Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXII

[chessie_system3]

Evening fellers. Chet I am deeply sorry for your loss. Losing family is always tough. Thanks everyone for the compliments on my build. I will keep them coming as I still have more structures to put together. Y'all have a good night.

Sent from my LGLS675 using Tapatalk

 

[Trussrod]

Good evening Tie-Rail Placers & Spike Drivers,
Hi Flo & Francine, Things seem fairly busy here at Jeffreys' Dinner. Just some hot black Coffee for me.

Overcast
49.3 °F
Feels Like 46 °F
N
6.7
Wind from ESE
Gusts 9.8 mph

Today
High -- | Low -- °F
--% Chance of Precip.
Yesterday
High -- | Low -- °F
Precip. -- in
Pressure 30.07 in
Visibility 10.0 miles
Clouds Clear
Windchill 46 °F
Dew Point 42 °F
Humidity 77%
Rainfall 0.93 in >I'll be darn, they agree with my measurement too. That brings my total to 24.77 in.<
Snow Depth Not available

He was quite the character. I had five uncles working for the railroad. All of them had numerous sons, but he had four girls. He took me under his wing just like a son. I will never forget what I learned from him about the railroad and all of the time I spent with him and my other uncles riding on trains.

He was still sharp as a tack even at 99. Every morning he would drive himself down to the cafe a few blocks away to have breakfast with his cronies. You would never guess that he was 99. He got around just fine and as I mentioned he had no medical problems that any one know of. He lived by himself, did all of his house keeping and cooking by himself. If you have to go, I guess passing away in your sleep is the way to go.

Thanks

Chet: Sorry to hear of your favorite Uncle's passing. It sure seems he made many a trip from the RR yard and back again and that you fondly remember your time spent with him on a number of those trips! It's great to have fond memories of the time you spent with him. He passed away in peace and that's great!

Good Morning All. It's 57° and mostly cloudy here this morning. Rained some overnight, 0.5" in the rain gauge this morning. Very slight chance of more in about an hour, then clear skies for at least another week. Wow! 62+ posts since I first posted here yesterday morning. Some other forum topics were rather active as well.
Out in the train shed, I continued on two projects, working on one or the other as glue or paint dried. Continued on the landscaping around Wicked Wanda's and glued together walls on the latest structure. Ran some trains as well. Uneventful which is how I want it...no derailments, stuck or broken couplers or stalling engines!

David - See response to Beady above.

Boy, am I wore out from typing.
Everybody have a great day.

Willie

Say Willie: The two links I provided should provide enough credibility to anybody so inclined to see the benefits.

Good morning, everyone. 60 degrees and partly cloudy here in SW MO - heading for 68 today. Just leave the pot here, ma'am - and I'll have two cinnamon doughnuts - the doughnuts to make me fat, the cinnamon for my health - what??

Left work early last Friday - man, there must have been 10 pages of posts to catch up on this morning!!

What a weekend - in the 70's both days. We raked the winter's accumulation of leaves from around the house (we're bordered on two sides by deep woods), and cleared leaves and weeds out of the garden, getting ready to till it and plant pretty soon.

David - Thanks for the tip about WS Rusty Rail track painter. There are several different track weathering tips folks have shared - which one for me? Have to think about that.

Regarding natural remedies/healthcare - we've tried various naturopathic healthcare things for over 20 years - I've found some work for some people and some don't - it's not a one-size-for-all, as far as I can tell. But I do know that some things DO work for me, so I stick with those. To me, the worst thing about aging is the cost - - things that I used to be able to do, now I hire someone to do them

From the train room - well, not a whole lot of progress because we spent the weekend outdoors. But I did get two pieces of flextrack spiked down and wired up (alligator clips for a temporary hookup) and ran our first engine on all six feet of track - made sure it took the curve and that the sound worked - everything was great. We celebrated - MOH, son, DIL, granddaughter were all there to witness the big moment! Waiting for a curved turnout to arrive in my latest MDKlein order, and then I can lay a bunch of track and start having some real fun!!

See ya later. Have a good day everyone.
Johnny

Say Johnny: Glad things are starting to take shape for you. Just remember not to tap the the track nails down too hard so as to form a shallow V in the ties as that will draw the two rails together and a tight spot will develope.

Glad you appreciated the info on the Cinnamon as a natural cure. Meds and their associated cost are way out of and. I can remember a year ago the former family doctor who is a personal friend and Army Reservist wrote me out a prescription for some skin creme to cure up an issue and I couldn't believe what they wanted for a 1 oz tube. I think it was $209.95. That's one I didn't try and afford.

Here's a nice looking picture!
View attachment 60696

Say Sherrel: Those are nice looking, fairly new Alcos alright!


Hope everyone has a great day.

 

[rhoward]

Hi Karl... Nothing "fat" about that little girl... Just a lot of muscle.... Just like my two boys!

They are also 20 pounders...

Here is Blackie:

And this is Manét (after the French Painter):

So much for my reading... They are brothers, litter mates, that I inherited from my dad when he died. A couple days before he died I promised him if we couldn't find a home for Blackie (he was only about 4 months old and was his special little guy) I would take him... Well that was all he needed to hear and he decided that was what was going to happen. My sister was to get Manét but figured her rotten old female cat would kill him (she was not a nice cat!), so I got talked into taking him later. Best thing I did in a long time. They are sweet boys and are very outgoing and friendly. Anyone who comes to the house will have Manét sitting on their lap within a few minutes of arriving. Blackie sleeps on my feet at night and Manét cuddles in my arms. Sweetest cats I have ever seen........

Oh they are almost 16 years old now. The vet says that is about 75 in cat years.... Both have been diabetic, but Manét went into remission (get his blood sugar tested a few times a year), but Blackie gets his insulin every morning, and will remind me if I forget...

Take care!

 

[IronBeltKen]

Chet - so sorry to hear of your loss! Painful for you and your cousins, I know - but your uncle is in a much better place now. 99 years of healthy life is a LOT to celebrate!

 

[Bruette]

Louis, the shells are different, and mount on the frame differently. It could probably be done, but would be more trouble than it's worth.
Even the old blue box F units are easy to convert. Just use a decoder withwires, and solder wverything in place. Should take no more than a half hour, and most of that time would be drilling a hole for the ground wire, and waiting for the soldering iron to warm up.

Terry I decided to go with the one you recommended first. I appreciate your patience to indulge me and all my questions. I'm sure you knew I would end up right back where you tried to send me right off the bat. At least now I know all the factors that made this the best choice. I appreciate you helping me to continue my HO education.

I order it from the eBay link you sent me. As always you sent me the lowest price available as well.

Thank you my friend!

 

[Bruette]

Louis - MB Klein must be putting out the red carpet whenever they see you approaching! Nice equipment.

Thank you Willie, oddly enough the store manager was less than happy that I did not wait 24 hours before coming in to pick up my order. I like to order online and choose in store pick up so that I have a record of my purchases. "I asked him what would have been the difference if I had come in and used one of your kiosks to place the order?" no answer.

I don't get it, I'm always patient, I never complain and normally I find something else to buy while I'm browsing waiting for my order to be pulled.

They have probably less than 10% of their inventory in the store. Most any thing you buy has to be pulled from the back.

I've ordered and picked up like this dozens of times. I'll have to write to Dallas, the general manager and ask him what the policy is.

They have become so focused on HO and N that Lionel and O have become like a rented mule.

Everybody has a bad day, maybe that was all it was.

 

[Bruette]

Louis - Posting the photo of the Burlington locomotive will probably get Garry all excited. Looks like your question about the Athearn locomotive has been answered. I was going to post on the phone, but Terry got it handled.

I thought of Garry as soon as I saw that Locomotive.

Thank you all the same, I know you would gladly help me as well.

 

[Bruette]

Terry would this one work? I like all the "bells and whistles!"

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Athearn-Genesis-HO-G22668-F7A-CS-DCC-p/ath-g22668.htm
Athearn Genesis HO G22668 F7A, Burlington (C&S) #700D (DCC and Sound Equipped)

[/QUOTE



Louis ! Athearn has a model of 700D !.... Wow...... I made a model of it starting with a Stewart F9A.

The Athearn model shows 700D after it was rebuilt into an F9Am by EMD. All the photos I saw of the rebuilt 700D did not have the "F7" plate under the road number in the Athearn model pictured. The large dynamic brake fan and the large style spark arrestors are correct.

Why was 700D rebuilt? ...... The original F7A was in a tragic head-on collision with a passenger train in Colorado. The passenger E7 was scrapped following the accident. At the time of the accident, 700D had a small dynamic brake fan without the big spark arrestors as you can see in the photo.

Below is my 700D. A similar photo was in Model Railroader trackside photos several years ago.

It is a beauty of a locomotive and your is as well!

Thank you so much for the background, I love the history and the story behind the story.

 

[Bruette]

I could not agree more Louis, and to all of you where most of you have been pushing these little loco's around for so many years, I just appreciate this web and sharing your knowledge more than you can imagine and just want to say thank you for helping me to stay interested in this. I have spent days looking at how steam engines work, watched ton's of youtubes of layouts, found dozens of sites on train scenery, looked at absolutely awesome pictures of all of your layouts here and just smile when I log off.

I did not know what a Walthers catalog was and Chet just got the 2017 version and its already out of print!! Wow, now I need to find one of those (or a slightly older one now that 17 is gone)... and just dream again like I did back when I was a kid with other catalogs. I may not be building a train yet but when I do, Im gonna be having so much fun, thank you guys! for giving me another reason to be happy about this stuff... again.

Tony you will find that there are a plethora of experts on here and they are all ready willing and able to provide the assistance we beginners need.

Take a look at the forum bookstore. It's a portal to Amazon and the forum gets a small commission, win, win! You can find a used copy of an older Walthers catalog if you are looking for something to browse through. You will find hundreds of ideas and it will only cost you a few bucks.

 

[Bruette]

Just got a sad phone call. My uncle that worked for the Milwaukee Road and got me started riding with him and my other uncles passed away last night. He apparently passed in his sleep. He had no known medical issues. He was 99.

Chet I just found this post, I am so very sorry for your loss, God Bless you my friend.

 

[Bruette]

He was quite the character. I had five uncles working for the railroad. All of them had numerous sons, but he had four girls. He took me under his wing just like a son. I will never forget what I learned from him about the railroad and all of the time I spent with him and my other uncles riding on trains.

He was still sharp as a tack even at 99. Every morning he would drive himself down to the cafe a few blocks away to have breakfast with his cronies. You would never guess that he was 99. He got around just fine and as I mentioned he had no medical problems that any one know of. He lived by himself, did all of his house keeping and cooking by himself. If you have to go, I guess passing away in your sleep is the way to go.


Thanks

Those memories are yours forever and I agree if you have to go there is no better way to go. I pray we all do so well.

 

[Bruette]

Louis- Remember that the loco is a grey color! LOL.

I'll keep that in mind

 

[Bruette]

Have a great day Everybody!

 

[Bruette]

Karl I was busy yesterday and did not get the chance to post this for you

 

[santafewillie]

Dang Louis! Try some of the decaf. LOL Good Morning to you. I'll be back in a bit after checking all of the overnight threads.
Willie

 

[Bruette]

Willie no sooner than I open my eyes I ready go full tilt! The only difference between when I was young and now is I go a lot slower, for a much shorter time with far less productivity. I thank God for the strength do what I do and I don't whine about what I can no longer do. I'm happy to be doing something!

Now I must go, God Bless Us Everyone!

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Welllll, that was an enjoyable three day weekend.
Grandsons enjoyed the train show.
I got a good bit of work done on the bridge.
Had a nice ride yesterday.
Now, it's back to work. Next holiday weekend is Memorial Day.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Gang. 50° and partly cloudy here in beautiful North Central Texas this morning. Temperatures in the mid 70's to mid 80's for the rest of the week. My kind of weather. Things cool off a bit Friday night and then back up next week. Spent most of my day yesterday dealing with appliance problems. Dishwasher and freezer. Called the shop that usually does my repairs and they said that their top guy was out sick and they couldn't come until Saturday. OK, the freezer is at least maintaining a temperature between 18° and 22°; and mom did teach me how to wash dishes by hand 55 years ago. Then an hour later, they called back and said that the sick guy (actually a negative reaction to some medication) came in and would be out in about an hour. What a fortunate turn of events! Turns out that the freezer had a pool of water in the bottom from the defrost cycle, that had frozen over the return air intake. Fifteen minutes with his steamer took care of that. The dishwasher has a control keyboard lock that had become engaged and wouldn't disengage...this I already knew. He used a well-placed tap with a screwdriver to fix that! Great! It only cost $160. Considering that it is a 50 mile round trip from the shop to my house, I got off lightly. Of course then I had to spend another hour putting frozen stuff back into the freezer, and loading the dishwasher back up etc. This morning the freezer is at 2°. All of this put a crimp in my train time as I was also cooking a beef roast in the crockpot and had to gradually add the onions, carrots, celery and potatoes over a six hour span. All of that plus my walk and garden inspection/admiration after the rain pretty much filled out the day.
In the train shed, I did find time to add the windows and one of two roofs to the structure that I am building. Whew! What a day!

Johnny - Garden? Vegetable or flower? As you might have surmised, organic vegetable gardening is another of my avocations. My planting began about a month ago. Congrats on the first run! Feels great I hope.
Sherrel - It's crazy weather that most of CA is having. What's amazing to me is how much rain they consider as a deluge. I realize that topography etc, plays a big part, but around here 4"-6" rainfalls are not too devastating. I regularly get much more than that, but the flooding in lower areas lasts for a few hours and then the grass grows. Down around Houston, things are a little different.
Tony - I hear you regarding all of the catalogs. When I was much much younger, we would cut out the stuff in the catalogs and play with it since we couldn't afford the real thing!
Dave - Maybe I missed something along the way, the last I read was that you were looking at some property, now you are setting up a work station. Are you still at the new job?
Garry - It's unfortunate that the chapel car has been getting so much use lately. I am sure that Chet appreciates its appearance.
Beady - Sad but amusing story regarding the "shooting". We're not quite as politically correct here in Texas, and hearing that kind of talk is everyday stuff.
Ken - They don't observe Good Friday in VA???
OK, we haven't heard from Eric this week, I hope that all is well and that he is just recovering from treatments.

Everybody have a great day.

Willie

 

[Raincoat2]

Good morning, everyone. I'll take a big cup of regular, please. It's 54 with a chance o' rain here in SW MO; heading for mid 60's today, 70's rest of the week before a slight cooldown this weekend.

David - Yeah, I understand about not nailing those spikes too hard. I'm being careful.

Louis, others - I envy you being able to walk right into the MBKlein place and pick up your orders. It takes usually 7 or 8 days for my orders to arrive. Seems like they take their time "processing" the orders before they actually ship. I've used USPS mostly, but I'm trying UPS ground this time, see if it makes any difference.

Willie - Organic veggies, with a few berry bushes and one fig tree. Plus 1/2 a row of expensive day lilies we got from MIL, who used to hybridize and sell them. The first run was greeted by cheers and high fives from several family members present for the big moment. And as soon as I get a curved turnout in my latest MBKlein order, I'll be laying track for the next few weeks.

Nothing new from the train room. Well, that's not entirely true - - last night I went out to my wood shop and started building a control center for the layout. I also have a couple of kits to build, but no progress there lately - too excited and busy gluing down roadbed scenery.

See ya later. have a good day, everyone.
Johnny

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Willie - Good Friday is not a Federal holiday.