(jeb@oscalemag.com). - O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Happy Birthday to UsYes, it’s our Fifth Anniversary issue and, let me tell you,we’re happy to be here! It’s been a rough year for modelrailroad magazines. In case you have not yet heard, MainlineModeler ceased publication last year, as did ModelRailroading (the one from Colorado, not the one from Wisconsin).Both had been in circulation for 20-plus years.Other publications have had trouble staying on schedule aswell.I think OST has made it’s mark on O Scale. Our opinionsare valued by readers and vendors alike. It’s pretty coolwhen a manufacturer calls you up and asks for your opinionabout a model they’re considering.We continue to grow steadily with new subscribers andwe increase our print runs as needed to cover the new folks.About 40% of you are Hi-Railers and that number is risingsteadily. And, as you can see from the letters column thisissue, Hi-Rail is an important part of O Scale, much to thechagrin of some folks. To those folks I’ll say this. You want a“zero tolerance of 3-Rail” magazine, you’re going to have topublish it yourself. We’re here to provide O Scale informationand inspiration. To be honest, we also are here to makea profit, or there’s no magazine at all. In that pursuit, wecannot neglect 40% of our readership. So, here’s to the firstfive years and five times five more!On a Sad NoteGordon Whitlock, a good acquaintance and great OScaler has died. Gordon’s C&O Boyertown Division layoutwas featured in OST#6. Gordon didn’t live that far way andwe became very friendly. He let me use his layout to testrun locomotives before I had any track on the OST layout.He also helped me build a curved switch on the layout andwe were planning to do more. Gordon was also very activein the Cherry Valley O Scale Club in New Jersey. I don’thave all the details of his passing. I do know he had beenhospitalized for some time and that he had been diagnosedwith a brain tumor. Gordon was a great guy, willing to lenda hand to help almost anyone in O Scale. I’m going to missseeing him at the local meets. I’m sure he will be missed bymany others, as well.The BlogI’ve made some changes to the OST Interactive Forum[www.oscalemag.com/wordpress/]. First of all I’ve changedthe name to reflect what it really is, a blog. For those of younot hip to Net-speak, “blog” is short for web-log, usuallya written online journal. In addition to posting our regularcolumnists, both Brian and I have special “Projects” pages.Look for Gene Clements to join us there soon. The “Projects”pages are set aside for personal projects you won’t seein the pages of OST. Register at the OST Blog and you canpost comments on anything you see there. One of the thingsI’ve posted recently is the official OST “Policy on ProductReviews”. Product reviews are a mainstay of most modelrailroad magazines and OST is no different. However, somemagazines have been criticized for never having anything“not good” to say about almost any product. At OST, wecall it like we see it. If there’s a shortcoming, we’ll point itout and let you, the reader, decide if you can live with it. Toread the policy, go to the OST Blog and click on the “Pages”bar on the right side. It will slide open and show you thelink to the policy.The other thing I’ve changed about the blog is the lookof the pages. I hope you will find it easier to navigate and Iencourage you to post your comments.Miscellaneous StuffSeveral people responded to my request for articles butwe can always use more. I’m especially interested in articlesabout DCC installations, especially if you have converted aDCS or TMCC locomotive to DCC. Anyone?I am also looking for scenery articles. You’ll see the "StoneWalls" article Jaini and I did in this issue. I’d like to hear aboutyour scenery ideas and projects.MTH has announced a new “wireless” tether for their PremierLine steam locomotives (see the photo left). Why shouldwe care? Any new Proto 3-2steam locos will get this newtether system and that willmake the locos look betterand couple closer.However, I’m a bit disappointedin the way MTH hasbeen marketing the Proto 3-2stuff to 2-Railers. One the one hand they say the reservationnumbers aren’t large enough to warrant doing some 2-Railmodels. On the other hand, there’s little offered in the Winter2007 catalog to order in the first place. It’s Catch-22.I hope the marketing people at MTH will figure out how toget the news out to 2-Railers. They have some seriously nicestuff to offer. The WM H-9 they did last year was awesome,but by the time we learned about it, it was sold out.Keep Highballin’u70 • O Scale Trains - Mar/Apr ’07