Running Bear's February 2022 Coffee Shop

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It’s raining and 55.
My paycheck was direct-deposited into my checking account, and I noticed the amount seemed a bit low.
Turns out the floating holiday I used to go job hunting is also subject to the 30 day advance rule.
I’m really leaning toward just leaving right now, but I like to think I still have a couple of ethics to rub together, and finish out my notice.

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Currently snowing, near blizzard conditions. Temp is 24°. Yesterday we hit 68°, so hopefully it will be short lived. Ok, we're expecting a total of between 8 to 10 inches when it stops mid afternoon.

Took the wife to work and the roads weren't terrible, but had a coating of ice and sleet. Snow just starting at 5:00a. 3 hours later we are at 2 inches and still coming down.

Office did shut down, but I already took a vacation day, but I needed to take some anyway. Off tomorrow and again on Monday.

Ken: Good luck on the interview. The A+ test has changed over the years. I got my cert in 1995, so it never expires. I think the current exam is ony good for 3 years. The new test is also heavy on customer service skills. When I took the exam, they only tested you on your knowledge of basic hardware and either dos\windows (3.1) or Mac os.

BBL

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Finished laying ballast over the new crossover. Did a little scenery touchup. Now planning for the next op session on 5 March.
Today will be nice and warm with temps hitting the low 70s here in Virginia. I'll prolly take the Goldwing out for a ride and stop at the cigar lounge to shoot the breeze and have a cigar.

 

[kbkchooch]

Morning fellers. Man what a week this has been. Not too much good going on to say the least. Decided to take on learning DCC. That didn't pan out nowhere near what I thought it would. Poor reception from Digitrax about just killed it for me. It definitely put a sour taste in my mouth. I did touch base with one of the better techs. I just don't know if it's even worth the headache. Good thing I have great DC throttles to fall back on. My last purchase from eBay came in with only one of the two items I ordered. So I had to message the seller on why he only sent one of the two items. He's supposed to send me the other one today. I suppose we will see. So a good run of bad luck here. With the weather about to do some off the wall stuff tonight into tomorrow. Who even knows? Anyways that's all I have for now.

Digitrax soured me on DCC when I 1st started, don't give up yet. I went from there to NCE, and never looked back. My one son started using at at 5 years old. So simple a 5 year old could use it.

 

[McLeod]

Good Morning!
We are into a snow warning system; they don't know if it will be rain or snow. Could be either. I'll be going out to shovel the little bit that fell overnight in any case. 16F at this time.

I was looking through some old-time photos of rails that are fairly local to my area. This particular party train photo caught my eye, due to the excellent angle in which the photo was taken. Is that a wooden cab on this locomotive?

This is the first time I've seen a wood cabbed engine. Perhaps someone with more experience than me knows what type of engine this is.

Anyway, I can't be here long. I can here the snow-shovel calling my name.
Have a good one!

 

[Smudge617]

Your such a gentleman, you big softie.

Merci beaucoup.

 

[troyphoto]

Digitrax soured me on DCC when I 1st started, don't give up yet. I went from there to NCE, and never looked back. My one son started using at at 5 years old. So simple a 5 year old could use it.

That's an interesting comparison and one that matched my own research two years ago when I bought my NCE Powercab.

Still haven't hooked it up yet.

The LHS carries Digitrax, and one of the local clubs (modular HO) only uses Digitrax...

I'm curious about what you found to be the game-changer on using NCE? I might be able to get mine hooked up come Spring when I finish the shortened route of track laying.

 

[kbkchooch]

That's an interesting comparison and one that matched my own research two years ago when I bought my NCE Powercab.

Still haven't hooked it up yet.

The LHS carries Digitrax, and one of the local clubs (modular HO) only uses Digitrax...

I'm curious about what you found to be the game-changer on using NCE? I might be able to get mine hooked up come Spring when I finish the shortened route of track laying.

It boiled down to 1 thing, simplicity. Instructions being in English vs tech-eese. There is no reason anyone should even have to look at hexidecimal charts to change a CV. Plus the throttles were too difficult to understand. I hear they have gotten better with later models, but I'm too far out of the gate to revisit them.

When combined with JMRI for programming its a winning pair. Plus with JMRI I can run trains with my phone if I need more than 4 throttles.

Plus (and this may be the biggest thing) the customer service from NCE is awesome! I've had my original system since 1999, and never had a problem they couldn't get me through. Even 1 instance where the issue was being caused by the Digitrax decoders in 2 engines, they gave me a work around rather than tell me to trash the decoders.

My former club "road tested" both systems, and chose NCE, so I went with that.

I also used to be a regular operator at Howard Zane's Piermont Division. He started with Digitrax so I did have some experience with it, and for several years, try as we might, we never got proficient with it. Howard probably had the worst time with it, so about 10 years or so ago he ripped it out and replaced it with NCE.

YMMV

 

[Greg@mnrr]

I've had my share of techs at Digitrax who didn't seem to care about customer service. I met one over the phone who called me at home to help solve my problem. Recently, I received an email back from the Digitrax Service Department with several hours of contacting them.

Greg

 

[chadbag]

Morning fellers. Man what a week this has been. Not too much good going on to say the least. Decided to take on learning DCC. That didn't pan out nowhere near what I thought it would. Poor reception from Digitrax about just killed it for me. It definitely put a sour taste in my mouth. I did touch base with one of the better techs. I just don't know if it's even worth the headache. Good thing I have great DC throttles to fall back on. My last purchase from eBay came in with only one of the two items I ordered. So I had to message the seller on why he only sent one of the two items. He's supposed to send me the other one today. I suppose we will see. So a good run of bad luck here. With the weather about to do some off the wall stuff tonight into tomorrow. Who even knows? Anyways that's all I have for now.

There are other DCC systems besides Digitrax (and NCE)...

 

[kbkchooch]

There are other DCC systems besides Digitrax (and NCE)...

True that, https://dccwiki.com/DCC_Starter_Systems_Comparison
But those 2 are the big dogs here, Lenz and ESU are quite popular in Europe.

 

[Jaz avalley]

Good morning. It’s raining and 55.
My paycheck was direct-deposited into my checking account, and I noticed the amount seemed a bit low.
Turns out the floating holiday I used to go job hunting is also subject to the 30 day advance rule.
I’m really leaning toward just leaving right now, but I like to think I still have a couple of ethics to rub together, and finish out my notice.

Grit your teeth, this will soon all be behind you, I hope they rot in hell

 

[Jaz avalley]

True that, https://dccwiki.com/DCC_Starter_Systems_Comparison
But those 2 are the big dogs here, Lenz and ESU are quite popular in Europe.

Popular here too, at least on our layout

 

[Jaz avalley]

I've had my share of techs at Digitrax who didn't seem to care about customer service. I met one over the phone who called me at home to help solve my problem. Recently, I received an email back from the Digitrax Service Department with several hours of contacting them.

Greg

So iS it hit and miss, or are you using the same contacts

 

[Jaz avalley]

It boiled down to 1 thing, simplicity. Instructions being in English vs tech-eese. There is no reason anyone should even have to look at hexidecimal charts to change a CV. Plus the throttles were too difficult to understand. I hear they have gotten better with later models, but I'm too far out of the gate to revisit them.

When combined with JMRI for programming its a winning pair. Plus with JMRI I can run trains with my phone if I need more than 4 throttles.

Plus (and this may be the biggest thing) the customer service from NCE is awesome! I've had my original system since 1999, and never had a problem they couldn't get me through. Even 1 instance where the issue was being caused by the Digitrax decoders in 2 engines, they gave me a work around rather than tell me to trash the decoders.

My former club "road tested" both systems, and chose NCE, so I went with that.

I also used to be a regular operator at Howard Zane's Piermont Division. He started with Digitrax so I did have some experience with it, and for several years, try as we might, we never got proficient with it. Howard probably had the worst time with it, so about 10 years or so ago he ripped it out and replaced it with NCE.

YMMV

The other half like JMRI

 

[Jaz avalley]

Finished laying ballast over the new crossover. Did a little scenery touchup. Now planning for the next op session on 5 March.
Today will be nice and warm with temps hitting the low 70s here in Virginia. I'll prolly take the Goldwing out for a ride and stop at the cigar lounge to shoot the breeze and have a cigar.

I would love to see a picture of a cigar lounge, is it a sit down, or just a shop

 

[Jaz avalley]

We are expecting a massive storm Eunice apparently has her knickers in a twist and p,and to batter the whole of the UK, hundred mile winds are possible, and being in the Midlands we are in the centre apparently, so eye of the storm etc, they have warned people to not travel. If anything goes north outside we have agreed to NOT go out and try and fix it. hopefully the animals are going to be okay under cover.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

True that, https://dccwiki.com/DCC_Starter_Systems_Comparison
But those 2 are the big dogs here, Lenz and ESU are quite popular in Europe.

Although they may be well known, consider support too.
ESU looks down their nose at American modelers. My local dealer has told me we don't get all the necessary data files to run the ESU system. Their loathing of Americans makes getting good support a hit or miss issue. I tried the ESU system. Initial marketing said the master station would interface with my existing Digitrax boosters, block detectors and signal boards. After hours of fiddling with it they say welll ya need this component. OK, bought the component, fiddled with it more then listen to the degrading comments about Digitrax being substandard and electronic cheats. Another component was needed for the block detection interface. Wait, wait, wait stop right there. Enough, take this crap out and reinstall my Digitrax.
If you're new to DCC ya have to take into account of how much experience is available for "actual operating advice". No, not the electronic smart dude who may or may not be available for guidance, but a wealth of operators who have experienced the issues you're going to run into with your DCC system.

 

[MilwRoader_Steve]

Praying you and your fellows ride out the storm in safety.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I would love to see a picture of a cigar lounge, is it a sit down, or just a shop

It's a cigar shop with pleanty of comfortable seats or tables and a few TVs with a variety of stations playing. Thus one has a huge walk in humudor about the size of most living rooms with a wide selection of cigars. Buy or or buy em by the box. Also a sandwich shop next door that delivers.
I'm smoking a Rocky Patel. Nice smooth Connecticut cut cigar.