Running Bear's April 2022 Coffee Shop

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Good Morning, from close enough to North of 60 to still be cool. Let's be happy, though, it is sunny outside. Sunny and cool. Very cool :(, as in freezing.

Willie - Thankyou for the timely answer to my query.

Tom - I really like BNSF 6179. The orange/black scheme is very sharp looking; one of my favorite paint jobs.

TomO - The log loads look great. Very inspiring to me to do much the same.

Joe - Stoney Creek looks great. It looks like you know what you are doing in comparison to me.

Here's what I'm up to, folks. These marked up photos should tell the story.
TrackPlan_04-10-2022 (1).JPG

TrackPlan_04-10-2022 (2).jpg

Nothing but a bit of the yard is nailed down; it's all just kinda laid out here using what I have on hand and my 2' (28") curve templates. Please tell me straight-up if it looks stupid. This is my first layout, after all, and I actually know very little about real-life railroad operation.

This is going to lead into a whole new ballgame of modelling and building structures. Should keep me busy until end of days. That's what I'm looking for mostly; plus, I hope to give the G-kids some joy. The layout is a G-kid and grandpa fixer.

Dog needs a walk, so I gotta go. Have a good one!
 
JazzDad said:
What is the psychology behind tagging rail cars? Does the "artist" look forward to seeing his/her own car again? And if that's the case, how often does 'their' car return to the scene of the crime?
Click to expand...
It’s a canvas for the world to see.

I think it’s irresponsibility on todays corporate railroad structures. As long as the car is making money they don’t care what it looks like. Sad, IMO.

TomO
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 69°, headed back to the mid-80's again today. Still dealing with the wind advisory for a few more hours. Fortunately I had my "biblical tree" removed last fall, the tree that dropped sacrificial limbs randomly. About a third of it's main branches did not bud out last year and I suspect that they were dead and the rest of the tree would soon follow. Even healthy branches were known to drop off. Maybe brief thunderstorms tomorrow.

Headed out this afternoon to a cardiac doctor that my family doctor wants me to see. Like other appointments that my wife made for me, this one is at 2:00 this afternoon. Meanwhile yesterday she finally did our taxes and we're getting a $750 refund, mainly on the taxes held out of her unemployment payments. She says it's all hers since I didn't earn anything last year. I guess that she is overlooking SS and pension payments! I took nothing from the retirement account for the third year in a row, instead using the "way too large" emergency fund to cover any shortfalls. Still have a second emergency account with over a years worth of income in it that she squirreled away. After losing six figures in 2007-2008, we are now overly cautious investment-wise.

Thanks for the many comments and likes yesterday on my two mini projects; OB Ken, Karl, Smudge, Hughie, Guy, Sherrel, Steve J, Louis, IB Ken, Tom O, Curt, Gary, Chad, Joe, Mikey, Rick.

Per the usual Sunday routine, I did not get much time in the train shed yesterday. Maybe I should eliminate church? I only managed to do the small area of ground cover along the trackside of the Sears Distribution Center. I also printed, cut out and placed several background pictures in place to see how I liked them.
IMG_0655.JPG

Haven't viewed them long enough to decide yet. Obviously wherever they go, I'll have to paint some kind of road leading in/out. They need to be actually placed just a bit higher above the horizon to give some perspective. First observation though is that at least one needs to be multi-story to look good. We'll see.

Sherrel - Do kids really check up on parents to see if they are still vertical???
OB Ken - Best wishes on the eye. Seeing correctly is important.
Curt - The scene around the stock pens is coming along nicely.
Joe - My advisor did make money for me, but the bulk was actually just regaining what was lost in 2007-2008. That took until the end of 2011. The overall fees are what got me thinking. He had me in funds where the 12-b-1 fee was in the 1.5% - 2% range, alongside his firms quarterly fee. I was paying in the range of $4500 every quarter. Now with self management and primarily ETF's, I pay a flat rate of $30/month with no internal fund fees. To simplify stuff, I rolled over my 401k into my traditional IRA since that service fee was just a bit higher than the IRA. I could make a lot more if I were to go to a higher risk percentage, which I would do if I was younger.

Everyone have a wonderful day. The wind has finally abated here for a while.
 


Good morning all,

Flo - what about a cup of coffee and some hearty Farmers whole grained bread, toasted; with plenty of butter on the side.
Thank you!
Well, I finished up on reading the old posts,

Patrick - somehow I thought you lived in Utah, but I see it is Kansas.

Tom, TomO, Willie, Greg, Patrick - thanks for the updates on locations! I made a cheat sheet to help keep track-- hope I didn't miss a post, probably did. The Cambria Area 51 I should be able to remember now that there is a story to go with it!

Guy - you are really getting to what I call the "fun" phase of the layout. Thanks for sharing the progress!

Willie - Majestic hardware looks great. Also, the handrail on the 30 year model you just got around to doing, the Rooming house - must feel great to get that detail taken care of.

Curt - looks like you finished the holding pen, fits in well to the spot and looks quite natural, nice job!

Boris - your name must be Joe? One of those things I knew then forgot.

THANKS to all who did an update on personal information which I may use against you if you speak out against my agenda 😁 (not really)

I posted this shot from another angle last week, however was unable to locate the memory card that had the prototype scene. In last weeks shot, a couple wheels were off the track, so I straightened them and got it to sit properly. Also put a coat of flat black on the water tank, will be using a dull green wash on the top wood part, maybe another color elsewhere:

IMG_2066.JPG


Looking at the photo I think I should shave off the two loops and use something else there, there belongs the chain or cable to pull it up, not sure how I am going to finish that.

I had a great weekend on the layout, will post pics on the build thread during lunchbreak.

I also split a bunch of firewood and hauled it up to the wood pile, getting ready for next winter!

more later, Dave LASM
 
Afternoon All,

Spent the morning working on the layout. I mounted trees on the peninsula (on the part that's done to this point) and fixed several bad spots on the recent ballasting. After that I cut the hole in the fascia and painted it for the new control panel that's supposed to be delivered today after it's vacation at the beach over the weekend. I couldn't get motivated this afternoon.

Thank you for all the photo likes yesterday.

Guy- Thank you. It's supposed to be HO scale but it's from Scene Master so not high quality. I put thin styrene (For Sale Sign) on all my large curves. It looks good and not stupid. One thing I might modify would be to put the track going to the bridge (or gate) in the far back to make the approach as straight as possible. Just a suggestion.

Tom- The engine looks good.

Jaz- Sounds like you married a troublemaker. :D

Troy- Nice 1:1 photos.

Joe- The layout looks great so far. Are you going to do a loop around or a sidings so the loco can change train ends?

Ken(IL)- Good luck with your eyes.

TomO- You make great looking pulp wood loads

Willie- Thank you. Nice scenes.

Dave- Thank you. Nice layout shot.

layout31.jpg

layout33.jpg

layout34.jpg

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Happy Monday to all my miniferroequinology friends. Yesterday, I went to the Titletown show at the KI Convention Center in Green Bay, with TSU. The weather was nice on the way there. Walleye must have been running because the Fox River was wall to wall boats. Only picked up a couple hat pins, because I didn’t find what I was looking for at any of the other vendors. I went there looking for a few specific kits/rolling stock. No impulse buys. Found a quilt shop in Appleton for her that was actually open on a Sunday.
Today, I got my CT scheduled for next week. Hopefully that will shed some light on what’s causing my chest issues. Supposed to rain the next couple days & then back down to upper 30’s for DTH this weekend.
 
Afternoon all,

Busy day at the city, After figuring out the issue with webmail (the rest of email was working fine) Then I got the firewalls back, and can't get in...Got that figured out along with the 300 other calls...finally quieted down about 45 minutes ago...just in time to go home.

Looks like there isn't a lot to do except transfer the licenses to the new firewalls and install...famous last words.

All have a good night.
 


D&J RailRoad said:
I'm using an $84 brick to run my JMRI, ESU and Train Controller Silver.
I have it on a little shelf under the benchwork with the screen mounted on the facia with key board and mouse just sitting on the staging yard surface. Programming track is there to the left of the screen and a rotary switch is used to select JMRI, ESU or regular track power to the programming track.
The ESU LokProgrammer is mounted to the benchwork to the right below the screen.
A brick is just a simple, inexpensive computer that doesn't run to fast.


View attachment 144331
Click to expand...
Ken I was looking into JMRI and was wondering if the ESU programmer will work as an interface between the computer and the track or would I need a separate interface for JMRI.
 
McLeod said:
Good Morning, from close enough to North of 60 to still be cool. Let's be happy, though, it is sunny outside. Sunny and cool. Very cool :(, as in freezing.

Willie - Thankyou for the timely answer to my query.

Tom - I really like BNSF 6179. The orange/black scheme is very sharp looking; one of my favorite paint jobs.

TomO - The log loads look great. Very inspiring to me to do much the same.

Joe - Stoney Creek looks great. It looks like you know what you are doing in comparison to me.

Here's what I'm up to, folks. These marked up photos should tell the story.
View attachment 144334
View attachment 144335
Nothing but a bit of the yard is nailed down; it's all just kinda laid out here using what I have on hand and my 2' (28") curve templates. Please tell me straight-up if it looks stupid. This is my first layout, after all, and I actually know very little about real-life railroad operation.

This is going to lead into a whole new ballgame of modelling and building structures. Should keep me busy until end of days. That's what I'm looking for mostly; plus, I hope to give the G-kids some joy. The layout is a G-kid and grandpa fixer.

Dog needs a walk, so I gotta go. Have a good one!
Click to expand...
Not for nothing, Guy, there is nothing wrong with what you have out there. The top photo looks real good, and reminds me of the lead at Brown's yard, in Old Bridge NJ. Biggest difference, is that this is the 6th or 7th layout since we came here, 36 years ago, and it's my first point to point - around the walls layout. You are building your image of what you see while you are photographing it and sending us the photos.
 
PRR Modeler said:
Are you going to do a loop around or a sidings so the loco can change train ends?
Click to expand...
Curt: The way the yard has evolved, the two center tracks are "Main Tracks". There is an escape crossover there to allow an engine to cut off and either run around his train or take the power to the pit. There are additional crossovers between these two tracks (Off camera) which allow for getting around longer trains. There is a yard engine based there to brake up / make up trains serving local consignees, which can also pull back the train to allow the engine to escape if necessary.
 
Tell me this isn't cool :cool:

I had to show off my Western Pacific heritage fleet!

20220411_193935.jpg




UP WP Heritage unit #1983 EMD SD70ACe (ATHG)

WP Fantasy unit unit #1982 GE ES44AC (Intermountain)

WP Fantasy unit unit #4403 GE AC4400 (ATH RTR)

All will be considered heritage units on my layout! 😁 All have sound and LEDs.
 
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D&J RailRoad said:
The ESU only supports the ESU programming. I don't think it can run JMRI.
I have the JMRI linked to the layout with a PR4 and that is on its own USB plug. Both systems seem to work best on COM port 3 so ya can't run em simultaneously.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, never tried to run both at one time. The computer running JMRI is linked to my NCE system with a Keyspan Serial to USB adapter. My Lokprogrammer came it a similar serial data to USB cable, ! plugs into USB in the front of the PC, the other in the back
image_50359553.JPG


The Keyspan® adapter is the one that NCE specifies for use with the Powerhouse Pro.

image_50415873.JPG


Locprogrammer , the gizmo behind is an ESU decoder test stand, the alligator clip go to a short separate programming track.

I hope one day the have the PC, NCE system, Lokprogrammer and test stand all mounted and in one place. Currently the NCE system is 6 feet away, (long cords)
 
Alcomotive said:
Tell me this isn't cool :cool:

I had to show off my Western Pacific heritage fleet!

View attachment 144356



UP WP Heritage unit #1983 EMD SD70ACe (ATHG)

WP Fantasy unit unit #1982 GE ES44AC (Intermountain)

WP Fantasy unit unit #4403 GE AC4400 (ATH RTR)

All will be considered heritage units on my layout! 😁 All have sound and LEDs.
Click to expand...
I thought I was going to be seeing some trout all lined up?
George
 


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