Latest Running EXTRA

With all due respect to work that went into it, this edition is hardly exciting, I thought it was detrimental to the hobby..Most disappointing and wouldn't inspire me to continue my subscription when it runs out in October.

The best thing about MRHM is the posting system and it is free and has more ideas than Running extra will ever have.

We should be enthused not disheartened.

I don't mind if I get banned.. That's the Editors right..

Regards Kenn

On the other hand...

I just downloaded the July Running Extra last night and had a chance to skim through it - I'm bowled over by the volume and variety of detailed content!

Kenn didn't specify what it was that he found disheartening and detrimental to the hobby. I suppose that's his right, too, but not very helpful to the editorial team. It crosses my mind that he may be reacting to the piece that is always the very first thing I read (it was the only item I read all the way through last night): Jim Six's Limited Modeler. 

Jim's contributions are certainly unusual and I can understand that some may look to our hobby press for an escape from emotional considerations, but I find that it actually adds to the richness, depth, and appreciation of my own experiences even when they contrast with his. Joe F has described himself as an introvert who deliberately pushed himself to use his hobby interests to engage with others and I find myself in much the same boat. Encountering a wide range of skilled and thoughtful individuals is a huge factor in my enjoyment. 

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions and Kenn is really disheartened by the idea of using powdered chalk to add grime texture to his wheelsets, but did he really find so little else to appreciate?

Jeff Allen

Someone get Jim an ice cream sunday

This month’s limited modeler does read like Jim was heaving heavy sighs while writing it.  And it is the first thing.  Someone get that man an ice cream sunday and cheer him up a bit!

Interesting

Probably (could'a kinda maybe) was Jim's article. Personally I find Jim's writing not only interesting but uplifting. I often go through creative blocks and just garden variety apathy that cause me to question why the heck do I do this thing (model railroading) that I used to love but is now a source of doubt and pain. It happens but it is rarely discussed. Jim's articles are affirming to me that involvement in this hobby is very immersive and for some of us is dependent on so many factors that need to align properly to keep us moving forward. 

"Life isn't all beer and skittles, mate!"

An introspective piece by Jim Six, and the naysayers want to cancel. I identify more with Jim's take on the hobby than the ensuing "Texas Syndrome in New England" article, which I flipped through with an increasing amount of disbelief.  I don't have that much living space in my house, let alone my basement!  Mine, I euphemistically refer to as a 'submarine pen' , for all the leaks it develops after rain storms.  Being it is also a head knocker for anyone breaking 5' in height, it is unusable.  The cost to dry it out, and drop the floor?  One estimate ran easily past the remaining balance on the mortgage.  Yes, I can easily relate to Mr. Six's current conundrum, and await his next missive.

I'll chip in for the sundae.

The Model Railroad HOBBYIST distinctive

We always appreciate feedback, even critical feedback.

I named us Model Railroad HOBBYIST because I wanted to go beyond just the models and speak to the unique human challenges we all face in the hobby — to talk about more than just the models.

Jim Six's struggles to home in on true hobby satisfaction are all too common and someone needs to address this elephant in the room. Jim’s doing that ... he's showing how to work through a layout rebuilding from calamity damage and come out the other side with what truly makes for greater hobby satisfaction. Our editors this issue sent some time with Jim going over this month’s piece and how to clearly say it in a way that’s honest but leaves the door open for a future that’s only going to be brighter.

The irony this issue then is Mike Rose's flip side mega-layout expansion. Yes, it’s almost the polar opposite of Jim’s piece and if you don’t have that much space (most of us don’t) that could also be discouraging, I suppose. But on the other hand, once Mike gets the expanded layout going, Resolve to get yourself invited to an op session! At least enjoy Mikes good fortune with him.

Our preference is to always include the human factor because it’s where we all live — the hobby is more than just “stuff” ...

Then the rest of the issue has some useful construction pieces ... if you’re a steam to diesel or earlier modeler, the grungy wheel weathering is a new level of detailing that I don’t recall ever seeing done in the hobby press. The City Of Prineville layout plan for a garage is a fascinating real railroad you can model piece for example. And of course making bushes with rope and the unusual insulated tank cars step by step with techniques you can adapt to many different types of rolling stock construction projects.

I also found Eric’s piece on putting undec equipment into temp service to be very real world, again speaking to the practical side of the hobby rather than always being letter perfect. Reminds me of the complaint I got one time for showing some video footage of a train on my helix where I showed a locomotive without handrails — sacralidge! I’m sorry, but giving readers permission to press incomplete equipment into service is something we’re not afraid to do. Or to show lots of incomplete benchwork, as in Mike Rose's piece.

We’ve seen complaints that the hobby press just shows the slick side of the hobby, never the back room stuff that’s incomplete or discusses the false starts or mistakes. You can’t have it both ways, folks! For the record, MRH refuses to shy away from how the hobby’s actually done, including the struggles or the not so pretty bare benchwork shots!

Not every issue will be cover-to-cover awesome for everyone, we get that. But to write off all 12 issues because one issue fails to impress seems to be a somewhat knee-jerk reaction. If we have to knock every issue out of the park for $2.99, is that even realistic?

Another Jim Six fan

Making space to address this "elephant in the room" (as Joe put it) is one of the things I appreciate most about MRH - and Jim's articles in particular. I put "The Limited Modeler" right up there with Tony Koester's "Trains of Thought" column. They're both the first things I read and always give me something to mull over. Sometimes, they'll even cause me to rethink something - or, even more importantly, avoid a mistake (which Jim's article this month certainly does).

Far from being discouraged, I get a little extra shot of motivation with each issue of MRH. I suspect that's their goal and I suspect others feel the same.

Chris

I personally find articles by

I personally find articles by Jim Six to be very interesting and relevant. What Jim has gone through with his basement/water, struggling with retirement and so on I find as very inspirational. Jim is 10 year my senior and I take what he writes to heart as we have more in common than may be apparent.  You have to take the good with the bad in Model Railroading or give up. Jim is somehow finding ways to overcome the challenges when it would probably be really easy to just toss everything in the dumpster and be done with it.....it's an ongoing story of perseverance.

As far as the rest of the issue.... as usual

Another good issue!

Having read all of July RE and most all of MRH now, it seems to me that it’s another good issue with the usual mix of stuff that interests me greatly and stuff that doesn’t really interest me, but which I glance through anyway because you never know - my interests have changed before and no doubt will again.

After the recent discussion on ads I did try to actually look at the ads, there are some interesting things in there that I guess I haven’t really noticed before.  Clicked through a few of the ones that sounded more intriguing, but didn’t actually buy anything.  (Yet?)

running extra

I believe I bought a years worth of this but I did not receive the July issue, what happen?

                                                                                                                                 Smitty

There’s only one ALL ISSUES link

You got a link when you signed up that’s to your all issues page. Each month we update your all issues page to add the new issue, so just revisit that link we first sent you and you will find July is now there waiting for you to download it ... super simple —we do all the hard work for you!