Running Bear's Coffee Shop XLVIII

[Boris]

Louis- I'll take the corned beef on rye with spicy mustard and a side of crispy french fries. A bottle of Amber Bock to wash it down.

Phil

Phil: That sounds like Coney Island corned beef. Not Irish, but very tasty.

Louis: That's OK as long as they are Esskay Hot Dogs.

The wife has not made corned beef in a couple years. She used to follow her Aunt's recipe, including home made soda bread, but there is more food than we can consume, so she doesn't do it any more.

 

[kbkchooch]

Happy St Pattys day to a of yas!

Corned beef & cabbage is yummy, but the wife wont fix it. No deli's close by to get a righteous corned beef on Rye, so I just kinda let the day pass me by. Not to keen on the green beer either,,,, A true German such as myself prefers beer in a deeeep amber to a bronze color...green is just,,,,unnatural!

David, do you know why the scrap metal load in the gon looks so real,,,,cuz it is! Real sweepings from the inside of a gon carrying scrap metal. A friend from the Pittsburg area gave me a good supply!


Gotta go for now,,,,chores!!

 

[Boris]

WJLI--Wonder if you could put up a picture of the two bay covered hopper?

Maybe this reply will work, the first one apparently didn't post. The UP car had a price of $ 2.29 marked on the box. It is a roundhouse kit. Had sprung trucks until I tried to change the wheel sets this afternoon . At some point, I changed the x2f couplers to Kadee #5s. The car is a definite candidate for weathering. The second photo is a side by side comparison of the old, and the new Athearn RTR version of the tooling. The newer car cost a bit more than $2.29. It's also a candidate for weatering, too clean.

 

[tootnkumin]

View attachment 49036View attachment 49037

Maybe this reply will work, the first one apparently didn't post. The UP car had a price of $ 2.29 marked on the box. It is a roundhouse kit. Had sprung trucks until I tried to change the wheel sets this afternoon . At some point, I changed the x2f couplers to Kadee #5s. The car is a definite candidate for weathering. The second photo is a side by side comparison of the old, and the new Athearn RTR version of the tooling. The newer car cost a bit more than $2.29. It's also a candidate for weatering, too clean.

Looks like this version is long overdue for a refurbish by Athearn's RTR line. Although your newer one does "sport" an etched walkway, the latest ACF versions have really taken the detail to a high level

But then, so has the price. MRSP $40, MTStuff #30.

 

[tootnkumin]

I see MTStuff is running behind at the moment, processing orders 4 days old. I did offer my services some time ago, maybe I'd better re-apply.

 

[Trussrod]

Good evening Gandy Dancers, As of late most of my time and energy has been trying to fix my '97 2.0 Ltr Turbo Eclipse with a 5 speed trans so it will pass smog as I've had a problem with the check engine lite coming on which I attributed to the fact I usually had the idle set at about 950 or slightly higher. The mechanic I've been going to is a friend and used to work for Mercedes-Benz and seems to know his stuff and if I remember correctly says the code on three occasions read 05, I think?, which is the. 'Idle Air Control Valve' I think?

If any of you have any knowledge about this your help would be appreciate as I couldn't see how the part I got from NAPA would fit.

 

[Trussrod]

Happy St Pattys day to a of yas!

Corned beef & cabbage is yummy, but the wife wont fix it. No deli's close by to get a righteous corned beef on Rye, so I just kinda let the day pass me by. Not to keen on the green beer either,,,, A true German such as myself prefers beer in a deeeep amber to a bronze color...green is just,,,,unnatural!

David, do you know why the scrap metal load in the gon looks so real,,,,cuz it is! Real sweepings from the inside of a gon carrying scrap metal. A friend from the Pittsburg area gave me a good supply!
View attachment 49035

Gotta go for now,,,,chores!!

Jawohl, Deutscher's prefer Dunkel lager! Stacking a cord of wood Karl is quite a work out, I've done it after I've had a guy deliver a the wood I help him stack it. I always had them cut it 2'+ to get a good cord. 2' wide x 4' high x 16' long with 2 cross stacked ends for stability or 4' wide x 4' high x 8' long with 4 cross stacked ends for stability.


No wonder the Gondola load look so real! You probably didn't even have to rust it up.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning!

Partly cloudy with a high of 50.

Temperature in Tipton IN

 

[Trussrod]

Looks like this version is long overdue for a refurbish by Athearn's RTR line. Although your newer one does "sport" an etched walkway, the latest ACF versions have really taken the detail to a high level

But then, so has the price. MRSP $40, MTStuff #30.

Say Toot, I find it interesting that they go through all the effort to be so precise about the piping and roof walks as you point out on this very nice looking car yet leave chain from the break wheel dangling in the air when it should go around a sheive of some sort and then connect with break actuating mechanism in one way or another. It doesn't make sense. Of course there are no breaks on the trucks either!

 

[tootnkumin]

Say Toot, I find it interesting that they go through all the effort to be so precise about the piping and roof walks as you point out on this very nice looking car yet leave chain from the break wheel dangling in the air when it should go around a sheive of some sort and then connect with break actuating mechanism in one way or another. It doesn't make sense. Of course there are no breaks on the trucks either!

This is from their new Ready to Roll line which in quite a few of the latest of that brand level models have been updated with wire grabs, etched w/ways and crossovers, replacing the moulded on parts common before. There has been a steady and progressive updating/improving over several years now in this line, with Athearn's top Genesis line keeping a bit further ahead again. I have some of each and the extra details you mention are present in those higher level (price) models. Box cars are a good example, the Genesis ones have all the brake rods etc underneath and while the latest RTR's have all the upper body additions, they still have the basic under-body gear on them.

It's been quite interesting to observe the progression between RTR and Genesis, particularly with the locos. When they finally dropped the "Bluebox" line and started putting more accurate and finer prototypical detail, wire grabs, improved mechanisms, drive shafts into the RTR line and introduced the Genesis line with it's better can motor and MRC/sound decoders or DCC ready, they still used the same shells/details for both. Genesis continued to improve/add to the detail and changed to Tsunami full-function sound decoders. The RTR's lagged a bit behind. Now, the new release RTR's coming up will have a sound option as well, although from my reading it seems it may be a similar reduced function decoder similar to Bachmann's "Sound Value".

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's overcast and 47.

 

[Boris]

Good morning. 30° and windy at the Jersey Shore. It's going to be sunny and 42° later.

Toot: When the Genesis line switched to Tsunami Decoders/Sound it was alleged that the Genesis version was a reduced function version of the Tsunami, vs. the retail version. The ACF two bay is a good looking model, with significantly improved detailing vs. the old Roundhouse tooling. However, when one limits themselves to not later than 1968 - or for that matter March 31, 1976, it simply doesn't fit. The two bay PS2 is also produced by Atlas, Kadee, and Bowser.

Have a good day.

 

[montanan]

Good morning all. 34 degrees and rain this morning, ALMOST sn-- sn-- white stuff.

Here are a few pictures of the old Northern Pacific depot in Livingston, MT which is now a museum. Not enough pictures lately.



Not very far from me, just over Bozeman Pass. I do get over to Livingston fairy often as I do still have relatives living there.

 

[bnsf971]

The Tsunami decoders used in Genesis locomotives are full featured, but have limited sound file choices. For example, only three air horns or whistles instead of the usual ten or so.
Also, in some cases Athearn insisted on providing their own sound files, which makes for a different sound from most aftermarket Tsunamis. The GP15-1 comes to mind.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good morning, everybody.

Bill thanks for the coffee, and I still like the depot photo very much.

Say Toot, I find it interesting that they go through all the effort to be so precise about the piping and roof walks as you point out on this very nice looking car yet leave chain from the break wheel dangling in the air when it should go around a sheive of some sort and then connect with break actuating mechanism in one way or another. It doesn't make sense. Of course there are no breaks on the trucks either!

Uh oh, David. ... Now, you have done it.... You may be accused of being a rivet counter. LOL

Karl ... I like the scrap load in the gon.

Montanan .... Good seeing the Livingston, Montana photos.

 

[logandsawman]

Good Morning-- We have 25 and sunny. Sounds like 40's all week, I will take it; especially since the snow is gone.

WJLI thanks for posting the pics of covered hoppers; also all the discussion on the evolution of details in model rail cars.

 

[Bruette]

Good afternoon everybody,

42 sunny and a bit windy in Southeast Baltimore

I just got back from taking my wife to the airport. She will be in Hungary for over a week visiting her mother and her sister. This is going to be a long week, I miss her already.

Have a great day everybody.

 

[montanan]

Time to head to the barn. Here a nice Milwaukee Road picture. Although I spent a lot of time as a kid riding the rails in Montana on the Milwaukee Road, the only time I got to see locomotives like these is when we got east of the electrified division in Harlowtown. Everything was electric on the passenger trains here.

 

[Boris]

Don't look now, but they are predicting Snow in Metro New York, on Friday [First Day of Spring]. The temperature struggled to make 40° this afternoon, [the average is 50° for this time of year].

Terry: Not for nothing, but wouldn't limiting the sound choices be considered limiting features? Especially, if the full featured "retail" version has full sound choices. I really don't have enough experience with the Tsunami, only my two Reading FP7s have the Tsunami and I have not taken the time to customize them. I "may" put one in an Atlas RS1, but I haven't got that far into the project yet. As far as the GP15s, they were sort of unique, although they were essentially SW1500s with a hood unit body, they don't sound like SW1500s. To my ears, [and memory] the latest Bowser Baldwin S12 switchers sound much like the prototype did. Sound like many other things is subjective.

Louis: Hope your wife has a great visit and safe trip.

 

[Bruette]

Thank you very much Boris, I am monitoring her flight now, on time and all is well. She won't be in Budapest until the morning.

We have a forecast for light snow late Friday afternoon as well. Winter just refuses to go away! At least we can watch spring training games from sunny & warm Florida and Arizona.