Coffee Shop XXXIX-9/21/2013

[kbkchooch]

Good afternoon. It's sunny and 72 here.
My DCC woes continue. Last night I placed a pair of locomotives that I had reset cv 5 and 6 on the track on my home layout, and one of the decoders went up in smoke. It was a Digitrax DN135PS. I looked at the locomotive, saw nothing wrong with it, but I did remove the motor before installing an NCE board replacement decoder. With the motor removed and isolated, the NCE decoder also went up in smoke. This one even caught fire.
Needless to say, I'll be checking everything possible with a meter before attempting install #3.
Maybe I should begin collecting stamps...

Ai Carumba Chico! Yes, I've had days like that too. Today was one of em. Painted a freight car, an ink spot that did not come off when washing with Simple Green bled right though the Polly Scale gray. Tried to make a drawbar for a steamer, took 2 attempts to get the length right. Finally went to remove the rusted brurners from the gas grill so SWMBO could get replacements. Had to drill out the bolts holding the ignitor to the main burner, I didnt know I had so many dull drill bits!! Finally I got the off as nightfall approached. BTW kids, don't waste your money on a Sears gas grill. Hunk of rusted junk at the age of 2. Anyhow I was so PO'ed I didn't go to the train auction. Maybe next time (January)

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Here are a couple of photos that may interest you, then. It is a coin I purchased at the US Mint exhibit at Cape Kennedy in 1976 (yes, it was Cape Kennedy then, re-renamed back to Cape Canaveral a year or two later):

Yes, those do look quite interesting. Many of mine have to do with the Civil War.


*


Oliver is almost halfway through the coach now. I've programmed in a yellow lock box that contains an orange key. Oliver has no idea what's in the box and he doesn't have a yellow key. See he's going to have to keep his eyes peeled for it. When or if he finds it he'll have to come back and unlock the box as he can't take the box with him. So far there are two very dangerous elements in the coach. A goon with a knife and an evil woman with a big bad 44 magnum. What these two do depends on what Oliver has with him (or doesn't have). Either the goon will kill him or he'll defeat the goon. The woman with the gun will either kill him or her gun will jam and she'll have to beat a hasty retreat. I never said this was going to be easy.

Now I'm calling it a night a little early tonight. See y'all tomorrow.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morming. It's 40 and mostly clear.

 

[kbkchooch]

Hidee Ho Neighbors!

Its 41 and clear, going for a high of 49, the dropping to 29 tonight! (brrrr)! Got a few projects to work on today, Post Office run and stuff. Going to a free class tomorrow and Thursday at the local Comm College on the one Microsoft Office feature that's always given me fit, Excel. One of these days I'll get it figured out!

I'm also re-evaluating future plans for the layout. Too many road names, too many eras, too many diesels, and not enough steam. Yes, building the Mikado has really lit my steam fire up! 1st up on the chopping block, my enclosed auto racks and Amtrak equipment, who knows what from there!

 

[Boris]

Hidee Ho Neighbors!

I'm also re-evaluating future plans for the layout. Too many road names, too many eras, too many diesels, and not enough steam. Yes, building the Mikado has really lit my steam fire up! 1st up on the chopping block, my enclosed auto racks and Amtrak equipment, who knows what from there!

Looks like another fire sale on e-b*y. I do understand, especially the too many eras, and too many roads theme.

Joe

 

[Boris]

Good Morning:

Today's high was 48°, just after midnight. Right now it is sunny and clear, with the temp holding at 40°. Today is shopping at the warehouse club day.

Have a good one.

Joe

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Good morning. It's 54° with 53% humidity. The high will be 68°.

Today I'll see if I can get Oliver a bit farther along in the Kings Port and Western passenger coach he's making his way through. There are still things to find and bad guys to overcome and he still has to get to the lead loco to stop the train.

No other plans for today.

 

[DairyStateDad]

Now, is this the same game as you were starting out with about the search for the Native American artifact?

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Now, is this the same game as you were starting out with about the search for the Native American artifact?

It's a part of it. While searching a house in Paradise Cove Oliver found a train pass taped to the underside of the dining room table. In the back of the house he found a huge HO layout. The control panel had a metal box with a slot for the pass. He put the pass in the slot and suddenly found himself trapped in the world portrayed on the layout. To escape it he has to resolve the dilemma that's taking place. He has to stop a runaway train while making his way through traps and obstacles and avoiding and/or defeating the criminal element that doesn't want the train stopped. Think 'Runaway Train'+'Last Action Hero'+'Silver Streak' and you have a fair idea.

 

[DairyStateDad]

It's a part of it. While searching a house in Paradise Cove Oliver found a train pass taped to the underside of the dining room table. In the back of the house he found a huge HO layout. The control panel had a metal box with a slot for the pass. He put the pass in the slot and suddenly found himself trapped in the world portrayed on the layout. To escape it he has to resolve the dilemma that's taking place. He has to stop a runaway train while making his way through traps and obstacles and avoiding and/or defeating the criminal element that doesn't want the train stopped. Think 'Runaway Train'+'Last Action Hero'+'Silver Streak' and you have a fair idea.

Got it. Just wanted to be sure I hadn't somehow missed something

Of course, if you ever market this game, aren't you giving players a road map to playing it? (Not that I mind -- it's very entertaining to follow.)

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Got it. Just wanted to be sure I hadn't somehow missed something

Of course, if you ever market this game, aren't you giving players a road map to playing it? (Not that I mind -- it's very entertaining to follow.)

Not at all. What I'm showing is equal to a magician performing his greatest trick outdoors in full daylight then demonstrating how it's done in a pitch black room and not describing any of it. For example, the game tells Oliver he needs a yellow key to open a yellow box. Where's the yellow key? At this point nobody knows. If this game is ever marketed it will be to those who still use Apple II series computers (II+, IIe, IIc, IIc+, IIgs, Mac LC with Apple IIe card and of course any Apple II clones that are still operable) for business, entertainment, education or just like to rebuild them. These old dinosaurs are still being used in some parts of the world. In fact there are still some schools in the US that still use them. That's where I got one of my three IIe's via Ebay. I rebuilt all three using parts I purchased on Ebay. Some of the parts were given to me. Now if somebody feels industrious they could print out the programs and enter them into another type computers Basic or in some other way convert it to Basic in another language. I could convert it to run in Microsoft Basic in CP/M on the same computer I'm writing it on.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Well our friend Oliver is in the forward half of the coach now. I've already written in the subroutine that allows him to defeat the witch with the gun providing he has the right items on him. Now Oliver is no Macgyver. He's more like Gomer Pyle. He can't make a working gizmo from a piece of chocolate, a paper clip and a gum wrapper but he's certainly capable of using certain items as weapons for offense or defense. He finds something on one of the seats but I won't tell you what it is.

 

[railfan]

I once made a working am radio from a single edge razor blade, piece of pencil lead, a safety pin, and some copper wire wrapped around a tube from a roll of paper towels.....and I'm still humble........somewhat.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I once made a working am radio from a single edge razor blade, piece of pencil lead, a safety pin, and some copper wire wrapped around a tube from a roll of paper towels.....and I'm still humble........somewhat.

I made something like that when I was a kid. It was kinda hit and miss but it worked for a while. Then my parents spoiled me by buying me a transistor radio. I had great fun ripping that apart to see how it worked. They weren't happy for some reason or other. I later made a cat's whisker radio It used a long wire dipole antenna, a simple diode, a small copper tuning coil, a capacitor and an earphone. It needed no battery as it got it's power from the radio waves picked up by the antenna. It worked a lot better than the razor blade and pencil lead contraption. Such radios are very weak though and only pick up the closest stations.

 

[bnsf971]

Good evening. My T1 is heading to Florida as I type. After I called BLI and listed the symptoms, along with the fact the engine ran briefly before toasting the second decoder, probably means there is either a pinched/shorted wire somewhere, or one of the printed circuit boards has developed a short. I remember the latter became a problem when everyone had to go to lead-free solder. The solder would over time grow and bridge the tiny gaps between joints, causing shorts. I'll see what turns out to be the problem in 2 months, which is their current backlog.
In other train problem news, my new RTR SD45 has a bad motor. I scrounged up a really old decoder, assembled the SD45, sans lights (just the motor connected), programmed the decoder, and ran it for a while. At first, it ran okay, drawing nearly an amp. After a few minutes' run time, it began to slow down, the decoder began to heat up, and the amps climbed. I shut it down just before the motor began drawing 2 amps. The decoder was hotter than a firecracker, but the motor, strangely, was cool. A mechanical bind would have caused the motor to also be very hot. So, it looks like a simple case of a defective motor. I still have the other defective motor, which did almost exactly the same thing in another locomotive a couple of years ago.

 

[railfan]

I made something like that when I was a kid. It was kinda hit and miss but it worked for a while. Then my parents spoiled me by buying me a transistor radio. I had great fun ripping that apart to see how it worked. They weren't happy for some reason or other. I later made a cat's whisker radio It used a long wire dipole antenna, a simple diode, a small copper tuning coil, a capacitor and an earphone. It needed no battery as it got it's power from the radio waves picked up by the antenna. It worked a lot better than the razor blade and pencil lead contraption. Such radios are very weak though and only pick up the closest stations.

Yeah, I used to check out books from the library in my youth...really old books on how to make simple electronic hobby projects. My dad got me a crystal radio kit for my 10th birthday.....no power needed. We made a real long antenna with a wire across the clothes line in the backyard. I put the headphone in my pillow case and listened to it every night in bed for many months.

 

[railfan]

Good evening. My T1 is heading to Florida as I type. After I called BLI and listed the symptoms, along with the fact the engine ran briefly before toasting the second decoder, probably means there is either a pinched/shorted wire somewhere, or one of the printed circuit boards has developed a short. I remember the latter became a problem when everyone had to go to lead-free solder. The solder would over time grow and bridge the tiny gaps between joints, causing shorts. I'll see what turns out to be the problem in 2 months, which is their current backlog.
In other train problem news, my new RTR SD45 has a bad motor. I scrounged up a really old decoder, assembled the SD45, sans lights (just the motor connected), programmed the decoder, and ran it for a while. At first, it ran okay, drawing nearly an amp. After a few minutes' run time, it began to slow down, the decoder began to heat up, and the amps climbed. I shut it down just before the motor began drawing 2 amps. The decoder was hotter than a firecracker, but the motor, strangely, was cool. A mechanical bind would have caused the motor to also be very hot. So, it looks like a simple case of a defective motor. I still have the other defective motor, which did almost exactly the same thing in another locomotive a couple of years ago.

I hope you have a couple of trusty Kato's to keep you going between repairs.

 

[kbkchooch]

My dad got me a crystal radio kit for my 10th birthday.....no power needed.

I had the Radio Shack kit, Got the local (Baltimore) stations well, and at night I would get "skip" from Chicago!

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Time for me to call it a night. See y'all tomorrow.

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good Morning! from Tipton IN.

It's Wed 11/20/13

Temperature in TIPTON IN

Temperatures will range from 27 to 43 degrees with clear skies. Winds will range between 7 and 14 miles per hour from the east. No precipitation is expected.