Running Bear's January 2025 Coffee Shop

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troyphoto said:
Sounds like you need Railroad Therapy. Perhaps you should purchase a new locomotive instead?
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Model Railroad Retail therapy is one of my go to. Problem is because I feared the tariffs and excessive rise of costs in the hobby I went on a spree that ate up my whole 2025 budget. That was before Christmas. Now I’m using part of my monthly allowance for a few things purchased Tuesday. Since I’m reducing my commission weathering work in 2025 I will be a bit more selective in my retail therapy sessions.

I currently have 3 locomotives at the painter in Oklahoma. I need more Wisconsin Interstate!
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TLOC said:
Model Railroad Retail therapy is one of my go to. Problem is because I feared the tariffs and excessive rise of costs in the hobby I went on a spree that ate up my whole 2025 budget. That was before Christmas. Now I’m using part of my monthly allowance for a few things purchased Tuesday. Since I’m reducing my commission weathering work in 2025 I will be a bit more selective in my retail therapy sessions.

I currently have 3 locomotives at the painter in Oklahoma. I need more Wisconsin Interstate! View attachment 209252
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Absolutely stunning! Very nice! Love the paint scheme!
 


troyphoto said:
Welp... been selling off some games from my collection (turns out I wasn't much of a gamer, but more of a painter/collector).

So I have some cash burning a hole in my paypal.

I'm about to pull the trigger on this. When ConRail started in 1976, I lived on the other side of the neighborhood from a two track main WB into the Elkhart IN yard. My best friend at the time lived on the side of the neighborhood that butted up against the lines. We were always watching for trains when I was at his place.

So, I found this nice Dash 7 - but it looks like new Conrail locos are only in N are Atlas brand. Anyone have good or bad luck with them?
View attachment 209236
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Atlas are very reliable, and decently detailed both HO and N.....Can't go wrong with Atlas. BTW: Atlas has a line of buildings, noteworthy, in that almost every structure has an actual prototype in Northern or Central New Jersey.
 
Alcomotive said:
I thought the Saluda Grade was the steepest ? interesting....

en.wikipedia.org

Saluda Grade - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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"The Madison Incline is the steepest line-haul, standard gauge railroad track in North America. Opened in 1841, the incline has been in existence for nearly 180 years. At 5.89%, this incredible feat of engineering proved to be a challenge for its operators and was last used in 1992. Today, the incline has become a popular hiking trail and can be accessed from dawn until dusk."
 


Bill Tidler Jr. said:
"The Madison Incline is the steepest line-haul, standard gauge railroad track in North America. Opened in 1841, the incline has been in existence for nearly 180 years. At 5.89%, this incredible feat of engineering proved to be a challenge for its operators and was last used in 1992. Today, the incline has become a popular hiking trail and can be accessed from dawn until dusk."
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Did not know there was one steeper.

I always thought Saluda would make a great layout if you had the room to do it properly.'

Imagine the operational possibilities.
 
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Good morning Crew from balmy like temperatures in So. Central Wisconsin. Currently 28f degrees heading into the very warm (it’s January) high 40’s per the weather app. There will be lots of shorts being worn today being seen at the local grocery stores. I can only imagine what it will look like (not going) at the local Walmart and Costco…

In contrast to today, the op sessions scheduled for all day Monday and for Tuesday morning have been moved already to dates in February. Dates I cannot make! The late Tuesday afternoon shakedown session for a new layout (5 miles away)has been moved to Wednesday morning. The temperatures on those 2 days have been guessed at highs of actual -10f plus high winds. Seems folks are trusting the NWS and the local Meteorologists guessing. The Wednesday actual temperatures will be in the teens. All guesses of course. I figure we will be seeing school districts shutting down next.

I thought for the 1st time in 5 years I would be painting today. The dry Waller returned yesterday for the final coating on a few repairs. The new bathroom fan installed before Christmas the electrician had cut too big a hole. All fixed, looks good and I told Terry I was off to Home Depot to buy touch up paint. That turned into a color change and finding out I can be the gofer for the painter. As soon as both grandkids are off to school this morning the daughter will come over to paint. During High School and College Summer breaks she painted school rooms in the Wausau, Wi school district. After college she and a friend painted professionally with their own business for 5 years before they moved on to other adventures. I was told in a note this morning to move all my clothes out of my new walk in closet. She will paint that too.

I will see the train room sometime today!
 
TLOC said:
Good morning Crew from balmy like temperatures in So. Central Wisconsin. Currently 28f degrees heading into the very warm (it’s January) high 40’s per the weather app. There will be lots of shorts being worn today being seen at the local grocery stores. I can only imagine what it will look like (not going) at the local Walmart and Costco…

In contrast to today, the op sessions scheduled for all day Monday and for Tuesday morning have been moved already to dates in February. Dates I cannot make! The late Tuesday afternoon shakedown session for a new layout (5 miles away)has been moved to Wednesday morning. The temperatures on those 2 days have been guessed at highs of actual -10f plus high winds. Seems folks are trusting the NWS and the local Meteorologists guessing. The Wednesday actual temperatures will be in the teens. All guesses of course. I figure we will be seeing school districts shutting down next.

I thought for the 1st time in 5 years I would be painting today. The dry Waller returned yesterday for the final coating on a few repairs. The new bathroom fan installed before Christmas the electrician had cut too big a hole. All fixed, looks good and I told Terry I was off to Home Depot to buy touch up paint. That turned into a color change and finding out I can be the gofer for the painter. As soon as both grandkids are off to school this morning the daughter will come over to paint. During High School and College Summer breaks she painted school rooms in the Wausau, Wi school district. After college she and a friend painted professionally with their own business for 5 years before they moved on to other adventures. I was told in a note this morning to move all my clothes out of my new walk in closet. She will paint that too.

I will see the train room sometime today!
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Well, Mr. Gofer,

You might "see" it. Good luck spending any real time in it.
 
Morning shop dweller!

It was 15° F before dawn. Found some powder on my truck. Them downhill skiers will love that powder for sure. I had about 1 inch of cover.

I am waiting for my delivery of (2) EMD SD39s that most likely won't arrive until Tuesday which means I will not be here to accept them, but my nephews will be. All my other orders came in this week. I have a new order of flex track coming as well. The move from upstairs to downstairs is coming along for the new train layout room. I have been taking pictures of my progress and will share when I have enough to put together my story line for my thread "JR's UPRR".

A week from tomorrow I will be at the famed Amherst Big "E" Train show! I am looking forward to that! I am refining my list a bit and it is long but there are items that will be a miracle if I can find them there. I do not need any more structures, but I need accessories for the structures I have to make them come to life. I will be stopping at Yankeedabbler booth to pick up another throttle. Looking to get the Museum Quality Big Blow by Scale trains too. Also looking for the elusive SD39 #2964 NW ex IT. Hoping I may get lucky with that item. The show should be good!

While I am in Vegas I hope to look around and sight see a bit. We shall see. Hobby shops are not a thing there. Very minimal info on that. So, I may see a show or just check out the sights and sounds. Not much into gambling although blackjack is ok. We shall see how that goes.

This weekend will be resting and relaxation with preparation for a busy week next week on travels etc. It's going to be very cold in the next few days according to the weather man I hope he is wrong on all counts. We shall see.

Happy Friday! Ya'll have a good one!
 
Back in 1969 and 1970 before the FL9's came over from the New Haven we used RS-3's on passenger runs on the Harlem Division. Usually 2 RS=3's on a 10 car train 1 on trains less then 10 cars. The train switched power to electric at North White Plains. I tried to capture one such train in the night photo below. The second real photo is just after the switch of power. The 3rd is of 2 RS-3's before switching power.
Swal

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RS_3_NWP.JPG
 
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Good Morning all. 36° in the Ozark foothills it’s warming up and melting the snow and ice

Sorry I’ve been away for awhile been doing other things to catch up on. Now it’s to start Model Railroading again getting back to the layouts until Dump Trucking picks back up in the Spring and Summer and brings back all Farm the chores too. Hope all is well with all of you. Talk later.
 
Well howdy there internet modelers, and those trying to figure out how to model a 5.87% grade with a train trying to get up it. sliding all the way back down, then trying again... (Yes, I was like, hmmmm... Could I automate that?)

It's Troy again...

Sciatica is "Slightly Better" today. This is not something that goes away overnight. I've got several weeks of tamping this down yet to go.

Found a couple of decent Physical Therapist vids online that explain the Why behind some of the exercises. Basically strengthening the lower abdominals and glutes. Those muscles do more for the lower back than upper abdomin or thighs. Ahhhhhh! Ok, the pelvic tilt and "bridge" stretches are coming into focus.

This morning was slightly less intense of OW OW OW as I started moving about. And the pain didn't drop down farther in the leg. We want it to move back up the leg and go away. Down toward the foot is bad, climbing the 5.86% incline is good. ;)

This weekend I want to start glueing foam risers, and then plaster clothing over them. But I need to figure if the helix is single or double? If it's double, I need to plan the return entry.
 


Good Morning All. Clear and 43°, going back into the mid-60's again today. Then according to the NWS, it will get colder for a few days, lows near 20° and highs barely above freezing. I never look forward to that.

We made the dental hygienist and the weekly grocery trek without incident yesterday. Instead of returning home to get Arlene, she came along and dropped me at the dental office and ran some errands in the local town before we went to Denton. Saved us about 30 minutes time. After lunch, I did a few outdoor tasks in the nice weather.
Today's plan has changed, as we're going to go and look at another car. No R&R for me today. Tomorrow is the train show in Plano (Dallas), and I hope to meet up with westexjohn while there. It's usually always a great show, although usually crowded. If Lady Luck is with us and wife decides that the car we look at today will be hers, we'll go by the bank and pick up a bank draft for the car. The dealer is just a couple of miles from the train show and I will drop wife and check off on the way.

No projects or maintenance out in the train shed yesterday; I just relaxed and ran trains again. I did take a couple of pictures of a Dash9-44CW lash-up along with the bulkhead flat car behind them with the highway overpass concrete beams.
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The engines are from ScaleTrains, the bulkhead flat is a Roundhouse product and the concrete beams came from a Rix highway overpass kit.

Mike - Congratulations to your daughter's team. Good start to the season.
James - Have a safe trip to Vegas.
Lee - Good to see you again.

Everyone have a fabulous Friday.
 
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