Do you think they could run the trains any faster.
Running Bear's May 2025 Coffee Shop
- Thread starter Bill Tidler Jr.
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Sapporo is way up. Roth and we’ll be flying to Tokyo this Monday and to Sapporo next Thursday. Our son is in the neighborhood of Sapporo.
Finished the chair up this morning. Figured I couldn't sleep with all the booming of a wonderful thunderstorm that rolled through so thought I would go out to model shop and finish this project up.
Enjoy the pictures, been a fun and different build. We'll see what I come up with next.
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Kusojiji
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chadbag
Well-Known Member
In that case I think Osaka, of those three, is the best choice. It is known for food variety etc. however Kyoto is a half hour train ride away so you don’t need to skip Kyoto. But be warned, it’s overrun with tourists. Day trips aren’t bad.
Sapporo is way up. Roth and we’ll be flying to Tokyo this Monday and to Sapporo next Thursday. Our son is in the neighborhood of Sapporo.
kbkchooch
Verified Human
Considering they are mostly older"vintage" locos, you have to run them fast for them to run smooth! I'm certain there is some Tyco stock running there!Do you think they could run the trains any faster.
DeaconKC
Well-Known Member
I dunno, I kinda liked that little supersonic trolley.Do you think they could run the trains any faster.
At least they didn't go Plaid...I dunno, I kinda liked that little supersonic trolley.
Boris
Beach Bum
On the whole, the Ellicott City Station layout is well done, with "period" trains represented by what was readily available and inexpensive. Beside, casual visitors and kids like fast running trains, especially that red street car. Wasn't there a layout with mostly blue box stuff built inside a baggage car at the B&O Museum on W. Pratt St? Same principal.
chadbag
Well-Known Member
It’s now 1:20pm in Japan. Got up this morning to go attend church. We didn’t attend a local congregation but took a train to the congregation that was my wife’s home congregation before we met. It’s the one we’ve been attending when visiting since 2003. A few years ago it combined with another local congregation (Strength in numbers) and was using the other congregations church building (we went there last time in Dec 2022). However that building is under some sort of renovation or repair and so they’ve been using the building that we used to go to. It’s about 1 hour 20 minutes walk and train. Subway and then Hankyu limited express and then Hankyu local (same track but the express doesn’t stop there). Then a short 11 min walk.
It was nice to see people we know and with whom my kids have “grown up” when we’re here. They have an American family living in the area for about 4 months — the dad is a professor at a large U.S. university and is on an exchange, teaching at a school here one semester. He had little kids and his 6 year old son, full of energy, in a land that’s not his, in a language he doesn’t understand, was acting up a bit in the children’s hour (second hour after the main congregational worship service). So they asked me to go sit with him and kind of be the male presence to help him calm down and feel more comfortable. Even the the Japanese lady who was sitting with him and taught the class he was in speaks English very well and they were sing the kids songs both in Japanese and English, and later, after singing was over, taught the actual class, she had a hard time with him. So I sat with him, helped him understand he had to calm down , and interacted with him, he did pretty well. He wasn’t perfect but he did ok. He particularly liked the pictures of the trains I had on my phone from previous trips. So we connected there. His 8 year old sister was in there too and sat with us during the instruction class and she was the polar opposite. A little older, she was calm, participated, etc. It was interesting. I liked it because it allowed me to participate instead of sitting in the adult instructional class (adult Sunday school) not understanding the language and just being there.
Some trains. The green one in the pic below is the Kobe City subway we took to Sannomiya station (a larger station in Kobe on the Osaka side that’s part of the Sannomiya city section. Form there we took a Hankyu express as I said and that is the Maroon colored train. I don’t have a pic of the local but it basically looks the same.
The street pic is coming out of the last station we ended at and then walked to church. Japan is mostly above ground wires and this picture epitomizes it I think, for me.
The last pic shows the church building we were at. It’s in a residential area and so you can see what a typical residential area might look like as well
Tomorrow we fly to Tokyo for 3 nights and then on Thursday we fly to Sapporo. We stay in Sapporo 2 nights and then move to Otaru for 3 nights. Otaru is near Sapporo. Then we fly back to Kobe for the last a little more than a week. I’m trying to get more train pics. We’ll get some in Tokyo and Sapporo. Sapporo subway is interesting as it’s a 3rd rail type system without the first two rails. It uses rubber tired cars / driving car in a concrete trough with I think some side bearing wheeled running against the trough sides. I’ll double check when there how it actually works. I was there last in 2019.
Edit: one final pic I just took. This is the subway station we just exited at. At this point outside the city it becomes mostly above ground.
It was nice to see people we know and with whom my kids have “grown up” when we’re here. They have an American family living in the area for about 4 months — the dad is a professor at a large U.S. university and is on an exchange, teaching at a school here one semester. He had little kids and his 6 year old son, full of energy, in a land that’s not his, in a language he doesn’t understand, was acting up a bit in the children’s hour (second hour after the main congregational worship service). So they asked me to go sit with him and kind of be the male presence to help him calm down and feel more comfortable. Even the the Japanese lady who was sitting with him and taught the class he was in speaks English very well and they were sing the kids songs both in Japanese and English, and later, after singing was over, taught the actual class, she had a hard time with him. So I sat with him, helped him understand he had to calm down , and interacted with him, he did pretty well. He wasn’t perfect but he did ok. He particularly liked the pictures of the trains I had on my phone from previous trips. So we connected there. His 8 year old sister was in there too and sat with us during the instruction class and she was the polar opposite. A little older, she was calm, participated, etc. It was interesting. I liked it because it allowed me to participate instead of sitting in the adult instructional class (adult Sunday school) not understanding the language and just being there.
Some trains. The green one in the pic below is the Kobe City subway we took to Sannomiya station (a larger station in Kobe on the Osaka side that’s part of the Sannomiya city section. Form there we took a Hankyu express as I said and that is the Maroon colored train. I don’t have a pic of the local but it basically looks the same.
The street pic is coming out of the last station we ended at and then walked to church. Japan is mostly above ground wires and this picture epitomizes it I think, for me.
The last pic shows the church building we were at. It’s in a residential area and so you can see what a typical residential area might look like as well
Tomorrow we fly to Tokyo for 3 nights and then on Thursday we fly to Sapporo. We stay in Sapporo 2 nights and then move to Otaru for 3 nights. Otaru is near Sapporo. Then we fly back to Kobe for the last a little more than a week. I’m trying to get more train pics. We’ll get some in Tokyo and Sapporo. Sapporo subway is interesting as it’s a 3rd rail type system without the first two rails. It uses rubber tired cars / driving car in a concrete trough with I think some side bearing wheeled running against the trough sides. I’ll double check when there how it actually works. I was there last in 2019.
Edit: one final pic I just took. This is the subway station we just exited at. At this point outside the city it becomes mostly above ground.
chadbag
Well-Known Member
A random musings post since it's Sunday after noon, just after 5pm, here on Sunday. I just got up from a 1 hour nap 30 min ago, and n nothing much is going on. I have some work to do (yes I brought "work" with me) but am feeling like just loafing a bit before I start "work."
Before I went up for my nap, there was a baseball game on TV. The local team, Hanshin Tigers vs the Chunichi Dragons of Nagoya. It was 1-1 and the 9th inning and no outs with men on 2 and 3 with Hanshin hitting. The Hanshin batter / Dragons pitcher brought it to a full count and then the guy struck out. That's when I went to the nap. I came down and asked and the final score was 5-1 Tigers. So I guess I missed most of the action.
The Japanese Pro baseball teams are all owned by companies it seems. Hanshin Tigers is owned by the Hanshin Electric Railway. That's one of the local private rail companies (so this post is train related!) and it is now part of the Hankyu Hanshin Holding company along with the Hankyu railway we took today (the Maroon one above). When we first started coming to Japan, Hankyu and Hanshin railway companies were not owned by the same corporate owner but they merged at some point in the early 2000s I think. Something like that. The Dragons are owned by a Newspaper.
Anyway, some random pics and musings.
These are a pretty good and cheap snack. It's off brand from the Daiso 100 yen store we went to on Friday. They're a "crepe roll" with some sort of flavored stuff inside. Hard and crunchy even though it says crepe. This was two boxes for 100 yen so about 67 cents for 2 boxes at the current exchange rate. They weren't bad. There are other name brand versions available in the store but for 10 yen for 2 I'll take it. Not that I need more snacks.
From the Mega Donki store I talked about, that we went to on Friday, they had this frozen soft creme ice cream in a pouch that you squeeze out. I may have posted this pic already. Apologies if this is a repeat. It was pretty good. I'll try it again.
At that same store in the toy department I found these plastic bugs/animals/dinosaurs you can buy. This is form the TOMY toy company and they have similar displays of matchbox sized cars in similar boxes but in red and not green. Anyway, you too can have a bug and dinosaur and other animal collection:
I mentioned that most of Japan uses above ground wires in their cities. I saw a video on it on YouTube a week ago. I guess, like a lot of cities, when they first electrified it was above ground and then after the war, due to cost and need to repair and rebuild it was much faster to just do it above ground. So you see wires like this everywhere. It wouldn't be a Godzilla movie without lots of wires to destroy and make sparks. (I saw a large across country high voltage tower painted white and red on the top of one of those lush green hills I posted about earlier and half expected to see Godzilla coming over the top of the ridge)
I may have mentioned this on a previous trip to Japan but a lot of toilets in Japan have this sort of arrangement: a sink on top of the tank so as the tank refills, you can use the water to rinse your hands before it goes into the tank. A way to save water. This one is a little fancier than some (and I am sure less fancy than others). Older homes have regular toilets with the porcelain tank visible like we all are used to, and they have a sink but into the top of the tank. Some newer houses have these floor mounted toilets with either in wall tanks or the tank built into a cupboard like this one in the pic, with a small sink on top of the cupboard like bit.
Japan is big on second hand stores. My son has been sending pics of all the clothes and stuff he has gotten for cheap and my daughter wants to hit the second hand stores while we're here. There are a few chains of second hand stores you see across Japan. One is called "Second Street". The other is various XXXXXX OFF stores. Things like HOBBY OFF, BOOK OFF, HARD OFF, HOBBY OFF, etc depending on what they have or specialize in. We saw on whi8le driving yesterday and I snapped a pic. I intend to visit some if I can as I've heard you can get really inexpensive but nice model trains at some. Japanese people don't give trashy stuff to donation centers (or sell it to these stores -- I think you can sell your used stuff). Used stuff tends to be in very good condition and is a big trade. Often something labeled as "used, not running" or "used, only for parts" is in great shape and just needs one part replaced, or in some cases, just be cleaned out. We'll see if I can find any train deals.
The best way to get cash in Japan as a foreigner is to use a foreign capable or international ATM. None of the domestic ATMs work with your non Japanese ATM card, and a lot of the ones labeled "International" don't work either. (I'm not sure who they work with but they may work with credit cards for cash advances or with European or other Asian banks networks -- I don't know). But there are two places that have ones that are on the US debit networks as well as most other worldwide networks. The ATMs from 7Bank and the ATMs at the PostBank. 7Bank is a bank run by the holding company that owns and operates 7-11 convenience stores. Since a long while now, 7-11 has been a Japanese company and they started putting these ATMs in all their stores and have become the #1 place for foreigners to get cash. You get a great rate, just off the international interbank rate, and the machines themselves only charge a fee of 220 yen or 330 yen, depending on how big the withdrawal is. (220 yen is $1.54 right now). As long as your home bank doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee it's a great deal. Far better than any cash based foreign exchange and a billion times better than the vultures in the airports in the US. A lot of credit unions and some banks don't charge foreign transaction fees on their ATM card use overseas so that's the #1 way to go for cash.
PostBank is a bank run by the post office (this happens in Europe as well) and they also run ATMs that are connected to the debit card networks from around the world so both of them work. PostBank has not been as aggressive at putting their ATMs around but when we first started going to Japan back in 2000/2003 you had to exchange cash or travelers checks. Then I learned you could use Citi bank ATMs because they were connected due to their being a US based bank. But you had to find a Citi branch which was often a chore. But better than using cash. Then we started being able to use PostBank ATMs and they always had them in the airports so we always changed when we got here. I don't know when 7Bank got into the gig but I heard about PostBank first so e used PostBank before 7-11. But I learned about 7-11 and that's what we've mostly used since. There are 7-11 stores everywhere and even small ones in off the beaten path areas will have one. This trip, and maybe I just didn't notice it earlier, I've been noticing 7Bank ATMs everywhere, not just at stores. There were 2 7Bank ATMs and 1 PostBank ATM at the airport right next to the door that lead to the street outside the terminal (before you had to go searching for them somewhere in the terminal). I've seen them free standing a few other places and today I saw one free standing at the subway station by my Sister in Laws house. That's this one.
Finally, for lunch today after church we just ate left overs and snacks and stuff and we'll have a nice dinner. I had found this soda at the Mega Donki on Friday and had to buy it. No one had seen it before (including SisIL and BIL). It's don't know which company bottles it but the label alone made it noticeable. It has 7 Vitamins and 7 Amino Acids and Royal Jelly in it per the label. The taste is what a "Mountain Dew Sweet Tart" would be if such a thing existed. It was similar to Mountain Dew but had that Sweet Tart taste and after taste as well. It was pretty good. I'd buy it again for a second try. The name on it is "Lifeguard". The lunch pic is missing the day old "Choco Pan" I had (Pan from the French "pain" for bread though what I had was more bread pastry than just bread and had some chocolate glaze on top, hard and flaking off since it was day old). And some other little snack items I shouldn't be eating. the Cup Noodle is "Cheesy curry" flavor. It was actually really good.
Tomorrow off to Tokyo via airplane. This is the first time we're not taking the train to get to Tokyo for a trip as part of our time here. (We've flown to Tokyo from here as part of a return to the US). We're flying Japan's largest LCC called SkyMark and are using the Kobe airport. SkyMark is the largest airline there though ANA also flies from there. I wanted to try flying and also it was cheaper in this case.
Enough long posts from me for now.
Before I went up for my nap, there was a baseball game on TV. The local team, Hanshin Tigers vs the Chunichi Dragons of Nagoya. It was 1-1 and the 9th inning and no outs with men on 2 and 3 with Hanshin hitting. The Hanshin batter / Dragons pitcher brought it to a full count and then the guy struck out. That's when I went to the nap. I came down and asked and the final score was 5-1 Tigers. So I guess I missed most of the action.
The Japanese Pro baseball teams are all owned by companies it seems. Hanshin Tigers is owned by the Hanshin Electric Railway. That's one of the local private rail companies (so this post is train related!) and it is now part of the Hankyu Hanshin Holding company along with the Hankyu railway we took today (the Maroon one above). When we first started coming to Japan, Hankyu and Hanshin railway companies were not owned by the same corporate owner but they merged at some point in the early 2000s I think. Something like that. The Dragons are owned by a Newspaper.
Anyway, some random pics and musings.
These are a pretty good and cheap snack. It's off brand from the Daiso 100 yen store we went to on Friday. They're a "crepe roll" with some sort of flavored stuff inside. Hard and crunchy even though it says crepe. This was two boxes for 100 yen so about 67 cents for 2 boxes at the current exchange rate. They weren't bad. There are other name brand versions available in the store but for 10 yen for 2 I'll take it. Not that I need more snacks.
From the Mega Donki store I talked about, that we went to on Friday, they had this frozen soft creme ice cream in a pouch that you squeeze out. I may have posted this pic already. Apologies if this is a repeat. It was pretty good. I'll try it again.
At that same store in the toy department I found these plastic bugs/animals/dinosaurs you can buy. This is form the TOMY toy company and they have similar displays of matchbox sized cars in similar boxes but in red and not green. Anyway, you too can have a bug and dinosaur and other animal collection:
I mentioned that most of Japan uses above ground wires in their cities. I saw a video on it on YouTube a week ago. I guess, like a lot of cities, when they first electrified it was above ground and then after the war, due to cost and need to repair and rebuild it was much faster to just do it above ground. So you see wires like this everywhere. It wouldn't be a Godzilla movie without lots of wires to destroy and make sparks. (I saw a large across country high voltage tower painted white and red on the top of one of those lush green hills I posted about earlier and half expected to see Godzilla coming over the top of the ridge)
I may have mentioned this on a previous trip to Japan but a lot of toilets in Japan have this sort of arrangement: a sink on top of the tank so as the tank refills, you can use the water to rinse your hands before it goes into the tank. A way to save water. This one is a little fancier than some (and I am sure less fancy than others). Older homes have regular toilets with the porcelain tank visible like we all are used to, and they have a sink but into the top of the tank. Some newer houses have these floor mounted toilets with either in wall tanks or the tank built into a cupboard like this one in the pic, with a small sink on top of the cupboard like bit.
Japan is big on second hand stores. My son has been sending pics of all the clothes and stuff he has gotten for cheap and my daughter wants to hit the second hand stores while we're here. There are a few chains of second hand stores you see across Japan. One is called "Second Street". The other is various XXXXXX OFF stores. Things like HOBBY OFF, BOOK OFF, HARD OFF, HOBBY OFF, etc depending on what they have or specialize in. We saw on whi8le driving yesterday and I snapped a pic. I intend to visit some if I can as I've heard you can get really inexpensive but nice model trains at some. Japanese people don't give trashy stuff to donation centers (or sell it to these stores -- I think you can sell your used stuff). Used stuff tends to be in very good condition and is a big trade. Often something labeled as "used, not running" or "used, only for parts" is in great shape and just needs one part replaced, or in some cases, just be cleaned out. We'll see if I can find any train deals.
The best way to get cash in Japan as a foreigner is to use a foreign capable or international ATM. None of the domestic ATMs work with your non Japanese ATM card, and a lot of the ones labeled "International" don't work either. (I'm not sure who they work with but they may work with credit cards for cash advances or with European or other Asian banks networks -- I don't know). But there are two places that have ones that are on the US debit networks as well as most other worldwide networks. The ATMs from 7Bank and the ATMs at the PostBank. 7Bank is a bank run by the holding company that owns and operates 7-11 convenience stores. Since a long while now, 7-11 has been a Japanese company and they started putting these ATMs in all their stores and have become the #1 place for foreigners to get cash. You get a great rate, just off the international interbank rate, and the machines themselves only charge a fee of 220 yen or 330 yen, depending on how big the withdrawal is. (220 yen is $1.54 right now). As long as your home bank doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee it's a great deal. Far better than any cash based foreign exchange and a billion times better than the vultures in the airports in the US. A lot of credit unions and some banks don't charge foreign transaction fees on their ATM card use overseas so that's the #1 way to go for cash.
PostBank is a bank run by the post office (this happens in Europe as well) and they also run ATMs that are connected to the debit card networks from around the world so both of them work. PostBank has not been as aggressive at putting their ATMs around but when we first started going to Japan back in 2000/2003 you had to exchange cash or travelers checks. Then I learned you could use Citi bank ATMs because they were connected due to their being a US based bank. But you had to find a Citi branch which was often a chore. But better than using cash. Then we started being able to use PostBank ATMs and they always had them in the airports so we always changed when we got here. I don't know when 7Bank got into the gig but I heard about PostBank first so e used PostBank before 7-11. But I learned about 7-11 and that's what we've mostly used since. There are 7-11 stores everywhere and even small ones in off the beaten path areas will have one. This trip, and maybe I just didn't notice it earlier, I've been noticing 7Bank ATMs everywhere, not just at stores. There were 2 7Bank ATMs and 1 PostBank ATM at the airport right next to the door that lead to the street outside the terminal (before you had to go searching for them somewhere in the terminal). I've seen them free standing a few other places and today I saw one free standing at the subway station by my Sister in Laws house. That's this one.
Finally, for lunch today after church we just ate left overs and snacks and stuff and we'll have a nice dinner. I had found this soda at the Mega Donki on Friday and had to buy it. No one had seen it before (including SisIL and BIL). It's don't know which company bottles it but the label alone made it noticeable. It has 7 Vitamins and 7 Amino Acids and Royal Jelly in it per the label. The taste is what a "Mountain Dew Sweet Tart" would be if such a thing existed. It was similar to Mountain Dew but had that Sweet Tart taste and after taste as well. It was pretty good. I'd buy it again for a second try. The name on it is "Lifeguard". The lunch pic is missing the day old "Choco Pan" I had (Pan from the French "pain" for bread though what I had was more bread pastry than just bread and had some chocolate glaze on top, hard and flaking off since it was day old). And some other little snack items I shouldn't be eating. the Cup Noodle is "Cheesy curry" flavor. It was actually really good.
Tomorrow off to Tokyo via airplane. This is the first time we're not taking the train to get to Tokyo for a trip as part of our time here. (We've flown to Tokyo from here as part of a return to the US). We're flying Japan's largest LCC called SkyMark and are using the Kobe airport. SkyMark is the largest airline there though ANA also flies from there. I wanted to try flying and also it was cheaper in this case.
Enough long posts from me for now.
logandsawman
Northern Pacific history enthusiast
Good morning all,
33f and sunny, calm winds.
It will be a perfect day here, high around 70, mosquitoes have not shown up yet.
Church then hamburgers and malts at the Askov cafe..
Dave LASM
33f and sunny, calm winds.
It will be a perfect day here, high around 70, mosquitoes have not shown up yet.
Church then hamburgers and malts at the Askov cafe..
Dave LASM
kgstakes
Well-Known Member
Finished the chair up this morning. Figured I couldn't sleep with all the booming of a wonderful thunderstorm that rolled through so thought I would go out to model shop and finish this project up.
Enjoy the pictures, been a fun and different build. We'll see what I come up with next.
ctclibby
Well-Known Member
Good Morning All!
47F @ 67% and so far clear. Got to almost 80F yesterday.
Welp, they made it from Mukilteo about 1900 yesterday towing a tiny uHaul. It might take all the stuff that needs to go with very good packing. I don't remember anything very heavy, so load balancing probably will not come into play. Lori and Karina dropped the kids off with a 'see ya Monday am'. Can you say 'cluster'? Next statement was 'What is there to do here'. Hmmm, holiday weekend in Libby - town gets rolled up. So I said, Dome Theater might be showing something, else - bars are open. 'Good' was the reply. Then we get the ever present 'We are going to our room and Door Dash some dinner'. Well, nothing like that here. They are staying at a Motel right on US2 with multiple restaurants near by so they won't starve. We will see how it goes. Could be in the mid 80's later so the kids ( and Angela ) are to get up early and start on stuff. Everybody is supposed to be here later today for BBQ dogs, sausages and hamburger, nothing fancy but should be good.
Wish me luck.
L8r
47F @ 67% and so far clear. Got to almost 80F yesterday.
Welp, they made it from Mukilteo about 1900 yesterday towing a tiny uHaul. It might take all the stuff that needs to go with very good packing. I don't remember anything very heavy, so load balancing probably will not come into play. Lori and Karina dropped the kids off with a 'see ya Monday am'. Can you say 'cluster'? Next statement was 'What is there to do here'. Hmmm, holiday weekend in Libby - town gets rolled up. So I said, Dome Theater might be showing something, else - bars are open. 'Good' was the reply. Then we get the ever present 'We are going to our room and Door Dash some dinner'. Well, nothing like that here. They are staying at a Motel right on US2 with multiple restaurants near by so they won't starve. We will see how it goes. Could be in the mid 80's later so the kids ( and Angela ) are to get up early and start on stuff. Everybody is supposed to be here later today for BBQ dogs, sausages and hamburger, nothing fancy but should be good.
Wish me luck.
L8r
migalyto
Well-Known Member
Good morning all!
Another cool day on tap today. A small band of showers are moving through the area this morning. not sure where they
came from, they were not in the forecast as of last night. At least they will quit by mid morning. High is only going to
be 67F.
We are heading to a small family get together for lunch later today. Its my side of the extended family that we only
get together on the Sunday before Memorial Day. Not sure how many years we have been doing this, but it has been
a bunch. About an hour away, so not too bad.
Nothing else going on as of yet.
Have a safe day everyone!
Another cool day on tap today. A small band of showers are moving through the area this morning. not sure where they
came from, they were not in the forecast as of last night. At least they will quit by mid morning. High is only going to
be 67F.
We are heading to a small family get together for lunch later today. Its my side of the extended family that we only
get together on the Sunday before Memorial Day. Not sure how many years we have been doing this, but it has been
a bunch. About an hour away, so not too bad.
Nothing else going on as of yet.
Have a safe day everyone!
santafewillie
Same Ol' Buzzard
Good Morning All. Mostly clear and 75°, headed up to the low-90's today. A return to low to mid-60's overnight starting tonight and thunderstorms predicted for tomorrow. Temperatures in the upper-70's and low-80's for the rest of the 10 day forecast. A somewhat cooler last week in May than normal.
Yesterday went well, all away from home. We started at the Lexus dealership to have the 20,000 mile maintenance/oil change done, including tire rotation, a bunch of filters and fluids checked, a car wash, vacuuming and a 3/4 tank fill-up of gas! The last one was a surprise that we weren't expecting. All included with our 2 year maintenance program. We then went to grandson's graduation reception and partied with friends, relatives and a couple of his classmates. After all guests had left, we picked up some Sonny Bryan's BBQ and had a scrumptious feast. They've been around for over 60 years and their original location near downtown Dallas is open 24 hours!
I took a timeout and went over to nearby Discount Model Railroad and exchanged a defective item and spent another $200 on supplies. I should now have enough Kadee #148's to finish out the rest of the fleet and then some. I have at least a dozen Blue Box cars still left on the shelf for assembly, most of which need renumbering. The rest will go for those cars that I have identified as having McHenry couplers, some of which have not failed yet but eventually will. And some Accumate couplers that work OK, are beginning to show their age of over 20 years.
Today I hope to install the remaining window A/C unit, the only one that I remove every year, in a bedroom window. I am also looking at pumping the new water off the pool cover and getting it set up and going. I had previously removed the water but then I rained over 2" in the ensuing days. It's a double-edged sword, it would have been nice to collect that water to fill up the pool, but I would also have to start adding chemicals to water that is still too cold for use!
No train shed time yesterday but I have a disaster out there to deal with. The A/C has stopped cooling. Fan still works, just doesn't cool. This is no good. Step one is purchasing another one. This one is a GE 11,000 BTU that lasted 9 years. I have had better luck with the LG units in the house lasting much longer. It needs to be a greater capacity, in the 15,000-18,000 BTU range. That would require switching from 120v to 240v, not an issue for me. I already have a spare 12 gauge Romex cable in the wall/ceiling from the breaker box to where I need to be. I probably already have the proper outlet, just need a 240v breaker. Feeder from house breaker to train shed is 10 gauge, so amperage isn't a question. My biggest issue is that SIL and #2 grandson will not be coming out to drop off granddogs until next Saturday. Grandson lifts weights every day and this will be a substitute.
Chad - I don't care what they really are, wild pigs, wild boars, wild hogs or feral hogs, they are destructive and leave a sizable dent in any vehicle that hits them. At least the ones nearby stay 200-300 yards down the road on either side of a creekbed, and not up at my place. They are mainly passing to get to the lake across the road. The one that I hit was on the way to work at 5:00 am one morning, about 4 miles away though. We've witnessed a herd of over 20 on several occasions. Because of the terrain on our roadside, they at least don't dart out, but amble slowly enough to give one time to stop and let them pass.
Mike - The meat from these wild pigs tastes close to the same as domesticated ones, but is generally tougher. But the vultures and buzzards don't care; they'll feed on them for weeks.
Troy - No need for DNR tags in Texas where they are considered a nuisance.
Indy 500 race today. I don't keep up with Indy car racing any more so I have no favorite or interest.
Everyone continue to have a safe Memorial Day weekend.
Yesterday went well, all away from home. We started at the Lexus dealership to have the 20,000 mile maintenance/oil change done, including tire rotation, a bunch of filters and fluids checked, a car wash, vacuuming and a 3/4 tank fill-up of gas! The last one was a surprise that we weren't expecting. All included with our 2 year maintenance program. We then went to grandson's graduation reception and partied with friends, relatives and a couple of his classmates. After all guests had left, we picked up some Sonny Bryan's BBQ and had a scrumptious feast. They've been around for over 60 years and their original location near downtown Dallas is open 24 hours!
I took a timeout and went over to nearby Discount Model Railroad and exchanged a defective item and spent another $200 on supplies. I should now have enough Kadee #148's to finish out the rest of the fleet and then some. I have at least a dozen Blue Box cars still left on the shelf for assembly, most of which need renumbering. The rest will go for those cars that I have identified as having McHenry couplers, some of which have not failed yet but eventually will. And some Accumate couplers that work OK, are beginning to show their age of over 20 years.
Today I hope to install the remaining window A/C unit, the only one that I remove every year, in a bedroom window. I am also looking at pumping the new water off the pool cover and getting it set up and going. I had previously removed the water but then I rained over 2" in the ensuing days. It's a double-edged sword, it would have been nice to collect that water to fill up the pool, but I would also have to start adding chemicals to water that is still too cold for use!
No train shed time yesterday but I have a disaster out there to deal with. The A/C has stopped cooling. Fan still works, just doesn't cool. This is no good. Step one is purchasing another one. This one is a GE 11,000 BTU that lasted 9 years. I have had better luck with the LG units in the house lasting much longer. It needs to be a greater capacity, in the 15,000-18,000 BTU range. That would require switching from 120v to 240v, not an issue for me. I already have a spare 12 gauge Romex cable in the wall/ceiling from the breaker box to where I need to be. I probably already have the proper outlet, just need a 240v breaker. Feeder from house breaker to train shed is 10 gauge, so amperage isn't a question. My biggest issue is that SIL and #2 grandson will not be coming out to drop off granddogs until next Saturday. Grandson lifts weights every day and this will be a substitute.
Chad - I don't care what they really are, wild pigs, wild boars, wild hogs or feral hogs, they are destructive and leave a sizable dent in any vehicle that hits them. At least the ones nearby stay 200-300 yards down the road on either side of a creekbed, and not up at my place. They are mainly passing to get to the lake across the road. The one that I hit was on the way to work at 5:00 am one morning, about 4 miles away though. We've witnessed a herd of over 20 on several occasions. Because of the terrain on our roadside, they at least don't dart out, but amble slowly enough to give one time to stop and let them pass.
Mike - The meat from these wild pigs tastes close to the same as domesticated ones, but is generally tougher. But the vultures and buzzards don't care; they'll feed on them for weeks.
Troy - No need for DNR tags in Texas where they are considered a nuisance.
Indy 500 race today. I don't keep up with Indy car racing any more so I have no favorite or interest.
Everyone continue to have a safe Memorial Day weekend.
- Status
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