Running Bear's December 2025 Coffee Shop

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!!

26° under cloudy skies, with a high today of only 33°. Looks like we were blessed with about 6 inches of snow last night. The dogs who already been out in it, no problems for the border collie however the little dog had some difficulty. See her legs are only about 6 inches long to start with. Now let me get some breakfast and saddle up the Cub Cadet and start pushing the stuff away.

BBL

 

[ctclibby]

Good Morning All!
37F @ 91% with dry feet.

Welp, the town meeting was packed. It was more of an informational meeting then anything else. Yup, the hold-off dam is/was the issue. Consensus was not enough water behind the thing to do any real damage. Even if it failed from the bottom up, thought was maybe 4 inches of water which would continue for a bit after that 1st wave. We are at the start of 'the flat' before Flower Creek heads through Libby proper and probably would not see water above 500 year flood. That would spread out in the flat and maybe they might see 1/2 to 1" of water. Most of that would run down the streets.

Interesting things: 8 bridges and many roads had issues with all the water. They have no idea of what has happened in the upper forest areas as they can not get anybody to them. Have been flying drones to do that checking. That will take some time as there are many forest service/logging roads to do. Cuff of the sleeve estimation yesterday was $10.5M for the necessary repairs. That is if nothing else is found. There will be. We have 1st responders from 3 Counties, Local PD, Sheriff, State Patrol, DNRC, Border Patrol and a slew of normal citizens working on this. There are only a few areas where the folks are stuck with no way out. They are dropping supplies to those in need. Most of those folks are 'off griders' so the only thing they would need is water. Besides the kid that broke his wrist, minor bumps and bruises for a few others. Still a 'boil order' in Libby for anybody on City water.

The actual Flower Creek dam ( further upstream, built 2015 ) is in great shape - no worries there. City water comes from that, and the sewage treatment plant get its water from the hold-off dam. So sh.t may stink for a bit.

Ya, and we get to do it again Monday/Tuesday according to the guessers. Darrin ( Sheriff ) basically threw his arms up in the air as to what could be done. Said, be prepared and watchful.

Thank you all for the concerns and well wishes.

L8r

 

[NorthBrit]

Well I was expecting it, but 23rd December?
I have to attend hospital. Hopefully in and out, but ------.

Lunchtime. English Bacon Sandwiches have been requested. Tea as well off course.

Wimblebury

Now LADY EDITH

 

[KriegslokBR52]

It's wintery here. Yesterday i met up with few fellow railfans to chase "Toys for tats" special train organized by Norfolk Southern. Train was starting in Binghamton, NY and heading to Albany with multiple stops along the way. It was the first time for me chasing on former Delaware and Hudson mainline, which was surprising scenic. Leaving the house at 4 in the morning put me in Scranton at about 6:30 with a little time to spare for meet up with my friends in Clarks Summit. A quick stop at former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western yard in Scranton produced a few nights shots of big ALCo power:

These are Canadian ALCos build by MLW (Montreal Locomotive Works).

After meeting in Clarks Summit we hopped in my friends car only to discover that he just got a flat tire. A near mechanic shop informed him that it will be few hours before he can get to it. So after leaving his car there, we all hopped in my car and took off to Binghamton to meet our train. Before getting into NS yard, we stopped over on Susquehanna RR to get a pair of SD70s:

Norfolk Southern yard and our first shots of special:

NS provided newly painted Delaware and Hudson heritage unit. Unfortunately the unit has some PTC issues and standard black SD70AC had to lead.

If someone here calls themselves a railfan, think again. Some will go to great lengths to show their love for their favorite railroad:

It was freezing and definitely wintery. The weather didn't stop a multitude of guys and girls from chasing the special though:

Someone put a tree in my way, i was experimenting and ran out of time.

 

[RhB Michael]

It's 7°F this morning here. Good morning and I hope you are all staying warm this Advent Sunday.

Working on my first cup of coffee while I hear the water dripping in the kitchen sink. Cabinet doors are open too so the warm air gets in.

Nothing planned today except staying warm. You all do the same.

Servus!

 

[KriegslokBR52]

I have to attend hospital. Hopefully in and out, but ------.

Lunchtime. English Bacon Sandwiches have been requested.

Let me get this straight:

 

[RhB Michael]

Looks like just missing pickup shoe and mounting for the stabilizer bar, probably made into one piece. You can get flat piece of brass, cut, shape and make the pickup shoe with stabilizer mount.

It's missing the left (right?) identical support arm to the one still there. I have the pick-up collector, just no current way to remount the missing arm. I still have all of the parts, but I think I'm going to remove the whole assembly and get the JB Weld out.

After I disassemble it down to component parts, I think it will be much easier to repair.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

A very balmy 12° this morning and the sun is doing sun things. Expected high of 29°, but 50° tomorrow.

Laundry is laundering and heading out to do the family gas thing. We fill up all the cars to take full advantage of the $1 off per gallon.

BBL

 

[RhB Michael]

We're up to 9°F!

 

[SD40 Jim]

Hi all.
This morning I filled my XL coffee mug and went down to the layout with intensions of doing some wiring.
During a short break, I remembered I haven't run my 2-8-8-2 in almost a year, so I took it out, lubed it and ran a few laps. I didn't want to put it away just yet, so I'm in midst of stringing up a 15 car coal drag with a 'boose.
The wiring will have to wait
Have a nice day and keep warm.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 26° here this morning. Not as cold as many of you, but cold nonetheless. Looking at much nicer weather coming up.

Good thing that the shorts and tee shirts aren't in long-term storage.

Recovery is continuing. While I have felt a lot of discomfort for the first couple of days, I feel much better this morning. Bruises still look horrible, but I actually can't see them unless I stand in front of a mirror! No pictures to ruin your day.

We're headed out later after church for the delayed weekly grocery trek. Wife ran out of butter for her baking, so it has turned into an emergency run.

Nothing new out in the train shed yesterday. Ran some trains and continued painting little people. Eight of them were put into the "finished" cup for eventual dull-coating when I get enough. I might have taken a picture or two, but I didn't bring the camera in with me and I'm not going to get it right now.

Todd - Sorry, but 5' of snow is just too much for me to even think about. Good luck with the next rain event. I didn't think that a lake of that size could do much damage.

Everyone have a great Sunday.

 

[KriegslokBR52]

It's missing the left (right?) identical support arm to the one still there. I have the pick-up collector, just no current way to remount the missing arm. I still have all of the parts, but I think I'm going to remove the whole assembly and get the JB Weld out.

After I disassemble it down to component parts, I think it will be much easier to repair.

Good to invest is some small tools:

All of them except for recently acquired wire snips (on the left) have served me for over two decades now. The mini drill is especially useful in drilling holes even in brass. All you have to do, is to see how the other top end of pantograph is built and make copies of parts for the rebuild. I have build several pantographs, both single arm and diamond types. In order to build parts which kept same dimensions, i made a jig on a pine board:

You have it easier because you already have one pantograph ready with properly sized components. In my case i've had to pick the proper sized wires and brass shapes to match in scale to pictures of real things. This oversized Faively pan is on my E44 electric. The toughest part of building it, was to make just the right size stabilizer bar to keep the pickup shoe as level as possible in all height positions:

The stabilizer bar on this one is new because the locomotive plunged down on the floor with open pantograph and i had to make a new stabilizer bar.

 

[migalyto]

Good morning all!

Pretty cold this morning. When I got up to let the dog out at 6:30am it was -5F. It has now slowly climbed to -1F.
Looks like 8F is going to be the high for today. Only positive news is that it is bright and sunny.

Already have the laundry going, and have a few other things to accomplish.

Wife will continue baking, and I will continue doing dishes and being the official sampler.

Not much else going on at the moment.

Have a safe day everyone!

 

[bnsf971]

I've heard it's so cold up North, they're finding dogs frozen to fire hydrants...

 

[RhB Michael]

Good morning all!

Pretty cold this morning. When I got up to let the dog out at 6:30am it was -5F. It has now slowly climbed to -1F.
Looks like 8F is going to be the high for today. Only positive news is that it is bright and sunny.

Already have the laundry going, and have a few other things to accomplish.

Wife will continue baking, and I will continue doing dishes and being the official sampler.

Not much else going on at the moment.

Have a safe day everyone!

Where do I sign up for that Official Sampler position?

 

[chadbag]

Church starts in 15 min (10:30). My son is one of two speakers — both young men who just returned from their missionary service.

He (and we, his parents) were all called in to the local High Council this morning to give a report on his mission, and to answer questions they might have. (a group of wards or congregations is a Stake and the Stake is lead by a presidency and a High Council). So it’s been a long day.

After the main worship service we’re having a get together for friends and family who’ve come to hear him speak. So we’ve been getting ready for that.

I made the onion dip!

My mom made half the stuff (mid 80 year old woman) and was over hear early helping set up. Thank goodness for moms.

 

[Bruette]

I made the onion dip!

Utz, old fashioned sourdough hard pretzels and onion dip, I love that stuff! The perfect snack for watching a ball game.

 

[Bruette]

Good afternoon, Everyone!

I didn't think we would be working this morning. It was snowing, but Amazon was playing cheap. I was not worried; I was trying to make some progress on the Christmas trains in the family room.

Next thing I know, my little Angel said, "You have two minutes to decide if you want to work" Triple pay, oh hell yeah, let's do it! It was a little slippery, but nothing to worry about. Our Equinox with AWD and the six-speed automatic transmission made it easy. We only had about 3" of snow to deal with. Less than an inch where we live.

We got home just after 8am. I have plenty to do and I did get more done, but enough is enough. I did put a ham in the oven. Now it is almost time to watch the Ravens take on the Bengals. I haven't a clue what to expect. I hope the Ravens run the ball, control the clock and avoid turnovers.

Enjoy the day Everyone!

 

[Texas Hobo]

Good afternoon, Everyone!

I didn't think we would be working this morning. It was snowing, but Amazon was playing cheap. I was not worried; I was trying to make some progress on the Christmas trains in the family room.

Next thing I know, my little Angel said, "You have two minutes to decide if you want to work" Triple pay, oh hell yeah, let's do it! It was a little slippery, but nothing to worry about. Our Equinox with AWD and the six-speed automatic transmission made it easy. We only had about 3" of snow to deal with. Less than an inch where we live.

We got home just after 8am. I have plenty to do and I did get more done, but enough is enough. I did put a ham in the oven. Now it is almost time to watch the Ravens take on the Bengals. I haven't a clue what to expect. I hope the Ravens run the ball, control the clock and avoid turnovers.

Enjoy the day Everyone!

I'm hoping to at least get a peek at the Colts game just to see how Rivers makes out.

 

[rgeiter]

It snowed last night. One of my neighbors took an aerial shot of the development I live in. Pretty cool shot. To the left, you can see the rail trail. There were two competing railroads here that ran side by side. One was the Cornwall Railroad and the other was the Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad.(Later became part of the PRR) The Cornwall Railraod was an iron ore hauler. After Agnes in 72’ flooded the mines that was it for the railroad. Eventually both railroads became one with most of the tracks getting ripped up. What was left in the 90’s Conrail operated until the last customer, ALCOA closed up shop. Now all the rails are gone.

Anyway, this view is looking North.