Running Bear's February 2022 Coffee Shop

[Jaz avalley]

This atrocity in Ukraine is deeply concerning for me. I'm worried for the people of Ukraine and for the Russians fighting in a war for a mad man.

I think that Ukraine won’t be enough Moldova is not NATO and ex USSR, and I am not above thinking even ex USSR and now in NATO is a deterrent considering our outstanding deterrents against the Russians, meantime China is likely thinking, well that went so well let’s go get Taiwan.Hell let’s take the sea. 9little noticed fact Russia and Japan have been at war for decades, bet their nervous about now, China is not their greatest fan either)

Plus Ukraine is a major bread basket provider for the EU, so food costs for USSR will fall, and rise for Europe.

And meantime the Ukraines have just been left out on a limb.

I believe the local ex USSR countries are getting nervous, and not sure I don’t blame them.

Pakistan meantime had started discussions with Russia for the their gas line so EU cutting gas won’t help much, and I think most of the world leaders outside NATO did not decry Russias actions, reasons not given.

And China will be from Russia, and Russia will buy from China, so their trade may take a hump but they’ll continue.

And meantime the Ukraines are just taken.

And grabbing their cash in our countries will actually justify the Russia hikes in gas costs, Europe will feel the cold, even when the US helps out, there are a few deals with EU countries already,but costs from the US will be more than Russia, and the greenhouse effect looks to be of less concern as they all scrabble for cheaper fuel. Russia,China don’t care, India didn’t promise much,and if your not aware UK where the summit was held was already considering new fossil ️ fuel so that meeting went well.

And again the news hot to trot with a headline, but still mostly celebrity gossip, oh and a bit of how celebrities a bhor what is happening.

Cynical, me, too bloody right.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Good morning all,

-28 F on the way in this morning. At least the roads are mostly ice and snow free. I guess we are some of the few ones that have huge snowbanks everywhere.

Now it is only -20. We like to talk about the weather in Minnesota.

Since I have a time consuming commute, that really cuts into my modelling. While living in St. Paul, I walked to work in about 15 minutes or less. Now I drive for over an hour. The biggest difference is I see very few people on my way now.

Since so little happens all week on the layout, I will post some old progress photos, I doubt if these have been posted:

My Wyoming (Minnesota) module project has been going on for several years, here is a brief recap:

Here is my sketch for the module:

View attachment 141496

Note the sketch, I wasn't able to fit everything in. Maybe should have been N scale ?

Here is what it turned out like initially:

View attachment 141497

I built this while we lived in an apartment. It was supposed to be (and is) the beginning of a new layout. That is what I call planning ahead.

Here is at the train show, at the State Fair Grounds in Falcon Heights:

View attachment 141498

It is me and the boss (above)

Here is what the real depot looked like. Check out the Tracks and Ballast:

View attachment 141499

Note : The depot was not yet finished at the show. Old photo from Ron Nixon collection


More later - Dave LASM

Excellent that the wife is interested enough to go as well.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Good morning! From a place that we've had a 33F temperature swing to the good, in 24 hrs. Compared to the stock market, at least the temperature is going in the right direction.

I've been dry-walling and patching the layout room. Soon, that room will get new paint. I'm trying to get that done before I build to many layout tables.
Since I was patching, the wife made me do areas in the rest of the house that required patching as well. This included the stair-well and a few spots in the kitchen that seemed to get damaged over time. Now, I've got a whole lot of painting to do. - Did I ever mention that I hate painting! I far prefer that rustic, natural wood look, where you don't have to do anything to it. I only like painting if someone else does it.

Patrick - Very sad to hear you lost the 11yr old child. It's always worse when it happens to children.

Willie - The wonderful archival photos have told me to install my Caboose switch throws before I add scenery. Thanks.

Dave - Wonderful photos this morning! Train shows are on my wish list of things that will never happen around here.

My wife is asking me if there's no end to the spending in this fairly new hobby of mine. I told her that I'm not sure; perhaps on the other side of it all.

Here is today's photo. The Rochfort Bridge, about 1/2hr drive from where I live. Not my photo, and I don't know who took it.
I have tried to photograph that bridge, and I know it's hard to get the whole bridge in a single photo. This 1980's photo is leaving out at least 1/3rd of the bridge.
View attachment 141500

Hope you all have a great day!

My other half…….hmmmmm

1. Suckered me in with a little scenery for a cottage
2. Conned me with the it’s a safe indoor hobby
3. Got the the mid investment issues and started asking me about the cheapie cars and people so I felt invested
4. Got the major investment issues, and said, it’s a real investment, the tax man can’t tax it, and if we ever get short, lose his job, we can slowly sell pieces (I think that means rip them from his arms while he offers an argument for while they could still. Go up in value) in order to feed ourselves.
5. I do record what we paid for them, I don’t look at the totals.



On a side note I like painting I find it relaxing, I do get distracted though, the other half bless him, was shocked when I painted over one I was not happy with, the cat outside used to get a lot of attention originally

6. I think Willies other half will win the lottery if she ever cashed in should he pass,god forbid.
and whilst I wouldn’t win any prizes it makes me happy,

 

[Bruette]

Recipe?

Ground beef, fresh garlic, paprika... stale bread soaked in milk... I'm not certain of the rest, but I'll find out for you. My little Angel is sleeping at this moment.

 

[Bruette]

When it comes to my wife and my trains, I have her full support. In fact I have to keep my wish list private. If she finds out something I want she buys it with no regard to price!

Since I have no permanent layout at the moment I have been trying to be more frugal with my train purchases. I have already bought more than I can ever use. I did not start out to be a collector. I want to play with my trains!

 

[Bruette]

My trains are the best distraction I have ever known, I truly love them! Buying them became the next best thing to playing with them. I lost track of my inventory along the way. I'm in a slow process of doing a physical inventory. Now that I have all my train stuff in one place I see I've bought too much. It's not the money spent that concerns me. I don't like having so many things in boxes!
I should say my trains are mostly in one place. I have Christmas trains scattered about. Family room (basement) Christmas trains, first floor Christmas trains, in two locations and most of my Christmas trains on the second floor.
Getting sick from one thing after another from September through the end of last year was a disappointment. I only managed to set up one Christmas tree. I normally do four or more. For me no Christmas tree is complete without a train, preferably a Lionel train.
I may be experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

 

[BigGRacing]

Russians fighting in a war for a mad man.

I always wanted the Russians to be a strong global leader and join the rest of the civilized world in a positive way, have I ever been disappointed !

 

[Sirfoldalot]

I would guess that old "Squinty-eyed Joe" is just sick that he is about to lose his revenue stream from the Ukraine. Hunter will have to apply for welfare!

Here's a nice little Orange and White EMD SW at Blakely Is. in Mobile, AL.
(can't remember if I posted this before, or not?)

 

[santafewillie]

he is about to lose his revenue stream

Someone should be asking for a refund.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Short day today. Hopefully I can get out on time.

try to bbl

 

[troyphoto]

Well howdy there, MRR people, and those who unfortunately get their "news" from Rupert Murdock

It's Troy again.

The joy of two journalism degrees is knowing that EVERY media outlet has a bias.

I don't do cable news, and instead, try to follow various real journalists from across the spectrum of outlets. You can easily spot trends that lead to truth, not propaganda.

Congrats to the Anonymous Hackers who have taken down RT.com (Russian TV in the English-speaking space). The Russian propaganda machine which keeps playing clips of people like Tucker et al.

We had a about an inch of snow, topped with some crusty sleet. Of it came right as the wife finished work and we headed out for mexican.

Here's a gratuitous pic of the Queso Blanca I get with the chips. Wife's margarita hadn't arrived at time of photo.

Wife and Sis #1 are picking mom up today to go tour a couple more Senior Living apartments up here.

They're hoping this spring they can get her to commit to one.

I spent most of the week dialing in my 3D filament printer had a clumping prob, changed the firmware, ended up tearing apart the hot end, and a bunch of other maintenance.

found a modeler on Thingiverse with a bunch of eastern Europe buildings that might work well on railroads.

Link here: https://www.thingiverse.com/pietia/designs

Time to start writing... got names hung on characters... now to figure out whodunnit!

 

[Smudge617]

I think that Ukraine won’t be enough Moldova is not NATO and ex USSR, and I am not above thinking even ex USSR and now in NATO is a deterrent considering our outstanding deterrents against the Russians, meantime China is likely thinking, well that went so well let’s go get Taiwan.Hell let’s take the sea. 9little noticed fact Russia and Japan have been at war for decades, bet their nervous about now, China is not their greatest fan either)

Plus Ukraine is a major bread basket provider for the EU, so food costs for USSR will fall, and rise for Europe.

And meantime the Ukraines have just been left out on a limb.

I believe the local ex USSR countries are getting nervous, and not sure I don’t blame them.

Pakistan meantime had started discussions with Russia for the their gas line so EU cutting gas won’t help much, and I think most of the world leaders outside NATO did not decry Russias actions, reasons not given.

And China will be from Russia, and Russia will buy from China, so their trade may take a hump but they’ll continue.

And meantime the Ukraines are just taken.

And grabbing their cash in our countries will actually justify the Russia hikes in gas costs, Europe will feel the cold, even when the US helps out, there are a few deals with EU countries already,but costs from the US will be more than Russia, and the greenhouse effect looks to be of less concern as they all scrabble for cheaper fuel. Russia,China don’t care, India didn’t promise much,and if your not aware UK where the summit was held was already considering new fossil ️ fuel so that meeting went well.

And again the news hot to trot with a headline, but still mostly celebrity gossip, oh and a bit of how celebrities a bhor what is happening.

Cynical, me, too bloody right.

Have to agree with you, when Russia marched into Crimea, the west did nothing, Georgia the same, nothing, now Ukraine, and let's face it we're going to do nothing again. Putin wont stop till he hits the NATO countries. He's basically rebuilding the former USSR to it's former "Glory" Latvia, Estonia and a few others are on his "hit" list too.

There is no need to close down the SWIFT system at all, it's just a secure messaging system, but Russia's partner banks who receive and send money (nearly of it is in US $'s) need to have their Russian account's frozen., but it still wont stop him, the west has proved by it's previous inaction, it's just a big dog with lots of bark and no bite.

Sanctions wont solve anything, there are enough "back door" ways to receive and send money, China will probably help out to a big degree, and no one is going to sanction China, the west now depends on China producing nearly everything we purchase.

 

[Smudge617]

Ground beef, fresh garlic, paprika... stale bread soaked in milk... I'm not certain of the rest, but I'll find out for you. My little Angel is sleeping at this moment.

Man I'm really going off you, you keep making me hungry, so paprika, check fresh garlic, check, bread, yep now where's that beef ? and what else ????

 

[Smudge617]

This atrocity in Ukraine is deeply concerning for me. I'm worried for the people of Ukraine and for the Russians fighting in a war for a mad man.

Unfortunately I don't think he's mad, cold calculating yes, just look at the reaction he got from the West when he went into Crimea then Georgia, now Ukraine, the others like Latvia and Estonia will fall in a few more years, maybe sooner. And we will do exactly as we have done before, more sanctions that mean nothing substantive, essentially Nothing.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and a chilly 20°. The winter storm warning for yesterday failed to materialize, some ice disappeared yesterday despite the temperature never getting above 27°. Today is expected to reach 40° and not much better tomorrow. Places nearby south of me got more ice but I just don't know about the roads yet. Asphalt road out front is clear; my gravel road and driveway is still covered with ice...less traffic.

Thanks for the likes, comments and positive reactions to the before and after shots that I posted in the last two days; Troy, Steve J, Dave B, Guy, Patrick, Smudge, Justin, Karl, Joe, Chad, James, Hughie, Curt, Gary, Louis, Tom, Greg, Rick, IB Ken, Tom O, Jaz.

Yesterday out in the train shed was another repeat of the last couple of days. I am enjoying running trains right now after many projects. I don't have any more before and after shots right now because I haven't sorted all of the photos from the old computer.
Here's a shot of another area that I need to complete. I originally did this section in 2013 and it is still the same, except I have added ground foam on both sides of the RR and over to the road. It is still on the list of pending projects.

I have also finished the grade crossing on the right.
Another pending project is this scene.

This grain elevator is next to the propane distributor that I posted last week. It's functional as far as switching cars.
Stay tuned.

Smudge - Thanks for the compliment, but I don't consider myself a master modeler yet. There are a few others on this forum, although they don't all visit the Coffee Shop, that are far better, or just maybe spend more time at it. Jim (HOexplorer) comes to mind. There are several here in the Coffee Shop, but I won't list any for fear of leaving someone out.
Guy - I mostly install the ground throws before scenery, then I can build it up around them. But not always!!!
Bigfoot - Nice looking chair. Is it scratched or 3D?
Louis - It's a shame to make chili with beans. Although like model railroading, it's your choice.

I am going to refrain from commenting on Ukraine if I can. It is a sad situation that didn't have to happen.

Everybody have a great day. Stay safe and warm.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!

32° with rain, some hidden ice here and there but the drive in was uneventful. Supposed to clear then climb to 50° later.

Willie, RMC has a very interesting article on modeling concrete grain silos with pcv and photo printed wraps. Looks like and easy way to build a mammoth grain facility.

BBL

 

[MilwRoader_Steve]

Good morning all,

-2F this morning. Knee improving, did lots in the train room measuring and laying out the northern curve so that it meets the eastern striaght nicely. Soldered up a full length of ME flex with two shorts I had and made the 22 inch R curve. I know it is personal taste, but I like that the ME flex stays in its curve. So far, I find that easier to work with and measure. Maybe with 'round'-the-room' layouts with broad curves, not such a big deal. But I am putting 7 lbs of yunk into a 5 lb sack with my expanded 4x8 ! ! ! ! So things HAVE to come together just about perfect. Really want to avoid kinks in curves (wonder if that phrase will get me banned!) and ragged zigs and zags. So far - - pretty good.

Also put this together:

Fits nicely under the layout and was only about $85 after sales tax. Not sure I would recommend it, though. I was in a hurry and made a few errors. We will see how long it lasts. Should be pretty light duty - - I got it to put things for the layout so I can get/keep them off the table. But putting that together was tough on the knee.

Some train work today but also serving an honor guard for a VFW veteran's funeral. Really don't want to, but with current events - - - I am going to serve.

Largest military operation in Europe since WW2 - - - - - - - wow

Steve J

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!
It's going to be a beautiful, warm day with the sun shining. Presently sitting on 4F and headed up, so I can give my snow-shovel a well earned weekend off.

Jaz Avalley - I like the kind of painting you do. When I said I dislike painting, I meant using a roller to paint house walls a solid color, and not art works. I would indeed like to try an artwork, and may get the chance to paint my layout background. That is, if I live long enough.

Gary - I think the 3-D printed naval guns are simply beautiful. Well done!

Willie - You have more 1/87 vehicles in that first photo posted this morning, than I have in my entire collection. I'll have to remedy that, because I might just get some layout built this year. It will need a few vehicles.

Steve - I'm impressed with the speed and dedication with which you are building the layout. It looks great!

I was too lazy to photograph the rest of my new automobile arrivals, so I'm just going to post a photo of my Schuco collection. Schuco is a company that has been around for about 100 years, making toys.
The big Schuco vehicles in this collection are old wind-up toys that my grandfather bought for me when I was 4yrs old. I still have them, 62 yrs later, and they are testament to the quality of toys built back then. These have truly gone through the playtime rollers in the past:

That's all I have for today. I also refuse to enter the Russian/Ukraine discussion, so I'll leave it with you.

Have a good one!

 

[Boris]

those who unfortunately get their "news" from Rupert Murdock

Cable news is cheap to produce, Streaming news even cheaper...accuracy not a factor....just make enough noise to attract attention, and bring in those advertising dollars. Murdock the Magician, isn't the only provider of illusion here.

Civilized behavior, honor and ethics are all interpreted from the eyes of the beholder. It's noteworthy, that "reputable news outlets" have toned down the hype, this morning, and began talking about the harm proposed sanctions will do to the Western economy.

It's further noteworthy, about the muted response to this "aggression" from some of our so called "allies" outside of Europe, as well as the creeping lack of unity among some of our NATO "allies". It's also interesting that certain Private Capital Funds that so were vocal about getting out of Carbon Based Fuel Companies, are jumping back into Oil now that the price of oil is creating a glimmer in their eyes.

Markets opened higher, in spite of a key inflation gauge showing a 5.2% increase year to year, plus the continuation of the situation in the Ukraine.
Of course, there are a lot of "Shorts" to cover...and the Market is way over sold.

Yes, I'm loaded with cynicism this morning...

 

[BigGRacing]

I think the 3-D printed naval guns are simply beautiful. Well done!

What a great complement, thank you. They were fairly easy to modify from a template that was started and we just added some simple greater detail, shaping them more like the real gun mounts. Now other modellers can easily get them as well from thingiverse.