Running Bear's August 2022 Coffee Shop

[Boris]

Interesting. I have not done any research but most of the reports I've seen of EV fires were not related to when charging. They seemed to have to do with battery chemistry and contaminants in the batteries making the chemistry unstable. Probably a lot of different reasons for EV fires.

NAFP data is inconclusive, but just monitoring alarms by type, there appears to be a major increase in car fires on driveways of family homes, that extend to the garage, or involve a car parked in the garage. In the past,most car fires were arson to destroy evidence / get out from under the bill / collect the insurance type fires in remote areas of cities. Now, I'm seeing a different type of car fire, in stable suburban neighborhoods. Nothing to back up my observation yet, but the insurance industry closely tracks incidents of this nature.

 

[NYC_George]

We have a winner. Looks like the false bottom sump trap over one of the tunnels (can't remember which one).

First thing I thought of when I saw those pics. Slosh some water in there and his wife will never realize he's dug an escape tunnel out the train room.

My wife can't wait until I leave for my annual Myrtle Beach Golf vacation in 2 weeks. No tunnel to escape needed. She says when are you leaving again?
George

 

[bnsf971]

NAFP data is inconclusive, but just monitoring alarms by type, there appears to be a major increase in car fires on driveways of family homes, that extend to the garage, or involve a car parked in the garage. In the past,most car fires were arson to destroy evidence / get out from under the bill / collect the insurance type fires in remote areas of cities. Now, I'm seeing a different type of car fire, in stable suburban neighborhoods. Nothing to back up my observation yet, but the insurance industry closely tracks incidents of this nature.

The Chevy Bolt has been a nightmare, under almost constant recalls for fire danger from the battery
GM has advised all owners to park their Bolts outdoors, the last time I checked it was at least 75 feet from any building, due to the fire risk.

 

[TLOC]

The Chevy Bolt has been a nightmare, under almost constant recalls for fire danger from the battery
GM has advised all owners to park their Bolts outdoors, the last time I checked it was at least 75 feet from any building, due to the fire risk.

That’s terrible. In cases that bad they need to recall the car! Lemons in Wisconsin are covered under some goofy law for replacement

 

[chadbag]

That’s terrible. In cases that bad they need to recall the car! Lemons in Wisconsin are covered under some goofy law for replacement

There are recalls on them. (I don't have one but have been reading about it in the last few weeks)

Site Maintenance

www.chevrolet.com

 

[MikeInHubCity]

Good morning interweb modelers.

California windmills and solar farms seemed to be out in the arid parts. SoCal has a lot of Arid parts.

Here in the lower Midwest, Wind farms are sprouting on a LOT of farm land. Crops can grow around them and the access roads the crews need. A gaming friend and his family grow a LOT of Orville Redenbacher's popcorn, and they're happy for the dollars the lease to the wind farms brings in. Guaranteed cash vs crop uncertainty for the little bit of land they lose out of each field.

And, it looks like California is starting to explore putting solar panels over the concrete water channels/canals or whatever they are called. The shade from the panels will reduce evaporation and generate power. My PhD rocket scientist friend is very into EVs and solar tech. She flagged this story on her FB page. Evidently, India has already been doing this with their canals and solar. View attachment 150846



My PhD rocket science friend is also watching the E-shipping tech getting closer and closer... Here's a story she posted as interesting:

EV shipping is set to blow internal combustion engines out of the water

Modeling 5 to 10 GWh electrified containerships, researchers find that 40% of routes today could be electrified in an economically viable manner, before considering environmental costs.

pv-magazine-usa.com

My high school alma mater in South Jersey has solar panels covering the entire school's roof, as well as over the courtyard outside the cafeteria, the sidewalk next to the student parking lot & the walkway at the entrance to the athletic fields from the student parking.

 

[MikeInHubCity]

I cannot recall the last Walmart visitation, maybe b4 retirement inn2014

Walmart is our pharmacy source, as well as our primary grocery option. Then again, MBH has worked in the same store for the past 14 years, right around the time she transferred to UWSP.

 

[MikeInHubCity]

That’s terrible. In cases that bad they need to recall the car! Lemons in Wisconsin are covered under some goofy law for replacement

WI's lemon law requirements include defects in the first year and before the warranty expires and either: dealer failed to fix the same defect 4 times or the vehicle was out of service for 30+ due to said defect(s).

 

[MikeInHubCity]

On the way home from my vision therapy appointment today, Angela(MBH) drove past the south side of CN’s Stevens Point yard.

 

[troyphoto]

Well howdy there, future EV drivers, and Willie et al in Texas.

It's Troy again

night of thunderstorms and rain. We rode out the first wave (a thing wafer of a wave) right before heading out for pizza yesterday. We lost a few tree branches in the neighborhood. A few fresh ones, and a lot of already dead and snapped ones that got caught high enough up in last month's storms to not fall.

But, on the way back from Pizza, noticed a couple of gents up on the roof of a nearby ranch house. Looked like half the tall maple had split and fallen on his home. Hoping no one was injuring and damage was cosmetic only. He had a lot of mature trees on his property.

I checked Weatherbug this morning since I need to do the 1.5hour trip to get mom to her cardiologist. WB might be confused. Look at the chance of rainfall graph at the bottom:

There is a trough at Zero percent
Then it climbs to Zero percent a bit higher
then it levels out to Zero percent

My guess is we're playing around in the under 5%, but it rounds down. Still, maybe put a emoji there?

Ok, back to your regular cuppa coffee. Someone tell Flo to change out the half and half. This batch is at or beyond the freshness date.

 

[kbkchooch]

The Chevy Bolt has been a nightmare, under almost constant recalls for fire danger from the battery
GM has advised all owners to park their Bolts outdoors, the last time I checked it was at least 75 feet from any building, due to the fire risk.

Indeed it has been due to defective batteries from GMs supplier. Swapping out the battery is an all day affair.
Not to be deterred General Morons is still planning to release electric Silverados, Equinoxes , Trailblazers, and an electric Camaro replacement.
I can’t wait,,,,,,,,,,to retire.

 

[OBTC 1909]

Good morning all! 66 and very humid heading for 83 and very humid. Nothing much to report from here for today but the weekend will be busy.

The upcoming weekend should be fun. The annual Labor Day festivities in Palestine, IL will include again this year the Crawford County Model Railroaders modular layout in the Palestine High School gym. We've been doing that for 4 or 5 years now and people love to come see us. Planning to unbox some of my stuff and give it a run for the first time in a long time. I don't own any modules myself right now but I'd like to build one or two someday. Our setup is always a big hit with the kids and their parents. We'll be putting it all together Friday evening and then running trains Saturday and Sunday. It's usually miserably hot in the gym so that takes some of the fun away but it's still well worth it to go. I'll post some pictures next week.

Other than that, same old song and dance. Hope you all have a great day!

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Here's today's poop!

Sunny and very warm. Afternoon breezes, high of about 96°F.
Looks as if we will get to triple digits by the end of the week.

Maybe not in the big birds, but the pilots of the single engine Cessna's landing on the grass runways around me skew a lot of the time.

Same principles apply to the little ones as the big ones

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Very humid in Virginia this morning.
I stacked a couple dozen pieces of firewood, the sweat is pouring off me. Glasses fog very easy. Tough to see phone to post.

 

[troyphoto]

One of the few times I had to fly in a two-seater plane for my newspaper job, I remember the pilot looking at the wind sock, and saying "Let's give it a try." IIRC: I was going up to get some photos of a tornado's path through a rural part of our coverage area. More debris and crop/plant damage, fortunately.

I should have had second thoughts but I was young and adventurous. Up we went, I got the aerial photos I needed of the path.

As we were on approach to the small local airport, the pilot looked at the controls and muttered, "We're exceeding the maximum crosswind for landing this plane.

Still, he landed without incident, though I do remember not being pointed directly at the end of the runway for a few seconds.

I'll leave the flying to the experts. I just take the photos and word the words

 

[troyphoto]

And, local news showed this. Small rural community off I-69 in Indiana, just south of the Michigan state line.

They're about a 45-minute drive for me. I didn't know they were there, but I'm looking forward to a road trip next year. Might take the wife up for a fun anniversary night celebration.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from 60f degrees in So. Central Wisconsin. Heading to 77 and for the 3rd day in a roll I woke at 6:45 instead of 5:45 which is good. It’s been too nippy to walk at 6AM anyway. I will do the pool this morning.

The granddaughter turns 11 tomorrow but we will celebrate with a cake at their place this evening.

I am in the starting phase of a 9 car weathering project of 2 bay hoppers. I have added it to my weathering rolling stock a Continous thread over in the painting and weathering forum if interested.

I returned the Spectrum equipment yesterday and found out that they did not turn my service off on the 23rd as per the phone calls I was required to make and did. I also had the lady‘s name I talked to and she gave me the instructions where to bring the equipment. I told the guy at the counter I will not pay the $114.68 and his comment was I really don’t care but we will eventually take you to court. I said have a good day.

enjoy the day

 

[TLOC]

And, local news showed this. Small rural community off I-69 in Indiana, just south of the Michigan state line.

They're about a 45-minute drive for me. I didn't know they were there, but I'm looking forward to a road trip next year. Might take the wife up for a fun anniversary night celebration.

View attachment 150898

Yeah I‘d say they are done for the year.

We actually have 2 outdoor theaters within 30 miles of us. They use the radio in the car instead of hanging it on the window. Business I read picked up pretty good during the 2 Summers of Covid. Terry said she’d go but no way was she getting in the back seat with me. Something about an ambulance to get us out!

 

[logandsawman]

Good morning all,

56° and sunny in East Central Minnesota. Weather forecast shows only sun for the next seven days, however I am skeptical.

Troy - I enjoy seeing your figure painting projects. I need a better magnifying glass to paint my figures better. It is one of those details I have not got around to

Solar, Wind, Nuclear power, Electric car batteries - we still don't know how we are going to process/dispose of the "leftovers". Someone elses problem? Maybe we will fly them to Mars. This is the saddest commentary on technology.

Sump Pump - we put ours in a basket in the old house. Big plastic thing gets buried in the ground, basket keeps gravel from getting into pump. Lots of water in Minnesota, most folks have a drain network around the interior of the basement to channel water into the basket.

On a lighter note, have this photo of box car at sawmill office building:

Everything fits in there just perfect. After glueing down stuff, I was concerned stuff would "hit". Lucky this day.

more later, Dave LASM

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!
85F plus in the day and cooling down to +/-50F at night. I'm preferring the night temps by a long shot. It's comfortable at night.

Mike - Fine prototype photos. Lucky to find those GP-38's. I see you have as much a problem with fences, as I do with utility poles.

We are going new automobile shopping today. The wife wants a new SUV as the last vehicle we will probably ever buy. I'm leaning toward Japanese and gas only. I'll keep the truck.

It might be a little while before I can get back to the modelling desk and layout. Far and away to much going on this summer. I might have another fence to build, and hunting season is just around the corner. Probably won't be coming into the shop every day until the snow fly's. Everything that I was working on seems to be on hold, for lack of enough daylight and energy.

Here's a couple of telephoto shots I collected yesterday. It's the same switcher pair at either end of the local staging area. CN 2673 is a C44-9W, and CN 5772 is an SD75 I.

Plus, I don't know if anyone is interested in MOW equipment, but, this carriage mounted crane was parked in the local yard. I believe the crane is quite old, and still in use.

Troy - I didn't think drive-in theatres existed anymore. All up here are gone now, but, when I was 17yrs old, it was the weekend all-nighter thing to do.

Willie - Thankyou for the link to the background flats.

TomO - Nice looking railcar boxes. Are we going to get to see the railcars inside?

Curt - Moving right along on the layout. Well done! I suspect we'll be seeing ground cover come the next photo.

James - I wouldn't pay that much for a locomotive either. I'm already mentally suffering because I'm paying $270+ per the GP9's that I ordered from Rapido.

Well folks; things to do. See ya'll soon!