peach james

I always found Physics easier than math, because I could see the point of being able to figure out where the cannon ball would land...but figuring out random numbers for math doesn't hold much interest to me. Even Calculus, I can see the use of figuring the area under the curve, but only when you NEED the area under the curve to calculate something different. I couldn't care how much area is under a curve if it isn't providing me with something useful. (like, say, the area of a model railway...like how I snuck the reference into the physics lesson ?) Good teachers can explain _why_ they are teaching what is being taught. I put up the reference to "New Math" in my last post- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIKGV2cTgqA which might be a joke, but at the same time has a serious point to it. If someone understands why they are trying to learn something, usually I find that it improves the learning outcome. To bring that back to Model Railways, I think that model engineering in general has taught me a huge amount- I wouldn't be doing the job I am doing had I not come from an engineering type background, and I certainly wouldn't do some of the fun (???) things which I do.

Good instructors- it doesn't matter what the way of conveying the info is. Blackboard, electronic, or "more primitive visual aids, as they say in the Ed Biz", all are aids to the understanding of the students. Some form of aid is good if you are teaching HOW to do math/physics, out of preference I like PowerPoint and a white board, but that's me. (most of my course materials are in PP, as there are about 6 of us who teach the courses on rotational basis...and consistency is fairly important) My courses have a lot of applied physics. If you don't apply the 4x4 to the hole correctly, you discover buoyancy, and Archimedes bath overflows...or, you get rather warm... (about 573 k warm or so...). The place will be on TV in the near future, again. James

My understanding of Digitrax is that the stack limits are around 200 items on a regular basis. So, a basic accessory decoder is not likely to cause problems, from memory, the signal to change a status is sent 3 times, and then not repeated. Same sort of thing for message status updates from accessory decoders. Where it gets sticky is if the system is generating lots of speed change instructions for locos. If you are using the CV's in the chip (CV3/4) to regulate acceleration, then that would place no more demand on a loco than the single change of speed instruction. If you are using software generated speed tables (think RR&Co), then you may run into problems. Digitrax hard limits are a DB150 is 22 locos, and a DCS100/150/200 is 120 locos running _at the same time_ James

So, I got the DOG programmed. Oh, wait, that's DoG. And the DS 64 installed and programmed (which is more work than the install on DoG ). The next thing on my Long Marton list right now is "Test program". Which I will do, but not before the weekend. I have a meeting tomorrow, and fire practice on Thurs, and probably cementing posts on Friday...so, perhaps Friday PM for trains. I did clear some of the outside right of way. But, that's probably as far as I will get with it for a little bit anyway. James

Replacement DS64 is here, along with some NR14 decoders, and a UR90, finally moving into the IR one way remote control business for Digitrax. (I should just bite the bullet and go to 2 way radio, but I am so far not in the position where I "have" to do so) Today is a beautiful day out here, so a couple of hours of jungle taming have been in order. We got back yesterday from : http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/hmcs-protecteur-towed-into-home-port-in-esquimalt-b-c-1.2660753 Op Towex 14, and the growth around here has been astounding. I have more mowing to do today, along with more weedwacking (rotary weed cutter using line= weed wacker, somewhat OK on things as big as 1/4" salmonberry plants...I also have a blade for it, which will work on bigger stuff...) Perhaps tonight I will get to working on LM. There is still lego reconstruction from the trip, as I bought the Parisian Café, Simpsons house and Metalbeard's Sea Cow. (and a 16 day boat trip to build them in). James

not yet. I`m sitting in Hawaii, awaiting to leave. We leave on the 15th, for the trip which should take ~21 days back. I'm going to be on USNS Salvor for the trip home. Should be fun James

On completion day the fire and fireplace is installed. I'd recon that loading a fire into your brand spanking new house on day 1 of ownership _might_ be suspicious. Besides, how will you know you hate it already, when you haven't lived there ! I`d love to have the chance to build a completely new house, but I can`t see it happening now. There was some chance before, but that is growing smaller now. Most of it was with going to Ontario for a couple of years, which isn`t going to happen, so now the chances of us moving are getting vanishingly small. There`s no point in us moving from where we are, to somewhere else that would be just as costly. So, I have what I have, and that`s fairly well it. I still have 480 sq ft to build a bunker with, but I am unlikely to do even that. I already received 415 sq ft of space that I didn`t have before, even if I am keeping 8x24 of that clear for the club layout to be set up in. James

I am faced with the same sort of problem with Long Marton, as I chose to make it 3' wide. At 3' wide, it means that there should be no houses, and yet I would at least like the stationmaster's house. I think that's going to be about it for non directly railway buildings, because there just isn't enough room for any other buildings. (I'd like the Methodist Chapel, but it is on the wrong side of the street...) Ah, the "hardship" of modeling somewhere that is real ! James

what'cha mean? Christmas, oh, the purchase of presents for my assistants has already begun, and more is yet to be gotten. Much easier to have a decent head start on the mad rush than waiting until Dec 23rd to go shopping !. Next thing: Think of something neat for my long suffering wife, who gets to be a single parent for the next month. I'm leaving on Wed, to Hawaii (the Sandwich Isles, to some of you !) to bring HMCS Protecteur home under tow. Kind of a sad end to 12 years of my career life, but the good thing is no one was seriously hurt in the whole rigamaroll. I am unlikely to have internet for the next month- so keep the chatter down in here, not more than 100 new pages to read when I get back eh ? James (the young 'un)

hmmm -Shaver Shop -Scotts -Adventure hobbies All in 12 000 sq miles (There's rather more than that, Charlies, what was Victoria Scale Rail, Railhead as well...) James

Either angle grinder with a chainsaw blade, or riffing blade, or a really coarse belt on a belt sander (I'm using a 3x21 belt sander, with high density polystyrene foam, sold as "Dow Styrospan SM" over here) http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=42528&cat=1,130,43409,43424&ap=1 http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=69808&cat=1,130,43409 James

Arg. We are back right to where we were a year ago. DS64 #25 is failed. So, the Appleby box is failed. So, I can't go any further until I get a replacement DS64. Boo. James

So: Dishwasher replaced, check. Washing Machine Replaced, check, trip to Ontario booked, check, large lego order placed, check. Free trip to Hawaii and a slow boat ride back booked (May 7- June 13) Check. And Long Marton is currently sitting with a DMU trying to go back to the staging yard right now. Now that I know what state it is in, I can go pass it through. (apparently, my empty storage yard line needs some work...). It took a while to figure out why some things were happening the way they were. it's almost a year since I ran under computer control. Also, RR&Co 5.0C apparently doesn't work right on Win 7, because I can't transfer files from this laptop to downstairs. Boo. Now I have to do all the editing on an older computer. Bacon butties for lunch, that's next on the schedule. James

A quick note for Mike: Right now, in order to paste anything on RM Web, I have to go to the bottom left of the page ....scroll all the way past Andrew's latest rant... until you see "Change Theme", then change to RMWeb 2013. This assumes that you have gotten the video to work on Youtube James

You should see what happens when the builder has a fire in the new subdivisions...I think it was Calgary that had the last good one, which burned down a decent portion of a new subdivision that was unfinished. Houses plonked right next to each other, made of wood, with vinyl siding. The houses were unfinished, and so became a tinderbox from end to end of them in a matter of minutes. My house has a development varience, as it is too close to the next door lot. It should have been 5m (15 ft) from the side lot lines, instead it is somewhat less than 1.83m at the rear corner. (I think 1.44m). That's because the pinheads who built the house had it angled to the lot line- going towards it. On the other side, it is ~130 ft to the lot line. The builder was the owner, and they belong with Wile. E. Coyote (Super Genius) for that move. The lots here are really quite big- the smallest ones are our size (.75 acre), but because we are on septic systems, they could not have been much smaller. Even in Victoria, lots tend to a decent size on the older areas, with them trending smaller (& bigger homes plonked on the lot) in newer areas. While I don't enjoy gardening, I do like having space around me ! The big thing over here is a condo- either bare land or more typical, a building, with multi units in it. I'd detest that as an idea- some of the restrictions are beyond stupid in some units. James

Andrew, you might not like Pre-Grouping Highland, but he does ! I will add, that my wife's toy horse got her house built before I was too far along with Long Marton. That's 288 sq ft of the 750 sq ft that I am allowed in permanent buildings on the property. I have a pair of 8'6"x8*20 sea containers for storage/workshop, where the coal lives, and where the traction engine lives. Fowler on trailer Photos with Daniel Pre 2012 by http://www.google.ca/maps/@48.391035,-123.935114,3a,75y,279.5h,80.7t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0snoGjSvJIHqlWWTsw2h3g!2e0!6m1!1e1 The paste function seems to not be working for me...so I can't post in photos. I will go investigate if anyone else is having this issue. (the answer is yes...Andy Y. knows about it- the trick is to use the "Change Theme" in the bottom left corner to change to the 2013 view for now) James

Over here, it'd be considered fit for a single man, or perhaps a married couple . (the 5 bedrooms, I mean) We're in ~1350 sq ft of living area, and the same in basement, most (at least 1150 ft^2) is my hobby space. It's only a 3 bedroom house though, in spite of what the real estate agents tried to sell us on when we bought it. At that point, it was listed as a 4 bedroom house, with 2 of those being downstairs...the one is 12x24', and became the start of Long Marton V2 . Now it is a 3 bedroom house, with all of them being upstairs. James

Somewhat north of 300 boxes last time we moved. And that was 12 years ago...although I had most of the lego then, and quite a lot of the model stuff. I am sure they would LOVE moving me now... (there's also 2 20' ISO containers with a bunch of stuff in them...like, the reserve lego collection, the traction engine, my wood working tools, my little lathe, oh, and 5 tons of coal...yes, 5 ton...) James

To be honest, after fitting some of the fiddle yard ones on Long Marton above the board, and some below...next time, they ALL go below. Because that way the FY's would be flat on the top, and not have Torti sticking up into the air, unprotected. Having a rough count, I think there are 64 Torti on Long Marton. I know I have another 12 on the Thomas the Tank Engine layout as well. I've used Torti, because when I started that is what there was, TT300 and Cobalts didn't exist. I can recommend Tortoise's, but don't recommend DCC wiring them unless one of two conditions: lots of board splits in comparison to panel, or full automation is expected. Since the plan remains with Long Marton to run under full computer control, they are all fed via DCC. It does mean that there is an extra 2 layers of stuff involved with making the whole gubbins work. And, just like Scotty said "The more they overdo the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain..." James

OK, so... The track was rebuilt in the furnace room, and it has greatly improved running performance. BRMoV were here on the 23rd of March, and Long Marton ran OK in manual mode. I didn't try any auto. We had a visitor, in the form of Mike from Toronto, who brought his presentation on his home layout, Lostock Junction. It's a fairly good presentation on how he operates the layout, with 11 operators required for a full session. Since then, both my dishwasher and washing machine have packed it in...so I have limited time until those are replaced. James

You mean like... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS0cgLp2oxg (just the "wind up" we need, I think !) James

The interlocking is really quite simple of an idea. You cannot set the signals to be at "go", until the turnouts are set to "go", and you can't move the turnouts when the signals are at "go". There should be more interlocking on Long Marton than there actually is- I have no Facing Point Locks, and as mentioned, there are a couple of moves which should be prevented but are not. However, the worst safety case for me is loud !@@#$ language, not copying http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintinshill_rail_disaster . The S&C had a couple of issues, but mostly they were train rather than signaling related, part because it was signaled from the start, and designed with a near total lack of facing points. James

Andrew, The biggest problem that I have is that eventually, Long Marton might be run from either side. So, I had to be able to move the signalbox from the front to the rear. Wire in Tube wouldn't have worked. So, the signalbox has inputs to convert the on/off signal from the lever frame into an electronic on/off signal. That signal then moves the turnouts and signals using torti (mostly mounted sideways, and driving through a linkage arrangement) for the turnouts, and servos for the signals. (including bounce, added electronically). The signalbox could have been used to directly control torti- at least one way is demonstrated how in the modratec manual. That would have been easier (and removed a layer that is NOT needed). It also could have been used to drive the signals and turnouts through Wire in Tube. There are ways to connect it across baseboards...not ones I'd choose if I had any choice. (which I did...so I did it the way I did). The lever frame is interlocked. I would recommend some form of interlocking, it does make the whole thing "feel" more realistic. The limit is that once you make a interlocking plan, that locks down the track plan as well. There is NO easy way to alter Long Marton's track plan, with the only exception of my spare lever (14), that I could use for the mine siding. It`s not interlocked with anything, so is available. If you were thinking that the frame would get used again, then the attraction of NOT having any interlocking is real. If it is going to be fairly permanent, then it has huge attractions. The other possibility would be to get the frame with several bars (something like 8), and get it with the interlocking only working as 1:1:2 or similar, where the interlocking is for a starter, locked against a point, and with a distant...all things likely to happen repeatedly. Then, when you have gotten TLGP track plan finished, you could construct a locking plan for it and file & add pins. James

Long Marton Signal Box by Peach James, on Flickr Andrew, there are more of the frame around that last one. Be advised, the Modratec frames are a kit of parts, and take drilling/filing/sawing to make. I figure I have about 80 hrs time spent making mine. BUT, for that you get mechanical interlocking...which makes it cheap in relative terms. When I had the one for Long Marton designed, there was one type of locking not available, and that does affect how the interlocking on LM is done. (there's an "illegal" move possible, and there is a possible 2nd error that stems on from that). I know that there has been a little more work done on the locking since then by Modratec. Mine also has a pair of electric locks added external to the main frame, which is fine. Please feel free to PM me about it. You're unlikely to get any response before mid next week though (~24th March), as I have a concert I am organzing on Friday night, and British Railway Modelers of Victoria visiting (& using the signalbox) on Sunday. James

4th train ran around last night- that's 0566 with ~30 16 tonners. No photos- my camera is currently at a friend of mine's house slowly on the way home. I need to take a photo or two of some other (older) photos for another web site (chaski's home shop machinist), as well as photos of the trains. I don't know if I will get to run anything tonight, as I have a meeting (community Association). James