The Hobo Camp Fire Is going well #VIII.. Stop In!!!
I had a very good hour in the train room. I am still getting LPB's ready to display. I have some areas that are safe to populate. 
I was looking in my many drawers of parts and discovered some hand rails and grabs for my Proto C line locomotives that I thought had gotten thrown away when I unpacked things. 
I was glad to find them because they will give me a pattern to make metal ones when I get to it. 
Have  a grand evening everyone.
Charlie
Thanks for all your kind comments.  Yes, Big Blue is a labor of love just as The Gauge was.
It's been said that a house is just a building, what makes a home is the people that reside there.

       Big Blue is all of us, whether we regularly participate or not.  Don & I decided almost 11 years ago in December, 2008 to keep this popcorn stand/coffee pot/hobo's camp running for All our enjoyment.  It's going great so far.  We are glad to have a place to exchange information, post pictures and even inspire new ideas with what we all post. I know I have gotten a lot of ideas from here no matter what the scale or gauge.

       Don & I do not hold anyone accountable for our decisions. We answer to no one but ourselves and the membership here and that's the way we wish to keep it.  No ads - No Sponsors!  We listen to any and all suggestions and we have asked for help when we needed it, in both knowledge and financial matters.

       We have sustained this model railroad forum with a tremendous amount of help from Don's son P.J.. Without him we would not be where we are today software and security wise.  With all our volunteering and our Volunteer Moderators that donate our time, there are things that we must pay real cash money for.  For example, all this information, posts, pics, videos, our member list all exist on a few gigs of memory in a server.  That, must be paid for Every Year.  The domain name bigbluetrains.com has to be renewed - that takes some more money.

       That is why, once in a while,  we ask for help.  Just a bit, not much.  That is also why we hold these auctions, so that we are able to give someone a tangible item in exchange for their generous donation.  

       I have just renewed my subscription to Trains Magazine.  A few months ago I renewed my subscription to Garden Railway Magazine.  Both are about $30.00 a year.  Thats $2.00 to $3.00 a month per issue.   As DoctorWayne commented, you can get all kinds of information and post any news about your life, trains, layouts, pictures and also interact with other members here.  Donating one Dollar just once is truly a bargain compared to a magazine that costs so much more.

       Again, you don't have to feel obligated to donate.  Just remember that even if you are only here once in a while, for one single donation, less than the cost of a cup of coffee or other beverage, you can help Don & I keep this train on the tracks.

       It's not that costly, but we appreciate the idea that we should not have to shoulder the entire cost, every year.
~~ Mikey KB3VBR (Admin)
~~ NARA Member # 75    
~~ Baldwin Eddystone Unofficial Website

~~ I wonder what that would look like in 1:20.3???
Greetings, gang.

Clear and 33 headed for sunny and 62 with reasonable winds today.

Quiet day yesterday. A friend came for a visit and will be leaving again today. Tomorrow I head to Nebraska for the annual train show/visit with several friends and relatives. Always a fun trip. Also need to do some laundry before I leave.

All stay safe.

Tom

edit to add: Gas prices jumped 19¢ this week - up to $2.54 yesterday when I was out and about.
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
Thank you Wayne and Charlie for putting what we do here in prospective. I also thank you and others for your continuing support and activity. We all know the story, Mikey and I started these forums way back when our old "Big Blue", (the Gauge), got sucked up with other modeling forums, then sold to a giant organization that was in it strictly for the profit. We changed the name ten years ago when we changed servers and thought we should just pick up on our old nickname. Anyway, we made a commitment not to allow commercial ads or take on a sponsor so that we have no allegiance to anyone but our members and staff. We said in the beginning that we would keep Big Blue going even if we had to dig into our own pockets and we meant it.

I think Mikey just said what needs to be said, when we need help, we ask, and we’re to that point right now. Our server and domain name renewal will be upon us in a few months, we want to make sure we’re able to handle that commitment when it becomes due. Each time we have to renew, we find either the cost has gone up (no more “introductory offers”), and/or we have to move to a different server scheme. Neither of us are in a position of wealth, but we want to keep Big Blue going, so we do what we need to. We both get occasional offers to sell Big Blue (the latest appears to be from someone that registered this morning), and we just ignore or reject those offers. Why, well we want Big Blue to be run by modelers that understand why our members are here, and we don’t want to drive them away with paid or sponsored ads or a bunch of new draconian rules; just like what happened with the original Gauge. BTW, that’s still the way they run things there.

Like Mikey, Wayne and Charlie said, we don’t want to pressure anyone into bidding on something they don’t want, can’t use or can’t afford or to donate beyond what they can afford. We’re family here and we don’t do that. If you can afford to send us a little something once in a while, fine, if not, we understand and won’t stop running Big Blue because of that. You can’t blame us though for trying to drum up support and interest in our train forums.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Ahh yes, this is my usual, "good morning all", post. I had a chance at doing some rail-fanning yesterday, but  didn't know it until it was too late. Big Boy came steaming though Arizona. No one said anything in the papers or on TV, yet there were cameras in Casa Grande to capture it and a bunch of rail fans hanging over a bridge. They never said what time that was, but they did say it would be parked all day in Tucson. But again, they never said where. Had I know, I would have been there. Sometimes I wonder about the news media, they're so involved with exposing things and people, that they miss out on spreading the good news....Like, "hey, the Big Boy will by running though.... at ......" nope, and I missed the opportunity...
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
On the run.  Tom sent chilly air last night.  Meeting until this evening.  Enjoy.  Thanks for the forum.  Will donate.
TCA 05-58541   American Legion  NRA  Retired Mayor of Rolesville NC
Greetings, gang.

Clear and 46 this morning and where I'm headed it's supposed to be in the mid 70s but with winds up to 45 mph. Not gonna be my easiest trip weather-wise. Fighting head winds and cross winds is never fun. Add in some low humidity and there could be some red flag warnings posted by later today.

Headed to Nebraska for the annual Beatrice Area Railroad Enthusiasts (B.A.R.E.) train show. Always a fun weekend. On the way home on Monday I'll be stopping in Omaha to visit my granddaughter and her family. After that I'll visit with a friend from high school and his wife for a while before heading home. Won't be home until sometime Monday evening. Participation here may be spotty at best.

All stay safe.

Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
Good morning everyone, we are looking forward to a decent cool-down. Wednesday was suppose to be 95, it hit 98. Yesterday was still in the mid-90's. Today should be close to ten degrees cooler, in the mid-80's. So far the A/C hasn't kicked in so maybe it's gunna happen...

Got some work done on my layout yesterday, just a bit of ballasting and rearranging structures. Even have added a few shelves and storage bins to put some order to my train room. I hate having to go through everything to not find what I know I have somewhere...
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
Meetings over.  Got camos on.  loading truck and gone east.  Turned on heat this AM.  Suppose to warm up.


Later.
TCA 05-58541   American Legion  NRA  Retired Mayor of Rolesville NC
Hello Blue
Sun and maybe 55 today.
Did some grocery shopping this morning.
Watching for post from the Yorkies.
S.J.
TCA.....Detroit3Railers.....Glancy modular layout(Detroit historical Society)
Good morning all, slept a bit late this morning. Not sure how my body knows that it's Saturday and we're not going out for breakfast or have anything else on our schedule, but apparently it does.

Yesterday was just great, everywhere we went, people commented about how nice it was. We were not suppose to get out of the mid-80's and I believe we didn't. Still, our A/C kicked in a few times and it felt chilly inside when it did.

Seeing a lot more TV ads for toys, it won't be long before we start seeing Chia Pets and those "Clap on-Clap off" commercials. Walmart is stocked up on frozen turkeys and their outdoor section is now a Christmas wonderland. Can't wait to start getting those bucks flowing....
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
well another week has slid by and still trying to get ahead of all my projects but time just seems to fly by ( momma said life is like a roll of toilet paper it go's faster toward the end ) between model rr , fly tying and putting things on the bay , days just don't seem to have enough waking time.
Greetings, gang.

Clear and 46 in southeast Nebraska this morning. High for today is supposed to be in the mid 60s.

Had a pretty good turnout at the train show yesterday. The weather was beautiful with clear skies and temps in the upper 60s. More of the same for today. The hard part will come late this afternoon when the show is over. Tearing down and loading about 60 tables and cleaning up the auditorium. Tomorrow I'll head for Omaha in the morning and mid to late afternoon you can find me in my car headed for home.

Frank - happy hunting

All stay safe.

Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
Slept late.  Slept good at camper so don't know why so tired last night.  Did walk thousands of steps yesterday in the woods.  Put up new trail cameras and etc.  My "deep woods" stand is 1/2 mile in and 1/2 mile back out which adds up.  "Barn" stand is the same.  Went to it's feeder too which is farther.  Got as pet spike and a bunch of does.  No biggies yet. 

Rained last night and this AM.

Wifey wants to run errands.  62 degrees and 2" of rain.

Have a great week ahead.
TCA 05-58541   American Legion  NRA  Retired Mayor of Rolesville NC
Good morning all, just a bit chilly this morning, van thermometer showed 55, almost jacket weather. Top temps show from 85 to 89 all week, maybe 78 a week from tomorrow. Who can tell that far ahead has to have some sort of inside connection to Mother Nature.

Got rid of the weeds, two men, two hours, but they're all gone. Don't know if I beat the HOA cruiser, but so far, no violation letter.

Jim, I like mama's analogy, time and life does go faster as you get older, ask one who knows.....
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD


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