Running Bear’s September 2019 Coffee Shop


Status
Not open for further replies.
Good Morning All. 72° and clear, rather nice outside. If it weren't still 90¯ at 10:00 at night, we could sleep with the windows open!:mad:
Today is our 47th wedding anniversary. :) That evening in 1972, started with me, my father and the monsignor (high level Catholic priest) reviewing the set-up with the best man who missed the rehearsal the night before - his wife was having their first child!
Make it eggs over easy and bacon for me this morning Flo. And pass the jelly doughnuts around to everyone on my tab today in honor of the day.
I'll celebrate by mowing the west and south parts of the yard this morning and weedeating around the pool.

Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday for the pictures of the crime-stoppers; Tom, Garry, Sherrel, Ken, Chet, Joe, Louis, Clint. Today I'll post the other end of the block where some ladies are looking for dates.
09-14-14 004.JPG

09-14-14 019.JPG


Out in the train shed yesterday, I finally painted the remaining bare plywood in the current project section a light earth color. Today I hope to paint the main line and passing siding so I can proceed to ballasting later this week. Still fiddling with the track arrangement for the industrial buildings though.

Sherrel - Good to read that you are out of harm's way.
Chet - No K-9 in that truck, just Rin Tin Tin out for a ride. I haven't been to many NASCAR tracks, but I have been to Texas Motor Speedway and Bristol. Went to races at Bristol on the old track and the new track. Always lots of action on those short tracks. Saw Daryl Waltrip's final race at Bristol in 2000 or so. Texas is a good track to go to as well, almost every seat has a view of the entire 1.5 mile track. From my house, it's only three turns and 26 miles away. I too have stopped going in person due to the walking distance and lugging the cooler full of beer.
Joe - Good to see you. Many of us missed you. I can see from the pictures that you were busy in the train room.
Terry -
A tip for anybody putting together track:
Borrow a thimble from your wife's sewing kit, put it on your index finger, and use it to push the rail joiners onto the rails. That will prevent a joiner from skewering your finger
Another way to avoid the skewered finger is to use a small pair of needle-nosed pliers. Don't ask how I know this!
Louis -
Willie, don't be so hard on the Rangers, they are only 1 game under 500 now. The Orioles are 51 games under 500. The Rangers are beating the teams they should beat and have you looked at the Orioles pitching staff recently?
I actually don't follow baseball or any other professional sports anymore, I just happened to see an article mentioning that fact, it was a sweep in the end. I really hate baseball more than any other sport. Give me hockey any day, but I still don't keep up with it.

Yesterday, I was disturbed during my after lunch nap by a female voice crying out "help me I'm stuck". Since I didn't have my hearing aids in, I didn't recognize the voice, but thinking that my wife was in trouble, I sprang up to check it out. It turns out that it was "Hazel", the automatic "IRobot Roomba" vacuum cleaner that she had bought a few weeks ago! It had sucked up a corner of a throw rug and was stuck. I am not a fan of that machine, it takes a long time to accomplish it's goal. I liken it to "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn sometimes". That thing just randomly travels about with no set pattern, turns when it bumps stuff and sometimes repeats itself many times before giving up! It will however head for it's charger when the battery is low if it doesn't have to pass the room limitation device, kinda like an invisible fence.

OK, I have rambled on enough now; everybody have a great day.
 
Good morning y'all. I'll have a Taylor Ham and Egg with potatoes on a Portuguese roll, with two coffees to go. Wife's got a commission check burning a hole in her wallet. If I have any energy left, I'll start on the cattle pens.

Louis:

[QUOTE="Bruette, post: 462952, member: 4773"]Nationals have 3 top notch starting pitchers.[/QUOTE]

But their relief pitching staff rivals the Amazin Mets inability to keep a lead.

The Orioles are 51 games under 500. The Rangers are beating the teams they should beat and have you looked at the Orioles pitching staff recently?

Not for nothing, the Orioles pitching staff is collectively worth a bag of used hockey pucks. Blame needs to be directed at their Ownership.

Interesting selection of photos, including Mr. Lincoln's Army of Occupation, posted in Monument Square. The Scale Test cars were always a pin in the butt to deal with. They lacked air brakes, and tended to find defective track structure. I always thought the Bromo Tower was the coolest structure.

Boris
 
Good morning. 49 degrees with and expected high in the low 60's. Summer may be over up here.

Joe - So glad to see you back. Got worried about you because you were MIA for so long. Nice photos. Like that meat packing plant. Great kit. I had to modify the cattle pens to get them to fit in the space I had available.

Willie
- Like the photos. How there is a hotel close by. (that rents by the hour). I can remember going to Bristol years ago when it only sat around 30,000 people. I have always been a DW fan also. Hope to make it to Texas Intl Speedway some day. Funny story about the robot. We are trying to do with as little technology as possible. In todays world, some is now a necessity, but it's getting to the point where people can't think for themselves any more.

Louis -
More great photos again.

Ray
- I do remember that incident in Missoula.

Have to go over to Butte later today to take care of some business. Always like the drive over there and looking at tracks and trestle over Homestake (the railroad called it Pipestone) Pass.

Later
 
Man,

Almost lunch time...

Got the engine mounts for the BB engine but the HS didn't order the screws, so I could only go so far until I get them. The Western Pacific U28B runs halfway decent. The mounts weren't a direct plug and play but took a little kit bashing on both them and the motor to get them to fit properly. Screws should be here the middle of the week. Took the liberty of cleaning and lubricating it while it is apart. Now I'm tossing keeping the engine as is or painting it in GN colors. Great Northern did buy 6 of them in 1966.

Got the truck back from the body shop...looks like new again. Goes in for tires Friday.
 
Evening fellers. I know it's been a couple of days since my last post. Nothing new to report on here. I did repair my camp houses....well one of them anyways. The other was actually broken. How? I don't know. So I have one camp house to work with. I suppose I'll add two more to my lot. I've basically plotted out where they are going to be located on the layout. Didn't get to run any trains over the weekend. Spent most of the time doing dad duties. The heat has decided to molest us with its presence yet again. Supposed to be lower to mid 90s all week here. That's about all I have for right now.
 
Nice photos. Like that meat packing plant. Great kit. I had to modify the cattle pens to get them to fit in the space I had available.

Good to be back. I had to modify the main plant and will most likely have to do the same with the cattle pens. It's a lot of work, for what is arguably a background structure, but to make everything work, i also have to install two uncoupling magnets on the siding to make the three spors work.. I'm not sure I have the will to try and replicate the way the prototype was painted, I have a few Morning Sun Reading "Facilities" books that may enlighten me as to the color of the doors and trim. My guess is faded maroon or brown. White walls is relatively easy, even if I skip the lettering.

Tomorrow, I'm going to cut the gatorboard to fit the space on the layout, and mount the Packing plant, power house and chimney. This will give me the exact space available for the cattle pens. The whole complex will be 24" x 6,5" or so, pending actual measurement. Pictures when I have something to show.

Boris
 
Evenin' folks, just checking in - not enough time for even a weather report, other than it's dark outside.

My time situation is pretty much the same as Joe's (except for the retirement part). Nothing more to report on the Steel Mill Peninsula photo project, I believe Toot's Axiom of Time Estimation applies here: Before I can snap the fourth desired photo, I need to populate the Mill yard with some appropriate cars [esp. gondolas and coil cars]; and before I can populate the Mill yard, I have to bring some trains out of staging so I can get at those cars; and before I bring the trains out of staging, I have to clear some tracks in Clark Avenue Yard to make room, and...recognize a pattern here?

On the surgical recovery front, I haven't seen any traces of blood since Friday night...hopefully that symptom is permanently resolved[?]. Feeling pretty much normal other than that...

I may have posted this photo before of this laying of the tank cars in Missoula MT's MRL yard. Came across it again and thought a re-issue might be warranted. I think about 1/2 a dozen needed repairs. About the same time, they were taken over by GATX from CONX. The repaired ones were repainted in GATX's black. All gained a new prefix number to their originals.

View attachment 39279

Ray - HOW did you manage to get that photo of my layout? Musta snuck in while I was on vacation...:oops:;)

Happy Birthday Curt, wherever you're lurking!

I've let it get too late again, gotta get ready for bed now. Everybody stay healthy and safe!
 
Ray - HOW did you manage to get that photo of my layout? Musta snuck in while I was on vacation...:oops:;)
Actually it was an example of life immitating what really should only happen in playing with trains. The last tank car had been stopped too close to the turnout, and another incoming train, clipped it with the loco. A chain reaction then passed through them all. These cars are used for transporting fuels, including Gasoline from Thompson Falls to Missoula MT. They fill a gap in a long distance pipeline. The reason for the gap, as I've read, is the local tribe wouldn't agree to it passing over their land. There are 2 trips daily, morning and night, of 30 cars each. It's referred to as the Gas Local.
 
Willie, "to each his own", I like to say. Some are sports fans, some are not and as they say, "it's all good". Our genetics show that there is less than 3% difference between any human, yet we are all unique individuals. To me, that is the beauty of God's creation. Without diversity we would be nothing more than boring clones.

Boris, it's great to have you back!

You never know what you will get with relief pitchers. On paper, at the start of spring training the Nationals bullpen was promising. The problem is relief pitchers by trade are inconsistent from year to year, for the most part. No matter highly touted you never know what you will get with young players in MLB.

With top-notch, work horse starters like "Mad Max" and Steven Strasburg the Nationals might not need much from the bullpen in a short series. I can't neglect to mention, left handed starter, Patrick Corbin. His slider can be devastating to left handed hitters and the Dodgers lineup is heavily left handed. A best of 5 matchup between the Dodgers and Nationals could be the worst thing that could happen to the Dodgers.

Since the 2000 the Orioles have chosen 13 top-rated pitchers in the first round of the First Year Player Draft. Try as they might injuries have plagued many of these picks. Few have established themselves in the majors and none of them have yet to live up to their full potential.

Dylan Bundy is a good example, he has lost his 98+mph fastball due to injury. He has shown potential at becoming a control pitcher, but he has been inconsistent. The birds are loaded with guys who throw 95+mph, but they seem to only find the middle of the plate when they throw strikes. It took Nolan Ryan 8 years to find consistency and that was without suffering a major injury.

The Orioles can't sign free agent pitchers worth paying. No established top-notch starter wants to pitch in Camden Yards, it's a hitters park. We literally can't buy a top of the rotation starter. We have to grow our own and fate has not been on our side.

As long time baseball executive, former Orioles GM Roland Hemond said "All we can do is load-up on live-arms and hope for the best"

The good news is; for the first time in the history of the Orioles our minor league system is rated in the top ten in all of baseball.

Chet, I'm glad you are enjoying the photos. It was Jeffery who first inspired and encouraged me to post pictures. I will never live up to his great, often whimsical photos, but it is in his memory that I post pictures.
 
Good morning Everbody!

As much as I enjoy posting photos, I wish I had some of my own trains to post. Since I moved in December, 2017 I have yet to get any traction with my trains in my train room. All I have managed is some Christmas trains under my Christmas trees and a Halloween train on my front porch. New Years is still a long way off, but I am already resolved to do better!

Have a great day Everybody!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.



Back
Top