Tales From the PNW

Introduction and Glossary of terms

2010-04-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

This post will always be first and contains descriptions and terms that are regularly updated.

My parents got a divorce in 1978 and to make a long story short I had no contact with my dad for several years. In 1985 he moved to the PNW. I later got in contact with him in 1992, lost contact again and then contacted him again in 1994. From that point on he has sent me a letter each week that is a sort of diary of his life in the PNW later he started sending emails. These emails that I will post begin in 1998. Since he still lives there and does not know about this blog, and to protect his job, etc. names and places have been altered. Any spelling errors are original and left in for their comedic value. In early emails he used all caps. During the time my wife and I almost divorced his emails are only addressed to me. Due to a screw up in my mail client some posts have been lost. Starting February of 2003 he puts a week number, this number represents how many weeks till he turns 100.

It is best to start at the first post and work your way up.

Dad - Replaces my dads name when he talks in the third person.
Old Yellar - His 1978ish Chevrolet Suburban (Yellow and white).
Joyce - my Dad's ex-girlfriend
PNW - Pacific North West.
Stamp Collector - A person who collects trains but not "Seriously".
ET - a hobby shop somewhere near Seattle.
Simple - The owner of ET.
S - The owner of ET (in early letters he was referred to by name).
Bitch one - Wife/Exwife of Simple
B1 - Bitch One
fdlr - A privately owned collection of Fire apparatus (acronym not correct).
Gold Plated Platinum - Gasoline
GPPLST - Gold Plated PLatinum with Silver Trim - Gasoline
GT - Owner of fdlr.
K and R - My wife and I.
Buck/Bucky - an employee at ET
Burt - an employee at ET.
Girly Boy - an employee at ET
Troy - an employee at ET.
Captain Sunshine - an employee at ET.
AF - American Flyer
MTH - Mikes Train house (manufacturer of model trains).
Jodie - A friend of my fathers.
Charlene - another friend.
Bob C - a friend who owns a Fire Engine.
Bill C - His Brother.
Ted H - Another Friend that owns a fire engine.
Big Red - Bob C's Fire Engine.
Bill M - Another friend.

All kinds of things today, What a train layout, Storage locker bigger than my apt, Marx goodies for Jodie

2002-09-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday...............weather....What weather just another beautiful day in the PNW. Weatherman still says Sun all week.

First thing put more MTH loco's on charge, nine including my SPRR GS-4 Daylight. Look at Al's two loco's he gave me for repair. The MTH GP-38-2 I could get it to run, Al couldn't get it to run in reverse. I think the battery won't hold a charge, won't find out until Tues. The Weaver 0-8-0 switch engine wouldn't run, just make sounds. I called Weaver and talked with a tech, he suggested as I expected try a new command PCB (it has Lionel sound). Replaced the PCB and reprogrammed, that was the reason I called Weaver. I needed the code number to reprogram. The loco ran just fine, but when I talked to the tech he also pointed out the tender is where the antenna is, the hand rails, not the loco hand rails. The tender shell has to be insulated from the frame. Several of the insulators were missing, so I called Weaver back and ordered the missing parts and a command PCB. All items were free. Talking with the tech I asked him did they use any other brand of electronics ? They use QSI in special run loco's like the one for the Masonic Temple. Oh, I have one of those 0-8-0's and the reason I bought it was because it didn't have Lionel electronics. AND the tech replied smart move...............Need I say any more ?

Bob B came in with a 1946 Lionel steam engine that was shorted out. As soon as I turned the tender up side down I saw one problem the third rail roller was mounted up side down. Bob B said he thought he may have done it. The loco ran OK the problem was the third rail roller was grounding to the frame. Easy fix. Oil and greased the loco too. I wasn't going to charge for the fix, but Bob gave me $5 any way. OK by me...........

Tom A's full time mechanic / maintenance man came in to pick up a MTH oil derrick for $87. While I was talking to him I mentioned Tom was having a part made for my Crown. Oh, that would be Louise ! I don't know, Tom just said he took the part to Puyallup. Oh that is Louise, he is a real great machinist, he made the exhaust manifold for the Duesenburg. He can make anything. Gee, think I may be in good hands ????

8:35 I am stopping for supper. Baked pork chop and baked potatoes. Over three years ago Jodie gave me a electric oven and that is the best thing I have for fixing my supper and not much work for me either.

My Erie Triplex came back from MTH today. So I checked it out on the layout. I do question if I have another problem. or for some reason the battery was low. Should know more on Tues or Weds.

I even bought some MTH trains today, first in many months. Got a RailKing UPRR 125 ton crane and crane tender for $81.60.

Buck was talking to S and mentioned he was going to "let" S Jr take lunch. Lunch, that sounds like a good idea, it was 1:15 and I lost track of time, so I took my lunch and took a walk down to the lake and enjoy a really nice day.

I also painted the wye and siamese to go on the Crown. They look a lot better painted red, rather than a rust color.

After work I drove down to JP and dropped off my latest junk for the Crown. I finally have a water fire extinguisher to carry on the rig. Ted H has been on my case for not having one. The only items I still need is a hose bed cover, door handle, jump seats and safety belts, more 2 1/2 inch hose (450 ft), 5 inch double female (not what you are thinking ?)and pike pole. Well I need a first aid kit too.

Tuesday..........weather ANOTHER beautiful day here in the PNW.

I started off the morning cutting up some mild steel I found down the alley about a year ago, never know when you can find a use for it. I did........Cut two pieces one inch by eight inches long and drilled three pilot holes which I will finish when I go to JP and with some hardware I will have a pair of brackets to hold my large diameter hose clamp on the tail board.

Back to the MTH battery charge brigade, this time only seven loco's plus my Triplex. The Triplex is OK, but for some reason the battery was low after it came back from MTH.

Faked it all day with nothing to do. Al's GP-38-2 did only have a low battery.

Ran trains and talked with a few, very few customers, Tues is our slowest day of the week. Made two sales, Nick Fisher came in to pick up a bell and bracket for his MTH scale Hudson the factory sent me and he bought some LGB people and a large oiler for $27. Rich C from Janesville came in and picked up his AF Frontier set that I sold him last week for $395. Told him the story about S saying we should have priced it higher............Cause I sold it so fast. Rich just rolled his eyes.

John B called and invited me to his home Weds night to run trains on his 700 sq ft layout. This is the layout that David H rewired so John could run both Lionel and MTH with Lionel command and MTH DCS. Should be a fun time.

Wednesday.................weather here we go again with lots of Sun and high 60's.

More MTH trains go on charge, this time nine. Looks like one will get a new battery or it may have to go back to MTH with a problem.

Received a repair from Gleneden, OR for a Lionel command base system. The signal box only transmitted 13 to 16 volts, with no throttle control or any other functions. Replaced the unit and called the customer. Total of repair was $72.

The insurance company spent all day starting to unload racks of product so they could rip out the floor from the flood damage last Summer. Don't know what the cost will be, but there is a lot of work to replace the floor from a $2 mistake that started out by S being to cheap to hire a plumber to replace a washer in a faucet.

Tom A came in to pick up more goodies for his train layout. He only picked up $95 worth, one Lionel flood light tower and some misc items and light bulbs. He said he called Louise and left a message. "If the bolt isn't on the way call me".

Trains, trains and more trains...............I came home had soup for supper (Don't waste your money on Progresso soup, real junk )and off to John B's and play with trains, and I mean really play with lots of trains. John lives in the Ravenna area of Seattle in a really big old house that is really neat. The layout is located in the basement in two rooms that each about 25 ft square and off set from one another. There is a double track main line that goes all around the room and a large six track freight yards that could hold may be 400 cars or more. Then there is a second level with a single main line that also goes all the way around the room, but this track is two rail scale, not three rail. Running up there is a scale brass UPRR Big Boy and 20 metal freight cars. There is a eleven track round house with only three tracks under a roof, plus a large service facility for diesels and electrics too. We spent the first two hours trying to find out why the MTH DCS system wouldn't work. Turned out the unit had fried itself. ( I sent it to MTH Thurs morning ) Then we ran trains. David H ran his MTH Blue Comet steam engine and seven heavy weight passenger cars and I ran my BNSF GS-4 black steam engine and seven "Golden State" red and silver streamlined passenger cars. First time I have ever ran these cars, boy are they beautiful. We left about 10:30 and have plans for next week, David and I left both of our trains there. Took a lot of pixs too.

Thursday..............weather will we start off with clouds, but the Sun does shine. Weatherman is talking rain by Sunday, see I told you the good weather wouldn't last................

Back to more MTH battery recharge. This time only ten diesels and steam engines. One way be going back to MTH for a recharge problem or lost program.

Made two sales, one for $40 to GT for a MTH freight car and the other to Jim M for three Lionel freight cars for $143.

Several weeks ago Buck was asking questions about all the stuff in the back room, ref when they do the floor. I told Buck that S said T and I would watch over the people who would be moving everything out of the building. T and I decided there was a lot of stuff that could just go back upstairs and be forgotten and we sure would fill the dumpter with a lot more junk too. Buck told me he was going to be in charge................."OK General". Well Weds they moved the first load out to the storage locker in the back parking lot. Over half of the "repairs" were not repairs, but junk from upstairs T and I had been working on for store use, when ever..........Buck was really keeping a close eye on the movers, half of the case lot boxes got put in the storage locker "backwards" and I had to rearrange them so we knew what was in them. BUT remember he is in charge...............When they start the next section they will have a lot more fun 70 percent of what is on the shelves needs to be trashed. BUT hey I ain't paying the bill let someone get paid to move the junk twice for no reason..........S said the bill for the floor replacement is $31,000. All because S wouldn't hire a plumber to replace a $2 washer. More to come, I 'm sure !

Friday............weather morning is foggy and some overcast, but what a beautiful day after 10:30AM.

When I got to work, Buck was already there "supervising" ??? There was a new problem with the old floor, it wasn't just glued down, it was glued, nailed and screwed down. They had Thurs evening cut the floor in three ft squares with the idea they could rip it up. Wrong.....They had to cut it up into four inch squares to rip it up. Oh what does Buck have to do with the project ? NOTHING ! He is only there to make sure no one steals anything and because S can't "handle" any situation above a cup of coffee.

We couldn't work in the shop area, so Bert went home and I strayed on the floor most all day. T went upstairs and drove S nuts............."Go upstairs T and sort out the old track and switches". We have boxes and boxes of old track that is worthless. S says box it up and he will sell it at the Nov swap meet. T suggests he take the track to Pacific metals and sell it by the lbs. S says no way...........T put two boxes in our trash container and poured soda pop over the track so S wouldn't try and recover any. But wait there is more. There were four more boxes and if T threw them in our trash, S would fish them out. So the floor crew were going to the dump with a trailer load of old flooring and they told T he could add more to the load. So T got rid of the other four, S doesn't know it and that is just fine. We have more room for more new junk, next time S buys some.

I made a few sales $98 worth of Thomas the tank and related Lionel toy trains too. Sold a K-Line C&NWRR B unit for $145. Something else but I don't remember.

David H came in to visit and show me his how he has taken MTH RR signals and revised them electricity to operate for a by directional RR track and block control. He is doing this for John Cunningham and has John B interested too. C L came in to pay on his MTH Lay away of a Std ga train set. Jerry F came in to see what is new and ordered a K-Line NPRR B unit.

Lets go back to the floor project.............Remember Thurs ref T and I would fill the dumpter with junk from behind my desk. Well S and Buck called me to the back room and were concerned "they" found a problem. What to do with all the junk behind my desk ??? Throw 40 % away and continue on with life. S wanted everything upstairs. What ever, but I am not the one carrying any of it, my knees and ankles won't take the up and down on the stairs. So T, Christ and S moved what I don't know, and don't care. T went home early before I could find out if he was able to get rid of anything.

After over to JP and work on the Crown.........No not the problem with the broken bolt. I drilled the holes in the brackets for the hose clamp bracket and the tail board. Then stopped at True Value and picked up hardware before coming home. Oh yeah, my new Black and Decker 1/2 drive is really strong. I was drilling thru the tail board and the drill stuck and before I could let go, it wrapped the cord around the drill bit and cut the cord and nearly broke my arm. So I had to stop and repair the cord...........

Saturday.................weather more good Fall weather, with some clouds and Sun too.

On the way to work I stop at Rawley's storage in Issaquah and rent a locker bigger than my apt.............10ft by 15ft by 30 ft long with enough room outside to turn a fire engine around and back in. So for only $240 a month I have a new home for my Crown and all my junk up in Everett too. I was paying $105 for the Everett storage that was 10ft by 10ft. Bob C is going to help me move all my junk south.

First thing at work three of the bolts I bought last night for the hose clamp bracket were not threaded the full length of the bolt, so I rethreaded the bolts. Then my next project was to fix my electric drill power cord that I wrapped around the drill bit last night. Soldered the wires together and heat shrunk some sleeving on the cord.

Now to ET work...................My first customer Todd Wright from Kenniwick, WA bought a Lionel barrel roll coal dumper and 50 pieces of rubber road bed for $501.

Ran the train layout and then sold a MTH SPRR 4449 passenger starter set to a couple for there seven yr old Son as a Xmas present for $360.

Tom Regelion came in and put a MTH Premier GNRR 2-8-2 steam engine on lay away for $840. I gave him the early buy price of $759 verses catalog price of $799 and S's price of $895.

Then John M came in and picked up his Lionel NPRR two car add on passenger cars,Lionel Milw box car and a "HO" Marklin diesel loco for $502. He ordered on early buy a MTH FT NPRR A-B-A diesel set, Milw RR EP-5 power and dummy electric loco's and a CPRR box car for $1200. BUT we aren't thru..............John is looking at a MTH Premier Santa Fe 4-8-4 Northern for $1195. "You can lay it away John". So John gives me $300 as a deposit. When your hot your hot...........Dave W says yea and what does your ex wife say ? "if she knew I owned a fire engine she would be the hot one" ! Right ?

A couple in the store were looking around and I asked the lady did she need any help. "Yes, do you have a Lionel 'California Zephyr' passenger train" ? I have one pulled by a Western Pacific diesel set for $1895. This lady was a "Zephyrette". The "CZ" had only women "stewardess" and they were also a RN. So I had some questions to ask her. She was assigned to the CZ from Chicago to Oakland/San Francisco, or the entire line. Her husband was into "G" ga and I showed him that USA trains was coming out with the CZ with all three diesel sets. CB&Q, D&RGW and WP. Hopefully they will come back at a later date.

After work over to 85th and Aurora for $1.199 fuel and then stop at Fred Meyer's for Death by Chocolate ice cream. They didn't have any last Sunday evening and the Freddy's in Bellevue didn't have on Tues night when I stopped for groceries. Time to panic................

Sunday.............weather I get woke up during the night cause of rain. Lite rain on the way to church, but the Sun is shining by the time service is over.

Left for WS at 9:00AM and got home to my apt at 7:15PM. Stopped for pixs at K-Mart. Well Jodie was early for church she got there at 10:25 and a half. One of the greeters commented "Jodie you're early" and Jodie replied "Early for next week's service". So Jodie and I had a chance to talk for five minutes before the services started. After service Jodie couldn't visit long cause she was having a B'day party for Uncle John at Grannies and needed to take John home and then run to her house and pick up items and then return to Grannies. I showed Jodie pictures of John B's big train layout. Jodie was impressed and happy that at least someone has a really nice layout too. When T and I were moving junk upstairs last week I found some Marx switches that "needed" a new home. So I gave Jodie six Marx switches and a pair of Japan made switches for a "copy" of a Marx train, another item she had gotten from me when she bought my collection two yrs ago. Jodie and I shared a big hug and she was off and running once again. When she was looking at the pixs she noticed the turntable. "You want a turntable" ? Jodie says yes she would love to have one. I have one that Al R gave me, you can have it. Told her I would bring it next week. Dad loves to see Jodie smile..........

From church over to JP and work on the Crown. I finished putting the brackets together to hold the hose clamp on the tail board. Things didn't work out exactly as plAd, but I did get the job finished. From JP over to Issaquah storage and drop off junk that was in ole yeller, then head to Everett. I picked up all of the MTH and Williams empty loco boxes and brought them back to Issaquah. Bob C is going to help me move "everything" and hopefully in only two trips. Note, I said hopefully..........I also plan to do some different "things" to my apt too.

I stopped at Target to get a pad lock and a new pocket knife. I lost my knife Friday evening while at JP, and have not found it. The one I had was a gift in 1991 and a direct replacement cost $30, decided I better look a lot harder for the old one. Decided to have supper at the Ole Country restaurant in Bellevue until I saw the line. So I headed to Seattle and stopped for more fuel at you know where and then to Mr Bill's. Country fried steak was good and the second one will be my dinner some evening this coming week.

8:30 just got off the phone to Jodie. Had to tell her about the Zephyrette. She was familiar with the CZ so I knew she would be interested. She is also interested in buying some of my die cast toys too.

Well that brings another week to a close, only 2032 plus to go.

Write, call or e-mail if the mood strikes.......

Love Dad

Crown part being machined, 1931 SJ Duesenburg, Jodie makes it to church on time..............Really

2002-09-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday...............weather I wake up to a very lite rain. We even have Sun breaks too, some over cast right now.

I start off packing up a box of used Marx trains to go to a customer in Canada, when his check arrives. $107 worth.

Spent most of the day cleaning up a 1953 Lionel $29.95 freight set in the original boxes. S will get about $295 for the set. The four freight cars and tender only needs some coupler work, the engine I took apart and cleaned and oiled, replaced the smoke unit plunger.

Al R came in and spent some money. Sold him a MTH UPRR weed sprayer set which is really neat, it includes a loco made from a flat car and a old outside braced box car and includes two tanks car too. He got a few misc items for a total of $402, then returned five minutes later for a MTH bridge for another $20.

Tom A came in with a his childhood friend from Oklahoma and picked up a Lionel flood light tower, MTH signal and two I-tad devices and other misc items for $300 worth. I showed him the broken bolt from the Crown and asked if he knew a good machinist to make a new one. He took the part and said he has a friend that owes him a favor or two. Isn't it great to have friends in the right places and the right time too.

Customer came in with a 1959 AF old time frontier set in the original set box and the "bonus" add on passenger car in the original box too. I offered him $150 for the set and he took it. We should get about $350 or $400 for the set.

Tuesday............-weather another beautiful day. How about that ?

First thing clean up the AF Frontier set and get S to price it and find a place for it in the display case. I plan to sell this set in short order. Price is $395.

I finish up a box car from last week that T had sprayed with pledge. It did clean it up and S's price is $150, OUCH. Also clean up a 1948 caboose and rewire. That is the last time I am at my desk all day.

David H shows up with the MTH DCS system, but it only works with a telephone cable, not by radio signal. T tries to resolder the antenna cable, but it is so small the solder gun destroys the nylon insulation. So I call Regina at MTH and get a RA for return. I start to pack the unit up for shipment, but get many interruptions.

Customer looking thru the junk Lionel box finds a couple of freight cars he can fix, if we have a set of trucks. He ends up spending $148 on misc items and a used Lionel operating milk car.

It is 1:00PM I am going to lunch, well I got as far as the kitchen. Customer has two loco's that won't run in Lionel command. One is a K-Line Also RS-3 switcher and the other a Lionel scale Erie Pacific steam engine. The RS-3 won't run, I call K-Line tech support asking for the program number to reprogram loco. Tech says they don't use a program number...............Either the tech doesn't know or Lionel is selling some really junky crap to the other manufactures. I finally get the loco to run, but it will change direction on it own and run real jerky too. Tell the customer this one has to go back to K-Line, I can't fix it cause the unit does not have Std Lionel PCB's. When I look at the Lionel loco first thing I find is the unit has the switch in "repro" instead of "run". Customer is not a "rocket scientist" and I got S over my shoulder saying he didn't buy it from us. "Don't you have a bunch of used Lionel to over price or something" ? Run the loco and the chuff fades in and out. The infra red connected between the tender and loco draw bar is not in alignment. I can't bend the two parts into alignment the spring on the front of the rear truck won't let the draw bar drop into place. So I add three washers under the rear truck mount and that raises the rear of the draw bar and aligns the two parts. Redesigning more Lionel crap.................

1:50PM I am going to lunch and head down to the lake and enjoy some quiet time. Not many people at the lake and sure no Lionel problems to try and fix.

As soon as I get back Tom G is waiting for me, he had dropped off a Williams SPRR GS-4 that won't run. Will check that out some time Weds. Tom wants to know more about Lionel and MTH command systems and of course S has to throw in his useless two cents worth too. Tom buys a MTH freight car and some die cast trucks and other misc items for $170 worth.

M Winters comes in looking around, I had just got his two car MTH add on passenger set in. He will pick them up and a five car set on Saturday. Had to show him the new MTH catalog that had come in Monday.

Rich C the airline pilot from Janesville came in too. He wants to know what is new and I show him the AF frontier set. SOLD........Is that a fast enough sale ???He pays off his last lay away and picks up the last items and then pays on the Ives Std ga set and puts money down on the AF frontier set. T, Rich, M and I stand around and talk for the next hour, great way to finish off the day.

When I get home I change spark plugs in ole yeller, first time in about three years, got to get my money's worth. In the apt I am cleaning the grease off my hands and the phone rings, it is Al R with a problem with a Lionel loco. See Lionel haunts me at home too.

Wednesday.............weather another fine day in the PNW. They say rain is coming...........

First thing this morning T informed me S thinks he should have priced the AF frontier set a lot higher since I sold it in just one day. He told T he might have gotten more for it on e Bay or could have asked $500. T told him you only made a $250 profit on a item you paid $150 for. AND why do you think the customer bought it, he likes coming here and getting a good deal and the friendship too...............

I start off working on the repair for Tom G. The 1941 whistling tender doesn't whistle. I had worked on it several months ago. I worked on it for a hour and then gave it to T. He went thru it and it finally started working, but we are not sure why. It may be just old and tired like me sometimes. Next item is a Williams GS-4(I have worked on one of these before, nice loco.) Tom says the loco only runs backwards. I can't get it to run at all. Take the tender apart and check for broken wires, take the loco apart and check and see if the motor runs. Ask T to check the bridge rectifier. While he is checking it out the loco takes off. Then it stops running. The problem is a cut wire in the harness. So I cut the wire slip on some heat shrink and solder the wire. Put everything back together and charge Tom $25.

Next a customer from Canada, Gunther Sage a old German, got to watch those old Germans. He bought a MTH Z4000 Xfmer for $400. Ordered a new MTH CNRR F-3 A-B-A diesel units and five passenger cars for $900.

Time for lunch. Sat in the kitchen and read, didn't need to exercise my poor aching feet.

After lunch who should show up, but Tom A looking for some MTH freight cars and items to do landscaping on his layout. He told me the part for the Crown is being machined and he will it have by no later than early next week. Sure is nice to know the right people and have friends too. Tom only spent $185 this time. All the time Tom was in the store, "General" Buck was going crazy. Tom's Grandson Sn was playing with the Thomas the tank engine layout and he was carrying around a TTTE helicopter and Buck was sure he would steal it. Plus two other kids were also playing and making a lot of noise, more than Buck can handle. Six months ago Buck removed Sn from behind the big layout control panel. I was letting him run the trains, he knows all about Z4000's his Granddad has two. Tom told me Buck was lucky, "No one touches my Grand kids". I had a talk with Buck later that day, what a jerk...........

Stopped at Fred Meyer's for grocieries and I spent some money on my household. I bought a new set of silverware the old set dated to Jan 1990 and had feed a few mouths and was looking pretty back.

Thursday................weather morning is blue skies, by noon we have overcast and coming home from work we have rain.

Start off checking out a signal bridge mask that Tom A brought back that wouldn't work. It took me almost and hour to figure out the problem, the male pins in the mask would move when ever you plugged it into a socket. Super glued the plug in the mask and used it on our display and put the good one in the unit to be sold.

Didn't have anything to repair all day and didn't do much either. S did get a MTH SPRR cab forward from a customer in WV and I checked it out before we put it in the case. We sold the loco in Apr 2000 for $1350, S offered him $700 and our price is $1295. Also got a Lionel PRR T-1 back from repair, this is the loco that took a dive off the table because the electronics failed and did damage to both the loco and tender when it hit the floor. Lionel did replace both shells. I have never had a MTH loco run off the layout on the floor due to electronic failure.

Tim B came in and picked up a Lionel train set for his Son for Xmas and I sold him two MTH freight cars for a total of $320. He also ordered a MTH D&RGWRR steam loco painted in RioGrande colors for $430.

I had no sooner finished lunch and a big truck showed up with 150 boxes of new Lionel. So I did a good job of burning off my lunch real quick.

Made two sales in the afternoon, Richard P came in a picked up some layout design books and I sold him a Lionel switch like the four he bought two weeks ago for a total of $87. I may still get the piano, since I will have room in my new storage locker, just don't know when I am moving at this time. Other sale was for $60 for misc Lionel and track products.

It getting pretty bad when I look in my freezer and I find ice cream in a new flavor and I don't remember buying it. Dam Crown takes all my attention.............

Started taking orders for the new MTH catalog. Gunther Sage ordered a CNRR A-B-A F-3 diesel set and five passenger cars for $860. Tom A ordered a MTH RailKing UPRR Big Boy for $570. M Winters ordered a NYC Empire State Express Hudson and seven passenger cars for $1400 and a PRR S-1 6-4-4-6 steam engine/tender and seven passenger cars for $1600. I have more coming too.

Friday...............weather ? Would you believe we have a beautiful day. Weatherman just can't get it right ref rain or Sun.

I spent the morning checking out older MTH loco's that had dead battteries and putting them on charge, ten to be exact. Will have more next week, haven't did a battery check in over a year. Got to find something to do.

Made a few sales. Tom H bought some MTH track and misc items for $87 and ordered a RailKing BNRR GP-7 and a RR station. Sold a customer from Calif a Lionel operating brakeman box car for $93 including shipping. Sold a Canadian customer a Lionel Conrail GP-9 diesel freight set for $315 including shipping to ND ? Matt D came in and picked up a MTH N&WRR passenger car and some misc items for $67.

Tom A showed up with his wife, Susan and Tom's childhood friend from OK and his wife. "So Tom what brings you out today" ? "Oh we were just out Duesenburgen' around". He was driving his 1931 "SJ" black Duesenburg. The car is only worth a cool $ 1 million. He turned a few heads at the shop, all of the sales people had to go take a look. I took pixs. Last week end Tom had the car at a wedding to take the bride and groom to the reception hall. So many people were looking at the car before the wedding, that it was finally suggested everyone come in to the church so they could start the wedding, people were more interested in the car than the wedding couple...............Tom paid $100,000 for the car unrestored and has spent a few bucks since then. Like $2500 each for head light lens, he has more than one set, he had eight connecting rods drop forged for somewhere in the $2500 for each rod.

Saturday...............weather I won't tell you how great a day, but it was really great................

First thing over to 85th and Aurora and get fuel for $1.199 again, better than $1.399 in Kirkland or in some areas even higher.

Played with the MTH battery parade part of the day, will have plenty more on Monday.

Sold a lot of trains and took a lot of early buy orders too. Some of the high lites were $357 for a Lionel Alien train set and four weird freight cars too. Don C came in to pick up two MTH freight cars, but I ended up selling him a Lionel H-9 PRR 2-8-0 steam engine for a total of $624. He put on lay away a Lionel UPRR 4-12-2 steam engine for $1350 and did a early buy order for a MTH PRR S-1 steam engine and seven passenger cars for another $1600.

After work I decided it was to nice a day to just go home, so I drove to WS and picked up supper at MacDonald's and sat on Alki Bach at Lincoln park and enjoyed what was left of a great day here in the beautiful PNW.

I got a e-mail from the Crown club ref a few goodies for sale..............Detroit diesel 8V-92 with automatic transmission for $1500 FOB Calif plus a 1500 gpm pump and transfrer case for $1500 too removed from a 1980 Crown. Talked to Ted H about the diesel, ref installation in my Crown. Ted says it won't work cause the 8V-92 has more horse power than a 1091 cid Hall-Scott and I would also need a new drive line assembly too. Oh well it was a good idea.

Sunday...............weather what a beautiful day, great day to be driving my Crown all over town, but no the friggen thing is out of service...........Last week the weatherman said rain most all week, we got one day of drizzles. This week the weatherman says Sun and 70's all week long.......What to bet we get rain ?

Up at seven something and get my day started, shave and fix breakfast. 9:15 off to WS and drop off pixs at K-Mart and then to church. At 10:15 I decide I need to caught up on some Bible reading from last week ref our 50 day study of Jesus, and since Jodie won't arrive until 10:29 and one half I have plenty of time. 10:20 Jodie and the group arrive. Walking outside I hold out my arms to Jodie "You are ten minutes early" ! Jodie says "In the book 'Unseen Christ' one item is mentioned is to be in church on time". "I am turning over a new leaf, I don't want to offend Jesus'. As we are walking up the stairs I mention to Jodie there is one item from last week that you did that was very unsetting to me. Jodie asked what was that ? Remember you prayed to God to numb everyones taste buds ? Yes... Well it took until Wednesday until I got mine back. Jodie asked "why were you sick" ? No Jodie I was just kidding. Then we both had a big laugh. In church I sat behind her and we talked for ten minutes. Told her about Tom A and his Duesenburg and how he has a wonderful collection of old cars, plus racing cars and MTH trains too. How he is a self made millionire and now retired. She says it is great to hear about someone who has money and knows how to enjoy it and even help others too. Told her about Tom having the part made for my Crown. Once services started I sat next to Uncle John. Yes, we were sitting in the second row. After services we walked out to her car and stood and talked some more. Told her more about Tom and how his Son died at age 30 from a heart attack. He was also a race car driver and when he died Tom's wife Susan said they would not retire there Son's race car. Instead Susan learned to drive the race car and still does at age 60. Told her Tom and his wife live in a 5 million house and the Daughter in law lives next door in a $2 million house. Again Jodie said how great to hear about people that know how to enjoy life and money they have worked hard for. Told her more about my Crown adventure, ref the over heating problem and how today would be a good day to be out driving the rig. Brannan was giving Jodie a rough time about selling her trains, then she would have money to buy anything she wanted. "You know like shoes, groceries, a new car, selling the trains you would have 1000's". Jodie don't listen to Brannan you could end up buying a old fire truck like I did. She didn't think so..........As we saying good by, Jodie said she wasn't going to take Brannan advice. I pointed to Brannan, "Did you hear what your Mother said" ? No, so I repeated it. Good for you Jodie........... We gave one another a big hug and were off to our next exciting adventure in life here in the beautiful PNW..........

Came home and paged Bob C. Bob called me back and I made arrangements to meet him at his house in about and hour. So I headed up to Bothell and my reason for the trip was to find more of my fire engine equipment that was in Bob's garage. Of course we had to check out Crown sitting in Bob's drive way too. This is also a 1960 rig that needs a engine rebuild or replacement. Bob has a sick 935 Hall-Scott in his garage along with a very servicable Detroit 6-71 turbo charged diesel too. Anyway we found my large diameter hose clamp, "Scott" SCBA air mask and tank. Bob has my 5 gal pump can on another crown and so I need one too. He had a two and half gal pressureized water extinisher. We didn't know if it worked, so we filled it with water and pressureized it to 100 PSI. The gauge didn't regisiter. Then I discovered we had two leaks, which we were able to fix. Filled it and tried again, we had pressure and no leaks, but the gauge still didn't work. Just sitting there the gauge came up onits own. So I drained it and refilled it and then the gauge was working. Two other items we couldn't find in the garage. The two and a half wye and the two and half siamese. Bob didn't remember them, so I pointed out they were on the rig until he did the engine swap out at the FDLR shop. Then Bob remembered he had some items in the back of his old van. Sure enough they were in the van. So came home with more goodies for my rig. From Bob's I stopped to look at a storage locker in Kenmore, but they only had a 10 by 25 with a 9ft wide door.

Stopped at Al R's to see what was new. He had built a subway train system. Remember the two draw bridges, well underneath them he put in a subway that runs all over under the main layout on about 30 ft of track in a big dog bone in the shape of a letter "C". Using MTH subway cars they really stop at the station and announce the arrival and departure of the trains. Al gave me a "O" ga turntable that can be used with small diesels and small steam engines. Don't have any idea where I can put it, but it was free. Al also gave me two loco's a MTH and a Weaver to fix at work next week. The MTH won't reverse and the Weaver won't run period, it has Lionel electronics. From Al's I stopped at Mr Bill's.

For supper I had.................you guessed it Lasagna and a dinner salad. Couldn't find one of the deer to kill at JP ?!?!?!? R..........................

Well that brings another week to a close. 2033 plus to go.

Hope everyone is doing OK and the weather is getting better, ha ha

Love Dad

Another Lionel moment, Why the Crown overheats, two hugs from Jodie and hold her hand too. stop laughing

2002-09-15T19:54:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday................weather what a beautiful day, to nice to work and not many left with Fall and Winter just around the corner.

Before I go into the day I have to say anyone that does drugs or alcohol has never spent the week end driving a ole fire engine. I spent all day coming down from a nature high and still haven't completely recovered yet.

I started off the morning trying to restring another MTH 25 ton crane. First thing you have to figure out is how and what they did to screw it up. This one had a new problem a broken part that I had to epoxy, faster than trying to get one from MTH. Tues I will finish it, I hope.

The rest of the day I worked on a wonderful Lionel ZW Xfmer that had blown out the Mother PCB. I got if finished about 4:30, and took the rest of the day off and did nothing.

Got a nice care package from Jim Y in Lynden, WA. Three blind caps for my 2 1/2 inch discharges, two ax heads and another alum wheel chock, now I have a pair. AND when the next time Ted's Crown rolls into Seattle from Lynden there will be a pike pole on board for my rig too.

After work over to JP and check on the rig. Added water and fired the engine up and let it get up to operating temp. The engine ran OK and the cooling system is circulating. I had talked to Larry Wb and he agrees the problem is timing and carbine deposits. Added a 4 inch flex line I found in the alley at work to use for the duct work from the air cleaner and the carburetor including the clamps...What a deal.

Tuesday................weather WOW............end of sentence.

First thing I ship my MTH 2-10-0 off to Sumner, WA and then finish the ZW by calibrating the throttles verses power bricks. Finish stringing the MTH crane, what fun........S says the customer said "Bob, told me don't let the kids play with it or they will unstring it".

UPS shows up with my MTH BNSF black GS-4 finally back from repair for the third time. It works this time. Also some parts I have been trying to get for over six months.

Next repair is a 1954 Lionel steam turbine. Open the tender and find I can't fix the whistle because the field winding has a broken internal wire. Only way to fix is drill out four riveted locations and send the field back to Maryland and then epoxy back together at a cost of $45. So much for the tender. Open the loco and find it won't run. But first time for lunch and I walk down to the lake and enjoy a beautiful day, but dam I have to go back to work.

I just "played" with the Lionel the rest of the day, to nice to work hard. Ran trains and just took it easy. Of course I need to take it easy, since I have a lot of problems with my ankles, they hurt most of the time when I am on my feet, need to talk to the doctor. Couldn't be I am getting old ?

One of our electronic customers came in and picked up the MTH DCS system to upgrade it to 2.2 on line. He will have it back Weds. S doesn't like it that the MTH system can be upgraded on line, the Lionel system has no upgrade, gee what a surprise.

After work over to JP and make a stop at the hardware store to get ax handles. No luck. They suggested a hardware store in WS, will check Weds evening, when I pick up my pixs at K-Mart. At JP I check fluids and fire up the rig. Wait for it to warm up and see what I can find, ref the over heating. The engine warms up, but not the top of the radiator, oh, oh. Shut the engine down and wait five minutes. The temp comes up on the radiator, so I restart the engine and see how it runs. There was some over flow before I shut it down the first time. Shut the engine off again and start looking for a leak. What I find is not a leak, but I do find the over heating problem. A broken bolt on the fan, water pump and air compressor belt adjustment. Just need to figure out how much of a problem to remove the broken bolt.

Came home took a shower and fixed my wonderful home made potato soup.

Wednesday...............weather. WOW, a little warmer today.

I finished up the turbine, with the exception of the drive rods that were missing, S will bring them Thurs. Of course I had to take some tome to figure out why the smoke unit wouldn't work, but still show continuity.

David H came in to pick up his timing light, I had borrowed and the $100 Ted had given me to buy goodies in Tacoma, never found any. David asked me if the MTH std ga Crane was the only we had ? Yes. Box it up Bob, and I will take it home. $237 worth.

Sold $367 worth of Lionel track, a used Lionel Amtrak passenger set and a MTH trolley car to a customer that was starting to work on this years Xmas layout.

Two new customers from Spokane picked up some AF used items and new rubber road bed for $68 and $142 worth. By the time I finished with these customers it was 2:00PM so i headed to the lake and enjoyed a quiet lunch and watched the world go by. Being thankful I am a live on God's great earth, Amen......

After work I head to WS to pick up two ax handles from a hardware store in White Center. The hardware store in Newcastle had ax handles, but not large enough and cost $25 each. The store had the correct handles for only $10 each and I also got some large and small nylon tie wraps too for $27 total. Then back to K-Mart and pick up pixs from last weekend. Pics included mostly rigs and the wreck we arrived at. From WS back north to 85th and Aurora and get fuel at only $1.199.........Then over to the FDLR and who should be there, but Chief K and his wife. So I was able to give him a set of pixs of the accident in Federal Way. The accident was caused by the lady driving the Volvo. Volvo was NB and made a left turn right in front of a red car driving SB. The red car ended up, up side down in a ditch and the Volvo spun around and was now heading SB. A van driven by a woman that was towing a pick up truck, she was able to control the van and rear ended the Volvo with minor damage to the van. Four people were in the red car and two kids in the back seat had there seat belts on and didn't receive a scratch, the driver was trapped and had to removed with the jaws of life. After we left both drivers were air lifted to a local hospital. As we were rolling up with my Crown the accident had happened within just a minute or two. First rig on the scene was a AMR ambulance that had just left the scene of a aid call only six blocks further south on Hwy 99. AMR contacted Tacoma Ladder four that had been at the same aid call and requested they respond. (out side there area) As we were pulling up L4 was just arriving. Next engine was FWFD Engine 62 and then Chief K. He had seen my rig and noticed I had turned it around, but was to busy to talk with me. Gee, I wonder why ? As I said there five engines, one ladder, and at least five aid cars on the scene. So I got the rest of the story and was able to give Chief K a set of pixs that he would share with the troops. From the FDLR over to Fred Meyer's for what ??? Groceries.

Thursday..............weather another wonderful day in the Seattle area. Talking about rain on Sunday thru part of next week.

I finished up the turbine by adding the missing drive rod parts and a total of $65 in repairs.

Had a few sales, $140 for some MTH items and die cast cars to a customer from Milw, WI. Tom A came in and picked up three MTH buildings for $185 worth and David H came in and picked up some track and wire for John Cunningham for $33.

Had a problem with the MTH DCS after having it upgraded Weds. It would not read any loco, period. David looked at it and ended up taking it home and he had no sooner drove out of the parking lot when Tom Reidlion called ref the DCS. He had upgraded it, told him the problem and he says it could be a PCB had disconnected. So I called Dave and left him a message. Hour later Dave calls and says he found the problem, the antenna wire had broke off the PCB where it was soldered. Dave will return the unit on Saturday.

After work over to JP and put the axes on the rig, they look great. Took a look at the broken bolt and did drill out part of the broken bolt, may be Friday I can finish it, I hope.

Friday...................weather you figure it out...............

I worked on some odd and ends Lionel today. The first car was a 6464 series box car worth over a $100, but when I washed the car body I discovered that some one had used some type of cleaner that damaged the paint. T sprayed the car with "pledge", but if that doesn't work we have a $10 car instead of $100 one. Next a 1950 nine inch box car that also needs to be cleaned up, it has nicks, but really good paint. Both coupler assemblies are bad, at $4.50 each for a replacement I decide to find two more used one instead. S is asking $55 to $59 for one of these cars. I price this one at $45, still to much, but if it sells, that is OK. S only pays $5 to $10 for these cars. Then I have a 1953 caboose that has good paint, but many nicks too. So after I clean it up and made sure it lights up I put a $25 price tag on it. S is asking $39 and only pays $5. No profit there ?????????? I checked the computer we had only sold one in three years anyway. The last item is a 1951 Lionel crane. Once I start cleaning it up I find several problems. Boom was broke and someone patched it. The cab has broken mounting bosses and broken window frames. So I find the parts I need and will need to find another cab.

Ran trains and made two sales all day. Sold Don Byran a MTH crane and crane tender and some misc items for $167. Took $300 on a lay away for a MTH Climax logging loco for a customer in Oregon. GT came in and didn't spend a dine. He had me show him the new MTH UPRR three unit weed sprayer. Cost is $399 and S said I could let him have one for $359 early buy. He didn't bite, we are thinking he will buy one thru the mail and save tax.

Walked down to the lake for lunch again, really pretty day too.

After work over to JP and work on the rig. I had T take a look too and we decide I need to pull the fan mounting bracket and fan blades. So I got as far as breaking the four bolts loose on the fan and spraying the two bolts that hold the fan housing to the engine block. By 7:00PM I run out of day light. May get to work on it for a short time on Sunday afternoon again. Real problem I have is sore ankles, bad knees that require me to use a old pillow when I am kneeing down working on the rig and a bad back too. My right hip wants to "jump" out of joint too. I sure would like to kick the big black mexican in the ass that gave me my back injury back when I was in the ninth grade at Phx Union. He knocked me on my tail bone and cracked it, the reason why I have a constant back problem. Who's idea was it for a 60 year ole man to buy a 9 ton fire engine to work on or drive ???

Came home and finished the rest of my home made soup.

Saturday...............weather . Want to take a guess ?????

10:00PM I just got home from the ET.

I start off the morning trying to fix the 6460 crane but find out I don't have a cab, so I find a complete crane minus the boom crank. So I exchange same and putt hat one in the case at $75.

Customer calls from Canada and asked if I am still holding the Marx items from two weeks ago. Yes......He adds a pair of auto's, two PFE reefers and a stationary crane for a total of $107, will send me a check next week.

Accept a $150 deposit on a lay away that I sold to a customer two weeks ago.

Gary W came in to pick up his Lionel PRR H-9 2-8-0 steam engine from Lionel repair for the second time. When I sold it to him the loco had a bad paint job on the boiler, we exchanged that. Then he brought it back cause the rear coupler would not open. I replaced PCB's per Lionel tech support. Still would not work, I sent it back and when it came bad from Lionel it had broken parts on the loco, so I sent it back again. When I gave it to the customer and he opened the box it now had more broken parts...............He didn't want it anymore. Gee, I wonder why ? He exchanged it for a Lionel NPRR 4-4-2 Atlantic steam engine and $165 more.

Barry C came in at the same time to pick up his Lionel H 16-44 baby Trainmaster that would not work except in very strange ways. Lionel tech support says it works fine now. Wrong. Right out of the box it was shorted, running on the layout it was worst. I won't go into all the details, but to add insult to injury some plastic detail parts were broken off the fuel tank. Instead of replacing the parts they painted over them. Barry says I don't want the loco, this is the third Lionel in a roll that has failed, give me credit. He went home with a MTH UPRR SD-90 a much better loco.

Rest of the day I ran trains and talked with customers.

Coming to work Kirkland's finest had blocked off Lake Washington Blvd for bike riders, problem is they ran the bikers in a big circle and boxed in all the traffic coming onto Kirkland. It took me 30 minutes to go about two miles and finally get to the shop. Two minutes after I parked the truck there was a bad car, bike accident just two blocks away. So the police decided they really needed do a better job of controlling traffic. No kidding ? Dave H showed up at the shop with his produce truck because he couldn't get to exit 17 due to the bikers. He had parked the truck in our lot. "General" Buck had to remind David he would have to move the truck before we opened at 9:30............Right "General". Buck just has to be "in charge".

After work the ET group went to Dick B's home for a special dinner to honor Dick who passed away last Oct 25th. His wife Jan and all three grown kids had us over for a fun time and remembrance to Dick. I made sure that Jan and Chad the oldest Son heard about "General" Buck, they had heard some of the stories all ready. Plan is to later this winter start working on Dick's layout on Thurs nights, Jan will feed us to. Most likely only Burt, T and myself, may be Chris will be helping on the project.

Sunday.............weather is very overcast and expecting rain later in the day and then the next five days too.

I ate a very lite breakfast after all the food last night. Left the house at 8:15 and head to 85th and Aurora for fuel at $1.199 again, then to WS and stop at the hardware store for a grade 8 bolt to fix the Crown fan adjustment.

Jodie shows up with only Uncle John and we invite Mary R to sit with us too. Starting today and continuing for the next 50 days the church is having a special "Seeing the unseen Christ" and How His Presence Transforms Life. There will be a special dinner tonight and Jodie is chief cook on the project, so we should have a very enjoyable meal and a good time too. After church Jodie and I stood outside and talked for about 30 minutes. She had cooked a special mexican dinner last night for some friends and she had made enough food for 20 and only had six people at the party. Told her about the party last night at the Brintall's and what a fun time we had and how great there family is. This is the time of year she does a lot of catering for the ish people and is very busy. Gave her a couple of train magazines I had got from a customer, I always make sure Jodie has something to read or add to her train collection. I was telling her I had plAd to take her for a ride last week in the Crown, but when I started having the overheating problem I figured I better take it home to JP. Told her what the problem was and how I could fix it as soon as I can get to the broken bolt. As I told her I have very little help from friends when it comes to working on the rig. She commented isn't is fun having a hobby and not enough time to enjoy it. The Pastor this morning had said "Come to church first on Sunday and you will be blessed by God the rest of the day". Jodie also commented "God blesses those who attend church and praise Him on Sunday morning". I told Jodie I was going to JP and with luck I would get the part off and remove the broken bolt. Always got to say good by with a big hug for each other.

Got to JP about 1:00PM and changed into my coveralls. I removed four bolts holding the fan blade to the hub and then three bolts that held the fan housing to the engine block. Taking the housing off I was wondering why I didn't have very much adjustment to put on or take off the fan belts. Once I got the housing off I found out why. The broken bolt was not in two pieces, it was in three pieces and the fan should have dropped about four inches. Instead it only dropped about a half inch. I was able to get both parts of the broken bolt out by just unscrewing them, that made the problem a lot easier, but I do have to have the end of the new bolt machined. Hopefully T can do the job. Was cleaned up and left JP by 2:30 and came home. Will go back to the hardware store and hope I can get a longer bolt to finish the job. Jodie was right I took the time to attend church and God did bless me and make the job a lot easier.

3:45 over to WS and stop at the hardware store again. I picked up three grade 5 and 8 bolts that are six inches long. Will need to have some machine work done on them to make them fit. Can't order 1959 parts from Waukesha.

Back to church for the dinner and special evening service. When I got there Jodie and five other women were putting on the final touches for the meal. Jodie had made spaghetti and meat balls with a really special salad. ( Due to money matters, is why spaghetti and not something really fancy, but the meal was really good ) After the meal I was talking with Jodie and she said the meal was a disaster, she never did sit down to eat. Anyway she said that the kitchen has two electric ranges, but only one really works. She had put a large pan of sauce on to simmer and the burner on its own turned itself up to high and nearly burned the sauce. Jodie said she prayed to God "Please God make every ones taste buds be numb tonight". Then she asked me did the sauce taste burned ? No, it was really good. She said she hoped she had hid her mistake. She is such a good cook, but you would think she was cooking for the very first time. I will and would eat her cooking anytime, even left overs. We all were to go upstairs for the special service. "Jodie could I save you a seat upstairs in the front row for the evening service" ? Yes......but the second roll, not the front roll. ( We only sit in the front row when Jodie is really late ) Everyone was seated and still no Jodie, even the other ladies that had helped her prepare the meal. Finally Jodie showed up and I stood up to let her in. As She sat down Pastor Starks said would everyone please stand up to sing. "See Jodie I told you when you arrive at church the service begins".......... At the end of the service we all stood around the room and held hands and said the final prayer. So I got to hold Jodie's hand too and for a long time like about five minutes are more. Nice way to finish off the week end. Back downstairs we had dessert some that Jodie had baked, a new recipe for vanilla/chocolate brownies. They were really good too. When I was leaving Jodie was still in the kitchen washing a large sauce pan (with burnt spaghetti sauce) and I handed her a dish towel. "What's this for" ? To wipe your hands so you can give me a good by hug. "You mean I can't hug you with a wet hands" ? No............She also showed me where she had sauce on her white blouse from when the sauce boiled over. What a neat lady, oh you have heard that one before and will hear it many more times too.

From WS home to finish this e-mail.

This is another week down and counting 2034 plus to go.

Hope everyone is OK and the bugs don't bite.

It still hasen't rained.................

Love Dad

Tues already, lunch on Lake Washington, Crown to Home, WA, Crown and Jodie in church, WOW

2002-09-08T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Tuesday..............weather morning starts out with lots of clouds and "may be" rain. Then about 11:00 the Sun came out and the rest of the was beautiful. Coming home I did notice there is a hint of Fall in the air. Oh well 27 days this Summer of over 80 degrees is enough..................

I finish up the AF NHRR steam engine, well as far as I could. I still need a rear truck for the loco, T has to order a couple from a AF parts person.

I worked off and on all day on a 1945 Lionel 2-6-2 engine and tender. Will have it finished in the morning some time.

I made one sale for $110 worth of Atlas '"O" ga track. Ran trains and ordered more parts for my Crown.

Tony P in Calif says he has found the door handle I need and a pair of jump seats, but to hot to work on getting them out of the rig. at this time.

Coming home I stopped at the FDLR and met with Doug the NAPA man and picked up a set of spark plugs for the rig and a spark plug socket too. $19 worth.

GT came in and picked up three MTH freight cars, not on his early buy list. Total $130. He mentioned I didn't give him "early buy", I didn't mention he didn't gave me early buy on the tow job last June either. "Don't F___ me Uncle Bob". Right ????

Wednesday.............weather Boy can the weatherman F___ up we were suppose to have rain yesterday and today. Will guess what we had another beautiful day may be about 65 degrees. There is no question Fall is in the air and the temperature too.

First thing I get a phone call from a customer looking for a MTH "Aerotrain", we have one. He wants to check prices, but in ten minutes he calls me back. So my first sale was for $410.

I finish up the 1945 Lionel and call the customer, total of repair $51.

I clean up a 1950 Lionel operating cattle car and corral. Interesting thing this is a early one, and was of a better design than later ones. Later ones are hard to make work due to not having the proper rubber grommets. Part of the grommets used on the earlier ones are different and don't deteriorate.

Spent a good part of the day going thru boxes of the latest Lionel and Marx "junk" that S had bought. Boy I think I could sell S the Brooklyn bridge.

After work over to JP and drop off the new spark plugs and T gave me a white fire helmet I had found in one of the buildings. More goodies for my toy.

Came home and had chicken fried chicken that I had cooked Tues evening. T so impressed me with the idea I had to try it myself. Came out pretty good even if I do say so myself. So I sat here and wrote e-mails, talked on the phone to Ted, Bob C and Jim Y.

Thursday...................weather another wonderful day of Sun and blue skies.

First thing call MTH and order a new harness for a RailKing PRR 4-8-2 steam engine, then call Lionel and try to get some info for T ref a "G" ga steam engine. We need a schematic for the loco, and they are not available. So they faxed me a hand drawing of the area in question.

I cleaned up a few more cars to put in the display case.

Before lunch I made a good sale for $850. Customer was looking for a 1958 Lionel very cheap Alco FA-1 diesel. I had one for only $65. Plus he needed a helicopter for a operating flat car. That cost $35. Both of these items were just some of the trains he had stolen. He also bought a new Lionel PRR GG-1 electric and a GNRR snow plow to run out the sale.

Then Burt, T and I went to lunch at the lake and Burt suggested we take a ride in his 16 ft outboard motor boat. So we motored out in the lake and cut the engine and let the boat drift and enjoyed a relaxing lunch for and hour.....OOPS. When we got back we started cutting up card board boxes and Buck came out and told Burt and T we could no longer take a lunch together, but he didn't tell me a thing. So we decided that the next time we go for a boat ride with Burt we will take Buck with us and tie a long rope to him and throw him over board and go trolling for sharks and other fine fish. If we don't caught anything we will just cut the rope and go home.....................Margie and Joyce both never liked it when myself or the kids had any fun, they always tried to put us down when we were having fun. Buck isn't any different, except he thinks he is still a "general" in the army. Don't mess with Uncle Bob".

I made three more good sales in the afternoon. Customer from Tacoma who used to own a German retreatant with trains running inside is now up grading his own collection bought a MTH RailKing PRR 2-10-0 steam engine and three MTH cabooses for $590. Then he saw the Amtrak NW passenger set in the case and once I demonstrated it he was sold. He spent another $695.

Then Stan W came in and picked up his Lionel CPR SD-40 for another $401.

I think I earned my keep and had a nice boat ride on Lake Washington, even if Buck didn't like it, hey I don't care either.

Friday..............weather another beautiful day.

I didn't sell much and only some small repairs. Buck came by and told me we can't all take our lunch hour together any more.........................Sure is fun to be in K garden again at age 60. I may have to be a bad boy and belive me I can be bad. I broke one supervisor at Sperry many years ago for treating me like a kid.

Enough bull about ET.

After work I drove up to Lake Sns and met Ted at his storage locker where he keeps the KW fire engine ( the Crown is at Jim Y's in Lynden, WA) in Jim's own three bay fire house. Any way I picked up 400 ft of 2 1/2 (8 lengths) and 500 ft of 3 1/2 (10 lengths) and loaded all but one length in ole yeller and then Ted and I headed to JP and David met us there. Ted put the last length in his car. It was about 8:30 when we got to JP and it was almost 11:00PM before we got finished up and headed for home. So I now have my 3 1/2 supply line, just like Phx and 2 1/2 in the reverse bed for a attack line. Coming home on I-90 it was raining lightly, so when I got home Ted and I covered the hose bed with a blue tarp.

Saturday..............Another beautiful day that started off overcast.

Up at 6:00AM who can sleep when you have a fire engine to play with. After breakfast I took the rig over to 4th Ave South and put $20 worth of fuel in the rig. T showed up about 8:30 and we off to Home, WA. We head south on Hwy 99 and get rolling. In Federal Way we stop for fuel again, $38 worth at $1.319, I had paid $1.399 in Seattle (yes it is still $1.259 at 85th and Aurora) Three miles south and we encounter a really bad accident that had just happened. One car is up side down in a ditch with people trapped, a late model Volvo has the whole front end torn off and the lady driver is injured too. A van towing a pick up truck was also involved, the van had rear ended the Volvo. The police close Hwy 99 and we can't get thru, so I park the rig north bound and T and I walk to the wreck site. Three engine's from Federal Way, One engine and one ladder from Tacoma, and one engine from Milton and about five aid cars for all three FD's were also on the scene. The FWFD batt chief in charge was Chuck K also a FDLR member. So I took a lot of pixs including one with my Crown in the foreground. Chuck didn't know or see my Crown, but he will when I send him some pixs later. We had to make a 45 minute detour to skirt around the accident site, so we lost some times heading south. Once in Tacoma we headed across "Galloping Gerdie" on SR-16 and made about a 25 mile run on the interstate. Something I don't like to do, since I can only do 45 mph max. We arrived at Home at noon. Time for buying and swapping of fire engine goodies. I got another turn out coat, a hydrant wrench, 25 ft length of 3 1/2 to use when pumping into my Humet valve, 4 1/2 soft suction, mine is shot, and a 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 double female which will end up on Ted's KW at some point in the future. 1:00PM we head to Bay Lake to draft. We only had five rigs, my Crown, Jim D 67 KW, ex Seattle, Bill Aires 1941 ALF, a 1939 Seagrave, ex Bremerton and the 1936 Portland, OR hose wagon. There was one other rig at Home, but not at Bay Lake. The 1941 ALF "JO" 65ft aerial ladder that has been sitting for about ten years in a yard in Home. The rig is driveable and the new owner had the aerial raised and extended too. I pumped from draft two 2 1/2 lines to the Portland hose wagon. The Seagrave pumped two lines to his own deck gun, the KW pumped three lines to his monitor and the ALF pumped one hand line and one line to the Port land hose wagon too. I pumped for about and hour. From the lake I headed back to Bill M's before going home. I wanted T to see Bill's piano toys. Bill has a unbelievable collection of player pianos and Wurlitzer toys. 5:45 we leave Bill's and head for Seattle. I stop in Tacoma for more fuel at $1.239 and full up another 28 gallons. I used a little over a half a tank as of tonight. We got to my apt at about 8:00PM. A very long day, a fun day and I am very tired to after driving about a 150 miles in a fire engine.

Sunday..............weather I wake up to a overcast day and talk of rain..........NO........After breakfast and etc I go out check the rig for water and oil. ( 9:40PM I started this e-mail at 8:00PM, but have spent the time on the phone to Bill H, Jim Y and David H ref the Crown. )

I go out to check the water and oil and find I am three quarts low on oil, not unusual, but I am three gallons low on coolant. Have never had a problem with the coolant before, it was always full. Add water and fire up the rig, no leaks ? 8:45 I head to WS and make a stop at K-Mart to drop off pixs. When I come out there is coolant under the rig. Now what ? I drive by Jodie's and then straight to church. I park down the street a block away, morning service has not let out and I need to park in the big lot out back. I open the hood and find coolant coming out the overflow. Why ? AT 10:00 I drive over to church and park the rig out back and go in to say good morning to members that I know. One of the first people I meet is Jordan Ss who is a south King county fireman. I tell him I have the rig outside and he has to go out and take a look. Several people have now seen the rig and stop to ask me questions about the rig. Roger F is a greeter and he says he had seen the rig when he pulled in, but was running late and would look at it after church. 10:XX something and Roger mentions it much be about time for church services. I mention it can't be time to start, cause Jodie hadn't showed up yet. No sooner said than Jodie and the group pulled in. "Roger time to start the service Jodie just arrived". First words out of Jodie's mouth is "where is your truck, Bob" ? Oh, I parked it out back. As we were walking down the isle K N stopped me. "Bob, I was looking at your fire engine, and North ( her gifted Son) really enjoyed it, he loves fire engines. When Jodie and I sat down I asked her did she check to see if I had given her a 1949 Lionel catalog with out a cover ? She said she was running late and brought the entire collection and we could check after services. So I told her the reason she didn't see my truck was because I have the fire engine. 'Oh cool".........During service the weekend was caughting up with me, I was having a problem staying a wake, I felt like Uncle John, he always falls a sleep during services, but wakes up to sing. Great guy.

After services K stopped me again. "Thanks Bob for bringing the fire engine, North got woke early and he wasn't in a good mood, but when he saw the fire engine I told him if he would be quiet in church she would let Him sit in the front seat before going inside". Which she did........She is also the lady that wants me to do her Son's birthday. Out side it is a light rain, great I don't have a hose bed cover and my new hose is getting wet. I walk over to Jodie's car and we check to see if she has the 49 catalog, turns out she doesn't have all of her catalogs in "one place". So I tell Jodie come over to the rig and I will give her the catalog anyway. "I'd give Jodie my heart and sole", but you know that anyway........... We get over to the rig and there are kids everywhere and a few adults too. Lots of people have never seen a fire engine up close and for sure never touched one. Great Grandma Ss and Great Grand daughter Margaret are both checking out the rig. Pastor Pierre A is checking out the rig, "Hey Bob why didn't you say something before services I would have announced to the membership you had brought the fire engine"? I think I was a hit, well the Crown was.......... Even Uncle John had to climb up and take a good look, his Father is a fallen Seattle fire fighter. Jodie and I gave one another a really big hug and I held on to her and asked. "What's for supper next Sunday evening" ? Jodie was asked by Pastor A to plan the menu for the church supper next week end. It should be great. Jodie said she wasn't sure, but I will bet she already knows. So I spent about 15 minutes after Jodie left with kids and adults asking questions and watching kids climb all over the rig. It is now a very light rain and I need to get the rig home to JP. I check the coolant again and I am almost three gallons low again. I add more water and build a fire under the hood and head out. I take the low level route until I get to the WS bridge and decide it would be better to take the "high rise" instead of the low bridge which requires a steep climb to get on the bridge. Exit the WSB and run city streets until I am back at Dearborn St and take I-90 EB. EB I have a long pull once of the floating bridge, so I kick the Waukesha in the ass and we pull the grade with out problems, but the engine is really laboring hard. Take the Bellevue exit and go north and then east and pick up Coal Creek Pkwy at 116th SE and head back south and under I-90 and roll thru Newcastle and turn left at 91th SE. As I start up the finally hill into JP the rig is really laboring hard and I have to pull the hill in first gear, something isn't right............ Once at JP I park the rig and let it idle while I pull out ole yeller. Turn the rig around and back down the driveway. Off load all my junk and then park the rig inside and shut down. The rig as of last night doesn't "diesel" anymore. I am burning out all the carbine deposits. As I am off loading the last of the goodies the rig is "tooting" it owns horn ? Turned out it was because of low coolant again. Soon as I relieve pressure on the radiator it stops. So I refill the radiator with the engine running and then shut it down. What could be wrong ??????????

From JP I head to Everett and pick up a box for my MTH 2-10-0 which I have sold, then stop at H's, no one home. From there I stop at the FDLR and talk to GT for a while before going home. GT has found out I am selling my train collection and wants to buy my Triplex loco. I don't want to sell it to him, cause one he won't pay my price and two any item you sell GT he will always bug you if something goes wrong with it.

Got home at 5:30 and took a nap until 8:00. After talking with Bill, Jim and David one of three things could and will be wrong and why. Leaking head gasket, stuck thermostat, or timing is way off due to carbine breaking up in combustion chambers and 'things" are changing. The engine has never really been run hard like I did on Saturday. . All feel the last one is the real problem, lets pray that is the problem. stay tuned...........

11:00PM time to say good night.

Hope everyone is OK and this brings week 2035 plus to a close.

Love Dad

Lionel today, "Chief" is a great dog, Almost fire hose, Almost electronic ignition, but Jodie is in church on Sunday

2002-09-02T19:35:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday......................weather mostly cloudy, but we do get lots of blue patches in the sky. High today 74..

I start the morning off looking at the Lionel PRR T-1 steam engine that took a dive. I couldn't even get it to run, not alone dive off the table ???? Only thing I found was a broken wire on the rear motor. I soldered the wire and tried running the loco. It worked just fine. Ran it in both conventional and command. Only other problem I found was the smoke unit didn't work, so I changed out the command PCB. Will test run again in the morning.

"If you think no one cares about you. Just miss a few house and car payments"..........

"Why is it when parts of your body feel good" ? "Your conscience feels bad" !

Had a few customers all at the same time..................Tom T a new customer from Walla Walla, WA who paid for a LGB 0-4-0T tank engine that will be available in a month or so. He also bought a LGB six truck set of log disconnects to go with the loco he had ordered for $95. Caddy S came in and picked up a original Lionel operating cattle car in the box for $125 and ordered four new Lionel operating freight cars for $220. Barry W came in and picked up one pair of Atlas freight car trucks. He is in the process of buying anther house and plans to build a new layout.

Tuesday.................weather another nice Summer day. High today 81. The 21th day this Summer we went above 80 degrees. Sunset at 7:59PM, April 15th was the last time the sun set at that time of day.

I start off running the Lionel T-1 in command and I can't get the whistle to blow in command. Works fine in conventional. I figured out why the loco went off the table. The cruise control wasn't working. After trying six (6) different command PCB's I decide I will call Lionel on Weds. Think this one may go back for repair too. More Lionel crap.......... This was what I did until about 2:00PM Finally went to lunch and took a walk down to the lake.

Had one good sale to a Canadian customer for Lionel and MTH freight and passenger cars. $882 american about $1400 canadian.

The most excitement all day was out on the street. A lady crossing the street got hit by a car. The first lane of traffic stopped, but not the second lane. She was knocked down and was taken to the hospital. While the medics were treating her, police were directing traffic and some fool in a SUV started blowing his horn, he was in a hurry. A police officer went over to his SUV and the fool started arguing with the officer, so another officer showed up. The SUV driver took off.....................Want to bet they got his licence number and will talk with him later ?

The bank was robbed a block and a half south of us just a few minutes before the accident. Fun day.........

I finished off the day working on more AF from Tacoma. I took one look at the caboose they wanted fixed and told T the caboose in the junk box for $5 is better, so I traded and charged the customer $5 for the repair.........Next a NHRR EP-5 electric loco. T says it needs new axle bushings, they won't go for that. I clean up the cab, replace the broken horns and add four springs to the pantographs. Next make it run..............After getting no where I realize the unit is wired wrong, so T decides to take a look. We finally found quitting time.

I called Jodie about 8:30 and talked to her for short time. She was working outside. We talked about some of the e-mailed I had sent her. She really enjoyed them and was passing them on to other friends.

Wednesday..............weather another beautiful day. High today 87...............T and I did eat lunch on the lake ( you didn't know I could sit on water ? ) You should have seen the lines on this one boat, boat wasn't bad looking either.

Call Lionel and they are going to repair the PRR T-1 loco. Two many problems.

I got five loco's back from Lionel also.

I made one sale all day for $436 to Dave P for a 1957 Lionel smoking caboose, I think the price was smoking too.

I finished working on the AF EP-5. total with labor about $100, customer is not going to be real happy, but when you buy worn out junk repair costs do go up.

Don't remember a lot about Weds because after work I went to JP and after pulling the Crown out side T invited me in for a chicken fried chicken dinner and a movie "The man that knew to little" with Bill Murray. Really funny movie. Only thing I did to the rig was remove the RH battery for Bob C to pick up. I got home at 11:00PM.

Thursday............................weather another nice day. High today 75.

Start the morning off trying to get a 1958 Lionel F-3 diesel set to run. Found a lot of problems, broken wires to motor, bad solder joint to e-unit, bad horn, rusted horn relay lucky I had one from a tender to replace with, they are not available. Spent a lot of time on the unit, S will ask $495.

Got more goodies for me by UPS. Two books on fire engines and two Corgi Seagraves. 1956 "Lionelville" in red over cream with canopy cab and a 1960 cab forward "Baltimore" city FD in white with orange fenders. Have more rigs and books coming too.

Made one sale all day for $220 worth of older Lionel items and some Lionel junk freight cars to a customer from Canada.

Gary W came in to pick up his Lionel repair from warranty return. A PRR H-9 2-8-0 steam engine and tender. He has never ran the loco except to test it. Out of the box it was had paint damage, so I replaced the loco from stock. Then the rear coupler wouldn't open, Lionel tech sent me parts, but I couldn't get it to work. So back to Lionel. They found a bad wiring harness between loco and tender, plus a cracked maginet on the can motor (used for speed control). Gary wanted me to check it out before he took it home. First thing the coupler would not open, reprogrammed fixed that problem. But the box showed shipping damage and sure enough the tender and loco had parts broken or bent. AND the shipping box was missing and so were the instructions. So I called Lionel and ordered the instructions and you guessed it the loco went back again. Ramme suggested I return it since changing the broken hand rail stransions require taking the entire loco apart, plus there was other problems too. Originally I had shipped five loco's in one box with foam and styrofoam for packing. the items were well packed. Someone at Lionel used the same box and packed the five loco's in only "popcorn". UPS dropped the box and the rest is history. Speaking of history...............

Robber goes into a bank and says to the bank teller "This is a hold up give me all your money or you are geography". Teller says "Don't you mean history" ? Robber says "Don't you try and change the subject" !

Did some work on more AF for the boy's in Tacoma.

Took a walk down to the lake by myself, T and Burt drove to Seattle so T could buy some marine grade plywood. When they got back and showed me what T bought, I saw about four pieces in the alley down the street here by the apt and I didn't pick it up. Big mistake the plywood is very expensive. Oh well can't always be a junk collector or can I ?

9:00PM Bpb C picked me up and we drove out to JP and picked up the 8D battery. Bob will pick up a new one from Dyno Battery on Friday.

You met "Chief" Bob's dog. Bob says Chief likes to play catch the stick. The other day Chief decided he wanted to play using a rack. Bob says what a show as Chief tried to run around in the back yard with a rack in his mouth and running into everything. BUT don't think Chief isn't a smart dog when you read this next story. Last Sunday afternoon when Bob was at the FDLR he had Chief with him of course. Bob had kept Chief in the van while he helped GT with some maintence work. GT doesn't like anyone to bring animals to the shop. When he let Chief out to get some exercise he ran right to GT's beautiful Ford truck and relieved himself on one of the chrome wheels............GT was pissed, Chief was relieved and Bob couldn't stop laughing. "Good Dog, Chief" !

Friday............weather another what kind of day..............you guessed it.

I made a few sales, $58 for a Lionel freight car and $96 for a USA "G" ga caboose. Did put a MTH RailKing 0-6-0 switch engine on lay away for a customer. C L came in and picked up his 1940 Lionel 224 steam pasenger set that cost $600, new about $15.95 in 1940. He also bought the AF caboose I traded the Tacoma boy's for on Monday.

Worked on a AF NHRR steam engine and tender most all day and a Lionel F-3 diesel set that S wanted cleaned up for a possible customer who "might" pay $800 for a 1953 set of diesels.

Say this a few times real fast "Precious Mother Feather Plucker".

After work I drove to JP and took T out to a mexican dinner in Newcastle and we went in style, on the Crown of course. 8:45PM Bob C showed up and we installed another 8Dc battery. Now I have a pair of fresh batteries to keep the Crown rolling.

Saturday.........weather all I can says is "to nice a day to be working and not out playing instead".

Before going to Kirkland I stop for fuel at 85th and Aurora again, this time I pay $1.259 for fuel, $1.399 in Kirkland and right across the street at 85th it is $1.459...........Bet it is $1.219 in Taocma.

Made a lot of sales today. Sold $50 worth of MTH track, Three ET Trains die cast trucks for $50, Lionel sound whale car, MTH freight car, plus some misc items for $332, MTH crane and misc items for $72, MTH four NYC passenger cars, plus two books to a couple from North Carolina for $260, very friendly people, enjoyed talking with them and the last sale was different (time out for dinner, I am having liver and onions, mmm, mmm good) I sold a LGB starter set with a PRR 2-6-0 steam engine and tender plus to passenger cars to a customer that owns a scenic railway in Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies. We did a little changer rou. He wanted a sound version of the loco and so I gave him $100 off the set price and he got the better loco for a total of $450.

Off and on during the day I worked on the AF NHRR steam loco. The Tacoma boy's must think "we" are Santa's little helper with some of the items they want us to fix and make like new.

Larry Wb came in, my other Crown mechanic and he has the electronic parts to convert the rig with a new ignition system. Plan is to work on the rig early Monday morning. After work I drove up to Lynnwood and stopped at Walmart and got a ten inch buffer and polisher to work on the Crown with. I discovered when I worked on the rig before you were here I didn't do a very good job and now the rig needs to be gone over, but not by hand.............

Sunday............weather would you believe here it is the first of Sept and we have a very cloudy day. It tried to rain on the way to church, but didn't. Summer is over fast in the PNW. It stays overcast all day too. Talking about rain before morning.

Off to WS and today I am a greeter at church. By 10:25AM hardly anyone had shown up. Then when the P family arrived so did everyone else. I had four bulletons left so I handed them to Jodie and said you have to be the last people to arrive I am out of bulletons. During church I noticed Jodie was wearing a new pair of red loafers with traction tire soles. "I like your new shoes". Jodie says yea you like the color red ? Half way thru the service I noticed she had taken her shoes off. "New shoes to tight" ? Jodie says no she had worked two jobs on Saturday and her feet hurt. After church Jodie and I were talking outside and she says she finally got the Volvo fixed, it only cost her $6000. She said if she would have known it was going to be that much she would have bought another car. I mentioned she has to keep the car after spending that much money. The shop that was working on the AC system had a new problem they couldn't get the car to start. They had to have it towed to another shop, the air mass meter had gone bad, that was over $700. The shop felt so bad for Jodie they rented her a loaner car. Sunday the 15th of Sept the church is having a special dinner for the membership and Jodie has volunteered to organise the dinner and run the dinner, it should be really great I gave Jodie a new K-Line catalog and the same papers I sent you ref 9/11. She said she needed a big hug and was going home, may be to take a nap, she had a long day yesterday.

Coming home from WS I saw Dave W owner of Swedish Automotive out sweeping the curbs in front of his shop. So I stopped by to say HI. As soon as I got out of the truck he commented about "still driving ole yeller" ? Got 289,000 miles on that fine piece of mechinery. Had to show Dave pictures and tell him about my "white sports car" of course.

I came home and called the H boys to see if Ted was going to meet me with a load of fire hose. David said Ted had gone to Lake Sns to get the Kenworth and was going to the FDLR with the rig. So I headed to JP and work on the Crown. I had a different belt for the alternator, two inches shorter. Pulled the rig part way out and removed the old/new belt of only two weeks. Only way I could get the new belt over the pullies was to remove a extra bracket on the alternator. This one fits tight and I have a lot of adjustment left. Tried out the new buffer on the front of the cab and both sides. Also made a temporary drain under the rig because the front suction leaks due to a bad rubber fitting. Now when the rig is parked in the building the water drains to the storm sewer and not on the floor. Just have to remember to pull the drain anytime I move the rig outside. I put a plastic sheet on the drivers seat to remind me. 2:00PM I call the FDLR to see if Ted has arrived. GT says he left me a message at home "That Ted had run out of fuel and was not coming to the shop with the rig". We were suppose to get together and I would come home with a load of 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 fire hose for the rig. Need to talk to Ted later this week. Need to expain to him how to check fuel levels too. The gauge read a quarter, but he didn't dip the tank. Found another "fire related" goody at JP. Found a box of assorted sprinkler heads to carry on the rig.

From JP I stopped on the way home and picked up my perscription at Longs Drugs then dropped off some junk at the house before going out to eat. Went to Mr Bill's and had lasagne, a large dinner salad and a "purple people eater" shake. The menu said don't ask what was in the shake, so I can't tell you, but it was good. From Mr Bill's I came home.

Monday.............weather the morning is heavy overcast and talk of rain.

Up at 6:30 and get my day started (Bet Margie is still in BED ???) Anyway Larry Wb calls at 7:00 to make sure I am up and moving. I get to JP at just before 8:00 and build a fire under the hood of the Crown. Before I get the rig pulled out Larry shows up. I pull the rig out and open the hoods and all three side compartments near the engine. Larry removes the distributor cap and rotor, only to find out the factory sold him the wrong conversion kit. So we can't convert to electronic ignition. Suzy shows up and I have to give her the cooks tour of JP. She even takes pictures of us working and some of the animals too. May be we are the animals ??? So we go a head and change the ignition wires on the left hand distributor including both coil wires. This took about and hour or more. Larry says fire the rig up. I start the rig and check both ignitions and find out the we have no fire on the right hand side. Now what ? We check the points and the coil wire, the coil wire seems to be the problem. The coil wires goes into the coil about three inches. Try starting the rig again, now we have no ignition system at all. Larry does a lot more looking and testing and finds a further problem, some how we lost the rear coil completely. The front coil is just a bad connection. So we install the new coil and try again. We have fire once again..............It is now noon and Larry and Suzy have to leave they are going to a car race.

I take a break and run to (OK drive) to MacDonald's for a quick lunch. I have a leak in the front suction piping where it connects to the shut off valve under the rig. I try tightening the bolted flange, but can't move the nut with a three quarter drive socket. I need a new rubber gasket for the flange, but that will come later. I need to do more polishing, but my legs are hurting me and I need to sit down. I back the rig in the building and install my make shift gutter. Looking around the JP property I really should keep the tank full of water all the time. There is a lot of dry grass everywhere.

2:15 I drove over to Issaquah and go to Barnes and Noble and look at books. That was a mistake I found two great books on WTC from 9/11 that cost me $65. Like I need somehting else to read......Some parts of these books are hard to read with out tearing..........From B&N over to Chilli's for dinner. I had the chicken fried steak, corn on the cob and mashed potatos (actually baked then mashed), really good.

From there I came home in the rain, dam the weatherman was right. As soon as I get home I have a message from Ted, call him at work. We talk for and hour about why he ran out of fuel, and other subjects too. When his tank shows 1/4 it is time to look for fuel, plus he can't dip it. He lucked out he was only three blocks from storage and he had a enough scent to get the rig off the road and shut it down right away. GT ran out of fuel with APP 316 and didn't shut it down right away and had to prime the injectors to get it started, good way to damage the injectors, but hey GT is the idiot..........Ted is suppose to get a hold of me Weds or Thur ref fire hose for my rig. Ted says he has a line on a 1959 Seagrave 100ft straight frame aerial ex portland, OR that was powered by a 935cid Hall-Scott, now powered by a Detroit 6V-92 turbo charged diesel like what is in his Crown. Rig is inservice in another OR's county FD and they want to sell it to a collector.................Oh, Oh ? Ted did a dispaly with GT on Saturday over in Bremerton and there was another Ahrean-Fox on display, this one is from Kansas City, MO and now private owned by a BC in Vancouver, WA. He also owns Everett's 1914 American LaFrance pumper. GT owns the 1928 from Everett. First time they were together in over 50 years.

Well that brings another week and one day to a close. Week 2036 plus to go.

Hope you two had a good holiday week end and are doing just great.

Love Dad

Triplex may need help, it does go back, talk with Jodie, Dad is center stage at Hokum Hall

2002-08-25T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

First thing last Sunday's high was a big 74 degrees with a record high of 88 in 1991.

Monday.............weather I woke up to overcast and fog, it was cold enough that Burt, T and I didn't sit outside at lunch to cool. Didn't see the Sun until after 2:00PM and coming home the weather is clouding up. High today 69, record high 88 in 1962. Rain during the night and evening hours.

Actually I got woke up out of a sound sleep at 6:30AM because Dale A called from Calif to order more goodies and talk for a few minutes.

My first job at work was to take my Erie Triplex apart and find out why I don't have any marker or head lights and the smoke unit won't work in DCS. Friday I had taken the loco apart and found two pinched wire related to the head light, but that didn't correct the problem. The wires had worked there way in between two parts of the boiler from a steam pipe that would push on them every time the loco made a left turn. I have a call into MTH to talk to a tech. Good chance the loco will be going back.

made two sales all day.............$200 for a special order for a "S" Helper model of a "S" ga SW-1 SPRR switcher and to Dale A for $195 for a MTH Z750 Xfmer and a DCS AIU device (Accessory Interface Unit).

John B..........Came in with a MTH SD90MAC with no ditch lights. He had already taken the unit a part so I only had to find the problem. I tried turning on the ditch lights in DCS, but that didn't work. John said they were working a week ago. So I finally found the problem, a four point spring contact had one "short" lead. John was happy and he had nothing but praise for David H rewiring his layout. He really liked David and has invited David, Ted and myself over to run trains this coming Fall on Weds nights.

Rest of the day ran trains and talked with T and Burt.

"The young lady was a Wall Flower at the Dance, but she was a Dandy Lion in the Grass".

"A string walks into a bar and orders a drink. Bar tender says we don't serve String, get out. So the string goes outside and ties himself in a knot and returns. The knot orders a drink. Bar tender says 'Hey aren't you the string that was in here earlier' ? and the string replies "I'm afraid not....................."

Tuesday...............morning is foggy and clouds and cool too. I wore my jacket to work. You got to love Summer's in Seattle, you never know what the weather will bring........We didn't see the Sun until late, may be 3:00PM.

My first project a Lionel 397 coal loader that the customer says after it runs for a while it binds up. I ran the unit and could not get it to act up. So I took it apart and did find bad bearing surfaces. At some time the unit had not been oiled and motor housing and gear housing are damaged. All I could do is oil and grease it. Repair cost $20.

Next up clean up a Lionel operating dump car for the sales shelf. "Someone" with very little knowledge had worked on this one long before me. The dump body was messed up with a loose gear, dump door was misaligned and the mounting hinges were bent. The solenoid body was installed with the two wires tipping the solenoid sideways and the pin wouldn't drop. I also rewired the unit. It took about two hours to get it working and a price of $75.

Next up a 1949 Lionel SW1500 diesel switcher I started several weeks ago. I had it all apart and once back together it had a dead short. Where ? I finally figured it was in the power pick up truck assembly. It took me almost and hour to find the problem. The two screws that hold on the third rail roller assembly have a flat washer and a bushing to insulate them from the metal housing using a non metallic material. Someone had used a metal lock washer in place of a insulated flat washer. Weds I will finish working on the cab.

David H came by to pick up MTH accessories and Lionel command items to start building John Cunningham's new train layout. S my great boss is a idiot..............While I am trying to help David, S is telling him what a jerk Cunningham is for not buying large trains items from our shop anymore....................I think we all know why ???? Could it be S P_____ someone off again. Cunningham buys thru the mail order houses.

After work over to JP and check on the rig. Made sure the oil and water were OK. Then came home and took a shower and work on your e-mail.

Wednesday...........weather what a beautiful day............if I stay up till 11:15 I will tell you how beautiful a day it was, if not. You will have to take my word for it..........................High today 69, record high of 88 in 1966.

First thing call MTH and leave a message ref my Triplex.

S bought me the parts to finish up the SW-1500 switcher. His price is $295.

MTH calls me back and the tech says all I need to do is open the tender and remove the dark blue wire on pin 5 from the Aux PCB and switch it with the dark blue wire on pin 10 in the Mother PCB and the unit will work. He does suggest I order a new Aux PCB. For now just turn off the smoke units............Sure enough it works the lights come back and on and no "flashing".

Next restring a MTH 25ton crane that the customer did a nice job of tangling the boom and hook strings together. I suggested he do it himself, per the instruction book with the crane. He didn't want to learn anything new ????? It took me and hour, not the first one I have done one of these, this was the third one. Charged him $10 too.

Back to the Triplex and open the tender. Guess what no Aux PCB like the one in the loco boiler..OOPS. Call MTH back and leave another message. I find out later after lunch MTH had called back while I was eating lunch, but no one came and got me........................Stupid !

Had a good day selling trains........My first sale was to a customer in Wickfitts, OH where ever that is for $100 worth of Lionel 0-27 track and switches.

Then GT came in to pick up one MTH freight car. He went home with a MTH, K-Line, Lionel and Atlas freight car(s) for $265 worth.

Next a customer from Scottsdale, AZ who took advantage of our sale on Corgi busses and trucks for only $15 each. I had fourteen he took them all as door prices for the TCA group in Phx. $211 worth , regularly about $560 worth. S wanted to get rid of them, I did.............

Barry C came in, he is a truck driver and loves to buy trains. Could I help you, Barry ? He was interested in the MTH UPRR Propane Turbine for $695. Could I match the mail order price of $550 ? No, I could go early buy of $669. He said that would be OK, he likes to buy a train with repair service. Something you don't get mail order. So he went home with a Turbine for $728 on his motorcycle.

My last sale of the day was to William Hahn for a MTH DCS system, Lionel track and misc items for $465.

Then I had one "ball buster" at the end of the day.........Man came in looking for a Lionel gondola for a culvert unloading accessory. I have them brand new for $45 including the seven culverts. He was hoping for a lot better price........So I pointed out to him "This is 2002 not 1950". In 1956 the culvert unloader and car sold for less than $25. Today the accessory is either $100 or $200 if command equipped. He had a original, which I also pointed out don't work very good. He only paid $50, good luck, I didn't tell him we don't have parts either.............

Stopped for groceries coming home and finally after two years I remembered to pick up a new shower Cain, boy did I need one too.

Thursday..............weather another beautiful day, you got to believe me...........You believe in me. I got a neat bridge to sell you in Brooklyn too. High today 77. record high 87 in 1946.............

First thing call Jodie.......Nice way to start off any morning. We don't get to talk much in the evening anymore. I was asking Jodie how did she and Brannan end up in Calif on vacation while Evan was in Peru ? Brannan had a idea, while big brother is off to South America why couldn't "they" go someplace too. So they decided to go to Disneyland and Six flags for four day and have some fun too. Except Evan isn't having as much fun. He is on a work program to help a youth group build a church or something........Oh well. Brannan is building a computer from scratch with Jodie's help. Some kind of a project for "our" church group. Jodie said Evan was not happy when he heard Brannan was building a computer and started putting him down, saying he was to stupid to understand computers etc. Jodie says she is going to have a talk with Evan when he gets back home, she doesn't approve of negative talk like that...Jodie's Granny turned 94 over the week end, but Jodie says granny is really slowing down and she doesn't expect her to live much longer. She is now confined to a wheelchair full time and Jodie says she is having many more medical problems. Jodie is still having problems with the Volvo and the AC unit. Friends have been telling her to buy a new car. She has my idea of a new car...........What do we use for money ???? We wished one another a good day and a good weekend and we should see one another on Sunday at church.

Call MTH and leave a message...........

Bob you are requested to run trains for new customers. I get a call from Dale A and he wants to know if S will take $1800 (price is $2000) for the Lionel Santa Fe "anniversary" passenger set. S says yes, plus shipping. SOLD. So I box the set up and it weights 44 lbs. Later in the day, Dale calls me back and says charge the amount to two credit cards and ship.

MTH calls me back and the tech says he forgot the Triplex does not have a Aux PCB in the tender only in the loco. I have a damaged Mother PCB and he can send me one. I point out we are not a authorized MTH repair shop. He says he can still send me the PCB. I suggest I send it back, the unit is under warranty and since it is mine I want to be sure it is done right.

Lunch time I sat outside and read, but it was such a nice day I took a walk down to the lake and really enjoy the weather and the view two ( young ladies and the mother nature too. )

The rest of the day I worked on some AF repairs from one of our two Flyer buddies in Tacoma. They buy junk and then want us to make it like new again. In some cases they pay more for the repair work than what the item would cost if they just bought a used one from us. So T and I will be busy for a while, we have two boxes full of items.

Friday.............weather, dam another beautiful day and a little warmer too.....76 ???

First thing over to Discount Tires and have them check the right rear tire. Steel belt is showing. With 45000 miles on the tire replacement is $20. I have a spare that is about 20 years old and at some point in time Joyce had picked up a screw driver in the tire. So for a total of $104 I got two new front tires, the front tires moved to the rear (Got those in 04/2002) and made the left rear a spare ( one year old) So for the first time in almost twenty years all five tires match. Now I am set for another 80,000 miles................

Worked on a few more AF freight cars off and on during the day. T has decided we need to talk to the "boys" in Tacoma, ref how and what they want repaired in AF. They don't seem to understand AF went out of business in 1967. We can't call the factory and order "Anything" they want, and there is a limited amount of repro parts too.

Had only three sales all day.............$45 MTH RailKing B&ORR passenger car going to Vancouver, WA. Richard P came in with some old sheet music for T and questions for me, ref Lionel command. (Parke's owns the piano) He went home with four used Lionel "O" ga switches, a used 40 watt Xfmer and 45 ft of three conductor wire for $167. My last sale was for a Lionel SRR caboose to a lady from Portland for $27. "JUNK".

Ran trains and talked with customers, ate my lunch with Burt and T down at the lake and watched the pretty young things in bikinis. OH DEAR.....................One customer brought in a Lionel LionMaster PRR T-1 with problems, including it ran off the table. You got to love Lionel and how well they handle ?????????????

After work over to JP and drop off some items to put on the Crown. Two nice wooden boxes to hold "brass goodies" and a roll of aluminum foil for future manifold baking. Replaced the only not working light on the rig, right rear hose pick up light. Even all the compartment lights work, what a rig.........

Saturday................weather another nice day. High today 78, record high of 88 in 1982.

On the way to work I go out of my way to get fuel. In Kirkland fuel is $1.439 verses $1.299 in north Seattle. So over to 85th and Aurora, then back across the SR-520 bridge to work.

Had a few sales today, sold a pair of MTH 0-31 switches and some track to one customer for $127. another customer bought a MTH RailKing CPRR SD-90 diesel, 80 watt Lionel Xfmer and a video tape for $340. Harry P came in to pick up a pair of Lionel NPRR passenger cars and a Lionel command base for $362. Harry has a problem with his Lionel loco's when not running in command, tR is he is not very happy with Lionel performance. If the command base does not improve the situation he says he will not buy anymore Lionel loco's..... Larry Wb came in and picked up his eight car set of MTH passenger cars for the black BNSFRR "GS-4" loco at a cost of $446. Don C and his wife came in and picked up a MTH D&RGWRR 250ton crane and crane tender for $140. Alex Ocenberg came in to pick up a coal loader repair and had two items for me to look at. A MTH passenger car with two bent axles, cause as he put it, his wife was the cause of the accident when she put her toy people to close to the tracks and the car landed on the floor. The MTH T&PRR steam engine that had to many chuffs per revolution. I reprogrammed the loco to fix it. "Do you have passenger cars for the loco" ? NO. "Would you like a set" ? I had a set I wanted to sell and he liked the price. So he went home with six cars and I got another $150 for the Crown fund. Only customers I didn't see was the "gasoline twins", P and Winters. (they both manage gas stations) No Don B either.

After work Burt and I loaded a very nice 4 x 8 ft sheet of plywood with a 2 x 4 inch frame on the top of ole yeller that I found in the alley from ET Trains. I have two uses for the plywood, one to use as a train layout and two as a platform to load hose on the Crown at JP, so it won't get dirty from just laying on the ground.

Supper tonight was a "Jodie special" just ice cream, two favors.

Sunday................weather would you believe overcast all day long ? Well it was................

Up at 7:15 and get a slow start to my day. Off to WS about 9:30 and go to church. Jodie didn't show up, so on the way back from church I stopped by the house. Brannan said she had to work.

I stayed in WS all day long, cause I was going to Hokum Hall at 3:00PM. First stop was at K-Mart and pick up a pair of loafers to wear around the house. The present pair is about ten years and have been falling apart for several years now. K-Mart had a special on shoes any pair for $14.95 or $19.95 were on sale for $9. They also had T-shirts and briefs on sale for a $1 each so I got 12 shirts and six briefs too.

Next stop over to Lincoln Park and take a walk and sit on the beach and read until 2:00PM. Then a slow ride back to Hokum Hall and enjoy some great entertainment. A afternoon of Vaudeville again. At the last show there were four women singing as a "barber shop quartet". One lady a blonde even told "blonde jokes". When I was waiting for the show to start I noticed this blonde who looked familiar, it was the lady from the quartet. Turned out they would be singing again. I talked to her before the show and she told me the other ladies said she couldn't tell any blonde jokes today. Sue H the lady I took several months ago showed up with her daughter and the two grand kids, it was the grand daughters birthday. During the show Sue's grand daughter was the first magicians helper and her grand son was the second magicians helper. Then towards the end of the show the four ladies barber shop quartet asked to borrow my chair and since they needed a live body I went with the chair to center stage and they sang me a love song and "handled me to" and when I went back and sat down the lady sitting next to me said my face was "crimson". Sue told me later my face was "red" on stage......Dad had fun !?!?!? After the show was over Sue and her family and I were looking at the mighty Wurlitzer and they let a lady play the Wurlitzer that was 97 years young. She had played a Wurlitzer when she was very young in both church and silent movies too. Hokum may have competition. Grandmother G played a hand pump organ as a teenager at church and also at silent movies too. Mom's brother would pump the organ when ever she played at the movie house. Bet you didn't know that ???

From Hokum's over to the mexican restaurant and have two deep fried shredded beef burritos before coming home.

That brings to a close another week of fun and games.

Week 2037 plus to go.

Hope everyone is OK and may the Lord bless you two.

Love Dad

Just for Kathi, well Dad too, Tues 92 ?Crown and I out to dinner, Hokum Hall too ,finally see Jodie in church

2002-08-18T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday..................A real Summer day ? High today 82, way to warm for my ole blood.

First thing call about the alternator belt for the Waukesha. Bob C. suggested I call Roosevelt Auto Parts in the U-dist. Sure enough they found something that will fit. So I have one on order and Bob will pick it up later this week.

I also talked to Jodie for the first time in about two weeks. She was going on vacation to Disney land in Calif and she said she would see me in church on the coming Sunday. She hasn't been on a vacation in about four years or more. Wished her a lot of luck and hoped she has fun.

I spent the morning working on a project more to keep me busy than anything. T and Burt were both out. I made a modified part to correct the problem on a Lionel LionMaster PRR T-1 steam engine. The coupler on the tender won't turn far enough to one side to let a string of freight cars go thru a 0-31 curve. So I made a part out of brass for a customer.

Before I could finish the part Stinky came in with his MTH RailKing Challenger. It had no sound and would not run. I checked it out and decided it would go back to MTH. I had to make a shipping box to ship it in.

Richard P a customer came in and took me to lunch. He also bought a set of MTH passenger cars from me for $130 too. More Crown money...............This is the gentleman that wants to give me the piano.

After lunch I spent about three hours working with a customer from hell that wanted a lot of parts and didn't understand we don't have everything from 1950 or in some cases we don't sell everything either. He spent $170 on parts and another $180 on Lionel items. I was tried and needed to sit down by the time he left.

After work over to JP and first stop at Ace Hardware and pick up a part for the Crown. I shouldn't go to a hardware store with a check book full of money. I went in to buy a handle for the dash board and some nuts and bolts. I left with light bulbs on sale, hand cleaner on sale, the handle, nuts and bolts plus the plus was the problem..........I bought a new Black and Decker 1/2 inch variable, reversible electric drill and spent $63. I guess I deserve a new electric drill the last one I bought was in late 1977 at Sears for $30 and I still have my Dad's from 1949 that he paid $30 all die cast too.

Over to JP and get to work. I installed a handle on the officers dash board side so K can be "lady like" when she climbs in the cab, not that she isn't lady like. It will also help dear ole Dad get in the cab too with his bad knees. Sunday I had replaced the bulb in the RH flashing red light and it still didn't work. So I took that apart and found out I had no contact to the center of the bulb. Bent the contact and now every light on the rig works. Still need to check out several compartment lights, but no hurry.

Tuesday..................weather..........Do I live in Phoenix ? One very warm day. Record high today of 92, old record of 91 in 1992...................come on Fall ?

First thing call Larry Wb and Tony P, Larry for ignition and Tony for door handles and jump seats. Both still not available.

10:30 on the dot a check for $700 showed up at the shop from Dale A in Calif, two more to go.

Spent most all day checking out more of the smoke smelling Lionel trains from Idaho. Three passenger sets that will have to go for a reduced price. The owner also did a lot of poor paint touch up too. The one set would be worth about $1200, but S says he hopes to get only $400.

T and I sat out side for lunch, but it was a little warmer than I like. Big problem not much of a breeze.

Two loco's came back from MTH for repair including my BNSFRR black GS-4. Ray A Shay was the other loco, it ran just fine, but did have a low battery. I could not get the GS-4 to run in DCS, only conventional. So I called Tim A at MTH and told him the problem. Send it back again, this is the third time. The first two times the box was marked "Att'n Tim A", but he never saw the loco. So when I filled out the letter of explanation I started off by saying "If your name is not Tim A, call him at extension 513, only he can work on the loco". Three times is a charm ????????????

After work over to P's and pay off my Crown bill. I still owed $984. I get home and discover there is still a mistake on the billing I still owe another $350. The clutch job cost $1770, and the transfer case cost $1935 spent $2600 on ole yeller in 1988 when I had the engine replaced and the transmission rebuilt. BUT the Crown is more fun, more expensive too..................

It is warm enough tonight that I am sitting here in my underwear with a fan blowing. (close your eyes, K) and working on the e-mail and my supper was two baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese. Great meal R !!!!

Wednesday.................weather another warm day, but not as bad. High today 85, record high of 88 in 1967. Nice breeze blowing too.

I started the morning off working on putting a electro coupler in a Lionel C&O RR Hudson tender for Craig K. I had to call Trains America to find out how and where to hook it up. Turned out there was a taped off wire just for the operating coupler. Job only took less than a hour. Cost $48. OUCH.

Spent the rest of the day "playing with" a old Lionel 1940 set and cleaning it up. Not much work.

T had stereo slides from his trip to Alaska. So we had something exciting to talk about and look at.

5:00PM I sold a Lionel Also RS-11 SPRR diesel to a customer from Calif, Bill Krone (crown) for $400. He lives in Truckee and less than a 1/4 mile from the Donner Pass trail. T had been telling me all about the story on the pass from a book he was reading, so T got to talk to someone that lives in the area.

Thursday.............weather another warm Summer day, Oh well.....................High today 82, last year we had nine day of over 80 degree, this year to date we have had seventeen.

My morning started at 6:30AM when Dale A called me at home with a order for MTH track. Now you believe me I am a good salesman ? Once in Kirkland I took a walk on the water front and then when S arrived at 9:00 I started getting the items ready for Dale's order. $317 worth of track and he paid the shipping by having me call Airborne Express and have them pick it up and he will see it Friday morning. He wants to play trains over the week end.........

I spent most of the day working on a Lionel repair that came in, nothing special, but the lady wanted it for her Grand kids. Mostly it needed a good wash job in soap and water and a little oil. One Marx accessory was shot, but T suggested I take one that has been sitting in the back room for years and trade the lady. Great idea, one way to get rid of some more junk. Total cost of repair $58.

I took my Triplex apart and found out it has two pinched wires. I corrected the problem, but no smoke or head light in DCS. Project for Friday..........Also took the Lionel class A on the layout apart too. It ran into the side of my train last week when I tried to power it up. I think it has ANOTHER bad command PCB.

After work I stopped at Bob C's cleaners and picked up my Phx care package and more goodies for the Crown. Two switches for the siren and air horn and I hope the right size alternator belt. Cost another $54.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday...........weather a most beautiful Summer day. I have been busy and haven't had time to sit at the computer and write.

Friday I had one big sale to Sheriff Bruce M from Spokane County who comes in about once a month and buys more trains. He was looking for the MTH Alaska RR diesel passenger set, but I had sold the last one. S is going to try and find him one. Anyway he bought a MTH Premier UPRR two tone gray 844 Northern and eight passenger cars for $1900. As he was leaving he spotted the MTH Premier GNRR Empire Builder passenger set with a F-3 A-B-A diesel set and five coaches for $1100. He put that on lay away. Rest of the day was quiet. Been so busy I can't even recall what I did, not that important anyway.

After work over to JP and work on the rig. I finally got a alternator belt. Installed that and found out the correct belt length would be too long. There is a design error in adjusting the alternator too tighten the belt. The alternator hits the bracket before you reach the end of the adjustment. The belt is suppose to be 55 3/8 inch long, I got a 55 1/8 inch and it is still too long, but does work. I need to get a belt that is only 54 inches long. After installing the belt T invited me in for dinner and a video. So I didn't get to the H's until almost 11:30 so I could cat house sit.

Saturday for the most part the day was quiet. I made a few sales, but nothing to get excited about.

After work I came home took a shower and off to WS and Hokum Hall for a night of Vaudeville. There was a packed house and some new and exciting entertainment. Including a magician that was really good. The show didn't end until 10:30PM. We got our money's worth. Got to Bill;'s about 11:00PM.

Sunday.............weather morning started off cold and foggy. 53 degrees to be exact. Hey, 53 is cold on my skinny bare arms, I wore my jacket to church.

Stopped at K-Mart and picked up three more containers of Insta-lead for the Crown. Then over to church. Jodie, Brannan and Uncle John ( Evan is still in Peru until Aug 25 ) showed up about 10:31, but they weren't late. Of course she was all excited about just spending five days playing in Calif at Disney land and other theme parks. After church we stood outside and talked for about 20 minutes. She had a few stories to tell about all the places they went too. She asked how was the Crown coming along ? I explained to her I had over $4000 in repairs to date. Jodie commented "You mean like putting money in a well and never seeing it again" ? Yeah, but I am having fun.......I had a few goodies for Jodie that I found at work. I found a repro of a 1945 Lionel catalog, originals are not found, catalog is only four pages, a 194? Marx six page brochure on track plans and accessories and a 1947 Tinker Toy "senior" instruction booklet with some really neat items to build. Plus I finally gave her the "Coffee, Chocolate, Rich Man" bumper sticker. So we gave one another a big hug and would enjoy another beautiful Sunny day in the PNW. During church the fog lifted and we had Sun all day and at a low temp too.

From church I went right to JP with the idea I would replace the two foot switches, but that didn't happen. One of the switches well require two people to remove and one may have to be real little, like may be a foot high. he cab much have been a subassembly, because the switch is located right next to the main frame, and two air brake tanks or also in the way. You can't even see the switch from underneath, only feel it. So I made a gutter to divert the water from the front pump packing from dropping on the drive line like it has been doing for the last 42 years. You would think someone in the fire service would have figured this out many years ago ??? I unreeled the left hand booster hose and rewound it with the hand crank, the electric motor does not work. I had to stand on two five gallon buckets to rewind the reel, cause my arms were about to fall off. Next time I will wait for help, to much stress on my arms. Picked up the tools, cleaned me up and decided to take the rig for a road test and get some dinner. So I drove all the way to Issaquah and had dinner at Chilli's where we ate when you were up here. Had the cat fish again too. Got back to JP about 6:00 and had the rig put away and was driving home by 6:15.

So that wraps up another week 2038 plus to go.

Any way hope everyone is OK and I will shut this one down for this week.

Love Dad

Where do I start ? Busy Weds, this and that on the Crown, Sunday drive with the Crown, no Jodie again

2002-08-11T19:48:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday..............weather well Summer is over with...............You left just in time !!! The morning was over cast and cool, Sun and clouds all day. Big storm on the coast when I came home at 8:00PM. High today 68, record high 89 in 1977.

Where do I start ? You have heard me talk about Art and Kathy P's two really neat people with a love for life, trains and you name it. I sent you a video of there train layout a Xmas special. Kathy is a truly unique person, I was always giving Art a rough time about Art taking Kathy out to dinner. Once when Art called the shop I mentioned again he should take her out to dinner. He started laughing and said "You know I get to take Kathy out to dinner all the time". Well sadly Art had a stroke on Weds and passed away. He was only 52 years young. Wasn't a good way to start Monday morning.

I spent a good hour packing up more of my trains to be sent to Calif later this week. Should have them finished in the morning. Another $x worth to go towards the Crown.

Had two MTH loco's in for repair, both had a dead short. One belonged to Brainless Bradshaw so who knows what he did to it. MTH can find out. The other one was a premier Climax logging loco and very delicate to work on. Another good one to sent to MTH.

I have several Lionel loco's in for warranty repair too, but they are going back too. Two of the loco's have been in before, one four times, time to return them to Lionel.

Spent and hour with a customer about Lionel command and MTH DCS, gave him David H's name, he needs the work and does enjoy working on the trains.

Made a few sales too. Craig K's came in and bought another coach to go with the three he picked up Saturday. Forest W came in and bought two MTH and two Pico River freight cars for $220. Now with a name like Forest W you may have to defend it, Forest has no problem. He is a black man about 280 lbs and solid muscle. If I had a choice of running in to a brick wall or Forest, I would pick the brick wall. Rich C came in from Janesville, WI and picked up one of his AF freight cars and then really threw me for a loop. He put a 1925 Ives standard ga electric loco, passenger train set on lay away. The set has been on the shelf for years. S was asking $895, he reduced it to $795. SOLD. My next customer was Martin H a senior railway inspector with the Providence of British Columbia, Canada. He couldn't rezest buying the Williams semi scale Hudson for only $350. His best purchase was he bought my MTH W-1 GNRR electric loco for $550. He was looking for one and I need more money for the Crown.

After work I drove to JP and met with Randy G another one of my customers and he took a look at the Crown. He used to be a volunteer with the Redmond FD when they owned a Crown pumper and he drove it. Rich C was also there to see T's piano and my Crown too. ( I forgot to show you the piano when were at JP ) As Randy and I were driving out of JP there was a deer walking down the driveway. So I backed up and got Scott to go around from the other side and see if we could stop the deer. Once out side the fence I couldn't find the deer. It bended in with the land scape, standing only 30ft in front of me. The deer turned out to be a wild black tail deer that had come into JP. Oh for the fun of living in the wilds of the PNW. So that was most of my day.

Tuesday..................weather not a Summer, but it was OK. Tried to rain and lots of Sun. High today 69, record high of 91 in 1972............

First thing I stopped at a hardware store and picked up a set of Titanium drill bits to work on the Crown tonight. You don't drill holes in the Crown any other way.

I finally got the four boxes of freight cars packed up to go to Calif.

My first project was a Lionel new steam engine that the coupler won't open in command. T and I spent well over and hour trying to make it work. We changed out the Mother PCB, the sound and power supply PCB and no luck. Using a different loco it worked. So T had the best idea "send it back to Lionel" and they can figure it out. They won't supply us with schematics only wiring diagrams.

Spent another hour packing up five loco's to go back to Lionel. They build junk, they can fix it. One of my customers was so disappointed in the performance of his LionMaster Challenger he sold it on e Bay.

I made a couple of sales today. Barry Conti came in a bought a MTH SD-24 GNRR diesel for $380. I am sending his Lionel baby Trainmaster back to Lionel. He had it a week and it failed too.

We got in about a 100 boxes of new Lionel today too. Oh Boy...................

After work over to JP and work on the Crown. I mounted the Humat Hydrant valve and a nozzle holder on the tail board. Both had come with there hardware, and the new drill bits worked just great. Left JP at 7:15.

Wednesday........10:00PM I finally got home from work.........weather was a beautiful day, like early Spring. Oh how hard it is to be humble when you live in the PNW. Hell, who cares ? High today 72, record high 95 in 1972.

First thing put four boxes of freight cars in my truck. More on this later. Then pack up a 50 lb box of train repairs for Lionel and call for a RA.

I did a slow roll on working on one repair today. I got four freight cars cleaned up and was starting on the whistling tender.

I had a couple of good sales to new customers. Customer from Sequim went home with $400 of Lionel and MTH accessories and a customer from Calif went home with $400 of Lionel accessories and a GP-9 diesel.

My friend with the piano came in and still wants me to have it........................He was looking at some Lionel heavy weight four car set of passenger coaches for $280. I showed him a better set by MTH for $180 and then offered him a set of mine with six cars for $130.........SOLD. He didn't have his check book, so next Monday he is taking me out to lunch and will pick them up then.

Larry Wb came in and he has the parts on order to convert the Waukesha to electronic ignition. Let the good times roll and the Crown too.

From our flood several weeks ago, the entire back room will have to be emptied and the entire floor replaced. May be we can get rid of some more junk ?

After work I drove up to the north gate area to take a look at a problem with a customers layout. Phyllis S had called me several weeks ago about a wiring problem. I also saw her at the 4th of July parade in Edmonds and she mentioned then about the track problem. So tonight I checked out the layout. Turned out the problem was how the four switches were wired. The length of the train had to be a "given" length which the builder didn't realize or understand. So I got a smoked salmon dinner with fresh home grown tomatoes and fresh picked blue berries too. Then Phyllis still wanted to pay me for my time. What time ? So she sent me home with home made Plum conserve, Plum jam and Blueberry jam for good measure. See, why I like the PNW so much, great people, great fun.

From Phyllis's I drove up to Al R's and dropped off a 50, 40 and two 30 lb boxes of freight cars to be shipped to Calif for Dale Ambler. S was getting to noisy ref who and what and why I was selling my trains and to who. Dale is having UPS pick the boxes up with a call tag. In turn I get another $2100 to fix the Crown.

Stopped at Fred Meyers's for groceries and who should be there, but my ole buddy GT ??? He was standing there reading the sports page of the newspaper. "Don't be so cheap, just buy the paper, GT".......He didn't !

Last night I called Jodie and only talked to her for about five minutes. She had just got home from visiting with Carol A in Centralia. She is still having problems with the AC in the Volvo. In a polite way I told her she shouldn't have had the AC fixed. $1800 is a lot of money to put into a 1984 car just for a little cool air.

Thursday..........weather another beautiful day, so nice T and I sat outside during lunch. Craig K even joins us, he had come by to pick up a MTH diesel.

Worked off and on all day finishing up the Lionel repair, total cost was $140.

Was on a roll to make sales.................Tim B came in and picked up two MTH freight cars and a Lionel operating missle launch. Then I sold him a Lionel command base and a MTH DCS system, more work for David H too. Total of his bill was over $1000.

Then I had a new customer come to the service window looking for a sales person............We been looking for sales people in the store too.................Any way I sold the customer a Lionel started set with a better Xfmer, a trackpack add on and a MTH gondola for almost $400.

20 minutes later I sold another new customer the same Lionel train set, but with out the up graded Xfmer and a add on trackpack and a uncoupling track for $250.

Craig K picked up his MTH GP-40 diesel for another $370.

4:45PM T and I start cutting up boxes for the recycle bin. Normally Burt does the card board, but he is on vacation. T and I gave S a rough time cause the only people that ever do any "extra" work is the repair crew. Bill works the hardest standing stearing out the window, wishing he was in Montana or somewhere else. So do we....................Other than T it is only the older people that do the work, Burt 65 and me. One problem we have is S doesn't know how to handle people, so if Bill were asked to do what we do, he would say no. Bill is always on a diet, but always eating too and no exercise. He doesn't under stand "eat to live" not "live to eat"..................S didn't like it when I said ET is "disorganized". Everything is on computer, but "no one" knows what to do or when to do it. "Engineer Bob does" ???

After work over to JP and work on my baby. I replaced both bulbs in the front fender running lights, except the right hand side is missing a disk to support the bulb. Will have to make one. I sat on the cab roof and checked out the burned out light in the light bar. Turned out the light just had a bad ground. Stopped for mexican food in Newcastle, ref T's recommendation. So I had a good dinner before I came home tonight.

Friday......................weather, another you know what kind of day ????? T and I had lunch on the "patio". Problem is then we have to go back to work. High today 82, record of 92 in 1960.

Only big thing I did all day was put a 1957 Lionel NHRR EP-5 electric five car freight set on display. S had it in the computer at $2500. T and I convineced him a much lower price would be good. He marked it at $895.

I made a few sales, but nothing great. C L came in to pay on his lay away and ended up ordering a new MTH std ga electric passenger set for $540 early buy. C collects older Lionel, Marx and AF.

I called UPS to have them pick up four boxes of trains for Dale Ambler at Al R's and make the pick up a call tag. When I gave them Al's name she had it in the computer. Gee, I wonder why ???? So as of Monday I am shipping 67 freight cars to Dale at a cost to him of $76.

I made one lady happy, she came in looking for some trains for her seven year Son's birthday. She didn't want a electric train so I sold her a dummy diesel and six freight cars plus some "HO" ga track for $36. She wanted to not spend more than $50. She was happy and I made a friend.

David H has finished rewiring and installing MTH DCS and Lionel command on John B's layout. David says John is so happy with the layout that he called him twice one evening to tell how much he is enjoying run the trains. David has another job coming up next week and I may have another one later on.

After work I stopped at JP and did a little work on the rig. I tried fixing the RH running light. Turned out the problem was not a broken disk, but a half inch diameter plastic piece that holds the center electrode and retains the spring. So I will have to make one. So I spent and hour and didn't get much done. Doug from NAPA called and said he couldn't find the correct alternator belt. So I called Waukesha in Auburn and the sales person said he had one in Kansas, and would have it shipped to Seattle. Hour later he calls back and says the one in Kansas is the same as what I got from NAPA. Waukesha is looking further............See how much fun it is to own a old fire engine ????

Saturday.................weather another fine day in the PNW................Need I say anymore ?????

First thing at work is make the plastic part to fix my running light on the Crown. Buck had his "G" ga Shay and four freight cars running on the overhead. The shay sound system sounds like a person working a plumbers helper and after about five minutes you have heard enough. So T went out and shut the train down. Wrong thing to do. Buck made it very clear "B___S___" no one touches his trains. Lets see now I have $1500 loco's running on the "O" ga layout and any store employee can run them..............Really great manager ???? T was not impressed and had been working on a special project for Buck. Notice I said "had been" ............

I made a few sales, some small and two were worth the time. Tim W bought $280 of MTH track and accessories. Don C came in and picked up eight MTH passenger cars and exchanged a caboose for a total of $490. Interesting thing several weeks ago Don called and talked with S and wanted to exchange a $70 Atlas caboose for a $85 Lionel caboose and S told him no................While I was making the exchange S told me he had told Don he wouldn't exchange the caboose's. I pointed out to S we had a better chance of selling the Atlas caboose than the Lionel. The Atlas had full interior and was scale detailed, the Lionel only had a interior light and was not scale detailed That's a no brainer, will not for S.

After work over to JP and work on the rig. My little part worked with the help from T. I had to extend the wire in the casting, and T supplied the crip connector, solder gun, and heat shink. Now all the lights on the rig work with the exception of some compartment lights and they can be fixed later.

That was my day, spent all of and hour or less working on the Crown.

Sunday................weather another beautiful day in the PNW. I didn't get up until 8:00AM. Of course I didn't get to bed until midnight either.

Off to WS and attend church, no Jodie again. From church I stop at the FDLR and pick up two light bulbs for my rig. Doug the NAPA man left them at the FDLR for me to pick up. Call David H and told him I would be a few minutes late arriving at JP since I was with GT.

Got to JP about 1:30PM and David showed up ten minutes later. Project for the day replace the transmission splined hub. David removed the sixteen nuts and bolts and then we needed to remove a 2 1/8 inch hex nut. My 3/4 drive socket set only has a 2 inch socket as the largest one. So we drove up to Sears at Cross Roads Mall in Bellevue and I purchased one 2 1/8 inch socket for only $25. In 1977 I bought the entire socket set on sale at Sears for $75, regular price was $150. ( I also got in trouble thanks to Clyde when he told Margie I had bought this very expensive socket and had no need for it. The price was right and I had plAd someday to own a fire engine and would need it. So you can tell Margie "it finally paid off". ) Back to JP and finish our project. The total time we worked on the rig was just over two hours. Cleaned everything up including us and then took the rig for a ride. We stopped and had Mexican food at the little shop T had told me about. Back to JP and put the rig away.

Another week comes to and end. Week 2039 plus to go.

So have you recovered from your trip up here to the PNW ?

You are going to send me the video of the Crown rolling out of the barn ?

Hope everyone is OK

Love Dad

What a week, more Crown goodies, no Jodie ?

2002-08-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Friday..............Well the weather today turned out, you really don't want to know. The clouds ended up being big high clouds with lots of blue sky and a high of 70 a record of 89 in 1949..........Think about that ????

As soon as you left I took a slow ride to Tacoma. Went by the way of SR 99 and got to Tacoma about 10:45AM. Got a bite to eat and made a couple of stops including picking up two Tacoma maps, one for the truck and one for the Crown.

Got to M's vending company about noon. Bill didn't show up until 12:30. The plan was to pick up two items for the Crown, a hydrant valve and a Crown "switch" dash panel. I went home $150 liter and 14 items richer ??? I got the hydrant valve with mounting bracket, the dash panel, plus two 1 1/2 inch nozzles, two spAr wenches, 2 1/2 inch gate valve, 2 1/2 inch by three 1 1/2 gated wye, 20 lbs dry chemical, 4 1/2 female by 3 1/2 female fitting, two battery operated lanterns with mounting bracket, two "SCBA" air tanks, one wheel chock, (Jim Y has another one for me) and chrome hose pick up light. Some items were free too. This is about $1000 worth of goodies in "real" life. Left Tacoma about 1:00PM and stopped again for a lite meal then when I got to Seattle I stopped at L.N. Cis again and picked up two 1 1/4 by 1 1/2 adapters for the three way wye. That cost me $39.50, the wye cost me $5. The back seat of the truck is full and Sunday the plan is to go up to Bothell and pick up more goodies (mine) from Bob C. He has a lot of my brass goods on his Crown and his rig is not ready to pump and does not carry any hose.

Ted H showed up at Bill's about 10:00PM and we talked "Crown" fire engines until midnight. Mostly how and what I plan to do with my rig, ref hose loads etc.

Saturday.............another fine day for good weather.

Stopped on the way home from Bill's and picked up groceries at Fred Meyers. When I fixed breakfast I still have enough hash browns left from last Monday to have the last of them on Sunday morning.

When I got to work, nothing had changed, other than the floor has more "speed bumps". There is a real good chance the entire floor in the storage area will have to be replaced. S didn't know anything about the floor problem until he came in the store at 5:00PM, he wasn't happy...........Oh well ?

Andy Edleman, Vice President-Marketing at MTH was in the store today to further demonstrate the new DCS control system. He had a good crowd.

I made a few sales to "my" customers Al R, Larry Wb, Craig K, David T, and a few more for about $2000 worth.

After work over to JP and drop off all the latest fire engine goodies. The rig is starting to fill up and I haven't even got a good start on adding equipment.

Sunday.................weather one of those full four season day's. Morning started off with overcast and lite rain. The high today was 66, record high of 95 in 1993.

It was cool enough when I left the H's at 7:30AM I had to wear a jacket coming home. Oh dear............Off to WS and pick up pixs at K-Mart and then to church. Evan P was at the first service, but no Jodie. Evan said she was home packing the food goodies for a day at the south end of Lake Washington and watch the hydro planes boat races.

After church I came home and paged Bob C. and then drove up to his storage locker in Bothell. Took a slow ride by going the back way, up thru Lake City Way and the Bothell-Everett Hwy. I-90 bridge was closed for the Blue Angels and I-5 north bound was a parking lot.

Picked up more of my brass goods from Bob's Crown. Including one length of 2 1/2 inch and one length of 3 1/2 inch hose.

Turned out to be a really nice day, driving north I had lite rain until about 85th and Roosevelt. Lots of big fluffy clouds and blue skies with a good wind blowing. Got home about 5:30PM and finally finished the last of the chicken fried steak.

Really enjoyed the two of you coming up here for a very fast moving, but relaxing week. May be just may be we could do it again next Summer, but for two weeks instead. Any way I had a great time and who know's may be next year the weather will be better.........????

This wraps up week 2040 plus to go.

Hope both of you are ready to go back to work on Monday, I'm not..................

Love Dad

Monday was a blast, free lunch, The Crown is in quarters, won't see Jodie until Sunday

2002-07-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Addendum to last week's e-mail.

I forgot to mention that when I was talking with Jodie I told her about the fact I may be selling all or 80% of my train collection. She agreed I should keep at least a portion of my collection. That way I wouldn't feel I had lost everything. There is no way I will ever own a home or have a place large enough to build a train layout. I figure I need at least a area 20 by 30 feet to support all my goodies. Jodie also said that with my new "toy" and new interests who knows what might happen owning the fire engine, like renting out the rig for TV or movie "Acting". That is part of the plan. "Dad and his Crown as a movie star".

The other item was remember the boom truck at JP that was in my way when turning the rig around in the drive way. Well when I got to JP Sunday the boom truck was parked along the side of the road, not in front of the house blocking the drive way. T said we missed all the fun. Saturday the lawyer tried to use the truck to recover a old hot tub located out in a field at JP. After driving thru two fences he finally got the truck to stop...............No brakes, cause the master cylinder was empty of brake fluid. More of the lawyer's great free goodies that are operational ?????

Weather..................HOT, but a beautiful day with a warm breeze, come on get the cooler weather flowing again. High today a big 88, oh my.......................................

Up at 5:30 and get my day started. Out the door by 6:45 and head to Kirkland and meet Bob C at the shop. I get to the shop by 7:15 and Bob shows up at 7:20 driving "Little Red" (71 VW red bug convertible) and "Chief" ( a German shepherd or police dog ). Load up my red tool box and off to JP and pick up the Crown. We get to JP about 7:35 and I build a fire under the hood of the Crown and get ready to go. South on Coal Creek Rd and a left at May Valley Rd for the next two miles we roll along a winding road that follows a creek. At SR900 we turn left and join some of the morning traffic on a two lane road for the next 5 1/2 miles in to Issaquah. ( I told Bob if I give one long blast on the air horn check your speed, my speedometer doesn't work I needed to know about how fast I was traveling. I was watching the tach. ) Cross over I-90 and then a right turn on 56th St SE for another mile, then NW on E Lake Sammamish Pkwy SE. The road follows along on the ET of Lake Sammamish all the way into Redmond. More two lane driving in morning traffic. Speed limit is 35. I roll with traffic and later Bob tells me I was doing 45 mph. Rig sure looked great with fresh paint and two American flags flying. The last two miles before turning right on the Redmond / Fall City Rd was down to 5 mph, then head east for another couple of miles and turn right at Sahalee Way NE. The last mile is down to second gear, long steep hill to climb. When I turn in to P's drive way I stop and go into compound low, this is a really steep grade. 9:10 we have arrived. I park the rig and let the engine idle and normalize before shutting down. Jim suggest I go ahead and put the rig in the shop. With Bob as my guide I back into the shop and shut down. Total miles 22. I give Jim a check for deposit on the work and we head back to Kirkland. Back out to Redmond / Fall City Rd and then west on SR520. Exiting SR 520 at 108th St NE I tell Bob we need to be in the center lane with the idea we would turn right and then left at the next intersection. Bob is in the center lane, but he is going to fast and starts to go straight thru, which would put him back on SR 520. "No, no Bob we need to turn right, then left". Bob stops in the middle of the intersection right in front of south bound traffic and hangs a hard right and off we go....Great sight two ole timers in a VW convertible and a big dog and some truly "Charlene" driving. We get back to the shop at 9:45.

It was fun driving my Crown early in the morning, what a great sports car and it's big too. At 2000 RPM's the rig is doing about 35 mph, at 2400 RPM's the rig is doing 45 mph. Redline is 3000 RPM's we won't go their.

My morning was start working on the Lionel repair. I get the merchandise box car fixed first. I should say it fixed it self. Only problem was one wheel set not popped in the truck journal. Customers just don't look at there "toys".

Now I have four customers at once. Al R, David H, John B and Nathan G. Al R brought back a Atlas switch and picked up two more and a MTH freight car. He also had me unlock his Lionel LionMaster UPRR challenger that was locked up in forward only. Only spent $97. David came in for some info ref Lionel command base, he is doing a installation of a Lionel command system and a MTH DCS system for John B's large layout. David did pick up some Atlas track for $25. John Bursett was picking up his Lionel and MTH systems so David could do the installations. He spent $450. Neither David or John had met one another except on the phone. I had made arrangements for the two to get together. Both showing up at the store was a fluke. Nathan G bought $260 of AM-Lionel "S" ga passenger cars a four car set.

12:45 my stomach is eating my back bone, so I stop for lunch.

Then back to the Lionel repair and work on a 1955 operating milk car. Rewire it and get it working, real problem was a milk can in the shoot up side down. Did start on the 675 steam engine too.

My last sale of the day was right at 5:30 to Barry Conti for a Lionel FM "Baby" Trainmaster Jersey Central diesel switcher for $435.

Tuesday...............weather way to warm. I did take a walk this morning out to the lake and enjoy the breeze. High today was 87 degrees, way to warm ???????????

Started off the morning by finishing up the Lionel 675 steam engine and total of the repair was $117. The three operating cars could have been fixed by the customer and he could saved $45.

Next up two Lionel aluminum passenger cars with bad third rail rollers. The first was easy the second one I tried real hard to drill a nice hole in my left thrum. Won't do that again. Or will I ?

Just after noon David H and his Mom, Bev showed up and invited me to lunch on the lake. So we walked up the street to "Subway" and picked up lunch and then back to the lake and sit on the dock next to Ted's boat and ate lunch. Ted senior was also part of the party. You could say the "H's have it all" ! They have a house, many cars, a nice boat and two fire engines. What more could a family ask for ? Real nice to have friends that are my customers too and take me out to lunch. It was a pretty day, except it was too warm and to much smog, you couldn't see any of the snow covered mountains. We need rain before the week end.

After lunch S had me check out the last of the $4500 collection. Some Lionel command equipment, a new ZW Xfmer and some accessories. S will over price them Weds.

Then T got the fun job of pricing some really cheap Lionel-MPC freight cars. S wanted to put $10 each on them, we both said no...............T priced them at $3 to $5 per car. We will still have them a year from now. As I told T if it were my store a $1 each and get rid of them.......... s shouldn't be in the retail business !!!! S was trying to put $20 on several of the flat cars, they could be rare. T gave S so much garff , S finally told T to shut the F___ up. At least we know he was listening .........................

Contacted Larry Wb, ref the ignition system on the Crown, he will take a look some time this week. Also Larry, Tom A and Dale C are all interested in buying some or all of my trains too. May have some money yet.....

Wednesday,...............weather another beautiful day, not to warm, just right a nice cool breeze.........Oh the heart ache of weather in the PNW. High today was 81................

I got to work early, before 8:00AM and took a walk down to the lake and sat and read for a while. Would you believe I had to come back to the truck, it was too cool sitting by the lake ?

The first phone call of the day was for me, from Jim P, ref the Crown. The spline collar had the wrong size shoulder and would not fit. So I called M McDonald in CA. They only had small dia collars. So I called Bob C and sent him after a piece of 3 1/2 inch steel bar that T could turn on a lathe. Late after noon Bob called and said he ran out of time, but would have the part in the morning. T will do the machine work this week end.

All morning the phone was for Bob, I need my own phone line I have so many customers calling I keep the phone wires hot.

My first sale was for $1920 to Dale C in Santa Maria, CA. He bought a used AF Santa Fe Alco A-B-A set of diesels and five passenger cars and a A-B-B-A set of F-3 diesels in "G" ga with sound. The shipping box weighted 50 lbs.

Kim called me her and M are breaking up. That was a real surprise. She will be moving into Payson in the next three weeks in a apt. She says M has been having problems for several year, he won't pay any attention to Amber ???

S got me a bunch of Lionel to work on, but I didn't get very far. I got one set of Manual switches cleaned up and a another pair started on.

Talked to Lionel about a problem with a PRR 2-8-0 that the tender coupler won't open in command. I had checked the coupler and replaced the command PCB, still no work. Lionel suggested I check the four pin connector at the rear of the loco, may have a bad solder joint. Check the connector on the Mother PCB where it is soldered to the board.

Rich C from Janesville, WI came in and T and I invited him to have lunch with us on the balcony ( back of T's pick up ) and then he bought a AF GP-7 and picked up two more items off his lay away for a total of $450. S, Buck and Bill don't have any customers that "want" to have lunch with them ?????????

After work over to Jim P's and pick up the splined collar. Larry Wb showed up while I was there and he took a look at the ignition system. He took down some numbers and will make a few phone calls. I learned a few things from Larry, The Crown has positive ground, that is good, the tach is electrical, not mechanical. Dave and I never set the timing, we only reset the "lean" setting on the timing, no wonder it still pings. He also figured out why the speedometer doesn't work. There is a reduction gear that has broken in the adaptor that is attached to the transmission. Jim had all ten old bearings sitting on the work bench, he had it all back together and will finish up the rig later tonight. He finished installing the transfer case while I talked with Larry. Should bring the rig home Thurs.

Thursday..................would you believe we had fog and overcast all day until about 6:30PM then some Sun. For a high today, check this out 66 that is sixty six degrees. Oh well there goes Summer ????

What did I do today ? Finished one pair of manual switches. Sold a MTH Turbine starter set for $350 and S sold one of my customers a used Lionel 622 switcher for $275. S gave me another 622 to clean up, Was doing OK until I took the motor apart, then things started falling apart, figurative. A 1949 model had 18 very small steel (loose) ball bearing in the two positions on the motor shaft, I had only nine in one end. The steel balls are not available. Might have to find a different motor or start over looking for another diesel.

Took in a repair for two Lionel dump cars and a crane.

Bob C showed up with my piece of steel, like 21 lbs of cold roll steel for T to machine the part I need to do the final work on the transfer case. That cost me $30 plus $10 for fuel.

Jim P called and said the Crown was ready to roll. So far the clutch cost $1770

I paid to date $2120

credit $ 350

transfer case work $1900

I still owe $1550 I haven't spent that much money on ole yeller since 1988.

Talked with Larry Wb, he is suppose to meet me at JP and take a look at the timing sometime this week end. Won't have a new ignition system until some time later, like may be a couple of weeks.

T and Bob C could not help me get the Crown tonight so I called David H and he met me after work and we headed east to P's. I collected up the ten old bearings for show and tell. We left P's and took the same route going back I took coming up on Monday. Traffic was lite and David said I maintained 40 mph most of the way home. When we got to JP I parked the rig in the driveway and had David put the rig in pump gear and see if it would pump. The pump rolled over with a lot of squealing at first, pump hadn't turned in over three years. I also pulled a prime with the priming pump and when I opened a discharge gate I could feel a suction. It works, now I need some water and let the pump really work. You understand all of this ?? There could be a test later. Hopefully this week end I can lub the packing rings on the pump shaft and then pull a dry prime with some water in the pump. This will help lub the packing rings and shaft.

I am going to wrap this e-mail up early, not sure when you are leaving for the beautiful PNW. Have a safe and relaxing trip. Will try to keep the weather in the cool range for you.

So this brings to a close week 2041 plus to go.

Love Dad

P.S. Ready to go for a ride on a "real" fire engine, and Dad's no less ?

Unusual day, Fun Thurs, KW fire engine at Bill's B'day, special gift for a special Jodie

2002-07-21T17:51:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday..................Another beautiful day with lots of Sun and cool breezes. When I got to Kirkland I walked down to the lake and found a bench that wasn't wet from the morning sprinklers. I had only been sitting their a few minutes up dating my Crown log book and I heard this strange noise..........The sound of sprinklers coming on. Aches and pains or not Ole Dad can still move pretty fast. High today a cool 72 degrees.........

Worked on those 0-72 switches again and didn't get very far, the last three have been nothing , but trouble.

Customer called and said his new Lionel UPRR 4-12-2 didn't work, he was bringing it in. 11:30AM he showed up and I tested the loco..........No problem, just another "good" Lionel product that doesn't run good in conventional mode. I did talk him into buying a MTH DCS system and a Lionel command base so he could run all of his loco's at the same time with out any problems. David H is going to install the system for him. See, Crown friends work together even when it is about toy trains.

Jerry S "Stinky" called and said he had a book I would like to have ref the Seattle FD. Hour later he showed up with a copy of "Seattle firehouse's by Jim S". He gave me the book, but I bought him a K-Line die cast auto he wanted. I have over the years had seven copies of this book, I now have a total of three. You have heard me mention Jim S, some time soon I will have him do a pin and ink drawing of my Crown.

Jerry F came in and was looking to buy the K-Line NPRR North Coast Limited six car passenger set. He didn't want the pair of A-A F-3 diesels. S wouldn't sell it to him any other way. So I made a $1197 sale. Jerry is also interested in the new Lionel 4-12-2, but he too feels it would be a better model if made by MTH.

There is a series of books on logging, and related steam loco's from back in the early part of the 1900's. The two books have really great pictures that were taken by Darius Kinsey and his wife Tabitha did all the developing at home from glass plate negatives. His wife would carry these heavy glass negatives up and down Yesler St in Seattle from there home only about six blocks from where I live to the main post office DT. Any way we have a customer that this was his Aunt and Uncle. Sadly as a child he didn't know that much about his Aunt or Uncle and the wonderful pictures they made famous. So I enjoyed what stories he had to tell. I have both books in my collection, of course.

12:30AM Tues..............I am woke up from a very sound sleep by lots of foot steps at the back door coming in the building. Knock, Knock at my door, I open my eyes and realize there is red lights flashing out side and the sound of a diesel engine...............Don't tell me ole yeller is on fire is my first thought. Jump in my pants and shoes......yea right ! I open the door and there is three firemen and two paramedics across the hall at Al S's apt. Al is diabetic. I told the fireman standing in the door way "you really scared me, thought it was the my old truck on fire". Oh yea I remember that, we were the crew that answered the call. It was after 1:00AM before I got back to sleep.

Tuesday............Another beautiful day with Sun and more cool breezes.

First thing call Jodie and see how her Volvo is running. She says the brakes stopped squealing. She is really up set with Swedish for the job they messed up on earlier and how the last two times she went to Swedish they really tried to screw her. They wanted more for four cheap tires that she could get for a better price at "price club". She ended up buying top of the line tires and still paid less than Swedish wanted. When I worked there we would get in some cheap brand of tires and they sold them at premium prices. Several customers told me they wouldn't buy tires from Swedish again. They would only get one year of service from them. She was still going to have the AC unit checked, it wasn't cold enough. Swedish didn't do the work either. I had to tell her about the black preacher that buys "G:" ga trains from us. He came in Monday and spent $650 on a Bachmann loco and tender with ET installing a sound system too. He mentioned "Don't tell his wife how much money he was spending on trains". I ask Jodie do you think the preacher may have a problem ? She said yea , isn't it called lying ? We are going to mention this to Pastor Pierre on Sunday. Also last Sunday when I got down stairs where we have coffee break, the room was FULL of kids. I asked Pastor Pierre "What did you do convert to a Catholic Church" ? The pastor looked at me............."All the kids". Jodie had a good laugh over that comment, so did the pastor.

I finally got the eight 0-72 switches finished today with T's help too. Now all I have to do is get S to not price them out of the market pricing. They really are not that great. They were rusted junk when I started, I made them up from a lot of junk box parts and a lot of cussing too.

T and I enjoyed sitting out side at lunch time. Really a nice day...................

Captain Sunshine jumped one of my sales today too. I had a long talk with the customer afterward and he said it won't happen again. Sunshine sold him the three unit MTH diesel set, but forgot he needed a matching caboose. I sold the customer the caboose. Buck, S, Bill and Sunshine just ring up sales they don't care if the customer gets what he really wants or needs.

After work I drove to JP and first thing I did was take a little ride. Checked out where the Newcastle FD is located, the city is served by Bellevue FS no. 9. Then I took another ride and checked out how I will head out of the area with the Crown. Going south I have a long two mile grade to pull, so I am going to go a different route that follows a creek not up and over the hill. Stopped at a auto store and picked up rubbing compound and wax for the rig. I did the top of the cab using the rubbing compound, that was enough for one evening. Headed home at 7:40PM.

Wednesday..................Oh what a beautiful day, better than Tues ??? It wasn't as warm. What can I say ? I know shut up about the great weather up here in the PNW. NO, NO, NO.

I finally finished up the 0-72 switches and got them packaged up and S did put a reasonable price on them too. Only a $110 for a pair...........Ten years ago he could have asked $200 a pair and got it.

I made two sales one for $1220 to Dale C in Santa Maria, CA for a Lionel "O" ga Blue Comet passenger set and he is calling me back Thurs with more items to buy. The other sale was to Don B for $320 for eight Lionel and MTH freight cars.

Goofed off most of the rest of the day, another slow day.

After work over to JP and start off by taking one wood screw out holding the chrome plate that retains the oak hose bed flooring and one screw holding the "firecoach" emblem on the side of the rig. Over to Ace hardware and get two keys made for JP and some brass screws then back to work. I replaced the wood screws in the oak flooring and then replaced one screw holding on the emblem, it was missing. I have been afraid I might loose one of the emblems, they are worth more than the rig. Spent and hour rubbing out more of the paint on the cab. Found it works best to take a area about twelve inches square and work it. I won't have the rig done by the time you get here, but I am sure I can save a little for you guys to help me with. Got home about 8:00PM, hey I was getting hungry.

That was my day

If your wife, your kids and your dog think you are a great guy. Why should you care what the rest of the world thinks ?

One reason why a ship is called a "she" may be that the rigging costs more than the hull.

When a husband brags that he runs things at home. He's probably referring to errands !

By the time a man has enough money to do what he wants. His doctor won't let him !

Life is sure frustrating. By the time a fellow has learned how to refold a road map, his vacation is over !

Thursday.......Weather ...........GOD help me it is hard to be humble when you live in the PNW. Another really nice day, T and I sat out side and enjoyed the view and a 10 mph breeze. Hey, that's the way it is up here.................

I didn't have anything to do, but S fixed that he bought more junk Lionel for $200 first thing in the morning. A 1957 Milw RR EP-5 elec loco set and five freight cars. So I worked a good part of the day getting the loco repaired and got one flat car finished too.

Make a few sales on the floor while S, Buck and Bill stood around talking. Sold one customer a used Lionel steam rail sounds box car for a $100, he had a gift certificate from his kids. Next up a couple with a gifted older Son who loves trains and were from eastern WA and don't get over this way very often. He wanted a Lionel operating coal elevator. He also got one switch, uncoupling track, four light tower and I asked if he had a coal dumping car. No...So he got that too for a total of $280. No one else would have questioned if he needed or had the dumping car. Then I find two men looking at the Lionel items. Can I help you ? Everyone else is up front talking.....He wants the Lionel 51 small switcher out of the case for over $200 and asked me if I have a helicopter for the operating flat car ? Yes at $32 for repro. He buys the switcher, helicopter and four 40 inch lengths of straight track for $300.16 and hands me a $1000 gift certificate. WOW. S is looking over my shoulder, how do you want to handle this ? I ask the customer for .16 cents and S rewrites the GC for $700. He got the GC from his brother as a Xmas present. I suggest he keep his brother........... Near closing time and everyone is still talking. I find a couple with a small boy looking at Thomas the tank engine goodies. Can I help you ? They want to buy the TTE table and chairs for $163, but not let there Son see we made the sale. I had T carry it out and I ring it up. Think we need new management or someone to kick a few lazy butts........................................including S's !

T and I are always on one another's case about something. T is a lot like me, very out spoken and to the point. I commented I can't wait until he turns sixty......He should be well trained. He says at least when he turned sixty he won't be owning a ole fire engine. No but he may still be working on his player piano he is rebuilding. His is only one of two still known to exist. I told T I should be around when he turns sixty, I would only be 93. He says that sounds like a lot of joy. Then he told a story about his Grandfather, Some years ago he had a can of pressurized whipping cream. When the can was empty he decided there had to be more in the can and he could get it out. So he drove a nail in the bottom of the can. Grandfather was right...............He was wearing what was left in the can and so was the walls in the kitchen. Now his Uncle is another story(s). He is accident prone. He told one story where he was carrying some thing from the basement and complained there was a board in his way every time he went to the basement. T's Dad suggested he move the board out of the way. He did..................He kicked the board out of the way, it slid under a old car and the board hit another board standing on end and that in turn knocked a box off the top of the car and hit the Uncle on the head and knocked him out........He has a lot more.

i didn't go to JP and work on the Crown. I went to the FDLR and met Doug the NAPA man and picked up a new alternator belt for the Waukesha at $12.50. Nice to know a NAPA man, otherwise the cost would have been $30. From there I came home and took a shower and did my laundry.

Friday....................weather would you believe morning is overcast and I encounter rain in Bellevue. By 9:00AM we have a beautiful day of Sun and blue skies. On the way to work I stopped at Freddy's in Bellevue and picked up a B day card for some kid in Phx and then stopped at the auto parts store and got some oil for ole yeller and wiper refills for the Crown.

Off and on all day I worked on the freight cars for the Milw EP-5 set. Finally got the set finished about 4:00PM.

I spent from 11:00 till 1:30 on the floor selling lots of trains, like $6100 worth.

Bruce M a sheriff from eastern WA spent the most, he bought a MTH three unit UPRR coal fired steam turbine, SD-40-2 Santa Fe power and dummy unit diesels, freight cars and accessories for a total of $2900. While I was waiting on Bruce, Richard Parks had called and said he was coming in and wanted to know if he could take me to lunch and he plAd to buy a Lionel loco. By the way this is the customer that has offered me a free piano. He said he would pay to have it delivered too. Richard went home with a Lionel LionMaster PRR T-1 steam loco and a covered hopper for $821. I had to pass on the free lunch. I had more customers arriving.

M Winters and Dave P showed up together, both wanted to spend money. M picked up his Lionel UPRR 4-12-2 steam loco for only $1400 and Dave picked up his lay away of used Lionel which included a A-B-A set of NYCRR F-3 diesels and some other goodies for $865. Then Tom A shows up and is looking for a way to make up a work train. I don't have what he wants, so he just buys some MTH accessories for $125. Hardy worth the trip.

I finally went to lunch about 2:00PM. Richard P calls back and says he really like the new T-1 loco and still wants to take me out for lunch.

After work I go to JP and work on the Crown for a short time. Replaced the wiper blades and did some more compound rubbing. Found out the new alternator belt is the wrong one. It has to be one inch wide, not a half inch wide. I also found out when I tried waxing the areas where I had used rubbing compound it took the shine back out of the paint. Left JP about 7:15 and came home. Won't be able to work on the rig Saturday evening, I am going to Bill H's 50th surprise birthday party.

Saturday................weather another beautiful day, warm some where in the 80's.

Very quiet day at work, I made two small sales $70 for a MTH snow plow and I don't remember.

I did make a good sale by telephone. I called Dale C in Santa Maria, CA and sold him the AF Santa Fe Alco PA-1 diesel A-B-A set and five passenger cars for $795. Hour later he calls back and gives me a early buy order for three add on passenger cars for his Blue Comet set and a LionMaster UPRR gray Challenger for another $1100 and adds on to the AF order by buying a A-B-B-A USA Trains Santa Fe diesel set with sound in "G" ga for another $1100. He isn't finished either........................

I cleaned up the AF set with the exception of the power unit, T is working on that one. Started working on a Lionel repair for a customer that included one steam engine and three operating freight cars.

After work over to 1504 E. Boston St and help Bill H celebrate his 50th B'day. The party was at Anthony's my old boss from Northern European. One of the quests was one of my customers at ET Trains, he's related to Bill. What a small world we live in. Ted H showed up with his 1971 KW fire engine. He came in uniform and showed up at the front door with first aid kit in hand. "This the home with a report of a 50 year old man with difficulty breathing, foaming at the mouth and chest pains" ? Ted took a few people for a ride, of course...........Great Chinese food, great company and great fun..............Got home about 10:45. Got to bed at midnight.

Sunday.....................weather OH WOW...............Didn't get up until 7:00AM, I needed the sleep.

Off to WS and stop at K-Mart and Target, but didn't buy anything. When I got to church it was such a beautiful day I sat out side waiting for Jodie. When she showed up she left the engine running and popped the hood. "Bob, I need your opinion about my Volvo". Junk it and buy something new.... "No,no,no" When Evan was checking the oil this morning he found a hose disconnected. "Where does it go" ? Under the hood somewhere.......So I took a look and found a fitting on the fuel injection body that looked like the place to put it. When I put in on the fitting I discovered the hose was split. So I cut three quarters of and inch off and it fit just perfect. "How did you know where it went" ? Lots of luck, I will send you my bill later. Jodie says she has a special place for bills from friends. ???? Jodie was wearing a long green dress that matched the pants I was wearing, if I had worn the matching shirt we would have looked great together. Jodie says we could have been twins. Yea, and Jodie you would have been the pretty one. She replied I don't think so. I wanted to say Jodie looked good enough to eat, but I didn't, but I was thinking it. Only Uncle John was with Jodie the boy's were with their Dad hiking at Mount Rainier. Walking in to church I was telling her about last nights party for Bill H. The best part was when Ted showed up with his KW.

After church I asked Jodie if she remembered what yesterday was and did she go to the WS parade. She said she had been out running around with her girl freind M. Told her I had something for her and why. It was three years ago I met her at the WS parade and she rode with me on App 117 tiller. I give her a gift every year for "our" special anniversary. When I handed her the box, she said oh boy a box just for me. When she opened it she was really surprised. I had given her a four car set of AF "O" ga freight cars from 1940 in very good condition. Jodie says to me I got to give you a really big hug. I will glady accept it. We did a really big hug together. Jodie and I both had tears in our eyes. Then Jodie says to me you may find this strange, but I still have your B'day present that I have never given you. "Well you still got time Xmas isn't here yet". Hope I get it to you before Xmas. I asked Jodie if she has brought Jeff to Christ yet ? She says no, that is a very touchy subject. She had bought Jeff a Bible, but was afraid to give it to him. The other night she got on her soap box about religion with Jeff and commented "Bob would enjoy this, seeing me on my soap box". Tell Jeff he doesn't know what he is missing when you get started on your soap box about Christ. I remember one Thurs evening after Dan and the boys left we were sitting on opposite ends of the couch and you were going on and on about Christ and suddenly you stopped and looked at your watch. Oh it is 8:30 I bet you are hungry and finally started for the kitchen. I was hungry, but you were feeding me other good things in life too. We finally said good by and got the rest of our Sunday going.

From WS I head east on I-90 and drove out to North Bend and visited the discount toy store. Found three Code three die cast fire engines to add to my collection. LA city pierce Engine 88, LA city LTI Ladder 39 and a Ford paramenic rescue from Long Beach.

Back west on I-90 and take the back route by way of SR 900, which I will take in the morning with the Crown. Got to JP about 2:20 and pulled the Crown out side. I worked for over and hour and got both sides compound rubbed, but the paint still needs a lot of work. T and I took the rig for a ride and I put in another 17 gal of fuel and then we also drove by Bellevue FS no, 9 to look at the 1968 Seagrave 100ft straight frame aerial the FD has kept to be used as a parade rig, it is Hall-Scott powered too. Our trip was about ten miles. When I got back I started painting all the front lug nuts and the front and rear outer rims, silver. Still have the rear lug nuts and all four hubs to paint.

From JP I stopped and put $19 of fuel in the truck and stopped at Wendy's for supper.

That wraps up another week of fun in the PNW. Week 2042 plus to go.

Hope every body is fine and drive carefully coming up this way next week end.

Love Dad

More Crown work, Lionel 4-12-2, off load 1000ft of fire hose, The Crown is ready for Tues, Jodie at church

2002-07-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday......................No rain just a typical Spring day after a rainy Sunday.

First thing at work call MTH and get a RA for a loco that was returned from repair that didn't work, requesting a UPS pick up too. Also check on a UPS pick up for my loco and Ray A loco that both came back from repair and didn't work...Not a good start.

Over a month ago I sold a customer a Lionel command equipped UPRR SD-40-2 diesel for only $400 on sale from $500. Saturday he returned it for the third time for repair under warranty. Same problem, one ditch light out and the rear motor won't run. Removed the shell and test ran it. Couldn't get the rear motor not to work ??? The ditch light was easy just a broken wire on the connector going to the PCB. I got the motor to hic up once..................Looking further I found the three colored wires coming from the rear motor were melted together. When I separated them the blue wire broke in half. Spliced the wire and put the unit back together, until next time. One problem is I think they are using a older Lionel ZW Xfmer that has a slow blow circuit breaker, which can fry modern electronics real fast..........

The customer from Kennawick sent me a e-mail at work thanking me for taking the extra time and doing up his layout on the computer. Then and hour later he called and ordered a used Lionel Xfmer. So far he has spent about $1000, S commented he was a loser. What does S know ? Not much !

Al R came in, his discover card needed exercising. He went home with a MTH GNRR SD-24 diesel, K-Line Milw RR business observation car, Williams used brass NYCRR caboose and some Atlas track and switch for a total of $560.

Had a mail order for a Lionel burning switch tower for $75 going to some where in Indiana.

Next up a American Flyer repair a 1950 PA-1 diesel set and three Aluminum passenger cars. Got the three coaches finished and the PB-1 dummy unit. Power unit Tues.

Going home I stopped at JP and worked on the Crown. Removed the oak flooring from over the fuel tank, scraped, sanded and one coat of varnish. Painted the LH rear hose pick up light silver, the chrome plating was all rusty. Some day will replace it.

Tuesday......................What a beautiful day, so great I took a walk at lunch and sat by the lake and enjoyed the view and a nice breeze.

Had one sale all day and that was for Al R, he needed more track for his layout and had to buy another "G" ga freight car too. Another $196 worth.

Finished up the AF repair and when the customer came in he spent more money on a used Xfmer for a total of $188.

Spent the rest of the day cleaning up 1939 Lionel 0-72 switches, have a total of eight to do.

After work back to JP and work on the white dinosaur, better known as the Crown.................Removed the oak flooring from both preconnect beds and did the whole nine yards on them too. Also painted the bracket that holds the folding attic ladder on the left side. Who ever made the brackets never painted them. They look better painted silver too. From JP I drove over to see Bob C in the U dist and pick up my latest issue of Fire Apparatus Journal. Got home at 9:00PM and took a shower and fixed me something to eat...........Darn maid went home early again. Only about 40 more items to fix on the Crown.

Wednesday..........Another beautiful day with a high of 89, record is 90 in 1945. Temp is 72 at 11:30PM. To warm, oh dear................Cooler on Thurs.

Spent most of the day at my leisure working on the 0-72 switches. I didn't get to eat lunch until 2:00PM cause of my customers, so I ate lunch as I finished up with the last customer and then walked down to the lake and enjoyed 20 minutes alone on the lake and watch the beauty of the PNW.

I sold a very nice looking young lady and her Son some Thomas the tank engine items for $52. She enjoyed the fact I ran the trains for her young son. $200 in misc MTH accessories to another customer. Rich C the pilot from Janesville, WI came in and picked up $200 in AF items he had on lay away. M Winters came in and picked up his MTH Premier NYCRR Niagara for $1300. He will be back later in the week to pick up the seven passenger cars and the Lionel UPRR 4-12-2 steam engine that is coming in Thurs.

After work I met David H at JP and we worked on the Crown. We reset the timing to "TDC" per the service manual. Checked the gear oil in the transmission and differential. Drained both air brake tanks to make sure there was no water in them. Moved all the old hose into the RH main hose bed (forward lay) so I can remove and varnish the flooring. We also moved some "junk" around in the building so I could have more room to work on the rig. Our trip was about six miles out and back and David drove the entire time. We stopped at MacDonald's for dinner of course. People in the Newcastle area are starting to notice the white fire engine. We even had two kids on bicycles chase as we returned to the JP area from the city park at 91th and 140th SE. Heading south on Coal Creek Pkwy just before 91th SE David started to shift down from forth to third and he was having a problem. "You have a problem Dave" ? Yes the rig in stuck in third................I looked over at the shift lever. "Could be, cause you are in forth, not third already". David's reply was I have been driving my brother's Crown to many times. Ted's Crown has a different shift pattern. When I drive Ted's Crown I go from third to fifth. Oh the problems of driving so many "Cadillac" fire engines.................................Did you know that Crown advertised CROWN The "Royalty" of Fire Apparatus ?

Thursday.....................Another beautiful day, and not as hot either. Nice Spring day like it should be..............

Again I spent all day working on ole Lionel 0-72 switches.

I made two sales today, one for twelve K-Line dies cast cars at $4.95 each the other sale was to a customer from the San Diego area looking for AF. He started out to buy a Lionel-AF Xmas GP-20 and a Silver Flash dummy Alco PB-1 B unit. I went a head and saved the sale and the customer said he would look around some more. Next thing I know Buck is helping him and going to ring up the sale. But, I stepped in and rang it up.............$560 worth. What Buck doesn't under stand is if I have to go all the way upstairs to find boxes etc to make a sale.......I am going to make it, plus Buck is trying real hard to always be number two in sales no matter who he steps on. Bottom line he is no "Richard" like our last manager, Richard always was looking out for "All" of us, Buck is only looking out for himself, including brown nosing the entire S family INCLUDING the friggin dog !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Lionel UPRR 4-12-2 steam engine came in today. Nice loco, but you can see where MTH will do a better job if they produce one. For the size of the loco it is way to light, sound is the same as other Lionel big loco's in there series. May be I will get one if MTH does produce one some day.

After work I picked up a minimum of groceries, since I have spent most of my money on the Crown for the past three weeks. Stopped at JP and did more work on the oak flooring. I now have the flooring over the fuel tank and both preconnect hose beds varnished and back on the rig. Hopeful Friday night I will get the LH reverse bed the first coat of varnish.

Friday...............................weather another beautiful day with Sun and lots of breezes........I have not gotten home from JP before 8:30PM every night this week. I come home tired, but I sleep better too.

The day would have really been quiet if it wasn't for part of the lights in the building going out and the FD showed up...

I spent most of the day working on one 0-72 switch and still didn't figure out why it won't work. Great project for monday.

My first customer was a really nice looking Grandmother, she could ride on my fire engine any time. Got to work on this one...............She was buying MTH accessories for birthday presents for her twin Grandsons in Naperville, ILL. She spent almost $200 on two accessories and a small Xfmer. She made comment she only gets into Kirkland about twice a year. "Oh where do you live" ? In Issaquah.......Showed her a picture of my fire engine. She had a lot of questions. Should have told her I am going thru Issaquah next Tues morning with the Crown on the way to work.

I was working on a 1936 Lionel Hiawatha steam loco and tender for a customer that I had repaired almost a year ago. The pilot truck had come off because the snap ring fell off. He thought there was a problem with the Xfmer, his problem was his track needed tightening. The whistle tender didn't work, cause the relay points, one side had burned away. I just put a solder dot where there was suppose to be a "point". He also picked up one new 0-72 RH switch, some track and a two bumpers for $110. When I was first working on the loco the lights flashed in the building and we lost power to about a third of the building and there was a loud and strange noise. We checked the electrical vault out back, but no smoke was showing. Several minutes later I heard a large truck pulling in to the alley and went to check, may be more deliveries. Nope........ It was Kirkland FD Ladder Co. 26 pulling into our parking lot. By the time I got out front the sales people was yelling "get Bob". The problem was across the street in a under ground electrical vault. The bank next door lost part of there computer work and fried there AC unit on the roof. I took some pictures and talked with one fireman and of course I had to show him a picture of my Crown. "Hey that's a Crown fire engine". Kirkland FD used to have a Crown pumper too. S missed all the fun, the S's are in Spokane celebrating B1's Mother's 75th birthday.

After work over to JP and get more work done on the Crown. I removed the LH flooring and did the scrape, sand and varnish. This time I used a old pillow to knee on, so I don't have a problem standing up afterwards. Then I unloaded 500ft of inch and half hose and started moving the 500ft of two and a half hose back toward the rear of the rig so I could off load it too. Scott who is working on a German Unimog truck he is restoring stopped by to see how I was doing with the Crown. Being a young man I got him to drop the hose down to me and then I didn't have to climb all over the Crown. We also removed the RH flooring so I can work on that Saturday evening too.

This next comment may shock you, BUT I am selling a good portion of my train collection to help pay for the items I need to get the Crown up and running and in service as a working "ENGINE"................I just sold two complete sets to David H, the Royal Hudson and passenger cars, plus caboose and the Jersey Central Camelback and freight cars for $985. The other reason I am selling a large portion of my collection is I need back up money in the bank. I have spent somewhere between $33K and $37K on trains in the last eight years. There is a very slim chance I will ever have or build a train layout big enough to support all the trains I have. Where would I put it and what would it cost for a layout say 20ft by 30ft at least. Sure won't be buying a house real soon either............Right ? You want any items speak up, cause I plan to go from 50 loco's, 290 frt cars and 90 pass cars to 8 loco's, less than a 75 frt cars and 20 pass cars. And you think a woman could change my life ? It just takes a Crown fire engine to wake me up and smell the flowers.........

Saturday....................morning starts off overcast, but by 9:30 we have Sun all day and warm too.

I made a lot of small sales today. Not many customers. Sold a Williams Alco FA-1 pair of NHRR diesels for $175 that were from the big estate sale. Sold a Williams SD-45 Rio Grande RR diesel for $120 also part of the estate sale. Sold some other misc items too. My best sale was to David H ref my own trains. David came in to pick up the items i mentioned last night and when he wrote the check he made it out for $1000, not $985. "David you made the check out for too much". No I didn't you may need to buy another bearing for the Crown............Now that is what I call a real friend.

After work over to JP and more work on the oak flooring. The LH flooring now has two coats on both sides. The RH flooring has two coats on the bottom. Sunday I should get that finished and all flooring back on the rig. What I should do is take all the flooring and turn it "over", the bottom is almost like it just left the factory. I also painted where the chrome strip that holds down the flooring on top of the vertical diamond plate, silver. This one inch wide area had never been painted at the factory. Hopefully I will get everything finished Sunday. Tues I plan to return the Crown to Jim P for the transfer case work.

Sunday.................The morning is very over cast and cool, no sign of Sun, it was cool enough that Jodie was wearing a denim outfit. But the weather turned well more on that later.

I didn't get up until 8:00AM, told you the Crown makes me sleep good............Just plain wears me out, to be tRful. After breakfast I head to WS and stop at K-Mart and pick up pictures, paint thinner and more brushes. Silver paint is rough on brushes. Stopped at Roxbury Auto parts in WS to see if they could help me figure what I needed to make the wiper blades fit the wiper arms on the Crown. All I needed was small plastic part that acted as a shim. Cost, free.

At church I stop for the morning coffee break and then wait for Jodie and the group. She didn't show up by 10:33AM so I went on in to save "our" seats, but none were up front where we usually sit. So I stayed in the very last row and sure enough the P finally arrived. We sat in the forth row from the front. During services Jodie always has Uncle John sign his pay check so she can deposit it. John is very proud he can sign his own name. I asked Jodie did she have John show her some "ID" ? She said you bet. After church as we were walking out side Jodie said the Volvo was in the shop twice this past week. First time for a complete brake job and then later for a problem with the power steering pump and AC unit. The brake job cost $800 and the AC problem cost $1800. Swedish had disconnected the AC unit, but didn't by pass the pulley drive. End result was the AC unit froze up and burned up the belt. So she decided to have the AC fixed. She was concerned because the new brake job squeals and the AC isn't cold enough. She had Swedish do the brakes and some one else do the AC unit. She can't afford Swedish to do the work, they have upped their labor to almost a $100 hour. So she was going back to both shops next week. From church I came home and picked up one of my cameras I forgot and headed to JP.

Got to JP at 1:00PM and started off by varnishing the other side of the RH flooring. Sanded, primed and silver painted the last three finder compartments. Put a second coat of varnish on the RH flooring. Primed all the bolts that hold down the two booster tank inspection covers. Pulled the rig out and washed all the leaves and junk off the top of the pump assembly. Rolled up the big rubber tarp I borrowed from the previous owner, tarp is about 20ft square. Put the last two sections of flooring back in the hose bed, all by myself. Did you know oak flooring is really heavy ? Installed the old metal wiper blades off ole yeller on the Crown and put new plastic blades on ole yeller.

3:30PM I decided to take the rig for a ride and get something to eat. Weather is still overcast and cool. Change out of my dirty coveralls, put all the junk away and load up the tool box. As I pull up to the traffic light at 91th and Coal Creek Pkwy SE there is a "in service" county Engine Co going south on Coal Creek, the engineer waves at me and I wave back. Drove over to the Newcastle town center and checked out both small shopping malls to see if there might be a hardware store, none was found. Over to MacDonald's and order my lunch. Didn't realize how hungry I was until I started eating, I was so hungry I was shaking. While I sat there eating, the Sun came out and it was a really pretty day with a nice breeze blowing and a high of 75. In the PNW we have "out door AC". Ain't it cool ? No pun intended.............. Took advantage of the Sun and took pictures of the rig on all four sides, sure looks better than a month ago. I wouldn't say I was broke, but when I paid for my lunch I had $4.41 and my lunch cost $4.37. The only other money I had on me was a $100 bill in 'mad money" and a dollar bill I had found almost a year ago that said "Anyone who receives this bill will be blessed with lots of money". Now I find out that isn't true, I just found a $5 in my wallet I didn't know I had..........See the $1 bill was right ! Drove back to JP and parked the rig out side and did some more minor work. Finally put the rig away about 5:30 and got ready to head for home.

When I got home I got a call from David H who was having a ball with all his new MTH toys. Glad my trains are in a good home where they are appreciated and enjoyed. Ted and David are talking about buying some more items.

So that wraps up another week of fun and games in the beautiful PNW.

This brings week 2043 plus to and end, sure glad ,I am tried and boy I ache all over, but I have been having fun too.

Are you two ready to spend one day getting the Crown washed and waxed ?

Hope everyone is doing OK, not just OK, but doing great.

Love Dad

Crown NW, Great news, Piano too ?Took Crown out for dinner, Jodie in Church, end week with potluck at church

2002-07-07T17:29:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday..................Back to beautiful Spring weather with blue sky, large white clouds, a nice breeze blowing and mild temperatures...................ha, ha

First thing call Waterous Co in regards to my pump, ref a service manual. They do have them available and will be sending one.

Had a couple of repairs a Lionel early 80's GP-9 with a bad worm gear, cause someone forgot too or didn't know enough to oil and grease the loco. Took me less than and hour and cost $32.00.

The other repair was a 1938 Lionel 2-4-2 steam freight set that the customer brought in on Saturday and wants to give it to his 5 year old Son. It had belonged to the Grandfather. Cleaned up the loco and cars and will finish the pair of switches Tues.

Tom A came in and spent a few $$$$. He was looking for box cars. I sold him three premier line 40ft box cars, a 50ft auto box car and a RailKing 40ft reefer for $240.

After work I met David H at work and we drove to Jurassic Park and did more work on the White Dinosaur. Most important was to check the timing. The A (LH) vacuum distributor was timed at "retarded" and the B (RH) mechanical advance distributor was timed at "advanced". The B distributor was correct. The engine really smoothed out once the timing was corrected. Found a PN on the alternator belt, now I can order one from NAPA.

Got the PN's off both distributors so Larry Wb can find out which one can be converted to electronic ignition. We also checked to see how the mechanical and electric fuel pumps were connected together. They run in parallel, which means if the mechanical one fails and blows the diaphragm the electric one can pump gasoline into the crank case. Need to add a shut off valve or check valve to the mechanical one.

David checked the temp of the exhaust at the tail pipe, 390 degrees, at the manifold it was 450 degrees great for making baked potatoes on the road......................

We finished up by painting the running boards on the right side and in the cab on the officers side too. Now I only need to finish the driver side in the cab, the back of the hose bed at the tail board and inside three compartments. We had pulled the rig out so we could check the timing, also that way we weren't in the way of the boat. I only have about five inches on the right side of the rig when it is parked in the building.

Ted H called about 10:30 and he had been looking thru his original Crown records for his rig, F-1316. He found a work sheet explaining the how and what the builder plate info is used. The example shown is, you won't believe this was for Crown F-1173, my rig............What a small world we Crown lovers live in.

It was after 9:00PM before Dave and I left Jurassic Park. On the way home we stopped at MacDonald's so I could buy David and I some dinner. David is a graduate mechanical engineer, boy could "our' group have a great Crown NW "fire service center"...............

Tuesday...........weather is another nice day with lots of Sun and blue sky, T and I sat outside at lunch and enjoyed the day. He told all about his trip to Alaska which included watching bald eagles and hump back whales. Coming home the sky is clouding up and talk of rain Weds and may be Thurs.

First thing call Jodie and see if she really did start painting the kitchen. Jodie didn't only paint all four walls, she was painting every draw and counter area. When she starts a job, she goes all the way...........

Then call Waukesha in Auburn and leave a message. Hour later they call back. I ask if they have info on converting the ignition to electronic. He would have to check. Late afternoon the manager calls me back again. Waukesha has never done a electronic up grade. OK, when my mechanic does the conversion on the Crown I will send you the info on how we did it.

Call Larry Wb and gave him the numbers on both distributors. Later he called back and said he would have more info later, but wanted to order a Lionel UPRR Veranda Gas Turbine at $1060.

The NAPA PN for the alternator belt was obsolete and couldn't be converted, but they had part no's for two Waukesha alternator belts.............So I need to start over and measure the belt.

The customer I had on Saturday from Kennawich called and ordered a Lionel Hudson and command base, will be in Sat to pick it up. While the "sales staff" is sitting around talking I am still selling trains...................

I finished up the switches for the old Lionel repair and that totaled $80.

Rest of the day I did nothing, except talk with T, run trains and sell some misc items.

Wednesday..................another beautiful day with lots of Sun, lite breeze and "Oh the bluest skies are in Seattle". Hey they should right a song about that suggestion..................

T and I started off the morning moving more used Lionel upstairs, mostly to make room for a shipment of new Lionel coming in next week. Then I found more items to put in the cases for sale from the $4500 collection S bought about three weeks ago.

I had one customer that I sold the used MTH passenger set last week, he came in to pick up a Lionel repair and bought $85 of new "HO" ga track to build a layout in his basement, he has the MTH layout in his garage. The customer from Kenneling called and confirmed I had the Hudson with command available. he will pick up on Friday. Harry Patterson came in and picked up his Premier MTH CB&QRR F-3 A-B-A diesel for $620.

T and I didn't eat lunch until almost 2:00PM. Great idea and sure made for a shorter afternoon, as the day was boring.

GT called me today at work and asked if I was bringing the Crown to the 4th of July parade in Edmonds ? I told him no, the temporary insurance runs out on the 4th and I hadn't received the permanent insurance to date.

T and I had a long talk with S about reducing prices on used trains and running some kind of sale to move more merchandise so we have more room for new product.

After work I drove to Jurassic Park and worked on the Crown. Finished painting the running boards and painted the letters "Crown" in the four corners of the running boards red, they really look neat. Left JP about 8:30 and headed home.

When I arrived home I had a nice surprise in the mail. The Crown is fully insured, cost for one year is only $50. Now the question is do I take the rig on the 4th, I have no idea how reliable the rig is at this time ??????????

Thursday..............Morning starts off very over cast and we had rain in Seattle during the night. Up at 6:00AM and get my day started. I decided not to go get F-1173 today. That will happen on Saturday evening after work. If I am satisfied then I will take the rig to the potluck at church on Sunday evening.

7:30AM I am out the door and off to Everett and stop at storage to pick up some power tools to work on the rig. Bring your work clothes with you I need help washing, waxing and polishing the rig......Dad's arms are getting to old for much rub-a-dub-dub.......Hopefully next week I can start refinishing the oak hose bed flooring.

Got to the H's at 8:00 and David and I put the red, white and blue 4th of July bArs on the rig like last year. 10:00 we head over to Edmonds with Mr H and stage the rig. Bev H will be along later. I walk around taking pictures of the newer rigs. When the FDLR shows up I get to show several members a picture of my new toy...........Edmonds is always a fire engine parade.............They spread the fire engines out all thru the parade. Of all the fire engines in the parade including the FDLR's we had the most nicely decorated rig. What was really neat we got a lot of applauds, wolf whistles and thumbs up, but the neatest part was when they read the sign on the side(s) of the rig "The H Family" and realized the rig was private owned, that made it really special.

After the parade we drove over to Doug and Glenna F's house in Edmonds ( FDLR members) and had a great potluck and enjoyed the great weather,with a few rain drops thrown in for good measure. 4:30 David and I drove back to the H home and I headed back to Seattle with a stop at the FDLR. While at the FDLR I picked up and borrowed four safety belts for riding the tail board for a unspecified length of time.

From there I came home and took a shower and am also doing my laundry. Ted and David took F-1316 and are providing fire protection for a warehouse on the north end of Lake Union. The lady that owns the warehouse doesn't want to take any chances.

Friday.................Wow what a beautiful day, high of 74 with a 10 mph breeze, you can't beat that, no matter how hard you try......................Lunch time I sat outside and ate lunch then walked down to the lake and sat and watched the world go by and two young ladies in bikinis too.

Didn't have any repairs but I sold a lot of goodies today. My first customer from Kennawick was waiting for me when the doors opened. Him and his wife went home with a Lionel Hudson with a command base, 35 sections of MTH track, and several accessories for $650. Sold another customer a $100 worth of something, but I don't remember what. Must be ole age ? My next customer bought a Lionel cheap C&NWRR cow and calf diesel set for $212, the last one finally.............. My last big sale was to Barry Conti he bought the Lionel 1957 N&WRR class J Northern that was a repaint for only $426. If original the cost would have been $1295 plus tax. Barry plans to repaint and decal it.

T and I gave S some more comments about over priced older Lionel junk. A $8.00 operating freight station that S paid $50 for in the original box, he is asking $225...........Not much mark up their ? We have ONE customer that might buy it. IF NOT it will sit in the case for a long time.

Came home and ate a lite dinner and off to Hokum Hall and "The total experience Gospel choir in concert". It was a great show. When you are here I won't be able to take you to Hokum Hall, they won't be open again until Aug 9th. Sorry.

Forgot to tell you I was offered a real piano. The piano needs some work, but the price is right.......FREE. Except I have no place to put it, OH Darn.........

Saturday...................weather oh what a beautiful day, some were complaining it was to warm ????

Work was rather slooow. I made two sales one for $31 on Thomas the tank engine goodies and $434 for a Lionel scale UPRR 2-8-0 steam and tender. Ran the trains and goofed off most of the day. Bert went home early to help his two daugthers with there new boat, they were up at Lake Sns.

Long day and I wanted to go to Jurassic Park and play with the Crown. Out the door at 5:30 and make a mad dash to JP. Going out Coal Creek Parkway to Newcastle is like a rollercoaster ride. Great for any vehicle except a tired ole Crown fire engine. Once I got to JP I needed a way to guide the rig back into the building by myself. So I took my orange extension cord and laid it on the right side of the rig on the ground and used it as a guide. It worked I put the rig back where it was suppose to be parked. Loaded up a brunch of items on the rig I would need later and then built a fire under the hood and let the engine warm up for a few minutes before pulling it out. Loaded up the tool box and put on a pair of flags for good measure. Then off to get some fuel. 24 gallons at $35 worth. Then north on Coal Creek PKWY and she how the rig will run. For the most part OK, still have some unknown noises and the timing may be too far advanced. Heading back south on Coal Creek PKWY there is one area where I had to shift down to third to pull the hill. Stopped at MacDonalds for dinner. Then back to JP and park the rig. The fun part is I have to do a 180 in the driveway to back into the building. The "lawyer" had parked a boom truck in the way on the one side of the turn around drive way. Lawyers can and or a pain in the ????, no matter where you run across them. Came home and took ashower, I really needed one after loading all the equipment and all the extra "moves" to get the rig back in the building.

The Crown club has loaned me a Waukesha engine manual which I copied at work and when I got home I had a Waterous pump manual for my Crown in the mail. All I need is a few more bulks to get the rest of the work completed at Jim P's shop. My next project is to scrape and varnish the hose bed flooring. Then I can load some hose.

Sunday...........weather what the Hell happened to our Sunshine ? Morning started off with some lite rain, after church it looked like we might get a break, Sun and blue sky in Newcastle, but by the time I returned to WS we have a lot of rain, real rain too.

Left early for WS and stop at K-Mart and drop off film and pick up another American flag for the one I tore off driving out of the drive way at MacDonald's on a tree. Picked up a gallon of spar varnish on sale at the hardware store to restore the oak flooring and two 1/4 inch dowell pins in case I break another flag off. Picked up two new wiper blades for the Crown at the auto store too.

Met Jodie and the group at church. As we were walking in Jodie was telling me she had driven over a steel grating in the street and the Volvo just quit running. She questions whether she was out of gas, cause the gauge was in the "red" zone. So after walking down the street and getting a gallon of gas the car still wouldn't start. So she took a look under the hood and found the problem, the coil wire had pulled out of the distributor. She said she should have looked under the hood first, but she wasn't going their. Jodie can fix most anything ???

After church we stood out in the rain and talked for awhile. She wanted to know how my new baby is doing. Told her I had taken it out for a test drive last night and did find another problem. Still think the timing is wrong, it may be to far advanced. Engine still pings pulling a steep grade. The best part I told Jodie was when I walked out of the MacDonald's toward the rig knowing it was mine and I could drive it where I wanted and any time I wanted too. Jodie's reply as no GT to say otherwise. YEA. We finally decided we better get out of the rain and gave one another a big hug.

Came home and called David H ref we getting together and check timing on the Crown. He wasn't available, his plans had changed, we will get together later next week. So I headed to JP and work on the rig by myself. When I got there it was a Sunny day and blue sky. Pulled the rig part way out of the building and started off by replacing the missing flag. Added a Jack in the Box "head" to the radio antenna, got to "Gise" it too. Removed the bad red flashing bulb in the RH warning light, will have to get a replacement. Touched up the tires with tire black in several areas. Painted the outer ring on the LH flashing light assembly with silver paint since the chrome ring was rusted. Did the same thing to both door piano hinges. Oiled around most of the compartment door latches so they work easy. Touched up some of the silver paint on the diamond plate. The wiper blades would not fit, and neither would the ones from ole yeller. Will have to mostly likely replace the wiper arms too. Removed most of the silver paint I got on the white paint when I was doing the diamond plate. Hopefully this week I can start varnishing the flooring. Almost don't want to put hose in the bed just to show off the oak flooring, no , no got to have a full load of hose.

Left JP about 3:30 and headed back to Seattle, with the weather changing from Sunshine to rain. Stpped at the apt for a few minutes then back to WS and stop for fuel then over to the church for a potluck. Had plAd to take the rig, but since I couldn't get the timing checked and the fact I didn't have working windshield wipers I decided not to take it. We had a great potluck of BBQ chicken and pork and lots of other goodies. Sadly Jodie didn't make it. I called her when I got home and she said she had a busy day and was really tired. She was laying down watching TV, unusual for Jodie.

So that is another week gone by the way side.............................

Week 2044 plus to go. So I will make a copy of this e-mail and send it off to you.

Hope everyone is OK and you two are enjoying life and each other to the fullest.

Love Dad

Crown is home temporary, Waukesha with electronic ignition, WOW, meet Jodie at church

2002-06-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday...................Another Fantabyoulous day....................weather wasn't bad either.

First thing call Waterous Pump Co and talk with a tech. The water jacket housing if it is available would cost between $600 and $700. They agree just weld up the casting and by pass the water jacket. Call Jim P and tell him the good news, weld it up. M Britt calls me also ref the Crown and he says go for the weld up. He also cautions me every three or four months the transfer case should be checked for moisture in the gear oil.

I made several good sales. Tim W came in and bought eight MTH freight cars and three die cast trucks for $460. Another customer bought our last MTH RailKing UPRR three unit gas turbine for $325. S was really happy to see it go.

Customer brought in a Lionel Also RS-11 that wouldn't run. T and I both checked it out, but could not find a reason why it wouldn't run. We think it is in the DCRU rectifier PCB which we took off the unit and then found out we couldn't get it back together, "our" fingers were to big. Weds I will talk to Lionel about sending it back for repair.

Next up a 1941 Lionel Gantry crane that someone rewired, but forgot to leave a service loop and I couldn't get it apart with out cutting the wire bundle. Real reason it won't run is it hasn't been lubricated in years. Something for me to do tomorrow.

After work I went out to T's and cleaned out the building where the Crown will be parked. The best description of the area is "Jurassic Park". When I got home I paged Bob C and then went over to the cleaners and picked up a copy of the Waterous pump manual I had given Bob several years ago. 8:45PM before I got home.

Tuesday................A warm Summer day and I mean warm, like 91 plus...................

First off the Crane. One of the brush springs is weak, I replace with a 1950's product after I modify it. Both springs in the two solenoids were weak and again I used 1950's modified parts. Rewire the entire system and put the basic unit back together. Repainted the base and will finish the assembly on Weds.

Made a $240 sale to a customer from Texas that I haven't seen since last Summer. He is on business and may come back for more goodies before he leaves.

C L came in and put a 1941 Lionel 224 steam passenger set on a lay away. T and cleaned up this set several months ago. Cost was $479.

The customer that came in Monday and bought the MTH gas turbine came back and bought two UPRR freight cars, one MTH and the other K-Line plus track for $106.

After work I drove out to Jim P's and paid him a $1000 deposit on the Crown work. I may bring the Crown home Weds evening because Jim can't do the transfer case work until after the 16th of July. he is up to his ears in race cars for some up and coming races. The plan is to replace all ten bearings in the transfer case, OUCH. I should have at least another $1000 in the rig by the time Jim is thru...........So far he has nine hours of labor at $450. The new clutch pressure plate cost $450, the clutch plate rebuild was $450, I am told it may out last the rig, $95 to have the fly wheel resurfaced and a pilot bearing was $35. The shop couldn't resurface the pressure plate that was one expense we didn't expect. Neither was the transfer case problem...............

Wednesday..................another nice day high of 81.

I finished up the crane. After I went thru the wiring several time, cause Dad had a great idea in using colored wire except once together I couldn't "buzz" them out because most of the wires all went to ground. i did get around the problem and the crane works great. Next was a 1950 Lionel NYCRR F-3 diesel with two motors. It ran, but real slow. The one motor had brushes that were worn down, both gear boxes were full of some type of heavy automotive grease and one idler gear on one motor was so full of dried grease from 50 years ago I couldn't hardy spin the armature. When I got thru I had everything working just like new. $120 repair order.

Called Waterous again and I asked for info on the transfer case. How much gear oil was required ? 10 to 12 quarts. I ask if they could send me copies of the transfer case if I had serial numbers ? I was told if I a serial number they would send me free a complete pump manual...............

Called Lionel about the Alco RS-11 diesel. I was right the problem was a DCRU PCB. I requested a RA. We can send you a DCRU board. Yes you could, but we don't have fingers small enough to reinstall the hardware. Lionel tech says you know how much we hate these RS-11's because of such poor design regarding the board installing...........YES. So Lionel gets to work on more of there own junk..............I love trains too.

After work T, Bob C and I bring the Crown home until July 16th.

Thursday............would you believe we get a day of rain and Sunshine, mostly rain.

I finished up the two pairs of used Lionel switches I was working on and cleaned up one extra switch. Grabbed a box of 50'est Lionel freight cars to clean up. Got four finished and one F-3 B unit.

Customer came in with some really cheap Lionel he had got at a auction and yard sales. I had fixed the one loco, but the other items were junk. He wanted to trade them for a nice steam engine with smoke and whistle. I couldn't give him more than a few dollars. So I asked him how much did he want to spend ? I ended up selling him a nice used MTH D&RGWRR Pacific with three passenger cars, plus MTH track and switches for $325. The passenger set cost $400 new. S had priced it to low, Oh well..............

T, S and I spent and hour or more talking with William L. Bracy the new CEO of Lionel and we gave him a good ear full...........You know Dad he ain't bashful when it comes to Lionel.

Tom A came in with a problem. His MTH premier UPRR 844 Northern has a problem when backing up on 0-54 curves. The catalog and the box say it will operate on 0-54. In the instruction booklet the 0-54 has been blanked out and 0-72 inserted. I have run my 844 at home on 0-54, but never in reverse. So he did a little trading. He went home with a SPRR GS-2 Daylight and six passenger cars, plus three more accessories with a difference of $550.

From work I stopped at Jurassic Park and worked on the Crown for and hour. I fixed the officers roll up window, it wouldn't roll down more that four inches. Working on the Crown is either going to make me a lot younger or a hell of lot older, climbing around on a nine ton fire engine is a lot of exercise for the ole man............

Friday..................Summer is over again, more lite rain off and on all day. One way to keep it cool in the PNW.

I started off by putting a Lionel bay window caboose back together so I could put another Lionel set in the display case. This one is a 1955 Virginian FM Trainmaster and five freight cars for only $1795. New it sold for $69.95.

S was really happy I sold the last MTH RailKing UPRR Gas Turbine for $434. Two in a week, not bad.

M Winters and Dave P came in today. Dave put a Lionel NYCRR F-3 A-B-A diesel set and a No. 52 fire car on lay away for $900 worth. M says he will be in next week to pick another $1800 worth of MTH and put another $1200 Lionel loco on lay away.

I talked with Tony P and he may have the drivers door handle I need for the Crown and a pair of jump seats too. He also suggested I upgrade the Waukesha with a electronic ignition system. Jim P would love doing that job, he is a high performance mechanic for racing cars. Tony is a retired LA city fire captain that has driven, owns and sells Crown parts...........In other words he speaks "CROWN".

Saturday.............Who in the Hell came up with the idea for Dad to buy a 1/1 scale Crown fire engine ? That dam thing gets better every time I climb all over it. Never mind, I just remembered I did..........Oh Well..

Morning is cool and windy, rest of the day is cool and a beautiful Spring day. Talking rain Sunday and I want to paint the running boards on the Crown too.

I called Jim P about putting a electronic ignition system on the Waukesha, he says no problem. Hour later in walks Larry Wb, Jim P's expert Delco Remy ignition mechanic. After talking with Larry he says he may have a direct conversion for the distributor. One way or the other we can get better fuel economy and "more power" too. ( When I told GT about the idea he said. "Why would you want too" ? ) David and Ted H said GT doesn't have a cue.... He also doesn't like it because I now own a rig, and a Crown too boot.............

I made a couple of good sales today. Don C picked up a MTH Reading EMD FT A-B-A diesel set, a K-Line B&ORR EMD E-8 passenger diesel set and four freight cars for $1350. Had a first time buyer from Yakima, WA that called and then drove over today and he spent $360 on new and used Lionel and used Williams. Had several $100 sales and spent a lot of time with customers answering questions and of course running "my" trains. I have three customers that want to buy my Erie Triplex.............

After work over to Jurassic Park and work on the other dinosaur, err I mean the Crown. Every time I climb on the rig I am sure it gets another foot higher or I am shrinking. All I know is I ain't getting any younger. But I am having a lot of fun, and a few back aches too. I finally found the pump model and serno number. Now I should be able to get a service manual. Removed the heat shield from the exhaust manifold that was blocking the way to see the timing marks on the fly wheel. Put both dust covers back on the clutch housing. Fired the engine up and the tach decided to work. I was the only person in Jurassic Park so I wound up the siren and blasted the air horn. Got home about 8:00PM.

Sunday............morning starts off overcast, but by the time church is out we have a beautiful day with lots of blue sky and lots of clouds too.

Up at 7:00 and start my day. Out the door by 8:30 an off to WS and spend that K-Mart credit card you sent me..........On the Crown of course. I got $42 worth of goodies, Seattle map, work gloves, rust remover wheel for the electric drill, grease for my grease gun, paint thinner, brushes, two spray cans of gray primer, new bolts and nuts for both battery terminals, and masking tape. Over to the hardware store and get a quart of silver paint. Stop at the auto store and get two convex mirrors. Then over to church and wait for Jodie. She shows up late and not only does she have a pick of parking places, service hasn't even started. After church we stood outside and talked for about 20 minutes. The boys were going on a church camping trip in eastern WA and Jodie was going to paint her kitchen while they were gone. "Don't you have that backwards" ? Jodie says she works like a dog when the kids are gone and like a puppy when they are their. Jodie wanted to know how my new toy was doing. Costing me more money than I have to be exact...........Told her how the Crown club has been a big help and so are Jim P and Larry Wb, but not GT..She fully understood the last part.

From church I came back home and picked up several more items I would need while working on the Crown today. Then off to Jurassic Park with one stop for a lite lunch at MacDonalds. Put the convex mirrors on both sides of the rig, need to be able to see both rear wheels when turning. I spent the next five hours painting diamond plate on the rig. I am 75% done. I still have the interior of the cab, most of the right hand side and some of the rear area just below the hose bed. I also need to paint the diamond plate under both booster reels, but I need to remove 400 feet of hose to gain access. What areas have been painted really look great. Lot of work for the ole man, but I am having fun. If my knees hold out. I was able to sit on a old kitchen chair part of the time, that helped. When I was changing out of my coveralls and old shoes I was sitting on a chair next to the Crown. That is a big rig, not by todays standards, but big enough to do the job and do it right. Many of the new rigs are too big and FD's have restrictions on where they can be driven. In Phoenix they are restricted from going down many alleys. In large older cities like Seattle, Kansas City, Boston and others with narrow streets and cars parked on both sides the crew can't get out of the rig, there is no way to open the doors.

The weather was nice all day, it did try to rain for a few minutes in Newcastle, but we had lots of Sun. Coming home it was raining as I headed back to WS, only in the north end. I took my self out for a mexican dinner. When I left WS it was raining in the north end and not the south end. Raining hard when I got home too.

This brings week 2045 plus to and end..............................

Hope you two are enjoying life to the fullest, if not............How come ???

Love Dad

Oh,Oh on the Crown, Crown's and the CFE are trully a blessing, riding app 316 and Jodie in church

2002-06-23T18:55:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday.............weather morning it is trying to rain, we do get some rain in the afternoon. Day is overcast all day, may be more rain tomorrow.

First thing call MTH and get a RA to return a loco that has a scrabbled program.

Then work on a Lionel SD-40 that came in Saturday with a few problems. Ditch lights don't work, no sounds in command mode, except engine sounds. Ditch light problem is a broken wire and a back crimp on the connector. The sound problem is the loco was programmed with the wrong program number.

Next up a cheap, really cheap Lionel GP-9 that the customer wants the unit up graded with a second motor. For $10 less than he paid for the basic loco he could of had a MTH GP-9 with dual motors that would pull at least 75 cars, this Lionel may pull 12 or 15 now.

Put two new MTH RailKing UPRR Northerns in the show case, I get one too.

After work I went over to see Bob C and pick up my laterst "good will" package from Phx. Told Bob it has been a great two weeks buying a Crown fire engine and finding a girl friend. Bob says you really are going to be spending the money on both "hobbies" now.

Tuesday............weather morning is a lite rain and some more during the day, by noon T and I sit outside and eat lunch.

T and I put eight boxes of used Lionel and Marx upstrairs for rework later, we needed the room. Cleaned up several Marx cars to go in the sale case. Finally got the Mother PCB to fix ANOTHER Lionel ZW Xfmer with a failed board. Would you believe Lionel took the PCB out of another unit so I could repair one under warranty ? They don't have any parts, sounds like a great operation at Lionel.

Got a call from the mechanic ref my Crown................The rig does need a clutch, BUT he found something else. Two frozen bearings related to the transfer case for "road to pump". I am going out to the shop Weds night and take a look.

Rich C the American airline pilot form Wisconsin came in today, first time he has been in the Seattle area in over a month. I gave him a ride back to his hotel in DT Seattle and he took me out for dinner. So we got a chance to just sit and talk for a while.

Wednesday............weather morning overcast, but we have another beautiful day.

Checked out a 1957 Lionel N&WRR class J Northern, that would be normally worth about $1295, but this one is a repaint and S put it in the case for only $395.

Make a couple of good sales. $805 in Lionel track and a old KW Xfmer. Customer from Oregon spent $1305 on MTH GNRR "M" Atlas NPRR caboose, two USA "G" ga cars, NPRR reefer and a caboose and some misc items.

After work I drove out to see how bad the problem was with the Crown. The transfer case had three damaged bearings because of a crack in the water jacket that keeps the bearings cool when pumping. He can replace the bearings, but may need to replace a drive flange and a the water jacket housing. Have a e-mail out to the Crown club membership for parts and answers too. This mechanic is a real professional. The Crown was sitting on blocks with the transmission on a tranny jack. So far he has six hours of labor in the job.

Got GT's bill for towing the rig to P's..............$171...........

Thursday.....................WEATHER What a beautiful day...................................................

As soon as I get to work I try calling Tony Pasqualone ref parts for the Crown he lives in the LA area. I had a wrong phone no. So I call M McDonald in Escondido a heavy equipment operator that cleans up after major train derailments. He and Tony are both CFE members. He gives me Tony's phone no and I explain to him what I need in the way of Crown parts. He has me talk with his mechanic, Kevin another Crown owner. 20 minutes later Kevin calls me back he has the splined drive flange I need. "Give me your address". How much for the part ? M says you can have it for free. CEF membership does have a lot of advantages. Then I call Tony and he is looking for the transfer case housing. Worst case I may have to buy a new one from Waterous fire pump co.

Last night walking into P's shop and seeing the Crown with the front wheels sitting on large blocks the tranny sitting on a tranny jack, the clutch and fly wheel housing gone plus the fly wheel, all in all it looked pretty impressive. Then it hits me, this isn't a city or county rig in for service, the DAM thing belongs to me. Oh what have I done ??????

During breakfast this morning I am thinking where am I going to get the flange drive part and what will it cost me ??? Then to make things even more interesting GT calls me at work. I had paged him last night ref looking for parts and he was just now calling me back. Told GT I had located the most important part and the price was right...........FREE. Did you here that GT FREE.

I spent most of the day checking out S's latest purchase of used Lionel. One flat car with logs when I put it in the case I remarked this has "Dave P" written all over it. Hour later Dave came in and, yes Dave went home with a $95 flat car that cost $5.95 new in 1957. Put out a lot of good shape used "O" ga track and one pair of switches. S asked me to bundle it up like I did with some several weeks ago. It sold in just two days. I was just getting ready to eat lunch and in walks the SD-40 customer from Monday with more problems with the same loco. I told him I could fix it, but he would have to wait until I ate my lunch. So while I ate lunch S fixed the loco and when I came back in, the customer bought most of the track and the switches I had just put out for $180 worth. Told S by making the customer wait, he ended up spending money.

Tom A came in and picked up supplies to work on the scenery. He was going to drive his 1931 Duesenburg model SJ to show us. But he had a fuel problem several blocks from home so only showed up in his classic Corvette.

Friday.................Weather another beautiful day in the PNW. High today 83. wow............This is the longest day of the year. Sunrise at 5:11AM, Sunsit at 9:11PM

I started off the morning calling P, ref some numbers on the pump and transfer case and then call the Waterous Co. P never got back with me on the numbers. Kimberly called and said the big fire is only 20 miles due east of there home.

I cleaned up one 1956 Lionel Seaboard diesel freight set that cost about $40 or $50 new. S priced it at $495.

A customers MTH four truck shay came back form repair along with my black SPRR GS-4. The GS-4 kept loosing the sound. When I test ran it, it still does............So Monday it will go back to MTH.

When I was talking to P, he said he had gotten the clutch back from the machine shop, parts alone were almost $1000.

Saturday..................Another beautiful day in the PNW. T and I had a great time sitting outside during lunch. It was a really nice day, to nice to be inside and no customers.

I made two sales, M Winters came in and picked up four Lionel std passenger cars in PRR for $440. I sold another customer $240 in MTH track and misc items.

Put more used items out for sale in used Lionel from the big estate sale S bought.

When I got home from work it was to nice a night to stay home and fix dinner. So I went out to eat at Red Robin then went up to AL R's to see his latest e Bay goodies he had bought.

Sunday....................morning is overcast, but by the time we get out of church we have another beautiful day. High in the 70's with a nice cold breeze blowing too...............

Up at 7:00AM and get my morning started.

After church Jodie and I stood outside and talked for about 20 minutes. Going home she was going to have to deal with Grannie....................She had called 911and reported two men were sitting on her bed. Of course when the police arrived the only thing they found was a 93 blind ole lady sittting in bed by herself. Jodie wanted to know how my new toy was coming along. Showed her the latest pixs and told her about the latest problem and how I hopped to have it ready to roll by the 4th of July weekend.

After church I came home and took my BP, it was normal and then took a nap for a hour and a half. When I got up I realized I was hungry, I had eaten only a lite breakfast. So I drove up to Mr Bill's and had a late lunch, early dinner. From Mr Bill's I stopped by the FDLR. They had just got back from a birthday and being such a nice day were going to take App 316 for a ride around Alki Beach. So Bill, Bob C, Ted H, GT and my self took App 198 and 316 and started off by driving around Green Lake twice and then over to Alki and stop for dinner, fish and chips then around Alki Beach. finally a couple of trips thru DT Seattle

it was a really great day for running around in ole fire engines. Can't wait to get mine up and running.........Soon I hope.

That is about all for this week, 2046 plus to go.

Love Dad 11:00PM

God has blessed me with a beautiful life here in the PNW, towing the Crown, Dad has a date and Jodie too

2002-06-16T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday.............up at 6:00AM and out the door by 7:30. Weather is overcast, but by 11:00 we have Sun all day and not very warm either. I took a short walk during my lunch hour down to the lake. To pretty a day to stay inside, T doesn't come in on Monday's so I didn't have anyone to sit and talk with outside.

My first sale was to a Grandmother for her three year old Grandson. She asked me to run the big trains, I never need a excuse..........Afterwards I showed her Thomas the tank engine goodies and she bought a $60 starter set. She thanked me and said for everyone in the store to hear ( Three sales people ) "You are the nicest sales person in the store". U get sales everyone else gets fat................

Sold one older gentleman a LGB starter set engine and tender with sound for $265.

Al R came in and spent lots of money, his discover card was feeling lonely. He went home with the following goodies. K-Line three pack of special UPRR boxcars, MTH Bobber caboose, F59PH PNW Amtrak diesel ( a second one), seven Santa Fe passenger cars and GNRR Premier 2-8-2 steam engine and tender for $1680.

Restored the last two cars for the 1946 Lionel Berkshire set T and I have been working on. Sold a few more goodies too.

I need to get a life and a wife. What more could a man ask God for once you are blessed with a Crown fire engine ???

I left work at 5:30 and headed to GT's and work on "the apple of my eye" T came of with that comment. I made some progress tonight. I oiled around under the rig and found a lot of places that need some TLC. I drained the water out of both air brake tanks. I blackened the tires. Found out where the hand throttle in the cab is located and what I will need to do to fix it. GT showed up and we checked out the ignition wires and all twelve wires are firing. We could not find the timing mark on the flywheel. Also found the alternator belt was really loose. We tightened it, but it will have to be replaced. I got home at 9:45PM..................See why I say I need a life and a wife ???? Better than sitting around watching TV all evening......................

Tuesday..............weather.......a cool spring day, no more needs to be said..............Hey this is the beautiful PNW ?

I started working on a Lionel repair for another 1656 0-4-0 switch engine, I got the tender rewired except for the solenoid for the bell ringer. Got the loco taken apart and cleaned up and then T and S came back with a truck load of used Lionel, MTH and Williams goodies. $4500 worth. So I spent the afternoon checking out all the Williams trains, about 20 items total. I priced them and S gave me his approval to sell them at my suggested price. Now I need to find a place for them on the floor.

Tom A came in and picked up some goodies to further his train layout. He got four bridges, one flood light tower, another oil well pumping rig, eight MTH tank cars and some misc items for a total of $540. He was driving a very bright red sports car that cost over $235,000..............

Wednesday................I got home at 10:00PM I need to get a life, wait I did, but will explain later. The morning is just beautiful and when I get to work I call Jodie to see what is new...........She says her plan for the day is making home made jelly and working in the yard. She fells me on some minor details of life and she wants to know how I am doing with my new love, the Crown. Just great.

Call Lionel and find out where is the mother PCB for a ZW Xfmer I ordered back in April ? They forgot.............

Back to the Lionel 0-4-0 switcher. Loco goes back together just fine, but there is a problem with the tender which is equipped with a ringing bell that won't ring. T the EE can figure it out, and keep him from giving me a rough time too. It took T and hour to figure it out, including drawing a schematic.

T and I enjoyed lunch in the back of his pick up, better known as the patio.................

I made two sales today, one for $435 for a MTH Premier GP-38-2 Santa Fe diesel and remote control and then my two buddies came in M Winters and Dave P. M bought two MTH die cast freight cars for $110 and put two more on lay away. Dave spent lots of money...............i sold him a 1957 only Lionel CPRR passenger set that included a pair of F-3 diesels and four alum coaches and a Lionel flat car with a liquid rocket fuel tank (S says this is the only one he has ever seen) for $3806...........

After work over to GT's house and work on "my" Crown. I finally tighten up the choke cable where it mounts in the dash panel. didn't really have to stand on my head. Put three quarts of oil in the engine. Built a fire under the hood and let 817 cid of engine warm up for a few minutes. GT showed up at 8:00 and we looked for the timing marks on the fly wheel. The service manual says there is a strip of silver tape, none found and no line stamped in the fly wheel and marked TDC. It is going to cost me $150 for points,12 plugs, condenser, cap, rotor and dust cover for both distributors and then there is a hundred feet of spark plug wires and connectors too.

I stopped for groceries at Fred Meyers in Ballard and a bite to eat at Wendy's before coming home. I also had to join the base ball crowd while driving thru town, Oh what fun..............

So I need to get a life, wait I did that Tuesday evening. I called Sue Howard a home visiting nurse that lives up in Everett and who is one of my customers at ET. We have a date for Friday evening. Sue is going to meet me at ET and we will go for a quick bite to eat and then I will take her to Hokum Hall and we will enjoy some really great music.........More details later. Yes she is into Trains too.

Thursday..................would you believe today in Seattle a record heat wave ?????..........High today of 94, low of 61. Last record high for this day was 90 in 1986, and a low of 42 in 1952................It was so warm that coming home I was getting sleepy driving, so when I got home I had a bowl of ice cream and then took a hour and a half nap.

I spent all day working on and checking out used Williams, MTH and Lionel loco's to put out for sale. I loaded the store with all kinds of new goodies.

Sure was warm sitting out side at lunch time, felt like Phoenix...........YUK !

Friday..............It is midnight and I just got home, been up since 6:00AM. The weather today was another PNW Spring day no YUKKY Phoenix weather.

Got to work about 7:30 and took a short walk, it was a little cool, but that is OK. Sat in the truck and enjoyed the morning and took a short nap too.

T, Bert and I started the morning off by cutting up cardboard boxes for the recycle bin. I worked on a MTH repair for Bob Bradbury of Seattle and put two more used MTH loco's on the floor for sale. Ate a lite lunch of salad and desert cause I knew I was going out for supper tonight.

M Winters and Dave P came in again today. Winters wants P to spent more money...........To date Winters has spent since the first of the year $11,000 and P only $5000. Winters is talking about two more steam engines and passenger sets to go on lay away, about another $3000 worth. S mentioned to P he has a 50's Lionel passenger set with a large door baggage car ( Large door is rare ) to put on the floor. P's eyes lite up..........Winters says it was more like S had said "Look at the woman with big boobs" than "Look at the Lionel baggage car with large doors". Sick bunch of old men.........................

5:15PM Sue H called me and said she was running late and would not get to the shop until after we closed. So at 5:30 when we closed I parked the truck in the main lot and waited for Sue to show up. 5:40 just as S was leaving Sue drove into the parking lot. S asked me "What was I waiting for" ? I pointed to Sue's car and said "For her".............So Sue and I took my car and we stopped at Wendy's for a quick bite to eat and then headed over to WS and Hokum Hall. Got there a little early so I showed Sue where I walk along Alki Beach and of course the "400" stairs too. T was also at Hokum's tonight and he saved us the best seats. Sue had a really great time, like she wouldn't at Hokum's and is looking forward to going again. Like on July 12th for the "Total experience gospel choir in concert". After wards we stopped at my "Castle" so I could show her my treasures. She is my kind of Christian lady, she has a train layout on her living room floor and she has a piano too. From my apt I drove her back to Kirkland and she then headed home to south Everett. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures with dear ole Dad and Sue.................12:30AM, good night or I mean good morning.....................

Saturday................Another beautiful day in the PNW. Up at 6:00 and got home at 11:00PM

Work was so, so.....Not a lot of customers to nice a day to go shopping. Some people picking up Father's day presents.

T and I left at 3:30PM and headed to GT's house and move my Crown. Got to GT's just before 4:00 and the group had the rig hooked up to the app 198 the tow truck. There was a problem with the towing light system, Bob C finally figured it out a bad splice that was shorting out. We left GT's at 4:45 and took a route thru city streets to Montlake and then on to SR 520 and across the bridge and on east to Redmond. We made a inspection stop on Roosevelt Way NE before going on to SR 520. I had forgot to put the tarp on top of the hose bed, it was hanging over the side and would start flapping on the highway. So I climbed up on the back of the rig to bring the tarp over the top and lost my footing and started to fall, if I fell I would have dropped down about four feet, so I threw my body forward into the hose bed full of rolled up hose, but I started to fall back out of the bed anyway so real quickly I turned over on my back and that stopped me from falling out. The whole time I was doing this T and Stacey were watching me make a fool of myself, but I didn't get hurt, other than my pride. We had App 134, App 198 and App 191 ( my Crown ) and App 316. GT loves a parade. When we got to Jim P's he was a little surprised to see so many fire engines. 51 KW pumper (white) 54 Seagrave tow truck (red) 60 Crown pumper (white) and 69 KW tillered aerial (red) and we parked all of them in his long up hill winding driveway. we had a problem getting the Crown in a position where Jim could drive it in to his garage, because GT wasn't thinking. Bob C. didn't help when he tried moving my rig and forgot to release the E-brake. We did find out the E-brake works really good. I got on Bob C's case for not knowing how to operate a Crown, he has two himself. From Jim's we stopped at Azteca for mexican food in Redmond. Showing up with three fire engines sure gets the peoples attention in the restaurant. From Redmond we took a fast run back across the SR 520 bridge into Seattle. Going home T and I rode in the "telephone booth" positions on the tillered aerial, great view and fun to watch the reaction to people when they see you riding on the side of the trailer near the turn table. After putting the rigs away Bob C took T and I back to our trucks at GT's. So the Crown is now in the shop.

Midnight good night.......................What do you mean don't spend all the K-Mart money on the Crown ??????

Sunday......................Morning is overcast and cool, but by noon we have Sunshine and more real Spring weather. I didn't get to bed until almost 1:00AM and didn't get up until 8:00AM

Off to WS and meet Jodie at church. Only Jodie and Uncle John showed up, the boys were with their Dad. As soon as Jodie got out of the car she started laughing and telling me about her and Jeff flying model airplanes. So after church we stood outside and she told me all about flying remote control airplanes, or lack of control. Jodie said to fly the plane you start off using it as a glider, then power up the engine. Jeff threw it and Jodie powered it and the plane made a hard right turn right into a goal post on a football field. Jodie says "you did that on purpose" So Jeff moved to the middle of the field and they tried again and another hard turn into the goal post. Jodie said Jeff tried taking the controls and he flew it into a cyclone fence. ( Jodie also explained they never watched the video tape, later they found out why they were having problems) Then Jodie took control and the plane flew in a straight line, except when she tried to control the plane in a turn the plane kept going straight. She said she stood there and watched the plane go down behind a tree about two blocks away and then reappear again and then disappear. They looked for the plane, but never found it in some high weeds.................But she did find a parakeet in the weeds and stopped to pick it up. So now Jeff says Jodie is more interested in the bird than finding the plane. After church Jodie was going back to the hobby shop to buy Jeff another plane, but she still claims the plane that she lost was Jeff's not hers. They were really having a good time. I told her about moving the Crown and how Bob C couldn't get my Crown to move with the bad clutch............Her first comment was he had the e-brake on........Smart lady. May be Jodie could show Bob how to drive my rig ? Also told her about meeting Sue and how she was one of my customers at ET. Jodie says I should bring her to church with me some time soon. Every week at church they have a insert in the hand out with a picture and story of a member of the church for everyone to meet. This week it was my turn.

when I got home from church I had a message from Sue, she had decided to stay home and take it easy, she was tired from Friday night, not the show, but do to bad leg cramps that kept her up most of the night. So we talked for a while and we will see when we can do something later in the week or this coming week end.

Drove over to K-Mart and picked up my pixs of the Crown, now I can get the check off to the insurance company and get the rig insured and "Let the fun times roll".........................

Came home and took a nap, I needed to, to recover from all the late nights out this past week myself.

So that wraps up another week of fun in the PNW. Week 2047 plus to go.

Hope everyone is fine. 7:00PM and the weather is changing, we may have rain by late tonight or early morning.

Love Dad

P.S. R who is the young lady in one of the e-mail pictures ( Day two continued, K, Calif ) you sent ? Sure doesn't look like any Forty year ole woman you call your wife ?????????

More Crown, R's fault ? Trained fleas, I own a Crown ! work on a Crown, see Jodie in church

2002-06-09T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday...............Another beautiful day.

Not much going on at work. Made one simple repair to a Lionel PRR K-4 steam engine under warranty. Made one good sale for $819 for a Lionel "LionMaster" PRR T-1 4-4-4-4 steam, a Lionel flat car with four boats and two MTH die cast NPRR box cars to Bill Moore. Rest of the day ran trains and goofed off including making a list of things to do with the Crown.

After work I met GT at the Crown and in and hour we found the problem with the Crown. The clutch was out of adjustment , but does need to be replaced. The present owner said GT and I did more work on the Crown in and hour than he did in a year.

Tuesday..............morning starts off with lots of rain, BUT we end up with a beautiful Sunny day.

I only worked on a Lionel Ballast tamper from 1958 for most of the day. More old junk.

David H came in and showed more neat things I can do with MTH DCS system.

Talked to Jim P ref getting the Crown in for the clutch job. He is charging me $50 and hour labor, a lot less than if I went to a truck shop.

Wednesday...................Another beautiful day with lots of Sunshine and a strong breeze. The temp today is you better sit down first a big 67 degrees. T and I sat outside and enjoyed the Sun and blue skies.

I had several good sales. Sold over $400 worth of MTH to a Grandmother from Boston for her Son and Husband.

My big sale was to M Winters for a MTH C&NWRR Premier Hudson and seven passenger cars for $1600 and he laid away another $2200 worth of Lionel which included a Hudson loco and ten passenger cars.

After work drove the Crown over to GT's, but you already know about that .......................

Thursday.....................One of those days........Left home it was Sun, by the time I got to work it was raining hard, hour later Sun, by lunch time T and I sat inside it was raining, by 2:00 we finally get Sun the rest of the day.

I finally finished the Lionel ballast tamper, well S fixed it.............I couldn't get it to work he put it on the track and it worked fine.......Close enough price it cheap...........He did ? Instead of $295 he priced it at $95.

Worked on a Lionel work caboose with searchlight most of the rest of the day except to sell more goodies. M Winters came in again to pick up some MTH track and seven MTH RailKing passenger cars for $788 worth. He got to looking at a MTH Premier PRR T-1 steam and five passenger cars for $1695. Did I have the two car add on set ? Sure enough..........He would put the set on lay away next month. Let me talk to S may be I can get a better price. I knew S wanted to get rid of the set. S says $1699 including the two car add on set.............M says sold and he will take it with him. Another $1850 sale.

You know R it is your fault I decided to buy the Crown fire engine...............I kept looking at the pictures of Crown's on my screen saver.................................................

Friday..................A great Seattle day, wait five minutes and the weather would be different, like rain, Sun, rain, Sun, rain Sun etc. High today was 51 degrees............................

Worked on two used Lionel freight cars all day. Made several sales...............Two of the four Conti brothers came in. Dean bought two MTH freight cars and six pairs of Atlas freight car trucks for $244. Barry bought three used Lionel freight cars and one new Lionel saw mill for $350.

After work home for a quick supper and then over to WS and Hokum Hall. When I got there I realized I had not plAd to go to, tonights show, since it was the same as last week. I could have worked on the Crown. Oh well........Glad I did I got to see a "Flea circus", something my Mom always talked about. You have to see trained fleas to believe it...........

Saturday................Morning starts off overcast and cold., but we do get Sun most all day.

First thing I do is meet Joe the owner of the Crown at the Ballard DMV at 9:30 they open at 10:00. Joe and I were second in line. Lady that took care of us was really nice and she didn't notice we didn't have the weight on the title or registration, but that was OK by me, cause Joe forgot the weight slip. $92.25 and I have license plates for ever, no yearly fees again.

From DMV I headed for Kirkland and got to work about 11:00. Had a great day selling trains, both myself and S we were going non stop. I sold about $3000 worth and even sold some items to Larry Wb and Suzy. Things were going so good I asked one of our customers for a date for next Friday night at Hokum Hall. Quess what her hobby is ? More details later...................sorry.

Left work and headed to GT's house to work on the Crown. T followed me over, he wanted to see my new toy too. When we got to GT's Ted H and Doug were there helping GT with his latest new toy a 1948 Kenworth/Diamond-T city service ladder truck, ex SFD that the shop built. The first thing I wanted to fix on the Crown was the stuck choke. So I started taking the cable off the dash board, with some problems, thanks to Ted he helped me get the cable disconnected. We couldn't find out where the cable ran under the rig, so I decided to try and pull the cable out of the shielded spring housing. I had Ted reach thru the rear jump seat window and PULL. the cable was 12 ft long. I shot oil in the cable housing and then oiled the cable and put the assembly back together and it worked. I could start the engine with out having to put a hand over the carburator or hit it with ether. After church Sunday I am going back to work on the Crown again.

Sunday....................One very beautiful day with blue skies and Sun all day.

Jodie, Uncle John and Brannan showed up about 10:27AM. I suggested Jodie drive around the block several times then she would be on time. Evan was at SFD fire sta 31 for a six hour class, he is a SFD Cadet. After church I asked Jodie if she would like to stop by and see my new toy. When she picked up Evan she would only be about a mile away. She said she couldn't she was going to be with Jeff and they wouldn't have time. So we hugged one another and Jodie was off to who knows where ? I did comment she really looked nice, like a cool Spring day.

Drove up to GT's house and started working on the Crown. Worked on the choke cable for awhile, but my hands start hurting so bad I can't hold a wrench for a long period of time. I washed and waxed the entire cab. Washed all the windows inside and out. Made a temporary repair to the hose attacked to the air cleaner, until I can get a new lenght of flex line. Someone had removed a pump drain three way valve and I had three drain lines open coming from the pump. So I reinstalled the valve, but I will have to get new "o" rings at a later date. Ran the engine for a few minutes, and found I have a problem with one of the ignitions, several plugs are miss firing or not at all. GT is meeting me at the rig monday night and we will check out the problem.

From the the Crown I stopped by to see GT at the FDLR for awhile. Then walked over to Louie's and had supper. Came home dropped off my junk and then went to WS and took a hour walk on Alki Beach. Beautiful evening and a great day too.

Well that wraps up another week..........You two interested in helping and ole man get his Crown fire engine up running when you get here. Depending on how fast I get it out of the shop is how fast and I can get it rolling. Make you a deal R I can teach you a older skill, like working on a 42 year old Crown fire engine lot more fun than computer electronics............You can really see "your work", working................Best part is you get to drive the end results. What a neat "white sports car".......................

Any way that ends week 2048, plus but who's counting ?

Hope everyone is OK

Love Dad

Quiet day, There really is a Crown in my life, Spent time with Jodie twice on Sunday

2002-06-02T18:28:00.000-07:00

Walk on Alki, Is there a Crown fire engine in my future ? See Jodie at church

2002-05-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday............At work I started the morning off by changing out the trains on the lower level. S asked me to set up a MTH train and a Lionel train so we could run one in command and the other in DCS. I have the class A pulling ten freight cars and the Triplex pulling ten freight cars.

First time I tried to run both trains the class A died on the main and wouldn't restart................Better luck tomorrow....

Made a few sales today. $750 of Gargraves track, a MTH DCS system, and misc items for a customer in Portland. A 1940 AF "O" ga 4-4-2 steam engine and tender to a customer in Crown Point, IN for $103. A Grandfather came in to buy his Grand kids four Santa Fe passenger cars, which I didn't have. Instead I sold him a Lionel Santa Fe FT diesel set with three passenger cars plus track and Xfmer for $375.

Don B came in and picked up eight MTH freight cars for $270 and gave me a early buy order for new MTH with 39 freight cars and one diesel for over $2000 worth.

After work it was nice enough I drove to WS and took a two mile walk on Alki Beach before I came home to work on the computer. Sorry no Jodie..................

If you come to Seattle between July 28th and Aug 3rd I can get you free lodging at the H's.

Tuesday................One of those many kinds of weather days. The morning is overcast and lite rain, by noon the Sun was out bright and shining so I sat in my truck and ate lunch. Troy had gone with S to look at a large train collection or we would have sat in the back of Troy's truck. By 4:00PM it was pooring down rain.

Forgot to tell you while I was without computer I spent more money on trains. I now have a Premier MTH EMD F-3 A-B-A set of diesels painted in SPRR "Black Widow" colors. Only large MTH diesels I own, both A units have two motors each. "More Power"..........Units have great sound, they really sound great winding up or at idle. Today I got a new train set from UPS. There was a ad in O Gauge magazine for a Weaver PRR 0-8-0 switch engine and tender with six scale freight cars for $240 including shipping. Regular price $495 plus shipping. I always wanted the Weaver 0-8-0, but not with Lionel command. This one was made for the Masonic's lodge in Penn using a QSI electronics and no sound. Al R bought the command equipped loco and tender and paid $500 and then bought the Masonic version too. More toys for Dad to try and find a place to store..................................

I took a early buy order from GT today for 15 MTH freight cars for a total of $670 and Suzy came in with a similar order for Larry Wb for another 15 freight cars for $650.

Customer came in and picked up his new MTH SD-40-2 diesel and a hour later he called with a problem. Six times around the layout running in DCS and the loco stopped and just at there and made a low beeping sound with the power off. When he walked into the store and hour later it was still beeping. I open the loco and disconnected the battery and then reinstalled the battery and the loco would run, but no sounds. When I tried running in DCS the control box said "found loco", but the screen was blank. Will call MTH in the morning...............

Wednesday..............The bluest skies are in Seattle ? Not on Weds morning, RAIN. By noon we have lots of Sun and the rest of the day is Sun and clouds.............not bad !

First thing call MTH and talk with Tim A a tech ref the SD-40-2 diesel. No question it is going back to the factory. Unit has a bad PCB. Also have a problem with my black 4449, the sound goes out when going into a turn. Tim suggest I resolder the ten pin connector in the back of the loco. Later I take the black 4449 apart and have Troy resolder the ten pin connector. It worked.

Dave P comes in to pick up his Lionel 1947 Berkshire, 2-8-4 steam engine. He goes home with the engine and a 1959 Lionel bridge for $725 worth. He also wanted to know if S would let him have the 1959 Canadian Pacific A-A diesels and four passenger cars for the asking price minus taxes..Don't need to ask him I will be glad to sell him the set. The set is $3595.00 new in 59 the set cost $89.95. If I would have ask Buck "our" manager he would have had to ask S or B1. Dad just makes the decision, a sale is a sale. Dave will be back on Saturday to pick it up.

Today was the last day to preorder new MTH from the latest catalog. We didn't get a lot of orders so I called some of my customers and got orders. Told S what I did and suggested he do the same thing. Before I left tonight he told me he called several customers and got a total of $4800 in orders and may get some more tomorrow. Who needs Buck ??

Also made a sale to a lady today that is going to start collecting Lionel where her late husband left off.

Thursday..................weather a most beautiful day with all kinds of Sunshine, but talk of rain by the week end.

First things first.................You can stop looking for a Father's day present for me...................I found exactly what I want ... I can give you a hint or two..............It is white, has six big rubber tires and never mind...................................

Worked on one repair all day and goofed around a lot. Only sold $75 worth of Lionel.

Friday was another beautiful Sunny day...........................

Did a few in house repairs, but most of the time played with trains. I made two big sales. Bruce R picked up his early buy MTH two six pack log car sets and some infra red accessory tripping devices for $375 worth. Tom A came in and picked up his MTH Premier GNRR 2-8-2 steam engine and tender, more track and accessories and was going home to spend the week end enlarging his RR. He only spent $1300.

Went to Hokum Hall after work, another great show, of course.............

Saturday over cast morning, but we do get some Sunshine...................Stopped and took another look at the Crown fire engine before going to work.

Spent most of the day running trains and I did make a few good sales.

Did go to WS and take a walk on Alki Beach before coming home for the evening.

Sunday................Up at 6:00AM and we have had rain during the night, morning is overcast. Head back to the apt and fix breakfast before going to WS and attend church.

10:30AM and Jodie and the group show up and of course Jodie has a her beautiful smile. Today's messge was "A call to repentance" ( Isaiah 58) Strange thing was last nigth over at H's I met one of Bill's neighbors a lady about Jodie's age that was looking for someone to talk too. She was upset with her boy friend and so she talked and I listened to her for about and hour and a half. Her boy friend of nearly a year was pressing her to have sex, she wanted to wait until they got married, they didn't. So she was upset and needed a ear to bend and I was the lucky one. The more she talked the more the story reminded me of Charlene and GT. He got what he wanted and then went home, he would some times take her out to dinner, GT would take Charlene out to dinner as long as she paid her own way. So as she talked I would make a comment or two ref's from the Bible. What I really wanted to quote I couldn't remember where it was in the Bible and I didn't have one for ref either. So after church I told Jodie what had happened last night and ask her to dig out her electronic Bible but she couldn't find what I was looking for so she used my Bible and showed me in (1 Corinthians 7:8-9) I told Jodie I asked the lady why she had picked me to talk with. Her reply was she had noticed I was wearing a cross. Jodie said see doesn't it feel good to know being a Christian is something special in life.......... Jodie and I also talked about if I could get a donation from ET Trains for the auction next Sunday ref sending a group of church kids to Peru for two weeks. We gave one another a big hug and were off and running again.

I drove over to the Fred Meyers in Burien to have the battery replaced in my ten year old Seiko watch, that Joyce had given me when I first came to Seattle. Instead I bought a new Pulsar (Seiko) watch. Mind had a lot of hard miles on it. Stopped for refill on my perscription and came home to work on the computer for a short time.

From here I am going up to take a really good look at the Crown fire engine.

Sunday.............morning is overcast and cool, expecting rain and all thru the week too.

Last night I did spend about and hour going over the Crown, top to bottom. I may be taking on more than I want or can afford, but I would say there is a 90% chance I am going to become a CROWN owner. After I got to Bill's I called Dave H and talked with him about the rig and the clutch problem. It might be a Vacuum leak.

9:45AM the Sun just came out.........................11:30 I drove to WS and took a long walk on Alki Beach and enjoyed the view. The Sun was out, but it was overcast and humid, so I came back home and did some digging in my apt.

5:00PM back to WS and have mexican food for supper. 6:45 trying to rain.

That wraps up another week, week 2050 plus to go.

Hope every one is OK.

Love Dad

A little of this and that, some about Jodie, of course

2002-05-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R:

Going back a little ways..............April 30th, Tues.....First day of a real Sunny day and sure was to pretty to just come home and watch TV. Troy and I had sat in the back of his pick up and ate lunch and soaked up some real Sunshine for a change. When I left work there was no way I was going home and look at four walls. I told Burt I was going to WS and have supper on Alki Beach. Burt suggested I call Jodie and see if she would be available to walk with me. I commented on a day like this I bet she has already taken her walk on the beach. So I came home took a shower and then drove to Wendy's on South Rainier and picked up supper, two hamburgers, baked potato and pop, drove over the top of Beacon Hill and west on the WS bridge and park at Lincoln Park and walk out to Alki Beach and find a nice place to eat my lunch. I had just fixed my baked potato and was just getting a good start on a hamburger and who should show up walking a long the beach, but "Dad's heart throb" Jodie. She and I talked for about 20 minutes, long enough for my supper to get cold..........But who in the world would care when the most beautiful lady in the world shows up ? Mental note don't order a baked potato next time so you can walk, talk and eat at the same time. Weds morning at work I told Burt how lucky I was to meet Jodie on Alki. Sunday Jodie told me she had plAd to be home by 8:00PM to record a special about the WTC building, but didn't make it. Her walk is from her home down the 400 stairs (one mile) then over to Alki and walk the full length of the beach (one mile) then back up a 200 foot steep trail and back south to the park entrance (one mile) then back up the 400 stairs and back home (one mile)..........She does this most everyday too, or she rides her bike over the basic same route.

May 11th, Saturday.............Another beautiful day of Sunshine. I get home take a shower and heat up my home made potato soup and take it with me to WS and decide I will take a walk on the beach. After I have eaten I walk north along the beach and when I get to the end of the beach (one mile) I have two choices, walk out to the street or walk up the 200 ft steep path. I decide to walk out to the street only to find I have a steeper climb to get back to the park along Lincoln Park Dr. By the time I get back to the park I sure could use a drink, but there are no drinking fountains in slight. So I take the 200 ft steep trail going back down to the beach and I can get a drink at the far south end.............Quarter mile south of where I have re-entered the beach area who do I find on her evening walk ? Jodie..............I make a "U" turn right next to her and tell her where I just came from. So we walk back to the steep trail and start the walk back up where I just came from. Three quarters of the way up I suggested we stop for a few minutes my upper legs are starting to hurt. When we start to walk again, Jodie suggests I get a head start she wants to keep her "pace up". As we are walking Jodie is telling me she has to get her upper thighs in shape, she is going to be climbing Tiger Mountain some time this Summer. Jodie says her upper thighs are flabby..........I comment "No way" not with the beautiful pair of legs you have. Oh yes they are flabby when I walk..............No way, this lady has a unbelievable pair of legs. I comment Jodie I could think of 50 women that would love to have your body and your legs. In fact I could name 50 men that would like your body too. She just laughed at me. Just telling the tR.........I finally got my drink of water after walking about a mile. Back at the parking lot we gave one another a big hug and Jodie headed back to the 400 stairs got to keep those thighs in shape. Oh yes.............When I was hugging Jodie she told me I owed her .50 cents. For what ? She was collecting money for the church for the teenagers that are going on a trip to South America this summer. Sunday after church when I gave her a hug I handed her a dollar. What's this for ? I owed you .50 cents from last night, now I owe you a dollar. She handed the dollar back to me and just laughed.

May 15th, Weds.............Tom A came in to pick up a few goodies in MTH. He was driving one of his expensive Chevy Corvettes and didn't have room for all the items. He went home with a UPRR gray 844 Northern, ($1050), a N&WRR class J Northern ($1050), a N&WRR RailKing class Y6B 2-8-8-2 ($700) and $1200 worth of MTH track and switches to expand his layout from 12 x 18 to 18 x 24. I did the redesign on the layout.

May 17th, Friday.............Off to Hokum Hall after work. The hall has been closed for almost three weeks. During June, July and Aug the hall will only be open the first two weeks of every month and ole time movies will be on Sat and Sun afternoons. Friday night was Rag Time with the Wurlitzer, a 1910 grand, 1905 upright grand and a player piano. The house was rocking and so were the audience.

When I got home the fire radio was buzzing......................A four alarm marina fire on Lake Union. The third marina fire in less than a year. The SFD didn't learn the first time and sure didn't do any better the second time, but this time the citizens of Seattle have spoken and for the first time since the second world war the SFD will have a fire boat on Lake Union. The Alki will remain at the downtown water front and the Chief Seattle will be stationed on the lake. Both will be mAd by the same crew. At the present time it takes the "Chief" one hour to get from downtown to the lake thru the locks.

May 18th, Saturday.............Tom A came in again to pick up what he didn't have room for on Weds. This time he went home with a MTH Z4000 Xfmer, four bumpers, three caboose's two UPRR and one N&WRR and a trestle set for another $670. Still driving the Corvette too. I also took a order from Don C for $5500 worth of new MTH product too.

May 19th, Sunday..............weather is back to over cast and rain.......Up at 7:30 and get my day started. By 9:30 I am off to WS and be a greeter at church. 10:35 and no Jodie, so I remain in the hall and after the first two songs and the Pastor's opening announcements Jodie, Uncle John and Evan show up. Brannan is in Long Beach, WA at a church retreat. During the morning message the Pastor was describing how a person who is one on one with God, himself and sharing with another person is true believer. I turned to Evan and whispers in his ear "That is a perfect description of your Mother". Evan looked at me, smiled and said yes................ After church Jodie and I stood outside and talked about Hokum Hall, and when I mentioned the 1905 upright grand piano. Jodie said her upright grand was built in 1886. I asked Jodie where I could find a good pair of shoes, the last three pair i bought were real duds. She suggested I try ???? Evan what is the name of the shoe store in south center, you know the one that says "if you didn't buy your shoes from me, you paid to much". Evan says the Shoe Pavilion. Jodie says there you go a free commercial. So Jodie gave me a big hug and we were off to other exciting adventures.

So I did go to the Shoe Pavilion and finally got a good pair of shoes. Only I went to the one near Northgate Mall in Seattle. From there I went to Al R's and see his latest goodies from e Bay. Boy does he know how to shop using the computer. Al's train collection just keeps growing and growing and growing...........

Came home and slept for over and hour then went back to WS and had diner at the Mexican restaurant we ate at last year.

So that wraps up another week here in beautiful Sunny Seattle..............Don't believe everything I say about Sunny Seattle ??????

This closes week 2051 plus.

Hope everyone is OK and so is my computer, well so far................................

Love Dad

Buy and sell trains, death by chocolate and Jodie, Jodie in church, then really sell some trains

2002-04-21T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Monday.................weather MORE rain, from work tonight I drove to WS and drove in and out of rain two times in less than three miles. I have been attending a Monday evening class.

I start the morning off working on a Lionel set of freight cars that S picked up last week. Off and on all day I got to finish three of the six cars. Because I was selling trains.....................

Al R came in and while he looked around I had another customer, Tom A's full time mechanic came in to pick up his MTH order for the two diesel sets which totaled $1050. Tom was still in Calif racing one of his expensive toys.

Al couldn't find much, only three MTH box cars, a On-30 tank car and a RR book for $158.

The G's came in from Everett to pick up there Lionel GP-9 set with six die cast ore cars and a caboose, plus some misc freight cars and a warranty part for there Lionel Big Boy for $650 worth. I am getting warmed up................

Sold a MTH 2-8-4 Berkshire to a customer in Calif for $240, regularly $360.

Barry W came in to pick up a book and I sold him the Lionel "I C controls device, 180 watt power brick and two cables for $284 and he never did buy the book.

Don C called remember from Saturday and asked me to put the Lionel N&WRR class J Northern on lay away for another $1400. He will pick it up in two weeks. There's more. The MTH NYCRR Niagara 4-8-4 for M Winters came in another $1200 too go on his lay away.

Then I sold from my MTH collection a six car set of passenger cars to a lady that was in the store on Saturday and then had S order a new set of six std heavy weight cars for me , lettered Texas and Pacific RR.

When I got home from church tonight I had a offer in the mail to buy my "G" gauge collection. $5800.00 worth...........

Tuesday.............weather more cold rain off and on, plus some Sun.

Tues is usually a quiet day and this was no exception. I only made one major sale for a Lionel Alaska RR EMD SD-90 and a gondola for $426. I have been on S's case for over a week to order some MTH F59PH diesels in Amtrak Northwest colors. MTH had offered them to S for a reduced price...........We can't sell them with out passenger cars, which were not available. "I can sell them S". Today I get a call from a customer wanting to order one. S finally took my advice and ordered several for the store. So I put one on lay away for the customer at a savings too from the catalog price too.

In the next two weeks all of my "G" gauge is going east to Ephrata, WA. I just have to "run it up" from five different locations from WS to Everett. I can use the money to buy two of my big MTH loco's and put he rest in savings which I really need.

Cleaned up the balance of the freight cars for the Lionel set. US Mail brought me some warranty items so I could finish some Lionel repairs. Replaced the command PCB in the Hudson for the second time, this one worked at a cost of $180 to the customer. He had run the loco off the train table. Replaced the power supply in a UPRR 2-8-0 with bad sounding sound. This is one Lionel loco that Lionel tech's and myself do not like working on. Tender is hard to get a part and back together and you stand a good chance of breaking hand rail stanchions. I keep a lot of spares on hand.

Did a little work on the 1941 passenger cars, but that was most of my day.

Wednesday...............weather morning is some rain, but late afternoon we get Sunshine.......................May get some more too.

Another loco came in for M Winters, a MTH NYCRR Hudson with centipede tender. So I had to check it out. This is one loco I would like to have in my collection, but got to many other goodies on order now. I call M and when he answers the phone I just blow the whistle. "Bob, is that you" ? He came by to take a look and wants to order more goodies. He will be in the first of the month to pick up about $4000 worth. Another Al R........I went to show him the NYC Niagara, but the loco had a short. I had been having a problem with the rear coupler, now I will have to send it back to MTH.

Spent a good part of the day finishing up the 1941 passenger cars and giving Troy a rough time. He does the same to me too. Cleaned up and reworked a 1941 Lionel caboose too. I even own one of these.

Only big sale I had was for $316 for MTH and Lionel freight cars to Don B. He left another $175 for next time.

I called Jodie when I got to work, but she was busy. She would call me back later. Didn't hear from her by 5:30 so I called again. Brannan said she was working in the yard with her new gasoline powered Roto-tiller ? Jodie doesn't let grass grow under her feet !!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday..............weather would you believe Sun all day, but not very warm. At least we got some Sun and no rain. I finally took a walk before work. Then sat and read OC's book until 9:00.

First thing call MTH and get a hold of Tim A a tech ref the NYC Niagara. Got a RA to return it for repair. Then call Jodie and leave a message ref Hokum Hall for Friday night.

Troy and I were all a lone in the repair dept so we just took it easy. I cleaned up a 1955 Lionel double truck drop center flat car that S had priced wrong. He showed $85 when it should have been $125. It got on the floor with the correct price. The other item was a 1938 Lionel gondola for $55, this one Troy and I say good luck.

I made one sale for $716 in "G" gauge, mostly freight cars. Dave P came in and picked up two Lionel cars that I had just put in the case Weds. A single dome tank car and drop center flat with a Xfmer for $148. New in 1948 you are talking about $12.

Tom A came in with his new MTH FA-1 A-B-A diesel set that he thought they had a problem. Turned out he didn't remember me saying the trailing A unit only ran with the lead A unit, all the electronics is in the lead unit. He did buy a MTH Z4000 Xfmer and some other goodies for $545.

5:30 I call Jodie again and finally get a hold of her. She had been moving everything out of the garage into a storage locker so she could have some room for her own stuff at home. The garage was full of Grannies's stuff. She can't go with me to Hokum's on Friday night she is working. Ask her if she was doing OK ref the "deal" with Jeff from Saturday evening. She said they had a good talk and she told him "She has to be involved with a Christian man". She will still go out with him, but not like they were. He was at her house four or more nights every week. She told me she being Jodie had really got involved, but he wasn't. Boy did he goof up big time. I told her Saturday evening coming across the I-90 bridge in the driving rain storm I was thinking about her having to drive all the way to Federal Way on I-5 in such a windy and stormy night. I was hoping Jeff had enough sense to come to Seattle and pick her up. Her reply was he didn't even think of it................I also knew from talking with her on Saturday morning she was real excited that Jeff had invited her to go to a church function with him. Going for ice cream just didn't "Cut it" for Jodie, being the Christian lady she is. Jeff does not know Jodie as well as I do.

When I got home I took a shower and was fixing me something to eat when Al R called. "What are you doing in the house on such a beautiful evening as this" ? Al I have a plan.........I am going to WS and hassle Jodie. I had bought her a half gallon of Death by chocolate ice cream to give her when I would see her on Friday night. Since she was working instead I took a ride. When I got to her house the boy's said she was busy in the kitchen. So I walked in and told her I had a special delivery for her. Showed her the end of the package. "Oh boy chocolate" Dad knows how to please a lady.....................We only could talk for about 20 minutes she really had to many things to do, to just sit and talk, but I had fun taking care of my special Christian lady friend. I told her I had to bring her the ice cream, even if we couldn't get together. She said "Gee, if I tell you I can't go to Hokum Hall more often do I still get ice cream" ? HEY.... As I was leaving we were standing in the living room and Jodie was drinking hot water from a very large cup, yes she still drinks hot water. I had her put down the cup so we could share a big hug. What a beautiful lady she is. "All 36 years of her fine looking body". And she is very smart too, among other things. Oh to be young and rich................

Friday.................weather morning is heavy overcast, but we finally get a lot of Sun, but not much warmth...........

Very quiet day. The only sale I should have had but Buck ended up ringing it up. I had worked with the customer for over and hour, but they had Buck made the sale. Oh well. Of course he forgot to give them a start up video tape. I took care of that. I also didn't get a chance to test the set before it went out of the store. BUT, Buck is the manager and knows everything...............

Took in several older Lionel items for repair. I cleaned up two Lionel freight cars, another single dome tank and a drop center flat with Xfmer to replace what I had sold to Parrish.

The new MTH dealer copy of the catalog came in today. Already got my list made out. Only a few items for sure. Here is what I will be ordering.............Premier two tone gray UPRR Challenger at $1400, a RailKing "scale" UPRR SD-9 diesel at $300.

After work I met Troy in WS and we had supper at Skipper's and then went to Hokum Hall for another evening of great music.

Saturday.............weather another morning of overcast, but we do get a lot of Sun.

Another very quiet day, but I did make a few good sales. John M who works on a Navy tug boat came in and picked up some Lionel items. He got a Milw RR GP-9, NPRR GP-9 (his second one) a pair of Milw RR SD-40-2 diesels and some track for $980 worth and put on lay away a Lionel FA-1 A-A UPRR diesel set and six passenger cars for another $500 worth.

Sold John B from Idaho two Marx train sets, a Lionel set of four passenger cars and a MTH trestle set for $670.

Sold a customer a Lionel Dash-9 diesel for $460.

Only other big sale I had was for a Lionel I C Control system with cables for $200.

Ran the trains a lot today both UPRR black 844 and SPRR black 4449. I may sell my SPRR Daylight 4449 and trade up to a 4449 with 2.0 sound system..........just a may be right now.

Sunday.............weather morning is overcast and cold, promised some Sun, What we got was a very cold overcast day and by 5:00PM it turned to rain................................

Up at 6:45 and take my time and get my day started. After breakfast I took a one hour nap. I knew this could be a long day. 9:30 off to WAS and meet Jodie the boy's and Uncle John at church. When Jodie arrived there were many parking spaces out front. She commented to me, "she was late". No, you are early may be you should drive around the block so you would have to look for a parking space..........

The message today was "Spiritual leadership" ( 1 Peter 5:1-4 ) with five major points that could also apply to any organization. 1. Teamwork / leadership 2. Integrity 3. Positive attitude 4. Servient heart 5. Vision. After church I talked to the pastor and mentioned he hasn't been at or worked at ET Trains. "We sure don't have any leadership".

After church walking out with Jodie and I might add she was looking magnificence as always I put my arm around her and thanked her once again for leading me to Christ. She said it was God who did it she just pointed me in the right direction.............Took Jodie over to ole yeller and showed her it was full of "G" gauge. Just the part I had at home, the shop and at Scott's in WS. Gave her a K-Line GNRR Box car that Al R had bought on e Bay and didn't want. This is the second one Al had given Jodie. "Everyone likes to keep Jodie in trains". She was going home to work in her garage and I was off to Everett. We shared a big hug and were off on our next adventure in the PNW.

Came home and paged Bob C and made arrangements when to be at his house with Leo to pick up the items he had that were mine. Leo showed up about 1:15PM and we headed to Everett and started loading his pick up with trains, trains and more trains. From there we drove to Bob's and loaded up the balance of the "G" gauge and load we did. Leo's pick up couldn't hold another piece. He only got half of what I had in "G", the rest I had sold over the last couple of years at Scott's After Leo left I went in and had diner with Bob and Jan before driving home in the rain.

That was my week and at the present time I am $5800 richer, but wait till Monday at work.

So this brings week 2055 plus to go to and end.

Hope everyone is OK.

Love Dad

Where do I start ? sell trains, talk to Jodie and more rain, church potluck and Jodie too

2002-04-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Hi K and R;

Thursday.....weather rain and Sun.

Going back to Sunday morning Jodie showed up at church "childless". Just her and Uncle John. So after church that gave her and I a chance to talk for a few minutes, well about 20 or 30. She had to tell me about the church concert her and M (female) went too and I had to tell her about the great show she missed at Hokum Hall. The show was so good that I went back Saturday night too. When we got ready to leave I told Jodie "I wanted a big hug from the most beautiful lady in the world" ! Jodie started looking around in the parking lot.......................Jodie said she didn't see any..........."Jodie P get over here, you are the beautiful lady I am talking about". I didn't get one hug, I got two really big ones. Came home and spent most of the day spring cleaning. Got my book cases back together and had lots of dust on all the trains on the shelves over my bed.

Been quiet at work, we don't have any repairs. Except Lionel warranty work. Both items they sent me this week were wrong and had to order them again.

Wednesday morning when I got to work I called Jodie and we talked for about 30 minutes. I wasn't able to talk with her since Sunday after church, she had been really busy. Told her about sending you guys the "Parents of twins" letter. She thought it was a great idea. Jodie and I do think a like. Now that is scary.

M Winter my customer that got a interest in MTH has been spending more money. So far he has bought the CNRR 4-8-2 steam engine, tender and seven passenger cars, a MTH 75 watt Xfmer a Lionel PRR T-1 4-4-4-4 steam engine and tender and a NYCRR 20th Century limited Hudson with seven passenger cars for over $5000. He has on lay away CPRR Royal Hudson, tender and six passenger cars, seven NYC heavy weight passenger cars, Seven NYC streamlined passenger cars, six NYC RailKing heavy weight passenger cars, a CPRR bay window caboose a CNRR steel caboose and a C&NWRR Hudson, tender and seven streamlined passenger cars for another $3500 worth and there are two premier loco's a NYC Hudson and a Niagara both with centipede tenders for another $2600 coming from MTH next week and on order is a Santa Fe Hudson, tender and seven streamlined passenger cars on order for another $1600. And the best part is he isn't thru.

Friday was a busy day I sold over a $1000 worth of trains in lots of $200 at a time. S bought some more old Lionel and Troy and I have been cleaning up two sets, one from 1941 and the other from 1954.

Troy and I went to Hokum Hall on Friday and to start things off Troy had the music for "Napoleon's last charge" so Hokum played the piece on a 1906 grand piano. Some of the scores were four or seven notes at one time. Hokum said he had never played the piece before and it wasn't real easy either. The show was Buster Keaton in the "General" the great train race from 1927. After the show Hokum came down and had to show us his latest toy. A air operated Calliope.

Saturday...............weather RAIN. First thing call Jodie and talk to her for 20 minutes about Hokum Hall and what's new with her. Always a good way to start any morning talking to "Miss Sunshine". Told her I had something for her. You mean advice ? No ! She didn't need any advice ( well other than she should marry the gray haired old man talking to her on the phone ) I had some Lionel track that S was going to throw out.

Today was my day to sell trains. My first sale was for $202 including a repair. Then I really got warmed up. $400 for Lionel track and some Lionel and MTH freight cars. But this one has more a $400 deposit on a MTH GNRR F-3 A-B-A set of diesels and five passenger cars for a $1050 worth.

Next while Bill, Chris and Craig ( they are suppose to sell the G gauge) stood around playing with the over head "G" trains I sold a Bachmann 2-8-0 steam engine to a customer from Spicewood, TX for $459. Then I made $300 sale, but I forgot for what. It was a busy day.

Then M Winters came in and picked up the MTH Royal Hudson set with passengers for $800. He has indicated he is interested in the MTH PRR T-1 steam engine and five passenger cars for another $1450.

Tim W came and picked up $300 worth of MTH and "N" gauge. He is interested in a MTH RailKing SP&SRR Challenger for $700, may be next time.

Next up $300 for a Lionel really cheap Alco RS-3 diesel and a really expensive Caboose plus some other items.

I was over running trains and S walked up and said Don C and his wife were in the store. So S took over running trains and I went to sell more trains. He went home with $1200 worth of Lionel UPRR stock car, K-Line CB&QRR alum diner,UPRR express box car, MTH WPRR GS-2 steam engine and seven passenger cars, two PRR alum passenger cars. Don and his wife are going to retire in Estates Park, CO where they are having a large house built with a RR room of course.

Sunday..............weather lots of rain and high winds during the night. Morning starts off with bright Sun and clouds After breakfast I left for WS and stop to pick up pixs at K-Mart. While I sat on the street going thru the new pixs it started raining, but when I got to church it was Sunshine and blue sky.

I was a greeter at church today and Jodie and the family showed up late. So I waited in the hall until Jodie arrived. They were will into the first song before we started walking down the center isle. Later when we were walking out of church Jodie told me the reason she was late was she had been on the phone to Jeff and he got into a argument with her. It was Sunshine and mist when we started to walk out side. I had some pixs and other items to give Jodie so we stood in the hall and talked for a few minutes. Got a great big hug too. Jodie had parked in the back parking lot so she went and got the car and pulled up next to ole yeller. S had bought a large amount of trains earlier this week and there was a large box of Lionel "O" and "O-72" track that S was going to throw away, cause the track wasn't clean enough to sell. So I gave it to Jodie. There had to be over 200 pieces. Love to keep my special train collector friend supplied with free train goodies.

From church I came home and did some more work on cleaning up my apt and moving train boxes.

5:30PM back to WS in a windy rain and attend the church potluck and a special presentation "Creation Sensations" by Dr Tom H and his wife Penny. When Jodie and the boy's arrived Jodie said she was in a "down" mood ref Jeff. Last night in a windy rain storm she drove to Federal Way to go to a church concert with Jeff. When she got to his home "He was tired" and didn't want to go. He only wanted to go out for ice cream. Jodie suggested they go to the church concert and he could get relaxed being with Christ. They went for ice cream instead. So for the next 20 minutes she poured her heart out to dear ole Dad. One comment she made to me was "Bob we are better off to just remain single, then no one gets hurt". I have never seen Jodie upset, but even so, she still had a big smile. While we were eating Dr H and his wife came and sat with us. As we were talking about creation Jodie got on her soap box and she was off and running. I pointed out to Brannan no wonder your Mom never eats very much she is always talking. "When Jodie talks everyone listens". At least I do...............Penny H ask Jodie if I was her husband ? Jodie replied we were friends in Christ. After eating everyone went upstairs to the sanctuary for a one hour presentation and then a question and answer time. The presentation was very good and Jodie and I had a good time. I even commented to Jodie I was glad to see her smiling. So I walked Jodie out to her car and we talked about me installing a special switch in her Blue Comet loco to turn off the battery. When Jodie started her Volvo she had a big smile on her face. I don't like seeing this very special and beautiful lady hurting, I've known her for almost three years and she is very special to me. Like you didn't know that.................

So that brings a close to week 2056 plus to go.

Hope everyone is OK and remember becareful out there...............

Love Dad

Snow, sell trains, First day of Spring, we get snow, Hokum Hall AND Jodie, Dad couldn't ask for anything more

2002-03-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

Hi K and R;

Monday..............weather As I leave for work at 7:45 there is very lite snow flakes in the air. Snow and rain mix all over the sound until about noon, then just a very cold rain. late afternoon no rain, but still very cold. High today 37, low of 33. Record high of 70 in 1996, low of 29 in 1954. Snow in the Everett area.

Start off the morning calling MTH and getting a RA to return a Z4000 Xfmer with a cooling fan that doesn't work. Only the factory can open a Z4000 for repair. I start working on a Lionel whistling tender from Friday, but don't get very far.

Jerry C comes in with a Lionel UPRR 2-8-0 steam engine that I had sold him several months ago. Loco wouldn't smoke in command. I test run the loco and it smokes just fine. I did notice I couldn't turn off the smoke in command. We did find another problem, the speaker makes a funny noise. So I took it in for repair and will call Lionel on Weds and get most likely a new speaker. Also Jerry asked me to look at a Lionel hand car, real junk. More on this later.

I made to sales right away. $242 in Lionel and MTH freight cars to a new customer and $41 for 18 sections of Lionel 0-42 curve track.

While I was waiting on Jerry, Al R showed up with a "Third Rail" brass GNRR Y-1 electric loco with a Lionel command system and it was stuck in forward only in conventional. loco runs fine in command. I try to reprogram and then run in conventional. Loco goes forward and then won't reverse. So I gave Al a new command PCB and told him to take it home and change the PCB and bring me the old one. Because he didn't get the loco from us, I didn't want S to says anything if I worked on it. So Al will let me know what the out come is. Also checked out his other purchase a MTH Premier SPRR Cab forward that he got from a hobby shop in Calif off E bay. Unit had lost it's program and needed a new chip. Tonight he called and said the hobby shop would made good on repairing the loco.

Al is in a shopping mood. He is always in a shopping mood............He buys two Industrial rail ore cars and a MTH Alaska RR SD-70 diesel and four super dome cars for a total of $609.

I had two other sales all day a mail order for a Atlas NPRR extended vision caboose going to Illinois for $75. The other sale was to Don B for nine MTH freight cars for a total of $356.

Back to the whistle tender and clean up and oil where necessary and rewire. Also clean up a very dirty tender shell. The loco was just as dirty, but cleaned up OK. Cleaned up the E-unit, replaced the smoke unit and loco needed a lot of oil and grease to get it running with out any squeaks. I can't finish the GP-7 diesel cause I need to paint the frame and it keeps raining.

Had a small repair for the P's a AF log loader with a broken string that lifts the logs and puts them in the flat car. Replace the string and make sure it works. Gave them extra string and the next time Kathy can make the repair for free.

Now the cheap Lionel hand car...............In taking the hand car apart I break off one handle that Minnie Mouse is holding on to. The problem with the car is the gears don't mesh, cause the unit is so cheap, not going there.......Replaced the handle and added a missing traction tire, but still need to figure how to get the gears to mesh.

Tuesday...............weather morning starts off with windy and cold. By 9:30AM it is a cold rain and the rain continues all day long and still raining right now at 8:00PM. Still talking about snow in the north sound and Seattle could get some too. Got to work about 8:30 and sat and read OC's book.

First thing work on the hand car...........Turned out the reason the gears didn't mesh someone had put the unit back together wrong. To many hands and not enough education for all these "big" train collectors.

Next up a Lionel 8602 cheap 2-4-2 steam engine. Some kid had dropped the loco and did a real number on it. One drive wheel was damaged, the headlight was damaged, and one marker el was missing. The smoke unit had over heated and had taken out the LCRU PCB, as is always the case. Total cost of repair is $75, for $25 more you can buy another piece of the same junk brand new.

Two customers from Leavenworth, WA are out checking out some Lionel items and S is "trying" to help them. He tells me both customers have no idea what they want or what they are looking for. So I go out and talk to them, turned out one customer I had sold three Caboose's to several weeks ago by telephone. This customer bought three Lionel freight cars, which Capt Sunshine rang up my sale.........................The other customer was looking at the K-Line NPRR two unit F-3 diesel set with four aluminum passenger cars. I run the loco and then show him one of the passenger cars with full interior including people. He says he will take it. He is also looking for a K-Line Amtrak F40PH diesel which we don't have. After both customers left S says to me the second person sure didn't know what he was talking ref the K-Line items and he sure didn't spend any money either. S I sold him $900 worth of K-Line wasn't that enough ? He was upstairs when I made the sale and he had taken the items to his car before he left the store for the last time.

Sold another customer a Lionel-MPC MILW RR SD-18 and some misc Atlas track items and Thomas the tank engine goodies too for $188.

Jim K from Irvine, CA came in to pickup his Lionel-AF gabe the lamp lighter and some misc items and gave me a order for S Helper "S" ga freight cars and track items. He spent $160.

Last thing I did was repair a Lionel ZW Xfmer, which takes about two hours. New power cord, new rollers which requires the unit be taken completely apart to make these changes. Make sure the whistle control works and the circuit breaker too. Total cost of repair was $48.

When I got home I was parking ole yeller and I started to get a nose bleed. Before I could get out of the truck my bleeding was so bad that I couldn't control the flow using a handkerchief, by the time I got to the back door I had left a blood trail everywhere. Standing over the sink the blood was just running out of my nose. I finally was able to control the bleeding, but not stop it. Laying sown on the bed I took my BP and it was 152/102 then five minutes later it was 172/107. It took me 45 minutes to completely stop the bleeding. I went in and took a shower and then fixed me something to eat. I will call the doctor in the morning for a appointment. Sure hope this isn't the start of something bad........ref my health. 8:00PM I call Jodie and Evan says she isn't home, and doesn't know when she will be home, He says she has been gone a long time. Have her call me, please. 9:15 I call again and Evan says she still isn't home. Is she working ? No,she is doing a ride along. Have her call me, I'LL be up late. Almost 10:00PM and Jodie called me back. She had been riding with Aid car 32 in WS. What did I want ? Told her you tell me about your ride along, then I will discuss my problem. She had been with Aid 32 for ten hours, but decided she needed to get home, she is still fighting a slight cold. So I told her about my bleeding experience. She of course said I better go to see my doctor too. Also suggested several ways I could stop the bleeding, next time. NEXT TIME ?

Wednesday.............7:30AM still raining and still talking about snow/rain mix. Sun breaks on Sunday ???? By 9:30AM we had a snow/rain mix until 5:00PM. THIS IS THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING....................Not in the PNW.

As you know I called the doctor for a appointment. I didn't do much all day long. I made a simple repair to a Lionel M&StL industrial switcher that had a broken window frame. Call Lionel to order parts and find out where my other orders are. They are sending me a speaker and volume control for the UPRR 2-8-0. Parts that I ordered for the GG-1 and the Hudson, had not been sent. because I have to return the old parts first. So I take both loco's apart and find out they both have early PCB's that don't have a wiring harness, everything is hard wired. I called Brenda at Lionel two more times and ask her to send me the PCB's first, then we will return the old ones. In the past sending the PCB's back first, we end up with parts missing on the returned PCB's.

I had five sales all day. Watched it snow all day too. The two customers from Leavenworth Tues were back today, cause they couldn't get a cross the pass. The one that bought the NPRR passenger set, bought $87 worth of Atlas track. His partner bought a Lionel command base for $120.

I sold a couple a Lionel D&RGWRR industrial switcher with snow plow and a MTH hand car, plus several K-Line die cast automobiles for $298. Sold $72 in scenery material.

My last sale was to the person that had bought the Lionel SD-18 on Tues. He brought it back cause it didn't run right. I changed out the armature and adjusted the end play. He bought another Lionel box car and some Thomas the tank engine items for his Son for $85.

Coming home I was going to a Mexican restaurant to join the Seattle sleepless group for a birthday dinner party, but thanks to my bloody nose that didn't happen.

Thursday................weather would you believe Sun all day.........Up at 6:45 and get ready to drive to Everett and the doctor. Leave for Everett at 7:00 and head east on I-90 then north of I-405 and finally northeast thru Bothell to Everett. I got there 30 minutes early. The doctor spent a whole hour with me and I'm still alive and kicking too. He is having me take two medications every day and the other problems were being to cold outside and too much dust in my apt on Sunday from the wall cutting. He also cauterized my nose, which he said would hurt. I can stand pain, just so I won't have another nose bleed on Friday evening when I am at Hokum hall.........well never mind more later.

Got to work at 10:30 and started my day. Took advantage of the Sun and finished painting the frame for the GP-7 diesel. Had a few good sales today. Sold a new customer $275 worth of MTH 0-54 curve track, switches and straight track.

Rich C from Janesville, WI came in and picked up the balance of his AF items. For a total of $1300 worth. Only $631 worth today. My customers from Leavenworth called and had gotten back home over the mountains and ordered a command talking Lionel Santa Fe caboose for $180.

My last sale of the day was for a Lionel N&WRR class A to R Coffer for $1523.

I got the motor cleaned up on the GP-7, but got no further, due to customers and other things. I took in a Lionel UPRR 2-8-0 steam engine with the idea Troy and I could make it run better on Lionel 0-31 switches. The center drivers short on the third rail when going thru the turn. The plan was to remove the four blind center drivers and turn them on a lathe in some form. I took the loco down to the frame and when we ran the loco thru the switches we discovered that even the flanged drivers also touched on the back side which would still cause any wheel set to short out. So I put the loco back together and did the modification to the tender third rail rollers per parts and instructions from Lionel and didn't charge the customer.

Also took in a MTH 2-6-0 steam engine with a burned out can motor from to much cat hair.................Also found out the Lionel and MTH use the same can motor for some of there little starter set engines. Just have to change out the drive gear on the motor.

Friday...............weather another beautiful Sunny day. High today 53, low of 34. Record high of 69 in 1979, low of 28 in 1952, Up at 6:45 and get my morning started. By 8:00 I am on my way to the ET and first thing stop for fuel. 9:00AM call Jodie and make sure she is still going with me tonight to Hokum Hall..................YES. Boy is it going to be a loooooong day.

I start to finish up the GP-7 that needed the frame repainted. I get part of the loco back together and I see Don Sl's wife walking around on the floor. Don had stopped by to pick up some $20 freight cars. He picks out six MTH RailKing Rugged rail cars and I suggest would he like the last of the Industrial Rail freight cars for a good price. Yes, he would. I go find S and asked him with only eight IR cars left what kind of a price can I offer. Some cars were $26 and all were reduced to $19.95, S says how about $17.50 each. Don takes all the cars. He is also looking for a GNRR diesel passenger set, by Lionel. Don't have one, but I do have a beautiful MTH set. Operated the diesel in station announcements and he is sold. He puts everything on lay away. Total of $1400 worth.

While I was working with Don in comes Forest W and is looking for a GNRR caboose and a BNRR "green" box car. I find both for $106, and he goes home happy.

Back to the GP-7 and get it put back together and make sure the horn works and total the bill for the GP-7 and the steam loco and tender for $170.

Time to fix the MTH 2-6-0 with the burned up can motor. Removing the gear from the bad motor was easy, getting the gear off the Lionel can motor is no fun. I could not drive it off, instead Bert cut it off with a cutting wheel. Pressed the MTH gear back on and installed the motor in the chassis. Total of repair was $24.

Suzy, Larry Wb's girl friend calls me and says there is a Seattle sleepless event tonight at a Denny's in Bellevue and there should be about a 100 people. Great way to meet a new lady................ Sorry Suzy I am going to Hokum Hall with the prettiest lady in town, Jodie. Turns out Larry and Suzy are going to Hokum tonight also. I tell Suzy see better put blinders on Larry, cause I will be there with the most beautiful lady in the world. She has a big laugh.

Ten minutes later in walks Larry Wb. I tell him I just got off the phone to Suzy and mention she was going to put blinders on him, ref Jodie. He calls Suzy at home and says he will be a few minutes late he is at the doctors office getting blinders put on his eyes. You are where ?

Out the door at 6:00 and head for home and stop for a can of soup for supper and then off to WS and pick up Jodie and enjoy a evening at Hokum Hall. Waiting in line Larry and Suzy show up, so we all sat together. Tonight was CALPIQNOMANIA Around a California Piano 6. Lots of great piano and organ music and some really great entertainment too. With two pianos and the Mighty Wurlitzer and five people playing all three units we were given a really great show. Dad was with the prettiest lady there and Larry and another man came in second. Jodie had a great time and in the future we will be going back again, she just has to tell me when she will be available when not working on a weekend. We didn't get out of the show until after 10:00PM, and when I took Jodie home we gave one another a big hug good night. One of the best Friday nights I have had in a long, long time.................

I am sending this e-mail early, cause I am having trouble getting into my e-mail...........Call me.

So have a good week and this brings to a close week 2058 plus to go.

Love Dad

Erie Triplex worth $2K, very quiet week, Snow, Dad really blew it this time, Jodie's B'day present

2002-03-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hi K and R;

Monday...............Morning is rain and windy, late afternoon we have Sunshine. More rain coming, may be tonight. High today 50, low of 44. record high of 65 in 1965, low of 23 in 1956. Up at 6:30 and get my morning started, pack a soup lunch since I am having my front teeth fixed.

7:45 I head to WS and fight the wind and the rain. Dentist fixed my two front teeth and is going to do some more work on several of the roots at a later date. He is going in for a shoulder operation and I need to go see my medical doc too. Another $150 worth of work.

Lots of fun getting out of WS in the morning at 9:45. I got off the WS bridge at First Ave South ( I-5 was a parking lot.) and drove thru the industrial area, only to get stopped twice by tractor trailer rigs blocking the street. Back on the I-90 at Rainier like I do every morning, you got to know the streets in Seattle to get around or sit in traffic for ever. Mailed some letters and stopped for more fuel before showing up for work at 10:45.

Back to work on the Z Xfmer and finish up putting the soldered wires back together for the Xfmer windings. Do final assembly and repaint the metal base which was rusted. Total of 1938 Lionel repair was $236.

Cashed out a repair for $136 on some Lionel items. Customer came in from Alaska and picked up one MTH freight car and a maintenance kit for $50. He comes in about once or twice a year and buys a few items.

Ran my new UPRR 844 in two tone gray on the layout just for a few minutes. Had to see how it performed, yea right.....

S had bought a bunch of Lionel-MPC on Saturday, just what we need. I went thru a Southern Crescent Limited passenger set only to find out it had never been placed on a track and run. I have a lot more to go thru and fix broken couplers and make sure to other loco's run OK. S had me convert a General steam engine from DC to AC operation, much easier to sell than when they run on DC. Will finish that in the morning and on to more MPC, Oh Boy..........

Sold a customer 61 sections of cork roadbed and two rolls of double wire set for $51.

Andy Peterson from Peterson Supply in Portland, OR came in to sell and trade S for MTH, Weaver and Atlas freight cars and one diesel. Andy does special paint jobs on MTH, Weaver, and Atlas cars and loco's. I asked Andy did he have a MTH Erie Triplex ? He said he had one and sold it for $1600 to a man that his Grandfather ran the real loco. The Triplex is now worth $2000, they are in very short supply. Sure glad I got mine, will when I pay it off in about a year.

Tuesday..............weather morning is rain again. High today 45, low of 38. Record high of 68 in 1965, low of 28 in 1956. Up at 6:45 and get my morning started, I have a early mission before going to Kirkland. After breakfast I leave at 7:30 and head to WS and guess what it is raining and real windy, something that I don't need. As I head west I see a lot of dark clouds, not good. As I get into WS the rain is stopping, I have been driving into a storm that is coming off the west coast. By the time I get to Jodie's house the rain is just a few drops. Park a half a block east and walk up to her front gate and place my poster ( I had wrapped the poster in plastic sheet) on the gate with stick pins and take a few pictures too. She should see it when she leaves for the church coffee break that her and the boy's baby sit at on Tues morning. Now I need to get out of WS and not fight traffic. "Everybody" takes the WS bridge, but not Dad. I take a back way and end up in the industrial area again and then skirt around I-5 and then back to I-90 near the apt and I am on my way to Kirkland. It is now 8:30 and I get to the shop by 8:45.

The plan for the day is work on the Lionel-MPC junk. Before I can start the first item UPS shows up with three packages of parts from Lionel. Most of the parts are items I had ordered weeks ago and reordered, so the only item usable was a smoke unit for the Challenger. So I change out the smoke unit and test run, still no smoke except in command with AUX1-9. So S, Troy and Dad decide to put our heads together and see if we can figure out why it doesn't work. Remember we don't have any schematics, cause Lionel says they are company secrets. Troy blows out a transistor on the PCB, oops. He ran the DC fan motor in reverse and that blew the part. I get a request to run the trains and S says he will try some more things. When I get back he says the loco smokes good in conventional only. I have one suggestion before we call Lionel on Weds. Change out the command PCB for the third time. We change the PCB and reprogram and try again. The smoke unit works, so I take the loco out to the layout and test run it for 20 minutes. It finally works. Ship it back to the customer in Spokane.

8:00PM I just got a call from Jodie, ref my poster. I understand there was a colorful poster on your front gate this morning. She says yes, I called the police and they have cop cars stations at both ends of the street looking for the culprit. So I told her how much fun I had driving over in the rain to deliver the poster. Jodie said she will cancel the police out looking for me. She enjoyed the poster and wanted to know if I drew the picture. No I didn't I had a friend who knew how to draw do the honors. If and when Jodie and I get together for a dinner at Spiro's I will give her the original that I had framed.

I spent the rest of the day working on MPC. I checked out a EMD SD-18 and a pair of F-3 diesels and replaced broken coupler springs on the SD-18. Almost every freight car had broken plastic knuckles on the couplers, due to cheap construction.

R remember chasing 4449 in Feb 1976 in Phoenix painted in American Freedom train colors ? Well 4449 is painted that way again and will be touring the BN&SFRR this coming spring and summer.

Wednesday..............weather another day of rain and Sun, back to rain, talk of rain and snow mix on the week end. Up at 6:30 and get my morning started. Got to work at 8:30 and sat and read OC's book until 9:00. Started work at 9:00 since I plan to take two hours off Saturday morning.

I finish up some used Lionel to go in the case. I clean up a 3459 (green) operating ore car which sold for $7.95 new in 1947, price today is $110. Next a 3461 operating log dump car which also sold new in for the same price. Now worth $69. Last item is a 3650 extension search light car from 1958 that sold for about $8.95, now worth $79. I also put my black UPRR 844 on the layout, might as well have something different to run during the week too.

I had four sales today. First one was for a MTH operating service station that had gone back to the factory for repair. Customer said it never worked, but he never brought it in and it was one year out of warranty by the time he did. It cost him $135 more than he paid for it originally. His total bill was $155 including some Thomas the tank engine items too.

My next sale was for $513 worth of MTH to Stan W for a GP-40 diesel, and three freight cars.

Then I sold a customer a Lionel operating Gantry crane and some Thomas the tank engine items too for $333. The crane cost $179 in 1999, but we have been out of them since before Xmas. S got one in a week ago and put $229 price on it.

My last sale was to a customer buying used Lionel for his Brother in Arkansas. He picked up a Lionel 681 steam turbine and 6464-25 GNRR box car, plus several magazines for $492.

I also put a MTH 4449 in American Freedom trains colors in the display case, only cost $1259.

I worked on a Lionel repair most of the day. 1033 Xfmer that had a circuit breaker that had come unriveted, cleaned up the whistling tender and then started on the loco. Got the loco all ready to put back together and the new smoke unit won't work. Something to worry about Thurs.

Thursday................weather more rain and Sun, rain and rain and rain. Still talking about snow on the week end above 500 feet. Up at 6:45 and get started. got to Kirkland before 8:30 and read OC's book until 9:10 when B1 showed up.

First thing find out why the 675 loco's smoke unit won't smoke. Take the loco apart and open the smoke unit. The Ni-Crome wire wasn't soldered to the ground side of the unit. Put everything back together and test run. It smokes great. total of repair for loco, tender and Xfmer $100.

Louie F' comes in with a lot of new MTH and one Lionel item he needs to sell, he has medical problems. S gives him 35 cent on the dollar. So I spent the morning checking out all the items. There was a NYCRR 2-6-0 steam three car freight set, ($199.) Santa Fe A unit diesel and three passenger cars ($299.) three extra coaches ($39 ea) and a dummy A unit. ( $59.) two Berkshires 2-8-4 steam engines ( $229.) and a Lionel B&ARR Hudson ($499.) and the last item a Amtrak diesel with four superliners with sound ( $299.) and two extra coaches ( $39 ea.). Everything worked fine except the Amtrak set, it had a low battery which I charged all day.

I serviced a Marx single unit diesel and added the missing plastic horns for a repair of $45.

I worked on one other repair a pair of Marx diesels and a wrecking crane, that I had been waiting for parts. Added the missing horns and rewired the search light on the crane and added a missing lens. total of repair was $55.

I had three sales, the first was for misc scenery items for $65. Then M Winters came in looking at the MTH CNRR 6060 4-8-2 steam engine and five passenger cars for $1595. Dave W was showing him this set, but Dave has no interest in MTH. So I came out on the floor and ran the loco on the layout with 22 freight cars and then put the loco in to station announcements. He was sold. S took off a $100 on the set so the total of the sale was $1627. Wait there is more.................M was also interested in the Royal Hudson passenger set too. So I ran the loco on the test track and once you blow the whistle the customer is sold, of course the station announcements help to when they talk about Vancouver, B.C. He put the set on layaway with loco and tender and four cars, plus two add on coaches for another $740. S was also able to find the two car add on set for the CNRR set too.

8:00PM just got off the phone to Jodie. She didn't discover the poster until almost 1:00PM when she was driving out of the drive way. She figured out where the pix came from "beauty and the beast" pix from 12/31/00. What she doesn't know is I had the original framed and I am going to give it to her as a birthday present. One item we talked about was the 9/11 show from Sunday night. When the crew from Engine 7 and Ladder one came back from the WTC without there rigs and were standing around hugging..........Never miss the opportunity to hug someone, you never know when you won't be able to every do it one more time.............She was busy and had other things to do, but if it doesn't snow I will she her on Sunday at church.

Friday..............weather another morning of rain and some Sun, rain, wind and Sun off and on all day. Up at 6:45 and get moving. Even ran up and got bread before I had breakfast. On the way to work I stopped for fuel just in case we get snow over the week end.

My first project is to replace the bad parts in the Lionel full scale Gray Challenger. Lionel sent me a sound PCB and a speaker. I open the tender and check the speaker for continuity, that is OK. Replace the sound PCB and test the loco. It works...............Write it up as a warranty item, from stock. This is a beautiful loco, to bad it is a Lionel. If MTH ever reruns the Challenger with the 2.0 sound system Dad is going to own one.............

I had a few sales today. The Lionel-MPC General set I converted to AC power, is gone. I sold it to a customer from Folsom, CA and shipped it out today. $110.........S says I did such a good job of doing the conversion and selling it, he has another one..............Talked to Chuck C on the phone two time and a hour later he shows up. Sold him more trees and three die cast automobiles for $37.

One repair got picked up, the Lionel 675 loco and tender and 1033 Xfmer, plus they also picked up some other items including a MTH flat car with a total of $156. Took a mail order from a customer in Oregon for some Lionel freight cars truck and coupler conversion for a GP-9 and Gargraves track for a total of $253.

Sold Craig K's a K-Line alum tank car for $49 and my last sale was for $41 for what I don't remember. Ran the UPRR 844 on the layout. Worked on one other repair a Lionel GP-7 with a lot of battery damage, and won't get to finish it until sometime Monday or so.

Came home and had home made soup and then to WS and Hokum Hall and watch Laurel and Hardy movies.

Saturday...............What and unbelievable day starting with the weather. Up at 6:45 and check out the weather, no snow then down the hall to the rest room. Walking out of the restroom it is now snowing................So I shave and watch it snow, pack my lunch and watch it snow, fix and eat my breakfast and watch it snow. After eating I go outside and start ole yeller. The snow is sticking to the truck and the grass, but not the streets. I leave at 9:00 for the ET. Three blocks from the house and the snow is not sticking to anything. All the way to Kirkland I drive in a snow/rain mix. High today 36 and a low of 32. Record high of 72 in 1947, low of 27 in 1952. Once in Kirkland I drive thru Carillon Point and locate the restaurant I am to go for the "Seattle sleepless" meeting. I drive over to work and drop off my lunch and spend a few minutes talking with S before I drive back to Carillon Point at 10:00AM. I park two blocks away in the city park and walk to CP in a snow/rain mix. Walking in to the Poppinjay's restaurant all I see is great looking older ladies. Am I in heaven are what ???? It is about 50-50 men and women this could really be the place.............The Saturday morning meeting is for new comers and a list of activities for the coming week or month. Suzy didn't show up until about 11:00. I was sitting at a table with two other new comers, one lady who was really nice looking for how ever old she was. Suzy came by and I introduced her to the ladies. After the meeting Suzy introduced me to the lady I needed to give my $25 check to. When I returned with the check another lady talking with her noticed my jacket with the fire emblems........"Are you a fireman" ? We had been told if we wanted we could go to the Fog Horn restaurant after the meeting for breakfast and get acquainted. The lady I was sitting with and another nice looking lady came up and ask me if I wanted to go to breakfast with them ?????? You know what dummy said ? No I have to get to work..................................Boy, did I blow that one. Believe it or not we had a couple of hours of Sunshine today too. Talking about snow / rain again tonight.

I got to work at 11:30 and the first thing I did was tell Bert about all the lovely ladies and what "dummy" did.........Hour later and Larry and Suzy show up at the shop. I tell Suzy and Larry my "great" story of "how dumb can I be". I will be there next Saturday morning for sure, and I will go to Breakfast with all the ladies if I have too......The dam trains can wait.......

S pointed out to me there was a customer who had been in the store for about three hours and he had been walking all over the store and hadn't bought anything are showed a lot of interested. So I went over and talked to him and in the next two hours I made a $1690 sale. He bought a AF 1958 uncataloged Baldwin twin diesel freight set with four freight cars for $595. Then he started looking at MTH and then I really can go to work. He buys a RailKing SPRR GS-2 steam engine and four matching passenger cars for $610 and to finish off with a MTH premier SD-24 in CB&QRR colors for another $360. Good way to start the afternoon and S was happy too.

I had a $50 repair for some Marx items, and another customer picked up some Lionel freight cars and track for $170.

I had a sale of $110 to Axle for a AF repair 0-8-0 switch engine and some misc items. A $60 sale for some new AF items.

Suzy and Larry came back late in the day and Larry couldn't leave with out buying something in MTH. He bought a BN&SFRR mail express box car. I couldn't sell him the only UPRR 250 ton wrecking crane I have in stock. Then I suggested he take a look at the UPRR operating coal dump car. Once I demonstrated it, Larry had to have it. So he went home with $128 worth of MTH.

My last sale of the day was right at 5:50PM to a couple with two kids a quiet little girl and a boy that wanted everything in LGB. His Dad only said No when the kid wanted four of each car. He did go home with a 2-4-0 steam engine and tender with sound, two passenger cars, track and some people for $517. We closed the store at 6:05, but I made a good sale, that's what counts...................

Sunday............weather I wake up at 7:00 and we have some high clouds and a cold wind blowing, no snow. Believe it or not we had a bright Sunny day. High today 40, low of 31. Record high of 71 in 1947, low of 27 in 1955. Still talking lots more rain coming including snow mix on Tues or Weds. Take my time and shave and fix breakfast. After breakfast I warm up ole yeller, it is cold and windy out there.............

Leave for WS about 9:40 and we have Sun instead of rain or snow. Get to church about 10:15 and wait for Jodie. She doesn't show up. So after church I drive by her house. When she answered the door she said the boys were sick and she was so-so. Told her iIhad something for her. So I went out to the truck and got her B'day present. I gave her the framed original of the pin and ink drawing that Buck had drawn for me and a gift certicate to the Bon Marche'. She was real surprised and said I shouldn't have given her the GC, it was to much. I commented if it were for only $10 she would have said it was to much. She agreed. ( I found out she paid a $100 for the electronic blood pressure cuff she gave me at Xmas ) We talked for a few minutes and she asked me about the meeting at the Seattle sleepless on Saturday morning. Told her I was impressed with the group and how friendly they were it was a close balance of men and women. Suggested she put her shoes on and kick me real hard for the dumb trick I pulled when asked by two women to go to breakfast with them. She said there was always next week and may be more......She thanked me and gave me a big hug as I was leaving. The pin and ink drawing was a good image of Jodie, but standing there talking with her I realized Jodie is far more beautiful than any drawing, she really has this glow about her. Could be a 60 year ole man has bad eye sight.....................No way !

Before I left WS I stopped for a B'day card, will explain next week and a ball of string for use at work.

When I got home I had a plan. The apt units are getting new electrical service installed in each apt unit. To install the box in my apt I had to move my double book case just inside the door. I unloaded the book case on Tues and Weds evening and put my one large case and my rocker couch in a empty apt. The plan was to remove all the stuff between the cases and spread it around my castle, Ha, Ha.....Well when I got home they were cutting the hole in the wall in the next apt. So I put all the junk on the bed and they cut the hole in my wall too. Floor to ceiling a foot wide. So when they finished I cleaned up the dust and restacked the boxes and even threw some stuff away. May be up to two weeks before I get to put everything back where it belongs. They still have to install the box and do the wiring.

3:00PM I drove up to Northgate Mall and had a early dinner at the Red Robin. Tried there new roast beef burger with cheese and grilled onions and all the fries and pop you want for $10. From Red Robin came home and started to finish up your e-mail.

8:00PM time to finish my news letter.............Before I forget Betty called me Saturday night and she was operated on March 5th and is recovering just fine. Betty says she has got Russ pretty well trained as a housewife at this time. It is hard to believe Betty will be 75 on March 27th. It was real hard for me to see age 60 when I filled out a profile for the Seattle sleepless paper work.

I called Jodie and asked her did she get anything exciting for her birthday. She asked did I say do anything exciting ? I wouldn't dare ask her if she did anything exciting, she is still waiting for that helicopter ride amoung other things. She said my gift was exciting and she didn't deserve it. The important thing is I think so. I told her the pin and ink drawing really doesn't show how beautiful she really is, even today she had that radiant glow about her. Jodie said she wasn't feeling good and was sure she sure wasn't beautiful. "I disagree young lady". You know Jodie isn't feeling good when on such a Sunny day like today she didn't take her walk on the beach. She couldn't talk long she was getting ready to take a bubble bath and go to bed early. Next Friday, well never mind I don't want to spoil a good thing.

That is another week in review or thru the eyes of one gray haired ole timer.

Be safe out there and this brings to a close week 2059 plus to go. Going to be a long week waiting for Friday evening and Saturday morning too......................???

Love Dad

Busy Monday for me, Dad fixes a Big Boy, Kokum Hall, met Jodie at church and the potluck too

2002-03-03T20:08:00.000-08:00

Hi K and R;

Monday..............weather a cold icy morning, Sun all day, but not real warm. High today of 51, low of 28. Up at 6:00AM and work on the computer, couldn't sleep anyway. Got to Kirkland about 8:20 and sat and read OC's book until 9:00.

First thing call CSM in PHX and cancel a $65 book I ordered. Phone is ringing off the hook. Made two sales in the first 30 minutes. $41 for a MTH "Ice city" beer reefer going to Wayneboro, PA and $157 for a Lionel light house going to some small town in TX.

Don B comes in with his Lionel EMD F-3 CPRR diesel set and a pair of 0-72 switches. The diesels started smoking when he tried to reprogram them. The switches are crap..................Open the diesel and find one wire is fried. Not good. While I am looking at Don's toys in comes another customer with a MTH EMD GP-20 that won't run. Unit had a dead battery that he recharged and then tried to program with a Z750 Xfmer. He may have confused the loco.

Sold a pair of MTH passenger cars to a customer for $89. Made a sale for $51 in Lionel, but don't remember what.

My first repair is for a English plastic two rail diesel that the customer wants to have it three railed. I can't do that, but I did convert it to 9V battery operation. Sold him a Lionel "O" ga switch and sent the order off to some small town in Oregon for $51. Didn't charge him for the conversion to the diesel.

Open up the MTH GP-20 and the chip says "1996" I call MTH and finally get a hold of a tech. Any loco built before 1996 we can't fix. Tech says we can and he is sending us the new chip.

Open the CPRR F-3 diesel and find only two wired that are destroyed. Replace both wires and reprogram loco and it works just great. Now the fun part the crappy switches. problem is the switch points don't lock in place when the switch changes direction. No matter what I try I can't get the switch to work better, even with a new switch motor assembly. The problem is a way out of tolerance sheet metal part. More made in China junk from Lionel..................At $75 per switch that hurts. Call Don and tell him the loco is ready as for the switches. can't fix them and all we have in stock are just as bad....................

Last item I work on is a MTH RailKing passenger car that a kid stepped on and broke the floor where the truck assembly is mounted. I had ordered a new floor two months ago. Today I decided to take another look at the car. The car doesn't have a floor the floor is part of the main body. No wonder i never got the floor. So I am epoxy the car back together.

When I came back from the bank I spent more money on me. Like $988 worth. I now own the GNRR W-1 electric loco and a five car set of SPRR "Daylight" passenger cars. From now on I am only going to be putting $200 a month on my many lay a ways.

I did make the most unusual sale today. We have this customer Jim Kitchen that never buys anything cause he buy everything off of E bay. He is also the guy that plastered my name all over the Lionel chat room. Anyway I sold him a two car and one car set of UPRR passenger cars for $189. S couldn't believe I had sold him something.

Tuesday.............weather another cold morning with Sun all day. High today 48, low of 33. record high 67 in 1992, low of TWO in 1951. Up at 6:45 and get my morning started. Got to Kirkland about 8:30.

I had two sales all day, $157 repair for Lionel items that I had worked on and $51 for LGB track ref a mail order to Bellingham.

UPS brings me a large package from a customer in Virginia, a Lionel Big Boy that won't run. Customer says it just quit. Where do you start ? I try running the loco in both command and conventional, no good. So I start by taking the tender apart and check the electronics, only problem is a dead 9V battery. Put the tender back together. To get to the electronics in the loco you have to remove the front engine assembly and then remove the rear engine assembly and some of the steam piping. Check the command PCB for damage, none found. Check the LCRU PCB for what I don't know ? Talking with Troy I question if I should check the bridge rectifier on the LCRU. He says it wouldn't hurt. I had removed the LCRU and he suggested I power up the loco and check it for both AC and DC voltage. I put the LCRU back in the loco and put it on the test track. The idea when I power it up I can check the voltages, it ain't going anywhere, it doesn't run. Right ? Wrong ! The loco starts running down the test track. "Troy what do I do now, it runs" ? His answer is what ever you did in the last five minutes undo it. The only thing I can think of is. I had unplugged and plugged back in a four pin connector that has two wires from the power and ground and two wires to the motor. I pull up on the connector and it quits running, push down and it starts running again. Remove the LCRU from the loco and check the four pins soldered to the PCB. One has a bad solder joint, which i can fix. Put until back together and test run again, including pulling and pushing on the connector, it works. Put the loco all back together and test run on the test track again. Everything works except no head light. Have to remove the front engine assembly again to replace the burned out light. Out to the layout and really test run it with 22 freight cars. After 20 minutes of running I decide it is fixed. Except now the loco has thrown a traction tire. Back to the bench and replace same. Weds I will call Lionel and see if I can get a new front pilot assembly that has been damaged most likely from a bad derailment.

My last repair for the day was another Lionel 0-4-0 switcher. Troy's first comment was. "How long you going to take repairing this one" ? This is the third one in a month. First one I worked on for a period of two weeks off and on. Second one was a lot less. Did get the tender rewired before I left work tonight.

Wednesday...............weather another cold morning with Sun most of the day, clouds in and out of the area. Still talking rain. High today 44, low of 29. Record high of 70 (yes that is correct) 1968, low of 29 in 1962. Up at 7:00 and start my day. Sat and read OC"s book until 9:00.

Spent the first hour and a half setting up Lionel "IC Controls" on the layout. This is a add on control box that lets you run either Lionel or MTH loco's with a Lionel command base. S had not seen this system work, so I got to show him a new toy, and it works good too. Reason it works is the unit was designed by a company called IC Controls and offered to Lionel two years ago. They were not interested. Many operators were using the system and put Lionel to shame. So they bought the company. Now if Lionel doesn't mess with the product we will have a winner............

I call Lionel and order the damaged part for the Big Boy. Also check to see if they have PCB's available for a Hudson with 2.5 Railsounds. I have a loco that took a dive and may need some new electronics.

Finished putting the 0-4-0 tender back together after rewiring and cleaning up the unit.

UPS shows up with some Lionel parts, the Sound PCB for Chuck C's diesel sound box car. Monday I got a call from "Lionel" wanting to know why Chuck C's sound car had not been fixed. Because Lionel dropped the ball and forgot to put the order in for the new PCB. That was six weeks ago. I called Chuck on Monday and asked him what is this about you not getting your sound car fixed in a timely matter ? He had called Lionel in hopes of getting them to speed up the process. The only thing you speeded up was I get a call from Lionel asking why we didn't have fixed sooner.....So when I finished the car I called Chuck and said your car is ready and I expect you to be here in and hour to pick it up......He was..

The rest of the day I spent working on the 0-4-0 loco. Cleaned up the armature, brush plate, replaced one set of fingers in the e-unit, rewired the loco and put back together. It runs great, BUT light and ringing bell in the tender doesn't work. 'So tomorrow will be another day.

Only had two sales all day, $250 for a Bachmann On-30 C&SRR 2-6-0 steam freight set and $21 for trees.

The day went way to fast and 3:00PM rolled around to soon. I left work at three and headed to WS and stopped at Scott's and picked up a check for some of my trains. Then to the dentist and have three teeth pulled. OUCH.......I warned the dentist I way turn ghost white before he is finished pulling my teeth. I had asked Jodie if worst case could she pick me up at the dentist if necessary. well I walked out of the office with no problem, just minus three teeth. Got home at 5:10 and called Jodie and told her everything is OK. Thanked her for being on stand by. One of the molars was complete, but had come down and needed to be removed. The other two were only 30% there.

Thursday..............weather rain during the night, Sun all day and expected thru the weekend too. High today 47, low of 35. Record high of 68 in 1968, low of 24 in 1971. Up at 7:00 and get going. Stop at the bank at 9:00 to cash Scott's check and then over to work. Everyone is surprised to see me. I didn't have any problem with the teeth being removed, no pain, no swelling nothing. Just a big gap in my mouth on the right side. I had split pea soup for breakfast... What ? Split pea soup is good. Had mashed potatoes and a banana for lunch. Super is a pot pie with toast.

First thing when I walk in to work, a new Lionel scale PRR K-4 Pacific sitting on the test track. Got to check it out. It runs good, but when I blow the whistle it won't stop and if I should it down with the whistle blowing it willlock up in neutral. Finally get it to stop. S says the first one they ran failed in conventional. This one has a whistler problem. Later in the day I call Lionel andtalk with a tech about both loco's. One has a bad command PCB and the other has at least a bad command PCB and sound PCB too. Tell S we better check out everyone before the customer takes them home.

My first sale is to GT for two MTH PS-2 covered hoppers he had ordered and a "Ice City" beer tank car for $125.

Back to the 0-4-0 and see why nothing works in the tender. Dad had reversed the two wires that go to the plugs in the loco. Neither coupler works cause the coil windings have a broken ground wire and that is internal and can't fix it. $60 repair.

Next up the Lionel Hudson that took a dive. I get it to run in conventional but in command it only runs at a 100 mph. Take the tender apart and check the electronics and find nothing wrong. Time to open the loco which is a 1955 design updated in 1990 to include electronics. To much junk for a out dated item. Only thing I find is a antenna wire disconnected. That doesn't make it work any better, still runs at a 100 MPH. Call Lionel and check with a tech. He says problem is a damaged command PCB from the fall. Parts or going to cost about a $125.

Made a sale of $477 for a Lionel EMD FT set of NYC A-A diesels and two matching passenger cars. Customer that bought them is not impressed with Lionel and he told me he is thinking of selling allhsi Lionel and buying MTH. He brought back a Lionel loco last year cause it didn't perform like it should. S wasn't happy, but he did have a real complaint.

Customer came in last night after I left and wanted a MTH loco upgraded to full sound. Cost would be about $150 to $250. He came in today and bought a new MTH UPRR steam starter set, some operating accessories and track for $550. He also ordered a MTH Blue Comet passenger starter set too.

Caddy S came in a bought a MTH Rugged rails gondola for $22. Rich the pilot from Janesville, WI came in and picked up more of his AF lay a way.

Finally got the horn PCB back from repair so I can finish Don S's Lionel F-3 A-B-A set of diesels. Should have that finished in the morning.

While I was running the trains today I didn't notice the train on the upper loop had come apart and the loco hit the end of the stalled trains and I had freights car everywhere. On the back of the layout where I can't get to it. Troy had to climb up on the table and clean up my mess.

Friday........weather another Sunny bright morning, with a lot of frost. High today 48, low of 30. Record high of 62 in 1990, low of 23 in 1971. Up at 6:45 and get moving. Got to Kirkland at 8:30 and read OC's book until 9:00.

Spent the first 20 minutes on the phone to a customer in Vancouver, WA about his old Lionel ZW Xfmer. Unit had a bad circuit breaker.

Then I call Jodie and get the answering machine, and leave a mesasge. Two minutes later she calls me back. Haven't talked to her all week. Thanked her again for suggesting her dentist. We only talked for a few minutes. Asked her if she could go to Kokum Hall tonight or Saturday, but she had other plans. We bid one another a good day.

I check out the wiring for the horn PCB in the B unit and make sure it works when hooked up to the powered A unit. Button everything up and total the bill. $103 to make the conversion which I started two months ago.

My first sale is to Chuck C for more small trees at $21 worth. My next sale is for $81 for a MTH highway crossing gates and signals to a AF collector. I show him what is new with Lionel-AF in the catalog. He says no thank you......... On the internet he has been reading about negitive comments about "junk" Lionel-AF products. He only buys used AF American models "S" ga or "S" Helper product and of course MTH accessories.

The $550 sale I had Thurs will the customer brings back the UPRR set it has a short. Interestingly I had ran the loco before he took the set with him and it worked great. Power up the loco andf the whistle would start blowing and then the Xfmer would shut down. Open the loco and tender and find a wire pinched in the tender. Reprogram the loco to factory default and it works fine. He says he would rather have his money back. So now I am negitive $ 357 for the first day of the new month. Later Buck points that out to me.......

Customer from Vancouver with the ZW shows up just before lunch. Won't go into details but this guy is dummer than a stump for starters. I tell him give me time to go to lunch and come back in about two hours and I will have it fixed. I replace one throttle roller which is "gone" remove the bad circuit breaker and Troy replaces the breaker while I deal with the UPRR customer. Then after we get the Xfmer back together we discover the cord is bad too. So Troy steps in again and fixes that too. Total of repair is $57.

My next repair is for a cheap Lionel caboose which has a burned out light and the box car has a broken truck assembly. Most likely stepped on my a kid. Total for repair is $22, the box car new cost $22.

Next a Marx EMD E-7 A-A diesel set and a wrecking crane. Customer says he dropped the loco and it quit running. When I open it I find the e-unit won't cycle. Unit is full of cat hair and carpet fibers. I spray the e-unit with lighter fluid and let it soak for five minutes. It now works. Fix a bent coupler on the dummy A unit. Need to order plastic horns, and a lens for the search light on the crane and then restring the crane hook and boom.

Jim M comes in and wants to buy a MTH RailKing NYCRR streamlined Hudson to go with his K-Line passenger cars. Total of sale is $477, hey Buck now I am positive again.

From work I came home and had a light supper and off to Hokum Hall and enjoy four Buster Keaton movies, Troy met me there for a fun evening.

Saturday................weather another cold clear and Suny day. Morning has frost on everything. Up at 7:00 and get started. Fix a lite lunch and a big breakfast. Stopped for fuel before going to the shop. Spent the first hour goofing off.

First thing the customer that bought the Lionel FT diesel set is back with a complaint. They jerk at slow speed. "They're Lionel"..............Take the units and put them on the layout with 18 freight cars and let them run. I run them slow, but I do have a lot of cars hanging on the rear coupler. He says the can motor overheats and the gear boxes get to warm. So I let them run for a good 20 minutes and then check there temperature. They are doing just fine. Suggest he take them home and break them in and don't expect them to run at slow speed with no load. Next....................Jim M brings in his MTH Hudson from Friday. It has a squeek in the drive rods. I oil around and then put it on the layout with no sound and let it dig in to 18 freight cars too. Only problem I find is wheel slip from oil on the traction tires. he has dirty track. Next............Craig K's brings in a Lionel GG1 electric from six years ago he has never run. In conventional it runs fine, in command. You guessed it. Off and down the track at 100 mph. He had talked to Lionel and they said bring it to ET and we could fix it with a new command PCB at a cost to him, no longer under warranty.

Time to sell trains..............K's buy some landscape material for $23. Customer with the Lionel FT's buys two MTH freight cars for $61. Next......My next customer started out buying a $350 Lionel starter set, but I have been slowly converting him to MTH. He came in to see me about some real trains. He buys a MTH RailKing UPRR Challenger, like mine and a caboose and a Lionel box car for $882. His friend with him buys three MTH freight cars for $92. Next.....Customer picks up his MTH four car Santa Fe passenger set for $151. By now I am on a roll.............Couple come in and the wife is going to buy her Husband a belated Xmas present. He wants a MTH RailKing SPRR cab forward and of course I got to sell him a matching caboose too for $661. Cab forward was on sale from $769 reduced to $569. But we are not thru............He says he also wants a "RailKing" Big Boy. Have I got a deal for you......K-Line has a "Titan" Big Boy with full sound for $525, early buy $475. He orders the loco and a matching caboose that will arrive in Aug 2002. His Xmas present for the coming year. Larry Wb shows up to pick up his MTH track I have been holding for him since my birthday. He had traded in Lionel "0-27" track for MTH RailKing realtrack. Two complete ovals to run on a area of 10 by 20 feet. He adds some accessory items for a total of $254, plus $220 track trade in. I had another sale for $168, but I can't remember what. My finally sale was to Don B for six MTH freight cars for $248. I had three more, but he says he will pick them up later including I may have some more I didn't have time to look today. Don has a problem he has locked his keys in his car and his wife isn't at home. So I leave work a few minutes early and drive him home to Medina. Medina is a very expensive area on the ET. Don is one of our very few customers that always pays in cash. So Don got the car keys and then back to the shop. I got home 30 minute late and $10 richer.

Sunday...............weather another Sunny cold morning, Sun all day too. High today 55, WOW, low of 31. Record high of 69 in 1965, low of 20 in 1989. Talking about may be snow Tues or Weds....Up at 7:00, but I didn't get out of bed until almost 7:30 Took my time and fixed breakfast and just goofed around. Called Jodie at 9:00 to make sure I would meet her in church.

Left for WS about 9:10 and stop for pixs at K-Mart first. Almost forgot I was a greeter at church, doesn't matter 80% of the people show up in the last ten minutes anyway. Jodie and her troops showed up with a couple of minutes to spare. After church Jodie and I talked for a few minutes. I had her return my four MARX train collector books. We may be buying a large Marx collection at ET. Time will tell. Jodie also gave me a loof of banana bread. We both hugged and were on our way for the next exciting adventure.

Before I left WS I took a walk on the beach at Lincoln Park. Sunny day, but a little cold and windy on the beach. Lots of bright Sun for sure. From WS I stopped at the drug store and picked up my perscription. Came home and put some meat in the oven and took a nap.

At 5:30PM back to WS and attend the potluck at church. Jodie showed up about 6:30. So we had a chance to sit and talk for the next hour. I could talk to her for a life time, hey that isn't a bad idea. She told me she finally got guardianship of Uncle John and she had taken Grannie to the doctor this past week and for being 94 she was given a clean bill of health inspite of her condition. I told her about all the heathens I work with at ET. She says just remember to have Christ in your heart when you say or do anything with the group. We discussed some of my train repairs and customer base too. We also had a discussion about the following item that Bert handed me on Friday morning.

Love is very patient and kind, never jealious or envious, never boastful or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irriable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardy even notice when others do it wrong. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever tR wins out. If you love someone you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him....There are three things that remain----Faith, Hope and Love---and the greatest of these is love.( 1 Cor. 13:4-7, 13 )

I told Jodie I can understand all of the "comments" that appear in this paragraph except one. PROUD.....How can someone not be proud of there family, kids etc ? What other word can replace proud ? BLESSING.....You are blessed with a beautiful family, loving healthy kids, etc.....So we had good time talking for a change and not over the phone, but in person.

Well it is almost 10:00PM time to wind it down for another week.

Remember to be careful out there and hope everyone is doing fine.

One more week down and 2061plus to go.

Love Dad

Lots of kids, everyone knows Dad, quiet days at work, Sunny Sunday, met Jodie at church

2002-02-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

Hi K and R;

Monday..............Some clouds and a slight amount of rain, rest of the day is Sun, more rain coming tonight. High today 51, low of 41. Record high of 62 in 1977, low of 20 in 1990. Up at 7:15 and as I am rolling out of bed the fire radio is dispatching a "citizen assist call" for a eighty year old man that had flipped himself out of bed.............That comment made me start thinking. Where will I be when I'm 80, (only 20 years down the road) hopefully still able to get out of bed on my own. Got to work about 8:40 and sat and read OC's book until 9:20.

90 year old man marries a 20 year old young lady. Several months after his marriage two of his buddies see him taking a slow walk in the park by himself. His buddies got to find out about his sex life is. "Hey, Fred you gotten any of that young stuff" ? You bet, every night...........Yea, come on Fred tell the tR. I am every night about 9:30 the young man that lives next door comes over and helps me get in bed with that young beautiful thing. Off and on all night I get plenty of action... Then about 7:30 in the morning that same young man that lives next door and two guys from across the alley and another guy from a cross the street come over and get me out of bed........Wait a minute Fred. How come only one guy puts you in bed at night and it takes four to get you out of bed in the morning ? "I fight them"........................

First thing I start working on Larry Wb's MTH track order. He wants two complete circles of 0-72 circles in a space of 10 x 20 ft space. I had worked up the items needed on my computer. Total of track is 32 curves, 16 thirty inch straight, 8 ten inch straight and four 4.5 inch straight. He is trading in Lionel 0-27 track and switches and the cost difference will be $184.

But I get interrupted by Tim W. He had been in on Saturday and wanted a set of Milw RR MTH passenger five car set for his Bipolar electric. I only had the cars with a loco, no separate sale items. "Can I help you, Tim ? He says he will take the Bipolar set with cars for $995. So he went home with the set plus some 'N' ga freight cars, 0n-30 steam engine and some misc items for $1247 worth.

Then I take a phone call for a customer in Spokane that wants a MTH thirty inch bridge, three same height trestle sets and two infra red devices for a total of $164. So now I have to find a box or in this case boxes large enough to ship the items.

I finally get back to the track order for Larry Wb. He will pick it up sometime later in the week.

I had a lot of small sales, $58 and $53 for Lionel and MTH items, $97 and $29 for Thomas the tank engine items and two repairs for $103 and $102. Two other sales for $53 and $83.

I finally finished the Lionel 2350 NHRR electric for a repair cost of only $102. Loco cost about $40 new in 1956. We get over $400 for them used.

I also worked on my own SPRR GS-4 loco. After almost six months I finally got a new set of number boards. So I had to take the entire loco apart to change them out.

Al R stopped in and picked up a K-Line GNRR extended vision caboose for $60 and several new MTH and K-Line catalogs. He also put a USA "G" ga NPRR "North coast Limited" A-B-A set of diesels and caboose on lay a way for another $690 worth.

As of today I have a total of $5450 worth of MTH on order and of that amount I have $3560 worth at the store waiting for me to pay for it. Add to that I owe IRS $670 and a unknown amount for the dentist and I haven't been to my regular doctor at this time.

Tuesday.................weather another day with some rain in the morning and Sun the rest of the day. High today of 49, low of 43. Record high of 67 in 1977, low of 22 in 1990.( I was in Santa B, CA ) Up at 7:10 and get my morning started. Out the door and gone by 8:20 and head to Kirkland, sat and read OC's book until 9:00 and then first thing....

Call Jodie...............I couldn't get a hold of her last night. I needed to know when she would be available so we could talk, since she was working a lot this coming week. I told her I would only take a few minutes, well guess what, the few minutes were more than that.....We got on the suggest of Sunday's service's at church. How did she know about it ? I had sent her a e-mail Sunday evening and made comment "The men get it next week". She is working on suggestions on where I can find a "lady". How about WS ?????? She is also helping me with my "list of eight" things I want to do with my life......I pointed out to her in the church e-mail I had left one comment out, ref....You can't change someone else or make them something they are not. Jodie says yea "It called divorce"...We also talked about a person with a "hardened heart". First person that comes to my mind is Margie. She had to go she and the boy's were baby sitting at the church today for young Mother's Bible classes, they do this every Tues. So we bid one another a good day. Great way to start the morning just hearing Jodie's voice and her wisdom on life.

I start off working on a Lionel repair of a train set, including Xfmer and switches. I get the whistle tender cleaned up and working and start on the loco, but don't get very far. There is a customer on the floor talking to S about MTH. I had talked to this person several weeks ago, he wants to buy his Father a birthday present ref MTH. He is interested in a SPRR Premier GS-2 or RailKing GS-2 with coaches. Premier $1500 or RailKing $750. I demonstrate the RailKing loco and he says he will think about it. S is going "Is he going to buy something or not" ? He's working on it S. 30 minutes later he says he will take the RailKing loco and seven passenger cars. Total of sale is $813.

Customer comes in to pick up a repair of a Kusan-Auburn RDC and is also looking for a MTH Premier freight car. He goes home with a flat with two trailers and the repair for $105 worth.

Back at my desk I tell Troy I better call Williams and talk with a tech about the problem with the SPRR GS-4. When we changed the smoke unit we found out the voltage regular wouldn't hold at 6V, instead when the train was running the voltage would drop to less than 4V. I had the loco sitting on the layout in neutral and it was smoking fine, until I started applying power. So I call Williams. When the lady answers I say "Hi this is Bob G with ET in Kirkland, WA I would like to talk with a tech please". The lady replies "Good morning Bob how are you doing" ? Now I am thinking the lady must have me fixed up with someone else. Nope............"Bob you don't recognize my voice" ? I'm Dora that used to work at MTH in the parts dept. She says she was just thinking about me the other, in fact she was telling them at Williams I used to call her almost every day to order part. I was thinking about sending you a Williams catalog so you would know where I disappeared too. (She had been laid off, many people were very upset when she left MTH ) Dad is known all over the train world.................As for the problem with the loco it has a bad voltage regulator, Troy is going to change it out.

GT comes in and is looking for goodies. I have one car that came in this morning and he finds another car he has to have. While GT and I standing at the window talking Bill C( one of our sales people) is checking stock at the computer and he starts making comment to GT he should buy all his MTH and Lionel items from us. Cause he never buys any loco's just freight cars. ( GT buys them mail order to save paying taxes ) Bill really lays on him how we are a full service shop and he needs to take full advantage of our shop. I thinking where the hell is the mute button. GT pays for his items $91 worth and then he has a talk with S about Bill....................Bill doesn't have a clue and neither does S.

I made two other sales all day, one for $30 and the other for $60.

Back to the repair I get the loco cleaned up and services. Only needed a new smoke unit and some TLC. I got one flat car almost finished. I needed to reopen the Williams GS-4 so Troy could make the fix to the PCB. So that was my day of fun and BS from Bill C.

8:30 I get to talk to Jodie for 20 minutes, but we cover a lot of subjects. Are you ready.....? I start with a question ref OC's big book when he talks about "creatures". Jodie says that is in regards to what God has to say about a person who is turning his life over to God and he becomes a "new creature". Then she tells me a story about Evan ref dating and his good friend who is shooting for a bet where he will be the first one to loose his virginity and make a $100. So Jodie gave Evan a example of. "How would he like it if he was the Father of a teenager and "his" daughter would be the "other" person who would loose her virginity" ? And how the boy's idea would not only effect him, but another person too. Jodie went on to say that Evan wants to date and he has suggested he would date behind her back. So she is planning if Evan wants to date it has to be a "family thing". Where they can go as a family and she can supervise. Evan has been known to go other than where he says he is going. We also got on the subject of Independence......Jodie is very independent to say the least. I told her I like that in a lady. She says she has problems with that because some men don't like independent women. Margie was never independent she couldn't ever leave her Mother, and I was just a stud service and a bank to her. With Joyce I tried to get her to become independent and meet the world and do something worth wide with her life. She took a drafting class for one year and passed with "ones" and also took a class in nurses aid and made "ones" again. She never followed on either one, I even had a job lined up for her in drafting. Joyce really needed to be independent with a job and meet "real" people not from soap operas on TV. Bottom line is "everyone" needs to independent. Then I got on the subject of Dr R...............Sunday morning she was on CBC-TV morning show talking about sex and older people. What she had to say made sense until she was asked the following question. Was she looking for a boy friend ? Yes. Did she want to get married ? No. Living together would be OK. Jodie jumped in with "She isn't a Christian". I told Jodie that was when I took a different view of Dr R myself. Had to tell Jodie about GT and Bill C and how I felt about the situation. She agreed not a positive way to keep your customers coming back to say the least. She suggested I might need to lay a little Christ on some of the ET group...........I pointed out to Jodie, that Bert and I figure we work with a group heading to Hell for sure. Told her about Dora at Williams Electric Trains, and what a nice surprise to hear from her again. So we had a few minutes to talk and "make the world a better place to live". Yea, right.................

Wednesday.............weather some clouds, but no rain, BUT lots of Sun all day, till late afternoon, rain tonight ? Up at 7:15 and get my morning started, out the door by 8:00 and stop for bread and then fuel in Kirkland. Spent the first 30 minutes at work going over my set of MTH SPRR Daylight coaches that I plan to pay for on Monday. There is no question MTH does and excellent job of making a quality products. Also checked out a set of heavy weight passenger cars for my WPRR GS-2 loco. Won't pick these up for some time to come.

Kimberly called me at work and she says S hasn't been reporting to his parole officer and the state has issued a bench warrant for him. One reason he doesn't want to talk with his parole officer is he still hasn't found a job. S was living with R, but has since moved in with Joyce, who is also not working. Gee surprise, surprise.... Amber is all excited, Lucie (Joyce's step mother) is giving Amber a computer so she can have e-mail. Kim says Amber has a lot of friends with e-mail and she really wants to be able to talk with her friends the same way.

My first sale is to Al R. He came in and picked up the items he put on lay a way on Saturday. So he went home with a Northern Pacific A-B-A diesels and caboose plus a misc MTH item for $731.

Customer brought in a Lionel-MPC GNRR 4-8-4 steam engine that he said would run about two feet and then quit. I tried running the loco on the test track and it ran fine. Then I opened the tender which contains some very early electronics that the PCB was mounted to the metal tender frame with a some very poor foam material that degenerates. Replaced the foam with double back sticky tape and tied the PCB to the frame with string as a safety factor. loco ran fine on the layout. Customer likes GNRR items so he went home with a six car set of 100 ton hoppers, covered hopper, ore car and a Hooker Chemical tank car all by MTH for $403 worth.

My only other sale was for Lionel-AF "Gabe the lamp lighter" to John K in Irvine, CA for $100. he will pick the item up in three weeks when he is in town.

GT came in again and he exchanged some MTH I tad devices and left me with another copy of the SFD history book, that I had ordered for Jodie.

Back to the Williams GS-4. Take the loco apart again and Troy does another test on the smoke unit circuit. It works fine, until I hook up the tender which has the reverse PCB. Then the voltage drops and the lights dim and the smoke unit stops smoking. I call Williams and the tech says either the PCB is going bad or the motor is drawing to much current. Motor should only pull no more than 2.5 amps. Troy tested the motor under load and it is only drawing 1.5 amps. So I leave a message with the customer and later tell him I need to get a new PCB for $60 from Williams. That will be Thurs.

Rest of the day I work on the last Lionel repair I had at my desk. Still have to clean up switches and Xfmer.

Thursday..............weather morning is more rain, sat at the shop and read OC's book until 9:15 when S and B1 show up. We did have Sun and clouds later in the day.

I start working on the Xfmer and replace the cord and then find out the silicon rectifier for the whistle is bad. I have a customer on the floor, Don B who is a older gentlemen that has a problem talking and walking from old age. I'm the only one that will take the time to work with him. I get some good sales too. He had a Lionel CPRR dome car that had a broken coupler, while I fixed it he went looking for goodies. He is looking for a baggage car to match his CPRR set. He finds a Lionel MPRR box car and wants a Lionel Command base and I find a CPRR baggage and diner set fro him too. Total of sale is $361.

"If a psychologist says one in four people need psychological help an you are with three people that are just fine. Does that mean you are the one that needs the psychologist" ?

I only had two other sales all day. Caddy S bought a used Lionel stock car and some catalogs for $43. I sold another customer a Lionel operating hopper car for $43 too. Rich the airline pilot came in and paid another $100 on his lay a way and went home with a Peabody hopper car in AF.

"Why is it more important for a doctor to circumcise a man at birth ? Than do something with his toe nails at birth ? Now as a old man I have trouble with my toe nails, not the other thing" .

Back to the Xfmer, Troy suggests we replace the rectifier with a diode. Works better and a lot easier to change. Clean up the switches and rewire the control box. Total of repair $129.

I did call Williams and order the new electronic PCB for the brass GS-4.

7:50PM only got to talk to Jodie for a few minutes, she was busy once again. Said she is working both morning and evening on Friday and Saturday. Asked her why ? She says to support her kids. Told her I had the SFD history book for her. She will see me in church on Sunday.

Friday............weather morning is more rain and by afternoon we have lots of Sun, then back to rain during the night. High of 53, low of 40. Record high of 66 in 1964, low of 30 in 1957. When I got to work I put SPRR 4449 on the layout to run during the day.

I had four small sales of $150, $57, $67 and $80 for both Lionel and MTH items. My one big sale for the day was for $1300 for a Lionel 1992 GNRR EMD F-3 A-B-A diesel set and six passenger cars to a customer that S had been working with several weeks ago. At that time S sold him a 1984 GNRR Northern steam loco with five freight cars for about $1000. When he came in to pick up the steam set he got to talking with me and I sold him the passenger set and told him he could buy it on a lay a way, with no money down. When he walked in today he asked Buck to see Bob. He handed me a check for $1300. When I saw the check I made comment you're paying it off, instead of putting money down....His comment was you were so nice to me for letting me put it on lay a way with no money down I decided to just pull all the money out of my saving account and pick it up. When I suggested he put the set on lay a way, he pointed to my "cross" and said "I feel comfortable working with you".

I worked on three repairs off and on all day. A cheap Lionel 8632 4-4-2 steam engine that had taken a dive off the table at 100 mph by a young kid. The crash broke off the pilot. All I can do is super glue and epoxy back together and use a brass sheet bracket to stiffen up the repair. Cost $10.88 My next wonderment from Lionel was a Alco RS-3 diesel that also took a dive. Only looked like a broken coupler, but when I opened the loco and removed the truck assembly I found the truck frame was also broken. Cost of repair $33. My last repair was a 1994 Lionel EMD F-3 A unit that had a lot of miles and never maintained. Greased, oiled and replaced all four motor(s) brushes for a total of $57.

Had two unusual repairs ref Lionel. First a LionMaster UPRR Challenger only one week old that the customer said when running the rear "engine" would just stop running. First I replaced two damaged traction tires and then ran the loco on the layout with 21 freight cars. (My MTH Challenger walks away with 21 cars with no problem and will pull many, many more. The LionMaster was maxed out) Sure enough the rear engine would just stop running. Opened the loco and called Lionel and talked with a tech. He suggested I check all solder joints related to the two motors and cruse control. If that doesn't work and he didn't think it would, he was going to send me a new LCRU control PCB. After resoldering several leads I run the loco again, now the either the front or rear "engine" will stop running. So I take the loco in for repair. Less than 30 minutes later and in walks another customer with a Lionel scale UPRR Big Boy with a broken apart. Front steam pipe broken off where it attaches to the steam chest. Call Lionel and they have the part, many have been broken before. I had called Lionel four times in and hour. Everybody at Lionel know "This is Bob G, ET Trains". Also called MTH ref a RailKing UPRR Gas Turbine that had lost it program from a dead battery. They will send me a chip and also ordered a chip for a General steam engine too.

Finished off Friday night with a evening at Hokum Hall and Laurel and Hardy movies and the mighty Wurlitzer.

Saturday......weather morning starts off with rain and clouds in the afternoon, Temp is dropping and will be cold and may be Sun all day Sunday. High today 46, low of 38. Record high 61 in 1983, low of 28 in 1962. When I got to work I put UPRR 844 on the layout for the day.

I had several small sales today. $168 for MTH track and switches. $50 for a operating passenger station to Bob C. $120 for MTH Greyhound bus depot. $36 for Thomas the tank engine goodies, and $115 for a Lionel operating milk car.

My big sale for the day was to Don Cook of Seattle. He had got some really great goodies in the past. He decides he wants a Lionel LionMaster UPRR Challenger and five freight cars including a caboose. Some of the cars are MTH too. He was the last sale of the day for $1152.

I took in one repair for a Lionel Hudson with command that took a dive off the train table at a 100 mph. Does that sound familiar ?

Sunday................weather, really is a Sunny Sunday, well it started off overcast, and cold, still cold with bright Sun. High today 41, low of 34. Record high of 62 in 1945, low of 25 in 1962. Up at 7:15 and take my time and get my morning started. After breakfast I went out and started the truck and warmed it up, morning was only 35 degrees.

Before going to WS I sat and finished reading the book of Numbers in the Bible. Stopped at K-Mart and dropped off a roll of film. 10:30 and no sign of Jodie, so I walked outside and she was driving down the street, using my body I blocked the last parking space right out front. "Good morning Sunshine". She commented to me. She didn't feel like Sunshine, she had worked two jobs last night and didn't get home until after midnight. We must have been on time, the first song was being sung as we walked up the isle. As I said last week , this was would be the Husbands turn in the barrel. So Pastor Pierre message this week was "Husbands: A call to considerate leadership". ONE, What consideration leadership is not...... 1. Considerate leadership does not mean "harsh" or "Dominating" use of authority. 2. Considerate leadership does not imply and equal sharing of leadership in the family. 3. Considerate leadership does not imply lesser "importance" for a wife. 4. Considerate leadership does not mean always giving in to a wife's "wishes". 5. Considerate leadership is not "optional" for husbands. TWO. What considerate leadership is......... 1. A considerate husband "listens" to and "learns" about his wife. 2. A considerate husband "also protects" and "cherish's" his wife. 3. A considerate husband sees his relationship with God and his relationship with his wife as "Interrelated". So that was the message for this week. Not a easy test to take or make a 100 on either. When the pastor made the comment "Men have to be a leader and make decisions for the family". I know what flashed thru Jodie's mind....Her EX, Dan made all his decisions from a bottle. In my case with Margie, all decisions I made were null and void or just pain ignored. I have to give Joyce credit she did look up to me when I made a decision. Or was that because she was only five ft six inches tall ? After church once outside in the bright Sun and a very cold wind I gave Jodie the SFD history book she had ordered and we talked for a short time, to cold. She had been late this morning cause Grannie has been having pains in her left side. Jodie said the paramedics said she was stable and didn't need to go to the hospital, but not sure what her problem was. So with a big hug we parted for places unknown.

Well it was a quiet day, after church I came home and slept for over and hour. I wanted to go out, but had to no place I needed to go and didn't want to spend any money shopping. Plus it was really cold for such a Sunny day with a cold wind. 4:30 I drove back to WS and had dinner at Spiro's Pizza and Pasta. They serve a great meat ball sandwich and dinner salad for only $6. From WS I came home and started working on the computer and watch TV.

9:20PM I just had a great 30 minute talk with Jodie. What we talked about was "my life" and how I live in a "box'. I need to get out more and do "things". All my life I have gotten myself in a rut and want to stay there. One of my biggest problems is I don't have much money and what I do have is tied up in trains, great in someways, but only I have any idea what they mean or what ever. When Jodie said she wants a man that is looking to live life to the fullest and enjoy what ever comes your way. This is what bothers me the most all I have is a job I enjoy, but that is my life. It doesn't help when I watch $500 a month be taken out of my check for a mistake that was made between two people , but only one pays the price, while the other one goes free as a bird. I am tired of standing on the outside looking in, tired of knowing that at least three of the G children hate me because of what I did..........Question is. What did I do ??? Try to be a loving and caring Father and look forward to watching six kids grow up in life and know how to be loving and caring too. Yes, I am tired, tired of living in a box, one room, having much of my stuff, stufffed in a storage locker for over ten years. Can't buy any thing on credit, can't own a home or live in a nice apartment, own a better car or truck and just live life like God intended everyone to do. So after talking with Jodie tonight I got to "move' out of the "box" and really start living "MY" life, my way and God's way.............

That is about all for this week. 2062 plus weeks to go.

Hope everyone is OK and remember to becareful out there.

Love Dad

Busy fun day, Not much Jodie this week, Hokum Hall twice this week

2002-02-17T20:21:00.000-08:00

Hi K and R;

Monday...............weather not a rain drop in the sky, all Sun and no work ???? High today 44 and a low of 33. Record high of 62 in 1963, low of 23 in 1948. Up at 7:00 and get my day started. Out the door at a little after 8:00, drop off the mail and then sit and read OC's book until Buck shows up just before 9:00.

Didn't start work until 9:30. I got as far as looking at the Lionel 2350 electric. Ended up putting it away and working on other items. First thing Al R came in to pick up his lay a way from two weeks ago. And of course Al has to find more goodies to add to what ever he is picking up. I stack the items on the front counter and "save" it in the computer. While I am talking on the phone to a customer, Buck tries to "jump" my sale to Al..............Buck is cruising for a lot of trouble, he is upset I am still the number two sales person. Al goes home with a K-Line NPRR EMD F-7 A-A diesel set, six 80 ft alum passenger cars, three CPRR box cars, UPRR reefer car and a Lionel NPRR four car freight set for a total of $1248. You ever get the idea Al likes trains ?

While I was waiting for AL to finish shopping I took two mail orders too. The first order was for a Lionel "Fire inspection set" which includes a loco and five cars. Set was $599. and the customer wanted to know if I could give him a better price. So I asked S can we do any better ? He comes up with $529 and $7.50 shipping. I pick up the phone and tell the customer. "How about $540 out the door no shipping" ? He says yes, S was impressed. So I shipped it off to North Salem, NY. The other sale was for two Lionel hopper cars to a customer in Raceland, KY. Two cheap plastic hoppers and shipping for only $98.50. Customer didn't even ask for a discount.

Customer brings in a Lionel three truck shay with problems. Whistle blows when it wants too, and I find out the loco won't run in command, but will take off at a hundred miles and hour when I try to run it in command. Also I hear gear noise when I try to run the loco, I take the loco in for repair and it is not under warranty. $45 labor plus parts.

I get one other sale a customer comes in for his early buy of some Lionel items. He picks up a three car bathtub hopper car set, a 50 ft box car and some misc items for $195.

One other item of interest for repair came in. A Williams brass scale "O" SPRR GS-4 daylight loco and tender. Customer says his Father gave him all of his train collection. The loco has a problem with the motor mount. I call Williams and asked if they want to do the repair ? Bad time of year with warranty work. If I take the loco in and need parts they can supply. So i write it up for a $45 labor charge. This is a $1000 toy.

Parts came in from MTH and Lionel. A replacement Ford T-Bird car for Geo Gregg for his "Mel's Diner". When Geo came in to pick up the car he made a comment I got the new Lionel catalog....Boy what a load of "junk". Lionel parts that came in. I was finally able to fix Jim M's Santa Fe "talking" dinning car by replacing the sound PCB. Other part was for the P's Culvert loader that needed a new Mother PCB.

Tuesday................weather another Sunny day with frost in the morning. High today 45, low of 30. Record high of 66 in 1963, low of 21 in 1949. Up at just before 7:00 and get warmed up for another day. Left for Kirkland about 8:00 and stop for fuel, then sit and read OC's book until Buck shows up. First thing call K-Line and find out why I haven't received any thing on the 2002 club membership. Don't start work until 9:30.

Call Art P and tell him the Culvert loader is ready and the only charge is for labor, Lionel sent me a free PCB. Repair was only $20. Decide I better take a look at the Lionel three truck shay. If I need parts I can call Lionel on Weds. As soon as I open the loco I find the problem, red wire from the third rail rollers is fried, big time. I don't see how the loco ran at all. So off and on all day I work on the loco.

My first sale is for three MTH premier freight cars and a RailKing Hooker tank car for $195. Customer says he really likes Hooker tank cars. I show him a Lionel one, he didn't know about. He decides he wants the Lionel and not the RailKing. So he pays $5 more and gets a lesser value car, but hey, that's OK. I'LL sell the RailKing to someone who really understands quality.

Sold another customer a AF operating crossing gate for $99 and he put a $65 AF operating search light car on lay a way.

Had a new customer Forrest Webster come in from Kent. He had called Monday and was looking for a Lionel BNRR SD-60. I had one for $399. He put a $100 down and will pick it up in two weeks. As we were talking he mentioned he really likes MTH better, cause they make a better product. He asked my opinion............???? Any way he has a Lionel scale Lionel UPRR 3985 Challenger that he wants to trade it for a MTH GNRR R-2 2-8-8-2 steam engine. I talked to S and he is interested, of course, it's Lionel................Customer will bring it with him next time he is up here.

My last sale of the day was to Rich and Annie A from Wenatchee, new customers and as we talked I realized the wife had as much interest in trains as her husband. So we had a great time talking and me showing them the many goodies in the store. When Annie saw the large MTH bridge she had to have one for there layout. When they got ready to check out Rich bought the bridge, trestle set and some minor items for $122 worth. Annie bought some items for doing scenery, but wouldn't let her husband pay for it. She said this was her project and if she messed it up, that was OK too. Nice people.

Now the story about the Shay..................After I opened the loco I found a bundle of fries wires. So I had to take the entire loco apart to get to the bad wires. When I say take it all apart I wasn't kidding. I removed both truck assemblies, the three cylinder piston assembly, the smoke unit, both sets of PCB's and there Mother PCB the gear box and can motor. I had nothing left, but a bare frame. Then I dig into the wire bundle and find that only the red wire is damaged, none of the others. So I separate the mess and then start rewiring the unit. When Lionel designed this loco they didn't leave any room for error in putting it together. I have had them new out of the box and wouldn't run, because of pinched wires. I think the customer had been in this unit and caused the short. I took a lot of time to put the parts back together and get the wire bundle in just the right place. Once I got the PCB's, the gear box and motor and finally the truck assemblies installed I ran the loco. It ran good. Then I installed the three cylinder drive assembly and ran it again. even tried it in command and everything ran great. Next piece of fun is getting the frame assembly back in the boiler shell. Real easy to pinch wires and get other items in the way and the unit will not go together. Everything is going good to this point. With everything back in place I run the loco in conventional and it runs fine. In command I have no control with or without the tender which has the sound and power supply PCB. Open the tender and remove both PCB's and find nothing. This means I have to open the loco again. Remove the frame from the boiler shell and run the unit in command.. It works just great ???? Only thing I can think of is the antenna is shorted. The antenna is the hand rails and they are insulated from the boiler. So I start checking for somewhere they could be shorted. Sure enough under the front pilot where the rails go thru the front beam they are touching the metal body. I pull them away and have to put the unit back together to see if I have found the problem. It works and works great too. Customer got his $40 worth of labor charges on this repair.

9:00PM and 45 minutes of Jodie. Several times Jodie has asked me. What makes a man tick ? I wanted to say pussy, but I figured she would jump in her Volvo and come over here and slap me good and hard. Anyway I gave her my other opinion. Part of the way a man ticks has to do with man is "expendable". Man works hard all his life and then he dies. Man goes to war and if he is lucky he doesn't die, but sure sees a lot of destruction. Rescue workers and police officers work hard and if they're lucky they don't get killed. That's what makes a man tick...You have to live life to the fullest. Some men if they're lucky they get thru a divorce and if there EX doesn't kill them the superior court will........ Jodie says there has to be more to a mans life than that. I agree, I just haven't been that lucky. Then I asked her. "What does a man have to do to have a happy wife" ? Love, honor, cherish, trust, compassion, courteous and tender hearted. Then she asked me the same question.. Gee, Jodie thanks a lot. I had to agree with what she just said. Then I asked her. "How did she see me as a person" ? Boy I was looking for trouble, big time. She said after knowing me for almost three years she felt I would be a very caring and loving person to the "right" lady. That made me feel good. Question is when can I get started ? Jodie and I get in to some deep conversations, but hey we both are learning. I did ask Jodie wouldn't a wife be happier with a big house, big car and a big ring. She says no, she has been their and "things" aren't that important are "make" the relationship. Next week we will discuss ??????

Wednesday.................weather another day of bright Sun and cool morning. Had ice on the windows of the truck when I left for work at after 8:00. High today 44, low of 29. Record high of 59 in 1996,( I was here ) low of 18 in 1949. Stopped for bread on the way to work and didn't get to Kirkland until 8:45. I started work at 9:00 have other plans for the next two evenings.

First thing test run the Lionel shay on the layout in command. I wanted to run it for about 20 minutes. Five feet down the track and it quits. It went from operating to doing nothing. So I take it back to the test track and try running it in conventional, it works fine, I then try command, it works fine. Now what ? I call Lionel to order parts and check on parts I haven't received. Tech says the shay has a bad command PCB and will send me one. Back to playing with the shay and now it works fine in either comm or conv. S says leave it as good enough. Total cost $60.

My next repair is a Lionel C&NWRR Hudson that took a dive on a train table. Only damage is a broken rear coupler on the tender. I was going to change only the knuckle, but then discovered the coupler assembly was also damaged. A replacement is ONLY $40, instead of $2. Total cost of repair $60.

Remember the Lionel 0-4-0 switcher from Hell, well I finally got the rewound armature and put it back together. As I put it back together I would test run it "In sections". Finally got it all together and test run one more time. The loco goes down the track about three times and shorts out again..............Take the loco part way apart again. I am not going to take it all apart, it is to much trouble. I didn't find anything, but it works. Run it one more time and total of the repair $118.

My first sale was to a customer for a Lionel 0-27 switch, MTH house, some landscape trees and the last item I can't remember, but his total was $215. Took care of two repair tags one for $41 and the other for $80. My last sale was for a Lionel 80 watt Xfmer to a customer that his Son had saved his money and bought a MTH SW-8 Santa Fe diesel switcher and was trying to run it on his wonderful Lionel 40 watt Xfmer. MTH loco require a minimum of 75 watts to operate.

Next repair was for a Lionel-MPC GE diesel that needed new traction tires. I also found it needed new motor brushes, and clean out all the brush dust from the motor. troy changed the traction tires, he had to use a very special tool, a pop sickle stick. The other half of the repair is a brand new Lionel Virginian RR EF-4 electric loco. This is a $180 of cheap plastic crap that even S had to admit is junk with one very small can motor and no pulling power. ( For $170 you can buy the same loco from MTH with dual die cast motor drives and will pull at least 30 or more cars ) Any way customer asked me to add a second can motor, the blank truck only needed to have a motor and three gears added to make it work better, well so, so. Total cost of the repair was $70.

My last repair for the day was for a Williams brass SPRR GS-4, this loco cost $1000 back in the late 80's. at that time the paint job alone was worth $300. Williams built brass loco's with less details for people who wanted to run trains, not just let them sit on a shelf. I had a full scale 2 rail brass GS-4 back in that time frame and paid $1000 for the model with out the $300 paint job. Anyway I opened the loco and found the motor was laying loose in the frame. Three screws had fallen out and were no where to be found. After remounting the motor I test ran the loco and I had no head, or marker lights. So I removed the PCB and found a damaged bridge rectifier. When I was leaving work at 5:30 Troy was all excited about replacing the rectifier for me.

Thursday..............Happy Valentines day............weather another Sunny bright and cold day. High today 49, low of 33. Record high of 63 in 1991 ( I was here ), low of 22 in 1995 ( I was here ). Up at 6:30 and get my morning started. Got to Kirkland about 8:20 and sat and read OC's book until 9:00 when B1 arrived.

First thing back to the Williams GS-4. Troy had the PCB ready and I put the loco back together and test run. All the lights worked, even the tender back up light and marker lights. No smoke unit. So I call Williams and talk to a tech. Ask him what voltage the smoke unit requires ? He says 6V. I have 5V, 12V and 18V, but not 6V. Troy has another idea. Need to talk to the customer too.

UPS shows up with three MTH loco's back from factory repair. ( 7:00PM Got to go for now, it's Hokum Hall tonight ) (10:30PM I am home from Hokum Hall ) So I check out the three MTH loco's a Xmas 2-8-0 steam engine, UPRR 2-8-0 steam engine both with loco sounds and a PRR streamlined steam engine with early proto sounds. The Xmas engine is for a customer and so is the PRR. The UPRR engine is from a starter set that had a short.

My first sale of the day is to Forrest W who came it to pick up his Lionel BNRR SD-60 that he put on lay a way on Tues. He couldn't wait any longer. He still wants to talk to me about the trade between the MTH GNRR R-2 and the Lionel UPRR Challenger. Sale totaled $435. Had very few other sales all day. One repair for $60 that was for the Lionel shay repair. $37 for Thomas the tank engine stuff. Rich C from Janesville, WI came in and put another $100 on his lay a way and took home four of the freight cars and also picked up a AF green GNRR box car for $195 to add to his collection.

Next repair is Larry Wb's Lionel Conrail SD-70 with the flooded smoke unit and bad command PCB. I replace the smoke unit which is not much fun. Lot of taking apart for such a simple change. Before I change the command PCB I try running the loco, no smoke from the new smoke unit. I add some liquid, still no good. I open the unit and check to see if I flooded it, nope, not enough liquid. So I change the command PCB. Still doesn't work. Now I have to see if I have continuity to the smoke unit PCB. There right in front of me is the problem from day one, day one when the loco was first assembled. The smoke unit switch was wired backwards. So Larry got a some new parts for nothing. I button up the unit and call Larry. I only charge Larry for repair to a old Lionel Xfmer of $20 and put the SD-70 on warranty repair, Lionel can foot the bill, they made the mistake in the first place.

In the morning I am going to make a big commitment for more MTH product. I am putting on lay a way a three unit SPRR F-3 A-B-A diesels in "black widow" colors and THE Erie RR Triplex 2-8-8-8-2 steam engine. Al R tells me there were only 600 produced. That is against one of my eight rules for 2002, "buy less toys".

Now about Hokum Hall. Tonight was a Valentine special. I wanted to take Jodie, but she wouldn't go. She wasn't working tonight, wasn't out on a date, she was at home sitting on the bed talking on the phone. Got to have a talk with her. Yea right...............Still had a great time, not many people but the music was really good. Troy wouldn't go tonight, he said he felt funny going to a valentines special with out a date. So I sat with a very nice young lady who also couldn't get several of her friends to attend cause they felt funny with out a date too. We had a great time enjoying the music and talking.

Friday................weather Another day of noting but Sun. High today is 62, low of 34. Record high of 65 in 1996 ( I was here ) and low of 13 in 1956. Up at 7:15 and get my day started, I had stayed up until 12:30AM doing my laundry. Got to Kirkland about 8:30 and sat and read OC's book until Buck showed up.

First thing back to the Williams GS-4 and check out the smoke unit. Troy does a meter test on the unit and finds a dead element and power from the PCB is only 6V. Troy takes a LGB smoke unit and puts one diode in line and reduces the voltage to 5.3V. He installs the new unit and we test it. Everything is OK. Ten minutes later and Troy says. "Hey Bob are the head lights suppose to flash" ? NO. The top of the boiler is hot where the PCB is located. We have a problem. I call Williams and no techs are available until Monday.

I call Jodie at about 11:15 and we talk for awhile. Jodie had asked me a question ref what did I want in a woman ? I had agreed with what she said on Tues evening. She suggested I think further about my answer. Reading this mornings "Our daily bread" there was the real answer..............."You don't want a woman in your life. You want a great woman in your life". A blessed woman..........one who enjoys the approval of God: Who fears the Lord, Finds delight in the Lord, is righteous, is gracious and compassion, is generous, has a steadfast trust in God, is secure and fearless. What a list of charteristics ? These are the marks of a truly great woman. Now all I need to do is really and truly find one. So that is how Jodie and I started the morning.

In the mean time I have several customers. Charles M picks up two MTH die cast freight cars for $86. After lunch back to the GS-4. I open the tender and check for a damaged PCB and also have Troy takes a look. nothing found. I notice that two test wires hanging on the wall aretouching the test track. This may have been the problem. Put tender back together and test run the loco and then let it sit in neutral with the power on. Later I run the loco on the layout with 21 freight cars and it runs fine, except the smoke unit doesn't have enough voltage. So Troy has to make another adjustment to the smoke unit circuit.

Gary V came in and spent about and hour looking around and talking with S. Finally Gary ask me to show him a MTH Alco RS-3 UPRR diesel with proto sound 2.0. He likes is and says he will take it. Cost is only $282. My only other sale all day is for a $66 repair.

My only other repair is a Lionel-MPC GP- for Chuck C. Cleaned up the motor and greased the unit for only $35.

Left work at 5:00PM and stopped for groceries before coming home. Had a lite supper and then off to WS and another night of Hokum Hall. Repeat of "It's about time".............No two shows are a like. I met Troy, his parents, and Bert at the show. Best part was we had a quest, Jill the young lady I met last night came and sat with us. So everyone had a good time and we sure did get to enjoy some really great music. The Mighty Wurlitzer, two pianos, a Harpsacord, Glass Armonica, the Theremin and you can't forget Hokum on the crosscut saw..................

Saturday.................weather morning starts off with some clouds, but turns to a beautiful Sunnt day until 4:00PM and then the rain showed up. High today 49, low of 39. Record high of 58 in 1997 ( I ws here ), low of 13 in 1956. Up at 7:10 and get my morning started. Stop for fuel before getting to work at 9:25.

First thing put the GNRR W-1 electric and UPRR 844 on the layout. Might as well have some "BIG" power for the day of fun and games. Never touched a repair all day. Spent all day working with customers.

My first one was John M the navy tug boat deck hand. He looks at a lot of Lionel and MTH items, but only take home a Lionel NPRR North Coast Limited F-3 A-B diesel set and four Super dome cars for only $1085. I had to small sales for misc items of $58 and $52.

Sold a customer a Lionel operating ore car, Lionel collector book and his repair of a Lionel #97 coal loader for $170.

Then Tim W came in to add more MTH track and switches to his layout for a total of $179. Tim is a bachelor and his comment was I may need to expand the layout into the kitchen or living room. Next up Chuck C came in to pick up a Lionel repair and some scenery items for $61.

Don B came in and picked up his MTH GNRR W-1 electric loco for $706. I had $245 worth of MTH freight cars also, but he will pick them up next week.

My last customer was Larry Wb who is exchanging Lionel track for MTH. I made up the order and he will pick it some time next week. He did pick up a repair the Lionel SD-70 and a older Xfmer and had to buy something and picked out a K-Line aluminum tank car for total of $76.

Sunday.............weather overcast and expecting rain. Did get some very very lite rain. High today 48, low of 37. Record high of 58 in 1968, low of 23 in 1993 ( I was in Phx ) . Up at 7:15 and get my morning started. While eating breakfast I decided to go to the Hokum Hall 3:00PM matinee and called for a reservation. Left for WS about 9:00 and stopped at Target and finally found a pair of shoes. Also got a picture frame for a drawing I had made by a friend from the beauty and the beast pix. I am working on another "joke" announcement of Jodie's next 36th birthday..............

Church service was really good today. Pastor Pierre touched on a very sensitive subject.

Me, submit to him? (1 Peter 3:1-6) Why a wife should submit to her husband. Pierre had a five point out line.

1. God "commands" it (v.1) 2. Her husband "needs" it (v 2) 3. "Beauty" requires it (v 3) 4. God "values" it (v 4) 5. The BEST "women" had it (v v 5-6)

Common objectives: Yea, but what about....

1. The non-responsive husband ? 2. The disobedient husband ? 3. The abusive husband ?

Pierre opened the service by saying he was going to touch on a very sensitive subject and he got a few laughs in the process. Of course next week is the husbands turn in the barrel of life.

Jodie wasn't at services today she had to work. So I had a empty row and no smiling face to look at.

After church I headed to Ballard and stopped by the FDLR. Picked up a siren for Troy that Jim Y from Lynden, WA had left there for me. Also picked up a application for membership for the year 2002 for myself. BUT I am not sure if I am going to rejoin or not, somewhat questionable if I will............

Stopped at Office Depot and picked up some art supplies for my "Jodie" project and a ream of printer paper. Then back to WS and get ready for another fun time at Hokum Hall. When I arrive something is wrong, no people....Turned out they had cancelled the performance for a unknown reason. There goes a fun afternoon.

Drove by Jodie's and she is home, so I go to a phone booth and call her. Ask her if she would like to go for a bite to eat or could I stop by for awhile. She says Jeff is on the way over with his Son for a evening visit.. Thanks for the offer anyway. So I came home and fixed my dinner and started working on the computer.

Well Monday should be a busy day at work. All the kids are home and many government workers too. So they will have to go somewhere and many turn up at ET Trains. Just what we need lots of screaming kids and Dad's with there thumb up there.................never mind.

Will that is about all for this week.

Hope everyone is OK and remember to becareful out there.

Only 2063 plus weeks to go.

Love Dad

Hug and kiss for KATHY, Jodie and I share a lot, one more of Dad's eight wonders

2002-02-10T20:09:00.000-08:00

Hi K and R;

Monday...............weather would you believe another bright and Sunny day, all day too. High today 48, low of 33. Record high of 63 in 1993, low of 7 in 1989. Rain coming again......Up at 6:30AM I couldn't sleep any longer I had ideas to put in the computer. Left for Kirkland about 8:00 and made three stops, mail a letter, get more fuel and check out where I need to go on Thurs evening.

I start out working on a Kusan-Auburn "O" ga RDC (rail diesel car) from about 1954. They are very rare and usually have problems with the e-unit. When I open the unit I find the e-unit is in bad shape, someone else has tried to fix it. So I make a wiring diagram of the unit as is, and then find a Lionel e-unit that will fit.

UPS shows up with a few MTH goodies, including more for dear ole Dad. My five car set of SPRR Daylight passenger cars finally arrived. That gives me a total of ten coaches, well that isn't true I have another 12 cars by K-Line and Williams too. My first sale is to Roger B in Newark, CA he had ordered the five car and super dome in SPRR Daylight colors. I call Roger to tell him I have the cars and will ship today. He says I didn't order the two car sleeper and dinner right ? Yes. Would you like the two car set, I only have one extra set ? Yes. So I send him the three sets at a cost of $497.

Chuck C comes in to return a Lionel GP-20 diesel he bought on Saturday, Bill C had waited on him instead of me. Chuck is my customer. Chuck told me later the diesel was a piece of junk. I knew that............Buck jumped my sale to Chuck the second time too. So I told Chuck from now on do business with me. He said I figured I made a mistake when I opened the Lionel box and saw how cheap the loco was. I knew you wouldn't have let me buy it. You got that right. He did buy another Lionel diesel, but this time a $400 Alco RS-27 in SPRR black widow colors.

Back to the RDC. I have to make a bracket to hold the e-unit and rewire the unit. Test run before I solder all the wires together. Total cost of repair is $65.

My next repair is check out a Lionel conventional command base for Art P. He says it doesn't work. I find the unit to work just fine. I call Art and leave a message. He calls me back about 30 minutes later and I talk to him about what the unit is or is not doing. He says the unit seems confused. Every time he addresses "Train one, Eng one" it works some times and other times it won't work at all. I tell him the problem is he should just address "train one". Unit is not in command mode since he doesn't have any Command equipped loco's. He under stands what he did wrong. I tell him to say Hi to Kathy for me. He says I sure will,in fact I will give her a big hug and a kiss too. I tell him that isn't fear. Yea, he knows, but I will be glad to do it anyway. Nice guy. I send him two Lionel infra red devices for a total of $64.

My next repair is a MTH ten W steam engine that won't smoke. I open the loco and take the smoke unit apart and find nothing visible wrong. I give the PCB to Troy and ask him to see if he can find any problem with the electronics. He has the unit only a few minutes and holds it up with the unit smoking like it should. What did you find ? The two resistors that make up the heating element had a bad solder joint. I put the smoke unit back together and replace the two traction tires and grease and oil the loco for a total of $40.

Rewire a Lionel uncoupling track section for a total of $8.

Tuesday................weather some clouds and cold. Just after 9:00 the cold rains came, but didn't last all day, late afternoon, SUN, now it looks like we may get another good storm tonight. High today of 45, low of 35. Record high of 62 in 1987, low of 14 in 1989. Up at 6:45 and get my morning started. Got to Kirkland about 8:30 and sat and read OC's book until Buck opened up at 9:00.

My first repair is a 1950 Lionel F-3 A unit diesel that won't run. Soon as I remove the shell I see the main problem a broken wire from the e-unit to the motors. Remove each motor block and clean the gear box, and the motor, then grease and oil before putting them back together. The e-unit someone had "oiled" not a good ldea. Clean up the drum and put back together and then test the loco. Next the horn, these can be fun. Install a D battery and she if will work. Nope. Remove the battery and "shock" it with the battery connected to the horn. It works. File the points on the horn relay and install the battery again. This time it works when you press the horn button. Only parts I used was two spacers that were missing in the third rail roller truck assembly. Total of repair is $55..

My only sale all day was for a large repair I did several weeks ago for $307. Customer was happy and will be coming back for more stuff, he plans to start building a layout. using older Lionel.

My next loco was a rare 1956 Lionel Virginian RR blue and yellow FM Trainmaster. New cost $49.95, this loco today is worth in excellent condition $895. Remove the loco shell and test run. The e-unit skips a cycle every once in a while. I clean up both motor block and grease the gear boxes. Then I open the e-unit and I find a "green" drum, these are always a problem, any other color and they are not a problem, the green plastic shrinks. Replace the drum and then on to the horn. Do the same as I did with the F-3 to make the horn work. Replace one spring in a coupler assembly and the total cost of repair is $53.

That was my day, except to run trains and Troy and I did listen to some old radio comedy shows.

I didn't have a very good night last night when I decided to turn off the computer and TV and sit and read the Bible from 10:00PM until either around 11:30 or when I start falling a sleep. I always start off by saying my prayers before I start reading, otherwise I have a tendency to fall a sleep before I finish off the night with prayer. Jodie says I can always pray any time I want, it doesn't have to be at night, even when driving.. Any way one of my eight goals for this year is to find a significant other..........As I sat on the bed last night I realized what do I have to offer a available lady ? That is a question that scares the Hell out of me...How many men at age sixty have so little to offer as I do ? I drive a 25 year old car, live in a one room apartment, can't finance anything, can't own anything, and the only things to show for my life is a apt and a storage locker full of toy trains, books and die cast toys. I really enjoy my job, but it has no future. I have a relationship with one of "our" six children. So I prayed and cried at the same time, but then I remembered something I read in "Our daily bread" which I read every morning while eating breakfast. In part it said.............Jesus told His disciples not to worry about the necessities of life, because '"your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things" and " When we give our cares to God, Our worries will depart: He gives to us a peace of mind, That calms our anxious heart". I get up this morning and read in the "Our daily bread" "But I,ve come to understand that no matter where I live, today or in the future, God is my true home forever": and "If you're not content where you are, put your trust in God and thank Him for all He's given you"............So tonight I really wanted to talk with Jodie, when I called she couldn't talk cause she was getting ready to take a bubble bath and then relax she had a busy day. She did spend 20 minutes with me on the phone. That is what I like about this beautiful Christian lady no matter what, she can find a few minutes to spend with someone that needs a friendly ear or shoulder to cry on. So I poured my lonely heart out to her and in return she shared some things with me. I feel it is easier for woman to find a man than a man to find a woman. She says NO. She says she can't find a man, and went in to many reasons why she hasn't been successful. I comment that I can't believe she would have a hard time finding a man, she is one outstanding lady, that is a Christian, hard working, loving, kind, pretty and the list goes on and on. I even made the comment "I know someone that would love to be married to her". Me! So we discussed some of the items I brought up about where I live, where I work, and what do I have to offer a woman. She asked me what do I have to offer ? "A loving heart". She corrected me and said don't forget "You know who God is" that is most important. So we did have a short talk, but it was worth every minute. Jodie is still trying to figure out how we can go to Hokum Hall as a group. I pointed out to her I was impressed how she came up with a way to go with me and bring along two chaperones to make sure a aging 60 year old like myself will behave while out with her. She just laughed. May be I have that comment backwards ? Could the chaperones be for Jodie ? You never know how a beautiful 36 year young available lady like Jodie might react...........Man what a dreamer I am becoming... Stop laughing !

Wednesday..............weather I was woke several times during the night with rain drops making way to much noise. Been rain most all day and still a very lite rain right now. High today 50, low of 41. Record high of 64 in 1993, low of 18 in 1989. Up just before 7:00 and get my morning going. Worked on the computer for a few minutes and then off to Kirkland. Read a little in OC's book before Buck showed up at 9:00.

My first repair I had started before I left work last night. A Lionel 1665 0-4-0 steam switch engine and bell ringing tender. I took my time and spent all day working on it. I stripped the tender down to the frame and one truck assembly. Rewired the third rail roller, pick up shoe for the electro coupler and rear head light. Replaced the two male connectors for the ground plug and loco front coupler.

S has me put a MTH Amtrak NW F59PH diesel and four superliner coaches on display, just like the one I sold Al R two weeks ago ($695). I also put a MTH Milw RR Bipolar electric loco and five streamliner cars on display too ($995). Then I put two MTH EMD GP-38-2 diesels in the display case, one Santa Fe and the other C&NWRR ($389).

My first sale is to GT for a MTH Premier C&ORR coil car for $48.

Art P calls and has questions about the Lionel infra-red device I sent him on Monday. Can he use one to activate his Lionel light house fog horn ? Yes and we discuss how to wire it up. "Give Kathy and hug and a kiss for me, Art". Art says he doesn't need to call me to do that, in fact he says I just do it anytime I want.....

Amtrak Harry comes in with a MTH/Weaver EMD SD-40 that won't run. Soon as I start it I find the problem a dead battery. The unit has lost it's program too. So I call QSI electronics in Portland, OR and they tell me to call the after market tech in Flagstaff, AZ. He says if I send him the top PCB he can fix it for only $15. Five minutes later he calls me back and says I need to change out the top PCB with another on if it doesn't run, then I need to send him the entire chassis and the cost will be $40. Will find out in the morning....

My only other sale all day was for MTH RailKing GNRR box car for $38.

The rest of the day I work on the 0-4-0 loco. Down to a bare boiler and take the motor block all apart. Clean up the e-unit, replace the third rail slider shoes and oil and grease the assembly before putting everything back together. Put the boiler shell back on the motor block and then replace the broken head light lens. Last project is to replace a broken marker light. I have to file a groove in the boiler front to "fit" the marker light. Total of repair is $75.

That was my day.

Thursday............home at 9:30PM. weather.........."The bluest skies are in Seattle, when it isn't raining". Up at 6:45 and get my morning going. Left for Kirkland a little after 8:00. Sat and read OC"s book until 9:00. Didn't start work until 9:30. Called Jodie, but she couldn't talk she was going out the door to get guardianship of Uncle John. Told her my knees were knocking, but that was normal ref tonight.

My first job is find out why the MTH/Weaver SD-40 won't run. I call QSI support back and tell him I don't have a single PCB to replace the one in the unit. I have only a double PCB. He says send the entire chassis and he will figure out the problem.

My next repair is a cheap, cheap Lionel-MPC SW-12 switcher. Did I mention it was CHEAP ? The unit under test runs real slooooow. Take the unit apart and test the DC can motor alone. It starts smoking big time.

My first sale of the day is for a complete Lionel command upgrade for a F-3 diesel set and a "combo" C&NWRR GP-9 and command base for a total sale of $601.

Caddy S comes in with a problem on a Lionel operating milk car. Just a broken wire. He does buy a uncoupling track, Classic Toy train magazine and extra milk cans for $35. Three hours later he is back in the store and buys a MTH operating passenger station, the people disappear and extra people for $76.

Gary V came in looking at smaller Lionel steam engines. I show him the Bantum Hudson and then suggest he look at a Lionel "RailKing" size Hudson I had on the layout and I can let him have it for a good price. Regularly $300 for only $240. He decides to wait and order a new engine coming out from Lionel.

Man comes in with his three year old Son and wants to buy a cheap steam engine, because right now he is letting him run his 1954 Lionel WPRR F-3 A-A diesel set which is worth about $2000. He goes home with a $100 cheap Lionel....

Rich C the airline pilot from Janesville, WI came in and Troy had loaded the AF display case and before Rich left he tried to unload it. He picked out fourteen items including freight cars and operating accessories for a total of $1240 worth which he put on lay a way.

My last sale was to Stan W for a early buy order on a MTH GP-38-2 Santa Fe diesel at $428. Stan is a black man and he told me growing up in Chicago as a kid, his Father kept him off the streets and out of trouble buy getting him interested in Lionel trains. He said he really enjoyed building train layouts as a kid and his was 12 x 20 ft and what he learned about electricity, as a adult he became a electrical engineer.

Back to the cheap diesel I try a new can motor, but by the time I pull all the drive wheels to change it out and put it back together the gears are to worn and I end up replacing the entire truck assembly. I still have to find a way to mount the electronic e-unit and a weight. Both were floating inside the unit when I took the shell off. By Friday the total of the repair will be more than the unit cost new..................

Left work at 6:00 and walked over to the Kirkland Roaster in the rain and had my "birthday" dinner. Who should walk in just before I was leaving was S and B1. From there I went to "over 40" singles class at the Over lake Christian Church in Redmond. Jodie had suggested the idea and was talking about meeting me there in the future, but I don't think that will happen. The group was very small and all the "singles" activities were in the Maple Valley area which is way southeast of Seattle.

So that was my day and Friday I have a early appointment in WS and need to get to bed.

Friday............weather is overcast, but no rain. Later in the day we get lots of Sun.....I am up at 6:00AM and get my morning started. 7:50 I am on my way to WS and for the first time since 1971 I go see a dentist. I get good news, bad news, but no terrible news. I am going to have my two front teeth filled (The pix of Jodie and me taken on 12/31/00 that hangs on the wall made me realize I need some dental work.) In three weeks I am having three molars on the right side removed. Then at a later date the front teeth filled. Dentist cleaned part of my teeth today. Good news is I don't have any cavities. Got to look good for that future "Mrs Wright". Right ?

Got to work at 11:00AM, stopped at Jodie's but she was taking a shower so I couldn't wait. Jodie gave me the name of her dentist, a really nice older gentleman. When he found out I knew Jodie all he talked about was Jodie and Carol A.

Most of the day I worked on repairs. The cheap Lionel switcher I had to find a way to remount the PCB. Lionel had mounted it on top of a steel bar (for weight) using very cheap double back foam. I drilled two holes in the frame and secured the bar to the frame with nylon tie wraps and then secured the PCB to the bar with heavy double back tape and more tie wraps. Total of repair was $71. Unit only cost about $35 new in 1985. The loco runs in a display in a hardware store in Oregon.

While I was looking for the next repair a lady came in saying she had a repair to pick up. Turned out Bert had written it up saying it would be ready in two weeks, he forgot about it. So I worked the repair. Another cheap Lionel RS-3 diesel that the Grandson dropped on the floor. At first if looked like all I would have to do is put two "blades" back in the motor truck frame assembly. When I tried pressing in the second one, it wouldn't stay, the frame was broken from the impact. We have the part, except it is upstairs in one of twelve boxes. Take my lunch break first. After lunch up stairs to find the part. Boy did I luck out, found it after only three boxes. Took the motor block apart and replaced the bad part. Total of repair is $29.

I had two sales all day, both for repairs. $138 and $71.

My last repair was to finish the Lionel 2350 EPA electric. All I had to do was put on the belly pan / battery holder. The old belly pan was metal, the new one is plastic and that creates a problem for grounding the battery. So I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get the horn relay and the belly pan installed and grounded. I didn't make it.

Saturday.................weather would you believe another Sunny day. Talking about lots of rain Sunday. High today 53, low of 36. Record high of 62 in 1968, low of 26 in 1989. Up at a little after 7:00 and take my time and get my day started. Left for Kirkland about 8:30 and stop for fuel before showing up at work at 9:30.

First thing call Jodie and when she answers the phone before she can say anything I tell her I owe her a apology for not calling before I stopped by on Friday morning. She say not a problem, everything is OK. Tell her about what the dentist had to say and that I was happy with the way he took care of me. Talked to her for about ten minutes or longer. The dentist couldn't have enough nice things to say about Jodie and Carol A. Carol A was the dentist's neighbor for many years. Talked to her about Thurs evening and the Maple Valley singles event on Saturday's too. We both agreed it was to far away. Saying good by I mentioned again "Sorry about Friday morning". Jodie said all is for given what are friends for. Jodie truly is one unique lady...........

Very tiring day..........`On my feet all day selling trains. Did open up a MTH UPRR gas turbine that was not smoking from the front unit, it has two. What I found was the front unit needs to be primed by blowing into it. Which isn't easy the way it is built. We ran the turbine on the layout for a good part of the day. We also ran the new "I C Control" unit that is now built by Lionel and will operate a Lionel loco in command and a MTH conventional with "no problems". Boy is that a great idea. Three years ago I C Controls went to Lionel and wanted to know if they would like to buy "there" system. NO get out of our office............Then there was a change of heart and today they own the company. Good thing cause Lionel needs the additional controls to make there own loco's run better.

My first sale was to Tom W for $343 worth of MTH track, switches and freight cars. Gary H for $181 worth of Lionel accessories and Thomas the tank engine goodies. Gary Brush for $804 worth of Lionel rocket launcher, D&RGWRR B unit with sound and a AF Seaboard coal loader. $292 for a MTH Blue Comet starter set with extra track. I made three sales that I forgot what for, but I do know how much, $55, $702 and $171. Sold another MTH starter set a CSX diesel set with Lionel track and extra accessories for $280. Then I sold a Grandmother a MTH UPRR 2-8-0 steam freight set with extra track and two extra freight cars for $501. for her six year old Grandson. Don B got three MTH freight cars for $110. Larry Wb and Suzy came in and Larry had to spend money so I sold him three UPRR freight cars, covered hopper, flat car with load, 50 ton hopper and operating water tank for $195. There may have been more, but I was to busy to remember or write it down.

Sunday................weather morning started off with Sun and high clouds. After church I came home and headed to Everett and return some boxes to my storage locker. Taking advantage of the Sun. By the time I got to Shoreline, it was starting to rain. Got to Everett before the rain, but not for long. Rain the rest of the day. High today 49, low of 37. Record high of 65 in 1963, low of 24 in 1982. Up at 7:15 and get my morning started. Didn't get to WS until after 10:00AM. Met Jodie, Uncle John and the boys at church. After church Jodie was in a hurry she had a chance to go for a ride in a helicopter, if the weather would stay clear. So we hugged and she was off on her next big adventure, may be.

Returning from Everett I did stop and see what was new with Al R. Al was running his K-Line EMD Milw RR F-7 A-B-A diesel set and a string of freight cars. The horn kept sounding above 8 volts and would shut down the Xfmer from a over load. I suggested he call K-Line and request a new power supply and rail sounds PCB since the unit has a Lionel electronic package. More wonders of Lionel products.

From Al's I came home and read and relaxed other than I fixed a good supper.

9:00PM I just got off the phone to Jodie, like you wouldn't have guessed that..............She didn't get to go for the helicopter ride today, cause of rain, what else ? We both got on our "soap box" tonight. We had a very nice talk about relationships. Jodie has been going out with two different young men, both are as much younger than her, as I am older than she is to me. So we had a long discussion about age verses age...........She likes the fact they are very active people, but then again she feels at times to old for them and other times "she has already done that" . I told her now you know how I feel about her, she being to young for me, but on the other hand she brings the young out in me. "Oh God if only I could have the choice of only one woman". Never mind ! She says she feels just "average".. I disagreed on that comment and went into a ten minute reason(s) of why she is not "average". Once again I told her I have never met a lady with her "love, education, personality, energy, excitement, friendliness, and the love of and for God". I mentioned again about running her thru the copy machine. She just laughed and reminded me I wouldn't be getting that good a deal. "Let me be the judge of whether I got a good deal" I 'm wearing the rose colored glasses this time..............I ask her if she had any other ideas where I could met a available lady ? She suggested I try volunteering for a local group, such as the Medic one program. That is where she met one of the men, the other at Marines toys for tots. She couldn't talk long when I called her, but we ended up talking for about 45 minutes anyway. That's what I love about her she really does care about "other" people. Jodie wants a partner as much as I do. She fears a man would have a hard time becoming part of her life cause she has two kids, a nice house, and most of all she is very independent. I pointed out to her independent is most important. Something I tried to get Joyce to understand. She wanted to be dependent instead. It doesn't work.........I gave her my feelings if Jodie and I were a item since she is such and active person, always on the go. Then went into comments about what I read in the "Our daily bread" from this morning. "The key to a good relationship is that two become one". God instructs "After instructing wives to submit to their husbands, and husbands to show their wives understanding and honor" "Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing". How can two become one ? "Only through kindness and love; never by selfishness and retaliation. In the mystery of marriage, God allows each partner to be a unique melody. And in concert together, they become a beautiful harmony is his grand song". Of course I had to give her a great example of a wonderful marriage ref R and K G... She agreed with me on that comment. I also told Jodie I would love to have the one chance to have a truly happy marriage that God would not only be invited to the wedding, but be part of our married life too. I've had almost 30 years of how a marriage(s) shouldn't work. Our chances of going to Hokum Hall this month may be out, due to her work schedule. So we will have to plan again for the month of March. OK I will get off my soap box for this week................

Hope everyone is OK and remember becareful out there.....................Only 2064 plus weeks to go.

Love Dad