Poking around yesterdays proto photo thread (first time I'd seen it.) I have to wonder, we have multiple forums here dedicated to prototype and their photos. Why not just post in one of those every thursday? Or any day? Start a thread in just the root Railfanning forum called Proto-Photo-Thursday It's like weekend photo fun. Heck. We should do that now. This is the kind of thing that perplexes me, Trainboard does such a much more complete job of prototype photo viewing. Why is that thread interesting and our own railfan forums languish? Again I blame N-scaler insulation. To scared to venture of the n-scale forum. Afraid an HOer might jump you.
One other thing I would mention- while Atlas did indeed have the Sunday Nite Foto Fun, we here have one that covers the entire weekend. Perhaps those displaced folks who used to participate at SNFF could be enticed to do so here. BTW- I have both HO and N scale equipment, which would make me bi-scalar (is that a word?), which is definitely not covered by my insurance provider.........darnit.
If folks start a weekly prototype thread make sure I know about it though folks may get tired of my over the fence shots of Amtrak and the MBTA commuter trains.
A true rail hound never gets tired of pictures of the real deal....bring them on.cute: What we really need here is more time to edit. So, let's get the thread started, how about Sunday Night Weekend Proto Pic's?
We do have our RPOW topic. Such as this: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine...of-the-Week-April-25-2012&p=854628#post854628
I'm not good at waiting and only posting these pictures on Sunday night seems silly. So, for my birthday, I made myself a thread. Maybe it takes off? http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?142090-Weekend-Proto-Fun!-4-28-2012
That's really a pretty good suggestion. Thanks. I've posted regularly to the Inspection Pit, and have even strayed into the HO forums as I've enjoyed following Candy's threads on urban modeling. The siren call, so to speak. And if that isn't an inside Trainboard joke, I don't know what is.
...after wading through this thread and reaching the end, let me make my 2nd post after being a lurker here for the past eight years. Not really sure as to why, but for whatever reason, even though I've been a member of half a dozen groups for the same length of time or longer, it was always the Atlas forum and Train Orders that I'd check religiously each day. You tell me why that is and we'll both know... ...and now, after reading all about the never ending 'N' vs 'HO' debate, let me add my own observations. I started out with American Flyer, which is S scale when I was a kid, went to HO in my teens, tried out N when it was brand new and I was married and living in an apartment, and came back to HO after my kids had moved out and we finally had a room I could use for a layout, now that my older eyes don't see as well as they used to, I may have to go to O scale just to see the details...LOL!! cheers, Lorne Miller
Well , Welcome Lorne and don't feel bad I currently have 3 scales going N HO and G and some days it seems I can't see any of them !!!!!:worried: Mike
My 2 cents worth on some of the comments about adding or changing things. What we have here works just well thank you. It has had some refinements and improvements in some added features since I've been here and they for the most part work very well. Change isn't always for the better. A lot of folks if they take the time to look around and observe can probably come to that conclusion also. At least those of us old enough to have seen what the so called changes have wrought.
Yes, Trainboard has a separate Forum for railfanning and prototype photos. The current similar thread (as referred to above) is "Railfan Photos of the Week, April 25, 2012." One person has posted photos so far, and five or six people have responded--text only, no additional photos. What I liked about the Atlas Thursday Proto Photo is that many more people posted photos and responded. It helped me to get a better feel for the Atlas Board N scale community. I mean, here were N scalers who also took proto photos, and I feel that I got to know them a little better through their photos. It was a sense of community that I don't feel in such specialized boards as the Yahoo groups, e.g. or strictly proto photo forums. I became "forum friends" with several Atlas Forum N scalers because of the proto photos. Nor was the Atlas Proto Photo thread limited to recent photos: old railfanning photos added to the community atmosphere as well. But that's just me, I guess. It seems as though such a thread would not be appropriate on the Trainboard N scale forum.
Actually, you're misunderstanding the prototype pics of the week. That thread is one person who picks photos strictly from all the photos posted to railimages that week. It isn't analagous at all. It is about one person highlighting the work of others specifically from our railimages gallery. And there is no restriction in that thread or anywhere else that they be recent shots. Vintage shots have been chosen and generally posted as well. Here's the thing while there are a large number of N-scalers that don't venture beyond the n board, very few of the railfan posters don't venture elsewhere. All I can suggest is that you try the railfan forums out. Try out my new weekend proto fun thread. I plan to do it each week. Don't knock it till you try it.
Then someone could do an N scale photos of the week topic... Drawn from our RailImages, TrainBoard Albums and post attachments?
Exactly I mean wff is a great place for that too, but nothing says you couldn't have a scale specific one.
Right. And I don't mean something to detract from the WFF in the Inspection Pit. But just tossing a possibility onto the table.
Umm... I don't see the point of having a prototype photo thread that is exclusive to N scale modelers only... wouldn't that only serve to further (self)isolate the N scalers from the rest of the Trainboard community? Prototype photos are inherently scale-agnostic. We can all enjoy and make productive use of photos taken by anyone, of any scale, or even (perhaps especially) those taken by folks who don't model but railfan exclusively... As active as the N scale group is on here, it's not hard to tell who they are when they post in other forums... so figuring out what we N scalers like to take pictures of is as easy as seeing their posts -- along with all the others -- in the existing prototype photo threads, and recognizing them as folks who regularly post on N scale topics. I may be a lone voice here, but I'd not be in favor of doing anything "just for N scalers" unless it really is N scale stuff. I already belong to a site that is strictly N scale... I come to Trainboard to be part of the broader community of modeling in general. Imagine the outcry if folks were discussing having a prototype photo thread that only HO scalers could participate in? Why not instead, add a "preferred scale(s)" or "usual scale(s)" field to our profiles, and have that show up along with the stuff in the upper right on each post, everywhere on the site... if the goal is to identify content as being from folks who do a particular scale...
Good-Bye Atlas Forum, you will be missed, thanks for the tips and tricks I learned about, the great modeling, even though I wasn't a member I always liked seeing new posts and threads. Any Atlas forum guys are welcome here on Trainboard! But still, bye Atlas Forum.
As far as why the photo threads worked better on Atlas...... They were done at different times. Everything wasn't based on the weekend. The Thursday Proto Photo gave people a reason to stop in and check through the week. I believe the other scales did theirs on different days. They were posted all in one day by the originator, not a collection of hi-lights collected through the week by someone other than the poster. The photos were all in one place, not segregated in 25 different forums The reason Atlas worked so well is that it was very simple, 4 forum topics, O, HO, N, and DCC. ... I'm not saying change anything here but I think the reason why Atlas worked so well was the lack of segregation and complication. There are wonderful things on this board that I am sure I have missed because I don't have time to go through all the various sub forums available here. On Atlas, I could scan through the new topics in a few minutes and decide what I want to look at. The "whats new" tab here helps with this but I still need to dig through many unrelated posts to find what I want. On the flip side of that, I don't visit the Model Railroader forums because they over simplify things. With all scales posting in the same topic, it gets too cluttered trying to find thing about the scale I am interested in. I end up reading 5-10 topics only to find out that it is unrelated to my chosen scale or I can't get the products they are suggesting for my scale etc. There is no perfect answer that is for sure. I will miss the Atlas forums for some of the very techincal discussions that happened. I just haven't seen tpoics that dig into the physics of how and why stuff works happen in other forums. I learned a lot more there than any other forum to date.
I agree with Twindad. Whether it's N or HO, It's sometimes difficult to figure out what scale it is with the talent of some of our modelers. Why do we need to separate ourselves even further than what others have tried and have succeeded in doing in some other forums. I'm also a forum member on several other boards and there isn't a class distinction among N or HO modelers. More so than not the tranquility among the members is better than I've seen. The exchange of information and photos can and do help anyone modeling any gauge. Size doesn't matter, (well, I'll hear about that). That be my $0.01 after taxes
