Running Bear's February 2019 Coffee Shop

[Bruette]

Nice photo's Willie, I like the old pickup the best.

Personally I would lock those panhandlers up for vagrancy. Once I locked them up I would test them for drugs and alcohol. If they tested positive I would hold them for 48 hours, letting their own withdrawal symptoms punish them.

I guess it's like weathering, it adds realism, but in my imaginary train world there is no graffiti, dirty trains or vagrants and Santa Claus is real.

 

[Bruette]

My Mom and I are going shopping this morning. It's supposed to be rain and temperatures in the low 40s later today, I'm not working today. I'm lucky in that I work mainly to stay productive and because I can. I pray for those who have no choice but to work in all sorts of bad conditions.

Speaking of prayers, if you are praying today, think of my God Mother, my Aunt Joan, she had a stroke last week.

Have a great day Everybody!

God Bless Us Everyone.

 

[migalyto]

Willie, Great looking scene, very nicely done!

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's (still) raining, and 40.
We live on a hill, and our yard is flooded. The creek at the bottom of the hill has overtopped its banks, and the road is closed to traffic.

 

[Boris]

I can receive the nationals in Baltimore on those stations. When I'm working in other areas I scan the radio and find all kinds of stuff. That is how I found the capitals radio.

There was a time when I had no trouble picking up DC and Baltimore radio stations, in Jersey. WTOP 1500 and WBAL 1090, were available during the day as well as at night. Since I retired, I'm rarely out after sunset, so I'm not sure if you can still hear them. Likewise, when I lived in Bowie and later Belair, I had no trouble receiving WABC, WOR and WNBC especially at night. Right now, WNBC rebranded the Fan maybe 30 years ago, carries the Yankees, and WOR, the Mets. On the stretch of the Interstate between Trenton and the Shore, it's very hard to find a strong signal, AM or FM. I used to pick up a Hamilton, Ontario AM station that carried Toronto Maple Leafs games. That's how I became a follower of "Canada's Team".

Boris

 

[Sirfoldalot]

It's nice for Winter in Central Minnesota today, some flurry activity; but, right around +20 degrees, now. A couple weeks ago the local paper stated that our total snow accumulation had hit 45 inches and we've had maybe 12-15 inches since. We have a goodly supply of the white stuff, anyone need any? You pay the freight and you can have all you want!!

Mark - If I could keep my vehicles out of the repair shop, I would be tempted to order sone "white stuff" from you!
It's 27 here this morning - and it feels it! Supposed to be clear and warm to 61 later on; I am glad to get out of the 50's high - hope it stays out of the 50's for a high.
Thursday we had a little of everything - rain, sleet, and a few snow flurries!

DAVE - Very nice photos of your layout. Hope to see more?

CURT - Did you check Amazon for that filter part - just wondering? Your latest build is fantastic looking!

I'm going to have to stop complaining - I think I am making things worse? Darn truck had the "ABS and Brake" warning light come on ... mechanic says the right front sensor is at fault. It's only a $264 part + labor. He said he will see if he can locate a cheaper one - meanwhile, if I don't want to see the warning to put a piece of tape over the light.
He was as shocked as I was - thought it would be about a 55-60 dollar part.

One more thing on the medical front and I am done. Now the Chemo doctor wants me in for a check - I guess he is short of $ too! AND I almost forgot that the surgeon from Kaiser Sunset (downtown) wants me to get YET another MRI to check my heart plumbing and another office visit next month ... at least I will get to ride the train on that one!
Have to look for the silver lining where ever we find it?

Saw a really funny cartoon - wish I would have saved it.
It showed H Clinton standing in front of the Deli Counter (from a Stienfield eposode) with the guy saying to her,
" No President's Day for you"!

Later guys - everyone have a great weekend!

 

[Boris]

Good morning, y'all. 33° and cloudy. No storms forecast until late tonight, then high winds Sunday night into Monday.

[QUOTE="Sirfoldalot, post: 452447, member: 2010"]Saw a really funny cartoon - wish I would have saved it.[/QUOTE]

Sherrel: Don't pick on the old girl. She's poor as a "church mouse", and suffering from rejection. She's also unhappy with her biggest campaign contributor. Tough life, eh?

Willie: Absolutely cool scene, my friend. Fantastic.

Boris

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good morning .... Coffee and donuts, please.

Weather guessers expect we will have rain storms this afternoon and evening. We have had a lot of rain lately in this region. I am glad it is not snow. The Paducah flood gates are in place because of high waters on the Ohio River.

Dave LASM ..... Your scene on the old layout is beautiful.

Willie .... The motorcycle shop scene is great. I see you weathered the pickup truck on the road, too. Nice.

Louis .... Sorry to her about Aunt Joan. Preyers for her.

...
I worked on track yesterday, and I will do more today. These tracks will be for my coal mine.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

TERRY - Is it in my ability to change the battery in my Samsung G6 phone, or do I need to take it in?
It's 4 years old and the battery runs down every day.
I ordered a battery from "that website".

Willie - great shots from your layout ... The rust spots on the P/U - cool! VW looks cool as well.

 

[logandsawman]

Good morning all, 26, cloudy, getting some light snow. Gonna snow some tomorrow as well.


Terry-- hope your flood waters recede

Sherrel, Garry; I have hundreds of layout photos. I am glad you enjoy them, I will trickle them out

Everyone-- it is nice to be back in the coffee shop!

I purchased a computer a couple months ago, one to use for work and also personal. Scond computer I have purchased in my life, purchased my first one in 1989. Went many years using library or work computers only.

Long story short, this one has numerous ports, and realized there is a sd port where my camera card can plug directly into the computer.

A couple Northern Pacific photos: the locomotive came from a photo book of the St. Croix line, I think. The Forest Lake Depot, I am not sure of the origin. Forest Lake is between St. Paul and Hinckley. I think the photo was taken in the 1930's.

I think this was a manual turntable. I read that they had one in Grantsburg, WI, which is a spur off the mainline NP St. Paul to Duluth.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Good Morning Everyone......freezing rain and ligth snow this morning. A good day to spend time in the basement working on the layout.

I am a member of NMRA and a local regional spring convention is being held in La Crosse, Wisconsin in May this year. I am trying to decide if I want to attend this event or pass on it as I have a with many others. They are several operation sessions and I would like to attend at least one. I have to make up my mind.

La Crosse is about a 6 hour drive from our house and the River Route up along the Mississippi is fantastic with the scenery and the bluffs. The BNSF mainline runs along the river and there's several excellent viewing spots to watch the trains.

That's all for now to report.

Greg

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[Bruette]

David it's great to have you back, we really missed you old buddy.

Thanks for the interesting photos and information.

 

[Bruette]

Thanks Garry, the last report I have was that she is stable and conscious, but struggling with reality. My Nanny went through a similar situation and slowly recovered mentally and physically, I hope and pray for the same for my Aunt Joan.

 

[Bruette]

Boris some time ago the FCC changed broadcast regulations limiting the use of omni-directional broadcast antennas. Now they are mostly directional so as not to over lap one another. I miss listening to all kinds of games from as far as Saint Louis when I was a boy, especially at night.

 

[chessie_system3]

Justin:

What method do you use for the track cleaning? I'm always looking for better ways to keep my track clean.

Greg

I do apologize for taking so long to get back to you Greg. My layout is quite small being it's the sacred sheet. I use mostly a track eraser. It works pretty well for me. I use a sanding block to clean the old grime off of the eraser and reuse when needed.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Thanks Justin for getting back to me.

Greg

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Willie- I love your motorcycle repair shop and scene. I can almost see myself parked in front, too.
Do you know what H-O-N-D-A stands for? Harley Owners Need Dependable Alternatives.
Please keep the pictures coming.

I strained something while I was trying to push the boat around yesterday. I am limping a little this morning.
The water is now 4 feet 4 inches above full pool and another 3 to 5 inches of rain expected this afternoon and night.

 

[montanan]

Good morning. Heat wave. +16 degrees, not like the -18 we had yesterday, but we do have a winter weather advisory out until Tuesday morning. So far I would rate the batting average on their advisories at maybe 10%. Hope they keep it up.

Tom - Those CSX units are beautiful. Really like the weathering and detail.

Terry - You may have to invest in a boat the way it sounds.

Jim - Beautiful photos.

Garry - Like your Empire Builder. A guy at the club has the complete Walthers train and it is a beast. Gotta be at least 18 to 20 feet long. Look great running around the club layout.

Dave - I really like your historical photos. You sure have done a lot of research. Like the photo from your old layout. You did some really nice work on it. Liked your hump yard.

Sherrel - That trip was a total waste of time and money. Bummer.

Louis - I am sticking with my DirecTV. We have seen a lot of different TV services and I like what we have.

Greg - Sure sounds like you really got dumped on. Keep it there. No statement from the other half on your 70 tonner and RDC, good news.

Willie - Sorry about the crown. Really like your photos. The motor cycle repair shop is interesting. Surgery isn't until March 19th.

Got to go down to the train room and run the Walthers F-7 for a while. Ran them in both directions for about 45 minutes to break them in and then pulled some longer trains around the layout. I really like how they operate running them on DC. Not like some of my other DCC locomotives. Extremely smooth. Apparently there is momentum programmed in, but it was still very easy to control Had it do some switching in the yard breaking down the long train and was quite happy with the low speed control.

I an truly impressed with how well the pair can pull long trains. Exactly what I need at the club. now I won't have to jump into a siding because I have a short train to let longer ones have the right of way. (unofficial club rules) Probably won't get over there until the train show in April. I have been watching the road cameras on Bozeman Pass and the roads have been really crappy.

Something else came to mind. Maybe I can get one of the guys at the club to speed match my Stewart F-9 to the Walthers F-7's.

That trio would really be able to haul freight.

Here's a rail photo for today.

Think I'll head on down and run some trails, Later.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Did anybody get the tag on the truck that ran me over?

Probably one of the fellows I passed last night. 440 miles in the fog sometimes less than 100 yards visibility. I made an observation. People driving with their bright lights on. I don't understand. How they could see anything other than the fog? I tried it once or twice as soon as I turn on the high beams all I can see is white immediately in front of the car. Anyway eventually I started noticing a pattern in the headlights of the cars with their high beams on who didn't dim upon approaching facing traffic. Note that this is farm country so about 65% of all vehicles on the road are pickup trucks, also this is farm country where pickup trucks have to do real work daily so 70% of the pickups are Fords. In the headlight "wars" I began to notice that the trucks with the high beams on seemed to be the Chevy's. So I started paying more attention. Sure enough bright lights - Chevy. Then I thought perhaps the Chevy lights were just designed such that they just "looked" like brighter lights than the other vehicles, but soon proved that theory wrong as I passed some that were not bright. Near the end it also seemed that the bigger the truck the more likely the bright lights were on. Buy the time I made this observation it was too late to gather enough data to confirm or refute that, but my hypothesis is that a big 3500 dually, with brush bars almost guarantees its brights were going to be on. What is up with that?

My first non-railroad related post, but I have not other place to vent.

 

[montanan]

Horseman, I have to agree with you when I see people using their high beams in the fog. You just can't fix stupid.