Running Bear's January 2022 Coffee Shop

[kbkchooch]

My first post of the new year. I don't recall the last time I posted in here. I know it has been some time. I have never been happier to see a year end than 2021. I lost so much that was dear to me in 2021. Lost two grandparents as well as my dad. Found out on 4 December that my dad had gotten COVID. Flash forward to 15 December and he was gone. Had his funeral the Monday before Christmas. So Christmas was a tough one. The passing of my dad took away the last remaining person of wisdom I had. Now life lessons will have to be learned the hard way without any guidance. In other news. I have started planning my next build. I loaded up on quite a few layout planning books. Primarily focused on bench work and wiring. I'll be receiving my C&O book this week that I pre ordered back in the summer. It's focused more on modelers than anything else. The turn out for it was well below expectations. So I doubt there will be any more books like it coming out in the future. It's sad to see my current layout go. It was fun to operate and still is as long as I'm at track speed and not switching speed. I exhausted trying to fix the track and combat the warps. I haven't built on it in quite some time. So it's time to try a new approach to this. I have to win sometime. At least I hope I can win. I'll definitely stay away from cut 2x4s. They are the primary reasons for the warps anyways. I should be able to salvage the 1x4s and the plywood. As I stapled my roadbed down. Who knows? I may just scrap the whole thing. Well that's all I have for now. Figured I would come out of hiding for a little bit. Hope everyone is doing well.

Sorry to hear of your loss Justin

 

[Patrick]

I have to congratulate the Cincinnati Bengals on locking up the AFC north. They carved up my Ravens like a Thanksgiving turkey last week. This week they beat KC Chiefs, the team I thought was the best in the AFC.

I'm glad that Cincinnati beat KC. The smugness of the Chiefs and the local Chiefs or nothing local sportscasters this past week declaring how they had already received the first round bye really gets me. Yes I'm not a fan of KC. People think because it has Kansas in their name, we in the state of Kansas gotta support them.

 

[santafewillie]

My first post of the new year. I don't recall the last time I posted in here. I know it has been some time. I have never been happier to see a year end than 2021. I lost so much that was dear to me in 2021. Lost two grandparents as well as my dad. Found out on 4 December that my dad had gotten COVID. Flash forward to 15 December and he was gone. Had his funeral the Monday before Christmas. So Christmas was a tough one. The passing of my dad took away the last remaining person of wisdom I had. Now life lessons will have to be learned the hard way without any guidance. In other news. I have started planning my next build. I loaded up on quite a few layout planning books. Primarily focused on bench work and wiring. I'll be receiving my C&O book this week that I pre ordered back in the summer. It's focused more on modelers than anything else. The turn out for it was well below expectations. So I doubt there will be any more books like it coming out in the future. It's sad to see my current layout go. It was fun to operate and still is as long as I'm at track speed and not switching speed. I exhausted trying to fix the track and combat the warps. I haven't built on it in quite some time. So it's time to try a new approach to this. I have to win sometime. At least I hope I can win. I'll definitely stay away from cut 2x4s. They are the primary reasons for the warps anyways. I should be able to salvage the 1x4s and the plywood. As I stapled my roadbed down. Who knows? I may just scrap the whole thing. Well that's all I have for now. Figured I would come out of hiding for a little bit. Hope everyone is doing well.

Welcome back Justin. Good to see your post and to know that you're still doing well. Sorry to read of your losses. Take care of yourself and your young family.

 

[Smudge617]

I just went to eBay, and typed j-tprantle in the search box, and all his active listings appeared. Pick an item, any item and go to the listing . follow the steps to contact seller.

Apologies, I got him, thanks (note to self. WAKE THE HELL UP SMUDGE)

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from the frozen woodlands of Wisconsin. It is 0f degrees with the wind chill at -9f. Too cold to get out for a quick walk. I think I’d burn more energy put the winter gear on for warmth then the actual walk. The high might get to 21f.

Sleep finally came. 3 hours in the love seat in the living room, then around 1/2 hour wandering the house and in a guest room and other 3 hours. I am not rested as I got 1/2 that amount Saturday night, but it feels better. Today the busted tire goes in for a fix. Not sure how I am going to handle the wait. It is a tire shop in an outlet at a grocery store type setting but unless the weather gets better I won’t walk around the grocery store and big box place waiting for the tire repair.

Justin, sorry to read about your lose. I miss my folks everyday and dad has been gone since 83 and mom 2011 I think. Geez, I have to look that up.

Animal lose. They are still part of the family and the pain of lost companionship is a tough one.

Green Bay vs Minnesota. Not as competitive as a regular meet up. Missing a starting QB usually is pretty tough on a team. Besides even with Cousin’s the Vikings will still always suck!

pictures from lead track past the paper mill gates, heading to the recycle center on the edge of town

TomO

 

[Smudge617]

Morning all,

A cold 13° this morning in Doo-Dah. Supposed to get to the upper 40's later. Most of the light snow and ice we got Friday night and Saturday was gone by yesterday afternoon. Nice what the sun can do when given a chance.

Ok, as promised, a couple of pictures of me destroying an nice BB SD-9 model:
As starting:
View attachment 138058

Windows installed:

View attachment 138059View attachment 138060

Railings:
View attachment 138061View attachment 138062

Test look:
View attachment 138063

Not sure how to finish the railings. They were deliberately made longer than I need so I can bend them to fit. A lot of my time was spent trying to heat and bend the railings that came with the model, which are for an SD-45. That material is brittle. The base and running gear are sitting on the layout. It runs very well, despite having the iron wheel running gear. That's a project for another day. This model was one I picked up in an online auction bundle that turned out the box and misc. small parts didn't match the model. Windows for the cab were made from a plastic cover for a toss away aluminum cake pan from Christmas. The brownies were indeed delicious

That's as far as I got before I needed to quit for the day.


Sorry to hear of your loss.

Got the first call of the to deal with.
BBL

Impressive, wish I had those skills, if I may ask what gauge do you use for the rails, and how do you heat them ?

 

[BigGRacing]

Lost two grandparents as well as my dad.

Great to have you back Chessie! Many of us feel your loss as you know, great people here to touch base with and keep you moving forward with a great hobby !

 

[TLOC]

Good morning. It’s extremely windy and 43. The wind knocked out power to the house, so I’m coming to you from my tablet.
Supposedly there’s a good chance of a couple of inches of wet, heavy snow arriving just in time for the drive to work.

Terry, loss of power, geez what else is going to happen. Are you still looking for a new employer? I know it’s cold up innWisconsin but we almost always keep our power going. Maybe it’s time for a change, like change states. Safe travels in the White Gifts from Above (snow). I am hoping for the best for you, take care.

TomO

 

[TLOC]

Good morning all. 24 degrees on the way up to sunny and 32 on the day. Sitting here drinking my coffee and listening to the neighbors pickup truck rumble. Nice family, but he's one of those guys that has a loud jacked up pickup and he starts it every morning and lets it run for 15-30 minutes before leaving.

First day back to work after the 4-day weekend and I have to say I am not at all looking forward to work. After a few days off I start wishing I could re-retire, but the cost of health care doesn't allow sadly. I have a bad feeling I'll have a lot waiting on me when I get there this morning. The good news is I only have to work 5 days and then I have some vacation time I had to use or lose, so stating Saturday I'm off for 7 days.

I really enjoyed running my trains last night and may do some more this evening if I'm not too tired after work. Seems as though a couple of the locomotives desperately need some lubrication, so I put them aside for the time being. I think I have some LaBelle oil somewhere, but need to figure out where. I didn't get all my stuff out, just enough to make a mess around the room with boxes and other stuff. Doing that makes me want even more to start on a "real" layout. Just don't have the room to make it happen, other than maybe a small switching layout.

That's it from here. Hope you all have a great day!

Ken, small layout is better then no layouts.

TomO

 

[TLOC]

Having my teeth put on the 4 implants tomorrow I had put in 9 months ago. When you see these adds that claim to replace your teeth in one day forget it. It's at lease a 6 month procedure depending on upper or lower. They drill into to your jawbone and the healing process takes months. The price tag was $16,000.00 and now I have to go in to have 4 teeth replaced in the bottom with implants. That's another 16K. Good thing I'm not broke. It's more than I spent for my truck new.
George

Yes, I watch those ads and chuckle at them. The son has bad teeth and at the time no dental. We helped him with 4 implants and while the money it took was a shock the time to prepare the implants was crazy. His were worse as one of the implants had to be removed as it didn’t adhere to the jaw bone or something. He said at times very painful too.

TomO

 

[TLOC]

Glad you enjoyed them Mike. Here’s one more: our first virtual open house. My train on this one is the 1941 City of San Francisco. It started with a coach and the club car from the Jim Gibson collection. It took over 10 years to assemble the rest of the train, find the cars, and the trucks, which was very difficult. These are 90’s vintage brass and are hard to find. In some cases there were less than 100 pieces made. I’m still looking for three 4-4-2 sleepers, but for now am using three Walthers cars for stand ins. The cars were mostly painted by me, and have tinted windows and Venetian blinds by circus city decals. No interiors. Call me lazy! It appears at about 19:10 on the video.

I have to get over there to see the layout. Great video

TomO

 

[Alcomotive]

In other news, I learned of a statue to a leg in Saratoga National Historical park

Supposed the leg fought valiantly and was attached to the "ungrateful colonials" most brilliant general in the American War for Independence.

Supposedly, the general asked a captured American officer, whom he had taken prisoner – following the Generals defection to the British side – what the colonial officer would do if their positions were reversed.

The office responded that they'd cut off the injured leg and give it burial with full military honors, since it had been wounded twice in service to his country. The rest of him would hang.

The general was Benedict Arnold

I was born and raised (early years) in Saratoga Springs NY. Not to far from the Saratoga Battle field. Yup this statue is just south of the said Saratoga battle field. North of Stillwater and just South of Schuylerville along the Hudson River off of Route 4 which runs parallel to the Hudson.

Boot Monument - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://web.archive.org/web/20060616041951/http://www.nps.gov/sara/tour-7.htm

Arnold was wounded in the foot during the Battle of Quebec, and suffered further injury in the Battle of Ridgefield when his horse was shot out from under him. His last battle injury was at Saratoga, and it occurred near where this monument is located at Tour Stop #7 – Breymann Redoubt. The leg wound effectively ended his career as a fighting soldier. It reads:

Erected 1887 By
JOHN WATTS de PEYSTER
Brev: Maj: Gen: S.N.Y.
2nd V. Pres't Saratoga Mon't Ass't'n:
In memory of
the "most brilliant soldier" of the
Continental Army
who was desperately wounded
on this spot the sally port of
BURGOYNES GREAT WESTERN REDOUBT
7th October, 1777
winning for his countrymen
the decisive battle of the
American Revolution
and for himself the rank of
Major General.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Morning - where it is an even 32F - coldest day of the year = so far.
Supposed to be 61F and moostly sunny later on.
JUSTIN - Happy to see you back; Sad to hear of what you have been through- that;s rough!

FLO - Good Morning, did you have a good New Year Party? I heard the noise way out here!
Just coffee right now - I have to get the trash bins to the curb this morning as I spent wasted too much time watching Dallas lose. Rogers and Adams looked pretty sharp last evening!

TomO - Glad that you were able to grab some ZZZ's! Those scrap loads are pretty impressive; store bought, or built up?

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!
-12F and we are suffering a rather severe snowstorm today. Looks like I'll be shovelling at least twice over the same ground, as the day goes on.
Not much mercy extended us by the gods of winter; it's supposed to be getting colder.
If I didn't have to shovel so much, I might be able to get a good deal of hobby work done. As it is, I need a-lot of rest in-between shovelling and don't really feel like getting into the hobby stuff.

Justin - I was very sad to hear you suffered the loss of dear family members. Pray you can stand tall and carry on. - I lost both my parents 30yrs ago, and I still find myself looking up to the stars, remembering them and letting them know how much I loved them.

Patrick - It's very cool to see you posting photos of you're hobby efforts. Well done!

IbKen - I'm very glad to hear you are on the mend and feeling better. Hope you can wipe-out that nasty bug.

Suppose I'd better get dressed and get outside to shovel.

Here's another train re-run photo, from an Autumn period, when it was a bit warmer:

Have a great day!

 

[Alcomotive]

Good Morning everyone.....over cast and cold...about four inches of light snow from yesterday. Guaranteed to be cold tonight after the snow with the temperature below zero. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Football Sunday....going to be cold at Lambeau Filed for the Packers evening game against the rival Vikings. Real football weather. Been to a NFC Championship game at Lambeau and the temperature was a -8 below zero when we arrived at the field. Sat in the sun and I was very comfortable in my snow mobile suit. I like night games at Lambeau. Now that I'm past 70, the chair in my comfortable den is my "go to" spot to watch Packer games.

View attachment 138017

No trains today with the football games, but Willie tomorrow for sure, I promise. Willie I like Wicked Wanda's on your layout.

Nicely weathered PRR freight car in Gallery from Sir Robbins. Not over done, but very effective and professional.

Guy: Our Riley has separation anxiety, even when Cathy just goes outside Riley will bark and cry for 15 minutes, even if I'm in the house. She's will get over it in time when she knows that Cathy will come back to her. Our Katie had the problem as well and at the cabin she tried crewing through a bathroom door when she walked into the bathroom and pushed the door shut and felt trapped.

Listening to an Oldies station on the PC and they are playing "Brandy" an old drinking song of mine from my youth. I spent many hours spending many nights in a tavern and playing "Brandy" on the jute box. The rest of the patrons really got sick of the song after hearing it played so many times every night I was there drinking. The bar building was over 100 years old back then and was on a route from Milwaukee to Fond du lac, Wisconsin and the building back then had rooms for rent on the second floor and a large ballroom on the the first floor. One of these winter's days I'll take a car trip and visit all my old watering holes and see how they changed over the years.

The first project for my static grass applicator is to add some grass to a siding that has a bit of a grade and hopefully the grass will hold the cars spotted there in place. When I built my bench work I didn't use a long level on this area and the bench-work is off just a slight 1/8 of an inch or so. This is the only area that I have that problem and slimming the track would not be easy because of the scenery and turnouts in the area. If the grass doesn't work, then I may try how Gerry Leone on Model Railroader's Video Plus showed how to make a "break" out of wire to keep cars from rolling on his layout.

Cathy is going to call a old friend of mine from high school. He's calls us every New Year's and we haven't heard from him. His wife is ill and refuses to get the virus vaccine. Bob spent time in Vietnam and was wounded twice while on his tour of duty. He has a man cave in his garage with his motorcycles enjoying his beers.

I found some more older layout photos that I have to post one of these days. Here's one of them....

View attachment 138019
A weathered Minnesota, Northfield and Southern locomotive on my CM&N. The MN&S was a short line owned by the SOO Line. I like the simple blue and white color scheme.

Time to depart.....football time.

Greg

########################

View attachment 138021

Yup that was a good game! I was glad to see they put Jordan Love out to play a few snaps. I am hoping he will get to play next game against the Lions. As he needs more playing time for gaining that experience and to let Rodgers rest before the play offs. We got the homefield advantage.....and the bye! Woot woot! I am sooo stoked! I didn't watch any of the other games only watch Packers that is it.

I spent the weekend working in the train room. 80% of the time was programing all of the locomotives. I completed approximately 35 of them but still have another 40 to go. Working with JMRI after doing all the updates to that software and PR3 firmware and making a program track. It went well and I am pleased. I was able to lower the volume on some of the locos as it was over power/bearing at times. Then I was able to program them locos to NOT start up the sound when you switch on the power to the layout. Believe me having a couple dozen locos start up right away can be annoying lol. So now they all are silent until I call out their address and start that function. Neato!

Well more work will continue this week. I am in the zone now even though I am back at work but I got that drive so each night I will keep at it!

later!

 

[Alcomotive]

I have to congratulate the Cincinnati Bengals on locking up the AFC north. They carved up my Ravens like a Thanksgiving turkey last week. This week they beat KC Chiefs, the team I thought was the best in the AFC.

My Ravens put up another valiant effort only to lose at the very end. Third time that has happened in the last four weeks. The Eagles beat my second favorite team, the one I still refer to as the Redskins. Even the Jets could not provide some added football joy by holding on to beat Tom Brady after being up by 14 at one point!

Now i see the Cowboys and Cardinals are on, maybe this will end well. Oh well, a bad day watching football is still better than not watching football. How long until spring training?

LASM, you did see me. I try to stop by everyday, but I'm not always successful.
I have been extremely busy now that my wife works with me full-time. I was spending so much time at the computer working I could not wait another second to get away from that desk, not even to visit my train buddies. i don't tell my wife, but sitting at that desk takes its toll on my back, legs and hips, even in my extra comfortable and expensive desk chair. When they get bad I work for Amazon, that helps a lot!
I recently got an Amazon kindle fire that I can comfortably use sitting on my couch, that enable me to come back to the forum. I have several laptops, but they are awkward for me to use when resting on the couch. This little 10" kindle with a clever cover is simple and easy for me to hold on the couch. Now when I'm not watching sports, TV or sleeping on the couch I visit my train buddies! I'm very happy to see you posting again!

Terry, that reminds me, a couple of my laptops and desktops have automatically upgraded to windows 11. I love it and the few apps i have used work great! Sorry I took so long to tell you. I forget almost everything these days. How is Windows 11 working for you.
Our thoughts are with you and your wife through this difficult time.

Curt, I found that GG1 photo on Bing. Unfortunately I don't know anything about it, I just liked it and wanted to share it.

Now back to the ball game.

Have a great night Everybody!

I saw the highlights to the Cincinnati game wowsa! I am glad they won too! That helped Green bay!

 

[TLOC]

Morning - where it is an even 32F - coldest day of the year = so far.
Supposed to be 61F and moostly sunny later on.
JUSTIN - Happy to see you back; Sad to hear of what you have been through- that;s rough!

FLO - Good Morning, did you have a good New Year Party? I heard the noise way out here!
Just coffee right now - I have to get the trash bins to the curb this morning as I spent wasted too much time watching Dallas lose. Rogers and Adams looked pretty sharp last evening!

TomO - Glad that you were able to grab some ZZZ's! Those scrap loads are pretty impressive; store bought, or built up?

Thank you Sherrel. Those loads are by Tom (me). I priced out some scrap loads online and I am not a cheap modeler but the prices were crazy. So I tried making my own, therefore your comments mean a lot to me. Thanks. I made 6 gondola loads of different scrap. Also a bunch of different size pipe loads for flat cars but still trying to figure out how to create a strap to keep the loads on the cars beside the magnet in each load. Electrician tape seems to thick to me. Some of the auto striping tape I have tried is too wide. I have no success cutting down the striping tape. Building up an Amazon order for 1/16” pin striping as I need more weights for rolling stock And lots of little things I can’t get at the LHS.

too wide a strapping for the tie pile alone but maybe good for strapping down to the flat car

TomO

 

[Alcomotive]

Football Shmutball!

7 Sundays til Daytona!

89 days until I start fishing again.....I pull the boat out in 78 days.....lol

and no I don't ice fish....I rather be in my train room......

 

[Alcomotive]

Good morning from the frozen woodlands of Wisconsin. It is 0f degrees with the wind chill at -9f. Too cold to get out for a quick walk. I think I’d burn more energy put the winter gear on for warmth then the actual walk. The high might get to 21f.

Sleep finally came. 3 hours in the love seat in the living room, then around 1/2 hour wandering the house and in a guest room and other 3 hours. I am not rested as I got 1/2 that amount Saturday night, but it feels better. Today the busted tire goes in for a fix. Not sure how I am going to handle the wait. It is a tire shop in an outlet at a grocery store type setting but unless the weather gets better I won’t walk around the grocery store and big box place waiting for the tire repair.

Justin, sorry to read about your lose. I miss my folks everyday and dad has been gone since 83 and mom 2011 I think. Geez, I have to look that up.

Animal lose. They are still part of the family and the pain of lost companionship is a tough one.

Green Bay vs Minnesota. Not as competitive as a regular meet up. Missing a starting QB usually is pretty tough on a team. Besides even with Cousin’s the Vikings will still always suck!

pictures from lead track past the paper mill gates, heading to the recycle center on the edge of townView attachment 138064View attachment 138065View attachment 138066View attachment 138067View attachment 138068

TomO

Tom O

I agree about the Vikings

I noticed the green boxcar in the back ground there in your picture. the Marinette, Tomahawk & Western Railway Company! I have a few of the cars. I have been wanting to do a switcher in their scheme but have not gotten around to it yet. I have all the decals and such. Someday maybe I will get it done. I do like the boxcar.....I think I have 6 of them in different road numbers. I like the weathering job you did on yours, it looks fantastic!

 

[troyphoto]

89 days until I start fishing again.....I pull the boat out in 78 days.....lol

and no I don't ice fish....I rather be in my train room......

My grandfather who taught me to fish, and which I've abandoned as any kind of a hobby (let the pros do it, I'll sit in the pub and wait on my FishNChips) used to refer to his time sitting by the river as:

"Trying to prove I'm smarter than a fish, or taking a nap. Not sure which it will be."