Running Bear's November 2018 Coffee Shop

[Greg@mnrr]

Good Afternoon Everyone.....overcast and cold here in Wisconsin with 2-4 inches of snow tonight and early tomorrow. Not too early for snow, several years ago we had 12+ inches of snow on Black Friday. On another Thanksgiving, we had a beautiful snow fall of big wet flakes and when it ended 10 inches of heavy, wet snow.

Changed the spark plug and oil in the snow blower. I don't know why I wait until it's in the 30's to prepare the snow blower for winter??? Last year I did this work when the temperature was in the 20's. I should be doing this work in July when it's in the 80's. Cleaned up the garage somewhat.

Yesterday, I discovered where the dust lives on the layout, looks like it snowed behind and next to the coal mine. High priority to clean the dust off the layout!!!

My Klein order arrived yesterday and I ordered it late last Friday.

Karl: Nice track!

Everyone: Thanks for the compliments on the new logo for the Chicago, Milwaukee & Northern Railroad. Thanks to Ron Chant on the Roadrail Lines Forum for his tech help.

Train room tomorrow for sure and all day.

Sunday, I promised to help set up (Not decorate, too early) our new tree. Then, I need to wire the new bookcase speakers for the living room that we have had for 12 months.

Later...

Greg

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[PRR Modeler]

Afternoon All,

Since a bunch of you have snow I remember as a kid (El Paso) we would get about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the stuff in November and the city would shut down and best of all no school. Finished all the projects for the wife, now there is just regular last minute cleaning.

Sherrel- I mean redoing the entire siding building wise...no track work. The Walthers Ice House seems really oversized compared to the 2 story building I just built.

Karl- Great Snoopy cartoon and rail shot.

Johnny- I feel your pain with the pre-Thanksgiving chores. Enjoy the concert.

Chet- I guess I wasn't very clear yesterday about the siding. The picture was a before shot.

I hope everyone has a good day.

 

[tootnkumin]

MRL going green (thought you might need an obviously Summer picture)

What do you call a hand with 5 ACE's in it?

 

[Sirfoldalot]

RAY -- That's a beauty!

 

[bnsf971]

What do you call a hand with 5 ACE's in it?

That's known as a "dead man's hand".

 

[bnsf971]

Some days, the best part of my job is that my chair spins...

 

[Flip]

That's known as a "dead man's hand".

Aces and Eights is The Dead Mans Hand .
Phil

Prayers for all.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Howdy .

Toot .... The MRL photo looks beautiful .

Chet .... Regarding the NCL observation, I wish Walthers would offer the GN observation painted for the NCL. It would be close enough. .... Also, Bachmann has started selling smooth side observations that would also be close enough if the offered them in NCL paint.

 

[Boris]

Good morning y'all. 41° and sunny.

Garry: The Prototype modeler zealots and Hysterical Societies have Walthers intimidated from offering anything deemed "bogus" in their Proto Line.
These folks are vocal and have no tolerance for "close enough" Suppose you have to settle for painting them yourself. Bachmann sticks with a rather narrow selection of roads they think will sell.

The NCL portrait shows what a good looking train the NCL was.

Boris

 

[Boris]

I don't know why I wait until it's in the 30's to prepare the snow blower for winter??? Last year I did this work when the temperature was in the 20's. I should be doing this work in July when it's in the 80's.

Greg: Back in 2012, I actually took the time to clean and service the snow blower in August. New plug, new filter, and gas treatment. It was an easy start back then. In early November, we had a surprise foot of snow, (on the heels of Super Storm Sandy), and it refused to start, even with the electric start. That was a heavy, wet snow, so it was questionable as to whether the snow blower would have been effective, but I ended up shoveling the driveway. Now I wait until November, while temperatures here are usually in the 50s.

Boris

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. 42° and clear. Another fine day yesterday and another one today with temperatures creeping into the 70's. Warmer than the weather geeks were predicting. Spent the day yesterday doing the current tasks, bathroom remodel (not much time spent here), collecting leaves from the yard, cutting and stacking firewood, laundry and a bit of fall prep in the garden. I'm stopped in the bathroom until tomorrow when I remove the old vanity and toilet. Tuesday I'll head to Home Depot for some of the trim and molding that I can get. No decision yet on door trim has been made by the decorator. We're dogsitting the granddog for the next two weeks while daughter and family visit the in-laws in South Jersey, somewhere near Eversham Township. She (doggie) loves to vacation with us where she can stretch her legs and run for more than 25' at a time. She arrived too late to see an eight point White-Tailed buck in the yard, which got away before I was able to pick up the camera. We have deer in the neighborhood, but they rarely come this close to the house, in this case about 25 yards from the back porch. The dog would have had quite a workout chasing him. She's tried before without success.
Out in the train shed yesterday, it was another short day. Switched out the partially built ethanol processing facility, all of the tracks and loading piping are there, but no structures. Sixteen empty tankers in on two loading tracks, and sixteen full tankers taken back to the yard. Did a bit more switching in a different town as well.

Johnny -

I imagine I'll come to work Monday morning saying "HUH? HUH? SAY THAT AGAIN, I CAN'T HEAR YOU!!"

I am able to do that without the benefit of rock concerts!
Sherrel - Haven't had the opportunity to try an In-and-Out burger yet. They only recently showed up close enough for me to visit, but I'm just not in the habit of eating at places like that. They don't sell beer or provide wine glasses. I'll get you a picture of the bathroom remodel when I remember to bring the camera in. Meanwhile here's a picture of "shiplap" from the net, we'll be painting ours white though.
Piecing it into a 2' x 2' alcove is time consuming. Then there's the 5" piece that goes on the protruding wall.
Ray - Excellent MRL photo on the bridge.
Joe -

The Prototype modeler zealots and Hysterical Societies have Walthers intimidated from offering anything deemed "bogus" in their Proto Line.
These folks are vocal and have no tolerance for "close enough"

It's a shame that the rivet-counters have become model railroading's version of the "politically-correct police".

Heading out now to greet the new leaves in the yard. Everybody have a great day.

 

[bnsf971]

It's a shame that the rivet-counters have become model railroading's version of the "politically-correct police".

Chet and I belong to a forum that considers anything less than 100% completely prototypically accurate to be complete garbage tinplate.
A current example is, after continuous calls for "made in USA" models, a company has released a boxcar model, made completely here in the US, that is not a completely accurate representation of a boxcar, at what is probably the cheapest amount they can offer it for. I made the mistake, after many, many posts bashing this attempt, of suggesting this lower-detail-level, not accurate model may be the best we will see at its price point, while remaining "made in America".
Let's just say that responses to my opinion have not been favorable. in the extreme.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Good morning, everybody.

Good morning y'all. 41° and sunny.

Garry: The Prototype modeler zealots and Hysterical Societies have Walthers intimidated from offering anything deemed "bogus" in their Proto Line.
These folks are vocal and have no tolerance for "close enough" Suppose you have to settle for painting them yourself. Bachmann sticks with a rather narrow selection of roads they think will sell.

The NCL portrait shows what a good looking train the NCL was.

Boris

Boris .... Surely, you are not referring to our pals, the rivet counters, are you? .... LOL .... I wonder about Walthers because many of their passenger cars are not prototypical for the road names applied to them. So, if they do it for others, I would think they could do it for the NCL

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Ho Hum - Another day of loading 16 tons and deeper in debt! Supposed to be 73 today after a current temp of 36 degrees (little chilly nowdays - to me); the winds are so calm that it's eerie after the several days of hard blowing. I have no report of the fires to share, only that the death toll keeps climbing - and everyone's laying blame rather than looking for measures to prevent it happening in the first place which - to me - is like trying to blame someone for a hurricane.
Foxie goes to the VET this morning: I think it is to remove the drain they placed in her sholder - and so the VET can check her progress. She has been very good about taking her medicine, but I am beginning to detect a little hesitation - so she must be returning to normal? I know that she and I both will be glad to get rid of the lampshade - those things are akin to some sort of medieval tourture for both the human and animal.
Then ... I have to shop for a pie to take to the annual Bunco Thansgiving Dinner tonight. I believe the local son in law, Michael and I will be attending stag - the Spousal Unit has MIL duty this weekend and the daughter is AWOL as well.
Still need to go and fetch some wood for the fireplace this winter. I can't make up my mine on how much to get .. maybe just a small p/u bed full - what's that - about 1/3 cord? I need to measure it. These people who sell firewood don't know how much wood it takes to really make a cord - I do! They will quote $260.00 a cord and then actual deliver about a 1/2 cord and want the full amount - uh, NO!
Still working on cleaning the yard - a little at a time. Will start looking for a tree cutter!

That's all for now! - and you all are probably glad, too!

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Good Morning Everyone....over cast and a little light snow from last night.

Preparing for the train room.

Going to vacuum the carpet tiles and then attack the dusty areas. Looking at better way to mark the positions of the turnouts on the mine spur. The area is at eye level, so seeing the turnouts' position and the uncoupler locations is difficult. Going to do a separate thread on this subject.

Basement is starting to cool off during the winter. Right when I go into the layout room it's approximately 64 degrees. After the lights burn awhile the temperature climbs to 67 degrees or so, not too bad. The older ballasts throw off some heat. I keep the heat vent in the room closed during the winter to reduce dust.

Anyone ever remove a boiler assembly from a Bachmann 80 three truck shay?

Willie: Living on the edge of town, we have three or four deer that visit the bird feeders every night. There a big buck and some does that come to feed. Seems like more deer at home than at the cabin. Going to claim the deer as defendants on my income tax returns since they eat so much bird food.

Flip: Wild Bill Hitchcock was holding the Aces and Eights when he was shot in the back in Saloon Number 10 in Deadwood, South Dakota. In the 1800's there were so many saloons in town that the locals just called the saloons by numbers and not names.

That's all for now.

Greg

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[Boris]

Chet and I belong to a forum that considers anything less than 100% completely prototypically accurate to be complete garbage tinplate.
A current example is, after continuous calls for "made in USA" models, a company has released a boxcar model, made completely here in the US, that is not a completely accurate representation of a boxcar, at what is probably the cheapest amount they can offer it for. I made the mistake, after many, many posts bashing this attempt, of suggesting this lower-detail-level, not accurate model may be the best we will see at its price point, while remaining "made in America".
Let's just say that responses to my opinion have not been favorable. in the extreme.

Terry: That's what I was referring to. I have purged my membership(s) in several forums because of this type of nonsense. I have reached the point where I don't want to hear it any longer. I have also decided that I will not renew several Historical Society memberships for the same reason.

Boris .... Surely, you are not referring to our pals, the rivet counters, are you? .... LOL .... I wonder about Walthers because many of their passenger cars are not prototypical for the road names applied to them. So, if they do it for others, I would think they could do it for the NCL

Garry: As you know, Walthers has in the past issued "bogus" versions of their Proto passenger cars, to spread the cost around. This has aroused widespread outrage from among the "Serious Modelers" and "Modeling Committees" who work with WKW on various projects. This is why WKW now concentrates on a more generic but prototype based passenger fleet in their lower end "Mainline" product line. Sort of a return to the upgradable AHM/ IHC passengers cars of the past. They have caught flack from the fanatics on a forum dedicated to passenger cars, for this sin.
I could imagine the outrage if they came up with a NCL based on EB cars .

Boris

 

[Boris]

For some reason, Willie's quoted comment and my response, as well as Garry's name above his quoted comment, disappeared from my post.

Boris said:


The Prototype modeler zealots and Hysterical Societies have Walthers intimidated from offering anything deemed "bogus" in their Proto Line.
These folks are vocal and have no tolerance for "close enough"

It's a shame that the rivet-counters have become model railroading's version of the "politically-correct police".

Willie: Exactly!

Boris

 

[montanan]

Good morning. 9 degrees and overcast. We ended up with only about 4 inches of the white stuff. It was a fun trip going to town last night. It had rained pretty good before the temps dropped and the rain changer to snow. The roads were a sheet of ice.

Curt - I was aware that the siding was going to be redone. I did not have enough room for the large ice house either and scratch built a smaller one that would fit into the space I had available.

Ray - Nice shot of the MRL units.

Garry - Good suggestion of a Walthers repaint of the GN observation car. It is fairly close. The guy at the club who has the Walthers Empire Builder is frothing at the mouth for them to bring out a version of the NCL. Liked your photo for the NCL on the CB&Q. I can remember being handed off to the CB&Q a few times on our trips to Chicago. The Hiawatha of course went all the way into Chicago, but when we went, we would chech the schedules and the availability of first class and that was the deciding factor as to which railroad we took.

Willie - A can remember passing numerous NP trains riding right along side the Milwaukee Road when we were heading to Haugen and then south to Avery, ID. Never got to see the NP side of the picture as we cut off at Logan and headed north to Helena and then to Missoula which is as far west as I got on the NP. Missoula is where the two lines met again. They would run along side each other until St Regis MT and then head north along side the Clark Fork River up to Sand Point , ID. The photo I posted the other day with the Milwaukee Road electrics is right where they parted.

Joe - It's a good thing to check out the snow blower before winter starts. I keep mine under the front porch which is enclosed and start it about once a month even during the summer. Started it up a couple of weeks ago. Runs like new.

Terry - I know the forum you are talking about. A pretty snooty bunch there. I may glance at it around once a week but rarely post anythinf as any posts I make are pretty week ignored. River counters is one reason I like freelancing. Nothing to pick nits on. The Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Road power I have I do try to make as accurate as possible, but that only to make me happy.

Sherrel - I'm sure that Foxie will be happy to get the collar off. Our older doxie is on medication for his back. Something common to the breed. We pit the pill is a piece of lunch meat and he just gobbles it right down. The other one is right there also not wanting to miss a hand out. When it comes to firewood, the people up here DO know what a cord is. No monkey business up here or the word will get out in a hurry. Goes for around $150 up here. Glad that I'm not burning wood any more. I used to enjoy going up into the mountains which are right on our door step and cut wood, but I'm getting too old for that now.

May go out and plow the driveway later. It really doesn't need it, but the dogs will probably enjoy not having to go through the snow with their short legs to go do their thing. Will also head down to the train room for a while and run some trains. Don't think I'll be heading to the club tonight with the way the roads are. Looked at the DOT cameras up on the pass and it doesn't look good. Think I'll watch some TV with a beer close by.

Here's a rail picture for today.

Later

 

[kbkchooch]

Good afternoon gang
Been trying to get on the horn to play catch-up all morning. For some crazy reason I kept getting an error 404 that said I couldn't go here. But now for some reason my phone can get in.
Tried to get to the dump this morning I'm now finally pulling out seems as if the made-in-china wiring kit just kill the ground circuit. So after I go to the dump I'm going to TSC to buy a new plug so that I can restore the trailer to the way it should be. My Rube Goldberg repair is only going to work so long.
Seems as if mr. Murphy has decided to leave Terry alone at least just for one day.

 

[GarryCBQ]

Boris and Chet. .. Regarding the NP NCL observation cars : In the 1960’s , the NCL was operated without the observation cars . Burlington’s NCL observation was repainted silver and lettered for CB&Q with black letters . The car substituted for other Burlington observation cars when they were in the shops. It was also used on special trains such as football specials .
So, I have recently thought of buying the Bachmann’s smooth side observation to use as a close enough model. Bachmann sells them painted silver but unlettered. .