Hey rails , I think I stumbled upon MR Mag. April Fools joke..There is an artical in the new APRIL issue on how to build a working fireman..It describes all the nessessary (?) materials and how anyone running the layout must shovel coal long enough to keep steam engines running..If they don't engine will eventually run out of fuel and stop...Yeah, right !! Uh huh !! ..Unless I misunderstood project it sure seems dubious !! Check it out !!
Yeah, I spotted that the other day. I always look forward to the April issue because of special effort they go through to put something together. My two favorites from past years were the animation using crickets to pull small carriages about a layout and the one about full size prototype magnetic couplers like KayDee and Microtrains. For one of the disadvantages, they showed a big pile of scrap like old springs and broken coupler knuckles in the area above an uncoupling magnet between the tracks.
I liked the joke about No-trak, modeling of railroad lines that were abandoned and converted to pedestrian and biking trails. It was touted as a very economical hobby as you didn't have to invest in all that rolling stock or expensive control systems. Very low stress also since there was no finicky wiring, track switches or possibilities of derailment. For operations though, it left something to be desired! George V.
I also saw that "article" - have someone shovel coal to keep the engine running on the layout... good laugh.
I wanted to build one, and send in a staged photo claiming that "our club has been using the fireman system for three years, since we adopted DCC"
It was pretty funny.My favorite one from years past was model a subway. Showed a layout with all the buildings and streets and you had to imagine the subway part. Best April Fools magazine article? JP with its 100 mpg hybrid Wrangler.....Mr Wiggin will laugh too I am sure.
Newest installment of MR's April fools joke. Page 18, April 2019. Dishwasher weathering liquid pods LOL!!
Years ago, the one about pressurizing your basement so you could remove supporting posts and a guy wrote into RPO, seriously complaining that it wouldn't work. Doug
Maybe they could make that more realistic by making the model boiler explode if it ran out of water because some "engineer" didn't stop at the water tanks frequently enough. Running out of coal teaches you a lesson - but running out of water is something that you only do once (because you aren't around to do it again).
I got the magazine a couple days ago. I've had very little time to read it yet but, saw nothing like you described. Could you let me know on which page to go looking when I have time. Thanks Richard
At the laundromat this morning I had time to go through Aprils and Mays. I never did find the topic described by the OP. The item shown on Page 18 isn't very funny. It will be made and marketed. Our New Administration at the time will give it praise and claim some responsibility for it.
If memory serves me correct, Railway Modeller magazine in the U.K did an April Fool a few years ago when they featured a London Underground layout which some guy had built under the floorboards of his house. Modelled in 00 (our version of H0) it was completely invisible apart from a few lift-able floorboards to put the rolling stock down there! the sad thing is that a lot of people fell for it! Having said that there have been some corkers in the railfan magazines over here. Two that spring to mind are a small article announcing the names for the next batch of Class 56 diesel locos as they were being delivered, ostensibly named after popular childrens toys ( Action Man, Captain Scarlet etc) I twigged when I saw 56 106 was to be called 'My little Pony' the other classic, which caused apoplexy in the Great Western Society, was an absolutely po-faced article in 1985 saying that 'City of Truro' the loco that had the strongest credentials to the first to reach 100 mph mark was going to be repainted for the upcoming summer season. Preserved by the National Railway museum at York in its 1904 livery after its withdrawal in 1931 it was painted on one side in British rail black livery at Bridgenorth and the proposal was to fit it with a double chimney and a high sided tender! I know what W C Fields would have said! Kev
