Monday, May 31, 2010

Time to stop the sloth...


...and I don't mean Sid from the movie "Ice Age". Been just plain too lazy to pull out the Inglenook Switching module that I've built for shows and posing pictures. Even after my beloved had built a special protective cover for it, the damage done from open storage gave me excuse enough to let it sit for over a year and a half.

Now it's time to pull it out, repair and clean it---and finish it, maybe in time for the train show in 3 weeks, by golly...

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Sunday, May 30, 2010

1Thessalonians 5:1-24


But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.

Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

Rejoice evermore.

Pray without ceasing.

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Quench not the Spirit.

Despise not prophesyings.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

Abstain from all appearance of evil.

And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.


Saturday, May 29, 2010

AHM HO scale Atomic Energy Commission helium car circa late '60s/early '70s...


...one of the more unique cars available in affordable ready-to-run rolling stock. They can fetch a nice price on Ebay if the right bidders find it, this one is another piece from the aforementioned widow's lot. I kinda like the radioactive glow produced by my camera's flash...

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Friday, May 28, 2010

Bachmann HO scale Norfolk and Western Bicentennial U25B...


...purchased to help a friend help a widow settle her husband's estate. I have purchased several items from this estate at good, fair prices---not to earn brownie points with God or to be charitable---but because I could purchase several items from this estate at good, fair prices. The blessing is that it helps a friend help a widow settle her husband's estate.

Got that? The heart---my heart---is desperately wicked enough to feign charity to cover avarice, so I do my best to glorify godly virtue in the power of Christ, all the while understanding that there are plenty of other factors in play in every decision I make.

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I repaired/replaced both couplers and gave it a new Detail Associates Nathan M5R24 5 chime air horn. After a good cleaning and lube, it runs (and growls) quite well.

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Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. ---Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Wednesday's Word, John 21


After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.

Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.

As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee? Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do? Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true. And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.

Amen.


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Honey...


...where'd we pack the SIM card reader? ...got some pictures I'd like to download....

...alas...sigh...groan...

Monday, May 24, 2010

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Pentecost Sunday...He is risen indeed...


And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.


Saturday, May 22, 2010

Bachmann Spectrum undecorated GE 44 Tonner, circa 1980s...


...one of the early ones with two powered trucks, very difficult to install DCC decoders into---but not impossible. Picked up in a five piece lot, I like how it runs, and it has great detail, an impressive effort on Bachmann's part to supply an fairly common shortline hog that was never available before except in brass. It has directional lighting, see-thru screens, and separate grabs and uncoupling levers.

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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wednesday's Word, Jeremiah 33:1-3...


Moreover the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

My layout is now set up...


For those who don't already know, I received it from a retired engineer about 5 years ago, free for the taking. I've left it as he built it, only adding to it in the style of the builder as no layout is ever truly finished anyway. My days of doing my more detailed and realistic scenery are coming to an end as time and money constraints make their presence felt, and I do enjoy the rather charming tinplate-like/architectural model appeal of his work anyway.

While all buildings are still in their boxes, I decided to add some more of my own touches to this layout. Now, I am adding and rearranging some gift and freebie trees as well as working streetlights, found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The view blocking effect of the tree clumps at eye level is already quite pleasing and I'm only halfway there. Each building will be placed once it has proper interior/exterior lighting. Cars will have working head and tail lights as well. My only wish would be to find the old gent and see if he approves.

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BTW, the Sheriff's car seen in the lower left is one such lighted car, it is wired to a crossing flasher circuit under the road. I made it from a Micro Machine vehicle, drilling for two 1.6mm LEDs that had been filed flat...



Monday, May 17, 2010

My first true layout...


...summer of 1984. Sifting through a storage unit revealed some pics I took 26 years ago when I had better eyes and a bigger budget. I started it in 1983, just before I went to NCO school. It was a single track folded dog bone that went under itself. Built it from job site scraps so I could concentrate on motive power and rolling stock. You could have had a brawl on it and it wouldn't have dinged a rail. Just before I went into Bible College in '90, I left model railroading for about 2 years and donated the whole smack to a local club. Still see bits and pieces of it all over their N-trak and permanent layout.

The Eastern Shore Line was a mythical operation that theoretically ran the length of the Delaware/Maryland/Virginia Peninsula. Locals like to think of it as the state of Delmarva. Please forgive the yellowed and grainy pictures.

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Once in Berlin Yard, we find a New Haven Pacific wondering where the heck are we?....My roads were done with 400 grit emery cloth with seams finished with plastic model putty. Once down, I'd paint the lines and go over it all with Dulcote.


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Route 113 is two lanes through Maryland. Here it is passing the ESL Berlin Yard office to the left and Harrison Hall hotel to the right. That Pacific was an Atlas product and quite a good runner, one of my best locos and capable of pulling a string of 15 cars up the 3% grade into town.

That bus was a Wiking product I picked up on a whim. When I realized how European it was, it was too late to return it, so it became my first foray into Prototypical Plausibility Stretching 101.

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The ESL's one bridge over what was since named Confederate Gap, near the town of Snow Hill, a quiet reminder of where the Peninsula's sympathies lay back then. In 1986, the remains of a Confederate soldier were found near there and buried with full military honors some time later. (True story, only the location has been changed) My bridge was built one piece at a time, in place, with trains in operation. I would glue the ties directly to the bottom of the rails and, once halfway across, removed any temporary support. A little hairy for my LPBs but, it kept the trains rolling.

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Looking east into Berlin Yard and Roswells Processing Plant....

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A glimpse of my control panel can be found in this shot, built on company time in the sheet metal shop My two most faithful runners, a Life-Like F unit and a Con Cor PA (gee, I miss them, sigh) idling at the ESL's Selbyville servicing facility. As seen on the panel, with some clever positioning of track, I was able to stuff in a 3 track mainline on a layout only 2'6" x 3'8" in size.

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The last shot shows Route 113 passing through farm country. The gray house to the right was one of my first scratchbuild projects, a farmhouse built in a crumbling condition, using cardboard and split match sticks. It is in the first picture, shown with the junkyard that grew around it. One can barely make out Bubba's puddytat standing on the railing of the house on the left. My trees were lichen spray painted dark green then rolled around in a box of ground foam, then poked onto a twig trunk. Hope you enjoyed this little excursion into my modeling past.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Joh 5:44-47


How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Saturday, May 15, 2010

We're back online...


...after a successful move. For those given to prayer I would ask that you would petition for His Wisdom in our next steps now that we are here.

On a modeling note, there was nary a scratch on anything. Even the layout survived 270 miles on its side in a 26 foot U-haul. We drove through rain that was as hard and as large as crank pins and pistons and over roads once thought only to exist in lunar landscapes. The only things dislodged were one poor LPB on a park bench and a tree...

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...both have been remounted and await further usage on a layout that is now in a more horizontal stance...