Running Bear's January 2020 Coffee Shop

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Everyone. Cloudy and 48°, chance of rain today and tomorrow. Won't get much colder for a couple more days. Today is a jammed packed day with two grocery stores on the weekly SFW grocery/beer trek, as well as Dollar General, gas, Walgreen's, Vitamin Shop, UPS store and Hobby Lobby. Wife is going so we'll probably also visit the wine store and stop somewhere to eat. Then home for a nap.

Hey Flo, good to see you back, I'll take ham, hash browns and poached eggs this morning.

Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday regarding the figures; Bob, Hughie, Patrick, Justin, Jerome, Phil, Sherrel, Tom, Curt, Chad, Rick, Mikey.

Continued with the landscape around Atlas Steel Works yesterday. Almost finished with the initial ground cover. I'm going to add some tall grass and weeds next. Might even ballast that industrial spur that runs behind the place, even though it is still undergoing testing. So far it hasn't posed a problem except for a single SD40-2 that has an issue. Since I don't usually use six axle power for switching, I may just proceed.

Are you ready for another "girlie" picture?

Justin - Good Luck with finding the short; that's what it seems to be by your description. It can be quite tedious. Don't ask how I know!

Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Willie- I see that I am not the only one who appreciates your collection of female figures. Thanks for the continuing pictures.

I have others that I'm not sure Terry would allow me to post!

 

[santafewillie]

Willie - You're up early this morning.

Always up between 4:00 and 4:30 Central - I just don't normally post until around 7:00.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 46° and light rain, which has been here off and on for the last 24 hours. Exactly 1" in the rain gauge this morning. Looks like Johnny and Patrick are getting the wintery mix from this system according to the localized radar. Successful odyssey yesterday, nine stops and a 53 mile round trip (in the rain) in 3.25 hours. Instead of stopping to eat, we just picked up some BBQ to go and went home to eat.

Eggs over easy and a double order of bacon today Flo.

Thanks for all of the likes and kind comments regarding the progress and townspeople pictures yesterday; Justin, Jerome, Karl, Patrick, Jim, Chet, Bob, Sherrel, Phil, Mikey, Curt, Rick, Tom, Ken.

I got some more ground cover done around the Steel Works yesterday.

Trees are next for this scene, although I have to make some more first. This structure is also going to get interior lighting. More on that tomorrow.

Greg - Isn't it great now that we can just look at inclement weather and not have to bother getting out. In this part of Texas, they don't have snow removal equipment and they rely mostly on traffic to remove snow/ice when we get it. In our rural county, they now send out the road graders (hours late) to sort of clear the roads since the county emergency services (ambulances, volunteer fire departments etc) obtained a permanent injunction forcing the road services to clear the roads so the emergency equipment could get through. They just push the stuff aside leaving anywhere from 1" -3" still in the road. They only act when there is over 6" on the ground. It might still take two days to reach our house.
Beady - Really great to see your progress. Need to consider a third table.
Sherrel -

Willie - that is an unreal number of stops on a shopping trip - made me tired reading about it. You must make a list - I would forget half of the places?

Yes I do make a list along with everything that I need at each stop. I do suffer from CRS and without the list, I would certainly skip a place or two. Since we live out in the boonies, we need to make every trip count.
Curt - Thoughts and prayers for your family in these trying times. Hope that your trip is a safe one.
Bob - From earlier this week.

Doesn't look like the busker is making much money. Really great scene!

There's a few dollars in there.
Over to the right of him in that park is the following activity.

Today is National Bootleggers Day. They actually still exist in this part of Texas. I know a couple of them locally, although I don't partake. Any still in your neck of the woods?
Everybody have a great day and a wonderful upcoming weekend.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 53° and clear skies. That's supposed to be the high temperature today, as the winds are expected to shift from the north near 20 mph about daybreak. Miserable day yesterday as it drizzled all day long, leaving an additional .25" in the gauge. At least this north wind will dry out the firewood and ground surface.

How about a couple of sausage, egg and cheese biscuits this morning Flo. Maybe an apple fritter on the side.

Thanks for those likes and comments yesterday regarding the various scenes; Bob, Johnny, Jerome, Ken, Phil, Sherrel, Justin, Bill, Chet, Patrick, Curt, Tom, Jim.

I mentioned yesterday about adding interior lighting to the Steel Works. This is the scene inside the structure, but it cannot be seen very well through the windows. See yesterday's post for those shots. LED's seem a bit bright so I will install an old fashioned bulb(s) from Miniatronics. However I haven't installed the lighting buss that far yet so it may be a bit before I can show the results.

Meanwhile, as many of you have read before, I do an overall maintenance project each quarter on the layout. The layout is divided into eight roughly equal sections that I have on a two year rotation schedule. Things don't really get dirty or trashed out, but I have to remove dead insects, spider webs and other stuff associated with living in the country. It entails moving all rolling stock out of the way, cleaning track whether it needs it or not, inspecting the ROW for any stray parts and vacuuming the track. Then all structures are dusted off, loose parts glued back on, some amount of upgrading takes place and all of the rest of the area gets vacuumed. I also remove all tools and supplies that seem to find a home on every flat surface. This quarter I am back to "ground zero" which is my lower deck staging yard, all 16' of it, and the first 32' of scenicked railroad. Actually five of the staging tracks are 19' 4", the other seven are approximately 16'. Here's the staging yard devoid of all trains. They are all parked out on the main and all passing sidings for now, as I rarely remove freight cars from the layout except for maintenance or rotation. The yard is all cleaned and ready to go for another two years. Since my track doesn't really get dirty, a quick going over with the Woodland Scenics cleaning wand (I think that's what it's called), with the non-abrasive pads is all that I use.
View looking from layout South.

View from the other end.

View from the aisle.

Now it's time to move all of those trains back in so I can proceed on the 32' adjacent section. At least I can run trains on the upper level while everything is tied up on the lower level.

Curt - Thoughts and prayers for your whole family. Have a safe trip.
Bob - That's a great age for granddaughters. Ours just turned five and it's amazing what comes out of her mouth. All good things of course. I totally agree with you on the taste of moonshine. Vile stuff!
Chet - Continued best wishes on your recovery.
Sherrel - Nice clean looking truck. Seems like you scored a great deal, especially with the insurance payoff exceeding the cost. When can you stop by to help me haul some stuff to the salvage yard?

So today is National Thesaurus Day. Boy there's a word that I haven't used or heard in quite a while.
Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend. Stay safe if you have inclement weather.

 

[santafewillie]

Willie, do you have a Helix somewhere to connect your 2 levels?

At the present time I do not. So essentially they are two different layouts. The planned helix if I ever get to building it will be in a not yet built 5' x 8' room attached to the train shed. It will basically take up part of the 5' x 40' front porch. I included access switches on both levels already. The thought of a duckunder (actually a crawlunder) to get into it may eventually doom that plan.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 32° this morning. Beginning to dry out here, not much but it is a start. Got a call yesterday that my new eyeglasses are ready so later today I will go and pick them up. I'm a bit apprehensive since I have not worn glasses other than readers before. These are something called progressive bifocals, or trifocals? Readers at the bottom, normal in the middle and corrected on the top for farsightedness; at least that is what I think they said. Made for outdoor use (won't slide off due to sweat) and are supposedly unbreakable. 180 day guarantee. If they're unbreakable why do I need a guarantee?

Oatmeal with a side of bacon this morning Flo. I need something to "stick to my ribs".

Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday regarding the staging yard; Tom, Joe, Jerome, Sherrel, Ken, Bob, Karl, Bill, Greg, Phil, Jim, Hughie, Justin, Garry.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I cleared up the gridlock caused by the yard closure. Kind of reminded me of the UP mess about 25 years ago.

Now I just have to move those engines to the other end.
Elsewhere on the layout, here's a picture of me, my young wife and her brother checking out the rear of my used 1961 VW that was our first car.

BIL still has that Elvis pompadour to this day. That's not dust, but grime from the gravel road that we lived on at the time.

Joe - Sad to read about your MIL's condition. Many thoughts and prayers for her, your wife especially, you and all of the family members in these trying times.
I'm not understanding all of your PT right now. My wife saw the doctor for the first time and was on the operating table less than five weeks later. No injections, no PT, no nothing.
Bob - I truly admire your ability to work in N scale. Neat spray booth. Looks a lot better than the one I made 30 years ago using the inside of an old dishwasher.
Beady - Get well soon.
Tom - Not sure if I posted before, but I like the manner in which you weather your freight cars. Nice and subtle, not overdone.
Chet - At the other end of the lower level, there is another six track yard, although not quite as long. It still holds my normal 20-24 car trains, which is the length of most of the passing sidings. The girls on my roofs are sunbathing. Refraining from posting them though.
Jim - I like the beer story. Before I retired, I imagined life drinking beer starting with lunch, but decided that it affected the quality of modeling too much. I now only indulge if I am running trains or in the last 30 minutes of modeling before supper. Over the years, I have also discovered modeling mistakes made when I was younger.
Looks like you'll have plenty of switching action on the layout.

Today is Dolly Parton's 74th birthday. It would have also been Janis Joplin's 77th if she hadn't done something stupid.
Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear skies and 31° to start the day. Mid-50's to low 60's for the next ten days except for Wednesday with low 40's and rain. Picked up my first ever pair of eyeglasses yesterday, wearing them is an interesting experience. They do help and wife says that it will take a week or so to get used to them.

Morning Flo. A double order of bacon and french toast this morning, skip the eggs.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the layout pictures yesterday; Bob, Tom, Karl, Sherrel, Phil, Jerome, Bill, Chet, Justin, Mikey, Jim.

Working my way around the corner with the quarterly layout cleanup project. What better time to give a brief tour of parts that I haven't been posting, as someone requested last year. So here it is.
Separating the staging yard from the scenicked portion is a highway overpass made from Rix components.

We first come to the hamlet of Budville, named after a late friend. The near tracks are Frisco (SLSF) tracks leading to the interchange; the far tracks are the ATSF tracks. This part of the layout is unfinished for now,

Pay no attention to that stack of lumber temporarily stored on brachets above the layout.
Lone Star Feed & Fertilizer is the first industry. Along with the grain elevator to the left, they ship out both bulk grains in covered hoppers, and bagged grain in boxcars. They also receive bagged grain in boxcars.

Next over to the left is the infamous Majestic Hardware and Feed store, It is non-rail served. This is a tentative location while I decide whether to keep it here.

That phone jack is for my walk-around memory throttle.
Next over to the left is Midtown Consolidators. More on that tomorrow.

Terry - How is Marie doing? Has she recovered from the infection? Has she been doing the PT for the knee? That's an important part of recovery no matter how much discomfort it gives.
Tom - I fully agree that getting rid of the plastic shine on railcars really enhances the effect. Although I haven't weathered all that I want to, I have hit everyone with the Dull Coat.
Sherrel -

Willie -- I'll take that pair of CF-7's on the back wall -- that will free up a siding for you?

Good eye there spotting the CF7's. However they are my primary switching power for many industries.
I thought of you last night while dining at Pelligrino's. Wife told me the Green Bay score and I thought that you probably would have rather been with us instead of home with the TV.
Concrete rivers duh! Only in CA.
Greg - I also like watching those cab ride videos. However the effect is ruined in many of them by modelers that don't finish the back sides of structures. I may not detail all of them, however I do finish them.
Mikey - Life has not been hard on me. Aging body has! I'm still here and enjoying life more than ever. Compared to that scene, I have aged better than my wife...BIL is still the same skinny punk as he was 50 years ago.

Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 32° and clear. Another beautiful day in store for us today, sunny and mid-50's, turning to cloudy in late afternoon bringing a chance of rain overnight and into tomorrow. Looks like a trip to the county tax office this morning or tomorrow to get our handicapped parking permit renewed. Got some time in the garden yesterday with the hoe for some pre-emergent weed control after last week's rain. Still too wet to plant, and about a week too early for onions and radishes. I had company while I worked in the garden.

They were taking a break from their offspring in my barn loft.

Hash browns, bacon and sunny side up eggs for me this morning Francine.

Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday (and this morning) regarding the various progress photos; Sherrel, Tom, Justin, Jim, Phil, Chad, Garry, Bill, Hughie, David, Bob, Joe, Johnny.

Moving out to the train shed, while I had the small grain elevator off the layout for cleaning, I added some signs. It.s one of the few plastic kits from American Model Builders called "Silex Grain Elevator"; Kit # 121.

I am not ready to weather it yet, but that won't be far behind. Workbench is too occupied to bring out the weathering powders right now.
Moving left (south on the layout) we come to Midtown Consolidators. This is a Walther's "Red Wing Milling" kit without the large chimney.

I use it as a freight forwarder. I picked it up at a garage sale and had to completely disassemble and reassemble it.
Next to it and also across the tracks is the next pair of structures, the old reliable Atlas Switch Tower and a small farm scene.

The farmhouse is a Branchline laser cut kit, everything else is scratch-built.
This scene has a family burial plot behind the shed.

Here's a close-up of the shed.

Jim - There is a downside to spring coming as you pointed out. Here, I am looking at mowing next week as the native winter grasses (oats and rye) are beginning to get a bit scrappy. I should be doing it today, but while the tractor won't get stuck in the wet ground, it will leave ruts!
Nice progress on the layout.
Greg - That is one decrepit looking caboose. Other than SP, most railroads that I rail-fanned on (ATSF, MKT, KCS, UP, SLSF, BN, SSW, MP in this area) didn't ever let them get that bad.
David - My wife went the Glucosamine and Chondroitin route for several years before finally going to the orthopedist. It offered some limited relief, but it only allowed the inevitable knee replacement surgery to be delayed.

Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

... in Jackson, TN the Casey Jones Museum is good .

I'll second that. Only a block off IH40 as well.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 39° and rain/drizzle this morning. Just over 0.3" overnight and it will end soon. Won't warm up much today, maybe 42°. Slowly warming up after that into the 60's by Friday for at least a week according to the current forecast. Daughter came by and picked up the granddog yesterday, to the great relief of Fluffy the cat. Convinced my wife to postpone the tax office trip until today so I could get some more outdoor tasks done before the rain. Since it is a distance away (everything is a distance away for us here), we'll go to the local farm supp;y store and the German butcher shop while we're there. Maybe we'll drive by her former employer's and send them a hand sign. She did decide to retire this year finally. She turns 70 next month.

I'll have some of that sausage, bacon and cheese omelet this morning Flo, and a piece of your homemade crumb cake to finish things off.

Thanks for the comments and likes yesterday on my cleanup/layout tour progress; Johnny, Justin, Jerome, Phil, Bill, Chet, Sherrel, Patrick, Hughie, Tom, Garry, Ken, Bob.

I continued the track/layout maintenance out in the train shed yesterday; all of the main line, passing siding, and the first four industry spurs in the designated layout section are cleaned and vacuumed. All stray parts were retrieved from the ROW, All that I found was a Kadee coupler spring and a green stirrup from a BN freight car. I have three difficult to reach spurs left to do, all requiring structure removal for easier access. Another reason that I don't fasten structures down. Next in line along that wall, are two farms. The first is unfinished right now, as I got frustrated making the fence at the time that I originally started.

The house and barn are both American Model Builders Laser Kits, known as "139 Maple Street" and "Loft Barn" respectively. The other structures are from a Plasticville kit and the windmill is half of the discontinued Watlther's Van Dyke Farm Windmill kit. Tractor is from Athearn. I would like to make this the next part of the layout that I finish because it is in between two already completed scenes. I also intend to fix the unsightly cracks that are in the plywood backdrop within the next few weeks. There's a lot on the "round tuit" list.
Across the road is Stallings Horse Ranch, named after some friends who raise horses.

The barn is yet another American Model Builders kit simply known as "Feed Barn". The house is a cardstock model that I downloaded from the Illinois Historical Society website many years ago. It's supposed to represent Abe Lincoln's childhood home.
Here's a closeup of the barrel racing practice taking place in the corral.

Ken - Somehow I missed your post Monday. Great progress on the road and surrounding areas.
Hughie - I know the feeling about the LHS here in Texas. I used to have one about 25 miles away that was sort of on my way home from work, but the owner retired in 2015. Now I have to go 65 miles to Discount Model Railroads in Addison TX. Fortunately they are located within five miles of both of my daughter's homes, so I go see my grandkids when I go there, or go there when I see the grandkids. As their name indicates, they are a discounter with almost everything 20% off MSRP, which makes them competitive with most online retailers. In addition I get to put my hands on the product right then and there.

So, wondering whatever happened to Dave Banta (logandsawman). Last word was that he was moving again. That was around Labor Day. Hope that all is well.

Another thing, what is more boring, Megxit; or Brexit?

Have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 42° and foggy. At least it's warmer than it got all day yesterday. Rain gauge has 0.5" in the last 24 hours. Warming back up to the lower 60's for the next ten days if the weather geeks are right. The trip yesterday to our county seat of Gainesville TX to obtain the handicapped parking permit went well. As planned, we also stopped by the local feed/seed store for onion plants and to just generally browse. Also stopped by the German butcher outlet (the actual butcher shop is in nearby Muenster) to pick up lots of German sausage links and some summer sausage. Gainesville is the county seat of Cooke County and is a small town of about 16,000 very conservative folks. The last Democrat who won this county was fellow Texan LBJ in 1964. It is kind of deteriorating with lots of vacant buildings due to the coming of Walmart (a pretty horrible one judging from Yelp reviews) some years back. Today is the weekly grocery/beer trek in the other direction.

Ham, eggs and an English Muffin over here Flo. Not too busy this morning I see.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's tour pictures; Karl, Phil, Patrick, Jerome, Chet, Bill, Sherrel, Jim, Justin, Tom, Joe, Ken, Bob, David.

Still cleaning structures, figures and vehicles as I move along the wall of the layout. The tour continues with my largest grain elevator next. This is the Walther's ADM elevator kit. Unfortunately I waited too long before applying the decals and they disintegrated in the water. Two sets!

The large grain bin is a Walther's kit and the smaller one along with the elevator are both from Rix Products. The area behind the facility is undecided for now. The top two choices are either a cow pasture or a cemetery. Another farmstead is the third choice. Kinda depends on whether I still have a farmhouse available when I develop it.
My next rail served industry is RJ Frost Ice and Storage, another large industry from Walther's. This is a good example of why you don't apply decals to unpainted plastic. It should have gotten a shot of Dull Coat first. I think that I can fix it though.

Looks like a fallen ladder on the right. That's the type of stuff that I fix when I do this maintenance exercise. As you can see, the maintenance staff is on the roof working on the cooling tower. I'll get a better picture of them later today.

Johnny - I think that your cousin needs to get a life! Nice looking trees.
James - Hope it's nothing too serious with the water supply. Good Luck. Probably not the best weather to have to deal with it.
Chet -

Willie - Like your photos even though the scene isn't completed.

Thanks. Please note that those round hay bales came from Montana...Thanks again.
Mikey - I googled AMRA and got the same results as Karl. Seems that their spam issue goes back a few years as evidenced by the lengthy series of posts over on an O gauge forum from 2017. Sometimes I think that "unsubscribing" just increases the amount that they send because they realize that there is someone there. I just send them to the spam filter now and that usually works until they change their originating address
Sherrel - I get real moody and depressed after a few cloudy days as well.
Bob - I like the area around Cookesville TN. My wife's sister and her husband have lived there for about 25 years now. The only drawback (to them) is that there are no Whataburgers in TN.

I'm still getting used to wearing this first ever set of eyeglasses. What a hassle! It's only been four days now and my wife says I will get used to them, eventually. Easy for her to say as she's been wearing them for 50 years now.
Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 36° and clear here today. Continuing warming trend here, Low temperatures remaining well above freezing and highs in the 60's for the next ten days.

Eggs over easy, pancakes and a handful of bacon this morning Flo. I'll pay for that box of doughnuts for the first few that want one.

Thanks for the likes and positive comments yesterday on the cleanup progress/layout tour; Alan, Jerome, Karl, Chet, Patrick, Ken, Phil, James, Bill, Tom, Jim, Bob.

Nearing the end of the quarterly cleanup project in the train shed. This time around is taking longer than most due to all of the trackage in the staging yard. Here's a few more structures along that wall.
Next to the RJ Frost Ice and Cold Storage is another rail-served industry, Drywell Inks.

This is a DPM Gold Series kit from about 15 years ago. While they no longer ship boxcars of ink in barrels, they still receive tankers full that they transfer to drums. You can just see the corner of Rosa's Cafe, a Mexican food place to the left. More on that tomorrow when I retrieve the camera which I left out in the train shed.

Johnny - Boy, I have to agree with Beady about the puzzle pieces!
Mikey - How are you making your tarps?
Alan - Nice shot of the SP power. However, I thought that all SP engines came from EMD pre-weathered! Never saw a clean one in all my years of railfanning back then. Also once spoke with an SP engineer who claimed that the reason that SP always double-headed power was for when (not if) one unit broke down.

So today is National Beer Can Appreciation Day. Some of us may remember when beer was only available in bottles, or on tap, although I have to admit that I was too young to purchase it at the time. I actually only purchase it in bottles because the "pop-tops" get caught in my mustache
Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Everyone. 39° and clear. Still not dry outside from the rain earlier in the week, but getting close. The raised bed garden is just about workable; important because it's time to start planting the spring garden here. As many of you already know, organic vegetable gardening is my second hobby. Forecast has changed slightly since yesterday, still expecting highs in the 60's through Monday, but a bit cooler through Thursday, back into the 60's on Friday. Still no expected freezes coming up.

Been slow here in the Coffee Shop the last few days Flo, hope that everyone is tipping well. Make it a tall stack of blueberry pancakes and a plateful of sausage patties for me this morning. I'll wash it down with the usual glass of OJ.

Thanks for the likes yesterday regarding the layout tour pictures;, Bob, Jerome, Chet, Bill, Phil, Chad, Ken Patrick, Tom.

While I reached the end of this quarter's cleanup project, I am not done with the tour pictures. This time around it took longer than normal because of the work required to move all of the trains out of and back into the staging yard. The other day I promised a picture of the maintenance workers working on the cooling tower on the RJ Frost cold storage facility. Here it is.

On the other side of Drywell Inks is an area that I am currently undecided on.

While I have these structures in place, I am not sure if I will keep them all there. It's one of those areas that require further study. But here is Rosa's Place, a Mexican cafe.

While it was at the workbench for cleaning, I added a sidewalk out front.

It can be seen in it's painted form in the second picture above. Sharp-eyed viewers will note that this is the same four Downtown Deco walls used for the Ace Auto Parts structure that I posted a couple of weeks ago.
Next to Rosa's is a pair of unfinished trailers. Need to add the underpinning to the one in front, but it got misplaced during the move to the train shed a few years back. I have since found it but haven't added it yet. That's Venus flashing to the passing traffic.

These trailers came from a now defunct company called NuComp Miniatures.
And finally Fred and Red's, another eatery. It is a laser cut kit from Blair Line.

As I posted, this area may or may not remain the same in the future. It's not a high priority area for scenery right now.
We'll continue the tour tomorrow.

Bob - You're moving fast in finding that retirement homestead. Good Luck. There really are no Whataburgers in the whole state of Tennessee. My wife's BIL loves their burgers and has to drive to Alabama to get one. He knows all of their locations from Cookeville to Gulf Shores and stops at all of them when we meet up for our annual vacation there.
Chet -

I will have to agree with you on the lack of accuracy on the old Athearn locomotives.

Even I am phasing out some BB locos in favor of ScaleTrains after all of these years. Many of the later Athearn RTR and Genesis locos are still serving the pike though.
Joe - I originally thought of receiving carbon black and other materials at Drywell Inks, but decided to just make this facility a repackager from bulk ink into barrels. It just isn't large enough to use as a manufacturing plant. I know that I could have expanded it with additional DPM modular walls, but didn't think of that at the time. Thanks for the thought though.
Greg -

Willie: That's one huge layout clean up job you're performing.

It may seem like it, but I only do 1/8 of the layout every quarter over a two year period. Track cleaning isn't really a concern but I do it anyway as a precaution. This is what I am really after.

Various flying and crawling kamikaze insects that get in the train shed and can't get out.
Beady - Seems like a fun cruise. Enjoy it.

Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Y'all. Mostly cloudy and 51° to begin our day here. Slow day on the SFW estate due to the wet ground, however the "honey-do" list got shorter. Grilled some chicken breasts yesterday afternoon and then shredded them to make some "copycat" Outback Alice Springs Chicken Quesadillas for supper. Tonight it's grilled marinated rib-eyes.

What's on special today Flo? Eggs Benedict, OK make it a double order over here.

Thanks for the continuing likes and positive comments regarding the layout tour; Bill,, Chet, Alan, Phil, Jim, Greg, Rick, Jerome, Tom, Mikey.
Here's the next portion of the layout traveling south.

I have no idea who made this structure kit as I got it over 25 years ago. The Leviathan Manufacturing sign came from a Walther's decal sheet.
Across the street is Olsen Feeds. This is a repurposed DPM kit that I don't remember the name of. It may be C. Smith Packing House.

Out in the train shed, I just felt like adding a new car to the roster. It's an Intermountain RTR 40' vegetable oil tanker. While I usually do kits, there's no beating RTR tankers for the details and ease of construction. All that you have to add to these models are the brake lines. As is the norm for Intermountain stuff (at least for me), I also have to make some repairs to the car as well. Really can't return them because my LHS owner retired shortly after I did four and a half years ago.

In this case the end railing is loose and almost coming off. The bolster also fell off when I removed the truck and the truck screw post was cracked

Screw is long enough that the cracked post didn't matter. I need to add shelf couplers to this car but I seemed to have run out temporarily. I also have some placards but cannot locate them right now.
Also found this in the packaging.

I thought that it might go here, but after looking at other models of the same car, it didn't. The B-end only has one diagonal brace on five other cars that I checked including two NIB. Besides the part is too short. So I still don't know if it is actually part of this car.

I have since painted the tips of the added air hoses silver but that picture was a flop.

Alan - I'm not pleased with the trailers between the two restaurants either, which is the main reason that I haven't proceeded any further on that spot. I am open to suggestions for that area as it may be another year before I get to it. I have a lot of room elsewhere for the trailers along with a half dozen others.
Greg - Yes it seems early for a garden to those living up north, but I have two seasons here, late January - June and September - November. Nothing grows in July-August except peanuts, sweet potatoes and okra. And they usually require irrigation. February can sometimes throw me a curve ball, but the only things that I have in the ground are normally things that can survive freezes like onions and salad greens. Snow is good as it insulates the plants/ground from the temperatures. In an average year in this part of Texas, there's only six days a year that the temperature doesn't actually get above freezing.
Yes, Rosa's is a Downtown Deco Hydrocal structure from Randy.
Chet -

Can't quite make out what you found cleaning the tracks.

One is a cricket and the other is a dirt dauber. They get in usually when I have the door open and cannot get out and end up dying from dehydration. Other critters that I regularly remove are ladybugs.
Mikey - Never thought of using dryer sheets. Great idea, Thanks. I have tried using used teabags with only limited success.
James - Certainly looks like a decent haul.

Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Cantina more specifically refers to an establishment that offers alcoholic beverages. Rosa's Place is a taco shop, not a dive bar. Believe me, I live among these people.
More here.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 39° and dense fog. Back into the upper 60's today with rain overnight. Cooler temperatures after that for a few days. Forecast has been changing daily, but it is still rather pleasant for January.

Eggs over easy and a god load of bacon this morning Flo. And a piece of French Toast to give me a sweet charge this morning.

Thanks for all of the likes and comments regarding the most recent pictures; Rick, Joe, Jim, Sherrel. Bill, Phil, Dave, Jerome, Bob, Tom, Chad, Johnny.
Thanks also for the suggestions Sherrel and Dave. I like the truck parking one and will have to think about it.

I only spent a short time out in the train shed yesterday, typical for Sundays. I was in the mood for painting figures that I could use around Rosa's and a couple of other places featured recently. I also ran a few trains since I hadn't done that in a couple of days.
Continuing the tour, here's the remaining establishments along that north wall. First up is one of everyone's favorite builds, the Atlas Lumber Yard.
The blue warehouse is just some Pikestuff parts.

Further to the corner is the Addam's Ave block from Downtown Deco that I posted earlier in the month.

Behind it is a cardstock structure that I downloaded from The Illinois Historical Society. In the corner is Walther's Robert's Printing Company, another of their rail-sized ndustries. The smallish structure across from "skid row" is a DPM Gold kit called Harlee & Sons. Hidden on the bottom of the picture is the hobo camp shown a few weeks ago.

Jim - I just use the hand-held vacuum. Believe it or not, I only have two open top hoppers on the entire layout and they are woodchip hoppers.
Bob -

I could put a Boilermaker acronym here, but I'll just say we don't fool around!

Oh come on. We need to give Terry something to do on Sundays.
Good to read that you are home safely.
Curt - Welcome back from what I also assume was a safe trip that you had hoped wouldn't happen.
James - Thanks for all of the pictures. Some pricey freight cars in there.

Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Yesterday, I looked at a DCC decoder manual and it was roughly 468 pages long!!!!

Holy Cow Batman!!! I'm with Chet and I'll also stick with DC.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 51° and raining lightly here. Cold front tonight but temperatures will stay well above freezing. Spent part of yesterday pruning trees and have about two weeks of firewood for next winter already cut and stacked.

I'm looking for something different for breakfast this morning Flo, how about some of Mel's hearty beef stew.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the final (for now) layout tour pictures yesterday; Chad, Bob, Bill, Jerome, Sherrel, James, Karl, Chet, Greg, Beady, Rick, Phil, Jim, Justin, Tom, Patrick, Ken.

Well, not in the train shed but train related, I bit the bullet and pre-ordered three ATSF SD45's from ScaleTrains yesterday. They're due in July, although their track record with me indicates that I probably won't see them until at least September. On the layout, I spent some time cleaning up some wiring underneath, specifically the not yet used lighting buss. Specifically I was intending to use some power supplies salvaged from our IT department at work about 20 years ago. One had been connected and all was well. It quit working recently so I removed it and tested six more which all failed. I'll have to switch to the alternate plan of using old wall warts and Lifelike (and similar) power packs.
Back to the archives for a picture of a Bar Mills kit "Barn at Jackson Corners".

Johnny - Wally's Wieners looks right at home there. Should do a lot of business.
Greg - I also like junk yards. Elsewhere on the layout there is a much larger one under development, one large enough for a rail spur and a crane.
Patrick - Good news, now best wishes on a full recovery.
Karl -

468 pages is enough to spook DC or die guys back to the stone age! (or at least back to wooden trains)

And then I read Ray's post (#821) and feel really good about sticking with DC. That's not to say that DCC isn't new and improved, But I operate alone, can only pay attention to one train at a time and don't care for sound either.

Everybody have a great day.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 37°, cloudy and quite windy, cold wind from the NW due to abate somewhat around noon. Not a lot of rain Monday night and yesterday morning, .4" of mostly drizzle. Enough to make things sloppy outside again.

I'll take a pair of sunny side up eggs and a double order of bacon this morning Flo. And a couple of pieces of whole wheat toast to mop things up with.

Thanks a lot for the likes and comments about the barn that I posted yesterday; Garry, Jim, Jerome, Joe, Sherrel, Greg, Justin, Curt, Phil, Tom, Ken. I really enjoyed assembling that kit.
Here's a closer view of the front.

Here is the farmhouse located just behind the barn. The house is yet another cardstock structure downloaded off the Internet. I think that it came from Clever Models, but I am not sure. Hay bales were imported from Montana (courtesy of Chet). Windmill is a Woodland Scenics model.

Meanwhile out in the train shed, for my next project, I decided to begin upgrading an area of the layout that I showed last week .Here is the left side with the structures removed prior to painting the plywood and the track. This area is just out of the staging yard and is part of the interchange between SLSF (Frisco) and ATSF (Santa Fe). The foreground tracks service that small grain elevator and feed mill, all Frisco tracks. The one in the background is the Santa Fe main. At least part of the area between the two will be a materials storage area for ties, rail, ballast piles etc.

And the right side with the highway overpass removed.

I did get all of the paint applied.

Today I will start adding ballast.

Johnny - I agree on moving the tent scene back into the woods a bit, although from the picture it looks OK.
Joe - We speak two languages here in Texas, English and Mexican Spanish; which is not the same as Cuban or Puerto Rican Spanish. There's a definite drawl to the English from many who have lived here all of their lives, especially from those with rural backgrounds. I take delight in commenting to Mexicans in Spanish when they don't think that I understand what they are saying.
Sherrel - Thanks. After painting the barn red, I stippled it with white paint to better resemble those around here.
Greg -

DC or DCC its still model railroading and the operating system is a personal preference.

Well put.

Do the locomotives using the spur bother the livestock?

No they are all deaf!

The water scene and people enjoying the summer reminds me of a park near my cabin.

I think that post was Johnny, Thanks anyway!

OK Johnny Here's one day for you. Today is National Puzzle Day. Are you finished yet?

Everyone have a great day.