Running Bear's June 2026 Coffee Shop

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning, Coffee Shop!
It's Sunday, 70°F (21°C) and a chance of rain.

WEATHER:
Mostly cloudy toward daybreak then becoming partly cloudy. Highs in the mid 80s. East winds around 5 mph.

Have a great day!

 

[Kusojiji]

Lau lau done. Could use more salt as I thought the bacon would have been enough. Since I'm the only one who eats this, I'll bag and freeze small serving sizes.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's 73 and mostly clear.

 

[bnsf971]

Looks like it will be some time today before I can resume painting. It rained a good amount overnight, and everything is soaked this morning.
So, since I won't be doing what I wanted, I'm moving on to a possible issue with my new Pro Cab set. For some reason, function 8 doesn't appear to be latching on the controller. When I am operating an ESU decoder, and power is interrupted for a very brief time, the engine stops, and will not resume most of its functions or sounds until I return the throttle to 0 and double press F8. Then, the startup process happens, and everything is normal again. Until the next time. I've reset the decoder I'm using, reset the Pro Cab to factory settings, and checked to make sure everything is the way it should be. I haven't had this issue with my Digitrax system, and I wouldn't think what I'm experiencing is normal. Before I send an email to Zendesk. I thought I'd ask here. I may start a thread about it, though when I tried a few minutes ago, the forum did-- current forum things, and I couldn't. That's sad if a moderator can't start a thread. . . .

 

[migalyto]

Good morning all!

Big warm up starts today. Currently its a muggy 67F under mostly cloudy skies. Sun is supposed to make an appearance later this
morning. Highs will reach 86F.

Pertty much the only thing on the agenda today is a graduation open house in Rockford. Its for my wifes cousing daughters. One
graduated high school and the other graduated from college. We will be heading out around 11:00. Im hoping we can make an
appearance and only have to stay for an hour and a half or so and head home.

Other than that, not much else going on.

Have a safe day everyone!

 

[bnsf971]

Looks like it will be some time today before I can resume painting. It rained a good amount overnight, and everything is soaked this morning.
So, since I won't be doing what I wanted, I'm moving on to a possible issue with my new Pro Cab set. For some reason, function 8 doesn't appear to be latching on the controller. When I am operating an ESU decoder, and power is interrupted for a very brief time, the engine stops, and will not resume most of its functions or sounds until I return the throttle to 0 and double press F8. Then, the startup process happens, and everything is normal again. Until the next time. I've reset the decoder I'm using, reset the Pro Cab to factory settings, and checked to make sure everything is the way it should be. I haven't had this issue with my Digitrax system, and I wouldn't think what I'm experiencing is normal. Before I send an email to Zendesk. I thought I'd ask here. I may start a thread about it, though when I tried a few minutes ago, the forum did-- current forum things, and I couldn't. That's sad if a moderator can't start a thread. . . .

I was able to find out what was going on after a deep dive into the symptoms. In Lokprogrammer, you have to find advanced settings, and turn on persistent functions. Digitrax seems to send out confirmation signals regularly, so it never gave me a problem until I change systems.

 

[RhB Michael]

Good Sunday morning. 80°F/76°F here currently. Looking for a heat index today of 108°F. Willow and I will be holed up in the house with the A/C running except for some bathroom breaks.

I'm going to have to exercise her though at some point in the day, but that won't be until later this afternoon after the yard is shaded. These are the days that make me hate summer around here. Already looking forward to late September and Oktoberfest.

You all stay safe in this heat.

Servus!

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 79° out here in the country. Today's high is forecast to be 98°, after just 95° yesterday. NWS is not predicting 100° until July 4. No chance of rain until October.

Made the trip to and from Dallas yesterday without too many traffic issues. I was reminded once again why I hate driving in Dallas traffic. I think that the abrupt lane changes from distracted (cellphone users) drivers bothers me the most. Me, me, me! is the rule of the road there.
I also had to re-familiarize myself with driving the 2013 Accura more than the 25 miles to town and back. It doesn't have nearly as many bells and whistles as the 2024 Lexus has; that I have finally gotten used to. I am still an old-school driver. I only recently started using the back-up camera screen, albeit only occasionally, even though we have had them in cars since 2020. And among other things, I can talk to the Lexus like an Alexa or Siri!
The restaurant that my daughter picked for her birthday dinner wasn't particularly worth the expense. While the service was really excellent, some menu items weren't all that good. I'd rate the Prime Rib at just 7.5 but the Mac & Cheese was a definite 10. Crab dip appetizer also rated 10, but the Salsa barely got a 5. My SIL sitting next to me only rated his Chicken Pot Pie at a 6; it resembled soup with a paper-thin crust.

No train shed time yesterday since I wasn't here.

Troy

She is 30-something,... and not politically aligned with the US right now.

The pendulum swings both ways. Re: 2021-2024.

Hmmmm.... is Prime Rib worth putting on jeans and collared shirt?

I'll take Prime Rib over Pizza any day!
John - Since both of my daughters live in Richardson, we went to the Neighborhood Services in Addison. Nice place but overpriced and the food quality was uneven. The service was excellent though, and I left a $130 tip.
Oak Lawn area: I lived in that area when we first got married back in 1972; and it was getting weird back then.

Everybody have a great Sunday.

 

[troyphoto]

Troy

The pendulum swings both ways. Re: 2021-2024.

She wasn't particularly happen about it then, either. As I keep reminding everyone. Our system is binary. but not really.

 

[RhB Michael]

 

[TLOC]

Good morning from a warming beginning to a So. Central Wisconsin week. Low 80’s today, higher 80s tomorrow and on Tuesday the 90’s when the plus 100 heat indices start

Waiting for the grandson to show to start cutting 2 of the 4 yards he does here in the neighborhood. The other 2 yards told him no this week as they both are getting new roofs today and tomorrow.

The 2 OPS Sessions went much better than expected yesterday.

Enjoy your day

 

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!

We survived the trip! It was a fun week! A total mileage from here to there and running around was 1,011 miles on 2 1/2 tanks of gas with the Colorado. 360 miles 1 way, but lots of running to Raleigh and other places. Nothing is close by in Clayton. Everything is at least 25 minutes away. Now I am sunburned on the sides of my tummy and the tops of my feet, but it's all good. It's hotter down there, but not miserable. It seems like there is always a breeze blowing.

The only downside is the traffic. North of Richmond to DC is a cluster. Gotta find a better way than Rt 95.

The laundry beckons,

BBL

 

[Boris]

We returned yesterday from our first Carolina trip in about 14 years. Jersey to outside of Jacksonville in about 9½ hours and a single tank of gas. Tolls are crazy, especially the $21.00 for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Drove around looking at homes and sites, took another tank, then another tank and more Tolls to come back on Friday. Gas is 40¢/gal cheaper in Onslow County vs Jersey Shore. Took 10½ hours returning account of a cluster _____ in and around Georgetown DE, until the Pumplin Chunkers turned off to return to Bridgeville. Del Hwy 1 was heavy NB but bumper to bumper SB with Beach traffic. The XT5 is not as quiet at the old CTS but gets better gas mileage. Hardees is not the same as it once was.
Home safely.

 

[montanan]

Good morning. Rain is in the forecast. My son in Helena said it was raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock. Radar shows it moving this way. We need it. It has warmed wp to 69 degrees.

Willie - I know how you feel about driving in big cities. When we picked up a dachshund in Pflugerville, close to Austin I couldn't wait to get home. Instead of heading west the way we came with nothing but heavy traffic and road construction in Colorado, we headed north through Fort Worth and up to Sioux Falls, SD before we turned west. Bozeman has really gotten bad, one reason I had to move out of there. With so many people moving into the area with roads that couldn't handle the increased traffic, I was glad to get out of there.

John - Might have been Broderick Crawford on temporary duty.

Kusojiji - I can understand your frustration with the RDC. My old layout was set in rural Montana and an RDC was perfect for the area and the period. I had picked up a Walthers Doodle Bug which was a great looki8ng unit but noisy. Finally, Walthers I think, came out with an RDC2, again noisy, but being that I operated DC without sound, what the heck. When Rapido came out with their version of the RDC, it was a jewel. It was a DCC version and didn't run well on DC, not slowly increasing speed in a linear manner, BUT, operating on DCC, it was perfect and the sound was outstanding, running it at my railroad club. The Walthes RDC2 was a decent model, but didn't have the detail of the Rapido. Having nowhere to run it, I sold it to someone that could appreciate it.

Snowman - Yes it is. I have had quite a problem getting on and posting on the forum for a couple of days.

I have to try to figure out what to make for dinner and get a little housecleaning done before ethe NASCAR race comes on.

Back to the Archives.

The lead unit is a Walthers Genesis. I custom painted the B unit and 6502A.

LATER

 

[TLOC]

Got the lowdown on tonight's birthday dinner for my daughter #2. I am now going with some anticipation! The place is called Neighborhood Services. Sounds like a utility company or something. I was told to dress formal, which to me means jeans instead of shorts and a collared shirt. I looked up the menu, which is somewhat limited and they're proud of their stuff, looking at the prices.
Menu.
I will still go with an open mind. It's one of those occasions that Dad will be (willingly) expected to pick up the check. After all, that's why I get invited.

I know what you mean!

I once got into with the son in law. Told him while I am alive and can afford it and we eat out I will pay. Don’t abuse it with high end places every time though. He still after 16 years has a tough time grasping that, his mom and stepdad always have short arms when we’ve gone in the past and are the worst and cheapest tippers I have ever met. Now if his mom is along I tell the server she is separate. Every now and then we go to a high end place and he says your daughter picked it!

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning. Rain is in the forecast. My son in Helena said it was raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock. Radar shows it moving this way. We need it. It has warmed wp to 69 degrees.

Kusojiji - I can understand your frustration with the RDC. My old layout was set in rural Montana and an RDC was perfect for the area and the period. I had picked up a Walthers Doodle Bug which was a great looki8ng unit but noisy. Finally, Walthers I think, came out with an RDC2, again noisy, but being that I operated DC without sound, what the heck. When Rapido came out with their version of the RDC, it was a jewel. It was a DCC version and didn't run well on DC, not slowly increasing speed in a linear manner, BUT, operating on DCC, it was perfect and the sound was outstanding, running it at my railroad club. The Walthes RDC2 was a decent model, but didn't have the detail of the Rapido. Having nowhere to run it, I sold it to someone that could appreciate it. View attachment 268779 View attachment 268780
LATER

I have the Rapido RDC copy of the 1:1 RDC that they own and run. It is beautiful but I have no layout to run it on. I, also, have a PROTO 1000 RDC that I had converted to DCC. I'll have to get them out and post some pics.

 

[bnsf971]

It’s been a while since I posted layout pictures.
Here, a BN SD24 exits tunnel 2 on its way downgrade.

 

[kbkchooch]

We returned yesterday from our first Carolina trip in about 14 years. Jersey to outside of Jacksonville in about 9½ hours and a single tank of gas. Tolls are crazy, especially the $21.00 for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Drove around looking at homes and sites, took another tank, then another tank and more Tolls to come back on Friday. Gas is 40¢/gal cheaper in Onslow County vs Jersey Shore. Took 10½ hours returning account of a cluster _____ in and around Georgetown DE, until the Pumplin Chunkers turned off to return to Bridgeville. Del Hwy 1 was heavy NB but bumper to bumper SB with Beach traffic. The XT5 is not as quiet at the old CTS but gets better gas mileage. Hardees is not the same as it once was.
Home safely.

Funny, we were about as far apart on vacation as we are when we are not on vacation. You were in East Carolina, I was 2 hours west on 95, south of Raleigh.
I agree, Hardees is not what it once was, but thank goodness Culver's is there in that part of the state to make one forget all about Hardees.
I'm still not settled on a move yet. I'm not sure if the warmer temps are for me, and the higher humidity. I still enjoy a hot drink, a roaring fire and watching the snow fall.

 

[Kusojiji]

I was able to find out what was going on after a deep dive into the symptoms. In Lokprogrammer, you have to find advanced settings, and turn on persistent functions. Digitrax seems to send out confirmation signals regularly, so it never gave me a problem until I change systems.

Persistent functions? Not understanding and just did a search in the Lokpilot manual and no mention of persistent.

 

[bnsf971]

I'm still not settled on a move yet. I'm not sure if the warmer temps are for me, and the higher humidity. I still enjoy a hot drink, a roaring fire and watching the snow fall.

You can check the mountains of Western North Carolina. They still have all four seasons, and where my sister in law lives near Asheville, it's about 10 degrees cooler than we were in central North Carolina. I don't think I'd want to live in the city itself, but there are many areas relatively close by. Factory Direct Trains is about an hour drive away, too.