Running Bear's August 2025 Coffee Shop

[ctclibby]

Looks good. I do corn on the cob on the grill still in the husks

Yup, does look good. I have found you can also nuke the corn. Cut both ends down a tad, leave the husks and go for it using the 'potato' setting on the nuker.

L8r

 

[kbkchooch]

Ha! Do I sense a bit of defiance directed towards the Rivet Counters of the world?

Oh my, is my slip showing?? LOL!

 

[bnsf971]

Oh my, is my slip showing?? LOL!

The screech of the pancake motor and gears, the smell of burning ozone from the brushes, the clack of the smoke lever and plunger on the freewheeling drivers, the little uncoupling pin hanging down from the x2f coupler on the back catching on everything…

 

[RhB Michael]

Good morning all.

I guess I'm going to cut the grass today before it rains. Won't be until this afternoon when the showers are expected, but I like to have the yard done before lunchtime.

Nothing else planned today except heat and humidity. It looks like it is starting to trend downward even though there is still hot weather expected. We are already past the peak of the daily average high and that too is on its way down. IIRC, daily average high now is down to 89°F, but temps here for the weekend will all be above 90°F. July and August are the two hottest months here.

 

[migalyto]

Good morning all!

Another chocking ly humid day today. Not quite as wam though. Currently 72F heading up to 83F. Supposed to be some rain this
afternoon, but not a huge chance.

Big day today for my daughter. Today is Freshman orientation from 9am till 12pm. Cant believe she is entering High School.

A few light duty chores to get done today around the house.

Went down to the train room last night to get some painting done and ended up running trains instead. Will try to get back down
there tonight and actually do something.

have a safe day everyone!

 

[logandsawman]

Good morning all,

62 headed for 82. Funny smell in the air this morning, hard to tell if it is wildfire related .

It is very dry here, the rain has been going north or south. I had to water the Swiss Chard yesterday, it perked right up, though. We got a tenth inch last night, and the lawn really rejoiced!

Will putz around all morning and have a shift at the front desk at the History Center 1230 to 300.

My internet went out at 8.30am yesterday, not sure what was up with that. Came back on by evening.

Later, Dave LASM

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All, again. It's now cloudy and 73°. Sometime in the last hour, the NWS added morning rain to our forecast. Good timing as the pool could take 1"-2" of water without any problem.

Headed out later on for a late morning visit to the primary care physician at 11:30. My wife made that appointment for me and didn't explain why it's so late. Nothing else positively on today's schedule yet except we'll probably have to stop somewhere on the way home for lunch.
I did get out yesterday morning while it was still cool, and cut up some firewood from some tree limbs that were still left from last years tornado. They are in the middle of the wood lot part of the property so it was shady there also. Before my next cutting session, I need to install a new chain on the saw, as the factory one isn't heavy duty enough for what I do.

Not much action out in the train shed yesterday. I started by running a few trains. After moving one out of the staging yard, I found this laying next to the empty track.

It didn't come from the train that I pulled out, as that one was headed up with a pair of red/silver Dash9-44CW's. So I went searching. I only had to search the lower level since I haven't moved anything from there to the upper level in over 3 years. After checking 25 other blue/yellow EMD units, I found my donor in #26. A P2K GP60.

A little cleanup and some Gorilla Super glue gel later and we're as good as new.

It was good to see Chet post a few pictures Sunday. Reminded me that some of those structures now reside on my layout.

I think that I have ~20 of them scattered about, some on standby for the 25% of the layout that has nothing on it except a main line. I'll dig some out and post them later this week.

Mike - Rockwork is looking good so far.
David -

Willie. Stay safe my friend.

Thanks for the thought. This is just a rain situation since it's coming from the NW. Tornado weather comes from the SW. This has the potential to bring a lot of rain since it is rather slow moving. The leading edge now appears to be over the neighbor's house about a quarter mile from me.
Tom O -

I do corn on the cob on the grill still in the husks

Likewise here. I have even peeled them back to brush on some melted butter and then putting the husks back in place before hitting the grill.

Everybody have a terrific Tuesday.

 

[RhB Michael]

I occassionally find a stray piece of wagon or locomotive along the track while cleaning. Sometimes I know what it came from, and other times I can't even identify the part. If I notice something strange looking (meaning missing) on a wagon or locomotive I'll start looking through the pile and see if it is something that goes in the empty spot.

There are so many detail parts on some of this equipment that sometimes you really can't tell if something is missing or not unless you are intimately familiar with the locomotive or wagon.

 

[santafewillie]

I occassionally find a stray piece of wagon or locomotive along the track while cleaning. Sometimes I know what it came from,

I have a collection of parts that I find along the tracks. Most of them are air reservoirs from the underside of freight cars, but there are some brake wheels, a ladder and several brake valves included in the collection. This sun shade was easy!

 

[migalyto]

About the only thing I find parts wise on the layout is those silly rotating bearing caps that a lot of the manufactures are now starting to incorporate into their rolling stock. Luckily they send extras in the box.

 

[DeaconKC]

Hello everyone, 89 here already heading for 94 with possible showers/t-storms. Willie. hope nothing heavy hits near you. My Missus let me sleep in this morning and it felt GOOD. Working on first pot of coffee. Thank you all for the memories of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Oh, how I wanted that when I was a kid. I remember when I got my first Athearn diesel, an Orange and White ICG GP40. Wow, what a difference over my Tycos.

 

[chadbag]

My grandson has earned an exclusive spot in a special program in his school, studying Cyber Security.

If he is doing cybersecurity stuff, it might be a good idea to take at least one of these machines and put Linux on it. AFAIK Linux is the system of choice for most cybersecurity researchers. (Obviously they need a machine of the type they are research g if they’re looking for security flaws but general network cybersecurity is probably built on Linux now-a-days).

 

[migalyto]

Thank you all for the memories of the Chattanooga Choo Choo. Oh, how I wanted that when I was a kid.

There are probably a lot of us that cut our teeth with those old Tyco train sets.

I got one (don't remember the exact set) for Christmas and loved it so much, I asked and received another (different) set the following May for my 10Th Birthday.

I still have the 2 power packs that came with them, and as far as I know they still work. Unfortunately that's the only thing left from them.

 

[chadbag]

Big day today for my daughter. Today is Freshman orientation from 9am till 12pm. Cant believe she is entering High School.

Congrats!

Wait until she’s a senior! My daughter is starting senior year next year and I can’t believe it.

 

[RhB Michael]

The grass cutting was a record 41 minutes from fill-up to shutdown. Most of it was very thin, a lot of it has dried and turned brown (thank God), and the thickest part was the good Bluegrass that grown in the shade. That needed to be wacked off. In other places, I couldn't even tell where I made my last pass to line the mower up for the next pass.

Without any substantial rain it just doesn't grow around here. Now if I could keep it from raining until Oktober, I'd retire the mower for the season.

I couldn't get that lucky though.

 

[RhB Michael]

There are probably a lot of us that cut our teeth with those old Tyco train sets.

I got one (don't remember the exact set) for Christmas and loved it so much, I asked and received another (different) set the following May for my 10Th Birthday.

I still have the 2 power packs that came with them, and as far as I know they still work. Unfortunately that's the only thing left from them.

I got that set too on my 9th birthday. I had already built a 4x8 layout with the Tyco set I received on my 7th birthday. The locomotive wasn't all that great, but it ran most of the time. Don't know what happened to it or a lot of other train stuff, but probably lost in a move or sold when I joined the Air Force.

 

[Texas Hobo]

Good afternoon, all! Currently raining at the hobo camp. Not much going on around the camp, nothing really worth relating or reporting. I did have to find a new home owners insurance company has my current insurer double the premium from last year. In the process I found a cheaper auto coverage as well, all told, saved about $500.

There are probably a lot of us that cut our teeth with those old Tyco train sets.

Santa gave me my first electric train, a Marx set, when I was 3. I'm not sure what Santa was thinking. I threw the trains around. Santa came back one night and took the trains back to the North Pole. Around 9 or 10, we were visiting some friends of my parents. They had 2 sons 1 going into college, the other already 2 years in college. They gave me 2 American Flyer sets. I set them up in the basement and ran them for couple of years. My dad built me a nice table and on Christmas gave me my first Lionel. Also on the table was a Marx set. I guess Santa thought I wouldn't throw them anymore. Sadly, all those trains were given away by my mom while I was in military service. The plus side, they were given to 2 boys who's parents couldn't afford to buy them trains sets. A few years after we married I purchased a N scale set, and as they say, "the rest is history".

STAY SAFE
LATER

 

[Bruette]

I haven't been on line here in the past few weeks. I been busy with house projects. Updating the patio door stairs is one of them.
Swal

Swal you are an industrious soul. We missed you, but I was hoping you were just busy. Thanks for checking in.

If he is doing cybersecurity stuff, it might be a good idea to take at least one of these machines and put Linux on it. AFAIK Linux is the system of choice for most cybersecurity researchers. (Obviously they need a machine of the type they are research g if they’re looking for security flaws but general network cybersecurity is probably built on Linux now-a-days).

Thank you Chad, I had no idea.

At least one of the machines will be redundant and that would be a good use for it. Come to think of it there would be no reason to upgrade an Intel I7-7700. That would be good enough for Linux, I think.

 

[Boris]

The screech of the pancake motor and gears, the smell of burning ozone from the brushes, the clack of the smoke lever and plunger on the freewheeling drivers, the little uncoupling pin hanging down from the x2f coupler on the back catching on everything…

Yes, we all experienced that, or the Athearn Rubber band drive....which was more "fun"? Sometimes, I wonder how far we have progressed?

 

[kbkchooch]

There are probably a lot of us that cut our teeth with those old Tyco train sets.

Nope. Started off with Lionel HO in 1964 with a rubber band powered Texas Special Alco FA. Dad replaced rubber bands for me until 1970 until a Varney F unit appeared (Pennsy). That lasted 2 years until the first Tyco unit appeared, a CB&Q Alco C430. I still have the Lionel FA and the C430. The FA now has a Walthers FA chassis under it, and the C430 has a handbuilt frame and new trucks under its Conrail paint. It's been an evolution of sorts.