Morning all.

I have a four day weekend.    Unlike Doug's nice management, ours is eliminating scheduled visits per hour.  The staff is no longer to ask if they'd like to come back later (when maybe we've caught up) and just let them stack up in the waiting room.  This and a new law from our idiot governor where kids only get 6 absences a year or they are "truant" means every kid with a snotty nose will be coming in for a note.  Then they wonder why the patients are mad they have to wait and the staff gets burned out. 

Hope to work on the layout road over the weekend. 

Jeff

Morning all.

Lazy day here with nothing planned.  

Hard to believe 9/11 was 23 years ago.  I think we'll all remember that day.

Jeff

Morning all.

I'm stunned the Patriots managed to win yesterday, unfortunately the Hawkeyes lost Saturday on a last minute field goal. 

Trip to the grocery store later this morning, otherwise no plans here for the day.

A P-47D from the airshow.

Jeff

Great work, Eric.  I've had some irritating kits (poor fit, poor instructions, etc) but never a boring one. 

Jeff

Morning all.

Saw the Big Boy yesterday, impressive under steam.  

I'm getting ready to head to work this morning.   

Jeff

What a cool small layout.  Looking forward to your rendition. 

Jeff

Morning all.

Welcome to fall.  It's 58 degrees right now to a high of 72.  

I have a meeting at work at 0700.  I have no idea how they will waste another hour of my life, but we'll see.  The only advantage is the Big Boy loco is also in Cedar Rapids today.  After the meeting, I'll find a place to watch it roll by.  

Jeff

Using two tiny dabs of glue, I placed the piece between the mainline rails to further test.  The trains have to run perfectly, scenic considerations are secondary.  I ran some diesels, big steam, little steam, light 2 bay hoppers, and several finicky passenger cars through it forward and backward, slow and at "Greg Speed"  .  No derailments.  Next the pieces will be spray painted grey. 

Jeff

The pieces were then cut and fitted.  The fitting took awhile, as I adjusted them so they first fit, then so there would be wheel clearance for the flanges . Then I added two similar pieces to bring it up to near rail height.  I tested with plain trucks and then a boxcar.  

Jeff

Next up was the road.  I used some strathmore board for this.  I already had some precut road width pieces.  I painted the track tops with some rust colored paint with drying retardant added.  I then carefully positioned the piece of board and pressed it onto the track, transferring the paint to the board.  It was easy to remove the paint from the rails with a swab.  

Jeff

Glued the track down as well as this small piece of track at the crossing before spray painting the track.  

Jeff

Morning all.

Last day of my six day weekend.  Not sure if I'll be mowing later or not.  Still working on the road crossing on the layout.  

Jeff

Morning all.

I'm off today, originally I was going to go to the Illinois Railway Museum yesterday and do things in the Chicago area today, but as I went two weeks ago and Saturday (not to IRM, unfortunately) to order/get the new van, I'm tired of driving, so didn't go.  

Fixed the detached Tortoise yesterday.  Hopefully some more layout work today.  

Trip to Costco later this morning planned as well.

Jeff

Morning all.

I slept an hour and a half late and I'm still the first one here?  Everyone must be out a Labor Day festivities.  

Maybe some layout work later.  Spray painted the track.  Time to work on the road.  

Picture of a commemoration parachute drop.   It's the 79th anniversary of the end of WW2.   Never forget.  

Jeff

Morning all.

Hard to believe it's September already. 

Hawkeyes won yesterday.  Slow start, but offense woke up in the second half.  Last year they were the worst offense in the nation, scoring an average of 14 points a game, and many of those were defensive points.  We're hoping for improvement this year. 

Need to mow the yard later today.  Maybe I'll take a short walk this morning as my broken toe hasn't bothered for the last few days. 

Will get that track painted today hopefully.

Always good to see a Zephyr preservation. 

Jeff