Good evening fellow Valeasians,

After more than a year of home renovations, I am sitting quietly in front of my
computer screen basking in the satisfaction of a lengthy job well done, if I do
say so myself!  I tallied up the expenses of the home makeover and the final
number came as quite a shock.  Funny, things didn't seem so expensive while I
was doing the work.  Unfortunately, the bills have piled up and I am also in the
middle of a dispute with the former owner of my home.  The only people happy
with this ongoing legal scuffle are the lawyers and their "experts".

The outcome of this outpouring of my limited funds is a beautiful and inviting
home but no money to pay for a road trip to Milwaukee next July.  Compounding
the matter is the fact that I have lost all desire to put on a show for the
model railroading community in the form of clinics or a layout display.  My
layout seems to be quite happy where it is.

As often stated, my goal is to complete the Master Model Railroader requirements
at some point.  I can not even begin to elaborate a time-frame to the next AP
certificate.  I have been dragging my feet for more than a couple of years now
since the last milestone.  Still the flame is alive and the challenge is enough
to keep me involved in the creative arena of model railroading.

I promise to share my progress with you.

Take care everyone, and have a great holiday season.

Jeffrey

Hello Fellow Valeasians,

I am happy to say that Doug Auburg, the NMRA National Convention Clinic
Coordinator, has once again invited me to offer one or more clinics at the NMRA
National.  Since next year's event is the 75th anniversary of the founding of
the NMRA, the convention should be quite a party.

I have already requested layout space at the Train Show so it only makes sense
to give a clinic or two during the convention.  Hopefully, i will be allowed to
give a clinic on the train show floor at my display layout.

I will put my thinking cap on and put together an outline for a couple o clinic
ideas although I might offer an updated version of the 2005 clinic on small
layout operations.

I will let you know as soon as I have something intelligent to share.

Best regards,
Jeffrey

Dear fellow Valeasians,

After another bout of laryngitis over the last month, I have finally come to
accept that my days as an exhibitor at train shows are over. I just can not
spend 8 hours straight engaged in conversation with visitors.

There have been several severe bouts in the past few years.  Funny how I so
easily forgot the excruciating pain I suffered through for 5 days following my
second day at the London Festival of Railroading in 2006.

In fact, my resistance to throat infections has not improved since then and I
often have to take a break from lengthy conversations and debates, something
quite difficult in my professional capacity.  My voice gets progressively weaker
until I start coughing.  Usually my throat gets sore in the early evening and I
end up gargling salt water and sucking medicated lozenges all night.  If I am
lucky, the irritation passes but if it does not...I go through hell.  Last year,
I lost my voice for a full 4 days.  Some co-workers may have found my silence
somewhat relaxing!

It is hard for me to make this break from train shows but I do not have the
physical strength to give a good show and save my voice.

I am now hoping to attend the NMRA 2010 National Train Show in Milwaukee but as
an attendee not as an exhibitor.  The layout will stay at home and I will try to
post pictures of my progress in finishing the second suitcase section.

Cheers,
Jeffrey

Hello fellow Valeasians,

If you have not already heard the news, let me be the one to share an invitation
from Micro-Trains Line to the 2010 National Z Scale Convention to be held in
Medford, Oregon next March 30 - April 1. 
http://www.national-zscaleconvention.com/index.html

Although billed by Micro-Trains as the "First Annual" it actually builds on a
series of previous "National" Z conventions that start back in Richardson, Texas
(April 2000), followed by the July 2002 Columbus Convention, both events hosted
by Ztrack Magazine.  So the planned Medford convention might be more accurately
called the third National Z convention.

I sometimes do like to split hairs but it is probably okay for MTL to call their
convention the "First Annual" convention since the first two did not aspire to
create an annual event.

As far as I know, the only annual event that unites Z scalers at this time is
the NMRA National Train Show starting with the 1999 edition in St. Paul, MN. 
See http://www.val-ease-central.com/files/NTSreports.html for detailed reports
from all NTS events.

I commend MTL for their recognition of the maturing of Z scale and their strong
support for the scale and for Z scalers.  Note:  MTL was the first and most
loyal supporter of the Val Ease Central Adventures beginning with the VEC's
12-month display at the Quebec Museum of Civilization.

I encourage you to consider attending the MTL Z Convention.  Knowing Eric Smith,
CEO, they will put on an excellent show.  I am trying to line up my ducks to be
able to attend the event.  I will let you know if the fates make it happen.

Best regards,
Jeffrey

Welcome new Valeasians,

I am happy to answer any questions you may have about any of the content in the
Val Ease Central virtual universe.  I expecially encourage you to read through
the articles available in the VEC library link.  Over the 8-year period that I
was active as author and Z ambassador, I pretty much put all of my learning
experiences into words and shared them with the model railroading community in
various magazines and discussion groups, including this forum.

I hope that you will enjoy sharing in the VEC experience, and please, share
yours with the other members of the Val Ease Central family.

Best regards,
Jeffrey

Jeffrey:

Interesting read.  Too bad you missed the show as there were some good layouts
in many scales, but a lot of Z Folks were missing.

More interesting that some of the NTS folks think Z is so great.  One of the
judges asked Mr Dave "Where was his paperwork" for the judging.  Dave said he
was not submitting any since he received an extremely low rating in Anaheim, and
up to now he had been unable to find out why - and that was after winning TWO
First Place Awards at the Detroit show.  The judge said "Well the reason it was
rated so low is 'it wasn't prototypical'".     ....how's that again......

...don

Good afternoon fellow Valeasians,

I have not been away, hibernating or stuck in a spelunking accident, no I have
been busy renovating my house:  laying hardwood flooring (3 bedrooms, dining and
living rooms, installing crown molding and repainting all ceilings, repainting
all vertical surfaces, replacing all lighting fixtures, and keeping weeds and
other yard pests at bay.

In fact, things have been awfully busy since my last message in March.  Then
there's my day job!  Even busier than at home!

Still, one can not survive on home renovations and work projects no matter how
engrossing and exciting.  There is hobbytime to think about.

I have kept abreast of the NMRA National Train Show happenings over the July
11-12 weekend.  Not much chatter about the Z presence in Hartford although I
heard good things about the two layouts from Dean Dickerhoof, the NMRA NTS
Layout Coordinator.  He always enjoys seeing the Z at the show.  He knows that
the crowds love the Z as well.  More on NMRA latter.

My next confirmed outing will be at the annual Exporail - Canadian Railway
Museum model train show Saturday and Sunday, August 15-16.  I will be prepping
the VECRR for the show and hopefully taking care of some wiring issues on Val
Ease East controller.

Then I will be displaying my HOe double suitcase layout at the annual Ottawa
Railfair, October 17 and 18 at Algonquin College.  This layout will be my very
first attempt at DCC operations.  I'll keep you posted as my experiment
progresses during the late summer, early fall.

As for 2010, my plans are firmly centered on the NMRA 75th anniversary
convention and national train show to be held in Milwaukee, WI, July 16-17-18. 
I have already provided my registration to the NTS brass so I fully expect to be
at the party in 2010.

I will keep you fully posted on developments and I will provide a complete
write-up of my adventures on the Val-Ease-Central.com web site (new library
additions).

Have a great summer and hope to see you at Exporail, Railfair and NTS 2010.

Jeffrey

Happy Spring, fellow Valeasians,

It dawned on me that I have not been very active in the posting department over
the past month or so (well duh!).  So here is an update on goings on around Val
Ease County.

I have been extremely busy over the past year on the personal side of life. 
Some sense of order has established itself and I am now able to contemplate
getting back into action in the model railroading universe.

I am very well along renovating my house and now have an extremely comfortable
office where the "Kofferbahn von Sankt Bartholomë" layout majestically occupies
the facing wall to my massive oak desk (a Fall and Winter 2008 refinishing job).
I am really looking forward to taking up my executive chair behind the desk
where I plan to complete the article and clinic that I had hoped to present at
NTS 2009 in Hartford, CT.

Although I had been accepted to give a clinic in Hartford, I was not healthy
enough to complete the text for the December 2008 Convention handbook deadline. 
As a result I informed the clinic chairperson that I would have to pass on the
2009 convention.  The article concept is a good one and I have lots of ideas
that I would definitely like to put to paper and as well as photograph.  If I
can get the creative energy flowing again over the summer I will offer a clinic
at the Milwaukee convention in 2010.

The unusual part of my clinic is that I give it on the train show floor using
the two-section KvSB layout as a prop to demonstrate the techniques that I
present in the clinic.  Unfortunately for the Hartford NTS, I never received
news back from the NTS organisers that I had layout space at the train show.  I
will have to get on their case early for the 2010 train show if I want the
clinic and layout demo combo to work out.

At the moment I do not have any plans to travel to the US in 2009.  I have the
annual Exporail Train Show in August where I will be serviing the VECRR and
running the KvSB for visitors.  In October I am signed up to show the KvSB at
the annual Ottawa Railfair Train Show.

I am looking forward to taking some time off from work which has been quite
stressful over the past year and has taken a toll on my enthusiasm for model
railroading.  Things have settled down and I should be able to enjoy some
vacation time shortly.

Hope all is well with all of my model railroading buddies.  Take care and I will
be talking at you again soon.

Best,
Jeffrey

--- In VECRR@yahoogroups.com, "mrnosal" <mnosal@...> wrote:
>
> Good afternoon fellow Valeasians,
>
> As usually happens, as soon as I wonder aloud about something, the answer
appears
almost immediately.
>
> Here is an Amherst BIG Train Show report from Mike...
>
> Jeffrey

Thanks Jeffrey.
Just to emphasize a couple of points:

1) Z-scale is still unique and makes a big impression on folks.
Listening to the folks visiting the Tri-State Z-scalers booth, you
could hear lots of "wow!" and "amazing!". Even seeing a DCC-
equipped Z loco running on a a tabletop oval flips people out.

2) There's high-quality available in Z. Marklin, MTL, AZL all
have outstanding offerings. Seeing the Japanese Pro-Z set
for the first time showed this is a trend that will continue.

3) Small, highly detailed layouts can have a bigger impact
than gigantic modular layouts. Sure, some of the HO layouts
were bigger than my house, but they had an awful lot of
plywood prairie on some modules. Or even raw pink foam.
I've seen the VECRR in person, and have the Ztrack and
Model Railroader articles and I still have no idea how
many buildings, trees, fences, vehicles, etc. are crammed
in there.  Z's size advantage means being able to see
much more detail in a small area.

4) All the z-folks I met and spoke to at the show were
really friendly and enthusiastic. Natural ambassadors for
the scale.

Looking forward to NTS Hartford and next year's Amherst show.

--Mike

Good afternoon fellow Valeasians,

As usually happens, as soon as I wonder aloud about something, the answer
appears almost immediately.

Here is an Amherst BIG Train Show report from Mike...

Jeffrey
******************

I posted my trip report to trainboard and the yahoo z_scale group, but I'll
happily share
here too.

I went on Saturday, and took my son (age 6). He asked if the guy with the trains
in the
suitcase was going to be there. he even remembered that you had dinosaurs on
your
layout. We had a blast. It was quite crowded when I was there.
The show does indeed span four of the buildings at the site, and all four were
full.

First I stopped by Jim's Hobby Supply, and picked up the Marklin 81437 set -
absolutely
amazing details on that. Marklin did an outstanding job with the paint and
printing.

Then over to Time Machine where I got the 86619 Prussian Freight set.  Time
Machine had
a really nice display of z-scale, and Jim's Hobby had some great prices. Both
were really
friendly and and were happy to talk about z-scale. Both had a large inventory of
z-scale
for sale at the show. I didn't see any other dealers selling Z, but I could have
easily missed
one.

The Tri-State Z-scalers had the only running Z layout I could find. They
attracted a lot of
attention, and they even had a Pro-Z Japanese Z-scale layout on display. The set
was
nicely detailed, and it ran very smoothly. Tempting, very tempting.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any other operating Z layouts. This is the first
show since
Walthers has taken over distribution of Marklin and Marklin's booth was
disappointing, and
it looked amateurish compared with booths from Atlas, Rapdio, InterMountain,
etc. TCS
had their new z-scale DCC decoders on display. I didn't get a chance to see the
MTL
booth.

The N-scale guys were having their module competition at the show, and they were
very
friendly (to get you to vote for *their* module).

I heard that attendance was down slightly from last year, but the folks I spoke
with were
upbeat in the face of the present economic situation.

There is tremendous potential for Z-scale at this (and other) shows. The
Tri-State folks
had a very small booth but had consistent traffic admiring the layout. I also
think z-scale
can offer more international flavor, which was sorely lacking at the show (save
the ETE
folks, who were running Marklin HO).

I didn't get much chance to take photographs while at the show, but a little
searching will
turn up photos from other folks.

-Mike

Good morning fellow Valeasians,

I do not have an Amherst BIG Train Show report for you this year since
I was recovering from a rather nasty cold (not flu) over the BIG Train
Show weekend of January 24-25.

Z scale was represented once again by the Tri-State Z modelers Z-Bend
Track group.  I have not heard any news about the show from the Z
crowd.  Looks like the community has lost some of its enthusiasm for
sharing news with the rest of the world.

Next year's BIG Train Show will take place on the weekend of January
30-31, 2010 at the Eastern States Exhibition in West Springfield, MA.
  The show now fills 4 buildings and attracts over 20,000 visitors the
greatest model train show on the East Coast.  It is well worth the visit.

Follow the link below to keep up-to-date on BIG Train Show news:

http://www.railroadhobbyshow.com/

Cheers,
Jeffrey

Good morning fellow Valeasians,

Continuing my commentary on the November-December issue of Ztrack
Magazine, I would like to bring your attention to an excellent article...

"Rail Zeppelin Train Set" by David Hanson.

The article tells the story of the inspiration, research, collecting
and building of a portable and highly detailed Z layout which
highlights the Marklin Rail Zeppelin.  Mr. Hanson goes beyond a simple
"how-to" article but puts life into the story.  His interest for the
particular time period of the Zeppelin also led to his research and
building of a period table, layout support and a Mart Stam B34 chair.
  The result is a complete display that captures the look and
industrial design of the 1930's era Germany.

The article is well-written and has many fine photographs to
illustrate the authors text.  I was disappointed that there were no
color close-up photos.

In my opinion, this article should have had the main cover page focus
as it goes way beyond modeling to capture the feeling of a certain
period in society.

Cheers,
Jeffrey

Hi fellow Valeasians,

It was with great pleasure that I came across the back cover of the Nov-
Dec 2008 Ztrack and saw the expanding line of Micro-Trains Line laser-
cut structures.

It has been a long time coming but the Z community is receiving
increasing support from manufacturers in terms of a variety of useful
and highly "kit-bashable" building kits.

Micro-Trains Line in particular, deserves recognition (and a lot less
criticism from some quarters in the Z community) for their continuing
investments in Z motive power, rolling stock and adaptable North
aAmerican structures.

Health and happiness to all in 2009,
Jeffrey

Greetings fellow Valeasians,

I just received the November - December 2008 issue of Ztrack Magazine.

The cover photo really caught my eye.  It is a nice desert trestle
scene.  Unfortunately, there are at least two problems with the
locomotive.

The bronze-phosphor wipers are highly visible behind the drive wheels.
  Many moons ago I placed an easy tip in the Z_Scale data base to take
care of the shiny metal wipers.

- Remove the shell and paint the wipers black using your favorite
Sharpie or other brand marker.

The second problem with the photo is that the locomotive is obviously
not Z scale but Nn3.  This is quite clearly seen by the size of the
cab and its height over the tender and the reefer.

A third problem that could easily be fixed by taking the photo from an
angle rather that from the side, is the wire hook linking the tender
to the loco.  The gap between the engine and the tender should be
shortened physically or optically.

Z scale photos are unforgiving and require great attention to detail.

Digital photography makes photo checking for problems very easy.

Best,
Jeffrey

Happy New Year!

Contrary to a widely held belief in the Z community, the NMRA does not
ignore Z nor any other model railroading scale.  The NMRA is a
volunteer-run organization that does not have the resources to be
proactive in its approach to content in its publications and
activities.  The NMRA relies on submissions from members for
publication in its division, region and national publications.  The
same is true for clinics and presentations at NMRA meets and conventions.

Basically, the problem lies with the very small size of the Z
community and the even smaller number of Z enthusiasts who are members
of the NMRA and who have any significant contact with NMRA officials.

I am still active with the NMRA and continue to volunteer my time for
clinics.  I don't know if there are any others in the Z community who
do this.

Concerning Z standards, I do not believe that the working group
reached any conclusions.  I am not sure that the group is still active
for that matter.  I think that Rob Albritton was VP of the group that
was chaired by Bill Kronenberger until his passing in January 2007.

Finally, considering the infinitesimal number of Z members in the
NMRA, I do not expect to see an official NMRA standards gauge any time
soon.

Jeffrey

Jeffrey:

Has anything more ever become of this??  Or is NMRA still planning to
basically ignore Z ??  I note tonight a brand new member to the Z
Scale Forum is asking about a Z Standards Gauge, which still appears to
be far out in the Ether somewhere.

...don


-- In VECRR@yahoogroups.com, "Jeffrey MacHan" <jmac_han@> wrote:
> >
SNIP
> I sent my findings in to the NMRA and to Scale Rails.  In March, I
> received a surprising email from Scale Rails inviting me to consider
> doing Z product reviews for them!!!!  Something was out of whack
> here.  What had I been doing for the last 3 months?   I had exchanged
> numerous emails with these same folks and all of a sudden they didn't
> know who I was?  Talk about strange!
>
SNIP

> There was no fun to be had sending failing reports to the NMRA brass
> and the editor of Scale Rails seemed to be suffering memory loss. I
> figured that my time as product reviewer was nearing an end.
>
SNIP
>
> There you have it, fellow Valeasians, the tribulations of product
> review guy for Scale Rails and NMRA Conformance tester.
SNIP
> Cheers,
> Jeffrey
>

Hello fellow Valeasians,

My clinic title was 14 characters too long for the NMRA clinic
database.  Here is the new lite version...

SCENERY TIPS FOR THE SMALL LAYOUT:  IMPROVING REALISM AND BELIEVABILITY

70 characters

Happy New Year!

Jeffrey

'morning, Bob!

I'm glad that you find the topic of interest.  I figured I would simply
talk about the things I find most enjoyable about modelling a railroad.

Officially, my clinic will be published in the NMRA 2009 Convention
Handbook.

I fully expect my actual presentation to wander far and wide from the
published version since I like to interact with the public.  At some
point I will most likely present a photo-essay-style report in the VEC
Library which would then be available to all loyal Valeasians.

Have a great holiday season,
Jeffrey

This sounds like a fascinating clinic.  I wish I could get to Hartford
to attend it.   If you ever publish and article on this please let us
know so that we can pick up a copy.
Bob

Scenery planning tips for the small layout builder:  improving realism
and believability


The vast majority of layouts are modest in size.  Well planned and
positioned scenery elements and structures can transform a layout into
a visually exciting model railroad.  Jeffrey MacHan, world-wide Z-scale
Ambassador, published author with over 90 articles to his credit, and
accomplished small layout builder ( 2001 NMRA National Train Show  Best
of Show - Module) will explain the various tricks and techniques
involved in amplifying the illusion of reality and believability that
he used on his award-winning modular HOe layout, "St. Bartholomew's
Abbey".

Greetings fellow Valeasians,

The NMRA National Convention will be held in Hartford, CT next July
5-11 and the National Train Show will run from July 10-12 at the
Hartford Convention Center.

I will be giving a clinic:  Scenery planning tips for the small layout
builder:  improving realism and believability

In a departure from tradition, I will be giving the clinic several
times over the weekend on the main floor of the train show using my
HOn30 layout in order to illustrate the subject.

The show is sure to be great fun.  I look forward to seeing old and
new friends at the NTS.  Drop by and say hello and take part in the
Q&A session during the clinic.

All the best for the holidays,
Jeffrey

Hello fellow Valeasians,

I just sent an email request to Dean Dickerhoof (NMRA Train Show
Layout Manager) and Debbie Draper (NMRA National Train Show Registrar)
for layout display space at the Hartford, CT National Train Show.

I will not be taking the VECRR to Hartford but will be displaying the
KvSB in two suitcases and running 9 locos under DCC.

If all goes well, I plan to enter the KvSB in the module competition.
  The layout has already won 2nd place - group module.  This time I
will be entering under the Individual module category.

I am also registered to give a clinic on scenery tricks for small layouts.

The show will be great fun.  Hope to see you there.

Jeffrey

Bonjour Pierre,

Any date is a good time to plan a trip to Zurich, don't you think!  ;-)

I am going to do my best to make the trip to the 14th Convention in
October 2009.  Of course, I hope to take full advantage of a visit to
Switzerland to see the sights and experience narrow-gauge railroading
at its best.  I should have enough frequent flyer points saved up to
get there and back by the time I have to book the airline tickets!

Hope to see you in Adliswil...

Best,
Jeffrey

--- In VECRR@yahoogroups.com, "Pierre Vautravers" <pifreva@...> wrote:

> Do you recommend making a trip to the American Railroad Fans in
> Switzerland convention?
> All Z best, Pierre
>

Hello fellow Valeasians,

I have uploaded several MPEG videos that I shot at Exporail last
August 17th.  I plan to complete the "Gallery" section with photos
covering the 15-year journey of the VECRR.

Enjoy...

http://www.val-ease-central.com/Pics/pix.html

Warm regards,
Jeffrey

Jeffrey,

Congratulations once again. You are terrific Z representative.
Exporail must have been a lot of hard work but also a lot of fun.

Do you recommend making a trip to the American Railroad Fans in
Switzerland convention? I do have occasion to travel to la belle
Suisse. Should I plan one of my trips around the date of the next
convention? I went through the last convention's directory and
noticed that there were two exhibitors in Z.

Let me know what you think.

All Z best, Pierre

Greetings fellow Valeasians,

This past weekend was my 6th appearance at the annual model train
weekend at Exporail - Canadian Railway Museum.

http://www.exporail.org

The museum was jam-packed with excited visitors of all ages who flock
to the musuem to get up close and personal with 30 superb portable
layouts in all scales.

I like to think that the highlight of anyone's visit to Exporail is a
trip to the "Miniatures Room" on the main floor where they will
notice a very impressive HO layout with 3 continously operating
trains and, across the aisle, a completely refreshed "Val Ease
Central RR".

I mentioned "refreshed" because I went down a day early, Friday
August 15th, to take off the plexi cover and do some maintenance and
housecleaning.  The Museum's director of educational services, Mr.
Maurice Binette, arranged his schedule to give me a hand with the
cover.  It takes two strong people to lift the cover off of the
display.  Once the heavy lifting was over, Maurice left me alone with
my creation, locking the door to the room behind him.  Of course, he
left me a key!

Over the next four hours, I repositioned cars, placed straight pins
in sidings to hold rolling stock in place, added a smattering of
Wodland Scenics clump material to certain strategic areas, mainly to
hide joints and small blemishes along the edges of the layout.

The main task was to carefully remove the backdrop without breaking
anything.  It needed reinforcing along the joints and I had brought
just the thing...industrial strength wide-format velcro pads.  I
placed 3 pads along each seam in the backdrops.  The adhesive was
much stronger than the "duct tape" that I had used on my previous
attempt to "permanently" hold the backdrops together.

Once the backdrop was safely back in place, I used the same
industrial velcro pads to reposition the signs along the inside the
suitcase covers along the top edge.  The signs looked great and
present the VECRR story in French and English.

A highlight of my Friday visit was a long chat with the curator of
the Museum, Mr. Jean-Paul Viaud.  Mr. Viaud was eager to hear my
suggestions for improvements to the VECRR display.  I finally had a
sympathetic ear for my solutions to the display case cover issue and
on the replacement of the overhead bank of fluorescent lights with a
series of halogen spots.  He actually told me that the work could be
done in the next two weeks by their electrician.  He also said that
their cabinetmaker had to come by anyway to do some work and that he
would be asked to correct the display case as I suggested.

Why not take full advantage of Mr. Viaud's open mindedness?  I also
mentioned that there was lots of room over the display case for
special signage, such as my NMRA "Best of Show" plaque and other
significant awards.  He told me that he would be very happy to place
other signs over the layout.

Soon it was time to pack up the tools and clean up my mess in the
miniatures room.  The final task of the day was to hunt down the
VECRR shipping crate (we did find it in the recessed of a storage
room) and place "Val Ease Summit" in slot #4 for safe-keeping.

I finally left the Museum with a great feeling of satisfaction and
pride.  The Museum authorities are sincerely interested in improving
the display area around the VECRR.  The Museum really appeared to be
thriving.

The VECRR has passed the 1,000,000 passenger mark...another dream
come true.  And speaking of dreams, gave a quick summary to Mr. Viaud
of my trip to Paris in March for the Salon Mondial des Miniatures.  I
also mentioned that I have an invitation to Zurich in 2009 for the
14th Convention of American Railroad Fans in Switzerland.  Looks like
I have another European Adventure coming up!

Volunteering is a great way to give back to the community.  I'm a
volunteer at Exporail.  Why not see what you can do for your local or
regional museums?

Cheers,
Jeffrey

Hello loyal Valeasians,

I was unable to attend the Shelburne Museum Train Show as planned on
the past weekend due to an urgent need to do yardwork.

My house is currently for sale and the lawn had not been mowed for
about 3 weeks.  My cordless electric lawnmower gave up the ghost and I
made a trip to Utah in the meantime for a conference.  Then when I had
time available to attack the " ever-growing" problem, it rained!

Finally, the weather cooperated and I found a bargain electric mower
at Wal-Mart (with cord) and, after five hours of hard labor, the lawn
was tamed.  My neighbor actually came over to encourage me during my
"hay-baling" exercise.  I got the message!

This upcoming weekend I will be in St-Constant, Quebec for the annual
Exporail model train show at the Canadian Railway Museum.  The VECRR
needs some loving care and I need to sit down with the new activities
director at the museum to discuss lighting of the layout and other
projects...like a garden railway layout at the museum entrance!

I'll fill you in on the Fun later next week.

Best for the summer,
Jeffrey

Greetings fellow Valeasians,

  I just received an email from Mr. John P. McGloin, Rail Clinics Chair
for the
  NMRA 2009 National Convention in Hartford, CT confirming his
acceptance of my clinic proposal, entitled:

Scenery planning tips for the small layout builder:  improving realism
and believability

This means that I will probably give the clinic twice during the
regular program.  I will also display a layout at the train show.
Looking forward to seeing you in Hartford, July 5 -11, 2009

Best regards,

Jeffrey

--- In VECRR@yahoogroups.com, "Jeffrey MacHan" <jmac_han@...> wrote:
>
> My future contribution to the NMRA and to Z-scale model railroading
> will be in the capacity of Z Product Reviewer.  The NMRA wants me to
> provide them with one or two reviews a month (two seems a lot).  I
> will just have to see how things go.  I certainly do not want to get
> into a rut with this volunteer effort.

Greetings fellow Valeasians,

Way back in July 2007, I spoke to the folks at Scale Rails and the
NMRA about giving them a hand with Z product reviews.  To make a long
story short, in December 2007, I received a box of Z rolling stock
submitted by Micro-Trains for review.  The box came from Scale Rails
and I was asked to provide NMRA Conformance test results to the
Standards and Conformance Chairperson.  There were 7 MTL cars in all
to test.

I began my efforts by filling out the NMRA Conformance testing report
form for a 40' boxcar.  The standards for Z scale are pretty limited
and relate mostly to the couplers, wheels and gauge.  I had already
bought a digital micrometer at the 2007 Amherst BIG Train Show so I
was ready to start measuring.

My first task was to check the coupler and uncoupling pin.
Congratulations to MTL for their coupler position.  It is spot on the
NMRA standard.  Then I moved to the wheelsets.

The second task was to check wheel gauge and tread width.

My first realisation was that I had to remove all of the wheels for
measurements.  My second realisation was that I needed my optivisor
for every reading which I made to three decimal places.  I made
readings for every wheel on all four axles.  Talk about tedious!

The startling conclusion...MTL wheelsets do not meet NMRA standards
for Z scale.  I filed the form with the NMRA brass and later received
an email stating that that car would not be awarded a Conformance
Warrant from the NMRA.

Not to be too discouraged, I completed two other cars (bulk end flat
and a 3-bay hopper).  As each wheel measurement was taken and
recorded my discouragement grew.  The MTL wheelsets were consistently
out of range for the NMRA standards.

Although the cars themselves were magnificent in design and
construction, they would not meet NMRA standards and would not
receive a Warrant.

I sent my findings in to the NMRA and to Scale Rails.  In March, I
received a surprising email from Scale Rails inviting me to consider
doing Z product reviews for them!!!!  Something was out of whack
here.  What had I been doing for the last 3 months?   I had exchanged
numerous emails with these same folks and all of a sudden they didn't
know who I was?  Talk about strange!

Many of the emails I exchanged with Scale Rails concerned the model
photos that I had supplied for the publication.  The editor wanted me
to follow the style of their most prolific reviewer (name escapes me
at the moment).  I think that I was successful in reproducing the
same look and photo quality.  Then, when I was checking a high
resolution RAW image of the bulk end flat, I noticed that I had 3
dust particles on the image sensor filter.  Two of the three could be
removed with Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop, but the third was smack-dab
in the middle of the car body.

At this point, I have to say that I was doubly discouraged.  It was
obvious that none of the MTL cars would ever qualify for an NMRA
Conformance Warrant due to the MTL wheelsets, no matter how
outstanding the car body design and construction.  And my camera
needed to be professionally cleaned.  I was not equiped to do a
sensor cleaning myself and Canon offers free cleaning for the life of
the camera.

I was told by the camera store technician that turn around time for a
sensor cleaning at the Canon service centre was 8 - 10 weeks...

There was no fun to be had sending failing reports to the NMRA brass
and the editor of Scale Rails seemed to be suffering memory loss. I
figured that my time as product reviewer was nearing an end.

I had secretly hoped that I would be able to keep the test cars as a
reward for the hours spent disassembling, measuring, re-measuring and
reassembling Z rolling stock.  I emailed Scale Rails to ask what they
wanted me to do with the cars.  The answer was to ship them to MNRA
HQ so that the cars could be sold in a silent auction at the NMRA
2008 National Convention in Anaheim.

There you have it, fellow Valeasians, the tribulations of product
review guy for Scale Rails and NMRA Conformance tester.  Not a thank
you to be had which seems to be a tradition in North American model
railroading culture.

Now you know that I actually did make an attempt to fulfill my 2008
New Year's resolutions.  Interestingly enough, I have noticed that it
takes me a bit longer to bounce back from frustration and
disappointment.  I'm told that I need to take vitamins, change my
diet, lose weight, exercise dialy, and get more sun!

Working on it!

Cheers,
Jeffrey