Running Bear's October 2019 Coffee Shop


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Good Morning All. 47° and it's raining lightly. Must be just here because both of the nearby Weather Underground stations are not reporting it and there is nothing on the radar either. But I got wet from overhead going out on the porch just now. Dreary day yesterday although no additional rain fell; I like sunshine which should return in a couple of hours, at least partly. Expect high 60's later.
In keeping with my wife's Keto diet, I tried something new with the Italian Sausage and Marinara sauce last night, spaghetti squash! Passable but it looks like I'll freeze the leftover for her and continue to make real pasta for me in the future. One squash makes a lot.

Over here Francine. How about a bacon sandwich with two sunny side-up eggs. Cheese and mayo on that sandwich, I want to see Louis squirm again.

Thanks for the likes and comments on the scratchbuilt barn; Chad, Garry, Sherrel, Phil, Chet, Curt, Tom, Joe, Jerome, Mark. It's something that I have wanted to try for many years now. I hope that it will eventually meet expectations.

Out in the train shed yesterday, I just continued working on several projects. Over in the paintbooth, I added a second coat of primer to the Magnuson truck, those who have assembled/painted one in the past understand this! Gave the barn a coat of gray primer before continuing with the distressing of the walls. Over on the layout, I added the parking area to the cafe; asphalt to the area adjoining the road and gravel on the sides of the building. Added a bunch of ground foam to the lot where the barn is going, but did not complete it yet, not until I make the final positioning of the barn and fence. Meanwhile on the workbench (working on three fronts yesterday), I started making the fence posts for the barbed wire fence; I need 32+ for the scale 290' of fencing. I use toothpicks cut into 5 scale foot lengths and then drill three .020" holes in them to string the wire. Talk about crossed eyes! Prepared some additional tree armatures as well. Busy day!:)
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Long way to go on this area yet.

Mark - Yes! Central Minnesota is deep freeze land, but we all choose to live in areas where Mother Nature throws us some curves. You, Chet and Greg have nine month winters and blizzards, Sherrel puts up with wildfires, earthquakes and nutcake politicians, Curt, Phil and Terry deal with hurricanes, Patrick, Johnny and I deal with tornados. Mother Nature wins regardless.
Joe - I really like that picture of the two structures yesterday. Brings back memories of growing up in Brooklyn, on a smaller scale though. You mentioned a sign for the cafe, I easily have over a dozen structures that I need to make signs for. Most of my layout does not have any visible utilities either even though I have a box with over a hundred utility poles waiting to be installed.
Tom - I like to go on layout tours. I have picked up many ideas over the years from them that I have incorporated in my layout. Enjoy the tour.

Today is National Chicken Fried Steak Day. I love it but it is messy to prepare. I won't be eating any today, because it's Willie's BBQ Baby Back Ribs Day here on the SFW estate. Some homemade coleslaw, leftover potato salad and some fruit will fill out the menu. In keeping with my wife's Keto diet, I make the cole slaw with Swerve, a sugar substitute, and we use suger-free BBQ sauce. She skips the potato salad though.
Looks like the drizzle has stopped and left me .02" in the rain gauge.

Everybody have a great day.
 
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tootnkumin said:
One funny (could have been serious) memory I also have of it was having my other mates riding in the back, taking them home. There was this short, roadway overpass over some railway tracks in a trench that the road was formed in an arch over it. Quite short. This night I must have misjudged it a bit speedwise, hit it fast, went over the top, and the tray and canopy lifted off the chassis and came down with a hell of a bang going down the other side. I think they were both stirred and shaken. Seems there were no bolts holding it and them on.
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Sounds like a "hold my beer and watch this" moment.
 
A follow-up on that tornado that hit Dallas last Sunday near both of my daughter's homes. It was worse than originally thought, with over two billion dollars in damages expected. In addition to the Home Depot that I posted about, a high school was badly damaged, a middle school and elementary school were completely destroyed and several other schools, churches, numerous businesses and homes were either badly damaged or completely destroyed. Miraculously there were no deaths and very few minor injuries.
 
Howdy all! Supposed to reach 88* today - was a 92* high yesterday. The record-high 99* in 2017 and the record-low of 47* in 2008. House heated up pretty good yesterday afternoon and we had to "fire up" the A/C while MOH and I watched the ballgame.
Speaking of the ballgame, I just cannot believe some of the STUPID mistakes I see being made .... sure there are some brilliant catches, but idiotic decisions too! I told the misses - just watch - the pitchers getting tired and should be pulled, but no ... let's leave him in until he loads the bases with zero outs! What's the matter that they do this? AND who in their right mind would have a batter bunt with 2 outs and a 2-2 count? These guys don't know how to bunt, "jabbing" at the ball - they think they have to aim for the center field bleachers every time they come to the plate! I wonder if they even know how to "choke up" on the bat?
Blah - blah- blah!

Have to hit the road shopping this morning ... Heading out to a daughter's birthday party in Newport this afternoon. She is having her 40th and hubby is planning a YOUUGGE surprise party with an 80's theme - maybe I will have a pic to post tomorrow of my Reagan/Bush T-shirt; I thought I was through spending money on kids, but guess not! Have to buy some of that $4.20 a gallon fuel for the horseless carriage.

I have spent too much time reading all the posts - have lots of comments to make, but not enough time ... later!
 
Texas Hobo said:
Afternoon choo choo fans:
I think the furniture moving has come to an end, at least till Spring.

Patrick - I'm with you, no smart car for me on the freeway or turnpike.

I b Ken - glad things are turning for the better

Willie - How about Pnkfloyd's dog hiking a leg on the ladder?

Sirfoldalot - There's always Uber.

In the late 40's and early 50's my parents and my maternal grandparents would go on vacation to the town of Shelburne Falls in Mass. We stayed in some neat cabins along the Deerfield River. The Deerfield flows through the Mohawk Valley. At the time the Boston and Maine ran trains that followed the river on the way to the Hoosac Tunnel. I can fondly remember sit on my grandfather's knee watching steam locos making their way along the track directly across the river from us. One of the things that sands out in my memory was the whistle as it echoed through the mountains. The Berkshires are not real tall but more like rounded hills. I think the tallest is something like 7,000 feet. Anyway you could hear the whistle a long time before you ever saw the train. I don't have any photos of that time but I found one that gives you an idea of what it was like.
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Nice pic
Reminds me of where I live in the Ozark Foot Hills
 
Good afternoon. Started off at 31 degrees with a few inches of white crap that fell out of the sky. I understandthat we are headed for the deep freezrin a couple of days.

Joe - What time period are you looking for your vehicles? I do feel fortunate that there are plenty for the transition era but newer ones can be difficult to fine. I think I still have 4 or 5 of the old Magnuson vehicles, but usually have them in the background. I did use ACC on them.

Louis - As usual, I like your assortment of Photos. I will agree with Ray on the '37 Ford. I had been looking for one for quite a while. The ones I found were either so far gone for restoration or way too expensive.

Tom - Did you take any photos of the layouts you visited?

Willie - Nice photos as usual. Enjoy seeing your work. Keep the photos coming. I had heard of all of the damage from that tornado that hit the Dallas area. A lot more than first reported.

Guess I'll post an old photo from the LV archives.

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Still snowing. Sounds like a good excuse to retreat to the train room.

Later
 
santafewillie said:
Good Morning All. 62° and partly cloudy. High today is predicted to be 65° with a 100% chance of 2"+ of rain. So far the rain is staying north in Oklahoma and stretching up to Johnny's in Missouri. Hopefully it won't interfere too much with the weekly grocery/beer trek this morning. Had a nice picnic lunch with SIL and her husband who are camping out (in a RV) in a nearby state park on Lake Ray Roberts. I brought some genuine locally made Texas BBQ brisket. Pulled pork is the specialty back in Tennessee where they live now, and they said that they missed "good" beef BBQ.

Home fries and sausage for me this morning, Francine, and get Louis some decaf!;)

Thanks for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's post; Patrick, Louis, Sherrel, Phil, Chad, Curt, Tom, Jerome, Mike.

Limited day in the train shed again yesterday, I tweaked the track arrangement slightly and attached feeders. As many of you know, I keep several projects going at most times. While I am working over on the layout, I usually have an additional one over on the workbench for when glue/paint is drying, or I just have to sit down a bit. Yesterday I pulled out an over 30 year old Magnuson resin vehicle kit.
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Any of you who might have built one of these in the past, know about the excessive flash on the parts. In This case, there is so much on the bottom of the cab, that I decided to leave it and just trim around the edges.
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It's a scale 4".
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I'll see how it turns out after priming.

Garry - I asked about Dave a few weeks ago and no one seems to know. He was planning to make another temporary move in early September and posted about it.
Patrick - I am not a pickup driver, but that thing about the spare on the Ridgeline is a really good example of poor engineering. Kind of like a certain late 70's subcompact car where the engine had to be removed to get one of the spark-plugs out!
Beady - Mighty fine depot there. They did a really good job of restoring it.
Great that you were finally able to post some pictures of the layout. I see that Homer is still standing guard.
Chad - Looking good. As an HO person, I am often amazed at the amount of trackwork that can fit in a small area.
Rick - Wow! What a layout!

One of my childhood neighbors and a classmate of mine through the end of high school has gotten into the news again due to his passion for the Astros. I posted about him a couple of years ago when he opened up some of his furniture stores as storm shelters for people in Houston during the devastating Hurricane Harvey. Jim McIngvale, aka Mattress Mack always runs those "if ______ wins, your mattress is free" type sales at his stores. This year is no different but he's covering it with his other passion of gambling. Mattress Mack

Today is National Bologna Day, which I have been mispronouncing for over 60 years. Everybody have a great day. I hope that I can get this post posted.
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I have met Jim, "Mattress Mack" on a couple occasions. He is definitely very personable. Generous, when you consider opening two huge showrooms of furniture to the public for shelter, that's a lot of money on the line.
 
Sirfoldalot said:
Did a might small checking on leasing yesterday and found out a bit of info.
One still has to pay the license and registration + the sales tax 7.75 to 9% is divided by the number of months in the lease.
Interesting comments yesterday about "how the looks are"; I don't care - just want something dependable and more fuel efficient than the present. After Terry's go-round - I'm not interested in that one!
Also trying to figure if I really need a truck anymore?
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Drove pick-ups from 68 to 2009, bought a Acura TL a great car, 2 years later traded for a pick-up. While I probably use it as a truck once or twice a year I just like driving a truck.
 
Patrick said:
My grandfather (mom's dad) worked for Detroit Diesel (at the time a GM subsidiary) and always drove Dodges. I asked an uncle why that was and he said it was because the Detroit area GM dealers were harder to deal with than the Dodge dealers and he got the same employee discount in either place.

And while I am still a couple of years (I hope) away from getting a new to me truck, I've noticed that the full size rigs are getting better mileage than my 1st gen Colorado. My only concern is will it fit in the garage.
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That was my concern as well. I wanted a Tundra but bought a Tacoma Access cab instead. I really am enjoying my "little" truck
 
Bruette said:
Karl, I would have never noticed, thank you!

That's one of many reasons I like to come to this forum. I learn stuff I will probably never use, but I do find it all to be interesting.

I know I will never be a great model railroader, but that's not my goal. My goal is to have fun with my toy trains.

Watching and learning from you "Hall of Famers" makes my hobby even more fun!

That is the secret to success in anything. Surround yourself with people smarter than yourself. You don't have to have all the answers, you just need to know who to ask.
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"I know I will never be a great model railroader, but that's not my goal. My goal is to have fun with my toy trains."
It is my belief that you can have a circle of track on the floor with a shoe box lid for a freight station, and be a model railroader. I think most of us will never be as you put it "Hall of Famers", but I believe we all enjoy the fun of the little worlds we create. Our imagination makes our railroad an empire, and your imagination fills in all the scenery that is needed for a complete operation. If one can sit down and run a model train for an hour or two and have the fun and enjoyment that brings, who cares
 
Texas Hobo said:
I have met Jim, "Mattress Mack" on a couple occasions. He is definitely very personable. Generous, when you consider opening two huge showrooms of furniture to the public for shelter, that's a lot of money on the line.
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He was my first friend, known as Jimbo at the time, when my family moved to Dallas in '61. We lived about two blocks apart, with no one in common in between. We were in the same class in the local Catholic school until 8th grade. We went to the same Catholic high school, but since he was a "jock", we didn't share quite as many classes. Always a good and generous guy. Glad that you got to meet him.
 
Boris said:
Hobo: Using Kato track is not all that uncommon, I used it exclusively on a layout I had 10 years ago, (HO). The only issue I have with Uni-track is the inflexibility with the switches, (turnouts). Kato#4s and most US style freight equipment don't mesh well. The #6s are great, but the rigid cast, particularly with the manual make some track arrangements difficult. Otherwise, it's great, and once weathered looks as good as any other.
The curves work out as templates for plotting out flex track also. Good stuff.
Boris
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I attended a train show maybe 10 years back and a model club has a really nice size modular layout using Unitrack. I asked some questions mostly about reliability and wear and tear of connecting and disconnecting the modules. He stated their's were 8 to 10 years old and they never have problems. So I bought an oval at the show, went home and tried it out. As they say the rest is history, 24 turnouts, double crossover and turntable. You are right about the #4's. I'm doing N Scale and if I have derailment it's at one of two #4's.
 
Texas Hobo said:
You are right about the #4's. I'm doing N Scale and if I have derailment it's at one of two #4's.
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I don't remember the details but with KATO #4 are different betwen H0 and N as I understand it. But with N #4 types (including the double track cross overs) there are some mods you can do to make them more reliable. Lots of youtube videos etc.
 
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