Train Parts

I went to Train World this weekend, and bought the first batch of parts needed to build the layout.  None of the expensive stuff -- just the track and cork. I'm holding off on getting the expensive stuff -- breakers, auto-reversers, and so forth -- until I get a better handle on what exactly I need and which models I should get.

Here's a picture of the haul.  Everything's new except for the controller, some of the flex track, and the loco and cars.

I've got all the special track I should need (turnouts, crossovers, etc).  Hopefully I have enough flex track and ballast.  We'll see.

Train World was great.  It was everything I expected a train store to be.  It's hard to overstate how much more I liked it than I did Red Caboose.  Train World was everything Red Caboose was not: spacious, clean, staffed by helpful salespeople.  It's much less convenient than Red Caboose, but I'll go to Train World again in a heartbeat.  This is surprising to me, as it's Red Caboose that's supposed to be the NYC mecca for model railroading.

Finally, a word on couplers.  My loco and some of the cars have the Atlas Accumate coupler, while a couple of the (Con Cor) cars have the Rapido coupler.  Sigh.  I picked up two pairs of Accumate trucks from Train World, planning to use them instead of the Rapido couplers on the Con Cor cars.  Unfortunately, the Accumate trucks don't quite fit on the Con Cor cars.  The pin used to attach them to the cars seems to be a hair too big, making it hard to rotate the trucks.  For giggles, I tried some Speedplay Dry Lube on the joint.  It helped with one car, but didn't help with the other.  I guess I'm going to need to buy replacement trucks for those cars from Con Cor.

Con Cor sells trucks with Microtrains couplers for $5-6 a pair.  (cough)  According to this page, the Accumate and Microtrains couplers are supposed to be compatible, so I guess that's what I'll do.  They've also got their own brand of (rigid) couplers, which are cheaper (about $3 a pair), but don't support automatic decoupling like the Microtrains couplers do.  I eventually want to have automatic decoupling on this layout, and don't want to have to swap trucks again, so I'll probably pay the Microtrains tax and get the Microtrains couplers for the Con Cor cars.

Layout design part 2

Here it is, after reworking the bit between S4 and S9 to allow enough space to fit a loco pulling three 50' cars.  The cool entrance to siding 2 which appeared in the previous version (the one which allowed us to get rid of an S-curve) is gone, and the S-curve is back.  Only this time I put a 5" straight piece between S9 and the curve that leads to siding 2, so hopefully that'll be enough to mitigate the effects of the S-curve.  5" is long enough to fit a 50' car.

I couldn't leave well enough alone, so I added a third siding just for kicks.  Hopefully it isn't overkill.  We'll see.  At least I oriented S11 properly so I didn't end up creating another S-curve.

Layout design

As part of my periodic hobby/obsession rotation, I'm working on my train layout again. This time I've put some effort into coming up with a layout that is workable, interesting, and free of obvious major flaws. The basic idea is this: a figure eight superimposed on an oval. I want to automate the running of two trains on that layout, preferably without them killing each other. Along the way, I thought it'd be fun to add sidings. Then someone at work suggested a passing track, and that's how I ended up with the final layout. The biggest constraints were height (this has to fit under the bed, so no grade separations) and size (a maximum of 4' x 2.5'). The length constraint caused me the most headaches, as the minimum turning radius I'd allow (9") caused curves to eat up real estate rather rapidly.

Here's how it evolved:

My first attempt at a figure eight in an oval. I built it using AnyRail.  When last I tried a figure eight in an oval, I was using flex track for the X in the eight, and was having no end of trouble.  This time, I used sectional track for the whole thing (well, for the version before the one in this screenshot -- I switched to 9" radius flex for the outer curves to make it fit).  I also took some inspiration from Mike's Small Trackplans for directions for future revisions.

The layout got a name in this revision.  It also got sidings.  Still using sectional track for the X, though the outer curves are flex.  S-curves abound.  I liked the idea of having sidings at top and at bottom, because they'd allow for deliveries.  That is, a train could pick up some cars on the bottom siding, and deliver them to the top.  One notable disadvantage of running the sidings like this is that there will need to be reversing, most likely as the train enters the siding.

 I also switched back to XTrackCad (AnyRail had been an attempt to escape XTrackCad's user interface) because I couldn't seem to figure out how to make AnyRail do the nudging that XTrackCad does.  That is, XTrackCad accounts for the fact that track is flexible, and can be forced to fit (within reason, of course) even if the precise numbers used by the CAD engine say it shouldn't.  As the design developed, I began to learn how to lay out track more precisely, and thus didn't need this leeway.  I still stuck with XTrackCad, though.


Why not add a passing track, someone said.  While you're at it, make the sidings come out from the passing track.  This keeps them off the main line and eliminates an S curve.  Easily said, harder to do.  The sectional track is gone.  I had to use 9" radius curves everywhere in order to fit within 4'.  Furthermore, I had to make the layout taller so that the X would fit with the 15 degree crossing (the old crossing was much shorter).


This is the previous version, but with fully-developed sidings.  I was also able to eliminate the need to back into the sidings by providing a second entrance.  All interactions with the main line can be done at full speed.  Trains needing to access the sidings themselves still need to back up, but they can do so on the siding track, between the two entrances.  Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand how to spot S-curves, and managed to introduce a doozy for trains trying to access siding 2 from the left entrance (which they wouldn't do in practice, since they'd have to back in off the main line, but still...).


The latest version, with S-curves eliminated.  There may still be a problem, though.  There may not be enough room to get 3-car trains past S9 without intruding on the main line.  I may need to reduce siding length in order to move S9 (and S7 and S10) to the right so that there's enough space.

Update: Nope, not enough space.  Happily, there's plenty of room on the sidings.  I may move S7 flush against S8, since S8's straight track will provide enough separation to prevent yet another S-curve.

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy

I've had Plantar Fasciitis for awhile now. It started during my training for the 2009 NYC Marathon (4:19:26), and continued throughout 2010. After a failed attempt to restart my running in late 2010, I decided to get Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy on the advice of Dr. Metzl.

The idea is this: They extract blood from somewhere else in your body, put it in a centrifuge to concentrate the platelets, and then inject the platelet-rich portion of the extracted blood into the part that's broken. In my case, into my plantar fascia. Here are a couple of posts which describe the process in more detail:

http://www.10k-running.com/1/post/2010/03/platelet-rich-plasma-therapy-for-chronic-injuries.html

http://www.10k-running.com/1/post/2010/04/prp-part-two-long-term-recovery-plan.html

I had the procedure done this past Thursday, the 13th at Dr. Metzl's office. He drew 50cc's of blood from my arm, and put it in the happy machine to spin for 15 minutes. The machine has two receptacles for syringes. The syringe with the drawn blood goes in the right (large) receptacle, and the platelet-rich plasma comes back out into a smaller syringe in the left receptacle. In my case, 50cc's of blood was good for 4cc's of platelet-rich plasma.

Once the centrifuge was done centrifuging, he got me ready for the injection. First, the nurse covered my foot in orange sterilizing gunk. Then Dr. Metzl started poking at it in various places, looking to see where the pain was worst. The place I indicated (the medial side of my foot, where the fascia joins the heel) is apparently the most common place for those with plantar fasciitis. I thought I was a unique and delicate flower. Apparently not. So anyway, that's where he planned to inject the platelet-rich plasma.

Now, I'm lying on my back. To make my experience as pain-free as possible (hahahaha), he gave my foot a blast of something cold to numb the skin, followed by an injection of some sort of anesthetic. The fun began shortly thereafter.

On the wall to my left was mounted the cover of the June 14, 2010 issue of New York magazine -- one of the Best Doctor issues (one imagines Dr. Metzl is in it). There was a poor little teddy bear on the cover. I remember this because that bear is what I stared at when Dr. Metzl stuck the needle in. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But only for about 15 seconds (which I assume means it only took 10). A deep, intense pain from well inside my foot. I'm surprised my gaze didn't burn a hole in the bear. After the injection was done, the nurse congratulated me for not swearing.

Assuming that this all works, and that I start running again (my goal is Harrisburg, PA in 2012), it'll all be worth it. Heck, it'll be worth it even if the "only" result is that I can get out of bed in the morning without pain in my foot.

After the procedure, I gingerly hobbled out of the office (no boot, no crutches -- just me and my own two feet), and headed home. It hurt for the rest of the day (no painkillers allowed, though apparently Tylenol is ok if absolutely necessary), was significantly better the next day (Friday), and by Sunday is largely back to where it was before I went in for the procedure.

Now, we wait a month. During that month, the doctor's orders are to "not be stupid". I think we've decided to use my wife's definition of stupid, rather than my own, as my own would likely result in all sorts of trouble. I'll probably head back to the gym on Tuesday for strength training, but I won't be doing anything that even remotely makes my fascia cranky. No jumping jacks, no stairs, no plank (so sad), no lunges. Upper body and abs only. After two weeks, I'll probably add swimming back in and some subset of pilates -- we'll have to see.

Using gmail to follow mailto: links in OS X Chrome

I found the following Applescript magical thingie which automagically loads gmail for mailto: links. No longer will I click hidden mailto links, only to see Mail.app appear.

http://paul.baumgart.us/opening-mailto-links-in-gmail-with-google-chr

Epiphany

I did a killer ride today. Basically the Orchards plus some climbing around Harriman (Willow Grove to Gate Hill) and back-to-front over Little Tor. And then, of course, Rockland hill and the hills back from Piermont. All told, 7000 ft of climbing over 90 miles. (map) (cue sheet) Note that the cue sheet starts at the NJ side of the GWB. I forgot the cue sheet was written that way, and thus was surprised when a 75mi ride turned into a 90mi ride. But anyway.

Brad has been telling me that I go too quickly up hills, and it's somewhat sunk in. The problem has been that I didn't really internalize just how slow I could go. Today, after blowing up on Willow Grove, and almost killing myself getting to The Orchards, I slowed it down a bunch.

Here's The Orchards approach. The thick yellow line is 250 watts. I was dying by the time I reached the top of that climb.

To demonstrate that I didn't learn my lesson, here's Willow Grove to Gate Hill. Again, the thick yellow line is 250 watts. The red arrow points to the place where I had to stop to catch my breath. The eagle-eyed will note that this comes after about 0.6mi at about 300 watts. I rounded a bend which I thought marked the end of the climb, only to see (wait for it) much more climb ahead. I knew I couldn't pull that off at my current pace, and had to stop.

Why have I highlighted 250 watts? At some point after those two hills, I began to realize that I can climb significantly longer in the range 200-250 watts (preferably around 225) than if I go above 250 watts. Those who are rolling their eyes at the obviousness of all of this are requested to pretend that I'm new to all of this.

Here's Little Tor, where I began to put that knowledge into practice. Happily, the route called for a back-to-front traversal, which means a 225' climb rather than a 450' climb. I swear I did a better job at staying below 250 than this graph shows, but c'est la vie. The blips above 250 aren't due to inattention -- I was watching the power meter like a hawk the whole way up. Instead, they're where I didn't think I could stay upright at the speed required to stay in the magic range on that grade. Later on, I discovered that I could go even slower.

Now we come to some familiar hills, where I really put it into practice. By this point, I had well over a mile of climbing on my legs, as well as over 60 miles of hard riding. Had I not had this epiphany regarding the power range, I think I would've had an extremely difficult time getting over these hills. Instead, over Rockland, I was breathing hard at the top, but not panting. My breathing was back to normal quite quickly. It got progressively harder for the subsequent hills, but again no panting, and no burning -- just tiredness in my leg muscles. This is significantly different than what I normally encounter going up these hills, to say nothing of when I go up them after a crazy ride.

In the above pictures, I marked both ends of the 200-250 range. There just wasn't any point to marking the bottom end of the range in the earlier pictures.

As for nutrition, I did all of this with minimal nutrition. Water in the bottles, save for one Gatorade I picked up at Bunbury (with the worlds best muffin). While riding, I alternated between a GU and half of a Clif Bar every 30 minutes, for an intake of 200cal/hr. The riding nutrition came out to about 840 calories, to which we must add the muffin (say, 450 calories) and the Gatorade (100 calories?). That's 1390 calories taken in versus 3990 burned according to the power meter. It's worth noting that I packed riding nutrition for a 75 mile ride, not realizing it would be 90 miles (and slow). I ran out of riding nutrition several miles before Rockland Hill, but didn't really pay for it until Nyack. Nyack to Piermont was ... exciting.

And finally, pain. Soreness in my right elbow, presumably due to putting too much weight on my hands on the handlebars. The core work may actually be working, as finger numbness was minimal (versus significant in prior rides). Towards the end of the ride, my knees started to get a little bit sore on/after the climbs. I'm assuming this is because the need to stay in the power range resulted in cadences which hovered around 50. My poor knees.

Bottom line: Always listen to Brad. I'd like to do this ride again with the 200-250 range for the entire thing. I suspect The Orchards would be much easier, and that I'd be able to make it up Willow Grove without stopping. I'd also like to try Little Tor the hard way (i.e. all 450' up the front rather than just 225' up the back). Last time I attempted the front side, I had to stop twice.

Another day, more re-learning of college math

Another day, more college math to relearn. I'm working through the first paragraph of Practical Electronics for Inventors (with the absolutely necessary errata) by my side. We've done filters, which I actually understand now, and have moved on to transient circuits. Analysis of transient circuits involves differential equations, which I'm now re-learning.

An excellent resource: Paul's Online Math Notes

• Linear Differential Equations
• Cheat sheets for integration and differentiation