Running Bear's Coffee Shop LVIII

[Trussrod]

CS3: I think your choice of caboose industries sprung ground throws is a wise one. Just be sure to have the ground throw set at the half way point and have your switch points also at the half way position and then I use a 0-3/8 Philips Head Sheet Mtl Screw which I pre-drill a slightly smaller hole through my Switch Ties which I've glued down using white glue or similar to mount the stand to. This gives a very prototypical look to them.

As far as going from the 1/4" high RB to ground level such as sidings, spurs or a yard area just let your track lay down naturally and as Willie says start your slight slope at least an inch from a joint and then fill in under the track with card board from Pizza carton sides etc. I like the full height 1/4" thick cork road bed but I guess not as high could be used too or No Rb as spurs and yard tracks are generally on the ground.

It's been a long day so good night.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's very foggy, and 55. Dense fog advisory and flash flood watch until Thursday afternoon.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Cloudy here with temperature at 64 degrees, later today it should be in the lower 70's. Wonderful weather for this time of year. Our average is 31-54 historically.
Yesterday was too nice outdoors to spend a lot of time in the train shed. When I was there, i just did some switching. The next few days are dedicated to cooking and visiting for the holidays. Thursday at my wife's family gathering with non-traditional food like enchiladas and BBQ; and Christmas day at the major festivities at my brother's house. I am expected to carve two 20 lb turkeys for almost 50 people. Some are coming for cocktails and gift exchange but not dinner. Traditional dinner of turkey and gravy, stuffing, cranberry, potatoes and assorted veggies. Doesn't look like anyone is bringing ham. I did see four cases of assorted beer and six bottles of wine assigned. If that's not enough, my brother does have a major beer fridge that we'll raid. We're bringing creamed onions and some type of dessert, homemade fudge I believe. I am making the onions today.
I'm going out to the train shed for a little quality time before the wife gets up and I have to start cooking.
For all of you who might not have an opportunity to check in over the next few days, Have a Merry Christmas and be safe.
Willie

 

[montanan]

Good morning all.Starting off at 14 degrees this morning. Not expected to get past the mid 20's today.

Had to get out heavier equipment yesterday to clear the snow drifts around the house. Happy first day of winter.

 

[new guy]

WAS going to wait until I got some more 'set' curve pieces but I'm thinking I won't need em. I got enough flex to do them, it was a confidence thing and I'm now confident I will use flex for more of the curves! A template will be all I need for various radii. I'll use the money I was going to spend on curves and spend it on some NON-ATLAS turnouts, maybe even a couple powered ones.

Backed up the DD40 pushing 25 thru two 18" curves and 7 turnouts and then around the figure 8 twice and they stayed on the rails!

Speed 5 out of 128, just creepin, but, I swear on the square pants of Sponge Bob, they stayed on the track!

Thinking of taking an old wood plane to them atlas turnouts, maybe it will shave them frogs down to a manageable level. WASSA DEAL with ATLAS???? They gotta know we be unhappy out here, I'm not the only one that has trouble with these things! The frogs stick up ABOVE the rails!!!

I will be having several/many atlas turnouts sitting out by the road next year for whoever wants em! (CRAPPY!) Or I'll use em for parts and try some 'hand laid' action with em, make my own dang frogs and put em in there! SHEESH!

 

[logandsawman]

Good morning all, 32 and some light drizzle.

Bought myself abunch of Christmas presents yesterday, 3 locomotives, 2 cabooses, 1 delivery van (all HO scale, of course). Got them all NEW as well. Waiting to get my backdrops in the mail as well. I am going to have a busy January.











Also have an Executive Line Bowser Baldwin S-12 in the mail.

 

[bnsf971]

NFG, for curves on the boards you have: get a thumbtack and a piece of string.
Tack one end of the string 24" from the center of the curve you want to make.
Tie a pencil 24" out from the thumbtack.
Draw a circle around the thumbtack, then lay the center of the flex track along the line you drew. You will have a perfect 24" radius curve. You will have a 48" diameter circle.
You can do the same, of course, with 18", 22", or any other radius.

 

[new guy]

NFG, for curves on the boards you have: get a thumbtack and a piece of string.
Tack one end of the string 24" from the center of the curve you want to make.
Tie a pencil 24" out from the thumbtack.
Draw a circle around the thumbtack, then lay the center of the flex track along the line you drew. You will have a perfect 24" radius curve.
You can do the same, of course, with 18", 22", or any other radius.

LOL, that whole 'great minds' thing!

DANG near word for word what was said in this very room last night by my good bud Rob, Could not have done this nearly as well without the crazy so and so.


I'll be doing that and 'stealing' scenery bits from ALL of your layouts that I've seen on here, y'all got good ideas! A trestle bridge is planned that may look familiar to one featured prominently in a thread here. Though it will be not so nearly as good looking, I'm not even going to try to fool myself these projects will look like anything other than ka-ka, but I gotta start somewhere. I'm not shooting for any awards yet that's for sure. Is there such a thing? A contest or something? I thought I heard something about that.

 

[montanan]

NG - With the space you have available to you, nothing says you have to lay track to a set radius. You can have broad sweeping curves which trains will look a lot better on than a tight radius curve.

 

[montanan]

Looks like an early Christmas for you LASM. That's some nice looking equipment. Like the FM switcher. I had looked at one but decided that I would pass. No more locomotives. Now that my layout is to the point where no more track is needed and detail work is the main priority, I have been looking at all of the locomotives I have and I really have too many for the type of operation I have. I could probably do with a third of them and still have more than I really need.

Enjoy the new goodies.

 

[new guy]

NG - With the space you have available to you, nothing says you have to lay track to a set radius. You can have broad sweeping curves which trains will look a lot better on than a tight radius curve.

The 'sets' are only to be able to 'shove' the track as far back into the corners as possible in two spots. Long curves are in the plan to be sure, I want to see some stuff like that down here, some long, broad 's' curve action along a slope is kinda what I'm thinking for the upper lines along the back wall. The new 'vision' is taking a more solid form, you know how I goes.

 

[chessie_system3]

NFG, for curves on the boards you have: get a thumbtack and a piece of string.
Tack one end of the string 24" from the center of the curve you want to make.
Tie a pencil 24" out from the thumbtack.
Draw a circle around the thumbtack, then lay the center of the flex track along the line you drew. You will have a perfect 24" radius curve. You will have a 48" diameter circle.
You can do the same, of course, with 18", 22", or any other radius.

This is probably the idea I should do for my curves......maybe I should get froggy with the flex. My curves are driving me nuts with spacing! At any rate I took an aerial view of my yard. Probably would get a better idea if I had my loco service set up so I could gauge how the final plan for my yard will work. Anyone have any ideas what to go with? I'm at a loss on this at my lhs.

Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk

 

[logandsawman]

Looks like an early Christmas for you LASM. That's some nice looking equipment. Like the FM switcher. I had looked at one but decided that I would pass. No more locomotives. Now that my layout is to the point where no more track is needed and detail work is the main priority, I have been looking at all of the locomotives I have and I really have too many for the type of operation I have. I could probably do with a third of them and still have more than I really need.

Enjoy the new goodies.

Thanks, Chet; the plan is to liquidate some of my lower quality stock and fill in with these new purchases. Dang, if they didn't keep on giving me raises at work I wouldn't have so much to do!


Here is a good photo of the 5th item, will be my most expensive piece of railroad stock to date:

 

[bnsf971]

Thanks, Chet; the plan is to liquidate some of my lower quality stock and fill in with these new purchases. Dang, if they didn't keep on giving me raises at work I wouldn't have so much to do!

If you are having trouble spending those raises, you can send them my way. My current employer does not give raises to anyone, any time, for any reason. Ever. We have people that have been working here for nearly twenty years that are still making the same amount they were when they started. One person has given their notice over this, jan 8 is their last day. They are the latest in a long list if good people that left because they could not continue to live in the current millenium while getting last millenium's wages.

 

[logandsawman]

If you are having trouble spending those raises, you can send them my way. My current employer does not give raises to anyone, any time, for any reason. Ever. We have people that have been working here for nearly twenty years that are still making the same amount they were when they started.

I ended up with the job that I didn't want and it turned out pretty good when it comes to compensation, in fact, since I started here less than 3 years ago I have seen my pay go up by 30%.

Hopefully there will be a change of heart in your workplace and the workers will be rewarded accordingly.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Hello everybody !

LASM ..... I like those locomotives and cabooses. ..... I'm sort of like Chet. I am not buying more locomotives. I do occasional buy more freight cars. I cant use all I have. Many sit on the shelves and are not operating. .... You said the GN Baldwin is most expensive. Does it have sound?

Chet ..... I know you like vintage vehicles. I just bought two made by Oxford in UK. They are 1950's era. One is and Edsel and the other is a Mercury. I wonder if I am the first kid on the block with a 1/87 Edsel on his layout. LOL

 

[montanan]

I picked up the Mercury early this year and I really like it, but the Edsel won't work for me because it's a '58. I also have a couple of their Mercurys and a Lincoln. Good looking vehicles.

 

[bnsf971]

I ended up with the job that I didn't want and it turned out pretty good when it comes to compensation, in fact, since I started here less than 3 years ago I have seen my pay go up by 30%.

Hopefully there will be a change of heart in your workplace and the workers will be rewarded accordingly.

Possibly, but all the owner can see is how much he is saving by not offering raises. My thought is, eventually he will "save" himself out of business. Many of us would get instant raises if minimum wage were increased to $15/hr.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Chet ... Of course, you don't want rivit counters to speak up if you had an Edsel that was too new. .... LOL

...........................

Possibly, but all the owner can see is how much he is saving by not offering raises. My thought is, eventually he will "save" himself out of business. Many of us would get instant raises if minimum wage were increased to $15/hr.

I can't speak for your employer, but in general, many employers would simply go out of business if the minimum wage was $15.00.... The wage of an unemployed worker is $0.00.

 

[BigE]

At least you all have a job!
I haven't had a "real" job in about 7 years.
Yesterday I did run into a feller I have helped out a few times. Maybe I should have asked him if he needs any help. He did ask what I've been up to. He knows where I live if he needs help.
I probably should have got his phone # anyway.
We always had intelligent conversations.
I really need to find something to do - that pays.
E.