Running Bear's June 2020 Coffee Shop


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GARRY - You are going to have to get up a lot earlier if you THINK you are going to insult me or hurt my feelings. To start with -- You're not a Frenchman! :rolleyes:
Just the other day I was standing next to a guy in the latrine lineup and he said to me,"The water is not very cold" - to which I replied, "Yeah, but it's not very deep either"!

Old Joke!:)

Here is a true latrine story When the 2 older boys were say 4-5 years old (they are only 17 months apart) we went to Mickey D's for lunch. Kevin, the younger of the 2 said he needed to go potty, so I took him while his mother kept his brother occupied. Now there are 3 urinals. 1 & 2 are about 15-18 inches from the floor. #3 goes clear to the floor. #1 is occupied by a middle aged gent, so he looks at his choices and blurts out,
" I'll take this one dad", (pointing to #3) "Mine hangs down farther that yours does!"
The guy in #1 pissed on his shoe laughing!

He's now 6ft 7, I'm challenging him to a rematch! 🤣😆😁😄😃🤣😆
 
Good evening Shop Dwellers! 71*F and clear with a faint breeze, still plenty of daylight in my corner of Maryland.

I figured it was time I post something on here, even when I've got nothing to show for it (i.e. nothing worth shooting photos of).

Curt - glad to see your new layout is taking shape! Brings back memories of when I started making progress on rebuilding my own layout 8 years ago. Of course, my benchwork wasn't [isn't] near as 'purty' as yours, because I was using recycled lumber.

Jerome - I see that there's been a major resurgence of business at JTEX - lookin good! 👍

Sherrell - sorry to hear about the disrupted travel plans because of the malfunctioning RV step assembly, hopefully the stealership will get the necessary parts soon.

Garry - I feel your pain about being told I'm "part of the problem", that's why I avoid FB, Twitter and all the other general social media like the Plague - same as I avoid the news media. If there's an important development that might impact me personally, my wife will let me know, since she follows them and manages to just shrug off the blather.

Everybody else - thanks in advance for the "likes" this post might get, even though I don't have any pretty pics to share [yet]!

I've been working my loco roster enhancement project, doing all the things necessary to get the body shells ready for airbrushing. Seems like I've been working on this forever; that's mostly because some of the vendors I ordered from take up to 2 weeks before my items arrive. And when they do get here, it's frequently at a time when I'm not free to begin using them (daytime job, yardwork, etc.). Then when I get around to doing the work that requires these parts, I discover that I'm missing something else that I thought I had. So I place an online order...and the waiting game starts all over again! Welcome to the Brave New World where 95% of commerce has to be transacted online.

The latest missing item is my supply of spare teflon 'O' rings that go inside the airbrush. I thought I had a few - I was mistaken. I don't know how long the current O-ring has been in there, but I don't want to risk getting everything all set up - then discovering halfway thru the job that the spray is uneven or splattery because of a worn-out O-ring, and no spares to replace it with.

Ohhh I gotta share this while I'm on the topic of online commerce. Remember that GP38-3 that took 11 days to get here? And how the USPS, when I asked them to trace my package, emailed a canned response about Coronavirus and marking the case "resolved"? Anyway, the day after the package arrive they sent me an email asking me to fill out a survey about the trace case. I figured "Well, I don't have anything nice to say so I'll just brush this one off." But the following week, I got another nagging email saying they "urgently need my opinion"...ok, fine, but careful what you ask for! I left a scathing review of "one-out-of-five's", and wrote a paragraph stating that waiting 3 days to respond to a trace request with a form letter, not giving me any clue whatsoever of the package's whereabouts, then putting an entry in the tracking log that the case was "resolved" - that wasn't merely incompetent service, it was an INSULT! :mad: Haven't heard anything back from USPS about that one yet...

As for the project milestones - I got the two Atlas GP40-2 body shells stripped and converted to look like earlier-model GP-40's, but still disassembled to enable easier painting. The two sound units I ordered a few weeks ago have been disassembled - getting the shells off their chassis' was a two-hour ordeal - and I soaked them in denatured alcohol so I could get the bright yellow Pennsy-style stripes off. But the alcohol worked a little too well: I only wanted to eliminate the stripes, but the underlying paint also softened faster than I had expected - so now I still have contrasting colors (tuscan and light gray). Paint didn't soften enough to get all of the paint off; now there are stubborn patches of paint that I'm afraid to brush for fear of damaging the grabirons and other fragile protruding details. So now I plan to make a two-hour drive up to Mainline Hobby Supply where Brian can sandblast the remaining paint off for a modest fee. Time-consuming but at least I know I'll have truly clean and undamaged surfaces to apply the new paint on.

(...there, I just wrote a frickin' book :rolleyes: )
 
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Curt- I really like the flooring in the train room.
I have similar flooring in my den.

Anyone know what this MOW equipment does? It was parked near my home over the weekend.

Yes, I know the blue object in MOW 2 is a motorcycle.
 

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Alan - Nice video and photos. One sharp looking train. What happened to the dome car>

Nice layout photos Chet! Love the Cotton Belt RS, but then I'm a pretty big Alco fan.

With regards to your dome car question, two answers:
1: There were no domes on the COSF, ever. The tunnels on the route made that impossible. The COLA had several of them, and my model of that train has them. One day I'll post photos and a video if it. In fact a group photo of the M-10000, the COSF and the COLA might be cool. I'm not as proud of the COLA as I am of the COSF. The COLA is a pretty stock Walthers train and other than detailing the interiors and adding passengers, I basically just wrote checks for that one. There's a lot more sweat equity in the COSF!
2: If you're asking about the 3/4 dome that made an appearance in some of the earlier project photos, that car, and the 10-6 blunt end sleeper are for the San Francisco Overland I'm doing. Those cars are moving along a little slower because they are both getting interiors.
 
Good morning all,

Coffee and a Blue Plate special this morning, Thanks Flo.

Supposed to be another hot one today. I did get some train time last night, so here's a first look at the coupler I adjusted..

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Not quite perfect, but the rails are flat enough to not matter. I can still raise the tender another washer, but I'm afraid the screws will be too short. This is also a partial of the only circus car I own, #3249. I also started the glue and tape of the table seams, so we'll see how they turn out. In some spots I have too much of a gap (as much as 1/4") in where the table top foam meets, due to the original breakdown and storage of the tops. The edges of the foam are slightly rounded, which is causing the gap. I'll post pictures on that later. I also spent some time with the cheap airbrush setup I bought. I think it may have an issue as it uses canned air (think the computer dusting cans) and it freezes the paint in the tip of the paint bottle.
 
Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 73°, muggy with an 83% humidity. Daytime highs have been staying in the low 90's and it looks like that trend will continue. Pool felt good this morning at 82° after walking a mile.
Yesterday morning was devoted to yardwork, mowed for about 45 minutes and worked the weedeater for another 20 minutes. Irrigated the garden after picking a few more tomatoes. Harvest is about a dozen a day right now. After lunch, I processed some of them and put 2-one gallon Ziploc bags full into the freezer. Gotta stay ahead of them.

How about a Western Omelet and a large OJ for me this morning Flo.

Thanks for reactions and comments on the layout shots from yesterday; Guy, Sherrel, James, Alan, Jerome, Chad, Mikey, Garry, Patrick, Louis, Karl, Tom, Curt, Chet, Rick, Ken.
Thanks for the responses regarding the swing hangers on the EMD trucks; Tom & Karl.

Returned to scenery and layout upgrading yesterday in the train shed. Started by adding a gravel parking area on one side of the liquor store.
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Then I went to the other side and added a black top parking area between it and the bank.
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From there I weathered the bumping posts and added ground cover along the railroad ROW.
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Here's a shot along the tracks behind the buildings.
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Tom - Sorry to read of your wife's misfortune. Best wishes for her going forward.
Greg - Our hummingbirds are not the Ruby-Throated variety. They are most likely the Black-Chinned ones, not at all as distinctive.
Willie: Do you know why they are called Humming Birds???? They don't know the words
I cannot remember whether it was either Neil Young or Jim Morrison who once said that back around 1970. Both tended to forget the words every now and again.
Curt - Lone Star Beer is currently owned by Pabst Breweries and is actually made and bottled (canned) under contract by Miller Brewing in Ft Worth TX. It may go away since Miller has stated that they weren't going to renew the contract. It's in litigation right now.
Chet - The club layout pictures always make my mouth water. I can only hope to get that far with my detailing and scenery.

Everybody have a great day.
 
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Good morning Everybody!

Pro-sports, too much money? That’s capitalism for you. The talent the top guys have is in short supply and the demand is high!

I no longer watch college sports. Maryland leaving the ACC was the final straw for me. The NCAA rakes in billions and the players often don’t even get an education. See the University of North Carolina’s own assessment and UNC is not alone, just honest. The players are earning the money and risking injury, they should get paid.

I still listen to the Terps on the radio, my Buddy CJ Brown is one of the broadcasters. CJ was a supervisor at Amazon’s DBA1 distribution center, very smart young man. He was a rather good quarterback for the Terps as well!

Sherrel thanks for the kind words but the only lesson I can give is simple; sell for more than you pay and always make a minimum of a true 12% profit, otherwise you are wasting your time.

Necessity is truly the mother of invention. Starting off with nothing I quickly learned to work hard and eventually smart. I don’t have to work anymore, but it helps keep me healthy, sharp and I enjoy it.

Lots of great comments and photos to comment on, but my time is short. Thank you Everybody for all you share with me.

Time for me to go to the grocery store, have a great day Everybody!
 
Good Morning .. FLO, I'm going to try Patrick's Blue Plate this morning!
Foggy this morning - supposed to be 83 again and sunny with breezy ..I Love it!
We have not had very much in the way of the usual 'JUNE GLOOM' this year where it is foggy until almost noon and then hotter than hell in the afternoon?
That's OK with me - O like the way it has been.

KARL - Yeah, I know that joke was old .. so am I. I think that I must have heard it about 50 years ago?
 
Good Afternoon Everyone....very nice day here in Wisconsin.

Took a trip to the barber shop. A real classic Men's shop. But, they raised their prices by $3.00 for a haircut. Then, I filled the truck's gas tank and then back home for lunch. My old Tundra got 10 mph if I was lucky, while the Chevrolet gets 22 mph. Waiting for our new stove to be delivered.

Found a way to fall asleep at night. I do mental switching moves on my layout. It work every time o fall asleep.

Once the stove arrives I'll water some plants in the front of the house and then get down to the train room. Even if I just run a train or two I'll be happy. I can clean up while the trains run.

Heard this morning that TrainFest in Milwaukee was cancelled for this November.....bummer!!! :( I have a Jack Daniels 1.75 bottle that I fill over the year with change and that's my TrainFest money. Save enough for a sound engine and then some additional stuff. Funny when you paid in cash the money seems to go so fast.

Going to see some friends tonight. One of the guys has a Man Cave built next to his Man Garage. The cave has his animal mounts ranging from deer to alligators, a full bathroom, a CCTV to watch the food plot he grows for deer and is ready with a cross bow or rifle should one come by. In addition he has a full working tool shop in front of the cave. Seem like most of the guys coming tomorrow have hunting grounds over 40 acres in size. Hunting land is hard to find near my cabin, lots of DNR land but people come for miles to hunt the land and it becomes crowded.

That's all to report for now.

Greg

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A MR&T locomotive pushes a string of ore cars frm te Pine Rive Yard.-Greg
 
Good afternoon. Looks like mother nature didn't want us to forget what winter is. Winter weather advisories out in the higher elevations. The temps were in the 90's last week. We have rain in the valleys which I will never complain about. Just got back from lunch. Only three of us today. One guy had a doctors appointment and the other has to get ready for a trip to Sioux Falls for a wedding.

Greg - Like the MR&T locomotive.

Ken - I know the feeling about having to order items in for projects. I think if everything needed that was ordered and it all came in quickly, at the same time, I would fall over.

Willie - Really enjoy seeing all of the additions you've been adding to the empire. Nicely done. I noticed that you mentioned Lone Star beer. When we were at the Super Bowl on Houston for Miami's perfect season, Lone star was what I was drinking. Found out that you don't buy it, but only rent it.

Later
 
Good Afternoon,

Spent the morning chauffeuring the wife around town. This afternoon I built the basic framework for the loop around section. It was more involved because of the size and shape. I have the basic dimensions for the framing memorized but this was all measure upstairs then head downstairs to cut.

Interesting story yesterday. I had just started cutting boards on the edge of the driveway and I happened to look up and see a Red Tail Hawk about 15 feet away on a low tree branch staring at me as I used the circular saw. He continued to stare as I cut 5 boards.

Thank you for the likes yesterday.

Chet- Thank you. Nice club photos.

Karl- That's funny. It's amazing what comes out of kids mouths sometimes. There is no filter.

Ken- Yeah, I hate when that happens.

Mikey- Thank you. We really like it also, although it took a little bit to get used to the texture.

Bob- I love CCR.

Willie- I like the way you used the poles.

Louis- Nice photo.

Greg- Nice layout photo.

This is orientated the way it will be attached.

20200616_145704.jpg

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
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