Trying to post a picture. Best I can do for now is a link:
https://www.dropbox.com/home?preview=Scan0001.jpg
EDIT: That apparently isn't working. You are just going to end up in your own Dropbox account.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Not so sure that works, lol opens up MY dropbox.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinkerNot so sure that works, lol opens up MY dropbox. --Randy
Ooops!
I have sort of figured out how to post the track plan, but I'm seeing one problem. When I click on the track plan to supposedly enlarge it I'm actually taken back to my Documents page, and I am able to manipulate the page as if I had accessed it directly. Do the rest of you have access to my Documents page if you click on the track plan? If so, something is not right.
No, it wants to know if I want to open or download it if I click on this one.
Anyone in the club have even rudimentary experience as web site creation? Consider a club web page, which would allow you to share progress and information with the public. Hosting and a domain are cheap.
Dave, when I click on your posted photo, it is immediately downloaded as a JPG file, no questions asked.
I can then click on the downloaded JPG file, but that is all that I see, nothing else.
Rich
Alton Junction
Wow, for once it works perfect for me. seems to be a good plan for a club, a little bit of something for everyone which is what a club needs.
hon30critter rrinker Not so sure that works, lol opens up MY dropbox. --Randy Ooops! I have sort of figured out how to post the track plan, but I'm seeing one problem. When I click on the track plan to supposedly enlarge it I'm actually taken back to my Documents page, and I am able to manipulate the page as if I had accessed it directly. Do the rest of you have access to my Documents page if you click on the track plan? If so, something is not right.
rrinker Not so sure that works, lol opens up MY dropbox. --Randy
I can see the plan fine, as I also utilize Irfanview. And I can enlarge it with the Irfanview software.There is a free image hosting site that I was turned onto by someone on this forum,....https://imgbb.com/
Another tactic I have employed to post images on this site is to referenced them from somewhere else on the internet where those images all ready exist, and/or, an image I have placed in another forum discussion. I often place some postings on the same subject in several different forums hoping to solict a number of responces from a variety of people rather than just depending on those few from a particular individual forum.
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
rrinkerAnyone in the club have even rudimentary experience as web site creation? Consider a club web page, which would allow you to share progress and information with the public. Hosting and a domain are cheap.
Hi Randy:
Actually we do have a club website. It has been around for a while but it was sadly neglected for quite some time. However, we now have a couple of new members, one of whom owns a website design company, who have taken on responsibility for the site and have made numerous improvements in the last few weeks. It is still a work in progress:
http://barm.ca/
Here are a couple of pictures of the layout as it stands so far.
The first picture shows the framework section plans. They are drawn with 3rd PlanIt if anyone is interested. We designed the layout so that it can be broken down if we have to vacate the building.
Here you can see the layout room in general, and the clouds that one of our members painted on the walls. Whether or not we will add backdrop scenes has yet to be decided. Unfortunately two of the walls are stippled concrete so blending in a backdrop would be next to impossible. Before anyone panics, NO, we are not using OSB on the layout! The sheet you can see was used by our lumber supplier to protect the Homasote while in shipment, and they didn't charge us for the added protection. Good supplier!
Some of the framework in the foreground of the third picture looks to be rather widely spaced but in reality it isn't. It looks funny because of the camera angle. The bigger hole in the immediate foreground is where the turntable will go, and the hole next to it with the small angled piece is an access hatch:
We had our monthly general business meeting tonight. There were so many items to discuss that it took almost two hours to cover all the points. Between the new layout and the February 2018 Show and Sale there is a lot going on! The President, Henk (good dutchman eh!) and I (as Vice President) are exchanging multiple e-mails every day. Running the club and developing the layout has almost become a full time job! Mind you we are not complaining. We are both rather enjoying it and we work very well together. I am blessed to have someone who I can work with so well, or perhaps I should say "who tolerates me so well!"
Thanks for your interest.
Randy, Rich, rrebell, Brian:
Thanks for getting back to me about what happens when you try to enlarge the club layout plan. I'm glad that my fears about unauthorized access to my Documents files were unfounded.
However, I have to vent here. I tried to use both Dropbox and Flickr to post the track plan, and in neither case was it even remotely clear as to how to go about doing that. I spent several hours trying to figure it out, and I can tell you that I was pretty ticked off after spending so much time getting nowhere. Finally I went back and re-read Steven's post about how to post pictures (several times actually) and, after a time, the light finally dawned. Yes, I am a computer dinosaur! There are still a few of us out there. My point is that the software designers have lost touch with their older, less savy customers. They are too fixated on getting the techno geeks off on the latest gagetry.
I respect my elders. They don't!
rrebellseems to be a good plan for a club, a little bit of something for everyone which is what a club needs
rrebell:
Thank you for recognizing that. One of our more vociferous club members pointed out several times that "there is a lot of track". Yes! How else do you get as many operators as possible on to a layout that it built in a limited space?
Cheers!!
I respect you, Dave
And I'll try to at least show you a little bit that I've figured out about Flickr. I'm all thumbs when it comes to this stuff, too.
hon30critter I tried to use both Dropbox and Flickr to post the track plan, and in neither case was it even remotely clear as to how to go about doing that.
I can see the photos you have uploaded in my Flickr window since I'm one of your "followers".
So here's what works for me.
In your photostream or album list select the photo you want to show in the M-R thread and click the "right turn arrow" which, I guess, means "share" in the techno-world. I have it circled in green at the lower-right here:
MR_Photo1 by Edmund, on Flickr
A new window opens and you want to navigate over to the "BB Code" tab:
MR_Photo2 by Edmund, on Flickr
The photo imbed link is already highlighted for you, simply hold down the "Ctrl" key and hit the letter C to copy that link. [Ctrl + C]
Now go to the M-R thread you want to insert the photo in and hold down "Ctrl" and press the V key (V means paste??) [Ctrl + V] with your cursor at the place where you want the photo to show.
It should look like this:
MR_Photo3 by Edmund, on Flickr
Now, you will not see your photo in the thread, only the link to your photo as shown in the window above.
There IS another way to edit out a bunch of the text of the link but if you read the user agreement with Flickr they say you agree NOT to do that. The text under the photo is supposed to be there. Some of the forum-ites eliminate that.
Below is the photo I used as the example, Mack Lowry's O scale layout in Cuyahoga Falls, Oh. long since gone.
RR_Postcards_0016 by Edmund, on Flickr
Good luck and hope that helps.
That whole Photobucked fiasco is really hurting lots of forums IMHO! My PB account just reverted back to "free" status and many of my photos are no longer visible
**edit** I forgot to mention that you "might" have to change your "permission" for the photo from private to public.
Regards, Ed
Hey Ed!
Thanks for your help. Much appreciated!
Your method differs slightly from the one I am now using but they both end up with the same result. What bothers me enormously is that neither of these procedures are intuitive. Why do these things have to be so complicated? Why don't these sites have a simple, obvious, right up front, in your face command that says "click here if you want to post your photo someplace else"? Please tell me why with all of the IT supposed professionals who are working for these websites that they can't figure out how to make the process simple for everyone. Granted, now that I have figured out how to post photos again, the process is actually fairly simple, but it is far, far, far from being intuitive! The IT people have done some amazing things, but they really are missing the boat on making their innovations user friendly for the not so computer savy types like me.
Rant!! rant!! rant!!, not that it will do me any good! I'd use some expletives here to describe my true feelings about IT but Steven would object so I won't waste his time.
Thanks again for your help Ed.
It's noot the IT guys, it's the beancounters that are above them. Easily posting photots to other sites does not make them any money. Making people visit the site so they have to see the ads, that's how the photo hosters make money. There was one I used before Photobucket, that got sucked up by I thnk Photobucket, actually. You didn't have to click ANYTHING there, next to each and every picture was the code to post on a forum to link your photo. Click "Upload Picture and a box came up allowing you to browse your computer. Super simple. But no easy way to monetize it, so they got sucked up by a bigger fish.
Easiest way for me remains my personal web page. The URL I paste here or on any forum is the same URL I can view in my browser - not like Photobucket or others where if you just copy the URL from the browser, it's your personal account page, not a public version of the image. Upload is easy enough, there's a 1 time setup of an FTP client, after that you just click connect, select the fiels you want to upload, and click upload.
(I know, I keep saying the same thing - but that's because it WORKS and avoids every single hassle there's been with each different photo hosting site. And I am at no one's mercy because I registered my own domain name. If my host service goes belly up, I can move to anyone I want and my old posts will still work because despite the photos now being on a different server, perhaps in an entirely different part of the country, the URL remains the same)
rrinker Easiest way for me remains my personal web page. The URL I paste here or on any forum is the same URL I can view in my browser - not like Photobucket or others where if you just copy the URL from the browser, it's your personal account page, not a public version of the image. Upload is easy enough, there's a 1 time setup of an FTP client, after that you just click connect, select the fiels you want to upload, and click upload. (I know, I keep saying the same thing - but that's because it WORKS and avoids every single hassle there's been with each different photo hosting site. And I am at no one's mercy because I registered my own domain name. If my host service goes belly up, I can move to anyone I want and my old posts will still work because despite the photos now being on a different server, perhaps in an entirely different part of the country, the URL remains the same) --Randy
What does it cost to maintain your own webpage like yours?
Is this true that if you move things around the URL's remain the same??I was on one RR forum that made some sort of modification to the their software, and all my older photos that had been posted DISAPPEARED.
I think that was likely a result of a wholesale change in URL's, but I'm not sure as I am nowhere near a computer guru....ha...ha
hon30critter rrebell seems to be a good plan for a club, a little bit of something for everyone which is what a club needs rrebell: Thank you for recognizing that. One of our more vociferous club members pointed out several times that "there is a lot of track". Yes! How else do you get as many operators as possible on to a layout that it built in a limited space? Cheers!! Dave
rrebell seems to be a good plan for a club, a little bit of something for everyone which is what a club needs
railandsail rrinker Easiest way for me remains my personal web page. The URL I paste here or on any forum is the same URL I can view in my browser - not like Photobucket or others where if you just copy the URL from the browser, it's your personal account page, not a public version of the image. Upload is easy enough, there's a 1 time setup of an FTP client, after that you just click connect, select the fiels you want to upload, and click upload. (I know, I keep saying the same thing - but that's because it WORKS and avoids every single hassle there's been with each different photo hosting site. And I am at no one's mercy because I registered my own domain name. If my host service goes belly up, I can move to anyone I want and my old posts will still work because despite the photos now being on a different server, perhaps in an entirely different part of the country, the URL remains the same) --Randy What does it cost to maintain your own webpage like yours? Is this true that if you move things around the URL's remain the same??I was on one RR forum that made some sort of modification to the their software, and all my older photos that had been posted DISAPPEARED. I think that was likely a result of a wholesale change in URL's, but I'm not sure as I am nowhere near a computer guru....ha...ha
Costs me $5/mo for my web provider for the server space and bandwidth, and depending on how ICANN is feeling, between $15 and $20 a year to own the domain name. Other domains are cheaper - .com for my web page and the .net I have for my personal email are sometimes higher. For simply a place to host pictures, you cna get whatever you want, whatever is cheapest.
Things will remain the same across providers IF you use your own domain name (for a good example, note in the Electronics section I posted Rob Paisley's new web site with his circuits. Unfortunately, he is not using a purchased domain name, so if he has to switch providers again, the links to his pages will again all change, just like they did this time. I own the domain readingeastpenn.com. Say I have a picture that has a url of http://readingeastpenn.com/images/picture1.jpg. (The forum automatically makes what looks like a URL into a link - but this one will fail, I don;t have a file with that name on my page). No matter who I have actually host my web site, the url will always be the same. I could set up a web server on my home server and point my domain to it, and the URL will look exactly the same.
Like I said, there is some initial setup - you have to buy a domain name, and you have to set up with a hosting provider, and you have to set up some method of transferring files. But you do that once, after it's set up you only ever have to change something if you change providers. Or you change your password or something.
If you want to know more, PM me, so we don't keep hijacking Dave's thread.
rrebellNot only that but as a club, I am sure you have members who just like to watch trains run and those that like to switch ect., you kinda have to apeal to the broadest number of people to expand membership.
In the past there have been almost no operations conducted at all. Everyone seemed to only be interested in running trains round and round. The new layout has been designed for operations and we think we can get six or eight operators on the layout at once, not all on the main line of course. We are also going to set up an operating schedule so that everyone will have a chance to run trains. In the past it has been first come, first served with the result that a few members were doing most of the running and some weren't doing any.
One of the decisions we have made is to install a lot of throttle plugs so people won't get tangled up in each others' cables. We have decided to not go with radio control at this time simply because of the expense, and we already own a bunch of throttles. We are going to spend the money on Digitrax components instead of trying to wire up our own control bus using telephone jacks etc. Some of you will cringe at the money "being wasted" but we want reliable and straight forward, not cheap.
Right now we are in the process of designing the power bus. Three of us have been diligently studying Alan Gartner's Wiring for DCC so we get thing right the first time. Some of the advice we have been given by supposedly knowledgable members has turned out to be faulty according to Gartner and we are not buying into the "...it works for me..." trap. We said from the beginning that we are not going to cut corners. I seem to be saying that a lot recently, especially at the club!
rrinker If you want to know more, PM me, so we don't keep hijacking Dave's thread. --Randy
I don't mind Randy. It is good information.
Perhaps what we should do is ask Steven if he will transfer or copy the posts related to setting up your own website to the sticky on how to post pictures. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested especially after the Photobucket fiasco.
I think it would be great if model railroader decided to make life easier for members (subscribers?) by allowing posting of pictures directly on the forum considering linking to photo hosting sites has become so annoying. I know this would be an added expense but maybe it would attract subscribers...maybe. Anyway, that's off topic.
On topic, this is a great thread. I'm lurking in the background but it's very educational. Very cool process. Thanks for posting.
T e d
tedteddersonthis is a great thread.
Thanks Ted!
tedteddersonI think it would be great if model railroader decided to make life easier for members (subscribers?) by allowing posting of pictures directly on the forum considering linking to photo hosting sites has become so annoying. I know this would be an added expense but maybe it would attract subscribers.
I think Steven has said in the past that the cost of doing so is prohibitive.
That would require them to get a lot more storage and bandwidth, but that's not the main issue. They'd ALSO need full-time moderation to make sure no one posted copywrite images, and to remove them if found. In today's society, even if the offending image was remove as soon as someone was awake and working in Wisconsin, the fact that it was up for a few hours while everyone was asleep is still grounds for a lawsuit. Best to just stay out of it and not allow direct image uploads. Enough complaints from people who had their photos used without permission and they might as well just get out of the whole forum business to avoid hassles. By not going there in the first place, the pros of supporting this forum outweigh the cons and so here we are.
rrinker ...posted copywrite images...is grounds for a lawsuit. Best to just stay out of it. --Randy
...posted copywrite images...is grounds for a lawsuit. Best to just stay out of it.
Ah yes, the REAL expense. Good point.
If you are still allowing copyright material on your website, even if not directly posted on your forum, if there is a liability, it still exists. Liability generaly exists when someone knows something and dose nothing (but caselaw is still ongoing).
hon30critter rrinker Anyone in the club have even rudimentary experience as web site creation? Consider a club web page, which would allow you to share progress and information with the public. Hosting and a domain are cheap. Hi Randy: Actually we do have a club website. It has been around for a while but it was sadly neglected for quite some time. However, we now have a couple of new members, one of whom owns a website design company, who have taken on responsibility for the site and have made numerous improvements in the last few weeks. It is still a work in progress: http://barm.ca/ Dave
rrinker Anyone in the club have even rudimentary experience as web site creation? Consider a club web page, which would allow you to share progress and information with the public. Hosting and a domain are cheap.
I was just sent this notice about an open house. I clicked on the 'virtual tour button' and got this pretty nice (and simply) presentation for their club,...http://www.nvmr.org/tour.html
Somehow I missed this one, but there you go, for club-related postings you can just upload a photo to the club web site and then link it here. It looks like they are using a slide show plugin for the ones that are there on the post about the first night and cutting the first board but those photos are likely directly accessible.
In fact they are...
Saturday morning I got together with two other club members to draw out cutting patterns on plywood and Homasote. I have spent many hours drawing up detailed cutting patterns for all the bits and pieces of the layout. I have plotted every curve and every turnout. There are 34 pages in the plans. Well, the first drawing was a disaster!! It was about 1 1/2" off where the cut should be. Needless to say I was upset! We managed to correct the drawing but we could only speculate as to the reasons for the discrepancy. Fortunately the track position on the second drawing was spot on, but we had a devil of a time figuring out the cutting profile for the Homasote. I now know why that happened but it was certainly frustrating while we figured out what we were doing wrong. We did eventually figure things out, but I really hope that we have learned from that experience. Draw the track center lines first and then calculate the cut lines for the Homasote and plywood. Sounds obvious, right, and it was obvious to us, that is after about an hour of mucking around. Part of the problem was that I was letting our President take the lead, but he didn't fully understand my drawings. I am not being critical. Henk is a great guy, but next time I will take the lead. No damage done. We all still love each other!
More attempts to draw the track centerlines last night. Still much confusion. Yesterday I added colour to the track diagrams to show where the curves and easements start and stop. Red for easements and green for constant radii. Straight track is still pencilled lines. However, we still had a devil of a time distinguishing between the dimensions shown on the plans. We kept confusing the grid position indicators with the track radii numbers. To solve that problem I will colour the track radii numbers in green to match the diagram colours.
To give you an idea of how complex the transfer of the drawings to the plywood and Homasote has been, the person who has been reading most of the numbers from the plans spent the first 20 years of his career as a surveyor, and even he is having a hard time transcribing the track positions from the plans to the Homasote. The real problem is that we have decided to cut the Homasote first and then lay those cuttings on top of the plywood to draw the plywood cut lines. Easier said than done. We want the plywood sub roadbed to be 1/2" wider than the Homasote on either side. Then we are having to deal with track spacing transitions from straight track to curved track!!
Let's put it simply - either the process is extremely taxing for an average brain, or the process is extremely simple but all of us have below average brains! Guess where I'm putting my money?!?
Eventually we will get it right - I promise!!
Cheers all!!
What you need is a small stick, or a piece of fairly stiff sheet metal - something you can bend easily enough but not so soft the slightest pressure would bend it. Wrap around a pencil, then leave some stick out, and 1/2" from the pensil, bend down a flat guide edge. Boom, 1/2" lines from the edge of the homasote just by tracing. Or use a small block of wood and drill a hole for the pencil 1/2" from one edge.
20 years a surveyor and still having issues? Maybe you should label all the curves in degrees instead of radius to help him out. It's truly the same thing, just on a scale of inches instead of chains (66 feet)
What I have found is real life and plans are two different things, even in the 1-1 world. Also trying to layer things like you are just magnifys this effect.