Running Bear's July 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good morning. It's hazy and 72.
About the lawyer thing-- if I get a lawyer, he won't be able to do anything until the state comes back to work after the pandemic, and they should have all this resolved then, anyway. It's the aggravation factor of having to deal with a broken AND crippled bureaucracy in the meantime that's beyond annoying, knowing I have to keep dealing with this until the right human comes back to work and stops it.
 
montanan said:
Good morning. Have a bit of catching up to do. I've kept my self busy working out in the shop. Had to put a few engines back together now that I have the valves and valve seats in hardened steel do deal with the unleaded gas and only have a few left to change the fuel lines to stainless steel as some of the ones I'll be keeping still have rubber hoses as part of the fuel system.

We have been warm up into the mid to upper 80's but nothing like some of you guys have had to put up with. I did finally have to start watering the
lawn though. Just finished setting the rain birds a bit ago.

Terry - They sure are putting you through a lot of BS over those license plates. Thankfully we don't have anything like that. The cars we own are all over 10 years old so we can but a permanent sticker to put on the plate and do NOT have to renew the plates every year. My classic cars and in face my pickup all qualify for "Antique Aoto" tags which also do not have to be renewed each year.

Mike - sorry to hear about your buddy and his wife contracting Covid-19. The recovery rate is 99.96 percent. Hopefully they recover shortly.

Willie - Excellent photos again. Like the liquor store. Those wide shots are good but I do understand that they are hard to take. I have the same trouble at home and at the club. I won't get tested for the virus as it is just another way for the government to get your DNA, not that I've done anything.

Joe - Can't believe the sign you mentioned about quarantine if you've entered from another state. How manypeople commute from NNJ to work ing NY or live in NJ and work in Philly. Someone has their head planted deeply where the sun don't shine. I see a lot of tourists coming through our area and it could be responsible for the spike in cases. I don't think the BHR has much of a future. It's toast in more than one way. They were talking about temperatures being over 2000 degrees and with the fire lasting as long as it did, Anyone that has ever been inside a naval ship has seen all of the cables running through the passageways and they would have been melted and with those temperatures I am sure that there will be some warping of the steel. The ship was commissioned in 1998 so she's no spring chicken. 30 years is the average service life of naval ships with a few exceptions.

Louis - As usual, like your photos. Like that Pennsy Alco unit.

As I mentioned the other day, out dipshit governor put a mask mandate for the state with the increasing Covid-19 cases. Our county sheriff as well as a lot of other county sheriffs have stated that they won't do anything about it. It's not a law, but a mandate and that they done have the time or man power to enforce a non-law. Unfortunately they only report the positive cases and deaths. No mention of how many recovered. If a person has died in a car accident and test positive for the virus that cause of death is listed as the virus. That's what happens when the government pays for the virus cases.
View attachment 115306

Jim - Sweet looking Dodge.

Tom - Like the photos as usual. Like the light weathering on the locomotive.

Garry - Like those F units.

I will be heading over to the club in Livingston tonight. Hope to get some decent photos.

Here's my photo for the day.

View attachment 115307

Later
Click to expand...
Chet, although they may already know, like Elvis, all the remaining SD35's 701, 702 and 705 (only one with the new logo) have departed the building, sold and on their way. Going to the Great Lakes RR I believe. email has disappeared for some reason.
 
Well, I went down to the club this Sunday afternoon (used to be a scheduled DCC day, although not greatly patronized, seems no more) I have a key so was able to do a bit of running but had problems with my Kato SD80MAC with Kobo (Kobe ?) Shops assembly and Loksound Select decoder. Placed it on one of the fiddle yard tracks whereupon it started up and idled away. Isolated the track while I built it's train, then restarted and ran it off the siding and onto the yard connector to the main, approached a turnout off to the other side, where it stopped and shutdown, before the wheels touched the insulators. (turnout installed so the diverging track was served by that). Pushed the train back again a bit to clear that turnout completely and the sound started back up again and reversed it back to it's starting point under cab control. Checked the track etc, etc, power switches and point action/contacts (power routing), still making sound, H/light, ditch lights. Ran it forward again whereupon it stopped again in the same spot, all off, all out. Hasn't gone since.

Removed it off the track and replaced it with an Intermountain ES44AC, also with Locksound Select. No problems whatsoever. Tried all the things I could try down there and when I got home, again on my test track. Did the Cv19=0, the CV8=8, the NCE recovery 3 times, sniffed it for the smell of smoke or burning. No shortcircuit is indicating (NCE cycle off and on if there is). Got me baffled unless it's an internal decoder failure. How nice if it is.

What are the chances of having 2 wiring/pickup breaks, each from opposite sides and one, or more, on each truck? All of a sudden?
 
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Good Morning All. A bit cooler again this morning at 75° with clear but not yet sunny skies. Yesterday was pleasant at only 93° for the high. Since I am an outdoor chore freak, and I have temporarily run out of yard to mow, I spent time clearing some brush along side of the road on the east side of the front yard. Since I was working between two tree rows, it was pleasantly shady with a bit of a breeze. I do need to mow at least part of the "back forty" today though, just to stay ahead of things.

Sausage, gravy and grits over here this morning Flo.

Thanks as usual for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's layout photos: Guy, Tom O, Sherrel, Jerome, Chet, Patrick, Phil, Louis, Garry, Tom.

Nearing the end of the quarterly cleaning project out in the train shed. Starting to dust/vacuum some of those vehicles as well as the remaining structures. Didn't do much structure rehab on this go-around, but I did make some notes.
Continuing to move south from the hot rod garage, we come to Ace Auto Parts, a hydrocal kit from Downtown Deco; and to Pizzaland, a laser-cut wood structure from Blair Line.
07-18-20 017.JPG

Then we have some larger industries on the corner.
Champion Packing is a Walther's kit along with their Stockyards kit.
07-10-20 018.JPG

Behind it in this first picture is an unidentified backdrop structure made from Walther's modular walls
Behind it in this second picture is a Sears Distribution Center made to fit the corner (no backdrop yet), made from DPM modular walls.
07-10-20 019.JPG

Another shot of the loading area at Champion.
07-18-20 016.JPG

The backstory here is that one of these spurs used to lead to the pens, for railcar "meat on the hoof" delivery. It has been removed and everything now arrives by truck. They still load frozen meat into insulated boxcars and reefers for wholesale customer delivery.
Over on the Charlottesville project, I am continuing on the hairpin fence now that the track and ballast for the display track is done.

Chet -
montanan said:
If a person has died in a car accident and test positive for the virus that cause of death is listed as the virus.
Click to expand...
Check this one out.
Covid death in Florida
Patrick -
Patrick said:
They kept pushing a dryer with WiFi capabilities. Why do you need to control a dryer in the basement with an app? It doesn't unload itself and fold, nor does it take the laundry from the washer and loads itself. What's the point. Need an app to tell you it's done so you don't walk downstairs to check, but spent more time at the gym on a treadmill?
Click to expand...
Big Brother!

So we have two celebrations today for treating your taste buds. First is National Daiquiri Day, and it's also National Ice Cream Day. Enjoy one or both with proper social distancing.
Everybody have a great day. Stay cool and safe.
 
Good morning from the windy deck in Wisconsin. 30 minutes ago it was dead calm and not nice but per IPad weather gusts are now 14mph and humidity is only 86%.

Willie, I agree that schools should have things figured out but at least in my local state of Dane County they have been waiting on advice from DC and our Capital in Madison. Too many hands in the pie. My thoughts, 3 days of school as normal in a classroom and 2 days virtual. The parents want either all in school or all virtual. The school boards can’t win. College, on campus learning and the professors have to teach the class not the TA’s. My wife, a former assistant Superintendent in a large Wisconsin school district agrees.

I keep a wishlist on the Walthers page under my account. When those items are on sale I compare the Walthers direct prices with my LHS that gives me 20-27% off Walthers retail price. Walthers sale prices this weekend on many of my items are a better discount then my LHS. This happens 2-3 times a year, but even though it’s on my wishlist, I really don’t need anything. This dilemma would be solved if I just press the buy button. I don’t know why I am hesitating as my June budget was not spent and transfered into July’s so the money isn’t an issue! Oh what problems! I kept space open for this in the a Paper Mill and finally its available at Walthers, I have been thinking to scratch build it! It fits perfectly with photos of the bleach plants at one of the paper mills I used as reference.Have a great day. TomO
DAD70E30-8DC4-4A6A-9DE6-E3CA2E60A587.jpeg
 
GarryCBQ said:
I have also wondered why I pay full price for teeth cleaning when I no longer have all teeth.
Click to expand...

Garry: They claim the ultrasound cleaning of my dentures is included in the fee...

bnsf971 said:
f I get a lawyer, he won't be able to do anything until the state comes back to work after the pandemic, and they should have all this resolved then, anyway. It's the aggravation factor of having to deal with a broken AND crippled bureaucracy in the meantime that's beyond annoying, knowing I have to keep dealing with this until the right human comes back to work and stops it.
Click to expand...

Meanwhile fees and penalties keep mounting up. Maybe it's because Jersey is such a litigious state, but ....The DMV can wreak havoc on just about anyone the choose to mess with.

santafewillie said:
Educators are supposed to be smart! They've had almost five months to figure out how they can reopen safely. I am tired of reading and hearing about this already.
Click to expand...

Willie: Maybe, it's because they like getting paid to sit home? Too many groups of interested parties here, politicians, unions, parents groups, too many irons in the fire to make rational decisions.

MikeInHubCity said:
Joe- same with PA/DE commuters into South Jersey- between PATCO & the multitude of bridge crossings from Burlington south to Carneys Point.
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Mike: Perhaps they should all comply at once. :rolleyes:

Willie: Nice touch of Jersey there on your layout. :cool: Uncle Tony would be proud!

81° at 0800, going to 95°+. I ignore the heat index hype. it is summer finally!
I finally, (mostly, except for weathering), completed the upgrade of my Reading Power, the GP35 and the SD45. Somewhere, I have a Spectrum GP30 to include in the mix, that is once I find it.
GP 35 after overhaul 07_18_2020.jpg

This one received a front truck transplant, and short shank scale couplers (Kadee 153).

SD45 after decoder installation 07_18_2020.jpg

This one received a new silent decoder and Kadee # 153 couplers.

Close Coupling 07_18_2020.jpg

Testing close coupling. Got it to the 3" spacing I was looking for. They need a little weathering, and they are good to go.
 
Good Morning Everyone.....sunny and again going to be a hot day. Missed the storm early this morning that ran through the Center part of Wisconsin.

Funny about the school system wanting to split the school week with several day home and several days at school. They can't figure out that the time spend at school is the period that the kids could get infected. It should be all or nothing and I vote to kept the kids home and have a mask rule enforced for everyone. The school educators can't seem to be able to figure this out. Start school in January of 2021 and hopefully the Virus will be gone by then.

My NCE decoder arrived yesterday and it doesn't have a eight pin connector. So it looks like I'll be doing some soldering later today and make the connections from the pin connector to the decoder myself. The decoder is the right size to fit into the SW1 cab and not be seen through the windows.

Toot: I had a similar problem with a locomotive and it turned out that the one power lead from each truck were indeed loose and I did a re-solder job. This loco was fairly new and the problem still occurred. I pulled the ruck side frame out and with a pencil iron it was an easy re-solder job.

Hopefully down to the train room soon. I just wasn't in the mood yesterday and settled on watching model railroading videos. I can't figure out out the guys with huge layouts how they find the time to maintain the layouts.

Does anyone use the Walthers track cleaning car with the track cleaning pad mounted under the car? I'm wondering if this pad is too aggressive and may harm the track.

That's about all for today.

See ya....

Greg

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Woods Scene.JPG
A rock area with a small pond near the Rock Junction on the CM&N Railroad.-Greg
 
Here's a question for your help. I need one 1.5 red incandescence lamp for a warning flasher at the top of a water tower. I have green and white lamps, but no red lamps.

Red lamps are available, but in lots of 10 lamps and at $17.00 I don't want to spend the $$$ plus shipping.

Is there an way to color or tint the white lamp red?

Thanks.

Greg

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Greg@mnrr said:
Here's a question for your help. I need one 1.5 red incandescence lamp for a warning flasher at the top of a water tower. I have green and white lamps, but no red lamps.

Red lamps are available, but in lots of 10 lamps and at $17.00 I don't want to spend the $$$ plus shipping.

Is there an way to color or tint the white lamp red?

Thanks.

Greg

##############
Click to expand...
Maybe red nail polish, thinned with acetone?
 
Greg@mnrr said:
Here's a question for your help. I need one 1.5 red incandescence lamp for a warning flasher at the top of a water tower. I have green and white lamps, but no red lamps.

Red lamps are available, but in lots of 10 lamps and at $17.00 I don't want to spend the $$$ plus shipping.

Is there an way to color or tint the white lamp red?

Thanks.

Greg

##############
Click to expand...
Greg, it comes in red, green, blue and yellow. I use it to make clear lenses into red class lights.

20200719_130459.jpg
20190709_133218.jpg
 
Boris said:
Garry: They claim the ultrasound cleaning of my dentures is included in the fee...



Meanwhile fees and penalties keep mounting up. Maybe it's because Jersey is such a litigious state, but ....The DMV can wreak havoc on just about anyone the choose to mess with.



Willie: Maybe, it's because they like getting paid to sit home? Too many groups of interested parties here, politicians, unions, parents groups, too many irons in the fire to make rational decisions.



Mike: Perhaps they should all comply at once. :rolleyes:

Willie: Nice touch of Jersey there on your layout. :cool: Uncle Tony would be proud!

81° at 0800, going to 95°+. I ignore the heat index hype. it is summer finally!
I finally, (mostly, except for weathering), completed the upgrade of my Reading Power, the GP35 and the SD45. Somewhere, I have a Spectrum GP30 to include in the mix, that is once I find it.
View attachment 115328
This one received a front truck transplant, and short shank scale couplers (Kadee 153).

View attachment 115329
This one received a new silent decoder and Kadee # 153 couplers.

View attachment 115330
Testing close coupling. Got it to the 3" spacing I was looking for. They need a little weathering, and they are good to go.
Click to expand...

Boris: I'm not sure I understand what you mean by saying the 3-inch spacing ?
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. A bit cooler again this morning at 75° with clear but not yet sunny skies. Yesterday was pleasant at only 93° for the high. Since I am an outdoor chore freak, and I have temporarily run out of yard to mow, I spent time clearing some brush along side of the road on the east side of the front yard. Since I was working between two tree rows, it was pleasantly shady with a bit of a breeze. I do need to mow at least part of the "back forty" today though, just to stay ahead of things.

Sausage, gravy and grits over here this morning Flo.

Thanks as usual for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's layout photos: Guy, Tom O, Sherrel, Jerome, Chet, Patrick, Phil, Louis, Garry, Tom.

Nearing the end of the quarterly cleaning project out in the train shed. Starting to dust/vacuum some of those vehicles as well as the remaining structures. Didn't do much structure rehab on this go-around, but I did make some notes.
Continuing to move south from the hot rod garage, we come to Ace Auto Parts, a hydrocal kit from Downtown Deco; and to Pizzaland, a laser-cut wood structure from Blair Line.
View attachment 115323
Then we have some larger industries on the corner.
Champion Packing is a Walther's kit along with their Stockyards kit.
View attachment 115324
Behind it in this first picture is an unidentified backdrop structure made from Walther's modular walls
Behind it in this second picture is a Sears Distribution Center made to fit the corner (no backdrop yet), made from DPM modular walls.
View attachment 115325
Another shot of the loading area at Champion.
View attachment 115326
The backstory here is that one of these spurs used to lead to the pens, for railcar "meat on the hoof" delivery. It has been removed and everything now arrives by truck. They still load frozen meat into insulated boxcars and reefers for wholesale customer delivery.
Over on the Charlottesville project, I am continuing on the hairpin fence now that the track and ballast for the display track is done.

Chet -

Check this one out.
Covid death in Florida
Patrick -

Big Brother!

So we have two celebrations today for treating your taste buds. First is National Daiquiri Day, and it's also National Ice Cream Day. Enjoy one or both with proper social distancing.
Everybody have a great day. Stay cool and safe.
Click to expand...

Willie: I think you should have kept the rail line going to the stock pens as it appears that a trucker left his rear doors open and lost four sides of beef !!

Now, what's going to happen is the rotting beef will start attracting flies and your train she'd will become infested with them.
 
Afternoon All,

The grandkids stay late afternoon yesterday turned sour after getting home. They both lied about not doing something to our faces. They know they did it and we proved they did it but still it was "we didn't do it". God I hate being lied to straight to my face. Today I started out with chores and when daughter came by and took the boys home I went upstairs for some MRR therapy.

I started out installing the last 2 UP-5's and 1 UR-92. I hooked up the loconet cables and powered it by the old Zephyr +. No panels were connected to a power supply. I attached a test track via jumpers to the main power buss and went to every panel and moved a loco back and forth on the track which verified the loconet system was working as it should. Next up I hooked up the super Chief (no manual-just online instructions). I got all the lights I should but there was no track power :mad:. After swapping around leads several times I'm scratching my head and getting frustrated and about ready to quit for the day when I had a thought. On the old system I had to push a button to get power to the buss. This wasn't a option on the new one. I thought to myself is it as easy as pushing the power button on the throttle? It was and I had track power. I guess it was me being dumb. After that I quit for the day.

Tom- That's funny and sad at the same time.

Toot- I hope you get your loco fixed rapidly.

Willie- Nice looking buildings. If I remember right from you that was the pizza place in the Sapranos.

TomO- Great looking industrial setting.

Joe- Nice looking locos. What was the idea behind the "bee line service"?

Greg- Nice layout picture.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
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