Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXXII


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Sirfoldalot said:
JOE -- Do you know where that photo was taken? Very awesome bridge in the background!
That style truck is really all we need around here.

We have one of those long trailer models (with the driver in back) that goes around town two-three times a week blocking traffic!
Waste of taxpayer money in my book. There are not more than a half dozen buildings above 3 stories tall within 50 miles.
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Captain Weems: You have no doubt flown over that location when you made the approach to PHL from the South. It's the Commodore Barry Bridge, between Chester, PA, and Bridgeport, NJ.

When I worked on the CFD, back in the mid 1970s, we had two Tractor Trailer with Tiller Ladder trucks, both rigs had 85' ladders. That type of ladder is not only traditional, but makes navigating around narrow tight streets so much easier. My former department went to the more exotic, modern types, only to find they were too expensive for the remaining tax base, and had issues getting into certain locations. That's why they went back to basics with this new rig. FWIW, the new rig has a 109' main ladder, and does not carry water or have a water pumping capability...That's what Engine Companies are for. The department has reduced from 17 men per shift back in 1977, to 13 men per shift today.

As a footnote, the location where the photo was taken is about a half mile from where 40 years ago, on February 2, what is known as the Wade Fire, occurred. The fire devoured what on the surface a rubber tire recycling plant, but was in reality a hazardous waste dump, containing all sorts of nasty substances. Of the 200+ firefighters, Police and EMS personnel who responded to the alarm, some 50 have either died or are completely disabled due to the effects of fighting this fire, which incidentally occurred in near zero F temperatures with a strong wind. I was one of the lucky ones, who worked the upwind side of the building for about 12 hours.
 
BigE said:
Unbelievable prescription cost!!!
Went to get my rxs picked up. Zofran was going to cost me over $300. No way!
God have mercy. I'll do without and just keep puking. I did get the compazine however so that will help.
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Ask for the generic, "Ondansetron"; less than $2/dose.

Willie
 
he kit paperwork states the tower is at East Deerfied, MA. The paperwork also states that there are 3 other similar towers but not their location.
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Curt: That cinches it, I was never in Deerfield, MA. :rolleyes: it's a very nice model.

Eric, KenVA, and Garry: RE. The school shootings. I don't understand why people would do this, and I never will. I do believe that there is a desire for notoriety that propels the perpetrator, and something this atrocious does attract media attention. But one has to be pretty callous to walk into a school and randomly injure and kill defenseless people, especially children.
 
WJLI26 said:
Curt: That cinches it, I was never in Deerfield, MA. :rolleyes: it's a very nice model.

Eric, KenVA, and Garry: RE. The school shootings. I don't understand why people would do this, and I never will. I do believe that there is a desire for notoriety that propels the perpetrator, and something this atrocious does attract media attention. But one has to be pretty callous to walk into a school and randomly injure and kill defenseless people, especially children.
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According to the later media reports, this was a former student that had been expelled. If that's the case, I would say school officials had a good reason for expelling him. Too bad they couldn't have done more, proactively.
 
Here it is, my hopefully final attempt at my layout. I am christening it the GNG2 RR. It is marginally set in WV, and is the WV I remember as a child. Going with the late 50's to mid 60's for time period. Not prototypical in any sense.

The track length measures a total of 262'. It is 10'x20' in surface. Elevations will be 0-6". Used Peco code 83 for the track (this may change when I start adding up the cost). Colors shown are: Orange - Continuous Run Loop, Dark Pink/Dashed - Service Loop and tunnel line, Dark Blue - Mine Area, Black - Power Plant, and Green - Repair Yard. I will add houses and other buildings/features as it progresses.

All advise and comments are greatly appreciated. I need the most help in the yard areas, I really like turnouts (maybe too much). Do they work as shown? Improvements, additions, deletions? Am I nuts? Alright, don't answer that last one.

GNG2 RR.jpg
 
The Real question is will your planned layout do what do you want it to do? If this layout accomplishes your goals and accommodates the equipment you want to operate, then it will work.

One of the very best display layouts I ever visited, was a twice around loop with extremely well done scenery. The train ran continuously half a layout apart, with synchronized speed. There wasn't one switch on the whole layout. 90% of the visitors never noticed, the layout got a lot of praise, and it never did anything.

The beauty of this hobby is that you are creating your own version of the world, made to your standards. You don't have to rely on others to critique your railroad, although someone always will, If I were doing this layout, I would simplify the switches at the power plant, just a bit, but what you have on paper might work better. It has to do with what you want. You can always make changes, without tearing the whole thing up.

One other point, the upper part where your staging and maintenance (blue ) yard is might be hard to reach from the aisle Especially if it abuts a wall, you will need some sort of access otherwise, you will get frustrated trying to stretch yourself across the 5' table.
 
Hello Rail Workers,

Say Willie: A Belated Happy Birthday to you! My apologies for missing it.


WJLI26 said:
Captain Weems: You have no doubt flown over that location when you made the approach to PHL from the South. It's the Commodore Barry Bridge, between Chester, PA, and Bridgeport, NJ.

When I worked on the CFD, back in the mid 1970s, we had two Tractor Trailer with Tiller Ladder trucks, both rigs had 85' ladders. That type of ladder is not only traditional, but makes navigating around narrow tight streets so much easier. My former department went to the more exotic, modern types, only to find they were too expensive for the remaining tax base, and had issues getting into certain locations. That's why they went back to basics with this new rig. FWIW, the new rig has a 109' main ladder, and does not carry water or have a water pumping capability...That's what Engine Companies are for. The department has reduced from 17 men per shift back in 1977, to 13 men per shift today.

As a footnote, the location where the photo was taken is about a half mile from where 40 years ago, on February 2, what is known as the Wade Fire, occurred. The fire devoured what on the surface a rubber tire recycling plant, but was in reality a hazardous waste dump, containing all sorts of nasty substances. Of the 200+ firefighters, Police and EMS personnel who responded to the alarm, some 50 have either died or are completely disabled due to the effects of fighting this fire, which incidentally occurred in near zero F temperatures with a strong wind. I was one of the lucky ones, who worked the upwind side of the building for about 12 hours.
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Say Joe: Glad to read you were not involved with all fumes being blown by the wind.


kbkchooch said:
Good morning gang!
Happy Valentines day, Ash Wednesday, & happy hump day! ;)
All this in the middle of flu season!
This leads to the thought for the day:
Don't kiss your honey when your nose is runny, you might think it's funny but its snot! :cool::D:rolleyes:
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Karl: Your a real port, and don't know!


GarryCBQ said:
Good morning .....

Willie .... You sound very please with your SD40-2's .

Johnny .... Good to know you are making progress with the barber shop and the firehouse. Don't know what firehouse items you are looking for but there should be some firetrucks and firefighter figure available.

Terry ..... I listened to your brief video and the sound decoder seemed realistic.

Chet ..... I think the Bachmann track cleaning tank car is similar to the Walthers track cleaning boxcar. I am satisfied with my Walthers boxcar.

35743694123_ff3a70363a_b.jpg
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Garry: Is it difficult to change the cleaning pad or at least take a soft wire brush to the pad to clean off all the rail dirt it accumulated?


GarryCBQ said:
Good morning ..... I'll have bear claw and some coffee please.

Terry .... Sad news about your co-worker. Prayers for her and her family. .... When I listen to your video, I did it with my iPhone and it sounded great to me.

Chet ..... Your photos of the switcher moving boxcars at the grain elevator are very nice.

Mark ... Prayers for your wife who may have pneumonia .

....

Below is my 2-6-2 with a 40' baggage / RPO. Burlington acquired some of the short cars for branch line service in 1911. I built the car from a kit produced by NKP Car Company.

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Garry: 1st. That's a nice locomotive, the crosshead piston guides look to be the exact same type Mantua used on it's loco's, but I don't recall them making a locomotive like that?

2nd. What is the little building behind the loco with the sloping floor and the tall lader leading up to a window?


Hope all have a good day Thursday.
 
Again the first! What up? Me, I guess. Temp is about 25 degrees above this AM. Finally saw some Alpine events at the Olympics last night, the Women's Giant Slalom and the Men's Downhill where run. Had a strong cough yesterday that kept me out of the basement and from working on the layout. Cough seems better today! Sorry Kbkchooch, you where first. Where exactly is Absurdistan?
 
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Good morning Shop Dwellers! Karl just gave you the weather report for our region, so I can skip that.

Just have time for a quick update on my track situation. For the past 5 years since I first got the trackwork completed on this layout, I never noticed that the one end of my passing siding was too abrupt because I never ran any 86ft cars over it. That issue became painfully clear on Monday when I was test-running trains and the 86-footers kept coming unhitched. So I soaked a 4ft length of the ballast in 91% ISO alcohol, pulled the track loose from it, and suspended it ~1/4inch higher toward the junction end and progressively lower from there. The good news is that 86-footers no longer separate from the trains; the bad news is, I still have to add ballast under the raised tracks. And that is where I frequently run into trouble, with the ballast shrinking as it dries, the rail and ties sticking to the hardened ballast and being 'sucked' downward.

Gotta leave for work now, C U later!
 
Good morning everyone. 63 here, rising to 76 today!!! 29 and snow tomorrow night into Saturday, then back to 68 on Monday. I'd love to see our weather and temps from this winter plotted on a graph - talk about roller coaster!!

Garry, BeachBum, others - My dad was a volunteer fireman for 54 years, so I grew up roaming around the firehouse. Even learned how to play pool on the firehouse pool table!! On the layout firehouse, I won't detail the second floor living area - just black out the windows with shades. It's the main floor bays that i want to detail. I could look for one of those scale photo backgrounds and glue that to the bay walls - that's a good possibility. Was thinking of finding hoses, coats, etc. to glue in place. Whichever way I go, I do need some firefighter figures.

My MBKlein Christmas in February shipment should be in today or tomorrrow. Was planning on working on the layout expansion this weekend, but something more important has come up - - having our 1 1/2 year-old granddaughter stay with us for a couple of days while her mom and dad (daughter and SIL) attend a friend's wedding out of state. This will be the longest our granddaughter will have been away from mom and dad! So, for the next two days it looks like I'll be on the floor a lot, playing hide and seek, reading books to her, acting silly (that part comes easy), and taking her down to the train room. Little Miss Engineer loves to watch the trains run and push the horn and bell buttons.

Got to run to an off-campus planning meeting. Love these - lots of coffee and snacks :eek:

Have a good day everyone.
 
keN in M. You're going to have to do a lot of shimming or sanding a piece of cork into a long wedge to support that track to stop it sinking.
 
Good Morning All. It's 63° and partly cloudy. We reached 80° yesterday, a bit unusual for February; today is only expected to get to 75°, tomorrow's high only 48°. Got to sleep with the windows open last night, very nice for a change. The garden is still waiting for some rain, maybe by the weekend I hope. Many things are growing with my applications of water, garlic, onions, radishes, spinach. Planted but not yet peeking through is asparagus, lettuce, beets and green peas. Soil is too cold for anything else right now. I would normally have broccoli planted by now, but I have been unable to find any suitable plants at the local nurseries. The weekly grocery/beer voyage is on tap for today. Wally World is included as well
Things are moving slowly in the train shed since I am spending a lot of time outdoors right now. I did get most of the A/D track in for the new yard. Another reason for the slow progress is that I am reusing flex track salvaged from my old layout and I have to clean it up first. Thankfully most of it was not ballasted yet. There are a couple of pieces with ballast on them, that I am leaving outside in hopes that the rain will soak them and loosen the glue. Makes it easier to remove and I don't have to hassle with the bathtub!

Johnny - Other than fire trucks, there isn't really much in the way of inside details in most fire stations. The ones that I have been in seem to be just bare concrete floors. In one of my fire stations, I have a soft drink machine along one wall and another thing that I am going to add is a row of boots. Gives me something to do with all of those legs that I amputated from Preiser people over the years to allow them to fit them into vehicles. Joe pretty much gave a good summary of available fire trucks and equipment. Woodland Scenics has firefighter figures.
Chet - I cannot comment on the Bachmann cleaning car as I don't own one. I am now very fortunate to have very little dust/dirty track in the new train shed. A "Dust Monkey" on every caboose and an occasional (annual) run with a Centerline track cleaning car does the trick now. I only use the cleaning car because I bought it for the old train room where it was used weekly.
Sam - Commented on your layout plans over in that thread.
Ken in MD - Are you able to add shims of some type to fill the space before ballasting?
Eric - Join us over here, the old place is closed!!!

Everybody have a great day.

Willie
 
Good morning. 17 degrees to start off the day with a white knuckle trip to work again. Light fluffy snow made driving a bit difficuy. Total white out conditions at times. There is a pooch mark on the drivers seat that looks like a traffic cone.

School shooting. Tragic.

Sam - Looking at your track plan the only concern I would have is access to the turnouts in the dark blue mine area. Quite a reach from the center isle. Other than that, an interesting plan. As Joe mentioned, if it meets your goals, that's what counts.

Joe - Like the fire truck. Our local volunteer FD has some newer equipment, but there also some antiques. I stopped being active with the FD a couple of years ago. Let the younger folks do it now. We still have an old military 6x6 with a 500 gallon tank on it. What a bear to drive with all the weight of the water. Power steering is fantastic, but you have to enter turns very slowly and stab the brakes to transfer the weight forward so it will turn. Not used much any more, mainly for grass fires.

Curt - I had looked at that brass track cleaning car you have. Kaching $$$$. Like Willie, I have very little uust in the train room. With the kids gone, the only room that is used in the basement now is the train room. I have been running the layout for almost 30 years and a good thorough track cleaning isn't a necessity. Running DC only, the locomotives aren't as finicky as DCC locomotives. Once in a while when I do put a DCC locomotive on the layout and run it, I pretty well know where the problem spots are. What I did notice is that the locomotive wheels needed cleaning and then they're good for a few months. Maybe the track cleaning car will help.

Ken in MD - As suggested, shims will probably solve the problem. At least you aren't uncoupling now. Good detective work to find the problem, Make me feel lucky that I model the transition era, with the exception of 4 50' box cars, everything else is 40 footers.

Here's a rail picture for today. Looks like they are thawing the points. Interesting.

27788210_1152015371602171_830302383206430892_o.jpg

Later.
 
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