Running Bear's September 2024 Coffee Shop


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bnsf971 said:
Has anybody else pulled back from sound, or even digital?
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Defiantly!

I have enough with sound now as it is. With the cost of Rivet counter/Genesis level models hitting close to or some over the $300 mark I have decided to not buy anymore sound equipped locomotives. I will get the DCC ready versions and pug a ESU Lok pilot decoder in and call it a day. I usually get annoyed with sound after a while and eventually turn it off.
 
Good morning all!

Going to be another warm day. High is supposed to get to 87 degrees. Looks like the big cool down is going to happen on Sunday.

Looking out in the backyard, I see a few leaves have started to fall.

Don't know what the day will bring as of yet, but im sure something will arise. According to USPS my Scaletrains reefer cars should arrive today. It has been a long wait for them. Hopefully this run will roll better than the 5 I bought from the first run that roll terrible and will need some work.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
Morning all,

73° and clear. We had a touch of rain overnight, just enough to raise the humidity and are going for a high later of 100°.

Supposed to be in the mid to upper 90's tomorrow and Saturday.

May not get any pecans this year...I'll be out when they drop and since others have seen me picking them up...it's a known public access on a tree that otherwise is on private property. I usually get the ones that fall from the branches that hang over the city's side of the property line, so there's no trespassing on my account.
 
Good Morning All. Clear and 74°, high today and tomorrow is forecast to be 98°. Otherwise, no upcoming changes, NWS still says rain on Monday and Tuesday...originally was forecast for Sunday only!

Short post this morning, as I have a 8:00 am dermatologist appointment. Plan was originally to go from there to the weekly grocery trek, but my wife balked at leaving the house so early. So, I'll go alone and then go by Home Depot and maybe Hobby Lobby (if they're open); and we'll make the grocery trek tomorrow. I have enough food and beer to last until then!

Another day of firewood cutting yesterday. I made a temporary switch over to get some Oak into the mix for the 2025-2026 season stack. I like to have a mix of varieties available for burning, and I just don't want to have separate piles.
I'm so glad that I decided to keep the swimming pool open for a few more weeks after the water cooled down into the mid-70's earlier this month. It's a very pleasant 84° in the afternoon, and only cooling off to 82° most nights, thus making it useful all day long. However the days are getting shorter at a more rapid rate and I'll begin to run out of sunlight to keep it warm sometime next week, especially if there are clouds Monday and Tuesday (rain or not).

Out in the train shed yesterday, I continued running various engines and freight cars through the switch with the new N scale ground throw. Even engines that I would never think of using for switching like Dash9-44CW's. All worked out well but some looked funny. I also did some repair work on two more laser-cut wood structures, gluing the peel & stick roofing back on that had come loose when the roof of the train shed leaked. One was a structure that I got from Chet, but haven't planted on the layout yet. That's why it got overlooked until now.
No pictures today cause I'm running out of time.

John - Prayers and well wishes for your wife, and you have a speedy recovery.
Karl - Hope that you're feeling better today.
Patrick - Congratulations on winning the gift card! Great that the HR head worked with you to keep you eligible.
Tom O - Boy, that extra charge for staying over an hour really sucks. I'm sure that it may happen at some ritzy places in Dallas, but I have never heard of any.
Troy - My guess is that your HOA won't allow it, but back in the mid-70's, I rented a house on one of the main drags in Denton. Too many trees in the back yard, so I dug holes in the front yard and planted tomato plants w/cages scattered about. I planted Squash in the flower beds.

Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, sorry but I never got into that one.
Everyone have a great Thursday, I am headed for the shower and then to the doctor.
 
Never really got into sound, grew up in the 1980's when it was non-existent bar the clickety clack over track joints and the roar of Hornby and Lima's pretty dire pancake motors of the period.

The only sound feature available in UK models was a strip of sandpaper attached to the axle of a tender which went around making a sort of chuff chuff noise that really was quite pathetic!!

In my experience of DCC sound at shows, a lot sounds to me at least to be out of scale to the model or tinny. Then there is the inevitable moment when something shorts out somewhere (usually due to operator errors) and the whole lot goes dead silent!!!
 
Good morning. The brother texted that he leaves for Zurich this morning from NYC. He won’t be back until the final golf event in November. Not like him but his girlfriend after a 3 year miserable bout with cancer is in remission. He says they will travel while she feels good and finally she feels good.

I’m off to help continue the destruction (I mean creating a new rails to trails program) of a well known local model railroad. It’s coming down to make way for a new and improved version. He is 70 but figures after 20 years of great running it was time. Sad but also fun to see the layout go but the new one is going to be spectacular

Weather again in the 80’s but the humidity is high

Enjoy the day
 
santafewillie said:
Troy - My guess is that your HOA won't allow it, but back in the mid-70's, I rented a house on one of the main drags in Denton. Too many trees in the back yard, so I dug holes in the front yard and planted tomato plants w/cages scattered about. I planted Squash in the flower beds.
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WILLIE: She tried growing cherry tomatoes out front in one of her fancy boxes with the reservoir underneath. The limited harvest she did get was mostly squirrel and chipmunk food. I think she was able to save about a dozen cherry tomatoes that year. We're just situation facing east, with large bushes to the south between the units. Or 6 ft privacy fences in the back patio. Neither side gets a good 8 hours of sun.
 
You all have been mooned! :D

This was a photo I took earlier this morning while taking out the garbage/recycle bins.


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Good afternoon gang!

I finally think I sweated this demon out of me somewhere around 315 this morning. My fever broke. Alarm went off at 5:30. I texted my boss and said nope not coming was completely drained of all energy at that point. I took wifey‘s advice and decided to catch up on some needed rest. Just woke up at 11:30 and actually feel pretty good.

Might have to sneak down to the workbench today. I’ve got a Rapido reefer that was delivered to me with two broken stirrups. I contacted Rapido and they did send me replacement parts.
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Good morning, all! Arrrr, still quite warm here in Houston. I do hope to get out and do some yard work today.

Sound - If I'm showing someone my layout I leave the sound on. When I'm alone I find that I turn the sound off, mute, after about 20 minutes running trains, but only if I'm running more than 1. I have a few Kato locos that are DCC w/o sound. So, if I'm using them on the mainlines and a BLI switcher working the yards and industries I will leave the sound on the switcher. I, like Chad, am N scale. Some of the sounds are not very good and can become very annoying after a while.

TomO - I'm sure there are ritzier dining establishments in downtown Houston that charge for overstaying one's welcome, but we seldom actually go into Houston proper. Out in the burbs, no extra charge.

From the archives,
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STAY SAFE
LATER
 
Texas Hobo said:
I, like Chad, am N scale. Some of the sounds are not very good and can become very annoying after a while.
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Mine are all European and mostly Electric trains though one is a diesel. So most of the sound effects are the electric motors winding up and all the inverter sounds and stuff.

However, one of them has a sound setting which is funny the first time you trigger it.

This is the locomotive: A Siemens EuroSprinter ES 64 U2 from the Hungarian railway (their class 1047, also Class 470 -- same as Austrian Class 1116 or DB Class 182 and 183 -- Often called "Taurus" but that is technically a trademarked name for the Austrian version):

https://reynaulds.com/products/Trix/16952.aspx

(No I did not pay that much -- I got it from a European supplier and maybe on a close out or something -- I don't remember).

This is a special Wagner based livery. On the model, one of the functions triggers the sound where it plays some Wagner -- I think it is "Ride of the Valkyries" -- It's been a while since I triggered it. So you can be cruising around your layout and all of a sudden belt out the music and have flashbacks of "Apocalypse Now."

Gere is a video of the real life 1:1 train with this livery. Not a great video:

Note that the Amtrak Cities Sprinter ACS-64 is based on this same locomotive, heavily changed and modified for US standards, needs, etc.

Here is the basic EuroSprinter wikipedia article, which includes a couple sentences on the Amtrak version. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EuroSprinter
 
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Bruette said:
Being from the Hungarian railway it should have played Franz Liszt, but Wagner is cool!
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I think there is a Liszt livery as well. At least in H0

Jagerndorfer JC18032 - Hungarian Electric Locomotive 1047.503 Taurus of the GySEV (Sound Decoder)

Buy the Jagerndorfer JC18032 Hungarian Electric Locomotive 1047.503 Taurus of the GySEV (Sound Decoder) from Reynauld's Euro Imports. Call us at 1-888-762-6872
www.reynaulds.com

Here is a 1:1 version. It seems they use the same locomotive and change the livery? -- this was from 14 years ago. Liszt came after Haydn and Wagner replaced Liszt.

Elektrische Lokomotiven aus europäischer Produktion

Trains and locomotive database and news portal about modern electric locomotives, made in Europe.
www.elektrolokarchiv.de www.elektrolokarchiv.de

Here is the earlier Haydn one

Elektrische Lokomotiven aus europäischer Produktion

Trains and locomotive database and news portal about modern electric locomotives, made in Europe.
www.elektrolokarchiv.de www.elektrolokarchiv.de

Another 1:1 of the Wagner

Elektrische Lokomotiven aus europäischer Produktion

Trains and locomotive database and news portal about modern electric locomotives, made in Europe.
www.elektrolokarchiv.de www.elektrolokarchiv.de
 
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