Running Bear's March 2021 Coffee Shop

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 47° here in North Central Texas, a fine start to a Friday where the high today is supposed to be 78°. Nothing special planned for today except transplanting some herbs to larger pots for the back porch. I need to be mowing, but the ground is too saturated right now...I don't want to leave big tire depressions all over the place. There is still some standing water in some low areas. I may will be able to use the weed-eater in a few spots though.
Grocery/beer trek went very well yesterday, there wasn't a single item on my list that was out of stock! Gas was actually down 2¢ from last week, but I got 40¢/gal reduction with my Kroger gas points. At 15 gallons, that's $6 that I didn't have to spend! I also saved $32.50 on the groceries between digital coupons, paper coupons and member savings. It's just too bad that alcohol does not count in any savings or gas points!

Let me have a couple of BLT sandwiches this morning Flo. Use the Applewood smoked bacon today.

Thanks for the likes yesterday for the pre-painted figure post; Patrick, Sherrel, Guy, Karl, Tom, Gary, Hughie, Ken, Tom O. And also thanks for the likes regarding my track laying philosophy.

Had a good day out in the train shed yesterday, got some painting done on the figures.

And while waiting for paint to dry, I ran and documented a hot-shot mixed freight making the trip through a few towns on my upper level. It is led by a pair of Athearn Dash9-44CW's, which is how ATSF referred to them. GE referred to them as C44-9W's.
The initial shot is coming around the bend into Charlottesville from the recently ballasted area of Rycon township (not shown).

That's the railroad museum in the old depot on the left.
Then we enter Vernon behind the American Plastics plant.

Headed down the main between the local main drag and a waiting freight on the passing siding.

Then it's around another bend past a grain elevator and the flour mill south of town. Another north bound train headed by a trio of GP60's waits on yet another passing siding.

Then we proceed through my favorite scenic spot on the layout, fertilizer distributor is in the green structure on the left.

To be continued tomorrow as I have reached the limit of pictures in a post.

Mountain Man -

Glad I'm retired. One less thing to worry about.

Yea! But it's a full time job with no vacations or days off.
Mikey - Good to see you posting again, especially under the circumstances. Stay safe during your inclement weather.
Justin - Like Terry, I had to file down a plow on a Bachmann diesel. It had other issues so it is now "retired".

Today is National Spinach Day. A wonderful vegetable that not only tastes good but is healthy. Unfortunately I have to watch my intake, as it's loaded with calcium which in my body leads to kidney stones.
Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend. Watch your weather and stay safe.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Supposed to be windy and cloudy with a high of 70° today. Internet having issues at the house, so my afternoon is shot waiting for AT&T to show up. They admit there's line trouble, but where it is is a different tale. I suspect that they'll say they can't fix the line which is happening a lot in my area as people dump their landlines or use the local cable company or others for internet. I just wish they'd make fiber available to me, but I don't think they even have the fiber to the small town I live in. Not enough business to make it feasible for them.

Gotta work tomorrow to fix the email server. Going to take several hours just on that system alone. The big update I have to do on it takes a couple of hours and then I have to do other general maintenance. The system is now 5 years old and scheduled to be completely redone in the next 18-24 months. That'll be fun....

 

[troyphoto]

Greetings and salutations all.

No donuts today. Coffee only.

Big exciting news: I ordered a Kamado Joe grill for the patio. Since I'm on a mostly keto diet (worked one before in a tiny Los Angeles apartment) the grill is a key componenet of that. Looking forward to smoking some sausages, pork shoulder, and eventually a brisket!!!! Loooooove brisket.

Might attempt a tri-tip first, though, since they seem to be the easy mode for that type of grilling.

The only thing I did on the train layout was vacuum up the detritis from sanding down to level out the cork roadbed I've laid. I use a drywall rasp and sanding sponge, so it gets messy. But not worth a pic.

However, I've finished the first wave of assembly on my WWII 1:56 scale Soviet Army of 60 dudes. Since each arm was a separate piece, that's 120 arms I attached to bodies. Plus weapons and heads.

With an anticipated easing of gathering limits, and our 2nd round of Pfizer vaccine next week, I hope to be back at the game store in May for game days. That means I need to paint up these 60, plus another 20-ish, a tank, an artillery piece (Zis 3 for those keeping score at home).

That means fast painting for table top, not for winning awards (which I've never won).

Step one was to spray with Rustoleum Super Flat Camouflage "Sand" paint. The Soviets wore a khaki colored uniform, so that base coat gives a good background shade for it.

Step two is to apply Army Painter brand "Strong Tone" wash ("Filter" for those in the UK). This settles in the recesses to create a shadow layer.

the figures in the foreground have the wash applied. I'll use them as the test run for the next steps. If it works, then I'll mass assembly line paint the rest of the grunts. That process will be the semi-dry brush the uniform, flesh and equipment with the appropriate colors (I use both Vallejo and Army Painter brands of paint). Then I'll dry brush lighter shades of the same colors for highlights. Then sand and rubble up the bases. I'm thinking this force will be a Stalingrad force, so city rubble.

 

[TexasJim]

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!

The squalid weather continues; who knows if it's going to rain, sleet, or be sunny breaks. Around here, it could be anything at any moment at this time of year. Right now, it's 14°F in the dark under cloud. - I'm going to spend a good part of the day working on the basement layout room, and wait for the sun.

Also, I'm being inspired by Willie's excellent figure work. I like modelling on figures, even if they don't belong on model railroad layouts. I've pulled out a 1/24 scale figure of a sexy female native warrior that was sitting in my pile of things to do. Perhaps I'll take a photo if I do anything with it.
Bye the way, Willie, I very much enjoyed today's layout photos you posted. Thankyou. I looked them over while having my first morning coffee.

Troy - At first, I thought you had typed an error in saying you're figures were 1:56 scale. Then I realized that's likely a scale more common to the gaming community. None-the-less, the figures look very nice. Well done!
Jaz - I like the water scenes. Fine modeling, indeed.

I have been trying to find historical photos of the town I live in, so that I can model some similarity on my layout. Not having a whole lot of luck with that; I suppose people didn't take so many photos back then.
There are a few, though. I post one here, that shows the corner hotel and a bit of downtown buildings looking east. The photographer must have been standing on the CN tracks when the photo was taken in 1956:

Here is my modern day photo, taken this month while standing on the tracks looking west:

The corner hotel in both photos is the same building. At some point in history, a renovation added two floors to the hotel.

Anyway, I'd like to either find a kit or scratch build a hotel building similar to the one shown in the historical photo. My plan is to make my layout to retain the basic 'jist' of the real thing, if I can.

Well, that's enough yapping! See ya'll next time!

 

[chadbag]

We got to Scottsdale (were our accommodations are) at a little after midnight on Wednesday night (I guess technically Thursday). Got checked in and stuff in and to sleep. Boy had to get up at 6:30 to go to his meet 1st day where he had 1 event. He added 4 seconds to his best (wrong way to be going) but he was tired, and the meet is an outdoor pool, so the water was actually cold. A friends his (who is faster) added 5 seconds to the same event -- he said everyone was adding due to the cold water I guess. He swam the 200 breast on Thursday, which was a "bonus" event for him (not what he qualified in).

Today he has no events so we are off to the pool for a warm up swim, then we will come back and I will eat a late breakfast, and we will go visit my brother, who lives about an hour (45-60 min (?)) east of here. I brought some boom-sticks down with me so we can go to his local range and light off a few. Tomorrow is the big day -- his most important event -- 100 breast (and what he qualified in) and 100 Butterfly (another bonus). Tonight he is in bed early!

Cool weather (but still t-shirt weather for those of us from the colder parts) here in Scottsdale/Phoenix area. Supposed to get warmer this weekend. Was 60s -- kissed 70 -- yesterday.

He is ready to go so I will sign off.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

WOW - So much to comment on, and I am behind the 8 ball already!
47 degrees heading only to 64 with mostly cloudy - no moisture from the low clouds yesterday, but I see on the radar that the higher elevations have snow - it won't last as the temps will be in the 80's come mid week.

Guy - I wish that I had taken more photos as a young person of things in my small hometown and other subjects. I didn't have a good camera and not much money for developing - even tried doing my own with limited success - all done with a Kodak box camera which had no lens, just an opening.
If I remember correctly - Whitecourt was not much more than a wide spot in the road when I came "over" in the early 60's. I want to say that the settlement was akin to the 1500 population that I grew up in. I can't remember if the airstrip there was paved or not? Anyway - there was not a lot to photograph if my memory servs correct?
One of these days I'll tell you about my adventures at Muncho Lake. Interesting days. BTW - where from town is the lake/name that you and wifey fish?

Willie - great photos of your empire.
JAZ - those pictures are pheromonal - very talented.

 

[Jaz avalley]

I think I fixed the fox issue and reinforced another couple of areas as they could be potential, fingers crossed.
actually it was American modellers who got me into water, not mine but one of my to die for reference pictures,

I do not have the name of the modeller
but I love these wooden trellis over water features, and I was lucky to come by a few who happily shared how they made theirs making my learning curve a lot easier, I have to say there are some decent uk modellers who share their secrets but US modellers are much better at sharing, plus sone of the best modelling kit is US. These one works from the back scene forward with lovely flow, I also like modelling snow although to date mine is usual seasonal and removable
my work

I should set up a permenant area then I could really go to town
i am planning on chorizo scambled eggs with side salad and probably some cheese and onion crisps I think you call them chips, you call chips fries,anyway that and a nice pear juice...yum yum.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from dreary cool damp So. Central Wisconsin. Some great pictures and story telling this morning.

Jaz, Willie and Guy, exceptional pictures this morning.

Not much happening here, we may hit 50 but nothing seems to be greening up. I did the grocery pickup this morning and don’t feel
like hitting the train room or modeling bench. The modeling mood is waning.

The second shot is scheduled for 4/1/2021 and I just confirmed my appointment this morning. Learned something this morning. There is a $50 service/admin fee to the Covid shots that the insurance companies in the USA must pay in full, no deductibles allowed. So shots are not free and in the end we’ll be taking it up the backside as Insurance Companies don’t do freebies, wait for next year’s premium to go up. If you have no insurance coverage the government is covering the charge. The saying, “there is no free lunch” strikes again.

I called Spectrum yesterday morning about internet. I switched from fiber TDS at 1000mbts at $125 to Spectrum 400mbs at $60 with TV, no contract, free for 3 months but cable. I told the sales guy I want fiber, no problem. I almost told the installer to go away when he asked where the coaxial box was. Spectrum doesn’t do fiber yet. I basically switched because TDS has IMO no customer service any longer and they throttled us down from 1000mbs that came across in the 650- 700 range and kept telling me it was my inside lines wrecking the speed, that they installed. Spectrum sells at 400mbs but his meter was showing we were getting 454 at the inbox, direct 435 at the wife’s laptop and WiFi in the rest of the abode was running 325. His meter showed the TDS fiber coming in at 500 at the box, so he thought yes we were being throttled.

Have a great day
TomO

 

[Mountain Man]

Pot of coffee, breakfast and a quiet corner table. Just think of me as a box that is ticking...

 

[bnsf971]

Pot of coffee, breakfast and a quiet corner table. Just think of me as a box that is ticking...

I’ll be sure to not cut the blue wire, then.

 

[Boris]

TDS has IMO no customer service any longer and they throttled us down from 1000mbs

Tom O:

Not for nothing, but you must realize that we have a Covid Pandemic... That's the usual excuse from any business worth their salt.

My ISP is Altice the Belgian Company that bought Cablevision from the Dolan Family. Ever since they took over, service and customer service have declined, and prices have increased. There is no competition for them, other than Verizon DSL service...Verizon doesn't want to invest the capital to upgrade our phone exchange to fiber. I have cut the cable for everything except internet, for which I am gouged for $90/month for 100 mbps service, that frequently is less than 50 mbps. i don't want their pone or TV, because they require the use of proprietary receiver boxes that they rent for $10 / month each outlet, plus $ 1.50 a month for each splitter per month. I get everything we watch, except NHL games, over the air, and can stream much more than we ever imagined.

 

[bnsf971]

...

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Every one of them I have to work on has lifted in the center. I know it's an expansion thing as the one section I did the track lifted itself off the layout by a good 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch. I thought that in itself was strange. Hind sight I should have waited for warmer weather before I did my track work. The joys of a garage layout!

Take a look at a turnout not mounted on your layout and see if there's not the slight bow in the turnout and the slight bow is a natural thing and many turnouts come with spike holes in their centers to help secure these devices to the sub-roadbed. If no spike holes were provided then make your own. I would suggest nailing one turnout down as an experiment and see what happens. Three spikes should be enough in the center of the turnout to hold it down.

1/2 to 3/4 change in elevation is a lot of expansion and if you were to cut gaps in the rails just think how large the gaps would have to be to cover the expansion.

My layout room's temperature varies between 66 and 70 degrees.

Is this happening all over the entire layout or just in several spots?

I had a slight lifting of my a couple of my Atlas turnouts when I constructed my layout. Nailing it down took care of the problem.

I can't be convinced that there is a lot of rail expansion in a HO layout. Mainly because the change in temperature are not as great as the effects of a 100 degree plus day on 1:1 rail. I think that the expansion on a layout is due to the wood changes size and not the rail.

All my joints are soldered and I can't think of any spot where I cut expansion gaps into the rails.

Are you using Atlas Snap or Atlas Custom turnouts?

Greg

 

[TLOC]

Tom O:

Not for nothing, but you must realize that we have a Covid Pandemic... That's the usual excuse from any business worth their salt.

My ISP is Altice the Belgian Company that bought Cablevision from the Dolan Family. Ever since they took over, service and customer service have declined, and prices have increased. There is no competition for them, other than Verizon DSL service...Verizon doesn't want to invest the capital to upgrade our phone exchange to fiber. I have cut the cable for everything except internet, for which I am gouged for $90/month for 100 mbps service, that frequently is less than 50 mbps. i don't want their pone or TV, because they require the use of proprietary receiver boxes that they rent for $10 / month each outlet, plus $ 1.50 a month for each splitter per month. I get everything we watch, except NHL games, over the air, and can stream much more than we ever imagined.

Boris

I understand every issue has to deal with Covid but then let me know they r throttling me by 1/2 and charge me accordingly. The price had greatly climbed the last couple of years and I guess I missed that. I rarely watch TV, have no need or want for a house phone other then my cell and I can watch every NHL game streaming at STREAMEAST.Live for free.

The 1000mbs was there for our business and personal uses. Those needs are much less now. I have no contract and plan to try it free for the 3 months and see how it works. TDS already called this morning giving me a better deal then they were charging me. Let the games I really hate playing begin. I had an Sales Manager at work who loved these games. Every year before the NFL season he would cancel the Prime Ticket package from DirectTV. Every year he got much better pricing from DirectTv. crazy it was.

TomO

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Not much happening here, we may hit 50 but nothing seems to be greening up. I did the grocery pickup this morning and don’t feel
like hitting the train room or modeling bench. The modeling mood is waning.

Tom: Here in this part of Wisconsin our Daffs in the front of the house are blooming and other have buds ready to open. I noticed today the buds on Silver Maples are swelling and Daylillies are showing some small, but green growth. The crocus are blooming as well.

I'll get into a I want to be outside mood when it warms up a bit more and be at the cabin more than at home. But, you'll find me in the train room when the humid days arrive.

I still have a small problem walking and standing for any period of time since my fall, but I know I need more exercise to improve my overall coordination and muscle strength.

Greg in Southeastern Wisconsin.

 

[bnsf971]

Good afternoon. It's clear and 81, after a round of heavy weather last night.
My wife is still in ICU, though they are talking about moving her to a room out of ICU in the next couple of days. She is awake, and responds to questions and stimuli, though many of her answers are comprised of gibberish. She has been removed from the breathing machine, and they are sitting her up and moving her around. They still really can't say why her BP spiked like it did. My wife admitted to maybe, possibly , sort of, might have forgotten to take some of her meds as directed, but she really can't say for sure.

In other news, our dog tried her best to give me a coronary this morning. I found her laying on the couch, on her back, with all four legs sticking straight up in the air. (momentary blind panic). "Sophie!!!" Rolls over and looks at me. "What?" Sigh...

 

[chessie_system3]

Take a look at a turnout not mounted on your layout and see if there's not the slight bow in the turnout and the slight bow is a natural thing and many turnouts come with spike holes in their centers to help secure these devices to the sub-roadbed. If no spike holes were provided then make your own. I would suggest nailing one turnout down as an experiment and see what happens. Three spikes should be enough in the center of the turnout to hold it down.

1/2 to 3/4 change in elevation is a lot of expansion and if you were to cut gaps in the rails just think how large the gaps would have to be to cover the expansion.

My layout room's temperature varies between 66 and 70 degrees.

Is this happening all over the entire layout or just in several spots?

I had a slight lifting of my a couple of my Atlas turnouts when I constructed my layout. Nailing it down took care of the problem.

I can't be convinced that there is a lot of rail expansion in a HO layout. Mainly because the change in temperature are not as great as the effects of a 100 degree plus day on 1:1 rail. I think that the expansion on a layout is due to the wood changes size and not the rail.

All my joints are soldered and I can't think of any spot where I cut expansion gaps into the rails.

Are you using Atlas Snap or Atlas Custom turnouts?

Greg

This a little bit to take in here. You bring up some really good points I havent given too much thought to. Do I believe my rails expanded enough to lift? I'd like say no but remove the nails and it legitimately lifted off the table. So what could cause this? From an observation stand point its rail expansion. However you bring up on key factor that didnt calculate in. I havent given wood warping any thought. I cant figure the rails expanded that much. Especially in a span of not even a week. I dont have the luxury of a climate controlled space for my trains. Now this isnt a knock at anybody. It's just the space I have to work with. I have made note that the Atlas turnouts do have a slight curvature to them straight out of the package. It is greatly pronounced now than they were when first installed. Now I do hold them down in the center. However that doesn't seem to cure the issue. Even on a flat surface they still seem to have a lift in the center to them. Not enough to cause problems. It's just now creating headaches for me. It seems to stem from pressure being applied to them. With an already present center lift to them it only makes sense they would be the weak points on my layout. The path of least resistance. Hopefully I made sense in all of this. Oh and by the way I use Atlas snap switches on my layout.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Thanks for the encouraging words and comments about the stormy weather. We only had some limbs blown down, but a ridge about a mile from me has a 250 yard swath cut through the trees.
Spent most of the day waiting for a dishwasher repairman to show up. He changed out a circuit board and was gone in 40 minutes with a large credit card charge. Bought all the appliances for the new home 4 years ago. Had to replace the fridge and the freezer, stove and dishwasher had to be repaired.
Looking forward to working on the club layout again.

 

[Boris]

I can watch every NHL game streaming at STREAMEAST.Live for free.

Tom: Tried that, and got the Devils at Washington - normally a blackout game, however, the pop up ads were terrible. Made the game unwatchable, although I did se Ovie get his 716th goal. They were pushing Pro for $5/mo, which is much cheaper than NHL TV and apparently blackout proof. Something to keep in mind for next season. (NHL TV is still asking $70 for the remaining half season.).

Oh and by the way I use Atlas snap switches on my layout.

Justin: Two things that I have found over time, wood warps and shrinks as it dries out, the second, is that cork roadbed, tends to behave miserably in a damp climate. Whether this is your problem or not, is strictly up to your observation. OTOH, I have never had rail expand due to temperature change, on my model RR, and I use a lot of flex. I have also found, that if I try to force a switch to fit in a given position, I have problems with the switch. I have taken up switches, and reset them, sometimes slightly trimming the rail, and find the problem goes away when the switch is restored. Your results may vary, and I use Micro Engineering flex and switches in code 70.

I really don't think that using snap switches, vs. custom line makes much of a difference. Once the switch was removed from the layout, did it sit flat? There is a possibility that the plastic ties are warped or misaligned, in which case cutting the plastic that holds the ties in place from the underside of the switch. This may release the tension.

Mikey: Hate those repair charges. Happy to hear you escaped the cyclones. Folks down your way have been hit hard.

Terry: Sheesh, even the dog is messing with you! Glad to hear Marie is doing better.

Today, we finished our spring cleaning, including the first floor windows. and the heavy vacuuming, (Moving furniture). It was very windy, with a strong wind out of the Southwest. Once the fog and clouds cleared, the temperature rose to 81. Tomorrow, we have appointments for our second Moderna Vaccine. Much of the last years stress disappeared after the first inoculation. Tomorrow, promises to be sunny, and breezy with temperatures in the mid 60s.