Running Bear's August 2020 Coffee Shop

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L&N Castle said:
Alan,that wasn't one of Jim Gibson's Brass Locos was it? It's a beaut,but I'm guessing a 30 or 32 inch radius to be able to run it well. I'd wouldn't mind owning it, just wouldn't know what to do wit h it. William.
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It was one of Jim Thorington's models Bill. I helped him dispose of a pretty big chunk of his collection, and he gave me several models, this one among them. I'd say it would do 30" radius but it might not like it too much. It's absolutely huge. It's a good example of John Armstrong's "Steam Locomotive minimum radius frustration index" I'd say 36" would be a better minimum radius for this model. Here's a photo of it next to that 2-10-2 everyone thought was big:

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Lucky for me the club has a 48" minimum radius!
 
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Morning all,

Actually time for coffee and western omelet with extra bacon this morning. Thanks Francine.

Yesterday was busy as I figured it would be after having Wednesday off. Got the new email spam filter configured and was placed in service. I was starting to log into it when I got an outside email. Took another 20 minutes monitoring the mail flow. Nice to have a unit that shouldn't randomly lock up. Then, since my computer tech is gone, I had a couple of printers to install. It will be nice not to have to do everything around here!! lol

It's supposed to be in the low-90's today with feels like of 100+. Already this morning it's 75* and feels like 81*. Did I say I hate August and early September?

May be too hot to mow when I get home at 11:30 this morning. May try to get some time this weekend on the trains. One of the daughter's hooked mom up with the Hallmark Movies for the Roku in the living room. I may get her hooked on one and then sneak downstairs.

Love the photos of the large brass locos....My minimum radius is 22" and largest is 28" which I thought was big. 48" would indeed be a large layout.

Here's some shots I took last fall:

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I had the wife and grandson with me when we saw that machine. The wife didn't think there'd be that many people.
 
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Good Morning Folks. Clear and 78°. Looks like the weatherman is on vacation as the "clear, hot and dry" forecast is in effect for the next ten days. Clouds hung around yesterday holding the high to only 95°, however there was enough afternoon sun to warm the pool back up to 84.5°, more to my wife's liking. Grocery/beer trek yesterday went well except I went to three stores and was still unable to locate any of my wife's hair dye.:( She wants to look her best when she goes in for her other knee replacement surgery on the 20th.
Wife is going to the outpatient clinic today for pre-surgery stuff and blood draw. She told me to stay home so I will catch up on laundry and replace the back porch steep. She has chosen to have her knee surgery done at the clinic instead of the hospital this time. Her orthopedist would prefer do it at the hospital because he is more familiar with "the crew" there (according to his office manager), but he has done a few at this clinic. He's just happy to be getting paid for something after the recent elective surgery moratorium. There is a Porsche parked behind his office.

A couple of breakfast tacos for me this morning Flo. The usual, sausage, egg, cheese and hash-browns with a heaping bowl of sour cream and some spicy salsa on the side.

Thanks for the many likes and comments yesterday regarding the various photos; Patrick, Louis, Guy, Jerome, Tom O, Chad, Chet, Garry, Sherrel, Justin, James, Phil, Hughie, Curt. I am sorta moving along.

So what's going on in the train shed? Since my wife didn't go on the grocery trek with me yesterday, I was able to pick up a couple of 1" x 4" boards while I was out. I cut them all to size for the benchwork addition. I decided to go with a piece of 3/8" plywood for the deck and level it up to where it needs to be. I could have used 3/4", but that's overkill for what I want to do.
Pictures from the archive today.
I recently showed a few overall shots of downtown Ft Wish and across the street from the Fire Department Headquarters is Al's Victory Service. It is a Walther's kit by the same name. Here are few photos from 2013 when I originally built it.
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It was still unweathered back then. I actually haven't done much weathering to it since, because these types of service stations were kept pretty clean in that era. Just a bit of tire marks on the apron.

Guy - Really nice work on the walls.
McLeod said:
I believe you can make a mountain out of a molehill, if you just try.
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It looks more like you are making lemonade out of lemons.;)
Louis - Re: the Ozzy video. Sad news about Sharon Osbourne's health.
Tom O - Hope that you are feeling better soon.
Hughie - Nice overview shot of the layout.
William - Good to hear from you again.
Patrick - I noticed that my wife was watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel earlier this week.

Today is International Beer Day. I have a fridge full for anyone that wants to drop by. I have 15 acres so we can socially distance ourselves. Pool should hold ten socially distanced adults. Enjoy and stay off the road.
Everybody have a great day. Be safe, be cool, and keep your distance.
 
Good Morning, everyone!
The temperatures are more to my liking today; 55F this morning with another 10 to be added to that by afternoon. It is very comfortable. With that wind howling the whole night through, it was difficult to sleep. Just a little storm passing through this day. It's not making much of an impact, though, as it isn't even a wet storm. Very little rain. Just alot of wind that will straighten my hair when I go outside to drop a letter in the mailbox.

Thank you so much for the likes on my Atlas building works. It is well appreciated, indeed.

Willie - I'm on the market for a little service station like the 'Al's Victory Gas' in your post. I've seen them advertised here and there, but, I believe I can pick up something a little cheaper than what they seem to be asking - yep, I'm usually a tight-wad. I already have a pair of gravity pumps that are too early for my era, so I'm looking for a station with the 50-60ish wind-up pumps. They were all over the highway and had a mechanic when I was a kid; now they are all just convenience stores and you can't even get air.
Patrick - Very nice photos. Looks like it was a great time. One would never see something like that in my area.

All I did yesterday, was pin-wash the parts of my Atlas building. I tell ya, I am the worst pin-washer on the planet. Just can't seem to get it right, ever.
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Today, I'm going to put down the dull coat, and then it will set for awhile. Not expecting to get a whole lot done today, as other things that need done are in the way. Perhaps tomorrow or Sunday I will give it a visit.

Have a great day everyone.
 
Good Morning Everyone.....sunny and a nice day herein Wisconsin. Looks like a period of relatively fair weather in the next five days. We need a soaking rain since the grass is starting to go dormant.

Driving home yesterday from the cabin we had a change to travel through several medium sized town on our route home. We stopped in a small town or maybe a city in the old downtown district. We parked at the sidewalk and I sat there looking at all the interesting DPM style buildings. I had the opportunity to look at many of the buildings which were well over 100 years old and noted the original architecture and the changes made over the years.

One building had the first floor windows bricked in, but they left the ornate arched brick work over the now bricked up windows. One building had faded signs of store that were past memories. I note that one well designed building had a building next to it that was of the same style and architecture, but the builders used a different color brick. I was amazed at that most building stood side to side and the walls touched.

One town the roadway is well below the buildings' entrances and the sidewalk has three steps from the roadway to the sidewalk.

I post some photographs when I travel again through these towns.

I need to work on my computer's spelling auto correct. It's still changing the spelling of words when I do the the postings here on the Forum. If I don't proof read the posted Thread, the misspelling appear and are uncorrected.

Time to move on......

Greg

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Good morning from my side of Wisconsin. Mid 80’s today and right now absolutely beautiful. Been fasting for labs today and a real visit, in person, with my doctor. Yesterday we visited one of Wisconsin’s 15 quirky things to do. I drove there, was so exhausted the wife drove home and my sister’s dog again thought I made for a great pillow. My doctor said I will be her 5th patient office visit since March. Said all others were tele-visits or at bedside in the hospital. Never saw the trainroom yesterday, 2nd time this week! Enjoy your day. Bored people things to do while social distancing in Wisconsin. You visit 2 of the 15 quirky things to see in our state! Will visit #3 in Delavan, Wi. on Monday.
2 exits in Deforest, Wi. the other day
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then Thursday junkyard art visit
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TomO
 
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Well it's another hot one with feels like temps around 105. Think a couple of PB&J would be nice, glass of milk.
Reading Greg's and Tom's posts made me think just how great it is to get off the Interstate and take the back roads. It seems like most of the time we are in such a hurry to be somewhere we just jump on the freeway an haul derriere, 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit. (Ever notice, you doing 80 in a 70 zone and you still get passed). One of the things I miss living in this part of TX is those great hilly country roads.

STAY SAFE
 


I forgot to add in this morning's posting that the owner of the real estate where I want to expand my layout is being slow to move out the last of her belongings. But....I have a plan.

I plan on purchasing enough lumber to construct the bench work for the expansion and build the expansion frame workin the garage and then move it to the Packer room for storage until I see some progress in the moving department. I'll construct the new shelving and maybe, just maybe, things will start moving along.

Granted, August isn't the best time for basement projects, but I'll try my best.

I already have the cork road bed for the layout and a track plan in mind. I plan on using mostly Code 70 rail with the main line Code 83.

The track plan is one half of the MR's Milwaukee Beer Line track plan and I'll make changes to the industries and add several more track sections. I might do a hinged extension to the layout that has a turntable, but that's a "Wish List" item. Or, a staging yard like the attached plan suggests in the lower end of the plan.

I watched the MR crew do switching moves on the Beer Line and it was interesting enough for me to "track" down the actual plan.

What are your thoughts on the plan and my means to get started?

Thanks.

Greg

Track Plan for Yard 001.jpg
 
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Willie: Living close to Milwaukee, I often was down by the Beer Line area of town. Lots of switching in its hey day.

Milwaukee was a brewery town with Pabst, Miller, Blatz, Gettleman and Schlitz beer being brewed in town. The breweries had tours and after the tour the visitors were served a light snack and at the most two beers. When money was short we used to visit the brewery tours and get the free beer and lunch. If we were lucky, we could visit five or more breweries (some more than once) in a single day.

Greg
 
Afternoon All,

Today I built the Walthers Diesel Facility. Unfortunately the photos washed everything out.

Patrick- Nice family time around a huge loco.

Willie- Great looking gas station scene.

Guy- It looks fine to me.

TomO- Interesting elephant with the glasses.

Greg- That will be a nice layout extension.

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I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Greg@mnrr said:
Hughie: Here's for you, Wisconsin's highest point, Timm's Hill.

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Greg
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When we moved to Central Wisconsin in 1976 Rib Mountain, outside of Wausau was considered the highest point. Then GPS came along and the argument about Rib Mountain now at 1942’ or Timms Hill now at 1951’ was put to rest with Timm Hill winning out. A big advertising deal for surrounding communities.
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TomO
 
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Greg@mnrr said:
Milwaukee was a brewery town with Pabst, Miller, Blatz, Gettleman and Schlitz beer being brewed in town. The breweries had tours and after the tour the visitors were served a light snack and at the most two beers. When money was short we used to visit the brewery tours and get the free beer and lunch. If we were lucky, we could visit five or more breweries (some more than once) in a single day.
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Now that sounds like a well thought out plan to me.🥳
 


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