Running Bear's Coffee Shop XLVIII


A hearty good morning to you all....I know, it's Monday! I'm working this week and am off next week! Hopefully, it'll be a quick one! Reading through my Norfolk & Western Steam's Last Stand and I Love it! So many fantastic pics and a lot of new stuff that I didn't know, awesome!
Now, just where are my five Milwaukee Road books?? :confused:;):D

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Have a great day everyone!
 
Good morning everyone. Starting the day off at 54 degrees. .

Eric, pizza instead of a rib eye ????

Great pictures of West Virginia. Like them. I have an old semaphore signal out behind my shop but my wife won't let me put it up at the end of the driveway.

A visit with Garry would pretty well be in line on a trip to Talledega. Still trying to figure out a schedule for the summer months. I do have to finalize some dates for the bowling tournaments before moving forward.

As for trains, I haven't had the time to even go down to the train room for over a week. Just too many things to do and not enough hours in the day.
 
tootnkumin said:
chessie_system3, What is Thurmond's claim to fame? Seems a very large and well kept station building for such a sparsely populated area (Did a Google Earth search). That bridge is a very old structure and apparently quite remote. One-way only vehicle traffic too?
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Thurmond at one time for anyone who follows the C&O in West Virginia was the heart of the New River mining operation. The station located there housed the signal tower, dispatchers office, train master office, and conductors office. At one point the engine house that is no longer there due to fire used to service 60 steam engines daily with 50 to 70 personnel working there. The coaling station sat relatively close to the engine house it in itself is larger than any I have seen in the area being it held 500 tons. At its height Thurmond had two hotels in it as well. All claimed by fire. Fires and the transition from steam to diesel helped in the decline to Thurmond. It is still a flag stop for Amtrak. This is a C&O historical stop. If I can find some good photos of its heyday I'll post them.
 
Interesting history. Rail fanning can get addicting. I really enjoy digging into railroad history. You have a lot on the east coast with so many railroad mergers having taken place and different railroads going under or taking over other railroads. I Live a bit too far to go out and railfan there, but love to read about all of the railroad history there. There's a ton of it.
 
montanan said:
Interesting history. Rail fanning can get addicting. I really enjoy digging into railroad history. You have a lot on the east coast with so many railroad mergers having taken place and different railroads going under or taking over other railroads. I Live a bit too far to go out and railfan there, but love to read about all of the railroad history there. There's a ton of it.
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Totally agree my good man, that's how I found out about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Matewan, makes you think about more than just the trains and locomotives that one loves...there's so much more!
 
montanan said:
A visit with Garry would pretty well be in line on a trip to Talledega. Still trying to figure out a schedule for the summer months.
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Chet .... Sounds great to me. ... Actually, there are three model railroads here at the lake. .... Mine, Gus's, and Dan's. .... Gus is a retired ICRR locomotive engineer who has a very nice Illinois Central layout with scenery. He has also made models of locomotives and cars of a local short line, Cadiz RR. That short line was abandoned many years ago. He had a photo in Model Railroader several months ago. Gus has many interesting stories about his experiences with IC .... Dan is a retired metallurgical engineer of General Motors, and he has a nice layout with Union Pacific trains. ..... My layout, of course, is a fictional division of the CB&Q. I aim for 1962, but have some locomotives of the 1940's and 1950's, too. I have had a few photos in Model Railroader.

Everybody else is welcome to visit too. Just have to coordinate schedules.

This Cadiz RR Alco S1 is located near the I-24 / US 68 interchange. I took the picture before a roof was built to protect it from rain. The hillbilly-made roof is ugly and too low. It is not possible to get a good photo anymore.

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This is a nice little scene from Gus's layout. A similar photo of it was in Model Railroader.

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31 with bright sunny skies in southeast Baltimore.

After getting my HO bench work completed I was excited to set up my Bachmann spectrum Acela set this morning. These odd ball couplers were a bit of a pain in the ass, butt (thinking of you Garry) I love this train set! Only one locomotive has motors, but they are both lighted and the headlights and rear marker lights actually change depending on the direction the train is traveling. The lights in the passenger cars don't blink and it runs beautifully!

Now to setup my Bachmann DCC Digital Commander set. Then I can put away my HO track that is now on my O gauge layout and get back to my Lionel trains!

I still have not yet permanently set up my Lionel Legacy 990 command control system and ZW-L transformer.

I still have too much stuff brand new in the box. This year I am going to correct that!

Great pictures Garry, what pictures do you have for us today Montanan? I love the pictures!

Here is one I found of my HO Acela set
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Here's your picture Louis. The ugly duckling. Poor old girl looks worn out.

5437750953_5238f6d494.jpg I custom painted one for my railroad

Misc trains 021.jpg It may not be a beauty, but I like the BL-2.

Garry, If I do make it, looks like I had better plan on more than one day. I really enjoy visiting different model railroads, the more the merrier.
 
We have 22 and cloudy, luckily dodged the bullet again with the snowfall that went south of us, oops the sun just came out, too!!

Louis-- now that you have a workbench are you going to have time to run trains?

Thurmond WV-- looks like a great place to model.
 
Good morning folks.

We woke up to six inches of very wet snow on the ground. Thank God for snow blowers! I have a three stall garage so the driveway is quite large. I saw the neighbor shoveling so I ran over there and cleared the mess from the snow plow. Stuff is like concrete. That was my good deed for the day.:D

I know this will melt quickly so I hope there aren't too many problems with flooding for folks down in the river valley.

I thought about trains this morning, that's all the further I've made it in regards to model railroading!

Have a good day everyone.
 
Ok now I have 2 HO sets up and running, I now have a dedicated HO layout! Only after about 2 years of thinking about.

The Bachmann E-Z command DCC controller works perfectly and is so easy to setup and use. In my opinion Bachmann is the best value in all of model trains. If you know a young person with a birthday coming up or for an Easter gift consider this set http://www.amazon.com/Bachmann-Trains-Digital-Commander-Ready/dp/B000BPPNWE I highly recommend it, I can't of a better way to get a young model railroader started, except for a Lionel LionChief set that is.
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I still have to put away the other HO set and stuff I have on my O gauge layout, but I am happy and even surprised I have made this much progress. I thank God for good health, my family, my friends and my trains of course!

Great pictures Montanan, thank you!

LASM I have 2 trains running right now and I can't tell you how happy I am!

Good job doing a good dead Corey and don't worry, you are not alone, I spent many days only thinking about my trains, but they are rewarding days too.
 
Here is the photo I took of Monon 32 at KY Ry Museum

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Also, anybody passing through Nashville, TN should not miss seeing this Dixie type locomotive. (NC&StL did not wish to call it a Northern). It is near downtown Nashville close to I-65.

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Those BL-2's sure were homely looking things, but I sort of like them. Got mine cheap and practiced custom painting on it.
 
Last picture for the day. Heading home. I went to change my tires from winter to summer and while at the tire shop, this BNSF mixed freight barreled through Belgrade, MT on the MRL tracks. It had to be 70 to 80 cars long. Click the pic to enlarge.

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About 5 minutes later another BNSF train with a string of grain hoppers came along and ended stopping right on the grade crossing and had to back up to clear the crossing. I think it's going to be a while before it moves because I am sure that it will take some time to cut in the helper units to get over Bozeman Pass. With the size of the first train, it will probable take 4 to 5 helpers. Guess the pass qualifies as a BIG speed bump.

Louis, we'll be waiting to see some pictures from you of your new HO layout.

Have a good evening.
 
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LOUIS- Enjoy !

ERIC- If you're near KENNESAW, Ga, and can get there, they have the "CIVIL WAR" loco ,"THE GENERAL". It has been restored.

Montanan- Wasn't on 'puker yesterday as I was deep into a western novel taking place in the 1880's in MONTANA. Author is Zimmer, story is "THE POACHER'S DAUGHTER'. Rustling,Indians,start up of big ranches,etc.
I have an FEC BL-2, red and yellow paint scheme. They wouldn't look so bad if they had better paint jobs to follow their flowing lines. Need an artist to repaint them. Maybe a "BIKER" painter.

Have a good evening everyone.
Flip
 
Flip said:
ERIC- If you're near KENNESAW, Ga, and can get there, they have the "CIVIL WAR" loco ,"THE GENERAL". It has been restored.
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I know all about the General. I'm told there is a model train shop across the street but I don't remember seeing it last time I was down by there.
 
BigE said:
I know all about the General. I'm told there is a model train shop across the street but I don't remember seeing it last time I was down by there.
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All I know about it, is it is in a museum. I've never been there.
Wish you luck with your pike .
Phil
 
Well heck, thats just a good bicycle ride . Just need a basket to hold cold water .

Whoops, MOH says wash up. Dog has been fed and I'm next. She loves that dog more than me. lol
ttfn
Phil
 
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