Good evening, Jeff, Rick, Karl and Bob.  The NH seacoast got sun today, but only got a degree or two above freezing in the afternoon.  No modeling today, spent most of it at my desk handwriting holiday cards for Seashore and studying ways of dealing with Friday's switch trouble.

A little snow forecast overnight and tomorrow, but not so much as to consume the morning.

Good evening, all. High 30s and mostly sunny, but barely made it to freezing along the Gulf of Maine. I was outside a lot at the Trolley Museum, investigating a streetcar that split a switch.  Happily, alert people on the ground stopped the move before the car actually left the rails. The switchpoint definitely needs building up, but the trolley's wheels may also be out of standard.  We'll make a plan over the next couple of months, but digging will wait for April at the earliest.

No modeling tonight, but tomorrow is likely.

Given a metal or wood lathe, or even a largish electric drill held in a vise, easy enough to taper a dowel.  Comparing with the windows, I'd say maybe 4 foot diameter at the base, 3 at the top. If the building is 40 feet tall to the top of the roof overhang, the lighthouse will be maybe 16 feet tall.

Nice. Looks like the cutting volume is maybe 12" wide, 6" deep, 4" high?  I'd need to buckle down and learn a CAD design program to use something like that, but so far my old Clausing mill has done what I've needed in that department.

Good evening, all. The NH seacoast was nice this morning, sunny but never really got to 40F.  After lunch clouds, then rain around sunset. That continues,  but supposed to stop in an hour or two, then stay above freezing all night.  I just got back from a milk run to the dairy a few miles N. They make very nice ice cream and are experimenting with butter and cheese curds.

After a quick look around the Forum, up to the attic till bedtime.

Nice progress. I'm interested in refrigerator car moves, both origin and destination. 

In the 70s every night two 50-load moves behind SW1500s crossed Cambridge MA going from the PC (NYC) Beacon Park yard to the Produce Terminal in Chelsea.  Time-sensitive meat, milk and produce moves were the foundation of the B&M policy that inbound interchange cars should be at the customer or "constructively placed" ready to go to the customer within 24 hours.

Good morning, Jeff, Karl, Mr. B&O and Dan.  The lower Merrimack valley was about 8F before I saw the sun, now it's bright in a cloudless sky and 25F.  I spent a while outside this morning refilling the chickens' waterer and taking out the trash. We never had a Town Dump so when using the neighboring town's got complicated we instituted trash pickup.  Mail pickup came very early so I'll save my Seashore holiday/begging cards for after dinner during the Flying Yankee BoD meeting.

I expect to be at the Amherst Club (BigE) show too, at the FYA table and Saturday's B&M modeler's get-together.

I remember them from the Model Railroader magazines my father bought for me. They may have still been advertised when I got my first subscription, but most mentions I recall were detailing, drive improvements and conversions.

Following along, good progress  I noticed the floor beams are notched in areas around the bolsters.  Do you know if this is for wheel clearance?

Good evening, all. Just sitting down to read email etc. after all day at the HUB DIvision (NMRA) New England Model Train Expo.  Worked at the White Elephant table mostly, 3 of my items sold, 3 didn't.

I knew the basics of Pearl Harbor before, from my parents' esxperiences, but my first detailed history was Karig & Kelley's "Battle Report Vol. 1", published in 1944. Morrison's "History of USN Operations in WWII" was written later, incorporating a lot obtained from other combatant's records.

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