Running Bear's Coffee Shop LVIII


If Paypal doesn't refund your money, even God should smell the stink in his nostrils. Their reputation for safety will be in shreds (if this hasn't already done that)
I chatted by phone with someone from Paypal. There were 62 other people that paid this guy money before Ebay pulled the plug. They say they have procedures and rules for this sort of thing. They have to give him the benefit of the doubt, and present his side of the story. If he does not by the 14th of this month, or if he admits the error of his ways before then, I get my money back. There is always the (slim) chance I might get the item I paid for, but it's a long way from Texas, where the stuff was supposed to be, to China, where my money went.
 
I chatted by phone with someone from Paypal. There were 62 other people that paid this guy money before Ebay pulled the plug. They say they have procedures and rules for this sort of thing. They have to give him the benefit of the doubt, and present his side of the story. If he does not by the 14th of this month, or if he admits the error of his ways before then, I get my money back. There is always the (slim) chance I might get the item I paid for, but it's a long way from Texas, where the stuff was supposed to be, to China, where my money went.

It's said that love is slow to anger, eBay has shown this seller a wealth of love. If he's a dropshipper (a possibility), then saying the item is where it isn't I think is against eBay's rules (have had that happen myself), if he is (more or less) lidgit, then transferring money paid into his paypal A/cc, to another should not be allowed (if it is) until you have received and OK'd the purchase (given positive feedback). At least they have said you will get your money back. I wouldn't think they would dare do otherwise, but having to wait to find out if it is a crooked deal or not is annoying.
 
Good Evening fellow rail setters and spike drivers,
Hi Flo & Francine, Looks like Jeffreys' dinner is fairly busy. How about some coffee and a plate of spaghetti & meat balls.

The weather here in Central Calif was nice this morning but turned cloudy as this week is supposed to be fairly wet.
Per WW - Partly Cloudy
47.1 °F
Feels Like 45 °F;
Wind from East 4.2;

Tomorrow is forecast to be Cooler than today.
Today
High 59 | Low 41 °F
0% Chance of Precip.
Yesterday
High 55.2 | Low 39.4 °F
Precip. 0 in

Pressure 29.82 in
Visibility 5.0 miles
Clouds Clear
Windchill 45 °F
Dew Point 34 °F
Humidity 60%
Rainfall 0.00 in
Snow Depth Not available

> >

I started to post earlier but knew from my friend Joe the area was supposed to get a fair amount of rain so I figured I'd best get to doing a bit more precautionary patching in a couple of spots and checking others so that's what I did attempting to get things sealed up a bit better.


=====
On the railroading front I figured I'd try running my two Old Time Teakettles with long cow catchers coupled together. I made an extension bar for one that I mounted on the frame just behind the front beam and have a #? Kadee screwed on it using an 0-80 Hex head bolt. That worked out fine pulling two box cars and a Old Time Sierra 34' passenger coach so then I had the idea of using the OT loco with the front coupler as a mid train helper after I added four other box cars and that worked fairly well too and looks cute as heck.

~~
I also need to find a reasonable credit card processing place so I can offer you folks some good deal on a number of items.

**

[David- I am just getting into scripted ops, but in the past I have set cars out at different sidings and dropped off and picked up as I come to different industries. Factoring in the engine preparation (coal, water, or diesel) and the time to put away the engine at the end, you can very easily spend a couple hours in a typical non-scripted ops session.

Curt: When you say scripted, am I assuming correctly, your referring to a pre-printed pick-up & delivery schedule? I was think that something such as a simple spread sheet or possibly a database on our cell phones would make it a whole lot easier to proceed from one operation to the next. What do you think?


WJLI26- I'm sorry, but I have looked at the NMRA and PECO sites and could not find the degree radius of the diverging part of the turnout. I could of sworn I have seen it on the NMRA site before, but today I was unsuccessful.

Joe: I'm not sure if I've seen what your referring too but wouldn't a small section of flex track and some cork road bed serfice?


Eric - OK, OK, now. Here's a couple, the first is one of the grain elevators without any signage. This is a Walthers grain elevator kit with extra bins from both Walthers and Rix. The second is a bakery. It is a slightly modified Walthers kit.
View attachment 54998
View attachment 54999

As I said in an earlier post, scenery is sporadic. Lots of plywood.
Willie


Willie: That's about the way with me too except my base is the sound board and very little scenery at present which I really need to start to correct.


Garry: Glad your back from your trip.


Hope everyone has a good day tomorrow.
 
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Good evening ....

I resolve not to get caught up in the pre-order frenzy any more...case in Point, Walthers Capitol Limited Train. Announced, August 2014, still not complete in January 2016. The Pullman Dome and Pullman Observation are now due the end of March, Not so much the cost, my supplier (Trainworld) is honoring the pre order price, but the loss of interest in the project over time.

Second model railroad resolution, is to stick to the plan, and finish the job, one segment at a time, instead of putting the cart before the horse.




Third model railroad resolution, is to avoid sound equipped locos, such as they are. Listening to others having their issues with electronics (BLI L1 for example), is a lesson learned. We never really had these issues when running DC, did we? It's kind of dumb, to spend on average, an extra hundred bucks to buy features I end up turning off.

I do not make traditional resolutions, as I'm not keeping them any way.

Joe .... I suppose it is not a big problem waiting for the Capitol Limited if you are still building the layout on which it will run.... I certainly agree with your approach of completing one section at a time. That is how I do it. .... I have a few sound equipped locomotives. It has been a learning curve for me, but I am happy with several of them. .... My pair of SD24's are an example of ones I am pleased with. They sound authentic to me. They are equipped with Soundtraxx early EMD turbo sound. I have some MRC sound decoders which work well (Steam loco, EMD 567 in an F7, and EMD dual 567's in an E8) ... My pair of BLI E7's have factory equipped sound, and they sound good and have been trouble free. ... I have not been as happy with Digitrax Soundbug decoders which have generic sounds and are not realistic sounding in my opinion. ... I am still a very long way from being a DCC sound expert, but I get by with help from a friend who understands it more than I do.

----

Sherrell ... Looking forward to hearing about your resolution to get trains running.

Karl ... Perhaps Toot was merely skirting the issue.

Terry ..... Maybe you should keep calling PayPal back until you get your money back. We sometimes ask agents to put their supervisors on the line if we are not satisfied with the answers we are getting. I don't think they should make you wait.

Speaking of Ebay, we did have our account compromised a few years ago. All of a sudden we were selling expensive stuff we knew nothing about. The listings said payments must be made via Western Union. Ebay Security worked with us to resolve the matter. Later we read about a ring of thieves located in Eastern Europe who were scamming people who were trying to make purchases on Ebay. ... Ebay Security asked us to change passwords for Ebay, PayPal and emails, and we gladly did so.



.
 
coffee_pot_steaming_hg_wht.gif17314_1022333747790412_2795878639629966544_n.jpgcoffee_pot.jpgcoffee iv.jpegGood morning. It's overcast and 23.
 
Hey, hey, hey, another day. Kinda glad I'm so broke I don't even bother looking at the bay. "Shopping" is something I YOUSTA do. Now I just pine for things and save up for them on an item by item basis.
 
Good Morning All. It's 33 degrees under clear skies here in North Central Texas this morning. We're having some beautiful weather right now with the highs in the mid-50's, sunny and no wind. Spent part of the day yesterday cutting firewood. As the old saying goes "make hay while the sun shines".
Sherrel - The grain elevator does need a little more work. I have the decals ready, and I have the parts to install a safety fence on the roof around the dust collectors. Over to the left of the picture are a couple of corrugated grain bins and an elevator to transfer material.
Curt - It is two levels, although they are not yet connected. Lower level benchwork is 90% complete and upper level is about 30% complete. Eventually I will have either a helix or no-lix to connect them, but that is two or three years away.
Karl - I have to give credit here; my six year old grandson saw the PIE truck on the layout in another location and suggested moving it to the bakery.
Thanks to all who commented.
Whoa! What just happened to the stock market? Time to buy, buy, buy!
Well off to the train shed before the sun comes up and I get the urge to do outside projects.
Willie
 
Good Morning It is a clear and cold 25 degrees here in the Middletown Valley. I know this is 'normal' for this time of year but the very warm December sure didn't prepare us for it.

I've never believed in resolutions but my plans for the first part of the year is to get the first module of my railroad built. My better half is insisting that I get my office/library area cleaned up first so that is the project for this week.
 
Good morning all. 20 degrees to start off the day. It has been below zero over the entire weekend in the morning. Highs barely into the 20's. Haven't been near a computer for a few days. Up late on New Years Eve and slept in till around 8 AM. Didn't feel like doing anything but veg out. Thought I might go down and work on the trains after lunch. Didn't happen. Saturday we went up to Harlowtown, MT to visit with friends and relatives, most who worked for the Milwaukee Road. Enjoyed the visit a lot.

Now I'll have to check through the posts that were done over the weekend. Saw them on my phone but HATE typing on the phone and wanted to get a better view of the photos.

Joe - Waiting to see photos of the Capitol Limited. Had to be one of the sharpest looking trains of the era. Always liked it.

Willie - Nice to see you posting photos. Thanks. Like them.

Terry - Guess that's why I avoid ebay when I can. I had an experience when an item didn't arrive and was lucky enough to get a refund. Unfortunately the bad sellers give the site a black eye, but I try to avoid ebay now.

Where are the photos ???? Here's my pictures for the day, work on the Van Dyke farm.

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attachment.php


Now I'll have to go through the weekends posts.
 
Joe: I'm not sure if I've seen what your referring too but wouldn't a small section of flex track and some cork road bed serfice?

.

David: Without getting into the engineering aspect, each switch (or turnout if you prefer), has a degree of curvature for the diverging route. That's true regardless of frog size, and it applies on model railroads and real railroads. In the model railroad setting, if you use a pure #4 switch, the diverting curvature is sharp, and you are restricted to short cars and engines. Atlas' #4 is really a 4.5, designed to match their 22" radius sectional curve. Higher frog numbers, have wider divergent curve equivalents. I'm really trying to determine the diverging curve of a # 5 switch, because a modern auto assembly plant was served by high cube box cars and multi-levels that were generally 80+' long. There is not enough room on the layout for a#6 switch in that location.

If you look at the photos of the real Ford plant, in my post, (WW2 era), the curves are very sharp, (the real sized railroad equivalent of 15" radius). One of the reasons the plat closed in 1959, was that Robert McNamara did not want to spend the Capital to modernize the plant infrastructure, even though the plant had access to seagoing, motor and rail transportation, something landlocked plant sites (like Mahwah, and Edison NJ) did not have.
 
]Good morning guys, 20 and heading for 30. Feels like spring, another week of mild weather forcast for this part of the state.

I build several white pines for the layout while waiting for the backdrop to arrive, worked on the technique for the lichen covering on the bark, took some photos and matched the color using "granite gray" and dabbing spots on the trunk:

Newly built trees added with new bark/lichen technique:

water, white pines 006.jpg


"prototype", this group of trees is considered "second growth" trees and not old growth, they came in after the fire of 1918:

water, white pines 003.jpg
 
Joe .... I suppose it is not a big problem waiting for the Capitol Limited if you are still building the layout on which it will run.... I certainly agree with your approach of completing one section at a time. That is how I do it. .... I have a few sound equipped locomotives. It has been a learning curve for me, but I am happy with several of them. .... My pair of SD24's are an example of ones I am pleased with. They sound authentic to me. They are equipped with Soundtraxx early EMD turbo sound. I have some MRC sound decoders which work well (Steam loco, EMD 567 in an F7, and EMD dual 567's in an E8) ... My pair of BLI E7's have factory equipped sound, and they sound good and have been trouble free. ... I have not been as happy with Digitrax Soundbug decoders which have generic sounds and are not realistic sounding in my opinion. ... I am still a very long way from being a DCC sound expert, but I get by with help from a friend who understands it more than I do.

.

Garry: Last year, I purchased only sound equipped locos, and frankly, I enjoyed them. I associate sound not by what is heard at track side, but what I heard from inside the cab or while walking past idling diesels and motors on the pit. So my expectations are a bit different than most other people. Most of my running, is late in the day, after my better half has gone to bed, so silence is appropriate. (A banshee whistle sounding directly under the cold air return duct at 11PM has an effect on a light sleeper).

I also have a bag full of Digitrax, NCE, and TCS decoders just begging to be installed.

As far as the Capital Limited, I suppose it's more of a collectible, rather than an operating train. It would have run on the old layout, in continuous run mode, but the new layout is essentially envisioned as a point to point riverfront industrial branch, rather than a main line, so anything more than a Baldwin RS12 with a couple of "hot" P70s would be inappropriate. Oh, well, live and learn.
 
Good morning all. Started my morning off right with some coffee and ran some laps on the layout. Finished my yard up got all of my blocks set up for my locomotive holding tracks. My track work is coming to a close and it looks like I should be able to start building up my scenery this week. I have a uboat coming today which will find its way onto my workbench just like the SD40s I have. Bought some paint this past weekend so here's hoping I can get this to turn out ok. But my layout is more important and those I'll run later on. Happy railroading guys.
Justin

Sent from my XT1031 using Tapatalk
 
35° and clear here with a high of only 42 today.
I haven't heard from anyone yet this morning so I wonder if we're working today or not. Given the holiday weekend, he might be on a binge. He did warn me about that on day one. If so, I don't want him on the road for anyone's sake. I don't think he'd do that anyway. A good friend lives just a couple house up the street from him so if something happened I'm sure he'd let me know.
He did recently lose a loved one so if he fell off and crawled in a bottle - so be it.

Then again he did pick up some wrong stuff at the paint supply NY Eve late afternoon so he might not have been able to go to the paint store until this morning. In that case any speculation would have been.... well just that.
No problem in any event.
E.
 
Good afternoon. It's cloudy and 35.
Supposedly, my item is on its way via China Post. When I made the purchase, and I checked the confirmation email tombe sure, it was supposed to be coming via usps medium flat rate box. Unless China Post has a satellite office in Texas, it isn't going to get here in the time specified (jan 7). Of course, I'll probably receive a picture of the item I purchased, if I get anything at all.
 
I had ordered some lights for a yard and street lamps that were shipped from China and I was suprised at how quick it arrived. Think it was somewhere in the order of about 10 days and it was here.
 
A few years ago, I bought quite a few Norscot items from a China seller (at least they did tell you that's where they were coming from), all "Free Postage" which even though I didn't get combined postage discount, still worked out cheaper than from elsewhere, with that discount and delivery was much quicker than usual. Couldn't even find the sender's address on the map. Bought a few locos from a Taiwan seller who I could never find again too. Guess you got'ta get lucky somewhere along the line. Hope yours is going that way too, Terry.
 



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