Community Assistance

Annoying MRR Promotional Pop-Up

dante — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:26:22 GMT

On the MRR layout forum tonight, every time I clicked to move to the previous or next post, a pop-up ad appeared that I had to manually close. This despite setting my browser to prevent pop-ups. I respectfully request MRR to delete this most annoying ad which is certainly not encouraging me to purchase the product! Dante

Old Train (Depot) Station - St. Mary's, W.Va.

loves-trains — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 00:54:35 GMT

My question for your St. Mary's, W.Va. and surrounding area readers...the old train station in St, Mary's, W.Va. (has been torn down). Is the old train station in Williamstown, W.Va. (still standing) similiar in construction?? There also use to be a Quaker State Oil Refinery in St. Mary's...I want to incorporate these two structures into my HO Layout (50-60's era) (the good old days)....thanks...

Lionel Scout 1110 loco

jonboy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:04:48 GMT

I'm a Lionel fan based in the UK, and am trying to find just one nickel crosshead for the Scout 1110 loco, anyone out there got one to sell ? Thanks - John

Picture posting

rdgk1se3019 — Sun, 03 May 2009 15:30:16 GMT

Self exlanitory.....how do I do it?

Emails

retnirps — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 23:15:42 GMT

How do I stop getting an email on each new topic that is posted?

Thanks

Robert

train model layout

lokky — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 22:06:29 GMT

I am having difficulty wiring an industrial section of an n scale train this not the first train that I have built but it is the first that I want to someday want to run two locomotives on . Any help from anyone would be great thank alot.

Our forum policies, including no advertising (updated April 3, 2009)

Bergie — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:44:03 GMT

If you are new to our forums, welcome! Below is an outline of our general forum rules.

If you ever see any of these being violated, please use the “Report Abuse” link that’s found in the lower right corner of every single post in our forum. An automated message will be sent to our moderators and the infraction will be dealt with.

Thanks for participating in our forums. Your contributions make our forum a great resource for train enthusiasts from around the world. Your assistance policing our forums helps keep the environment positive and enjoyable for people of all ages.

Now, to the rules:

- Please keep discussions on topic (that is, railroad-related).

- Your forum signature should not be used as a place to express your personal beliefs (religion, politics, marital status, sexual preference, etc.). Remember, this is a forum tied to our common bond of railroading; don’t let your personal viewpoints on unrelated topics interfere with the common reason we’re all here.

- No advertising. Our forums should not be used as an advertising medium for companies who want to promote their business or products, or by individuals who want to promote their items for sale or their eBay auctions. Our users are the drivers behind this policy. They don’t want the useful information in our forums watered down with posts that are nothing more than advertisements. If you’d like to advertise on our site, scroll to the bottom of this page and click the “Advertise” link. Show promoters; check out our Coming Events section. You can post your events free; click “Add My Event” in the left column.

- No swearing or foul language. And we don’t care if you use symbols to mask the words. The meaning is still conveyed and we don’t want it in our forum. Please keep in mind that we have readers of all ages. This isn’t a tavern.

- No personal attacks or name-calling. Please keep conversations cordial. We understand that there will be differences of opinion. Please don’t let those differences turn ugly. Accept that others might not have your same point of view, don’t sink to personal attacks. Nothing is gained by doing so.

- No political discussions or signature messages. We know, railroads are sometimes affected by politics. However, we’ve found that political discussions almost always turn into arguments. We have a common thread of being interested in railroads. Don’t let that common bond be destroyed by political differences.

- No religious discussions or signature messages. For many of the same reasons as the political discussions and signatures. We all have our own views, and this isn’t the place to share them. Remember, this is a railroading forum.

- No inappropriate images or videos. If you choose to post photos or links to videos, please keep them railroad-related and use your best judgment. Someone getting hit by a train or using poor judgment around a train (e.g. playing “chicken” with a train) isn’t welcome.

- Don’t use our forum as a means of promoting your forum (or online group, sweepstakes, prize drawings, contests, etc.). Within your forum profile, you’re allowed to share your own Web site and Blog URL. Leave it at that. (To update your forum profile, login to the forums, then click your username where it says “Welcome back so-and-so” near the top of the forum.)

- Please respect copyright material. If you want to share copyright material with our users, please link to it. Don’t take a story from another Web site and post it in our forum. Don’t take a photo that you don’t own the rights to and use it in our forum.

- No discussions about graffiti. We understand that it’s a part of modern railroading and in turn something that the modelers on this forum may want to replicate. However, we’ve found that every time the topic comes up, an argument ensues because of the strong viewpoints against it. Plus, it’s vandalism and not something we want to glorify.

- No discussions about hobos or the hobo lifestyle. It’s trespassing and sets a poor example for the youth that visit this forum. Plus, like graffiti discussions, it usually leads to arguments.

Thanks again for joining and participating in our railroading and model train reader forum. Have fun!

Bergie

Update IE8

Andrew Falconer — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 02:06:01 GMT

The Update to Internet Explorer 8 makes this website much faster than with IE7.

Update to another Webbrowser if you have problems with IE7,

Andrew Falconer

Server Time Out

BaltACD — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:21:05 GMT

Working on my laptop, Vista OS, IE7 bowser with Bell South hard wire DSL....I am getting a full page of 'Server Time Out' errata on about ever 3rd attempt to do something. View a post, Send a post...anything.

Contacting administrator?

leighant — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:41:27 GMT

I have been trying for a week to post additional information to a thread about power plant pictures:

http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/147427.aspx

Every time I try to post, I get the message:

Oops something went wrong!

Either the site is offline or an unhandled error occurred. We apologize and have logged the error. Please try your request again or if you know who your site administrator is let them know too.So how do you contact the site administrator?

Signature

ttt — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:19:06 GMT

Hey, I'm trying to get a picture on my signature but it won't let me click paste. Why is that?

Rochelle webcam

kaygee46 — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 03:50:42 GMT

I'm having a problem with the Rochelle webcam. It used to work just fine, now I get a text message in the picture window that says "Initialising SiteCamLive..." and this just stays there. After 8 to 10 minutes it will show the picture. This is on my desktop PC. It works fine on my laptop.

I'm using Firefox 3.0.5 but I get the same results with IE and Google Chrome. I've tried turning off the firewall, and I've re-istalled Java (Its Version 6 Update 11).

I Googled ""Initialising SiteCamLive..." and found earlier references to this problem in this forum and two others but none had a solution shown. Does anyone have a solution?

Time Time Tim

BaltACD — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:41:50 GMT

Time Time Time - what has become of it!

Decided to break out the stopwatch on the forum performance!

Bookmark to Forum Index page - 15.38 seconds

Forum Index page to single entry thread (using thread title) - 10.81 seconds

Return to Forum index from thread - 11.75 seconds

Forum Index page to thread using last post button - 14.13 seconds

Using Reply button to post in thread - 16.47 seconds

Calling up Color Menu - 6.5 seconds

Calling up a thread entry to EDIT - 15.22 seconds

Making a 1 sentance Post to a thread - 18.56 seconds

These timings are all on a Verizon DSL line, not dial up and using IE7. Having accessed the site on Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome their times are similar.

Your times may vary.

This is SLOW SLOW SLOW!

Navigation tools needed

dehusman — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:17:22 GMT

When you open a thread and scroll down to the last message, you have to scroll aaaaaalllllllllll the way back up to the top to navigate out of the thread to another thread. There needs to be the same link navigation tools at the BOTOM as there is at the TOP.

Yes I know that there is a next/previous thread, but I down want to have to cylce through every thread.

Changing Avatars

ns3010 — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:16:58 GMT

Ive been trying to change my avatar for a while now, but it wont work. Every time I hit update, some message comes up but it is indeciperable. How do i change it?

Posting Pictures

ns3010 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:19:01 GMT

How do I post pictures? I have them saved on my computer, but I cant put them in posts.

Avatar Box

CNW 6000 — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:55:55 GMT

http://danielgbraun.com/images/Web/Gray%20Box.JPG

If anyone wants a grey box to upload instead of the 'silhouette' image feel free to save/download that image and use it. I mean to offer this in the spirit of helping folks enjoy the new area and not to cause problems.

Observations and Comments on the New Forum Software

DJSpanky — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 20:49:19 GMT

I started a thread over in the community I frequent (Toy train operating and collecting) which I'll link over here. It contains my walk through on the new forum software:

My take on the new version of the forum...

Next Thread/Previous Thread Buttons

CNW 6000 — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:16:38 GMT

By clicking on them I was taken to the page below:
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/104325.aspx?PageIndex=1

I don't think that a thread from 9/2007 is the "next" thread. Definately "previous" but more previous than I thought the button would go to!

Thought you'd like to know...

EDIT: This happens in the General Discussion area in the Trains magazine section.

What about Dial-up?

The Butler — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:54:14 GMT

The new format is very nice looking, however, I am stuck with a dial-up internet connection. With the multi-layered background and all the new graphics, it takes a lot longer to load. Would you consider a lower resolution version for those with dial-up. I like the icons in the forum that let you know what one has been read, which ones are popular, etc. Turning of images in my browser makes the site hard to use. I don't know how many out there only have dial-up available to them, maybe I'm the only one. Just something to think about.

Go to top of page buton?

CNW 6000 — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:53:52 GMT

Is something like this possible?

Navigation Line

BaltACD — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:17:37 GMT

Last Post button now appears to be working as intended.

I notice that there is a Navigation Line

"

Trains.com Forums » TRAINS Magazine Forums » General Discussion

"

at the bottom of some sub forums and not at the bottom of other sub forums.

Specifically it is not at the bottom of the Trains General Discussion forum, at least when accessed through IE7.

The Community Assistance sub forum does have the navigation lines at the top and bottom....the other sub forums do not!

New Forum Problem Resolution Update - 01/08/09

Bergie — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 21:11:11 GMT

Hello everybody,

Just want to let you know that we continue to fine-tune the new forum to fix bugs and bring back previous features that weren’t available when the new forum first launched. For example, when the new forum first launched, whenever you’d post to a multiple-page thread, you’d be returned to the first page of that particular thread. Annoying at first? Yes. Has the problem been resolved? Yep!

Thanks for your continued patience as we tweak things on the back end. Below is a list of improvements that our development team rolled out today.

Please keep an eye on this Community Assistance section for future updates.

Thanks again for your continued participation in the Trains.com forum. Your contributions are what make this the greatest exchange of railroading-related discussions on the Internet.

Bergie

UPDATE: 10/22/08 I'm locking this thread so I can limit it to updates that I'm aware of.

If you have a forum issue that you're experiencing, please click my username and send me a Private Message so I can either help you individually, or so I can let our developers know about the issue.

Help Guides:
Here are some help topics that may answer many of the common questions about the new forum.

On Trains.com:

Trains.com Forum FAQ Covers many of the frequently asked questions about the forum software. For example, "What are tags?"

On Kalmbach.com: (Since many of the questions are common to all of our forums, we've put them in one universal place, on our corporate site.)

Forum First Steps A guide that covers many of the new features in the forum.

Forum - More Answers Answers to many common forum questions

Unable to Login FAQ about login problems.

Browser compatibility:

- PC users: the two browsers that we know offer full functionality are FireFox (2.0 or higher) and Internet Explorer 7. I wouldn't recommend jumping to IE8... it's in beta and a couple of users have commented that it does not work with out forum. (If you've jumped to IE8 and would like to go back to IE7, install IE7 before removing IE8 from your computer.) I also just tested Google Chrome. While you can post, you don't get access to the message editing tool bar (font size, bold, smilies, etc.).

- Mac users: Here's the word from Rene at GardenRailways.com who uses a Mac on the forum:

Safari 3.1.2: You are able to post messages, but can’t use any of the extra functions. What does NOT work is similar to the old forum software: quotes, smilies, can’t create a link, basically you don’t get the toolbar to come up when you reply.

Firefox: 2.0.0.17: All functions appear to work.

Bugs we've fixed:

Text editing:
- Everyone should have the enhanced text editor now, which lets you change font size, color, etc. when posting.

Navigation:
- "View Previous Thread" & "View Next Thread" links have been added to the bottom of each thread.

View count:
- View count issue has been resolved.

Last Post:
- At the top of each forum section (where all the most recent posts are listed) there's a column called Last Post which displays the date, time and username of the person who was the last to post within the given topic. Similar to the previous forum, there's now an arrow that will direct you to that last post. UPDATE: 10/22/08 This feature is now working as planned.

10/24/08 update:

Large image resizing in Fire Fox:
There was an issue with some Fire Fox where their window would resize after clicking an image to enlarge it. This problem has been resolved.

Old posts not turning up in Search results
10-15-08 The indexing of old posts is taking far longer than expected. I can assure you that all old posts were transfered over to the new forum, the search function needs to index them before they display in search results. Again, this process is taking much longer than expected. 10-28-08 update: This process is still moving, just at a slower rate than expected. There are 1.5 million old posts to index, so you can imagine the magnitude of the task. 12-18-08 update: This problem has been fixed and everything should be indexed. Hurray!!!

01-08-09
Who is online
The "Who is online" feature at the bottom of the opening page of the forums is now working properly and showing an accurate count of how many people are online.

Things that cannot be fixed / added / brought back:

10-29-08
Forum Jump
The old forum had a pull-down menu (listing each of the forum's sections) located at the bottom of each page. You could select another section and quickly jump to that section. Unfortunately, due to the way the new forum is structured, we can't bring that feature back. (It's the same structure set-up that keeps us from carrying some of the features from the right column (Shortcuts, Tags, My Discussions, etc.) through the entire forum, and why they only appear at the very top level of the forum.) Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. (Now you have to scroll to the top of the page (or hit the "Home" button on your keyboard to go up their quickly), hit the Trains.com Forums link in the "breadcrumb" (that's located just above the forum section name), then select the forum section you'd like on the subsequent page.)

Issues we're aware of and investigating:

10-27-08
Send e-mail feature
We're looking into the three following issues:
- The size of the message field in the Send e-mail box is small and only shows two lines of text.
- The enhanced text editor isn't offered in the Send e-mail feature.
- There's no acknowledgment displayed once a person sends an e-mail.

10-28-08
Email Subscription Enabled
You may notice that at the top of each thread there's a button that, by default, says "Email Subscription Disabled." If you click on it, it changes to Email Subscriptions Enabled and you're supposed to get an e-mail each time someone posts to that thread. It's not working, and we're aware of it.

A different e-mail option is Forum Subscriptions which is found in the Shortcuts box on the right side of the page on the opening page of the Trains.com forums. If you go into Forum Subscriptions you'll see that you can be alerted any time someone posts within an entire forum section. The good news is that that feature works. The (somewhat) bad news is that you will most likely get bombarded with e-mails because, after all, each time someone posts to that section you get an e-mail notifying you about it. Therefore, I wouldn't recommend this feature.

10-29-08
View Next Thread
Working as planned in most sections, but in some areas it's jumping to odd places.

Some old URLs not working
Apparently, in some threads (from the old forum) some of the links to other threads (from the old forum) aren't working. We're looking into this problem, but there's a simple solution in the mean time.

First, note this link doesn't work: http://cs.trains.com/forums/1/1487687/ShowPost.aspx

However, if you remove the "1/" after "forums/" and before the thread ID number, the link will work. In this case, the link would change to http://cs.trains.com/forums/1487687/ShowPost.aspx and it will work.

11-18-08
Your post is being moderated
We're noticing that random posts are being flagged as "moderated." As such, a moderator must review and approve the moderated post before it goes live in the forum. This is a usually a glitch, and when we learn of it we quickly approve your post. If you receive an e-mail stating that your post is moderated and is awaiting approval, please let us know and we'll approve it. Again, this is a glitch. If you get this message, please don't jump to conclusions and feel that you're being singled out for something. (If we choose to moderate a user, we'll let that user know.)

Forum problem

ttt — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:42:23 GMT

I don't understand, now that the website has changed, all of my old posts are gone. What happened?

OK, where did you hide it?

DanRaitz — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:14:16 GMT

New look, I see. Now, where is the "New Posts" search option? It was in the old forum but I haven't been able to find it in this one yet.

Dan