Weekend Photos - September 2025

[webenda]

Wayne,
From this photo it looked as if maybe the lead truck was hanging up on the uncoupling track as the engine was traversing through the turnout. However your later picture has debunked my thinking.

Now I see it, in another photo also. Keen observation Greg, thank you.

[webenda]

Surely you're not still trying to pass Google AI Overview off as a source with any veracity at all, are you? If so, the attempt to disguise the reference by changing a word here and there changed the meaning a bit.

Actually, it was Grammarly, which is an AI program, that changed it for me. I agreed with the change and posted it that way.

Google AI is still in the Beta testing phase. It is getting better. It no longer suggests gluing cheese to pizza to keep it from sliding off.

It was Google AI that found this bit of information for me, "One problem with A.I.-based search engines is that they tend to hallucinate, or make up answers, and sometimes stray from their source material. This problem has haunted several A.I.-search hybrids, including Google’s, and it remains one of the biggest barriers to mass adoption."

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I truly wish Google would admit their "AI overview" bit is an absolutely unreliable and inconsistent failure and stop trying to pass it off as being remotely accurate in its pronouncements.

They can't - yesterday's estimates were in the trillions of what is expected to be spent on AI - there's been way too much money spent, and going to be spent to back up now and address reality. For example, OpenAI and Oracle just did a $300 billion cloud computing deal. And, to meet power needs not only is nuclear power being resurrected, but there's finally an effort to set up recycling of nuclear fuel.

People might actually believe it.

Sadly, way too many people already do blindly believe AI sources as being accurate and reliable.

[gregj410]

This is why it is considered good practice in track design, prototype, scale model, and toy, to lay in a straight between the curves in a reverse curve or crossover equal to the length of the longest piece of stock intended to traverse the form

I was unaware of this. Makes perfect sense to me. Other than a 4-12-2 I once owned I never really had to many derailment issues on my layout.

[sarge]

Actually, it was Grammarly, which is an AI program, that changed it for me. I agreed with the change and posted it that way.

So you're using one AI program to edit another AI program so it doesn't sound like you are "copying" AI?

Oh, man............!

I was unaware of this. Makes perfect sense to me. Other than a 4-12-2 I once owned I never really had to many derailment issues on my layout.

The clearest driving-home of this lesson for me was modelling in British 7mm. If one isn't really assiduous about laying out tangents in reverse curves, the buffers tangle up with each other and wagons fly everywhere. GRIN!

Even if they don't actually derail, it's a useful bit. If you follow this practice in layout-design, trains, especially with longer stock like passenger cars, look far smoother in motion. It's a really good trick for making trains on layouts with sharp curves look far more convincing.

[webenda]

Actually, it was Grammarly, which is an AI program, that changed it for me. I agreed with the change and posted it that way.

So you're using one AI program to edit another AI program so it doesn't sound like you are "copying" AI?

Oh, man............!

Only eight s for that? I was hoping for ten.

[sarge]

Here you are, then.



And one more because we're turned up to 11:

[webenda]

Beyond 10 in British humor? Thank you.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

And one more because we're turned up to 11:

The End Continues!

[webenda]

I had to look this up.

According to Gemini, "Turned up to 11" does not mean "the end continues"; rather, it means to turn something up to an extreme or maximum level, originating from the 1984 mockumentary movie This Is Spinal Tap, a 1984 musical/comedy, where a guitar amplifier's volume knobs went past the usual "10" up to "11".

Origin of the Phrase

The phrase comes from a scene in the film where guitarist Nigel Tufnel explains his amplifier's volume knobs go up to "eleven," one higher than the typical "ten".

Humorous Context:
The joke is that the amp doesn't actually go louder; the numbers are just higher, suggesting a meaningless, excessive quality.

My use of an AI to fix an AI response was considered a meaningless, excessive quality by Sarge. I thought it was hilarious.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a 2025 American mockumentary comedy film directed by Rob Reiner. A sequel to This Is Spinal Tap (1984), the film features Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer reprising their roles as members of the fictional heavy metal band Spinal Tap who are reuniting after 15 years for one final show.

Gemini is Google's name for its AI search engine.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I had to look this up.

According to Gemini, "Turned up to 11" does not mean "the end continues"; rather, it means to turn something up to an extreme or maximum level, originating from the 1984 mockumentary movie This Is Spinal Tap where a guitar amplifier's volume knobs went past the usual "10" up to "11".

The End Continues is the title of the new Spinal Tap movie.

As much as I am leery of this source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_Ta ... _Continues

As usual Gemini.....missed. Maybe instead of Artificial Intelligence folks might consider Actual Intelligence.

And I think the actual line was "These go to 11"

[webenda]

Yup!

[webenda]

Resurrection of a dead MTH 2-8-0.

Pennsylvania O Gauge RailKing 2-8-0 Steam RTR Train Set w/Proto-Soundr 30-4023-1. List Price: $279.95. Roadname: Pennsylvania. Scale: O Gauge.
Advertised on eBay as: MTH O Scale 30-4023-1 PRR 2-8-0 Steam Locomotive #9915-$50.00 PARTS/REPAIR ONLY

As received, it just made a sound (eeeeee) and did not move.
I opened it up and saw:


What is all that stuff, anyway?

I removed all that electronic stuff and wired the motor to the pickup rollers and engine frame.

[webenda]

All right! Just like when I built my first Tyco engine from a kit. All that is needed is a motor, some gears, and a zinc cast model engine.



The engine came from the junk yard without tires. I think I can measure the wheels and order the right size tires. Then it will really take off fast. Anyone up for drag racing engines?

[sarge]

Are you using some sort of rectifier to run that can motor on AC or using a DC power supply?

I've often wondered why a lot of people who like the "traditional" toy-train style aren't snapping this stuff up for next to nothing and building a very nice layout on a budget using DC power supplies from the HO world. No e-units needed to reverse, wire the motors to the pickups after shovelling out the green junk-boards, all the locos in the world with burnt boards or sitting about with early clank-o-death DCS that can be had for next to nothing...

Why this death-grip on AC I do not know...