Train "Room" Update

The train "room" in the garage is taking shape. The platform frame is done and level. I built this from the faux beams left over from last summer's Asbestos action. The floor is 3/4" plywood supported by 2x4 joists and some additional left-over wood pieces. The whole platform is screwed together, so I can disassemble it easily, if ever necessary.

The final size of the room is 8ft by 8.5ft (240 x 255cm). When I looked at the layout plan I realized that I was working with 240x220cm. I just gained a full 240x40cm of space, which allows me to decompress the whole layout quite a bit.



PDFs: Upper Levels - Lower Level

Underground staging gained a forth track. The ramp to staging got longer, with less grade. I also managed to correct an earlier mistake with where I would place the transition track between K and M tracks.

I angled the Emsingen station at only 15 degress now, which makes for a better flow of track and at the same time moved the station a bit north to have more space in the center of the layout. I could even squeeze in another track to keep cars at the station overnight. The (otherwise flawless) Maerklin track geometry isn't quite accomdating with the 105 degree turn I needed on the West side of Emsingen station, so I will need to fudge a little bit here using flextrack.

Having a deeper northern portion of the layout presents serious access problems, escpecially because I will have track underneath Emsingen station in all the places where one would want to place an easily accessible access hatch. I'm currently planning to make the area around the Emsingen station building removable, so that I can access the north end of the layout.

The tunnel ramp from Emsingen West down the east side of the layout around the mountain has exactly the same grade and location as the respective ramp underneath to staging. I'm planning to build the staging ramp solid enough so that I can simply build the Emsingen tunnel ramp on top it.

I'm not quite sure yet how to arrange trackage in Talheim. Would be nice to connect the two industries in a little bit more prototypical way. I also have a lot of tunnels on this layout, so I want to make sure that the visible track is as conducive to train watching as possible (wide curves in the visible sections as much as possible). There is very little straight track and I might end up scrapping the industry at the south end altogether in favor of building something a bit more interesting near the tunnel entrance to staging, now that there is some more space there.

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Das Eisenbahn"zimmer" in der Garage nimmt Form an. Der Rahmen fuer die Platform ist fertig und eben. Ich benutze dafuer die alten Deckenbalken von Wohn- und Esszimmer. Der Boden ist aus 1.5cm dicken Tischlerplatten, die von kleineren Balken und diversen Holzresten gestuetzt werden. Die ganze Platform ist geschraubt, nicht genagelt, so dass ich das Ganze wieder einfach auseinander nehmen kann, wenn noetig.

Die endgueltige Groesse des Zimmers ist 240 x 255cm. Als ich mir den Plan fuer die Anlage anschaute, wurde mir klar dass ich die ganze Zeit mit 240x220cm gearbeitet habe, und nun ploetzlich 240x40cm extra hatte, was mir erlaubt die ganze Anlage etwas zu dekomprimieren.

Der Schattenbahnhof bekam ein viertes Gleis. Die Rampe zum Schattenbahnhof wurde laenger mit weniger Steigung. Ich habe auch einen fruehen Fehler korrigiert, so dass das Uebergangsgleis von M-Gleis zu K-Gleis an einer passenden Stelle ist.

Der Bahnhof Emsingen ist jetzt nur noch 15 Grad gedreht, was den Gleisverlauf deutlich verbessert. Gleichzeitig verschob ich den Bahnhof etwas nach Norden, so dass ich in der Mitte der Anlage mehr Platz habe. Es hat noch fuer ein weiteres Abstellgleis gereicht. Die ansonsten einwandfreie Gleisgeometrie der Maerklingleise kommt nicht ganz mit der 105 Grad Kurve in der westlichen Bahnhofeinfahrt zurecht. Ich werde das
mit Flexgleis hinkriegen.

Da das Nordende der Anlage nun deutlich tiefer ist, habe ich ein ernsthaftes Zugangsproblem. Ueberall wo man einen versteckten Zugang anlegen kann, liegen unterirdisch Gleise. Ich plane den Bereich um das Bahnhofsgebaeude Emsingen rausnehmbar zu machen, so dass ich ans noerdliche Ende der Anlage komme.

Die Tunnelrampe von Emsingen West entlang der Ostseite hat genau die gleiche Steigung wie die Rampe zum Schattenbahnhof. Ich plane die Schattenbahnhoframpe stabil genug zu bauen, dass ich die Tunnelrampe einfach oben drauf setzen kann.

Ich bin mir nicht so sicher wie ich die Gleis in Talheim anlege. Waere gut die zwei Industrien etwas realistischer anzuschliessen. Ich habe auch eine ganze Menge Tunnel, und wenig gerade Strecken, auf der Anlage, deshalb werde ich versuchen die sichtbaren Bereiche so anzulegen, dass es Spass macht den Zuegen zuzuschauen (weite Kurven soweit das moeglich ist). Ich kann mir vorstellen die Industrie im Sueden komplett zu streichen und stattdessen die andere Industrie in Talheim etwas interessanter auszubauen.

Solar Energy and Congress

Wow, I still don't really understand they way American Laws are made. According to news reports the Senate amended the housing economic stimulus bill with provisions to extend solar tax benefits. Last year they tried a similar thing which in the end was shot down. I wonder, if they changed the solar tax credit to not have a cap, whether I could claim the difference between the $2000 cap from last year and the 30% on this year's tax return. Would be nice, but I doubt I will be able to do this.

Summer is here!

Friday it was 30+ Celsius. Saturday, as the first real day of summer, saw the heat topping out at 32 Celsius, the hot tub filled with warm water, the day spent outside, children playing on the lawn with the garden hose, and solar production going down, since now the cells warm up substantially enough to be outside their optimal operating range.

Last week with blue skies, but a steady cool wind from the Pacific solar production peaked at 24 kWh/day. On hot days like yesterday we average between 20-22 kWh/day depending on temperature and the angle of the sun.

Wie der Schattenbahnhof funktionieren wird

Find the english version here

Nachdem der erste Teil meiner Bestellung von EuroRail Hobbies & More ankam machte ich mir wieder Gedanken ueber die Anlage. Maerklin 2205 Flexgleis und Uhlenbrock 72600 Dekoder waren. I glaube ich werde nicht mehr Flexgleise brauchen. Muss mal rausbekommen, wie man das Gleis kuerzt. Ich freue mich schon drauf Zuege auf weiten Kurven ueber die Anlage fahren zu sehen ... naja, soweit das bei meinen Platzverhaeltnissen moeglich ist.

Die Dekoder sind sehr klein, und passen genau in den Bereich wo derzeit der Richtungsumschalter ist. Ich warte mit dem Digitalisieren der Loks bis die Intellibox eintrifft, so dass ich die Dekoder gleich ordentlich testen kann. In der Zwischenzeit sollte ich mir eine kleiner SPitze fuer den Loetkolben zulegen...

Da der Schattenbahnhof komplett mit M-Gleisen gebaut werden wird, kann ich mir mit den K-Gleisen aber noch Zeit lassen. Dier erste Phase der Anlage wird praktisch nur aus dem Schattenbahnhof bestehen, inklusive der doppelgleisigen Rampe zur mittleren Ebene und einer Kehre am oberen Ende der Rampe.

Ich werde wohl die Weichen im Schattenbahnhof von Anfang an digital betreiben, so das ich die Fahrstrassenunterstuetzung der Intellibox verwenden kann. Hingegen, plane ich die Weichen im sichtbaren Bereich der Anlage analog zu betreiben. Die Anlage ist klein genug, dass man zu zweit schon gut beschaeftigt sein kann, auch wenn der Schattenbahnhof automatisch per Computer betrieben wird. Da die Rampe nun zweigleisig ist, muss ich nicht warten bis ein Zug ganz im Schattenbahnhof angekommen ist, bis ich einen neuen Zug raufholen kann.

So wird das alles funktionieren: All Schattenbahnhofgleise haben einen Zug. Der Computer waehlt ein Gleis, und schickt den Zug auf die Rampe ins Ausfahrtgleis. Bei Bedarf holt man den Zug vom Ausfahrtsgleis und er faehrt in die Anlage.

Die Weichen im Tunnel sind so gestellt, dass es egal ist auf welchem der zwei Gleise ein Zug in den Tunnel faehrt, er kommt so oder so auf dem Einfahrtsgleis des Schattenbahnhofs an. Es wird ein Hilfsmittel/Signal/Anzeige gebraucht, die anzeigt, ob das Einfahrtsgleis frei oder belegt ist. Vielleicht einfach ein Laempchen, eine rot/gruen Anzeige, oder gar ein Vorsignal. Irgendwas das im Kontext Sinn macht, und auf der Anlage ist. Das Einfahrtsgleis beginnt auf der Rampe und muendet in den Schattenbahnhof. Einfahrende Zuege halten auf dem Einfahrtsgleis kurz vor dem Schattenbahnhof an. Von dort uebernimmt der Computer und waehlt ein freies Gleis, in dem der Zug abgestellt wird.

Damit das alles funktioniert brauche ich drei Belegtmelder. Einer am Anfang des Ausfahrtgleises ("Zug bereit den Schattenbahnhof zu verlassen"), einer am Anfang des Einfahrtgleises (stellt Signal auf "Einfahrtgleis belegt, keine weiteren Zuege nach unten bitte"), einer am Ende des Einfahrtgleises ("hey computer, hier ist ein Zug fuer den Schattenbahnhof"). Wenn dieser Belegtmelder wieder frei meldet, kann er das Signal am Anfang des Einfahrtgleises wieder freischalten. Zusaetzlich kann dort zur Sicherheit eine stromlose Stelle sein, um zu verhindern dass Zuege bei der Einfahrt in the Schattenbahnhof kollidieren. Man kann das auch mit 2 Belegtmeldern machen, wuerde dann aber einiges an Sicherheit verlieren.

Jedes Gleis im Schattenbahnhof braucht eine stromlose Stelle am Ende so dass die Zuege wirklich auch vor der Ausfahrtweiche anhalten und Zusatzgeraete wie Rauchgeneratoren abgeschaltet werden. Theoretisch sollten alle Dekoder damit zurechtkommen.

Order Part 1 and how to operate staging

Today, the first part of an order from EuroRail Hobbies & More arrived. Maerklin 2205 Flextrack and the Uhlenbrock 72600 decoders. It's funny to be in California, unpack the box, and read all the German instruction booklets. I think I don't need any additional flextrack, unless it turns out to be cheaper than regular track of the same total length. Will need to figure out how to properly trim the track to length, as well as how track insulation works with K track. I'm looking forward to watching trains on those nice gentle curves through my scenery ... ok, well, mostly gentle curves I don't have a ton of space to play with.

The decoders are quite small and will fit perfectly in the space where the direction changer switch coil of the locomotives is currently located. I'll wait with the actual digitalization of the locos until the shipment with the Intellibox shows up, so that I can actually test the decoder, too. Meanwhile, I need to get a smaller tip for my
solder iron. The solder pads on those decoders are smaller than I expected...

Since the (hidden) lower level of the layout will be built completely from M track, I still have some time to figure out dealing with K track. The first layout build stage will feature the hidden staging yard and associated ramps only. I will probably digitize the switches on that part of the layout right away to make use of the "Fahrstrassen" support in the Intellibox. I am planning to operate switches on the visible part of the layout manually. Aside from maybe having a computer automatically pick through trains from the staging yard and send them on their way, the layout is small enough to easily keep myself (and another operator) busy with manual operation, especially now that the access ramp to staging has double-track and I don't have to wait for a train to make it all the way down to staging before I can send another train up.

Here's how this might work: All staging tracks are loaded with trains. The computer picks a track sends the train to the outbound track on the ramp. Whenever an operator feels like it, they can release the train from the outbound track into the layout.

The switches in the tunnel to staging are aligned so that no matter which track an operator sends a train to staging, it ends up on the inbound track. There needs to be some visual indication to the operator that the inbound track to staging is occupied. Maybe some green/red light? A distance signal? I'd like something that's on the layout and makes sense in the context. Trains on the inbound track to staging stop before the staging yard and automatic operation takes over. Whenever the computer notices a train stopped on the inbound track, it picks an empty staging track, aligns the switches accordingly and the train proceeds under computer control to the assigned staging track.

For this to work, I need 3 occupancy detectors. One at the top end of the outbound track ("there is a train ready to leave staging") , one at the top end of the inbound track (sets signal "inbound track is busy, no more trains to staging please"), one at the bottom of the inbound track ("yo, computer, send this train to a staging track"). Once that detector shows the inbound track free, it can reset the signal at the top to allow another train in. A safety section can be added to make sure no train can proceed into staging if the inbound track is occupied.

I could do this with 2 occupancy detectors, but would loose a little bit safety and feedback to the human operators, since the wouldn't know when the train actually made it safely into the staging yard.

Each staging yard track needs a computer controlled isolated section at the head end, so that trains really stop before entering the exit switch ladder, as well as any accessories (like smoke generators in steam engines) are turned off. In theory, all decoders should be able to deal with this.

A raised planting bed in the garden

As planned I built a raised planting bed right after we came back from Germany. It came out really nice. I used an article from Sunset for the material and general idea. The bed is 8x4ft and a good 1 foot high. I used pressure-treated fir instead of redwood, since it's made for soil contact, and will last longer than redwood. It also was much cheaper. All that's missing now is the planting dirt.

Here are some more pictures

Where do I get 32 cubic feet of bulk dirt in the South Bay? And how do I get all that dirt to my house?

Update:
Home Depot is selling bulk material (rocks, soil, etc.) delivered to your door step, ... errm backyard. Pricing for soil is about 20% of what you pay for packaged soil at the store. The catch? They charge $60 for delivery, so my 32 cubic feet come out to ~$96 delivered, vs. $76 if I get the cheapest soil they have in the store. Nice idea, but I don't need enough that this is worthwhile.

In the end I got only 18 cuft of garden soil, and Patricia picked up some awesome compost at one of the mushroom farms in Morgan Hill for free.

Viva Die Bahn!

As I arrived at Stuttgart Hbf I went straight to "PresseCenter", got a little bit reading material, was minding my own business, not expecting anything bad to happen. My mom drove me to the station, and helped with the luggage.

As I got to the platform, however, they showed those beautiful notices on the destination signs: "Dieser Zug verkehrt heute nicht" This train is not in service today. ... uh ... huh? I have a ticket with reservation for that ICE 576 I even have a seat reservation!

German Bahn helpfully placed a little lady at the platform, "next connection to Mannheim 13:51 from track 9". But I want to go to Frankfurt Airport! "Frankfurt Airport 14:05, change trains in Frankfurt Hbf". Ugh. 2 large suitcases, one carry-on, and my laptop backpack. No way I'm going to change trains.
The information kiosk confirms that the ICE to Mannheim actually continues on to Frankfurt Airport. Good. Now I just need the ticket changed to the other train. Long lines at the "service point", only one guy behind the counter. I go down to the "ReiseCenter", get in another long line... at least it's serviced by 5 counters. 10 minutes later I'm back at the platform, and say Goodbye to my mom.

From talking to other passengers it appears that the tracks were closed. I'm guessing there was an accident, and the tracks were closed for the investigation.

I tried to see if T-Mobile hotspots on ICE actually work ... hmmm. doesn't look like it. I get an IP address, and can talk to the (squid) proxy on the train, but no connection to the outside world. Looks like either there is no connection, or their DNS server is borked.


United Airlines from Frankfurt

After a joyous 70 minutes in the vestibule of an ICE, sitting on top of my suitcase, I arrived at Frankfurt Airport. Frankfurt is hands down the world's worst airport when it comes to signage. It's not that they don't have signs. Actually, there are a lot. However, you need to know how to interpret them. It doesn't help that my United flight is leaving from a part of Hall C that is under re-construction.

Here is my route from the doors of the train to the seat in the waiting room:
- exit train, get luggage cart
- walk around the escalators
- get on long escalator to mezzanine level of the Fernbahnhof
- continue on short escalator to main level of Fernbahnhof [there is a nice glass roof construction here. Reminds me a little bit of the roof at Munich Olympic Stadium.
- enter Fernbahnhof main corridor
- head towards airport, do not stop at Rail&Fly Check-In counters [they are Lufthansa only, boy would *that* be convenient]
- continue through the corridor, avoid other passengers, various small and large booths along the way
- Be puzzled at the end of the corridor: Turn right to Terminal 1, Hall A, or left to Terminal 1, Halls B+C, and Terminal 2.
- Check poster on the wall. Aha! United is in Terminal 1, Hall B.
- Turn left, down the long escalator, cart nose down.
- Watch that carry-on bag! It might slide off the suitcases and hit someone!
- Continue straight ahead, ignore signs to Terminal 2, and continue on short escalator down to the dungeons [I think the reason why they didn't just extend the dungeons to the Fernbahnhof is that there is a large building in the way (parking?) ]
- Watch the really short end of that escalator, climb a few steps backwards on the escalator for more leverage to push the cart over the bump at the bottom of the escalator.
- Make a U-Turn to avoid hitting the wall right after the escalator [Be happy, that you didn't have to take the route in the opposite direction. That escalator was out of order... ]
- Hang left and navigate through cross-traffic of people leaving the airport for the regional train station, towards a rather narrow pair of doors back into the airport. Those folks show no apparent interest for someone trying feverishly to keep his luggage cart on track.
- Get on a long escalator up to Departures in Hall B. Where are the United counters. Good thing I remembered the counter numbers from earlier (501-507). Eventually, I found the United counters in a corner dominated by almost 50 Lufthansa counters.
- Be pleasantly surprised that there is absolutely no line at the United counters. The counter personnel was visibly bored when I arrived. My two suitcases weighted in with a total of 47kg. No complaint from behind the counter. Phew.
- Continue on to Hall C, hang left through a barely marked door into a hallway with a few stores.
- The end of the hallway is fenced off, turn left following signs to C2-26
- Finally, the security check ... uh, wait. All doors are closed? My face must have looked pretty dumb. So the security check is closed. What now?
- Eventually I see more signs to gates C2-26 that lead into departure hall C [huh???] , through the hall into a new hall that was apparently added later and is not in operation yet.
- I turn around head back to the departure hall and get a book and something to drink.
- Walking by finished but empty counters I continue through the new hall, hang right, past closed store fronts with workers still building the stores inside.
- Make a sharp left turn and hang right into a somewhat dimly lit corridor with open ceiling, past construction walls.
- The coolest part was a large tarp hanging under the ceiling with a drain pipe into a waste bin. Apparently water is leaking from the roof into the corridor.
- Continue to the end of that corridor and hang left into another smaller corridor, down a short escalator.
- Finally, the security check for gates C7-9.
- No-one in line, I'm through in no time and find myself a seat near C7.

Boarding starts in 20 minutes. Time to pack away the computer and get in line to the gate area.

It's gone

The big layout of my childhood no longer exists. Here's how things went down...

Tuesday: 2h, most of catenary.

Wednesday: 2h, more catenary, the first sections of track on the upper level.

Thursday: 3h, bridge, most of the upper level, start with freight area.

Friday: 5h, ramps, main station, rest of freight area and remaining visible track.

Saturday: 3h, dismantle mountain to get to the tunnel tracks, remove tunnel tracks;
4h, box all material, and clean out parts from base plywood.

Sunday: 1h, removing cables from the underside of the layout

16 working hours to take this layout apart cleanly, and pack away salvageable pieces. The saying is true, it's much easier to destroy than to build...

Left to do is cleaning out some more of the electrical from the underside of the layout, as well as removing some control switch boxes for a temporary setup back home.

Decoders

In most of the forum posts and descriptions I read, people recommend converting Maerklin's "Allstrom" motors to a regular DC motor (e.g. using Maerklin's "Hochleistungsmotor" conversion kit), or replace the motor altogether, and then use a decoder for the Motorola format (such as Maerklins c90 or c91 decoders) to convert them for digital operation. The conversion kit comes with a decoder and seems to go for ~100 Euros.

While browsing Viessmann's catalog I found a decoder that's made specifically for Maerklin's "Allstrom" motors (Viessmann 5274). The decoder is actually made by Uhlenbrock with part number 72600, is functionally equivalent to Maerklin's c91 decoder, fully programmable using CVs, with speed regulation, and has 4 function outputs. The nice thing about this decoder is that apparently you don't need to do anything to the existing motor. Just replace the direction changer switch/solenoid with the decoder, re-solder a few wires and you're set, provided the loco runs fine mechanically. Sounds too easy to be true. The decoder runs on regular AC, and Maerklin Digital (Motorola format) tracks, and costs around 45 Euros.

I'll see if I can find that decoder around here and try it out with one of the Diesel or Electric locos we have.

And yes, this is a hobby that can get expensive very quickly ... sigh

Update:
Turns out eurorailhobbies.com is selling the 72600 decoder for $47.99. No point trying to get them in Germany. Their pricing on new Marklin K-track is also very competitive compared to German second hand retail, or online retailers in Germany, especially taking into account exchange rates. I see an order in the near future...

Starting to dismantle the old layout

It's strange to take apart something you spent months and years to build, and help to build, many, very many years ago. Last night I dismantled the catenary of the family layout. Next up are a few left-over catenary masts, and the semaphor-style signals. Then we'll move on to vacuuming the dust from the layout and brush off dirt from all tracks, followed by removing all the track. In parallel I'm surveying locos and will pick a few first victims to get a decoder.

In the ideal case this will all be done before I'm packing my suitcase again and I'll take enough material back home to start experimenting with running locos and trains using digital controls. I'm particularly interested in ways to control digital trains using analog signals, since I'm planning to only digitize operating trains, but leave controlling switches and signals manually. I might add computerized control later (particularly in my hidden staging area), but we'll see about that when it's time.

Sunday

It's nice to be in a European city again. There is a working public transit system that people actually use. In the evening there are regular people out on the streets, enjoying themselves while they are trying to decide which restaurant to go to. People walk to work (yes, I know, strange concept). But the thing that hit me the most:

The chime of church bells on Sunday morning. I don't know how to say this, but it makes me happy. The sound of the bells over the background noise of the city... it sounds right.

Layout Room Revisited

I guess it was hard to follow my explanation of what the layout room will look like. Tonight I spent some time with SketchUp to see if I could master the program at least to the level of getting an image of the layout room in our garage. After quite some swearing I produced this.



That came out quite nicely.

The image shows our garage with part of the side wall not modeled. The front of the garage is to the left. I marked the platform with the raised floor in green. The yellow beams are 2x4's that will keep the layout out of sight from the street. I'll mount regular drywall panels on both sides. The 2x4s don't connect to the surrounding walls at all. However, they do line up with the fairly massive beam supporting the upper story of the house. They are only screwed to the platform, so that I don't penetrate the garage firewall.
Just for fun I added washer and dryer, water heater, and the furnace on the left hand side of the garage, as well as my work-bench and various cabinets in the back of the garage.
The door to the inside of the house is between the platform and the large white cabinet.

The area marked in red is the space for the car.

When an express line is not

United has this new feature on united.com to allow international travelers to check in and print their boarding pass online. This is really common for domestic flights for years now, so I was excited to find out I could do this for my SFO-FRA flight yesterday, too. ...

Yeah, things are never that easy. I got suspicous when the printout for SFO directed me for domestic flight to the "united.com BagCheck kiosk", but for international flights "proceed to the International Terminal".

We arrived in the International Terminal to the tune of a LONG line waiting for check in to United Economy. They had a whopping TWO counters serving that line. However, there was one counter with a separate line labeled "Express line, United.com BagCheck". Only 5 people were waiting there, so I got into that line. ["Pheww, thank God I only need to print the label for my suitcase"]

After 10 minutes the woman at the counter was finally done with that one passenger there, and moved on to the next. 10 minutes later she was done with that one and moved on to the next. ["What the heck, this is supposed to be an Express Line???"]

When the couple ahead of me got to the Express counter, she briefly talked with them and then GOT UP AND LEFT. This was after I was waiting for about 30 minutes in the Express Line.

Next thing that happens is the baggage guy walking up to me and said, "I'm making a single line. Please use the other line. " - "no, I'm in the Express Line. I only need to get the baggage label printed." He shrugged and walked away. Meanwhile there were about 10 people waiting in the Express Line behind me.

Nothing happened for 5 minutes. There are still only 2 counters serving the Economy class line. Eventually, a couple passengers from the Express line get antsy. One of the agents behind the counter complains to the baggage guy, "I told you to form one line!" and to us, "you have to get into the regular line", turns off the Express Line sign at the counter, and starts to walk away. We see "Counter Closed", which is met with instant and loud protest from the folks in the Express Line.

Finally, one of the agents from the Economy Line comes over, asks how many passengers. Closes the Express line behind us (HALLELUJA), removes the extra BagCheck sign, and starts processing the line.

"You have to print your baggage tag", he tells me, points to the little kiosk in front of me, and "I'll be back". The kiosk scans the printout from the online check-in, and prints the baggage tag behind the counter. When the agent finally comes back he takes the tag, puts it on the suitcase, verifies ID, and we are done. Less than a minute of actual work. He stayed at the counter for the other passengers behind me. They got processed similarly quick and the line was gone in no time. Overall I was waiting 45 minutes in the "Express Line".

I'm still puzzled by what that first agent was doing that took her 10+ minutes per passenger.

If I had this experience with US Airways, I wouldn't have been surprised. However, United usually has their act together at SFO and I've never seen them this disorganized before. Bad day? Or a sign of the continued strain on their operations and profit margins?

I Fly - for real

This was a cool team outing. Yesterday we went to ifly in Union City. Those guys operate a vertical wind tunnel. You get dressed up, and then ride on a air stream that's blowing bottom up at a speed of 65-80mph.





Click on the thumbnail image to see the video. I'm the guy in the orange suit flying about 12 minutes into the video.

It's quite an experience. It's not like being weightless, you very much feel the wind pushing you up. It's loud (they made us wear earplugs), too. You can control motion fairly well with slight adjustments of legs and arms. The flight instructor didn't have much to do while I was in the air... and it was FUN. I want to do this again, though this is a bit on the expensive side.

Liftoff!

Today I finally cut the base beams for the layout platform from some wood left over from when we had the ceilings re-done. The rectangle is about 8ft by 9ft (~240x260cm). A nice size. Not too small, and not so big, so that I'd never finish building that thing. I will need to add a couple 2x4's down the center to hold the plywood sub floor of the platform.

I'm pondering whether I should use pieces of the old Pergo laminate I removed from the dining room, or put carpet on the platform. The carpet will be warmer and nicer, but it gets dirty easily, and the Pergo makes it easier to find small pieces that fell to the floor. I have some time to figure this out though...

Layout Room

I mentioned before in various places that I'm planning to build a room for my planned train layout.

The origial idea was to simply take a corner of the garage, install a raised floor on 2x4 wood beams with insulation, and 2 finished walls around that using regular wood frame construction. The existing walls of the garage corner would complete the room. Add a door into the garage in one of the new walls and voila there is my layout room. No windows, and at 7.5 x 8 ft in size not exactly big, but quite sufficient for a nice HO layout. I would need to extend an existing 15amp power circuit into the room, as well as run a new 20amp circuit through existing piping to make sure there is enough oompfh in the room for lighting and running trains. Although I'd probably get by just fine with the one 15amp circuit since the layout is not that big, it's easier to get the power stuff out of the way in the beginning, so I don't have to deal with it later.

I contacted the building permit department of the City of San Jose what I would need to do in order to make this a legal reality. They would classify this as an "unheated storage closet" and pointed out which kind of lighting I would need (since this is still considered garage space). However, after some more emails back and forth it turns out they won't approve such a setup at all, because each single family home in San Jose needs to have two covered parking spaces 18x9ft. The room will take over part of one of the parking spots in the garage, so the city building inspector won't even look at this for approval. Whoops. ...

Our home owners association won't allow any outbuildings in the backyard or sideyard area, nor would they allow me to build a new garage where the side yard is now (not even speaking of the cost of such an endeavour). So, a permanent solution is out of the window.

Moving on to the next idea. Start the same way, build a wood platform for the layout, but instead of building a real room, towards the front of the garage attach a stud wall to the platform. Attach about half of the length of the other open side. Those two walls will support each other and I should be able to build this in a way that I can disassemble it when and if we move. All power connections will be wired into the platform (with outlets and everything), but plugged into regular wall outlets. That way I don't need to worry about building codes as much since the whole setup would be considered temporary from an electrical perspective as well.

As a side-effect I can push out the wall facing the garage front a few more inches than if I had mounted it permanently since I no longer have to pay as much attention to existing studs in walls and ceiling to line up my new wall with. I will still install the additional electrical circuits.

Since I now can no longer rely on surrounding walls for support, I need to spend some more time on coming up with a structure to properly brace the walls attached to the platform, since I don't want them to topple over during an earthquake and crush the layout, or -- worse -- me.
On the positive side, I can use that support structure to anchor the layout to as well.

Movies with a twist

I like movies that keep you on the edge of your seat guessing what's going to happen next. Some examples...

• The Usual Suspects (1995)
  
  
• The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
  
• Slow Burn (2005)
  

All bacon burger anyone?

Found this while browsing mailing lists...
The Deepfried All Bacon Burger

Dining Furniture

The last couple of days we were furniture hunting in the Bay Area. We visited Viking Trader, a locally-owned store in Berkeley and also stumbled upon a branch of Scandinavian Designs.

Viking Trader has gorgeous furniture. Modern, clean lines, but not totally ridiculous and kid unfriendly. Lots of Danish pieces. We loved an extendable oval table from Skovby in cherry wood, with a matching set of chairs.

Skovby has a bunch of inventive tables that can grow or extend without having to add pieces that need to be stored somewhere. Turns out we really liked their cherry finish, much to my surprise. Whenever we saw cherry wood before in kitchens, etc., it was stained very dark and looked just horrible imho. Their tables are finished in light cherry, which gives the table a very warm and friendly look. [Did I really just write that tables can be friendly? Sheesh...]

Scandinavian Designs is a chain store, but actually looks more like an european furniture store than any other furniture place I visited in the US. We found another Skovby table there that we liked, also in cherry, which was substantially cheaper than the one at Viking Trader.

We ended up buying a floor model of that table from the SD store in San Jose (this one), along with matching chairs in cherry (those). They will deliver early next week. I'm really looking forward to it.

I might finally start this weekend putting in the laminate we bought for the family/dining room back in September. Since our regular dining set is still used for staging in the old house, we had the patio furniture in the family room for the last few months, and I didn't feel like ruining the brand-new laminate with those chairs...


As for the couch table in the living room... We resolved that there is nothing on the market that fits our needs perfectly and I'm going to build one myself.

What's up with banks these days?

TechCU messed up the rate on my new home equity line of credit. The statement I received has a much higher rate than the paperwork I signed. I'm seriously annoyed and need to yell at someone.

Smith Barney's web site for my stock options is a piece of poo. Still. ... It's slow, clunky, ugly, and just hard to get anything done.

KeypointCU's Web site is very old-school and disorganized, but gets the job done. Maybe I'm just used to it.

Chase's credit card site is utter crap. Thank God I don't use it all that often. The best thing about that card are the regular $25 Amazon gift certificates. I have no good use for airline miles, but I do for Amazon coupons.

On the positive side...

Vanguard is great. Good returns, low management fees, no fuss. Easy to navigate and do what I want to do. Both for 401k and brokerage accounts.

Fidelity is ok. I had a 401k with them through the first US company I worked for. I don't use them as much anymore as I used to, but they've always been helpful and easy to deal with, both on the Web and by telephone.

For a no-fees german checking account paying interest on deposits, NetBank best serves my needs.

A good place to park some money in the short term (like when preparing to buy a house) is an ING Savings Account. Decent interest rate, and very easy to get money in and out.

mythtv and 720p HD screen

This morning a nice Sharp 32" Aquos 720p screen was found near the fireplace. What a surprise. I hooked it up with analog VGA, since I don't have a DVI-HDMI cable here. The TV doesn't come up in wide screen format automatically (somewhat to my surprise).

Things I did to make mythtv work with this setup:

• enable "de-interlace video" in mythfrontend setup (otherwise videos recorded from broadcast TV are unwatchable due to interlacing artifacts).
  
• in xorg.conf turn off the special settings I added for analog TV out (don't need that anymore)
  
• in xorg.conf add the 720p metamodes settings as described in the mythtv wiki
  

Well, the latter seems to have no effect, I guess my Nvidia driver is too old. I set the modes to 1280x720, and still the TV would only use 1024x768. After some headscratching and navigating the TV menus I found an option to adjust the input signal. It offered me to force the input to 1360x768. Done. Looks pretty darn good now.

Update:
After reading the manual (who reads manuals anyways?) I found out that apparently, the analog signal for 1360x768 and 1024x768 can't be differentiated automatically. Go figure...

Also, in order for mythtv to use the available screen real estate when playing SD videos, one needs to change the aspect ratio using the W key (or set it permanently in the player settings). I found that 'Fill' gives me the best picture with the least amount of distortion. Of course this will chop off some at the top and bottom of the picture, and heads/faces are slightly cropped. Particularly visible with shows like '24' which include lots of head shots.

Frohe Weihnachten und ein gutes Neues Jahr!

mdadm: /dev/hdb1 is too small: 0K

I finally added a second disk to grumpy so that I can complete the raid1 setup for my mythtv media archive.

I partitioned the disk to match exactly the first disk. On the first pass, the big media partition ended up a few blocks short, even though the disks have exactly the same number of blocks. I specified everything in cylinders, so that should have come up with exactly the same result. When I wiped the partition table and tried again, I adjusted the partition types only after creating all the partitions and verifying that they all line up. Then I changed the partition types for the raid partitions to fd and it all was correct. I have screwed up something the first time around, or changing the partition type to fd does something to the amount of available blocks on the disk. Anyways...

Next, I added the new media partition to the existing half of the array and let it rip.


mdadm --add /dev/md0 /dev/sdb6


Took three hours and completed just fine.

Next I want to make the root partition a raid1, too. The process should be rather simple:

• create one half of the mirror on the new disk
  
• create file system
  
• cpio root partition data over to new root partition
  
• reboot, manually set root to new partition
  
• change partition id on old root partition
  
• set up that partition as second half of root md
  

I ran into problems with the first step already. First, I interpreted the parameters to the --create option of mdadm wrong, and got an error message that there are not enough devices specified, even though I listed "/dev/hdb1" and "missing". The trick is --auto=yes still needs a md device name pattern (you need --auto to create the md device node in udev), like so:

grumpy:~# mdadm --create --auto=yes /dev/md1 -l 1 --raid-devices 2 -v /dev/hdb1 missing
mdadm: /dev/hdb1 is too small: 0K
mdadm: create aborted

Now, what is that?

I'm following the man page, it matches various examples what people do I found on the Internet. But no dice. Finally, this blog set me on the right track. I wrote the partition table, but the kernel didn't properly update it in memory, so I'm in this strange halfway state. It works for using hdb6 as mirror, but not for creating a new mirror on hdb1. fdisk confirms the problem:

grumpy:~# fdisk /dev/hdb

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 60801.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
(e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/hdb1 1 851 6835626 fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/hdb2 852 60801 481548375 5 Extended
/dev/hdb5 852 1032 1453851 82 Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hdb6 1033 60801 480094461 fd Linux raid autodetect

Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!

Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.

WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy.
The kernel still uses the old table.
The new table will be used at the next reboot.
Syncing disks.

Alright. Reboot coming up right when the kids are done watching "Der rosarote Panther".

After the reboot I get:

grumpy:~# mdadm --create --auto=yes /dev/md1 -l 1 --raid-devices 2 -v /dev/hdb1 missing
mdadm: size set to 6835520K
mdadm: array /dev/md1 started.
grumpy:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1]
md1 : active raid1 hdb1[0]
6835520 blocks [2/1] [U_]

md0 : active raid1 hda6[0] hdb6[1]
480094336 blocks [2/2] [UU]

unused devices:

Sweet! Works like a charm.

Furniture Frustrations

I'm visiting my parents in Germany at the moment and stopped by one of the larger local furniture retailers. We are looking for a replacement dining table and chairs, as well as a couch table for the living room and have much trouble finding anything in California.

US furniture is either poorly made, ridiculously expensive, or doesn't have even hints of modern design. Many times all three apply.

As I was walking through Moebel Hofmeister I grew more and more frustrated. Where in most US furniture stores I have a choice of 3 or 4 couch tables, they had dozens to choose from in all kinds of styles and price ranges.
Where in the US I have a choice of 10 - 15 dining tables (on a good day), they had a whole floor full of dining arrangements, tables and chairs.

I left the store after an hours or so utterly frustrated. Anyone know any halfway decent furniture stores in the SF Bay Area or at least California?

Layout Stats for Emsingen & Talheim - not so useful

I might have mentioned this elsewhere before, I really like Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Railfan Web site. He gave a talk a while ago about layout design analysis.

I wonder how this works for Emsingen & Talheim...

Room Size:
I'm working with 2.20 x 2.40 m, which is 7.2 x 7.8 ft = 56 square feet

Layout Area:
I have roughly 1.05 x 1.10 m of space in the lower left corner (12 sq ft), so the layout covers 44 sq ft.

In other words, the layout will fill 78% of the available space, which is quite a bit. However, since I'm planing an access hatch in the area of the lake, I think I should be fine.

Number of Turnouts:
I have 24 regular turnouts, 3 three-way switches, and 2 double-slips, that makes a total of 31 turnout equivalents.

Track Length:
~82 ft (24m) of visible track, ~75 ft (22m) of hidden track. It's that much hidden track mostly because of the long ramp to hidden staging and hidden staging itself. A total track length of 157 ft roughly equates enough space for 314 HO box cars (2 cars/foot).

Mainline Track:
22 cars in staging yard, 112 cars in main level tunnel and visible track. Total: 134 cars

Passing track:
4 cars in Talheim, 5 cars + 16 cars in Emsingen. Total: 25 cars

Storage Track:
3 cars in Talheim, 9 cars in Emsingen. Total: 12 cars

Service Track:
14 cars in Emsingen. Total: 14 cars

Staging Track:
120 cars to/from staging yard, including loop + staging tracks. Total: 120 cars

Connecting Track:
314 - 134 - 25 - 12 - 14 - 120 = 9

Passing Sidings: 3

Passing Train Length: 16/8/4 (longest/average/shortest)

Staging Tracks: 3

Staging Train Length: 24/21/16 (longest/average/shortest)

All those numbers now may yield some interesting stats:

Maximum Number of Cars: 112 = (storage + passing/2 + staging) * 0.8

Using the regular formula I get 112 cars on this layout. That's clearly too much, and comes from the fact that I counted the hidden main line track into staging as staging track. A more accurate number on my layout would be to only count the loop and the actual staging tracks, and don't include the ramp:
((24 + 24 + 16 + 8) + 12 + 12 ) * 0.8 = 76 cars

Number of Cars Moved in an operating cycle: 71 (staging * 2 + passing + connecting) * 0.4

Trains: 9

What can I learn from this? Nothing really. This was an interesting exercise, but I think that due to the nature of this layout, the formulas don't fit well, and the final outcome is not nearly as useful as I thought it might be when I started this.

A Timesaver

I've been reading for a while about micro- and mini-layouts in Carl Carendt's Micro Layout Scrapbook. Micro-layouts are not larger than 4 square feet. It's amazing what some people manage to squeeze in this little space.

A theme that comes up fairly regularly is how to have operational fun with such small layouts. Obviously, there is not nearly enough space to let trains run in a circle (unless you choose to build a "pizza style" layout). Furthermore, a layout that largely consists of a circle is really boring and one quickly looses interest. A solution is the world of railroad puzzles, often reproducing switching/shunting problems. The two classic examples are Inglenook sidings and the Timesaver. In both cases the trick is to solve a switching puzzle with very limited space.

I used my old "Bauspielbahn" to build this version of the Timesaver.



The track is HO Fleischmann Modellgleis. All switches are operated manually. Due to the size of the Bauspielbahn trains, the effect is as if the track is actually narrow gauge.



This is obviously a work in progress and so far I spent only a few hours on building this. Tatjana is having a lot of fun with operating the locomotive and shunting cars, while Pascal is not quite convinced.

---

Ich lese seit einiger Zeit in Carl Carendts Micro Layout Scrapbook ueber Mikro- und Minianlagen. Mikroanlagen haben eine Flaeche von nur 4 Fuss im Quadrat. Es ist erstaunlich was manche Leute in so wenig Platz quetschen.

Ein Thema dass immer wieder aufkommt, ist wie man auf so kleinen Raum richtig Betrieb haben kann. Offensichtlich ist das zu wenig Platz um Zuege im Kreis fahren zu lassen (ausser man waehlt eine Anlage im "Pizzastil"). Darueberhinaus, ist es auf Dauer sehr langweilig einem Zug zuzuschauen, der nur im Kreis faehrt. Eine Loesung fuer dieses Problem sind Eisenbahnpuzzles, bei denen oft Rangierprobleme geloest werden muessen. Klassische Beispiele sind Inglenook sidings und der Timesaver. In beiden Beispielen liegt der Spass darin, eine Rangieraufgabe in sehr beschraenktem Platz zu loesen.

Ich habe meine alte Bauspielbahn genommen um diese Version des Timesaver zu bauen.
Gleismaterial ist HO Fleischmann Modellgleis. Alle Weichen werden von Hand gestellt. Durch die Groesse der Bauspielbahnzuege, wirkt das Gleis wie Schmalspur.

Offensichtlich, bin ich mit dieser Anlage noch nicht fertig. Bisher habe ich nur ein paar Stunden daran gearbeitet (und gespielt). Tatjana hat einen Riesenspass mit der Lokomitve zu fahren und Wagen zu rangieren, Pascal ist noch nicht so ganz ueberzeugt.

Installing a dryer circuit

I spent parts of the last couple weekends installing a new 120/240 dryer circuit in my garage. When we bought the house there was only a very old gas dryer. Here are my notes and lessons learned.

Dryers need a 30amp circuit, which translates to an AWG #10 wire. The national electric code requires 4-wire installations for new circuits. The proper socket is 14-30. I used Schedule 40 PVC piping to run the circuit from the corner of the garage to the back of the panel. I used separate THHN wires (black and red for phase, white for neutral, green for ground) inside the pipe, and a 4-wire Romex cable from the junction box through the wall to the panel.

Pulling the wires through the piping is tricky and requires two people. In order to make it through and around the bends, remove an inch or two from the wire insulation and hook a cable through the hole at the end of the fishing tape, all nicely tied up with plenty of electrical tape. One person pulls the fishing tape, one person feeds the cables at the other end of the pipe. For Schedule 40 PVC the NEC requires at most 4 bends between pull locations.

It's a very good idea to get an electrician for the actual hookup in the panel, and installation of the breaker. Well worth the money.

Taco Town!

I just can't stop laughing every time I watch this...

5.6 quake on the Calaveras Fault

After last year's micro earthquake, we just had a real one.



No damage, but it was quite loud as the house rattled and ached. You could see the walls of our house rock and sway a little bit. The quake felt more like a 4.0 in our house and the shake map seems to confirm that, too. We had no damage, or moved items in cupboards or drawers, nor any cracks as far as I can tell.

Update (Oct. 31 2007, 16:04):

Aftershocks in the 1.5-2 range happened pretty much continously since yesterday. We just had another 3.7 jolt. Lasted only a few seconds this time, though, contrary to the almost 30 seconds yesterday.

The day the routers died ...

The send off from the RIPE 55 conference in Amsterdam ...

Emsingen & Talheim updated

It's been a month since the last status update on Emsingen & Talheim. Here is the current state of things.



PDFs: upper levels - lower levels

As you can see quite a bit has changed. In Emsingen, the station building moved to the north-side of the tracks. I added a 4th track that services the new engine maintenance facility. I managed to squeeze in a 3 loco roundhouse, as well as minimal facilities for steam engines. The main station tracks extend into the curve on the west side to provide longer track for passing or crossing trains. The facility is build partially over the lower end of the ramp coming down the mountain.

Passenger service in Talheim got scaled back substantially. It now is a really small stop with a couple industries, next to a small lake.

I added more landscaping features, including more structure of the mountain in the south, tunnels, a creek (with waterfall near the west end), bridges and the lake.

I changed the exit from staging so that trains can access either ramp towards Emsingen straight from staging. Either by going straight south through the tunnel, or via part of the tunnel loop on the main level then on around the mountain. Since staging is much more useful now, I scrapped the tunnel siding.


Im letzten Monat hat sich einiges getan wie man leicht sehen kann. Das Bahnhofsgebaeude von Emsingen ist auf die Nordseite der Gleise umgezogen und Emsingen Dorf habe ich durch ein Betriebswerk ersetzt. Ein kleiner dreistaendiger Lokschuppen, sowie Betriebsanlagen fuer Dampfloks habe ich in den vefuegbaren Platz quetschen koennen. Die Durchgangsgleise sind nun nochmal etwas laenger fuer Ueberholungen und Zugkreuzungen.

Passagierbetrieb im Bahnhof Talheim ist nun um einiges zurueckgestutzt. Die oertliche Industrie hat ein paar Gleisanschluesse mehr.

Ich habe die Landschaft weiter ausgestaltet. Berge, Tunnel, ein Bach mit See und Wasserfall, sowie die zugehorigen Bruecken.

Von der Ausfahrt des Schattenbahnhofs koennen Zuege nun in beide Richtungen nach Emsingen fahren. Entweder geradeaus nach Sueden durch den langen Tunnel, oder den kurzen Tunnel um den Berg herum. Da der Schattenbahnhof nun sinnvoller zu benutzen ist, habe ich das zweite Tunnelgleis unter Emsingen eliminiert.

Model railroads as a hobby?

I usually get odd looks when I say I'm planning to build a train room. Here's a typical conversation:

- "uh, a train room?"
me: yes, a train room. you know, model trains and such
- "Ah! I see for the kids!"
me: no. for me

From there it usually degenerates into frowns, odd looks, or this sad expression on faces that tell you people think whether I'm right in my mind. I don't mind.

I admit I've been bit by the train bug as a kid, a long, long time ago. I like the sheer massive power of a freight train passing through a station at full speed, as I'm waiting for my train to arrive. The shaking of the ground. The air pressure changes as the train passes through. The noise. The rumbling and clickering of wheels on track joints.

Having a father who built a train layout as I was really small helped, too. I think, the first layout was on our dining room table for a few weeks around Christmas. Or maybe my father moved the table, so we can still eat, while the train is set up. I don't remember much from what the layout looked like, all I know is it was magic.

Not long after that my father started work on a real layout. The arrangement was similar to the plan in this previous post, but instead of a double track mainline is was single track only. I don't remember much of this layout anymore, with the exception of the water manor in one of the corners, but I know he added that only later.

He built the bigger layout when I was maybe 12 years old. I did a lot of cabling and added details like a railroad crossing with functional warning lights, triggered by photo sensors.

So, there are lots of memories, but also much more.

Building a model railroad involves a lot wood working. Most notably the benchwork and supports for tracks and landscaping features. Then there is the electrical work. Making sure everything runs flawlessy.
All of this already requires a lot coordination, especially if you space is tight and you have certain ideas how the railroad should operate.

But wait there is more. In order to keep operating the railroad interesting the tracks on the layout need to make sense, without overloading the layout. There needs to be a purpose to each track. Most of the knowledge for this comes from railroad history and how services were run, factories received and generated freight, or operations in stations worked.

But wait there is more. It needs to be pretty to look at. Landscaping, grade separation, villages, cities, industrial areas, all need to be modeled. Bridges, retaining walls. Signals in stations. One can go into any level of detailing. People in yards, on station platforms, luggage carts, freight facilities, detailing of factories, warehouses, station interiors, ...

But wait there is more. Many locomotive or car models as they come from the manufacturer look fairly bland and freshly washed. Trains are often dirty. There is plenty opportunity to weather or "super" model.

But wait there is more. You can go for really realistic landscaping, proper looking trees, bushes, or grass. How does grass grow along a train track? What about the color of ballast? Once you start looking into this, it more and more becomes an art form, similar to painting. Color becomes important, as well as lighting, to make a model look realistic.

But wait there is more. I mentioned electrical before. You can build all kinds of automation and effects into a layout. Block control to automatically control trains. Monitoring of whether a track is in use or not. Speed modules to properly slow down a train when it looses power (i.e. is supposed to stop in front of a signal), or slowly gain speed. Digital systems often do that, but you can do that with analog, too.

But wait there is more. Since you built a railroad for operation, you should also run it. Invite friends over and have an "operating session". You can go as detailed as putting together an actual schedule with waybills, train consists, etc. and then run your model like a real railroad. Larger layouts can require 5 people to operate, plus a dispatcher who organizes the sequence of trains. A small one like the one I'm planning can probably keep two people busy for a couple hours.

So, in the end what you really are doing here is a create a world, and control everything that is going on in that world. It needs to make sense. It needs to look good, and function well. That's the challenge. Running the trains is the icing on the cake.


Ich werde oft schief angeschaut, wenn ich sage, dass ich ein Zimmer fuer die Eisenbahn baue. Hier ist eine typische Unterhaltung:

- "Ein Eisenbahnzimmer?"
ich: Ja, Modelleisenbahn und so
- "Ach so, fuer die Kinder..."
ich: Nein, fuer mich.

Ich sehe dann regelmaessig Schulterzucken, komische Seitenblicke, oder diesen traurigen Gesichtsausdruck, wenn Leute meinen ich waere nicht mehr ganz dicht im Kopf. Ist ok, stoert micht nicht.

Ich gebe zu, ich entdeckte meine Liebe zu Eisenbahnen als Kind, vor langer, langer Zeit. Ich mag die rohe Energie eines Gueterzugs, der mit voller Geschwindigkeit durch den Bahnhof faehrt, waehrend ich auf meinen Zug warte. Wie die Erde wackelt. Wie der Luftdruck sich veraendert. Der Krach. Das Rumpeln und Klackern der Raeder an den Schienenstoessen.

Es hilft, dass mein Vater eine Anlage aufgebaut hat als ich klein war. Ich glaube, die erste Anlage war auf unserem Esszimmertisch fuer ein paar Wochen um Weihnachten. Oder vielleicht hat er den Tisch auch verschoben, so dass wir trotz Zuegen noch essen konnten. Ich kann nicht mehr erinnern wie die Anlage aussah. Es war wir Magie.

Bald darauf begann mein Vater eine richtige Anlage zu bauen. Der Gleisplan war aehnlich zu dem in einem frueheren Posting, aber anstatt der zweigleisigen Hauptstrecke war der aeussere Kreis nur eingleisig. Ich kann mich nicht an viel erinnern, mit Ausnahme des Wasserschlosses, aber ich weiss, er fuegte das erst spaeter hinzu.

Er baute die groessere Anlage als ich vielleicht 12 Jahre alt war. Ich verlegte viele Kabel und baute viele Details wie zum Beispiel einen Bahnuebergang mit funktionierenden Warnlichtern die von Lichtschranken ausloest wurden.

Es gibt also viele Erinnerungen, aber das Hobby bietet noch viel mehr.

Flashback

When I was a child my father built a quite elaborate Maerklin layout. I do remember the many, many hours running cables under layout (yes, I must have gotten the bug from there somewhere). Here it is:



Deutschland Layout (PDF)

It's a two layer layout mounted on a plywood board (actually 3, it can be taken apart). The double-track main line starts at the station, wraps around the layout, through a tunnel, to the upper level, where it runs above itself, splits on the right hand side of the layout to go around a small mountain, meets again, and comes back down into the station. Xtrkcad calculates the longer grade is 1:30, and the shorter grade is 1:48, assuming a layer separation of 12cm.

There is a smaller loop on the lower layer, as well as freight and car storage in the middle. A bridge runs over the freight area forming a reversing loop opposite to the one in the freight area. I created the layout plan from memory, so it might slightly be off, but most of the track arrangements and station track lengths should be correct.

Happy Birthday!

The nice thing about this layout is that you can have a lot going on at the same time. There are 4 independent circuits (3 loops, plus switching), and another 4 circuits in the same arrangement via catenary. The layout is all analog operation and easily supports independent operation of 5 trains. One on the inner loop, two in each direction on the main line, plus switching operations. It's great to just sit back and watch trains. Also, operationally, the two reversing loops allow fluent change of direction of whole trains. Station tracks are secured with working signalling, so you can stop traffic on the main line to get a train from the inner loop to the outer track of the main line.

Given that there is so much track on this layout, there is not much space left for landscaping or prototypical operation. I did add a small engine terminal (near the storage tracks), as well as a passing track on the main line (not included in the plan linked above).

It was a lot of fun to create this track plan. Not only because it brought up fond memories of my childhood, but also to put into perspective what I'm going to be doing on my layout. I now know that a grade of 1:48 will be very steep, and even 1:30 presents quite some work to the locomotives. On a 1:48 grade trains will speed up substantially when going downhill, especially when giving them enough juice to make it up the long grade without problems (remember this is all analog operation). I remember how a train shoots into the station as it comes off the downhill grade, and will most likely derail if you try to send it onto other station tracks without slowing it down.

I know also have a better idea about track lengths for the stations in my layout, and what it will look like with the train lengths I have mind. This is especially helpful as I won't have any of the rolling stock or track here in the US for a while.

Als ich ein Kind war, baute mein Vater eine recht grosse Modellbahnanlange. Ich erinnere mich noch an die vielen, vielen Stunden, die ich unter der Anlage mit Kabelziehen verbracht habe.

Die Anlage hat zwei Ebenen und ist auf einer Sperrholzplatte aufgebaut (eigentlich 3 Platten, sie ist auseinandernehmbar). Die Hauptstrecke beginnt a Bahnhof, fuehrt entlang der Anlagenkante durch einen Tunnel zur oberen Ebene, wo sie oberhalb des Bahnhofs liegt, teilt sich zur Umfahrung des Bergs, und kommt wieder zum Bahnhof zurueck. Xtrkcad berechnet fuer die lange Rampe eine Steigung von 1:30, und die kurze Rampe 1:48, unter der Annahme eines Hoehenunterschieds von 12cm.

Auf der unteren Ebene ist ein kleinerer Kreis, sowie Fracht und Abstellgleise in der Mitte. Eine Bruecke fuehrt ueber die Frachtanlagen und bildet die Gegenschleife zu der Schleife im Bahnhof unten. Ich habe den Gleisplan aus dem Gedaechtnis konstruiert. Die Anordung der Gleise und Gleislaengen sollte korrekt sein, kleinere Abweichungen zum Original sind moeglich.

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag.

Das Gute an dieser Anlage ist dass hier richtig was los ist. Sie hat 4 unabhaengige Stromkreise (3 Kreise, und Rangierbetrieb), und 4 weitere Stromkreise ueber Oberleitung. Die Anlage ist komplett analog gesteuert und erlaubt problemlos den gleichzeitigen Betrieb mit 5 Zuegen. Einer auf dem inneren Kreis, je zwei in jede Richtung auf der Hauptstrecke, zusatzlich noch Rangierfahrten. Man kann sich zuruecklehnen und den Zuegen zuschauen. Betrieblich machen es die zwei Kehrschleifen leicht ganze Zuege ohne Stop umzudrehen. Alle Bahnhofsgleise und Kreuzungen sind mit Signalen gesichert. Um einen Zug vom inneren Kreis auf die Hauptstrecke zu schicken, braucht man einfach nur den Verkehr auf der Hauptstrecke zu stoppen.

Dadurch dass so viele Gleise auf der Anlage sind, ist natuerlich nicht mehr viel Platz fuer Landschaft oder vorbildgerechten Betrieb uebrig. Ich habe ein kleines Betriebswerk (in der Naehe vom Gueterbahnhof) gebaut, sowie eine Ueberholgleis auf der Hauptstrecke (im Plan oben nicht eingezeichnet).

Es hat viel Spass gemacht den Gleisplan zu zeichnen. Er weckte nicht nur Erinnerungen aus meiner Kindheit, sondern dient auch als Referenz fuer meine eigene Anlage. Ich weiss jetzt dass eine Steigung mit 1:48 sehr steil sein wird. Selbst 1:30 fordert die Lokomotiven. Mit 1:48 Gefaelle werden Zuege deutlich schneller, vor allem wenn sie genug Strom kriegen um die Steigung problemlos zu bewaeltigen (der Betrieb ist analog!). Ich kann mich gut daran erinnern wie ein Zug nach dem Gefaelle in den Bahnhof schiesst und mit Sicherheit entgleist, wenn er auf eine anderes Bahnhofsgleis fahren soll.

Ich habe jetzt auch ein besseres Gefuehl fuer Gleislaengen, und wie der optische Eindruck auf meiner Anlage sein wird. Das ist besonders hilfreich weil ich fuer einige Zeit weder Fahrmaterial noch Schienen hier in Kalifornien haben werde.

We're selling our town house!

Take a look at our place at 170 Oak Brook Circle, San Jose, CA.

Emsingen & Talheim, take 2

Over the last couple week I made some edits to Emsingen & Talheim.



Downloads: Visible track (PDF) Hidden track (PDF)
--> Deutsche Uebersetzung

Obviously I added station and industry buildings, as well as a prototype for Emsingen village, along with streets. I'm not quite sure how to model the area between Emsingen village and Talheim station. Emsingen village will be mounted on a movable platform with vertical drawer rails, so that I can move it up if I need to access the far corner of the layout.

The basic layout stayed the same compared to take 1, but there are various edits in details. Talheim along the west edge of the layout is on the main level, while Emsingen station on the north half of the layout is on the upper level. Hidden staging runs under Talheim on the lower level.

The Emsingen freight area got a new track arrangement that allows for more interesting operation of spotting cars, as well as longer track and more realistic road alignment. Also, the station passing tracks became longer by using a curved switch on the West side of the station. Drawback of that arrangement is that I can no longer add an uncoupler near the west end of the station.

I made use of some extra space by adding a curved switch in the hidden trackage on the main level and extended the ramp to hidden staging all the way to the West side of the layout. That way I can keep the grade below 3% and even make the staging tracks longer since I can now loop down all the way to the south end of the layout before. Note how the ramp to staging is almost directly under the ramp from Emsingen station East to Talheim station South. This allows me to share supports, save space, but also makes construction harder since those tracks need to align fairly closely and I won't be able to build Emsingen station until the lower and the main levels are completed.

Operations-wise there will be one powerpack for the main line track, as well as one power pack each for the stations and hidden staging. That's 4 power packs. The main line track in each station can be switched between the station and the main line power packs to allow for proper switching operation within each station.

Im planning to install catenary everywhere with exception of the industry tracks (another 4 power packs). While we still have plenty of the old Maerklin catenary wire that needs to be bent around the curves, I'm most likely going to use the more realistic newer Maerklin catenary (or maybe even Sommerfeld, if I'm crazy enough) in visible areas of the layout, while the old catenary will be used in the tunnel sections and staging to make as much use of existing material as possible. The tunnel tracks will have catenary installed from the beginning.

Oh, and yes, any of the above is at least 6-9 months out, since the room I'm going to put this all in doesn't even exist yet...

Deutsche Uebersetzung:

In den letzten paar Wochen habe ich den Anlagenplan noch etwas verfeinert.

Offensichtlich habe ich die Bahnhoefe und Industrieanlagen hinzugefuegt, sowie einen ersten Entwurf des Dorfes Emsingen mit groben Strassenverlauf. Ich bin mir nicht so ganz sicher wie ich den Bereich zwischen Emsingen und dem Bahnhof Talheim modellieren werde. Emsingen Dorf wird auf einer Platte gebaut sein, die auf Teleskopstangen (Schubladenschienen!) nach oben fahren kann, so dass ich wenn noetig in die hintere Ecke der Anlage reichen kann.

Der Gleisplan ist im Groben gleich geblieben (siehe Versuch 1), diverse Details haben sich geaendert. Talheim ist an der Westkante der Anlage auf der mittleren Ebene, waehrend Emsingen die noerdliche Haelfte der Anlage einnimmt. Der Schattenbahnhof ist auf der unteren Ebene unter Talheim angeordnet.

Die Gueterverladung in Emsingen bekam ein neues Gleislayout mit dem man interessanter rangieren kann, sowie mehr Gleislaenge hat und einen realistischeren Strassenverlauf erlaubt. Durch Einbau einer Bogenweiche auf der Westseite des Bahnhofs wurde das Ueberholgleis laenger. Nachteil dieser Anordnung ist dass ich nun keinen Entkuppler mehr dort unterbringen kann.

Auf der mittleren Ebene habe ich verfuegbaren Platz verweden und unter Verwendung einer Bogenweiche im Tunnel die Rampe zum Schattenbahnhof deutlich verlaengert. Dadurch ist die Steiungen unter 3% und die Gleise im Schattenbahnhof wurden auch laenger weil ich nun die Kurve bis ans Suedende der Anlage ausholen kann. Die Rampe von Emsingen West nach Talheim Sued ist fast genau ueber der Rampe zum Schattenbahnhof. Dadurch spare ich Platz, kann Traeger teilen, und mach mir den Bau schwerer weil die Gleise richtig zum Liegen kommen muessen, ich aber den Bahnhof in Emsingen erst nach Bau der unteren und mittleren Ebenen einbauen kann.

Betrieblich werde ich einen Trafo fuer die durchgehende Strecke verwenden, sowie jewils einen Trafo fuer jeden Bahnhof und den Schattebahnhof. 4 Trafos. Das Durchgangsgleis in den Bahnhoefen kann fuer Rangierfahrten von Streckentrafo auf Bahnhofstrafo umgeschaltet werden.

Ich habe vor ueberall Oberleitung zu installieren, mit Ausnahme der Industriegleise (nochmal 4 Trafos). Obwohl wir einiges an alter Maerklinoberleitung haben, die ueber Kurven gebogen werden mus, werde ich fuer die sichtbaren Bereiche der Anlage wohl eher die realistischer neue Maerklinoberleitung verwenden (oder Sommerfeld, wenn ich dafuer verrueckt genug bin), und die alte Oberleitung nur im Tunnel und Schattenbahnhof um soviel existierendes Material wie moeglich weiter zu verwenden. Tunnelgleise werden von Anfang an Oberleitung montiert haben.

Ach ja, all dies wird fruehstens in 6-9 Monaten was werden, da das Zimmer wo das alles reimkommt noch gar nicht existiert...

A different way on beautifying your home...

Forget family photos, or classic paintings over your fireplace. We were discussing for a while how to add a bit more umph to the family room, especially how liven up the area around the fireplace. Christoph had this idea, and I think it worked out very nicely. Ths kids had plenty of fun making it, too.

Emsingen & Talheim

This is a variation of the original Emsingen layout.



Basically a (mostly) single track main arranged in a twisted loop.
I kept the main station on the upper level with a freight facility and angled at 30degrees. I dropped the single track "mountain route" as well as the upper level reversing loop.

The main line now loops around the Emsingen station on a steady downgrade and emerges in the south-east corner making its way to the Talheim branch station. North of Talheim the main enters a tunnel which doubles as a small staging area. Within the tunnel (and part of the Talheim branch) is a reversing loop. From hidden staging the line climbs around a mountain ridge in a wide loop to the South, back up to the east side of the Emsingen station.

The track layout of both Emsingen and Talheim is very preliminary.

The good news about this layout is that it actually functions reasonably well in 4.5sqm. It's definitely a good base to continue to work from.

Landscaping-wise, the north end around Emsingen could be a small down or even a bit more urban, with the south end being rather rural and forested. Talheim could be the station of a small village (not modelled) with some light industry and freight needs near the tracks. There could be a small creek or lake in the valley south of Emsingen, east of Talheim. Actually, in that same place an access hatch is needed to be able to work on landscaping in the north-east corner, as well as deal with "traffic problems".


What's wrong about this layout?

Both stations are not operationally interesting, or prototypical enough to make this layout entertaining. Talheim is very basic with only one industrial spur. Emsingen is too squeezed in.

I approached this layout making Emsingen the main station, but due to how the tracks end up, I'm having trouble finding good excuses or space for industry or passenger traffic.

Talheim has more track length in the station, but due to landscaping constraints, not much options to develop to the East. The mountain, and the line climbing back up to Emsingen, need to be somewhat believable. To the West sit the operators, and I don't want to skimp on that space either. I currently can fit two chairs in there which is just about enough. Might be able to take a small section of "air" just West of the tunnel entrance and add another industrial freight delivery option.

Not pictured above is the "basement" level with more staging capacity, and an opposing reversing loop accessed via the second tunnel track below Emsingen. Having that second reversing loop allows me to turn around trains without decoupling or non-protoypical backing up through the only loop, as well as more space for storing complete trains.

With some imaginative engineering when placing the room walls (well, basically pushing them out as much as possible into the surrounding garage), I could squeeze out roughly an additional 20cm on both sides. This would allow for a few neat options...

I could run part of the main (from Emsingen West to Talheim South) as double-track, or...

I could make the north loop around Emsingen wider, add more landscaping and industry/city, making this part of the layout more believable, or ...

I could make more use of wider curves, use some more flextrack in places where wider radi would look good (basically most curves that swoop from the back to the front of the layout), as well as provide more space for landscaping, or ...

Installing DSL splitter in phone box

The phone wiring in my house is fairly ... adventurous. Obviously, various previous owners added to the existing cabling by running new cables, as well as extending from one jack to somewhere else. There doesn't appear to be any ryhme or reason to where you might find a phone jack. My master bedroom has 4 jacks nailed to the baseboard in various locations. Three of those jacks are even on the same phone line.

All this crazy wiring is adding echo effects that are less than helpful for DSL. DSL, like any digital signal, likes sharp edges and not blurry, echoy, line noise. Less outlets should translate to higher DSL speeds, because the digital signal is not as much degraded. Also, every jack that shares the line with the DSL signal, needs to have one of those DSL filter pigtail thingies plugged in, which tend to look ugly or be great toys, depending on who you ask. All good arguments for trying to install a DSL splitter as close as possible to the phone network hand-off point also known as demarcation point or "demarc". On the right is a typical phone network termination box as installed by Pacific Bell/SBC/AT&T for a while now. On the left is the original box from when the house was constructed.

The neat thing about these new boxes is that they have a RJ11 jack for your phone handset for each line, so it's easy to determine whether a problem is due to inside wiring or a problem for the phone company. There is some space in the customer accessible, lower half of the box where I'm going to put the DSL splitter.

Here is the splitter I'm using. It came with the house, i.e. the previous owner used splitters wherever they needed to terminate the DSL wiring. I'm not quite following the logic behind that, but oh well, easy enough, I didn't have to go out and get a splitter. It has a RJ12 jack on one side for the line to the phone company, and two RJ12 jacks on the other side, one for the DSL line, and one filtered for the phone line.

Here's everything put together. As you can see there is some space, but not a whole lot. Actually, it's quite tight. I didn't take a photo of my final arrangement, where I moved the splitter to the left half of the box in order to be able to close it reasonably weather tight. We'll see how this goes. If it becomes a problem, I'll place the splitter in the old phone wiring box, but so far it looks and works just fine.

When I moved in I measured DSL line speed according to Broadband Reports at 4.2MBit/s down and just over 600 up. With the splitter in the phone box, I now reliably get 4.9 MBit/s down and still around 600 up. Depending on the remote site, time of day, etc. some test sites even gave me 5MBit/s down.

Best Pizza Ever!

Toronado's is a very nice beer bar with huge selection of beer on tap. Lots of friendly people, too. The guys at the bar carded Christoph. It was hilarious to watch as they tried to figure out his German identity card.

Next door, however, is Mythic Pizza. I would have never put a foot in that joint, but the guys behind the counter at Toronado's recommended it wholeheartedly. Ok, so we tried. The slices are less than so-so, but if you are willing to wait 10 minutes for a real pizza you get the most awesome pizza I had so far on the West Coast. Yes, Toronado's beer might have helped, as did the time of night, but still...

Christoph had a most yummy straight Peperoni pizza, while I went for a Onion/Spinach/Feta Calzone. The dough has a nice crust, not too soft, not too hard, with a flavour of its own. The toppings are plentyful with quite a bit of cheese. Neither one of us managed to finish the "small" pizza we ordered. We took it home, and ate more the next morning. It still tasted good. The sign of an excellent pizza.

Installing Structured Wiring Center

It always kind of bugged me that my basic infrastructure was ... not very infrastructury.

For the new house I decidced I do this right. First off, get a wiring panel for the network wiring. At Home Depot I found a nice metal case from Leviton (SMC="structured media center"). Leviton is selling various plugin pieces that use the specially spaced holes in the case, and allow to pack the various parts (phone, switch, dsl splitter, cat5 jacks, etc.) very tightly. However, their stuff is ridiculously expensive (e.g. a no-name 10/100 hub with the special mounting bracket for the SMC, was $29 at Home Depot). No thanks.

Since most of my equipment doesn't have mounting braces or holes anyways, I mounted only the CAT5e patch panel for the home wiring directly into the case. The rest is mounted on a wodden half inch backing board using regular angle brackets and plenty of zip ties. Looks a little bit odd, but is very functional.

The case of course as a nice front cover as well. I mounted the wireless access point outside the case so that it doesn't inhibit reception. I have excellent connectivity throughout the house. As the various computer locations in the house become permanent, the number of wires running into the patch panel will go up...

Meinsingen in 4.5 sqm

Meinsingen is my third attempt at squeezing a halfway interesting HO layout in 4.5 square meters, and the first that made it far enough to post here.

It's an "along the wall", two-level layout with hidden staging with reversing loop under the top left corner (not visible in the PDF). Contrary to other layouts I made so far, the operator is located in an aisle and surrounded by the layout. A single track runs along all 4 walls of the room and crosses the entrance on a removable bridge.

The main station of the town of Meinsingen is located in the middle of the room, dual-connected to the run-around track (so that trains can change direction), and represents the terminus of a rural branch line. North of the station is the small town/residential area of Meinsingen. To the West is a light industrial area with a few sidings, industries, and loading dock/ramp. There are minimal engine maintenance facilities in Meinsingen. Just enough to maintain the yard engine stationed here.
Traffic destined for Meinsingen consists of passenger trains and short freight locals that need to spot cars to the various industries, pick up cars and then leave again.
The part of the run-around track in the Northwest corner could be hidden behind trees. A tunnel would look tacky here, unless I spend much more space on a proper hill.

The Southwest corner is hills and a valley, maybe a small river or creek.

In the Southeast corner is the small station of Teilingen in the middle of the woods, with the branch to hidden staging. There is also opportunity for train meets here.

The scenery remains forested along the East side and over some meadows or maybe fields in the northeast corner, we are back at the outskirts of Meinsingen.

Operationally, I'm not too happy with this layout. Every train that comes out of staging has to cross the bridge along the door.

In order to get back into staging, each train either has to change direction in Teilingen (including potentially moving the engine to the other end of the train, or enter the Meinsingen station. In Meinsingen either the engine runs around the cars, or the cars are taken over by another engine. In order to turn around, steam engines need to back out of Meinsingen to the West, take the main line to the North side, then back up again into the station.

Spotting cars and operations within the Meinsingen station is not too bad, though, as long as the trains consist only of 4-5 2 axle cars, or at most 2 D-Zug cars. The station tracks only allow for short trains < ~40-60 cm.

Overall, there are too many compromises here to make this worthwhile in HO.

Our next house ...

A nice oceanfront property for sale in Carmel.

US Customs scrutinizing laptops

While browsing I found this blog about an experience when crossing the border into the US.

I'm baffled. Those customs folks are not looking for terrorism files (which I would kind of understand), but illegal porn. Also, apparently customs as the right to seize and inspect your laptop at will.

Oh SJC, I love thou

I spent the last 1.5 hours on the observation platform at Terminal C of SJC reading the paper. It's the only spot in this airport that is both outside and not ripe with Diesel exhaust. After finding out that Alaska 477 is (yet again) delayed, I tried catching a standby on the (also yet again) delayed Alaska 89 to Seattle. Contrary to last time the strategy backfired this time. All seats were taken and I got to enjoy the airport a bit longer.

In my rush to get to the gate counter, I accidentally left my rolling bag at the security checkpoint. ... and only noticed it as I just went back out of the secure area on my way to the observation deck. Thankfully, security here is a bit slow and didn't notice the unattended baggage until I came back asking for it.
AlaskaAir has (almost) their own security checkpoint that is in that weird corner of Terminal C with little to no services. At least the one and only restaurant there (Togo's) stays open to 9pm now. They used to close at 7pm which was really annoying, when you are booked on the 9:35 flight and forgot to take something to eat, or were thirsty.

Oh well, 477 should start boarding in another 15-20 minutes, so I should get on my way through security now....

Emsingen is a goner

Arrgh! Remeasurement of the future train room revealed that I was working with 2 ft to much in length. The room is actually only 7.5 x 6ft. Also, the potential space in the garage turns out to be only 7.5 x 7ft unless I make access to the water heater really hard. Either one will make realization of the Emsingen layout impossible. I have to scale back and start over.

I really do want a loop, but it shouldn't look like a loop. I might not have the space to do a loop satisfactorily.

Bummer. I have to go back and review what I really want from this. Some ideas...

- Along the wall setup with a twisted, twice-around loop. Getting in and out of the room might be a challenge...

- A two level setup. The lower level, partially visible with continous traffic, and branch to a dead end station on the upper level with facilities. This way I don't need as many ramps that take up space and I could squeeze in some landscaping.

- A multi-level setup in out-and-back configuration. Dead-end main station with facilities on top level, a small way station with industry on middle level, a hidden turn-around loop with some staging on lower level. Neat. Possible? I have to try...

100!

Wow. 100 posts. When I started this, I didn't expect I would write about all the stuff I ended up writing about. Funny how things turn out sometimes.

More Living Room

Started with the accent wall in the living room and Christoph cleaned up the fireplace mantel.



The accent wall is kinda scary.



Mind you, the white beam in front of me is about 6 meters (~18 ft) up in the air, the ladder I'm standing on is wedged between that beam and the stairs to the upstairs bedrooms and quite wobbly. It's ok ... as long as I don't move.

I spent the afternoon at Home Depot getting more stuff, ranch-style shutters, kitchen faucet and the wiring center for the data cabling. That will be fun, too. Let's see if I get to that before I go to Seattle again next week.

Living Room & Spa

Today we painted the living room. Quite a big job. Primer and 2 layer of paint. Christoph did a very good job helping. Left to do are the fireplace mantel, base boards and the wall to the kitchen which will be in a different color than the rest of the room. However, it already looks awesome.

After a very good dinner courteously of Patricia we retired to the freshly cleaned spa (Sundance '97 Calypso) for the first time. Pascal was entertaining the neighborhood. Given how much fun he had, he was easily heard all over the place...

One thing to mention, however, is the power usage of that thing. When I turned on the heater the wheel on the power meter went crazy. I've never seen a meter rotate that fast. We turned on the solar power system (though we are not supposed to, since PG&E didn't come out yet), but it didn't help much, even with solar production of almost 3kW. Based on amperage ratings the spa consumed easily 8kW or more, just for heating...

I learned today that Pergo changed their program multiple times over the last 8 years and there is zero chance we will be able to match the installed Pergo laminate floor in the family room, where we currently have 30% Pergo and the rest carpet. The options are to replace all of the flooring and install new laminate that somewhat matches what we have in the kitchen, or replace just the carpet. We are likely going the "replace everything" route. Even though it's more expensive, the laminate area is just a tad too small when the table is pulled out for full size, and it gets annoying quickly. That's a project for in a few months.

Vacation ... sort of

I'm taking this week off from work to work on various projects in and around the house. Saturday morning was a lost cause, running errands and a 2 hour visit at the Home Depot, including getting carpet on order. Tuesday a guy will come out to measure it all out. I also picked up another set of shutters for the bedroom windows. Turns out that 68 inch (shutter width) is shorter than 70 inch (window opening). Gosh, where did I leave my glasses when measuring this? Sigh. I tried, and it does look a bit tacky if the blinds don't cover the full width of the window opening. I see another trip to Home Depot on the horizon.

At least I finished Patricia's workstation in the master bed room today, and organized all the moving boxes still stored in the garage (a lot of boxes). At least all the boxes are now accessible in case we need something.

The workstation is built into a closet. A small top shelf, a 1/2 inch laminated pine board accross the full width of the closet. I recycled the keyboard drawer from our IVAR shelving unit we had in the old place and mounted it under the new board. We don't have closet doors on most closet in the house anyways, and the Asbestos guys removed the rails from the ceiling as they scraped off the popcorn plaster before we moved in. With the new carpet the setup will look really nice. I've set up babybaer to connect via the wireless bridge for now until I run Ethernet throughout the house.

Finally, I removed lots of nails and screws from the walls downstairs and drained the spa, so we can clean it. Took only 3 hours, during which I moved the garden hose regularly, so all of the lawn gets some water.