Running Bear's March 2021 Coffee Shop

[Jaz avalley]

Figure I would stop by and check in. In regards to my P2Ks. It's been pretty devastating to have them not perform as well as they did before. They are the primary reason I chose to model the C&O instead of my usual Chessie. With them not performing at the moment my hand is forced to bring out my Atlas and Athearns. Which also forces going over to modeling Chessie. Which I cant complain too much about it. However it's not the vision I have for my layout. That's what makes it so crappy. I wouldn't care if it wasnt my vision. This just throws a wrench into things. My geeps have been solid performers on my older throttles that went to crap on me. So what can I do now? Find and buy another troller throttle? Another varipulse? I'd much rather not spend money on throttles when there are other things I need for the layout. I mean I can run my P2Ks on the main no issue. I just have no slow speed performance. So working the yard or loadout is out. I have my Atlas GP38 I can run. It's just as good of a performer. It takes to the throttles really well. I guess I just like my old geeps too much.

Would evil bay throw up a second hand contender, if they are the ones you love it would be a shame to have to accept second best,can you find someone who can repair the old controller,as you have the item it just needs a do over,I know these seem trite to you and you already thought of them, but looking into asking on the forum areas,seeing if anyone has one they were not thinking of selling,but have lying around and might help a fellow modeller out,it has to be worth asking the question, perhaps friend here who have connections elsewhere can put out feelers,and can point you in a direction that might help,pop up a picture,add the model number etc,I can look on eBay uk for you if I have more details,although post in these Brexit days could make you tear your hair out,though most are cashing in on incoming items, and usually via the eu,but every little might throw up a lifeline.

on a brighter notr
kbkchooch / Karl I can see why they are your favourites, gorgeous layout, good colours, the buildings are excellent,and I saw the Pullman coaches similar ones ran in the UK

the pictures are old the Brighton Belle model is in a box atm. But you get the idea.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

48° and clear this morning, supposed to get to 75° and sunny later with winds in the 30-40 mph range from the south, turning to north later with wind gusts exceeding 55+. We are in a wind warning for my area and a high fire danger for what appeared to be most of the middle of the country.

Even though it took way longer than it should have, I had our email back online 5 minutes before the deadline on Saturday, so all's good. Surprised that with all the trouble it was to get it to run the updates, once completed, it has worked flawlessly so far, (knock wood).

Got the cabinet doors rehung at the boys house, along with all the window coverings. Starting to look like someone can live in it. Spend 2 hours cleaning up the top of the tile in the bathroom where the tile meets the drywall painted surface. Previous owner didn't tape before he "painted", but it was used as a rental, so we've been straightening up a quickie things that got the house back on the rental market, but not things you'd want left like that in your house. The electrician said the P.O. spent time fixing it before my son bought it. We know about some of it as my daughter lives next door, too bad he didn't do most of it right. A lot of the paint looked to be just touch ups, leaving mis-colored walls, but we'd expected that before we bought it.

Surprised by our gas bill this month, which included the cold wave in late February. Wasn't even as high as January's bill.

 

[GeeTee]

Currently working on backdrop and lighting, May have a pics tomorrow or later today.

Karl : Pics look great.

 

[troyphoto]

greetings all! Nice to see so many pics of layouts... someday... I'll have one of those far enough along to photograph again.

With summer and the covid vaccines dawning, I'll be shifting my efforts back into Gaming (little toy soldiers) for the summer. Layout work will be hit or miss for a few more months, so expect to see more pics like this:

Komrades! New recruits almost ready. Just a little more training... err.. base colors then the strong tone get's applied.

Then a drybrush of the highlight colors for this lot. Above is about 1/3rd of the core squads. Another 40 grunts after these. Then specialty units.

In other news, my 5 year old macbook is squawking and starting to tell me its time for new. And Shampoo.

Seems my wife wanted to head to the expensive beauty store yesterday to get another bottle of shampoo. And I had to park right in front of the generic Mac store (independent - we're too small of a big city for a real mac store)....

It's like the store was a sign from wherever....

And the bank balance is high enough in the author account to handle it. Barely.

 

[bnsf971]

Seems my wife wanted to head to the expensive beauty store yesterday to get another bottle of shampoo. And I had to park right in front of the generic Mac store (independent - we're too small of a big city for a real mac store)....

It's like the store was a sign from wherever....

And the bank balance is high enough in the author account to handle it. Barely.

Troy, I get train money from picking up computers cheaply, fixing them, and reselling them a little less cheaply. If you decide to let yours go after you transfer your stuff off it, please let me know.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's sunny and 41. I am stuck having to take the day off from work to sit around the house and wait for my wife's dialysis supplies to be delivered. If they manage to get the stuff here before visiting hours are over, I'll head to the hospital, and see how much improvement there is to my wife's condition.

 

[NYC_George]

So about 2 years ago the electric company cut down 6 huge pine trees in front of our house. They left the stumps for us to contend with. I called a tree guy in our area last fall and he said, I'll grind them all down for $600.00. I said went can you come. So I filled them all in and planted some seed. We'll see how that works out.
George

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 49° here in North Central Texas. Expecting 75° later today with plenty of sunshine. Another beautiful day yesterday on the SFW estate. Low 70's with a bit of a north breeze. It was Arbor Day for me. As a member of the National Arbor Day Foundation, I received ten flowering trees and two Crepe Myrtles in the mail Saturday. So I spent the afternoon digging holes and planting trees. While I had the foresight to dig some of the holes earlier, I had to re-dig them since it had rained a bit in the interim. Actually only got eight of the twelve planted, two more are ready and my wife needs to decide where the other two (crepe myrtles) will go. I planted white flowering dogwoods (3), red buds (3) and crab apples (2). Still to go are the hawthorns (2).
For supper last night I made some "Keto-friendly" tortillas for our taco dinner. I used my new tortilla press to make them out of almond and coconut flour and a few other carbohydrate-free ingredients. Couldn't tell the difference from regular flour tortillas.

How about a big pile of blueberry pancakes and maple syrup to go with my handful of bacon this morning Flo. I'm hungry after yesterday.

Thanks for the reactions (likes) and comments yesterday regarding my layout project progress or the additional photos of the abandoned derelict barn; Tom, Rick, Karl, Sherrel, Joe, Gary, Garry, Tom O, Hughie, Phil, Ken, Jaz, Justin, Guy.

Meanwhile, out in the train shed, things were moving slowly. I was able to get a start on the ground cover alongside the main line, striped and installed the road and put part of the grade crossing in place.

I had originally hoped to have an alley behind the structures on this side, but it became obvious early on that the railroad right of way would suffer too much; so a compromise was reached.

Today, I should be able to make more progress now that the road is in, like complete the ballast and ground cover on the both sides. I hope to be more productive out there today, but between extra household duties while my wife is working, as well as the regular spring outdoor stuff, my time is somewhat limited.

Guy - In your pictures of the tanker yesterday, I took note of the Railbox car in the background. It must have traveled up there from Texas, as the warning on the door was in Spanish!
Troy - Nice job on the soldiers. I had to look "cat grass seeds" up since I hadn't heard that term used before. I guess that my cats who only live outdoors or in the barn, got theirs naturally.
Jerry - I am not sure that I understand the question regarding the rail!!!
Tom O - Interesting story about your son working at Electric Lady Studios. It must have been in the early 2000's. I had once met the studio's chief engineer, Eddie Kramer back in the late 60's or early 70's at a studio in Dallas when he dropped in for a Sam the Sham session. He didn't work the session though. I think that he still uses the studio (Electric Lady), but is not on their staff any more. When I met him, Electric Lady was still being built. He spoke of his technical designs that were quite advanced for the times.
Ken - I feel your pain from the Palm Sunday Mass. Of course it was a High Mass and Father Matthew decided that yesterday was a good day for an extra long homily and then palm distribution, whew!

Today is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Regardless of your opinions regarding this, we should all be honoring those servicemen and women who so bravely served.
Everybody have a great Monday, back to work for some. Have a safe day.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!!

Twas a windy, blustery night after yesterdays thunderstorms, today is cloudy in the 50s. not so bad.

Thanks for the positive comments on son#1s health and for the P2K pics.

Troy, the soldier in the center of the 1st row, is that a grenade or a beer bottle in his hand??

Terry, continued prayers for Marie.

Jaz, love the lamps in the Pullman car.

Flo, can I get an egg sammich on a Kaiser roll with a few slices of Taylor ham?

More P2k

 

[troyphoto]

Troy, the soldier in the center of the 1st row, is that a grenade or a beer bottle in his hand??

In Soviet Army (and American Army - I wanna say in Korea???) Beer Bottle or grenade... makes no difference. Throw at enemy.

 

[bnsf971]

In Soviet Army (and American Army - I wanna say in Korea???) Beer Bottle or grenade... makes no difference. Throw at enemy.

Wouldn't throwing a beer bottle be considered alcohol abuse?

 

[Patrick]

Wouldn't throwing a beer bottle be considered alcohol abuse?

Depends on the beer...

 

[bnsf971]

Depends on the beer...

I guess if it was Black Label, it could be considered a form of community service.

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!
It's such a windy, crappy day that I decided to just stay in the warmth of my bed for an extended time, and listen to the whistle of the winds through the tress outside. It's only 11°F this fine morning. I don't see the promised snow outside, so the high winds must have blown it all somewhere else. This is only supposed to be a 1-day storm; I hope the guessers are right on that, at least.

Guy - Around here those covered hoppers with 3250 cu ft capacity are most frequently used to haul heavy materials like cement or silica sand.

I think you are right about the silica sand, Willie. This photo shows some of those cars parked by the local National Silica installation. I don't know much about that place, but, I believe the railcars are unloaded here, and not loaded:

I love these pictures. They are being copied into my weathering file album. If you get near a Railbox your great picture taking would be nice and much appreciated.

Ate these the type of cars you are talking about, TomO? It is very difficult to find any boxcar that has not been painted up to look like a circus clown by criminals. I'm always hoping I'll find one, though. Just haven't been that lucky, yet.

Karl- I've enjoyed you're photographs over the last couple of days. Well done!
Willie- The shed scene you posted yesterday was wonderful; very inspirational. Bye the way, don't think I don't notice when you short us on photos, like you did today. I like the pair you brought in, though; very nice.
Troy - The soldiers look very well done. Good job painting them up!

Thanks for all the likes on my photos, folks. Have a great day.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Morning from here ... It reached 89 degrees yesterday, but says 79 for a high today!
The daughter and 2 G sons arrived and we are off to the San Diego Zoo this morning - going to be a long day for me as I am not used to these type of outings anymore.

Great photos and such, GUYS. Love them all.
Keep the faith - hopefully I will return. Looks as if FLO will miss me this morn?
A stop at B-King for breakfast burritos is in order.

 

[Texas Hobo]

Good Morning all! Had an early Dr. appointment so I thought I'd drop in. Looks like a nice day developing. Another curbside is scheduled for later.

However it will be done as I see in the future (???), possible cab-view videos.

I got this on Amazon. $30. A little velcro on a flat car and your ready

 

[TLOC]

Good Morning!
It's such a windy, crappy day that I decided to just stay in the warmth of my bed for an extended time, and listen to the whistle of the winds through the tress outside. It's only 11°F this fine morning. I don't see the promised snow outside, so the high winds must have blown it all somewhere else. This is only supposed to be a 1-day storm; I hope the guessers are right on that, at least.


I think you are right about the silica sand, Willie. This photo shows some of those cars parked by the local National Silica installation. I don't know much about that place, but, I believe the railcars are unloaded here, and not loaded:
View attachment 126420


Ate these the type of cars you are talking about, TomO? It is very difficult to find any boxcar that has not been painted up to look like a circus clown by criminals. I'm always hoping I'll find one, though. Just haven't been that lucky, yet.
View attachment 126421
View attachment 126422
View attachment 126423
View attachment 126424
View attachment 126425
View attachment 126426
View attachment 126427

Karl- I've enjoyed you're photographs over the last couple of days. Well done!
Willie- The shed scene you posted yesterday was wonderful; very inspirational. Bye the way, don't think I don't notice when you short us on photos, like you did today. I like the pair you brought in, though; very nice.
Troy - The soldiers look very well done. Good job painting them up!

Thanks for all the likes on my photos, folks. Have a great day.

Guy

Excellent, exactly want I need. Much appreciated, thank you. I don’t care what you got I will like them. With those TROX I am surprised with all the graffiti it’s not a dirtier car. I will have to be careful on that, I have 3 to do. I model 2015 so graffiti will be appearing on the boxcars but not so much on tankers. I will find a happy medium I like. Truly your pictures are so much more detailed then what I was finding. Mega, mega thanks. I have plenty of rust bucket pics but when I get to see a real train here in So. Central Wisconsin there aren’t too many rust buckets.

TomO

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from mostly sunny So. Central Wisconsin where the wind is howling at 30-35mph with gusts 45-55 per the weather app. The temperature will get into the 60’s.

Not much happening today. The rains of Friday and Saturday have started the outdoor greening process. All of a sudden all the spring flowers seem to just be popping out of their winter sleep. More 60’s and the 70’s this weekend will really wake things up. At best May 1st for outdoor veggies to be planted but more likely the 15th. Up in North Central Wisconsin was usually Memorial Day weekend at the end of May. The girls at the greenhouses have proven they can work without Terry’s in person management. I stopped yesterday to check in and they have roughly 3000 Easter Lily’s, 250 Easter Lenten roses, and 1600 Azela’s ready to be picked up by the florists this week by Thursday. They are excited. Terry has a manager and 2 f/t workers plus 3 UW Madison interns which is how the 3 full time started in 2014. Good bonus time for them next week. The Farmers Markets will be starting in 2 or 3 weeks and the carrots, onions, karaobi and Brussels spouts will be ready. Plus other things, but those are what I grabbed yesterday. The hydrophonic tomatoes have been selling but with eating places still at limits in capacity they are way behind seasonal sales. Once the Farmers Markets open tomatoes become gold. If we get the Madison Farmers Market back with no limits around the Capital they will be as good as Tesla stock. Last year was tough on the ladies but they still did ok and Terry was happy.

Trains, I have the bench cleared of model grain structures. I am going to dirty up all the rolling stock wheels and trucks. I have done maybe 10 in the past so doing 40 cars worth ought to be interesting as a basically new experience. It is the start of weathering all the rolling stock.

The serenity of a scene, so calm, so much of the modeled world!
Soon to be clear cut.

Enjoy your day
TomO

 

[Jaz avalley]

Morning all,

48° and clear this morning, supposed to get to 75° and sunny later with winds in the 30-40 mph range from the south, turning to north later with wind gusts exceeding 55+. We are in a wind warning for my area and a high fire danger for what appeared to be most of the middle of the country.

Even though it took way longer than it should have, I had our email back online 5 minutes before the deadline on Saturday, so all's good. Surprised that with all the trouble it was to get it to run the updates, once completed, it has worked flawlessly so far, (knock wood).

Got the cabinet doors rehung at the boys house, along with all the window coverings. Starting to look like someone can live in it. Spend 2 hours cleaning up the top of the tile in the bathroom where the tile meets the drywall painted surface. Previous owner didn't tape before he "painted", but it was used as a rental, so we've been straightening up a quickie things that got the house back on the rental market, but not things you'd want left like that in your house. The electrician said the P.O. spent time fixing it before my son bought it. We know about some of it as my daughter lives next door, too bad he didn't do most of it right. A lot of the paint looked to be just touch ups, leaving mis-colored walls, but we'd expected that before we bought it.

Surprised by our gas bill this month, which included the cold wave in late February. Wasn't even as high as January's bill.

In my experience your a rare animal, although I married one,someone who does work that takes initiative and drive solving problems getting o n and actually doing and not talking,but also does work at home. So many capable blokes never do an inch in their own homes, although to be fair modellers in general can and do turn their hand...even though it is often to get more modelling space lol.

 

[TLOC]

Good Morning All. Clear and 49° here in North Central Texas. Expecting 75° later today with plenty of sunshine. Another beautiful day yesterday on the SFW estate. Low 70's with a bit of a north breeze. It was Arbor Day for me. As a member of the National Arbor Day Foundation, I received ten flowering trees and two Crepe Myrtles in the mail Saturday. So I spent the afternoon digging holes and planting trees. While I had the foresight to dig some of the holes earlier, I had to re-dig them since it had rained a bit in the interim. Actually only got eight of the twelve planted, two more are ready and my wife needs to decide where the other two (crepe myrtles) will go. I planted white flowering dogwoods (3), red buds (3) and crab apples (2). Still to go are the hawthorns (2).
For supper last night I made some "Keto-friendly" tortillas for our taco dinner. I used my new tortilla press to make them out of almond and coconut flour and a few other carbohydrate-free ingredients. Couldn't tell the difference from regular flour tortillas.

How about a big pile of blueberry pancakes and maple syrup to go with my handful of bacon this morning Flo. I'm hungry after yesterday.

Thanks for the reactions (likes) and comments yesterday regarding my layout project progress or the additional photos of the abandoned derelict barn; Tom, Rick, Karl, Sherrel, Joe, Gary, Garry, Tom O, Hughie, Phil, Ken, Jaz, Justin, Guy.

Meanwhile, out in the train shed, things were moving slowly. I was able to get a start on the ground cover alongside the main line, striped and installed the road and put part of the grade crossing in place.
View attachment 126415
I had originally hoped to have an alley behind the structures on this side, but it became obvious early on that the railroad right of way would suffer too much; so a compromise was reached.
View attachment 126416
Today, I should be able to make more progress now that the road is in, like complete the ballast and ground cover on the both sides. I hope to be more productive out there today, but between extra household duties while my wife is working, as well as the regular spring outdoor stuff, my time is somewhat limited.

Guy - In your pictures of the tanker yesterday, I took note of the Railbox car in the background. It must have traveled up there from Texas, as the warning on the door was in Spanish!
Troy - Nice job on the soldiers. I had to look "cat grass seeds" up since I hadn't heard that term used before. I guess that my cats who only live outdoors or in the barn, got theirs naturally.
Jerry - I am not sure that I understand the question regarding the rail!!!
Tom O - Interesting story about your son working at Electric Lady Studios. It must have been in the early 2000's. I had once met the studio's chief engineer, Eddie Kramer back in the late 60's or early 70's at a studio in Dallas when he dropped in for a Sam the Sham session. He didn't work the session though. I think that he still uses the studio (Electric Lady), but is not on their staff any more. When I met him, Electric Lady was still being built. He spoke of his technical designs that were quite advanced for the times.
Ken - I feel your pain from the Palm Sunday Mass. Of course it was a High Mass and Father Matthew decided that yesterday was a good day for an extra long homily and then palm distribution, whew!

Today is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Regardless of your opinions regarding this, we should all be honoring those servicemen and women who so bravely served.
Everybody have a great Monday, back to work for some. Have a safe day.

Willie great pictures.

The son was at Electric Lady from 1/15/2005 to 11/2005. He turned 20 in May of 2005 and was Electric Lady’s youngest intern ever. They offered him a full time job when he turned 21 but he never took it. He instead purchased a nighttime radio station on land contract in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, ( no help from us) was on the road with a few bands and did studio guitar and piano sessions for bands in Steamboat Springs, Tempe, Mesa, Arizona and Electric Lady in NYC for years until he blew out tendons in his right hand. By trade and education he is a sound engineer but has sold lots of songs, co-wrote with no credits but awesome money for a couple stars. His greatest accomplishment is he and a childhood friend in high school wrote programs for online games they invented. About 2010 he called as he needed an entertainment attorney they could trust. A few of those high school games a couple companies wanted the rights to. The boys made really good dollars after a bidding process when they sold those with no credit which is a big thing in gaming. Lots of non disclosure agreements. They are working now working for a company as independent contractors to fix games others invent but have no clue how to get things right programming wise but the idea is great. He is in Austin and Aaron is in the Houston area. They literally grew up at each other’s houses since they were in pre-kindergarten on Lake DuBay in Central Wisconsin. Now with a MBA he dabbles in whatever he likes and generally does well. Even though we wantEd to eliminate him for a few years ( ages 21 to 25) we have always been very proud of him. The only thing he has needed help with the last couple years are those damn planes. Repairs always seem to be more then quoted. In the last few months he has learned finally he must keep money reserves where he can access them quickly. A couple months ago he asked the bank of mom to help and she said no. He called me and said mom says no. Long story short his bank of mom helped him but she now does his investments.

Tom