CSX, welcome aboard MRH. We're here to help if we can!

I think we've got a good mix of newcomers, intermediates, and old-timers here on the MRH forum. In my experience, the Kalmbach forums are more newbies helping newbies, with a lower member experience level than we generally have around here.

Thanks Joe. With all honesty, I do like the Kalmbach forums, but major technical issues that have come up after they shut down for maintnance a few months ago have driven me away (with the exception of the Fine Scale Modeler forums) So much for maintnance.

I would say that my model railroading skills are fairly good, but compaired to "profesionals" (including profesionals that do this for a living) my models could be ranked as "mediocre" (I don't mind, though. As long as it looks good to me, I'm happy)

       So far, I'm happy with this website, the magazine, and the forums. especially with the magazine being free. I must admit,though, I have to keep my subscription to the Model Railroader, due to a subscriber benefit, a weekly show called Cody's Office, with their editor, Cody. It's a really good show, but I can't get sound (my computer's sound chip mysteriously disappeared after we took it in for a new motherboard)

So, I guess it's back to the panic over what to do, if I have to give up my subscriptions to my magazines (all of them have something I absolutely like)

Welcome CSX railfan

as far as sound you can buy a sound card for your computer for about $30.00 that will take you 5 min to install and it may be that you do have a sound chip in your computer and you just need to install the driver free from microsoft.

If your sound chip is installed and your driver hasn't been installed your sound won't work.

Dan

 Thank you Dan,

 I have tried to get my parents to let me get a soundcard, but I have no clue what one looks like (for all I know, it may still be in there) But my parents don't want me to fix the mistake the computer repair-shop made.

CSX, I feel your pain.  The sound portion of your computer could be built on the motherboard or on a separate circuit card that "plugs in" to the motherboard.  Chances are the components are there and you have a driver issue.

Nothing wrong with liking the Kalmbach forums or subscribing to their magazine.  I would bet that all or nearly all of the MRH folks subscribe to one or more Kalmbach publications.

I was not aware of the technical difficulties at the Kalmbach forums.  What I like about the MRH forums is the lack of off-topic discussions.  Not so many non-railroad topics are started here and threads do not often get pulled off topic into discussions that really do not belong on a model railroad forum.

The group of members here is great.  Hope you enjoy the experience.

Thanks for the sympathy with the computer. I,ironically, hate computers (then why am I online?) and would have a field-day if I could just smash computers to pieces (mabe for my graduation party, I can start storing-up now, and have a few thousand:-)

As for the tech problems with the Kalmbach forums, it's all isolated to the forums of the Model Railroader, Trains, Classic Trains, Classic Toy Trains, and Garden Railways magazine forums (they are all on the same website, thus use the same forum files) and it's not a site-wide problem. I'm having it, but I don't think a lot of others are having the problems.

For the lack of off topic stuff, I agree. I remember I asked, in the MRR "General Discussion" forums, What was your most expensive mistake? about 3-5 postimgs laghter, it went from "I dropped my friend's (insert locomotive here) and had to get him a new one" to "Yeah, my ex-wife" or some version of that. Glad to hear it's not going to happen here.

CSX wrote:

Thanks for the sympathy with the computer. I,ironically, hate computers

It's not so ironic really.  I have a computer background and can repair my own systems but I like them best when they work.  When they don't, I hate them too!

Sadly the computer is our gateway to this thing called the Internet.  I think lots of folks who "hate" computers, own computers now, simply because of the internet.

I wish I were in your area.  I would be happy to help you clear-up the issues you are having.

I whish you were here, so I can get this thing working! Then again, you may not want to touch us with a 10-foot pole, everyone in the family is getting a "roundhouse virus". When we get one, it starts with 1 person, then it spreds to the family, and then it goes back to the first person, in a huge circle, never ending untill we get an immune system miricle, or we go on a long vacation.

I have found myself a backdoor to the problem, My lap-top computer does have a connection to the internet jack (that's new) and it has sound.

I noticed the Kalmbach forums had some loading problems.

Actually their biggest problem is they refused to listen to Joe Fugate a few years back and have been going down hill every since.

I have noticed on their web site they have gone away from advanced Model Railroading and are concentrating more on the Beginner which is fine but, they need to step up a little bit and go back to the way the they were in the past when they had a couple newb items then some advanced projects like the electronic corner and a section on scratch building tips.

It seems lately they promote the cheaper model railroad products and do a whole video on them and at the same time they make dumb jokes and play pranks on one another in those videos. I just hope it doesn't rub off on their magazine.

Dan

So what's going to happen to those newbs when they get to the end of what MR has to offer and they realize there's nothing left in the hobby that they are interested in besides either building the RTR layout or operating the RTR layout - and that only lasts so long.

The way I always saw the articles that were over my head, even when I was eight and fresh to RMC, was that these were tasks using skills I could someday learn and then apply towards modeling results which I could some day aspire to achieve.

But when it's all "easy"...well, you know that old saying about how good things don't come easy?