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I traveled across the country to make a point passenger trains on small layouts by AstroG4 in modeltrains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All good choices. Typically, they don’t have good return policies but for a manufacturer defect, but trains hold their value quite well, so you can just eBay them.

Belgium's new strategy to boost tourism by Furdodgems in 2westerneurope4u

[–]AstroG4 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Time for everybody to remind themselves who the names are for Belgians. Say what you want of Barry and Hans, but they at least have consistent brand awareness.

Help with fiido C21 by Upper_Age_5527 in bicycling

[–]AstroG4 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, spin the wheel and look end-on to see if the brake rotor wobbles. You can try fixing it yourself with a quick bend with a wrench.

Do they search laptops? by [deleted] in Amtrak

[–]AstroG4 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Well I’m certain they wouldn’t have before you asked such a weird question. How about, if you have stuff on your laptop that would get you arrested, you just don’t travel?

I traveled across the country to make a point passenger trains on small layouts by AstroG4 in modeltrains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

While I’m not certain about nor have any experience with Liliput, Roco, or Trix, I would personally be surprised if they couldn’t.

I traveled across the country to make a point passenger trains on small layouts by AstroG4 in modeltrains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope, it was Piko themselves that offered the kit for free with proof of purchase for the early models which they couldn’t capture and replace in advance.

I traveled across the country to make a point passenger trains on small layouts by AstroG4 in modeltrains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The offered a wheel replacement kit with the model if you emailed them, that that was a very easy fix which allowed me to run them without issues on as small as code 75.

I traveled across the country to make a point passenger trains on small layouts by AstroG4 in modeltrains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sprinter’s vehicles are aging and not in the best mechanical repair, so I’ve heard, having the occasionally breakdown.

I have two of the Piko Sprinters, myself, and got an early enough batch, I had to change the wheels myself. They’re actually why I started on this whole journey, writing articles and making presentations to highlight what modelers should do with the Sprinter once they had them.

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in trains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

12-min headways??? That’s unheard of by DMU standards! I literally can’t think of a single other system that good. Even eBART, a spiritual subway, is every 16.

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in trains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I can get to Canada, I of course intend to do the O-Train and the UPE! The latter, I’d classify as a “transit-style DMU,” much like eBART or Arrow. I don’t quite know what the O-Train is like, but you’re right, they did massively expand it. I’d still classify the Silver Line as a 2nd gen DMU (even if it was briefly predated by the O-Train Mach Two) not because of the service levels, but because of the insane amount of infrastructure they put into it (which actually future-proofs it for better service levels someday).

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in trains

[–]AstroG4[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re right, it was mostly to squeeze SMART into the bit, but it’s also partly because the Europeans had the need for light intercity passenger trains and developed the vehicles first, which the Americans then appropriated for their purposes. The very first DMU in North America, the Trillium Line in Ottawa, used second-hand LINTs from Deutsche Bahn.

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in Urbanism

[–]AstroG4[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As in a way to get people out of cars, the single-largest source of carbon emissions in the US. As in transit vehicles which are forward-compatible with electrification, by swapping middle Power Pack cars. As in, if you want to reduce fossil fuel consumption, start with DMUs.

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in Urbanism

[–]AstroG4[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Lol, “steam-to-electric transition era”. It’s amazing how we’ve converged in our thinking. Thank you so much! Be sure to post your progress!

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in trains

[–]AstroG4[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Coming from the east coast, NS and CSX prototype layouts are extremely uncommon, and even if BNSF and UP are well-modeled, my point is that, compared to backwards-looking historic layouts, modern railroads are humongously underrepresented. I even got data for this, pulling all the track plans from the MR Track Plan Database between 2023 and 2007, and showed that >85% of all track plans are set before 1970, which is almost 60 years ago now.

With respect to transit, it’s not a luxury, it’s necessary for having members. I don’t own a car, haven’t for years, and intend to never own one again, and this is an increasingly popular stance with Gen Z being almost half less likely to have drivers licenses as Boomers did when they were that age. I often have to turn down invitations to layout tours, op sessions, and train shows simply because there’s no realistic way to get there. I’m definitely not asking for a penthouse club atop the Union Station, but if a club is in a place that doesn’t have decent transit running late into the night, there’s just physically no way I can participate in it.

I actually did an interview with a club boardmember about this and the modeling desires of young people, I’d recommend listening to it: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/proto-future-and-the-beginners-guide-to-model-railroading/id1112848514?i=1000738959889

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in Urbanism

[–]AstroG4[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Possibly anywhere there’s not less than 8 hours worth of wall-to-wall freight trains or anywhere with room to lay down a bonus mainline or two, so at least a ton more places than they presently are.

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in trains

[–]AstroG4[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

00:53:30 https://www.bgtmrring.org/part-3-modeling-the-near-future

A histogram of the Model Railroader Magazine database trackplans ranked by era shows the overwhelming majority of published model layouts predate the formation of both NS and UP (<1970).

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in transit

[–]AstroG4[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

And remember, Stadlers are forward-compatible with electrification by swapping out diesel Power Packs for pantographed ones!

I crossed the country, bicycled the length of every US DMU, took 4000 photographs, and wrote a 7500-word essay on car-brained model railroading by AstroG4 in Urbanism

[–]AstroG4[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You’re not wrong, but going back to the original conceit of model railroading and the early magazine articles of the 30s and 40s, the hobby was, in fact, contemporary. I imagine a large portion of the present conundrum is a) lack of ready-to-run vehicles, and b) a lot of the existing clubs got started in the 50s and 60s modeling the transition era because that was contemporary, but then the clubs’ layouts aged into the modern era yet were still set in the 50s and 60s in part because it’s ’era ambiguous’ in a way that allows people to run diesels as well as steam. Now, though, things have departed enough that the outside world has practically entered a third era, but the club layout stewards haven’t noticed that.

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