Running Bear's February 2023 Coffee Shop

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Patrick said:
Morning,

Some high level clouds and 35°. Going for a high 54 later. Some rain and possible mix overnight and into tomorrow morning with the low about 32°. They can keep the mix and send the rain....

Meetings today...again. Tired of them as they seem to take up more of my time to get any work completed. Today's is about moving email to the cloud, which is a month behind due to the "network outage". At least we're working again and residual issues getting resolved. I don't want to experience this thrill again...

Side note: What do you guys do for track cleaning cars? I asked about some at the train show and nobody had any. My current track is easily cleaned as there's no scenic-ing in the way, but will be an issue in the future.

try to BBL
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That's going to open a can of 🪱 I think, so may different way's, methods etc.

It's a case of whatever works for you, penny washer, dust monkeys, IPA, cleaning car, piece of wood.

My best practice, run trains as often as possible.

Then you look at Wombat457, who hasn't cleaned his track in months, and has no problems at all, so......?
 
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 60° this early in the morning. That's the high for today as the wind is about to shift from the NNE and the rain is on the way. I'm ready with 2 days of dry firewood inside, all power equipment is under cover, and I'm good to go.

Wow! I slept 8 whole hours last night with only a single bathroom break! It's been a while since I did that. Feels great.

As planned, yesterday I made the final tilling of the first 1/3 of the garden for early spring planting which I plan to do during the next few weeks. I didn't do more because I still need to haul shredded wood chips and compost and spread that around. This is going to be the second year for this new garden area after the fusarium wilt fungus invaded the old 40 year old plot. It takes 5-7 years for the fungus to be eradicated from the soil. Even really harmful chemicals have little to no effect on it.

The balloon. Why are the Chinese so upset if it was just a stray weather balloon? Or are our authorities pushing a false narrative with the help of the media, to distract the public away from several other issues??? No comment on the SOTU address tonight.

Thanks to all who commented or reacted to the past few days of club layout and my progress photos.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I only completed the last remaining section of walls, and installed 26 downspouts! I did also scratchbuild the stairway railing for the soon to be installed steps on the north end of the complex.
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Whooops! I forgot to take a picture after painting.

Tom O - Good to read yesterday that Terry's health is good again. A happy, healthy wife makes for a happy spouse.
James - That's one talented graffiti artist; too bad that it is graffiti! Do you reckon that Circus Decals is paying royalties?
Is that a pedestrian walkway beneath the railroad tracks on that bridge?
Joe - When my wife had her most recent knee replacement, we had a home health nurse visit twice a week for three months. It was actually quite convenient and cost us nothing! Medicare and Blue Cross paid the entire tab. She did more than just take vitals, she cleaned and changed dressings, did the infusions while she was here, (we did them at the other scheduled times), she cleaned and maintained the PICC line and ultimately removed it when that therapy was over. She coordinated a lot of stuff with medical suppliers (paperwork, reports etc), and she was just generally helpful and pleasant. Of course our circumstances were different, but ours was a positive experience.
Chet -
montanan said:
The neighbors live informally like me
Click to expand...
I am a fan of informal living!

Everybody have a great day.
 


Patrick said:
Morning,

Some high level clouds and 35°. Going for a high 54 later. Some rain and possible mix overnight and into tomorrow morning with the low about 32°. They can keep the mix and send the rain....

Meetings today...again. Tired of them as they seem to take up more of my time to get any work completed. Today's is about moving email to the cloud, which is a month behind due to the "network outage". At least we're working again and residual issues getting resolved. I don't want to experience this thrill again...

Side note: What do you guys do for track cleaning cars? I asked about some at the train show and nobody had any. My current track is easily cleaned as there's no scenic-ing in the way, but will be an issue in the future.

try to BBL
Click to expand...
No track cleaning cars for the Wisconsin River Valley and Terminal RR. I was cleaning track every couple years with Isopropyl Alcohol, 70, 90 or 99% whatever you have. Use a dampened rag and swipe the tracks. I then about every 20’ or so added a smidge of graphite. I let the trains drag it around. I was running trains almost daily in 15-30 minute spurts for a few years. Even after heading out for a few days or weeks gone with no trains running I did not have issues.
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Cloudy and 60° this early in the morning. That's the high for today as the wind is about to shift from the NNE and the rain is on the way. I'm ready with 2 days of dry firewood inside, all power equipment is under cover, and I'm good to go.

Wow! I slept 8 whole hours last night with only a single bathroom break! It's been a while since I did that. Feels great.

As planned, yesterday I made the final tilling of the first 1/3 of the garden for early spring planting which I plan to do during the next few weeks. I didn't do more because I still need to haul shredded wood chips and compost and spread that around. This is going to be the second year for this new garden area after the fusarium wilt fungus invaded the old 40 year old plot. It takes 5-7 years for the fungus to be eradicated from the soil. Even really harmful chemicals have little to no effect on it.

The balloon. Why are the Chinese so upset if it was just a stray weather balloon? Or are our authorities pushing a false narrative with the help of the media, to distract the public away from several other issues??? No comment on the SOTU address tonight.

Thanks to all who commented or reacted to the past few days of club layout and my progress photos.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I only completed the last remaining section of walls, and installed 26 downspouts! I did also scratchbuild the stairway railing for the soon to be installed steps on the north end of the complex.
View attachment 161593
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Whooops! I forgot to take a picture after painting.

Tom O - Good to read yesterday that Terry's health is good again. A happy, healthy wife makes for a happy spouse.
James - That's one talented graffiti artist; too bad that it is graffiti! Do you reckon that Circus Decals is paying royalties?
Is that a pedestrian walkway beneath the railroad tracks on that bridge?
Joe - When my wife had her most recent knee replacement, we had a home health nurse visit twice a week for three months. It was actually quite convenient and cost us nothing! Medicare and Blue Cross paid the entire tab. She did more than just take vitals, she cleaned and changed dressings, did the infusions while she was here, (we did them at the other scheduled times), she cleaned and maintained the PICC line and ultimately removed it when that therapy was over. She coordinated a lot of stuff with medical suppliers (paperwork, reports etc), and she was just generally helpful and pleasant. Of course our circumstances were different, but ours was a positive experience.
Chet -

I am a fan of informal living!

Everybody have a great day.
Click to expand...
James - That's one talented graffiti artist; too bad that it is graffiti! Do you reckon that Circus Decals is paying royalties?
Is that a pedestrian walkway beneath the railroad tracks on that bridge?

My response:

Willie - Ya, all the cars that come out of Springfield MA, Philadelphia, PA or from NYC always get tagged religiously. You will never see a car not tagged around here unfortunately. It would be pretty rare if the car was not. As for Circus City Decals .....lol that's funny. Speaking of which I posted my purchases from them on the RPO thread. They turned out nice!

In regards to the bridge. I do not know the history but the pedestrian portion of the bridge is closed to the public. I don't know if it ever was open to the public. I do know the maintenance crews use it for sure as there are lines running beneath the main bridge. Power, cable and gas I think too? Lots of stuff on it. I dunno. I will look more carefully next time and get better pictures. I do know an old timer that worked this line, I will have to ask him about it.
 
TLOC said:
I was cleaning track every couple years with Isopropyl Alcohol, 70, 90 or 99%
Click to expand...

Alcohol is not recommended for track cleaning. It is a polar solvent which encourage the build up of metal oxides on the track (black gunk). You want to use a non-polar solvent. There are articles out there you can read up on this (using your search engine fu) but one that is recommended on some other sites, which is non-polar, is WD40 ELECTRICAL CONTACT CLEANER. Not WD40 penetrating oil!!!!

I've used it once or twice and did not get the black gunk build up that I was previously seeing.
 
Good morning from balloon free So. Central Wisconsin. Now all of a sudden we are being told of Chinese balloon flights during the last administration. Personally that balloon should have gone done when it was within the 12 miles of the Alaskan coast. But really, everyone and their brother says it couldn’t have gathered anymore info then what the Chinese satellites already get and know. As for a weather balloon, why does any foreign country need to send their own balloons? The NWS data is public knowledge. All this is strange. The NORAD general should resigning or getting fired today.

Terry is feeling better and relieved the testing has found no cause of the pain and the pain is gone.

Seems this morning though she has the sniffles and a sore throat. I have no knowledge of how she may have contracted either of those symptoms.

I have promised myself to get to the weathering bench today. But now I have kitchen duty this morning. With Miss Sniffles starting to feel the effects of what I had last week, those are the only plans. The chicken soup is out and ready for her consumption. I can tell you if she gets 1/2 as bad As I did it will be a very bumpy ride. She is a terrible (nasty) tempered patient. Where I try to sleep it off, nope not Miss Toughie. Ask how she is? At the cost of losing your head, go for it. I will be seeing lots of the cave and train room the next couple days at least…

But 1st! 10 of the 30 pounds of Ground Chuck 85/15 lean I purchased @$1.99 per # on Sunday I already made into hamburger Pattie’s this morning. I will grill them on the grill on the deck this morning and then freeze them. The other 20#’s purchased I will make into spaghetti sauce under the supervision of the face masked wife. It’s her thing but she already knows she’s not up to it. She doesn’t freeze the Ground Chuck used in the sauces per instructions from my grandmother before we were married in 76. I have done this before when she has been out of town and Ground Chuck was cheap at the store. The Italian sausage does need to get ground first and I will start that after I finish here.

enjoy the day
 


Patrick said:
Side note: What do you guys do for track cleaning cars?
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I have a Centerline car that I bought many years ago, but hardly use any more. My track just doesn't get very dirty in the new train shed, not like the old lean-to on the back of my barn. Whew! I just looked them up and the price has increased significantly since I bought mine. I occasionally run it in a train along with a homemade "Masonite car", just because I have it, but it has been a couple of years. I have used alcohol before with no ill effects.
I still clean track, but it's as a preventive measure rather than a must do because trains quit running. I have installed a Woodland Scenics Dust Monkey on all of my cabooses which takes care of day to day dust.
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I also have a Woodland Scenics Tidy-Track device that's real handy for reaching in, even though I broke my handle a few years back.
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It still has half a handle so I can still reach in and around scenery. I use it once a quarter when I clean a layout section. I only use the white pads which are non-abrasive like an old school eraser. The gray ones are abrasive like Bright Boys. I have not used the felt pads on the right with their cleaning solution.
But I will have to say, that regular train running helps enormously in keeping track clean.
 
chadbag said:
Alcohol is not recommended for track cleaning. It is a polar solvent which encourage the build up of metal oxides on the track (black gunk). You want to use a non-polar solvent. There are articles out there you can read up on this (using your search engine fu) but one that is recommended on some other sites, which is non-polar, is WD40 ELECTRICAL CONTACT CLEANER. Not WD40 penetrating oil!!!!

I've used it once or twice and did not get the black gunk build up that I was previously seeing.
Click to expand...
You see this is my point, track cleaning is very subjective. You say not to use IPA/alcohol, ok, I get that and your reason why not, and you suggest WD40 Electrical Contact, but someone else will disagree and say not to use Electrical Contact and suggest an alternative method.(WD40 was discussed two years ago on RMWeb, with no real resolution)

It really is down to the individual as to what they believe works for them.

Until a major manufacturer produces track that will never need cleaning, regardless of where in the world you live, it's a debate that is unlikely to be ever resolved.
 
Smudge617 said:
You see this is my point, track cleaning is very subjective. You say not to use IPA/alcohol, ok, I get that and your reason why not, and you suggest WD40 Electrical Contact, but someone else will disagree and say not to use Electrical Contact and suggest an alternative method.(WD40 was discussed two years ago on RMWeb, with no real resolution)

It really is down to the individual as to what they believe works for them.

Until a major manufacturer produces track that will never need cleaning, regardless of where in the world you live, it's a debate that is unlikely to be ever resolved.
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Go read the articles about this and why you should not use alcohol (or other polar solvent). It is fact based, and is not subjective. They discuss the science of it. There are several sites that have posts or articles that discuss this.

Here is one: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/mrhpub.com/2019-05-may/online/index.html?page=9

People believe and have opinions on all sorts of issues but the science on this speaks for itself.

ETA: Also, "WD40" is just a brand name. You need to specify what product it is you are suggesting or discussing. The standard "WD40" is a penetrating oil and is not what we are talking about. WD40 also makes an "Electrical Contact Cleaner" and is what we are talking about. There are other brands of similar products. Old discussions on RMWeb -- what "WD40" are they talking about?
 
chadbag said:
WD40" is just a brand name. You need to specify what product it is you are suggesting or discussing. The standard "WD40" is a penetrating oil and is not what we are talking about. WD40 also makes an "Electrical Contact Cleaner"
Click to expand...
In the context I was talking the Electrical version was the one under discussion, sorry, my bad.

I appreciate what your saying regards to Alcohol and the science behind it, and I wasn't disagreeing with you, but again in the context I was talking, their are some who will disregard the science and continue to use that method, as for them, as a cleaning agent, it works.
 
Smudge617 said:
That's going to open a can of 🪱 I think, so may different way's, methods etc.

It's a case of whatever works for you, penny washer, dust monkeys, IPA, cleaning car, piece of wood.

My best practice, run trains as often as possible.

Then you look at Wombat457, who hasn't cleaned his track in months, and has no problems at all, so......?
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OK, now you are all gonna flip on my take on track cleaning.

Automatic transmission fluid (ATF)

Back in my club days we experimented with alcohol, mineral spirits, RailZip and several others. We found that ATF worked well as a cleaner, was plastic safe (most transmissions have a lot of plastic parts) and loosened ground in dirt well enough that only light pressure was needed for removal. Put 2 drops on the track with a balky engine with a flickering headlight and suddenly then engine would be smooth and the lighting steady. Plus the thin layer of oil left behind stymied the oxidation of rails and wheels. Yes, you have to be careful using it on grades, but the club (and my own grades) are less than 2%. If you do overdo it, a paper towel will clean it up, or a centerline car.
 
montanan said:
Good afternoon. Didn't get on yesterday. I usually have breakfast on Sunday mornings with a neighbor couple that I have made good friends with. The wife was a big help after my surgery coming over to put the fitted sheets on my California king bed. A little hard doing that with one are, just like trying to pull your pants up with one hand. I can get my sweat pants up as well as the bib overalls with one hand. If I go out to run errands or go shopping, I wear my "Dress Sweats".

The neighbors live informally like me and have made dinner q few times and we had to eat at my place as they don't have a formal table to eat at, using a short bar just long enough for 2 people. After accepting their invitations, I did the Sunday dinner. Made a roast beef with baked red potatoes, fresh french style green beans with onions and bacon and from scratch biscuits. Nice to be able to cook for just me alone.

Joe - I missed what happened to you that you had to visit the hospital. Happy that you're apparently alive and kicking. Guess I should get on here more often. I had the county nurses checking in on me right after my surgery. They were helpful, but I was able to give them some information. They had brought over what they recommend to help get your pants up which consisted of a half inch dowel with a screw shaped like an L to hook onto the pants. I had that covered. An old fashioned wooden back scratcher works a hell of a lot better. The appreciated the info.

Willie - Those photos from the club were really interesting and I enjoyed your layout photos too.

Karl - I have what's left of my car collection spread out to different relatives that had shops or barns to keep them out of the weather. The '59 Impala is safe and is on loan to the Chevy dealer. They like to put it out on the showroom floor when they have room.

Curt - A video would be great. Tried to find your YouTube channel without any success. Looking forward to see more of the new and improved layout. There were a number of things that I learned over the years that I could have done to improve my layout, but that's no longer necessary.

Terry - That is one fine looking fifth wheel.

Chad - Thanks for the update on the house. I was wondering how it was coming along.

Can't believe how much time the media spent on that balloon. A distraction from other goings on. I heard that they claimed that it was being controlled. There are winds from the jet stream at altitude. The best that they could do is up or down. I'm sure that Sherrel can shed some light on the subject.

I have to get some boxes ready to send out to Willie. UPS is just a bit down the street from me, but they don't accept any parcels until 4 PM. Going to post some more photos from that archives and get out of here.

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LATER
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I am friends with an English modeller and he is known as mellow yellow as the era he portrays has yellow technical trains which he models, do massive amounts of upgrades on them, and building unusual items not made by manufacturers, these lovelies remind me of his work, especially with the yellow plant machinery and yellowed track side grass? Anyway I love it.
 


I clean my track using CRC (https://www.crcindustries.com/products/qd-174-electronic-cleaner-11-wt-oz.html) on a cotton pads and usually after running a homasote board around then I use NO-OX.

Important: No-Ox is not a track cleaner. It is an electrical contact grease and anti-corrosion conductive lubricant and should be applied only to track that is already clean. The fact that it is a grease/lubricant is one reason why you should use only a tiny amount to condition your track. Anyway, the link below provides all the details.


Here is a great discussion on track cleaning this guy really goes the extra mile to provide information on the various cleaners and chemicals.

 
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