Model Railroading > April Model Railroader - 2nd Try

First post of this got hijacked over the umpteenth discussion on this board about the merits of the magazine.
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,4975696

Did anyone see the April Fool's joke in the April MR?  About the only input in the original thread was that it was subtle.  Can we keep this discussion on the stated topic?

So far, I've been stumped!  I haven't found it yet.  Either it's too subtle, like an inside joke, or not funny enough to be seen as a joke. 

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO

I thought maybe it was the Brass-battery thing. But if it was, it went over my head. Ironically, I thought April was one of the better issues in awhile.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/20 21:03 by ChrisCampi.

I have read and re-read the April issue at least 4 times and I still can not find it.  I, too, thought, the battery operated HO story was the "joke" but as posted above, if it is, it got by me!

Marty Harrison
Knob Noster, MO

I think it is one of the submissions in "Ask MR" because the submitter's city and state don't match. 

I propose the article on "IS MY MEANING CLEAR"

D Harrison

Nice try, Black Widow. But I refuse to go out and buy this issue!

BlackWidow,
  I just went back to check the MR fourm and make sure. On page 4 of the thread on the April issue, someone posted an email they received from Dana the seinor editor who said that they skipped the April Fools joke this year. He said it will be back again next year.
Ralph

Ok I’ll let the cat out.

Page 10 there is a story about Rapido’s 15th birthday.

I have seen N scale cars from the 70’s with “Rapido” couplers.

I was born and raised in Dallas - no slack in my rope, no sir.

Well played, Cody, but You’ve got to get up very early to fool this ol’ country boy.  15th.  Ha!  

:-)



 

WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ok I’ll let the cat out.
>
> Page 10 there is a story about Rapido’s 15th
> birthday.
>
> I have seen N scale cars from the 70’s with
> “Rapido” couplers.
>
> I was born and raised in Dallas - no slack in my
> rope, no sir.
>
> Well played, Cody, but You’ve got to get up
> very early to fool this ol’ country boy.  15th.
>  Ha!  
>
> :-)

Arnold Rapido (Rapido of your youth) isn't the same company as today's Rapido Trains. I believe the current company based their name on CN's Rapido Service passenger trains, but as always, I'm open to correction from authoritative sources.

Arved Grass
Fleming Island, FL

Arved Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Arnold Rapido (Rapido of your youth) isn't the
> same company as today's Rapido Trains. I believe
> the current company based their name on CN's
> Rapido Service passenger trains, but as always,
> I'm open to correction from authoritative sources.

That thought occured to me as well.  I'm not a cowboy but I was born in San Antonio TX

So I guess in the end , the joke really was on us?  I'm disappointed.

I routinely look forward to the annual joke.  My favorites are the "No-Track" Module group (modeling abandoned right of ways) and the 1 to 1 scale prototype uncoupling magnet.  Oh well, a missed opportunity.

As a two rail O scale modeler, I am happy for the recent O scale coverage.  I have also noted an uptick in more advanced articles too.  I'll keep reading as long as it is printed.  If MR should move to digital only, I doubt I'd follow.  I do follow other online hobby publications but I'm not confident MR would be competitive as an all digital media.

Rick Bacon
Windsor, CO



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/20 08:38 by rnb3.

I also searched multiple times, to no avail.  At first I thought it was the bags of metal scraps in ziplock bags, but the listed company's website does exist, though they don't show the bags of scrap metal on their website.  I did notice that in one picture on the left hand page near the front of the magazine where several new products were pictured in one picture that the descriptions below the picture were switched on two of the products.  But that seemed to be more of an editorial gaffe than a true April Fools type of thing.  The swapped descriptions were for a trailer and a reefer type freight car, but I don't have my MR in front of me to give more details at the moment. 

The joke is contained in their News Letter.

They currentley have 3 Topics running they are Layout Advice and here it comes  "    Building a Layout on a Rotissessire "  that has to be what the joke is/was.

Building a Layout on a Rotissessire  has to be the answer, I wonder if I win a prize ?

Tom Hirsch
Cherry Valley, Ca



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/20 06:04 by miralomarail.

Maybe the joke is us trying to find a non-existent joke. Somebodies getting a laugh out of it I hope. :-)

miralomarail Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The joke is contained in their News Letter.
>
> They currentley have 3 Topics running they are
> Layout Advice and here it comes  "    Building
> a Layout on a Rotissessire "  that has to be what
> the joke is/was.
>
> Building a Layout on a Rotissessire  has to be
> the answer, I wonder if I win a prize ?
>
> Tom Hirsch
> Cherry Valley, Ca

Maybe not.  There is a guy on the MR forums who has back problems and is doing exactly that from what I understand.

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/281323.aspx

 

Perhaps you are right and they dropped the joke in spite for the loss in subscribers and those complaining about the magazine?

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

rnb3 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So I guess in the end , the joke really was on
> us?