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.

BLAST FROM THE PAST ... This was originally posted in 2008, back when MRH was still just an idea in formation.

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:

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:

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.

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

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?

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!

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.

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)!

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.