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

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Sundown, Louisiana, USA


Jeffrey, HOW LONG have you been working your layout? You sure set the bar high!!
I started work on this particular layout in the summer of 2004.


Took off to Alexandria this morning for my eye appointment. Good news. The swelling in my eyes is gone and the bleeding has subsided by a good bit. The doc is quite happy and so am I. Had a breakdown on the way there though. I was about 10 miles up hwy 28 when the fuel pump suddenly quit. I pulled off onto the shoulder with a pretty good idea what was wrong. Y'all really missed quite a sight. You would'a had a good laugh watching my 260 pound body going under the back of the car. It was a tight squeeze but before I got the jack and all out I wanted to confirm my suspicion. I was right! So I got the mini floor jack out and raised the back of the car 6 inches so I could be more comfortable under there and not feel like a ham sandwich squashed between two high school history books. Here's what the problem was. About June of 2000 one of the wires going from the fuel pump to the quick connect plug behind the gas tank had broken loose from the plug. I had fixed it by splicing a wire in ahaed of the plug and joined it to the other wire with a suitcase connector. The connector has been replaced with a new one on two occasions when I had to drop the tank to install a new pump, the last being 5 years ago.(Used a cheap pump before). Well guess what! That connector had worked loose over the years and this morning the wire arced and melted the connector! I didn't have another one to put on and didn't have the time anyway so I stripped the ends of both wires and just twisted them together. The sound of the fuel pump starting up was music to my ears (it's connected through a toggle switch to the battery). I tossed the tools in the trunk and hit 70 in six and a half seconds. Not bad for a car that's running rough. The next stop was Alexandria.
 

sir james

Member
Dec 22, 2007
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mich
Good Evening, A partly sunny but cold day. Most of the snow has melted. As usual my activitys were indoors so not a lot to gossip about. Just messed with the trains a little and spent time with the tv & PS2..Enjoy tomorrow...S.J.
 

CSXect

Member
Dec 31, 2007
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:driver1:

Hope we do not lose the big 3 but if we do it is their own fault and we all will suffer for it:cry:

Can't help but wonder how the value of my Trans Am will be affected sign1
Anyone heard about the car company called Fiskers? supposedly they are wanting to get a foot hold in the American market as well as China and India automakers:eek:

Will have to broaden my search for employment the way things are going but I am trying to not get stressed about it:thumb:
 

Brutus

Member
Nov 8, 2007
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Keep up the good attitude, CSX! They just did a news story here about working on resumes and trying to find jobs that are maybe different but use your job skills.

Jeffrey, good news on eyes and all!

28 now in St. Louis. Lost out on a camelback loco on ebay, but another will come along for my price. This one was slightly damaged, too. Oh well! Wife said I didn't need to spend that money anyway, lol!

Hey Oz - sounds like a good haul! :cool:
 

CSXect

Member
Dec 31, 2007
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Brutus thanks for the encouragement. I have a wide range of skill sets from print shop /bindery work(learned everything in the print shop but the press its self) collators, saddle stitch, cutter large 2 handed and one foot cuts up to 17 x 22", folder, plate maker/developer(plates are the things that the printed image is on), various glue contraptions for making note pads and special NCR glue for forms with differnt color copies for different parties in a transaction also mastered the use of the Arty4 vinyl letter printer/ploter instead of a print head it had a xacto blade that cut out letters and numbers from reflective vinyl.

Then there is electronics 2 years at a career center in HS then straight to DeVry for Associates degree in electronics. From there 5 jobs for a total of close to 12 years hands on experience working on things from industrial controls and process instrumentation to sports medicine equipment(muscle stimulators) and Xerox coppiers yuckpeasoup

Then most recently IT grunt/helper kinda leraning as going along and microfilm camera operator.

Always open to leraning some thing new, oh yeah almost forgot took an on-line course to get a B.S. of technical management.

Something will come along......if opertunity does not appear then I will have to make my own oppertunity.
 

jeffrey-wimberl

Active Member
Oct 25, 2006
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Sundown, Louisiana, USA
Good morning.

It's 34 and raining slow and steady and there's some sleet now and then. The high will be around the mid 40's with more rain predicted.

As predicted I didn't get anything done yesterday. It's hard to work on anything when you can't see squat.

Today's Weather for:
Sundown, LA 71446-6114 12/11/2008


Wind Chill: 26°F
Humidity: 93%
Dew Point: 32°F

So Far Today
High: 36°F
Low: 34°F
Rain: 0.50"
Rain Rate: 0.12"/h
Gust: 20mph NNW

Through 6 AM...light to moderate snow will continue across southeast Texas and southern Louisiana...generally along and south of a line from Toledo bend dam to Lafayette to Marsh Island. Up to one half inch of snow accumulation is possible. Elsewhere...a mixture of rain...snow...and sleet is expected. Rainfall amounts up to one half inch but little snow or sleet accumulation are anticipated.

Today High: 48 Cloudy with a chance of rain and snow early in the morning...turning to rain by late morning. Becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 40s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph. Lowest wind chill readings 23 to 37 in the morning. Chance of precipitation 50 percent.

Tonight Low: 32 Partly cloudy early in the evening then becoming mostly clear. Lows in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph.

P1010623.jpg
 

TomPM

Another Fried Egg Fan
Oct 15, 2002
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Drexel Hill, PA
www.trainweb.org
Good morning folks

It was 39 F as I hit the nightmare roads this morning. High will be 43 with heavy rain. We are under a Flood Watch through the overnight. We could even get a period of snow overnight.

This morning was the third morning in a row where trying to get to work was a nightmare. Accidents and road closures were everywhere. Once again I had to bushwhack and back track. It took me close to an hour and a half to get to work. We have now had three morning commutes with rain and people forgetting how to drive. I dread the first snow storm.

We had Cub Scouts den meetings last night. I did get a chance to begin assembling a P2K double-decker Mather stock car.

I hope everybody has a good day.
 

cedarcreekrr

New Member
Jul 17, 2006
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Garrett, IN
csx have ever thought of teaching at a vocational high school or technical school you have a great background and experience to share with students. I have taught industrial tech and pre engineering for 34 years and would not trade anything for the experience I have had.
 

jefelectric

Member
Jul 9, 2006
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Elizabethtown, PA
Good evening,

Had guests and ran train for them last evening. My uncle was one of them, he is an ex PRR, Penn Central & Amtrak employee.

Tom, You have been having a lot of fun getting to work lately. :mrgreen: wall1

Chief, Sounds like a good time to go to LA. I assume you mean Louisiana and not Los Angles.
 

CSXect

Member
Dec 31, 2007
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csx have ever thought of teaching at a vocational high school or technical school you have a great background and experience to share with students. I have taught industrial tech and pre engineering for 34 years and would not trade anything for the experience I have had.

My Brother in law sometimes teaches technology for educators and some online classes to boot. He told me same thing about looking at teaching at vocational school:mrgreen: While working on industrial controls also worked on I to P and P to I controls and pneumatics, a lot of loop controls as well. Would like to learn hydraulics and robotics some time down the road. I still have nightmares about ladder logic and programmable controllerswall1

I once thought about being a technical writer but I can not spell worth a darnsign1
 
L

lester perry

My wife keeps saying she has a lot of Christmas shopping to do. I ask for who? She can't tell me but she still says lots to do and is hoping to finish it this weekend. She says she will never get it done. I asked again for who and still no answer. think she feels she needs to panic at Christmas even if there is no reason
 

Chief Eagles

Active Member
Sep 30, 2005
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Rolesville NC [just north of Raleigh]
Definitely has to be Louisana, he is not allowed that far away from Rosyville.
Forgot I first met you in CA. Spell checkers, not me. Read it or don't. :p Capital is under REB control. Rained like crazy all the way to DC. Now snow tomorrow AM.wall1 Well, ride the Metro in town and 4 Runner [4X4] if I have too. High dollar place but you taxpayers are "footing" my bill. :twisted: Good night. Early wake up call.
 

Brutus

Member
Nov 8, 2007
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We will get up to 50 on Saturday and then sleet/snow/ice storm for 3 day? Yuck! Son got a 2nd place ribbon on his logic circuit computer, and that's great because most of the 1st and 2nd places were obviously done by the parents and he did like 95 percent of this except for some wire-stripping. Nice pic anyway, Jeffrey, hope you get your new "eyes"soon!