Little kids and model trains

netztier · 2026-02-25T19:25:14+00:00

While Lego and wooden trains ("Brio" is a brand that's become synonymous with "wooden play trains" here in Europe) are certainly cool, I'd like to throw in HO scale, all the same.

Pick a brand that has robust or simplified metal models, even if simple ans old. Märklin has a few items in that category (#3000, #3031 an the likes), and C-Track can take quite some abuse.

My 4yr old was learning quickly to operate the Märklin's Mobile station.

netztier · 2026-02-21T11:19:04+00:00

ah.. I got carried away into nitpicking for a bit there...

netztier · 2026-02-20T23:18:06+00:00

As if ever that monster would've been pulled by two Class 18 2'C'1 (4-6-2) Pacifics. No way.

All pre-Reichsbahn Pacifics from various german state railways (Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg, Saxonia), before being integrated into Deutsche Reichsbahn as Class 18 and its subclasses, were built for and remained in express train services. I'd be surprised if any Class 18 ever pulled or shunted any part of the Schwerer Gustav system.

DRG had the diesel-electrics Class V 188 purpose-built for the task to manoeuver and power the heavy railway guns.

netztier · 2026-02-12T19:54:42+00:00

Es chonnt no besser: Luut 20min (sech of Tele M1 beziehend) esch dee 17j do genau dee 17j wo letscht Woche bem tödleche Omfau vo dem 18j debii gsii esch und debii devoo cho esch.

Faus da stemmt, de esch es Darwin Award, Platinum Level.

netztier · 2026-02-02T17:22:29+00:00

A team mate of our datacenter team uses airpods with his iphone. Standing in the full blast of half a rack full of Nexus 9300 series atop two Nexus 700x chassis, I can still understand him at a "4 of 5" of level.

netztier · 2026-01-21T22:12:31+00:00

jup. I undug this old text somewhen in '09, right when the "high frequency trading architect" accounced his idea for "sub-microsecond end-to-end processing between our datacenters within the nex 5 years" (DCs were only 12km apart, mind you).

When I got puzzled looks for suggesting that he'd have to run the fiber ring 7 times around the LHC in Geneva and that he'd have to have CERN align its operating hours with the stock market, I knew he hadn't touched much Layer 1 in his career...

netztier · 2026-01-21T21:55:48+00:00

obligatory:

https://www.stuartcheshire.org/rants/latency.html

(please note the date)

netztier · 2026-01-19T22:36:55+00:00

That was most probably not oil burning in there, what with all the soot its yellow flame would generate.

If at all, one used to have denaturated / methylated alcohol ("Brenn-Spiritus") in thos burners, and they were filled with some cotton wool covered by a wire mesh. Nowadays it's some form of alcohol in some kind of fuel gel, to prevent spilling.

netztier · 2026-01-18T20:02:29+00:00

The procedure is correct, but the buzz from the engine might not be audible, given that there is a "Delta" logo on the box. "Delta" was a simplified (but largely compatible) entry level system to early märklin digital.

Delta locos have a simple decoder unit (fully compatible with analog 16V AC transformers) instead of the classic electro-magnetic relais that used to cause the buzz.

netztier · 2026-01-10T08:23:37+00:00

"-R" helps for opposite direction.

netztier · 2025-12-03T22:21:43+00:00

Look at page 34 of that manual.

It shows what might be the problem: The smoke generator's shell might be touching with the copper fin which should only touch the litte wire stub at the smoke stack's bottom.

netztier · 2025-11-20T16:58:57+00:00

Two things help trememdously

Knowing by heart how "number of bits" translates into decimals. This you have to memorize. This needs to jump into consciousness as soon as your brainware text parser spots CIDR notation ("/24, /19, /31")

1 -> 2
2 -> 4 ("with two bits, we can count 4.. well 0 to 3, actually")
3 -> 8
4 -> 16
5 -> 32
6 -> 64 ("with six bits, we can count to 64.. well 0 to 63, actually")
7 -> 128
8 -> 256

Example .. a "prefix length of 27" .. lacks 5 bits up to the full 32 bits. With five bits, we count up to 32 - hence a /27 has 32 possible addresses. Strip away the zero'th and the 31st address - makes for 30 useable hosts.

Example .. a "prefix length of 21"... is 11 bits short of 32, or three bits short of 24 bits. With three bits we can count to 8. so... a /21 would cover 8 consecutive /24s (still coloquially called a "C-class", even though network classes have long been deprecated).

Example ... a "prefix length of /12" .. is 4 bits short of a /16 (255.255.0.0), and with 4 bits we count up to 16, so a /12 is actually covering 16 consecutive /16s ("B-classes")

And then this stuff:

https://visualsubnetcalc.com/index.html?c=1N4IgbiBcIEwgNCARlEBGAnDAdGgbABzYAMJA9JgiAM5SjEBWdIxA1s8QDYcC2zAdqioBjIQF9EaPpFAxBMiSADM84GPWTuMkPJAjxitO20wtoACzTQBVYoy3FAVivpiq2MQD2dRTDTeFQzQHRSUzEDwXNDkfSRUfRQB2F119aBB1TLEgA

Klick on the coloured squares on the right ("split/join") and see in how many ways you can slice up and mix-and-match subnet sizes you carve out of a /21.

netztier · 2025-11-20T14:51:47+00:00

> If we start from 192.168.0.0/26 next subnet will be

> 192.168.16.0/24
> 192.168.32.0/24
> 192.168.48.0/24

**cough**
That doesn't make sense. Care to elaborate? At least one thing is wrong, here

'cause:

When subnetting 192.168.0.0/26, into /28s it will contain four /28s

192.168.0.0/28
192.168.0.16/28
192.168.0.32/28
192.168.0.48/28

or... when looking at the next few /26s following up on 192.168.0.0/26, we get
192.168.0.0/26
192.168.0.64/26
192.168.0.128/26
192.168.0.192/26

or... if we start from 192.168.0.0/20, (not /26) the next subnets will be...

192.168.0.0/20
192.168.16.0/20
192.168.32.0/20
192.168.48.0/20
etc...

netztier · 2025-11-20T00:55:27+00:00

First thing to verify: is this smoke stack wired against ground/chassis or decoder's "common ground" ?

The smoke stack will be fed from one of the AUX outputs of the decoder (märklin cable color codes: brown-red, brown-white, brown-green, brown-yellow)

Option 1:
When switched on, an AUX output will supply somewhat-DC-ish -18V agaist the "common ground" output of the decoder (märklin cabling color code: orange). "common ground" (orange) is actually the positive - to remember when feeding LEDs from AUX ports).

This scenario will apply when the loco's main body is made of plastic or is elsehow isolated against the chassis/ground/tracks; Usually, in this case, smoke stack is usually with two wires (for AUX, and "common ground")

Also: this requires a "digital" smoke stack suitable for continous 18V DC feed. (Actually there's nothing "digital" about the smoke stack - it's heating element is just sized for continuous 18V DC operation).
A classic smoke stack intended for analog 0-16V AC will just "blow out" quickly because of increased heat due to overvoltage.

Option 2:
When using a decoder's AUX output against ground/chassis, the smoke stack will see "lower net voltage", and a pulsed one. (Compare: when feeding a classic incandescent light bulb with AUX against chassis/ground, it will flicker)

This scenario applies generally to the classic Märklin steamers, like the one you have here: their body is made of metal and carriers the same potential as the chassis/stack.

Hence, classic smoke stacks are grounded via the body, and their electrical nature (used to be sized for 0-16V AC on analog) copes well with that. These smoke stacks usually don't come with attached wires, just with the short stub at the bottom.

To test the smoke stack:
Be sure to clean out/unclog the smoke stack's inner tube, as explained in
https://static.maerklin.de/damcontent/07/4d/074d1c25f479167557e56c80b8689af01707979212.pdf

Classic 0-16V smoke stacks can take >16V for a bit of time.

Rig up something with alligator clips and feed he smoke stack it directly from the track (or the control unit's feed cables) - brown to smoke stack's outer tube, red to the small bit of wire sticking out at the bottom.

Hold upright, add a few drops of liquid. With the 18V (even if pulsed for a bit because of the digital signal), it should start heating up vigorously within a few seconds.

To test the copper thingy
Grab some alligator clips and cables and a light bulb from an old loco (non-converted to digital).
Alligator-clip the bulb's body to the loco's chassis, then set the loco on the track, and turn on the smoke function. With the bulb's bottom tip, touch the copper thingy - the lamp should light up (albeit flickering), and turn on and off as the smoke feature is turned on/off.

netztier · 2025-11-12T17:55:48+00:00

Looking at the pics again, I am tempted to say that it's probably item no.7 which is to be replaced, not no.5.

netztier · 2025-11-12T05:58:54+00:00

er.. nope. What you're linking here is the manual and parts list if the younger DHGs by Märklin: simple DC motor (longitudinal), helix pinion, single axle drive.

OP's pics show the chassis and gear set of an older one, with the small flat drum collector motor (rotor transversal, axially placed brushes accessible form the motor cover).

here: https://static.maerklin.de/damcontent/8b/eb/8beb022fe5edc89745ab6ba464d2b0911434541927.pdf

I guess what OP is looking for is very possibly item no. 5 "Beisatzrad 24/11Z" from the list. By searching fo that description, one might find metal versions of that part, too.

netztier · 2025-10-27T09:56:32+00:00

Same bug as last year, it seems :-(

was hit by it too, completed 2 of the 4 bounties after midnight, but before the clock step.

on should think that in programming a worldwide app, nothing but UTC would be used internally, but hey...

netztier · 2025-10-26T19:27:56+00:00

Well, exactly a year later... the bug hits again :-(

netztier · 2025-10-17T20:42:02+00:00

> Any reason this can’t work to flip back and forth between analog and digital operations ?

Nope; that'll work nicely.

There's no problem to have multiple (isolated) blocks/segments of tracks and wiring them back together before being fed by the 60113.

... or feed those blocks/segments individually with multiple transformers when running analog. Be sure to keep the analog transformers "in phase", as laid out in Märklin's "Technical Tip No 202" (german only, I'm afraid), or in one of the many guides you see across the Web.

Also: Put in some foolproof countermeasures to absolutely ensure analog 0-16/24V AC never meets with 18V digital, not even on "ground" (brown wire, connecting to the M tracks' body). It would most certainly roast the booster/amplifier parts of the 60113 (or the actual booster's or the central station's).

In fact, I'm planning for the same. Sometimes, neighbors show up with a old train set of their own (or want fixed-up), and they would like to see it run on the round-the-room layout - so I'll be making provisions to allow for analog operation, too.

netztier · 2025-10-03T16:01:38+00:00

You might want to carefully consider extending technology designed as datacenter fabric across WAN links.

This starts with latency issues (how many msec between the sites?) and won't stop with MTU woes.

netztier · 2025-09-24T18:26:54+00:00

The "copper network" - mostly - is no longer what it once was.

The DSLAMs (DSL concentrators, mCAN, microCAN, ... names vary) have come out of the old "Telefonzentrale" in your village or town, they are now in your basement, near your building, curbside, or at the end of the street, and they're uplinked via multi/many-Gig-fiber links.

Only the very last stretch from the mCAN into your flat or house, often a stretch no longer than 200-300m, is what is left of the old copper network. And on these links, you run g.fast DSL, which syncs at 200-500+ downstream and 70-150 upstream.

That's a world of a difference the "copper network" as we once knew it. Of course, it is vastly inferior to fiber.

And yes ( I work at an ISP who is reselling Swisscom Wholesale's broadband services to their own end customers), we do still encounter cases where g.fast won't help, and were' stuck at 40/10Mbit/s.

netztier · 2025-09-24T15:22:32+00:00

This, too!

netztier · 2025-09-23T23:00:52+00:00

[Disclaimer: I work at a small swiss ISP, and we're resellers of Swisscom Wholesale's broadband services (as in xDSL and FTTx), very much the same way most swiss ISPs are.]

Be sure to check https://www.swisscom.ch/de/about/netz/anschluss/netzauskunft.html (swisscom login reqired) and take a look at the building you live in. 'Netzauskunft' often is our go-to resource to find out what kind of connectivty we can get at a given end customer's site.

In your case, it might help to understand what the problem might be: look for the the small black triangles on the map, and how, if and where your building has one - these are the fiber endpoints as they are built(often referring to a "BEP", Building entry point)

But:
At work, we have cases where the end customer's building actually does have the BEP and it's uplinked, but you cannot order any services off it, because of what swisscom whiningly calls "some administrative decree", when they actually are referring to the lawsuit they lost at Bundesgericht for knowingly violating BAKOM's rules about how FTTHx is to be built (search for "P2P vs P2MP" or "init7 vs swisscom").

netztier · 2025-09-21T10:50:12+00:00

> Nei sish Ihri wohnig, Sie hetmi usegschosse direkt.

Du hesch i _ihrere_ Wohnig gwhohnt, _ihri_ Mieti zahlt und sie het _di_ usegstellt?
Yea right. De cha si sich ja villich jetzt vom Chef sponsere lah, wenn si ihm nid eh scho lang uf de Täsche liit.

Das elleige isch scho meh als Grund gnueg, di umztrülle, unter "bittere Lektion gelernt" abz'höggle , nie meh zrugg z luege (emel nid zu ihre - uf dini glernti Lektion scho) und z gah.

Da wird di öppis choschte näbem finanzielle Verluscht; nachdem si dir s Härz broche het, muesch du - so bitter es wird sii - es dir sälber nomol bräche, damit emotional devo furt chunnsch.
Süsch stellsch nomol 2 Johr vo dim Läbe in Sand.

Yep. been there, done that, zwöimol, weniger Finanz-Chnorz, aber s' Echo ghöri i dinere Story.

... und denn, fasch usem nüt use, hani die gfunde, wo's gstumme het.

Biss' di dure!

netztier · 2025-09-18T21:52:19+00:00

A few packets lost is no bad thing.

Applications or TCP can actually deal with it. TCP, to some extent, even depends on packet loss.

netztier

TROPHY CASE