This OGR Magazine Online Forum

You've described the OGR Forum well, Arnold.  That's why this is the only bulletin board that I regularly visit.

The OGR Forums are helpful and positive, and we have formed a friendly and mutually helpful fraternity.

Even though I am not "officially" an owner or partner in OGR any more, I still do a little IT work for the guys. So I think I can use the word "we" when I say that we (the OGR staff) genuinely appreciate your post, Arnold.

This forum has become such a great place to be because of our members ... people like you and thousands of others ... who have chosen to make the forum a regular stop in their hobby activities.

For that, I (we ) thank you!

Arnold

I posted something very similar last month.  Having been a member going on 20 years (my original sign up was fall of 2000) it's still the first place I check in on.  

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

 But what about those of us who are 30 something or younger? IMO, and I could be wrong, there is no better way at this time to introduce them to the hobby than this Forum.

I recently made a wonderful Forum friend who is 20 years old by the name of Bryce. Bryce is an electrical engineering student and enthusiastic model railroader, who has a beautiful Christmas-themed layout that can be seen from photos he has shared on this Forum. We first connected by our Forum posts, and then spoke on the phone. Our first telephone conversation lasted over an hour! We have not met in person yet, but we have had several more long, inspiring telephone conversations. The reason I am sharing this is two-fold. First, to share how Forum friendships can develop even when there has been no meeting in person. Secondly, Bryce tells me that he knows many very enthusiastic and young fellow model railroaders like himself.

Arnold,

The under 30 crowd is alive and well! However, most of them are on other "larger" social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) On my Train related Instagram account, I have been promoting the OGR forum to my fellow "young" people. A few have made the jump to this forum but it would be nice if more could also make the transition. You are too kind for your remarks on my Christmas/winter layout!

Friendships happen even in the most unique circumstances. I am very grateful to have virtual met and made your friendship. I always enjoy our hour+ long telephone calls, I always learn something new and then am inspired to work on my layout. A prime example of this is your Diner thread: I saw all of the wonderful diners posted, especially your Dept. 56 "Shelly's Diner" and thought that would be perfect for my layout! Your many topics and posts are always a pleasure to read. I look forward to the day the world returns to normal and we can finally meet in person! 

Bryce

This is a great place and I am very happy I joined. I've even made friends who are local. You never know who might be in your own backyard!

Well said Arnold. One thing that I enjoy of both the magazine and the forum is inspiration. The magazine can get you started for sure, but the interaction here definitely is ten fold. How amazing is it that your idea of something you wish to model gets tweaked because your fellow forumite(not a word but we'll use it) is doing something similar.

The pair of you begin talking about your projects and pretty soon more people are chiming in. People appreciate the work that goes into the models(or models) that are being created, and sometimes the models come out of the simplest things.

The other thing is the amount of information of everything you could possibly imagine. From trains, engines, cars, industries, automobiles, electrical, designs, conventional, command, scenery, the list goes on and on. It never seems to surprise me how much information flies out on any given day, and I only follow a handful of people. Often times my inbox is overflowing with countless amounts of topics. It stinks when I miss something I want to see.

Needless to say this is and always will be the most inspiring place for me to visit on a daily basis. If I didn't join, I never would have ever been to York, that says something for you, right?

WOW....just saw this topic.  First thanks Arnold for your very nice post as well as a thanks to those that have responded.  If you have not noticed yet, we have introduced the "Supporting Membership" opportunity just in case you are interested.  Thanks for your much appreciated support!

@dk122trains posted:

Where is info on supporting membership located on app?

Hi Don....not sure since I am IT challenged!  This would be a question for Rich.  You should be able to just click on the link here on the forum but heck, I am sure there is something I am missing concerning the app.

@OGR CEO-PUBLISHER posted:

WOW....just saw this topic.  First thanks Arnold for your very nice post as well as a thanks to those that have responded.  If you have not noticed yet, we have introduced the "Supporting Membership" opportunity just in case you are interested.  Thanks for your much appreciated support!

WOW, Alan, you and I are sure on the same mysterious wavelength. I just assumed you started the OGR Forum Supporting Membership thread today after seeing this thread I started early this morning, but apparently that was not the case at all.

What an amazing coincidence! Arnold

The BEST! :-) (19 year member)

Arnold, I can attest to the fact that I agree with every word you wrote other than two items.  1) I have been a Forum member since June 2012 and 2) I'm 'only' 64.

This Forum is the best thing that ever happened to me since my interest in model/toy trains was kindled 6 decades ago!  Also, I am so glad you joined the Forum, Arnold.

Well said!  I couldn't agree more!

-Greg

As a member of five model railroad forums, I can say for sure that the OGRR forum is by far the most informative and relevant to our hobby.

@dk122trains posted:

Where is info on supporting membership located on app?

There's and OGR App?  Where?

@Ron045 posted:

 

There's and OGR App?  Where?

There was an app that allowed digital subscribers access to the magazine but when we went to the new SimpleCirc provider, the app was no longer needed.  SimpleCirc provides you with your own private "reading room" so to speak. So technically, there is not an app per se'.

Arnold, I can't believe that I almost have a year on you on here. It should be the other way around I would have thought. December 10th 2016, after several months of viewing the site as a none member, I decided to join. Back in May of 2017 I emailed Rich because there was some broken pages on a topic I loved to lose my mind in. Rich got it fixed quick. Needless to say, I really started getting more involved from then on. I still watch quite a bit from the sidelines, but when tech talk is going on, I am the last person to say anything since I couldn't even tell you what plugs into where. I'll ask questions though, when I need to.

Dave, I really like your Profile photo showing you standing in front of what appears to be a magnificent looking steam engine. 

I joined the Forum immediately after Alan Arnold recommended it to me and I visited it. I found out about the Forum, visited it and became a member, all in the same day.  I had been a lone wolf O Gauge model railroader for so long, I had a burning desire to connect with other enthusiastic hobbyists.

This Forum has exceeded my expectations exponentially. I wonder how many other of our Forum friends feel the same way. 

I bet all, or all, of us Forum members feel that this Forum has far exceeded our expectations. Isn't that right?

Arnold

@RamblerDon posted:

This is a great place and I am very happy I joined. I've even made friends who are local. You never know who might be in your own backyard!

True. There was a person who had his layout featured at least once in the OGR magazine who contacted me to invite me to his house. He lives 1 mile away.

Being 78, and always collecting a number of things, I remember communicating to fellow collectors in pre-PC days. You were limited to magazines, shows, or formal get togethers...we even had a "chain letter" for one group. Today, help, ideas, things for sale, or opinions are gotten instantly.

Arnold you amaze me with the topics/threads you start but I must say this has got to be the best to date. I don't think I could have said it any better and I agree with your thoughts 110 percent. This place is amazing, I have learned so much and have started a friendship with a fellow gent from the Burgh where we are both from. We have agreed to meet up at some of his local train stores when this whole COVID things settles down. I also am one of those youngsters you talked about as I am only 29 and holding for the last 38 years soon to be 39 and holding.

Also this forum is my Home Page.

Arnold, as Rick said, I am amazed and well pleased with the number of excellent, thought provoking topics you present!  I guess I will have to start using Rick's arithmetic.  

Arnold: Your topic is right on the money! The OGR Forum is a powerful tool to promote our hobby. But, we also need the members of the forum to spread the word and invite others to join in the fun. A good tool is a wonderful thing but does nothing if it is left sitting in the tool box.

Again, Thank you for this well stated and inciteful topic.

Rick and Mark, you have no idea how much it pleases me to get positive feedback about my topics and posts. Thank you so much.

I will share something else that might be interesting to you and our other Forum friends. I think I've become a better writer thanks to this Forum. I believe one can always improve no matter what the skill, and I have found that whenever I have done something persistently and consistently for a long time, some level of improvement seems to be inevitable. When that happens, it can be exhilerating.

Posting on this Forum has been a pleasure for me.

If any of you folks have similar feelings, I strongly encourage you to reflect on your body of work (topics, posts and photos) on this Forum, and consider writing an article and submitting it for publication to OGR Magazine. Believe me, doing that can also be exhilerating. I know many of you know this because you have already done it.

Arnold

One of the many good threads that you've started Arnold.

This OGR forum is a wonderful place and is very good therapy.  Having a stressful day at work?  I can quickly glance on my cell phone for 1-2 minutes and instantly I'm transported to a world that I can control. Save a couple of topics for later reading and then get back to work.

It's enjoyable asking for (and receiving) help; perusing the twists and turns of a popular topic for that day; and seeing the magic of modeling that other members have done on their layouts; and of course, supporting Forum sponsors like I did to Mario's Trains today after work.

Agree.  I had a technical problem a few days ago.  I posted it, the responses were right on point and the problem was solved.  Could not have done it otherwise.

@RJT posted:

............... I am only 29 and holding for the last 38 years soon to be 39 and holding.

 

Gee Rick, we are the same age!

It just occurred to me that the OGR Magazine On-Line Forums are brilliantly designed. After being an active Forum member for at least a few years who has now pretty much explored all the books and crannies of these forums, I can't imagine a better design.  The format for these forums is very logical enabling the Forum member to know just where to go for whatever one wants to read or post.

I would love to know who, among the past or current members of the OGR staff, designed them.

Arnold

Better late than never.  I confess that O Gauge Railroading Magazine is not new to me.  My late best friend, who was born, raised, and lived, all his life in Tampa, Florida, intoduced OGR to me when it made it's first appearance to the model railroad community.  Like most boys (I carry a built date of 1946, Robert followed in 1947) we both grew up with Lionel trains.  In the early 60s most teenage model railroad tycoons were fast converting to HO.  Robert and I were no exceptions. 

I didn't meet Robert until my stepfather had relocated our family from my native Texas back to Tampa, the second time.  He had moved us there in June 1959.  We moved back to Texas in 1961 and then back to Tampa again in early '62.  I met Robert at a hobby shop in Tampa located on Nebraska Ave. one Friday afternoon.  He invited me to see his then abuilding HO layout in a spare bedroom of his dad's home.  Learning that I hailed from the Lone Star State with and my favorite railroad was The Katy, he told me he too held an interest in the M-K-T.  This came as a surprise to me since we were deep in ACL and SAL territory.

Our hangouts in Tampa became Tampa Union Station and Chester Holley's train shop.  We became close friends with Chester and his family.  We even assisted Chester when he reroofed his house during the summer of '63, while his wife Margo was kept busy making gallons and gallons of fresh iced tea to insure we wouldn't die of thurst out while working on top of the house!

The friendship with Robert that started in 1962 lasted until his untimely passing in April 2006.  Robert made the move from HO back to O in the mid-60s, albeit two rail scale, retaining the Lionel and HO.  He even considered converting to Sn3 in the 80s, but remained loyal to O scale.  After my three year stint with the US Army Transportation Corps, I returned to Dallas in 1967 and hired out on the Cotton Belt as a switchman.  A year later, in 1968, I moved over to the Santa Fe, where I remained until my move to Germany in late 1976.

Though I collected some HO scale trains over the years, had sold my Lionel O27 to a guy in Tampa in 1962 to help finance my entrance into HO, I continued to follow O scale very closely.  I even picked up OGR at Bobbye Hall's Hobby House in Dallas after Robert told me about this new O scale magazine on the market.  The Walthers O scale catalog also kept me up to date on all the O scale that was available each year.  I became close friends with Miss Hall (as everybody called her) and even after my move overseas we continued to exchange Christmas cards every year until her death.

Sadly, with the passing of Chester and Bobbye, both Tampa and Dallas have lost the flair of what had become two of the very best train shops in the U.S.A.  Bar none!

I recently found OGR again while surfing the Railserve site that lists many international railroad magazines, prototypical ,model, and industrial.  I soon discovered the Forum and when I emailed Alan telling him how much I enjoy it, he invited me to take out a digital subscription.  So I did and have just became a Supporting Member as well.  Now I am part of what I consider to be the Greatest Family in the entire O gauge community!  Everyone is respectful who will go above and beyond the call of duty to help one another with everyday problems they encounter in the hobby, Regardless of Scale!  COOL!

So, A very special THANK YOU to all of you!  The OGR staff, OGR readers (subscriber, supporter or not), each one of you, are Fantastic human beings!  Despite this Corona thing, I already see that we are going to pull though this mess together.  To quote from the early days of America, when it was still a young nation: United We Stand; Divided We Fall.  With OGR, we stand together, to help each other which will guarentee that OGR remains the Very Best O gauge magazine and forum on the planet.  Today, Tomorrow, and on into the Future, We The People have made OGR what it has become, namely NUMBER ONE!

WOW!!!

If you haven't, please consider taking out a Digital Subscription and signing up to become a Supporting Member today.  Believe me, it is the best investment you will ever make!

Thank you,

73

Joseph Toth Jr.

@Lionelski posted:

Gee Rick, we are the same age!

Lionelski: What 29 or holding? Age is a state of mind I refuse to accept, just cant convince my body of that!   

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

It just occurred to me that the OGR Magazine On-Line Forums are brilliantly designed. After being an active Forum member for at least a few years who has now pretty much explored all the books and crannies of these forums, I can't imagine a better design.  The format for these forums is very logical enabling the Forum member to know just where to go for whatever one wants to read or post.

I would love to know who, among the past or current members of the OGR staff, designed them.

Arnold

Arnold, I agree I really like the format of the OGR Forum.  It is very logical, the search function works well if you are willing to spend a little time, and you get notifications of posts in topics of interest.  Private messaging works well, and I could go on and on.  The design is great in my opinion!

There is such a diversity of gifts among all of the Forum members. It's a fact that each and every one of you is so special, indeed, a miracle. Arnold

Arnold, you are so right.  It is indeed a Miracle!  I'm sure that all of the departed railroaders, be they the "Real McCoy", railfan, or modeler, are looking down with great pleasure from the Roundhouse in the Sky, that's just beyond those Big Rock Candy Mountains, and giving the OGR staff, subscribers, and supporting members, a High Green to Marceline and far beyond!

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Dave, I really like your Profile photo showing you standing in front of what appears to be a magnificent looking steam engine. 

I joined the Forum immediately after Alan Arnold recommended it to me and I visited it. I found out about the Forum, visited it and became a member, all in the same day.  I had been a lone wolf O Gauge model railroader for so long, I had a burning desire to connect with other enthusiastic hobbyists.

This Forum has exceeded my expectations exponentially. I wonder how many other of our Forum friends feel the same way. 

I bet all, or all, of us Forum members feel that this Forum has far exceeded our expectations. Isn't that right?

Arnold

 

Arnold, that's up at Steamtown in Scranton. I go there every year(except this one so far) with my brother to meet our niece and her family. Last year we got the Trolley Museum but didn't get into Steamtown because of time. I had my brother snap that picture after I got out of the gift shop. I'll have to look through my photos to figure out which locomotive it is. I think it is Grand Trunk and not the Reading T1. They usually move them around a bit for events.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

It just occurred to me that the OGR Magazine On-Line Forums are brilliantly designed...I would love to know who, among the past or current members of the OGR staff, designed them.

The design of these forums, the choices of colors and fonts, and the organization of the various forums was something that I did several years ago, back when I was the CEO of OGR.

When this new format (which was originally called "Hoopla") was released, they provided a basic theme which is what drives the overall design. In the admin "back end" Hoopla provided hundreds of ways to customize that theme, and that's where the color and font choices were made.

They also provided ways for us to include custom CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to alter the layout of the forums, which we chose to do. For example, the original, unmodified theme had a lot of wasted space on the pages. Things were spread apart too far vertically for my taste. I used some custom CSS  to "tighten up" the layout and ultimately achieve a layout we liked. We even used custom CSS to spell out the word "SEARCH" in the tool bar at the top, instead of using a little "eyeglass" search icon.

The bottom line is that I am pleased that you like the layout of these forums. I'm also pleased that we have managed to attract a great group of people to come here and talk about this wonderful hobby. After all, it is people like YOU - all our OGR Forum Members - who make this forum the great place that it is.

And for that, I thank you.

I like the old stuff Rich. Tell them to go back. It was a great format.

I don't remember when I found the OGR forum but it was quite awhile ago. It was not the only model railroad forum in which I have participated but it is now. However, the first forum in which I participated was almost 40 years ago when I purchased an Apple IIc desktop computer and the original AppleWorks application. Apple, in conjunction with AOH, instituted a forum for AppleWorks users to communicate and share information on how to use the 6 specific applications within AppleWorks. It was helpful to gain experience using a desktop computer at home just as this OGR forum is helpful in all aspects of being a model railroader.

Although I am 80+, my model railroad is not quite complete and, probably, will never be as I still have a few projects that are in the planning stage.

Thank you, Arnold, for starting this thread.

Good points. I am a lone wolf out out here in southeast Alabama and the forum is pretty much my only connection to the model / toy train world. I have had a few nice conversations with some fellow forumite's myself over the years. I've learned a lot and shared a lot that hopefully helped. It's interesting to see how much things have changed over the years.  We lost some and gained a lot, so I think the hobby and the forum are doing really well and I think that there are many good things to come.

@Rich Melvin posted:

The design of these forums, the choices of colors and fonts, and the organization of the various forums was something that I did several years ago, back when I was the CEO of OGR.

When this new format (which was originally called "Hoopla") was released, they provided a basic theme which is what drives the overall design. In the admin "back end" Hoopla provided hundreds of ways to customize that theme, and that's where the color and font choices were made.

They also provided ways for us to include custom CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to alter the layout of the forums, which we chose to do. For example, the original, unmodified theme had a lot of wasted space on the pages. Things were spread apart too far vertically for my taste. I used some custom CSS  to "tighten up" the layout and ultimately achieve a layout we liked. We even used custom CSS to spell out the word "SEARCH" in the tool bar at the top, instead of using a little "eyeglass" search icon.

The bottom line is that I am pleased that you like the layout of these forums. I'm also pleased that we have managed to attract a great group of people to come here and talk about this wonderful hobby. After all, it is people like YOU - all our OGR Forum Members - who make this forum the great place that it is.

And for that, I thank you.

Rich, You did an excellent job setting up the look and functionality of the Forum.  Thank you for all the thought that went into making all the selections!!!

I couldn't agree more, Arnold! This is indeed a truly great place to learn, share ideas, and just enjoy our common interest in trains and, in particular, O gauge model trains.

I joined the forum back in the summer of 2000, during the Myron Biggar/Barbara Saslo days, when there were just a few dozen members (I'm member number 76, when we used to have numbers). I don't post too often, mostly because all I've got room for is a 4x8 board, but I visit as often as I can and enjoy when other fortumites--if that's the right term--share stories, photos, and movies of their layouts, which are outstanding and inspirational. Folks like Gunrunner John and the late Marty Fitzhenry and Barry Boskowitz, among many others, have selflessly devoted countless hours sharing their expertise with the rest of us. The stories shared among us are always interesting, too. Some are amusing, others quite touching, but always enjoyable to read. And through shared events like the NJ Hi-Railers' Trainstock each January, the OGR bus trips from a few years back, and the York meet each spring and fall, we can meet in person and share our common interests.

The depth and breadth of knowledge here is staggering. Priceless information, absolutely free. Let's keep this special place going and growing... together.

Stay well, everyone.

Chris

Why would I go anywhere else? All the information anyone needs is here.