Running Bear's May 2022 Coffee Shop


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Good morning all! Fair and 41 heading for cloudy and 72. No rain today but comes back tonight to hit us for another couple days straight. Never going to get the garden in at this point.

Nice relaxing day yesterday. Watched the Indy Lights and Indycar races and generally goofed off most of the day. Went out and grilled cheeseburgers for dinner and they were really good.

Back to work today and have to work late due to a building dedication going on this evening. I have to stream the event on the college YouTube channel. Hope you all have a great day!
 
53° and cloudy. overnight we had ¾" of rain, mostly before daybreak.

We are still awaiting resolution of our dispute with the Part D Medical Plan Manager. (They are a privately held group based in Southern California, who underbid UHC's Plan Manager several years ago...) Wife, goes to her Rheumatologist Wednesday, so she will get some insight then. Unfortunately, most of the effective drugs for RA, all require prior approval, and retail for about the same price...so if the creepazoids decision is strictly based on cost containment, nothing will meet their standard.

The Baltimore Orioles actually won two of three from the RedSox this past weekend. The Mets won two of three from the Phillies also, Amazin! The NHL season ended Sunday, and the Playoffs begin today.

I did very little in the train room over the weekend. Just a few minor touches. it's time to start scenery and backgrounds.

PC 4973 passing through Helmetta A-1 South Amboy - Morrisville.jpg

Ex New Haven EP-5 Jet, (PC E-40) 4973 leads Symbol A-1 (South Amboy, NJ to Morrisville, PA) through Helmetta, NJ, passing the Helm Tobacco Company complex. (Atlas Middlesex Manufacturing Co. kit). Oh yes, Helmetta, is in Middlesex County. Rapido makes the Jet in HO.
 
Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 62°, very humid and going up to 84° later today. Quite a thunderstorm last night between 12:00 and 1:30. There's 2.5" in the rain gauge this morning, loud thunder, lots of lightning, and the power flickered a few times. Tomorrow's high is only expected to be 66°, then a return to the mid-80's Wednesday. 90's by Saturday. Strange weather week!

I'm headed out real early this morning for the follow-up with the cardiologist regarding the stress test last Thursday; appointment is 8:45.

The Post Office. Sigh! I mailed a Certified letter to New York City last Tuesday at the Post Office itself. I went to tracking yesterday just to see if it had made it, and got a notice that it couldn't be delivered because the building was closed. The date and time log showed that they tried at 4:04 pm on Saturday! This letter was going to an investment firm which everybody but the Post Office knows that they aren't even open on Saturday. Dollars well spent!

Thanks guys for the likes and comments regarding the museum collection; Karl, Sherrel, OB Ken, Troy, IB Ken, Patrick, Tom, Tom O, Rick, Curt, Hughie, Smudge, Louis, Guy, Chad, James.

Yesterday out in the train shed, I did some more cleaning under the layout and stringing the 14-2 cable for a lighting circuit. I also brought the figure painting stuff back out to do during the frequent rest breaks.
IMG_0811.JPG


Guy - Great photos of the hoppers. I don't get to see the tops of cars very often which makes weathering guesswork.
Tom - Really nice looking Conrail hopper.
Tom O - Regarding the electric mower, it is indeed quiet as your son noted. It seems powerful enough for it's size, but I am used to over 60 years of gasoline powered monsters. Like most mowers, the grass catcher bag is too small. I definitely beats using the string trimmer in the places that it can fit.
Troy - The green looks a lot better.

I would post more pictures from the museum, but I am short on time this morning.
Everybody have a great day.
 
Good morning all!

I think I mentioned that the dau and SIL opted to stay with us Sat. night and we watched "Replacements." Well after we went to bed they watched two episodes of what I had been recommending to her. IMHO it is one THE funniest, and most intelligently written comedy series EVER: BBC's "Yes, Minister." She loved it!! !! Said she was laughing so much she feared awaking us upstairs.

They then stayed thru dinner last night helping me to ward off the blues over my upcoming Surgery. With that in mind, I upped the ration from two to three single malts. Wife and she picked up a ribeye roast which came out the over at 1600 for a most delicious, early dinner. Wifeykins outdid herself again! Wine with dinner, then wifey says after the kids left: "Showers and a quiet show with another glass of wine, please."

Didn't really need more wine, but at least she made popcorn to help soak it up. Bit of a head this morning, and can take no pain relievers except Tylenol, which we never have in the house. I'll live. Lots of fizzy water today (I love our Soda-stream!).

WIfe and dau were prepping and cooking in the kitchen, SIL was doing homework so I dropped to the train room. Began the process to solder in the Gopack for my BLI 4-6-2. Taking that tender apart was a chore, but finally got it figured out. And then . . .

Surprise! Surprise! - - - - - I rarely get lucky but this time Lady Fortune smiled on me.

My tender is equipped with the newer Rev H decoder board! By rights it should not as the packaging and date codes all pointed to an earlier board. So my installation was easier! And again, with LF's watchful eye, I did not do something typically stupid like cut off the plug on the Gopack before opening up the shell. Could you have imagined the cry of lament I would have wafted to the skies had I done that!?

So the moral of this story is: if you have a BLI loco into which you intend to install a Gopack keep-alive, (and I recommend you do so) be sure to pop the shell and examine the decoder board before cutting off the Gopack wire plug.

And finally got to test the loco with the Gopack installed and I am very, very happy and satisfied. No longer get the start and restart over dead frogs and other uh-ohs. No longer restarts when the turntable enters its dead zone. I haven't timed it exactly but guess-timate that the Gopack will keep the loco running for a good 7-9 seconds after killing track power! Nice. Highly recommended. I got mine from Yankee Dabbler for about $28. Well worth it.

I did lose one of the rear ladders on the tender. Will conduct thorough search for that some time today. Well that is all, enjoy the day. Getting ready for surgery. More later! Steve J
 
Looks like my 2nd set of water tenders will arrive today sometime from Scale Trains. I am looking forward to that and hope it is the right set this time.....we shall see.

I will post on the RPO thread when it comes in today.....

I am still at home working from home in quarantine. I am still positive with the 'Vid. Still have coughs and congestion. Liquid diet. Fast approaching 20lb weight loss. Not such a bad thing but low energy. I am still doing minor activities to stay moving and sweat out the the bad mojo. I enjoy catching up with everything here.

I did go out on the lake Saturday but was only out for 2 hours to test run boat on all the maintenance I performed on the engine and boat. All went well. Fatigue hits me fast doing little things.

I hope in a few days things will improve.

Later ya'll....
 
Good morning all!
34F in Libby with partly
79F in Olive Branch overcast
Welp, they figured out how to get us home. Going for a Cat load outa IL sometime tomorra. Should be in Spokane in 36ish hours from there, then 150 miles to home for a week. I pointed out that the rental car plus expenses was more than $2500 and that did not make sense .. to me at least. Empty box van would have been fuel @ about $1500. Loads going West to East much easier as there are more. We usually pick paper from Usk Wa or Westrock Tacoma. Have also gotten talc or Montana Wheat outa Central Montana...we will see what happens.
 
Looks like my 2nd set of water tenders will arrive today sometime from Scale Trains. I am looking forward to that and hope it is the right set this time.....we shall see.

I will post on the RPO thread when it comes in today.....

I am still at home working from home in quarantine. I am still positive with the 'Vid. Still have coughs and congestion. Liquid diet. Fast approaching 20lb weight loss. Not such a bad thing but low energy. I am still doing minor activities to stay moving and sweat out the the bad mojo. I enjoy catching up with everything here.

I did go out on the lake Saturday but was only out for 2 hours to test run boat on all the maintenance I performed on the engine and boat. All went well. Fatigue hits me fast doing little things.

I hope in a few days things will improve.

Later ya'll....
James ya might try and eat mo carbs and a general vitamin, Jaz posted something on just this awhile back. YMMV
 
Good Morning!
It's warming up in a hurry! 41F this morning and headed into short-sleeve territory at 55F.

Curt - I sure do admire the hobo drunken bonfire scene. I'm gonna keep that in mind for future. Well done!

Troy - Nice fence paint. - Around here we use PT lumber and just let it age without paint. Nobody likes painting fences. Can't remember; was it Huckleberry Finn or Oliver Twist who was made to whitewash the fence as punishment for boyhood misdeeds..

Willie - I like painting figures; which I suppose shows I'm a sick man. You have lots of fun sitting on your table.

Since I tore up 3 rail spurs on the layout to get the switches right, I thought I'd rethink the last spur. I believe I have enough room to add a coal handling trestle; at least, enough room for one 40' boxcar.
I drew out an incline at 3% grade, and find about 36" is required to rise to and include an 8' high platform for a pair of 40' cars:
Layout_05-02-2022 (1).JPG

I'm trying to simulate what is seen this photograph, which I've already posted a couple of times here:
Depot_WtCrt_1949.jpg

Yep, I believe I have the room, and also allowing for a realistic truck loading area for the coal to be dispensed.
It's not really required on the layout, because folks were moving into natural gas for heating and locomotives were going diesel during the timeframe of my story. None-the-less, I want it for modelling purposes and something different. It's not to far fetched that a coal trestle would have been there in the early sixties.
I downloaded plans from the MMR site to give me an idea about the design of coal unloading trestles. Can't post them here due to stated copyright rules, but, anyone can download from the MRR site.

Well, I'd better get to work trying to get a take-off done for a fence job.
Thank you for all the likes I get on these simple posts. Have a great day, because it's going to be a good one!
 
Evening Everybody.

Bank Holiday Monday today, so extra day off work, just chilling and tidying up plus some odd jobs I needed to do. Found I had messed up one of my flex-tracks, massive gap between two sections, as I had cut the flex to length, had to replace it, so not happy, straightened out a couple of my stub end lines and fastened them down.

Also decided over the weekend that my new loco shed needed some lighting, so added two exterior and two interior ones, tidied up the weathering, and remembered to glue it together 🙃 As I was doing some electrical work, also replaced one of the lights on the signal box, that went phutt some weeks ago.

Have re-started the goods shed build, (I had just lost interest in doing that for a while), so hopefully I'll finish that soon, if I can keep myself motivated long enough.

Browsing the Internet as I do, found a Walther Trainline EMD40-PH in Tri-Rail colours, at £58 inc p+p ($72.00) not sure if it's worth it though, but nice looking Loco all the same.

PH.jpg
 
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Good afternoon. A quiet morning here in So. Central Wi. No rain but sure looks like it will any moment but the forecasters have not predicted any. IMO if we get to the 55f degrees predicted, it’s a miracle.

I went for a walk this morning with Terry. Went maybe 400’ one way to get the garbage and recycling bins. Didn’t think I’d make it back, but did. Being off the thyroid replacement meds is affecting me much greater then I remember previous times. Took a nap to recover. The tough part now though is the sodium free diet. Food now no longer has any appeal and it tastes like I think cardboard should, very blah. Surgery is scheduled for 6:40am 5/5/2022 and is a over night stay at this time. On Wednesday 5/4 I drop my diabetes meds of Metformin and Glipizide for insulin starting at midnight. A visiting nurse will be here at noon, then at 7pm and 11pm if I need an injection based on my readings texted to her. This part is new to me!

I will be adding pictures of the WC covered hoppers to my “Continous weathering thread” by dinner tonight. I need to take them 1st! After dinner at home tonight, we are debating going to the Overture Center in downtown Madison to see what the next season’s of touring Broadway and other shows looks like. It is one of those, do we want to get out of the house (yes) and can I do it ( I think so)?

Enjoy the day
TomO
 
Afternoon All,

Spent the morning finding washer machine parts. The good news is I found them. The bad news is that will take 2-3 days to come in. After lunch I started cleaning sidings. Tomorrow, I plan on cleaning the engine facility tracks. Not much else on the agenda.

Thank you for the photo likes yesterday.

Troy- That color reminds me of the Pennsy coach car interior color.

IB Ken- It's great you got your TT working and programmed again. I gave up trying to keep the various TT's programmed. I just move the bridge with the CW/CCW arrows.

Mike- Growing up Mom & Dad have several boxes of Christmas ornaments in Mayflower moving boxes.

Sherrel- Positive progress from Kate.

Smudge- Nice looking loco. How about some photos of your lighted engine house?

Ken D&J- Interesting RH video.

Joe- Good luck with the insurance. Nice 1:1 photo.

Willie- Nice job on the figures.

Steve- Congrats on your KA module success. Good luck on your surgery and feeling better.

James- I hope you beat the Covid quickly.

Guy- Thank you. I look forward to seeing you recreate the scene.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Afternoon All,

Spent the morning finding washer machine parts. The good news is I found them. The bad news is that will take 2-3 days to come in. After lunch I started cleaning sidings. Tomorrow, I plan on cleaning the engine facility tracks. Not much else on the agenda.

Thank you for the photo likes yesterday.

Troy- That color reminds me of the Pennsy coach car interior color.

IB Ken- It's great you got your TT working and programmed again. I gave up trying to keep the various TT's programmed. I just move the bridge with the CW/CCW arrows.

Mike- Growing up Mom & Dad have several boxes of Christmas ornaments in Mayflower moving boxes.

Sherrel- Positive progress from Kate.

Smudge- Nice looking loco. How about some photos of your lighted engine house?

Ken D&J- Interesting RH video.

Joe- Good luck with the insurance. Nice 1:1 photo.

Willie- Nice job on the figures.

Steve- Congrats on your KA module success. Good luck on your surgery and feeling better.

James- I hope you beat the Covid quickly.

Guy- Thank you. I look forward to seeing you recreate the scene.

I hope everyone has a good night.
Blast, knew I forgot something, I'll post some tomorrow, 😞
 
Good Evening all,

Busy day as usual. Kids are here as storms were supposed to be bad, but I think they're gonna fizzle out. I think we'll get some rain.

Mowed the yard and got the second round of fertilizer done yesterday. Saturday we ate out for the first time in a couple of years. Went to Texas Roadhouse. Steaks were a lot chewier than I thought they should be. Way more gristle than I remembered steak having. The cheaper cuts I usually get were more tender. Rest of the meal was good.

Everyone have a great night.
 
TomO - Prayers and best thoughts for your upcoming procedures.

JAMES- Prayers for you to 'kick" the virus too - as well as MIKE.

STEVE - I think you are due for some surgery too? Prayers buddy!

CURT - PHIL gave me call last evening 10PM his time. Anyway, was good to hear from him. He said that he has not been on the forum for about a year, that he had just lost interest? I told him that I too sometimes lose interest, but I still enjoy the comraudy (I know that's wrong, but no correction shown) and looking at the beautiful work of all the other folks. He spent most of the time "bashing" the cell phone and automobile repair gigs, but all in all it was nice to talk to him.

I'm not sure at the moment what is going on here at the ponderosa? Have not spoken, texted, or heard from the Spousal Unit for exactly 24 hours now.
She had said that she was going to test again today, and if clear, she was planning to come home but she would need to mask for 5 days.
I went to WM yesterday for some dog supplies and a few other things. Long story short - I was so weak that I actually had to sit down in the aisle for a couple minutes to get my breath back up. The fairly short slightly uphill parking lot was a real tiring couple minutes!
She texts after I was home and suggested that I sit down and suck on some O2 for awhile and I sort of expected that she would come just to check on me - but she did not? I thought, damn!, she does not know whether I am bad off, or not?

So, here we are today. I have more or less given up on purchasing the "family home". I am no longer able to do the kind of work that it needs just for basic upkeep. Too old to soon and too smart too late!
 
Well, howdy there internet people, and those with two left thumbs. ;)

It's two-thumbed Troy again.

Let's talk about being safe.

got my new 3D printer up and running, and, the build plate, that dunks into the vat of resin, has grabbed onto the models printed on it, like a gold-digger hanging onto his Sugar Momma. Had to chisel the first few models off. Made me mad enough to order a flexible magnetic plate add-on.

Screen Shot 2022-05-02 at 8.08.54 PM.png


That's a sheet of magnet material, adhesive on one side that you affix to the metal build plate. Then, you can cover the magnetic sheet with a removable spring steel sheet. The steel sheet peels off. You flex it and models pop right off. No chisel required. Since they're coated with toxic resin at that point, this is an add-on I've wanted.

The problem is, the two add-on sheets add 2.6 mm to the depth the build plate drops down toward the $85 LCD screen. This one is 8.98" diagonal. About the size of a small tablet device.

Don't want to crack that. I check the website, but my printer isn't listed as needing a spacer addition to the Home photo sensor. There is an arm/peg/whatever on the Z-axis arm. When that little peg breaks the sensor beam on the base, where the screen sits, then the up/down motion stops.

Screen Shot 2022-05-02 at 8.08.17 PM.png

Above: Little black peg correctly installed, with with the spacer.

I checked my build plate. There is some play in it in the Z axis (up and down). But, to be on the safe side, I take off the little peg, get longer 3m bolts, insert the spacer, and reinstall the peg.

Then I hit the home button. The build plate starts its slow drop toward the screen. I've got the build plate loose-ish, and it keeps dropping.

THUNK!

This is what the screen looked like after I realized my mistake, and that the build plate wasn't really loose. I didn't crack it, but half of the screen won't light up now...

Screen Shot 2022-05-02 at 8.08.29 PM.png
Seem's troy installed that peg 180° rotated front to back....

It didn't break the beam, because it wasn't aimed at the hole where the sensor was.

I've got a new $85 on the way from Amazon. Should be here tomorrow.

And, I turned the peg back around as it should be - and then took the photos above.

Be safe, not silly like Troy
 
Ahhhh, 3D printers. I know quite a few people who wanted to give it a shot. Bought a printer, bought the material to print, bought the software and books. After a few weeks they were ready to throw it out the window. They needed a faster this part, a better this part, a higher quality this part etc. Apparently, what most people do is they buy the lowest quality printer thinking they can learn from that them upgrade. With 3D printers, that's not quite the case. It's like each level of quality is independent of the other levels. What ya learn on the lesser quality machines doesn't transfer in the slightest way to a better machine.
It would be sorta like learning to speak Spanish so you can jump to speaking Russian easier.
I'll just stay clear of the whole thing.
My drive back home from Detroit was very uneventful. Stopped at the Mainline Hobbies hobby shop, picked up some Norfolk Southern engine decals and a model excavator for a flatcar load.
 
...Apparently, what most people do is they buy the lowest quality printer thinking they can learn from that them upgrade. With 3D printers, that's not quite the case. It's like each level of quality is independent of the other levels. What ya learn on the lesser quality machines doesn't transfer in the slightest way to a better machine.
It would be sorta like learning to speak Spanish so you can jump to speaking Russian easier.
I'll just stay clear of the whole thing.
...
There is a learning curve. And GIGO... what you put into the hobby (yes, it's a hobby) is what you get out.

This being my third machine, I thought I was past the learning curve. Now I'm just on the dumbarse mistake curve. 😜 o_O
 
Good evening Shop Dwellers!

Sherrell - glad to hear you were able to make contact with Phil; bummer about the reduced cardio function.

. . .
IB Ken- It's great you got your TT working and programmed again. I gave up trying to keep the various TT's programmed. I just move the bridge with the CW/CCW arrows.
. . .
Curt, I was tempted to try doing something like that, if I wasn't able to successfully reprogram and align all the tracks. Q: Do you put it in "prog" mode to make it spin slower and give better control for stopping? I prefer the convenience of having the TT stop automatically at the right spot, but I might go the "arrows-only" route if I ever run into another loss of programming.

Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!
 
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