Running Bear's July 2020 Coffee Shop


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I replaced those god-awful ScaleTrains couplers with Kadee whisker couplers. I am not really too sure why ScaleTrains felt that it was better to "reinvent the wheel"? Had to shim the Kadee's with a modified .010" washer to prevent drooping.

Willie: Nice new fleet of Sd40s. I detest Scale Trains couplers, but since right now, it only involves a few freight cars. Replacing the extensive array of Accumate couplers is a higher priority, once the decoders are installed.

Pro sports are now about politics. So, should we no longer talk about pro sports because politics is not allowed here ?

Politics, nope but sports I am ok with. Politics within sports I don’t mind because a guy who makes 5 or 10 million a year has no clue what real working people go through. Hockey players and baseball players starting out do but after that 2nd contract they become out of touch. I really don’t think whatever a sports celebrity says people pay that much attention too. Everything is a phase.

Garry, Tom L, and Louis:
I'm not fond of entertainment organizations , or entertainers pandering to special interests or causes, when their function is to entertain. They should be happy to collect their exorbitant compensation. After all in the scheme of things, nothing they do is important, or critical to life.

I have decided the prudent thing to do is to ignore what passes for a resumption of Hockey and a Baseball season, and withhold judgment until the next season begins. That way, I don't make the rash judgments that I'm prone to make at present.


All the extra handling, plus actually paying for the Kadees, would add as much as $10 per unit. What amounts to a 10% Kadee surcharge would hurt their sales

Terry:
I seriously doubt that an additional $10, would affect sales, it may have an adverse effect on their margins though.
I'm tired of lame excuses from importers as to why they can't do this or that that their customers find objectionable for one or another reason. It's obvious that most folks who buy their models, accept the product as produced.

I suppose I'm more of a collector than I give myself credit for, as opposed to a pure operator. I have more passenger cars than I can hope to ever use, and the same goes for locomotives. I'm amazed, as I go through my storage boxes looking for forgotten engines.

Monmouth Race Train 07_22_1967 Hal Smith photo.jpg

Monmouth Park Race Train moving Westward through Red Bank, in July 1967 - Photograph by Hal Smith.

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Terry: I seriously doubt that an additional $10, would affect sales, it may have an adverse effect on their margins though.
I'm tired of lame excuses from importers as to why they can't do this or that that their customers find objectionable for one or another reason. It's obvious that most folks who buy their models, accept the product as produced.
Joe, I don't know if you do the book of faces, but if you saw the flamefest on ScaleTrains' FB page over the unmitigated gall they had to even think they should make another UP turbine, you might understand the mentality of some model railroaders. It was brutal, and completely uncalled for. If they get that reaction from simply announcing a high quality product, what do you think the response would be to their raising prices to cover the cost of better couplers? You and I, and most people here on this forum, tend to expect and accept the cost of better stuff, but we seem to be in the minority.
 
if you saw the flamefest on ScaleTrains' FB page over the unmitigated gall they had to even think they should make another UP turbine, you might understand the mentality of some model railroaders.

Terry: I didn't, primarily because I don't follow Scale Trains that closely. They offer a nice product, at an average price, but generally they offer products that are too new for the mid 1970s where my interest sort of got stuck. I did notice a similar reaction over on the Passenger Car Group, to Walthers announcement that they were doing yet another rendition of the Super Chief and El Capitan, for their Passenger train of the year. Because this group includes numerous self anointed elitist rivet counters, I essentially blue their reaction off as their chronic objection to anything they have no interest in.

Perhaps, I'm just a little too crabby of late. :rolleyes:
 
Afternoon fellers. I hope everyone is doing well. The mail man brought me goodies today! Sadly everything that is in Michigan is well still there. Sitting in Detroit. For days!!! In Detroit.... I guess I'll get it when it gets here. Meanwhile everything coming up from the south is here. Figure I will share my new additions. Another thing of labelle oil. My athearn gears and ofcourse my GP30s.
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Is this a "KATO" drive loco?


Sherrel: Hard to tell from a picture. My Kato RS1 came in a yellow box and said Kato on the bottom. Yellow box also could be Roco.
 
Afternoon All,

Went to put the first piece of plywood down this morning and decided I didn't want to mess with it today! I ran downtown and visited with some MRR friends. Speaking of friends, my buddy Tom gave me a completed FSM coaling tower and associated sand house free of charge for my layout. I need to repair a guardrail one one side but other than that it's as it should be. Tom has been building FSM kits for decades. I'll start on the plywood tomorrow.

Willie- Christmas in July! Great looking locos. You don't see all the boxes under the layout in my pictures.

TomO- Nice scenes.

Sherrel- Thank you. I have the Atlas black box RS1 in Pennsy (of course). I am 99.9% sure it has a Kato drive. All my stuff is buried now to be able to quickly check. It's a heavy unit, nice details and runs great.

Joe- Nice photos.

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I hope everyone has a good night.
 
That's definitely a question for Chet. This engine was offered by Atlas in December 2003, so it seems likely.

Willie:
Completely agree. My kato RS1, and Roco S2 were both purchased around 1986 - 1987. I honestly don't know when Atlas switched to China.
That Hurricane bothering you any?
 
Re Sports: I watched my Jays win over the Rays last night . So did my 102 yr old father.. Tired of reruns.
They made lots of cash playin ball in the 1950's in Alberta. 2000 $ for the winner of a 16 team ,2 day tournament
My attachment shows the writeup for the inaugural Lacombe Tournament. The website has lots of stories of the old days.
Lots of names you cant have today.
 

Attachments

  • ball tourny.pdf
    1.4 MB · Views: 132
Howdy ....

I'm happy with all of my Atlas locomotives. Classic or the older yellow box Kato.
...

Some of you might recall the eye surgery I was going to have in the winter was postponed. Next, it was delayed becasue of the virus shut down. ... It is now scheduled for this Monday for one eye and the following Monday for the other eye. It will be done in Nashville. It certainly is needed after waiting this long.
 
Joe, I don't know if you do the book of faces, but if you saw the flamefest on ScaleTrains' FB page over the unmitigated gall they had to even think they should make another UP turbine, you might understand the mentality of some model railroaders. It was brutal, and completely uncalled for. If they get that reaction from simply announcing a high quality product, what do you think the response would be to their raising prices to cover the cost of better couplers? You and I, and most people here on this forum, tend to expect and accept the cost of better stuff, but we seem to be in the minority.

Terry, Joe and anyone else. When ST 1st showed their products at a Trainfest in Milwaukee a few years ago I asked Shane about couplers.I truly don’t understand ( I do, it’s profit margins) any company let alone a new company making their own as Kadee’s are so great and so prevalent. Personally, I had trouble with the 1st batch of couplers on the Museum Turbines and the Classic box cars. I never have had an issue with any Rivet Counter coupler, and they are all the same accept the shelf couplers on the oil tankers. My last patch of cars came from a weathering company with springs missing. ST is second to none and as good as DirectTV was when Paul Allen was alive and still owned it. Replaced immediately by ST. I think they should have left off the couplers but Shane said, then folks would not buy as they don’t know how to install things! The flamefest was such a shame and so childish.
TomO
 
Howdy ....

I'm happy with all of my Atlas locomotives. Classic or the older yellow box Kato.
...

Some of you might recall the eye surgery I was going to have in the winter was postponed. Next, it was delayed becasue of the virus shut down. ... It is now scheduled for this Monday for one eye and the following Monday for the other eye. It will be done in Nashville. It certainly is needed after waiting this long.

Garry: Good luck wit your surgery(s).
 
The flamefest was such a shame and so childish.
TomO

Flamefests usually are, but it is so easy to let loose when you are hiding behind a pseudonym. Every business takes a risk, that the market will reject their latest offering. Big and Exotic UP Power sells, just like Santa Fe sells for Walthers. If I'm not interested, I won't buy, but once they do something I want, I become a buyer. No need to flame anyone, for a business decision. Unfortunately, that seems to be a current way of conducting oneself.
 
Flamefests usually are, but it is so easy to let loose when you are hiding behind a pseudonym. Every business takes a risk, that the market will reject their latest offering. Big and Exotic UP Power sells, just like Santa Fe sells for Walthers. If I'm not interested, I won't buy, but once they do something I want, I become a buyer. No need to flame anyone, for a business decision. Unfortunately, that seems to be a current way of conducting oneself.
It goes far beyond business decisions.
 
Howdy...

I'm happy with all of my Atlas locomotives. Classic or the older yellow box Kato.
...

Some of you might recall the eye surgery I was going to have in the winter was postponed. Next, it was delayed because of the virus shut down. ... It is now scheduled for this Monday for one eye and the following Monday for the other eye. It will be done in Nashville. It certainly is needed after waiting this long.
Nashville Tennesse?
 
It goes far beyond business decisions.

Willie: It certainly does, but I'm trying hard not to be controversial or fall into the trap of discussing subjects verboten on this forum. ;) So, I'm dancing on the clothesline, which is not easy, especially considering I'm not a very graceful dancer to begin with.

Last Run of FDNY Horses 12-20-1922.jpg

Engine 205 Brooklyn, making last run with horse drawn steamer, December 20, 1922. Much later in history than I realized. NYC Fire Museum Archive.

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PRR, Harsimus Cove, Jersey City, NJ in 1951. Car floats and Manhattan skyline in background, and what appears to be a fence made of retaining wall concrete components separating the street from the tracks.
 
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