Running Bear's January 2020 Coffee Shop


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Good afternoon. Been busy for a few days. Went to Butte on Tuesday for a dentist appointment and then went on to Deer Lodge to visit relatives and friends. Didn't turn the computer ion yesterday, but saw some posts. Spent the morning down at the Hot Springs getting the leg exercised. We used to take out kids there when theey were "kids", but now the youngest just turned 40. Time flies. Now I have to try to catch up.

Garry - Sorry for your loss of your MIL.

Greg - Like the photo of the 0-8-0. Nice locomotive. That was an interesting video. Like that SOO line box car scene. Thumb up.gif

Joe - Thanks for the info on that photo I posted. I know it was for an electric locomotive and possibly for the brakes. You answered the question. It's been laying around my computer room for years. Like the Pennsy F unit.

Jim - Interesting photos, especially the one at the steel mill. Looks like an accident waiting to happen.

Johnny - Good photo at the lake. The city scene photo is a winner.

Sherrel - Nice shots of the Burlington equipment. Garry should like them. The Frisco units were also neat.

truckdad - Interesting photos. Good use of old equipment. Just west of Billings, there was a number of old Northern Pacific stock cars that they used as a corral for cattle plus shelter for them. There must have been over a dozen of them.

Ray - Nice photos of the MRL GP-9's. I am wondering if they could be some of the old CNW geeps that I saw lined up outside the MRL shops years ago. There were dozens of them. For a while that was probably the main power for them until they got up on their feet, Now look at what they run.

Willie - The photo of the barn was cool. Nice work. I do have a question for you about that hand held throttle. I have one that I have been using for years that my friend Pete Ellis gave to me. I have no idea what brand it is or who made it. I will have to say that it is an excellent throttle.

Curt - Nice to see you posting. Do you have any idea yet of what you are going to do for a new layout yet. Hope the work moves along quickly.

Justin - Like the photos, especially the steamer.

Beady
- Looks like you're enjoying yourselves. Nice photo.

Garry - Really like your salvage yard photos. Well done.

Jim - Nice photos. I think that this might be a GP 2.5
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I did get down to the train room yesterday and ran some trains.

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Later
 
Good Morning All. 39° and cloudy skies here. Another bland cloudy day for us. Good day for the weekly grocery trek. It appears that retirement didn't last long for my wife. Came in yesterday to find her trying on old work clothes. She got a phone call making her an offer that she couldn't refuse from someone two notches above her at H&R Block. Seems that the office needed someone with her experience and someone with her EA (Enrolled Agent) certification from the IRS. In other words, they were losing lucrative complex returns without her. Part of the reason for retirement was a new stupid office manager who actually let her go because she was three hours late getting some kind of paperwork returned to him (misunderstanding on his part); and then failed to make any effort to contact her after making the initial error in judgement.

How about a couple of sausage, egg, cheese and potato breakfast burritos this morning Francine. Some of that good old hot salsa on the side. That should get me fired up this morning.

Thanks for the likes and comments yesterday regarding the additional farm pictures and rehab project; Patrick, Mikey, Chad, Bill, Joe, Bob, Sherrel, Justin, Jerome, Jim, Chet, Garry, Curt, Karl, Johnny, Hughie, Tom.

Started adding ballast to the latest project area out in the train shed yesterday. Not finished yet but I made some progress. I'll get to the turnouts when I finish all of the easy parts.
View attachment 43733
Meanwhile over on the workbench I continued painting some figures.
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Johnny - I didn't miss the question, I missed answering it. I use Evergreen Styrene sidewalk sheets to make the sidewalks. It comes with several different size pre-embossed squares; I mostly use .5" and .25". It is .040" thick, which I think is about 3.5 scale inches.
Bob - When I wish to speak to a human on automated phone systems, I just keep hitting "0" until one finally comes on. Works with most systems although they never state that option. Good that you did finally get it resolved.
Thanks for the comment. Next tour will start in early April when I tackle the next quadrant of the lower level. Meanwhile there are plenty of other projects to keep me occupied.
Beady - Around here, true Spanish (Cuban, Central and South American) speakers consider Mexican Spanish as "dirty Spanish" because of it's slang usage and it's use of "Americanized" words. However they always seem to acclimate themselves to it or risk being ridiculed.
Sherrel - I thought about you while out driving the other day and observing all of those regular gas prices at $2.04 and below. I know that there are places at $1.99 but I just haven't seen them yet.
Curt -

Come on Curt. You should recognize that as an old fashioned phone jack! It is used to plug in my walk-around momentum throttle. There's five of them placed strategically around the layout.
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The MRC Tech II next to it in the original photo supplies the power to the base station.
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I got this from a member of this forum when he got out of the model railroad hobby, a neighbor of yours, Larry "the old fart".
Joe
- Great story about your wife and son.

Everyone have a great day.


Larry was a great guy I knew him when I lived in Florida. GaP RR he had....I actually bought a couple of his locos. Been out to his place too.
 
Good morning gang!

33° out there right now and dark, with increasing amounts of daylight expected, and a high of 46° (apologies to Al Sleet)

(Caution, rant starting)
Recently I've seen ads for Athearn and Tangent both offering highly detailed cabooses with sound. These cabooses also carry a hefty price, I seem to remember $149.95 or something like that. Even the non sound cabooses will cost you a Franklin to take home! Can somebody tell me why? #1 Why do we need sound in a caboose model? How much noise does the damn thing make other than an occasional flange squeal or the sound of a tiny generator ? #2 its a caboose for pete's sake! You know, a hack, a crummy! #3 who do they expect to buy them? Beginning modelers will certainly get turned off by the price, and this hobby doesn't need that kind of negative press. Older modelers like myself either already have a caboose fleet, (22 of them, 7 brass, never paid more than 60 bucks apiece) , or cant see the cost vs reward here. As I see it, its a overproduced useless nail in the coffin of the hobby. Go ahead, change my mind!!!
(soapbox relinquished)

Have a great day kiddos!
 
Good morning everyone. 35 and dark out. Supposed to be cloudy all day, then weekend temps up to mid 60's!!

Willie, Tom, Karl, Chet, Flip, Jim, Sherrel, Chad, Wheeler, Beady, Terry, Curt, and anyone I may have missed - thanks for the likes and comments on the puzzle post and the photos of the town and the lake.
Jim - I'll probably look at the completed puzzle for a few months, then take it apart and leave it for a year or two, then put it together again. Kind of like reading a book, then reading it again in a couple of years :D
Garry - Nice photos of your junkyard scene. That's something I don't have (yet) in my layout. I'll wait to hear from you about the Arkansas train.

Beady - Okay, you wanted to see how I arranged the remaining puzzle pieces - - here 'tis:

PuzzleProgress3.jpg


Have a good day everyone.
 
Good Morning All. 40° and cloudy again. I read yesterday that this has been the cloudiest January for this area since 1972. It has been a dreary month. Supposed to be in the 70's Sunday, although cloudy again.

I'll take the Friday Special today Flo. Oh! You don't have a Friday Special! Then make it two eggs sunny side up, hash browns and sausage for me this morning.

Thanks for those likes and comments yesterday; Chet, Sherrel, Jerome, Chad, Jim, Garry, Phil, Karl, James, Tom.

Did some more ballasting yesterday in the train shed. No pictures this morning since I didn't take any.
In the meantime here's another archive picture of American Plastics. It is a plastics extruder made from a Pikestuff kit with a few enhancements.
02-23-17 011.JPG

08-16-18 008.JPG

To the left are a couple of remote switches that I cannot reasonably reach over the building. Most of mine are controlled by ground throws.

Garry - I have always liked your scrapyard.
Chet - I have seen photos of your throttle and noticed the similarities with the one that I got from Larry. I also do not remember who made it, and the nameplate has been worn off. I have another from MRC that I don't use. I do like the GML brand but I can't justify the purchase since I already have two that work.
Karl/James - I only talked to Larry a few times, and only after he decided to get out of the hobby. He did have a rather eclectic layout judging from the pictures. He had a great train building as well. Besides the throttles that I purchased from him, I also purchased 240 vehicles. Unfortunately much of his collection went to a fellow in Alabama who for health and monetary reasons was unable to do much with it. I always thought that his other hobby of metallic art was quite interesting.

Everybody have a great Friday.
 
Why do we need sound in a caboose model? How much noise does the damn thing make other than an occasional flange squeal or the sound of a tiny generator ? #2 its a caboose for pete's sake! You know, a hack, a crummy![/I]

Karl: You are absolutely right. Not for nothing, when cabin cars were on the rear of almost every train, they never ran with all the lights on inside, and other than road sounds there was never an audible conversation or radio transmission. Other than the marker lights, there is no need for a decoder, interior lighting or sound.

I imagine, they are aimed at the collector market, especially Athearn's limited volume - one time only pitch. And I'm sure someone will buy them, but it's not something I have to have.
 
Good morning. ........ Coffee and a donut, please.

Sherrel, Karl, Curt, Chet, Johnny, and Willie .. Thanks for comment on my junk yard scene. .. Mikey, Greg .... Thanks again.

Chet ...... That's a great scene with the MILW switcher.

Boris .... I like the B&O "pike sized passenger train " ..

Willie .... You plastic plant looks great.

Here is a whimsical scene which is located next to the scrap yard............

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Cheers.
 
Garry- I love your trailer height disaster picture! Very true to life.
We had a trestle near our plant that ate high box trucks annually.Truck route around it and telltale chain warning 200 yards before it. City finally dug the road down 18 " and straightened the approach to the trestle while correcting a drainage problem about 15 years ago. It must be hungry by now as I know of only one RV air conditioner that has been eaten.

OLD SOUTHERN SAYING- If I'm not supposed to eat at night, why is there a light in my refrigerator?
 
Good Morning everyone....overcast again for I believe for the 10th day in a row and a little drizzle.

I ordered this morning some custom decals for my railroad to use on undecorated, data only Walthers Taconite cars. If I seen them correctly the Taconite cars were also use to haul raw ore when needed.

Garry: Nice scene with the truck and railroad trestle. I've seen that happen too many times at work where we had a underground service tunnel with loading docks for store deliveries. The tunnel could accommodate up to 43 semis unloading at one time and was a half mile long. The entrance doors were 13'4" high and many semi drivers never read the clearance warning signs.

Chet:
Great photo of that Milwaukee Road power doing the switching moves. The lighting of the scene makes it look like a sunny summer day.

Willie/Karl:
I agree BB rolling stock in a moving train is of no less of importance for attention getting than highly detailed Kadee or other rolling stock. I do park my better detailed cars on spurs where viewers can see them up close and notice the details.

Karl:
In my opinion, a caboose with sound effects ranks right up there with a cattle car with cows mooing. Right Chet? I have one and never use it.

Down to the layout in a bit.

Greg

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(Caution, rant starting)
Recently I've seen ads for Athearn and Tangent both offering highly detailed cabooses with sound. These cabooses also carry a hefty price, I seem to remember $149.95 or something like that. Even the non sound cabooses will cost you a Franklin to take home! Can somebody tell me why? #1 Why do we need sound in a caboose model? How much noise does the damn thing make other than an occasional flange squeal or the sound of a tiny generator ? #2 its a caboose for pete's sake! You know, a hack, a crummy! #3 who do they expect to buy them? Beginning modelers will certainly get turned off by the price, and this hobby doesn't need that kind of negative press. Older modelers like myself either already have a caboose fleet, (22 of them, 7 brass, never paid more than 60 bucks apiece) , or cant see the cost vs reward here. As I see it, its a overproduced useless nail in the coffin of the hobby. Go ahead, change my mind!!! (soapbox relinquished)!

I wouldn't presume to try. I have an older Genesis caboose, lights only. I got it at a slight discount, it listed at $99, I think. It's a nice model, it looks good at the end of the train, and I get a lot of positive comments on it. I only have the one. I paid considerably more for a Challenger Imports brass model of a C-40-3 that isn't available in plastic. Another fifty bucks for sound? Not me. That being said, take note: They'll sell out. Trust me on this. They'll sell out. You might not want one, I might not, but the market will. You can still get the basic stuff if you want, and that's important. There's plenty of used brass on the market as well, and you can still find those great Centralia Cabeese out there too. The market follows the money, and money is clearly being spent on this high end stuff, practical or not. Me, I don't worry about how other folks spend their hard end cash. That's up to them. At least dollars are being spent on the hobby! It's all relative!
 
34, dull overcast and slight breeze. Blah. It's been a strange winter, so far; the guy who shovels us out has only had to come twice this season.

Well, last night was a bust. Spent the entire evening in the basement, and almost nothing went right. I had several non-mrr chores, but I tried running trains in the background: locos and cars that had never derailed or come uncoupled before, kept derailing and uncoupling in spots where nothing had ever derailed or uncoupled before; turnouts that had never malfunctioned before, kept malfunctioning, etc. I wanted to update my Garmin gps, but it wouldn't update (last update was in 2018, *something* must have changed since then!); tried cleaning out my laptop and wiped out part of the printer driver (luckily, the installation cd was nearby); thought about weighting some boxcars and found out I'd bought roller derby weights that were *way* too big; my office chair, with me in it, rolled over a package of trees (they're now bushes?). It just kept on like that.

The good news is that the cruise line upgraded our cabin. We're still going to be on the interior, but we're now going to be way at the stern, convenient to the 24/7 buffet, adults-only pool, and the bar where I'm planning to hang out. The only other place I'm planning to hang out regularly is with the guy giving steel drum lessons, while the wife wants to turn herself into a prune in the hot tubs.

Starting to look at things that will need doing in the spring. The biggest job will probably be the ramp and deck. The railings have rotted so much that they're literally falling apart, and the plywood deck is going. The previous homeowner used pressure-treated wood for the bones, but he seems to have skimped everywhere else. Was talking to my brother, and he suggested something called plastic wood, supposed to be weatherproof and non-skid. Then, the previous owner installed the storm door so it blocks anyone coming up the ramp from entering the house, but is convenient to the mailbox. Me, I would have had the door open the other way and moved the mailbox. Think we'll do that, along with the repairs.

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GARRY Your modeling skills are superb. However, as a lifelong truckdriver, I was deeply offended by your representation of the dumb truckdriver trying to get a 13-6 trailer under the 12-6 trestle. In lieu of an apology, I might accept 8 sugar beet gondolas from Intermountain Railway Co. I'm sure there is another retired driver on here that feels the same as I do.....;)
Dave in Penn Valley, CA
 
Good Afternoon.
Sherrel - Are you liquidating stock market positions again? Just because a planeload of folks from China landed in your state is no reason to panic.

Doing my usual investing: Buying at the high! I bought options on a couple of $300 stocks yesterday!
Last time I did this was first week of November 1918.
My SIL in Newport wanted me to buy Tesla at $400 at Christmas - should have listened to him!
 
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