Running Bear's April 2024 Coffee Shop


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NYC_George said:
Talking about steam generators. A EMD engine's water tank holds enough water to create 5 hours of steam. The trip from Grand Central Station to Chatham NY was about 5 hours. 2 engines = 10 hours of steam heat. We have 2 engines with one of the steam generators not working.
The Brewster NY terminal had 2/1/2 inch hoses to fill the tanks in about 30 minutes. The Chatham yard had 1 garden hose. I had a 1 hour turn around to fill the tank at Chatham. It's 20 degrees out. An hour into the trip back to Grand Central had the 5 commutation whistles for steam keep sounding in the cab. I thought the passengers will have to freeze. It would be nice if the company Penn Central put a 2 1/2 inch water hose at Chatham.
Swal
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Interesting that you mention Chatham NY. One of my late family members had 75 acres and a house outside Spencertown NY, (and left it to a cousin). As a kid in the 50's my family always spent two weeks there and my Dad would take me to the Chatham station (12 or 13 miles away), I believe it was called Union Station, and we watched lots of trains come and go. I distinctly remember New York Central "Lightning Striped" units but I don't know if they were E or F units. I also remember some trains for Boston and Albany and Dad told me that we occasionally saw trains from the Rutland RR, which I don't remember. There were a lot of trains if I remember correctly. He also told me that we saw steam locomotives there, but I don't remember that at all. I was between the ages of 2 and 7 in those days.
 
santafewillie said:
Wow! Bluetooth or not, my disposable hearing aid batteries last about 100 hours. And the hearing aids themselves give me an audible message every 5 minutes for 35-40 minutes before they actually quit working. I have them turned on for approximately 14 hours a day, so once a week I need to put new batteries in. And that 100 hours is regardless of audio level, filtering or Bluetooth usage. But maybe I am not comparing apples to apples.
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Rechargables don't pack as much of a punch as the disposable batteries.

and I use the bluetooth connection for listening to podcasts or music while I'm out walking. Or for taking phone calls. Rechargables typically last about a day -16 or so hours, before a recharge. The more I bluetooth, the faster they drain for the day. Pop them in the charger over night and they're ready for another day.... usually.
 
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NYC_George said:
Talking about steam generators. A EMD engine's water tank holds enough water to create 5 hours of steam. The trip from Grand Central Station to Chatham NY was about 5 hours. 2 engines = 10 hours of steam heat. We have 2 engines with one of the steam generators not working.
The Brewster NY terminal had 2/1/2 inch hoses to fill the tanks in about 30 minutes. The Chatham yard had 1 garden hose. I had a 1 hour turn around to fill the tank at Chatham. It's 20 degrees out. An hour into the trip back to Grand Central had the 5 commutation whistles for steam keep sounding in the cab. I thought the passengers will have to freeze. It would be nice if the company Penn Central put a 2 1/2 inch water hose at Chatham.
Swal
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Thanks for sharing. Being interested in Penn Central, its predecessors and its replacements its always interesting to hear from someone who actually not only witnessed the operations, but was also part of it. Hearing and reading of disappointed customer service on PC is not new, but the water hose problems definitely add to a more complete picture than just late trains.
 
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McLeod said:
Good Afternoon, folks!

After travelling 2hrs one way to get to the Hinton Hospital, I'm back from the successful Hernia surgery.
The surgery when great. My vital signs proved very strong. I'm good to go for another 68 years of modelling.

My wife, supporter, and driver took a photo of me when she was waiting for me to wake-up after the surgery:
View attachment 186115
I'm gonna have a hernia more often. It was a fairly painless way to get nursed so well by the wife and a covey of beautiful young ladies. The entire process was enjoyable.

Now, I'm home again and healing up. Time to get modelling during this period that I can't lift heavy objects.

I'm a few pages behing in the forum, but, I'll check them out when I'm not so groggy. Have a great afternoon.
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Guy I'm sorry to hear about your hernia, but your post was inspiring!
 
KriegslokBR52 said:
Thanks for sharing. Being interested in Penn Central, its predecessors and its replacements its always interesting to hear from someone who actually not only witnessed the operations, but was also part of it. Hearing and reading of disappointed customer service on PC is not new, but the water hose problems definitely add to a more complete picture than just late trains.
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Yes. First hand accounts on anything are more interesting imo. Being there and witnessing draws the listener deeper in on the subject.
 
santafewillie said:
I've already been out this morning to pick the first three Broccoli plants.
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They look great!

My favorite part of the broccoli plant is the stem (reminds me of cabbage, another of my favorites), but it's all good. It works well for us. My wife loves the flowers best of all.

If I didn't have kale steaming in a pot with a ham bone and potatoes I would be jealous. That, and we picked up broccoli at Aldi yesterday. Two flowers with stems for $1.19, we bought two packs! Did I mention I love broccoli? 😁
 
chadbag said:
You're right. Probably an oversight. I'll ask the guy who helped me (who did it) about it though I know he and his partner haven't done it on another job I saw them do (several years ago) which has held up well. We're over a waterproofed layer of gypcrete. Hopefully we don't get adverse movement at all.
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No worries Chad, you have a good surface and it's waterproof.
 
santafewillie said:
I distinctly remember New York Central "Lightning Striped" units but I don't know if they were E or F units.
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Willie they were using NYC Lightning units for that run up until around 1970 and completely stopped the passenger service around 1972 An E8 EMD loco had 2 separate steam generators and 2 separate water tanks. They produced enough steam for a 20 hour trip. The 20th Century Limited also used steam from the steam generator to run the air conditioning. They switched the power for the Chatham run from E8's to FL9's around 1971. Fl9's didn't have to change power at North White Plains while E8's did. They could run on Deisel or electric 3rd rail. A lot of frozen passengers on Chatham run. When I was a fireman, the engineer would say get the fuel going, open top of the generator and throw a fuzee in there. We have to get some heat back to the coaches.
Swal
 
Bruette said:
No worries Chad, you have a good surface and it's waterproof.
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Yeah I went aand did research and I learned that it is common to directly apply tile to well waterproofed gypsum based substrate (gypcrete style lightweight concrete). (and not at all on walls).

We should be ok. Thanks.

The Semco waterproof membrane stuff is a poly-urea based one that is an order of magnitude better than red guard. (Also is a lot more expensive). We sprayed two good coats on the walls and floor so you should be able to fill the room with water like a pool and not get leakage. (Plus extra on all seams and where the screw holes were, and in corners etc -- where we put the non-woven membrane cloth down)
 
chadbag said:
Yeah I went aand did research and I learned that it is common to directly apply tile to well waterproofed gypsum based substrate (gypcrete style lightweight concrete). (and not at all on walls).

We should be ok. Thanks.

The Semco waterproof membrane stuff is a poly-urea based one that is an order of magnitude better than red guard. (Also is a lot more expensive). We sprayed two good coats on the walls and floor so you should be able to fill the room with water like a pool and not get leakage. (Plus extra on all seams and where the screw holes were, and in corners etc -- where we put the non-woven membrane cloth down)
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Chad I used Durawall cement board and Schluter Ditra for the new tile under the kitchen Cabinets and the whole new bathroom which I don't have a picture for. The already in place kitchen tile is just on Durawall cerement board and has been there for 25 years without any problems.
Swal

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Good Afternoon, folks!

Thanks for all the well-wishes in regards to my hospital visit.
Depending how I move around, I'm still fairly sore from the surgery. They prescribed some Tramadol pain killers, but, I'm not going to touch them due to the addictive properties of the drug. There's no way anyone will ever find need to call me a crackhead.

The wife won't let me do anything, except lay around in pajamas.
I did manage to sneak into the basement and take some layout in progress photos. Just for fun. Nothing really new that hasn't been seen here:
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Willie & Troy - I do not suffer from tinnitus or require hearing aids. I attribute that to the fact I don't listen to music, don't go to concerts, and have never played a video game in my life. So no head-phones. My life is probably way more boring than yours, but, I can hear the boring clearly.

Louis - I can't figure what was so inspiring about my post! It was just a pic of an old man laying on a hospital trolley.

David - All well-wishes and hope for Dawn and yourself!

Grizzled - Love the idea of 1/87 R/C vehicles. Thought about it, but, think my dexterity in modelling isn't as good as my hearing.

My wife won't let me model today. That's because a nurse told me not to shower or do much for two days. The weekend is just around the corner, though! Heh, Heh!

Have a great day!
 
Afternoon All,

Started out the day with a walk at 68F and humid. Summer is close. Today I had a bunch of inside chores and tomorrow I'm trimming the front hedge. Next week I need to use a sprayer with thinned chlorine on the sidewalk, driveway and back fence. Lastly, I need to hit various yard areas with vegetation killer (edges). My typical spring and fall chores.

Grizzled- That is very cool but way too small to make for me. Nice catch.

Louis- We're about $3.60's here.

Black z28- That's a fine looking S2.

Guy- I'm glad everything went well. Now I can put 1/2 a face to the name! 😉 Follow your wife's directions, and nice layout shots.

Bill- Interesting streetcar.

Troy- I hope you get some relief.

Willie- Great looking veggies.

Patrick- My days of laying tile are over. More power to you.

Swal- I had to look up what a tile decoupler is.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
One other thing about steam generators is the relays would trip and wouldn't reset. Resulting in no steam. If an engine's generator was having issues the engine house foreman would give you a couple wooden wedges and tell you if one or both of the relays drop out. Block them in with the wedges I gave you. I think I remember only taken his advice once because the relays are there for safety reasons. If you want to put a wedge in there now go right ahead, I rather not be involved.
Swal
 
troyphoto said:
Rechargables don't pack as much of a punch as the disposable batteries.

and I use the bluetooth connection for listening to podcasts or music while I'm out walking. Or for taking phone calls. Rechargables typically last about a day -16 or so hours, before a recharge. The more I bluetooth, the faster they drain for the day. Pop them in the charger over night and they're ready for another day.... usually.
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Terry gets about 24-36 hours from her disposable batteries. Hers are Bluetooth connected and she watches TV with the audio via Bluetooth. She gets a 60 minute warning that repeats every 10 minutes
 
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