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After searching several online and published indices, it was evident that many technical topics were not covered, out of date or well buried in related articles. At the risk of ruffling a few feathers, my opinion is that since Linn Westcott, there has been a steady decline in quality of technical articles. The trend in magazines seems to be away from this area. Most articles appear to be be geared toward promoting advertisers, fads, "popular" authors, special interest groups or beauty contests. Many feature articles end up as two pages of empty text and beautiful color pictures, without enough information to complete the project. This treatise contains a series of articles covering various aspects of model railroading including speed, motors, gears, weight, tractive effort, testing etc. For the most part they will be scale independent and will attempt to cover the subject as thoroughly as possible for the beginner as well as the expert. Some were originally intended to be magazine articles, but formatting the "Bill Gates way" never appealed to me and they were sidetracked. My wife suggested a web page, where they would not be lost in old issues, could be amended as necessary and best of all, would be FREE. Although some items will be covered in depth, the intension is to provide ideas and examples rather than a step by step cookbook. Some of the statements are controversial and might not comply with editorial policy or popular opinion. These are based on feedback from a multitude of customers of our Aero-Train Hobby House since 1969, fellow modellers and my own observations, education and experience. This includes a major in physics at the University of Pennsylvania; over 50 years in electronics as technician, design and computer system engineer; running a computer service center; and providing custom machining for modellers through our shop. Opinions may be biased, but never prejudiced. Advocating my philosophy that information web sites should present clear and concise facts with supporting data, drawings and pictures, there will be no frills, flashing lights, jumping objects, blasting horns or irksome frames to entertain and distract. The AMIGA banner on the home page is the only exception to show it can be done without Bill Gates' "WINDOZE" or "MISDOS". With over 225 pages and 550 pictures, linking has become a major effort. Although it increases browsing complexity, to reduce loading time, most articles have embedded links; which provide access to various subtopics, drawings and photos of interest. Linked key words, in text, lead to deeper explanations or examples, for those who might want or need them. Some may lead to eye candy of sections yet to develop. This is highly dependent on the limitations of my digital camera and scanner to provide intelligible pictures to support the text. Even with the aid of an excellent CAD program, the many drawings required are very time consuming, partly due to conversion and rendering to usable formats. Return links are provided or browser back key may be used instead. A search engine is now included. However all topics are included in the indices, either as major or subtopics. Some listings lead to sub-indices. A few of the more important items are listed on the home page. Your browser search may be of use on individual pages. We hope you enjoy and appreciate the effort and find some use for the information. |
| Browser -- Ibrowse V2.3 -- 2003
Text -- CygnusEd Professional V4.2 -- 1999 Drawings -- XCAD-3000 V1.1 -- 1992 Graphs -- Math-Amation V1.0d -- 1988 Rendering -- Image FX V4.1 -- 2000 Digital Camera -- Kodak DC25 -- 1998 Digital Camera 2 -- Kodak DC280 -- 2003 Scanner -- HP Scanjet 6200C -- 2000 HTML and mistakes -- BUDB -- 1931 |
