Well, I see the group is empty again today, so I'll fill the emptiness with a vent.
Some of you may already know that the only way I read MR since about '85 or so is via the public library. That way I pay what it's worth. But I will concede, in all fairness, that I do find 2-4 interesting articles per year so it's not a total loss.
The other day the library was displaying "101 More Track plans ..." so I took it home. It's a compilation of MR plans put together by Jeff Wilson. Linn Westcott can rest easy - his crown has not been pilfered :-).
The 2nd plan in the book was for a layout called the "Vancouver Power & Transportation Company" complete with sharp curves and 2 car barns. Obviously a traction layout. Mr Wilson suggests running "short switching locomotives(steam or diesel)". I would have concluded that he's never seen a streetcar but plan 32 is defined as "Streetcar modeling".
Plan 3 has a piece of the track plan chopped off. Luckily it can be seen in the rendering although not clearly.
Plan 28, also chosen for the cover illustration, has all of the structures neatly numbered - but no legend explaining said numbers. The same is true of plan 63.
Plan 31 is defined as "point-to-loop" when it clearly has a continuous run.
And plan 74 is squeezed into such a small portion of a page that most of us will need a magnifying glass to read it. Of course it's one of the better medium size plans in the book, the "Moth Lake & Mount Ahab".
And for this tome they want $17.95. I have to wonder who buys it. Probably the same sort of folks who think a Harbor Fright chop saw is all one needs to build fine furniture :-).
MR and Mr Wilson should be ashamed of themselves.
Remember when publications had proofreaders?
OK, I've had my rant. Have a great Memorial Day.