Wow, we're looking June dead in the eye and no word on the Annual. I think this is the latest in the year it's ever been for one.
That said, David is up to his eyeballs with the Denver NG convention planning and God-knows-what-else White River Publications has him doing. I don't envy him for the things he has pending!

Quote from: John on May 19, 2023, 08:59:50 PMDo you know about the "www.westernbayrailroad.org" On30 club layout in Port Saint Lucie, FL. The owner (Al Sohl) of the club has had multiple articles in the On30 Annual. It is worth seeing the layout and he also has operation sessions.

I've seen his articles, it's great work.

I still haven't heard anything about the Annual. There's not even anything about pre-ordering them online yet.

Quote from: Fred Klein on March 11, 2023, 12:18:20 AMThe wives of model railroaders deserve all the recognition they can get for putting up with us.

Indeed. I thought about a photo with my wife in it, but that'd suggest she has anything to do with operating on my layout. She made the skirts for the layout, though.

Quote from: Fred Klein on March 11, 2023, 12:18:20 AMBeen married going on 51 years and my wife still ooohs and aaahs at the models I build (of course she also nit picks them to death - claims that's part of the fine print in the marriage contract).

Congrats! If I do anything with the layout and I bother to show it to her, she just stares with what I can only describe as ambivalence. If I ever go for my MMR with the NRHS, it won't mean a thing to her.
Nothing I've ever done has impressed her, in over 20 years of marriage. At one point I was seriously looking into putting in an application to be an astronaut, and I've often told people if I had made it, she probably wouldn't have even come to the launches.

Quote from: Fred Klein on March 10, 2023, 12:33:17 AMI'm really looking forward to reading your article - never been disappointed in one of those either. Thanks for the hard work. 

Thanks, Fred. Chris asked me at the NG convention in Tacoma to write an article about operation sessions on a On30 layout, something he'd never had in the Annual before.
If he uses all the shots I sent, there'll be a photo of me running trains with a good friend of mine, my wife took that one. I really hope he uses that as it'll be funny to tell people that my wife is a legit published model train photographer!

Fred, you're probably right, as all they need is the cover photo to make the mockup. If you've really looked at the order pages v/s the finished versions, there have been issues where the blurb for contents on the cover is different from that on the order page photo.
The one drawback for writing for the Annual is that you only get one author's copy. I can't send copies to friends and family like I have for other magazines I've written for in recent years because of the cover price.

If anyone made dual gauge proto48/On30 flex track, they could name their price!

Quote from: RickRail on March 04, 2023, 08:16:43 AMUsing Proto48 with On30 WILL give you the correct spacing for what we are accustomed to seeing in the world of 3ft/standard gauge track with the narrow gauge rail being closer top the outside rail. The drawback is building a correct Proto48 standard gauge loco.

Man, if someone would just make a proto48 Porter fireless 0-6-0 like the one the North American Rayon plant in Elizabethton had. That ran within sight of the 3-foot ET&WNC and interchanged with them (though I've never seen a photo of one of the ET&WNC ten-wheelers in the same shot as the Porter, but they ran near each other for almost 14 years).

It's probably going to be later than that. I mailed off the flash drive with my article and photos today to Chris Lane and he had no issues with that. This would strongly support he's still working on it. From past experiences, when I submit something even at the end of the deadline, it's usually at least 2 months before I get a finished copy from when they get what I submit.
Chris is a very busy guy; he edits the HOn3 Annual as well and is the main guy in charge for the NG convention in CO this year.
I wouldn't count on having a copy earlier than May, if then.

I agree fully. It came as a shock that the forum went off, and even more so that it didn't come back for so long!

Seems like their best sellers are now out of production. I don't have hard data but it seems like they flooded the market, made many thing the stuff wasn't worth anything when you could find it on sale everywhere and now it's dried up, showing how people still want them...

Quote from: fld63 on June 27, 2021, 03:30:42 PMAs a separate note, I just purchased the Bachmann ON30 Baldwin 4-6-0 from Trainworld, which does not appear in Bachmann's current catalog. It was unavailable anywhere, until last week when 15 of the units were listed for sale for $99, on the Trainworld website.

I'll have to check that out. I regretted not getting another ET&WNC ten wheeler when they had them on sale (just as a backup or parts source).

I just got my author's copy an hour ago. I haven't read it yet but I thumbed through it and they hit it out of the park again (my own 3 pages notwithstanding)!

One thing people never think to ask when asking how tight a radius a loco will go through, is how tight will it go through with cars coupled to it?
I always assumed the trench engine would navigate a very tight curve but I had no way to know as my minimum layout curve is about 20 inches on one siding and around 22-24 inches on the main. But even with a shorty Bachmann car, would it go through that 10 inch curve without derailing?

Hmm. I was hoping I'd get to see a PDF of my article, but I don't think I got one last year, either for th same reason that they were pushing the publication back and didn't wanna delay for a additional moment by having writers check their stuff.
Like anyone else reading this thread, I really look forward to seeing the rest of it, as I've never seen one that I didn't like.

I'm very familiar with this engine, from back when I lived a few hours south of there. They only had a short section of straight track then, not the loop and station they have now. I'd love to ride the whole thing now; the last time I was there it was a weekday and they weren't running.
Glad to see she's still running!

Ton, very good work! 
I recognize most of these prototypes from Richard Dunn's "Narrow Gauge to No Man's Land" book. You did a great job on the builds and paint/decals.

I swapped some emails with the editor this week about my article, and I've confirmed it's still being worked on right now.

I have given this some thought, and I was thinking a S/Sn3 dual gauge would look about right. It'd give the right spacing for the outside rail and you could always use S scale axles on O scale trucks and not look too odd.
Problem it, nobody makes that scale for dual gauge track, either.
If any company had, I might have made the "Bemberg area" theme for my On30 layout (I model the ET&WNC, which was dual gauge form Johnson City to just past Elizabethton, TN) I'd wanted to do but knew I wouldn't get the track right for there as the entire area was dual gauge...