Converting a Peco turnout for Maerklin (5)

Here's the converted Peko turnout leading into the Raiffeisen spur. Compared to earlier builds, I simplified the wiring and the power routing.

Wildlife on the Commute - Blacktail Deer

I took the late bus today and was surprised to see blacktailed deer next to the street. I haven't seen them out this late in the morning before, but hey I'm not complaining.

Dave Parks' Cumberland West - Evitts Creek Yard

Tonight I spent most of my time with a view of the hills behind Cumberland, MD. While the session had some hiccups, Evitts Creek Yard was busy with classification work and I had my hands full. Yet there was always time to chat with other operators.

I really appreciate the train line-up and detailed instructions to the Yardmaster about what to do with each train.

Back in Swing

I found a couple hours this weekend to spend more time with Untergroeningen segment 3 and decided to install turnout motors. When I installed these tracks in a hurry almost 3 months ago, including my very first converted turnout without thinking, I forgot to account for the straight through puko strip design I used around the throw bar there instead of the wire loop I used in later builds.

The track is fed with power from both sides of the turnout, so I could have just cut the etched puko strip at the throw bar. However, that would have required disassembling all track on this segment, since there isn't enough space to get in there with a cutter from either the top or underneath. Instead, I just drilled an off-center hole into the throw bar so that the actuator wire from the Tortoise underneath doesn't collide with the puko strip.

Don Edwards again

I had a meeting in the Sunnyvale office today that I should attend in person, and another meeting in the Mountain View office that I should attend in person. I solved that conundrum by taking the Bay Trail through Don Edwards Wildlife Preserve around the outside of Moffett Field.

A nice way to decompress a bit after a busy week. The many photos I took of birds are all terrible. Need to come back with a proper camera and a long zoom lens.

Eurowest 2019

This was a new one for me. First time ever that I gave an official talk on a model railroading topic. As far as I can tell, the audience was interested in what I was talking about, and I got positive feedback after the talk. What else can you ask for?

Schwerpunktverfahren in combination with Richtpunktverfahren

I also helped run the HOm layout as in previous years. The MOB FZe 6/6 with the appropriate Pullmanexpress cars was a particularly nice unit to watch traversing the layout. Here it is in Chamby.

I just love this view of the Wright Flyer. A great day with lots of inspiration.

July Ops at Silicon Valley Lines

Train 444 at Mt. Nicholls

Now that I'm back in California, I was able to participate at Silicon Valley Lines operations tonight. What a rush! We had the house full with members and guests. That allowed us to run both yards with two man crews and also run several trains with engineer and conductor crews. After we got everyone organized, first trains started running shortly before 8pm.

First, I drew train 7777 which is a quick "cleanup run" to move cars from Bayshore to Bakersfield and ran it with a visitor as engineer.

Next up was train 444, which runs Windsor - Silicon - Nowhers - Jasper Jct, with substantial switching work in Silicon, and some work in Nowheres. My visitor engineer did a great job, and really enjoyed the challenge.

Train 444 working the cement plant in Silicon

Train 444 in Mt. Marvel after leaving half of our cars in Nowheres.

I finished the evening with train 277, a quick run from Nowheres to Windsor.

Of course, I wasn't the only one running trains tonight. Here's Steve looking after train 443 as he approaches Nowheres Yard limits. Behind him John and Liam with the second section of south-bound train 226 are meeting Dave's north-bound train 840 at Fryton, while Patrick, the engineer on train 320, which is in the siding in Upton, is watching.
In the distance, Bill and Les break down an arrived train at Bayshore Yard. At the same time at least two more trains were working on trackage not visible in this photo.

"Good Job ..."

Seen on the way home tonight. Uhm, ...

"Cookie in a Pot" Experiment Aborted

I was given this lovely butter cookie in sun flower look stuck in a clay pot. A cute idea, but the cookie didn't look that delicious in it's plastic wrap.

So I decided to turn this into an experiment inspired by one of the DVD extras from Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me" movie. I was curious to see when the cookie was going to become moldy. I placed it on a shelf at my desk in the office, and waited, and waited, ... I moved buildings and teams within the company and the cookie-in-a-pot came along as a fixture at or near my desk.

When I was cleaning up after the last move, I found it in an unopened moving box. 12 years later with no mold I finally aborted the experiment.

As you can see in this shot of the rear, the cookie was produced in 2007.

Vasona Branch Shakedown Session

Extra 3444 at the Packing House off Auzerais Ave in West San Jose

I participated in a shakedown session at Robert Bowdidge's Vasona Branch layout today. Since the layout hasn't operated for a while, the idea was to find bugs and gremlins in the layout. It performed quite well for my crew.

The Vasona Branch is one of the first operating layouts I encountered, and it still pulls me in the same way it did 10 years ago. On top of that, Robert is a great host with lots of knowledge of local history.

San Carlos Street viaduct

The layout has a unique mix of busy city switch jobs combined with the rural feeling of the Valley of Heart's Delight into the Santa Cruz mountains  in the 1930's. 

Apricot drying racks between West San Jose and Cambell

This was a very relaxed session with lots of chatting. The time went by very quickly and I think everybody enjoyed themselves. I certainly did.

At Wrights south of Los Gatos

Aaaand back

Getting up at 5am for an 8:20am flight is so much nicer than 3am for a 6am flight. My mother dropped me off in Waiblingen, I took the 6:10am S-Bahn to the airport and an easy 40 minutes later disembarked less than 100 meters from the check-in counter. For now Stuttgart is still a small airport with short walks. Stuttgart 21 will likely "fix" that convenience.

Boarding was planned for 7:50am, but the inbound flight arrived only by 7:55am. My connection in Frankfurt just got a little bit tighter.

To my surprise we got out of Stuttgart with only a light delay and upon touch down the pilot hit the brakes very hard to catch the shortest path to our parking position in one of the most remote corners of the Frankfurt airport. Since my seat was in the middle of the airplane, I was one of the last people getting off. However, that meant I got to enjoy the ride in the second bus which was not only almost completely empty, but also faster at the terminal than the first bus.

After the usual US passport and security check nonsense I settled into my seat for the long-haul flight to SFO. Along the way I got to observe melting inland ice on the west coast of Greenland.

Isn't that Mount Shasta in the distance?

In the last turn before lining up for final approach into SFO.  Hi, Carl!

Almost home.

German Rain

You might have noticed by now, that after 20 years in California, I really enjoy rain. Today is no different,. Let's hope it won't be too bad tomorrow.

Livraria Lello

Livraria Lello is a book store that became part of the Harry Potter craze after J.K. Rowling revealed that it served as inspiration for the Hogwarts library. I can certainly see how this store is inspirational, even if you are not a hard-core HP fan. I very much enjoyed myself during our visit. The whole store, including the stair case, the shelves, and the ceiling are beautifully adorned and works of art.

Of course the store is capitalizing on its sudden popularity, and I can't really blame them. You need to buy a voucher to enter the store. The 5 Euros per person can be applied to book purchases. While most books sold here are in Portuguese, they do have a limited selection in other languages, mostly English, some French, some Spanish.

Crowd management is a real challenge here. All photos in this post were taken within a few minutes after store opening with close to a hundred people waiting in line outside. I suspect that such photos are pretty much impossible otherwise during the high season.

Porto Sao Bento

Sao Bento station in Porto is famous for the tile-adorned entrance hall, but I do like this view from the entrance hall into the train shed, too.

Ephemeral Engineering

Lisbon Tram 28

Of course, we rode the famous tram line 28 through Lisbon from one end to the other, and several times on shorter trips. The ride is definitely more fun if you have a seat.

Tram 28 travels through a fairly diverse set of neighborhoods, up and down the hills, threading through some impressively tight spots.

Ascensor da Bica

Lisbon has several elevators connecting the upper neighborhoods with lower-lying areas. Most of them are from the early 20th century and part of regular transit operations, so a 24 hour / day pass is valid on these lines.

We took the elevator for fun, like apparently most other passengers. Locals seem to take the bus, which runs more frequently and goes farther, not just up the hill.

Riding the elevator with its creaky, wooden passenger compartment is an experience I was happy to wait 10 minutes in line for. However, had the line been much longer, we would have skipped it.

At the top near Largo Calhariz.

Tram 25

Lisbon, Rua de S. Paulo