Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXX


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We used to have "live" X-mas trees, but it took an entire day for the Mrs. to pick one out. Usually we ended up buying the first tree she saw!!! Maybe some day we'll have another "live" tree since we have thousands of White, Red and Scotch pine on our land in Central Wisconsin, but I'll pick it out!!!

Greg
 
Good afternoon everyone. Sunny today, will hit the low 60's here in SW MO. One more nice day before winter slaps us in the face!!

Justin - great that you are able to add some space to your layout. Like Chet said, it will make a big difference. I will be adding to mine in a way I had not foreseen, and it will make a huge difference in what I can do on the layout.
Garry - those doorways!! Arrrggghhh!!!

Got the day off work today and tomorrow. I just finished my Christmas shopping (and ran by our LHS to boot - found a couple of things my layout can't live without. Imagine that!!

Have a good day everyone.
 
As I look at it from my point of view. The space my old layout occupied is about equal to the plan I drew up. Adding the two feet is more or less insurance for me. I'm planning on getting off the flat layout. I want to use 2% grades. To insure I can accomplish this I need more distance. Some of the aspects on the original plan I may keep. But for the most part it's all my thoughts on this one. I plan to make it to where I can add expansion later. I've already made up my mind to leave sectional track behind. It just gave me too many headaches. Not to mention I can get flex at my lhs for $3.99 each. eBay can't come close to that. No matter how I slice this I'm using flex this go around. I'll not have the same issues this time.

Justin
 
Hello All...Seems I just can't stop by this 'Forum' without learning something new...The 'Never Ending' cascade of images at the top of the Home Page is such an amazing resource...
I could scan through for hours just looking at the way people design scenery and the materials and techniques they use...

I also got bitten once again by my 'Curiosity' bug and was intrigued regarding a discussion you all were recently having regarding 'Couplers'...I'm amazed at the variety there are...
Unfortunately No Train Board Today...Seems I'll be in business tomorrow...I am ready though...Just need that extra pair of hands to make it over to the house !!!...Trig
 
When to run some trains and clean and found one of the toilets is leaking into the basement...maybe a bad wax seal....job for a plumber. I don't want to break a toilet basin or not correctly aline the seal.

This job was done when I was done in the hospital...by a handyman.

It never ends.

Greg
 
Good Afternoon All,

Been very busy the last 2 days getting ready for Christmas.

Eric- Condolences on the loss of your Uncle.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
bnsf971 said:
Good afternoon, and happy Winter Solstice.
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Not so happy when you have to plow 10" of snow out of 150 feet of driveway.
 

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Well all that work I did yesterday was great.
I'm paying for it today though. I have no energy at all.
Kind of like after a long day in the chemo room. It really zaps the energy.
Radiation just plain sucked no matter how long.

Thanks for the condolences on my loss of Uncle Jim.
He's being buried tomorrow with full military honors. He was a 'Nam vet Navy man.
E
 
Geez, it's the 21th of Dec already! Still have to find some stuff for the g'kids. Should be easy though but just have to do the hand to hand with the other shoppers. I think I'll get up early and hit the WalMart about 4am. Shouldn't be to many people in there then.

On other fronts, I finally got my old modules back for the modular club. I gave them to the club when I left it in 2005. Some of the members were passing porn to the whole list of members using the club yahoo email system. More seemed to want to defend the pornster so I quit the club. They have moved on since and I rejoined the modular club earlier this year.

Module Curtains.jpg

This is a 16' system made up of 3 five foot modules and 1 one foot section. A little bit of rise to track and a bit of curve to the back, all within the NMRA standards for grade and mainline curvature. There are three industrial sidings on the modules using number 6 turnouts.
They are pretty beat up from sitting in a few different garages over the last 10 years or so. The signals are bent and the scenery surface is dinged up in quite a few places. Some of the track is torn away from the ties. The legs and backdrops are missing along with the C clamps that I gave to the club. The track sections that join the modules over the gaps are missing as well.
I think this will take a bit of effort to refurbish. I'll have to move them into the house were its warm to work on them. The garage is usually down in the 30s or 40s now.
I'll also have to build a transport box to store them in as well as to transport them in the back of the pickup truck. I had that already made back when I first built the modules. We then transitioned all the club property into a trailer which I maintained so I had shelves in the trailer to haul the modules too. The transport box is long gone and the trailer has been replaced with a bigger one that holds more club property.
I'm going to try to get this together for the Boy Scout show next March in Woodbridge.
Log term goal is to have block detection in the module system along with three aspect signalling.
 
Ah, good that Ken is commenting on club issues, so I can make an update. Things only swung slightly in our favor at the Fed Com election. We did get the President we wanted and another member onto the committee, but the final count of members has finished up as 5-2 against the changes needed. I might not of mentioned before that one of the major problems with how the Fed Constitution has always been, is that all the members in the association don't actually belong to the clubs directly i.e. the clubs don't have recruitment rights of their own. New prospects fill out a form to join AMRA inc, which is then sent to the Fed Com, with their joining fee, for approval and assignment to a club. The only concession the feds will allow now, is that a new recruit can specify which club they want to join. State laws of incorporation now require that such clubs do their own recruitment and collect their own joining fee.

Of recent times, we have added 6 new members and followed the procedural application form and fee method. 3 applications were sent in with the form as printed off, then 3 were sent in with a Proposer and seconder's names and signatures of existing club committee/members names and signatures included. Those 3 applications were rejected, 1 actually had his check returned to his personal address.

Another major problem is that quite a number of the long term club members have prepaid their annual AMRA inc. fees in advance, including lifetime ones, so stand to incur a financial loss if the club departs from the association, which it can do with no penalties to the club. The member from our club that got onto the Fed Com has been a member for 44 years, so there is also quite a bit of feeling involved for these people in not wanting to see the association damaged or become redundant. Here of course, the other side of the coin, is new members being asked to pay a fee to an organisation that as far as they can see, the only benefit of is a bi-monthly small magazine, when all they want to do is join, in this case, the Queensland club. As I found out at last nights monthly meeting, the Fed Com only has to meet 3 times a year, and at no set intervals. (forgot to ask who calls a meeting, but assume it would be the President. The other oddity revealed was that there is a Public Officer, independent of the committee, who apparently has more power than the President???? and he is very anti change at all.)

A very special emergency meeting of the club is called for the 13th of January. I think a showdown is coming.
 
Geeez Toot, all that just to run some trains. Does the Fed Com check peoples basements for layouts so they can govern them?
and the part about being assigned to a club. Seriously, a Fed Com is going to tell a guy he can't join the club right down the street but if he wants to run trains he has to go all the way across the city?
 
TOOT - That seems to me is the most fowled up system I have heard of = or else I am not understanding what you are saying. I think you need Trump to come and ditch many of those regulations. Can't you just tell them that all you want to do is run trains?

Ken Looks as if you may have to move the Cycle out of the house to make room for the 5+5+5+1 module. (BTW - what is the 1 foot for? Must have been to do with the trailer? I have no doubt that you will affect repairs ... just wonder what you will do during the remainder of the extra two months prior to the show? I have seen what you are capable of!
 
Hi Sherell,
The one foot section makes the whole thing 16' long so it fits with all the other 4' modules. Little math test here now.
The garage is getting cluttered with stuff I have listed on craigslist and other projects motorcycle related.
 
Ken & Sherrel, The association was formed in 1951 by a handful of guys in the state of NSW. It sort of co-exists although separate to the NSW club, because several committee members are also club members. The constitution from what I've gleaned has been fiddled around the edges with since, but State Govt laws have caught up with it, and the diehards won't recognise it, think it can just go blithely on regardless. It will end with the Federal organisation, such as it is, becoming redundant (it is already) and seeing it has no assets, only exists to collect fees.
 
Good evening, 'Spike Drivers & Ballast Tampers',

Hi Flo, Francine, How are thing here at Jeffrey Running Bears' Dinner? Seems like a lively discussion.

31 Wells rd Station | Report
10:20 PM PST on December 21, 2017 (GMT -0800) | Updated a few seconds ago
--°F | 28°F
31°F - Feels like 30°, Clear Cold and Moist with 73% Hum-i-dity.
That will Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey for sure!!
Wind is from the NE 1mph with Gusts a bit higher;
Tomorrow is forecast to be nearly the same temperature as today.


Sirfoldalot said:
Morning All: 40 degrees and a 40% chance of rain? There is not a cloud in the sky and nothing showing on radar within 300 miles!
Guess we will see what happens; temp is supposed to only be 61 for a high ... that's a 10 degree drop from the past few days.
Thanks to all who commented on the coupler issue - I have lots to relearn.
Willie, Chet, Terry, Anyone? How about wheels? DAVID gave me info on Kadee - I believe. Any others want to comment?
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Sherrel: Kadee also has info on wheels which I mentioned also, which may have been a but confusing as I listed both Std. tire/wheel width as well a the earlier time period code 88 profile tire width which really makes a big difference in the the appearance of the truss rod under belly cars and cabooses which rode on lighter weight rail as it fit the rail head rather than laping over as code 100 Std width wheels do.

As far as a Journal turning tool, I can't say that I've found a need for one yet, but also haven't tried one to see if it would make any difference to the Delrin truck frames provided with their kits? When I swap out the delrin wheels for the metal they seem to roll just fine too. I should mention that the majority of my cars are made by Roundhouse and fairly free rolling to begin with. I will say that I bought two new C&S cars put out by Athearn under the Roundhouse name and whatever trucks & or wheels they are using they are the freeist rolling cars I have!

Something else that might be of interest is that the Kadee 36" Dia. wheels will not work in a Bachman Bobber Caboose as the axel points are evidently too small and the wheel set falls into the Journal boxes too deeply and the wheels bind up.

Referencing Toots clubs FED requirements seems like one really fouled-up situation alright!


GarryCBQ said:
Good morning ...


Regarding couplers, I feel it is more important to have the proper coupling distance between cars and/or locomotives. I still have several cars and a few engines that need correcting.

I have completed about 95% of the scenery in a small area under bridges. Now I am ready to install the wood truss bridge. Next, I can lay track connecting to the bridge. Cork roadbed has already been installed with staples. I use staples because it is easy to relocate roadbed when I revise my track arrangement.

This cellphone photo shows the scenery which includes retaining walls and abutments. (The track on the lower level has one outside track getting closer to the middle track where it connects with it with a curved turnout. )

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Garry: Your Wood Trestle, a Campbell kit I believe, really is quite a show piece alright. I'm also glad your again going to operate some of your older equipment.



new guy said:
I can and have walked upon my layout. I had a master wood butcher build the thing to my specs with my clumsy assistance. I know It's overbuilt but HEY, no worries about dumping trains on the floor from a slip/trip or stumble. "Things HAPPEN around layouts" was something I learned HERE! It's tap-conned to the floor, when a toe hits a leg the toe WILL loose and the layout does NOT move!

Hope all have an excellent day and a VERY CHRISTMAS!
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Bruce: Did you ever try any of the Super Blue Stuff or Blue Goo on your Shingles? When I applied it to my mother's Shigles, about three times in a week, they cleared up a short time after and there were four or five quite prominent little mounds.


montanan said:
Eric - I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one with CRS. Can't how many times I would be working down in the train room or on something out in the yard and need something and by the time I get to the house, totally forgot what I needed. View attachment 64231
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Chet: That's actually called information overload, we are all immersed in it one way or anothe.


WJLI26 said:
Good evening y'all. 29°, as winter has returned.

David: Talgo trains have been around as long as the early streamline era. They are a Spanish designed lightweight train system, that tends to work well along routes plagued with curves. They were tried here before, during the Ultra Lightweight fad in the Mid '50s, but were not successful where they were tried. With the exception of this incident, they have been pretty reliable in the Pacific North West. As far as I know, no correlation with the truck mounted "Talgo Type" couplers found on early HO equipment produced by Mantua and others including Tyco, Bachmann, Life Like, and some Euro manufacturers.
BTW: what you may be referring to as a "B" unit, on either end behind the locomotive, is a coach with a cowl on the roof to make the transition from a full sized, general service, passenger diesel to the low level articulated trainset. It's mainly for visual esthetics.

View attachment 64237

View of the lift bridges at Dock Interlocking, from the inside of the tower. The panel in the foreground control the two lift bridges. Dock tower was closed in November 2017, and located on the East end of Newark, NJ Penn station.
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Joe: Thanks for the all your information. The main question I have is: Isn't an engineer given map of the route and the speeds to adhere to in the various areas?



montanan said:
The majority of my couplers are sthe larger #5 couplers, but I have been changing out #5's for the 158's because I do like the way they look. Got them in Bulk packs like Joe. Still have a lot of #5's around as I got them in bulk packs also but aren't using them. The whisker couplers are so much easier to install. So far I haven't had any problems at all with them as I am anal about getting the coupler heights dialed in correctly. Even when I had the 97 car train running around my layout using 5 locomotives, ne traoubles. So far as the 158's operating with the #5's, again no problems. I lightly file the face of the couplers to get any possible flash removed and they operate just fine when using magnets. I have some industries in the rear of the layout and don't like reaching over scenery. Toot mentioned dips in the track work. Taking time laying the track, I have no dips, but all of my industrial sidings drop a quarter of an inch from the main line height to ground level. Even with this change in height, I still have no problems.

We did have one incident at the club when a member had a Yellowstone (2-8-8-4} hauling a string of 50 ore cars up the two and a half percent grade and uncoupled at the tender and the ore cars went screaming down the grade and ended up in a heap. After checking the tender it was discovered that the coupler, a #158 was not securely screwed to the tender and there was enough play to cause it to uncouple. After the ore cars were retrieved and set back on the tracks, with the coupler on the tender tightened up, he ran the train for the rest of the night with no incidents.

It is 38 degrees to start the morning off and a winter weather advisory is out for the area. Checking the radar map, there is snow in the area. Tonight we are expected to be i the single digits.

Johnny [/B]- Try to keep the radius on your curves as broad as possible. If you use flex track a lot of adjustment can be made to keep them broad. Most of mine are well over 40 inches, but being that my track is hand laid or flex track, I don't have to pay attention to 18", 22" or any set radius. There is only one place where I ran into trouble and going through a #6 turnout on the main line is the tightest curve I have. No idea what the radius is, but a guess would be about 32". Ballasting track does take a bit of time.I hate it but it does make the track look so much better. I have about 6 to 8 feet of track left to ballast when I ripped track out to make room for industries maybe 10 years ago and still haven't got it done.

Here's a rail picture for the day.

View attachment 64229

Later
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Chet: I'll bet she made some smart remark about him still playing with trains so he figures he's going to show her what the real thing is like.


Iron Horseman said:
Well, I've been doing this Christmas Forest thing for many years, but the more "realistic" the trees get the more they prickle like the real things do. My hands are so sore I can hardly type. Guess it is sort of like the death by 1000 duck bites. I've got hamburger hands by a zillion pine needle prickles. On day 2 I tried gloves but when the gloves were two thick could not manipulate the lights/ornaments. When the gloves were thin (like neoprene) the prickles just shreded them too. I also made the mistake of putting lotion on them the first night. Wow talk about pain.... I don't think any of my injuries are from the trains, just the trees.
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Say Iron Horseman: Good to see you at the Coffee Shop again. It's unfortunate that the pine needles affect you as they do.
 
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Good morning. It's cloudy and 41.
Our work is planning to close at noon today, and we'll have our annual luncheon and bonus dispensing. The finance manager didn't get the memo, so I'll be working this afternoon since he scheduled me to perform an orientation and prep for a new trailer for this afternoon while everybody else is eating and going home for the weekend.
 
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