Running Bear's December 2022 Coffee Shop


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I find this photo odd. The NH didn't have search light signals that I know of?
Swal

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George: Actually, thought that was a photo of a well detailed layout, and not the real thing. Signal on the left somewhat resembles the CNJ signal, while the signal on the right resembles signals used on NJ Transit. GG1 in photo looks like a model, with two safety bars across the window.
 
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Tom Nelligan Photo - PC 4973 @ Milford CT with GCT - NH Commuter run in August 1970.
 
Good morning (actually 1pm but I just finished a late breakfast even though I was up before 9 -- trying to make sure I don't miss any bills while away and helping do a preliminary packing so we know how much room we have to bring more groceries and other stuff back). 48F (I've been looking at the weather in Utah -- more rain and snow and frozen mix and cold and more snow next week :( Need good weather to get the house back on track).

Today is mostly some shopping and organizing day and a rest day from our last 2 days of long travels. Tomorrow (but maybe today) I will go to Osaka to a store that has a ton of model trains and offers tax free and also it seems a Visa discount (tourists only) (the sign says it does and they did last time we were here). I need to get a few things. I really need to get a lot of things but the budget says only a few things.

I'll post pics of yesterdays trains not already posted and also of our trip to Dejima in Nagsaki. Dejima was an island (since incorporated in reclaimed land) that was the Dutch outpost in Japan during the Edo time of the Shoguns when Japan had an isolationist policy and forbad foreign trade and foreigners from coming to Japan and Japanese from leaving Japan (early 1600-mid 1850s until Perry). The exceptions were limited trade with China in Nagasaki and then the Dutch outpost in Nagasaki at Dejima island. The Shogun still wanted foreign knowledge and goods to come to Japan but in a controlled (by him) way so the Dutch were given the exclusive monopoly to import and export stuff from Japan during this time but they were limited to this island and not allowed off except for limited engagements (and later yearly trips to pay the Shogun respects in Edo (now Tokyo) and it was later loosened in the 1800s before Perry and they were allowed to build a hospital and stuff like that in Nagasaki. Anyway we visited the Dejima as they are trying to recreate it and the museum buildings and exhibits. It was interesting. A main export from Japan early was silver and gold but later copper became the biggest export. And porcelain and other ceramics. The Dutch East India company ran the concession until 1799 or thereabouts when the Dutch government took over and the company disbanded. They had already been doing heavy trade in China for porcelain and ceramics and brought examples to Japan to have the Japanese kilns produce similar stuff. So Europe was flooded with Asian porcelain in the 1600-1700s from China and later Japan. But then England and then Holland came up with a way to "print" on porcelain before firing using copper plates so that you could make the same design cheaply over and over. And this "printed ware" stuff from England and Holland became popular in Japan so ceramics were also imported into Japan. Japan did a ton of trade with Europe and the W Hemisphere during this exclusionary period, mostly through the Dutch and to a limited extent through the Chinese.
 
Yesterday, as I mentioned, we went to Dejima, the island that the Dutch were limited to during Japans exclusionary period from the 1600s to the mid 1800s.

This street car was one of the ones we rode to Dejima. We rode a few as we went from the hotel to the station to put our stuff in a coin locker, and then another to backtrack to Dejima, and another back to the station to leave. I'm trying to find an N-scale version of this before I leave (or the older model we rode from the day before) since I've ridden them for real.

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This is a store room for storing copper bars for export from Japan in the 1700/1800s. These cases contained bars (more like rods) of about 300g each. Each case was about 60kg.

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While they were digging the area for figuring out where the extent of the island was and looking for the various artifacts and archeological items, they found this revolver and a bunch of ammo. All corroded. Unfortunately the sign describing it was only in Japanese (most of the displays also had English).

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A photo opportunity spot:

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They build a miniature version of the island to show you what it looked like. It was about 15k sq meters and fan shaped. The make up of the island changed over the centuries as fire happened and buildings were rebuilt due to fire, age, or other reasons. I think this was a late 1700s or early 1800s version. (The full scale greenish building upper left is a western style building built after Japan opened up and the Dutch no longer were confined to the island and maybe even after that had started to fill in parts of the harbor making it no longer an island, but it was a western style building built and used by western interests. )

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The buildings on the island were built by Japanese in Japanese style, but the Dutch lent their own influence on the buildings. Japanese use windows and doors framed in wood and covered in paper. In this building, the Dutch had taken the paper out of the wood frame (of the sliding windows on the outside of the house) and put glass in. Not shown but talked about is how they also used the Japanese printed paper used for doors and stuff inside and used it as wall paper (and even on the ceilings in some cases) to make their rooms more "home like". The Japanese found it amusing to use the paper for that reason. They also imported wall paper from Spain and Portugal and other places so rooms in various buildings used by the Dutch had both a European flavor and a Japanese flavor to their walls. In the shown building the window frames and railing over the second floor were painted in a green that was common in Holland for buildings at the time, which is also very atypical for Japan at the time. This building was living quarters above and probably some sort of store house or workshop on the first floor.

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After we left Dejima we went back to the station and got our first Shinkansen (about 30 minute ride). I took some pics but don't have them here as they look the same as the N700S of the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen "Kamome" service I posted earlier for how we got to Nagasaki. Since the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen network is not fully built (West Kyushu Shinkansen) we went to the same Takeo Onsen station as before and switched over to the "Relay Kamome" limited express that took us to the station where we caught the next Shinkansen home. This time the "Relay Kamome" was a 787 Limited Express train, a different model than we took to Nagasaki,

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We went to Shin-Tosu station and switched to our other Shinkansen there. While waiting we saw some Kyushu Shinkansen 800 trains come in. We did not ride any but I took a pic. We've ridden them once or twice in the distant past when they were new and there was only a small amount of Shinkansen track in Kyushu. The 800 series doesn't leave Kyushu, unlike the N700 (and eventually probably the N700S "Kamome") which provide Shinkansen services onto Honshu as far as Osaka. But I like the 800 and bought an n-scale of an 800 back in 2017 when I first started collecting trains.

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This is the N700 of the JR Kyushu / JR West (joint) service "Sakura" that goes all the way to Osaka and that we took almost to Osaka, getting off in Kobe.

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We took the subway from the Shinkansen on stop to Sannomiya and walked around looking for something to eat since we didn't want my sister in law to have to worry about feeding us when we finally got home. We decided on a take-out beef curry and pork cutlet set with rice that we found (no pic). Then we took the JR 321 series of the Kobe Line local service a few stops and got back on the subway home. The 321 series is close to my heart as we've been riding them since we first came to Japan and started riding JR trains for local services (mid 2000s). When we used to stay at my mother in laws in Amagasaki we'd take the 321 all the time since the express / rapids didn't stop at the Tachibana station we would get on and off at. I have 2 KATO (one full set and one basic set) JR 321 N scale trains and also a Tomix JR 321 series N scale...

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Today, as I said earlier, has mostly been a rest and organization day. We went to a dollar store (¥100 store) called Daiso (very big and all over and they also have stuff for more than ¥100 but most items are ¥100 and the more expensive things are clearly marked. We got a ton of stuff to bring back. I even bought several small C-clamps for ¥100 each for my various light weight needs for ¥100 each or about 78 cents. Unlike US dollar stores, the stuff at Daiso is good stuff.

We also bought some snacks and stuff to bring back. We need to get it preliminarily packed so we can see how much more room we have for more snacks and stuff :)

One thing I wanted to show a pic of was something I bought at a "Family Mart" convenience store in the station while waiting for our last Shinkansen. I've never had chocolate covered Pistachios and wanted to try them. They were pretty good. The pistachio flavor with a little salt mixed well with the chocolate.

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Tomorrow we'll go to Costco to get a few things to bring back (snacks and Japanese food) and then I'll head to Osaka to go to the model train store and get a few things and then the large electronics and everything store I mentioned before, Yodobashi Camera, to buy one suitcase and also a few things folks want to bring back.

Saturday and Sunday will be New Years celebrations and we'll be taking it easy. My brother in law is off through Tuesday. We'll have all sorts of food and stuff as part of the celebrations. Don't know if they will be more traditional or just good stuff. The traditional things are all things that have special meanings (like long life, luck, etc) while "just good stuff" is good food like roasts or sushi or steak or fish or whatever but without the meaning.
 
Leaving in about an hour, for the 200 mile drive home, stopping off to see my nephew on the way, been a good visit even tho' the weather has been horrible and we haven't done anything really.
Got to wait till my BIL comes back from taking their dog to the Vet, my sister has been asked to work today, (she helps out in a small corner shop near town) so she's left already.
 
Morning all,

Currently 51° and partly cloudy. Supposed to get to 55° later, so not much movement in the temp today. 3rd day of maybe I should have called in, but I actually feel better than yesterday.

Hopefully it's quiet today as I'm off tomorrow until Jan. 3rd.

BBL
 
Morning All - from "out here"!
Supposed to be 56f high today with cloudy and "chance of rain".
We are at 51f at the moment, so not too far to go on the upside.
Here's the water situation at the moment.

Precipitation​

60 Min.
Today
Month
Season
Normal
0.00"​
0.00"​
1.75"​
4.98"​
4.80"​
Season began July 1, 2022​
 
Good morning, +23°F and calm, forecast is freezing rain but temps later above freezing so roads fine now and should be fine this afternoon in east central Minnesota.

Patrick - I hope the day is easy and you can enjoy your days off!

Sherrel - you folks are right at "normal" for rainfall. I think the word they use should be "average" since normal seems to be highly subjective these days.

Gary - the build is beautiful but in my mind needs a little soot or something, I assume this building was up during Steam?

Louis - I wondered where you were yesterday I guess you don't need a note from wife with an excuse

back later, Dave LASM
 
I have really enjoyed looking at the pic and reading what's going on from all.

there is just too much for me to comment on each person, but don't think for a moment that it is not all good. Funny stories abound, great pic and travel logs, layout updates, remodel's, ect, and nice to see that most everyone seems to be holding their own healthwise.

NOW, LET'S SEE WHAT I CAN FIND THAT (OPPS) is broken today - seems the season. Oh, how about a 112 YEAR train photo?

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Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 60° this morning, maybe going up to near 70° later on. Moderate weather for the next 10 days, maybe rain on Monday but with a high temperature of 70°.

Not much to relate about yesterday, I stuck a half of a pork butt in the slow cooker and made a bunch of pulled pork. Tomorrow I will make Carnitas out of the other half. Tonight might be Texas Roadhouse since I have a $50 gift card from our 50th anniversary party back in October.
Meanwhile today is the weekly grocery trek day. I have a big list since last week was just a short one to get only necessities. Plus we ate away from home on three different days.

Thanks to all for the likes and comments regarding the swimmers and the other Christmas booty.

Speaking of Christmas booty, a late one came by USPS Tuesday.
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A series of hedgerows. Already put the first one to use.
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I continued with ground cover.
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Making a lot of headway.

Troy - Not meaning to disagree with your assessment, but it is a congressional investigation, otherwise known as a witch hunt, not a criminal one. Be prepared for many more starting in January. They are all pretty much a waste of taxpayer resources. Where did "Russia, Russia, Russia" lead us???
Swal - That's taking care of business quickly.

See y'all later. Everyone have a great day.
 
Good morning. 37°, sunny,going to 52°. No sudden old snap anticipated for a couple of weeks. My heating budget will appreciate that.

Gary: That is an awesome station.

Willie: Those hedgerows are nice, and fit in well.

Not much else to comment on. Although, I do enjoy Chad's photos from Japan. Since I will likely never get to see Japan in person, I appreciate his sharing.

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E-33s (Ex Virginian, Ex N&W, ex NH), lead Northbound manifest at Marcus Hook, Pa. Kim Piersol photo. (Sun Oil #10 plant in background).
 
Good morning from Wisconsin. A quiet house and weather wise it’s calm. 41f degrees now heading to 48. The dense fog so thick driving would be super impaired you should stay home hasn’t arrived. Yesterday the weather guessers really had the hype machine for fog going.

The LHS called said my order was in. Stopped in and no can find! Not a lost 4 mile trip though. Got an invite to a last minute Friday morning op session less then 10 miles away and another one on New Years day. But the best part is I went next door to Rosati’s and ordered take away. Chicago Italian beef sandwich dipped. No fries though… So good when I got it home.

The SIL will be here in a couple hours and we will take off then. He is more hyped to meet up with this guy then I am. But, we really need a small engine repair guy and the certified welding is a good plus. The trains in this case are secondary.

enjoy the day
 
Troy - Not meaning to disagree with your assessment, but it is a congressional investigation, otherwise known as a witch hunt, not a criminal one. Be prepared for many more starting in January. They are all pretty much a waste of taxpayer resources. Where did "Russia, Russia, Russia" lead us???
Out of curiosity, did you watch any of the J6 committee hearings? I agree that most congressional hearings are a clown show for politcal gain. This one is different. As were the Watergate hearings.

The problem is: We, the public, have little information about the background of the events of J6. Mostly, that's good, because of ongoing criminal investigations. So, any window into the background is enlightening.

(Trying to stick to the criminal side of this, and avoid the polytics)

Since Georgia's Fani Willis is bound by Grand Jury rules, her criminal investigations into the events of several phone calls to election officials are under seal. For now. As is much of what the DOJ is doing. All we can follow is the prosecutions of the various criminals (there have been very few found innocent or dismissed, and most of that few have been under judges appointed by the former guy). And the Jan 6 comittee has transcripts, and transcripts, and transcripts... Some of those are damning, and some will help the defense lawyers. That's why they bear in depth examination.

And, they're about all that we the public have right now.

So, the only two windows into the background of the Jan 6 events are Trials, pre-trial motions and findings (Jon Eastman's long and winding email trail is an excellent example...), and the trials of the OathKeepers like Elmer Stuart Rhodes and his co-defendents (several of which were in the military "stack" of camo-clad rioters moving into the Capitol. There were a lot of guilty verdicts or pleadings this past year.

So, while I agree that congress rarely does "investigations" well, I am waiting with bated breath ;) for the HBLT hearings (WaPo has excellent coverage on those emails, but that won't stop the circus from happening),

IMHO: (after watching the hearings) The J6 committee has done a fair job of investigation. They hired quite a few good former federal prosecutors to conduct the nitty gritty, several with R after their names. The exposure of the laywer shenanigans around Cassiday Hutchin's testimony sheds a lot of light on what the opposition to the criminal proceedings are doing.

In 2023, I expect we'll see Fani Willis start making indictments (Grand Jury rules are "different" in Georgia, so the process is not exactly the same as the federal process). And Special Counsel Jack Smith isn't afraid to sling subpoenas or fire off court filings/responses. This is going to be a fun year, between the clown show in the Capitol, and the way the investigations play out.
 
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