Running Bear's April 2025 Coffee Shop

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A Pleasant Good Morning to All. It's mostly clear and 67°, looking at 83° for a high again today. More of the same until Wednesday when there is a chance of rain. Perfect Springtime weather for us.

After a morning full of household tasks, I mowed with the push mower around the garden, up next to the pool and close to the house yesterday. When the battery finally discharged all of the way, I put up some more t-posts to mount the Tomato cages to. Hoed the Tomato bed and pulled some weeds along the way.
Stopped early to make a real homemade supper. Italian meatballs with organic ground turkey, Parmesan, Ricotta cheese with Parsley, Oregano, Rosemary and Chives picked from the pots on the back porch. Used some freshly picked Garlic and frozen chopped Onion from last year. The salad had freshly picked green and red loose leaf Lettuce, Spinach and Radishes from the garden. Added in some Arugula from a pot on the porch and some homemade croutons as well. Made some homemade Italian dressing again with herbs from the porch to top it off. Didn't have time to do the homemade pasta and just used some boxed Penne.

Later today, I will climb on the tractor and mow somewhere; parts of the front yard aren't dry enough yet but there is no shortage of alternatives. I should finish the t-posts today as well. I do need to actually set the cages in place in the next couple of days, before the growth hinders that. Both gas cans are empty, so I will make a short road trip to the closest place 6.5 miles away.

I only got into the train shed during rest breaks yesterday, but pulled out the next project. I enjoyed assembling the freight car kit last week, so I pulled out another, another covered hopper, this one from P2K.
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Bought it at the train show 2 years ago, it's one of three of the same but with different numbers. It came from a dealer who purchases estates and the price shown, $8 is two dollars less than I paid for new ones in 1999. It obviously came from someone who had bought it but never opened it like the other two that I got.
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Stay tuned for this build over the next week.

Tom O - I'd like to see things settle down a bit with the trade talk. From what I have been reading, it seems that "the sky is falling", although I haven't noticed it yet. I wonder if the president finalized a trade deal with the Vatican this weekend?
Dave - I just can't make it up to see you sing this morning. I'm sure that it will be inspirational.
John - Hard to see the station with that damn train in the way.

“One of my favorite philosophical tenets is that people will agree with you only if they already agree with you. You do not change people’s minds.”
Everyone have a great Sunday.
 
Good mornin' crew. Under party cloudy skies, it's 51 in Cheyenne. Winds are calm WSW @ 5 and looking for a high this afternoon of 68 and a low tonight of 42. A slight chance of a shower later this afternoon and evening. Looking like a very nice day on tap for southeast Wyoming.

The order of track and turnouts arrived yesterday. Nicer weather means a bit more time in the train shed. Results of the backdrop experiment are in as are the materials, so backdrop is #1 on the to-do list. More on that later in the layout thread. Started another structure build. More on that later in the structure thread.

Headed out later this afternoon to Ft. Collins for visit with SIL's Dad and dinner. He's retired but stays busy as girls softball umpire, high school basketball ref, and big-time pickle-baller.

NJ(ret) is back with breakfast so that's about it from here. Y'all enjoy the day and take care.
 
Good morning all!

Happy Sunday!

Going to be another picture perfect day today. Currently 56F going up to around 68F with nothing but sun. Looks
like a nice few days ahead with the rain staying out of the forecast till mid week.

Busy day in store. Have laundry going and will get out and mow later after the grass dries a bit more. Grocery run is also
on the agenda.

Decided not to go the the hobby shop yesterday. There is really nothing I need and I would of purchased something since I was there.
I figured it is better to take the wait and see approach to the trade happenings. If need be, I can hold out buying much of anything for
the foreseeable future till things settle down. I have enough to keep me busy.

Have a safe day everyone!
 


Well, howdy there internet peeps and those with sunny days... It's Troy again.

Today was game store day... but we had several no shows (one gent's mother passed away, two others had work issues). So, I'm back home patio sitting. The gent who's mother passed did show up to drop off some 3D printed buildings about the right size for G-scale layouts. Medieval themed, Greecian, and Arabian to keep the game's theme going. Since I'm organizing the tourney in October, he's been printing up terrain for the gaming tables. Plan on 6 tables of players - but need a couple of extra.

Wife is doing the mother visit. She'll tell me when she gets home where we're eating dinner.

As for trade wars, I'm very much a Reaganite Free Trade guy, and well.... let's just say I'm pissed at the current situation.

As for why we haven't seen much effect yet... Dr. Sal the Merchant Marine/college professor of Maritime history breaks it down well in this vid from a few days ago. Some ships are still coming in, but most of the pre-tariff stuff is already unloaded. And a lot of ships from Asia have been rerouted away from the US or cancelled before they left. Dr. Sal breaks it down:

 
Good day to all...........

Willie said.........Then we generally watched "Slam Bang Theater", a locally produced kids show that had a few cartoons interspersed with some slapstick stuff done by the host and cast.
This was one of my favorite "variety" type kids comedy shows. Coming out of Ft. Worth Texas at channel 11, hosted by Icky Twerp. A Three Stooges episode was usually standard.
I am old enough to remember watching the original episodes of "Amos & Andy" from the 1950s.

I agree with Tom, no more pre-orders unless absolutely necessary as in a limited production run requiring a reservation for something I just can't live without. At this time I have more than enough rolling stock and locos for my layout. But as they say............you can never have enough trains.

I can't control the economy but I can control what I spend my money on. Hopefully the changes we see happening will, in fact, benefit our country in the long run.
I don't think the price for a dozen eggs (currently $4.19 at my local grocery store) will ever be below $2.00 in grocery stores ever again. Once prices go up due to what ever reason, they never seem to return to the original price before the increase started. And this will apply to lot of other items that have just increased in price for whatever reason.

Back to work for me.
Take care.....John
 
Good afternoon from Sandstone MN

54f and windy, cloudy. I am planning a trip to the BWCA for Tuesday through Friday, camping and hiking.

Still hasn't soaked in that I am retired.

Willie- the song went very well. I had piano and organ accomplishments.

Will be running trains later on today, I picked several dry weeds on my walk this morning in prep for more tree creations.

Tom- I am glad you take a day off walking, it sounds like you do a fast clip.

I often find myself rather mosying along, looking at stuff and listening to the birds. This morning it was picking dry weeds.

If the wife is along, it is more the business of walking.

Later, Dave
 
Good morning all!

Happy Sunday!

Going to be another picture perfect day today. Currently 56F going up to around 68F with nothing but sun. Looks
like a nice few days ahead with the rain staying out of the forecast till mid week.

Busy day in store. Have laundry going and will get out and mow later after the grass dries a bit more. Grocery run is also
on the agenda.

Decided not to go the the hobby shop yesterday. There is really nothing I need and I would of purchased something since I was there.
I figured it is better to take the wait and see approach to the trade happenings. If need be, I can hold out buying much of anything for
the foreseeable future till things settle down. I have enough to keep me busy.

Have a safe day everyone!
Probably a good idea to wait.

I’ll need some electronics for the layout, mainly circuit breakers but the units I want have been out of stock since early Fall of 24. I purchased enough freight cars and locomotives for sale purposes in December and then again in January. I’m definitely covered.

I’m not going to look for any diesels or freight cars. But I have started looking at USA 3d printer companies for detail parts. I am thinking about buying some stuff from mini-prints based in Canada as I think they are exempt if I stay under $800. I hope Bernie responds sometime today or Monday

As like most model railroaders I have plenty but I am always looking
 


Evening fellers. I hope everyone is doing well. It's been quite a long while since I've stopped in. I'm still around just haven't been doing much with trains lately. Hopefully sometime this year I can get something going again. Been in the market for housing so I've had to pause any layout building. So here's hoping this year is the year. I did add to my roster though.
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Added another GP9 to the roster. A phase 1 with the GP9 badge on the nose. This is an older pic from a few months ago. That's all I have for now. I figured I would stop by to say hi.
 
Probably a good idea to wait.

I’ll need some electronics for the layout, mainly circuit breakers but the units I want have been out of stock since early Fall of 24. I purchased enough freight cars and locomotives for sale purposes in December and then again in January. I’m definitely covered.

I’m not going to look for any diesels or freight cars. But I have started looking at USA 3d printer companies for detail parts. I am thinking about buying some stuff from mini-prints based in Canada as I think they are exempt if I stay under $800. I hope Bernie responds sometime today or Monday

As like most model railroaders I have plenty but I am always looking
Mini Prints has a US site as well as Canadian. They've been advertising no tariffs. They ship from upstate NY if I recall.
 
With Japanese N-scale, if you want to be sure you get something, you pre-order it. That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get it otherwise, but if you want it you put in a pre-order. There are some items that get somewhat regular runs but a lot of items are one run only, or if another run is done, it may be years in the future.

Now, I don’t have experience with US pre orders, but the ones I’ve done from Japan are typically not put up for pre-orders until the item is announced and the production scheduled. So typically several months to 1/2 year or so? There is not much of the “announce a product to see if we get enough interest” type thing where you wait for years sometimes. I’m not saying that never happens, but in my experience it’s not the norm.

Sometimes production schedules do change. World events or something happen. But in general, if it’s on KATOs announcement list for this Fall it will ship this Fall. That’s just my experience and I could be wrong.

It is the sort of market though that if you see something you like you buy it as it may not be available and may never get another run.
 
Good evening gang!

Added another loco to the roster tonight. Another 1st run Atlas GP7 in WM Fireball paint. Added the correct horns, spark arrestors, window visors and numberboards, changed the number (already had #21, and #23 so I made this one #22) and added a decoder. I still have several "half builts", GP9s, F7As, and SD40s to finish all in boxes with detail parts. I'll grab one now and then , throw some detail parts, paint and decals, keeps me off the streets.

Speaking of pre orders and tariffs, I wonder how much those Rapido 44 tonners that I pre-ordered are gonna set me back once they arrive??😟🤔

Cardiologist appointment tomorrow, more tests prior to the cath next week, then stopping at HD for stuff. Playing hooky tomorrow from work.😁

Why? Cuz a bad day with the trains is better than a good day at work! 😃
 


Well, howdy there internet peeps and those with clean engines... It's troy again.

Today in the Fort, the Weather Underground says it will be warmish and sunny, then rain the rest of the week.

Screenshot 2025-04-28 at 6.17.04 AM.png


Last evening the wife said we would be dining at one of the top two Italian places in town. I'm not sure what message they're trying to send...

Et Tu, cannoli?


et tu.jpg


I think I've settled on a color for the fascia: Dark Grey. I've been wanting to get a base color of latex paint in a gallon can, to help with the rockwork base layer over carved foam. Indiana rock is mostly limestone of either grey or buff (or a variegated form of both). That carries over into a lot of the gravel quarries in N Indiana. While not the brown of the fertile farm soil around here, it does cover the few rocky or mining areas I've got planned. Then I can do a heavy dry brush of lighter greys and/or tans over the dark grey on the rocks. And a dark grey should blend in nicely on the fascia.

So, a run to get some paint, is on schedule with the Monday grocery run.

Managed to sleep in til almost 6 am today. Since it was upper 40s across the night time, it made for good sleep with the window open and heavy quilt on the bed time.
 
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