Running Bear’s July 2021 Coffee Shop
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CambriaArea51
Well-Known Member
Evening, thanks for all the likes on the hopper cars. My friend told me that 911 is going to Cumberland shop for the repairs. Trying to find out if it was in a yard that got damaged or on a siding.
McLeod
Forest Lurker
Afternoon
Ken - I really like the automotive assembly plant idea. That's a whole lot of windows to work on, but is it ever going to be worth it in the end.
Willie - Thanks for the comments in you're last post. - I used to be in business with a big mower deck (15 footer), mowing oil companies lease roads. The whole industry went down the tubes when the senior oil companies sold the fields to the juniors. It was a decent living while it lasted, though. - I believe the repair on the mower will work out just fine. I welded a-lot of AM steel onto my 15' Shulte batwing.
It so hot out there, I just thought I'd come in for a vanilla ice-cream float. 80F outside; cool for most of you, but a cooker for me.
I did drive the wife downtown for some grocery shopping. Along the way, I spied a couple of SD40's sitting idle in the local CN yard, so of course, I had to investigate. This is a handheld telephoto shot, taken as I was walking in to get a bit closer:
I managed 44 more photos once I got in there. I'll be happy to share some of them once I get them organized.
I'm glad to see SD40's have returned to handle the local switching duties. The SD 70's and 75's were just a little too new for my liking.
Me and the new dog are going to take a walk into the staging area on Thursday. Might just catch those two SD-40's at work.
Have a good one!
Ken - I really like the automotive assembly plant idea. That's a whole lot of windows to work on, but is it ever going to be worth it in the end.
Willie - Thanks for the comments in you're last post. - I used to be in business with a big mower deck (15 footer), mowing oil companies lease roads. The whole industry went down the tubes when the senior oil companies sold the fields to the juniors. It was a decent living while it lasted, though. - I believe the repair on the mower will work out just fine. I welded a-lot of AM steel onto my 15' Shulte batwing.
It so hot out there, I just thought I'd come in for a vanilla ice-cream float. 80F outside; cool for most of you, but a cooker for me.
I did drive the wife downtown for some grocery shopping. Along the way, I spied a couple of SD40's sitting idle in the local CN yard, so of course, I had to investigate. This is a handheld telephoto shot, taken as I was walking in to get a bit closer:
I managed 44 more photos once I got in there. I'll be happy to share some of them once I get them organized.
I'm glad to see SD40's have returned to handle the local switching duties. The SD 70's and 75's were just a little too new for my liking.
Me and the new dog are going to take a walk into the staging area on Thursday. Might just catch those two SD-40's at work.
Have a good one!
WILLIE - Your layout buildings look great! I figured that someone in your "neck of the woods" would be able to repair that deck! You will probably get another 25 years out of it?
CHET - Going to show that photo to my wife. She has been clamoring for us to go to Yellowstone. What's the latest for avoiding freezing type temps that I could plan on? Don't want to burst any water lines ?
CHET - Going to show that photo to my wife. She has been clamoring for us to go to Yellowstone. What's the latest for avoiding freezing type temps that I could plan on? Don't want to burst any water lines ?
I have a photo of my mother and I having a snowball fight in Yellowstone July 4th weekend…
Boris
Beach Bum
Chet: I only recall one trip "Up da River", the Inaugural of the TVLA, the Transcontinental Van train that Conrail and the Santa Fe. The ride up the Hudson is fantastic, probably more eye appealing, than via the tracks across the river on the Hudson Line. My guess, late 1987... Flew back on a Piedmont Connecting flight that followed the River, all the way from Albany to EWR, another great view of the Hudson, from a overhead perspective.
GarryCBQ
Well-Known Member
Karl and Troy... .. Unfortunately, the backhoe would requite a very long boom. The ship is at least 100 yards from the shore and on the other side of the very deep main channel. .... Latest news as of today is the "experts" are still working on a plan to move the ship.
Chet .... That's a long line of cars entering Yellowstone. You mentioned the Villages in Florida, and I know Florida traffic can be awful too. If you are wondering what to do with your classic cars, there may be some Coffee Shop Patrons willing to take them. LOL ..... So far, our area here at Land Between the Lakes is lightly populated, and that is good. ..... Your grandson is cute, and I like that caboose.
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L&N Castle
Active Member
Hello Tom. Yes I have a least 4 of the HO scale Bluford shops cabooses. They fairly accurate. William. Also to answer your question,they are rather well built.
L&N Castle
Active Member
Evening all. Hope everyone is doing well. William.
CambriaArea51
Well-Known Member
Yes they are I have 2 CSX and one Chessie System.
IronBeltKen
Lazy Daydreamer
Good evening Shop Dwellers, it's 75*F with off-and-on rain showers here in my corner of central MD. Thanks everybody for all the likes and/or comments on my Ford plant facade photos in yesterday's post; but it's getting too late so I don't have time to name any names.
Willie - isn't it great to have neighbors who are skilled welders! Glad it worked out for you. I just got my mower back from the shop today after having a damaged blade spindle replaced, so I got to mow my lawn in the 94*F heat...
* * *
My computer display has stopped spazzing-out and returned to normal for the time being, so I'm going to wait until Thursday to take time off from work and go buy a new laptop. No mrr activity for me today because, as I mentioned earlier in my comment to Willie, I got my repaired mower back today and spent the afternoon mowing my overgrown lawn. I wanted to get that done before all the T-storms hit my area.
Has anybody heard anything about this solar magnetic storm that's supposed to hit us? My wife sent me a link to some overseas news websites that are reporting on it, but I nothing about it in the local media. Supposedly it could damage satellites that are used for GPS and cell phone communications, and possibly damage the electric power grid. Oh well, if I find myself without internet or cell phone service tomorrow, at least I'll know why!
Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!
Joe, I was barely able to fit this plant into the available space, so I'm all too familiar with that Clint Eastwood signature quote from Magnum Force. If it wasn't for that chimney protruding into the center, I could have made the auto rack spurs twice as long! Your guess is correct, the auto loading scene is the main highlight of this industry. The factory buildings are all going to be "facing" walls only; since there isn't anything architecturally fascinating about auto assembly plant structures, I figured I can get away with just showing them in 2-D relief.. . .
Ken: I like what you are doing with the Roberts buildings... I have elected to take my Ford Plant site, and make it a small power plant instead, not enough room for an assembly plant, even a 1959 era before high cube one. Man has got to know his limits...
. . .
Willie - isn't it great to have neighbors who are skilled welders! Glad it worked out for you. I just got my mower back from the shop today after having a damaged blade spindle replaced, so I got to mow my lawn in the 94*F heat...
Karl - my knowledge of FMC history is not very solid, so I can't say for sure. I'm pretty sure it wasn't their Cleveland - Brook Park plant (where the muscle car engines were produced), but hopefully 90% of my guest operators won't know that either...
Guy - the windows will be the easy part, just pop-in the window frames after the walls have been painted. The brick painting is what I'm really dreading, trying to create decent-looking brickwork surrounded by the concrete "grid" lines. I could either do it by hand or by spray painting and masking, but either approach will be very time-consuming and tedious.
* * *
My computer display has stopped spazzing-out and returned to normal for the time being, so I'm going to wait until Thursday to take time off from work and go buy a new laptop. No mrr activity for me today because, as I mentioned earlier in my comment to Willie, I got my repaired mower back today and spent the afternoon mowing my overgrown lawn. I wanted to get that done before all the T-storms hit my area.
Has anybody heard anything about this solar magnetic storm that's supposed to hit us? My wife sent me a link to some overseas news websites that are reporting on it, but I nothing about it in the local media. Supposedly it could damage satellites that are used for GPS and cell phone communications, and possibly damage the electric power grid. Oh well, if I find myself without internet or cell phone service tomorrow, at least I'll know why!
Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!
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kbkchooch
"retired" conductor
More recently the C-Max and Focus and pickup trucks
Patrick
Alien Attitude.
Morning all,
Cross checking systems took longer this morning, but so far all is well. Finally!!!!
Got about 7 hours of sleep last night and feel a lot better. Work really has been hard, just stressful since I found the initial problem. Still have a slight glitch in that the SQL database backup (independent from my system backup) didn't run, so I've already contacted support. It still should be an easy fix.
Currently clear and 67° in Doo-Dah with a high today of 94°, feels like temp to be about 100°.
I do have time for a cup of coffee this AM, oh and big stack of blueberry pancakes and bacon, extra bacon, extra extra bacon. Did I ever mention I like bacon?
Cross checking systems took longer this morning, but so far all is well. Finally!!!!
Got about 7 hours of sleep last night and feel a lot better. Work really has been hard, just stressful since I found the initial problem. Still have a slight glitch in that the SQL database backup (independent from my system backup) didn't run, so I've already contacted support. It still should be an easy fix.
Currently clear and 67° in Doo-Dah with a high today of 94°, feels like temp to be about 100°.
I do have time for a cup of coffee this AM, oh and big stack of blueberry pancakes and bacon, extra bacon, extra extra bacon. Did I ever mention I like bacon?
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning All. Clear skies and 70° outside this morning. Today could reach 95°, the warmest it's been since June 16. I am still in awe regarding the cooler summer weather that we are having here. Of course the grass is growing instead of withering which means more mowing when coupled with the above average rainfall. One advantage of the very thick grass growth is that the grasshoppers are getting trapped in it and more are getting eaten by the mower. It's not being helped by the county which hasn't mowed the road easements yet this year! Overall I would estimate that the grasshopper population is about 12-15 per square yard. Not really as bad as I have seen before, but in the top ten years.
Spent all morning yesterday processing tomatoes into homemade Marinara sauce, using onions, garlic, basil and oregano from the garden. Tasty results. I'm going to have to try freezing yellow squash this year, as I am getting a whole lot more that we can eat right now. I picked 4 pounds Sunday to go with an equal amount already in the fridge, and there's a lot more coming!
I feel like having a couple of breakfast burritos this morning Flo, sausage, egg and cheese with spicy salsa.
Thanks for all of the likes, comments and suggestions yesterday; Garry, Tom O, Hughie, Karl, Chad, Gary, Patrick, Christian, Troy, Tom, Guy, Sherrel, Justin, Ken.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I worked on two fronts. On the upper level, I made the pre-cleaning visual inspection of the trackage and right of way for any loose parts that might have come off the railcars since the last cleaning. All that I found was a single Kadee coupler spring and a MU hose. The MU hose was easy to find the owner for and I replaced it with CA immediately; the coupler spring was probably replaced already so it just went into the "spring" container. For newer visitors to the Coffee Shop, this quarterly cleaning project covers about 1/8 of the layout every quarter over a two year maintenance time frame.
On the lower level in the current project area of Graham, I laid out the remaining structures to assure that all would fit as intended. This includes the cannery with it's separate steam building, two background railroad served industries and two small businesses.
That's Star Manufacturing on the left, a small appliance manufacturer made from Walther's modular walls, and a John Deere tractor distributor on the right made from DPM modular walls. John Deere was originally on a previous layout and is in need of some minor rehab.
Green Valley Foods is a Walther's kit.
Great Plains Fertilizer is a DPM kit, the name which I don't recall at the moment.
And finally just the Bicycle Shop which is also DPM modular walls.
Patrick - If you smoke any meats, that peach wood goes well with pork which I do, and poultry which I haven't tried. Gotta age it for a couple of months first. Of course it's too late now!
Karl - Thanks for reminding me about the paint. That's something that the maintenance guys at work always told me to do, although they rarely did it on company equipment. They were pretty liberal about doing welding for their and other employees stuff. I took the can of Krylon primer out immediately before re-attaching it to the tractor.
Garry -
Chet - If you're after warmer weather and less population density, come to Texas. Weather is a lot warmer and the population in the rural areas is very spread out. Loving County TX, has only 169 residents in 677 sq mi, density of 0.2/sq mi! The county courthouse is the only two story structure in the whole county! My county has a density of 44/sq mi, but nearly half of the population of 39,000 live in the county seat.
Remember the free sandwiches at Subway today. I'll get mine when I go to the tiny town of Era TX to pick up a case of beer for my neighbor for his welding work. Both located in the same convenience store, the only store in town!
Everybody have a great day.
Spent all morning yesterday processing tomatoes into homemade Marinara sauce, using onions, garlic, basil and oregano from the garden. Tasty results. I'm going to have to try freezing yellow squash this year, as I am getting a whole lot more that we can eat right now. I picked 4 pounds Sunday to go with an equal amount already in the fridge, and there's a lot more coming!
I feel like having a couple of breakfast burritos this morning Flo, sausage, egg and cheese with spicy salsa.
Thanks for all of the likes, comments and suggestions yesterday; Garry, Tom O, Hughie, Karl, Chad, Gary, Patrick, Christian, Troy, Tom, Guy, Sherrel, Justin, Ken.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I worked on two fronts. On the upper level, I made the pre-cleaning visual inspection of the trackage and right of way for any loose parts that might have come off the railcars since the last cleaning. All that I found was a single Kadee coupler spring and a MU hose. The MU hose was easy to find the owner for and I replaced it with CA immediately; the coupler spring was probably replaced already so it just went into the "spring" container. For newer visitors to the Coffee Shop, this quarterly cleaning project covers about 1/8 of the layout every quarter over a two year maintenance time frame.
On the lower level in the current project area of Graham, I laid out the remaining structures to assure that all would fit as intended. This includes the cannery with it's separate steam building, two background railroad served industries and two small businesses.
That's Star Manufacturing on the left, a small appliance manufacturer made from Walther's modular walls, and a John Deere tractor distributor on the right made from DPM modular walls. John Deere was originally on a previous layout and is in need of some minor rehab.
Green Valley Foods is a Walther's kit.
Great Plains Fertilizer is a DPM kit, the name which I don't recall at the moment.
And finally just the Bicycle Shop which is also DPM modular walls.
Patrick - If you smoke any meats, that peach wood goes well with pork which I do, and poultry which I haven't tried. Gotta age it for a couple of months first. Of course it's too late now!
Karl - Thanks for reminding me about the paint. That's something that the maintenance guys at work always told me to do, although they rarely did it on company equipment. They were pretty liberal about doing welding for their and other employees stuff. I took the can of Krylon primer out immediately before re-attaching it to the tractor.
Garry -
I wonder how they dive under a ship that's already grounded??? Maybe the solar flare will move it!
Chet - If you're after warmer weather and less population density, come to Texas. Weather is a lot warmer and the population in the rural areas is very spread out. Loving County TX, has only 169 residents in 677 sq mi, density of 0.2/sq mi! The county courthouse is the only two story structure in the whole county! My county has a density of 44/sq mi, but nearly half of the population of 39,000 live in the county seat.
Remember the free sandwiches at Subway today. I'll get mine when I go to the tiny town of Era TX to pick up a case of beer for my neighbor for his welding work. Both located in the same convenience store, the only store in town!
Everybody have a great day.
McLeod
Forest Lurker
Good Morning!
I awoke at 5am to go outside and turn on the lawn sprinkler. People's lawns are bone dry and dead yellow. I'm sure there as never been a summer so hot and rainless as this one is, in my time on this earth.
With the evening temperatures hovering in the mid-fifties, coverings are unnecessary when a person sleeps. It was 54F when I got up, and the sun will warm that up into the 80's come the afternoon. Not a pleasant summer, at all.
We have a fire-bomber base just out of town that harbors a pack of Air Tractors and often, larger four engine types. I see them coming in and going out daily. Lots of helicopters too. I know there are quite a number of fires burning.
It's nice to have morning coffee in here before the heat makes coffee sipping unmanageable.
Thank you for the likes on the photo posts I try hard to bring in. I like to bring in something that you might find interesting; kinda like show-n-tell when I was in grade school. Not everyone likes CN, but, that railway is the nature of the beast around where I live.
Here is a selection of photos that I took yesterday of an SD40-2W. I feel good about these, I'm getting better at photographing locomotives.
Engines arn't the easiest subjects to photograph. They're big and have a-lot of black and shadows in them, so the available light becomes quite an issue.
I've got more bad photos of engines, than I have good ones. I've backed up a file that has hundreds of my CN locomotive photos in it, along with a multitude of rolling-stock and CN scenic pics. - I take these photos more to document history than try to be a photographic artist.
Joe - That 'River Train' photo you posted is beautiful. That's the type of photo I hope to take. Sadly, I'm old enough now where I have a harder time getting out into the bush where the pretty trestles are in the hills. Wishing I'd started taking rail photos when I was younger.
Chet - That's a fine, strong looking grandson. Good photo. -- If that aerial photo shows the entrance gates to Yellowstone, I wouldn't be overly enthused to visit. I prefer the lonely forest that has no people in it.
Ken - I can't see that a 'solar magnetic storm' will be much worse than the rainless heat that's happening today; not unless it's some alien force field like they would depict in a Hollywood movie. If it brings in little green monsters, I'm going to shoot before I offer them cookies.
Willie - Considering you're weather descriptions compared to mine, which seem reversed to what it should be, it makes one wonder if the earth is tilting on it's axis. Perhaps we did screw up the ozone layer.
That's all I have for today! Going down to get my 2nd dose this morning, so I'll see if there is any trains down there.
Have a good one!
I awoke at 5am to go outside and turn on the lawn sprinkler. People's lawns are bone dry and dead yellow. I'm sure there as never been a summer so hot and rainless as this one is, in my time on this earth.
With the evening temperatures hovering in the mid-fifties, coverings are unnecessary when a person sleeps. It was 54F when I got up, and the sun will warm that up into the 80's come the afternoon. Not a pleasant summer, at all.
We have a fire-bomber base just out of town that harbors a pack of Air Tractors and often, larger four engine types. I see them coming in and going out daily. Lots of helicopters too. I know there are quite a number of fires burning.
It's nice to have morning coffee in here before the heat makes coffee sipping unmanageable.
Thank you for the likes on the photo posts I try hard to bring in. I like to bring in something that you might find interesting; kinda like show-n-tell when I was in grade school. Not everyone likes CN, but, that railway is the nature of the beast around where I live.
Here is a selection of photos that I took yesterday of an SD40-2W. I feel good about these, I'm getting better at photographing locomotives.
Engines arn't the easiest subjects to photograph. They're big and have a-lot of black and shadows in them, so the available light becomes quite an issue.
I've got more bad photos of engines, than I have good ones. I've backed up a file that has hundreds of my CN locomotive photos in it, along with a multitude of rolling-stock and CN scenic pics. - I take these photos more to document history than try to be a photographic artist.
Joe - That 'River Train' photo you posted is beautiful. That's the type of photo I hope to take. Sadly, I'm old enough now where I have a harder time getting out into the bush where the pretty trestles are in the hills. Wishing I'd started taking rail photos when I was younger.
Chet - That's a fine, strong looking grandson. Good photo. -- If that aerial photo shows the entrance gates to Yellowstone, I wouldn't be overly enthused to visit. I prefer the lonely forest that has no people in it.
Ken - I can't see that a 'solar magnetic storm' will be much worse than the rainless heat that's happening today; not unless it's some alien force field like they would depict in a Hollywood movie. If it brings in little green monsters, I'm going to shoot before I offer them cookies.
Willie - Considering you're weather descriptions compared to mine, which seem reversed to what it should be, it makes one wonder if the earth is tilting on it's axis. Perhaps we did screw up the ozone layer.
That's all I have for today! Going down to get my 2nd dose this morning, so I'll see if there is any trains down there.
Have a good one!
Boris
Beach Bum
Good morning y'all. 73° and foggy. Going up into the mid 90s with a lot of humidity. Summer at the Jersey Shore.
Castle: I like them, I have two, one NYC, the other PC. Very close to the actual cabin car.
Ken: Apparently the latest Win-10 updates left a lot of rubbish...I ran Disc Cleanup from Administrative Tools...it ran for a half hour and cleaned out a ton of temp files along with other stuff, and now, my laptop is less quirky. try that first, unless, of course, you really want a new laptop.
Last week or so our over the air digital TV reception sort of sucked, in the past, this was attributed to solar storms. They affect VHF radio reception also.
Karl, (Ken & Terry): Assembly plants are known for their flexibility, (versitility?), I am mostly familiar with the now defunct Ford Edison ,,(Metuchen), plant which over the time I was involved there built Escorts, then Ranger Pickups and Mazda Pickups until the plant was closed to please the analysists.
Delaware Ave, near Shackamaxon Sts, the Jack Frost Sugar Refinery...now a Casino.
Castle: I like them, I have two, one NYC, the other PC. Very close to the actual cabin car.
Ken: Apparently the latest Win-10 updates left a lot of rubbish...I ran Disc Cleanup from Administrative Tools...it ran for a half hour and cleaned out a ton of temp files along with other stuff, and now, my laptop is less quirky. try that first, unless, of course, you really want a new laptop.
Last week or so our over the air digital TV reception sort of sucked, in the past, this was attributed to solar storms. They affect VHF radio reception also.
Karl, (Ken & Terry): Assembly plants are known for their flexibility, (versitility?), I am mostly familiar with the now defunct Ford Edison ,,(Metuchen), plant which over the time I was involved there built Escorts, then Ranger Pickups and Mazda Pickups until the plant was closed to please the analysists.
Delaware Ave, near Shackamaxon Sts, the Jack Frost Sugar Refinery...now a Casino.
Boris
Beach Bum
Guy: I agree that I wish I could do as well...this fellow does some fine photography, and he manages to access some interesting locations.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Good morning global modelers. The State of Wisconsin, my part anyway is now at 69f degrees heading to low 80’s with no chance of rain. The wind is mild at 5mph but it is extremely cloudy and gloomy.
The SIL came over last night. Told me he is not taking any other jobs and will close his consulting (HR) business. I told him I want a review of all the stable and property employees. He went on his laptop and forwarded them to me. After spending the evening after he left I agree with all the reviews. He does continuous reviewing and his notes reflect that. I know the crew really likes working for him. He would like to start back on the 15th but I think I will let him squirm a little bit.
Transfer Caboose, thank you, thank you all for the pictures and the comments. I will buy a version and strip it down to paint in my free lance RR. I truly appreciate the help. I am very familiar with the Fox Valley Models but have no experience with Bluford.
Going out for a walk, shower then swim, shower then train room. I did paint all the foam and exposed framing yesterday an ugly latex tannish color. It is the dredges of like 5 different paints thrown in a 5 gallon bucket and mixed together. When all is said and done none of this color will be seen and it is better then pink.
Enjoy your day
TomO
The SIL came over last night. Told me he is not taking any other jobs and will close his consulting (HR) business. I told him I want a review of all the stable and property employees. He went on his laptop and forwarded them to me. After spending the evening after he left I agree with all the reviews. He does continuous reviewing and his notes reflect that. I know the crew really likes working for him. He would like to start back on the 15th but I think I will let him squirm a little bit.
Transfer Caboose, thank you, thank you all for the pictures and the comments. I will buy a version and strip it down to paint in my free lance RR. I truly appreciate the help. I am very familiar with the Fox Valley Models but have no experience with Bluford.
Going out for a walk, shower then swim, shower then train room. I did paint all the foam and exposed framing yesterday an ugly latex tannish color. It is the dredges of like 5 different paints thrown in a 5 gallon bucket and mixed together. When all is said and done none of this color will be seen and it is better then pink.
Enjoy your day
TomO
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