Running Bear's January 2022 Coffee Shop

[TLOC]

Good morning from what will again be the frozen tundra area of Wisconsin. Temperatures are dropping to single digits and wind chills will stay way below 0 for later today and all of Monday. A couple great days for modeling but having already been cooped up it maybe not enough.

I watched parts of the Dallas/Eagle game while moving from the train room to the TV area. Good game before 1/2 time. I missed the Dallas scoring explosion in the 2nd half. Still don’t understand Mike formerly of Green Bay keeping his QB in so long.

TomO

 

[OBTC 1909]

Good morning all! 39 degrees and cloudy heading for sunny and 40. No big plans for the second day of vacation. May install the new kitchen faucet but no other plans. Went and watched my grandson's basketball team play yesterday for the second day in a row (it's a tournament). They won big Friday, but lost yesterday unfortunately. They played very well, but just couldn't quite get ahead. Made some Margarita's last night for my wife and I and they were very good. Hadn't had one in a long time.

i look at eBay and just chuckle. So much of the gold priced items on EBay are available elsewhere online or a the LHS if you have one. You just have to search.

TomO

Wishing I had a nearby LHS. Closest one is about 80 miles away. I really wanted to open one here but in this day and age I don't see it standing a chance, especially in a rural area like this. There used to be one about 50 miles away, but closed up and was torn down soon after with a convenience store taking its place.

Nothing else going on. Hope you all have a great day!

 

[NYC_George]

Getting ready to start collecting the information for our 2021 income tax return. The first thing I noticed was that when I upgraded my computer to Windows 10 Pro a way to access Excell files came with it. Not so with the standard Windows 10 format. Downloaded the file from the bank and the Excell program opened it right up. Same with my horse bets. Made looking for all our deductions a whole lot easier.
George

 

[Bruette]

Gary, I think we are spoiling the kids, but I would not have it any other way. Good kids should be spoiled a bit. I do let him know what it takes to earn the money to keep buying.

Todd, can you imagine what the world of computers would be like if IBM had gone the way of apple, with proprietary parts and software? I'm sure you remember "100% IBM Compatible"
I always buy Microsoft if I can. I was a member of the Microsoft System Builder Program. Microsoft made the most profitable business venture of my life, Bruette Computers possible. I can be loyal to fault and I remember a good dead forever.
I got out of the computer business shortly after the introduction of eMachines. I refused to even try to compete with those $400-$500 systems. I hung around for a little longer making hi-end Gaming PCs, but the profits were not good enough for me.

Willie, those were just a couple of ladies in Tiananmen square. I don't know who they are, but they don't have black hair. Years ago I dated a woman from Shanghai, China, she had blonde hair, but the "curtains did not match the drapes" I can say she did not have black hair.

 

[Boris]

Good morning and Happy Sunday. 39° and cloudy. This pretty much assures us that when the precipitation starts, it won't be frozen.

It's a lazy Sunday morning, I gave up on the Caps last night, and went to bed, before the blew the lead...post script...they lost in a Shootout. Devils, OTOH, never had the lead, but came back and tied twice, before losing to Columbus 4-3. The Devils need a reliable starting Goalie!!!!!

Willie: Is that a campground, or is it the Traveling Smiths moving in for their annual visit? I'm amazed by your patience in remaking the little people, and how well they turn out.

Tom O: Nice photos. Is that leaves over the rails on the siding, or is it a landslide? Very true about e-bay pricing. Then again, most of the surviving LHS have learned how to be competitive. (That's why they have survived)...Speaking of which, last night I was shopping around for a few TCS :Keep alive" decoders, and the S6 model to replace the NCE Atlas Alco S2 decoder. My first search was MB Klein, which used to be the go to place, they had one, (2 in stock), but not the other...surprisingly, Trainworld had everything, so I ordered there. One of these nice winter days, I should take a ride to Point Pleasant, and check out the LHS on Arnold Ave.

George: That program was in Win 10 home, but you have to go into settings to find it...I use Quatro Pro and Word Perfect, instead of Office, as I hate annual subscriptions for software. I had to re-adjust the settings for the Corel software. .csv downloads from bank and broker, and Part D Administrator, automatically open Quatro pro. Sure does help with the deductions.

Todd, can you imagine what the world of computers would be like if IBM had gone the way of apple, with proprietary parts and software? I'm sure you remember "100% IBM Compatible"

Louis: Very interesting thought...Very possible that PC's would at Mac Book pricing, also very possible that IBM would still be in business, and most Pcs would be running a variant of OS2 instead of Windows. IBM creative people, and their efforts took a back seat to Wall Street Analyists, who disapproved of OS2, Prodigy, (Joint with Sears...interaction and e-commerce long before e-bay and Amazon), and money "wasted" on product development, instead of share buy backs...

My loyalty to Microsoft ended when MS went to Office 360, for "home" customers. WP office offers Word Processing, Spread Sheet, Presentation, and Data base, for a little over $100.00. The software doesn't "renew" year to year, so for my purpose is CHEAPER than what MS offers me and is equally reliable and interchangeable. Doesn't have the potential of security issues that free open source office programs may have.

ALNS passing CP Burn (PA) in November 1994. Unknown photographer.

 

[ctclibby]

Good morning and Happy Sunday. 39° and cloudy. This pretty much assures us that when the precipitation starts, it won't be frozen.

It's a lazy Sunday morning, I gave up on the Caps last night, and went to bed, before the blew the lead...post script...they lost in a Shootout. Devils, OTOH, never had the lead, but came back and tied twice, before losing to Columbus 4-3. The Devils need a reliable starting Goalie!!!!!

Willie: Is that a campground, or is it the Traveling Smiths moving in for their annual visit? I'm amazed by your patience in remaking the little people, and how well they turn out.

Tom O: Nice photos. Is that leaves over the rails on the siding, or is it a landslide? Very true about e-bay pricing. Then again, most of the surviving LHS have learned how to be competitive. (That's why they have survived)...Speaking of which, last night I was shopping around for a few TCS :Keep alive" decoders, and the S6 model to replace the NCE Atlas Alco S2 decoder. My first search was MB Klein, which used to be the go to place, they had one, (2 in stock), but not the other...surprisingly, Trainworld had everything, so I ordered there. One of these nice winter days, I should take a ride to Point Pleasant, and check out the LHS on Arnold Ave.

George: That program was in Win 10 home, but you have to go into settings to find it...I use Quatro Pro and Word Perfect, instead of Office, as I hate annual subscriptions for software. I had to re-adjust the settings for the Corel software. .csv downloads from bank and broker, and Part D Administrator, automatically open Quatro pro. Sure does help with the deductions.


Louis: Very interesting thought...Very possible that PC's would at Mac Book pricing, also very possible that IBM would still be in business, and most Pcs would be running a variant of OS2 instead of Windows. IBM creative people, and their effortstook a back seat to Wall Street Analyists, who disapproved of OS2, Prodigy, (Joint with Sears...interaction and e-commerce long before e-bay and Amazon), and money "wasted" on product development, instead of share buy backs...

My loyalty to Microsoft ended when MS went to Office 360, for "home" customers. WP office offers Word Processing, Spread Sheet, Presentation, and Data base, for a little over $100.00. The software doesn't "renew" year to year, so for my purpose is CHEAPER than what MS offers me and is equally reliable and interchangeable. Doesn't have the potential of security issues that free open source office programs may have.

View attachment 138455
ALNS passing CP Burn (PA) in November 1994. Unknown photographer.

Try OpenOffice - it is free and almost identical the the Micro$oft product.

 

[OBTC 1909]

Try OpenOffice - it is free and almost identical the the Micro$oft product.

I use the fork of OpenOffice called LibreOffice. I've been super happy with it. I do 99% of my computer time on a laptop running Linux Mint and have far less aggravation than I ever had with Windows.

 

[chessie_system3]

Rainy day today. Talk about a flip in the weather. Seeing as how the weather wants to be nasty. I figure I'll work on some side projects today. Built up three athearn 34' hoppers. They have been sitting in the box for quite some time. I've started buying up smaller hoppers for their size. Seeing as how I primarily run only small layouts. Their size make them work really well for me. I can 6 or 7 small hoppers where I can only run 5 40' 70T or 100T hoppers. I guess it gives off the illusion of a bigger train when there's more hoppers. That's just my take anyways. So that's all I have for now. I'll stop by if I have anything to add.

 

[NYC_George]

George: That program was in Win 10 home, but you have to go into settings to find it...I use Quatro Pro and Word Perfect, instead of Office, as I hate annual subscriptions for software. I had to re-adjust the settings for the Corel software. .csv downloads from bank and broker, and Part D Administrator, automatically open Quatro pro. Sure does help with the deductions.

Boris I upgraded to Windows 10 Pro because I wanted some way to watch my basement while I was on a golf vacation in Myrtle Beach. I thought Window Pro was the only way to do this. Then I found that with Chrome you could set up a computer camera connected to your phone without any charges or fees. I went that way. You had to leave your monitor on but that was no big deal. Is there any other way to do this without any fees etc?
The Chrome thing worked but your computer and monitor had to be left on.
George

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Rainy day today. Talk about a flip in the weather. Seeing as how the weather wants to be nasty. I figure I'll work on some side projects today. Built up three athearn 34' hoppers. They have been sitting in the box for quite some time. I've started buying up smaller hoppers for their size. Seeing as how I primarily run only small layouts. Their size make them work really well for me. I can 6 or 7 small hoppers where I can only run 5 40' 70T or 100T hoppers. I guess it gives off the illusion of a bigger train when there's more hoppers. That's just my take anyways. So that's all I have for now. I'll stop by if I have anything to add.
View attachment 138456

JUSTIN -- I only have "shorty" cars - Hoppers, cement hoppers, gons, and tank cars all from the 40's and fifty's.
Just can't get with the program of the unit trains of today!

I read a couple pages of posts and them say that I am 5 pages behind? How can that happen in a 24 hour period? Something to do during football commercials I guess. Yeah, I am back to watching "SOME" football, but not glued to the set all day long like before the kneeling BS!
I really need to watch a few hockey games and learn the rules. As Schultz said, "I know nothing!" I have friends that attend games out here - I should try and go with them?
Supposed to be 71F here with a clear sunny sky. I need to get out to the RV and dig it out and drive it some - been sitting to long.
I managed to unload and move around back the firewood. Now I need to get it stacked and pitch a tarp over it so some of it will stay dry in case we get more rain? I do not like to drag wet wood into the house if needed.
I slept pretty well last night, but am back to waking up early again.

The local SonIL who is a druggist has a full blown case of Covid - not in. the hospital as we speak, but isolated in his bedroom and feels terrible. I pray that he gets over it pretty quick. He had both shots, but not the "booster".
The G-son's girl friend has it and we figure that he brought it home from her? Now the spousal unit and daughter is off to be tested again Monday - she is terrified of her Mom getting it as she is very frail.
I have surrendered to the fact that mostly everyone will get it, and if not, then you are just lucky.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

But for it to show up 7 years after install boggles my mind.

Tom: The tie plate may have had some dirt on it that caused the failure even after taking seven years to show up.

Greg

 

[Jaz avalley]

I think the idea is to appeal to a "wider audience" and get away from stereotypical roles (yes, I used spellchecker), But I agree with you, people forget that humour, especially, is subjective to the context of the time it was performed, Jim Davidson (google it people) and his character "Chalky" and Alf Garnett (I forget the name of the sitcom) spring to mind, very un-pc by todays standards, but at the time...........

Dads army, are you being served, it ain’t ‘Alf hot, any Jim Davidson pantomime, chalky the comedian who by the way was black,Alf garnett was the sitcom name I think, and the follow up,I have no issues as a white person being ridiculed and wonder why people who so no issue now get on their high horse, I was teased as Four eyes incessantly i did get contact lens but went back to glasses as I was suspable to dry eye issues, I never got my knickers in a twist, several of my family gingers never bothered them, my welsh relatives and our English ones tease each other,sheep in wellies a favourite,then my other half teases us English ones because we are related to the welsh ones, my Irish ancestors have led to teasing,when it happens I give as good as I get,over the years I have been friends with Hindus - teasing them over eating beef / scared cow all acceptable but don’t tell their mum, friends with Muslims jokes about finding virgins, West Indian - one had red hair, another got bad sun burn you can see where thus led, I have been teased over my horse riding, badminton my dancing skills,my dress sense, my choice of cars especially the old spitfire, what shoes I wear white court shoes, all taken as what it was a joke and I give. It back,never ever fell out with anyone over things that are now deemed highly offensive,,,,,,omg get a life,harden up,if a friend teases tease em back,stop being so pissy. Why oh why can’t a joke be a joke and not not an opening for an argument over some social slur. hell I am on a spam forum site and no one yet has called me a limey or a n other,but I’ve been teased for being female,and that is just what it is teasing,and if ever I resemble the remarks, who the fxxxx is bothered not me. If you give it,expect to take it. if someone finds offence my first line is to apologise,no offence intended, but if they pile it with every other slight not laid in by me,not my problem. End of …well not a rant….cos I’m guessing most of you have similar thoughts……oi popped a kick me sign on my back……..

edited…that said…if I have ever offended anyone by accident I apologise, and if I have feel free to mention it, because I will try to avoid a repitition.….and to those whom my grammar annoys the hell out of you….suck it up

 

[Jaz avalley]

I agree with this Jaz, just doing for the sake of doing often doesn’t work. In my opinion, their is too many replays and not enough originality at times. Having the new James Bond having to be a woman for example, is it really necessary if this happens ? I will boycott intentionally.

Heck they ruined Dr Who for me, yes occasionally I did not like the odd Dr Who male, but I knew a new one would arrive eventually, and There was a clever link to a female Dr whilst still being a male Dr, and if it had been female but F E M A L E ‘I would probably have been ok, and yes James Bond is white male preferably British he is a British agent, we don’t need a geek, a gay, a female a black would stand out like a sore thumb in real life so come on admit it in film as well, lets stay true to the ideal, Dr Who has often had serious.y great side kicks who are female, had there been a credible male companion it might have worked but the pc correct team just can’t not squeeze everything into it ruining it.
As a child I wanted to be Captain Kirk, Superwoman - because she existed, Catwoman cause originally she was cool, but if the role model was male I did not need to feminine it, maybe had I a child who played a female super her ok I might have thought wtf but I would have coped with it, I have had gay and lesbian school friends, and adult friends, never intimidated me and I never ridiculed their choices. they have been there that long, they just did not need to be in your face. My other half when I met him said he wished more men were gay, less competition for the women. We have both been friendly with a 3 some male, the fact they were a threesome was much more unusual than they were gay.

 

[Texas Hobo]

been teased over my horse riding, badminton my dancing skills,my dress

I have been teased for how I wear a dress as well. LOL. But badminton, you must play like a girl!

I suppose we could have a Jane Bond, James' daughter. She would have learned or inherited all her father's skills, maybe even with the ladies as we must appease everyone.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning and Happy Sunday. 39° and cloudy. This pretty much assures us that when the precipitation starts, it won't be frozen.

It's a lazy Sunday morning, I gave up on the Caps last night, and went to bed, before the blew the lead...post script...they lost in a Shootout. Devils, OTOH, never had the lead, but came back and tied twice, before losing to Columbus 4-3. The Devils need a reliable starting Goalie!!!!!

Willie: Is that a campground, or is it the Traveling Smiths moving in for their annual visit? I'm amazed by your patience in remaking the little people, and how well they turn out.

Tom O: Nice photos. Is that leaves over the rails on the siding, or is it a landslide? Very true about e-bay pricing. Then again, most of the surviving LHS have learned how to be competitive. (That's why they have survived)...Speaking of which, last night I was shopping around for a few TCS :Keep alive" decoders, and the S6 model to replace the NCE Atlas Alco S2 decoder. My first search was MB Klein, which used to be the go to place, they had one, (2 in stock), but not the other...surprisingly, Trainworld had everything, so I ordered there. One of these nice winter days, I should take a ride to Point Pleasant, and check out the LHS on Arnold Ave.

George: That program was in Win 10 home, but you have to go into settings to find it...I use Quatro Pro and Word Perfect, instead of Office, as I hate annual subscriptions for software. I had to re-adjust the settings for the Corel software. .csv downloads from bank and broker, and Part D Administrator, automatically open Quatro pro. Sure does help with the deductions.


Louis: Very interesting thought...Very possible that PC's would at Mac Book pricing, also very possible that IBM would still be in business, and most Pcs would be running a variant of OS2 instead of Windows. IBM creative people, and their effortstook a back seat to Wall Street Analyists, who disapproved of OS2, Prodigy, (Joint with Sears...interaction and e-commerce long before e-bay and Amazon), and money "wasted" on product development, instead of share buy backs...

My loyalty to Microsoft ended when MS went to Office 360, for "home" customers. WP office offers Word Processing, Spread Sheet, Presentation, and Data base, for a little over $100.00. The software doesn't "renew" year to year, so for my purpose is CHEAPER than what MS offers me and is equally reliable and interchangeable. Doesn't have the potential of security issues that free open source office programs may have.

View attachment 138455
ALNS passing CP Burn (PA) in November 1994. Unknown photographer.

Hi

the over flow of materials in the wood chip track area is wood chips flowing off the pile. I had a VP of Operations of the Mosinee Paper Mill respond to an inquiry about the wood chip pile and claimed I needed more chips across the rails. So I did

if asking about the slash near the tracks at the pulp pile it is the tree bark from the pulp logs. Again upon inquiring I was told the original photos of the pulp yard tracks was to clean.

Hope this helps explain things better.

Back to track repair

TomO

 

[Smudge617]

I give up, I'm old, that I knew, now it seems I'm sodding blind as well, I have over the last week been trying to work out why on my layout, the HO loco's derail in my tunnel, on the inner track that leads into the station, but none of the OO's ????
Well today I finally found the reason.

It appears, this small set of steps, probably from one of the 60' passenger cars, came adrift, landing between the tracks, the OO passes over, no problem, HO not so much, and repeatedly derails, you have no idea how much I have looked to find the fault, even to moving the track curve slightly, Oh Balls!! f^%$ it.

 

[TLOC]

Tom: The tie plate may have had some dirt on it that caused the failure even after taking seven years to show up.

Greg

I pulled 5’ of rail from the offending curve. I had thought initially to re-glue it. Then decided to try to spike it but the spikes will not hold in the cord road bed and the cork is on top of foam. Then, decided I have a few sections of code 70 flex from ME I could use. But to do that all Central Valley ties strips would have to be removed in the curve. Having tried that before I would destroy the cork roadbed. I have no roadbed and upon calling the LHS on Saturday he has none as his back order is past due arriving.

What is the cause? I normally do not clean my rails very often as I use graphite and have had great success since the last time I used mineral spirits to wipe down the rails. Based on notes that was prior to Christmas 2019. I have been cleaning track with the mineral spirits this week. There probably was too much fluid on the cloth I use to finger tip wipe. I know because this is between the pipe racks above the tracks and below the modeled steam lines this is shift position spot for cleaning.

I am going with the mineral spirits being the issue and too much fluid on the cloth. I investigated late last night I have 2 other curves that have about a 6” rail pop off.Those will hopefully get re-glued after the Packers play today.

TomO

 

[santafewillie]

Try OpenOffice - it is free and almost identical the the Micro$oft product.

That's what I use. Hassle-free to me since I spent over 25 years with Office at work and home.

 

[BigGRacing]

I really need to watch a few hockey games and learn the rules. As Schultz said, "I know nothing!" I have friends that attend games out here - I should try and go with them?

Yes you should get out to a couple, it’s a great spectator game, another option would be a lacrosse game !

on a train note, I am using lepage 300 for foam to glue the foam board down, I hope it works. Half done and need more caulking.

 

[OBTC 1909]

Yes you should get out to a couple, it’s a great spectator game, another option would be a lacrosse game !

I've tried watching hockey on tv and just never could quite get into it. So hard to follow along because the game is so fast paced. Doesn't help that I don't know the rules. I think I'd like it if I knew what the heck was going on.