Running Bear's March 2025 Coffee Shop
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I cannot abide with the plastic couplers after having more than 1 knuckle fail on trains that were not even that long. (30 cars) When I was doing the modular club thing years ago 60-100 car trains were the norm, and plastic couplers and wheels were strictly verboten.
7 are Tsunami2 sound decoders in Athearn Genesis with SSS speakers and 3 ESU V5’s in my Bowser units. I have 1 Scaletrains diesel with ESU v5’s.
Changing the Scaletrain speaker to SSS was not an easy drop on!
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Boris
Beach Bum
No, that was Duie of Wales, on March 1. aka. St. David. Today is Patrick of Ireland. Different Person.
Texas Hobo
Well Known Hobo
Dia daoibh ar maidin! Happy St. Patrick's Day to all. Currently 65 heading for a high near 80.
My paternal grandparents as well as my father were born in Ireland. My grandfather was a potter for Belleck china, I'm told he hand painted the chinaware. He died in1918, as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. My grandmother was a Rogan. Anyone deep into fly fishing would know the Rogan name. When my grandfather died, he left grandma with 4 children. In order to support her family, she emigrated to America with the 2 older children, leaving the 2 younger ones in the care of relatives. Has she earned and saved she sent for the next child to be sent. She worked as a volunteer with the Donegal Association helping other Irish immigrants find work and housing. My father would later become president of the association with the yet to be discovered Maureen O'Hara as secretary.
Aside, Belleck china is still made today.
Trains - Tracker says Mudd Creek order should be delivered tomorrow.
STAY SAFE
LATER
My paternal grandparents as well as my father were born in Ireland. My grandfather was a potter for Belleck china, I'm told he hand painted the chinaware. He died in1918, as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. My grandmother was a Rogan. Anyone deep into fly fishing would know the Rogan name. When my grandfather died, he left grandma with 4 children. In order to support her family, she emigrated to America with the 2 older children, leaving the 2 younger ones in the care of relatives. Has she earned and saved she sent for the next child to be sent. She worked as a volunteer with the Donegal Association helping other Irish immigrants find work and housing. My father would later become president of the association with the yet to be discovered Maureen O'Hara as secretary.
Aside, Belleck china is still made today.
Trains - Tracker says Mudd Creek order should be delivered tomorrow.
STAY SAFE
LATER
Boris
Beach Bum
If I were starting out, I would use Accumate couplers exclusively, even though they are a tad oversized. They work very well. However, I automatically replace them on the Accurail kits, with Kadee Scale short shank whisker couplers. I pretty much have left them on the Atlas engines and cars that come with them though. I notice a minor conflict between Kadee Scale, Standard Kadee, and Accumate couplers...The scale sized ones are the problem, as they work the best with other scale sized Kadees. Gradually, as I downsize and fine tune my cars I plan on standardizing with Kadee 148s.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
Sorry about the drawing. The dotted lines are the 3rd deck overhang. It is ambitious but it will also be a slow process. I’m doing the main structures as flats along the back wall with not much detail. The foreground buildings will be much more detailed but again I’m basically doing the structure not the details. Inside stuff including the lighting is being handled by another. Outside details like electrical boxes, gutters, down spouts, conduits and lights are by the owner. Track work is another crew of 3. It’s going to be interesting but to tie all the structures together I will be doing the painting and weathering of the structures. Our biggest expense though will be the purchase of materials for storage tanks of all sizes and needs. The owner does not want PVC style storage tanks. My daughter says she will not 3D print tanks unless they are printed as segments. One of the guys says he can print the tanks as 1 piece. I’ll believe my daughter’s reasoning based on her past experience building stuff for me. I will show things as I move along
kbkchooch
Verified Human
I cannot abide with the plastic couplers after having more than 1 knuckle fail on trains that were not even that long. (30 cars) When I was doing the modular club thing years ago 60-100 car trains were the norm, and plastic couplers and wheels were strictly verboten.
Bruette
Well-Known Member
@Texas Hobo Maidin mhaith, to you Hughie, thank you
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
I have issues with the Kadee Scale couplers with all of their other products also. I replace them with #148's. I have too many cars with Kadee #5's and other compatible Kadees to switch them all to scale ones.
troyphoto
Snarky Old Fart (in training)
I would be in Ireland right now if Mother-in-law's health hadn't been bad back in Dec. She's stable now. But we cancelled the trip. Unfortunate, because I probably wouldn't want to return. The wife would be getting an earful from me.
But, at least I got my passport renewal in before the administration changed here. I now see that was a VERY wise move on my part.
LOUIS: DO NOT READ THE REST of this post nor click the link:
Here's a photo of my cat. Don't scroll past it.
Link here: https://theconversation.com/was-st-patrick-welsh-an-expert-reviews-the-evidence-90793
St. David is indeed Welsh. While I'm not an expert, I've set two of my book series in Wales. One in the 7th Century, and one modern day. So I had a bit of a nosedive into the early history of the area.
From the piece I linked: (by a Scottish PhD in Welsh Studies)
So what’s the verdict? Patrick may very well have been born in present-day Wales. He was certainly born in the west of Britain. He may have thought of himself as a Cymro, and the English would doubtless have classified him as Welsh. His first language was almost certainly the ancestor of Welsh. And yet, we know that he chose Ireland over the land of his birth. He is a footnote in the history of Wales, but utterly central to that of Ireland.
In the game of rugby which inspired my St Patrick’s Day t-shirt, one of the (many) try scorers for Ireland was a certain Ronán O’Gara, born San Diego, California. When it comes to identity, place of birth isn’t everything.
But, at least I got my passport renewal in before the administration changed here. I now see that was a VERY wise move on my part.
LOUIS: DO NOT READ THE REST of this post nor click the link:
Here's a photo of my cat. Don't scroll past it.
Link here: https://theconversation.com/was-st-patrick-welsh-an-expert-reviews-the-evidence-90793
St. David is indeed Welsh. While I'm not an expert, I've set two of my book series in Wales. One in the 7th Century, and one modern day. So I had a bit of a nosedive into the early history of the area.
From the piece I linked: (by a Scottish PhD in Welsh Studies)
So what’s the verdict? Patrick may very well have been born in present-day Wales. He was certainly born in the west of Britain. He may have thought of himself as a Cymro, and the English would doubtless have classified him as Welsh. His first language was almost certainly the ancestor of Welsh. And yet, we know that he chose Ireland over the land of his birth. He is a footnote in the history of Wales, but utterly central to that of Ireland.
In the game of rugby which inspired my St Patrick’s Day t-shirt, one of the (many) try scorers for Ireland was a certain Ronán O’Gara, born San Diego, California. When it comes to identity, place of birth isn’t everything.
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westtexjohn
Well-Known Member
Good day to all....................
70 for a high in west Texas with a sunny sky.
I was able to run a loco all the way around the upper level on my layout yesterday evening. There was about 12 feet of track held in place by rail joiners only and feeders not connected to the main bus. My 2-6-0 steamer hesitated a bit on about 6 inches of track in that stretch but ran fine through all the turnouts and curves. I'm thinking track was not real clean in that 12 foot of track plus no feeders. I used a DC loco and Tech 2 power pack for the test. Loco was pulling one passenger car and one boxcar. I ran about 2 laps going forward and 2 laps going backwards. I need to finish that 12 feet of track today and work on the second mainline which needs about 40 feet of track, mostly just 3 feet seconds of flex track in a straight line. I still have around 8 or 9 turnouts to wire with servos and their controller boards, plus the fascia panels with toggles and LEDs. Time marches on.
Todays e-mail says my City Classics mobile home is in transit (Willie got me on a mobile home building kick with his photos). The NuComp mobile home kit finally arrived a few days ago also. Walthers Heritage Furniture back ground kit and a Bowser dual sugar cube speaker with enclosure is also on the way. It will be like Christmas time in west Texas today.
On another note, I did a speaker test of my own about 18 months ago, testing 5 different speakers, using an ESU diesel sound loaded decoder . Of the 5 speakers tested, the Bowser dual sugar cube speaker reproduced sounds I did not even know were on the decoder. It was just so much better than the others, so I now try to use this type of speaker in all of my locos when I can. That being said, I still like the TCS mega-base for steamers. I understand that Scale Sound has some very good speakers but I have not yet tried one.
Sorry, but I have never developed a taste for corned beef. But cabbage with onions and sausage cooked down in chicken broth is one of my favorites.
Everyone have a great day........John
70 for a high in west Texas with a sunny sky.
I was able to run a loco all the way around the upper level on my layout yesterday evening. There was about 12 feet of track held in place by rail joiners only and feeders not connected to the main bus. My 2-6-0 steamer hesitated a bit on about 6 inches of track in that stretch but ran fine through all the turnouts and curves. I'm thinking track was not real clean in that 12 foot of track plus no feeders. I used a DC loco and Tech 2 power pack for the test. Loco was pulling one passenger car and one boxcar. I ran about 2 laps going forward and 2 laps going backwards. I need to finish that 12 feet of track today and work on the second mainline which needs about 40 feet of track, mostly just 3 feet seconds of flex track in a straight line. I still have around 8 or 9 turnouts to wire with servos and their controller boards, plus the fascia panels with toggles and LEDs. Time marches on.
Todays e-mail says my City Classics mobile home is in transit (Willie got me on a mobile home building kick with his photos). The NuComp mobile home kit finally arrived a few days ago also. Walthers Heritage Furniture back ground kit and a Bowser dual sugar cube speaker with enclosure is also on the way. It will be like Christmas time in west Texas today.
On another note, I did a speaker test of my own about 18 months ago, testing 5 different speakers, using an ESU diesel sound loaded decoder . Of the 5 speakers tested, the Bowser dual sugar cube speaker reproduced sounds I did not even know were on the decoder. It was just so much better than the others, so I now try to use this type of speaker in all of my locos when I can. That being said, I still like the TCS mega-base for steamers. I understand that Scale Sound has some very good speakers but I have not yet tried one.
Sorry, but I have never developed a taste for corned beef. But cabbage with onions and sausage cooked down in chicken broth is one of my favorites.
Everyone have a great day........John
Bruette
Well-Known Member
That is a pretty cat.
Len Turner
Well-Known Member
Couplers - I use the "scale" size whisker Kadees. I think they're #158. I cut off the little uncoupler thingy to keep it from catching on stuff. I use a bamboo skewer to uncouple.
Ancestry - My mother's folks (paternal) were Welsh coal miners and (maternal) German railroad workers. Her maternal grandfather was a civil engineer for PRR and later MKT. Rumor has it my Dad's folks came from England in the mid-1800s, through Georgia, Alabama, eventually to East Texas apparently trying to stay one step ahead of the law...
Ancestry - My mother's folks (paternal) were Welsh coal miners and (maternal) German railroad workers. Her maternal grandfather was a civil engineer for PRR and later MKT. Rumor has it my Dad's folks came from England in the mid-1800s, through Georgia, Alabama, eventually to East Texas apparently trying to stay one step ahead of the law...
chadbag
Well-Known Member
Happy St Patrick’s day to all.
None of my relatives or ancestors that I know of are Irish. Except that we do have a Viking princess from Dublin in the line somewhere. Since the Vikings founded Dublin it’s not sure that that means any Irish blood but it could. The Vikings and native Irish mixed… I think the Viking princess is on my dad’s side, which is predominately English and Welsh. Not my mom’s, which is Norwegian with a Swedish line and a Sami line (Lapp).
I like corned beef. My mom had us over for boiled corned beef and potatoes and carrots and cabbage. It was ok. The corned feed was good with the sauce she had that included a little horseradish.
However, where corned beef really shines is I’m the making of the Rueben. That sandwich is divine and the perfect use of corned beef. Can also be made of pastrami, which is basically corned beef with a little bit different spice mix.
None of my relatives or ancestors that I know of are Irish. Except that we do have a Viking princess from Dublin in the line somewhere. Since the Vikings founded Dublin it’s not sure that that means any Irish blood but it could. The Vikings and native Irish mixed… I think the Viking princess is on my dad’s side, which is predominately English and Welsh. Not my mom’s, which is Norwegian with a Swedish line and a Sami line (Lapp).
I like corned beef. My mom had us over for boiled corned beef and potatoes and carrots and cabbage. It was ok. The corned feed was good with the sauce she had that included a little horseradish.
However, where corned beef really shines is I’m the making of the Rueben. That sandwich is divine and the perfect use of corned beef. Can also be made of pastrami, which is basically corned beef with a little bit different spice mix.
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Good evening. It's clear and 57.
I was able to contact a human being where I got the car, and I have an appointment Saturday for them to check into it further.
And as I was backing out of a parking space at the store, a woman threw her truck door open into the rear fender of the car, making a long scratch. She immediately shut the door and took off. I was, and still am, unhappy in the extreme, but I decided a scratch wasn't worth jail time if I chased and caught her. So, I guess I'll see if an 8" scratch costs less than a grand to fix..
I was able to contact a human being where I got the car, and I have an appointment Saturday for them to check into it further.
And as I was backing out of a parking space at the store, a woman threw her truck door open into the rear fender of the car, making a long scratch. She immediately shut the door and took off. I was, and still am, unhappy in the extreme, but I decided a scratch wasn't worth jail time if I chased and caught her. So, I guess I'll see if an 8" scratch costs less than a grand to fix..
AuburnCentral
Well-Known Member
Reading about the skewers for uncoupling, I remember when the tool of choice to undo couplers was to take a dried up brass tube from a pen and take the very end piece and flatten it in a vise
There's also the handheld magnetic tool with two magnets you hold so a magnet is on either side of the couplers.
TLOC
Well-Known Member
John. I have tried so many speakers before finally settling on the Scale Sound System speakers. But at $17.00 each I’m not sure the difference between the Bowser double sugar cube at $13 each and SSS is that noticeable. I’ve built the locomotive fleet back up to 11 and I’m going to try not to go beyond 12.
7 are Tsunami2 sound decoders in Athearn Genesis with SSS speakers and 3 ESU V5’s in my Bowser units. I have 1 Scaletrains diesel with ESU v5’s.
Changing the Scaletrain speaker to SSS was not an easy drop on!
AuburnCentral
Well-Known Member
Yes but that came out later and for us kids the pen tube was much cheaper. I have one of the magnetic ones
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