Running Bear's January 2019 Coffee Shop


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How big of a layout are you planning
It's going to be about 12'w x 25 L .Looking to do a second level down the road.It's going to be coal industry/mountain scenery with other small industry.The yard will combo with intermodal.
I have collected a lot of stuff over the years so once things are built I'll have the stuff to put on the layout.
 
Mike
Hang in there - You can do it!

Garry
Great photos!

Willie
We're still waiting patiently for the train shed photos. LOL

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Before we distance too far from trolleys/streetcars. Here's a few from Pittsburgh. I rode these as a kid. It's a unique experience. ( check out the photo's RR background )

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pittsburgh-railways-1111.jpg
Shannon.jpg
 
The Train Shed-Part I
Ok, Erik, Greg & Johnny and anyone else interested in the story behind the Train Shed build. First a little background. We don't have basements here in Texas so mostly you add out or up. My old train room was a "lean-to" addition that I had built on the back side of my barn, it was about 12' x 35'. There were several issues with it. First, it was not insulated or climate-controlled and had a corrugated metal roof on it. Temperatures inside didn't stray very far from the outdoor ones except during late-July - August afternoons when the sun shining on the roof raised the temperature to 120°+ at times. During winter it could be single-digits if that's what prevailed outside. Secondly, it was also not insect or varmint proof. Spiders and dirt daubers were the chief insect culprits, while rodents and opossums regularly burrowed their way under the walls to take up residence inside. Thirdly , it was made from second-hand and re-purposed materials that eventually turned out to not be too stable. Not a very friendly human environment, but it was all that could be afforded when built. So about ten years ago, after a number of years saving $300 a month, I was able to commence building a separate structure out back, affectionately known as the Train Shed. The plan was to build a 20' x 40' structure with a 5' (actually 7' with the overhanging eaves), front porch. Approximately 20' x 32' would be dedicated to trains while an adjacent 20' x 8' would be a storage area with a separate entrance. So it all started. It's built on a raised pier & beam foundation with a full wall footer (I think that's the term) all along the perimeter. This is a better foundation than a concrete slab for my type of clay soil. From there it is a typical stud-wall construction with full trusses for the ceiling and roof, thus not needing any interior supports. The outside is covered with engineered wooden "Smart Siding".
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Photo taken during construction stage taken from the south.
Here's a shot of the east exterior wall.
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Next is an interior shot looking west.
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And one from the other end.
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I had a contractor friend and a small crew of his help me with construction up to here. The foundation was prepared and done by a professional company. The roof is a metal roof with a 40 year guarantee.
Here's a shot of the side storage room.
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West view.
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The next steps were wiring, insulating the walls and ceiling and making the interior walls with 1/4' plywood sheets. I am not good with sheetrock and the ceiling would have been extra hard since I was alone at this stage. From there it was add the window A/C and the heaters and commence with benchwork. I also built real stairs instead of those concrete blocks!
Part of the as yet unbuilt porch will be dedicated to a separate helix room of 5' x 8', if I choose to finally proceed with it. For now it is two separate levels, each with a turnout built in to access the proposed helix room. For now, those turnouts go to spurs for low-relief background industries. I don't have any good interior shots readily available right now, but I will attempt to get a few together and come back with a Part II.
Meanwhile it's time to pay a visit to the train shed.
Looks like Jim has been waiting as I just saw his post while I was composing this one.
 
Willie
Great story & shed. It was worth the wait. ;):)
It must be really nice to get away from everything. No distractions - I can only imagine. :rolleyes:
Looking forward to Part II.
 
Good Afternoon Everyone...............cloudy and cold here in Wisconsin.

Willie:
That's a great building you have there for the layout and thanks for the photos and sharing how the "Shed" was constructed. You should be very proud of the building. Please share some more photographs of your layout. Excellent!!!

Jim: I really like the photograph of the steel mill. Dirty and grimy just like it should look. The orange smoke would hardy pass EPA standards of today. Almost a George Sellios creation.

All the photographs provide excellent modeling ideas like the utility wiring every where, the asphalt over the cobble stone road way and the almost DPM store fronts.

Did some work on the layout this afternoon. Plan on more work tomorrow when I need to get under the layout to do some additional wiring. I needed to extend the bench work in two areas for scenery to look okay and I used dense foam board for work since the areas are small. Will finish tomorrow. May have some photographs tomorrow of the mine scene. Going to look through George Sellios' book on his F&SM Railroad for some ideas and inspiration for these areas.

Off to Walthers tomorrow and will purchase some decal paper for my CM&NR logo's. I was going to have a professional do the decals, but I may try a local print shop and give them a disc or sheet of the decals. I never did this before so I'll have a learning curve.

That's all for now.

Greg

CM&NR Logo November 26, 2018.jpg
 
Good Morning all,

Clear, and 18 degrees. Couple of inches of snow expected starting tonight.

On New Years Eve, I quit smoking! I’m so proud of myself. I’m in day 11, and it’s getting easier every day.

Have a great Friday!

Mig: Good for you, like Louis says, that can really add up fairly quickly in savings. I'm not a smoker and have no idea what a pack ok cigarettes cost in your area but checked out the price at the Casino and even the Hungow brand was $7.50 a pack !!:eek:o_O
 
Howdy everybody.

Greg ... Yes, it could be described as Payton Place in a locomotive cab. In the process, they caused tens of millions of dollars of damage. Finances of the Illinois Central were set back for many years .

The video shows the destruction . Chemical fires continued for two weeks. A tank car shot like a rocket for a long distance. The IC line was closed for weeks.

Massive amounts of contaminated earth had to be dug up and hauled away.

The entire town of Livingston LA was evacuated for two weeks.

Three IC employees were prosecuted and went to prison. In Louisiana, it is a felony to mishandle hazardous materials.

My friend here described much of it . As I said, he was on the IC team that investigated.
 
Willie ... Your shed looks fantastic . What a great place for a layout if you live in the country with ample land and no basement. You deserve to be proud of it.

Louis ... Steetcars and a steel mill . A great photo! What’s not to love ?

..
Edit ... This forum is still slow to open pages and to post comments.
 
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Certainly a great thought, Greg, but our No.1 priority is everything on one floor. DSM is very concerned about having to deal with steps as we get older. We're also moving in a general downsizing direction. Ideally we'll still be able to have a basement...that's what I am using now... but keeping options open. In any case, it is all very long range, anyhow. We're here for at least a couple more years, unless real estate broker comes to us sooner with an offer we can't refuse....
I can relate. We were incredibly lucky, when the time came. Our general criteria was a house we figured we could live in and take care of well into our 70s. Since we were moving to Michigan, our sole must-have was central air; on the would-like list was a laundry on the same floor as the main bedroom, move-in ready, and easy entry (the wife had bad knees), and some place for my hobbies, all for $60k-$70k. The 5th place we looked at was 1k-sq ft, 3 bdrm (1 bdrm converted to a laundry) central air, move-in ready (and vacant), climate-controlled basement, and a wheelchair ramp, asking price $68k. Additionally, it was two blocks from a park, woods and a river, and on the edge of the city. We made a cash offer, and here we are.

Thing is, this house didn't turn up in any of my computerized searches (which were centered in Flint (!)). We physically went to the realtor's, told her face-to face what we were looking for, and she knew exactly where to look. As soon as we walked in the door, we knew. The "bad" part was/is that we downsized from a house more than twice as large, and we're still shedding unnecessary possessions.
 
Thank-you all for your kind words, and personal experiences.

Willie...That's a nice building for trains, it must be nice to have it separate from the house. please do share more!
 
It's going to be about 12'w x 25 L .Looking to do a second level down the road.It's going to be coal industry/mountain scenery with other small industry.The yard will combo with intermodal.
I have collected a lot of stuff over the years so once things are built I'll have the stuff to put on the layout.

Tom...That's great size! Look forward to seeing you progress.
 
Well my adventures into DCC/sound decoders is going from bad to worse. The ATH RTR SD45 that I've put the used Tsunami into, that I had working on my test track the previous night, failed to make a sound when placed onto the club's layout. Moved initially, but sluggishly and after a run, soon stopped doing that also. I had also taken along the P2k SD45 that is factory Tsunami, which on it's last couple of outings seems to have not been going too well either, I put into a consist with the 2 ATH RTR's. I had changed the speakers in.
Set them up, spaced apart so I could judge their relative speeds (I had previously bumped the speed curve up on the P2k) and found it was dragging it's heels badly. Ran it by itself around the layout at max speed steps (126), then ran the other 2. I reckoned they, at step 26 were going faster. As both of these SD45's numbers are no longer on MRL's roster (scrapped), I'm beginning to think these should follow.
So that's 3 dead heads I've got (the 3rd being the QSI MP15DC).

On the Rat front, we are not winning the battle either, now have a smaller one (bigger than a large mouse) semi trapped in the kitchen, dining, lounge, entry (open plan) area. Semi, because we tried to encourage it to leave via the front and back doors, during the day, by leaving them ajar. Have the door to the hall that goes to the rest of the house closed and sealed off at the bottom and are having to use the glass slider out of the dining area onto the patio and then through the door from that (the one with the doggie flap that was being chewed on the other morning) into the laundry to the hallway.

Before going to bed last night, set the spring loaded Rat trap, that had caught the first one, up in the kitchen, having previously gone over every bit of furniture, lifting, checking and vacuuming. The only ones not moved were the fridge/freezer or a free standing closed in Pantry, because they were too heavy. Baited the trap with a bread Crouton, tied to the bait pad with an elastic band and with some Vegemite savoury spread on it, to make it extra tasty (Australia's favorite breakfast spread, YUM!) (aromatic too).

On getting up this morning, gingerly opened the hall door slowly (the others being locked from the inside), first thing I saw was wood shavings from under that door, where it had obviously been got at during the night and similar at the front door. Then I checked the trap, not a skerrick, not a speck of bait in it, nor a Rat either. AND it hadn't gone off. After washing it and jabbing it twice with a broom handle, it did go off. Examination of the wire trigger showed it was too long and and allowed the bait tray to hit or sit down onto the base without releasing. Trimming that a tad and it's now a hair trigger. Re-baited with another crouton and Vegemite (seeing the Rat seemed to like it) and here's hoping. I'm trying not to have to get a cage trap and then figure how to "dead it". And there doesn't seem to be any wild cat's for hire.
 
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Well my adventures into DCC/sound decoders is going from bad to worse. The ATH RTR SD45 that I've put the used Tsunami into, that I had working on my test track the previous night, failed to make a sound when placed onto the club's layout. Moved initially, but sluggishly and after a run, soon stopped doing that also. I had also taken along the P2k SD45 that is factory Tsunami, which on it's last couple of outings seems to have not been going too well either, I put into a consist with the 2 ATH RTR's. I had changed the speakers in.
Set them up, spaced apart so I could judge their relative speeds (I had previously bumped the speed curve up on the P2k) and found it was dragging it's heels badly. Ran it by itself around the layout at max speed steps (126), then ran the other 2. I reckoned they, at step 26 were going faster. As both of these SD45's numbers are no longer on MRL's roster (scrapped), I'm beginning to think these should follow.
So that's 3 dead heads I've got (the 3rd being the QSI MP15DC).

On the Rat front, we are not winning the battle either, now have a smaller one (bigger than a large mouse) semi trapped in the kitchen, dining, lounge, entry (open plan) area.
Never liked the Tsunami sound.A few in the club changed them out.I'm going to do the same with 3 Intermountain engines.Going to put the TCS sound system.
As for your rat problem sound like you need a few quicksand traps to take care of them.I've gotten rid of mice,rats and chipmunks.
 
HA, HA .. TOOT!
They are tough buggers, for sure!
Had a whole family behind the kickboard of the cupboard = they came through the dog door and made themselves right at home between there and the bottom of the fridge. I put up a couple parts of two different plywood sheets so I could set the traps without the dogs getting into them and baited with peanut butter and cheese. It took me little over a week to get them all -- Mom, Pop, and 5 youngins. Had no idea that there were that many .. we could see one of them scurrying along the baseboard every now and then between the fridge and cupboard.
 
Garry: Your Texas train looks great as does your layout. An 'S' curve sure add interest to watch a train wind through it ! I kick myself for not having made more progress on my layout than I have.:confused:
 
Howdy everybody.

Greg ... Yes, it could be described as Payton Place in a locomotive cab. In the process, they caused tens of millions of dollars of damage. Finances of the Illinois Central were set back for many years .

The video shows the destruction . Chemical fires continued for two weeks. A tank car shot like a rocket for a long distance. The IC line was closed for weeks.

Massive amounts of contaminated earth had to be dug up and hauled away.

The entire town of Livingston LA was evacuated for two weeks.

Three IC employees were prosecuted and went to prison. In Louisiana, it is a felony to mishandle hazardous materials.

My friend here described much of it . As I said, he was on the IC team that investigated.

Garry: In defense of the lady, considering the fact there are a lot of questions, she was probably doing her best to control the train, certainly she can't be blamed for the consist being made up with an empty gondola between heavily loaded tank cars which derailed when she probably attempted to apply the breaks, possibly too much too soon. As your friend said the engineer was drunk on the cab floor and it seems the other guy wasn't much help either. So, if not her attempting to control the train, then who ??
 
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