joef's blog

From the MRH Publisher - Hobby Magazines and the Future

joef — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 09:40:12 +0000

Over on one of the N scale forums there's been a lot of discussion about what's going on with the paper magazines and what that all means for the future of the hobby.

As the publisher of MRH, I track this closely and I have some insight that may help.

For years, the paper magazines have been declining in circulation. Looking at the two leading model railroading magazines, Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman, you can see MR peaked about 1993 and RMC has been steadily dropping since 1980:

MRH's first day at X2011 West NMRA Convention

joef — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:18:36 +0000

Tony Koester answers questions after his Multideck Layouts clinic at the
X2011 West NMRA Convention in Sacramento, CA.

TONY KOESTER on Multi-deck layouts

Report: PNR convention in Seattle

joef — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 05:53:07 +0000

MRH is at the NMRA Pacific Northwest Regional convention in Seattle right now. One of the better-known modelers from this region is Paul Scoles. We attended his scenery clinic today and it was delightful and informative.

Paul put some paving sand on a piece of pink foam that he had painted a dark green-brown. He used wet water to shape the scene's terrain not unlike how you did sand castles as a kid. Then he soaked it with glue ...

RPM Meeting in Salem Oregon, Sept. 24-25, 2011

joef — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:59:27 +0000

FOR INFO ON RAILS BY THE RIVER 2011, SEE: http://railsbytheriver.com.

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Art and Science of Selective Compression - clinic summary

joef — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:08:45 +0000

Attending Jeff Hanke's clinic on selectively compressing a prototype scene ... Here's the steps he recommends: - Acquire prototype track plans and photos - Define modeling space, dimensions and operational desires - Collect prototype details - track names, old photos, old railroaders' knowledge/memories - Determine the essence of the scene, the signature elements - Determine haves and wants for the scene - haves are MUSTS - Eliminate everything else - Draw the plan - rework until essence is captured - Build it and compare to model photos

Model railroading and the iPad ...

joef — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:14:06 +0000

My friend got an iPad this last weekend, and he let me borrow it for an hour. My first impression is - dang, this sucker is fast! Typing on the software-based popup keyboard was easier than I thought it was going to be, and in a short time I was able to type at a pretty good clip with it.

Epublishing is gaining - while traditional publishing gets another nail in the coffin

joef — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:36:55 +0000

Here's some recent news story summaries that show MRH is riding a coming technology wave ...

Mystery short solved

joef — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 22:03:14 +0000

In my last blog entry, I posted a cancellation of my September Op session because of a mystery short.

So now that Issue 4 is out the door, I'm back to working on the layout again - and I've solved the mystery short.

I first had to 0-5-0 remove all the trains from staging so I could look for things on the track, make sure I could find all the feeders, etc. Did that - and found several lose parts from railcars laying around (ladders and brakewheels) but nothing that would cause a short since they were all plastic.

September OP SESSION CANCELLED

joef — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:40:55 +0000

If any of my regular OPS crew happens to peruse the MRH web site, the Siskiyou Line op session for September is cancelled.

I'll explain more later ... but please pass this on to the rest of the crew.

Sorry for the late notice - it's a long story ...

Workin' on the layout - the saga continues

joef — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 18:53:49 +0000

I've been building "poor man's jig" turnouts all summer and now I'm going to replace all the commercial turnouts on the "Eugene end" of staging tomorrow.

My poor man's jig turnouts use Central Valley turnout (CVT) ties and some Fast Track filing jigs to make quick work out of building a turnout. I like the CVT ties because they're inexpensive ($6 each) and they have slots for the rails - so you just drop the rails in place and you get a properly gauged turnout.

Workin' on the layout

joef — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:00:14 +0000

One of my summer project while the layout is down is to replace all the Eugene staging ladder turnouts with jig-built turnouts. The current staging ladder is all commercial turnouts and we get more derailments on that ladder than I would like to see. The solution is to replace the commercial turnouts with jig-built turnouts ala Fast Tracks or Proto:87 Stores turnout kits using Central Valley ties.

Hartford Convention - Days 4 and 5

joef — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:31:22 +0000

I ended up with my laptop connected to our big screen TV for the National Train Show and we need to leave it connected to the big screen TV since it took some fiddling to get it all to work seamlessly.

I'm posting this note on a borrowed computer, and it doesn't have all my software I use to prepare the images, etc - so I will be making brief posts (without photos) for now and come back in after the fact once the Train Show is over and I get my computer back to add more details and to add the photos!

Hartford NMRA Convention - Day 3

joef — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:23:06 +0000

July 8, 2009 - Today is the Layout Design SIG layout tours! I love going on the SIG tours because they tend to pick the "cream of the crop" layouts in a region. While the LD SIG tour is a self-guided car tour, it's a real hoot because the layouts generally exhibit great design characteristics.

Hartford NMRA Convention - Day 1

joef — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:27:54 +0000

July 6, 2009 - Just completed the first full day at the NMRA National Convention in Hartford. We shot video of several clinics and will be posting them on MRH Theater in the coming weeks.

One of the more interesting highlights of the first day was the Operations Road Show that teaches Timetable Train Order operation.

OPs Live vol 4 preview!

joef — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:57:31 +0000

Now that Model Trains Video has a new Ops Live video volume for sale, here's a preview ...

February 09 Siskiyou Line Op session

joef — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 21:42:25 +0000

Here's some "best of" photos from the just recently completed Feb 09 op session on my HO Siskiyou Line.

Right off the bat, events indicated this would not be a typical op session on the Siskiyou Line. This session we simulated April 14, 1989 - and since the DRGW has purchased the SP, there's black and orange power starting to show up on the SP. For example, Roseburg had a pair of DRGW GP40s that were available power.

November Siskiyou Line Op session

joef — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 21:55:50 +0000

Here's some "best of" photos from the just recently conducted op session on my HO Siskiyou Line.

High definition video - coming like the proverbial freight train!

joef — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 19:54:24 +0000

In case you haven't noticed, we're on the edge of an amazing high definition video boom that has the potential to completely transform how content is presented on the internet!

Just recently, two personal high defintion video cameras have been released, with street prices in the $140 - $170 range! Check it out ...

Best laid plans

joef — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 22:27:16 +0000

If you've been following my blog, then you know I have been discussing doing structures for the Roseburg yard area on my layout.

As I got to looking at the yard area with the idea of adding structures, I realized there are other areas of Roseburg on the layout that need work, namely the backdrop and the yard tracks themselves.

Virtual reality image - a Model Railroad Hobbyist trademark!

joef — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:34:49 +0000

One of the trademarks of Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine will be our virtual reality images that go with our modeling project articles. Here's a little example to show you what one of these VR images is like:

Google Earth strikes again!

joef — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 05:08:30 +0000

As I'm planning out the Roseburg area, Google Earth just keeps making itself ever more useful.

Even though it's not structures per se, I also need to finish the sky and backdrop behind Roseburg - and I've been looking at Google Earth's fly down and look around in 3D capability. Using some screen captures, I built this panoramic view of the Roseburg backdrop using Google Earth:

Using Google Earth to plan the structures in Roseburg

joef — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:50:33 +0000

Here's a video demonstrating how I use Google Earth to study the prototype structure layout in Roseburg, Oregon and to plan the structure placement on my model of Roseburg. Click the image below to play the video.

Enjoy! Google Earth is simply amazing - video's the only way to really demonstrate it effectively!

By the way, this is an example of the rich media content we hope to regularly include in Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine.

If you're saying you prefer a paper magazine to reading a magazine on a computer, then you don't really understand MRH.

First of all, MRH is free - and next it's an interactive magazine. I like to say if a still image is worth a thousand words, then rich media is worth a million words. Many of the MRH articles will have rich media material - and that's only possible because the magazine has been designed from the ground up to be easy and entertaining to read on a computer. All totally free. Click to subscribe for free.

Video playback problems? Try playing this video from our mirror site.
Or download a copy (18MB) and play it back locally.

Roseburg yard area structures - the Plan

joef — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:01:00 +0000

The area highlighted in yellow below represents the area of my layout plan that I'm focusing on. I've noted the various structures in my plan for this area. Zoom in to the larger image and study the various structures and their labels. I'll speak more to each specific structure in future posts to this blog.

Click image to enlarge

Roseburg yard area up close - in desperate need of structures!

joef — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 00:48:49 +0000

I'm taking a hiatus from working on MRH Theater videos for a couple weeks so I can work on the layout.

I want to focus on getting some structures in the main yard area in Roseburg, which is the layout centerpiece when you enter the room. As I relayed in my last blog post, my wife practically insisted we work on doing some structures together because my layout really needs them! How could I refuse an offer like that?

Working on the layout ...

joef — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:54:45 +0000

I'm going to be taking a break from all the video editing I've been doing for MRH Theater, and working on the layout for a few weeks. Now there's an idea - work on the layout!


Panoramic view of the Roseburg area of my HO Siskiyou Line layout. If you click on the image, you can get a larger view. Notice the total lack of structures in this scene (well, there is one on the far left of Jim [in the red shirt] - but's that's the only one). I'll try to rectify that in the next few weeks as part of my effort to "add structures" to the layout at my wife's insistence!

Followup to the convention - Model Railcast Show interview!

joef — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:26:37 +0000

Ryan Andersen of the Model Railcast Show interviewed Jeff Shultz and myself this week for his show. We talk about the Anaheim convention, our impressions, observations, highlights, and the like.

NMRA Convention, Day 7 (Saturday, July 19th)

joef — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:19:01 +0000

BLMA

We interviewed Craig Martyn, owner of BLMA, and got the rundown on his new railcar announcement - A Norfolk Southern TopGon in both N and HO scale. The model will come with quality knuckle couplers and the proper 100-ton trucks. Craig also showed us his other new items, including an N scale and HO scale truss bridge. Unfortunately, the N scale bridge is already sold out, but the HO scale bridge will be available soon. If you're an HO scale modeler and you want this beautiful bridge, don't delay or you may miss out!

One question, though, how does Craig get all those cute girls to work for him in his booth? (Click image above to enlarge.) Watch the video to learn the answer (video coming soon in MRH theater)!

NMRA Convention, Day 6 (Friday, July 18th)

joef — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 08:27:08 +0000

The National Train Show opened this morning, first to convention attendees (9-Noon), and then to the public from Noon to 6 pm. We wandered around the train show and shot perhaps 1.5 hours of video interviews with various vendors. Here's a few highlights!

Microsoft Train Simulator 2 ... coming!

I was delighted to see a major corporation like Microsoft displaying at the National Train Show - it shows they feel the hobby is doing well enough it's worth investing their time in products for train hobbyists!

Microsoft unvieled their first public showing of the new-and-improved Microsoft Train Simulator 2, expected by Christmas 2009. Rick Selby of Microsoft explained to us that they're hoping to get helpful feedback from model railroaders at this show, and to see what people think of the next generation MS Train Simulator! (Click photo to enlarge.)

I had to do a double-take as I watched some of the action on the monitors as people tried their hand at running a loco. I found the action to be very smooth, the simulation physics feels like it's right on the money, and the image quality is photo-realistic at a level not touched by MS Train Simulator 1.

NMRA Convention, Day 5 (Thursday, July 17th)

joef — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:01:41 +0000

On Thursday, we agreed to video the complete 2008 Digitrax Users Forum - an almost two hour event. You can watch the video for free here in MRH Theater.

Zana Ireland, President of Digitrax, first spoke of some noteworthy Digitrax news: they're moving from Atlanta, Georgia to Panama City, Florida in the next few months. Zana gave lots of reasons, not the least of which is they're growing and the Florida Panhandle has a better quality of life, along with a more business-friendly environment than the Atlanta area. (Click on the left hand photo to enlarge.)

Next Zana moved into new product announcements, at which point she handed the mike to AJ Ireland, the engineering mastermind behind Digitrax. AJ described the new PR3 programmer, some new Z-scale decoders, and the big new item - their partnership with SoundTraxx that uses transponding to make the new SurroundTraxx layout sound system work. AJ invited Nancy Workman of SoundTraxx to come up and briefly describe how the new SurroundTraxx system works.

NMRA Convention, Day 4 (Wednesday, July 16th)

joef — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:31:42 +0000

Layouts! Every layout has something about it the owner does well or distinctively, and for the Layout Design SIG layout tour, I find this to be especially true. I'm delighted to report that for the Wednesday LD SIG layout tours here at the 2008 NMRA National Convention in Anahiem, this remains as true as ever!

Mike Kresen's HO freelanced western Pennsylvania layout

We carpooled with Rob Hinkle driving (who as it turned out, has already been to some of the layouts on previous nights as a guest operator - so he drove right to them). We departed the hotel just after 10 am to begin our trek. We stopped first at Mike Kresen's HO scale steam-diesel era freelanced western Pennsylvania layout set in the early 1950s.

The fully scenicked 14x20' layout immediately impressed me - with the level of detail being well above average - although Mike claimed the layout needed still more details (what layout couldn't use more detailing work?)

For instance, the details in the central city scene really dazzled me and caught my eye. I've included a scene here on the left (click the image to enlarge). Notice the realistic street lights, the building billboard light, and the animated neon dental supply sign that plays through a realistic sequence of squeezing the toothpaste out onto the brush. And that wasn't all - Mike also included traffic signals that change, a spinning barber shop pole, and other realistic eye candy. Very nicely done, Mike!