Coffee Shop Part IV

[rhoward]

Hi all,

I'm entering into another 'first' learning experience: installing a sound decoder & speaker. Seems like you need to be a mechanical engineer to figure out how to pry the shell and fuel tank off a Kato SD38-2. Took me most of Sunday afternoon to get past that hurdle. Now somebody across the street is saying that the Sountraxx decoder I plan to install is junk, and I'd better get a Digitrax to avoid certain heartburn!

Chip, that is a pretty good blonde joke, but I sqirmed uncomfortably while I was reading it. Y'see, my oldest daughter [the one who just got her license] exhibits some of these jokeworthy traits. Like 10 days ago, she called at 10pm to ask me how to use the pump at a self-service gas station (no, really!)

Ray, I don't envy your snowfall there in the Fingerlakes, but at least you can simply shovel it off. The people I really feel sorry for are those who are getting hit with tornadoes and floods!

Ken, with the exception of some notable people that have fantastic knowledge across the street, I tend to ignore most of the "free advise" from that site. The trouble with "free advise" is that it is free but not necessarily "good"...... I have found the people over here tend to be more believable with there advise and so tend to ask over here if I want to know something.

You are absolutely right about today in the Finger Lakes. Other than being "snowed out" and some dangerous driving in places, little harm will happen here. My prayers are also for those that are dealing with the flooding and destruction from tornadoes with this storm. All told, the Finger Lakes region of NY has little in the way of major weather problems compared to much of the country.

Chip, loved the story.....

 

[SpaceMouse]

Ken, about that decoder--

The good--the sound. It is nice.

The bad--it's not loud. The Soundtrax LC's are very sensitive to dirty track. I ended up wiring in an NCE N scale decoder to take locomotive functions. It seems funny sometimes that the engine is rolling smoothly, but the sound is cutting out.

 

[Steve B]

Ken L i've got all this to come, DCC wise, and blonde daughter things.
As for sound, i have noticed my BLI loco's are more prone to spluttering and stopping on dirty track than my P2K GP20 with sound, lord knows why, they are basically the same system.
Ray that springtime scene is very white, this is what you should be having
"yesterday here"

 

[IronBeltKen]

I just had a chance to use my portable generator, we lost power for ~3 hours. Glad I invested in that alternative main circuitry!

Ken, about that decoder--
The good--the sound. It is nice...

I know that for sure Chip, it's the only one I'd ever heard (when I bought it 2 yrs ago) that sounded anywhere close to an EMD 567B prime mover's barking exhaust. The QSI counterpart used by P2K, BLI and other mfgrs was totally lame in comparison.

 

[Paul W. Beverung]

Hi Gang:
KenL; I'm ok. All the bad stuff went east and north of us. They had 4 tornadoes in Ft. Worth and Dallas. Four were killed.
I've been getting some work on the Sunday Lake mine head. I got all the sheet metal on and have about finnished the hopper and framing. I'll have to find a sight to set it next so I can get the layout of the mine worked out.
Well I'll get outof here before PeoplePC desides to drop my connection. Tomorrow I'm going into Ft. Worth with Mary Ann so we'll stop at Verizon and get set up.
Good Night All

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning ! from Indiana.

04-17-07

 

[rhoward]

Mornin' Bill!

 

[Fergmiester]

You can Run but ya kind hide!

Guess what? I'm 300nm east of Halifax on the Grand Banks and i have... wait for it... Internet! Yes Ray I can keep tabs on my bill and make sure you're not over indulging! Y-E-Sssss!!

Anyway hopefully we didn't loose anyone in the down pour and wind. Weaterh out here is NE @35kts and lumpy. We're doing Science stuff today and I'm even getting some modelling in though I lost a 2-10-2 on the deck the other night when we took a good roll. No problem as the engine, which I'm Kitbashing, must have landed on it's wheels and bounced.

Gtg as it's lunch time and i don't want to miss the pea soup Anyway I'll keep in touch.

Fergie

Life is good

 

[SpaceMouse]

Fergie,

Thanks for the e-postcard. But where was the picture--I mean of the Grand Banks not the 2-10-2.

 

[rhoward]

Uh, Flo, uh, maybe I'd better pay my bill today........ And see how much I put on Fergie's tab and I'll take care of that too.....

Hey Fergie, good to see you. Thought you'd be away from here for a bit. Sorry about that 2-10-2. If it didn't go overboard, I hope you can get 'er back up and runnin'. Most of our snowfall has already melted and will be gone by tonight when we will get some more. The good thing about this is my neighbor across the street hasn't had to water his trees this spring yet (that part of his lawn is under about 3" of water at the moment). He hasn't even had his mower out yet. This is the latest on record..... We got twice the average rainfall during the last two months and are equal to the average monthly total for April right now. Hey! Droughts over!! Have a safe and enjoyable tour at sea, Fergie!

I best get back to work as I have several projects that I have to get done over the next few days.

 

[OldGettysk]

Hi All ! First off prayers to the families who lost children and loved ones at Virginia Tech ! May God give them the strenght to deal with thier losses . Secondly to All the families suffering along the East Coast who are dealing with the wild weather . As far as the Great Lakes it is reported that the levels are dropping due to Global Warming . They say that the most precious comodity ti the years to come will be water not oil. Something I hope will be years away. Ferige good to see you again. glad that your Loco landed Wheels side down and not to much damamge. Sorry about all the gloom. Just wish that there was more positive things in the news these days !!!!

 

[Steve B]

Afternoon all,
Got to say how shocking the news was regarding the shootings over there, prayers to the victims and everyone else affected, i just can't understand why somebody would do anything like that. A sad day also near here, a semi truck tipped over onto a car killing all three on board, two were children.

Fergie internet,,,at sea,,, have you been drinking salt water amazing what they can do now , anyway we got a delivery of new trains to test

 

[grande man]

Hi All ! First off prayers to the families who lost children and loved ones at Virginia Tech ! May God give them the strenght to deal with thier losses . Secondly to All the families suffering along the East Coast who are dealing with the wild weather .

Thanks for mentioning these sad events Paul. I just can't figure out why folks who have everything do crap like this. I pray for the families of those killed and for the health of the injured.

I guess the path we've taken as a nation for the past 40+ years is bound to have it's ill effects.

 

[Alcomotive]

This is my opinion right or wrong but my feelings toward the students that have anger are in sync against the faculty, dean, campus director, and campus board who showed gross negligence on shutting down and notifying ASAP of the first shooting at 7am. I am actually furious of that incident. Their comment was on the news "we acted on what we knew at the time." DUH! Shooting on campus!!! hello how do you justify not doing anything?????

 

[RexHea]

A very sad time for our country. We are all saddened and shocked by such an outrageous act of violence. I do believe that it is premature to cast blame on the Virginia Tech college administration or law enforcement based on the unsubstantiated news reports. It is always easy to fall into mass hysteria when something like this happens, but we must remain calm and wait until the facts become more clear. At this time, we really know nothing.

A question we must ask ourselves is how do you defend against someone that is so deranged. It could happen anywhere: a shopping center, sporting event, and even in a place of worship.

 

[grande man]

A question we must ask ourselves is how do you defend against someone that is so deranged. It could happen anywhere: a shopping center, sporting event, and even in a place of worship.

I hate to get into controversial territory here, but the obvious answer to me is a concealed carry weapon combined with the will and proficiency to use it under such dire circumstances. That's not something pleasant to think about, but it is reality.

 

[Steve B]

handguns were banned here in the 1990's outright, but there is still a problem with them coming into the wrong hands and causing harm every day of the week,,, that's the problem, they get into the wrong hands, on the table it's an inocent lump of metal, but given to nutter it's a lethal weapon.
The problem we ALL have is the nutter's, they will take anything, be it a gun or an automobile and use it to kill or maime, but how do you detect a possible killer,,, you can't under normal circumstances and that's the sad part, you only find out when it's to late.

 

[grande man]

handguns were banned here in the 1990's outright, but there is still a problem with them coming into the wrong hands and causing harm every day of the week,,, that's the problem, they get into the wrong hands, on the table it's an inocent lump of metal, but given to nutter it's a lethal weapon.
The problem we ALL have is the nutter's, they will take anything, be it a gun or an automobile and use it to kill or maime, but how do you detect a possible killer,,, you can't under normal circumstances and that's the sad part, you only find out when it's to late.

Very good points Steve. I'm going to violate my rule of not talking politics on the forum because this is such a tragic and important issue.

I can't help but ask myself why there were so few instances of this type incident in our history of even 50 years ago. What was different?

It seems to me that values were instilled in kids by their parents and citizens by their (more trustworthy) government. People took responsibility for their actions. They were proud of who we were as a nation. We now have a bunch of spoiled brats who were raised on violence in media with no moral reinforcement to counter that. All they want is everything to be given to them. When things don't go their way, they revert to what they've been exposed to.

I also hold our media responsible. They sell violence and sensationalize it. They make it seem cool instead of telling the truth that only a true loser would commit such acts against innocent people. The truth could, if told, help prevent impressionable copycats from acting out. Right now, we have people who are much more interested in who gets kicked off American Idol tonight than they are about being inconvenienced by making the tough choices our nation faces.

Lastly, I hold the politicians (and courts) responsible. They created a situation where God, family and national pride have been ridiculed and degraded. Ask yourself if we would be better off with kids praying and saying the Pledge of Allegiance each morning in school like they used to...

Rant mode off, back to model railroads.

 

[SpaceMouse]

Pencils misspell words.

Ban pencils.

 

[RexHea]

Very well said, Eric.
Sorry, but I have to say it: Credit goes to the ACLU for tearing our country apart!

I will now take Darrel's approach and be quiet for now.