Author Topic: New member says hello from Northern Germany  (Read 5015 times)

Michel

  • Gentle Breeze
  • **
  • Posts: 42
    • MichelsWunderland
  • Station Details: WH3080 - See website for details
New member says hello from Northern Germany
« on: September 24, 2015, 11:21:12 PM »
Hi all !

I have to confess that I never was into weather issues until a couple of weeks ago.
I purchased a weather station (WH 3080) in autumn 2014 - just to get rid of the
plastic beaker in the garden for measuring precipitation manually...
When trying the WH3080's Winwoes "software" which came with the device,
it turned out quickly it was crap.

In spring 2015 I stumbled across WC and started to eventually use it on my
(at that time new) MAC. I never was a Winwoes user, but a DIGITAL Equipment
Corp / VMS addict... About a month ago WC's ability of feeding data to a webserver
caught my eye - and I couldn't resist to integrate it with my website.
You may want to point your browser at
http://michelswunderland.de/weather/current.html

Any feedback appreciated !

Quick resume...

Born 1960
1982 started studies of computer science and mechanical enineering
1987 first job, drove around Europe connecting machine tools to process control computers
1992 sys admin/analyst at EADS 
1999 data centres operations at ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems

Hobbies: Garden railroad 1:22.5, Non-Winwoes Computers and ... weather !

  Regards !

   Michel









Blicj11

  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 3941
    • EW3808
    • KUTHEBER6
    • Timber Lakes Weather
  • Station Details: Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus | WeatherLinkIP Data Logger | iMac (2019), 3.6 GHz Intel Core i9, 40 GB RAM, macOS Ventura 13.6 | Sharx SCNC2900 Webcam | WeatherCat 3.3 | Supportive Wife
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2015, 12:32:21 AM »
Thanks for sharing some additional details. The website is clean and simple. I like it.

I do have one suggestion. Under Station Setup, you have the following sentence:

The WeatherCat software cyclically composes predifened and customized HTML code as well as JPEG data

Although your English is excellent, I suggest you consider modifying the sentence to read:

The WeatherCat software cyclically processes predefined and customized HTML code as well as JPEG data
Blick


xairbusdriver

  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 3126
    • EW7115 (E7115)
    • KTNGERMA20
    • Mid-South Weather
  • Station Details: Davis VP2 wireless + remote Anemometer/2014 Mac min - 10.15.7/WC 3.0.5
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2015, 04:28:38 AM »
OH NO!!! Another model railroader "nut"!!! :P [cheer] [bounce] [rockon] And one that is directly affected by weather, too! [tup] And he's so young! :o

How about some images of the railroad... battling a snow drift! I'm assuming this is an "electrified" system, but without the overhead wires.
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system


Michel

  • Gentle Breeze
  • **
  • Posts: 42
    • MichelsWunderland
  • Station Details: WH3080 - See website for details
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2015, 10:14:08 AM »
Blick & Xairbusdriver,

thanks for your comments.

> ["composes" vs. "processes"...]

I clearly do remember "to process" simply didn't spring to mind when composing
the setup's HTML page...

> OH NO!!! Another model railroader "nut"!!!

Anybody else here riding 1:22 trains ? :-)
And you are right - of course - regarding being nuts. It's not a prerequisite
for indulding in this hobby, but it helps a lot...

> And one that is directly affected by weather, too!

I have to admit that I'm a fair weather garden railroader.
Except in winter - plowing snow is fun :-)

> And he's so young!

This depends upon the POV. I remember having been younger before.
And the other day I noticed myself counting weeks until retirement
and found there are too many... ;-)

> How about some images of the railroad... battling a snow drift!






Is that OK with you for a start ?

Scroll down to the bottom of http://michelswunderland.de/solderiron/trike_en.html
for taking a tour around the layout (in summer).

There is a lot more of related imagery at http://michelswunderland.de/lgb_en

> I'm assuming this is an "electrified" system, but without the overhead wires.

Correct - I had to refrain from installing a catenary since deer come to
visit from time to time. It's enough of a nuisance when they stumble across
the signals.

  Regards !

    Michel

xairbusdriver

  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 3126
    • EW7115 (E7115)
    • KTNGERMA20
    • Mid-South Weather
  • Station Details: Davis VP2 wireless + remote Anemometer/2014 Mac min - 10.15.7/WC 3.0.5
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2015, 03:22:29 PM »
WOW! I hate to admit how basic my one and only layout progressed! [blush] I actually gave away most of my running stock to a more deserving, and even younger than you, fellow Mac user over 5 years ago. :( I kept some cars that I had built 30 years ago and some that my father built away back when. I have some free time this weekend, between visits with my old flight school buddies, we're having a 48 year(!) reunion in beautiful Enid, OK; the land where all the trees lean/point north! :P That's another weather related fact for you! ;D

Maybe you could use some actual air horns on the front end equipment to 'discourage' the four legged 'visitors'! I think the real problem is the "garden"! Deer seem to think those things are created just for them! [rolleyes2]

Quote
I remember having been younger before.
Further proof of your youth!!! Some hear can't remember that far back!!! :-X
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system


Blicj11

  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 3941
    • EW3808
    • KUTHEBER6
    • Timber Lakes Weather
  • Station Details: Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus | WeatherLinkIP Data Logger | iMac (2019), 3.6 GHz Intel Core i9, 40 GB RAM, macOS Ventura 13.6 | Sharx SCNC2900 Webcam | WeatherCat 3.3 | Supportive Wife
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2015, 04:33:12 PM »
I just spent a delightful hour examining Katzhagen. Well done mate! Thanks for sharing.
Blick


WCDev

  • WeatherCat Developer
  • Administrator
  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 2911
    • CW9739
    • ISCOTLAN25
    • Trixology
  • Station Details: Main Station: Vantage Pro-2, 24hr fars, solar, soil/leaf station, extra temp stations, no U.V. WeatherLink IP.
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2015, 04:58:09 PM »
Very impressive!

Michel

  • Gentle Breeze
  • **
  • Posts: 42
    • MichelsWunderland
  • Station Details: WH3080 - See website for details
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2015, 08:51:05 PM »

Guys,

thanks a lot for your friendly words on my outdoor insanities ;-)

WCDev, given WC's design and structure it's clear you know that quality
is required when it comes to technical things which are expected to work
no matter under what kind of conditions. Hence I take your comment as a
real compliment.

Blick, I'm glad to hear you had an enjoyable hour with your virtual visit.
Such feedback rewards for the efforts with the website.

Xairbusdriver, you are right in that the stupid deer seem to think it all
was made just for them. But not only the deer



seem to think this way - the moles do too ...



More details at  http://michelswunderland.de/lgb_en/arc_nov2007.html


 Regards !

   Michel


elagache

  • Global Moderator
  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 6494
    • DW3835
    • KCAORIND10
    • Canebas Weather
  • Station Details: Davis Vantage Pro-2, Mac mini (2018), macOS 10.14.3, WeatherCat 3
Welcome from another RR nut! (Re: New member says hello)
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2015, 10:19:19 PM »
Dear Michael and WeatherCat welcome wagon . . .

Thanks for sharing with us something of your history, especially your weakness for things railroad!!

I also have a model railroad layout but with a very different size and intent.  It is an HO scale layout depicting a fictitious museum using equipment from the Pickering Lumber company that operated in the forests around Yosemite National Park until the 1950s.  My layout is three 4 feet by 4 feet sections (roughly 1.2 by 1.2 meters,) and was supposed to move from a basement area to the living room so that it could literally serve as a Christmas tree stand!  Here is a Christmas card I made using a picture of the layout with the full-size Christmas tree in the background:



Lucky me, nobody has ever forced me to move the layout back into the basement so it is still in the living room.

Alas, as I was about to start on the second of the uniquely styled Pickering water towers, my trusty 50 year old station wagon ran into trouble and that has been keeping me busy for the past few years.  If you are curious, the tale of my wagon is also to be found on this forum:

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=392.0

Things are finally looking up for my wagon, so perhaps my railroad will finally get some attention this year!

Thanks again for sharing, I wish my layout as 25% as nice as yours!

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]

 

xairbusdriver

  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 3126
    • EW7115 (E7115)
    • KTNGERMA20
    • Mid-South Weather
  • Station Details: Davis VP2 wireless + remote Anemometer/2014 Mac min - 10.15.7/WC 3.0.5
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2015, 10:22:47 PM »
"MOLES?!" I think you are living dangerously close to some baby volcanoes!!! I'd recommend moving as soon as possible!!! You must keep the MOW crew very busy all year around!
THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF COUNTRIES
Those that use metric = #1 Measurement system
And the United States = The Banana system


Michel

  • Gentle Breeze
  • **
  • Posts: 42
    • MichelsWunderland
  • Station Details: WH3080 - See website for details
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #10 on: September 25, 2015, 10:48:50 PM »
Quote
"MOLES?!" I think you are living dangerously close to some baby volcanoes!!!

Well spotted !  :-)

Quote
You must keep the MOW crew very busy all year around!

Absolutely correct ! But even the MOW vehicle does suffer from nature now and then:



See http://michelswunderland.de/lgb_en/arc_oct2007.html for details :-)

Edouard, I'll get back to your response later, need to hit the hay now.


  Regards !
 
     Michel






wurzelmac

  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 1361
    • ITIROLPR2
    • Wetterstation Pr?graten am Gro?venediger
  • Station Details: Davis Vantage PRO2 Plus (24h fan aspirated, wireless) with UV/Solar | Weather Envoy Data Logger | Mac mini 2023 M2 8/256 | 1x Canon EOS 1300D | macOS Sonoma 14.2
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2015, 06:54:00 AM »
Servus Michel,

herzlich willkommen bei WeatherCat und den verr?ckten Postern im Forum!  ;D

Cheers,
Reinhard
Reinhard


Michel

  • Gentle Breeze
  • **
  • Posts: 42
    • MichelsWunderland
  • Station Details: WH3080 - See website for details
Re: Welcome from another RR nut! (Re: New member says hello)
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2015, 10:00:30 PM »
Edouard,

it's soothing to see I'm not the only weather addict suffering from rail pox.
No known cure ! :-)

> I also have a model railroad layout [...H0 ...] depicting a fictitious museum
> using equipment from the Pickering Lumber company [...]

Interesting scenario !
My layout features two main stations, one is related to the Rhaetian Railways in Switzerland
( http://www.rhb.ch ) and the other one depicts a fictitious German environment in the 1950s.

> My layout is three 4 feet by 4 feet sections (roughly 1.2 by 1.2 meters,) and was supposed
> to move from a basement area to the living room so that it could literally serve as a
> Christmas tree stand! 

Perfect use for a layout of that size !

> [Christmas card pic]

Wonderful. These locos are called Shays, correct ?

> Lucky me, nobody has ever forced me to move the layout back into the basement
> so it is still in the living room.

So it's X-mas in your home all year ?
How is the tree doing ? Did you have to glue the needles to its branches ? ;-)

> Alas, as I was about to start on the second of the uniquely styled Pickering water towers,

Yep, they do look very special.

> my trusty 50 year old station wagon ran into trouble and that has been keeping me
> busy for the past few years. [...]

Oh well... I'm too darn familiar with this kind of issues. My 2nd car is an old one as well,
not as old as yours, but 30 years now:



> Things are finally looking up for my wagon,

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you on this !

> so perhaps my railroad will finally get some attention this year!

A question of priorities... at least according to my experiences ;-)


  Regards !

    Michel

Michel

  • Gentle Breeze
  • **
  • Posts: 42
    • MichelsWunderland
  • Station Details: WH3080 - See website for details
Re: New member says hello from Northern Germany
« Reply #13 on: September 26, 2015, 10:28:24 PM »
Reinhard,

vielen lieben Dank fuer Deinen Gruss.

Uebrigens bist Du der Schuldige, dass ich mich letztlich auf die Darstellung
meiner Wetterdaten im Web stuerzte.  Ich stolperte vor 2 oder 3 Wochen
ueber Deine website und die "steel gauges" - da gab es kein Halten mehr :-)

 Gruss !

   Michel

elagache

  • Global Moderator
  • Storm
  • *****
  • Posts: 6494
    • DW3835
    • KCAORIND10
    • Canebas Weather
  • Station Details: Davis Vantage Pro-2, Mac mini (2018), macOS 10.14.3, WeatherCat 3
A few more details (Re: Welcome from another RR nut!)
« Reply #14 on: September 27, 2015, 10:17:35 PM »
Dear Michel and WeatherCat rail-a-holics . . . . .  :D

First a quickie tip about the forum.  You can take advantage of the system's built-in quoting feature by selecting quote instead of reply.  You'll see that there is a sort of mark-up language that I'm sure you'll quickly make sense of.  There is a link with the explanations of the more common codes:

http://www.bbcode.org/reference.php

t's soothing to see I'm not the only weather addict suffering from rail pox.
No known cure ! :-)

What's to cure?  [lol2]

> I also have a model railroad layout [...H0 ...] depicting a fictitious museum
> using equipment from the Pickering Lumber company [...]

My layout features two main stations, one is related to the Rhaetian Railways in Switzerland
( http://www.rhb.ch ) and the other one depicts a fictitious German environment in the 1950s.

It is a very lovely layout and you have done a very good job coping with the outdoor conditions.  However, perhaps you should consider adding a rotary snowplow - it looks like you might need it from time to time!

My interest in the Pickering lumber company came from seeing some of their steam locomotives being operated by the Pacific Locomotive Association.  Pickering was one of the last logging railroads to shutdown and most of their locomotives were saved.  Unfortunately, they had been collected by a group that since acquired larger "more exciting" locomotives and so the logging locomotives are abandoned once more.  Here are a few pictures of Pickering Lumber company's Shay #12:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/Locopicture.aspx?id=155098

> My layout is three 4 feet by 4 feet sections (roughly 1.2 by 1.2 meters,) and was supposed
> to move from a basement area to the living room so that it could literally serve as a
> Christmas tree stand! 

Perfect use for a layout of that size !

Logging locomotives can handle very tight turning radius so I can use the more "toy-like" turns and still move my equipment reliably.  In effect, I have a track plan that is more appropriate for an N scale mainline railroad, but I can enjoy the larger details of HO Scale motive power and rolling stock.

> [Christmas card pic]

Wonderful. These locos are called Shays, correct ?

Actually neither locomotive is a Shay although I do have several Shays as well.  There were 3 manufacturers of small gears locomotives for logging, mining and so on.  Shays were manufactured by the Lima locomotive works:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shay_locomotive

The locomotive next to the water tower is a Heisler locomotive:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisler_locomotive

These were last design to be introduced.  The locomotive to the right is a Climax:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climax_locomotive

One of the nice things about the Pickering lumber company was that they used a wide variety of motive power and they were a standard gauge railroad.  Most logging railroads were narrow gauge and it is harder to find models in narrow gauge.

> Lucky me, nobody has ever forced me to move the layout back into the basement
> so it is still in the living room.

So it's X-mas in your home all year ?
How is the tree doing ? Did you have to glue the needles to its branches ? ;-)

Fortunately, it is an artificial Christmas tree and only is installed for the holiday season.  I haven't finished any of the landscaping.  I wanted to complete the structures first because (as it turned out) I've changed my mind as the project has unfolded.  It will be easier to do the scenery after all the buildings are completed.

> Alas, as I was about to start on the second of the uniquely styled Pickering water towers,

Yep, they do look very special.

I don't know of any other railroad that built square roofs over round water towers.  The effect is really unique.


> my trusty 50 year old station wagon ran into trouble and that has been keeping me
> busy for the past few years. [...]

Oh well... I'm too darn familiar with this kind of issues. My 2nd car is an old one as well,
not as old as yours, but 30 years now:

Well, I do hope you haven't had the sort of problems I've been struggling with.  We bought our 1965 Buick Special wagon second-hand in 1968 and the car had been continuously used until 2010 when she was seriously worn out and unsafe.  It took about 3 months of restoration to the mechanical and safety systems.  I thought I had a "new" car until my wagon got hit in a parking lot and suffered serious damage.

It took 6 months to restore the body work.  Alas, when the car was inspected immediately after the accident, the engine was clearly having timing irregularities in opening and closing the valves.  About 5 years earlier oil formulations had changed and this damaged the camshaft.  I ordered a new larger engine in May of 2011.  I didn't receive it until September 2012 and it wasn't installed until September 2013.  That new engine lasted on 3 months!  I sent it back to another engine builder in April 2014 and didn't get it back until this August!  We are waiting on a new transmission, but hopefully this time everything will work!

Your 30 year old car does look in excellent condition!  Also a Citro?n - I definitely approve!!  ;D


> so perhaps my railroad will finally get some attention this year!

A question of priorities... at least according to my experiences ;-)

That is true, but alas my project queue never seems to get shorter!

Thanks once more for sharing!  :)

Cheers, Edouard  [cheers1]