Running Bear's November 2024 Coffee Shop

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Good Morning All!
31F @ 86% and dark. No new white so far.

Made progress on the Helix start yesterday.
20241119_135541.jpg

If you remember, I decided to loose 2 storage tracks and opted in for 2 run through instead of one. Also am changing the inside radii for the 'down' storage and make the ramp skinnier. Red is the where the ramp will be situated. New inside track radii is 26 1/2". Since the NMRA site was bust, I setup the two inside tracks to measure clearances.

20241119_143734.jpg

Outside is a Challenger, inside BigBoy and HW passenger car. Plenty of clearance for those.

20241119_143248.jpg

The passenger car has more under hang needs more inside room but fits with about 3/4" to spare. I looked for a bit but did not find the 80/85 foot passenger cars, they are in the 'somewhere' place. So, just used a foot ruler centered between the rails and that had a little more under hang as expected, but also fit. I do not have any cars with truck bolsters a foot apart, so the ruler was probably over kill but good for this test.

Now that the testing is out of the way, framework for the Helix will start today; I think - Maria said something about CostCo and HD; don't remember if today or tomorra.

Later

[Edit] - forgot - track spacing in the Helix is 2.5". Mainline minimum radii is 36", branch 30" and the branch lines power size and train length will be limited. Currently thinking 10' trains and nothing bigger than 4-8-4's or BB diesels.
 
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troyphoto said:
Oh, I need to get some HEET for the gas tank. Don't forget to treat the gas in your vehicles if you live in cold climates. Don't want the fuel line freezing.
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HEET is probably not needed if your're putting the gasoline that has ethanol in it. There should already be plenty of alcohol in the gasoline to purge condensation. All HEET is is either methanol or isopropyl, depending on variety (the regular bottle is methanol -- not so great for your engine; the isopropylused to have a black band or something on the spout or label IIRC and was better for your engine). I've not used HEET since they stopped putting in MTBE in gasoline and made everyone use ethanol instead of oxygenation. (Not trying to start a discussion on oxygenation and whether it's good or bad or on the politics of using food to create ethanol for gasoline).
 


I think WM has the contract in our city. Our trash pickup i part of the city utility bill (also covers water, rain drainage, street lights, and all the other stuff they stick you with). No issues and no extra charges for anything. My trash is regularly higher than the top, etc. I guess it's good to have a city contract and they don't want to mess that up.
 
chadbag said:
HEET is probably not needed if your're putting the gasoline that has ethanol in it. There should already be plenty of alcohol in the gasoline to purge condensation. All HEET is is either methanol or isopropyl, depending on variety (the regular bottle is methanol -- not so great for your engine; the isopropylused to have a black band or something on the spout or label IIRC and was better for your engine). I've not used HEET since they stopped putting in MTBE in gasoline and made everyone use ethanol instead of oxygenation. (Not trying to start a discussion on oxygenation and whether it's good or bad or on the politics of using food to create ethanol for gasoline).
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You took the words right out of my mouth. About the ONLY thing good about ethanol in the fuel is it's anti-freezing action. But is is hard on rubber seals and gaskets, especially on carbureted engines or early fuel injected engines.
 
TLOC said:
Good morning from Wisconsin. 39f degrees now 45 later. 40% chance of rain, (not the white stuff yet) this afternoon around 1. From the overnight rain Monday the manual rain gauge had just under 2.5”. The grass in the neighborhood looks lush green and of course it needs another cutting. I know a few of the neighbors have moved the snowblowers into position but will need those cutting machines again, yep I’m one of them.

I spent time in the train room and at the bench yesterday. I worked on 2 cars of my own and those were done with oils and are in the drying cabinet until Friday morning. The cabinet prevents any dust from settling on the cars while the oils dry. Usually 24 hours is enough time but we’ll be gone this afternoon and evening and Thursday I hope to be one of the gofers at a layout building session. I figure if I am well enough to go on campus to a Volleyball match tonight I’ll be well enough for trains on Thursday

Unusual for me but I had given no thought yet to Christmas and have no clue what to get Terry! I finally asked after dinner last night and got one of those, I don’t need anything. I fell for that line years ago and let’s just say I was very unlucky for a couple weeks! Jewelry is out as is clothing! I’ll figure it out.

Flo, may I have another diet Dr Pepper? It seems the one I have is empty

Be well and enjoy the day
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Gift certificate for a local restaurant?
 
chadbag said:
I think WM has the contract in our city. Our trash pickup i part of the city utility bill (also covers water, rain drainage, street lights, and all the other stuff they stick you with). No issues and no extra charges for anything. My trash is regularly higher than the top, etc. I guess it's good to have a city contract and they don't want to mess that up.
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That's how ours works as well, so there never is a hassle or fines. everyone pays the same rate, the city puts it out to bid every so often.

Nice perk is we can put one big item a week out (couches, mattress furniture) and they will take that to.
 
kbkchooch said:
You took the words right out of my mouth. About the ONLY thing good about ethanol in the fuel is it's anti-freezing action. But is is hard on rubber seals and gaskets, especially on carbureted engines or early fuel injected engines.
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Yeah, around here you can get ethanol free which I was putting in all our cars for the last 10 years or longer. Even though "modern" cars are made to better handle the corrosiveness (seal damaging property etc) of ethanol its still not great. Recently due to cost factors I've been using ethanol gas in our 2016 and 2019 cars though still bought ethanol free for my small motors. I'd like to move back to ethanol free but need to save the dollars right now. It's usually a mid grade and an extra dime or two above standard mid grade per gallon Bonus is you get slightly better gas mileage without ethanol as ethanol has about 1/2 the energy per volume.
 
Almost afternoon all,

Busy day at the office as I had several meetings with changes we need to make as the county is still using the local cable company at one of the fire stations. They provide the "Lights and Tone" to alert the fire station they are needed. The county has an EMS station attached to our fire station, so it has always been what the alerts ran on. Apparently our "always dependable, always on" cable system has had issues and the fire station has to wit for the county to reset the alarm box. Our other station uses a vpn link between us and the county and is on our internal fiber runs. So we're going to move the other station to this same method, although through a different firewall. While some is easy, I have to wait on other people, so it will take a while to get accomplished.

Otherwise not much happening

Chad: While I agree websites should be written for whatever browser, that's not always the case, and sometimes they are steered to particular versions which may mean an update may not be on the "supported" list. And just because it isn't supported, doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't work.
 
TLOC said:
Unusual for me but I had given no thought yet to Christmas and have no clue what to get Terry! I finally asked after dinner last night and got one of those, I don’t need anything. I fell for that line years ago and let’s just say I was very unlucky for a couple weeks! Jewelry is out as is clothing! I’ll figure it out.
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We've gotten to the point where we have enough junk, enough clothes and jewelry around here (except for trains of course) so we have resorted to giving experiences. Tickets to a show and dinner, visits to a "salt room", one year we gifted each other getting our HQLs. Last year for his birthday we got our 11 year old grandson a visit to a place that has small earth moving equipment that lets kids drive and dig with them. Maybe a hot air balloon ride? Maybe driving a race car around a track? All can be done instead of tangible gifts/
 


Our bright sunny day has now given in to very cloudy very windy conditions. Looks like the promised rain is going to happen. Tonight its supposed to change over to snow. Doesn't sound like much of any accumulation.

I guess it was inevitable, time to embrace winter. Whatever that's going to look like this year!
 
D&J RailRoad said:
I had trash service when I first moved into my current house back in 2011. About a year later, I had received the third price increase notice within a year and decided, I can haul my trash to the dump myself for a lot less. I notified the WM to cancel my contract with them and to let me know when they will pick up their trash bin. They gave me a pickup date and I happened to be home that day. I had just received a new camera that day and was reading the instructions when the WM trash bin truck arrived to pick up my roll away bin. I took a few pictures of him as he loaded into the truck and drive away. A few weeks later I got a letter from WM that I owed them for a roll away bin because it wasn't set out for them to pick up. I contacted them to dispute the claim, stating that I saw the driver when he took it from the foot of my driveway. They claimed the driver came by but didn't find the bin. I then remembered I had a few pictures of him loading it and offered to send it to WM. She said she would get back in touch with me. A few days later I received a letter from WM acknowledging recovery of the bin and my account was closed.
Gotta watch those rascals.
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They are ruthless...I initially thought it was the local facility, but....
 
Welp... just booked the convention (for me) and the airfare for both the wife and I to fly to Ireland next spring. We arrive on....

St. Patrick's Day.

That should be fun.

Three days of an author conference, and three days of sightseeing for me.

Now I just have to figure out hotels
 


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