RPM web site?

Do the Railroad Prototype Modelers (RPM) have a web site?

Reply to
Mark Mathu
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If you mean Jim Six's group, he's got a Yahoo group for it now-

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Reply to
areibel

I am aware of the Yahoo Group; as opposed to a discussion list I was wondering if the group has a web site which describes their purpose, organization and scheduled activities.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

| I am aware of the Yahoo Group; as opposed to a discussion list I was | wondering if the group has a web site which describes their purpose, | organization and scheduled activities.

There isn't any online information. Actually, its not organized - just a point of view. No one in charge - no membership - no board of directors - no contests - none of the trappings of a club or organization. Everyone is welcome.

Various people - such as Jim Six, Mike Brock, Martin Lofton - and many others, present meets focused on modeling from the prototype. It's really a very simple concept. But seems to be seen by some folks as some sort of subversive activity. The most recent meet was this past weekend in Naperville, IL.

RMC seems to keep up with activities fairly well. As does RMJ. Since Kalmbach can't control or profit from the RPM movement, you'll not find a lot of information in MR pages. Though you'll find Kalmbach folks in attendance; as modelers.

CTucker NY

Reply to
Christian

Yet RPM meets charge admission (which is undertandable, since rooms for clinics cost money)... how are the finances handled if they don't have anyone in charge?

I don't see any RPM shows listed at Kalmbach's directory

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if that intentional (either on Kalmbach's or RPM's behalf), or is it just that there is no real organized effort to publicize the events? Or am I just missing them in the listing?

Reply to
Mark Mathu

| Yet RPM meets charge admission (which is undertandable, since rooms for | clinics cost money)... how are the finances handled if they don't have anyone | in charge?

Who ever or group that puts on a meet pays the costs and recoups what is possible.

| > RMC seems to keep up with activities fairly well. As does RMJ. Since | > Kalmbach can't control or profit from the RPM movement, you'll not find a | > lot of information in MR pages. Though you'll find Kalmbach folks in | > attendance; as modelers. | | I don't see any RPM shows listed at Kalmbach's directory |

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if that intentional (either on | Kalmbach's or RPM's behalf), or is it just that there is no real organized | effort to publicize the events? Or am I just missing them in the listing?

Not intentional. See my paragraph above. Not a lot of publicity outside of various Yahoo lists. Except for RMC and RMJ. Used to have very heavy coverage here on rmr. Including on site reporting. But all the crap has moved almost all the modelers off to other lists.

CTucker NY

Reply to
Christian

Yes, I saw your paragraph above.

This kind of goes full-circle back to an earlier comment -- "But seems to be seen by some folks as some sort of subversive activity."

I'm sure no one sees it as truly subversive -- but the lack of publicity of RPM events outside of Yahoo lists certainly makes it seem like the organizers (if I may use that term) don't want to publicize their events very much.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

I don't think it's that they don't want to promote, but that they don't want to overpromote. RPM meets tend to be run on a shoestring, which means smaller venues that can't handle huge numbers. That's a drawback in terms of spreading the message to the wider audience, but it's outweighed in my opinion by the benefit to those that do attend.

I went to last year's Lake Region PM Meet (my first), and I don't think the venue could have held more than 50 people. As it was there were 35, and I got to interact with *everyone*. Had there been, say, 500 people there (assuming the venue could have handled them), the logistics of such a group would have prevented me from talking meaningfully with more than a dozen or so. That individual interaction is the point!

about being big, but about being intimate events where there's a lot to be learned.

Reply to
Dubya

Jumping into this kind of late... I haven't read this group in a long time. Don't know what posessed me.

Anyway, I still own the domain for the former RPM web site, rpmrail.org. Its purpose has changed since I first registered the domain in 1997. RPM as a concept was still a strong presence at the NMRA nationals, which is kind of how I got involved. But in the mean time the banner has been taken up by local meet organizers, which Christian mentioned. There's no umbrella organization, these guys do their own thing but there are a lot of the same people traveling around to these meets. These include, in roughly chronological order: Cocoa Beach (Mike Brock), the PA meet (various, rotating locations), the small Sunshine CA meets (Martin Lofton), Savannah (Bob Harpe), Hartford (Dave Owens), St. Louis (John Golden), Lake Region (Jim Six), La Habra/Western Prototype Modelers (multiple people involved now), and Naperville (Martin Lofton). And other meets are popping up, some very small, some more ambitious like the Bay Area PM meet, which manages to miss my usual time in the area by a few weeks.

This has worked out remarkably well, each meet organizer does it the way they want to - big, small, focus on various subjects, with or without dealers, lots of clinics, just a few clinics, etc. The reason there is no umbrella organization near as I can tell is because I can't find even two people who really want one.

I had considered organizing a Cincinnati area meet, but to be quite honest, there's no particularly good time slot for one, and I really don't want to do it. I've discovered after 10 years at this that I'm neither good with finances nor with publicity nor with arm twisting, all skills necessary to pull off a successful meet and attract clinicians.

The end result is, what we've got now works pretty well. Very little conflict because there isn't really much to fight about - if you can't stand Joe Blow, you don't go to his meet, or whatever.

The irony is that the NMRA wants RPM to play a more significant role - the Cincinnati convention organizers pretty much gave me everything I wanted, but the turnout was very light. I can't really complain at all about the treatment from the NMRA, but for a whole bunch of reasons, apparently RPMers just aren't interested in paying the NMRA fare when there are so many other RPM meets to attend instead, which cost less and are far more focused.

I have been approached by the NMRA concerning next year's convention in Philadelphia, however I won't be there. I don't know if anyone in the area is interested, or has already hooked up with the NMRA. Ditto for Detroit in 2007. The next NMRA convention I'm in danger of attending is Anaheim in 2008, and I may very well use it as an excuse to go to CA for a week, and not even go to the convention. But I'll know well in advance if its worth doing.

Andy

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Reply to
Andy Harman

Andy, Good to see you back.

David Starr

Reply to
David J. Starr

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