January Meeting was a Blast

 Yesterday we a great meeting that for me was a blast.  Thank you to Ken Montero for securing the building and along with Bob Minnis and others for dealing with the Donuts and Coffee.  Tom Patterson with assistance of his son took care of broadcasting our meeting on the new NRMA Interchange.  

Chris Chapin stepped up at the last minute to give us a valuable comparison of a Rapido E8 with the original speaker and one with an upgraded speaker from Scale Sound Systems.  The difference was quite astounding and a real ear opener. Thanks Chris for helping us with another path to make our miniature worlds to sound better

Mike Bonner and Keith Pritchard gave us an overview of JMRI Operations Pro as used to enhance our miniature worlds to resemble real railroad operations.  The workshop gave us an overview of this module of JMRI and how a basic implementation might work. The power of the program is immense and Mike Bonner kept reminding us that we should start with the basics and not get “into the weeds” too soon.  It is good advice and I look forward to exploring the program further. 

The handouts and slide decks are now available for your review at our Handouts Page

The afternoon afforded us the chance to see two fine home layouts.  It was good to see the progress that Keith Prichard has made on his Great Plains layout.  His layout has under gone refinement since the last time I saw it.  Sometimes the best changes are smaller ones that make it more pleasurable to see and operate for owners and visitors. Bob Stringer was the second layout opened to the JRD.  His switching layout has operations with C&O in Newport News, PRR in Cape Charles and a Proto freelance version of the NPBL.  We look forward to seeing the progress they will continue to make on their layouts.