just made laps but it is always relaxing to watch. Enjoy tomorrow..S.J.
 
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