All caught up!
With the last post the old blog has been officially transferred to here. Everything, staring with this post, is all new. I still have a few things in the hopper but it has never been posted.
Miscellaneous updates…….
Just a few things to keep current. I added a couple of hall runners to the main isles from the orange box store. The “helper” measured wrong and screwed up the cuts but I made it work. Nice to have something over the concrete to walk on. Not much padding to it but it is something. It looks good too.
![[Image: eMQvibL.pnghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/eMQvibL.pnghttp://)
Started playing with the backdrops and paint. I made up a couple of panels about 3’ long and painted both sides to match the basic blue backdrop. I can try a few things out, practice to develop skills good enough, etc before I start on the layout. Just trying out some different colors and tones on the first panel to get the feel of things Way more to go but you have to take the first step.
![[Image: 70u3brX.jpghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/70u3brX.jpghttp://)
A recent Siskiyou Turn came in with a 50/50 mix of 50’ & 60’ cars and it JUST fit on the A/D track. 10 cars and the caboose
![[Image: RjdrQJm.pnghttp:]](https://i.imgur.com/RjdrQJm.pnghttp://)
Lastly I have stopped using the Digitrax LNWI. I loved the plug and play aspect of it and at first it worked great. I started to have issues with it to keep communicating with the cell phone as a throttle. The longer I used it the worst it got. When I couldn’t even get a train out of the yard I was done with it.
I spent some time on the Ditrax and JMRI users groups , as well as talking with Digitrax too. The best answer I got was I needed to “change the broadcast channel”… not the right term but gets to point across. It can be done with a laptop tied into the system to make it work.
At that time my laptop, from 2011, died and died good. The new one came with OS Catalina and that didn’t play well at all with the system. I spent a bit of time back and forth with RR Cirkits and the driver company trying to make work… also went back to the user groups. The best I could come up with Catalina doesn’t play well with many things and and this is one of them, there is no fix at this time.
I got the cheapest laptop from Bestbuy, which is HORRIBLE!. The upside it only has to do 2 things - run decoder pro for the locos and panel pro for the wifi throttle. It actually does these well but I wouldn’t want to ask it do anything else. It wasn’t much more than the LNWI and I can sell that on E Bay to offset the cost. I could have looked at better used computer but with all work from home and school from home used anything is several hundred dollars.
With the last post the old blog has been officially transferred to here. Everything, staring with this post, is all new. I still have a few things in the hopper but it has never been posted.
Miscellaneous updates…….
Just a few things to keep current. I added a couple of hall runners to the main isles from the orange box store. The “helper” measured wrong and screwed up the cuts but I made it work. Nice to have something over the concrete to walk on. Not much padding to it but it is something. It looks good too.
Started playing with the backdrops and paint. I made up a couple of panels about 3’ long and painted both sides to match the basic blue backdrop. I can try a few things out, practice to develop skills good enough, etc before I start on the layout. Just trying out some different colors and tones on the first panel to get the feel of things Way more to go but you have to take the first step.
A recent Siskiyou Turn came in with a 50/50 mix of 50’ & 60’ cars and it JUST fit on the A/D track. 10 cars and the caboose
Lastly I have stopped using the Digitrax LNWI. I loved the plug and play aspect of it and at first it worked great. I started to have issues with it to keep communicating with the cell phone as a throttle. The longer I used it the worst it got. When I couldn’t even get a train out of the yard I was done with it.
I spent some time on the Ditrax and JMRI users groups , as well as talking with Digitrax too. The best answer I got was I needed to “change the broadcast channel”… not the right term but gets to point across. It can be done with a laptop tied into the system to make it work.
At that time my laptop, from 2011, died and died good. The new one came with OS Catalina and that didn’t play well at all with the system. I spent a bit of time back and forth with RR Cirkits and the driver company trying to make work… also went back to the user groups. The best I could come up with Catalina doesn’t play well with many things and and this is one of them, there is no fix at this time.
I got the cheapest laptop from Bestbuy, which is HORRIBLE!. The upside it only has to do 2 things - run decoder pro for the locos and panel pro for the wifi throttle. It actually does these well but I wouldn’t want to ask it do anything else. It wasn’t much more than the LNWI and I can sell that on E Bay to offset the cost. I could have looked at better used computer but with all work from home and school from home used anything is several hundred dollars.
Modleing the Jefferson Branch in HO on the Southern Pacific