âIâd know him anywhere, Officer, thatâs the man who stole my purseâ!
Ken, thanks for posting your videos of the Ridge Live Steamers Winter Meet. It was great for you to join us at our Winter home. Things are winding down and temperatures are warming at home. Yesterday, we pulled 43 cars at Ridge. This is about maximum for the grade in front of Richâs house. All kinds of video on Youtube. Lots of fun!
I had a ball, Ric. Thanks for the invite. It was a pleasure meeting your mentor, Mr. Wattekamp, and sharing war stories with him. Not to mention what all it takes to run a steam engine. Iâve got 1 more video to post. Brokeâem down to 10 -15 minutes.
Had a nice day here yesterday, too.
Left Dundee about 2 AM, got home around 6.
I sure donât miss that driveâŚ(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
7 March, 2021 - Things are beginning to wind down for the Winter of 2020 - 2021. Roger and Susie Caiazza begin their trek back home to Finger Lakes/ Syracuse today. Lots of things are documented very well, because of Roger really learning how to use his GoPro camera and perfecting his posting on Youtube. Of course, Kenâs documentation of his week here has created a lot of exposure for the Ridge Live Steamers and our Winter Adventures. Bob Wattecamp and I have about 2 more runs of the H-10. Most of my projects for the Winter are done and I was able to get the Tram out on the track last Thursday for the first time on the new chassis and I have to consider it a success. More about that in another posting. We have about one more week here and then head up to Cedar Key for a week there and a couple of days at Disney with our daughters family and then heading back to Carlyle. Goal is to be there by April first or so.
2 April, 2021 - We are back at our home base in Carlyle. We arrived on the 31 of March and got our first Covid shot on April 1st. All is well as we plan the Summerâs adventures. Next long trip is to Kenâs for the 2021 KOPS. Local Operations will fill the void until then. Lots on the ToDo list and âLifeâ gives us a lot as we hang on to this spinning rock.
28 June, 2021 - Finger Lakes Live Steamers, Marengo, New York
Wow! Time does fly. Since April, we made it to Kenâs KOPS1-2021, via Grand Rapids, Michigan, because the rear slide mechanism on the camper shot cr$ps. It is now unexpandable, but usable as we await parts. We were back home for the May Bluestone Southern Ops, that was sabotaged by our daughter in law, because she wanted us to go to our Granddaughterâs barrel race ( thatâs the story AndyC is promoting). Up to the Michigan Central in Metamora, Michigan for the Memeorial Day Weekend OPs. Back to Southern Illinois, yes we do not want to be associated with that other part of Illinois that has the Chicago gunfights, for the Bluestone Southernâs June Ops. And yes, our daughter in law approved AndyC. holding the June Ops Session. While home we attended a number of HO OP Sessions on Mark Godwinâs St. Louis and Ohio River layout. AndyC was given a prescription to attend.
The past week found us back on the Michigan Central for a work session and some fun running. It rained quite a bit, but lots of ties were replaced. Some of these ties on this 7.5 inch, 1-1/2 inch railroad have been on the ground for 30 years. As of last night we are back in the northern part of New York, between Rochester and Syracuse on the FLLS property (funny, they donât claim New York City, like we donât claim Chicago). Our Canadian Maritime Trip for August has been cancelled for the second year. We are now trying for a 2022 Canadian Maritime trip and 2022 is Janâs and my 50th Anniversary of her putting up with me. So that may work out quite well.
The rear $lide i$ $till broke and we are $till awaiting part$. We are trying to make certain thi$ does not impact the $ummerâ$ travel$. Headed down to KOPS2-2021 and then up to Maine to ride some 2 foot stuff, plus Trolleys. There might be a few more railroads to visit, if we are lucky and Jan tolerates my itinerary.
We are very blessed to have the friends, that tolerates us, and the abilities to visit these railroads. Life is Good! Smooth Sailing until we have a chance to update this burp and you have enough interest to read about our misadventures. Hope to see you along the tracks.
You and Jan are having too much fun! Following the Camp Villages train show next week Jane and I are off on our 50th anniversary trip one year late. We hope to make a short stop at the Michigan Central with Fred Gandolfi on our way to Shay Days in Harbor Springs. Please give my best to my friends at Finger Lakes. Upstate is a whole different world, the other NY!
9 July, 2021 - Back at Lancaster/New Holland, PA KOA for the KOPS2-2021. We left Finger Lakes Live Steamers yesterday morning and drove down I-81 with really not seeing much of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Elsa. Couple of little spits of rain, but nothing major. Any remnants came through overnight and it has moved off to the north east. Beautiful Summer day overlooking this beautiful southern Pennsylvania valley. There is also a âquilt supply fixâ element to these travels to Amish Country.
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Have fun at Kenâs. Sorry to miss it, but having plenty of fun here in the Rockies (https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
14 July, 2021 - Grand Rapids, Michigan
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Weâd like to play all the time, but sometimes maintenance has to be attended to. We have been traveling in a downsized RV, since Motherâs Day Weekend. The reason was a rear slide that decided to not function correctly. So MH2GO (Motor Homes 2 Go) jury rigged us a way to keep using the RV, without the rear slide functioning, while parts were back ordered because of Covid. Parts were in and so, after Kenâs, we headed west.
Hope to get us back to 100%, shortly. After 2 months in a restricted but usable area, it will feel like we have a bigger unit. Its all part of the adventure. It just comes down to mind over matter. If you donât mind, it really doesnât matter. Hope to be headed back to the Finger Lakes Live Steamers in a couple of days.
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The Adventure continues.(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Hey Ric. Your rig has the Cummins engine if I recall. Do you have DEF on your rig? Has the DEF sensor issue affected you?
19 July, 2021 - Finger Lakes Live Steamers - We got here on Friday, after an extra day was required to get our rear slide working again. The guys at MH2GO are great and keep us going down the road. Saturday was a very rainy day, but a Facebook coordinated public run day and we still had 30 visitorâs brave the weather for a ride. Sunday, was much nicer weather and an NMRA Divisional Picnic. It was a lot of fun. Ken and Gary were here and we operated Sunday on the #1 Gauge layout. We had a good day, but it was a busy weekend.
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Bob, yes our 2016 Seneca has a Cummins 6 cylinder 340 HP engine and yes, we use DEF. We have bought almost exclusively from Loveâs Truck Stops, because of the high volume of DEF and fuel that they go through in a day. Knock on wood, at 88,000 miles, we have not experienced any problems.
Bob McCown said:
Hey Ric. Your rig has the Cummins engine if I recall. Do you have DEF on your rig? Has the DEF sensor issue affected you?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_exhaust_fluid
Only saying Cumberland County, Pa air quality sucks for an emission testing state âŚnever mind