Running Bear's October 2025 Coffee Shop

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Good morning, a late riser here today because I went to bed at 1:20am, 6 hours of solid sleep straight through with no memories of tossing and turning! Boy that’s been awhile. Like MIGALYTO 105 miles south of me it’s 40f degrees now but we are only predicted for 56 as the high. Still it should be a glorious Autumn day in Wisconsin

I did not watch the Black Hawks lose last night and walked away from watching the inept Packers before the 1st half was done. I guess they were a great team in the 2nd half beating Mr Rodgers and his Steelers. I could hear Terry cheering but I wasn’t going to watch them and possibly jink them. You know the happy wife theory, Terry is very much like that with her Packers and I always benefit from a win…

Yesterday afternoon the Women Badgers hockey team remained undefeated in an unbelievably tough game. The Badgers were out played by a determined gritty team but still won 8-0. Minnesota State even out shot the Badgers but our goalie was National Goalie of the year last season, she’s good. Missing 3 top 5 players yesterday again because of injury. Dinner tonight with Coach and his wife

Today, nothing planned but I believe I have Terry convinced to hire a cleaning service again. 2 are coming to case the house this morning. Terry wants to make sure the service is bonded and insured. The last one said they were but were not!

I have fallen deep into the rabbit hole called Ai. I thought at 1st it was too much time spent doing a deep dive data search and development for my friend’s paper mill I am building. This is part of the reason of the rabbit hole, it can do so much so quickly. After plugging in the data, developing the car movement plan and then creating a back story ai must say Ai has impressed me. I started using Claude that was in my DuckDuckGo browser and is great for creating and then writing the back story but cannot draw or sketch. But Chat GPT can and I am playing with the free versions of both. From my description of how I want the mill to look
B9CE36FE-C135-4315-933F-EAAB0798AD3D.png

To the far left is the wood handling department, basically pulp logs are conveyored in from the storage yard, debarked, chipped, washed, screened and sent to storage. The taller building is the digester’s building that turns the chips into pulp. It is a stand alone building that will sit just in front of the background facade fronts that will range from 1 to 3” in depth. Behind that is the indoor chip storage silos. Next to the right is a portion of the paper machine building. By time I finish this portion of the mill it will stretch from left to right 7’. Because there is a limit of 15 images a day I do not have the next 5 to 8’ of buildings illustrated. I’ve done paper mills before but never had such a complete in-depth backstory. So far I have 30 PDF files and maybe 20 pages of the production flow and descriptions of each building. I worked backwards. I told Claude (Ai) I wanted to ship daily 8 to 10 of 1965 era boxcars of finished paper products daily. The plan was built from there. If u can’t tell I am fascinated that basically in maybe 8 hours spread over 3 days I have a production plan, a car movement plan, a switch list for each day of weeks 1 and 2 of the month, a narrative and an estimate supply list of materials to purchase to build it. It offered to supply part numbers and locations I could buy from. The same for era appropriate locomotives and rolling stock. I’ve spent weeks on past builds in getting that info together.

A screen shot of part of the image library of structures designed

IMG_2522.png


Later this morning I will start the design process for the coal fired power plant. It will fit around a 10” x 18” deep pillar just off the left side of the paper mill complex.

Enjoy the da
 
Good Morning All. I guess that it is partly cloudy because it's perfectly clear overhead, but cloudy on the eastern horizon, and it's 60°. Not as warm as Terry, but much warmer than Karl or Bill. But it won't last for long, the NWS is forecasting a significant wind shift out of the north around noon tomorrow that will drop our overnight lows into the upper-30's. I'll be bringing firewood in today.

Yesterday was supposed to be a day of rest and relaxing, but I ended up doing 2 loads of laundry, a load of dishes and tended the burn barrel...now that it has finally rained. Then I vacuumed the car out after our trip. Nothing really physical, but all were time consuming. Later in the afternoon, I picked about 20# of Tomatoes from the plants that survived the summer.
On the to do list today, besides bringing in firewood, I plan to clean last years ashes out of the wood-burning stove and sweep the chimney. Neither is pressing, but I might as well get it done now. This afternoon, I resume PT to rebuild stamina, which took a setback after last summer's medical issues. Doctor gave the OK about three weeks ago, but vacation and other stuff got in the way.

I did spend a little time out in the train shed yesterday, always a short day on Sunday. I disassembled the Walther's Mainline GP9U that has run erratically since it was given to me for Father's Day in 2024. I had never given it a thorough inspection or anything. I cleaned out excessive lubricant, mostly oil. I found that 2 of the 8 wheel wipers were not making contact, not that that should have made a difference; fixed that. So I ran it on the upper continuous loop track for about 15 minutes in each direction and it is running better now. However the model overall could use some major cosmetic improvements. The truck sideframes and handrails are black. I was able to remove the sideframes and scrubbed them in warm soapy water. Anyone who knows ATSF at all, knows that they had silver sideframes from the early 70's on any loco with the Warbonnet paint scheme. Handrails should be yellow, but I couldn't remove them. I might be able to force them, but I don't want to break one. So I will paint them while still attached; doable but more difficult than if I could remove them. The grabirons are molded on but I haven't decided if I want to shave them off and add metal ones. I need to look up some pictures to see if I need to add sun shades or not. I am basically looking for a loco to pair up with a solitary GP20 and use them for switching operations. My engineers need a little more variety than the CF7's and GP35's.

Tom O - Too bad about losing your ChatGPT history, but at least you found a work-around. I played around a bit with AI back in December, but I have let it slide away for now. I just have too many other things to keep me occupied.
Chad - AdBlock is worth downloading.
Troy - Get well soon.
Karl - I'm kinda the opposite, I like a nice firm mattress. I did not sleep well on the soft one in the hotel Friday night. Too squishy!
Michael - Last Friday night at a restaurant in West Monroe I tried a new to me beer called Peroni Nastro Azzurro lager, from Italy; although I think that it is now also brewed in America. Quite tasty.

Everyone out there have a wonderful and safe Monday.
 


Well, howdy there internet peeps and those with good pick-up lines

It's Troy again.

Getting the laundry going, painting, and making army lists for the "old" game. Trying to come to grips with how the army plays. I think I've had an Ah-HA" moment that I was missing earlier. Need to build one more model to make the current force-list work out. And it's a biggie.

Found Lord Fuzzbutt on Chipmunk watch earlier today.
LocoKitty.jpg


And then I set up to paint the Display Platform for my Tourney Cart: Started on the underside:


Before.jpg


572505332_18529128718035711_3996808350821648925_n.jpg


Realized as I was painting it, that I still need to add the stop blocks to this side, so the board doesn't slide off backwards. I'll add them after he top is painted.
 
i will show you a picture from my bush crafting yesterday.
and they are now ready to sell in my shop. lets see if someone will buy them.
you never know till you try it :)
Those look great!

It may take a little while, but when word gets out they will probably sell very well.

I haven't checked out your YT channel in a while, but is there a tutorial on how you made these?
 
I remember way back, there was a motorizing kit available for that engine. It had everything you needed to make that 0-8-0 an operating engine.

Saw this maybe once or twice on a train show. Unfortunately my model has all plastic wheels, so that will be a challenge. All valve gear rods are metal though, so that's half the battle.
 
51°F and light rain this morning. The rain should continue until late morning.

Great operating session yesterday. I had to clean one of my favorite locomotives to even get it to move more than a couple of inches. It is a Jägerndorfer ÖBB Rh 2070 shunting and light road locomotive. It has a wonderful sound file and runs great when it's clean. I mean, almost sterile clean.

Jägerndorfer in their Teutonic engineering, designed two narrow small copper tabs with 45° angles on the extreme top end. The tabs are for the motor pickups and come into contact with two metal pads on the bottom of the light board when it's screwed down to the chassis. There are two of these tiny tabs for each bogie on either side.

They are not spring loaded and the copper it too thin to exert any kind of pressure on the tiny metal pads under the light board when assembled. In addition to that, the tiny tabs have a very tiny point on each 45° end, almost like a tiny dot of solder to make this electrical contact.

Poorest pickup contact design I have ever seen. If there is but one micron of oxide or other contaminant on these contacts, the locomotive runs like crap, if at all. Yesterday before cleaning, it would run an inch or two and stop. I'd push lightly over one or the other bogie and it would run another one or two inches. I might add, that the bogie contacts (the two tiny tabs with the 45° angle) swivel with the bogie on curves and you would think since the tabs actually move on the metal pads on the bottom of the light board, they would be kept cleaner rather than something stationary. Not so.

I would very much like to use some 32 or 34 gauge magnet wire soldered to these tabs and then soldered to the pads on the bottom of the light board to eliminate this problem, but my eyesight is not good enough any longer to do this sort of detailed work with a soldering iron any more. This would almost be like trying to work with SMT components, but not quite that bad. It may as well be though for as well as I can see it.

I'm still thinking of a solution to this problem.

This is one of the nicest locomotives I have with outstanding detail and sound. It also runs extremely well when clean. I just don't want to have to clean this thing every operating session.

Have a great day everyone! Servus!

View attachment 245572View attachment 245573View attachment 245574
Nice model. I read back in the day in one of the rail magazines of the use of transmission fluid (automatic transmission) to keep the rails clean. Maybe it would work on the pickup tabs.
 
@migalyto yes there is a video tutorial on my channel. i cant remember the name correctly but something like "make realistic looking bushes fast!". the technique iam using is not my own, i got it told from Marcel Ackle, a legend in diorama building. but he told me i can make a video and spread the idea! and it is really not that hard to do :)
 
Good Morning All!

39F @ 84% rain and clouds, no white. To be 45F later.

Wire push went well. I did not have a 'spool' for either the Pex or Romax, so had to deal with loose coils. After about 4 pushes, figured out how to roll the coils enough to get a couple more pushes done. Maria and I switched every once in awhile; she would push, I would roll, visa-versa. Took about 45 minutes to get-r-done. Ya, couple of breathing breaks slowed us down. Even with 60 degrees in the Train Cave, we both came out sweating. Made it around all three 90 degree corners, with the last being a little tougher. One more corner and we probably would had to start over pulling and pushing. Ya, wrapped 200Mph tape every 3 or 4 feet JiC we had to pull it all out. Plenty of space on the floor to stretch it out if that was the case. I did find out something unknown to me. Pex is labeled in feet from one end to the other; kinda like Net cable. That made the 'how far are we' guessing part a non-issue. So my 120Ft guess was off - pushed 140Ft. Could not push past the tape covering the conduit in the Chicken house, and we both sighed until we realized that we could have been that far.
IMGP1214.JPG

IMGP1213.JPG



Of course, after we were done I remembered that there is a 'helper'. Basically a hub that can expand to the inner coil diameter and the material would have rolled right on in. Guess that we did ok for the time it took us to do it.

Have to drop both coils today and unroll another 30Ft ish to the interface with the house. Then to Ace for some u-shaped wall clamps and connect power to the box. Got the stuff to crimp the Pex but don't know if I will get to that today or not.

She is grinning as she sees progress...

L8r
 


@migalyto yes there is a video tutorial on my channel. i cant remember the name correctly but something like "make realistic looking bushes fast!". the technique iam using is not my own, i got it told from Marcel Ackle, a legend in diorama building. but he told me i can make a video and spread the idea! and it is really not that hard to do :)
Thanks Marco.

I will go look on your channel and find it. I will be at that stage in my mountain area (hopefully) shortly. I want to start learning how to make shrubs, bushes, pine trees etc.....
 
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But always remember! DCC IS 2 wires
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
the amount of salt, sugar, artificial flavoring and preservatives in them.
I may have told this before, but I'm getting old therefore I get a free pass for repeatedly telling the same story. When my oldest daughter was training in the Army to be a combat medic she talked to the ranking doctor, a Colonel, about me. "My dad eats too many hotdogs, lunch meats and other processed food loaded with salt preservatives, and I am worried about him. He told her "I doubt you have to worry. The only likely consequence will be that your dad's body will last longer than usual after he dies. But I seriously doubt the salt and other preservative will be the cause of his death"

Sugar, I avoid it because I am diabetic. I run low on salt and potassium, occasionally critically low due to having Salt Wasting Syndrome. No matter how much salt I consume. I keep my salt in check by making it look like a light snow has fallen on my vegetables, mostly greens. Which I eat almost every day. I don't have to worry about salt unless I don't get enough.

My wife is sensitive to salt. It will cause her blood pressure to rise. My mom was the same, as are many people.

My wife makes almost everything from scratch. We seldom eat out because of all the extra fat and salt she notices in most restaurant foods. I don't pay any attention to it. I don't eat much anyway. I prefer home-cooked food. I really don't care about eating out.

Organic foods... I don't care, whatever looks best. My wife eats organic green salads.
I finally just decided to retire at 63, rather than to waste my time just showing up.
You did good to make it to 63. There is not much worse than to be bored. Fortunately for us Amazon only keeps us 5-10 minutes when they have no work. We still get full pay. It only takes 5-10 minutes because they must scan our license and check us out on the computer so that we will get paid.
I firmly believe that if you’re tax bill after all deductions and credits (not including withholding etc obviously) isn’t at least some nominal amount you owe then you shouldn’t get to vote on anything related to money.
That would be punishing people for the morons who make the tax laws.
A perfect example of the morons is action.
Greetings all, I have returned from an electron free summer!
Well okay… I made a few phone calls and used the margarita machine a few times but that’s it.
I can see I have lots of catching up to do with all the postings!

I don’t get let in here very often, the sign says “no shoes no shirts” Flo, there’s absolutely no mention of pants.
Great to see you, Rico!
property taxes have doubled to just over $400/month
Welcome to my world. I used to appeal every increase. Then I realized all I was doing was wasting my time.
 
I used to use a product called RailZip until I found out that it destroys my traction tires. Nothing like changing traction tires on 10 locomotves at one go. At least the were Diesel or electric. That was pre-steam on my layout.

I think RailZip was nothing more that refined transmission fluid.

Rail zip (last time I looked) was $5.99 an oz. ATF was $5.99 a Quart. Plus RailZip tended to dry out over time and get sticky.

What modern engine would still use traction tires? I thought they died with Tyco.
 


So... after test fitting my display board on top of my cart, I realized I hadn't accounted for the bevel in the handle:

Screenshot 2025-10-27 at 1.37.17 PM.png


Due to that tilt down on either side, the box rocks front to back.

I debated on trying to cut some wooden wedges, but decided that making new handles with 3D printing might be the way.

So how to make this:????
Screenshot 2025-10-27 at 1.37.32 PM.png


but have it level?

My thought was to print 4 of these:
Screenshot 2025-10-27 at 1.34.51 PM.png


It's up-side-down in the illustration, but I designed it in tinkercad. Put the tubular end into the cart leg, with the square part on top. Face the holes towards each other, and add a piece of Closet Dowel Rod across the span. Affix with Bolts and T-nuts (like the leveling feet under our layouts?) on both ends.

Once I finish the current job on the 3D printer, I'll load up one of these and see if I've got all of my tolerances figured out.
 
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