Page 11 - March April 2000

replacing all trackage, rolling stock, and locomotives to effect a broader configuration.
It was George Stephenson who decided that the space between the rails should be 4 feet, 8.5 inches, adopting the measurement used on manure carts. Wagon wheels in those days were gauged so they would fit in the ruts of England’s long-distance roads. If the wheels weren’t so fitted, the wagons would be torn apart on the rough highways.
It was the ancient Romans who built the roads for their soldiers and the ruts were originally created by war chariots, which used that wheel spacing because they were fashioned to fit neatly behind the behinds of two horses. This story many of you already know, but there is an angle to it that was recently mentioned in the National Review by the novelist, Christopher Buckley.
“When we see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBS might have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBS have to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.
The railroad line from the factory has to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBS have to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track is about as wide as two horses’ behinds.
Thus, as Buckley notes, “the major design feature of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system was determined over 2,000 years ago by the width of a horse’s rump.”
Lost and Found – from Tony Martin...
From time to time I carry out a check of my rolling stock against my insurance inventory in case anything new has been placed on the layout without including it. I carried out such a check just before opening my layout to visitors for the Peterborough convention.
After this event I noticed, during a Friday night operating session, that one of four individually numbered coal hoppers was missing. A thorough search confirmed it was certainly not on the layout, in any consist, in the tunnels - nope, it wasn’t there. I really could not believe - I didn’t WANT to believe - that anyone had taken it. On the other hand, where was it? The card and waybill were there but no hopper. Anyway, who would want a hopper when there were much more attractive cars on the layout?
I didn’t tell the convention organisers or my insurers, but did mention it to a few friends. There was much shaking of heads and “ah well, these things do happen...”.
During a subsequent operating session I found myself, unusually for me,
switching the Morgantown mine area and, even more unusually, sitting on one of the stools scattered around the layout room. So it was that my angle of vision into the mine tunnel was several inches lower than usual. This tunnel is part of a “loads in - empties out” arrangement where the single track into it runs down a slope and comes out through the Ohio Light & Power building in Oakland yard.
Sitting there I noticed a strange series of horizontal bands of light reflecting off something in the tunnel wall! What on earth is that, I thought, peering closer but still unable to see the source of the reflection. Shifting my position slightly I noticed other reflections, half-moon shaped, and it suddenly dawned on me that I was looking at the trucks and ribs of a hopper car lying on its side. It was inside the tunnel wall, well clear of the track, so other cars had been able to pass without interference. I rolled up my sleeve and very gingerly retrieved that missing hopper car. It had been there, retained by a flimsy strip of scenery support, for over 3 months. Who pushed it off the track without noticing, I wondered?
Naturally I am delighted to have found my missing hopper, but much more importantly my faith in my fellow modellers has been restored!
YARD LIMIT
TIMETABLE
April 2000
NMRA Membership Cards needed for all Region Meet Entry.
Derby Show 2000
Saturday 29th & Sunday 30th April Assembly Rooms, Derby
Early Summer Meet 2000
Sunday 18th June Rainhill
Late Summer Meet 2000
Saturday 19th August (Eastern Division - venue tba)
CONVENTION 2000
20th, 21st & 22nd October Cedar Court Hotel, Bradford (Layout Information on page 13, Booking Form on page 23)
LOCAL GROUP/DIVISION DETAILS ...SEE HEY THERE! OR DIRECTORY
ANNUAL DUES:
National Regular $34 pa to HQ Chattanooga by VISA/MC
British Region Dues £10.50 pa Payment due by 1st April each year
APPLICATIONS for Membership, Changes of Details, address etc. to:
REGION REGISTRAR: Vernon Stone, Capilano, Moneyrow Green, Holyport, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 2NA.
Tel. 01628 627537
See DIRECTORY for all other Officers and Dues Information.
The Views expressed in ROUNDHOUSE are those of the Individual Concerned, and not necessarily those of the EDITOR, OFFICERS or ASSOCIATION.
National Dues News...
Steve Park, British Region’s NMRA Trustee, sent some up-to-date information regarding the National NMRA dues structure.
After close of business on 31st March 2000, the regular one year dues went up to $34.
(Steve’s understanding of this is that other forms of dues will go up pro-rata, so that Affiliate membership would be $17, Family membership would be $7, and Youth membership $23, but note that for now those figures are speculative and will be confirmed in due course.)
As an incentive, members paying for 5 years regular National dues in one lump would get a rate of $32 per year for their National membership. Thus if you can help the NMRA by undertaking the longer term commitment, there would effectively be no rate rise for you, for 5 years. Bearing in mind there would probably be another “cost of living” dues increase within that 5 years, this becomes a very good incentive.
British Region annual dues are payable as of April 1st. Check if you are up to date. National NMRA dues should be paid on the anniversary of your joining. However due to the distance, and processing time involved, it would be best to pay these as far ahead of time as possible, by at least a couple of months. This will help avoid lapses in continuity, receipt of Bulletin, etc.
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