Tag: RPM Meet

Another year

A switcher works a string of cars at the freight house.
A switcher works a string of cars at the freight house.

New Year’s Eve is a time when many people assess the last twelve months and look ahead to the next year. Goals are set and promises are often made. Let’s take a look around the blog and the hobby room to see what has happened in 2014.

I like a year end reviewing as the number of projects and activities often surprises me. While I did not make as many blog posts as in 2013, I kept pretty busy with my layout and Mike’s layout in Las Cruces. I attended at least one operating session a month and I finally hosted a few sessions on the B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal. These become more satisfying each time and are a major reason why other projects keep moving along.

I’ve also been attending the monthly meetings of our local NMRA division, the Roadrunner Division. It’s been fun to interact with the other members and share tips and techniques. I’ve brought back at least one new idea from each of the meetings. I also traveled back to Pennsylvania last spring for the Valley Forge Railroad Prototype Modelers meet. It was great to see a bunch of old friends, take in presentation details, and operate on a couple of the layouts open for the event.

I won’t offer up my plans for 2015, but I do have three major projects and goals that I hope to achieve. Details will be shared here, of course. I also look forward to attending the RPM East event near Pittsburgh in late March, as well as the June NMRA Rocky Mountain Region convention in suburban Denver, CO. I’m most certain there will be more operating session details shared here, as well as freight car kit builds, and weathering factory output.

I hope you have set a few goals for the New Year. Railroad modeling becomes more enjoyable as we meet new challenges.

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Participation, motivation, and RPM meets

An idle freight yard before an operating session.
An idle freight yard before an operating session.

I’ve had random hobby thoughts recently that seem to be related. Over the course of the last month, I’ve hosted an operating session, attended another operating session, and attended an NMRA division meeting. I intentionally altered my schedule to participate in these events. Why? I guess I would have just thrown out a simple, “Because it’s fun,” response in the past. But I’ve become keenly aware that personal participation in activities with other hobbyists directly effects my hobby enjoyment. It’s not just about listening to others talk about a specific subject but taking part in a conversational process that gives me a good feeling.

Continue reading “Participation, motivation, and RPM meets”

Catching up from winter

RPMVF_salotti_cnj_gb
An HO scale CNJ gondola on Steve Salotti’s model railroad. Seeing this at an operating session reminds me of one I’ve built and not painted yet.

We all experience ebbs and flows in our hobby activities. We can make furious progress on several tasks over the course of a few weeks then two months may slip by with hardly any activity. Tasks from beyond our hobby world can dominate the spare time, especially with spring weather blowing away the grit and cold of winter. I’ve been working on several different tasks, but few are far enough along or very photogenic to share here. The death of a friend has also weighed heavily on my mind. Less busy days are coming back around for the hobby tasks and I hope to share updates soon. Let’s recap a few model railroad events from the last couple of months. Click on any image here to review a larger version.

Continue reading “Catching up from winter”

RPM Meet season!

While it is not Spring yet, we did reset the clocks for Daylight Savings Time over the weekend and that adds anticipation for the upcoming season change. There are several Railroad Prototype Modeler events in the next few months for modelers to become inspired to move your model efforts forward. Here are the events!

Railroad Prototype Modelers Valley Forge – March 28-30 in Malvern, PA (metro-Philadelphia)
Western Prototype Modelers Meet – March 29 in San Bernadino, CA
Central Ohio RPM Meet – April 24-26 in Marion, Ohio
New England/Northeast RPM Meet – May 30 & 31 in Collinsville, CT
Bay Area Prototype Modelers Meet – June 21 in Richmond, CA
St. Louis RPM Meet – August 8 & 9 in Collinsville, IL

I strongly recommend attending one of these events to learn more about the prototype and new techniques to use on your model building. I’ll be attending the Valley Forge event and giving a presentation on the B&O Wheeling Freight Terminal prototype and layout update. I hope to see you there!

Blog Update

All of the blog posts here have been updated so all images appear again. There was a small coding problem that occurred with a software upgrade. It took a little while to figure out the problem and then some extra time to make the individual corrections, but that work has been completed and new posts are on the way soon!

RPM-East a success!

An O scale model on display at RPM-East.
An O scale model on display at RPM-East.

Wow, the month of March just blew right by in a blur of travel and activity. I returned to western Pennsylvania to visit with family and friends for the Easter holiday. I also attended the RPM-East prototype modeler meet in Greensburg, PA. I’ve been attending since 2001 and always enjoy the event. My weeks before the event were filled as I balanced work and family tasks with preparations for my presentation, Prototype Inspired Layout Design for Limited Spaces. Much of the talk focused on similar themes that I’ve been posting here on the blog. The feedback was strong and I had extended conversations with a few people to help them with their layout planning. I gave a second presentation on Modeling Railroads of a pre-Depression Era that opened a few eyes to the different look of rail equipment and city scapes of the first few decades in the 20th Century.

It was wonderful visiting my old stomping grounds and renewing many friendships at the RPM-East event. I’ve posted a gallery of images I captured in the model display room. About 400 models were on display. The image above is a fine O scale effort that Larry Kline displayed. Overall, about 150 hobbyists attended. There were 40 presentations, several vendors, and eight home layouts to view.

I’m back in El Paso and can’t wait to get back to work on the railroad. I have another track tip up my sleeve as well as a layout update that will be shared here very soon.

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