Tuesday, August 25, 2026

[Raymo]

Morning  everyone. This morning's activities include having to go a couple towns over to have a Cat-scan done. This hospital is a pain in the butt to get to and park and local morning traffic is even worse. Been making slow progress with the detail painting on the lobster boat but should be done soon. Another photo from the Chicago area.

[NEMMRRC]

Howdy.

I hope the cat scan goes smoothly, Dan. That is a cool bunch of steam rollers. Might have to find some of those to model.

I have a dental appointment this afternoon. I still have most of my teeth so I should pass 

I saw this nifty GE switcher while on vacation out in New Hampshire a little over a year ago. I imagine a very small railroad could probably make a go of it with only one of these. I recall when Bachmann first released these models. They ran great and look very nice. If I'm not mistaken they came with dual motors. 

Keep it real out there.

[deemery]

A lot of highway projects in the 1920s used narrow gauge railroads (trench railroad style) to move materials.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone model a road construction railroad, although I've seen a fair number of photos.  Mostly they used 0-4-0Ts, but I think some used geared locos.  

It's a really nice day in SE NH, it got down to 58 last night, heading to 78.  I have my annual eye appointment today, which is A Very Good Thing, since she'll write the Rx for post-cataract surgery glasses.  Having to switch from reader to reader for various things, and also having a bit less clear distance vision than I expected, has been really annoying.  

The pre-arrival R&D for my laser (arrives next week) has been going well.  I drew up a little hexagonal shack, learning LightBurn.  The interface on that is in my mind ugly, it hearkens back to Windows 95.  I have to hunt to find features, but for the most part, what I need should be there.  And it can import from other programs.  I've ordered a bunch of different materials (wood, plywood, laserboard and other cardboard-like products) that should also arrive in the next week or so.

dave

[Zephyrus52246]

Morning all,

Another nice day here.  

Haircut later this morning, with a trip to the local hobby store (it's not great, they might have the Vallejo paint color I'm looking for), then the grocery store and finally the pharmacy.  

Layout work and some cleanup continues slowly.  I can't find the electric knife I use to cut the styrofoam.  

Jeff

[cuse]

Morning all,

I've got a breakfast date in a bit, then an afternoon of trains...I did a lot of goopy ground cover the other day and it should be dry enough to proceed. Clean the tracks, test it a few times and then I'll proceed to install some of the upper level scenery and pre-cut track that would make the lower tracks difficult to get to...should be a pretty dramatic day, scenery-wise...assuming all goes well with Step 1 (I've become an advocate for more soaking with glue is better over the years, so the clean up can also be a bit sketchy).

Tomorrow, MRI to see if I have a suspected torn bicep...it looks weird and was massively bruised a couple of weeks ago, but I've not lost any strength or felt any pain (I can still do daily pullups)...but something is up for sure. Best to know...then I'll be fully focused on the NNGC next week. Upon my return, it'll be all about working on my Italian as we've got a TWENTY day trip to Calabria, Sicily, Malta, and the Amalfi Coast...including the little town my grandparents came from and the nearby Mancuso Winery (Mancuso is my surname)...very exciting with a little anxious mixed in. This isn't like going to Rome or Venice, just little villages, twisty mountain roads and hopefully no vendettas between families Papa didn't tell me about . 

[deemery]

Cuse, I drove that road down the Amalfi Coast.  Cliffs on one side, cliffs down to the ocean on the other, a twisty 2 lane road with huge Italian tourbusses coming at you the other way at full speed.  White Knuckle, for sure!   Good luck with the Italiano.  I hope you get to spend time with relatives, you always get a different sense of a place when you see it with a native.

Oh, and have some gelato for me.  In Sicily, the pistachio gelato should be particularly good.  (Pistachio and dark chocolate are my 'reference flavors' for evaluating gelateria.)

dave

[jbvb]

Good morning, all. My weather (and Dan's, almost always) is Dave's, but I'm inside doing paperwork instead of outside harvesting apples and pears.  Not at the trolley museum either because waiting for someone else to get HDPE and make up some shims.  Maybe modeling this evening, but the next step is a trip to town for Post Office, bank and hardware store.

Dave, I've seen photos of early gas locomotives in use on narrow gauge building a concrete highway in the Midwest.

Jaime, that 44 tonner is on a bit of the former B&M Claremont & Concord branch in Newport NH. It seems to have lost its footboard/pilots. Sounds like it's also missing some or all of its guts  I wonder if they plan to repaint it C&C?  AFAIK B&M 44-tonners rarely, if ever ran the length of the branch.

[ReadingBob]

Morning all,

Spent the morning catching up on the news and getting my PT exercises done. After lunch I need to photocopy a bunch of stuff to take to the bank for a HELOC renewal. I guess I could scan it and upload it in their app but that would probably frustrate the heck out of me. I'll give them photocopies and let them deal with it.

I got some workbench time in yesterday. Painting figures. More of the same today. I hope.

Have a great one!

[deemery]

Morning all,

Spent the morning catching up on the news and getting my PT exercises done. After lunch I need to photocopy a bunch of stuff to take to the bank for a HELOC renewal. I guess I could scan it and upload it in their app but that would probably frustrate the heck out of me. I'll give them photocopies and let them deal with it.

I got some workbench time in yesterday. Painting figures. More of the same today. I hope.

Have a great one!

I suspect former IT people are particularly impatient with bad/frustrating IT.  I know I certainly am!  

dave

[GPdemayo]

Morning all.....

[KentuckySouthern]

Sunny and super sunny here in lower Mich. I just did my yearly propane prebuy for this winter. I used ~750 last winter. Locked in for 800 @ $1.99⁹. Same price as in the UP.

There is one of those little GE units in Escanaba at a scrap yard off of the E&LS.


Mowed yesterday so light(er) duty maybe, today. Temp ~70 btw

Enjoy all.

[BandOGuy]

Morning  everyone. This morning's activities include having to go a couple towns over to have a Cat-scan done. This hospital is a pain in the butt to get to and park and local morning traffic is even worse. Been making slow progress with the detail painting on the lobster boat but should be done soon. Another photo from the Chicago area.

Sorry aboute your hospital inconvenience.
Would it be easier to go back to your old haunt (your job) and get a Cat scan? 

[cuse]

Cuse, I drove that road down the Amalfi Coast.  Cliffs on one side, cliffs down to the ocean on the other, a twisty 2 lane road with huge Italian tourbusses coming at you the other way at full speed.  White Knuckle, for sure!  Good luck with the Italiano.  I hope you get to spend time with relatives, you always get a different sense of a place when you see it with a native.

Oh, and have some gelato for me.  In Sicily, the pistachio gelato should be particularly good.  (Pistachio and dark chocolate are my 'reference flavors' for evaluating gelateria.)

dave

I'll definitely handle that gelato request for you. I think I'll be okay driving...can't be worse than Ireland. Dumped right out into midtown Dublin, wrong side of the road, etc   I remember examining the rental (American style) and noting the scratches all over the mirrors. The agent said they were all like that and I quickly found out about VERY narrow winding roads with huge trucks coming in the other direction...scraping the tall hedges along the road got to be a common sound   Good times

[deemery]

I've driven in Boston and Madrid.  Also in Toledo (Spain), with very narrow steep streets in a car with a bad clutch (and with my mother-in-law in the back seat ) None of those compared to the terror of driving the Amalfi Coast!

In England, my big problem was rotaries/roundabouts.  Driving on the wrong side of the road took a bit of getting used to, shifting with the wrong hand was annoying.  But from rotaries in New England, I really really had to remind myself "Here you look right and go left" rather than the other way around!  I almost got clobbered twice.  The other problem I had in England was I clipped a curb at speed, blew the tire and the rim.  The rental car company charged me a boatload for that.

dave

[Raymo]

Morning  everyone. This morning's activities include having to go a couple towns over to have a Cat-scan done. This hospital is a pain in the butt to get to and park and local morning traffic is even worse. Been making slow progress with the detail painting on the lobster boat but should be done soon. Another photo from the Chicago area.

Sorry aboute your hospital inconvenience.
Would it be easier to go back to your old haunt (your job) and get a Cat scan? 

No I'm all set there. On the way back i got stuck at a R/R crossing  while a T train rolled through.  A few minutes later passed a freight on the main with the Downeaster passing it