Running Bear's December 2022 Coffee Shop

[Alcomotive]

I have been chatting with another fellow modeler that actually lives about 20 miles from me, He is a conductor for the local RR here. He models in HO scale as well. Anyways he put me on to some LEDs for the locomotives I have yet to upgrade. So I bought several of these and a few flashers for EOTs which I will end up putting on 3 or 4 of my transfer caboose by Bluford Shops.

Lights4Models

Lights4Models

lights4models.com

 

[TLOC]

Those are the old LBF cars. There was someone else that had them before that, but I forget the name. I had a fleet of Coalporters from them.

Does Fred Becker ring any bells for the name?

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Those LED are great. Easy to install and look great.
The locos I've installed them in, I just put them directly on the inside of the light lens then put a glop of glue over em. Once it's dried, I paint over the inside with masking paint so the light isn't illuminating the interior of the shell. Masking paint is used for insulating bare wires. It's thicker than paint and does a better job of blacking out the interior.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Evening All. Disaster of sorts today. After navigating over 130 miles of Dallas Friday afternoon rush hour and happy hour traffic, a large buck decided to commit suicide against the right front quarter panel of the SUV this evening about 3/4 mile from the house. Totaled out the headlight and lens as well. I saw him standing by the side of the road and braked, but not soon enough. It looked to be at least 200 lbs. The vultures will have an early Christmas feast for at least a week. I am not a hunter, but I think that it was about an eight point, although the antlers were not fully developed yet.

 

[Alcomotive]

Those are the old LBF cars. There was someone else that had them before that, but I forget the name. I had a fleet of Coalporters from them.

Correct I researched it.....


found this....

A long time ago, a toolmaker named Fred Becker started a company called Front Range Products. This went under, and Fred started working for McKean Models, which in turn was bought by SkyLim. This went under, and so Fred started working for E&C shops (or he started it, one or the other). This went under, and so Fred started LBF (Loads By Fred). This went under (see a pattern?), but this time LBF was taken over by Hubert (an LBF partner, supposedly) after Fred had some health problems.

Huberts: They're not LBF

People have been talking about Huberts Model Railroad Mfg Corp ( http://www.hubertsrr.com/ ) a bit now, and I wanted to weigh in on the topi...

ttamt.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...
Hi all I also want to make it very clear also. Frank Hubert came in to LBF to help with some money flow but what really happen was that Mr Hurbert did help with getting money but that is where thing got out of hand. What Mr Hurbert did was to closed LBF one morning and fired every one that worked for LBF and hired new people to run the Roseburg Plant. But what got me was the fact that no one was paid there wages. Mr Hurbert did pay some of the bills that needed to be paid. Mr hurbert had no right to lockout everyone and take over LBF. All the tooling and tell every one he paid for the die's tools when he did not own any of it. As for Fred Becker the owner of LBF, This have been a stran that has couse a stroke as well as a hartattacks. Mr Becker is still making cars but there for people that is looking small runs.
He is doing better and is doing what he turly loves to do. I some of you out there, thinks Mr Becker is or was just as bad. But what Mr hubert did was just darn right low and should be sent to jail for taking over some ones Life and love. I sat down with Mr Becker and I have not seen him so sad. He tried to hold back the tears. but I could tell he was very upset over every thing. Today Mr Becker is in so much det that he has to scrap down deep to pay all the loans he had to get to pay for what Mr Hurbert left him to pay, and there is a lot of stuff he is paying for and does not have. So if Frank Hurbert has been put in jail, he is getting what he deserves. So if you all out there that would like to help, LBF is selling car's on E-bay Chris in Oregon

MAY 26, 2009 AT 5:03 PM

 

[JeffH]

Good Evening All. Disaster of sorts today. After navigating over 130 miles of Dallas Friday afternoon rush hour and happy hour traffic, a large buck decided to commit suicide against the right front quarter panel of the SUV this evening about 3/4 mile from the house. Totaled out the headlight and lens as well. I saw him standing by the side of the road and braked, but not soon enough. It looked to be at least 200 lbs. The vultures will have an early Christmas feast for at least a week. I am not a hunter, but I think that it was about an eight point, although the antlers were not fully developed yet.

Glad you're here to tell about it. Hope you have a small deductible

 

[Trussrod-2]

Hi Gary, I've been a big fan of MDC (Model Die Casting/Roundhouse) and their kit locomotives and cars, including the 2 Truck Shay and have assembled a couple of them shortly after they first came out as they were the only inexpensive powered kit Shay available ! With some careful assembly, adjustment and corrective measures can and due run great from point-to-point for short runs. I should add that my layout with hand laid weathered code 70 rail on the mainline and code 55 on the passing tracks and sidings is taking longer to complete the loop than expected so no continuous running yet.

Now, I need to clarify that all of the Roundhouse loco's prior to Athearn buying them out were (DC) only, so your Shay may be one of the newer retooled versions to correct a very touchy gear adjustment on the drive line along with adding DCC ?

If I can be of any more help let me know ?

 

[TLOC]

Good Evening All. Disaster of sorts today. After navigating over 130 miles of Dallas Friday afternoon rush hour and happy hour traffic, a large buck decided to commit suicide against the right front quarter panel of the SUV this evening about 3/4 mile from the house. Totaled out the headlight and lens as well. I saw him standing by the side of the road and braked, but not soon enough. It looked to be at least 200 lbs. The vultures will have an early Christmas feast for at least a week. I am not a hunter, but I think that it was about an eight point, although the antlers were not fully developed yet.

If you and the wife are ok all is good. The car is fixable or replaceable. You guys are not.

 

[Trussrod-2]

Willie wrote:."David - The 1500 watt ceramic heater is the best you can get without going to 240v. Energy efficiency among all makes is about the same. A lot depends on wind direction and velocity, and where the garage door is facing; but a room that size will stay about 20° warmer than outside temperatures. However, you have to have the heater on prior to cold weather. It will maintain temperatures, but it will not heat it up very rapidly from a cold start. That's where the thermostat comes in handy."

Willie: Thanks for the info, glad to know I bought a robust unit. Most of the variables won't apply though.
The garage is completely finished off and all walls and 8' ceiling are completely insulated ! Both single door openings are completely sealed off using 2" thick closed-cell foam to fill in the openings completely on the outside so there is No draft. So hopefully, the Ceramic heater will be able to warm even this cold area in a fairly short period of time and much quicker than the hot oil radiator type did as there was a fair amount of warm-up required !?
It's not supposed to be delivered till December 19th so I'll have to weight till then to report further. The oil heater is fairly costly to use too often for any length of time.

 

[BigGRacing]

Maybe a tiny diode painted brown?

I like the dip in dyed glue or resin or something best.

 

[santafewillie]

Glad you're here to tell about it. Hope you have a small deductible

If you and the wife are ok all is good. The car is fixable or replaceable. You guys are not.

Thanks guys. I should have mentioned that we are both OK but shaken. It was hit and rolled to the side and not over the hood and into the windshield, which would have been worse. Speed at the time of impact was only about 25 mph since I had already hit the brakes. My usual speed at that portion of the road is generally in the 40-45 mph range. I am not concerned about the $500 deductible, as we are both unharmed. Sad that such a beautiful buck is no longer around for folks to see. Sad also is that Texas law does not allow one to keep roadkill deer (or antlers), unless you scoop it up and dress it surreptitiously, even if you have a tag. I somehow doubt that it got up and walked away considering the "thud".

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Got the Christmas trees up and mostly decorated yesterday.
The "formal tree is green with the fancy themed ornaments in the living room.
The white informal fun tree in in the den where I just realized that over half the ornaments are trains.
Imagine that!

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Used to be years ago, some states would gather up fresh roadkill and serve it up for homeless shelters. I have no idea what qualified the roadkill for human consumption.

 

[troyphoto]

Sailing back to NOLA - should arrive in the overnight hours tonight. They'll kick us off the ship tomorrow morning.

Another day of sightseeing in New Orleans. The hotel we're staying in the final night is the Brakeman, situated in an old train station just at the edge of the french quarter. I'll have more pics to post later.

Here's the office location today.

 

[Espeefan]

Morning all! A Christmas present to myself:

It needs a few little things. Better diaphragms, a missing steam line, some paint on the wheels, but not bad IMHO. Taking it to the club to see how it runs. Not for 22" radii! I think I'll drag out the mail train and see how it looks in there. Maybe a video later!

 

[NYC_George]

Correct I researched it.....


found this....

A long time ago, a toolmaker named Fred Becker started a company called Front Range Products. This went under, and Fred started working for McKean Models, which in turn was bought by SkyLim. This went under, and so Fred started working for E&C shops (or he started it, one or the other). This went under, and so Fred started LBF (Loads By Fred). This went under (see a pattern?), but this time LBF was taken over by Hubert (an LBF partner, supposedly) after Fred had some health problems.

Huberts: They're not LBF

People have been talking about Huberts Model Railroad Mfg Corp ( http://www.hubertsrr.com/ ) a bit now, and I wanted to weigh in on the topi...

ttamt.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...
Hi all I also want to make it very clear also. Frank Hubert came in to LBF to help with some money flow but what really happen was that Mr Hurbert did help with getting money but that is where thing got out of hand. What Mr Hurbert did was to closed LBF one morning and fired every one that worked for LBF and hired new people to run the Roseburg Plant. But what got me was the fact that no one was paid there wages. Mr Hurbert did pay some of the bills that needed to be paid. Mr hurbert had no right to lockout everyone and take over LBF. All the tooling and tell every one he paid for the die's tools when he did not own any of it. As for Fred Becker the owner of LBF, This have been a stran that has couse a stroke as well as a hartattacks. Mr Becker is still making cars but there for people that is looking small runs.
He is doing better and is doing what he turly loves to do. I some of you out there, thinks Mr Becker is or was just as bad. But what Mr hubert did was just darn right low and should be sent to jail for taking over some ones Life and love. I sat down with Mr Becker and I have not seen him so sad. He tried to hold back the tears. but I could tell he was very upset over every thing. Today Mr Becker is in so much det that he has to scrap down deep to pay all the loans he had to get to pay for what Mr Hurbert left him to pay, and there is a lot of stuff he is paying for and does not have. So if Frank Hurbert has been put in jail, he is getting what he deserves. So if you all out there that would like to help, LBF is selling car's on E-bay Chris in Oregon

MAY 26, 2009 AT 5:03 PM

And you owned stock in all these company's James?

 

[TLOC]

Good morning Crew. 34f degrees right now, 37 later. The 7” of white stuff received yesterday should start melting.

Did soldering of track feeders yesterday and this morning I will solder them to the power bus. I want to start testing the track this afternoon. I stopped making trees at Terry’s suggestion. As my layout comes down I would be storing my trees. So instead of storing the trees I will add them to the paper mill module being built. Yeah slow light bulb on that one.

If all goes well with testing the trackwork next up for Monday is to start in earnest on the ground cover. The pulp yards will be dirt, the tree areas need a few feet of elevation added. The roads I haven’t finalized the material. I have the locations. I have used many things for the road surfaces and not sure I like any of them. All this at least can be done at the workbench area while sitting on a bar stool. I can flip over and lean the module to be able to add the feeders to the power bus. Then flip flat and do the ground coverings. Overall it’s going well. As soon as the power is tested and ok’d I will be in the most enjoyable portion of the build for me. The scenic elements.

enjoy the day

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Foggy and 64°, with a few wet spots on the porch and car. 82% chance of rain starting around 10:00 am, and continuing until around midnight. The rain chance continues until Tuesday morning when the wind shifts from the west. This time of year, that's always dry after sweeping across New Mexico and West Texas. It tends to produce a dust-storm though.

Busy day yesterday. Started with an hour-long visit with a pulmonologist and another 30 minute visit to the local blood testing center. I have a breathing test scheduled for Monday. I have never spent a continuous hour with a doctor before. The blood testing center drew six vials, I never had more than four before. Had time to come home, empty the dishwasher, take out trash, eat lunch and take a nap before heading out to granddaughter's birthday party. Wife and I went on a "date" to a fancy bar for a few drinks before heading over to the restaurant for the party. Then to daughter's home a few blocks away for cake, ice cream and more drinks afterward. I drank sugar-free ginger ale since I still had an hour-long drive home next. At least it looked like champagne. The infamous deer incident closed out the evening. I'm still pissed.

Note that there's supposed to be a light in that round hole.

Today will be dedicated to putting up the new Christmas tree and going to the attic for paraphernalia. I no longer actually go into the attic, but everything is within reach from the scuttle-hole. I am not sure when we will discard some of that stuff? I take down six boxes of lights, ornaments and household decorations every year, but we barely use most of it. Yes! Some ornaments get rotated, but I would guess that we don't actually use more than two totes of stuff combined.

Thanks for the reactions regarding the minor detailing projects that I posted yesterday. I should finish most the next time that I go out to the train shed, along with more ballasting.

Obviously no time modeling yesterday. I'll get back to it today after the tree gets put up. On tap is mainly ballasting.

Patrick - I never understood folks who dip their french fries in mayonnaise. I guess that I should try it once before I condemn it.
Tom O - It's been frustrating searching for the original owners of the air cylinders and air tanks. They all came from the upper level so that narrows the search a little, since I haven't moved cars from one level to the other in a while. The color on the two air cylinders should have helped, but nothing yet. Having them all in that one picture should be the impetus to concentrating on locating the cars. But I am afraid that when picking up each and every car, I will find a few with broken stirrup steps or missing grabs and stop and fix them on the spot; rather than cluttering up the workbench!
I have a pair of the E&C wood chip hoppers that run well enough that they are permanent (kinda) travelers in a manifest freight that I run from staging to staging.

They are both on the project list for adding metal grabs, ladders and weathering whenever I get bored. Otherwise they are acceptable for what I do with them.
James - The Hubert cars don't look bad at all. And it appears that they already have metal wheels and Kadee compatible couplers.
Ken (D&J) - No roadkill in Texas can be used for human consumption. The law was passed here in 2007. Most of it is not fit for eating anyway.

Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend.

 

[BigGRacing]

Thanks guys. I should have mentioned that we are both OK but shaken. It was hit and rolled to the side and not over the hood and into the windshield, which would have been worse. Speed at the time of impact was only about 25 mph since I had already hit the brakes. My usual speed at that portion of the road is generally in the 40-45 mph range. I am not concerned about the $500 deductible, as we are both unharmed. Sad that such a beautiful buck is no longer around for folks to see. Sad also is that Texas law does not allow one to keep roadkill deer (or antlers), unless you scoop it up and dress it surreptitiously, even if you have a tag. I somehow doubt that it got up and walked away considering the "thud".

Just glad that you are both okay Willie!

 

[Smudge617]

Good Morning All. Foggy and 64°, with a few wet spots on the porch and car. 82% chance of rain starting around 10:00 am, and continuing until around midnight. The rain chance continues until Tuesday morning when the wind shifts from the west. This time of year, that's always dry after sweeping across New Mexico and West Texas. It tends to produce a dust-storm though.

Busy day yesterday. Started with an hour-long visit with a pulmonologist and another 30 minute visit to the local blood testing center. I have a breathing test scheduled for Monday. I have never spent a continuous hour with a doctor before. The blood testing center drew six vials, I never had more than four before. Had time to come home, empty the dishwasher, take out trash, eat lunch and take a nap before heading out to granddaughter's birthday party. Wife and I went on a "date" to a fancy bar for a few drinks before heading over to the restaurant for the party. Then to daughter's home a few blocks away for cake, ice cream and more drinks afterward. I drank sugar-free ginger ale since I still had an hour-long drive home next. At least it looked like champagne. The infamous deer incident closed out the evening. I'm still pissed.
View attachment 157495
Note that there's supposed to be a light in that round hole.

Today will be dedicated to putting up the new Christmas tree and going to the attic for paraphernalia. I no longer actually go into the attic, but everything is within reach from the scuttle-hole. I am not sure when we will discard some of that stuff? I take down six boxes of lights, ornaments and household decorations every year, but we barely use most of it. Yes! Some ornaments get rotated, but I would guess that we don't actually use more than two totes of stuff combined.

Thanks for the reactions regarding the minor detailing projects that I posted yesterday. I should finish most the next time that I go out to the train shed, along with more ballasting.

Obviously no time modeling yesterday. I'll get back to it today after the tree gets put up. On tap is mainly ballasting.

Patrick - I never understood folks who dip their french fries in mayonnaise. I guess that I should try it once before I condemn it.
Tom O - It's been frustrating searching for the original owners of the air cylinders and air tanks. They all came from the upper level so that narrows the search a little, since I haven't moved cars from one level to the other in a while. The color on the two air cylinders should have helped, but nothing yet. Having them all in that one picture should be the impetus to concentrating on locating the cars. But I am afraid that when picking up each and every car, I will find a few with broken stirrup steps or missing grabs and stop and fix them on the spot; rather than cluttering up the workbench!
I have a pair of the E&C wood chip hoppers that run well enough that they are permanent (kinda) travelers in a manifest freight that I run from staging to staging.
View attachment 157493View attachment 157494
They are both on the project list for adding metal grabs, ladders and weathering whenever I get bored. Otherwise they are acceptable for what I do with them.
James - The Hubert cars don't look bad at all. And it appears that they already have metal wheels and Kadee compatible couplers.
Ken (D&J) - No roadkill in Texas can be used for human consumption. The law was passed here in 2007. Most of it is not fit for eating anyway.

Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend.

The car can be repaired, annoying as it is, but your both OK, that's the important bit.