Running Bear's January 2022 Coffee Shop

[D&J RailRoad]

Got the ESU decoder installed in the Big Boy, Tried to install the sound file but I'm getting an error message. Not sure what the problem is. Applied track power to the programming track and the loco rolls with lights but then it suddenly shorted out the command station.
OK, enough for one day.
I'll go down to Richmond, VA tomorrow for the Greenberg show. Gotta pick up some small wire plugs if anybody has em, also to just look at the trains.
I went to the Amherst show a few years ago. Really disappointed in it. It's a Timonium show on steroids. The big manufacturers are there but they aren't selling anything, just showing pictures of what they're working on. Dealers, the same that show up at Timonium then 10x the used junk vendors. Mostly musty old Lionel stuff or HO scale stuff with hook horn couplers.

 

[bnsf971]

Got the ESU decoder installed in the Big Boy, Tried to install the sound file but I'm getting an error message. Not sure what the problem is. Applied track power to the programming track and the loco rolls with lights but then it suddenly shorted out the command station.
OK, enough for one day.
I'll go down to Richmond, VA tomorrow for the Greenberg show. Gotta pick up some small wire plugs if anybody has em, also to just look at the trains.
I went to the Amherst show a few years ago. Really disappointed in it. It's a Timonium show on steroids. The big manufacturers are there but they aren't selling anything, just showing pictures of what they're working on. Dealers, the same that show up at Timonium then 10x the used junk vendors. Mostly musty old Lionel stuff or HO scale stuff with hook horn couplers.

Ken, if you find out your decoder isn't involved in a short, I've had to load the ESU sound files with default settings, then make changes after everything is loaded. For some reason, the system doesn't always like me changing anything, not even the address, and I'll get error messages, and random perceived shorts.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

OK, thanks. I'll have to open the loco back up then set it on the programming track to see if something is obvious.
I'll do that tomorrow while watching the playoff games.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Mikey - I'll try to include more overhead shots where I can get good ones.

Willie- the gent and girl in the alley of the pictures you shared is a good example of wondering where it is on your layout.

The quality of your and Jaz's figures have inspired me to persist in painting more unpainted figures. I even looked over some of my Asian sourced figures to change some hair colors. I have a lot of additional work to do.
Maybe I can get a couple pictures tomorrow.

I think some of the romance is going out of our marriage. I took her out to her favorite Mexican place for our anniversary dinner tonight. I gave her a pair of earrings and a matching pendant to wear. All I got for our 55th anniversary was a reminder to leave a generous tip for the waitress.

 

[Boris]

I'll do that tomorrow while watching the playoff games.

Ken: I have some to do, instead of watching the playoff games...Do you use ESU's proprietary programing software, or JMRI?

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Mikey- Nice job on the "little people".

Curt- most of these figures will be background people on construction sites. I can repaint some figures with more detail if needed in a foreground scene.

 

[NYC_George]

More progress on the 3D caboose project. I have some clamps on the ladder while the glue dries. The Home Depot 5 gallon pale cover will be modified into the hand brake. I will be moving the post to the structure's forum tomorrow. That is if you want to follow the progress.
George

 

[chadbag]

Aldi, Trader Joe's, and Lidl, charge a nominal fee for bags.

Just some trivia. Trader Joes is owned by Aldi. But not by the same Aldi that owns Aldi in the US. This is probably why they have the nominal fee for bags (in those states that don't require it) -- they have that same german heritage that Aldi and Lidl have.

But like all USA Aldi’s very small. Never been there with more then 1checker at the register. Only 3 lanes and again today just 1 checker.

You think Aldi and Lidl here are small. The ones in Germany are a fraction of the size...

Back to the trivia. Aldi was originally one family owned grocery business in Germany. It has always been based on efficiency and low costs. A long while back, about 1960, a dispute arose in the family -- one of the brothers wanted to sell tobacco and one didn't. So they amicably split the company into two pieces, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd (Aldi North and Aldi South). The stores in Germany were divided between the two (I presume mostly on N / S lines though that could be wrong). And as they expanded internationally, they would divide the countries amongst themselves so that Aldi Nord might be in charge in one country and Aldi Süd in another. They kept the logo, for the most part, the same between both (though in Denmark, for example, the logo looks different and in Austria the name is not Aldi though the logo is the same). Anyway, Aldi Süd runs the Aldi stores in the US. However, a long while back, the Aldi Nord company bought Trader Joes, so Trader Joes is run by one Aldi and Aldi USA by the other.

I don't know about in the US, but in Germany the two Aldi companies cooperate on certain product lines (store brands) and bulk purchases and special purchases and stuff to help keep costs down.

This is all my remembrance from reading about it online. More details are on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi

(That article claims that german stores run by Aldi Süd are branded Aldi Süd. That may be the case now -- when I lived in Germany and the last time I visited there 20 years ago that does not seem to have been the case -- I don't ever remember shopping at "Aldi Süd: -- just Aldi).

Wikipedia also claims they are trying to merge the companies back together to gain efficiency and lower costs.

The drive for lower costs is why they have the carts with the deposit thing on and why they've always charged for bags and have only a few checkouts...

I am not sure about the exact history of Lidl, but in Germany, Lidl and Aldi basically are the same market style, size, products, etc. Different logos. Different store brands, but basically the same thing done by a different company.

Now you know more about Aldi than you ever wished you did.

 

[Bruette]

Grocery shopping... The man who raised me took me to the grocery store as soon as I was old enough to walk with him and our bBeagle, Missy. I almost always enjoy a trip to the grocery store.

I have about a dozen grocery stores within a 5 mile radius. I do most of my shopping at Redners, a regional chain based in PA. Redners is a full service store, they do the bagging for you. Like Boris I remember when full service also included loading your car.
I also shop at Aldi and Save-A-Lot because I'm cheap and I cherry pick prices. I often watch the store ads they send in th mail and the newspaper. I don't mind stopping at a grocery store 2,3 even 4 times a week, like I said I'm cheap.
I use to shop Costco weekly as well, but item the sizes are too big for us.

Yesterday I baked a half ham, butt portion from Save-A-Lot. I picked it up after new years for 89 cents/pound. They often have the best prices on meats.

That's all for me, another busy day on tap, thank God.

Have a great day Everybody!

 

[TLOC]

Grocery shopping... The man who raised me took me to the grocery store as soon as I was old enough to walk with him and our bBeagle, Missy. I almost always enjoy a trip to the grocery store.

I have about a dozen grocery stores within a 5 mile radius. I do most of my shopping at Redners, a regional chain based in PA. Redners is a full service store, they do the bagging for you. Like Boris I remember when full service also included loading your car.
I also shop at Aldi and Save-A-Lot because I'm cheap and I cherry pick prices. I often watch the store ads they send in th mail and the newspaper. I don't mind stopping at a grocery store 2,3 even 4 times a week, like I said I'm cheap.
I use to shop Costco weekly as well, but item the sizes are too big for us.

Yesterday I baked a half ham, butt portion from Save-A-Lot. I picked it up after new years for 89 cents/pound. They often have the best prices on meats.

That's all for me, another busy day on tap, thank God.

Have a great day Everybody!

We have a local 2 store family owned grocery stores called Miller and sons. All the baggers and there is one anytime a register is open, wheels or carrys your groceries to the vehicle. It is the way they do things and unless it’s one bag, they carry. I don’t remember that be done growing in Chicago and the huge markets we had there.

memories, thanks
TomO

 

[OBTC 1909]

Good morning all! 10 degrees here in SE Illinois on the way to mostly sunny and 35. Back to work today after a couple nice days off.

Went to my parents house for lunch yesterday. I really enjoyed the visit. I don't get the chance to spend time with them like I want to. They live about 10 miles north of me while my job is 25 miles SE of me. I spend most of my life driving to my job, at my job or driving home from there. I need to make a better effort at going to spend time with them than I currently do. Need more hours in the day and more energy in my body.

I came up with a project idea I'd eventually like to tackle. Haven't seen any kits like this exactly, so it may require a scratch build or kitbash once I feel like I'm capable of the project. There used to be a signal tower in my hometown that governed the crossing of the NYC with the IC. Owen tower (see pictures) was operated by the NYC and was decommissioned and torn down a few years or so before I was born. I would love to build it someday. The child in the third picture is my friend who's dad worked in the tower. The man in the bottom right of the second picture is his dad. The pictures are from 1962.

Nothing else to report. Hope you all have a great one!

 

[CambriaArea51]

Good morning....-3 this morning and the dog knows it. Sleeping with one eye open hoping to hold off going outside till it warms up some with the sun.
Coffee Flo, please. I see the bird feeders I filled yesterday are empty, I'll have to fill them again.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Ken: I have some to do, instead of watching the playoff games...Do you use ESU's proprietary programing software, or JMRI?

I have the LokProgrammer installed on my system along with the JMRI. The LokProgrammer can be seen just above the right edge of the keyboard.
The computer is tucked away under the facia. The rotary knob to the bottom left below the loco selects JMRI/Run/ESU with gaps in between each setting to avoid accidental cross power to the track where the loco is sitting. The programming track is about 5' long. The UP5 just below the loco is to plug in a throttle for testing or programming directly by CV. The tracks behind the loco lead to a 40' long three track staging area to the left, a 25' five track staging area to the forward right and up to the main layout area to the rear right. The layout's command station (power district 1) and power supply can be seen in the dark to the left, booster (power district 2) to the right of the command station just above the loco. Just above the computer screen is an un-named mountain base where three tracks emerge from a 20' long tunnel.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Good morning all! 10 degrees here in SE Illinois on the way to mostly sunny and 35. Back to work today after a couple nice days off.

Went to my parents house for lunch yesterday. I really enjoyed the visit. I don't get the chance to spend time with them like I want to. They live about 10 miles north of me while my job is 25 miles SE of me. I spend most of my life driving to my job, at my job or driving home from there. I need to make a better effort at going to spend time with them than I currently do. Need more hours in the day and more energy in my body.

I came up with a project idea I'd eventually like to tackle. Haven't seen any kits like this exactly, so it may require a scratch build or kitbash once I feel like I'm capable of the project. There used to be a signal tower in my hometown that governed the crossing of the NYC with the IC. Owen tower (see pictures) was operated by the NYC and was decommissioned and torn down a few years or so before I was born. I would love to build it someday. The child in the third picture is my friend who's dad worked in the tower. The man in the bottom right of the second picture is his dad. The pictures are from 1962.

Nothing else to report. Hope you all have a great one!

Ken- I really liked the tower pics. I remember seeing these as a teenager.
Yes, I am old enough to remember when they delivered the first truck load of rock to build the Rocky mountains.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

21° and clear this morning, going for a high of 50°.

Busy at work doing server upgrades. It does appear that I indeed have the server fixed as all the backups have run to completion. Mice to have them up to date. Still not sure how and why a memory slot quits working, but the memory was good and working in another slot. took the machine from 64Gb (which dropped to 32Gb) up to 144Gb of memory as I had the ram and space in the machine. It's running much better.

On a side note, I'm also adding RAM to the 2 domain controllers as I reboot them this morning. For some reason , they on have 16Gb of ram. Not sure what idiot did that 6 years ago when I configured them . As they are virtual machine, I just power them down and tell the system to give them more when I restart them. I have the physical RAM in the hosts I upgraded to in the past year.Should speed things up a bit. I don't know why I didn't see it earlier.

 

[Smudge617]

Just some trivia. Trader Joes is owned by Aldi. But not by the same Aldi that owns Aldi in the US. This is probably why they have the nominal fee for bags (in those states that don't require it) -- they have that same german heritage that Aldi and Lidl have.



You think Aldi and Lidl here are small. The ones in Germany are a fraction of the size...

Back to the trivia. Aldi was originally one family owned grocery business in Germany. It has always been based on efficiency and low costs. A long while back, about 1960, a dispute arose in the family -- one of the brothers wanted to sell tobacco and one didn't. So they amicably split the company into two pieces, Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd (Aldi North and Aldi South). The stores in Germany were divided between the two (I presume mostly on N / S lines though that could be wrong). And as they expanded internationally, they would divide the countries amongst themselves so that Aldi Nord might be in charge in one country and Aldi Süd in another. They kept the logo, for the most part, the same between both (though in Denmark, for example, the logo looks different and in Austria the name is not Aldi though the logo is the same). Anyway, Aldi Süd runs the Aldi stores in the US. However, a long while back, the Aldi Nord company bought Trader Joes, so Trader Joes is run by one Aldi and Aldi USA by the other.

I don't know about in the US, but in Germany the two Aldi companies cooperate on certain product lines (store brands) and bulk purchases and special purchases and stuff to help keep costs down.

This is all my remembrance from reading about it online. More details are on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi

(That article claims that german stores run by Aldi Süd are branded Aldi Süd. That may be the case now -- when I lived in Germany and the last time I visited there 20 years ago that does not seem to have been the case -- I don't ever remember shopping at "Aldi Süd: -- just Aldi).

Wikipedia also claims they are trying to merge the companies back together to gain efficiency and lower costs.

The drive for lower costs is why they have the carts with the deposit thing on and why they've always charged for bags and have only a few checkouts...

I am not sure about the exact history of Lidl, but in Germany, Lidl and Aldi basically are the same market style, size, products, etc. Different logos. Different store brands, but basically the same thing done by a different company.

Now you know more about Aldi than you ever wished you did.

The whole thing about charging for bags, is NOT to do with profits or efficiency or any of that rubbish, it's because none of them are bio- degradable, remember years ago shopping with mom, buying meat or fish, it was wrapped in PAPER, that can be recycled (what do you think most toilet paper comes from, or brown paper, or cardboard boxes) or it will degrade naturally, now everything is in plastic or polystyrene containers, most of which cannot be re-used or recycled, so it ends up in land fill or is burnt, which helps the green house effect which causes climate change, which in turn causes all the wonderful weather, you know, the extreme wild fires, snow blizzards far worse than ever in recorded history, those ones.

Governments around the world have pledged to cut down on carbon emission's, also known as Greenhouse Gases you know that stuff right, that Smokey stuff that comes out our cars, chimneys, factories, the stuff that will kill you if you breath enough of it in. (last year the world produced 34 billion tonnes of carbon gas) that includes the US, in an effort to gains funds to research Climate Change and find ways to combat the effect and in an effort to at least in the meantime to cut down on people's usage of plastics, (Why keep on paying for a bag every week, when you can re-use the one you already have) Government's world wide (except China and India) have introduced a tariff/tax on plastics, which has been passed onto the manufacturer, then the consumer, THAT is way you pay for your grocery bags.

I strongly suggest you look at this, as this affects the US like you wouldn't believe.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch • The Ocean Cleanup

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world and is located between Hawaii and California. Scientists of The Ocean Cleanup Foundation have conducted the most extensive analysis ever of this area.

theoceancleanup.com

Oh! and if you think that Lucky Joe or Auntie Sophie's string of stores don't charge for bags, why then the others, that's because their using the profits they make from you to pay for them, but sooner or later, they will charge you, the mighty $$$ always wins.

And is it really so hard to re-use a bag, really?? I go shopping every week, when it's got holes in it, I'll get a new one, but as mine are fabric, might take a few years before I need to do that.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good Morning gang!!

11° when I started the truck this morning. Got to work and pulled into the shop and tried to wash off the road sale and bird droppings and the water ran right off the cab and the hood, but froze to the tonneau cover! And the water was warm! 10 minutes later the truck had warmed up to the point where it could be washed normally. Now it sits in the shop shiny and dry for the next 5 hours. No precip til Tuesday, so it should stay nice til then.

Yes, I am old enough to remember when they delivered the first truck load of rock to build the Rocky mountains.

Mikey, That's funny!!

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 24° to start the day here. Should be returning to the 50's today, 60's tomorrow. Yesterday was a beautiful day despite only getting up to 40°, sunny and no wind. The rain chance for Monday has been removed from the forecast, so it will probably rain!

I did the postponed weekly grocery trek yesterday to a nearly empty store. Nothing like 20° outside to keep the crowds down. Shelves were somewhat empty and there were restock carts blocking parts of most aisles. So they had the stuff but were unable to get it on the shelves. Exceptions were the products that distributors themselves restocked, bread/tortillas, soft drinks, chips, beer and some deli products. The produce, deli and meat departments were also well stocked by store employees. These three departments are real stand-outs in this store. Prices were considerably higher all the way around. As an aside, the baggers in this store will take your stuff out to the car if asked, but I have never taken advantage of this. Gas here is still under $3.00/gal.
I do not shop at the local Aldi as they tend to be rather snobbish there.

Sad reading about the passing of Meat Loaf. While I wasn't a big fan of his, a lot of others were. I didn't dislike him.

Worked a bit on the property taxes yesterday,mainly reviewing them, then paid them. My property tax bill was $150 less for 2021 than it was for 2020! I'll take it. $791 for 15 acres, a 1500 sq ft house with 4 bedrooms, and the 800 sq ft train shed. I get dinged big time on the train shed since it is not under the agricultural exemption like 14 acres, the homestead exemption for the house and 1 acre, or the property tax freeze for the taxpayer being over 65. I paid online with the Amex card which gives me cash back, and I'll pay that off before any interest accrues.
Regarding taxes, my wife finally made the decision to retire from H&R Block this season even though she spent time during recuperation in maintaining her accreditation. No pressure from me either way. We don't need the extra money. They will call her once the farms and foreign income clients start rolling in since no one else in that office can do those returns.

Thanks for the comments and likes yesterday for the photos of the goings on outside the tobacco store; OB Ken, Smudge, Mikey, Sherrel, Justin, Patrick, Moermusic, James, Chad, Hughie, Tom O, Curt, Karl, Tom, Rick, Louis.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I was able to resume some modeling. I mainly did some more ballasting and ground cover. No pictures of it yet, but soon. Meanwhile here's a little something else from the town of Jamestown. Bruckner Woodworking before scenery.

Troy -

So I began rotating in a bowl of oatmeal every few mornings instead of my normal cup of yogurt.

Yogurt - I don't eat it, but my wife really likes the Two Good brand.

Smudge - While those ScaleTrains locos are a bit pricey, they are well worth it. They run very well right out of the box and the detailing is phenomenal. I just wish that they were around 20 years ago when I was building my fleet of locos.
Tom O - ScaleTrains is going to announce a four axle loco at the Amherst show next weekend, their first one.
Mikey -

Willie- the gent and girl in the alley of the pictures you shared is a good example of wondering where it is on your layout.

Bottom center.
Different angle, bottom right.

Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend. Stay safe and warm

 

[Smudge617]

Good Morning gang!!

11° when I started the truck this morning. Got to work and pulled into the shop and tried to wash off the road sale and bird droppings and the water ran right off the cab and the hood, but froze to the tonneau cover! And the water was warm! 10 minutes later the truck had warmed up to the point where it could be washed normally. Now it sits in the shop shiny and dry for the next 5 hours. No precip til Tuesday, so it should stay nice til then.



Mikey, That's funny!!

You do know warm or hot water freezes quicker than cold, right?

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Morning from here where it is 47F looking for 71F later with clesar, sunny skies.
YES, FRANCINE, I will have a large coffee and wait till the sun comes up for breakfast.

OBKEN - Nice photos of OWEN tower, and memories to go with them. That looks to be a Buick in the picture - Would that be correct? My dad had a Cheby P/U like that - yes, good memories.

On the grocery bag front ... CA wanted to do away with the litter caused by all the plastic bags, so now we do not havbe as many bags on the roads - just larger ones that last longer!
The Spousal Unit has a car full of bags which she adds a few more too each time she goes grocery shopping. An absolute mental block of remembering to take a handful with her into the store!

MICKY, That's very funny (well, maybe NOT) about the romance department. The Spousal Unit never fails to remind me to leave a generous tip and I always remind her that my tip is based on service! between 8-20%+.