Running Bear's December 2018 Coffee Shop


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NP2626 said:
I have noticed a big difference between posting here on the Coffee Shop and posting questions or comments other place at this website. If you post here you will get friendly and courteous answers and/or conversation. If you do it elsewhere, there is strong likelihood your answer; or, comment received may be sarcastic; or, downright nasty!
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That's because the folks who hang around in the coffee shop, are nice people.

Boris
 
Sirfoldalot said:
I'll just leave this here:

index.php
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Am I the only one who doesn't see anything?
 
montanan said:
Good afternoon. 21 degrees early this morning and we are already up into the mid 40's.

IB Ken - Nice to see you checking in. It's been a long time. Hope your ops session was worth all of the trouble you went through. I can appreciate all of the work that it takes to get firewood ready for winter. Willie is another one who hears with wood. Years ago we only used wood to heat out house. I have a national forest right out my front door and enjoyed cutting firewood, but I was also a lot younger. I would cut the wood, pine, to 10 foot lengths, I made a set of stock racks for the pickup and once I was over the top of the cab, the logs were about 15 footers. I could easily get over a cord and a half on a trip. Didn't have to split much because I was able to get plenty that would burn whole which also burns longer. 4 cords would take us through the entire winter. Now were have a gas stove sitting where the wood burner was and my wife likes not having to clean up the mess.

Beady - Keeps the kids on their toes. Years ago when out 2 kids were still quite young, we were walking into out local mall and the guy who was the mall santa was a real good friend with a real natural white beard. As we walked in, Santa said Hi Chet and I managed to catch myself and not respond to his real name and said hi Santa. Both kids spun around to my wife and with fear in their eyes said "Dad knows Santa".

Willie - I can feel for what you are going through with the roads. I have been in our house for the past 41 years and have watched the valley slowly go to pot with all of the newbies moving into the area. Over the years new subdivisions have gone up all around Bozeman and now the traffic can be a nightmare compared to what it used to be. What used to be a 2 lane highway out of town is now 5 lanes. (center turn lane). When I go to town on Friday night for bowling all I can see is a solid stream of headlights leaving town. Nice photos you posted. Keep them coming.

Here's a photo of what I have for log loading. Didn't have enough room to do what I wanted, but it works for me. The number 8 shay is waiting for the main line to clear on the switchback so it can back onto the main line and then into the yard. Tried hard to work the backdrop into the hard shell scenery.

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Later
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Chet: Nice scene of the logging operation.
 
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Mark: Apologies, I got confused and thought the information you related about the vibration the Alco switcher created was posted by Chet rather than you. That's how I somewhat remember the SP Switcher was too that my friend (Mark R as I knew him) let me operate but not sure who made the loco? I'll have do some research. Anyway, thanks for the confirmation.
 
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Boris said:
Yo Louis: Who is Brandon Hyde, and what's the deal? I've been out of the Orioles loop.

Boris
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He was a minor league catcher, reaching AAA in the White Sox organization. He worked in the Marlins organization in player development. He later became their bench coach. He was most recently Joe Maddon's bench coach with the Cubs. He is credited with developing the Cubs young players.

Something I find interesting is he was in the Cubs coaching staff prior to Maddon being hired. It's unusual for a new manager to retain coaches from the previous manager's staff, but Maddon must have liked him. Maddon even promoted him to bench coach.

From what I know of him he is a modern coach. He develops relationships and is a positive person in the dugout and the clubhouse. He is the opposite of Earl Weaver as far as personality goes. You won't see him pull a player who is not hustling. If he does we won't know for sure why he pulled them..

If you didn't run out a ground ball Weaver would sometimes rocket off the bench to meet the player on the field as he returned to the dugout, screaming at them as they came off the field. Or pull a "slacker" on defense in the middle of the inning. Weaver would again come out of the dugout and be screaming at the player as they came off the field. He wanted to embarrass them, show them up in front of the crowd. Weaver did not care who you were. I saw him do it to Reggie Jackson in Reggie's one year with the Orioles, 1976. Weaver said "hustling/running is the one thing in baseball you should always be able to do. Running and hustling don't have slumps"

Being a modern coach is a good thing with today's spoiled millionaire players. Weaver said when he retired "I can't work with this generation". That was 1985 and it's only gotten worse.

Maddon is considered a baseball genius, in fact he is an idiot when it comes to strategy. Remember his "brilliant" idea when he came to the national league? Batting the pitcher in the 8 hole? He thought he was smarter than all the mangers over the last 100+ years. I'll give him credit, he quickly realized he was wrong. Maddon is a great motivator and his players love him. He has had great success. Having great players has not hurt him either.

Buck Showalter was a "hybrid" he scolded players in private.

With the diminished strategy of today's game, motivation has been elevated to the most important quality a manager/coach can have.

I'm optimistic about this season, but I am always optimistic. We will learn together what kind of manager Brandon Hyde will be.
 
Good morning Everybody!

The second pot of coffee is brewing. The first is not complete gone, yet. I just wanted to be sure there is a cup ready for the next guy.

My "creative";) Christmas track work is almost complete in my train room/play pen. I only have a few switches to add. I wanted to be sure I put the Christmas tree in the correct spot.

My infinite "creativity" came up with this
O96 oblong oval, 37.6 feet of track.
O84 oblong oval, 34.5 feet of track.
O72 oblong oval, 31.35 feet of track
O60 oblong oval, 28.2 feet of track
O48 oblong oval 25 feet of track
O36 extended figure 8 with 2 sidings. 27.7 feet of track.
For a total of about 184.4 feet of track for 6 trains and cars on the sidings.
I think I calculated that correctly. I'll try to post my track plan from AnyRail 6.0

Now my coffee is ready and my pretly little wife is awake, I'll be back.
 
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I saw my wife off to work, I miss her already.

I got the trash out and other chores complete. Now I have an hour of free time before my grandson wakes up.

Time for me to work on my Christmas tree in my train room/play pen.

I'm so very happy to be working on the 4th and final Christmas tree. Although I still have train gardens and nativity scenes to complete. I'll be happy if I finish before going to bed on Christmas Eve.

That is not counting the Bradford Exchange porcelain trees I have in our bedrooms. To be honest I'm not sure what they are made of, but I love those little trees. They each have colorful lights and at least on little train built in that circles them. The Lionel licensed Bradford Exchange tree has 4 little trains that circle the tree. That one goes into my grandson's room.

Thanks to my right knee I'm not feeling conflicted about working for Amazon. For some reason it's acting up, probably just gout. I guess the ham and eggs for breakfast yesterday and the ham sandwich this morning was not the best idea for breakfast. Not after causing the gout flare up by eating too much ham for dinner Sunday. I would be to slow and unstable to work today. Now I can play with Christmas decorations and be guilt free! You see, I find good in everything! it's like I tell my kids and baseball players; "you got to get your mind right!"

Have a great day Everybody. I'll try to check back in on one of my many coffee breaks.
 
Good Morning all you nice ANPL Coffee Shop folks! Weather here is Clear and 18 degrees (which feels like 18 degrees)! Weather Underground is saying were going to have a high of 37 today. Winds are 0 MPH out of the North, now! Barometer: two niner point niner and falling. Looks like tomorrow might have some freezing stuff.

My comment last night about the niceness of the people here at the Coffee Shop, is something I have noticed over time and is meant as a compliment to those of you who spend time here! It seems on the outside (away from the ANPL Coffee Shop) some people have ego problems and need to assert their preponderance of knowledge to a subject with a barb about the person asking the intelligence of the person asking the question.

I have been described as a curmudgeon. I like the name, as for the most part, the name fits. I'm not all that happy with these modern times and what goes on in today's world. This is partly because things are changing so fast that it is impossible to keep up! My older brain works very hard at attempting to keep up and so struggles; but, I know that I simply can't and won't be able to keep up and also know that the younger generation is fooling themselves thinking they can.

In actuality, I don't need to come here to find answers to the questions I have. In fact, at times, there are few answers to be had here. This forum is more a place to come for comradery than a place to find answers!

I have been pessimistic my entire life and I believe this is caused by my ability to see what is really going on. Those of you who are optimistic seem to feel that we all should be!
 
Good morning y'all. 31° and sunny.

Louis: Thanks for the profile on Mr. Hyde. Was Buck fired or did he quit in disgust? Problem with the Orioles is ownership and management. Problem with baseball, (and other sports), boils down to team ownership and management plus direction by TV network money. MLB has probably lost me as a follower, I just couldn't get into it last year.

Mark: Interesting comments, you may be on to something.

Terry: Hope you feel better soon.

Mike: Here, we are a diverse grouping of nice people, trolls don't stay long. It's a matter of mutual respect.

Boris
 
Good Morning All. 39° and mostly cloudy, dense fog advisory for the area this morning. Ten day forecast still shows mid-60's for Christmas day, and the rain chance has been reduced to below 25%. Headed for the dentist this morning for my final two permanent crowns. Glad to finally finish with all of this dental work, eight implants and nine crowns later, I can eat for the next 100 years.
Another great day yesterday and I spent much time outdoors. I had to split some wood from trunk logs that were too large to go through the door of my heater, and got the damn splitting wedge stuck!:mad: Took twenty minutes and two crowbars to finally free it up. To top it off, the wood was still a bit green in the center so I can't really use it yet. Had to mow parts of the "back 40" yesterday where the volunteer winter grass was getting out of hand.
Out in the train shed, I ran trains, lots of them. Switching run for the day was the south end of my fictional town of Ft. Wish TX. Switched out a pair of boxcars at the Sears Distribution Center, a pair of tank cars at the gas/oil distributor, exchanged an airslide covered hopper of flour at the bakery while picking up a loaded boxcar there, stopped by the packing plant for a few reefers of frozen burgers and steaks and finally exchanged full/empty boxcars at the brewery. I pondered and studied where I am going next with the scenery completion projection (the Twenty Year Plan), and narrowed it down to two or three possibilities. Most probable is the little peninsula that juts out at eye-level at the train shed entrance that I discussed a few months ago. It's the 4.5 sq. ft. area that I intend to populate with a bunch of laser-cut wood structures that I have posted over the last few years.

Joe -
Boris said:
Willie: I might add that D.J. is actively employed, and provides contemporary insight, while each day, I'm further removed from the industry. D.J. is also in to graphics to tell his stories, where I am limited to memory.
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That's what works for me. I model a time period that you can offer much insight on, albeit a whole different locale; and he kinda keeps the present in perspective as well as being another modeler who is good about documentation.
Interesting about your comment on the SD40-2's, most if not all of the ATSF units are still in service on BNSF (Big New Santa Fe)
Chet - Really nice job on that Silver Streak caboose.
montanan said:
We had one employee milking the system for years on a questionable claim.
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Our safety guy and insurance company aggressively pursued many comp cases. One notable case was a maintenance worker claiming a back injury, who was filmed by a PI single-handily throwing a mattress over the side of his pick up truck. Case thrown out by court and damages had to be repaid. This is in no way a reflection of Terry's case which seems legitimate. On the other end of the spectrum, we also had a guy who re-injured himself while demonstrating to the insurance company representative how the original injury occurred!
Greg - Thanks for the comment. Both warbonnet paint schemes really stood out.
Garry - Nice grain elevator. You show much more imagination regarding kit-bashing than I can ever hope for. Where's the truck headed?
Mark -
NP2626 said:
I have noticed a big difference between posting here on the Coffee Shop and posting questions or comments other place at this website. If you post here you will get friendly and courteous answers and/or conversation. If you do it elsewhere, there is strong likelihood your answer; or, comment received may be sarcastic; or, downright nasty!
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Some agreement here, but sometimes I think that it is the context of the written word that may be misinterpreted. I believe that several of your more acerbic postings have been taken in the wrong manner by others at times.
Curmudgeon! There's that word again!;) Pessimists and optimists. Takes both to make the world go around. Kinda like + and - in an ion.
Erik -
DairyStateDad said:
Am I the only one who doesn't see anything?
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Nope. Sherrel has ghosts!o_O
Terry - Good luck with any treatment and like others have said, keep documentation. Prayers for a speedy recovery.

Only one week to go with this incessant non-stop Christmas music at our house.
Air travel service is an oxymoron!
We observe two National days today, National Suckling Pig Day (good), and "Answer the Telephone Like Buddy the Elf Day". Who the hell is Buddy the Elf? Louis?
Everybody have a great day.
 
Good morning everyone - no I'm not dead or in the hospital, just took some time off work. 40 degrees and sunny out there. Got rain coming up next two days, then some nice weather leading into Christmas. Doesn't look like a white Christmas for us in these parts.

Last Friday was rainy, windy, and cold. But we had our staff Christmas dinner at a nearby hotel and got our Christmas bonus checks. Nice time. Saturday was spent wrapping up Christmas shopping. Sunday was such a nice day that we went to Silver Dollar City, an old-time theme park about 45 minutes south of here. Nice day, but once the sun went down it got cold out there in those woods pretty fast. Will go back once or twice more before they close at the end of the month.

Took our daughter-in-law out for breakfast for her birthday yesterday (yes, two birthday breakfasts in a one-week period). Had a great visit with her. In the afternoon our daughter and 2 1/2-year-old granddaughter came over, mostly just to get away - so I spent much of the afternoon playing "Grandpa's Hiding - Where's Grandpa?" which is one of her favorite games. A little too chilly to play outside, though.

I know, I know - I have to write one hundred times on the chalkboard, "I will post new photos of the layout." I finished creating the tunnel and the mountain infrastructure near the logging camp, and covered the mountain with plaster cloth. Right now it just looks like a part of the layout is covered with a white sheet :rolleyes: That will take a day or two to dry thoroughly, then I'll use Sculptamold to touch up, let it dry, then paint, then landscape. I'm gonna need a hundred trees!! Then I can install the lumber camp. This will be a fun addition to the layout.

Gotta run. Need more coffee! Have a good day everyone.
 
Good morning .... Coffee and a donut, please. ....

Terry ..... Sorry to hear you are still in pain this morning. I hope things go well for you at your doctor appointment.

David Trussrod and Willie .... Thanks for commenting on my photos.

Willie .... The truck goes nowhere. No matter what I build on my layout, I never have enough room. In this case I left out some road.

Louis ..... The B&O RR Historical Society photo of the fabulous Christmas tree in a magnificent location is much appreciated. I can imagine sitting in that waiting room and staring at the tree for hours.

Johnny ... Good to see you. You are busy apparently.

Regarding the Coffee Shop, I agree there are good people here. I started posting here as a favor to Jeffrey Running Bear. I knew him from the MR Forum which is one of several he posted in. As he was about to enter the hospital for surgery, I asked him if he would like for me to post news about his situation while he was unable to post in forums. He accepted the offer. I got updates by phone with Jeff in the hospital or with his father when Jeff could not communicate. I posted the information in various forums. (Later, somebody sent Jeff a lap top, and there was a brief period when he posted while in the hospital.) After he passed away, I decided I did not have time for all of the forums. I continued posting here with the good guys. (As long as y'all are willing to put up with me.) I still post in the MR Forum using the name I use for my model railroad (Heartland Division of CB&Q)
 
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