Running Bear’s November 2019 Coffee Shop


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Good Afternoon Everyone....sunny and 32 degrees with 2-4 inches of snow over night and tomorrow. Checked the oil in the snow blower and since it's relatively mild outside I changed the snow blower's engine oil. Better now than when its 10 degrees in the garage and a major snow storm brewing. I dislike the oil dip sticks and dip tubes on the Tecumseh Snow King engines. The dip stick is hard to read and the dip tube will come loose when unscrewing the dip stick cap. Glad that job is done! Maybe some year I'll clean and change oil on the snow blower in summer when the weather is warmer.

When for a needed hair cut this morning at a true men's "Classic Barber Shop". Good music in the background, plenty of men's magazines, true barbers and not hair stylists, a free open honor bar in the rear for a cocktail of your choice if you wish to have a drink or two and the decor of a turn of the century barber shop of the past. $17 for seniors for a regular hair cut.

Then I treated the Mrs. to lunch at a local burger joint.

No trains today, but my latest issues of Model Railroader and Trains arrived today. The MR looks like a good issue. I have to reimburse the family checking account some funds for some purchases I made for the CM&N railroad. The wife read an shipping confirmation email that came to her account about an order I placed and the equipment will arrive soon. She caught me!!!

That's all for now....

Greg

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This old weathered SOO caboose is ready for shoving platform duty.-Greg
Greg- how much of the white veil did you end up with down your way? Here in the Hub City, we got about an inch or 2. Up Wausau way, they got about 2 scale feet(HO) or barely a dusting(in 1:1 scale).
 
Good morning everyone. 47 and raining out there.

IBKen, Lee, Chessie, Chad, Tom, Patrick, Wheeler, CCoffran, Sherrel, Willie, Chet, and anyone I may have missed - thanks for the likes and comments on my posts yesterday.
Lee - We Ozarkians gotta get Chet to close Montana's south door!!
Chet - Hope your bowling team takes it all!
Tom - Buy lots at the train show!
Garry - Nice layout photo - very realistic.

Regarding my post of the train plow videos yesterday - those of you who have been in the train business a long time or on this forum way longer than I have - I know you have seen lots of train snow plow videos over the years. But you know how you get to binge-watching YouTube videos- - that's what happened to me yesterday - got fascinated by watching trains plow through - or not - big drifts. Interesting stuff.

Well, I've identified my next layout section to work on - the area just south of town. It's partly done, but needs to be finished. Here's a "Before" photo. I'll post progress photos when I make any :D

Mostly the righthand side of the road, and some details on the left side. Looks like I need some vehicles in the depot parking lot, huh? Also, am waiting for a structure kit to arrive and will make it a bait and tackle shop. It will replace one of the buildings on the right side since this is just outside the lake area, which you can just barely see at the top left of the photo
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That's it for now. Time for more coffee! Have a good day everyone.
Good morning everyone. 47 and raining out there.

IBKen, Lee, Chessie, Chad, Tom, Patrick, Wheeler, CCoffran, Sherrel, Willie, Chet, and anyone I may have missed - thanks for the likes and comments on my posts yesterday.
Lee - We Ozarkians gotta get Chet to close Montana's south door!!
Chet - Hope your bowling team takes it all!
Tom - Buy lots at the train show!
Garry - Nice layout photo - very realistic.

Regarding my post of the train plow videos yesterday - those of you who have been in the train business a long time or on this forum way longer than I have - I know you have seen lots of train snow plow videos over the years. But you know how you get to binge-watching YouTube videos- - that's what happened to me yesterday - got fascinated by watching trains plow through - or not - big drifts. Interesting stuff.

Well, I've identified my next layout section to work on - the area just south of town. It's partly done, but needs to be finished. Here's a "Before" photo. I'll post progress photos when I make any :D

Mostly the righthand side of the road, and some details on the left side. Looks like I need some vehicles in the depot parking lot, huh? Also, am waiting for a structure kit to arrive and will make it a bait and tackle shop. It will replace one of the buildings on the right side since this is just outside the lake area, which you can just barely see at the top left of the photo
View attachment 41318

That's it for now. Time for more coffee! Have a good day everyone.

Chet needs to close his eastern window, as well. Brrr
 
Greetings fellow earthlings....received another couple of slides this morning, this time....Louisville & Nashville, no info on them other than June of '77!

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Good Morning All. Currently 51° and raining. An hour ago it was 62°, cold front hit about 45 minutes ago and the winds are 15 mph+ out of the NW. Thanks Chet! And you too Patrick for not blocking the wind in Doo-Dah! There's 3.5" in the rain gauge currently. Come and get it Sherrel. Temperature will continue to drop until about mid-morning tomorrow; although it isn't projected to hit freezing. Monday and Tuesday next week look treacherous! After hitting 70° on Saturday and Sunday, the forecast is for rain and low temperatures around 23° the next two days. Ground is finally pretty well saturated here, so my pond which has been empty since late July, should start re-filling now, but I am not going out to look until after daylight. The weekly grocery/beer trek is this morning, so far the only extra stop is Target for paper towels and TP.

Chilly out there today Flo, double up on the bacon along with a pair of poached eggs and some toast.

Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday for the latest barn pictures; Jerome, Patrick, Sherrel, Garry, Curt, Clint, Tom, Johnny, Chet, Greg, Phil, Ray, Lee, Rick, Justin.

Ran some trains out in the train shed yesterday. I first overhauled a ten year old Athearn GP40X that had been running erratically. Disassembled it, cleaned, greased and oiled it and then repaired the front handrail that was broken in three places. Runs great now. I also made some trees and yanked a basket-case structure off the layout for rehab. Took a couple of "before" pictures but I left the camera outside and don't want to get my hair wet this morning.
So instead, Here's an archive picture of the local officer adding revenue to the town' budget. He needs a new cruiser but the town cannot afford it just yet.
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Phil - Many positive thoughts and prayers from me to you and your family during these difficult times.
Garry - Very sweet picture of the 44T exiting the scrapyard.
Enjoy the train shows this weekend Mike & Tom. I'd love to join you both, but I'll stick with my 75° temperatures around here.

Everybody have a great day.
 
Good morning everyone. 37 and raining. rained all night, too.

Chessie, Flip, Tom, Garry, Lee, Sherrel, Patrick, Wheeler, CCoffran, Willie, Chet, and anyone I may have missed - thanks for the likes and comments on my photo yesterday.
Flip - Sorry to hear about the problems. Hang in there, pray.
Patrick - That Monty Python song is great! I have always liked the British humor (my wife is British by birth, by the way) - Python, John Cleese, the shows Are You Being Served and Fawlty Towers - - this is great stuff.
Garry - Another nice photo from your layout - you really get some highly realistic looks.
Chet - Weather guy here says we're in for lows in the single digits and teens next week. It's too early in the season for that! :mad: Evidently my box fans aren't blowing that Montanan/Canadian air back to you fast enough :D

Ran trains for a little while last night. Found some cars that like to decouple, and figured out it must be mismatched couplers - one high, one low so when they go around a curve they'll decouple. Gotta fix that.

Finished the ranch tract house. Pretty satisfied with it. Just have to put a couple of folks on the porch, maybe a bench there too. Will post final photo soon.

Decided to add the south end of main street to the section I'm going to work on next. It's been sitting there for a couple of years this way:

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I may replace that house with another store or two, add the landscaping, and fix that road - it really looks awful. Those 1:87 citizens have been paying their taxes, so I guess it's about time to put their money to use on street improvements ;)

I won't get started on this area for a few days, probably. Will post progress photos.

That's it for now. My coffee pot is calling.
Have a good day everyone.
 
Morning all,

Time for coffee this morning...Thanks Flo!

I wish to apologize to anyone offended by the Monty Python song....It is from one of many favorite MP movies (The Life of Brian).

Funny story about that song. In 2012, we had just completed the move to Springfield, MO and as we usually had season passes we went to the opening of the Christmas season at Silver Dollar City. They had a new Christmas play, "It's a Wonderful Life", based on the movie. It was quiet in the theater when they started this song, I burst out laughing, only to get an elbow by the wife telling me to be quiet as no one else was laughing. I told her it was because they didn't know where the song originated and who wrote it. The thought of 20 some guys on crosses at the end of the film singing and doing some can-can routine always cracks me up. Twisted sense of humor I guess....

Willie: I'd be happy to close the door when the wind slows down enough to keep it from blowing open!...Besides I like to share. ;) You could open the door and let the south wind bring up the warm air from the gulf....
 
Morning Railroaders! Going up to 85* today and the usual clear; it was 81* YESTERDAY - presently 48*
The daughter's arm is AFU .. lots of road rash and she will have the addition of a cadaver bone in her elbow due to her bone being shattered in that - one of the three breaks.

You guys are "woosies" about flying. Granted that it is not the same as it was, but 40 years ago it was a really great way to travel. I'll never forget my first commercial flight from Beaumont, TX to Shreveport, LA in a Trans Texas DC-3. There were 6 other folks on the 21 passenger plane and I was traveling alone at the age of nine- my nose is still crooked from pressing it to the window as the altitude, at the most, was no more than 3,000 feet dodging the cumulous clouds.
YES - flying back in those days was a "no-hassle" way to travel - no crowds, no security, and boarding the a/c was usually not much more than a few hundred feet away.

OK - off my soapbox .... it's still the safest way to travel!
 
Good Morning Everyone....sunny but cold and a low tonight of 9 degrees. The snow is finished for awhile. Should of filled my pickup truck's gas tank before the cold weather hit. I still haven't drove it!!!

Getting ready for the layout room.

Mike: Yesterday and last night on the grassy areas maybe 3 or 3 1/2 inches of snow, but mostly slush on the roadways since the roads are relatively warm and the village applied lots of salt.

Milwaukee Road 113: Great photos of the L&N locomotives and welcome back, it's been awhile since your last post.

Willie: I see from your post that I'm not the only one who has broken handrails. I've started to order spare hand rails for locomotives as soon as I purchased a locomotive. I have a box of spare hand rails, but can't tell to which locomotive they belong. I've been using canopy glue to repair hand rails and it dries strong and is nearly invisible as well. It cleans up with water.

I been reading a book about ore hauling in Wisconsin, Ontario and Michigan and I'm amazed and the number of railroads that hauled iron ore or pellets at one time. Naming a few of the roads that come to mind; The Milwaukee, SOO, C&NW, Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic, CN, CP, Algoma Central, UP, DM&IR and Lake Superior & Ishpeming. So many railroads are gone due to bankruptcies or acquisitions. I've written before that my goal is for a ore hauling unit train of 100 cars. I been weathering mainly Walther's ore cars, adding Kadee couplers, metal wheel sets and Chooch ore loads covered with Woodland Scenics ore for added realism. So far maybe 40+ cars are completed.

I limit ore trains to 16 or less cars on my CM&N railroad.

I used to purchase ore cars whenever I saw they on sale since Walther's at one time discounted their line. I can't believe that ore cars sets are selling at or over their retail prices on E Bay and at swap meets. I never kept track of the number of ore cars that I purchased and I ended up with over 300+ ore and Taconite cars. I started an inventory of the names, road numbers and other details on an Excel worksheet.

I found out in the book I've reading that Taconite cars also hauled raw iron ore. This was something I wasn't aware of as being factual.

A couple things to do and then down to the train room.

Later....

Greg

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The P/U is still behaving? What gives? It starts as soon as the key is turned, and has not sputtered at all.

Johnny -- Man, you gotta do something about that HW crossing? Have never seen one that looked like that - LOL.

Willie -- Cool scene of the guy getting a ticket! The city will have a new cruiser in no time.

Garry -- Really neat photo of the 44 toner!

Greg -- Forgot to mention that caboose! Excellent work on the weathering! Your photo of the ore cars this morning is nice too! I hope you are feeling stronger - good to have you back!

Mil113 -- Nice to see you blessing us with more good photos. Anything to post on your model work?
 
Sherrel: The weathering on the caboose isn't my work but something that Steve did for me as well as three locomotives and assorted pieces of rolling stock. The ore cars I can take credit for the weathering and detailing. I'm not afraid to do weathering on ore cars or even some rolling stock, but tackling a $300 locomotive is something I'll do in the future. I have weathered older Atlas Classic locomotives. Thanks for the compliment.

I feel better but can't stand too long or walk long distances, so I'll miss TrainFest in Milwaukee this weekend.

Sorry to hear about your daughter...best wishes.

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Enlarge this photo and you'll see there's some weathered gons in the background. I'm not a fan of graffiti, but did install some on several cars-Greg
 
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I feel better but can't stand too long or walk long distances, so I'll miss TrainFest in Milwaukee this weekend.

One of the curses of (ahem) aging, GREG. I cannot walk much more than 1/2 mile before my hip starts hurting, and my leg just almost collapses. A real bitch when taking the dogs out for a walk. Some days are better than others.
Steve alerts me with his weathering photos - that SOO cab is awesome!
 
Afternoon to all. Well it's a rainy, gloomy overcast day in Houston. I did however make it to see Big Boy X4014 with my son. We were totally off guard as to how many people came out to see this locomotive. Bad weather, traffic downtown and no parking and you still were mobbed, though I must say friendly and courteous. There was a surprise diesel accompanying 4014.

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Afternoon All,

I completed part 2 of the driveway cleaning today and some chores inside. My order of NESL wood strips came in but it will probably be Sunday before I get back to the train room. Tomorrow my Dad, son and I are going to see "Midway", and Saturday I'm heading down to see my buddy Tom in Orlando.

Tex- Great photos.

Chet- You can take a cruise ship to HI. Nice layout shot.

Greg- Nice 1:1 and layout shots.

Garry- Great junkyard scene.

Milw113- Nice 1:1 photos.

Willie- Interesting photo. Is that Chet pulling someone over?

Johnny- That will be a great scene when complete.

Sherrel- It seems to me that air travel has turned into a Greyhound bus with wings.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Willie- I like the pulled over Chevy scene. Was it a young lady driving and did she get a warning or a ticket?
Johnny-Your RV trailer looks perfectly at home next to the house. What do they haul it with? I don't see a truck there.

I have been out of pocket most of yesterday and today trying to get new tires for my Equinox. I suddenly realized the 2008 original tires on the back need to be replaced. I have tried TIRE RACK on line, several local shops and finally Walmart. Looking for All Weather 235-60 x 17, at $972 for four 80,000 miles tires to $556.00 for an off brand Korean 5,000 mile tire. I will make a decision this week.

Having heart palpations over the prices!
 
The US Coast Guard has always been the red headed step child. But sometimes they are included.View attachment 41343
Tell me about it! I don't know how many times I've had to argue with people who insist that we weren't military and/or one of the Armed Forces. I even cite the damned law (USC Ch 14, para 1) and they come back with something like "but they're not under the Defense Department."
 
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