Page 3 - January February 2012

Another year disappears, its markers receding away into the distant mem­ ories of mince pies, wine, indigestion, more wine . . . where do those years go to? (Please don’t say North Platte....)
I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year, maybe with plenty of model railroad related presents. As soon as your eyes can focus again, you’ll be able to start reading the instruction sheets. (Remember the age­ old reminder – if all else fails, read the instructions.)
As I write, on 30 December, I’m looking forward to Benson and hoping the snow holds off. By the time you read this, that will also be in the past. Reports and pictures will appear in the April issue.
We have recently been able to publish a plentiful variety of material but as usual I have to beg for more. “Round­ house” is only what you all make it with your contributions. The dark win­ ter months are often our best time to get down to plenty of model making and layout refurbishment. So please regale us with your activities (your rel­ evant activities!).
Now that we have the benefit of using colour anywhere, even a picture or two with extended captions can effectively be a good small article. If you intend to submit digital pictures, either by CD or email, bear in mind that the highest resolution available to you should be used. For print quality a minimum of 300 dpi should be selected for a picture that is, say, 7” or 8” wide. Larger still is even better. However, if your camera churns out pictures that appear to be lower dpi (eg 72 or 96) but a very large overall size image (I get some that are apparently over 50” wide), that will also work. With the wonders of mod­ ern technology (aka faking it! [Design­
er’s note: you mean expertise . . .]) we can often improve the lightness, con­ trast etc of a picture as well.
For hard copy prints, please include an SSAE if return is wanted. The only other features to keep in mind are reasonably good focus and lighting of the subject.
In this issue are the Kegworth Conven­ tion hotel booking form and separate registration form, which can be photo­ copied, or taken out without harming the rest of the magazine! Plus there is some early news of the event being organised this year by the Worcester N scale “Three Counties” group. Start making your plans, as the Kegworth venue has always been easily accessible and popular and may get booked up quickly. Early news of the 2013 conven­ tion is arriving and that too will be quite centrally located, at Meriden near Birmingham. I think I know where that is . . . (duh!).
I have probably said it before (I think I’ve said everything before), but to me the meets and convention weekends really make the modelling year. Yes, you can do a lot by email and phone, websites and magazines, but that does not compare with wandering amongst the layouts and trade stands, and nat­ tering to members you haven’t seen for maybe a year or more.
Also, I can empathise with those BR members who like to get to National conventions occasionally, and combine the event with local rail­fanning and other modelling (and non­modelling) activities. The world can be a hostile place these days, so it is good to meet up with like­minded friends, even if it means travelling a bit.
Martin Boyask
CUPOLA
...FROM THE EDITOR
ROUNDHOUSE FEBRUARY 2012
CONSIST...
CUPOLA 3 HEAD END BUSINESS CARS 4 BEANERY 4 DIVISION DIARY 5 CONVENTION HOTELS – A FRESH LOOK
Nobby Clarke 6 REGION CALENDAR 7 UNCOUPLED CARS 8 MINIATUR WUNDERLAND, HAMBURG
Robin Beadle 10 TSUNAMI SOUND FOR ATHEARN’S U50
Tom Watson 12 THE DEFECTIVE BRASS DETECTIVE
The Editor 14 CONVENTION BOOKING AND
REGISTRATION FORMS 16–17 WHERE HAVE ALL THE MODULARS
GONE? PART 2 19 SURPLUS BOOKS FOR DISPOSAL FROM
THE REGION LIBRARY 20–22 LEARNING CURVE Roger Brooks 24 RS TOWER Brian Moore 26 ALDRIDGE REBORN John Levesley 28 WHY NORTH AMERICAN?
Bob Skinner 31 REGISTRAR NEWS 31
COPY DATES FOR FUTURE ISSUES...
Deadline for April: 27 February and for June: 30 April.
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fEbRUaRy 2012 3