Running Bear's Coffee Shop XLIII

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good afternoon. It's 74° with 100% humidity and rain. Moderate to heavy rains are falling across southeast Texas and southern Louisiana this morning. Storms are moving to the north northeast. Expected to see two inches most locations.

with

Running a bit late today as my schedule is off due to my recent surgery. My normal schedule will resume Monday. I have no plans for today so it looks like I'll be watching TV, playing computer games and listening to the rain hitting the roof.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Got this on the Weather Alert:

Flash flood watch until midnight CDT tonight

* Average total rain amounts of two inches will be possible through this evening...with isolated amounts up to four inches possible.

Precautionary/preparedness actions...

A flash flood watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding.

You should monitor later forecasts and be prepared to take action should flash flood warnings be issued.

Last major flash flood we had here was around Christmas in 1986. Flood waters were twelve feet deep. Six inches more and there would have been water in my parents house. To get to me here it would have to be MUCH deeper, say about thirty feet and I just can't see that happening.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Evening All,

This morning I finished connecting all the track on the layout before my daughter and the grand kids arrived. I am watching them in the pool now while MOH and daughter are at Wally World. Tomorrow I plan on hooking up the track electrically but will hold off soldering rail joiners until I know there are no track issues.


David- I wish you luck with your plumbing job. It sounds like a major undertaking.

Below are pictures from my project. As you can see the one track lead of my pre-existing track has a wider spacing than the new turnout so I had to fudge it on that one. The other bottom lead I replaced more of the approach track so it is not so obvious.

Hope everyone has a good night.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Very nice work on the crossover!

 

[PRR Modeler]

Thanks Jeff. My thumbs feel like pin cushions from the rail joiners.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Thanks Jeff. My thumbs feel like pin cushions from the rail joiners.

I don't doubt it. That's one of the reasons I only work with Bachmann EZ track now. I avoid anything that could cut me so that means no blades or sharp edges. If I get a cut I don't know it unless I see blood.

 

[Trussrod]

Hello to all, It's another hot day here in Central Calif. WW says it's 95.4 °F - Feels Like 92 °F, I don't know about that? The Humidity is at 18% and the evening low should be 62 °F. Winds are from the West at 4.7.

David .... Fixing the water leak sounds like a lot of work.

Garry, Thanks for saying so, yes it is but more from the standpoint of the hard dirt that needs to be removed so I can access it easily, once that's done allowing me to reach the water line easily it's fairly simple to cut a section and replace it with another piece of flexible pipe and a couple of connectors and some clamps. As a temporary fix I may just try adding a couple of stainless steel strap clamps to the existing line. What happened before showes I wasn't using my brain in a couple of ways. The line in question developed a hole due to a gopher I guess chewing on it. I put in a small drip irrigation plug but it still sprayed water out but not as bad. So not being satisfied with that I pulled it out and forced the large side of the double sided plug in the hole and then it leaked worse. but still less than without any plug. It was hot too as I recall so I left it alone and the spraying softened the back bank enough that it fell down and I guess pinched the line to where it seemed it sealed the leak?

Anyway, as a temporary fix again I may try and put a couple of strap clamps on either side of the plug, which I'm assuming is still in the line to help constrict the flexible heavy black line enough to help seal the leak enough till it rains and the ground gets soft enough to dig away easily. I don't know why I didn't think of using the clamps prior. Duh.

Evening All,

This morning I finished connecting all the track on the layout before my daughter and the grand kids arrived. I am watching them in the pool now while MOH and daughter are at Wally World. Tomorrow I plan on hooking up the track electrically but will hold off soldering rail joiners until I know there are no track issues.

Curt, Depending on the temperature change where your layout is located, rail expansion and contraction, can cause issues if all joints are soldered so I would suggest leaving the joint at the turnouts un-soldered and maybe only solder every other rail joint leaving a bit of a gap of about a 1/16th" between between the soldered section on both ends to allow of the expansion. Otherwise you can wind up with kinked rail where you don't want it.

David- I wish you luck with your plumbing job. It sounds like a major undertaking.

Like I mentioned to Garry above the digging to remove the bank obstruction is more of a job than fixing the black Vinal line.

Below are pictures from my project. As you can see the one track lead of my pre-existing track has a wider spacing than the new turnout so I had to fudge it on that one. The other bottom lead I replaced more of the approach track so it is not so obvious.

In your first shot at the lower Right it appears the rail connects to the Right side of the turnout at too abrupt of an angle? as long as your loco's run through there is ok but do double check it. You may have to shift the rail to the Left slightly?

Everything else look very good and you'll often get places where you have to use a transition piece as you did in this last photo.
That just adds interest to seeing the cars make a jog when operating! Do like I do and chock it up as the track foreman's miscalculation. Not to be concerned.

 

[kbkchooch]

Oh my achin back!
Flo, a cool glass of Peach tea and some Advil please! Snowplow has been stripped over the last 2 weeks, rust removed, sanded, primed and painted, so today was the day to put it away til its needed. Site alongside the shed was prepped, plow loaded on the tractor's cart,(damn it's heavy!) and moved to its storage space (again,,it's heavy). Then chipped a large pile of tree trimmings. the weeding the gardens, trimmed the yard while SWMBO drove her John Deere around. Then to add insult to injury, found an antifreeze puddle under the Impala! That car is now parked for the weekend. Thank goodness my day job is at a GM dealership!

Tomorrows plans include assembling engines, painting engines. and generally playing with choo-choos. Were going out tomorrow night for our wedding anniversary dinner. Tuesday is the official date, but its also a work day, so tomorrow night is the night . 7 years ago she said yes, 29 years after our 1st date! Great things are worth waiting for!

L8ter gators!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Karl: I like the little 0-4-0. I might have it's twin here.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good evening. Only a few sporadic showers today. No computer games but I watched a ton of TV. Also did a little work on a couple of locos. One of my remotored Varney F3's and a little Lima CN 0-4-0. Earlier today radar showed a massive storm system coming off the gulf and heading in our direction. When I looked at it just now it seems to have dissipated. However Weatherbug is still warning of a 50% chance for tonight and tomorrow. Needless to say scanning the sky with the telescope would be a waste of time.

Time to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

 

[DairyStateDad]

Snowplow has been stripped over the last 2 weeks, rust removed, sanded, primed and painted, so today was the day to put it away til its needed.

snowPLOW? I'm guessing you either have a very long driveway or a side business in the winter! Either way, I don't envy having that responsibility. Hats off to you...

Were going out tomorrow night for our wedding anniversary dinner. Tuesday is the official date, but its also a work day, so tomorrow night is the night . 7 years ago she said yes, 29 years after our 1st date! Great things are worth waiting for!

Congrats, and agreed. DSM and I just marked our 9th, and I must say I definitely got it right the second time around. Have a great time.

Today got swallowed up by an emergency basement cleanup. Who knew that the tiny dorm room style fridge had so much water in it!

Have a good weekend and Labor Day, everyone.

From the DairyStatePhone

 

[kbkchooch]

Karl: I like the little 0-4-0. I might have it's twin here.

Yes, one of the brethren for sure, but evil?? More likely just misunderstood,, not evil. Now evil would be a 0-4-0 from MTH!

 

[kbkchooch]

snowPLOW? I'm guessing you either have a very long driveway or a side business in the winter! Either way, I don't envy having that responsibility. Hats off to you...[/QUOTE}

Not Terribly long, only 75 ft, but it is 18 ft WIDE! Living in our development we dont see plows very often, so I usually plow a path up the hill to the main road, plus a neighbor's driveway, all with a 1967 Cub Cadet! I would rather do all that plowing than to shovel a path to the mailbox! I would think that Wisconsin gets more snow than we do, you should be a Pro at dealing with sn*w. Ours varies, usually 3-5 inches, with a week between storms. However occasionally we get walloped. A few years back we got 2 20-24 inch storms within 2-3 days of each other! Nice drift huh?!

Kinda makes you not mind the summer heat!! LOL!

 

[Trussrod]

Say Karl, Congratulation about your Anniversary, enjoy your evening out together!


The Mantua 0-4-0 is a relic from the past alright, I have the 0-6-0 version of that loco and the 0-4-0 Shifter with metal slope back tender, which I added a Walscherts valve gear kit to many years back and I made sure I didn't bend the pivot pins over too much so every thing works nice and smoothly. Both loco's sit on the window sill above my work table. The Shifter was my first loco and I still have some of the original fiber tie Atlas track, man was that stuff a pain to work with but once you got the curve you wanted it stayed bent at that radius. Remember the old cookie cutter freight & passenger car wheels? Talk about rolling resistance.


Your wife is sure enjoying what ever you wrote on the snow wall !

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning!

It's Sun 8/31/14

Scattered showers with a high of 82. Nothing scheduled for today so far.

Temperature in TIPTON IN

 

[kbkchooch]

I have the 0-6-0 version of that loco and the 0-4-0 Shifter with metal slope back tender, which I added a Walscherts valve gear kit to many years back and I made sure I didn't bend the pivot pins over too much so every thing works nice and smoothly.

Like these David??




They both have decoders, the 0-4-0 has sound too!

 

[Boris]

Good Morning All. Happy Sunday!

Karl, Happy Anniversary. BTW: The 0-4-0 with slope back tender resembles my first HO locomotive from 1962 or so......with sound no less....cool.

Oldest son was in Shannon, Ireland at 0149 EDT. So, he should be home by this evening, depending on whether they make another stop.

O's pulled out another win last night.

Wife's Toshiba's battery crapped out this morning.....replacement $35 on Amazon.......down side is it will take 30 days to get here. Time to check out what's available.Maybe she needs a new one?

Halfway finished with another meat refrigerator. I need to summon patience to work on these projects.

Today's chore is to finish painting the stairwell, again.....patience.

Enjoy the end of August 2014.

Joe

 

[bnsf971]

Good Morning All. Happy Sunday!

Wife's Toshiba's battery crapped out this morning.....replacement $35 on Amazon.......down side is it will take 30 days to get here. Time to check out what's available.Maybe she needs a new one?

Joe

Joe, I had good luck on Ebuy... A brand new battery for my Thinkpad for twenty bucks, with free shipping.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning from the mountains of North Carolina. It's cloudy and 74. Those thunderstorms that dissipated over Running Bear's house found us last night.
How many of all y'all remember those magic fingers bed vibrators that used to be in motels in the 1960's and 1970's? You dropped a quarter in it, and the bed would shake for a while. I think I'll rent out our dog as one of those the next time we have a thunderstorm. From about 3:30 to 5:00 this morning, the dog shook and shivered, making for a not enjoyable time for all. "All" being me and the dog. She sleeps in my bed with me when we go camping. The wife slept through the whole thing, oblivious to the drama unfolding across the trailer.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Yes, one of the brethren for sure, but evil?? More likely just misunderstood,, not evil. Now evil would be a 0-4-0 from MTH!

Hardly an evil twin. It runs rather well not that a little TLC wouldn't be a great help. There's no place for steam on my layout so the few steamers I have are just conversation pieces.