I haven't seen a post by Tom (twhite?) in quite a while, nor Chuck (tomikawaTT). As we close our year, I hope you will mention, and remember, some old friends who have been promoted and no longer speak with we lowly folk.
Yes, as forums go, we probably lose more members to the Big Roundhouse in the Sky than most. We try to add friends to the RIP track in the Diner, but we certainly miss a few.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks for reminding us Crandell. Tom was a big help to me when I returned to the hobby saving me from future headaches and Chuck and I shared some good laughs along the way.
I thought I saw Tom on some other sites recently but I can't be certain.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
On another unrelated forum, searching for a member brings up a display showing their last activity. I think that's a great feature, perhaps one that could be included with the next forum upgrade.
MisterBeasley On another unrelated forum, searching for a member brings up a display showing their last activity. I think that's a great feature, perhaps one that could be included with the next forum upgrade.
Used to be the same here.
I hope no one is added to the RIP track in the diner, without some certainty. Which brings up the point that we all have an online presence.
I have 4 email addys, photobucket, flickr, imgur and google photo accounts, facebook and instagram, get email from 4 different forums and actively participate in 3 more. All have their own user names and passwords. I have left instructions for my sons, that detail this and what to do with my accounts.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
If a forum member knows there first and last name, you can google "First + Last + State + obituary" and see what comes up.
.
Short of that, it is doubtful we will ever know.
"Space Mouse" is another formeraly active member that has gone missing.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190"Space Mouse" is another formeraly active member that has gone missing. .
Yea, he was so active, along with the name sake of the current forum, Jeffery, who also had a signiture at one time, declaing "Spacemouse for president".
I know good ol' Jeffery's fate, don't know what happened to Spacemouse", Chip.
After awhile, they end up here as "Anonymous". with 300,000 some posts.
Mike.
My You Tube
Although the forum search engine is pretty useless these days, if you click on a user's profile name, a list of the posts/threads they have contributed to still comes up on their profile page and you can see when the last time they posted on the forum. IIRC, Tom White last posted about a year or so ago and has been a less frequent contributor over the past 3-4 years.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Quite sad when people no longer are active on the forums. This is a fantastic resource for information and love that it's a true community. Interacting with others further validates the importance to not stay a lone wolf. I bet if someone has a question or issue, there's probably someone with an answer or knows where/how to get one.
kasskabooseThis is a fantastic resource for information and love that it's a true community. Interacting with others further validates the importance to not stay a lone wolf.
I agree! I live in an isolated section of the country, and although I have been on the forum only a short time, I feel a real connection with others here.
York1 John
kasskaboose Quite sad when people no longer are active on the forums. This is a fantastic resource for information and love that it's a true community. Interacting with others further validates the importance to not stay a lone wolf. I bet if someone has a question or issue, there's probably someone with an answer or knows where/how to get one.
To be fair, this forum vs. some others, has the atmosphere of being more of a coffee clutch or social club with trains as a common interest. It may be good or not depending on a persons preference. Some may be more interested in forums focused more specifically on trains rather than a the kinds of topics here.
Also, the train related discussion here tends to more to steam and early diesel, with a few modern folks, so some hobbyists may find that less interesting and gravitate to forums that have more activity and discussion on things that interest them. Yes, some of the people who we haven't heard from in quite a while are steam enthusasts, but it may be other reasons, not the above.
This forum (as the magazine) is more of a "generalist" and there are a lot of topics about what is your favorite color, or what is the velocity of a fully laden sparrow. Could be some move on because how many times can you answer questions like, why do you model what you do, or when, or what made you get into trains, yada yada, retread. Some may crave meat rather than just jawing about whatever semi related to trains. Neither is right or wrong, it just depends on anyones particular interest. Birds of a feather flock together?
Hard to say, it may be that some have simply passed on as well, we may never know. There used to be a guy named Pastor Bob who was a serious modeler of the Santa Fe in 1989. We haven't heard from him in maybe 5 years or more.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
I met a number of Forum members over the decades - at one time we used to try to gather yearly at Milwaukee's Trainfest, Madison's Mad City train show, and even at Galesburg Railroad Days. Originally the plan was to wear our official FORUM MEMBER t shirts that Erik Bergstrom, KalPubCo's original moderator, arranged to have created for us. So you'd look for folks, including Bergie himself, wearing that shirt. Still got mine!
I actually did some railfanning with a couple: you may recall "Big John" John Canazar, a very enthusiastic modeler from Arizona, and Gordon Robinson from the U.K. John has not posted since 2015 but he is evidently still a member which is good. Gordon I know is active in the NMRA and he never really did post much.
And even those you didn't get to meet, after a while you almost associate a "tone of voice" based on the "conversations" (or lectures) one hears or carries on here. One reason we remember Jeffrey is the almost heartbreaking updates he'd give on his health which was precarious - extremely so as we now know -- and his financial situation, which was also precarious.
When rather old threads are resurrected now and then - which seems to annoy some more than it does me - I find two things interesting: first the postings that are now marked "anonymous" because the poster is no longer a member or subscriber, and second the postings that retain a name but are from members who used to post a lot and no longer do at all. We can learn when they last posted but can't tell if they are now readers and not talkers. If they aren't "anonymous" I assume they are still full members and are "out there" somewhere. Maybe switched to just the Trains or Classic Trains forums? Maybe changed to garden or toy train modeling and are in those forums? That could explain it.
In the first group sometimes the posting or a reply to it tells you the name of who the person was. And we can only wonder why they disappeared so entirely. Some speculate that they have simply found other Forums more interesting to them, and I can understand that (I mean after a while one does tire of threads at the level of "my trains only run when I attach a different wire to each rail. Why is that?"). Perhaps they have died. But this last year I was saddened by learning that some long time local modelers I know (not Forums members to my knowledge) simply gave up the hobby - cold turkey.
The other sad aspect to some postings from long ago is that in many cases all the photo links are dead soldiers which is frustrating because there were some marvelous photo-based tutorials back then, of the sort that Dr Wayne still does. There was for example a very fine modeler named Bob Grech, whose stuff appeared in the major magazines, who used to post some nice work for us to learn from. I think the fellow who owns or owned Downtown Deco used to post pretty often as well, and while he didn't commercially "sell" in his postings the photos did it for him.
I notice an "arch" over the years in the topics at conversations at the retiree breakfasts and lunches I go to. When I first retired we talked about golf, travel, new restaurants, and pretty waitresses. Now: our prostates, cataracts, knee replacements, and who showed up in the obituaries.
One lesson: better do the difficult modeling NOW.
Dave Nelson
Now no one get upset here, including moderators but the fact that you must get an outside host to include pics limits this forum and its future. I used to be a member of another forum and this one had many of the names, either manufactures or authors, it was sold it a take the money and run senerio. As what was stated by others this posting problem (which is controled by other companys), leads to missing pics and flustration as people try to learn the ins and outs of posting pics and remermbering the nuances of the methouds here vs elsewhere. Kalmbach needs to relize that their future to some extent rests with their digital presence as their main draw to this hobby has been their mags (on display at hobby shops) and we no where that is going (most have gone from my area). Even the train shows have droped in half in my area with a pop. of around 7 million plus(also of note there asre only two real hobbyshops in the area (real in the fact that you can walk in and out with generally need supplys for building a layout). Cubs are going away in the droves too, with only one of the four I went to, two very often are still alive (accually another one is but they have been asked to leave).
dknelsonNow: our prostates, cataracts, knee replacements, and who showed up in the obituaries.
And pretty waitresses.
I agree with rrebell about the image posting, and having a digital presence.
"Coffee Clutch" or not, the fact is that for many people on these forums, this might be the only social interaction we get with other Model Railroaders.
I don't meet up with Model Railroaders anywhere else. Generally, I do not get along with Model Railroaders. They tend to be very stuffy and elitist, and if you do not discuss things on their high-and-mighty level, you might as well be banging on cast metal boilers with a ball pein hammer and laughing at the noise it makes.
Forums like this are very important to this hobby. I have given up trying to make model railroaders admit they are having fun. This is one of the few places where people really seem to be having fun with the hobby.
I enjoy it a lot.
If you are Model Railroading for ay reason other than the pure joy of it all, I will probably look for someone else to talk to.
I forgot to mention the one person that started me thinking along these lines. Remember RHollowell? Rob and I did some off-line emailing, and he kindly sent me some items he was no longer using. I do know he passed in 2018, predeceased by his sickly wife about a year earlier. He must have been heartbroken. RIP, Robert and Marty.
I appreciate all your contributions.
-Crandell
I met a few people from ehre a few years back at the Timonium show. I haven't been down there in years, but I will probably get down again soon.
I can't say I met a single person who was "stuffy" and uptight about modeling - and that includes talking to vendors and magazine staff at various shows. On the contrary, I've found most of the people I've met, and in the case of club members, hung out with for fairly long periods of time, to be by and large not at all uptight and elitist.
Best one was probably spending close to 2 hours talking electronics with Dick Bronson of RR CirKits at one fo the Timonium shows.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Speaking of elitiest, the other forum I regularly visit has a somewht elitiest "tinge" to it, though they would vehemently deny that. Or maybe a better word is "haughty."
I've been on many different model railroad forums over the last 15+ years, and this is the one I keep coming back to, simply because it is just what it purports to be - a forum for modelers to talk about the hobby and their activities within it. There is no heirarchy of modelers. Some are really great, some are not, sure, but in this forum modelers' skill levels do not "stratify" the discussions. In some other forums that's not the case.
So I keep coming here, even though the software is rather antiquated and lacking in features in many ways.
In short, these forums are a community. A lot of others - not so much.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Galaxy, who I think had a different forum name, has been MIA from the diner, but someone got an email from him lately.
At our age I thought we talked about our bowels too.
BigDaddyGalaxy, who I think had a different forum name,
I believe he was using the name "GeePee35" for a while.
Maybe something similar to that.
BigDaddy bowels
Russell
Guys,There is a lot of model train groups on facebook that is highly active in certain fields from shelf switching layouts to basement fillers and prototyical operation groups. This of course has put the squeeze on forums by members drifting to SIGs on FB since these groups fills their needs better then general forums.
I'm a member of two groups shelf switching layouts and prototype operation..
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Whale, when I disappear, I sure hope that someone writes to the abbey to find out where they stashed my body.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
I agree with a earlier post that some MR modelers are eliests/not helpful, but not on this forum.
I also have asked my son to some time after I pass to post on this forum that I am gone. Seems like a final courtesy.
Dave
Off-topic content removed.
SeeYou190...I don't meet up with Model Railroaders anywhere else. Generally, I do not get along with Model Railroaders. They tend to be very stuffy and elitist, and if you do not discuss things on their high-and-mighty level, you might as well be banging on cast metal boilers with a ball pein hammer and laughing at the noise it makes....
I dunno, Kevin, but maybe you're simply running into the wrong sort of model railroaders. Most of the ones I've met, whether at train shows, on layout tours, or even out railfanning, have been interesting to talk with and both helpful and polite. You'll always run into a few know-it-alls or grouches in any field, but in my experience, they're few and far between.I would guess too, that there are some who would dismiss your interest in fantasy roads and/or wargamming, simply because they didn't have an opportunity to see the fantastic work that you do. A lot of us, I think, can be rather insular in our interests.I have also met quite a few model railroaders (or modellers of any sort, I guess) who are socially rather awkward and self-absorbed. There's not much you can do about it, so I try to offer a kind comment, then smile and wave buh-bye!
Wayne
Another forum I was in was elitest but to the end of improving others. As long as you wanted to up your game, you got all the support you wanted.
Please, let us stay on course. The topic is: those from whom we don't appear to be hearing these days. Mention a name, tell us a story, but let's not change the topic to the merits of other sites or the demerits of some of their members.