Running Bear's September 2025 Coffee Shop

[troyphoto]

Good morning all. A cold, dry day. Flo. A large coffee on the go please. I have a mini-shop to do before oldest grandson visits after school.

Some people here know I love ships and shipping.

This ship looks xxxxxx awful imo.
Sun Princess

View attachment 240298

Look at it from the CFO's perspective. How much are those aft balcony suites bringing in? If I remember correctly, the lowest wall of window is the main dining room? That's fairly standard. And Princess designs for Balcony cabins as their standard offering. I'm not sure if the curved wall of windows just below the flag is buffet seating? (That's my guess without pulling up the deck plans) or a lounge?

I'd like to sail on one of their newer ships, but NCL (our preferred line) finally has an itinerary hitting San Juan PR during the day. they were evening only, and the two old forts I wanted to see close at 5pm. Docking at 4pm wasn't enough time to get there and take the tour.

So, we're tentative on the NCL Getaway this February for Eastern Caribbean. As long as everyone stays healthy.

 

[TLOC]

Good morning Crew. The local to me Wisconsin weather report is 65f degrees now 74 later. A few degrees cooler than yesterday. No realistic chances of rain until 1am overnight when it raises to a 40% chance.

We will see the new Dalton Abbey movie at 1pm in the theater. I have not ever watched an episode of the TV show but did see the previous movie. Happy wife, happy life

No trains for today either

Wells and filters. We have had city water systems and private wells but never a shared well. We tested the water from our private wells yearly and never needed to filter it. We had sediment screens but no filters. We were fortunate as each well so far has had great water

The friend I am building a good sized paper mill started texting about 9pm last night. There is a spot in the paper mill complex that will contain an old mill pond. I never worried about how the double track main was going to cross that approximately 32” space. He decided he wants to do a trestle and I wished him good luck with that as I have enough with the paper mill to do before I even thinking of helping with that project. Plus it’s a double track main over the pond. But he now insists he doesn’t want a causeway so we started talking about girder bridges and deck bridges. Searching online last night the girder bridge system choices are way down from years past when I looked. It was decided he is going to buy girders direct from Central Valley Model Works and I will help him build it. Building the decks should be simple enough if he ballasts the decks, if not and he wants open decks it will complicate things. Oh yeah, needs it by 10/16 installed for an open house

Enjoy the day

 

[NorthBrit]

Not one of the best ones, but still makes me want to take a cruise!

We have done 92 cruises. The Sun Princess is a ship we will give a miss.

 

[NorthBrit]

We will see the new Dalton Abbey movie at 1pm in the theater. I have not ever watched an episode of the TV show but did see the previous movie. Happy wife, happy life

I know there is a new Downton Abbey movie.
What is Dalton Abbey about? Or is it a 'senior moment'?

 

[kbkchooch]

I know there is a new Downton Abbey movie.
What is Dalton Abbey about? Or is it a 'senior moment'

I know what side I'm betting on!

 

[troyphoto]

I know there is a new Downton Abbey movie.
What is Dalton Abbey about? Or is it a 'senior moment'?

I believe Dalton Abbey was the planned sequel to the movie Roadhouse...

Patrick Swayze was going to retire and get forced into teaching a bunch of monks how to defend themselves when greedy drug gangs want to use the monastery as drop sites for drugs and money.

Oh... that sounds a lot like Trinity is still my Name...

 

[troyphoto]

Well, howdy there internet peeps and those wondering if there ever was a better spaghetti western than Trinity?

It's Troy again

Foggy and 63 in the Fort

I realized I forgot to show the apple fritter wife and I shared at the Johnny Appleseed Festival

QUESTION for you HO modellers:

What's the comfortable curve radius for early 1980s era prototype rolling stock and locos?

I'm still playing with the idea of using the lower level of my layout as HO. I've got one end that has a 42 inch edge to edge diameter. But I'd want that to be a 19 or 20 inc radius for the return loop if I go HO. Not sure how that would work out?

I can do 22 to 24 inch radius in most other places.

 

[kbkchooch]

Well, howdy there internet peeps and those wondering if there ever was a better spaghetti western than Trinity?

It's Troy again

Foggy and 63 in the Fort

I realized I forgot to show the apple fritter wife and I shared at the Johnny Appleseed Festival

View attachment 240322

QUESTION for you HO modellers:

What's the comfortable curve radius for early 1980s era prototype rolling stock and locos?

I'm still playing with the idea of using the lower level of my layout as HO. I've got one end that has a 42 inch edge to edge diameter. But I'd want that to be a 19 or 20 inc radius for the return loop if I go HO. Not sure how that would work out?

I can do 22 to 24 inch radius in most other places.

My minimum radius is 28", and sometimes I feel that is too tight for 85' cars, YMMV

 

[NorthBrit]

What's the comfortable curve radius for early 1980s era prototype rolling stock and locos?

As wide as possible. Much more realistic. lol

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Clear and 75°, heading up to 95° later on. Only managed 93° yesterday. Supposed to have rain overnight tonight and the rest of the 10 day forecast shows that today is the last day for a high in the 90's.

Lots of tree leaves and debris in the pool yesterday, from that severe weather Sunday night. Good thing that the water is still at 83°, as it's a lot easier to remove it from the inside. Took me over an hour yesterday to clean it all up. Besides leaves, there were small branches that snapped off trees over 50' away and quite a bit of tumbleweed that blew up and in from the surrounding fields.
Visit yesterday to the dermatologist went well. Nothing unusual and he only used his freeze spray about 1/3 as much as normal. Didn't even chide me about the hat! Stopped by Home Depot on the way home to pick up more liquid chlorine for the pool. Needed more to overwinter it, and lots next spring for startup. Get it now before the price goes up! Did some mowing in mid-afternoon with the push mower before tackling the pool.
Today will be mowing the east side of the yard after I get the tree debris cleared out of the way. Not much, but it still gets in the way. Then this afternoon, I have a dental hygienist appointment at 2. Not sure how I got that time as I usually go for 9 in the morning. When I realized it last week, it was realistically too late to change. So the schedule is mow, shower, eat lunch, take a nap and then go see her. One reason that I wouldn't have knowingly scheduled that time is because the office is a half block from an elementary school and I'll be getting out at 3! School is between the office and home.

While I did make it out to the train shed yesterday, it was only a brief time since cleaning the pool took a lot longer than planned. I just switched some cars around within the lower east side staging yard. It can be operated as a switching yard even though it wasn't planned for it. I do have to use the main line as the yard lead.

Louis - Hope that Angela is feeling better today. Since you're not posting this morning, I assume that she is and y'all are working.
Troy - A comfortable radius in HO is as big as you can go! A 20" radius for a return loop will work for all but the longest rolling stock, but will look very un-prototypical for any 6-axle engines. There were a lot of 4-axle engines still running on Class 1 railroads in the early 80's.

Rocker Bruce Springsteen is 76 today. For some reason, I thought that he was younger. The late Ray Charles was also born on this day in 1930.

Everyone have a terrific Tuesday.

 

[NYC_George]

I don't know which one of you guys told me to dig deeper but I'm down around 3 feet on the last root and it still isn't moving.
Swal

 

[NorthBrit]

I don't know which one of you guys told me to dig deeper but I'm down around 3 feet on the last root and it still isn't moving.
Swal

View attachment 240324

Keep going. Australia is that direction.

 

[NYC_George]

Ok it's over I got that job done. I'm in a big golf tournament this weekend. I have to take a little time off from hard work. Ruins my golf swing.
Swal

 

[NorthBrit]

Look at it from the CFO's perspective. How much are those aft balcony suites bringing in? If I remember correctly, the lowest wall of window is the main dining room? That's fairly standard. And Princess designs for Balcony cabins as their standard offering. I'm not sure if the curved wall of windows just below the flag is buffet seating? (That's my guess without pulling up the deck plans) or a lounge?

I'd like to sail on one of their newer ships, but NCL (our preferred line) finally has an itinerary hitting San Juan PR during the day. they were evening only, and the two old forts I wanted to see close at 5pm. Docking at 4pm wasn't enough time to get there and take the tour.

So, we're tentative on the NCL Getaway this February for Eastern Caribbean. As long as everyone stays healthy.

I understand what you are saying, Troy. The problems we see now is because the ships are so big it is all about the bottom line. How much can the company make on a cruise.

Gone is the Turndown Service. The Stateroom Steward has double the number of rooms to attend to for the same pay. Obviously the little details on the Turndown Service is missing.

The upsell on drinks packages. Then find the lack of Waiters. When you do get a drink many occasions it is not what you actually ordered. Off course the staff are not interested. They already have your gratuity you paid before hand.

At mealtimes the staff have more tables to attend to than previously.

I could mention more. The check-in. How the passenger has to do all the work. The dining chairs are close to the next tables chairs. etc.etc.etc.

It is all about the bottom line.

A ship from a different time.

British India S. N. Co ship Uganda

 

[migalyto]

Ok it's over I got that job done.

Wow! That's quite a crater you dug to get that stump out!

I had 6 Evergreens to take out in the front of the house for them to widen the sidewalk. I dug, chopped, hacked, rocked and it took me the whole night to get the first one out. I ended up bringing home the engine hoist (cherry picker) from work and using that to take out the other 5. Seemed to help a great deal lifting them straight up. Long story short I was able to pull the other 5 out in less than 2 hours.

 

[TLOC]

I know there is a new Downton Abbey movie.
What is Dalton Abbey about? Or is it a 'senior moment'?

Neither, just spelled incorrectly

From wikipedia

On 26 March 2015, Carnival Films and ITV announced that the sixth series would be the last; it aired on ITV between 20 September 2015 and 8 November 2015. The final episode, the annual Christmas special, was broadcast on 25 December 2015. A film adaptation, a continuation of the series, was confirmed on 13 July 2018 and released in the United Kingdom on 13 September 2019, and in the United States on 20 September 2019. A second feature film, Downton Abbey: A New Era, was released in the United Kingdom on 29 April 2022 by Universal Pictures, and in the United States and Canada on 20 May 2022 by Focus Features. A third and final film set to conclude the series, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, was released in the UK on 12 September 2025

 

[migalyto]

QUESTION for you HO modellers:

What's the comfortable curve radius for early 1980s era prototype rolling stock and locos?

I'm still playing with the idea of using the lower level of my layout as HO. I've got one end that has a 42 inch edge to edge diameter. But I'd want that to be a 19 or 20 inc radius for the return loop if I go HO. Not sure how that would work out?

I can do 22 to 24 inch radius in most other places.

Adding easements both in and out of the curve will help a great deal with achieving tighter radius curves.

It will make your longer locomotives and rolling stock preform much better and help with aesthetics.

 

[NYC_George]

Wow! That's quite a crater you dug to get that stump out!

I had 6 Evergreens to take out in the front of the house for them to widen the sidewalk. I dug, chopped, hacked, rocked and it took me the whole night to get the first one out. I ended up bringing home the engine hoist (cherry picker) from work and using that to take out the other 5. Seemed to help a great deal lifting them straight up. Long story short I was able to pull the other 5 out in less than 2 hours.

2 hours Mike that fast. I tried to get my neighbors backhoe in here, but it would fit thought the fence otherwise it would have been an 1/2-hour job. Swal

 

[troyphoto]

I understand what you are saying, Troy. The problems we see now is because the ships are so big it is all about the bottom line. How much can the company make on a cruise.

Gone is the Turndown Service. The Stateroom Steward has double the number of rooms to attend to for the same pay. Obviously the little details on the Turndown Service is missing.

The upsell on drinks packages. Then find the lack of Waiters. When you do get a drink many occasions it is not what you actually ordered. Off course the staff are not interested. They already have your gratuity you paid before hand.

At mealtimes the staff have more tables to attend to than previously.

I could mention more. The check-in. How the passenger has to do all the work. The dining chairs are close to the next tables chairs. etc.etc.etc.

It is all about the bottom line.

A ship from a different time.

British India S. N. Co ship Uganda

View attachment 240336

Excellent points. A LOT has changed since we started cruising in 2005.

Still, the floating hotel is a good way to travel and see more than one location. We're looking at doing the UK and the Med with NCL in the next few years. Turndown service is nice, but my wife HATES mint and chocolate together. So I ate a lot more of the mints than I should.

 

[DeaconKC]

Good morning folks, 75 here and heading for 86. A soft rain falling and storms predicted this afternoon. Nataley's volleyball team won their first game last night! Gonna try the new possible yard layout today, wish me luck! George, would your neighbor's complain a lot if you just used dynamite on that root? [pictures George in an ACME t-shirt...]? Got some parts in last night for the mud puppy, the cylinder works properly, but gotta get the new barrel to my gunsmith so it will be spaced properly. Y'all be good, and may God bless you.