Running Bear's August 2022 Coffee Shop

[CambriaArea51]

Second question - - anyone built the Tichy rail Crane? I'm wondering if "over 200 parts" might be a bit advanced for me, but I do need a nice project as wifeykins will have several business trips this fall. But the idea is for a project to keep me OUT of the bottle ... not drive me into one!

200 parts, I'll pay the extra and get it assembled. There's a fine line between fun and "Are You Kidding Me".

 

[CambriaArea51]

Tom - Cambria - Just thinking I hadn't seen your posts for a couple days, glad you were on this weekend

I've been around here and there, just not much to say.

 

[Snowman]

From my friend Tom Holly's home layout. The FA #5216 has been overhauled and a new 567 engine installed: The spark arrestors location is the give-away!

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Well, I dunno about the 567, but yer friend does have a sense of humor.

"ROYAL SCREW MFG" indeed.

 

[chadbag]

Yes you are correct, I suspect it was burning space junk, I heard about it on the news over the past couple weeks also. I have reported fireballs before to one of the research sites, but this was definitely different from those.

Last Saturday (8/13) we had a sonic boom and a meteor crash in the area.

I missed it. We were in the church practicing a song for my dad's funeral but people who came later to the funeral service were talking about it.

 

[JeffH]

Spent some time in the basement this weekend thanks to some rain. I'm not complaining, I sliced up about 300 N-Scale 4x4 timbers and also got them stained various shades of treated wood color, from yellowish brown to heavy creosote.

Gonna let the timbers dry before laying down the planks for the dock.

 

[JeffH]

Made some progress toward JMRI this weekend.

I Bought a cheap ASUS laptop to run JMRI.

Loaded JAVA and installed JMRI, but have not yet received the NCE USB Panel. But I'll be ready when it does arrive.

The laptop was only $250 and came with Windows 10 Home Edition, SSD hard drive, touch screen, decent speakers.

Not a bad weekend!

 

[troyphoto]

Gee this place is quiet. Where'd all the Brits and Europeans take off to?

Did my 3am pee break, and realized I was thirsty. Doc started me on Lipitor, and yesterday was day one. Not sure if thirst is from that or some of the Tums I chewed before bed.

Might have had my night sock for my plantar too tight. I did a quick massage of the foot, a few stretches, then stepped and the tissue around the back of the heel started grumping. Normally, it's the bottom front, not the back/ankle side.

OK, I'll take an Advil and sit in the recliner for a bit.

Gonna need a ginger ale. The acid reflux is grumpy tonight. Then me and the cat are going to do some napping in the recliner.

 

[BigGRacing]

Last Saturday (8/13) we had a sonic boom and a meteor crash in the area.

I missed it. We were in the church practicing a song for my dad's funeral but people who came later to the funeral service were talking about it.

Sad about your dad’s funeral again but thank you for the info on the meteor. The one I saw seemed a lot slower and a long train of burning parts….maybe it was part of the meteor shower…..

As for model trains, had some more guns printed for the gun shop in my dockyard.

 

[BigGRacing]

Good Evening Ladies and Gentle Persons.

Well. made it home in one piece, despite having several near misses with idiot's towing caravans, mainly by either not knowing how long the whole thing is, or how to use mirrors.

There was one young idiot travelling way too fast, caravan was swinging so much it used two lanes, eventually he realised there was a problem, and did the dumb a*& thing of hitting the brakes, so jackknifed the whole kit and caboodle, ended up with the SUV facing the wrong way with the caravan sitting next to him, luckily his wife and kids were fine, I stopped and helped straighten the thing up and got him to the side of the road, but no way was it drivable.

Found out the guy lived in the next village along from my daughter, so offered to take family home while he waited for a tow truck, according to his wife, the SUV and the caravan belong to his father in law, so don't think he'll be a happy bunny when they tell him.

Had a great weekend freeing up my sister's and BIL three computers, (would help if the allowed updates and didn't use so much storage that the machine's basically didn't work.)

So now I'm home and having a much needed break from the world, and flipping computers.

Hope everyone has an as uneventful week as I had at the weekend.

G'nite all.

Smudge, just glad that you are back safe and sound!

 

[Smudge617]

Smudge, just glad that you are back safe and sound!

Thanks, sounds worse than it was tho', but standard of driving now in the UK. is atrocious. Think they're all trying out for a spot on the NASCAR circuit.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Coffee before the office, thanks Flo.
64° and clear, going for a high of 92°. No rain expected for the next 5 days. Wife has a 6 weeks of work until closure. Sadly. It is a church daycare that had over 110 kid waiting list. You can't help families when you can't get help.

Already planning a shift in my hours as there won't be a need to get up so early starting October 1st.

BBL

 

[OBTC 1909]

Good morning all! 60 degrees headed for partly sunny and 80. Back to work and school today after a restful weekend. Going in early today to get some contractors started on a job. Nothing much else to report. Hope you all have a great day!

 

[NYC_George]

Afternoon All,

Started out driving Dad to the airport and we discovered he left his cell phone in the car, last time he forgot his insulin. SMH. After getting home I did a bunch of yard and pool chores. In the trainroom I finished up the building then ran out of energy to do anything else.

Thank you for the photo likes yesterday.

Patrick- Sorry to hear about your wife losing her job.

Willie- Your response was awesome. Our gas tax is 19 cents. You're making great progress on the layout.

Joe- I hope it's nothing serious about your wife. Great photo.

Guy- Nice 1:1 photo.

Gary- Beautiful scenery. Good looking rail cars. All you need is money...like the rest of us.

TomO- Sounds like my wife. Great progress and I look forward to seeing your progress. I would gladly pay the $15 to save time and not having to go to the stealership.

Ken (IL)- I lucked out taking speech. I had been a scuba instructor for years so I was very comfortable talking to groups of people.

Troy- My Dad had a ring system at his last house and it alarmed constantly. We would be driving and Mom and I could hear it, Dad couldn't and it drove us crazy.

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I hope everyone has a good night.

The station turned out to be a great project. I like the idea that's it's getting lit up.
George

 

[Alcomotive]

Wrapping up the weekend with a deadhead power move video

Awesome! Love the ES44! Intermountain has been doing quite well with their products as of late. I really like their locos and their rolling stock, especially the covered hoppers!

Looks like a great day on your layout! Nice work and details, scenery....all good!

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Greetings fellow RR Fans,
FLO, after your weekend off, you look fabulous this morning! How about a large coffee and I will be in the corner waiting on TROY to finish his nap.

Nothing much new from my closet! The weather report for today is current 63 degrees and the guessers say 92 as a high with the same mostly sunny and breezy, but they missed "big" yesterday. It only got up to 86 - and I did manage to see only two towering cumulus clouds to the Northeast over the two tallest peaks. I spent the day mostly watching Clint Eastwood movies on TCM. The Spousal Unit hardly moved from her recliner because of being "drained" after her visits to Irene in the hospital and worrying over what's going to happen in the future.

I have a call conference this morning from my visit last week. After the heart inversion my blood pressure and heart rate is too low for the upcoming aneurysm surgery and I have been taken off several of my meds in order to try and raise things back up! The doctor will call this morning to see if his plan is working. It seems to be a never ending game with the aging and it's problems?

Well, it is time for another cup - I'll return in a while.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from a very moist morning in So. Central Wisconsin. 58f degrees was the low over night at 5AM but we have fog. Foggy mornings I have decided on the day of my morning walk now become a swim. I finally realized a few weeks ago walking in the fog is no longer fun so I stopped. 62f/16.6c heading to 80/26.6. This is supposed to be the pattern the next 7 days including the morning fogs!

I had a great exchange of FB Messages from the guy has told me to move the propane tanks out of the straight line in the transload yard. Willie also suggested it. Nice very knowledgeable guy who knows his railroading and is good with a camera. He has appeared in a few of those TSG Multimedia you tubes. While his messages on Facebook were relentless he never came across as mr. Know it all. During some later exchanges my Continous Glucose Monitor warning tones went off. I missed lunch and was so intent on the layout my snack got missed to. 60 is low and around 3PM my day turned to recovery. Got back to the layout around 11 to put a coat of paint down on the transload facility. Sleep time was 1:30 this morning.

Terry finally has an offer to consider for the stables, property and business. The employees finally got their act together and hired an attorney. They started talking a couple months ago then stopped. Then last week she got a offer from them which was unexpected. Totally different then what she expected but this version would be the wanted clean break for her from the stables. They want double the property and for me that is a huge issue but I’d be ok with a clause saying no residential building on the additional acreage for 10 years. I need to have the surveyor add the acreage being proposed to my property plans. If this happens 4 of Terry’s 8 horses will temporarily get moved to the daughters stable/barn. Over 2 miles by car away or just over 1 mile by ATV but definitely more then the 500’ downhill currently from the house.

Keeping busy with stuff besides trains.

I do have some pulp cars to start weathering and I am expecting the 3 cars I purchased to show up today per USPS tracking. No rush to do these and I have to add weight to them first. The transload yard is coming along. Slower then I wanted but again no real rush. Next will be the 1 track locomotive track before I turn back to the paper mill.

 

[JeffH]

I made the mistake of listing my old stereo components on Facebook Marketplace.

Now everyone want my phone number. I wish people would work as hard at a real job rather try to scam me.

Beware this relatively new scam...

ABC news story

 

[TLOC]

I made the mistake of listing my old stereo components on Facebook Marketplace.

Now everyone want my phone number. I wish people would work as hard at a real job rather try to scam me.

Beware this relatively new scam...

ABC news story

I just sold a couple grills in Facebook Marketplace. I never was asked for a phone #, so yeah somebody’s up to no good, if they can’t deal via FB Messenger too bad. Best wishes on the sale.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Light rain and 72°. The rain finally arrived here, two days late. It rained all day yesterday along and on both sides of the OK border, but it didn't start here until sometime after midnight last night. I currently have 1.4" in the rain gauge. High today at maybe 79° after 80° yesterday. The pool cooled down to 83° yesterday evening, slightly cooler than optimal but pleasant nonetheless. It's likely cooler right now - probably too cool to use today. The cloudiness will depart late Tuesday and warmup will begin Wednesday. 65 miles south in Dallas, they've received over 8" in many places. Both of my daughters had trouble going to and from school with the kids this morning. Their homes are wet but otherwise unscathed.
I'm excited as this rainfall could be enough to ensure a very reasonable second cutting of hay from my hay field. On the downside, this cool spell could cause my onions stored in the shed to begin sprouting.

After church yesterday, I canned more tomato sauce, all successful. I haven't had a canning failure since the beginning of June so all is good. Those from back then were just poured into a Ziploc and are stored in the freezer so no loss. The day itself was otherwise a lazy day with the hardest chore after canning being taking the trash out to the dumpster. We went out to eat at our favorite Italian restaurant after enjoying a dip in the pool.

Thanks for all of the reactions and comments to my relatively slow progress; Sherrel, Gary, Steve J, Karl, Joe, Tom O, OB Ken, Patrick, Rick, Hughie, Louis, Curt, Smudge, Mikey, James, Tom, Chad, Guy, George.

My visit out to the train shed yesterday was brief and all I did was run trains. I should be able to finish the fence around the gas station today. I can't locate my good combination square yet, so I didn't get to check that. I did check the level of the lower level of the layout and it is fine.
So back to the archives. Girls always seem to be popular, so here are a few, possibly with some repeats for Sherrel.
In front of the spa in Maultown.

Further south in Maultown.

In front of the pizza joint in Vernon.

Sherrel - I know that you have posted Tom Holly pictures before. Is this the same person who is connected with the Texas Western Model Railroad Club in Ft Worth?
Tom O - I like Terry's suggestion regarding the propane tanks. On my layout, I don't have any "negative space" as I like switching too much. There are a few places where the engines of a through freight will be in one town, while the caboose is still in another town. However most people's field of view is not wide enough to be able to tell. Mine certainly isn't. I generally run 22-24 car train lengths for through trains, while locals are usually 5-7 cars.
Note that I hate apparel shopping worse than I hate eating fast foods.
Curt - I don't know if a shim would fix the problem. If you look at the uppermost wall, it fit's flush.
Steve J -

Beautiful!! Thanks! Still not sure that will be within my skills level.

It won't be unless you try it. There's nothing wrong with going slow and getting it right. You gain skills by trying new things. I had projects over the years that I started and then laid down into storage for a year before resuming. There's nothing about this hobby that makes instant gratitude a requirement. That's not to say that some are pushing that idea.
Smudge - UK has not cornered the market on stupid drivers. I see plenty here.
James - Sorry that you wasted the rum. I'll buy you a drink if we ever get together!
Patrick - The more that you post about your wife's daycare center, the madder I get. If your area is like North Texas, part of the labor shortage is because they eliminated the work requirement for some welfare benefits.

So my burning question for today, what is the difference in the settings on our air-fryer between air-fry and convection bake??? Inquiring minds want to know.
Everybody have a great day. The rain here will keep me inside mostly.

 

[MilwRoader_Steve]

Made some progress toward JMRI this weekend.

I Bought a cheap ASUS laptop to run JMRI.

Loaded JAVA and installed JMRI, but have not yet received the NCE USB Panel. But I'll be ready when it does arrive.

The laptop was only $250 and came with Windows 10 Home Edition, SSD hard drive, touch screen, decent speakers.

Not a bad weekend!

Jeff - - - I am looking hard at the N3IX QuadLN_S servo controllers for turnouts. Looking at the manual, seems that they really push JMRI for setting up and all. I am not a JMRI guy, so will be quite interested in your experience and tutelage. Buying a cheap laptop is not a bad idea. I also need to update the firmware for my DIgitrax products including the DCS52 Zephyr (which has a USB port).