Running Bear's Coffee Shop LXIV


Wellll, now my daughter just got notified by Child Protective Services (CPS) that they want to talk to each of her children. The oldest daughter, 14 who is currently under a court ordered Child in Need of Services (CHINS) for being a run away, drinking, truancy etc., told her in home therapist that she told her parents she took a hand full of pills with alcohol but her parents wouldn't take her to the hospital. As the actual event occurred, she told her mother (my daughter) that and she in turn called the child advocate for advice because the actual pill event had occurred a week and a half prior according to the 14 year old. Now CPS is pursuing. I told my daughter she needs to hire an attorney. CPS plays a smoozing game to gather evidence and half baked facts. If those don't look good enough, they fabricate what they can with twisted statements from others who may know something or nothing at all about the issues at hand.
My son is a product of CPS intervention into my home when he was 17. He learned from them that he could be emancipated because I was overly strict, wouldn't let him drive the family car and I wouldn't let him smoke. He's 41 now and has spent over 80% of his adult life behind bars on dozens of DUI and petty crime related charges. He also has an illegitimate boy who my daughter is raising and he hasn't supported.
One of CPS's trophys.
 
Ken (D&J). ....It must be tough dealing with all of that. Sorry to hear about it. .. I am aware of one case, however, where CPS acted as they should to protect children from the adult who really did put them at risk. Hopefully they get this one right in the case involving your daughter and granddaughter.
 
It's one of the things that our previous PM's (Prime Minister) did (the knighthood that is) and a part of why he no longer is.
 
Beady said:
This has absolutely nothing to do with railroads, but several of you have been having a bit of a rough go, and this article gave me several belly laughs. I hope it helps you at least a little.

http://m.bmag.com.au/your-brisbane/...you-wont-believe-prince-philip-actually-said/
.

This signature is intended to irritate people.
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That is some funny stuff, if they had come from a politically incorrect comedian. In the USA those kind of statements qualify him to run for President. He would have to be a bit more vulgar, but he is getting close.

I understand the comment to the tourist in Budapest, the food is fantastic and crazy cheap!
 
I've been meaning to look up the "Light bulb short circuit protection/indication method" since Terry's unfortunate mishap with his NCE Pro-Cab-R system. I happened on a local forum's discussion about short protection for NCE. This answer from someone who seemed most qualified to advise, I thought was the best, so I copied it for your consumption.

"Sorry Gents, but I missed the start of this thread back in February, and it may have been done to death by now, but as a new NCE DCC user that understands electronics and for those that don’t, I would like to contribute my experience.

Unlike most of the NCE DCC control devices, the PowerCab provides power for the track through the hand piece, not by controlling a Power Pro supply, thus your inability to unplug your controller and move to another location on the layout whilst all devices continue to operate.
The damage indicated by the photograph of the PowerCab was caused by (in basic terms) current being drawn at a close to the rated amount for an extended time. Even with a bulb this result may have occurred as the current drawn may have been under the trip current for the device or as has been mentioned before, the protection circuit may have been faulty. This has prompted users to look for another method of protecting their investment.

OVER CURRENT PROTECTION DEVICES.

Light Bulbs – These are NOT circuit protection devices, merely fault indicators. If you don’t see the bulb illuminate and don’t respond appropriately to it, the current will NOT be turned off.
If installed, all that a bulb will do is indicate that you have a problem, if you don’t fix it eventually damage will be done to your DCC supply. The more equipment you have running from the supply the closer you approach the operating current of the lamp and therefore the lesser the power supplied to your layout. The eventual result being the bulb illuminating when you operate points or other devices giving a false fault indication. Unfortunately, NCE’s own circuit protection device, the CP6, is based on a light bulb “Factory set to 1 or 1.75 Amp per section” (this is not the warm and fuzzy advice I would liked to have had from the manufacturer of my DCC system).

“Fabricator” suggested the installation of fuses for protection, which is a reasonable solution, however in my 34 years of experience as an electronic systems technician (22 of them being on combat equipment), fuses have normally blown just after the device they were protecting emitted all their smoke. They did however prevent the insulation on the wires from melting (most of the time).
Fuses are after all, only a piece of stretched wire that will fail somewhere around the rated current. How much do you want to underrate your expensive power supply?

“TheBlacksmith” recommended DCC Circuit Breakers – These devices are probably your best insurance for Circuit Protection after the correctly designed inbuilt protection devices in your DCC power supply. Sure they cost more than the light bulb or a fuse, but how much did your last locomotive cost you?

As recommended by “Aaron”, turn off the system when not being monitored.

All the best, Neil"
 
Good morning all. 49 and sunny in SW MO. We've had 18" of rain in the past 14 days! But looks like at least 4 days of sun and 70's-80's are on tap.

Sorry I didn't post the last couple of days. Monday night my wife and I move furniture and appliances in preparation for new flooring in a couple of rooms. I knew I hurt something doing that, but it didn't show up until Tuesday afternoon, after that colonoscopy - I could hardly walk to the car after work. By Tuesday night, I knew it was pulled muscles: I couldn't sit, get up, lie down, or anything without insane pain. I collapsed 2X with the pain, and hurt my back on one of those incidents. I stayed home from work Wed and Thurs, took pain relievers, massaged muscle creams, kept heat on the affected areas, etc. Did a Hobbit marathon, watched some other movies, read books. Much better today, at least I can get around - mostly it's that bruised back that's causing me grief still. Obviously no progress in the train room.

See ya later. Have a good day everyone.
 
This young man sets a great example, no talking, no charging the mound, just play ball! He showed the Red Sox and all of MLB it's not a good idea to throw at him!
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Good Morning All. 49° and clear skies with no wind. Feliz Cinco de Mayo to those that might celebrate the occasion. It's a big day here in Texas, lots of fajitas and cerveza (beer). Traditionally many Hispanics around here barbecue a goat today. My neighbor sold 200 goats at the local traders village last weekend. Funny thing is that this is an "American" day of celebration that is only celebrated in one state in Mexico, State of Puebla.
Out in the train shed, I had a visitor, an old college buddy that came by, so I mainly ran trains and escorted him around explaining things. Probably will do the same this morning as he spent the night.

Terry -
What is happening in your area reminds me of May, 1993.
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Check this out across the road from me in June 2007.
06-19-07 004.jpg
I've actually seen worse but have no pictures.
Greg - That's not a bad video. Better than anything that I have attempted. I do believe that's the first view of any kind that I have seen of your RR, at least that I remember. That scenery looks really good.
Beady -
It's time to stop "collecting," though.
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Yeah! That's all we heard about while the repairs were happening! "Can't wait, can't wait"! Time to get moving... I liked the Prince Philip quotes.
Ken (D&J) - Sorry to hear of the unfortunate family situation. Hopefully everything will turn out OK for both of them.
Johnny - Best of luck on your recovery.

Everybody have a great "Cinco de Mayo".

Willie
 
Good morning. We're starting off at 45 degrees with clear skies. Supposed to hit the mid 70's today an may hit 80 over the weekend. This will cause some early snow melt in the mountains and the rivers are expected to rise up to two feet. Hopefully the clear skies will move east and give the people dealing with flooding some relief.

Johnny - I have seen some photos of the mid west flooding and hope you get through the rising waters alright. Also hope you heal up and get back to normal.

Ken D&J - Sorry to hear about you daughters situation. Hope thinks work out alright. Does not sound good.

Willie - The photo you posted looks very familiar. This can be common in North Dakota after the winter snows melt and fields turn into lakes. What's even worse is when the government declares that they are wet lands and won't let the farmer use the fields.

Later
 
Good morning ..

I'll have coffee to go. Just stopping in to wish everybody a happy weekend.

We're leaving shortly for Ohio. We expect it will be a slow drive with rain all of the way and with Derby traffic when we go through Louisville.

Cheers.
 
Everyone - update on the flooding here in MO. Different areas were affected differently, but everyone has grief. In and around Springfield, where we live, a good number of roads were closed for a while, several bridges overtopped with river water, and a couple of roads are closed due to water eroding and washing the road surface away. A number of school districts closed, including a few closing through the rest of this school year, which didn't have much left to it anyway, because buses could not get through. Several dead, lots of videos of water rescues, dams releasing enormous amounts of water which affects folks downstream - many folks around here have vacation homes on the nearby lakes, which is nice, but when those lakes rise your house is doomed. But as bad as it was here, east of here got it worse, from St. Louis down to West Plains. Parts of I44, which is the main route across southern MO, were (and maybe still are) closed near St Louis, and West Plains, which is close to the AR border, was almost completely flooded. I saw tv reports of I44 near St Louis showing water almost touching an overpass going over I44! That would mean close to 17' of water on the interstate!!

Anyway, waters are receding, the sun is shining, the sky is blue - - and the grass needs mowed!!
Have a good day everyone.
 
Good Morning Everyone:
My list never gets any shorter, but it's another great looking day here; some clouds are expected later in the afternoon.

Today is forecast to be MUCH COOLER than yesterday.
Today
High 77 | Low 55 °F
10% Chance of Precip.
Yesterday
High 91.8 | Low 54.4 °F
Precip. 0 in
 
Good morning, 55 and sunny, headed for 70!

Will spend much of the day assessing the damage to my model railroad buildings from moving. Hope to glue stuff together enough to sell, talking about small buildings and stuff. Worse comes to worse will be chucking some of it. I noted a few things did very well, especially the resin kits.

Sounds like some of you guys will be sprouting webbed feet! On a serious note, if it results in a wet basement I know from experience that is no fun. In fact, my wife refuses to entertain the idea of a house with a basement.
 
tootnkumin said:
Light Bulbs – These are NOT circuit protection devices, merely fault indicators. If you don’t see the bulb illuminate and don’t respond appropriately to it, the current will NOT be turned off.
If installed, all that a bulb will do is indicate that you have a problem, if you don’t fix it eventually damage will be done to your DCC supply. The more equipment you have running from the supply the closer you approach the operating current of the lamp and therefore the lesser the power supplied to your layout. The eventual result being the bulb illuminating when you operate points or other devices giving a false fault indication. Unfortunately, NCE’s own circuit protection device, the CP6, is based on a light bulb “Factory set to 1 or 1.75 Amp per section” (this is not the warm and fuzzy advice I would liked to have had from the manufacturer of my DCC system).
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Hi "Toot",

That is correct, except, I would add the main value of the light bulb is that it provides resistance and limits the amount of current that can go through the circuit. therein lies it's effectiveness for circuit protection. 1 amp is a lot less current than the 5 amps provided from the Booster before it shuts down! It also lets trains opperate on the other 2 districts if I am hosting an operations event. But, even 1 amp can cause problems if not quickly corrected. The light bulb "trick" is also not a good solution for some layouts, particularly those that are running the "Modern Era" and are using lash-ups of several powered units and pulling 200 car trains around and up a 2% grade.... LOL

After asking several modelers that use NCE, including one guy who installs NCE systems for people, I was still not sure whether to use the light bulbs or buy circuit breakers for my 3 districts. I was finally convinced to use the light bulbs as my layout is set in 1925 (Saturday, August 15th. at 2 pm in the afternoon....) and most all trains have a single steam loco on the front end. If I double head, I still do not use a consist, but have two crews operating the way they did back in steam days (takes a bit more finess and they have to work together to shift the loaded train....). I also don't have any signalling or other loads on the DCC system, so for my use the light bulbs work very well and do protect the layout and locos... I use the individual bulbs and they are placed in each of the three districts rather than the CP6 from NCE. That way if a short occurs (Duh) it will light right where the problem is and not on the other side of the room where I am not. If I cannot correct the fault within a few seconds, I will shut down the whole layout until I can remove the short. Generally a short will be something with the train that is running in that district so it is easy to find and correct.

And YES! never walk away and leave the room with the power left on!!!! I have everything wired to a single outlet by my work desk. If I leave the layout rooms the switch gets turned off. never going to have a problem if I follow my own rule!

Ray
 
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Good afternoon. It's sunny, windy, and 65.
I am suffering a migraine headache, and since I have no more medicine for them, I was forced to take the day off from work, and hide in bed until the worst of it has passed. My insurance company only will pay for 4 pills a month, and if I have more headaches than that, I just have to suffer. A single pill costs two days' take home pay to purchase at retail.

Now, the repaired booster and the external circuit breaker both arrived yesterday, and I reconnected the booster, and installed the breaker. It did work as advertised, but the time between sensing a short and shutdown is not long enough. I have a brass diesel that will occasionally cause a split-second short, and the breaker shut down the entire layout. This is a new engine to me, that I got after the booster was sent out for repair, so it wasn't the cause of the meltdown... Anyway, there are adjustments for short-sensing from 1/60 of a second up to 1/2 second. Out of the box, it was set to the most sensitive. I set it to the maximum, 1/2 second, which seems to be too long. I'll set it for .2 second, and see how that does. There appears to be a fine line between circuit protection and nuisance.
 
Terry - Sounds like you got trains running again. Hope that nothing more goes wrong.

Like your signature. Here are a few other words of wisdom.

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Afternoon All,

Slightly cooler today but humid. I straightened up the train room and reorganized all my tools and supplies specific for kit building. I also ran trains for awhile also.

Greg- Sorry I missed your video. It was nicely done.

VA Ken- Sorry to hear of your family's issues.

Johnny- I hope your back feels better soon. I have been there many times.

Garry- Safe travels.

I hope everyone has a good night.
 
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