Running Bear's May 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good morning Everybody!

"April showers bring May flowers" I'm hoping there is light at the end of this dark tunnel we are passing through.

I've been enjoying weathering the storm with my train buddies!

This one is for Willie, I hope it cheers you up a little, at least distract you for a few minutes. Try to think of all those good ole days gone by. God be with you my friend.
There is no intended message in this song it's just fun to listen to. I hope you enjoy it.
Have a great day Everybody.
 
This guy was a character and a great pitcher before he got hurt. I'll never forget the first time I saw him pitch and talking to the ball. I don't know what he said to the ball, but it sure had some movement on it!

Mark "The Bird" Fidrych getting the mound just how he likes it. Photo by Craig Porter
Baseball In Pics

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These were the days of the great American Railroads.. Pennsylvania's Brutes, The K4 Steam Locomotive, and the all Electric GG-1.
Old Images of Philadelphia

I would love to see a new K4 from Lionel in the Vision Line or at least a Legacy locomotive. I already have a Vision Line GG1, but there is a lot of various schemes for the GG1. I wouldn't mind having them all!
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Good Morning Everyone. Clear and 60°, heading up to near 90° today. Wind eventually died down somewhat yesterday but it will be back today, with a vengeance. Weather guessers are predicting a possibility of 100° on Monday and then abruptly cooling off to 84° on Tuesday. :eek:
Uneventful grocery trek yesterday. 90% of the employees in Kroger were wearing face masks, but only about 70% of the customers. They actually had TP and paper towels, so I guess the pandemic is over, at least the hoarding part. No meat shortages noted yet. Today the eating establishments near us can reopen with 50% inside seating, reservations required in most of them. Fortunately you don't have to wear a mask while eating. Many other businesses can reopen with limited customers. In my county which has still only had two confirmed cases of Covid-19, rules were partially ignored for the past month or so anyway. Stopped on the way home for some more delicious "to go" BBQ from a local eatery. I am doing my best to support local businesses during the partial shutdown.

New place looks great, thanks for opening Terry. Good Morning Flo, I'll take a big plate of blueberry pancakes with a double side of sausage links today. Extra Aunt Jemima as well.

Thanks for all of the likes and comments regarding the layout pictures yesterday; Jerome, Sherrel, Tom, Guy, Patrick, Bob, Joe, Louis, Paul, Curt, Garry, James.
Thank you also for the condolences on the loss of our beloved Fluffy, the cat.

Yesterday was a limited progress day in the train shed. I did get that turnout ballasted.
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Today I hope to get the additional ground cover in place and make the road transition a bit more smooth. Then I will be "roughening up" that area in front of the two boxcars, with trees and coarse foliage.
I also got that TP boxcar weathered. It's only going to receive light weathering, I am not good at "rustbucket" weathering. My results usually look like a five year old crayon job.
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I used only weathering powders from AIM for this.

Tom - That was quite an impressive G scale grain train that you posted yesterday.
Joe - A special thanks to you for your ongoing comments regarding my layout. While I am not attempting to emulate any published layout, I am trying to get it as good as a couple of our fellow members layouts. Chet, Greg and Garry come to mind immediately. Karl has posted some excellent photos as well. I am not meaning to shortchange anyone else, but these stand out.
Karl -
"I've got money in my wallets that hasn't seen daylight since before the virus! "
Feel free to send it my way. PM me for an address.
Chad - You made a number of interesting posts yesterday. Thanks.
Sherrel - Fluffy passed away due to natural causes. He quit eating about a week ago and there was no sign of trauma.
Terry - I got the Mayflower innuendo.

May Day today, only five more days until Cinco de Mayo. Everybody have a great day and an awesome weekend.
 
Morning all,

Time for more than coffee this Morning. I'll have what Willie's having. Thanks Flo!

Sorry to hear about your cat Willie. It never fun losing a pet. I haven't looked at the old CS yet.

Thanks for posting AC\DC Louis. I was in that sort of mood this morning.

Well, easy come easy go. Stimulus check in the bank less than 8 hours before it was gone.....I do owe less on the wife's vehicle however so not a total waste. Supposed to be the the mid 80's and sunny today. I'll have to mow this afternoon and I'd already planned to catch some of the grass to use as mulch around the tomatoes so it will be a long afternoon. Hopefully some train time as I still have switches to wire....
 
Good morning Everybody!

"April showers bring May flowers" I'm hoping there is light at the end of this dark tunnel we are passing through.

I've been enjoying weathering the storm with my train buddies!

This one is for Willie, I hope it cheers you up a little, at least distract you for a few minutes. Try to think of all those good ole days gone by. God be with you my friend.
There is no intended message in this song it's just fun to listen to. I hope you enjoy it.
Have a great day Everybody.
That happens to be my all time favorite AC/DC tune.
 
Morning gandy dancers! Where did that term come from - Maybe i will Google it?

Starting the day at 59 this morning with an expected high of 82 - down 2 degrees from yesterday. Expected clear skies today and breezy winds.

Nothing new on this front - I have been playing phone tag with David? He always catches me in the middle of doing something - then I guess that I do the same to him?

Mike in HubCity - Long time back, my friend. It was the Braves!

Haven't seen any stimulus $ here - guess they are going according to the alphabet?

Willie, Curt, Louis, and all -- nice pic from all!
 
Joe - A special thanks to you for your ongoing comments regarding my layout. While I am not attempting to emulate any published layout, I am trying to get it as good as a couple of our fellow members layouts. Chet, Greg and Garry come to mind immediately. Karl has posted some excellent photos as well. I am not meaning to shortchange anyone else, but these stand out.

Willie: As you pointed out, we have some very talented modelers on this forum. Chet, Greg, Garry, Karl, and Johnny among others. My goal is to match all of your efforts, on my layout , if I can get that far . What I find different about yours, is the placement of the structures, and the tiny folks and critters that hang out by the structures. Plus the fact that even though yo have been removed from Brooklyn, for a long time, Brooklyn seems to creep in to your version of Texas.

I tend to get ahead of my self, especially with structures and placement. When I take the time to think things out, the project turns out better, than if I just jump right in and run with it.

Today is May 1, Law Day, the Feast of St. Philip and St. James, Loyalty Day, and for those to my left, International Workers Day. it's also Friday, so Happy Friday! Right now, it's 53° and cloudy. Supposed to remain that way until tomorrow. Today, I go to see the surgeon, for my knees. As far as I know, elective surgery is still on hold, but I need a shot of cortisone in each knee. On the way home, (assuming I feel up to it), I plan on stopping at HD, and picking up some gardening supplies.

The state parks, and many county parks, and township parks and golf courses are now open. For some reason, there has been no official update of new cases in the county or township, since Wednesday. Am I to guess the pandemic is suddenly over, or what? Not for nothing, we are not going to go rushing out because the politicians are succumbing to economic pressure...Lots of questions, few answers...

E44 on High Line at Ludlow St..jpg

Today's photo is of a pair of E44s moving West on the West Philadelphia Elevated Branch (aka the "High Line"). The large Art Deco building in the background was the Main Philadelphia Post office, on Market Street. The photographer, took the photo from the main building at Drexel University, where he was probably a student. Ludlow St. which is to the left of the photo, leads to "Lower" 30th. Street. the sub grade cobblestone street beneath 30th Street. If you turn left, it will take you to Penn Coach Yard, and Race Street Engine House. Turn Right and it will take you to lower Walnut St, and the Railway Express Facility. That was your West Philly Geography lesson for today. Most folks from that city didn't even know these places existed.
 
Good morning, everybody ......

Terry ....... thanks for starting the May Coffee Shop. .... It is off to a good start.

Louis .... Nice photo of the PRR GG1 and K4 as well as the CSX train in WV.

Willie ..... You continue with amazing progress. Nice weathering of the boxcar.

Boris.... I like the PC electric locomotive.

...


I am continuing to work on "West End" which is at one end of my around-the-wall layout.

I completed a small passenger station to fit in a corner. I'm still working on scenery next to it, but you can see how it looks.

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I took photos from different directions. At one angle, you can see the double door in the background which is the entrance to my layout room.

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Looking the other way, you can see across an aisle. My Super Chief running on an upper level with FM locomotives. It is on the main line, and it will follow about 80' to 90' of track before it gets to West End Depot.

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This view shows the depot next to the grade crossing I showed last week. I replaced the oversized crossbucks with correct size ones.

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Good morning. Been absent for a couple of days. With warmer weather I have been enjoying getting some outside work done. Been up into yhe 70's finally except for yesterday with the rain.

Louis - Like the photos and we did get an April shower yesterday. Don't know about May flowers, but the grass certainly has turned from brown to green in just a few hours. Think I may go out, sit on the porch and watch it.

Willie
- Always enjoy seeing your photos.

Sherrel
- Not much going on there either except for watching the grass turn green and watching some railroad videos. Here's one for you.


Joe - Excellent photo. Electric on top of it.

Garry
- Another excellent photo from you also. Made good use of a corner again.

This will have to do for my railroad photo for today.

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On Monday most of the businesses in the area will be opening along with restaurants, but some with limited occupancy. Costco came up a month late with the face masks requiring them on Monday. The wife will go in over the weekend and stock up on what we normally get and then shop elsewhere until the mask requirement is dropped.

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Later
 
Good Morning Everyone.....sunny and seasonal today.

Started the day changing the rear window shield wiper on my wife's vehicle. Next is changing the cabin filter which the service tech said it looked like rodents were living in the filter housing. Next week I'll change my engine's air filter. We purchased the wiper, cabin and engine filters for less than what the dealer wanted to change the rear wiper. Is there a lesson here?

Going to the cabin tomorrow for a day trip. The door is being installed as I type.

Thanks for the compliments on my layout Willie and Boris. I enjoy Model Railroading want to do my best especially in the scenery area.

The GP38-2 is near completion. Yesterday I did some touch on areas with rust and used a AIM Rust (now Monroe) on the trucks after they had a coat of Dullcote. The reaction of the alcohol in the AIM solution to the Dullcote really makes the trucks look well used and provides a great weathered look. I purchased the AIM Rust solution at TrainFest many years ago and it is more concentrated than the new Monroe products. I painted the hydraulic arms on the brake cylinders a Silver to indicate where we would find clean machinery on a otherwise dirty part of a locomotive. The fuel filler caps were painted using Red nail polish and the front and rear fill caps on the locomotive were painted Silver. These small details, while being small, add to the over-all detailing of the locomotive. Soon I'll post some photos of this project.

I'll assemble the shell back on the locomotive and test run later today. I painted the couplers a rust color and noticed I was missing one of the coupler springs. I replaced it in under a minute using an Exacto blade to hold it in position and slip it over the spring retainers. Only dropped the spring once.

Another project for today is working on my .38 Special that I sprayed with WD-40 and some how it reacted with the oils on the weapon and the wheel is struck!!! No sense having a weapon for protection if you can't load the darn thing. I prefer my .380 auto for a carry piece, but the .38 Special packs more stopping power than the .380 plus the Special is much louder....if that counts. My cabin is somewhat remote as well as our two vacant properties and one has a pair of cougars that call it home so protection is a must.

Soon back outside for the cabin filter which I never have changed.

Everyone have a safe May Day. Just a month more of staying in for most of the population.

Greg

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Good afternoon gang!

Flo, Since it's lunchtime, how about a cheezzzzesteak sub with peppers & onions, fries on the side and a cold sweet tea?

Mayday, mayday, Mayday...1920s: representing a pronunciation of French m'aider, from venez m'aider ‘come and help me’.

Excuse me, but did somebody say Mader??

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Terry, the Mayflower joke would get under the skin of local football fans here, since 3 Mayflower moving trucks took the Colts from here to Indy! The dog pic is hysterical though!

Willie, Garry
, keep the layout shots coming!

Greg, did you spray your gun with WD-40 or spray adhesive??

Chet, Louis,Boris, Nice Proto-pics!

Sherrel, it's a new month, Louis already is up on you by 3! You're such a slacker!!! 😁😉😃🤣

I called the guy who owns the 5 locos I finished. I was hoping to be able to run them for him and show off the features I installed, but he and his wife were infected with Covid-19. He has recovered, but the wife is still sick, so he is in quarantine. He also wants to but 3 of my "overstock" loco's, all decorated for B&O for his layout. I'll send him more pics later, and ask if we can just wait til he and the wife are all better........after all, I've had them over a year as it is.

Later gang!
 
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