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Hawaii Volcano Lava Update - temporarily locked (off-topic)
It seems as though Hawaii is in the news again so I thought I'd share a little about what is going on as I know it. My role with the Department of Public Works allow some insight access beyond what is normally permitted.
Thank you all for writing and expressing your concerns.
Aloha nui loa!
Neil
Am I Crazy?
For the last four years I've been working on my N scale Deerfield and Northern RR. The Lady of the Manor had given me permission to use the larger of two spare bedrooms. This allowed me to go from eight foot by thirty inches to an eleven foot by six foot by forty inch wide. A few months ago I suggested I might tear down the layout. "Are you crazy", the family asked. "There are mistakes" I replied. "It looks great to us" they reply.
A working weigh station
I’ve created, I think, the ONLY weigh station that REALLY works for less than $25. This is NOT a random weight generator, it really weighs your freight cars. It may not be obvious to set up because of the preparation you will need to do, but it sure will add operations to your layout. You can use it in your yard or in a large industry were weighing is required, such as coal, grain, etc.
So how does it work?
Ramblings on a Garden Railroad
I have not seen many posts in garden layouts. My interest is a railroad to serve the Lilliputians living among the bushes and around the edges of my yard. This would be designed to operate as any of the smaller scales and based on railroad practices as much as I have knowledge to do. Help here is appreciated.
Please consider following along and provide your input. I am very open to ideas and look forward to a new journey.
Neiler
Skills and Tools
There has been quite a bit of discussion recently about the skills needed by a person in the hobby and the possible demise of some of these skills over time. I think that there is another aspect of this issue that could stand some examination, and that is the area of the tools needed for participating in the hobby and the impact of their cost and availability.
"What are the Original skills"
I figured I'd start a thread on this for the sake of not hijacking.
Joe asked here: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/33211?page=1
Have the original hobby skills of yesteryear become extinct (totally dead), or are they still around?
Can anyone define what these are?
Has the evolving hobby dumbed down our skills?
It has been pointed out that as the hobby has evolved to more available products as ready-to-run and moved away from the need to scratchbuild lots of things as in the early days, the skills needed to do the hobby are being dumbed down.
For example, being able to get ready-to-run rolling stock means the modeler is no longer familiar with how things track like they were when THEY built the rolling stock from scratch. That means if something doesn’t run right, they’re clueless in knowing how to fix it.
Perhaps there is hope for the hobby with generation Z.
Saw this the other day on one of my tech sites. I don't want to opine if I agree or not but given the recent backlash regarding social media, perhaps the pendulum will start to swing back the other way???
Disappearing window and door makers...
With the upcoming closing of Grandt Lines, many posters here suggested buying from Tichy Trains or Rusty Stumps. Unfortunately, Walt at Rusty Stumps has had some health issues and is stopping production of his beautiful laser cut doors, windows, shingles and fencing as of June 1. The good news is he will continue with the rest of the business and plans to expand his 3D printing.
Also, looks like Vectorcut is gone for good now. Who else does lasercut details parts?
Bob
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