Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

[santafewillie]

Good Afternoon All. Still cloudy and 76° after a high of 82° a little while ago. NWS is still calling for thunderstorms tonight and we're under a tornado watch right now. Hmmmh! Didn't I post that this morning??? Closest thunderstorms are about 90 miles west and moving in this direction. May or may not hold together but will be here in 4-5 hours probably. Could we have a repeat of May 27, 2024??? I hope not! Don't really want to repeat that experience. It is just a watch right now, not a warning. They are predicting 1" of rain. I do have dry firewood inside for tomorrow night when it's expected to get into the upper-30's. Tornado watch is in effect until 11:00 tonight.

 

[migalyto]

Good Afternoon All. Still cloudy and 76° after a high of 82° a little while ago. NWS is still calling for thunderstorms tonight and we're under a tornado watch right now. Hmmmh! Didn't I post that this morning??? Closest thunderstorms are about 90 miles west and moving in this direction. May or may not hold together but will be here in 4-5 hours probably. Could we have a repeat of May 27, 2024??? I hope not! Don't really want to repeat that experience. It is just a watch right now, not a warning. They are predicting 1" of rain. I do have dry firewood inside for tomorrow night when it's expected to get into the upper-30's. Tornado watch is in effect until 11:00 tonight.

Stay safe and vigilant.

Our storms are just beginning to fire up. As of now its just garden variety thunderstorms. the tornado watch goes till 11pm.

 

[bnsf971]

Earlier, somebody posted it was snowing in or near Tokyo. I was watching a live railcam of the commuter trains there, and I noticed it snowing.

 

[NorthBrit]

Did that as a kid with mom and dad. Then took our kids on it in the early 90’s. 2 years ago Terry, her friend and me took a lunch cruse that was not part of the mail run. Good meal and tour though

Lake Geneva pales to what it was in the 90’s and early 2000’s. Lots of the “real” mansions from the early 1900’s are gone replaced by the modern equivalent of a mansion. To me now they are just big with no heart and very few have a style

As a teenager with a license (1968) I had a girlfriend whose dad was the head groundskeeper at the Wrigley estate on Lake Geneva. The grounds and his cottage were spectacular. His cottage seemed twice as big as the house we lived in. Her parents were divorced so we saw him every month in the Summer when we went up for a weekend. Never in 2 summers did I ever see a Wrigley family member. That estate while still there and still big the boat tour guide a couple years ago said it’s around 10% of the 100 acres it used to be.

We did a couple years ago hike the trail that goes around the lake right through the property of every lot on the water. Open public trail and it might be 3’ wide through some properties but it’s there. It’s there by law and even the Wrigleys and Ken Griifin who recently tried again to put up a fence couldn’t overturn it. It has made it to the Wisconsin Supreme Court back in the 50’s but the Wrigleys lost. Griffin was so upset he moved his housing and business holdings to Florida I think in 2024

No boats in the water including the tour cruise boatsView attachment 259951

Still icy slush on the water View attachment 259952

Off on that point of land is what is left of the Wrigley estateView attachment 259953

You mention Lake Geneva. I thought you were mentioning the one in Switzerland.


We were there on our way to Italy.

 

[Kusojiji]

What's their footprint?

3.3 x 2.8 x 1.8mm.

 

[chadbag]

Earlier, somebody posted it was snowing in or near Tokyo. I was watching a live railcam of the commuter trains there, and I noticed it snowing.

What lines were you watching, do you remember? I suspect Yamanote line is one but I'd be interested in what you were watching.

When riding them I sometimes get the first car and there is usually a glass partition or windows that allow you to look into the driver cab and out the windshield. I've taken some video out the front windshield before.

 

[chadbag]

3.3 x 2.8 x 1.8mm.View attachment 259975

That's cool. My boards I designed aren't set up to any specific mounting and don't have the sprung metal power pickups for KATO or Tomix. Mine or meant to be generic and be usable anywhere, probably just with hardwired power and two sided tape to stick them to the top shell... I've posted the link to JNSForum before that shows the boards and how they were installed in some Shinkansen wagons. Mine are meant to trim the length to fit your wagon sized and can also be used in Euro wagons etc.

But my actual question was to the footprint of the capacitors. What size are they meant to be? And what's the µF rating etc?

 

[DeaconKC]

Good evening folks, hit 78 today, cloudy with rain off and on. The taxes went well, we are actually getting a little back. So we went and did some shopping at Hobby Lobby and had dinner, then home. Picked up a couple of the new Extra fine and Fine oil based marker pens to try out. Used them on the cockpits of some Battletech miniatures, they are 1:265 scale and worked well. I will be doing a few dozen between now and a con in early September, so it will be some assembly line painting with details added. @troyphoto I just ordered a new game called Battletech:Gothic. the minis look to be a brand new flavor. Also ordered decals to go with the other battlemechs I am painting.
I also started a little bit of work on the Ruptured Duck, it is drying overnight.

 

[Boris]

Good evening. Spent several hours packing up MRR engines and rolling stock. To spark interest, I'm changing eras to to 1948-1958. from 1966-1976. The other purpose is to inventory my stuff to determine what I want to keep and what I will dispose.
You can acquire a lot of stuff in 40 years, and the prospect of moving it all is somewhat overwhelming. I'm having fun running my steam power. One more to dig out, the Reading T-1.

I'm looking forward to "graduating" from physical therapy toward the end of the month. Working with the Therapist team to meet some personal goals, and transition to real world activity outside the house. Been a long grind from last October when I began PT.
I'm up to pressing 190 lbs. on the leg press machine, and my goal is 210 lbs...my body weight ranges from 164 - 167. Otherwise working on balance and lateral movement.

 

[RhB Michael]

We hit 83°F today. St. Louis set a new record at 87°F. I spent the afternoon outside. Picked up more branches and limbs for the burn pile and took down three volunteer Mimosa trees near one of my back windows. Those trees grow like weeds around here, but I rarely ever see one flower. I'm beginning to think it's some sort of wild Mimosa.

I had one growing for almost nine years before it died on me. That tree never did flower. I read they would start flowering between five and seven years old. Not this one.

Nine weather watches from the Michigan mitten to the Mexican border in effect currently. One huge tornado watch bi-sects Missouri diagonally southwest to northeast. The atmosphere is still too stable here for anything too severe, but that cap of warm air above could give way early tomorrow morning and we might see mildly severe thunderstorms.

Keep your heads on a swivel tonight if you're in the path of this advancing cold front, or south of the warm front up north.

 

[Marlin39]

I received an email response from Len, at Bar Mills. He stated that the missing parts will be mailed out tomorrow. I thanked him for his prompt response.

I've got my fingers crossed that the package arrives in the next 7 days or less.

 

[RhB Michael]

Here is the current mesoscale discussion issued at 2201 CDT for north-central Illinois:

Mesoscale Discussion 0203
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
1001 PM CDT Tue Mar 10 2026

Areas affected...parts of central Illinois

Concerning...Tornado Watch 32...

Valid 110301Z - 110430Z

The severe weather threat for Tornado Watch 32 continues.

SUMMARY...Severe storms remain likely this evening across WW32. A
few tornadoes, hail and an increasing damaging wind threat are
expected.

DISCUSSION...Across parts of far eastern MO/IA into central IL,
several clusters of strong to severe storms are ongoing as of 0300
UTC. A mixed convective mode is present, and expected to continue,
with semi-discrete supercells ongoing over the western portions of
the watch area. These storms are moving into a very strongly sheared
air mass that remains moderately unstable (LSX VAD 0-1km SRH 500+
m2/s2). This will continue to support supercells and linear
structures capable of all hazards. With time, upscale growth into
one or more linear clusters appears likely. Damaging gusts and a few
tornadoes are possible.

..Lyons.. 03/11/2026

 

[Kusojiji]

That's cool. My boards I designed aren't set up to any specific mounting and don't have the sprung metal power pickups for KATO or Tomix. Mine or meant to be generic and be usable anywhere, probably just with hardwired power and two sided tape to stick them to the top shell... I've posted the link to JNSForum before that shows the boards and how they were installed in some Shinkansen wagons. Mine are meant to trim the length to fit your wagon sized and can also be used in Euro wagons etc.

But my actual question was to the footprint of the capacitors. What size are they meant to be? And what's the µF rating etc?

That's what I gave you, the size of the caps. The boards are very nice and come with an optional plastic backing if it is needed to be suspended. The light strip has a sticky back. If you order the ones for Tomix, they come with the spring already soldered on. Since most of my stuff is Kato, I had to remove the brass parts at the end and tried to solder very fine springs on my Tomix stuff. I gave up on that and use brass strips, bent to fit in the slot on the Tomix loco, like what is showing in my pic.

 

[chadbag]

That's what I gave you, the size of the caps. The boards are very nice and come with an optional plastic backing if it is needed to be suspended. The light strip has a sticky back. If you order the ones for Tomix, they come with the spring already soldered on. Since most of my stuff is Kato, I had to remove the brass parts at the end and tried to solder very fine springs on my Tomix stuff. I gave up on that and use brass strips, bent to fit in the slot on the Tomix loco, like what is showing in my pic.

Sorry, the way it formatted on my screen it was on the same line on the pic and not obvious and I didn't see the dimensions. That appears to be about "Case B" size or EIA 3528-21 or 1411 metric

What is the capacitance?

 

[Kusojiji]

Back from the eye doc. After almost 2 hours for check in, came home for an hour or so and then went back since the newbies that don't have an appointment start to get seen at 1100. Finally got in around 1230. The nurse checked my visual acuity and said I had very good vision. Then it was wait more for the doc. He did the dilation drops, had us wait about an hour, then took a look, added more drops, wait some more, more torture and then showed my wife all the white stuff in my eye on the big screen. So, next step is to go to the university hospital for the evaluation to see if surgery is a good option.

It's so bad (to me) that I thought I saw someone walking in front of the house yesterday, on the right side (bad eye), but there was nobody there. I was going to ask the doc if ghosts are real...

 

[Kusojiji]

Sorry, the way it formatted on my screen it was on the same line on the pic and not obvious and I didn't see the dimensions. That appears to be about "Case B" size or EIA 3528-21.

What is the capacitance?

100uf. No problem. Perhaps I should add a line in my posts.

 

[traiNscale]

good morning folks

well well well... its rainy outside and a bit cold would say around 10 celcius.
my girlfriend told me shes away winter camping with her VW Bus this weekend from tomorrow. that means, i will have time to be in my basement and work on my projects woohoo.

atm iam working on new bushes and also my "Nashville Railroad Avenue" Project (Thread in this forum btw). lets see what i can achiev this weekend.

wish you all a great day.
cheers
Marco

 

[Kusojiji]

Here's some close ups. The black one is the one that comes with the natural or bright white color boards. The orange one needs to be soldered on the bulb colored boards.

It does come with some tiny caps that you can see above the larger caps, but I have never tested their effectiveness. I've always just installed the 300uf worth of caps, which runs the light for at least 5 seconds after power is removed.

庄龍鉄道 powered by BASE

庄龍鉄道の直売ページへようこそ。直営だからできる価格でお客様にご提供させていただきます。店主自ら梱包発送を行いますので、一部発送までにお時間を頂戴することがあります。あらかじめご了承くださいませ。

syoryulight.theshop.jp

 

[chadbag]

100uf. No problem. Perhaps I should add a line in my posts.

Here is an example from a US store. But it gives part numbers to look for in Japan

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/kemet/T495X107K025ATE150/4815143

You an also probably find something on AliExpress but I didn't find anything that was Case B/3528/1411 size in 100uF of at least 20V or 25V in a quick look.

Anyway, good luck if you want to resuscitate the blown boards.

 

[chadbag]

Here's some close ups. The black one is the one that comes with the natural or bright white color boards. The orange one needs to be soldered on the bulb colored boards.

View attachment 259990

View attachment 259991

It does come with some tiny caps that you can see above the larger caps, but I have never tested their effectiveness. I've always just installed the 300uf worth of caps, which runs the light for at least 5 seconds after power is removed.

庄龍鉄道 powered by BASE

庄龍鉄道の直売ページへようこそ。直営だからできる価格でお客様にご提供させていただきます。店主自ら梱包発送を行いますので、一部発送までにお時間を頂戴することがあります。あらかじめご了承くださいませ。

syoryulight.theshop.jp

If you're going to do more of these, get some low temp solder paste and use the hot plate method. You just need the smallest dab of paste on each pad, place the components down, stick on the hotplate until everything melts, and then grab it off asap. And like I said, you need just the smallest dab of the solder paste. Too much and the stuff floats when it melts so can get askew and in worst case lose the connection though I've mostly just had them be crooked. But you get better at it the more you do it.

My board had up to like 20 places to put capacitors so you could use ceramic ones and lower value ones and just a lot of them as they're cheaper and easier to find.

Gemini AI says to look for Tantalum-Polymer to get 100µF in a 20V or 25V size. They do exist but are harder to find.

Here is an example of what Gemini recommended.

Panasonic 25TQC100MD3
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/panasonic-electronic-components/25TQC100MD3/13549028

Gemini said the same thing I said earlier -- you really want to de-rate these 50% so your N scale really should be using 25V piece. It says that the DCC signals can spike way above the normal and cause problems.

"DCC Voltage Peaks: Most DCC systems run at 14V–15V, but spikes can hit 18V or higher. Tantalum capacitors are extremely sensitive to over-voltage and will fail short-circuit (often with a "pop" and smoke) if their rating is exceeded even briefly."

Even running at a N scale voltage a spike could probably hit over 16V and your pieces are probably a tolerance of 20% which means the lowest one is going to be 13V if you got unlucky and got one that was 20% low.