Clinic: Operations & Car Forwarding with JMRI Panel Pro Ops

 
Caption: Title Slide

Mark Juett was leading this clinic, which is something of a follow-on to his Setting Up Operations clinic from yesterday morning. 

JMRI Operations is found under, intelligently enough, the Operations menu of JMRI Panel Pro. It is in a word, flexible. Another word may be "complex." It is also free, and has many developers, which stands in it's favor. Bruce Petrarca (formerly the MRH DCC columnist), who was attended the clinic, recommends tossing the team $10 a year as a thank you. Mark also thinks it is easy to learn and can get you up and running quickly, but that just convinced me to stay far away from any competing programs. I was well on my way to getting JMRI Ops running on my layout before other matters took priority, and "easy to learn" was not my first impression. But I suspect that is going to be the case for any program complex enough to run a model railroad of any size. 

There is a lot of setup that has to be done and some decisions to be made, before the first train rolls out. 

The earliest setup is essentially data entry. You give the program your railroad's name, scale, and what system of measurement you'd like to use, IIRC. You also establish if the railroad goes North-South, East-West, or both. Then you get to enter your entire car roster into the program (hey - you now have a complete inventory of your rolling stock). The program is very forms driven, with many of the entries, such as the roadname of the car, taken care of with a dropdown list. If a desired selection isn't on the list, each list has an edit button next to it, which launches a dialog box where you can add entries to the list. Locomotives and cabooses are added in much the same way. 

  
Caption: After entering the rosters, you build your layout in JMRI Ops

One of the many nice things about JMRI Ops is that if you have told it what scale you are modeling, you can just take a tape measure to all your sidings and enter them into the Locations database with the " (inches) symbol, it will do the grunt work of converting the length to scale feet. One thing to note is that while you can set up restrictions on what car types can be set out on a specific siding, and what trains can service it, it's best to leave it wide open until you've got the program running reliably. And only make one change at a time to add restrictions. Woe Betide the person who makes a bunch of changes and then gets the "Build Failure" error when trying to build a train. 

 
Caption: one of the more confusing concepts in JMRI ops is staging. Staging is for trains, not a place to send cars. Yards are where you send cars. 

 
Captions: You can't have a train unless it has a route to travel.

Think of routes as the limits of a train's setup - it defines where it can go and in what order, when it leaves (I think this can be left blank, particularly if there is more than one train that uses a route), and what can be done along the way by the train. 

There are a lot more concepts to this, I just wanted to show a few examples of the slides. An earlier version of the clinic was videotaped last year at the Kansas City convention, and is behind the member login of https://nmra.org  at  https://www.nmra.org/clinics/operations-and-car-forwarding  - there are other JMRI Operations clinic videos there as well - just one of the benefits of being a member of the NMRA. < /endplug>

Speaking of plugs, Mark promoted Joe Fugate's "Run Like a Dream" series of books at both of the clinics I attended. 

Now Hear This! What NMRA Members Want Most from the Association

 
Caption: Title Slide

New England Region president John Doehring led this clinic that was based on a survey he made of the members of the NER back in 2015. Out of the ~1800 members of the NER, about 325 answered the survey. It is acknowledged that the responses to the survey are biased by the fact they were provided by those who cared enough to respond to the survey. 

 
Caption: NER President John Doehring

In capturing the demographics, there were really no surprises there - 65% of the members responding were near or at retirement age -
 
Caption: Ages of survey respondents

Most of the questions in the survey were of the "Pick 3 best answers" variety. 

 
Caption: obstacles to progress

The demographics show a few things regarding the membership -

 
Caption: Demographics interpretation

My personal take is that people frequently confuse growing the NMRA with growing the hobby. We want to get 10 year olds into the hobby - we do not necessarily want them to become members of the NMRA. At least not until they have some disposable income... which tends to happen as the empty nest approaches. We do want to get the 50+ crowd into the NMRA if we can. 

This was followed by a series of slides showing what the members valued about their division, what they thought their division did best, and worst, what was in the way of participating more in the division activities, and how they thought their division could increase it's value. Similar questions were asked regarding the region (NER) as well. The two recurring themes seemed to be the benefit of meets, social interaction, and education/newsletters, with the primary negatives based on distance needed to travel to events and a lack of volunteers. Mind you, the NER can't quite fit into the same space as my 2nd Division of the PNR, but there was some laughter at distance being an issue in the NER from the attendees who were from the midwest and western states. 

It was an interesting and lively discussion, and some of the conclusions drawn, at least by John, is that we need to establish one-to-one mentorship programs at the division level, as well as moving the AP program more to the forefront of the NMRA, as it is a unique opportunity available only to NMRA members. 

Glad You Got the Apache Shot!

Definitely worth a scratched screen protector! lol

Maximizing Turnout Performance

 
Caption: Title Slide.

All MRH readers should know who Rob Spangler is - his Western Pacific 8th Sub is featured in this month's (July 2019) MRH Magazine. 

This is Rob - 

 
Caption: Rob Spangler

Rob uses a variety of turnouts on his layout, including multiple codes of Atlas turnouts, Walthers/Shinohara, and MicroEngineering. And this is his conclusion regarding turnouts - 

 
Caption: An important note regarding all commercial turnouts

Rob's clinic included many slides detailing the specific issues that seemed to be endemic to the different type of turnouts he was familiar with, from bent points on Atlas turnouts to wide track gauge at the entrances to Walthers/Shinohara turnouts. 

But before you go blaming the turnout for all your problems, make sure the problem does not lie elsewhere -

 
Caption: Mechanical issues that can also cause issues

Now came the interesting part. Rob noted that since the manufacturer of Shinohara track had retired, shutting down the company, Walthers had announced a new line of track products, some of which were starting to show up. And Terry Thompson, Walthers VP of Proprietary Products (the ones with the Walthers name on them) spoke up from the rear of the room to announce that they had found the Shinohara tooling to be too worn out to use, so their new track products would use all-new tooling. And there is a possibility that some of the new track samples will be at the NTS - Rob has an invitation to go over them with an NMRA gauge if they are, and they are welcoming feedback from anyone regarding the track products, if they make it to the show.

Rob's slides can be found here: Turnout Slides 

Eyesight, Aging and the Modeler

 
Caption: Title Slide

This was another clinic that I have been wanting to attend for some time (Dr. Meetz has been running this clinic pretty consistently since 1999) but had always had some conflict. Even this time I needed to leave early (it's a 90 minute clinic, so it's scheduled to extend into the dinner hour). 

 
Caption: Dr.Richard Meetz - I bet this guy has great portraits, it was my best clinician photo yet.

As noted yesterday during the "Slow Orders: Dangerous Track Ahead" clinic, none of us are getting younger. And our eyes are included in that. Dr. Meetz started the clinic with a basic physical explanation of the eye itself, as well as where floaters and cataracts form (everyone gets cataracts, apparently). 

He also showed how the parts of the eye functioned like a camera, and how depth of field was achieved by the pupils -

 
Caption: Pupils, lights and lighting

This led into what happens to the eyes that cause people over 40 to need magnification (quick answer: the lens partially crystalizes between 40 and the mid-50s, at which point it stabilizes again). Which also led into a discussion of lighting, including types of lighting (incandescent and fluorescent primarily) and which offer the best combination of color temperature (the measurement in K) and CRI (Color Rendering Index) in lighting - 5000K and> CRI=85 is the sweet (aka daylight/full spectrum) spot. Also, the human eye can't tell differences of 5% in CRI, so if your choice is $6 CRI=91 and $20 CRI=96 bulbs, go for the cheaper option. Also, CRI is only comparable between lights of equal temperature. 

He doesn't think much of LED strips, because they don't include enough color in their light output, and the light output is very short range. 

Another subject was that of tears - both real and artificial, and when the artificial ones might be needed - 

 
Caption: Blink rate and tears - making your eyes work harder

Did you know that when you are working on models, where you have your work relatively close to your face, you are making your eyes work harder, which is why it tires you out? 

Before I left there was quite a presentation on magnifying lenses and fixtures, most of which he considers to be junk (including, sadly, the Optivisor) although he does like an open frame version visor - it doesn't have the solid piece on the top - that apparently allows you to hold your eyes in a more comfortable position. Doing a quick web search, the Optisight visor looks the closest (but are not identical) to the ones he had in the clinic.

Dr. Meetz was starting in on computers and aging eyes, and as someone who spends 8 hours a day staring at four computer monitors (and I have glasses for them, which I am wearing now), I really didn't want to hear anything that was likely to be depressing on the subject. 

I went and had dinner. 

Weathering with Ammo of Mig, Pan Pastels, and other media

 
Caption: Title Slide

Pete Steinmetz shared how he uses Pan Pastels, AK Media washes, colored pencils (specific varieties), and Ammo of Mig pigments to weather rolling stock and other things on his layout. 

 
Caption: Pete Steinmetz 

That gadget above Pete's head in the photo above is a camera, so we got to watch as Pete worked on a Santa Fe boxcar, first fading everything with Pan Pastels, then adding rust and such with colored pencils, specifically Carb Othellow and Prismacolor pencils in varying sizes and colors. He also painted the wheels with a paint pen, and then dusted them with Ammo of Mig pigments for texture. The AK Media washes (very thinned paint) were also used on the trucks. 

Before applying the Pan Pastels, the modeler needs to hit the car or other object with a flat finish - the type in spray cans. Dullcoat was dismissed because apparently it comes out of the can in "globs" requiring a lot of it for coverage. Rust-Oleum Matte Clear Enamel and it's Krylon counterpart were recommended, with Tamiya Flat Clear TS-80 being held up as the best, albeit at $7 for a small can. 

Many other related things were discussed in the clinic, such as his favorite applicator for the Pan Pastels (eye shadow applicators, about a dozen for $2 at Target, and reused until they fell apart), and where you needed quality paint brushes (his idea of a quality brush can be upwards of $30/per...) and where you really don't need a quality brush because a cheap one will do. 

At the end of the clinic the formerly flat and dull ATSF boxcar definitely had a different look - as did the trucks - 

 
Caption: Weathering demo car

 
Caption: weathered trucks, showing how the Mig pigment adds texture to the weathering. 

Dropping by...

On my way to one of the clinics I stuck my head in to the Flagstaff room, where a Modeling With The Masters clinic on Building Structures with Cardstock and Paper was being held. 

Standing in the doorway was NMRA President Pete Magoun (this was only a little staged) -

I'm not sure Peter Youngblood MMR was happy to see this -

But everyone appeared to be working away very industriously, with only a little assistance from the MMRs there -

Contest Room

Okay, I took over 300 photos today, most of them in the contest room. It's almost 12:30am, and I'm not going to go through all of them tonight. I need sleep, okay? Full disclosure: I started dozing off in the Pan Pastels clinic.

So I'm going to be posting them up in batches, with minimal captioning, because, frankly, I don't have much info on most of the models - the judging forms don't allow you to put your name on them. Personally, I think they ought to have nametags for each model, and just not let the judges into the room until someone goes around and takes all the nametags away. Face it - I'm in Jack Hamilton's camp on this one - I prefer AP evaluations. 

On with the models, and other things.

 
Caption: The Walt Disney World locomotive set

A Lego locomotive may get a plaque in the contest this year - along with this beautiful representation of SP&S 700, there were at least three or four other Lego steam locomotives (incuding a Shay, Heisler, and Climax) and two Lego diesel locomotives. 

 
These should be recognizable to some MRH/RE readers... 

And that's it for tonight - see you tomorrow!

Thank You

Than you for for the excellent coverage of NMRA SLC 2019.  I agree with your comments about the contest room.  Our NUD Host Committee hopes everyone is enjoying the convention.

Lou at the Convention (aka Lou in Idaho)

PS-  Apaches and Blackhawks) are a very common (almost daily) sight in SLC, so you’ll probably see more.

Holy Moley - Dr Rich Meetz!

Dr. Rich Meetz!  I used to know that guy from my days as a grad student in Bloomington Indiana.

More years ago than I care to note, I used to be in a round robin model RR group in Bloomington Indiana.  Rich Meetz was part of our group and his family, at the time, included his wife and eight (8) cats and a myriad of cat "tree's".  At the time he mentioned his deal was whatever he earned from his "Saturday Ophthalmology private practice work he could spend on trains. 

Of course the cool thing is that Rich was a Southern Pacific fan and modeler and having grown up in California, so was I.  Mind you in Bloomington Inidana it's Monon and other RR's of the region that were generally favorites.

Speaking of Apache Helicopter - I was reminded of a skit by one of my favorite commedians, Brian Regan:

Thanks for the coverage!

Jeff,

Thanks for keeping those of us who had to stay home this year up on whats happening in SLC. Too much work on the front end here to get away for more than the train show, and that wasn't a factor this year. Will miss seeing you and the many friends I have out there in the hobby. That said, I am using the evenings to work on the benchwork and in my shop building/weathering cars.

About the camera-it's part of the learning process. I don't have straps at all because of this. They get snagged, slip, break, etc. Only one of my current cameras has a slight ding...due to a friends cat pushing it off a table! 

See you in St Louis...if not before!

Dave Burman

The Next Best Thing To Being There...

… is reading Jeff's convention coverage.  I look forward to this every year - thanks, Jeff!

Al Carter

Agree

With Al Carter’s comment about your coverage Jeff, thank you.

in the contest room there is a HO merry go round that the build was done on another forum. Any chance you took a picture of that?

Tom

For those who aren't attending

Dr. Meetz was featured in a two-part segment called Eyesight and the Modeler on TrainMasters TV.

I highly recommend his clinic if you ever get the chance to attend, especially if you are over 40.

The carousel

I did photos of it. I ought to shoot video. 

Ok

I shot video. In the middle of judging. 

Apache

Hill Air Force Base is north of SLC, near Ogden and there are several target ranges out in the desert, so seeing military aircraft over SLC isn't that uncommon.

JMRI

JMRI has some interesting constraints on tracks such type conventions regulating what they can do, length affecting how they work (too long is also a problem),   That was the biggest problem I had to overcome when setting up JMRI, forgetting how I thought a model railroad should work or how the prototype should work and doing things according to JMRI's definitions.  Once I did things the way JMRI wanted it worked fine.

Apache crew cinversation