Bernhards Random Ramblings BACKUP

I picked up this model of Kbs 443 stake car  for a couple bucks at a 2nd hand store when I was in Germany the last time . What I didn't notice at the time was that the car deck was buckling because someone must have hit it hard enough that the weight sandwiched between the plastic layers for the deck and the frame had become dislocated. When I took it out of the box and put it on track, it was obvious that the car geometry was off. It took complete disassembly of the car and removal of two bent metal clips to get that straightened out. While I had it on the workbench I figured it would make a good candidate for a light weathering experiment with PanPastels. I started with the deck, mucked it up a bit with various shades of brown, umbra, and burned sienna, then went around the outside with burned sienna to both tone down the stock color of the car, as well as take off some of the plastic shine. Finally, I applied umbra around the axles, bearings, and springs. It took me longer to re...

My Unifi AP-PRO died last weekend with a whimper (*). I liked the relative uneventfulness of the AP-PRO deployment, so while my RMA request made it through Ubiquiti's Support department, I ordered a AP-AC-PRO, which arrived today. Plugged in and configured within a couple minutes, it just worked. ... well, except for my MacBook Pro, ... and only in the living room. Despite the MacBook Pro showing strong wireless signal, a ping to the default gateway got 100% packet loss. What the heck? Walking around the house, the Wifi signal as reported by the Mac was consistently strong, but as soon as I walk into the living room I get 100% packet loss, while maintaining that strong Wifi signal. I had occasional episodes of this behavior with the AP-PRO before. However, with the AP-AC-PRO it's reproducible 100% of the time. After reading lots and lots of MacBook Pro vs. Unifi AP horror stories from 2 to 5 years ago in various forums, the one advice that helped was to consider 2.4GHz interfe...

Just before Davenport, north of Santa Cruz, lies Panther Beach . Access to the beach requires climbing down the cliff in what's basically a dry creek bed. The currents are very strong here, but that doesn't bother the birds. It was high tide, access to Seven Mile Beach was difficult, and we saw a bunch of people get very wet. There was some good wave action. A pretty beach and a nice place to hang out.

The Timesaver module forms the heart of the Greenly Northern, my office layout. Today I pulled it from storage where it had been since a desk move left me with no space to set up the trains to much sadness in the team. My current desk location has sufficient space along the window sill to do something with trains again. I cleaned the tracks, rearranged electrical hook-ups a bit, and a short while later the little GE 70-toner was up and running again. For the puzzle web page to work, I need a computer nearby. Everyone has a smart phone, but I can't guarantee Internet connectivity to my server at home. Also, many switching moves take time, so the screen saver turns on while we run the train and having to unlock the phone all the time to plan the next move is annoying. What if I used the phone to operate the train? Been there, done that. JMRI   and  Engine Driver are well-known solutions for that. I already have the NCE USB adapter for use with my NCE PowerCab. Connect that to...

The summer is over. Coyote Creek is back to its normal flow for this time of year.

After a team dinner tonight, I took Caltrain home for a change. Still the same. Can't wait for electrification. Contrary to most American passenger trains Caltrain is usually on time ( unless it's not ), and while old, the trains are well maintained and clean.

Our old kitchen faucet wasn't that terrible, but it had a few problems . Today I replaced it with a Moen Arbor with Motionsense. The whole thing is pretty easy to install, with control unit mounting under the sink. Franziska helped with the installation. It looks really nice and feels solid (despite various plastic parts). Of course, the real fun part are the motion sensors:

Bayshore Harbor. The water is green and the bridge is back. Murf in Nowheres Climbers at Mt. Nicholls The main line near the foot of the water falls at Mt. Nicholls.  AC-12 4275 cab-forward in Victoria The Bakersfield staging "Mega-Drawer"

TSG multimedia was at Silicon Valley Lines today to film the layout. This was a very productive, yet tiring, day and I'm very much looking forward to the finished video. Stay tuned!

Tatjana and I went into the hills in Santa Teresa County Park to try and shoot some lightning. Possibly successfully. "ARRRRRGH, that flash is bright!" Update: We got up there relatively late, so we caught the storm only from behind and didn't catch a lot of nice photos. This is one of the nice ones. (Photo credit: Tatjana)

While there's a massive hurricane on the East Coast, Californians are getting excited about thunderstorms.

The San Luis Obispo Railroad Museum is located in the former freight house of the SLO station. A very nice railroad museum with neat local exhibits, like this reconstruction of the freight house agent desk. A restored caboose and former club/diner/observation car are outside located on a track outside the museum. They also are building a very nice model railroad depicting scenes of the narrow gauge Pacific Coast Railway between Avila and San Luis Obispo, as well as the Southern Pacific through San Luis Obispo between Santa Margarita, CA and Surf, CA. While a good part of the layout is under construction, multiple scenes on the lower level are (mostly) finished. I very much liked the Pacific Coast Ry scenes around Avila. The backdrop paintings are exceptionally well done. PCRy train on the wharf at Avila Beach Pilings! A lot of work and patience required.  I spent quite a bit of time chatting with one of the docents there. When I inquired about their plans for operations, he showed ...

I'm working Evitts Tower tonight. The phone system is a critical part of the job. If and when I ever build a large layout, I want phones.

We're having a heat wave with limited winds, which traps smog in valley. Additionally, smoke from the wild fires in Oregon and Northern California is drifting into the area. The result is a very colorful sunrise.