Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXIV

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Bruette

Well-Known Member
Louis - I'm not totally impressed with GPS units. I have a GPS app on my phone which I use from time to time and it is normally pretty good. We have had some of out drivers who have GPS units for commercial vehicles get totally lost. Some times shippers will notify us not to have drivers use their GPS units and give is the correct directions to their location. A couple of years ago when our bowling partners and my wife and I were heading to Reno, NV for a national bowloing tournament, John brought his Garmin which he used for wor. He had just had it updated. Don't know why he brought it as I have made the trip a number of times. Right off the bat it wanted us to go the wrong way. Instead of going south through West Yellowstone to Idaho Falls, the Garmin wanted us to go west on the interstate to Butte and then south to Idaho Falls from there. An extra 100 miles. When we finally got to West Yellowstone, the Garmin recalculated and was good until we got into Reno. I had stayed at the hotel we were going to a few times. John, who was driving at the time was going to follow the Garmin directions which wanted us to take another exit, but I had him go the way I knew.which was just a few blocks from the interstate. I wonder how many extra miles people have drives following GPS directions.

Chet I am with you, GPS is one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread. Whenever I go anywhere I carry my phone with me and use Google maps. (I can only use Amazon's GPS when I am working for them) I know most of Baltimore like the back of my hand, but the GPS gives real time traffic and other features too. I have even found shortcuts to a few of the ways I have travelled for years.

The first time I worked for Amazon I did not use their GPS. "I know better than any computer" was my thinking. I had never used GPS before. I spent 5 1/2 hours doing what I should have completed in 4 hours. Granted it occasionally will give me crazy routes, but now I always use GPS. Before blindly following the GPS I will verify the route looks good with the map feature. The map has dots to show all my stops. I can usually fix the crazy route by having the GPS recalculate the route, but not always.

To reply to your question; I bet it is a lot of unnecessary driving if you add it all up. Especially for those who have no choice but to blindly follow their GPS.
 

montanan

Whiskey Merchant
Chet I am with you, GPS is one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread. Whenever I go anywhere I carry my phone with me and use Google maps. (I can only use Amazon's GPS when I am working for them) I know most of Baltimore like the back of my hand, but the GPS gives real time traffic and other features too. I have even found shortcuts to a few of the ways I have travelled for years.

Traffic? What traffic ???? We don't have any traffic up here. Grin.gif But, we do run into it while traveling. I have a Tom Tom app that I use if I really need GPA and like it better than some of the factory installed GPS units in new cars. The one I use will give me cross streets as we come up to them, shows th espeed limit and even gives a warning as you exceed it along with gas stations, driving time and distance. My friends new Ford Explorer doesn't give all of that information.

That is probably the only time I have my phone on while driving is to use the GPS app, other wise, it is turned off.
 

Bruette

Well-Known Member
Guys: Many GPS systems can't locate our residence and the calls from shippers are common asking if we really exist. I stopped the GPS service on my truck since the truck knows the way from our house to our cabin.

Greg if you call Amazon's customer service and tell them the problem you are having with shipments they will get it corrected for you. They can add instructions to the shipping information and or make corrections to their own GPS system. It won't help with other shippers, but it will if you order from Amazon.
 
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Bruette

Well-Known Member
Amazon even has people who do nothing but drive around to verify and make corrections to their own dedicated GPS application. By the way that job pays up to $48000 a year plus benefits, including a car. I know because they offered it to me, but I'm not working full time for anybody. Even as a half broken down old shadow of myself I can make more money than that in half the time working for myself. Thanks to our unfair tax code I'll pay a lot less taxes too.
 

Bruette

Well-Known Member
Chet you lucky dog! I ran into traffic Sunday afternoon on I95!!! The GPS rerouted me to the Baltimore Washington parkway. It probably saved me over 30 minutes. The down side of living in the northeast corridor, but I love it here!
 

Beady

Well-Known Member
Still can't figure out what to do with my growing collection of amputated legs and scalped heads needed to make them fit!
What *I* would do, glue the pieces together, kind of, paint the flesh parts green, and stage a Zombie Apocalypse somewhere on the layout.

This signature is intended to irritate people.
 

Raincoat2

Well-Known Member
Good Morning All. 44° and partly cloudy right now. Should be 85° by tomorrow afternoon. Headed out for the grocery/beer trek in a little while.
Still adding more details to existing structures on the layout. Vent pipes, downspouts, chimneys, sidewalks, etc. Doing some touch-up painting to some people and other details like junk piles and barrels. Added license plates to another half dozen vehicles as well. I think that this is an important item that many people overlook. Some even got drivers. Still can't figure out what to do with my growing collection of amputated legs and scalped heads needed to make them fit!

Johnny - Can't directly answer regarding Arizona ballast since I don't use it, but the prototype mainlines in my area tend to have slightly larger ballast than the sidings and spurs. I use the same size regardless, just use different shades. I guess that's good news from your doctor. Keep on keepin' on.

Willie

Hey, Willie - For those amputated legs and scalped heads, you might build a creepy house on your layout where a crazed surgeon lives and performs unwanted operations.

Regarding ballast, though, thanks for your info. I'm at the point where I can start ballasting some of the track. I've watched YouTube videos, asked questions on one of the other forums on this site, etc. All kinds of opinions - some people don't like WS or SE brands because they are not real rock but crushed shells. Others have no problem with those brands. Others swear by the Arizona Rock and Mineral brand stuff. I was going to try both AZ and WS on the freight yard and see how they look. That brought me to a related question: WS has both fine and medium grade ballast. Which one is best for HO? One guy on the forum said he mixed those two grades to get a good looking ballast for HO scale. That's why I wanted to hear from some of you old pros (emphasis on "pro", not on "old" :) ).
 

Raincoat2

Well-Known Member
Hey, Terry - A UPS truck just stopped at my house and asked me if a model railroader named Terry lived there. He was carrying a real beat-up box under his arm. He said UPS was trying to set a new record for the most towns to mis-route a delivery to. I said they might also set a new record for the most infuriated customer. :mad:
 

Beady

Well-Known Member
Louis - I'm not totally impressed with GPS units. I have a GPS app on my phone which I use from time to time and it is normally pretty good. We have had some of out drivers who have GPS units for commercial vehicles get totally lost. Some times shippers will notify us not to have drivers use their GPS units and give is the correct directions to their location. A couple of years ago when our bowling partners and my wife and I were heading to Reno, NV for a national bowloing tournament, John brought his Garmin which he used for wor. He had just had it updated. Don't know why he brought it as I have made the trip a number of times. Right off the bat it wanted us to go the wrong way. Instead of going south through West Yellowstone to Idaho Falls, the Garmin wanted us to go west on the interstate to Butte and then south to Idaho Falls from there. An extra 100 miles. When we finally got to West Yellowstone, the Garmin recalculated and was good until we got into Reno. I had stayed at the hotel we were going to a few times. John, who was driving at the time was going to follow the Garmin directions which wanted us to take another exit, but I had him go the way I knew.which was just a few blocks from the interstate. I wonder how many extra miles people have drives following GPS directions.
It might be interesting to look at what he had set up for defaults and avoidances. Generally speaking, computers do exactly what you tell them to do; most(?) people either never set these items, or they play around with them without having any idea what they're doing, and then forget about them; when the GPS subsequently follows the programming, anything that happens is the unit's fault and not the person's who programmed it.

This signature is intended to irritate people.
 

Sirfoldalot

Days Gone Bye!
Staff member
Good Morning All. 44° and partly cloudy right now. Should be 85° by tomorrow afternoon. Headed out for the grocery/beer trek in a little while.
Still adding more details to existing structures on the layout. Vent pipes, downspouts, chimneys, sidewalks, etc. Doing some touch-up painting to some people and other details like junk piles and barrels. Added license plates to another half dozen vehicles as well. I think that this is an important item that many people overlook. Some even got drivers. Still can't figure out what to do with my growing collection of amputated legs and scalped heads needed to make them fit!

Willie

I've got it Willie!
Create a holocaust scene from WW2!
 

Beady

Well-Known Member
Hey, Willie - For those amputated legs and scalped heads, you might build a creepy house on your layout where a crazed surgeon lives and performs unwanted operations.
Nah. My idea is better.



This signature is intended to irritate people.
 

PRR Modeler

Well-Known Member
Afternoon All,

Hot today, Hotter tomorrow, Hades the day after. Never made it to the blood draw today. MOH forgot and ate (both giving blood) so we are doing it tomorrow. I received the GC Laser kit today. I am a bit disappointed. I thought it was a wood laser kit but it is cardboard and paper:mad:. I did the initial painting using what they recommended but I have a feeling the paper will shrink. I guess I will see.

Dave- The paperwork is neat.

Sherrel- I think you made the right decision also but obviously it is your decision. I decided to skip over the Holocaust reference. Within the last couple of weeks I have watched 2 pretty graphic shows on PBS about the Holocaust.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 

Sirfoldalot

Days Gone Bye!
Staff member
Afternoon All,
I decided to skip over the Holocaust reference. Within the last couple of weeks I have watched 2 pretty graphic shows on PBS about the Holocaust.
I hope everyone has a good night.

Curt we must have watched the same thing which is what brought it to mind.

LOUIS -- This is aimed in your direction; I thought it pretty meaningful?

baseball.jpg
 

Boris

Beach Bum
Good evening, y'all. 55° and foggy. This afternoon was sunny and 71°, then it suddenly got cold again. I did manage to cut the lawn today, and pull some weeds. Also sat in the sun for a bit. This evening, I ran the layout for a while. After I finish with the doc tomorrow, I have to get started with the permanent wiring.

Curt: Not for nothing, I have built a couple cardboard and paper models that have survived over time, GC Laser's kits are more detailed than the California Scale Models structure kits from the 70s that I built. I hope it works out for you.
 

IronBeltKen

Lazy Daydreamer
Evenin' gang, gotta make this quick because 5am comes awful early!

I got started on the scenery today, and... well it has it up-sides and down-sides. Downside is the enormous mess it has created. The up-side is that I'm finally actually doing something with it!

Ken in MD - When I finally got going on my scenery after looking at open grid work for a couple of years I was really suprised at how fast it could go. Seeing the change in the layout I was spurred on to do more and was so happy to see the dramatic change. You have to post some photos after you get some done. ...

Chet, I wish I had open grid work; my layout surface is solid plywood, covered with a lot of tracks. I can only build upward, can't put in any rivers or anything concave like that. I'll definitely post photos when my work is ready for primetime!

... Ken in MD - Like Chet posted, scenery isn't hard to do. For me though, it gets boring quickly, which explains why I have only 15% of the layout scenery done!
...
Willie - great minds think alike [LOL]! I am hoping I can get all the terrain in, and at least 50% of the trees, before the next op session. With a small layout like mine that should be doable within the next 3 months.

Sherrell - glad you're getting the procedure. Better to deal with it now than wait till the damn thing bursts, like what happened to the father of a friend of mine. I'll keep the prayers coming your way!

Joe, I'm glad you shared that link about the FoamWerks tools - I'll definitely be using a lot of foamcore to make the backdrop buildings for my auto plant, and those tools will make it much easier!

Ok, my times up, gotta get to bed..goodnite!
 
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D&J RailRoad

Professor of HO
Got off work at 3pm. Picked up a rental car and on the road at 5pm. Arrived at my brothers house north side of Detroit at 1:15am.
 

Trussrod

Well-Known Member
Good evening fellow Gandy Dancers & Spike Drivers,

It was a fairly comfortable day but it was also fairly windy with gusts to about 25+ I'd say as it was blowing even larger Oak trees around fairly good and Oaks are not the most limber.

Hi Flo & Francine, You ladies are sure keeping Jeffreys' Dinner in good shape, he'd be pleased! How about a large bowl of Chili topped with a good helping of Colby and Jack cheese. That sounds good to me! Coffee too of course. It's starting to feel a bit chilly here.

Let me check WWeather:
Elev 2200 ft 37.26 °N, 119.73 °W | Updated 8 seconds ago
Partly Cloudy - That was true all day long, at 52.9 °F - Feels Like 52.9 °F
Wind ia Variable Wind from NW at .02 mph at 10:18, Gusts 2.5 mph. Sure different from earlier!
Pressure 29.93 in
Visibility 10.0 miles
Clouds Clear
Dew Point 35 °F
Humidity 51%
Rainfall 0.00 in
Snow Depth Not available.
Sun & Moon
6:08 AM 7:45 PM
Waxing Crescent, 4% visible


Yesterday night before I posted I went out into the grage/train room and ran a train, an MDC/Athearn Old Time 2-8-0 Consolidation with three shorty coaches, a combine, a passenger car and a Business car on the end, for a while back and forth. I also ran the little Bachmann Hand Pump car which didn't want to run very well, I think the gaps between the field plates has gotten loaded with oil and brush material. It's going to be a job to clean those slots out. Maybe a spray of electronic cleaner?

Anyway, it was very satisfying to run some trains for change.


Afternoon All,

Hot today, Hotter tomorrow, Hades the day after. Never made it to the blood draw today. MOH forgot and ate (both giving blood) so we are doing it tomorrow.

>I received the GC Laser kit today. I am a bit disappointed. I thought it was a wood laser kit but it is cardboard and paper:mad:. I did the initial painting using what they recommended but I have a feeling the paper will shrink. I guess I will see.<

I hope everyone has a good night.


Curt: About the GC Laser cardbord buildings, I almost forgot till I read Joe's post but I have an old, I mean real old, Sydam cardboard warehouse kit that has held up fine. Like wood, it's good to seal both surfaces so one side doesn't take on more moisture than the other side.


Good evening, y'all. 55° and foggy. This afternoon was sunny and 71°, then it suddenly got cold again. I did manage to cut the lawn today, and pull some weeds. Also sat in the sun for a bit. This evening, I ran the layout for a while. After I finish with the doc tomorrow, I have to get started with the permanent wiring.

Curt: Not for nothing, I have built a couple cardboard and paper models that have survived over time, GC Laser's kits are more detailed than the California Scale Models structure kits from the 70s that I built. I hope it works out for you.


Joe: You reminded me that I also had a card board structure that I had forgotten about.


Good morning all. Starting off at 34 degrees with a couple of inches of heavy wet snow on the ground. The snow changed to rail when I got to lower elevations. Hope it's not like this tomorrow. I will be heading to Butte tomorrow and sure don't want to go over the pass in the snow with summer tires on the car.

Louis - I'm not totally impressed with GPS units. I have a GPS app on my phone which I use from time to time and it is normally pretty good. We have had some of out drivers who have GPS units for commercial vehicles get totally lost. Some times shippers will notify us not to have drivers use their GPS units and give is the correct directions to their location. A couple of years ago when our bowling partners and my wife and I were heading to Reno, NV for a national bowloing tournament, John brought his Garmin which he used for wor. He had just had it updated. Don't know why he brought it as I have made the trip a number of times. Right off the bat it wanted us to go the wrong way. Instead of going south through West Yellowstone to Idaho Falls, the Garmin wanted us to go west on the interstate to Butte and then south to Idaho Falls from there. An extra 100 miles. When we finally got to West Yellowstone, the Garmin recalculated and was good until we got into Reno. I had stayed at the hotel we were going to a few times. John, who was driving at the time was going to follow the Garmin directions which wanted us to take another exit, but I had him go the way I knew.which was just a few blocks from the interstate. I wonder how many extra miles people have drives following GPS directions.

Ken in MD - When I finally got going on my scenery after looking at open grid work for a couple of years I was really suprised at how fast it could go. Seeing the change in the layout I was spurred on to do more and was so happy to see the dramatic change. You have to post some photos after you get some done.

On Saturday I will be heading over to the old Northern Pacific depot which is now a museum. There is an open house and the model railroad club will be operating the layout. A member of another forum will be there and said that there will be some items for sale also. It will be nice to meet the guy from the other forum in person also. This doesn't happen very often out here so I couldn't pass it up. Gotta remember to charge the battery in the cam corder. If I get and good video or photos, I will post them.

Later.


Chet: Sure sounds like you had better change back to snow tires just to be safe.

I agree with you about how people use/depend far too much on GPS. I had a lady, connected with an energy program, that couldn't stop watching her GPS and passed my entrance several times trying to find
me and couldn't till I actually walked down to the road and flagged her down. I gave her very explicit directions about how far my driveway and my neighbors driveway both are from a big old corrigated metal barn. about 125 ft but on the opposite side of the road and she still couldn't find me. What happened to common sense and listening to directions.


Continued >
 




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