Running Bear's January 2021 Coffee Shop


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Good morning, y'all. 23° and clear...with a beautiful sunrise. Headed for the low 40s today.

Ray: Good to hear that the outbreak was contained. Around here, Government is reluctant to lift the masking and distance orders, even when everyone is vaccinated. And at the snail's pace the state is moving that might be in 2022. Yesterday's NY Times showed they had only vaccinated 27%, of their initial allocation in Jersey. This while "special" groups insist on moving up on the list, and nothing happens.

santafewillie said:
don't need a mandate to wear a mask.
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Willie: Neither do I, but...Cases keep climbing here because of all the folks who don't. Some people just don't think. Speaking of forum members we don't see in the coffee shop very often, I heard from Louis yesterday. he's doing good although his business ventures keep him occupied.

Patrick: Bought my house, it was three years old, and that was 34 years ago...I still end up playing Whack-a-Mole with nail pops.

ACL-CSX said:
I am refusing to leave my house until the temperature is above my age.
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Jesse: If I waited for that to happen I would be sequestered from October until May.

PRR #4838 & 4834 Goldsboro PA York Haven Line 04-28-1962 - R. Peterson photo.jpg

PRR 4838 + 4834 haul a symbol freight through Goldsboro, PA on the York Haven Line, on 04/28/1962. R. Peterson Photo. The GG1s were much too clean for freight power. Note the "static" grass in the foreground.
 
Good morning guys, 23 and cloudy in St. Paul.

Willie - super nice layout photos, as usual

Alan - Oneills Fabrication looks great

Terry - very nice layout shot

Patrick - fixing up an old house can be very gratifying. Sounds like things are going well!

Flo - what about a couple scrambled eggs, 4 bacon, and hashbrowns. Thanks

I hope I didn't miss any important questions, being offline on the weekend. I got some modelling done with my new Autocar Kerosene truck.

Kerosene Truck 3.jpg


This photo shows a bunch of the parts. I began assembly of the tank and cab.

Kerosene Truck 1.jpg


After one weekend only got the chassis glued together and painted, also the kerosene tank and cab have been painted along with the wheels. I am going to have to add some color somewhere.


Here is a photo from the previous layout:

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This is my Northern Pacific GP-18.

more later, Dave
 
Good morning fellow modelers and diners. Weather in So. Central Wisconsin is still gloomy, overcast, damp and less then 30 again for the high. The white ground cover is about 15” and the high for the week might hit 35 but if there is no sun there may not be much of a melt. The kids will be here today for online Monday but I will stay in my train room and cave. Terry can handle them easily enough for classes. They know they have to avoid me.

The grain terminal build has renewed energy. Boris, Willie and others who have commented, thank you. I also like the color. The weathering will be a challenge but since I mostly use Pan Pastels for structures even if I do not like it I can easily remove it. The only issue so far with the Kylon ultra flat Camo Khaki color is the smell overwelmed the fan on the spray booth. That surprised me as the booth usually handles paint smells very well. The pictures below are from a trip to Austin in 2019, can’t remember if it was the March/April trip or theOctober/November trip. It is in Illinois off of I-55 north of Springfield as an unscheduled pit stop. That Farmers Coop silo is the color I was trying for. Ok, pumpkins are out, it was the October trip. Have a great day

edit. Found it, Williamsville, Illinois

TomO
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0EAD6005-F14C-497A-BA41-B046D019ABB5.jpeg
 
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santafewillie said:
Patrick -

You mean like this?

View attachment 123002
If so, it's a Bethgon coal gondola, made for rotary dumping. Nearly always pulled in unit trains, never in mixed freights. It's probably not something that Guy could feature here, as they are normally only present in moving trains from mine to power plants or back.
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It wasn't a mixed freight, but I'd never seen them before.
 
Sigh.....monday again. Didnt do any work on the layout last night. Well no I take that back I made a template for the section behind my loadout. Theres a story to be had on this too. Last night I was just railfanning my trains. What I call lazy man railroading. Just enjoy watching them run. Then it hit me. Maybe I should make a template for the area behind the loadout. So I get to measuring and cutting. I'm making my final cut. Then it happens. A derail! One I didnt hear because it was inside the tunnel. What clued me in was I could hear my GP7 running but sounded different. I look up and it's all alone. Look over and sure enough theres the first hopper off the rails at the exit of the tunnel. It occurred to me i probably should have throttled down my train. Call it a lesson learned. When it comes to my Athearn RTR hoppers i cant take my eyes off them. These.....yeah I have some language for them that isn't appropriate for the forums. They have been my problem children since I purchased them. They hate snap switches. Certain derail in their original form. However I have replaced the trucks and wheels on them. They have gotten better but I still cant take my eyes off of them for any real period of time. They are the only cars that derail on my layout and always on a snap switch. I have been unable to remedy this. Everything else rolls on without a hitch. So I doubt it's my track work. Now if I want to take my eyes off the layout or have to leave the room real fast and I'm running my C&O kit cars I'm good. Those things just run. They are super reliable. So much so I just added 5 more Roundhouse kits to my lot. Those are the best hoppers I have. Not too big on details but they are durable and give me no problems. Most problems are solved by a screw adjustment and good to go. Anyways that's all I have for now. I'll leave a loadout pic for yall to enjoy. It's really overlooked on my layout. Hope everyone has a good day.
20210110_235608.jpg

My P2K GP7. The C&O hopper in front of it is one of my reliable roundhouse hoppers. The hopper in front of it is one of those irritating Athearn quad hoppers.
 
Good Morning all. A very cool morning here 38 with a feels like 32. The sun tries to peek out but the clouds are winning the fight.
Still working on Pinkham's Pallet & Keg. (see pic below) Did run a train yesterday.

Boris - Love those GG-1's. I have one on the layout. While there is no reason for a Pennsylvania GG-1 on Apple Ridge Rail Service, I explain it away as ARRS borrowing it to see if the could use GG-1's on their railroad.

Dave - Nice photo

Willie - I allow myself 2 scotch's a week, no carbs. It takes me 3 years for polish off a 12 pack of Shiners Bock. I set a goal of 160 or less carbs daily. As a bonus, I went from 220 to 190 lbs.

These 4 pieces, a 1/4" each make up a window.
window.jpg
 
chessie_system3 said:
Sigh.....monday again. Didnt do any work on the layout last night. Well no I take that back I made a template for the section behind my loadout. Theres a story to be had on this too. Last night I was just railfanning my trains. What I call lazy man railroading. Just enjoy watching them run. Then it hit me. Maybe I should make a template for the area behind the loadout. So I get to measuring and cutting. I'm making my final cut. Then it happens. A derail! One I didnt hear because it was inside the tunnel. What clued me in was I could hear my GP7 running but sounded different. I look up and it's all alone. Look over and sure enough theres the first hopper off the rails at the exit of the tunnel. It occurred to me i probably should have throttled down my train. Call it a lesson learned. When it comes to my Athearn RTR hoppers i cant take my eyes off them. These.....yeah I have some language for them that isn't appropriate for the forums. They have been my problem children since I purchased them. They hate snap switches. Certain derail in their original form. However I have replaced the trucks and wheels on them. They have gotten better but I still cant take my eyes off of them for any real period of time. They are the only cars that derail on my layout and always on a snap switch. I have been unable to remedy this. Everything else rolls on without a hitch. So I doubt it's my track work. Now if I want to take my eyes off the layout or have to leave the room real fast and I'm running my C&O kit cars I'm good. Those things just run. They are super reliable. So much so I just added 5 more Roundhouse kits to my lot. Those are the best hoppers I have. Not too big on details but they are durable and give me no problems. Most problems are solved by a screw adjustment and good to go. Anyways that's all I have for now. I'll leave a loadout pic for yall to enjoy. It's really overlooked on my layout. Hope everyone has a good day.
View attachment 123097
My P2K GP7. The C&O hopper in front of it is one of my reliable roundhouse hoppers. The hopper in front of it is one of those irritating Athearn quad hoppers.
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Isn't always that way! Your sitting there, watching the trains just glide around and around your small world. Every thing running perfect. You turn to answer the phone, or maybe refill the coffee cup, or answer the wife and sure as God made little green apples a derail at the furthest point or in a tunnel.
 
Good Morning Everyone.....overcast again today and cool in this part of Wisconsin.

Thanks to Chet (Montanan) for locating a mini Dachshund that is black with tan accents. Chet found a breeder in Iowa that had our new Riley and we drove last Friday to pick her up. We stayed overnight in a town called Audubon, Iowa and left with Riley on Saturday morning. A 462 or odd mile trip one way and the western part of Wisconsin is beautiful with I-94 cutting through what looks like sandstone formations that tower 20-30 feet or more above the roadway on either side of the road. Wisconsin has a diverse selection of terrain as you travel through the state.

Our Riley is a smart puppy and is using a Potty Pad on a regular basis, she comes when called and retrieves a ball and drops it for us to toss it again for her.

My plans to work on the railroad today are postponed due my watching Riley. She will stay around one of us and loves to play. Tomorrow I have a MD appointment as well as on Wednesday and Thursday.

I agree with Hobo about watching my trains run the layout. I run them slow and it takes a while for them to cover my modest layout. I play a tape of railroad activity, mainly ALCO's which I find adds to the overall theme. Once in awhile I bring an Old Fashioned to enjoy while watching the trains while I sit on a high chair that's for a breakfast island. With an older layout derailments are rare, but do happen once in while.

Time to go......

Keep you posted.

Greg

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Good Day All -- 68 degrees on the way to 72 with only a huge yellow ball in the blue sky - the snow yesterday completely missed us!

Before I forget -- GUY - I sure wish you well in your quest tomorrow. If it did not take so much time I would love to tell a tale of my first wife who got stopped for speeding being tail end charlie in a 6 car train on a country road leading to town. She was driving a 69 Orange Camero
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She tried to argue the Court that she should not have been stopped as she was only following all the others. The judge then said to her that she should not drive such a "flashy" car. (I have distrusted lawyers, judges, and the court system ever since.)
So, again -- best wishes and good luck!
MAN ... Do I wish I had kept that car, but we needed a four door because of kids!

Sorry, WILLIE, but I am not going to wear a mask outside - never!

JOE - You win the trophy today with that GG1 photo!

LASM - Luv that tanker you are working on there - who makes that kit?
 
Afternoon All,

Spent the morning doing chores. After lunch I started the Blair Line country store by painting the interior black, put a coat of A&I on the outside walls and dry sponged flat white over the A&I and put weight on it for overnight. Tomorrow I'll put the signage on the walls and then start putting it together.

Guy- Good luck tomorrow.

IB Ken- Congrats on finding your missing loco. I've been looking for either I1sa's or J1's for coal drags but everything costs ridiculous prices or are the older ones that can't haul itself up a incline.

TomO- That color looks good. Neat 1:1 photos.

Alan- Looks great.

Terry- Nice layout shot.

Joe- Nice pictures. It feels good to be lazy occasionally.

Toot- Great news.

Willie- Nice scenes.

Dave LASM- Interesting kit. Nice layout shot.

Greg- Congrats on the new arrival.

Justin- That stinks. I think I would be getting new coal cars.

Hughie- Those look like the 4 part windows on the B.T.S. mine I built. Of course that was in HO scale and not N scale like you.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
CambriaArea51 said:
Justin- Athearn had a bad batch of trucks at one time. I remember a club member had the same problem with his coal cars. Contacted Athearn and they knew of the problem and sent him new trucks. Can't say for sure if the wheels were funky noodle too.
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For me it was the wheels. I validated this hunch by installing them into another car. It derailed all the same. I doubt Athearn would send me replacement wheel sets as I've had these hoppers since 2007. Sadly years dont reflect their service. They have been stored away more than on my layout.
 
PRR Modeler said:
Afternoon All,

Spent the morning doing chores. After lunch I started the Blair Line country store by painting the interior black, put a coat of A&I on the outside walls and dry sponged flat white over the A&I and put weight on it for overnight. Tomorrow I'll put the signage on the walls and then start putting it together.

Guy- Good luck tomorrow.

IB Ken- Congrats on finding your missing loco. I've been looking for either I1sa's or J1's for coal drags but everything costs ridiculous prices or are the older ones that can't haul itself up a incline.

TomO- That color looks good. Neat 1:1 photos.

Alan- Looks great.

Terry- Nice layout shot.

Joe- Nice pictures. It feels good to be lazy occasionally.

Toot- Great news.

Willie- Nice scenes.

Dave LASM- Interesting kit. Nice layout shot.

Greg- Congrats on the new arrival.

Justin- That stinks. I think I would be getting new coal cars.

Hughie- Those look like the 4 part windows on the B.T.S. mine I built. Of course that was in HO scale and not N scale like you.

I hope everyone has a good night.
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Bought these this morning. Right after my post.
View attachment 123106View attachment 123107View attachment 123108View attachment 123109View attachment 123110
 
Stopped by one of the LHS this afternoon while waiting to pick up my daughter from school. I got there early as I had been with my son to get his car's oil changed (it is registered in my name and I was paying and it previously was my dad's so I had to have the dealer transfer it to my account). That took longer than planned and it was close enough to the time to get my daughter that it didn't make sense to go home first.

This LHS has a modest selection of N scale, and a modest selection of H0. It also has model airplanes, RC cars, models, various building things, and tons of Japanese robot models and figures etc. Very crowded old time "whole in the wall" shop. Their prices are reasonably good and they offer an online option which is cheaper. The owner has told me that if I come in with special orders, I can get custom quotes based on the online prices which are reasonable. This and a MRR-only store close to SLC are the only LHS I know of with reasonable train stuff. This one is KATO heavy though they have other stuff. A very good selection of Unitrack (N scale) for good prices and a lot of US prototype KATO stuff. They even had 4 of the KATO Kobo custom shop versions of the local Utah "Front Runner' locomotive for our commuter rail. (Not that I ever have ridden it). I don't know how their H0 KATO stuff is but there was a large mix of other H0. They also had many other brands of railroad cars in N from various US brands.

Anyway, what struck me was that they had two KATO DD51 diesel locomotives (A Japanese locomotive) new on the shelf. They also had an 8 car N700A Shinkansen set from KATO, and two Tomix sets -- An 8 car set of the Hello Kitty 500 Shinkansen and an 8 car set of the Haruka Hello Kitty set that runs express in Osaka. My daughter has the 500 Shinkansen set. We don't have the Haruka though I'd like to get it if I was not on new stuff moratorium. The prices were reasonable as well. It was pretty amazing to see that much Japanese stuff in a US LHS. They also had 2 or 3 Tomytech N-scale Japanese busses with Hello Kitty on them (yes, they are prototypes of real busses that run or ran somewhere in Japan). They were a lttle steep compared to the Japanese price at $21 (Japanese price is more like $13-14 until they sell out and then the re-sellers get closer to $20). I bought one for my daughter since her birthday is coming up. I don't think we already have this one...

Anyway, it was an eventful trip. I also got a double set of Unitrack re-railer track pieces for $6. I am tempted to get the UTA FrontRunner locomotive one of these days even though I don't do US railroads, as it is local to me and could be the token local train. $185 is a little steep for a DC locomotive but as it is a custom shop version I guess it is expected.
 
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Good evening Shop Dwellers, no time for a weather report 'cuz it's too close to my bedtime.

Thanks for all the likes and comments on my Sunday post - Garry, Troy, Patrick, Guy, Dave (sawman) Willie, Jerry, Tom-C, Justin, Jerome, Hughie, Sherrell, Karl, Phil, Chad, Tom-O, Joe, Curt.

I discovered on closer inspection, I'll need to also relocate the forward porthole on the F9 to make it look like an F7. No problem, I've got an old Stewart F7 shell that I can cut up to get the replacement panels.

TLOC said:
Ken, I did try the khaki camo from Krylon this morning. I was shocked the smell overwhelmed the blower in the paint booth. It looks better then the formula I came up with and 4 hours later looks even better and more towards the color I want. Thanks for the suggestion. The silos on the left. TomO
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Tom, Is your spray booth vented to outside your house...or does it just filter out particulate matter? I always use oil-base spray paints outdoors, guess that's not practical for you this time of year given your location...

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Main news of the day is, my snow blower was finally delivered at 6:45pm. The delivery driver's truck broke down earlier and the trucking company was going to reschedule me, but as soon as they brought him his replacement tractor he called me and asked if I still wanted him to deliver it - I told him YES, by all means! He had to park his semi (!) on the main road since it wouldn't fit on our street, so he put the machine on his pallet jack and pulled it all the way up the court to the foot of my driveway, then we both pulled it up the driveway's 2% grade and into my shed where it barely fit! I made sure to give him a nice tip for all the extra effort he had to put in...
 
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