Running Bear's December 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good Morning Everyone....unseasonable with temperatures in the low 40's. A white Christmas is slim to none around here.

Great pictures everyone and I always like the photos from Chet's layout and seeing all the work that he has done over the years.

TLOC: That's one impressive Cargill mill!!!

Ken: Nice work on the McDonald's! I remember the side window at Mac's where you could watch them chop potatoes into French Fries. We also had school field trips to McDonald's where the teacher made do list of what we would buy at Mac with the dollar bill each one of us brought along. Maybe a shake, burger and fries?

Chet: Nice looking MILW switcher. And, a Happy 49th Anniversary.

James: Nice photo of your back yard. Are those White Pines in the photo? No deer.

I think some of the problems with package and mail delivery in December is the number of temporary employees who are not completely trained or familiar with the systems. I know we had some problems with the temp employees we hired for Christmas and it was hard to get them to have no incentives to do a better job than just going thought the motions.

The last month or so I've been have problems standing and have some lower back pains. I think all the inactivity during the last nine of more months, plus a few extra pounds and working bent over at the workbench or computer doesn't help. Cathy brought me a four wheel walker that I been using around the house and I can actually walk much easier. It's just a matter of more exercise and I'll be much improved in a few weeks. Tough getting old.

I remember at past Christmas gatherings, the old man in the chair just sitting there minding his own business drinking his Manhattans. Now that's me!!!

That's about all for now................

Greg

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Good Afternoon all. Another beautiful day in Houston.
Today is pretty much scheduled out, and dang no train time on it. I did manage to order some wire for the turnouts though.

TLOC - that mill has to take up a lot of space, it is impressive though.

Ken - Almost want to get in truck and go get a Big Mac.

Willie - tables are looking good. Not sure I would want to build them in N. Hands are not as steady as they used to be.

STAY SAFE

LATER (Ho, Ho, Ho)
 
sunset Dec 5/20 @ 16:45 hrs IMG_1077.JPG
 
Evening All,

Mom had her first Oncologist appointment. Her biopsy will probably be done a week Wednesday but it has to be scheduled through the hospital. I found out she has a nodule on one of her Adrenal glands in addition to her lung. It's a waiting game at this point. This will be a slow modeling week with being tied up Thursday & Friday.

Doug- Beautiful sunset.

Garry- Awesome scene.

IB Ken- I hope your sister gets better rapidly. The Micky D's looks real. Great scratch build.

Jerry- Great picture.

Joe- Great picture. All my MOW is painted grey (pre 1955 if I remember correctly).

Willie- Those are going to be great scenes.

TomO- That is a great build.

Sherrel- Navy was hit and miss this year...mainly miss. :(

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
chessie_system3 said:
Early afternoon fellers. Spent the past two nights working the scenery angle on my layout. Didnt really get too far. So all of my wrapped cheeseburgers are coming back off. Which is one recommendation as it stands anyways. I had tried cardboard strips. Didnt really like how that went together either. Inexperience is the setback now. This inexperience has created doubt. Doubt has ended in frustration. Not good to get frustrated. However instead of staying with it I took the high road and just called it a night. I'll have to ponder my next move now. Be a little easier once I get the layout cleared off and have a clean canvas to work with again. That's all I have for now. I hope everyone is doing well and I'll stop by again hopefully soon.
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When my 2 friends and I built the first coal loader module we had a mountain in the background which to help hid the control rod for the loader. We cut 1/2" foam and stood it on end. Cut contours and curves in the foam. Then we hot glued screen (nylon fabric type) to the foam. News paper was used to support the screen and add contours to that. It's been a while but I believe we use newspaper strips and plaster of paris to cover the screen. Then painted the plaster and added plaster rock molds,ground foam, and trees.
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Greg@mnrr said:
I remember at past Christmas gatherings, the old man in the chair just sitting there minding his own business drinking his Manhattans. Now that's me!!!
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Greg: As scary as that sounds, I have had the same feeling, of late.

I have been active since retirement, even with arthritic knees that throbbed to let me know I had spent enough time on my feet, for the day. The enforced idleness resulting from the Covid sequester, didn't help, as it made doing chores more difficult. Once I had the knee surgery, I hired a guy to do my lawn, and another to fertilize. We had a relatively minor 6" snow storm, although it was one of those high moisture content snows that turned into a hockey rink overnight. I did the driveway, 20' x 24' mostly with a railroad issue "crib" shovel, wit a long handle to give me the leverage to break the ice into chunks. When I finished, i was pooped. The new knee is fine, works fine, but the rest of me isn't new...As long as I'm moving around and doing something, I'm still alive. ;)

PRR Modeler said:
Joe- Great picture. All my MOW is painted grey (pre 1955 if I remember correctly).
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Curt: I suppose a more accurate description would be that they began using Yellow in 1955. The seasonable camp trains that were spotted near where I lived, remained grey, as long as they were still composed of the converted wooden box cars, and x29 tool cars. Once the Heavyweight Pullmans were shuffled into camp trains, beginning in 1958, Yellow became more common. Even in 1967, These the year I hired, there were some MW cars in grey paint. These, for the most part, had rusted to the rail, but they were still around. Cars assigned to the Mechanical Department, such as the various Wreck Trains, were quickly painted yellow. Mechanical department took care of their equipment.

MP54E train at Lenni, PA on BC.jpg

West Chester Local at Lenni. Southbound.

CNJ E'port - Newark connection passing Ballentine Brewery early '60s.jpg

CNJ Eport to Newark, (Broad St) Connection, passing Brills, in Newark. To the right of the train, you can See "the Three Ring Sign", and as Mel Allen would say, "ask the man for a ice Cold Ballentine". Brills was the serving yard for Ballentine, and other industries, as well as the Junction with the line to Karney. CNJ ran direct service from both Newark and Karney to the Shore to accommodate commuters.
 
Jerry - When I was working up in NE Washington there was a club or group of people who owned speeders and they all came puttin into the town. They were traveling on a line that was no longer in use, there must've been 50 of them. It was a sight to see!
Willie - yeesh, my eyes hurt just thinking of making those picnic tables. Nicely done!

A lot of beautiful and informative pictures being posted over the weekend. Hope everyone is looking forward to Christmas, it is coming in as fast as a mail train. (well heck, there's the problem with the mail service)
 
Good evening Shop Dwellers! 36*F and cloudy with a 2mph SSW wind in my central MD village, gonna be raining here soon according to the radar.

Wow - 20 "likes" on my McDonalds rebuild photos, an all-time record (for me at least)! Thanks for that along with the supportive comments - Walt, Patrick, Chet, Hughie, Chad, Justin, Garry, Phil, Tom-O, Joe, Dave (truckdad), Jerry, Tom-Cambria, BigG, Willie, James, Luke, Guy, Sherrell, Karl, Greg, Curt, and anybody else whose comments I might have missed.

I probably should've said it was kitbashed as opposed to "scratchbuilt" - the roof and pieces of the arches came from a Kibri kit. The walls, windows, the big 'M' billboard sign and sidewalks were done from Evergreen styrene, along with home-printed decals on Micro-Mark decal paper. I need to peruse the Shapeways catalog to find fast-food restaurant interior pieces. Not until next year though; currently I need to focus on getting the layout cleaned up and ready for the MER 2021 event.

Willie - looks like your Chopper got a lot of action making all those picnic table pieces!

Greg@mnrr said:
. . .
Ken: Nice work on the McDonald's! I remember the side window at Mac's where you could watch them chop potatoes into French Fries. We also had school field trips to McDonald's where the teacher made do list of what we would buy at Mac with the dollar bill each one of us brought along. Maybe a shake, burger and fries?
. . .
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Dang, Greg, a field trip to McDonalds - how cool is that! Imagine what would happen nowadays if a teacher were to do something like that? Parents would be up in arms, and the poor teacher would probably get fired for "poisoning" the kids. Oh how the times have changed...

Curt - sorry to hear about your mom, will add her to my prayer list!
 
santafewillie said:
I didn't get as far as expected on the picnic table builds yesterday, but I did get all of the legs trimmed and assembled and got some of them attached before I had to go in and start supper.
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Willie- you did make some progress from the picture of the table legs in the air.
Kinda reminds me of something, but I cannot quite remember what! ;-)

Thanks to everyone for the likes and comments on my layout pictures. It sure is hard trying to live up to the standards of great pictures so many others are sharing on this site.
 
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PRR Modeler said:
Afternoon All,

Started out with chores then once I made it to the train room I glued down the WS Risers for the coal trestle. I was able to figure out how to compress 8 ft. into 5.5 ft. by mixing and matching old pieces. Overall it has about a 2.5% grade. While that was drying I laid down the approach track and 3 T/O for the yard. Nothing electrical yet. Probably no modeling tomorrow since my Mom has her "real" appointment early afternoon.

Thank you for the likes yesterday.

Sherrel- Funny picture. Is that the start to a forest fire on the right? I can't make it out even after blowing up the picture.

Garry- Great video.

Phil- Thank you.

Chet- Thank you. A bunch of great photos.

Dave- Great SP photo.

Joe- Thank you. Great 1:1 photos. The road is amazing. Well done.

Mikey- Great layout scenes.

James- Nice looking yard.

Willie- Beautiful sunrise.

Guy- Nice 1:1 photos.

Jerry- Interesting 1:1 photos.

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View attachment 122168

I hope everyone has a good night.
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PRR Modeler said:
Afternoon All,

Started out with chores then once I made it to the train room I glued down the WS Risers for the coal trestle. I was able to figure out how to compress 8 ft. into 5.5 ft. by mixing and matching old pieces. Overall it has about a 2.5% grade. While that was drying I laid down the approach track and 3 T/O for the yard. Nothing electrical yet. Probably no modeling tomorrow since my Mom has her "real" appointment early afternoon.

Thank you for the likes yesterday.

Sherrel- Funny picture. Is that the start to a forest fire on the right? I can't make it out even after blowing up the picture.

Garry- Great video.

Phil- Thank you.

Chet- Thank you. A bunch of great photos.

Dave- Great SP photo.

Joe- Thank you. Great 1:1 photos. The road is amazing. Well done.

Mikey- Great layout scenes.

James- Nice looking yard.

Willie- Beautiful sunrise.

Guy- Nice 1:1 photos.

Jerry- Interesting 1:1 photos.

View attachment 122166

View attachment 122168

I hope everyone has a good night.
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Curt: Looks as though you're starting to come along pretty good with your new layout, that's great.

I'm a little concerned though seeing the track right along the edge of the table, are you planning to add a bit of extension for safety purposes?
 
Greetings all

Coffee and steel cut oats with blueberries flo.

Been lurking while I play catch up on some book stuff.

Spent more time on the gaming side of my hobbies, than on the MRR side, but this came in the mail, which bridges both sides:

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I will add a more detailed post in the RPO thread about it
 
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