Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXI

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 49° and overcast right now. Sun should break through in a couple of hours and the temperature will be 70°. Lower 80's tomorrow and Tuesday and again Friday and Saturday. Slow day here in the Coffee Shop yesterday. Probably won't be too active this evening either. I really won't be watching the "big game" much, as it interferes with supper, and later bedtime, both important activities for me! I have no desire to watch Lady GaGa either. I do however hope that Atlanta wins, as historically the stock market goes up after an NFC win. New England does seem to cause deflation. I do have a beef brisket to cook/smoke today, and will be starting that soon.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I cleaned up the work bench and put up tools and paint (horror). That way I can spend some quality time looking for everything when I start the next project! I did complete the Bar Mills structure "Amos Cutter's General Merchandise" yesterday, but I left the camera w/pictures out there and don't feel like getting dressed yet. Maybe after Mass. Hope to get back to ground cover today as I was making progress until I got bored and started the structure.

Curt - Too bad that you're out of pictures of Bill's layout. It was a bit of an inspiration.
FlyFishn - Welcome to the Coffee Shop. Don't be a stranger. Don't let the lack of activity yesterday fool you. We do tend to taper off on the weekends.
Toot - When are you inviting us for a ride in your restored railcar?

Well, time to move on. Everybody have a "Super" day.

Willie

 

[bnsf971]

I listed our travel trailer for sale on Facebook. It looks like I might have priced it too low, I have 20 messages from people wanting it.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Good Morning -- I 'll be heading out to one of our Bunco members home for a SuperBowl party later on. Have to try and think of something to make as it is a "pot luck" affair and BYOB too!

The weather man local here better repair his machine - I think it's broken?
Present temp is 42 -- and now the forecast ....

Today is forecast to be MUCH WARMER than yesterday.
Today
High 62 | Low 50 °F
0% Chance of Precip.
Yesterday
High 72.9 | Low 50.9 °F
Precip. 0 in

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good morning ..... We have a clear sky and 47 degrees at the moment.

A restored private dome diner/lounge coach. Noice, in'it.

Toot ..... Oh how I wish I could ride in that dome car !.... The shape of the dome looks like one the Budd Company made for either Santa Fe or Great Northern in the 1950's

Louis ... Thanks for explaining "The real McCoy" ... Interesting trivia.

Terry ... When we had to sell a travel trailer several years ago, nobody wanted to buy it.

Fly Fishin .... Sounds like you are near the old IC line running south of Chicago through Kankakee and Champaign ..... Sounds like you have good ideas for building a layout.

Willie ... I'm looking forward to seeing a photo of your recent Bar Mills building.

Have a very nice Sunday, everybody !

 

[FlyFishn]

I listed our travel trailer for sale on Facebook. It looks like I might have priced it too low, I have 20 messages from people wanting it.

That may mean a quick sale. Not to discourage you at all, from what I know about RV's trying to sell one can be the worst aspect of ownership due to rapid depreciation. If you have a lot of interest that may actually be a blessing, even if you aren't getting what you think it should bring.


I have been researching the RV industry a bit. It may sound like a crazy idea, but I was entertaining the idea of a nice 5th wheel as a primary residence. That, a patch of land some where, and a nice pole barn/shop would be fun. The aspects that scare me about that, though, are the quality issues with construction (here is one of the most comprehensive write-ups on the subject I've ever read - http://rvdr-cdn3.appxtreme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/RV-Industry-Death-Spiral-compilation.pdf) and setting up to survive the winter (keeping pipes from freezing - water supply and sewage, adequate heating, etc). I think it would be too much work. Maybe I'll find a good quality (subjective terminology here) used one later and test the waters. That would give me the mobility aspect, but still have a home base if things aren't working out

Today's agenda - hit the grocery store and get a few things ready for the work week.

Coffee time. I'm just getting up for the day. Feels good to be lazy. Maybe I'll take a look at my track plan and room space again to spin some ideas around.

Opinions welcome - if I have the room to pull the main lines further apart should I hold the minimum track radius and add straights at the apex? Or should I increase the radius and maintain a uniform arch to achieve the further spacing? This would be in application to 180 decree turns. First thought is to hold the minimum radius with added straights.

 

[rhoward]

Mornin' everyone.

Can I get another cup of Dark Roast coffee Ma'am? Thank you!

Okay, it's 30 degrees. Water freezes at 32. The roads are wet. It shouldn't take a brain surgeon to figure out there might possibly be a little ice out there... Obviously, the people driving on my road are not by any stretch brain surgeons...

Obviously these people just need a car like my Chevy Volt... When I turn the computers on, it always has a warning message on the screen if it is below freezing outside. It tells you to "Be careful driving as there may be ice on the roads. Please drive carefully." Once a month I get a warning on the touch screen in the middle of the dash that says something like, "do not read things on this screen as it can be a distraction and can cause an accident which can result in injury or death!" I think new cars are designed by and for complete idiots. On the other hand I do like getting 181mpg so far on it. That will go down soon as I have to take a trip where I won't be able to recharge to get home in a couple weeks. That means the gas engine will have to start up and burn fossilized dinosaur dung for the trip home..... LOL

Have a good one out there!

 

[kbkchooch]

Went up to Timonium early yesterday to help with the setup of our (PWMRC) modular layout. Took a while to get things running. Turned out to probably be a run down CMOS battery in a booster.
The other Ken of MD came by and we chatted for a little bit. He doesn't look a bit like me. I didn't see anybody else from this forum there.

Super Bowl tonight. I would like to see the Patriots win. Nothin in particular why I pick them.

Ken,

I was there with SWMBO, and somehow missed you and the other Ken too.

Question for you, the other Ken, and anyone else who attended. Did it seem like the tables in the south hall were just tossed willy-nilly into the room? I am used to nice straight row, so I can methodically and completely see all the vendors tables. Trying to "touch em all" turned out to be a confusing and difficult task. And it wasn't an efficient use of space either, judging from a few large empty spaces that could have accommodated 7-8 more tables easily. IMHO, the whole arrangement was a big C-F.

GO FALCONS!!!!

 

[kbkchooch]

Mornin' everyone.

Can I get another cup of Dark Roast coffee Ma'am? Thank you!



Obviously these people just need a car like my Chevy Volt... When I turn the computers on, it always has a warning message on the screen if it is below freezing outside. It tells you to "Be careful driving as there may be ice on the roads. Please drive carefully." Once a month I get a warning on the touch screen in the middle of the dash that says something like, "do not read things on this screen as it can be a distraction and can cause an accident which can result in injury or death!" I think new cars are designed by and for complete idiots. On the other hand I do like getting 181mpg so far on it. That will go down soon as I have to take a trip where I won't be able to recharge to get home in a couple weeks. That means the gas engine will have to start up and burn fossilized dinosaur dung for the trip home..... LOL

Have a good one out there!

Ray

While you are on your trip with the Volt, be sure to take your charging cord, and check to local shopping centers. Around here, some of the grocery stores have designated parking spaces and charging stations for Hybrid or EV vehicles to recharge at. Plug in, go in and buy some Ben & Jerrys and a pack of plastic spoons. Recharge yourself while the car gets a charge!

 

[Beady]

That may mean a quick sale. Not to discourage you at all, from what I know about RV's trying to sell one can be the worst aspect of ownership due to rapid depreciation. If you have a lot of interest that may actually be a blessing, even if you aren't getting what you think it should bring.


I have been researching the RV industry a bit. It may sound like a crazy idea, but I was entertaining the idea of a nice 5th wheel as a primary residence. That, a patch of land some where, and a nice pole barn/shop would be fun. The aspects that scare me about that, though, are the quality issues with construction (here is one of the most comprehensive write-ups on the subject I've ever read - http://rvdr-cdn3.appxtreme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/RV-Industry-Death-Spiral-compilation.pdf) and setting up to survive the winter (keeping pipes from freezing - water supply and sewage, adequate heating, etc). I think it would be too much work. Maybe I'll find a good quality (subjective terminology here) used one later and test the waters. That would give me the mobility aspect, but still have a home base if things aren't working out

I don't know where you live, but the major drawback could be if you're somewhere in Tornado Alley. If so, invest in an underground shelter. I assume the train room would be in the pole barn?

Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing anything new or very extraordinary. Lots of retirees bop around the country in large RVs, and there are several TV shows about people of all ages building homes, mobile and permanent, of 400 sf or less.

Personally, I wouldn't want something that small unless it was warm enough to be outside most of the day.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[IronBeltKen]

Ken,

I was there with SWMBO, and somehow missed you and the other Ken too.

Question for you, the other Ken, and anyone else who attended. Did it seem like the tables in the south hall were just tossed willy-nilly into the room? I am used to nice straight row, so I can methodically and completely see all the vendors tables. Trying to "touch em all" turned out to be a confusing and difficult task. ...

Karl,

It was definitely not your imagination - the friend I went there with had the same complaint! He was searching for a sound-equipped Atlas RS-1 or RS-3 in the New Haven scheme, and wound up looking more than once at some of the same tables because of the chaotic arrangement.

I did catch up with Ken of VA at the PWMRC layout on my third attempt, and he is correct, we don't look alike; he stands about a foot taller than me. Found out that when we were growing up in Michigan, his house was within two miles of mine!

 

[IronBeltKen]

Been eating ibuprofin like candy over the past few days. The pinched nerve at the base of my spine has gotten to the point where I have to avoid sitting down; anytime my left thigh gets perpendicular to my body, as soon as a stand up again I get a crippling muscle spasm which lasts between 20-30 seconds, with residual soreness for ~ an hour afterwards. I'm supposed to get a cortisone injection on Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully that will at least provide a few months' relief; failing that, I guess surgery will be my only other option.

 

[FlyFishn]

I don't know where you live, but the major drawback could be if you're somewhere in Tornado Alley. If so, invest in an underground shelter. I assume the train room would be in the pole barn?

Agreed - there are a lot of factors, benefits, and drawbacks. At some point I want a big building, regardless - storage for equipment, boat, atv, work shop wood + metal.

As for trains - havent thought through that too far, probably many years down the road. Just an initial thought, though - having an enclosed portion of that type of building might be best - at least separate shop and garage so the dust etc doesn't affect anything outside the shop. An enclosed portion somewhere that could be the "clean room" would work better for general storage and a train room.

Where I was working for a few weeks down south they had real nice shops set up with gantry cranes. That would be sweet to have in a home shop/garage, just a smaller scale. Where I used to work they didn't have anything like that. All the heavy moving in the shops was done with fork lifts or every once in a while boom cranes on service trucks. Compared to a gantry that was a PITA for work positioning.

Coffee, a tape measure, a rope, and a marked measuring board in hand this morning I laid out where my table is going and decided to add 6" of depth to the long side of my table design. I have to leave the short side of the L at 3' deep otherwise I can't access the back corner of the storage shelves or the windows. The 6" will open up the main table space more for some industries and terrain features on the main table. I want some elevation with a mountain scene of some sort. I am not real sure how to do it yet, though if I can get a high line in there around a mountain that would be cool. I thought about putting the yard on the small short side of the L then have a mountain at the corner and the terrain more in the back. The problem there is the short side is barely enough for a 15" minimum radius 180deg bend on the inside line of the double main line - how do you squeeze a yard inside? Off to the drawings again...

 

[santafewillie]

Finally went out and retrieved the camera. Here are two pictures of the Bar Mills "Amos Cutter's General Merchandise" that I just completed. It is intended to be a bit run down, thus the slight weathering. The first picture is of the bay window section. That piece has 33 individual parts in it, not counting the supplied interior photo; which I may change. The second picture is the completed structure.


The signs visible in the second photo comprised 12 additional parts.

Willie

 

[Beady]

Finally went out and retrieved the camera. Here are two pictures of the Bar Mills "Amos Cutter's General Merchandise" that I just completed. It is intended to be a bit run down, thus the slight weathering. The first picture is of the bay window section. That piece has 33 individual parts in it, not counting the supplied interior photo; which I may change. The second picture is the completed structure.
View attachment 60501View attachment 60502

The signs visible in the second photo comprised 12 additional parts.

Willie

Holy crap!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Mounted the table top today and did planning for some different versions of the new track plan. I think the T/O's I have on order will be here tomorrow.

FlyFishn- Welcome to the coffee shop. I forgot what scale you model but a couple of options are a single main or a switching layout.

Louis- Great history story.

Karl- Sounds like you did well at the show.

Toot- Nice looking interior.

Ken- Sorry to hear about your pain. Hopefully you will get some relief on Tuesday.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[rhoward]

Ray

While you are on your trip with the Volt, be sure to take your charging cord, and check to local shopping centers. Around here, some of the grocery stores have designated parking spaces and charging stations for Hybrid or EV vehicles to recharge at. Plug in, go in and buy some Ben & Jerrys and a pack of plastic spoons. Recharge yourself while the car gets a charge!

Hi Karl! Oh yeah... My son (Works at Argonne National Labs) Gave me a 240v charging station for here at home for my 70th. birthday. The 110v cord that comes with the car is carefully stowed out of sight for opportunistic charging. I will be attending an Ops 'till You Drop event over in Syracuse in April and my choice of hotel for the weekend will be partially based on the availability on a Charge Point Station at or right near the Hotel. I can't quite get from my house to Syracuse on just electric, but with the ICE as backup I don't have to worry about "Range Anxiety". I have actually gone over 1400miles on the first tankful of gasoline with it so not too shabby.

I have to drive to Rochester for a Commissioners meeting at the Boy scout office the end of this month. I am about to ask if there is an outside plug I could use to get a few miles of range back while I am there. They have already given me absolute permission to plug in out at Boy Scout Camp whenever I go out to work on stuff out there. I figure I give them a few thousand dollars worth of items for camp, I should be able to plug in while I am installing it...... I have had a few Scouters quite upset that I was "stealing" electricity until I mentioned that I am working on the pro sound system I donated to camp and the amount of personal $$$ I had in it and he was upset that I was "Stealing" 50¢ worth of power while I was there..... LOL

Have a good one!

 

[FlyFishn]

FlyFishn- Welcome to the coffee shop. I forgot what scale you model but a couple of options are a single main or a switching layout.

Curt - N scale for now. Layout is to experiment with DCC so there will be switches, but I want to run trains on a main line as opposed to yard and industry ops only on a switcher table. We'll see where the design goes.

 

[montanan]

Good afternoon. I have tried to keep up with the forum on the phone the past two days but there were so many posts that I thought I had better turn on the computer and do it the right way.

We made our weekly trip to town yesterday and then I got my little tractor started up and pushed and remaining snow to the sides and into the larger piles. Gained about 5 feet in width on the driveway. Temps have been above freezing for the last couple of days, but just barely.

I did head down to the train room yesterday and ran trains as well as planning some projects. In the process I found some old passenger cars I had totally forgot about. These are old Roundhouse cars, similar to what Curt posted on his railroad a few weeks ago.



It took a bit of thinking as to where these cars came from and then the light bulb came on. The boxes had 49 cent stickers on them. Undecorated. I had picked them up at a swap meet we had visited while on a road trip. Painted the up and lettered them for the Logan Valley. Now I don't know what to do with them. Guess they could be used for some special events trips or something. Those four cars were just about the limit the little 2-6-0 could pull up the grades, and the cars don't have any weights in them.

Ken form MD - hope your back gets better soon.

Willie - Beautiful job on the general store.

Ray - I don't think there will ever be the day that I would consider an electric car, or even a hybrid. We're just way too spread out up here. For us a trip to another larger city could be anywhere from 100 to over 200 miles one way. My best friend is originally from North Dakota (has been here for over 25 years) has a brother who owns a Tesla. It is a beautiful car and talk about performance, but he has to really plan ahead for any road trips. Tesla does have their "quick charge" stations spread across the country and he can do a quick charge in about an hour, for free with them. They are few and far between in a lot of the western states. He has to plan a trip down to the last detail and charged range of the car. He loves the car but does admit that in certain parts of the country he can be seriously slowed down. I'll gas and go thank you.

Karl and Ken - Sure wish I could attend a Timonium show. Maybe some day.

Toot - Nice photo of the restored dome car. The dome car was one of my favorite place to ride when I was a kid on out rail trips between Montana and Chicago.

Curt - Really enjoyed all of the photos of Bill's layout. Whish you had more. Nice work on your addition to the layout.

Sure is easier to keep up with the forum on a computer.

 

[PRR Modeler]

This may sound like a really stupid question:

I want to have a lower profile roadbed on the sidings I am working on than the HO cork roadbed and I don't really want to glue the track directly on the wood. Is N-scale cork road bed large enough so that the HO track ties don't hang over the edges?

 

[bnsf971]

This may sound like a really stupid question:

I want to have a lower profile roadbed on the sidings I am working on than the HO cork roadbed and I don't really want to glue the track directly on the wood. Is N-scale cork road bed large enough so that the HO track ties don't hang over the edges?

You can double it up, and put two strips side-by-side. Put the complete strip down the center, and split the other one, and put the beveled edge to the outside of the track.