Running Bear's August 2021 Coffee Shop
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kbkchooch
"retired" conductor
Good morning gang and a happy Sunday to one and all!
Warm humid and cloudy outside, hopefully the tropical depression will miss us and be even further north later.
Nothing planned for today, other than picking up SWMBO from the airport at 6.
Might work on the 4 geeps littering my workbench, getting them ready for paint. Or today might be the day I get my new track plan reworked, for sbout the 35th time.
Peach pie and coffee for breakfast.
BBL
Warm humid and cloudy outside, hopefully the tropical depression will miss us and be even further north later.
Nothing planned for today, other than picking up SWMBO from the airport at 6.
Might work on the 4 geeps littering my workbench, getting them ready for paint. Or today might be the day I get my new track plan reworked, for sbout the 35th time.
Peach pie and coffee for breakfast.
BBL
CambriaArea51
Well-Known Member
Good morning.....Happy Birthday Hughie.
Another hot sticky day, ice coffee today Flo.
Another hot sticky day, ice coffee today Flo.
MilwRoader_Steve
Well-Known Member
Good Morning all,
What are the odds? I drilled a hole for the frog feeders and eventual point switch machine, and sure enough the hole for the frog wire went straight into a cross member support. And probably the worst one as with its location, it is a doubled one. So break out the drill, jigsaw and mallet and chisel. Bust out a a section, and it was dinner time. Then we watched a movie. AN old one, from 1995, "The Net," with Sandra Bullock. Surprising how prescient that film was/is!
Church today and then perhaps Right-of-way construction resumes. I am working on this bit:
I suppose I should have expected this, but the way my ladder fit together is a bit off from the Anyrail images. I somehow gained about about 3 inches at that point and further east, gained 5 inches. Meaning that everything is further east than the plan in Anyrail showed. No doubt, my poor construction skills. But now, it has made fitting those two TT approach tracks a bit trickier to manage. But I think I have it figured out. Just can't get those three engine service structures in, I'll have to move the cinder tower somewhere. Though I suppose by prototype, they probably put a good distance between the cinder dump and the Coal loader, so maybe that's not a bad thing. Pretty sure I can still get that southernmost track just above the controllers in for a programming track. Yes, I'll put it in with a "on-off-on" DPDT switch.
Still having fun, though I did speak colorfully a bit yesterday when the drill went in to that cross member!
Happy Birthday, Hughie, one day late! --------------Steve J
What are the odds? I drilled a hole for the frog feeders and eventual point switch machine, and sure enough the hole for the frog wire went straight into a cross member support. And probably the worst one as with its location, it is a doubled one. So break out the drill, jigsaw and mallet and chisel. Bust out a a section, and it was dinner time. Then we watched a movie. AN old one, from 1995, "The Net," with Sandra Bullock. Surprising how prescient that film was/is!
Church today and then perhaps Right-of-way construction resumes. I am working on this bit:
I suppose I should have expected this, but the way my ladder fit together is a bit off from the Anyrail images. I somehow gained about about 3 inches at that point and further east, gained 5 inches. Meaning that everything is further east than the plan in Anyrail showed. No doubt, my poor construction skills. But now, it has made fitting those two TT approach tracks a bit trickier to manage. But I think I have it figured out. Just can't get those three engine service structures in, I'll have to move the cinder tower somewhere. Though I suppose by prototype, they probably put a good distance between the cinder dump and the Coal loader, so maybe that's not a bad thing. Pretty sure I can still get that southernmost track just above the controllers in for a programming track. Yes, I'll put it in with a "on-off-on" DPDT switch.
Still having fun, though I did speak colorfully a bit yesterday when the drill went in to that cross member!
Happy Birthday, Hughie, one day late! --------------Steve J
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santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning All. Clear and 76° with no wind. Heat advisory is in effect today and most likely through next Thursday at a minimum. August weather is finally here. Hot and dry is the auto-weather forecast. I mowed yesterday morning until I ran out of gas and had to go and fill the can. Then it was too hot to continue, in my mind at least! Turned to indoor chores instead and did laundry and dusted. Wife's right knee is giving her trouble, not the replacement joint itself, but what appears to be inflammation of the surrounding scar tissue. Not happy with that. Headed out this afternoon for a family gathering at my brother's home in Dallas to greet a cousin from Brooklyn who is coming to visit. That means no time in the train shed today. This will be our first big family gathering since Christmas 2019, and possibly the last for a while.
Good morning Flo. Mel doesn't look busy this morning, so have him make me Eggs Benedict today. With a side order of bacon and a tall cool glass of OJ. Where's Francine, I haven't seen her all week?
Thanks for the reactions regarding my cloud making experiments everyone; Christian, Karl, Sherrel, Gary, Hughie, Garry, Steve J, Steve, Patrick, Joe, James, Guy, Tom.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I did some major cleanup under the benchwork. Long overdue. I consolidated several boxes of extra kit parts; Walther's does a lot of that now, and moved some stuff around. The ultimate goal under there is to add another 8' shelf for "organized" magazine storage. While I had stuff out of the way, I used some wire ties to tidy up many dangling wires so they won't get snagged. Afterwards I switched a few industries on the lower level which resulted in having to clean some cobwebs from a few cars. I have these very small spiders that leave numerous webs on anything that stands in one spot too long.
So today it's back to the archives for some pictures. The first are repeats of one of my favorites, a very simple Hydrocal kit from Downtown Deco called Ace Auto Parts.
Here's the same structure painted differently and called Rosa's Place.
Alan - It was good to read the other day that you have the time to get back at it. The F units look really nice and your review was nice to read. I was disappointed years ago when Athearn bought out McHenry and started using their couplers, but I have always read that Kadee is hard to deal with so most manufacturers don't use their couplers. So far though, I have not had to replace any of their newest couplers due to failure. I have replaced all of the older ones that I mistakenly installed years ago before I knew of the issues. I replaced some of the newer ones just because I wasn't initially sure of their reliability. Mostly though, I haven't bought a new freight car in over seven years.
Steve J -
Curt/Joe - I am beginning to understand the concept of never throwing anything away. I am actually like that. I shudder to think what my heirs will find in my attic which other than the Christmas stuff within arm's reach of the scuttle-hole, I haven't been in in at least 20 years.
Everybody have a great day.
Good morning Flo. Mel doesn't look busy this morning, so have him make me Eggs Benedict today. With a side order of bacon and a tall cool glass of OJ. Where's Francine, I haven't seen her all week?
Thanks for the reactions regarding my cloud making experiments everyone; Christian, Karl, Sherrel, Gary, Hughie, Garry, Steve J, Steve, Patrick, Joe, James, Guy, Tom.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I did some major cleanup under the benchwork. Long overdue. I consolidated several boxes of extra kit parts; Walther's does a lot of that now, and moved some stuff around. The ultimate goal under there is to add another 8' shelf for "organized" magazine storage. While I had stuff out of the way, I used some wire ties to tidy up many dangling wires so they won't get snagged. Afterwards I switched a few industries on the lower level which resulted in having to clean some cobwebs from a few cars. I have these very small spiders that leave numerous webs on anything that stands in one spot too long.
So today it's back to the archives for some pictures. The first are repeats of one of my favorites, a very simple Hydrocal kit from Downtown Deco called Ace Auto Parts.
Here's the same structure painted differently and called Rosa's Place.
Alan - It was good to read the other day that you have the time to get back at it. The F units look really nice and your review was nice to read. I was disappointed years ago when Athearn bought out McHenry and started using their couplers, but I have always read that Kadee is hard to deal with so most manufacturers don't use their couplers. So far though, I have not had to replace any of their newest couplers due to failure. I have replaced all of the older ones that I mistakenly installed years ago before I knew of the issues. I replaced some of the newer ones just because I wasn't initially sure of their reliability. Mostly though, I haven't bought a new freight car in over seven years.
Steve J -
It's always something! Like I posted the other day, two steps forward, one step back. Maybe use a between the rails magnet.
Curt/Joe - I am beginning to understand the concept of never throwing anything away. I am actually like that. I shudder to think what my heirs will find in my attic which other than the Christmas stuff within arm's reach of the scuttle-hole, I haven't been in in at least 20 years.
Everybody have a great day.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
not laughing at you but with you. We have all done that no matter how much we planned
TomO
McLeod
Forest Lurker
Good morning!
Rained hard over night; a welcome rain because we needed it. 49F here @6:30am.
It's another day I can't be in here long, as the interior painting job at the rich ladies home is calling my name. She's not home at this time, but trusted me with a key to get in. I'd like to get as much done as possible, before she gets back. - I heard her mumbling something about some fence work before she left, so I might just be rich lady employed for awhile. That's ok, because I need to get some new plywood for a layout this winter, and I don't want to remortgage my home to get it.
Happy Birthday, Hughie!! Hope you are looked down upon with many more years in the railway hobby, and that the well never runs dry. Bye the way, I really like the photos of the layout you've been posting recently. Well done!
SteveJ - Thank you for posting news about the layout progress. I hope we get to see lots of photos as progress continues.
Jaz avalley - I've never liked clowns, not even as a kid, because I always knew they were as fake as Santa Clause. None-the-less, I've disliked the idea of Hollywood making children afraid of clowns even more. I've never understood the rationale behind making a clown a monster.
I need to get going, and I haven't taken any new photos. So I'll drop a re-run on the table:
CN 5386 is an SD40-2 that is said to have had a run-in with some part of another passing train. That's why parts on the left side had been replaced, including the number board. - 5326 is an SD40-2w.
The photo was taken locally in the spring of 2020. The Millar Western pulp-mill can be seen in the background.
I thought it was a fairly good photo, except for the power poles that keep getting in the way.
Well, gotta go. Have a good one!
Rained hard over night; a welcome rain because we needed it. 49F here @6:30am.
It's another day I can't be in here long, as the interior painting job at the rich ladies home is calling my name. She's not home at this time, but trusted me with a key to get in. I'd like to get as much done as possible, before she gets back. - I heard her mumbling something about some fence work before she left, so I might just be rich lady employed for awhile. That's ok, because I need to get some new plywood for a layout this winter, and I don't want to remortgage my home to get it.
Happy Birthday, Hughie!! Hope you are looked down upon with many more years in the railway hobby, and that the well never runs dry. Bye the way, I really like the photos of the layout you've been posting recently. Well done!
SteveJ - Thank you for posting news about the layout progress. I hope we get to see lots of photos as progress continues.
Jaz avalley - I've never liked clowns, not even as a kid, because I always knew they were as fake as Santa Clause. None-the-less, I've disliked the idea of Hollywood making children afraid of clowns even more. I've never understood the rationale behind making a clown a monster.
I need to get going, and I haven't taken any new photos. So I'll drop a re-run on the table:
CN 5386 is an SD40-2 that is said to have had a run-in with some part of another passing train. That's why parts on the left side had been replaced, including the number board. - 5326 is an SD40-2w.
The photo was taken locally in the spring of 2020. The Millar Western pulp-mill can be seen in the background.
I thought it was a fairly good photo, except for the power poles that keep getting in the way.
Well, gotta go. Have a good one!
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Good crispy morning from the south deck in So. Central Wisconsin. It is 63f degrees heading to 80. It is a beautiful blue sky, just a slight breeze and or so fresh feeling. Just a couple days like this and back to 90’s and humidity.
My MIL was a hoarder and when she moved in with the youngest daughter Terry cleaned the house out and sold the place. Terry’s sister said mom’s not a hoarder. Terry when moving mom’s clothes to the sister found out the sister was worst. A portion of the basement maybe 40 x 60’ was just piled with stuff the sister never got rid of. Both the sister’s daughters were in their 30’s and their baby clothes were put away. Terry on the other hand doesn’t keep anything but pictures both in albums and hard drives.
My sister is leaving September 9th to California. She rented an AB&B for a month to find a house she can rent. The brother called her yesterday telling her to come out to Maui or stay in his place in Arizona. She said it’s been 18 months of traveling and staying other places and she wants a home base. I think I understand that but would prefer she keeps rotating through the family.
Enjoy your day
TomO
My MIL was a hoarder and when she moved in with the youngest daughter Terry cleaned the house out and sold the place. Terry’s sister said mom’s not a hoarder. Terry when moving mom’s clothes to the sister found out the sister was worst. A portion of the basement maybe 40 x 60’ was just piled with stuff the sister never got rid of. Both the sister’s daughters were in their 30’s and their baby clothes were put away. Terry on the other hand doesn’t keep anything but pictures both in albums and hard drives.
My sister is leaving September 9th to California. She rented an AB&B for a month to find a house she can rent. The brother called her yesterday telling her to come out to Maui or stay in his place in Arizona. She said it’s been 18 months of traveling and staying other places and she wants a home base. I think I understand that but would prefer she keeps rotating through the family.
Enjoy your day
TomO
Nice buildings Willie. I've always liked Downtown Deco. I have a couple of their kits here. I should look into doing one of them. After I get back on O'Neil's, and various and sundry other projects, which there seem to be too many of these days.
Glad you liked the notes on the FP's. I ran them at the club last night in freight service during the operation session. They did quite well and I got a bunch of compliments. Now for some light weathering.
Yep, Kadee can be tough to work with. It was either Red Caboose or Intermountain that wanted to put them in their kits and Kadee demanded that only their envelope be used. It probably wasn't smart to be that hard nosed when your patents have expired. To be fair, most modelers probably wouldn't have issues with McHenrys. They are a sound design. I run into problems because my club's layout permits prototypical length passenger consists. Long freight trains of 75 cars or more are possible before physics gets in the way. Physics doesn't scale! I may have told this story already, but some years back I had a San Joaquin Daylight on the layout. A long train and a mixture of brass and plastic cars. Some of the plastic cars were BLI Daylight cars, and out of the box those things are lead sleds. It was a heavy train, and I was pulling it with a pair of Athearn Mt-4's in Semi-Daylight. Going upgrade, the pilot to tender couplers would flex enough under load to allow the two engines to decouple. Not good, especially in front of company! Luckily I discovered this before the actual open house, so embarrassment was minimal. This was during Trainfest, and the Athearn rep stopped by. I gave him a polite and low key ear full. He was understanding but told me they were stuck with the plastic couplers. I'd guess only modelers with large home or club layouts will see any issues. Kadee's business model is secure!
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Alan, good story. If I had my way all my couplers would be Scale Trains. I read about the bad stories people have with them but other then an occasional dropped spring I feel they are the best. But, they are not available in the market place so I replace everything else with the wisker Kadee # that fits the coupler box.
Another year coming of missed Trainfest. With the increase in Covid and talk again of putting in the field hospital on the fairgrounds it is good they cancelled when they did.
TomO
DakotaLove39
Always Improvising
Going to drop feeders on my module this morning. Well.. no one told today's track crew that the electrical engineers moved the feeder location Thursday night. Track crew now has to do a little more work than expected.
Have a ScaleTrains SD40-2 lineup for your time.
Sorry, Tom, I cannot share your enthusiasm. Kadees for me, and scale head kadees for the stuff which really deserves it. I tried the ScaleTrains couplers for a while, but they just didn't like me or something. I wish they'd not try to re-invent the wheel and just ship with scale-head kadees like Tangent does. If you're a Sergent coupler guy, you have to change couplers no matter what. I'd love to try those some time!
It's my understanding that ScaleTrains wants to market their couplers separately. They said this at a visitation to my club last year, so who knows when that will happen.
Have a ScaleTrains SD40-2 lineup for your time.
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Hi Tom,
I only own two Scale Trains locos. A pair of tunnel motors. Not enough to judge their couplers, though I have not had issues with them that way. Nice models though!
Yeah no Trainfest this year. NAPM is in the process of deciding if we will do our open house this year. I predict no. I'll miss the show and the open house, but we will likely stream an online open house like we did last year. Not the same though. We all miss the interaction with visitors.
I understand the Wise Division's concerns. If they spend the money on an unsuccessful show, that would be it for Trainfest. I don't suppose I can blame them for not wanting to bet all the marbles in the face of ongoing circumstances. Bummer!!!
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Alan, I did. I needed too many and the stock they have are for replacements. I had talked to Shane a few years ago at Trainfest and he said they were looking at retail sales for their wheelsets andcouplers. I think with the purchase of MTH they have other issues 1st.
I have 30 pieces of ST on the layout, no locomotives as I only run 4 axles until the layout expands.
Totally agree with you on Trainfest.
TomO
Jaz avalley
Station cat
Before you throw stuff away, check it out on eBay or whatever,people like vintage,they like antiques,hell they like broken old stuff you would imagine the dustbin man would laugh at,and sone items from the 80s 70s 60s is sought after for filming,people can make up object d’junk worthy of a room of pastimes,be it kitch or what or downright ugly, and o ten someone else wants it, broken a teaser, well someone might like the remaining items to replace their broken items,often insignificant junk is sone end else childhood memories or reminders of days gone by…..before you hit the bin Chechen the Cher ching.
Jaz avalley
Station cat
I find clowns fascinating, they have a patented face,once recognised only a family member usually can inherit and use, they inevitable have to have acrobatic or tumbling skills,and excellent comic timing,like buster keaton if they hope to survive, one used to have an act with a real lion,I do not know if the lion had any teeth but he would put his head in its mouth,now I know some circus’ have been done for poor animal care, but others were devoted to their animals,s, and yes it is not natural, but sone. Of those poor animals pined for their trainers when forcibly retired by the do goods, so yeah sticky wicket, I lived not too far from the winter quarters of a big circus, and their animals appeared well spaced,well cared for,certainly no more than a domestic pet, do I think new animals should be bought in, no not really, but I think some of the animals were well loved and even enjoyed it, i think it is sweet to give kids Santa Claus and the tooth fairy etc,but accept sone kids are really upset when they realise it is not true, I am sorry that your experience was clearly not with fond memories, for me I believed a lot of that tosh, and as my eyes were opened to reality I was still left with great memories, but then I used to speak to my dads feet…..yeah lol…he waggled them and spoke for them…and I chatted back like a loony - I did have one unfortunate fear, we used to have gold fish and if they died my mum flushed them down the loo, my aunt who had lived in new york told stories of crocodiles flushed down toilet….and I used to race hell for leather when I flushed in case a hungry cric wanted a dead fish and only found me…..yeah I think even when I knew Santa was not real I played along for my parents as they clearly wanted me to believe….crazy.
Jaz avalley
Station cat
PRR Modeler
Well-Known Member
Afternoon All,
Back from Dad's. We got 2 pickup loads removed to other locations, a pile on the street and a full outside trashcan. I'm taking tomorrow off. Had to put my truck in the shop this morning for new tires, front end alignment, new brakes, new front end strut, fuel system servicing, oil change, and tune up. Some was planned, some wasn't $$$$$. I would say forget it, but we need it to go to VA in September and again in October for Dad's move. It'll be like the bionic truck...we can make it better.
Jaz- MOH plans on that. I don't have the patience for it. I remember ESSO from when I lived in Germany during the early 70's.
Willie- Nice looking buildings.
Guy- Nice looking CN diesels.
Joe- Continued well wishes with the storm. I look forward to hearing about and seeing the Rapido SW1200. I really like the Pennsy FA units from them but I have too much motive power now and never pulled the trigger on them.
Steve- That has happened to us all at some point. I don't know if you have ever put in a TT/RH and associated track before? I have put in two of them and I'll just say make sure everything is lined up as perfectly as you can get it (take your time) and test the heck out of it with every loco you own. I speak from experience.
I hope everyone has a good night.
Back from Dad's. We got 2 pickup loads removed to other locations, a pile on the street and a full outside trashcan. I'm taking tomorrow off. Had to put my truck in the shop this morning for new tires, front end alignment, new brakes, new front end strut, fuel system servicing, oil change, and tune up. Some was planned, some wasn't $$$$$. I would say forget it, but we need it to go to VA in September and again in October for Dad's move. It'll be like the bionic truck...we can make it better.
Jaz- MOH plans on that. I don't have the patience for it. I remember ESSO from when I lived in Germany during the early 70's.
Willie- Nice looking buildings.
Guy- Nice looking CN diesels.
Joe- Continued well wishes with the storm. I look forward to hearing about and seeing the Rapido SW1200. I really like the Pennsy FA units from them but I have too much motive power now and never pulled the trigger on them.
Steve- That has happened to us all at some point. I don't know if you have ever put in a TT/RH and associated track before? I have put in two of them and I'll just say make sure everything is lined up as perfectly as you can get it (take your time) and test the heck out of it with every loco you own. I speak from experience.
I hope everyone has a good night.
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Esso was used in the US for a long time (at least in certain states). It is the phonetic pronunciation of S O for Standard Oil. Standard Oil was broken up in 1911. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esso
It is Exxon's (now ExxonMobils) mark and is used throughout much of the world for their gasoline (petrol).
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