Running Bear's January 2025 Coffee Shop

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 53°. It looks like we're finally getting some winter temperatures at the beginning of next week. Temps start to drop tomorrow around sunrise and may bottom out around 20° for a day or two. Highs will climb above freezing every day still. More moderate winter weather beginning Thursday, but snow has been added to Friday morning's forecast.
Today marks the latest sunrise of the season. Starts getting earlier tomorrow. While the days have been getting longer, it's because the sunset has been moving later. It's also Perihelion Day, where the earth is at it's closest to the Sun. They're connected somehow!

Today starts with the dishwasher and then some Christmas decorations get taken down, tree comes down Monday afternoon though. I will also pre-stage some firewood on the sheltered front porch for easier access during the cold snap coming up. It's only 15' from the stove and also faces southeast so the wind doesn't flow in as fiercely. Yesterday, I drained all of the exposed pool plumbing that wasn't already done.

I made some improvements to a couple of things out in the train shed yesterday. First, after looking at that Walther's electrical transmission tower on the layout for a few days, I went back to plan "A" and spray-painted it gray. Then I repainted the base and insulators which got sprayed over.

Looks much better so the next 3 will also be done this way.
Meanwhile on the layout cleanup project, I didn't get anything more cleaned yesterday, but I rehabbed a laser-cut wood structure, that had additional damage from the rain adventure following the train shed roof removal by the tornado in May. I originally did the walls and roofs back in June or July. At that time, I either didn't notice a warped sidewalk issue or it hadn't manifested itself yet. This is what it looked like on Wednesday.

The .010" styrene base wasn't much good at counteracting it. Since I had used white glue to attach it, it was easy to separate the sidewalk from the base. I soaked it in a bit of water and weighted it down overnight. Yesterday I was happy and re-did it.

I also re-did some of the awnings.

Troy -

Got up at 4, peed, then hit the recliner and decided to nap.

Decided???
Mike - Hope that you get out of the train funk soon. I'm OK with the train shed right now, but I haven't been in the mood for updating my layout thread for a while.

Everyone have a great Saturday.

 

[Bruette]

Decided???

For some reason when I decide to watch TV resting on the couch, I end up taking a nap.

Betty's looks great! I'm glad to see the two-tone black and white car is back. What kind of car is that? I like the wheels too!

I haven't been in the mood for updating my layout thread for a while.

I noticed! I will enjoy the update when and if you have time.

 

[troyphoto]

My eyes have been bad since 2nd grade. I always wanted to do N scale. If I had known how life changing my cataract surgery would be I’d have switched to N when I retired at age 62. Surgery was done13 months after I retired. I know you are a big time researcher. I would ask your Ophthalmologist about their thoughts on your eyes! If they say they will worsen and you want to stay in the hobby HO is a good way to go. O is better but really expensive

Best to you on the decision

I had a PVD a year ago. Doc said the floaters would probably clear up in 3-6 months, but might be longer. Oh, and I'm a candidate for one in the other eye, or a potential detached retina now... Floaters in that eye are still driving me nuts, with some pressure problems as well.

Cataracts have not been mentioned yet, but I suspect that's coming.

Eye doc appoint is Jan 30. Last time she said "get a magnifier if you have issues with your little toy soldiers. Well, the stuff I'm painting now is 38mm - roughly O scale. I find it easy-peezy. But I don't have the room for O scale.

HO scale at 1:87ish is in between my two other scales of toy soldiers.

I really like the steam to diesel transition era on the diesel side the E-Units and F-type units are sleek and full of character.

 

[Bruette]

Speaking of TV

The Washington Capitals host the NY Rangers at noon on ABC

The Baltimore Ravens host the Cleveland Browns at 4:30 also on ABC

I better hurry up and decide to take a nap!

 

[CambriaArea51]

1. What's the better (more reliable) motive power in HO?
2. What's the better rolling stock in HO?

I've had different makes and For the money Scale trains is a good choice with the detail, sound, and the keepalive in them. I have some Kato non sound very nice runners little less detail, but hard to find in HO.
Rolling stock I like Athearn, Atlas, and Intermountain.
Track I use micro engineering track and Walthers switches.
As for cost there's not much difference between N and HO on stuff I've seen.

 

[bnsf971]

In case nobody has mentioned it lately, Kato used to make a lot of stuff in HO for other companies.
Atlas RS3/RS11, RSD4/5, C424/425, GP7/9, RSD12 are all Kato manufactured. Atlas Classic is revised versions of those models, the later ones are dcc ready.
Stewart U25B and their F units are Kato made.
Some Concor stuff was Kato, as well.
There are some others, a good indication is if it is made in Japan.

 

[Boris]

Did he enjoy it?

No! He's a Georgia Bred, Coastal Carolina Doggie....He don't like cold either. Doesn't like his Heinz Mustard Hoodie either...Poor Baby. Wait 'till he gets home tonight and finds it's colder at home too.

 

[NorthBrit]

Good (late) afternoon all. The Christmas decorations are down and away until next Christmas. The amount of baubles accumulated over the years.

Baubles from the children, and now grandchildren. Then off course there are those Dawn and I have purchased. Purchased on our travels; Belgium, Italy, New York even. (The two New York Yankees snowmen are still my favourite.)

Then there is the box of Victorian decorations that have been handed down from family now long gone. Carefully they are put in their box. The box is as old.

Time to make some tea.

 

[chadbag]

ANYTHING is better than N Scale (imo)

N for the win!

For me I like N much better as you can actually do a lot with your area (square footage). And you can have longer trains. And also because N is more popular by an order of magnitude in Japan and Japan is where the majority of my trains come from. And also cheaper in Japan than H0. My second area of interest, Germany and Central Europe are probably H0 places but have a strong N contingent so it’s readily available (but usually not much cheaper than H0).

I understand others have other needs. That’s fine. I’m not trying to convince anyone what to do.

My eyes at (59 later this month) or OK. Not perfect but ok. They were worse when I was younger until I got the eyes lasered about 16 years ago. They’ve gradually degraded since but are better except for close up work, where I was better as a young person. My glasses were for seeing past the tips of my fingers.

I wear reading glasses now when soldering or doing up close fine work. That’s fine. I have a magnifier station somewhere as well and may get one of those electronic ones. I’d rather deal with glasses or a magnifier.

When it comes to computers I’ve long had large screens. I use 40” 4K TV monitor as my main screen and for work a 32” 4K as the second and some HP in vertical mode as a third. On my home computer the second is the iMac screen and the third a really old Apple 30”. I like to have lots of space and the 40” is also easy to see even at 4K.

 

[TLOC]

I had a PVD a year ago. Doc said the floaters would probably clear up in 3-6 months, but might be longer. Oh, and I'm a candidate for one in the other eye, or a potential detached retina now... Floaters in that eye are still driving me nuts, with some pressure problems as well.

Cataracts have not been mentioned yet, but I suspect that's coming.

Eye doc appoint is Jan 30. Last time she said "get a magnifier if you have issues with your little toy soldiers. Well, the stuff I'm painting now is 38mm - roughly O scale. I find it easy-peezy. But I don't have the room for O scale.

HO scale at 1:87ish is in between my two other scales of toy soldiers.

I really like the steam to diesel transition era on the diesel side the E-Units and F-type units are sleek and full of character.

I’m a modern modeler. Most of my weathering commissions had been modern. Until David (Marlin38) sent me his 1st set of equipment in September? I hadn’t looked at anything in the 1950’s since probably my 1st railroad club in 1974. I’m impressed with his Kadee equipment (as I wrote) and also his Tangent cars. Since I posted the weathering online I have since weathered many more 50’s equipment.

I was also impressed by the Atlas S-2 I weathered for Marlin39 and there are pictures of it at CambriaArea51 (Tom) continuous weathering locomotive thread. Also he posted pictures of it in the Front-end Friday thread this week. Very nice but not fragile details on a great running unit

If you don’t have a lot of $$$ in equipment I’d recommend you switch now before any more expenditures. HO equipment is relativity easy to sell. I know nothing or even where to go to sell N other than Facebooks Marketplace or eBay

 

[migalyto]

good afternoon all!

Kind of a late start this morning, though I have checked in a few times.

A cold day today. This morning it was 9F with a slight breeze. It has recovered a bit and is currently 22F. Still on track to miss the big storm this weekend even though it has tracked a little more north. Still no snow predicted for our area, and the south of us can have it. I'm sure we will get our share at some point.

My daughters volleyball games will start next week, and the January schedule is ugly! Not sure if its the way the schedule falls or because we are a small Catholic school, we are getting screwed again this year on the away games. This was the case last year as well. Way more away games than home.

Other than filling up both cars and the weekly grocery store run, not much else going on here.

Have a safe day everyone!

 

[migalyto]

If you don’t have a lot of $$$ in equipment I’d recommend you switch now before any more expenditures.

Great advice!

When I switched from N to Ho, I had 40+ locomotives and 300+ pieces of rolling stock, buildings, track, and turnouts to sell and it took me almost 6 months or more to liquidate it. It seemed like a second job (since I was still working full time then) to photo, list, sell, package and ship. Most were sold on eBay, but I did unload a bit of stuff on several forums I belonged to.

Luckily it was all modern present day stuff so it sold really well and for close to what I paid for it. I passed a post office on the way home from work and would print and package on my lunch break, but still a chore to do.

 

[troyphoto]

N for the win!

For me I like N much better as you can actually do a lot with your area (square footage). And you can have longer trains. And also because N is more popular by an order of magnitude in Japan and Japan is where the majority of my trains come from. And also cheaper in Japan than H0. My second area of interest, Germany and Central Europe are probably H0 places but have a strong N contingent so it’s readily available (but usually not much cheaper than H0).

I understand others have other needs. That’s fine. I’m not trying to convince anyone what to do.

My eyes at (59 later this month) or OK. Not perfect but ok. They were worse when I was younger until I got the eyes lasered about 16 years ago. They’ve gradually degraded since but are better except for close up work, where I was better as a young person. My glasses were for seeing past the tips of my fingers.

I wear reading glasses now when soldering or doing up close fine work. That’s fine. I have a magnifier station somewhere as well and may get one of those electronic ones. I’d rather deal with glasses or a magnifier.

When it comes to computers I’ve long had large screens. I use 40” 4K TV monitor as my main screen and for work a 32” 4K as the second and some HP in vertical mode as a third. On my home computer the second is the iMac screen and the third a really old Apple 30”. I like to have lots of space and the 40” is also easy to see even at 4K.

Other than the Japanese angle, those are all the reasons I got into N-scale.

But I'm not running trains. And I haven't built a structure yet, Well, I did build one through-girder bridge.

Now to find a supplier with a full box of track so I can see what the cost is going to run

 

[troyphoto]

Great advice!

When I switched from N to Ho, I had 40+ locomotives and 300+ pieces of rolling stock, buildings, track, and turnouts to sell and it took me almost 6 months or more to liquidate it. It seemed like a second job (since I was still working full time then) to photo, list, sell, package and ship. Most were sold on eBay, but I did unload a bit of stuff on several forums I belonged to.

Luckily it was all modern present day stuff so it sold really well and for close to what I paid for it. I passed a post office on the way home from work and would print and package on my lunch break, but still a chore to do.

Fortunately, I haven't started building anything other than one Walther's through girder bridge.

I've got about a box and a half of Peco New N-scale flex track, and a bunch of turnouts only three or so of the turnouts we installed previously. I never ran a train on the old layout either.

I'm getting to the point that I need to do something other than paint tiny figures. Doubling the size from N-scale would help. Though it's not up to where I'm painting figures now.

 

[Bruette]

No! He's a Georgia Bred, Coastal Carolina Doggie....He don't like cold either.

Some dogs love it, others not so much.

Doesn't like his Heinz Mustard Hoodie either...Poor Baby. Wait 'till he gets home tonight and finds it's colder at home too.

He might come to like that hoodie after getting home and finding the cold.

 

[migalyto]

Fortunately, I haven't started building anything other than one Walther's through girder bridge.

I've got about a box and a half of Peco New N-scale flex track, and a bunch of turnouts only three or so of the turnouts we installed previously. I never ran a train on the old layout either.

I'm getting to the point that I need to do something other than paint tiny figures. Doubling the size from N-scale would help. Though it's not up to where I'm painting figures now.

Sounds like your in a decent position then to switch, if that's what you decide you want.

Armed with your 3-D printer, and painting skills you can have some really super detailed scenes.

I think the biggest hurdle for me was that I was an N scaler for 30+ years. When I got my first Ho locomotive and rolling stock it didn't look right. It looked too big, and not proportional. That took a few weeks to adjust.

I wonder if its the same for people who go down in scale?

 

[santafewillie]

Earlier today, I forgot to post today's significant birthdays, just one. It's me, as I just made my 73rd revolution around the Sun.

 

[migalyto]

Earlier today, I forgot to post today's significant birthdays, just one. It's me, as I just made my 73rd revolution around the Sun.

A very happy Birthday Willie.

Hope you have a great day!

 

[santafewillie]

Troy - I started in HO scale because it was the most available scale when I started over 40 years ago. I considered N scale but decided that vision and dexterity might deteriorate as I got older, but I did like that one could fit a lot of railroad in the same space. Ironically neither my vision or dexterity suffered much in those years, unlike some of my acquaintances, so I am thankful. I use Atlas track exclusively, again for it's availability over time, but most other brands are equally as good. I have heard though that Micro Engineering flex track is a bit difficult to work with. I don't like any track with the attached roadbed. While I have many Athearn RTR locos, I now prefer Scaletrains and Genesis ones. Tom O summed up my feelings regarding freight cars, except that I don't have any Kadee rolling stock...doesn't fit my era. I have close to 200 Accurail kits built. Much of the rest is Athearn Blue Box and RTR models, Roundhouse, Walther's and Intermountain. I have had quality issues with some Intermountain cars though. I recommend switching anything to Kadee couplers. I don't like that ScaleTrains doesn't use them, but I understand why. Kadee shot themselves in their own foot over that one.
Good luck with whichever decision you make.

 

[der 5997]

Hello folks. It's been so long since I posted that I had to re-register.
Things have been on hold on my freelance version of the the CBNS waiting for me to make trees. I have one end of the layout forested, but a major slope is a "bare mountain". I don't have photos loaded for that, but the second here is the start of a quarry scene...
Wishing you all the very best for this New Year...