Running Bear’s May 2021 Coffee Shop


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Good morning everyone, thanks again for all the comments on the bed. I wish I could build more for everyone, it turned out to be straightforward but a lot of time for sure.
Watched the rocket fly by last night (we suspect that is what it was) that was launched down the states last night.
Chet, most sorry for your loss!
Eggs bacon and toast this morning please!
most importantly, wish all of you a great day
 
Morning all,

62° and cloudy this morning, hit some drizzle on the way into the office, but really nothing major. Supposed to get into the mid-70's later with a chance of rain every day this week. 2+ inches expected by Thursday morning. We got nearly 2" over the weekend locally.

Bought a couple of 8 foot 2X4s and 2 8 foot 1x4s to make sure I had them as fill when I do the doors at the boy's house. Back door was a 34" at one time and the P.O. foamed in a 32" so I'll need to fill the space taken up by the foam when we replace the door. The expanding foam took the jam out of square, so for a new door, I'll have to break it to get it out, so we bought a new that will be put in correctly. And yes the foam oozed out where it impacts the way the trim molding looks in the house. The door also has a gap at the bottom between the door and the sill so you see daylight under the door.

The daughter said she's primed the bathroom (finally) and is expecting to have the bathroom painted by the weekend. Then it's my turn again. All this so an on clearance oversized over the toilet cabinet will fit into her bathroom. I think she just wanted her bathroom redone after 10 years... 🤣

Chet: Sorry to hear you lost your friend.
 
Good morning all,

Minnesota WIld won their first playoff game - - - - - that's about the extent of good news from yesterday.

I must be getting old. I am thinking more, and thereby making fewer mistakes. Wife went out for a girls afternoon with the two daughters. So after my lunch and brief siesta, I went tot he train room to finish laying out the turntable. Was hoping to cut wood! Now many people on this and another forum have warned me about the placement of the TUrntable. Yesterday I was hit in the head like a slap. Not only was I having a problem laying out the placement - - - THERE WAS NO WAY I COULD CUT THE HOLE ! ! ! Yep, total interference with the wall and jigasaw. Not to say it couldn't be done, but it would be a lot of work.

So back to Anyrail, and here is what I came up with:

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I moved the turntable away from the wall (heavy red lines), moved the RH to match. Eliminated one TO and leg to the TT, which was redundant anyway. Added the "program" track (due west of TT) with the ash conveyor for proto-reason-for-being, and added in the control boxes. Pink boxes are electromagnet uncouplers, purple are standard magnet uncouplers. Not sure about the EM one in the NE, should that one go east or west of the escape TO? Plan is for road locos to come in on northernmost track, uncouple and then escape via the crossover I would welcome your opinions.

Got that done, and then wife called. I was picking her up as we have a load of boxes for the youngest as she is moving. So I meet them at the place about 3:30. Well, 2-1/2 hours later, we leave and then of course wife and daughter are hungry. So to dinner. Then drop youngest and boxes and we got home at 9:00. So much for my nice long day of train-work! And then, the accursed dog is up and down all bloody night, so no sleep.

Ah well, it is always nice to spend time with the girls.

Both my daughters (ages 33 and 27) have an eye condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa. They are losing their sight, in other words. Both are already (and have been for some time) totally night blind. Next their day-vision retina cells die off from the outside in, meaning they lose their daytime peripheral vision. Youngest is down to about 40 degrees of total peripheral vision. Normal people have about 180 degrees. I see like a cat at night - they literally cannot see a thing.

Sorry, not sure why I felt the need to share. Youngest told her mother and sister yesterday, that sitting at the table, she could not see all her mothers face. Distance of about 3 feet. Yikes.

Anyways, back to RR stuff. Plan to stop at HD after golf this afternoon and get a sheet of 4x8 hardboard ripped to 12" wide strips. These will become the fascia board and mounts for TO and other controls. Liked the idea of standing 3/4 inch proud, so that will be the case.

Cheers all! -----Steve
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 67° with a pause in the rain. Today begins day two of our marathon rain event. It only rained .15" overnight, a lot of distant rumbling thunder but I believe the real storms stayed north of the border in Oklahoma last night. Things let up for a long enough time yesterday for a successful grilling adventure with the pork chops. Today has scattered thunderstorms in the forecast with about a half inch of rain, tomorrow is expected to be a heavy day with nearly two inches. Total in the last 24 hours has been 1" exactly.
My jury duty for today has been cancelled, so I don't have to dig out my "jury clothes" of jeans and a collared golf shirt! The broccoli harvest continued yesterday during a break in the rain action, with a picking of about three pounds of "side shoots" which grow after the main head is picked. Most were about the size of a tennis ball, they will continue for as long as the weather remains cool.

Hey there Flo, I'll take a couple of sausage, egg and cheese biscuits this morning, skip the gravy this morning as I am still full of pork chop!

Thanks for all of the comments and reactions regarding the photo post yesterday; Steve, Garry, Karl, Patrick, Ken, Gary, Sherrel, Phil, Hughie, Joe. All of your support means a lot to me. I do stand corrected though, the house is a Woodland Scenics kit, not a Walther's as posted. It's available as a "built-up" as well. I get my structures/manufacturers mixed up sometimes!

Out in the train shed yesterday, I made some significant progress with the Savings & Loan. I lightly went over all of the brick surfaces with a mortar solution, very lightly. I got all of the windows in the front and rear walls, side walls have none. Here's the front.
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I started work on the fire escapes on the rear. I deviated from instructions by assembling them directly on the wall, instead of trying to line everything up individually, since they would later have to line up with holes that I had to drill through the wall. They were pre-marked for ease.
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Then disaster struck. It seems that some solvent wicked under the weight pictured above and spoiled the wall a bit.
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Since the rear wall is going to be the one facing the aisle, I need a good fix. I have a couple of things in mind that I hope will work. We'll see.

Chet - Really sorry to read that Ginger passed away. I know how much she meant to you over the years that I have known you.
Ken - First time that I have seen a diagram of your layout benchwork. It looks like you could and probably have made a great layout. Lets have more pictures, even of unfinished areas. Heck, I post them all of the time!
Patrick - No wonder you have no time for a layout!

Today is the new Tax Day for most. TX, OK, and LA still have another month to go due to the deep freeze in February. Get it together!
Everybody have a great day. Stay safe and dry.
 
Morning everyone! Un-seasonally cool cold around these here parts. Only reached 60 yesterday and 61 figured in for today with mostly cloudy. We did manage some (ha-ha) moisture yesterday - the recorded amount was ONE - ONE Hundredths of an inch!

CHET - Very sad to here about Ginger! It is difficult to convey to non-dog people how they become such an extension of ourselves. I have had three Doxies and I can remember all of them as it were yesterday. The last one, a long hair like Ginger, made it to 17 - she was so precious!

I had a fire in the fireplace all day long and the Spousal Unit spent most of her day saying: Honey, could you please put another log on the fire? Love that woman - she went out last week (while I was in the hospital) with her sister and a friend and a photo was made of the three of them and posted on the book of faces ... my point is that several of her very close friends and clients did not recognize her in the photo. During the afternoon yesterday she came alive and quickly went through the house cleaning bit as the daughter and SIL, with both sons came over and brought a Mexican dinner that would put any restaurant to shame- and for desert there was a homemade blueberry cobbler with, not homemade, ice cream ... sakes alive - we gorged ourselves!

I look at all the model and real posts and photos and I am ashamed that I cannot seem to plow together a simple kit bash nor a kit. I seriously need to re-prioritize my life!
OK, Let's see if I can at least give you a RR photo? Here is something that I wanted to build for my Layout ....
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Good morning gang.
Little late today, boss is on vacation so I'm extra busy.
I did get to the workbench yesterday during the Dover race. The 2-8-0 is really shaping up nice. The WOWSOUND decoder is amazing, especially with the authentic WM whistle.
The reason for the overhaul was two fold. One to install sound and better lighting, and 2, to fix some factory lettering issues.
Before: How in the world did Bachmann get the lettering so crooked? No matter, gonna change the number anyhow.
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After: Now she's almost presentable, with straight numbers and correct red oxide roof and tender deck. Then add a few detail parts yet to arrive, then light weathering to finish it.
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We'll have before and after lighting pics tonight. Bachmann headlight suck!

L8ter gang!
 
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Good Monday morning. Yep, I checked the day and date in the upper left corner of the IPadPro. We will hit 70’s again today.

Steve, don’t worry about sharing. As a group I can respond that if it helps you that’s what we care about. We are a diner where almost anything is allowed. We come close on politics occasionally but that does get reeled in pretty quick as someone will say political, and it does stop. Share if you want or not, we are all here to enjoy each other’s company and there are some great listeners on here.

Yes, Ken, sort of! The grain complex is in storage. That is one of the many portions of the layout that are down, disassembled. The only things left in the layout room is 26’ of Paper Mill, the tree tunnel that is roughly 10’ and the transload area. My modeling bench does still have the programming track above it.
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I am working through some concerns with my ideas of what I want. When I retired the idea in 2014 was to model prototypically a portion of the CN’s Valley Sub in Central Wisconsin. 20 miles of real in under 100’ of shelf layout. I did everything I could to model 2005 so I could use my Wisconsin Central and CN equipment, build my Paper Mill and be happy. Very focused and it greatly helped me in my buying choices, my layout building, scenery and operations. Then I purchased 8 rivet counter and 20 operator ScaleTrain tank cars to comprise 1 unit train. They are gorgeous and now the little ethanol plant I wanted became a huge focal point and something not on the Valley Sub but close by. But the tankers were built in 2009. So I moved the date to 2015, sold and purchased equipment to fit 2015. Have tried to sell off 40 WC locomotives with 2 -Gp35’s still available. Not bad and sold all my brass steam except for 1 locomotive. Happy.

Started the ethanol plant build in too small an area of the layout. Built another ST unit train of tankers. Had a buddy stop by one day to try the ProtoThrottles and ended up buying most of the Ethanol plant, my 2 unit trains of the tank cars and the 4 UP Sd70ace’s and the 4 CN Sd45-2’s used as pushers. I then sold off the last 2 unit trains 1 being an all Walthers auto racks which sold too cheaply based on prices a couple months after the sale. The last unit train sold was the Potash train. I then removed the dogbone loops I ran the unit trains on and started concentrating on the layout and switching operations. In January of 2019 one of my friends asked what the layout was doing and really I had no clue what operations were anymore and what the story was. Sold the last of the eight unit train locomotives left of CN. Kept 1 CN gp40-2w which is pretty much the only loco I have been taking pictures of. So upon my friends advice my free lance WRVT RR started and the Wisconsin River Valley and Terminal RR, purchased the CN Valley Sub. Purchased 2-gp38-2’s, 2-gp38-2w’s and 4-gp40-2w’s 4 axle locomotives and stripped them of paint.

The thing that I fell in “lust” of was using the ProtoThrottles to switch on the layout. Terry enjoys using the PT and would sometimes join me. My now 7 year old grandson likes to run trains but I took that option out when I removed the unit train dogbone section. He handles the PT like a pro but he would rather race the slot cars. Then Covid happened. No operations with anybody other then Terry. I stopped going into the train room. Then going back as I found this forum. Started the very big grain complex as like the Ethanol Plant in too small an area. When we added the swimming pool for help regaining my strength from my Lymes diease battle, not tax deductible, I gained a great amount of space for the layout. I am now trying to figure out how to efficiently use the new space.

more pictures

The Transload area and not considered part of the Paper Mill but part of the PM framework, so in limbo right now. The blue building is a standin for the someday Biomass facility that is part of the PM

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gone-the recycling yard of PDM bridge

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Gone the grain complex in its final position

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Enjoy your day as mine just turned. Both grandkids are here early.
TomO
 
Started the ethanol plant build in too small an area of the layout. Built another ST unit train of tankers. Had a buddy stop by one day to try the ProtoThrottles and ended up buying most of the Ethanol plant, my 2 unit trains of the tank cars and the 4 UP Sd70ace’s and the 4 CN Sd45-2’s used as pushers. I then sold off the last 2 unit trains 1 being an all Walthers auto racks which sold too cheaply based on prices a couple months after the sale. The last unit train sold was the Potash train. I then removed the dogbone loops I ran the unit trains on and started concentrating on the layout and switching operations. In January of 2019 one of my friends asked what the layout was doing and really I had no clue what operations were anymore and what the story was. Sold the last of the eight unit train locomotives left of CN. Kept 1 CN gp40-2w which is pretty much the only loco I have been taking pictures of. So upon my friends advice my free lance WRVT RR started and the Wisconsin River Valley and Terminal RR, purchased the CN Valley Sub. Purchased 2-gp38-2’s, 2-gp38-2w’s and 4-gp40-2w’s 4 axle locomotives and stripped them of paint.

The thing that I fell in “lust” of was using the ProtoThrottles to switch on the layout. Terry enjoys using the PT and would sometimes join me. My now 7 year old grandson likes to run trains but I took that option out when I removed the unit train dogbone section. He handles the PT like a pro but he would rather race the slot cars. Then Covid happened. No operations with anybody other then Terry. I stopped going into the train room. Then going back as I found this forum. Started the very big grain complex as like the Ethanol Plant in too small an area. When we added the swimming pool for help regaining my strength from my Lymes diease battle, not tax deductible, I gained a great amount of space for the layout. I am now trying to figure out how to efficiently use the new space.

more pictures

The Transload area and not considered part of the Paper Mill but part of the PM framework, so in limbo right now. The blue building is a standin for the someday Biomass facility that is part of the PM

I'm corn fused .....😐
 
And filing for bankruptcy tomorrow?
Pretty much...the 2X were $11.99 and the 1X were $9.49. I could have gotten them cheaper in Wichita, but by the time I drive the 40 mile round trip, they were probably cheaper locally.
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Thats appalling , when I built my house 20 years ago 2X4 studs were 99cents and stumpage was~ $40/ton (saw) ? last time I looked about a year ago they were $3 and stumpage was $24/ton (saw). Stumpage is down to $22 right now.
 
Good afternoon. Going to be a nice day today with the temps in the mid to upper 70's. Unfortunately, it won't last long as the temps will start dropping on Wednesday with the highs only in the upper 30's.

Took my wife to the airport this morning. She wants to visit some of her relatives now that she is retired. She tried to talk me into going but she knows all too well how I hate flying commercially and then having to wear a fricking mask on top of it. Not going to happen.

The word got out that I have been doing some work on small engines and now I have more work than I want,but just don't say no. The repair shops in the valley are 4 to 6 weeks out and of course everyone wants it yesterday. I have a few to work on this afternoon.

I really appreciate the kind words about the loss of Ginger. We have had many dachshunds over the years but this little girl was very special. Sherrel can understand. She was so much more than a pet, she was family.

Like all of the photos.

Karl - Like that little consolidation but can see where it does need a bit of sprucing up.

Willie - Your photos are always interesting. Like following your projects.

TomO - Like the photos but the work bench is too clean.

GeeTee - Lumber prices are crazy - The place where my wife used to work manufactures panel building components and prices have doubled and in some cases more.

Sherrel - Like that tank car project.

Ken in Maryland - the draping around the bottom of the layout makes suce a difference. We have that at the club and always have clips at locations if we have to go under and keep them out of the way.

Steve - That yard does look interesting. Compact, using every bit of space. Thumb up.gif

I am hoping that my club is going to have operations on Thursday afternoons during the summer as I really dislike driving the pass at night. I will probably keep the Rapido RDC to run at he club being that I am selling off my layout. Did get $1,500 for my brass custom painted Z-5 Yellowstone from a friend in Missouri.

Here are a few photos of the RDC.

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This is one of my favorite locomotives.May keep it also because it was one of my first projects custom painting and detailing from photos.

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Just got a call and have to get going to play small engine mechanic.

Later
 
Good evening .

Chet .... Condolences to you regarding Ginger. I, too, have experienced pain of losing dogs as well as cats. .... I enjoy seeing your layout photos.

Sherrel .... That is an interesting filling station. It looks like you were well along with modeling it.

Tom O .... I like seeing the industries on your layout.

Karl ..... Your WM 2-8-0 looks like a fun project .

Willie ..... I know those Bachmann city building kits go together nicely. It looks like yours will be good looking.

Everybody .... Have good evening.
 
been away for 6 days. cant do forum stuff on a iphone - too small - cant type with 2 thumbs !
learned years ago (for myself), not to have critter friends. too painful when they go away.
sposed to get to -2C in a day or two, with some SNOW so I covered my radishes & carrot tops with a layer of garden dirt . nothing else planted yet
 
Good Evening, everyone.
There's a storm moving in from the north. We're supposed to get a bit of snow tomorrow night and into Wednesday. Hopefully it just melts on ground contact. - Every late May, it's the same thing, and I wind up having to cover all the wife's flowers. I find that very frustrating. Have to do it, though, or the wife will go ballistic.

I've not come in for a couple of days; just too busy!
If there is snow a-coming, though, I'm going to do some modeling. I picked out a small project today.
I plan on a small town sawmill being on my layout, and have a vision of there being a crane for input log movement. So, I picked out this Airfix OO kit from the stash and will build just the crane. I'm not going to build the truck yet; just the crane. My vision has it mounted on a fixed concrete station.
That's the plan anyway, if you can call the visions in my head plans.
Here's the kit:
Crane_05-17-2021 (1).jpg


I pulled all the crane parts out, and cleaned them up of flash making them ready for putting together during a storm:
Crane_05-17-2021 (2).jpg


I have a resin Wespe Models crane as well, with a shorter boom. So if the cab on the Airfix kit dosen't work out, I'll kitbash the Wespe crane to accept the longer Aifix boom. In any event, I mean to have a crane in the end.

Some very nice project photos have been posted the past couple of days. Well done, indeed!
Keep up the wonderful work, chaps! See ya soon!
 
Hi yall, don't have time for a typical post tonight because I'm dog-tired and in a foul mood after a series of frustrations earlier.

<<RANT ALERT>>
Remember how I said the weekend was fantastic? Well, suffice it to say that this Monday was every bit as bad as the weekend was good. It started at 9:30am when I made what was supposed to be a routine 20-minute call to schedule my annual glaucoma screening appointment. I waited on hold for ~40 minutes, then when a rep came on and asked me for my medical insurance Member ID#, I read it to her straight from the card. "Sir, that number is invalid."

What!!?

I explained that I've used that card there for the last 6 years since I started going to that clinic, how could it be "invalid?" "I'm sorry sir but our system is rejecting it." I asked her could she just call the insurance company and verify it with them directly? "No sir, you will have to reach out to them yourself to see if they still participate with us."

So I wound up having to burn 3 hours' worth of "sick" time while I was bounced back-n-forth like a ping-pong ball between the insurance company(s) - one for medical, the other for "vision" - and the eye clinic. The [medical] insurance company rep assured me that they definitely were still covering that eye clinic, and it was in their current list of in-network providers. I was really fighting the urge to scream at the clinic people who still kept insisting that my Member ID was invalid. Now I'll have to drive there in-person tomorrow to talk to a supervisor who can hopefully get this mess ironed-out. A 40-mile round trip, using time that I was planning to spend working on the layout.

*sigh* As Garfield used to say: I HATE Mondays!

<<RANT OVER>> Will return to normal posting on Tuesday...
 
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