Running Bear’s August 2019 Coffee Shop


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Good Morning All. 68° with thunderstorms that started about 0445. Got a short break around 0545 and there seems to be close to 1.25" in the rain gauge. It's still quite dark so it's a bit hard to read accurately just yet. Finally made it to that elusive 100° yesterday, now today it's only going to be in the mid to low 80's! Hovering at or below the 90° mark for the next ten days. It will be an early end to the pool season this year as we're expecting partly cloudy weather all of the way through.
Thunder is really loud this morning, I'm surprised that my wife isn't up. Only lost power briefly one time so far.

Thanks for the likes, comments and other positive responses for yesterday's pictures; Sherrel, Louis, Garry, Dave, Chad, Chet, Patrick, Johnny, Tom.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I continued adding scenery materials to my current project area. Then I added more when I accidentally set my elbow into some freshly glued ground foam. As I am continuing work in this area, I am looking down the line at the next blank area of the layout. It's about 2' x 8' with a main line, passing siding and a two lane highway already in. There's also two switches already in the passing siding for access to industrial trackage. The far end is my small town of Maultown that I built about eighteen months ago. I have a model from Atlas called Middlesex Manufacturing tentatively in place, but I intend to add three or four other industries as low-relief backdrop structures. I already have one built from Walther's modular walls that will most likely need a bit of expansion to make it work, adding some side walls to make it jut out further. I dug out my stash of DPM modular walls and sort of set up another front. Got some pictures but left the camera out there and I don't want to get my hair wet going to get it!;)
In the meantime, I will leave you with another "backside" picture, although this is at least partially visible from the aisle. It is from the previously mentioned town of Maultown.
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Structure group in the center is the Walther's Merchant's Row V. Structure on the right is an altered IHC kit from their Yesterday and Today series from over 30 years ago. It is the Tobacco Shop. I altered it by reversing the side walls and adding all of the details to the back wall; and painted it of course. That side of the alley is awaiting a bit more scenery such as weeds and trash, but the base on the MRV began to warp and I haven't fixed that yet.
Johnny -
Raincoat2 said:
Wore myself out, actually - can't be related to age, can it?
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Maybe you're just out of practice. :cool:
Dave - I like the corn/hay scene as well. So many club layouts are nothing but track; it is always refreshing to see one with extra scenery like that, or like that one Chet goes to in Bozeman.
Chet - I too hope all is well with Joe. I enjoy reading his tales from the real world of railroading.
Now that you spent time cleaning track, it would be a waste if you don't take advantage of it!;)
Mike (HC) - Kudos to you for giving up the DL. Probably saved your life already.
Likewise here with the handicap placard. I only use it if my wife is present and intends to get out of the car.

There was a short discussion here yesterday regarding purchasing pants for women. My philosophy is to never buy anythiing permanent for a woman; clothes, jewelry, appliances etc. Give them cash (or gift cards) instead! I purchase only short term stuff like candy, wine, flowers, meals, and especially chocolates. They're not around long enough for them (women) to bring it back up and hold it against you; too small, wrong color etc.

Enough for now. Everybody have a great day.
 
Good morning everyone. 72 and drizzling out there. Time for coffee and a couple of doughnuts.

Thunderstorms moved through southwestern Missouri last night, but mostly missed us. Got enough rain to take care of the lawn and garden, and a little wind to knock leaves off the trees. Extreme southwest MO got it pretty bad, though - high winds, tons of rain. Should clear off today and have a string of nice days until the weekend.

Garry, Louis, Sherrel, and anyone I may have missed - thanks for the likes and comments from yesterday's post.

I split time last evening between the wood shop (building birdhouses), the train room (building a barn, see below), and the garden (helping MOH dig up, separate, and replant daylilies).

Here are a couple of photos of the old barn structure I'm working on at the modeling workbench. For the roof (left photo), I'm trying to get a weathered effect. It doesn't show too well, but I've got a little red showing through the gray, and some faint green, as if moss is growing on the old roof. It needs more work, I think. Any opinions or suggestions? In the other photo, I'm trying to give the side walls a faded look to the traditional barn red color. Still needs some more work, though.
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I'll keep you posted on progress on this build. I would appreciate any weathering suggestions - I don't want this to look like a new barn or a newly-painted barn - I want it to look like it's been there for a half a century or more.

Well, that's it for this morning. Have a good day everyone.
 
Almost forgot - - well, actually, I DID forget (to include in my earlier post) so I'm doing it now!! :rolleyes:

As a displaced northeasterner (okay, New Yorker), I subscribe to Yankee magazine. In the Sept/Oct issue that came in yesterday's mail, there is an article titled Back Tracks, about railroading in New England, specifically Vermont. Neat little article, more pop reading than real intense railroading stuff, but interesting nonetheless.

Here's a link:
https://newengland.com/yankee-magazine/living/back-tracks-working-on-the-new-england-railroad/

Have a good day everyone.
 
Morning: Managed to sleep in somewhat this morning - made up for a little of yesterday's fiasco.
Supposed to reach 91* today, yesterday got to 97* and the record was 105* in 2009.
We sure could use a few drops of rain - been a couple of months with nary a drop - and very few clouds have appeared.
In other news - the Padres beat the Dodgers!

Johnny -- Keep us up to date with the barn. I got to see how you make plastic look old?

Later guys, coffee infusion time!
 
Garry - FYI, here's a link to the Arkansas & Missouri RailRoad - amtrainrides.com

Main runs are from Springdale, Arkansas to Winslow, AR, or from Springdale to VanBuren (near Fort Smith). Prices range from $25 to $95, more or less, but they have family packages that would save a few bucks for a couple or for a family.

We've been through Northwestern Arkansas a number of times, particularly the stretch from Fort Smith north on 49 to Missouri. The Boston Mountains are truly a beautiful area.
 
Wow! The heat finally broke for a couple days. It rained all day yesterday in central Alabama and the high was only 77 degrees!
Almost unheard of in August around here. Back to the 90's in a couple days.
I found a new material that may be good for making flatcar pipe loads. If things work out, I will post a picture and share more information.
If it is a flop, I'll advise that also.
 
Good morning, 59 and sunny. Heading for 70 today.

Looks like it is shaping up to be a nice weekend coming up, hope to head up north for a couple nights camping.

Willie, nice mortar work on the IHC kit

Johnny, look forward to seeing progress on the barn.

Sherrel, plan to build the layout around the modules. The Wyoming one is already wired and the transformer is mounted under the buildings, wired to 4 blocks already. All I need is the space and after I add a bunch of track it will be like an "instant" layout.

THANKS for comments on the Tain Show pics

Here is another pic of the Groningen module:



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more later, Dave
 
LOUIS - I came upon a tidbit of Baltimore history this morning - I did not know this.

One of the top actors of his day, John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln on April 14, 1865, before being killed himself. Four years later, President Andrew Johnson returned Booth’s body to his family. Today, John Wilkes Booth is buried in an unmarked grave in the Booth family plot at Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland. However, that has not stopped people from determining its location — and leaving a little something behind. In lieu of flowers or stones, people leave pennies behind on the headstone as revenge for Abraham Lincoln, whose face is on the penny.
 
Bruette said:
Beady, one of my other lifelong interests/hobbys has been history, I've read many history books and one of the books I read on eastern European history described a tale of a young wife.

Living in medieval times the young wife was being regularly beaten by her husband. She had no other family so instead she sought the help of her nation's, Walachia, leader, Vlad Tepes. Vlad had a policy of seeing his people and granted her an audience. He could see her bruises and believed her story. His answer was to send two of his men home with her to beat her husband. Even after being beaten by the men her husband only became more violent with his wife.

Shortly after the incident with the young wife, the Ottoman Turks invaded Walachia. In response, one of Vlad's tactics in defense of Walachia, was to have hundreds of Muslims, prisoners of war, disloyal boyars, other enemies and criminals impaled, alive in what became known as "the forest of the Impaled". The wife beating husband was among them.

Although impaling may be to drastic a punishment, I do fully understand.

Vlad got the name "Tepes" when he came to power and impaled many of the Boyars after inviting them to a feast. He felt the Boyars took unfair advantage of the common people. Vlad was known to his people as a man who loved and supported his people. Vlad felt the wealth of his nation was the people who worked hard to create it, not the Boyars who merely profited off the hard labor of people.

Tepes is Romanian, and roughly translates into English as "the Impaler", Vlad Tepes is also known as Vlad Dracula, son of Vlad Dracul, The dragon.

Vlad, the son of the Dragon, is still a hero of the people of Romania to this day. As you probably already know, he is best known to western fiction readers and movie watchers simply as Dracula.

Beady, you may not have succeeded in stirring up any trouble, but you did stir my mind.
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Actually, Louis, I became aware of Vlad when I first read Dracula, back in high school; there's a section where the characters discuss the creature's history. I then read several books about Vlad, and bored to tears anyone I could get to listen.
 
Morning all,

Time for coffee this morning.
Finally getting a bunch of stuff off my plate at work today. Had time to read all of this before posting. I picked the last of the peaches last night. Some were still a little green, but I need the 3-day weekend to get the trees back into some shape for next year. I was barefoot when picked and stepped on a rotten peach. I will say that I won't cuss stepping in dog doo ever again. Dog doo doesn't have a peach pit in it....lol

Seems like I have way too much stuff going on anymore. I feel busier now than when the kids were small.
 
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Moses would have needed a Jolly Green Giant to get that load of stone tablets from down off the top of Mount Sinai.
Wonder what God's got against train's? Maybe there's a BNSF grade crossing outside the Pearly Gates.
 

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I've fallen behind again. At least I can stop by and enjoy the posts. Finally repaired the exhaust on my truck....again! After some cutting and fitting I got it all back together. Unfortunately I'm convinced I have either poison ivy or poison oak growing in front of my garage. I have broken out both times I've worked on my truck in the same spot. It's irritating to say the least! All that aside the kids are sick as well. Daughter went down last week for a sore throat. Son is down with an ear infection and conjunctivitis. I suppose I need to be wearing a hazmat suit when I go home. Eh it's all a part of the game. Send the kids back to school and open the door for illness. Have ran a few laps on the layout. It's about as much railroading as I've been able to fit in here lately. I leave y'all with some pics to enjoy.
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Good morning. Another cool start to the day at 45 degrees and we should get into the upper 70's.

I am a bit concerned about Joe as we haven't heard from him in quite a while.

Dave - Didn't comment on the train show photos. Nice. Like the hand car shed. That's about as large a building I have room left for on my layout.

Justin - Excellent photos again. Really like them.

Terry - Nice of you to get your wife a new printer. We had ours crap out last year just before bowling league started. With my wife being the league secretary, a new one was a necessity. Had to search a bit to find one with the largest ink cartridges we could get. Sure hate color printers not being able to print in black and white when a color cartridge is low. Learned a long time ago not to have cartridges refilled. An IT friend squared me away on that. Refilling cartridges will drastically decrease the life span of a printer. Printer companies make their money on ink.

Patrick - Looking at the photos of your truck, you did get away with what could be called minor damage. Could have been a lot worse.

Kyle - Sure sounds like you've been busy. Congrats on the new addition and the new job.

Mike - Looking at the Menards ads in MR magazines, they do have some interesting buildings. Unfortunately, I have no more room for structures.

Louis - I really like that Winters Coming picture.

Willie - Another great photo. The layout is moving right along. Would love to see the whole thing.

Johnny - That lit looks like the blacksmith shop I have on my layout. It had been sitting around for years and I was wondering what I was going to do with it until I decided to use that last somewhat empty space on the layout. I believe it was from Europe, but is a nice little kit.

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Beady - I sure enjoy your sense of humor. I know you don't have to be sarcastic, but the world has given you so much material, it would be a shame to be wasteful.

We have more visitors coming from the east coast this weekend. Guess I'll be playing tour guide again.

Here's my photo of the day. Maybe it would be a good idea to go fishing.

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Later
 
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