Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXX


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Afternoon All,

Spent the cool morning outside doing chores before it warmed up. Supposed to be in the 80's until Christmas when we get a cold front and the high temp will be 70. I'm taking a couple week hiatus from MRR'ing to recharge my modeling batteries.

I drove up to see Jon and Phil on Thursday but Phil cancelled on us:(.

Garry- Great framing technique.

Sherrel- The way I understand it is freight cars get 33 inch and passenger cars get 36 inch. Homemade chowder sounds great. I'm glad your family members were able to move back home.

Terry- That was really nice of your finance officer. I think he would be there handing me tools if that happened to me.

Willie- Congrats on the birth of the twins...two more tax deductions:D.

Greg- I have changed 3 toilet seals when tiling bathroom floors. It's actually pretty easy.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
Dang, Friday already.
Got off work early today because everybody else and snuck out about noon. I went down the hall to get some data from an analyst and he was gone. My boss came by and asked why I was still there. I scratched my head and said, "I don't know now". Then he said, "OH, by the way, here", and he handed me a folder with an atta boy certificate in it signed by someone way up the chain of command. "Merry Christmas" and he walked away.

Got home and worked on the motorcycle lift ramp installation to my truck. Finished that up and ran it back and forth a few times without the motorcycle on it. I'll give that a shot tomorrow.

I got up early this morning and went down to WalMart. Shopping at 4AM is the way to do it. Nobody else in the store except the shelf stockers and one cashier. Found all that I was looking for and was back outa there all within 15 minutes. Just had to run by the local Applebee's to get a gift card for my daughter.

Breakfast tomorrow at 7AM with the train bunch at the Cracker Barrel. I'll stop by Lowes to pick up some of the material that I need for the modules then get on back home in time for a buyer to come and take away a tool chest that I've had listed on Craigslist. That will free up a little working room in the garage to get some motorcycle loading ramps down off the wall and prepare them for listing on Craigslist.

Op session is just one week away. I've been cleaning things up down there each day. I think I'll work on the disk tonight. It's a mess with at least 5 or projects in various stages of completion scattered over it. I'll put the track cleaning train in motion while I'm working on it. Always a great break to stop and watch a train go by.
 
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Oh I'm taking notes. Not a fan of rail nippers. They didn't give me that flush cut that they claim to do. Also following their directions I kept getting angled cuts. They work but there's a bunch of filing involved afterward.

Justin
 
Good Evening, from the Thousand Islands Region. 13 with sleet. Driving conditions were good until just outside Binghamton where it began to rain. By the time we reached the Reservation, it was freezing. By Syracuse, it was snowing.
Several folks ended up in a ditch, while there was a pileup West of where 481, rejoins 81. Santa's Sleigh made it to destination in 7 hours, or 30" longer than usual.
 
Just drove to town in a snow storm for Friday night leagues. Talk about crappy roads. The wife and I are celebrating our 46 anniversary at the lanes. Isn't she lucky. [emoji16]

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
 
Chet. Sounds like you had bad driving conditions. Your photos do a good job of showing your layout construction. You can see the plywood is not fastened directly to the top of the frame. Instead there are risers. The risers can be cut to a precise height for an accurate grade.

Joe ... apparently, you are in bad weather also. ... what do you know about James Foote, new CEO at CSX. ? ...
 
AHHHH, CHET - an Idea ... maybe take the wife bowling on out next anniversary. Although Not 46 by a long shot.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you and the missus!
 
Good afternoon all,

The weather is chilly, 50 Mudge Ranch Station Report;
3:45 PM PST on December 22, 2017 (GMT -0800) | Updated a few seconds ago
--°F | 31°F
50°F - Feels like 49°F and Fair;
Wind is from the NNW at .5 mph with Gusts to about 2 mph;
Humidity is 43%;
Today is forecast to be nearly the same temperature as yesterday.


Oh I'm taking notes. Not a fan of rail nippers. They didn't give me that flush cut that they claim to do. Also following their directions I kept getting angled cuts. They work but there's a bunch of filing involved afterward.

Justin


Justin: As far as rail nippers I've used Dixon with two angled jaws about 1/2" wide each and they give a fairly decent cut on the back side but a crude cut on the inside. Actually both cuts required filing or cleaning up uing a dremel tool with the side of a cutoff disk. That leaves a fairly decent edge but non the less you need to pass a fine jewelers file over the rail head edge slightly and especially on the inside of the rail head and around toward the center web to ensure smoothness as even the cutoff disk in grinding the rail ends can leave a bit of a burr at times.

A set of, Fine Cut Jewelers files is very handy to chamfer or file at a slight angle to remove any burr.

In constructing table work I chose the 'L girder' method of free standing tables similar to Garry's but because the two upside down L's support the 1" x 3" cross members which extend out on either side by about 6" I have toe clearance built in so I don't kick legs. As Garry or Sherrel brought up, the plywood or even the OSB board only has to be good on one side. In attaching cork road bed I used fine wire brad nails about 3/4" long and tapped them so the heads are even with the cork surface. No Glue either so changes can be easily made. Remember my layout is totally constructed this way and holding up fine with considerable changes in temperature.

Also I use 45* angle bracing on both sides of the legs between the legs and the L girder to ensure it's rigidity as well as X bracing on the ends between the legs. It's strong yet light weight. The 1x3 joists are attached to the tops of the L girders using 45* angle braces cut out of the 1x3 stock too. This 1x3 stock is varily clear pine but does have some knots which can be cut off. I use various lengths of Phillips head counter sunk Dry Wall Screws pre-drilling the holes for the screws using a drill bit the diameter of the center shaft of the drywall screw. That gives a very firm bit to the sharp threads of the DWS and a great hold. I don't use any glue o any of my table work except in joining the two boards that form the L girder. That way if I need or want change something it's just a matter of removing the screws.

I use the cookie cutter method of cutting sections of OSB to conform with the track pattern and attach each section to the prior section with a tie plate made from the same thickness of board that extend at least 6" on each side on the joint to ensure even surfaces. I use [4], one inch long dry wall screws on each side of the splice to hold securely and they do without any loosening and remember my layout is 30 plus years old. I also put these in from the top which is supposed to be a No-No but they have been holding just fine.



Learned that the nephew and family were able to return to their still standing home last evening. I guess the fire came within about a mile or so of them? (not sure) Wife said that everything had a quarter inch of ash all over and the house really reeked of smoke. Guess I will find out more today.


Sherrel: Glad to hear your nephews home is ok other than all the ash, at least it didn't catch on fire, that would be quite devastating to say the least.



JUSTIN - I am about as excited on your new build as you are. Just really take your time and not rush the fundamentals of a solid benchwork and flawless track.

One of the Christmas gifts I have asked for is a Soldering Station. I have no idea how it works or how good it is, but it was less than $40.00.
I have always used a Weller dual temp gun on everything. Anxious to try this "variable temp" station.


Sherrel: I really like my inexpensive soldering station even though it only has general dial settings once I got it to heat the rail, code 70 to the proper temperature to solder properly I leave it at that setting and it's been working great! In fact, it does a much better job of soldering than my old Ugar soldering iron.
 
Good Morning Everyone. 31° and partly cloudy here in North Central Texas. Mother Nature provided us with a rather dismal day yesterday; drizzle, mist, light rain and a stiff NW wind all day. Temperature dropped from the time I got up until around sunset when the wind stopped. We may have received .25" of moisture. While out driving around the "big city" yesterday, I noted that gasoline prices were in the $1.99 - $2.05 range; quite unusual for a holiday period.
Out in the train shed, even though I wasn't going to start any new projects, I did glue some DPM wall sections together since it rained all day. Wife wanted me out of the house rather than hovering over her as she wrapped gifts. QA inspector of sorts! I did run a lot of trains while glue dried, locals and through freights. Probably ran thirty different engines in the process before giving my train crews the holiday off. Always good to get some mileage on them.

Chet - I have no issues with moving from one layout area to another when I get "modelers block". As I have mentioned before, I have large expanses of plywood to go to as well as some nearly completed areas. The problem is deciding which one to go to! I also have a couple of shelves full of supplies, so that doesn't usually hold me up either. Other than striping one parking area, I did finish that side of the main road in the small town business district. I'll stripe that area once I locate the paint pen that I set down about two weeks ago...CRS again! Regarding the icy roads, we get more ice than snow around here and what you say about the four wheel drive folks is so true. It's also funny sometimes when they go off-road in the mud and brag about how far they can go. They can also get stuck further away than anyone else. Used to see it in my neighborhood many times before the land owner finally put up a fence.
Congratulations on your 46th anniversary. You have me beat by ten months.
Justin - A couple more thoughts regarding your new layout build from my perspective. You're getting good advice regarding going slow and making sure everything is "bulletproof". I use plywood, 1" x 4"'s and 2" x 2"'s and make a framework like the one that Garry pictured. The main difference between his and mine is that I recess the legs a bit more to provide "toe room". I like the sturdiness that plywood provides. I use 1/2" BC grade plywood. I find it pretty reliable and if there is a bow (not warp), it easily comes out when fastening it to the 1" x 4". Lumber is a bit expensive right now due to all of the damage inflicted by back to back hurricanes recently. It is what it is unfortunately. If I were doing the layout that you posted, I would get all of the benchwork done first. Easier to fix imperfections before anything else is done. Then I would put in the main line with wiring, complete with switches where you intend to put sidings and spurs. Get that main line running flawlessly and run trains for a while. I use Xuron rail nippers and don't have the angled issue that you mentioned on the flush side only. The other side always has an angle that I trim off if I'm going to use the remnant for somewhere else. All cuts should be filed regardless of how you make them. Then go back and add the sidings and spurs one at a time. Test, test, test as you go. I like Garry and Greg's method of using staples on roadbed, I always used glue but only regretted it once. Use your current structures to assure clearances. I generally test track for six to eight months before ballasting any of it. Even then I skip areas around the switches until I run trains in and out of sidings/spurs a bunch in case I need to redo something there. You may already plan on doing it this way or something similar. Don't rush it. Good luck and have fun.
Garry - By the way, your construction photos could be really helpful to others, thanks for posting them. I use similar homemade curve templates which I find absolutely invaluable.
Eric - Did you ever get your heat on?

Everybody have a great day and weekend. I'm looking forward to my reduced taxes next year, although I may have to wait to see what the SSA actually does. Heck, with the new deduction I may not have to pay anymore anyway, except traditional IRA withdrawals!

Willie
 
Good morning .... Coffee and Christmas cookies, please.

Rail nippers have been mentioned...... A word of caution ... Wear eye protection .... Once I was using a good quality pair of rail nippers, and one of the blades broke. It flew across the train room like a bullet. It did not hit me, but it could have done that. ...

After installing the wood truss bridge, I ran the first locomotive across it. No ceremony. The nearest engine was my only C&NW locomotive parked on a nearby siding. It is an Atlas-Kato model. No problems.

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Next, I will lay track to the left in the photo..... With all of the Christmas and holiday activities, that may have to wait a couple of weeks, however.
 
Here is an older picture taken at the same location before upper level was started on the new section. .... You can see the beginning of the upper level about to go around the corner of the room. ... I ran trains around the loop numerous times and found trouble spots to correct. One correction was to move the curved turnout back so it would be before the bridges. Because of that, it was more difficult to install the wood truss bridge because of clearances. ..... I also spent a lot of time leveling the curved track to correct problems causing derailments.

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These are my homemade curved templates. I draw where I plan to install cork roadbed onto the ply wood using them. The minimum radius for main lines is 30".

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In the next picture you can see brown paper on the floor.... Before constructing the benchwork, I sketched a full size drawing with markers on the brown paper which is taped to the floor. The paper remains as I build the layout, and eventually is removed. .. I made a "track Caddy" out of PVC pipes to hold flex track. It is on wheels, and I move it along the layout as I build it.

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This shows how it looked after installing the steel bridge.

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Good Morning All -- Finally got all the Christmas lights outside. Bummer man ... Usually put them up within the first couple days after Thanksgiving. I have no idea where the past month has gone. Sometimes I really think that I am starting to lose it! I relate very much to the saying that I knew that someday I would get older - I just did not think it would be this fast!

It's 32* outside, but supposed to reach 71* for a high today. That is about all my news for today - so far. Received an email survey from Darrell Issa wanting to know what I thought about the new tax bill? I gave him a piece of my mind to the effect that I did not appreciate him voting "nay" on the bill. I told him flat out that I was tired of influence peddling in Washington and that he could shape up or ship out! Will be interesting to see if I get a responce from that!

Garry - Very nice shots of your build. It just came to mind that if Justin had laid a sheet of homosote on top of his plywood when he first built his layout - then I do not think he would have had any problems with uneven track. The loose joiners are another story!
 
The older you get, the faster time goes.
Here in the Inland Empire had a bone chilling 50° last nite.
The only thing worrying me is, I understand there are going to be deep cuts to Medicare, that, I don't think I can handle.
I hope that everyone has a happy holiday season. :)
 
The older you get, the faster time goes.
Here in the Inland Empire had a bone chilling 50° last nite.
The only thing worrying me is, I understand there are going to be deep cuts to Medicare, that, I don't think I can handle.
I hope that everyone has a happy holiday season. :)

Hello Paul ... Merry Christmas. ... Medicare benefits are not going to be cut. I don't know who is saying that. Long term, however, Congress needs to solve funding issues because the trust fund is being depleted.
 
I thought I had read that this tax package had automatic cuts in it for Medicare later next year. I sure hope you are right tho. Paul Ryan has said that they were going to go after Medicare next year.
 
I thought I had read that this tax package had automatic cuts in it for Medicare later next year. I sure hope you are right tho. Paul Ryan has said that they were going to go after Medicare next year.


Worry not ..... If and when Medicare is reformed it will be to slow its growth because it is growing too fast. . Ryan has always said any changes will not affect people who are retired or nearing retirement. ... The tax legislation pertains only to taxes. It has nothing to do with spending for Medicare or anything else. .... Please do not pay attention to those who are deceiving seniors. Those people (whoever they are ) should be ashamed of themselves for doing that. ... Merry Christmas
 
Afternoon All,

Did some chores this morning and just goofing off now. Nothing on the agenda until Monday.

Chet- Happy Anniversary.

Garry- Great pictures.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
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