| G-Gauge Gnus Editor: Ross Crain, Bx 29 Site 3 RR 2, Rocky Mountain House, AB, T0M 1T0 phone: 403-845-2527 email: ercrain@telusplanet.net Winter 1998 President's Message Welcome to all our new members and their families. This edition of the G-Gauge Gnus is dedicated to you! The interest in Large Scale Railroading in Alberta is growing rapidly, due to the numerous shows and displays hosted by RMGR and our members. For newcomers to the hobby, we have included a number of articles on Large Scale Basics and related topics. RMGR offers fellowship. experienced modellers who can answer your questions, model building sessions, model train runs, planning meetings, and social hours. Please take time to attend some of the 1999 winter/spring meetings, see the trains run, and meet new people. Bring potential new members, but please alert the host as to the number of people coming. Thanks to all the hosts for our regular meetings. Special Thanks To Tony and Joan Scheiwiller of Ultimate Trains and Golden Acres South for hosting "Hoot and Toot' - a great two day event with lots of trains, scenic garden railways, and portable modular setups. Thousands of people attended this show, and it was a marvelous place for club members to show off their skills in modelling both trains and buildings. A lot of effort from a lot of people made this show a great success. Future editions are promised. Check out Tony and Joan's Christmas setup at Golden Acres. Our Hobby is Growing We now have four major hobby shops carrying Large Scale inventory in Calgary, at least two in Edmonton, plus one each in Red Deer and Ryley AB. Prices are now very competitive with mail order discount houses. In addition, some Large Scale starter sets may be found at toy stores and department stores, not to mention Sear's Christmas Wishbook. Price, quality, authentic detail, and longevity are closely related, so don't expect miracles from the lowest priced sets. Good Stuff and Miscellaneous Attached to this newsletter are a number of articles that will be of interest to newcomers and oldtimers alike: We need more hard-to-find items like these to distribute to our members. If you run across any gems of wisdom in magazines or on the Internet, send a clean copy to the editor. Our next G-Gauge Gnus is due out in late June 1999. Video Lending Library Bob Burroughs is Librarian for videos of Garden Railway and Real Railways. If you have any videos to contribute to the collection, or have some you are willing to lend out on an individual basis, please let Bob know. We will publish a list of available videos in the next G-Gauge Gnus. RMGR Internet Site of the Year Awards Boerries Burkhardt's Narrow Gauge Web Page One of the longest site addresses I've ever seen, but it's worth the effort. This gentleman has assembled the best site dedicated to North American and European narrow gauge railways - photos and links to virtually every important narrow gauge site on the web, including White Pass and CNR in Newfoundland. You'll need a full evening or two just to cover all the ground. A tremendous personal effort - rates 5 stars out of 5. Jessica Stacey's Train Photos This lady has published a terrific set of narrow gauge photos, all of them from her own camera lens. She describes each scene in detail. The images are sharp and full screen. The layout of her web pages is superior to most commercial sites. Be sure to read her copyright notice - it's a gem - rates 5 stars out of 5. Help Needed To keep a meaningful newsletter, WE NEED news, reviews, articles, ideas, drawings, plans, and pictures from YOU, our members. Contact the editor with your contributions. Coming Events and Open Houses Note that due to our larger membership, some meetings may be held at a venue other than the hosts' homes. Please check before you drive to the wrong place. Please let your host know how many are coming. Editorial RMGR is growing in membership. This brings new rewards and new problems. A larger group will provide new enthusiasm with varied opinions and preferences. Individuals, however, may be asked to make more compromises. A little more give and a little less take may be needed. We have lost a number of younger members because we did not offer enough for them - they wanted some emphasis on scale modelling and it wasn't forthcoming. Now, the club can't be all things to all people, but we should try to encompass as broad a spectrum of activities as possible. Our members need to express their talents in their own way. If your preference is not being addressed, why not host a meeting and put on a demonstration or clinic to show your ideas? There are probably others who will be interested too! Book Review Official Guide to LGB by Bob Roth and Decker Doggett, Kalmback Books,1998, 208 pp, hardcover, ISBN 0-89778-302-6 This is the long awaited revision of Greenberg's Guide to LGB and is up to date to 1997 plus a 1998 Appendix. It is written by collectors for collectors, not for operating garden railroaders. If you know the model number of an LGB item, it's not too hard to find a description and a price. But if you don't, you will read a lot of pages before you find the item. The book is sorted by major rolling stock catagories in 15 Chapters. Each chapter is sorted by product number. It would have been much better to sort by body style, since most people can tell a reefer from a caboose. Photos are scarce and mostly for new items, all of which can be found in recent catalogs. It would have been nice to see more older stock in picture form. Prices are another matter. They are for perfect. mint condition, never run, in the original unscuffed box, with no finger prints inside or out. These prices seem high compared to adverts in railway magazines and the Internet. Discounts shown for various used conditions are not deep enough and, when tagged to an already high mint price, are ridiculous. Prices may be reasonable for a few rarer, low production items, but are generally unrealistically high. Other reviewers have similar comments. You can check the feedback to the authors at www.caboosenet.com/Bigtrain.htm. |
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