Running Bear's December 2019 Coffee Shop


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Good morning everyone and Happy New Year!

Thanks to everyone who liked my stuff!

Flo - I'll have a ham 'n' cheese omelet, home fries, wheat toast and a unsweetened iced tea.

It's been a few days since I've been on the forum. It took me quite a while to get caught up with everything.
Lots of good reading and great photos!

Last Friday was spent down Pittsburgh as the Mrs. had a post cataract surgery follow-up. They ran a
few scans and found a small problem. So they put her on another drop, including the one she's been
taking and want to see her again in a couple weeks. Before leaving Pittsburgh, we stopped at our
favorite Italian restaurant. The excellent food brightened up our day! :)

Saturday we resumed our Holiday visiting tour. Much of the day was spent at my Niece and
husband's home. I haven't seen her in a couple of years and had a great time. Sunday, we
visited my wife's Aunt and cousin. Yesterday, the Mrs. had another doctor appointment. By this
time, both of us were worn out from all of the travelling, so we're going to stay home today! :):)

My MRR news: last week, after finishing the rail yard, I decided to "up-grade" the wiring on the old
section of my layout. I enjoy wiring and at the time it seemed like a good idea, but after spending
extended periods "under the table" every part of me ache . . . except maybe my ears ;):) I muscled
through and finally got it done late yesterday. Whew :rolleyes::)

I've been noticing a problem with one of my turnouts. I have a Peco Insul-Frog with the point wearing
out. My GP-35 stumbles and sometime stops. Instead of wasting time with the "quick fixes", I'll
just order a new one. This turnout is at the entrance of my favorite switching area, so I have
to get it fixed ASAP!

I began my layout expansion 14 months ago and took a while longer (being an old fart) than I had planned.
I have all of the track laid and operational and have been doing a lot of switching. I enjoy every minute
and that makes all of the "work" worthwhile!

Everyone have a great day!

Here's a couple of my layout photos . . .

QuRyrt5.jpg

YW6MO7P.jpg
 
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Good Morning Everyone. 30° and clear. Last day of the decade today, it's been an interesting one. The highlights were construction of the train shed in 2011 and retiring in 2015. A couple of pretty nice years in the stock market, including this one, sure helped the retirement accounts after the devastation of 2008-2009. Looking forward to the next decade. I think that my wife finally made the decision to retire from H&R Block after 18 years; she'll be 70 in February.

Two eggs over easy with some of that applewood bacon this morning Flo. Hope that there's still some left after Chet's salad yesterday. There is; then make it a double order for me.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the small home/garden yesterday; Karl, Johnny, Phil, Jerome, Chet, Greg, Tom, Curt, Rick, Sherrel, Bob, Ken, Jim. I got those daisies planted yesterday.
12-30-19 003.JPG

Ground looks a little bare, I'll have to add some mulch today.
Speaking of those daisies, they were a challenge to assemble. Here are the sprues alongside a toothpick for size comparison. The flowers are tiny.
12-30-19 001.JPG

I did six for now, here's the completed plants. Fortunately I didn't have anything fly off the workbench.
12-30-19 002.JPG

Meanwhile on the other side of the house, I added a row of corn to the garden. Sorry in advance for the fuzzy picture.
12-30-19 004.JPG


Otherwise in the train shed, I ran a few out and back switching runs. Sent out two CF-7's with a string of empty covered hoppers and exchanged them for fulls at three grain elevators on one run. A second powered by a pair of GP-38-2's switched four industries in the upper level industrial park with full boxcars. Started another on the lower level, but had to tie up for the night on a siding before reaching it's destination.

Johnny - Sure looks like a nice Christmas haul. Puzzle is my favorite.
Hughie - I'll join the others in wishing that all goes well with your little buddy.
Chet - That's a drag that you're still feeling the effects from the blood clot. How long are they expected to last?
Garry - Welcome back. Glad to read that the trip itself was uneventful and safe.
Curt - While it's sad that the layout has to be dismantled, I'm sure that you are happy that it's going well.

Of course today is New Years Eve, so Happy New Years in advance. I'll be spending the evening at home and I hope that I make it to 9:00! Haven't seen midnight on New Years Eve in over 30 years; except for bathroom breaks in the middle of the night!:confused:
Take time as well to celebrate the lives of all of those relatives and friends who passed into eternal bliss this past year.
Everybody have a great day and stay safe out there.
 
Good morning, and happy New Year's eve.
It's clear and 35.
My wife was taken off the ice machine, unless we notice unusual swelling.
After disposing of my "problem child" laptop, thinking I would find a good, older model, I made the discovery that the prices of the older ones are more than if I bought a really nice, new Windoze model. The reason given was, I'm not the only one that wants the older models.
 
Morning all. Finally had some snow last night. Enough to gas up the Toro and use it. Yipee. (no sarcasm font. We need one.) Vacation winding down. Tomorrow we rip down the decorations. Back to work Thursday. It's been fun. I don't get to do two weeks in a row much. I got all three of those passenger cars striped. That was rather tedious. I used Champ striping, which is tough, therefore easy to handle without breaking, but you have to cut each individual stripe out of the film which makes for a ton of scissor work. Now I need for the decals to get here so they can be lettered. The 3/4 dome will need an interior too, and that should be in interesting project. I didn't get as much train stuff done as I wanted, but for a different reason than anticipated. My son has taken to the hobby so a bunch of time has been spent teaching him, and working on his stuff, plus a couple of projects for other club members. Mentoring can be fun! These guys who moan about the hobby dying, don't you believe it. There are plenty of young guys in my club. Happy New Year everyone. My New Years Resolution: Get my 1941 City of San Francisco painted for Trainfest 2020!
 
Good morning everyone. 29 and clear out there, heading for around 40 today.

Willie, Jim, Sherrel, Ray, Tom, Robots, Wheeler, Flip, Chet, Curt, and anyone I may have missed, thanks for the likes and comments on my "Christmas haul." It was a fun morning opening all those things.
Willie - So you like jigsaw puzzles too!!
Sherrel - Welcome to the jigsaw lovers club!
BurlingtonBob - Glad you spotted the Zephyr on the puzzle box. My NYCentral is there, too, just right of center.
Hobo - Cute puppy you've got there - nice pal. We had a Yorkie for 15 years and had to put her down almost 5 years ago now. Had a cat, too, and the cat was actually more of my buddy than the dog. He ran away about the same time we lost our puppy - no pets since.
Toot (Ray) - Glad those fires are staying clear of you.

Here are a couple of photos of my three diesel trains lined up along the smaller town. Rarely get them together like this. The farthest one is parked on a siding and picking up some coal, and waiting for the other (middle) train to pass through town. Meanwhile the one closest to you is on the mainline heading for the tunnel and then around to the larger town.
3Trains_1_Dec2019.jpg
3Trains_2_Dec2019.jpg


That's it for now. Have a good day everyone.
 
Good morning

Chet and Willie.. Thanks for the welcome back.

Willie .... Actually , the trip was not uneventful . It was messed up a bit by
a nasty, very contagious GI virus. Several family members had it including myself. It is miserable being sick at home, but it is worse if traveling.

Curt... Apparentky I missed conversations about your layout. What are you doing ?

Everybody: Have a great New Years Eve.
 
Well, I spent too much time reading all the comments here and in some of the other threads and now I've been in formed that we need to be going to pick up our youngest granddaughter. We'll have her for a couple of days and I don't think I'll get much time to do anything that doesn't involve her.

So, I'll just say that I enjoyed all the posts and pictures and I want to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year!

Later!
 
Greetings from out here! Warming up a tad -supposed to reach 65 today with a partly cloudy sky. Tomorrow is supposed to be 64 and sunny - I hope so as I have friends out here in an RV caravan attending the Rose Parade from Ft Myers, FL,; I will hook up with them the day after.
Still waiting on the dishwasher repair - the guy (JAKE) must have been hung up at State Farm - said he would make it today?

OK, CHET - If yu are going to give yourself clots - you better ship me some of that bacon!

JIM -- Nice photos of your layout .. Keep up the progress .. even if it seems slow to you.

Willie -- Are you sure those 2 foot tall plants are daisy's? More like sunflowers?
Every garden needs a couple rows of corn stalks, even though they may not produce much .. LOL
Johnny - Very nicely done on the photos this morning. I'm not as fast as I used to be with the puzzles - think I need to spend more time at it along with more time on a lot of things; problem is I have become a binge TV fanatic.

continued ...

ALAN --Looking forward to seeing one of your "stripped" pass cars?
 
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