The Best Laid Plans ….

It’s been about five years since I posted here on my blog. My health continues to deteriorate and I find that I am a few short months from turning 70! Let me tell you, getting old SUX! I have much to do to update the blog, not the least of which is to unpack many AtlasO reefers, photograph them, and add them to my reefer page. Then I need to film them in action. I think that I may use the Allegheny to pull that lengthy train, perhaps with a Big Boy as a pusher. Problem is, the layout is in the basement and I now have trouble going up and down stairs — I think my right knee has just about worn out. Perhaps one of these days.

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YouTube Videos

I really haven’t paid much attention to YouTube or to my train hobby, to be honest. Health issues and changing interests are the main culprits. However I wanted to share one small thing. Eight-and-a-half years ago I was proud that my videos on YouTube had amassed a total of 6.5 million views. For the first time in forever I took a look this evening and found that they have now amassed over 10 million views. That’s a milestone worth mentioning.

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Internet Speed That Is A Dream!

If you had told me just a few short years ago that Optimum Online would bring fiber into my house and give me speeds like this, I would have laughed at you. I am no longer laughing. This is, in a word, amazing!

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Change to Site

I know, I know, I haven't updated things in just about forever.  My interests seem to have changed, and it just doesn't seem that important to me any more.  However, I have made a change to the site.  The old Guest Book (that hasn't had an entry made in years) fell prey to russian spammers and over the last few weeks I've had to delete over a hundred bogus entries.  Rather than bother from now on, I've simply deleted the Guest Book.  Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.

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A New Web Page!

For the first time in just about forever, I've added a new page to the web site.  With the addition of my new O-Gauge Tinplate Toy Train set (see below) to my collection, I realized that, for those interested in Tinplate, there was no one place on my web site to see all of my Tinplate trains.  Rather, they were scattered throughout the web site on the various appropriate pages.  To correct that, I've created a new Tinplate Toy Trains page that shows all of my Tinplate trains, be they O-Gauge or Standard Gauge.  It's very much a work in progress, and I will continue to add to it, but for now it's far enough along that I feel comfortable in sharing it.

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Video of New Lionel #256 Tinplate Train Set

Well how do you like that!  I posted the video to YouTube and then forgot to put it here!  Oops!  That omission is now corrected.  Enjoy!  ðŸ™‚

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Another New Toy!

This one is definitely not my fault!  Last weekend, my friend Bob and I went to the World's Greatest Hobby show held here in Edison.  We had a chance to catch up with friends we haven't seen for years, among them Andy Edleman and Rich Foster from MTH.  On display at the MTH booth was a brand new O-Gauge tinplate set (Lionel tinplate is manufactured by MTH).  Now, as you can tell from reading this blog or perusing my web site, it's Standard Gauge tinplate that interests me most, not O-Gauge tinplate, though I do have two O-Gauge tinplate sets (one is the American Legacy tinplate set and the other is the Baby Blue Comet set).  This set is based on the old Lionel #256 set from the 1920's and it was absolutely stunning — a boxcab electric locomotive with five matching color Great Northern passenger cars, of a type that I do not already have.  Well, we can blame this on on Andy, and I now have the full set.  Here are some photos; a video will follow.  In the first photo, you have a nice broadside view of the locomotive.

Lionel tinplate 256 locomotive

The second photo shows the face of the locomotive.

Lionel tinplate 256 locomotive

The third photo shows the baggage car.  All of the passenger cars are from the 700 series and are the largest O-Gauge tinplate cars that I now have.

Lionel tinplate 713 baggage car

The next photo shows the coach car.  There are three of them in the complete set.

Lionel tinplate 710 coach car

The next photo shows the observation car with the open platform at the back.

Lionel tinplate 712 observation car

The final photo is a view of the back of the observation car.

Lionel tinplate 712 observation car

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New Compound Articulated Steam Locomotive

As promised, here are a few photos of the new MTH Premier PRR HH1 (Y-3) steam locomotive shown in the video below.  More photos are available on the 2-8-8-2 Articulated Steam Locomotive page of my web site.

MTH Premier PRR HH1

MTH Premier PRR HH1

MTH Premier PRR HH1

MTH Premier PRR HH1

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A New Video – MTH Premier PRR HH1 2-8-8-2 Steam Locomotive

After a thoroughly lousy winter (that makes two in a row and this one isn't over yet), I was happy that MTH finally brought out a new O-Gauge toy that I wanted.  They reissued the Premier-line scale model of the PRR HH1, a 2-8-8-2 articulated locomotive, the first time they've done so in twenty years!  The HH1 was a Y-3 purchased from the Norfolk and Western to fill the need for power during World War II and the PRR bought six of them.  Needless to say, I ordered it and picked it up from my dealer at a train show yesterday.  It is a superb model!  I have yet to set up for photography but when I do, I will share some photos.  I did, however, shoot a hi-def video of the locomotive in action, pulling a long string of the most recent AtlasO reefers, which I have never before shown in a video.  Shooting the video proved to be quite an adventure as my Vixia, unused for so long, had lost all its settings and I had to rediscover what settings I needed to shoot videos the way I like to.  What you're about to see is actually the fourth shoot; the first three all had problems.  I think I finally got the settings right so, here then is the video.

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This n’ That

The list of Atlas O reefers is as up-to-date as I can make it with all currently available information included.  The photo catalog also has all of the cars released to date.

I had the cataract in my right eye removed last month and it's a real pleasure to be able to see clearly again with both eyes!

I'm a person of very strong beliefs that are very strongly held so it's exceedingly rare that I will discuss politics except with close friends.  That being said however, it's said that this old adage originated with Abraham Lincoln (and if it didn't, it should have): "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt."  Some politicians and talking heads really need to consider that before they go before the cameras!

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Atlas O Reefer Update

I've updated the AtlasO Reefer Master List and the photo catalog with all of the reefers that have come out in 2014.  They issued quite a few very attractive reefers this year.

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It’s Been One Hell of a Year!

I've received emails asking why I've mostly left my online presences.  Where do I start?  For a while now, I've noticed that my vision has been degrading.  Magnifying glasses began popping up all over the house so that I could read books and magazines as it was all blurred without them.  I got a 27" monitor to try to make it easier to use the computer and I still wound up sometimes using a magnifying glass to read the screen.  My ophthalmologist finally broke the bad news to me that I had a cataract in my left eye and it was getting worse.  He recommended a top-flight cataract surgeon in NYC (Park Ave no less).  To make a long story short, last week I had the surgery to remove the old clouded, yellowed lens and replace it with a new artificial lens.  I can now see clearly out of my left eye for the first time in a long while and can once again read without the magnifying glasses.  Next week I'll be fitted for new glasses to both work with the computer and for distance.  There being a downside for every upside, I now know that my right eye is also degrading since everything appears to be yellowing and blurry compared to the now-fixed left eye, so in six months or so I will have to undergo the same procedure for my right eye.  At least I know, based on the left eye, that it's nothing to be feared and that it will probably turn out as well as this surgery.

As if that wasn't enough, earlier this month, I was returning home from the pharmacy, the traffic light turned green, I proceeded across the intersection and, without warning, a Ford Explorer ran the red light (she didn't even try to stop and was clearly paying attention to anything but her driving) and T-boned my Envoy, caving in the entire passenger side.  Fortunately, I had no passengers and just as fortunately I was driving an Envoy which kept me safe — by sacrificing itself.  It was declared a total loss and I was faced with finding a new vehicle much sooner than I had intended.  After careful consideration, I opted for a 2014 Cadillac SRX, returning to Cadillac for the first time since my 1990 Coupe de Ville.  It's a magnificent vehicle but there is a steep learning curve due to the amount of technology built into it.  ::sigh::  And people wonder where I've disappeared to.  Now you know!

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