Running Bear's February 2022 Coffee Shop

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Good morning. Day started out at 12° with a heavy frost...going to the mid 30s today, then a sharp warm up to the 60s for a couple, then back down to more seasonable levels.

Coil steel loads. One source stated that the color of cold rolled steel was "Gunmetal",and Hot coils were "Sea Blue" Not for nothing, that's not what I recall. Yesterday, I painted several Testors "Steel", several others Valejo "Gunmetal". Today I'm going to do a couple in Sea Blue. Tangent's coils are a greyish color with a hint of blue. I even took them outside to see what they looked like in the sun...so far, not too happy with the "Gunmetal" although the ready for the airbrush Valejo paint brushes on nicely. The Testor's enamel "Steel" color didn't brush well. looks like poorly mixed aluminum.

Last count, there were 83 revenue freight cars on the layout, which is too many, until I finish the yard /staging modules. so first move, is to pull some off the layout and store them until the last two modules are finished.

Last night, I downloaded the last of the 1098 / 1099s needed for my federal tax return.

Curt: Your Railway Express building is really nice.
 
Good Morning!
I was out shovelling the new snow at 6:00am this morning, just to get that out of the way. 22F out there, so not real cold.
I've learned my new dog is stupid. She stands in front of the snow shovel as I'm working, with that 'What the ell' look on her mug. It's very annoying. I'm hoping that if she gets enough snow thrown in her face, she'll learn to move.

Nothing train-wise to report again today. I finished installing the electrical into my wife's new planter station. Now I need to replace the basement ceiling I tore apart to get the wiring in. Shelving needs to be built, paint, and install the grow lights, and then I can get back to my hobby. This work should keep her happy for a little while.

I really hope that Sherrel is ok!!!

All these car/truck photos being posted have caused me to spend a hundred bucks on 5 new 1960's HO vehicles. Two 55 Chevy's, a VW, a Chrysler 300, and a Dodge pick-up. I'll post them up when they get here. - It aggravates me that so much of that money is a result of the high cost of shipping.

Well, I gotta go. Have a good one!
 


Greetings all,

I found a scroll saw blade for my jig saw that I had obviously bought years ago, quite thin and a goodly TPI. So I made a test cut into foam, and worked really nice giving a clean edge. Much better than the utility knife cuts. So I used that to cut the curve of my southern extension. Nice clean cut.

Other than that, I broke out my BLI 4-6-2 Great Northern steamer now that I have a longer straight upon which to test run. Still rather hesitant and balky. Now, in my Inet travels, I had read somewhere (maybe here) that BLI steamers come out the factory with a goodly load of gunk upon their wheels and a good wheel cleaning ought be top priority. So used the CRC and paper towel trick on the tracks. Man, lots of green goobery-doo residue on the paper towel. I used the heavy duty, blue auto-shop paper towel. Then took the loco to the workbench and used a micro-brush and alcohol to clean the tender and idler wheels.

I can see wires attached to the trucks of the tender, so I'm thinking that the tender must be a power pick-up unit. But the steamer is still quite balky on unpowered frogs and dirty spots on the track. Seems odd. Is the power pick-up only for the sound speakers? ANd in reverse, the tender still cants over and will not often right itself on the rails, meaning derail.

I may have to start a unique thread seeking the collective wisdom for that steamer. I really want to run steam locomotives on my layout, but not if they are that frustrating to operate.

ANother coat of paint, and I will post a picture of the finished extension here and on my layout thread. Only a week or so behind schedule.

Funeral planning today for a dear lady. That will be Saturday.

Good news on the financial front. Wife is CEO of an Ambulatory Surgery Center. They (she) did so well last year that her bonus is awarded as 100%x but with a incentive of 40%. So her bonus is not x but 1.4*x !! Plus she is getting a rare performance bonus of $10K in company stock. Even though the company has a good record, I am tempted to sell it upon award just so I do not have to hassle with the accounting of the accruals and cost-basis, and all that CPA-speak.

We have no big house projects in mind for this year, so plan to fund fully Roth IRA contributions and pay off two revolving credit accounts and still have money to put into savings. Oh, I might just let her have a full-out spa day as a thank-you!! But those who are wondering, no, I will not requisition any of it for train hobby, tempting as it is.

<Sigh> - - - saw yesterday that our $2.99 cooking wine is now $3.49 ...... 18% jump. Thank you, Uncle Joe!!

Greyhound is on the mend, but still favoring his RR paw. Slept better, though and did eat some food this morning.

Steve J
 
Good morning all,

It is 11 above, headed for the 20's.

Flo, what about some French toast and Bacon, also some coffee please.

Louis, Curt - thanks for the kind words on yesterdays photo.

Willie - I notice you bought some barbed wire. I made some that looks ok from a distance, more reminscent of the smooth wire used today in modern horse farming.

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Here is my attempt, I used drops of JB weld to hold the wire in place. I would like to paint the wire, however give it a few years may dull down a bit.

Here is another shot of my layout in progress, all this is native dirt with Woodland Scenics ground covers, will be blending this into a new scene:

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The little building is a scratch built seed house.

The tender fell on the floor and the crew still has not gotten around to fixing it. I spent a lot of time weathering the track above, too bad it doesn't show up much.

More later, Dave LASM
 
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Good Morning All. Clear and 42°, probably going back up to 72° again today.
Off to a late start this morning, originally got up a bit early at 0330, laid back down around 0530 and didn't get back up until 0800! Later tonight we're going out with some friends to celebrate my wife's birthday one more time.

Thanks to all who took the time to comment or like yesterday's post; Chad, Joe, Smudge, Karl, Patrick, Dave B, James, Hughie, Mikey, OB Ken, Lee, Steve J, Louis, Jaz, Guy, Tom, Curt, Gary, Rick, Alan, IB Ken, Tom O.

I made it out to the train shed late yesterday and mostly tied up loose ends. Put up some of the structures that I purchased Saturday, even though I am ready to build something.
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I'll be using this one as a drugstore as a General Store won't be right in the place that I am going to use it.
I also purchased a Smalltown USA structure that can be seen in the upper rifht corner here.
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I also got some UPS trailers to use in an up and coming scene in the Maultown Industrial District.
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Karl - Belated Happy Birthday to Sharon.
Really nice cement trucks. For some reason the name Phil McCraken jogs my memory, but I don't recall why.
Steve J - I hope that your wife's hand is healing rapidly.
Greg - Sorry to read about the knee. Get well soon.
Louis -
Terry, how is Sherrel?
Health-wise Sherrel is recovering slowly. I spoke with him last Thursday and exchanged E-Mails Saturday. He is resting up right now. Hoping that he returns soon.

Nothing special about today other than it being National Wisconsin Day. So eat some cheese and support their economy.
Everybody have a great day. Stay safe.
 
After a single cryptic message, he has not responded to any further calls, emails, or texts.
poo poo poo, that is the one big issue we have,our friends often only have the forum or limited communications,we don’t deal with the family,so when it goes quiet, you have no idea what is going on, and I sympathise as I don’t give out my details at all even my surname is short for arboretum valley my layout. And Jaz is from jasminium a plant I like. I agreed with the other half after not one but three overly friendly people we interacted with to not use any personal data, we played world of Warcraft and chatted on line and one ‘guy’ kept talking to me like we were overly pally even though my husband and two sons were in our guild,I put him on ignore then a friend claimed he had been shot in real life,so my clever other half did a little fishing and the person turned out to not be a 29 year old as said but a 15 year old and he was certainly not shot,and even once outed he was bombarding my characters with messages, we actually moved world/server because we could afford to pay for the characters to move to get rid of him. A modeller got a little besotted with my online personna, no talking just modelling the railway, the other half rarely went on there - Facebook - but I slowly moved to a forum but with this name to avoid him, I handed the whole site I ran to another modeller, to be honest it was more about fed up with Facebook than him, but people are 😜 crazy, my other half said for all they know I could be sone big gay trucker! "(no offence to truckers or gay or big people - just you have no idea what I look like - madness)

And….and I have a light voice but the other half says when I get excited annoyed or otherwise loud my voice goes impossibly high and squeaky and cuts through him like a chain saw. My kids agree, apparently arguing with me can literally be 😖 painful. Grins. plus at the moment I walk like a demented 🦀 crab because my knee is such a pain, attractive? no I don’t think so! not in the eye of the beholder (played that game too) more in the imagination!

I could put up a picture of ‘myself’ but seriously you can’t authenticate it, we have to take the good with the bad.

hopefully Sherrie is ok, or going to be ok - fingers crossed.
 
I just realized that I had taken a picture of part of the birthday dinner Saturday and never posted it. My son in law cooked two whole beef tenderloins ($$$) that were cooked to perfection and quite tasty.
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An absolutely perfect medium rare. This was just one of the platters! Enough protein here to make my beard grow a half inch in one spurt!;)
 


I could put up a picture of ‘myself’ but seriously you can’t authenticate it, we have to take the good with the bad.
Jaz avalley - Somewhere on this forum, there is a 'post a photo of yourself' thread. I happen to be in there, along with many others, including the long lost 'naked man on a motorcycle' poster.
I like seeing photos of the people who post here. It gives me an idea who I'm talking to.
 
Model RR question:

I know that there is in HO scale bridge flex track complete with guardrail. Further, I know that guardrail is useful in prototypes to keep trains from tumbling off the bridge in event of a derail. My question is: Does HO scale bridge guardrail have any practical effect? If I put guardrail flex on my southern extension, will the guardrails prevent the 'plunge of death' off the table?
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Further - - I would like some type of railing I can bend around that curve in order to help prevent the aforementioned POD. Any suggestions?

And finally, what would the proper terminology be for such a railing. Can't say guard-rail, though I want to, and should be more than a hand-rail.

Thanks fellow modelers who are experienced!!
 
Exactly right. I've read the book multiple times and have seen the movie countless times, including just a few weeks ago.

Even has Cliff Claven in it! (And practically every other famous actor from the time in it).
Yeah, really is a who' who of the silver screen.

I used to take Group's to Arnhem, ( many years ago, a few mates and I decided to follow the same route 30th Corp did all the way to the bridge, it was amazing). Also D Day landing beach's, all the War l and ll Cemetery's, Pegasus Bridge, always came away humbled and haunted from those visits.

Met quite a few former servicemen and women from your side of the pond at the Menin Gate, in Ypres.
Always brought a smile to my face, when it was explained that the Last Post has been played every night since 1928 and that the honour guard and buglers, weren't military, but are all members of the local Last Post Association.
 
Afternoon All.

Spent several hours finishing up the build. The only thing left to do is ground cover around the side and back. This has taken me about 30 days to build.

Thank you for the likes yesterday for my photos.

IB Ken- Please show lots of progress photos. :)

Terry- I'm worried about Sherrel.

Joe- Thank you.

Steve- I hope you get your Pacific running correctly. You've probably have already done this, but have you gauged the wheels? It sounds like you're wife is doing quite well. Not sure what it's called but I would do it since it's prototypical.

Dave- I like the fence. For some reason the black spots remind me of turnbuckles.

Lee- Thank you.

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I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Yeah, really is a who' who of the silver screen.

I used to take Group's to Arnhem, ( many years ago, a few mates and I decided to follow the same route 30th Corp did all the way to the bridge, it was amazing). Also D Day landing beach's, all the War l and ll Cemetery's, Pegasus Bridge, always came away humbled and haunted from those visits.

That would be awesome. I'd like to visit Arnhem and also follow the paths of XXX corp and the other units to kind of see what they were facing (obviously the 75+ years since have changed things a bit). And to see other famous WW2 spots.
 
That would be awesome. I'd like to visit Arnhem and also follow the paths of XXX corp and the other units to kind of see what they were facing (obviously the 75+ years since have changed things a bit). And to see other famous WW2 spots.
There is still a lot to see, even after 75+ years, a lot was rebuilt obviously, but pockmarks from bullets abound in various walls, and a lot of buildings like the one that was used as a hospital, have been rebuilt and is now a museum, even the bridge itself along with the ones at Nijmegen were repaired but a lot of the original damage can still be seen, I think the Dutch are kinda proud of them.
In Maastricht, they celebrate "Liberation Day" with a big march through the town, literally hundreds take part, band's former servicemen and women, must be 1000-2000 in the parade.
Total number of policemen required for the entire parade.............2
Say's a lot, I think.
 
That would be awesome. I'd like to visit Arnhem and also follow the paths of XXX corp and the other units to kind of see what they were facing (obviously the 75+ years since have changed things a bit). And to see other famous WW2 spots.
Somewhere I have a copies of maps that were used during and after D Day, with all the locations and objectives marked, also one for Market Garden, I'll see if I still have them.
 


Good Afternoon Everyone....over-cast and the weather Guessers aren't sure of what we will get in the way of snow amounts come Thursday and Thursday night. We really need the moisture in the soil for the trees and farm crops.

Puppy sitting again for Riley while Cathy is shopping and at the dentist. Riley had fun this morning and right now is in her crate outside by computer/home office. Sound asleep.

I just talked to a old friend that I had lunch with in April of last year and we haven't talked or exchanged emails since then. He's the semi-retired CEO of large electrical contracting company and my history with the company goes back over 50 years since I knew the son of the founder of the company who started the company back in 1926. Good talking with him and found I had the wrong email address for him.

Discovering that I had purchased model railroading items and supplies that over the last two years and I forgot that I had ever received them and they sit on a table in the basement. I started making a list of items that I need since I like to keep an inventory of parts and materials and I'm low on some items. Even with a layout over 95% completed there's always things that come be done or changes to be made. I'm discovering new scenery materials and plan on making some changes to the layout foreground areas.

Fun things to do beyond changing the scenery include of course weathering, decal design, building new structures and finishing some of my kits that I purchased prior to my retirement. I have a bunch of locomotives that need decoders. I have the decoders that are old, new stock that I've had over ten years.

Speaking of weathering, the CN has some ore cars stored on a siding near here and they are used to haul limestone form Sussex, Wisconsin to the steel mills in Gary, Indiana. These cars are rusted and have seen better days. I wish I could get closer to them for a few photos, but that would mean trespassing on RR property. The railroad makes a daily trip with the lime and returns and a large loader fills the cars for another trip. Drew's Trackside Adventures on MR's Video Plus did a story on the limestone quarry operating in Sussex and the loading of the ore cars.

There is a lot amount of limestone quarries in sussex and Lannon, Wisconsin. The larger ones are many hundreds of feet below grade and have water pumped out of the low area 24/7. The stone is used for decorative building siding, roadways, patios and steel making to name a few areas.

That's all for now.......

Greg

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