Running Bear’s November 2021 Coffee Shop

[IronBeltKen]

Good evening Shop Dwellers! Thanks, everybody, for the "likes" on my Sunday evening post.

Good evening.

Here at 9:30pm in the north, it's warmed up enough that there is a weird ice-rain happening outside. It's not quite snow, more like little, tiny hail. I suspect it's going to be some kinda slippery on the roads tomorrow.


Ken - In a nutshell. The 160-ton heavy haulers I worked on have Catepillar diesel engines driving a vac alternator that transfers power to a large deck mounted rectifier, which converts to 3400 vdc. That dc electricity supplies the dc motors which are essentially the rear wheels of the truck. The rear wheels are large squirrel cage motors with tires on them, that drive the truck.
I'm not sure if a diesel-electric locomotive works on the same principal, but, I suspect it would.

One day, I'll try and dig up some photographs of those trucks. I have some from 12yrs ago, somewhere.

Guy - I guess your region doesn't get that kind of precipitation very often? That's what us south-of-the-border folks call sleet, we get it several times each winter here in the Eastern U.S. And thanks for the detailed explanation on the monster dumpers - that is exactly like contemporary diesel locomotives (prime mover --> generator --> traction motors). It never occurred to me that large earth-moving equipment would also be powered that way.

Good afternoon, Y'all. Another cloudy, gloomy day at the Jersey Shore. Temperature has been dropping since midnight, and will drop into the 20s by tomorrow morning. Mild by Alberta standards, but you wouldn't know it listening to the NBC4 mid day news...

Surprisingly, many trees have not dropped their leaves yet. Public Works is making their first pass through the neighborhood, they will make another after December 5, which is theoretically the last day to have the leaves out at the curb. Don't think they will all be down by then unless the weather changes. Looks like I may be missing the truck this season.

The Wife and I ran our errands early, and were back home before much of the community was awake. Tomorrow, we vacuum and dust etc. in preparation for Thanksgiving. Wednesday, she has to pick up dinner rolls and fresh vegetables, milk and soda. I may stop at the liquor store, as I no longer keep beer and Bourbon around all year. Both sons will be here with family. Family Dog will also visit, which means Molly the Cat is exiled to our bedroom for the duration. No big deal for Molly, she spends much of her time there. It will temporarily crimp her nocturnal marauding.

View attachment 135761
Spent some time working on the layout, I am determined to have the remaining modules in position with working track, by the New Year. Then, I can concentrate on scenery.

Joe - I would love to get several of those ruffle-sided PRR/PC gons, they would be right at home in my steel mill! Only thing holding me back is the price - while certainly appropriate for that level of detail, it would divert too much of my scarce cash away from higher-priority layout needs.

* * *
Layout news - with the glue cured, I was able to go ahead and mount the semi-finished panels of the view blocker wall. The top edge still needs to be capped with moulding strip, but first I'll need to paint it in the same color as the wall before applying it. I snapped a couple work-in-progress pics on the cellphone. First one is from a slightly elevated angle:

...and another from a helicopter view:

I still need to figure out a way to camouflage the support screws. I could have made these panels so they'd be supported only on the back side (out of sight), but then I wouldn't be able to easily lift them out for track cleaning etc. and slide them back in. Wondering why I'm talking so much about this mundane thing? Because ever since I got this layout operational in February 2013, I've always hated having a train pass thru the same scene more than once on the same run; now I can finally hide the staged trains.

Good Night - and have a Pleasant Tomorrow!

 

[kbkchooch]

Good evening y'all!

OK, I am finally ready to reveal my idea for a track plan. Now mind you this is not 100% final, but you get the rough idea. There are many places and plans to add more sidings and industries, but the mainline is more or less set.

Mainline minimum radius is 28", mainline switches are #8, secondary turnouts #5 or 6. 4 1/2 inch separation between upper and lower levels, with 2 main opposing yards with "escape route" for constant running when I just want to railfan instead of operating.

Willie. here are the Greg's Garage cars. 20 years ago they were great cars, now best as background models
The green sedan and the brown Plymouth convertible are Gregs Garage, the black sedan with white walls is by Alloy Forms, the Flatbed truck by Magnuson, and the 56 Chevy is Model Power.

The Greg's cars are ok, best in the background, but great for variety. Nobody is mass producing these cars, like the 55/56 Chebbie!

Sandman time, I'm out!

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Well spoken Patrick,,,, I think.

You lost me right after the "public works drive" LOL

 

[Jaz avalley]

Calor gas bottles, a small detailing extra

as bought

painted and white gel pen

h at a distance so the poor lettering is not in focus

 

[Bruette]

Good morning Everybody!

I'm getting excited about the Holidays! We removed all the unwanted boxes from our living room. We pulled out the living room Christmas tree and the Lionel Polar Express set to run under it. Along with a few Lionel Polar Express accessories my wife likes to go with it. The goal is to have the tree up with lights on it and the train set up under it for Thanksgiving day. We will decorate the tree over the Thanksgiving weekend.

I'm excited about watching the Lions vs the Bears Thanksgiving day! I know neither team is doing well this season, but it's a classic match up. I have seen both teams play this season and I know they can provide an exciting game.

"Any given Sunday" has been proven over and over this season. Almost every week somebody gets upset! This has been an especially fun NFL season to watch, I only hope it continues.

God willing for the rest of the holiday season when I watch football I will be playing with my Polar Express set from my couch controlled by my tablet on the commercial breaks. I thank God I was born in the USA!

We have some work scheduled for Thanksgiving morning. We will get started about 3:30am and should be done in a couple of hours if all goes well. That should be in plenty of time to put the 26lb turkey into the oven.

Speaking of work, it's time for me to do something productive.

Have a great day and Happy Holidays Everybody!

 

[ACL-CSX]

Good morning y'all.

Flo- Coffee, please. Yes ma'am, I'll have the usual as well.

No modeling news to update, other than I have received the lights I ordered for The Row. Now I just have to determine a power supply and learn how to solder. I'm hoping to find something that will allow me to control up to about 24 different lights independently of one another. Yes, I know that seems ambitious for an N scale building, but I want to see if the finished product matches what I see in my head. And since I cant run trains or lay tracks right now, what not super detail a building or 2? I plan to outfit the service station with a similar treatment, just not as many lights.

Willie- Thanks for the tip on the Krylon, but unfortunately due to the size and spacing of my interior walls I will most likely have to paint with a brush and diluted paint. Next time I may try to paint the interior surfaces before gluing anything together.

Managed to run well over half of my route yesterday, so now i just have the remained and a few call-ins to take care of. Hoping to get most of those knocked out today so that I can knock off early tomorrow. Looking forward to a little down time before the next road trip. Got dinner with my mom on Thursday in Columbia and then dinner with the MIL on Friday, so I think Saturday will be a good day to vegetate, since Sunday involves a 125 mile commute to work.

Y'all have a blessed day.

 

[OBTC 1909]

Good morning all! A frosty 19 degrees here heading up to 45 and sunny for the day. Got off work earlier than usual yesterday and will again today. I've given up trying to figure out our schedule. Seems pretty random.
Nothing much to report. I had quit reading my model railroad signals book for a while due to just not feeling like reading of an evening, but I picked it up and started on it again last night. I'm really enjoying it and the photography is superb. It's a Kalmbach book written by Dave Abeles. So far I recommend it and am unlikely to change that recommendation.

The dog is currently mad at us. She came in stinking really bad yesterday so she got a bath. A bath is her least favorite activity. I had to pick her up and carry her to the tub because she wouldn't come in there when we called her. Here's a pic of her after the bath. She's mad, so she wouldn't look at me when I talked to her as I took the picture.


Hope you all have a great day!

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Today, I get to have some kind of pain killer injected into my spinal column. Dr. says I need a driver because I may not be able to walk for awhile after the procedure. I kinda take that as a challenge.

 

[troyphoto]

Well, howdy there internet people

It's Troy again.

Today, I don't have anything to really talk about, so I'll just ramble on a bit while Flo gets my coffee and pile o bacon.

The move of the 3D printers to the utility room is coming along slowly. I had to build storage in our garage (which is actually a converted carport behind our condo building). Then I had to build a tool bench in the utility room to hold the tool boxes and bags. Not really a workbench. More of a tool storage facility. Fortunately, I was able to repurpose a bunch of the lumber from tearing out 1/3rd of my benchwork.

Once the 3d printers are moved and operational, I may be able to work on the rail plan for the train/gaming space. Still thinking I'll have the staging yard under the main layout. Which means I'll need to do a better job on my supporting structure of legs and crossbars.

Work has begun on book 8 in the Coffee Mysteries series. this one is very loosely based on Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, which I watched last week. I kept looking for Sherrel but didn't see him in that one.

Now I'm trying to figure out what made the most noise on those old WWI era biplanes... the engine, or the aerodynamics of the prop noise, and turbulence over the flight surfaces? Hmmm... I don't hang around airports enough to know. And I don't trust Hollywood Foley effects to try to discern from movies.

 

[CGW121]

The powers that be say they will put the final layer of blacktop down today. So we will see.

Mike

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Waiting for Dell to open this morning. The scratch and dent computer arrived yesterday and I'm going to return it unopened (unless a goo ddeal is struck). I found the same computer is currently on sale for about $155 less than I paid for the scratch and dent unit, so I figure there's either another $180 + tax to be returned or I'll return it and get a non-refurbished computer for less.

Sherrel: I work for a small city outside of Wichita, KS. What I was doing was moving the directory that the Public Works department uses to a new hard drive on the server. Current server operating system only recognizes 2Tb of disk space, and since we're nearing that amount of data (took 5.5 years to get there), I was moving their directory so I can gain the space back until we replace the servers next year. Everything being virtual, it doesn't take much to add a disk or memory to a computer. My limit is how much space is on the host computer (which is a physical machine).

 

[CHRISTIAΝ]

I would be quite sure there's no copyright for that design. Might be if you moved one of the stub sidings to the right about 1/4".

No problem. It is a very common track plan in Great Britain in the 00 and N scales.

 

[CHRISTIAΝ]

Christian- That layout has almost anything you might want from a layout.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. It's mostly clear and 41° out there right now. Still expecting temperatures in the 70's today and tomorrow, then a couple of colder days starting Thanksgiving, then warming back up Saturday. Chance of rain overnight Wednesday.
Yesterday was pretty much spent getting the house ready for Thanksgiving. While our only visitors are going to be our oldest daughter, her husband, and our granddaughter, wife wants the place looking like something out of Better Homes. Of course she is unable to do much more than dust! So guess who has to do everything? Meanwhile, homemade cranberry is made, cornbread is ready to be made into dressing, turkey is about half thawed and I made some homemade onion dip yesterday. While there is nothing on the current grocery list that I need for Thursday, I am going to make the grocery trek tomorrow rather than battling the Black Friday traffic the day after. I still think that the grocery store will be crowded, so I am getting there early, not too early since the shelves won't be stocked at 6:00 am.

Thanks for the multitude of likes and comments regarding the switch repair, and also the post regarding the parts storage; Patrick, Christian, Karl, Moermusic, Sherrel, Chad, Jaz, Mikey, Tom O, OB Ken, Gary, Hughie, Greg, Louis, Curt, Tom, Rick, Guy, IB Ken.

How about just a pair of over easy eggs and a handful of bacon today Flo. That is if Jesse left any bacon.

Building that freight car over the last two weeks inspired me to do another one, out in the train shed. I have nothing as complex as a P2K kit left, so I picked out my last remaining Accurail covered hopper kit.

This was one of the last freight car kits/models that I bought before I stopped in 2014. I have enough.
Roof hatches installed, much simpler than the P2K.

Center sill parts.

Installed along with the outlet hatches.

The total amount of flash that the truck tuner got out of both trucks. Not bad.

Kadee metal wheels replacing the plastic Accurail ones. I use the Accumate couplers since they work well for me and I have never had one fail. I do super glue the trip pin in though, I had several fall out of cars that I built in the 90's.

That was all for yesterday at the workbench.
What happens to those wheelsets? Along with the old horn-hook and McHenry couplers, they go into this box.

Anybody need any?
Away from the workbench, I am getting back to the bank that I installed the second floor figures in last week. While I am not ready for the first floor yet, maybe this Saturday, I looked at it's site and decided that landscaping it will be next. This is the present state of things.

I measured and marked out a parking lot to the left side and I will paint it to resemble asphalt today.

Louis -

Sad, but true.

I think that the key word here is "trespassing".
Mikey - We all need a hobo camp on our layouts.

Greg -

Willie: That a great way to organize small parts and tools. Wish my modeling work area was that organized.

That's about the only aspect of my train shed that's organized!

Been watching some great model railroading videos of large railroad empires. I can't imagine the time it took and the expense to build these huge layouts.

Yes, I agree there. Some of these folks must spend 10-12 hours a day on their layouts. That's like having a full time job.
Karl - Thanks for the Greg's Garage pictures. You did a nice job on them. Layout plan looks good. I started with a rough plan and added many industry spurs as I built.
Ken -

I kinda take that as a challenge.

The walking or the driving???

Everybody have a great day. Stay safe when traveling.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Mikey- WOW. A lot of work went into those great layouts. Nice scenes.

Thanks, Curt.
We figure there are over 50,000 man hours in building and detailing the large HO layout.
The Wrecking Crew designed and built the Hogswart layout in 5 months just before the 4th Harry Potter movie came out.
The On30 layout is about 3 years old, but involved a major redesign after track was laid the first time.

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Mikey - We all need a hobo camp on our layouts.

Willie- I think hobo camps give a scene an air of mystery. We will change figures and details from year to year to give people something new to find on our layouts. Dogs were often traveling companions with solo hobos.

 

[Boris]

Joe - I would love to get several of those ruffle-sided PRR/PC gons, they would be right at home in my steel mill! Only thing holding me back is the price - while certainly appropriate for that level of detail, it would divert too much of my scarce cash away from higher-priority layout needs.

Ken: That's why there is only one. I also have one from a previous release, but that was a gift...Hint: If you can find some, Walthers released their version of the "ruffle side" gondola, in their "Main Line" brand, (I believe), The PC offering will work as a stand in, especially on a B&O centric layout, where you don't have "Green Team" experts counting rivets. . My son has a few in both PC and CR on his Conrail Themed layout, and they really look OK.

 

[Boris]

Mainline minimum radius is 28", mainline switches are #8, secondary turnouts #5 or 6. 4 1/2 inch separation between upper and lower levels, with 2 main opposing yards with "escape route" for constant running when I just want to railfan instead of operating.

Karl: I like the plan. I miss the continuous run alternative on my layout.

Ok, speaking of layouts, I have been struggling with the line bypassing the stub end commuter terminal. This line will loop around in the background and lead to the other staging yard. However, I am still looking for the right way to do this. Meanwhile, I have begun to assemble sections of track, in anticipation.

Train # 812, at Jamesburg, NJ (Trenton to Manasquan and Red Bank on May 29, 1962) Last run of the train, and revenue run of a Gas Car on the PRR. Motor Car # 4666. Photo from the NJ Chapter NRHS. Note: I worked numerous local freights that operated via Jamesburg, over the years so I'm familiar with the route, and I did run the 4866, between New Hope and Buckingham, PA on the NH&I RR in the early '70s.

 

[santafewillie]

where you don't have "Green Team" experts counting rivets.

While I don't disdain rivet counters, I do not allow them in my train shed!

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!

Another one of those days where it's warmer in the early morning than the afternoon will be. Arctic air is blowing in.
These storm systems passing through have been creating a roller coaster in temperature variations, along with rain and snow or whatever else the gods want to throw at us.

I've been spending a-lot of time clearing snow from driveways and walks. I have to do two properties plus I often help the lady across the street, who's husband is working out-of-town. This has really cut into any hobby progress. Often, I'm just too tired to get downstairs and work on the layout room reno.
The reno is coming along little by little, though.
I am surprised how long it takes to relocate 25yrs worth of tool and junk collection, as I try to clean out the layout space and find a proper spot for everything. Some of the junk has been taken outside for the garbage-man to take away.

Sorry, no photos for awhile. Not until the weather settles down or I get enough progress done on the layout room. Sooner or later, though, I will get some forum acceptable photos. - I have spent some time in the evening working on a 1/35 scale AFV model, but, that project does not fit in any railroading theme. So, it's just not fit for this forum.

Anyway, the coffee cup is empty and the dog needs walking. That dog can tell time, and gets quite pushy when it's the walk time.
Have a good one!