Running Bear's Coffee Shop LVI

[montanan]

Good afternoon. We made it up to 45 degrees this afternoon. Looks like some weather might be moving in. The clouds lifted briefly and I see a bit more snow on the mountains.

Eric - A big improvement, but I see where more work could be done.

It's good to see Motley back in the forum

Curt - Great close up photo. You are so right about being happy to be an American. People in this country don't have a clue how lucky they are. When I hear people whining, there are a number of places that I have visited that I would like to send them.

While I was rummaging through items that I have been moving around I found some photos of my friend, the late Pete Ellis layout I have some great video of his layout and more photos that I have of his layout, but they are apparently in a safe place that I have yet to find. These were taken at an operating session about 20 years ago at his ranch in Cascade, MT. Parts of his layout were inspired by John Allen, whos layput both he and I have had the opportunity to visit. In many parts of his layout the scenery went to the floor.

Here are a few of the photos that I did find and scanned. I'm sure Louis will enjoy the last one.



This is a box car he signed and gave to me in 1999. He unfortunately passed away shortly there after. There is talk about trying to move his layout to a railroad museum planned in Great Falls, MT. I think the cars was from MDC. He had a special run of these cars made.



Pete was oner of the best modelers I have ever met. Some of the things that he came up with were amazing considering that there was nowhere as much on the market back then compared to what we have today. He was the one who donated my scratch build turntable.

 

[new guy]

Thanks, 'PRR'!I think I've found the best way to keep the front four on the rails, s l o w d o w n ! It looks better that way too!

If I want to go fast, there is always 'The Diesel'!
Not QUITE the top speed of the DD40AX (oh, no) But this lil bugger can MOTATE! It's QUICK off the line too!

 

[new guy]

That is 'the model' for rock faces! His use of a wide spectrum of colors draws your eye away from any imperfections that I'm sure were NOT evident on HIS layout but WILL be on MINE!

VERY nice! With that variety of plant colors adding to the 'dirt' reddish hues and all thru the 'stone' darks and grays and almost white in a few spots...BRILLIANT!

You are well on the way E, to getting that very same look! The dark green you threw in there gives the surface real 'depth'!

 

[saronaterry]

Great job on the fence, E! And the mountain scenery.
Terry in NW Wisconsin

 

[Boris]

Free coffee on Navy day. I'm up to that.

Garry sent me some passenger cars decorated in the Northern Pacific pine tree paint scheme to go along with the two F-7's I bought from him. Thank you very much Garry. A couple of them are from AHM. I can believe that these are the very first AHM cars that I have after being in HO scale for over 30 years. The detail is fine on them and the colors match the locomotives and the Riverossi cars that I already had in this paint scheme. I have some minor issues with a couple of them. They don't like my code 70 rail. The wheel flanges are too large. Sounds like they are derailed going down the tracks. I don't believe that I can replace the wheels with Intermountain or Kadee wheels either. I ran across this problem with s couple of old Riverossi cars I have. I meeting with a Dremel tool will fix that. Some have truck mounted couplers also. These will be changed to body mounted couplers. Another project.

Good morning and HAPPY NAVY DAY.

Chet: Since you are body mounting the couplers, that resolves one issue. Kadee 36" Metal wheels will work on Rivarossi (and AHM) trucks, however the cast on brake hangers may interfere with wheel rotation. I have had more success with Kadee or Intermountain 33" metal wheels, although they may affect coupler height. I use the Kadee truck mounted adapters, and find 33" wheels work better than 36".

 

[montanan]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm not very experienced with truck mounted couplers. They're usually the first thing to go. Most of my passenger cars have body mounted couplers and when running them with truck mounted couplers, I found I was having derailment problems. The body mounted coupler forced the truck with the coupler mounted on it to derail going through even a number 6 turnout. I'll have to order some 33 inch wheels. If there could be a height difference problem, I can use some of my old discarded number 5 couplers instead of the new 158's. More surface to hold together. I find that under strain when climbing a grade, the long tounge on the truck mounted couplers want to flex up or down and can cause uncoupling problems.

A future project. I have a whole raft of things I want to get done after doing nothing at all during the summer with house remodeling.

 

[bwells]

Soory to butt in but you need to check out this guys work.
https://youtu.be/Ut-0nke2hrE]

 

[PRR Modeler]

All I can say is WOW. Compared to that I feel like I am using finger paint for weathering!

 

[kbkchooch]

Heya gang!

Finally able to peek in and see wazzup!

Big E, the mountain looks great, and the fence too!

L&SM, I too like the effect of the street lights, awesome scene.

Ray, as always, your work is inspiring.

I did manage to finish something that has been several years in the works. A complete matched set of Western Maryland FA's

Please excuse the guitar cases stacked in the background, my "chinese exchange student" son has moved in. You know the deal, Masters degree, huge debt, no job in his field, moves in with the parents. On the bright side, I don't have to cut grass any longer!

Oh, and change in the sig line. I'm no longer sending money to Hong Kong to support the web page. 20% increase this year, who needs it?

 

[BigE]

Heya gang!

Finally able to peek in and see wazzup!

Oh, and change in the sig line. I'm no longer sending money to Hong Kong to support the web page. 20% increase this year, who needs it?

Set your site up at wix.com
It's free and they have all sorts of free templates to get you jump-started. That's how I did mine last week.
E

 

[kbkchooch]

Set your site up at wix.com
It's free and they have all sorts of free templates to get you jump-started. That's how I did mine last week.
E

Thanks for the tip Eric, I just might, when I get time. (Who am I kidding)
BTW, the Santa Fe engine is off the track

 

[BigE]

Thanks for the tip Eric, I just might, when I get time. (Who am I kidding)
BTW, the Santa Fe engine is off the track

Holy crap!!! You're right! Too funny.
I must have just pulled it around the corner by hand just for the shot.
E

 

[tootnkumin]

Hey Karl! I'm still working out what all the Pro-Cab buttons do.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good evening ...

Chet .... The NP passenger train looks like it is where it belongs on your layout. Two of those cars did have kadee 33" wheels on them. It may be better to replace the trucks altogether with high quality ones. ... Thanks for posting photos from Pete Eillis' layout. I am not familiar with him, but like what you show here.

Karl ... Your WM FA's look absolutely beautiful ! ... Adult kids have a way of always needing us. Gotta love them !

Eric .. Your mountain is look very good !

Curt ... The RS1 look great up close.


Here are photos of my rural scene as it now looks. I added tree, another building, a fence, and more ground cover.

 

[tootnkumin]

Soory to butt in but you need to check out this guys work.
https://youtu.be/Ut-0nke2hrE]

He's on the forum somewhere, recognise many of the Dioramas. All setup and photographed outside, with natural backdrops.

 

[Trussrod]

Good very late evening,

Today was eventful in that I was able to sand a somewhat high fascia I thought I might have trouble getting to but all went well till I used up my 60 grit sanding paper that came with my Ryobi Flat-Iron style Orbital sander. HD 31 miles South of my location on the North end of Fresno didn't carry any of the 60 grit but they had some 80 grit, so I bought the last package they had only to find when I got home I already had two other packages of of 80 Grit. Grr!
Anyway I should be be able to finish up with the sanding and calking fairly soon and get to painting which this place has needed for a long time now! So I'm glad I'm making progress and it looks like the weather is going to be just right too! Hoorah!

Good morning all, we have 35 and drizzle. Supposed to be rain tomorrow.

Curt: I have a couple of these Jordan kits as well. They took (me) a lot of concentration to put together, but somehow the dainty little stuff has held up over the years.

I took some photos of the layout last night and thought I would post them here:

View attachment 53266

View attachment 53267

Hi David: The lights look interesting in your shot as well as the town scene. I may do something like that but for my earlier time period I'd have to find old Kerosene Lights.

The reason I left the Land of Pleasant Living, was that Conrail, made me an offer I should have refused. I'll let it go at that.

Hi Joe: I'll bet that would make an interesting, yet probably frustrating for you, trail if events. I guess that just goes to prove that hind sight is usually better than foresight.

Free coffee on Navy day. I'm up to that.

I do have a lot of respect for the submariners. While my ship was in drydock in Charleston, SC, I was assigned to monitor some electronics on a sub that was going out for just a day of testing. It was still in the stages of having system upgrades and there was no crew assigned at the time. Electronics are electronics and my division officer volunteered me. (Yeah, thanks). I will admit that it was an interesting experience, but I much prefer to be on top of the water. It really takes a special person to be a crew member on a sub.

I like my tin cans (destroyers).

View attachment 53272This is my old ship. After a class B overhaul its classification was changed. It was DLG-7, but reclassed and renumbered DDG-38.

I was extremely fortunate to have been able to have visited 73 countries during the six years I was in. It was a great experience to see how people live in other parts of the world. A real eye opener. Many people in this country have no idea of what other parts of the world is like. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Garry sent me some passenger cars decorated in the Northern Pacific pine tree paint scheme to go along with the two F-7's I bought from him. Thank you very much Garry. A couple of them are from AHM. I can believe that these are the very first AHM cars that I have after being in HO scale for over 30 years. The detail is fine on them and the colors match the locomotives and the Riverossi cars that I already had in this paint scheme. I have some minor issues with a couple of them. They don't like my code 70 rail. The wheel flanges are too large. Sounds like they are derailed going down the tracks. I don't believe that I can replace the wheels with Intermountain or Kadee wheels either. I ran across this problem with s couple of old Riverossi cars I have. I meeting with a Dremel tool will fix that. Some have truck mounted couplers also. These will be changed to body mounted couplers. Another project.

Good morning and HAPPY NAVY DAY.

Hi Chet: Yes, a belated, Happy Navy Day

Your mentioning the use of the Dremel tool with a small rotary grinding wheel to trim the flanges on some wheels with too large of flange is something I've thought of trying on a couple of Rivirossi loco's I have as well as some other.

Afternoon All,

Tomorrow I am meeting Phil at Jon's house. It should be fun. It looks like I am grilling steaks for supper tonight.

NG- If you continue to have issues with your front truck on the 4-8-4 I would first check to see if it is in gauge and if it is, there is 2 options that I have tried. First is add a little weight to the top of it (size permitting) or if there is a spring on top of the truck you can lengthen the spring (very small increments). I know how frustrating it is for equipment not running correctly. Steam locomotives are either wonderful or the most frustrating thing on my layout. The photo looks like the shark just finished killing a bunch of people.


David- The radius of the tracks I think is ok, but coming out of the turns where the track flattens the front of the long Pennsy tender is forced off the track by the rear of the loco. It is the worst in the background area of the photo from a couple of days ago.

Phil- It is Navy day everyday if you are in the Navy! The 240th Navy birthday was on the 13th. I forgot to post about it.

BigE- The fence and mountain look great.

Logansawman- Very nice photos.

Montanan- Seeing other countries while in the Navy really makes you realize how lucky you are to be American. That story you told about the restaurant sounds really crappy....Sorry I could not resist.

Chessie_system3- Very nice layout layout photos.

I hope everyone has a good night.

Hi Curt: Is it possible to either move the tender back a little further on the draw bar if it has other holes to position the tender pin in or possibly drilling another hole? Or possibly elongating the existing hole to form a bit of a slot so the tender could slide back a bit more? Or how about making a little longer draw bar to gain mthe needed distance?

 

[Bruette]

Heya gang!

Finally able to peek in and see wazzup!

Big E, the mountain looks great, and the fence too!

L&SM, I too like the effect of the street lights, awesome scene.

Ray, as always, your work is inspiring.

I did manage to finish something that has been several years in the works. A complete matched set of Western Maryland FA's

Please excuse the guitar cases stacked in the background, my "chinese exchange student" son has moved in. You know the deal, Masters degree, huge debt, no job in his field, moves in with the parents. On the bright side, I don't have to cut grass any longer!

Oh, and change in the sig line. I'm no longer sending money to Hong Kong to support the web page. 20% increase this year, who needs it?

Karl those are great looking locomotives!

If you have time I would love to hear more about them.

 

[Bruette]

Here are photos of my rural scene as it now looks. I added tree, another building, a fence, and more ground cover.

Great scene and I love those straight trucks!

 

[Bruette]

Good afternoon. We made it up to 45 degrees this afternoon. Looks like some weather might be moving in. The clouds lifted briefly and I see a bit more snow on the mountains.

Eric - A big improvement, but I see where more work could be done.

It's good to see Motley back in the forum

Curt - Great close up photo. You are so right about being happy to be an American. People in this country don't have a clue how lucky they are. When I hear people whining, there are a number of places that I have visited that I would like to send them.

While I was rummaging through items that I have been moving around I found some photos of my friend, the late Pete Ellis layout I have some great video of his layout and more photos that I have of his layout, but they are apparently in a safe place that I have yet to find. These were taken at an operating session about 20 years ago at his ranch in Cascade, MT. Parts of his layout were inspired by John Allen, whos layput both he and I have had the opportunity to visit. In many parts of his layout the scenery went to the floor.

Here are a few of the photos that I did find and scanned. I'm sure Louis will enjoy the last one.

View attachment 53300 View attachment 53301 View attachment 53302

This is a box car he signed and gave to me in 1999. He unfortunately passed away shortly there after. There is talk about trying to move his layout to a railroad museum planned in Great Falls, MT. I think the cars was from MDC. He had a special run of these cars made.

View attachment 53303

Pete was oner of the best modelers I have ever met. Some of the things that he came up with were amazing considering that there was nowhere as much on the market back then compared to what we have today. He was the one who donated my scratch build turntable.

Chet at first glance I thought those were real, until I saw Lionel on the girder and looked closer, great work!

 

[Bruette]

You guys are truly artists, Curt, BigE and everybody, thanks for sharing your work!

I am sure Phil will agree with me when I say, just because I don't do scenery does not mean I don't admire those who do.