Running Bear's March 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good evening everybody.

George ... CP 2317 looks great .

Willie ... you are doing a great job assembling that building kit.

Karl.... The MM F7’s look great.

Toot... I like SD45’s . Thanks for posting picture with MRL 346.

Beady ... my prayers are sincere and tha for accepting them. I can not verify what happened to me to others, but I know myself they were real. Remember faith is a spiritual understanding without proof. People can pay attention to their feelings if they choose to do so. That said, please continue with whatever beliefs are comfortable with you.

Everybody ... Have a good night.
 
... Even though I am termed essential my underlying health issues (hypertension, diabetes and stroke) and the wifes (asthmatic) and #4 son (asthmatic and just getting over a bout of C-Diff) I have elected to take myself out of the rat race until further notice.
Well DANG Karl, it's about time! I bet they didn't even give you guys any face masks or other PPE. Hoping you got out of there "clean"...
 
Hi guys, I'm truly humbled by all the "likes" and supportive comments you all posted on my "archive" photo of the rust-bucket CSXT hopper! SInce it's close to my bedtime I don't have time to acknowledge each of you by name (I do still have to get up early and remote-in), but I know who you are and it's much appreciated.

Wife's COVID19 test result still hasn't come back, but based on her activity level today, I highly doubt it will be positive. At least for the time being, she's not going in. She brought back her "work" laptop with special software for doing tele-medicine (similar to Zoom, but with added security layers for HIPPA privacy and billing, etc.). Luckily our son who's at home since his P.A. school went to all-online classes, was available to help get her up-and-running on it. Only problem now is, many of her patients are elderly and don't have smartphones.

As Karl mentioned, Maryland is now restricted to shelter-in-place; panic buying has resumed and there's nothing on the shelves that has anything even remotely to do with cleaning/disinfecting. I was able to find all the food items I wanted, at least. I stocked up since there's still a slight possibility that the wife's test might come back positive, which would mean we will all have to self-isolate for 14 days.


Y'all stay safe and stay sane!;)
 
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Toot- I believe when you have mixed power or what they call foreign power, one railroad owes another time so they make it up with using power.
Yes, paying back horsepower hours. Several of MRL's SD40-2XR's seem to do that for BNSF quite regularly, with #250 I featured a few days ago, only just returning from that duty. Presumably they're paying back for hours that BNSF has lent locos to MRL, although I've never found out for what. Maybe it's in lieu of lease payments. (MRL leases the old NP mainline from BNSF since 1987 until 2047. BNSF maintains overhead rights).
 
Good morning gang
It's 50 degrees with increasing amounts of daylight towards morning (with aplogies to Al Sleet)
Our Governor issued a similar order here Terry, I took my "essential" butt out of the game. Some things just aren't worth the risk.
That being said, I do have a ton of stuff to keep me busy, without SWMBO's input!
First, coffee coffee coffee!!!☕☕☕😀
BBL
 
Morning all,

Back at work and hopefully a quieter day. I knew there was a software upgrade that happened after hours on one of our systems Fridady night. Well, the person responsible and getting all the status and how to reconnect to the program decided to work from home and then sleep late becuse she could. Guess who starts getting called with the problems because she couldn't be bothered to pass the information we'd need. After finally receiving copies of the emails from the vendor and getting the bulk of the issues resolved, she finally makes contact with the vendor stating we're having issues with getting on the program and needs an immediate update, 6 hours after the issues are finally resolved. How about checking with the IT folks you dumped this on before screaming at the vendor because you're reading emails that are at least 8 hours old?

She's also the one you don't want to be in meetings with because at the end when they ask if there are any questions, she needs it to be explained a second time.....Seems every place I've worked you have at least one in the room. You're screaming in your head for them to shut up! Sorry for the rant.

One the train side, I have pictures of my control shelf. It needs work yet, but at least I'm getting there.

Picts:

Kind of the layout I'm thinking of. Turnout controls above the selectors I've laid out.

20200330_181102.jpg


Next 2 are in the approximate position of the controls.
20200330_181249.jpg
20200330_181252.jpg


I have to open the middle section up a little so as I run wires I can get my big hands inside, get it painted and mounted, and I should be good to go. I'm heading to Lowe's over lunch to get the wood screws and shelf brackets. I also need holes in the flat control section for the DC controller wires. All out of scrap 1/2" plywood.

On a side question, on the right side of the last picture you can see the gap where the sections come together. How would you fill those? The occurred due the bench work being dismantled and stored for a while before being reassembled in a slightly different pattern 4 years ago. I'm thinking sheet rock tape with a little bit of joint compound as other tape may become loose over the years.
 
Good Morning Fellow Isolationists. It's 52° and mostly cloudy in this part of the world. Still dark but a glimmer of light in the east. It appears that the rain has moved on, after leaving just .5" in the gauge yesterday.

Give me the full Blue Plate Breakfast this morning Francine. Double up the OJ for that extra hit of vitamin C.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's adventure photos; Sherrel, Guy, Justin, Johnny, Patrick, Karl, Phil, Curt, Jerome, Tom, Garry, Ken.

Busy day in the train shed yesterday. I finished up the "rafter tails" on the other side of the building. I painted and mounted all of the tarpaper roofing to the roof panels and then mounted them.

[Space intentionally left blank because I forgot to take pictures]

In the meantime, I figured out the switching scheme for the swap out of grain hoppers at the grain elevator. It was actually a lot easier than I had thought it would be.
03-31-20 001.JPG

By using the whole incoming train to pull the full cars out, I automatically had the caboose in the right place for the return trip!!! Then it was just a matter of leaving it on the siding while the engines and empty cars exited on to the main and backed back to the other end of the siding; Then pulling forward on to the siding and backing into the spur.
03-31-20 002.JPG

Then it was back out on to the siding to reconnect with the loads/caboose and head back to the yard. Of course, the engineer had to switch cabs for the return trip.
03-31-20 003.JPG

A real conductor could probably have figured this one out in a nano-second.

Guy - I know that I have been kidding you about the snow and cold, your turn will come in four months when I have to endure triple digit (Fahrenheit) temperatures for two months.
Karl - Good decision.

Everybody have a great day.
 
Good morning everyone. Working from home today, as I will be ffor the next month or so. 51 and cloudy - overnight we got the rain that came from Willie's direction. Say, Flo, I'll have French toast, bacon, oj, and coffee, please.

Not much to report from the train room. Ran 'em for a short while last night. Took some updated photos that I'll be sharing this week..
Here are a couple photos of the logging camp. Need more trees on the hills in the background and still need a loading crane.
LoggingCamp1.jpg


LoggingCamp2.jpg


Well, to work. Have a good day everyone.
 
Morning, Everyone!
Just a quick pair of coffee today. After last nights storm, I have two much snow to clear, so I need to get busy. I'm singing the song today;

"Hi Ho, Hi Ho, I'm off to shovel snow! In the cold and wind, with the toque and mitts! Hi Ho, Hi Ho!!

No fears about self-isolation; nobody wants to talk to me when I'm shoveling snow, just in case I have another shovel on hand.
Darn! And it's -14C out there today, headed down to the -20's.

I'll stop the ranting, and leave you with this tank car photo I took a couple of weeks ago, during a happier day:
Tank Cars 02-13-2020 (3).JPG

See you all later.
Guy
 
This takes the cake:
 
Willie - meant to say earlier, those are some nice photos of your switching work on the layout. And, thanks for sending the rain this way 😜
Patrick - nice progress on your layout. I've got a Tech 7 too.
Guy - I'd invite you to move south, but you might want to wait until the virus is defeated. Then again, the cold and snow of Alberta might be a factor in keeping the virus at bay?
 
Willie- In the lower left corner of your picture are several camping trailers. What are your plans for those trailers?
Are you thinking of a camp ground or maybe a trailer sales lot? I have about 12 similar trailers and cannot decide how to use them.

I have been playing with the ink jet printed signs on tissue paper decal/signs.
The biggest problem is the fresh ink runs when wet by the water/glue mixture used to secure the decal.
I spray the tissue now with a clear sealer and let it dry for 30 minutes before cutting out the decal. I wet the location with water and place the decal with tweezers. Brush the 50/50 glue mixture around the edges, gently. Let dry.
I used Microsoft Word to make signs with a solid font, darker colors work better on a white background. Two color fancy fonts tend to bleed and blur, even if sprayed. Wet tissue decals are delicate so be careful. Below is an example.

shoe 2.JPG
 
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Willie- In the lower left corner of your picture are several camping trailers. What are your plans for those trailers?
Are you thinking of a camp ground or maybe a trailer sales lot? I have about 12 similar trailers and cannot decide how to use them.
Those trailers came as a bonus surprise when I purchased Larry the old fart's vehicle collection when he left the hobby a few years ago. I believe that I also have a dozen. I was actually thinking along the same lines, using a couple in a campground scene and most in a trailer sales lot. I still have a couple of his cars that have trailer hitches that would work in the campground. That is the presumptive location for the sales lot, where there will be an off-layout road in front of it.
 
Morning all,

Back at work and hopefully a quieter day. I knew there was a software upgrade that happened after hours on one of our systems Fridady night. Well, the person responsible and getting all the status and how to reconnect to the program decided to work from home and then sleep late becuse she could. Guess who starts getting called with the problems because she couldn't be bothered to pass the information we'd need. After finally receiving copies of the emails from the vendor and getting the bulk of the issues resolved, she finally makes contact with the vendor stating we're having issues with getting on the program and needs an immediate update, 6 hours after the issues are finally resolved. How about checking with the IT folks you dumped this on before screaming at the vendor because you're reading emails that are at least 8 hours old?

She's also the one you don't want to be in meetings with because at the end when they ask if there are any questions, she needs it to be explained a second time.....Seems every place I've worked you have at least one in the room. You're screaming in your head for them to shut up! Sorry for the rant.

One the train side, I have pictures of my control shelf. It needs work yet, but at least I'm getting there.

Picts:

Kind of the layout I'm thinking of. Turnout controls above the selectors I've laid out.

View attachment 45788

Next 2 are in the approximate position of the controls.
View attachment 45789View attachment 45790

I have to open the middle section up a little so as I run wires I can get my big hands inside, get it painted and mounted, and I should be good to go. I'm heading to Lowe's over lunch to get the wood screws and shelf brackets. I also need holes in the flat control section for the DC controller wires. All out of scrap 1/2" plywood.

On a side question, on the right side of the last picture you can see the gap where the sections come together. How would you fill those? The occurred due the bench work being dismantled and stored for a while before being reassembled in a slightly different pattern 4 years ago. I'm thinking sheet rock tape with a little bit of joint compound as other tape may become loose over the years.

Are you talking about where the 2 sheets of foam comes together??

Good question. I don't know about drywall tape. Maybe silicone caulk or even a spray foam that could be use sparingly as it does exand and then you can shave/cut it down? Just a thought..... or even just plain plaster paris or drywall mud?
 
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