Good morning, Rick, Curt and later arrivals. The first day of the NEMTE show was pretty good, though I left late and spent a few minutes in line with my stuff on my shoulder.  Sold most of it, after a glance at the 'net I'll take a quick look upstairs for more.  Bought 3 vehicles and a crossing signal, which I will need to add gates to at some point.

Lower Merrimack valley weather is 20s, headed for 35F, maybe a snow shower tonight.

Good morning and thanks for breakfast, Curt.  Heavy overcast forecast over Metro Boston today, maybe snow flurries but clearing towards sunset.

I'm off to the New England Model Train Expo in Marlboro, MA in a bit, helping sell donations and run the White Elephant table.  I'm bringing surplus HO cars and motive power, plus a box of Lionel track and accessories I was given.  I don't know if it happens to everyone, but over the years I've been handed quite a bit of model RR stuff as an alternative to throwing it out. Now I'm making it a priority to move it along.

Good afternoon, Jeff, Karl, Pete and others who look in later. Bright sun and 25F on the NH seacoast now, much nicer than the single digits at dawn.  My eldest had joined us for a Thai fried rice lunch; after seeing him off I went to give apple cores to the chickens.  I counted 12 instead of this morning's 11! Somehow, somewhere one had hidden out through Tuesday's storm, freezing night and through this morning's count.  But she came back, a much happier outcome than I'd feared.

Bookkeeping and check writing this morning, I've already packed the model RR stuff I hope to get rid of at the HUB NEMTE show in Marlboro MA tomorrow.  Next I'll move one project to a downstairs (heated) workspace, so I can continue workbench modeling through upcoming cold nights. Working under the layout is never an issue; I always wind up sweating regardless of the temperature.

I happened to remember a 1970 comedy duo I once had on cassette. Turns out YT has the audio track of Congress of Wonders' album "Revolting".

Credited to Karl Truckload and Winslow Thrill - at least PG13

So far, I've gotten by with counting cars as they pass a point. One full-size passenger car per second is ~60 MPH, one 40' boxcar is ~30 MPH

Quote from: labdad on December 04, 2025, 06:36:56 PMTomorrow that bridge is dead sexy!
Looking forward to the final scene.
MJinTN

Autocorrupt strikes again!  I like TomO's bridge too, but forgot to mention it earlier.

Good evening, all. NW gusts roar above the trees as the NH seacoast freezes up. Today's high was 38F, 26F now, 7F forecast for sunrise. My wife is teaching Thai cooking for Adult Education a couple of towns away and I'm cooking my dinner; simple and not chewy. Still healing and feeling Monday's extraction.

I'm not aware of any photos of me shoveling snow in my bathrobe.  It's not uncommon but if I see someone spectating with a camera instead of shoveling they'll be redirected.

The morning went to fighting a credit card charge. I tried to hire car transport from an airport. No confirmation page, email or anything but the charge on my bill weeks later, and no search results for the vendor name.  First called the card company, then the airline, 15 minutes on hold, help desk told me to file it on the website.  It worked, but again, no confirmation. This afternoon mostly reading, but after dinner and a Zoom I'll move a project from the unheated attic to my living room.  Overnight lows won't be back in the 20s till Wednesday.
 

Good evening, all. The NH seacoast was sunny and up to 40F today, enough to melt most of my driveways clean after hand- and tractor clearing this morning. Now it's clear with a full moon illuminating the crunchy re-frozen snow. We apparently lost a chicken late yesterday afternoon. I counted them late in the day, but when shut in one was missing. Guessing a hawk, I'll likely find feathers when the snow melts.

No modeling yet today, maybe after dinner. But I am looking through some digitized ICC Valuation Maps that I didn't know were on a CD I got from NMRO dot org. What I've found so far gives great detail of areas I'm modeling but updated to 1975, when much of the track present in 1950 had been removed.

Good morning, Larry and later arrivals. The sun is rising into a clear sky over the NH seacoast, temperature heading from maybe 31 to 36 forecast later. Just came in from shoveling our short barn cellar driveway in my bathrobe (plus gloves, boots & woolly cap with earlaps). That gets the kid to HS and Nid to her morning class. After breakfast I'll mail the bills, then finish the long driveway with the tractor before Nid gets back.

Good evening, all. The storm continues over the lower Merrimack Valley; we got maybe 3" of snow through midday, but it's been rain, sleet and intermediate points since then. Luckily the kid got home one airport bus ahead of schedule, no thanks to PA for not plowing I-78 until mid-morning.  Tom, my condolences for your cousin.

My tooth demolition site is healing and I started relocating my wife's latest structure (which I should've done as soon as I knew it didn't fit where I first planned). More on that tomorrow, when I have sneet to scrape and bills to pay but don't plan to go much of anywhere.

Good morning, all. The lower Merrimack valley has been getting light snow for about an hour, just now got the driveway all white. My stepson jumped at the chance to spend Thanksgiving with his girlfriend, but this morning's drive to Nerk Intl. has doubtless been stressful for her parents (they would be driving her to Nerk regardless). Our part of the job is fetching him from the airport shuttle bus terminal in the next town after dark and (probably) feeding him what he didn't get all day  Until then, the day is open for model work.

Good afternoon, all. Sun is setting over the lower Merrimack valley and all I have to show for the day so far is the 5' rotary cutter put away, the 7' snowblower in its place on the Mahindra and one less tooth.  Looking over the forum now, Planning Board after dinner.  Modeling possible Tuesday depending on rain vs. snow ratio over my little patch of the NH borderlands.

Quote from: Larry C on November 30, 2025, 07:54:05 AM... Need to take the one tire off the snowblower and hopefully take it in to my mechanic for a dismount, cleaning the rust off the steel wheel then put 'er back together; he's done this for me before. Before that some bench time since the past 2 days have been a bust in that regard.

Larry, I gave up on tubeless tires for yard tools and equipment. Anything that gets low enough to break the bead while I'm not watching, I install a tube immediately. 30 years ago a two-wheel wheelbarrow broke its bead. Its wheels were held on by throw-away hat-shaped clips. Took it apart, drilled the axle for cotters, installed two tubes, scrapped the clips.  Still in service, I pump it up once or twice a year.  Bicycle tire tools will do the job, no need for anything large or expensive.

Thanks, Dave, Pete and Tom.  Newburyport is only 7 miles away, so a fair number of visitors were familiar with it. One former B&M signalman remembered the area from when it had been his territory.  It was a good day despite cold rain as sunset approached.

Today was the final day of the annual Tour de Chooch (Free, self-drive layout tour North and West of Boston, MA). I didn't ask a lot of the Eastern Route - I was busy enough talking to people that I skipped lunch. Some previous years I've had helpers to keep trains running and answer basic questions but this time it was just me and my wife, and she had to go out for a while after noon.  I saw many old friends and a few new visitors, 25 in the guest book so 30-ish total.

One youngster went away with a beginner book I didn't need anymore. Another took an MBTA equipment diagram intended as a Christmas gift for a friend who passed between the purchase and the holiday. Dave stopped by with a piece of basswood that he didn't expect to need in the immediate future. If any other visitors were members here, I didn't pick up on it.  I'm tired, but not so tired I won't go back upstairs after looking over the Forum.