Running Bear's November 2020 Coffee Shop


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Texas Hobo said:
Willie -I meant to ask earlier, the Bamboo Hut, were you in Galveston in the mid 60's. The Bamboo Hut was located right on the beach and was mobbed on weekends.
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Yes I remember it well. Our Boy Scout troop took several vacation trips to Galveston between '64 & '68 and we always stayed at a motel not far from the Bamboo Hut. Those walls looked like and probably were just sheets of bamboo stuck in the sand. I was too young to go in though, and had to return (with my buddies) to the motel in time for supper. We had a curfew after that and the Scoutmasters (some were priests) kept a good eye on us.
Here is a picture that I found (not mine) from what appears to be '67 or '68 of the place. It was legendary in its time.
bamboo hut.jpg

I don't offhand recognize the band, but it may have been The Boogie Kings from Louisiana. Dig those ladies outfits!
 
Afternoon All,

Spent a good part of the day doing deep cleaning things for the wife. This is the time of year yearly that we do it. Nothing on the layout other than making a better drawing of the yard ladder with the electrical setup and isolations. I emailed it to my buddy Jon to make sure it would work (it will) but he had 1 suggestion to allow longer trains which I will take.

Sherrel- Nice 1:1 photos.

Willie- Nice job on the MOW yard and building details.

Joe- Nice electric photos.

Jon suggested to move the Reverse loop start isolations from the bottom of the right side T/O's to the bottom of the left side T/O's to allow longer trains. The upper right is a stub track that doesn't join the main.

20201118_124206.jpg

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Well, I'd post a pic of my layout progress, but the Diet Dr Pepper train of 12 packs is holding track in place right now.

Found my 12" drill bit and dropped pilot holes for feeders next to the track (12" long, to go through the foam layers, foam risers, plywood etc)

Just ordered the EB1 Circuit Breaker to go with my NCE PowerCab. Not being an engineer, my head is already swimming with terms I don't know. Trying to figure out what part to wire to the cab, and what part to wire to the track.

I *THINK* I install the PowerCab's supply from the wall-wart to the PCP Panel, and then run the feeders to the EB1? The EB1 then uses the power out to track (the 12g bus wires I drop the feeders down to)

I *THINK*...

I usually don't electrocute myself, but the manuals aren't written for dummies like me... If I don't show up tomorrow evening, send an electrician to my place. Or an apprentice with a 2x4 board to pry me loose from the sparking wires.
 
Greetings, Shop Dwellers! It's 29*F calm and clear on my property - can you say "frost"? Unlike gardeners, I welcome it since it keeps my grass from growing; I'm hoping I won't have to mow my lawn again until April 2021. That will provide an extra two hours of "me" time on Saturdays during the winter months.

Thanks for all the "likes" on the post about my decal paper experiences - Hughie, Garry, GT, Willie, Patrick, Jerry, Sherrell, Joe, Guy, Karl, Phil. Haven't done any mrr during the past few days, so no photos to share tonite...sorry 'bout that!

My wife and I are basically in "hunker down" mode, keeping social activities to a minimum because of the spike in Covid infections. Also, my 30yr-old daughter will be giving birth any day now and we want to make sure we're "clean" and available to assist her and SIL when the baby arrives.
 
Whoot! first in!

444 on the clock right now.

Window installers are coming to the Condo today to put in $13K of new glass. Since the old glass is OLD (we had to put in storm windows over the single pane regular windows old), and our winters get into the sub-zeros for a week or two, it's time.

Realized I didn't have any masks to spare (eg disposables), so I need to make a hardware run before they get here.

Drat, that means driving by the donut place and ruining my diet.
 
Hello from Southern Oregon, land of the side-ways rain. No complaints, all good!
Sherrel... cool pics of the Frisco "200"
Willie...the Ambroid paper I had thought I would throw it in the coffee shop now and put it Back In The Day at the end of that series. HOseeker would be kewl.
The track bumpers, I've seen that style here, made out of scrap rail, looked very similar. Also the piles of dirt with the x'ed ties, and in one case, what looked like some old bridge timbers stacked on the end of the rail with a couple of rods that went thru the timbers and hooked under the rail, secured with nuts on top.
santafewillie said:
Here is a picture that I found (not mine) from what appears to be '67 or '68 of the place.
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Back In The Day!...o_O
Walt...I found that paper in Ambroid kit no. 12 N.Y.C. "CONTAINER CAR" It's amazing these kits even still exist! I also like the Ye O Huff & Puff kits.
The diesel loco's you dug out, by chance do you have an Alco FB2? Now I'm looking for one to go with my FA2, see below
bnsf971 said:
You could always improvise, and save the trip, and your diet:
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Good one! I've seen vids of guys wearing bra's as masks, were else, but Walfart.
I had asked about a decoder install the other day for a Proto 2000 FA2, here is the loco.......
IMG_20201119_031008074.jpg

What else, but the Demonstrator!
IMG_20201119_031114219.jpg

My concern with a decoder was were there was room for one. I do have some other TCS decoders, and their web site had been mentioned to check out the install articles (thanks guys,) ok, I went there, and I'll be darned if I could not find anything on an Alco FA2 installation. Well, for $hit$ and giggles I thought I'd Google FA2 decoder install, One of the sites that pops up is TCS, with a FA2 decoder install. Uh What? what was I missing when I looked on their web site the first time? I had even done a search....and no go.....

TAKE CARE---BE SAFE
 
2Tracks said:
Hello from Southern Oregon, land of the side-ways rain. No complaints, all good!
Sherrel... cool pics of the Frisco "200"
Willie...the Ambroid paper I had thought I would throw it in the coffee shop now and put it Back In The Day at the end of that series. HOseeker would be kewl.
The track bumpers, I've seen that style here, made out of scrap rail, looked very similar. Also the piles of dirt with the x'ed ties, and in one case, what looked like some old bridge timbers stacked on the end of the rail with a couple of rods that went thru the timbers and hooked under the rail, secured with nuts on top.

Back In The Day!...o_O
Walt...I found that paper in Ambroid kit no. 12 N.Y.C. "CONTAINER CAR" It's amazing these kits even still exist! I also like the Ye O Huff & Puff kits.
The diesel loco's you dug out, by chance do you have an Alco FB2? Now I'm looking for one to go with my FA2, see below

Good one! I've seen vids of guys wearing bra's as masks, were else, but Walfart.
I had asked about a decoder install the other day for a Proto 2000 FA2, here is the loco.......
View attachment 120921
What else, but the Demonstrator!
View attachment 120922
My concern with a decoder was were there was room for one. I do have some other TCS decoders, and their web site had been mentioned to check out the install articles (thanks guys,) ok, I went there, and I'll be darned if I could not find anything on an Alco FA2 installation. Well, for $hit$ and giggles I thought I'd Google FA2 decoder install, One of the sites that pops up is TCS, with a FA2 decoder install. Uh What? what was I missing when I looked on their web site the first time? I had even done a search....and no go.....

TAKE CARE---BE SAFE
Click to expand...

Jerry, Plenty of room, somewhere I have pics of mine converted with NCE decoders, let me look today. Well I couldn't find mine, but I did take pics when I converted a buddies FA2s. He supplied the Brand D decoders. If I was doing to use a non-sound decoder, I would go with an NCE D13, it is much smaller than what is in the pics. Anyhow I see you have the weight off (dont lose it)
FA step2.jpg

Now go head and strip out the constant lighting unit to make a home for the decoder. unclip the top motor clip being VERY careful not to loose the brush spring, then unsolder the brush clip from the lighting unit. The factory headlamp bulb can be chucked. I switch mine to LEDs with dripping resistors, this install used a Miniatronics 12v bulb, to hot for my taste. Anyhow from here out its a basic decoder job.
FA steps 3&4.jpg

Because of the size of the decoder, the weight had to be trimmed a bit, but the silly little fan was retained. Hope this helps along with other pics and hints from the web. They are not that hard to do.
 
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Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 52° on the porch. Thursday again, time for the weekly grocery/beer run. I'll check out the TP and paper towels for you guys.

Thanks for all of the likes and comments yesterday; Walt, Joe, Dave, Garry, Karl, Phil, Hughie, Patrick, Curt, Sherrel, Ken, Rick, Guy, Jerry.

I really overslept this morning; no time to search for pictures to post. Maybe I'll come back about noon or so.

Walt -
CM-Fan said:
Willie - I am so envious of you having a real hobby shop to go in. I haven't set foot in one for 10 years. I really dislike ordering everything.
Thanks for posting that Hoseeker link, I foresee a lot of my time being spent there.
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Hobby shop indeed. Nothing but model railroads and accessories there. It is 65 miles away, but within 2 miles of my daughter's house (and grandsons). But again in Texas like in Montana, what's 65 miles?
Joe - Thanks for the info regarding the track bumpers.

Everybody have a great day.
 
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Good morning gang!
27° out there this morning, gonna try to make it to 45°. The weekend looks good with highs in the 60s, If only I can get out of this "prison" still no COVID test results yet. I am feeling better,, the chills and fever are gone, no breathing issues anymore, just a few body aches that Tylenol handles nicely. What's really a bite is that I can't play with the pups. I can hear them running around with SWMBO. Drats!
Well, now that I can sit for awhile, I may venture over to the workbench for a bit.
L8ter!
 
Good morning, y'all. 24° on the front porch at 0710. Game plan for today, is to stay around the house, and either do some cleaning in the cold garage, or gather up some of the leaves to place at the curb, should Public Works ever get around to picking them up.

On the layout front, I continued to so a little here, a little there as time permitted. The May 1964 Model Railroader had plans for the Reading Station, at Essington, PA. I saved the article, and it has been in a binder since then. Since I'm working on what I call the "Essington Module", this station fits right in between the Reading tracks and the PRR tracks, just as the prototype did, before Conrail removed the Reading tracks in the mid 1980s. The first step, is a mock up,made from a copy of the plan printed on card stock. There is also a freight station, across the street from the station, which consists of an old wooden box car mounted on timbers. The station siding, has a 12" x 12" Oak timber held on the rails by steel bolts. All sorts of possibilities.
Essington Station Mock-up 11-18-2020.jpg

Instead of the cinder platform, I'm planning to use yellow brick. I do have a few photos to work with also. The 2"x2" cardstock square, represents the Walthers Transmission Tower that will fit in approximately where it did in the prototype. The Reading T&T pole line will go to the right, between the yard track, and the industry. There will be a pole with light just behind (West) of the building. I plan on using styrene for the build, although Wood is not out of the question.

K4 Farewell to Steam Allenwood, NJ October 1957.jpg

Allenwood, NJ October 1957, "Farewell to Steam" Excursion on the PRR Freehold Branch between Sea Girt and Jamesburg. The bridge spanned the then 2 lane "Garden State Parkway, South of Exit 98. The K4s, and coaches have since been recycled several times, over, the Parkway, is Eight lanes wide, and that portion of the Freehold is a Trail. Photographer Unknown.

K4 3747 @ Bay Head 1955 Skip Morse photo.jpg

K4s 3747 at Bay Head yard in 1955. Skip Morse photo. Bay Head yard still serves as a layover for NJT trains, powered by diesels and dual mode power.
 
Morning all,

Busy this morning...I think I figured out the issue with the servers...… At least I have a server I can configure and work with, 2 more to fix. Still waiting on the maker to answer to a question before I proceed. Basically I lose 4 of 12 disk bays to the primary disk controller, but they are available to a secondary controller, which means 8 disks in 1 array and 4 disks in a second. Not an ideal situation. An array is a group of disks setup to act like a single physical disk (smoke and mirrors).

Nothing new on the train front, hopefully this weekend.

Currently sunny and 62° in Doo-Dah with an expected high of 76° and windy...again.
 
Good morning everyone -- Supposed to be 73 ° today with partly cloudy!
It topped out at 73 ° yesterday and is forecast 73 ° for tomorrow!
(There, I got to use the "degree" sign)

HI there Francine! A breakfast burrito to go, please! Tell MEL to pitch in extra sausage and make it "king size" - thanks!

The Spousal Unit had a successful colon test yesterday and we were back here just before 12 noon.
Rod and I finished cutting his trellis strips and then I piled a box of glue, screws, and tools into the P/U and headed for the SIL's where I spent an hour glueing and clamping on the desk. I had not realized that the other side was in just as bad condition as the one I was working on. The drawers were jammed - a locking mechanism was being frozen by a piece of wood that had come loose ...
took me several minutes to figure that out and many choice words helped immensely!
Will take Rod with me today because it will take two of us to hold, glue and clamp - I could do it, but the work will go much faster with two of us on it.
Supposed to have a VET visit for one of the pups today - I may have to reschedule it due to not having enough time - we will see.

KARL - glad to hear that you are feeling somewhat better. Keep it going?

Later guys.
 
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