Crossties for June 2015 Now Available

Most of you should have received you June 2015 Crossties through an email.  If you did not please check the Crossties page and click on the link for your copy.

Are you Weathered?

When you work for a railroad one of the first things you realize is that it is an industrial environment. This means that there is dirt and grim everywhere which is not cleaned except for very few places like corporate offices and equipment used in passenger service.  Bring you freight cars and diesels to next months JRD meet to not only learn about weathering but to actually weather your car or diesel locomotive.  The cost will be 2 to 5 dollars per person.  Cost will vary by the scale and number of cars.  All NMRA members are welcome.  Others may join the NRMA at the meeting.

Weaver Models Closing

It was announced that Weaver Models is closing June 29, 2015.  The owner is retiring and was unable to find a buyer for the business. This is a huge loss to the O scale community and a big loss for the Model Railroading community in general. Weaver Models started making hopper cars for the two rail O market and expanded into 3 rail.  They made many affordable and reliable locomotives which are the mainstay of many O Scale layouts.  The average model railroader probably knows of Weaver Models through their Scalecoat Paint line which was an affordable and quality paint sold good size bottles at reasonable prices.  Our thanks to Weaver for 50 years of service to the hobby.  

What is an RPO?

The term RPO usually in model railroad circles is thought to stand for Railway Post Office which is correct for a certain time in railway history.  Today, I would like to propose a new use to describe one of the fastest growing parts of the hobby. This is the operations side.  Operators are constantly trying to be more realistic in their approach to this aspect of modeling the prototype railroads.  What do you call these folks?  If we have Railway Prototype Modelers then I propose we now use the term Railway Prototype Operators.  They are the new RPO.