Running Bear's Coffee Sbop LXIX


WJLI26 said:
First day as a "Student Fireman" posting the Daylight Hostler at Wilmington, DE Engine house, I had the opportunity to move the 4800 from the Shop lead, and spot it on the service rack for sand. That was almost 50 years ago, and began my love / hate relationship with the worlds most famous electric locomotive. ...
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Cool. I once went all the way to the Transportation Museum in St. Louis just to see the GG1 they had acquired. As a child I thought they were strange looking locomotives - even alien, but through the years they grew into a curiosity love for me. Sorry for the double post of information. Somehow I missed your first post on the subject.
 
Morning, 50 and rain here.
Afternoon with the Dr. was good - I guess.
The trach will come out in 2 weeks. She put in a smaller trach. During the day it is to be capped off and then opened up like usual at night for this next week. AFter this week I go with it totally capped off for a week. After these 2 weeks, it comes out for good.
.... THEN I'm moving back to GA.
So I'm stuck here for another 2 weeks with absolutely nothing to do since all my stuff is packed up.
E
 
Good Morning Folks. 68° and cloudy, windy and humid; rain in the forecast but none any closer than 50 miles away in Oklahoma and moving away. Winds will shift to northerly around noon and we'll cool off, not much though. Nothing major in the yard yesterday except for more leaf removal, especially off the pool cover. Even though I have planted over 350 trees on my property over the years, I am expecting 14 more from "Arbor Day Foundation" to arrive within the next two weeks. While ten of them are 12" tall flowering trees, I also have four "decorative" trees that are supposed to be 3'-4' tall. I'm mapping out suitable locations (with minimal assistance from my wife) with an eye on grouping them so I don't have to move hoses too much. Of course she doesn't understand spacing of mature trees and that I cannot put them all in front of the living room window like she wants! There's already some there anyway!
Out in the train shed, I backed off detailing for a day. Ran trains and painted figures. Also assembled some cardstock soft drink machines that I got off the Internet a few years ago. Didn't quite make them correct scale height (made them 5'5"), but I was going for depth perception inside structures. My first attempt at printing some store windows to insert into structures didn't go quite as planned, as I underestimated the window height on many. Easy enough but time consuming to resize them and print them over. I measured the height on one structure without thinking that the others might be taller...they all are!

Thanks for the comments on the buildings, Garry, Chet, Johnny and anyone else that I may have missed. Things are moving slowly because I only spend about 1.5 hours/day in the train shed right now, but I can see the progress. I'd like to spend more, but life!;)
Terry -I don't do flu shots either and in 65 years I have never had the flu. I've had friends who got it, albeit mildly, from getting the shots before.
Greg - "...glad I have two Exacto handles...". Is that all? I have four but it is really convenient not to have to change blades as often.

Where's Eric with his doctor report? Never mind, he posted while I was composing. Great news except you have to endure the Illinois weather for two more weeks!
Speaking of Onstar and big brother intrusion, I read an article this week regarding Google recording conversations taking place "near" your phones. It's an old article but I just came across it.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...d-their-phones-but-files-can-be-a7059376.html

While taking pictures the other day, I took a couple of structures that I may not have posted before. They are both just set in place in areas that I haven't completed, thus the plywood ground. The first is Merchant's Row IV that I did about two years ago.
11-13-17 006.JPG11-13-17 013.JPG

The second one is a Downtown Deco hydrocal structure with the upstairs dining room window interior from somewhere on the Internet.

Everybody have a great day.

Willie
 
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Good morning fellers. Had our second frost here last night. Looking like rain tonight. 100% confirmed that I have a little one on the way. Means my train buying is going to be very few and far in between. However I have spotted or rather found some alternate means to get stuff for very few dollars. I mostly need trees to get my layout closer to completion. eBay has some trees for a few bucks that would help out drastically in filling my layout. I did get two more structures to replace two that I'm not exactly a huge fan of on my layout. Oh and before I forget. Thanks to everyone for the good wishes on my little soon to be Lord willing addition to my family. Y'all have a good day.

Sent from my LGLS675 using Tapatalk
 
Good Morning everyone....cold and rainy in this part of Wisconsin. No snow yet for the upcoming deer hunt.

Yesterday made some progress on the railroad. Installed new batteries in a flashing neon window sign by Miller Engineering. Mounted the batteries inside the building flat (dumb) since it operates on 3 volts. Next year's project to line to the DCC buss. The animated sign is a real attention getter. When taking the building off the layout I found two year's worth of dust on the building, locomotives, rolling stock and track in this area. Major dusting job in store.

Some detail parts of the building the "glue" loosen and the parts needed reattachment.

Repaired my "Cattle" sound effects feature. Just moved some wires and did circuit testing the sound came to life. ??? It sounds like a bull in heat.

Took time off to change a exterior light bulb in the rear door fixture. Dropped the mounting screw in the bushes and dead leaves below. Looked for a half hour and gave up as it was getting dark Good luck finding a replacement that will match somewhat. Used a screw from my stock.

Willie: Good idea on several Exacto handles. Next trip to hobby shop and I'll buy several more.

Eric: Good news, but two weeks will go by fast. When I was in critical care rehab for 30 days, I watched TV all night long and slept all day. Found some great old time retro stations...with programs like Lassie, Combat, Route 66 and others.

In between everything going on, we smoked a turkey using apple wood for a change. Great taste. Sandwiches today for lunch.

That's all for now.

Greg

PS: Check my posting on dust...!
 
A grumpy good morning from Big Sky Conntry where the morning temp was 13 degrees. Think I may need a shot of Jack in my black coffee.

We have been putting up with an LG dishwasher for the past month. Just 2 years old and it will be heading to the landfill. Had to call a service man out (I used to do this kinf of work myself, but with so much technology it was time for a pro) to find out what was wrong with it. He contacted LG and they wanted him t replace the main circuit board. End of service call until the new board comes in. Kaching $$. A week later the new board comes in so the service man come out to install it. NOT THE PROBLEM. Another call to LG tech support thinks the problem is a micro switch in the float that controls the water level. Take the new board out and a new part that includes the bad micro switch has to be ordered. End of service call. Kaching $$ The following week, the new part arrives and out comes the service man. He install the new part plus installs a new stainless steel supply line for the hot water to the dishwasher. Tests the washer a few times. It did work. Bye service guy Kaching $$

We got through one complete wash cycle and the washer started throwing codes again. One was that the water supply line was blocked or needed replacing ??? What ?? it was just replaced. Then we get another code about the heat element having a problem. I ain't throwing any more money at this pig. Headed to town this afternoon to get another one. By th eway, the 16 year old dishwasher we replaced we gave to out church and it is still working just fine. I will choose reliability over technology thank you very much.

Rant over.

Eric - Sounds like both good and bad news, but you will be able to head back home, but not as soon as you wanted. Thanks for the update.

Joe - I saw that ash facility at the Sunnyside pit in that video I had mentioned.

Garry - I just ordered the observation car. Thanks for the info.

Toot - It's hard to believe that situation you have there. Politics suck

Louis - Thanks for checking in. I was starting to wonder about you but with the holidays coming up, I figured that you were quite busy.

Justin - Guess we can give you a formal congrats not that the doc confirmed.

Willie - The buikding are looking good. Sure am waiting to see the town move forward.

Greg - I have been looking at the animated signs but so far can't find anything that is period correct and would fit in this part of the country. One of the guys at the club has the cattle sound effects in a stock car. Visitors like it.

Time to get back to work and send LG a nasty gram.

Here's a rail picture for the day.

railway_track_in_the_morning_by_sedorrr.jpg

Later
 
I have seen them. There were no Rexall drug stores in this area in 1957. Maybe I a bit to picky for my time period. I have seen a number of their signs but none of them would be period correct for where I am modeling.
 
Chet: No Rexall Drug stores in your area of Montana? I'll send to you some HO money so you can start a 1950's Rexall franchise on your layout.

Greg
 
We can be a little behind the times out here. There are Walgreens stores up here, but not locally. We did get a CVS a couple of years ago. We've had a Costco for around 20 years, but no Sams Club. We're also limited to a few vehicle brands also. I don't want to get a car that I have to travel hundreds of miles to get service or parts.
 
montanan said:
A grumpy good morning from Big Sky Conntry where the morning temp was 13 degrees. Think I may need a shot of Jack in my black coffee.

We have been putting up with an LG dishwasher for the past month. Just 2 years old and it will be heading to the landfill. Had to call a service man out (I used to do this kinf of work myself, but with so much technology it was time for a pro) to find out what was wrong with it. He contacted LG and they wanted him t replace the main circuit board. End of service call until the new board comes in. Kaching $$. A week later the new board comes in so the service man come out to install it. NOT THE PROBLEM. Another call to LG tech support thinks the problem is a micro switch in the float that controls the water level. Take the new board out and a new part that includes the bad micro switch has to be ordered. End of service call. Kaching $$ The following week, the new part arrives and out comes the service man. He install the new part plus installs a new stainless steel supply line for the hot water to the dishwasher. Tests the washer a few times. It did work. Bye service guy Kaching $$
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I feel you pain. A couple of months ago our GE Profile refrigerator wasn't staying cold. On to the net I go and find out the likely suspect is the freezer fan. Disassemble have the freezer and find out yes it is bad. Replace it, fire it up and.......the new fan isn't working either. More research and I check the main board. Sure enough, one of the resistors is cooked. Replace the board, fire it up again and it works. It cost me close to $350 in parts alone. I would hate to see what it would have been if we had to call in someone. And they wonder why the landfills are full of appliances! I can go to my in-laws trailer park and see 30 year old refrigerators sitting outside year round that work better than the crap they make today.
 
CMMR said:
I feel you pain. A couple of months ago our GE Profile refrigerator wasn't staying cold. On to the net I go and find out the likely suspect is the freezer fan. Disassemble have the freezer and find out yes it is bad. Replace it, fire it up and.......the new fan isn't working either. More research and I check the main board. Sure enough, one of the resistors is cooked. Replace the board, fire it up again and it works. It cost me close to $350 in parts alone. I would hate to see what it would have been if we had to call in someone. And they wonder why the landfills are full of appliances! I can go to my in-laws trailer park and see 30 year old refrigerators sitting outside year round that work better than the crap they make today.
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The service tech that worked on the dishwasher was telling me that manufacturers can pretty well know how long an appliance will last, or how many cycles it will go. Heard this while at a tech session, and i believe it. I have known him for around 30 years. I have a couple of chest freezers that have been in my basement for 40 years and they were used when I got them. I have an old fridge that has to go back at least into the 50's out in my whop I use for a beer locker and it runs like new.
 
Time topics on appliance repairs since the Service Guy is coming tomorrow to fix our gas stove. Had him before for the 20 year old washing machine. He owns his own store and 7 techs on the road.

Our washing machine's transmission failed and it would cost $350+ to replace. We decided to buy a new machine, but the guy said fix the old one, even at the expense of almost a new, basic machine. He explained that the new transmissions are all plastic and doomed to fail after several years of use. He guaranteed the repairs for a year and no charge for labor if any other problems developed. We kept the old one.

Greg
 
Greg - Sounds like the same shop that we use. Know the guy for ages and he doesn't feed you a line of crap. He just tells you how it is and backs up his work. He started small working out of his garage years ago and now has a half dozen techs working for him and he still goes out and handles service calls.
 
Everyone - I just discovered the online store called Dave's Decals. Have any of you bought from them? Recommend or no? Good products or no?
Thanks.
 
Afternoon All,

Firefox changed their format and I have been trying to display a complete list of my favorites. I finally stumbled across them. Today I cleaned up a area of ground cover and worked on the IR sensors on a stand alone signal. It would only display PL proceed. I finally got it to change aspect about 50% of the time. I think it's a overhead light washing out the sensors. I adjusted the overhead lights as much as I could and that's how I get the 50%.

I have the Miller Pennsy sign but through several times pulling the base from the light housing during major layout revisions the contacts don't work any more.

Chet- Nice videos and track photo. Don't you hate planned failure as a way to make more money off of you?

Toot- You should do what's best for you and your mates. Concern about foreigners should not be a issue.

Johnny- I have done several major revisions on my layout without notifying MOH. Of course that was easier when I was working.

Eric- Great news about the Trach removal and going home in 2 weeks. No white Christmas for you!:D

Willie- Very nice job on the buildings.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Curt:

"Johnny- I have done several major revisions on my layout without notifying MOH. Of course that was easier when I was working."

If I build a new peninsula, it will be pretty difficult to hide from my wife!! :eek:
 
Good evening, 44° and cloudy, with rain after midnight.

Miller Engineering Signs are nice, and work well. However, they are delicate. Messed up a Domino Sugar Sign, and sent it back to them and they replaced it. Great customer service. If you are in HO, IMHO the HO - N size is more suited proportionally. HO - O, is a bit overwhelming.

All of the new home appliances are made with plastics, and we all know what happens with plastics. :rolleyes:. Not built to last.

Didn't get much done on the layout extension today. Didn't get much else done either. One of those days. Did take a nap though. :rolleyes: I think I have figured out the track plan for the final 4' on the "East" side of my layout. Several pseudo staging tracks on the PRR side, and a Main track and Industrial siding on the Reading side, The siding serving a low relief building. In plain English, this will give my Reading switcher enough headroom to switch the sidings without a lot of double handling. On the Pennsy side, I'll be able to store a commuter train, and shifter.
 
My shoes arrived today in the mail, without comment.
I got a call on the way home from work from USPS, but due to the AT&T/iPhone bug, I couldn't answer. It rang once, and went to voicemail.
 
Howdy ..

Willie ... I see you have more nice looking buildings ... you are doing well.

Terry ... Glad you got the shoes.'

Chet ..... Okay. Now you will have two observation cars. Will you be starting a second NCL ?

Joe ... I like the one Miller Engineering sign I have ..... The Union Station one.... A friend of mine broke his Illinois Central sign, and Miller Engineering could not replace it because it is out of production.

Eric .... Good news ....

..
We took delivery of the new vehicle today, and we are very pleased with it.
 
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