Running Bear’s November 2021 Coffee Shop

[ACL-CSX]

Good morning y'all. Currently 49, but headed into the low 70s again today. Hoping today is better than yesterday. Calendar said it was Wednesday, but I know it was truly Murphday.

Flo- Coffee, please. You can leave the pot.

Can't hang around long this morning, got a lot to get done today so I've got to head out as soon as the coffee starts working. Going to edit this post to include a picture of the service station kit I picked up on Tuesday. It's a nice basic kit, but just looking at the box I can see where it will need help in the detailing department. It comes with decals for 4 different energy companies: Blue Flame Energy, Shell, BP, and Esso. The Esso may fit my time period better, but I will probably use the Shell. Since my railroad town is named after my son and he started out recognizing the Shell stations as ' the clam stores'.

Y'all have a blessed day.

 

[CHRISTIAN]

 

[OBTC 1909]

Good morning all! Clear and 56 on the way to rain and 58 for the day. I'll have an order of biscuits and gravy and some black coffee, Flo.

On my lunch breaks I've been parking in a couple different locations in hopes of seeing a train or two. Most of the time I go to a park a short distance from work that has an old B&O (now CSX) line that runs by. They don't run too many trains on that track these days, but occasionally I get lucky. Other times I park near the former C&EI (also now CSX) line. Usually, whichever line I park next too, CSX sends trains down the other one. I've caught a few videos here and there, but seems like I'm always in the wrong spot when hear a train coming through town. Gonna try again today if it isn't pouring down rain when I go to lunch.

Hope you all have a great day!
OB Ken

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. Happy Veterans Day. Thanks to all who served.

 

[2Tracks]

Good Morning All!
Happy Veterans Day!
Indeed, thanks very much to all that served!

 

[OBTC 1909]

Completely forgot...Happy Veterans Day and THANK YOU to all who have served.

 

[tootnkumin]

Here, like in Britain, it is called Remembrance Day. Thankyou to all who served.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 61° on the SFW estate. Thunderstorms this afternoon are still in the forecast.
Spent a good part of the morning and early afternoon, cutting and stacking firewood from the branches trimmed off the oak tree last week. Then I shredded some of the smaller stuff and leaves to provide mulch and soil conditioner for next spring;s garden.

Just a bowl of Corn Flakes and milk and a glass of apple juice this morning Francine. I see Flo in the kitchen helping Mel this morning.

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding the bus populating project; Steve J, Troy, Christian, Guy, Patrick, Sherrel, Hughie, Mikey, Curt, IB Ken, Tom. After viewing the results, the next bus is getting a driver only. I'll be yanking most of these out and using them in more visible situations.

Nothing new out in the train shed yesterday. I finished up the out and back switching run that I started Monday and then just ran other trains for almost an hour before coming in to fix supper. That run was to switch out the fertilizer distributor and the flour mill in Vernon. Just to vary things a bit, I ran it backwards this time so all of the moves were facing-point spurs. I used a pair of GP38-2's as power. Could have used just one since there were only three cars and a caboose, but I like to run everything in pairs.
View attachment 135170
Note that these GP38-2's are the only EMD power ATSF owned that do not have dynamic brakes. 11 of them were acquired in the acquisition of the TP&W in 1984. These locos are Athearn blue box units with only minimal internal upgrades.
They came into town on the passing siding since they had to be out of the way of a manifest freight that came by first. Then the new cars and caboose were moved over to the main, a load of fertilizer for the distributor, a loaded hopper of wheat for the mill and an empty airslide covered hopper also for the flour mill.
View attachment 135171
View attachment 135172
View attachment 135173
Had to remove the empty fertilizer hopper first since that tail track is a short one with room for only the engines and one car.View attachment 135174
Then it was over to the flour mill to remove the empty grain hopper and the full flour hopper.
View attachment 135175
View attachment 135176
At that point, all three cars and the engines made a run-around move back to the main and backed up to the caboose. At the same time, they pushed the three new cars down past the north siding switch. They then went back around to the south switch and returned to the siding after dropping off the removed cars and caboose on the main near the switch for the return trip.
View attachment 135178
View attachment 135179
To be continued tomorrow since I have run up against my picture limit for one post.

Guy - Regarding the neighbor, I only refuse money for something that I would do for free once...after that I'll take it. Usually no sense in arguing. At the same time, I only offer once when it's the other way around!
Hughie - I agree with Mikey that older plastic structures can almost always be upgraded with additional details and weathering.
Tom O - That is so great that you have a SIL who shares your modeling interest.
Sherrel - Outliving your 401 is both good and bad. Too bad that you didn't take that opportunity to buy the Tesla stock you posted about a couple of years ago. I've always stuck to safe ETF's instead of lucrative individual stocks, occasionally seeing what I thought might be sure picks (like Tesla and Moderna) skyrocket immediately afterward.
Curt - I have thought about using real dirt before but never attempted. Thanks for posting your experience so I can be prepared if I ever do.
Dave - Too bad that pine makes such lousy firewood except for a fire pit. I like the covered bridge.
Joe - The local (to me) Target has 26 check-out lanes and 8 self check-out registers. I rarely see more than two of the 26 manned with checkers.
Jesse - My next project is actually going to be adding figures to the inside of a bank. Big windows and lots of them.
View attachment 135159

Today is the Marine Corps birthday.
Gotta go and take care of some of my wife's needs right now. Everybody have a wonderful day and stay safe.

Love the cotton belt photo

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Yes, Happy Veterans Day to all who have served, and serving!
I am up much too early today - short night on sleep and drinking left over coffee heated in the "wave".
I will brew up some fresh in a moment.

My ASUS bit the dust last night; when it starts up it shows a nice pretty full screen pic, but will go no further. Looks as if a trip to the GEEKs' is in order later on. I am still battling with the Apple; terminology is my nemesis.

Murphy is alive and well: First the alternator problem and now the starter is in need of some help on my pick em up. It does not want to engage about every fourth time. I once had a 67 Dodge PU that I would have to get out, raise the hood, and smack the starter with a crowbar until I found the time and money to have it fixed.

JESSIE, It is good to see you posting here again - long time no see?

Tell FLO to save me a seat - I'll be down after a bit?

Concerning the starter bit - I am reminded of the scene in the movie ' The longest Day' where the British Beachmaster "smacked" the tracked vehicle with his swagger stick - and it started!

 

[Jaz avalley]

Terry:

Something I didn't know. Cathy's 2002 convertible always has a dead battery in Spring just after coming out of storage. Usually, we just jump the battery to get the vehicle started and let the battery charge itself while driving the vehicle.

Last year, the alternator failed while we were in a isolated area and we needed a tow back to our storage garage. The alternator failed in July and the vehicle came out of storage in May.

Is there a range of years that the alternators were designed for maintaining a battery's charge.

Thanks.

Greg

We had - well technically we still have but it is more of a shed nowadays, a Range Rover, it had rise and lower suspension but if you went shopping and left the lights on it would so no nope you need to charge me it had a big battery so was very difficult to charge from another car so calling a break down service was often required,and the park and ride airport always left the car high and that ran the battery down too as it tried to maintain the high setting…….we owned the car almost 20 years which is why we kept it, we did eventually get the air suspension removed and rarely had a battery issue after that, the inside is still in great condition, but the engine got really tired and we decided enough was enough, she sits out her retirement on the field and if it rains you can make a mad dash and sit inside,and we occasionally move her,although thinking on it I should do it again soon before the wheel breaks rust in p,ace!

 

[Jaz avalley]

Terry:

Something I didn't know. Cathy's 2002 convertible always has a dead battery in Spring just after coming out of storage. Usually, we just jump the battery to get the vehicle started and let the battery charge itself while driving the vehicle.

Last year, the alternator failed while we were in a isolated area and we needed a tow back to our storage garage. The alternator failed in July and the vehicle came out of storage in May.

Is there a range of years that the alternators were designed for maintaining a battery's charge.

Thanks.

Greg

We had - well technically we still have but it is more of a shed nowadays, a Range Rover, it had rise and lower suspension but if you went shopping and left the lights on it would so no nope you need to charge me it had a big battery so was very difficult to charge from another car so calling a break down service was often required,and the park and ride airport always left the car high and that ran the battery down too as it tried to maintain the high setting…….we owned the car almost 20 years which is why we kept it, we did eventually get the air suspension removed and rarely had a battery issue after that, the inside is still in great condition, but the engine got really tired and we decided enough was enough, she sits out her retirement on the field and if it rains you can make a mad dash and sit inside,and we occasionally move her,although thinking on it I should do it again soon before the wheel breaks rust in p,ace!

 

[bnsf971]

We had - well technically we still have but it is more of a shed nowadays, a Range Rover, it had rise and lower suspension but if you went shopping and left the lights on it would so no nope you need to charge me it had a big battery so was very difficult to charge from another car so calling a break down service was often required,and the park and ride airport always left the car high and that ran the battery down too as it tried to maintain the high setting…….we owned the car almost 20 years which is why we kept it, we did eventually get the air suspension removed and rarely had a battery issue after that, the inside is still in great condition, but the engine got really tired and we decided enough was enough, she sits out her retirement on the field and if it rains you can make a mad dash and sit inside,and we occasionally move her,although thinking on it I should do it again soon before the wheel breaks rust in p,ace!

Depending on the year and model, many of those Range Rovers were equipped with a Buick V6 variant. A friend had one, about 1993 vintage. He ended up gifting it to his girlfriend, who had it restored, and now takes it to shows and meets.
She also has an older model she had professionally restored in England, and shipped over here when it was finished.
While I’m thinking about it, I was once a member of a group affiliated with a company on Isle of Wight called Airframe Assemblies. They restore aircraft, and I think Steve, the owner, had quite a bit to do with restoring the only surviving Lancaster bomber.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 50° headed to the upper 60's for a few days, then the 70's return. Wind is out of the north, so a few cold nights until Monday when the southerly breeze returns.
I am getting ready for the weekly grocery trek, with some additional stops along the way. One of them will be at a drug disposal site to dump the leftover antibiotics which no local vet wants. They all want Ivermectin which they now have to compete with humans to get!

Thanks for the many likes and comments regarding the switching turn on the layout; Steve J, Guy, Chad, James, Karl, Patrick, Christian, Hughie, Sherrel, Curt, Dave, Tom, Mikey, Rick, IB Ken, OB Ken, Jaz.


Continuing the out and back switch run, or the flour mill turn as it is sometimes known, the two cars for the mill are now in place.

Doesn't look like I got a picture of the fertilizer hopper at its destination.
Everything is now hooked back up and they are on the way back to the yard.

Meanwhile yesterday, I started on populating the bank structure. It is one of those Woodland Scenics Landmark structures that fits together, so the roof is embedded into grooves in the walls, thus adding to the difficulty in adding figures to the second floor.

So I have to add the floor from below. I first made some stops from some .080" x .080" styrene to place above to keep it into position.

I also added a Minitronics 16v bulb.

The red electrical tape is there mainly to hold everything in position while the super glue dries.
I added a wall to the cardboard floor.

Then I added figures from my figure box.

Then I replaced the floor and tested the effect of the light. I had already tested the bulb and the floor fit. Here it is at 12v.

Doesn't really work so I upped it to 15v.

This is now a keeper. But I ran out of suitably dressed figures for the ground floor, so that has to wait a bit!

Jesse - Pretty ambitious project there with the Merchant's Row structure. I do look forward to your building N scale furniture. Certainly something to keep you occupied while you are on the road. Rod Stewart did the same thing assembling structures while he was out touring.
Guy - Yes, I am intending to split the floors in the bank.
Curt - The open shed over the track protects the grain unloading area from the weather. I got the idea from a since dismantled flour mill that was nearby 40 years ago.

Of course today is known as Veteran's Day. Around the world it is celebrated by other different names, but it still honors armed service members.

Everybody have a great day. Stay safe.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Not quite 8:00a and already have the cabinet installed in the garage. Must weigh 500lbs. At least it's a floor model. Just need to get the shelves in it. Had to add some bracing at the bottom for both support and to deter critters from building under it. Taking a break as I overdid moving it.

For the first time in 12 years, I can finally listen to my favorite Christmas cds in the vehicle I drive. No more "Last Christmas" for me. Worst Christmas song ever. Sing about how you got your heart broken last year and you'll pick better this year and then sing about how you messed up again next year. I call it the never learn song.

Bbl

 

[JazzDad]

Lest we forget.

 

[CHRISTIAN]

Another (crazy/silly) idea:
Inner radius: 17"1/4
outer radius: 20"
Dimensions: 5'4" x 5'

 

[MilwRoader_Steve]

Good morning all,

A Good Day to all my fellow Vets be they from whatever country and having served under whichever flag. Had lunch at the VFW yesterday after a make-up meeting I skipped on Monday to get my last golf round of the season in. The day did NOT warm up to forecast and was bloody cold by the end! The VFW is a good organization and I am enjoying my service and time spent there.

Frustrated re my Atlas switcher. Atlas has no electrical schematic or wiring diagram. Took it to my LHS but he has no decoder tester. The loco runs on DC and address 00 on DCC. Has a sound board installed. I do understand caveat emptor, but I was hoping this could be done. Maybe it will go on the shelf for another day when I learn more about DCC and the innards of locomotives. Trying to learn. Hmmm ......... when does the Hennepin Overland meet? Do y'all do tutoring and/or tech assists? I just can't imagine that it is toast. But I don't know where to go from the basic knowledge and steps I have tried.

Weekend long retreat beginning Friday afternoon. Lunch with wifeykins means no train time until next week.

At a crossroads re the layout. I can't afford to buy turnout controls just now, so I think I will focus on finalizing the main table layout and begin laying that track with the materials on hand. That should get me at least the outer loop and some of the inner. Maybe I can spring for the Peco double-slip that I intend to use. Track laying got to be rather fun, and I wouldn't mind continuing before I forget the skills and techniques I learned laying the yard.

Enough of my rambling - - dogs are reminding me that it is breaky time! Blessings to all - - - - Steve J

 

[Boris]

Good morning. Today is Veterans Day / Remembrance Day depending on where you live.

I wasn't sure this machine was going to start this morning, but UPS will deliver the replacement sometime today. As long as I leave this on, it will remain on...for now .

Have a good day, y'all!

 

[Patrick]

Well, that project completed. On to the next one...

Oh yeah, Happy Veterans \Remembrance Day to all.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Depending on the year and model, many of those Range Rovers were equipped with a Buick V6 variant. A friend had one, about 1993 vintage. He ended up gifting it to his girlfriend, who had it restored, and now takes it to shows and meets.
She also has an older model she had professionally restored in England, and shipped over here when it was finished.
While I’m thinking about it, I was once a member of a group affiliated with a company on Isle of Wight called Airframe Assemblies. They restore aircraft, and I think Steve, the owner, had quite a bit to do with restoring the only surviving Lancaster bomber.

That bomber has flown over our home on many occasions,although I think there was an English and a Canadian, it came over for a special and we saw both plus some spitfires,every body was out looking.the Canadian one went home…I just checked 2014.