Running Bear's May 2022 Coffee Shop


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Hello fellow ferroequinologists!

Trip to home depot concluded. 35 bags of mulch, 2 4x8 sheets of 5mm underlayment, 1 4x8 sheet of 11/32nds BC plywood, 2 bags of solar salt, 23 inch blind for the bathroom window, 14 packs of veggie seeds and 10 veggie plants. What a load! Wifey has planted the plants already, I wrestled the wood downstairs along with the salt. The mulch can stay on the trailer for now, grandson wants to help spread it like he did last year.

Arlington, will make the trip soon. Wife's older brother is there, Air Force Major, call sign 2Dogs. I never met the man, he passed before we started dating, but to hear how his sisters speak of him he was one heck of a guy. Not lost in the line of duty, fell out of a canoe and drowned, night fishing by himself.

From the archives, Main Street is a busy place!

the vws are here!.jpg
 
Hi Guy's

Been a few post's today, had to skim through a few, really rushed through, so sorry if I missed your post.
Last day at work today, now have a week off, hoped to get some train/layout work done, but alas, not to be.

Had a phone call yesterday to say my ex SIL husband had died in his sleep, only 45, wasn't even ill as far as we know, so rushing my eldest daughter off down to London to catch a flight to South Africa, this time of night should be an easy 7-8 hour round trip for me. I was going to go as well, but could only get one ticket on this flight, next available is tomorrow night, and that will be too late to attend the funeral (my ex wife was South African Indian, so 24 hrs from death to cremation is the maximum allowed in the Hindi religion). So that's a downer for me for the start of my holiday,

Got other things to deal with this week anyway, that I booked early last week, have to got to my local Ford dealer tomorrow at 07.30 to get a new code for my stereo, previous owner threw out the owners manual, so I don't know the security code for it, have to have that done because the garage that fixed my gearbox (under warranty) disconnected the battery. Then to a local auto paint supplier to have matching paint for my car made, then down to a Auto wheel refurbish, found my spare tyre has a flat spot in the rim, hopefully get that fixed, if not, need to source either a replacement for it, or purchase 5 new alloy rims.

Wednesday, having a new windscreen, as it's got a chip and it's spreading, and being a heated windscreen, I daren't leave it like that

Thursday having reversing sensors fitted, and two new tyres plus a vehicle service.

Friday I'm off to the coast to see my sister for the first time in 3 years, come back Saturday.

Sunday, sleep, laundry, shopping, and more sleep.

Monday, back to the grindstone called work, think I'll get a rest then too.

On the good side,

I've purchased that Scaletrains EMD SD45, (Yes I know I said I wasn't buying it, but dammit, it's a Scaletrains).
Proto 2000, EMD SD60 Demonstrator, a R I GP9, and SD40-2,
Athearn, SD70M Demonstrator, and a Dash 9 Demonstrator.
Bachman, GP30 Demonstrator and PRR GP35,
2X Roundhouse 3 bay PRR Hoppers.
And a Lifelike GP18 for spare parts.

The SD60 & 70 and the Dash 9 are from your side of the pond, so will be a few weeks before they arrive, think nearly everything else is waiting to be picked up from my local Post Office.

I am now, officially, a broken man, in that I'm now totally broke. :)
 
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Good evening Shop Dwellers!

Just a heads-up, this post is a tad long-winded. Those of you who have had problems getting to sleep, maybe reading the following in its entirety will do the trick!

Haven't had much extra time to type-up posts here, because I've been deeply engrossed in a project that was both time-consuming and highly unpleasant, and I wanted to take advantage of the 3-day weekend to tackle it and move on. I'm talking about the upgrade of the RR crossing flasher controller at the far end of the "visible" part of the layout, an area called Brook Park.

First, a bit of background: The original flasher control system was leftover from the mid-2000's when I built my first layout, and the technology was quite crude. The LEDs only flashed if a train was between the across-track sensors; there was no delayed cutoff of the flash after the train had passed. And sometimes cars with a high center of gravity (like tank cars) would fail to completely block the IR beam that went across the rails, so the flashers would temporarily go dark.

The worst thing, however, was the fact that separate external sensor circuits were needed for each direction of movement (north or south). This was the only way for me to prevent unwanted flashing when a northbound train would pass the faraway southbound sensors (and vice-versa). As a result, I needed to install a toggle switch to coincide with whatever direction a train was moving:

ToggleNorthSouth-Removed.jpg


Running in lone-wolf mode, the switch wasn't a major problem; but during group op sessions it became the bane of my existence!😖 Even though I always pointed it out to first-time guest operators, in most cases they simply didn't bother with the extra step and they wound up ignoring it - and I honestly couldn't blame them.

In 2016 I discovered what I'd been missing when I installed another grade crossing near the steel mill, using an Azatrax controller with sensor circuitry and flash control all on a single PC board. This system could automatically sense the direction a train was moving and activate the flashers accordingly; it also had a 30-second delayed shutoff when a train passed the faraway sensor but stopped before reaching the second one by the road (a common scenario with passenger trains stopping at a station). This also allowed the running of super-short trains, like work trains or loco consists running light.

Finally I determined I absolutely had to get an Azatrax unit for the flashers at the Brook Park crossing. The controller kit - the PC board plus four sets of sensors - cost ~$70 plus shipping. I procrastinated on installing it, because I dreaded the hours of crouching under the layout and working among the rats nest of existing wires associated with the old flash controller plus its two separate PC boards [for the sensors]. At first I wanted to preserve the existing circuitry, so I'd still have it if there were problems with the new system. But when I saw how confusing that mess of wires would be to work around, I decided to just rip out all the old wiring and have an uncluttered work area.

I spent all afternoon Saturday just snipping and ripping the old controller wires; after Mass on Sunday I drilled holes for the new sensors and ran the wires to the Azatrax board. This morning I finished installing the last pair of sensors, turned on the power, and test-ran a 5-car train thru the crossing - first southbound and then northbound. Everything worked - woohoo! 🍾 Now I just need to take a break to decompress, then declutter the layout surface and camouflage the sensor posts.

Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!
 
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Nice day around here - Temp of 79 high (perfect) with a clear sky and light breezes.

Memorial Day is not a happy day for me!
Lost a cousin in Desert Storm due to friendly fire,
Lost 2 friends in Vietnam - one is on the Medal of Honor wall at the Pentagon,
Lost an Uncle serving Army Air Force somewhere over Germany.

GUY - Saved your photo ... That is some really fine running gear!
P.S. Your truck looks good too!

JOE - Very nice pic that you have been showing the last few days!

Hughie -- That is very much a sad tale of your loss!

Ranch Wars are still on going, but the Spousal Unit is not a player - so it's just the youngest sibling having a tantrum.
Why, no one knows because the wife decided that she didn't care anymore and gave back the teaset to the crybaby even though she had followed the rules of the division.
 
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Salvaged another locomotive today.
I had an Athearn SD70-M that has been deadlined for a couple years. Seems I recall a problem with the truck power pickup. Fixed that but then had to scrounge for the coupler pockets and mounting screws.
All better now with a Soundtrax decoder and back in service. It pulls the dummy MTH locomotive real easy.

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Good morning all!
55F in Libby
75F in Ruther Glen VA
Hope y'all had a great and resting Memorial Day. God is still walking with our fallen.
Found a place on I40 that looks to be some sort of slab mine. Has giant holes in the cliff face for entry and exit. Most of the cars sitting are gons so not exactly sure about any of it. Should have some time on the way back to Olive Branch to stop for a few shots.
Time will tell!
Later
 
Morning all,

70° and cloudy with rain and thunderstorms expected. Flood watches already posted for the area.

I was on earlier but didn't have time to post. Already at the office, where the fun and games begin. Going to be a busy week as they gave me yesterday, but I still have 40+ hours of work to get done this week. No early day Friday as I have mandatory active shooter training after hours. So looks like I'm still going to work 40 hours with the holiday. Oh well, money is money. It all spends (usually faster than I can earn it).

BBL
 
Well, not a good start to my holiday, just got back from the Ford dealer, with the code for the stereo unit, :) but minus the car, ☹️seems it's developed a major oil leak, and the pipes for the gearbox are leaking too, so left it with them to investigate what the cause is, hopefully nothing serious, but will have to wait till tomorrow to actually find out.🙃
 
Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 75° here. Thundershowers not expected here until Thursday. Incessant winds are still present, but at a bit lower level.

I am headed in this morning for a pre-op for the angioplasty tomorrow. Blood draw and Covid test are among the goings-on. I don't know what else but I have been told to bring a list of all of my medications/dosages. I am sure that's so they can charge me overpriced hospital drug charges if they screw up and have to keep me. Other than a colonoscopy, I haven't had surgery since 1968 when I had my tonsils removed. On the one hand I dread it but because it removes a whole day from activities here on the estate. On the other hand, it should be a health improvement maybe. Local anesthesia only and should be out in the early afternoon. There's still a certain apprehension.

The garden was fruitful yesterday, Besides picking five heads of broccoli and harvesting half of the onions, I picked five jalapeno peppers from two plants. I'll pick green beans when I get home this afternoon.
I did get to mowing the SW corner of the yard yesterday, well most of it. I was concerned about overheating the mower - at least that's my excuse. I really just wanted to get into the pool.

Thanks for the comments and reactions regarding the cardstock grocery store posted yesterday; Guy, Moermusic, Rick, Louis, Tom O, Karl, Sherrel, Smudge, OB Ken, Curt, Chad, Joe, IB Ken, Patrick, Mikey.

While I did spend some time in the train shed yesterday, I did not start my latest project yet. I mainly aired out the loco fleet making many runs from staging yard to staging yard, and some back. No cantankerous equipment to report. I was very careful when laying track and don't normally experience any track issues. I hate stopping trains to rerail equipment. I have to make an observation regarding ScaleTrains locos, man are they really sweet running (and looking) engines. Definitely superior to my 20 year old Genesis, P2K and Kato units.
I took no pictures yesterday, so I will search the archives this morning.
Standing next to Mick's Food Market is the Mayflower Cafe. It's a Smalltown USA structure marketed as Madlene's Deli.
IMG_8271.JPG

IMG_8272.JPG

On my future project list, I have replacing the lady on the left with a different figure just because I don't think that she fits just right. There's no shortage of replacements and I have a better place for her.

Guy -
McLeod said:
The photo is an indication of how long it's taking to get trains running. I believe the pic was taken two winters ago.
Click to expand...
I can relate to that feeling. I had to endure four years of not running when I started dismantling the old layout and before I had enough benchwork to run in the new train shed. Even then it was just 9' back and forth. I kept the interest up by building models and painting figures at the dining room table.
Troy - Glad to see that you are able to find layout time again.
Jeff - Have a safe trip tomorrow.

Today is National Save Your Hearing Day. It's a little late for me as mine started going almost 30 years ago; the result of too much power equipment, a factory environment, but mostly too much loud rock & roll music at concerts and with headphones in my younger days. Yep! Front row seats at concerts were great at the time, but the effects are now everlasting.
Everyone have a great day, the last one of May.
 
Went to an Arby's yesterday to try their new sandwich, the Wagyu. Really great sandwich. I would rate that just below the top of the stack Fuddruckers burger.
Another lazy day here in Virginia. I think I'll go into town this afternoon to see the movie, Maverick. Box of popcorn, soda and ear plugs because it's pretty loud despite my extensive hearing loss.
After that, some train time in the cool basement to run the TOFC train I've been doing some tuning on. Seems the couplers were getting out of specs and causing uncouplings in a few places around the layout. Lots of fine tuning over the last week. Taking the slop out of the couplers so they don't have up and down play. Shims on the trucks to adjust height. Still found some plastic couplers in the group. I thought I had swapped them all out for the metal Kadee couplers.
 
Good morning all! 74 degrees on the way up to 90 with sun.

Had a nice restful weekend for sure. Went out for our anniversary a few days late on Saturday. Got to watch Indy and Charlotte races on Sunday. Yesterday, I grilled out bbq pork chops and my wife fixed her awesome potato salad and a great strawberry dessert. Too the side-by-side out for some fun in the early evening and spent time driving trails in our woods. My daughter, son-in-law and grandson have been doing a lot of work out there lately making some nice trails. We had some guys logging our woods a few years ago and they left it in a terrible mess. Glad my daughter's family has been making it better. Finished the day working in the garden.

Going in late to work today because I have an appointment with my diabetes doctor this morning. Nothing much else going on. Hope you all have a great day!
 
Good Morning!

Jack Frost is out playing this fine morning. 37F, with the sun rising to burn the frost off.
We knew the frost was coming, so the wife went out to 'pots and pan' as many of her plants as she could:
JackFrost_05-31-2022.JPG

Plus, she was smart enough to put all her valuable potted flowers in the shed. They'll be ok. We are in zone 3b, so frost is typical for early June.

Willie - As soon as I can get my layout wired, I'll be able to run trains 11' point to point through the yard. That should fuel further interest to get more layout done. - That's why I'm building trucks and stuff. I need to keep moving around to keep interest high. Becoming bored with something usually kills the joy.

Curt - I didn't say anything, but, I really enjoyed the photos you posted the other day. Well done!

Sherrel - Don't apologize so much. You're starting to sound like a Canadian.

I've got to run off and auger in some fence posts. It's supposed to reach 70 today, too. I'm going to cook out there.

Have a good one!
 
Good morning from windy and wet Wisconsin. The brief raindrops drove me indoors from the south facing deck. On and off during the day we should or could receive some rain. Around 5 though the weather app says 75%+ chance of T-storms.

I have to return some lumber to HD and not really looking forward to that. I will be looking for some 1/2” plywood for backing my structures to be built. Terry wants a new hose as she created last Fall new planting beds alongside the driveway for her flowers. They are in an area that the water system does not reach and the cost to add on far surpasses buying a hose. But …

I should be back after my afternoon nap

enjoy your day
TomO
 
D&J RailRoad said:
Salvaged another locomotive today.
I had an Athearn SD70-M that has been deadlined for a couple years. Seems I recall a problem with the truck power pickup. Fixed that but then had to scrounge for the coupler pockets and mounting screws.
All better now with a Soundtrax decoder and back in service. It pulls the dummy MTH locomotive real easy.

View attachment 146680
Click to expand...


Them SD70-M Flare sides are hard to come by right now......I have been looking for a while now.....
 
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