Scher Bear Makes the Big Time!

Thanks for posting this story Bear as I had just read the story myself in CTT. I couldn't agree with you more that the story and photos of Eliot's Steam Service Area were supurb.

His scenes really did tell a story and the weathering and use of figures was very realistic and showcased Eliot's skill as a master modeler.

Congratulations to Eliot and Ginny for such a nice presentation!

Steve Tapper

The magazine arrived tonight and I immediately turned to the article. Great job Elliot--truly an impressive Service Operation. And, I have to say, you married very well.

Great article, but I think he goes under the name "Scrap Iron" now since his NKP 765 incident

I don't subscribe to either mag, but I'll make it a point to pick up this issue as I have done with any in which good friends have features. ''Maybe I can weasel an autographed copied from Eliot next time he's down this way.

Many thanks to all of you good fellows.

Bear. .  .  Your words are very kind. I am pleased to take some credit for the writing (my English teachers were good) and I'll take a little credit for some cool photos. My modeling has a long way to go. Dennis Brennan's book has been my companion. Norm Charbonneau and George Sellios, among others are truly gifted. Vulcan, SIRT, and a host of folks on this forum are in the real master modeler group. 

Steve. .  .  .  Good to hear from you. Hope you are well !

Dewey. .  .  .  You are so right. Hopefully you'll meet her one day and see how thick the lenses are on those eyeglasses. I hid her contact lenses on the first date so I would have a chance.

Harry. .  .  .  You are also in the master modeler group. I am merely a poseur. You will not have to weasel a copy. 

Scrappy

Eliot....a very fine article showing how YOU are a master modeler.  Now I am on my way up to the layout to once again start over all because of you!!

Alan

Eliot could you please post the pictures that were used in the CTT story. Thank you

You submitted your article to the other guys?

Ouch...

Yea kind of odd

excellent article - great layout!

I guess nobody else here has a problem with this, but to me it seems kinda poor manners to talk up an article featured in magazine A on an internet forum hosted by magazine B. Just sayin'.

For Jerry and Chris and others who are a bit uncomfortable with the mention of an article in another magazine, Harry is correct. I was actually approached by the other guys about 7 years ago during the building of my first layout. I promised them a chance to do a story before I had an association with OGR. I always keep a promise. 

Allan and Rich have been wonderful supporters of the Munoz Lines and I explained the promise I made to those other folks to Allan as he also asked me if I would submit a story for OGR. Allan and Rich support the hobby of model railroading as much or more as anyone I have met. I have great respect for them and consider them friends. 

I am fortunate to have an opportunity to work with several magazine publishers in association with what I do as a modeler and photographer. None of those magazines is more professional nor more supportive than OGR. Rich Melvin and Allan Miller, indeed the entire OGR crew, are wonderful people I have come to know and greatly appreciate. They have my respect and gratitude. I hope to maintain those friendships to the end of the line.

Eliot

Sorry for apparently stirring up some controversy by posting this thread, it was definitely not intended to do so.

I think anyone who knows me would attest to the fact that there is no more loyal fan of OGR than I!  I have been a continuous subscriber going back to when I first discovered the magazine in '97 or so and was in the process of rediscovering my long dormant love for the hobby.  I count Rich, Allan, Jim, Ed, George, Don, and Bill as good friends that I've made over the many years of my association with OGR and the OGR Forum.  Without OGR and the Forum, I would not have many of the dear lifelong friends that I have met here and through introductions by members of the OGR staff.  I think my credentials as an OGR fan are well established.

Having said that, I love the hobby and it's a big part of my life.  I subscribe to three other magazines that serve the railroading hobby, and one of them is CTT.  I make no apologies for that.  I don't think it was "bad manners" to mention that one of our long term Forumites and his modeling skill were recognized by the publication of his excellent pictorial feature in CTT.  Although I didn't know when I posted the thread the circumstances behind the reason for the article's appearance in a "competing" publication, I was happy to learn that Eliot's keeping a promise to CTT that pre-dated his close association with OGR and the Forum demonstrates the character of the man we know as a friend.  I look forward to other articles by Eliot on the subject of Munoz Lines being published in OGR!

GoodMannersBear

We are indeed fortunate to have two such high quality publications for our hobby. Elliot's work is truly masterful and deserves to be seen by the public!

Eliot, I wasn't aware of your earlier contact with CTT regarding your layout. I understand the need to keep a promise, regardless of how long it takes to keep it. Thank you, and also thank you Bearlead for taking time to reply. 

IMO anything that supports the hobby, creates enthusiasm and encourages participation in model trains is A-OK. Regardless of scale, era, road name, masthead, etc., it's all good with me. That may sound like I'm not discerning, which isn't true. I, too, have my preferences both in terms of magazines, forums and scale, but I'll take ideas from everywhere and anywhere, even those HO guys  whose structure designs I'm more than happy to copy and scale up. 

jerrman

First he puts "my" steam engine on the ground and now this!  

On the plus side, Eliot has an article in OGR Run 258 all about Maia's Corners. I'm working on the 258 preview video now, and with any luck it will be up by tomorrow afternoon. Then you can see what that's all about.

He also has an article coming up in Run 259 (Oct./Nov.) so it hasn't exactly been a case of old Scrapiron avoiding us, or us avoiding him.  And I trust you'll be seeing more of Eliot's creativity in our pages over the months and years ahead (so long as he doesn't wreck any more prototype trains).

Anyone who has something they would like to share with our readership is more than welcome to contribute at any time.  That doesn't mean we can use everything we receive or every idea that is submitted, but I can just about guarantee that any material I do accept will be given a good ride and, whenever possible, appear within a reasonable time frame.

Wow! You derail one historic engine and they never let you live it down.

There I was . . . scared out of my wits.

What had I done?

My dreams of being an engineer on the ground with #765

Rich came up and consoled me. 

"Eliot, it could just as well have been me.

 .  .  .  .    You didn't do anything wrong.

 .  .  .  .    Just be out of the state by sundown."

Look at the bright side Eliot. I doubt that anyone else can make the claim that they derailed a real steam engine!   

You are in a class all by yourself!!! 

Steve Tapper

Yeah Eliot....your name (and image) will forever echo within the Great Halls of Fort Waynedom... 

Yes Allan, but wouldn't it be prudent to go after the story and not necessarily wait for the story to come to you?  At least that's what they teach in journalism classes.

I don't agree with many of Harry Doyle's opinions he has posted in the past, but his earlier post (constructive feedback) is 100% spot-on.  I myself was contacted by CTT asking if I would be interested in having my layout in their magazine based on some pictures I posted on this forum showing the progress of my scenery a while ago even though it's far from completed; haven't heard a peep from OGR about it to date.  Not that I'm necessarily complaining that they didn't, just pointing out my own experience on this subject.

FWIW Allan did reach out to me about a feature opportunity in my layout revamp thread.

Yes Allan, but wouldn't it be prudent to go after the story and not necessarily wait for the story to come to you?  At least that's what they teach in journalism classes.

 

I don't agree with many of Harry Doyle's opinions he has posted in the past, but his earlier post (constructive feedback) is 100% spot-on.  I myself was contacted by CTT asking if I would be interested in having my layout in their magazine based on some pictures I posted on this forum ...

Well, it could just be that they need to go farming for articles (and with four in-house editors and an editorial assistant they have the personnel available to do that).  To date, I haven't had to do a whole lot of searching because there are plenty of very fine hobbyists out there who submit their ideas and articles to me on a regular basis and who nicely and graciously supplement the contacts I initiate on my own.  Some are participants or even lurkers on this forum.  Others have no involvement with online discussion forums but are familiar with the magazine and like the way we present our content.

The simple truth of the matter is that a majority of our features do come from people whose work I have seen here or elsewhere, supplemented by leads and submissions I receive from others (including hobby shop owners who may steer me to a customer with a layout worth considering).

I'm working on our October issue now.  The cover feature for that issue came from a fellow who is a somewhat regular participant here--you'll recognize the name when you see it.  I saw a sampling of his work here and contacted the man, first by e-mail and then by phone.  I subsequently worked with him to develop the article and the photos.  That's the way it often works.

Several other features in that issue also are also done by forum members (most all here know SIRT), and a couple were done by folks who have never participated here or anywhere else that I am aware of.  Ditto for select features that will appear in our December and January issues and which are already "works in progress" or fully complete.

My goal with the magazine is to provide a good editorial mix; to present the material on a timely basis when possible; and to give the individual's work the best exposure I possibly can so readers can appreciate his or her efforts and perhaps learn something new that that might be applied to the reader's own modeling.

But like every editor of every publication, I prefer to work closely with those who support our efforts, in print and online; who are willing to work with me) I edit every article in the magazine; and whose egos are not larger than their layouts.  That being the case, there will always be some otherwise worthy layouts or articles that probably won't appear in the pages of OGR until after I decide to spend more time playing with trains than editing a magazine.  For now, though, I thoroughly enjoy what I'm doing and I hope that enthusiasm is evident on our pages in every issue.

I gave up contributing articles. Neither magazine pays much for them.

Congrats to Eliot - on the article, not the derailing.

Surely financial compensation should not be a driving force in contributing an article?  

Isn't the honour of having your work published sufficient?

Please don't take any offence at my words. It's just that I fail to understand why almost everyone these days seems to be driven by the desire for financial rewards above all else. Magazine publishers in general do not have vast amounts of money to throw around. I've been working in the publishing industry for over 25 years, and I know how tight the budgets can be.

I agree with Nicole.  The driving force of any article, especially in this little corner of our world, should be fore front the joy of sharing.  Any compensation should be a bonus.

That said it does really surprise me how many of the forumites from here end up in the other magazine, not that there's anything wrong with that, versus in OGR. Seems that OGR would almost have an unlimited supply of content from here alone.

I do believe that OGR does find some great layouts outside the forum though.  I do enjoy reading and seeing layouts from the folks I see frequent here though.

No offense taken, but your words are a joke, right?  Monetary compensation is evidence that your work is worth something, even if the amount is so small as to mostly be symbolic. 

I'm with Jumijo.  A wise old man once told me, "Never sell yourself short."  As long as the publication is a for profit enterprise, if you give your work away you're being taken advantage of.

Creating an article for publication is a lot of work!  Speaking from experience here.  For a time I wrote model airplane reviews for a now defunct RC airplane magazine.  My job was to build and fly kit airplanes, to truthfully evaluate both experiences, to write about them in a coherent and entertaining manner, and to provide photographs of the completed airplanes, both on the ground and in flight.  If I was lucky I could make as much as seventy-five cents an hour!  After the initial ego boost of seeing my byline in my favorite airplane magazine wore off, it got kind of old.

Pete

ps - The referenced article contains some of Eliot's best ever photographic work.

For goodness sakes  .  .  .

What a tempest in a teapot.

For what it is worth  .  .  .  it is an honor for me to have articles published in OGR.

Period !

Eliot

Not at all; I read and enjoy all train magazines regardless of publisher.

I don't have a problem with it, and neither does OGR Editor Allan Miller. And I wouldn't be poking fun at Eliot about the 765 derailment if I was upset about this.  It's a big tent...

Let's all take Jumijo's advice and, "...get back to congratulating Eliot on his article."

As long as there are folks in this hobby with the talent, creativity, personality, sense of humor, and willingness to share evidenced by Eliot "Scrapiron" Scher (even if somewhat accident prone), we in the publishing segment of this great hobby will be in good shape.

Best of all, I could name a good number of folks--many from right here on this very forum--who deserve that same distinction and are a genuine pleasure to know and work with.

"tough as pigiron" seems to apply--just gets back on track and keeps on ticking!

Congrats to Scrap Iron! Nice work. OGR still has the #1 forum for 3 rail, 2 rail,tinplate, S gauge,  bar none,  the other guys websites & forums do not even come close!

I TOTALLY AGREE OGR IS NUMBER ONE

CONGRATS ELIOT, GREAT WORK

THANKS, ALEX

Loved the story and the photography. Thank you Elliot.