Running Bear’s November 2021 Coffee Shop


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Boris said:
Guy: Problem with the Northeast corridor, is you frequently don't get a warning. The Passenger trains are electrified ,they're fast and very quiet. Amazing just how quiet those monsters can be at 125 / 130 mph. Not exactly what you're used to. From experience, reaction time, from first seeing the trespasser, to reaching for the warning horn is longer than you imagine, and at 110 mph, that's quite a distance traveled. Big difference from a diesel powered freight rumbling along at 50 mph, that in most cases, can be heard from quite a distance. Note, that much of the ROW on the NEC is either elevated, depressed, and / or fenced. It's sport to cut the fence and use the tracks to avoid safe paths, or to walk along the tracks.
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From experience in Japan you often don't hear a Shinkansen (fast electric passenger train) coming into the station until you see it pulling up. Though often you do hear rail noise (not the clickety clack but more of rail vibration) depending on the rails/train etc. I could see how electric passenger lines would be much more dangerous to walk along the tracks with than a diesel served freight line.
 
Reworking a BLI or MTH loco. Just a matter of clipping wires and soldering new connections. Track power, motor leads, headlight, rear light and speaker for sound. Ditch lights require just a little more wire work.
ESU decoders work in both. Done it on numerous models of each.
 
Good morning all! Clear and 36 degrees heading for partly sunny and 56 in the Land of Lincoln (at least my little part of it). Due to our bizarre schedule at work I had short days the last 2. Today it's a regular length day. Probably be a lot of Black Friday prep going on today, but most of it should take place later in the day (hopefully after I go home :) )

The dog stayed rather mad at us through yesterday, but seems back to normal this morning. It's amazing how unhappy a bath can make a dog.

Found out yesterday my youngest granddaughter has Covid. She's been sick for almost a week but no one thought it was Covid. She got tested yesterday and found out she has it. The good news is she's almost over it now and feeling better. The bad news is now her dad, my son in-law is starting to feel bad. Hoping he doesn't have it too. They were just at my house Saturday for my grandson's birthday, but neither I nor my wife is feeling bad so far. We've had the vaccination, so hoping that prevents anything hitting us.

That's it for now. Hope you all have a great day!
 
I drew a new track plan for my little layout. I can do switching or just watching the train rolling by.

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Good Morning All. Clear and 55°, with stiff 17 mph winds out of the SE. They will shift from the N around midnight and tomorrow's high won't be much more than this. Short-lived cold front though. Supposedly dropping below 30° Thursday night but returning to mid-60's Friday. Mid-70's for a week starting Monday. Still a 75% chance of a short thunderstorm just before the cold front hits tonight.
Another beautiful fall day here in North Central Texas yesterday, with a repeat today. Outdoor tasks were the order of the day for the most part, since I already finished the pre-Thanksgiving clean up inside. Today is the early weekly grocery/beer trek. I don't need anything for the feast, but I will need stuff for the weekend. Looks like Kroger still has the free turkey promotion going on, I have room for another one in the freezer now that one has been removed. I may not spend the $100 as required though.

Thanks for all of the likes and comments received yesterday from all; Jesse, Chad, Guy, Troy, Joe, OB Ken, Gary, Patrick, Karl, Christian. Tom O, Steve J, Louis, Curt, Tom, Hughie, Rick, IB Ken.

What's the special this morning Flo? Hard-boiled eggs and Taylor Ham! OK, I'll try that for a change of habit.

Finished up the Accurail build yesterday out in the train shed.
B-end before the cage.
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A-end after the cage.
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Completed car.
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Those who are unfamiliar with Accurail cars may not know that they release four numbers in each car. And then for $4, the modeler can get 12 additional number decals to expand the fleet. That makes 16 in all, I'm down to my last car and numbers that I need to apply.
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The decals match the paint perfectly.
I also did a bit of painting on the bank parking lot but I left the camera outside.

OB Ken - The dog may be mad, but she looks comfortable laying in your easy seat.
Troy -
troyphoto said:
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, which I watched last week. I kept looking for Sherrel but didn't see him in that one.
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That's because Sherrel pre-dates the film!;) Seriously, how often do you see a film with both Red Skelton and Benny Hill in it?
Jaz - I like the Batman and Robin scenes.
Guy - I only consider it trespassing if there is a fence. Walking on the tracks indicates ignorance. The fellow in the story that Louis linked to was guilty of both. None of the railroads that I railfan on have fences except to keep cows off. The farmers/ranchers put them up. The electrified commuter rail in Dallas has fences because the trains cannot be heard above the usual city noises.
Karl - Guns & Butter was a rather eclectic band from Boston in the early 70's. That's the only reference that I might surmise. I didn't listen to a lot of Twisted Sister.

Another day of infamy for Dallas today, the name Jack Ruby comes to mind. No memorials though.
Everybody have a wonderful day and if I don't see you, have a great and Happy Thanksgiving. Stay safe.
 
Morning all,

The "guns and butter" term I've not heard of in a long time, mostly as a reference to wartime economics ("guns make us safer, butter makes us fat").
Don't know if that's your reference or not, but that's the one I recall.

Currently 55° and mostly clear in Doo-Dah. Going for 67° before the next front comes through. High tomorrow of 46° and then back in the 60's on Friday and the weekend.

BBL

<EDIT> Willie: I wasn't aware of the band by that name.
 
Bruette said:
Guns and butter? Not a clue in that reference.

Now for something completely different...


Back to work, day is almost half over!
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At least it isn't a version of "Last Christmas".....Less about Christmas and more about stupidity.

Christian: The actor who plays the dad in the Twisted Sister video plays Neidermeyer in the film "Animal House" Another fine film whose story was actually better than the final film. Another was "Vacation", where they were actually going to Disneyland in the story. I read both of those when I was in HS. Yes I miss National Lampoon.
 
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CHRISTIAΝ said:
I drew a new track plan for my little layout. I can do switching or just watching the train rolling by.

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In order to apply a little bit of 'excitement' to the operations by using DCC, where it is not necessary to have blocks to run more than 1 train on the same track/s, have 1 circling at the same time as the other is switching the inner sidings. Use the upper siding as a classification track on which to build a train from cars 'spotted' (parked) on the other 2, which of course will require the loco and cars in the yard to use the outer "main" as a yard lead to work on. A suggestion to add a little more length to the shorter lower siding: Put a 1/2 curve into it from it's turnout to bring that siding back parallel with the center one. Should/might get you another straight section onto it's end. In order to reduce the amount of time the switching/shunting moves will interfere with the train on the outer main, find out if your track manufacturer makes a double curved turnout/ point/switch that has a R609 outer curve and a smaller radius inner left hand diverging track, to replace the R609 to the right of the bottom ST240. Then you can build a siding from that up the inside of the right hand end to use as the yard lead, thereby reducing the amount of time the main line will be blocked during those switching moves.
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Reworking a BLI or MTH loco. Just a matter of clipping wires and soldering new connections. Track power, motor leads, headlight, rear light and speaker for sound. Ditch lights require just a little more wire work.
ESU decoders work in both. Done it on numerous models of each.
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Thanks Ken, I thought so, but honestly, I've never heard of anyone trying it, just folks complaining of wait time and uncompleted repairs. Guess I didn't look deep enough. I have a small group of BLI steam and GG1s that have spent a long period of time in storage boxes. Don't know what to expect when i get them out, and see how they perform. I always considered BLI stuff electronically quirky.
 
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