posted
Hello, I just wanted to set up a post saying that this is a save haven for those displaced by the MR Forum being locked down to come and chat. Its been nice and quiet here fro some time, so I say come in, Stay awhile, and enjoy yourselvs.
Im setting up a Dome Car. Come in for a free drink.
(Please State your poison on entering)
Posts: 315 | From: Lander,WY USA | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Thats what we get for being preocupied with other things.
quote:Originally posted by GMC - The Rail (ret.): Yeah, me too. Bummer about the MR forum - ya go away for a couple of days, and the whole place goes to pot! [ ]
Posts: 315 | From: Lander,WY USA | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I wrote this reply on the Sticky message that was posted before the forum was locked. I got some good comments on it, I figured I would repost here for further coment.
James
I admit that I have made some fiery and steamy remarks in the past. But I have always tried to ground my argument on solid grounds. I personally would not like to see these forums go away. However, I feel that to do their job, access to them should be free and unfettered. The forums have allowed me space to let me express my ideas and feelings, as well as engage in healthy debate with those who had valid disagreements.
I have deep concerns about the future of this hobby. Because every trend I notice seems to indicate its slow lingering and painful death. Chances are that in my region of the country I very well could be the last person to be engaged in it when I am of similar age as most of the forum participants are now. I.E. 40-50 years old. Couple this with the fact that Model Railroader hardly ever showcases techniques any more. The NOV. issue is the first time in a long time that more than one "modeling" article has graced its pages in the same issue for a long time. And then there are only three, the scenery article, the depot building article and the conclusion of the Claremont and Concord series. Given that there are some Model Building articles in the last issue as well, I do not know if this is a shift back to more a more model building focused magazine or this is just a temporary trend. However the glitzy glamorous hollywoodesk appearance that started with the Jan. 04 Issue leaves me a little worried.
For a long time, it seems that MR has not had a focus or a direction and seems to be going in editorial circles. Don't get me wrong, It’s still a good magazine and I am sure the staff is working very hard. But, the column/series "Working on the Railroad" just concluded. "Step By Step" covers much of the same ground. And both are a reinvention of the "Basic Model Railroading" series that was on going when I first started subscribing regularly in 1996. We lost Paint Shop as a monthly feature, which in my opinion, gutted the magazine of a major model building focus. I enjoyed paint shop. It gave me Ideas. Not to mention painting trains is just plain fun. This reminds me. "Model Railroading is Fun" got dropped as a magazine mantra as well. Giving me a sense of even more having lost direction. There used to be a monthly set of plans in MR. I don't know how many ever got used to build models but again, they were inspiring. (Yes I noticed the Santa Fe Baggage plans in the last issue)
Model Railroader lately seems to have lost its way. Its biggest competitor Railroad Model Craftsman doesn't have that problem. (The only reason I consider Railroad Model Craftsman MR's biggest competitor is that it is the only other model train magazine I have seen in supermarket and street side newsstands.) RMC has a clear focus on the style of magazine they wish to publish, with a veritable orchestra of regular contributing authors like Don Parker, Mike Rose, Don Fieghnman, Bob Walker, and Jim Provedensa. (You can bet when all those names show up in the same issue you are in for some enjoyable reading time.) Then they also publish a lot of stuff from people who just send stuff in. Recently RMC published a two part article on how to model a specific CNJ 2-8-2. I enjoyed it immensely. I probably never will attempt that particular project because I model the GN a good 12 years after steam was banished from the Empire Road, but It gave me something to chew on and savor and think about so maybe if I am modeling a GN O-2 2-8-2 for some reason, There might be a technique or two from that article that will apply to the model I am building. Last time I saw anything like that in MR. was when John Pryke detailed a New Haven 0-8-0 in a 2001 issue. Leaving this model builder less than inspired.
I am writing because I am sure this thread has the attention of the MR staff. I have made these comments before in other threads and emails I have sent to MR and have been ignored. As a loyal Kalmbach customer I want to know the official stance on these issues. I Subscribe to MR, Trains, Classic Trains and Garden Railways, and my dad Subscribes to Fine Scale Modeler, so at any given time there are 5 Kalmbach Titles in Circulation in my household. We also buy many of the special annual issues to for MR, Trains/Classic Trains, and FSM. I feel I am at least deserving of such at least some response. I haven’t even received a form email.
I urge the MR staff and Editor Thompson to please find a direction for the magazine to go. MR is the Ambassador for Model Railroading. At my local supermarket newsstand The Column for FSM, MR, and Trains, Is next to Hotrod, Low-rider, and BMX on the right, and Ladies Home Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, and McCall’s Monthly on the left. I feel that the current line of material that MR is now publishing comes across as "SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO IF YOU HAVE MORE MONEY THAN GOD!" The V&Os, the UBs, and the 3rd Districts of the Clover Leafs, are nice to look at. But when they show up as standard fare, it comes off as "This is the way things must be done"
Also how about a Project Layout that is just more than a table top? Tony Keoster’s Claremont and Concord is a nice step away from that, and the fact that it is in G-scale is refreshing. It something we haven’t seen since Malcome Furlow was working with it in the late 80s. But why not go beyond a large scale switching layout. How about something that can be done in a spare bedroom. I feel that the 10 X 12 or 10 X 10 spare bedroom is a pretty common model railroad space. And a great many things can be done in that space. I have read the series done for the BN, Wisconsin Central, and Arkansas and Missouri, project layouts and they do a wonderful job providing some heavy duty mainline action in about the space I described. Granted these are N scale layouts. But why not focus on a prototype branch line in HO if an HO layout is what is wanted. I have a designed a dandy 10 X 14 (Easily shortened to 10X12) trackplan for the BN (former CB&Q) Deadwood Branch in South Dakota. I am sure your talented staff can come up with others. Or get Ian Rice on the phone, (What happened to him any way, Haven’t heard from him in a long time) and I am sure he can design a few dandies for you. Probably even be happy to send a few English prototype plans along if you want to explore modeling their prototypes. (Be interesting reading, that’s for sure)
If a return of paint shop, or non- table top project layouts is simply a matter of no one available to do it. Then I am willing to do it. Need one paint project per issue? Fine I can whip one out once a week for you. Want to explore a bedroom sized model railroad, if you will let me borrow your studio for a few weeks, I'd be happy to come and get it going for you. If there is anything your looking for. Let me know. As long as its more involved than taking the latest BLI Class X whatchagidit tweaking it slightly and sending it down the tracks.
As I close. I just want to say, that I would like to know how the MR staff feels about this. State your personal feeling because I am just sitting on pins and needles wanting to know. Have for a few years. I am a simple country boy from Wyoming. Builds his model railroad from the Spare Parts and Cast aways from others. (I kitbashed a GP-35 from a Life-Like GP38-2 for crying out loud) And the current mindset position that seems to come from reading MR. (Look at all this money you can spend) leaves me feeling disheartened. It seems to be sewing the seeds of destruction for this great hobby. Because a lot of the new Modelers are not learning the skills needed to do even do basic repair. Skills I learned by the way, by reading MR.
James.
Posts: 315 | From: Lander,WY USA | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
I saw that as of today,the MR forum is still locked down.[:-(]So here I am.I have a question about Kato diesels.I bought my first Kato unit last week. A LHS had some Kato units at a huge discount,so I could finally afford one[:-)].The engine I bought,a C&NW SD45,has blue headlights.The only other blue headlights I have seen were on Bachmann Spectrum engines.Do all Kato engines have blue headlights? If so,why,since this is unprototypical,and white headlights are used by everyone else?
quote:Originally posted by espeefoamer: I saw that as of today,the MR forum is still locked down.[:-(]So here I am.I have a question about Kato diesels.I bought my first Kato unit last week. A LHS had some Kato units at a huge discount,so I could finally afford one[:-)].The engine I bought,a C&NW SD45,has blue headlights.The only other blue headlights I have seen were on Bachmann Spectrum engines.Do all Kato engines have blue headlights? If so,why,since this is unprototypical,and white headlights are used by everyone else?
Well that's a good question. Whent he first 'white' LEDs came out, there had a bluish tint to them. The 'golden white' and 'sunny white' ones that are more yellow are newer. A lot of modern locos have high intensity headlights that carry a bit of that bluish tint, so the LEDs used aren't bad, for modern power. But for steamers and early diesels (and electrics, the Bachmann E44 has the bluish leds, the golden-whites look a lot more like the light bulbs used in those units. If there is a downside to the golden-white LEDs, it's that they look yellow when the power is off - so if you can see the LED when it is not illuminated, a golden-white looks WORSE that the ones with the bluish tint, which are clear when not lit.
--Randy
-------------------- Modelling the Reading Railroad of the 1950's
posted
Hey, everyone! It's nice to "see" some 'ol familiar faces again. Road_slug, you can't fool me. You still look like the same 'ol Ken Larsen. Randy, thanks for the heads up on this forum.
Tom
Posts: 3 | From: NE Ohio | Registered: Oct 2005
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