Running Bear's August 2023 Coffee Shop

[KriegslokBR52]

Domestic (Continental) Opels were, and for the most part still are, pretty good. The stuff GM had sent over here, though was almost universally trash. My cousin had a Kadett wagon that spent more time in the shop than it did in her driveway.

Just about all the Buicks are basically Opels currently. Not sure about the largest ones though.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

I'm fairly sure I crossed that line long ago.

Come to think of it, I had crossed that line before my train obsession began. If anything, trains have moved me back closer to the middle.

Not me, i can only blame whom ever put me in a cab of live steam locomotive when i was about 2 years old. I am absolutely not responsible for how i turned out.

 

[zzr1200guy]

Well, that was a productive weekend at the hunting camp, field mowed, cord of wood stacked and deck striped and ready to get painted when it dries out.

 

[zzr1200guy]

Those are Turkish kabobs skewers my buddy got me for cooking over the fire pit they are about 28ins long.

 

[santafewillie]

Still 101° here this evening. Excitement earlier today as fire trucks rushed by on a mutual aid situation. Seems a grass/wild fire broke out in the corner of a wheat field about 3 miles north. Field had been combined about two months ago, so there was only wheat straw and stubble. While waiting for the VFD response, the astute farmer got on his tractor w/plow, and started plowing a fire-break around the area, thus confining the fire to about 4 acres. Took the VFD about 8-10 minutes to get there, three different ones showed up, and they quickly took care of all hot spots. They are all on high alert right now. While they are all very good at responding, their investigating skills consist of a multiple choice sheet of paper. In this case, a) stray cigarette butt; b) malfunctioning equipment; c) human intervention (arson); or d) lightning. They picked "a" in this case. They didn't even need to call the county tanker truck which generally takes about 20 minutes to arrive unless it's cruising in the area. They also didn't need to come borrow water from my pool, which I willingly put on their "available list", years ago. The local trucks only hold 500 gallons of water, while the tanker truck (a semi trailer) has a capacity of 5000 gallons. I used to get free tickets to their annual fund raising BBQ dinner for the availability of my pool water, but I normally pay anyway.

 

[kbkchooch]

Just about all the Buicks are basically Opels currently. Not sure about the largest ones though.

Nope. The Encore, Envision and one other model who's name escapes me are Korean Built, by GM of Korea, formerly Daewoo. (The vin# starts with K or L) The only remaining pure GM built unit will be the Enclave, which is just a rebadged Chevy Traverse.

 

[bnsf971]

Nope. The Encore, Envision and one other model who's name escapes me are Korean Built, by GM of Korea, formerly Daewoo. (The vin# starts with K or L) The only remaining pure GM built unit will be the Enclave, which is just a rebadged Chevy Traverse.

Envista?

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Nope. The Encore, Envision and one other model who's name escapes me are Korean Built, by GM of Korea, formerly Daewoo. (The vin# starts with K or L) The only remaining pure GM built unit will be the Enclave, which is just a rebadged Chevy Traverse.

They might be built in Korea, but the platforms were developed by German arm of GM. At least two models were also built completely in Europe. The convertible (forgot name) was built in Poland. The cool looking wide station wagon is built in Germany.

 

[TLOC]

Good evening from the new place. 1st night of sleeping here starts in about 2 hours. Some art work was hung today as the SIL and I did as we were told and didn’t discuss the choices or placement. We just put them up. This place is bigger so I am afraid it’s back to all the craft/art shows on Saturday and Sundays. We can’t have gaps you know. What we have agreed on is no more metal art. Unless I find something more (dragon or dinosaur) for the yard!

There is 140’ of layout framework installed in the train room. It was built and installed a couple weeks ago by the daughter and her best friend.
I know how I want the framework to go around the room. Basically cantilevered around the walls with no peninsulas! Well, that may change as you’ll see from the drawing below. The graph paper squares each equal 4‘ but none of the framework will be a greater depth than 30” with most at or under 24”. Even though it’s drawn as 48” it won’t be! No trackage will be further then 24” from the front edge of the layout.

There will be a couple cold storage warehouses, regular warehouses in a small City setting. Of course a paper mill based on the mills at Rothschild and Mosinee, Wi. (but smaller then the previous mill I had) The combined pulp storage and wood chip yard, similar to the now goneeWausau Paper Mill in Brokaw, Wi. The transload yard and the ethanol load out (but no visible plant) will be free lanced. There will be a dedicated 3 track yard for the paper mill and lots of facade only abandoned buildings along the tracks. There will be a hint of a coal fired power generating station similar to the Weston Generating Station in Weston, Wi. I am thinking about just the building where the coal is dumped and maybe a coal pile. There will be a large grain/flour mill complex, similar to what is in Mt.Pleasant, Wisconsin.

My shop and train room bathroom will be accessible 2 ways, #1 being via a walk around the layout. The layout will not be cantilevered from the wall in this area but sit 4’ from the wall. This is where my thinking has changed. The other entry into the shop or bathroom is via duck under/swing up.

There will be a lower deck for staging only. I do not need to fill the room and really don’t plan to. I doubt there will be a second deck even though my local group strongly is recommending it. The plan is simple, staging to staging. The original idea was to have a mainline around 220 to 250’ maximum. Again that as you can see in the drawing it will be greater. The plan is to have 3-5 operators on the main. A couple run through (unit) trains and 2-3 locals. Still a thought process wrestling with this. One of the guys is turning the plan into something on the computer that will allow me to run trains to see how things go!

Here’s the drawing, the walls in red cannot be moved or breached except by the bathroom door that is on the wall by the shop entrance

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Good evening from the new place. 1st night of sleeping here starts in about 2 hours. Some art work was hung today as the SIL and I did as we were told and didn’t discuss the choices or placement. We just put them up. This place is bigger so I am afraid it’s back to all the craft/art shows on Saturday and Sundays. We can’t have gaps you know. What we have agreed on is no more metal art. Unless I find something more (dragon or dinosaur) for the yard!

There is 140’ of layout framework installed in the train room. It was built and installed a couple weeks ago by the daughter and her best friend.
I know how I want the framework to go around the room. Basically cantilevered around the walls with no peninsulas! Well, that may change as you’ll see from the drawing below. The graph paper squares each equal 4‘ but none of the framework will be a greater depth than 30” with most at or under 24”. Even though it’s drawn as 48” it won’t be! No trackage will be further then 24” from the front edge of the layout.

There will be a couple cold storage warehouses, regular warehouses in a small City setting. Of course a paper mill based on the mills at Rothschild and Mosinee, Wi. (but smaller then the previous mill I had) The combined pulp storage and wood chip yard, similar to the now goneeWausau Paper Mill in Brokaw, Wi. The transload yard and the ethanol load out (but no visible plant) will be free lanced. There will be a dedicated 3 track yard for the paper mill and lots of facade only abandoned buildings along the tracks. There will be a hint of a coal fired power generating station similar to the Weston Generating Station in Weston, Wi. I am thinking about just the building where the coal is dumped and maybe a coal pile. There will be a large grain/flour mill complex, similar to what is in Mt.Pleasant, Wisconsin.

My shop and train room bathroom will be accessible 2 ways, #1 being via a walk around the layout. The layout will not be cantilevered from the wall in this area but sit 4’ from the wall. This is where my thinking has changed. The other entry into the shop or bathroom is via duck under/swing up.

There will be a lower deck for staging only. I do not need to fill the room and really don’t plan to. I doubt there will be a second deck even though my local group strongly is recommending it. The plan is simple, staging to staging. The original idea was to have a mainline around 220 to 250’ maximum. Again that as you can see in the drawing it will be greater. The plan is to have 3-5 operators on the main. A couple run through (unit) trains and 2-3 locals. Still a thought process wrestling with this. One of the guys is turning the plan into something on the computer that will allow me to run trains to see how things go!

Here’s the drawing, the walls in red cannot be moved or breached except by the bathroom door that is on the wall by the shop entrance
View attachment 172586

Nice, i like the curvature.

 

[Bruette]

MLB Gameday: Mets 0, Orioles 2 Final Score (08/06/2023)

Follow MLB results with FREE box scores, pitch-by-pitch strikezone info, and Statcast data for Mets vs. Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards

www.mlb.com

 

[kbkchooch]

They might be built in Korea, but the platforms were developed by German arm of GM. At least two models were also built completely in Europe. The convertible (forgot name) was built in Poland. The cool looking wide station wagon is built in Germany.

The TourX wagon is a neat car, unfortunately the model has died as sales were lackluster at best. As far as the Korean built GM's they are throw away cars, I doubt any of them will be worth a hoot at 100,000 miles if they are anything like the Trax that preceded them. GM just can't build a tiny engine with a turbo on it in a solid package thanks to the bean counters.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Currently 66° and cloudy, going for a high of 90° later. Some spotty storms possible overnight.

Vacation time about a month away. Wife and I are trying to figure if we can finish the western leg of Rt 66. Having family in Michigan, we've been along the interstate along the former route from Joliette, IL to Springfield, MO. Sometime I'd like to run as much of the old route east as I can. We've been on the bulk of the old road from Springfield, MO to Tucumcari, NM. It will take us a 7 hours (about a day) to get to Tucumcari using US54 from Wichita. No need to go to Oklahoma City and then west. Then about another 3-4 days to finish up. The wife would like to see the Grand Canyon, which is only about an hour (one way) off the route. We're considering riding the Grand Canyon RR from Williams, AZ to The Grand Canyon and back. That will ultimately take a day. She'd been to the canyon years ago, but I never have. Biggest issue is whether we can fit everything we'd like to do in. We mostly are running it to say we had done so.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from the south facing patio of the new place. Not a great night of sleep. I have to get used to the creaking sounds of the place. I think between the sounds of the house and the flying wildlife at 4:30 I didn’t sleep much. There were a couple loud squeakers above the bedroom patio doors. The water softener regenerated itself last night at 2am. I had to get up and investigate the noise. But there is always the 20-30 minute nap this afternoon. With the son in law’s help yesterday, we got some art work hung but none will be hung (that I’m aware of) today until after dinner when the grandkids and their parents come over. Seems like all the easy hanging stuff is not being used but I promised myself to keep my mouth shut regarding any art outside my cave, it’s not been easy.

I can repel the birds. There is a chemical disk that to the birds acts like an orange glowing flame to them, not visible to us. Keeps the birds from that area and more. The son‘s crew use them in commercial buildings in the Austin area when they can’t use bird netting. Last’s a couple years and we have used them before. They do work.

Last night I managed a couple hours at the bench after dinner. I am going to like the new shop if I ever get truly moved in. The entire downstairs level is mine. The trains are in a portion, my media center ( y I don’t know, have not turned a TV in a couple weeks) and Crew lounge area, an extra bedroom/office with full bath. My couch, loveseat and comforty chair should be here today. Terry donated ( with a sort of ok from me) my lamps and end tables so that not thrilling buying adventure will be happening.

The house has been a pretty consuming project but a piece of cake compared to the sweat equality CHADBAG and his family are putting into their place.

In a couple days we will be more settled in and be able to start to enjoy being out by ourselves again with no sidewalks, cars in the street or city type noise. It’s not quiet out here but it’s natures noise and that is very tolerable (except at 4AM) and mostly enjoyable

I will mention the layout build from time to time but there will be no layout thread. I tried that on another forum and it didn’t work out. It’s very time consuming and while I don‘t mind constructive criticism that seldom occurred. I know this is a nicer group then where I was but nope, I am not going there.

let the fun begin
enjoy the day

 

[TLOC]

Nice, i like the curvature.

Thank you, the adventure is beginning. I love this part of layout building

 

[Boris]

Good morning: 70°, cloudy and humid with a 20% chance of showers. High of 83° predicted. 70% chance of rain overnight.

 

[TLOC]

Morning all,

Currently 66° and cloudy, going for a high of 90° later. Some spotty storms possible overnight.

Vacation time about a month away. Wife and I are trying to figure if we can finish the western leg of Rt 66. Having family in Michigan, we've been along the interstate along the former route from Joliette, IL to Springfield, MO. Sometime I'd like to run as much of the old route east as I can. We've been on the bulk of the old road from Springfield, MO to Tucumcari, NM. It will take us a 7 hours (about a day) to get to Tucumcari using US54 from Wichita. No need to go to Oklahoma City and then west. Then about another 3-4 days to finish up. The wife would like to see the Grand Canyon, which is only about an hour (one way) off the route. We're considering riding the Grand Canyon RR from Williams, AZ to The Grand Canyon and back. That will ultimately take a day. She'd been to the canyon years ago, but I never have. Biggest issue is whether we can fit everything we'd like to do in. We mostly are running it to say we had done so.

We have done the start of Route 66 from Chicago to Oklahoma City, with parts of that repeated a couple times. Some sections in New Mexico but decided a few years ago we have seen enough of it. We had planned traveling Flagstaff to Santa Monica but Covid in the Fall of 2020 stopped that. No desire since

 

[NorthBrit]

Good afternoon all. A cloudy day. No rain forecast.
It has been a busy morning clearing out the old toys the grandchildren do not play with.

Coming to the end of a cruise and saw ----.
Costa Diadema in Palma, Majorca.

Rowley Signal Box. It was moved from (closed) Rowley Station and moved to Beamish Museum.

A busy time at Leeds Sovereign Street Station.
1914 - 1919 timeframe as northbound and southbound freight trains pass.

David

 

[chadbag]

Nope. The Encore, Envision and one other model who's name escapes me are Korean Built, by GM of Korea, formerly Daewoo. (The vin# starts with K or L) The only remaining pure GM built unit will be the Enclave, which is just a rebadged Chevy Traverse.

I don't know about the Buicks but GM did build Opels in Korea on a Joint Venture with Daewoo, or something like that. For example the late 80s throgh 1993 the Pontiac LeMans was an Opel Kadett based car made in Korea.

Looking at Google, through 2020, many Buick cars were re-badged (and re-engineered for US) Opels according to various sites and also Opel, being GM through 2017, used the same platforms as other GM lines. I believe that the re-badged Opels came by way of Daewoo in Korea.

In 2017 GM sold the Opel company to PSA (Peugeot) and that later got bought out by Stellantis (Chrysler Fiat had morphed into Stellantis) so now basically Opel is in the same family as Chrysler. Strange times.

Back in 1992 when living in Germany I was in a large Autobahn pile up and my (US model) VW Golf was totaled. I was in the middle of it and it wasn't my fault -- arrogant AHole businessmen driving fast through the fog caused most of the mayhem, though the root was a car re-ending a trailer of a truck. For about 6 weeks after, I borrowed a really old Opel (looked like a 1970s vintage) and while I knew that Opel was owned by GM, I'll admit that I was very surprised to see so many of the interior parts and pieces in the engine compartment marked "General Motors" or with GM logo, and not Opel marked.

 

[troyphoto]

Well howdy there internet peeps, and those awakened by peeps

It's Troy again.

I'm off for another afternoon of driving today. Was going to make a target run, but that may wait until tomorrow. I'm actually tired of driving right now.

Driving 2.5 hours - about half in the rain at night - on the way home from GenCon took a lot out of me. That was after a day on my feet, doing GenCon stuff and teaching games. So tired already and then had to drive in the two conditions I'm not fond of.

Friday morning we leave for our trip up to Ontario (Hamilton/Niagara Falls area). So another 5-7 hours of driving on Friday. Sat and Sun I'll be playing games in a tournament (I expect to win the Wooden Spoon, so no illusions of grandeur on my part)

Here are some dwarves. They'll be making the trek to Canada with me. Not sure if I posted them before.

The big Rock and doors is 3d printed. The rock in front is a piece of bark from an "Orchid Bark" bag. I dried the bark in the oven, since orchid bark is a potting medium for the flowers, and the bark comes damp.

Not sure how much whooparse these little fellows have. I'm sure their commander is a typical butterbar when it comes to lieutenants.

But, I've got to learn the strategy and finesse somehow.