Running Bear's Coffee Shop XLIX

[montanan]

Burlington did haul ore trains from Great Northern connection in St Paul to the steel mill in Granite City, IL. ... So GN is a good choice. My railroad, however, is a fictional division of CB&Q allowing me to exercise Model Railroader License. So I have GN, NP, CNW, Soo, and SP ore cars. Majority are GN. Most are weathered, and it is hard to see which railroad.

Sort of like these ore cars ??



I did these years ago when I was experimenting with weathering. Found them in a box when I was moving things around. Forgot I even had them. Unfortunately I don't do any ore hauling. They live in a box. I think they're old MDC cars.

 

[BigE]

After a nice warm shower I think I'll go for a long pull of cars on a consist since it seems like everything is running much smoother.
Of course this is really fun! Without picking up an engine or cars I'll make it like a real ops session. (I try to do that anyway because it's just dam fun!!!) Of course I'm the only one here to enjoy it but that's OK.
This will be a fun test (hopefully fun) of all all my efforts of swapping out couplers and wheel sets goes along with Carey's help last weekend.

If all goes well enough I'll make a video and post it.
Wish me luck.
E.

Well..... that didn't go so dam well. I have some more filing to do and perhaps a couple of cars to fix.
As much aggravation as it caused, that just gives me something to do tomorrow. I had 19 cars on a 2 engine consist. First time I've done with cars behind. I've just been trying to do speed matching till now.

Hey David, you got anything in HO for a fueling station? I can't find anything that really floats my boat.

Think I'll just reheat some of that pizza from the other night and crash. Don't feel like cooking tonight either - and don't feel like walking to the KFC or the Waffle House neither.

As we said in the Appalachian Mountains of western NC, "we'll see you'ns later".
E.


Ah.... something I just thought about that Carey also showed me... put a little weight in those cars. Gees, I forgot all about that till just now.
Tomorrow! I've been up since around 0530 (for no reason) and didn't nap today.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Sort of like these ore cars ??

View attachment 49158

I did these years ago when I was experimenting with weathering. Found them in a box when I was moving things around. Forgot I even had them. Unfortunately I don't do any ore hauling. They live in a box. I think they're old MDC cars.

I have a few MDC ore cars too. .. Most are AHM ore cars.

Here is my GN ore train. The Great Northern would haul up to 200 ore cars with three F-units, and that is much longer than my ore trains.

 

[BigE]

I suppose I could post this question in the scenery section but you all have become my friends and mentors.

Telephone poles. I have watched many of you all's videos. Seems like no one strings "wires".
Why not?
Since most of my engines are modern beasts I thought I might put a high-tension power line across. Maybe line a track with some simple telephone likes. Then again, all that stuff is underground now or satellite based. But the 400kv high-tension stuff is still around. I'm still pondering on it. Like my software engineering days, think about stuff for weeks, dwell on it, sleep on it, re-design it several times over and when you go to throw down, you have a finished nice product in an afternoon.

 

[GarryCBQ]

I suppose I could post this question in the scenery section but you all have become my friends and mentors.

Telephone poles. I have watched many of you all's videos. Seems like no one strings "wires".
Why not?
Since most of my engines are modern beasts I thought I might put a high-tension power line across. Maybe line a track with some simple telephone likes. Then again, all that stuff is underground now or satellite based. But the 400kv high-tension stuff is still around. I'm still pondering on it. Like my software engineering days, think about stuff for weeks, dwell on it, sleep on it, re-design it several times over and when you go to throw down, you have a finished nice product in an afternoon.

Big E .... An HO scale wire would be too thin to be seen, and so they can be left off.

 

[Trussrod]

Good morning !

Very nice modeling on your part. Between Curt ,Ray,Garry and now you, I feel ashamed to be in such great company. Have never been artistic although I've tried.

Love seeing what others can do. Awesome!

ERIC- One trick I have learned, when track is dusty or dirty, PUSH your track cleaner car rather than pulling it.

Phil

Hi Phil, I'll interject about being artistic, if you don't object? We all do what we can to the extent of our abilities. I've never been real artistic either and just attempt to duplicate nature as best I can. Heck I don't even have any real scenery down yet to even really focus on. I guess the only thing that saves me to some extent is the brown color of the sound board I'm using that looks a bit like ground.


Your tip to Eric and others about pushing the track cleaning car is a good idea as long as your TC car isn't too heavy. When/if you have a really heavy unit like some are that can put a real strain on the front coupler of the loco and the rear coupler of the TC car.

A self propelled TC with cleaning pads on the front and rear corners seems to work well for me such as the MDC Box Cab TC.
Although even with their fairly heavy frame I still had to weight it down considerably to get good traction and pulling power on my grades. Right now I'm running a four car work train and a caboose plus also pulling a second non-powered Box Cab track cleaner. It's a tough pull up my 6+% grade but the unit pulls it but a second powered unit wouldn't hurt and I do have another one waiting to be built.

 

[tootnkumin]

Telephone/power wires are very good at catching sleeves etc.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's cloudy and 55.

 

[Trussrod]

Yeah, I found their stuff earlier. Seemed kind of limited to me.

Eric: I don't understand how you consider Woodland Scenics, 'Plug It' lighting system to be limited when anyone can hook as many of these together as you need or want to and each light has it's own rheostat to control it brightness and everything uses phone type plugs for connections for simplicity. Each control unit [Hub] handles 4 lights that are controlled individually for brightness and you could use several per building in various rooms and vary the light intensity as desired for different effects. You do have to buy the control [Hubs] but what other system offers that?


As far as the Diesel Refueling station and sand tower I'm about as lost as you as I don't know who makes them. Wish I could be of more help.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning!

Partly cloudy with a high of 61.

Temperature in Tipton IN

 

[BigE]

Eric: I don't understand how you consider Woodland Scenics, 'Plug It' lighting system to be limited when anyone can hook as many of these together as you need or want to and each light has it's own rheostat to control it brightness and everything uses phone type plugs for connections for simplicity. Each control unit [Hub] handles 4 lights that are controlled individually for brightness and you could use several per building in various rooms and vary the light intensity as desired for different effects. You do have to buy the control [Hubs] but what other system offers that?


As far as the Diesel Refueling station and sand tower I'm about as lost as you as I don't know who makes them. Wish I could be of more help.

Maybe I should have said "limited information" about what they are and how they work. All I ran across was a simple little picture but nothing at all about how they work or how to use them. I'll go have another look at them..... Well, I don't like the idea of spending $40 more to run $10 worth of lights which will be all connected to each other. Again, another example of when I'm not buying something without seeing it first. I'd like a good bit more information other than a little picture on the internet.

 

[tootnkumin]

When we used to have a Yellow Pages book for business phone numbers, the slogan was "Let your fingers do the walking". The books have now been replaced with your keyboard.

 

[BigE]

Good morning. 53 here right now. Going to 73 later on today. Doubt I'll be up for long before laying back down. I might stay up long enough to go get a biscuit and gravy.
Guess I'll mess with that spot giving me troubles last night trying for a long pull on a consist. Still not sure if it's a car or track issue. Probably some of both. No worries. I'll fix it either way. Got nothing else planned for the day anyhow.
E.

 

[BigE]

When we used to have a Yellow Pages book for business phone numbers, the slogan was "Let your fingers do the
walking". The books have now been replaced with your keyboard.

I haven't seen a phone book in several years. Same goes for a public-use pay phone.

 

[BigE]

Dang.... now I'm starting to wake up. Guess I'll go get me that biscuit and gravy in a while.
I suppose I could pull all those cars off the track after last night's attempted run.
I never did clean the track yesterday like I said I was going to do. Bad dog! There is always track to clean.

 

[montanan]

33 with snow flurries this morning.

What, no pictures. Better get on up here before Louis starts whining. Here's the Reading Crusader.

 

[Bruette]

Whining? seriously, whining? Another example of how the internet makes people brave.

Since It came for you Montanan I will forget it because I know you to be better than that.

 

[Bruette]

Good morning everyone!

23 with beautifu,l clear and sunny skies in southeast Baltimore

Have a great day everybody, even you Montanan and thank you for the picture.

 

[Bruette]

Where is Bill today? I hope he is ok.

 

[montanan]

Well, thank you Louis. I appreciate that.