Running Bear's February 2022 Coffee Shop

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!

Flo, Coffee please, and a meat lovers Omelet , you know, the kind with bacon, sausage, beef brisket and cheese. with a side of scrapple.

Thank to all that commented on the modules. once the layout goes up they will be retired. They will be up for grabs then.

Granddaughters 5th birthday party today. The "real" date was December 30th, but due to their whole household having Covid at that time it was postponed. That should keep me out from noon til ? I can't wait to see her face when Grampy and Gramma give her that bicycle. Makes it all worth it

TTYL

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 28°, shooting for a high of 54° later on. That should melt the remaining snow.
I drove down to the mailbox yesterday expecting to pick up three days worth of mail...nothing there! Then my wife reads on the local town Facebook page that the postmaster sent out a notification that the main terminal in Ft Worth did not send a truck Thursday, Friday or Saturday so no deliveries. What happened to the whole rain, sleet, snow thing??? It wasn't the roads since they were all cleared by midday Friday!

Thanks to everyone who commented on or reacted to the bar crawl photos; Gary, Steve J, Karl, Sherrel, Tom O, George, Dave B, Tom, Hughie, Smudge, OB Ken, Jaz, IB Ken, Chet, Curt, James, Mikey, Joe.

Train shed visit yesterday was short and sweet, but it was a good visit. Still too cold out there to do any serious modeling, but I was able to move things around and tried to clean and organize the workbench area. It remains a lost cause though.
Instead of resuming the bar crawl this morning, let me bring up policemen on the layout as George has commented about them a few times. Firstly, not all of them are giving out tickets.
Here's a sheriff's deputy assisting a local officer with a pat-down.

They direct traffic on many street corners as well.

Gary - One of the main advantages of flex track, even when using standard radius track like 18" or 22" is the lack of joiners that have to be dealt with. If you are unsure if you can lay out the proper radius, lay out the sectional track where you want it to go, and then trace it onto the surface. There you have it. Then repeat with the same sectional track.
Layout pictures look great.
Steve J - Best wishes for your wife's recovery.
Chet - Ground floor condo is good. Lately I am finding stairs to be a pain to navigate.
Ken (D&J) - Sorry to read of your troubles with the modules. Hope that your troubles don't discourage any potential modelers.

Everybody have a great day. Stay safe.

 

[Bruette]

Good morning. It's clear and 31.
I discovered this morning that Prime membership is going up another $20 a year, but only in the US. Reading the news article, it says Amazon's net profits are down to only $3.6 billion a year.

At $139 for prime membership I still regard it as a bargain. I order from Amazon several times a week and I take full advantage of the free media included with prime. I resell much of what I buy from Amazon. Now that I cut the cable, no more Comcast, I watch and listen to Amazon more than ever.

On the other hand I see the increase as just another example of companies sticking it to their customers! Most customers don't fully utilize all prime services as I do.

All while Amazon is screwing their workers and contractors! As many of you know I'm a contractor for Amazon. I have been doing it for over five years. In those five years Amazon has not raised the base rate for contractors. It remains at $18/hour. No compensation for tolls or mileage! As the length of the routes have increased. Most routes were 25-50 miles when I started. Now they sometimes are over 150 miles! The price of fuel has dramatically increased in those five years. According to AAA the average price in MD as of 2/6/22 is $3.392/us gallon. Average price in 2016, $2.14.
They do offer increased rates when demand is high. Usually very early mornings and or late evenings. But they put out offers days in advance at base rates and desperate contractors accept them. I cherry pick, I'm not moving for less than $50/hour. The only reason I take those, Amazon is good exercise for me and I otherwise have no motivation to exercise. That and I'm a morning person, 3:30am is a perfect start time for me.
I take 4-5 hour routes, blocks as Amazon calls them and i almost always finish early. Often as much as 3 hours early. I'm getting my doctor recommended exercise and picking up $200-$250 for my efforts. But I couldn't survive on what I make with Amazon.

If things continue as they have been, many more American workers will face legalized slavery, many already are!

 

[Bruette]

Walmart offers free shipping on orders over $35. I buy almost as much from walmart.com as I do from Amazon.

I really don't like to cut into my couch time!

 

[BigGRacing]

advantages of flex track,

Thanks for the tips Santa Fe, I will keep that suggestion in mind if I need to alter something. I just find it easier with plug and play. Where I have tried a couple times and ended with kinks, I will stick to sectional and make it work.
No train pic yet, had to take my wife for grub. But returning home and coming into the ice village, I thought was kind of cool.

 

[Bruette]

Thank you Everybody for your condolences, thank you very much.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning Crew of modelers. Warmer in Wisconsin today as we might hit 39f degrees. A day for modeling is hopefully what will happen as the spousal unit just said no plans today.

Lots of good reading the last few days here. We definitely are a prolific group of modelers who like to write. Traffic here in the diner has definItaly picked up and Mel and the ladies should be ecstati.

Enjoy your day
TomO

still playing with the grain terminal at the bench

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Good Morning everyone...sunny and the light snow that was on driveway is now gone, just in time for some more snow. Well winter is approaching its end and then a long Spring. It's nice that its staying light longer in the evenings.

Still working on taxes and I need to go to a local bank tomorrow to do some switching of accounts and satisfy my RMD for the period of January 1st to April 30th and then worry about the next RMD due by December 31, 2022. Fun.

Received my three pulpwood cars from TomO. They are really nice looking, being weathered stake pulpwood cars with natural pulpwood loads. The natural wood Tom used for the load is the key to the realism of the cars along with the weathering of the cars that rolling stock of this type would look like in the 1:1 world. Even my wife remarked about how real the cars look. As soon as my layout is back and up and running the three cars will be placed on a siding close to the fascia where four Fox Valley WC box cars once were parked. I'll post a photo soon of the cars on the siding. Good job TomO!!!

Also received a gondola from Kalmbach, a custom run for the MR&T railroad at Kalmbach's offices. (I forgot I ordered this car.) I been collecting the MR&T rolling stock to go with my Athearn engine with MR&T markings. I toured the Kalmbach offices several years ago and MR Editor Jim Hediger was our tour guide for the almost two and half hour tour of the MR&T and other project layouts.

I also ordered a MR&T reefer than is due later in the year.

The only reason I'm not running trains is dirty track along with my continued problem of using a walker and have a hard time standing for a long time. Slowly improving, but I need to force myself to exercise more often to improve faster. The track cleaning will be easy with my CenterLine cars and the one car equipped with a Masonite pad. I'll use a six axle locomotive to pull the cleaning train instead of my GP-9 that I normally use. I'll use Magic Track followed by an application of graphite to the rails.

I can't believe having such a busy life while being retired. On top of everything else, I lost a crown Saturday morning while eating breakfast. I'm sure that the tooth will have to be pulled along with the tooth next to it. I been in fires, floods, shot at, raced motorcycles and got lost in the woods in Northern Wisconsin, but the mere thought of going to a dentist scares the life out of me. I've had bad experiences with dentists since I was 14 years old. All the major surgeries I've had never bothered me and I always slept well the night before the surgeries. A trip to the dentist is another story.

Bruette: My condolences to you and my thoughts are with you.

This afternoon I promised Cathy a movie afternoon. I like action movies and she prefers "Chick Movies". In fact I stayed up last night until almost four in the morning watching Rambo. A friend of ours spent four tours of duty in Vietnam as a Green Beret advisor to the mountain people fighting the North Vietnamese Army. He was close to being a "real life" Rambo.

I never felt the need to belong to Amazon Prime since most of my Amazon orders come in a very quick time from when the order was placed to the time the delivery arrives.

That about all to report for now....

Have a nice Sunday afternoon.

Greg

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[NYC_George]

Walmart offers free shipping on orders over $35. I buy almost as much from walmart.com as I do from Amazon.

I only buy from Walmart. I buy zero from Amazon. The owner is too political for me.
George

 

[moermusic]

Well, another 9 days without www access.
I saw a mention of fuel prices. Today I am paying in a US equivalent $ & gallon: 4.21/gall {1.40 (ca) / liter}
Had some stupid sleep patterns. ie: 1930 dn; 0300 up; 0600 dn; 0800 up; 1100 dn; 1300 up; 2000 dn . that covers that particular 24 hr span.
since the son has Amazon prime, it is in his TV bundle, so I been watchin the whole Yellowstone thing from very first episode & have 3 or 4 left to be fully up to date.

 

[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Did a couple of chores then headed to the train room. I decided I didn't feel like leaving the house today (cool & drizzly) so I built the second loading dock, ramp and assembled the last add-on with roofing (last of applying shingles completed). In the photo the ramp and add-on are not glued to the platform and none of it is glued to the building.

I did some thinking last night and I think I'm going to use plaster for the track/ties. I don't think I can do foamboard on it without it looking like crap. I may also just leave the track the way it is...still thinking about it.

Thank you for the photo likes yesterday.

Ken D&J- Sorry to hear of your module issues.

Joe- Thank you. I'm with you. The cost is ridiculous, though if the Atlantic had been released 4-5 years ago, I probably would have bought one. I really wanted one back on my last layout.

Gary- Great layout progress. What's the radius curve on the left side incline? It looks tight but that may be because of the camera angle.

Lee- Great layout shots.

Smudge- Nice looking equipment.

Karl- Happy Birthday to your granddaughter.



I hope everyone has a good day.

 

[TLOC]

I only buy from Walmart. I buy zero from Amazon. The owner is too political for me.
George

I am unaware of which way the maybe #1 or #3 richest guy on earth politically leans, even though I have an idea. The only 2 places where politics have really entered into my choices are Hobby Lobby and Chik-a-flip. I also think the lost of the 40% off coupon at HL was more important to me then politics but I’ll go with that

TomO

 

[NYC_George]

I am unaware of which way the maybe #1 or #3 richest guy on earth politically leans, even though I have an idea. The only 2 places where politics have really entered into my choices are Hobby Lobby and Chik-a-flip. I also think the lost of the 40% off coupon at HL was more important to me then politics but I’ll go with that

TomO

How's that? I wasn't a very political person until they started canceling everyone. That made me think maybe I should start doing some of my own canceling. I got off Facebook and Twitter. My sister, brother and some friends already moved out of NY. If I could only talk my wife into moving I would. All my current friends are sick of the mask mandates. They want to move south, me too.
George

 

[BigGRacing]

What's the radius curve on the left side incline?

I have minimum 22” on everything, but took the incline down and went back to CTValleyRR from another forum/ Iron Horseman/ 65 Steam and the Black River Junction combo. The engine climbed the grade but like what was mentioned, it did struggle a little when weight was added. I do want as easy smooth running ops as possible and I wanted the reversing y.

 

[TrucTrain55]

GARY - You have awesome potential with the layout you are building - carry on, sir!

LEE - Your layout and photos are phenomenal - amazing what you have done with "three rail".
It is hardly noticeable- I love it - being an old Lionel-Marx fan!

STEVE - So happy that your wife is feeling better! Pretty soon you will be chasing her around the house!

KARL - Super job on the modules! That is some really fine looking woodwork!

KEN - Don't let them win! Rebuild the modules with some of that multi-fine layered - plywood!

Thanks Sherrel. I too sometimes don’t realize it’s 3 rail. I enjoy it because I can see it better. I hope some day build a traditional Lionel layout with the traditional O27 cars

 

[TrucTrain55]

Afternoon All,

Did a couple of chores then headed to the train room. I decided I didn't feel like leaving the house today (cool & drizzly) so I built the second loading dock, ramp and assembled the last add-on with roofing (last of applying shingles completed). In the photo the ramp and add-on are not glued to the platform and none of it is glued to the building.

I did some thinking last night and I think I'm going to use plaster for the track/ties. I don't think I can do foamboard on it without it looking like crap. I may also just leave the track the way it is...still thinking about it.

Thank you for the photo likes yesterday.

Ken D&J- Sorry to hear of your module issues.

Joe- Thank you. I'm with you. The cost is ridiculous, though if the Atlantic had been released 4-5 years ago, I probably would have bought one. I really wanted one back on my last layout.

Gary- Great layout progress. What's the radius curve on the left side incline? It looks tight but that may be because of the camera angle.

Lee- Great layout shots.

Smudge- Nice looking equipment.

Karl- Happy Birthday to your granddaughter.

View attachment 140393

I hope everyone has a good day.

Curt. Thanks for the complement looks like your making some progress

 

[TrucTrain55]

I am unaware of which way the maybe #1 or #3 richest guy on earth politically leans, even though I have an idea. The only 2 places where politics have really entered into my choices are Hobby Lobby and Chik-a-flip. I also think the lost of the 40% off coupon at HL was more important to me then politics but I’ll go with that

TomO

I agree Tom hope they bring it back full time some day

 

[Smudge617]

How's that? I wasn't a very political person until they started canceling everyone. That made me think maybe I should start doing some of my own canceling. I got off Facebook and Twitter. My sister, brother and some friends already moved out of NY. If I could only talk my wife into moving I would. All my current friends are sick of the mask mandates. They want to move south, me too.
George

I think everyone is fed up with the masking thing, but the issue could well be the low uptake of getting vaccinated, relatively speaking to the population ratio.
We stopped wearing them last Thursday, but it's still required in certain areas.

 

[NYC_George]

We'll I'm on the subject. My sister who lives in Tallahassee, FL pays $1,700.00 a year in taxes. We pay over $8,000.00 and that's with the senior discount. She pays $6,300.00 less than us. We pay about $3,000.00 a year to heat the place, she pays $500.00. She can play golf all year if she wants to. Without freezing to death, I can play 7 months. I have to put up with NY politics she doesn't. My wife who use to walk around the golf course is now happy to lay on the coach and watch TV. No motivation to move anywhere. Not me I want to get some exercise.
George

 

[montanan]

Good afternoon. A bit warmer, 46 degrees now. We has some wind yesterday and what little new snow we had drifted just enough to make things difficult. The drifts were like concrete. My tractor was out in the shed still with the mowing deck on. I had expected to be gone out of here but the buyer delayed closing so he could pay cash. After plowing my driveway and the lane for over 40 years, I had to call the neighbor to come over with his four wheeler that is equipped with a plow. The drift came across right in front of the vehicles. Thought the neighbor was going to go over the handlebars when he first hit the drift. While he was there, he also made a trail to the shed where the tractor was stranded. Of course, teh drift always decides to park in front of the shed.

My son and his wife's sister and her husband came over a few weeks ago and loaded their items that they had stored in the basement, but we couldn't get the tractor out of the shed because of a similar drift. Now they can get it along with the plow blade and power washer on the trailer and put them into the storage unit that my son rented. When he moves up, he is going to rent a Pensky truck and load it himself. With my bum left shoulder (rotator is shot) I am going to have the movers pack and load everything. Getting too old for that crap.

A lot of great photos here today.

Curt - That Railway Express building is outstanding.

Ken - Hope you'll phot some videos.

Karl - I'm not going to call those modules over built, but well built.

Willie - Great scenes as usual. Top notch.

Louis - I will have to agree with the cost of Amazon prime being worth it. My wife had Amazon Prime and now that I am on my own, I signed up for it also. Although I am downsizing from a 3,200 square foot house to a 960 square foot condo, there are a lot of items that I have been and will be ordering from Amazon. Libby, MT, the town I am moving to is small, not quite 2,900 population. It's a place like what Montana was in the Bozeman area years ago. There are only 2 fast food joints there, a Pizza Hut and a MacDonalds. I would go hungry before consuming what they call food. There are 2 grocery stores and even a Sears catalog store. I had to order a stackable washer and dryer from them. The laundry area is set up for that. There are 2 hardware stores and a lumber yard there. The closest town, or city of any size is Kalispell which is around 85 or so miles to the east. Guess it will be a once a month stock up trip to the Costco. I know that I will be using Amazon a lot.

Here are a couple of photos from inside the condo.

The laundry area is in the closet to the left of the refrigerator. The cabinets have soft close doors and drawers with a quartz counter top.
My son just arrives with his wife and my little grandson. Gotta go.

Later