What articles would you like to read in the NGS Journal?

[Ben A]

I remember being shocked when Model Rail had pictures of the people who had build the layouts; railway modeller never did....
Cheers  Jon 

Hi Jon,

Ha- I suggested that at an editorial meeting when Ben Jones was still the editor, and they took it on board!

My thinking was that personalising the hobby would make it more human and, as it shows most layout owners are regular, well adjusted people, begin the process of de-stigmatising it.

I don't know if it's had an effect or not, but I have noticed that in general our hobby is not mocked as much as it used to be. Mind you, I think Rod Stewart and Roger Daltrey should probably take a lot of the credit for that, plus the general perception that the railways are a success with passenger numbers soaring and exciting new civil engineering projects like HS2 and Crossrail on the horizon.

cheers

Ben A.

[ohlavache]

I fully support railsquid's and PostModN66's suggestions! It would be great.

Here are a few more ideas:
- How to model water and sea (with the beach of course)
- Ideas of layouts: not layouts already done or under construction, but a plan with an artistic view and the history of this potential layout, based on imagination or real places (such a thing exists in Voie Libre which is a French magazine on narrow gauge railways, I believe an English version is available on-line)
- Testimonials of NGS members who work for a railway company

[MikeDunn]

I have noticed that in general our hobby is not mocked as much as it used to be.

Really ?  Try reading the comments to the news on Hornby's share price in the wider press / internet news ...  Granted, that is likely not reflective of the wider perceptions, but seeing the mockery being put out as "wit" (they're half-right ) is depressing.

[Mito]

There are some of us here who practice "through running", with permission of course.
Perhaps some articles about our respective layouts, in whatever state of construction, explaining why we enjoy participating. If each of us wrote, it would show the different approaches and satisfaction we get out of modeling.

[Dorsetmike]

I uploaded a first draft of the text of my article on the plotter cutter to my Drop box and sent the link to GH, he responded with a request that I use Wetransfer - which I've never heard of, I replied that it was uploaded to drop box all I wanted was a yay or nay did he want it, if so what edits would he like to see.

He replied that the link did not work, funny, cos it works for me, does it work for any of you?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nh7j6i4uh6p7cfy/PLOTTER%20CUTTER.doc?dl=0

The images are not included, you can probably guess where they go from the gaps and some of the captions.

I already pay for drop box space, seems Wetransfer has a free 30 day trial for  up to 2GB, with the journal requiring 300DPI images a long article with a lot of high quality images could get a bit big.

Sounds to me like he only wants submissions on his terms, if he's desperate for content I would expect him to ask for the drop box link to be re-sent if it's failed. Be interesting to see how many link failures we get here.

[OwL]

How about an article on all the different N Gauge versions of the famous locomotive 'Flying Scotsman'
There is the minitrix versions, grafar versions and the latest Dapol version.
I bet there are a few kits knocking about and other stuff we all might not be aware of???
It seems now that the real Flying Scotsman is back on rails, how about an article on the N Gauge versions?

[railsquid]

I uploaded a first draft of the text of my article on the plotter cutter to my Drop box and sent the link to GH, he responded with a request that I use Wetransfer - which I've never heard of, I replied that it was uploaded to drop box all I wanted was a yay or nay did he want it, if so what edits would he like to see.

He replied that the link did not work, funny, cos it works for me, does it work for any of you?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nh7j6i4uh6p7cfy/PLOTTER%20CUTTER.doc?dl=0

I can access the page and download the file to my computer (Mac OS X in case it's relevant).

It does look like the Dropbox website is attempting to display the document on the webpage as well, but failing, which may be causing confusion.

The images are not included, you can probably guess where they go from the gaps and some of the captions.

The file (despite being small) took a while to open on my computer, I actually thought the software had crashed for a moment; it looks like you've included the images "hotlinked" directly from the NGF site, so the word processor is attempting to download each one which is taking time and making it feel unresponsive (for me at least). While I can see what's going on, it's possible this makes the file seem "broken".

It might be an idea to submit the initial draft as a PDF file, if possible (not sure what software you're using; LibreOffice provides that as a simple export option), that will be self-contained and easier to transfer/open.

Just a couple of thoughts.

[tcinbg]

He replied that the link did not work, funny, cos it works for me, does it work for any of you?

Works OK for me.

[Dr Al]

Had similar to railsquid - opens ok on dropbox itself, but downloading the file it takes forever to open within Word. I could see this might look broken to some.

Win 7, Firefox if that's any help (doubt it's too relavant).

HTH,
Alan

[kesdrive]

I uploaded a first draft of the text of my article on the plotter cutter to my Drop box and sent the link to GH, he responded with a request that I use Wetransfer - which I've never heard of, I replied that it was uploaded to drop box all I wanted was a yay or nay did he want it, if so what edits would he like to see.

He replied that the link did not work, funny, cos it works for me, does it work for any of you?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nh7j6i4uh6p7cfy/PLOTTER%20CUTTER.doc?dl=0

The images are not included, you can probably guess where they go from the gaps and some of the captions.

I already pay for drop box space, seems Wetransfer has a free 30 day trial for  up to 2GB, with the journal requiring 300DPI images a long article with a lot of high quality images could get a bit big.

Sounds to me like he only wants submissions on his terms, if he's desperate for content I would expect him to ask for the drop box link to be re-sent if it's failed. Be interesting to see how many link failures we get here.

Tried link with iPad.
Could not open as 'invalid address'
Chris

[Zogbert Splod]

...He replied that the link did not work, funny, cos it works for me, does it work for any of you?...

Works for me.

[Mustermark]

Worked second time for me on my iPad Dorsetmike. Slow to open though for a 22kb file.

[queensquare]

He replied that the link did not work, funny, cos it works for me, does it work for any of you?

Works fine for me, Mike. It sounds like another example of Hedges being bloody-minded and awkward. No wonder increasingly fewer numbers want to submit articles to him.

It's hardly surprising that Graham doesn't post on here any more when you get completely crass nonsense like this posted. Why the personal attack, this is completely out of order.

Jerry

[red_death]

Works fine for me, Mike. It sounds like another example of Hedges being bloody-minded and awkward. No wonder increasingly fewer numbers want to submit articles to him.

And yet other people have reported it was either slow for them or didn't appear to work...

Is it really that unreasonable (or bloody-minded and awkward) for an editor (particularly a volunteer) to ask for submissions in a format that suits them best? It isn't as if it is being asked for in a particularly obscure or expensive format!

[Steven B]

It might just be me, but it makes me chuckle that some NGS members just want to see N Gauge modelling in the Journal, whilst others want prototype information and in-depth reviews of DCC equipment. Just goes to show that you can't please everyone all the time!

I've sent Graham a Drop Box link in the past without him having any problems accessing it. I sent a link to a public folder, rather than to a specific document though. Otherwise, as he says in his notes on article submission, you could always copy the text into an email.


Happy modelling.

Steven B.