Tuesday 2/11/2025

[TomO/Tloc]

Good morning from a chilled So. Central Wisconsin. Real feel is -2f degrees.  We have an overnight dusting of the WGFA totaling maybe 1/2".

The coffee is a Ashpit/Maxwell House blend and it's hot and ready. English muffins are  next to the toaster. The pantry is bare this morning. The sodas, juices, water and teas are in the cooler.

I will try after 3 days of no train activities to sit at the bench today

Enjoy the day
Tomo

[PRR Modeler]

Good Morning,

Nothing much planned for today except some time at the workbench.

I hope everyone has a good day.

[Larry C]

Good Morning from a clear and cold New York. Not sure what's on
tap for today yet; so we'll see.

Have a great day.

[Zephyrus52246]

Morning all.

Thanks for the muffins, but I'll be having my favorite breakfast today, pie.

Cold here this morning with snow tonight. 

Did some work on the kit yesterday and will post an update today.

Went down the rabbit hole reading/watching videos on the Proto Throttle from Iowa Scaled Engineering.  Looks pretty neat, but not cheap.  Anyone here using one?

Jeff

[KentuckySouthern]

Dull grey overcast and little activity in south central lower Michigan in a calm 16⁰

WINTER STORM WARNING tops our future with numbers tossed about of 3-6 inches give or take a half foot here and there.  Winter indeed.  2-3 waves of similar schmutz in the new 10-14 days.  That damned barn rat from PA must be laughing off somewhere in the tropics. 

Layout or bench will get some attention here today. hopefully.

Dat be about it from here.

Jeff, I think TomO has or had one of those throttles.  I saw Joe Fugate using one over at Bruce Chubbs when he was here in MI 4-5 yrs ago.  Looks like a bit of a bulky bundle to handle along with your car cards and train orders, etc.  lots of $$ I a would be using elsewhere.  That's me.  I've been using a Wi-throttle on my iPhone at Keeney's and it's pretty cool WHEN the system is up.  YMMV. Was not given a chance to use the Proto throttle so just observations.  I've been quite happy with my NCE hand helds for ~20 years at ops locations I've been to. NCE is the default in my area.

[jbvb]

Good morning, all.  The NH seacoast was in the single digits overnight but the sun is bright and it'll be above freezing later.  Tomorrow night is forecast to bring us 3", which I'll clear as it turns to rain Thursday morning.  Modeling time today, I expect, though I also need to spend some time on taxes this week.

I've looked at Proto Throttles a bit. As a kid I spent quite a few hours in diesel cabs while switching, and now I sometimes run a GE 25-tonner at the trolley museum. I've never, ever liked the way DCC diesel sound works out of the box. I handled a Proto Throttle at a W. Springfield MA show when they first came out, but the guy who dropped it off didn't explain how to configure the locos to work with it.  I wouldn't mind the size/weight if it gave me the right prime mover acceleration before the loco moved,  and proper drop back to idle while coasting.  I should ask the HUB and Seacoast people if anyone in my area is using one. 

I definitely wouldn't equip my whole layout, I already have operators increasing the acceleration rate when their switching isn't going fast enough.

[ACL1504]

Morning all,

Pam and I have bowling at noon and the dinner with friends later.

Nothing else is on my agenda other than hopefully some bench time.

Have a great day ya'll.

Tom 

[deemery]

North of James, it's up to 20 on its way to 32.  The driveway is partially iced over, but there's bare surface where it counts.  It was about 10 when I took the dogs out, one dog thought it was too cold to poop.  She thought it over after we came in and went back out to finish her business about 10 minutes later.  

We're back from a weekend north of Dallas for a wedding.  (Who schedules a wedding/reception at the same time as the Superbowl?  Good thing I didn't care about the game.)  The highlight for me (wedding was wife's family) was renting a Polestar EV, it's my first time driving one.  The dynamic braking took some getting used it, it's as if the vehicle had zero inertia.  But after a day or two, I figured out how to stop at the stop sign, not 20 feet in front of it... Prepaying the fuel for $30 was a good deal, we went through about 80% of the battery in 180 miles on that trip.  

Now that I hopefully recovered from jetlag, I'll head back down to working on the Ambroid passenger car.  But first, I have to go through all the threads here, y'all were busy while we were away.

dave

[ReadingBob]

Morning all,

Just got back from the Dentist where I had two crowns installed. 

0" inches here with 0" forecast for pretty much the rest of the year. 

Hope to hit the workbench this afternoon. 

Have a great one!

[Rick]

Good morning everyone.

Whitewater, CA weather: 44 now and 59 later but wind gusts up to 40 mph. 

Star and I will do a short hike later.

Have a great day everyone.

[Philip]

Good Morning, Thanks for the 2d cup Tom!

Busy busy here Dave. Slowed a bit since Sunday.

I'm waiting on my insurance co, to approve a crown. Ughh sticker shock on the horizon.

An inside day here. Snowing!

Have a good one!

[GPdemayo]

Morning all.....

[TomO/Tloc]

PROTOTHROTTLE

Well I'm getting old. I know I typed a response about the ProtoThrottle but it's nowhere to be found.

If you like switching it's an absolute game changer. If you have a switching layout it's a super addition. If you like to JUST run trains and could care less about operations and switching it's not for you.

I have had 3 at once but down to just 1 now.

Easy to learn and use. Programming is a bit more fun but you do not need to be a Computer Scientist or rocket scientist. You just need to know how to read and follow directions.

Iowa Scale Engineering does offer a 2 week loaner, check the website

Any specific questions, let me know

TomO

[Jerry]

Morning everyone

Tom thanks for the coffee.

Still fighting my cold.

Everyone have a great day!! 

Jerry

[Dave Buchholz]

You know it's cold when the poor dog doesn't even wanna poop.

That just brought back lots of pet memories.