From the Dome Car: Train 1 Track 2 (July-August 1990)

 

In his second Dome Car, Morgan runs up against the challenge facing any editor--especially one that is a one-person staff and depends on contributions from writers. Not enough articles! Plus challenges with photography. Just two issues in, he is facing the question of getting enough good material to keep the magazine going. 

Summer is fast approaching, and finally we can go railfanning in shorts. That is until the bugs begin their summer! 

Some of us have already seen the new GE Dash S units (look at the size or them fuel tanks!") and out here, the Prairie Dog will be pulling its Sunday passengers to the sounds of puffing steam and the shrill of the whistle. We never tire of those sights and sounds. 

The intention of this column is not as a crying towel, but as a place to call attention to certain needs and to express some feelings. I won 't carry on with the crying very long, as tears don 't produce results. Its results that I am interested in, to bring us the kind of information and content that we all want from CRM. 

So in an oil can, here it is. To those who claim responsibility for our Canadian Historical Societies, please send us reports on your society and what's going on. The rest of us want to know what you're up know what you're working on, and your goals. It takes only a few minutes for the secretary or curator or a Society to write something out and fire it into the mail once every two months. 

The response has been very poor thus far; there's just not enough information in the regional bulletins that I receive to do you guys justice. 

Canadian Hobby Shops: The "Tunnel'' column needs your input. Here is a page where you get personal exposure, an audience of thousands and likely some sales! Our first  “tunnel,” written  by the owner of the Golden Spike Model Shop, has produced numerous letters, plenty of phone calls, scores of out of town visitors, and three brass sales al[1]ready, according to the proprietor. 

A few photos (more on that later) and a short article on what you do for the hobby is all that's necessary. 

Article contributions: We have sent out hundreds of "Article Contributions, Guidelines and Specifications” which have produced some interesting article contributions. However, there seems to be some unanswered questions regarding photography. Every magazine appears to require different formats for producing quality photos. We have u professional photo lab where almost anything can be reproduced including photo[1]graphs from video tape.

The easiest way for us to reproduce photos is from 35mm COLOUR negatives. Black and white film and processing is twice the price of colour. And we can make a black and white picture beautifully from a colour negative. Colour negative film is avail[1]able in 12 exposure rolls—just enough to support an article and not have your camera tied up for weeks at a time. And all your negatives will be returned. 

Of course, slides, black and white prints and colour prints are all fine, but they require extra steps to reproduce and there is the loss of some quality in the process. 

Two important qualities of good re[1]production are lighting and focus. The easiest way to solve the lighting problem is to photograph models outside in natural light, perhaps on a module. Barring that, daylight photo flood bulbs are available for indoor shots. Avoid using fluorescent lighting, as most bulbs produce distorted colours. Subjects in focus produce good sharp negatives for repro[1]duction and the use of a tripod will eliminate “camera shake.” Ask around and some of your modelling buddies will be more than happy to help you out. 

On to article subject matter, any[1]thing that's Canadian-related is obviously welcome. If you don't see what you want, we're likely waiting for you to send it in! There are modellers out there who just need a little nudge, a word of encouragement, and perhaps a little help to put something together. 

Some specific requests from me are articles to fill the “Canadian Classic” column. I’d like to have a modelling or prototype article on the Essex Terminal, the St. Clair Tunnel, narrow gauge mountain railways, the E & N, the NAR, Algoma Central, Ontario Northland, GO Transit, Quebec, North Shore & Labrador, White Pass and Yukon, Great Northern, the Sydney and Louisbourg, and the list goes on. Does anybody out there model these roads? l'm looking for passenger car articles. freight car and M of W equipment articles. non-revenue models, and structure write-ups. I know they’re our there.  

On a lighter note, the staff of CRM managed to attend two spring meets. one in the east and one in the west. We will extend our thank you and gratitude to those people who welcomed us on our journey away from our home station. Everyone we talked with was enthusiastic about having a Canadian-produced modelling magazine and we were certainly very encouraged. 

This is the appropriate place to offer apologies for those spelling errors ln addresses and postal codes. the 'GP's' that should have been SDs; the ‘15s’ that were ‘1200s,’ and so on—we now have a 'Room for Improvement' department! 

Thanks for the support. Catch you on Track 3.