O Scale Central.

[GWR Jim]

I have been looking around the web, including here on WT trying to collect information on going into NA O scale. I've come across a site called O Scale Central who appear to offer lots of info along with a Members Log Area, all very interesting indeed.

But has any WT member any experience with this site? With an annual fee of $24.00 I wondered what goodies one gets for their money?
Thanks.
James.

 

[Stephen]

Hi James,

That's a question I've been pondering too. @JasonD did you mention to me in passing that you subscribed to it?

Cheers,

Stephen

 

[JasonD]

No, I don't subscribe to it. OK, OK, I have looked at it. I seem to remember it sprang from a group called the O Scale Kings. Not a great name by our modest, brotherly British standards (what's that? They were formed by a Mr King? Oh ... problem solved), but if you look at the Home page and initially skip over the three lines of menu options to read the home page text you're quickly into dollars, icons, paragraphs, etc and the Privacy Notice (go on I dare you).

Anyway, there's lots of data: manufacturers, dealers, etc so I put 'kadees' 'kadee' 'diesel' into the product search and got "Sorry, but nothi...". Now, over 50 years in Nth American O-scale and I still love it. I have an old magazine/catalog collection, I can use the internet, etc so for $24 for a try-out year I would probably ignore old farts saying ...er ... anything about starting in Nth Am O here in the UK and just try it our for a year, buy some second-hand stuff, learn the secret handshake, etc, etc.

Enough. Or as Private Eye says 'continued on page 94' or as Arthur C Clarke says "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” He may have meant 'alone in 2-rail Nth American std gauge O-scale here in the UK' rather than 'the Universe'.

Jason

 

[Jordan]

I seem to remember it sprang from a group called the O Scale Kings.

Ah, that Forum... I was a member on there for a bit (must've been free to join then) and it was deader than the deadest Dodo there ever was. The Forum iself was very basic, IIRC only one picture could be attached to each post.

No idea what the new place is like, & I don't intend to pay to find out - but if it follows the way of O Scale Kings, which was set up to promote 2-rail O Scale, in my opinion it'll be more likely to kill it off completely....

 

[Big Train James]

Hold please........will weigh in shortly with an opinion.
Jim

 

[Big Train James]

Well, I was going to write up a bit of a bash on O Scale Central, but I've had a look around at their website and decided there's really no reason to do so. A) it's an effort to support an advocate for O scale, which is certainly a challenge and often a thankless job. B) it's not the O Scale Central v1.0, which as Jordan suggests, featured a very limited amount of content and usefulness. And C), the original question really only pertains to the membership aspect.

Regarding membership, I'm afraid I don't have much to add, except that I can't find anything on the website that explains to me why I should want to become a member, or what benefits I might receive by doing so. I think that's a fundamental failure, but I'm sure it could be addressed by sending an email to Joe Barker, who is the OSC membership manager. But I don't see anything tangible that the $24 membership fee yields, like an O scale oriented quarterly publication or access to exclusive content or product.

Thinking about what I see on the website and the presence that I see from OSC at various shows, I think the $24 membership is probably mostly a way to support the organization in it's outreach efforts, by helping to defray the costs of promotion. I'm guessing that the money goes toward costs such as website hosting, travel to and from shows, and booth/table rental and the signage/content associated with it.

Whether it's worthwhile to join will be a personal decision, but there has to be something to show for doing (and paying for) it. It either has to be something tangible like a quarterly gazette, or it has to be something bigger picture like increasing participation in O scale to maintain a critical mass or make it more appealing to manufacturers. Ironically, I almost certainly would be more willing to join in pursuit of the latter rather than the former, so I may need to explore a membership despite its limited immediate value to me.

I'll follow up with a bit more later, not so much about OSC but rather to learn what you are interested in with regard to US outline O scale. I certainly don't know everything, but I'm decently knowledgeable and I'm happy to answer questions.

Hope that helps,
Jim

 

[GWR Jim]

Gents.

Many thanks for your responses, which I find most interesting.

So, the answer to my question is 'no WT Member has experience of O Scale Central'. With this in mind I joined up said organization, after all said and done its only the cost of 4 cups of coffee!!! I also happen to believe 2 rail O scale needs all the help it can get and perhaps, just perhaps with more input into Central by modellers, it may become the vehicle we all would like to see out there in the big, wide world of O scale modelling. One can only effect change by becoming a member of such clubs etc.

Jim I agree with your comment of not letting customers know what they get/can expect for their money. Also agree with 'mostly a way to support the organization in it's outreach efforts' which one would expect, I suggest.

Not rocket science just knowledge from observations.
James.

 

[JasonD]

Thanks James ... actually a very valid response (as you say: "2 rail O scale needs all the help it can get"). I'm open to persuasion to join, almost the same feeling as I have about rejoining the NMRA British Region. Even at my age and with my trader days well behind me I should believe I can help.

My main activities were importing directly from small/medium O-scale businesses, now easier for O-scalers to target directly, and some brass kit etching, now easier to replace with a wider choice of RTR and 3D printing.

I feel these forums are the most useful aspect of modelling, but like the mags there are too many of them and no way of capturing all the topics that would be relevant, does the NMRA still have model mag indices annually? Oh yes, then there's Facebook.
Jason

 

[richard carr]

James

Do let us all know if you do get any benefit from this, as you say 2 rail O scale needs all the help it can get. I may be tempted to join

Richard