June, 2009 Update: Trains-N-Towns<sup><small>TM</small></sup>


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Written by Paul D. Race for Big Indoor Trains^TM and Big Christmas Trains^TM

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Trains-N-Towns^TM, the Official Newsletter of BIGIndoorTrains.com and BIGChristmasTrains.com

This newsletter is for people who like O scale trains and Christmas trains, including people who combine On30 or O gauge trains with collectible villages. It is produced in conjunction with the Big Indoor Trains^TM and Big Christmas Trains web sites.

If you did not get this Trains-N-Towns^TM newsletter through your own e-mail, and you would like to get the newsletters in the future, please join our Trains-N-Towns^TM Mailing List
On the other hand, if you don't want to receive our e-mail updates, please e-mail me with a "Please Unsubscribe" message (worded any way you wish), and we will graciously remove you from our list.
Also, if you would like to subscribe to our free newsletter for garden railroaders (people running big trains outside), please join the Family Garden Trains Mailing List. By the way, you can subscribe to either, both, or neither, and we will just be glad to be of service, no matter what you decide.

In this Issue

Welcome to all new members. We are still signing folks up, which bodes well for the hobby.

On the other hand, many of you will recall that a couple issues ago, I talked about the effect the economy is having on many of our readers, and how we hope to continue to be there for you while things are "up in the air" for so many families, and also once the dust settles. To quote Alanis Morissette, "Isn't it Ironic?" If you can handle a personal note, keep going. Otherwise please skip the next six paragraphs.

The company I work for has deep pockets and strong prospects for coming out of the economic slump "smelling like roses." After three years of high stress, things had just calmed done enough that I figured I could handle staying on until I retired (and the last kid was through college).

At the same time, Shelia and I have discussed moving to a lower maintenance place. But we always said we weren't going to move until our youngest was out of high school.

So on Monday night, June 1, our youngest child graduated from high school. On Tuesday morning, June 2, I learned that my company was moving out of state and I either had to move with it (at substantial financial loss, due to our currently depressed housing market) or look for work. Since then my prayers have included phrases like, "Cutting it a little close, are we, Lord?"

I could write a great deal more (after all, that's what I do for a living and a hobby), but the things I could say must remain unsaid while the Race family sorts through its options. In the meantime, we appreciate your prayers. And if you live in western Ohio or central Indiana and happen to need a senior technical writer (or technical writing professor) with 28 years experience, please let me know. :-)

In the meantime, BigIndoorTrains^TM and its sister sites Big Christmas Trains^TM, Family Garden Trains^TM, and Family Christmas Online^TM are all in that (9-month) part of the annual cycle in which it costs us more to maintain an internet presence than our advertising brings in. Plus folks we have advertised for are dropping like flies. Again, our intention is to "keep the lights on" indefinitely, so, unlike certain companies, I'll let you know well in advance if we decide to "go south" or something.

On the plus side, it doesn't cost anything to add newsletter readers, so we're excited to keep welcoming new members to our "virtual club." And, even better, they are chipping in to help with articles about topics I haven't had time or experience to write about.

Topics discussed in this update include:

New Article:Building a Tinplate-Inspired Watchman's Shanty
New Article:Building a Tinplate-Inspired Lamp-Post"
New Article:Building a Tinplate-Inspired Railroad Crossing Sign
New Blog-Like Article: When Graphic Artists Go Bad
New FamilyGardenTrains^TM Article: Cribbing for your Railroad - "Borrowed" from our Garden Trains pages, a project idea that would be even easier to build indoors.

Note: As always, we have more articles in the works, so check our site often.

New Article: Building a Tinplate-Inspired Watchman's Shanty

Site owner and writer Paul Race has joined up with project designer and frequent contributor Howard Lamey to provide a unique new line of projects inspired by the tinplate trains and stations of a century ago. The first project in our "Tribute to Tinplate" was last month's Lewis Park Station. This month's building project is entirely Howard's design, a watchman's shanty inspired by both the Standard and O gauge tinplate accessories.