Running Bear's January 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good morning, America! Our realtor is coming to show some houses today in Sparta. We'll see, fingers crossed on at least one of them. No big hurry now, we do want to be moved by fall though.

Back from eating breakfast in the lobby, then we'll get going in a little while, so I'll have to make this short.

I've been cancelling the Railroad Academy emails too. Seems like it'll work for a little bit, then they start again.

I agree, Willie, no Whataburgers anywhere close that I know of. In my opinion, they're the best of ALL the burger chains, bar none!

Got to get ready, see you all around! Stay safe!
 
Good morning. 31 degrees to start off the day with a high expected in the mid 40's. Strange weather up here. We have had out high temps in the 30's and 40's for the most part where we should be around the 0 to +10 range as a normal. Not complaining at all.

Ray - hope the rains help getting the fires get under control. One of the three killed in the tanker crash was from up here in Montana.

Phil - I'm sure that you're happy that the temps are warming up down there.

Alan - I will have to agree with you on the lack of accuracy on the old Athearn locomotives. I am thankful that I had only custom painted three of them before Atlas brought out their Alco RS units. I had done two geeps and an SW switcher. The hoods as you mentioned on the geeps are too wide. The SW unit also started out undecorated as were the geeps but was detailed from photos on one I took a photo of in the mid 70's. It took quite a bit of work to make them look decent and a lot more work having to be done on the drive train including replacing the Athearn motor with a can motor.
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Like you Southern Pacific line up of locomotives also. Looking good.

Johnny - Good luck on that jig saw puzzle. May take a while. Excellent photo of the town.

Willie - I really like that grain elevators. Nice work. Unfortunately I had no room for anything like that and settles on the older ones found in smaller towns. The Drywell Inks building I really like. Was going to try to find that building but it was too large for the little space I had left for a structure.

Mikey - Like the flat car loads.

Did get down to the train room yesterday and just did a bit of switching before the leg decided that it was time to head for the recliner. Here's a switcher pulling a box car to get set out for a through freight to pick up.

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Later



Tom - More good work on the hopper. How many do you have??? Must be a bunch.

Joe - Nice photo.
 
Good morning. Roller coaster weather again- It's 64 ,heading up to 75*
MOH checking washers. Choice of Maytag or Whirlpool right now. Any input would be appreciated . Both MADE IN AMERICA.
Yesterday was a BUMMER. Damn near fainted when dentist gave me prices on needed work. Worse than prices on needed work on our car.
Enjoying viewing latest pics
Phil
 
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Flip said:
Good morning. Roller coaster weather again- It's 64 ,heading up to 75*
MOH checking washers. Choice of Maytag or Whirlpool right now. Any input would be appreciated .
Yesterday was a BUMMER. Damn near fainted when dentist gave me prices on needed work. Worse than prices on needed work on our car.
Enjoying viewing latest pics
Phil
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I’ll be looking into a new washer dryer set myself soon. I’ve heard great things about speed queen. As for Maytag or whirlpool I’m not sure. I’ll be paying attention to others responses.
 
santafewillie said:
While they no longer ship boxcars of ink in barrels, they still receive tankers full that they transfer to drums.
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Willie: Another consideration, would be receiving carbon Black in Hoppers, (Scale Trains. We used to switch the Flint Ink facility in dayton, Nj. It was a typical leased space industrial park building, with a siding. The only rail traffic generated was the carbon black, usually two to four hoppers per week. Everything else was trucked, in and out.

I personally think beer is better in bottles, although cans chill faster. Some beer cans go back to before WW2, although they were not as common. Glass deposit bottles may be coming back, because people are too indifferent to dispose of plastic bottles / cans properly.
 
[I]montanan said:
I will have to agree with you on the lack of accuracy on the old Athearn locomotives. I am thankful that I had only custom painted three of them before Atlas brought out their Alco RS units. I had done two geeps and an SW switcher. The hoods as you mentioned on the geeps are too wide. The SW unit also started out undecorated as were the geeps but was detailed from photos on one I took a photo of in the mid 70's. It took quite a bit of work to make them look decent and a lot more work having to be done on the drive train including replacing the Athearn motor with a can motor[/I].
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Chet: (Alan): I still have a box full of Athearn BB undecorated wide bodies, mostly F7s, GP7s and GP35s, that I bought with the intent of standardizing my roster. I also have some detail parts. As circumstances changed, they were put aside. When I got back into working the hobby, I bought Atlas, Stewart, and P2K models which looked much better, and in the case of Atlas and Stewart, with their Kato drives, ran so much better. I should really look into disposing of the BB kits before I get put intothe padded palace for hoarding. :eek:

No doubt the contemporary models offered by Rapido and Genesis, as well as the upgraded Bowser products are so much better than the old BB, and even the now dated Atlas, Stewart and P2k product lines. The new Rapido RS-11 is significantly better in appearance to the tried and true Atlas version, although I really have not compared performance yet. Hopefully, the Atlas versions don't stick out too much. :rolleyes:

# 111 @ Seabrook, MD 3-23-1969.jpg

PC # 111 "The President" at Seabrook, MD in 1969. #111 also carried the connecting cars of the SCL "Silver Star", from Mid April through mid December.
 
santafewillie said:
Alan - Nice shot of the SP power. However, I thought that all SP engines came from EMD pre-weathered!:cool: Never saw a clean one in all my years of railfanning back then. Also once spoke with an SP engineer who claimed that the reason that SP always double-headed power was for when (not if) one unit broke down.
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Willie, see my answer to Mikey just above your post :)
 
Good Morning Everyone....overcast and snow for tonight. Right now sort of mild and a ice dam is forming at the end of one gutter run. While its melting I throw a "little" salt up to help break up the ice. Going to purchase some Mag chloride to throw on the roof which will not damage the roof or vegetation.. This area has Ice and Water Shield so I'm not real concerned about and ice damage.

Wednesday was train day and I worked on installing DCC and sound in my Proto 0-8-0 switcher. I needed to drill approximately 100 small holes in the tender's coal load using a #60 drill to make openings for the sound for the speaker which is installed in the tender and the sound can be heard better. The holes are drilled at angles so they are hard to see when looking at the locomotive. It took approximately an hour to drill the holes.

The speaker is mounted in the tender on a plate of some material like a plastic/paper mixture. The speaker plate mounts on four small lengths of the same material as the speaker plate is made of and it's important that the mounting strips are spaced equally about the interior bottom of the coal along the sides of the tender. I used both canopy glue to set the mounting strips and then AC to securely hold the strips in place once the canopy glue set. When dry, I installed the speaker mounting plate using tube cement.

Prior to the above I replaced the original locomotive DC board with a SoundTraxx DCC sound decoder. This required some soldering on the board for the speaker, the speaker itself and adding two resistors in the rear and forward lighting leads. I needed to add a length of wire to the front headlight to install the resistor. A capacitor was installed in the speaker leads. All the wiring was neatly secured to the frame using Taplon tape.

Today, I'll install the speaker using the provided adhesive tape in the form of a template to attach the speaker to the mounting plate and then reassemble the tender using the four screws.

I broke a small part off either the tender or locomotive and I can''t determine were it should be reinstalled.

While the locomotive as separated from the locomotive I checked the couplers for proper operation. Both failed to work to uncouple. I removed them and they were cheap plastic couplers and I replaced them with Kadee Whisker couplers which need their mounting holes enlarged to fit the coupler posts. Once lubed the couplers worked fine.

Yesterday, I drove the Mrs. to the location that she plans to attend a bridal shower tomorrow. I couldn't believe how many subdivisions and homes are in what was once farm land or woods where I hunted in my younger days. These new house aren't tract or starter homes, but large, nice homes on large lots. I checked Zillow and they are selling for 500k or more and the buyers are in their 30's and early 40's. House poor???

This locomotive was the early release by Life Like and then Proto before Walthers released the model. Under DC, the model ran very smoothly and operated at slow, prototypical speeds.

Enough said and maybe all this info should be its own Post?

Nice photo's everyone.

Willie: That's one huge layout clean up job you're performing.

BBob: I subscribed to the Railroad Academy and I had no problem cancelling my subscription. I felt that the material didn't suit my needs and now a lot fit appearing on the NMRA site. MR is becoming a pest with their newsletters that are becoming more geared towards selling modeling supplies.

That's all for now....

Greg

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Robots_walk_the_earth said:
I’ll be looking into a new washer dryer set myself soon. I’ve heard great things about speed queen. As for Maytag or whirlpool I’m not sure. I’ll be paying attention to others responses.
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Not for nothing, Samsung, LG and Whirlpool are top rated in one survey while another mentions electronic problems with Samsung and LG. Whirlpool owns Maytag. Kenmore is made by Electrolux, GEs are Hencho in Mexico, Speed Queen? Don't know. LG dryers seem to catch fire more frequently than others, although dryer fires are pretty much a user caused problem, (failure to clean the lint from the filter and vent pipe). Personally, we have Maytag Washer and Electric Dryer, which have performed well over time. They replaced cheaper Whirlpools, which didn't perform as well. Also had good luck with GE. I'm not much for buying products not made in North America, unless I have no other choice, so my bias is showing. Much has todo with the level of the product, cheap is cheap no matter what brand you choose.
 
The wife and I talked it over, and we're spending part of her inheritance on our 4th cruise, the last half of March. Six ports in 10 days, from Fort Lauderdale down the eastern Caribbean, along the north coast of South America, and back. Along the way, I'll be picking up another Spanish shipwreck coin and even some Dutch kroner for my currency collection. Found a promotional deal on an inside cabin plus a discount for being a previous passenger, plus onboard spending credits for being a veteran, and a few other goodies. For the two of us, basic fare and fees total $1600. The entire cost, by the time we get home, should be $4k or less.

For those of you who have never been, a cruise ship is a mobile, all-inclusive resort where you are pampered day and night. Onboard activities generally include swimming, movies, dancing, stage shows, card games, exercising, drinking and eating (lots of eating but you'll work it off, trust me).

What we like about cruising, besides the amenities, is that you can try and see new places and things without leaving your comfort zone. There's always a staff member nearby if you need something, but they leave you alone until you ask. On tours, you're in a group with the local guide. If you're feeling adventurous, you can go off on your own.

BTW, I'll have wifi for the entire trip, so expect a travelogue.

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Flip said:
Good morning. Roller coaster weather again- It's 64 ,heading up to 75*
MOH checking washers. Choice of Maytag or Whirlpool right now. Any input would be appreciated . Both MADE IN AMERICA.
Yesterday was a BUMMER. Damn near fainted when dentist gave me prices on needed work. Worse than prices on needed work on our car.
Enjoying viewing latest pics
Phil
Click to expand...

The BOSCH are made in America AFAIK and get good marks. BOSCH Dishwashers are made in North Carolina

ETA: Sorry, I read "washer" as Dishwasher. My bad. Carry on.
 
Boris said:
Not for nothing, Samsung, LG and Whirlpool are top rated in one survey while another mentions electronic problems with Samsung and LG. Whirlpool owns Maytag. Kenmore is made by Electrolux, GEs are Hencho in Mexico, Speed Queen? Don't know. LG dryers seem to catch fire more frequently than others, although dryer fires are pretty much a user caused problem, (failure to clean the lint from the filter and vent pipe). Personally, we have Maytag Washer and Electric Dryer, which have performed well over time. They replaced cheaper Whirlpools, which didn't perform as well. Also had good luck with GE. I'm not much for buying products not made in North America, unless I have no other choice, so my bias is showing. Much has todo with the level of the product, cheap is cheap no matter what brand you choose.
Click to expand...

Just having gone through a nightmare with appliances I would like to put my 2 cents in. Stay away from Samsung and LG. We purchased new LG appliances when we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago and have had a serviceman out here more in that 4 years than we had in the 42 years we have been in the house. I have known the service man for years. He was actually the owner and I have watched his company grow for years. He recommends to stay away from LG and Samsung, both Korean manufacturers. He does recommend American products, Whirlpool, Maytag and Frigidaire among the top brands. He gets more service calls on the Samsung and LG appliances plus he has a hard time getting parts from them even on warranty work. My LG refrigerator had the ice maker crap out in less than a week. The dishwasher was a nightmare. Only 14 months old ( and out of warranty) had the serviceman out 3 times, just throwing parts at it. Couldn't get it going after 3 visits?? Three striles and it was gone. Replaced it with a Maytag which I was lucky to get at $350 off for a Memorial Day sale. Works better tan the LG ever thought of plus of all the dishwashers I looked at, it was the only one with stainless steel spray arms. The ignitor on our gas range went out a few month back for the second time, plus the burner needed replacing this time. I did get LGto pay for thi safter I got on their Facebook page and whined line a 2 year old. Our Kenmore (whirlpool) washer and dryer are over 35 years old and all I have had to do to them is replace the heating element a couple of times.
 
Afternoon all,

Just finished the income taxes for the year. Turbo Tax screaming it needs our 1099 from our home lender, but there's not enough there anymore to do anything except standard deduction. But the refund is a lot smaller this year, but we made more money. at least on paper.

Kenmore appliances are made by several manufacturers. I had a Frigidaire Kenmore refrigerator, a Whirlpool Kenmore washer and GE Kenmore dryer. One of my daughters has a Speed Queen set and really likes them.

Too busy at work this morning as I am out most if not all next week due to my Carpal Tunnel surgery. On one hand I look forward to getting something done, and on the other hope it doesn't get worse.

So any thing done on here next week is while I'm at home.

RAINCOAT: What wire are you using on your turnout engines? I'd though of using CAT 5 Ethernet wire as I have a bunch, but don't necessarily want that many conductors between the switch and turnout.
 
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Thanks for all the likes on the grain car. That'll be it for awhile waiting on supplies to finish the others.
As for your question Chet I'll have a 50 car grain train when all is done. Hoping to have it done for a train show next month.
 
Howdy everyone!

Thanks to everyone who liked my stuff! And really appreciate the comments on my layout!

Flo - I'll have a turkey club sandwich - don't quarter it, a bowl of vegetable soup, cole slaw and coffee.

It's been a couple of days since I posted in the Coffee Shop. I've been keeping up on the posts with my phone and
usually refrain from posting, because I have a very hard time texting with that little thing :( There's a lot of great
photos to look at! I even saved some to my Pics.

I've been doing a lot of work on the layout. Mostly structures and finished my West Penn Hardware and Oil Well
Supply. It's a DPM Robert's Dry Goods kit and I added a scratch-built warehouse.

I really noticed my increased difficulty making miniature pieces and detail work. A couple years ago, a
structure like West Penn Hdwe would have taken two days to knock it out. Now it took me four days. With bad
shoulders, arms and the not so steady hands plus decreased near vision, all of this contributes to construction
delays.
But I'm really not worried with it, as I'm retired now. It's been ten weeks since retirement and I'm still trying to get
use to not having to go-go-go, as I did for the last 49 years. This layout is exactly what I need. Even when I make
a mistake and have to re-make a piece, it really doesn't bother me. So I'm taking my time and enjoying every
minute. ;):)

Next on the agenda is building Hagerty's Market, which I thought of branding A&P, but have decided on
Hagerty's as it's a local, small town name from my past. I'm using City Classics West End Market, then
scratch-building an addition to make it four times the size.

That's all the layout news for now and here's a pair of the Hardware photos . . .

Everyone have a nice day!
Jim

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