Running Bear's February 2021 Coffee Shop.

[Alcomotive]

OOOPS! Good Afternoon One and All. Forgot that I said that I would return, here I am. It made it up to freezing a little while ago. We decided to stick it out here due to potential traffic issues over the next few days. No frozen pipes yet, drains are all working as designed mostly. That "S-trap" under the shower freezes up, but a bucket of hot water before use takes care of that. Sunday and Monday are going to be our critical days here, but it won't be as bad as the winter of '89 when it was below 10° for ten days and below 32° for three weeks straight. Of course I was thirty years younger back then.
The case of beer that I left in the car from grocery shopping yesterday is nice and cold. Unfortunately the neighborhood birds are having to drink the soapy water from bathing and washing the cloths that comes out of my "greywater" drain in the field, since my pond and the water on top of the pool cover both froze over.
Yesterday at the grocery, it was very crowded. I usually go on Thursdays so I don't know if Friday was the reason or if it was people getting ready to hunker down. I purchased four lobster tails to fix for my wife's birthday, since we never go out on Fridays anyway. Cooked them a whole new way for me, steamed them (with lemon, bay leaves and garlic in the steamer water), without splitting the shell. It worked and they were delicious.

Thanks for the likes and comments on yesterday's pictures of Jack's Back Yard salvage business; Joe, Jesse, Karl, Lee, Tom O, Patrick, Guy, Garry, Sherrel, Rick, Chad, Alan, Hughie, Phil, Curt, Tom, Ken, Justin.
And my wife thanks each and everyone of you for the birthday well wishes. Too bad that she thinks that all of you are like Sherrel, who she has actually met! lol Just kidding Sherrel!

Still too chilly for modeling in the train shed, but I can report that trains out there still run well. I operated for about 45 minutes.
So back to the archives for some random shots.
I have a lot of motorcycles scattered about, here are some completed and two incomplete ones.
View attachment 124775
These all came in kits from JL Innovative designs. I added the kick stands.
A close up of the action at the Coco Club. This is one end of a Downtown Deco kit called Addams Ave Pt. II
View attachment 124777
And some action at the other end.
View attachment 124778
And something a little different to get me out of my winter doldrums. Part of my tomato harvest in June 2017.
View attachment 124776

Lots of catching up to do here; over 60 new posts since yesterday morning.
JazzDad - Used beer around here is used to water the trees!
Garry - Many kudos for your dedicated neighbors.
James - That's a lot of ties just for scenery. I haven't even made a dent into the bag of 500 that I purchased a few years ago.
Alan - I love the cast metal details in this kit. It took a while to paint them all, but I enjoyed it. I do believe that 70% of the cost of nice kits can be in the details. Bar Mills doesn't usually include as many as were in this kit, plus I added a few from the stash.
That tractor repair shed looks like a real fun kit to do.
The Tony Thompson link this morning brought back the memory of reading his most interesting article on MRH a few years ago. Even though his era predates mine by a decade or two, I garnered a lot of knowledge from it.
Hughie - My vote is still leave "Waterfront Willie's" in the river scene.
Chad - Yes that was sad news about Chick Corea. Unfortunately I never got to see him in concert. My very favorite album by him is 'My Spanish Heart'. Armando's Rhumba being my favorite track.
Karl - An advanced Happy Birthday to your wife. Good news on the surgery follow-up.

I paired the lobster tails with a good Chardonnay.
Joe - At least you're on the list. I like how counties are doing the vaccine here, a very large sports venue with drive through vaccines and only those with appointments are allowed in line.
Tom O - It is sinful how most Texas drivers drive on ice. And so many of them think that 4WD will protect them. How mistaken they are.

Time to go and pop a top. Everybody have a great rest of the day. Keep warm.

Willie with all them motorcycles.....all you need now is an HO scale orangutan! Then do an "Every which way but loose" scene!

 

[DakotaLove39]

Hey fellas, I'm on a major detailing binge lately. So my U33C should have all these speed recorder kind of thingits, but I can't find any available in HO scale. Is there a certain name or term for these things I'm not hitting?

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Cloudy and 16° with a snow covering of about 1/4", that fell between 3:30 and 4:15. Stopped for now but looks like another small wave is coming up. Per the forecast, the temperature will continue to drop to around 4° overnight, and possibly 6" of snow total. Clearing up around daybreak tomorrow, but that will continue overnight resulting in a temperature of near 0°. Slow warmup next week but it won't get back above freezing until Friday.
We decided against shutting down and leaving yesterday. I realized that while I could turn off the water supply and drain the lines, only the cold water and the incoming supply line would drain. There would be water remaining in the hot water line that would surely freeze.
So much for our weather. All of this cold talk just makes me want to go back to bed next to a warm body, which I'll do!
Good Bye for now.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Well - Looks like I'm going to have to kick the door in this morning? I supposed that everyone is just trying to stay warm - or maybe MEL decided just to stay closed for today? After all, it is Valentine's Day ... I trust that all you fellows have something planned for the missus today?

Starting off at 44 this morning and looking for a 65 high with a sunny sky! I'll take it - and KARL - I am ready for summer already!
Couldn't sleep - having some discomfort from the Covid shot. It will get better I am sure.

I'll come back when the lights come on.?

 

[TrucTrain55]

Good Morning all -0 degrees in the Ozark Foothills. Flo Hot Coffee and a bowel of Oats.

Karl. Nice garden beds I’ve never tried them I almost built some last year but didn’t.

Willie. I forgot to mention your Coco Club reminds me of a place outside of Cario Illinois that rumor had it in the 1950s the Chicago Mob would come down there and Gamble and party for the weekends the condition of the building looked about the same. Thanks for the likes everyone yesterday.

Last night I did manage to get two Atlas O Boxcars done I’ll post the pics later. Stay safe and warm today

 

[bnsf971]

Hey fellas, I'm on a major detailing binge lately. So my U33C should have all these speed recorder kind of thingits, but I can't find any available in HO scale. Is there a certain name or term for these things I'm not hitting?

View attachment 124787

Details West SR-284 - Speed Recorder w/ Cable Line (Early to Late Era) - HO S... | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Details West SR-284 - Speed Recorder w/ Cable Line (Early to Late Era) - HO S... at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[ACL-CSX]

Good morning y'all.

Ye olde laptop just informed me that in less than 15 minutes it would be restarting to finish updating the software, so I will have coffee and bacon in the corner Flo while I wait for the infernal machine to do its thing.

As soon as possible I will try to catch up on posts and update on the devastation from the Crossroads.

Gotta go. I smell coffee and bacon.

 

[Ash Pit]

Cold again! Weather Underground says it's -28 below. Not going outside again to check what the real temperature is! Suffice to say: it's Cold out there!!!

Flo, just coffee today as I'm helping my Valentine fix breakfast!

 

[CambriaArea51]

Hey fellas, I'm on a major detailing binge lately. So my U33C should have all these speed recorder kind of thingits, but I can't find any available in HO scale. Is there a certain name or term for these things I'm not hitting?

View attachment 124787

Nope that's what its called. https://midwestmodelrr.com/product/dtw284/

 

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!
Happy Valentine's day, happy Sunday, happy Daytona 500 day and also happy 55th to my young bride!
22 and overcast. Only running today will be for cat food(oops, we're out!) and for curbside pick up of dinner at Mission BBQ. Son #3 is stopping by later to help restock the firewood in the basement since I still have this boot on my foot. Not good for traversing a yard full of snow.

I see Terry has read my mind on speed recorders.
Flo, just coffee and a cinnamon bun for now.

 

[CambriaArea51]

Good morning....Coffee Flo, and Happy Valentines day to you,I hope Mel got you something nice today.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

4° this morning and about 2" of snow.

Thanks for the birthday wishes yesterday. As far as 60 being painless, the cold has my arthritis in my hands making it pretty painful. Thank goodness for ibuprofen.

Not sure if I'll venture out later as wind chill is at -18° currently. I may go down and run trains.

 

[ACL-CSX]

Good morning a second time. And now for the weather. It's cold. It's wet. That is all.

Flo- More bacon please, Sherrel keeps sneaking it thinking I don't see him. You can bring a plate for him as well.

The survey crew is back from checking on the storm damage. Thankfully it was limited to the depot. In addition to no human casualties, no freight was lost either. Everything had been cleared out for the renovations. The building and zoning committee has surveyed the scene as well. They have issued the permits for demolition and reconstruction, but have insisted on a new design. They want something more resistant to future storms.

Town management has vowed to assist railroad brass in whatever ways they can to ensure a speedy and complete return to business. Management and staff at New Horizons Trucking feel this is more to the benefit of Town Council than for their own, but they cannot prove it. In the meantime they will enjoy their paid leave from their parent company, New Horizons Textiles, while their depot is rebuilt. Crews are off today to spend time with their spouses and significant others, but clean up should begin tomorrow and reconstruction will hopefully begin before the end of the week. Crews will also be completing restoration of the rails so that when the new depot is complete, business may resume. The boys over in the engine house and car shops are coordinating with the maintenance staff to ensure all rolling stock and trucks are in tip top shape so they can hit the gate running when freight operations resume.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Oh, in case you forgot: TODAY IS VALENTINE'S DAY. I hope you remembered to get your wife a gift.

 

[troyphoto]

Well, howdy there internet train people.

It's below freezing with more snow on the way. Fortunately, in the midwest, our pipes are used to it, and we don't have to worry until we get close to 0° F. Then we leave water dripping in the farthest faucet

Got a little work on the railroad done in the past few days. Almost got the mainline cork down... but had to detour to get the riser leveled out and get rid of a dip. That is cured and level after a couple of coats of spackle and some sanding.

Here's the overall of that end of the layout:

And here's what I spent two hours working on last evening. Blended Scotch (Bottle in Kentucky, go figure!) and my favourite gaming podcast on the speaker. The reason 16 little Soviet WWII dudes took over two hours to assemble is the Body + Left Arm + Right Arm + Weapon + Head are designed to be intermixed to some extent. BUT not all arms work on all bodies, and some arms are specific to certain weapon options. Add in two prone figures that take "Prone Arms" and the complexity gets overwhelming. DRAT! the arms I really need for this dude are already cemented to that other dude...

 

[McLeod]

Morning!
No valentines celebration here; the wife and I realize every day we are still breathing is a celebration, so we don't need to label it. Saves me a bundle on buying dead flowers.
Don't know of any flowers that want to grow in -19° temperatures anyway. Somehow, I think flowers are smarter than that. The wind-chill outside is giving it that -33° feel.
I'll have to go out there today and clear off the driveway. There are snowdrifts on it from the wind. - The cold is making me cranky.

Today's photos are a bit different.
I was cleaning up my new layout area yesterday, and came across an old safety manual from the mills I used to work at years ago. There are a couple of general layout diagrams in there of the MDF plant and sawmill, both of which were rail served. Thought the general layout might be of some interest to my friends here in the shop:

Other than that, I don't have anything. Just working away at trying to get the reno area cleaned up.

Troy - The layout is looking good! Well done! The headless figures, not so good yet.

Have a good one, to all!

 

[moermusic]

Loco after day 1
My preferred chair is about 6 ft in front of this stove
still minus 30 C here, another 2 days , then up to -6

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from a chilled So. Central Wisconsin at -7f degrees with a wind chill of -27.

I will be hiding from the cold in the train room where it is 68 with no wind chill. A simple indoor day, some work at the paint booth and then the bench. Terry called last night and told me I can plug the TV monitors again, told her I can wait.

Be safe, stay warm
TomO

 

[IronBeltKen]

Good morning Shop Dwellers! It's 30*F and cloudy with everything glazed in ice. No major issues with power outages from what I could see on the BGE outage map. Mass was cancelled this morning due to dangerous road conditions. It's supposed to get above freezing withing the next hour or two, but I'm not so sure about that - it always seems to take a lot longer than what NWS predicts, probably because the warmer air - which is lighter than the cold air - just slides above the cold air instead of pushing it back. I just just hope it does get above freezing, otherwise this next storm we're getting that is supposed to make it rain all day on Monday will be an ice storm instead!

Thanks everybody who clicked the LIKE button and/or commented on my brief Friday post, though I don't have time to name names since I'm in a bit of a hurry this morning to get back to the activity I was spending most of my free time on Saturday.

Patrick - a happy "second 30th" birthday to ya!

Willie - I was wondering how the bitter cold was going to impact you...good luck with that, hope you got enough firewood to last thru the week!

Joe - thanks for the details on the 40-year rule! I know that it was ok for cars older than 40 to be used on their home rails, but the tank cars I got are lettered for GATX so, theoretically, they are still being interchanged.

* * *
On the mrr front, I spent ~6 hours at the workbench and made significant progress on the F7 shell. Got the remaining decals installed, and all the "common" grab irons installed. Now I'm focusing on the prototype-specific ones that don't have little 'nubs' on the shell to show me where to drill the holes - and these are giving me fits! I simply cannot seem to drill two holes perfectly level, and my eyesight isn't sharp enough to position the #80 drill bit in spots on a perfectly parallel line - the second hole is always a quarter-millimeter too low or too high and the grabs always look crooked. I had a BLMA grab iron drilling template that I used a few years ago to install grabs on my upgraded Bachmann geeps, but now that is nowhere to be found. My last two hours yesterday were spent trying to make jigs that would enable me to get the holes right - but no luck. I'll be resuming that futile task as soon as I'm done typing this post.

Stay warm everyone!

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning Again. Happy Valentine's Day. Still holding steady at 16° and the snowfall has returned. Looks like it will be short-lived again, then a two or three hour break before it returns. Maybe I'll get a picture with the phone after it gets light since I left the camera out in the train shed. At least I don't have to deal with a snow blower, I don't have one! Brought in 2 1/2 days worth of firewood yesterday so I won't have to deal with that for a bit. The snow will not melt until Friday but I know the way to the stack about 20' from the back porch.
Is this Arctic blast going to affect you guys on the east end of the country, Karl, Ken, Jesse, Terry? I know that they are freaking out down south of here in Hughie and GT's locales. At least that's the impression that we get from the local media. My wife's remote finger is sore from the constant switching from the Weather Channel to the impeachment and back, and forth, and back...

Ham, grits and two eggs over easy for me this morning Flo.

Thanks to all who posted or liked the late photos yesterday; Karl, Patrick, Rick, Lee, Sherrel, Tom O, Phil, Joe, Hughie, Tom, Guy, Chad, James, Gary, Troy, Jesse.

Didn't bother with the train shed yesterday, kept busy inside. Trainwise though, I spent about an hour updating my freight car database, entering some thought to be lost maintenance records from 1994-2003. Not completed yet but closer. Now I just need to locate the other missing notebook from 2003-2010 in order to complete the records.
How about a few small structures from Bar Mills from the archives.
We'll start with Papa Louie's Cigar Shop. First a couple from the construction stage.

And after it got planted.

Another simple kit called Magee's Tire Service.

This one is sold as Simpson's Feed Store, I renamed it Hale's Feed.

I have additional pictures of this but I cannot locate them right now!

Jesse - Too bad about the damage, at least no one was hurt. So one advantage to my train shed (among many) is no sharing of hobby space. And less yard to mow as well! Could be a great learning opportunity for your son.
Patrick - Belated Birthday wishes. I was always told that 60 would be tough, but I didn't really notice a difference until 67. Then I lost 40 pounds and it made a whole lot of difference.
Lee - I am usually two weeks into the planting season by now, but the weather forecasts held me back. I am now glad that I waited. I do have my garlic and other perennial potted herbs covered with a thick blanket next to the back porch.
Sherrel - Thanks for the call and suggestion. For others, because the "S" trap is located immediately under the shower drain, it has worked out just fine to simply pour about a half gallon of hot water into the drain directly before using the shower. Gravity then takes over. The shower itself flushes out the line and temporarily melts everything at the outlet so it can flow off.

Everybody have a great day. Keep warm and safe.

 

[GeeTee]

Got up at 6 to go to the grocery store , made it to the end of the street and decided it wasn't worth the risk , I was sliding all over at 10 mph with all 4 paws engaged . Weaker trees are starting to break so have to move the vehicles out in open.

now expecting a low of 7 tonight and 4 tomorrow . Wind chill tonight /tomorrow -10.

Possible blizzard conditions tonight and tomorrow from blowing snow and high winds.