Running Bear's September 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good morning from the periphery of the Great Basin. Sherrell, Happy Belated Birthday! Sorry I missed the birthday bash yesterday, for a present, let me sent you a jar of clean Oregon air! Oh wait a minute, your air is cleaner than my air...o_Oo_O...what the??
Willie.. thanks much for the explain on the magne-traction, a very interesting concept indeed! The Oxford look great! I am not familiar with them as I am not looking for vehicles right now, but I'm keeping a running list on pieces parts & supplies when ever I come across them for later reference. Probably a dumb question, they make transition era models? Thanks.
Chet...Great photo's of the F-9, thanks for posting. On the front of the loco right above the pilot there's a couple of brackets, what's going on there? I don't ever recall seeing those before. Are they something excusive to the F-9?
All, thanks for likes & comments......
Lee, and you other O scalers, here are the pics from the train I "picked" from a friends shed. The box was on a top shelf, way in the back. Of course the mice, pack rats and what ever had pissed & 💩 all over it. With rubber gloves, the hotest water I could stand, and some Simple Green, I scrubbed the day lights out of this thing. Now all clean & dry, the first good look revealed that the kids (I'm assuming,) had WORE IT OUT playing with it. I salvaged enough track to set the train on the self that holds my work bench lite. On to the photo's.......
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The motor mechanism turns, but it is just sitting inside the shell, no mounting screws, no nothing......
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Both horses still move freely.......
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The only non Lionel parts are the truck/wheelsets on the blue gon.
Everybody have a great Friday!
 
Morning all. Coffee and a donut today, Flo. Yes, have Mel put my bacon on top of the donut.

48° in NE Indiana this morning. The weather guessers say we may have our first frost of the season this weekend. Yay! Sweater Weather (Jumper Weather for those of you in the UK).

Wife has me heading out this morning to look for canning supplies. We sold her big kettle and accessories off when we moved to Los Angeles four years ago. I've been warned that jars and lids may be tough to come by due to everyone Quarantine cooking.

Didn't work on layout - but I did watch several inspirational videos between youtube (most Ron Marsh), and Model Railroader +

I need to add the second layer of foam to most of the layout, and cut out the gorge and where I need access to the tunnel in the corner. But, I'll need to plot track positions on some graph paper so I know where to start with all of those incline risers.

As for musical knowledge (like Willie's), I'm not even allowed to sing in the shower. I might offend the soap. And the only way I can carry a tune is if I put a radio in a bucket and start walking with it.

Wife was always grumpy that I wouldn't even try to dance. "How hard can it be, just move to the beat." One a cruise about 8 years ago, she really wanted to go to the Salsa Dance basics class. She tried to get me up again. "Just move to the beat."

"What's the beat?" I said. "I mean, I understand the concept, but where is it? I hear a bunch of notes, and a lot of interplay between the instruments..."

She looked dumbstruck. After 25+ years of marriage, it finally dawned on her that I'm not your average person. She started tapping the beat. I followed but didn't hear what she did. As soon as she stopped, I started following both the drum and the horns at the same time. Bah da, de do, be be beDAHbeDah doo doooo.

"You really can't hear it? Wow!"

Ever since then, It's my job to watch her purse and sweater while she and our cruise friends go dance.

She did let me get tickets for the trip to "nowhere" on the White Pass and Yukon route on our recent Alaskan cruise.

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Morning all,

Supposed to be clear and 78* today. They say we'll still be hazy due to the smoke from the west coast fires. You can smell it in the air and know it's a long ways away.

Great news on the wife, at this time there are no heart related issues with her, but they think her issues are due to sleep apnea, so she's scheduled for a CPAP as soon as the clinic calls her back. So 2 out of 3 issues are better, just waiting for the last chemo on the daughter.

I was told by the wife I have to clean the tools I left at the daughter's house out tonight. I'm always needing some tools when I work over there, so I have some in the old shed. All the house needs is new windows and siding and it will be in decent shape since the electrical has been resolved. I suspect we're going to be spending the weekend there (the house is within walking distance to ours) cleaning out the shed and finally tossing crap that should have been gotten rid of.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 65° here. The Left Coast smoke hasn't really hit us here, but if the jet stream moves just a wee bit south, we'll finally see the effects. So far we have dodged some of Mother Natures bullets; no hazy smoke, hurricane Laura stayed east of here and the extreme heat stayed at Sherrel's house. Now we are getting ready to have a La Niña winter, which is good for us normally. More mild and drier than normal.
Made the grocery/beer trek yesterday and continued the dry ice purchases. I have found that the blocks are lasting me a bit longer than I was told that they would last, maybe 36 hours instead of 24. Some stuff is thawing however.:mad:

How about a large plate of sausage patties with a couple of sunny side up eggs for me this morning, Flo. And a toasted English Muffin to mop it all up with.

Thanks as usual for the likes and comments yesterday regarding the Oxford vehicles; Patrick, Guy, Lee, Karl, Jerome, Hughie, Curt, Phil, Joe, Tom, Chet, Ken, Justin, James, Jerry. I have to thank Oxford for making such great vehicles. Me, I just buy the right ones for my layout.

Let me see if I can remember what I did in the train shed yesterday! I did some more detail painting for the D's Diner. Painted a couple of ladies to sit in the convertable, but didn't get to paint the trim yet...just haven't opened that color yet. Started painting the other two bicycles, and almost got the candy cane-striped posts to my satisfaction.
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I carved up and painted a driver for the Dodge Charger "Daytona", but the picture is too fuzzy for me to post. I also gave the car a shot of dull coat.
I also checked out the parts and instructions for one of the kits that I purchased Monday. I don't intend to build it for a couple of weeks, but I wanted to check it out.
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As you can tell, it is a Blair Lines Feed Store.
And since it has been about ten days since I ran any trains, I did some running. As a preventative measure when I wait this long, I placed a Walther's track cleaning car at the head end of the first one.
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I like this car, it weighs in at just under 8 ounces and does a good job replacing the masonite car that I used for years. However I fault Walther's for its realism. Note that it is a design from the steam era days, with a roof walk and all. But look at this.
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Build date of 4-89??? While CSX was around in '89, I don't believe that they ever owned a reefer like this.:rolleyes:

Patrick - Great to read that all of the medical issues seem to be under control, including the doggie. Sounds like some serious rewiring at your daughter's home. Best to be on the safe side.
Guy - Sure hope that you can get out and get that elk before they all disappear.
Hughie - Happy Anniversary. You got me beat by 6 years, we celebrated 48 last week.
Jerry - Oxford vehicles are my favorite ones. They offer mostly common everyday cars, they are reasonably priced compared to others, and they are mostly easy to disassemble for adding drivers/passengers. Interesting that they are made in the UK. Most of their vehicles are from the 50's and 60's, but they have a couple of dozen from earlier. Here's a link to their web page. Shop around, I get mine 20% off MSRP at my LHS.
Oxford vehicles
I see a lot of them in Chet's layout pictures also.

Today is the Air Force Birthday, as well as National Cheeseburger Day. So hold that cheeseburger in your left hand when you salute a military person.
 
Good Morning all. 56 degrees in the Ozark Foothills. Flo Coffee and a Blie Beery Muffin

Chet Thanks for the complement on the F7 and the cool breeze but you can keep that smoke

Patrick. Hope your Daughter is feeling well and your wife I’m still keeping them in my prayers

Curt. Thanks for posting your dad’s Steamer and thanks for the complement


Willie. Nice Oxford vehicles I’m going have to get on the ball and get some. Thanks for the complement on the Farm I’ll post some later.

2track. Thanks for posting that 2-4-2 those were good little runners I would hand on to it


Troy. Nice pics of you Alaska trip hope you get to work on the layout this weekend instead. 😆

Sorry no bench time both of my Daughter were home last night which is rare the oldest wanted to watch a movie so I could pass it up. My oldest is 20 and my youngest is 15 these moments won’t be around much longer. Glad it Friday and for that I’m leaving you a pic I took on our yard a couple months ago. Thanks for all the complements and likes yesterday. Enjoy your weekend and I’ll check in later



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I've been warned that jars and lids may be tough to come by due to everyone Quarantine cooking.
I do quite a bit of home canning myself. Lots of excess produce from the garden. In this region, the dome lids are impossible to find right now. Jars with lids and rings are readily available. Lids and rings together are occasionally on the shelves. I happened to stock up on the lids before the pandemic struck. I had enough for my needs, but I have been checking every week for more that just aren't in stock. Jars and rings, I have several hundred of each already. There hasn't been this much demand since the mid-70's.
 
I do quite a bit of home canning myself. Lots of excess produce from the garden. In this region, the dome lids are impossible to find right now. Jars with lids and rings are readily available. Lids and rings together are occasionally on the shelves. I happened to stock up on the lids before the pandemic struck. I had enough for my needs, but I have been checking every week for more that just aren't in stock. Jars and rings, I have several hundred of each already. There hasn't been this much demand since the mid-70's.
found two packs of half-pint jars (with lids and rings) at Tar-gette! Purchased one.

Unfortunately, we sold off the wife's canning pot and accessories. Fortunately, she wants to make Apple Butter, which doesn't require a pressure cooker. We can get by with a smaller stockpot to boil the jars and lids. I just have to make her a magnetic stick to get the lids out with. I think I can handle that.
 
Afternoon All,

Did some chores then put plaster cloth on the risers I put in yesterday. I did some more planning and I think I found a better way to put in the main and 2 interchange tracks that bend around both sides of the layout. The bushes came in, imagine my surprise for them to be Woodland Scenics and not a Scenic Express product. I have bought Scenic Express turf before and it's their product. Also the bushes are tiny, I guess I was thinking of clump bushes :(. I can make this work because the angle isn't as steep as the sides.

No modeling tomorrow since I'm driving out to see my parents. I talk to them every week but it's been about a month since I have seen them.

Chet- Very nice layout and 1:1 photos.

Ken- Nice decaling job.

Jerry- Interesting find.

Troy- It looks like a great train excursion.

Patrick- Great news about your wife.

Willie- Nice details and interesting feed store.

I hope everyone has a good night.

Lee- Nice BNSF photos.
 
Trying to catch up with all the reading of posts!

Honestly, Guys, I really appreciate all the Birthday wishes -- I really didn't realize that I had so many friends!
My BIL texted me and asked if I was enjoying relaxing on my Birthday and I texted him back and said, " hell no -- everybody keeps calling and texting me"! LOL - couldn't resist that - he texted back - "Funny".

Actually I do want more birthdays - I'm just to the point that I do not want to acknowledge them? It took me a whole year to get used to 77 and now i have to start over!

I am still 3 pages on catching up - later, I will! It has been HOT out here - 101 yesterday and 101 now with a 103 forecast - not a cloud in sight, but the sky has a "dusty" tinge to it! Humidity is a whopping 13%.
Enough jabbering - Off to Lowes for a new Garden Cart - after 27 years ours finally bit the dust ... Lowes has one looks almost exact for 40 bucks ... I think it will work nicely.

The Spousal Unit continues to improve and now she is in to Kettlebells (whatever that is). The doctor told her a couple days back that if she can shed another 15 lbs that he will schedule her for the knee replacement and that he would fudge the number 5 lbs. Great news!

Later folks.
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A few" Work in Progress "photos , before it all gets covered up with scenery level . Test train is on the left most track a mix Athearn Metal line , Varney metal , Walthers / TM , and a few plastic Athearn, Roundhouse and assorted others .


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I m starting the lower scenery level which will be 3 - 3.5 " above the yard .
 
Good afternoon of the day 44years ago I married Terry. Have had some wonderful times and a few not so great. We went (yes we r bored) on a 125 mile scenic drive today after the grocery pick up. Headed towards the Wi. Dells but to Reedsburg, Wisconsin just for something different. In a normal year we would then walk the downtown area, visit a museum, just the normal tourist stuff. We drove around and a Terry noted the laptop on interesting stuff for non pandemic years. On the way home stopped for a late lunch at our favorite drive in. But they put picnic tables for outdoor seating under the awning instead of the cars. The food was well priced and excellent. Nothing fancy just good old grillEd 85/15 ground chuck and great fries.

The western fire smoke has cleared So. Central Wisconsin per the weather folks. Still looks like a smoke haze to me.

The photos you folks are posting are just plain old awesome. I missed a couple days of posting because of labs and the wife to do list. Took a while to catch up. There is more posting on this thread in a day then some forums get in the entire forum I visit.

My trees have taken a back seat the last few days. When I sold some it took the wind out of my sails. I was on a good roll and need to get that back. Have a great day. TomO
 
Good evening, y'all, been away for a couple, so I have to catch up.

The doctor told her a couple days back that if she can shed another 15 lbs that he will schedule her for the knee replacement and that he would fudge the number 5 lbs. Great news!
Good news about your better half, Sherrel, I think kettlebells are dumbbells shaped like kettles. I am planning on getting a couple of 15 pounders to help my at home rehab exercises. Nice photo, by the way. Oh, yes, Happy Birthday.

TomO: Happy Anniversary!

GT:
Nice progress.

Today was one of those days when I just felt like sleeping, but I had to go to the Doctor. Afterward, we went to the local orchard, which was crowded with New Yorkers buying stuff for the (Jewish) New Year that begins this evening. After we left there, we stopped at the local ACME, to buy groceries. Their Rocket sleds were on back order... Then home, for a late lunch and a nap.

I have this ever growing list of stuff I need from Home Depot, maybe I'll go Monday... Hopefully, I will spend time on the layout over the weekend.

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Last Westbound Amtrak Broadway Limited arrives in Philadelphia behind E60 #602

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Westbound MU at Tulpehocken Station, PRR Chestnut Hill Branch, 1963 Believe this is an H Smith photo.

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Reading SW1500 outside of the Reading's Abrams (PA) Enginehouse. Shortly after the Conrail takeover of the Reading.
 
Sherrel Please don’t mess up Chets plan with the nice cool air he is sending to the Ozark Foothills keep the Hot stuff at your house BTW nice pic of the engine

GeeTee. Nice progress

Curt. Thanks for the complement

TomO Happy Anniversary

Joe. Nice pics as always

Thanks for the complements and likes today. Can someone tell me what happened Wombat457? I was thinking of some of the older guys that used to post here today. Good night catch ya in the AM
 
Good evening Shop Dwellers! 57*F, clear and dark in my Central MD town.

Thanks for all the "likes" and/or comments on the photo of my repainted GP40 half-shell: Tom-O, Hughie, Guy, Justin, Chet, Patrick, Lee, Jerry, Karl, Tom (C), Jerome, Phil, Curt.

Jerry - that Lionel set you dug up looks exactly like the one my parents got me for Christmas at age 5 - same "Lionel Lines" 2-4-2 and caboose, red Lehigh Valley hopper car, an NYC gondola, and a flatcar which I don't recall the roadname of. Didn't have the livestock car, but I did have a Fort Knox boxcar with clear "glass" sides so you could see the gold bullion inside!🤓 (Goldfinger would have had fun with that one.) Also had a signal mast with red and green lights, and a 8" tall flashing crossbuck that towered over the trains...but I didn't care, still loved it. Suffice it to say, that trainset ignited a lifelong fascination with trains.

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Didn't have as much free time tonite for mrr activity as I did yesterday, but I did manage to find time to at least do the road number decals on each side of the cab of my second repainted shell (a GP38). Numbers are the most time-consuming because of the need to make sure the digits are all perfectly aligned on the vertical and horizontal planes, and correctly spaced. Trying to nudge them into the correct position, by hundredths of an inch, takes a lot of repeated attempts to get them "just right." Geez, I can't even comprehend trying to do this in N scale...!
 
Howdy .

We arrived home from our Cincinnati visit. Still busy though .

Willie ..... CSX was founded in 1986. That is a plug door boxcar, and I don't know if CSX owned any like that one. I bet it is hard to paint stripes on those poles.

Sherrel .... The Also alligator looks sharp in the SP black widow paint scheme.

Gee Tee ..... It looks like you have some interesting old HO models.

Jerry .... When I was a young kid, I had a Lionel train set which had a 2-4-2 loco like that. It also had the blue gondola and the brown caboose.

Joe ... Thanks for posting the interesting photos.

Troy Photo .... That looks like a good ride on the WP&Y.

Everybody ..... Have a nice night.

Here is an SD7 switching stock cars.

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Greetings from the almost frigid upper corner of Indiana. 38° now, but frost warning for the weekend.

Wife made pancakes this morning... on a day I'm trying to be good on carbs. Unfortunately, that means she won't want much food for the rest of the day. I sense a lot of snacking in my immediate future - every time she says, "Ugh... I shouldn't have made pancakes..."

I did spend time working on the layout yesterday. Stripped the foam risers off about half of it. Cleaned all the masking tape I was using to mark my brain farts... err track planning ideas. Swept the crumbs off, and started gluing foam down to the benchwork. Going to need to be cautious about this. The basement is NOT ventilated. We're in a condo that was built BEFORE building codes required egress windows. Since the laundry is on another floor, I don't even have a dryer vent down here to hook a fan to.

That means running the fan on the furnace and keeping the windows upstairs open. I put a box fan at the bottom of the stairs, angled up. Then went upstairs after gluing what I could. I'll rinse and repeat later.

Here's a pic. Fortunately, I'm well stocked on 12 packs of soda cans. They work for holding the foam in place, even better than old paint cans.

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