Good Morning All. Clear and 47°, not as chilly as the forecast predicted, but it's only 0530 right now. Tonight, we may see 34°. Our typical first frost isn't until 11-22, but we have to have a few early ones to average out with the late ones. Other than tonight, the next ten days are expected to be warmer, with a potential of 80°+ on Tuesday. No more rain in sight. While the rain/hail Wednesday evening only left 0.6" in the rain gauge, it did put water in my pond to a depth of 8"-9" since the ground was still wet and the downpour was so intense for a very short time.
This will dry up in a week if the current forecast of no rain holds up.
Another uneventful trek to the grocery store yesterday. Still empty shelves, but again the manager indicated that it was a manpower situation and not actual shortages. I scored a free 14.5 lb. frozen turkey due to spending $100 on non-alcohol products. I have no room in the freezer so it is in a cooler with ice packs right now until I can rearrange stuff. I need to use more of the veggies that I froze last spring! I did well on the coupon redemption, saving $48.64 overall, counting the turkey and fuel points earned. Mask compliance looked to be about 50%.
Thanks for the likes and comments regarding yesterday's posts everyone;
Patrick, Christian, Guy, Chad, OB Ken, IB Ken, Tom O, Karl, Hughie, Tom, Curt, Rick, Troy.
Sausage and biscuits with southern cream gravy this morning Flo.
Out in the train shed yesterday, I just painted figures that I am woefully behind on doing. I need them for more than just the bank lobby, I need some more for the Ramone's Salvage scene as well as the previous three builds of the General Store, McCormac's Dry Goods and Cooter's Liquor store. There's at least a dozen more structures/scenes scattered about the layout that need some as well. I could easily absorb 100 more figures right now!
I received a few comments regarding that Cotton Belt covered hopper the other day, so I took a picture of the opposite side.
I like to weather freight cars, but I have only done about 15% of the 800 that I have. I should do a few more when I get the powders out for last week's covered hopper that's on standby.
OB Ken - On the BNSF line closest to me, train watching has gotten a bit boring lately, even though there is in excess of 40 trains a day. My spot to watch from is just 15 miles north of the Alliance Intermodal Yard, so 60% of the trains are container or trailer loads going north. Southbound are mainly unit grain trains headed for export through the Gulf, ethanol tankers going to refineries in the Houston/Beaumont area or auto carriers coming from the Pacific Northwest with cars imported from Japan. Rare to see a mixed freight any more. The empties always seem to return at night. Even the interchange with KCS right in front of me is boring with only containers. Amtrak passes through twice a day with the Heartland Flyer. The coal trains from Powder River Basin stopped a few years ago as Texas has switched to a lot of wind and solar power. The remaining coal drags are on the parallel UP line about 6 miles east. The BNSF line next door to where I worked for years was more varied, with almost all trains being mixed freights. There was one unit rock train into Dallas daily in the morning that returned empty in the afternoon.
Jesse - I may use your idea of an office party on the second floor of the bank. Not too sure about the holdup as I have mostly law-abiding citizens in my towns!
Here is an example of what I was referring to the other day. This is a scene from a busy tavern. Here is how I detailed the inside.
22 figures all together.
Yet this is what is visible from outside. Both pictures are taken at a better viewing angle than where the tavern actually resides.
While we're here, let's look at the back.
Tom - Your post regarding the phone cable reminds me that back in 2016, the contractors from the local phone company who were installing fiber optic cables along the right of way in my yard, asked me where the water main was! I wasn't there for that install many years ago, so I guessed based on what I had seen. I immediately went inside and called the water company and they had a man out in less than 10 minutes to mark it before they proceeded. It was just inches from where they were about to dig to install a vault for connections; which they then decided to move because of that. A different crew a year later hit my underground electrical supply conduit when they were installing the actual hookup to my house. Fortunately they just grazed it and no damage was done.
Steve J -
the couplers are a tad low, but the uncoupler arms do clear (had to adjust one with the Kadee tool). I'll pick up some overshank couplers,
Maybe you just used the wrong terminology, but you need "underset" shank couplers.
Everybody have an awesome day. Stay safe.
