Week of 11/25 Lounge

[rhpd42002]

Good Evening to all the Forum Folks.
Terry had some pressing family business to attend to and he's sort of been the starter of the weekly lounge.

Here in SE, NC, We managed to get the 2 Christmas trees (a first for us) and decorations, wreaths, yard flags etc. are up. The larger one (6') is in the den where we spend 80+% of our time and a small (4') in the front, living room. LD, who works at a local rest home, bought it last year for one of the rest home residents who didn't have a tree in her room. She has no room for one this year, due to having a roomate now. Was glad to get it all done, even if it took a good part of the day to do so.
Time now for a glass or two of red wine, before going back and facing reality again tomorrow.

Hope that one and all had a good day.

[bnsf971]

Hello. The internet here is kind of spotty, and slow, but I think I can get this to post. 8.5 hours on the road, stopped off at English's in Montoursville, and chatted about the new HO C430. I am where I need to be for now. I may be able to check in later in the week.

[rhpd42002]

Terry, I hope all goes as well as it can for you and yours.

[piks]

rhpd42002 (now forever known as Mike O),

So "LD" (significant other?) works at a "rest" home? Up here, in the frozen north of Vermont, we call them retirement homes. My better half, the infamous Fran , is the director of a 23 bed facility. I am but the lowly gardener......



But the bottom line is.....I'll see your "two glasses of red wine", and raise you one.....


...that's an (oops)...a Carmenere Merlot, a "cheeky little red".

Just want to say this Rescue Forum has a nice feel to it. Like coming home. And it makes me want to invite others, like sdodge, and David Leonard.

Anyway.....Mike O....Cheers

Skip

[rhpd42002]

That is rather interesting, Skip as the facility my wife works at has a max capacity of 45 residents, though they usually run between 35 & 40. I know the owners and managers quite well, as the mother of the 2 women who run the facility was one of the Town Board members who interviewed me for the job when I was hired back in 1993!! They were in their early 20's, back then!! One of the other owners is a CPA here in Town. The facility has been built since I've been here. I'm no gardener, but I do help LD with her annual planting of assorted, potted yard plants. We don't "do" flowers. ;D
That Merlot sounds interesting. I do like various makers' Merlot's, Pinot Noir's, and some Cabernet's, plus the white Pinot Grigio's and a couple other whites I can't seem to recall at the moment.
Feel free to invite one and all to the place. Anyone who has something useful and decent to contribute is more than welcome.
I am happy to have a Crew Lounge here, so that anyone who wants to post something not necessarily related to trains, or "shoot the breeze" can do so.
That's some nice work at the Retirement Home garden.
And, I'll see your glass and raise one in a toast..... Salute'

[bnsf971]

Good morning. I have returned, and I can tell you the weather reminded me of why I don't live further North than I do. Other than that, everything went as well as could be expected for a funeral, and I hope to not have to repeat the experience for many years.
I did have to the chance to look up some old friends, and spent some time catching up on everything that had happened in their lives since the last time I went to that area.
Now, I have to cram 5 days' worth of work into the next 3 days to make up for me not being there Monday and Tuesday.

[rhpd42002]

Terry, sure glad you made it back OK.

Taking time off always leads to way too much to do when you get back.

[bnsf971]

Now that I've had a little time to rest up at work from my trip , I can tell you about the model railroad related part of my trip. After I performed my expected attendance, I stopped by and, among other things, picked up a pair of "retired" preproduction samples of a Bowser/Stewart Executive U25B, and a Baldwin AS616. Both were a bit worse for wear, but I have already made the repairs to them, and they are tooling around my layout. They are joining a pair of preproduction SD45-2's I picked up from Athearn when they had their yard sale when they moved to Long Beach. Maybe this can be a small niche of collecting. Get all the preproduction stuff I can find.
For those of you that don't know, a prepoduction engine usually is just the decorated shell, with bare frame and rolling running gear. In the case of the Athearns, even the headlight bulbs were not included. I scavenged stuff from the parts bins for the Genesis units, and ended up with a pair of sound equipped engines for less than a hundred bucks for the pair. The Bowser units had more in the box, at least for the Baldwin. It had everything, though I had to assemble most of it from the pile in the box, and the U boat was a decorated shell. It was complete, though missing a single grab iron. I put the shell on an undec running gear I had on the shelf, and again for less than $200, had a pair of top line models with DCC and sound.
Now, as for my trip up there with 43 million of my best friends, it wasn't fun. The trip back, which I expected to be easier, wasn't since I had to drive through slushy snow for the first 4 hours or so. I made it back in one piece, and actually saw more accidents this morning in the fog than I saw on my entire 1200 mile round trip.

[rhpd42002]

Terry,

That's an impressive "haul" of loco's you acquired. The fact that you have enough spare stuff lying about to get them up and running, with sound, no less, tells me your shop forces are quite adept at cannibalizing and scavenging!! ;D

Like you, I try to avoid that winter weather stuff like the plague.

[sd80macs]

I went out to NY to see the CP Holiday Train Yesterday and here are some pics of it.
Daytime pics are of the train passing through East Worcester, NY and nighttime pics are in Delanson, NY.
You can see the full set of pics and a couple videos here mgwsy.smugmug.com/Trains/CP-Holiday-Train-in-NY-11-29

[bnsf971]

Mark, I wonder what it would take to model that in HO scale? I would probably be sitting in a corner somewhere drooling about halfway through the project.