Running Bear's September 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good afternoon Shop Dwellers! 80*F, sunny & calm in my little Maryland town.

Thanks everybody for the "likes" and/or kind comments on my photo of the new Athearn C-26 cabeese -
Chet, Louis, Phil, Tom, Garry, Sherrell, Lee, Joe/Boris - plus anybody whose comment I might have failed to notice.

Hughie, condolences on the loss of another BIL!

Joe, that's quite a canopy of catenary wires over that Reading interurban in your photo, I wonder if anybody has ever modeled something like that - I can't comprehend maintaining such a mess, let alone building it!
Ken: Those two Genesis Cabins look great. Did you post a photo of the Tangents?
Ok, here is the factory-painted one:
Tangent_I-18_Caboose_sm.jpg

I also ordered an undecorated car as well several months ago when their first run of B&O I-18's were all sold out, but that one is still in the box unassembled. I'll probably end up painting it in the newer solid Enchantment Blue scheme like the C-26's...

I'm in the middle of trying to install a so-called "rock plow" to the pilot of one of my GP40's. These were used on all of the B&O's and C&O's later-delivered EMD hood units and are used only by those roads. The only add-on detail version available is a Cal-Scale white metal casting, which is a major PITA because it has to be grinded-down to fit over the coupler pocket and [on the bottom] to clear the track. So that's where I'm headed back to now, hoping to get this thing done before suppertime. Toodles!
 
Have any of you guys run a shelf layout. In particular, one without a continues loop. Did you, would you get bored? This is from a book about shelf layouts. I've added the extension with t he turntable, otherwise it's from the book. Layout name, St Antoine ser Mer.
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Have any of you guys run a shelf layout. In particular, one without a continues loop. Did you, would you get bored? This is from a book about shelf layouts. I've added the extension with t he turntable, otherwise it's from the book. Layout name, St Antoine ser Mer.
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Hughie - I run a shelf layout without continuous running, albeit much larger than this one. But I had all of the space that I needed. But I am primarily into switching. I get bored just watching trains run in circles, but that's just me. Many others feel differently. This layout looks like it offers plenty of switching opportunities. It has a bit of everything, storage/classification yard, run-around track, engine servicing facilities, turntable, and I count at least ten potential industry spurs. I am assuming that the two tracks coming off the turntable on the left side are engine storage tracks. It offers switching in both directions which makes for a whole lot more action. While it has a turntable to watch, there are no reverse loops anywhere, making wiring a lot easier.
 
Afternoon All,

Started with chores then spent the rest of the day finishing laying the engine facility tracks and powering them and some testing. I still need to connect to the TT (maybe tomorrow or Tuesday). I also did a dry run with all the facilities in place.

Ken- Very nice looking cabeese. It's almost a shame to weather them.

Lee- Nice scene. I really like the Merchandise Service cars and the steamer. This is what I kitbashed last year. I made 4 of them.

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Joe- Great 1:1 photos.

Willie- Nice grain mills. I had no idea you modeled so much of the grain industry.

Chet- Nice club photos. You don't have sand in MT?

Hughie- If you like operations and don't want a continuous run that should work great for you.

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I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Hobo. A friend of mine has a shelf layout and loves it

Louis. Nice pics as always

Willie. Sorry to hear that about Johnny hope he gets life back in order and starts Model Railroading again

Curt. Thanks for the complement and posting that Piggyback. Your layout is looks good.


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These are some O scale AHM I’ve been working on. The Lackawanna I painted/decaled last year with Tichy Train Group decals today I put a new floor in it and added some Lionel sprung trucks which I drilled out all the ones I have and removed that pin/ button. Next was a Union Pacific car I used some old left over Microscale decals I had. I also made a new floor for that. I’ll be adding some On the carriage detail like crossmembershon the carriage detail to these and some stirrups.
 
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Hughie - I run a shelf layout without continuous running, albeit much larger than this one. But I had all of the space that I needed. But I am primarily into switching. I get bored just watching trains run in circles, but that's just me. Many others feel differently. This layout looks like it offers plenty of switching opportunities. It has a bit of everything, storage/classification yard, run-around track, engine servicing facilities, turntable, and I count at least ten potential industry spurs. I am assuming that the two tracks coming off the turntable on the left side are engine storage tracks. It offers switching in both directions which makes for a whole lot more action. While it has a turntable to watch, there are no reverse loops anywhere, making wiring a lot easier.
The reason I am even considering a layout change is to make it more operations than railfaning. I just have a concern about getting bored in time once you memorize all the moves. Maybe I'm not looking at it the right way.
 
Eddie Murray joins Henry Arron and Willie Mays as the only players with 500 homeruns and more than 3000 hits. September 6, 1996
View attachment 116985
Since then, they have been joined by ARod & Pujols(both of whom have joined the rare air of the 600/3000 Club with Aaron & Mays) & Palmiero. The only active player currently within range of 3,000/500 is Miggy Cabrera, who is is only 18 singers & 151 hits away.
 
The reason I am even considering a layout change is to make it more operations than railfaning. I just have a concern about getting bored in time once you memorize all the moves. Maybe I'm not looking at it the right way.
That's when you introduce non-standard cars and equipment into the mix. If a customer is only good for 40 foot cars, and a 50 footer shows up, you will need to make extra and special movements to accommodate it.
 
Good evening ...

Hughie .... I think that track plan has potential for many hours of fun with switching operations.

Curt ..... I think you showed the Truck Train car and trailer before. I like it. .... Nice progress with teh layout.

Lee .... The boxcars look great.

Ken .... have fun with the plow project. The caboose is impressive.

Chet .... I enjoy seeing your club layout photos.

Everybody .... Have a nice night.
 
...back again! Thanks for all the "likes" and supportive comments on the 2nd caboosed photo - Chad, Garry, Justin, Lee, Sherrell, Louis, Karl, and Curt.

Chet - glad to see that the weather conditions have decreased the wildfire danger, at least somewhat...

Ken- Very nice looking cabeese. It's almost a shame to weather them.
Thanks Curt! I sort of agree with you, but one of the main things I'm aiming for is proto-illusion - having layout photos where it takes a few seconds for the viewer to realize that the scene is modeled and not real; and having all fresh-from-the-box rolling stock would undermine that attempted illusion.

BTW It's great to see your new layout "rising from the ashes." 👍

Ken .... have fun with the plow project. The caboose is impressive.

Thanks Garry, but the plow is one type of "fun" I'd prefer not to enjoy (LOL). It took me ~90 minutes of on-and-off precision grinding, first to make it fit properly, then to keep the bottom comfortably clear of the track. Since the plow is metal, it would cause an instant short if it touched both rails at the same time. In fact, I applied a layer of Scotch "Magic" invisible tape across the bottom surface (out of sight) to hedge against the inevitable moment that it does accidentally bridge the rails!

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I found enough additional time this afternoon to finish installing the plow. I had to use a coupler with and extra-long shaft in order for cars with glad-hands to not have their knuckles be forced into the "open" position from pressing against the protruding plow. At this point the only remaining task on this model is to apply some very light weathering, since the prototype photo from 1971 shows a recently-repainted unit. However, since I know how Louis prefers seeing clean locos, I went ahead and snapped a photo of the un-weathered model to share with y'all:

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Uh-oh....a message just popped up on my screen saying that I have to install the latest version of Windows 10, since Microsoft has ended support for what I'm currently running! Oh well, guess I'll just let it happen now so I can get it over with. Wonder which of my existing apps will no longer work after the update...[?] 😒

G'nite!
 
Coffee!

Dang! Tom beat me in, this morning. That's what I get for sleeping in.

I started noodling (with two colours of painters tape) on the benchtop last night, and have been trying to track down (pun intended) info on the cascade division of the Great Northern in the 1950s.

Two things I'm learning since this seems to be the area/time frame I want to model: (OK, more than two)
  • I'm going to have mountains --- a lot of mountains
  • I want two levels of track - but don't want a double-deck layout
  • And a tunnel or two
  • I do NOT want a helix - it takes over prime modeling areas.
  • I may need more flex track

as of last night, the track plan is officially set in wet oatmeal and has a folded loop mainline that climbs and descends. I can do it, but I am going to not have a 17" radius on the mountain curves.

The two layouts I'm looking at from recent Model Railroader articles (and MRR+ Videos) are the Canadian Canyons MRR just built, and Lee Marsh's Cascade Division (June 2020 issue).

Anyone have any other suggestions for layouts I can be inspired by in that area of the Pacific North West?
 
Good morning all from the left coast.... lots of fires in Cal. lots of smoke here in Ore. Hope this Labor Day find everybody well!
Here is a picture of Mt Shasta, were the Caldwell butte fire started, (arrow.) In center of pic is the line were the marsh meets the burnt out lava beds. Line in fore ground is BNSF tracks.
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Joe, that's quite a canopy of catenary wires over that Reading interurban in your photo, I wonder if anybody has ever modeled something like that - I can't comprehend maintaining such a mess, let alone building it!

Ken: At that particular location, there are a lot of wires, in a confined space as the Suburban Line between Zoo and the Upper level of 30th St. Station is divided by a moderately sized coach yard, all under the wire, and at varying elevations. Quite a bowl of spaghetti, both track and wire.
The Northeast Corridor Historical Society, has modular groups that replicate scenes around Philadelphia on their modular layout...quite accurately, I might add...one just won a category in the recent Walthers modeling contest. Here is an example of North Philly
I understand that they plan on displaying some of their work at Timonium, if there is ever another show.
 
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