Road Rage

Road Rage

I was driving into the civic center today for a meeting with a bunch of lawyers when I noticed this truck behind me riding my tail. As I drove on, the driver of this truck seemed to grow more desperate to follow me. Being the suspicious type, I did my best to ditch the guy, but he became even more aggressive in chasing me. I pulled into a busy construction site, hoping to have at least some backup if things got rough, and to my amazement, the truck flew through traffic cones and pulled along side me. Having shed my seatbelt and opened the door in anticipation of a quick exit, I stopped cold when I recognized the logo of a railroad on the side of his truck. I looked up to see the driver just five feet from me. Like nothing had happened, he very calmly asked, "Where'd you get that cool knuckle hitch?" He was talking about the trailer hitch on my truck being a replica of a railroad coupler. It turns out he is a signal maintainer for a railroad (to remain nameless) that operates downtown. I'm glad to know that safety is his number one priority.

Cool campfire

Cool campfire

I remember paying six bucks for a single LED and seeing a model campfire effect circuit for $36. Now, LEDs are everywhere, and are so cheap they are almost disposable. Here is a case in point. GE sells these "tea lights" for under two bucks each. It uses three of the button batteries (included) and a circuit that makes it flicker.

I bought one of these, dissected it, and I'm convinced I will be using it on a model. It was easy to cut off that plastic flame and the outer case with some wire cutters. Inside is a circuit board smaller than a postage stamp, a slide switch, a battery compartment and an orange LED. The circuit melts down with more than 3 VDC, but rewiring it to an AA battery should make a flame that will last for at least a week. A quick touch with a soldering iron and the orange LED could be replaced with a white LED for a welding effect. Not bad for two bucks.

Train Stolen by Teenager

Train Stolen by Teenager

Two boys, aged 13 and 16, escaped from an Ohio group home, started up a locomotive, disconnected the train, and drove it twelve miles down the tracks. I guess the Microsoft Train Simulator works pretty good as "training" software too.

Over on SoCal Railfan, they're talking about how a couple days ago an engineer was removed from the work site and terminated for having a photo of the locomotive's cab on the web. According to the thread, the Feds are investigating all cab shots and removing guilty engineers. Reportedly, such acts are a threat to national security (and the security of Ohio group homes). I've got to wonder if Microsoft will continue to sell their product.

Petticoat Junction

Petticoat Junction

Today, we had a work day in the garage for the N-Land Pacific guys. Bob and Jeff visited for a few minutes, but then headed home to finish a bathroom remodel. Stan and I spent a couple hours working on a new module for him, and then after lunch Steve showed up. As usual we had a blast, and talked a lot of trash. My favorite line of the day was classic: "It sounded like someone was f------ a cat. It was with his finger, but that is still wrong."
Stan had asked me about Tyco trains, so after dinner, I did a search for Tyco images. I saw the image on the right from Petticoat Junction, and it hit me.

I flashed back to the image on the left of Jeff and Bob at a previous work day in the garage.

I'm sure they'll hate me for posting it, but damn, it looks to me like they came from the same gene pool.

Train Taggers

Train Taggers

There is nothing that will set off a flame war on the model railroad boards faster than a discussion about graffiti. These guys will obsess over the diameter of a rivet on a boiler plate, and how a handrail height on a model isn't prototypical, but they won't consider having tagging on their trains because somehow that endorses or promotes tagging.

One of my primary reasons for liking trains is the raw power of them, the primitive nature of smelling exhaust and feeling the rumble. I think of the tagging like the primeval cave paintings. It is the base of mankind to express themselves. It is an expression, no matter how crude, that sets us apart from other animals. Perhaps it is that anthropological side of me that let me relish the several years I spent as part of a graffiti task force catching these bad guys.

Recently, Ken Szok posted this image on the SoCal Railfan board, and I thought I would share my professional analysis of the tagging. Click on the photo for a much larger view (Hold down the shift key when you click for a new window, or if you're using Foxfire, the Ctrl key for a new tab).

It was a female tagger (yes, they are out there). The two sets of three lines around the "27" are often indicative of eyelashes (and vanity). The stars around the 27 and date likely represent the "star" personality of the tagger. 27 is the tagger's initials , or more likely, the initials of their moniker (or nickname) . It is probably "BG" for the second and seventh letters of the alphabet, but it could also correspond with the letters on a phone keypad. You might be able to catch a fingerprint off the four horizontal drags on the left panel. The tagger's eye-level is most likely equal to the top of the date as suggested by the alignment with the strong horizontal segment of the scrolling in the right panel and the start of the better penmanship of the looping e's on the left panel (the spacing increases as it goes up, indicating the perspective change). This also places the four horizontal finger drags at mouth level, which is a natural position (go ahead - try it)...

This is the critical eye that haunts me when I look at tagging on walls, bridges and trains. It is not all gangsters marking their territory like dogs. It is an expression of emotion in a primitive form. It is a necessary element in modeling a railroad, and an unnecessary element in modeling a train. I am a model railroader, so I will be tagging the crap out of my trains and scenes.

The Train Show

The Train Show

The guys from the N-Land Pacific met for breakfast this morning and then headed over to the train show in Anaheim. I'm pretty sure that was my last public train show ever. It was the same Tyco trash on cookie sheets that I've seen for years, and I had to pay $7 for the privilege.

The people attending the show continue to inbreed and apparently somewhere in the evolution, they stopped bathing. It would have been more fun to do a tractor-pull with some of the dozens of electric wheelchairs that took turns ramming my ankles.

Andy and I split after just an hour and headed across the street to Disneyland. The highlights of the day included talking the tram dude into letting Andy do the spiel (Driver, we're all clear), getting a WPM DVD from Bob and Jeff, and trading El Gato to Robert for a Maxi-Stack. You can check out a four minute edit I did of the DVD here.

Sociology of Model Railroading

Sociology of Model Railroading

I was just reading a great essay, The Sociology of Model Railroading. Imagine my surprise when I found the author has a link to my website on his site. Great minds and all.

Lots of email on the demise of the Cajon Layout. Stuart writes, "Trashed the layout, have we? Looking to socialize more while running trains? I wonder what Freud would have said about that." He goes on to say, "Let me be the first to predict that your little Porter venture will soon lead you into HO. You heard it here first."

Stan writes, "I just got on the computer and one of the things I like to do is read your blog. I find it humorous, fun and most of all a good release. So I'm in there reading your last two entries and I see something that your tearing down Cajon? What happened? I've heard about realigning for 2007 but..."

The End of an Era

The End of an Era

You might think it was a New Year’s Eve thing, but I’ve been thinking about it for days, if not weeks. I’ve decided that staying the course with the Cajon layout is not what I want to do.

My style of model railroading has become social, and consumable. I love the interaction with others, and once something is done, I’m done with it, and I usually give it away. I look at the Cajon layout and see all of the extra infrastructure like dust control, and lighting, and realize it is not what I enjoy about model railroading. I look at the compromises of a 12” minimum radius and realize I’ll have to apologize to others and myself for the rest of the layout’s lifespan.

I like modular railroading. I get the social interactions. I get the vain displays of my work. I get to experiment. I get the freedom of ditching what doesn’t work for me. I get to feel the satisfaction of completion over and over again.

I’m ready to tear out the Cajon layout and re-task the garage as a workshop for modular model railroading and other projects. I am imagining cabinets for dust free storage of modules. I am imagining a modest test layout, a spray booth and a workbench.

I think my next modular project will be a staging yard similar to what Bernd built for their group. Even though I will be using Code 55 for all my modules, I have a considerable amount of Code 80 turnouts and track that will work for a utilitarian staging yard. Sure there will be a transition to Code 55, but Code 80 is robust and perfect for the utility of the yard.

The yard, and most of my modules for that matter, will probably be 16” wide. I think that is a great width for single-track modular railroading. A 24” wide module is too cumbersome for one person, and a 12” wide module is too skinny. A module width of 16” has the advantage of portability and the economy of a standard dimension that cuts cleanly from four-foot timber.

I don't regret any of this. It has, and continues to be a wonderful hobby for me. Cajon Pass is still in my neighborhood, and I will continue to draw upon it for inspiration. Now if you excuse me, I have to go clean the garage.

Demolition Day

Demolition Day

Today was the last day of the Cajon layout. It went fairly well, but I have a cut on my forehead from a snag on a nail, and a sore back for my troubles.

The rubble filled the bed of my truck and six large trash bags. Of course not everything is heading for the landfill, but the lumber, foam, cork and track is gone from Devore to Summit.

That area of the layout is now going to be a 3'x12' workbench with cupboards and pegboard under the worktop. The area on the other side of the garage is going to be a 4'x20' layout with a connection to the Free-moN modules.