Running Bear's Coffee Shop August 2018


Evening all,

Got my power issue solved pretty painlessly! Electricians got here around 8:30. They probed around the panel in the basement for a few minutes, then went outside to the meter, and deemed the problem was at the pole on the street. They called Com-Ed and they were here in about 20 minutes. If I would of called the power company, I would still be waiting. guess they have better phone numbers. All they charged me was the service call fee. Guess I can run trains tonight.

Have a great night,
 
Evening All,

I forgot to post earliero_O. I decided to stay inside today and did a few chores. I think I messed up my electrolytes yesterday because last night I had at least 5 leg muscle cramps which really messed up my sleep. Today I have been drinking Gatorade so hopefully no cramps tonight. I talked to Phil yesterday and he's doing OK but having issues with his internet provider.

Probably going to see MEG tomorrow with son, daughter and grand kids.

Garry- Congrats on your extra 10 years and I'm sorry to hear about your friend Dan.

Karl- Remember you have to keep the GF happy! I hope you're feeling better and nice layout picture.

Migalyto- It's good that the fix was easy.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Good evening gang
The antibiotics are working, so I went back to w*rk today, was a kinda boring day. Did manage to cut the grass tonight, since the weatherguessers are calling for rain again this weekend. :( Of course that means I'll be laying flooring in the little bedroom or painting, not doing this!
golfer.jpg

Yeah, I was supposed to be helping GF's 14 year old son,, but giving instruction is one of my weaker points. I'd rather teach by example, so I wound up smacking a bucket myself.
It's not that I mind home improvement stuff, but when I've got 2 folks pulling me outside (her for fishing, him for golf) I just gotta go with the flow. Thank goodness I've got til October to finish painting 4 locos for a client!
Without sounding weird, I'd like to thank everyone who complimented my caboose. ;)

Curt Meg sounds like a good idea for Saturday night, kinda like Jaws on steroids. I suggest it to GF.

Mike. Glad to hear you got your issue fixed. Electrical faults can be scary.

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Nite all, the Sandman beckons!
 
Good Morning all,

A very happy Friday. Very foggy, humid, and in the 60 s this morning.

Have a great day.
 
Good Morning All. 71° and partly cloudy, rain is expected to resume after noon. Rained a lot 30 miles south yesterday, but it didn't here. Seems as though I spent most of yesterday in the car. Along with the normal weekly cruise to the grocery store (30 miles away), I returned some tile and a backsplash at Lowe's. Couldn't locate the receipt for the backsplash, but they looked it up with the credit card number and the refund was easy. Not so with the tile. It was a special pick-up order and I had all the paperwork, but their computer wasn't accepting it. Another employee, who happened to be the one that actually handled my order the first time, came over and eventually they were able to "trick" the computer. She told me that evidently she entered something wrong the day I picked up and that's why they had a problem. Nice to hear her admit that she made a mistake instead of blaming the computer. She really did well on all four of the individual special orders that we had.
I only spent about an hour in the train shed before deciding that the A/C was for sure shot, and I returned to town and bought a new one at Sam's Club that I will install this morning. All I did while out there in the shed was renumber a pair of Accurail covered hoppers with Accurail's renumbering decals. That's two cars off the standby track (RIP track) and into the queue to be photographed for my database.

Hummingbirds are awesome creatures. I also keep several feeders and use the 4:1 water/sugar mix. Most years (including this year) I see four different ones including a dominant one who is very protective of it's feeder. However the others do manage to sneak in while it's chasing another away. Mating season is a different type of chase.

Garry - Parts of my house are also "gang wired" instead of "pigtailed". To top it off, the man who wired the house was an electrician who used "surplus" (pilfered) wire from a commercial job that he was doing; it's all #10 gauge solid wire and extremely hard to work with in those small boxes. I have had three instances (so far) of wires coming loose because the terminals on the residential components are not made for #10. I have a supply of wire nuts available for correcting (pigtailing) where I have room. Haven't opened Trains yet this month, thanks for the tip.
Chet - Maybe there's a shortage NP equipment because there are so many NP modelers!:rolleyes: I'm not to sure how much longer that I will heat the whole house with wood exclusively. I installed a propane tank when we moved in in 1981, but I only use it for the stove/range...wouldn't have an electric one for anything. Definitely looking to switch to a tankless gas water heater at some point; this electric one just doesn't want to wear out. Tankless wasn't widely available when it was installed. My neighbor wants to sell me an electric heat pump, but the amount of the right size wire and breakers would cost more than the heat pump.
Mike - That's good news to you and even better that you can run trains again.
Curt - Thanks for the update on Phil. Hoping that you resolve the leg cramps quickly.

Everybody have a great Friday.
 
Good morning and Happy Friday gang!

Can I get a large coffee and some of that apple pie ala mode Flo! I'll just find a chair and set a spell.
 
Good morning. 78 and humid. They are calling for 90 today with a 30% chance of rain. Early in the week I was praying for dry. After the week I've had, I'm praying for rain. Looks like I'll be working all weekend trying to catch up. The sod is going down tomorrow, pending weather, so I'll be back there setting heads and coverage. Trying to get caught up on all of the small jobs the rain messed up this week. Need to get some stuff done around the house and find some therapeutic train time, but that doesn't look likely. I'm facing a dilemma, perhaps y'all can assist. I want to start working on my N scale maintenance yard. I have the space and a vision, but lack the necessary track and funds to buy it. BUT... I have a huge pile of HO track and equipment but lack the space to make anything that would work and be enjoyable. I'm hoping the financial situation will soon improve enough to buy some track but in the meantime I want to tinker with the HO. Any recommendations on something that will fit in a small space AND be functional AND consist of more than watching a locomotive pinball between 2 rail stops?
 
Good morning. Starting the day off at 60 degrees with an expected high somewhere in the mid 90's. Not looking forward to that.

Karl - Nice photos.

Willie - As far as the NP locomotive shortage goes, with such a shortage of power you would thing that someone would step up and offer more than what is now available. From what I have seen, as soon as something comes on the market for NP, it is scarfed right up. You would think they could produce larger numbers and make more $$$.

Went to the club yesterday and it was nice and cool down in the basement. Walking past the wine bar that is above the club,it was like walking through a blast furnace.

I had tried to run my camcorder around the club layout on a flat car, but it is a bit wider than the car and was running into a few obstacles so I found a tiny Go Pro camera for $14.

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Almost worked like a charm. It only records for 5 minutes and then starts a new video. It takes about 15 minutes to make one circuit around the layout so I have three videos to complete the trip. I haven't got clue on how to link videos together.

In the first video, the train comes out of the siding and has to stop at a red signal at the bridge. The signal is to let operators know that there is another train on a crossing under the layout. If someone ignores the signal, they have to crawl under the layout and sort things out. You'lll see an a**hole in a blue Navy T shirt. That's me. Greg will probably enjoy the ore train.


The second video pick up right where the first one ends. For some reason the sound lags about 15 seconds behind the video. In the second tunnel, there is a window that has a circus scene under the mountain. that visitors can see. You can see the viewing window near the end of the third video.


In the third video, you'll see how thick the concrete wall is where they had to bore a hole through thee wall to the Gardiner part of the layout. They didn't mess around building this depot. Again, for some reason the sound is delayed again.


When I was leaving the club, there were a couple of GP something or other putting a train together. There are tracks in the photo so this will be my rail photo for the day. Toot should enjoy it.

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Yeah, they're GP-35's. Had to look them up.

Later.
 
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Good morning, everybody ...

Karl ... Your scene with a grain elevator and Loco 300 is very nice.

Chet .... Thanks for the videos. I just watched the second one so far .. Enjoyed the trip. Your club looks like a great one.

Jesse .... You asked for suggestion.... You could make a small industry with a siding.

Cheers !
 
Good morning Everybody!!!

Terry I hope you wife's issues with fluid have improved. I'm sorry if I missed an update, that's the last I remember.

Golf?...Golf? "don't ya get tired running those 18 bases doc?" Bugs Bunny

Time for me to cut the grass.

God Bless us Everyone, even players that foolishly refuse to stand for our beloved flag.

Only in America do we have the right to be stupid!

 
Chet - Great videos. I watched without the sound so the delay didn't bother me. I really like seeing that club layout. There aren't many layouts that I have visited, let alone a club layout, with that much attention paid to detail. I am working on getting mine to that level, maybe five more years.
 
Good morning, everybody ...

Karl ... Your scene with a grain elevator and Loco 300 is very nice.

Chet .... Thanks for the videos. I just watched the second one so far .. Enjoyed the trip. Your club looks like a great one.

Jesse .... You asked for suggestion.... You could make a small industry with a siding.

Cheers !

You may be onto something with this. I may be able to fit that onto the space I have. Aybe take the approach of doing mini modules that can later be connected to form a layout that adapts to the available space. Hmmm.....

I think I will be pulling out some track at the earliest opportunity.
 
Update to my previous post about building a small HO module. I am going to model a single industry with main line (or branch line) access with one or two sidings for inbound/outbound switching as well as car storage. I just need to figure out what type of industry to focus on. I have several covered hoppers, boxcars, open hoppers, and a couple of tanks.
 
Update to my previous post about building a small HO module. I am going to model a single industry with main line (or branch line) access with one or two sidings for inbound/outbound switching as well as car storage. I just need to figure out what type of industry to focus on. I have several covered hoppers, boxcars, open hoppers, and a couple of tanks.
Something that involves plastics would be a good choice. It could very well use all those cars for incoming or outgoing shipments..
 
Something that involves plastics would be a good choice. It could very well use all those cars for incoming or outgoing shipments..

What about a feed mill? I looked up plastic manufacturing plants and :eek: that's a lot of piping and other stuff. And I could also add a farm on the next module. We grow a lot of feed corn 'round these parts.
 



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