Running Bear's August 2021 Coffee Shop

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Good Afternoon Everyone....finally making an appearance once again on the Forum. "Hot and humid" sums it up in three words. Strong storms later this afternoon and evening. So much rain here at home and at the cabin.

Here's a portion of the NWS forecast for our area....

A potentially significant severe weather event may develop later
this afternoon into this evening. Storms that develop will
rapidly become severe as they shift east to southeast across the
area during this period. Significant wind gusts in excess of 70
MPH are possible, along with large hail to golf ball size or
larger, and a tornado or two. Stay weather aware during this

period.

The neighbor's house looks good with the new siding and front door. Hail damage covered the cost of the siding and labor.

Most of my time has been at the cabin where internet access is very limited unless I want to travel to a local, small public library and use a public computer that has internet access.
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The tiny public library in Pine River near my cabin.-Greg

A couple of weeks ago, Riley got loose chasing a rabbit and Riley ran into the dense woods that surrounds our cabin. It was a tense hour before she emerged from the woods. The woods has young White Pines growing that makes for dense cover and Riley being a black mini-Dachshund blends in with the foliage and is hard to see. She has a micro-chip, but there just too many critters in the wood that are larger than her. We're having problems with Riley answering to the "Come" command, so we started taking her to a dog park close to our house. Working on her training. She does sit, down, roll over and shake paw real well.

Friday will be a model train day and I'll spend an afternoon in the layout room. Maybe go to Walther's, but the neighbor that Walther's is located in is very bad. I always travel with my .380 when going to Walther's. Plus, there a real problem with street racing in Milwaukee with the younger
drivers with several bad crashes and killing many of those involved., not to mention the street gangs. I have a Christmas Gift Certificate for Walther's that I want to use. Early mornings seems to be the safest time to travel the streets of Milwaukee.

Looking for a Wisconsin Central locomotive to complete my collection. I'll check at Walthers for one.

TomO: Last week I traveled to Nekoosa, Wisconsin and traveled by the two mills that were operating. Your modeling of the paper mills and industries is hitting the prototype right on the head. Nice work, Tom.

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A paper mill in Nekoosa across the Wisconsin River.-Greg


Maybe on my layout expansion I'll do a paper industry on a river?

Tomorrow, I have to start touching up our wooden baseboards after over 40 years of vacuum, dogs and walking aids nicking the wood work. I'll use a touch up pen or stain to cover up the problem areas. Our neighbor's house looks like it's brand new after 40 years since and after his divorce he replaced all the woodwork and cabinets along with other major remodeling projects. Riley took a bite out of the lower corner or our new kitchen cabinets.

That's all for now..............

Greg

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Afternoon All,

Spent the day at Dad's and running errands. Looks like we may get wet this weekend :confused:

Jaz- Very nice layout scene and beautiful steamers.

Dakota- Nice job on the plows.

Christian- Nice looking consist.

Joe- So much for Pulmonary health!

Willie- Really nice haul.

Terry- It must be hot there!;)

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
While I never watched the TV series, I understand that "Pizzaland" was seen in the opening credits of The Sopranos.
Willie: We had HBO at the time, and the wife took to watching. The opening credits were cool, showing familiar background scenes, that I either drove over, like the Pulaski Skyway, or drove past in my travels between Oak Island, South Karny, Croxton, North Bergen and Patterson etc.

Oxymorons - My favorite is "Microsoft Works". Runner up is business ethics!
Willie: Two good ones.

There probably will not be any class action lawsuits in the present time against Also and Baldwin.
Garry: For sure. Not for nothing, Conrail reversed its policy on hearing protection after several enterprising FELA lawyers began bringing up cases against the carrier for occupational lung damage and hearing loss. Most problems with the first generation locomotives "gassing" were due to deferred maintenance, rather than design. I was working in Risk Management at the time, and the debates between the H&R people and the rules and practices people were interesting to say the least.

The next couple of days are supposed to be hot and humid, with warnings posted for extreme heat. Highs are forecast in the low 90s both days, so I guess it's the humidity.

Slow progress on the Middlesex building. Glazing is moving along though. No patience!

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R Yanosey photo JUNE 15, 1963 AT Jersey City. Baldwin cab unit in background.
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From the Warren Calloway collection, CNJ Trainmasters 2401 and 2405 at Jersey City.
 


Well, howdy there internet people.

It's Troy again. Today, let's talk about bathrooms, demolition, and breaker boxes

Seems like the gent (me) who built my layout in that wide sweeping dogbone taking up three sides of my basement end was correct about something... more on that in a bit.

Yesterday began the demolition of our master bathroom. Well the 25 year old jaccuzzi tub part of it. The vanity and new sink and such are still on order and I'll be doing those myself. But for the new shower, involving replacing existing plumbing, it's time for the pros.

Here's the skanky old tub we'll been battling mold in...

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The demo guy had plenty of shovels, rakes, and other implements of destruction in his van (but not a VW MicroBus for any Arlo Guthrie fans). Took him a couple of hours to get the tub out. That's when the time sleuthing began...

This bath, and the second one on the back side of the tub, used to be a jack-n-jill style (vanity and toilet on either end, sharing a single tub in between them. Like the old show The Brady Bunch... Can you imagine 3 girls and 3 boys all sharing one tub? :eek:

Anyway... somewhere around 25+ years ago, previous owner flipped that arrangement. Enlarging the master bath, and making the second bath into a very cramped one with a second tub. But those jacuzzi tubs are mold traps.

Fortunately, past renovation "experts" left us clues about the timeline:

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Please note the pull tab hole on the PBR can... those phased out between '75 and 1980. However, the Noxzema jar has a copyright date of '95. The Mic bottle has no date that I could find.

My guess is that the PBR was enjoyed by a worker building the original condo complex back in 1975, and hidden away like a time capsule in the void between lower ceiling and upper floor. The Noxema tells me the previous owners flipped the bathrooms in 95-6.

The Michelob isn't talking, no matter how firm we talk to it.

Part of the erm.... "wonderful" renovation the previous owners did was to put the toilet supply line in a very awkward place. Right at the edge of the old tub. Our guy was able to move it closer to the toilet as he redid the plumbing. (old line at bottom, new line in the shadow of the tank. The corner bead with the rust was caused by leakage from the old glass doors on the jacuzzi tub. We had $$ from previous owner to repair that. Saved it to pay for the new shower.


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Back wall supports are in to install the grab bar. Floor has been repaired. Pan for the new walk in shower has been mortared in place and curing.

Today he's back to get the new drywall in place, acrylic (or whatever it is) surround in place.

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The problem is.... the power to the pump motor has to be disconnected from the main breaker. Not just OFF, but pulled, according to local code. So their electrician is coming out today. He took one look at my layout and said... yeah... not touching that box until you pull the table out and away.

I figured that might be a problem. And I REALLY don't like to play in the main panel box. Better to let the guy who won't kill himself do it.

So I made the decision to remove the leg of the layout I was debating on redoing.

Since upgrading the breaker panel in on my list of future improvement, I better leave room for the electrician there.

Last evening was spent tearing that side of the layout apart. Wood can be recycled. The WS risers and cork roadbed are casualties. But even the 1" foam board on the layout section is salvageable. I kept any of the larger pieces, and will be hot wire beveling and smoothing the edges to make hills for local miniature wargaming club.

And, today my 3d Resin printer is supposed to show up.

Tearing the layout section out might be a blessing in that regard. Friends with 3d printers have warned me: Not only are they a hobby unto themselves... they breed like jackrabbits. I suspect I'll have several in a year or two.

That's all for now. Need to shower in the second tub before the shower guy returns.
 
Good morning global modelers. The humidity in So. Central Wisconsin fogged up my IPad screen when I walked out to the north deck. I have been out here since before 7am central time and today will not be nice. Highs today should be in the mid 90’s. While yesterday afternoon we missed the damaging winds we did get the downpours. Heavy duty storms are being predicted for late afternoon again here.

Terry’s cardio tests yesterday went well in her mind. Then just after dinner she received a summary of results and a message from her doctor. Everything was within acceptable results for her age. The cardiologists however will look more closely and issue their report in a couple days as there is no urgency. You literally could see the weigh removed from Terry who is not a worrier. We all felt good.

The model railroad shopper that I am ordered some new detail parts over the weekend. Some de-rails from Scott Thornton who is a 1/3 of the creators of the ProtoThrottle. Looking forward to these, Scott is a detail person and the pictures look great. So we shall see. I also ordered for January delivery a few rail cars from HomeShopsLLC. These are going to be 2 freelance model railroad names that will be on Tangent Models rolling stock. Currently there are 7 freelance modelers and I ordered 2 different road names cars. Again, the pictures look good. I watched a video last night of a guy switching from N to HO showing some of his goodies for the new layout. I can’t believe he ordered 25 auto racks in one shot. He buys way differently then I do. He has a fleet of locomotives that just came in, again a different type of purchaser.

Troy, tough on the layout but it was in your mind anyway. In the younger days I helped a few friends destroy bathrooms. The last I did was 5 years ago at the son’s 1st house in Austin. The previous owners were growing pot in the tub and the humid conditions created a mold situation. Tore that thing down to the outside siding and brickwork.

Greg, thanks for the compliment on the Paper Mill. The Nekoosa mill was passed every Friday night on the way to HoChunk Casino. For years we spent Friday night at the casino for mindless entertainment so Terry could relax. Her biggest thing was that no food to be served on a tray. The casino back then had the greatest Ruben sandwich I ever tried in Wisconsin. Terry loved their Walleye. The Mill with the greatest influence on me was the Mosinee Papers mill in Mosinee. The Consolidated/Storo Enso/NewPage (the now closed Verso mill in Wisconsin Rapids), the closed Port Edwards mill and the closed Brokaw mills all were important to me. I did use the yard track arrangement from the now Verso mill in Rothschild. The compactness of the Nekoosa mill is the influence on mill #2 currently in the planning stages. With just my mill left overs I could model another 2. Even a small real mill is a huge modeling adventure

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Good Morning, folks!
My normally unkempt, curly grey locks are swept straight back due to that persistent west wind outside. I never have liked the wind, it ruins my Einstein look. - 60F outside with the cloud battling the blue sky for rights of coverage. Looks like the cloud might win the day.

That little 'fix the eavestrough' job for the widowed neighbor turned out to be quite the trolled out lure that I bit onto. Now I'm going to be repairing the bay window, the fence, and painting an interior room. I suspect that's just for starters. Not that I mind so much; she's a millionaire and pays me well.

I got my new dog spayed yesterday. That's usually first on the block when I get a new animal friend. There's enough puppies being born out there without the need for input from my family. 'Sky' also got her tattoo, and I made sure her vaccinations were up to par. The dog will have to take it easy for a few days, but, she'll be just fine.

Can't hang around here for long. The widow would like to see some work done.
Thanks for the likes on my posts.

I'm a bit short on new locomotive photos lately, so your going to have to settle on box car pics. Sorry about the graffiti; I'm not the type to paint that on, and didn't do it.
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Can't hang around folks. Have a good one!
 
Good Morning Everyone. Mostly clear and 78°, the auto-pilot forecast is calling for 98° again today, but we've been only up to 95° for the past few days. Our humidity is much lower than the temperature, so no heat advisory for today...yet! Pool temperature has thankfully been staying below 84° since mid-June, and is quite refreshing all of the time. It's actually 81° out there right now. It's been a few years (2017) since we've had a summer where the temperature hasn't risen into triple digits; looks like this might be one unless I just cursed it by saying so. By comparison, the summer of 2011 had 71 days where the temperature got to 100° or higher. 1980 was also brutal with 69 days, but it reached 113° twice that year. Average is 20 days a year. Last year we had 8. Global warming must be somewhere else this year. ;)
Still on the subject of oxymorons, we tend to use them all of the time without thinking about it: awfully good, fine mess, deafening silence, small crowd, pretty ugly and a paraphrasing of William F Buckley's favorite "intelligent politician".

Thanks to all who commented and liked yesterday's post; Karl, Tom O, Guy, Rick, Christian, Gary, James, Chad, Curt, Tom, Mike, Joe, Garry, Hughie.

I'll take a plateful of scrambled eggs and bacon this morning Flo. Switch me over to apple juice for a change, no toast on my low-carb Wednesday.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I just did odds and ends. Some weeds here and there, did a little work on new vehicles, touched up the paint on a few figures and generally tidied things up in the entry aisle. Read that as taking out trash, empty beer bottles, restocking the beer fridge and running the shop-vac.
I determined which structure kit I was going to tackle next. Looks like the Blair Line laser-cut wood kit of Blairstown General Store.
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It's been a while since I did a laser-cut wood kit and I am looking forward to it. I even have a good idea where it is going to reside.

Karl - You will be able to see the Oxford cars on the layout as soon as I dull coat them.
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That's a '59 Bonneville, '55 Buick and a '69 Dodge Charger. Even though my layout is set in '78-'94; in Texas where they don't use salt on roads, there were lots of 50's cars still on the road into the late 80's; so all are appropriate.
Here are the other's that I got. A pair of '64 Dodge vans from Berkina.
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After this picture was taken, I removed the NYC stencil from the yellow one and will use something from my decal box to make it more "local".
Finally a pair of '57 Chevy trucks from Mini Metals.
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The two Chevy's and the cargo van got disassembled, de-glazed and dull coated yesterday, outside rear-view mirrors were also added and they are ready to go after some minor weathering.
The clouds not so quickly as I need to get some other stuff done first. I have however picked out the backdrop section that I am going to practice on.
Tom O - Independent craftsmen here are always willing to take cash for two reasons, they don't report it as income and they don't have to deal with bank bureaucracy and delays. Most do not take credit cards either as the expense of the portable card reader and the processing fee to the CC companies just isn't worth it. Most people who pay by check make it out to the individual instead of the company for the same reporting reasons. They all do a fair share of business with corporate people and insurance companies to have to report taxable income and pay taxes. My plumber gets most of his jobs in Dallas/Ft Worth and surrounding area from an independent broker who gets a cut as well. Anything through the broker is on the record and he handles all of the payments and billing.
Troy - Bathroom remodels can be such fun. It's amazing what can be found during demolition! Our master bathroom was done by a pro since it required tile floors and a completely tiled walk-in shower enclosure. He did not do electricity, so I did that. The central bathroom I did all myself, new ship-lap walls, vanity, and toilet. Wife did most of the painting. The tile was still in good shape from when I replaced the carpet with it in the late 90's. I have since retired from doing my own plumbing when I reached age 68, but still do my electrical work.

Everyone have a great day.
 


Greetings all!

I am working three evenings this week, four if you count my Friday night VFW outing as part of the ritual squad. We are presenting the colors for a veteran's group dinner that night. Called "Reuniting After War" (RAW) they focus on younger vets of the Iraq/Afghanistan eras. We are hoping to recruit some new members for the VFW from this age group by showing the benefits the VFW has to offer. As chaplain, I expect to engage in some decent conversations. It truly will be a work-night. But a great cause.

Been using the odd hour or two in my full schedule of late to sneak in some construction right-of-way work:
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And a bit wider:
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So all in all, making some decent progress. You sure can tell the difference between the ME weathered track and the non-weathered TOs! And I am remembering to file away the weathering at each section end for electrical continuity and soldering as needed. My track laying is not perfect, but hopefully should be adequate for trouble-free operation. You can't really see, but there are two electromagnet decouplers in the top main and there is one already permanent magnet decoupler near the TO for each yard ladder track.

A good sign: SHowed the wife unit my progress when she returned from work yesterday. She gave the appropriate oohs and ahs but then the intriguing bit:

"When do we get to the fun part of decorating and making the towns and stuff?"

I picked up on the "we" ! ! !

Well, to work! - - - - - Steve J
 
Morning to all Model RR'ers! 69 /20 to start the day and looking for 95/35 later. It has been very humid for this neck of the woods with the monsoonal flow of weather patterns.

I been very busy the last few days. The Spousal Unit and one of the sisters went to Santa Monica to visit one of their close friends - and then they were going to some casino nearby to pay "dues". She will return Thursday (erm, that is tomorrow) - that means I have to clean up my messes.

FLO, I would like very much for a 'clean the kitchen omelet' with wheat toast and a handful of bacon - DP to drink, PATY!

I put a full set of tires on the RV yesterday so my wallet is sorta flat and will remain so for a while. The tires were starting to show aging cracks and because the front needs to be aligned - those were showing wear. Alignment is next week; can't just take it anywhere - has to be a place that has the equipment and bay that will take it in.

Nice photos, EVERYONE! I am going to have to take names and notes ... getting to take a while to read through all the posts - we all seem to be busy.

GREG - Having your pup run into the woods that way would have made my heart stop! The first time I took my Carolina Dog to the river in Laughlin she scared me to death. She loves the water and that Colorado River is like 50 degree water and flows pretty swift. I had a cove where I took the dogs, but she was only a 6-7 mo old pup and headed straight for the river. The current got her and I was helpless to watch as she was almost out of sight when she managed to get to the edge and climbed out fortunately on my side of the river! I just knew that she was a gonner! It must have scared her as well for I did not have her do that anymore although she still loves the water, she knows to stay out of the faster current. She is the Yellow one - now 16 years old.
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I don't mind basic electrical work. Running a new outlet off an old one. Or hanging a new light. But I get the heebie-jeebies every time I have to take the cover off the main panel...
Wear sneakers and don't touch any black wire tips or the galvanized thingy down the center. :eek:Seriously my main panel has a breaker at the top where the service wires come in that shuts power off to the whole thing at once.
 
Afternoon All,

Did a bunch of running around with Dad today but it took so long I couldn't drive to Sanford because of my haircut appointment, which...wait for it- I found out is actually Thursday :rolleyes:. Tomorrow I have lots of pool things to do, but hopefully I can get some modeling in.

Joe- Nice CNJ photos.

Troy- Looks like a major renovation. Good luck with it.

TomO- Good news about your wife. Excellent layout shot.

Guy- Great 1:1 shots.

Willie- Great looking vehicles.

Steve- Very good looking trackwork.

Sherrel- Nice looking dogs.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 


Since I didn't get home from Dallas until after 2:00 pm, and then took a nap, I didn't get a lot of time in the train shed yesterday before the pool/ cold beer beckoned. As posted above, I went by the LHS this morning and here's an overall shot of most of the booty.
View attachment 131016
Field grass, Evergreen Styrene, ground foam, Dull Coat, glues, two different fence kits, 7 vehicles, three structures, graffiti decals, and some pre-painted Preiser figures.
How are you intended to use that field grass? I've never understood it. Good haul, though.

Progress still going on my module. The trestle is assembled and waiting for paint. Need to attach my feeders and finally install the track and trestle.

I also completed my first BN 1973 patch job on my Kato RS11. I should say, I did the cab number. Need to do the number boards. Any of you guys ever re-numbered a diesel and its number boards? I bought decals which can be lit, just in case I want to go that route. Question is, what do I do with the part of the number boards where the decal film doesn't cover? Paint it black?
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