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September 2005 News and Notes
Wow -- what happened to July and August?!
It's been a busy time for me with a trip to Cincinnati for the NMRA Convention and National Train
Show as well as work on new and continuing projects. It was a pleasure to meet some readers of the newsletter and web pages
at the convention -- thanks for stopping by my clinics and saying hello!
And speaking of these web pages, there have been over 57,000 pageviews since
I published the site in March, 2004 (and over 240,000 hits!). I never expected these pages to generate that sort of interest
and I appreciate the comments I've received from readers.
It's been interesting to see the pages that are visited most often. The
major pages listed in the bar at left are among the most popular, of course. I wonder if I should be concerned that significantly
more people click on What's it Cost? than on my Background?
I never set out to author a large web site, but it seems to have grown all
on its own!
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It seems like interest in layout design increases as the Fall approaches.
While there is still a substantial backlog, it is steadily (if slowly) decreasing to a reasonable level that will allow me
to take on some new projects.
An interesting consulting project recently involved a very clean design more
oriented toward model railfanning than intense multi-person operations. A nice change of pace; and a reminder that there are
lots of different very valid reasons to build a layout. I always must be careful to avoid spilling too much of my own "givens
and 'druthers" into a project, thus spoiling the result for the client.
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I'm pleased to be starting on a couple of engaging new ops projects, adding
operations plans to layouts I previously designed for clients. It's an interesting challenge to create an ops plan "long distance".
In both cases, I have never actually visited either layout, but of course know them well from doing the designs. Thank goodness
for the Internet and email attachments! Hopefully I'll do my ops planning job well enough to eventually be invited for a session.
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Cincinnati's Union Terminal in a vintage postcard
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What I did on my Summer vacation
I had a great trip to Cincinnati for the NMRA Convention and National Train
Show in July. I presented three different clinics twice each -- quite a workload for the few days I was there. But it was
great to see a number of clients, prospective clients, and other friends from around the world.
All of the clinics were well-attended, which I took as a real compliment
when there were so many options for ways to spend time. A few of you caught up on some much-needed sleep in the back of the
clinic room … but I'm sure it was just your level of fatigue, not of boredom! Handouts from the three clinics are here. I hope to add some detail from each clinic on-line as time permits in the months ahead.
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"Beginning Ops" clinic highlights -- for a 4X8?
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Ops ideas for a "classic" 4X8
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Train Show thoughts
Although I'm generally not a big fan of large train shows, I did spend parts
of a couple of days at the National Train Show. There's lots of chatter in Internet forums about the disappointing attendance
for the Convention and Train Show. That may be, I don't know what the organizers expected. But I found lots of reasons to
be encouraged. On the public days the show seemed pretty busy … a lot of young families gazing eagerly at the modular
and other display layouts, including a massive "Lego" train set-up. These young parents may not have much time for the hobby
now, but one could see in their eyes the enchantment of moving trains. And the seeds were certainly being sewn for a few decades
hence, with scads of youngsters watching trains or climbing all over the large Brio play area. I'm often accused of being
naively optimistic, but I think a lot of the public received a fun introduction to model railroading.
And by the way, if we're trying to attract younger people to the NMRA convention,
why do we hold it during a holiday week (July 4) when lots of families have activities planned?
Click here for Model Railroader magazine's photos from the Train Show.
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New -- WP caboose update from National
Train Show
I spoke with Brian Marsh of Overland Models at the Train Show and he indicated
that he had heard from a few of you N scalers regarding your enthusiasm for this project. OMI is not ready to say "yes" yet,
but there is a good chance. If you are interested in these unique models, please let OMI know! Your indication of interest
may help tip the sacles in favor of the project.
As a reminder, Overland Models is importing the very characteristic and
unique Western Pacific / Sacramento Northern cabooses which were built from wooden boxcars in HO scale. With enough support,
they may produce them in N scale as well. Click here or the image at left to find out more about these models and what you may do to help convince OMI to produce them in N scale.
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The shoemaker's children; or, getting off the dime
Most of you have probably heard the old saw about the shoemaker's children
never having any shoes. As I stood in my garage last week, viewing nothing but piles of "treasures" (i.e., junk), a small
switching layout, and a lone staging shelf, I realized: my layout is the shoemaker's child.
I am enjoying designing layouts and creating ops plans for clients. And
I spend some time helping out friends as well as offering advice gratis on a few Internet forums. But not much is happening
on my proto-freelanced Oakland Harbor Belt. Actually, make that nothing is happening.
Oh, there are lots of good reasons. Like many of you, I'm part of the "sandwich"
generation, with a daughter in elementary school and aging relatives who are developing significant needs. Both ends of that
spectrum require time and attention. Family comes before model railroading, right? And then there is work, both my day job and this model railroad business. Community and volunteer activities also take some time.
But truth be told, it's not only an issue of time. There are lost minutes
everywhere … in front of the TV, reading pointless drivel posted on Internet forums, dawdling during unpleasant chores.
Hiker, author, and philosopher Colin Fletcher once wrote about backpacking, "take care of the ounces and the pounds will take care of themselves". I think the same is
true of time: with more attention to the minutes, the hours for garage prep and modeling will appear.
OK, if I free up the time, what is the "pacing item"? What is needed to
make progress? The last few elements of the design must be hammered out -- a few hours at most. I have made one major change
in the design that means a near-complete rework of the staging shelf. But truly, not such a big deal. I need to mock-up and
test my simplified scheme for simulated car floats in N scale. A little tricky, but probably not impossible even with my limited
modeling skills.
And oh yeah, the garage is still in need of a major junk-ectomy. Bingo!
It's very tough to look past that unpleasant task. Probably like many of us, that unsavory bit of prep work is stalling me
out.
The motivation to get that part of the job done will have to come from bigger
goals. And for me, that means deadlines -- external commitments and expectations that help focus me on what can be done, today,
in whatever sliver of time I can create. It would be very fulfilling to have the layout operational for the BayRails meet in 2007. But to do that, I'd like to start "shake down" op sessions in September, 2006. And to do that …. well
let's say I'd better start pitching junk this weekend. Wish me luck!
If your pacing item isn't piles of junk but rather the need for
a layout design or operations plan that truly captures your layout vision, please contact me. That I can help with.
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Copyright © 2005 by Byron Henderson
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