NGRM Online

[slateworks]

Is it just me or is NGRM-online offline as I've been unable to get access for a couple of days now? I just get a message

 

"We're sorry, but a temporary technical error has occurred which means we cannot display this site right now. Access denied for user 'ngrmecom_invis'@'localhost' to database 'ngrmecom_invisionpb' You can try again by clicking the button below, or try again later."

 

That means nothing to me as a computer numpty but any "real" information would be welcome.

Thanks.

Doug

[Moxy]

It is off line,

 

more discussions here

 

 

[Keith Addenbrooke]

16 minutes ago, slateworks said:

Is it just me or is NGRM-online offline as I've been unable to get access for a couple of days now? I just get a message

 

"We're sorry, but a temporary technical error has occurred which means we cannot display this site right now. Access denied for user 'ngrmecom_invis'@'localhost' to database 'ngrmecom_invisionpb' You can try again by clicking the button below, or try again later."

 

That means nothing to me as a computer numpty but any "real" information would be welcome.

Thanks.

Doug

Hi Doug, I didn’t even know you had an RMweb a/c.  I’d better behave myself (at least till NGRM reappears) 😀, Keith.

[cctransuk]

1 hour ago, slateworks said:

Is it just me or is NGRM-online offline as I've been unable to get access for a couple of days now? I just get a message

 

"We're sorry, but a temporary technical error has occurred which means we cannot display this site right now. Access denied for user 'ngrmecom_invis'@'localhost' to database 'ngrmecom_invisionpb' You can try again by clicking the button below, or try again later."

 

That means nothing to me as a computer numpty but any "real" information would be welcome.

Thanks.

Doug

 

Surely the first sentence of the second paragraph conveys all we need to know?

 

CJI.

[slateworks]

I'm well aware that It tells one there's an issue but not whether it's one that's being attended to or how long it might take to do so. No doubt that's not information in the public domain but, if someone did know the answer, it would be useful to know.

 

Doug

[AY Mod]

As someone who has got the T shirt I am appreciative of people who understand that it's not always possible to a) deal with it immediately and b) give an accurate answer as to how long it will take.

 

Patience is a virtue.

[slateworks]

This has nothing to do with patience. It was just a simple request for information if anyone had any, rather in hope than anticipation.  I'll take that as a "no" then.

 

Doug

[cctransuk]

20 minutes ago, slateworks said:

This has nothing to do with patience. It was just a simple request for information if anyone had any, rather in hope than anticipation.  I'll take that as a "no" then.

 

Doug

 

I would be interested to know WHY you need further information.

 

Would it be a serious issue if it took two hours or two weeks to resolve the problem?

 

We small producers have lives - which may occasionally involve being away from the means of dealing with 'issues'.

 

I really loathe this 'I need to know NOW' attitude that has developed with the growth of IT.

 

CJI.

[AY Mod]

23 minutes ago, slateworks said:

This has nothing to do with patience. It was just a simple request for information if anyone had any, rather in hope than anticipation.  I'll take that as a "no" then.

 

Trust me, when you're dealing with an issue there's nothing worse than people roaming elsewhere on the internet asking what is happening (of people who may not know an accurate answer), it places more pressure on the person at the sharp end.

[Keith Addenbrooke]

12 hours ago, AY Mod said:

As someone who has got the T shirt I am appreciative of people who understand that it's not always possible to a) deal with it immediately and b) give an accurate answer as to how long it will take.

 

Patience is a virtue.

 

17 minutes ago, slateworks said:

This has nothing to do with patience. It was just a simple request for information if anyone had any, rather in hope than anticipation.  I'll take that as a "no" then.

 

Doug

 

Happy to agree with you both - patience is indeed a virtue when technology goes its own way, and having known Doug ( @slateworks ) and his modelling through NGRM for the past couple of years, I know he’d only ever ask a question out of politeness - Doug is one of the most encouraging and good humoured modellers I know, as well as more skilled than he’d like to admit.  Neither of us claim to be tech savvy, I think it’s fair to say, but with NGRM being much smaller, there isn’t an equivalent of the RMweb Server Updates Facebook page we can use here to see if a problem is universal, confined to our own ISP, or local to our own devices, or how significant it might be (or become).

 

I’ve also been active on RMweb for long enough to know that the same question in other hands can be a sign of frustration and impatience, such that @AY Mod probably has enough T-shirts by now never to need a washing machine 😃.

 

 Almost by definition, however, narrow gauge modelling attracts those of us who aren’t really in a hurry to get anywhere fast, though we do enjoy the ride 🙂, Keith.

[cornelius]

9 minutes ago, Keith Addenbrooke said:

there isn’t an equivalent of the RMweb Server Updates Facebook page we can use here to see if a problem is universal, confined to our own ISP, or local to our own devices, or how significant it might be (or become).

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1659857857392247

[Keith Addenbrooke]

4 minutes ago, cornelius said:

 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1659857857392247

Thank you - I stand corrected (and have applied to join the Facebook Group).  I wasn’t aware of that Facebook page, apologies, Keith.

[auldreekie]

Doug,

 

It looks as if it is offline.  I've encountered a rumour that the Chiverses may in fact be on holiday,  and a return next Tuesday has been mentioned.  I've no idea if this has any foundation in fact.

 

Meanwhile,  having done battle with the sign-in/refresh formalities of RMWEB,  here is my holding reply.  You'll know how VERY little residual patience I have with all computer-based  nonsense,  having spent more of my life than is sensible doing battle with it.  So you'll appreciate my degree of dedication to giving you a slightly-helpful reply.

 

I cannot,  sadly,  provide you with an update on some of the really fine modelling being done by NGRM aficionados.  But here is the state of play on my little Urskog-Holandsbanen 2-6-2 T in 4mm scale for 009..

 

 

I'd been uncomfortable for some time about its proportions.  After much thought I decided that it needed an extra 2mm of length in the side tanks,  with minimal further amendment.  So I hacked out the front plate of the main structural box,  along with the attached assembly of front running-plate,  buffer-beam and front end stub-frames.   I discarded the front plate and replaced it with a slab of 80 thou Plastikard,  plus two smaller slabs of the same material to form the fronts of the side tanks.  The front running-plate etc assembly was then glued across the lower edge of the two new tank fronts.  This restores the correct relationships in this area with the smokebox front,  and I think the whole thing now looks definitely more credible.  

 

After cleaning up and re-instituting tank-top beading,  I'm pleased with the result.

 

I've also provided a representation of the various access steps,  which I can describe only as "very Norwegian" on the original machine. 

 

Lots more to do.

 

Keep plugging away in the hope that NGRM will return to the internet in due course....

 

(Afraid I don't know what the latest two face-book-related posts add to knowledge about the present status of NGRM)

 

And you may note the slight wisp of steam from the (incorrect) safety valves,  provided by the Gods....

 

auldreekie

Edited June 10, 2023 by auldreekie

[Keith Addenbrooke]

Taking my cue from @auldreekie, my more modest progress this morning:

 

 

The church has had a couple of coats of white paint now.  UHU (solvent free) seemed to work for gluing the plastic window frames in place.  The wagon is a standard 009 Society kit I had in the stash.  While my log loads are just offcuts from one of last summer’s round lolly sticks, they seem to add enough weight to prevent derailments on my simple layout.

 

Off to the Cathedral for the afternoon - could be the coolest place around today, Keith.

[auldreekie]

... Good on you,  Keith.

 

Just in case Doug is suffering serious symptoms of withdrawal,  here is the rest of the current story about my little Norwegian locomotive build.

 

 

I  mentioned a few days ago that I'd like to provide some representation of the mass of pipework and handwheels which appears to have existed within the cab and over the firebox on these machines.  No doubt it all helped to keep things cosy during a cold Norwegian winter.

 

I found another photograph which gave a sketchy impression of what's there in reality.  No way can I provide a detailed representation in 4mm scale.  But here's a start on something crudely generalised  There are two transverse styrene cylinders,  one above the other.  Each will have a couple of handwheels projecting towards the driver,  and the upper one a single wheel pointing towards the RHS.  For now,  these are represented by shortened Peco track-pins of the heavier-duty sort.  In due couse,  small etched brass handwheels will be glued to the heads of these trackpins.  There will be a somewhat serpentine piece of copper wire from the RHS of the lower tube,  through the front spectacle plate and ultimately to the LHS of the steam dome.  I imagine what this represents is a steam off-take to drive such things as steam-sanding.  But it will wait until later in the build.

 

auldreekie

[slateworks]

Keith and Fred, thanks for your kind responses and it's clear that both your projects are progressing nicely. I'm looking forward to following more of their development once NGRM is, hopefully, back on line. 

 

I shan't, of course, be posting or viewing here any more, as I have avoided doing in the past, as it seems that some some folk just want to be antagonistic and tetchy and create an argument out of nothing which I gather is par for the course and certainly of no interest to me.

 

See you chaps back on NGRM.

 

Doug

[Mike Bellamy]

This from Matt Chivers

 

Quote

Sorry that you can’t access the forum, the hosting company has been merged into another company and they have changed servers. I’m currently sat in a field, having a holiday far away from my laptop, so I can’t see what’s going on.

 

And this from the Father of NGRM, Roger Chivers

 

Quote

I think the host has been taken over and they are in the process of moving all the web sites to a new server.

.

 

[auldreekie]

Thanks to Mike,  Matt and Roger.

 

Like  quite a few others,  I'm looking forward to the re-emergence of NGRM from the mysteries of the computer/software/hosting industry.  That would be a cue to re-establish communication with Doug and others.  Meanwhile I think the Chiverses ought to go on enjoying their holiday,  preferably without laptop.

 

I'm sorry Doug has been put off RMWeb  by unpleasantness.  It does happen in the best of worlds as they exist,  and I'm afraid that I tend to react in kind.  But better,  I'm sure,  to stand clear.

 

auldreekie

[AY Mod]

2 hours ago, slateworks said:

antagonistic and tetchy

 

Call it empathy with someone having a bad day.

[multivac]

NGRM Online is suffering some downtime. If the website was a commercial endeavour I would be concerned, however as it promotes narrow gauge modelling ie a fan site,  I will be patient and hope a full return is forthcoming. 

[auldreekie]

Since it looks as if Doug may be continuing to follow developments for the meantime on RMweb,  here's an update on what I've done since my previous post.

 

 

A fair bit of detail added to the little Norwegian tank locomotive.-  

 

  - Four steps on tank fronts.

  - Hinge,  hinge straps and "doorknob" on sand-dome.

  - Shovelling plate on inside of cab rear spectacle plate.

  - Positions marked-up to locate whistle on cab roof and balance-pipe beneath tanks,  when in due course these can be added. 

  - Beading added to upper portions of cab entrance cut-outs.

 

I did find a builder's general arrangement drawing on the internet,  courtesy of Museums i Akershus,    With my revision to the tank layout,  I am pleased to see that my version is a reasonably close fit at scale.  Odd that I can find no photographic or diagrammatic indication of the existence of the usual brake pillar in the cab....

 

It looks as if I cannot make much more progress until rejoined with bits and pieces in the sticks.  Primarily,  this is because I left behind there my stocks of plastic-coated wire,  which is needed to make both the smokebox-door hinge and the delivery pipes for sand from the sand dome.  I'm loth to start painting until these are all in place,  and such other further detail as is intended needs to be provided only after at least a first coat of paint is in place.

 

So I made a start as can be seen on the CC class pacific of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway.  Donor mechanism stripped-out non-destructively (Grafar pacific).  Boiler cut-out made  using slatted top of garden table as a jig in the usual way.  Main "bones" of firebox cut out and glued together,  leaving much shaping  yet to be done.  Many other of the more complex and other main parts have previously been cut out and form a home-made "Airfix" kit,  and I shall no doubt make use of them to achieve partial assembly in days to come.

 

auldreekie

 

Edited June 11, 2023 by auldreekie

[auldreekie]

I thought I'd make a start both on the cab end of the CC class pacific and on its tender.

 

 

But I'd forgotten about the joggle in the frames to accommodate the wide firebox.  I ought to have known:  goodness knows,  I've built several machines with this characteristic over the years...

 

Nevertheless,  it took me several hours and about three attempts before I understood that,  whilst the firebox and ashpan do fit within the frames,  it is between a joggled and widened set of rear-end frames.   After all that  I was rained out of the garden by a thunderstorm and I'm only now back to something like normal,  Next up is to build the joggle castings which embrace the front corners of the firebox/ashpan.  Then perhaps the tender,  before I address the front end and how to connect it to the rest via the multi-level running plates.

 

More later.  Maybe.

 

auldreekie

 

[PaulRDavies]

Yep, the NGRM site is down.

 

Every forum has to have somewhere to store its data. The web server side of things won't come with a database attached, and NGRM is most probably a generic site which has had the forum software loaded on top.

From the error, the machine hosting the forum is expecting to load the data from a database on the same machine. To do this it has to use a service account to prove it is who it says it is. This is more or less exactly like the ones you create to access the forum from the outside, but in this case its a specified internal user. The error shows that the database doesn't recognise the password being supplied for that account by the firum software and it's refusing to deliver the goods. The page then cannot continue to load and just displays the details of what has gone wrong (albeit cryptic). Unfortunately, while being useful, the error has also revealed the database userid being used which <could> be used by persons unknown to hack. Having said that, 1) who is going to be bothered to hack a narrow gauge forum? And 2)As long as your passwords and users are different to those used elsewhere, e.g. banking, they won't get anything if they do try.

Hopefully this explains what has gone wrong.

Cheers,

Paul.

Edited June 12, 2023 by PaulRDavies

[woodenhead]

Of course there is always the possibility the admin has taken the site down for his holidays, it's an extreme way to do it, but it means he can rest on holiday without having to worry about users posting inflammatory content.

[Dava]

Nice to see narrow gauge modellers on here using pictures! Less frequent on NGRM.

 

Dava