Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXI


Beady your depth of knowledge never ceases to amaze me. Looking up Lupercalia turned out to be a very interesting read.
I can't take credit for most of it, and I'm almost ashamed of some of it. I will jump from one area of interest to another, jumping into the new area with both feet and losing almost all interest in the last, rarely remaining in one for more than three or four years.

While I am interested in something, I can go down some really odd rabbit holes. My summer hobby (for almost 10 years now) is Cowboy Action Shooting, which as a matter of course led me to read up on 19th century metallurgy; the connection between the two was that I wanted to find out why I shouldn't shoot modern ammo out of an original revolver.

I have no idea where model railroading will take me. Since I've wanted a real setup for decades, though, and I'm planning for maximum changeability, I'm reasonably certain I'll stick with it for quite a while.

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Morning Troops!
Supposed to be 78 with severe clear today - It was 77 with severe clear yesterday.
Dog grooming on tap this morning - doctors appointment this afternoon.
Have a nice day, folks!
 
I can't take credit for most of it, and I'm almost ashamed of some of it. I will jump from one area of interest to another, jumping into the new area with both feet and losing almost all interest in the last, rarely remaining in one for more than three or four years.

While I am interested in something, I can go down some really odd rabbit holes. My summer hobby (for almost 10 years now) is Cowboy Action Shooting, which as a matter of course led me to read up on 19th century metallurgy; the connection between the two was that I wanted to find out why I shouldn't shoot modern ammo out of an original revolver.

I have no idea where model railroading will take me. Since I've wanted a real setup for decades, though, and I'm planning for maximum changeability, I'm reasonably certain I'll stick with it for quite a while.

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No need to be ashamed, in fact be proud of yourself. You are learning and having fun, you could be depressed and sitting in a corner. Do you have a blog where you chronicle your latest hobbies? I bet that would also be an interesting read. I too am interested in a diverse range of subjects. I satisfy my need to know by watching the Smithsonian Channel, AHC and others. Baseball and trains are my hobbies, but I am also very interesting in history, primarily military history. My son bought for me the new Hearts of Iron IV WWII grand strategy game but I have yet to play it, but I will! I also on occasion play Madden Football online with the youngsters on the PS4. I win a few more than I lose but most importantly I enjoy it. I don't have the dexterity in my hands to keep up with the youngsters, but I do have some knowledge of football so I try to make it as much of a chess match as possible. I get deep into other things on occasion but trains and baseball are always a constant source of enjoyment for me.

I previously read you are planning to use sectional track. I love my Lionel FasTrack so much I am dedicated to staying with the Bachmann EZ track for HO and N scales. I like sectional track for the same reasons as you. I like to change things up. What brand of track are you thinking of?

I have seen people who have ballasted the Bachmann EZ track and I can't tell the difference.

If I see that the Bachmann track is not up to my standards I will switch to Kato. I can't see that happening because the small layout I have in HO is made up of track from an Athearn 2004 Coca-Cola Christmas set that came with Bachmann nickel/silver track and it works like the brand new pieces I added to it to complete my little layout. With minimal maintenance I cannot tell which pieces are 2 years old and which pieces are 12 years old.
 
Wow, I was expecting a much higher price for a detailed Steam engine like that. What is cool is that the 5101 "a New York Central" steamer probably went by West Springfield near my town back in the day. My wife saw me looking at it on ebay and walked away mumbling something?? I have a feeling I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight...hehehe!!!

Tony show your wife the price for greens fee at your local golf course and she might think differently about your trains. And remind her she can always find you when she is looking for you.
 
I previously read you are planning to use sectional track. I love my Lionel FasTrack so much I am dedicated to staying with the Bachmann EZ track for HO and N scales. I like sectional track for the same reasons as you. I like to change things up. What brand of track are you thinking of?
Thinking of? :D I must have 20 real miles of Kato Unitrack, single and double, including viaduct. There's a particular LHS where the owner is very liberal about buying used items, and I've bought out his stock of used track several times. Might be the cause of my problems with getting the rails to line up correctly on some sections.

Anyhow, in the interest of maximum changeability I'm planning ways of carrying the concept of Sectional to ridiculous lengths, with sectional forests and rivers, movable hills, etc.

About another month to go before I can start to put my basement back together. Sigh.

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Tony show your wife the price for greens fee at your local golf course and she might think differently about your trains. And remind her she can always find you when she is looking for you.
Hi Louis, naaa I was just kidding about that. I do that alot, especially when I see a great deal but cant afford it. My wife knows about all my hobbies and supports me more than you can imagine, and she even won the tickets on the radio for me and a friend to go to the Big E last month. It was for only one day tho, and that train show could have eaten up 5 days!!!...or more... Yea, we had some medical issues a while ago, cant afford much at this time and Im just cautious about getting into this too fast.

Besides, I love the journey also as much as the building I'm gonna be doing soon. I think I'm gonna start with a nice 20 dollar kit, plan out an L shaped track (I think that what David said is a good idea) and just enjoy all the videos (Chet's got the top of my list) and have alot of fun!!!!
 
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This morning cleaned up the layout room before the contractor who installed my leaky water heat (GAS leaks) comes this afternoon to repair the gas leaks. Three leaks in total.

My layout is sort built up close to the water heater and I debated about purchasing a new, old style water heater and keep it until I needed it since the new water heaters are larger in diameter than the old due to the mandated extra side insulation. Well I didn't buy a back up water heater for approximately $400 and then the old one started leaking and a new 40 gallon wouldn't fit in the space. So I ordered a new 30 gallon water heater which is much more expensive than a 40 gallon since few people order 30 gallon heaters.

Needed a contractor to install the new water heater. No longer will I move a new heater down the basement stairs and haul out the old. $1,150 later here I am.

Found a box of old, used and new turnouts. For my future freight yard I want to use Code 70 for the sidings and Code 83 for the main line coming into the yard. I have to decide do I use the turnouts I found, mostly #4's Code 83, or buy new ones.

Greg
 
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Beady - I imagine that you're chompin' at the bit to get going in the basement. What is let to do down there before you can move ahead? Got any plans?

Greg - Ever thought about a tankless water heater ? They're small and you'll have an endless supply of hot water.
 
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Chet: I did consider a tank less water heater, But my electrical panel did not have any room for the addition service. A tank less heater would require replacing the entire panel with a new, larger panel and service at a high cost.

If was was a bit younger, replacing the service could be easy for me to do.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Greg
 
Greg - There is really no electrical draw for a tankless unit. All you need is a simple outlet to run a blower for the exhaust. Mine runs off of natural gas.
 
Beady - I imagine that you're chompin' at the bit to get going in the basement. What is let to do down there before you can move ahead? Got any plans?
Plans? Going down there and never coming back up. If I ever get the maceration toilet installed, that's a definite possibility.

Currently, all the basement's contents are piled up, at least four feet from all the walls. They have to jackhammer the floor next to the walls (our poor cats!), lay a French drain aka weeping tile, cover it with a grate, re-cement the trench, then epoxy the entire floor. It's at least a two-week process, between digging the trench, waiting for the cement to cure and epoxying in two stages (epoxy over the new cement, wait for it to dry, move the crap next to the wall, epoxy where the crap was, wait for it to dry, put all the crap back where it's supposed to be, start the train layout all over).

Pardon me while I get back into my fetal position.

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Beady - That sound like a real hemorrhoid. Have you been able to pry the cats off of the ceiling?
 
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Chet: I completely forgot about gas tank less water heaters. I guess in my professional life in the commercial and office rental world, electric tank less water heaters were the primary ones that were installed due to the lack of a supply of natural gas within the buildings. Most were installed in smaller retail and professional offices.

In my professional days I recall having a 400 gallon electric water heater that was installed in a mechanical area on the 12th floor of a professional office building. It started leaking and the tank didn't have any leak containment under it....! Replaced the 400 gallon with two 80 gallon tanks with time-of-day use. Used a recirculation pump to circulate water hot water throughout the building to avoid people having to have to wait for hot water to reach the tap. Electric usage dropped like....WOW!!!

back to train stuff.

Greg
 
A major boring day. Waiting on documents which won't be finished today. Makes my schedule slip to the right.
Saw an add for the new BLI ES44AC. I ordered one through my local dealer. It has sound, smoke and traction tires.
 
A major boring day. Waiting on documents which won't be finished today. Makes my schedule slip to the right.
Saw an add for the new BLI ES44AC. I ordered one through my local dealer. It has sound, smoke and traction tires.

Smoke on a diesel unit? Oh yea, it's a GE diesel!:D

Willie
 
The GEVo is one of the least-smoking locomotives out there. If you ever see one smoking, it's probably on fire.
I do own a smoking diseasel, it is an Alco PA. I run it with the smoke off. I have a second one that I have removed the smoke unit completely, and whenever I have to remove the shell on the other ine, the smoke unit is going to be removed from that, as well.
 



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