MichaelE

If I had touched another's personal property when I was a child, it was an automatic trip to the Loo to have my ass tanned. I was taught not to touch anything that didn't belong to me, without permission. That included the grocery and department store shopping trips, relatives' houses, etc. In my experience, parents don't teach that any longer, nor are they disciplined when they do muck up someone's property with their grubby hands.

I forgot to mention the same thing occurs with the 'Modeling musings & miscellany' forum. That one won't open either on the computer, phone, or tablet with any browser. "This community is temporarily unavailable. Please wait a few minutes and try again." Is the message received after it times out. I have no idea what is causing this on only two forums on this site. I've never had this happen on any forum site unless it was a restricted area.

I just downloaded and installed Duck Duck Go, and it still will not load. Other forums work fine, but even with a brand new, not previously installed browser, it will not open Wheeltappers. This is occuring on all browsers. This is a real head scratcher.

I have cleared all cookies, checked for an updated version of the browser (but it does this automatically), and restarted the system. This isn't just on this computer, it occurs on my three main computers in use throughout the house, and my tablet, and phone.

Well, at least I know it's not on my end.

Yes, if I let the page alone long enough I get the same message, but without the 'previously accessed' message. I get, 'Try again in a few minutes'.

Anyone else having trouble with this forum?

I haven't been able to access the Wheeltappers forum for weeks now. Is that a restricted area? I am able to see and read all of the posts when a thread appears in the View New Content page, but I have no direct access to that forum to see or reply to any of the topics.

Fantastic work and a wonderful layout. I really enjoyed the video. What background is that and do you know the part number? I would like to order that as an addition to my layout.

No one in a vehicle on the bridge or the maintenance workers would have ever heard the Mayday call...unless they happened to be monitoring the harbor frequencies on a scanner or receiver.

You can download the Lokprogrammer software at ESU. You do not need a Lokprogrammer to do this. After the download and installation, search the ESU library for the file that is loaded to your decoder and download it and open it. There you can see what the programming is and make any changes needed to get your lights working in forward mode. Under the 'Tools' tab, select 'See CVs Changed', you can see a summary of CV changes that were made and use that list to make the CV changes with your controller. This is all a lot easier with a Lokprogrammer, and I've done it myself before buying one, but it is possible without one.

Depth is 50' at the bridge location.

One smell I'll never forget is the inside of a Minuteman II Launch Facility and the Launch Control Center. It was a mixture of electronics, filtered air, and I guess a mixture of other components. After leaving the Air Force I attended an Open House about 15 years later at Whiteman AFB after the Minuteman II was deactivated. Whiteman AFB had the only Launch Control Center that was ever located on an Air Force Base, and through treaty, it was preserved as a museum. I took the tour downstairs to the LCC and when that blast door opened, a thousand memories came rushing back to me. I performed maintenance at this LCC several times during my career. Odors are a powerful memory recall device.

The Class 03 engines were built between 1930 and 1938 as express train locomotives for routes that were only suitable for axle loads of up to 18 tonnes. 298 examples of this engine, whose construction was based on the Class 01, were built by the firms of Borsig, Krupp, Henschel, and Schwartzkopff. Its reduced weight was achieved by the use of a light sectional frame, smaller boiler and smaller cylinders. From engine number 03 123 onwards the pumps were located in the centre of the locomotive and from number 03 163 the locos had larger leading wheels. Until 1959, 145 Class 03 locomotives were in the Deutsche Bundesbahn's operating fleet, of which 62 engines (03 005 to 03 122) had air and feed pumps on the smokebox, small leading wheels (850 mm diameter) and a top speed of 120 km/h, 16 machines (03 127 to 03 160) had air and feed pumps between the middle and rear driving wheels, small leading wheels (850 mm diameter) and a top speed of 120 km/h and 67 engines (03 164 to 03 296) had air and feed pumps between the middle and rear driving wheels, scissor-block brakes (Scherenklotzbremsen), large leading wheels (1,000 mm diameter) and a top speed of 130 km/h. In 1968 there were still 45 units, now designated as Class 003, remaining in the operational fleet. They were stabled at the following locomotive sheds: two at the Braunschweig shed, six at Bremen Main Station, 13 at Hamburg-Altona, one at Husum, 16 in Mönchengladbach and seven at Ulm. The last ten locomotives of Class 003 were on duty from 1971 at Ulm; in 1972 the last ones, nos. 003 088, 003 131 and 003 268, were withdrawn from service. The DR in East Germany had 86 engines in its fleet. From 1962 they equipped their vehicles with mixer preheaters. Courtesy of Wikipedia This is a new release from PIKO and this particular version just became available. This is the latest version from Era IV and the last to be retired. It was operating alongside of more modern electric and Diesel locomotives into the early 70s. PIKO's detail on this model is outstanding and every bit as good as I've seen from TRIX or Roco. This model has extensive lighting, many sound functions, and smoke. The smoke is not synched to the cylinders and that is left to the XP or Expert Plus version that has not yet been released. It's an additional €80 for that feature. I was a bit disappointed that PIKO did not include at least a few CCs of smoke fluid. I won't be seeing smoke for at least another week while waiting for an order to arrive. It is a tender-drive locomotive, and considering the smaller boiler than the 01 model there was really no other way to power it. This is my first tender drive locomotive since 1977 when I received a poorly running Tyco Chattanooga model as a Christmas gift. I was very apprehensive about another tender drive locomotive, but my fears were unfounded after I watched it complete its first circuit around the layout without so much as a pause on a frog. It ran for 25 minutes under no load forwards, and the same for reverse. No problems at all. The tender drive and smaller boiler make good use of the view provided to the underframe and other mechanicals usually out of sight. Strange to be able to see the wheels turning on the opposite side of the locomotive. Most all European made locomotives have see-through framework, even if the motor is boiler mounted, but it is especially noticeable on this model. It has three different whistle sounds, four different station announcements, one of which is in Russian; I guess for those trains that crossed the border to East Germany on the way to West Berlin. It also has a random coal shoveling where the firebox door is opened and a flickering red light starts with sounds of the door opening, and then closing and the light extinguishes. Piping is all applied and I'm sure glad I didn't have to do it. There is a lot of it. It has many other attached fittings, valves, and manifolds for the piping. Something unique to Era IV steam locomotives was the retro-fitting of red rear lights. The red lights can be individually lit left, right, or both, as you choose. Each has a specific meaning that I can't remember without looking it up again. Cab lights and chassis lights individually controlled are also included. I think I've written enough to let you know how nice of a model this is. I've been waiting awhile for this to be released. The DRG and DR models were the first, but I wanted a West German locomotive operated by Deutsche Bahn so I had to wait a bit longer.

I'm listening to Klassik Radio Piano on Radio Garden from Augsburg.

I'm not familiar with the controller you are currently using. I used the NCE Powercab for five years before upgrading to the ESU Cab Control. My layout and locomotives outgrew the Powercab's paltry 2A limit, and it was also not producing enough voltage at the railhead for the European decoders my locomotives use. Might be fine for US based products, but ESU likes to see 16V at the railhead. If you don't plan on more than three or four sound locomotives the Powercab should work fine. The ESU Cab Control allows for current and voltage adjustment to suit your requirements. NCE does not without having to buy additional boosters, and even so, the voltage is not adjustable.

I'm just going to wait for the new release. I did hear from tge seller who won't remove the shell to check, but the mention of the four digit number jarred my memory. None of those are DCC Ready.

Thanks for the replies fellows. I'll have a looks at the Star Rail product.

Can anyone tell me if this Roco SBB locomotive has a decoder socket? It is currently on e-Bay, but I haven't heard back from the seller yet. This is the Re 4/4 red/grey model and appears to be from the early 2000s or very late 90s. Thanks if anyone can tell me.

The simple answer is whatever height the registration arms are on the mast is going to be the height of the contact wire. Make adjustments for tunnel entrances if neccessary. If not piece-mealing catenary masts, registration arms are pre-installed at a fixed height on commercially available masts from Sommerfeldt and Viesmann. I forget the exact height in HO, but it is the correct height for the scale. HOm and HOe tend to be a slightly lower due to the height of the equipment.

I try to adjust individual volume sounds to match what you might hear on the real locomotive. I was astounded when I heard my first sound locomotive six years ago. It hasn't lost its appeal in any way up to today. The only sounds that might be louder than normal are station announcements and the opening and closing of electronic doors.

There are quite a few who've built Langwies, Switzerland, but we've managed to keep the Swiss Police at bay.