Well, a computer screenshot is not usually very exciting, but after fighting it all weekend, I finally got Apple to let my iMac talk with my NCE Power Pro command station again, allowing visitors to use their phones as radio throttles. I also was able to find my old loco Roster and restore it to use. Both of these events today will facilitate the operating sessions I plan to offer here weekly starting around the end of March.
If you have JMRI and use a serial connection accessed via a USB-to-RS232 adapter to connect to your Power Pro, be cautious if prompted to update to their latest OS, Big Sur. Its security restrictions are so tight it likely won’t work with many older serial device drivers. I finally kludged together something that works, with a thread about it here:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/286785.aspx
Meanwhile, I added some containers and chassis to the intermodal fleet. For around $13 I found an undecorated 20′ container and chassis that I weathered up to kill the shiny white exterior of the container.
The next pic shows another relative bargain, a Herpa tractor trailer double-bottom rig that came with two containers for $25.
I also finished up a build of a 1:24 Land Rover from a Revell kit. Here it is on a late winter inspection run on Tincup & Telluride.
Since I model what is now the Durango & Silverton line, I have to anticipate the need to support fire-fighting activities. Here is my new Canadair CL-415 water bomber headed for the fire. It’s N scale, but the forced perspective seems to work pretty effectively over the scenery.
A couple of tentative first dates for reopening with the aid of vaccines now going around. Looks like the first weekly ops session here will be in about a month on Wednesday, March 24. At this month’s ITD meeting, I also raised the possibility of holding the April 10 ITD monthly meeting here. That way we could experiment with a video feed from an ops session, so that those not in attendance can at least observe the action and, perhaps, participate. I’ll have an update on these in the next article in this series.