Running Bear's May 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good Morning All. Clear and 61°, looks like we might see the sun today. Looking forward to a dry spell so I can get back to my second favorite hobby of mowing the yard!:(
I have to replace a flexible hose on the pool filtering system today or tomorrow. Found a small pinhole leak yesterday evening. At least it's on the intake side so it's just sucking in air instead of leaking water. It does leak water when the filter is not running though, so I will leave it running. Temporary repair with a piece of electrical tape will do for now until I can get a replacement hose. I have an extra three footer, but this one needs to be four foot.

Just some over easy eggs and a pile of sausage patties this morning Flo.

Thanks for all of the likes and positive comments yesterday regarding the progress on Earl's Oil; Patrick, Louis, Karl, Guy, Chad, Jerome, Bob, Chet, Curt, Garry, Rick.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I continued with the Earl's Oil scene. I added gravel and ground foam to the scene. Not quite finished yet as I also built a containment berm for the oil storage tanks. That area needs to be painted before I bring the scenery materials up to it.
05-27-20 001.JPG

I really need to add the fascia here! :confused:
Note too that I added the delivery pipes to the tanks, added a walkway and ladder (not to OSHA standards), hazard signs and weathered the tanks.
05-27-20 002.JPG

Next, maybe today, I'll reinstall the billboard and details, tweak the ground cover, add trees and weeds and mull over the next step; if any. Overall, I am happy with the results so far.
Meanwhile on the back of the structure I will add some pipes to the racks there. This detail won't be highly visible, but will be visible from certain viewing angles. I will extend them a bit past the structure edge to draw attention to the fact that they are there.
05-26-20 006.JPG

Under the roof over the loading bay, I will also add some simple piping to give the impression of a delivery system for tank trucks.

Greg - Sorry that you lost your neighbor. Hope that you are feeling better sooner than later. Regarding the yard, I learned from my first serious layout not to bury it in back. Now nothing is over 32" wide.
Cars can be pushed indefinitely using delayed uncoupling as long as you don't allow a gap that lets the couplers spring back to normal position.
Curt - My B&D hand vac has been an invaluable tool on the layout. Good choice.
Garry - Sorry, but I don't have an ice house for those reefers!;)
Mike -
What was Connie Mack’s given name?
Sherman had to get up really early to beat me to that one.
Bob - Good luck on your upcoming medical procedures. And have a safe trip to Illinois and back.

Everybody have a great day. Keep your distance; wear your mask in public places.
 
Afternoon All,

Other than getting windows and "concrete" ready for painting. I couldn't paint today because of rain and high humidity when it wasn't raining. I was then utilized as a taxi driver for the wife. I drove her up to just south of Gainesville where she paid and picked up a skunk kit, so we now have 3 of them. Badger (because of his face markings) is descented but we have to wait until he is older to cut his balls off. He's currently 8 weeks old. Tomorrow MOH has a stress test for her respiratory issues which caused her to be hospitalized the end of February. She was tested for antibodies but has none.

Garry- Nice looking reefers.

Bob- Good luck with your upcoming procedures.

Allan- That's great news and you even saved $$$. Win, win.

Patrick- I use a latex paint called rusty rails from Lowes. Jeffrey actually let me know about it years ago. It goes on with a salmon color but it darkens nicely. I apply it with micro brushes. I think I have the mix directions upstairs if you want them.

Willie- Really nice scene.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Good afternoon y'all.82° and sunny at 1500. This morning was very foggy and it didn't look promising. However, it turned out fine.

Suddenly, the neighborhood is full of contractors and vendors, and the quiet enjoyed during the quarantine is over.

Speaking of the end of some restrictions, the ban on elective surgery is over. I am now scheduled for knee replacement on June 23. With all the preliminary screenings and clearances plus a mandatory Covid test several days before the scheduled surgery. This is a good thing, because the damn knee is getting to be unstable.

Curt & Greg: I have changed major portions of my layout already, and it's no where near finished. Once I notice something that is not working too well, I try to find a solution. In some cases, that solution requires a complete change.

You get a corn crop along the track!
Mikey: And the rats and other critters will be greatful. :rolleyes:

Willie: Looking like an oil terminal. Don't forget the spills. :rolleyes:

I couldn't paint today because of rain and high humidity when it wasn't raining.

Curt: I noticed that they postponed the Space launching due to weather.

Bob: Best wishes for your upcoming procedure.

River Street Rambler (Savanah GA).jpg

Used to run down along the River in Savannah, GA. Then replaced by a specially painted SW 1500. When I last stayed there, along the river, there was a diesel powered trolley providing free rides up and down the street. Nice place to visit.

SAL Raleigh NC 4_15_1964.jpg

Raleigh, NC 1964. These would occasionally make it up my way, when the GG1s failed due to snow.
 
Garry, I can't stop looking at this photo. The entire scene is amazing, the rolling stock is fantastic, but that retaining wall is one of the best things I have ever seen on a layout. It looks as if you built it stone by stone many years ago. When you have time I would like to know about how you did it.


Louis .... Thanks for commenting. ... As I was begining to build my layout, I attended a train show and purchased material for making stone retaining walls. It came in an unmarked clear plastic bag, and I do not know who made it.

It was gray plastic molded pieces measuring about 2 1/2" long by about 5/8 inches high. They are about 1/8" thick. The stones were molded to look like a retaining wall. The mortar lines were deeper than they should be. They were designed to be placed end to end, and they could be placed on top of each other for more height.

I painted the plastic with earth tone colors. I installed the pieces on the layout with construction adhesive. I filled the mortar with plaster. When it was dry, I brushed horizontally with a wire brush. I applied washes of watered down acrylic paint. I added some scenic material.

There are other places on the layout where I used this material. Now, I have none left over. ........ Below is another place where I used this type of retaining wall.

49942752273_704f605d95_k.jpg
 
Louis .... Thanks for commenting. ... As I was begining to build my layout, I attended a train show and purchased material for making stone retaining walls. It came in an unmarked clear plastic bag, and I do not know who made it.

It was gray plastic molded pieces measuring about 2 1/2" long by about 5/8 inches high. They are about 1/8" thick. The stones were molded to look like a retaining wall. The mortar lines were deeper than they should be. They were designed to be placed end to end, and they could be placed on top of each other for more height.

I painted the plastic with earth tone colors. I installed the pieces on the layout with construction adhesive. I filled the mortar with plaster. When it was dry, I brushed horizontally with a wire brush. I applied washes of watered down acrylic paint. I added some scenic material.

There are other places on the layout where I used this material. Now, I have none left over. ........ Below is another place where I used this type of retaining wall.

49942752273_704f605d95_k.jpg
Thank you Garry, that is pure artistry!

Makes me wish I was young agian because your walls would be easy and fun to climb!
 
Hi Shop Dwellers! Been AWOL these past few weeks I know, sorry about that. Mainly because whenever I think about visiting here, it's usually close to my bedtime and it takes me a long time to compose an up-to-date post.

Thanks everybody, whoever put 'like' stickers on my post of a few weeks ago!

The main thing that has consumed my free time these past weeks has been a project to reactivate some mothballed Atlas and Kato locos that have CSX paint on them, but could potentially be painted for pre-Chessie B&O with a bit of work [I'll be starting a separate thread about that later on]. So far I've got them disassembled and stripped, but now I'm waiting on some detail parts from Atlas that need to be installed to backdate a pair of GP40-2's into looking like earlier-model GP40's without the 'dash'.

I didn't discover until yesterday that Atlas is the "only game in town" to get the necessary pieces, and it could be up to 10 days before I get them. Why? Because it appears they are operating with only a skeleton crew due to the Covid, and they wait until they have a pile of orders accumulated over the first half of the week before somebody goes in and pulls the orders and packs them. Then on Friday afternoon they bring the stuff to the post office, where the packages are likely to sit on a shelf over the weekend until they are dispatched on the following Monday. Again, I'm only speculating based on my experiences with a few earlier Atlas orders that seemed to follow the above pattern. Bottom line is, I might not get the parts until a week from Friday; I'm stuck, and that's how I happened to have time to actually participate here this evening!

I see that the beaches near Cape Canavaral were tightly packed today with tens of thousands of tourists wanting to watch the Space-X liftoff. Bummer that NASA was forced by the weather to scrub the launch 15 minutes before takeoff time; lots of disappointed people! What will really add insult to injury is if some of the visitors come down with Covid as a result of the social mashing-together.

Goodnite, gotta get ready for bed before it gets too late.
 
Good morning Everybody!

My gout continues to improve. Life is always good, but that makes it even better! :)

I was able to get some things checked off the to do list yesterday.

Trip to the grocery store and playing gears of war with my grandson is all I have on the list for today.

Have a great day Everybody!
 
Here is an aerial photo of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Yards in Hollidaysburg, Blair County, that was taken by Thomas Hollyman around 1953. Looking East towards Frankstown, the Westbound Classification Yard is on the left and the Eastbound Receiving Yard is on the right. The Roundhouse has been demolished and preparations are being made to construct the half-mile long Samuel Rea Shop. All that remains from the "Age of Steam" is the wooden water tower in the center of the photo.
(Photo from Thomas C. Ayers)

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Source: Jackson-Township historical preservation Facebook
 
Good Morning all,

Happy Birthday Louis!

Currently 65 and light rain in Doo-Dah.

My experiment with painting last night didn't pan out as expected. Based on a cheap brush with some diluted paint it may be better to use the airbrush. Also not to use cheap enamel as I didn't have the white paint I thought I had. Went on a bit thicker than I wanted and hid the details in the ties, which isn't what I wished to accomplish. My experiment also is slightly different as I'm not using track that has been set. I opened a new box of paint jars that was supposed to have 6 colors and found it had only 4, so back to the store it's going. At 6 containers it was cheaper per container than the individual price per container, with only 4 it was more expensive. I suspect someone opened the box and stole the paint out of it. It wasn't like I bought it at discount for being previously opened.
 
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