Running Bear's February 2020 Coffee Shop


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kbkchooch said:
Good evening gang,

Beady, you are one sick puppy! (had to start with that! Your pic in the blue "outfit" was awful):eek::oops:o_O:eek:

Sherrel glad to see you have come to your senses about the stove parts.

Greg, your switcher appears to have had better days, but heck, it's not in the dead line!

Curt. I'd love to have a pet skunk. The 1st wife's dad had one, named Donald (after his boss) Was a great pet, and one heck of a deterrent to unwanted guests. Answer a door with a skunk in your hands, pointed backwards, and solicitors scattered!

Not like these 2 clowns! The cat will let anybody in, the dog barks at the Pizza Guy. UPS guy can leave packages inside the garage, he wont flinch!
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Time for bed, see ya in the a.m.!
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Umm, that wasn't me. If you want proof, I'll post a photo of myself naked, so you can compare. In the meantime:

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Howdy ...

Johnny, Chet, Curt, and Jim ... Thanks for the comments on my Empire Builder. ... Also thanks to each of you who “liked” my post.

Chet ... Your North Coast Limited is beautiful .

...

I have grab irons on four of my Super Chief cars. I’m having trouble focussing on small details, so I’ll wait to do the rest.

recently I mentioned I am having vision problems . I have eye surgery on one eye this coming Monday. A week later I have surgery in the other eye. The first eye has both Cataract and Retina problems. The other eye is just cataract.

Meanwhile , I’m running trains. Here is my CB&Q 4-8-2 with a heavyweight passenger train.

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Good morning y'all. Happy Friday! 45° and wet outside, 69° and chilly inside. The temperature has not really varied in 24 hours, so the heat is not running as frequently. My body is telling me to crank the heat up a bit to dry up the dampness, My brain is telling me to put on a sweater, and be thankful that the heat is not running constantly..wtf?

Not for nothing, does anyone notice that when ever you need a single item to start a project, that item is not available anywhere?

GarryCBQ said:
I have grab irons on four of my Super Chief cars. I’m having trouble focussing on small details, so I’ll wait to do the rest.
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Garry: I know that without the grab irons and hand rails, and the decals for the car names, the model is unfinished. But really, other than yourself, who's going to notice?

GarryCBQ said:
I have eye surgery on one eye this coming Monday. A week later I have surgery in the other eye. The first eye has both Cataract and Retina problems. The other eye is just cataract.
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Garry: Good luck with the eye surgery.

BP20 5778 Jersey City 1961.jpg

PRR's Broker" getting ready to leave Exchange Place, Jersey City for the Jersey Shore in 1961, behind the Baldwin 2000 HP passenger "Sharks" that replaced steam on this train in 1957. Note that the leader is in the five pinstripe scheme, while the trailer is in the newer single stripe scheme. Both are quite dirty.
 
Morning all,

Supposed to be Sunny and upper 40's today. A bit more wind than yesterday.

Second iteration of the light tower. I forgot to remove the "raft" that keeps it square from the file so I may make a 3rd run at it withthe raft off. Basically I ran the PLA filament 10 degrees Celsius higher than the first run. I may need to take it to 220*C. I think it looks a little better.

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Once I have the most detailed part, I'll know how to set the rest of the tower pieces.

On a personal note, I finally am getting relief from shoulder. Turns out it isn't a nerve but extremely tight small muscle. Stretching and a really fun muscle relaxer is starting to work. I am also healing nicely from the CT surgery. And since it is Friday, every have a good weekend!!
 
Good morning everyone. 23 and mostly clear out there - - I think - - it's too dark to tell.

Tom, Garry, Patrick, Sherrel, Jim, and anyone I may have missed - thanks for the likes and comments from yesterday's post.
Patrick - Nice first job on that 3D printing of the light tower.
Garry - Nice photos - I've said it before, but your layout looks great!

Not much to report. Ran trains for a while last night while doing some updating on the scenery and landscape. Had to lift my arms each time a train came by. Taxes are done, but the refund won't buy even one new locomotive for the layout :(

Reaching back into my slim archives, here's a couple of photos of my NYC Heavy Mikado. Here she's pulling a short train on the mainline behind the town. I don't use this engine much yet because frankly it gives me fits with stopping and starting and I haven't had the time to diagnose and fix. But it's my only steamer and I like the way it looks.

Heavy Mikado pulling train on mainline.jpg


Here's another shot of her pulling a freight train through town.
HeavyMikadoPullingShortTrainPastTown.jpg


That's it for now. Have a good day everyone.
 
Good Morning All. 33° and mostly cloudy. Busy day yesterday with the dental visit, grocery trek, Sam's Club to pick up my wife's new glasses, cat food at Dollar General and four other stops along the way. Successful stop at the credit union where they explained what went wrong with my funds transfer (my error) and refunded $64 in overdraft fees.

French Toast, scrambled eggs and bacon this morning Francine.

After a busy morning, I finally made it to the train shed around mid-afternoon. Patched and painted some rough spots in the backdrop and spread over 24 sq " of ground foam. Progress pictures tomorrow after a little more landscaping is done. I still need to ballast those last three switches at the visible entrance to the staging yard.

Jim - When you posted those pictures of the diner, one thing that caught my attention was the exhaust fan from the kitchen. I like how you made it with wood and a rivet. It's a detail that I don't see on many layouts. I always include them but I use old hearing aid batteries that I generate at the rate of two/week!
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Excuse the broken fence in the second picture, I originally had a truck backed into it, but removed the truck to use elsewhere and haven't fixed it yet; or placed another vehicle there. I do try to rotate vehicles around to avoid the same old view.
I don't know what Curt feeds his skunks, but my local ones like to eat the avocado skins and remnants from the compost pile. Who knows what else they get out of there!
Beady - What type of camera did you use for that selfie?
Greg -
Greg@mnrr said:
Ended the day working on 2019 taxes.
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Sounds like a fun project.
Great skunk story.
Patrick - Continued best wishes on your recovery from all of your ailments. Seems like you're well on the way. Following along on the 3D project. I don't know much about the process but I am learning.
Garry - Best wishes on the upcoming eye surgery.

Everybody have a great day.
 
Willie- I like the idea of re-purposing items such as the hearing aid battery. That is a detail I'll be using in the near future.

Patrick- A 3D printer is not like using an inkjet printer. When I was working, we used several types of machines. We found that humidity would affect the results and had to be considered in set up.
 
My wife and I have been neck deep in activities and life in general. I had two wisdom teeth cut out yesterday and it hasn't been as bad as I was afraid it would be. Sure am hungry for a big steak or a real thick pork chop or a big slab of ham or a big platter of ribs or a big plate of shrimp. But I have to stick to soft foods for a few days. I know it wouldn't hurt if I lost about 7-8 pounds.

Started to pack my trains and related items for when we move to Sparta. Even in N scale my stuff takes up a lot of space and can be pretty heavy. We're really getting excited about the move and so far everything has gone extremely smooth and that helps lower the stress a lot.

A picture of what I looked like yesterday after we got back from Peoria. Today I look like a big chipmunk with its mouth stuffed to overflowing. At least I'm past the pulling and started the getting better phase. Well, they didn't pull them, the dentist cut them out from the side. They were laying flat and would never come in, but they both laid horizontally right on top of the nerve on each side and would of had a high probability of causing problems when I was seventy or more.


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I want to say that I will be back on here on a regular basis after we get settled in our new place in Sparta. Meanwhile, I'll have short bouts to drop in and check on whats going on. Please keep the updates coming along with pictures! I really enjoy them! Hope everybody stays safe, warm and dry.

Meteorological spring is just three weeks away. That's how the weather guessers refer to March, April and May. I know the wife and I are looking forward to it!

Later guys!
 
Afternoon All,

Drove out and picked my parents up at the port after their cruise. Luckily they didn't want to go to the base. After getting home I changed the light toggles and outlets in the living room. Only 2 bedrooms to go. We are supposed to get our baseboards today but they haven't showed up yet. I also touched up a couple of places with paint.

Greg- Great story and awesome looking SW1500.

Garry- Best wishes for the eye surgeries. Great looking scene.

Joe- Nice looking Shark units.

Patrick- I hope you heal soon.

Johnny- Nice layout shots.

Willie- Nice photos and use of the batteries. Our skunks aren't picky, they eat almost anything.

Bob- Glad the dental work went easy. I've had a lot go both ways. Your picture reminds me of my Son in Law.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Good Afternoon Everyone....sunny and nice day here in Wisconsin.

I need some advise on purchasing a new locomotive. I sure like those Athearn Canadian National locomotives that were just released. My layout could use one just for the color scheme that I like so much and one of first HO locomotives was a Canadian National. I need another locomotive like a hole in the head. But, " What would you do...order or not order one?"

I wrote Digitrax an email asking about "If keeping the power on to a DCC decoder will shorten its life?" And, "Do DCC decoders generate any heat?"

My MR&T gondola arrived today from Kalmbach which is a special run. I forgot that I ordered the car.

No train room today since we just got home from doing a bunch of errands.

That's all to report.

Greg

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Howdy everyone!

Garry - you did it again. You went and posted some fine looking layout photos! ;):)
Best of luck Monday!
Boris - The Sharks look good, especially the lead with the 5 pinstripes.
Patrick - 3rd time's a charm or I should say a tower light. Good to hear your shoulder
and hand is doing better.
Raincoat2 said:
Ran trains for a while last night while doing some updating on the scenery and landscape. Had to lift my arms each time a train came by.
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Those trains are always in the way! :rolleyes::) That's a good looking Mikado!
Willie - That's interesting! On my first HO layout, I used batteries also :oops: They make simple
and good looking fan shrouds. Last week, I searched for one for Roxy's Diner, but couldn't find any,
so I scratch-built it. I'll be looking for something else and probably find 2 or 3
Bob - Good to hear the move is coming along smoothly.

Have a good day, everyone!
Jim

Allegheny Valley RR - Pittsburgh - convention center on left
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PRR 1453 at Red Bank August 1954.jpg

Eastbound Coaster at Locust Ave, Red Bank, NJ in August 1954. Switch(s) beyond the Westbound Home Signal lead to Red bank yard, and the CNJ Southern Division. John Dziobko photograph.
PRR #400 passing Capital beltway 7-17-1970.jpg

Train #400 Northbound passing Capital Beltway Station, in Lanham, MD #2 track, on July 7, 1970. Note trailing mu is a MPB54 Baggage Coach. #400 was a DC to Baltimore Commuter train. Gauntlet tracks allowed passenger trains stopping at the Beltway to access high level platforms without creating clearance problems for freight trains.

Thanks for the comments and "Likes" on previous photos. Spent some time in the train room, cleaning and reorganizing.
 
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My two Athearn "Roundhouse" MRL GP35's arrived a coupla' days ago. Gave them a quick perusal. It's obviously a re-release of the earlier RTR DC/DCC quick plug model that I have another of in SP Kodachrome, but missing the plow and rear foot boards that it has. The MRL prototypes have at least the plow and on the road#, the MU cable retainers, if not the foot board. Noticeable in the advertising of this range is the use of RR'd colored line drawings, rather than photos, and details such as these are not shown. The horn used is a good representation and positioned accurately, something that is often not done with model makers.

One of them had a dynamic brake fan housing that was slightly adrift (pushed up) and easily removed without dismantling the shell from the frame. For some reason the wires to both head and rear lights (1.5V bulbs) had been shrink tube wrapped, with pieces about 1/2" long, but only semi shrunk and were holding the quick plug socket up. No way it was going to go down enough to allow the housing to sit in properly. Getting replaced with Econami decoders, so no big deal for me, but would have been annoying for someone just wanting to run it on DC or fitting a 9 pin DCC.

The packaging has been much upgraded from the earlier RTR's. 2 piece, base box and full slip down over cover with large window. The latest type of clear plastic model retainer is used, with an external sleeve, for full protection and security.

Just wish they'd continued with the supply of those missing bits. (pause in writing to check something) I remembered I still had the parts diagram that came with that RTR version to compare with this R/house one. Although they are almost identical in layout the new does not show those parts, so it's not just that they might not have been packed. I think I would have preferred that they were, rather than the upgraded box. The relatively recent SD40-2xr models I have came with plows fitted and with the late sleeved retainers, in the older style outer window sleeve. Cut your costs in the right place Athearn.
 
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