Editor’s Notebook
LCC Is Alive! Key LCC contributors
Stuart Baker, David Harris, and Balazs Racz pose behind the LCC test layout in Portland, Oregon, during the NMRA Nati onal Conventi on. They worked ti relessly creati ng new soft ware and tweaking hardware to bring the layout to life. The LCC worked very well and was one of the keynotes of the conventi on. The railroad was
built by the Priest family as part of our commitment to give back to the NMRA.
Being Active and helping others.
Dr. Paul Chinburg would al-
ways bring me something. Often, it was Floquil paint, Testors liq- uid cement, or just some Kadee No. 5 couplers. He loved to help me enjoy my hobby. As a fresh- man in high school in western Kansas, I really did have it rough. Not only was I far removed from any hobby shop, but also I lived during a time when there was no Internet. The only way to get infor- mation about the hobby was from magazines. I had met Dr. Paul through a
friend of mine who had cut his hand at work and went to the hos- pital. Dr. Paul was on call and met my injured friend with his kind smile. My friend quickly noticed the Union Pacific belt buckle on
Dr. Paul’s waist and made con- versation centered on railroads and then model railroading. When Dr. Paul found out I was a model railroader he got in touch with me and as they say, that was that. Thirty-five years later I still remember his generosity and our love of model railroading. He brought me locomotives to paint and cars to decal and weather. Then he invited my small band of model railroaders down to run on his railroad. His selfless and giving spirit has prompted me to mentor many younger modelers and those who are less fortunate than I. I can honestly say that giv- ing has been one of the most re- warding parts of the hobby for me.
More than a decade ago, when
White River/Paired Rail started editing and publishing the NMRA Magazine then called Scale Rails, I began to get more involved in the National Model Railroad Associa- tion. As I edited articles and saw needs, I tried my best to be active and get involved in the hobby that means so much to me. I began to kindle friendships and learned many new tricks from other mod- elers who volunteered their time to write, present, and host the highly successful Modeling With The Masters Program offered each year at the NMRA National Convention. Eventually, I ran for NMRA office and committed my- self to the business of the associa- tion. There were and continues to be lots of challenges. I love them! I have had the pleasure of volun- teering with some of the most in- telligent people I have ever met. In turn, I have traveled to places I never dreamed, met modelers I had only heard about and shook their hands, thanked them for their years of service to the hobby. Five years ago I was appointed
to manage a small portion of the NMRA’s Conformance and Inspec- tion Department. This depart- ment is the volunteer group led by civil engineer Di Voss, MMR.
10 RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
They check what manufacturers build against the time-honored NMRA Standards. Di and his team inspect wheel gauge, coupler heights, turnout frog tolerances, and DCC decoders, among hun- dreds of other things — to ensure your experience with your model railroad equipment is as good as it can be. This is no small under- taking, and it often amazes me that it is all accomplished by vol- unteers, professional day job en- gineer volunteers, but volunteers nonetheless. The area I was asked to man-
age was just an idea at the time. With DCC approaching its 25th birthday and showing some signs of being overworked by the amount of digital information be- ing requested over the DCC bus, the NMRA began searching for an alternative. The intention was not to do away with DCC or its NMRA Standard but rather to create an entirely new communications bus termed LCC or Layout Com- mand Control. The purpose of this bus was to unload and thus free the DCC bus to do what it had originally been designed to do — run only the locomotives. Switch machine control, signal- ing, grade crossing protection, and other tasks that had begun to slow the DCC bus will be split off into a Layout Bus. The poten- tial is mind-boggling, and with the digital age upon us, this is excit- ing news! Because of my work with the
LCC initiative, I was recently pre- sented with the NMRA Presidents Award for the second year in a row. I am grateful for the recog- nition, but couldn’t have done it without the help of so many around me and those like Dr. Paul who have mentored me in the past. This hobby is important to me, and because you are reading this, I imagine it is equally impor- tant to you. I want to thank everyone who
has encouraged my model rail- road life.
HEAD END
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