contraptions

I went to see the Union Pacific No. 4014, a Big Boy locomotive, at a whistle stop in Greeley, CO, October 23, 2024.

I’ve got what Amazon sells as Sunnytech Mini Hot Live Steam Engine Model Education Toy DIY (BJ001)

Some very simple assembly is required.

I used to try to do one dumb/weird hardware thing every year. One year, I used a Palm Pilot as a serial terminal for a Sun SPARCStation-10. Multiple serial cable adapters and gender changers involved.

My dumb hardware stunt for October 2024: 10 USB WiFi adapters on the same laptop.

How Steam Locomotives Work Paperback, March 1, 2022 by Brian Solomon, ISBN 9781627008808

Not to be confused with How Steam Locomotives Really Work

This summer, we rode the 1880 Train, from Keystone SD to Hill City SD, and back. Easily worth the price of tickets, lots of fun, and you get to see South Dakota’s Black Hills in a way you won’t otherwise.

I blew out another LED on my wireless charger detector. So I modified it to be simpler, and more interesting.

Everybody who’s had kids knows that they love trains. I’ve visited the Colorado Railroad Museum and the Forney Transportation Museum several times because of kids. Both museums have a variety of steam locomotives. The Forney has a partially restored Union Pacific Big Boy.

I ended up wanting to know how locomotives worked, and why they look the way they do. Unfortunately, the emphasis at museums is always on how cool steam locomotives are, or the “gee whiz” factor. None of the museum gift shop books seemed to have this sort of content, tending more towards the stamp collecting aspects (4-8-8-4!).

My lovely wife gave me a book, How Steam Locomotives Really Work by P. W. B. Semmens and A. J. Goldfinch as a present.

I built a 3-transistor ring oscillator from discrete components.

In an attempt to gain some electronics knowledge, I bought $30 worth of components and breadboards from Amazon, and built a 2-transistor LED flasher.