JJGraphics

The site definitely seems to have come to life again. No significant hangs seen today. John Further comment: Posting is almost instantaneous today as compared with a few days ago when it was taking a really long time.

Maybe one or two more than you might expect . . . John

Yes, in my experience too. The girls just thought the boys were stupid and immature when they acted like that. John

I think it was probably just that boys tend to do this sort of thing to look "big" in front of each other and even more-so when in front of girls. A long time ago when I was a college lecturer, I regularly saw that sort of thing amongst the students. John

The forum is playing up for me again. I’m on my iPad at the moment. Log-in took about 30-40 seconds from clicking the button. Some pages are taking 20+ seconds to load and the black bar is hanging at the top of the forum for up to 15 seconds when I mark something as Read, but some pages load almost instantly, even ones with a lot of images. Speed test shows 105/21, 3ms ping. Other sites I’ve tried load almost instantly. Really puzzled about this behaviour . . . John

Many thanks for the photo updates. Please keep them coming! This is an area of continuing interest to me (and I suspect a lot of other people, too) which unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to visit very often. John

Lightning fast log-in this morning, but now the black "marked as read" banner at the top is hanging for 15-20 seconds. John Now, ten minutes later it's going like coal off a shovel . . .

I am aware of using a mouse with an iPadPro as I have an acquaintance who is disabled and who uses a mouse with her iPadPro to aid her pointing. I was not trying to suggest that it is necessary or even desirable, to use a mouse with an iPadPro, which it is not for day-to-day use. What I was trying to point out was that the problem not only occurs with a finger tap. Perhaps I should have made that clear in the post. My acquaintance reports the tapping issue on several forums she visits but, as I reported from my own experience in my other post, she does not see the problem on most other sites. Out of interest, the problem also occurs when using a dibber with an inductive end and also with an Apple Pencil and is not specific to iOS 13 or the iPadPro as I can reproduce the issue on my ancient iPad2 running a prehistoric version of iOS. John

+ postage, etc!

I just can't imagine who would want to blow almost £160 on that piece of junk . . . John

It is possible to use a mouse with an iPadPro with iOS 13, but only in a rather limited way, via the Accessibility functions. I have tried this and it does seem to help a little with the tapping problem some of the time but is not a complete cure. John

The old forum software used to do this too and was a lot worse on an iPad in many respects. The tapping problem only seems to occur on a few sites – mostly forums of one sort or another) which I visit, but most sites do not have this issue. Some sites do have other issues with iOS, but that is usually down to poor coding, not the device. John

It sounds as though you've been rather unlucky with that motor. I'm not sure that the capacitor is the problem, more like the age of the motor. There are various arguments pro and con removing capacitors, chokes, etc. I've always removed them on the locos I have fitted for DCC as a matter of course and have never experienced any strange behaviour. However, I know several people who never remove them and have not had any trouble and some people who have not removed them and have had a range of odd issues which were rectified once the capacitors were removed. You pays your money, etc! John

We have not had any power issues recently but my broadband kit and computer is on an uninterruptible power supply so if there is a power issue everything carries on for about two hours regardless. When we had a big power cut last year the BT side of things kept going all the time so they must have good back-up power arrangements. The random behaviour on the forums you are seeing is very similar to what I see. The black banner sits at the top of the page sometimes for around 20 seconds; another time it is gone after 2 or 3 seconds. John

Just for info, I'm on a very fast connection (110/22 with 2ms ping) and I have just tried a few other sites and they are really fast to respond. John

The forum seems to going through one of its "go-slow" phases again this afternoon. In general everything seems to be taking a long time to load, but in particular the black banner at the top is hanging for up to 20 seconds each time I mark something as read. I wonder if we really need to see this banner as it has been reported as the source of hangs before and I something I experience fairly regularly, but not as bad as today. John

I reckon someone is going to have some fun doing a sound project for this . . . Charlie?

Let's also not forget the many railway workers who gave their lives here in the UK . . . John

cr*p I think is the word you were looking for . . .

Yes, that is a good source of sounds. Lots of interesting non-railway ones, too. John

It was not my wish that the main sounds such as bells, keys and levers would be random. I clearly stated that I would want them to be activated by specific FKeys; see my notes 2 & 3. I would only wish for some general background sounds to be random in the same way that a safety valve or coal shovelling sound is set up on a steam loco with DCC sound. John

Just reviving this thread . . . I have built a Ratio Midland signal box and, being Ever The Optimist, I have installed a speaker in the roof and would dearly love to get some signal box sounds loaded onto a LokSound decoder to play through the speaker. What I'd like to achieve: 1. General background noise, say on F0 that would run continuously like a loco simmering. 2. Different numbers of key taps, say on F1/F2/F3/F4/F5, followed by the same number of bell tings 3. Different numbers of bell tings, say on F11/F12/F13/F14/F15, followed by the same number of key taps 4. Lever pulling sound 5. Lever return sound 6. Other sounds, such as a telephone ringing, door slamming, kettle boiling, coal going into the stove, whistling/singing, etc., on other FKeys. There are quite a few sounds available either free or to purchase so, in my naivety I believe it is just a matter of creating the Project and loading it onto a decoder. Is anyone interested in pursuing this? John (I'm almost resigned to the fact I'm going to have to buy a LokProgrammer, learn how to use the software and do the job myself!)

I constructed my traverser, which has four tracks curved to meet with the end of my layout at a right angle, on a tray with a 12mm MDF base with sides and an end stop made of wood. It is mounted on three medium-length heavy-duty drawer runners which I purchased from Amazon. For alignment, I used a strong ball catch which engages in one of four holes drilled in a piece of mild steel angle to maintain the alignment of the track in each of the four positions. The trick is to make the holes a little smaller in diameter than the ball in the catch so there is no slack. A mist of WD40 keeps the locking mechanism and the runners working smoothly. Here is what the alignment mechanism looks like: Here is a more general view of the end of the traverser. I soldered the rails to strips of copper-clad board. I have made provision for short tracks on the baseboard area for loco storage if I decide I want to do that in the future: An overall view of the finished traverser: Power is delivered to the running tracks, an unconnected storage track and a programming track via flexible wiring underneath the table. I don't have a concern about locos running off the access end by accident as the adjacent baseboard surface is level with the traverser table. The traverser has been in almost daily use for over a year and works reliably. John

Yes, indeed! Just tap the iPad screen, don't press it and you won't have the problem. John

. . . especially when you include the cost of the electricity to cart hundreds of tons of diesel oil and shut-down engines about under the OHLE. John