Page 8 - January February 2012

UNCOUPLED
News from National NMRA
The Winter NMRA Board Meeting will be held on Wednesday 8 February and Thurs- day 9 February 2012, beginning each day at 9.00 am. All NMRA members are wel- come to attend the open portions of this meeting. In order save as much money as possible on the meeting, it will again be held in Las Vegas at the Palace Station Hotel. The NMRA Budget and Operations meetings, which are not open to the public, will be held on Tuesday 7 February at the same location. The Board is expect- ing a packed agenda, and details of that agenda will be included in an InfoNet News eblast when they’re arranged. Several members have asked about the current content of the NMRA’s “Members- Only” section of the website, so here’s some of what you’ll find when you log on at www.nmra.org/member:
You’ll find the latest reprints of the Division and Region newsletter articles Jim Zinser mentions in his “Division Business Car/NMRA@Home” column every other month in NMRA Magazine. All previously mentioned articles also remain in Members-Only, so it’s a great resource to learn new tips and techniques. If your newsletter editor would like to reprint one of the articles, please have him/her contact the original newsletter’s editor for an OK.
We’ve been adding “NMRA Magazine Classics” – scans of articles from bygone issues of Scale Rails and The Bulletin that are truly classic articles. Our goal is eventually to have at least one article from every issue of the magazine posted. Obviously this takes a lot of man-hours, but you’ll be surprised to find how many are already online. The articles may be a few years old, but if you haven’t read them (or have forgotten about them), they’re as fresh as today.
In the “NMRA Member Extras” section we’ve posted the 2011 NMRA Calendar screensaver – a great, inspiring addition to your computer.
Each of the photos from the 2011 NMRA Calendar also resides in Members-Only as computer wallpaper. In addition, we asked each of the photographers to give us a brief description of how they took their shot. You’ll find those descriptions posted as well. Both of these are also in the “Member Extras” section.
Our “Promotional Materials” sec- tion contains a wealth of items that Divisions and Regions will find useful. We have the NMRA logo available in a wide variety of graphic formats and sizes. You’ll also find a PDF of the NMRA Member Benefits chart and a new-member solicitation brochure (which you can print out and photocopy), along with a new-member sign-up sheet. Last, you’ll find the National Model Railroad Month materials, which include National Model Railroad Month logos in various sizes and graphic formats, as well as a Word document, “A guide to promoting National Model Railroad Month”, which can be a handy reference whenever you want to promote your
Region or Division.
In case your members are looking for more information about the Grand Rapids convention, there are two great conven- tion videos posted on the Grand Rails 2012 website at www.gr2012.org. Also, remember that members who register be- fore November 30 will have first dibs on hotel reservations, tour reservations and merchandise. The Furniture City Flyers Club is nearly sold out, so if members want to experience dessert at sunset on Mirror Lake, they’ll need to get their registration in soon. Register online at www.gr2012.org/register.htm.
If you have any questions or comments about any of the above, please send them directly to a Director or Officer. You’ll find those addresses at www.nmra.org or in NMRA Magazine.
Gerry Leone, MMR NMRA Communications Director
From Allan Dobson . . .
. . . I haven’t read much of the (December) Roundhouse at present but there appears to be a lot of despondency in the Un- coupled Cars pages which I really cannot understand. We have just had our 42nd meet, we don’t have any problem with the public, one or two of our members aren’t all that keen on them, but once we pointed out that the public that they aren’t keen on, bought the layout that they are running their trains on, they began to take a different view, a more thankful one.
We don’t have a problem with members either; like anyone else we have lost a few, more to job moves or failures of jobs prompting a move of home. We don’t do politics or committees, a show of hands usually solves most problems. We nearly have them queuing up to join; in fact we have gone from 2 to 36 in ten years just by being friendly, and suggest that others might try the same formula.
We have always been friendly to the public, you only have to smile and say good morning, and you have them in the palm of your hand, we let the children drive the trains, with DCC you can limit the speed and keep things under control,
you don’t need a big stick, just a bit of trust, and talk to people.
Three rules: Don’t count rivets, Be more laid back, Be friendly, the public don’t bite and they will buy you that nice new layout if you treat them properly.
Best Wishes, Allan Dobson – American Model Railroad Group, Gosport
From Ted Humber – Gosport Solent Summit Group, N Scale module coordinator
In the last “Roundhouse” under the Ben- son Show line-up, it said that one of the layouts was “Snake Bend linked with Ted Humber’s N modular layout". I should clarify that the layout intended to be linked up with Snake Bend would in fact have been from Gosport’s Solent Summit Group. This was not possible, though, due to lack of space, and Solent Summit just presented a corner module that is self- contained.
For those interested, this modular group have been working together for about two years now. We meet once a month, and set up and operate eight times a year at St Mary’s Church Hall in Gosport. The group is always looking for people to help build group modules, bring along their own, or come along to help as engineers and dispatchers. Anyone is welcome to come along. The modules are built to oNe- Track standards with the running track four inches from the front.
The Cliff Young D&RGW layout . . .
. . . I mentioned last time roused similar memories in other members, and both Cliff’s US layouts had been featured in British model railway magazines, still to hand in some quarters! My local friend Rob Funnell had an aged ‘Railway Modeller’ featuring a layout of Cliff’s and pointed out that the article stated the layout was 18' x 12'. However, on studying it, I felt that was probably the first layout, which I never saw, as the track plan and general appearance seemed different, and it was in a room in Cliff’s house. The layout I saw was built in a kind of upstairs extension, possibly over his garage. Other readers might be able to confirm this or otherwise. It’s a long time ago!
Ifound...
. . . a great website in UK for small metric screws: http://www.pts-uk.com/Products/ 00060003
The page above lists screws from 1 mm dia up to 10 mm dia including fractions, eg 1.2 mm, 1.4 mm, 1.6 mm and 1.7 mm. Most sizes have several different lengths available. For example, the 1 mm screw is available in 8 lengths from 2 mm to 12 mm. The website has of course loads of other pages covering different fixings, but this page is perfect for brass and other models. [Editor]
8 ROUNDHOUSE