Nice vid again Chet, you do find out with DCC control and multiple trains that you are the driver and head on's and up the back ends are much more likely.
Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXV
- Thread starter bnsf971
- Start date
Raincoat2
Well-Known Member
Good morning all. 57 and sunny here in SW MO. Will get to 76 today, they say. Got the mowing done yesterday - took a while because some parts of the yard are still soggy from all the recent rain. Also got to use the trimmer on areas that we haven't been able to do for a couple of weeks because of the weather.
Willie - hope you escaped all the wild weather. Ours ended Saturday about noon. From you post this morning it appears you missed all the rain. Looked to me like some storms were still racing across North Texas over the weekend, but they must have missed you. Family in East Texas said it rained there yesterday. Very nice work on that structure.
Chet - nice videos. Glad you are running trains at the club.
All - I pretty much agree about WalMart. Tries to be all things to all people, but I prefer going to other stores, especially the DIY places, because of the much greater variety and better quality brands. My wife, however, loves WalMart - so we have an agreement: if she is going to WalMart, she either runs to town by herself or I drop her off and I go find other nearby stores to spend my time in (there's a Home Depot across the street).
Moving forward with the mountain scene and the two lines running through it, plus a lake and river. Also working on two structures - one is a little shop that will serve as a lawnmower repair shop that I remember from my younger days
Hope to post a photo or two this week.
See ya later. Have a good day everyone.
Willie - hope you escaped all the wild weather. Ours ended Saturday about noon. From you post this morning it appears you missed all the rain. Looked to me like some storms were still racing across North Texas over the weekend, but they must have missed you. Family in East Texas said it rained there yesterday. Very nice work on that structure.
Chet - nice videos. Glad you are running trains at the club.
All - I pretty much agree about WalMart. Tries to be all things to all people, but I prefer going to other stores, especially the DIY places, because of the much greater variety and better quality brands. My wife, however, loves WalMart - so we have an agreement: if she is going to WalMart, she either runs to town by herself or I drop her off and I go find other nearby stores to spend my time in (there's a Home Depot across the street).
Moving forward with the mountain scene and the two lines running through it, plus a lake and river. Also working on two structures - one is a little shop that will serve as a lawnmower repair shop that I remember from my younger days
Hope to post a photo or two this week.See ya later. Have a good day everyone.
Good Morning shop dwellers! Here is the weather report:
Today is forecast to be COOLER than yesterday.
Today
High 90 | Low 59 °F
0% Chance of Precip.
Yesterday
High 95 | Low 56 °F
Precip. 0 in
Spousal Unit, the two fur buddies and I had an outing yesterday which turned an almost event into a non-event.
A quick background - Back in January, I think it was, that we went to Lake Arrowhead to attend a neice's wedding we managed to NOT load our garment bag into the automobile for our return trip. Said garment bag had out nicest clothes in it - going to say about $500 worth. We did not notice it missing until almost 6-7 weeks later when we needed the same again. Yesterday we decided to take a day trip and retrieve them, plus, I wanted to go on the weekend to see the train layout again that I posted about.
First of all, when we drove thru the "shopping" area, the model RR building had been converted into three shops - dammit! OK, "B Unit" goes into the hotel while I walk the dogs a little into the big trees and woods where they are having a ball smelling everything they can. Approaching the car to give them some water, I look at the right front tire as the wheels were turned sharply to the right when parking. It was totally bald with wire poking out on the inside of the tire. Now, I have run lots of tires with not hardly any tread, but this was enough to SCARE THE CRAP OUTTA ME - especially with the 7000 foot narrow, curving mountainous road that we had just climbed and faced going back down - not to mention the fact that we were doing 70-75 on the freeway with that tire!
OK, what to do? Nothing open Sunday for getting a tire around there so called AAA to change the spare (figured that we are paying for their service and have hardly ever used it except for 2-3 times over 26 years) and found out that it would be a couple hours before they could get to us, so I told the Mrs. that we would drive down the mountain and stop at the first tire shop we could find. I just really did not want to crawl under the car trying to get the spare out and it was NOT a full size tire anyway. OK, down the hill we go at 30-40 mph pulling over many times to let the "race car drivers" go around ever time I would see 4-6 cars behind me. Only once did we get honked at and waved at with the middle finger. Wife was on her phone (damn, Apple makes a good product) searching for a tire shop open on Sunday afternoon that was close. She found one along Foothill Blvd, HA, which could not have been in a worse section of town. I would not want to be caught there after dark, and really did not want to be there in broad daylight. I think there is 1-2 shootings a week there. (way to go hon!) OK, the place we were looking was not open and not the place we wanted anyway, but I spotted a "used tires" place on the opposite side of the street that had a group of Spanish Americans around itand I told the wife I was going to get them to put the spare on the ground - she was afraid to stop, but I convienced that it would be OK. They were quite busy and only one guy spoke english well - the others pretty hard to converse with. It was an older man and his three sons business and they were busy. I mentioned that they seemed busy and was told, "Yeah, that's because we are open .. being Sunday". Took a little while for them to get to us, but after looking at the spare, the man said, " How about we just put on a decent used tire?". I looked at what he offered, and decided to go with it. $45 later we were on our way with a tire that actually will last longer than the other three which are on the ground. I probably could have "bargined" him down on that tire some, but with it being as hot as it was and him and his sons working as hard as they were - there was no way that I was going to try and talk him down. Besides, with what we were driving on, if I were a rich man - I would have given him a hundred dollar tip rather than the extra $5 that I did!
Have to get the alinement checked today ... there is no way that that tire should have worn that way!
Today is forecast to be COOLER than yesterday.
Today
High 90 | Low 59 °F
0% Chance of Precip.
Yesterday
High 95 | Low 56 °F
Precip. 0 in
Spousal Unit, the two fur buddies and I had an outing yesterday which turned an almost event into a non-event.
A quick background - Back in January, I think it was, that we went to Lake Arrowhead to attend a neice's wedding we managed to NOT load our garment bag into the automobile for our return trip. Said garment bag had out nicest clothes in it - going to say about $500 worth. We did not notice it missing until almost 6-7 weeks later when we needed the same again. Yesterday we decided to take a day trip and retrieve them, plus, I wanted to go on the weekend to see the train layout again that I posted about.
First of all, when we drove thru the "shopping" area, the model RR building had been converted into three shops - dammit! OK, "B Unit" goes into the hotel while I walk the dogs a little into the big trees and woods where they are having a ball smelling everything they can. Approaching the car to give them some water, I look at the right front tire as the wheels were turned sharply to the right when parking. It was totally bald with wire poking out on the inside of the tire. Now, I have run lots of tires with not hardly any tread, but this was enough to SCARE THE CRAP OUTTA ME - especially with the 7000 foot narrow, curving mountainous road that we had just climbed and faced going back down - not to mention the fact that we were doing 70-75 on the freeway with that tire!
OK, what to do? Nothing open Sunday for getting a tire around there so called AAA to change the spare (figured that we are paying for their service and have hardly ever used it except for 2-3 times over 26 years) and found out that it would be a couple hours before they could get to us, so I told the Mrs. that we would drive down the mountain and stop at the first tire shop we could find. I just really did not want to crawl under the car trying to get the spare out and it was NOT a full size tire anyway. OK, down the hill we go at 30-40 mph pulling over many times to let the "race car drivers" go around ever time I would see 4-6 cars behind me. Only once did we get honked at and waved at with the middle finger. Wife was on her phone (damn, Apple makes a good product) searching for a tire shop open on Sunday afternoon that was close. She found one along Foothill Blvd, HA, which could not have been in a worse section of town. I would not want to be caught there after dark, and really did not want to be there in broad daylight. I think there is 1-2 shootings a week there. (way to go hon!) OK, the place we were looking was not open and not the place we wanted anyway, but I spotted a "used tires" place on the opposite side of the street that had a group of Spanish Americans around itand I told the wife I was going to get them to put the spare on the ground - she was afraid to stop, but I convienced that it would be OK. They were quite busy and only one guy spoke english well - the others pretty hard to converse with. It was an older man and his three sons business and they were busy. I mentioned that they seemed busy and was told, "Yeah, that's because we are open .. being Sunday". Took a little while for them to get to us, but after looking at the spare, the man said, " How about we just put on a decent used tire?". I looked at what he offered, and decided to go with it. $45 later we were on our way with a tire that actually will last longer than the other three which are on the ground. I probably could have "bargined" him down on that tire some, but with it being as hot as it was and him and his sons working as hard as they were - there was no way that I was going to try and talk him down. Besides, with what we were driving on, if I were a rich man - I would have given him a hundred dollar tip rather than the extra $5 that I did!
Have to get the alinement checked today ... there is no way that that tire should have worn that way!
Genetk44
Active Member
Morning guys...First...the following layout in the pics is not my layout and not my work...so I'm not trying to take any credit for it...its just an example of what can be done in a small space!!!
..I tend towards smaller layouts for many reasons, one of which of course is because I am space-challenged in my apartment. I also like them because they are usually easily portable,can be finished in a reasonable time-frame and being small are easy to work on and maintain. They also allow for detailed scenery without one being overwhelmed by the size or costs.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying one size of layout is better than any other, these are my preferences for a many reasons...but if I had the space I would build larger...but not a basement empire even as much as I enjoy seeing them.
Anyways...these are just to show what can be done in a small space....the scenic area is 5 ft long plus a 2ft long fiddleyard on the right....I think it's only about 14 inches deep.
..I tend towards smaller layouts for many reasons, one of which of course is because I am space-challenged in my apartment. I also like them because they are usually easily portable,can be finished in a reasonable time-frame and being small are easy to work on and maintain. They also allow for detailed scenery without one being overwhelmed by the size or costs.
Please don't get me wrong, I am not saying one size of layout is better than any other, these are my preferences for a many reasons...but if I had the space I would build larger...but not a basement empire even as much as I enjoy seeing them.
Anyways...these are just to show what can be done in a small space....the scenic area is 5 ft long plus a 2ft long fiddleyard on the right....I think it's only about 14 inches deep.
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montanan
Whiskey Merchant
You sure could have a wreck if you're not paying attention. At one time we had 8 trains running and not being entirely familiar with the layout, I had to pay attention. They do have operating signals, but there was a bug in them and the guy who takes care of it was out of town. As a newbie on the layout, I sure didn't want to cause any problems.
I have operated on a friends layout with nearly 20 trains operating at one time, but the signals were working plus there were two dispatchers baring out orders which made meets a lot easier to deal with.
logandsawman
Well-Known Member
Good morning, 50 and we see the sun!
Gene--nice sharing of the small layout, it something like my new module except much further along. I figure I can attach another section to mine and be able to do some opps in our apartment until we get the house.
Gene--nice sharing of the small layout, it something like my new module except much further along. I figure I can attach another section to mine and be able to do some opps in our apartment until we get the house.
Chet - looks like a very nice cub you have found. I bet that you are going to visit it more ofter ... unless it interferes with the bowling league?
Willie - I am seeing some very nice work from you on your structures!
Curt - Your work looks good - I an with Willie - will have to try some weathering before assembly .. it I ever get started again. Scratch that - When I get started again!
Forgot to mention in my story -- We still came away WITHOUT the garment bag. Turns out that after 90 days they give the 'lost and found' articles away! Lesson learned the hard way - We did not have our name on the bag (or a name tag). When the Spousal Unit last talked to them - maybe a month ago - they "thought" it was there, but the person's Emgrish in charge of that department was not too clear?. After sitting in the car for about an hour in the mid day heat while getting the tire swapped out, the doggies were very happy to get home and flop down on the cool tile floor!
Willie - I am seeing some very nice work from you on your structures!
Curt - Your work looks good - I an with Willie - will have to try some weathering before assembly .. it I ever get started again. Scratch that - When I get started again!
Forgot to mention in my story -- We still came away WITHOUT the garment bag. Turns out that after 90 days they give the 'lost and found' articles away! Lesson learned the hard way - We did not have our name on the bag (or a name tag). When the Spousal Unit last talked to them - maybe a month ago - they "thought" it was there, but the person's Emgrish in charge of that department was not too clear?. After sitting in the car for about an hour in the mid day heat while getting the tire swapped out, the doggies were very happy to get home and flop down on the cool tile floor!
montanan
Whiskey Merchant
Sherrel - Sounds like quite the adventure. You probably wanted to lay on the cool tile floor at home also.
Gene - That is one outstanding little layout. I have seen a number of extremely highly detailed shelf layouts with a lot of operation is a small space and this one is right at the top. Really some nice work.
Terry - Very true. They do have quite the layout with quite a number of different routes and not being very familiar with all of the alternatives, I really had to pay a lot of attention. Although it looks like a double track main line, it actually doubles back on itself, and there are a number of diverging routes off of it so there could be the possibility of even a head on if someone wasn't paying attention. Unfortunately, they did not have any headsets. The layout is actually in three different rooms and at times communications aren't the best. Regular operators know where they have to stop before entering the main line and finding out where other trains are. It is interesting that in order to get the tracks from one room to another, they had to bore a hold through a 24 inch thick concrete wall in the basement of the depot. You can imagine that if you weren't on your toes and knew where to stop, you could cause one heck of a train wreck.
I do enjoy operating DCC on large layouts as it can be a lot of fun. Operations like they have would be near impossible without it. The heavy mike did a pretty decent job on the grades they had which even they aren't sure what they are, but I am guessing that they are at least 2% if not more.
I really appreciated them inviting me back to operate even though I wasn't a member of the club. I will probably kick in some $$$ to help them. Don't know if membership is an option. They are 40 miles away over a mountain pass (Bozeman Pass) which can be a mess in the winter plus their meetings are later in the evening and for me lights out is usually around 9 PM.
Like McArthur said, "I shall return".
Gene - That is one outstanding little layout. I have seen a number of extremely highly detailed shelf layouts with a lot of operation is a small space and this one is right at the top. Really some nice work.
Terry - Very true. They do have quite the layout with quite a number of different routes and not being very familiar with all of the alternatives, I really had to pay a lot of attention. Although it looks like a double track main line, it actually doubles back on itself, and there are a number of diverging routes off of it so there could be the possibility of even a head on if someone wasn't paying attention. Unfortunately, they did not have any headsets. The layout is actually in three different rooms and at times communications aren't the best. Regular operators know where they have to stop before entering the main line and finding out where other trains are. It is interesting that in order to get the tracks from one room to another, they had to bore a hold through a 24 inch thick concrete wall in the basement of the depot. You can imagine that if you weren't on your toes and knew where to stop, you could cause one heck of a train wreck.
I do enjoy operating DCC on large layouts as it can be a lot of fun. Operations like they have would be near impossible without it. The heavy mike did a pretty decent job on the grades they had which even they aren't sure what they are, but I am guessing that they are at least 2% if not more.
I really appreciated them inviting me back to operate even though I wasn't a member of the club. I will probably kick in some $$$ to help them. Don't know if membership is an option. They are 40 miles away over a mountain pass (Bozeman Pass) which can be a mess in the winter plus their meetings are later in the evening and for me lights out is usually around 9 PM.
Like McArthur said, "I shall return".
Darn, havent been here since the 16-th. Way the heck to long. So many pages to try to catch up.
Nice to see ERIC is back. Does great work in small places.
TOOT- Thanks for the picures
And everyone else that post them.
I actually ran a couple of consists around my pike. Pushed the track cleaner car and had no problems.
I still have JEFFREY's clean rails discourse if anyone wants it.
Prayers and best wishes for all.
Phil
Nice to see ERIC is back. Does great work in small places.
TOOT- Thanks for the picures
And everyone else that post them.
I actually ran a couple of consists around my pike. Pushed the track cleaner car and had no problems.
I still have JEFFREY's clean rails discourse if anyone wants it.
Prayers and best wishes for all.
Phil
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Boris
Beach Bum
Justin: Walmart is on my avoid list, also. Sort of like flying the friendly skies
. Lot of discussion on the B&O Yahoo group about Cumberland being closed. Stands to reason that with changes in traffic patterns and routings, that some facilities outlive their usefulness. With the decline in single car customers in some markets and other changes in the way things are done, many Hump yards have become obsolete. Conrail recently closed the Hump at Pavonia in Camden, NJ, and reopened it as a highly automated flat switch yard, using single man crews (just a conductor) on the two switchers. Funny thing is that in the case of Cumberland, the work is being reallocated to Connellsville, PA and Fairmount WV, both previously closed and mothballed. I believe much of the East West merchandise traffic now runs via Selkirk NY, and freight for the B&O's West End, is being re-routed in West Virginia, and this is why Cumberland is being closed.
Gene - Really nice smaller layout. Detail is outstanding. I like your style and postings.
Thanks CHET. I just feel as if I don't belong hob-nobbing with all you talented modelers. Yeah, I like trains and have a layout that actually works when no else is around. But mine is so crude and BARE. Just track nailed to the wood.
No, don't say it- When I was a member of the Gold Coast Modelers in Miami, I tried making trees and doing other chores. I became the official track cleaner. Jeez, don't remember the size but around 35 by 45 ft. with three yards and an N mine into a mountain.Coal dump into a freighter Had gallery where spectators could watch the trains going around. Heck of a layout.
Phil
No, don't say it- When I was a member of the Gold Coast Modelers in Miami, I tried making trees and doing other chores. I became the official track cleaner. Jeez, don't remember the size but around 35 by 45 ft. with three yards and an N mine into a mountain.Coal dump into a freighter Had gallery where spectators could watch the trains going around. Heck of a layout.
Phil
IronBeltKen
Lazy Daydreamer
Joe - I don't hang out on the B&O Yahoo group, so this news [about Cumberland closing] is the first I've heard about it. A recent issue of TRAINS had an article with a map of all the Class 1 railroads' "core" routes, and unfortunately, the B&O's West End wasn't one of them. In fact the only core right-of-way in the state of Maryland is the Camden Line between DC and Baltimore. And even that is in question, since the NIMBYs in Baltimore are fighting against allowing CSX to enlarge the Howard Street Tunnel to accommodate double-stacks. Combine that with EH Harrison running CSX, and it won't surprise me if Maryland becomes a "trainless" state within my lifetime!
BigE
Active Member
Wow! What happened to yesterday?
Went to sit in Church yesterday morning and fell asleep - in church.
Sometime later someone woke me up saying church was over.
I have no idea what time that was.
I came back to my room and crashed right back out until about 0530 this morning.
Wait a minute. That's not right. My brother from Champaign came to visit. We went to the hardware store and the beer store.
I guess I crashed after he left. I don't really remember anything after he left. I must have not slept well for several days.
I'm still looking at color printer/scanners.
That HP 8625 someone suggested is way to pricey.
Then again I also don't want no $20 cheapy POS either.
E.
Went to sit in Church yesterday morning and fell asleep - in church.
Sometime later someone woke me up saying church was over.
I have no idea what time that was.
I came back to my room and crashed right back out until about 0530 this morning.
Wait a minute. That's not right. My brother from Champaign came to visit. We went to the hardware store and the beer store.
I guess I crashed after he left. I don't really remember anything after he left. I must have not slept well for several days.
I'm still looking at color printer/scanners.
That HP 8625 someone suggested is way to pricey.
Then again I also don't want no $20 cheapy POS either.
E.
