Running Bear’s April 2026 Coffee Shop

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It's so windy here right now an Air Force Lear 35 had to divert to St. Louis to use runway 24. After two attempts at Scott AFB on runway 12L, the crosswind component was too severe to attempt another landing.

Too bad Scott AFB eliminated their runway 24 about 50 years ago. They could have made good use of that runway in the spring when strong winds are from the southwest.
 
Good day to all moon shot watchers and those that don't........

High of 85 for today with plenty of sunshine. No rain in todays forecast. but rain again tomorrow in the evening.

Nothing like country living. Along with the thunderstorms and winds that arrived last night around 8:15, the power went out around 8:45 and was off for about three and a half hours. Living in my little burg, is like living in 1950s rural America. Tuesday night, the internet was out for about an hour. The first two measurable rainfall events of this year and internet and electricity took a crap.
I am not one to sit alone in the dark or by candle light so I took a trip east to town to check on their power situation. About a half a mile from my place there was a tractor-trailer rig on its side on the west bound side. Several police and sheriff were on site. Seymour Texas was alive with lights, in fact in my travels last evening, every surrounding town had electricity, but not our little wide spot in the road.
I drove to Haskell Texas (about a 34 mile trip, one way) for me, and filled up with gas there. Gas was 31 cents cheaper than in Seymour Texas and the electricity was on there.
I made it back home, power was on and I watched TV until around 3 am.

Feeling tired today so if the mood hits I'll do something. My trip to the store yesterday was about all I got accomplished for my Wednesday.

Speaking of the moon-shot, I can still remember when the Russians put a dog in space along with "Sputnik". That is when Kennedy stepped up the space program here in the US.

I've got a couple of steam locomotives "for parts or repair" coming today. I think I can fix one but the other is for parts on my Spectrum, 2-8-0 project. The fixable loco is an Athearn Genesis 2-8-2 Light Mikado. I'm guessing a split gear issue plus it needs the tender connector repaired.
The 2-8-0 has "zinc pest" which I did not know was an issue on these locos. But the tender is in excellent condition.

Gotta go.....John
 
It's finally landed on the newsstands in the UK
20260402_133652.jpg

The very last issue of Classic Trains. You can tell it was closed down very suddenly as it still mentions inside the details of the Summer 2026 issue that sadly will never be.
 


NYC_George said:
My 2nd day of walking Murphy with 2 leashes. One for the staff member and one leash for myself. We both walked the dog and after about 10 minutes the staff member took off his leash, and then by myself I walked the dog for about10 minutes. Tomorrow, I walk the dog the whole time and if everything goes well, I bring the dog home. They do this for dogs who have had checkered pasted. You know the dog not liking the girl's new boyfriend. What else is new. Strained relationships. We've all been through it at one time or another. Swal

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Congratulations on the furry friend! Adorable dog!

Looks like you have a faithful companion there!
 
RhB Michael said:
It's so windy here right now an Air Force Lear 35 had to divert to St. Louis to use runway 24. After two attempts at Scott AFB on runway 12L, the crosswind component was too severe to attempt another landing.

Too bad Scott AFB eliminated their runway 24 about 50 years ago. They could have made good use of that runway in the spring when strong winds are from the southwest.
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I see we’re getting some weather in Illinois.

Tornado watch till 8pm and a wind advisory.
 
Now it is just scattered flakes but it did snow more for less steady since I posted a few hours ago. The neighbors yards grassy areas are whiter and more snow. Driveways and roads are still just wet since it has been so warm here the ground is warm.

A week and a half ago we went up to Evanston Wyoming to see my niece speak in church. I mentioned it back then (and the train I saw etc). One thing I don't remember mentioning was the lack of snow as we drove u the canyons to the top of the mountains. As we passed Park City, only the ski resorts had snow. The rest was nice spring sunny rock and dirt. They make snow which is why they had snow. Normally up in the mountains in mid March there is still plenty of snow.

The snow pack charts I saw for N Utah a week r two ago (also posted here) showed my area at 46%. Some areas as low as 25%. Others a little higher but all low.
 
It's made it to 75 here today. The kitchen table is clear of my stuff, put away til Sunday afternoon when everything will get back to normal around here. My Missus has the house cleaned, got some pictures hung for her and helped put up some new curtains in the guest bedroom. They're blackout curtains so if someone needs to sleep or put a bay down, the room will be dark.
 
A sure sign that Spring is here today. As I was hiking out to the train shed, some motion caught my eye over by the garden. Yep! One of Troy's favorite creatures was slithering around. About 4.5'-5' long. My arms were full and my camera was in my pocket...but I managed to get it out and hit the power button to take a picture. But instead of activating the camera, I accidentally hit the power button again, and missed my opportunity. This is about a month too early for them to appear outdoors! It's what's known as a "chicken snake" in these parts, sometimes referred to as a "rat snake" by some. They are excellent at rodent control.
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps and those who snuck up on snakes

It's troy again, and I'm as far away from the latter as possible.

MIL update: She's home from the hospital! On a new prescription for her condition. Supposedly it good for what ailes her. Don't ask, I have no idea what the name of the drug is.

While the wife was sitting at MIL's place to make sure she got out of the shower and down the dining room OK, MIL's phone rang. It was the daughter of one of MIL's friends she sits with at meal time. Daughter said her mom wanted to know how MIL was doing, but wouldn't call, so daughter called.

Wife laughed, filled her in. MIL came out right then. Wife asked MIL "It's so-and-so... she wants to know if you're going down to dinner tonight, so she can tell her mom to save your seat?"

MIL: "Who wants to take me out to dinner? I don't have the energy for that. I'll just eat here in the dining room...

Yes, MIL needs hearing aids... but my wife says even simple ones with just a single program will be too much tech.

SO WE'RE ALL GOING TO HAVE TO REMEMBER TO YELL AT MIL!

After all that, Wife and I went and had chicken strips at the Pope's place. Yes. The Pope Yes place.

We always take our own honey for the biscuits.

I'll post an update to the layout thread tomorrow... but I got 3/4s of the foam board down. Doing two 1-inch layers so I have to room to make rivers and ponds and such. Was able to salvage most of the foam, but I still need to go get another 4x8 sheet of 1-inch foam board tomorrow. That should finish up, and not have to scab in all of the leftover cutoffs from making the jigsaw puzzle work
 


Good morning. Today is commissary run day. I think rotisserie chicken is on the menu and hope they have some good brussel sprouts available as it's been a while. Got some stuff in the freezer for the next day's meal.

Will be loading up on TP before the freak out happens again. I did that in 2020, just a normal buy and not a premonition, but the hoarding started soon after and I was glad I missed it.

I wasn't going to do it, but I'm leaning towards adding DCC to my Derby Lightweight. I run it all the time (or a lot) and I want to be able to run it with my KUMOHA 40s which are DCC.
DERBY HEADLAMPS.jpeg

KUMOHA 40071 FRONT.jpeg


The Derby comes with cabin lights that are always on with DCC, so I'm going to have to figure out the lightboard and disconnect something and then attach the AUX1 lead to be able to control them.

I also bought some peoples for my trains. I decided on going with 1/80 scale since it is a compromise of the 3 HO scale stuff that I have: 1/76.2, 1/80, and 1/87. Problem is that 1/80 is not as prevalent as 1/87 or 1/76.2 and these peoples are not that cheap, so just a sampler set for now and will see.
 
Marlin39 said:
I planted all my veg seeds yesterday, but for the Japanese cucumbers & Fall Kale. I'm going to wait until May to plant the cucumbers. Rain today and showers tomorrow, with temps at or above 70 the rest of the week. Also cut another pound of asparagus for dinner last night.

I'm kind of sorta thinking about re-starting something in On30. I have a couple of non-operational critters that just need new power chassis. Just want to dip my toe back in a little.
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Lucky bugger. Its 32 here in Michigan. I planted my seeds months ago...haha to cold stratify my bonsai seeds. LOL, I guess we all adapt to what we have. As I was drinking my coffee, I had to ponder ripping the railroad apart...moving time is about 2 years away, so I want to do strategically to save all my structures and bridges (its tradition I always have a bridge from the PRIOR layout on the current layout)... the good news is the design for the retirement/pre-retirement (6 yrs and counting!) is coming along. Of course it includes a nice train room AND a clean workshop for painting, 3d printing, etc. VERY excited. Wife gets a sewing/knitting studio too, so life will be good (and it's all the way across the house 🤔)... Life will be good. Ahh, back to how I rip out the 50 or so scratch-built switches I laid down...hmmm....
 
Kusojiji said:
Good morning. Today is commissary run day. I think rotisserie chicken is on the menu and hope they have some good brussel sprouts available as it's been a while. Got some stuff in the freezer for the next day's meal.

Will be loading up on TP before the freak out happens again. I did that in 2020, just a normal buy and not a premonition, but the hoarding started soon after and I was glad I missed it.

I wasn't going to do it, but I'm leaning towards adding DCC to my Derby Lightweight. I run it all the time (or a lot) and I want to be able to run it with my KUMOHA 40s which are DCC.
View attachment 261883
View attachment 261884

The Derby comes with cabin lights that are always on with DCC, so I'm going to have to figure out the lightboard and disconnect something and then attach the AUX1 lead to be able to control them.

I also bought some peoples for my trains. I decided on going with 1/80 scale since it is a compromise of the 3 HO scale stuff that I have: 1/76.2, 1/80, and 1/87. Problem is that 1/80 is not as prevalent as 1/87 or 1/76.2 and these peoples are not that cheap, so just a sampler set for now and will see.
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Love it. Gorgeous trains. I love the detail of the lightboard. Very very nice - are these British/UK trains?
 
The Derby Lightweight is British. Built in the 50's for the London Midland Region (LMR). I thought it was LNER, but I was incorrect. The KUMOHA 40 was built for the Japanese Government Railway in the 30's.

Yeah, I had my eyeballs on the Derby Lightweight for a while, but they were waaaayyyy out of my range. I was lucky to find this used one for less than half price.
 


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