Running Bear's May 2020 Coffee Shop


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Howdy ....

Curt ..... Your building looks great.
B Bob .... That looks like a peaceful location.
Willie ...... Its good to see your progress with teh crap yard.
Joe ... Your layout is looking good so far. Your photo reminds me of Pennsy trains I saw in Chicago in the 1960's, and all of the equipment was dirty.
Chet .... Those are interesting photos of V&T RR,
Alan ... I'm enjoying your series of posts about the COSF. Regarding interiors, sometimes I run passenger cars without interiors. I place black construction paper inside so the cars don't appear empty.

Everybody ..... Have a nice evening.
 
McLeod said:
Bob- I believe you've developed a good hook 🎣 for the newcomer browser. The new home page looks like an online magazine with interesting articles to follow up on.
I know you are working hard to attract attention to the forum, and I believe the new look will help in that effort. Hope it works out!
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Thank you, and the "magazine cover" style look and feel are exactly what I was looking for. Until now, it's been mostly a wall of text greeting new folks. We're no longer using 56k modems (mostly) and photos add a lot! So time for a new look.
 
There's been several ballast trains heading west of late and this may be where one (or more) may have been heading. Reported on the MRL's Western End-Sandpoint ID, to Missoula, MT facebook page, photo by Davis Strench.
"After a day of picking up old ties on the 4th Sub, its time for the work window to close and for this Jimbo to shove back into Heron for the night. "

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No info on exactly where this is, but Heron is in Sanders County on the Clark Fork River about half way between Noxon MT, and Clark Fork ID, and Lake Pend Oreille. MRL's tracks end at Sandpoint ID. They have trackage rights over BNSF into Spokane ID, but from what I read on this page, it's not common to see MRL power west of Thompson Falls where the pipeline is near, that the Gas Local fills up at.
At least we can see here that the power is SD40-2xr #257 and down at the back is one of those oddball Canadian Caboose (I know that 'cause it always seems to be on the Jimbo, #2007 I believe) As this pic is recent, it also shows that none of those nice , shiny new gondolas have yet been assigned. Don't want to get them scratched yet maybe.
 
Good morning gang
54 degrees and cloudy, heading to 68.
We gave up the master bathroom yesterday, it has become a nursery for the lil furballs woth the addition of a baby gate. They've been up since 5am playing and eating. In the last 48 hours they all have been litter trained and will come when called. Not bad for 5 little wildcats that have had no prior human contact.
Time to don my mask, make like a baby and head out!
L8ter gang!
 
Good morning Everybody!

I've been busy and I still am, but I'm out of sit down work. I need my frequent sit down breaks, so here I am again.

Does anybody recognize the guy in the picture with the Lionel layout I posted earlier?

Like almost anything negative, a little redirected anger can be converted into motivation. You have to find positive energy where ever you can. But you got to get your mind right first! Like Odd Ball said "no negative waves baby"

If somebody disrespects me, I don't think; "Don't get mad, get even", that is just plain stupid, do something positive! I've got nothing to prove. I know who I am and you always have to have tolerance and forgiveness. Always believe in yourself. I wore my summer uniform to work for the first time this Saturday. My wife said "you look good honey" I said, "I know" ;) Like when that young college girl told me as I was delivering to Towson University; "you're a sexy old man". I thought to myself "you have not seen me naked", but I'll take what I can get. Bottom line; I like me :)

I worked just under 2 hours Saturday and got paid for 4 hours at a much higher premium rate. Amazon is in overdrive, it was like a Christmas time route. It was 57 packages, but only 39 stops close together. If you figure USPS would charge an average of over $5 each, Amazon still saved a little bit. The customer is happy, I'm happy and Amazon is happy, a good deal for Everybody. That is how I like it!

I began doing research into setting up an online store. I'll try anything to avoid paying eBay and Amazon's seller fees. Not to mention I have never liked playing by anybody else's rules. Still lots of reading to do before I click the sign up button.

My Williams by Bachmann GG1 arrived and it runs great! The Lionel Chessie Freight RTR set with a conventional GP38 finally showed up and it's even better than I expected! The Lionel EMD SD40-2 Chessie B&O with Legacy arrived as well, it's simply fantastic!

While I was working the GG1, RTR set and SD40-2 all arrived on Saturday. That was a nice sight to see when I got home.

My excel toy train inventory is caught up, the best I can without doing a physical inventory. I tweaked and formatted all 26 worksheets so that they would be uniform. I went through all of my receipts to add in any missed purchases. Now all I need to do is a physical inventory to reconcile it.

My HO benchwork is done, with cork on top! I'm already to pull out my NCE Pro Cab Deluxe Master Cab, NCE DCC Twin with power supply, HO track and trains.

Best of all, I still had time to spend with my Angel on her 2 1/2 off days!

Boris, you are right, running trains on the floor is not cutting it. Don't get me wrong, it beats a blank, but I want more.

Why did I start with the HO benchwork? There is a method to my madness. My wife allocated to me, room to rebuild my little 50"X60" HO layout in the utility room on our lower level. I also made space in our storage area for all my HO and the little bit of N scale trains. The space that will create in my train room will allow me to reorganize my O stuff and make space to begin building the bench work for my O trains. I've already began planning the track work with Any Rail 6.0. I certainly have gotten my money's worth out of that software! My plan is to create shelves under my layout for storage. God knows I need storage room. That should provide easy access to change trains anytime.

Time to get my ass up and go shopping for my Mom and I.

Have a great day Everybody!

PS Fair warning, I'll be back ;)
 
Morning all,

Sunny and 52* in Doo-Dah this morning, supposed to get to the mid-70's today. It seems different coming to work with some daylight as the sun is coming up earlier.

No train time yesterday, but one of the additional things I did Sunday was get almost all the missing ties back in place from when I ripped up the hill and re-placed the track. I'm trying to figure out what to use as ballast (color, texture, etc.). I pass beside some of the abandoned Frisco rail line where it partially washed out about 22 years ago and they used several kinds of rock for base material, everything from granite chunks to limestone. BNSF uses a couple of types where they re-ballast as well, so I'm not sure what GN would have used color wise.

bob said:
Since pretty much everyone here's a regular, you might not have noticed my weekend project.

We now have a fancy new front entrance to the forum. Check out it here: https://modelrailroadforums.com/forum/index.php?featured/

You can also get there by clicking "Featured" at the left of the menu bard. Or simply by https://modelrailroadforums.com

Let me know what you think of the new look?
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I usually bypass the front door and come in the side. It looks nice enough I'll have to stop there next....

Bruette: Are you thinking of an online store with Amazon with new or used stuff? A buddy of mine opened an online store through Amazon and got clipped with taxes from California as a California business and he's never been there. Seems some of his inventory was placed there creating the issue.
 
Good Morning All. Clear skies and 68°, sun peeking over the horizon. Saw a couple of deer in the wheat field across the road a short time ago. That will cut into the harvest! They usually don't graze there until after the harvest when the spilled grain on the ground is easier for them to get to.
Most of the place dried out enough that I mowed the north side of the yard around the train shed yesterday. I managed to get a mosquito bite but no sunburn. Tan is a little deeper though. Pool looked really inviting, but the train shed was more appealing yesterday at least. I did spend some morning hours cutting those trees into firewood as planned. Still a lot more to go to be able to mow back there. I'll mow some more today in order to get ahead of the eight days in a row of rain that the forecast has in it beginning Thursday.

Taylor Ham and scrambled eggs this morning Flo. A couple of pieces of whole wheat toast would go good with that.

Thanks for all of the likes and other responses regarding the scrapyard yesterday; Guy, Phil, Sherrel, Jerome, Chad, Chet, Mikey, Rick, Alan, Joe, Patrick, Steven, Bob, Curt, Karl, Garry, James. I am looking forward to starting the next layout project.

I have to make a decision out in the train shed. I have this space next to the salvage yard that I want to finish up next.
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As you can see, and was pointed out by others in the past, I have a small collection of travel trailers there right now. Initially I thought of just setting up a dealership, and then I thought of combining them with this kit to make a small camping grounds.
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On the other hand, neither choice actually seems quite right for this location, I have plenty of space elsewhere to do either or both if I choose. So what would be more appropriate for this space?
How about Earl's Oil?
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Obviously it's a Bar Mills laser cut kit that I love to assemble. It's also the last one that I have on the shelf! It fits easily since the road will be off the layout in front of it. This kit has more detail than structure which is always fun.
Tell me what you all think. It will be a couple of days before I start with whatever decision that you help me make, because I have a real bug right now to do some train switching. No switching was done with my granddaughter last week, which was the last time I had the throttle in my hands. Meanwhile I did do a little more detailing on the fuel tank, office building and grounds for the scrapyard. Everything is cluttering up the workbench right now, pictures coming after I get it all back on the layout.

Chet - Nice pictures of the V&T.
Beady - Good to see you post again. Hopefully you will soon get out of the "funk" that you are in.
Joe - I was really happy to have acquired the City Classics' Smallman Street Warehouse structure. I should have bought some of the add-on kits to go with it. It really fits well into any layout.
Bob (admin) - Nice job on the intro page, but unlike Patrick, I will continue to use the side door out of habit!
Karl - I'll take a couple of those kittens if you'll deliver. Tell me when you'll be here and I'll have supper and beer ready.:cool:

Everybody have a great day.
 
Good morning America, how are ya? We went to Rock Island State Park again yesterday and there were only three cars there. We got some pictures of some of the area and it is beautiful. We managed to avoid coming near anyone, but we want to be able to walk some of the trails without fear of getting sick. Hopefully, that possibility is getting closer.

I mowed the yard when we got back and not more than five minutes after I put the mower away it started raining. I took a shower, got some iced tea and sat on the front porch and just watched it rain. Nice and calm. No wind, no storms. Just a nice steady rain for about half an hour. Reeaallyy soothing! Sure was nice!

The mountains, while not as big as the Smokies, get fog on them just like there eastern cousins and it sure is nice. We live in an area called the Cumberland Plateau, which is a part of the Appalachian Mountain formation. So far, we really love it here. Just that we were planning on being able to do a lot more sight seeing and go to the many festivals and bluegrass shows, which are pretty much all on hold for now.

Thank you to all who commented on the view from our front porch. It's one of the reasons we liked this house. There were a couple of others that we would have liked to have looked at, but the million dollar views that they had was also included in their price!

Willie, I say go for Earl's Oil Company. I think it would be a much more fitting project for that area. Think zoning laws!

Got to go, the OTH is calling. Stay safe and six feet away!
 
Good Morning! Only have time for a coffee and the refill, and then I'll catch breakfast at 10:00 coffee break. I need to go do a bit of electrical work and straighten out a leaning gazebo. Today's the day, as it's the only day this week that the rain is supposed to hold back.

Willie - My vote is for the Earl's Oil. Just seems more appropriate for the spot beside a scrapyard. I worked at a scrapyard when I was younger; they are dirty and noisy.

I need to make tracks soon, so I'll leave you with a couple of photos. One is a local trading post building that I would like to scratch build for a layout. The buildings front faces true north, so it never faces the sun; which makes it bad for photos.
BeaverCrk_02-10-2020.jpg

I notice that WS wall lamps were used above the sign.

Next, is a train bumper on one of our local sidings. Just proves nothing expensive is needed for a train bumper.
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Gotta run! Have a great day.
 
santafewillie said:
Beady - Good to see you post again. Hopefully you will soon get out of the "funk" that you are in.
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Thanks. I've decided not to feel guilty about not doing things, and just play it as it lies. I start getting weened off the Cymbalta tomorrow, in prep for being put on a new mood elevator, so the next two weeks will probably be noticeably worse. I've warned the wife, and she's getting ready to lock me into the basement (not to force me to play with my toys, but to give herself some peace and quiet).

At the moment, I'm sitting in the car while the wife is getting her tri-weekly immune system infusion. I can see her through the window and, luckily, I'm close enough that I can use the clinic's wifi. Her treatments last about 2-1/hours (at first, they lasted 4 hours), so I'll probably be taking a nap, soon.

Meanwhile, Michigan is beginning to open up. The auto workers went back in this last Monday and, with luck, I'll be able to get a haircut in early June. Luckily, my last haircut was in preparation for the southern Carribean, three days before the cruise was canceled, so my hair is now only slightly longer than it would normally be when I go to the barbers.

That's how exciting my life has been. This entire post has been about my hair, taking a nap, sitting in the car and my health. Jesus Christ! (Where would profanity be without religion).

I'm going to take my nap, now.

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Good morning, everybody .

Toot .... The scenery with the MRL work train is beautiful.

Louis .... I agree people should always have tolerance and forgiveness, and also they should always believe in themselves. Nothing is so bad that it is not good for something. That's why clouds are said to have silver linings. .... I dot not recognize the man or the woman in the old Lionel photo. Looks like the 1950's .

Guy .... You have good idea for a scratch building project. The general store in your photo looks similar to restaurant buildings of the Cracker Barrel chain.

Willie ..... Apparently, you have some fun ideas for filling that space. I counted 8 little travel trailers in your picture. I only have one like that.

What it is worth department ....... I believe model trains are good therapy during rough times in our lives. I have learned to take "sanity breaks" with my model railroad at times when "bad stuff" is bothering me. It is good to divert attention away from "bad stuff". Eventually, I can put things in perspective, and much of the "bad stuff" is not as bad as I had thought. I am then able to focus on "good stuff" that I was ignoring. ....... Be Happy. Don't worry. ... :)
 
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Patrick said:
...

Bruette: Are you thinking of an online store with Amazon with new or used stuff? A buddy of mine opened an online store through Amazon and got clipped with taxes from California as a California business and he's never been there. Seems some of his inventory was placed there creating the issue.
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Patrick, first thing, call me Louis.

I've been both an eBay seller and an Amazon third party seller for some time. Years ago, the 90s, I did publish my own website and I did do retail sales in addition to other services. I let that fade away due to my divorce.

The only thing I would sell used would be toy trains. Although I have sold some used tires, NTOs (new take offs), but that's rare any more.

I'll buy and resell anything I can get a deal on. My van can hold a full 1200lb pallet and there must be a dozen or more wholesale/discount vendors within 10 miles of me. I'll go father if the profit potential is there.

I have not committed to an online store either with eBay or Amazon. Like eBay Amazon does not force you to commit to an online store, but they limit the number and kinds of items you can sell and they charge higher seller fees.

Amazon fulfillment, that's when Amazon stocks and ships the items for the seller, is not mandatory, but it does make it easy. As for sales tax you have to know where your items will ship from. If the item does not cross state lines you will have to collect sales tax and pay that state in return. Each state has different rates and rules, but Amazon makes it easy by calculating the sales tax at checkout. It's up to the seller to pay the individual states.

For items I ship from Maryland I only collect sales tax for items sold in Maryland.

My online sales have been on hold since the pandemic. Hence my free time to buy more toys! :) When I do get back up and running I'm leaning towards my own website.
 
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