Blame the TDF for no blogs of late

As the title says, blame the Tour De France (2014) for the lack of blogs over the last month. I finally caught up on all the recorded episodes last week so no excuse now for getting on with the various things I have on my plate at the moment.

My friend PK was able to document his experience and howtos for the Raspberry Pi and using JMRI v3.8, so I now have some reference material to possibly add to my original instructions. On the subject of the Pi, the latest incarnation the B+ was released recently and PK went and bought himself one. He showed me the little beasty and I was impressed. I was also very impressed with the case that came with it from Element 14. It was very well designed, and about the size of a cigarette pack. Very slim! So I went and bought myself one as well seeing I had one of the earlier release Bs from a couple of years ago. So something else to get on with!

In the month just gone very little modelling has happened. However I have bought the three decoders needed for my Class 108 DMU (1 x motive/lights and 2 x function only for light control). Yet to install. I did however run the motor unit in on DC.

A couple of weekends ago Lachlan helped me with the DAS modelling clay placement on the vertical surfaces of the tunnel coming into the Bray MPD side of the layout. PVA painted on the polystyrene, then placement of the rolled thin clay onto the PVA. Then a little water on a finger to rub the edges of the pieces of clay together. While the clay was still damp, I also scratched in some fine lines with a pin to give the impression of the drill holes where the rock had been excavated. The intent is to hopefully produce a dark gray stone tunnel and excavated wall once painted. I did the painting yesterday so I will have a look at how it has dried overnight to see if the colour is correct. Else I can always paint over it again. I am using acrylic artist paint.

So now I have the Pi/JMRI side of things to sort out, the Bray tunnel painting, Metcalfe buildings to put together, plastic building and track side structures kits to put together, train detection sensors to install so that JMRI can 'see' things, decoder installs for the Class 108, as well as getting back to the NSWGR 73 Class decoder install!

So many things to do. Glad I don't have a huge layout to worry about at the moment!

JMRI and other things

Since the last post I haven't had much to talk about as I have been pottering around with JMRI on the Pi. I had been getting some interesting errors which I have been engaging with the JMRI developers on. By the weekend just gone it looks like we might have sorted on one of the problems, namely my SB3a being recognised by JMRI. Looks like it came down to possibly some old info, an incorrect baud setting and some jumper pin settings on the NCE USB. By Saturday I was able to acquire a loco and do a fwd/rev test via JMRI no the Pi. Brilliant!

Now I am working on the process to synchronise files between the Pi and a Cloud provider so that changes made on the laptop can be replicated on the Pi. I'd spent about two weeks looking into Dropbox integration and there are a lot of ways of doing it, but none were working for me. I even logged a fault with Dropbox support when there own process failed, but I got no joy from them, just a 'form' email reply with no help at all. So stuff them! On Friday I stumbled on a howto that actually uses another mob called Box (www.box.com), a UK based mob very similar to Dropbox (US). The beauty of this provider is that it does support a Linux protocol that allows remote server mounting to a local machine. I registered and got 10GB free (default allocation whereas I think Dropbox was 2GB). I followed the instructions and was able to connect remotely. Now I just have to sort out a way to sync the files on the remote site to the Pi. At present I have a lead on scripting using the command rsync, but some experimenting to be done.

Apart from that, on Saturday I purchased my birthday present from Hobbyrama. A Bachmann 3 car BR early green DMU. Looks nice. Just have to run it in and pop in the decoders. I would like to put sound in it, but looking at the pricing, it is just about the same price as the unit itself so probably not.

Sunday I pottered around in the shed to keep out of the cold wind. I tidied up the Bray side of the layout and Matthew helped me paint the tunnel / derelict overpass brown in preparedness for trialling some scenic techniques using modelling clay (Das) I have been reading about.

Road Trip 2014 - NSW

Not much has happened on the modelling front since the last post as I have just returned from a week on the road with the family, travelling through NSW. Started the trip travelling down the Pacific Hwy. First day's arvo tea was at Grafton under the rail bridge near the Golden Arches. Whilst under there we heard a loco going over, so quickly ducked out and saw what I think was maybe a 48 class but it was running light and quickly and I didn't get to see the cab too well, and the loco number was heavily weathered to be incomprehensible!
A couple of days later we were in the Hunter Valley on our way to Dubbo. While in the Hunter, we saw one of the many coal trains coming out from one of the mines.

Whilst in Dubbo, we did the obligatory visit to the Western Plains Zoo, which was pretty good this time round. Another day we went off to the Parkes Radio Observatory, which was also good, and the boys were fascinated with it. Back in Dubbo, I noticed a new walking track near the old Dubbo to Molong  line Dundullimal Bridge, which wasn't there the last time I visited Dubbo. Here are some photos. I reckon it might be a good bridge to model sometime in the future!

According to my sister, apparently the mentioned zirconia mine is still going ahead but there is talk about the transport of the ore options. Going rail would require a big investment in renewing the the rail from Toongi to Dubbo. Going road would require upgrading the roads to and from Toongi to either Dubbo or elsewhere. I would like to see rail go ahead.

Some info on the mine:

http://www.alkane.com.au/index.php/projects/current-projects/dubbo

Further info enter "Toongi mine" into Google

After a few days in Dubbo it was time to start heading home. We went via the Siding Spring Observatory near Coonabarabran. Boy was it cold up on the mountain. However the surrounding national park was still pretty barren after the massive bushfire that went through the area in January 2013 destroying over 80% of the park. From there we headed towards Tamworth via Gunnedah. While there we saw a few locos. One consist pulling wheat wagons to the flour mill. Saw a 73 class (Manildra Mills) waiting to do some shunting. A tamper coming back into town. And a container train being pulled towards the coast, probably Newcastle or south towards Sydney and maybe Botany Bay. Here is a video I took while waiting at a crossing.

After Gunnedah, we travelled through Tamworth and onto Armidale for the night. Next day was the big trip home to Brissie. The New England Hwy follows the old Armidale to Wallangarra line which has been 'mothballed' for quite some time now. As a result, many of the timber trestle bridges or viaducts are rotting and collapsing. Probably even more so from the stretch from Tenterfield to Wallangarra. Saw the following brick and timber bridge at the side of the highway and had to stop to take a photo before it collapsed. Brick work still looks fine but the timbers have had it.

However after crossing the border into Qld I was very happy to see how the narrow gauge line from Wallangarra to Warwick, via Stanthorpe has been restored to its former glory by the preservation society based at Warwick. Here is there web site:

http://www.southerndownssteamrailway.com.au/index.php

Finally arrived home Tuesday evening. Long day in the saddle!

I have started looking into the JMRI start of day mentioned in the previous post. I am having some success with this so far. Just got to get the logic correct, but nearly there I think. Also have to sort out a new decoder for the BR Class 08 mentioned in the previous post as the one I purchased from the Club shop was stuffed. I am getting a refund towards a new one once more have come into stock.

Hopefully this blog was of interest. Something different at least.

Decoder in Y1 and progress with JMRI PanelPro

So what has been happening in the couple of weeks since the last update? 

I have installed the NCE decoder in to the Sentinel Y1 steam shunter, finally!

I have been meaning to install the Digitrax decoder into the Class 08 shunter during the week, and actually came close this afternoon to achieving it, but the youngest asked to go for a bike ride to the bike track down in the park. So being the good Dad (at least for today!) I walked down to the park while he rode his bike.

The other activity I have been concentrating on while I am waiting for the hobby room to be finished getting painted has been learning about JMRI's PanelPro Layout Editor. I had drawn up Illavearf and set up the Turnout (Points) table via the NCE Simulator option in the absence of noting being connected to the layout at the time. So this afternoon I was happy enough with my effort to connect up to the layout via the NCE USB module. Nothing worked from the Layout drawing (mimic panel) but did directly via JMRI turnout control. Blast! Was it the SB3a. Swapped the Powercab in and tried running from the mimic panel, and still nothing. So not the command stations. Hmmmm. Then I had a light bulb moment. Open a new panel, setup a new turnout table and setup a DCC addressed turnout. Assign to the new turnout on the drawing. Test operation. It worked! I could be wrong, but my take is that the turnouts setup via NCE simulator are just that, a simulation. To operate on a layout, each turnout has to be 'seen' by JMRI when setup in the table. Once I had setup all the points again whilst connected to the layout, I was then able to restart JMRI, open the Illavearf mimic panel, and operate the points. Only problem is that at start up of JMRI at the moment, it doesn't know where the points are positioned as there is no sensor feedback at the moment. Possible fix could be to use a 'Start of Day' function and set the layout turnouts to where I want them to be. Have to investigate this further. Other things I was successful in was to setup a couple of 'Lights' controls, one being linked to an 'Internal Sensor' assigned to a button icon. Clicking on the icon made the Signal Box light go on and off. Wow progress. The it was onto the Signal heads. It took me awhile to work out the type of 'decoder type' JMRI was describing in the drop down box, but once done, it was easy. Now I just have to sort out the logic around the interoperability of the signals with the points. I was very happy with today's outcomes.

The other JMRI thing I did was set it up to save the User Files to a Dropbox directory. This allows syncing of device located files to a 'cloud' based location when the PC/laptop is connected to the Internet. Just a piece of mind. It will also allow the future ability of different devices to access the same set of files. Something to think about with the Pi in the future.

The Club's Buy and Sell was on today, but I didn't get to it as I didn't need to buy or sell anything at the moment.

Decoders for Sentinel and Class 08 purchased

The only thing this week was I purchased the decoders from the Club store that I required for the Sentinel shunter and Class 08 shunter. I had intended to install these over the weekend, but this didn't eventuate. So a task to do this week hopefully.

I didn't make it to the Brisbane Model Railway Show this year. Family commitments took precedence.

ANZAC Weekend and BIG Decision

The ANZAC long weekend started on Friday with me going along to the local dawn service. I was quite surprised at the number of people who turned out. Maybe the weather had something to do with it as it wasn't cold at all considering the time of year. Afterwards I went home and quietly potted around, loaded the car with the rollingstock and Pi that I was taking to the club that morning, and just generally waited for the rest of the family to wake up. Once I had fed the boys and tidied up I waited for the missus to get up. Once up I said my good byes and escaped to the club. I was meeting up with another member who wanted to see the Pi working on a layout. PK was also there when I arrived. So after I connected everything up to the DCC system I realised I had forgotten to bring along the USB interface module, so back home I went. Lucky I am only 7 minutes away. Back at the club and everything working, PK was able to connect with his iPhone which was great as I haven't had a iPhone connect. I connected and we ran some trains from our phones. Amazing! The Prez rocked up shortly afterwards and also seemed impressed by the little Pi. Anyway by midday it was time to go home as we had plans for the afternoon, bicycling down at Sandgate.

The rest of the weekend was modelling free unfortunately as other things got in the way. The hobby room is no closer to being used as the missus decided to paint the inside of the cupboards as well, so the room is full of everything that was in the cupboard (big cupboard!). I did however take out the Sentinel and Class 08 to check on the decoder types and size needed. PK was at the club today and picked up some different types to bring to work for me to see and decided which ones to purchase.

The Brisbane Model Railway Show is on this upcoming weekend, but I am not sure if I will be going along. Saturday is now footy day for Lachlan, and he was also wanting to go to the Lions vs Swans game at the Gabba as well that night. We'll see! Sunday I was supposed to be working (very rare thing for me to work on the weekend) but I have been able to move a few things around in the project to do before and after the weekend, however the family was invited yesterday to my niece's birthday, so it looks like any chance of going along is now very slim!

Now the BIG Decision explanation. Back in February I applied to a job ad Queensland Rail had advertised, for Trainee Network Controller positions (the guys and gals on the boards!). I was successful in getting through the first two rounds of psychometric testing, when in fact I thought I had stuffed up the second one. I was then invited along to the Group Assessment just before Easter, which involved seven applicants working as a team in managing a situation. I think I was the second oldest there. Most were young guys and one girl. All very eager. I thought I had duded this as I wasn't the most enthusiastic in the group. But I did get through and was invited to undertake more psychometric testing this week. Between the last two invitations I did some research on the pay and conditions based on some info that the HR person mentioned at the Group test. I was prepared to to make up the shortfall in pay for a short time. However based on an incorrect assumption on the progression through the base pay levels, it would have taken longer than I had planned for, and thus would have been financially unsustainable. Along with very unsociable working hours, working in a windowless room, and the fact that my sons are really needing me to be about home for them, and not being fair on the missus and the family income I decided on Sunday night to decline further testing and pull my application.However it was very nice to have had the opportunity to progress so far through the testing. If only I was twenty years younger!

 I will just have to be a controller on model railways ;-) 

Easter weekend modelling

Well not much happened modelling wise over the weekend. Other things got in the way! Also still no closer to getting my hobby table back into the hobby/rumpus room as the missus was busy entertaining kids last week during the school holidays and didn't get any time to finish the painting in that room.

The afternoon of Good Friday though I took Matthew down to the Club so that (a) he was out of Mum's hair, (b) he could run some of his DC trains, and (c) I could test the Pi on the new layout by taking all my bits and bobs down and hopefully not be disturbed by other members. The Club was empty so full steam ahead! After what seemed ages getting Matthew's DC trains running on the old permanent layout which seems to have missed a bit of cleaning of late (members are running on the DCC new layout at the moment!), I was able to connect up the Pi. Within a couple of minutes the Pi was broadcasting it's wifi IP address and once connected to my smartphone, Engine Driver app was able to see JMRI being broadcasted as well. Connection made. I was then able to run a NSWGR 44 with some wagons effortlessly around the layout. Sure was good not to be tethered via the NCE throttle. Even Matthew was able to walk around and follow the train, blasting away on the horn!

I'm now researching what size motion decoders to put in the Bachmann Class 08 and Dapol Sentinel shunters that I bought last year. I don't think I will do sound on these as not much space in them.