Running Bear's August 2023 Coffee Shop

[westtexjohn]

santafewillie said.....
Heading out in another hour or so to the NMRA National Train Show being held about an hour away. Camera battery is charged, credit card is ready, cash in pocket for extras and I'm otherwise ready. Hope to see you there.​

Sorry to hear about the battery issues.

I took off Friday to Plano Texas to stay with an old friend who put me up overnight. It is a 3 hour plus drive for me to Dallas area so being able to take a nice easy drive on Friday was great. My friend took me out to dinner ( Carrabbas Italian) and let me stay in his spare bedroom. All this so I would only have a 30 minute drive to the National Train Show on Saturday. Just can't beat free room and board.
I arrived at the show about noon and left around 4 pm. It was a real treat to meet the president/CEO/owner of some of the major train and train related item manufacturers in this country and abroad. Even the owner of ESU was there. Talking about ESU, they were operating a BLI steam loco with a prototype board from ESU made to be a direct replacement for the BLI board.....what a great idea. If you have ever replaced a BLI board for another decoder brand, you can appreciate what I'm talking about.
Lots of companies represented.....Walthers, Tsunami, BLI, Intermountain, Scale Trains and many more . No need to list them all here.
Lots of hobby shops and vendors selling their wares. And yes I spent a bundle. There were some folks selling at retail, some at resale and a few at dirt cheap. One vendor had new old stock Athearn blue box items for $5.00 each then was offering 10% off their locos and other rolling stock that was already at reduced prices. I purchased an Athearn Genesis, F3, Cotton Belt A unit loco with DCC for less than $70.00
It was my first trip to a National Train Show and my first trip to the Gaylord Hotel Resort/Convention Center in Grapevine Texas. The resort/hotel is huge and I had to ask for directions several times. The Convention hall with the train show was also huge......what a show. Glad I decided to go.
As a final surprise, when I was going to the gate to pay for parking (usually $20.00) the attendant told me "no charge, have a nice day".
On my way home Saturday afternoon I went by one of my favorite BBQ places, Woody Creek BBQ in Spring Town, just west of Ft. Worth. I ate there and got a plate to go to have for today. There are no really good BBQ places around where I live in West Texas.......seems odd since we are in cattle country.
I'll try to list my purchases in the RPO section later.

Everyone have a great day......John

 

[PNKFLOYD]

Mikey - Park benches look really good. Nice job on them. I'll be in Alabama towards the end of October if they are in your way. I could swing by.

Willie- Thanks for the kind words.
it would be a pleasure to see you, however, one bench is now on the screened front porch at the lake and the other will be on our screened back porch when the weather cools next week.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

Good evening. After hard working week and working on saturday at home, i took off for today to see East Broad Top. Got to ride in a caboose and behind steam no less.

Their newly rebuilt #16 was shiny as was the entire train. It all looked like it just left the factory.

For anyone who has not been to EBT, i highly recommend it, as it is the most original of all tourist railroads in the States. Original shops in Orbisonia are still there with steam turbine powered and belt driven machinery inside.

 

[troyphoto]

And.... my day is only a minor inconvenience compared to Willie's, but grrrrrrr!

Went to install the new fluid nozzle on the Grex XT airbrush.... and mine was made AFTER 2018... So it needs part #A054035... the pictured one is for airbrushes of that model made before 2018.

None of the sites I looked at differentiated the manufacturing year on the part in the photo. So I had no clue...

Notice that part has a 1 not a 4 in that position...

Midwest is out of stock on it... Midwest Airbrush, and Spraygunner are both out of stock on it... Found it out in Oregon at an Art Supply place. Another week of no airbrush. (My Iwata needs a severe breakdown/deep clean and I don't feel like it.) So it's rattle can priming this week.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good evening gang!

Started laying track today! just working on mainline tracks an passing sidings for the moment. Spent a lot of time getting the tracks cut, beveled and installed on the main lift bridge. The have to be bevel cut at a 45° angle at the hinge end of the bridge so that as the track drops down it clears the stationary track .

Best I can describe it here,

-------------------------//--------------o----------------------------------------------------------II-------------------------
Stationary track ...........^............................^....................................Bridge........................................................^..........Stationary track
............................................cut.....................hinge......................................................................................................end

Stationary track to cut
Cut to hinge tilts down when bridge is lifted
Hinge to end tilts to vertical
Bridge to end it a butt connection on a centering mechanism
Ran some rolling stock across it......Butter!

Willie and Troy, Sorry to hear of your frustrations, hopefully you both found something else to delve into.

Sherrel, hope you BIL is doing better.

The culture of corporate welfare is as far out of line as players' salaries. It's not only sports, Amazon, Walmart, and others are getting away with it too. All of it must end!

It's enough to make you miss the good old days of the Robber Barons!

Question for the group. I swore of selling on eBay years ago when they wanted access to my bank account. What other avenues have you used? I have some stuff that I want to get rid of and I was wondering what Y'all used?
stuff like this....

BBL

 

[santafewillie]

santafewillie said.....​

Heading out in another hour or so to the NMRA National Train Show being held about an hour away. Camera battery is charged, credit card is ready, cash in pocket for extras and I'm otherwise ready. Hope to see you there.​

Sorry to hear about the battery issues.

I took off Friday to Plano Texas to stay with an old friend who put me up overnight. It is a 3 hour plus drive for me to Dallas area so being able to take a nice easy drive on Friday was great. My friend took me out to dinner ( Carrabbas Italian) and let me stay in his spare bedroom. All this so I would only have a 30 minute drive to the National Train Show on Saturday. Just can't beat free room and board.
I arrived at the show about noon and left around 4 pm. It was a real treat to meet the president/CEO/owner of some of the major train and train related item manufacturers in this country and abroad. Even the owner of ESU was there. Talking about ESU, they were operating a BLI steam loco with a prototype board from ESU made to be a direct replacement for the BLI board.....what a great idea. If you have ever replaced a BLI board for another decoder brand, you can appreciate what I'm talking about.
Lots of companies represented.....Walthers, Tsunami, BLI, Intermountain, Scale Trains and many more . No need to list them all here.
Lots of hobby shops and vendors selling their wares. And yes I spent a bundle. There were some folks selling at retail, some at resale and a few at dirt cheap. One vendor had new old stock Athearn blue box items for $5.00 each then was offering 10% off their locos and other rolling stock that was already at reduced prices. I purchased an Athearn Genesis, F3, Cotton Belt A unit loco with DCC for less than $70.00
It was my first trip to a National Train Show and my first trip to the Gaylord Hotel Resort/Convention Center in Grapevine Texas. The resort/hotel is huge and I had to ask for directions several times. The Convention hall with the train show was also huge......what a show. Glad I decided to go.
As a final surprise, when I was going to the gate to pay for parking (usually $20.00) the attendant told me "no charge, have a nice day".
On my way home Saturday afternoon I went by one of my favorite BBQ places, Woody Creek BBQ in Spring Town, just west of Ft. Worth. I ate there and got a plate to go to have for today. There are no really good BBQ places around where I live in West Texas.......seems odd since we are in cattle country.
I'll try to list my purchases in the RPO section later.

Everyone have a great day......John

John - Thanks for reminding me of what I missed. It was a bummer of a day.

 

[bnsf971]

Question for the group. I swore of selling on eBay years ago when they wanted access to my bank account. What other avenues have you used? I have some stuff that I want to get rid of and I was wondering what Y'all used?
stuff like this....
View attachment 173443
BBL

I've had reasonable success using Fecesbook Marketplace. I've learned to very clearly spell out everything from shipping method to payment method.
I did have one ID10T that was mad at me because the DCC ready locomotive I sold him didn't have a decoder like I promised. I had to go into great detailed explanations with links to websites showing exactly what "DCC ready" meant, and why the DCC ready locomotive did not have a decoder of any kind. Other than that, I've had better luck there than most anywhere else.

 

[Boris]

Is he being discharged or on his way to the next posting?

Curt: Next Posting, which is back at Drum. He has a couple more years before he is eligible to retire.

 

[Snowman]

View attachment 173442

And.... my day is only a minor inconvenience compared to Willie's, but grrrrrrr!

Went to install the new fluid nozzle on the Grex XT airbrush.... and mine was made AFTER 2018... So it needs part #A054035... the pictured one is for airbrushes of that model made before 2018.

None of the sites I looked at differentiated the manufacturing year on the part in the photo. So I had no clue...

Notice that part has a 1 not a 4 in that position...

Midwest is out of stock on it... Midwest Airbrush, and Spraygunner are both out of stock on it... Found it out in Oregon at an Art Supply place. Another week of no airbrush. (My Iwata needs a severe breakdown/deep clean and I don't feel like it.) So it's rattle can priming this week.

Where did you buy it, and what size nozzle do you want to put on it, instead of the 0.35? Or is the 0.35 the one you do want to put on it? Kinda guessing it's the latter, but not sure.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's clear and 77, with a hurricane watch. I suppose I should fill my car up, in case I need to evacuate.

 

[troyphoto]

Where did you buy it, and what size nozzle do you want to put on it, instead of the 0.35? Or is the 0.35 the one you do want to put on it? Kinda guessing it's the latter, but not sure.

Its the right size of hole in the nozzle 0.35mm ... but the nozzle fits inside of a smaller threaded hole than what is in my Grex. Seems they upsized the fitting in the 2018 model. If I thought the one for my model was small, this one is even smaller... and it still holds a 0.35mm needle.

The little art store in Oregon has the correct part number on it, and even lists it as for the model with correct serial # format to indicate the post 2028 version.

Had I checked the exploded parts schematic for the airbrush, it would have informed me of the problem. But, when I went searching for 0.35 fluid nozzle for Grex XT nothing in the results (Midwest Airbrush, Spraygunner, etc) indicated there was more than one version of the part. It wasn't mislabeled. But it wasn't labeled as NOT fitting the 2018 model.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Currently a comfortable 62° in Doo-Dah this morning with a high of 90° later. Temps creeping up through the week with the 100's coming in time for the holiday weekend.
Gotta work Saturday and we had no plans, so no big deal except we won't be going outside.

Willie: Sorry to hear of your plans being ruined. Heat is as bad as cold when batteries are concerned. I have to run the charger on the mower battery about twice during the summer.

BBL

 

[TLOC]

Good morning Crew! Gotta get my bearings straight as I really was unsure where we were this morning. Stayed in Winona, Minnesota last night after a nice time exploring Red Wing yesterday afternoon. We are heading home early for lots of reasons. We had planned at least until Wednesday but that would have been heading north to Duluth. We did cut that out of the plan as we will be in Duluth for business the 1st week in October. This trip just has not worked out the way we wanted. But what did work has been fun!

We are about 2 hours from home depending which route we take.

Willie, too bad about missing the National Train show. I have been to 3 and they were ok. Trainfest in Milwaukee every November before Covid always seemed as good to me as the 3 nationals I had been to. But, Trainfest seems to be dust in the wind.

The brother is back on Maui and Terry is making plans to head there. The latest fires on the island are closer to the brother’s place but at this time Makena is fine. The brother says it’s strange as it’s like 3 different worlds right now. He was greeted by picketing outside the airport with picketers signs saying, Welcome, spend and go home! Drove near the Lahiana area and the devastation is even worst in person, then got home and it’s like nothing is different. The brother is selling his house and 5 acres to the friends who lost a place in Huna August 8. Terry is purchasing the remaining 25 acres and making sure the folks who work her stables there truly are ok. There is not much the brother is taking from his house to the condo he is buying. But where he is moving is allowing the staff to hire out to help him move. The actual moving companies are pretty much shut down. He did talk previously about leaving Maui but decided to go back and now is going to become a full time resident. There is just something there he says he can’t explain but doesn‘t want to leave it. I have never felt that way about anything!

enjoy the day

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and a surprisingly cool 72° on the back porch. Definite cool front came through, as it only reached 95° yesterday. No more triple digits until they return on Saturday.

No rain though. It's still summer and tree leaves are turning yellow and dropping everywhere. It's a sad landscape.
I have all of the windows open in the house right now, breeze feels really good.

I'm still upset about yesterday, but I must move on. Wife brought home the computer printer yesterday, we had decided on the Canon imageCLASS MF654Cdw wireless all in one model that my grandson recommended. My SIL (his uncle) also recommended the same one and both of them know a whole lot more about these things than I ever would know. Now I just have to clear the old one out and get the new one into the house. It weighs 50#. No easy feat any more.

I did go out to the train shed late yesterday and started installing the fence mesh on the chain link fence. Didn't take any pictures because the camera was still in the car and I didn't feel like walking that far to retrieve it. I started in that direction but stopped at the pool and decided that it was a better option. Then my wife decided that we should go out to eat, since she had had a bad day driving home. That started out a bit iffy when I was informed that Outback had just sold their last piece of medium rare prime rib about an hour beforehand. The manager recognized me from past dining experiences and comped the Bloomin' Onion and also handed me a $10 gift card. Then their computer double-comped the Bloomin' Onion since we are "Dine Rewards" members, so I came out $30 ahead! I noted too that I received the large portion of the Porterhouse steak instead of the medium portion that I ordered. It will taste good again for lunch this week.

Maybe a few engine pictures to make up for the lack of progress ones.

Joe - Your comment yesterday makes it almost positive that you're moving. Have you made a choice yet?
Terry - Better to declare the State of Emergency ahead of time, rather than wait until after the fact like Hawaii and Kalifornia. Looks like the storm might hit your location.
Jump-starting the car with the tractor is the only way unless my neighbor has a battery charger. I can't get the other car close enough to use cables. Everything is locked up tight and it can't be moved, transmission can't even be moved to neutral.
Karl - I potentially saved $1000+ by staying home, but will spend some of it on a battery anyway.

Everybody have a great day.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Morning train show fans and those with discharged battery woes - and lets not forget those with possible weather woes!
It's getting into the ole barn burner temps here once again. Starting the day this mornig at 68 degrees with a climb to 101 under a clear sunny sky - expecting higher temps in the week. San Fernando Valley is forecast 107-110 for mose of week.

Thanks all for the well wishes for JOHN. The Spousal Unit and I spent a couple hours visiting with him yesterday. John is 10 years my junior ; it is simply devastating what the cancer, and treatment has done to him. Barely able to move around and that very slow and unsteady. He was the lead foreman for one of the high-end home builders out here and would spend YEARS on one home! Not long after I joined the family, he was sent to Seattle to build Kenny G's home on one of the islands. He spent three years there on site for three weeks and home for one week with a month long vacation each year. I forget how many square feet the house had, but it was in the 5 figures.

O.K. I have rambled long enough, Sorry ... my life has become pretty boring ... I need to go rail riding again. I still have not taken the train all the way between San Diego and Santa Barbara - DUH!

I'm seemily doing better with my throat problem. Every day arou d 4 PM, for some reason it seems to "flare up"? I have not skipped any of the pills, so cannot blame that as the reason.

Everyones posts is very interesting - took me an hour to fast read them all. Sorry for not commenting individually! Love the narrow gauge there, MAC!

 

[westtexjohn]

Good evening gang!

Started laying track today! just working on mainline tracks an passing sidings for the moment. Spent a lot of time getting the tracks cut, beveled and installed on the main lift bridge. The have to be bevel cut at a 45° angle at the hinge end of the bridge so that as the track drops down it clears the stationary track .

Best I can describe it here,

-------------------------//--------------o----------------------------------------------------------II-------------------------
Stationary track ...........^............................^....................................Bridge........................................................^..........Stationary track
............................................cut.....................hinge......................................................................................................end

Stationary track to cut
Cut to hinge tilts down when bridge is lifted
Hinge to end tilts to vertical
Bridge to end it a butt connection on a centering mechanism
Ran some rolling stock across it......Butter!

Willie and Troy, Sorry to hear of your frustrations, hopefully you both found something else to delve into.

Sherrel, hope you BIL is doing better.

It's enough to make you miss the good old days of the Robber Barons!

Question for the group. I swore of selling on eBay years ago when they wanted access to my bank account. What other avenues have you used? I have some stuff that I want to get rid of and I was wondering what Y'all used?
stuff like this....
View attachment 173443
BBL

I buy and sell here................https://groups.io/g/HOswap

No fees, just honest buyers. I still do some e-bay and have never had a problem.

Hope this helps....John

 

[kbkchooch]

I buy and sell here................https://groups.io/g/HOswap

No fees, just honest buyers. I still do some e-bay and have never had a problem.

Hope this helps....John

Thank you John! I will check it out.

 

[Texas Hobo]

For those of you who are in areas where we need to keep an eye on hurricanes. If you have a LinkedIn account, you can get this app on your computer. Stormpulse.com Lets you see the track models, the assests that might be affected and percentage along with all the needed info about the storm.

 

[troyphoto]

For those of you who are in areas where we need to keep an eye on hurricanes. If you have a LinkedIn account, you can get this app on your computer. Stormpulse.com Lets you see the track models, the assests that might be affected and percentage along with all the needed info about the storm.
View attachment 173458

Oh, goodie... I'm heading to Tampa in about 3 weeks.

 

[NorthBrit]

DAVID - Reminds me of the "JOG" RR (as my ex called it).
The cog rr up Mt Washington in the state of New Hampshire; our teeth were vibrated out of our jaws - LOL.

I saw a DownieLive programme where he took a journey on that cog railway. Loved the programme.

Snowdon Mountain Railway. Drone footage. Mount Snowdon the highest mountain in Wales.

David