Running Bear's March 2026 Coffee Shop

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Good evening all!

Round 2 of thunderstorms are moving through the are as we speak. The first one was just heavy rain and a couple rumbles of thunder. This one has some wind behind it and is putting on an impressive lightning show. Neither of the 2 have been anything of the severe variety. We are under a severe thunderstorm watch till midnight.

Ended up holding off on my haircut till later this afternoon. The wife and daughter wanted to get their nails and a pedicure done for vacation, so I dropped them off and got my hair done and came back. For the 2 of them the cost w/tip was close to a DCC sound locomotive. Oh well, if the girls are happy then it makes my life go smoother. We then went to Applebee's for supper since it was too late to come home and make something.

Back home, and time to head to the basement to build and run a intermodal train.

Have a safe night everyone!
 
I was just looking at the manual that came with my Minitrix 16952 -- The "GYSEV 470 503-3 Electric Locomotive" model. This is an N-scale model with "built in factory decoder". (IIRC it uses a custom D&H DH14 decoder in the decoder slot). It's a Siemens "Taurus" style (BR 182 or Austrian 1x16 IIRC) locomotive with a "Richard Wagner" livery that really ran and it's on the Austrian Raaberbahn / Hungarian GYSEV system -- hence the Class 470 instead of 182 or 1016 or whatever). It's kind of cool because F13 plays a snippet of "Ride of the Valkyries" music. The one in Apocalypse Now (I went to check in YouTube that I was right and noticed that they were using "modern" 30 round magazines in their M16s instead of the period 20 round).

Anyway, I noticed this line in the "Safety Notes": Analog 14 volts DC, digital 22 volts AC (really DCC). This is interesting. KATO and other Japanese brands recommend 12V DC for N scale. Since they don't normally support DCC out of the box I don't remember what the recommendation is as KATO does have DCC ready support but we usually run 14-15V on the command center... YaMoRC and others sell you a 15V power supply for your command center for N use and 18V for H0 use. So I found it interesting that they claim to support up to a 22V DCC (AC) signal with the Minitrix...
 


@Texas Hobo i have to say, that layout looks really nice. and i also like the colored drawing out from it.
this would be a really nice looking N Scale layout. no jay.... not another project... you have enough. (saves the picture for "later")

----


Good morning everyone

- sun is out
- airport is up and running no hickups.
- its friday woohoo!

today, a little bit of work, then home and chill pizza and beer evening. maybe watching some disc Golf Pro Tour. this weekend the Tour is in Charlotte! Tomorrow, painting my bathroom on the entrance lvl. hope we will get it done this weekend. on sunday, i will have to spend some time in my hobby room, but maybe not for my layout projects. i have to create 4? small easter dioramas. well will let you know on monday how it went haha.

cheers
Marco
 
chadbag said:
Anyway, I noticed this line in the "Safety Notes": Analog 14 volts DC, digital 22 volts AC (really DCC). This is interesting. KATO and other Japanese brands recommend 12V DC for N scale. Since they don't normally support DCC out of the box I don't remember what the recommendation is as KATO does have DCC ready support but we usually run 14-15V on the command center... YaMoRC and others sell you a 15V power supply for your command center for N use and 18V for H0 use. So I found it interesting that they claim to support up to a 22V DCC (AC) signal with the Minitrix...
Click to expand...
The decoder uses the 22VAC to supply 12VDC pulses to the motor.
 


Last Saturday the CEO of our company came to where I work, and walked through the facility without letting anybody know he was doing so.
He found the shop dirty and disorganized, and employees sitting around playing on their phones instead of working. Yesterday, he showed up with the COO and the director of HR. I'm glad I wasn't working last Saturday. We'll see what new edicts are handed down to us peons today.
 
Well, howdy there internet peeps and those who are water, wind, or Frog-logged,

It's Troy again.

We survived the storms. Today is supposed to be descending temps down to mid 20s F tonight. Windy-ish. Clouds and maybe some sun.

Laundry day, need a run to the grocery. Diet Dr. Pepper levels are dangerously low.

I'll walk the neighborhood later to see if we lost an major limbs, but the wind didn't seem terrible last night.

On the layout front: I need to decide if I'm lowering the top, or raising the lower. With the exception of one run (that corner I was reaching into in the picture above) its the same footprint. The "East leg" of the folded dogbone is 8 inches wider on the bottom, and that is the part were I want better reach. So it'll be the upper that comes down to grade height. The lower can be scrapped.

The big difference is the center peninsula: The lower level is one piece, 52 inches wide. The upper of that section is two 24 wide sections.
Screenshot 2026-03-27 at 5.57.53 AM.png


I'm leaning toward salvaging the scrap from the lower section, and using the upper section as the new layout benchwork. That way I've got longer runs of scrap lumber, instead of a bunch of short pieces. AND I can keep the lower peninsula intack to serve as work bench until I get the lower section dropped, then new legs attached.

That means pulling off the lights and fascia from the top level, and removing the benchwork from the supports. Label everthing, and set it aside.

I may have to spend today organizing the garage better so I have someplace to store all of the crap that is normally under the layout. And the layout itself.

Fortunately I don't have a bucket of frogs to deal with like Terry.
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. Partly cloudy and 65°. Like others here, my weather is quite erratic for the next few days, although no severe storms like Troy is expecting. High today of 87°, tomorrow and Saturday in the low-60's. Looks like maybe another fire in the heater both nights. North winds tomorrow will be pretty severe, 20+mph.

The neck sonogram yesterday went OK, I guess. The tech isn't allowed to tell me anything, but she didn't run out of the room looking for the doctor! Something about carotid artery. It's been 5 or 6 years since the last scan...not sure why the doctor ordered this one yet?
Afterwards, I pulled weeds and Johnson Grass in the area of the garden where I am going to plant Tomatoes. Tilling it just chops up the roots and then you get a tenfold increase in the number of stalks.

Today is the weekly grocery trek, my 4th excursion from home this week. I'm beginning to get very impatient with the poor drivers that now seem to populate this area. If 18-wheelers are passing you on the right, maybe you're going too slow for the left lane...65mph in a 75mph zone doesn't cut it. And those concrete barriers on the sides of the road in the construction zones just seem to terrorize some folks. But I digress, rant over.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I fiddled with the layout of my blank canvas. While looking at that LH corner, I thought about resurrecting an old LifeLike structure of a general store. It's in sad shape, having been on three layouts over the last 30 years. View attachment 261329
View attachment 261330
View attachment 261331
View attachment 261332
Kinda cleaned it up a bit at the workbench and stuck it in place.It still needs some work rehabbing it.
View attachment 261333
I'll look at it for a few days before deciding. Meanwhile I re-placed all of the other structures, with a few substitutions to see how I liked them.
View attachment 261334
View attachment 261335
I have room for one more in the lower right of the last picture, but I have to clear out the scenery supplies (ballast, glue etc) before sticking something there. I have 3 other structures already built that would work. As you can see, the backdrop poster is still there, but it is definitely coming out...just doesn't fit the scene. No big deal, since it was given to me when I bought part of an estate sale years ago. No sentimental value.

Chad -

Yeah, pranks when we were in college!
Tom O - Already packed? You're way ahead of Mike!
Bill - Breakfast looks good this morning.

A few "old folks" are celebrating birthday's today. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith is 78, Diana Ross of the Supremes is 82 and perennial rich politician Nancy Pelosi is 86.

Everyone have a great Thursday.
Click to expand...
Willie, old habit. I always kept a go bag ready for business trips the last 21 years working. I never knew when something would come up and I’d be sent off too fix some client issue or fire an employee in a different state. If the plane was available I’d dropped everything and go. Now though it’s a few polos, 4-5 t-shirts, a couple pairs of shorts and jeans. Now thankfully there are no dress shirts, socks or suit! Always ready is the toiletries minus the meds. I do have 2 pill cases though with one always full for next week and the one I’m using this week.
 
Espeefan said:
Morning All! Been busy the last couple of weeks. One of my nieces visited Milwaukee for work related reasons but also added about five days to visit us. A most enjoyable time. Took her to several Milwaukee must-see's and must-eats. No time for trains. The last eight days or so I've had a painter in the house. A second interior paint job was long overdue, so we've been moving the house contents from room to room again to stay out of his way. Had a plumber in to replace some worn out bathroom fixtures. Boy did I get into the wrong line of work. Those guys are expensive! Next up is getting the mud jackers out here to fix my patio, which heaved a couple of years back. After all of this the house will be completely updated, and I won't have too much to worry about on the home front. No time for trains during painting time either! Painting should finish up today, and we can begin to get back to normal. I'll also be able to quit hemorrhaging money!
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The joys of retirement. At least you are not painting the interior!

I hope you took the niece to the Public Market in the 3rd ward!
 
Good morning all!

Still very cloudy and overcast out there this morning. The thunderstorms have all left the area and in its wake dropped the temps into the
the upper 20s. Thankfully we never got anything severe last night. High for today is supposed to only hit 42F. I really liked yesterdays high
of 78F better!

Lots of last minute running this morning and probably a combined load of laundry on the agenda for this morning. I have to run the dog
to the boarder later this afternoon. Goal is to be on the road by 5:00am tomorrow morning.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
TLOC said:
kept a go bag ready
Click to expand...
Same here. I used to have to fly at any time of the year, day or night, to render assistance to US Naval vessels that needed a technical assist. My small luggage bag always had my toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, basic tools and most importantly, the cork screw (bottle opener and can opener were already on my key ring).

Get a message for assistance, get a flight going, jump on the train and fly to Hong Kong, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, other parts of Japan, Thailand and almost had a trip to Seychelles. If the requirement was operational immediate, then I'd get a call at any time of the day and start the process. To avoid the Seychelles trip, which would have taken over 30 hours of flying and hands on time of a few hours, I got on the phone and troubleshot the issue with the tech on board for the next 2 days. Yeah, my ear was cauliflower by the time we were finished, but I got them up enough to be operational. The equipment that was broken needed a mechanical specialist that the shipyard had. They fixed it when they came back home.
 
Good morning from dark, dreary So. Central Wisconsin. One of the major T-storms stayed south of us during the daylight yesterday and the big one north missed by like 20 miles moving northeast of us around dusk! It did though rain starting around 2 and continued into the night. Just a nice steady rain like April would bring for the May flowers.

It’s 27f degrees now and heading to the low 40’s.

The daughter and family are stuck in Florida. Their plane to Chicago was jerked all over the schedule yesterday. Originally scheduled for 4pm it was moved to 6 then 10.30pm and then cancelled. They have local good friends whose kid plays on the grandson’s hockey and soccer teams that have a house in Sanibel Island and they watched the schedule b4 heading to the airport so the grandkids could swim with friends instead being miserable at the airport. 10am is the flight today

The normal Friday work session on the layout 45 minutes north is a specialized one today. A few weeks ago while helping install the phone system one of the guys told the layout owner he wouldn’t touch the room lights as they weren’t wired to code. So today 2 retired electricians and 2 helpers are rewiring the lower level of the house where the layout is located. I am not even a helper/gofer when it’s 120v of electricity time.

My subdivision development was added to the 4/3 Town Board meeting yesterday. A 72 hour public notice is needed and this works out great. The County approved it earlier this week. Maybe we can be moving dirt by 5/1 which is way better than the projected 7/1.

We will be back around the 21st but we have a meeting 4/29 with the big medical software company in Verona. We have swampy wetlands on roughly 120 acres of our property. There is 50 acres of “official” wetlands as designated by the Wi. DNR. Can’t do anything with it but there is a 5’ raised wooden trail through it. That was built long before Terry purchased the property and is grandfathered onto the deed. We’ve upgraded that structure and honestly when it has water it’s a beautiful spot except for the mosquitoes that can be as big as aircraft carriers! Anyway, the big software company property adjoins our wetlands and they would like to connect our trail to the one they have. Terry, me and the kids have no issue with that. But I guess the hoops the State needs us to negotiate are daunting. The big software company has offered to handle everything! The meeting is to determine what they want in exchange. The swamp is a great place for water fowl when of course there is water. It is also a PITA because lots of hunters hunted there (mostly out of season) before we posted the entire property. While the trespassing has greatly diminished over the last few years we still occasionally report to the DNR poachers as seen by the drones we still fly weekly but no longer daily. If the software company can stop that we’d be forever grateful.

Enjoy your day
 
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