Running Bear's Coffee Shop September 2018


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I finally finished my O scale barn for the club swamp logging layout.
I cut the lumber from a cedar board on my table saw and scroll saw, then I used an Xacto knife to cut the strips to width.
A "tall boy"beer can supplied the metal roofing.


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The camera flash has washed out the weathering on the wood.
 

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Johnny .... I use three types of cleaning cars in my long tunnels .... ... Walthers boxcar with abrasive pad, CMX, and CenterLine ..... The solvent I use in the CMX car is acetone. ..... The mainline stays clean with only the Walther boxcar used regularly. .... As Greg says, use a bright boy if you have a hard to clean area.

Below is all three headed into a tunnel.

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....

Mikey .... Your barn looks great.
 
Garry and Greg - thanks for the track cleaning tips. Any tips on cleaning engine contact wheels?
For engines, I use a folded up paper towel soaked in alcohol that's placed on the track. Place one of the trucks on the towel and the other on the bare track, hold on, apply power and spin the wheels. Then reverse the procedure for the other truck. I have read where some folks use a scrap of old tee-shirt instead of the paper towel, but I haven't tried that myself. Seems like it would be just as effective. I imagine that cleaners other than alcohol would work as well. I'll take a picture later today when I finish up here in the house.
 
Willie - I also use a paper towel with alcohol the same way to clean wheels. I'll use a scrap of an old T shirt wrapped arounf an old piece of sponge to clean tracks, but a scrap of T shirt is a bit thick to use on the tracks to clean wheels. When I am working on the layout and have trains running, I'll have a track cleaning car in the train.
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I also have a few cars with "Dust Monkeys" on them. To clean sidings to industries, I will use a bright boy.
 
Afternoon All,

My plans changed for today when my Dad called and asked me to drive him to his VA appointment. It was probably at my Mother's prompting since she had to stay at home and wait on a AC repairman. I just got home from that. Tomorrow I'm driving up to see my buddy Jon and hopefully Phil will be there also.

Willie- You're right about my parents landlord. WOW- 500 cars! I probably have about 80 all together. Motive power around 12 units (that does not count A-A, A-B or A-B-A units that always run together).

Johnny- I clean my mains with the CMX cleaning car and lacquer thinner. Sidings I use Q-Tips. I find that quicker to do. It usually takes me 2 days to do everything. I do wheels like Willie.

Chet- Good luck with the new computer.

Mikey- Nicely done scratch build..

Joe- When I was on I-81 there was heavy fog and trucks. Not fun. I'm glad you're basement water leak wasn't serious.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
For engines, I use a folded up paper towel soaked in alcohol that's placed on the track. Place one of the trucks on the towel and the other on the bare track, hold on, apply power and spin the wheels. Then reverse the procedure for the other truck. I have read where some folks use a scrap of old tee-shirt instead of the paper towel, but I haven't tried that myself. Seems like it would be just as effective. I imagine that cleaners other than alcohol would work as well. I'll take a picture later today when I finish up here in the house.
PART II
Johnny
- Here is a rough visual of the loco wheel cleaning.
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The result.
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This engine didn't have very dirty wheels to begin with.
I also have "Dust Monkeys" on all 18 of my cabooses which keeps dust off the mains and passing sidings. Every so often I run a dedicated cleaning train, whether needed or not that looks like this.
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From r-l, an old Tyco caboose that I have fitted with a masonite pad, for removing any loose debris and some not so loose debris, followed by an engine (GP40X). Next up is a Centerline track cleaner with a brass roller wrapped in an alcohol soaked Handi-Wipe, followed by an old LifeLike (I think) caboose with a dry felt pad. It's actually equipped with a drip tank that moistens the pad, which I don't use since I got the Centerline car. It's there to remove any remaining residue. This train doesn't see much action since I moved the layout into the train shed which is quite low in dust.
Hope that this helps.
For those keeping up, that's the new not yet painted fascia on the left. I have to cut the one on the right, but haven't had a good opportunity to set up outside to cut wood.
 
Curt - The new 'puter is up and running.

Willie - I do the exact same thing to clean locomotive wheels. Didn't have the time to take a photo.
 
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Beautiful scratchbuild barn, Mickey!

Guys, I'm sorry, I just cannot see the expense of the CMX car.
I'll put my 1968 $8.95 Kit built Ulrich track cleaning car against it any day! I added a boxcar with a "soak up pad" to be pulled behind it.

Garry, I did not comment on your bakery but read all the comments - and laughed a lot. Awesome name!

Curt, Joe and others .... glad your travels were safe.

Daughter and family are back home in Sneeds Ferry, NC. No damage to their home, but three sides of their fence was laid down- or bent over from soft, wet ground and wind.

Weather has become very pleasant the past few days. Haven't said much but I read the forum two - three times a day.
I enjoy everyone's photos and posts, but .. from now on .. I am just not going to comment on each and every one. However, if I DON'T LIKE one - I will let you know - lol.
 
Joe - Glad that you got home safely and that kitty is happy. You were lucky to find that water problem.

Chet: Fortunately, the water passed behind the back drop, running down the wall to the "French" floor drain, as intended. It helped that the rain stopped for a while and the water drained off.

I absolutely love Alcos. all kinds of Alcos. Nice photo Toot!

Boris
 
Good morning gang
68° and muggy today (yech) but hey, after a weeks worth of rain, I'll take it.

Here's another one for the Alco-haulics. Albeit ugly, I still like em!

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Alco C415 decorated for a friends pvt. road
 
Good Morning All. 57° and mostly cloudy. Another .75" in the rain gauge yesterday; I thought Sherrel would be here by now to collect some. Not sure what I did yesterday but it wasn't outdoors. Today is our weekly grocery/beer trek day, Vitamin shop is in the plan and wherever else the wife springs on me.
I do remember the visit(s) to the train shed however. While I mainly ran trains and switched industries, I also resumed work on the chain-link fence. It's moving right along, but slowly. Here's a before shot of the area that I am scenicking (If Johnny can use that word, so can I).
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It's that 60" x 4"-7" strip between main line and layout edge. It's going to represent the back ends of a string of suburban backyards. Additional vegetation/trees and dogs as well as details/junk will be added after the fencing is complete. Here's a bit of a progress pic.
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And another.
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Supergluing that top rail on hasn't always been easy and there's a spot or two where I missed the mark. After completion, I'll go back and fix where I can or disguise/hide with vines and trees.
Note also the El Camino featured last week that will be used in one yard.
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While doing the switching of industries, I also found two freight cars that still had plastic wheels on them, no more! Obviously been a while since I switched them.

Mikey - Nice job on the barn. Now you can get back to your own layout.
Curt - I like the idea of using Q-Tips to clean sidings. I have been using a pink eraser, or more recently a Woodland Scenic's "Rail Tracker", essentially an eraser on a stick, both of which invariably leave minor debris for later vacuuming.
Sherrel - Good to read that your daughter and family are back home with minimal damage.
Karl - That's a nice scene with your friend's Alco C415.

One last word regarding track cleaning. I have read many posts on this and other forums about the horrors of using a Bright Boy. I have used one for over 35 years (well not the same one) without any ill effects. I am fortunate though, since the move to the train shed a few years back, the only reason for using one any more is to rehabilitate old used track. Regular running with those Dust Monkey's and occasional trips with the cleaning car as well as the current running environment including metal wheels, seem to have come together to keep my rail clean. I've always been a believer that regular running does more to keep track clean than anything else.

OK, I've rambled on long enough; everybody have an awesome day. What day is today you might ask? National Crush a Can Day and National Corned Beef Hash Day. Who the hell comes up with this stuff???
 
Good morning. 60 and cloudy - (as usual) :rolleyes:.

Karl: Love dem Alcos .

Willie: Just occurred to me that you're building a second level... nice! Your concept looks good...it's what you see from the cab.
 
Good morning everyone. 48 and partly cloudy out there - man, where did summer go?!? Will warm up to 80's this weekend again. Love this weather for sleeping, though. But it's time to call in the chimney sweep guy and get the fireplace ready for winter!!

Willie, Chet, Curt, Sherrel, anyone else I may have missed - thanks for the tips on track cleaning and wheel cleaning. I'll be following up on that for sure. My layout is giving me all kinds of fits right now and I'm sure it's dirty track and/or wheels.

More scenicking and working on the DPM structure - that's about it. Not getting that much time these days what with stuff going on in the remodeling project, outdoor work when it's not raining, cleaning up my wood shop, etc.. etc.

have a good day everyone.
 
Good morning. 49 degrees with a predicted high in the mid 60's for today.

Karl - I am an Alcoholic and like the C415. I would love to get my hands on one (at a reasonable price).

Sherrel - New keyboard might have something to do with the spelling. I think I am going to get one of the split keyboards (ergonomic) that I am used to.

Willie - Thanks for the photos. That fence came out great. Wanna put mine together for me? Only need about 6 inches. The El Camino also came out good. Nice work. Looking to see the scenery progress.

Gotta get going soon to meet with my old boss to borrow a trailer. Our church lost the building that they held services in. Someone bought the building and raised the rent plus they wanted the church to build rest rooms and a new entrance to the area. This would cost thousands of dollars to do and the lease may not be renewed after a year. They did manage to purchase a building from a lumber yard that went out of business for one dollar, and have a lease for one dollar for the property that the building is sitting on until they can find some property to move it to. The building will need a lot of renovation before they can move in so everything will have to be moved to storage until the building has been renovated.

Later
 
Howdy ....

Willie .... Good explanation of wheel cleaning with photos. .... The El Camino and fence look great...

Chet .... Nice scenery with the truck cleaning car.

Karl ..... Nice Also. ..but I thought Alcos were supposed to be grimy and dirty.

Johnny .... Your downtown scene looks great.

Sherrel ... Thanks for your comment
 
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