Running Bear's January 2021 Coffee Shop

[TLOC]

Good morning from So. Central Wisconsin. It is 25 heading to 28 but there is a wind chill making it feel like 15, per the weather guessers. I took the garbage bin out to the curb and it felt very nice, I didn’t notice a wind.

Yesterday was a wasted day. I cleaned in the trainroom mainly the work bench. Looked at the grain complex but did nothing. I have to finish painting the elevator building and install a new set of windows. Looked at the list and walked away. I believe burn out is occurring. A few days of other things and I’ll be back at it.

Terry is out with the horses and after her shower and breakfast we will relax racing on the slot track.

Willie, someone has to pay 25,000 National Guardsmen. Thank you as they are using your dollars...



Have a great day
TomO

 

[Boris]

Good morning, y'all 33° and sunny. Since I'm retired, everyday is a holiday.

Yesterday, my focus was on wiring my layout, and correcting errors in the wiring. My initial wiring, was somewhat anything goes in order to get the modules up and running. Now I'm trying to get some organization to it.
I corrected the problem(s) I encountered with the suitcase connectors. 1. I went over each connection with lineman's pliers. I wasn't getting sufficient leverage to engage the contact with the slip joint pliers. 2. Learned why I shouldn't use Micro-Mark connectors. There is no quality control, what so ever. 33% reject rate. I somehow managed to fry my booster also. No loss...I really don't need it, since I don't use that many sound equipped locos.
Again, I'm beginning to not trust MRC components. Meanwhile my body doesn't bend as well as it once did. I'm feeling that this morning.
Later today, I will resume the wiring project. Have a circuit interrupter to install, and two more to order, (one for each power district).

Second son is under quarantine protocol...he may have been exposed to a co-worker who tested positive.

Speaking of Covid, the attached link is worth a read, it's from this mornings NYT newsletter. Might answer some of your lingering questions, and should be available outside the pay wall.

The Morning: Underselling the vaccine

messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com

Let me know if the link doesn't work.

There have been some nice photos posted this past weekend. Garry, Chet, Willie, Tom, Guy, Dave, Tom O, Karl, Justin, among others.

Guy: I liked your soldering technique. Thanks for posting. never thought of Thermostat wire.

This is the Franklin Street Station in downtown Reading, PA, along the "Main Line". It was also the Hub station for the Readings network of Trailways Bus routes. (More than one way to Take a Ride on the Reading. No date or photographer listed, but it appears to have been a color slide that has faded. The "Main" Reading station in Reading, was known as the "Outer Station", because it was located on the outskirts of town, where the lines from the Coal Region, Jersey City and Allentown, and from the West all intersected.

FP-7 #903 leading the "Farewell to the Reading" excursion on the eve of Conrail. The two FP-7s are the surviving pair of a class of 8 purchased to replace G3Sa Pacifics on the Reading's fleet of "streamlined Trains" [Crusader, Wall Street, King Coal, Schuylkill].

 

[McLeod]

Morning!
With a 32°F temperature to start this morning, I wonder if winter is passing us by this year. Probably, more like the calm before the sucker-punch with a good old fashioned blizzard. - Anyway, it's supposed to be sunny and warm this day. Fantastic weather for NW Alberta in January.

Thank you for the likes and comments on the track feeder soldering post. Know that I didn't invent that technique; just a wee-bit-o research led me to learn the way, and I simply passed it on.

Last summer, I walked through the staging area outside of town and took over twenty photographs of a particular track mobile that was sitting on one of the sidings. It was this one:

I always wondered what the interior looked like, and wanted to photograph the inside. However, I didn't want trouble; so I didn't climb up inside the machine, just incase someone took offence to that.
Anyway, I found some track mobile photos on the net, and share them here. This is one of the rare occasions that I share photos that are not mine. These photos are copywrite and water-marked by Ritchie Bros auction house:

Ya never know if you might want to put an interior into a z-scale track mobile. Now you know what it looks like.

Anyway, I need to take care of some business today. Don't you just hate Monday's; I think there's a song about that.

Have a good one!

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Looks to be clear out there and 36°. The ever-changing weather forecast has changed again. The NWS has removed the probability of rain from tomorrow, Thursday and Saturday. As the saying goes, we're in the midst of some "Chamber of Commerce weather" right now. Excepting tomorrow, highs have been and will be in the upper 50's to nearly 70° for the next ten days. Yesterday we managed 58° but with the sunshine it felt warmer than that. No shoveling snow here today!
Today being MLK day, I don't have to keep up with the Stock Market to see how my retirement account is doing. It's been a choppy year so far. But I am even so far after being ahead a week ago. Crappy as last year was, at least I made $9000 with only 8% of the account in mutual funds.

I'll just take a few apple fritters and a glass of OJ this morning Flo. I visited the local Italian Ristorante last night and I am still full.

Thanks for all of the likes (reactions) and comments regarding the figures and the finale of the year 2020 review; Joe, Tom O, Justin, Phil, Tom, Guy, Jerome, Rick, Gary, Sherrel, Hughie, Curt, James, Chet, Karl, Ken.

Despite the beautiful day outside yesterday, I made some time for the train shed in the afternoon. Actually the same old routine as Saturday, do a bit of paint on some figures and then run trains for a while. Pause and repeat. Moved that feed store to a different location to see whether I lked it there better than Saturday's location.

No other project pictures to show at this time, so I'll get into the act by showing some girlie pictures for Sherrel and the rest of us dirty old men.

Tom - I have seen that Iowa Engineering culvert pipe displayed at the Spring Creek Model Trains exhibit at train shows here in the DFW area. Didn't pay attention to price but the detail was good.
Joe - Good luck with the electrical issues.
Tom O - It does seem like a depressing day with freezing drizzle and TV, especially any national news network
Ken - Can't really comment on the snowblower except it's purty! I never had one and have no knowledge about them.

we'll use it as kindling for our woodstove.

Amazon supplies me!
Guy - That's the most beautiful job of soldering that I have ever seen. Even the "not so good" was excellent by my workmanship.

Everybody have a great day. Stay safe.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good morning ...... I just put our outbound mail in the mailbox, but now I remember it is a USPS holiday. It won't be picked up today.

Willie, your sunrise looks alot like mine! Excellent !

Karl........ Willie may have used the same sun as you did. ..... You certainly did a lot of work on locomotives over the weekend.

Ken ..... Your work on the B&O F-unit is excellent.

Justin .... It is a good idea to use GP7's and GP9's in my opinion. One of mine is a P2K, and I did replace the axles gears as you said you may do.

Willie .... I like the new industry, and you did a good job painting the figures.

Joe ... I like your photos with the Reading FP7's. Those utility poles look like they are heavy duty.

Guy ..... The track mobile is interesting.

 

[chadbag]

Good morning. 30F at 9:30am. Already been to Discount Tire to get new tires on the Audi. They were about down to minimum. I had ordered them last week and the appointment was at 8:15am this morning. I put the Nokian all season on them. Inexpensive and the reviews I read were good. Hopefully last longer than the expensive Michelin I had put on last time.

I had also ordered some Pirelli for the 2007 Honda Fit we got from my dad for my son to drive. Discount Tire called me Friday to say that they had been discontinued. I arranged for some Toyos for it while I was there and have to go back this afternoon to get them installed, after they've gotten them from the local warehouse.

My employer gives us MLK day off as well. Though I didn't get to sleep in due to the tire appointment and the kids getting up for a dentist appointment that the wife took them to. Besides working on my daughter's guitar (replacing electronics and putting new tuners on), I hope to get some work done barreling two rifle uppers -- one for the wife and a 6.8 for me. And some other stuff in my man cave (which I switched over from wood working to the reloading/firearms equipment -- only one of the two hobbies can be active at once in there).

Toilet was clogged today for some reason and overflowed as I was not paying attention and was watching inside the tank as the previous flush had not closed the flapper and it was just draining water continuously. Pain in the patooty to clean up. I threw a bunch of old towels on the water so I could get to my tire appointment, and finished it when I got home.

Anyway, hopefully I get a bunch of stuff done today as it is back in the saddle at work tomorrow.

Thanks to all for posting cool photos! I like to look at them and get inspired. My train table is temporarily housing a bunch of other stuff on it that I need to get sorted and put away.

 

[Texas Hobo]

Good Morning all. the sun is shining and it's predicted to reach 64.
I cleaned up the work bench yesterday only to start a new mess. I started on another Bar Mill's structure, Earl's Oil. I believe Willie had posted one earlier this month. I have a question, Willie, how do I paint his name, Earl, on his shirt?
I do have a location picked for this one.

STAY SAFE

LATER

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning all. the sun is shining and it's predicted to reach 64.
I cleaned up the work bench yesterday only to start a new mess. I started on another Bar Mill's structure, Earl's Oil. I believe Willie had posted one earlier this month. I have a question, Willie, how do I paint his name, Earl, on his shirt?
I do have a location picked for this one.

STAY SAFE

LATER

I would have to pass on painting Earl on an N scale figure. Maybe just a few dots of red paint.

 

[Texas Hobo]

I would have to pass on painting Earl on an N scale figure. Maybe just a few dots of red paint.

Could be worse! Printing his name on a name tag hanging from his pocket.

 

[chessie_system3]

Afternoon fellers. I hope everyone is doing well. So I just finished the longest winded review of a model railroading product ever for me. I posted my take on the Varipulse I got Friday. Three days of playing around with it. I have discovered some things with it. So if anyone is interested I'm sure you can find it. Just bear in mind it is really long winded. If not in the mood to read then go to the bottom and see my pros and cons. That's all I have for now because my fingers are about to fall off.

 

[Flip]

JUSTIN- Do you run boxcars on your pike? Or just coalcars.
Phil

 

[chessie_system3]

JUSTIN- Do you run boxcars on your pike? Or just coalcars.
Phil

I have some boxcars. They usually just sit in the yard. Every now and again I'll take em out. And I have a two bay covered hopper for sand as well. Mostly my trains are coal trains. I may spot a boxcar at the mine for supplies. Had a covered hopper for ammonium nitrate that is supposed to be spotted on a spur by the loadout.

 

[moermusic]

Good morning. 30F at 9:30am. Already been to Discount Tire to get new tires on the Audi. They were about down to minimum. I had ordered them last week and the appointment was at 8:15am this morning. I put the Nokian all season on them. Inexpensive and the reviews I read were good. Hopefully last longer than the expensive Michelin I had put on last time.

I had also ordered some Pirelli for the 2007 Honda Fit we got from my dad for my son to drive. Discount Tire called me Friday to say that they had been discontinued. I arranged for some Toyos for it while I was there and have to go back this afternoon to get them installed, after they've gotten them from the local warehouse.

My employer gives us MLK day off as well. Though I didn't get to sleep in due to the tire appointment and the kids getting up for a dentist appointment that the wife took them to. Besides working on my daughter's guitar (replacing electronics and putting new tuners on), I hope to get some work done barreling two rifle uppers -- one for the wife and a 6.8 for me. And some other stuff in my man cave (which I switched over from wood working to the reloading/firearms equipment -- only one of the two hobbies can be active at once in there).

Toilet was clogged today for some reason and overflowed as I was not paying attention and was watching inside the tank as the previous flush had not closed the flapper and it was just draining water continuously. Pain in the patooty to clean up. I threw a bunch of old towels on the water so I could get to my tire appointment, and finished it when I got home.

Anyway, hopefully I get a bunch of stuff done today as it is back in the saddle at work tomorrow.

Thanks to all for posting cool photos! I like to look at them and get inspired. My train table is temporarily housing a bunch of other stuff on it that I need to get sorted and put away.

dont know how to just put part of a post as a quote, so all above is included. Did you mean Nokian all Season, or are they not Nokian all Weather. All weather much better than all season, least as way for Alberta winter weather. Little to no snow where I am now, +4C in the shade. Unbelievable for Jan.

 

[santafewillie]

dont know how to just put part of a post as a quote, so all above is included.

Highlight the text that you wish to quote and a small box labeled "Reply" shows up. From there just click it.
Alternately, hit the reply icon and delete the part that you don't want from the reply box.

 

[moermusic]

From there just click it.

Got it !

 

[montanan]

Good afternoon. An overcast day here today. The forecast was for a few inches of snow but we barely got a dusting. Did get an email confirming that they got the info for renewing my passport.

IBKen - You have less snow that we do with that shiny new snowblower. Haven't had to crank mine up this year. What I mainly used it for was to widen the driveway when it started getting a bit narrow from pushing snow to the side. Here's my daughter in law running it last year trimming to sides off of the snow berms. . She likes any type of machinery and learns how to run it in no time at all.

Guy - Without a doubt, you know how to solder. Nice job. Spent hours teaqching new strikers how to solder properly in the service.

Garry - Like the A-B-B-A photo.

Karl - I also liked the CB&Q power. Their E units were one of the sharpest looking diesels on the rails. They used to hook onto the North Coast Limited in the Twin Cities to take it to Chicago.

TomO - Like the photo of the work bench. Shows that you're getting too many projects done.

Joe - Good photos again. The B&O is another railroad that had some excellent looking F units.

Willie - Good photos as usual. Figures sure make a difference to a layout.

Didn't get down to the train room yesterday and probably won't get the4re tomorrow because it's Tuesday, the day I meet my friend for lunch and I might as well go into town as much as I hate it and do a few errands being that I'm half way there.

Into the archives again.

Later

 

[PRR Modeler]

Evening All,

Spent most of the day with Mom and Dad at the doctors.

Terry- How about using strip wood for cribbing?

Chet- Great photos of the pooches, club and home layout.

Dave- I've been to Ruidoso and Cloudcroft many times as a kid since I grew up in El Paso.

Garry- Great scene with the ABBA power.

Karl- Sounds like you have a lot of HO irons in the fire.

IB Ken- Really nice matching job.

Justin- Congrats on your GP9.

Willie/Tom- Great girlie photos. The feds spend money like drunken sailors (as the saying goes).

TomO- When I'm not sure what I want to do on the layout I'll stare at it for a couple of days and then I can usually figure out what to do.

Joe- Best wishes for your son. Back when I was using suitcase connectors I used the ACE Hardware product. I found that if the feeder wire was tight from the track it would fail more quickly so that wire needs to have slack. Great photos and interesting article.

Guy- Neat photos.

I hope everyone has a good night.

 

[Texas Hobo]

Thought I'd post my version of Earl's Oil. Obviously I need ground cover, but you get the idea. Also needs the included fencing put up.

 

[IronBeltKen]

Hi Shop Dwellers, we've got 30*F with light cloud cover and and 7mph West wind outside my house.

Thanks everybody for the likes and/or comments on my Sunday night post - Hughie, Chad, Sherrell, Phil, Garry, Tom-O, Guy, Joe, Tom-C, Ash, Willie, Karl, Gary, Justin, Jerome, Chet, Curt .

No time for a lengthy post tonight 'cuz its so close to my bedtime. Just wanted to let everybody know that the F9A shell conversion was a success, the project pretty much used up my whole day. (Just a reminder that the shell in the Sunday photos was just a practice run, not the actual model.) Will post more photos after I clock off from work tomorrow.

Cheers!

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's 28 and mostly dark.
I had a small issue with Windoze yesterday evening, but was able to finally bend it to my will.